I'm writing some archetypes to emulate AD&D style specialist wizards. Why? Both because I enjoy the flavor of AD&D and because I feel like specialist wizards in PF aren't distinct enough. I've written them all up, but, because they are remarkably similar, I am just posting my enchanter.
You'll note that the enchanter uses charisma instead of intelligence. This is because that is the attribute associated with enchanters in AD&D (it's not as important as this archetype makes it, but yeah). The other archetypes are similarly keyed to associated attributes (except for those which were keyed to Con or Dex, I thought that was too powerful). The two feats emulate the fact that in AD&D specialists did indeed get a bonus on how hard it was to save against spells of their school as well as a bonus on saving against spells of their school.
Feedback on this write-up? Ideas for making each archetype more flavorful? Anything welcome.
The enchanter uses magic to control and manipulate the minds of his victims.
Diminished Spellcasting: An enchanter can prepare one less spell for each spell level than a normal wizard. If this reduces the number of spells per day for that level to 0, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Intelligence score for that level, plus her arcane school spells for that level.
Focused Specialist: An enchanter can prepare two additional spells of the divination arcane school per spell level each day. These extra spells are in addition to the one normally granted by the arcane school class feature. This doesn't apply to spells gained from classes other than wizard.
Prohibited Magic: An enchanter cannot cast spells from his prohibited schools of magic and cannot create magic items which list spells from his prohibited schools as prerequisites. An enchanter who takes the opposition research arcane discovery is instead allowed to prepare spells – and create magic items – of the chosen school in the normal fashion for an enchanter without this archetype (i.e. he must expend two spell slots to memorize a spell from an opposition school and he suffers a -4 penalty on his spellcraft checks to craft magic items of the chosen opposition school).
Charisma Dependent: An enchanter uses Charisma instead of Intelligence when determining the highest level of spells he can cast, his spell save DCs, number of spells known at 1st level, and any effects of his arcane school powers normally determined by his Intelligence.
Intense Study (Ex): An enchanter gains 4 skill points + a number of skill points equal to his Intelligence modifier at each level, instead of the normal 2 skill points + Intelligence modifier at each level.
Arcane school: An enchanter must choose the enchantment school or an associated focused school; he must choose evocation and necromancy as his opposition schools. This ability otherwise functions as the wizard ability of the same name.
School Focus: At 1st level, an enchanter gets Spell Focus (enchantment) and Spell Defense (enchantment) as bonus feats.
You are better able to resist spells from a specific school of magic.
Prerequisite: Spell Focus in the chosen school.
Benefit: Choose a school of magic, such as necromancy. You get a +3 bonus on your saving throws against spells from the chosen school.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times, but its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new school of magic.
Focused Specialist says Divination right now, which I can't imagine is what you meant.
Er, you are quite right. With 8 specialists and the universalist it was a lot of copy and pasting.
I am not convinced to pick that archetype over Thassilonian Specialist. I would have to make Charisma-based Wizard instead of Intelligence-based and ended with less spells overall for +2 skill points (that wouldn't even balance the lowered Intelligence score), one very useful bonus feat and one bit less useful bonus feat. Sell me on your archetype.