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I would much rather have versatility and control over my element then just focused as a "blaster caster".
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Man, I want my Roy Mustang Pyrokineticist concept to work.
I need to find ways to improve accuracy.
I want this class to work, really bad.
So do I.
Shayla-Shayla, Miz Mishtal, and Afura Mann ain't gonna make themselves.
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I would much rather have versatility and control over my element then just focused as a "blaster caster".
I am a bit concerned too about the 'role' of the kineticist. I am really worried it is going to end up as a pure '5th party member' class. Its not skillful, it cant really stand up front and fight like the full bab guys, it cant do any of the basic necessities of arcane casters (the lack of ability to identify magic via spellcraft/detect magic is a huge obstacle even if they get more utility), and though they can heal hit points with kinetic healer, they cant deal with ability damage, drain or other negative conditions, meaning they cant fill the divine caster role. Basically, a kineticist, is a 5th wheel that adds dps and a few tricks, but cant really be part of a typical 4 person party. Ranged blasting damage is useful, but it isnt a core role in the game. The kineticist needs a path into at least one of those 4 key roles.
I would love a instant death effect like taking the air out of the lungs, stopping the heart, etc.
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For all those who wonder what kind of action the Kinetic Blade/Fist/Whip is, please read carefully... "use this as part of an attack or full attack action". So it is not specifically an action, but a default occurrence which happens when you say you want to beat something with a flaming stick.
It does however currently provoke, Mark has stated. He said he wishes to test the ability under these conditions before deciding if he would include it not provoking aoo's.
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I had a thought last night on burn and an alternative way to show that you're pushing yourself without going into non lethal damage, which people seem apprehensive about for an understandable reason.
My thought was this: Burn is a pool, like with magus, 3+con mod, but at certain thresholds of taking points from that pool you have to shoulder certain debuffs. At 3/4 of a full pool you're sickened, 1/2 is fatigued, 1/4 is exhausted and at 0 you take nonlethal damage equal to twice your character level. Whether or not the sickened/fatigued/exhausted is curable I leave to better designing minds than myself, but even still it gets incrementally worse the more you use your points without completely hamstringing the character, but still keeps the design and flavor intent that Mark seemed to be going for.
Some of the talk I've seen about how good small Kineticists are has inspired me to create a Fox Shape Kitsune Kineticist. Since *all* of the ablities are spell-like they can be used while polymorphed. The combined bonuses of +4 Dex and +2 size to attack gives the character a +4 to hit while in fox form.
The only downside I can think of so far is that he might not count as having 'two hands free' to gather energy to avoid burn while in fox shape. However, at high levels with Quick Kitsune Shapechange he would be able to use a move action to gather energy, swift action to change into a fox, and a standard action to use an attack all in the same turn.
Humans still have a bit of an advantage because of their bonus feat and skill point, but I'm glad that I've at least thought of a mechanical advantage to going with 'foxfire' theme ;)
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I had a thought last night on burn and an alternative way to show that you're pushing yourself without going into non lethal damage, which people seem apprehensive about for an understandable reason.
My thought was this: Burn is a pool, like with magus, 3+con mod, but at certain thresholds of taking points from that pool you have to shoulder certain debuffs. At 3/4 of a full pool you're sickened, 1/2 is fatigued, 1/4 is exhausted and at 0 you take nonlethal damage equal to twice your character level. Whether or not the sickened/fatigued/exhausted is curable I leave to better designing minds than myself, but even still it gets incrementally worse the more you use your points without completely hamstringing the character, but still keeps the design and flavor intent that Mark seemed to be going for.
I think it shouldn't be a pool
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I can see burn going from a health problem to a damage problem. For each point of burn, lose x damage from Blasts and Composite Blasts. 1-5th level lose 1 damage per burn, 6-10th lose 2 damage per burn, and so forth. Now as you "nova" your damage, you find your abilities nerfed. Eventually you're having to nova just to keep up normal damage at the end of the day if you overuse it. Now you've made yourself practically useless as you've overtaxed your powers, but you haven't made yourself nearly dead to do so.
I still personally like burn as it is, but if anyone wants to check out the Wilder psionic class, they had a choice of how you burned out if you pushed too hard. I can see 3-4 options for different kinds of suck that happen when you accumulate burn. Damage reduced, health reduced, a power pool and you flat can't do it more than x times (which, for having no penalty attached would be less times than the others), and even maybe every time you incur burn you can't use any class abilities for (burn)rounds or (burn)minutes.
by giving options, all of which are severely detrimental, we may find a better agreement for people who aren't happy with it.
It also places the kineticist in the position of be unable to take advantage of all-day abilities that use burn. Kinetic Form and the defensive abilities come to mind.
Grrr, just realized that the rules for Kinetic Blast specifies that it requires at least one free hand to aim, even though it is a Spell-like-ability. So blasting while in Fox Shape (and most other polymorph forms) is probably a no-go.
Edit: Actually, that brings up a question. When you use Kinetic Form to assume the form of an Elemental, do you lose your abililty to use Kinetic Blast? It is kind of questionable whether or not elementals have hands.
Grrr, just realized that the rules for Kinetic Blast specifies that it requires at least one free hand to aim, even though it is a Spell-like-ability. So blasting while in Fox Shape (and most other polymorph forms) is probably a no-go.
Edit: Actually, that brings up a question. When you use Kinetic Form to assume the form of an Elemental, do you lose your abililty to use Kinetic Blast? It is kind of questionable whether or not elementals have hands.
I would definitely allow you to fire your blast from the mouth or tail(s) of your fox form out of sheer coolness factor.
There has been iffy consensus, I believe, that elementals are capable of taking a humanoid shape, so that should be sufficient for "hands".
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Grrr, just realized that the rules for Kinetic Blast specifies that it requires at least one free hand to aim, even though it is a Spell-like-ability. So blasting while in Fox Shape (and most other polymorph forms) is probably a no-go.
Edit: Actually, that brings up a question. When you use Kinetic Form to assume the form of an Elemental, do you lose your abililty to use Kinetic Blast? It is kind of questionable whether or not elementals have hands.
I would definitely allow you to fire your blast from the mouth or tail(s) of your fox form out of sheer coolness factor.
There has been iffy consensus, I believe, that elementals are capable of taking a humanoid shape, so that should be sufficient for "hands".
There are GM's who will fight that tooth-and-nail in an attempt to prevent casters from using the Elemental Body spells.
Anything not explicitly defined becomes subject to table variation.
If every other Kineticist can choose to become the element that they're associated with by picking up Kinetic Form, I'm a little surprised that the Telekineticist can't at least bend light and turn invisible. The Human Torch is easy as a Kineticist, but I honestly think the Invisible Woman should be one, too. Besides, the Telekineticist is already the tricksiest of the bunch. I don't think it's much of a shift in character for what Aether can do.
I made a big huge wall of text style post in Open Office and I'm considering posting it here over multiple posts (to make it easier to quote/discuss) or just making a new thread and linking it here.
What do you guys think would be better?
I am putting together a Aether Kineticist NPC foe to try out in my game this saturday and I noticed a couple things.
1. A low level Aether Kineticist has exteremly limited useful options if he doesnt want to go the light touch route. As you move up in level, and obviously once you can expand into other elements the options are more plentiful, but in that 5th level and lower range, there is very, very little if you dont want to go with fine manipulation at a distance pickpocket type that light touch represents. Particularly as an npc, these abilities represent very limited low level usefulness. Later on the ability to add dirty trick and steal to the telekinetic maneuvers is pretty awesome, but if you expect the character to most likely be killed, what happens at higher levels is basically irrelevant. I think all elements could use some additional wild talents, but especially the aether at low levels.
2. Aether is the only element with no real compound blasts. Why isnt telekinteically hurling ice, or rocks, or even fire a thing? Aether really gets shafted in that area.
3. I did some searching but havent found an answer to what happens by raw if you hurl grenade like objects via telekinetic blast. Using alchemical weapons seems like a great way to add a bit of variety to an aether kineticist, particularly at low levels, but i have no idea if it should or shouldnt work. A clarification there would be nice. Rational extension of events lends itself to it working. But some of the language in the power itself seems to imply that the object is completely irrelevant.
Is there a ruling on air's reach about lightning blast? It mentions "air blasts and wild talents" does that mean the blast named Air blast or does it mean blasts from the air element. If it is the later than lightning gets knocked down to only having 1 ability they can take for from their element's list. Hoping there are more talents overall in the final version as it stands water gets the lion's share of options and a lot of them come at low levels.
I'd like some clarification on that too. I'm guessing "associated blasts" means the infusion only works with those blasts. But in that case, ligntning doesn't have very many options.
<snip>
3. I did some searching but havent found an answer to what happens by raw if you hurl grenade like objects via telekinetic blast. Using alchemical weapons seems like a great way to add a bit of variety to an aether kineticist, particularly at low levels, but i have no idea if it should or shouldnt work. A clarification there would be nice. Rational extension of events lends itself to it working. But some of the language in the power itself seems to imply that the object is completely irrelevant.
Mark's answered this a couple of times, and unfortunately, the answer is no, it won't work. :(
Peter
Edit: Linky
I made a big huge wall of text style post in Open Office and I'm considering posting it here over multiple posts (to make it easier to quote/discuss) or just making a new thread and linking it here.
What do you guys think would be better?
post it with spoilers
(they're listed in how to format your text, otherwise
<spoiler=spoiler1> </spoiler> (with replacing the <> with [])
Peter
Edit agian:
In case people have missed it, here's the update from the first post:
<snip> Kinetic blade uses the same critical range and multiplier as a usual kinetic blast (which is 20/x2). Since it is used as part of a full attack or attack action, it doesn't have its own additional action cost, but you still can only use one instance of kinetic blade with your full attack (that is, you can't summon up 50 kinetic blades, but you can make a full attack with the one blade you did summon). The same is true for kinetic whip.
No additional action cost means that kinetic whip/blades don't provoke.
<snip>
3. I did some searching but havent found an answer to what happens by raw if you hurl grenade like objects via telekinetic blast. Using alchemical weapons seems like a great way to add a bit of variety to an aether kineticist, particularly at low levels, but i have no idea if it should or shouldnt work. A clarification there would be nice. Rational extension of events lends itself to it working. But some of the language in the power itself seems to imply that the object is completely irrelevant.
Mark's answered this a couple of times, and unfortunately, the answer is no, it won't work. :(
Peter
Edit: Linky
Ah, I saw the answer for magic weapons and special materials, didnt see that it was also a response for things like alchemist fire. Not exactly sure how that works, but that was the rules as intended that i expected. A shame, its an intriguing idea, and one that makes a low level aeither kineticist far more interesting, then dedicated rock flinger.
Edit:
One thing that still isnt clear, is that if such an item is thrown, does that later of aether both prevent it from effecting the target and keep it in tact? for instance, an alchemist fire thrown with a telekinetic blast land in tact in the square of the target? Or would it explode but to no effect trapped in the aether?
There are some items that still might be particularly useful if they land in tact, a fuse grenade comes to mind. But there are other such items. Basically anything that you would normally throw and then wait a round or more for an effect.
Last night myself and some friends discussed the Kineticist and brain stormed what kind of Wild Talents would make sense mechanically, have Occult flavor, and give the Kineticist some much needed utility.
Fire:
-Through the Flames: You know those scenes in movies where people throw stuff into the fire and see visions? Yeah it's stereotypical, but that could work. Have the talent be a X times per day spell. It's up to Mark which is appropriate, but I think commune, scry, speak with dead, or something may work.
-One that can give your allies Fire Resistance as you make their bodies repel fire.
Water:
-Pretty simple one. You make a mirror of Ice and use it to Clairaudience or scry. Seen it happen in media plenty. Probably limited use per day.
-One to make large bubbles so you can walk your party along the sea floor.
Earth:
-Enter a trance and feel the vibrations through the earth and into bodies. Treat it sort of like radar and let the Kineticist count the number of feat touching the ground and the size of creatures within range. Range extends per level.
-One to make tunnels so you can dig your party to places.
Air:
-Slightly Harder to come up with.
-One idea was that since this element is less closely linked to divination we find some other utility. Maybe something like as long as he concentrates as a standard action every round he and his allies have the effects of Air Walk.
-Another was to "listen to the voice of the wind" by using Divination as a spell like ability. Since Divination gives you " advice granted by the spell can be as simple as a short phrase, or it might take the form of a cryptic rhyme or omen." It would make sense for a voice carried by the wind.
Aether:
-Hardest one to come up with.
-A pulse that gives you true seeing and detect secret doors, think like a combination of Radar and Echolocation.
-Instead of replicating a spell effect we came up with a decent idea for a "divination" effect. Your force could "nudge" you in the right direction. Like you meditate and after a while you just feel an attraction to a certain direction until you finish meditating. To help you and a confused party decide where you need to go next.
-Something similar to Air in which as a standard action of concentration you create a wall of force that you can move 30 FT per round. Can be used to block places, for protection, or to levitate your group around. If the wall gets broken then you can't make a new wall until you rest for an hour.
Hmm, I just realized Kinetic Cover doesn't list a duration, but there has to be one for some of the elements at least, I mean Water doesn't just stay floating there in the air all on its own.
That's just the way it works. The defenses are basically till dispelled. They aren't even limited to a day. I suppose you could sleep with them on. Build a house I guess. With enough time you could build a labyrinth.
If it makes you feel better, imagine the water is unmelting ice.
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As cool as aether is thematically, maybe it needs to go away as an element choice, and just be a sort of universal category for wild talents, or possibly benefits that all Kineticists get as they level. Even the blast isn't a blast, you're just chucking stuff at enemies for set damage whether you're throwing a pebble or an orc, and its talents make it one of the weaker choices.
Kinetic Cover isn't a defense talent, though. It's the one that makes a wall of stuff.Hmm, I just realized Kinetic Cover doesn't list a duration, but there has to be one for some of the elements at least, I mean Water doesn't just stay floating there in the air all on its own.That's just the way it works. The defenses are basically till dispelled. They aren't even limited to a day. I suppose you could sleep with them on.
Then it's a wall that lasts until destroyed. It's not like the water you attack with is natural water. It doesn't have to obey the normal rules of physics.
Grrr, just realized that the rules for Kinetic Blast specifies that it requires at least one free hand to aim, even though it is a Spell-like-ability. So blasting while in Fox Shape (and most other polymorph forms) is probably a no-go.
Edit: Actually, that brings up a question. When you use Kinetic Form to assume the form of an Elemental, do you lose your abililty to use Kinetic Blast? It is kind of questionable whether or not elementals have hands.
I would definitely allow you to fire your blast from the mouth or tail(s) of your fox form out of sheer coolness factor.
There has been iffy consensus, I believe, that elementals are capable of taking a humanoid shape, so that should be sufficient for "hands".
There are GM's who will fight that tooth-and-nail in an attempt to prevent casters from using the Elemental Body spells.
Anything not explicitly defined becomes subject to table variation.
Yea, this is probably something that we're going to have to bother Mark for a FAQ on eventually ;)
In any case, I guess one of my wild talent recommendations is going to be one that lets the Kineticist use his Blast without having to use a hand. The greater version of this Wild Talent could let the kineticist gather power without having to use hands either.
It isn't like shooting fireballs without moving is a new since Still Spell is a thing. :)
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Okay, I'm going to make a series of posts about abilities I think should be included in the final product of what a Kineticist should be capable of. Unfortunately, due to the limited availability of examples in media, most examples of what a character should be capable of are going to be drawn from Avatar the Last Airbender and the sequel, The Legend of Korra. Because, let's face it, outside of Firestarter, how many 'kineticists' do you see in popular media?
Other examples I will be drawing from are:
Kaze no Stigma (think Avatar powers, but far more deadly)
Fairy Tail (Pyrokineticist, Hydrokineticist, Aerokineticist)
Push
Chronicle
Frozen
X-men
Aerokineticist
Air should be the least 'damaging' power. In my opinion, it should focus more on, basically, buffs and battlefield control. Wendy, from Fairy Tail, is a great example of this as she is capable of enhancing her allies through her Sky Dragon Magic very effectively.
For example, it should be possible to increase the speed and agility of the kineticist and his allies. Similar to spells like haste and cat's grace. Similar to airbending in Avatar, it should focus less on meeting challenges head on, and circumventing them. In the Kaze no Stigma series, those who practice Wind magic are looked down upon, but they are also incredibly useful. They are able to travel long distances very quickly and are magnificent scouts using the winds to cloak themselves from peoples eye. They're also highly sensitive to the changing winds and are difficult to sneak up on. Though wind magic is arguably the least powerful, the most powerful character in the show is a Wind mage.
On the Battlefield Control side of things, the Aerokineticist could mimic difficult terrain by using gusts of wind to impede his foes, or creating wind streams to make it difficult to stay standing, or even blow his foes away.
Effects that Aerokineticists should be able to reproduce with their abilities include:
Blur
Haste
Cat's Grace
Fly (Mass)
Feather Fall
Levitate
River of Wind
Gust of Wind
Expeditious Retreat
Air Walk
Gaseous Form
Wind Walk
Whirlwind
Call Lightning
Lightning Bolt
Chain Lightning
Control Weather
Invisibility
Feats
Wind Stance
Lightning Stance
For damaging options using just air (not electricity), I think this should be very limited. In most media that I've seen (see above) that has aerokineticist like powers, it usually involves releasing high powered winds to shred things, slam creatures into other objects, or focus the wind into narrow gusts that can cut things.
On the utility side, the Aerokineticist should be capable of a limited telekinesis via controlling gusts of winds. It should be rough and almost uncontrolled, only able to do basic things like move an object or lift something. Fine control is limited exclusively to telekinetics. But, other things include being able to move quickly, infilitrate and being extremely agile.
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Geokineticisit
The Geokineticist should be dependable and solid, unmoving and unyielding. Arguably the most solidly defensive of all the Kineticists, he should focus on being able to use the earth defend himself at any turn. However, the Geokineticist is no slouch in offense as he can shape the very ground of the battlefield to suit his whim, so he almost always has homefield advantage. Able to hurl boulders with ease, or form buildings and raise walls and alter terrain, fighting a geokineticist on the ground should be a nightmare.
A Geokineticist should be able to affect himself and possibly allies with defensive powers to make them more resilient. This might mean being able to grant limited energy resistance, or damage reduction, or increased AC, or cover.
Things in Pathfinder the Geokineticist should be capable of replicating:
Move Earth
Stone to Mud
Mud to Stone
Stone Shape
Wall of Stone
Create Pit (but not an extraplanar pit)
Fabricate (earth and metal only)
Earthquake
Stone Call
Shifting Sand
Flesh to Stone
Stone to Flesh
Stoneflesh
Resist Energy (Mass)
World Wave
Meld with Stone
In general, I think the geokineticist is fairly well represented in the playtest. My only big gripe with it, as it exists, is that he has no way to shape stone or metal in a similar fashion to Stone Shape. I think it's kind of odd that pyrokineticists get Fire Sculptor, but neither Geokineticists nor Hydrokineticists do.
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Hydrokineticist
Hydrokineticists should be very versatile. They have the only element that exists in both energy and physical form. They should be able to run across water, control the seas, launch ice spears, create shelter and control the battlefield. We see some great examples of this in the Avatar series, but also in Fairy Tail with the Ice Maker mages. Admittedly, the Ice Maker magic is probably more suited to an archetype that focuses entirely on cryokinetics.
There are some things I from the Avatar series, specifically, that I would dearly love to see implemented in the Hydrokineticist. Based off Marks little teaser post, I suspect we will see a 'blood bender' esque archetype, and, if we do, I hope one of the abilities is the ability to 'bend' plant matter as well. But, other things I'd like to see is the ability to form whirlpools in water, like when Aang and Katarra fought the sea serpent in the Serpents Pass in season two before arriving in Ba Sing Sei. Another ability, and one that I've always found to be very scary once you realize the ramifications of it, is in the episode the Southern Raiders when Katara tracks down her mother's killer and freezes the rain and repels it, forming a protective dome that prevents the rain from entering. She also then gathers up large quantities of ice and nearly impales the man with them. Those abilities should be present some how. In addition, the hydrokineticist should be capable of sculpting things out of ice, and moving it about with relative ease.
As much as some people may be very tired of hearing about the movie, Frozen has some amazing examples of cryokinesis, which is arguably a subclass of hydrokinesis.
Some things already in Pathfinder that the Hydrokineticist should be capable of mimicking:
Hydraulic Push
Hydraulic Torrent
Aqueos Orb
Freezing Sphere
Wall of Ice
Create Water
Stone Shape (but with ice)
Fabricate (ice)
Water Walk
Grease (ice)
Chill Metal
Chill Touch
Ice Spears
Cone of Cold
Water Breathing
Ice Storm
Feats:
Rime Spell
I think the Hydrokinetic is represented well, and is arguably the strongest element in the playtest, but it could be better.
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Pyrokineticist
Pyrokinetics suffer from a lack of defensive options. As the most violent and destructive of the elements, it should be reflected in the kineticist. However, fire is not just the element of destruction, it's also the element of rebirth. 'Cleansing Flame', 'Divine Fire', 'Holy Flames', these are all sayings that have existed in religion for a long time, and should be part of the pyrokineticist. Making him not just excel at destroying foes and objects, but also of purifying objects as well.
Avatar has many good examples of pyrokineticism at work, but so too does Fairy Tail, and Kaze no Stigma. In Avatar and Fairy Tail, fire is used more as an element of raw destruction, there is very little utility to fire in these shows. However, Macao and Romeo are both shown to be practitioners of a fire magic that can be used for different things, like latching on to objects, or even producing a cold fire. In Kaze no Stigma, fire is one of the most powerful elements, and most useful in combating evil as it is fire that is used to purify evil spirits and expel demons.
Abilities in Pathfinder that should be replicated by the pyrokineticist:
Blur (heat waves)
Fire spell (all)
Dispel Magic
Break Enchantment
Pyrokinetics is, I think, lacking a bit in representation. Granted, there are some really cool abilities, but it strikes me as odd that Hydrokinetics get 'Spray' as a Wild Talent, letting them attack enemies in a cone, but Fire doesn't. I mean, Burning Hands is an iconic 1st level spell and a 15-ft cone. If any element should be able of forming a cone shaped blast, it's fire.
On top of the above, Pyrokineticist, should be *the* kineticist to turn to when you want something to just die. He should deal the most amount of damage possible, because dealing damage is what Fire is best at and Fire has the least amount of utility. Even what limited utility Fire has, is based around destroying things.
Defensively, I think the pyrokineticist should operate much like the aerokineticist; neither are capble of making physical barriers like the other three elements, so they need to rely on not getting hit at all via things like speed or miss chance. For example, instead of Searing Skin, the pyrokineticist could cause such intense heat to roll off his body that his body is like a mirage and has a 10% miss chance that scales up as his level increases. Or, instead of scaling, you could make his miss chance unique and stack with other sources of miss chance.
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Telekineticist
Arguably the hardest element to nail down, because Telekinetics has been portrayed in many varied and different ways. There is, of course, the infamous Carrie series, but in the Carrie movies, it's limited almost soley to hurling things and rough manipulation. Closing doors, knocking things down etc. A master of fine manipulation Carrie is not.
On the flip side, you have characters like Jean Grey who are able to use telekinesis to manipulate atoms to re-shape things. This is a bit extreme, but might be cool for high level telekinetics as someone mentioned earlier, for a disintegrate like effect.
Then you've got Push and Chronicle. When I think telekinesis, I think of Chronicle and Push. From forming telekinetic barriers to stop bullets, to waves of energy throwing things backward, to crushing a car by clenching your hand. Like hydrokinetics, telekinetics should be versatile, but not ovwhelmingly powerful. Telekinesis should be the progenitor of all other kinetics, so it should be able to dabble a little in each realm.
The telekinetic should be able to lift huge boulders, like a geokinetic, or lift himself and fly, like an aerokinetic. Both should be better at this than the telekinetic, with the geokinetic having finer control over the boulders, and the aerokinetic being faster and more maneuverable, but the telekinetic should still be able to do it. He should be able to move water and ice and even shape it, but the hydrokinetic should be better. He can part flames, and extinguish fires, but not to the same degree a pyrokinetic can. Damage is not strictly the only method by which a telekinetic can fight either. He should be able to pin down foes with his mind, trip them, disarm them, push them off ledges, hurl them through the air et cetera, et cetera. Discarded weapons should be projecticles for the telekinetic, as he is able to throw spears, swords, rocks, pebbles, bullets, arrows, boulders, icicles, you name it, he can throw it. But he doesn't need to throw only objects either, he should be able to form blasts of raw telekinetic energy to pummel his foes.
Pathfinder abilities the telekineticist should replicate:
Mage Hand
Levitate
Fly
Telekinesis
Resilient Sphere
Emergency Force Sphere
Wall of Force
Animate Objects
Animate Rope
Disintegrate
Invisibility
Class Abilities
Wizard (Transmutation School) Telekinetic Fist
Misc.
Dancing weapon property (multiples)
Telekinetics, I think, are represented well. In many ways, the telekinetic is the simplest class, because he, essentially, revolves around throwing things. As long as he can throw things with his mind, it's hard to get a telekinetic wrong. I do think that the abilities of the objects he throws should still benefit his attacks. I mean, if he throws a bunch of silver daggers at an enemy, it should bypass DR/silver.
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Kineticist
One thing I've thought about in making these posts is that the Kineticsit itself should get some changes to it. Namely, that each element should have special boons that are granted only if the element is chosen as the first element, or, it grants a higher bonus.
For example, if you choose Earth, you might make the bonus from Feel the Burn apply to AC and CMD vs bull rush and trip maneuvers and add half their level to Knowledge (engineering) and craft checks dealing with stone. Or give Air a bonus equal to half their level on acrobatics and stealth checks, and Feel the Burn applies to their initiative score or possibly a 10 ft. increase in speed for every Feel the Burn bonus. All classes should probably get a bonus equal to their level or half their level on Knowledge checks pertaining to their element.
I would suggest, that you only get the additional bonuses for the first element you choose as that is their 'base' element. This way, you prevent people from trying to minmax the elements or something. It would also make the choice at level 1 even more relevant, and it adds a bit more utility to the class.
The kineticist is also desperately in need of a method of bypassing energy resistance. Even something as simple as reducing energy resistance equal to their level and dealing half damage to those immune to their element at level 10 or so would work. I personally would prefer to steal the Unnatural Cold and Unnearthly Cold abilities from the Winter Witch prestige class and slap them on the Kineticist, but that's just me.
The kineticist should be capable of manipulating their element in some form from level one. In Avatar, even untrained, Katara was still able to move water around, though, it was, admittedly, very sloppy and rough.
I also believe the the Kineticist should have an ability that interacts with elementals of their type. Be it banishing, dominating or siphoning power from them, elementals should fear a Kineticist.