So it seems the Soulknife, though its ability to conjure energy blades at will sounds cool, actually sucks. Also, my DM (and possibly many other DM's) aren't particularly fond of Psionic rules. In response, I was considering making a homebrew variant of the Soulknife where its abilities are based in innate magic instead of Psionics (as well as possibly some new abilities that could make it suck less), but first I was wondering if anyone knew of any pre-existing variants like this, or suggestions from more experienced players on why exactly the Soulknife sucks and what could possibly be done about it.
A couple ideas I was considering:
-make its blade enhancement cap at level 10 on 20th level.
-eliminate some of its rather nitpicky restrictions, i.e. making the attack boost take a concentration check as a swift action and make it affect more creature types (limiting it to living things sounds good enough)
-possibly give it the ability to merge its soulblade with a normal weapon to enhance it, possibly reworking the class around this mechanic.
Alternately: make an Incarnum variant of this class that has fewer Soulmelds than some but can invest Incarnum into its blade to add enhancements, possibly allowing bonuses totaling over 10 at high levels and full incarnum.
Best Answer
Response to your Incarnum-related thoughts.
It could work, but it won’t be easy
Incarnum is a fairly obvious system to use and a good idea.
But you would have to work out Essentia, Bind, and Chakra progressions, and figure out a Soulmeld list. The Incarnate’s list is mostly for skill-monkeying, but most of your eventual list will probably come from it. The Soulborn list has one gem (Thunderstep Boots) but mostly overlaps with the Incarnate. The Totemist list is probably not overly relevant as most of it is themed on natural attacks, which won’t work in conjunction with the Mind Blade very well.
Essentia, Bind, and Chakra progressions will probably be based on the Incarnate or Totemist, probably with some slight downward tweaking. Weapons usually use the Hands chakra, which usually comes later, so that will be awkward. Don’t base anything on the Soulborn as it is atrocious.
Worth noting: the Incandescent Champion and Ironsoul Forgemaster prestige classes both have similar themes. The Incandescent Champion is pretty poor, and the Ironsoul Forgemaster is dwarf-only. Still, you might be able to steal ideas.
This solution is similar to a fairly popular one I’ve seen, but don’t like
Some have suggested that a solution to the weaknesses of both Soulknife and Soulborn is to simply combine the two classes à la the Gestalt rules from Unearthed Arcana in a non-Gestalt game (or treat them as one side in a Gestalt game). This shores up a lot of numbers, which is nice, but ultimately neither class has much going for it.
Basically, taking a bunch of near-useless class features and adding in another group of near-useless class features just means you have more near-useless class features; at no point to actually inject something really useful. The Soulborn//Soulknife still has a magic sword (yawn), the craptastic Psychic Strike, and Meldshaping them comes online absurdly late and remains extremely limited throughout the class’s career. I’m neither impressed nor convinced that this combination actually solves anything.