Mastering the Elements: N. Jolly's guide to the Pathfinder Kineticist

[N. Jolly]

Eh, not very. I stopped updating it a while back, and while the information's still relevant on what it discusses, I'd say it's been about a year or two since I've actually updated anything. Life's been hectic, I've become a 3p writer, and I haven't had time to update my guides at all. Shame, but I can't really dedicate to this the way I wish I could.

[Trast-9000]

If it helps anyone I'm going to try and give a rundown of how good (or bad is often the cast) some of the new material is.

A few missed archetypes for now

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Aquakineticist: Blue/Yellow

Basic Aquakinesis- It's altered so that instead of being able to create water you are able to alter your characters bouyancy while retaining the ability to make mild currents, a minor situational upgrade but I would advise that you make sure another player takes create water, this is the sort of thing some DM's may take note of to later bite you in the ass with and as this archetype is best for aquatic campaigns fresh water could be an issue.

Call of the deep- An excellent ability, it gives you the 3rd level waterdancer utility in place of your first level utility and the 4th level watersense in place of your 3rd which frees up those higher level slots for other options.

Oceans caress - In place of the standard water defence ability from second level onwards you are given the permanent ability to breathe underwater (something that normally requires a 5th level utility) as well as a much improved version of the cold adaption utility, although the standard water bonus is very nice (a kineticist is still capable of wearing armor and a masterwork buckler without issue to compensate) this ability is invaluable in underwater campaigns, I've often found that the ability to breath underwater was heavily delayed only gaining it at 10th level, this gives it to you from the 2nd level and frees up a 5th level utility slot.

Ice Propagation - a straight bonus, when underwater you have the choice of treating your cold simple blast as if it is physical with the added bonus of being allowed to apply to an ice blast.

Overview - for someone playing a pure water kineticist in an aquatic campaign it's an exceptional choice with the only competition being the Terrakineticist. It frees up a lot of mid level utility slots for abilities you would normally be obligated to take to survive underwater, it's major downside or course being that it locks you into being pure water limiting your options for games that go far into the teens but as most games don't go on that long it's fantastic. Just to point out that the 2nd level slot is open for the invaluable silent image kinetic invocation option.

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Arakineticist: Red

Accursed shadow - Replaces the 4th level utility for a scaling save bonus against necromancy and death effects. Although the overall bonus becomes hefty it is still situational and a bit redundant for a class that will already have incredibly high fort saves.

Curse spinner - Tthe 6th and 8th utilities are removed, one for the extremely situational ability to remove curses and the other to use bestow curse as spell like abilities, what makes it particularly bad is that both require burn.

Accursed infusion - At 13th level you gain this infusion that can apply a large penalty to opponents for one round on a failed will save, not bad, the penalties are substantial and as it's part of a blast the DC scales well. The burn cost is hefty so unless you want to take burn you won't be applying it to anything but basic blasts until level 14.

This archetype is weak but worst of all it's boring, locking you out of all but your first utility until level 10 and replacing them with abilities you will rarely get any use out of, void is one of the less interesting elements but you will still look on in envy of the other void kineticist flying around with gravity control. The 13th level ability is decent but it's too little too late.

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Blightburner: ?

This archetype is based around a campaign specific mechanic radiation that I know little about.

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Blighted defiler: yellow to red.

Steal Power - The main ability of the archetype can at times be a nice power boost. The ability requires that you drain life from the surrounding area, this has no real positive or negative mechanical effects in combat (a generous GM may grant it the ability to instantly kill swarms) but it can have potentially harsh roleplaying consequences (dependent on GM and the story, you will not be partnering with any Druids or Paladins). This can allow you to heal but more importantly you can use it to further increase the cost of blasts or even utility talents. The strength of this ability is heavily dependent on how much you travel as it requires a months before you can use it again in the same area, if you often fight in the same areas or barren landscapes it's close to worthless.

Elemental might - class abilities that are keyed off constitution are now keyed off of strength. This is a downgrade, although you aren't as dependent on constitution to fuel burn costs you gain very little from having a high strength score although certain builds could make this work, a kineticist the wields 2 handed weapons and uses the infusion that channels elemental damage for instance.

Life buffer - a downgrade from internal. Internal buffer let the player refill it simply by paying into it the day before. This requires the player seek out healthy terrain to refill the buffer.

Stolen strength - this archetype does not give the player the size bonuses a player would normally acquire by using burn, instead the player must use steal life a number of times before they receive them meaning unlike a normal kineticist they will almost never start the days combat with them without a lot of effort. Finally, this archetype loses can never gain the 2nd level defensive utilities.

Overview- overall a weak and awkward archetype that has some potential but it requires work and one that you should take up with your GM if you ever consider trying it.

[Lorqinor Brightcoral]

This is great new information.I like the aquatkinestiecist.

[Grrrrrognar]

So I'm planning on running a viscera kineticist for a skulls & shackles campaign, but i'm not planning on going the natural attack route, most likely will end up the kinetic whip route.

Am I making a bad choice going viscera if i'm not going the natural attack route?
Am I better off sticking with viscera or expanding into a different element at 7th? If the latter, what would you suggest?
I'm looking at the brutal mutation, but not sure if that downside is worth it, alternatively I'll take the intelligence mutation.
I'm going to be a gathlain with the alternate racial trait that removes the con penalty.

[deuxhero]

(Greater) Spell Penetration doesn't appear to be in the feat section. Yoon has both of them, so it definitely works on energy blasts.

[deuxhero]

Checked again. It IS listed, but has the wrong name (Penetrate Spell Resistance), which is still an error.

Chronicle of Legends has a prestige class Kineticist qualifies for. I'd say it's still not great and at best it's good for a two level dip (with Prestigeous Spellcaster) for Step through Reality, which is effectively at will Dimension Door that takes two rounds. Also adds a new capstone, which isn't great but it's unclear what capstone it replaces and is likely better than each.

[Catharsis]

I like the idea of a Gathlain phyto/pyro (sans FCB cheese), but found phyto extremely underwhelming. What good stuff does Ultimate Wilderness add?

[avr]

The prestige class deuxhero is talking about is the esoteric knight.

@Catharsis: The wood element/phytokineticist's definitely weak unless most of your enemies are undead. Nothing by Paizo changes that.

[Catharsis]

Aw, pity. :\

[chadius]

Wood is just a bad Earth. The powers are too similar but Wood has more restrictions.
Just choose Earth instead and flavor it it as vines/brambles/thorns.

[deuxhero]

Sorry for forgetting to mention the name of Esoteric Knight.

Wood is probably the worst element for Kineticist that Paizo published. Positive Blast is bad enough to take it down to tier 5. This is pretty much the opposite of its elemental school counterpart, where Wood is probably one of the best schools for wizards, getting a bunch of nice new spells, one really good spell two levels early, and having a bunch of good options for spell picks while most of its opposition spells are replaceable (or only come online after opposition research does).

[Slyme]

Void is right there with it...not necessarily bad, but has almost no options...you basically have 1, or sometimes 2 choices available any time you get to add a new infusion/talent. Both get dramatically better if you allow 3pp content.

[deuxhero]

Some magic item suggestion (know these likely won't be added, but for anyone reading thread)

Mundane:
Spiked Gauntlet (5 gp): Allows you to threaten an area while keeping your hand free. Making an AoO is likely not going to happen a lot for you, but at just 5GP and a pound of carry weight the cost is so minimal.

Magic:
Apron of the Careful Chemist (5200 GP): The "Dex belt or Con Belt?" question just got easier, at least for a while. Gives a +2 bonus to dexterity in a rarely used body slot.

For Aether:
Burglar's Buckler (4655 GP): Gives a +2 bonus on two skills you're likely using regularlly.
Gauntlets of Twisting Vines (5000): For TK Manuver users, this adds +2 to some manuvers and adds a very nasty rider to one other. On the other hand, how (ranged) grappling works is kind of a secret to everyone.
Gauntlets of the Skilled Maneuver (4000): Like the above, but only applies to one type of manuver. On the other hand it's slightly cheaper and, more importantly, can apply to ones not covered by them.

[Mellow]

Hallo,
ich muss gestehen das ich nicht den ganzen Verlauf durchgelesen habe, weswegen ich die Frage so stelle.

Wie verhält es sich bei Kinetischen Geschossen bezüglich einem Rettungswurf? Hat man einen dagegen (egal ob das Geschoss stoffliche ist oder Energie basiert)? Und wenn ja, wird der Schaden komplett negiert oder nur halbiert?

Hatte diesbezüglich eine Diskussion mit unserem GM und wir kamen zu keiner Einigung.

Thx schonmal im voraus:)

[kadance]

The kinetic blast offers no save normally. An energy blast is subject to Spell Resistance and targets touch Armor Class. A physical blast targets normal Armor Class, but it is not subject to spell resistance.

If an infusion (form or substance) allows a saving throw, it says so in the description of that infusion.

[Mellow]

Danke, die Klasse ist doch etwas schwammig in ihrer Regel Beschreibung geschrieben XXD

[kadance]

Yeah, my wife refuses to give it a chance, but I love the class.

[anmeij]

Thanks for the awesome guide! I always play spellcasters but love the idea of the Kineticist as an alternate. Im Thinking of going Svirfneblin starting with Aether and then adding Air and Earth. Any thoughts on that combination? The people i play with are all pretty great at making effective high damage characters so i tend to lean to utility/rp based characters.

[Secret Wizard]

Slyme wrote:

Void is right there with it...not necessarily bad, but has almost no options...you basically have 1, or sometimes 2 choices available any time you get to add a new infusion/talent. Both get dramatically better if you allow 3pp content.

The Elemental Purist archetype is good for that.

[Dragon78]

I do wish Void and Wood got more love but still a great class. Fun as both a ranged and melee attacker.

Anmeij, your DM lets you play as a Svirfneblin?

[anmeij]

Dragon78 wrote:

I do wish Void and Wood got more love but still a great class. Fun as both a ranged and melee attacker.

Anmeij, your DM lets you play as a Svirfneblin?

We actually switch DMs every campaign between three guys. Im not sure who is next, the one would the other wouldn't so my back up is just a regular gnome

[deuxhero]

Want some stinky cheese for your Kineticist? Grab a Shifting Jerkin and swap out wild talents. Can let you turn low level talents into higher level ones.

Quote:

This +1 lamellar cuirass grants its wearer shapeshifting. On command, the wearer of a shifting jerkin can change her appearance at will as per disguise self. If the wearer has a talents class feature (investigator talents, ninja tricks, rogue talents, or slayer talents), once per day she can spend 1 hour to swap out one talent for another for which she qualifies. She can’t swap a talent that is a prerequisites for other talents or feats she has.

Wild Talent is still a talents class feature. The parentheses are just reminder text (ninja tricks are a modified rogue talent class feature since alternate classes are just big archetypes).

[kadance]

Hmmm... doesn't say when the swap ends or that you can't have more than 1 talent swapped.

[deuxhero]

Yeah, implication is it's supposed to be instant retraining.

[Baboo85]

N. Jolly wrote:

Oh man, it's been a long wait, but I've finally broken ground on this class. Unlike my last guide, I want the community to be a bigger part of the creation of this guide, so I'm opening up discussion as early as the first words are written.

Hi N. Jolly, your guide is not available.

Could you share the previous full version even if not completed?

Thank you.

[Leo Fire-Mane]

Hello I can't seem to find it but i need to know does gravity blast push water allowing it to work like water blast does underwater? I've been digging through mark seifters posts trying to find out but have had zero luck.

[Temperans]

Why wouldn't gravity blast just work underwater? You are manipulating gravity which is pushing/pulling material.

Also, are you thinking of this thread: Kinetic blasts underwater?

[Melkiador]

I assume the rule posted in that thread from underwater adventures.

Quote:

Attacks that deal bludgeoning damage by pushing water, such as a kineticist’s water blast, also take no penalty and deal full damage underwater.

It might technically work for a bludgeoning telekinetic blast that grabs water. But I expect the intention was just for water-type blasts. The gravity blast doesn’t seem to require or account for an object, such as water, so that’s even more unlikely than TK blast.