Best Feats for Soulknife Rogue 5e
by Ben Johnson
The Soulknife is the closest class to the old Psionic, a class I do miss. You are the unseen quiet background character that is secretly pulling the strings. The Soulknife is great fun as a support character that can have a massive impact on any party.
Firstly, it has the usual benefits of a rogue so can perform the stealth, lockpick, trap finder, burglar role. They contribute the same damage as thief but are always carrying magic weapons which is a nice bonus.
Secondly, they are the ultimate skill monkey class because they can add a psi dice to any unsuccessful skill or tool check if they have proficiency. I imagine my Soulknife putting two fingers to his temple, closing his eyes and drawing power or using the Obi Wan finger twirl ‘these aren’t the barbarians you’re looking for’.
Thirdly and maybe most importantly they have telepathy. This has been used every time I play. It’s great for silently infiltrating or just discus solutions without your DM saying ‘you do know they can hear what you’re saying’. Oh and it can also be used to talk to any creature or person even if you don’t speak the same language!
With all the good stuff packed in I just get really exited when thinking of what else to add!
Quick note regarding race and stats; with the skill monkey plan in mind, I tend to play half elf as they get the skill versatility and as I also want to get good stats in most areas their stat bonus fit well .If I’m using the array method I tend to use strength as the dump stat.
As the Soulknife is not quite the old psionic I tend to try and mix feats between improving the rogue and creating pseudo psi effects. Over the 20 levels of Rogue there are 6 feats that can be added. I tend to go for feats rather than stat increases.
Best Feats for Soulknife Rogue
Telekinesis (any stat needed to increase to even number or your highest stat to improve the push DC) – This is the first feat I get, firstly being able to move things at 30ft with your mind fits perfectly into the Psionic persona but it’s so fun and useful. I’m in a bar and I want to start some trouble without anyone knowing it’s me, I want to set off a trap, I’m stuck in a cell and the dumb jailer has left the keys on the side, I want to create a distraction or I want to reach something on a ledge; there are just so many uses. Then you get the telekinetic shove, this is great for managing the battle field, firstly you can shove enemies over chasms etc but you can also move your own team effectively breaking a grapple or allowing them to move off without getting an attack of opportunity
Magic Initiate (Wizard) – Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Find Familiar. I know we are talking Magic here but I like to think that these effects are caused by Psionic powers. Magic Initiate is a great feat for any class but I feel support characters get more out of it then combat orientated ones. The three spells I like to add are:
Mage Hand, mainly to add an extra 30ft to the Telekinetic feat. I like to discuss what my mage had can do with my DM before hand, the Arcane Trickster Mage Hand Legerdemain is the most versatile and is essentially like giving you a 60ft reach whereas mage hand is like having a 60ft reach whilst wearing a boxing glove.
Minor Illusion is a great cantrip and I feel fits a well into the idea that that the psionic can reach into your mind and effect what you see!
Find Familiar, another of the big low-level spells, I use this to substitute telepathic scrying, I tend to choose a spider, send it into the next room and you can ‘see’ what’s going on. Additionally, your familiar can ‘help’ you when performing a skill check giving you advantage and boosting the skill checks.
Skill Expert (any stat needed to increase to even number) – an extra skill and an extra expertise which will take you to 5 when past level 6. The Key Skills I want to have as a Soulknife are: Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Deception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth & Proficiency with Thieves tools. An example of how much the Soulknife excels at skill checks; at level 5, for a skill with a stat of 16 in which you have expertise you will have a roll of d20+9+d10!
Once I have these feats in place you can choose 3 more as you advance, these are ones that I consider can represent further Psionic effects:
Alert – ‘I can feel your presence’ – This is useful but situational. I think it fits well into the idea of a psychic aura
Eldritch Adept – The ones I’d use would be : Armour of Shadows, Eldritch sight, Fiendish Vigor, Gaze of two minds, Mask of many faces.
Ritual Caster – another way to get Find Familiar. You can choose any of the spell casting classes here but I’d recommend mage as there are 22 ritual spells that can be added to your book. A magic book isn’t very Psi so I like to pretend it’s a book of Maths, do your sums and you’ll be able to change the world!
Skilled – 3 Additional skills will continue you on your journey as ultimate skill monkey.
If you prefer to develop your rogue credentials, I’d use:
Mobile – I like this feat for nearly any class but when combined with the rogue cunning action you can perform a very effective hit and run.
Skulker – depending on how you’re DM uses stealth, this can really help
Sharpshooter – One of the classic big feats, the Soulknife has a bit of an advantage as they can use homing strike on soul knives which means you can more easily overcome the -5 to hit.
Mage Slayer – I always like this on a rogue for two reasons, firstly you will probably be looking to get into melee with the less hard hitters as you’re a bit squishy so you will likely on mage control which this helps with and secondly and most importantly it gives you a reaction attack if the mage casts a spell and your reaction attacks get to use your sneak attack dice if you qualify so you can essentially get two sneak attacks a turn!
Lucky – I’ve included it because in my opinion it’s the best feat in the game, I tend not to take it as I think it’s overpowered but you might want to.
I’m a big fan of not trying to do everything, I’m a big believer in the party, so much so that if I know another member of the group is going to play a certain type of character that I had in mind I’d rather change to fill the gap then play my usual favourite class and step on their toes. The Soulknife must be careful not to do this. It’s great fun and can do a bit of everything like most rogues however in a session you’ll find that you tend to get a lot of table time, especially if you’re the face of the party, which is another role the Soulknife lends itself to, but when it comes to skill checks you’ll be the one called upon nearly every time.
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