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The magic systems of Strange Magic 1 were enormous, modular spellcasting systems, the kinds that you could build five or six classes around without breaking much of a sweat. In contrast, Strange Magic 2 features magic systems with quirky mechanics that are very difficult to pry apart and present at a different angle.
Cartomancers are deckbuilding magic. Variations to the chassis include different ways to build decks and different cardlists. Unlike ethermagic, there's not too much wiggle room.
Herbalism is druidic "wild magic". Each morning, you find herbs based on the biome in which you find yourself and those are your spells. Unless you want to throw away 30 pages of tables and build a similar, but different, engine from the ground up, the wiggle room available for a new class is almost 0.
Onmyodo combines simple point pool magic with pets and the new talisman magic system. This behaves like a Strange Magic 1 magic system and a huge pile of new classes can be made within this chassis without breaking a sweat.
Given this, I intend to add a single new class to each of cartomancy and herbalism, while onmyodo will expand like ethermagic (2 new classes, 2 almost-a-new-class archetypes) or composition (3 new classes, 5 archetypes that multiple classes could use) did in Strange Magic 1.
As always, new archetypes will be produced in the heat of the moment. Anything that seems like "a good idea at the time" when in the design trenches will find its way into the book as an archetype, even the ones that could confuse some users. After all, archetypes are optional!
Cartomancy Expansion Content
The Deathdealer - New Deck
Deathdealers believe that the fate of all entities is to die, and that even those who are technically "immortal" will eventually fall to the ravages of time. At 1st level, all cartomancy classes will be given the option to embrace the classic cartomancy deck (conjuration/divination/enchantment/transmutation) or the new deathdealer deck (necromancy/necromancy/necromancy/necromancy). Barring fairly expensive feats that allow a card or two to slip into your pool, there is little no communication between the two decks, so this choice dictates your spell selection all the way to level 20.
The Huckster - A New Class for Advanced Cartomancy Players
The cartomancer plays with fate, but she always goes along with its dictates. The new huckster base class, on the other hand, treats fate as the ultimate conman, and, among conmen, a little friendly rivalry is the norm. Twisting readings and palming the cards to thwart fate's will, the huckster plays with multiple decks at once, and blatantly cheats by looking at cards before they're drawn, exchanging cards when fate's not looking, and otherwise making an ass of himself. It's strongly advised that you play a cartomancer for a few levels before you pick this guy up; cheating only really works when you know the rules.
Herbalism Expansion Content
Microcosms - Putting Biomes in your Biomes so you Can Herb While you Herb
No two caves are alike, and the new microcosm system respects this. Whenever your herbalism character is in an area with a special feature, such as a graveyard, a mutagenic crater, or farmland, you may apply that special microcosm's template to the parent biome's find herbs tables. For example, if you are picking herbs at a graveyard in the forest, roughly one-quarter of your herbs will be graveyard herbs, and three-quarters will be forest herbs, and if you are picking herbs at a magically-mutated pool in the swamp, one-quarter of your herbs will be mutated, and three-quarters will follow the standard wetlands list.
Note: Given the exponential increase in the number of tables needed if I wrote a table for each biome/microcosm combination, there will be a microcosm table, and starred entries on the biome table. If using a microcosm, you loot everything in the microcosm table and everything that is NOT starred on the biome table with each find herbs roll. While this does add slightly more bookkeeping, 60 pages of new tables seemed excessively unwieldy. This way, I won't say no to folks wanting to add a custom microcosm as a high-level backer reward (without charging an extra arm and a leg for all the tables I'd have to write).
Conservationist 2.0 - Because a Giant Man-Eating Plant Justifies a Full Base Class
The original conservationist archetype will be dismantled moving into Strange Magic 2. In its stead, the "giant man-eating plant on your back" class feature will be made into the iconic ability of a new martial herbalism class. This design is still in its early stages, but it should be a blast when it's done.
Onmyodo Expansion Content
Unlike the other magic systems in Strange Magic 2, onmyodo has so much room to grow (and can be torn apart and put back together without falling apart) that most every possible combination will be explored in some way, shape, or form. All of the following are under investigation.
• A martial onmyodo class with talisman magic, but no petitions, and no shikigami
• An onmyoji with a sentient antique rather than a shikigami; the antique chooses the onmyoji, though, and not the other way around (bonded object vs. familiar, in essence)
• An onmyoji with no talismans and no spirit points to use his own petitions, but two shikigami instead
• A nogitsune-themed onmyoji that adds the sinister flair that some folks have wanted since day 1
• An onmyoji variant (perhaps a new class) that enslaves the spirits of the land rather than work with them
• Theurge mashups with cartomancy and herbalism; think about it - it works!
The three base products are great, the Onmyoji being my favorite class in Pathfinder. Really happy to see this happening.
Thanks for the interest, fellas! My release schedule will be sputtering for awhile while this gets ramped up, but I intend to jump back into the normal release cadence once this is funded. It's just going to be a very long project with 100-page checkpoints to keep people happy.