My wife, gearing up to make a character for a new RotR campaign was reading the player's guide and was intrigued by the "dwarven mage smith" mentioned briefly therein... and yet, I can't find anything in the supplementary materials for Pathfinder or the RPG about it... is this something that's been covered yet, or is it something I need to go back to 3.5 to search for? Any help appreciated!
So far, it's just flavor text. However, you can probably simulate it fairly well by using the battle sorcerer variant with the PF RPG sorcerer, take the Arcane Bloodline and choose Arcane Bond with the character's primary weapon, take Craft (Armorer) and/or Craft (Weaponsmith), and pick up various appropriate Item Creation Feats.
Now that's a classy idea. I always did like the Battle Sorcerer (I used one with Two-Weapon Fighting to simulate the Sorceress from D&D Heroes).
There is also the Rune Smith from RoS.
In the beta and the magic item web enhancement there where some basic rules that included the feat "Master Craftsman". You took that feat and it allowed you to use your Craft (Skill) as a caster level for creating magic items. That could be used to do what you are talking about. Plus a dwarf that can make magic armor and weapons is very icon and would make a good option for a fighter build.
Below are the specific excerpts.
Master Craftsman
Your superior crafting skills allow you to create simple magic items. Choose one Craft or Profession skill in which you possess at least 5 ranks.
Prerequisites: 5 ranks in any Craft or Profession skill.
Benefit: Ranks in your chosen skill count as your caster level for the purposes of qualifying for the Craft Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats. You can create magic items using these feats, substituting your ranks in the chosen skill for your total caster level. You must use the chosen skill for the check to create the item. The DC to create the item still increases for any necessary spell requirements (see the magic item creation rules in Chapter 15). You cannot use this feat to create any spell-trigger or spell-activation item.
Normal: Only spellcasters can qualify for the Craft Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats
Golemworker: The golemworks of Magnimar is haunted by flocks of ravens, the favorite familiars of the construct creators who work within. The most obsessed golemworkers create their own homunculus familiars using the Improved Familiar feat (DMG, 200)
Mage Smith: In their fanatical devotion to crafting and imbuing the most perfect magical items, these dwarven magic-users frequently summon many types of owl familiars for their alert eyes in typically dimly lit forges.
Ironically, I have been pushing for these bits of flavor text for some time now. I mention them periodically in threads where people call for character classes and PrC's. Just recently I was trying to get the Editorial Team to just think about them in two recent threads.
In this thread... about the upcoming Dwarves of Golarion. Unfortunately, I was way too late for that book. The content has already been written, per Sean K. Reynolds, but I asked him to keep the idea in mind.
And also in this thread... Where a gentlemen is trying to do an analog to the artificer for the Pathfinder RPG system, but not necessarily for Golarion. I've asked him to consider having KQ talk to Paizo about special licensing, which has happened in the past.. but that may not be the direction he wants or is able to go in.
Me, I'd still like to see some playable classes with an emphasis on cool crafting concepts and ideas.. and have it be Golarion specific.
You folks in this thread can help. Keep asking for it. Don't let the Editorial Team forget about it. Paizo throws bits of flavor text out there to see what grabs people's attention. The more attention you draw to it, the greater the possibility they will think about it.
So please, post with your stated interest in seeing either of these classes developed for Golarion.