[Dreamscarred Press] Psionics Augmented: Soulknife

[ErrantX]

Hey everyone!

Just tossing out some lines here, but as we've got a lot going on here on the development side, I wanted to test the waters with the idea of a Soulknife supplement. So the question becomes, what do YOU want to see in a soulknife supplement? What sort of ideas do you all have, or things you've done to make soulknives the class that you wanted to play?

Personally, I'm planning on a few archetypes, alternate class features for published soulknife prestige classes, bunch of new feats, crystal focus items and other magic items, and a few new prestige classes. Lots more options. Does this interested you folks?

Let's have a discussion!

-X

[Frerezar]

More flavorfull archetypes. Mechanically the SK is extremely solid, but sometimes it feels a little bland on the flavor deparment. Go deeper into concepts such as a SK who gets his weapon from a deity, a SK who gathers shadows to make devastating weapons, a SK whose strikes disrupt technology/magic, etc. With slight mechanical changes to reflect such styles of course. Also, some SK specific combat style chains.

[ErrantX]

I was thinking of doing a little piece on sort soulknife traditions, what it is to be a soulknife, etc. Purely a fluff bit, maybe some crunch in on the traditions if you subscribe to their code of conduct.

-X

[Malwing]

Kind of hard to say. I'm not very experienced with psionics and have only played one soulknife but honestly the base class is so solid I'm not sure what to do differently.

(Note: some of these ideas may be redundant, I'm not all that familiar with psionics.)

At best I'd like to see way more Blade Skills. Some cycles aren't complete, like elemental striking. Probably could use more Force Pushing powers or just any ways to make make him more Jedi-like. Wouldn't mind seeing some 'chucking' support, even if he starts manifesting hurling balls instead of blades, especially if his blade skills can alter them (I THROW LIGHTNING BALLS!!!). More mobility powers would be cool, think Bladed Dash.

[Changing Man]

What I'd really like in a product like this is 85% meat and 15% bones.

'Meaty' things would be like different Soulknife fighting styles and techniques (unique to Soulknives)- perhaps even differentiated amongst various archetypes (Armored Blade vs. Nimble Blade vs. Gifted Blade, etc.), since what works for a Nimble might not be so good for a Gifted, and vice versa. Schools or academies (or more nefarious guilds) of or for Soulknives (primarily- I imagine there could be some overlap), and their signature moves, stances, etc. How various races (tend to) approach being a Soulknife, perhaps specific Favored Class bonuses for Soulknife depending on a given race's tendencies. Maybe even subtle ways that certain races can 'tweak' a Soulknife's normal abilities in thematic ways that represents their race's proclivities.

'Bones' would be the mechanics to support the Meat, the framework, be it Blade Skills, Feats, Archetypes, or what-have-you. It would be particularly cool if certain Blade Skills were only taught to persons from a certain school (or tradition, or race, or 'fill-in-the-blank'), much like the fencing schools of yore and dojos with their own unique styles.

Granted, much of this is stuff that is just as much at home in Path of War as it is in a tome on Soulknives, but a certain amount of cross-over isn't a bad thing, imho.

**as a semi-relevant side note, one of the things that my group always really loved was the modular system for Martial Arts present in the 1e Oriental Adventures hardback. It was easy enough to port over to 2e, and it really made fights much more memorable with flying snap-kicks and all the other colorful moves. Also, Style Analysis and recognition- seeing what style someone else was using and being able to choose a different style to counter it- made for some epic fights not unlike Wesley and Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride.

[Michael Sayre]

So, Chris and I were talking about the possibility of an akashic soulknife archetype that got access to the Crusader's Shield and amped its abilities outside of the normal functions of the veil the way the Swarm Master or Snake Charmer archetypes get more out of the Pestilence Cloak or Light Whip veils.

Crusader's Shield (for reference):

[SIZE=4]Crusader’s Shield[/SIZE]
Descriptors: none
Class: Daevic
Slot: Hands
Saving Throw: none
Bands of hardened akasha stretch out from your shield, creating an impenetrable wall of akashic energy.
Unlike most veils, Crusader’s Shield has no effect unless the veilweaver is wielding a shield or buckler. When you shape this veil, it forms around your shield, amplifying its protective abilities. As a move action, you can cause this veil to expand outward, creating a translucent, flat, vertical plane of akashic energy whose area is one 10-foot square wall that stops attacks, movement, breath weapons, and any targeted spells or effects that would pass through it. Teleportation spells or effects that do not require physical contact, such as hypnotic pattern, are not impeded. Effects that deal hit point damage that are intercepted by this akashic wall instead deal damage directly to the veil. The veilweaver cannot move while this wall is shaped, but may dismiss it as a free action.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil, its hardness increases by 2 and the wall extends an additional 5 square feet.
Chakra Bind (Hands): [D4] Binding this veil to your Hands chakra makes it vastly more responsive; you may now activate the barrier as an immediate action a number of times per day equal to your veilweaving modifier.

What if we combined that with the idea of being able to create mobile platforms for airwalking, and a few other abilities, into a kind of highly mobile tank? While we were at it, I'd be looking at making the mindshield completely replace the mindblade, allowing it to gain full enhancement bonuses and be used as a primary weapon.
So, basically, the best parts of Thor from Absolute Duo, Bartolomeo from One Piece, and a splash of Weiss from RWBY. Thoughts?

[true_shinken]

Sounds very interesting, Ssalarn.

I'd be interested in seeing Soulknife archetypes to access some measure of other power systems (arcane magic, divine magic, panache, etc) and/or archetypes to give mindblades/blade skills to other classes.

[Michael Sayre]

true_shinken wrote:

Sounds very interesting, Ssalarn.

I'd be interested in seeing Soulknife archetypes to access some measure of other power systems (arcane magic, divine magic, panache, etc) and/or archetypes to give mindblades/blade skills to other classes.

Chris and I discussed it a bit more and we may end up going a slightly different direction with an Akashic Soulknife, but we're definitely planning on there being one, whether we use the shield as the base or something else entirely. Definitely agreed that alternate power source Soulknives are rich design territory.

[VM mercenario]

Maybe allow a choice of getting either an akashic shield or akashic blade or akashic bolt, making it an alternative for the soulblade, soulbolt or mindshield, possibly making it compatible with those archetypes somehow.

Also, I just realized that veil is Erics shield from the D&D cartoon. Are there veils for the others too? Just an yes or no before I spend an hour looking for them.

Edit: I'm guessing the Mind Shield would work as the shield for Chusaders Shield, so the akashic veils are not replacing the mind blade. Are there any similar veils that enhance weapons?

[the xiao]

why not soulveil? an archetype that improves a particular veil (maybe from a small list) using psionic energy, or maybe the other way around forminng a mindblade and imrpoving it with essence.

[Michael Sayre]

VM mercenario wrote:

***

Also, I just realized that veil is Erics shield from the D&D cartoon. Are there veils for the others too? Just an yes or no before I spend an hour looking for them.
***

Due to international copyright laws, I can tell you with all certainty that any resemblance between the materials presented in Akashic Mysteries and those seen in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon are entirely coincidental.

That being said, the extended pole thing is kind of like spear of light, though that doesn't provide acrobatics assistance, the hat kind of already exists since it's just a rod of wonder you wear on your head (or you could use Waistband of the Wealthy loaded up with all the random items you've picked up during your adventuring), Robe of the Forgotten Deity grants you scaling concealment and lets you turn incorporeal, so it's kind of like the thief's cloak, and while there's not a veil for it specifically, Gurus who choose the Akasin Philosophy gain the ability to use longbows as philosophy weapons and transform their arrows into pure light, sooooo.... You can pretty much get there.

VM mercenario wrote:

Edit: I'm guessing the Mind Shield would work as the shield for Chusaders Shield, so the akashic veils are not replacing the mind blade. Are there any similar veils that enhance weapons?

Yeah, the idea would be that your mindshield serves as the anchor for the veil.

Amongst veils that enhance weapons, there's Armory of the Conqueror that lets you scale up the virtual size of your weapon, El's Utterdark Shield that basically turns your shield into a portable black hole, and.... That might actually be it. There's a few others that are weapons instead of affecting weapons.... Oh, Storm Gauntlets can add their elemental damage to a wielded weapon once you unlock the Wrists bind.

the xiao wrote:

why not soulveil? an archetype that improves a particular veil (maybe from a small list) using psionic energy, or maybe the other way around forminng a mindblade and imrpoving it with essence.

Certainly doable, though I feel like then you get the issue that it either turns into a ridiculously in depth archetype since all the veils have auto-scaling built in with essence that would have to be checked on a case-by-case basis against the Soulknife's other class features to ensure everything works right, or we end up with a Soulknife who's still just a Soulknife and simply uses a different system to get there.

I can't speak for Chris (though I suspect he feels the same way), but when I do a multi-subsystem archetype, I want to do something that can't be done in either system alone, or even with multiclassing. Every archetype should bring something totally new (or old but missing) to the table.