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Ok, I was making up a water Kineticist and I was writing everything and I noticed that I can't Sculpt water even though I can make ice! I mean why can I carve ice sculptures and cool snowpeople? This is clear discrimination against water benders! Why does earth only get it!
Now I know it's not a big issue but I AM bummed that no one gave ice/snow any thought when they make the sculpt option.
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I think this is a symptom of a wider issue with Adapt Element. It doesn't even specify if you can use it on ice, snow or anything else that isn't specifically your element. The Regulate ability says you can turn water to ice, but doesn't say you can turn it back into water. It is unclear if Adapt Terrain can lava since it is technically earth, but that seems way more powerful than the other options. Proliferate also has the problem that is doesn't seem to do anything for air and it only works for fire if the ground is flammable.
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Adapt Element is really seriously undertuned. Like I understand the goal is to clear this is not a combat ability. But it does seem like a geokineticist of sufficient skill should be better at digging a ditch than someone with a shovel, that a talented aerokineticist should be able to generate a large enough breeze to propel a sailboat, that a talented pyrokineticist should be able to create a fire break to control a wildfire, etc.
This is not about tremendous narrative power, it's about "feeling like someone who is good at manipulating your element."
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Adapt Element is really seriously undertuned. Like I understand the goal is to clear this is not a combat ability. But it does seem like a geokineticist of sufficient skill should be better at digging a ditch than someone with a shovel, that a talented aerokineticist should be able to generate a large enough breeze to propel a sailboat, that a talented pyrokineticist should be able to create a fire break to control a wildfire, etc.
This is not about tremendous narrative power, it's about "feeling like someone who is good at manipulating your element."
Agreed.
Many of the options are far to mundane. For instance due to the size restrictions and pyrokineticist can only use Regulate to snuff out a candle, or maybe a torch, something that anyone could do without magical powers. Maybe the intention is to just be a kineticist equivalent to prestidigitation, but it isn't presented like that.
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Honestly, this would be a good place to give a bit of power back to the more focused kineticists. Like, if water is the one thing I do all day every day, then I ought to have a bit more power/flexibility in my Adapt Element (Water) than the kineticist over there who's spreading themselves out across 4 different planes.
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as ive mentioned before i would rather just... not have this ability than have it in its current state, the limits it imposes on you make you feel weaker for having it
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Proliferate also has the problem that is doesn't seem to do anything for air and it only works for fire if the ground is flammable.
Proliferate is great for making instant air pockets in water-filled dungeons. Take an empty vial with you, uncork it, Proliferate the resulting bubble for a 5-foot air pocket. Given a full minute you've got a 15-foot-by-15-foot air pocket. Then just dump out the water that's now in your vial, re-cork it, and be ready for the next pause.
Heck, since Proliferate can probably screw with conservation of matter, if you can adequately block the entrance you could probably totally drain a room by just Proliferating that vial-worth of air long enough.
Proliferate also has the problem that is doesn't seem to do anything for air and it only works for fire if the ground is flammable.Proliferate is great for making instant air pockets in water-filled dungeons. Take an empty vial with you, uncork it, Proliferate the resulting bubble for a 5-foot air pocket. Given a full minute you've got a 15-foot-by-15-foot air pocket. Then just dump out the water that's now in your vial, re-cork it, and be ready for the next pause.
Heck, since Proliferate can probably screw with conservation of matter, if you can adequately block the entrance you could probably totally drain a room by just Proliferating that vial-worth of air long enough.
Or turn the room into a pressure bomb.
I mean, sure it doesn't say specifically that you can make ice, then sculpt it. But what the feat does say is the following:
Choose one of the following options allowed for that element, though the GM might allow you to make similar small alterations.
I would say that shaping ice is enough like shaping any other element enough that it would qualify as a "similar small alteration."
Ice is a rock, so...
Proliferate also has the problem that is doesn't seem to do anything for air and it only works for fire if the ground is flammable.Proliferate is great for making instant air pockets in water-filled dungeons. Take an empty vial with you, uncork it, Proliferate the resulting bubble for a 5-foot air pocket. Given a full minute you've got a 15-foot-by-15-foot air pocket. Then just dump out the water that's now in your vial, re-cork it, and be ready for the next pause.
Heck, since Proliferate can probably screw with conservation of matter, if you can adequately block the entrance you could probably totally drain a room by just Proliferating that vial-worth of air long enough.
While Adapt Terrain does say that you are creating matter, it doesn't say anything about destroying the matter that is displaced. Water pushed out of the way by your air cube doesn't necessarily cease to exist. Additionally Proliferate specifies that anything you create reacts naturally afterward, so the air would just disperse into bubbles immediately. Given that air can compress a lot more than water, if you just keep proliferating, I think all you would end up with is some very dense bubbles of air.
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I'm imagining an air kineticist sticking their finger in a balloon and blowing it up to give out to small children. XD
Given how bubbles immidiately rise to the top of liquids (baring special cases) and the fact it takes you 2 actions to do any thing with that ability. Its more likely that the bubble is just straight up gone as soon as you create it.
This is why I always specify "water-filled dungeons" when I bring up this possibility. If you're in the open ocean, sure, the bubble's just gonna float away. If you're in a room, it's gonna float up to the ceiling, and assuming the dungeon is something less porous than a giant sponge or something, probably get stuck. Then you proliferate it, now you have a bigger bubble that's stuck. Keep proliferating it, and you should wind up with a sizeable air pocket.
As for the water being pushed out, admittedly taht might be an issue, but one that can be gotten around by simply adjusting the sealing. Rather than going for an air-tight seal, just go for something that allows the water to get pushed out but won't let your air escape faster than you can replenish it. Bit harder, but definitely not impossible. Done right you can basically wind up with a similar mechanism as a diving bell or moonpool.
As for the pressure just compressing everything, at the very worst it'll compress to equal pressure, which probably shouldn't be that bad unless you're at, like, the bottom of the sea or something, and I don't think even most fully-submerged dungeons are actually that deep.
If the Gather option of Adapt Element specified that it lost the manipulate trait, would that be worthwhile? Spending two actions to Gather and not provoke AoOs seems pretty worth it for a melee Kinetic Weapon user.
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If the Gather option of Adapt Element specified that it lost the manipulate trait, would that be worthwhile? Spending two actions to Gather and not provoke AoOs seems pretty worth it for a melee Kinetic Weapon user.
It's niche. Most of the time, you can Gather your weapon before you engage for the first time. So this would only be applicable for melee kinetic weapon users who chose to expend their weapon, and were in reach of something capable of AOOs.