how to make a focus that applies....


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


merciful metamagic or enchantment on attacks. how much would it cost? and is there a way to get it at low level? it does not have to be a focus it can be a ring or bracelet or something else that would allow ones hands to be free. i want this for a kineticist, but it would be useful for any character that does not wanna straight up murder everyone.


hello? making magic items are not my skill.


To the best of my knowledge, there is no existing way of getting a Merciful effect onto the Kinetic Blast. Talk to your GM and ask about a custom magic item that would allow it.


Would a Merciful Amulet of Mighty fists do what you want?

Scarab Sages

GinoA wrote:
Would a Merciful Amulet of Mighty fists do what you want?

No, that would allow you to apply merciful to unarmed strikes or natural weapons, but not kinetic blasts.

The only rules legal way to get a non-lethal kinetic blast is to take the wood element and use the merciful foliage utility talent.


Okay. Pathfinder generally frown upon all attempts to grant feats through items, so the merciful metamagic is a tough one. You'll probably be forced to get the feat or a class feature for it.

As for enchantment on attacks, Deliquescent Gloves is a slotted item which grants you the Corrosive ability (+a very specific ability).

You could probably make a new magic item, "Gloves, Saint's", which grants the Merciful ability to every Natural Attack/Unarmed Strike/held Weapon of its wielder, as the Deliquescent does.

The price would probably be the same, as the other ability of the Deliquescent Gloves isn't that useful (your weapons can still melt).


I'm pretty sure Kinetic blasts don't count as being wielded. XD


I'm not an expert on the kineticist, only glanced at them, but my gut is that a kinetic blast is more or less on par with either a 1-3 level spell or a 4-6 level spell, so a merciful metamagic rod would be a place to start looking. If you wanted it to be usable all the time, not just 3/per day, probably a 40% increase to that price. As a GM, I would probably be willing to go with the price of the lesser rod as the base, in exchange for it only working with the kinetic blast.

Rod's are 'slotless' in a way, but they take up a hand, which is more or less like a magic item slot, so if it didn't use a slot I would double the price.

If it was just melee attacks, I second Wonderstell's using the Deliquescent Gloves as a base.

Scarab Sages

It's actually a SLA with a level of 1/2 your kineticist level, minimum 1, max 9th at 18th level.

The Hollow Rod is the equivalent of a Maximize Rod for blasts. The price is the same as a Greater Maximize metamagic rod.

If you are creating a magic item for this, I'd use the same cost as a Greater Merciful Rod, and alter it so it only works on blasts.


The Hollow Rod precedent seems pretty clear. I have a hard time seeing even the coolest blast being better than a 6th level spell but I could be wrong on that.

I expect though that price would make it completely unappealing to just about anyone, so if I was the GM I would be open to negotiation, so I would certainly talk with your GM.


Would a Merciful Amulet of Mighty fists work with ...

Kinetic Fist

Element(s) universal; Type form infusion; Level 1; Burn 1
Associated Blasts any
Saving Throw none

You surround your body with energy or elemental matter from your kinetic abilities. You can use this form infusion as part of an attack action, a charge action, or a full-attack action to add damage to each of your natural attacks and unarmed strikes until the beginning of your next turn. Since kinetic fist is part of another action, using this wild talent doesn't provoke any additional attack of opportunity. You deal an additional 1d6 points of damage per 3 dice of your kinetic blast's damage (minimum 1d6), and this damage is of the same type as your kinetic blast's damage. This extra damage ignores spell resistance and doesn't apply any modifiers to your kinetic blast's damage, such as your Constitution modifier.
?


does it work?


There is some discussion whether or not the Merciful enchantment makes all damage nonlethal (Nonlethal Acid? Nonlethal Bleed?) or not, and as such, it is a bit troubling to just give you a plain "yes" or "no".

But if we assume that all damage is nonlethal, the extra damage from Kinetic Fist should be nonlethal since it adds damage to your fists-which would then make it nonlethal.

And even if it doesn't, nonlethal and lethal damage stack. If the majority of your damage is nonlethal, then the enemy should always fall unconscious anyway.


This is a really wonky combination of rules. In a strict RAW reading, my gut instinct is that the answer is "No"... but as a GM, I would totally rule it the other way. If you want to build a Kineticist that is capable of dealing nonlethal damage and not HAVING to kill things, I think that's something that should be supported.

I might also allow it as a custom Metakinesis Feat (basically the equivalent of Merciful Spell, except only applying to Kinetic Blasts) - no need for Burn, since investing a feat in doing Nonlethal damage instead of Lethal damage seems like an appropriate cost. Maybe do it as a full-round action, though, like a Spontaneous Caster would.

If you're not in any kind of Organized Play, ask your GM about that.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

If you just want to be able to do non-lethal damage with a kineticist, I suggest giving them the Kinetic Fist ability and Improved Unarmed Strike. It won't work on their blasts, but it would be a less wonky rule combination. I did something similar with the kineticist I'm currently running (gave him a 1-level dip into brawler, which gives you Improved Unarmed Strike, so that his Kinetic Fist could do more damage) and it's been working pretty well.

If you want to be able to do non-lethal damage with the blast, too, then I think the custom Metakinesis feat suggested above is a good option. Would personally keep it a standard action to do, though, since I wouldn't want to penalize the player for choosing a non-lethal route.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / how to make a focus that applies.... All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.