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Hello all.

I haven't play tested the vigilante and I'm not going to. But I didn't come here to speak badly about it either. I came here to make a suggestion.

First off: the general consensus seems to be that the vigilante isn't a very good class. It takes too long to be able to change between social mode and effective mode, either in the time it actually takes, or in the levels one needs to acquire before being able to do it fast enough. And when you finally have the level to change in a fair time, the abilities are simply too far behind everyone else to matter much in the bigger picture.

The idea: Looking at the vigilante made me think of the old 3.5 prestige class "the cameleon." This class could shift between being an arcane caster, a divine caster, a semi-warrior or a semi-rogue.
At the early levels, you could change your "focus" once per day and as you leveled you could do it more often. As you leveled, you where also able to apply class abilities, such as smite, rage and trapfinding and at level 7 (out of 10) you could have 2 foci up at the same time.

Building the concept into a 20 levels class seems to me to be an interesting possibility, especially with the talents of the vigilante, as they could be made into a general pool that supports a specific focus.
This would mean that you would have to spend your talents on one, or at the most two foci, to be able to keep up with the rest of your party, but when you really need another healer, or a trapfinder, or a backup martial, you can shift over and hold that position, at least acceptably.
Making a "social focus" would give the Vigilante the ability to shift into a social persona and still being capable within that focus instead of losing most of his abilities.

Sending the Vigilante in this direction would make a spy more than a super hero, but since the book is called "ultimate intrigue" and not "ultimate avengers," I think that would be acceptable.

On a personal note: Having read through a bunch of the threads about the Vigilante I think that it would be healthier for the class in general if the developers accepted that most people who take a look at it hates it and finds it useless compared to other classes.
The current trend with stubbornly claiming that it is a good class and not acknowledging the feedback, even if it is mostly "armchair" will probably come back and bite them in the backside if they publish the class the way they seem to envision it.

Also the name ... The Vigilante was a not-very-interesting prestige class in 3.5, making it a not-very-interesting base class in Pathfinder, just because superheroes is the new black, doesn't seem a very good idea :)

Hello everyone.

This sunday i ran a game beginning on the higher levels, 11 to be precise. I consider myself quite capable as a GM, having manned the captain's chair for the better part of 15 years. I have quite extensive experience as a player as well, so the level holds nothing new for me.

Or so I thought. One of my players got a nerd-on from the Psionics from Dreamscarred Press, but because this clashed with my plans for the campaign, I couldn't allow him to play a Psion. We looked over the options and I allowed access to the Vitalist.

I like the concept of the Vitalist a lot, a healer who drains his enemies to heal his friends and who isn't forced to depend on spells to keep everyone going is a great idea. The collective is interesting and flavorful and it looks very balanced, especially when giving it a thorough read.

Then we had 1 game session with a lot of combat. The group is level 11 and I wanted to challenge them, since I didn't had to worry about the healer running out of juice.

He healed everything with a mad efficiency that would put the cleric to shame. Using his collective, he is able to not only use a heal spell (power) at range, he can also spread the spell over several targets. So when he had 4 allies who where somewhat hurt and in need of aid, he cast his heal and gave each 25 points of healing, taking the last 10 for himself. This cost him 11 power points of his 166 for the day and didn't even required him to move from his spot.

I don't mind this in the class, it isn't really overpowered, but it is rather bothersome to actually challenge the group with combat, even though level 11 isn't that bad concerning the wonky abilities that show up later.

The player got bored with not having any challenge and that after just one session of using his abilities. He is now ret-conning his Vitalist into a Fighter, leaving the group without a healer.

My point: Be careful when allowing a player to make a vitalist in the high mid-level range, it has more bite than it seems to. Do not be afraid of it, it can be handled, but you should plan for it when making your campaign.

This wall of text was brought to you by the surgeon, of rockets ;)

Hello everyone.

I've recently started a new campaign and semi-designed a setting around it to match what I was going for this time around. But the bugger grew on me and suddenly I find myself wanting to expand it into other campaigns.

But doing that takes house rules, so - inspired by some of the feat and houserules threads around here - I've gone to town, giving most of the system an overhaul.

I'm going over the feats, implementing things like power attack and deadly aim into the generel combat rules as options for everyone instead of feats. Finesse i going to be a weapon quality, allowing people to use either str or dex to hit AND damage. And so on, most of these generel ideas come from the threads about terrible/redundant feats.

One of my biggest doubts is that I'm considering making meta-magic free options for spellcasters instead of feats.

Now before you all get a heart attack from this madness, I must mention that we've implemented a spell point system ala the power point system from Dreamscarred Press' psionics. So meta-magic feats would cost additional power points, with a limit on power points spent per spell equal to casting class level. I think this will help limiting the worst of it.

Would making meta-magic feats into standard spellcasting options be mad hat? And more important: why?

In addition I'm going over the item creation feats, making Craft Rod, Staff, Wand into a single feat, rolling forge ring into craft wondrous item and making brew potion and scribe scroll into a single feat, probably something like "craft single item ressource" <- obviously a working title ;)

Hiya.

I've run a couple of playtests with my group this last week. We mostly found that the problems in the basic document has been addressed elsewhere, so I won't repeate them here.

What I would like to mention is that when we sat after the second playtest and started talking about it we all had kind of an empty feeling from it.

As we exprerinced it the Mythic rules as they are now adds some power to the game, but it doesn't add any flavor. Everything gets a boost and some new toys, but these are essentially a better version of the toys we already have, though with the added bookkeeping needed due to new
costs and new currencies.

The Spells are the same but with a little added power and so are the feats. There's no Myth, no real feeling of otherness and awe. It feels like a boring, uninspired expansion for an online game, just raising the power level without adding anything truely different or interesting.

The different paths seems interesting at first, but in effect they end up being just non-class-specific "classes" which adds some new powers to the game, feels like I might as well play a ghestalt game and dispense with doing a new form of bookkeeping.

Sorry to be a grouch, but as the Mythic rules look like now there's very little Myth and quite a bit of Ick to them and they are diffenately not living up to their name :(

Hello all.

This is not a rant, though it might seem so at times, so please, be overbearing ;)

The opening statement: I have grown tired of, and a little bit disillusioned with, the massive system of classes, races, rules, weapons and last but not at least spells. Pathfinder is a great system, with all of it's options, and possibilities, but it seems to me that it has somehow lost it's innocence over the years.
We have gotten Alchymists, Summoners, Gunslingers and so many spells and feats that some of my players has given up on using anything but the core book out of pure fear that they will have to trawl through 50 pages of feats to get the one that's - maybe not perfect, but then at least fairly good for their character/concept.
I must admit that I agree. So from the start of our next campaign anything outside the core book will be on an "ask for permission" state.

The Rant: But I'm still not happy. Magic is still a boggled down swamp that swings wildly between the user crying at the lower levels and laughing manically at the higher ones, We still have 3 different arcane casters, 4 divine casters, 3 warriors, 1 skill monkey and a monk. The monk gets honorable mention because nobody actually played one. And none of the prestige classes really support mixed builds very well, though several of them makes a nice try. Skills are basically glorified traits that requires ranks to be useful - which they can be in very limited ways, and feats are either cookie cutter or not worth having.

What I propose: I want to go back to basics, while going forward as well. The classes will be cut down to a Warrior, a Specialist and a Spellcaster. At various levels these classes will gain ability "points" that they can use on various pools within their class; for instance, if you are a Specialist, you will be able to invest them in improved speed, sneak attack or uncanny dodge, or other such abilities.
Spells will be mostly replaced, some of them rewritten, some of it just chucked out with the rest. Casting will likewise be getting an overhaul, making it possible for a Spellcaster to cast a (weakened) damage spell as his standard action, but also casting a minor buff or healing spell as a move action. So spellcasters will get more versatility within the group, but more will be expected of them in return.
Warriors and Specialists will of course also get a boost. So a Warrior may charge in and make a full attack on his turn, or make a disarm, followed by a trip and then make an attack on his (hopefully) prone target. Specialists will be masters of positioning, getting free aiding actions and improved flanking options.
Skills will get a massive overhaul and be made easier to understand and more relevant. Knowledges will still be mostly about monsters, but social skills will have a simple (I hope) challenge system that decides succes instead of just a DC.
Lastly, feats will of course be revisioned, though not much. Most of the combat feats will stay as they are, though some chains will be hammered into a single feat - like Two-weapon fighting, and will scale with level.

The races will get and overhaul too. First I plan to cut them down to Dwarves, Elves and Humans. Each race will have a large impact on how their class functions and will add benefits to certain combat styles that fit the Racial Archetype.
Example: Elves are known to be fast, agile Warriors, so they have advantages when using a single sword, or dual-wielding. Human Spellcasters are known for their flashy, destructive magic, so they have advantages on damage spells and elemental magic. Dwarves are devoted to the stone and constantly has to battle foes from below, so Dwarven Specialists are a lot tougher and has more staying power in melee.

There will be 3 prestige classes; Bard, Mage Warrior and Ranger. The Bard is a Spellcaster/Specialist, the Mage Warrior is of course a Warrior/Spellcaster and the Ranger is a Warrior/Specialist.

So my question is: Is this completely bonkers? Or would anyone be interested, anyone at all? :)

Hi all.

I'm going to run a short campaign for a few newbies starting in precisely a week. The main villians will be undead; leveled ghouls, a Ghast and such, while their minions will be more like goblins, ogres a minotauer and the like.

The campaign starts out with one of the players inheriting an old inn from his uncle, along with the uncle's magical sword. They will of course need to find the secret entrance to the inn's basement and fight the monsters there, but in the end they will get the blade - Nemare.

Nemare is a bastardsword that deals 1 point of fire, plus 1 damage per 2 levels the wielder has, it also grants the user his charisma modifier (if any) as positive energy damage to undeads. Finally it grants the bastardsword proficiency if the wielder is good aligned and not doesn't make a habbit of hanging with the undead.

I know that this is probably a rather powerful weapon for a level 1-5 campaign, but prices and such aside; Is it interesting? :)

Oh! btw, I know that an item granting a feat should have an added cost of 10.000 gp per feat, but for proficiency it is just waaaaaaay overprized ;)

Hi all.

An Elven Magus is turned into a vampire at level 5. He secretly plots against his master and around level 8 he is able to have him killed by a group of adventurers. He is now free to roam the world once again.

At class level 10 he decides that already being an undead, he wouldn't mind boosting his power even further by becomming a lich. Going through the motions he gathers the ressources, crafts the phylactery and when he hits level 11, he goes through the transformation. He is now a Vampiric Lich.

The things I ponder:

1) Could the transformation into a lich end his need to feed on blood?

2) Would the tranformation into a lich affect his sensibility to sunlight?

3) Would draining the blood of something living regenerate him for a while, thus hiding him being a Lich? And would this rekindle his allergy to sunlight?

4) Would he still be able to create vampires and spawn?

Looking forward to your ideas :)

Hi.

I've got a couple of questions about the OGL and no time to read it throughly. Besides, I don't have "legal" on my language list ;)

1) Would it be acceptable for me to use parts of the Pathfinder rules system - namely the CMB/CMD rules - for another D20 installment, such as a WW2 RPG?

2) Would it be acceptable for me to directly "steal" feats, skills and abilities that I like from the various classes and incorporate them into my own material?

3)I belive that the Ultimate series of books aren't covered by the OGL. Is this correct?

Thank you :)

Hullo.

I've been messing around with the idea of a casting system buildt around the Spellcraft skill. I've got the concept somewhat done, but I've begun hitting the issues with such a system, and thus I come to you.

The basic idea is that casters get effects of their spells based on how high they roll spellcraft, a bit like an attack roll really. Ex: If my level 1 wizard rolls a Spellcraft check of 9 (a horrible 1 + 8 for his skill) when trying to cast a defensive effect, he will only recieve the basic mage armor bonus (+4). But if he rolled 15-20, he might get a +5 or 6 bonus instead.
The same will be true for damage spells. A fire effect will have a number of dice based on the check and if it's a single target or multiple target, long or short range effect.

The "spells" themselves will be divided into something like schools, so Fire will have it's own category covering fire damage, resistance and the like. Utility effects will be placed in various appropriate categories and cantrips will have their own category.
The schools will have tables for the various effects they can provide.

Castings per day will be limited by a spellpoint system, a bit like the psionics of 3,5, but with far less points. In exchange for lesser points , they regenerate /hour instead of /day.

I'm sure you already see all kinds of trouble with this, but I shall list the ones I find most glaring:

1. The skill level will be wastly different for intelligence-, charisma- and wisdom-based casters. This can be solved by making a "Spellcasting skill", but that would make things a little more complicated.

2. Casters such as Bards, Magi, Paladins and Rangers will have to be limited in some way to what tiers of power they can access at what levels, since they can get their skill as high as anyone else. This might require seperate tables of effect for these classes, again adding complications.

3. The line between Arcane and Divine casting might become blurred, making some classes obsolete, or at last less nessessary for a group if one of the other classes are there already. This might be solved by making the schools more specific, but that will lead to even more tables.

4. The well-known spells will all be lost, or their effects will need to be converted into tables for the new system. This may result in some confusion and a *censored*-load of tables. The easiest way to handle this is to minimize the number of tables, though this will also minimize the number of spells overall.

5. Power level. This will either nerf casters a little, or boost them a horrible lot. This will need to be tested before any valid estimate can be made.

6. A lot of caster classes, Such as Wizard, Sorcerer and Oracle will need to have their class features changed to match the new system.

----------------------

So as you can see there's a lot of work still in this to make it work, and even more to make it work smoothly.

I've considered drawing up a new spellcasting class that will be the only spellcaster, but the effects of losing all of the other casting classes is a mess I'm not quite willing to deal with, not now, not ever.

This isn't about making casters more balanced, but about making magic more intuitive and usable without the player having to plow through hundreds of spells just to make a list of a few.

At the same time I will prefer to keep it simple. It shouldn't be "Rollmaster, the Pathfinder edition", so keeping the number of tables at a minimum is a must.

Ideas are welcome :)

Edit: Casters will not have automatic access to all the different "schools" relevant to their class, but will be limited to a certain number based on their respective level.

Hallu there.

Having digested the playtest document and made a few attempts at converting my homebrew races to points, thus far with little luck I must admit.

Except for the idea that all races must be equal (no reason beating that horse here), the basic system seems solid for creating variations of the races we all know and ... well mostly like. And that's great! Now we can have racial variants of thiflings, aasimar, oread and all the other strange half-races. But where's my new stuff?

Is this playtest assumed to satisfy all my racebuilding needs? Or is it merely the top of the iceberg?

I was expecting more stuff along the lines of the spell-designing chapter from UM, with guidelines of how to gauge the powerlevel of various homebrew abilities.

Right now, this system isn't very useful for what it wants to do - making new races, since none of the options are actually new and the system has absolutely nothing on how to make up new stuff yourself. It almost seems like the developers doesn't want to give us free reign over their system.

Well guys. It's time to kill your darlings. If you want to make a guide to racebuilding, you should abandon all minor concerns and just kick off. Most of us aren't looking for more limits and regulations, we're looking for creative options as well as balancing guidelines.

I like the basic idea as written. Points needs to be redone and the whole concept of equality between the core races needs to be abandoned.
But even if that happens, I can't use this system as is; it brings nothing new to the table, nothing at all :(

In the immortal words of Megamind: Ollo.

There is a place in the Counsel of Thieves Adventure Path where the group is asked to roll will saves. I failed and was forced to attack my fellow adventurers, which I must admit we all enjoyed immensely.

Now the problem is that I was stopped by a Sorcerer with a Dominate Person 1/day ring who turned me into his drooling drone. While I was in the drone state (he secretly released me from the control when the others wasn't looking), the others tried to make him use me to "find traps" "bash down doors" and other such hazarded things. Personally I found it rather amusing and we had great laughs. But my Character remembers everything ...

In short: I want revenge. My targets are a Halfling Cleric/Bard (5/1) and a Human Inquisitor (6) and I want them dead. But not just dead, I want them punished, abused, humiliated and then dead - but in a cool way that we can all enjoy later, this may be about vengence, but it's about cool vengence.

I am myself an Urban Guide Ranger/ Bladebound Magus (3/3) and in the battle I would have slaughtered them if the sorcerer hadn't intervened. The biggest problem is that we usually have a paladin and a barbarian/alchemist in the group who wouldn't condone my actions and I don't want to take them down with the others. The wasn't there because the paladin just had a daughter irl and the chemist was on his way home from shanghai, so they where in "drool in the corner" mode last night.

I could use some cruel and creative ideas to handle my petty revenge on these two, so anything I might be able to pull off without a massive monetary requirement would be appriciated - as long as it's awesome of course ;)

*casts True Ressurection on the Personalizer*

Now get to work little program, I neeeeeeed my PDF.

*grumbles about not getting it before tonight's session*

I know you're probably working on it, but I'm an impatient bugger x)

Hi all.

I've been fiddling around with a spontaneous casting Magus for an upcoming campaign I've been working on. I must admit that the credit for the idea is someone else's, which I found on this forum and blatantly stole for my own purposes. So props to the guys who first brought it up :)

Sorcerous Magus:
*insert flavor text here*

Sorcerous Caster: At first level, the Sorcerous Magus gains the spells known feature of the Bard class, he still chooses spells from the standard Magus Spell list. He also gain a Sorcerer bloodline of his choice as well as all of the associated bonus spells and powers of that bloodline. This feature does not allow him to learn, or cast spells above 6th level. This replaces the Spellbook, Spell Recall, Improved Spell Recall and Greater Spell Access abilities.

Would this be too much? Or maybe too little?

Thanks

Hello there.

I'll be launching a new campaign at the end of August and shadows (not the monster) will be a large factor in the first part of the campaign and various shadow artefacts will bind the campaign togeather at key points. I can't really go into details yet, as I know some of my players are lurking here at the forums and they're curious as cats ;)

Anyway. I would like some input on a rogue archetype I'm considering for a cult of shadowdancer-like warriors.

The idea is that the rogue sacrifice his sneak attack for the ability to create a one-handed weapon (probably longsword) out of shadows.
At 1st level this would be a Masterwork and light weapon, dealing 1d8 damage and having a crit rate of 19-20.
At levels 3, 7, 11, 15 and 19 it would gain a +1 enchancement bonus and at levels 5, 9, 13 and 17 it would gain an ability from a specific list (taken from the normal weapon abilities in the core book). A bit like the Bladebound Magus, but without the intelligence and non-standard powers.
Also; instead of gaining uncanny dodge and imp. uncanny dodge, they would gain the shadow jump ability of the Shadowdancer. I know that this will probably render the Shadowdancer irrelevant, but none of my players has any interest in it anyway.

My problem here is that I'm not really sure if this would weaken the rogue too much or if it's acceptably balanced.

Thanks.

Hiya.

I'm hoping that this is the correct forum for these things.

Last Week (Thursday), my character in the Council of Thieves AP figured that he needed a Handy Haversack, but since this is the big city, he doesn't want to look like a tourist dragging around his luggage.

The solution was quite simple. The group's wizard enchanted my coat as a Haversack, making the side pockets into the small haversack pockets and the large compartment became a big inner pocket.

Now I quite like having utilarian gear like that, so I'm looking into taking it a bit further as the campaign advances, adding other practical stuff as well, such as invisibility, Endure elements and such.

So my question is: Can it be true that (according to the table on making magic items); getting the price for invisibility 3/day is calculated as: level squared x 1000 (4000) divided by 5/3 (1.67), or 2395?

On the matter of the Mug O' Hurt; I was wondering if there is an effect that removes the "improvised weapon" quality from it? Or I would eventually have to grab the feat to get rid of the penalty?

Cheers

Hello hello.

I've been mooking around with making some new classes and this one came out fairly well. So I thought someone else should have the chance to have fun with it. I'll post some notes and thoughts at the end of the thing, so that those who've read it will know what I'm talking about. I hope you will enjoy my small efforts :)

Elemental Adept (v. 1,4):

Small flavor text -> Wizards, Oracles, Magi and many others play at mastering the elements, but few of them ever truely master a single element, if even that. The Elemental Adept is the incarnation of the destructive powers of the Elements, the strength and durability of Earth, the speed of devoring Fire and the fury of the Storm. He masters them all and uses them as he deems right.

Base Attack bonus: 3/4
Good Saves: Fortitude and Will
Hit Die: D8 + Constitution Modifier
Skill Points: 4 + Intelligence Modifier
Class Skills: Climb, Craft, Fly, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana, Nature, Planes), Spellcraft, Survival and Swim.
Primary Stat: Charisma

Class Features:
Weapons and Armor Proficiencies: The Elemental Adept is proficient with all simple and martial weapons. They are proficient with light and medium armor and shields (but not towershields).

Elemental Weapon: At first level the Adept gain the ability to infuse his weapons with elemental power. He may do this once per day at first level and the infusion lasts until the end of the encounter. If the Adept change weapons during the encounter the power shifts to the new weapon. As his power increase he may chose from more possible infusions. When this power is active the weapon count as magical for any purpose related to damage reduction. Unless otherwise noted, the Elemental Adept may use this ability on an off-hand weapon as well, as long as he has uses left. Thus a 4th level Elemental Adept may infuse his main-hand weapon with the Earthhammer property and his off-hand weapon with the Sunfire property. Each of these cost one use of Elemental Weapon. At levels 1, 4, 7 and 11 the Elemental Adept chooses an infusion from the list below.

- Earthhammer: The Adepts weapon takes on a dark, stone-like quality and throb softly with power. Any weapon he wields while this power is active is treated as one size category larger concerning damage.

- Frostbrand: The Adepts weapon is coated in a thin layer of ice. His weapon now deals another 1 point of cold damage per two levels and the target must make a successful fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ Adepts level + his charisma modifier) or have his movement speed halved for 3 rounds.

- Storm: The Adepts weapon take on a faint bluish glow and become light as air. He may make one extra attack at his highest attack bonus. This ability may not be used on a secondary weapon held in the Adepts off-hand.

- Sunfire: The Adepts weapon is surrounded by a fiery halo as it is infused with the power of flame. This ability deals 1 point of fire damage per two levels of Elemental Adept.

Blasts: The Elemental Adept gain access to a variety of ranged attacks called Blasts. He may use these attacks as many times per day as he wishes. These attacks are ranged touch attacks and they take up a standard action unless otherwise noted. The range is 25 feet plus 5 feet per 2 levels. Blasts provoke attacks of opportunity if used in melee. At levels 2, 5, 8 and 12 the Elemental Adept chooses a Blast Power from those below.

- Earth Blast: The Adept unleash a blast of grit and rubble, mauling his target. This blast deals 1d6 + 1 per two levels points of bludgeoning damage and the Elemental makes a bull rush attempt with his level + his charisma bonus as his CMB.

- Flame Blast: As he lashes out towards an enemy, fire bursts in an arch from the Adepts hand. This attack deals 1d6 + 1 per two levels of fire damage and this damage is repeated in the following round.

- Ice Blast: The Adept blasts his enemy with icy power, possibly freezing him in place for a short while. This Blast deal 1d8 + 1 per two levels cold damage and the target must make a reflex save (DC 10 + ½ Adept level + his charisma modifier), or be frozen in place for 5 rounds. He may make a combat maneuver check against the same DC each round to break free of the ice. Creatures with cold resistance may reduce or eliminate the damage, but can still be held in place. Creatures that emanate heat, such as fire elementals, take only the damage.

- Wind Blast: The Adept blasts his target with a harsh wind, tearing at his focus and leaving him confused. Wind Blast does not deal damage, but any spellcaster hit by it must make a concentration check or fail any spell that they are attempting to cast. Wind Blast is an immediate action and has a range of 5 ft. per level.

Adaption: The elemental power suffuses the Adepts very flesh in ways he could not have anticipated. At second level he gains the permanent effect of an Endure Elements spell. When he reaches 4th level he may use Resist Energy as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 1+his charisma bonus, his caster level is equal to his character level. At 6th level he may use Water Breathing and Water Walking as spell-like abilities with a caster level equal to his character level. He may use these at will. At 12th level he may use Control Water and Move Earth as spell-like abilities for a number of times per day equal to his 1+charisma bonus.

Elemental Bond: The Elemental Adept shapes a companion out of raw elemental energy. This companion looks and behaves as an animal, but is far more dangerous and intelligent than any normal animal. As the Elemental Adept gains levels, his Elemental Companion becomes more powerful and intelligent (see the elemental companion entry below). When this ability is first gained, the Elemental Adept chooses an animal from the Druid’s list of Animal Companions. Once made, this choice can only be changed at levels 10, 15 and 20. The Adepts Companion gains the size increase one level later than indicated under the animal companions.

Elemental Enhancement: At third level the Adept unlock ways to use the elements to enhance himself in battle. The Elemental Enhancement abilities all function for a number of rounds equal to his level + his charisma modifier which does not have to be used consecutively. Only one may be active at a time. The enhancements are; Stone’s Endurance, Inner Fire, Well of Life and Grace of Air. At levels 3, 6, 9 and 13 the Elemental Adept chooses an Elemental Enhancement from the list below.

- Grace of Air: The Elemental Adept can freely levitate up to a foot above the ground. All of his movement modes are unchanged, though he may hover over liquids such as water, lava or acid. He still takes falling damage as normal. In addition he gains a +2 bonus to his dexterity.

- Inner Fire: The Adepts eyes glow with an inner flame as his body is filled with the power of fire. He gains a +10 ft. bonus to his movement and a +2 enhancement bonus to his charisma.
Stone’s Endurance: The Adept can infuse his own flesh with the endurance of stone. This grants him damage reduction equal to half his level and a +2 enhancement bonus to his constitution.

- Well of Life: The Adept can draw on the power of the primal well of life. This power grants him fast healing 2 as a +2 enhancement bonus to his strength.

Elemental Mastery I: The Elemental Adepts control increases and he gains additional benefits from his powers. This increases the effect of his Elemental Weapon abilities, Blasts and Elemental Enhancements. These bonuses apply to the appropriate abilities when they are gained.

- Earthhammer Weapon now grants 1½ times the Adepts strength bonus to damage with a one-handed weapon and double with a two-handed weapon.

- Earth Blast increases its damage to 2d6 and the CMB by 2.

- Flame Blast adds an additional round of fire damage for a total of 2 rounds after the initial attack.

- Frostbrand increases the duration of the movement reduction by 2 rounds.

- Grace of Air increases the dexterity bonus to +4 and ignores the first 10 feet of a fall.

- Ice Blast increase the reflex save and CMB DC by 2.
Inner Fire increases the movement bonus to 20 ft. and increase the charisma bonus to +4

- Stone’s Endurance increases the constitution bonus to +4.
Storm Weapon now adds half the Adepts charisma bonus as a competence bonus to hit while it’s active.

- Sunfire Weapon Increases the critical treat range of the Elemental Adepts weapon by 1. This does not stack with the keen property or the improved critical feat.

- Well of Life increases the fast healing to 4 and the strength bonus to +4.

- Wind Blast increases the DC of the concentration check by 2.

Elemental Form: The Elemental Adept gains the ability to turn himself into an elemental. He can turn himself into any of the four elementals Fire, Water, Earth or Water. Using this ability is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. This ability is otherwise identical to the spell Elemental Body I except that he may chose to keep his own form and size, not gaining the benefits and penalties associated with being small. At 8th level it works as Elemental Body II, at 10th level the ability works like Elemental Body III and at level 12 it works like Elemental Body IV

Greater Mastery I: When using his Elemental Weapon power, the Adept may add a second effect to the weapon. For example; an 8th level Adept can have both Earthhammer and Frostbrand active at the same time. This still only costs one use of the Elemental Weapon power, though using it on an off-hand weapon in addition to a main-hand still costs an additional use of the Elemental Weapon power. I addition the Elemental Adept may use two Elemental Enhancements simultaneously. This still uses up rounds from each independently.

Elemental Aura: The Adept can grant the effect of one of his Elemental Weapon effects to allies within 15 feet. This works as the Elemental Weapon power with an effect chosen by the Adept when this ability is activated. Using this ability costs an additional use of Elemental Weapon per ally included in the effect and the infusion must be one that is active on the Adepts own weapon.

Elemental Mastery II: The Adept once more increase his elemental strength. This time increasing the effects of his current Elemental Weapon, Blasts and Elemental Enhancements as follows:

- Earthhammer Weapon now ignores damage reduction requiring Silver, Cold Iron or Adamantine to overcome and also ignores the hardness of objects.

- Earth Blast increases the damage to 3d6 and increase the CMB by 2, in addition the target must make a reflex safe DC 10 + half Adept levels + adepts charisma modifier or fall prone.

- Flame Blast adds another round of fire damage for a total of 3 rounds after the initial attack.

- Frostbrand now reduce the targets movement speed to ¼.

- Grace of Air increases the dexterity bonus to +6 and allows the
Elemental Adept to use overland flight as the spell a number of times equal to half his charisma bonus.

- Ice Blast deals the Elemental Adepts charisma bonus in cold damage each round that the target stays frozen.

- Inner Fire increases the movement bonus to 30 feet and the charisma bonus to +6; in addition the Elemental Adept no longer takes movement penalties for difficult terrain.

- Stone’s Endurance increases the constitution once more to +6 and the Elemental Adept no longer takes movement penalties in medium armor.

- Storm Weapon adds the Adepts full Charisma bonus to hit and may now be applied to the Elemental Adepts off-hand weapon. If added to a two-handed weapon it grants another attack at the Elemental Adepts highest attack bonus -5.

- Sunfire Weapon increases the threat range of the affected weapon by another 1, for a total increase of 2. For example; a 10th level Elemental Adept wielding a Heavy mace infused with Sunfire Weapon has a critical range of 18-20.

- Well of Life increases the fast healing to 6 and the strength bonus to +6.

- Wind Blast increases the DC of the concentration by another 2, for a total of 4 and no longer provokes attacks of opportunity..

Font of Life: At 14th level the Elemental Adept can share his power over the Well of life with those close to him. He may use rounds of his Well of Life ability to grant the fast healing to a willing creature within 15 feet instead of using them on himself. He still gains the strength bonus.

Greater Mastery II: The Elemental Adept may now add a third Elemental Weapon power to his weapon and may use three Elemental Enhancements simultaneously. This is otherwise identical to Greater Mastery I.

Elemental Mastery III: The Elemental Adept gains a deeper understanding of the elemental power he wields, adding greatly to his power. This affects his Elemental Weapon abilities, Blasts and Elemental Enhancements as follows:

- Earthhammer Increases the effective size category of the Adepts weapon once more, thus increasing the damage by two size categories.

- Earth Blast increase the damage dice from d6’s to d8’s and now adds the Adepts full level to the damage. In addition it adds another 2 to the CMB.

- Stone’s Endurance increases the constitution bonus to +8 and the Elemental Adept no longer takes movement penalties from a medium load.

- Flame Blast adds another round to its duration, for a total of 4 rounds after the initial attack, increase the damage die to d8’s and adds the Adepts full level to damage.

- Frostbrand Weapon increases the DC and damage by the Adepts charisma modifier.

- Grace of Air increases the dexterity bonus to +8 and now ignores the first 20 feet of falling distance.

- Ice Blast increases its damage die to 2d8 and adds the Adepts full level to damage. In addition the Adept adds his charisma bonus to the DC and CMB.

- Inner Fire increases the movement bonus to 40 ft. and the strength bonus to +8.

-Storm Weapon now adds the Elemental Adepts charisma bonus as lightning damage.

- Sunfire increases the affected weapons critical multiplier by 1 and the fire damage by the Elemental Adepts charisma modifier.

- Well of Life increases the dexterity bonus to +8 and the fast healing to 8.

- Wind Blast increases the DC of the concentration roll by another 2 for a total of 6.

Lifebringer: The Elemental Adept now has so much control over the powers of the well of life that he may use it to bring the dead back to life. He may spend a number of rounds from his Wellspring ability equal to the targets constitution modifier minus his own charisma modifier to bring the target back to life. The Target is restored to full health, free of any diseases or poisons that may have affected him before death. The target cannot have been dead for more than a number of days equal to the Adepts base charisma modifier, or this ability won’t have any effect. An unwilling target gets a will save (DC 10 + ½ Adepts level + charisma modifier) to resist this effect; failure indicates that the target is forced back to life.

Sky’s Wrath: At 18th level the Elemental Adept may unleash the powers of the air upon his enemies. He may use Storm of Vengeance as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 1 + ½ his charisma modifier, with a DC equal to 10 + ½ his level + his charisma modifier. The caster level is equal to his class level.

Lava Burst: You tear open the ground under the feet of your enemies, causing molten rock to spew forth and incinerate your foes. Lava bursts forth from the ground, dealing 15 points of damage per class level in a spectacular display of destruction. This damage is both fire and bludgeoning damage. Anyone in the Lava Bursts radius may attempt a reflex save DC 10 + ½ Adepts level + his charisma modifier to take only half damage and catch on fire. The range of this ability is 15 feet per Adept level and it affects an area with a radius equal to the Elemental Adepts charisma modifier. The Adept may do this a number of times per day equal to 1 + half his charisma modifier.

Elemental Mastery IV: At the pinnacle of his power the Elemental Adept as truly mastered the elements.

- Elemental Enhancements increases enhancement bonuses to stats to +10 and all other bonuses and effects are doubled.

- Blasts add another 2 to DCs and CMBs and also add the elemental adept’s charisma modifier to damage. In case of Wind Blast it now deals the elemental adepts charisma bonus as electricity damage.

- Elemental Weapon abilities now ignore all forms of damage reduction and the affected weapon cannot be sundered, not even by spells, enchantments or abilities specifically designed to do so.

Elemental Lord: The Elemental Adept now truly rules the four elements and may call upon them as he chooses. He may use Elemental Form at will and stay in it indefinitely. He can activate all of his Enhancements and Elemental Weapons together and all blasts now threat a critical hit on 19-20 and deals triple damage on a critical hit.

Elemental Companion:

Fire: The animal is shaped of flame, its eyes smoldering embers, its fur flickering shades of yellow.

Lightning (air): The animal’s body is composed from lightning, its wings a dark blue, its eyes bright sparks.

Ice (water): The animal is made up of smooth, clear ice, its eyes glow faintly like the deep blue of a glaciers heart.

Stone (earth): The animal is made up of rough stone, its eyes a deep obsidian black. A flying animal may not be made of stone.

Class level: This is the Elemental Adepts Class level.

HD: This is the total number of 10-sided (d10) Hit Dice the Elemental Companion Possesses. Each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal.

BAB: This is the Elemental Companion’s base attack bonus. An Elemental Companion’s base attack is equal to its Hit Dice. Elemental Companions does not gain additional attacks using their natural weapons for a high base attack bonus.

Fort/Ref/Will: These are the Elemental Companion’s base saving throws bonuses. An Elemental Companion has good Fortitude and Reflex saves.

Skills: This is the Companion’s total skill ranks. Elemental Companions can assign skill ranks to any skill listed under Outsider

Skills. When an Elemental Companion increases its intelligence to 10 or higher, it gains bonus skill ranks as normal.

Feats: This is the total number of Feats possessed by an Elemental Companion. Elemental Companions can select any feat that they qualify for, but they must possess the appropriate appendages to use some feats. Elemental Companion feats are set once chosen, even if the
Elemental Adepts should change the base animal later. If due to changes the Elemental Companion no longer qualifies for a feat, the feat has no effect until the Elemental Companion once again qualifies for the feat.

Armor Bonus: The number noted here is an improvement to the animal companion’s existing natural armor bonus.

Str/Dex Bonus: Add this modifier to the Elemental Companion’s Strength and Dexterity scores.

Int: The Elemental Companion’s Intelligence score.
Special: This includes a number of abilities gained by all Elemental

Companions as they increase in power. Each of these bonuses are described below.

- Elemental Body II: The Elemental Companion adds all the benefits from the Elemental Body II spell to their normal stats and abilities. This is a permanent effect.

- Share Enhancements: Any weapon or elemental enhancements active on the Elemental Adept also affects his Elemental Companion. Weapon enhancements affects all of the Companions natural weapons, while Elemental enhancements grant their full bonuses.

- Empathic Link: The Adept has an empathic link with his Elemental Companion to a 1 mile distance. The Adept can communicate emphatically with the Companion, but cannot see through its eyes. Because of the link’s limited nature, only general emotions can be shared.

- Speak with master: The Adept and the companion can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

- Evasion: If an Elemental Companion is subject to an attack that normally allows a Reflex save for half damage, it takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw.

- Speak with elementals of its kind: The Companion can communicate with elementals of its current kind. Such communications is limited by the Intelligence of the conversing elemental.

- Ability score increase: The Elemental Companion adds +1 to one of its ability scores.

- Devotion: The Elemental Companion gains a +4 morale bonus on Will saves against enchantment spells and effects.

- Elemental Body III: The Elemental Companion adds the benefits of the Elemental Body III spell. This is a permanent effect.

- Multiattack: The Elemental Companion gains Multiattack as a bonus feat if it has three or more natural attacks and does not already have that feat. If the Companion does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks it instead gains a second attack with one of its natural weapons, albeit at a -5 penalty.

- Improved Evasion: When subjected to an attack that allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, an Elemental Companion takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and only half damage if its saving throw fails.

- Elemental Body III: The Elemental Companion adds the benefits of the Elemental Body IV. This is a permanent effect.

Notes and thoughts:
As those of you familier with World of Warcraft can probably tell, it's based heavily on the shaman from there, the online game, not the rpg.

I've dropped all ideas of spells, as we already have enough spellcasters with elemental flavors, from elemental wizards and sorcerers, to elemental domain clerics and elemental mystery oracles.

The abilities may seem overwhelming at first glance, but the class' damage output scales quite resonably with a fighter at levels 1, 5, 10 and 15. I haven't looked at it in the levels in between, since I would prefer playtesting instead of theorycrafting for those levels.

I have doubts about the Elemental Companion. It felt awesome as a flavor ability, but power-wise I'm not sure if it's a bit over the top to give the class a combat pet as well as all the self-enhancing abilities. Perhaps some type of elemental Familier would be more appropriate, but further testing will be needed to tell.

As for the later level powers, like Sky's Wrath and Lava Burst, they're mostly there as an awesome carrot, since my group doesn't usually play at levels that high. But looking at what most other classes can do at that level, I don't really think them over the top.

Use it if you like it, give feedback if you can be bothered and remember to lean back, relax and enjoy ;)

Hiya.

I was wondering if it is possible to hold the charges of several different touch spells at once. Ex. Chill Touch and Shocking Grasp. Since it is possible to "Hold the charge indefinately", could a magus cast first one, then the other and then use them with two-weapon fighting, chill touching with one hand and shocking grasping with the other?

I seem to remember that it was a nono in 3.5, but would someone please point me to the place in the PRD (doesn't have my books at hand) where I can find it?

Thanks

Once upon a time, in another edition, there was a Bard. But this Bard was no Bard as we known them today, he was more like a prestige class...

This Bard has been mentioned somewhere else in another thread. But he kinda caught my attention and sparked my imagination.

I'm too young (only 30) and came too late into the hobby to actually experience this old version of the Bard, so I was wondering if someone out there would please either point me in his direction (on de intarwebz of course), or do a short writeup of the requirements and his abilities. I'm in the mood for a bit of modern old school ;)

Chill :)

Hi All.

I don't know if there is anything on the subject elsewhere, but here goes:

If my 6th level Magus spends his newly gained Arcana on getting two spells of a lower level than his maximum from the wizard list and one of them "happen" to be Shadow Weapon (Ultimate Magic page 237); Will the created weapon count as a spell, or as a weapon?

If it counts as a spell, it funktions as described and all is peachy, but if it counts as a weapon I can use my Arcane Pool to enhance it beyond it's intended capacity, thus making it quite handy in a rough spot.

The question goes for other spells such as Flameblade, Ice Dagger and so on and basically boils down to: Is a weapon created by a spell a Weapon? Or a Spell?

Cheers

Hello there.

I was wondering if there was any plans of, or interest in, having Amazon convert the tasty tasty Pathfinder books to the kindle? Or indeed if this has been done and they're just hiding in some obscure location?

See I really like my books and they see great use at the home gaming table, but dragging them all along for game night is a broken spine waiting to happen ;) So in short: I would loooove to be able to get them for my Kindle.

Why the Kindle? You may ask. Well. I really have no use for all the additional glitter of the Ipad, or it's copy brethern and besides it handles PDFs slower than my first computer handled 8 bit graphics - Beware, I'm an old man, I know slow when I see it ;) But the Kindle is simple, elegant and so very easy to use, problem is that it handles PDFs almost worse than the Ipad.

And thus I find myself asking: Can it be? Will it be? And should it be?
(The correct answer to all of the above should of course be: "Yes we can" ;)

Thank you :)

Why does the new pistol and musket have such short ranges?

Personally I'd expect the pistol to have at least 50 ft. range. It's not powered by a string as the hand crossbow, so it shouldn't be compared to that. And even raising the musket to 80 ft wouldn't make it a competitor to the Composite longbow.
The damage values seems ok, but the ammo cost is a little steep - as has been mentioned countless times by others.

On the matter of Grit. The value of having only a single stat modifier makes a very rarely usable ability when it comes to the Deeds that requires the sacrifice of Grit points, such as Deadeye or Utility shot.
A solution could be to add ½ level to the stat bonus, as the Magus' Arcane Pool - Nice update on the Magus btw ;)

On a minor note I worry a bit about the damage output of the class. I think it's been mentioned by others, but a Regular Fighter with a Composite Longbow will out-damage the Gunslinger easily and will most likely make a far more effektive switch-hitter as well.
To improve the Gunslingers lot in a group, I'd allow them to make full attacks with pistols, as well as using scopes on pistols (Since it would look awesome and not really be that much of a boost ;).

Anyways. After your revision work on the Magus, you have my complete trust on this matter ;)

Hello again. I'm back to rain on the parade.

I've already expressed my dislike for having the Ninja class included in the Ultimate Combat. So I would just make a quick note here that my protest against it including the Ninja (and various matial arts) also goes for the Samurai.

Pardon the grumpiness, but I'm afraid that I must.

I've already commented on the Gunslinger and liked it much. But here I am sorry to say that I must be the proverbial stick in the mud.

I must object to the ninja being a part of the Ultimate Combat! It seems like a nice and interesting class. But it is so setting specific that it doesn't belong here, it belong in the asian campaign setting (the name of which eludes me at the moment).

Now I like new classes as much as the next gamer, but we are not all as hyped by the idea of ninja as the average anime fanboy. And thus I find it inappropriate that those of us who isn't going to rush out to grab the asian setting must have the ninja pulled over our heads just because we actually want the other goodies.

Along the same lines I would like to protest against the idea of including various matial arts in the book. The Inner Sea just isn't a land of Ninja assassins and Shaolin monks. And such options should be kept in the appropriate sections. As much for people like me to avoid them as for the people that really want them should not be forced to buy two books when one should do.

I'm sorry to be a negative here, but I'm afraid that I must.

And yes, I would always go for pirate over ninja, just compare "Beverly Hills Ninja" to "Pirates of the Caribbean" and see what comes out ;)

Let me first say that I really like the new gunslinger. It's interesting, flavorful in it's own right and looks to have a great feel in it's class abilities. So I'm looking forward to it.

That said; there are some minor issues that could use a tweak or a twinch.

Starting from the top I will have to mention the skills. Adding Perception would seem like an appropriate thing to do, since the class would make an excellent sniper with a musket and would therefor need to be able to spot it's targets from afar.
It would also suit the class to have 4+int mod skill points, instead of the regular 2. The class seems to be meant as a suave, skillful kind of swashbucklar, not a dumb, clumsy warrior. In that aspect I would also consider adding Diplomacy and Knowledge (Nobility) to the skill list.

The "Firearm" ability is very appropriate, if a little unbalanced on the economic side. But I wouldn't change it, it's very much needed to allow the flavor of the class.

About Grit; I'd find another name as soon as humanly possibly. The name conjures images of Clint Eastwood (whom I kinda like as an actor) standing in the dusty street of a small western town. It's not the kind of image I want to have when thinking of my my awesome gunfighter pirate robbing inner sea merchants.
Besides that, I'll join the people already advocating for the points comming from Charisma instead of Wisdom. And I must ask that the points benefit from ½ level, as the Magus' Arcane pool. As they are now, I would be very careful when I use my points.

All of the Deeds abilities are interesting and flavorful. But I'd probably go for shifting the "Targeting: Body" with the "Targeting: Head", since being hit in the head by a one ounce ball of lead is way more dangerous than being hit in the - probaly - armoured torso. Though having the wind knocked out of you by a lead ball is probably more akin to being Dazed than actually Confused. But as I've read it so far it doesn't cost Gri points to use this ability anyway, so downgrading it to dazed isn't a great loss. Besides, I'd much rather shoot for the more dangerous location and having that being the head would make it look great in a movie ;)

I like the "Brave and Tough" ability. It seems a bit unnessessary though, since it will take the Gunslingers Fortitude save almost to the same level as a regular Fighters, instead he would have about the same benefit for just having the Saves of a Ranger. The "Bravery" ability of the Fighter is still very Appropriate though.

A minor question on the bonus feats: Since the Gunslinger is a variant of the Fighter, it could be seen as he may use his bonus feats for Weapon Specialization. Is this correct?

Gun Training is great. But it seems appropriate that the bonus to hit should go up by 1 every time they get this ability for another firearm, otherwise they will inevitably end up being behind a regular bow-using fighter on both the hit scale, and attacks per round.

True Grit seems a little underpowered to me, but I can't think of anything better at the moment.

All-in-all a mighty fine piece of work. I applaud it.

Should I have missed anything important, I appologise, the flu isn't making this easier ;)

Hiya.

As the name says, I have a building issue.

I've playing around with the creation of a core class for the last couple of days and as things have been going it's almost finished. All I need is that dang capstone ability and nothing's really presenting itself. So now I come here for suggestions.

Allow me to elaborate on the concept: It will be a mix of the 3.5 Soulknife, the Monk and an arcane support caster - meaning that he will have a summoned weapon that improves with levels, unarmored AC bonuses and level 1 to 6 spells (mostly with boost and utility on the list, but also a bit of touch and ranged touch damage), of course there is a few other things, but these are the core abilities. He is based around the concept of hard training and strict discipline, so he'll be a memorizing caster like the wizard. I considered making him Charisma based and spontaneous, but it didn't really hit the flavor I'm going for. His role in the group can be either tank, support caster, or damage, depending on his build and the focus of the group. He'll be purely arcane, no psionics anywhere.

The flavor of the class: The class is for some homebrew thingy I'm tossing togeather. They're usually the bodyguards of the elven queen, in a world where elves are political plotters and all-round not-as-good-as-usual guys. They're not evil, but they're bad enough to create the need for an arcane warrior bodyguard. They don't usually train people outside elven society, or outside their own ranks, but sometimes an elf will leave for the greater world and then he might slip and teach someone the techniques.

I haven't posted the class since there haven't been any real playtests yet due to it lacking the last few abilities, so I still need to hammer out the balance issues.

Suggestions would be appriciated. And please run amok, it's always easier to nerf than buff ;)

- the Surgeon

What the frell is wrong with you people??

At least half the forum seems to be getting themselves a damn hard-on when they start ranting about the Magus being a spontaneous caster. When the APG hit the real world (europe) and I got my hands on it, I was rather pleased to find that the Alchemist and Witch was indeed NOT spontaneous casters, but had something like a spellbook to choose from each day. Then again, it was something like a kick in the nads to find that the Summoner was spontaneous, since it seems rather wierd that the guy who specializes in summonings does all his workings based purely on memory, and playing it by ear.

And now people wank about the Magus needing to be a spontaneous caster. What's with that? You talk about a class that is a mix if WIZARD and Fighter, and not only do you want it to be a miserable Fighter because you're frelling scared of balance issues, you also want to severely limit it's access to spell options, and turn it into a bad Sorcerer.

I think that we have seen enough threads whine about balance issues, and how the Magus should be a wet rag to be balanced against the other classes. But face it people; Druid, Wizard, Cleric and Witch are awesome compared to the relative uselessness of the Magus. Wizard has all their cool touch spells that offset their lack of BAB, Cleric has access to a million buffs that makes them awesome melee combatants rather early in the game (and with the "new" channel energy they are truely buff-bots) and the Druid can do just about everything. And the best part? They are ALL memorizers. They can adapt to every situation with a days preperation, and they can truely shine in every situation.

Now a Sorcerer is another matter. He's usually a boring master blaster, who has no impact when the campaign changes from the dungeon crawl, to a city. His utility is somewhat invisible compared to that of the wizard, and compared to the cleric he's not even very interesting where battlefield control is concerned.

Is this really what you want for your Magus? I know most of his spells are battle oriented, but I plan to correct that if I am ever to GM for one so that's not an issue. But really; limit him even further, to what? Make him the laughing stock of the arcane classes? Beat him over the head with the N00b stick? Get a grip people. This is not about your wanking, this is about the feel of a class and we already have enough damn spontaneous casters in the Bard, Sorcerer, Inquisitor, Oracle And Summoner. If you want spontaneous casting, pick one of them instead of trying to close the zipper on the Magus' gimp suit.

And before you start hammering your poor keyboard: It's fine that the Inquisitor is a spontaneous caster, he's already a one-man band, so he didn't need the extra spells. The Oracle is somewhat limited, but I suppose that every system must have a spontaneous divine caster and his mysteries make up for it if you pick the right ones. The Summoner is just ... wierd, and I shall correct for that, but that's another matter entirely.

Now stop being so damn impressed with the stupid spontaneous wag, it's not interesting, it's not awesome, and it's no damn good for the already lame Magus!

Hep.

First a little info, to understand on what I base my suggestions:

I've poked some friends to take the Magus on a minor gladitorial spin around the other comparable classes - Alchemist, Bard, Inquisitor and Summoner - in a handful of one-on-one fights with what-ever powergaming we could throw in on both sides. At the levels 1, 5 and 10, the Magus had his face effektively melted by the other classes so badly that we didn't really bother trying it further than that.
The only class where he went fairly against was the bard, who is the core of the concept "support class", and even then, the bard had some lucky rolls, some nice self-buffs through his music and some interesting uses os his various utility spells.

A quick overlook of the fights before I get to the suggestions:
All the combatants are melee based (yes, I know about the archery builds, but range is irellevant for the Magus, so we played fair), so they start within charging distance of eachother. I've boiled the fights down to avoid math-walling you.

The fights with the Alchemist was all certered around his bombs and mutagens. He had the higher dex, and imp. initiative, combined with the elven reflexes talent, so he won initiative at the first two combats and basically bombed the hell out of the poor Magus.
The process was pretty much the same in the 5th and 10th level battles, where he had to use his mutagen, but the buffed bombs, and his melee poisons made short work of the Magus' wonky spellcasting and poor attacks (the player with the alchemist is fond of melee combat, so he went for AC, and used his gold on some rather nifty poisons).

The fights with the Bard was somewhat more balanced, though they took forever once both combatants got invisibility. On the up side, that changed once again when the Bard got see invisibility and the Magus was raving around blind. The Magus got a slight upper hand when he got his medium armour, and got himself a Mithril fullplate for the level 10 fight. The Bards greater invisibility, combined with a few summoned monsters level'ed the field though, and after a long, tough fight, the self-healing Bard stood victorious.

The battles with the Inquisitor is hardly worth mentioning. I've been running a campaign with one of the players being an Inquisitor and the player himself defines the class as a "one man adventuring party". Needless to say; His better over all AC was a major issue for the poor Magus, and his healing spells and Judgements kept him going to easily that he steamrolled the Magus in every encounter. Especially the level 10 fight was unimpressive, the Magus bit the grass after a mere 5 rounds of being ineffective, while the Inquisitor still had more than half his HP left.

It looked easier with the Summoner. In the first fight they where pretty well balanced on AC, and hit, but the Summoner had his Eidolon flank the Magus and hit him 3 times for some 15 damage, ending the fight on round 1. The later battles was no better, as the summoner used invisibility and let his Eidolon do all the hard work while he healed it. All in all the Magus just didn't have the staying power to fight the Eidolons damage and it's invisible HP battery.

Now, Suggestions:

Spellstrike:

Problem: As it currently is, this ability is a waste of rounds. Use a round to cast a touch spell, then make it harder to use said touch spell by making it into a regular melee attack. You even have to wait for the next round to deliver it, thus using around on what is basically nothing.

Solution: Make the casting of the touch spell part of the melee attack. This way you will get a "damage boost" even at the low levels. If you also remove the demand for a free hand in relation to this attack, you get more varied combat options for the Magus (Dual-wield, two-handed). The problem with this being a "free melee attack" will moderate itself with the relatively small number of spells that the Magus has in an entire day.

Spell Combat:

Problem: People has already been over this everywhere else, but for a reminder; Casting is harder, attacking is harder, the result is not really that impressive.

Solution: Replace the ability with something that allows him to cast spells in melee easier than other casters. If you combine it with the suggested change for the Spellstrike ability, his melee casting won't have to be based on him getting his damage spells of with this ability, but it can be used (better I'd say) for Combat control spells like wall of fire and the like. This will make him far more versatile and thus a better choice for the melee support role that he seems to be build for.

Magus Arcana:

Problem: The Arcana is either too limited, or demands a relatively high sacrifice for a minor bonus. Examples are the "Arcane Accuracy" power, wich sacrifice a precious spell slot for a short time bonus. Or we can take a power like "Empowered "Magic", which is rather nice, but it's only usable a mere once per day.

Solution: Remove the Arcana that requires spell sacrifices (maybe leave Hasted assault though), and make the Spell buffers something like 1+Int per day.

Arcane Weapon:

Problem: None really. It is a wonderful way to boost an otherwise weak class easily. But the list is somewhat limited.

Solution: It needs more flavorful abilities, such as "Wounding", and "Spell Storing".

Fighter training:

Problem: The issue of balancing it against the Eldritch Knight hampers the ability a little. The Magus is supposed to be a melee combatant, but since he gets access to Fighter feats around the same time as The EK, he doesn't really have an advantage from them. Besides, most fighter feats of the level he will be able to use will be at their most effektive at the lower levels.

Solution: Move the ability down, or (as someone suggested earlier), make it use the Magus' BAB as effektive Fighter level.

Counterstrike:

Problem: It comes into play way to late in the game. It's an interesting flavor ability, which actually allow the Magus to be quite disruptive against enemy spellcasters, especially if combined with some of the fighter feats like "Step Up".

Solution: Drop it down in level, around 7 or 8 would do nicely, and then scale it as the Magus gain levels. It could grant a bonus to hit on such attacks, or damage equal to the spell level the opposing spellcaster just used.

Weapon Bond:

Problem: Like Counterstrike it comes into play way to late in the game, and it's benefits aren't good enough for it to be a carrot, such as most of the other core classes have.

Solution: Like Counterstrike, drop it in level and make it scale as the Magus gains levels. Yes like scaling things.

True Magus:

Problem: Doesn't really feel like an ability for a "Master of spells and combat", more like a level 10 ability. Besides, a +2 bonus for a level 20 ability seems rather cheap.

Solution: I have no ideas for this one other than scrapping it and starting over with something more in the flavor of a great Spell-wielding warrior.

The Spell list:

Problem: Too Combat focused. It is build around him dealing loads of damage (with he doesn't really do too well either), and is quite lacking in utility, such as the afformentioned "See Invisibility"

Solution: He's delayed in progression anyway, so beef it up with some utility, at least the ones that will benefit him against other spellcasters.

Overall:

Problem: The class should have a feel of awesome battle caster, but instead it feels like a mellow support class. It's abilities are based around melee combat, but it's too squishy to hold it's own for about half the levels and it's spell list feels more like a "master blaster wannabe" than a warrior mage.

Solution: The class could use a revision on the overall feel. It wouldn't be bad for it to get a more effektive blend of magic and melee than it already has. A more personal feel woulod be good for it as well, since it doesn't really shine on it's own as is.

Personal opinion:

I personally think that making the Emo Half-elf the icon character was a mistake, since it makes the class designet for him, instead of it being a new thing in it's own right. That said, I still adore the art of "WAR" ;)
The class isn't anything special, it's powers isn't very interesting, nor very effektive and the only interesting stuff comes to late that it'll either make no difference, or never get relevant.
Having taken it's measure against a few of the other classes, I fear that I would do nothing in a group as much as being outshined by everyone else. In short: I'd be bored within a few levels, and from there, it's an uphill battle.
It has nothing to offer as a support class. It can't follow the constant damage output of the Rogue, nor the party pleasing abilities of the Bard and it haven't got the supportive mobility of the Monk.

All in all I wouldn't play the class as it is. Should I do something to Redesign it, I would take a long, hard look at the old 3.5 PHP2 Duskblade and then balance it somewhere in the middle.

Last but not at least: Having looked around during these first few days of playtest, I seem to be seeing the Devs shooting down most of the interesting suggestions as being overpowered. There seems to be a fear of overpowering the class, which seems to result in something underpowered and basically unenjoyable.
I'm giving up on this class. The changes needed are so basic that they won't come, since the Devs have a deadline and in reality doesn't really seem to have the time to listen to us on this one.
I'm sorry Dev guys, but you're not delivering the awesome act you did with the Core book and the APG.

Sorry for hitting you with a text wall, I won't be bothering you again.

Seems to me that no one has yet bothered looking at the Magus in relation to the other new classes. So I'm going to waste your time doing that, though not on a level-by-level basis, I have too much work for that.

I'll focus on the newest comparable classes, the Alchemist (Not technically an arcane caster, but close enough), the Inquisitor (A divine caster, but with many similarities) and the Summoner (the damage kid in the pack).

Let's start out with first level:

The Magus gets the ability to cast Cantrips, and take the advantage out of a touch spell.
Now on average he's probably using a longsword, so with some 16 str, he does d8+3 damage with a +3 hit, and can add a touch spell if he casts it first, then holds it until he hits someone with his sword. He can use light armour, so his AC will be somewhere between 14 and 19, depending on dex, which is somewhat average for a light melee class.

Compared, the Alchemyst get a skill bonus (Alchemy), a dependable damage ability (Bomb, lvl+int/day), two bonus feats (Brew potion, Throw anything), and a melee booster (mutagen).
To go against the archtype I'd use a heavy mace, which brings me to the same level of base damage (d8), but since I wouldn't go for str, as much as I'd lobby for Dex, my average would be lower. That is until I take my mutagen. Let's say I have 12 str, that brings me to 16 when on mutagen, and it lasts a nifty 10 min per level. So it brings me to the same hit and damage level as the Magus (+3, d8+3). On top of this, I have a nice load of bombs, and about the same level of armour (14-19), probably higher than the Magus, since I focus on dex). And I even get more Skill Points and more spells to chose from.

Equals: They both get the same number of "Spells per day", same HD, 2 good saves (though they differ slightly). They both get a spellbook in some form and can thus both learn their entire spell list over time.

Concerns: The Magus and the Alchemist have roughly the same melee abilities at this level, but the Alchemist is awarded 2 bonus feats, a skills bonus, and a nifty ranged attack that he can boost at later levels. Besides that, he also get a personal boost ability that roughly equals an Amulet of Natural Armour +2 AND a stat item +4, for 10 min.
The Magus only get an attack ability that actually lower the effektiveness of his touch spells (since they lose the "touch" quality). Besides that, all he has to show for his efforts is Cantrips, which hardly makes up for anything the Alchemist gets.

Offsets: The only thing that makes it up a little for the Magus at this level is his Martial weapons proficiency. And that seems rather unfair since his basic weapon will most likely do the same die damage as the Alchemists (d8).

I'll return with a look at the other levels later, for now I must go to work.

Enjoy your crunching ;)

Not to be a nag, but with all the discussion that's been going on about the balance of the Spell Combat ability nobody seems to have noticed the redundancy of the ability.

Let me elaborate a bit:
The Spell Combat ability seems to be designet to let you get a spell off while doing some sweet melee full attacking. But as things are, you won't have more than one attack until level 8 (where the Spell combat ability becomes much easier to handle anyway). So you'd be much better off throwing around some weight with your Spellstrike ability until then, since the result wil be the same - i.e. 1 weapon attack and 1 touch spell cast.

I haven't had the time to test this yet, since I had to go to work, but I'll look into it one of these days.

Or did I miss the point of the awesome awesome level 2 power? ;)

I've been lurking around in the forums a bit and every time someone wants to illustrate how awesome a class can be, they throw out some level 20 monster that must have taken at least a week to cook up, considering all the material they've been using. Not that I feel a need to complain about it, it just strikes me as odd.

I've never played a character to level 20 myself, for the simple reason that characters above level 16 is just downright silly. They have to run around the planes, saving the cosmos and kill gods simply because they can hardly find a challenge worth an afternoon in the Primematerial. And my GM simply can't be bothered ;)

But that's actually besides the point. What I was wondering was: Why does people find level 20 so fine for illustrating a class' awesomeness? Why not level 5? Where you're still fighting for your life most of the time. Or level 10? Where you have found your footing and is about to use your powers for a greater good? Everyone can be cool at level 20. They have the gold, the HP, the skills and hopefully the stats to be awesome. It's much harder to be kickass in the odd zones like level 7, or somesuch.

Anyway. Sorry for ranting, just found the level 20 hype amusing :)