Shiroi's page

I've been meaning to make a post about the low DCs for rituals, one pointing out how the DC16 check for control weather was all but assured for a player able to be expert in nature.

In the process of getting the numbers correct, I had a realization and found myself moving to the GM section for skills, and noticed that 'severe DC' is a game term, not hyperbole or description.

Severe DC should be italicized or in some way set apart to make it clear that it references the GM skill chart, and possibly including the DC in the ritual itself will prevent errors and make it obvious that just doubling the spell level isn't the correct calculation for the DC.

I know 80% or more of the feedback I've read appears very disheartening. I know so much is changing and so many people are unhappy with change. I know this is stressful, and necessary, and that in a play test it's more important to hear the truth about what needs to be fixed than to be complimented constantly and think things are perfect when they aren't.

That being said, I'd like to take a moment to boost the moral of our excellent development team at Paizo, for working so hard on this new content and putting so many ideas on the table. I'd like to take this moment to show that even when there is work to be done making Pathfinder second edition the best product it can be, that I appreciate how far they have gone and how many hours they have worked to bring it to this point.

Nothing is ever first drafted as perfect, and nothing will ever make every person happy (except chocolate, and you can't change my mind), but I know a lot of frustration and a lot of work and a lot of hand cramps went into this product, and I'd like to clarify that even when I'm criticizing it in part or in whole, it's only because I know I need to do my part in making sure that everything is brought together across the finish line in the best shape it can be.

Thank you everyone for your hard work, and I hope you can keep a strong, upbeat +3 moral bonus while you round this next corner of a massive product design!

So I'll be honest and upfront, I haven't had a chance to bring anything to a table yet. I'm going off the feel of the system compared to Pathfinder, having built a level 9 gnomish alchemist to see what it can do. I'm attempting to rebuild an old character from 1st edition, so my choices aren't mechanical but rather fluff in nature to try to bring over what used to be a very viable character.

My initial results is that I need twice as many racial feats to feel like a proper gnome, because all the things I was able to get by the level I could get them felt like stuff a human could probably do in 1st edition by the same point.

I need twice as many skill selections despite my 4 starting int mod, because he's a bookworm who uses a lot of knowledge skills from a bad part of town so he has some talent with thievery and lying.

I need twice as many skill feats because even if I got bluff and thievery added to my list of trained skills, I don't have any extra feats to make them do anything fun.

I need more general feats because I felt pressed into extra resonance (more bombs and elixers) and gnomes basically require fleet due to it being a full 25% more move speed (nearly a whole extra action when running). This leaves me nothing for iron will or lightning reflexes, which would have been early choices for my build before.

I can make smoke bombs (for a full resonance each since it doesn't seem to work with your early morning two-for-one special) and exclude my allies from my spash zones at my full class DC, but can't do much in the way of multiple bombs per round. Some of this should be part of class features, some of this makes no sense, and some of this should be quicker to come online. Even after all that, I feel I need more.

The problem may not properly exist at the table, and I may be well within balance of other characters, but before I'm even picking up a d20 I'm already disappointed in my build. I feel undeveloped and undiversified, when focusing on bombs and skills I lack the progression I'm used to seeing and feel very little choice in how I could have done this: my path was made clear, and all other bomb alchemists will probably look very similar. When trying to diversify even slightly I felt constrained, it felt punitive to ask to be marginally passable in more than a few things.

What am I missing in this system, besides more of literally everything?

I'm having a bit of a problem viewing certain threads. I'm using chrome, on a pixel 1 (not xl). The issue seems to make text fail to wrap until about 3-10 characters off the right hand side of the page, with no ability to scroll to the right to see these. The only solution I've found is to use simplified view which makes it difficult to tell when one post ends and the next begins. I've just recently experienced this on the new items blog for p2.0. Is anyone else having trouble with every line of text having a missing bit at the end?

Half speed, half damage, spell effects, various forms of moving water, different weapons handled differently, different rules attacking while under and while over, suffocating rules, skill checks every round, the bends...

Holy mother of nightmares, I've often told my players upfront that if they don't play a grappler, I won't throw them in the lake. It's a fair trade. What can be done about this insanely complex system with such amazing plot hooks but vastly different play abilities?

Bonuses. Stop penalizing players for being underwater, make aquatic beings and water spells stronger, and players act somewhat normally underwater. I don't lose speed, I don't lose fighting ability, but giant squids are really strong for their CR while they are underwater. Now I don't have to mess with a lot of awkward mechanics, but I really want that freedom of motion or aboleths lung spell. I hold my breath for a while, then start taking non-lethal equal to my level. Then lethal, unconscious, dead. If I get a swim speed, I get a bonus to hit and damage underwater. All moving water is just a flat 'unless otherwise stated you move this far with the water. If you can't keep up, you'll be taken wherever the water is going.' Moving water doesn't really have to mean you drown if you fail a swim check, it can be dumbed down a bit.

They can even have the more realistic rules if they want, but for the sake of sanity please let the default rules for underwater adventurers be something you'd be willing to build an AP around. The rules as they are have never, and will never, see play at my table. I'd rather ad-hoc a fight than look all that mess up and figure out who reacts how. I want to visit Atlantis, I want to battle a horrific abberation that bleeds Eels into a Hydra, I want to fight sharks for the treasure in the ship at the bottom of the gulf that we found...

I, and so many other players, will never, EVER be able to do so with pf1 swimming rules. Can we possibly dumb it down to useable, even if it annoys the players who want realism, given that most of them probably can't use this mess either?

So I had a bit of a thought and ran with it. I love permanency as a player option, and wish it worked in more ways and on more spells. I also see a strong connection/overlap with magic item creation, for things like "should I permanency a heat resist on to myself or make a magic item that grants me heat resistance?".

I know that permanency as a spell has a lot of problems with wealth by level and applying layers of magic to something to make it well above normal effectiveness. Investing in tons of wondrous items can have a similar theme, with a million buffs and ten (3x per day you may) you often have far more power and versatility than someone who didn't raid the equipment guides and splatbooks for every option.

I'd like to see permanency made into a ritual instead of a spell, which allows you to imbue your spell in one of three ways.
* The spell is made permanent, possibly at a lower value, such as permanent speak with dead or permanent mage armor granting +3 AC instead of +4.
* The spell is recurring under circumstances with a recharge time, such as a trap or contingency spell. This includes things like a permanent dazing rune on the inside cover of a spell book which once per day can stop a creature for several rounds, or a healing spell which activates once per week to protect a target which would otherwise have been rendered unconscious.
* The spell is imbued into an item and may be used at a cost of resonance or spell points based on the effect.

These options, which all or most spells can easily have written into them, permanently occupy the appropriate spell slot of the caster. This reduces spells available in exchange for leaving a part of your power behind to react autonomously under your predirected orders. It is a direct cost of power to make power. With this in mind, character WBL is less affected. Some classes then would have fun archetypes which grant them additional spell slots specifically to produce permanent spells without using their normal slots or which grant bonuses such as allowing a single slot to grant two spells with one permanency ritual, or making the permanent magic function as if at your highest spell slot and caster level while using your normal slot.

Beyond that, you may also choose to retract the ritual (provided you are alive and such) to regain your spell slot and permanently dispel the item. You do not need to be in the presence of the item to do so, though some things such as anti-magic fields or the item being presently in use may hinder you. If the item is held or attuned, the weilder should probably get a will save to resist and hold the magic. This means low level permanent magic can be regained later when you no longer need or want that item or have moved your base of operations somewhere else and the alarm spell isn't worth maintaining.

I think this adds a lot of fluff, a needed balance against crafters which also makes the process surprisingly simple while offering options for archetypes and class features to improve it, and fits well with the new concepts of resonance and spell points that make magic an intuitive and universal feature in the world.

One thing it does remove is crafting magic items for sale, as it becomes rare to see a wizard make something and sacrifice a part of their power for meager gold. Most existing magical items are something which was made at one point for the wizard or his allies while alive, and now that the caster is dead they have no need of the item or the spell slot it contains.

I've been thinking about the multi-action casting presented for PF2e, and how it opens up some cool ideas for spells which may not have worked quite as dynamically in Pathfinder. I love the idea that you can shoot more missiles, or heal over a larger area, using only a single casting of the spell but putting more effort into getting it right. It means magic missile is a really, really good spell - but sometimes you just don't have the chance to cast it properly and you're allowed to skip some details for a watered down effect.

I'm opening this thread to give a place to drop ideas on how you would port over old spells, or any new ideas you think would work best with this system. One thing I'd like to say, we aren't positive how the numbers will add up in the new game. This thread will be much less contentious if we avoid hard numbers and simply spitball cool concepts for the devs to math into the actual spellbook.

I'd like to see elemental trap spells, to start us off.

At the lowest level, you cast with a verbal component, stating in magic that 'none shall pass' so to speak. This marks a target square or squares as hazardous terrain dealing damage on a failed reflex, similar to a wall of fire but less powerful and not visible. It lasts a short time and is best used to cover a retreat at a choke point like a door.
You may add somatic and material components to draw runes in arcane chalk or ink, which fade away until triggered when they flare up, increasing the damage and lifespan of the trap.

I could also see it work really well for illusions, increasing the complexity/accuracy and number of senses involved. In this case, an illusion spell could involve audible hallucinations if you use a verbal component, physical sensations if you use a material component, and visual illusions if you use a somatic component. By the end of it, using all three actions makes a surprisingly convincing replica of something, but only one component would act more akin to minor illusion. This would probably be a spell slot higher than some other illusions, since it gives a 3/5 senses illusion with the full turn casting but also acts as a generic illusion of any of the three if you single action cast it, making it a versatile spell slot.

Normally I am all for cutting word count from a document, because it saves a lot of print and makes it very reasonable to include more content. Sadly, I've seen a place where word count makes a real difference in quality and makes it more difficult to use otherwise excellent products. I'd like to see at least the first party Paizo NPC codex style books work with a small supplement, to set the standard and hopefully convince others to do the same. If an NPC is supplied in the book at level 7, I'd like the PDF to include his feat choices, equipment, class levels, and quickstat block at levels 1-6 and 8-20. I know this means you have to level the character up 20 whole times, and cranks up the page space and word count. For print, one level representation is fine. For a PDF, space isn't an issue in the same way so it should allow us to expand greatly for the one time cost of paying the writer to spend a few more hours on that character. An extended supplemental backstory suggestion would also be fun.

Not all campaigns are appropriate level for a given NPC, and customizing a dozen NPCs for this session can take extensive time for a DM. Doing it once for everyone gives a much appreciated 'grab and go' feeling, we can always change something we don't like but it becomes very convenient (and perhaps worth an extra $20 to buy this digital extended copy) to be able to pick our druid NPC at level 13 instead of level 10, and to make that very charming rogue a few levels lower than presented in the main codex because his minimum sneak attack roll would have one-shot the level 2 monk.

Even if this was only done with the hardback full NPC codex style books, instead of with every NPC, I would appreciate it greatly.

While I'm at it with the wish list, I'd love to see a book with at least one NPC of each class and each archetype, with more books annually or semi-annually that add NPCs from all the new classes and archetypes introduced since the previous book.

If you have anything you think would be cool to see done with NPC books, leave a comment.

For all the trouble with alignment, and as much as I usually houserule it away when it becomes inconvenient, I don't believe we can reasonably expect it to disappear. It's already being baked deep into the crust of the blogs, and because the issue is so clearly divided it becomes difficult to even ask that they change it.

With that in mind, whether you like alignment or not it is assumed by this topic that it is here to stay, will have mechanical impact on many aspects including spells, monsters and classes, and for at least some will be relatively immutable. As such, please remain somewhat on topic, we have plenty of vent threads and argue about it threads. I'm only here to ask that it be clarified, and propose we work together to make that available.

Nine pages in the core rulebook of Pathfinder 2.0 should exist, detailing what it means to be of a particular alignment. A full page each dedicated to actions, thoughts, and ways of life which would make you a part of this group. It can also include a few universal anathema to that concept, things which would strongly annoy an outsider designed as a paradigm of that concept.

These pages, while not designed to be RAW in any way, are a chance to express the RAI of one of the most controversial parts of the game. When a paladin of any element falls, it is because they behaved in a manner more consistent with the opposite of their alignment than with the expectations placed upon them by their code. This should be a very clear thing, a more detailed version of the rules found in their class which gives great creative space to the designers to make their intentions for the game known. It can accommodate exceptions to typical rules, such as the use of an evil spell under significant duress being accepted as neutral, and how a person who clearly despises the pencil pushing letter of the law and chooses to ignore it thoroughly can be a lawful character who holds their own values, or those of another land, at high regard.

So, with these concepts brought forth, let's hear your thoughts on whether a full page devoted to helping players and DMs understand the feeling conveyed by each alignment could help, or hinder, your game. While I'm at it, what kinds of things would you put on the pages?

Save yourself five letters and a word on every reference to spell points (unless you intend to drop it to SP in a majority of locations) and make it less metagame sounding by changing the name. Since Arcana isn't something in use yet -in 2nd edition-, you can change the name of anything which would have used that term. Since all your Spell Point based abilities seem to be added together from all classes, it feels unnecessary to use the term arcana as it was used in pf1e because Magus will have the same pool of abilities as a wizard and no reason to particularly distinguish between them beyond "it's my level 5 Magus arcana" and "I use my level 2 wizard arcana".

I've been without a group for quite a while, and found other things to occupy my time. When I get back on D20pfsrd, I notice a few spots that mention updated rules. Sneak attack applies to more people, something happened to the assassin class to nix the spell list, et cetera.

Is there a place I can find a comprehensive updates list for rules? Errata as well if I can get one. I need to sort out what's changed so my dm and I can be on the same page. Thank you much!

(I did try to search this through Google, it kept pulling up the Pathfinder update for no man's sky, which is far less interesting or important to me)

The story of the First

The basic idea of the class

This project has seen a lot of thought, and I'm happy to bring it to the public. I've had assistance from a friend or two, including N.Jolly, who have helped refine and balance my concept.

You might want to begin with the first link, a Google Word Doc giving the backstory of why I wanted/needed this class. The next link is a spreadsheet which shows the loose evolution of my thought process from a basic design on page 1, including a hybrid class and an archetype of paladin, to page 3, a nearly finished copy of the class which I'm currently looking for review and interest on.

I'm glad I've had this opportunity to share and hope it can help someone to better enjoy their own campaign, and would love to hear anything you'd care to discuss related to balance, cool concepts, and even backstory and how it might fit into existing worlds rather than my home campaign setting.

I do have a few archetypes on the back page as well, and while I haven't had a chance to playtest this homebrew/3pp class yet, I do plan to retrain an existing alchemist (see the first link for details) during my current campaign (with DM permission granted but timing not yet good in the campaign).

Also let me know if I can do anything to help with the links or formatting. Thank you and have a great day!

Hello, I am reading through Frog God Games' Razor Coast book. I only have the main book, no supplimentary materials sadly.

I plan to run a campaign online for 3 or fewer players, two with low system mastery (but lots of DM help) and one with obscenely high system mastery (but playing a buff class to make the other two better without overshadowing them).

I'm curious if anyone has any advice for running a Razor Coast campaign, and if there's anything I should know before I begin.

My party will most likely consist of a Hydro kineticist with a pet wolf, an Armorist and a Symbiat from Spheres of Power.

I appreciate any advice, or even just good stories from a nautical/pirate campaign you've run!

Hello, I hope I'm in the right section of the forum since I am asking for advice, there are simple rules for epic level advancement that aren't homebrew, and I'm not asking for clarification of a hard and fast rule.

What I'm asking is advice on how to progress a very specific class that may not have been considered when Paizo provided the basic paragraph of how to advance a class into epic levels. The Alchemist follows a basic progression that makes perfectly good sense, at least for the first 20 levels. I need to know how it could be advanced a good 10 levels or so further. I understand this will not be at all balanced, but I want to try to keep it as close to appropriate as I can.

That being said, a little overboard is fine (this is a 2 player campaign and the other guy is going to be an UC Monk with the Kundalini Chakra archetype from OO, and he plans to mix a bit of gunslinger for the grit and swashbuckler to give himself parry and riposte with a huge grit pool while running 7 gates and laughing about it. So if I'm well outside the power level of the game... it's because this campaign will have us facing other level 30+ npc villains, with dragons the size of "no" backing them up.

I don't want to be minmax, but I do need to stay competetive with a very power built martial ally. Here's my current analasys.

I would continue bomb damage and discovery as normal. No big deal here, it gives me a very moderate damage boost every other level and more versatility the higher I go.

I would advance formulae progression using the wizard spell list and only spells with a range of touch or personal for my infusions. This means I would eventually hit 9th level extract slots, but by the time I got to high slots I might have very few options for using them outside of combining low-mid level extracts into higher ones. Timestop will be a neat trick, but it isn't as useful without summons. This area is grey for me, I'm not sure if the advanced spell slots is a balance problem or not for this class (I feel it'll be a lot less useful than normal 9th level casting) so this is a place I need advice on how to leverage it and what would be a problem.

Mutagens duration. In theory it goes up by an hour per level... Until you get to level 24. Now here's my problem. At level 24 I get 24 hour mutagens, so my bonuses become permanent. This wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't a cognatogen user, focusing on increasing my INT score. By level 25/26 or so I can reliably time the administration of the cognatogen to give myself a permanent bonus to INT. Should this give me bonus skill points? Is it unreasonable to assume that as long as I take the cognatogen each day that this is a permanent bonus, similar to wearing a headband? If I cease to consume them, it's just like removing the headband.

I don't know if or when it might be appropriate to take another grand discovery? At some point I will likely fall behind the other player because I'm taking a lot of flavorful options, not every decision of mine has been power based. He plays just as smart as I do, and we both use good roleplaying to back up our rollplaying.

I would like eventually to be able to mix multiple bomb types (frost and entangling for instance) and I'm curious if this has ever been worked with (epic levels or not) and if it can be balanced in at some point. I'm also curious about the true mutagen grand discovery being used with cognatogens, especially if they become permanent bonuses at level 25 or so.

Can anyone offer guidance on producing a reasonable progression for a balanced and effective epic level alchemist? I appreciate the discussion, I don't mind some basic tangential conversation roughly related to the campaign/epic levels/two person parties/alchemists in general. I do mind flame wars, let's play nice people.

If it helps any, my build is a gnomish mind chemist who uses a wide variety of skills, has all 4 elements of bomb, uses infusions in equal parts for buffs like haste, healing, and utility. He has entangling and dispelling bombs, and isn't afraid to pick up a few more in later levels. He wants to use Alchemical allocation with the 3 potion discoveries, has an insane craft alchemy skill, wants to maybe craft wondrous as well, and will have the rapid thrower discovery (no twf) and the 4 mummy discoveries. Most of his feats are extra discovery of some kind.

I'm curious if there's any reason why a telekinetic haul, mage hand, or similar cannot push *down* on an object, with gravity instead of against. Could I theoretically double the weight of an object? Does it stop at double (exerting only as much down force as I would need up force to make it weightless, which is still less than I would need to lift it upwards) or do I add up to my max lift capacity to the weight of the item I'm pushing down?

This is a question for strange gravity planes, as well as for perhaps pinning opponents underneath rubble.

Thank you for the clarification, and feel free to suggest other uses if this is possible to do.

Hello, and welcome. I come bearing a build I happen to like the feel of, and wondering if there is anything that can be done to tweak it further or if I've made any horrible errors in my build, such as not being able to use vital strike with a two handed weapon or such.

I do use third party material, and it's all on the table as far as I know.

For this build, I'll be using the pony finder companion, and the time thief class.

Race: Pegasus
Class: Time Thief 11 (though planned through 20)
Starting fly speed: 30' clumsy

Feats:
Antihero: Strong Jaw (use two handed weapons as my race)
Racial bonus feat: dashing flyer (speed +10/mobility up one step)
Lvl 1: dashing flyer
Lvl 3: dashing flyer
Lvl 5: dashing flyer (70/perfect)
Lvl 7: vital strike
Lvl 9: nightwing (darkvision)
Lvl 11: dashing flyer
Lvl 13: devastating strike
Lvl 15: improved vital strike
Lvl 17: dashing flyer
Lvl 19: dashing flyer (100/perfect)

I'll be taking talents such as bolt time, shatter time, time runner, and time to kill.
The goal is to be able to move as far and fast as possible, using a swift action to do so when needed, to then vital strike with an earth breaker.
Then use another swift (it's a possibility because of the class, I know I don't get more than one normally) if needed to suddenly be 100+ feet away again, laughing at the slow people on the ground.

Can anyone offer any perspective on this? I don't want to share too much of the racial abilities for copywrite reasons, but the class is available in full (or at least all of it i used if its not all there) on the pfsrd.
I know it seems a bit one trick pony, but at the same time I feel it's a unique build of ranged attacker, almost turning me into a living missile. Between the quick runners shirt and my class abilities, I can move at insane speeds and still do what I feel is reasonable damage. I have a side focus on collecting as wide a variety of wondrous items as I can possibly carry and use, for versatility.

What would you do differently? What feels redundant? Is there anything I can do to make this work better? (Besides doing something totally else, thank you, I don't want an archer optimized for dps) I like the 100' fly speed, but I can nix a few dashing flyers for a solid feat choice that works for my build.

As a side note, what items might you carry for fun and versatility on a build like this?

Hello, I am looking for different ideas on how to effectively use the Kundalini Chakra options presented in the Occult Adventures book.
This option relies on a turn by turn will and fortitude save, and an expenditure of ki points every round, to maintain or improve an increasing range of benefits which culminates in a godlike "roll 2d20 and take the highest on every. Single. Roll. You make this turn." That's a rediculous level of benefit (with a 7 point minimum ki and 7 round warmup, only available at high levels, with two save or sucks a round attached).

Still, I feel the use of kundalini Chakra will fall to the wayside unless the build is designed for it. What feats/archetypes/multiclass/prestige/items could possibly enhance this, besides improved iron will, improved great fortitude and extra ki pool every level in between? Obviously the 3 kundalini feats as well, but I feel like there must be other options for things to fit thematically with, or make more use of, this powerful and flavorful design.

I appreciate the help. Right now, a solution a friend has is to take many, many vows. I think he's on chastity, chains, honesty, and fasting right now. That's a lot of restrictions for the ki to make this concept viable.

I'm noticing the philosophers stone, as an artifact, has a very cool destruction method.

philosophers stone

Now, the destruction method is listed as "grind it in the heel of a titans boot for a week".

Or we could just use a hammer and let the quicksilver go bad, leaving a useless metalish walnut shell shaped thing behind?

Why the awesome destruction method if my half-orc can literally crush it in his bare hand and let it flow down a river never to be seen again?

Does the shell make more quicksilver after a time?

Hello, and welcome to a new view of digital map designs. I've seen many arguements both for and against grids in Pathfinder. The pros and cons stack high into massive towers and we are left with no perfect solution.

Grid systems offer us:
Uniform distance calculations, regardless of specific positioning.
Simple space occupancy rules.
Easy way to see distance between minis.
Excellent AoE observation and planning.

Gridless systems offer us:
More accuracy in measurements.
More freedom in positioning.
More accurate circles.

I'm curious to see what can be done with a hybrid system.

Imagine a digital map that used a grid system. Now picture that the grid this map uses has a start point wherever your individual miniature is. You are always in the center of your five foot square. If you turn to face an opponent, your grid turns as well. If you walk 5 feet in a direction, you step into the next square of your grid. AoE is still done by squares, but now it selects the "origin point" of the explosion, swiftly rotates the grid around that point, creating a clear marker of where exactly 20 feet is from that location. If the blast intrudes into the 5 foot square location of a viable target, that target is affected by the blast.

Each miniature is on a grid, it's own grid. The same can be said of each effect. These grids can be at off angles to each other, skew from each other, may be three dimensional for some characters and not need to be for others. What becomes important is the locations where squares interact on these grids, and the way a player or npc interacts with it's own grid.

Comments? Suggestions? Someone with the programming language to make this useful?

Linking information now....
Delayed Blast Fireball
Fireball
Earth Glide

Updating Temporary Library

Analyzing. Hypothesizing.
Hypothesis reached. Assassination tool perfected.
Query.
Is it possible to earthglide directly under a target, place the delayed blast fireball within 20 feet of the target but still underground, and spend the next 5 rounds earthgliding directly away from ground zero to escape?
Would you make it out in time (5 rounds later *should* be enough time, but Earthglide limits you to 5' per round, and I'm staying entirely underground to avoid detection)? It feels like you do, but it depends on whether the round timer includes the one you cast on, and whether it detonates at the start or the end of your turn. If it includes when you cast it, then you move 5, 2nd turn, you move the second 5, 3rd turn, you move the 3rd 5, 4th turn, you move to exactly 20 feet away, 5th turn it blows up at the start of your turn and kills you.
If it doesn't count the turn you cast it, or detonates at the end of your turn, you can get away with it.

Fireball claims it produces no pressure, but it does say if I destroy the interposing wall then it will continue outwards, so I'm not too worried about whether it's mechanically possible to be sure I hit the guy with the fireball, but do I make it out in time? Is there any normal way to catch someone doing this, short of living guards with Tremorsense?
I've seen some nasty assassination efforts before, but having noticed this I'm never letting any important NPC's sleep on the ground floor again!

I'm going to link to what could be one of the most horribly worded story arc enders in existence.

If my Vampire BBEG fails a will save, can the PC wearing this armor take all the time in the world to murder his $#!+ in? It appears so. It doesn't make the wearer INVISIBLE, in which case at least I could equip the BBEG with blindfight or blindsense or a dozen other solutions. It doesn't make the wearer "isn't there" until he does something aggressive, or for a limited time, it doesn't even reallow the will save if the wearer does one of those things. RAW, a person in this armor can walk down a hall of CR+10 zombies with no Int score and KILL THEM ALL, even if he has to do so one natural 20 at a time. One bad save by the BBEG or any intelligent undead and he wins, period. If the undead isn't intelligent, there's not even a glimmer of hope of making this a challenge for the party, because everyone else just runs and lets Bob handle it. Admittedly, it's a high level armor in a corner case, I've never seen it used and probably never will. But it feels like if a PC buys, makes, or finds this item, you have to make the decision as DM to allow it work as intended and never be able to use undead in your campaign again, allow it to work as written and let them win many encounters super easily, or houserule the item. I suppose you could always match encounters so that Undead are always near Constructs, or near Living creatures that control/aren't bothered by the nearby Undead, but we're talking about having to be very careful to build encounters around a single piece of equipment.

Am I missing a flaw in this armor, a reason it doesn't function as I feel, RAW, that it does?

I know RAI it feels like it lets you sneak past the zombie patrol groups and get into the BBEG's lair undetected, but was it intended to be this powerful in a game where some campaigns may be almost exclusively undead oriented?

The White Fire Gauntlet
Designed to test both combat and non-combat utility of classes. If this is accepted as a standard test, it can help to compare a playtest class vs another build of the same class, vs another playtest class, and/or vs a non-playtest class who's balance in the game is known.

Please conduct each combat test with a party of 5, consisting of
Valeros, Fighter 7
Harsk, Ranger 7
Seoni, Sorcerer 7
Seelah, Paladin 7
And a character of your choosing at level 7.

With this data, comparing the new Occult Classes (or any future playtest) should be more simple and comprehensive.

Components
The Mook Test
The Flying Mook Test
The Shooting Mook Test
The Magical Mook Test
The PVP Test
The Skill Gauntlet
The Utility Gauntlet

This test is designed for an Epic (CR+3) Challenge for your party of 5 lvl 7 characters. It will test your abilities to the limits, and you may not survive every step. If you are unable to complete a particular step of a test, mark it as taking the maximum amount of time and proceed as if you had succeeded.
Each step of each test will be limited to a 20-round time limit. This is partly because many characters can accomplish nearly any task given enough time. In theory, with several weeks to reach a goal, selling loot to ask a Wizard for help would be a viable way to accomplish something if it didn't involve a time limit. For combat situations, this represents the rest of the party. If a combat lasts over 20 rounds, it is likely that more party members would have accomplished the goal far more quickly. Please feel free to assume a full heal and a full night's sleep after each section.

Scoring
During combat, please note your % chance to hit the target, your DPR on a successful hit, and the distance at which you can accomplish this DPR consistently. This helps to prevent Dice Bias in small sample tests. List the techniques and strategies you have employed, the number of times you hit and were hit, and the damage you took and dealt. If you defeated the enemies within 20 rounds, mark success and how many rounds it took. If you were defeated within 20 rounds, mark failure and the number of rounds survived. If you survived to 20 rounds, mark draw and continue.
During non combat testing, please note your average success rate, the number of rounds it took to complete each step of the event, and the total time it took you to complete the gauntlet.

The Mook Tests

Please also make sure to post your build information down below here!!! It's hardly a fair comparison if we can't see how your character is designed.

Now, I'm going to begin with a few numbers.
50 tons is... 4 cruise ship anchors, or 6 elephants, or 10 hippos, or a little over a third of a blue whale. A bottle jack for cars that I saw on casual glance just finding these numbers, was rated for 30 tons. That's 3 cubes of granite, or a couple of elephants.

It takes about 240 gallons to make a ton. So 12,000 gallons is close to 50 tons. There are 935ish gallons in a five foot cube. So 5-6 cubes of water is 50 tons, loose numbers.

One 5 foot cube (5x5x5) of granite would weigh about 10.5 tons, on average. So a little less than 5 cubes is 50 tons.

Fire weighs practically nothing. Air weighs practically nothing, but every time you double it's speed you QUADRUPLE the force it pushes with.

So, right now, the Aether Kineticist can move 100 lbs per level. That's 1 ton, and only one object if he isn't using many throw as an attack. The Geo can move a single 5 foot cube, the Hydro can manage a whopping 128 cubes (someone check my math) and the air can control weather but I'm not seeing a specific "make a steady wind or move cloud effect cubes" kind of ability, while fire can move 20 cubes.

Are you telling me the Kineticist can't move my truck, the Geo can move 5 times that, the Hydro can bench over a thousand tons, the Aero can start a tornado going but can't make a decent breeze, and fire can't even cook meatloaf unless he wants to blow up the campsite?

I feel like we can do better here. Both in functional, in game balance, and in approximate cohesion with reality and fluff. Earth should be the heavy bencher. Tele should manage decent weight with multiple objects. Water should be able, ideally in a few trips to the lake, to put out the town fire, but not crush a castle under the weight of like 7 blue whales dropping from the sky. Fire needs to be able to start and stop fires, and wind needs some kind of speed/level/area math to give us a functional power other than hurricane forces.

Anybody want to help with that?

Please be advised that this thread is for the convenience of the Playtest organizer. As such, it will function best as a repository of distilled observation. If each person who wishes to contribute leaves exactly 1 post, and edits that post to include new ideas they wish to submit, this will prevent information from being repeated by the same poster several times.
Questions regarding these posts would work best in the kineticist general discussion. Comments on another poster's information would likewise be best done in the general thread, though motions to second an idea within your own normal idea post would enable an easy tally of support for ideas. If this thread is kept to these basic premises, it will vastly assist in the search for usable ideas for this class by the designers.