Kineticist Dedication question

[Clark Kent]

Hey everyone, just looking for some outside perspective clarification. So the kineticist dedication reads:

"You become trained in kineticist class DC and impulse attack rolls. Choose one element to be your kinetic element (air, earth, fire, metal, water, or wood). You gain a kinetic aura and the Channel Elements action, though you don't get to use an Elemental Blast or stance impulse when you take that action."

My reading of this is that Channel Elements activates the aura, you just can't use elemental blast in the same action as activation, and then the aura stays on until "you're knocked out, you use an impulse with the overflow trait, or you Dismiss the aura" (the conditions from the channel element description.

This disagreement is that a friend I play with is saying that this means the Kineticist dedication saying "you don't get to use an Elemental Blast or stance impulse when you take that action" means you can't use Elemental Blast at all when the aura is active, or shuts the aura down, which doesn't seem like how that reads at all, but I'd like some outside perspective. Thank you.

[Alwaysafk]

You're correct, it prevents the action compression that Kineticists get when they activate their aura.

I'm not really sure how your friend is reading it because you can't use things with the impulse trait without channeling the element.

[Perpdepog]

Yeah. If your friend's reading were correct, you wouldn't be able to use your kineticist impulses at all.

[Clark Kent]

Thank you for the responses. I know Channel Elements uses passive voice to describe the activation, but it certainly seems to read that in Channel Elements, activating the aura is the action and then it is just continuous, not somehow one long action that continues the entire time the aura is active.

[Finoan]

For base class Kineticist:

Quote:

Channel Elements ◆

Requirements: Your kinetic gate isn't active.

You tap into your kinetic gate to make elements flow around you. Your kinetic aura activates, and as a part of this action, you can use a 1-action Elemental Blast or a 1-action stance impulse. Your kinetic aura is a 10-foot emanation where pieces of your kinetic element (or all your kinetic elements, if you can channel more than one) flow around you. The kinetic aura can't damage anything or affect the environment around you unless another ability allows it to. Channel Elements has the traits of all your kinetic elements.

Your kinetic aura automatically deactivates if you're knocked out, you use an impulse with the overflow trait, or you Dismiss the aura. Though you can't use new impulses while your kinetic aura is deactivated, ones you already used remain, and you can still Sustain any that can be sustained. Stance impulses are linked to your kinetic aura and end when the aura deactivates.

Kineticist archetype changes this when it says that you can't use an Elemental Blast or stance impulse when you take that action.

To rewrite the entirety of the Kineticist Archetype's version of Channel Elements, it would be this:

Quote:

Channel Elements ◆

Requirements: Your kinetic gate isn't active.

You tap into your kinetic gate to make elements flow around you. Your kinetic aura activates. , and as a part of this action, you can use a 1-action Elemental Blast or a 1-action stance impulse. Your kinetic aura is a 10-foot emanation where pieces of your kinetic element (or all your kinetic elements, if you can channel more than one) flow around you. The kinetic aura can't damage anything or affect the environment around you unless another ability allows it to. Channel Elements has the traits of all your kinetic elements.

Your kinetic aura automatically deactivates if you're knocked out, you use an impulse with the overflow trait, or you Dismiss the aura. Though you can't use new impulses while your kinetic aura is deactivated, ones you already used remain, and you can still Sustain any that can be sustained. Stance impulses are linked to your kinetic aura and end when the aura deactivates.

So yes, you can still activate your Kinetic Aura for one action, then cast Elemental Blast, other Impulse effects that you have, including stances. But they have to be done as separate actions after your Kinetic Aura is activated.

And yeah. Your Kinetic Aura is an effect that is started with one action, but lasts for an unspecified duration. And as mentioned, any action with the Impulse trait can only be used while the Kinetic Aura is active. Including Elemental Blast, and Stance Impulses.