For Players, Classcraft, Soulknife, RogueRichard OstranderSeptember 10, 2021Homebrew, Psychic Blades

Classcraft: Soulknife Rogue

For Players, Classcraft, Soulknife, RogueRichard OstranderSeptember 10, 2021Homebrew, Psychic Blades

So this Classcraft will be a little odd, as I have… opinions. But don’t worry, I’ll save them for the end. For now we will speak of everything the makes these psionic knife wielders special.

So with this Classcraft focusing specifically on the subclass, we will not be discussing the basic rogue kit. Instead, lets talk about the abilities that make the Soulknife what it is. Abilities, by the way, that start at level 3, when all Rogues gain their sub-class.

As your first, and primary ability, you gain access to Psionic Energy Dice, which is currently the primary way Dungeons & Dragons has implemented Psionics in 5th edition. For the Soulknife, these dice are d6 (d8 at 5th, d10 at 11th, and d12 at 17th), and you have a number of them equal to twice your proficiency bonus. While psionic dice had odd properties when they were being tested (they could grow or shrink their die type), here they are just dice, similar to the Battle Masters superiority dice. However, unlike superiority dice, you only regain one die per short rest.

So now that you have these dice… what can you do with them?

At level 3, right as you gain the dice, you also get two ways to use them. First is Psi-Bolstered Knack, which allows you to add one psi die to a failed ability check to see if you can make it a success. Should you still fail, you get refunded the die, which is pretty handy.

You also gain Psychic Whispers, which allows you to communicate with a group of people (equal to your proficiency bonus) telepathically. The effect lasts for a number of hours equal to the roll of your psi die, and the first time you use it after a long rest, it does not consume the die you roll.

These are both handy abilities, but nothing I’d write home about. The value of telepathy really depends on how your DM runs their table, but if your super big into skills, at higher levels Psi-Bolstered Knack can provide a big boost.

That said, the shortcomings of these abilities are made up for by the sub-classes signature ability, Psychic Blades. These blades are the cool energy blades your probably imagining, and are made even more handy by their finesse and thrown properties. The blades do d6 damage, and if your offhand is free, can be summoned again, now doing d4 damage. This sounds pretty awesome, but it’s stuck with a massive limitation. The blades only manifest when you make an “attack” action, and can only be used for a single main hand attack and single offhand attack. At no other time can you form the blade. This means if you have gained extra attacks through some means, you can’t use it with the blades. If you need to make an opportunity attack, you cannot do so with the blades (as an opportunity attack is technically not a regular attack). If you have any way to make an attack that doesn’t involve using the ready action, it will not work. This makes the blades mostly worthless for any kind of multiclass build, and limits your to fairly weak damage, as the blades do NOT scale with your psi die.

At level 9, you gain two new abilities, Homing Strike and Psychic Teleportation. Homing strikes allow you to add a psi die to a failed attack roll in hopes of making it succeed. The die is only consumed if the attack is a success. Psychic Teleportation allows you to spend a die (and your bonus action), and throw your blade into an unoccupied space (with a range in feet of whatever you rolled multiplied by 10). I consider Homing Strike to be one of the best abilities the sub-class has, as the attack bonus has the potential to be huge, and only costs you a die if you succeed. The teleport, of the other hand, seems rather blah. By making the die determine the range, you never know if it’s going to go the distance you need it to.

At level 13 you gain Psychic Veil, which gives you an hour of invisibility. You get one free use of it per long rest, and after that it costs you a die. This is nice, but for a level 13 ability, I’m not overly impressed.

Lastly, at level 17, you get Rend Mind. This ability allows you slash your opponents mind with your blade. This ability can only be used when dealing sneak attack damage, and it forces the creature to make a Wisdom save. If they fail, they are stunned for one minute, though they can try to save again at the end of each of it’s turns. For this ability you get one free use, and then it’s three psi dice to use it again. This is a nice ability, thematically fitting with the flavor of psionic powers, while being rather helpful in combat.

Overall, I like the concept of the Soulknife, and I love the idea of wielding glowing energy blades. But I would NEVER play the sub-class the way it is written. At my table the blades summoned by the character remain in their hand permanently, only vanishing at the end of a turn in which they are dropped or thrown. This allows them to be used for extra attacks, opportunity attacks, etcetera. I know this makes the blades significantly more powerful, and that’s a good thing, as without this boost, I really hate the ability and the sub-class as a whole.

(I also make the teleportation have a minimum distance equal to the normal psychic blade range of 60 feet)

So there you have it. A sub-class that is one of my favorites with some homebrew, and one that I despise without it. I suppose your mileage will vary. With that said,

Happy roleplaying, and may the dice be ever in your favor.