And I think that's right for the number of attacks (EDIT: take into account the limitation for Sneak Attack commented by @Plaguescarredhere) Just one note when not using the Two-Weapon Fighting feat: "You don’t add your ability modifier to the extra attack’s damage unless that modifier is negative."
EDIT: just adding this rule here:
Thrown: If a weapon has the Thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack, and you can draw that weapon as part of the attack.
@TarodNet Thanks. So if I'm trying to do ranged attacks with a Rogue getting 3 attacks and maximizing Sneak Attacks, all I need is Dual Wielder?
So assuming I start with Advantage or have an ally within 5' of an enemy: 1. Sneak Attack hand crossbow Action (Light triggers extra light weapon bonus action) (Dual Wielder triggers extra one-handed melee Bonus Action) (Vex gives advantage) + ability modifier to dmg 2. Sneak Attack (from Vex, if hit or if ally within 5') - thrown dagger Action (Light and Nick allows using Action in lieu of using Bonus Action) - do NOT add ability modifier to dmg 3. Possible Sneak Attack (if ally within 5') - thrown dagger Bonus Action (Melee and one-handed) - do NOT add ability modifier to dmg
Is that right?
And if I want to add the ability modifier to all the damage, I'd need the Two-Weapon Fighting Style Feat?
Unfortunately not right, you may use Sneak Attackonly once per turn.
My brain hurts... I'm simply trying to setup my level 3 Rogue to maximize ranged attacks and damage for the next few levels without multi-classing.
So what's the most ranged damage a Soulknife Rogue can do at levels 3-5 for these scenarios? 2 Light Crossbow attacks? 2 Psychic Blade attacks? 1 Hand Crossbow and 2 Daggers?
Scenario 1. when you already get Sneak Attack due to an ally being within 5' of an enemy Scenario 2. when you need to make your own advantage in order to get Sneak Attack
And while we're at it... what's the best way to get max melee damage and still be able to disengage as a Bonus Action (if the creature is still alive) and manage Sneak Attack? 2 Rapier attacks? 2 Scimitar attacks and a Disengage? 1 Rapier and 1 Scimitar and Disengage?
So first sneak attack can only be used once per turn and is just extra damage to an attack if the conditions are met. Based on one of your previous post it seemed you didn't understand how sneak attack works.The main benefit that gaining multiple attacks has for a rogue is being able to have multiple chances to use sneak attack.
If you want a ranged way to get multiple attacks using only your action the only combo is a hand crossbow and a dagger. You would want both weapon masteries to give you more opportunities to attack at advantage and to throw the dagger as part of your action. Also note that throwing the dagger wouldn't add your ability modifier to the damage so it's barely anything if you end up using your sneak attack with the hand crossbow attack.
This is a pretty short range combo that only works at 20 ft due to not being able to use sneak attack if you have disadvantage (throwing a dagger past 20 ft imposes disadvantage even with sharpshooter because sharpshooter only works on ranged weapons not thrown melee weapons). Honestly the range is so short that this probably won't be as useful as just using a light crossbow and getting one attack because you're close enough to be in danger of being targeted which kinda defeats the purpose of ranged attacks. That said with good positioning it is a nice way to get another chance to deal damage and use your sneak attack if you miss your first attack.
So first sneak attack can only be used once per turn and is just extra damage to an attack if the conditions are met. Based on one of your previous post it seemed you didn't understand how sneak attack works.The main benefit that gaining multiple attacks has for a rogue is being able to have multiple chances to use sneak attack.
If you want a ranged way to get multiple attacks using only your action the only combo is a hand crossbow and a dagger. You would want both weapon masteries to give you more opportunities to attack at advantage and to throw the dagger as part of your action. Also note that throwing the dagger wouldn't add your ability modifier to the damage so it's barely anything if you end up using your sneak attack with the hand crossbow attack.
This is a pretty short range combo that only works at 20 ft due to not being able to use sneak attack if you have disadvantage (throwing a dagger past 20 ft imposes disadvantage even with sharpshooter because sharpshooter only works on ranged weapons not thrown melee weapons). Honestly the range is so short that this probably won't be as useful as just using a light crossbow and getting one attack because you're close enough to be in danger of being targeted which kinda defeats the purpose of ranged attacks. That said with good positioning it is a nice way to get another chance to deal damage and use your sneak attack if you miss your first attack.
Wow. I didn't even think about the short 20' range for the dagger. And the hand crossbow is only 30'. That's awful but I guess maybe the Sharpshooter Feat could help with that? Ugh... too many Feats required to fix everything.
So which class is the king of ranged damage if one wants to avoid spellcasting?
I mean at level 3 the rogue using a light crossbow does the most ranged damage due to sneak attack and steady aim granting advantage. A fighter will do well with ranged damage using a longbow or heavy crossbow once you get to level 6 and take a few feats. If you want build ideas I'd check out treantmonk's videos comparing damage for 2024.
I mean at level 3 the rogue using a light crossbow does the most ranged damage due to sneak attack and steady aim granting advantage. A fighter will do well with ranged damage using a longbow or heavy crossbow once you get to level 6 and take a few feats. If you want build ideas I'd check out treantmonk's videos comparing damage for 2024.
I've been watching treantmonk's videos for tier 1 (lvl 1-5) and tier 2 (lvl 6-10) builds. In fact, I watched one and then came directly back here to check comments and saw yours, haha!
Unfortunately, he doesn't even mention Soulknife or triple attacks due to light weapons extra attack and dual-wielding extra attack. He says he only ran 39 builds out of 100s and so, sadly, it's not really all-inclusive.
At levels 1-6 the rogue’s sneak attack damage isn’t all that much and just 1/turn.. going ranger you still use the hand xbow +dagger but but in rnd 1 you cast hunters mark with your bonus action Before attacking and get +1d8 to each hit. In addition if you go hunter you have the choice of colossus slayer ( +1d8 1/t) or horde breaker (+1 attack vs a different nearby foe in the attack action)
At levels 1-6 the rogue’s sneak attack damage isn’t all that much and just 1/turn.
At levels 3 & 4, a successful Sneak Attack adds 2d6 and at levels 5 & 6, 3d6 to one of your attack's damage... and you get up to 3 attack chances to get that once per turn Sneak Attack bonus if you use Light Weapons extra attack and choose the 4th level Dual Wielding extra attack. The ranger would have to succeed with 3 hits in order to get 3d6 added to their attacks.
Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker are pretty sweet though!
At levels 1-6 the rogue’s sneak attack damage isn’t all that much and just 1/turn.. going ranger you still use the hand xbow +dagger but but in rnd 1 you cast hunters mark with your bonus action Before attacking and get +1d8 to each hit. In addition if you go hunter you have the choice of colossus slayer ( +1d8 1/t) or horde breaker (+1 attack vs a different nearby foe in the attack action)
First as someone else pointed out hunters mark is a d6 not a d8 at lvl 3 a rogue can use steady aim as a bonus action to get advantage on their first attack while a ranger can potentially do more in situations where they trigger Colossus slayer or horde breaker the extra damage from hunter's mark is worse than sneak attack because it requires you to hit twice to be equal to the damage of sneak attack. Also being able to always have advantage translates to more damage because you're hitting more, criting more, and always procing sneak attack. If you find a way to get advantage on a ranger it can do better damage but there is no way built into the class to get advantage like with the rogue. One of treantmonk's best ranged damage builds was an assassin rogue using true strike and the damage of a base rogue using true strike isn't far off especially in tier 1 of play. Ultimately tier 1 is the most luck of the dice tier and being able to have advantage drastically increases your effectiveness more than an extra d8 on damage.
Range in general is a lot weaker than melee in 2024. I get it, range has the advantage of well range, but I wonder if they overbalanced it a bit for the treantmonks of the world. I just don't think that many tables were using range in some uber powerful ways with crowd control, kiting etc. I suspect at most tables in 95% of the fights you didn't even get an free rounds of attacks as enemies closed. I just think most casual gamers are going to have smaller maps, with casual tactics.
But it is what it is in 2024, if you want to get in great DPR go into melee, and that is where the ranger will shine in tiers 1-2. 3-4 attacks, with HM, with colossus slayer, adds up fast. Had one in the last game I ran, and by far the top damage dealer, but the campign was planned tgo be short, it was just a break between Cthulhu sessions so it wrapped up at 8. If we had hit 11+ I suspect the numbers would have changed.
That being said depending on campaign a gloomstalker ranger may be brutal, like if you were in a under dark campaign if you stated or just moved out of peoples light radius, you are getting advantage as Darkvision does not see you.
Or go a bit off normal and do a barbarian thrown weapon build with a fighter level dip for the thrown weapon fighting style. Sucks that there are no martial thrown/nick weapons but tossing hammers and daggers left and right could be fun 1d4+4+str mod, 4 times of all with nick ones, but make the main hand a hand axe or something if you want and a berserker adds 2d6 to the first hit each round.(assuming you reckless attack and well I always would) While you get hit a lot, you also will hit people a lot as you will be making all attacks with advantage. And you have the hit points/resistance to damage to take it. Until you find a way to get returning weapons though you have to carry a ton of weapons.
But I'm not just going for the character with max DPR or a melee character. And I just don't like multi-classing as it draws out leveling up. I want to play a stealthy character that hides in the shadows, attacks from range and hides. For that character, I want max number of attacks and max DPR.
Although a berserker barbarian throwing tiny hammers is pretty funny.
With a rogue max ranged dpr may actually be doing just one attack per round, especially at higher levels. Let's compare the dpr of a 5th lvl rogue casting truestrike with a shortbow to one using a hand crossbow and dagger both using steady aim for advantage on the first attack and taking the hit chances that treantmonk uses which are based on having an 18 in your primary stat at lvl 4. I'm also assuming that you'll qualify for sneak attack if the hand crossbow misses which isn't guaranteed and isn't likely if your party doesn't work together well.
Dagger on crossbow hit: .84[chance for crossbow to hit] * .84[advantage from vex] (2.5[dagger]) + .098(2.5[dagger]) = 1.97
Dagger on crossbow miss: .16[chance crossbow misses] * .6[no advantage] (2.5[dagger]+10.5[if you even get sneak attack]) + .05(2.5[dagger] + 10.5[sneak]) = 1.35
So, using a shortbow with true strike is only .04 dpr less than using a hand crossbow and dagger but has significantly better range and frees up your bonus action on the next turn due to vex on the shortbow. The true strike build will win outright at lvl 11 due to the scaling of the true strike damage.
If you want a stealthy character that attacks from range and makes multiple attacks building a ranger is a better option. Though without some optimization you'll fall behind the rogue in dpr around level 11.
Weapon properties throws things off a bit. Not on DPR really but in bonus actions. Short bow and hand crossbow are vex like psychic blades, whereas dagger is nick.
Short bow person steady aims round one and hits, well they only have one attack and double advantage outside elven accuracy(they ought to drop that feat) does not exist so round 2 they have a free bonus action. Crossbow/dagger person always ends on nick so they would always need steady aim to get advantage so their bonus actions are less free.
Psychic blade guy ends on vex, but needs to use a bonus action to get the 2nd attack. Honestly no real point to ever use steady aim imo the difference between 1d6 and 1d4 is negligible and 2 attacks are basically the same as advantage in hit chance and if you hit on your first your bonus action is free. You technically can't use true strike on it and unlike shadow blade its not manifested for a duration(psychic blades should be) so it kind of makes sense.
Level 9 psychic blades get a big accuracy boost, depending on the table though it may just balance out with the magic weapons every one else has been sporting for 5+levels. But if you can use it to hit on your first attack with vex going that 84% chance to hit suddenly is probably closer to 94% until you burn through your points. With that accuracy you are probably always hitting on your first attack and then it comes down to is an extra 7ish damage worth your bonus action(withdraw, hide etc)
MeatLuggin Out of curiosity, what would be same Rogue DPR for Psychic Blade use at L4 to 11+ ?
TLDR: Soul blades do more damage after 1st round as long as you attack the same target to get advantage from vex. Also, if you can find a way to get advantage on the first hit the soul knife does more due to the second attack adding your ability modifier.
The damage numbers would be similar to the crossbow and dagger with the only difference being that you can add your ability modifier to the second attack. It would also use your bonus action to do the second attack so you can't use it for steady aim so no advantage which will hurt it significantly at least for the first round. I was kinda surprised by how much vex on the blades carries it after the first round. Same assumptions about ability score, that you'll get sneak attack when you don't have advantage even though it's not guaranteed, and adding the assumption that you get advantage from vex on the next turn if your last attack hits. Also to compare to the ones before it has to be at level 5 like they were. I had to calculate for later rounds and average 4 rounds together due to potentially getting advantage from vex. It was a pain in the butt and I'm pretty sure if I got the math correct.
soul knife level 5 - 19.26 dpr first round, 22.72 average dpr after 1st round, 21.86 dpr average over 4 rounds
second blade with 1st hit - .6{.84(2.5[2nd blade] + 4) + .098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 3.42 dpr
second blade with 1st miss - .4{.6(2.5[2nd blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .05(2.5[2nd blade] + 10.5[sneak])} = 4.34 dpr
2nd round 23.94 dpr with advantage, 22.72 average dpr after 1st round
main psychic blade with advantage[74% chance? second attack hits] - .84(3.5[psychic blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .098(3.5[psychic blade] + 10.5[sneak]) = 16.49 dpr
second blade with 1st hit - .84{.84(2.5[2nd blade] + 4) + .098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 5.71 dpr
second blade with 1st miss - .16{.6(2.5[2nd blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .05(2.5[2nd blade] + 10.5[sneak])} = 1.74 dpr
Calculating lvl 11 and above is even more complicated because the soul knife gets to use their psionic energy dice to increase their hit chance at level 9. Once again it uses your bonus action whereas using a shortbow with true strike potentially frees up your bonus action.
soul blade level 11 - 33.26 dpr 1st round, 36.4 average dpr after 1st round, average over 4 rounds 35.62 dpr
main psychic blade - .71[this is the probability using homing strikes](3.5[psychic blade] + 5 + 21[sneak]) + .05(3.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak]) = 22.17 dpr
2nd blade with 1st hit - .71{.884[advantage with homing strikes](2.5[2nd blade]+5) +.098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 4.88 dpr
2nd blade with 1st miss - .29{.71(2.5[2nd blade]+5+21[sneak]) + .05(2.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak])} = 6.21 dpr
2nd round is 37.04 with advantage on first hit, 36.40 average
main blade after first round if second attack hits [83% chance?] - .884[homing strikes](3.5[psychic blade] + 5 + 21[sneak]) + .098(3.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak]) = 28.48 dpr
2nd blade with 1st hit - .884{.884[advantage with homing strikes](2.5[2nd blade]+5) +.098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 6.08 dpr
2nd blade with 1st miss - .116{.71(2.5[2nd blade]+5+21[sneak]) + .05(2.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak])} = 2.48 dpr
True Strike shortbow level 11 - 33.75 dpr (this was so much nicer to do the math of); 34.69 if you use a light crossbow and commit to using your bonus action
Based on this math the soul knife does slightly less dpr on the first round due to not having advantage but does more on later rounds when vex kicks in to give advantage because you add your ability modifier to the second attack. Technically speaking the chance of the second attack hitting increases when the first attack gets advantage because you're more likely to get advantage on the second attack. That was a lot more math for a 2.6% increase in the chance to get advantage on the 3rd round and would barely change the 4 round dpr so just note that the dpr for the soul knife should be slightly higher. The saving grace for the true strike build is that it can benefit from magic weapons, potentially frees up your free bonus action, and has longer range. It also lets you combo with quicken meta magic to potentially get two sneak attacks per round or warlock agonizing blast/genie's wrath for higher base damage if you want to multi-class. Plus the true strike build is a base rogue. I'd hope that the soul knife, a more combat oriented subclass, can increase your dpr over the base class.
Edit: The math changes at level 17 due to the soul knife hitting more often [psionic dice increase to a d12] and the true strike will deal a d6 more damage on a hit.
You're welcome, mate!
And I think that's right for the number of attacks (EDIT: take into account the limitation for Sneak Attack commented by @Plaguescarred here) Just one note when not using the Two-Weapon Fighting feat: "You don’t add your ability modifier to the extra attack’s damage unless that modifier is negative."
EDIT: just adding this rule here:
Unfortunately not right, you may use Sneak Attack only once per turn.
Ups, I was more focused on the number of attacks than on Sneak Attack. Totally right. I've just updated my answer.
My brain hurts... I'm simply trying to setup my level 3 Rogue to maximize ranged attacks and damage for the next few levels without multi-classing.
So what's the most ranged damage a Soulknife Rogue can do at levels 3-5 for these scenarios? 2 Light Crossbow attacks? 2 Psychic Blade attacks? 1 Hand Crossbow and 2 Daggers?
Scenario 1. when you already get Sneak Attack due to an ally being within 5' of an enemy
Scenario 2. when you need to make your own advantage in order to get Sneak Attack
And while we're at it... what's the best way to get max melee damage and still be able to disengage as a Bonus Action (if the creature is still alive) and manage Sneak Attack? 2 Rapier attacks? 2 Scimitar attacks and a Disengage? 1 Rapier and 1 Scimitar and Disengage?
Without any feats or multiclass, a Soul Knife Rogue is best to attack with Psychic Blade signature ability.
Otherwise wielding Shortsword & Scimitar could free up your Bonus Action for something else, such as Cunning Action.
So first sneak attack can only be used once per turn and is just extra damage to an attack if the conditions are met. Based on one of your previous post it seemed you didn't understand how sneak attack works.The main benefit that gaining multiple attacks has for a rogue is being able to have multiple chances to use sneak attack.
If you want a ranged way to get multiple attacks using only your action the only combo is a hand crossbow and a dagger. You would want both weapon masteries to give you more opportunities to attack at advantage and to throw the dagger as part of your action. Also note that throwing the dagger wouldn't add your ability modifier to the damage so it's barely anything if you end up using your sneak attack with the hand crossbow attack.
This is a pretty short range combo that only works at 20 ft due to not being able to use sneak attack if you have disadvantage (throwing a dagger past 20 ft imposes disadvantage even with sharpshooter because sharpshooter only works on ranged weapons not thrown melee weapons). Honestly the range is so short that this probably won't be as useful as just using a light crossbow and getting one attack because you're close enough to be in danger of being targeted which kinda defeats the purpose of ranged attacks. That said with good positioning it is a nice way to get another chance to deal damage and use your sneak attack if you miss your first attack.
Wow. I didn't even think about the short 20' range for the dagger. And the hand crossbow is only 30'. That's awful but I guess maybe the Sharpshooter Feat could help with that? Ugh... too many Feats required to fix everything.
So which class is the king of ranged damage if one wants to avoid spellcasting?
I mean at level 3 the rogue using a light crossbow does the most ranged damage due to sneak attack and steady aim granting advantage. A fighter will do well with ranged damage using a longbow or heavy crossbow once you get to level 6 and take a few feats. If you want build ideas I'd check out treantmonk's videos comparing damage for 2024.
I've been watching treantmonk's videos for tier 1 (lvl 1-5) and tier 2 (lvl 6-10) builds. In fact, I watched one and then came directly back here to check comments and saw yours, haha!
Unfortunately, he doesn't even mention Soulknife or triple attacks due to light weapons extra attack and dual-wielding extra attack. He says he only ran 39 builds out of 100s and so, sadly, it's not really all-inclusive.
At levels 1-6 the rogue’s sneak attack damage isn’t all that much and just 1/turn.. going ranger you still use the hand xbow +dagger but but in rnd 1 you cast hunters mark with your bonus action Before attacking and get +1d8 to each hit. In addition if you go hunter you have the choice of colossus slayer ( +1d8 1/t) or horde breaker (+1 attack vs a different nearby foe in the attack action)
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
1d6
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At levels 3 & 4, a successful Sneak Attack adds 2d6 and at levels 5 & 6, 3d6 to one of your attack's damage... and you get up to 3 attack chances to get that once per turn Sneak Attack bonus if you use Light Weapons extra attack and choose the 4th level Dual Wielding extra attack. The ranger would have to succeed with 3 hits in order to get 3d6 added to their attacks.
Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker are pretty sweet though!
First as someone else pointed out hunters mark is a d6 not a d8 at lvl 3 a rogue can use steady aim as a bonus action to get advantage on their first attack while a ranger can potentially do more in situations where they trigger Colossus slayer or horde breaker the extra damage from hunter's mark is worse than sneak attack because it requires you to hit twice to be equal to the damage of sneak attack. Also being able to always have advantage translates to more damage because you're hitting more, criting more, and always procing sneak attack. If you find a way to get advantage on a ranger it can do better damage but there is no way built into the class to get advantage like with the rogue. One of treantmonk's best ranged damage builds was an assassin rogue using true strike and the damage of a base rogue using true strike isn't far off especially in tier 1 of play. Ultimately tier 1 is the most luck of the dice tier and being able to have advantage drastically increases your effectiveness more than an extra d8 on damage.
Range in general is a lot weaker than melee in 2024. I get it, range has the advantage of well range, but I wonder if they overbalanced it a bit for the treantmonks of the world. I just don't think that many tables were using range in some uber powerful ways with crowd control, kiting etc. I suspect at most tables in 95% of the fights you didn't even get an free rounds of attacks as enemies closed. I just think most casual gamers are going to have smaller maps, with casual tactics.
But it is what it is in 2024, if you want to get in great DPR go into melee, and that is where the ranger will shine in tiers 1-2. 3-4 attacks, with HM, with colossus slayer, adds up fast. Had one in the last game I ran, and by far the top damage dealer, but the campign was planned tgo be short, it was just a break between Cthulhu sessions so it wrapped up at 8. If we had hit 11+ I suspect the numbers would have changed.
That being said depending on campaign a gloomstalker ranger may be brutal, like if you were in a under dark campaign if you stated or just moved out of peoples light radius, you are getting advantage as Darkvision does not see you.
Or go a bit off normal and do a barbarian thrown weapon build with a fighter level dip for the thrown weapon fighting style. Sucks that there are no martial thrown/nick weapons but tossing hammers and daggers left and right could be fun 1d4+4+str mod, 4 times of all with nick ones, but make the main hand a hand axe or something if you want and a berserker adds 2d6 to the first hit each round.(assuming you reckless attack and well I always would) While you get hit a lot, you also will hit people a lot as you will be making all attacks with advantage. And you have the hit points/resistance to damage to take it. Until you find a way to get returning weapons though you have to carry a ton of weapons.
@MyDudeicus thanks. Some good ideas.
But I'm not just going for the character with max DPR or a melee character. And I just don't like multi-classing as it draws out leveling up.
I want to play a stealthy character that hides in the shadows, attacks from range and hides. For that character, I want max number of attacks and max DPR.
Although a berserker barbarian throwing tiny hammers is pretty funny.
With a rogue max ranged dpr may actually be doing just one attack per round, especially at higher levels. Let's compare the dpr of a 5th lvl rogue casting truestrike with a shortbow to one using a hand crossbow and dagger both using steady aim for advantage on the first attack and taking the hit chances that treantmonk uses which are based on having an 18 in your primary stat at lvl 4. I'm also assuming that you'll qualify for sneak attack if the hand crossbow misses which isn't guaranteed and isn't likely if your party doesn't work together well.
truestrike - 19.77 dpr
Shortbow attack: .84(3.5[shortbow] + 4 + 10.5[sneak attack] + 3.5[truestrike]) + .098(3.5[shortbow] + 10.5[sneak] + 3.5[truestrike])
the hand crossbow and dagger are a bit more complicated - 19.81 dpr
hand crossbow: .84(3.5[hand crossbow] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .098(3.5[crossbow] +10.5[sneak]) = 16.49
Dagger on crossbow hit: .84[chance for crossbow to hit] * .84[advantage from vex] (2.5[dagger]) + .098(2.5[dagger]) = 1.97
Dagger on crossbow miss: .16[chance crossbow misses] * .6[no advantage] (2.5[dagger]+10.5[if you even get sneak attack]) + .05(2.5[dagger] + 10.5[sneak]) = 1.35
So, using a shortbow with true strike is only .04 dpr less than using a hand crossbow and dagger but has significantly better range and frees up your bonus action on the next turn due to vex on the shortbow. The true strike build will win outright at lvl 11 due to the scaling of the true strike damage.
If you want a stealthy character that attacks from range and makes multiple attacks building a ranger is a better option. Though without some optimization you'll fall behind the rogue in dpr around level 11.
MeatLuggin Out of curiosity, what would be same Rogue DPR for Psychic Blade use at L4 to 11+ ?
Weapon properties throws things off a bit. Not on DPR really but in bonus actions. Short bow and hand crossbow are vex like psychic blades, whereas dagger is nick.
Short bow person steady aims round one and hits, well they only have one attack and double advantage outside elven accuracy(they ought to drop that feat) does not exist so round 2 they have a free bonus action. Crossbow/dagger person always ends on nick so they would always need steady aim to get advantage so their bonus actions are less free.
Psychic blade guy ends on vex, but needs to use a bonus action to get the 2nd attack. Honestly no real point to ever use steady aim imo the difference between 1d6 and 1d4 is negligible and 2 attacks are basically the same as advantage in hit chance and if you hit on your first your bonus action is free. You technically can't use true strike on it and unlike shadow blade its not manifested for a duration(psychic blades should be) so it kind of makes sense.
Level 9 psychic blades get a big accuracy boost, depending on the table though it may just balance out with the magic weapons every one else has been sporting for 5+levels. But if you can use it to hit on your first attack with vex going that 84% chance to hit suddenly is probably closer to 94% until you burn through your points. With that accuracy you are probably always hitting on your first attack and then it comes down to is an extra 7ish damage worth your bonus action(withdraw, hide etc)
TLDR: Soul blades do more damage after 1st round as long as you attack the same target to get advantage from vex. Also, if you can find a way to get advantage on the first hit the soul knife does more due to the second attack adding your ability modifier.
The damage numbers would be similar to the crossbow and dagger with the only difference being that you can add your ability modifier to the second attack. It would also use your bonus action to do the second attack so you can't use it for steady aim so no advantage which will hurt it significantly at least for the first round. I was kinda surprised by how much vex on the blades carries it after the first round. Same assumptions about ability score, that you'll get sneak attack when you don't have advantage even though it's not guaranteed, and adding the assumption that you get advantage from vex on the next turn if your last attack hits. Also to compare to the ones before it has to be at level 5 like they were. I had to calculate for later rounds and average 4 rounds together due to potentially getting advantage from vex. It was a pain in the butt and I'm pretty sure if I got the math correct.
soul knife level 5 - 19.26 dpr first round, 22.72 average dpr after 1st round, 21.86 dpr average over 4 rounds
main psychic blade - .6(3.5[psychic blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .05(3.5[psychic blade] + 10.5[sneak]) = 11.5 dpr
second blade with 1st hit - .6{.84(2.5[2nd blade] + 4) + .098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 3.42 dpr
second blade with 1st miss - .4{.6(2.5[2nd blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .05(2.5[2nd blade] + 10.5[sneak])} = 4.34 dpr
2nd round 23.94 dpr with advantage, 22.72 average dpr after 1st round
main psychic blade with advantage[74% chance? second attack hits] - .84(3.5[psychic blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .098(3.5[psychic blade] + 10.5[sneak]) = 16.49 dpr
second blade with 1st hit - .84{.84(2.5[2nd blade] + 4) + .098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 5.71 dpr
second blade with 1st miss - .16{.6(2.5[2nd blade] + 4 + 10.5[sneak]) + .05(2.5[2nd blade] + 10.5[sneak])} = 1.74 dpr
Calculating lvl 11 and above is even more complicated because the soul knife gets to use their psionic energy dice to increase their hit chance at level 9. Once again it uses your bonus action whereas using a shortbow with true strike potentially frees up your bonus action.
soul blade level 11 - 33.26 dpr 1st round, 36.4 average dpr after 1st round, average over 4 rounds 35.62 dpr
main psychic blade - .71[this is the probability using homing strikes](3.5[psychic blade] + 5 + 21[sneak]) + .05(3.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak]) = 22.17 dpr
2nd blade with 1st hit - .71{.884[advantage with homing strikes](2.5[2nd blade]+5) +.098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 4.88 dpr
2nd blade with 1st miss - .29{.71(2.5[2nd blade]+5+21[sneak]) + .05(2.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak])} = 6.21 dpr
2nd round is 37.04 with advantage on first hit, 36.40 average
main blade after first round if second attack hits [83% chance?] - .884[homing strikes](3.5[psychic blade] + 5 + 21[sneak]) + .098(3.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak]) = 28.48 dpr
2nd blade with 1st hit - .884{.884[advantage with homing strikes](2.5[2nd blade]+5) +.098(2.5[2nd blade])} = 6.08 dpr
2nd blade with 1st miss - .116{.71(2.5[2nd blade]+5+21[sneak]) + .05(2.5[psychic blade] + 21[sneak])} = 2.48 dpr
True Strike shortbow level 11 - 33.75 dpr (this was so much nicer to do the math of); 34.69 if you use a light crossbow and commit to using your bonus action
True strike - .84(3.5[shortbow] + 5 + 21[sneak attack] + 7[truestrike]) + .098(3.5[shortbow] + 21[sneak] + 7[truestrike]) = 33.75
Based on this math the soul knife does slightly less dpr on the first round due to not having advantage but does more on later rounds when vex kicks in to give advantage because you add your ability modifier to the second attack. Technically speaking the chance of the second attack hitting increases when the first attack gets advantage because you're more likely to get advantage on the second attack. That was a lot more math for a 2.6% increase in the chance to get advantage on the 3rd round and would barely change the 4 round dpr so just note that the dpr for the soul knife should be slightly higher. The saving grace for the true strike build is that it can benefit from magic weapons, potentially frees up your free bonus action, and has longer range. It also lets you combo with quicken meta magic to potentially get two sneak attacks per round or warlock agonizing blast/genie's wrath for higher base damage if you want to multi-class. Plus the true strike build is a base rogue. I'd hope that the soul knife, a more combat oriented subclass, can increase your dpr over the base class.
Edit: The math changes at level 17 due to the soul knife hitting more often [psionic dice increase to a d12] and the true strike will deal a d6 more damage on a hit.