After re-reading the Kinetic Invocation feat, and realising that Expeditious Excavation is one of the no-burn options on the list, it has kind of stuck in my head that it would be pretty cool to make a Kineticist that could essentially build a town by himself if he wanted to, at as low of a level as possible.
I'm mostly wondering what can be done without magic items, so I'm ignoring things like a Lyre of Building - got any suggestions?
Random questions about wild talents:
> Kinetic Cover - is there any way to make it more, well... more? It seems incredibly fragile, and not like it would be of any use when constructing a building.
> Shift Earth or Stone Sculptor? Shift Earth seems like it covers a lot more ground per casting, but Stone Sculptor allows for more fine control, it seems, plus it doesn't have a really annoying prerequisite.
> Water secondary or Aether secondary? Water seems like it could be fun with Kinetic Invocation, using Silent Image to juxtapose images of building plans on top of the construction site, not too unlike what it would look like when you're trying to place a building in a video game. Aether, on the other hand, would give access to Telekinetic Haul, which would be extremely useful for moving construction materials. (I know Aether Architect is really neat, but it's not exactly low level)
Congrats. You've graduated from adventurer to wage slave.
Almost every utility thing you can do as a kineticist, a wizard can do sooner and better. The exception is perhaps your shift earth which they can't easily duplicate. This would make it my choice over stone sculptor.
All day every day until you're violently sodomized by 5,000 points of burn (unless you're planning on building a house with a bunch of blasts).
Whoopsy.
The more I look at the kineticist, the more I realize what a glorious and awesome dumpster fire it is. So much potential for coolness... and so much of that potential wasted.
Let me be clear here: a wizard can do most of what a kineticist does sooner (they can get stone shape 3 character levels sooner, or fabricate 1 character level before a kineticist can get stone shape) and better (as in, fabricate does more kinds of materials and amount of materials with more detail than stone shape).
Variability vs. quantity is another matter, mostly separate to that. Since fabricate is literally an order of magnitude more material than stone shape you need to have an extreme amount required very soon (while still having days) for stone sculptor to win out.
This is why I suggested concentrating on those few things that a wizard doesn't have a direct copy of via spell. Like shift earth.
Or maybe play an adventurer instead of a construction worker!
Adventurers come from various backgrounds. Some might be former construction workers, or have lived in a motte and bailey castle, and so might be inclined to change the terrain to their own advantage.
Or maybe play an adventurer instead of a construction worker!
If your adventurers don't have their eye on constructing their own base of operations and accumulating real power i feel bad for you.
It's definitely a fun concept, but building a character around being able to... build... seems weird to me. :p