Darkness infusion clarifications

[Melkiador]

Quote:

Darkness Infusion

Source Occult Origins pg. 6
Element void; Type substance infusion; Level 3; Burn 2
Associated Blasts gravity, negative, void
Saving Throw none
Your kinetic blast creates darkness. Treat each square of the path of your ranged attack kinetic blast, the target square of your melee attack kinetic blast, or the area of your area of effect kinetic blast as the center of a darkness effect that lasts until the end of your next turn. This effect counts as a 3rd-level darkness spell.

Is every square affected treated as its own darkness spell, with its own 20 foot radius? Is it only supposed to be dark in the affected squares, without radius?

Darkness spell doesn’t stack with itself, but that’s an awful lot of darkness effects if countering the darkness ever comes up.

[Azothath]

Melkiador wrote:

Darkness Infusion ...

Is every square affected treated as its own darkness spell, with its own 20 foot radius? Is it only supposed to be dark in the affected squares, without radius?

Darkness spell doesn’t stack with itself, but that’s an awful lot of darkness effects if countering the darkness ever comes up.

→Kineticist Elements where Void (infusion wild talent(†));

3rd - darkness infusion†, gravity control, undead grip, unnerving infusion†.
6th - grtr darkness infusion†, suffocate.

→Kineticist Talents
Darkness Infusion. The key text is as the center of a darkness effect that lasts until the end of your next turn. This effect counts as a 3rd-level darkness spell.
so it is one effect with a possible big origin(line/AoE){center of effect} that lasts about 1 round (as until the end of your next turn).

Compare with Tenebrous, Umbral Spell (+2) MetaMag feat, Shadow Grasp metamagics & Dust of Twilight:C2 spell

Comments
Kinda standard Equip for PC is a heightened Cont Flame on an ioun stone, so this isn't going to do much and the duration isn't good. It also assumes see in darkness and continual blasting. The Key Kineticist Question: How many NL HPs you got left? What's your party/allies gonna do in darkness?
It gets caught up in the light/dark war. Obscuring Mist, Vanish, Invisibility kinda equalizes the penalties.

[Mysterious Stranger]

The description specifies one effect; therefore, it is one effect.

It also uses the word darkness effect instead of spell. That would indicate that the darkness effect does not radiate out to the 20’ the spell does. The darkness effect only covers the area of the blast.

[Melkiador]

Quote:

Treat each square… as the center of a darkness effect that lasts until the end of your next turn.

It seems to say that each square is the center of its own effect.

The radius is questionable, but it’s certainly odd to state a square is the “center” of an effect if it doesn’t radiate outside of that square.

[Azothath]

the author is just trying to cover various types of blast areas in a sweeping statement, see also Brilliant Infusion. Continual Flame only targets a touched object.

→Darkness:K2 object touched, radiate 20 ft, dur:CL min.
→Continual Flame:K2 object touched, radiate 20 ft, dur:perm.

read -> Blog post on Illuminating Darkness 2015 references 2010 & 2013 posts...
Levels of Illumination [{supernatural darkness}, darkness, dim light, normal light, bright light, {supernatural brightness}]
It's really about mods to Perception checks. You are essentially moving up or down the above levels by 1.

Does it radiate or not... I think that's a GM call (as MS makes a good point) but I would let it do so as most GMs will say the [light] one does. It's not a big catch one way or the other as it is a temporary effect and easily countered.
Kineticist is tricky and self-referencing. I'd read the substance blast carefully as negative has no effect on Undead and gravity is B dmg. It's about saves and ignoring the added substance infusion.