Archetypes
I find that this book adds a wonderful array of options to a PFS character. I particularly like the Grenadier, Seeker and especially Lore Warden - light fighters live again!
Factions
Some factions definitely seem to have better faction rewards then others - free feats, discounts to purchasing, cheap raise deads, etc. Cheliax, as a personal gripe, seems unrewarding for those of the non-hellknight persuasion.
Items
Dueling and Agile melee weapon enhancements - light fighters rejoice again!
Runestones are a very nice item for spontaneous casters - although the remind me of a certain 3.5 item.
Spells
Given the DC's of magical traps, Aram's trap ward seems like a dubious use for a 4th level spell, being based on caster level.
Bite the Hand, on the other hands, seems like an overpowered "&*!# you" against summoner type, and Lipstitch against casters in general (both relatively low level)
Stalwart Resolve: Scrolls/Potions of Stalwart Resolve seem like a must for higher levels.
Followers
Highly amusing. I can see a spike in demand in the Herald and Porter market of Golarion. Adjudicating roleplaying with followers might be difficult (do you drag your herald to Irrisien? Your hunter to the Mwangi Expanses?)
Memberships
So many good options - but many, many rogues will be happy about the Thieve's Guild - Sleight of Hand as a day job.
Questions:
A few questions regarding awards:
Master of Trade
Fence Contact
Mercantile Store
Do these apply to ANY item, or strictly non-magical ones?
And for spells
Sharesister:
Would this be applicable to intelligent creatures only, or could one use an animal of the appropriate gender?
Vanity: Ship - I am unimpressed by the ability to use Profession (Sailor) as a day job - you can do this already. This should be cheaper, or give another tangible benefit.
There are two levels; the first requires 20 Fame, the second 40, both cost 2 PP. The former is a diplomacy bonus with Hellknights, the second an intimidate bonus in Heavy Armor (I've never actually seen a hellknight NPC in an adventure, so I'm not excited about the first benefit.)
You can also bind an imp for one scenario, but it is expensive both monetarily and PP wise.
I am very curious as to what Chelish Hellknights do get from this. I currently play a 5 Cavalier/5 Hellknight and would like to know what I can pick up for him before I play next.
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Vanities: love the concept, love some of them like memberships, faction-based awards, etc. But some categories seem to fall flat.
Followers: Why would anyone spend 5 prestige to have a porter, when you can hire them for 1sp a day? Ditto guide (although that's probably 3sp a day), etc. I love the concept, but the cost is way out of proportion to the in-game gold cost for most of these vanities. And Chronicler - really, do most GMs really refuse to repeat backstory when a player asks, so that this ability would be worth 10PP?
Properties: a neat idea to allow for non-profession Day Job rolls, but by the time a character has enough prestige to do this, they've already put a point or more into a profession skill for day jobs. These seem more valuable as traits, actually... profession-based trait is backstory as justification for using a non-standard Day Job skill. A few might synergize with a major class skill (Farm/handle animal for rangers/druids, etc.) but don't really fit RP-wise (what ranger spends his off-time tied to a farm?)
I know, I'm sure some folks will find these exactly what they wanted, and maybe they'll grow on me, but they all seem pretty lame compared to the other uses of prestige for free items, etc.
Maybe it will also be more useful for new characters, who can earn 2PP per module from any season - most of my folks have at least half their scenarios at 1PP max from Season 0.
Vanities: love the concept, love some of them like memberships, faction-based awards, etc. But some categories seem to fall flat...
...Chronicler - really, do most GMs really refuse to repeat backstory when a player asks, so that this ability would be worth 10PP?
Chronicler really does seem to put GMs into a bad spot. In the vast majority of scenarios, the game is better for everyone when the GM repeats story details as often as requested. Unfortunately, doing so now seems to risk effectively robbing anyone who selects this Vanity of 10PP (which is incredibly steep, but that's another issue).
It is my suspicion (and hope) that this Vanity will be ignored.
Creative Director
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Do you have to be the "Dimensional Occultist" archetype (p. 28) to use the Dimensions Patron? The patron spells are nice, but the archetype is quite weak, giving up 3 hexes for perhaps 1 strong ability. Really, the Dimensional Augmentation and Dimensional Waypoints abilities should have been combined...
If your GM is fine with it, you can take the Dimensions patron for any witch.
But the archetype is designed so that you need to take the archetype to get that patron. The good spell list from the patron is part of that package, and is partially why you might be thinking the rest of the archetype is "weak." Although I think that other players who might want exactly what this archetype does might disagree.
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Creative Director
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Do you have to be the "Dimensional Occultist" archetype (p. 28) to use the Dimensions Patron? The patron spells are nice, but the archetype is quite weak, giving up 3 hexes for perhaps 1 strong ability. Really, the Dimensional Augmentation and Dimensional Waypoints abilities should have been combined...
OK. I just looked at the dimensional occultist archetype again, and here's the deal:
The witch class, as she currently stands, doesn't have a way to summon demons or devils (or angels or whatever). I see that as a design flaw, especially if you want to stat up, say, someone like Greyhawk's Iggwilv. That's why I designed the class in the first place, and it's also got a lot of inspiration from the witch Keziah Mason from HP Lovecraft's story, "The Dreams in the Witch House."
Basically, it's not a super powerful archetype, but it allows you to do stuff witches normally can't do, like summon and conjure outsiders to do your bidding. And as such... yes, you'd need to take the archetype to gain access to the patron, since the patron is one of the primary reasons this archetype exists in the first place.
And anyway, I don't think that it's a weak archetype at all. She's really rather good at dimensional travel—being able to plane shift with 100% accuracy is actually really quite potent.
She's not that great in the middle of combat, sure, but a dimensional occultist is at her strongest getting READY for comabt though.
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Creative Director
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I certainly agree with you with respect to the flaws in the witch spell list. There are numerous in flavour spells the class really should have and doesn't (eg. Simalcrum, the shapeshifting spells, either planar binding or planar ally....). The dimensionalist patron spells certainly help with at least one part of that. However, trading a hex and a major hex for dimensional augmentation and dimensional waypoints is really a very poor trade...
Depends on if you're that into hexes or not, in my opinion. Being able to zip around the planes with that level of accuracy and being able to boost your caster level is pretty good.
In any event... that's why we make multiple archetypes; so if something seems like a poor choice to one person, they still have lots of other options.