Hey All,I have been playing Pathfinder for a few years now. I have been a part of several successful and some not so successful campaigns :-). Anyway, ever since I have played 3.5 and now in pathfinder I have always played some type of fighter with the exception being a monk. But that being said, I'm looking at possibly playing a magic user if/when the campaign we are playing comes to an end. Honestly magic users intimidate me, and I love the simplicity of being the group meat stick, but I feel like at some point I should push my comfort zone a little bit, so any recommendations from folks out there on what casters are easy/fun to play?
Thanks!
Sorcerer.
Small spell list compared to Wizards.
I too like sorcerers. One big key to enjoying your magic user at low levels it to remember that spells per day start as a pretty scarce resource. More often than not it is wasteful to use them simply for damage. Pick spells that have lasting effects like charm person for much longer usefulness. At low levels it would not hurt to have a crossbow as a backup for a fight. When you get into higher levels you can sling your spells around every fight, you will have plenty of slots, especially if you are a spontaneous caster (like a sorcerer or oracle).
|
You could always start off with a class that gets only minor casting abilities like a Paladin or Ranger. Even midling casters like the Bard or Magus can be played mostly as combat types.
If you want to go all in on a full caster I'd recommend an Arcanist for a first time caster. Sorcerers can run into trouble if they pick the wrong spells and Wizard can be overwhelming trying to figure out what to prepare. Arcanist is more forgiving of beginner's mistakes. You can play it like a sorcerer with a small list of spells... but then if it turns out that a particular mix isn't working you can change it the next day.
Hunter is pretty awesome.
It would help if you gave some hints as to what sort of character you want to play. Do you want to be primarily a caster, someone who uses a weapon but will happily switch to spells when appropriate, or a martial combatant who only rarely resorts to handwaving and muttering? Natural divine, god-powered divine, arcane or psychic (or Psionic if your GM permits)? Give us something to work with, or all you are going to get are classes that posters personally like that aren't too difficult to play.
in 3.5, the Battle Sorcerer variant was a good class to get your toes wet on casters, for pathfinder I'd suggest playing a Magus. limited list, and if you choose spells that don't fit the area you're in you can still whack things with a stick.
If you can, you might want to pick up a copy of Spheres of Power. It is a much simpler magic system and is easier to make many concepts with, but isn't underpowered. So it might be good for a person who wants to play a magic user without the complicated stuff.
If you can, you might want to pick up a copy of Spheres of Power. It is a much simpler magic system and is easier to make many concepts with, but isn't underpowered. So it might be good for a person who wants to play a magic user without the complicated stuff.
Seconding this. Imagine your magic was a selection of super-cantrips which you could customize via talents and that you occasionally overclocked by expending points from a daily pool. It's that simple. Also, the classes are fairly neat and there's archetypes to replace the spellcasting features of the Core Rulebook classes with sphere casting, if you want.
Spontaneous casters can be easier in some respects but harder in others. Having a limited consistent set of spells makes it easier to keep things organised but it I think it requires much more consideration and foresight with regards to spells you pick as you level and can be unforgiving if your choice of spells is unsuitable.
A prepared caster can be more of a challenge to keep well organised but offers greater flexibility being able to change spells each day. A couple problems I've run into using prepared spells is knowing whether or not to duplicate a single spell for multiple castings or go for wide variety of spells the other issue is the whole 'but I might have a greater need for the spell later particularly if you only have a single casting of the spell available.
The level 6 casters such as warpriest, synthesist summoner and magus could serve as good introduction for you as they combine unfamiliar magic with the more familiar martial skills. Personally I'd go full caster and embrace this new challenge head on and to the fullest. Unless your character dies or the campaign falls apart when will you next get to try a new character? So if you're going caster you might as well go all the way and as far away from what you'd typically play.
Of the classes I've had personal experience playing I'd suggest either witch or arcanist. Both have useful class features that can make them much more forgiving to someone new to magic.
The witch is mostly about debuffs with some nice offensive spells and healing thrown in there. It's the witch's hexes that I love and what makes them more forgiving to the new player. Many of the hexes are effectively unlimited in use so even if you're out of spells you should always be ably to do something such as causing misfortune, giving enemies the evil eye or healing an ally.
Hexes also get some great utilities too. If you're starting at level 1 and like to craft the cauldron hex can grant you the brew potion feat 2 levels early. Utility wise I'm rather fond of the flight hex which improves as you gain levels starting as an at will featherfall at 1st level (and +4 racial bonus on swim checks because as a witch you float) then a 1/day levitate and 3rd and finally you get fly at 5th for 1 min/level which can be spent in one min increments. Since hexes are supernatural abilities (some are extraordinary such as cauldron) and not spells or SLAs they don't provoke attacks of opportunity or require concentration checks for damage or environmental effect such as hurricanes nor are they subject to dispel magic or counter spells.
Now the arcanist is what I'm currently playing (divination school savant with the the foresight subschool) and for that I'm just going cannibalise what I've written on a past thread (arcanist vs sorcerer/wizard).
"I'd have to recommend the arcanist because of the difference the exploits make. I particularly like the Quick Study exploit as you can prepare spells for combat/emergency situations and easily switch out to utility spells as and when they are needed (doesn't matter how many spells per day you can cast if you don't have enough of the right spell prepared)). Spell Potency is another good exploit as it enables you to increase the DC or caster level of a spell by two, so it's kind of like taking Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus or Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration for caster level checks and it's nice to add a couple more d6s to that fireball. Then there's Metamixing to spontaneously cast metamagics and Greater Metamagic Knowledge which gives you a bonus metamagic that you can change each time to prepare spells. The Resist Energy Exploits doesn't have the same limitations as the spell an so includes negative energy and the like. Dimensional Slide is good if you don't have access to the Teleportation subschool Shift ability".
The Myrmidarch Magus is a very fighter-like spellcaster.