Of all archetypes, I think the Occultist was hardest hit by the consume spells nerf. So I was thinking of asking my GM for a replacement ability for the 7th level ability. I have no delusions that my proposed ability is a "fair trade," I mean for it to make the class function more easily.
Your Conjurer's Focus ability costs 1 less point from her arcane reservoir. (Minimum 1 point)
I added the first half of the ability as more of a flavor thing, since I have fey heritage as the source of my sorcerer side and the feats are underwhelming normally. Although the flexibility to add any of the 3 may be stronger than I suspect. I also went through various iterations, like the Moonlight/Starlight/Sunlight being 1/day, but figured spending arcane points was more in line with what the arcanist usually does. I also thought of increasing the point reduction to 2 at level 15, but that's just asking for more gravy late game rather than helping the class function. The ability becomes free at level 20 anyway.
So what do you think? Interesting ability? More help than the class actually needs?
I would split it into 2 exploits (the template and the reduction), but I know little of balance. Also is this for an Arcanist or an Occultist?
It was meant to work directly with the Occultist's conjurer's focus ability. The true value of this ability is in the point reduction, but thought it would be cool if the ability was more than that. Also, the ability would still do something when you hit level 20. Not that level 20 really matters.
I also like that the ability doesn't come online until level 7; casting Summon Monster II at level 3 for one arcane point would be too strong, I think. But 3 points for SM4 seems fair, and 1 point for SM2 just isn't super relevant by that stage of the game.
As far as the Moonlight/Starlight/Sunlight Summons, I'd probably word that to allow you to ignore the "able to cast summon nature's ally" requirement for those feats, but limit you to applying the effects to Conjurer's Focus unless you met the normal prerequisites. I don't think the reservoir cost is necessary in this case, if you're spending the feat on it.
If you're looking for homebrew to improve the longevity of Conjurer's Focus, though, I'd probably go for an exploit like the following:
Greater Exploit: Greater Consumption (Ex)
The arcanist can use the consume spells class feature or the consume magic items exploit a number of times per day equal to twice her Charisma modifier (minimum 2).
As far as the Moonlight/Starlight/Sunlight Summons, I'd probably word that to allow you to ignore the "able to cast summon nature's ally" requirement for those feats, but limit you to applying the effects to Conjurer's Focus unless you met the normal prerequisites. I don't think the reservoir cost is necessary in this case, if you're spending the feat on it.
If you're looking for homebrew to improve the longevity of Conjurer's Focus, though, I'd probably go for an exploit like the following:
Greater Exploit: Greater Consumption (Ex)
The arcanist can use the consume spells class feature or the consume magic items exploit a number of times per day equal to twice her Charisma modifier (minimum 2).
That was the idea behind the ability; even if I met the prereq for those feats, they're simply not worth taking. Not only are there a lot of better feats, but you can even take Evolved Summon Monster as many times as you want, and I think it's always better than any of the "light" feats. So I thought this would be a cool way to make use of the subpar feats. Having access to all 3 allows when necessary allows you to flexibly deal with niche things that come up, like DR/Silver (Moonlight Summons) or an invisible enemies (Starlight Summons) Summoning can already work around these issues (Dire Bats for invisible enemies, spellcasting summons for DR) but it's nice to add options to your other creatures.
Greater Consumption would be nice, but doesn't kick in until level 11, which I find too late. Also seems weird to spend an Exploit to still not be as good as a pre-nerf arcanist.
Hrmm. How busted would it be to change the ability like so:
Your Conjurer's Focus ability costs 1 less point from her arcane reservoir. (Minimum 0 points)
It'd allow you to cast SM1 an unlimited number of times per day, although you could only ever have one active, and if you ever wanted to cast higher level summon with Conjurer's Focus, it would disappear. SM1 has no spells that can be abused... I don't know. Kicking in at level 7, I'm unsure if this ability would be broken or useless.
I sort of feel like the ability as a whole is probably a case of trying to "fix" a class/archetype that isn't really broken.
Yeah, the Consume Spells feature was nerfed, but it makes having a reasonably high Charisma a valid consideration for more Arcanists now. Pre-nerf, many Arcanist builds could reasonably ignore Charisma (and some still do). Regardless of the nerf, Arcanists (incl Occulist archetype ones) remain a powerful class. of course, before the nerf the Occultist archetype was crazy good, given they could basically swap any spell for an equivalent levelled Summon Monster spell.
So from my perspective, I think the ability operates as an unnecessary power boost overall (being, as you appear to recognize, markedly more 'powerful' than the 7th level Planar Contact ability it would replace).
Changing it so that you can basically freely use SMI an infinite number of times a day only worsens that problem, in my view. Though I don't believe it would be game breaking by any means (especially by 7th level), I can see how a creative player could abuse access to infinite low level summons. As 'trap detectors', for example.
But I guess realistically, if the GM allows the initially proposed change to boost the archetype, this modification probably isn't crazy, especially if you commit to using it responsibly :P
I sort of feel like the ability as a whole is probably a case of trying to "fix" a class/archetype that isn't really broken.
Yeah, the Consume Spells feature was nerfed, but it makes having a reasonably high Charisma a valid consideration for more Arcanists now. Pre-nerf, many Arcanist builds could reasonably ignore Charisma (and some still do). Regardless of the nerf, Arcanists (incl Occulist archetype ones) remain a powerful class. of course, before the nerf the Occultist archetype was crazy good, given they could basically swap any spell for an equivalent levelled Summon Monster spell.
So from my perspective, I think the ability operates as an unnecessary power boost overall (being, as you appear to recognize, markedly more 'powerful' than the 7th level Planar Contact ability it would replace).
Changing it so that you can basically freely use SMI an infinite number of times a day only worsens that problem, in my view. Though I don't believe it would be game breaking by any means (especially by 7th level), I can see how a creative player could abuse access to infinite low level summons. As 'trap detectors', for example.
But I guess realistically, if the GM allows the initially proposed change to boost the archetype, this modification probably isn't crazy, especially if you commit to using it responsibly :P
You're correct in spades, of course. The class was seamlessly powerful before, now it's merely awkwardly powerful. (You have to truly weigh the cost of using Potent Magic, Dimensional Slide, and Quick Study.) But hey, I like nice things and maybe my GM won't mind. I'll walk him through all the ways I can think of abusing the ability (like trap finding) and see if he's still okay with it.
Cool. Let's hope he goes for it! Good luck, and happy gaming!