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The Wildblooded (Sage) sorcerer archetype allows you to be an Intelligence caster instead of a Charisma one. The change also applies to powers and such.

Over the past few months, I've been putting together my own 'spellbook' program, written in Java. I wanted something to keep track of my character's spellcasting at the gaming table.

The main interface is more or less an overglorified spreadsheet, with a row for each spell that includes columns for each spell's level and the number of times it has been memorized and/or cast. There are buttons off to the side for 'memorize spell', 'cast spell', 'rest and regain spells', and so forth. There is also a spells-per-day block at the top that tracks how many of each spell you have that day and how many you have used so far. There are some additional tidbits in there for changing the background color of the chart per-spell (for 'important' spells), and for applying a metamagic feat to a spell entry.

One of the buttons activates the 'view description' ability, which swaps the spreadsheet tab out for a description tab; this displays the full right-out-of-the-book information block for whichever spell you invoked it on. All of the spells the program knows about are listed in a plain alphabetical list on the side, with a search-by-name box added. The spell descriptions are organized into 'modules' so that you can choose to only use certain ones. (Right now I have modules for the core book, APG, UltMagic and UltCombat, though I will be adding one for the Race Guide and probably one for D&D3.5. Anything OGL should be fair game, right?) New spells can be added in with a little bit of work; spell descriptions are in html, so it gives you extra ability to be creative, but creating a very simple description still requires basic knowledge of xml tags. (The program gives you a 'template', but it's still not as easy a process as I'd like.)

Note that this is a full PC program, not an iPhone/Android app. (I don't own a smartphone but I do have a netbook, so I built this to run on there.) The main program window is not small, giving me plenty of room to make information viewable but unfortunately not lending itself well to being viewed on a phone if I do ever decide to attempt an Android port. Being written in Java, though, should make it work more-or-less right out of the box on a Linux or Mac machine.

My question to the community out there is: Does this sound like something useful to you? If I polished this into a finished program, would anyone use it? Or, perhaps just as importantly, if I put it up on the store and charged .99 cents for it, would anyone buy it? I've been searching around for various pathfinder spellbook apps and there seem to be a ton of them out there, so I was wondering if my program would be unique enough to be desirable to anyone.

I'll post a couple of screenshots or something if anyone is interested. I'll also entertain ideas for new features, if anyone can think of something this program should do. Note that this was mostly intended to be a caster's helper during heavy combats and such; adding advanced spell searches like "display all 3rd-level druid spells" is certainly possible but isn't really in the scope of what I was trying to accomplish.

Thanks for any feedback you can give.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

From the PRD, Universal Monster Rules, Natural Attacks:
"If a creature has only one natural attack, it is always made using the creature's full base attack bonus and adds 1-1/2 the creature's Strength bonus on damage rolls."

Cross that with the Augment Summoning feat, which adds +4 Str.

The result should be that augmented creatures with only one attack should gain +3 instead of +2 on their damage rolls over their un-augmented counterparts. I noticed this when I was looking at the SM1 Dog entry; the damage for an augmented Dog is listed as 1d4+3, but with a 17 Strength (+3) and only one attack, wouldn't the damage be 1d4+4?

Just an observation. I haven't looked that closely at the other summons; I don't know if the problem is in that one entry or if it is more widespread.

There was a little known item in the Magic Item Compendium called the Ring of Counterspelling (Or something of that nature).

It was around 10,000 GP and it could store a single spell of any level that you could use to counterspell as an immediate action. Throw a Dispel Magic in there and you're good to go. The problem is it doesn't help lower level characters. Maybe a lesser version of the item with a level limit? To prevent infringement, I suggest the name "Ring of Spell Disruption", the level limit, and possibly a limit to Dispel Magic spells only.

I've found three 'counterspell' items in the books so far:

The first one is the Ring of Counterspells. This is an SRD item. 4000 gp. It holds one spell, which can never be cast back out of the ring. If someone else casts the same spell on you, the ring automatically counters the spell. No action (or even awareness) needed on wearer's part.

The second and third are in the Magic Item Compendium. Ring of Spell-Battle (12000gp) and Ring of Greater Counterspells (16000gp) let you counter an opponent, as with a Dispel, as an immediate action. (They do other stuff too, but that's the relevant part.)

They're all useful items, to be sure, but does it take a magic item to make this a useful game mechanic?

The important question is: why encourage counterspell? It's a neat idea, but honestly, in the best case scenario you are trading your action for the action of another opponent, assuming said opponent is casting spells of your level. This is a very boring way to play DND; it's like the higher-level, far less likely dazing. Keep things active :).

Exactly the point. Counterspelling is an interesting idea, but the tradeoff of having to spend your round waiting for an opponent who may or may not cast something you want to counter is rarely worth it; just attacking the guy instead is almost always better. I'm looking for a way to make the concept of countering a spell tactically feasible.

I have to say, I like the idea of a mechanic that reduces the caster level of an opponent's spell. It would be less frustrating to me to be able to at least make *some* dent in anothers caster's Meteor Swarm or Destruction, rather than the all-or-nothing d20 roll of a Dispel Magic.

Perhaps something like this, either as a feat or a class ability?

Dampen Magic
You can weaken your foes' spells.

Prerequisite: Ability to cast spells

Benefit: As an immediate action, you can expend some of your spell energy to weaken the effect of a spell being cast within 30 feet of you. Select one of your memorized spells/unused daily spell slots. That spell is expended as if you had cast it. The targeted spell, if it is successfully cast, then has its caster level reduced by the level of the spell you expended to power this ability. You must be able to see the spell's caster and must have line of effect. If the caster level of the resulting spell is reduced to zero or less, the spell fails entirely.

Thoughts? It feels to me (both from experience and from the discussion here) that counterspelling is most often done by wizards as opposed to any other spellcaster; with that in mind, perhaps this could be a freebie feat given to wizards, or if that's too strong at least make this feat available as one of their bonus feats at every 5th level.

For a harsher effect, this could also be changed to fizzle the opposing spell if its caster level falls below the minimum needed to cast it.

I agree with nighttree. It sounds like a good idea to me to give the witch's familiar the ability to return to the game after it has been destroyed, by 'coming back to life' or 'returning from being banished' or whatever fits the flavor best. If you want to impose a game penalty, then say that this restoration process takes 24 hours (or until the next dawn/dusk/full night's sleep/etc.), and during that time period the witch cannot replenish spells or use her hexes; a serious but nonpermanent penalty.