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CLASS TRAITS
Role: Striker
Power Source: Psionic
Key Abilities: Constitution, Wisdom, Dexterity
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, light shields
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged, soulknife mind blade
Implements: soulknife mind blade, weapons with which you're proficient
Bonus to Defense: +1 Reflex, +1 Will
Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score

Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges per Day: 6 + Constitution modifier
Trained Skills: From the class skills list below, choose four trained skills at 1st level. Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Arcana (Int), Endurance (Con), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Perception (Wis), Religion (Int), Stealth (Dex)
Class Features:

Mind Blade
A soulknife can forge a special semisolid blade composed of psychic energy distilled from their own mind. As a minor action, you can create a mind blade in any free hand. A mind blade counts as a weapon from the heavy blades category. A mind blade has the off-hand and the versatile weapon properties, a +3 proficiency bonus, and deals 1d8 damage. You do not gain your proficiency bonus when you use your mind blade as an implement.

Soul Bonding
By spending one minute with a magical heavy blade, you are able to attune an enchantment to your mind blade. An enchanted mind blade gains all of the benefits of a magical weapon, including any properties or powers that item may posess. After a weapon has been attuned, the enchantment disappears, and the blade becomes a normal, nonmagical weapon.

By spending another minute with a regular heavy blade, you are able to enchant the weapon again. Doing so removes the enchantment from your mind blade.

Soulbreak
Once per round, when you hit an enemy with an attack using your mind blade, you can spend a healing surge as a free action. Instead of regaining hit points, you deal extra damage to that enemy equal to your healing surge value. If you can make multiple attacks in a round, you decide which attack to apply the soulbreak damage to after all the attacks are resolved.

Soul Study
Soulknives use the power of their own minds, hearts, and souls to focus their energies in the form of a weapon. By drawing strength from their own essences, they learn to coalesce all of these parts of themselves into a viable combat style. Some soulknives draw from their strength of will, while others learn to feed off their emotions. Choose one of the following options:

Heart of the Blade: You gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls equal to the number of healing surges you've lost since your last extended rest, up to a maximum equal to your Constitution modifier. In addition, you gain Toughness as a bonus feat.

Calm of the Spirit: You gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls equal to the number of healing surges you have remaining, up to a maximum equal to your Wisdom modifier. In addition, you gain Durable as a bonus feat.

Powers:

Mindslice            Soulknife Attack 1
You forgo bodily harm, and instead cut directly into your opponent's psyche.
At-Will    - Augmentable, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution or Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 1[W] + Constitution or Wisdom modifier psychic damage.
Augment 1: As above, and the target takes a -2 penalty to AC until the end of your next turn.
Augment 2: 2[W] + Constitution or Wisdom modifier psychic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to all defenses until the end of your next turn.

Agile Strike            Soulknife Attack 1
You add velocity to your attack, causing intense pain to your enemy.
At-Will    - Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard action
Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Effect: Before the attack roll, you can shift 1 square.
Hit: 1[W] + Constitution modifier damage.
Augment 1: As above, except you can shift a number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifier.
Augment 2: 2[W] + Constitution modifier + Dexterity modifier damage, and you can move your speed before or after the attack.

Psyburst            Soulknife Attack 1
You break your concentration on your blade, and force the energy outward, dawning your power on your foes.
At-Will    - Augmentable, Implement, Psionic, Psychic
Standard action
Close burst 1
Target: Each creature in burst
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d8 + Wisdom modifier psychic damage
Augment 1: Close burst 2
Augment 2: Close burst 3
Hit: 2d8 + Wisdom modifier psychic damage

Just got started on it. The idea was to build another V class, since I'm tired of designing boring old one main-attack stat classes.

I'd appreciate any input you may have.

Jul 14, 2010 -- 2:36PM, rampant wrote:

Question: Why bother stealing enchantments from heavy blades? Why not use a ki-focus?

Ki focuses don't seem to fit the idea of a Soulknife well not to me at least, but then again I would never make one as an implement user.

Balance Issue:

While I like the Soulbreak feature alot, it strongly favors the con-based build, as they'd have more surges and a much higher surge value... and when he runs out, he's rewarded fro doing so with damage equal to his (higher) pool size.  A wisdom soulknife is penalized for using his striker bonus damage feature with damage that shrinks every time they do it (and the bonus is never as large due to their smaller pool.)


Other thoughts, for what they're worth:

I had tinkered, in my head, with the idea of a wand-using arcane melee(ish) striker class, which would have the following ability:

Conjured Blade (or something)
Flavor here
Minor - Arcane
At-Will  Personal
Effect: Choose a type of one-handed light blade with which you are proficient.  One wand you wield counts as that type of weapon until the end of your next turn.  You can end this effect as a free action when you use a Classname Implement Attack: that power gains the weapon keyword and deals 1[W] extra damage.  Increase this damage to 2[W] at 11th level and 3[W] at 21st level.

Basically, the class would reverse the normal trend of having the striker bonus damage be static die and the main damage be [W]s.