Jeff W's page

In Advanced Player's Guide p. 194-196 there is a category of spells under the heading "All" that are included in the spell lists for all Elementalist wizards. RAW, are these spells included in the spell lists of the Metal, Void and Wood schools?

Yes, you still have to pick two opposition schools. It states this clearly in School Savant.

Finally the Arcanist MUST select two additional schools of magic as her opposition schools.
No beating around that bush.

It says the same thing for wizards on page 79 of the core rules:

A wizard that chooses to specialize in one school of

magic must select two other schools as his opposition
schools, representing knowledge sacrificed in one area
of arcane lore to gain mastery in another.

If an Arcanist chooses School Savant archetype and specializes in a Elemental School, does he have to choose two opposition schools? I ask because this is the rule in Herolab, but it contradicts my reading of the RAI.

Ssalarn wrote:

Secret Wizard wrote:

Blade Adept is for Prestige Classes plz.

But since you'd stop advancing your exploits and your blade by prestiging...

Unless you meant it should have been a prestige class not an archetype, in which case I agree.

It's been said that the blades scales off caster level in that archetype which is why people have been calling it a pre EK class.

Is there a way to get 3rd level arcane spell SLA in PFS besides Scryer Wizard, though? If you have to enter EK with arcanist 6/fighter 1 it's not worth it... you might as well just stick with arcanist instead of nerfing yourself.

One of the things I liked about the Arcanist was the lifting of Opposition School restriction, so School Savant strikes me as suboptimal. Unless maybe you go for the transmuter's ability score boost. And you can have that at full power for an exploit and a swift action.

Opposition School is optional for Wizards as well, but it's by far the best option for wizards and it's even better for Arcanist because going from preparing 1 or 2 spells at your highest level to 2 or 3 is a big increase in flexibility.

If you take Void or Wood school, you can oppose Metal and only really lose out on Glitterdust (big loss admittedly). You can also specialize in Water or Void and oppose Fire and you don't lose much aside fire blast spells(and you still get Dragon's Breath). You can also specialize in Earth and lose out on Wood--you lose a few more spells but your school spells are awesome.

It also mixes nicely with the Razmiran Priest archetype for the sorcerer. At 9th level you can cast spells from scrolls using your spell slots and the with the pathfinder savant's scroll master ability you will do so at your own caster level.

But then you can't abuse scrolls created at levels higher than your caster level...

"At each class level beyond 1st, the Arcane savant chooses a spell from any class’s spell list and thereafter treats it as if it were on the spell list of his base spellcasting classes; if his base class could not normally cast that spell, it is treated as 1 level higher."

Are spells that sorcerers and wizards poach from the Summoner list treated as 1 level higher? Technically, an arcane caster can cast dominate monster--but it's a 9th level wizard spell and a 6th level summoner spell. If sorcerer/wizards can get 2nd level haste/slow, 3rd level black tentacles/dimension door, 4th level magic jar/teleport, etc. then this is a good prc esp for sorcerers.

Another Option: Human Cleric of Erastil with Feather Domain+Boon Companion, Guided Hand Feat if you want something more caster-focused.

Occultist and School Savant are the optimizer's choices imo.

For school savant, I think diviner schools are less useful than they are for a wizard because the bonus spell being divination hurts way more for Arcanists. Spellwise, Earth is great but you won't be able to fly until 12th level w/ Phantom Steed.

For the one I'm working on I ended up going Sorcerer 1/Oracle 2/Mystic Theurge. Arcane SLA from Aasimar and domain from Believer's Boon feat. The feat that gives two warpriest blessings should also work.

I'd be careful about using Believer's Boon for PFS. Technically, it only works once per day, so it might not qualify for spells the way that other SLAs do. Live by the RAW, die by the RAW and all.

There is a way to continue MT leveling after 10. what you do is take divine obedience, and then take levels in evangelist. This hurts your progression on both classes one more, but after you are golden. If you do take this route I would suggest picking your deity carefully., and going evangalist as early as possible as it is baseline a better class as it gets 3/4 bab and 6 skills per level.

I will contradict people here and say that you should go wizard cleric.
first of all make wizard your primary class so start with an intelligence of 18 and a wisdom of 14-16.

I don't think the evangelist trick lets you go above MT 10. MT 11 is null. I wouldn't take evangelist unless you're really going to use the 3/4 bab because you lose another level of spell progression.

Theurge

** spoiler omitted **Bad News: For 10 levels you're relying on captured spellbooks, found/purchased scrolls, or transcribing your own scrolls then copying them for new spells. Good news: Your casting is only one level behind that of a straight wizard, and you get 11 levels of cleric casting alongside it, enough for Heal. Feats could use a bit more filling in, I admit to not being as skilled at making caster builds.

PFS Legal:

Race: Any +2 Int (Drow Magic is not PFS-legal)

Traits: Magical Knack (Cleric), Reactionary
Str 7 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 19 (+2) Wis 14 Cha 7
Ecclisetheurge Cleric 1/Foresight Diviner 3/Mystic Theurge 8
Asmodeus or Calistria, Major Domain: Trickery
Banned Schools: Abjuration, Necromancy, Familiar: Greensting Scorpion (+4 Initiative)

Alternatively:

Race: Any +2 Wis

Traits: Magical Knack (Cleric), Reactionary
Str 7 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 11 Wis 20 (+2) Cha 7
Ecclisetheurge Cleric 1/Empyreal Sorcerer 4/Mystic Theurge 7
Asmodeus or Calistria, Major Domain: Trickery

You only end up with Cleric 8/Sorcerer 11, so it's not really worth it unless you can use racial SLA cheese. With cheese, I'd go Cleric 2/Sorc 1/MT 9 for 6th level cleric spells, 5th level sorc spells(well... 1 spell but it can be something great like Wall of Stone), all SAD.

It's a worthwhile pick for a Theurge, at least. You're not wearing armor anyways so you're not losing anything by taking the archetype.

Yep... in this case you need a god with Trickery Domain (for Major domain) so you can enter Theurge with 1 level in Cleric. Asmodeus, Calistria and Lamashtu all have nice domains if they're allowed.

Just remember the more of a threat your familiar becomes, the more of a legitimate target it becomes as well.

Even with item use, a familiar should be the least threatening member of the party. They can be hit by AOEs of course. Steps should be taken to protect one's familiar (Mage Armor, False Life, Toughness feat, Invisibility, cheap protective equipment, etc).

P. 14 of Animal Archive has rules for buying combat trained pets. For 500 gp, you can buy a combat trained Tiger! The 150 gp Riding Dog in the core rulebook is great investment at low levels as well. You don't even really need many ranks in Handle Animal because you can Take 10 out of combat to issue a Follow Command and combat trained animals will automatically Defend their owner.

However, you need to know how to use them. I'm strongly considering working on a mini-guide for making the most of your familiar. It is surprising how few players know the tricks to make them work so well for you.

Here's some basic tips:

1) Always improve at level 7. I think Mephit is pretty much the best choice possible for improved familiar. (personally I like Dust, you get perfect fly, blur and wind wall, great combo!)

I'd like to see your guide, but what makes Mephit so good? Faerie Dragon seems like the best because they have UMD +9 and 3 Sorcerer Levels so they don't need UMD to many wands. Not to mention they also have Greater Invisibility, Telepathy, etc.

I was thinking of taking a Druid with the Caves Subdomain, but summoning spells don't work in Castle Whiterock (DCC #51). Doesn't this nerf the druid too much?

You can also take Haunted curse to get Minor Image at level 5.

I'm playing a solo wizard (4th level) in a Castle Whiterock campaign. I can recruit NPCs, but they're all unoptimized and I don't have any say in which NPCs are available at any given time. Currently the party is: Cleric (Law/Protection), Cleric (Luck/Travel), Fighter, Rogue and my char (Chaotic Good Diviner banning Evocation/Necromancy).

My plan is to take Improved Familiar and Leadership. For the familiar, is Faerie Dragon or Azata, Lyrakien the best choice? I'm planning to take Craft Wand at 5th level to make wands for the familiar. Also, should I definitely take Leadership (7th level earliest) before Improved Familiar (7th level earliest)?

For Leadership, can anyone recommend a good cohort to complement my character and party. Two restrictions: Summoning magic doesn't work in the Castle and I need to be able to make the character in PCGen (no Advanced Class Guide, Ultimate Campaign, some other stuff missing). I don't need a full build--just general ideas and important points. I'd like the cohort to be a full or partial caster.

IMO Veiled Illusionist PRC is perfect for Gnome Heavens Oracle:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/s-z/veiled-ill usionist

You can add an illusion spell from wizard/sorcerer list every prc level and you receive tons of other useful benefits as well. It has relatively painless entry requirements too.

Just checking in here. Since we already have a sorcerer, I will go with a Druid. I'm almost done with this character. I need to choose an animal companion and equipment.

I actually have to bow out of this game. I have to take a work trip and I won't be able to post in a timely manner this week. Hope this doesn't mess things up, but I want to make sure I don't disupt the game!

Would this build be a good way to build an illusionist character(for PFS, so only to level 12).

Gnome Oracle (Heavens) 5/Veiled Illusionist 7

Blackened (PFS Legal?) or Haunted Cursed

Strength 5 Charisma 20

Traits:

Fast Talker
Magical Lineage: Color Spray for Persistent Spell?

Feats: Spell Focus/Greater Spell Focus (Illusion), Persistent Spell?

Obviously this build is very synergistic against anything vulnerable to illusions and especially mind-affecting spells.

The question is can this character contribute adequately against other types of monsters? The Veiled Illusionist adds an extra illusion spell at each PRC level, so Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Evocation help in this regard. If all Gnome Favored Class Bonuses are used on Curses, this build still gets Telekinesis or Wall of Fire at level 10. Which spells should be taken on the oracle side to fill in the gaps in the illusion strategy?

I could run this via PbP, but we'd need at least two other interested parties. Any takers?

I'm interested. PFS character generation rules? I'd prefer to play a Wizard or Druid.

Ok--first thing I am going to keep from the old school days is magic items are scarce and highly prized. Do not count on finding many magic items for sale as they are quite in demand. Magic items can be sold for full value as they are rare, but magic purchased will typically cost 5x value! Do not count on buying many magic items--I will let you know when and what is available for purchase.

Does this apply to craft feats and scroll purchases? I'd interested in playing a Wizard. I'm a former B/X D&D player, but I never played through the classic modules.