Two Weapon Fighting*****: Similarly to the Finesse Melee style, dexterity to damage is easily available and using two mind blades is supported quite well. This style is best used with a reach weapon, and soulknives have multiple ways of getting a finesse-able reach weapon. Sword and Board*****: Dex-focused soulknives will still be able to reap the benefits of Weapon Finesse/Deadly Agility while wielding their shield, while focusing on AoOs. As a mind blade is finesse-able in its light form (and blade skills can expand the finesse-able options) and it is easy to get Dex to damage either via a feat (Deadly Agility) or a mind blade special ability (Agile weapon), a Dexterity-focused melee build is quite strong. If you are dead-set on throwing your mind blade, look under Wisdom Styles.įinesse Melee****: Soulknives have proficiency in medium armor, but there are many advantages to a high dexterity score. Stick to throwing your mind blade as a last resort. Throwing*: While mind blades can be thrown, the blade skill that allows iterative attacks comes online at 14th level, so your damage output beyond 5th level is abysmal in comparison to a different class. Grappling*: Soulknifes make for poor grapplers, with very little support for the style. However, a Deadly Fist can apply the features of their archetype to all natural weapons they possess. The Feral Heart’s abilities only work with the natural weapons produced by the archetype, which is limited to a pair of claws and a bite. If werewolves aren't your thing, there are two other options: the mediocre archetype that grants natural weapons, the Feral Heart and the unarmed archetype, Deadly Fist, which is surprisingly good when fighting with natural weapons. Natural Weapons*****: The Moonlight Meditant is a werewolf-themed soulknife that is unmatched with natural weapons, gaining accelerated enhancement bonuses relative to the other archetypes and a number of powerful abilities that assist this style. There is a debate to be had over whether this style is better with Str or Wis. Unarmed****: The default soulknife has some support for unarmed combat and the Deadly Fist archetype turns the soulknife into a good unarmed combatant. However, a Dexterity or Wisdom-based soulknife will probably do better with this style. Sword and Board****: The Shielded Blade archetype gives a scaling shield and weapon, which yields itself towards a defensive style of play, best utilized with a reach weapon. Two handing your mind blade will likely be the best option for a Strength-based soulknife. Two Handed*****: The classic go-to for melee fighting and soulknives are no different. Thus, Strength will usually still be the superior option for a Brutality Blade.) (While a soulknife can technically use Charisma as their primary combat stat, the archetype that allows this, Brutality Blade, also grants Strength boosting abilities. Thankfully, the soulknife can excel in multiple combat styles, with five different abilities available to act as the combat stat: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Soulknives are primarily martial characters, despite being a psionic class, with a heavy combat focus and a sprinkling of out of combat utility. If you can select this, do it.īuilding A Soulknife Ability Scores (Choosing your fighting style)
You can’t go wrong with a selection here. Any selection in green will go far in your journey as an adventurer, though it may be somewhat lackluster.īLUE****: An excellent choice. Options in orange are beneficial, but there are options that are either strictly superior or less restrictive. ORANGE**: A usable, but not necessarily good, choice. These options are extremely situational, useless, or even detrimental. This guide will use the same star/color system that is used in most current guides, popularized by Treantmonk, to show the value of certain choices available to players: You spend endless nights thinking of the dizzying number of weapon special ability combinations possible but despair as you will never be in enough games to try them all. The mere thought of technically being above WBL excites you in ways you never thought possible. You think coalescing a weapon from your mind into your hand is the greatest thing ever! Your DM never gives you enough money to get a good weapon and you want to stick it to them. With Dreamscarred Press’ adaptation to Pathfinder, the soulknife may now rise above the follies of its predecessor and actually walk alongside the rest of the martial characters, instead of wallowing in self pity.
Originally created in D&D 3.0, then updated to 3.5, the soulknife was one of the many classes created by WotC with a ton of flavor but the mechanical ability of a flaming pile of garbage. The soulknife is a psionically empowered martial class who uses their mind to create a blade of psychic energy.