Soulknife improvements?

[Jurble]

Hey everyone!

so my favorite class is the soulknife and im trying to design a character for a new campaign im joiningv. Only problem is ive read in lots of places that soulknives are underpowered and the official rules arnt very good for them.

Anyway i was wondering if anyone knew of any better versions of the Soulknife. Official or unofficial. Ive only got the basic 3.5 psionics book.

ANyway if anyone can help that would be awesome! Thanks a ton everyone

Marc

 

[Goolpsy]

Why shouldn't the soulknife be good? First of all i think its rather strong
2nd of all.. you shouldn't choose a class from how good they are.. but from what you want to play...

 

[Jurble]

Oh sure sorry

im definately playing a soulknife no matter what, even if it is underpowered i was just hoping there was an improved version. I heard something about a version which chooses between using a psy "whip" and a mindblade etc. Not sure where that was (ive been searching for it).

Its not that i need my char to be the most powerful in the group or anything but id rather not be a burden on the group if possible. I just want to make sure i can hold my own and some comments on soul knives sound like i wouldnt be able to?

What do you think? (and thanks for the quick reply!)

Marc

 

[Ceska]

I played a soulknife and it was quite effective and not underpowered.
It was a dextrous (Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack) combat supporter for our main-fighters and it did its job quite good.
At level 7 my soulknife had a AC of 26 (ChainShirt+1, Heavy Steel Shield+1, Dex+4 and Combat Expertise +4), 28 against one enemy (Dodge+PsychicDodge) and 30 (32) when moving (mobility). It jumped in for flanking or attacking the enemys spellcasters behind the frontline. Most combats it survived even without a scratch.

The "whip" you mendtioned is perhaps from the Pyrokineticist PrC, but taking this route ends your Soulknife progression. I can´t rememver of a Prc which gives such a thing, so I made one with my DM, if your interested I may send it to you via mail (its a PrC focused on a mobile Soulknife as i described it above).

 

[Goolpsy]

We had a soulknife in our campaign too... and when they don't need to pay for their weapon they've got soo much more money for AC.. he had like 34 or 36 AC at level 10..

Never heard of an improved version though..

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Eberron has some additions to the Soulknife repetoire.. mainly in the way of Feats you can take to change/improve your mindblade. I think whip is one of the options. I am rather far from my books right now.

I have yet to see the soulknife in play, but my read through gives me the impression that it makes for a very good supporting or solo character, on par or better than the monk.

IMHO, most "Class X is underpowered" threads boil down to one main point. Some classes require more tweaking of the adventure by the GM to bring out its strengths. When the GM does not adjust for the character....then playing it sucks in comparison to other classes. Soulknife is a great example.
If the rest of your party is never in a situation where they are required to go unarmed into a fight... or Anti-Magic zones vs DR critters.. then the strengths of the soulknife are moot.

 

[Jurble]

Hey Ceska Id love if you could email that PrC to me would be mucho appreciated! DEfinately like to take a look. Please email it to jurble@hotmail.com I think im also going to try and pick up the eberron book adn cehck out those feats!

I like the way you guys have put it when it comes to the negative comments on the soulknife. Its such a cool class in my opinion I just havnt had much experience with it.
Hoepfully our DM uses its advantages and disadvantages abit in the campaign!

Now to look for some interesting PrCs and see if any are worth taking over a straight soulknife. Any suggestions are welcome. Going to start researching it now.

tnx again guys!

Marc

 

[saucercrab]

Jurble,
Over on the Wizard's psionics board, a poster named Blaine Tog made a revised soulknife, if you're still interested. The main change he did was lower the d10 HD to d8 & increase skill points to 6 + Int per level. There are some other changes, as well. He modified it to function better as a skirmisher/skill-monkey. Most posters over there (me included) prefer it to the official version.

 

[Egres]

Jurble,
Over on the Wizard's psionics board, a poster named Blaine Tog made a revised soulknife, if you're still interested. The main change he did was lower the d10 HD to d8 & increase skill points to 6 + Int per level. There are some other changes, as well. He modified it to function better as a skirmisher/skill-monkey. Most posters over there (me included) prefer it to the official version.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=310984&page=1&pp=30

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pyro is a great addition to the Soulknife, since even only a few levels adds both damage enhancement (in the form of the weapon afire ability) and ranged combat options (firewhip & flame bolts) to the PC without increasing his encumberance one bit.

Rogue levels get you sneak attack bonuses that go nicely with the impossible to disarm mindblade.

PsyWar levels get you the various Psionic Weapon feats, as well as Inertial Armor.

Sorcerer or Wizard levels gets you Mage Armor and some other nice spells that enhance your abilities.

Ranger gets you TWF, Tracking and more skill points than any other class except Rogue.

Fighter, of course, gets you Weapon Specialization.

Depending on your DM, the mindblade may or may not be a valid target for a Kensai's chosen weapon abilities- which does have some niiiiiice stuff associated with it.

As for race- I'd go with Githzerai if I could. That +6 Dex mod will go a long way towards PC longevity...and if your DM allows the use of Weapon Finesse with mindblades, you'll be hitting A LOT!