I'm trying to build an unarmed attacker, and I was wondering which one is better between Psychic Warrior (Meditant) or Soulknife (Deadly Fist). I'm looking for an unarmed attacker that can compete against fighters/barbarian/etc. in the damage department. I also want the character to be unarmored. The game starts at level 1.
Meditant is good, but accuracy might be an issue down the line. It has better powers, and gets Wis to AC.
Deadly Fist has better accuracy, can be SAD (though it means waiting until level 2 before my attacks are any good) because Wis can be used for atk/dmg, and can get powers by going Gifted Blade. Perhaps I could dip into monk later on for the Wis to AC.
If you guys have any experience with either of these classes, let me know.
between those two option, I'd pick psychic warrior UNLESS your soulknife (deadly fist) is taking gifted blade; without gifted blade archetype, soulknife's main draw is saving money on a shiny weapon. in fact, if your DM allows for the High Psionic Variant of soulknife (gifted blade for free, without trading anything away for it), definitely take soulknife.
Air0r wrote: between those two option, I'd pick psychic warrior UNLESS your soulknife (deadly fist) is taking gifted blade; without gifted blade archetype, soulknife's main draw is saving money on a shiny weapon. in fact, if your DM allows for the High Psionic Variant of soulknife (gifted blade for free, without trading anything away for it), definitely take soulknife. No high psionic, but yes, I'd go Gifted Blade if I went the Soulknife route. My main concern is that Soulknife AC won't be as good (since I want to be unarmored). I guess I can dip Monk. It also means I have to suffer a low power lvl 1 since I'd go Wis for atk/dmg. PsyWar can also punce much sooner, and more often. Hmmmmm..........
Seems like the main benefit of going Soulknife is the free enhancement bonuses, and the full BAB. I guess I need to figure out if that's worth giving up for faster power progression, more power points, etc., and PsyWar does get Metaphysical Claws anyway, which I think works for unarmed attacks.
By level 3 of soulknife you should, assuming the DM is giving out appropriate wealth by level for everyone, start saving enough money to start buying defensive items.
Otherwise yes, psywarrior may be a potentially better option. in the past I ran into an issue with the time it takes to 'power up' (all the really fun combat-buffing powers take time to manifest and the higher your level the more of them you want to have up at once). The easy work around is grabbing quicken power as soon as it becomes usable to you and a way to get focus back quickly. That is just one route though.
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Multiclass. I'd start with Meditant, switch to soulknife. Then you take the Soul Warrior feat when you get a chance to make up for multiclassing.
If you want to go SAD, this will take longer, but this will also give you inertial armor on top of Dex and Wisdom.
I'd go Dex based until you can switch to Wis. You can then retrain weapon finesse. Plus dexterity helps AC and reflex save, so you weren't going to dump that. It's sort of like how gunslingers take a while for their damage to fully come on line.
Multiclassing also boosts your saves.
Air0r wrote: Otherwise yes, psywarrior may be a potentially better option. in the past I ran into an issue with the time it takes to 'power up' (all the really fun combat-buffing powers take time to manifest and the higher your level the more of them you want to have up at once). The easy work around is grabbing quicken power as soon as it becomes usable to you and a way to get focus back quickly. That is just one route though. With Meditant, you really need to be cautious about dropping focus as it kills your AC boost. Also, with Deadly fist providing "always on" boosts, full BAB, and Wis to damage, you can focus on longer-lasting boosts with your powers.
Air0r wrote: Otherwise yes, psywarrior may be a potentially better option. in the past I ran into an issue with the time it takes to 'power up' (all the really fun combat-buffing powers take time to manifest and the higher your level the more of them you want to have up at once). The easy work around is grabbing quicken power as soon as it becomes usable to you and a way to get focus back quickly. That is just one route though. I figured that I would just use the long-lasting buffs (Metaphysical Claws, Inertial Armor, etc.), and then use swift buffs (offensive prescience most likely, so I can get better accuracy). I know people like to enlarge and do other crazy stuff, but I usually just go for simple tactics. Soulknife can pull off the exact same things, and doesn't even need Metaphysical Claws, so that would save PP, which is good since they get less. Aaack, I can't decide, lol.
Quote: Multiclass. I'd start with Meditant, switch to soulknife. Then you take the Soul Warrior feat when you get a chance to make up for multiclassing.
If you want to go SAD, this will take longer, but this will also give you inertial armor on top of Dex and Wisdom.
I'd go Dex based until you can switch to Wis. You can then retrain weapon finesse. Plus dexterity helps AC and reflex save, so you weren't going to dump that. It's sort of like how gunslingers take a while for their damage to fully come on line.
Multiclassing also boosts your saves.
If you were to multiclass, what would the build look like at, say, level 10? I was thinking that if I went Soulknife, I would just go Monk2/SoulknifeX.
Monk
+1 fort
+1 will
2 bonus feats
stunning fist 4/day
evasion
Alignment limitation
Meditant w/ soul warrior
+1 enhancement on fists
More power points
1 bonus feat
+2 powers @ ml 4
+1 path power
+2 talents
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Go Unchanined Monk (so you can maintain full BAB) for the Wis-to-AC, then Deadly Fist. Make sure to nab practiced manifestor trait (I think that's what it is called), so you can have full manifestor level once Gifted Blade powers come into play.
Another option is to go War Soul archetype (from Path of War), and get nice unarmed martial maneuvers, but that precludes Gifted Blade.
Philo Pharynx wrote: Monk
+1 fort
+1 will
2 bonus feats
stunning fist 4/day
evasion
Alignment limitation
Meditant w/ soul warrior
+1 enhancement on fists
More power points
1 bonus feat
+2 powers @ ml 4
+1 path power
+2 talents
What I meant to ask was, how many levels of each class were you looking at, since you mentioned combining all 3 classes, monk with meditant and deadly fist?
Quote: Another option is to go War Soul archetype (from Path of War), and get nice unarmed martial maneuvers, but that precludes Gifted Blade. Path of War not allowed in the game.
I was about to second the War Soul; glad I refreshed first, lol. combining all three (monk/psywarrior/soulknife)? hmm... well a minimum of 3 levels of soulknife, because Natural Blade trait and Fighter's Blade feat can get your effective soulknife level +6 for the purposes of enhancement bonus (but not higher than your HD).
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Coinshot Colton wrote:
What I meant to ask was, how many levels of each class were you looking at, since you mentioned combining all 3 classes, monk with meditant and deadly fist?
Sorry, I'd go with no monk, 2 levels of PW(Meditant) and the rest as soulknife.
though I'd go with regular soulknife over deadly fist. Mostly because this makes you a Jedi.
Philo Pharynx wrote: Sorry, I'd go with no monk, 2 levels of PW(Meditant) and the rest as soulknife.
though I'd go with regular soulknife over deadly fist. Mostly because this makes you a Jedi.
Decided to go Soulknife. Will probably dip for 2 levels into Meditant, but not really sure when to do it.
I do also like the idea of a Jedi now, curse you for bringing it up >_<
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