Soulknife, Pyrokineticist & other stuff

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was wondering if there was any kind of consensus or rulings on:

1) There are PrCls like the Kensai that let you enhance your chosen weapon. Do the Soulknife's mind blade or the Pyro's fire whip qualify? (My guess: Yes)

2) Can the Pyro's whip do all the same things as a regular whip, like trips and disarms? Do the feats Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in whip apply to this firewhip? (My guess: Yes)

3) The firewhip and the mind blade are "supernatural" abilities. Does this mean they don't qualify for feats or powers that affect "spell-like" abilities. (My guess: Yes)

4) Tome & Blood (precursor to Complete Arcane- which I have but is being borrowed) noted that there are 3 kinds of spell types mages can apply weapon feats to because they are "Weaponlike spells": Rays, Energy Missiles, and Touch Spells. Rays in particular require a ranged touch attack. Is this still the status quo in 3.5, or can you apply feats to other ranged touch attack spells other than Rays, like the Orb spells? (My guess: No)

 

[Drowbane]

1) Yes

2) Yes

3) Eh, dunno

4) As I understand it, you choose "Melee Touch" Spells or "Ranged Touch" Spells

 

[Shin Okada]

1) I say "No". You create Mind Blade and Piro's whip each time. That is not a one weapon. So can't be a signature weapon. Or, if you make it so, your signature weapon is broken when you make it turn off. They are not your natural weapons either.

2) I say "No". The descriptive text says only about damages and you can apply feats related to whips. And I don't think you can trip or disarm something with fire.

3) If you are talking about metamagic-like feats for spell-like abilities (say, quicken spell-like ability), it can't be applied to something other than spell-like ability.

4) According to Complete Arcane, now there are only two types of weapon-like spells, melee touch and ranged touch.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

1) I say "No". You create Mind Blade and Piro's whip each time. That is not a one weapon. So can't be a signature weapon. Or, if you make it so, your signature weapon is broken when you make it turn off. They are not your natural weapons either.

I only have Oriental Adventures, so my Kensai might be out of date, but they refer to you choosing only a specific type of weapon, not weapon. I say if you can take Weapon Focus (mindblade) (and you can) you can choose it for a Kensai focus.

Even if it has changed to one actual weapon I'd count a mindblade as a single weapon.

2) I say "No". The descriptive text says only about damages and you can apply feats related to whips.

The fact that its the fire lash refers to a ranged attack when both trip and disarm refer to melee attacks make me agree that RAW this is not allowed.

However I would definatly house rule that it worked like a regular whip becase A) It's cool, and B) it doesn't unbalance anything.

And I don't think you can trip or disarm something with fire.

I think you need to go watch Fellowship of the Ring again.

 

[Shin Okada]

I only have Oriental Adventures, so my Kensai might be out of date, but they refer to you choosing only a specific type of weapon, not weapon. I say if you can take Weapon Focus (mindblade) (and you can) you can choose it for a Kensai focus.

I don't have Oriental Adventure (we Japanese could not see Rokugan setting as cool). But Complete Warrior has Kensai class and it's ability is to designate and enhance a signature weapon. It is either one physical weapon or a set of same natural weapons (say, two fists).

Even if it has changed to one actual weapon I'd count a mindblade as a single weapon.

It should be a house rule. But I think in that case type (short sword, longsword, etc.) and number of blades (some uses 2+ blades) should be specified, just like in case Kensai create signature natural weapons.

I think you need to go watch Fellowship of the Ring again.

Yeah. But in D&D Balor's whip is not entirely composed of fire. It is a corporeal weapon which looks like composed of fire. It is not used as a touch attack.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well the CWarrior version of the Kensai DOES make the PC choose a particular weapon. To further muddy the waters, some of the language in the XPH implies its the same weapon, other language implies that it is different.

As for the Firewhip, as I recall, it does say that it can do all the things that a whip does, but isn't entirely clear.

My logic was this: Pyrokineticists are, as the name implies, manipulating fire telekinetically, so the Firewhip would be a telekinetic whip sheathed in fire- so it could interact with something physically. Since Whips can trip and disarm, then so can the Firewhip. (This matters because of certain players- myself included- being interested in whip-wielding PCs and PrCls.)

 

[Camarath]

3) The firewhip and the mind blade are "supernatural" abilities. Does this mean they don't qualify for feats or powers that affect "spell-like" abilities. (My guess: Yes)

Fire Lash is actually a Psi-like ability (as are most of the Pyrokineticist abilities) rather than a Supernatural ability (like Mind Blade) so it does qualify for feats that effect Spell-like abilities.

 

[Shin Okada]

Fire Lash is actually a Psi-like ability (as are most of the Pyrokineticist abilities) rather than a Supernatural ability (like Mind Blade) so it does qualify for feats that effect Spell-like abilities.

But AFAIK, even Transparency rule does not say that you can apply feats for Spell-Like abilities to Psi-like abilities.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ok- the Fire Lash is a Psi- Like ability, but the Mind blade isn't.

XPH p27
Mind Blade (Su)

XPH p152
Fire Lash (Ps)

So the Fire Lash could qualify for metafeats that modify spell-like abilities, but a Mind Blade cannot?

 

[irdeggman]

1) I say "No". You create Mind Blade and Piro's whip each time. That is not a one weapon. So can't be a signature weapon. Or, if you make it so, your signature weapon is broken when you make it turn off. They are not your natural weapons either.

But when enhanced the mind blade shows up exactly the same way every time.

Also the PC gets weapon focus - mindblade and improved in what ever form the mindblade is in (bastard sword, long sword or standard short sword)