Methods to fix the Kineticist


Homebrew and House Rules

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Method 1:
-Have conductive shuriken or bow arrows
-Be proficient with your chosen weapon
-Full attack with them
-Blast on every hit

+simple
-expensive/shot
-needs prof (tho that's not too bad... monk gets you an extra attack even, and bows are pretty good).
-low range

Method 2:
-Have blinkback belt
-Have a number of daggers equal to your full attack routine that are conductive
-Full attack with them
-Blast on every hit

+permanent magic items
-very expensive startup costs
-takes your belt slot

Method 3:
-Dip Cartomancer Witch
-You now have a deck of throwing cards that don't break on hit and return to you
-Add conductive to your cards
-Full attack with them
-Blast on every hit

+not as expensive
+you are like gambit
-needs a dip

Method 4:
-Be Gnome
-Dip Magus
-Take the alternate racial favored class bonus that lets you add conductive to your weapons using your pool
-take an option to enhance ranged weapons/ammo (either cartomancer or ranged magus arcana) with conductive
-enhance ammo with conductive
-Full attack with them
-Blast on every hit

+not expensive either
+you can be like gambit, if you want
-needs a dip
-sets your race
-can only be done a few times a day
-seriously, don't do this

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Are you sure the title shouldn't read "Methods to break the Kineticist"

Okay in fairness I haven't seen the DRP olympiad, but it is a class that can blast alllllllllll day, and blast relatively hard. Maybe its nova isn't as nova as you might like, but ALLLLLLLL day is huge.


Incoming Conductive weapon "errata"?

Also, don't use a blinkback belt and multiple daggers.

Pick up a Dagger of Doubling, enchant it with Conductive, and grab the Quickdraw feat.

Split as free action (with quick draw) throw dagger, repeat.


Galnörag wrote:

Are you sure the title shouldn't read "Methods to break the Kineticist"

Okay in fairness I haven't seen the DRP olympiad, but it is a class that can blast alllllllllll day, and blast relatively hard. Maybe its nova isn't as nova as you might like, but ALLLLLLLL day is huge.

As far as I can tell, it's literally doing expert-with-a-bow.

Quote:

Incoming Conductive weapon "errata"?

Also, don't use a blinkback belt and multiple daggers.

Pick up a Dagger of Doubling, enchant it with Conductive, and grab the Quickdraw feat.

Split as free action (with quick draw) throw dagger, repeat.

Yeah, it'll probably be errata'd out. Still, enjoy it while it lasts, eh? Anyway, good idea with the split daggers.

Sovereign Court

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I built a reasonably non-optimal 6th level ratfolk kineticist the other day. He's an aether specialist, so his shield means that he only takes damage from his burn if he's already out of temps. At the start of the day, he's +15 to hit for 3d6+16 damage (with the option to empower his blast if he has a move action). By the end of the day, he's looking at +20 to hit with 3d6+26 damage. That's in addition to his 69 hp with 18 regenerating temps and his 27 AC.

Kineticist is not a weak class, and it doesn't need dubious levels of cheese to make it playable.


LoneKnave wrote:
Galnörag wrote:

Are you sure the title shouldn't read "Methods to break the Kineticist"

Okay in fairness I haven't seen the DRP olympiad, but it is a class that can blast alllllllllll day, and blast relatively hard. Maybe its nova isn't as nova as you might like, but ALLLLLLLL day is huge.

As far as I can tell, it's literally doing expert-with-a-bow.

Quote:

Incoming Conductive weapon "errata"?

Also, don't use a blinkback belt and multiple daggers.

Pick up a Dagger of Doubling, enchant it with Conductive, and grab the Quickdraw feat.

Split as free action (with quick draw) throw dagger, repeat.

Yeah, it'll probably be errata'd out. Still, enjoy it while it lasts, eh? Anyway, good idea with the split daggers.

Realistically, even with Conductive giving you the damage on every attack in a full attack, its only slightly more damage than a Rogue. Rodge might even be better off since they can be Dex SAD, and Kineticist needs Dex for to-fit and Con for damage/HP.


Yeah, it also gives up your touch attacks... of course, you could go absolute turbo minmax and use double-barrel pistols with conductive ammo, I guess.


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You've got a huge error in your post

LoneKnave wrote:


...
+you are like gambit

...

+you can be like gambit, if you want

You put plus signs next to "be like gambit". Big mistake. They should be minus signs. Flashing red minus signs.

Silver Crusade

LoneKnave wrote:
Yeah, it also gives up your touch attacks... of course, you could go absolute turbo minmax and use double-barrel pistols with conductive ammo, I guess.

NO! DOUBLE BARREL PISTOLS ARE THE DEVIL!

Also do abilities that don't have uses counted as having unlimited uses, or is the fact that you're not able to 'use two' uses of this ability enough to disqualify it from conductive? I always thought there had to be a usage cap to allow you to use conductive.


Pretty sure you're right on that, Jolly; you need to expend 2 uses to use Conductive, and kinetic blast doesn't have a number of uses to expend.

Scarab Sages

It's specifically allowed by conductive: "(If the wielder has unlimited uses of a special ability, she may channel through the weapon every round.)"


... or alternately, you only get one use per round.


Quote:
A conductive weapon is able to channel the energy of a spell-like or supernatural ability that relies on a melee or ranged touch attack to hit its target (such as from a cleric's domain granted power, sorcerer's bloodline power, oracle's mystery revelation, or wizard's arcane school power). When the wielder makes a successful attack of the appropriate type, he may choose to expend two uses of his magical ability to channel it through the weapon to the struck opponent, which suffers the effects of both the weapon attack and the special ability. (If the wielder has unlimited uses of a special ability, she may channel through the weapon every round.) For example, a paladin who strikes an undead opponent with her conductive greatsword can expend two uses of her lay on hands ability (a supernatural melee touch attack) to deal both greatsword damage and damage from one use of lay on hands. This weapon special ability can only be used once per round, and only works with magical abilities of the same type as the weapon (melee or ranged).

Bolded part is why you are using conductive ammo/thrown weapon, so you are using a different conductive weapon for each attack.

Scarab Sages

In other news, expect conductive to no longer be a legal enchantment for ammunition shortly...


OK. It kinda seems like you're jumping through a large number of expensive hoops just to be an Elemental Annihilator, but OK.

Sovereign Court

You could enchant dye arrows to regain touch attack status.

Silver Crusade

LoneKnave wrote:
Quote:
A conductive weapon is able to channel the energy of a spell-like or supernatural ability that relies on a melee or ranged touch attack to hit its target (such as from a cleric's domain granted power, sorcerer's bloodline power, oracle's mystery revelation, or wizard's arcane school power). When the wielder makes a successful attack of the appropriate type, he may choose to expend two uses of his magical ability to channel it through the weapon to the struck opponent, which suffers the effects of both the weapon attack and the special ability. (If the wielder has unlimited uses of a special ability, she may channel through the weapon every round.) For example, a paladin who strikes an undead opponent with her conductive greatsword can expend two uses of her lay on hands ability (a supernatural melee touch attack) to deal both greatsword damage and damage from one use of lay on hands. This weapon special ability can only be used once per round, and only works with magical abilities of the same type as the weapon (melee or ranged).
Bolded part is why you are using conductive ammo/thrown weapon, so you are using a different conductive weapon for each attack.

So that's the reason for the blinkback belt...Yeah, seems like we'll be getting an errata soon for shenanigans like this, HOPEFULLY it'll be errata'd just for Kineticist, and not conductive.

Scarab Sages

N. Jolly wrote:
LoneKnave wrote:
Quote:
A conductive weapon is able to channel the energy of a spell-like or supernatural ability that relies on a melee or ranged touch attack to hit its target (such as from a cleric's domain granted power, sorcerer's bloodline power, oracle's mystery revelation, or wizard's arcane school power). When the wielder makes a successful attack of the appropriate type, he may choose to expend two uses of his magical ability to channel it through the weapon to the struck opponent, which suffers the effects of both the weapon attack and the special ability. (If the wielder has unlimited uses of a special ability, she may channel through the weapon every round.) For example, a paladin who strikes an undead opponent with her conductive greatsword can expend two uses of her lay on hands ability (a supernatural melee touch attack) to deal both greatsword damage and damage from one use of lay on hands. This weapon special ability can only be used once per round, and only works with magical abilities of the same type as the weapon (melee or ranged).
Bolded part is why you are using conductive ammo/thrown weapon, so you are using a different conductive weapon for each attack.
So that's the reason for the blinkback belt...Yeah, seems like we'll be getting an errata soon for shenanigans like this, HOPEFULLY it'll be errata'd just for Kineticist, and not conductive.

Since this is the main schtick for the Warlock Vigilante as well, I would expect it to be applied to conductive as a whole. I'd like to be wrong on this, but the FAQrata has been heavy-handed lately.


Yeah, I suggested this for the warlock as well.

TBH, even if you just get 1 conductive shot/strike you are still miles better off than the basic kineticist. It should just about double your damage output, if you take the right feats for the weapon.


Arachnofiend wrote:
OK. It kinda seems like you're jumping through a large number of expensive hoops just to be an Elemental Annihilator, but OK.

No, an elemental annihilator with actual chance to hit and deal decent damage since you still have elemental overflow.


Actually, correct me if I'm wrong, but the elemental annihilator's damage die never actually increases (at least for devastating infusion, which seems to be the main point of the class). It seems to do rather terrible damage.


LoneKnave wrote:
Actually, correct me if I'm wrong, but the elemental annihilator's damage die never actually increases (at least for devastating infusion, which seems to be the main point of the class). It seems to do rather terrible damage.

yeah....


Milo v3 wrote:
Arachnofiend wrote:
OK. It kinda seems like you're jumping through a large number of expensive hoops just to be an Elemental Annihilator, but OK.
No, an elemental annihilator with actual chance to hit and deal decent damage since you still have elemental overflow.

Did you happen to gloss over the whole "Has Full BaB with Blasts" and "Gets Weapon Training with Blasts" thing?

You get the same attack/damage bonuses, on top of Full BaB, without having to use Burn. And then can Burn for MOAR on the single blast, just not Devastating Infusion.

It maxes out at 1 less damage, but more attack, is more consistent and doesn't require you to savage your max HP.

Milo v3 wrote:
LoneKnave wrote:
Actually, correct me if I'm wrong, but the elemental annihilator's damage die never actually increases (at least for devastating infusion, which seems to be the main point of the class). It seems to do rather terrible damage.
yeah....

It does just as much damage as a Bow with Weapon Training.


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Bows can get enhanced and better crit rates, not to mention bow specific feats.

EDIT: also, I find it rather pathetic to have a class feature that's basically "you have a slightly worse bow".

But anyway, point is this is quite a bit above Elemental annihilator anyway.


It's a bit SADer than a bow user, not needing Str for damage.

Also, this Conductive trick doesn't work for Earth, Water (not Ice), Air (not Lightning), or Aether either, while Elemental Annihilator does.


Why not? I'm probably missing something but they seem to be ranged touch attacks, no?

Hell, at 8th you can do blasts on each hit. Sounds pretty good.


Physical blasts (earth, water, air, and telekinetic) aren't touch AC attacks.


Oh! I somehow missed that. Thanks. Well, electric is pretty good then Delicious Chain... And magnetic too. Those are pretty good, makes your remaining attacks more likely to hit too.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I would point out that the option to get in people's face and full-attack with kinetic blade is quite nice.

Sure, you lose out on elemental overflow damage now, but you're still full-attacking with your blast.

And with the right elemental defense, you can have quite good AC while doing it too. And you likely have enough HP to afford a few hits.


Full BAB is the only reason to use devastating blast with kinetic blade isn't it? The damage output for kinetic blade seems so much higher.


Devastating Blast is a Form Infusion, like Kinetic Blade, so you can't mix the two. You don't even get your choice of Infusion until 7th if you choose to stay with your element. After that your next opportunity for an Infusion is at 11th level and every odd level afterward.

I'm thinking now about doing a straight Kineticist with the Kinetic Fist Infusion, grab TWF and ITWF, Delay Blast, and start announcing to my opponents that they're already dead.


Devastating Blast is actually better than Kinetic Blade after a while, in many ways.

You Threaten with it, for one, and can TWF with it.

Scarab Sages

CalethosVB wrote:

Devastating Blast is a Form Infusion, like Kinetic Blade, so you can't mix the two. You don't even get your choice of Infusion until 7th if you choose to stay with your element. After that your next opportunity for an Infusion is at 11th level and every odd level afterward.

I'm thinking now about doing a straight Kineticist with the Kinetic Fist Infusion, grab TWF and ITWF, Delay Blast, and start announcing to my opponents that they're already dead.

If you are going Kinetic Fist, why not go Elemental ascetic? You get a burn discount on the infusion, can increase it's damage, and get monk AC and flurry of blows. You lose ranged attack blasts, but you can still use AoE ones.


CalethosVB wrote:
Devastating Blast is a Form Infusion, like Kinetic Blade, so you can't mix the two.

Devastating blast allows you to make kinetic blade attacks "At 1st level, an elemental annihilator can either shoot her kinetic blast at a target within 30 feet or make a single melee attack as if she were using kinetic blade as an attack action."


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Galnörag wrote:

Are you sure the title shouldn't read "Methods to break the Kineticist"

Okay in fairness I haven't seen the DRP olympiad, but it is a class that can blast alllllllllll day, and blast relatively hard. Maybe its nova isn't as nova as you might like, but ALLLLLLLL day is huge.

Whoa there buddy, lets back up a second here. A kineticist, even one build for the maximum possible DPR, falls behind anyone who just takes archery and pumps their Dex and Str a little. Considerably behind it, while having to take non-lethal damage to do so, which means that the entire "Oh hurr durr it can blast all day so it needs to be bad at it!" thing is a point that's a blatant lie, because it can't do it all day unless you want to be doing the damage of an anemic rogue.

Compare it to anyone actually focused on damage at all, and they'll ruin it. A Barbarian, Smite-Archer, Ranger, Zen Archer, or even Fighter Archer will outdo it by miles, and what little versatility the Kineticist gets doesn't come close to making up for it.


Goblinsaurus wrote:
Compare it to anyone actually focused on damage at all, and they'll ruin it. A Barbarian, Smite-Archer, Ranger, Zen Archer, or even Fighter Archer will outdo it by miles, and what little versatility the Kineticist gets doesn't come close to making up for it.

Interesting theory. Where's your math to back that up?


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Vrog Skyreaver wrote:
Goblinsaurus wrote:
Compare it to anyone actually focused on damage at all, and they'll ruin it. A Barbarian, Smite-Archer, Ranger, Zen Archer, or even Fighter Archer will outdo it by miles, and what little versatility the Kineticist gets doesn't come close to making up for it.

Interesting theory. Where's your math to back that up?

Looking at a normal Kineticist at say, level 11 (since that's where most DPR comparisons take place).

Call it Fire blast, Fire resistance and Spell resistance aren't considerations for our purposes.

You get one big blast of 6d6+1/2 Con+Elemental Overflow (+3 at this level).

Stats (20 PB), lessee:

Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 16
Int: 12
Wis: 12
Cha: 7

Assuming a +4 Dex/Con belt and all level-up bonuses and Racial bonus put into Con, we have 24 Con, 20 Dex (a physical blaster would reverse this since it attacks regular AC, and gets more damage at a base level).

With point Blank Shot.

So 6d6+7, once per round is 28 damage. Empowering it makes that 42 damage. With Supercharge it can be Maximized to 43.

Using a Composite Blast makes that, instead, 12d6+7, or 50 damage, Empowering that makes it 75 damage. But you take a point of Burn for doing so, even with Supercharge unless you take a Full-Round to charge and attack next round (which essentially cuts your DPR in half).

Chance to hit should be 95%, Touch AC is WAY easy to hit by 11th. We'll say an AC of 12 is our target (with an attack bonus of +14).

We'll go with the Empowered Blast as our comparison spot, for a total of .95*75+.05*1*75*.95 = 74.81 DPR (if he's willing to take a point of Burn every round, and thus lessen his current AND max HP by 11 points). Two rounds to kill the average CR 11 monster (145 HP).

Now take a plain jane Fighter archer.

Str: 14
Dex: 16
Con: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 12
Cha: 7

Level up and racial goes into Dex, with a +4 Str/+4 Dex belt, for a total of 24 Dex and 18 Str. Weapon Training +2/+2 for bows. +3 bow, torqued to +4 Str. Deadly Aim and Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, and Manyshot in play.

Attack bonus: +19 (vs AC 25)
Damage per hit: 1d8+15, average 19.5 (x3 crit, 5 arrows)

For a total DPR of: .75*19.5+.05*2*.75*19.5 16.0875 *3 = 48.2625 + .4*19.5+.05*2*.7*19.5 = 21.45 + .1*19.5+.05*2*.7*19.5 = 3.315 = 73.03 DPR. Two rounds to kill on a CR 11 foe.

However, this is just the barest of bones, an incredibly low optimization Fighter...and he's merely 1 DPR behind, and doesn't hurt himself.

Add in expected magic items like Gloves of Dueling for a further +2/+2, Bracers of Falcon's Aim for a +1 to-hit and a 19-20/x3 crit, Weapon Focus/Greater, Weapon Specialization, and buffs like Haste that the Kineticist can't even dream of getting, and instead you get (sans Haste, just to be nice):

Attack Bonus: +24 (vs AC 25)
Damage per hit: 1d8+19 (23.5, 19-20x3 crit, 5 arrows)

DPR: .95*23.5+.2*.95*23.5 = 26.79 * 3 = 80.37 +.75*23.5+.2*.75*23.5 = 21.15 + .6*23.5+.2*.6*23.5 = 16.92 for a grand total of 118.44 DPR. Still 2 rounds to kill, but a LOOOOT of margin for error, to the point he could miss both of his last two shots in both rounds and still kill it, and all that overflow damage cna go to a new target (so to kill two enemies it would likely take the Fighter 3 rounds and the Kineticist 4, and the gap grows from there).

Unbuffed.

Even if you take out the Gloves of Dueling it handily whips the Kineticist's ass.

Damage formula, for posterity:

The damage formula is h(d+s)+tchd.
h = Chance to hit, expressed as a percentage
d = Damage per hit. Average damage is assumed.
s = Precision damage per hit (or other damage that isn't multiplied on a crit). Average damage is again assumed.
t = Chance to roll a critical threat, expressed as a percentage.
c = Critical hit bonus damage. x2 = 1, x3 = 2, x4 = 3.


If the Kineticist was competitive with the Fighter on DPR there would be a problem. I don't see Fighters dispelling magic or putting up grappling walls of fire.


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Arachnofiend wrote:
If the Kineticist was competitive with the Fighter on DPR there would be a problem. I don't see Fighters dispelling magic or putting up grappling walls of fire.

Neither do you see most Kineticists.

The support in Infusions for many of the elements is lacking. Especially Lightning (ONE Infusion? Really MarK? I'm not letting this one go.).

And even if they shouldn't be competitive with Fighters (which I dispute for a class whose main shctick is "Kill it with a big blast of X"), they should be competitive with, say, an Alchemist, who can full attack with his Bombs for roughly the same damage...plus Extracts...plus Mutagen...plus Discoveries which are on the whole better than Infusions and easier to get via Feats...and doesn't need to f%*$ing kill himself to function... and deal status effects at the same time. Hell, he can full attack Dispel if he wants, and Entangle people with his Bombs...so all the same stuff, but better.

It's the same tired over-valuing of at-will abilities as always.


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Arachnofiend wrote:
If the Kineticist was competitive with the Fighter on DPR there would be a problem. I don't see Fighters dispelling magic or putting up grappling walls of fire.

Except the Kineticist doesn't really get to actually do any of that either, because what few methods it might get access to in order to do that are extremely expensive, not worth the investment, and actively make you worse during the day because Burn literally, tangibly makes you closer to passing out or dying.

The Kineticist doesn't do good damage. It doesn't get good crowd-control. It doesn't get good utility, debuffs, self or group buffs, summons, knowledge, or anything useful. It gets some minor degree of mobility, but it's features don't actually make good use of what mobility it gets.

Also, to Rynjin, it isn't even truly At-Will abilities. A Fighter or any martial character gets, effectively, At-Will attacks it can use, but those aren't completely awful. They get feat support, enchantments to boost them, items to help, and a bunch of other stuff. Through items, you can even get most of the 'utility' abilities that the Kineticist tacks onto it's blast. Blasts are a cool ability that the mechanical execution fails entirely for, because in order to do anything even close to good damage, you have to sacrifice all utility and accept a substantial amount of Burn, and even then, you fall behind other classes by a very wide margin. If you want to get the 'utility', then you sacrifice your damage, and your utility is still not even as good as the weaker spellcasters, or a class like the Alchemist, which is more or less the exact spot the Kineticist is competeing with. 3/4 BaB, some utility features, some damage stuff, meant to be versatile. Except it isn't.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

The book's not even in stores yet and people are already complaining about it. Maybe give it a little time?


Cyrad wrote:
The book's not even in stores yet and people are already complaining about it. Maybe give it a little time?

The book is already released and people have access to it. It doesn't take several months to run simple math on how classes match up, or to see when something is falling drastically behind other characters.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Goblinsaurus wrote:
Cyrad wrote:
The book's not even in stores yet and people are already complaining about it. Maybe give it a little time?
The book is already released and people have access to it. It doesn't take several months to run simple math on how classes match up, or to see when something is falling drastically behind other characters.

Classes are more than math and DPR. Way more.


Cyrad wrote:
Goblinsaurus wrote:
Cyrad wrote:
The book's not even in stores yet and people are already complaining about it. Maybe give it a little time?
The book is already released and people have access to it. It doesn't take several months to run simple math on how classes match up, or to see when something is falling drastically behind other characters.
Classes are more than math and DPR. Way more.

Yeah, they are. Classes are their features, their utility, their debuffs, crowd control, movement, skills, and everything else.

And the Kineticist is bad at them all. The classes that it's supposed to fill a similar role to, namely Magus/Alchemist/Warpriest? All of them beat it out by a massive amount, even when the Kineticist is spending burn constantly to try and catch up, which actively hurts it for using it's own abilities.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Classes are more than that, too.

I do admit that the burn damaging you doesn't make much sense to me. Even if I wanted to make a class feature all about hurting yourself to empower your attacks, I'd implement it better than taking a special type of nonlethal damage that breaks all of the rules of how damage works. I'd probably house rule out the damage or make it so it reduces your maximum hit points instead of causing incurable damage. That requires less book keeping and makes burn not so crippling when you're low on hit points.


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Kineticist does good damage and does good crowd control.

Kineticist does not do optimal damage or optimal crowd control.

Get your terminology right.


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Cyrad wrote:
The book's not even in stores yet and people are already complaining about it. Maybe give it a little time?

It may not be in stores, but it's on my computer.

The class isn't garbage as Goblinsaurus is suggesting. Far from it. It's not like, Core Rogue bad, not by a long shot.

It is lacking in many ways, however. There are a bunch of neat things you can do with the class, but generally only if you have Fire or Water as your element, gaining a ton of fun combat abilities that let you do stuff like burn through elemental resistances and SR, or heal your allies respectively.

If you're Air, you get a few nice things, but not many. Always on flight is nice, but a lot of classes get that. Suffocating people is cool. Lightning gets NOTHING. One Infusion that sucks balls.

Earth would be good if you're playing a game where building a fort or something is useful. Its Blast is unique in that you can choose what kind of damage it does (Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing, and later if it's Silver, Cold Iron, Adamantine, or something weird like Gold).

Aether is better than the above, but still doesn't match up very well with the utility of Fire and Water, because all of them really do the same damage.

I'm going to be playing a lightning based Aerokineticist, and my GM was nice enough to let me use the Elemental Annihilator archetype with it, so we'll see how that works. But I'm thinking it will be passable at best.


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I'd really say that the problem is that archery is just too good. It's certainly better than melee in most cases. If the nerf stick keeps making its rounds, archery may be next on the list.


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Deadly Aim: Reverse the attack penalty and damage bonus (-2 to-hit for +1 damage, increasing by -2 to-hit and +1 damage at BaB 4 and every 4 BaB thereafter).

Precise Shot: Reduces the penalty for firing into melee by 1.

Point Blank Shot: When you're within 5 feet of a target, gain +1 damage.

Clustered Shots: Whenever you hit with all your Bow attacks in a round, reduce the enemy's Damage reduction by 1 for the purpose of determining how much damage you deal that round.


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Rynjin wrote:
Maths

You can get closer, though.

We'll use a Composite Blast again. Same kineticist with the 20 PB that you described, so she has 24 CON and 20 DEX. We'll add the following:

Lesser Kineticist's Diadem
Flurry of Blasts (3 blasts at level 11)
Overflowing Rod

Overflow's bonus damage is actually double the attack bonus. In the case of our kineticist, she has an attack bonus of +3, with an additional +1 due to the overflowing rod. This gives her a CON bonus to damage of 3, PBS of 1, and a overflow bonus of 8, for a grand total of +12.

Flurry of Blasts gives us three blasts:

Blast 1 Damage: 2*3.5 (blast) + 3.5 (diadem) + 12 (con and comp) = 22.5
Blast 2 Damage: 22.5 + 95% * 3.5 = 25.825
Blast 3 Damage: 22.5 + (1 - 5% * 5%) * 3.5 = 25.99125

Each blast has a 95% chance to hit and threatens on a 20. We take the diadem's bonus damage out of the critical damage bonus and end up with:

Blast 1 DPR: 95% * 22.5 + 5% * 95% * 19 = 22.28
Blast 2 DPR: 25.59
Blast 3 DPR: 25.76

Total DPR: 73.63

If we empower this, we go up to 110.44 DPR for a point of burn with one free infusion burn left over. If we want to go for maximum DPS, we can go with burning infusion for another guaranteed 3.5 DPR. The best thing about this is: if the kineticist gets hit with a haste spell, she gets another blast, and her individual flurry attacks deal more damage than the fighter's average hits.

If the kineticist somehow manages to get a normal kineticist's diadem (via a friendly crafter - it's normally 50k and thus out of the budget for a level 11 character), this goes up to 125.41 DPR empowered.

If we ever end up taking 5 points of burn, we can add around 6 more DPR by using overflow to increase our CON by another 4 (and our DEX by 2).

Strangely enough, the kineticist can get a hit bonus of 8 (BAB) + 7 (DEX) + 4 (Overflow with Rod) + 1 (Weapon Focus) + 2 (Size to DEX from 5 burn) = 22 hit rate even with a physical blast, so if we can manage a few more bonuses to hit, going physical with deadly aim might actually be worth it for the extra damage (and the extra diadem damage).

Regardless, with some finessing, I think the kineticist can be made to do a respectable amount of damage. Flexibility also has to be taken into account, since the kineticist can change his blast shape if he's facing multiple targets.

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