Elemental Overflow


Rules Questions

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

Ok I decided to bring this here since we never got a reply from the dev. The way Elemental Overflow is written, you get the bonus to attack and damage only when you actively spend some burn(use burn to fuel your blast, boost your defense or use an infusion or composite blast).As written here:

Quote:


At 3rd level, a kineticist’s body surges with energy from her chosen element whenever she accepts burn, causing her to glow with a nimbus of fire, weep water from her pores, or experience some other thematic effect. In addition, she receives a bonus on her attack rolls with kinetic blasts equal to the total number of points of burn she currently has, to a maximum bonus of +1 for every 3 kineticist levels she possesses. She also receives a bonus on damage rolls with her kinetic blast equal to double the bonus on attack rolls.

Afterward we jump to the next paragraph to read about another side of the ability that triggers and stays on the moment you hot 3 points of burn that day, giving you an increase in ability score through size bonuses. Now that last part I understand perfectly as it is clearly written. The first part on the other hand isn't. Most people(whom I believe played the beta) seems to think that parts work exactly like Feel the Burn worked during playtest. Except unlike Feel the Burn, nothing says the attack and damage bonus stay on in the rounds we don't spend a point of burn.

So what I want is a definitive answer on how the first part of Elemental Overflow works. It would be great to have Mark's Input on this but he probably has better stuff to do. Hence why I'm turning to you guys.
Thanks in advance


Elemental overflow is constant while you have burn. Otherwise it would not require an action to suppress it.


It says right in your quote "she receives a bonus on her attack rolls with kinetic blasts equal to the total number of points of burn she currently has".

If elemental overflow benefit only applies while gaining burn at that same round, then it would say so like with the element defense talents's special "when you gain burn this round" benefits.

Dark Archive

Isn't that part of making the blast? Like you do with gather energy but instead of reducing burn you just don't gain a big glowy Bullseye on your self?


You gain the bonuses all day long as long as you have taken an appropriate amount of burn for the day. The most common way to gain the bonuses has been to burn yourself in the morning to increase the abilities of your defense talent.


Quote:
Isn't that part of making the blast? Like you do with gather energy but instead of reducing burn you just don't gain a big glowy Bullseye on your self?

No.


Hyamda wrote:
Isn't that part of making the blast? Like you do with gather energy but instead of reducing burn you just don't gain a big glowy Bullseye on your self?

Suppressing it temporarily turns off all the benefits of elemental overflow along with the visual descriptors of elemental energy emanating from a kineticist. Once she uses a wild talent, everything comes back on instantly and still using the burn she currently has, she doesn't need to accept more burn if she doesn't want to.

Dark Archive

Protoman wrote:

It says right in your quote "she receives a bonus on her attack rolls with kinetic blasts equal to the total number of points of burn she currently has".

If elemental overflow benefit only applies while gaining burn at that same round, then it would say so like with the element defense talents's special "when you gain burn this round" benefits.

OkI'll acknowledge what has been said but it still written weirdly because it does say at the start of the ability

Occult Adventure wrote:
At 3rd level, a kineticist’s body surges with energy from her chosen element whenever she accepts burn

The use of "In addition" makes it seem like it still refers to "whenever she accepts burn". Maybe change the wording for a second pronting at one point because when me and my players read it we all understood it as a temporary boost(which kinda made sense with how the idea was worked during the playtest)


That's explaining that elemental overflow gets activated for the day when she accepts burn. The first sentence is saying it's activated and visual description of what happens to a kineticist. The second sentence goes into the mechanical aspects of what elemental overflow does with the amount of burn a kineticist has. "Currently" is used because that number of burn is gonna potentially increase throughout the day.

Dark Archive

Maybe, but would it have killed to write a "As long as she has burn" instead of "In addition"? It pass from an ambiguous reading that could be misinterpreted to a clear as day RAW ability.


I got question about elemental overflow does it only work on your primary element or can the bonus count for the secondary one we get at 7th lvl? my primary fire and I took earth at 7 th lvl I'm lvl 10 which mean I get a +3 to attack and + 6 to dmg from elemental overflow, will this count to both my fire blast and earth or just my primary? If James
Jacop or any other writer and creator of pathfinder can give me a ruling to see if my GM right or wrong be great. I only ask because nothing against other player my GM a huge rule monger and will only accept what they rule.


both.


Elemental overflow works like this:

Does the kineticist have burn?
If no, then no bonuses and end
If yes, then gain +1 attack and +2 dmg to kinetic blast, up to the current cap (level/3, rounded down) for each burn he or she has total.

If you want to suppress the visual effects of it (for social reasons like being received by royalty) then lose all bonuses. These bonuses instantly reactivate as a free action if he or she uses any elemental manipulation.


Texas Snyper wrote:

Elemental overflow works like this:

Does the kineticist have burn?
If no, then no bonuses and end
If yes, then gain +1 attack and +2 dmg to kinetic blast, up to the current cap (level/3, rounded down) for each burn he or she has total.

If you want to suppress the visual effects of it (for social reasons like being received by royalty) then lose all bonuses. These bonuses instantly reactivate as a free action if he or she uses any elemental manipulation.

So your saying yes it would work with my fire blast and my earth blast I hope the GM except this.


For it to not affect all blasts, it would have to have text that suggests that it only affects your first blast.


kalanthis wrote:
Texas Snyper wrote:

Elemental overflow works like this:

Does the kineticist have burn?
If no, then no bonuses and end
If yes, then gain +1 attack and +2 dmg to kinetic blast, up to the current cap (level/3, rounded down) for each burn he or she has total.

If you want to suppress the visual effects of it (for social reasons like being received by royalty) then lose all bonuses. These bonuses instantly reactivate as a free action if he or she uses any elemental manipulation.

So your saying yes it would work with my fire blast and my earth blast I hope the GM except this.

Yes. Compare the wording to elemental overflow to any of the defense wild talents.

Quote:
Whenever you accept burn while using an earth wild talent, the energy surging through you ...

These specifiy what happens at the moment of accepting burn and ask about what element the burn is coming from. Elemental overflow simply asks how much total burn the kineticist is currently has. There is no "earth burn" or "fire burn", just burn.

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