Float like a butterfly, sting like a freight train - Level 3 Telekinetic - PFS Hall of the Flesh Eaters

[zefig]

I played through Hall of the Flesh Eaters last weekend with my telekineticist. It was my first time playing him after sticking a few GM credits on to get him to level 3.

Zenon Morgannan lvl 3 Telekinetic
Str 10 Dex 18 Con 18 (16+2 belt) int 12 wks 12 cha 7
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Focused Study: Perception
Wild Talents: Light touch, telekinetic finesse
Traits: Criminal (disable device), reckless
Skills: Acrobatics +10, Disable Device +13, Perception +10, Sleight of Hand +10, Stealth +10

The party consisted of Zenon at level 3, a level 1 wild child bloodrager with claw/claw/bite, a lvl 1 magus, a lvl 1 fighter with a 2-handed weapon, a lvl 1 warpriest of Gorum with a 2-handed weapon, and a lvl 2 arcanist with a longbow.

Hall of the Flesh Eaters spoilers:

Our party had a somewhat difficult time with this adventure. There were quite a few combats with many hard-hitting, multiple-attack opponents. Despite having 4 front-liners with large weapons, my telekinetic was inflicting a large percentage of the damage, especially in the last two fights. In the second to last, we approached cautiously so as not to ruin a potentially diplomatic encounter, which squandered away the "advantage" given to mitigate the otherwise high CR of the encounter. Two PCs ended up dropping during this fight, but Zenon was easily able to tumble away from the ghouls and kite 2 of then along for a few rounds. Every time he attacked, he had a very high chance of dropping an enemy with his +8 to hit and 2d6+8 damage. He also took his only damage of the scenario in this encounter, taking 2 damage after being full-attacked by a ghoul. This was absorbed by his force-barrier, so did not expose him to paralysis or ghoul fever. The last fight saw our party cornered into the treasure room and struggling to get out, 2 more party members dropped, and Zenon tumbled around with impunity to get good angles on the enemies and blasted away until they stopped moving.

I tried to build him to manage traps to have something to do outside of combat but without trapfinding, he was largely useless against the hazards in this scenario.

I feel that my telekinetic carried the party in terms of damage dealt while suffering little risk to himself. This may have been an artifact of being level 3 in a tier 1-2. He was able to freely maneuver thanks to his high acrobatics skill in order to get good angles at the enemies to minimize the effects of allies and other cover. Doing so didn't hurt his damage at all because each attack was a standard action, and he doesn't have any infusions that would necessitate gathering force to burn. That said, outside of perception (which he had to spend a feat on to get very good at) he largely didn't contribute out of combat and was pretty one-note to play, even in combat. I still had a fun time playing, but that was a lot more due to roleplaying him as a drunk jadwiga hobo. I would have loved to have had a few more skill points to invest in knowledges and maybe a bit more in-combat utility, even at a slight expense to damage. I've read a lot about the need to increase the damage for kineticists, but at this level it actually felt like a bit too much, even if it ended up saving the party. The GM and I cracked a few jokes about the "OP new material" by the end of the scenario.

Looking forward to playing him again at a higher level.

[Sammy T]

2d6+8 is right in line with Power Attacking 2Hander, being a 3rd level level char in a sub-tier 1-2 is more likely the cause (as you noted).

[zefig]

I get that, but most 2-handed power attackers aren't doing it from the safety of 30 ft away with other meat shields blocking for them.

[Sammy T]

I suspect people will say "kineticist iz OP. plz nerf" until iteratives and Haste come online for melee at L6. Meanwhile, Kineticists will feel the action economy squeeze if they want to use Empower on a regular basis starting at L5 and need that move action not to reposition but to Gather to reduce Burn. I wish I could have squeezed in a playtest game or two at L6+ in PFS.

[zefig]

Yeah, I suspect that as well, especially since the static bonuses to damage will really start to drop off. I'm not sure what I think a good fix would be. I sort of like that they're a ranged class that, short of gathering elements, really allows for mobility by not relying on full attacks. It's different. But that obviates the obvious fix of iteratives.

As for being "OP," I wasn't really all that serious about it. He seemed pretty powerful, and generally took out the targets he hit, but I don't think he ruined the table for everyone else or anything along those lines. Obviously we still had some issues. I didn't really get much feedback from anyone else at the table either; I should see about getting some feedback from them.