Here's what I've got for the Medium in my house rules. I really like the flavor of this class and I think it can be good, but it needs some work. Thoughts?
Spellcasting
Spell casting progression like the bard/mesmerist/spiritualist. Use spiritualist spell list for lvl 5 and 6. If a spell shows up on both the Medium and the spiritualist spell list at different levels, you get it at the earlier level.
If the Medium's other abilities were comparable to the bard's spell progression their spell progression would be okay, but they simply don't.
Spirit Surge
The dice size increases to 1d8 at lvl 5, 1d10 at level 10, 2d6 at level 15, and 2d8 at level 20.
An extra 1d6 doesn't cut it when you get to mid-levels and above. The escalation of the dice matches the Warpriest's sacred weapon damage dice.
Favored Locations
Favored locations are not required to channel the spirit you want. However, if you do channel a spirit in their Favored Location, the Spirit Bonus increases by 1.
I like the idea of favored locations, but not the requirement for them. Sure, most DM's will be loose with this requirement, but that's not really a solution to the problem.
Archmage Arcana
Spell Focus of your choice for free while channeling the Archmage. The type of Spell Focus you have can be different every time you channel the Archmage. At level 10, you also get Greater Spell Focus in the same school of magic.
Also, for each level of spell you can now cast (including level 0), each time you channel an archmage spirit, select a single spell of that level from the sorcerer/wizard spell list to add to your medium spell list and spells known until you lose contact with the archmage. When you cast these spells, they count as arcane (though not for the purpose of fulfilling prerequisites), and thus you must provide verbal and somatic components instead of thought and emotion components.
Changed this, since the Medium now has the bard's spell progression.
Divine Surge
You can touch yourself or an ally as a move action to relieve the following conditions: fatigued, shaken, or sickened. At level 5 you can also relieve dazed, diseased, or staggered. At level 10 you can relieve cursed, exhausted, frightened, nauseated, or poisoned. At level 15 you can relieve blindness, deafness, paralysis, or stunned. You can do this an amount of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier.
Also, for each level of spell you can now cast (including level 0), each time you channel a hierophant spirit, select a single spell of that level from the cleric/oracle spell list to add to your medium spell list and spells known until you lose contact with the archmage. When you cast these spells, they count as divine (though not for the purpose of fulfilling prerequisites), and thus you need a divine focus if the spell requires one.
The first part is similar to the paladin's mercies. I feel like being in a position to relieve these conditions is uncommon enough to be on par with a well chosen Spell Focus, though I'm not 100% sure.
How about a Harrow Medium while we're at it?
Also, having class abilities that are more than "you can cast this spell which was never really that useful to begin with".
Spirits/legends/vestiges that aren't unimaginative crap would be good.
The class is obviously intended to be the Pathfinder Binder, and it fails SPECTACULARLY. The Kineticist is bad enough at being Pathfinder's answer to the Warlock, but the Medium is even worse.
More/better spirits is definitely a good idea, though I think the mythic path spirits are supposed to be generic enough for the player to define more thoroughly.
How about a Harrow Medium while we're at it?
Also, having class abilities that are more than "you can cast this spell which was never really that useful to begin with".
Going back to the Harrow spirits is definitely not a bad idea, as long as the player has a good understanding of the spirits they'll use each session.
For the class abilities, are you referring to the stuff like Haunt Channeler and Ask the Spirits? I don't think those are bad and they certainly fit the flavor of the Medium. What do you suggest for new abilities? Something like the Occult, Ancestor, Bones, and Juju mystery revelations?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracl e-mysteries/occult
For the class abilities, are you referring to the stuff like Haunt Channeler and Ask the Spirits? I don't think those are bad and they certainly fit the flavor of the Medium. What do you suggest for new abilities? Something like the Occult, Ancestor, Bones, and Juju mystery revelations?
I'd suggest using the abilities that the playtest Medium had that actually dealt with the action and class feature of channeling spirits and interacting with them, instead of class features that interact with spirits you aren't channeling and are incredibly situational unless the DM puts haunts or the need to talk to dead people in every session.
I know it's a faux pas to say this but I don't think the Medium needs fixing.
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Personally I think it just needs a feat or something to let it swap between spirits in the same day.
Make it take an hour or something so that the Spirit Dancer still has a niche, but let the character class built on flexibility have some.
Wizards have Fast Study for Desna's sake!
Personally I think it just needs a feat or something to let it swap between spirits in the same day.
Make it take an hour or something so that the Spirit Dancer still has a niche, but let the character class built on flexibility have some.
Wizards have Fast Study for Desna's sake!
Yes! I meant to include something like that, thank you for the reminder. How about this:
At level 7, you can decrease the amount of time it takes to hold a seance and channel a spirit from 1 hour to 10 minutes.
At level 7, you can decrease the amount of time it takes to hold a seance and channel a spirit from 1 hour to 10 minutes.
That doesn't let you perform a seance more than once every 24 hours.
That doesn't let you perform a seance more than once every 24 hours.
Right, thought that was implied, but it should be included.
Mediums are good martials. With Spirit Focus, Mediums channeling the Champion spirit are on-par with Fighters for damage. This guide has done the math and proves this. But unlike many martials, Mediums can also gain access to the all-important troubleshooting spells of both wizards and clerics during downtime. I think that increasing Spirit Focus by 1 and giving Mediums 6th level casting would make Champion users too strong.
I think people consider Mediums to be weak because they try to specialize in the usage of spirits other than Champion for general-purpose everyday adventuring. Maybe they expected it to be an updated version of the 3.5e Binder. Or maybe it's because people expect Mediums to be able to competently fit any of the classic roles that the party lacks in a pinch. The way the class is designed, none of this is the case. If you can accept that, then the Medium is a good martial character with moderate utility during adventures, and good flexibility and utility during non-adventuring days. You'll have to change quite a lot about the way the class is designed if you want it to be a competent 24/7 generalist or a 3.5e binder.
So, OmegaZ, what exactly do you want the Medium to do, role-wise? I'll be able to offer better suggestions once you answer that.
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Remove favored locations, give them 6+int skills/level and all the knowledges as class skills, then switch out the lesser powers of the guardian and champion. You can't build on impermanent proficiencies (despite what the Iconic does), and almost no one is going to spend money on armor/weapons that they can't always use efficiently. They'll want those skills if they want to be the trickster, especially since the trickster's edge only applies ('additional ranks') to skills with purchased ranks.
For guardian, replace their lesser power with their intermediate, then take their newly opened slot and give them a form of swift action lay on hands (like a paladin): that way they can protect others, take the damage, and still heal themselves.
For champion, replace their lesser power with weapon focus with auto-upgrades. At 6th give them weapon specialization; at 12th give them weapon focus greater. But only for the weapon they've chosen.
Then, look at fixing marshal and archmage. Channeling a lesser spirit or taking a taboo does nothing to aide their influence mongering as both only effect surges, not powers. Applying the effect of taboos and lower channeling cost may help, but will not be a permanent fix as it would prevent characters from using those spirits to their fullest potential.
Perhaps switch influence over to using 3+ charisma modifier as the maximum before possession, this would encourage a higher charisma– offering more incentive to actually invest in the caster stat, providing a slight scaling aspect, and encouraging charisma as 'force of personality.' Keep the influence penalty at the half-way, if possible: keep propitiation. Additionally, introduce a house feat to further increase the influence they can accrue; increased influence, permanently adds two (2) points of influence to the maximum a medium can take before becoming possessed.
Note that this could also be used by any Medium focusing on other spirits, but considering how little spirit surge adds (and how more surges can also be acquired), the fact that it still opens the Medium up to possession, and given that it's still limited: it shouldn't be that much of a problem, and it would immensely boost the abilities of the influence hungry spirits without overpowering them.
All that being said, testing a modified (and optimized) Medium before implementing these suggestions is a good idea. These suggestions are based on my observations playing a fairly optimized party role hole filling medium, and should be taken with a pinch of grave salt.
I know it's a faux pas to say this but I don't think the Medium needs fixing.
I've played more and I've come to backtrack on this.
Medium needs love.
I'd say LOCKING Spirits and making them additive.
For example, you get 1 Spirit at level 1. You must choose one, and you only have access to that.
At level 8, you get a 2 Spirits, simultaneously, but one Spirit grants only the Lesser Power, and the other up to your max.
At level 15, you get a 3 Spirits simultaneously, but one Spirit grants up to Intermediate, another up to Lesser and another up to max.
This reduces the paperwork, as you don't have many forms.
I'd say LOCKING Spirits and making them additive.
The problem there is that if you do that you completely get rid of any kind of "jack of all trades" aspect to the class. Actually, it sounds a lot like a Vigilante. You know, archetypes you choose from the start that you advance as you level up?
Yep.
That sounds pretty ridiculous. The strength of the Medium is that you can switch up your roles each day to fit the needs and circumstances of an adventure. Locking yourself into single spirit so you're always a crappy version of another class for most of your career defeats the entire point of the class.
As a Rider is a prepetitioner that can possess someone and use their full mental skills(spells, skills, feats, ect.) and becomes a medium if raised, giving them bard levels seems great.
I don't have the book yet. So using Bard with your adjustments seems good. Note that letting a Rider of a higher combined level in, will also give them control, and they tend to leave a mess for their host to clean up. Baron Samedi is such a partier I do not recommend calling him into a hostage situation.
Goth’s Freakshow..
Note that Riders can have other levels such as Poltergeist and Reaper.
If you add Letting in a Rider and have the player stat and then role play the rider, then you have something fun and useful.
I recommend one different spirit for each possession. A speak with dead one would of course only let one spirit talk thru the Medium, and probably a different one each time. Game balance should be applied like a line item veto.
Favored Locations: Only the beginning. You can contact a spirit through anything they touched, where the died, and any part of their mortal form. Even toenail clippings from their early childhood.
For guardian, replace their lesser power with their intermediate, then take their newly opened slot and give them a form of swift action lay on hands (like a paladin): that way they can protect others, take the damage, and still heal themselves.
Sorry, I forgot that the guardian's intermediate power is better than their greater power. Put the guardian's greater power in the position of the lesser power, add in limited lay on hands as the intermediate, and move the DR to the greater position.