Limitless Worlds

Limitless Worlds

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Also, Soulknife?

So originally I was not going to put the soulknife into Psionics of Lore, mostly because John Stater had made a pretty good one and I didn't want to step all over his style. However, I feel like the book is a little lacking without it.

Below is a rough sketch of what I might include as the soulknife. If you guys could give me some feedback, I'd be super appreciative. I don't know if it's too weak, too powerful, or just too boring.




A soulknife can create a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. The blade is identical in all ways (except visually) to a shortsword. The wielder of a mind blade gains the usual modifiers to his attack roll and damage roll from their strength score.

The blade can be broken; however, a soulknife can simply create another on his next turn. The moment he relinquishes his grip on his blade, it dissipates (unless he intends to throw it; see below). A mind blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of hitting monsters only hit by magic weapons.

A soulknife’s mind blade improves as the character gains higher levels.

A soul knife of 2nd level or higher can throw his mind blade as a ranged weapon with a range increment of 30 feet. Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mind blade then dissipates. A soulknife of 3rd level or higher can make a psychic strike (see below) with a thrown mind blade and can use the blade in conjunction with other special abilities.

A soulknife of 3rd level or higher can spend a move action to imbue his mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d6 points of damage to the next living, non-mindless target he successfully hits with a melee attack (or ranged attack, if he is using the throw mind blade ability). Creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to psychic strike damage.

A soulknife can only imbue his weapon with psychic energy a number of times per hour equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Once a soulknife has prepared his blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if the soulknife drops the mind blade (or it otherwise dissipates, such as when it is thrown and misses), it is still imbued with psychic energy when the soulknife next materializes it.

At every four levels beyond 3rd (7th, 11th, and 15th), the extra damage from a soulknife’s psychic strike increases by 1d6.

A 4th level soulknife gets access to a few psionic powers, but they function differently than most psionics. The soulknife combines pure skill with psychic mastery, and so does not need PP and can not augment the powers. Instead, powers come in "tiers" that the soulknife can access at different levels. First tier powers can be used three times a day, second tier twice a day, and third once a day. A soulknife gets a first tier power at levels 4, 8 and 12. She gets a second tier power at level 6 and 10, and a third tier power at level 14.

1st Tier

Mental Disruption
Empty Mind
Skate
Vigor
Deceleration
Body Equilibrium
Biofeedback
Elfsight
Body Adjustment
Time Hop
Catfall
Energy Adaptation, Spec.

2nd Tier

Aura Sight
Empathic Feedback
Free Action, Psionic
Adapt Body
Power Resistance
True Seeing, Psionic
Catapsi
Detect Remote Viewing

3rd Tier

Temporal Acceleration
Cloud Mind, Mass
Retrieve
Overland Flight, Psionic
Energy Adaptation

1 comment:

  1. Hi Tanner, the Soulknife seems interesting to me, as a concept and as a flavour, but I can't say if it is effective or balanced or not, since I haven't had the possibility to playtest it yet. I continue to follow your works with great interest, though: compliments!

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