Monk Tradition: Way of the Soulknife
Never caught unarmed, the soulknife is the literal embodiment of using the power of the mind as a weapon. This warrior fights with the mind blade, a telekinetic field shaped by the wielder's intense focus into a razor's edge.
While the soulknife may not appear to be a traditional monk, the path that these psionically-gifted individuals take is so similar as to be identical. A soulknife meditates, focuses, and develops the mind and body in the same way that any other monk does. Whether called "psi points" or ki, the soulknife's power is the inner energy made manifest.
Mind Blade
At 3rd level, your study and meditation is rewarded in the forming of your mind blade, a semi-solid weapon of psychic energy powered by your will. The mind blade has the form of a one-handed weapon of your choice with 5-foot reach, and is treated as a simple, finesse, monk weapon that deals 1d8 psychic damage and cannot be disarmed. If you are targeted by, start your turn in, or enter an anti-magic effect, your blade dissipates or fails to manifest unless you succeed on a DC15 Wisdom saving throw to maintain your focus.
You manifest your mind blade as a bonus action, and can dismiss it at will. You can throw your mind blade as if it were range 15/60, after which it dissipates.
Flurry of Blades
At 3rd level, when you use Flurry of Blows, you can make one of your unarmed attacks using your mind blade instead.
Wild Talent
At 3rd level, you also manifest minor psionic gifts:
- As an action, you can telepathically communicate a brief message in a language you know to a creature within 60 feet. You do not have to be able to see the creature if you know its general location.
- As an action, you can push, pull, or lift objects using your mind, limited to 10 pounds of weight or pressure and a range of 30 feet.
- You can cast light with a range of self.
- You can cast identify on an object or a creature by focusing while holding or touching it for one minute.
Psionic Focus
Starting at 6th level, your psychic talent is sharpened to a razor's edge and you maintain a mental reserve of power - the psionic focus - which is recovered when you roll initiative.
At the beginning of your turn, you can recover your psionic focus by either reducing your movement to zero or spending 2 ki points.
If you concentrate on a spell or ability, you lose your psionic focus and cannot recover it until you end your concentration.
Tower of Iron Will
You can expend your psionic focus to gain advantage on a Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom saving throw. You must use this ability before rolling the saving throw.
Psychic Strike
When you hit a creature with your mind blade, you can expend your psionic focus to do one of the following:
- Astral Slide. You teleport up to ten feet to an unoccupied space of your choice.
- Neuroptic Blast. At the start of its next turn, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its turn.
- Soul Feed. You gain temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier.
- Synaptic Overload. The target's speed is reduced by half until the end of your next turn.
Imbued Blade
Starting at 11th level, you manifest your mind blade as if you were drawing a weapon (object interaction).
Also, you can spend 3 ki points as a bonus action to enhance your mind blade, concentrating as if on a spell. Your mind blade's damage increases to 2d8 for one minute, or until you lose your concentration.
Knife to the Soul
Starting at 17th level, you can ignore physical defenses with your mind blade. When you take the attack action, you forgo one of your weapon attacks, and your target makes a Dexterity saving throw against a DC of 8 + your mind blade attack bonus.
The target takes your mind blade's damage, halved if it succeeds on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw, you can expend your psionic focus to force the target to also make a Charisma saving throw; on a failure, it is stunned until the end of your next turn.
