Since we know got the video on the upcoming Rogue and Soulknife changes, I want to mention the few things that I want changed in this subclass.
1. The ability to do opportunity attacks with Psychic Blades. This one was already mentioned but I'm putting it here on my list, because it has been something I wanted since I first saw a Soulknife.
2. Fix Psychic Teleportation. In how it's written now, you MUST teleport once you commit to this ability, regardless of your roll. What I would like to see/add is the ability to NOT teleport if the dice roll was terrible, and the ability to retain the use of Psychic Energy if you decide not to teleport. So burn the die only if you actually teleport. I'm not sure what kind of balance problems this would cause.
3. Someway for Psychic Blades to get upgraded with magical properties. Although the ability to deal psychic damage (a rarely resisted damage) at low/mid levels is great, after a while when the group gets +1/+2/+3 weapons or weapons that do +3d6 elemental damage on a hit, or other abilities, the Psychic Blades fall far behind. It's easy for a DM to cook an item that boosts their damage but it would be great if such an item existed in the game rules. Personally I don't think a boost to attack is very good (because of Homing Strikes that can boost it), but instead an item that increases the damage and gives one Psionic Energy once/day. Similar to a Dragonhide belt for the Monk.
PS. Adding VEX to Psychic Blades is amazing. This means you won't be needing to use Steady Aim all the time, when the combat isn't in melee yet. Instead you can Steady Aim in one round and if you hit, you can start dual attacking in the next, getting Advantage from Vex to trigger Sneak Attack.
Personally I don't think a boost to attack is very good (because of Homing Strikes that can boost it)
It's easy to forget that rogues are about doing all their damage in one hit. A +3 psychic blade at high levels is still only adding 3 extra damage per turn, which is dwarfed by the handful of Sneak Attack dice you're rolling. Attack is everything though, cause you need that one hit to land. If that is covered, you're good.
If you want a subclass to give the equivalent of a +3d6 weapon, I think you're going to be disappointed. Magic items can be given out at the DM's discretion, but class features are locked in. They will never make them as powerful as optional things.
Personally I don't think a boost to attack is very good (because of Homing Strikes that can boost it)
It's easy to forget that rogues are about doing all their damage in one hit. A +3 psychic blade at high levels is still only adding 3 extra damage per turn, which is dwarfed by the handful of Sneak Attack dice you're rolling. Attack is everything though, cause you need that one hit to land. If that is covered, you're good.
If you want a subclass to give the equivalent of a +3d6 weapon, I think you're going to be disappointed. Magic items can be given out at the DM's discretion, but class features are locked in. They will never make them as powerful as optional things.
Oh no that's not what I want at all. I'd rather have a magic item, like Monk's Dragonhide belt, that works on Psychic Blades. Currently, the game has no item that affects specific subclass features only, heck Monks didn't have a way to boost their abilities either for a long time. I hope they go over subclass features and provide items that can boost them (other than asking the DM to provide a homebrew item for it).
Many spellcaster hybrids in One DND, like Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight, will now get the ability to wield a focus to boost their magic, just like a regular spellcaster. It would be a good opportunity to add items that provide a boost to psionic powers as well (Psychic Warrior and Soulknife would benefit, Aberrant Sorcerers use regular Focus)
I only just now started dabbling with the Soulknife and one of the issues I saw with the subclass is that you can't use Psychic Blades with the extra attacks from having a multiclass that gives it. Also. You can't combine the Nick weapon mastery with those extra attacks cause you have the Nick weapon in the other hand. I made a homebrew version of the Soulknife that added the below change that addresses those issues:
"The blade vanishes immediately after it hits or misses its target, and it leaves no mark if it deals damage. If the Soulknife has extra attacks from multiclassing or from spells such as Haste, then the Soulknife can manifest another shimmering blade to use for those extra attacks.
After you attack with the blade on your turn, you can make another melee or ranged attack with a second psychic blade as a Bonus Action on the same turn. The damage die of this bonus attack is 1d4 instead of 1d6."
I basically added the bolded text and removed the text about the other hand needing to be free. I didn't change anything else about the subclass. Let me know what y'all think.
It just should not vanish while used in melee so as an actual melee weapon in your hand would follow standard multi attack rules. When thrown it vanishes on a hit or miss then should instantly reappear in their hand. They added a extra layer of complexity it vanishes instead of just acting like a normal weapon for 0 gain.
It just should not vanish while used in melee so as an actual melee weapon in your hand would follow standard multi attack rules. When thrown it vanishes on a hit or miss then should instantly reappear in their hand. They added a extra layer of complexity it vanishes instead of just acting like a normal weapon for 0 gain.
I think it should be, as it is portrayed as a dagger not a long sword. it should have nick instead of vex and the second d4 should be treated as a off hand weapon. On top of that there likely should be a feature where you can subsume magical properties from weapons you attune to and give those properties to the soul blades. Limit the list of what can apply if needed to just +s to hit/damage and maybe a short list of effects.
It is kind of irritating how the art for the sub class implies abilities the sub class does not have.
Sorry, I did mean to say "Simple" rather than "Light".
As-is, though, the d4 is treated as an off-hand attack because it requires you to have your other hand free to use, and thus a hand for the blade to appear in.
I do agree that the blade does need to have some sort of improvement progression to it, as it just winds up being a bit gimmicky at later levels. And especially with creatures that are resistant/immune to Psychic Damage. But I guess they'll just point out the fact that you can just pick up a normal weapon and have at it....
Sorry, I did mean to say "Simple" rather than "Light".
As-is, though, the d4 is treated as an off-hand attack because it requires you to have your other hand free to use, and thus a hand for the blade to appear in.
I do agree that the blade does need to have some sort of improvement progression to it, as it just winds up being a bit gimmicky at later levels. And especially with creatures that are resistant/immune to Psychic Damage. But I guess they'll just point out the fact that you can just pick up a normal weapon and have at it....
While you can just pick up a normal weapon and have at it when your subclass is the soul knife class not using the soul knife once magical weapons come into play seems to defeat the entire purpose of the subclass.
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Since we know got the video on the upcoming Rogue and Soulknife changes, I want to mention the few things that I want changed in this subclass.
1.
The ability to do opportunity attacks with Psychic Blades. This one was already mentioned but I'm putting it here on my list, because it has been something I wanted since I first saw a Soulknife.2. Fix Psychic Teleportation. In how it's written now, you MUST teleport once you commit to this ability, regardless of your roll. What I would like to see/add is the ability to NOT teleport if the dice roll was terrible, and the ability to retain the use of Psychic Energy if you decide not to teleport. So burn the die only if you actually teleport. I'm not sure what kind of balance problems this would cause.
3. Someway for Psychic Blades to get upgraded with magical properties. Although the ability to deal psychic damage (a rarely resisted damage) at low/mid levels is great, after a while when the group gets +1/+2/+3 weapons or weapons that do +3d6 elemental damage on a hit, or other abilities, the Psychic Blades fall far behind. It's easy for a DM to cook an item that boosts their damage but it would be great if such an item existed in the game rules. Personally I don't think a boost to attack is very good (because of Homing Strikes that can boost it), but instead an item that increases the damage and gives one Psionic Energy once/day. Similar to a Dragonhide belt for the Monk.
PS. Adding VEX to Psychic Blades is amazing. This means you won't be needing to use Steady Aim all the time, when the combat isn't in melee yet. Instead you can Steady Aim in one round and if you hit, you can start dual attacking in the next, getting Advantage from Vex to trigger Sneak Attack.
It's easy to forget that rogues are about doing all their damage in one hit. A +3 psychic blade at high levels is still only adding 3 extra damage per turn, which is dwarfed by the handful of Sneak Attack dice you're rolling. Attack is everything though, cause you need that one hit to land. If that is covered, you're good.
If you want a subclass to give the equivalent of a +3d6 weapon, I think you're going to be disappointed. Magic items can be given out at the DM's discretion, but class features are locked in. They will never make them as powerful as optional things.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Oh no that's not what I want at all. I'd rather have a magic item, like Monk's Dragonhide belt, that works on Psychic Blades. Currently, the game has no item that affects specific subclass features only, heck Monks didn't have a way to boost their abilities either for a long time. I hope they go over subclass features and provide items that can boost them (other than asking the DM to provide a homebrew item for it).
Many spellcaster hybrids in One DND, like Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight, will now get the ability to wield a focus to boost their magic, just like a regular spellcaster. It would be a good opportunity to add items that provide a boost to psionic powers as well (Psychic Warrior and Soulknife would benefit, Aberrant Sorcerers use regular Focus)
I only just now started dabbling with the Soulknife and one of the issues I saw with the subclass is that you can't use Psychic Blades with the extra attacks from having a multiclass that gives it. Also. You can't combine the Nick weapon mastery with those extra attacks cause you have the Nick weapon in the other hand. I made a homebrew version of the Soulknife that added the below change that addresses those issues:
"The blade vanishes immediately after it hits or misses its target, and it leaves no mark if it deals damage. If the Soulknife has extra attacks from multiclassing or from spells such as Haste, then the Soulknife can manifest another shimmering blade to use for those extra attacks.
After you attack with the blade on your turn, you can make another melee or ranged attack with a second psychic blade as a Bonus Action on the same turn. The damage die of this bonus attack is 1d4 instead of 1d6."
I basically added the bolded text and removed the text about the other hand needing to be free. I didn't change anything else about the subclass. Let me know what y'all think.
It just should not vanish while used in melee so as an actual melee weapon in your hand would follow standard multi attack rules. When thrown it vanishes on a hit or miss then should instantly reappear in their hand. They added a extra layer of complexity it vanishes instead of just acting like a normal weapon for 0 gain.
Completely agree.
I've made a Soulknife, but found that the proficiency bonus is missing for the Psychic Blade.
1) It's a class feature, so why no proficiency bonus?
2) It's a Simple* Melee weapon, so again, why no proficiency bonus?
It actually isn't light in 2024.
I think it should be, as it is portrayed as a dagger not a long sword. it should have nick instead of vex and the second d4 should be treated as a off hand weapon. On top of that there likely should be a feature where you can subsume magical properties from weapons you attune to and give those properties to the soul blades. Limit the list of what can apply if needed to just +s to hit/damage and maybe a short list of effects.
It is kind of irritating how the art for the sub class implies abilities the sub class does not have.
Sorry, I did mean to say "Simple" rather than "Light".
As-is, though, the d4 is treated as an off-hand attack because it requires you to have your other hand free to use, and thus a hand for the blade to appear in.
I do agree that the blade does need to have some sort of improvement progression to it, as it just winds up being a bit gimmicky at later levels. And especially with creatures that are resistant/immune to Psychic Damage.
But I guess they'll just point out the fact that you can just pick up a normal weapon and have at it....
I've noticed this too, why wouldn't you be proficient with a weapon that is a core part of the subclass? It makes no sense
While you can just pick up a normal weapon and have at it when your subclass is the soul knife class not using the soul knife once magical weapons come into play seems to defeat the entire purpose of the subclass.