Has anyone played a Psammokinetic?

[Wolfism]

I'm looking at playing a Psammokinetic Knight, jumping into a game around 6th level and I'm trying to figure out a few things about the class.

The main thing I'm worried about is that the ki pool that replaces elemental overflow doesn't include anything to make up for the size bonuses you're losing, which are there, I understand to help with the kineticist being able to hit properly. Has anyone tried playing one at mid to high levels who would know if this is actually a problem or not a big deal.

Also it's kind of weird if I start with sirocco blast then when I get my expanded element there is no composite blast for that and no real way to get one. It seems like it wants to force you into the sand blast first.

[Wolfism]

Also are there any good feats that expand the options for ki that would be useful to a non monk?

I count as having combat expertise for free does that open up any particularly good options?

[Doompatrol]

Seems like you just lose that ability and whoever made it thought that the ki feature compensated but honestly it seems awful, you will be spending that ki and your swift actions to mimic what a normal kineticist does for free.

Kinetic knight is also a bad choice. It can be good for low level games but it's really loses out later. You lose range which can be a huge blow to your versatility but later on you end up being worse at melee than a normal kineticist by a large margin because you lose metakinesis when you can't use internal buffer or burn to increase the kinetic blade by 50%.

Just play a normal kineticist with a masterwork/mithral buckler, high dexterity, weapon finesse and acquire the melee talents as you want and you will be much better off.

[Wolfism]

I was excited for the idea of the kinetic knight because of this feat:
Unconquerable Resolve

My DM was going to let it fly without a level of samurai and it would make him a pretty impressive tank I'm hoping. I'm thinking the archon style feat line would work well for this.

Range seams less important as you get impressive flight capabilities counting as an aerokineticist to start with.

[Egil Firehair]

The range you are giving up starts with Extended Range - 120', then goes on to deny you any infusion requiring Extended range as a pre-req, such as:
Cloud
Deadly Earth
Extreme Range - 480'
Erruption
Explosion
Snake

As typical movement is only 60', this does not seem worthwhile.

[PossibleCabbage]

Well, for the size bonus issue for a normal kineticist the biggest deal I have found is that you put the biggest number in Con, as Elemental Overflow starts getting thirsty if you want to cap it out. So the Psammokineticist seems ideal for someone who doesn't want to start the day with burn... which is not a kinetic knight (you need to invest in your shield).

It's only one burn, but you are working at cross purposes.

As for hitting, you do have access to a touch attack in Sirocco blast, but fire immunes are the most common. I wouldn't worry about composite blasts, particularly with a kinetic knight (who rarely has the opportunity to gather power, and can't fund burn-free composites until 16th level).

[Temperans]

The trade off with ki pool vs overflow seems to be the greater versatility. Higher accuracy/damage for free and anti crit, vs bypassing hardness at no extra cost and monk abilities.

With the Kinetic Knight/Kinetic Blade in general. The ki pool has better damage options at the cost of less accuracy and usage. This because kinetic blade does benefit from ki pool damage boost.

**********
To truly make use of the Psammokineticist ki pool, I would say to multiclass with a class that gets ki pool abilities. Probably Student of Perfection, Teisatsu, Ninja, or Unchained Monk. Normal monk works but its more useful for any archetype that unchained version lacks.