Maxcentric's page

Maxcentric wrote:

- I didn't opt for Tap Into Blood because it, while looking great on paper, does not function that well in practice in my opinion because:

a) your arcana skill increases will lag behind due to wanting to prioritize intimidation for demoralize (and likely diplomacy as well), as well as due to a lack of INT

A little lagging behind or lower ability score is offset by the fact that you can use Arcana to roll Recall Knowledge with any skill.

To emphasize this point: If you're encountering a Zombie Shambler, don't Recall Knowledge with Arcana instead of Religion, but Recall Knowledge with Arcana instead of Zombie Shambler Lore.

You're now using Arcana instead of a specific Lore skill, which has a much lower DC. Because, you know, Imperial Sorcerers just ridiculed Bardic Knowledge! :D

I suppose it is very powerful given you can target lower DCs, and with it not being able to crit fail you could combine it with Dubious Knowledge to always learn something. Could also pick up Automatic Knowledge to guarantee successes on mooks as a free action. Any recommendations on how you would fit it into your action economy at lower levels? I guess you could pick up Bleed Out at level 2 and do Ancestral Memories > Recall Knowledge > Bleed Out for a decent 60 feet opener to a fight, potentially applying persistent bleed to the BBEG and learning about its weaknesses.

You're welcome, enjoy!

While I don't think thrown weapons are in a great place right now, I don't think making Strength to hit for thrown weapons would be good for the game. Between it increasing damage, doubling as a defensive stat, athletics eating a lot of acrobatics' lunch I think the stat is already very strong as it is. Making this change would eliminate its only real weakness, making melee DEX-based martials even less popular, and nudge it into the direction of being a God stat DEX is in some other systems. It would also be problematic with classes like the Thaumaturge, which tack on a lot of flat damage to their hits, but can't really go STR and DEX.

Being a team-based game, I would look at what the party could do to help your melee-based martials with flying enemies. You could have one of your casters use Fly on you as well, take the enemy down using Gust of Wind or Earthbind. Your martials could use a Bola to do a ranged trip to take them out of the air or cast one of the aforementioned spells from a scroll/wand with Trick Magic Item. You could also pick up a damaging cantrip via a dedication or ancestry if you have a decent caster stat. The game is designed so that no single character can function optimally in every given situation.

I do think thrown weapons are flawed in the way that they require a lot of feat investment just to make them work though (mainly due to their bad range).

I don't think extra slots is the answer either, although doing something about the curriculum slots essentially being dead at higher level would definitely help. Ultimately, I don't think the wizard should match the sorcerer in terms of raw power. I'd like to see wizards excel at that which they are supposed to be great at: versatility.

Examples could be the Spell Substitution wizard being able to swap in a spell from their book at a moments notice once a day, Familiar Attunement being able to change familiar abilities on the fly, Experimental Spellshifting allowing you to combine spellshapes (e.g. at the cost of a focus point), Staff Nexus allowing you to cast a spell from the staff as a reaction triggered by a free-action Ready (also limited obviously).

There's a lot that can be done mechanically to make wizards more unique.

Here's an example build of a pretty optimized human imperial sorcerer I made that goes up to level 12:

https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=833653.

Picks up some of the strongest arcane spells available, and should be able to cover most grounds in combat. I think it's overall one of the strongest ways you can play an offensive spellcaster right now.

Some notes on choices:
- Dip into psychic dedication at level 2 because sorcerer feats at that level are not the greatest, although Propelling Sorcery could be very good in some circumstances. Also because amped guidance, an extra focus point (which can also be used on Ancestral Memories) and trained occultism is too good to pass on.

- Robust health assuming your cleric or someone else will be using Battle Medicine. Canny acumen is going to better than Incredible Initiative until level 11 assuming you roll perception for initiative most of the time. But you could pick up both of them and retrain Canny Acumen to Robust Health once you hit level 11. You could also opt for light armor via Armor Proficiency.

- Live wire cantrip has incredible scaling but is not that great until level 5 or so and can be swapped in once u get there. You will want to swap out spells in general as you level in favor of more utility, examples being Runic Weapon for something like Gentle Landing, Fireball for Time Jump, etc.

- Magical shorthand to make learning spells for Arcane Evolution cheaper / more reliable

- Crossblooded evolution with Elemental for the damage or intimidation buff. Between this and Sorcerous Potency, your Arcane Missiles will hurt a lot. That's why I don't think there's a need for another single target blast besides Disintegrate (which has utility use).

- I didn't opt for Tap Into Blood because it, while looking great on paper, does not function that well in practice in my opinion because:
a) your arcana skill increases will lag behind due to wanting to prioritize intimidation for demoralize (and likely diplomacy as well), as well as due to a lack of INT
b) it does not really fit well into the Imperial Sorcerer's action economy. It will trigger off Ancestral Memories, but you'll want to cast a spell in that round as well, spending all of your actions and losing your blood magic effect at the end of the round. Arcane Missiles is preferably cast as a 3-action spell, so that's out as well. Dispel Magic is not used reliably, etc. It's also kind of clunky because you'd ideally want to Recall Knowledge before casting your spell instead of after. I guess it can work once you pick up Haste, with a turn quicked turn going Ancestral memories > Recall knowledge > cast a spell. From level 15 on the feat also becomes redundant due to Unified Theory.

Hope that gives you some inspiration. I think it would fit well in your composition, especially considering you would make a great party face as well.

Maxcentric wrote:

Empower Spell - 1 action - Spellshape

Increase the spell DC of the next spell you cast by +1 against a single target of the spell.

Heightened (+2 at level 6)

This is the current version of "Knowledge is Power" in the game

This is my current redesign as a level 1 class ability:

Quote:

Knowledge is Power

Your academic knowledge about a creature allows you to subtly alter your magic to defeat them. When you succeed at a Recall Knowledge check about a creature, you can invoke your knowledge to make the creature take a –1 circumstance penalty to either AC and saves against the next attack you make against it, or the next spell you cast that it needs to defend against.
If you critically succeed you may share this information with your allies, if you do they gain the benefits as well. If not used, the bonuses end after 1 minute.

It might seem weaker than ancestral memories at first blush, but keep in mind that this inflicts a circumstance penalty, not a status penalty

Good suggestion! It simultaneously makes recall knowledge more worthwhile, and gives wizards a more comparable in-combat action to demoralize, which CHAR casters currently enjoy. It also taps into wizards knowledge theme, which feels quite lackluster in 2e.

Maxcentric wrote:

The design philosophy of the wizard is to be the "master of spells"

I honestly don't feel this is Paizo's intention for the class. Or, rather, the veiw of "mastery" they are applying is one of a spreadsheet manager rather than in-game affectiveness.

Whereas we've seen the Sorcerer move into a space where it can infulence both its ability to land spells, and for the outcome of these spells to be enhanced, both of which above what is possible by other classes. This gives a mastery to them in a way which aligns to how most people would think of it. Your spells land more often, and are more impactful when they do.

The Wizard "mastery" aspect is based on playing around in limited ways with Spell Slots. This can be impactful with a good use of those spell slots, but you are generally on your own when it comes to actual effectiveness.

This is a form of technical mastery in the same way as someone who is a talented composer can come up with some really "interesting" music which is different from what others would compose. Whereas Sorcerers are out there being famous, making money and doing what most people understand as being musicians.

Good analogy between composer and "mainstream" musician. In that case I think we should move wizards more into the space of being a composer, and not trying to be a bad popstar. The School of Unified Magical Theory is one such example I think. Having drain bonded item work per spell rank gives wizards some spontaneous spellcasting at the sacrifice of versatility, but with a single bad focus spell and no Dangerous Sorcery, doesn't really make it worth playing over a sorcerer. To fulfil the composer fantasy, I think it would make more sense if the school would for example give a 4th slot similar to the other schools, which could only be used by spells chosen during level up.

With the remaster having buffed other casters like clerics and sorcerers, and the wizard's flexibility being reduced due to the removal of schools of magic in favor of curriculums, wizards have indeed fallen behind. I don't think the class needs major changes, but improving the curriculums and theses available could be enough.

The design philosophy of the wizard is to be the "master of spells", so I think their focus spells should reflect this by empowering or altering the spells they cast, similar to spellshape feats, rather than being weak filler spells like Force Bolt or Hand of the Apprentice. Here’s an example focus spell:

Empower Spell - 1 action - Spellshape
Increase the spell DC of the next spell you cast by +1 against a single target of the spell.

Heightened (+2 at level 6)

This is akin to the new Ancestral Memories sorcerer focus spell, improving the likelihood of landing a key spell. As the master of spellcasting, this would also draw a parallel with the fighter, being the master of weapons, who gains a permanent +2 to hit. With Extend Spell being removed from the sorcerer's imperial bloodline, it could be given to wizards as an advanced curriculum focus spell. Other changes in the same direction could include making the Fortify Summoning focus spell of the School of the Boundary a free action, allowing it to be used in the same round as a summoning spell (being three actions), serving as an enhancement of the spell.

I also agree with the sentiment that spells taught as part of a curriculum should not include spells that scale poorly unless heightened (e.g. Force Barrage). Instead, they should have spells that remain relevant (e.g. Grease). This prevents those slots from becoming dead as you level up.

Another way to bring the class in line with other casters is by giving something to the wizard chassis that helps solidify its identity. My suggestion there would to make Spellbook Prodigy a baseline class feature. Currently, most wizards feel obligated to take this feat to build their spellbook effectively just to keep up with clerics and druids. This change would enhance the wizard's versatility against the sorcerer's raw power (with Dangerous Sorcery becoming baseline) and provide more build flexibility (by opening up selection of other level 1/2 feats).

Lastly, it has been suggested to make the Spell Substitution thesis a baseline class feature, but I would argue against this because it would likely be too strong, and would further reduce wizard build variability as everyone would go Spell Blending or Staff Nexus instead. This does point to the Improved Familiar Attunement and Experimental Spellshaping being too weak, though. My suggestion there would be to buff Improved Familiar Attunement by letting it provide the Familiar Conduit feat. This would differentiate the wizard from the witch, which currently just does familiars better in every way, and give wizards a fun new way to cast spells. With focus spells altering/enhancing experimental spellshaping, the Experimental Spellshaping thesis could play into this by providing extra bonuses when a spellshape focus spell is cast, making it more interesting than just giving a bunch of spellshape feats.