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Im sorry but it having to be a critical success to work just kills the feat dead for me. Way too circumstantial for a feat of that level and doesnt even get a later feat (tax) like the ranger does to make it viable.

Similarly the wizard doesn't have a pile of good feats but non-animal/non-wild shape druids have even fewer.

I would say animal and wild shape are in that boat too. The only feats they really get are the ones that keep them on the curve. The other feats are kinda meh.

Lawsuits.

Because if they didn't WotC may have taken away the entire game.

Thats a very weak argument. They could of just renamed it while keeping the mechanics like they have done for other spells.

Here are the changes i made to the class:

1. My view of the Witch in 2e is it should be a cross between the sorcerer and the bard. Patrons work like bloodlines but the class itself identifies more like a bard in play style.

2. It is an occult only caster but gains a themed spell every level dependant on the starting patron similar to the sorcerer.

3. Cackle is now the witch's iconic class feature that cannot be grabbed by MCing into it. As an action you can sustain all spells with the hex trait. I changed the name of the original cackle focus spell and made it a higher level option that buffs your normal cackle for 1 round.

4. You gain your first lesson for free at level 1.

5. i removed phase familiar and made it a first level feat that also grants you a converted version of the old dragon magazine spell, familiar enhancer. A first level spell that gives your familiar an extra ability with some caveats.

6. A rebalance of all the hexes so they are in the same ball park as each other and the bard's focus spells.

7. A rework of the original feats that suck as well as a slew of new ones converted over from 1e and just some new ones i thought up.

8. I use a lot of homebrew and Midnightoker's excellent fabled familiar content to upgrade the experience of familiars across the board.

In all this gives the witch a very strong opening package to make up for being a 3 spells only caster with a 4 spell caster's proficiencies.

Ventnor wrote:

What's difference between a monk spending 1 action to get into stance and a fighter spending 1 action to draw a weapon?

Typically, unless you're in a town/settlement/whatever that weapon is out at all times.

You must have a very nice gm because i would not allow a character to always have a weapon at hand for 8 hours of cross-country travel.

These are quite neat and im always a big sucker for themed casters so maybe more of those? Also some double digit high level NPCs would fill in a big hole.

If you can spend one spell slot per day on having a weapon that is as good as what martial characters spend like 35% of their money on...it's a huge balance problem.

I dont think it would be too broken to be able to spend one of your high level slots to conjure a weapon for a short period of time, like 1-10 minutes.

1) Advanced Player's Guide 2: Containing 4 new classes preferably including Brawler (because the system is seriously missing an unarmed combat style that doesn't focus on martial arts), and a whole slew of new class feats/subclasses for existing classes along with a ton of new archetypes and class archetypes.

I agree on the apg2 for more content for existing classes and new archetypes but i think paizo really needs to slow it down on the classes and i especially wouldn't want 4 in one book.

This group seems to have alot of trust issues with you being the gm if they are demanding to see your dice rolls. If my group demanded that of me i would tell them to stop being children and trust me to do my duty as a gm fairly.

To your question, it sounds like your sorcerer suffered an 18 carat run of bad luck. so bite the bullet and kill em.

i do find it weird that spells like flame blade or shadow blade are still missing after 2 large expansions on spells. Its not like it would be hard to create them. A spell that conjures a weapon in your hand for a minute that lets you strike with a spell attack. Simple.

I see Ninja and Samurai as class archetypes of the rogue and fighter. Ninja having "Ninjutsu" focus spells and a focus on using ninja based weaponry. The Samurai could probably just pull some 1e mechanics like challenging singular monsters, special stances and not falling down at 0 hitpoints.

You can add me to the list of people wanting a 4e warlord style class too.

This is amazing news! cant wait to see the finished products.

This whole file has some very nice homebrew and ive been looking for a solid warlock conversion for some time. im surprised you made eldritch blast an unarmed attack instead of a focus cantrip.

I like to reflavor existing spells and highly recommend doing that.

For example, I had a psychotic character known for ripping out the hearts of his enemies and wanted to use 1st Edition's death clutch. Since it didn't exist in this edition though (and still does not as of the time of this writing), I spoke with my GM and we decided to use a reflavored version of the finger of death spell. It's worked quite well I must say!

DEATH CLUTCH - SPELL 7
[RARE] [DEATH] [EVIL] [NECROMANCY]
Traditions divine, primal
Cast ◇◇; somatic, verbal
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 living creature
Saving Throw basic Fortitude

You chant an unholy litany while reaching out with a grasping motion toward your target. You overwhelm the target’s autonomic processes, causing its heart to beat with such speed and violence that it risks tearing itself free. You deal 70 negative damage to the target. If the damage from death clutch reduces the target to 0 Hit Points, the target dies instantly as you cause its heart to leap out of its chest and into your hand (or at your feet if your hands are occupied). If the target does not possess a heart or heart-like organ, it instead tears free a different life-giving organ, or a large mass of viscera.
Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 10.

Oh man one of my players needs this spell!

Thank you for the advice. I have been doing my best with looking at other spells and sort of re-flavouring them. Ive also looked at 5e and kind of toned them down and 2e-ified them. I just think it would be nice to have some coded reference to fall back to, especially damage averages for higher level spells.

One thing that i found disappointing in the release of the GMG and SOM was no rules or guidance on how to create your own spells. I gm 2 spellcaster players, each in different games that have shown interest in making their own custom named spell. At lower levels this is quite simple but as you reach higher levels the damage scaling and effects become a little hard to follow. Is it out of the question that Paizo would be willing to release a supplement on how to create custom spells?

I am definitely not trying to make sure Paizo bows to my will :-D

Nobody here is demanding anything.

I am amazed at the energy some people will spend just to make sure Paizo bows to their will so that slavery stays in future official products.

Arent you doing the exact same thing in reverse?

The witch is the only class that doesn't lose a week of downtime if their familiar dies, though. Nor does it come packaged with the guilt of getting a little furry animal killed. In practice that is a huge difference in how willing a player is to send it into danger.

I'm sorry but to me that's an incredibly weak hill to plant your flag for the witch's existence in its current state. Being more gung-ho with your familiar is not a big selling point for a class.

keftiu wrote:

I wish I vibed with the divine class design in 2e; characters of faith are my preferred niche, and none have stuck the landing. Cloistered Cleric is very plain, Warpriest Cleric is kind of a mess, the binding to alignment with Champion really rubs me the wrong way, and Oracle mysteries feel super restrictive.

I'm equal parts nervous and hopeful for an eventual Inquisitor. I miss it a bunch, and the broad shape of it - divine wave caster with some Rogue or Inquisitor feel - seems like it should be a slam dunk.

I suspect that Inquisitor will be a cleric doctrine and not a separate class.

Just a gut feeling, and I hope I'm wrong or that Paizo nails it if I'm right (which I trust either way).

I really dont think they will. That would be like turning the magus into a wizard thesis amd Paizo know it would upset alot of people waiting for it.

Part 4 Class Familiar

1. Bomb Voyage should just use the alchemists attack modifier. All the other familiar abilities use a spellcasters full dc and i dont see a once a day bomb outside of MAP being too ridiculous.

2. Foliage Forger needs a spell check.

3. Skilled blood could do with a better name. Ancestral Skill maybe?

4. Does Bloodline magic allow you to choose a bloodline spell at will or is it chosen at the start of the day? i also noticed similar wording in patron magic and familiar school magic.

5. Patron Magic is ok but i feel it would be better if it got access to spells granted from lessons also.

6. The Witch abilities are very strong which is understandable as it is the supposed draw of the class.

7. I think rune swap should be permanent. This gives at a niche little money and time saver ability.

8. Wild adaptation should last the entire day.

9. Moon guard seems niche enough that you don't need the 1 hour timer. i would make it always on or just make it an activatable ability while in the moonlight.

10. Rising Icicles should have a bigger radius or make it a multiple times a day ability.

11. Could Beguiling attendant be pushed to a 10-15 feet range?

12. Circumventing attendant has a lot of unneeded writing at the end. it should just finish at the "takes no damage from your evocation spells" part.

13. I would be nice and say second hand attendant lets you keep the MAP of the first shot.

Ok im back again for Part 3 Ancestral Familiars

1. Kin connections' wording could be cleaned up abit and made more precise. it took me a couple of reads to figure out all the things it actually does. This may be me being a dumdum.

2. i feel some of the options for the Heritage feats need to be more inline with each other power wise. Mistbreath Azarketi compared to Inured is a standout.

3. Heckle is nice but as i mentioned before familiars really dont want to be in melee so maybe increase the range? Also i see no reason why it has to be flatfooted to only melee attacks. Give spell attacks some love.

4. Spy tunnel is alot of fun and i love it.

3. I may have misconstrued the problem. i talked to my player and his problem was that a precedent had been set by ambassador and snoop so having the starting ability in a specific familiar that focuses on diplomacy and deception have no synergy with these abilities rubbed him the wrong way.

Being passive doesn't mean much as the other abilities confirm that you can assist in exploration activities and i cant think of a reason why you wouldn't command your familiar to do this if you are doing this task. Lie, Gather information and Make an impression are tasks you wont be making in tandem so i don't know why you would need multiple reactions unless I'm missing something? Upping to +2 once the master reaches master would make this quite a strong option and would wipe his complaints as it would just a strong ability that allows you to pass over ambassador and snoop. Maybe add a line saying that this ability counts as those abilities for the sake of any released content that uses them.

4. I think the ability cost was missed so ill concede that.

5. Understandable, the player isnt a big fan of assurance either haha.

6. My only argument is that a charisma caster will probably be the one to actually take a charisma based familiar. Wizards and witches will probably want something more involved with there schtick. Maybe a reroll with a -2 circumstance penalty?

8. Good points but i see it being more of an out of combat ability and if they really need that +2 in combat they can. Bully and Jump scare give plenty of ways to demoralize in combat.

10. knocking it down to +1 seems like a fair compromise.

12. That is just me being a dumdum and forgetting the traits.

15. Yeah grapple is a bit strong. But do remember it does take a lot of setup and it will not be viable in a lot of battles as it cant burrow through stone and will only be moving 5 feet a round while burrowing.

16. Maybe make the move speed while in the item slow. like 5 ft a stride as it slowly floats around?

17. Good idea on Well Read do you have any ideas on Obscure Recollection because at the moment it just seems to be a weaker Second Opinion.

19. Nah just keep it as is. We gms can just say "something, something, iron in your blood."

20. Again, me being dumdum

Part 2 Specialty Familiars

1. Just as a whole, a lot of the initial abilities for several of the specialties are treading on the toes of abilities such as ambassador, Partner in crime, Second Opinion and Snoop.

2. Helping hands is ok for medicine and crafting but thievery is already covered by partner in crime and it doesnt have a 1 hour timer. I would remove the 1 hour timer and maybe remove Thievery and have it as its own roguish specialty?

3. Endearing again is another one that steps on another abilities toes. That being ambassador and snoop. My players much preferred taking two separate but more powerful abilities than this one. Maybe make it a passive visual status bonus so it can work in tandem with the other 2 abilities.

4. Masterful Form is a little too good as it gives you two really nice abilities and a circumstantial social benefit. Maybe make it so it can only take your form and thus social attitudes to you good or bad.

5. Assured works for the Assistant familiar with crafting and medicine because it has set DCs that it can work with such as crafting items or making battle medicine checks but diplomacy and deception are usually going to be level appropriate so i dont how useful this would be unless you send them out to talk to peasants.

6. Smooth things over seems ok at first glance but again familiar skills really taper off at higher levels when your expected to at least be expert or master to realistically make level appropriate checks. Maybe make it a once a day reroll for the master?

7. All the elemental familiars are solid and have cool combat potential.

8. Imposing should in my opinion just be ambassador but for intimidate.

9. I love Jump Scare. But some of the fluff at the end is pointless as the familiar has to be hidden or unobserved to use the ability anyway. I would also make it a -2 penalty to will as it takes some set up and it feels right that it has the same penalty as being caught flatfooted.

10. I also love Bully. But i would make the range 10-15 feet instead of adjacent. Familiars do not want to be in melee even with tough.

11. Frightful Presence is a bit too big an area. 30 feet seems more reasonable

12. Does Glowing counteract darkness effects?

13. Radiant flight has some confusing wording about extending its duration.

14. I feel the Radiant familiar should have a reaction to counteract darkness and shadow effects and spells as a once a day power.

15. From the Grave in my mind should work the same as jump scare but instead its a grapple ability that lasts until the start of the master's next turn unless they escape.

16. Inhabit object is kinda lame in comparison to "from the grave". I would allow it to possess the item and actually move while inside it like a true poltergeist!

17. Second Opinion makes Well read less desirable and Obscure Recollection somewhat redundant.

Maybe well read can assist with rolls when doing the Research Subsystem or if the gm doesnt use it a +1 item bonus to recall knowledge checks when in a library as it finds the perfect book for the subject?

Obscure recollection could be the Second opinion for all Lore checks the Master has?

18. Im so glad you took my advice about magic item adept as this is such a nice ability

19. Repelling field should only effect creatures who have metal objects on them or are made of metal. The status penalty should be for creatures made of metal in my view

20. Umbral Familiar should have a counteract light effect or magic as a reaction similar to Radiant.

Thats it for part 2.

Me and my two casters went through and collated our initial views and what drew them and what put them off. We only really got to playtest the specialty familiars.

1. Understandable but maybe the wording can be expanded so it can still be used as a talking paper weight.

2. True, but it just seemed that giving out or increasing the item bonus would be an interesting niche that the animated object could take up while every other familiar ability grants a circumstance bonus. The 10 minute activity just seems restrictive and would force you into just picking crafting equipment or a tool for income instead of leaving it open to very fun unique items such as talking thieves tools that help you lockpick, boots that give you a little boost to long jumping by using its little wings.

3. If im honest its not very well written out in the bestiary either as it has a -1 to Int making it basically useless for the creature. Maybe rewrite it as a more player friendly ability? Helps with Lore checks?

4. Im starting to see i should of looked up the monsters haha! I think i could make the argument that the owner can use crafting or thievery as it is its familiar. But then again this feel like more of an eldritch trickster's familiar more than a wizard's so keeping it at thievery would make sense thematically.

6. A problem we found playtesting with it is that the quasit is only going to be skilled in things that you the spellcaster are, so the usability for others is very limited. When it was offered, the other players said im not risking going to the abyss for a +1 on a knowledge check but a reroll on any skill check if it was desperate enough would sway them.

7. Completely understandable. That was my weeb side coming out!

Sorry it took so long to get back with the feedback but here is my points even if its too late!

Part 1 Specific Familiars

1. Electrical Burst for arbiters seems a little mean to lose your familiar for the rest of the day. Just make it a once a day power.

2. I think Helpful item would be a more interesting ability if it gave an item bonus when using the item for a specific task or increase the item bonus if it already has one. This will differentiate it from all the aid abilities and the thought of a rogue with an intelligent set of lockpicks that helps him with unlocking doors just sounds so fun.

3. Cassisian Lore is far too vague an ability. does it gain a Lore skill that its skilled in? It could be really strong or really weak dependant on the GM.

4. Record Audio for the clockwork spy is neat but 1gp is pretty expensive at low levels and i think craft should also be used to remove the crystal. Maybe have a 1sp variant for a 1 minute recording.

5. House Drake has the shadow drake bio.

6. Abyssal Knowledge for the quasit feels like a far weaker ability than the Imp Infernal temptation. It should be very similar but with knowledge rolls gaining fortune but maybe limit it to twice a day.

7. I think the Shinigami should be able to communicate with their master if the master has the ward in its hand and maybe its because i just watched Shaman King but i want it to have a "assist on an attack roll with a weapon that its ward. Im picturing a Magus with his familiar in his sword.

Ill continue on with Specialty familiars next.

Perhaps steal the requirements from the hp feats in martial class archetypes?

I like this feat and level 4 or 6 certainly seems like the correct level for it. Maybe give it a requirement that you have to be a 6 HP class to take the feat otherwise it would be a big buff to druids and martials who are dipping into transformation.

ive been away for awhile and this all looks really cool. Ive asked for access.

I mostly dont agree with OP apart from 2 things.

1. Come at me needs more to it. Like letting you challenge as a free action.

2. The single gun pistolero needs a damage buffing feat. Maybe a version of the playtest feat "Firearm Ace" that only pops when using 1 hand at level 4.

Im in love with the Unexpected Sharpshooter. I do find the last two feats a little confusing on how to rule Regarding MAP. Firstly i assume you don't add MAP to the deception check for "I MEANT TO DO THAT" as it is its own action. "CHAIN REACTION" is the one i have most trouble with however as I'm not sure if every strike includes MAP which i assume it does. One thing i will state is we need more goofy out of the box thinking archetypes like this in the future!

Large ancestries seem like the thing people want explored and paizo has been open about looking into it. I would like minotaur and centaur.

I have all my feats on foundry vtt but i could make an effort to copy them over to a file. ill give a preview of evocation when i get back from work.

For the Incap rule. Yes they only get the bonus and not the shift so it still makes you want to put the Incap spells at your higher levels to deal with boss monsters. A recent example is this:

My party's sorcerer (lvl 9) used a banishment spell (lvl 5) against an Omox Demon (lvl 12) with a bar of soap as a material component.

The spell level is 5 so times that by 2 which makes 10. This means the Omox gets a type-less +2 to its save as its a 12th level creature but also receives a -2 circumstance penalty from the soap.

I rolled a 5 giving me a result of 25. Now i would of succeeded the roll if the player wasn't using his intelligence and the information i told him about the creature. The smile on the player's face when i told him this as the demon is sent back to the abyss is why i play RPGs. If i used the normal Incap rules, the Omox would of succeeded and the player would of just wasted their highest level spell because a lame rule which kind of goes against the whole spirit of the combat system (gaining bonuses and slapping enemies with negatives) allowed the creature to auto-succeed.

I agree that wizards need a whole slew of school feats to fill them out a bit. At the moment I've converted over the 5e school feats and sorc metamagic feats and 2e-ified them but i think Paizo really needs to pick up the ball when making cool and interesting feats for spellcasters that arent level 12 and above.

For incap spells i use my own homebrew rule where you double the spell's level as usual but instead the creature gets a bonus to the save determined by how many levels higher it is. It works really well and actually allowed my group's sorcerer to banish a high level demon who rolled incredibly poorly but would of still been unaffected anyway. It was a great moment for the spellcaster and the martials were happy they didn't have to deal with it which is what i feel is missing when making save or suck spells unusable on boss monsters.

Just got the PDF and im loving the new spells however chromatic image seems a little weak for a 6th level spell.

I was very confused about this bombshell that "oriental" is a racist term as in the UK its just a word for east asia or people from that region.

Ive tried my hand at homebrewing some feats in the direction that i hope paizo itself goes to help fill out missing heightened levels and add some spellcasting back. The feats can be found on this Thread.

There was quite a lengthy thread on battle forms recently and how the design choice of having dead levels and not being able to cast was a sore spot for some so i thought i would test out a few feats i converted from 1e and see how others like them.

Natural Spell 1a Feat 12
Druid Witch Wizard Concentrate Metamagic

With great concentration, you have learned to substitute various noises and gestures for the normal verbal and somatic components of a spell while in a polymorphed state. Directly after you use this action, you may cast a cantrip or a spell that is at least 3 levels lower than the highest level spell slot you have while in a battle form.

You can also use any material components or focuses you possess, even if such items are melded within your current form. This feat does not permit the use of magic items while you are in a form that could not ordinarily use them, and you do not gain the ability to speak while in the battle form.

Energized Form Feat 8
Druid Sorcerer Witch Wizard Transmutation
You have learned how to mix your transformation into lesser creatures with the elemental planes to make them more powerful. When you cast a spell that grants a battle form in a spell slot that has no heightened option, choose one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. Your form gains resistance 10 to that energy type. Also, one of your unarmed melee attacks deals an additional 1d6 points of damage of the chosen energy type. If you choose a battle form that already has energy resistance of the same type you choose, it increases by 5 instead. If you choose a battle form that deals damage of the same energy type you choose, increase the energy damage you deal by one die size (1d6 becomes 1d8, and so on).

The battle form also gains an extra +1 bonus to AC, +2 to temporary HP, +2 to attacks, damage and skill modifiers granted by the form for each spell level higher than the latest heightened option available to you.

Oh man thats amazing news! i will be waiting to see this released. Do you have a release schedule or is it too early days yet?

Potency runes are a must have item baked into the system anyway. i would prefer a universal potency rune system for all classes than a spellcaster having to grab a singular item that they may or may not find.

Ah, i see. I do agree as i made the statement earlier that this has become a must have item for spellcasters to fix a problem that could easily of been fixed with potency runes.

Definitely off with the current balance.

( just checked dragons, and the difference would be from 2 to 4, even considering the +1 vs spells and magical effects).

Hope they add a X use per day or something sort of drawback ( like using the spell like to was 1 or 2 level lower).

Not to say the "free action" metamagic, which seems to say "I don't care about action economy management".

Disappointed.

Im not sure what your talking about?

This feels like its a must have item for spell attacks when it could of been simpler to just implement spell attack bonus items or runes. Im not going to complain because we at least got something that powers them up.

Are there any cool necromancy spells that will make my player happy?

School archetypes to build thematic casters. Conjurer archetype to augment summons, evoker archetype to mold aoes or add persistent damage, abjurer archetype for tankier mages, illusionist archetype to augment your tricks, transmuter archetype to augment buffs. Casting as it stands in p2e wants you to cast a wide net to get the most out of your class/spell list. It would be nice to be able to lean into the spells you want to predominantly use.

Ive been working on homebrew versions of these for my home game and im halfway through. They may not be super balanced but they have given my spellcasters a real spellcasting identity.

I doubt we will get more powerful damage spells but we could get feats that support the blaster play style. In fact we already have with dangerous sorcery. Metamagic feats like Empower and maximise spells could make it in eventually as well as the countless other metamagic feats that added riders to damage spells in 1e.

For battle form spells i would also like to see a feat that lets you heighten your favourite lower spells past its normal usage. Some people really like being T-Rexes and spending a feat to sustain that seems reasonable. Planar and Energized wild shape also need to make an appearance as they are just really cool. I can see natural spell making it in but only at a high level and having a limit on the level of spell you can cast.

I like fanatic's ideas but i think the divine list just needs more elemental based spells. we need more calling on the god's wrath sort of thing. Shooting out divine bolts out, conjuring sacred fire or making a host of ice and water spells that use holy water.

I give my witches their first lesson for free.

As long as people continue to try and compare the classes in 2e to 1e classes they are always going to be unhappy. Personally I'm super excited for SoM, I'm playing a modified version of the playtest Magus. I hope they kept the arcane fist. I haven't seen much in the way of support for an unarmed magus

I don't think anyone was comparing it to the 1e version here. It just has a lot of holes in its design that need filled or tweaked in comparison to other 2e classes in my opinion.

Yeah, ive kind of had to fill in the blanks with the witch myself with some homebrew ripped from 1e. Its not perfect but it makes my player happy.