Mangaholic13's page

You could call it prepared spontaneous casting if you want. 5E did it with their prepared casters where you prepare a spell list, then heighten or cast them in an appropriate slot as needed like a spontaneous caster. A wizard can still change out spells daily. They used other mechanisms to make each class attractive.

I know some on here like the tradition set in stone Gygaxian Vancian magic, but I much prefer the direction 5E took with casters.

I see...

Summoners. They do get all of their spells in Repertoire as Signature Spells.

If they were the comparison point the OP had meant, their remarkably small number of spell slots would be a necessary part of any comparison.

Yup. All five of them.

No, I get why Summoners get a small number of spell slots (I played in a party with someone who played a Synergist Summoner back in 1-Ed) and given the revelation of Spontaneous Heightening, I can totally get why all their spells would be signature spells.

Penalized compared to who? If every spell in their repertoire worked like a signature spell, they'd start feeling like they had a really huge flexibility advantage over prepared casters (who don't need to know the spell twice but do still need to plan which slot to prep the spell into at the start of the day, whether it's base level or a heightened level). I've already talked to and played with more people who feel like spontaneous casters are in a better place over prepared casters in 2E, with the rules as they are.

I think you might also be underestimating just how big of a toolkit you can build your repertoire into by mid or high levels, as is. Part of that is that there are a lot of spells that hold their value well without casting them at a lot of different levels, or any different levels.

You make a good point, HammerJack. Maybe I'm just experiencing some kind of prolonged kneejerk reaction to this revelation regarding the rules.

Just to expand on one detail.

Even a low R spell in a low R slot still is cast with your full DC. So spells like Grease that have no damage dice, but a great effect will keep scaling up with you. No need to get another copy of it in your repertoire.

As such, Signature Spells that do get to heighten freely are best used for spells that have damage dice or other rather granular Heightening effects.

Another good point indeed, Trip.H. After all, if a spell's description lacks any mention of benefits for Heightening it, then why waste a higher-level spell slot?

Because the designers chose to keep Vancian prepared casting and the only way to balance that and make it seem remotely desirable was to limit spontaneous casters to a limited number of spontaneously heightening spells otherwise what would be the point of playing a prepared caster.

To me this is one more reason to move to Vancian spontaneous casting for everyone like 5E did, but right now we're stuck with this system for PF2.

...I'm going to be honest, Deriven Firelion, "Vancian Spontaneous casting" sounds a bit like an oxymoron to me...

So, I was just looking over my recently purchased copy of Player Core, when I stumbled upon Bard's "Signature Spell" feature. That made me look up Spell Heightening and Spontaneous Heightening, and I have to ask:

WHY IS THIS A THING???

Why are spontaneous casters penalized like this? Their spell repertoires are already on the low side, so why should they have to clog it up with multiple copies of the same spell???

*Takes a deep breath and exhales*

Sorry. I'm just trying to understand why this rule exists and why I shouldn't just pretend it doesn't exist. Can someone help me understand how this rule does not simply penalize spontaneous spellcasters?

CorvusMask wrote:

Skittermander don't feel like core rulebook option to me tbh

That’s because they won’t put Ysoki and Skittermander both in the Core Rulebook. That would doubling up on the cute, fun, small characters.

I think it was unexpected that the Skittermander would eclipse the Ysoki in popularity. Now they are in weird position.

You can’t have both in. The only other option is to replace the Ysoki with the Skittermander in the core.

I don’t think they are ready for that.

To me, Skittermander are to Starfinder what Goblins are to Pathfinder. I feel they deserve elevation to a core race.

So... when is there going to be errata for this book?

I especially feel like the Psychic Discipline under Rivethun needs some serious clarification...

I really want so stuff for the Realm of Dreams. Also, that it gives the psychic and other occult classes some love.

I'm hoping the Plane of Dreams, that could make for a real interesting city

When will there be a supplement for Psychics and Psions?

(Looks at cover picture)

(Takes a harder look at larger version of cover picture)

*Smiles* I see what you did there, Christina Olszewski. A very nice little Shoutout indeed (I especially like that he's a halfling, it somehow makes it look all the more badass).

Keep up the good work Dreamscarred, I know plenty of psionics fans who took one look at Occult Adventures and tossed it out a window.

Also, will we be seeing a collected volume of Psionics Augmented Occult?

Looks at description: Fight Krampus !?! A cthulhu-oid player race! A non-third-party Canine race!

OH MY GOD THIS BESTIARY SOUNDS AWESOME!

2ndGenerationCleric wrote:

Pretty sure they said 7 to start, but there's gonna be a bunch of archetypes

Yeah, the core PF book didn't have archetypes, so that really does expand the 7 out some - especially when they said that Mystic could sit in for a head-explody psychic type. I expect some "Archeologist" level archetypes that really change how the class is used out of this.

The Mystic could be psychic? Awesome!

...Now that I think about it, isn't D&D playtesting a psionic class called Mystic?

A droid that makes frequent use of the term "meatbag"

Someone that carries a miniature giant space hamster as a pet/familiar
At least one character that wears a brown coat
A reincarnated character that carries a sonic screwdriver, wears a scarf and has a companion named K-9

Bite my shiny metal ass

But in all seriousness, I think I'd like to play a psychic android able to connect to the internet/outernet/information-magic-highway with my mind.

I can't find the preview pdf, has it not been posted yet?

On an unrelated note, this product sounds awesome! I've been looking for a way to incorporate DragonMech into pathfinder and/or play Pacific Rim in pathfinder, and this could be a potential answer!

Mangaholic13 wrote:

Can anyone tell me if this is worth the money? I am loving what this book is promising but fearful that it won't meet my expectations.

Mangaholic13, as that this is our first Work-in-Progress, people may have a difficult time answering this question as of yet. But we thought perhaps we could give you a status up date to help you make the decision on whether or not purchase at this time is right for you.

The WIP stands currently at 3 pdf releases. The mythic paths for Herald and Wielder both of which add to the body of the paths we introduced in our 2014 release mythic paths.

The Spells of Boon and Burden initial release is also available in its initial release and adds spell options for psychic casters to make them specialists in two new magical focuses in addition to the roles already available in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Occult Adventures book. A small number of equivalence spells allows psychics to manage conditions and grants unique control options to classes like mesmer. The product adds over 100 spell options to psychic casters.

The page count for the next release (Originally called Psychic Paths, now named Liminal Power) has doubled from its initial projection and includes dozens of new feats, several prestige classes and some of the first rules for reconciling psionic and psychic multiclass characters. We are targeting initial release for April for this pdf.

The fifth and final pdf includes new psionic powers for planar interactions and multiclass characters. We are targeting early summer for that release.

A final compilation file will be released after that with any errata and end user feedback we have encountered worked in. Individual files will also be updated at that time.

At current we are committed to 100% original artwork and unfortunately this drives our costs up substantially and slows down releases.

We hope this helps with any decision you need to make and appreciate your interest.

Thank you very much LSP. Not only does this sell me on buying it, but I hope that your response convinces others to purchase Book of Beyond.

Can anyone tell me if this is worth the money? I am loving what this book is promising but fearful that it won't meet my expectations.

Here's hoping for some more options for Psychics and psychic magic in general. Maybe some more undercast spells?

I think this webpage might help with dog familiars:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/dog/breeds

I hope medium gets some new options for spirits to channel; it seem like the official version got a bit of a raw deal when compared to the playtest version.