So my group just finished book 5 of Legacy of Fire last night and our DM is allowing us to spend some time in the City of Brass in order to spend the gold that we've been amassing since module 4 (it's been two modules since we've had any opportunity to spend any money). While I know that Kineticists don't have many items that they really need, I'd hate to just let the money sit and do nothing.
Current gear:
- Headband of Mental Prowess +2
- Amulet of Elemental Strife
- Cloak of Resist +1
- Mithral Chain Shirt +2
- Healer's Gloves
- Ring of Protection +2
- Ring of Chameleon Power
- Belt of Mighty CON +2
- Handy Haversack with miscellaneous adventuring gear
Items I want to buy/craft:
- Boots of Speed (craft)
- Regular Kineticist's Diadem (craft)
- Upgrade belt to +4
- Upgrade cloak to +2
With a base gold total of 64,167 and after factoring in crafting the boots and diadem (the DM decided that's all I would have time to craft), purchasing the items listed just above would leave me with 13,167 gold. After then selling the items that get replaced, I would have 20,667, still a considerable amount. So are there any essential items I'm missing? The only other things I can think of are upgrading my chain shirt or going all out and getting a belt of CON +6 instead of +4.
The kineticist's diadem is awfully expensive (more than a +4/+4 CON/DEX belt) would be. Are you primarily using energy blasts so you don't really need the dex?
You're lucky you're playing a kineticist. I was playing a wizard and was stuck with just my leveling spells for two whole books <shakefist>.
What element(s) are you focused on? I'm guessing cold for now.
Get that cloak boosted ASAP. At least +3, and I'd go to +4 or 5 if you can afford it. If you are water/cold, your other defenses are probably pretty good already, plus Shimmering Mirage for concealment.
I would suggest taking the Con belt to +6, but it doesn't look like you'll have enough gold. Unless you're only using energy blasts, consider instead adding +2 DEX for 6k, or if your GM doesn't like that there's a deep red sphere ioun stone that can do it for 8k.
I'm of the opinion the diadem is overpriced and would prefer a WIS headband for the Will save boost, but that's my preference.
I recommend shoes of the firewalker, but only if you can find a way to afford them without sacrificing basic defenses.
The kineticist's diadem is awfully expensive (more than a +4/+4 CON/DEX belt) would be. Are you primarily using energy blasts so you don't really need the dex?
It's expensive, but an extra 2d6 on blasts (3d6 when empowered) and making my composite blast roll d8s instead are both pretty powerful effects, even if they don't work with Kinetic Blade/Whip. I tend to use energy blasts more often than physical, simply because I often need to move before blasting, making it quite the pain (literally) to accept composite blast burn too often (Charged Water in my case). I wouldn't be entirely opposed to getting a Belt of Physical Might +4 (CON/DEX) instead since the +2 to hit would be great, but it's a tough tossup between that and the sizable damage increase that would come from the Diadem.
You're lucky you're playing a kineticist. I was playing a wizard and was stuck with just my leveling spells for two whole books <shakefist>.
What element(s) are you focused on? I'm guessing cold for now.
Get that cloak boosted ASAP. At least +3, and I'd go to +4 or 5 if you can afford it. If you are water/cold, your other defenses are probably pretty good already, plus Shimmering Mirage for concealment.
I would suggest taking the Con belt to +6, but it doesn't look like you'll have enough gold. Unless you're only using energy blasts, consider instead adding +2 DEX for 6k, or if your GM doesn't like that there's a deep red sphere ioun stone that can do it for 8k.
I'm of the opinion the diadem is overpriced and would prefer a WIS headband for the Will save boost, but that's my preference.
I recommend shoes of the firewalker, but only if you can find a way to afford them without sacrificing basic defenses.
I'm an Aero/Hydrokineticist, with air being my primary element. My blasts are Electric, Water, and Charged Water. The cloak boost is a given, mostly because it's so cheap for what it gives me, and yeah, my defenses are at least decent for this level (shield bonus from water is VERY helpful). I agree that the diadem is overpriced, and that having the WIS bonus is good (my headband is INT/WIS), but the damage boost to my blasts (especially when further boosted with empower) and having an item that for once is built specifically for this class is tempting. For the boots, I'm not too worried about resists, as I'll be picking up Heat Adaptation as my next utility talent (I should have picked it up a while ago). The conflict I do see is that the Boots of Speed (getting that extra iterative at BAB is a VERY big deal when Kinetic Whipping) don't mesh with the Diadem, as the Diadem doesn't apply to Kinetic Blade/Whip.
I think the belt of physical might +4 dex/con is better than the diadem. You also gain AC and reflex save on top of the accuracy. Would you have enough money to get an Overflowing Rod? IMO Overflowing Rod > diadem. Slotless and a boost to accuracy and damage, with a possible ability score boost depending on what your current level is.
I know very little about this AP, but the primary thing I worry about as a kineticist getting up there in levels is "am I going to hit" because you (barring melee builds) only get one big hit every round and so accuracy and/or "something to deal with SR" is more of a priority than "raw damage" IMO.
With composites and/or empowering, you're going to do a lot of damage to anything you hit, so make sure you hit something.
I'd go the 4/4 personally. Cheaper, more accurate, AC bonus, reflex and fort save boost. All good stuff. Water Kinets can have pretty decent AC if they can be bothered. I think I worked out mine would end up with like 50. Which is overkill really.
I think the belt of physical might +4 dex/con is better than the diadem. You also gain AC and reflex save on top of the accuracy. Would you have enough money to get an Overflowing Rod? IMO Overflowing Rod > diadem. Slotless and a boost to accuracy and damage, with a possible ability score boost depending on what your current level is.
The rod is interesting. The only things that worry me are that it would only actually do anything once I have ([my level]/3)+1 burn, so currently 5 (we're level 12), with another temporary bonus once we hit level 13 (temporary in that once we hit level 16, that part stops being a bonus and just becomes a normal part of the class). So if I end up crafting the Belt of Physical Might +4 (CON/DEX) instead of the Diadem, that would free up 5,000 gold. What would you suggest that I spend the remainder on (assuming I'm not that keen on the rod given its price)?
I'd go the 4/4 personally. Cheaper, more accurate, AC bonus, reflex and fort save boost. All good stuff. Water Kinets can have pretty decent AC if they can be bothered. I think I worked out mine would end up with like 50. Which is overkill really.
By what level did you have that AC? Mine is a 27 currently, with my Ring of Prot +2, Mithral Chain Shirt +2, and the water defensive talent at level 12 in addition to my DEX.
The Rod is a problem. You can't gather power when using it.
RAI is you just need it on your person. Mark Seifter's position on the rod. Word counts can be a real pain.
I'd go the 4/4 personally. Cheaper, more accurate, AC bonus, reflex and fort save boost. All good stuff. Water Kinets can have pretty decent AC if they can be bothered. I think I worked out mine would end up with like 50. Which is overkill really.By what level did you have that AC? Mine is a 27 currently, with my Ring of Prot +2, Mithral Chain Shirt +2, and the water defensive talent at level 12 in addition to my DEX.
Oh that was a projection of what it would be, I have like a 70 page portfolio of characters statted out that I never get to play. He was a grippli.
10 + 11 (Dex, 6 from belt, 6 from overflow, starting 18, 2 from level) + 8(Bracers of Armour) + 5 (Ring) + 5 (Amulet) + 1 (size) + 1 (Dusty Rose) + 9 (Shield, Shroud at this level gives 6, 9 with burn which I charge at the start of the day because I need 7 for elemental overflow anyway). I didn't actually intend for him to have sky high AC its just not that hard to achieve if you have the shroud and go dex.
as a general idea taking your level and adding 15 is decent AC, taking and adding 20 is good. But that is a bit wonky, because at level 1 21 AC is pretty wack, but at level 20, 40 AC means most things hit on a 10 or lower with their primary attack.
Amulet of natural armor and dusty rose prism are both cheap AC boosters you don't have. Are you charging your shroud? You'd loose the elemental strife thingy though so... yeah. choices choices.
A +1 Conductive Sling lets you add 1d3+1+STR to your Kinetic Blast Damage, and +1 to the Attack Rolls as a Move Action for ~4300gp and ~0lbs. Tie it to a Weapon Cord so you can drop it to Gather Power for a Composite Blast instead.
In one Campaign I got my GM's permission to buy a set of Bracers that added an Enhancement Bonus to my Shroud of Water when I used it to create a Shield. It cost 1725gp and weighed 2.5lbs. I think it also produced Light as per Continual Flame while worn by a Kineticist...
I'd go the 4/4 personally. Cheaper, more accurate, AC bonus, reflex and fort save boost. All good stuff. Water Kinets can have pretty decent AC if they can be bothered. I think I worked out mine would end up with like 50. Which is overkill really.By what level did you have that AC? Mine is a 27 currently, with my Ring of Prot +2, Mithral Chain Shirt +2, and the water defensive talent at level 12 in addition to my DEX.Oh that was a projection of what it would be, I have like a 70 page portfolio of characters statted out that I never get to play. He was a grippli.
10 + 11 (Dex, 6 from belt, 6 from overflow, starting 18, 2 from level) + 8(Bracers of Armour) + 5 (Ring) + 5 (Amulet) + 1 (size) + 1 (Dusty Rose) + 9 (Shield, Shroud at this level gives 6, 9 with burn which I charge at the start of the day because I need 7 for elemental overflow anyway). I didn't actually intend for him to have sky high AC its just not that hard to achieve if you have the shroud and go dex.
as a general idea taking your level and adding 15 is decent AC, taking and adding 20 is good. But that is a bit wonky, because at level 1 21 AC is pretty wack, but at level 20, 40 AC means most things hit on a 10 or lower with their primary attack.
Amulet of natural armor and dusty rose prism are both cheap AC boosters you don't have. Are you charging your shroud? You'd loose the elemental strife thingy though so... yeah. choices choices.
Ah ok, so that's for level 20 which explains a fair amount. I'm considering going with the Amulet to replace mine, since we don't seem to be fighting very many elementals, so that would be a nice little boost. I haven't been charging my shroud for the last book, mostly because it was such a nightmare that we needed every last point of burn at the end of each day for Kinetic Healer (usually me healing party members), though I suspect I'll be much more free to do so from here moving forward. I'm also hurt a bit by my lower DEX (we did a 15-point buy so I started with a 7/15/17/13/10/7 allocation), which is an argument in favor of going for the Belt instead of the Diadem.
I'd seriously consider investing some burn into elemental overflow the boost to accuracy and damage is really the only built in passive hit/damage bonus that class has. Until you get like metamaster or whatever its called at like 19? At which point if you pick empower then that becomes free and you can just assume every blast you ever use is empowered.
I'd seriously consider investing some burn into elemental overflow the boost to accuracy and damage is really the only built in passive hit/damage bonus that class has. Until you get like metamaster or whatever its called at like 19? At which point if you pick empower then that becomes free and you can just assume every blast you ever use is empowered.
Well the Elemental Overflow bonus just happens naturally over the course of the day, from using a metakinesis here, or an on-the-run composite blast there, so I'm not too worried about front-loading burn to get it right at the beginning of the day or anything. The only thing that would really make sense to invest in at the start of the day (for the build that I have anyway, which can be found here) is Shroud.
I found it was good for being lazy also with infusion specialization and super charge you can be doing up 5 burn for free on infusions so how often does one really need to take burn?
Also you may as well fill up your buffer each day. Charging that and your shroud is 4 burn, thats one below the cap for overflow bonuses at your level from the start of the day and you've got two floating burn for when you don't have time to gather power. Actually at 4 it would actually be more beneficial to take 5 xD because you can get the +4 to con, which is like having 3 burn anyway. So yeah if you're taking 4 you may as well take 5 and there isn't really any reason not to charge your buffer and hit 4.
in my opinion anyway. xD feel free to ignore me xD
I found it was good for being lazy also with infusion specialization and super charge you can be doing up 5 burn for free on infusions so how often does one really need to take burn?
Also you may as well fill up your buffer each day. Charging that and your shroud is 4 burn, thats one below the cap for overflow bonuses at your level from the start of the day and you've got two floating burn for when you don't have time to gather power. Actually at 4 it would actually be more beneficial to take 5 xD because you can get the +4 to con, which is like having 3 burn anyway. So yeah if you're taking 4 you may as well take 5 and there isn't really any reason not to charge your buffer and hit 4.
in my opinion anyway. xD feel free to ignore me xD
I may be misreading the rules, but I'm not sure you count the burn that's in your buffer for Overflow and similar effects. And usually I take burn when applying metakinesis to my composite blast, since supercharge will only cover the blast itself unless I spend an entire round charging power, at which point it would've been better to just attack without metakinesis two turns in a row.
Burn spent from the buffer doesn't trigger overflow but I can't see anything saying taking the burn to fill the buffer. The language used is that you accept burn to fill the buffer and overflow happens when you accept burn.
If you did that (taking the 5 burn at the start of the day) you could gather power for composite and empower with your pool twice a day without taking any more burn you'd have to +4/+8 and you'd have a +1 to hit from dex, +2 Damage from con. Plus your hit points would present as only being down 3 burn instead of 5.
Seems like a good deal with to me. 18D6+42 (105) a couple times a day before there is consequences :P
Burn spent from the buffer doesn't trigger overflow but I can't see anything saying taking the burn to fill the buffer. The language used is that you accept burn to fill the buffer and overflow happens when you accept burn.
If you did that (taking the 5 burn at the start of the day) you could gather power for composite and empower with your pool twice a day without taking any more burn you'd have to +4/+8 and you'd have a +1 to hit from dex, +2 Damage from con. Plus your hit points would present as only being down 3 burn instead of 5.
Seems like a good deal with to me. 18D6+42 (105) a couple times a day before there is consequences :P
So I just went back and re-read the rules for Internal Buffer and I was right... I HAVE been misreading them this whole time. Previously, my interpretation was that you accept burn, but that burn goes into the buffer instead of your total burn pool, rather than the correct interpretation of "you accept burn, and for each burn you accept up to X maximum amount, your buffer gets 1 point". All-in-all this isn't a huge change since it's only a 2-burn difference in how I've been playing (which would've been inconsequential 99% of the time), but it'll be interesting to see if I notice a difference moving forward.
Yeah, Earth and Aether have the easiest time maxing out their overflow since Earth can invest up to their level in their defense and Aether can invest as much as they want. For those elements, they may well end the day with extra burn and will top off their internal buffer before they go to sleep, essentially rolling over that burn to the next day.
Water still has a good defense, but your burn investment in it is limited to half the bonus (and most people use it for a shield bonus since, well, you can wear armor). So that's like 2 points at level 10, 3 at 14.
There are wild talents you can sink one burn into as water/air and have them last all day too: Kinetic Form (for Kinetic Whip builds only, really), aerial evasion, Shimmering Mirage, Veil of Mists, maybe Cold Snap (not sure how useful this is.)
A question about Ioun stones, since I've never had a reason to use one before. What does it take to use two at the same time (preferably both within a wayfinder for safety purposes)? Would I just have to buy two wayfinders and then *boom* they both work ambiently? I'm thinking about getting a cracked pale green stone and a dusty rose prism for the combined +1 to attack and AC.
there are some upgrades to the standard wayfinder that allow more than 1 I think - when not in a wayfinder there doesn't appear to be any limit to the amount you can have flying around you
You can have any number of Orbiting Ioun Stones, but most Wayfinders only hold 1 (there are indeed a few specialty wayfinders that hold more and have other niche abilities too). I think there was some BSish rules somewhere about multiple wayfinders in your possession canceling each others socketed ioun stones out. There are also rules somewhere for having Ioun Stones implanted into your body... but besides being gross I don't recall what the restrictions were (if any).