Blighted Defiler

A few kineticists have developed the ability to steal the life force from the surrounding land in order to infuse themselves with unnatural strength beyond their bodies’ normal capabilities.

Alignment: Blighted defilers must be evil in order to use steal power, since defiling the land and reaping the vulnerable for power is a particularly vile act. Non-evil blighted defilers can continue to gain kineticist levels and use their other abilities.

Steal Power (Su)

A number of times per day equal to their Strength modifier, a blighted defiler can draw energy from the surrounding land to gather power, gaining one of the three following benefits.

They can increase the burn reduction from gather power by 1 for a kinetic blast wild talent.

Alternatively, they can use gather power to reduce the cost of a defense, infusion, or utility wild talent by 1, regardless of whether they gather power for longer or have abilities that increase the burn reduction from gather power.

Finally, they can siphon the energy into healing themselves, recovering 2 hit points per kineticist level.

When a blighted defiler uses steal power, they afflict the area within a radius of 250 feet per kineticist level (maximum 5,000 feet at 20th level) by stunting plants as the stunt growth option from diminish plants, weakening and killing minor wildlife (creatures too small or insignificant to themselves have statistics), and reducing the rate of live birth among the other surviving creatures in the area. If a blighted defiler uses steal power in an area that overlaps a previous use of their steal power within the same month, they expend a daily use and the remaining area is still blighted as above, but they don’t gain any benefits. Steal power doesn’t work in barren landscapes, the void of space, or other places without enough life to steal.

This alters gather power.

Elemental Might (Ex)

A blighted defiler uses their Strength modifier instead of their Constitution modifier to determine their damage with wild talents, the DCs of Constitution-based wild talents, the durations of wild talents with Constitution-based durations, their bonus on concentration checks for wild talents, and other Constitution-based effects of their wild talents. They can’t use abilities to substitute their Strength modifier for another ability score when determining damage from wild talents.

A blighted defiler gains attack and damage bonuses from elemental overflow based on their current burn total + the number of times they successfully used steal power that day. For instance, a 9th-level blighted defiler who used steal power twice and had 1 point of burn would add a +3 bonus on attack rolls and a +6 bonus on damage rolls. A blighted defiler does not gain size bonuses to physical ability scores or a chance to ignore critical hits and sneak attacks from elemental overflow.

This alters the key ability score of wild talents and elemental overflow.

Life Buffer (Su)

At 6th level, a blighted defiler gains a buffer they can use to store life potential from healthy areas in order to use it later. They must use steal power on a healthy area and take none of the three usual benefits, and this doesn’t count as a use of steal power for elemental might or stolen strength. This grants their buffer 1 life point. It can hold 1 life point at 6th level, 2 life points at 11th level, and 3 life points at 16th level. When using steal power, they can spend 1 life point to gain the benefits even in an area they already blighted that month.

Life points remain in the buffer until they spends them.

This replaces internal buffer.

Stolen Strength (Su)

At 6th level, a blighted defiler gains the ability to collect unused portions of the life they’ve stolen throughout the day to bolster themselves.

After the third time they successfully use steal power in a given day, they gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and to either Dexterity or Constitution until they recovers uses of steal power. Starting at 11th level, after the fifth time the blighted defender successfully uses steal power in a day, they instead gain a +4 size bonus to Strength and a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and Constitution, and they can use the life energy to increase their size category by one (to a maximum of Large). Starting at 16th level, after the seventh time the blighted defender successfully uses steal power in a day, their size bonuses increase to +6 to Strength, +4 to either Dexterity or Constitution, and +2 to the remaining ability score, and they can also grow to Huge. Finally, at 20th level, after the 9th time they successfully use steal power in a day, they can also grow to Gargantuan. All of these size increases function as kinetic form, meaning they don’t change their ability scores in any way. A blighted defiler can never gain a defense wild talent or the expanded defense utility wild talent.

This replaces elemental defense.

Steal Life (Su)

At 20th level, a blighted defiler who successfully uses steal power when gathering power as a move action can use a standard action on the same turn and choose a living creature within 30 feet. The creature must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC = 20 + the blighted defiler’s Strength modifier) or die; this is a death effect. If the creature dies and was CR 10 or higher, on the blighted defiler’s next turn, they count as if they had used a full round to gather power with steal power. If the target survives or was lower than CR 10, they lose all benefits from both their gather power and steal power, as normal at the end of their turn.

This replaces omnikinesis.