I've been looking at the Maester from the old Complete Adventurer. It's one of those classes that always had cool flavor but awful mechanics, mostly due to a caster level hit at the first level, and the one intriguing perk at third level--the Identification ability--being made not-so-special by means of there being a monocle put out later that did the same thing as a magic item, and the ability to Identify now just being part of the Pathfinder rules.
And the fact that the Maester is shown looking at an Apparatus of Kwallish, a magic item he can't really build because Animate Objects is a clerical spell.
I'm thinking of getting rid of the caster level hit at 1st level, but also removing the free feat, but then it's a bit too good--faster crafting plus identification, with no downside?
Of course the faster crafting is no great shakes if you allow in dedicated wright homonculi from Eberron.
What I'm thinking would be good for Pathfinder would be a few things:
1. Get rid of the caster level hit.
2. As a balance, require the Master Craftsman feat despite being a spellcaster. And require both Spellcraft AND the appropriate crafting feat for most tricks.
3. Crack "Quick Crafting" out into 10% quicker per level, not 50% off at once.
4. Have Identification basically be a free Identify spell usable at will but with the same mechanics as in Pathfinder, and not stacking with Identify.
5. At 5th level, rather than getting a generic bonus feat, get a Dedicated Wright homonculus along with Craft Construct, and have Animate Objects added to your spell list.
6. Have it not just a gnomish class, even if gnomes make up the bulk of it.
7. Have it open to Artificers as well.
Thoughts? Too powerful? About right?