Gilarius's page

There are optional rules about Guild Training (esoteric training and exoteric training) whereby a spellcaster can re-gain lost levels of spellcasting. Specifically, at about 5th level one spellcasting level can be regained - eg A 5th level wizard could take a level in any class but still count as a 6th level wizard in terms of spells per day, gaining new spell levels, etc - and then at about 13th to 15th level (depending on how many Fame/Prestige Points the GM awards), the character can regain 2 more levels of their primary spellcasting class plus one level of a 2nd spellcasting class.

My question is: which class(es) would you suggest taking for a Wizard? (I like wizards.)

Eg I could take one level of cleric at 6th level, followed by a 2nd level as soon as I'm allowed which would then count as 3 spellcasting levels and qualify for Mystic Theurge without ever dropping any wizard spellcasting. The cleric levels wouldn't ever be high, but having at least 4th level cleric spells is better than not having them!

Is there a better route to follow?
There are a lot of prestige classes that lose spellcasting progression (and so aren't a good idea to take) that become more viable with the Guild Training.

Clerics use their Divine Focus instead of normal material components, for spells with that listed.

Oracles specifically do not require a Divine Focus.

My question is:
Do oracles get to cast these spells without needing any material component at all, or do they need to use the original material components, like wizards/sorcerors do?

Spellslinger Guide

Assuming the link works, take a look and suggest improvements.

Gilarius.

This is a follow-up thread to avoid derailing link

First, some caveats and explanations:
1) I do not personally have a problem with how wizards work in Pathfinder; this suggestion is for those who do. And most people will disagree/dislike it anyway. I usually play wizards, or other spellcasters and rarely play fighters.
2) I will be using the term 'wizard' at various points, and sometimes this will be shorthand for 'wizards, clerics, sorcerors, spellcasters generally' and sometimes it will be a subset of those and sometimes it will apply to wizards specifically. This is going to be long enough without me spelling everything out every time I mention things. I might even be consistent, occasionally, in my usage. The same goes for 'fighter' and all the other non-casters.

The perceived problem is one that is mentioned repeatedly and often summed up by the phrase 'linear fighter/quadratic wizard' or similar.

This is where the differences between the two classes go as follows:
Fighter: I just levelled. I can now do 30 more damage per round.

Wizard: And I just gained the next level of spells. I can do 20 new different things and ten of those are really good. The rest, well, I'll make a few scrolls for emergencies.

Basically, wizards get more and more options each level, more and more capabilities, and many of those are encounter or world changing. Whereas fighters just get better at putting down the hurt.

I'll break this up a bit into separate posts, so the wall of text looks less annoying.