Next week will mark a month since the Kineticist was released (and almost a month and a half since we had all the info available) and I would like to know other people's opinions on it since I haven't have the chance to play one yet.
What general builds work best in your opinion? Which ones don't work at all? What feats did you find particularly fun to use? What elements do you think work best on their own? Which ones do you think work particularly well together? Are there any must pick feats?
Just looking at the numbers and descriptions, I'd say I'm most interested in trying either Air + Earth, Water + Fire (or just fire) and Earth + Wood + Metal in the future. The class overall looks really interesting and versatile, so I hope it holds its ground vs the existing classes.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In my experience the kineticist class is not as powerful or versatile as a full spellcaster, but man can it do some really fun stuff! What's more, it is quite tough and capable of performing its various tricks all day long.
Though a spellcaster might be more impressive in the first few rounds of the first few encounters due to a litany of powerful spells, the kineticist will overshadow them at all other times. Any extended encounters will allow the kineticist to shine quite brightly compared to its contemporaries.
There are few things more fun than walking through a deadly gas chamber full of flamethrower to disable the trap all the while laughing it all off (with kinetic durability/quickness).
I for one have made several interesting kineticist characters and have been enjoying them immensely.
- Badbella (CG female human outrider geokineticist 10)
- C.H.A.D. (male personality warrior android time traveler kineticist 1)
- Raijin Perun (male Bonuwat human hired killer kineticist 16)
- Sienna Hensworth (female half-elf merchant kineticist 6)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kineticist is great. I've only played a level 2 mono-wood Kineticist so far, and it's been excellent.
- AoE woodchipper blast does bleed. Makes for a good opener.
- Undead immune to bleed? Positive blast!
- Healing! ... Kinda. It'll actually be useful next level, but being able to hand out celestial plums to everyone every ten minutes is at least an improvement over the Inventor spending ten minutes of activity and risking self-damage to heal one person.
- Damage mitigation! Being able to make ten hitpoints of tree to block attacks has been excellent.
- Getting two temporary hitpoints on every two-action ability is pretty nice. I put off air access to get the temporary hitpoints early.
- Easy switch-hitting. He hangs back in fights, using ranged attacks, but can easily move up to the front of marching order as the rest of the team gets injured.
- Utility is great. Wood is one of the best options to take Extended Kinesis on. Grew some branches to bar a door, made a bunch of food to give a prisoner, removed mold spores to freshen the air, made a back scratcher, and grew a stump to sit on.
Yay!
Kineticists showed to be a very solid option both in theory (whitepaper) and practice.
I only tested Kineticist using Earth+Fire combination (beginning with Earth only than goes to get Fire at level 5, aura junction at 9 and Gate Junction at 13). But my real tests was up to level 4 (I didn't have enough time to play in higher levels) with higher levels only making simulated encounters with friends.
In general I partially agree with Ravingdork the Kineticists don't have the a bit lower initial burst during the first rounds of an encounter (specially when you compare it with psychics) while kineticists shines in most longer encounters but this isn't fully true in the first (at last for earth kineticists) and last (at last for fire kineticists) levels. During my first 4 levels of gameplay my kineticist was more effective even than tempest druid because my action economy begins better (blast + save impulse is something very efficient) because while the druid was need to cast tempest surge than move to close to the opponents I begin using all my best impulses since the beginning without even need to use actions to move or draw weapon, or rise a shield, or anything more.
The other interesting point was the kineticist resistance when compared to other spell-casters. Sometime the druid and the cleric has some worry about keep some distance specially against opponents with AoO while I just ignored all this. My AC was proven very effective against most targets (medium armor +1 circumstance than heavy armor +1 circumstance makes my very difficult to hit and the fighter like HP grants me little worry) so I basically don't move unless the target is out-of-distance if my opponents is at melee range good I do more damage too if its a bit distant no problem I still do a good amount of damage without worry to have to use actions to move at all.
This is a thing that surprised my friends. Usually most casters get some worry about move to prevent too close to get hit (due low HP and AC) or just to prevent AoO while I simply ignored this and just blasted and Tremor without end. This was made the most diference vs casters in most battles in small rooms and unexpected encounters.
During my simulated battles in high levels with 2 friends my fire impulses easily surpassed my friend sorcerer in almost rounds just because I being basically with 5 actions (final gate + Kinetic Pinnacle) and the sorcerer only wins when use used all its best spellslots after 2 rounds of preparation (fiery body + flaming sphere + meteor) but even in this situation I surpassed him when I put 2 Ignite the Sun in battle. Also the tanker of the party loved the extra fire damage dice + 10 weakness.
The only weakness I noticed in my character was the skills but probably is more about my choices was made fully focused in combat than a real kineticist limitation. Due my investment in Str I get athletics as main skill but I never used trip/grap with it because my action economy with impulses is so good that I never used athletics my "secondary" skill choices was survival and nature what was useful to give Aid the party druid and to try additional RK checks yet due it was lower than the druid skills so I was only useful to improve its checks or to try a check the he failed. I will ask my GM to change my skills to others that noone in the party already take because in combat skills rarely will worth IMO (due how good is the kineticist action economy) and out-of-encounter skills usually are worse than other classes that uses other key attribute that helps a skill check.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I give it a Yay.
Very well designed across the board. Action economy is good. Powers feel useful, varied, and effective overall. Very few duds. Lots of build options and different roles to focus on. Very cool visuals. It is fun to build as well. I can't even say there are obvious feat choices. You can literally go a lot of different directions and still be highly effective, so it has real choices.
It is probably one of the best designed classes in PF2.
I've been playing around with it quite a bit. You can build so many different concepts using the class.
I know next campaign I start that even remotely allows it, I'm making a skeleton metal and fire kineticist.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The only weakness I noticed in my character was the skills
I haven't gotten the chance to play one in an actual game. But in my character creation theorycrafting that is one of the things that I notice the most too. Skills seem a bit lacking.
Not necessarily the amounts of them. They get the standard 4+INT trained skills at level 1 and the same progression that is standard for characters.
But they have no in-class reason to boost INT, so 4 is probably all that they are going to get.
And with CON being their class key ability, they won't have good synergy with any skills.
It isn't really a big problem. If you want to go for a particular skill, you certainly can. But if any other class that does have good synergy goes for that same skill, the Kineticist is always going to be second fiddle.
-----
I also agree with Ravingdork - Kineticist is less versatile than an actual full spellcaster. But they have their focus on combat, which a lot of people have been finding spellcasters lacking at. And they can keep going all day without any resource drain.
...I can't even say there are obvious feat choices...
Weapon Infusion and Effortless Impulse are almost mandatory IMO.
Weapon Infusion makes your blasts stupidly more versatile and I never saw a reason to not take it.
Effortless Impulse is also mandatory to any build that have at last one sustained impulse.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
A character that invests heavily into Overflow Impulses has at least some incentive to skip Weapon Infusion since they'd expect to mainly/only use Blast as part of Channel Elements. Especially true if they start Dual Gate since that increases the number of competing level 1 feats and eliminates the early Impulse incentive for using a 2-action Blast.
For any character that plans on using Elemental Blast as a primary mode of offense I agree Weapon Infusion is near mandatory.
Effortless Impulse feels so good that I find myself deliberately prioritizing at least one sustainable Impulse in the level 8-12 range, but I do wonder if that might be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think it's at least viable to have a build with no sustain Impulses, not sure if it's ever optimal.
Weapon Infusion is skippable for anyone who's going heavy on the overflows and light on the strength. It's also more useful for low-level characters than high-level characters, so even if you grab it early, it might be worth retraining out later. Kinetic pinnacle can make it more useful again right at the very end, but not everyone wants to get Kinetic Pinnacle.
Effortless Impulse feels so good that I find myself deliberately prioritizing at least one sustainable Impulse in the level 8-12 range, but I do wonder if that might be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think it's at least viable to have a build with no sustain Impulses, not sure if it's ever optimal.
I'm guessing that it's element-dependent. Some of the elements have sustain powers that are absolutely awesome, and are worth twisting things to make happen. Others... less so.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...I can't even say there are obvious feat choices...Weapon Infusion and Effortless Impulse are almost mandatory IMO.
Weapon Infusion makes your blasts stupidly more versatile and I never saw a reason to not take it.
Effortless Impulse is also mandatory to any build that have at last one sustained impulse.
I don't find Weapon Infusion as must have feat, though a very good one.
Effortless Impulse is like Effortless Concentration. The action economy on the Kineticist is so good, you could not take Effortless Concentration and be fine. But it is such a great feat at the level you pick it, it is an easy take.
Which is another nice thing about the Kineticist. They made levels where you take an Effortless Impulse an easy choice because there isn't much else to take. They made sure that Effortless Impulse was easy to pick up without putting competing feats at that level. I found that nice too. It was like the designer was considerate that we understand Effortless Impulse is going to be a no brainer, so we're going to make that the obvious choice without any real competition.
First of all, thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm happy the class is well liked and seems to work fine. Looks like Paizo is on a streak with the latest classes they released. Hope the new playtest goes as well as the last three.
Mmm, I don't quite see the issue with skills, tbh. Picking Sentinel at 2 and Armor Proficiency later on makes it so you can get by without DEX, so you would have a free boost to use on CHA or INT, like a Thief rogue. I have the feeling Overflow heavy builds can just ignore STR as well and just use the occasional ranged blast. They can also be quite good at stuff like Athletics or Intimidation if you want for the skill junction, which looks aweseome.
I have to agree that skipping Effortless Impulse seemed hard when building characters, at least for those 3 element combinations I mentioned in the original post. I also found that Overflow seems a bit weak early on compared to sticking to stances and no overflow abilities. Is that actually true or just a misconception on my part?
Wood looks awesome. At least the feats, I don't like the junctions that much besides the impulse one, tbh. What elements would you say combine well with it?Kineticist is great. I've only played a level 2 mono-wood Kineticist so far, and it's been excellent.
- AoE woodchipper blast does bleed. Makes for a good opener.
- Undead immune to bleed? Positive blast!
- Healing! ... Kinda. It'll actually be useful next level, but being able to hand out celestial plums to everyone every ten minutes is at least an improvement over the Inventor spending ten minutes of activity and risking self-damage to heal one person.
- Damage mitigation! Being able to make ten hitpoints of tree to block attacks has been excellent.
- Getting two temporary hitpoints on every two-action ability is pretty nice. I put off air access to get the temporary hitpoints early.
- Easy switch-hitting. He hangs back in fights, using ranged attacks, but can easily move up to the front of marching order as the rest of the team gets injured.
- Utility is great. Wood is one of the best options to take Extended Kinesis on. Grew some branches to bar a door, made a bunch of food to give a prisoner, removed mold spores to freshen the air, made a back scratcher, and grew a stump to sit on.
Which is another nice thing about the Kineticist. They made levels where you take an Effortless Impulse an easy choice because there isn't much else to take. They made sure that Effortless Impulse was easy to pick up without putting competing feats at that level.
That's another thing I noticed too, the class just looks so convenient. No need to go through weird hoops, no stuff that you want to pick together at the same level (most of the time)... It is a refreshing feeling coming from classes like Monk, where every level is a struggle choice-wise.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't care much what it combines well with; I'm grabbing air to further reinforce themes of the distant and arbitrary nature of the celestial realms' mercy by letting my character float around on a cloud while everyone else walks.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I don't care much what it combines well with; I'm grabbing air to further reinforce themes of the distant and arbitrary nature of the celestial realms' mercy by letting my character float around on a cloud while everyone else walks.
Only peasants need to walk, afterall.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Picking Sentinel at 2 and Armor Proficiency later on makes it so you can get by without DEX, so you would have a free boost to use on CHA or INT, like a Thief rogue.
It's not even *that* bad. First off, if you have Earth, Metal, or Wood, then you can get your armor upgrade and a bit extra for the cost of a level 1 feat. Second... you're never going to need more than +3 dex total even in light armor, and your level bumps will get you that eventually. You can retrain back out of Sentinel again if you want, assuming you don't *really* want your armor in heavy.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Very big, and biased, yay.
I have been waiting for the kineticist to come back since 2E came out despite not even wanting to play the new edition at the time, and now that it is here I very much like what it is going for. There's not even a burn mechanic to be seen in here, it just all scales by itself.
Now, like a lot of people, my main problem is that I cannot for the life of me get an actual game where I can play it...
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Very big Yay. My investigator just died in my Kingmaker game, and I've been playing a protector tank wood/earth kineticist, with a champion dedication. Just hit level 11. With a combination of the Earth Aura junction, Ravel of Thorns, Armor in Earth, Timber Sentinel, the Wood Impulse Junction, and Glimpse of Redemption from the archetype, he really messes with any melee enemies the GM wants to throw at us. They pretty well have to go after him, and when they do he has both good armor and a stack of temporary hit points to absorb their blows while our barbarian whales away at them. Our Starlight Span magus deals with the ranged threats, our cleric focuses on buffing and our psychic on debuffing enemies, then hitting them hard with amped cantrips.
What really sets the class apart for me, though, is the number of different roles the character could fill. My character, for example, is one of the better tank builds in the game, IMHO, but you could just as easily build an AOE nightmare with fire, or a ranged striker with air. It makes me really want more options for more classes so they could similarly fill many roles.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I saw an Air Kineticist in a PFS game. Seemed pretty fun to play. The guy had a lightning bolt-like ability that doubled as movement and that he used to great effect. It reminded me strongly of the Flash : fastest moving guy with the ability to strike with lightning his opponents on the way.All the overflow mobility impulses seem really fun to use. I'm guessing this game was on the level 4-6 range, do you remember something else that felt remarkable about this air kineticist? It is probably the element that interest me the most.
Very big Yay. My investigator just died in my Kingmaker game, and I've been playing a protector tank wood/earth kineticist, with a champion dedication. Just hit level 11. With a combination of the Earth Aura junction, Ravel of Thorns, Armor in Earth, Timber Sentinel, the Wood Impulse Junction, and Glimpse of Redemption from the archetype, he really messes with any melee enemies the GM wants to throw at us. They pretty well have to go after him, and when they do he has both good armor and a stack of temporary hit points to absorb their blows while our barbarian whales away at them. Our Starlight Span magus deals with the ranged threats, our cleric focuses on buffing and our psychic on debuffing enemies, then hitting them hard with amped cantrips.
What really sets the class apart for me, though, is the number of different roles the character could fill. My character, for example, is one of the better tank builds in the game, IMHO, but you could just as easily build an AOE nightmare with fire, or a ranged striker with air. It makes me really want more options for more classes so they could similarly fill many roles.
That sounds like a nasty combination. Seems hard to pull off before level 10, tho. You had the level 10 aura feat, right?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Absolutely a yay. It's a fantastic class and probably the best built class I've seen in my life. I strongly hope the devs look to it for inspiration on how to balance future classes (or make balance passes on existing ones).
I'm playing an elf air kineticist in PFS (currently at lvl 1) and its great fun to have that free movement each turn. Skills could be better, but I guess I'm just being salty for rolling badly last Saturday. ^^
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
I agree with magnuskn *sneezes* it's one of the best designs by Paizo. While most of PF2 classes are well balanced, they have so far been mostly retreads of older ideas or re-implementations of 3.5/PF1 concepts under the new framework; this one, despite sharing the name and some thematic elements with the PF1 Kine, is a whole new design that's fresh and exciting. Bring on the 2024 classes, if these too will be new stuff not shackled to previous designs, I am all for it.
|
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
That sounds like a nasty combination. Seems hard to pull off before level 10, tho. You had the level 10 aura feat, right?
That's right. My investigator died at level 10 so I built Marius at level 10 with free archetype, but it's more about adding on pieces of the combination as you level up. First he's tough, then he turns into a sand pit, then the enemy has a reason to target him, then his sand pit expands.
Str +2 Dex +1 Con +4 Int +0 Wis +0 Cha +2
Level 1: Half-Elf with dual gate (wood/earth) with natural ambition. Take Fresh Produce, Armor in Earth, Timber Sentinel and Weapon infusion at level 1. Background can be any feat with a constitution bonus, though I took battlefield medic. At this point you're a tank with Timber Sentinel giving additional HP. I also started investing in Intimidation and Diplomacy here.
Level 2: Stepping Stones, Champion Dedication (Redeemer), Intimidating Glare
Level 3: Bon Mot, Intimidation to Expert.
Level 4: Safe Elements, Healing Touch (Dedication), Terrifying Resistance
Level 5: Nimble Elf, Expand the Gate (Wood Impulse Junction), Ravel of Thorns. - Aura is only 10ft at this level, but he's beginning to become the sand trap he will turn into, while not affecting his allies. Ability boosts go to Strength, Constitution, Wisdom and Charisma. Diplomacy to Expert.
Level 6: Dash of Herbs, Champion's Reaction, Intimidating Prowess. Now the enemy has a reason to target him over his allies with the reaction.
Level 7: Battle Cry. Starting to be efficient at scaring enemies now. Intimidation to Master
Level 8: Spike Skin for use on himself or the barbarian.
Level 9: Multitalented, Psychic Dedication, Tangible Dream with the Shield Cantrip and Charisma as his casting stat. Gives him a reaction to reduce damage on himself. Expand the portal, Earth Gate Aura Junction, Sand Snatcher. Now his aura becomes a real sand pit. A lot of enemies will only be able to move one or two squares per move action. Diplomacy to Master.
Level 10: Aura Shaping, Champion Resiliency, Evangelize. Now his aura greatly expands. Most humans with 25ft of movement won't be able to get out of his aura in one turn, and he can simply stride up to them. Ability increases go to Strength, Constitution, Wisdom and Charisma.
At this point he attempts a demoralize against the stupidest looking enemy (low will save), advances to the enemy, opens his gate (with an elemental blast) and activates his aura on the first turn. Second turn he plants a tree and throws a blast, then starts reacting based on what the enemies are doing, always trying to keep them in his aura.
If he's really getting whaled on, he throws up the amped shield cantrip and keeps a fresh tree planted every round. If the psychic is trying to debuff the enemy with a will save, he might Bon Mot and Evangelize to try to boost the opportunity for a critical success. If the enemy tries to run away he summons a sand snatcher and follows after them, and so forth. Lots of options, only rarely actually attacking more than once a round, though.
Edit: He also heals between combats. At level 10 he heals an average of 55-56 points of damage to everyone in the party every ten minutes (4d8+4+5d4+21), and can heal one more ally for another 30 every ten minutes.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I love kineticist so damn much. Barely gotten to play the release version (just played as a gmnpc in a game I ran because I was desperate, some players were surprised by the utility) but I will definitely be playing one asap.
There are a couple things about the class that bugs me but it checks all the boxes I wanted it to going into the class. The fews things that bug me are nitpicky at best (could be clearer on how some things work, gm variation usually means I steer clear of certain impulses). I do hope we get more impulses at some point, I find single element builds don't have enough choice if they want to be pure kineticist (no archetype).
Honestly I don't know if I can even go back to building other classes anymore
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Fun, versatile enough, flexible enough, has tools to reward system mastery without feeling overly dependent on key tricks.
The class engages with PF2's core systems more thoroughly than any class before it, you have flexible action economy and your feat choices matter a lot, full of special actions or abilities that can change how you play. For a lot of my players this is the class they've been waiting for Paizo to make since PF2 came out, at least in terms of mechanical structure.
It's not perfect, certain combinations feel really strong while others feel a bit difficult to make work, some numbers choices are a bit strange, and there are a few feats that are headscratchers (chain blast's math is so bad it almost feels like an editing error more than a design flaw).
Overall the class is fun to play and fun to try to put the pieces together for, it's good stuff.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
For me it is definitely a YAY, by far the most interesting class I have ever seen. It takes everything I like about PF2 combat and casting while putting in on a class with limitless resources. They get to choose from a huge array of unique abilities while having limitless resources. You can specialize as much as you want, or you can just go for pure versatility.
For the next 6 campaigns I will probably only being playing Kineticist. They really are that good to me. They are just SO flexible I am amazed. You can go pure crowd control / support / tank / damage, healing or any combination. Really though I just LOVE their support abilities...
There are definitely arguments that maybe casters can do things better, but it is very refreshing to just be able to do whatever you want every combat and won't have to be conservative. Their only really weakness would be a campaign with 1-2 fights a day. At that point you can just play a caster.
What general builds work best in your opinion? Really it seems like you can go any direction with the class. I can't really think of a combat build / role they couldn't do.
Sadly, I mostly have just been able to theory craft. Lots of cancelations in our current game. So far my builds are...
Level 15 Air - The utility from air is just amazing. I can't really recommend it enough. Just plain fun.
Level 3 Fire (PFS) - Definitely fun and seems like the damage output will skyrocket at level 5 (Aura Junction) + Thermal Nimbus
Level 1 Water/wood - Haven't got to play this, the amount of healing and utility the character can put out should be amazing though. Mostly just focusing on water for the Water Impulse junction. Thier only real weakness is single target healing is low so allies will have to play smart and try to spread the damage around.
My excitement could definitely be overblown, but it is easy to just pick an ability and make an entire build around it.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I think that Fire having a weakness aura and cold is dumb. Same for Air not having Electricity.
Air has electricity built-in as one of its blast types. It gets electricity-based impulses at 4, 8, 12, and 18, plus the admittedly lackluster Lightning Rod as its hybrid with metal. It has electricity as one of the two traits on its resist junction. What more do you want?
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
At this point you're a tank with Timber Sentinel giving additional HP.
I don't think Timber Sentinel can protect the kineticist who "cast" it.
The spell Protector Tree says, "Whenever *an ally* adjacent to the tree is hit by a Strike, the tree interposes its branches and takes the damage first."
In 2E, you do not count as your own ally.
Maybe you could argue that you are an ally of the tree? Seems a stretch but if I was playing a Wood Kin, I'd definitely make that argument to my GM.
|
|
I love kineticist so damn much. Barely gotten to play the release version (just played as a gmnpc in a game I ran because I was desperate, some players were surprised by the utility) but I will definitely be playing one asap.
There are a couple things about the class that bugs me but it checks all the boxes I wanted it to going into the class. The fews things that bug me are nitpicky at best (could be clearer on how some things work, gm variation usually means I steer clear of certain impulses). I do hope we get more impulses at some point, I find single element builds don't have enough choice if they want to be pure kineticist (no archetype).
Honestly I don't know if I can even go back to building other classes anymore
Glad I am not the only one that feels like Kineticist is that GOOD. No, I am not talking about power but just fun. It just seems so fun to build and can't wait to play it more.
I agree single element is often "take the best combat feats". Then you can reflow to the utility feats if you think they are necessary for the adventure/day. At the same time you still get tons of options in combat even single gate. I feel single gate is much better early levels though. The impulse junction is so nice to play around since you will cast the element 100% of the time. There are still quite a few choices to make with single gate though.
On the reverse end starting dual gate it is almost painful missing so many feats. My abomination vaults characters is Wood/Water and I just can't fit everything I want. This is a GOOD thing though. I don't think there has ever been another class where the choices are so hard.
I planned the character to level 10 and there are 7+ feats I really want in the build...
Kineticist has so many feats I would love to grab that even with double class feats with just two elements I still couldn't get everything I want.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't think Timber Sentinel can protect the kineticist who "cast" it.
Heh. I hadn't noticed that. Protector Tree has been around since Secrets of Magic. I consider this to be an RAI error. Someone forgot that in PF2 you are not your own ally. That different from both PF1 and Starfinder.
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
At this point you're a tank with Timber Sentinel giving additional HP.I don't think Timber Sentinel can protect the kineticist who "cast" it.
The spell Protector Tree says, "Whenever *an ally* adjacent to the tree is hit by a Strike, the tree interposes its branches and takes the damage first."
In 2E, you do not count as your own ally.
Maybe you could argue that you are an ally of the tree? Seems a stretch but if I was playing a Wood Kin, I'd definitely make that argument to my GM.
Eh, our interpretation at the table is that the tree is looking for the trees allies, not my characters allies, as it is acting as an autonomous agent reacting to the enemy in the sense that my character does not need to interact with the tree to trigger the interaction. I could see it being read either way though.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I don't think Timber Sentinel can protect the kineticist who "cast" it.Heh. I hadn't noticed that. Protector Tree has been around since Secrets of Magic. I consider this to be an RAI error. Someone forgot that in PF2 you are not your own ally. That different from both PF1 and Starfinder.
To be fair, without being able to spam it, it was a pretty crappy spell, so it probably didn't get much scrutiny.
You are not your own ally? Since when? Source?
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Core rulebook p.455
Some effects target or require an ally, or otherwise refer to an ally. This must be someone on your side, often another PC, but it might be a bystander you are trying to protect. You are not your own ally. If it isn’t clear, the GM decides who counts as an ally or an enemy.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah. I'd go with the "tree's ally" interpretation.
Add one to the non existent faq, I guess. Honestly might be a good way to balance the impulse, it is very good.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Core rulebook p.455
Some effects target or require an ally, or otherwise refer to an ally. This must be someone on your side, often another PC, but it might be a bystander you are trying to protect. You are not your own ally. If it isn’t clear, the GM decides who counts as an ally or an enemy.
Yeah, in 2E you are not your own ally anymore. That was changed from 1E, where you were considered your own ally.
Earth/wood tank build info
I'm surprised you didn't include Hail of Splinters there, sounds really good early on for those turns you are surrounded. Gives you the Temp HP and does respectable enough damage to make you somewhat of a threat damage-wise. You can even reactivate your aura afterwards since it takes just 2 actions.
The build looks super sweet though. Fun to play as well, might even steal it for a future campaign...
It's not perfect, certain combinations feel really strong while others feel a bit difficult to make workCould you elaborate a bit more on this? I'm really interested in the negative aspects as well, specially when the feedback is overwhelmingly positive.
some numbers choices are a bit strange, and there are a few feats that are headscratchers (chain blast's math is so bad it almost feels like an editing error more than a design flaw).Yeah, I don't think I would pick it as it is even as a free action.
I think it would had been more interesting if you had impulses that could be grabbed by different elements to allow more mix and matching. Not just the composites.
So more stuff like Command Elemental (?).
Well, like Command Elemental but useful.
|
|
It's not perfect, certain combinations feel really strong while others feel a bit difficult to make work
I personally don't think this is true except fire. Fire really benefits from Fire Aura Junction and Fire Impulse Junction. Even then by level 9 taking both junctions and another elements should work fine. Delaying any of the two junctions seems rough for me though.
All the other element combinations you can just pick and choose your favorite elements. You can also "minor" in an element and only use it for utility. I really can't see an element combination that doesn't have good possibilities.
Single gate starts out so much faster than dual gate to me though. Those impulse junctions are fun to build around.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Earth/fire kineticist is a dream battlemage for me; lava leap is also one of the most addicting PF2e feats I've gotten to play with. The designers new exactly what people wanted out of that combo of elements. I've gotten two sessions in with my dwarf/ifrit kineticist that I replaced my psychic with and busting in like the coolaid man puts a smile on my face
Yeah. I'd go with the "tree's ally" interpretation.I would not. The tree has no ally. The caster has allies.
We are talking about an independent tree that can make its own decisions, though.
I think that you being an ally of the tree is stretching things a bit too thin, but I also think the ally part in that spell entry is a non-intended oversight and makes little sense, so let's pretend the tree ally explanation makes sense for the time being.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Removed a harassing post.
Almost forgot...
Yay.
Core rulebook p.455
Some effects target or require an ally, or otherwise refer to an ally. This must be someone on your side, often another PC, but it might be a bystander you are trying to protect. You are not your own ally. If it isn’t clear, the GM decides who counts as an ally or an enemy.
Thanks! :)
It's not perfect, certain combinations feel really strong while others feel a bit difficult to make workI personally don't think this is true except fire. Fire really benefits from Fire Aura Junction and Fire Impulse Junction. Even then by level 9 taking both junctions and another elements should work fine. Delaying any of the two junctions seems rough for me though.
All the other element combinations you can just pick and choose your favorite elements. You can also "minor" in an element and only use it for utility. I really can't see an element combination that doesn't have good possibilities.
Single gate starts out so much faster than dual gate to me though. Those impulse junctions are fun to build around.
It's mostly minor stuff, like I wouldn't want to spend much, if any, time as a single gate metal because of its junction options.
Yay.
Before Kineticist was released, I was excited to play a ki monk, a psychic, a magus and an alchemist.
Now, I'm far more excited to play any of several flavors of Kineticist. My excitement for Metal is low compared to all the other elements, but I'd jump at the chance to play a single gate Metal Kin over any other class in the game at this point.
Currently, my Warpriest is the Ruler of our nation in Kingmaker, and I keep dreaming up ways to incite a coup or to get him assassinated so I can replace him with a Kineticist, lol.
I know this gives you zero play experience data, but I just wanted to talk about the class.
I hope the two classes being revealed tomorrow will ultimately be able to muster as much excitement.
| 9 people marked this as a favorite. |
I hope the two classes being revealed tomorrow will ultimately be able to muster as much excitement.
Worst case scenario, the two new classes are mediocre and I still have my kineticist.
Best case scenario, the two new classes are actually very fun and I still have my kineticist.