Kineticist rules question - gather power interrupted ...

[Lanathar]

So a rules question came up in a recent game when Gather Power was interrupted.
In this instance it was a moot point as the forced extra burn dropped the kineticist unconscious

Idea:

Declare Empowered Blood Blase for a total of 4 Burn

- Use Internal Buffer : 1
- Take 2 normally : 2
- Gather Power : 1

The Kineticist takes damage during the Gather Power attempt and fails the concentration check

Therefore takes the point of burn.

But at 8th Level you can't take more than 2 (I assume this is cannot "voluntarily" take more than 2)

So what happens? Can this backlash burn be used to reduce the cost of the Empowered Blood Blast?

Or are you stuck on -3 with no ability to take the 4th point of burn required and therefore the blast fizzles and fails?

If it were to "fizzle" are you allowed to change what type of blast / remove the metakinesis part way through?

It makes my head hurt a little bit!

[PossibleCabbage]

So the key is the fact that the Kineticist is limited in how much burn they can voluntarily accept, but not in terms of burn that can be forced upon them by outside forces. Getting hit while gathering power is one of those "outside forces."

So if you are hit while gathering power (this really shouldn't happen much if you're being careful FWIW) and you fail the concentration check, the blast goes off as originally intended but you are stuck with the burn that gathering power would have mitigated even if it puts you over your limit.

[ErichAD]

Gather power is a separate action from the blast itself. You take the gather power action and are interrupted, failing to gather power and taking the backlash burn. Then you use your standard action and don't have any power stored up to reduce the cost. You've also been forced to accept 2 burn, which counts toward your limit of what you can accept per round and means you can't accept any more at 8th level. However, since the two actions are seperate, you are under no obligation to declare how you intend to modify your blast before the blast action starts.

[Mark Seifter]

ErichAD is right, they are separate.