So, the author of the Kineticists of Porphyra series comes to Legendary Games and writes a new book on kineticists. If you bought this book, you already know what a kineticist is, so let’s jump into the action!

We start with a couple of archetypes, the first one being the Artistic Summoner for water and wood kineticists, and their blasts get a little cosmetic change: water becomes ink and wood paper, and they get the oil infusion for free when applied to their special blasts, even reducing the cost by one and not counting as the one substance blast.

The AS gets the summon monster ability of the summoner class, but summon neutral construct version of monsters made from either a drawing or origami, at the cost of a couple of wild talents and all instances of expanded element. They do have extra access to some artsy talents from the elemental lists, getting them as universal and also get access to the other element and blast at 10th level, plus an exclusive composite blast. All in all a weird, anime-y archetype with cool visuals and a completely different playstyle than the base kineticist. Perfect for those who like art but don’t like the bard class.

Then we get the awakened bloodrager. These guys lose their bloodline, but in exchange they get a lot of abilities from the kineticist class. A very strong hack of the base bloodrager, but one that lets a full-BAB class to dabble in kinetics.

Another class that can dabble in kinetics is the bard with the Evoker Minstrel archetype. These bards can make instruments made of elemental energy and blast with them. They also get some toys from the Soundweaver kineticist archetype. Who’s that? Another high concept kineticist archetypes that dabbles in bard-rery. They get more skills and skill points and the saves of the bard class, but way more than that. They get access to bardic masterpieces and even get some of their own! This archetypes changes so much it needs 3 pages just for it! I’m wowed and really want to play one of these two archetypes, doing the obvious and being a sound kineticist, found in KoP1.

After these bard-y archetypes, we get to my favorite one from the book: The Surge Fist monk for the unchained monk. These guys not only dabble in kinetics, they get their own, unique stuff and feel more like benders than any other kineticist or monk archetype out there, with a dash of Street Fighter just like the doctor ordered. Interesingly, they can use their kit to fuel burn costs, which make me wonder if an ascetic kineticist archetype could be done that loses burn but gets a ki pool? Anyway these guys rock!

Following this awesome beast is the true psychic, which are masters of the aether and mind elements. Wait, mind? Yes, that is the new element found in this book! They get both from the start and never get access to any other element, but they don’t need to. These guys represent psychics in a way neither Occult Adventures’ psychics nor Ultimate Psionics’ psion can! How? Well, they use the kineticist chassis! As such, they never get tired or run out of energy or spells, but the burn mechanic could represent mental fatigue. I would have altered the base kineticist a bit more, at the very least changing Con for Int for damage and stuff, but this archetype presents an iconic concept through unusual methods so I’m just being spoiled.

We finish this section with a more modest archetype, the War Kineticist, whose powers are a bit stronger but more volatile and ephemeral. Perfect for those who have a YOLO mentality. Then we get a short list of new talents, most of them universal, and wild talents, many of which are for wood and void elements. Of note, the author states that most are for the mind element, which none are. I suppose it was an editing mistake since all the mind element talents are in their own section.

After talents we have feats, some of these archetype-specific. Kineticists with the Kinetic Chirurgeon archetype get access to channel energy, both positive and negative. After the feats we have a couple of kineticist-themed magic items.

From now on, it’s pure neurokineticist. We get to see the new mind element, which of course introduces extra class skills, simple and composite blasts and defense wild talent, and immediately continue with infusions, utility wild talents, a mind elemental saturation and a sample 12th true psychic neurokineticist.

Among the infusion wild talents we can find a lot of psychic-y stuff: domination, forced mindlink, amnesia, sleep, confusions, daze… even a nasty save-or-suck lobotomizing infusion that fries the poor victim’s mind so bad that they lose their intelligent score! All of these infusions belong to the mind element, and as such they all have a will save to negate or reduce the effect. While all of these debuffs sound too strong, especially for a blast all day class, remember that they are mind-affecting effects and have a will save, which most other infusions for the traditional elements do not. Also, they all have a huge burn cost, so if you though you could go around lobotomizing here and there, well, bad news for you. Now, the utility wild talents cover a lot of what you would expect from a mind-bender, psychic, telepath or any other master of the mind. You get access to many spell-like abilities based on actual spells, you get to heal the mind, dominate opponents, predict their actions, enthrall them, you get to participate on psychic duels with the right toys!

While awesome doesn’t equal powerful, this is that kind of psychic that sounds like both. We have come a long way since Gygax included psionics in D&D! If there is one flaw in the neurokineticist, is that you will want to focus on the mind element, since its toys are so good!

The npc is an ex-slave slaver with an interesting story, and it includes a boon!

Closing up, the Legendary Kineticist is a very welcome addition to the game, and one that pushes the boundaries of what a kineticist is or can be. Even if it was only the neurokineticist, it would be worth the asking price! Kudos for N. Jolly and the Legendary Games team!