Steve Danials's page

Important thing to note: Both of the two abilities you plan to focus on cost a spell point to use. That's not inherently wrong or bad, but most Spherecasters usually want at least one talent they can use all day long, even if it's just a basic destructive blast. Otherwise, you may find your playstyle pretty cramped.

I multiclassed at lv 1 with Incanter to pick up extra talents. Right now my layout is:

Mind

Telekinesis

Creation (Bonus Talent from Hedgewitch tradition)
* Expanded Materials
* Ranged Creation

Enhancement
- Drawback: Linked Conciousness
* Lingering Enhancement
* Animate Object
* (Unchosen slow from the drawback)

Casting Drawbacks: As the occult casters from Occult Magic
Boon: Easy Focus (Concentrate as a move action)

The thought was to use the Spiritualist's tradition power to use as a backup. Lingering Enhancement would let me pop things like animating someone's armor/weapons, or animating chairs/rugs/etc for enough rounds to let the others sweep in to finish the job. With telekinesis to throw people around, and a Conductive weapon (I can use the Spiritualist tradition power to grab Destructive Blast/Death sphere abilities in a pinch), I was hoping I could play fast and loose with how many Spell Points I was really using.

What level are you starting at? Mid caster chassis will lag a bit in object size.

Level 6. There's another tradition that's being worked on in the Patreon forums that lets you use your class level as your caster level for Creation. That with Expanded Creation would net me things like iron, and steel.

Hey, I just wanted advice/critique on a build I have planned for a friend's campaign. I was essentially thinking of building someone like Ed from Fullmetal Alchemist, and focusing on controller/area denial aspects in combat.

I was thinking Hedgewitch with Spiritualist tradition for one, and use its class power to access any talents I didn't have yet. Mostly I'd focus on Enhancement (Animate Objects), and Creation to bring inanimate objects to bare as combat minions, create barriers, cages, difficult terrain, etc, while remaining in the back.

Suggestions, opinions? Thanks!

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

Hey, is there a Paizo/3rd party product that has a Pathfinder equivalent for the Rod of Magical Precision? If not, some other item that grants Precise Shot? Thanks!

Ah, OK. Thanks!

Does anyone know of a race that has the ability to generate weapons (not claws, bite, etc), like a summoned weapon /spirit weapon? Thanks!

Interested in the dwarf side, and same questions as Heinig.

Watch out for...well, everything, I suppose :3

Hey, I just wanted to submit Connie LaSombra, Human Telekinetic for the game :3

I apologize for lurking, but I was just wondering if there was a release date for the tome. I was just excited when I saw the thread :3

Weird I was sure I replied to this.

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These were things I talked about in the change doc (second link), but I can talk a bit more here.

Oh I did read that actually.

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Battle burn is to give more in combat options. Really, it's just to have more versatility in battle, although to keep damage down, I could actually see limiting it to utility talents, since it does allow more empowered blast and such.

Limiting it to utility talents would be for the best in my mind, right now I don't see much reason for it rather than just increasing the amount of burn a kineticist can take.

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And I can actually see why you would be. It was something that made the class unique, but in the same way, it also hit the class's HP hard. This wasn't a decision I made lightly, and personally I could see coming back to this and possibly messing around with the fatigue mechanic to give it more of an edge, but this was just a first draft, which is why I'm fine with making edits on it as people give opinions.

I mean, turning burn into just "mana pool #13" doesn't really seem interesting. May as well remove the scaling from elemental overflow at that point and just make it static since it stops representing the uncontrolled energy leaking out of you. My personal method of modifying burn is "no limit on how much can be taken, but.... your losing health" + gain the benefits of the toughness feat except that additional hit-points are based on class level rather than HD, and it stacks with toughness, gives the kineticists the benefits of HD d10 if going by average (though you lose a tiny bit with the first HD of course) without having to worry about giving them Full BAB.

What about just making the damage healable via normal means? Hell, remove the per round burn limit as well, and it still stays as something you have to worry about, but it's not horrendous.

Yeah, you could offset it by having wands /clerics /etc, but the thing is, it's still an additional resource drain the party now has to deal with, and can /will wipe your character if they're not careful in battle.

I'm fine with having a caveat for the class, but at the same time, burn as-written is far too heavy a trade-off, especially when you get into the overflow bonuses.

Steve Danials wrote:

Posted, up on paizo :3

Awesome, that puts us up to 5.5 on the scale! And that means I have to head into my docs and pull out my unchained versions of the class.

This is the unchained class.

And this is my explanations for each change I made.

I'd like it noted that for this rewrite, I did my best to keep the class as compatible with my previous content as possible. The only 'major' changes are the switching of internal buffer and expanded element, which should be easy enough to play around with archetypes involving them. Most of these should be changes for the better, although I'm willing to discuss thoughts and opinions on these, possibly make some changes if what I've written feels too off base.

Awesome!

While I *love* the redoing of Burn (which kept me away from the class for a while), I just wanted to make sure I understood. So, while you can only accept one pt /round, it still stacks for the purposes of Overflow?

Are there any negatives for accepting burn?

With Battle Burn, is it essentially a way to allow you to accept more than one pt of burn per round? As for using it with Utility powers, if the duration is the lesser of 5 min, or the original duration, what's the benefit, especially if you can already spend Burn 1/Rd normally?

Posted, up on paizo :3

Just a quick question : I was intending to play an aether /vibrokineticist (with the sonic blast) build, and was wondering if there were composite blasts for that combo that did the usual 2d6 /level, rather than just acting like a simple blast. Thanks!

There's 3rd party archtypes, if you're okay with using those. Look up Kineticists of Porphyra 1 and 2.

BTW, Aether does have a psudo flying skill in Self Telekinesis and its upgrade of Greater Self Telekinesis. Air also requires 2 talents to get its Wings of Air and earth requires 2 to get its earthglide. Remember that these are at will so you can do them all day. Needing two talents isn't too far fetched. Plus as aether you can have at will invisibility.

Ah, you're right on Fly, and that's fair enough. I have all 3 of the porphyria books, but I was still hoping for a bit more mix and match. Like, I know fire is heavy of AoE, and water/ earth are good w terrain alterations, but is there a way to be purely one element, but still qualify to take other blast shapes /utility?

So, I love the absolute crap out of the Kineticist - except for the fact that it locks you fairly hard into what blast forms and utilities you can take.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a product or discussion where they had a version that was a bit more free form. Example : an aether build who could use the Torrent form with their telekinetic blast, or a hydrokinetic that could use Earth utility talents, just reskinned.

I know there's expanded element at 7, but the talents still seem to be super limited. So, if I'm a telekinetic, I have to dip into aerokinetic to eventually get things like Fly, or Air's leap, rather than being able to just use my telekinesis to do the equivalent (and having talents built specifically to limit things, like two telekinetic utility talents to get basic flight, rather than just saying "I lift myself because I have foe throw, or telekinetic haul" is annoying). Thanks!

I just wanted to ask, is there an estimated release for the 2nd book? I don't mean to come off as impatient; I downloaded the first one the day it came out, and it honestly made the Kineticist far more fun to me.

Just a brief outline for my half-orc (Kara). More of a wandering mercenary type, she tends to not settle down for too long. Always on the lookout for something new and shiny to sell (or use), she tends to travel as a guard for caravans, merchants, etc. From changing comrades so often, she's developed the habit of writing in small journals, both for the memories, and to calm herself before sleeping.

A bit coarse with her humor, she would often wander off from her family's farm, and skulk about the taverns. There she found a strange, ever-changing circle of friends in the form of the bards, fighters, and other braggadocios who found eager ear for their tales.

Her familiarity with pistols came from Tarlen, a local smith, who specialized in the odd weapons. Though cautious at first (he didn't want to be the one to tell her mother Kara had blown her fingers off), he soon grew fond of his accidental apprentice. She learned quickly not only how to disassemble firearms, but how to hold her own with one as well.

There wasn't one particular instance that resulted in her wanderlust. Over the years it just seemed that all the tales, the stories, the adventures everyone else seemed to go on - sometimes you want a few of your own. ..

OK, cool! Also, just to be sure, are you doing weight limits for characters?

In most games I've played, as long as we're not being obnoxious, no one pays attention if you're encumbered, but I wanted to ask ahead of time.

Hi! I'm interested, if there ends up being room. I've been playing Pathfinder for several years now (though this would be my first PbP), and I've been dying to try Iron Gods. Actually, my first ever table-top was a d20 Future sci-fi setting, so seeing this brought back memories of good times. I can usually post in the morning (7-8a EST), or in the evening (usually 5/5:30-10p). Anything else depends on days off (which tend to fluctuate).

I was thinking a half-orc Techslinger (Gunslinger archetype, if cartmanbeck went with Blood Arcanist), or Technic Scavenger (Rogue archetype). And I apologize if I just missed it, but what would the starting level be? Thanks!

I wouldn't mind more cross-element blast shapes. It irked me a bit when you could only do chain with electricity, you could only do a blast with fire, you could only do this or that with X or N. It's magic, and a class that gets has to watch itself fairly carefully; it'd be cool (even if it costs feats, or requires extra burn) to really be able to cut loose.

Not a concern, just a question. I was wondering what happened to the Snake blast form? I honestly got a kick out of it as a "bunker buster" form.

Speaking of Spheres Of Power, I thought it had a number of interesting things that could be ported over to the kineticist in general and the aetherkineticist in particular. Divided Mind especially opens up a lot of cool options, but Dancing Weapons lets you use melee weapons at a distance, and Quick Catch gives you the ability to use your telekinesis reactively. Some of these things feel like they could be implemented as utility talents, but many are balanced by the use of spell points, which are much less punitive than burn.

I'm actually sort of torn now between kineticist and SoP symbiat focusing on telekinesis; SoP telekinesis offers interesting options (plus the ability to branch out into other spheres), but certain things (blasting and maneuvers, primarily) are much less effective than what the kineticist offers.

I find that I'm in a similar boat; I love the mechanics of the Kineticist (as well as telekinetic Disable Device being *much* less costly to gain), but I can never ignore how much more flexible SoP is. However, I know they're expanding with handbooks; Destruction is actually in the works right now, and (via Patreon) I'm super excited about it :3

One of the key things? The writer has set up a point-buy system to construct your own blasts. So, you want to be a telekinetic blaster? Fine. Take the Force Blast talent, but each time you buy another talent from Destruction, you can use the build-a-blast chart to say "OK, this does force damage, costs 1 spell point, and instead of knocking prone, it attempts a combat maneuver: disarm." Now you have good blasting capability, but also sort of a trick shot feel to it.

Or switch it out for Bull Rush, or Immobile, or whatever you want, really. There's actually an archetype for the Mageknight that essentially uses a blast form like whips, and can do CMB with them.

I wanted to post a link to the doc (recently they decided to let the writers post on other forums and such with the playtests), but I wasn't sure if that'd be kosher for *me* to do it. I think I've seen it floating around these forums though.

Also, there's a telekinetic handbook already out. It doesn't give it much in the way of blasting, but it does add some *super* nifty things for a pure Telekinetic :3

Hey, I bought Kineticists of Porphyra a few minutes ago, but when I attempted to download it, the page would simply refresh, and *say* it'd been downloaded, but actually hadn't. Also, the rest of my downloads seem to be behaving just fine. Is there a way to solve this? Thanks!

Steve Danials wrote:

Read through the document again. I was wondering if there was any chance of the Destructive Blade from the Doom blade archetype being available as a talent or feat for other classes.

I did like the Hedgewitch archetype. It makes for a good speed build. Are there plans for unique Secrets for it?

Hmm, good questions. As for opening up destructive blade, not sure. I kind of like it being special for the archetype, but if I could get the cost right it could be an option.

I haven't thought up any unique secrets, but it's a good idea. I'll see if I can conjure anything; if you have suggestions drop them here or on the doc. Thanks.

With Secrets for the archetype, would a ki pool (fully powered, or just as the Rogue Talent), and /or monk class features work out? Or bonus style feats?

Read through the document again. I was wondering if there was any chance of the Destructive Blade from the Doom blade archetype being available as a talent or feat for other classes.

I did like the Hedgewitch archetype. It makes for a good speed build. Are there plans for unique Secrets for it?

So, I'm kinda biased, because blasters/gishes are my jam, but I'm digging the redux. And not just from a personal standpoint - this lets a high - dex character to stay pretty shoulder-to-shoulder with martial classes, without having to carry half their weight in weapons.

I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but as far as the Destructive Blade, I was wondering if it could be made as a touch attack (I saw somewhere that it was considered a normal attack). On one hand, I understand why not (as with a full BAB it could get ridiculous), but at the same time, I would consider it similar to the Kineticist ability, which has it vs touch ac (if it's an elemental blast).

If it's a bit too much, it could be ruled to a d4 damage, or that it's a d4 for a pure element weapon, and a d6 if used 's a weapon..

As it stands (while I love the theme of generating your own weapon), it'd be more worthwhile to simply do magus for a couple levels.

Excellent ! Thank you !

Another question - the aether defense talent says if you accept burn, your temp HP refreshes. If you use gather power to reduce burn from a blast, would that trigger the burn effect ?

thank you, honestly! I honestly didn't realize that sneak attacks didn't multiply on crits! So, retcon on that...

Hey all! So, many of the kineticist powers specify that it will do something extra if you "accept burn". My question is, given that as you level, there are more options to reduce /get rid of burn, would that still count?

So, celerity says if you accept burn, Haste lasts 1 Rd /kineticist level. If I use my buffer to reduce the burn by 1, would the effect still take place?

It sounds silly, but a lot of the talents seem worded based on low level kineticist builds, that have to worry about burn more. Thanks!

I'm running a mini-campaign/bunch of one-shots for me and a couple others. Right now we're all level 10 - elf maestro (third party class that does a variety of effects via conducting, sorta like a super-bard), human two-weapon fighter with keen kukris, and a oread kineticist with fire/aether.

My question is how should I calculate CR to make a challenging, but not overwhelming, fight? If we get into multiple fights in one day, without recharging/resting and all that, I don't mind *that* - whittling down resources is a fun way to push how well a group has prepared. However, I don't want to accidentally overpower it, and take everyone out, or make it too easy, and have them just waltz through with only scratches.

Story time:

Last night we got into a fight with what I'd hoped would be challenging, but not super deadly: 4 Pugwamgi, two Thin Men, and a Boogeyman. I'll admit, I did away with the Boogeyman's DR 15/Cold Iron, and held off on Phantasmal Killer, because either one would basically render the fighter either next to useless, or f-ing dead (I sincerely regret not suggesting he take Iron Will as he leveled up...).

Fast forward, and the fighter is going toe-to-toe with the Boogeyman, and everything seems to be doing fine. Keeping with the abilities, I had the Boogeyman go invisible, and sneak attack the fighter.

Aaaaand, I crit, leaving the fighter with around 20 HP.

My f-ing kineticist *missed* on his turn, otherwise it wouldn't have been an issue, but the Boogeyman then knocked our fighter down to -1, and, on the next turn, killed the s@#+ out of him.

I'm still fairly new with DM'ing, so even if it seems like obvious advice, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Ah, crapbaskets. Oh well. Thanks!

I've been reading the Occult Handbook repeatedly since it came out, and I just wanted to be sure I'm not hampering myself needlessly.

With infusions, do they only affect certain simple blasts (so, there's a legit difference between infusions that affect electric blasts, and those that affect wind)?

If so, is there anything in the rules that allows for infusions to be based on the element, rather than the blast itself? Thanks!

I loved this until I saw how many Infusions you'd be giving up. While I understand (as you're gaining *access* to a buttload more than usual), it seems like unless you spend all your feats on Extra Talent, you'll be falling so far behind every other Kineticist, there's not a whole lot of point.

I agree with zanbato13 as far as the -4 level for the secondary element, but otherwise, I really do like this archetype. I *love* the Kineticist, but it sucks to say "I want to be lightning-based", and have the rules go "OK, well, you can't do busts, and you can't do de-buffs, and until you hit higher levels, the most you'll be is point+click/melee switch-hitter".

Looks good, but when you say Extended Form, I'm not sure what you mean. I didn't see anything about that particular infusion in the OA handbook.

I've seen a lot of talk about this, as the archetype doesn't explicitly allow for Spell Combat with ranged. However, I haven't seen an official "from Paizo" declaration one way or the other.

Does anyone know if there's a thread/errata/book that firmly, by the creators, clarifies this? Thanks!

Ok, but as far as scrolls wrapped around arrows, or water arrows altered to be filled with poison, is there anything like that?

I'm building an archer (lv 7 Brawler; the plan is to use Martial Flexibility to grab feats like Ranged Trip/Disarm, or switch to melee focused build at a moment's notice) for a game, and I had a couple questions about making arrows a bit cooler.

1) I've seen a class (Elven Archer, I think) that can use scrolls with arrows - essentially wrapping the scroll around the arrow, and it being cast when it hits. Is there any way to mimic this with other classes/rules/items?

2) Concerning poisons: I know there're smoke/water/fire arrows, and I wanted to ask if there was anything in the rules that allowed modification to carry poisons. So, instead of a smoke arrow, when it hit it would release an inhaled poison. Or a water arrow that releases a contact poison.

Thank you for your help!

I apologize if this has even answered, but I wanted to ask about the Light sphere. There's a talent where you can blind an opponent within the bright light, as well as everyone else. However, that's gonna be a minimum of 6 squares, which (how my group plays, anyway) is usually the entire battle field.

Compared to other talents/spheres which state that you can create a burst "up to" however much based on your caster level.

I just wanted to ask if I was misreading the Light talent, and it can be shrunk down, or will each use fill the max area? Thanks!

A good point, but ironically enough, I'm looking for spell combat. I never used it the first time I played a magus (skirnir, which gave it up), but recently I dipped a couple levels into pure magus, and holy crap, I'm loving spell combat! While nova striking is fun, I'd much prefer being able to do something like: Full-Round, cast "Blind", then attack.

Thanks! Certainly something to look at, but I was hoping to keep the buff /skill monkey abilities of the bard. If there's nothing like that, hell, it's not like I can't roll a combat bard. :3

Hey, I was wondering if there was an archetype and/or build that would allow a bard to make use of the magus's spell combat ability. I know the magus had a lv 6 arcana, but I was hoping for something that would allow me to focus a little more on the bard class - I was thinking of a fast moving debuff striker, where the magus is more of a damager.

Thanks!

Hey, I was wondering if there was a build for a debilitating archer. Right now the ninja has the usual prequisite archery feats to not shoot their allies and all that, as well as a Rogue Trick that allows them to use Dirty Trick each time they score with a sneak attack.

I know there's a rogue talent for combat maneuvers in *melee*, and new feats from the Ranged Toolbox (ranged trip, ranged disarm), but I was curious if there were more options for trick arrows - flare, entangling, etc.

Not quite in the same vein, but are there any classes that can pull off archery like in Dragon Age? Splintering shot for AoE burst, stunning shot, that sort of thing?

True, though disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I *love* SoP (currently I'm playing an Incanter/Magus in an XCrawl game, for *tons* of teleporting/blasting fun), but I'd been toying around with the idea of an Investigator (or other, skill-monkey class) that, while unable to cast, could still use magic via wands. Sort of a wand for every occasion class, though given the rules, vancian wands are created at absolute minimum level, so the saves are atrociously low. I'd hoped that SoP would give it interesting tricks without having to settle for abysmal DCs, or missing 90% of the more interesting spells.

I apologize if this has been asked already, but I was looking at the craft wand section, and it seems like it would be prohibitively expensive.

It mentions that "The simplest wand a crafter may create contains a base sphere,
1 spell point, and a caster level of 2," but for base sphere effects (not to mention if you want something like a wand of fireball, which would be base sphere, plus a talent that costs a point/use) that require the expenditure of points, that pretty much guts it.

With the rules, even a Wand of Cure Light Wounds would be several thousand gold for a few uses a day, as the base sphere requires a spell point.

Am I misreading this? If not, it sorta seems like crafting wands is neigh-useless.

Excellent! Thank you all!

One last question, regarding DC. I know some high level archetypes (or a magus arcana) can let you use your own stats for the DC, rather than the casting minimum. Off hand, are there any traits /lower level class features that could boost the DC?

Hey, I was making a character (Grenadier alchemist 2/investigator 3), and I was hoping to have their build be around wands /alchemical weapons. I could've sworn I saw this - is there equipment that allows you to wear said items on a bandolier, or belt or something, so you can draw them quicker?

On that same line, are there any quick draw feats for wands /items? I know a lot of folk household "Quick Draw", but anything specific?

One last question, that's not related to the above - any way to get "scent" abilities as a human /half elf?

Thanks!