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I'm thinking that there might be some advantages to taking the Mind Smith dedication for a dual wielding build even if you didn't take any other feats from the archetype.
With just that feat you get a serviceable one-handed, summonable weapon that can be enhanced with the same runes as any other weapon.
And as far as I can tell from the wording, Doubling Rings would work with the mind weapon.
Being able to free up a hand with a free action just by dropping the mind weapon would be a nice option. (With the two-handed mind weapon you could free up both hands as a free action the same way.)
And you'd always have the option of taking one or two of the archetype feats if you decided you wanted more flexibility later.
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Mind smith has access to potentially a one handed ranged weapon at 8th level that could compete with the repeating hand crossbow. Only thing is that it doesn't have range increments but has a maximum range of 30. Still a good option for switch hitting at medium range. Good for dex thaumaturge especially if you stack it with modular and cold iron/silver damage to cover your bases on damage types. This is the best use case for it I think.
It runs into issues like a sprites unarmed ranged attacks in that some abilities only work with range increments: for instance, a starspan magus can't use a ranged spellstrike with it because it only works in the 1st range increment. I really wish they'd stop making ranged weapon/unarmed attacks without range increments.
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The ranged attack feat is reasonably neat, if you have the statline to leverage it. No complaints there. Some of the other feats are at least cool ideas.
What stands out the most to me though is the power budget of the base weapon (contrast d4/agile/finesse or d6/finesse mind blade with d6/agile/finesse/versatile short sword that doesn't cost a class feat), along with the highly limited configurations: there's no option for a non-finesse agile weapon, a non-reach two-handed weapon, and no access to a significant number of traits. You can have a spear or a club, but not a polearm or a flail or a knife.
There are of course, some intangible side benefits to using a mindblade over a traditional weapon, but I'm not convinced those justify the hyperconservative limitations placed on the dedication feat and its upgrades. Especially since access to your downgraded weapon is the only benefit of the feat.
Contrast with Soulforger, which gives you the ability to manifest your weapon and access to a daily power... and it's not like Soulforger was considered good to begin with.
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Mind smith has access to potentially a one handed ranged weapon at 8th level that could compete with the repeating hand crossbow. Only thing is that it doesn't have range increments but has a maximum range of 30. Still a good option for switch hitting at medium range. Good for dex thaumaturge especially if you stack it with modular and cold iron/silver damage to cover your bases on damage types. This is the best use case for it I think.It runs into issues like a sprites unarmed ranged attacks in that some abilities only work with range increments: for instance, a starspan magus can't use a ranged spellstrike with it because it only works in the 1st range increment. I really wish they'd stop making ranged weapon/unarmed attacks without range increments.
It'd be an even easier fix to just FAQ that a weapon's max range increment is its first range increment.
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It'd be an even easier fix to just FAQ that a weapon's max range increment is its first range increment.Mind smith has access to potentially a one handed ranged weapon at 8th level that could compete with the repeating hand crossbow. Only thing is that it doesn't have range increments but has a maximum range of 30. Still a good option for switch hitting at medium range. Good for dex thaumaturge especially if you stack it with modular and cold iron/silver damage to cover your bases on damage types. This is the best use case for it I think.It runs into issues like a sprites unarmed ranged attacks in that some abilities only work with range increments: for instance, a starspan magus can't use a ranged spellstrike with it because it only works in the 1st range increment. I really wish they'd stop making ranged weapon/unarmed attacks without range increments.
That just makes it confusing then as having a first increment makes it seem that there are more, both in 'first' and in 'increment'. Maybe a 'counts as the first range increment for abilities that require that' but I'd rather see actual, real increments for weapons/unarmed attacks and range for spells: I can't see a good reason why eye beams and seedpods have an increment but sparks and foxfire have a range when they are all unarmed. It's just weird that eyebeams go 120' max, seedpods go 60' max and both sparks and foxfire go... 20' max. :(
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OMFG!!!!!! How did I not know that there was going to be mutant Unicorn art in this book?!?!?!?! Everyone had to be talking about this and I just missed it, right?
Three of the Mind Smith's weapon options are one-handed. Would a shifting rune let you switch between those three types?
Somewhat random, but about Amps: Do they explicitly have to be used with the "Cast a Spell" activity, or can they be combined with weirder options (e.g. Spellstrikes)?
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I'm not seeing anything that would disallow it. You can amp whenever you cast an apporpriate spell, it has no action cost, nor any specific restrictions other than 1 amp/spell and no metamagic while using amps.
So unless you're using metamagic, or using some sort of ability that uses a spell without casting it (which I don't think exists) it seems like you can freely amp whenever you're casting.
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I'm not seeing anything that would disallow it. You can amp whenever you cast an apporpriate spell, it has no action cost, nor any specific restrictions other than 1 amp/spell and no metamagic while using amps.
So unless you're using metamagic, or using some sort of ability that uses a spell without casting it (which I don't think exists) it seems like you can freely amp whenever you're casting.
Information : Channel Smite seems to add the damage from Heal / Harm without casting the spell.