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Alright, I'm hoping a dev will come by this thread to clarify their position, even though I know chances are it won't happen.

Why is Natural Spell not in the CRB?
Was it an omission?
Was it intentional to remove this feat and make it so wildshaping Druids can never cast spells without sacrificing two of their uses of Wildshape in the process?

Is there any chance this feat will make it in the final version?

Wildshape only has minutes duration. You can only effectively use it in combat situations but if you want to cast a spell, you have to give up your current form AND recast it afterwards?

If you have 4 uses of Wildshape per day, this essentially means that casting a spell in each encounter means you can have no more than...2 each day.

If that was the intent, it's broken. Why add mundane healing if some classes are still going to have 5-minutes adventuring days?

I think it not necessary to go into details with how involved I have been in threads that discuss magic and spellcasters over the past few weeks.
Those that spend a lot of time on the forums will probably have come across one of my posts on the subject already.

It is a topic that is important to me and it has generated a lot of discussions, most of which usually end up with the same 3-4 people on both sides (myself included) going back and forth over the same issues.

A lot of people are making assumptions and support their claims with the fact that it's what "the majority of players" wants.
Yes, I acknowledge I am one of these people because...I'm only human and I have my own faults.
I'm working very hard at improving on them, don't worry. :P

I have been feeling extremely let down with official surveys, especially the one about classes, because I felt I was unable to convey the feedback that I wanted about magic and spellcasting classes.

The surveys did not go into enough details that I could explicitly express why I was unhappy with most of these classes.
The latest Rules Survey does a better job at giving players the opportunity to provide explanations for their resulting levels of satisfaction and I hope this continues in future surveys as well.

However, I have given up hope on having surveys to cover the topics of magic, spells and spellcasting classes.
It was teased in the Twitch stream that the Rules Survey would cover aspects of the rules for magic and this section ended up being about...magical items only.
What a disappointment.

I'm a very curious individual. I want to know what the playerbase thinks and where it stands when it comes to the current version of spells and spellcasting classes.
Am I truly in the vocal minority?
That might totally be the case.
Unfortunately, none of the Paizo surveys so far have been able to answer my questions and so...I came up with my own.

Below are five individual surveys that cover each of the main spellcasting classes in the CRB.
They do not review spellcasting archetypes, only the primary classes.
Feel free to complete just one if you do not have feedback on all classes or complete all of them if you would like!

They focus on asking questions about the following:

* number of spell slots available per day
* number of spells known at each level for spontaneous casters
* heightening spells for prepared and spontaneous casters
* increases in spell DCs and spell rolls proficiency
* spell points usage across classes
* power level of spells relative to each spell list and classes (Sorcerers having access to all of them makes them unique)

Quick but essential disclaimer:

If no one answers and it goes unnoticed well...I guess I will have wasted 2 hours of my life but other than that, no big deal. :D

Bard Survey

Cleric Survey

Druid Survey

Sorcerer Survey

Wizard Survey

You should, theoretically, be able to see what other respondents answered but I'm not sure how it works because I have never used Google Forms before.

When I wrote my thesis, I did qualitative (as opposed to quantitative) surveys only and those do not fit well into forms, so this is a first!

Hey folks,

The latest Ancestries & Backgrounds survey asked if there were any background that seemed to be missing or that we would like to see printed in the core rulebook for release.

Did you suggest any backgrounds? If so, what were they?

I propose that everyone feels free to post their background suggestions here, for others to see.

It could give Paizo staff some ideas for future backgrounds (or maybe new core backgrounds!) that players would enjoy. It could also let them know if some specific background ideas are really popular.

As for me, I suggested the following:

Healer

For years, you have trained in the art of bandaging, stitching and soothing wounds. You may have learned your craft from enlisting as a field medic, working in a hospice, training with an apothecary or even being raised in a temple devoted to a divinity of life, healing or death. Today, you lend your skills to your fellow adventurers as needed.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You gain the Battle Medic skill feat, and you’re trained in the Medical Lore skill.

Recluse

You have chosen to seclude yourself from the world and from society at large. You are most comfortable on your own and you call the wilderness home. You may be seeking peace for the purpose of meditation and the search of enlightenment. The decision to remove yourself from society could also have been the result of a traumatic experience during your youth. You might also be a hermit, obsessed with self-reliance. You may simply enjoy living on your own. You have answered the call of adventuring out of necessity or because the life of a recluse no longer suits you.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.
You gain the Assurance skill feat with Nature, and you’re trained in the Wildlife Lore skill.

These two may not appeal to most players but I found them missing because I enjoy roleplaying characters that come from such backgrounds and had to go with Acolyte and Nomad instead.

The Natural Medicine feat states that: "You can use this feat to heal a particular creature only once per day."

My question is the following: if you try to use that feat to heal a creature and you fail, or you allowed to try again?
It seems to me that you are because you haven't healed that creature yet and thus it has gained no benefit from the feat.

In addition, Battle Medic does specify that: "Regardless of your result, the target is bolstered to your use of Battle Medic."

So when you use Battle Medic and you fail, it is very clear that you do not get another try at it.

This particular provision is lacking with Natural Medicine and I believe that the intent is to let you try again until you succeed (but you then have to stop using the feat as soon as you have healed the creature at least once).

Still, I'm not sure mine is the correct interpretation and I would like to know how others have ruled this.

...to add to the core rulebook for release, which would it be?

Some folk, in another thread that popped up on these forums following Dragon Con, seemed to be in strong disagreement with Paizo staff's statement that Witches should be added "sooner rather than later".

This got me curious as to which class specifically everyone might be missing the most from the core rulebook.

Which class would you like to make the cut and end up in the core rulebook or be released fast when 2.0 becomes an official thing?

For me, it would be the Summoner.

Not because it used to be overpowered, but rather because I had a blast with this class, playing it and DMing for players who rolled Summoners.

Quick backstory here to really drive home the "I don't want them to be OP" statement: I never played the original Summoner.

My DM would ban the class because he deemed it unbalanced and I, as a player, was perfectly fine with it, though I would allow it in my own games and never found them to be especially hard to deal with (not harder than any other competent martial character at low levels and not harder than any other spellcaster at higher levels).

When the Unchained rules came out, my DM took a look at them, knowing full well I was dying to play as a Summoner, and said he would be OK giving it a go.
He never went back on this because he found the class to be more balanced and I finally got to test the Summoner.
It quickly became my favorite class to play.

Here's why: I love pet builds.
I had been playing as a Druid and Sylvan Sorcerer before so I had my own animal companion but the Summoner's eidolon was something else entirely.

First, it felt like an organic part of the class and my build, not something I had in addition to my other powers and base theme.

But the real selling point, for me, was the customization options for this fantasy creature.

I could have my eidolon be a fiery elemental in the shape of a dragon, a terrifying shadow that looked like a beast of ill-omen, even a glowing feline with a halo of bright light around them.
Mechanically, this would not give me any advantage over other characters in the party.

But the roleplay opportunities it opened were huge.
I would no longer be the wilderness survivor or animal whisperer, always.
I could roleplay a mage that bonded with a creature of fantasy and fiction, not an animal, one that was sentient and became a part of who they were.
I felt like a true Conjurer, something I wanted to achieve ever since reading the Bartimaeus trilogy growing up.

Right now, a Summoner's eidolon would likely have the minion trait and thus have only 2 actions per round instead of 3.
The Summoner would surely have to spend an action commanding their eidolon each turn, too.
In addition, assuming eidolons would follow the same rules as do animal companions regarding the no item bonus ever, I can hardly think of a way that Summoners would be overpowered.
(Not to mention I can totally see eidolon evolutions being gated behind specific class feats with the current hate for strong base class features.)

But I love this class, the concept, the fluff aspect and I would like it to return sooner rather than later so I can be that awesome Conjurer again!

What would be your choice of the first class to return in Pathfinder 2.0? :)

The Magical Striker feat is available to Sorcerers and Wizards.

It lets you enhance "a weapon you are wielding" (p. 132) for the next Strike you make that round, after you finish casting a non-cantrip spell.

Incidentally, some of the Sorcerer's bloodlines also grant you powers that bestow some form of unarmed attacks upon your character when activated.

This is notably the case of the Draconic bloodline, which grants dragon claws. These are unarmed attacks, agile and finesse, and your character is trained with them.

So far, so good.

On page 178, it is mentioned that unarmed attacks count as simple weapons.

However, no where does it say that you are considered to be wielding an unarmed attack.

In short, does Magical Striker work with unarmed attacks?

The feat specifies that "You siphon residual spell energy into one weapon you’re wielding".

Are you considered to be wielding a simple weapon when you have unarmed attacks or not?

I'm opening this thread in order to present my Pathfinder Guide to the Psychic.

I hope this can be a place for others to comment on it and help me improve it.

Quick disclaimer: there will be language issues and probably a lot of mistakes for English is not my mother tongue and my mastery of it is far from complete.

I noticed a distinct lack of discussion and interest on these boards regarding the Psychic class and felt that I should probably write a guide about it (seeing as it is probably my new favorite class in Pathfinder), in hope to make new people fall in love with it as I have!

If my guide can inspire some people to try out this new class, I will consider my objectives accomplished.
My aim was never to provide a guide to the ultimate Psychic of Doom but rather to try to highlight how fun the class can be to play and roleplay. ;)