Played Jamil - Level 1 Human Telekineticist
Went with a jackpot build for the hell of it.
Stat Array - 7 18 19 7 12 7
Feats - Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Wild Talents - Extra Range
Skills - Perception, Sleight of Hands
Master of the Fallen Fortress was probably the best suited scenario/module for Jamil due to heavy focus on combat. Had there been any non-combat things to bother with, he'd most likely been left out pretty bad.
Overall, Jamil performed relatively well in combat. His blast damage was on the high end of single attack damage for the group. Precise shot makes a big difference in such a crowded space, evidenced big time by the Sylph Aerokineticist who did not have the feat and maybe got 1 hit on an enemy the entire module.
Extra Range was entirely useless in this module but I suspect it will be a most handy addition in most scenarios. I would have liked to have Light Touch to at least show off a little more flavor with the character and I will be picking that up at level 2.
I think the class suffers from too heavy a focus on combat and not being exceptionally good at it compared to others with similar focus on combat - fighters, barbarians, archers, etc..
Based on discussions I've had I think the following changes could shore up this class quite well:
Let Amulet of Mighty Fists apply to blast, remove SR from elemental blasts (they're essentially conjuring after all), separate combat and utility talents and give more specifically for utility, maybe bump to 4+int skills, give a "combat style" where they can gain precise shot, weapon finesse or improved unarmed strike at level 1
With those changes, they could overcome some of the glaring problems like SR and special material DR as well as have a more significant role outside of combat.
Right now the class feels like I do literally 1 thing only (though this will change at higher levels it seems.)
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Hey, I played in this same scenario as a Medium, so I thought I'd share my experience as well!
We had 2 Kineticists (Air and Tele), a Bloodrager/Barbarian, Seelah the iconic Paladin, an Occultist and my Medium, Mordecai. Mordecai used the Rabbit Prince spirit, with a sickle and a crossbow as his main weapons. His one other spirit was the Bear, the theory being I could trance before one of the dangerous fights to be able to get a second attack.
We skipped the first major encounter of the session (3 dogs) with a well-thought out plan of "Hey, you have some sausages in your bag, right? Let's throw them!" Our GM was amused enough to have that work just fine and we climbed up a pile of rubble to enter the fortress. Next event, a spider attacked us from the darkness, and we all swarmed around a doorway trying to hit it (I was not the lucky one to splat it with my natural 3, unfortunately.) Many perception checks were rolled, making me glad Mediums have it as a class skill and we eventually progressed to the next floor.
We were ambushed by a group of troglodytes on the other side of a door, forcing us into another jam there. Luckily, I had insisted on being first and was able to attack and tank (with my very respectable 19 AC thanks to 18 Dex and the Rabbit Prince.) My damage was perhaps more consistent than the other party members here, thanks to Rabbit Prince acting as a Str spirit, giving me pseudo-full BAB along with my heavy Dex investment.
The same ambush scenario with the same results happened on the next floor up, followed by an assault on a poor, adorable Shocker Lizard (in the name of loot!) that never stood a chance of doing damage thanks to my AC and elec resistance (this was a level 1 Aasimar I had played 1 session with prior to the cutoff date.)
The next floor was a little tricky, involving us fighting a pair of burning skeletons. I hadn't thought to bring a bludgeoning weapon, so I used my trance to forge some claws... Only to have my allies defeat them before that came necessary. I don't regret using my one use of trance here, as it could have been messy if my 2 kineticist allies hadn't been able to hit, but I still felt like I lost a large part of my class from that point on (at least I had a SLA from my race...) After that, we faced the leader of the troglodytes who missed me with his one action before Seelah cleaved him in two. Rescuing our objective there, we continued to the final floor
At the top, we fought the Troglodyte chief and his pet crocodile. We charged at him, only to discover the top of the fortress was collapsing, sending the enemies, Seelah and myself all several stories down (after 6 failed Reflex saves). The bad guys died, while Seelah and myself made our checks to stabilize. And with that, the scenario was completed.
First things first, this character was a blast to RP. It was so fun having him struggle between his demure self and the Don Quixote-like spirit he contacts. When he tranced the bear (for the minute it mattered he had a third influence to contend with, shifting between animalistic rage, an adventurous fool and a poor average joe trying not to make a scene.
Unfortunately, while he was unique to play in an RP-way, he was anything but mechanically. At no point during the scenario did I feel like I was playing anything more than what really amounted to any given full BAB class with a Dex focus. Most of my success was from good die rolls in my favor and bad ones for the enemies. The exception to rolls being Fortitude saves due to the Troglodytes' stench. We had to roll a lot of those, and I failed about 50%. When I had to make several Reflex saves near the end (2 natural 2's, and 2 natural 7's, followed by a 15) it really made me wish I had a second good save. On a positive note, I got to use all the skills I invested in at level 1 and I feel the class skill list is really solid for many skill paths.
As I said before, I felt like I was making a mistake when I used Trance before the skeleton fight ended, but that's really something that comes with only having one use of an ability a day and remains my major complaint about Medium. I felt like a pretty boring combatant after that and while I wouldn't say I didn't have fun playing my character (it most certainly was) I will say the combats were the least interesting part.
Thanks for the kineticist and the medium feedback you guys!
