An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the „Into the Breach“-series clocks in at 40 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 35 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing-queue as a prioritized review by my patreons.

All right, as always, we begin with new archetypes, the first of which would be the aetheric marksman, who is locked into aether a first level and gains proficiency with longbow and shortbow. The signature ability of the archetype allows for the use of an arrow as part of a kinetic blast, to be more precise, a modified version of telekinetic blast, which has a base damage of 1d8 +1 + Constitution modifier, which increases by 1d8+1 at 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, with a range increment of 60 ft., a critical range of 20 and a critical multiplier of x3. Weapon Focus (kinetic blast) and Deadly Aim may be applied to such blasts, but thankfully, multi-attack feats à la Multishot may not be. The modified blast applies the bonuses of enchanted ammunition, if applicable, as are special materials etc. While the available infusions to modify this one are restricted, I am not the biggest fan of the escalation of numbers this entails – it’s not bad, mind you, but as a base modification, I wasn’t blown away. 5th level yields imbuement: As a move action, the character may imbue class level arrows with a variety of ammunition special properties, with 8th level unlocking more. The marksman must accept burn equal to the enhancement value granted and lasts for 1 minute. Only one such property may be granted at a given time. Nice catch: The ammunition does not require a +1 enhancement bonus to qualify for modification. The properties inflict +1 damage per d6 if the property matches the expanded element. Minor complaint: flaming burst reference not properly italicized. This replaces 5th level’s infusion.

At 8th level, we get shrapnel arrow, which is problematic, rules-aesthetics wise: For +1 burn accepted, the arrow can split into lethal shrapnel upon impact, generating a 10-ft.-burst. The primary target gets a Ref-save to halve its damage, which is REALLY weird – that usually is not possible upon being hit – the character has already been hit!! Interaction with evasion et al. becomes really strange. Worse, the targets in the area of the burst take half as much damage and don’t get a save. Yeah. The guy skewered by the arrow could end up sans damage, while everything around him dies. Makes no sense. The way the ability is phrased also makes me think that this was supposed to inflict additional damage or something, but I’m not sure. The ability deviates from how such mechanics are used in PFRPG, and not in a good way. The no-save damage must die. On the plus-side, targeting 5-foot-squares and ammo interaction are noted. This replaces 8th level’s utility wild talent. At 13th level, the marksman may accept +2 burn to inflict additional bleed damage to the primary target, with bleed equal to the number of damage dice of the telekinetic blast, a Fort-save to negate. After that, a second target in the same line of effect, within 30 ft. of the first target, compares AC to the attack’s attack bonus: On a hit, the target takes the telekinetic blast’s damage -2d8, but is not subject to bleed. This replaces 13th level’s infusion.

The 16th level ability, burrowing arrow, allows for the acceptance of +2 points of burn. On a failed Ref-save (weird, why not Fort?), the arrow embeds itself in the target, inflicting minimum blast damage on a subsequent round until it is removed via a successful save or Heal check. This replaces 16th level’s utility wild talent and needs some nerfing/retooling: For a lot of characters and monsters, being hit with a single such arrow may well be a death a sentence.

On a nitpicky level regarding the rules-integrity, e.g. burrowing arrow does not, in contrast to e.g. piercing arrow, note that it can be used as part of another action. I get how this is supposed to work, but as a whole, I wasn’t too excited by the archetype.

The second archetype herein would be the hellfire kineticist, who replaces Knowledge (nature) with Knowledge (religion). The hellfire kineticist is locked into fire as primary element. “All infusions granted by the archetype deal half fire damage and half unholy damage.” sigh There is no such thing as unholy damage in Pathfinder.

Instead of 1st level’s infusion, we get the ability to sicken a target within 30 ft. that takes full damage from the blast, for Con mod rounds, with a Fort-save to negate.. On a critical hit, we’re looking at nausea instead. Minor complaint here: This behaves like an infusion, but isn’t formatted like one. Instead of the elemental defense and the utility wild talents at 6th level and every 6 levels thereafter, we get the Devil Inside ability at 2nd level. The character is treated as an evil outsider for the purpose of spells and effects and gains +2 bonus to saves versus fire and poison; at 6th level, this upgrades to +4 and fire resistance 5; 12th level upgrades this to +6 and fire resistance 10, while 18th level provides immunity to both. 4th level provides sin sense, which can wreck pretty much a ton of plots: While within 30 ft., the character becomes automatically aware of sinful thoughts targets hold at the moment or committed within 1 hour. Direct contact yields detect thoughts, as though the character had concentrated for 3 rounds. This can wreck a lot on in-game assumptions: If e.g. Cheliax had access to such a potent ability, which can’t be prevented RAW, we’d have a perfect, Orwellian survival state, thoughtcrimes etc..Even if sinful acts are up to GM-interpretation, this ability needs some nerfing/further clarification. This replaces 4th level’s utility wild talent.

8th level yields an imp familiar at full class level instead of the utility wild talent. At 11th level, instead of the infusion, we get Condemnation, which is treated as a 5th level substance infusion that costs 3 points of burn to use: If the character calls out a target’s sins, as detected via detect sins, the target takes double elemental overflow’s damage. I am not 100% positive whether the ability is supposed to require a hit of the target with a blast or not – the infusion would suggest as much, but verbiage makes it seem like there is no attack roll required. The capstone replacing omnikinesis would yield outsider apotheosis as well as 2/day plane shift, but only to Hell and back.

The third archetype would be the wind whistler, who replaces Intimidate with Perform (wind) and is locked into air as primary element. Attacking with air blasts does not add Constitution modifier to damage and instead, the character makes a Perform (wind) check that adds +1 to damage for every “5 points rolled on the skill check”, which isn’t smooth as far as wording is concerned. Okay, Adding skills to atk or damage is usually a HUGE issue: There is no component of the game that is this easy to game. That being said, the significant exchange rate keeps this slightly in check, though, on average, this does represent a damage upgrade in the hands of even a moderately capable player, so balance-conscious GMs may want to eliminate this part of the ability. As a suggestion to retain the flavor of this modification: Make the bonus thus granted to damage cap based on a formula that is based on class level.

Instead of all infusions, the character gains bardic performance, beginning play with countersong and inspire courage, using kineticist levels as bard levels.. Higher levels net dirge of doom, inspire greatness, soothing performance, frightening tune and inspire heroics, but none of the other bardic performances. Performance upgrades of bardic performances work as though the character was a bard. In addition to these, 3rd level yields tune twister, which allows the character to accept 1 burn when initiating the performance. One ally that can see and hear the wind whistler gains enveloping wind’s benefits as well as sonic resistance 1 per 5 points of the Perform check’s result. Contagious tune is gained at 6th level and allows for a multi-target buff versus mind-affecting effects, but in an interesting twist, also penalizes atk and concentration slightly. Metakinesis works differently: 5th level lets the wind whistler accept 1 point of burn to alter kinetic blasts as though affected by Disruptive Spell. Problem: The Feat’s DCs are partially contingent on spell level and the ability fails to specify how the blast is treated for these purposes. 9th level allows for the addition of Thundering Spell for the cost of 2 burn.

At 5th level, the wind whistler may accept 1 point of burn to increase the bard levels for the purpose of determining bardic performances as +4 levels higher for 3 rounds; at 8th level, 2 burn may be accepted for +6 levels for 2 rounds instead. Not a fan here; 11th level allows for the acceptance of 3 burn to add Lingering Performance; if the character has the feat, its benefits are extended to 4 rounds instead – nice. This replaces infusion specialization.

At 7th level, the character is locked into expanding air, but does not gain the usual benefits, instead gaining a Performance (wind) based bardic masterpiece sans spell/feat-prerequisites, with 12th and 17th level allowing for the replacement of the masterpiece. At 16th level, the character may accept 2 points of burn to double the skill-check governed bonus damage – as noted before, the base ability is problematic and this exacerbates the issue. The capstone allows for the expenditure of 5 rounds of bardic performance to create a 10-ft.-tall cyclone, a summoned large air elemental that acts as a shadowbard. Interesting final ability.

We also receive two new 5-level prestige classes, the first of which would be the aetheric assailant, who gets d10 HD, 2 + Int skills per level (I really wished non-Int-based classes would just get more; 2+Int skills, when Int is likely to be 0 or 1, just isn’t fun for anyone), full BAB-progression and medium Fort-and Ref-save progression. Requirement-wise, we need a couple of hit-hard feats (like Cleave), BAB +5 and Elemental Focus (aether) as well as kinetic blade.

The PrC begins play with Clarity, which allows for the use of kinetic blast while under the effects of rage – which is a bit weird, considering that barbarian levels etc. are not necessarily required. Kinetic wielding lets you use kinetic blade in conjunction with weapons for which you have the Weapon Focus feat, adding weapon damage, enhancement bonuses etc. to the kinetic blade’s damage dealt, but makes any such attack otherwise targeting touch AC instead target regular AC. Here’s the issue: This may be used in conjunction with full attacks, but requires the acceptance of 1 point of burn per iterative attack, which also stacks: The third attack would hence cost 2 points. OUCH. I get the reason for this, but considering the limited usefulness of iterative attacks in the first place, rewarding a replacement of them may have constituted a more elegant trick. The PrC is intended to have its levels be treated as full kineticist levels, as well as class levels for martial classes. Here’s a nitpick: “martial classes” is not official rules-language; while often used as a catch-all term across boards, as far as rules-text is concerned, we really need that spelled out. Do inquisitors qualify? Bloodragers? Soulknives? You get the problem.

2nd level nets aether shrouded shield, which lets you use blasts to temporarily infuse resistances or miss chances into a wielded shield, which scale based on damage dice. This buff lasts 1 round; for 1 accepted burn, instead for Con-mod rounds. I like the idea, but the implementation is pretty weak. Also: “Lightning” is the damage type in 5e; it’s “electricity” in PFRPG. This level also allows for Kinetic Blade/cleave synergy, which later may be used with kinetic whip, though once more, +1 burn per target beyond first will make you hit the hard burn cap really fast.

At 3rd level, the kinetic wielding of weaponry allows for the 30-ft. at-range kinetic blast/weapon-combo attack, but once more costs 1 point of burn per round in which it’s maintained – per weapon, so while you may TWF this, it becomes pretty costly fast and, weirdly, there is not much reason to do so: You can’t deal blast damage when controlling more than one weapon thus. Additionally, reach and the like is somewhat opaque for this ability. At 4th level, the character can infuse the armor with aether blasts, self-granting DR/magic (lol) based on blast damage. At this level, a lot will have DR and, well, while there is burn-based duration-extension, I’m not blown away here. The 5th level ability increases the cap of burn acceptable per round by 1 and yields a free trip after crits with the telekinetically-wielded weaponry. Weird. The PrC,a s a whole, feels unfocused and doesn’t really have anything that makes me excited about it; the uses of burn are not particularly exciting.

The second PrC, the Cerulean Star Disciple must be non-evil, has d8 HD, 4 + Int skills per level, ½ BAb-progression and medium Fort- and Ref-save progression. The prerequisites are easy to meet and have a story-requirement, basically requiring that the target suffered from a nasty undead-effect à la mummy rot, level drain, etc. – I really like such instances. The PrC is obviously tied in to some extent, flavor-wise, with Desna (with serial numbers filed off), gaining starknife-proficiency. The PrC gains the cerulean fire blast, which acts as blue flame blast, but inflicts +1 damage to undead per die and such targets take a -2 penalty to atk and saves for class level rounds on a failed save. Additionally, the PrC gains kinetic healer as a utility wild talent sans requiring aether or water as elemental focus. PrC levels stack with kineticist levels for the purpose of maximum burn per round and infusion + wild talent qualification. 2nd level nets cleansing flames, which allows the character to increase burn cost of the kinetic healer variant by 1 or 2 to remove an array of negative conditions. 3rd level nets ½ holy damage (which does not exist in PFRPG) with cerulean fire blasts. Additionally, targets may be set ablaze, with the continuous damage being holy (again, does not exist). At 5th level, the damage is wholly transformed to the make-belief holy type and is treated as undead bane.

3rd level allows for the line, cone or sphere shaping of cerulean fire, all at the cost of 1 burn per 10 ft. the blast shape takes up, which is pretty restrictive. Thankfully, Ref applies for half damage for such AoE-blasts. 4th level nets a cerulean fire shield variant for 1 point of burn, lasting Con-mod rounds. At 5th level, the PrC also reduces burn cost of cerulean fire-based blasts by 1 to a minimum of 0 and gains +4 to saves versus undead special abilities. (Should be codified.) The character can regain burn when destroying undead, thankfully with a daily cap that prevents abuse.

All righty, after these, we get an array of new elements. All of the elements get their own saturation (Nice!). Since this review is already pretty long, I will not go through each and every wild talent o infusion. The first would be bone, which is different than what I expected: We get dual-physical damage type blasts and the basic tricks allow for the upgrade of unarmed attacks, for example. The tricks this provides often duplicate spells, e.g. ice spears, with damage changed to negative energy. While the majority of tricks here did not blow me away, I enjoyed the corpse explosion and the means to temporarily grant vulnerability to bludgeoning damage or eliminate a target’s skeletal defenses. Not a bad element, but one that could imho have used a couple more tricks that no other element can pull off.

The second element would be chaos…and, well, it’s chaotic: Immediate action rerolls, but on a second failure, the target is staggered for one round. The blast replaces 3d6s with 1d20, 2d6s with 1d12, making the base damage more swingy. Also: Free bane versus lawful targets. This would be less of an issue, but the blast is untyped, which I d not think is a good call here. (Untyped damage must be handled very carefully…) Problematic would, for example, be a barrier that auto-disintegrates missiles and even thrown weapons. Yeah, that plus +5 thing? It’s gone. No save. WTF. Horrid mutation, a 2 burn level 2 substance infusion is also a really versatile potential save or suck and should probably by at least qualified as a polymorph effect. We also have 0 burn utility subjective gravity for free wall walking etc. Note that this element isn’t necessarily bad, but it feels weird in some of its design decisions, as it’s hard to get either the evil or whimsical chaos angle properly here.

Crystal feels a bit like a brother of bone and earth, allowing for some caltrop-ing, a bit of terrain control and otherwise feeling kinda similar to earth; personally, I probably would have made this an extension of earth, as the light/refraction-angle associated with crystals isn’t really represented here. It’s not a bad element, but it could use a couple of more unique tricks.

Dream is very versatile, allowing you to mimic elemental blasts; however, the blasts are only partially real, meaning that a successful Will-save can greatly decrease their efficiency and the blast is mind-affecting to boot. Speaking with the sleeping, tracking in the realm of dreams and a ton of spell-duplicates can be found here. I like the focus of this one, as a whole, though it does require a bit of flexibility from the GM. I wouldn’t allow it in all campaigns, but if you have a dream-theme, it’s really neat- As a secondary element in particular, this one can be neat. As a whole, in spite of the spell-duplicates, one of my favorites herein.

The final new element would be time, and I’m going to spare you the sordid details, but this one is broken as all hell. It thinks that “supernatural aging” is a damage type (it’s not!) and sports options to advance targets on the age category for 2 blasts. Lol, that is fatal very quickly. We have a per-encounter ability (ironic, considering that encounters have nothing to do with time…and yes, insert my “per-encounter abilities make no sense*-rant right here!) Restore youth allows you to cheat age. WTF. Why are there liches? And Stop Time…is a clear case of “What were they thinking???” – it’s a level 9 utility wild talent, 1 burn…that vastly outclasses frickin’ time stop. Yeah, you heard me. Also: 5th level perma-aging. WTF.

We also get notes on spark of life and draining infusion and use with the new elements. There are 3 new utility wild talents: Kinetic blade/fist charge with a trail of energy, an elemental aura and an elemental body SP duplicator. Bolster Kinetic Defense can be pretty potent in some combos: It makes elemental defense be treated as though you had spent 1 burn on it and may be taken multiple times. Elemental Ambassador is weak-sauce: It nets you a bonus on Cha-based skill checks and an elemental language. Kinetic Crafting allows for minor crafting, but oddly does not cover all elements herein. Kinetic Synergy is a spellcasting/kineticist-combo feat that allows you to accept burn for more spell-damage or DCs. Yeah, not a fan. Spells don’t need more power. Kinetic Understanding allows for the limited use of spell-trigger and spell-completion items. Signature Infusion lets you choose an infusion and reduce burn cost by 1. Again, not 100% happy. Then again, Merciful Blast is glorious and, coincidentally, I wrote an analogue ability half a year ago: It allows the kineticist to blast at a lower power-level and for nonlethal blasts.

We also get 6 new magic items: Athame Ignus is a blade for fire specialists; condensed elemental energy is a category of item that is highly problematic: It’s basically a throwaway item that can take burn for you. While it’s priced pretty highly and grouped by level, it’s still something I would not allow. Then again, if you enjoy all-day casting and have no problem with pearl of power abuse in your game, then this won’t bother you either. Focus gauntlets enhance attacks with blasts. Nexus aloe oil is a burn remover, but repeated use causes the sickened condition – should imho have a caveat that it can’t be applied when the character is sickened already. Third eyes of elemental accuracy are yet another item to enhance the chance to hit. Whistling arrows are adamantine, have a slightly wonky rules-verbiage, and are intended for use with the archetype. The pdf closes with an array of mundane items that represent different stones: The proper kineticist-specialist in possession of such an item gains a minor insight bonus. I liked these.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, on a formal level, are very good. On a rules-language level, there are a couple of issues in the details, but as a whole, this is relatively tight, which is impressive considering the difficulty of the kineticist’s rules-chassis. Layout adheres mostly to a two-column full-color standard, with a couple of pages instead using a 1 –column standard. The pdf sports really nice full-color artworks, which, while public domain, are NOT ones I’ve seen time and again. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Andrew Hoskins, David S. McCrae and Jeff Harris did not have an easy task here: The kineticist is probably one of Paizo’s most difficult classes to design for: It requires serious understanding of both rules-language and math. Considering that, the pdf, for the most part, does a decent job. While there are issues here and there, particularly regarding the value of damage types, a crucial balancing tool for the kineticist, the pdf gets a lot right. But it has a big issue. You see, almost all kineticist-supplements released by 3rd party publishers have been done by N. Jolly and the members of his team KOP. And…well, they are amazing. The Kineticists of Porphyra-series and Legendary Kineticists (can’t say anything about Part II as per the writing of this review) are amazing; in particular, KOP III’s dimensional ripper is just pure amazing. There also is a kind of aesthetic going on here: As a non-vancian class, kineticists shine most when they don’t require spell-references, when they can do unique things.

The kineticist options in this book, while not bad, did simply not blow me away and left me ambivalent; add to that the minor hiccups and the appeal drops. Another problem I see here pertains that a LOT of the small design parts here add to the min-maxing game; we get escalation of numbers in depth, when the kineticist’s main issue is that it needs more versatility. The craftsmanship of this book is, as a whole, pretty solid, but there are relatively few aspects herein that I’d consider to be really neat. The pdf also sports, here and there, aspects that are frankly broken and should be kept out of the hands of min-maxers. As a whole, I am sorry to say this, but I was pretty underwhelmed by this pdf. If you’re a GM who is confident regarding the refining and scavenging of rules, then this may well be worth checking out, but it should receive careful monitoring. My final verdict cannot exceed 2.5 stars, though I will round up due to in dubio pro reo.

Endzeitgeist out.

Lets get started then shall we…

To be fair to all who read this I want to disclose that Flying Pincushion Games gave me my copy of “Into the Breach: The Kineticist” in exchange for this review. They requested I do not let this fact colour my view of the work and I intend to be as objective in my review as I can.

Conclusion I really like this PDF. The quality of the crunch and the fluff is suburb. This book adds a bunch of really cool things you could never do before, and they are portrayed evocatively. The mechanics all seem to be well thought out and balanced. Honestly, if you find the current state of the kineticist to be slightly lacking, this book is pretty much a must. I would consider the content here to be on a par with the much acclaimed Kinetecists of Porphyra series.

The only things that I find lacking is some of the art work, some of the more niche rules interactions not being spelled out, and a bit of a personal dislike of the Hellfire Kineteicist’s portrayal.

4/5

The really long detail

The pdf clocks in at 40 pages, the content starts on page 5 and ends on page 39. For those like me who like to look at these things it sits at 35 pages of content, at 6$ you are getting a page for 0.1714..$. Not important to a lot of you but I like to look at price per page. This comes in pretty nicely on this front to be honest. It isn’t a paizo hardcover by any means (Pathfinder Cor rulebook is 0.0173..$ per page) but sits very comfortably in the realm of smaller pdf’s and third party products. Now onto the actual content of the PDF.

The table of contents is well laid out and tells us what to expect in the rest of the book and I will be trying to structure the rest of my review according to the table we are given:

• About into the Breach
• New Archetypes
• New Prestige Classes
• New Elements
• New Wild Talents
• New Feats
• New Magic Items
• New Mundane Items

About into the Breach A typical about section, tells us exactly what the book is here to do, and what the entire series of “Into the Breach” is about.

New Archetypes Aetheric Marksman is the first archetype and is a properly awesome idea. It adds a bunch of neat tricks to aether as an element specifically when using arrows in conjunction with her blast. The mechanics are very fun, and seem well balanced. A few questions remain unanswered with regards to how burn from some of the specific abilities interact with gather power, how one of the abilities interact with the snake infusion (Piercing arrow) and there should probably be an action type specified for removing an arrow from her Burrowing Arrow ability.

A very cool idea. I would also almost like to suggest that the Aetheric Marksman get to pick any ammunition to use to gain bonuses. If you want to play a Steel Pusher from the Mistborn being able to pick coins with this class gives you exactly what you want.

Hellfire Kineticist is the second archetype. The Hellfire Kineticist is called out as being an archetype specifically for Tiefling’s with a devilish bloodline.

The archetype has some very cool abilities and reminds me a bit of ghost rider in some cases and just a normal evil at others. I want to say that the crunch here is absolutely amazing, and the fluff is very interesting. Overall a really cool class again. A great archetype for those characters who you want to have fight against their evil lineage to do good, and also helps remove one of the biggest issues with sticking to a single element (energy resistances).

Wind Whistler is the final archetype.

This. Is. Sheer. Awesome. If you have ever wanted to play a buffer, but also a kineticist, this right here is what you want. It has some seriously cool fluff and the mechanics back it up just as well. I am a bit dubious about tying some bonus damage into a skill check, but it adds a very interesting element to the class, and helps you lower the priority of constitution a bit if you want to. However, beware that though con is taken away from damage, it is not taken away from maximum burn. It would be worth saying whether or not her saves from bardic performance are based off of her constitution or charisma, but as it says “exactly as the bard class ability” it is probably charisma.

This may well be my favourite of the three archetypes, with the other two very close behind. There are a few question left unanswered here but overall all of the archetypes are awesome.

New Prestige Classes Here we are given two 5 level prestige classes, one which expands the Kineticists options with regards melee combat, allowing her to wield weapons with strands of aether and imbue her shield and armor with her blasts to increase her defences. I really like the idea behind the Aetheric Assailant and one of my favourite things it does is integrate cleave in a balanced way. It also keeps progressing your blasts!

Cerulean Star Disciple is an anti-undead kineticist. This PrC also increases your blast progression and the like which is welcome. This to me is what you would get if you crossed a cleric with a kineticist and turned the dial to 11. This PrC adds a bunch of support and some cool tricks to an element that can be missing that.

New Elements The new elements introduced are both awesome and very flavourful. The best thing for me is the sheer versatility and the amount of content there is on all of these elements. It really is impressive.

There is also a page on how different existing infusions effect these elements, and suggestions on how some existing elements combine with the draining infusion.

New Wild Talents A short and sweet section that adds some new and very cool utility abilities. One of these is something I am sure that everyone has wanted to do and been sad they have been unable to.

New Feats Much like the new wild talent section. Some of these might be a bit costly for feats, but most are very cool and flavourful. One gives you an elements language if you have overflow active, and give you a circumstance bonus on charisma based checks with native speakers.

New Magic Items The new whistling arrow introduced in this section couples well with the first archetype introduced in the book. It is a nifty tool. Overall this section actually has a bunch of items you would want to buy on a kineticist to help you spend all that money you don’t have anything to spend on.

New Mundane Items These all share the same price and offer a slew of neat bonuses to a kineticist of certain elemental affinities. Again, quite cool and very interesting.

A lot of material here.

As a fan of the kineticist I liked several of the options in this book.

The thing I found disappointing is that all the archetypes and prestige classes are element specific.

The PDF starts off with a brief description of what the series(Into the Breach) is about and then the table of contents. Before this is the cover art and a quote from [i]The Art of War[/i] that I think is really fitting for the class. Well done there.

Right after that we get to the archetypes.

Aetheric Marksman is an Aether Kineticist archetype that allows you to use a longbow or shortbow(with which you are proficient now) to make your Telekintic Blast. The damage you deal changes and feats like Rapid Shot don't work with it, but Weapon Focus(Kinetic Blast) works. The range is 60ft though, not the full increment of the bow, but any enhancements on your bow(like Flaming or Holy) apply and later you get the ability to grant your bow special properties too, albeit in exchange for taking burn. Later class features include turning arrows into small area of effect damage, piercing through a target to hit another and deal bleed, and shooting an arrow that digs itself deeper into the target.

Archetype Opinion: Not a bad archetype, but unless you can use Gather Power on the features that require burn(which I think you can, but I'm not sure) I don't see it being an all day use class.

Hellfire Kineticists(only available to devil-spawn tieflings) start off with an amazing ability: Half the damage of their fire blasts deal unholy damage. The second ability is an infusion(replacing first level infusion) that sickens or nauseates depending on if the target makes their save.

The part that makes me really hesitant is giving up elemental defense and a bunch of utility talents for being treated as an Outsider(Evil) and scaling bonus to fire and poison effects. Fire's Defense isn't good enough to warrant keeping it, but you can't gain one from any other element.

Later abilities include being able to know if someone has comitted an evil act and what it was, an imp familiar, and a pretty cool capstone.

Archetype Opinon: Pretty cool and evocative. It's a pretty neat archetype that is NOT evil only. Good job on this one, FPG!

Wind Whistler is an Air Kineticist archetype. I'm not so sure about it's first ability, which deals damage based on your Perform(wind) checks instead of adding your Constituion modifier. It's interesting, but skews damage a bit.

Next [i]all[/i] infusions are given up in exchange for getting bardic performances, including two unique to the archetype. Both are really cool, especially the one that allows you to give your Enveloping Winds to someone else! The rest of the abilities are equally good as well, with my favorite being trading your composite blast(you must choose Air are your expanded element) for a bardic masterpiece instead. You only get one though, but you can switch it out for free at 12th and 17th level for another one.

Archetype Opinion: This is just great. Without a doubt my favorite of the three archetypes. I'd have gone into more detail on describing the rest of it's abilities, but there are a lot and I don't wanna spoil them for anyone. :)

Prestige Classes: A sorely lacking option for kineticists so far. We get two in this PDF.

Aetheric Assailant is the Eldritch Knight of Kineticists, though it's a bit harder to get into(five feats[though on is armor proficiency], at least 3rd level kineticist, and one infusion).

It has full Base Attack Bonus and can use kinetic abilites(supernatural or spell-like) while Raging, which is a nice touch. You don't have to be a barbarian though, as even under the effects of the spell [i]rage[/i] you can use your abilities.

It also has the ability to add ther weapon damage dice(if using one) to their Kinetic Blade, but it comes at a hefty price: you target normal Armor Class and take cumulative burn for each attack beyond the first you make. Yikes!

It does get better from their though, with other abilities like your prestige class levels counting as kineticst and your martial class level for feats, channeling your Aether blast into your shield and/or armor, and even wielding one(or more!) weapon from afar. The capstone is being able to accept 1 extra point of burn in a round and free trip attempts when you confirm a critical hit.

Prestige Class Opinion: Pretty nice. I love prestige classes that you multiclass for, and Aetheric Assailant is really well made and balanced. I'd certainly play one.

Cerulean Star is for Pyro Kineticists that expanded into Fire twice. It's a five level prestige class that requires you to have Blue Flame blast to qualify. The weirdess bit is that Cerulean Stars gain proficiency with starknives. I mean, I get it, Star is in the name, but come on...

This prestige class is all about destroying undead. Your blast deals more damage against undead, you gain Kinetic Healer without needing Aether or Water that later can fix conditions like nauseated, setting undead on 'fire' that deals holy damage, and the capstone ability reduces your current burn by one every time you use Cerulean Fire to destroy an undead. I feel like that should've been the fourth level ability though, since their Heavenly Radiance ability at level 4 allows you to make your Cerulean Fire deal either full Holy damage, half Fire and half Holy, or full Fire damage as you choose. That's amazing.

Prestige Class Opinion: For what it does this prestige class does it well. While it is good at destroying undead it also has potential for fighting other kinds of evil creatures. It's a lovely class that has it's place in just about any campaign.

Now we move on to the new Elements.

Bone, first, is very creepy. It should be. Talents you can pick up include causing bones spurs to erupt out of the ground or give your blasts the [i]ghost touch[/i] quality. The defense is pretty thematic too.

Chaos is next and it have a [i]very[/i] unusual blast. First it is treated as [i]bane[/i] against Lawful subtyped creatures, deals no damage to Chaotic subtyped creatures, and changes damage dice into d20s and d12s as it increases. Whoa, weirdness! The defense gives you bonuses to avoid being grappled and getting out, lower armor check penalty, and gives you fortification that stacks with elemental overflow.

Crystal's defense is one that doesn't scale. Not by accpeting Burn, anyway. It gives you an armor bonus to your Armor Class and Touch Armor class that's based off of Con, and can blind those that hit you, no save, for a round. Crystal also has neat talents like increased crit range, bleed damage, and deflecting rays.

Dream is another with a neat blast. Think [i]shadow evocation[/i] but mimics other kinetic blasts instead. Need fire damage? Use it. Targets do get a will save for drastically reduced damage, and its mind-affecting so immunites and resistances apply. It's defense lets you continue to function if something makes you fall asleep, and you can accept to gain bonuses against mind-affecting spells and effects. It's not all nice though, as one utility talent is [i]phantasmal killer.[/i]

Time has two different blasts, one for aging others and another to throw weapons like a TK blast. It's defense is a Dodge bonus you can accept Burn to increase. It has a utility talent for running or charging up walls and across ceilings, so you have some nice movement options too.

There is a great section about Spark of Life and the new elements, and feats after that like treating one elemental defense as already having one point of Burn, or qualifying for any item creation feat. Kineticists making potions of Mage Armor and wands of Fireball are possible now, and that's great.

One feat really stands out as a way to act like you are less of a threat or be more careful with your damage. Merciful Blast treats any blast damage as non-lethal and you can reduce the damage you deal like you were a lower level than you really are. This is great for a few reasons, like a villain working with the party and not want to reveal the extent of their power.

After that there are sections for magical and mundane items, a quick glance of which really fit and looks nice.

All in all this is a great pdf that expands on the kineticist in ways I feel have been needed while also being different from other books.