Never caught unarmed, the soulknife is the literal interpretation of using the power of the mind as a weapon. Creating a mind blade is the core of the soulknife, and with it, she is a deadly combatant. Versatile and varied, the soulknife can be found in all shapes and sizes, wielding blades unique to the wielder and customized to fit the needs of the soulknife. Fluid in function, the soulknife has mastered how to alter her mind blade to fit the situation, bringing power and versatility into any combat.
Characteristics
More than any other psionic class, the soulknife fights with psionic power directly in both melee and ranged combat. Strength, combat prowess, and psionic talent allow the soulknife to claim equal footing—at least—with any other combat-oriented class on the field of battle.
Alignment
Despite their inborn showmanship, soulknives are often lawful, utilizing a disciplined mindset to idealize and materialize their mind blades. Chaotic-aligned soulknives rely on strength of spirit instead of rigid discipline to materialize their mind blades. Characters who are neutral with respect to law and chaos rarely become soulknives.
Religion
Soulknives who prefer to worship sometimes choose deities such as Saint Cuthbert (deity of retribution) or Heironeous (deity of valor). Evil soulknives often follow Erythnul, delighting in their ability to slaughter with the power of their minds.
Background
Many who have the ability and desire to mix the manifestation of psionic power with military might become psychic warriors, but for those with the right mix of talent and skill, the way of the soulknife is more alluring. Soulknives are trained for the most part by older, more experienced soulknives.
Races
The inborn gift for psionics is unpredictable, and it can show up in any of the common races. Of the races with a penchant for psionic ability, xephs seem especially likely to end up as soulknives.
Among all other creatures, virtually no opportunity for soulknife training is available.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A soulknife is proficient with all simple weapons, with her own mind blade (regardless of form), with light and medium armor, and with shields (but not tower shields).
Bonus Feat
The soulknife may choose Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Weapon Focus (mind blade) as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Form Mind Blade (Su)
As a move action, a soulknife can form a semi-solid weapon composed of psychic energy distilled from her own mind.
A soulknife must choose the form of her mind blade at 1st level. She can either form it into a light weapon, a one-handed weapon, or a two-handed weapon. Once chosen, her mind blade stays in this form every time the soulknife forms her mind blade. The light weapon deals 1d6 points of damage, the one-handed weapon deals 1d8 points of damage, and the two-handed weapon deals 2d6 points of damage. All damages are based on a Medium-sized creature wielding Medium-sized weapons; adjust the weapon damage as appropriate for different sized weapons. In all forms, the mind blade has a critical range of 19-20/x2. A soulknife with powerful build or any similar ability forms an appropriately-sized mind blade dealing the size-appropriate amount of damage. If the soulknife's chosen form is a light weapon, she may choose to form two light weapons when forming her mind blade if she so chooses, but she suffers the standard penalties for two-weapon fighting.
Regardless of the weapon form a soulknife has chosen, her mind blade does not have a set damage type. When shaping her weapon and assigning abilities to it, the soulknife chooses whether it will deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. The soulknife may change the damage type of an existing mind blade, or may summon a new mind blade with a different damage type, as a full-round action; otherwise, the mind blade retains the last damage type chosen every time it is summoned.
The blade can be broken (it has hardness 10 and 10 hit points); however, a soulknife can simply create another on her next move action. The moment she relinquishes her grip on her blade, it dissipates (unless she intends to throw it; see below). A mind blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and is considered a masterwork weapon.
a soulknife can use feats such as Power Attack or Combat Expertise in conjunction with the mind blade just as if it were a normal weapon. She can also choose her mind blade for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Focus and Improved Critical. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mind blade. The soulknife can use feats such as Weapon Finesse that work on light weapons with her mind blade, but such feats only work on mind blades in a light weapon form.
Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), a soulknife can attempt to sustain her mind blade by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, the soulknife maintains her mind blade for a number of rounds equal to her class level before she needs to check again, although the mind blade is treated for all purposes as a non-magical, masterwork weapon while in a place where psionic effects do not normally function. On an unsuccessful attempt, the mind blade vanishes. As a move action on her turn, the soulknife can attempt a new Will save to rematerialize her mind blade while she remains within the psionics-negating effect. She gains a bonus on Will saves made to maintain or form her mind blade equal to the total enhancement bonus of her mind blade (see below).
The soulknife chooses the appearance of her mind blade, although its shape must reflect the selections the soulknife has chosen: a bludgeoning mind blade would be blunt, slashing would have an edge, etc.
Shape Mind Blade
The soulknife's mind blade retains the last chosen form every time it is formed until the soulknife reshapes it. If the soulknife chooses to reshape her blade, it requires a full-round action to do so. She may also re-assign the type of damage dealt as part of reshaping her mind blade if she so chooses. A soulknife can reassign the ability or abilities she has added to her mind blade; see below. To do so, she must first spend 8 hours in concentration. These cannot be the normal 8 hours used for rest, even if the soulknife does not require sleep. After that period, the mind blade materializes with the new ability or abilities selected by the soulknife.
Throw Mind Blade
All soulknives have some knowledge of how to throw their mind blades, though the range increment varies by form and the largest of blade forms cannot be thrown. Light weapon mind blades have a range increment of 20 ft. One-handed weapon mind blades have a range increment of 15 ft. Two-handed weapon mind blades cannot be thrown without the Two-Handed Throw blade skill. Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mind blade then dissipates.
Wild Talent
The soulknife gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat at 1st level. This provides her with the psionic power necessary to manifest her mind blade. A character who is already psionic instead gains the Psionic Talent feat.
Blade Skills
Beginning at 2nd level and every even soulknife level thereafter, a soulknife may choose one of a number of abilities to add to her repertoire. Some blade skills have prerequisites that must be met before they can be chosen. All blade skills may only be chosen once and require the soulknife to be using her mind blade unless otherwise stated in the skill's description.
Enhanced Mind Blade
A soulknife's mind blade improves as the character gains higher levels. At 3rd level and every odd level thereafter, the mind blade gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus that she may spend on an actual enhancement bonus or on weapon special abilities. A soulknife's level determines her maximum enhancement bonus. The soulknife may (and must, when her total enhancement is higher than her maximum bonus) apply any special ability from the Weapon Special Abilities table below instead of an enhancement bonus, as long as she meets the level requirements. A soulknife can choose any combination of weapon special abilities and/or enhancement bonus enhancement bonus before assigning any special abilities. If the soulknife shapes her mind blade into two items, the enhancement bonus of her mind blade (if any) is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0). If this would reduce the enhancement bonus on the mind blades to 0 and weapon special abilities are applied, the soulknife must reshape her mind blade to make the options valid. Both mind blades have the same selection of enhancement bonus that does not exceed the total allowed by the soulknife's level, but she must assign at least a +1 and weapon special abilities (if any). This penalty does not apply when using the Mind Shield blade skill.
Psychic Strike (Su)
As a move action, a soulknife of 3rd level or higher can imbue her mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage on any attack she wishes to activate it on (as long as the attack is made with her mind blade). A soulknife may hold the charge as long as she likes without discharging. It does not go off on any attack unless she chooses to use it, and the charge is not wasted if an attack misses. Mindless creatures are immune to this damage, although non-mindless creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are affected by this damage as normal. (Unlike the rogue's sneak attack, the psychic strike is not precision damage and can affect creatures otherwise immune to extra damage from critical hits or more than 30 feet away.) A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a soulknife can imbue her mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action. Additionally, she may recharge it as a swift action by expending her psionic focus.
Once a soulknife has prepared her blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used (whether the attack is successful or not). Even if the soulknife drops the mind blade (or it otherwise dissipates, such as when it is thrown), it is still imbued with psychic energy when the soulknife next materializes it.
If the soulknife forms her mind blade into two weapons, she may imbue each mind blade with psychic strike as normal. If she reshapes her mind blade into a single weapon form, the additional psychic strike imbued into the additional weapon is lost. At every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, etc), the extra damage from a soulknife's psychic strike increases by 1d8.
Quick Draw
A 5th level soulknife may manifest her mind blade as a free action, though she may still only attempt to do so once per round (unless throwing the weapon multiple times using the Multiple Throw blade skill).
Mind Blade Mastery
At 20th level, a soulknife reaches the pinnacle of her art and her connection to her blade is so strong it cannot be severed. She no longer requires a Will save to maintain her mind blade in a null psionics field, although it still loses any enhancement bonus and special abilities. In addition, she may change the configurations of her mind blade's special abilities at will as a full-round action, which also resets any penalties that may have accrued from the Fluid Form and Improved Fluid Form blade skills.