so i realized i was prolly doing it wrong posting all that stuff in the other thread, so ill make a private thread you guys can peruse at yer leisure. if all the other posts i made are moved here i don't mind.
so talking with people, it seems a lot are confused by the medium. it seems like you have a ton of options, all up front, and it can be quite overwhelming. i have some time, so ill go over the options here.
at level one you can seance spirits, and once a day trance as a full round action to get a second or boost the one you have.
spirits, by stat:
str:
big sky - +1 attack and +1 damage; +2 cmd/cmb while trying to break grapple; ignore 1 point of dr *trance: +1 ac, +1 reflex *
bear - +1 attack and +1 damage; +2 str to break things; 2 claw attacks *trance: enlarge person*
beating - +1 attack and +1 damage; +1 attack and +2 damage vs people you have already damaged; improved unarmed strike, treat fists like monk-4 *trance: if you flank all allies flank and gain +1 attack*
dex:
cricket - +1 ac and +1 reflex; +2 on saves against entangle, stagger, and paralysis effects; +10 move speed and ignore difficult terrain *trance +1 attack and +2 damage for every 20' moved in a round*
rabbit - +1 ac and +1 reflex; +2 cmd vs disarm and sunder; weapon finesse, +1 attack and +1 damage *trance: immediate action to make attacks against you or enemies you threaten hit on 11+ instead of normal roll*
demon's lantern - +1 ac and +1 reflex; +2 on sleight of hand; move action visible trap that does level/2 d6 damage, dancing lights at will *trance standard action trap shield that triggers 20% of the time and does level/2 d6 to attacker*
con:
the desert - +3 hp, +1 fort; +2 vs disease and temperature effects; you and a friend can trade one point of damage back and forth forever *trance when someone removes a debuff from you, you get +1 attack, +1 damage, and +1 saves for a round*
teamster - +3 hp, +1 fort; +2 on saves against fatigue, exhaustion,
sleep, or knock-out effects; endurance and diehard as bonus feats, treat con as 3 higher when dying *trance: when dying no longer disabled and get 1 temp hp/round*
waxworks - +3 hp, +1 fort; +2 vs polymorph; melee attacks reduce speed by 5' for a round, if speed is reduced to half the target is entangled *trance if you hit a guy you hit at least 2-3 times already this round there is a chance they are immobilized*
int:
hidden truth - +1 on all skills; +2 on perception vs secret doors; always get a check to notice secret doors within 10' *trance +2 on knowledge checks and always take 10*
vision - +1 on all skills; +2 on spellcraft and know(arcana), standard action linguistics check to give ally +1 attack/+1 saving throw once per day per target *trance does nothing until level 4*
rakshasa - +1 on all skills; +2 on intimidate vs attitude; intimidate vs attitude lasts longer *trance does nothing until level 4, after level 4 you can trade your character away for no mechanical benefit*
wis:
winged serpent - +1 will, +1 concentration (?); +2 init; always act in suprise round, +1 attack and +1 damage against flatfooted in surprise round *trance uncanny dodge (full round action to gain this? ouch)*
owl - +1 will, +1 concentration (?); +2 on Heal and Know(nature), +1 attack and +1 damage against targets with 1/4 hp (functionally nothing against almost all cr 1 creatures) *trance +1 attack and +1 damage after you knock out an opponent for 1 round*
lost - +1 will, +1 concentration (?); +2 vs language dependent effects; +1 on confusion rolls within 120 feet (yes, that is 1%), you can become confused as a swift action (why?), when creatures are equidistant, you choose which to attack while confused (situational at best) *trance hide alignment for a minute (in case you have a full round before someone detects you?)*
cha:
unicorn - +2 on aid another checks; aid another for +3 (doesn't stack with other aid bonuses) and they get the bonus for the next 3 actions (awesome!) *trance aid another for attack gives +1 damage, aid another for defense gives +1 to saves*
the twin - choose another spirit and get its powers, but +2 disguise instead of the second one * trance does stone cold nothing til level 5, after which it still does functionally nothing*
liar - +2 on bluff, +1 on charisma checks vs creatures that are already helpful and could be attracted to you (so +1 bluff vs some helpful creatures) *trance does nothing til 4, after which it lets you ignore cha checks to influence charmed creatures*
it seems like a lot right? well mebbe it is, so choose a number of these equal to your charisma mod, and that is how many different ones you know. easier now right? so like 1-4 known. lets max it out, choose 4 you like. now choose one of those you want to use. every day you can choose a different one. its like you are a cleric who can switch between four domains but no spells per day. each even level you get to know a new spirit.
now do that for 3 entire levels, nothing new being added.
at level 4 things get exciting, you can cast a spell per day! actually since we have 18 charisma we can do 2 spells per day. granted, you only know 2 spells, and they are tied to spirits, and level one spells, but you can cast them 2 times per day. i meant to say it is exciting because you can now trance rakshasa and lose your character in exchange for casting command on an npc and letting the dm decide what the command does (exciting!). also at level 4 all those +1 to random things is now +2.
at level 5 things get more real, you get to choose a second power from your pool of spirits. look at the third powers from the spirits, you now at level 5 get to choose a second one to have all day. so at fifth level we have 2 abilities, and 2 spells per day. so yeah, still not anything actually new being added.
at level 6 the trance power is now a standard action and we can use it more. effectively another dead level, as no new options are available.
at level 7, the trance powers become base powers, and some new trance powers become available. i don't really wanna describe them all, because whether they are good or not does not make up for levels 1-6.
from levels 1-6 you are doing the exact same nothing every day. sure, you get to know more spirits, but they do not gain powers until 7. taking a level in this class is great, but each level after that is worth less and less until level 7.
if wizards learned second level spells at level 7, they would still have more options per day than this class.