On Flesheater: You can potentially abuse how Polymorph means a material component pouch contains a piece of of all animals. Otherwise the archetype doesn't really take off till level 14. Till then you need of bookkeeping and prep time to transform into something useful if you don't want to be a boar, bison or normal bird.
Flesheater's One Flesh ability isn't an actual spell, so he doesn't need a component pouch. The ability also doesn't state that you need to continually eat additional pieces of meat, only that a particular creature be the last one you ate. And, how many "cuts" can you get out of a creature? Five? Ten? Theoretically I could take that 1sp thrush, broil it until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, shred it and marinate in preservatives and roll bits into pemmican rations and have a hundred of the things.
You can fly at level 2. A Beastkin Berserker Barbarian can fly at level 4.
As a bird, because you changed into one. Your equipment is melded into your form and unavailable, and neither can you speak because ravens and parrots are tiny (not small) animals and so not among available choices.
The Flesheater rocks a pair of wings and flies around beating on things with his sword, enjoys his armor, casts spells, anything goes.
As for the part about eating a Big Cat and grabbing Pounce, Grab, Low-light vision, and Scent, note that as written, you only get one of those abilities at a time.
OK, I'll give that. However, low-light vision, and scent are on the Beast Shape I list, which is fine because leopards are medium-sized animals with both of those and pounce. (Enjoying both flight and pounce simultaneously is the hard part, as I'm unaware of a small or medium-sized animal with both.)
Hmm.... What's the cheapest form of stasis in the game? There's a lot of room in my bag of holding.
"Why, yes, they are leopard cub statuettes...until I change them back!"
Haven't had much time to contribute this past week, and probably won't in the coming week, so I decided to tackle the class with the fewest total archetypes, the Psychic.
The only archetype I didn't rate was Psychic Duelist, since I have no experience with Psychic Duels and have no idea how viable it is as a strategy in general. On paper it looks like a great way to get your psychic killed, but maybe it's fine if you're built for it. If anyone has experience running psychic duels, I'd be curious to know how they're used and whether this archetype is a major help.
Amnesiac
Power: 0, Versatiity: +2
The Amnesiac has an interesting mechanic that allows them to "forget" and "remember" spells, effectively changing their spell selection daily. This is an absolutely ideal ability for a spontaneous spellcaster. However, the Amnesiac does have some reliability issues since attempting to cast a remembered spell can potentially fail. While this isn't enough to give a malus to its power rating, it is something to keep in mind if you value consistency over flexibility.
Formless Adept
Power: -1
Versatility: -1
While the Formless Adept brings a number of very interesting and powerful abilities, it has a fatal flaw: they only work when in the Formless Body. The Formless Body can only be sustained for 3+Cha rounds per day, and entering this form requires a standard action. This means there will many situations in which the Formless Adept is simply gaining nothing from this archetype, and its improvement over the regular psychic class features is not good enough to compensate for this.
Mutation Mind
Power: -1, Versatility: 0
This archetype is sadly held back by the fact that its strength bonus is an enhancement bonus, meaning it can be duplicated by and does not stack with magic items. The Psychic, as a 1/2 BAB class, is in need of some kind of bonus to close to the gap in terms of melee combat, and since it doesn't stack with common magical items all you're really getting is a cost-saver. This holds the archetype back from its intended purpose as a natural attacker, and the intelligence penalty it suffers means you really can't cast spells while in the mutated form. The only thing holding this back from a -2 rating is that it doesn't trade off very much, so it is justifiable as a niche gimmick.
Psychic Marauder
Power: +1, Versatility: 0
Though this archetype is focused more on its Insanity Aura to confuse enemies who close into melee distance, the biggest benefit is the most subtle: it can apply its Charisma instead of Wisdom to will saving throws. This is a huge benefit for charisma-based psychics. The archetype makes modest trades anda ll its abilities are useful, and is a general upgrade. For all practical considerations it does lock you into being a charisma-based discipline, but this isn't a huge loss.
Terror Weaver
Power: +1
Versatility: 0
This archetype does relatively little at lower levels, and could be entirely duplicated through spell selection. This all changes when you reach 9th level and your Aura of Doom spell (a normally marginal spell) gets upgraded, giving you a powerful option coming out of a mid-level slot to make enemies frightened in a large area of effect. This is a great option that comes at a very minor cost.
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Link to the doc for this page: archetype tier list.
And the final stretch for the investigators.
Dip Power -1 Versatility -1
Full Power -1 Versatility -1
Specialised in fighting haunts of all things. It's not very good at doing so though. The studied strike damage with no weapon damage or bonuses of any kind, once/round just won't be enough to help. The other trades aren't great either.
Sleuth
Dip Power 0 Versatility 0
Full Power -2 Versatility -1
Losing alchemy is bad, and luck points don't have major uses in or out of combat. They're also based off Cha which makes an investigator more MAD (they still need Int for inspiration). They can be used to augment the number of ways a grit or panache user can regain their pool, and if the grit/panache isn't based off Cha they can add that to the pool size. This makes it an adequate dip. There's probably better even for this purpose though.
Spiritualist
Dip Power -1 Versatility -1
Full Power -2 Versatility -1
You lose alchemy and become more MAD because you need Wis for the replacement, SLAs which you can spend uses of for a couple of personal buffs. No question but that this is weak. Not unworkable at low levels but I can't see how it'd work for you at high levels.
Star Gazer
Dip Power 0 Versatility -1
Full Power 0 Versatility 0
Alchemy replaced with horoscopes, which are very similar but effectively have the infusion discovery & can't take others. OK. The trapfinding/trap sense replacement is very sad especially if you can't get your star charts out before using sense motive. Some decent talents though - scribe scroll, 1/day fill an open extract slot as a swift action. If you want to use ranged combat w/studied combat just take rogue talent/combat trick/ranged study though, a starknife isn't a good weapon for an investigator.
Steel Hound
Dip Power 0 Versatility 0
Full Power 0 Versatility 0
Some basic firearm use and enough to make it practical, but not enough to make you especially good at it. On the other hand you lose very little for this, just enough to prevent you taking another archetype.
Tekritanin Arbiter
Dip Power 0 Versatility 0
Full Power 0 Versatility 0
You're a language expert with (very minor) bonuses to diplomacy. Aside from trapfinding you lose very little for this which seems appropriate for what you get.
Toxin Codexer
Dip Power 0 Versatility +1
Full Power 0 Versatility +1
Poisons made practical. Not great, there's still the usual problem with the target likely not lasting long enough for them to give major debuffs, and a Fort save of 10 + Int + extract level is weak (the save mod vs sleep effects etc. seems to be an effect of the poison, not an effect to the poison) but losing the cost of the poison and adding some side effects is enough to make them not a joke.
Hmm.... What's the cheapest form of stasis in the game? There's a lot of room in my bag of holding.
"Why, yes, they are leopard cub statuettes...until I change them back!"
It's a nice thought but a bag of holding isn't stasis. You can suffocate in there. If you have a friend with purify food and drink you can preserve leopard cub steaks for a long time though. Or you could just make sausages out of them, with enough salt and spices they should last longer than any adventure.
"You might want to leave the battlefield now. I'm about to make...sausages!"
Haven't had much time to contribute this past week, and probably won't in the coming week, so I decided to tackle the class with the fewest total archetypes, the Psychic.
The only archetype I didn't rate was Psychic Duelist, since I have no experience with Psychic Duels and have no idea how viable it is as a strategy in general. On paper it looks like a great way to get your psychic killed, but maybe it's fine if you're built for it. If anyone has experience running psychic duels, I'd be curious to know how they're used and whether this archetype is a major help.
** spoiler omitted **...
No Psychic Duelist?
Hmmm . . . Psychic Marauder sounds noticeably related to the Marauders of White Wolf's Classic World of Darkness, except you actually get to play one. A downside at low levels: The number of nearby creatures that you can exclude from Aura of Insanity is very limited initially, and it keys only off your level, so you can't even boost it by having a high ability score. If your party has 2 heavy hitters, you don't want to make either of them go nuts. Also, if your party is escorting or evacuating civilians, you likely won't be able to exclude enough targets even at mid levels.
Hmmm . . . Psychic Marauder sounds noticeably related to the Marauders of White Wolf's Classic World of Darkness, except you actually get to play one. A downside at low levels: The number of nearby creatures that you can exclude from Aura of Insanity is very limited initially, and it keys only off your level, so you can't even boost it by having a high ability score. If your party has 2 heavy hitters, you don't want to make either of them go nuts. Also, if your party is escorting or evacuating civilians, you likely won't be able to exclude enough targets even at mid levels.
As I said in the overview, I feel the real draw of that archetype is getting Cha to will saves. Even if you can't use Aura of Insanity it's still solid.
It's a nice thought but a bag of holding isn't stasis.Hmm.... What's the cheapest form of stasis in the game? There's a lot of room in my bag of holding.
"Why, yes, they are leopard cub statuettes...until I change them back!"
The bag of holding isn't stasis, but flesh to stone (or something similar) is. --Statues are just heavy, thus the BoH. Action-economy is certainly problematic, however, and such a build is probably not into SoS casting (not that ordinary animals have particularly high saves).
In light of this, I'd scale back the bonuses for straight-class Flesheater, but keep them up for dip-classing (particularly at low level).
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I got half of the Occultist done.
A few preliminary thoughts: As a class with martial weapon proficiencies, medium armor & shields, and an extremely limited spell selection you should expect to fight. Resonant powers (for about half of your implements) are quite strong and keeping them powered is important. So not only is mental focus usually extremely tight (having the always on "see invisibility" for divination costs 9 points!), but walking around with generic mental focus not invested in anything is almost always a bad idea.
Occultist A-N
Power:-1, Versatility: -1
Emotional Reading, Courtly Contacts, and the skill change are basically sidegrades which might be more applicable to some campaigns than the basic occultist's equivalents, but what really hurts this archetype is the requirement that one of your starting implements is emotion. Emotion is one of the weakest implements for the occultist, both because neither the resonant and base focus powers are weaker than most alternatives, and because the occultist doesn't have a great selection of enchantment spells. In particular, as a 6-level caster since DCs are based on the spell level, you're not going to be landing a lot of save dependent spells.
Battle Host
Power:-1, Versatility: -1
In any context in which the "trappings of the warrior" panoply is available, the battle host is a trap option. Essentially an attempt to create a "more martial occultist" you trade 2 of your first 5 implements and some of the less useful class features for bonus feats, heavy armor proficiency, and a couple of flavorful interesting options in Spirit Warrior and Heroic Splendor. But since all of your implements are a single item you aren't able to take panoplies period, so you're incapable of taking "trappings of the warrior" which would effectively make you full BAB. Since someone with a vanilla occultist can make a character who is better at both fighting and spellcasting, this is one to avoid unless you really want those combat feats.
Construct Collector
Power: -2, Versatility: 0
So if you know in advance you're going to fight a lot of constructs it's probably okay. But you are trading 3 focus powers (which are feat equivalent) for the ability to carry around 1 generic mental focus each. "Extra Mental Focus" is one feat and gives you 2 mental focus. Normally you don't want to be walking around with generic mental focus, because it doesn't enhance resonant powers and it's more expensive to use on focus powers, but this archetype supplies you with a use for it: you can spend generic focus to take control of constructs ... but only after they are defeated and only for one round. At 12th and 16th level you can control them for longer but only if you spend even more generic mental focus.
Curator
Power:-2, Versatility: 0
So you trade half of your implements for a "collection" which can be one of two school's implements with a set spell list. In and of itself this isn't bad, because you can swap out spells for more appropriate circumstances. So why do I hate it? Because collection implements do not grant resonant powers, and you can only activate your collection a few times a day: 1 at 1st, 2 at 2nd, 3 at 6th, etc. Moreover, this archetype restricts how you allocate your focus- you get your level for your normal implements and your IntMod for your collection. I see this as an attempt to make a more casty Occultist (but you aren't giving up martial weapons or medium armor), but there are more successful versions. I think this is probably best in a very short adventuring day kind of game.
Esoteric Initiate
Power: +1 Versatility: +1
In exchange for some restrictions on what your implements can be which are easily met, you get the ability to freely transfer focus from one implement to another which is handy and your resonant powers are slightly stronger. Losing Aura Sight for Comprehend Languages which can only be used on written works is a bit of a downgrade, less of one than "freely move your focus around" is an upgrade however, since, for example, you can avoid having to invest a huge amount of focus in your divination implement for special senses, just turning them on when you need to see in the dark.
Extemporaneous Channeler
Power: -1 Versatility:+1
If you really want to fight with improvised weapons, I suppose it's okay. But an Occultist's Focus economy is already tight so "losing one focus every 10 minutes per implement" hurts. I would recommend using Gloves of Improvised Might for an enhancement bonus and reserve transfomation resonance for putting special abilities (like bane) on the serving fork or divan or aquarium you are bashing people with.
Geomancer:
Power +1 , Versatility: 0
An archetype that grants "the terrain around you" as an implement. Where this is really nice is that normally an occultist has extremely limited "spells known" so you're hesitant to learn spells that are only sometimes useful - waterbreathing is no good in the desert. But the spells your "terrain" implement gives you are likely to be relevant in that terrain and not elsewhere. Unfortunately you give up "trapfinding but for UMD" (which is a big loss but perhaps UMD can be someone else's job), aura sight and a couple of focus powers for the terrain's resonant and focus powers which aren't amazing (though the one which increases your speed doesn't say how long it lasts.) But focus powers are feat equivalent and you can just neglect to invest much focus into the environment and just have a spell list that changes when you travel.
Haunt Collector
Power: +2, Versatility: +1
Unless it is thematically or mechanically incompatible with whatever occultist idea you are starting from, consider this archetype. "Being good at Haunts" is a lot more likely to come up than Outsider Contact and Magic Circles, but the real draw of the archetype is that you can haunt some of your implements replacing their resonant powers with the medium's seance boon and also being able to call on that spirit's spirit bonus on all relevant rolls for a round as a swift action without spending mental focus. Considering that some implements have resonant powers that are very weak (e.g. conjuration does almost nothing for you) being able to replace this with the Champion's seance bonus of "weapon specialization (everything)" and invest focus to invoke the champion's spirit bonus (which applies to attack and damage rolls) is a big upgrade. So don't feel bad about taking implements with weak resonant powers (Conjuration, Evocation, Enchantment, arguably Illusion) instead you can replace them with good Medium Spirit Seance Boons and Spirit Bonuses.
Naturalist
Power: +1 Versatility: -1
So the big hangup is that if you want to use Natural Focus (which adds a die to any check before it is rolled) you need to walk around with generic focus and you need to live with the druid's armor restrictions. As for the latter Occultists can make very strong archers, so leather armor is workable but if you wanted to go Str/Int and go bang in melee, your life is going to be rough until you start skinning dragons. Normally having any generic focus is a bad idea, but "I absolutely need to make this save" type situations are infrequent enough that you can afford to bank a couple of points for emergencies. Communing with nature and talking to trees is more likely to come up than "contacting and binding outsiders" in most campaigns, but obviously not a strong choice if you're in a campaign that is almost exclusively urban.
Necroccultist
Power: +1, Versatility: -1
Necromancy is normally a pretty strong implement based on the focus powers, so being forced to take it at level 1 is fine. Even giving up the 2nd implement is tolerable if you want to do necromancy since you're adding a lot of wizard/sorcerer spells to your spell list, and the DC increase at level 14 helps fix the fact that your DCs are limited by being a 6-level caster. Deadspeaker is slightly less relevant than object reading, but still very useful and "summoning a ghost swarm" and "draining life to heal yourself" are useful and on brand. If you want to be a spooky necromancer occultist, this is a strong choice. It does restrict your ability to do other things, for example you can't grab the "Mage's Paraphenalia" Panoply until 10th level, but if you want to be a necro-warrior type you can grab transmutation and abjuration by level 6 and be fine.
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A couple of mistakes in the above. Ancestral Aspirant should refer to the Enchantment Implement not the Emotion Implement and Esoteric Initiate should include the line "Having your first two implements be a single book will delay access to certain panoplies (as they require specific kinds of items as implements like "weapon" or "robe") so if you're aiming for one of those, I might avoid this archetype."
Esoteric Initiate
Power: +1 Versatility: +1In exchange for some restrictions on what your implements can be which are easily met, you get the ability to freely transfer focus from one implement to another which is handy and your resonant powers are slightly stronger. Losing Aura Sight for Comprehend Languages which can only be used on written works is a bit of a downgrade, less of one than "freely move your focus around" is an upgrade however, since, for example, you can avoid having to invest a huge amount of focus in your divination implement for special senses, just turning them on when you need to see in the dark.
That doesn't work, you get free focus shift, but nothing overrules the standard rule that you only get resonant powers based on your first investment of the day. As with normal shift focus, moving it reduces resonant powers of the implement you take it away from, but doesn't add it to the one you put it in.
Extemporaneous Channeler
Power: -1 Versatility:+1
If you really want to fight with improvised weapons, I suppose it's okay. But an Occultist's Focus economy is already tight so "losing one focus every 10 minutes per implement" hurts. I would recommend using Gloves of Improvised Might for an enhancement bonus and reserve transfomation resonance for putting special abilities (like bane) on the serving fork or divan or aquarium you are bashing people with.
But this one DOES allow you to pick a resonant power later in the day, the only archetype that can accomplish that. Each temporary shift of focus into an implement counts as an investment and comes with a resonant power for as long as you use it. Yes, you burn 1 point per 10 minutes (or fraction thereof) per implement, but you get bonus points equal to your Intelligence. If you only invest in 1-2 implements per battle and/or don't fight too many battles you won't waste much of your bonus focus when you withdraw it all after the fight, and even if you do the flexibility can very well be worth the minor net loss. For utility uses you just invest one point (or however much you need) and use it before your 10 minutes are up.
I don't see any power loss unless you really want a martial weapon build and can't pick proficiency up some other way, and the flexibility to pick any resonant power you want throughout the day, plus the spell list flexibility, makes this the most versatile archetype.
Power Loss for the Extemporaneous Channeler is solely because you are bleeding focus without spending it. Depending on how an adventuring day goes if you wanted three implements to be active for two separate 10 minute blocks you are out 6 focus. Since this is a plausible scenario at level 2, that's a problem.
But you are correct in shift focus is not as strong as I said. I still feel like the Esoteric Initiate is a slight upgrade (it's a small archetype). It's just good because you can buy more uses of legacy weapon if you run out, not because you can turn on darkvision.
Power Loss for the Extemporaneous Channeler is solely because you are bleeding focus without spending it. Depending on how an adventuring day goes if you wanted three implements to be active for two separate 10 minute blocks you are out 6 focus. Since this is a plausible scenario at level 2, that's a problem.
You're only out the focus if you invest more than you need. If you're investing purely for a resonant power, you'll spend 1, because you'll draw down all of it after the fight. If you're investing only to use focus powers (and since many/most resonant powers are bad, you might be), you might use it all in combat and not waste any. Or invest conservatively and risk coming up short, which would just mean you cast a spell or attack or take some other action instead.
This archetype is also a good reason to take that feat that lets you spend generic focus 1 to 1 on a single implement. Never invest in conjuration, for example, just spend generic focus freely and enjoy having more than other occultists.
But your resonant powers cost more focus to max out as you level up. So at level 6 you'd want to put 6 into transmutation and 4 into abjuration, for example. So an extemporaneous channeler who is level 6 would have like 12 mental focus. So if you were to power up those implements once, you're down to 10 even if you spend no focus. So spending any focus means you can't power up your implements fully 10 minutes from now.
It's at least a bad match for occultists who want to use implements whose resonant powers are thirsty (transmutation, divination, abjuration, illusion) because you'll get weaker through the day in a way a normal occultist would not.
I mentioned this briefly before, but as a dip a battle host occultist has its uses even if the trappings of the warrior panoply is available. You can get a weapon immune to the broken condition, which is relevant to gunslingers and similar, and there's no silly arguments about axe-muskets being slashing weapons so eligible to be black blades required. Trappings of the warrior can't come online until level 6 at best; for a dip it's not relevant.
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I mentioned this briefly before, but as a dip a battle host occultist has its uses even if the trappings of the warrior panoply is available. You can get a weapon immune to the broken condition, which is relevant to gunslingers and similar, and there's no silly arguments about axe-muskets being slashing weapons so eligible to be black blades required. Trappings of the warrior can't come online until level 6 at best; for a dip it's not relevant.
I previously had the idea to dip Battle Host and then take Fortified Armor Training for the ability to negate all critical hits, but it seems as if Paizo quickly realized that it could be abused.
So 'in this particular instance', "immune" doesn't mean "immunity".
***
Also, Investigators have been added to the document. Will get on the Occultist when the discussion is over.
But your resonant powers cost more focus to max out as you level up. So at level 6 you'd want to put 6 into transmutation and 4 into abjuration, for example. So an extemporaneous channeler who is level 6 would have like 12 mental focus. So if you were to power up those implements once, you're down to 10 even if you spend no focus. So spending any focus means you can't power up your implements fully 10 minutes from now.
It's at least a bad match for occultists who want to use implements whose resonant powers are thirsty (transmutation, divination, abjuration, illusion) because you'll get weaker through the day in a way a normal occultist would not.
You think resonant powers are a lot more important than I do. Except for Divination (but there are plenty of other ways to cover most of what it does) I think they are useless (Conjuration), super niche (Enchantment, Necromancy, Illusion), or just WBL money savers (Abjuration, Transmutation). The latter category isn't bad, it's just boring and not necessary.
If you recognize resonant powers just don't matter much, Extemporaneous Channeler is a great alternative to Haunt Channeler that allows maximum flexibility with active use of your powers. You get bonus mental focus, you don't waste much/any if you don't overinvest before battles, and if you do want a resonant power for a combat or utility application, you can choose it on the fly and it only costs you 1 point of your mental focus per 10 minutes you need it. But you mostly don't need resonant powers.
So it's the best user of active focus powers by far, and second most flexible spell caster after Psychodermist, who depends on killing the right monsters for his flexibility.
I mentioned this briefly before, but as a dip a battle host occultist has its uses even if the trappings of the warrior panoply is available. You can get a weapon immune to the broken condition, which is relevant to gunslingers and similar, and there's no silly arguments about axe-muskets being slashing weapons so eligible to be black blades required. Trappings of the warrior can't come online until level 6 at best; for a dip it's not relevant.I previously had the idea to dip Battle Host and then take Fortified Armor Training for the ability to negate all critical hits, but it seems as if Paizo quickly realized that it could be abused.
So 'in this particular instance', "immune" doesn't mean "immunity".
{. . .}
So they sure decided to use a confusing choice of words in the original description. Bleah . . . I would have never guessed what they meant if you hadn't pointed out this particular Errata.
That's presuming it's actually "a confusing choice of words". And not, say, say the writer intending it to be actual immunity, the developer(s) only realiing afterwards that the ability could be abused, but not having the balls to admit that they made a mistake, them making up some bull s&!& reasoning.
I'll throw my vote in the "realizing afterwards" pile, but let's give them the benefit of doubt.
The archetype has a bigger issue though. It's the embodiment of "putting all your eggs in the same basket", with disastrous consequences.
Let's say your bonded item is lost, or stolen. You can now never invest Mental Focus again, since you're explicitly prevented from bonding to a new item. Enjoy that minimum caster level and forced Concentration checks while the Wizard just finds a new ring after a week.
And if your bonded item was magical and then destroyed, you'll probably be forced to kill and revive yourself to restore it, since your Make Whole spell is cast at CL 4.
Yeah, the Adaptive Shifter should be your first choice if you want to play the Shifter class.
It does take a while to come online though, and the reduction of hours of Wild Shape is annoying.
Three hours of Wild Shape at level 6, compared to the eight/nine hours for the vanilla Shifter. If only you'd add your Wis mod to the amount it would be passable at lower levels.
This does prevent you from playing around outside of combat, and feats such as Planar Wild Shape has to wait until your mid-10s.
Flesh eater says “died and was eaten in the past 24 hours”, so if you aren’t near a big city you are bringing live animals with you. Though Birds and fish you can probably catch in the wild. Big cats are probably trickier.
Just because the image is so horrifying ...If the item didn't specify the creature disappears on being slain, if I were running I'd let a Flesh eater just take the small, fuzzy ball from a bag of tricks and stuff it in their mouth and start chewing instead of having to toss it 20' to activate it before eating it.
I'd think the spells Preserve and Gentle Repose would work to extend the time limit.
As would these items: Chest of Keeping , Corpse Ferrying Bag, Unguent of Timelessness
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Blood of the Ancients gave us the Too Hot for PFS! Aeromancer archetype of the Arcanist.
Aeromancer
Power +2, Versatility 0
For those who thought Potent Magic wasn't good enough on blasters, at level 1 this archetype gives you a scaling boost (+1-2 DC or +1-5 CL) on top of that for no additional cost in arcane pool points as long as your spell has the air, cold, electricity, or sonic descriptor. You can also do a combo air walk/personal wind wall at level 5, and blow people away with hurricanes at level 11. But you're here for the blasting boost combined with School Understanding (Admixture) and the boss killer that is Spell Perfection (Icy Prison) to make your GM weep in despair.
Aeromancer looks like a sweet deal; it's rare you see caster levels boosts of quite that much magnitude.
Aeromancer looks like a sweet deal; it's rare you see caster levels boosts of quite that much magnitude.
Sadly the caster level boost becomes kind of worthless (except for SR, I guess) at later levels, but that +4 to DC for one pool point is pretty sweet on an Icy Prison or Archon's Trumpet.
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There's other odd uses for it besides blasts. Shocking image (mirror image + GM training collar) has the electricity descriptor and benefits from a caster level boost, both to get more images and to resist dispel. Which last is something Zarius' thread reminded me of. I may do a search to find more such spells.
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Sadly the caster level boost becomes kind of worthless at later levels
Intensified Chain Lightning can benefit from up to CL 25, so that's at least one relevant use off the top of my head that never goes obsolete. The DC bonus is a great alternative if you can't make use of the CL bonus, at any rate.
Lots of things get some benefit for any amount of caster level boost. Many durations are not capped, and even if you want an example of a damaging spell, how about Battering Blast -- while the damage per force ball is capped rather low, the number of force balls is not capped, and the effective Base Attack Bonus (for CMB) is not caooed.
Besides, Spell Resistance will come into play a lot unless you specifically avoid spells that allow Spell Resistance.
It doesn't often matter whether your buff lasts 20 rounds/minutes or 25 though, UAE. Battering blast is very sensitive to CL but it has none of the relevant descriptors for an aeromancer. SR is an issue, and this is one more way to pump it but there's others - more so than for spell DCs.
e.g. for SR - piercing spell by feat or metamagic rod, +5 to beat SR. Dweomer's essence, ditto. Sure casting spell, yet another means of getting +5.
It doesn't often matter whether your buff lasts 20 rounds/minutes or 25 though, UAE. Battering blast is very sensitive to CL but it has none of the relevant descriptors for an aeromancer. {. . .}
Oops -- forgot about the required descriptors for Aeromancer to boost. Well, here are some (not an exhaustive list) that I didn't see above that have the right descriptors and that can usefully be boosted over level 20 (in some cases needing Intensified Spell): Icy Prison has no cap on the thickness of its ice (or the associated DC for a creature's Strength DC to break it, or the associated small but ongoing damage and duration), and the Mass version of it has no cap on the number of creatures affected; Polar Ray maxes out at caster level 25 (30 with Intensified Spell); Stormbolts maxes out at caster level 20 (25 with Intensified Spell).
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Reviews of the Slayer archetypes lacking one.
Power -1, Versatility +1
You lose the Studied Target class feature for the ability to make shadow doubles. There's no limit on how often you can use the ability, but in return it's heavily restricted. As the shadows use your Touch AC, disappear when taking any damage, doesn't move automatically, and can't move more than 50 ft away from you, I'd recommend an archer for this archetype.
It's first at level 10 the shadows gain offensive capabilities, when you gain the ability to divide your actions between them and yourself. This includes making separate individual attacks spread out between all of them. So one use would be to have your shadows make full-attacks with bows while you're using Stealth nearby. You also get See Invisibility as a swift action ability.
Avalancher
Power -1, Versatility -1
Imagine you could only trigger the Studied Target class feature by falling, and that it no longer gave social skill bonuses. Who would ever want that?
Bloody Jake
Power -2, Versatility -1
It's a murderous redneck archetype that locks you to a certain favored terrain.
You get a delayed version of Studied Target, lose more than half of your Slayer Talents, and you're also Charisma-based.
Butterfly Blade
Power -1, Versatility 0
You lose your Sneak Attack, gain the Brawler's Knockout ability, and some small buffs while using Butterfly Swords.
Covenbane [Dip]
Power 0, Versatility +1
You get supernatural scars that throb when pesky spellcasters are using magic to hide themselves near you.
While you trade your 2nd-level Slayer Talent for the ability of applying Studied Target to groups of "magically linked creatures", the other abilities are well worth it. You also disrupt enemies to the point that teamwork feats and coven abilities stop working for those you threaten.
Both the Hag Sense and Disrupt Coven abilities are given at first level, and the effects aren't based on your class level. If you're gonna fight a Hunter for example, one level here would cripple their teamwork.
Dune Rider
Power 0, Versatility -1
Your Studied Target feature is now terrain-based, and you gain a couple abilities that boosts mounted archer builds. Unfortunately you aren't given a mount, so you'd have to either spend three feats on a getting a Mount or Familiar to ride.
Family Hunter
Power -1, Versatility 0
If you're a serial killer hell-bent on wiping out a specific family, this is right up your alley. The downside is that your Sneak Attack becomes family-only, which means most of the time you'll be running around without it.
Guerrilla
Power -1, Versatility 0
Some minor boons to help you ambush foes. Not worth losing Quarry over.
Spawn Slayer [Dip]
Power +1, Versatility +1
You can attempt Combat Maneuvers against Studied Targets normally too large to affect, and the Studied Target bonus is greater against larger opponents.
The other two features are a CMB bonus, and the ability to kill the Tarrasque by removing its regeneration.
Spire Diver
Power 0, Versatility 0
You can ignore the normal penalty for using ranged weapons underwater against Studied Targets, and gain a swim speed at lv 11.
Spiritslayer
Power 0, Versatility +1
You can pick up most of the Blind-Fight tree in place of Slayer Talents, and gain some minor benefits in addition. If you were gonna take those feats, no reason to not take this archetype.
Toxic Sniper
Power -2, Versatility 0
It started out good by giving you the Gunsmithing and Amateur Gunslinger feats, then it just fell through when they decided to steal all your Slayer Talents and give you nothing valuable in return.
Never ever take this archetype.
Turncoat
Power 0, Versatility 0
You gain a scaling bonus to Sense Motive instead of Survival, and can use Bluff in place of Diplomacy. The ability replacing Quarry will not find much use in dungeon crawls, but for an intrigue game it's basically a confirmed critical hit.
Velvet Blade
Power -1, Versatility 0
Your Studied Target affects more social skills in place of the Attack/Damage bonus.
Witch Killer
Power -1, Versatility 0
You gain a short list of "anti-caster" themed rage powers to choose from instead of choosing Ranged Combat Style feats as Slayer Talents. This will hurt your offensive capabilities.
Woodland Sniper
Power 0, Versatility 0
You're better at moving in trees, and your Sneak Attack only works with ranged weapons. But you get a bunch of the "Deadly Range" Slayer Talents for free, so it might be something to consider if you were gonna be ranged anyways.
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Gotta say that Covenbane may be the archetype with the edgiest potential I've ever seen. Just look at this!
1) You were tortured as a child by a witch coven
2) You were taken in by a church and taught "deadly arts"
3) Your (Supernatural) scars ache in the presence of deceitful magic
4) You're such a lone wolf that even your mere presence can disrupt the teamwork of your enemies
The huge +7 CL boost of Aeromancer is awesome for hitting the CL limit 2-4 lvs earlier than any other class.
It's only +7 at level 20.
Level 1: +2
Level 3: +3 (assuming you take potent magic)
Level 5: +4
Level 10: +5
Level 15: +6
Level 20: +7
Scaling for DCs is:
Level 1: +2
Level 3: +3 (if you take potent magic)
Level 10: +4
@deuxhero
I'll write down Esquire as a +2/+2, and maybe add a note that if your GM won't allow Leadership then don't count on this archetype being available?
Power +1, Versatility 0
You lose Expert Trainer for a broader choice of Mounts, with some obvious upgrades such as the Tiger.
Circuit Judge
Power -1, Versatility 0
You lose your Tactician ability for skill bonuses in a specific region, and replace your Challenge for a small list of Inquisitor Judgments.
Constable [Dip]
Power -1, Versatility +1
If you want to valiantly charge the dragon and save the day, then this archetype isn't for you. It's focused on supporting your party, giving you two strong abilities to achieve that.
By level 3, you can activate the Tactician ability without requiring uses per day, while also increasing the duration to minutes/cavalier level. But the real game changer would be the Instant Order ability at level 11, which allows you to effectively give your standard action away to an ally. (It does Daze your ally, but there are ways around that condition, such as the Padma Blossom.) So then you could give the party spellcaster two standard actions per round, while you focus on combat styles that don't require standard actions.
Attack of Opportunity fishing, and taking a mount via Animal Ally and then Coordinated Charge are two such combat styles.
If you need a way to give your party a teamwork feat, three levels here might be your answer.
Courtly Knight
Power -1, Versatility 0
You trade the Tactician ability for some small benefits in social interactions.
Daring Champion
Power +1, Versatility +1
You gain much of the Swashbuckler's kit, notably Precise Strike and the lack of Opportune Parry and Riposte. Probably a better Swashbuckler than the Swashbuckler, but you do lose your Mount in return.
Keep in mind that Challenge with Precise Strike is twice your level as a bonus on damage rolls.
Daring General
Power +2, Versatility +2
You gain a modified version of the Leadership feat, and lose the three bonus combat feats in return. Don't expect the archetype to be available if Leadership is banned.
Disciple of the Pike
Power -1, Versatility 0
You get Weapon Training with one weapon group (Polearm or Spears), but not with any other. As you have no way to get Advanced Weapon Training options, it's not worth the cost of your Mount and Banner abilities.
Drakerider
Power -1, Versatility -1
You lose the Tactician, Expert Trainer, and Banner class features, while your choice of Order is heavily restricted. In return for all this, you gain a Drake Companion.
Unfortunately it just isn't worth it. The Drake Companion has notoriously slow size progression, meaning you can ride them first at level 13. Before that, its lack of offensive capabilities means it will be a liability in combat as you'll have to defend it.
Emissary
Power 0, Versatility 0
You gain a couple bonus feats you would probably have taken as a mounted character, and lose your Tactician/Banner abilities. If you don't want to bother with those class features, then this might be for you. You'll lose heavy armor proficiency, though.
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Power -1, Versatility 0
You gain a Constrictor Snake mount, and instead of an Order you get your choice from a short list of Vigilante Social Talents. In addition to this, you'll also get Combat Expertise as a bonus feat, and three bonus feats with Combat Expertise as a prerequisite.
Unfortunately the list of Social Talents you can take are mostly focused on Renown, which are the worst kind. The limitation on your Combat Feats also hurts, unless you have a mighty need for Combat Expertise feats.
Gallant
Power 0, Versatility 0
You must be a LG alignment and belong to your choice of four orders. Luckily Order of the Sword is one of them, so it probably won't make too big a difference. In return for those restrictions, you get a worse version of the Greater Banner ability.
Gendarme
Power 0, Versatility 0
You gain combat feats in place of your Tactician ability. If you want to come online two levels earlier then take this archetype.
Ghost Rider
Power -1, Versatility 0
Your mount is now a phantom steed functioning as the Spiritualist's Phantom Companion. The benefits are good, such as Full BAB/d10 hit dice and no need for Handle Animal checks. Your mount can also die and come back after a day, no problem.
But it loses the scaling Str/Dex bonus to instead give you a Dex/Cha bonus. You'll also miss out on the 4th/7th level advancement, and your mount does not gain any Emotional Focus abilities.
Other benefits are fear immunity at level three, and a gaze attack capable of paralyzing enemies.
Green Knight
Power -1, Versatility 0
No mount, no Tactician, no Banner, no Cavalier's Charge. You're also forced to take Order of the Green.
In return you gain Endurance/Diehard, bunch of defensive abilities with plant flavor, and a built-in Vorpal enchantment at level 17.
Herald Squire
Power -1, Versatility 0
The loss of the 2nd-level order ability hurts, especially since you're trading it for the Fast Movement class feature when you've got a Mount.
Honor Guard
Power 0, Versatility 0
You gain some abilities fulfilling the flavor of a defender, and don't lose anything class-defining. The level 11 Warding Charge ability can be a very useful tool to secure Full-Attacks, if you find a way to reliable trigger it.
Hooded Knight
Power 0, Versatility 0
Scaling damage reduction for your mount, and Dimension Door/Greater Teleport that can only be used to teleport you to roads. If you don't want the Tactician feature, check this archetype out.
Huntmaster
Power -1, Versatility 0
The archetype wants you to spend your effective druid level between multiple animal companions, which is a great way to make them all useless. The smartest way to use this archetype is probably to play a small race and only advance a single dog. Since it's explicitly stated that you can't affect your whole pack with Share Spells, that means you can take archetypes that trades away this feature, as you now have it.
Hussar
Power -1, Versatility 0
You and your mount can use each others skill modifiers for some physical skills. This costs you the Tactician ability and your bonus feats.
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Is Esquire actually better than a regular Cavalier with the Leadership feat? I mean, sure if you compare it to someone without the feat, +2/+2, but if a GM allows the archetype, he'll most likely also allow the feat, and full caster cohort is probably stronger than the stuff Esquire offers.
Argh, I meant the Daring General, not Esquire.
@Derklord
Yeah that's the problem with rating any archetype that gives an ability like Leadership. On their own, they're very good. But when you realize you could already have all that for just one feat, it becomes a waste of class features.
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@deuxhero
Dunno. I find dipping for one feat rather lackluster. Daring Champion, First Mother's Fang, and Green Knight should probably have a better Dip rating than Gendarme, as you pick up two bonus feats at level 1.
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Also, does precision damage multiply on a Spirited Charge Lance attack? I know extra damage dices aren't multiplied, but what about static precision such as Precise Strike?
Wondering if it would be worthwhile to build a str-based Daring Champion wielding an undersized lance.
It's more of a question of if you actually gain something from dipping into Gendarme specifically. A combat feat is nice, but as a character with the mount feature you'd probably find a good use for a teamwork feat anyway.
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I'm changing the scores of Ghost Rider from -1/0 to 0/+1, and Hooded Knight from 0/0 to 0/+1.
Gonna mention that your mount gains a fly speed as a ghost rider, too.
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Power 0, Versatility 0
You gain Shield Focus as a bonus feat, and may add your Shield Bonus to Touch AC, CMD, and saving throws vs Curse/Death effects. Unfortunately you don't get to count your enhancement bonus to your Shield Bonus for this purpose. It will max out at a +4 bonus, or +6 with a Tower Shield.
Luring Cavalier
Power +1, Versatility +1
Your Challenge feature applies the damage to ranged attacks, but you don't gain any Order benefit on your challenged foe. The Far Challenge ends if you get hit by a melee attack, and then instantly becomes the normal Challenge (benefitting from Order abilities). Do note that the Infuriating Aim ability does not allow any saving throw, so if you crit the wizard they will become so angry that they waste their turn.
This archetype is either for the switch hitter, or someone who knows how to keep themselves out of danger.
Musketeer
Power -1, Versatility 0
The archetype wants you to fight with firearms. Unfortunately you don't get Dex-to-Damage and apparently they forgot that the Challenge ability only affects melee attacks.
Musketeer stacks with Luring Cavalier though, so if you take both archetypes you get something playable and quite good.
Oceanrider
Power 0, Versatility 0
You get an underwater mount which is needed for such campaigns. But your GM should honestly just approve a Seahorse as a suitable mount instead of forcing you to take this archetype.
Qadiran Horselord
Power 0, Versatility 0
Favored Terrain: Desert, and the ability to deal double damage with any one-handed slashing weapon when mounted instead of just a Lance. If you weren't gonna take Spring-Attack then it's a downgrade.
Saurian Champion
Power -2, Versatility -1
You don't get an Order, Lance doesn't deal double damage on a charge, and your Challenge is gimped against most enemies you'll face. Your dinosaur does end up as Huge at level 10, but that's more often a disadvantage than advantage.
If you want to ride a dinosaur, take the Beast Rider archetype or the Beast Rider feat.
Sister-in-Arms
Power -1, Versatility +1
You gain the benefits/abilities of two Orders, Dragon and Lion, but deal half damage with Challenge and lose your mount. Definitely a team player, so rely on your party.
Spellscar Drifter
Power -2, Versatility +1
Amateur Gunslinger, Gunsmithing, Rapid Reload, and a steadily increasing list of available Gunslinger deeds. But as with the Musketeer archetype, they yet again forgot that Challenge doesn't apply to ranged attacks. Probably a +1 Power if you can convince your GM of designer intent.
Standard Bearer
Power -1, Versatility 0
You get the Banner ability at level 1 and Mount at level 5. From my understanding the Mount's level would be still be equal to your class level, so if you start at level 5 not much will change.
Strategist
Power 0, Versatility +1
The Tactician ability becomes more versatile, and you get the ability to move up to your speed as a Swift action at level 14.
Vermin Tamer
Power 0, Versatility 0
More choices of animal companions, some with interesting senses such as Tremorsense/Blindsense. Most would require a small sized rider, though.
Wave Rider
Power 0, Versatility 0
You get the Hippocampus as your mount.
Racial Archetypes
Charger (Centaur)
Power 0, Versatility 0
As you're a Centaur, you can now benefit from a Lance as if you were mounted when you charge. Don't think Spirited Charge would apply, though.
Fell Rider (Hobgoblin)
Power +1, Versatility 0
If you were gonna use the Overrun combat maneuver, this archetype is a good place to start.
Outrider/Qabarat Outrider (Lashunta)
Power 0, Versatility 0
Combat Expertise and the Imp/Greater/Strike feats for one maneuver as bonus feats. You also gain the ability to give them out to allies, but anyone that is going to be decent at those combat maneuvers would already have spent the resources to pick the feats up already.
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A bit disappointing that the two Firearm archetypes both forgot that Challenge doesn't apply to ranged attacks. Luckily one of them stacks with the Luring Cavalier archetype so it's playable.
Also, I'm gonna list what classes are in dire need of archetype reviews on the next page, so wait a bit before you post when we reach post 699.
Welp, I meant post 700, apparently.
Re Charger: I hope that's the intent, but there's no general statement that you treat your own charges as if you're mounted.