So, as I understand it, a Sorcerer knows Words, and can spontaneously combine them into "Wordspells," combining any that they know.
Wizards, on the other hand, memorize from their spellbooks (which hold the Words) the Wordspells as they want them cast to fill the spell slots.
So... an Arcanist would have a spellbook with WORDS in it. When he memorizes them, would he memorize the WORDS since he casts as a Sorcerer, or the Wordspells since he's studying from a spellbook, or either/or depending on his desires?
...And, in a (somewhat) related question, would the Arcanist qualify as both a Wizard and Sorcerer for the Alternative Level Bonus? So either the spell known of the Sorcerer, the Skill Point, the HP, OR the Wizard bonus?
bump?
I would be interested to see how this was ruled on, but as the Devs have shown little to no interest in continued support for Wordcasting, it seems unlikely you'll get an official response.
As to the favoured class bonuses, I assume that will be addressed when the book comes out in August.
Favored class bonus is a definite no at this time. Arcanist is not wizard or sorcerer, and at this time would only get to choose either hp or skill bonus for the favored class bonus. This will probably change when the ACG is released, but it still is unlikely to be the choices available to wizard or sorcerer.
As far as wordspells are concerned, there is little support for it but your idea sounds pretty much how I would run it.
Normally a wizard prepares spells from his book and can cast them. A sorcerer just knows a certain number of spells.
A word caster knows words to create a spell, instead of an entire spell. A word caster wizard can know all the words, but still needs to combine them and prepare what he will cast for the day. The sorcerer can know a certain amount of words and cast.
Arcanist is a blend. He should be able to have as many words in his spell book as he can afford, and then pick a number based on the sorcerer progression to know for the day.
I think that he'd have words in his spellbook, and since he studies to cast as a sorcerer, he'd "memorize" the WORDS so he can cast the SPELLS on the fly.
I see much potential for having an awesome wordcaster with this class, and I'd love it to happen... I've always wanted to play a wordcaster, but it always seemed limited by having
a) a limited word base, or
b) static spells to cast.
They always seemed like the way a Sorcerer SHOULD be played, with the player making the decisions, not the spells dictating the decisions.
Plus, with the Crafting bonus, you can build ANYTHING you want, 'cause the spell prerequisite goes out the window. ;-)
Reposting this here, as it seems likely to get lost in the OP vs. Not-OP back and forth in the Arcanist preview thread:
I expect that, since the Arcanist has to prepare his spells like a Wizard, he would do the same thing with wordspells- ie, prepare a number of wordspells each day. He could then choose which wordspell to cast with each casting, but rather than losing the spell (like a Wizard) he would be able to cast the same wordspell again if he wanted, up to his limit of spells per day.
They are only spontaneous casters of the spells they have prepared.
I could see an argument the other way, though. I'd definitely be interested in hearing a more official answer (even if an "unofficial" official one), as I have a character with this exact level and spell background that I've been working into some stories.
If I understand the arcanist right they prepare as a wizard, and casts as a sorceror from that pool of 'spells prepared'as if they were 'spells known'.
So there's no reason for it not to work the same for wordspells. You prepare a number of wordspells as a wizard and then cast from that static list.
On the alternate question you are neither a wizard or a sorceror so you are stuck with +1hp/skill point until they get around to putting up a list of alternate favoured class bonuses.
I would guess more that you can prepare a given number of words as your spells per day, and memorize those like a wizard. In terms of crafting spells, though, you can mess with wordspells as much as you want-so long as you only use the prepared words.Admittedly a little powerful, but hey-it makes sense to me. Wordspells are all about flexibility, so it makes sense that a very flexible class combined with a very flexible casting system is going to be like one of those quadruple-jointed people who fold themselves into boxes.