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I love the Kineticist! I love it so much I've not been able to decide on my next build because I want to play them all. So, what is your favorite impulse(s).
I typically play low to mid levels, so don't pay much mind to higher levels myself.
Personally I LOVE Scrap Barricade. I'm a sucker for wall spells and this comes online at lvl 6 and is a true wall in that they can't choose to walk through it. When they do break it down they are punished with some damage and then I can throw another one up!
The armor ones: Armor in Earth, for instance, is cool and something you use from 1st to 20th.
Lava leap for me. Great engage tool with built in survivability and decent damage.
Imma have to second Flinging Updraft. Being able to move my friends or my enemies is just too fun.
Oh, you think you're safe on top of that tower. Lemme put the Barbarian up there next to you.
Really nice view up here on this cliff. Oh No!! Oops, I guess they couldn't fly.
I don't have a favorite Impulse because there are many cool Impulses and many of them works so well together that I have a serious difficult to elect what's the best.
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Hybrid: Ambush Bladderwort. Carnivorous plant is always welcome, and this one is especially stylish. It's not particularly strong and will get crit into oblivion, but it'll use up some enemy actions.
Element: 14th level Whisper on the Wind. You have at-will Sending without the "familiar with them" restriction. You can bother any world leader or celebrity at all hours.
Lava Leap made me reconsider my commitment to mono-earth, and fire was the element I had the least interest in coming into this book.
I might be playing wood+water but steam knight is really cool
I don't have the book yet but with all the compiled Info there's already q Lot of fun stuff
I really love Fresh Produce
It's at the same time decently useful throughout the campaign and hilarious/cute depending on how you use it
Molten wires and the ballista are probably two more favourites of Mine although it is hard to estimate the actual efficiency of the ballista without seeing it in play
Yeah hard to say what is my favorite, just too much good stuff.
Always did like the idea of an aura build so Thermal Nimbus and Crowned in Tempest's Fury are both cool.
I also really like Earth's armor up kind of stances, though sad both of the big ones became stances and can no longer be combined. Assume Earth's Mantle and Rebirth in Living Stone. Though I guess you can combine RiLS with Armor in Earth.
Fresh Produce is nice and thematic, same with the Timber Sentinel and just at will trees.
Kind of conceptually like all the powers that turn you into your element, though not sure how good off hand they all are.
Definitely like the Winter's Sleet stance, seems like it could be fun for a melee water kineticist. Kind of sad we lost the cold damage aura stance, though I guess you could just spam Winter's Clutch now but it is not as constant as an aura stance.
Kind of wish an all stance/aura build was possible. Grab something that transforms your body, constant fire/cold aura, enemies always tripping and sliding around in your aura. But now we can't even combine two stances let alone an all stance build.
No idea how it actually functions in play but I really like the idea of the ballista, also just constant flight from air as well as its message equivalent impulse and I'm a big fan of the idea of the 18 metal impulse that summons up mounts, the stances I also like the idea of but losing them with overflow and having to keep putting them back on (or just never overflow) makes me lose desire to actually use them
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Kind of wish an all stance/aura build was possible. Grab something that transforms your body, constant fire/cold aura, enemies always tripping and sliding around in your aura. But now we can't even combine two stances let alone an all stance build.
It is genuinely surprising that the Kineticist doesn't get a capstone like the monk for "be in two stances at once".
I think there was one in the playtest, or maybe I just wished for one, because I remember brainstorming ideas of builds that combined stances.
Look just let me do fire and cold damage to everything around me constantly, also maybe lightning too. Kind of surprised we didn't get auras like Thermal Nimbus for other energy types, or maybe a piercing damage aura as flying needles fill the air.
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I favor those impulses that let you create permanent or semipermanent objects such as Igneogenesous or Timber Sentinel.
Do you have any idea how hilarious it is to watch enemies try to force open a door that is barred by a rooted tree or a heavy 5-foot cube of solid stone? Or the ghouls and vampires that can't escape their own sarcophaguses due to the large block on top? Or the speeding vehicle in hot pursuit of the PCs crashing due to the sudden large obstacle appearing in its path? Options abound when you can create reality!
Also, protector tree was a much beloved spell of mine even before the kineticist got their hands on it, so it was kind of a shoe in for this thread.
But far and above, my absolute favorite impulse would have to be Kinetic Blast. Not only is it the kineticist's bread and butter, it's extraordinarily versatile; good in both melee and at range, capable of dealing numerous damage types (both physical and energy!), and with rotating weapon traits with one low-level feat. Without Kinetic Blast, the kineticist would have a hard time staying relevant.
Before we knew about the final version I probably would have said stone shield and rebirth in living stone. With stone shield gone and rebirth awkward to use with the other level 18 3 level overflows (I do still like rebirth just not as much), shattered mountain weeps and hell of 1000 needles have to be the coolest impulses. Lots of damage, utility, huge areas (though I wonder about placing a 30ft cube, I'm assuming you don't actually need full space to fit it? In which case how does it work?), just generally awesome.
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It's honestly hard to choose a favorite upright because I am currently suffering from choice paralysis. Which, to be fair, is a good thing I would say.
On the one hand, I really want to play around with Rising Hurricane because I always love fall damage when it is applied to the opponents instead of me for once.
If I have to be honest though, my favorite purely on the principle of "I would probably take this on every single one of my characters ever unless specifically making the decision not to" is Weapon Infusion because god dammit if the implementation isn't just so, so nice in addition to it being cool as hell. I've had this entire cinematic constructed in my head of a kineticist firing a bow of water standing up straight on a boat in the middle of a thunderstorm just drilled profoundly in my head for the past week and it just won't go away.
Lava Leap made me reconsider my commitment to mono-earth, and fire was the element I had the least interest in coming into this book.
That's a it surprising to me because... mono-earth can totally get Lava Leap. Like, there's a level 8 feat to do pretty much exactly that sort of thing.
As for me?
- The Protector Tree one (Timber Sentinel? Something.) Oh, yes.
- Molten Wires. You deal damage and then make your enemy choose between losing actions on the one side or sucking down a debuff and taking more damage on the other, and all of this for a two action non-overflow non-incapacitate.
- That wood/earth hybrid (jagged berms?) that fills the room with controllable hazardous terrain that you can just slalom your enemies through. I love the forced movement/hazardous terrain party optimization combo, and this thing is perfect for it.
The wacky thing about Kineticist is that it doesn't just make me want to play a kineticist. It makes me want to play a kineticist in a party that has other kineticists in it. Water/Wind has such fun things they can do if you can drop appropriate hazardous terrain for them to play with, and some of the other elements are just so good at makign terrain hazardous.
Its bludgeoning damage in this edition so can be resisted.I really want to play around with Rising Hurricane because I always love fall damage when it is applied to the opponents instead of me for once.Fall damage is especially nice since it is untyped; it bypasses all sorts of immunities and resistances.
Yes, I realized that it was different from 1st Edition within a minute of having said as much, and so deleted my post.
Seems I was not quick enough.
Weapon infusion is cool, especially for folks who want to go short-to-midrange rather than just melee and still get their strmod to damage. It's a stance kineticist's tool, though. It's a lot less worth it for overflow-heavy kineticists, because you can't use it on your channel-blasts.
But far and above, my absolute favorite impulse would have to be Kinetic Blast. Not only is it the kineticist's bread and butter, it's extraordinarily versatile; good in both melee and at range, capable of dealing numerous damage types (both physical and energy!), and with rotating weapon traits with one low-level feat. Without Kinetic Blast, the kineticist would have a hard time staying relevant.
Yes you got a point here if there's something notable for Kineticists are Elemental Blasts! I will copy your words!
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Well, I'm also fighting because there are so many cool options, and as you read, it's hard to choose one in particular! But there are some things I love that can now be combined: damage and anime/game characters! So I'm thinking about Avatar or The King of Fighters, maybe Kyo Kusanagi!! Mainly because we will be playing Fists of Ruby Phoenix!
Well, I'm also fighting because there are so many cool options, and as you read, it's hard to choose one in particular! But there are some things I love that can now be combined: damage and anime/game characters! So I'm thinking about Avatar or The King of Fighters, maybe Kyo Kusanagi!! Mainly because we will be playing Fists of Ruby Phoenix!
Huh.
I would not want my first kineticist to start play at 11th level. I mean, I can absolutely understand how you'd see that you were in a Fists game and immediately want to be a kineticist, but... whoof.
Clear as Air really stood out to me as an amazing impulse to enable a stealth build with air. Its great out of combat and pretty good in combat and only gets better with time!
I would probably go for Ignite the Sun, not as much damage but fewer actions and no Overflow, and you can sustain it to make it bigger and fling it through enemies for nice consistent damage on the following rounds. And it gives you and hopefully your allies +1d6 fire damage on attacks/spells/etc maybe +1d8 if you have the Fire Impulse Junction. Also hopefully Safe Element would allow one extra action as you start it up to allow it to not hurt your allies as you sweep it around, not sure exactly how that works with things like this with a Sustain.
That said if you don't need to move and can get your free action Channel every round, and don't have to worry about killing your allies somehow, spamming All Shall End in Flames to keep killing yourself and reviving is some shenanigans.
Also hopefully Safe Element would allow one extra action as you start it up to allow it to not hurt your allies as you sweep it around, not sure exactly how that works with things like this with a Sustain.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe "Safe Elements" only allows you to include/exclude people from the effects of your Kinetic Aura and effects coming from it, like impulse such as Air shroud, Magnetic Field or Winter Sleet.
Out of curiosity for a pyro kinetesist at 18 what would most people go for all shall end in flames or ignite the sun they both look pretty good?
Will depend if I would do a frontline or a backline build.
The Ignite the Sun build if far more stronger but requires that you are closer to frontline in order to attack opponents inside the 30ft range to Flying Flame reach and requires an extra round of preparation.
While All Shall End in Flames build is weaker but allows you to attack from a more safer distance and also have a better AoE (but 30-foot burst maybe a bit tricky in very small rooms due the friend fire risk).
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Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe "Safe Elements" only allows you to include/exclude people from the effects of your Kinetic Aura and effects coming from it, like impulse such as Air shroud, Magnetic Field or Winter Sleet.Also hopefully Safe Element would allow one extra action as you start it up to allow it to not hurt your allies as you sweep it around, not sure exactly how that works with things like this with a Sustain.
No, it also has a separate one action option that converts the following impulse into nonlethal damage and allows you to exclude the same aura immune allies from the impulse. If you rely on two action AOE impulses with friendly fire concerns (so not Flying Flame) it's worth looking at.
No, it also has a separate one action option that converts the following impulse into nonlethal damage and allows you to exclude the same aura immune allies from the impulse. If you rely on two action AOE impulses with friendly fire concerns (so not Flying Flame) it's worth looking at.Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe "Safe Elements" only allows you to include/exclude people from the effects of your Kinetic Aura and effects coming from it, like impulse such as Air shroud, Magnetic Field or Winter Sleet.Also hopefully Safe Element would allow one extra action as you start it up to allow it to not hurt your allies as you sweep it around, not sure exactly how that works with things like this with a Sustain.
Oh dear, I entirely missed that somehow. Thanks.
It is genuinely surprising that the Kineticist doesn't get a capstone like the monk for "be in two stances at once".
That doesn't even deserve to be a capstone, level 12 at most.
It is genuinely surprising that the Kineticist doesn't get a capstone like the monk for "be in two stances at once".That doesn't even deserve to be a capstone, level 12 at most.
That's... no.
No, for an aura build, being able to have two aura stances would be brutal. I mean, I'd love to get it at level 12. Don't get me wrong. Practically speaking, though, it would need to be one of the things competing for the 18/20 slots. I mean, the shenanigans for the single-gate dedicated fire kineticist alone....
I mean, the reason I observed that "two stances at once" would be a fine capstone feat is because that's a monk feat and it would be even more appealing on a Kineticist.
Out of curiosity for a pyro kinetesist at 18 what would most people go for all shall end in flames or ignite the sun they both look pretty good?
Will depend if I would do a frontline or a backline build.
The Ignite the Sun build if far more stronger but requires that you are closer to frontline in order to attack opponents inside the 30ft range to Flying Flame reach and requires an extra round of preparation.
While All Shall End in Flames build is weaker but allows you to attack from a more safer distance and also have a better AoE (but 30-foot burst maybe a bit tricky in very small rooms due the friend fire risk).Are you calculating for one or two suns on that, btw?
The ability to keep multiple of them out is quite nice, since the sustain is very action-efficient damage.
Just one sun. But you have a point, nothing prevents a creature to be affected by 2 Suns. I will made a new calc including 2 suns (but this also requires another round of "preparation" before enter in the default flying flame every turn).
Yeah they specifically call out that multiple Suns don't stack for the bonus damage to Strikes, Fire Spells and Fire Impulses but don't say you can't have more than one Sun out. I really like the idea of multiple Suns out that have Safe Elements so you don't have to worry about hitting your allies, though I don't think you can get more than 2 out with Safe Elements, because you only get 1 free Sustain. Each Sun doesn't do as much damage as Flying Flame but covers a larger area and can sweep through an area for a smaller action cost once you have them going. And any actions not used on Sustaining them can be used on Flying Flame as well.