Never caught unarmed, the soulknife is the literal interpretation of using the power of the mind as a weapon. Creating a mind blade is the core of the soulknife, and with it, she is a deadly combatant. Versatile and varied, the soulknife can be found in all shapes and sizes, wielding blades unique to the wielder and customized to fit the needs of the soulknife.
Fluid in function, the soulknife has mastered how to alter her mind blade to fit the situation, bringing power and versatility into any combat.
As a wielder of a weapon first and foremost, the soulknife excels as a front-line combatant on the battlefield. Her limited armor options and defensive abilities can be a hindrance, but her varied blade abilities can make her an excellent mobile warrior or battlefield controller.
Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special | Mind Blade Enhancement | Psionic Manifesting | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Power Points | Powers Known | Max Level | |||||||
1st | +1 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Bonus feat, form mind blade, shape mind blade | — | 1 | – | – |
2nd | +2 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Blade skill, mind blade enhancement | +1 | 2 | – | – |
3rd | +3 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Psychic strike +1d8 | +1 | 3 | – | – |
4th | +4 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Blade skill | +2 | 4 | 1 | 1st |
5th | +5 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Free draw | +2 | 6 | 1 | 1st |
6th | +6/+1 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Blade skill | +3 | 8 | 2 | 1st |
7th | +7/+2 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Psychic strike +2d8 | +3 | 10 | 2 | 1st |
8th | +8/+3 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Blade skill | +4 | 12 | 3 | 2nd |
9th | +9/+4 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Rapid reshape 1/day | +4 | 15 | 3 | 2nd |
10th | +10/+5 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Blade skill | +5 | 18 | 4 | 2nd |
11th | +11/+6/+1 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Psychic strike +3d8 | +5 | 21 | 4 | 2nd |
12th | +12/+7/+2 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Blade skill | +6 | 24 | 5 | 3rd |
13th | +13/+8/+3 | +4 | +8 | +8 | Rapid reshape 2/day | +6 | 29 | 5 | 3rd |
14th | +14/+9/+4 | +4 | +9 | +9 | Blade skill | +7 | 34 | 6 | 3rd |
15th | +15/+10/+5 | +5 | +9 | +9 | Psychic strike +4d8 | +7 | 39 | 6 | 3rd |
16th | +16/+12/+6/+1 | +5 | +10 | +10 | Blade skill | +8 | 44 | 7 | 4th |
17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +5 | +10 | +10 | Rapid reshape 3/day | +8 | 50 | 7 | 4th |
18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +6 | +11 | +11 | Blade skill | +9 | 56 | 8 | 4th |
19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +6 | +11 | +11 | Psychic strike +5d8 | +9 | 62 | 8 | 4th |
20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +6 | +12 | +12 | Blade skill, mind blade mastery | +10 | 68 | 9 | 4th |
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Athletics, Psi Lore, Profession, Stealth, Perception, and Acrobatics
Starting Wealth: Poor (1d6 × 10 gp, Average 35 gp)
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Soulknife is proficient with Basic weapons and with his mind blades. They are proficient with light and medium armor and with shields (but not with tower shields).
If not using weapon groups, a Soulknife is proficient with simple weapons and with his mind blades.
Bonus Feat
You may choose Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, or Weapon Focus (mind blade) as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Form Mind Blade
As a move action, a soulknife can create a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. At 1st level, you must choose which form your mind blade takes: light weapon, one-handed weapon, or two-handed weapon. These are shown on the table below. If you shape the light weapon, you may choose to shape two light mind blades, but you suffer the standard penalties for two-weapon fighting.
Mind Blade Form | Damage | Critical | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Light | 1d6 | Varies | 19–20/×2 | |
One-Handed | 1d8 | Varies | 19–20/×2 | |
Two-Handed | 2d6 | Varies | 19–20/×2 |
Regardless of the form you choose, your mind blade does not have a set damage type. When shaping your weapon and assigning abilities to it, you choose whether it will deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage and may change the damage type of an existing mind blade or summon a new mind blade with a different damage type as a full-round action; otherwise, the mind blade retains the last damage type chosen every time it is summoned.
You choose the appearance of your mind blade, although its shape must reflect the selections you have chosen: a bludgeoning mind blade would be blunt, slashing would have an edge, etc. All damages are based on a Medium-sized creature wielding Medium-sized weapons; adjust the weapon damage as appropriate for different sized weapons (see Weapon Size). A soulknife with powerful build or any similar ability forms an appropriately-sized mind blade dealing the size-appropriate amount of damage.
The blade can be broken (it has hardness 10 and 10 hit points); however, you can simply create another on your next move action. The moment you relinquish your grip on your blade, it dissipates (unless you intentionally throw it; in which case it dissipates immediately after the attack is resolved). A mind blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and is considered a masterwork weapon.
You gain the usual benefits to your attack and damage roll from a high Strength bonus. You can use feats such as Power Attack or Combat Expertise in conjunction with the mind blade just as if it were a normal weapon. You can also choose mind blade for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Specialization. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mind blade.
You can throw your mind blade, though the range increment varies by form. A light mind blade has a range increment of 20 ft., and a one-handed mind blade has a range increment of 15 ft. Two-handed mind blades cannot be thrown without the Two-Handed Throw blade skill. Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mind blade then dissipates.
Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), you can attempt to sustain your mind blade by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, you maintain your mind blade for a number of rounds equal to your class level before you need to check again, although the mind blade is treated for all purposes as a non-magical, masterwork weapon while in such a place.
On an unsuccessful attempt, the mind blade vanishes. As a move action on your turn, you can attempt a new Will save to rematerialize your mind blade while you remain within the psionics-negating effect. You gain a bonus on Will saves made to maintain or form your mind blade equal to half the total weapon bonus of your mind blade (see below).
Shape Mind Blade
Your mind blade retains the last chosen form each time it is formed until you take the time to reshape it. If you choose to reshape your blade, it requires a full-round action to do so. You may also re-assign the type of damage dealt as part of reshaping your mind blade if you so choose.
You can also reassign the enhancement bonus and special abilities you have added to your mind blade with your Enhance Mind Blade ability (see below); however, you must first spend 8 hours in concentration. This time cannot be part of a normal Long Rest, even if you do not require sleep. After this meditation period, the mind blade materializes with the new enhancement bonus and special abilities you select.
Blade Skills
Beginning at 2nd level and every even soulknife level thereafter, you may choose one of a number of abilities to add to your repertoire. Some blade skills have prerequisites that must be met before they can be chosen. All blade skills may only be chosen once, and many require you to be using your mind blade to function.
Mind Blade Enhancement
Your mind blade improves as you gain higher levels. At 2nd level and every even-numbered level thereafter, the mindblade gains a cumulative +1 weapon bonus which can be applied either as an enhancement bonus (maximum +5) or as special abilities.
You can choose any combination of enhancement bonus and weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total weapon bonus allowed by your level. You can add any of the weapon special abilities on Table: Mind Blade Abilities. The ability or abilities apply to any form the mind blade takes.
If you shape your mind blade into two weapons, the weapon bonus of your mind blade is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0). Both mind blades have the same selection of enhancement bonus and weapon special abilities (if any).
The enhancement bonus and weapon ability or abilities remain the same every time you materialize your mind blade, unless you reassign its abilities using your Shape Mind Blade ability.
Psychic Strike
As a move action at 3rd level or higher, you can imbue your mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next non-mindless target you successfully hit with your mind blade. Creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to psychic strike damage. (Unlike the rogue’s sneak attack, the psychic strike is not precision damage and can affect creatures otherwise immune to extra damage from critical hits or more than 30 feet away, provided they are non-mindless creatures not immune to mind-affecting effects.)
A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but you can imbue your mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action. Once you have prepared your blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if you drop the mind blade (or it otherwise dissipates, such as when it is thrown and misses), it is still imbued with psychic energy when you next materialize it.
If you form your mind blade into two weapons, you may imbue each mind blade with a psychic strike as normal. If you reshape your mind blade into a single weapon form, the additional psychic strike imbued into the additional weapon is lost.
At every four levels beyond 3rd (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th), the extra damage from your psychic strike increases by 1d8 as shown on the Table above.
Psionic Manifesting
As a 4th-level soulknife, you learn to manifest psionic powers, which are drawn from the soulknife power list.
Your key ability score is Wisdom.
To learn or manifest a power, you must have a key ability score equal to at least 10 + the power’s level. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against your soulknife powers is 10 + the power’s level + your key ability modifier.
Through 3rd level, a soulknife has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, your manifester level is your class level -3. You can manifest any power that has a total power point cost equal to or lower than your manifester level.
Power Points/Day
Your ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points you have available. Your base daily allotment of power points is given on Table: The Soulknife. In addition, you receive bonus power points per day if you have a high key ability score.
Powers Known
You learn one 1st-level power of your choice at 4th level. You unlock the knowledge of a new power for every two additional soulknife levels you gain.
You simply know your powers; they are ingrained in your mind. You do not need to prepare or access them in the way that some spellcasters must, though you must gain the benefits of a Long Rest each day to regain all your spent power points.
Maximum Power Level Known
At 4th level, you have the ability to learn 1st-level powers. As you attain higher levels, you may gain the ability to master more complex powers.
To learn or manifest a power, you must have a key ability score of at least 10 + the power’s level.
Free Draw
At 5th level, a soulknife becomes able to materialize a mind blade as a free action instead of a move action. This allows you to throw multiple mind blades per round as part of a full-attack.
Rapid Reshape
At 9th level, you can spend a standard action to remove one weapon special ability from your mind blade. You may then immediately apply one new special ability to your mind blade.
If the new special ability has a higher enhancement bonus, the difference is subtracted from your mind blade’s enhancement bonus. If this would reduce the enhancement bonus below 0, the new special ability cannot be applied.
If the new special ability has a lower enhancement bonus, the difference is added to your mind blade’s enhancement bonus. If this would increase the enhancement bonus above +5, the extra points are simply ignored and are temporarily unavailable.
At the end of this process, the total enhancement bonus of your mind blade must not exceed the maximum bonus available.
You may use this ability once per day at 9th level and gain one additional daily use at 13th level and again at 17th level.
Mind Blade Mastery
At 20th level, you reache the pinnacle of your art, and your connection to your blade is so strong it cannot be severed. You no longer requires a Will save to maintain your mind blade in a null psionics field, although it still loses any enhancement bonus and special abilities.
In addition, you may use your Rapid Reshape ability at will. If you spend a full-round action, you may completely change the configuration of your mind blade’s special abilities rather than only one. This also resets any penalties that may have accrued from the Fluid Form and Improved Fluid Form blade skills.