Soulknife changes

[Kish]

Another option I had toyed with was making alignment restrictions - any Lawful or any Chaotic (as the handbook says most Soulknives are Lawful or Chaotic).

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"Most" would seem to indicate "not all."

[Rathwellin the Bard]

Yeh, something like that sounds good, actually... I guess people will have to live without Bastard Sword manifestation.

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Thanks & yep!

 

I like your smoothed out level changes. My suggestion for the Psychic Strike was modled on the Kensai's Kai & Blade's Offensive Spin abilities. I think that your +1d8 of damage works ... but I will note that the 3.5 version gets +4d8 damage at high levels, though that's probably a bit much for BGII.

 

Another option I had toyed with was making alignment restrictions - any Lawful or any Chaotic (as the handbook says most Soulknives are Lawful or Chaotic).

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I like that suggestion a lot.

[SimDing0]

A progressively increasing range seems better to me than a fixed range all of a sudden. As you say, they're basically the same, but I like neatness, and it's a nice perk for a low-level character to be able to attack from slightly further back.

[Andyr]

Kish: Tis just an idea. It came from the following in the XPH:

 

Alignment: Despite their inborn showmanship, soulknives are often lawful, utilizing a disclipined 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.

 

I found it an appealing idea because, AFAIK, no other class/kit has a similar restrictions.

 

Sim: the ability to throw is meant to come from the character's increased control... The range would only be 30 or so. While incremental might be nice, I think I prefer the thrown option.

[Kish]

In general, I'd advise against making a roleplaying decision a requirement. It would be better to put those lines in the kit description, and let the player choose if s/he wants to play one of those rare Neutral soulknives.

[Andyr]

That's probably a better way, actually.

 

Any thoughts on the abilities?

[Kish]

This is a hard kit to balance because its most prominent ability is creating its own weapons, and the weapons the PC has access to can vary widely depending on the path the PC takes through the game. It actually looks pretty good to me as you last described it, though.

[SimDing0]

Sim: the ability to throw is meant to come from the character's increased control... The range would only be 30 or so. While incremental might be nice, I think I prefer the thrown option.

So your control suddenly increases when you reach a certain level, rather than improving all the time?

[Rathwellin the Bard]

So your control suddenly increases when you reach a certain level, rather than improving all the time?

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That's the way it works in PnP 3.5....

[SimDing0]

So what?

[Rathwellin the Bard]

Chickenbu*t!

 

Sorry, but couldn't resist.

 

Anyway.... The PnP Mind Blade occupies an uncomfortable middle ground somewhere between being an actual psychic power and a supernatural ability to create a real weapon.

 

I have seen actual debates about whether or not the PnP Mind Blade has mass for instance.

 

It's possible to argue that the PnP Mind Blade is in some ways a 'real' weapon and thus you throw it like real weapon ... i.e. the range doesn't increase with level.

 

I can see how you could make a theoretical argument about the range increasing as well though.

 

Bottom line for me is that I like the single range thrown concept better. YMMV.

 

I am highly interested in seeing how this rework of the kit shakes out though. I'm already starting to think about what kind of Soulknife PC I would like to play....

[Andyr]

A quick note: Due to the game engine, if a pair of short swords are manifested then the offhand one would have to appear in the inventory. If it appeared in the slot, it would destroy whatever else was there (yes, even when it is dismissed). Or so I am told.

 

I could be swayed either way by arguments on range. But I think a better idea would be to have 'thrown' as a separate weapon ability, rather than just giving it a larger range as it is now.

[SimDing0]

I have seen actual debates about whether or not the PnP Mind Blade has mass for instance.

BG2 magical weapons shouldn't have mass.

 

It's possible to argue that the PnP Mind Blade is in some ways a 'real' weapon and thus you throw it like real weapon ... i.e. the range doesn't increase with level.

 

I can see how you could make a theoretical argument about the range increasing as well though.

I favour the interpretation that it's a psychic power over that of an actual physical weapon because it makes the kit stand out as something different among the sea of opportunities to summon magical weapons that assault you throughout BG2. If psionics is nothing but magic with a different name, then that's pretty boring, and that's what having it summon a weapon makes it. But the whole concept of psionics SHOULD be that you're manipulating things with intangible forces, rather than manifesting physical objects (and at this point I contend strongly that "throwing" an intangible force is a silly concept-- it's like throwing magnetism). Altering the concept increases the distinction, regardless of whether the functionality is the same for a level 40 character.

[Andyr]

The concept is that psionic items are shaped from the caster's mind using matter from the Astral Plane - so it's not quite real, but it does exist, and isn't magic, just... different.

 

EDIT: And I'd say it's more like throwing a magnetic field than throwing magnestism.

[SimDing0]

How do you throw a magnetic field when you're still holding the magnet? (Ah, such an amazing analogy to argue over.)

 

So what's the appeal of the ranged weapon option?