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I've tried looking for spell research rules, but I'm not finding much. I've tried reading the material for spell casters and spell casting in general, I've tried searching pdfs for spell research or even just research in general, and even searched the web. I'm not getting a lot of info for spell research in Pathfinder 2e. Can anyone can point me in the right direction?

FYI, I'm still new. Any help will be appreciated.

How much time does it take, and how much does it cost to copy a spellbook? I can't find any rules on it. I can find rules for learning new spells, but not copying spells. I want to know how to make a backup spellbook in case I lose my primary spellbook. Pathfinder 1e had rules on it.

I'm making a wizard character that I want to be very knowledgeable. The Bardic Knowledge class feature will suit the character well, but I don't want the Bardic Performances that comes later. Could I just remove those? What about substituting class features from other classes? Maybe a few secrets from the lore master prestige class. It would also be nice if bardic knowledge came online at 1st level instead of 3rd.

As someone who hasn't jumped into the 2E bandwagon yet, I'm wondering how good are the magic item crafting rules. Is it a lot of hassle? Can you design your own magic items? What about mundane crafting? Do you need to spend a good part of a year to craft full plate?

Feel free to add anything relevant in case I missed something.

I'm trying to determine the price of the magic leather strip from a caster's shield. I want to know the formula for scribing scrolls at 50% the normal price. For improving the feature, or adding it to other magic items. Unfortunately, I'm finding this task difficult. The numbers I'm getting don't seem to have a relationship to the effect.

For the caster's shield, the remainder is 2000 gp (+1 enhancement, master work shield, and shield comes to 1153 gp). Somehow this is the price of scribing 3rd level scrolls at 50% of the normal cost.

There is also a greater caster's shield. For the greater caster's shield, the remainder is 1000 gp (+3 enhancement, master work shield, and shield comes to 9153 gp). The greater effect seems to cost less than the lesser effect.

Caster's Shield

Caster's Shield, Greater

I feel like I'm on a doomed quest. Adding further complications is the fact the 2 shields have 2 different authors (WotC vs Paizo).

Does anyone have any ideas to solve this?

Hi all! I haven't quite jumped onto the 2e bandwagon yet. However, I did hear some news a while back that Wizards of the Coast did a bad. Something about changing the OGL license and making it hard for Paizo to do business. I don't know where to look for news on what happened. I'm hoping someone could point me in the right direction... or explain what happened. I'll be happy either way.

I've seen many ways to increase the maximum dexterity bonus of a suit of armor, but no way to fully remove it. I'm wondering if there is any way to remove this cap?

I want to know what classes and archetypes can cast spells of other class spell lists. The base Skald gets spell keening, and the spell sage Wizard archetype gets spell study. Those abilities allow the spell caster to, for a few times a day, cast spells from other class's spell lists. However, I think the spell sage gets ripped off as their ability is expensive when compared to the Skald's ability. I want to know who else can do this so I can compare these abilities.

FYI, spell keening verses spell study.

Spell Keening: For a few times a day, the skald can spontaneously cast spells on the bard, cleric, or sorcerer/wizard spell list. This costs 1 spell slot and has a minimum casting time of 1 full round action.

Spell Study: For a few times a day, a spell sage can spontaneously cast spells on the bard, cleric, or druid spell list. This costs 2 spell slots and has a minimum casting time of 1 full round action per spell level. If the spell's casting time is longer than 1 full round action, this minimum casting time is added to the required spell casting time.

Is Paragon Surge OP? I have a character who is an elf but would want this spell. I'm considering having that character do spell research to create a different version of that spell so it can work on elves. I'm wondering if I should make other changes.

https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Paragon%20Surge

I'm looking for good armor tips to negate armor check penalties, increase max dex cap, reduce arcane spell failure, etc. I'm trying to figure out ways to get a good AC while reducing the burden of wearing armor.

I favor full arcane spellcasters, but I may want to try classes that can use light armor such as a bard or gunslinger.

Thanks in advance.

I know there is an exploiter archetype for wizards, but I'm having a hard time finding anything for a hex archetype for wizards. Can anyone help?

This question has been nagging me for a while.

When upgrading a slotted magic item, the rules say that the new ability costs 50% more to add. It don't matter if the new ability is cheaper or more expensive than the existing ability. Thats gotta be a typo. The paragraph before said improving magic weapons only cost the difference between the new and old version.

If I understand this right, it means its more cost effective to sell the old item, then craft a new one from scratch that has all the abilities you want. I think this would be quite a chore advancing as your characters level up. Table 15-29 says that the cheaper ability has its cost increased by 50%, which is how I think upgrading sloted magic items should work.

Is there an errata that I missed somewhere?

I'm currently reviewing the trapfinding class feature the Rogue has. Near as I can tell, it has 3 benefits:
1) Adds a bonus equal to 1/2 the Rogue levels the character has (minimum 1) to all checks to find and disarm traps.
2) Can bypass traps if it beats the DC by 10.
3) Can disarm magic traps (DC 25 + spell level).

I'm okay with 1, but I'm not sure about 2 and 3. Is there any point in giving the Rogue the exclusive ability to bypass traps and disarm magic traps?

I'm thinking of getting rid of those exceptions and allow anyone with the skills to do those things. I was going to make it a feat, one that a Rogue would get as a bonus feat, and let anyone else who wanted to do 2 and 3 to pick up the feat. However, I'm unsure if those are even worth a feat. I'm thinking of doing away with exclusivity and let anyone with the skills attempt those things. Mind you, only those with significant skill bonuses to relevant skills have any chance of success (it seems that a character wanting to do 2 or 3 need a +10 bonus to pull them off).

I have some game questions.

What kind of damage is a force spell? How does it work when used against a creature with DR? Example, a zombie has DR 5/slashing.

Whats the difference between a ray and ranged touch attack? I'm kinda confused how this applies to magic spells. While I'm thinking about it, how does touch attacks fit into the mix? Is there any other spell delivery method I should know?

Is there any way to undo warped wood other than having another warp wood spell be cast? The spell specifically says that make whole does not work on affected items.

I have questions that I haven't been able to find answers for.

How much starting wealth does the classes in the book start with? If I wanted to play as a warlock, how much gold do I start with?

What type of damage is the eldritch blast? I know that a basic unarmed attack deals blunt damage, I can find rules for it, but I can't figure out what kind of damage an eldritch blast is.

Were there any other classes that got the eldritch blast and invocations? I'm interested in the all day magic that the warlock has, but not the theme of the warlock.

I think that the art of magic should improve over time (unless you are in a setting where magic has stagnated or even regressed). Because of this, I think that many spells may get improved over time. I wish to pick your minds for a bit, to get a sense of how spells might change over the centuries or even millennia.

One of the obvious examples is improved versions of spells:

Burning hands that deal damage with d6s instead of d4s.
A shield spell that lasts hours or maybe can be cast on other characters.
Spells from some classes might get ported over to another class.
Spells might drop a level (especially if they are lower for other classes).

I would love to hear what your thoughts on this are.

I'm wondering if low level spells are of any use to a high level spell casters. They don't seem to be as powerful as high level spells, so I wonder if they have any use at all. So does anyone find low level spells useful at high level?

From what I gather, arcane mark (Wiz/Sor 0) allows you to put an invisible mark on objects and creatures. And not just any mark but your mark.

Arcane mark must be placed on an object before you can cast instant summons on that object.

Am I reading this right? I'm trying to figure out what good arcane mark is. Aside from being a requirement for that one spell, it doesn't seem all that useful. I keep thinking since its a universal spell, it gotta be useful for something.

I'm having a bit of trouble making sense of the prices for certain magical items. I want to make improvements, and mix and match powers, but thats hard to do when you don't know the formula.

Some of the items I'm interested in:

Metamagic rods - I want to know how much it would cost to increase or decrease charges a metamagic rod has. So I could make rods with 1 charge, 2 charges, 5 charges, or even infinite. I also want to make more powerful rods, such as rods for the ascendant spell metamagic feat.

I've noticed that rods are priced upon how much many spell levels the metamagic feat would increase a spell by. So its easy to figure out the prices for new rods that modify the spell level by 1 to 4 levels. Any metamagic feat that raises a spell level by 1 is 3000 for minor, 11000 for normal, and 24500 for greater. If you looked really hard, you will find that there is a version for +0 (such as the merciful spell) which are priced half of +1. However, there isn't any versions for a +5 metamagic rod, which would be required for the ascendant spell metamagic feat (turns spells into their mythic versions).

Rings of Wizardry - These are more expensive than they need to be. A ring of wizardry 1 costs 20000 gp, but 4 pearls of power would cost 4000 gp and gets nearly the same effect. The ring yields additional spell slots to prepare spells in, while pearls recharge used spell slots. I'd be willing to accept a 50% or 100% cost increase for the improved effect, but not 5 times the cost. RoW 2 costs 40000 gp but 4 pearls of level 2 is 16000 gp. 3 is 70000 vs 36000. 4 is 100000 vs 64000. On top of that, they're using ring slots (instead of slotless like the pearls) so shouldn't they be cheaper?

Ring of Wizardry

Caster Shield - This is a magic shield that has a leather patch on the back that allows you to craft a scroll on it for half crafting cost. Works for any spell 3rd level or lower.

After removing all other effects, - (3 gp shield + 150 gp for masterwork + 1000 gp for +1 enhancement bonus), the remaining cost is 2000 gp. Unfortunately, I don't why its 2000 gp for the effect.

Greater Caster's Shield is more problematic as after you cut away all the other effects, you are left with 1000 gp for an effect that applies to up to 5th level spells. How is it cheaper!?

Caster's Shield
Caster's Shield, Greater

Mythic Magic Items - There are no guidelines for making mythic magic items. Not even for how to price magic items that use charges of mythic power to use.

I'm looking for some feedback on some house rules I'm considering.

Some of you might know that I use a house rule for magic item creation feats. To recap, I use just 2: Consumables (scrolls, potions, wands, staves) and Permanent (wondrous, rings, arms and armor, and rods). I don't think there is much benefit for anyone having more than a few magic item creation feats; all will consume money and downtime.

On to today's topic. I'm looking for some feedback as to what might happen if I make more changes to magic items. Mainly its to remove the level limits of different kinds of consumable magic items.

Scrolls will be unchanged.

Potions. Any spell level instead of being limited to spell level 3 or less. I don't think there would be much drawback to this one; aside from being expensive scrolls. Potions of cure critical wounds, restoration, heal, and even resurrection become possible.

Wands. Any spell that is level 4 or lower can be turned into a wand. I want to remove that limit so higher level spells can be made into wands. My justification for that is that back in DND 3.5, wands reached their limit right around the time staves would pick up the slack. However, back then staves were basically bigger wands with more spells. They had like 3 or more spells and 50 charges with no way to recharge them. Because staves are different in Pathfinder, I'm looking to expand wands to fill that empty space.

Staves. I want to remove the limit of them needing to have a minimum caster level of 8. Because staves are different in pathfinder, I think they should also cover the lower levels instead of being restricted to moderate level magic. Of course, players aren't going to be playing with staves at first level. Like with wands, they would be too expensive for the first few levels. It might be 4th level before players get their first staff.

I also want to make a misc category. I want to move a number of wondrous items with finite uses to the consumables category. They would be a catch all for a bunch of magic items that don't have a set of unifying rules.

I was playing with some character builds when I decided to give the mage a staff of fire. I figured I would also add a staff of frost, acid, and lightning so the character would be fair and balanced among all energy types (I'm skipping sonic for reasons). But I found there is anything but balance. There is no staves of acid or lightning (at least not in the core rulebook). So I prepared myself to make my own, but there doesn't appear to be much of selection of spells for energy types either. Acid has the least.

I also found that fireball was a level 3 spell, cone of cold level 5, chain lightning level 6. It seems that I can't switch energy types either. What I mean is, cone of cold and chain lightning aren't the same level as fireball. I can't one day to decide I want to prepare a cone of cold instead of fireball; they aren't the same level.

So am I crazy for expecting some fair and balanced spell selection? Does this game even try?

Are there any int cleric archetypes? I tried looking for one, but I didn't find anything.

I'm looking for a cleric archetype that uses Int instead of Wis for casting spells. If the archetype comes across a little bookish, then that is a plus.

Have you, or someone else, done spell research in your games? I would like to know what kind of impact it had.

How important is crafting magic items in your games? Does it enhance your games? Is it fun? Is it a big deal? Or is it something you can forget about?

I'm interest in knowing how much of an impact crafting has in your games, and whether or not you like it. I'll also accept information relating to mundane crafting.

Something that was bothering me for a while was the fact that the ring of regeneration is so darn expensive, and there are no cheap good alternatives. Well, maybe a wand of heal light wounds is technically a cheap alternative, but that's a consumable not a permanent magic item. However, it recently dawned on me many magic items don't have their prices determined by spell level * caster level * 2000 gp; they might use enhancement bonus ^ 2 * 1000 or 2000 gp. The former lead to the creation of a ring of regeneration that is quite expensive, the latter could be a much cheaper alternative.

After realizing that, I decided to make a new effect type for Table 15–29: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values. I decided to make it Fast Healing rate ^2 * 2000 gp.

I haven't tested it yet. I'm posting this thread asking others to try it out.

Ring of Fast Healing 1 - 2000 gp
Ring of Fast Healing 2 - 8000 gp
Ring of Fast Healing 3 - 18000 gp
Ring of Fast Healing 4 - 72000 gp
Ring of Fast Healing 5 - 100000 gp

Where do you keep scrolls and what are the downsides? I'm under the impression that a wizard will gain a lot of scrolls as they adventure and gain levels. Maybe plenty of potions and wands too. I'm sort of imaging a wizard with straps of belts and pockets, trying to stuff as many scrolls on themself as realistically (and maybe comically) possible.

Currently my best idea is to use a handy haversack. Reach in a side pocket for a scroll and the haversack will provide the one you are looking for. However, there are character levels before such a wondrous item is affordable. So I would like to know alternatives.

Is there any way for a Monk to gain new special weapons? Preferably something I pick. I think there was something for that back in DND 3.5. Basically, I want to be able to do flurry of blows with a new weapon.

While I'm thinking about it, how do martial and exotic weapon proficiency work? Both appear to make you proficient in a single weapon. I would prefer to become proficient in multiple weapons with a single feat, much like how you can become proficient in multiple types armor with armor proficiency feats.

DND 3.5 had a class called the Warlock. It was a class that could use a small list of magic powers at will, and had a signature ability known as eldritch blast, which was a ranged attack power. In many ways, it was a spellcasting class without the restriction of spell slots. I'm wondering if there is any pathfinder class kind of like it.

I have an idea for a different kind of spell mastery feat. I'm thinking of making it grant 3 + Wizard levels worth of known spells.

The reason I'm doing this is to make a version that is useful for all levels. A wizard who takes this feat at first level will be mastering new spells every new wizard level including level 20. It also means that a wizard will probably have mastered spells of many different levels. A wizard who at later levels picks up this feat will hopefully have spell mastery slots that they can afford to pick up some lower level spells. There will be enough slots for every spell level to have at least 2 spells mastered.

The existing feat feels too much of a snap shot in time. If you take it at first level, you will have a bunch of 1st level spells mastered. It wouldn't scale as you leveled up. If you took it at level 5, you would likely master 3rd level spells. Level 11, a bunch of 5th level spells. Because it bestows a number of mastered equal to your intelligence, the amount of spells you have mastered will vary. Not every wizard will have Int of 20.

I'm wondering what you readers think of this revision?

I recently read the kingdom building rules in Ultimate Campaign. Not just those rules, but also the settlement rules in Game Mastery Guide and the kingdom rules in Kingmaker AP 2. I have some questions.

1. A step is missing. Under the edicts phase, its missing step 3. Is this important?

2. Its seems that stability is critical. Unrest causes problems with economy, loyalty, and stability. You can fight unrest with stability. Loyalty seems to be the dump stat. It doesn't seem to come up every turn. Is my assessment correct?

3. Are the stat changes caused by holiday, promotion, and taxation edicts temporary or permanent? For instance, if you pick standard promotion, does your stability increase by 2 every turn, or is it a bonus you get only as long you keep the current settings?

4. Settlement size and base value. Does the base value start at 0? I'm under the impression that it starts at 0, then you raise this value by building different buildings? And this value can't be raised beyond what your population will allow as depicted in table 4-5?

I might have more questions later. I'm still trying to figure this all out.

Rahadoum is a nation set in the Golarion setting that banished gods and clerics from their territory. However, that means that they now lack divine magic for healing. I'm wondering how they cope.

Do their Wizards know healing magic? Do they rely on Witches and Bards (who normally have healing magic)? Do they have to rely on the heal skill? Is there something I have over looked?

I'm trying to figure out how item creation there are. I've been making a list and I want to know if I missed any.

The core rulebook has 8 item creation feats, 9 if you count Master Craftsman. The Bestiary has Craft Construct. Mythic rules has Mythic Crafter. Ultimate Combat has Gunsmithing.

I'm also counting DND 3.5 feats. Epic rules has 6 item creation feats, plus 2 more for improving crafting. I think were 2 more, 1 for magic portals, and another for permanent spells. I haven't found them yet so I'm not sure.

Is there anything else?

I'm wondering if this has ever come up in a game, a situation where you had to destroy a major artifact using mage's disjunction. I'm interested in what players did after they failed their will save and lost all ability to cast magic.

Did the characters retire? Did they try to get their magics back? Did they change character class? Did they draw attention from something big and nasty?

Please tell your stories!

If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a

character’s body, the cost of adding any additional ability to
that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds
the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection +2, the
cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of
invisibility multiplied by 1.5.

I have a problem with this.

Lets use the example above, a ring of protection + 2 (8000 gp) and invisibility (20000 gp). Creating it new should cost 32000 gp item. According to the chart on page 550, the lesser ability cost is increased by 50%.

However, adding new abilities as mentioned on page 553, has the cost of the new (and more expensive ability) increased by 50%. This makes the item 38000 gp (a 6000 gp increase).

I don't like this inconsistency. I think the less expensive ability should have its price increased, not the new one (unless its a less expensive ability). Make it work like creating a new magic item.

Am I reading this wrong? Has it been fixed somewhere else? Cause I think the mentioned rules are wrong and need fixing.

Is there a good version of Infernal Healing? If so, whats it called and where do I find it?

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Arcane spell failure seems to be something that exists to solely trouble arcane spell casters. Not just any arcane spell casters; Bards can wear light armor and shields without the penalty. Arcane spell failure seems to exist to trouble Wizards and Sorcerers. Arcane spell failure doesn't bother divine spell casters at all.

Why is arcane spell failure a thing? Do Wizards and Sorcerers have to be glass cannons?

I don't know a better place to ask these questions. If there is some place better, could someone please let me know?

Is there some place where I can find updates to this book? The old website seems to have been taken down a long time ago.

I can't find anything on how to generate ability scores appropriate for deities. They seem to have really high stats. Does anyone know how their stats were determined?

Is there any way to increase the number of spells slots a character has, beside increases to ability scores and levels? I'm thinking about feats, but I'm open to other suggestions.

I know about the Expanded Arcana feat in the Advanced Player's Guide, but that only increases the number of spells known, not increase spell slots. I'm looking for a feat that gives more spell slots, but I haven't been able to find one.

I'm having a little bit of trouble of figuring out what belongs in a Basic Crafter's Book. It says that it includes formulas for all common items listed in the chapter, but no items are listed as common.

However, many weapons are listed as uncommon. There are also adventure gear that is listed with versions for expert and master's quality. So do I include everything except those items in the book?

What books should I read to learn about the default setting for Pathfinder? What order should I read them?

The default setting for Pathfinder is called Golarion, right?

What are the different spell casters good at? I lack experience with this game so I don't really know what the different spell casting classes are good at. I'm finding it hard to figure this all out just by looking spell list.

Any help would be appreciated!

Hello. I'm making some plans for the development of my Wizard character. I could use some advice.

Somewhere down the road, I want to use some Wish spells to give my character a +5 inherent bonus to Int. From my understanding, I could do this as early as 17th. I wouldn't have enough spell slots for this, so I would have to use scrolls.

Does the material component affect the time to make scrolls (or other magic items? The other scroll of the required level would normally take 4 days to make. I think the material component doesn't.

I under the impression that skill points are increased each level. Any Int increase does not retroactively increase skill points. I'm assuming that the "Headband of Vast Intelligence" is an exception, not the rule.

I'm looking to make this character an artificer, taking all the item creation feats. Is that wise? Anything to skip or combinations to avoid? Is there any beyond the 8 in the core rulebook and craft construct in beastiary 1.

While on the topic of creating magic items. Does being a spell sage offer me any item creation advantages? They can cast spells belonging to other classes by sacrificing 2 spells of the same level. So would this allow me to avoid +5 DC for not knowing a spell?

I'm wondering if craft alchemy is a useful skill to have? Do any of you readers have some experiences with alchemical items?

I've noticed that many alchemy items are cheaper than potions. However, I've also noticed they take longer to make.

Am I correct to think that an Alchemist lab counts as masterwork tools, and that there are no masterwork artisan tools for craft alchemy?

How much does a potion weigh? I can't seem to find it in my books.

I keep seeing this come up as I slowly make my way through the starfinder book. "1-1/2". Does this mean 1.5? I ask because it looks like a math equation that amounts to 0.5.

For instance, repairing equipment with the engineering skill is "15 + 1-1/2 × item’s level".

In the future, I would really appreciate it if you guys used 1.5 or 0.5, not 1-1/2. Its less confusing.

Is it worth the trouble to pick up some item creation feats? Do you pick them all or only pick a handful? What kind of circumstances might affect your decision?

I'm thinking of grabbing some for some of my characters I'm working on, but I don't want to waste valuable feat slots. Thanks for any advice you can give.

Does anyone know if Paizo has any plans for epic rules for Pathfinder? I don't know where to look for this information.

I'm looking for information on researching spells that belong to other spell casters. For instance, a Wizard trying to learn healing and resurrection spells from a Cleric's list, or ironwood and rusting grasp from a Druid's list.

I don't think learning spells from other classes is what the devs had in mind when writing the spell research rules. Nonetheless, I would like any information, guidelines, and opinions you guys can provide.

Thanks in advance.