Petition / Request for Errata: Wood Magic School

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Why isn't the wooden phalanx spell part of the Wood Magic School spell list? They were both introduced in Ultimate Magic, and it's obviously a perfect fit...so why not, and can something be done to induct it into the School? This would also be a good idea since it would add some upper-level power to a School I've heard criticized as weak.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Let me also suggest (as a secondary consideration) the following good candidates for addition to the Wood School (since the conventional Schools grow inherently with each new published spell, but the Elemental Schools have been neglected):

1st: peacebond, air bubble, adhesive spittle, discern next of kin, anticipate peril, gentle breeze, illusion of calm, ventriloquism, longshot, forced quiet, feather fall, shillelagh, thorn javelin
2nd: book ward, warding weapon, arrow eruption, vine strike, share language, share memory, delay pain, qualm, companion life link, life pact, adhesive blood, buoyancy, certain grip, glide, greensight, barkskin, tar ball, web shelter
3rd: shield companion, ash storm, air geyser, heatstroke, hollow blades, resinous skin, strangling hair, warp wood, hold person, wood shape, burst of nettles, fungal infestation, calm air
4th: tough crowd, hurricane blast, bloody arrows, blight, thorn body
5th: plant shape I, arboreal hammer, antiplant shell, hold monster, phantasmal web, rubberskin, explosion of rot, wall of thorns
6th: plant shape II, unwilling shield, tar pool, repel wood, serenity
7th: plant shape III, mass hold person, changestaff, siege of trees
8th: rain of arrows, vinetrap, whirlwind
9th: mass hold monster, greater siege of trees

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Add to the above a few more worthy candidates for addition to the Wood School

1st: nauseating dart, transfer tattoo
2nd: climbing beanstalk, lay of the land, stabilize powder
3rd: burdened thoughts, spore burst, status, agonizing rebuke, anchored step, sepia snake sigil, thorny entanglement
4th: sensory amplifier, lesser age resistance
5th: cape of wasps, hallucinogenic smoke, village veil,
6th: age resistance, swarm skin
7th: greater age resistance, waves of ecstasy

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

And a few stragglers:

1st: alter musical instrument, refine improvised weapon, jury-rig, abundant ammunition, defoliate
2nd: returning weapon, track ship, ricochet shot

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

With a cherry on top:

3rd: flame arrow

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

*BUMP*

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

*BUMP* This is a real question....

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

ANYBODEEEEE???

[Kryzbyn]

LOUD NOISES!

[John Compton]

I wouldn't call this errata, for it's not changing how an existing feature works. Rather, what you are requesting sounds like an expansion of the options available—a feature I'd usually expect to see in a subsequent publication. It might be something that could appear in an upcoming book.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Good to hear. Elemental Wizardry has been sorely neglected since being published.

May I ask what you think of my suggested additions?

[John Compton]

I agree with many but not all of your choices. There are two main considerations I would take into account when expanding the elementalist wizard schools.

Limit the addition of non-wizard spells. Both the metal and wood schools add a very limited number of spells to the sorcerer/wizard list—enough to reinforce the theme, but not so many as to overshadow the druid's list. In a publication, I would probably add few (if any) additional spells that a wizard could not already cast.

Prioritize the hardcover RPG books. At least from a publication standpoint, it's a lot cleaner when we reference spells in hardcover books, as those are supported in Paizo's Pathfinder Reference Document. Otherwise—and I acknowledge that sites like Archives of Nethys provide such rules information online—we're basically telling the customer that in order to use the book she just bought, she has to buy another book.

The tricky bit about the wood school is that it covers a very broad range of concepts, including illusion, air, flexibility, teamwork, spells with the charm subschool, and literal plants. As a result, there are lots of spells that one could fit into the school, but I'd be inclined to approach it with a slightly less permissive sieve.

[John Compton]

It's worth adding that I would limit this to hardcover books for a print publication. From a house rules perspective, one could readily incorporate spells from any source without any concerns.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

John Compton wrote:

Limit the addition of non-wizard spells. Both the metal and wood schools add a very limited number of spells to the sorcerer/wizard list—enough to reinforce the theme, but not so many as to overshadow the druid's list. In a publication, I would probably add few (if any) additional spells that a wizard could not already cast.

Might there be a "degrees of separation" factor, as well, i.e. would you be more open to spells that showed up on the Bard/Witch lists as opposed to just divine mage lists (and might one of those two be considered closer to wizardry than the other)?

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Thanks for replying, by the way!

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

For sake's sake, looking at your stated guidelines, a revised list for expanding the Wood school might look like this:

Cantrips - detect poison
1st - peacebond, air bubble, adhesive spittle, discern next of kin, anticipate peril, gentle breeze, illusion of calm, ventriloquism, longshot, forced quiet, alter musical instrument, refine improvised weapon, jury-rig, abundant ammunition, feather fall
2nd - life pact, warding weapon, arrow eruption, share language, share memory, delay pain, qualm, companion life link, adhesive blood, certain grip, glide, web shelter, stabilize powder, returning weapon, ricochet shot
3rd - resinous skin, shield companion, ash storm, air geyser, strangling hair, hold person, anchored step, sepia snake sigil, flame arrow
4th - blight, lesser age resistance
5th - plant shape I, hold monster, phantasmal web, village veil
6th - plant shape II, unwilling shield, tar pool, serenity, age resistance
7th - plant shape III, mass hold person, waves of ecstasy, greater age resistance
8th - N/A
9th - mass hold monster, wooden phalanx

AND, were we to add in a few spells from outside the Wizard list (based on the merits of passable similarity to wizardry, and just totally fitting the "xylomancy" bill), I might nominate the following:

Cantrips - virtue
1st - thorn javelin, nauseating dart
2nd - tar ball, climbing beanstalk
3rd - barkskin, warp wood, wood shape, burst of nettles, thorny entanglement
4th - fungal infestation
5th - wall of thorns, thorn body
6th - antiplant shell
7th - repel wood
8th - whirlwind
9th - N/A