Is Twinsoul Elementalist Good? (SoP)

[SangoProduction]

http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/twinsoul-elementalist

So, normal Elementalist is just plain disappointing, and the blasting job is done better by just playing a full caster with more talents, and versatility. But this archetype lets you take an elemental (with HD and CL equal to 3/4 of your CL, when CL is is 3/4 of your class level), in exchange for not casting Destruction at full CL.

Instead, starting at level 2, you can channel through the elemental as a full round action, which uses your elemental's CL + your full class level. This means you get effective full caster level + 9/16 (little over 1/2). That seems incredibly efficient, for just an extra move action....of course, a full caster can just summon many more caster minions, but...that's cheesier than having a class feature that says to do this specific thing.

Also, a full caster, sure, he can have 50 caster minions, but each of them have a CL of 3/4, which means lower DC, and stuff.

Anyway, do you reckon that this is sufficient to make an Elementalist a compelling blaster? It's certainly a compelling concept at least.

[Blackhawk748]

It sounds functional enough to me, and you get an Elemental Companion, and thats not nothing.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

I mean if you just want to be a blaster (some do), Elementalist X/Incanter 1 is hard to beat considering the CL boosts to Destruction. Same with specializing in the Nature sphere using the Geomancer archetype.

As for this archetype, the main draws seem to be the unusual angles of attack it allows and the extra body on the field. A downgrade in raw power in exchange for a bit more versatility is a roughly lateral move imo

[SangoProduction]

I mean if you just want to be a blaster (some do), Elementalist X/Incanter 1 is hard to beat considering the CL boosts to Destruction. Same with specializing in the Nature sphere using the Geomancer archetype.

As for this archetype, the main draws seem to be the unusual angles of attack it allows and the extra body on the field. A downgrade in raw power in exchange for a bit more versatility is a roughly lateral move imo

Incanter 1 (specialized in to Destruction) only offers +1 CL, while channeling through the elemental offers ...3/4 of what I said before, because mage template is 3/4-1 CL to HD (rather than 1-1), and its HD is 3/4-1 of your CL, which is 3/4-1 of you level (barring Magical Knack), which is 27 / 64, or about 1/3 of your Elementalist level added to your effective CL while channeling through the thingy. Which means you'd need to be at least 6th level to come out ahead on that exchange, but at least you break even at level 3. Not too impressive at only 1/3 of your level as a boost. Probably more reasonable though.

On the brightside, it's still effectively 9/16 for the first 8 levels with Magical Knack (so +4 over 8 levels). I'm not certain in what way this is a downgrade in raw power, aside from coming online one level later. Now, it does certainly give someone an avenue to attack you and basically cut your CL from 10 to 6, attacking your elemental. But if they attack that instead of you, well that's just fantastic. You aren't dead.

EDIT: ....OOoooh. Staff Wielding Companion also grants it +1 caster level in a sphere per 3 HD. So, in actuality, if that's taken, it's adding about 1.08 times its HD in CL. So, yeah. Woo. It's back up to my original prediction of about 1/2 of your level (past level 8) in bonus CL.

[stack]

Staves are enhancement bonuses, so don't stack with destructive capacitor.

Any mid caster is one talent away from full CL with one conjuration companion.

[SangoProduction]

Staves are enhancement bonuses, so don't stack with destructive capacitor.

Any mid caster is one talent away from full CL with one conjuration companion.

Ah good catch. I forgot that twin soul uses enhancement bonuses.

Also, neat find on the Boon Companion. Can't tell you how many time I've just not seen it despite combing over the talents.

[AlienFromBeyond]

I'm not sure what takes precedence in the case of taking the Greater Blast talent on both yourself and your elemental conduit (since one says they stack, and the other says they don't), but if your GM rules that they do stack you can build up quite a few extra dice for blasting. It's not even really "cheating" as the elemental conduit wouldn't have more Greater Blasts than its augmented caster level from Destructive Capacitor is anyways. If it's in a good position and doesn't need to move much Gather Energy talent will let it seriously use that extra CL without burning through even more of your SP.

[Domar]

Make sure your Elemental Conduit takes Additional Traits (Gift for Magic(Destruction)) for plus two Destruction caster level.

If you can spare evasion add the Martial Companion archetype, trade natural attacks for Battle Creature, take Battle Creature a second time and trade it's martial weapon proficiency for a martial tradition, Tattooed Warrior is a good choice. Get Reckless as your second trait to boost unarmored training.

Get your Elemental Conduit a Destructive Focus weapon to boost it's blasts further.

If you ride your Elemental Conduit you can stay mobile while channeling. Play a small race so you can ride medium companion indoors.