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Soulknife is available as a rogue subclass in Unearthed Arcana: Psionic Options Revisited. One of its 3rd-level features is Psychic Blades, which states:

When you are about to make a melee or ranged weapon attack against a creature, you can manifest a psychic blade from your free hand and make the attack with that blade. This magic blade is a simple melee weapon with the finesse and thrown properties.

This appears to be a one-handed weapon (as "free hand" is singular), which means it qualifies for the +2 damage from the Dueling fighting style (assuming your other hand is not holding a weapon). In this case, assume the rogue took one level of fighter for Dueling. After this psychic blade attack:

The blade vanishes immediately after it hits or misses its target

Psychic Blades also allows for a bonus action attack:

After you attack with the blade, you can make a melee or ranged weapon attack with a second psychic blade as a bonus action on the same turn, provided your other hand is free to create it.

Assuming you started your attacks with both hands free: can both the normal and bonus action Psychic Blades attacks qualify for the Dueling fighting style?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Given that this is UA, and so is not written with the same level of editing as regular material, would you still be interested in an answer that views the Rules As Written, despite them not being written with typical standards? \$\endgroup\$ Apr 15, 2020 at 22:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Medix2 RAW should at least be part of a good answer, though it's fine to follow up with speculation on rules as intended. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if some of this UA made it into published material as-is. \$\endgroup\$
    – Red Orca
    Apr 15, 2020 at 22:42

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At least by the rules as they are written the dueling bonus applies to both attacks. On page 24 of the SRD the Dueling Fighting Style text is:

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and, no other weapons you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Note that the bonus to damage is activated immediately. So, if you lose one of your psychic blades and immediately gain another you get that bonus applied.

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Ask your GM

It seems to me that using two separate psychic blades in different hands within the same round violates the spirit of the Dueling Fighting Style's rules, even if it might not quite violate the exact wording of them. The bonus action attack seems very much like a restatement of the normal two-weapon fighting rules, just modified to work with these magical blades that appear when they're needed and disappear afterwards. Only your GM can decide how they want to have the rules work together at your table.

Unearthed Arcana subclasses are not generally balanced by Wizards of the Coast for multiclassing, as there are simply too many combinations for them to consider before they know if the subclass is fun or balanced by itself. Since rogues don't usually get access to fighting styles, it may be that they never considered how Psychic blades would interact with the Dueling style. It's likely that one of the reasons subclasses classes get published as UA is to get feedback about subtle rule interactions like this one!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Good points about UA multiclassing and rule interaction feedback. Could you separate out your understanding of RAW vs rules as intended? I think that would help me (and other GMs) determine what boundaries to consider when making a ruling. \$\endgroup\$
    – Red Orca
    Apr 15, 2020 at 14:16

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