So I thought I had this on lock down, but now I'm kinda confused after going through it a few times. The Kineticist class references burn cost and accepting burn a few times, but doesn't give them a strict definition in relation to each other.
I thought:
1.) "Burn Cost" = base cost of composite blast, infusions and other wild talents.
- Can be increased for added effect sometimes (Like Foe Throw)
-Can be decreased through special abilities (like infusion specialization)
2.) "Accepting Burn" = burn you took... period
- Accepted for added effect (like Pulling Infusion)
-Activated other effects (Like elemental overflow)
-Had to be "accepted" in order for it to have any benefit (ie. cannot be reduced)
However... Things I have been reading recently have me kinda confused. For one, "Gather Power" has an editor's note where it said it can be used for metakinesis and omnikinesis where both say that you have to accept burn in order to use them (and gather power says it's used to reduce burn cost). "Metakinetic Master" also states that it reduces the burn cost of one metakinesis. There is even confusing text belonging to Pushing Infusion where it says and I quote "You can increase the burn cost of this infusion to increase the maximum distance pushed by 5 feet per additional point of burn accepted."
What the heck!? How does this work?
Does accepting burn only count for indirect abilities like elemental overlflow? Is everything else "burn cost" or "increasing burn cost" in disguise or something? Can you please explain this to me?
I guess you could argue that accepting 0 burn is still accepting burn.
The long and short of it is that you can reduce the metakinesis cost (ideally to 0) by gathering power, but not via infusion specialization.
The long and short of it is that you can reduce the metakinesis cost (ideally to 0) by gathering power, but not via infusion specialization.
I understand that. The issue is the definition being given for terms I thought I understood, but being all over the place in actual implementation.
Gather power works for metakinesis for some reason, but specifies reducing burn cost, not burn accepted.
I just want an explanation to how this actually functions.
Reading over Kineticist, there doesn't appear to be any actual distinction between "burn cost" and "accepting burn". It's just two ways to say the same thing. It's really just contextual usage, in some contexts it makes more sense to say "burn cost" while in others "accepting burn", in actuality they mean the same thing.
The only place where "accepting burn" has a distinct meaning is for Elemental Overflow and Internal Buffer. This distinction simply specifies that burn avoided via Internal Buffer is not valid as Burn Accepted for Elemental Overflow.