Soulknife Questions

[Falling Icicle]

Ok, I finally got my Expanded Psionics handbook! Looking through it I was contemplating making a Thri-Kreen Soulknife character. However, I have a few questions, and I can't seem to find the answers in the book.

1) When using the option to shape your mind blade into two weapons, can a creature with more than two arms (such as a Thri-Kreen) create more than 2 of them? If not, do you think it would be reasonable to allow such characters to purchase a feat that let them do that?

2) It says you have to spend a full-round action in order to shape your Mind Blade into a different form (Longsword, Bastard Sword, or two Short Swords). Do you have to do this every time you conjure it, or does it retain its previous form(s) when you conjure it?

3) What happens if you use the Psychic Strike ability with two Mind Blades? Does the bonus damage apply to both of them simultaneously? Half on each? Is each Blade charged seperately, or can only one Mind Blade be charged at a time? And what happens if the Mind Blade was aready charged when it is split in two?

I'm surprised they didn't explain this, it seems kind of an obvious question to me (though I may just be blindly missing the answer, admittedly).

4) Why do Soulknives have the Wild Talent feat? It says that it gives them "the psionic power he needs to materialize his mind blade, if he has no power points otherwise," but I can't find anywhere that it says they need Power Points to use that ability. In fact, I can't seem to find any Soulknife ability that costs Power Points.

5) Do Mind Blades shed light? The pictures of them look kind of like light sabers, but it doesn't specify whether they shed light or not. This seems like a pciky question, but I can think of many situations that it would actually be important.

6) If a creature has a psi-like ability that can be augmented, can the creature spend power points to augment it?

Thanks.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

There's a soulknife character in my current campaign. I don't have the XPH on hand, but I'll answer based on my previous experience and the SRD. I may be incorrect, perish the thought...

1) When using the option to shape your mind blade into two weapons, can a creature with more than two arms (such as a Thri-Kreen) create more than 2 of them? If not, do you think it would be reasonable to allow such characters to purchase a feat that let them do that?

Specifically, you can split your mind blade into two separate blades; no more.

It seems like it might be worth a feat to have your thri-kreen with four mindblades.

2) It says you have to spend a full-round action in order to shape your Mind Blade into a different form (Longsword, Bastard Sword, or two Short Swords). Do you have to do this every time you conjure it, or does it retain its previous form(s) when you conjure it?

Your mind blade, when summoned, is summoned in its "natural" form. If you want to change it into something else, you need to spend a full-round action to do so.

3) What happens if you use the Psychic Strike ability with two Mind Blades? Does the bonus damage apply to both of them simultaneously? Half on each? Is each Blade charged seperately, or can only one Mind Blade be charged at a time? And what happens if the Mind Blade was aready charged when it is split in two?

The important rule here is:"A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a soulknife can imbue his mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action."

Since your split mindblade is still really one mind blade, the psychic strike goes into effect on the first successful hit with either of the blades. After that, you must spend another move action to recharge it.

4) Why do Soulknives have the Wild Talent feat? It says that it gives them "the psionic power he needs to materialize his mind blade, if he has no power points otherwise," but I can't find anywhere that it says they need Power Points to use that ability. In fact, I can't seem to find any Soulknife ability that costs Power Points.

None do.

However, the Wild Talent feat grants Mindblades a few power points and status as a psionic character. This allows him or her to take [Psionic] feats, like Aligned Attack and Up the Walls.

5) Do Mind Blades shed light? The pictures of them look kind of like light sabers, but it doesn't specify whether they shed light or not. This seems like a pciky question, but I can think of many situations that it would actually be important.

It doesn't say that they do, therefore they don't.

However, any magic weapon, while it's being created, can be made to shed light at no additional cost. Mind blades count as magic weapons for purposes of damage reduction.

My suggestion? Pick one and stick with it. Either mind blades don't shed light at all, or *always* shed light - making them somewhat less useful when sneaking about.

6) If a creature has a psi-like ability that can be augmented, can the creature spend power points to augment it?

Can you give a bit more detail, here?

 

[Egres]

Ok, I finally got my Expanded Psionics handbook! Looking through it I was contemplating making a Thri-Kreen Soulknife character. However, I have a few questions, and I can't seem to find the answers in the book.

1) When using the option to shape your mind blade into two weapons, can a creature with more than two arms (such as a Thri-Kreen) create more than 2 of them? If not, do you think it would be reasonable to allow such characters to purchase a feat that let them do that?

2) It says you have to spend a full-round action in order to shape your Mind Blade into a different form (Longsword, Bastard Sword, or two Short Swords). Do you have to do this every time you conjure it, or does it retain its previous form(s) when you conjure it?

3) What happens if you use the Psychic Strike ability with two Mind Blades? Does the bonus damage apply to both of them simultaneously? Half on each? Is each Blade charged seperately, or can only one Mind Blade be charged at a time? And what happens if the Mind Blade was aready charged when it is split in two?

I'm surprised they didn't explain this, it seems kind of an obvious question to me (though I may just be blindly missing the answer, admittedly).

4) Why do Soulknives have the Wild Talent feat? It says that it gives them "the psionic power he needs to materialize his mind blade, if he has no power points otherwise," but I can't find anywhere that it says they need Power Points to use that ability. In fact, I can't seem to find any Soulknife ability that costs Power Points.

5) Do Mind Blades shed light? The pictures of them look kind of like light sabers, but it doesn't specify whether they shed light or not. This seems like a pciky question, but I can think of many situations that it would actually be important.

6) If a creature has a psi-like ability that can be augmented, can the creature spend power points to augment it?

Thanks.

1)No.

But it wouldn't be a bad HR.

2)It seems that you need to re-shape your mind blead every time you conjure it.

3)I'm inclined to think that only one of the two shortswords is Psychic charged.

4)They get it in order to qualify for Psionic Feats.

5)It doesn't say anything about it.
Then, IMO, the Mind Blade doesn't shed light at all.

6)No, they are automatically full-augmented without PP expenditure.

 

[Spatula]

4) Why do Soulknives have the Wild Talent feat? It says that it gives them "the psionic power he needs to materialize his mind blade, if he has no power points otherwise," but I can't find anywhere that it says they need Power Points to use that ability. In fact, I can't seem to find any Soulknife ability that costs Power Points.

Cost, no, but you need to have at least 1 PP in order to become psionically focused.

6) If a creature has a psi-like ability that can be augmented, can the creature spend power points to augment it?

Psi-like abilities are already augmented to the maximum possible effect for the creature's manifester level.
So, the answer is no - they're already augmented as far as they'll go.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Thanks guys.

Here's what I was thinking for the feat:

Improved Shape Mind Blade [Psionic]

Prerequisites: Shape Mind Blade class ability, Three or more arms (or other limbs capable of wielding weapons)

Benefit: When using the Shape Mind Blade ability of the Soulknife class, you may create sufficient Mind Blades to wield with all of your arms (or equivalent appendeges). For example, a creature with 4 arms with this ability could create two Long Swords, two Bastard Swords or 4 Short Swords.

These weapons have all of the normal abilities of the Mind Blade, but have an enhancement bonus of 1 lower than normal (to a minimum of +0). This reduction stacks with that of the Shape Mind Blade ability, so a creature whose Mind Blade normally has an enhancement bonus of +3 who created 2 Bastard Swords would have an enhancement bonus of +2 on each blade, or if it created 4 Short Swords, they would each have an enhancement bonus of +1.
Note that the normal penalties for fighting with multiple weapons still applies, so the Multiweapon Fighting feat is recommended.

Normal: A Soulknife can only use the Shape Mind Blade ability to create one Longword, one Bastard Sword, or two Short Swords, regardless of how many arms it has.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Looks good to me!

 

[Dykstra]

Number 2 is an interesting one. the mind blade enhancement specifially says that it is always on a mind blade even when it materializes. the shape mind blade does not. Also, the Bladewind ability specifically says that the blade reverts to its normal form. However, under the multiple throw ability it says: "Thus a 17th level soulknife could throw 2 mind blades with a base attack bonus of +12/+7. If he had used shape mind blade to materialize a mind blade for each hand and thus fight with two weapons, he could throw four mind blades in a round."

With that wouldnt it be logical to say you could throw two bastard swords in a round? This would assume that they materialized in their shaped forms.

 

[Egres]

Thanks guys.

Here's what I was thinking for the feat:

Improved Shape Mind Blade [Psionic]

Prerequisites: Shape Mind Blade class ability, Three or more arms (or other limbs capable of wielding weapons)

Benefit: When using the Shape Mind Blade ability of the Soulknife class, you may create sufficient Mind Blades to wield with all of your arms (or equivalent appendeges). For example, a creature with 4 arms with this ability could create two Long Swords, two Bastard Swords or 4 Short Swords.

These weapons have all of the normal abilities of the Mind Blade, but have an enhancement bonus of 1 lower than normal (to a minimum of +0). This reduction stacks with that of the Shape Mind Blade ability, so a creature whose Mind Blade normally has an enhancement bonus of +3 who created 2 Bastard Swords would have an enhancement bonus of +2 on each blade, or if it created 4 Short Swords, they would each have an enhancement bonus of +1.
Note that the normal penalties for fighting with multiple weapons still applies, so the Multiweapon Fighting feat is recommended.

Normal: A Soulknife can only use the Shape Mind Blade ability to create one Longword, one Bastard Sword, or two Short Swords, regardless of how many arms it has.

I think it's quite balanced.

As a DM i would allow it without problems.

 

[Omegaxicor]

3) What happens if you use the Psychic Strike ability with two Mind Blades? Does the bonus damage apply to both of them simultaneously? Half on each? Is each Blade charged seperately, or can only one Mind Blade be charged at a time? And what happens if the Mind Blade was aready charged when it is split in two?

I know this is an old topic but I was curious about 1) myself, but this is interesting, I always interpreted the text to mean that:

1) If you split the Mind Blade then only one was psychically charged
2) You could take a Full-round action (or two separate move actions) to psychically charge each Mind Blade
3) The Psychic Strike holds until discharged but only lasts one attack

Have I misread something or is the text just ambiguous?

 

[jmourao]

Hello, everyone! (^_^)

I know this is an old topic but I was curious about 1) myself, but this is interesting, I always interpreted the text to mean that:

1) If you split the Mind Blade then only one was psychically charged
2) You could take a Full-round action (or two separate move actions) to psychically charge each Mind Blade
3) The Psychic Strike holds until discharged but only lasts one attack

Have I misread something or is the text just ambiguous?

Alternatively, a soulknife can split his mind blade into two identical short swords, suitable for fighting with a weapon in each hand.

I remember reading somewhere (Sage Advice, maybe?) that the description above meant that each blade would be identical in all things, including the Psychic Strike charge. That's how I've always played in my group, although my elan soulknife/war mind rarely used this form of Shape Mind Blade.

As for recharging both baldes:

If a soulknife chooses to shape his mind blade by splitting it into two blades, each separate blade is able to hold a psychic strike as long as the soulknife spends a separate move action to empower each blade with psychic strike.

It can be argued, based on this passage, that the initial splitting results in one blade charged and the other uncharged. That's NOT how I play it. To me, the initial splitting preserves the charge on both blades, and only subsequent charges would need to follow the above rule.