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Legendary Kineticists (PFRPG)

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Your Mind is the Ultimate Weapon!

Go beyond mind over matter with this encyclopedic accessory for kineticist characters! Legendary Kineticists brings you nearly 150 brand-new kineticist blasts, defenses, infusions, and wild talents for existing elements from earth to water to wood. Play an awakened bloodrager or surge fist unchained monk, an evoker minstrel or a war kineticist, and unleash new powers from wrathful infusion and cantikinesis to twisted metal and gravitic sculptor!

You also can explore an entirely new type of kineticist for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the neurokineticist, wielding and weaving psychic energies like a surgeon to demonstrate your mental mastery. We also bring you 7 new archetypes, both for kineticists themselves and for other classes wishing to dabble in the kinetic arts, plus new feats, magic items, and masterpieces of sight, sound, and psyche, and a fully developed 12th-level sample neurokineticist, complete with combat tactics and a compelling history and personality, to show how these powers play at the table in a ready-to-use character you can drop right into an existing game or even build an entire campaign around.

Grab this 46-page psychic supplement today for your Pathfinder campaign and Make Your Game Legendary!

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5 —

This installment of Legendary Games' class-centric support books clocks in at 46 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of introduction, 3 pages of advertisement, 1 page inside of back cover, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 34 pages of content, so let's take a look!

We begin this pdf with what many people would consider to be a star of this pdf, namely the artistic summoner kineticist, who is locked into either wood or water as elemental focus and their blasts are refluffed as ink if water's chosen, paper when wood is chosen and may apply the oil infusion to it. Latter infusion is gained, fyi, also at 1st level and has its burn cost reduced by 1 - to a total of 0. Oil basically allows for th drenching of foes and the better alight-setting of them and features a concise duration/mechanics-array. The archetype replaces the basic utility wild talent gained upon taking elemental focus as well as the regular 1st level infusion with that, but to make up for it, the respective sculptor/shape wood etc. are treated as universal wild talents for the archetype.

Things get really interesting at 2nd level, where the utility wild talent alongside that gained at 8th and 14th as well as the expanded element gained at 7th and 15th are replaced with a Constitution-governed variant of the summoner's summon monster ability, as based upon conjuring forth creatures from drawings etc. 7th level nets the blast they did not gain at 1st level. More importantly, they may expend uses of the summon monster ability as a swift action to fluidly apply the benefits of the oil infusion for free to it AND classifying the square attacked as a target area for the summoning of the monster. This replaces 7th level's infusion. 10th level replaces the wild talent usually gained with expanded element for either wood or water, but minus the simple blast and 11th level, finally, allows for a unique composite blast at burn cost 2: Sculpture Blast, which lets you generate duplicates of the target hit that follow the rules of lesser simulacra, but may be generated with, the right talents provided, from more than ink or paper, but also from fire, gravity, etc. This archetype not only has amazing visuals, it also rewards NOT spamming all your summon monster uses and manages to walk the tight rope of retaining balance. Really impressive.

The awakened bloodrager would basically be a kineticist/bloodrager hybrid, whose spells incur no arcane spell failure in light armor only, replacing their bloodline with an element, simple kinetic blast as well as a basic utility wild talent, but these are only available while bloodraging. They also may choose either extended range or kinetic blade as a bonus wild talent that has burn cost reduced to 0. Nice catch: The one not chosen can later be learned at full burn cost, explicitly stated by the pdf. Nice to see such precision. Blast damage output increases by +1d6 at 4th level and every 3rd level thereafter, with 4th level and ever 4 levels thereafter granting an infusion wild talent. Finally, 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter net either a utility wild talent, a barbarian rage power or a feat with kineticist level prerequisites, using their class level as kineticist levels. Finally, the ability manages to cover multiclassing interaction.

Cool: The bloodrage rules-language operation manages to avoid a nasty exploitation caveat, allowing only for the proper SPs and SUs to be used in conjunction with it. Utility wild talents only affect the awakened and the respective character may expend rounds of bloodrage instead to pay off burn accepted, with a scaling maximum preventing gross nova-abuse. Similarly, elemental defense is only active while bloodraging and may not be increased by accepting burn, instead gaining an interesting, level-dependent scaling mechanism. These abilities do restrict fast movement to only being applicable in light armor, though, delay uncanny dodge to 5th level and replace improved uncanny dodge. Starting at 4th level, basic utility wild talents may now be used beyond the confines of a bloodrage, and within a bloodrage, they may employ gather charge and may lace manufactured weapon-enhancing spells into their blasts while bloodraging. 7th level reduced burn cost of multiple infusions added to a blast by a total of 1, with every 3 levels thereafter further reducing this by 1. 11th and 20th level provide the expanded element benefits, alongside simple or composite blasts, wild talents et al.

I have to briefly talk about one of the new wild talents first, before we go further: Cantikinesis. At burn 0, you make an instrument that can deliver your kinetic blasts. If your Performance doesn't suck, at increased potency. I LOVE THIS. This is so frickin' METAL. (Or trumpet of Jericho, or dias de las muertos brass) - you blast with instruments. Brütal Legend, anyone? Damn, I need to play a guy with an electric guitar blasting foes to shreds...boy, of boy...Ahem...where was I?

The Evoker Minstrel reduced skills gained per level to 4 + Int mod, but does use Int to govern spellcasting and instead of bardic knowledge, they receive cantikinesis and improved cantikinesis wild talents, being treated as 1/2 class level (min 1) kineticist for their purposes. Yep, Int also governs that one. The archetype also adds 1/2 class level several knowledge checks and UMD and replaces the suggestion and mass suggestion bardic performances with an increased damage bonus when employing cantikinesis during bardic performances. The distraction bardic performance is moved to 6th level, but the soundweaver's fitting scenery is gained at 1st level. 18th level nets "The Consequence of Harmonious Convergence." 2nd level provides the defense wild talent of the same element as the cantikinesis-chosen blast and they may spend 2 minutes + rounds of bardic performance to make that count as though they had accepted 1 point of burn., with further expenditure being possible quicker for increased benefits. This eliminates well-versed. 10th level allows for soundweaver bardic masterpiece selection.

Wait, what? Soundweaver? Yeah, that would be the next one: A Charisma-based kineticist with 6 + Int skills per level and good Ref- and Will-saves. They begin play with cantikinesis and the improved and greater brethren and may use it to enhance their attacks. However, they do lose the basic utility wild talent gained from elemental focus, elemental overflow as well as the 1st level infusion. If the Cha-component made you furrow your brow, rest assured that the gain class level times Cha-mod as a kind of burn buffer, but only for burn accepted via the use of cantikinesis or a defense wild talent: Nice: Does not forget the nonlethal-immunity caveat. 3rd level nets a substance and form infusion, and again at 7th and 15th level, while 6th and every 3 levels thereafter allow for the retraining of infusions. 5th level nets access to bardic performance at -4 class levels, enhancing the damage output via cantikinesis while performing. The performances allow for minor AoE-damage etc. and 10th level rewards you from using multiple instruments in a kinetic concert. Wait, what? Yep starting 8th (and again at 16th) you gain additional instruments for cantikinesis, allowing for the increase of damage with multiple instruments manifested. Additionally, when choosing elemental focus as an expanded element, bonus wild talents thus gained may be foregone in order to add even more instruments to the fray. 11th and 19th level unlock bardic masterpieces, while the capstone unlocks kinetic blast reducing gather power as a swift action while in a kinetic concert as well as a masterpiece that allows you to grant allies temporarily kineticist powers! Yeah, pretty cool!

Better yet - we receive no less than 6 bardic masterpieces specifically designed for the soundweaver , including the sharing of defense wild talents, attuning nearby allies as possible origins for blasts of attuned elements, increasing the aforementioned AoE-performance damage output, etc. - these are interesting and provide sufficiently unique benefits. Oh, and their costs etc. make them viable choices in combat.

The surge fist unchained monk archetype employ their class levels as kineticist levels for feat prerequisite purposes and selects an element, gaining a simple blast; unlike a kineticist blast, the attack is unarmed and targets regular AC and uses Wis instead of Str for attribute-governing purposes. And yes, untyped damage is converted to a more palatable damage type...though force still is nasty. This fist-based blast is treated as a monk weapon for flurry purposes. They use ki instead of burn to add universal substance infusions or substance infusions of the chosen element to the surge fist and may learn additional substance infusions in lieu of ki powers and a various assortment of tricks allows for diverse and pretty fun options, including powerful full-round single strike attacks. Yes, it does retain style synergy.

In order to talk about the next archetype, we need to talk about the new element, namely mind. Practitioners are called neurokineticists and add Knowledge (history) (not capitalized properly) and Sense Motive to their class skills, gaining basic neurokinesis as basic manipulation, mental blast as a simple blast wild talent. That one would deliver untyped damage (yuck), but there is an intriguing component to this as an interesting balancing component: All wild talents are mind-influencing effects unless otherwise stated. Basic neurokinesis, just fyi, nets you extremely short range telepathy and the option to self-grant yourself a minor bonus to Int-based checks.

The elemental defense of the element would be numbness, which allows for the conversion of lethal damage to nonlethal damage and slowly escalating levels of fortification versus critical hits and sneak attack et al. The defense also nets +1/2 Con-modifier as a bonus to Will-saves when accepting burn, though Will-saves, once again, wasn't capitalized properly. There is also a formatting hiccup that makes the header of encephalon blast, one of the composite blasts, instead read "Composite Blast" in the header, Cerebral Empowerment below that - cosmetic, sure, but uncharacteristic for Legendary Games. Now the mind infusions are interesting -from eliminating one or more rounds from the foe's memory to temporarily controlling foes and inciting unnatural lust in them, the infusions provided are pretty cool and include affecting foes around the respective adversary via empathic surges. Oh, and what about making your infused blast a gaze attack (at reduced potency for balance's sake)? Yeah, there is some seriously cool stuff to be done here, including short-term enforced pacifism and the ability to establish a mental connection to affect foes hit with wild talents.

There also is a significant array of utility wild talents to choose from: Oh, that damage you took? Perhaps it's all in your head! (You may disbelieve...but at the same time, that can make for a killer...ahem...kineticist killer...) Implanting memories, full-blown mental manipulation, turning foes, permanently enslaving others - fans of telepaths and similar classes will have an alternate means of fulfilling many of the more unique tricks associated with the field, including the granting of sentience, forcing creatures to lie and establishing a hivemind. Implanting dreams is cool, mesmerizing suggestions are awesome: What about implanting mesmerist tricks? Yeah...neat! many of these have built-in combo-potential and e.g. disarming spellcasters as immediate actions, negating their spells is a great idea AND execution that blends well with some requirements of my own game. Several bosses will get that...just because I'm an evil, evil man. ;)

The True Psychic kineticist treats both aether and mind as primary elements and must select either telekinetic or mind blast, replacing 1st level's infusion. They are locked into either force ward or numbness at 2nd level and 7th level nets transparency between telekinetic and mind blast infusions and gains the blast not chosen at 1st level, with 8th level providing mindscape architect with some added benefits, while 9th level unlocks force and encephalon blast instead of metakinesis (maximize). The mindscape trickery is further enhanced at 15th and 20th level, respectively...including, in the capstone's case, the ability to maintain multiple mindscapes at once.

Finally, there would be the war kineticist, who may accept Con-mod burn per day. At 3rd level, these guys may accept battle burn, which does not inflict nonlethal damage and can be accepted in conjunction with the use of infusion or utility wild talents measured in rounds greater than 1., though that reduces duration to 5 minutes or the respective duration, whichever is lower. 9th and 15th level allow for the acceptance of +1 point of battle burn. Battle burn is treated as burn for activating elemental overflow and said ability +1 is gained at 6th level, +1 for every 6 levels thereafter. The internal buffer is twice as big as that of the regular kineticist, but can only be used for composite blasts, metakinesis and infusions. Wild talent burn thus prevented are treated as battle burn. I should hate this class and its easily regained (brief rest) battle burn. I don't. Why? Because I like the emphasis on careful resource-management this one requires. So yeah - kudos!

Now the pdf offers a selection of several new general infusions, which range from arbitrament-duplication, better crits with bludgeoning damage and blasts that deal no damage, but increase the save DC. The latter has some seriously cool tactical options, mind you. An improved follow-up of mobile blast. There also would be one that allows you to get rid of multiple physical damage types...I liked all of them and they often allow for REALLY cool tricks.

The pdf does also feature a broad array of unique wild talents that allow for new tricks - like better sniping while telekinetically invisible, AC that improves with your burn, making your composite blasts more versatile via infusions of constituting blasts...really cool. There is also a nod to Dark Sun here: One talent lets you make land permanently infertile...while and other sequence nets you an aura of plant growth you may manipulate with follow-up talents. The somewhat maligned wood element would be a pretty big winner this time around, with some seriously cool tricks.

The feat-section would go beyond the range of the usual class feature enhancements for the new archetypes, allowing e.g. the kinetic chirurgeon to actually gain access to burn-powered cure-spells. Playing an overwhelming soul? +1/2 Cha-mod mental prowess should be worth considering... Once again, a nice section, particularly considering the feat support some of the slightly less supported kineticist options receive.

The pdf also features 4 magic items, which includes a tattoo that allows you to fire blasts from your eyes (free hands!), a crossbow that can fire snake infusion blasts and an armor property that allows for the gaining of temporary hit points when affected by a wild talent as an immediate action...which is nice. We should, frankly, have more such defensive tricks, considering the glass-cannon-y aspect that many a kineticist tends to assume. (At least in my games...)

Part II of my review is here!

From misfit to legend

5/5 —

Legendary Kineticists is the series’ foray into the occult rules for the kineticist, offering plenty of new materials for the class, which has been getting a lot of attention ever since its release. Let’s see what’s in the book:

Kineticist Archetypes: As the title implies, this section offers archetypes for various classes. The Artistic Summoner (Kineticist) turns water or wood talents into animated drawings. The Awakened (Blodrager) grants kineticist abilities during a bloodrage. The Evoker Ministrel (Bard) trades Bardic Performances for kineticist abilities. The Soundweaver (Kineticist) grants bard abilities. The Surge Fist (Unchained Monk) lets you shoot kinetic blasts, in a similar fashion to fighting games. The True Psychic (Kineticist) augments the Aether or Mind element. The War Kineticist (Kineticist) changes around the Burn mechanic to have regular and temporary Burn points. Overall, all of these are well-written and balanced. However, I feel like the War Kineticist is lacking some features to make it a soldier more than a caster. It could have gotten better proficiencies and combat feats as well.

Kineticist Talents: This section offers new infusions and talents for any element. Keen Blast increases the critical range of any physical blast. Cantikinesis mixes elements and music. Hostile Flora makes any plant the source of a Wood Blast. These are all great additions to any kineticist… and it’s good to see Wood getting some love.

Kineticist Feats: This section offers a handful of new feats. Flashy Finesse lets you use Charisma instead of Dexterity for the blast’s attack rolls. Kinetic Channeling let you use the cleric’s Channel Positive Energy. While there are not many feats here, those presented are interesting options.

Kineticist Magic Items: This section offers 3 new items. The Planar Gates Tattoo allows the kineticist to shoot blasts from his eyes, leaving his hands free. The Leviathan Cross is a crossbow that can bestow the Snake infusion to the bolt, carrying the blast as well. The Energizing armor property can grant temporary hit points when targeted by wild talents. Each of them should be considered for any kineticist, as they are great tools.

The Neurokineticist: We are introduced to a new element, the mind. The mind is different from aether, as it focuses on mind-affecting effects, like confusion, inability to cast spells, to take action or to move. It is reminiscent of the old psionic classes, and it comes with its own blasts, infusions and talents. It’s a very good addition to the rules.

Sample Neurokineticist: Mindfang is a CN Neurokineticist, with the True Psychic archetype, is a slaver trying to free other slaves to add them to her own, but there’s more to her plan than it seems. She’s an interesting NPC to add to your campaign and can be a useful ally just as likely as to be a dangerous enemy.

Final thoughts: Once again, the kineticist gets an amazing support. If you like the Kineticists of Porphya booklet, this one will hit right home with you. I hope we’ll see more of this series, because I don’t think we’ll run out of ideas for the kineticist.

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BTW guys, art on this one is fantastic. It's just... *squees*
Silver Crusade

So as per normal, I'm here to do my Dev post talking about the product and my experiences with it, and this is a fun one to discuss. For those of you who want a more mechanical point of view, this book has also been added to my kineticists guide, so feel free to look over everything there.

The Mind element
Now this was a fun one, this wasn't originally planned to be part of the book. I figured at one point that I should try and add a new element, and finding one that worked was HARD (at least that I hadn't already done), and eventually I decided on Mind. Now Mind doesn't play well with the other elements at all (at least sharing wise), but it is an area of development that involved a lot of interesting options. For me, I went with a lot of influences on famous telepaths, including Vriska Serket (homestuck), Mindf*ck (empowered), and probably others. The end result was something of which I was very proud, and the talents added by Onyx only helped to give Mind its own identity.

Non-kineticist archetypes
Hey, here's something I said would probably never make it into KOP, and now, I don't have to put them there, yay! Onyx was the brains behind these, and I'd actually say they were the core of the book. These were some of the first ideas that began back when Legendary Kineticists was just known as the kineticist overflow doc. I'd have to say my favorite is Surge Fist unchained monk, just because of how fluidly the archetype flows and the versatility behind it. I originally did design one, but that 'ascended' into another project that'll be coming out soon enough *HINT HINT KINETIC SHINOBI HINT*

Soundweaver
I'm seriously shocked I wasn't asked to tone this down or cut it, but it represents a very interesting departure in how kineticist archetypes worked, something I've come to expect from when Onyx writes something. Sure, it could have been sound exclusive in KOP, but opening it up to all elements helped make it more universal and fun, and the kinetic masterpieces that came along with it were all very interesting. It's something that helps a charisma based kineticist have some nice sonic fun.

True Psychic
Here's another fun one, and this was something I mostly made due to the thematic connection between telepathy and telekinesis. Sure for the kineticist it's whipping stuff around with aether, but for this, I wanted to flavor it more as a Jean Grey style psychic. It's for that reason that I included mindscapes as a part of things too, wanting to give players a chance to mess around with them. I've joked that it's an elemental scion with less damage but a better elemental defense, and if the class features don't draw you in, you at least get that.

War Kineticist
Now this is an archetype that was inspired by a conversation with someone on the boards asking for another way to handle burn. Andras Zodon and myself talked a bit about things, which ended up with me writing The idea here is an archetype that's fast and fun to play in combat, but at the same time doesn't overshadow regular kineticist. You've got your battle burn to play around with in combat, but you lose some out of combat versatility, so it's a tradeoff.

New Wild Talents, Feats, And Magic Items
Most of the new infusions were Onxy's baby, and I myself really enjoyed persistent infusion. The idea of making permanent matter felt like something the class should already be able to do. I know they designed it just to have some fun with some of the new wild talents, but it still stands as one of my favorite.

The utility wild talents in this book were however a huge step up for void (gravity related) and wood, as I always try to make talents that help the lesser elements. Sure it took me a while to get to gravity, but whatever, I'm a busy writer. Onyx also had quite a few good ones here, and our editors made a few suggestions that helped make for some better and more balanced talents, but I feel like here we gave wood more of an identity. To make every element have a 'thing' was sort of our goal here, and I really felt this came across well in this book. Also take gravity sculptor, I love it.

Feats were entirely Onyx, I think I did one or two, but one of the goals of feats I'd say was to make the kinetic chirurgeon to be more versatile. It's a bit of a hard sell, but overall I think we did make a better healer here, even if I'm still not huge on kineticists play healer.

The new magic items were repurposes from KOP stuff that Onyx had worked on, and I felt like they were a solid addition to this book. The leviathan cross was just a cool concept, and really, we've been needing something like planar gate tattoos to enable EYE LAZORS, while the energizing armor quality is yet another attempt to make kineticists the masters of temporary hit points.

Sample Character
It feels wrong for me to release a book without a sample character now, and as you've all realized by now I love referencing things I love, so the reference is obvious with this one (at least one of them is), and I had a lot of fun writing this one. Mindfang is just a great mid level character who has a lot of utility and a fun personality. She's probably the character I would play for this if I wanted to go true psychic, so you can bet she's adequately optimized as well.

The Artwork
It's amazing. Sorry, I just can't get over this. Legendary Games stepped it up to a level I didn't think it was possible, and seeing my writing amid such talented artist is some kind of beautiful that I don't know how long it will take me to get over here. Kudos to the entire art team and Rian Trost for their on point illustration of Mindfang for the cover.

Final Thoughts
This was the first time having Luthorne on as a contributing editor, and they were very helpful making sure we had a solid talent roster. Their ideas and contributions were a nice addition to things, and I enjoyed working with them.

Really, I never expected this book to be as large as it was, I remember when it was like a 3k-4k word comment trying to just push it off as some kind of small project, but after a while (as happens with projects on which I work), it ballooned into an incredible beast that went far beyond the initial scope of what I had planned. Everyone on this project was a joy, as Mort was once again on point when discussing problems we had, I can't say enough about how Onyx helped with this project, and Jacob McCoy's feedback was very precise. Throw Jason into the mix being as supportive as he was about everything and it ended up being a hell of an all cast, making this one of my favorite projects.

Fans of the Kineticists of Porphyra line are going to enjoy this, people who just want more kineticists content are going to enjoy this, and I think people who haven't even checked out things like this before are going to enjoy this. I'm just looking forward to putting out more content that you'll all enjoy, so I'll get at ya when the Kinetic Shinobi comes out!

There is an issue with Improved Mindscape Architect, since there is no way for the neurokineticist get into his permanent mindscape without a real spellcasters help, since entrance requires casting mindscape door.
Silver Crusade
Milo v3 wrote:
There is an issue with Improved Mindscape Architect, since there is no way for the neurokineticist get into his permanent mindscape without a real spellcasters help, since entrance requires casting mindscape door.

GDI,I intended for them to be able to enter this, I'll put this on the change doc, but word of god is that a neurokineticist can use mindscape door to enter their mindscape for 0 burn. Thanks for pointing this out, this was my first time working with a lot of the non-kineticists occult stuff, so there were bound to be some small hiccups.

Silver Crusade

Thanks a lot to Andras Zodon and Elegant Egotist for their reviews! Glad to see you both enjoyed it. This'll put me 2 reviews closer to working on that Kineticist rebuild I talked about in the Legendary Kineticists thread.

I need to post an FAQ/errata doc for this one later, I'll get on that soon!

#$%@&^!&@& I just spent like an hour and a half writing up a review and then when I tried to preview it, it got erased. That'll teach me not to copy my walls of text before I hit any damn buttons. I'll come back to it later, sorry.
Silver Crusade
wynterknight wrote:
#$%@&^!&@& I just spent like an hour and a half writing up a review and then when I tried to preview it, it got erased. That'll teach me not to copy my walls of text before I hit any damn buttons. I'll come back to it later, sorry.

Oh man, I JUST talked about that in the thread. I've had this happen too, which is why I've started copying my text before actually posting it. It seems like if you take 'too long' writing out the review, the website just goes crazy and decides to flip out. You can't even back button to save it, all the text is gone.

Sorry to hear about it, I've lost reviews like that before too (At least 2 before I started saving them), it's all good though. Take your time with it and hopefully it won't get eaten next time.
Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Thanks to Elegant Egotist and Andras Zodon for their great reviews. We are delighted you enjoyed this book and hope you are looking forward to the Kinetic Shinobi coming soon!

Wynternight... I feel your pain. I too have felt the bitter sting of the too-long post that gets eaten with no take-backs. I look forward to seeing your review next time!
Silver Crusade

Thank you very much, Amartinez! I'm glad to see you enjoyed me stepping out of my KOP comfort zone and trying some new (if not similar) content for a great new publisher.

And I posted the rewrite in the discussion thread!
Silver Crusade

I'm writing up an awakened bloodrager NPC that is multiclassing into kineticist with the elemental annihilator archetype. Normally you lose the basic kinetic utility talent that comes with your chosen element. Would that still apply since the element has to be the same as that of the bloodrager's? Also, do awakened bloodrager levels stack with those of the kineticist in any way? I didn't see anything stating that they do, but I figured that I would ask for the sake of thoroughness on my part.
Silver Crusade
Blayde MacRonan wrote:
I'm writing up an awakened bloodrager NPC that is multiclassing into kineticist with the elemental annihilator archetype. Normally you lose the basic kinetic utility talent that comes with your chosen element. Would that still apply since the element has to be the same as that of the bloodrager's? Also, do awakened bloodrager levels stack with those of the kineticist in any way? I didn't see anything stating that they do, but I figured that I would ask for the sake of thoroughness on my part.

Nope, kinetic blood specifically gives the basic wild talent, so you get it no matter what. And yes, Awakened Bloodrager levels stack with kineticist levels, or at least that is the intended purpose. I'll probably add that to the FAQ/errata doc on which I'm working, said doc soon to be publically released once I'm satisfied with everything.

Thanks for the question, let me know if you have anything else you need clarified, and if you get the chance, please drop a review for the book!
Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

I should be getting the Kinetic Shinobi into the layout pipe today, so we MIGHT have it ready for Friday, but more likely looking for a next-week release.
Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Kinetic Shinobi on final approach! Just a few layout tweaks to make and it'll be ready to rock!
Silver Crusade

Just noticed Andras Zodon's review mentioned the 'mind sphere', seems like they're pretty familiar with Spheres of Power. Gotta admit, I've read spheres and it's a very nice book.

I believe you meant Amartinez's review :P
Silver Crusade
Onyx Tanuki wrote:
I believe you meant Amartinez's review :P

...maybe I did, Onyx...maybe I did...

One interesting thing is that with this, along with the other Kineticist material out there, I could see a very viable campaign with this being the only form of "magic" available to people.
Silver Crusade
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gharlane wrote:
One interesting thing is that with this, along with the other Kineticist material out there, I could see a very viable campaign with this being the only form of "magic" available to people.

I've always thought an all kineticist game would be fun as long as it was 3p friendly, as core kineticist just doesn't have enough options to make that viable in my estimation.

Also after Everyman Options: Kineticists and Horror Adventures, I'm really glad I decided to use the term 'neurokineticist' instead of 'psychokineticist' to avoid confusion.

okay, I feel the need to gush about this book.

I was unhappy with the kineticist on release and let it be for a long while, but thanks to N. Jolly's guide to them, I found myself intrigued by the wealth of development they have been given in the 3rd party scene.

so i told myself id buy KOP 1 to see what i think of it. now i have this, EO:K, and all 3 KOP books in the last few days

This may be one of my favorite published classes since the Soulknife, but that is due to the efforts of those who wrote those books to expand the possibilities beyond the expected.

This book once I finally got it had me reeling. particularly the Artistic Summoner, and the Soundweaver. while the other books gave me great ideas, (like using an amalgam of EO:K and KOP to make Star Butterfly) ill admit i enjoy the kineticist more from a flavor perspective than game play, and i wouldn't have come that far without the newer elements to use. Mind helps in that for certain but...

...you have no idea how long I've wanted to use ink or paper as a weapon. drawing creations to life in order to protect myself and my team as an actual mechanic? that is something I can't recall encountering in all my years. I'm already planning a disgruntled painter as a potential character or enemy for my campaigns.

but that's nothing on the Soundweaver and Cantikinesis. If I felt I was capable of providing a full review I'd have to try hard not to title it "Cantikinesis. hurray for Cantikinesis" here's the thing. I like skill checks in direct combat for gains. although I can at least understand a little some argument against such a thing.

but this may have been the best way I've ever seen printed as of yet to directly have Music as a weapon, which is something I have only ever seen one other time. and the fact you can use the music as basis for ANY element just makes it all the sweeter. like a character composing elegies that can erode time or just plain matter. or a played lullaby creating a dreamscape. there a few minor gripes and concerns i need to re-read to clarify i feel (like, the instruments you make- can they be masterworked for a perform bonus? or how do you use things like kinetic blade with cantikinesis if at all?), but the flavor burst off the page and had me from the word go. I wish i had the slightest idea how to play a soundweaver well- but then im still learning the normal kineticist. that said. i REALLY want to. the trades in damage that i can see feel worth it for the sheer amount of flavor

Thank you those who wrote this one, and the other kineticist books I mentioned by extension- you saved this class from my no-play heap and even gave me something I feel I never see anymore.

speaking of, I wonder if I could do one with a turntable...hmmm...
Silver Crusade
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Honestly, it's does my soul good to hear things like this, although a lot of the things you're enjoying here are due to the incredibly creative mind of Onxy Tanuki. They're honestly amazing, the cantikinesis talents and archetype were entirely theirs, and I'm sure they'd be glowing to hear you talk about it (BTWay, I'd probably build Star Butterfly as a fusion kineticist with light and sound).

Onyx and I both worked really hard on the artistic summoner, I believe it was the first 'original' idea for this that wasn't ideas for KOP 4 that were pushed off to the side. There was some discussion about if it made sense to let it be omni-elemental or just make it KOP sound exclusive, but in the end we thought it was better here, and Onxy wouldn't stop writing Masterpieces (both mechanically and literally).

I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and if you would, it would really help us out if you just copied your post and left it as a review, because that's basically what you did here, reviewed it. Either way, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you'll be happy to know that now that Horror Adventures is out, I'll be working on more kineticist content to come!
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Onyx Tanuki deserves a LOT of Credit then. the Soundweaver was the tipping point to buy the book. and it and Cantikinesis made it well worth the price for me- and I'm still grasping the blast gains in improved and greater Cantikinesis. im still VERY caught on the "Music as a weapon" bit.

(hmm. ill have to look into that build for my Star Butterfly-like. i was focused on dream based on the noted changes to use dream blasts that constantly change in apperance, but... maybe that does work better! hmm. must be fun to just muse on all the ways to build characters as kineticists. by the way, thank you for elemental Scion if you put that one together. it was part of why i bought KOP 1- I like mono-element concepts, and that archetype makes it far better.)

so you both worked on the Artistic summoner and wow... Onyx just kept going and going with the soundweaver. let em know if you see em they just hit one of my game dream points in a very solid way. the Artistic Summoner did as well, although i think i fianlly got my paper firing character out of that one alt- wood kinesis in.. was it KOP 3? either way, one step closer to Yomiko readman. except this time i also fold it into stuff *gasps, picturing a paper direbat as an escape mechanism* *GLEE*.

i thought about it... and i did it. cleaned it up, added more info, attempted to edit, review posted.

ooh. you are? I saw some notes for horror adventures, but i don't have any information on it as of yet. I wonder what things will come of it. eventually ill find out...
Silver Crusade
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Thanks, I really appreciate any review I can get. IF you get time, I'd love to have you do a short little review on the others, but for EO:K, I think holding off a review there until the update goes through would be a good idea.

As a side note, Legendary Kineticists made its way back onto the top 10 downloads for non Paizo stuff at #5, thanks for everyone who helped bring me back to 4 entries on the list!
Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Thanks for the great review Bdrone. I'm glad you loved the class (viva Cantikinesis!) and hope you check out Legendary Hybrids: Kinetic Shinobi for a fantastic and fun kineticist-ninja hybrid class!

I didn't intend on writing a review at first, but it just kind of came out of me, especially once requested. Glad it was enjoyed.

I'll see what I can do about reviewing the other kineticist books. they were all... hehe, instrumental to getting me to this point. but that review came from days of bottled up excitement after diving in to read the Soundweaver and STILL being constantly impressed. This exploration has taught me a LOT about the class.

Viva Cantikinesis indeed! hmm.. a.. Kineticist/ninja hybrid? I...I don't know on that one. A. more of a pirate type meself, but also... how are it's ranged options? im most partial to certain mechanics, and being someone who enjoyed both 3.5 Warlocks (and many of the classes based on invocations) and ranged combat in general is what led me to the Kineticist. Art summoner with it's summoning is another mechanic, but Bardic related stuff like the soundweaver helped tip scales here. what does this Shinobi play out like, if I may ask?
Silver Crusade
Bdrone wrote:

I didn't intend on writing a review at first, but it just kind of came out of me, especially once requested. Glad it was enjoyed.

I'll see what I can do about reviewing the other kineticist books. they were all... hehe, instrumental to getting me to this point. but that review came from days of bottled up excitement after diving in to read the Soundweaver and STILL being constantly impressed. This exploration has taught me a LOT about the class.

Viva Cantikinesis indeed! hmm.. a.. Kineticist/ninja hybrid? I...I don't know on that one. A. more of a pirate type meself, but also... how are it's ranged options? im most partial to certain mechanics, and being someone who enjoyed both 3.5 Warlocks (and many of the classes based on invocations) and ranged combat in general is what led me to the Kineticist. Art summoner with it's summoning is another mechanic, but Bardic related stuff like the soundweaver helped tip scales here. what does this Shinobi play out like, if I may ask?

Reviews are always welcome for products like this, even when they're not great as they show us scrub writers where we need to improve. Never think they have to be super long like EZG's, even short ones are appreciated greatly.

For the kinetic shinobi, think of it as making an elemental thrown/melee weapon. The damage is set, so it doesn't increase with level, but it does allow for multiple uses in a round like a normal manufactured weapon. What you are able to do is add substance infusions, as well as use quite a few ninja talents to alter your 'kinetic kunai' for this, giving it a lot of versatility for a ranged weapon. This along with a slightly slower sneak attack helps maintain nice damage, and just like with the base kineticist, you can choose between physical and energy blast for your kinetic kunai.

There's also over 50 unique shinobi talents to help modify your blast, and if you liked ranged combat, you'll probably really like the Arsenal Summoner, who can fire their kinetic kunai from ranged weapons like crossbows and firearms. Overall, it's a fun little hybrid with a lot of nice ideas in there, I think I'd say it was my first hybrid class. And there's quite a bit in there from Onyx as well, since a lot of the stuff you enjoyed in LK was their work.

revieeeeewed!
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Wow, everyone seems to be loving this one.
Silver Crusade
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Eric Hinkle wrote:
Wow, everyone seems to be loving this one.

I'm really glad to see that, Team KOP put a lot of hard work into this one.

Also thanks Blayde MacRonan and the xiao for the reviews!
Silver Crusade

Am I missing something with regard to the encephalon composite blast? I ask because the description for it reads 'You can exert greater control over a creature's mind', but no further explanation is given. Is this just a printing typo?
Silver Crusade
Blayde MacRonan wrote:
Am I missing something with regard to the encephalon composite blast? I ask because the description for it reads 'You can exert greater control over a creature's mind', but no further explanation is given. Is this just a printing typo?

Yeah, I think something was cut off there, but it's basically just a normal energy composite blast.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
the xiao wrote:
revieeeeewed!

Thanks for the review!

If you haven't already, we would love it if you could copy your review over to the product pages for this book at Amazon, the Open Gaming Store, and DrivethruRPG as well!
Silver Crusade

Thanks for the review, Jici! Every review is appreciated, and I'm glad that this one has lived up to the legacy that I've built with this amazing class.
Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Thanks for the great review JiCi!
Verdant Wheel

Considering this product.

Can you sell me on what it can do for the "classic four" elements during all levels of play?
Silver Crusade
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rainzax wrote:

Considering this product.

Can you sell me on what it can do for the "classic four" elements during all levels of play?

Let me pull up my copy and see what I can find...

For the classics, the art summoner is really just a great archetype (it is water/wood exclusive though) for creative playstyles, allowing some light summoning along with a robust theme of artistic play.

As for the four base elements, I will admit that this product did a lot to expand Wood and Void because...they needed it so badly. With the ability to bring around a disney style garden with you that can eventually choke out people and control gravity to whatever extent you want in a limited area, both void and wood are very well supported here.

Air gets improved celerity to help it out in the mid levels and all elements get an awesome new tool in being able to use elemental bombardment for some sick late game summoning. Both early game and late game earth gets new tools to help you control both unworked stone and metal as well, really helping build upon the earthbender theme at mid levels.

As a whole, the sound weaver and art summoner are probably the biggest core element draws, while the talents help to round out where stated. And of course, it still comes with the new Mind element with over 90+ talents to its name, so that's pretty cool.
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Part II of my review:

Now, the pdf also offers a cool elemental saturation, i.e. a place of power that offers a risk, but also the option to gain a unique min utility wild talent that lets you end mind-affecting effects as swift or immediate actions, but for 1 burn and being dazed for 1 round. Neat and evocative! The pdf concludes with Mindfang, a CR 11 neurokineticist - Hannah, as her true name is, is a slaver with a nasty reputation and a dark and tragic past, wanting to reclaim her love Teresa from the clutches of her (most assuredly) even less scrupulous brother. I was positively surprised by this character, as she makes for a multi-faceted, interesting NPC that can be both foil and ally at the same time. And yes, she does come with a boon if the PCs befriend her.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, though not as nigh-perfect as in most Legendary Games-books. There are a couple of minor, cosmetic hiccups in formatting. Ruls-language-wise, there is, in spite of the significant complexity of the subject matter, nothing to complain about. Layout adheres to Legendary Games' two-column full-color standard and the pdf offers a blend of original full-color pieces and some stock art I have seen before. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

N. Jolly, with additional design by OnyxTanuki, seems to have it in for me. I mean, do you know how much work goes into analyzing these intricately-woven books?? Kidding aside, I was absolutely positive surprised by a LOT I saw within this book. Being the 4th (!!!) kineticist book by his pen, I figured he'd have to run out of steam at some point. Quite the contrary. In stark contrast to the supremely amazing, yet also potentially problematic dimensional rift creating apex of his craft so far, this book provides a diverse and captivating conglomerate of unique options. In the hands of a lesser designer, a kinetic summoner would have been a train wreck, awesome visuals notwithstanding. Here, it's just cool. Even the hybrid-archetypes reach a level of complexity that goes beyond simple excellent craftsmanship and reaches the level of artistry, making them better than quite a few full-blown hybrid classes I read. Now, let's talk about the new element. It has me a bit divided.

I know that untyped damage for kineticists is by now established...yaddayaddayadda...but I'm still not that comfortable with it. That being said, the mind-affecting angle is SMART. As a huge fan of telepaths and psionics, I considered the new element to have a bit much overlap with that field...but at the same time, there are quite a few unique tricks herein that simply can't be pulled off via other systems. More importantly, the neurokineticist actually PLAYS radically different from DSP's classes, which means that there is more than enough space for both to exist in the same universe.

Neuros, to me, feel more like the super-hero-y ones, the Psyclockes and the like, whereas other master of mental manipulation come closer to the shadowy mastermind/Charles Xavier-type. So yeah, I will actually continue to use this. Add to that the cool defensive armor (we need more tricks like that!), the feats that enhance neglected archetypes and OH MY GOD ELECTRIC GUITAR OF DEATH. DRUM OF DOOM. TRUMPET OF TORNADOES. Cantakinesis is a stroke of genius. Similarly, gaining Cyclops-like gaze-blasts is amazing...and implanting/memory manipulation has always been one of my favorite tricks as a GM. Yeah, I'm evil. I know.

Suffice to say, there is a TON of material herein, and I love a LOT of it. This is pretty much the epitome of a high-density, high-complexity, well-crafted book of evocative crunch. 5 stars + seal of approval, given sans hesitation.

Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS, amazon, etc.

Endzeitgeist out.
Silver Crusade
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Thanks for the review, EZG! I really like how this one came together, and I think this is the beginning of Onyx really starting to show a lot of initiative that's carried through into newer products on which they've assisted.
Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Thanks for the terrific and detailed review on this and its sequel, Endy! In your honor, we've made Legendary Kineticists II *and* the original Legendary Kineticists our TWO$DAY products of the week at the Legendary Games webstore - just $2 each!!!
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