A quick check to see if I understand how Demi-Gestalt works with the "free archetypes" variant.
Say I want to play a Vigilante, with Zealot and...we'll say Warlock for free. The second option doesn't really matter ATM.
I would need to spend a Boon Feat (gained at levels 1, 2, and 4) to get access to the first three spell levels of casting for Zealot, and I could spend another for Warlock's if I wished.
I would also need to spend a Feat if I wanted access to its the Domain/Inquisition it gets.
I'm pretty sure on this.
The thing I'm most unclear on is: how would Zealot Talents work?
Zealot Talents is a feature that just adds new options that the Vigilante can take with their Vigilante Talents class feature. Do I need to buy entry to "count as" a Zealot? If so, would I gain a talent as well, or is my whole Boon Feat eaten up just gaining access to the list?
No. You can't access spellcasting for your subclass, regardless of if it's a different class or archetypes.
The thing you can do is access the spell list with spells you got from the main class (main class includes normal, compatible archetypes, but not archetypes from subclass). So if you took the Spellcasting advancement, you would gain 1-4th level spells as if you were a ranger or paladin or bloodrager, with a list you work out with the DM. From there you could spend a boon feat to add access to the 1-3 level spell list from zealot, and another boon feat to add access to the 1-3 level spell list from Warlock. You would not gain additional spells aside from the paladin/ranger/bloodrager progression from your Advancement, but you would be able to access the Zealot and/or Warlock spell lists using your existing casting.
If you do not take the Spellcasting advancement, Vigilante on its own has no spells, so if you spent boon feats to access the warlock or zealot spell lists you would not be able to use them.
You could use a vigilante archetype that gets spells as part of your main class (trading out features as normal) and then add 2 more archetypes as your subclass, which may conflict with the archetype of your main class.
Edit: Question: If you use Advance on combat, and your wizard/sorcerer gains proficiency in light armor, does that obviate the Arcane Spell Failure chance?
Yes, there's a note in the excel sheet.
Okay, I have narrowed my ideas down, I think. Either
a skald(magus),
a wizard(cleric) of nethys who feels like he has been denied access to whatever true reality lies behind this one that's been cordoned off by the gods, and wants to ascend so he can leave and go see what's real,
@Adamwarnock, heavy armor/shield + tower shields lives in Exceptional base attack, not Good base attack. Good Base Attack is Medium Armor + All martial weapons + shields, but not tower shields. You got it right in the step-by-step but not in the text after it. On the upside, you get to cast spells in medium armor from level 1 due to picking the combat advance.
I just had a look at the boon feat notes, that's a lot more generous than I'd have assumed at first.
Are the levels in the "access subclass spell level" spell levels or class levels? Like if I was a wizard that wanted druid spells, would I pay 7 feats(20/3=~7) or 3 (9/3)?
That's actually a really cool concept, I think I might run a cleric of nethys that has magus or wizard spells or something.
Edit: Let me just look up on whether Nethys has a strict stance on heresy or if I'm going to have to use oracle for what I'm after.
But it also occurs to me that that section of the coast was supposed to have lots of pirates - which brings me to an idea, what is Endhomes stance on pirates? If I were a former and not very successful pirate, would I be welcome, or would I be having to hide my sordid past?
Hey Locmore, great question.
shortening the quote for nice looking post:
Endhome is a trade capital, and a seaport. As such it is very concerned with it's ability to levee taxes on products and goods. There is a saying "Ten eggs makes an Endhome dozen," meaning that the city is expected to take a share for providing a neutral forum for commerce. And this is mostly considered fair.
There are actual soldiers posted throughout the city and on it's 20 foot parapet walls. Not just guards but actual infantry, artillery and cavalry and they are known to patrol even alleys.
Gangs and criminals do exist but they really prey upon poor neighborhoods.
Now, that being said, the wealthy and influential families who hold sway over the governance of the city are rumored to have gotten ahead in life by illicit means. Quinchino's, Gaspar's, Pulanti's, everyone knows the names of these families who seem quite happy to have had the same Governor in power for so long it's now taken for granted.
So, it's not a question of what is in your past, but how well you carry it off.
Of course starting at first level you should have humble beginnings.
Okay, thanks so much for adding some detail! So either I'd be someone entirely unrelated to the city who just happened to wash up on the coast, narrowly escaped the wilderness and got inside, or I'd have been part of a more clandestine plot on the part of one of the trade houses that got found out and disavowed. I figure his link to the party would be a religious one - he had one of those moments where he saw himself as he imagined others might see him. He decided he didnt like being selfish and wanted to give back in some way, even if its just by running some small errand that no-one had gotten around to for a couple hundred years.
As for "humble beginnings" no-one's saying he was a very renowned pirate - even pirate decks need deckhands for scrubbing after all. The promise of a share in the booty can be a great lure compared to the alternative you could earn in the navvy or whatever.
Fair. If you could get them for free, then absolutely. I was more pointing out that you can add them by buying scrolls, which is where the cost comes.
The Blue Mage can't learn from scrolls, and it specifies that you get extra for free for every level after first because of that. If you can get them through backstory stuff rather than paying for the scrolls, then more power to you.
Well, yeah, I was asking if there might be a system for that. After all, Necromancers(and other 9th level casters) have access to 3rd level spells at 5th level, and having all 0-3rd level spells known might be a bit much. Even if I could justify it via my backstory...
Some games I've played give bonus spells equal to your casting modifier per level, while others give a static bonus(usually between 2-5 per level).
IMO it'd be plenty fair if we paid the standard cost to borrow a spellbook to read it from;
1 - 10 gp
2 - 40 gp
3 - 90 gp
4 - 160 gp
5 - 250 gp
6 - 360 gp
7 - 490 gp
8 - 640 gp
9 - 810 gp
The values listed are for buying inks and scribing, which is replaced with 'learning' and is free under these rules, but the important bit is that the rules say that you can normally pay half these values to get to copy someone elses spells, and I think that works well for us. Given that no-one can cast anything higher than 3rd level spells, we'd be able to buy access to spells like this:
1 - 5 gp
2 - 20 gp
3 - 45 gp
This follows normal pathfinder rules pretty closely, and is essentially a nominal cost anyway.
