Occult Adventures: Mindblade questions

[tlotig]

A few questions regarding the Mindblade Magus Archetype:
1. What are mindblades made of? Same material as the normal weapon, psychic energy? can they be sundered or rusted?
2. What stops me from manifesting a Mindblade Chainsaw
3. Psychic Access: should the 3rd teir of psychic access kick in at 10th not 11th to match when 4th level spells are gained(this would allow a mindblade to select Psychic access spells as their spell known as they gain spells of that level)?
4. Is defensive casting while spellcombat intended to be so difficult? Due to the +10 to concentration DC for Though component spells and inability to take a move action to center your self during spell combat?

[Entryhazard]

1. It says they're made of psychic energy, so most likely do not rust. For sundering purposes I'd say they have the same hp and hardness of a weapon of the standard material (steel in most cases).
2. Technically nothing, but for sure it will have 0 charges and would need to be charged separately with opportune spells or batteries

[Saethori]

tlotig wrote:

1. What are mindblades made of? Same material as the normal weapon, psychic energy? can they be sundered or rusted?

It's made of psychic energy. I do not feel it can be rusted, as it is not made of metal. It can likely be sundered, but if it is destroyed, you regain the psychic energy made to create it.

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2. What stops me from manifesting a Mindblade Chainsaw

Your GM.

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3. Psychic Access: should the 3rd teir of psychic access kick in at 10th not 11th to match when 4th level spells are gained(this would allow a mindblade to select Psychic access spells as their spell known as they gain spells of that level)?

Possibly. But they decided to time it with the abilities it's replacing, instead.

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4. Is defensive casting while spellcombat intended to be so difficult? Due to the +10 to concentration DC for Though component spells and inability to take a move action to center your self during spell combat?

Yes. The Mindblade is not meant to be played identically to a normal Magus, so attempting to overwhelm your opponent with Intensified Shocking Grasp isn't going to work. You have a lot of new techniques and abilities you can utilize, instead.

[tlotig]

Saethori wrote:

tlotig wrote:

1. What are mindblades made of? Same

Yes. The Mindblade is not meant to be played identically to a normal Magus, so attempting to overwhelm your opponent with Intensified Shocking Grasp isn't going to work. You have a lot of new techniques and abilities you can utilize, instead.

Intensified Shocking Grasp is for chumps, 6 attacks a round with Frostbite is much more lethal (or non lethal)

[Torbyne]

tlotig wrote:

A few questions regarding the Mindblade Magus Archetype:

1. What are mindblades made of? Same material as the normal weapon, psychic energy? can they be sundered or rusted?
2. What stops me from manifesting a Mindblade Chainsaw
3. Psychic Access: should the 3rd teir of psychic access kick in at 10th not 11th to match when 4th level spells are gained(this would allow a mindblade to select Psychic access spells as their spell known as they gain spells of that level)?
4. Is defensive casting while spellcombat intended to be so difficult? Due to the +10 to concentration DC for Though component spells and inability to take a move action to center your self during spell combat?

1. Hardness of a standard weapon of its type, to include enchantment bonuses but not any special materials. it is rust proof however as it is not made of metal. likewise it is not metal so it is not magnetic.

2. It is my understanding that technological devices follow similar creation rules to magic items and are not standard weapons. If you cannot use the mindblade to manifest say, a sun blade, than you can not manifest a chainsaw either. Even if you could you would still have to figure out how to power it on its own.

3. possibly but it does not break the class as is. in PFS i doubt you would get any traction on it. in a home game, sit down and talk it over with the GM.

4. Yes, there was a lot of talk about that when the archetype was first published. As others have said, play a Mindblade a little different from a standard Magus and you will still get a lot out of the class, even with the +10 dc.

[tlotig]

Its not that I think the class is broken, was just wondering if the intent was to make spell combat that difficult.

Also the fact that you can't get aligned weapons makes fighting outsiders quite difficult.

[Ventnor]

tlotig wrote:

Its not that I think the class is broken, was just wondering if the intent was to make spell combat that difficult.

Also the fact that you can't get aligned weapons makes fighting outsiders quite difficult.

There are the Devoted Blade and Bane Blade Arcanas.

[tlotig]

Ventnor wrote:

tlotig wrote:

Its not that I think the class is broken, was just wondering if the intent was to make spell combat that difficult.

Also the fact that you can't get aligned weapons makes fighting outsiders quite difficult.

There are the Devoted Blade and Bane Blade Arcanas.

The Devoted blade and Baneblade arcana are not available until 12 and 15.

A bigger problem is due to the wording they can not actually be used.
A mindblade never spends Arcane Pool to enhance their weapon.

[Torbyne]

tlotig wrote:

Ventnor wrote:

tlotig wrote:

Its not that I think the class is broken, was just wondering if the intent was to make spell combat that difficult.

Also the fact that you can't get aligned weapons makes fighting outsiders quite difficult.

There are the Devoted Blade and Bane Blade Arcanas.

The Devoted blade and Baneblade arcana are not available until 12 and 15.

A bigger problem is due to the wording they can not actually be used.
A mindblade never spends Arcane Pool to enhance their weapon.

I didnt read Pyschic Pool like that. as i read it, a Mindblade has an "arcane pool" for purposes of selecting either of those feats. Once you have the feat you just pay the extra cost when manifesting a weapon and can allocate enhancement points towards those enchantments.

due to the altered way a psychic pool works i would also return the extra points to a Mindblade when they released a Bane or aligned mindblade.