So, I've been looking at the Kineticist class, and I'm intrigued, and decided to get some advice.
What are the pros and cons of each element? What role does each one play well? I mean, a pyrokineticist is obviously going to be a blaster, but what are the other elements good at? Control? Buffing? Debuffing? In other words, how is each element usually used, and why?
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Some explaination:
First- Physical vs. Energy
Energy hits touch AC, but it is subject to energy resistence and spell resistence.
physical hits regular AC, but it gets an extra +1 damage per hit dice (this also carries over to composite blasts, getting +2 since it is 2d6). That is up a +10 on regular blasts and +20 composite blast (and that is subject subject to multiplication with the empower metamagic). Physical blasts do not face energy resistence or spell resistance, but it faces DR (...but DR is usually far less than energy resistence...).
I would go with physical myself for damage, since it seems less trouble, and you are a 'one big hit' class with some decent boosts to help with attack bonus. So it seems fairly reliable, so why not grab the extra damage?
So, basic run down of elements:
Earth is tanky. Its defense option gives you constant DR on par with the invulnerable rager barbarian, and you can increase it with burn (1 per burn, up to your level, and it lasts all day; still means you can comfortably sit on DR/6 at level 6 and grab the overflow bonuses). Note- it is DR/adamantine... but usually not a big problem, no? Earth only has physical blasts, but its blasts can hit bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing, allowing you bypass a lot of DR. Its specialized composite blast, metal, also has an infusion that lets it hit as cold iron, silver, adamantine, etc.- it gets past metal DR. So only alignment is an issue then. Also, it gets earth glide and stone sculptor (stone shape spell, at will), which can REALLY mess with dungeon design. Has some good AoE infusions that you could couple with things like grappling (to make black tentacles, basically) or to do entangling to glue people to the floor.
Fire- Only energy blasts. Has some options to get past energy and spell resistences, but it is still weak to immunities. The universal ability drain helps against fire subtype creatures... but you have very, very few direct options againt devils. You get flight, basically, if you spend two utility infusions, and there is some dispel stuff, as well as smoke and ability to see through smoke.
Air- Lightning or a bludgeoning physical blast. Flight, obviously. Has the ability to see through clouds (which works well with one of the cloud infusions). Has an infusion that gives it twice the reach over everyone else (unsure how useful generally). Can use chain infusion for your own chain lightning.
Water- Cold beam or bludgeoning physical. Its defense option does AC, which is nice. Shares some of the cloud stuff from Air and aoe stuff with earth. Swimming, obviously, but also airwalk done with a ramp of ice. It can also heal (equal to your blast's damage; there is a burn cost, but you can put that on the person you are healing- good for emergencies)
Aether- poor blasting, usually requires an unattended item (the blast overrides any magic weapons, so no go with that; carry a bunch of knives, since the object is just as damaged by the blast). Defense talent gives you temporary hp that recovers over time. Generally preferred for utility, since it can do invisibility, maneuvers at range, etc.
I think that is a basic run down.
That is a VERY good run down.
I see Fire as perhaps the most limited element. Only Fire and Aether have no real options for damage. Earth, Water and Air all have choices.
My favs are Water and Earth. It just makes sense to have a dwarf Geokineticist, right?
So, earth and fire are for combat, air is for utility and combat, water is for control and combat, and aether is for skill monkeys?
So, earth and fire are for combat, air is for utility and combat, water is for control and combat, and aether is for skill monkeys?
That seems to be about it (although I was a bit brief, and I can't entirely vouch for my full knowledge on all the options).
That is a VERY good run down.
I see Fire as perhaps the most limited element. Only Fire and Aether have no real options for damage. Earth, Water and Air all have choices.My favs are Water and Earth. It just makes sense to have a dwarf Geokineticist, right?
I will also say that while fire is fairly restricted to its path (lacking some of the options other elements use to get around problems)...it is the best at sticking to that path- Where other elements might try to avoid by going physical, fire charges on through with energy (often with things that burn away fire and spell resistence)
it has some of the better AoE options. While most have either 1/4 damage with the radius stuff, and maybe full on the main target, fire has options that give full damage to everything caught in it. Explosion even has an adjustable radius (so you are less likely to hit your friends).
So it ends up being risk/reward- you can do a lot of damage to a lot of enemies, but you run more risk than any other element when your GM throws things with fire resistance (which you can get from a spell) and fire immunity. With devils as a basic option on summoning spells (devils being one of the types that fire has least options against- drain only works on fire subtype creatures like elementals), it is something worth considering.
Basically, don't go fire on a Cheliax centered game, is what I am saying.
PS- exceedingly with the dwarf. They have fairly perfect stats for a kineticist, and their wisdom bonus and saves vs spells can help with the will save. I tend to go half elf with poor will classes myself, but dwarf is a good option too. But I do love earth element- it is just sturdy and dependable overall.
PPS- oh, and always remember- you can diversify your elements at level 7. That is when you can either choose to specialize in your main element (getting an extra infusion) or grab a new element. That gives you a variety of options, so it is worth considering.
I feel like we are underrating the damage potential of fire between the different bonuses you can get and the pure consistency of touch attacks on a dex focused element. You are very quickly going to be missing only on a 1 and your reflex saves on your AoEs are going to be virtually unmake able by anyone other than a dex focused high reflex save opponent.
The obvious weakness is going to be creatures with fire immunity that are not fire subtype. But in the end that's what you have party members for. Being able to throw fairly strong fireballs every round all day long will make you hard to beat.
I do wish they had made Blue Flame automatically cut fire resistance in half and do half damage to creatures with fire immunity. That would fix the big issue, even a substance infusion that can only be combined with blue flame would help.
My favorite AoE is only usable by Earth and Water: Fragmentation! So while Fire does get some good AoE options, it doesn't get this one.
I feel like we are underrating the damage potential of fire between the different bonuses you can get and the pure consistency of touch attacks on a dex focused element. You are very quickly going to be missing only on a 1 and your reflex saves on your AoEs are going to be virtually unmake able by anyone other than a dex focused high reflex save opponent.
The obvious weakness is going to be creatures with fire immunity that are not fire subtype. But in the end that's what you have party members for. Being able to throw fairly strong fireballs every round all day long will make you hard to beat.
I do wish they had made Blue Flame automatically cut fire resistance in half and do half damage to creatures with fire immunity. That would fix the big issue, even a substance infusion that can only be combined with blue flame would help.
Yes, easiest to hit, easiest to shut down by GM. Risk/reward.
And when you are shut down, you can feel worse than even a blaster sorcerer, who would at least have a few other spells they throw out (some of which ahve different elements). But you can only have that diversity if you abandon blue flame and grab a different element (earth tends to be good- magma works with a lot of fire's stuff, as well as earth's stuff).
I am fine with earth blasts myself...I mean, as a kineticist focused on physical blasts, I have decent enough BAB, no iteratives to really worry about, and two different sources of boosts to attack from elemental overflow (both stat boosts and straight attack boosts). Plus I am one of the SAD-est classes ever, so having a good dex is not a problem at all. So I don't think a physical blast is going to have too many problems either.
until there is a way for a fire kineticist to actually deal with fire immunity, which is like 1/3 of the bestiary (gross overestimation for emphasis:P) then it won't be viable.
they should really, REALLY, put a "blue flame counts fire immunity as fire resist X" or something along this line (as part of the actual blast, not as a seperate talent) since, simply put, vs fire immune creatures, you may as well be less worthy than your average peasant.
Blue flames no...magma...maybe?
There is a reason why they let you diversify your elements. It gives you a chance to grab a different kind of blast, or at least a different element for your energy blast.
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until there is a way for a fire kineticist to actually deal with fire immunity, which is like 1/3 of the bestiary (gross overestimation for emphasis:P) then it won't be viable.
they should really, REALLY, put a "blue flame counts fire immunity as fire resist X" or something along this line (as part of the actual blast, not as a seperate talent) since, simply put, vs fire immune creatures, you may as well be less worthy than your average peasant.
Draining deals with the vast majority of fire immune creatures. You just need something to deal with devils, one or two types of demon, and the remorhaz.
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Has an infusion that gives it twice the reach over everyone else (unsure how useful generally).
This is good for early in the game, when you don't have infusion specialization to deal with burn. It's also useful when you have a lot of outdoor combats at range.
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I'd also list aether as being good at tanking. When you spend burn to get extra temp hp, you don't actually get more likely to go down like other kineticists. If you choose con for your stat boosts you can go quite a ways before your down net hp. If your party is good at taking down foes and loots/searches afterwards, you use almost no healing resources. It's also the most widely applicable defense because it applies to all HP damage up to it's limit. Other defenses only affect certain types of attacks -
Air - ranged physical attacks
Earth - non-adamantine physical attacks
Water - Attacks vs. regular AC
Fire - unarmed and natural attackers
Also, if your temp hp soak all the damage of an attack, you don't face secondary consequences. Very useful.
I'd also list aether as being good at tanking. When you spend burn to get extra temp hp, you don't actually get more likely to go down like other kineticists. If you choose con for your stat boosts you can go quite a ways before your down net hp. If your party is good at taking down foes and loots/searches afterwards, you use almost no healing resources. It's also the most widely applicable defense because it applies to all HP damage up to it's limit. Other defenses only affect certain types of attacks -
Air - ranged physical attacks
Earth - non-adamantine physical attacks
Water - Attacks vs. regular AC
Fire - unarmed and natural attackersAlso, if your temp hp soak all the damage of an attack, you don't face secondary consequences. Very useful.
Yes, but aether can be a bit weird with tanking depending on the exact circumstance.
Earth only has to worry about adamantine (and if your GM is throwing that at you...well, you are at least getting some decently priced loot...)
Aether's temp HP regenerates based on minutes. In a traveling setting (where it could be an hour between encounters), it is perfect. But it might face problems in some dungeon settings, where you are facing enemies in relatively quick succession.
It can still be good for tanking, and burn can improve the usability of the temp hp, but it is still something of a concern at time.
But yes, it does help against non physical threats. Various energy blasts would ignore earth's defenses, and only a small portion of blasting energy attacks would be affected by water (can't list a spell off the top of my head, but I don't doubt there are some). And the other two...are kinda 'eh' in general (anti arrow can be nice while flying, I suppose, but anti natural attack is really circumstantial)
And yes, air's reach is useful for a 0 burn method of getting at things a bit further out. That is a definite advantage, since a lot of battlefields don't really need the full extra 120' of the for range increase, but 30'-60' is a fairly decent range that I can see happening.
Yes, but aether can be a bit weird with tanking depending on the exact circumstance.Earth only has to worry about adamantine (and if your GM is throwing that at you...well, you are at least getting some decently priced loot...)
You also take full damage from spells and energy damage. Of course most of these get through water and air's defenses too. Aether is the only one that counts against anything that does hp damage.
Aether's temp HP regenerates based on minutes. In a traveling setting (where it could be an hour between encounters), it is perfect. But it might face problems in some dungeon settings, where you are facing enemies in relatively quick succession.
It can still be good for tanking, and burn can improve the usability of the temp hp, but it is still something of a concern at time.
That's why I said that it's good for parties that do looting and searching. If your party is the kind who tries to get three encounters out of a 1 min/level spell, then you have issues. Of course if your party does this, then they are probably pretty good at taking down enemies quickly and you probably aren't using up your whole temp hp buffer.
And yes, air's reach is useful for a 0 burn method of getting at things a bit further out. That is a definite advantage, since a lot of battlefields don't really need the full extra 120' of the for range increase, but 30'-60' is a fairly decent range that I can see happening.
The main campaigns where I see the really long ranges coming up are naval games, ones with mass combat, dragon fights outdoors, etc. It's also useful if you want to do ride the blast to move 1020' per round.
aether/earth is a great tanking combo, really makes your EHP a lot higher compared to the burn spent.
This is one of the best tanks in the game. when you can reduce damage two ways, it's really good.
water seems... middle of the ground? has strong CC early on, both energy and physical, but it seems to tapper off late game? not sure.
Water's defense is the easiest one to replicate using money. Since you aren't buying a weapon, money isn't usually a problem for kineticists.
Aether- poor blasting, usually requires an unattended item (the blast overrides any magic weapons, so no go with that; carry a bunch of knives, since the object is just as damaged by the blast). Defense talent gives you temporary hp that recovers over time. Generally preferred for utility, since it can do invisibility, maneuvers at range, etc.
I buy a pouch of sharpstone sling bullets. You can change them from bludgeoning to slashing to piercing with a free action.