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I'm curious what constitutes spellcasting, and how races with innate spell-like abilities fit in to that idea. Are there gnomes in this world? Are they all called witches?
I should also point out that unless they change it when the actual book comes out, by playtest rules slayer counts as ranger and rogue, so multicasting slayer/rogue is not allowed.
Play a gravewalker witch. Disguise your undead minions with fedoras and overcoats (Hey, it works for The Thing of the Fantastic Four!). Invest in a high bluff score to keep one step ahead of the can't-Detect-Evil paladin who's almost sure to have 1 skill point a level. If caught, fall to your knees and swear you'll change, thus appealing to his redeemer side.
I'm only half joking on that. If you're going to be hung for 1 crime you might as well do 100 more.
What constitutes "magic", anyway? Alchemists don't technically cast spells, so that might be a handy loophole.
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As a spellcaster in such a setting, I'd be looking pretty fondly towards the Silent Spell, Still Spell, and Eschew Materials feats.
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Have fun spending days at a time sitting in town after every fight.
Yep. Maybe find another game?
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Play a Spellcaster anyway.
So what if it's outlawed?
PF is a very high magic game. It doesn't really work without magic. If you get caught and your PC dies, so be it. Maybe the GM will have realised low magic doesn't work.
Anyway, be a Shadow Sorcerer. You don't have a spellbook, you don't have material components. Spend points on Dex and pump Stealth and people won't see you do your eeeevil magicks.
You will very soon be the most powerful guy alive. If you pick Vanish at level 1 you won't really care about the pitchfork-wielding yokels pooing their pants about magic anyway. Be invisible a lot.
Just be super cagey about it.
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Still curious what constitutes magic. How about supernatural abilities? If you play a shadowdancer and hide in plain sight is that magic? Is a monk using ki to heal his wounds using magic?
I'd go one of two ways with a setting like this. One, play a superstitious magic hating barbarian. or two, play a druid or a witch; if people who use magic are supposedly witches, well then go for it and be one.
While low magic certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea, pf by no means has to have magic marts and potions by the dozen. It just is written as high magic by default. So running low magic games requires more work on the GM's part, they can't rely on pre-written material as much. Low magic campaigns that I've been part of tend to be more about human(oid)s. Monsters are rare and terrifying, so being under matched against them is perfect, and since everyone lacks magic, being against other humans remains balanced.
Bard with bardsong feat. Bluff the person hard and convince them you weren't casting spells.
Pretty much as Zathyr suggested.
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If magic is "evil" then embrace it. Make it evil for a reason, dont use it unless you have to "H crossbow" but if you need it, dont leave witnesses.
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Making a level 1 anything won't take much time.
What would you like to do?
Rogue? Rogue with a splash of magic? Ninja? Evil casty? Fighty guy?
Once you narrow it down to a type, we can go further into archetypes, feats and the whole shebang.
I just put your stats in Herolab and made you a half elf shadow sorcerer. Nowhere near finished as yet, but:
Eeeevil Casty
Half-Elf Sorcerer (Wildblooded) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 0)
N Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +7; Senses low-light vision; Perception +3
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Defense
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AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10 (+3 Dex)
hp 8 (1d6+2)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +3; +2 vs. enchantments
Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Sorcerer (Wildblooded) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +7):
1st (5/day)—color spray (DC 17), vanish[APG] (DC 17)
0 (at will)—detect magic, ghost sound (DC 16), light, penumbra[UM]
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Statistics
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Str 11, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 22
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 13
Feats Eschew Materials, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills Bluff +10, Intimidate +10, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Perception +3, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +10, Use Magic Device +10; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Custom Language, Custom Language, Custom Language, Elven
SQ cloak of shadows, elf blood, hero points, mutated bloodlines (umbral)
Other Gear 150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Cloak of Shadows +1 (9/day) At 1st level, as a standard action, you can grant one target a cloak of shadows. This cloak gives the target a bonus on Stealth checks made in areas of dim or no light equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level for 1 round per 2 sorcerer levels you possess (mi
Elf Blood Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Umbral Your nature is to gather the darkness into yourself.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.
I'd go cheap on equipment. Sling, dagger, club...maybe longspear and cestus if you want to get fancy. That gives nice options to threaten at range and still punch someone if they get in your grill.
You've got nothing for swarms, so maybe some alchemist fire and acid for lobbing at whatever needs a good dose of either.
He also needs some traits, so you can pick up some class skills. You can multiclass with rogue or ninja and move toward arcane trickster levels if you like. I can't help thinking that a guy with a lot of skills is going to serve you better in what amounts to a low-magic environment, and that's pushing me toward the arcane trickster, bard, or possibly summoner (Using the eidolon as a summonable rogue-substitute while you stick with "face" skills.)
i really like the idea of a suave and cultured bard or rogue attempting to convince entire mobs that he wasnt casting spells at all, just singing and dancing and making merry. max out your diplomacy and bluff early and rely on bardic performance and versatile performance to fill in your other skills, make sure you really focus on dance or singing/oratory so you can fluidly incorporate verbal and somatic components, take eschew materials, and invest in illusion magics. convince mobs that you're some kind of messiah by walking on water, explain to people who intend to out you for your evil magics that you can trap their souls in hell with a major image. when/if you're ever caught throw smoke bombs and cast invisibility to cover your escape. make sure you take spellsong or whatever it is that lets you cast while singing without expending spellslots. as an added bonus, bards are awesome at everything and you can completely ignore your spells if you feel confident, and everyone in all of ever knows how mundane inspire courage is, so it wont seem like scary magikz to your plebeian witch hunters.
No spellcasting? Play an alchemist!
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another idea, build some kind of inquisitor who hunts down spellcasters all while hiding the fact that they are a caster themselves. take conversion inquisition and use wisdom for diplomacy/bluff and convince people that your divine powers arent magic, or that they mustve been seeing things and you've always just been a man with a bow. take inquisitor just far enough to get bane then multiclass to fighter or ranger to maximize your martial ability. i wonder how well this campaign will work with pathfinder's deity system, where gods choose champions to bestow powers upon at a whim.
If magic is "evil" then embrace it. Make it evil for a reason, dont use it unless you have to "H crossbow" but if you need it, dont leave witnesses.
Exactly this, kill them all, leave no witnesses!
I'm wondering if ki pools are another "loophole". Its all the excuse you could ever need to play a drunken sensei. Add at least 2 levels of ninja so you can pass out more goodies!
Wow, I finally see a campaign where there's a good reason for the paladin and the necromancer to team up: they're both in constant danger of being burned at the stake.
Or would the Paladin just be conflicted and turn himself in to the rightful authorities? Or, could he vow never to use his magic despite having access to it?
Probably not, but interesting questions to me.
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Play a Spellcaster anyway.
So what if it's outlawed?
PF is a very high magic game. It doesn't really work without magic. If you get caught and your PC dies, so be it. Maybe the GM will have realised low magic doesn't work.
Anyway, be a Shadow Sorcerer. You don't have a spellbook, you don't have material components. Spend points on Dex and pump Stealth and people won't see you do your eeeevil magicks.
You will very soon be the most powerful guy alive. If you pick Vanish at level 1 you won't really care about the pitchfork-wielding yokels pooing their pants about magic anyway. Be invisible a lot.
Just be super cagey about it.
This is what I would do. If caught and killed by the mobs just make another similar character and play him the same. Let the GM use fiat to continually kill your magic-user until he is sick of his own stupid and overdone "magic is outlawed" crappy campaign. Maybe then you can actually have a real campaign.
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Wow, I finally see a campaign where there's a good reason for the paladin and the necromancer to team up: they're both in constant danger of being burned at the stake.Or would the Paladin just be conflicted and turn himself in to the rightful authorities? Or, could he vow never to use his magic despite having access to it?
Probably not, but interesting questions to me.
Or his God believes that magic isn't supposed to be persecuted and is trying to get rid of the unjust laws banning it...
I'd play a Magus in this game. I'd pretend to be a fighter and use spell covertly.
Exactly this, kill them all, leave no witnesses!If magic is "evil" then embrace it. Make it evil for a reason, dont use it unless you have to "H crossbow" but if you need it, dont leave witnesses.
Oops, i may have gone over the line there.....
but i hope the OP realizes the danger of casting magic in this game....
But i bet the antognaists have plenty of wizards.
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another idea, build some kind of inquisitor who hunts down spellcasters all while hiding the fact that they are a caster themselves. take conversion inquisition and use wisdom for diplomacy/bluff and convince people that your divine powers arent magic, or that they mustve been seeing things and you've always just been a man with a bow. take inquisitor just far enough to get bane then multiclass to fighter or ranger to maximize your martial ability. i wonder how well this campaign will work with pathfinder's deity system, where gods choose champions to bestow powers upon at a whim.
If you are an Inquisitor of Abadar you can be super fussy about obeying the rules and the law. That fact that you have spells yourself is of no matter; you are in authority and the rules simply don't apply to you.
c.f. Anyone in real life who has had a position of authority.
Let the GM use fiat to continually kill your magic-user until he is sick of his own stupid and overdone "magic is outlawed" crappy campaign. Maybe then you can actually have a real campaign.
We should probably avoid condemning this GM for a crappy campaign when he or she may simply be trying something out. Who knows? It might turn out that the group has a great time. (No, I'm not the GM).
If it is an inquisition type setting where magic users are actively persecuted, I'd play a bard and pose as a zealous supporter of the repressive regime while using charm spells to cover my tracks and create false identities. I'd likely drop a few levels into ninja to enhance the covert side of the character.
I would love to play a caster in a campaign where no one else had magic. I'd be a force to be reckoned with at medium levels.
so what did you decide on?
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*Movie announcer guy voice*
*In unison, in Dos Equi's guy voice*
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I'd personally go with sorcerer and make it a civil rights issue. I usually find these kinds of campaigns really fun if handled properly. Unfortunately, I've also ran into DMs that wouldn't allow a caster to publicly cast a spell. Just a simple "Nope. Too many people around. Do something else."
Wait, wait. So what you're telling me is we have magic and they don't. Exactly how long do you think it will take for us to reach 3rd level spells and eliminate the entire current world order since they are pathetic non casters (No paladins, rangers, clerics, or inquisitors either).
Time till world conquest is complete, 3 sessions.
I wouldn't assume they don't. Just because they're illegal doesn't mean they don't have fully-automatic belt-fed machine guns...
And just because the governing body says magic is illegal doesn't mean they don't have their own elite company of inquisitors and/or magi.
EDIT: Ninja JoeJ
I actually don't have a problem with a country that bans magic. But, if you ban ALL magic, it becomes significantly more difficult to capture and contain illegal casters. That's why it is a lot better to pick a caster time, like all divine magic or all witches and sorcerers. That's how places like Rahadoum exist. Otherwise, you can just be a caster and fight the police. Which, can be a great way to cause a great caster rebellion.
My thoughts on it: Anti-magic governments can be a compelling story-telling, but generally are used by GMs to screw over players because they hate casters.
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Everyone got around 400xp or so. Leveling is going to suck balls at that rate.Thank you for the report. No magic, no loot and no exp. As Mark Twain said "Fun? Yes, but of a mild sort."
Sounds like a fantastic game to me. I don't play for loot, xp or magic. I play for the plot.
Stop criticising a game you haven't seen based on your own preconceptions, it's rude.