What's a kineticist like? I found a diadem for them a while back. Are they like monks who can use spells or something?
Not at all like a monk, they are basically dedicated forever ray/nuke spammers craft their own unique attacks. Can pick from a bunch of elements, forms (think ray vs blast vs explosion vs. pulsing AoE), and attach riders like knockdown or blind to these depending on element. Depending on element you can also hit touch AC which makes them super reliable (though touch AC elements deal less damage). They can also empower/maximize/etc their attacks and have a sort of reserve that allows them to do even more impressive stuff a limited number of times per day depending on their CON.
Also, I'm beginning to suspect that maces might be a little shit. Its not that I'm doing poorly with them, its just that I think there might be better weapons.
Still better than picks though, which seem kind of rubbish.
The game is pretty good about supporting a lot of weapon types but the number of weapon types is still way, way too high for them all to see action. Can always respec. One way to do it is to pick a weapon that a companion you won't be taking uses, since companion weapon types are obviously itemized pretty well.