I feel we've got this guideline in spellcasting stats that tells us that arcane spellcasters use intelligence, divine spellcasters use wisdom, and spontaneous spellcasters use charisma. I think this is largely a relic of earlier editions, where we had 2 spellcasting classes (or at least spellcasting archtypes), one that always used int and one that always used wisdom, and then we got the sorcerer in 3rd edition. In any case, I was thinking about tweaking these classes a little, and changing their primary casting attribute to reflect the flavor of the class as opposed to the mechanics of it. I just have two questions for the community
1) Would this be relatively balanced?
3) Can you help me settle on appropriate stats for a few classes?
Here's my guideline for determining which stats to assign to which classes...
Intelligence is used when a caster's competence comes from their ability to understand a formula or grasp relatively academic concepts.
Wisdom is used by casters who depend on an understanding and interpretation of a philosophy or abstract power.
Charisma is used when a caster depends on force of will or strength of conviction.
Keeping these guidelines in mind, here's what I've got so far. I confess, I may be taking a few liberties with flavor. I'm not saying everyone needs to go along with it, this is just how I interpret them in my campaign.
Wizard: Intelligence. No change here. Wizards deconstruct magic and approach it from a highly academic perspective.
Magus: Intelligence. For the same reason as wizards.
Alchemist: Intelligence. They're "casting" is based entirely on formulae, equations, and ratios regarding ingredients.
Summoner: Intelligence. Their magic is tied to their understanding of a relationship of the planes of the Great Beyond, and of the outsiders who reside there. I see them as being astrologists and numerologists.
Cleric: Charisma. I want to play up that even though they must serve a god, the strength of their spells is fueled by the strength of their faith and conviction. Channeling energy still uses Cha, and the daily uses of their domain powers uses Wis, depending on a deeper understanding of a specific facet of their deity.
Paladin: Charisma. Fueled by conviction, even if they don't follow a deity.
Druid: Wisdom. The stronger their understanding of the natural world, the stronger their connection to it grows. They might develop different outlooks or philosophies regarding nature, but rarely are these academic in nature.
Ranger: Wisdom. For the same reason as the druid.
Sorcerer: Charisma. Their power is a manifestation of will and an understanding of themselves.
Oracle: Wisdom. Their power depends on their ability to understand and interpret their mystery. Revelations are also based off of wisdom.
I'm not entirely sure about the Witch, Bard, or Inquisitor. I'm leaning towards Wisdom for the witch (a similar change would also be made to their hexes), since I feel like their magic is based on folk wisdom rather than academic studies. Inquisitors and bards present me with a predicament of balance, because I'd LIKE to change inquisitors to Cha for the same reasons as a cleric, and I'd like to make Bards int-based casters (their magic, as in earlier editions, is just something they pick up haphazardly and learn as they go, not necessarily an inborn ability), but both of those classes have a number of mechanics that are tied to Wis and Cha respectively, and I feel like making them more MAD would be an issue.
Thoughts?
if you change the casting stat you may as well change the special ability stat to match. why do anything halfway, you know.
i like dividing the arcane/religion/nature spellcasting between the 3 different mental stats, it has good mechanical and flavorful logic behind it
spontaneous casters are their own animals, but i think keeping the dynamic of basing them off their derivative of magic is still the way to go, it would change bards to INT, inquisitors to CHA, and leave oracles where they are
sorcerers ive always felt should have their casting stat be based off their bloodline, since some can be natural based or holyness based as well as arcane
personally i'd do away with the oracle and have all spontaneous casters be sorcerers, and the only difference between them would be which of the 3 kinds of magic they draw from (or specifically, what spell list they use)
but thats a whole different kind of home brew
I have personally ALWAYS hated that the Witch is an INT based caster... They even describe the witch obtaining power from a patron... if someone is GIVING you power then you are beholden to them. They are essentially Arcane based clerics, which is a very fitting description based on both Wiccan descriptions of witches (as people dedicated to a holistic and enlightened approach towards nature and interconnection) as well as the more fiendish devil's courtesan (the "I saw XXX dancing naked with the devil at midnight!!!" black magic wielding wicked witch).
Based on THAT description alone... witches sound like WIS based casters. This would also make them unique as they would be the only WIS based arcane caster in Pathfinder.
When you read the back story for the iconic witch she is described as a faithful of Dezna and it is alluded that Dezna is her patron... so... Dezna gives this random girl in the woods phenomenal cosmic powers as long as she keeps a fox, but the dutiful priestess in the village steadfastly dedicating herself to her goddess can't skip morning prayers because... no magic for you! I don't buy it.
Witches FEEL wisdom based. Wizards FEEL Intelligence. And that should be what separates them. Well... that and a Spell list. Witch spells are so woefully lacking in pomp and circumstance.
Bards seem appropriately CHA. Power stems from Music or more broadly "talent/performance" the ability to sway people with your music/story/dance/poem/etc., if you were to ask me what attribute seems to most typify "talent" I would say that it is CHA. Yes you need to study (INT) a medium in order to be proficient, and yes finding the deeper meaning (WIS) inside of a movement would contribute to an understanding, but I am would say that feeling/becoming the performance is seen as the most influential factor in swaying your audience and that seems like CHA. Take the movie Black Swan, Portman is definitely the most skilled (INT) dancer in the studio, but for the role of Black Swan the director says look at Kunis- she is raw, she is untamed bla bla bla she has CHARISMA!
Inquisitors seem WIS based... Not so much do to a dedication to a God or the faithfulness they have (though that is in their description) but I see the Inquisitor as being the Interrogator of pathfinder. They are all about the torture scene and reading people. Sense motive and Perception are WIS based and those seem like the entire spell base and out of combat skill set the Inquisitor is working with.
Another necro'd thread?
It really depends on your interpretations of the ability scores and the flavor of the classes. For me, Intelligence works fine for witches. I think of the patron as more of a teacher than some entity a witch devotes their faith into. Mechanically, that's all the patron does anyway -- teach the witch spells they normally couldn't learn. Additionally, when I think of a witch, I think of a spellcaster that performs their magic through arcane rituals rather than invoking some kind of heritage.
