In one hour @therealjimdavisTHIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”.
My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast – Not only is there a psychicwarrior now in the fighter,
but now we have a new
rogue called the soulknife.
Tell me about the soulknife.
This sounds terrifying.
– Yes, the soulknife, we have
designed to be a bit scary.
– [Todd] Okay. (laughs)
– Because this is a rogue who
can manifest a psychic blade
out of their hands, or blades,
if they wanna manifest two,
and use them not only in melee,
but they can also throw them.
And these blades deal psychic damage.
And we describe it as
essentially you are stabbing
the other person’s, like
their mind, their soul.
(Todd laughs)
Hence the name, soulknife.
So that alone is scary.
But this rogue also
eventually gains the ability,
using their psionic
abilities to essentially
screen themselves out
of other people’s sight.
So they can just, poof, they’re invisible.
– [Todd] Oh.
(Jeremy laughs)
– And so we describe in
the story text for them
that they are particularly effective
at being assassins because
there isn’t necessarily
any evidence left behind.
Because if you stab someone’s
sort of psychic being,
there’s no wound on their body.
– [Todd] Oh man, what’s
even the implication
for resurrection after
something like that?
– Oh, well, the body is still there.
So they are potentially terrifying,
especially if they were NPCs.
But also really mighty members of a group
because they’re able to couple
the normal versatility
that all rogues have
with these really wonderfully
wicked psychic abilities.
Being able to sneak attack
with psychic damage.
Because we clarify that
these psychic blades
that they manifest do
count as finesse weapons.
And they’re light weapons as well,
so the rogue can dual wield them.
Imagine one of them on the battlefield,
and I think most people would
be quaking in their boots.
– And they can throw these as well.
So they’re just tossing psychic
blades out, all willy nilly.
– Yes.
So you can imagine,
yes, one of these things
(Todd laughs)
coming at you,
and then it hits you, and
it’s, “Where did it go?”
And it would hurt.
It would hurt like a regular blade.
But again, leave no mark.
And leave no evidence.
‘Cause we also specify
that if you toss one out,
immediately after it
hits or misses, it, poof.
– Oh, so in a way, a psychic ninja.
So it doesn’t leave,
like, physical damage.
– [Jeremy] Right.
– Oh, that’s very fun.
Okay, now I’m onto it.
I can’t help–
– Cause these blades are not
dealing slashing, bludgeoning,
or piercing damage.
– You just find a body.
Oh, it’s almost (chuckling)
reminds me of “Dreamscape,”
a very old 1980s film.
But I feel like the inspiration for this
is mostly Lamont Cranston from
“The Shadow,” a radio drama.
Like if you can make people
not realize you’re in the room,
you know, that was always his thing.
Like he somehow hypnotized people
the second he walked in. (laughs)
Which I never quite understood as a kid.
But this is the scariest ninja.
(Todd and Jeremy laugh)
– Right.
I mean, again, throwing mind shuriken.
And again, nothing is left behind.
(Todd exhales heavily)
A soulknife would be a
very favored assassin.
We also, for both the soulknife
and the psychic warrior
in this “Unearthed Arcana”
give some suggestions
for how your character might have become
a member of these subclasses.
And so we talk about how your character
might have just awoken to psionic ability,
but they also might have been
trained in it by a master.
They might have, in the
case of the soulknife,
might have been a member
of a special thieves guild
that cultivates these abilities.
Whereas the psychic
warrior might have been
in a martial academy that trains people
in using both their body
and their mind as a weapon.
So the thing I love about
both of these subclasses
is not only will they
be a ton of fun to play,
but they’re also rich with possibility
for a DM’s world-building.
You know, figuring out what
have these people been up to,
these people with these
strange mind powers
that have a magical quality to them,
but operate in ways
that might shock people.
And I think again, if someone finds
the handiwork of a soulknife,
they are going to be very puzzled.
I could imagine a soulknife assassin
causing even a detective
like Sherlock Holmes
to be very confused.
You know, how did this
person actually die?
And the soulknife,
especially with their higher-level ability
to basically psionically screen themselves
and just go invisible, you could see
they could infiltrate a
masquerade or something else,
deal with their mark, and
then just vanish away.
– Oh.
(Jeremy laughs)
It’s not comfortable.
It’s the stuff of everyone’s nightmares.
Yeah.
It’s got a little bit
of that “Invisible Man”
creepy factor to it too as well.
Yeah, I mean, that’s a perfect assassin.
I mean, for the person who wants to play
that supernatural assassin.
– [Jeremy] Right, exactly.
– ‘Cause the assassin already is filling
a very different niche as a subclass
in terms of, I can talk like
anyone, I can disguise myself.
It’s very “Assassin’s Creed,” kind of.
– Well, and a person could
decide to play a soulknife
and not go in the
assassin direction at all.
Their soulknife might be
very much out in the open,
almost more of a superhero
than a figure of the shadows.
Because again, this is a
person who’s manifesting
these psychic blades sort of
like Psylocke from the X-Men,
and using those in battle.
Which, depending on how
a player describes that
could end up being very flashy
rather than, you know, this
subtle thing of the shadows.
This is the kind of thing
we often look for when we’re coming up
with new character concepts for the game.
We want the character concepts
to be pushable in different directions.
So even here, I’ve described,
you could take the soulknife
and go in a flashy sort
of superheroic direction
or you could take it in
a kind of almost horrific
killer-in-the-shadows kind of direction.
It’s up to you.
returns to Todd Talks with @ToddKenreck to chat about the latest Unearthed Arcana! Join us to share your opinions on Psionics today at 2pm PT on https://t.co/mvfDh3HC5z! pic.twitter.com/jL7S2FF6a7
— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) November 26, 2019