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I’ve been looking at the Magaambyan Initiate (aka the Collegiate Initiate on the SRD) archetype of the Arcanist. This seems to be specifically designed as an entry point to the Magaambyan Arcanist prestige class, but I’m wondering how it stacks up on its own.
The archetype loses arcanist exploits at levels 1, 5, 9, and 17. The last of these is unlikely to matter in most campaigns. In exchange, you get:
Aura of Good - I don’t know that this does much of anything.
Spell Mastery - At level 5, you get the Spell Mastery feat. This is expanded upon if you take enough levels of the Magaambyan Arcanist prestige class. It won’t matter if you don’t go that route and your DM is not one to target spell books.
Halcyon Spell Lore - This gives you a druid or good cleric spell every level. They cost arcanist points (and use a spell slot) to cast. This essentially doubles your prepared spells per day.
Losing 4 of 10, and 3 of the first 5, exploits is harsh, but having the best druid spells added to your daily prepared skills seems powerful. Entangle and Barkskin for 1 arcanist point each? I’ll take it. I have not done the math, and am not sure if you will burn through arcanist points faster than spell slots. Also, Quick Study somewhat reduces the value of having more spells prepared. Still, on the whole it seems like an upgrade from the vanilla arcanist. Perhaps it is not as strong as the Occultist and School Savant archetypes.
What do you all think? What druid and good cleric spells would best complement the the wizard spell list?
Note that Aura of Good = you can use Sacred Summons to cast certain summon monster spells as a standard action.
As far as spells go - freedom of movement is nice to have, feather step being the lower level, weaker version. Control winds can be very impressive. I guess you could pick up a few cures (inc. conditions, not just cure x wounds) from the druid list too.
Dot.
Note that Aura of Good = you can use Sacred Summons to cast certain summon monster spells as a standard action.
As far as spells go - freedom of movement is nice to have, feather step being the lower level, weaker version. Control winds can be very impressive. I guess you could pick up a few cures (inc. conditions, not just cure x wounds) from the druid list too.
Thanks. I had thought that Sacred Summons omitted most monsters in Summon Monsters, because most don't list an alignment. I see now that all of those automatically take on your alignment, making them all eligible. That is a potentially huge benefit to this archetype.
EDIT: Or not? It is unclear to me if Sacred Summons applies to creatures that are given a celestial template.
Halcyon Spell Lore - This gives you a druid or good cleric spell every level. They cost arcanist points (and use a spell slot) to cast. This essentially doubles your prepared spells per day.
Just wanted to clarify that this doubles your prepared spells per day, not including cantrips.
You were right the very first time - you can get agathions with sacred summons, but the celestial template doesn't change or give subtypes. A feat on either expanded summon monster or summon good monster opens up more such options.
You were right the very first time - you can get agathions with sacred summons, but the celestial template doesn't change or give subtypes. A feat on either expanded summon monster or summon good monster opens up more such options.
Good info. I think that using this archetype with that kind of focus on summoning is an edge case. The Occultist archetype gives standard action summoning as a class ability.
Thinking more about Druid and Cleric spell selection, I think your suggestions are solid. Because you get just one/level, that they are always available, and one can be changed every four levels, it is important they scale well. Spells that give movement bonuses, remove conditions, get more powerful with leveling, and/or deal with environmental conditions all should be solid.
Interesting idea using the Unlettered Arcanist. I suspect it is not as powerful, but I like the flavor. I may give that a try with a Witchborn Changeling. I guess it is time to start comparing spell lists to find good Druid spells that are on the Wizard list but not on the Witch list.
I don't think the Occultist is that bad when comparing summoning costs. Yes, a summon costs arcane points equal to the summon monster spell level, but it does not burn a slot. With Consume Spells (and a high enough CHA), the Occultist can consume a slot before combat and cast Summon Monster with those points. The Magaambyan Initiate has to use a slot AND pay arcane points equal to half the spell level.
Still, SNA is a nice option for the MI.
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If you want a familiar badly then you want it to be doing stuff in combat. Which makes it a valid target. Which is a bad thing when it's your spellbook. No, I'm not a great fan of the basic witch.
Thinking about it this'd be my equivalent list of spells.
1: Cure light wounds, feather step (trade out for pass without trace later), speak with animals
2: Barkskin, lesser restoration
3: Plant growth, mass feather step
4: Freedom of movement, maybe get a 3rd level spell like remove disease?
5: Control winds, hallow
The sorc/wiz list is about the best for attack spells and one of the best for debuffs - I consciously avoided getting any via this class feature. Also you don't want to be spending arcane reservoir points just to cast attack spells, you want to be spending them to make them better. The weird druid spells are much more appealing.
After fiddling with some builds for a while, I think my original assessment was wrong. I do not think this is stronger than the vanilla Arcanist. I don't think it is bad, per se. A MI Arcanist is going to be able to fill the role of a 9 level caster, and possibly could be more useful in a group with no other access to Divine spells.
The MI trades exploits for extra versatility. The thing is that the Arcanist has Quick Study. I think you are better off keeping your exploits and just buying some extra spells that you can get at with QS.