Fabios's page

Basically the title, a friend of mine says that the GM chooses what the companion does, that makes the feat completely unfunctional, Is that true?

It's my favorite class but In my opinion kineticist desperately needs new impulses.

The Main weirdness of the class Is that almost no element Is auto-sufficient; every element has INSANE tools but they're very few and can't complete a character on their own:

-Metal can do a bit of everything but not well
(low damage, low tankiness till level 14, the junctions are not that great, specializes againts a SPECIFIC kind of enemy) and this Is a problem in a class that's encouraged to take the best stuff from each element and mix-mash It.

-Water's healing capabilities are very mediocre (with the exception of having the universal vaccine to every disease for some reason with "torrent in the Blood"); It's debuff capabilities are very weak (useless againts single targets, weak againts lots of enemies cause they only have One target) and has decent damage (by kineticist's standard, by "the whole game" standard It's terrible)

-Earth has insane junctions, the best armor, the best composite impulses and One of them best impulses (free Wall of Stone!). But doesn't have any defensive reactions, lacks an aura for some weird reason and really needs wood to fill in the gaps.

-wood relies too much on Timber sentinel, without It the element goes from 4.5/5 to 2.5/5 stars; It has the best junction in the game but no way to use It (heavily lacks in the "good Two action impulses" department)

-Air Is REALLY weird, It has very good impulses but, like water, basically cannot function on It's own: no traditional buff/debuff, no damage, no tankiness, no Will to break, no mind to think, no trailer, no etinoh.

-Fire: suffers from It's own success, gets EVERY tool It needs (Flying flame, area and impulse junctions, Fire wave, blazing wave) in the first five levels and then doesn't get anything till level 12.

I'd like to see more impulses for everyone, especially auras.
Do you think that this Need to mix them Is a bug or a feature?

So! I despise gunslingers and now i'm gonna, respectfully, write why :3

1- The class doesn't have an identity

I believe that the gunslinger fundamentally doesn't have a mechanical idendity.

-it Isn't a crit fishing class: weirdly enough the +2 doesn't really make Crits something the gunslinger excels at:
-they're not common, sure It has the +2 of a fighter but a fighter also sets up his own buffs and with reactive strike It DOUBLES the already augmented chance of critting. The other crit fisher of the system, aka longbow flurry ranger, still has a higher chance of critting by pure virtue of striking a LOT.

It doesn't even benefit that much from crits, base damage Is quite low (even with fatal) so its crits are not worldbreaking (in fact, a gunslinger's crit Is worse than a starlit span's hit!) and neither do they apply great debuffs like a fighter can do (cause, let's be honest, the best thing about fighters Is that at High levels you basically cast "shut his PC off" with each crit)

This also ties In with, i think, a wrong pov the community has about gunslinger: "oh! He needs support, he really benefits from It" but... Who doesn't? If you give a ranger with a gun the same support he's gonna rock the same if not Better, everyone likes support! Gunslinger benefits a lot because it's much much WEAKER without It! So the difference Is more felt

-The class doesn't have a proper identity

I think that the class, other than cheesing encounters if there's a Cliff but that's something everyone with a gun can do, doesn't have a clear identity and that hurts its design tremendously.
Let's take barbarian as an example, no matter what you do, no matter how you build him, he's gonna be a chonky boy that hits hard. What's gunslinger's deal? Not crit fishing, not damage, not really support either (fake out doesn't count, like, sure it's broken af but It shouldn't be an auto pick for everyone); many people would Say it's action compression. But. BUT. What are you gaining from It? Likes guns have AWFULL action economy and so you fix It with your various reloads. You Haven't gained anything! The gunslinger, as a class, uses weapons that are purpousely made bad so he can fix them, it's a net nothing overall! Capitalism the class! (Create a problem and buy the solution)

This Is my personal argument on why companions are lame/bad.

So! First, definition: animal, construct, undead companions.

Second, argument: companions, in my opinion, are inherently flawed and contraddict aspecta of pf2e's interior design:

1- they require a massive feat taxi which offers almost purely vertical growth, to have your companion you MUST spend at least 4 feats which all give your companion REQUIRED numerical growth, aka:
-feat tax
-feat chain
-vertical growth
And those are all things that pathfinder 2e specifically tries to avoid mixed up!

2- they're lame as hell, companions have practically no customization, with construct literally having none at all, and every item Is utterly useless; if you wanna focus on your companion there's literally nothing you can do (Napoleon meme), they're Stuck with being the same from level 1 to level 20

3- they scale horribly, this Is caused by Two things.

1- the gaps between feats are too big, companions generally start to really suffer from level 11-13 and from level 17-20 because their scaling Is tied to feats! And there aren't any to cover those specific levels!

2- their numbers are Simply too low, look, i understand that their only utility Is being a meatshield and grappling but It comes to a point where the player's map actions are Better than the companion's non map actions!

I don't think that "It's cheap" Is a great class design, like, if i want to be a shield guy i wanna spend on a shield.

Also labbing out the shield hps i kinda realized that without that boost they're pathetically low, like, i'm THE shield guy and i can barely block three strikes.

Thirdly you also cannot "cheese" this problem with the viking archetype, rule wise second shield doesn't work as you Need to prepare the blessing in a specific shield.

ALSO you don't even save cash! If you do the math the previous thing made lower tier runes Better than current ones (example: a level 4 sturdy shield with shield ally Is Better than current level 10 sturdy shield!)

Quick post, something i've Always thought but never have written down:

So, what's the deal with Champions? They're a tank, so if you hit em you waste time, but if you try to hit anyone else you're wasting time because they'll protect them, but what happens when the First proposition Isn't true? Prior to level Seven the champion doesn't have anything that truly makes him a tank, sturdy as for sure but It's basically a fighter and if you don't take lay on hands as a devotion spell it's literally a fighter, so, in that case the question would be, why wouldn't the enemy Just hit the champ? Sure it's not great but since the champion doesn't have great defenses It's not really a problem Isn't It? Both monks and barbari and are MUCH tankier than him at lower levels.

And that'e It, did everyone ever had a similar thought

PS: in case Sorry for any writing error and any tone error, i don't Wish to sound anything but chill in this case, been thinking about this because i May play a champion

Hello! I'm Building a kineticist for a campaigns that supposedly Is gonna go from level 1 to 20 (we're level 5 now) and while i have my build set from level 1-8 i do not have It further! I'd love to get y'all help here or on another platform, whatever you might prefer.

Here is the build link for Misaki. To view this build you need to open it on an android device with version 248+ Pathbuilder 2e installed. https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=819977

This Is the pathbuilder. I have to specify that we're playing with free archetype so y'all gotta add a flame oracle's archetype on that

Since there's going to be, or there already is, a stream of new players coming to the game i think that this argument is not at all unproper to discuss.

in my opinion the game fails at teaching new players how they should play the game: low levels are COMPLETELY focused on damage and innate survivability:
-the first since a crit can and probably will oneshot most enemies, and heavily injure some bosses; plus there aren't really any worth debuff spells to use, focusing wholly on damage is therefore not only the most effective strategy but highly incentivized by the fact that enemies WILL also do that! "three fighters and a bard" didn't come out of thin air.
-by innate survivability i mean the survivability of the base chassis of the class, in later levels thanks to items and abilities almost everyone will have resistances and means to significantly reduce damage taken, at lower level the best you have it's shield block which, while incredibly effective, doesn't really permit any serious stalling. (a high level kin can tank a boss due to abilities, a low level barb can tank a boss due to his enormous hp pool).
these two factors, coupled by the fact that some classes genuinely get an enormous spike around level 7+, have new players focus on raw numbers and come to conclusions such as:
-rogue suck (sorry, had to :p)
-casters suck
-the best party is 3 martials and a buff oriented caster.

what do you think?

Simply put: do i apply burn It bonus to the bonus damage applied to my striker through dragon barrage?

Is there any other way to boost Said damage?

pre scriptum:
-i'm not too well versed in english, so i'm sorry for eventual errors
-if you don't agree with me -10k aura/s
-this is my opinion, i'll say this now so i don't have to write imo after every sentence from now on

First step: look out for what your party needs, every strong party comp needs at least:
-a dedicated healer and multiple diffused healing options + out of combat healing sources capable of fully healing the party in at least half an hour

-two frontliners

-one competitive font of single target dpr and two secondary damage dealers
-about those secondary damage dealers, area blasting and ranged damage dealers
should be present

-a caster, literally any caster will suffice.

-math adjusters (buff, debuffs)

-good recall knowledge and good skill coverage (at least one master in every relevant skill such as: diplomacy, deception, nature, arcana/occultism, religion, stealth, thievery), most of those skills can be aided through magical means but cannot be fully replaced until high level spells come into play

ps: unconventional party comps do work, but you need a good reason and a good plan behind them, playing them straightforwardly won't work

Second step: now that you found what role you need/want to play let's do a general rundown of what each role has to do.
(to clarify, characters can cover multiple roles but not equally well, it's strongly advised to choose something which is capable to be top tier in your "main" chosen role)

Healer.
a main healer is anyone who's capable of spamming the heal spell, it's probably the best spell in the game and the highest/most reliable source of healing. (chirurgeon is an exception to the rule, by my personal calculation it doesn't seem capable of fulfilling the main healer/only healer role, but i admit ignorance in this case)
-secondary healing option include things such as battle medicine, lay on hands, water kineticist things and generally every source of non spell-slot healing, it doesn't match a cleric but it sure as hell fills the gap and frees the healer's action to do something proactive in the fight and to not just react

Frontliner.
Anyone capable of handling themselves in the frontline, no one except a high level kineticist, a shield champion and a barbarian is capable of holding their own alone in the frontlines so every frontliner needs a buddy.
a good frontliner needs:
-a high/good AC + a way to boost their own AC and get that classic +2 circumstance
-a good amount of hps (at least 10 total hps per level)
-threat either through damage or control (for most frontliners: maneuvers)
-some way to reduce damage, the most common way to do so is shield blocking but resistances etc are also very strong
ps: rogue is kind of an exception to the rule, it offers basically nothing tanking wise but it has such an enormous threat and out of combat utility that it works perfectly anyway

striker/damage dealer
Their work is to output the most damage while keeping themselves alive to do so.
a striker's main job is to do damage, and to reach said objective dpr calculation is a useful mean; but a striker who only does damage is poorly effective.
ranged striker's need to focus completely on either damage and their other utility since they don't contribute with their hps, functionally reducing the party's hp's reserve
melee strikers need to optimize so that they're able to survive without a cleric pocketing them, this also applies to actual play through careful positioning
area damage, usually outputted by casters, can't really be optimized and therefore you should just try to not target high saves/resistances

Casters:
this is a far too broad point to discuss (i'm sleepy)

Math adjusters
This is something that everyone can and should do, anyone should try to apply debuffs and buffs in any given situation, the easiest and most common situation is "off-guard + -1 status" paired with a general "+1 status".

Third step: choose your class and make the character with your chosen role in mind
i can't give tips for every single class and tip, but i can suggest to look up various guides online which are usually very helpful

I'll preface with two statement, nay, three:

-English Is not my mother tongue, therefore i exscuse myself for any grammaticale mistakes.

-i'm currently playing a kineticist, as It's my favorite class.

-i've thoroughly "studied" the kineticist, i really think i know my stuff. i Hope to not sounds accondescending, in case i exscuse myself.

Now! The critique, written in a miscellanea of points:

-The kineticist suffers from a slight ivory tower design. The class works but It requires a serious building effort. A good amount of its feats are completely useless; they'd work very well as situational spells to swap out if needed, but as your ONLY thing (since you get a "new spell" every 2 levels) It's Absolute insufficient.
Let's take a Fire kineticist as an example: you'd think that you could Simply blast stuff with fireballs, but that's completely wrong! Not only your build requires you to be melee until level 10 (aka, basically your whole campaign most of the time) but It also requires to use a "death by a thousand cuts" strategy, where most of your damage comes from proccing weaknesses and from the Fire Oracle dedication everyone gets.
It suffers from the same design choice casters suffer from: 90% of your Power comes from building choices. But while a caster can easily change spells a kineticist can hardly do that.

-"The caster Blaster everyone wanted!" LoL no.
The kineticist has an incredible amount of TWO damage builds, and both require an indecent amount of cheesing (Fire with Oracle dedication and earth/air with triple boomerang juggling). While every other build focused mainly on being a weird tank/support.

"Impulses are magical, and though they aren’t spells, some things that affect spells also affect impulses. Abilities that restrict you from casting spells (such as being polymorphed into a battle form) or protect against spells (such as a spell that protects against other spells or a creature’s bonus to saves against spells) also apply to impulses."

this is everthing we have to answer, and by its look it is pretty vague! "also" doesn't mean "only this applies" otherwise it would have been written as: "Impulses are magical, and though they aren’t spells, some things that affect spells also affect impulses, such as Abilities that restrict you from casting spells (such as being polymorphed into a battle form) or protect against spells (such as a spell that protects against other spells or a creature’s bonus to saves against spells)"

i'm italian so i could very well be wrong, but as much as i know it's ultimately unclear

This Isn't meant as an insult to anyone, this Is Simply something i noticed and that i want to talk about.

Obligatory prescriptum: i have Two Active campaigns, in One i play a purely defensively oriented character, in the other i play a Fire/earth/wood kineticist

1- The moral argument:
I see that there's this weird concept that doing damage Is inherently selfish, in my opinion It really Isn't, It's a part of the game to which selfish people tend to gather because it's prone to big Hero moments and therefore It LOOKS selfish to a lot of folks.
The game heavily emphasizes utility alongside damage for a lot of martials characters, the only genuinely purely damage focused character i can think about Is a starlit span magus. Even a barbarian that strikes three times per round (let's take an Extreme case) Is STILL contributing to the team by Simply exhisting in front of people, getting hit, and so on and so forth.
Therefore i think that being unable to discuss dpr and damage building without being labeled as a "selfish noob" Is annoying

2- the technical argument:
"Once you really think about It you realize that damage Isn't important at all" well, i might sound mean for what i'm going to Say, but then you (you as impersonal) Haven't thought about It enough.
Any Given fight Is fundamentally a race between Two cars, damage Is the ONLY thing that makes the cars go forward, everything else (heal, utility) Is setting back the other car.
-ps: technically buffs put a multiplier on how fast the car Is going, so there's that.
Both are equally important! If the car doesn't go forward you'll lose, if the other car goes faster and you don't hold It back you'll lose too!