Hey guys just looking for some advice on how to build a Kineticist (specifically Terrakineticist) for Skulls and Shackles. From what the GM told me despite being able to use all the elements (limited to 1 element based on ranger favored terrain) I'll mostly be looking at Water, Earth and Aether (Ocean, Urban & Underground respectively w/ Underground & Water often coming together so i can kind of choose which to use)
Fluff-wise I'm planning to have my character be a sort of go w/ the flow hippie/stoner type person, definitely True Neutrul.
Feat wise ill mostly just be getting the standard ranged package (PBS, Precise Shot, Imp. Critical etc.) but otherwise i have to be careful because unlike my wild talents my feats are the same regardless of my location, one suggestion I've been given for example is to assume physical blast since more elements have physical blasts than elements have energy blasts AND i'm less screwed by having an element that is likely to be resisted in their respective climate/terrains.
Talent wise i'm hoping to take advantage of the region specific element access to take to less used wild talent like water breathing for example since in wont really need that on dry land and the majority of the times id need it there will be water nearby.
Please try to keep your responses as spoiler-free as possible in regards to S&S but feel free to give advice based on knowledge of the module (just like i'd give to a ranger player by suggesting certain favored enemies for example)
So uh yeah thanks in advance :D
Edit:
Oh here's the region+elements for reference
Aether = Urban & Ethereal Plane
Air = Hill, Warm Mountains, Plains & Plane of Air
Fire = Volcanoes, Desert & Plane of Fire
Earth = Underground and Plane of Earth
Water = Cold, Swamp, Water & Plane of Water
Wood = forest, jungle, the Fey World, and the Positive Energy Plane.
Other Elements = Like Void or 3pp Elements are not specified but the archetype says to add new elements as they come, DM has not stated her plans for Void and isn't sure if she's goiong to include the elememnts from the Kineticist of Popyra/Legendary Kineticist Books (oh I also could probably choose a few talents, feats, etc. from those boooks without much if any resistance)
To breathe water before 10th level (greater waterdancer is 5th which requires kineticist 10) you need the kinetic invocation feat. Which is OK value anyway and kineticists tend not to be feat starved, and it should work with all your elements. Picking up weapon finesse and a kinetic blade or kinetic whip infusion with all/most elements is a decent backup to a ranged attack.
I haven't played S&S but water manipulator used as control water can stop ships which seems obviously useful. It may be worth asking a couple questions about edge cases for regions - whether beaches are desert (fire), plains (air) or water for example, or whether a settlement underwater might be considered urban.
OOOooooo...Kinetic Invocation is a cool feat especially for a Terrakineticist...and especially if my DM oks me using the War Kineticist Archetypoe from Legendary Kineticist 1 or the Legendary Kineticist Variant Class from Legendary Kineticist 2. (Either one should be compatible w/ Terrakineticist if i'm not to sleepy to notice something obvious)
As for edge cases I'm w8ing on a response from the DM on that, off the cuff the DMs thoughts were "If you have access to the "material aka terrain" you can choose which to align with unless there's clear supremacy of a particular element, ie. i cant use water because i found a puddle in a volcano, that is just her first thoughts though so i cant count on it until she comes back with her official ruling.
Looking at it & playing around a bit, assuming kinetic invocation at L5 and weapon finesse at L7, and a physical blast at L1 here's how I might do it as an example.
Infusions: 1-telekinetic boomerang, 3-extended range, 5-bowling infusion, 9-foe throw
Wild talents: 2-telekinetic finesse, 4-telekinetic haul, 6-telekinetic invisibility, 8-telekinetic maneuvers, 10-etheric shards
Water
Infusions: 1-quenching, 3-extended range, 5-torrent, 9-penetrating infusion
Wild talents: 2-kinetic healer, 4-silent image, 6-water breathing, 8-water manipulator, 10-watersense
Earth (underground etc.)
Infusions: 1-pushing infusion, 3-extended range, 5-entangling infusion, 9-magnetic infusion
Wild talents: 2-kinetic cover, 4-earth climb, 6-tremorsense, 8-shift earth, 10-earth glide
Wood (jungle etc.; I'm betting there's some of this in the Shackles)
Infusions: 1-pushing infusion, 3-extended range, 5-entangling infusion, 9-impale
Wild talents: 2-wood healer, 4-merciful foliage, 6-lesser restoration, 8-command plants, 10-greensight
Air (plains/hills/some mtns, probably includes farmland & maybe beaches)
Infusions: 1-gusting infusion, 3-extended range, 5-spindle, 9-magnetic infusion
Wild talents: 2-air's cushion, 4-air's reach, 6-wings of air, 8-aerial evasion, 10-windsight
Fire (desert, may not come up so didn't bother), likewise void
Universal
7-kinetic whip
Thanks that really helps get the creative juices flowing (and im totally stealing the formatting for my notes :P), curious why you took Weapon Finesse+Kinetic Whip do you think ill get stuck in melee alot?
Note: We get an extra feat @ Lvl 1 in exchange for a Major drawback so I might even take kinetic Invocation @ Lvl 3 unless something in KoP perks my interest feat wise
It's not just getting stuck in melee. Kinetic whip can use a full attack which kinetic blast usually can't so BAB and haste (and maybe an attack of opportunity) can boost your damage significantly. You might even seek melee out occasionally, though being unable to combine gather power with a full attack would likely limit that.
One other feat you might like some time is mobile gathering. It lets you move at half speed while using gather power. I can't advise you on KoP content, sorry.
Ok spent alot of the day working on this...very much still open to suggestions and advice though, thanks for all your help already. :D
Terrakineticist
(Note: KP = Kineticist of Popyra, LK = Legendary Kineticist)
(Note2: The Utilities/infusion that aren't assigned to a lvl are just ones i find interesting that i haven't found a spot for)
Race: Monkey Goblin (STR 7 / DEX 20 / CON 18 / INT 14 / WIS 5 / CHA 5 - Stat Ups: Con)
Archetypes: Terrakineticist (GM requires Gather Power to switch my element in locations w/ more than one available) & War Kineticist (LK1)
Traits: Besmara's Blessing & Reactionary
Skills [4(Class)+2(Int)+2(Mutation) = 8]: Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Know (Nature), Perception, Prof(Sailor), Stealth, Swim
Feats
1 PBS or WF: Blast (we might be using elephant in the room, which replaces PBS w/ WF as precise shot's pre-req)
1 Precise Shot
3 Precision Blast(KP1)
5 Improved Initiative
7 Extra Battleburn(LK1)
9 Extra Infusion/Utility(LK2) - Aether: Self Telekinesis, Air: Oppressive Atmosphere(KP3), Earth: Earth Rider(KP1), Fire: Flame Jet, Water: Water Sense, Wood: Greensight
11 Signature Infusion: ??? (KP1) [Note: GM says choose one for each element unless its Uni]
13 IC: Kinetic Blast
15 Imp. Precise Shot
17 ???
19 ???
Aether (Urban, etc.)
Infusions: ???
1 - Pushing -> Foe Throw@6, 3 - Extended Range, 5 - Bowling -> Friend Throw@6, 7 - ???, 9 - ???, 11 - ???, 13 - Disintegrating, 15 - ???, 17 - Nullifying, 19 - Many Throw
Utility Talents: Telekinetic Invisibility(6), Touchsight(6), Spying Touchsight(8), Reactive Touchsight(10), Force Barrier(10), Telekinetic Globe(16), Telekinetic Deflection(16)
2 - Telekinetic Finesse, 4 - Telekinetic Haul, 6 - ??? -> Telekinetic Manuevers@8, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9 - Self Telekinesis, 10 - Greater Self Telekinesis, 12 - Suffocate, 14 - Spell Deflection, B15 - Ride the Blast, 16 - Elly Exile , 18 - Aether Architect, 20 - ???
Air (Plains/Hills/Mtns, etc.)
Infusions: ???
1 - Pushing, 3 - Extended Range, 5 - Penetrating, 7 - Synaptic, 9 - ???, 11 - Chain, 13 - ???, 15 - Cloud, 17 - Nullifying, 19 - ???
Utility talents: Accelerated Flight(1-KP3), Windsight(6), Oppressive Atmosphere(6)
2 - Air's Reach, 4 - Air Cushion, 6 - Wings of Air, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9: Oppressive Atmosphere(KP3), 10 - Aerial Evasion, 12 - Suffocate, 14 - Electricity Eater(KP2), B15-Ride the Blast, 16 -Elly Exile, 18 - Weather Master, 20 - ???
Earth (Underground, Dungeons, Metal, etc.)
Infusions: Bowling(1)
1 - Pushing, 3 - Extended Range, 5 - Impale, 7 - Rare Metal, 9- ???, 11 - Tremor, 13 - Deadly Earth, 15 - Fragmentation, 17 - Nullifying, 19 - Imprisoning(KP1)
Utility talents: Earthwalk(1), Earth Rider(6-KP1)
2 - Accelerated Climb(KP3), 4 - Shift Earth, 6 - Tremorsense, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9 - Earth Rider(KP1), 10 - Greater Earth Rider(KP1), 12 - Metal Manipulator(KP1), 14 - Acid Eater(KP2), B15 - Ride the Blast, 16 - Elly Exile, 18 - Seismic Master, 20 - Greater Shift Earth
Fire (Desert, Beaches, Volcanoes, etc.)
Infusions: Eruption(6)
1 - Burning, 3 - Extended Range, 5 - Fan of Flames, 7 - Imp. Burning, 9 - Detonation, 11 - Torrent, 13 - ???, 15 - Explosion, 17 - Nullifying, 19 - ???
Utility talents: Firey Acceleration(1-KP3), Fire Sight(6), Flame Jet(6)
2 - Fire Sculptor, 4 - Searing Flame, 6 - Flame Step, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9 - Flame Jet, 10 - Greater Flame Jet 12 - Fire Corridor, 14 - Fire Eater, B15 - Ride the Blast, 16 - Elly Exile, 18 - From the Ashes, 20 - ??
Water (Cold, Swamp, Ocean, Lake, Oasis, etc.)
Infusions: ???
1 - Pushing, 3 - Extended Range, 5 - Penetrating, 7 - Impale, 9 - Spray, 11 - Chilling, 13 - Destabilizing(KP1), 15 - Cloud or Fragmentation, 17 - Nullifying, 19 - Maelstrom or Imprisoning(KP1)
Utility talents: Accelerated Swim(1-KP3), Kinetic Cover(1 - Pre-req for Water Manip), Water Manipulator(6), Greater Water Sense(10), Suffocate(12)
2 - Ice Walker, 4 - Aquatic Adaptation(KP2)-> Greater Water Dancer@10 , 6 - Water Dancer, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9 - Water Sense, 10 - Shimmering Mirage, 12 - Ice Path, 14 - Cold Eater(KP2), B15 - Ride the Blast, 16 - Elly Exile, 18 - Tsunami, 20 - ???
Wood (Jungle, Forest, etc.)
Infusions: Greater Toxin(14), Arboreal Infestation(14-KP1)
1 - Pushing, 3 - Extended Range, 5 - ???, 7 - Impale, 9 - Toxin, 11 - Spore, 13 - Deadly "Foliage", 15 - Greater Toxin or Arboreal Infestation, 17 - Nullifying, 19 - ???
Utility talents: Plant Disguise(8), Shape Wood(8)
2 - Accelerated Climb(KP3), 4 - Woodland Step, 6 - Warp Wood, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9 - Greensight, 10 - Greater Woodland Step, 12 - Green Tongue, 14 - Treestep, B15-Ride the Blast, 16 - Elly Exile, 18 - ???, 20 - ???
Universal
Infusions: Grappling(10), Wall(10),
Utility talents: Skilled Kineticist(1), Elemental Grip (4)
1
KP & LK Ability Quick explanations (removed any numbers,etc.)
Intelligent Mutation (KP3)- Gain an extra 2 skills pts. per kineticist level but you can only gather power as a move action.
Feats
Extra Infusions/Utilities - Removes the Lvl requirement & the -2 Lvl clause.
Extra Battle Burn - gain extra battle burn
Precision Blast - exclude squares from aoe blast damage
Signature infusion(11) - reduce burn by 1 of an infusion you know (GM says I can choose 1 per element)
Mutable Composition - Blasts that deal damage as 1/2 & 1/2 can deal any percentage of each damage type as long as at least 1 damage is dedicated to each type.
Infusions
Arboreal Infestation - Ongoing Con damage+becomes tree upon death
Destabilizing - Reduce damage reduction, resistance or hardness on hit
Imprisoning - see ice tomb witch hex
Nullifying - Reduce target resistance or cause immunity to become high resistance.
Imp. Burning - Burning Infusion now deal 2d6 dmg a round.
Utilities
Earth Rider - Levitate as a standard
Greater Earth Rider - Levitate as a Move
Friend Throw - Telekineticly throw your friend and they can make an attack action
Metal Manipulator - Treat metal as if it was earth for the purposes of utilities (ie. Earth Rider or Sculptor)
Aquatic Adaptation - Can breate underwater and gain a bonus to swim checks
Elly Eater - when hit by X (depends on your element) gain THP equal to half damage dealt (assumes a failed save), you can spend chuncks of this THP to reduce burn costs
Elly Acceleration - Fire = Increase Land Speed, Air = Increase Fly Speed, Water = Increase Swim Speed, Earth & Wood = Climb
Elemental Limb(KP3) - im mostly making note of this in case the DM choses to make use of the scars,etc. rules and i need to replace something.
Flame Step - immune to fire from natural sources and 1/turn can short range teleport from fire source to fire source as a free action.
Hydro Cutter - adds piercing as an optional damage type to physical water blasts (can be taken instead of basic hydrokinesis)
Advanced Kinesis - Can use burn to cast domain spells appropriate to the element and your level. (Uses Con for DC,etc.)
Greater Advanced Kinesis - Gain the granted powers of above mentioned domains (Uses Con for DC,etc.)
Skill Hack - Gain skill unlocks for the class skills granted by your element
Oppresive Atmosphere - Great;y slows down enemies who get anywhere near you as well as reducing reflex saves.
You only get the universal infusion or wild talent at L7, there isn't one for each element at that level. The same at L15. Unless Legendary Kineticist changes that of course. I take it Legendary Kineticist gets a bunch more utility talents too? There's a lot more there than one feat can explain.
Whenever a terrakineticist gains a wild talent she chooses one wild talent of the appropriate level from each of the six elements (aether, air, fire, earth, water, and wood).
Terrakineticist also grants a bonus talent at 7 and 15 and i took ex talent at Lvl 9
If your refering to the talents i don't have assigned to a specific level thos are just ones im interested in but dont have space for or havent chosen where to put them yet
ie.
These are talents that seem interesting ->Utility talents: Accelerated Swim(1-KP3), Kinetic Cover(1 - Pre-req for Water Manip), Water Manipulator(6), Greater Water Sense(10), Suffocate(12)
These are talents ive picked -> 2 - Ice Walker, 4 - Aquatic Adaptation(KP2)-> Greater Water Dancer@10<-[THIS INDICATES RETRAINING] , 6 - Water Dancer, B7 - Advanced Kinesis, 8 - Greater Advanced Kinesis (KP4), EX9 - Water Sense, 10 - Shimmering Mirage, 12 - Ice Path, 14 - Cold Eater(KP2), B15 - Ride the Blast, 16 - Elly Exile, 18 - Tsunami, 20 - ???
FTEG, look at the actual kineticist class feature table. Instead of an infusion at level 7 you get expanded element, same at L15. Terrakineticist replaces that with a universal infusion or wild talent (plus extra simple and composite blasts as if you were expanding into the same element for each one). You don't get an infusion for each element at L7.
You can't retrain a low level wild talent to a high level wild talent, the same as a sorcerer can't retrain a low level spell to a high level spell. Also greater waterdancer has the original waterdancer as a prereq - easy to miss I know, just as I missed that water manipulator requires kinetic cover.
Elly means Elemental I think, OK.
In general getting the highest level infusions you can is often a waste. The burn requirements can be too high, especially if you're combining a form and a substance infusion and/or using composite blasts and/or metakinesis. It's pretty easy to knock yourself down to almost no HP as a mid-level kineticist and I think the same for a high level one.
Woodland step/greater is very likely a waste of time IMO. Flight is a thing (or you have ride the blast later), undergrowth which restricts movement and which you can't move around isn't that common IME, and spending a standard action to attempt to ignore entangle or similar is almost never a good idea.
In fire getting stuff which you can use on fire-immune/resistant enemies is especially important for a terrakineticist. You're likely to get the fire element in places with lots of those. Draining infusion, smoke, whatever.
Note that you don't get infusions at the same time as you get access to new levels. At L5 you can only get 2nd level infusions for example. Also shift earth takes a 4th level wild talent which you can get at 8th.
FTEG,
What does that mean?...oh is that short for my name? Don't worry im just a little slow :P
Terrakineticist replaces that with a universal infusion or wild talent
Which I took Advanced Kinesis & Ride the Blast which are universal talents which apply to all the elements instead of getting to choose six DIFFERENT talents, same w/ how i took extended range @ Lvl 3.
You can't retrain a low level wild talent to a high level wild talent, the same as a sorcerer can't retrain a low level spell to a high level spell.
Oh that sucks :( Just so I can be sure I'm not misunderstanding where does it say that in retraining rules or in kineticist?
Also greater waterdancer has the original waterdancer as a prereq - easy to miss I know, just as I missed that water manipulator requires kinetic cover.
Well b4 learning that I cant retrain wild talents to a higher level one I actually took Waterdancer @ Lvl 6 than retrained Aquatic Adaptation to Greater Water Dancer @ Lvl10 (Both allow underwater breathing but the former just grants a bonus to swim whereas the latter makes fighting underwater easier and since im using primarily physical blasts i figured it was an upgrade but since i cant retrain ill likely just stick w/ regular water dancer + aquatic adaptation)
Elly means Elemental I think, OK.
Yep :D
In general getting the highest level infusions you can is often a waste. The burn requirements can be too high, especially if you're combining a form and a substance infusion and/or using composite blasts and/or metakinesis. It's pretty easy to knock yourself down to almost no HP as a mid-level kineticist and I think the same for a high level one.
Thanks I'll double check burn costs, I've never played a high Lvl kineticist so I haven't be able to test that out for myself.
Woodland step/greater is very likely a waste of time IMO. Flight is a thing (or you have ride the blast later), undergrowth which restricts movement and which you can't move around isn't that common IME, and spending a standard action to attempt to ignore entangle or similar is almost never a good idea.
TBH if i was just playing a wood kineticist instead of the terrakineticist i would take WAY different infusion/utilities but since I'll only ever use wood in forest,etc. and wood doesn't have access to flight I figured it would be useful.
That said why would it take a standard action i thought woodland step was a passive ability since it just replicates druids woodline stride, the standard action it mentions is only for the second part
In fire getting stuff which you can use on fire-immune/resistant enemies is especially important for a terrakineticist. You're likely to get the fire element in places with lots of those. Draining infusion, smoke, whatever.
I was originally gonna get draining but because its a universal talent i would have to take it for all 6 elements which would be a bit of a waste, especially since most of the time when fire comes up ill likely have access to air and/or water as well cause im pretty sure theres no desert in the shackles so if im dealing w/ fire immune dudes i can just gather power to switch over (it's how GM determined we would handle multiple favored terrains) fire resistance is less of an issue as searing flame will just rip through that.
As for stuff like smoke cloud, etc. i honestly just really suck at not screwing over my allies w/ those so i rarely ever use them.
Note that you don't get infusions at the same time as you get access to new levels. At L5 you can only get 2nd level infusions for example. Also shift earth takes a 4th level wild talent which you can get at 8th.
Oh dang i thought i had doubled all of them (iow a lvl 2 infusion/utility requires Lvl 4, a lvl 3 would be 6 and so on) ill have to go back through to double check, its so annoying they should have just said the lvl requirement.