When using the 'vampiric infusion' gained from the Blood Kineticist archetype, is the burn cost for using kinetic healer included in the infusions cost, or is it separate? For anyone who doesn't know, here is what the 'vampiric infusion' does...
At 11th level, a blood kineticist can drain the vitality from her enemy's blood to restore her own.
If her blast hits (or the enemy fails its saving throw against a blast without an attack roll) the blood kineticist can activate the kinetic healer utility wild talent on herself by accepting its burn cost; she doesn't need to take an action to do so. If she doesn't possess the kinetic healer utility wild talent, she can still use this ability, but it heals only half as much. This is a 5th-level substance infusion that costs 3 points of burn and can be used with water and blood blasts.
From what I can tell, this infusion either costs 3 or 4 burn depending on whether or not the additional burn from kinetic healer is added on to the total cost. However, this also made me a little curious about other possibilities:
1. Can this infusion's cost be reduced to 0 via the infusion specialization ability? (basically at level 11 or 14 respectively, can the infusion specialization ability reduce the entire cost, including the extra burn gained by kinetic healer, down to 0)
2. Do you still have to accept the burn from kinetic healer if you do not possess the kinetic healer wild talent? (in other words, do you just heal half the damage without having to increase the amount of burn you receive)
You pay kinetic healer's cost separately, as a separate wild talent that you were able to activate without spending more actions, and you do so whether you possess it normally or not.
So I assume that means the kinetic healer burn cost isn't reduced by infusion specialization (I wasn't sure if it was because all of this seems to come from an 'infusion' to begin with)? (Also, thanks for replying Mark :) tis always nice to hear from one of the big guys)
I guess the real meat of the question is this: is it possible to reduce the burn cost of the 'vampiric infusion' down to zero using things like gather power or infusion specialization (I only ask because the burn from kinetic healer normally can't be reduced via gather power, and I'm not sure if the burn gained from it counts as an 'infusion' since it triggers from vampiric infusion).
Basically I'm wanting to see if a blood Kineticist/overwhelming soul can even use this ability.
You can't reduce it to 0 without using something like the mental prowess feature, as it is a second wild talent that you activated; the infusion just let you do so without taking another standard action.