plant-based kineticist

[Critical Fumble]

I want to create a plant-based kineticist, but I'm having a difficult time with it. My concept is something akin to Groot, but it doesn't have to be completely true to that character.

I'm considering either a ghoran or a leshy, using the wood element. However, wood is just so bad that I can't create a viable build. I also considered doing earth and re-skinning some of the abilities (tough bark rather than flesh of stone; vine-based entangle rather than rocky, etc).

Has anyone had any success with a phytokin kin build? Are there 3PP fixes/improvements to wood out there? Should I try a totally different path to this concept?

Thanks!

[Ventnor]

I’d recommend looking at the leshykineticist archetype from Ultimate Wilderness. It sounds very much like it would support the character concept you’re going for.

[PossibleCabbage]

I'm also looking to play a Leshykineticist at some point, and am struggling with making wood good.

Your defense is all right, you save on an amulet of natural armor and you can do something else with your amulet slot. For low level infusions you get entangle- which is nice and spammable once you get infusion specialization, and impale- which is one of the best "kill a lot of people" infusions. You get all the healer talents too, so you can be a pseudo-paladin if you want. What I'm not sure about is the value of the toxic/spore infusions in terms of being useful debuffs (they cost a lot of burn). Of course you get all the "good in the forest" wild talents (woodland step, speak with plants, commune with nature, tree step, etc.) which is generally quite useful if you're going to spend a lot of time in the woods.

[Dragonborn3]

Wood's Defense is not good. It doesn't scale on its own at all, just like Void's defense(though Void is still okay because it can just negate crits). I'd second taking earth first and reflavoring it, then getting Wood later.

[PossibleCabbage]

That your defense does *anything* worth sinking burn into is useful, since you want to wake up and hit your elemental overflow threshold by the end of breakfast.

[Dragonborn3]

Agreed. However, other elements have better defenses that do scale on their own without burn(Water, Aether, and Earth being the best). Wood and Void should have been the same way.

[Critical Fumble]

I considered leshykineticist, but the wood powers are just so bad that I didn't think the benefits outweighed the cost of only using the wood element.

I'm thinking start with earth, then at 7 do wood for flavor reasons (get woodland stride, etc), and then maybe water after that. Would I be gimping myself? I've never made a kineticist before, and the learning curve is steep.

Thanks for the advice!

[PossibleCabbage]

I could see making a Leshy Kineticist that focuses not on plants, but on the things that plants care about (earth, water, there's not really an element for "sun") as being a thing that makes thematic sense and also fairly powerful.

[The Sideromancer]

PossibleCabbage wrote:

there's not really an element for "sun"

"When the second sun first rose, many beings scattered in fear and confusion. The simple greenery were the exception. They rejoiced in the newfound energy, for they could do little in the night. Unlike the first, this was power close by, from the earth itself. But the god who made this cared only for battle with his rival in the ocean. He was a creature of earth and flame above all, and so was his creation. The plants realized the error of blindly following the light when the seas began to boil, but their roots could not drag them to shelter."-myths of some video game

Isn't the sun in PF a positive energy (wood) and fire-infused region?

[DeathlessOne]

The Sideromancer wrote:

Isn't the sun in PF a positive energy (wood) and fire-infused region?

At the heart of every star in the Pathfinder universe exists a portal leading from the positive energy plane. So, yes, that is correct, in essence.