Fighter with 0 / 1-lvl spellcasting

[Gorbacz]

Howdy,

One of my players wants to play a straight full-BAB non-spellcasting martial (preferably a Fighter) and asked me if there's any way his character could be able to cast a limited (2-3 max) number of 0/1-level spells/SLAs/psychic powers without resorting to multiclassing or to playing a Magus. Are there any feats/archetypes that grant such abilities? Paizo and 3PP sources are all welcome.

[Saethori]

You want the Child of Acavna and Amaznen, from Arcane Anthology. It fits what you want almost perfectly.

[Dark Lord Fluffy]

Well there is Paladin and Ranger. Do they not fit the bill?

[Gorbacz]

I forgot to add that he wants to play a non-spellcasting martial (Fighter preferably) so all the 4/9 casters are pretty much a no-go.

Child of A&A looks interesting, thanks Saethori! Does anybody know where it can be found on d20pfsrd, as it can't appear under that name there? I have the book, but I'd love to shoot a link to the player so he can take a look at it.

[Saethori]

D20pfsrd is very bad regarding Golarion content*, and did not upload the archetype. You will have to inform him of the archetype in a more direct fashion.

(*I'm aware they can't actually reference things due to being commercial, but there are a lot of instances where they just don't bother.)

[Dark Lord Fluffy]

I'm sorry, but isn't Child of A&A just a fighter archetype that turns them into a arcane 4/9th caster? What exactly do they want and why are they hung up on fighter?

[Gorbacz]

And sadly Archives of Nethys is on a back-log due to back-pains. Cast that heal spell faster, Nethys!

[Gorbacz]

Dark Lord Fluffy wrote:

I'm sorry, but isn't Child of A&A just a fighter archetype that turns them into a arcane 4/9th caster? What exactly do they want and why are they hung up on fighter?

What he wants is ability which would be similar to spell-casting rogue talents, from what I understood. CoA&A might be a bit too far, true, but then again maybe the player will be inspired by it and go all the way. At any rate, I'd never happen upon this archetype on my own :)

And he's an "always Human Fighter" person. Not much room for argument there :)

[Dark Lord Fluffy]

It might just be simpler to let him take those rogue talents as feats then. It is a quick and simple fix.

[Thunderrstar]

Variant Multiclassing into wizard may do the trick

[RainyDayNinja]

What about the magic item mastery feats? They would actually be more powerful spells, and require some different gear choices, but they could work.

[avr]

From least complex to most,

2-3 1st level spells sounds like a one-level dip in a 6 or 9 level casting class. If you want to use light armor most archetypes of magus or bard will do, or for more try investigator, alchemist, or any divine or psychic 6 or 9 level caster.

Use Magic Device exists. Takes a little effort or time to be worthwhile, true.

Item Mastery feats. You can take these straight out of the box or try something slightly fancy like the Barroom Brawler feat, or a brawler class dip to pick them up spontaneously. Cartman wrote a guide about the fancy options.

[GM Rednal]

As far as 3PP goes, Spheres of Power has the Spirit-Wielder archetype, which turns their weapon into an intelligent one and gives it access to a small number of magical powers.

[Cellion]

There are some feats that grant 0th and 1st level spells as SLAs. Take a look at Psychic Disciple and its pre-reqs. It'll give you that little bit of spellcasting flavor, and fighters have enough feats to support it. Its also pretty similar to the rogue talent options.

The other option may be to play a race that has racial SLAs.

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

Dark Lord Fluffy wrote:

I'm sorry, but isn't Child of A&A just a fighter archetype that turns them into a arcane 4/9th caster? What exactly do they want and why are they hung up on fighter?

Presumably he wants a package that has all of the bonus combat feats of a fighter, AND a bit of spellcasting.

[Balgin]

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

Dark Lord Fluffy wrote:

I'm sorry, but isn't Child of A&A just a fighter archetype that turns them into a arcane 4/9th caster? What exactly do they want and why are they hung up on fighter?

Presumably he wants a package that has all of the bonus combat feats of a fighter, AND a bit of spellcasting.

Well obviously something would need to be traded in for extra power.

Has he considered playing a gnome? Or perhaps looking for some other race with daily spell like abilities? That would be the obvious workaround. That way he doesn't ever need to worry about learning any new spells. He's got his one or two or three things that he can do extra and he gets to be a fighter too.

Actually aren't there a handful of Cavalier orders that have some form of minor spellcasting or magic item use? I believe there's the one that wants to be a cleric and the one that wants to be a wizard.

[Grandlounge]

It is not quite what you are looking for but arcane train for half elves. Gives you a caster level for the purpose of activating magic items. So he can use wands and scrolls.

The other option is to pick a race with spell like abilities. Ifrits have enlarge person once a day that's awesome for a fighter. I'm sure there are others.

[Dark Lord Fluffy]

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

Presumably he wants a package that has all of the bonus combat feats of a fighter, AND a bit of spellcasting.

Well he shot down Paladin and Ranger as too magical. With their various fighting styles, rangers are almost as feat blessed as fighters.

[master_marshmallow]

Child of Acavna and Amaznen is great when you allow the other fighter toys to work.

It more or less requires that Unchained Combat Stamina is turned on and granted to fighters (something mostly widely accepted by its own text anyway). It allows Arcane Strike, Arcane Armor Training, Combat Casting, and other usually useless combat feats to be relevant for the first time ever.

VMC magus works so well on the archetype that it's basically a full BAB version of the magus, and those magus arcana allow Spell Blending to access utility spells off the wizard list that bloodragers don't get access to, as well as other cool abilities that make your spellcasting work better like the 1/day metamagic arcanas.

[Johnnycat93]

Fey Magic human alternate racial trait will give him three 0-level and one 1st level spell.

[Blindmage]

A mix of the following:

Feat: Arcane Talent:
1 0-lvl sorc/wis spell, 3/day as SLA, CL = Character Level, DC:10 + cha

Trait (Regional) Arcane Dabbler:
2 non harmful cantrips, 1/day each, CL 1, if CL in casting class use that

Trait (Magical) Magical Talent:
Choose 1 0-lvl spell, 1/day as SLA, CL 1, if CL in casting class use that

That could give you a Fighter with:
3 Sorcerer/Wizard Cantrips (2 must be non-harmful)
1 0-lvl spell from any other list

so you could take..

Acid Splash 3/day
Light 1/day
Mending 1/day
Purify Food and Drink 1/day

[Sundakan]

So it HAS to be a Fighter? Not just anything with full BaB, Bonus Feats, and limited casting?

I think the Child is the only proper option there for the former, but there's a lot of good ones for the latter.

[SmiloDan]

No bloodrager?

Can he play a 5th Edition Fighter (Eldritch Knight Martial Archetype)?

I think the simplest option is to allow rogue talents as bonus feats.

Does the slayer let you choose the magicky rogue talents?

[Gorbacz]

You guys are awesome. I'll pitch Bloodrager to him (I think he wasn't aware of existence of ACG classes insofar) and failing that, we'll work with some combination of Fey Magic, Arcane Talent and the traits Blindmage listed.

[SheepishEidolon]

Cellion wrote:

Take a look at Psychic Disciple and its pre-reqs. It'll give you that little bit of spellcasting flavor, and fighters have enough feats to support it. Its also pretty similar to the rogue talent options.

And, opposed to the rogue talent, it can be taken multiple times. Even if you consider the first two feats just a tax, adding several level 1 spells makes it more worth it.

Vanish, Shield, True Strike and Long Arm come to my mind - a human fighter can get them at level 3, 5, 7 und 9.

[Blindmage]

SheepishEidolon wrote:

Cellion wrote:

Take a look at Psychic Disciple and its pre-reqs. It'll give you that little bit of spellcasting flavor, and fighters have enough feats to support it. Its also pretty similar to the rogue talent options.

And, opposed to the rogue talent, it can be taken multiple times. Even if you consider the first two feats just a tax, adding several level 1 spells makes it more worth it.

Vanish, Shield, True Strike and Long Arm come to my mind - a human fighter can get them at level 3, 5, 7 und 9.

This is a super thematic and cool way of getting some spell access without being a caster, love it so much! Especially since the caster level for all the spells is you character level!

[Burnscar]

Fighter with Barroom Brawler(or just a Brawler dip, but you said no multiclassing) and weapon training can pick up Advanced Weapon Training (which is a combat feat), and use it to pick up the Item Mastery advanced weapon training.

This, in turn, lets you access a bunch of different abilities from the Item Mastery feats, most of which mimic spells.

At level 5 (fortitude +4), you can cast:

Vanish, Burning Hands, Lesser Restoration, Minor Image, and finally Darkvision/See Invisibility.

Obviously, you can only use Barroom Brawler 1/d, but there's another Advanced Weapon Training which lets you increase the use of that feat by 1+WT bonus, so it can be worked around.

It uses your BAB as caster level and, in case of saves, your constitution modifier.

A more in-depth guide is here. It explains it better, and helps you fit stuff together. But the core of the trick is just Barroom Brawler(feat) + Advanced Weapon Training(feat) + Item Mastery(advanced weapon training).

[Kris Verschaeve]

Prestige class out ?

A three level dip in to the Sentinel PRC gets you straight BAB progression and enlarge person 3 times per day at level 8 +an untyped +2 to hit and damage with Gorum' s favorite weapon the greatsword.

conditions
You need to have BAB +5 have weapon focus in the greatsword and know religion 3 and invested in deific obedience.

Other Gods may have other sentinel dips that he is interested in. But as self buffs for a fighter enlarge person 3 times a day is kinda yummy

[Dragon78]

If you are the DM, then how about give everyone a couple of spell like powers because "story", "reasons", "stuff", etc. It would make any non-caster and many casters happy plus if there is a interesting reason for it all the better:)

[Vatras]

Someone whose first question is "how do I get some spells?" after declaring he wants to play a pure martial is not really serious methinks :)

Anyway. Since 3rd party is OK; you can take a look at the Ultimate Psionics handbook from Dreamscarred Press. It has an archetype, the psionic fighter, which deals not with powers, but including psionic feats into his selection. In addition, there are two feats, Wild Talent and Unlocked Talent, which do grant psionic powers.
If picking a race like elan (practically a human with an awesome racial ability and can take 1 PP as racial bonus per level) he has Wild talent for free, which is the prerequisite for Unlocked Talent. UT grants access to 1st level powers at manifester level 1 - not very useful in many cases, but you can houserule that he can use half his HD as ML for the purpose of this feat. So if he is willing to spend 3-4 feats on this, he can get low-key psionic powers and stay in class. A psionic race like the elan is highly recommended to get the 1 PP per level, as he has no other source for it and he will need a few. The elan would be my choice for his racial save power (which also runs on PP).
As it happens, the 4 OP powers of psionics are all 1st level. Without the ML (and PP) to boost them, it should not be a problem, though.

There are also powers which work fine at ML 1: locate secret doors, prescience (off.), mindlink, chameleon, elfsight, synesthete, catfall, sense minds, circumstance shield, and quite a few others. He won't get much out of damage and attack powers, since he cannot boost damage or DC, but buffs and utilities are OK, as long as they run longer than 1 round/lvl.

[Gorbacz]

Dragon78 wrote:

If you are the DM, then how about give everyone a couple of spell like powers because "story", "reasons", "stuff", etc. It would make any non-caster and many casters happy plus if there is a interesting reason for it all the better:)

No! The rules must be followed! They are the only thing that protects the players from my tyranny! The rulebooks and erratas their only shield against my egomaniacal rampage and projecting my sick fantasies upon them! ;-)

[Mark Carlson 255]

Gorbacz wrote:

Dragon78 wrote:

If you are the DM, then how about give everyone a couple of spell like powers because "story", "reasons", "stuff", etc. It would make any non-caster and many casters happy plus if there is a interesting reason for it all the better:)

No! The rules must be followed! They are the only thing that protects the players from my tyranny! The rulebooks and erratas their only shield against my egomaniacal rampage and projecting my sick fantasies upon them! ;-)

No, how do you think Pathfinder grew from 3.x? I am fairly sure you are joking but the wink may or may not mean that.

MDC

[Cevah]

SRD has this regional trait:

Arcane Dabbler wrote:

Your study of magic is shown by your expertise in the simplest of magical exploits.

Benefit: Select two non-harmful arcane cantrips. You can cast these two cantrips once per day each (caster level 1st).

If you have levels in a class that can cast these cantrips, your caster level for these cantrips is equal to that class level.

from Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer.

/cevah

[deuxhero]

If you're up for 3.5...

With Psionics you can use the Hidden Talent feat. It gives you one 1st level power, an effective manifester level of 1 (remember this means he can only spend 1 PP a round. It's a rule most people miss and whine psionics is broken because they didn't follow it.) and a small PP poll to use it with.

If he wants more versatility and/or explicit "magic" and he's willing to play a Human, one old combo is Magical Training (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Player's Handbook: Gives character 3 cantrips like a Wizard or Sorcerer.) and Precocious Apprentice (Complete Arcane: gives a 2nd level slot he needs a spellcraft roll to use). While it was often used for early entry cheese, it's perfectly workable for what the player wants. Note that these spells slots have ASF. Also note in PF the "cantrips" ability is just a reminder (it's on monsters with spellcasting and the design staff has mentioned it a few times) so you may want to specifically exclude him from infinite 0 levels (or not if you don't feel it a problem)

[BadBird]

The Aasimar racial SLAs are pretty awesome, though that's a lot more than level 1 spells. Sunbeam is available by level 9, but has a spell-level DC of 7 on a reflex-or-blind effect... zap. Crossed with one level of Dual-Cursed Lore Oracle for Misfortune to crush saving throws and Sidestep Secret to promote high charisma, those SLAs are a terror.

[cavernshark]

Gorbacz wrote:

Howdy,

One of my players wants to play a straight full-BAB non-spellcasting martial (preferably a Fighter) and asked me if there's any way his character could be able to cast a limited (2-3 max) number of 0/1-level spells/SLAs/psychic powers without resorting to multiclassing or to playing a Magus. Are there any feats/archetypes that grant such abilities? Paizo and 3PP sources are all welcome.

Honestly, if this is a home game, you could also just let him take Minor and Major Magic rogue talents as feats. Or let him play a slayer and add those rogue talents to the list of slayer talents.

[master_marshmallow]

Variant Multiclassing gets you some cantrips and other cool abilities.