Hello all, sorry for the noob question here. This feat states I keep a book similar to a wizard and I can add all my spells from my repertoire to this book. It goes on to say "during your daily preparations, choose any one spell from your book..." I didn't know a Bard had to prepare his spells? I thought he functioned like a Sorcerer did in PF1 where he can cast any spell in his repertoire (in this case his book)?
I think when you take the spell book option it means to access those spells you have to prepare them (if they're not in your repertoire) or that it makes it a signature spell if you already do.
So it adds a benefit if you take time to prepare, but I don't think it changes the whole of how your spell casting functions. It just adds a benefit if you do take time to prepare.
Edit: So it this case it seems they're using the phrase "daily preparations" as something everyone does.
That's not confusing at all.
This feat has a couple of important parts.
1)You keep a spell book with all your occult spells in it. This includes all your "repetoire" spells.
2)You can use the Occultism skill to learn occult spells. This means you can learn Occult spells that are not part of your normal spell "repertoire".
3) During daily preparations you can take any one spell in your book and add it to your repertoire. If this one of the spells already in your repertoire it becomes a signature spells, if it isn't then you treat as any other spell in your repertoire until you prepare spells again the next day.It has two powerful effects. One it gives you potential access to additional occult spells if you can hunt them down and learn them. Two it gives you one extra spell a day that you can cast.
Example, a 6th lvl bard with esoteric polymath would have 5 cantrips, 3- 1st level spells, 3- 2nd level spells, and 3 -3rd level spells in their repertoire. The bard could then choose any one spell that they learned (which they have scribed in their spell book) and add it to that repertoire, so they might have 4- 3rd level spells that they could cast, but still would only be able to cast 3- 3rd level spells a day.
It gives the bard a bit of flexibility in that you can choose a spell to add to your repertoire each day which might give you an advantage in situations you know you are going to face.
At least, this is my understanding of how this feat works.
Yes.
You choose one spell from your book every day.1. If you don't know the spell, now you do for the day.
2. If you do know the spell, it's now a Signature Spell for the day.
So even if you don't expand the book beyond what you know, you can still get flexibility out of it.
Example: If you expected lots of curses that day, you could make Remove Curse a Signature Spell so you can use your highest slots to cast it (and improve the odds of countering). That's typically not a spell you'd make a Signature Spell, I'd think, nor have at your highest levels yet it can be handy for that situation.
Ohh I see, so it's not as good as I thought. I originally thought you could learn as many spells as you wanted and put them in your spell book and then each day you had a choice of any 3 spells to cast for each level that you had access to in your book.
Ohh I see, so it's not as good as I thought. I originally thought you could learn as many spells as you wanted and put them in your spell book and then each day you had a choice of any 3 spells to cast for each level that you had access to in your book.
No, it's not that good. That would basically turn the bard into a prepared caster with the occult list.
However, the spontaneous nature of the class is why it gets a signature spell at each spell level.
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Note that Eclectic Polymath at level 12 does allow you to gradually (1 spell per day) revise your repertoire and shift it towards other spells in your book as you forget one and replace it. You just can't swap them all out every day.
Interesting, is this considered the best class feat at level 2? Or which one do you guys like more?
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It depends on what kind of character you want to build.
I built a Maestro bard and didn't pick up a second muse. I suppose I have less versatility in the long run, but how valuable it is...I'm not sure. Scrolls, staves, and wands can potentially fill that gap in my opinion.
Impossible polymath does expand your options to other spell lists, which maybe is a big deal. But it's an 18th level ability, and very few games reach that point, so I'm not terribly concerned about it.
Besides which, the things that you can do as a Maestro can be equally powerful and interesting, IMO.
It depends on what kind of character you want to build.
I built a Maestro bard and didn't pick up a second muse. I suppose I have less versatility in the long run, but how valuable it is...I'm not sure. Scrolls, staves, and wands can potentially fill that gap in my opinion.
Impossible polymath does expand your options to other spell lists, which maybe is a big deal. But it's an 18th level ability, and very few games reach that point, so I'm not terribly concerned about it.
Besides which, the things that you can do as a Maestro can be equally powerful and interesting, IMO.
Interesting, if you don't mind what did your build look like?
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Interesting, if you don't mind what did your build look like?It depends on what kind of character you want to build.
I built a Maestro bard and didn't pick up a second muse. I suppose I have less versatility in the long run, but how valuable it is...I'm not sure. Scrolls, staves, and wands can potentially fill that gap in my opinion.
Impossible polymath does expand your options to other spell lists, which maybe is a big deal. But it's an 18th level ability, and very few games reach that point, so I'm not terribly concerned about it.
Besides which, the things that you can do as a Maestro can be equally powerful and interesting, IMO.
It's not complete and i'm not even sure it's good. Just something I was fooling around with based on an idea I had.
Ak Tor
Male goblin bard 20 Core Rulebook 386, 386, 386
Common, CG, Small, Goblin, Humanoid
Perception +26; darkvision
Languages Common, Gnomish, Goblin
Skills Acrobatics +27, Arcana +26, Deception +37 (+39 vs a target that failed to Lie to you or you successfully used the Seek action against.), Diplomacy +37 (+39 vs a target that failed to Lie to you or you successfully used the Seek action against., When you Request something, you treat a critical failure as a failure.), Intimidation +29 (+31 vs a target that failed to Lie to you or you successfully used the Seek action against.), Medicine +22, Occultism +26, Performance +35 (+37 vs a target that failed to Lie to you or you successfully used the Seek action against., +37 when making a performance of type Acting., +37 when acting, orating, performing comedy, or singing.), Religion +22, Society +26, Stealth +27, Theater Lore +26
Str 16 (+3), Dex 20 (+5), Con 18 (+4), Int 18 (+4), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 24 (+7)
Other Items +3 major resilient leather armor, +2 greater striking rapier, dagger, mentalist’s staff, major, sling (20 sling bullets), staff of enchantment, greater, backpack, [i]bag of holding II[/i], bandolier, bedroll, belt pouch, belt pouch, chalks (10), [i]circlet of persuasion[/i], clothing, fine, clothing, high-fashion fine, clothing, ordinary, coins (worth 206,000 cr, 1 bulk), flint and steel, [i]hat of disguise, greater[/i], material component pouch, mirror, musical instrument, handheld virtuoso, pack animal, [i]persona mask, greater[/i], rations (1 week)s (2), religious text, rope (foot)s (50), sheath, signal whistle, soap, tent, pup, torchs (5), [i]traveler’s any-tool[/i], waterskin, writing set, coins (worth 206,000 cr, 1 bulk), purse (91 gp; 5 sp; 2 cp)
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AC 42; Fort +31; Ref +30; Will +31 (When you succeed at a saving throw, treat the outcome as a critical success.); +4 vs a spell you had Critical Success in identifying., +5 vs afflictions and sickened condition, but only if it resulted from something you ate.
HP 246 Focus Points 3 Hero Points 1
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Speed 25 feet
Melee [1] +2 greater striking rapier +31 (deadly d8, disarm, finesse), Damage 3d6+5 piercing
Melee [1] dagger +29 (agile, finesse, thrown 10 ft., versatile S), Damage 1d4+5 piercing/slashing
Melee [1] mentalist’s staff, major +27 (two-hand d8, divination, magical,staff), Damage 1d4+5 bludgeoning
Melee [1] staff of enchantment, greater +27 (two-hand d8, enchantment, magical,staff), Damage 1d4+5 bludgeoning
Ranged [1] dagger +29 (agile, finesse, thrown 10 ft., versatile S), Damage 1d4+5 piercing/slashing
Ranged [1] sling +29 (propulsive, range increment 50 feet, reload 1), Damage 1d6+3 bludgeoning
Occult Bard Occult Spellcasting DC 17; 9th (3 slots) unfathomable song, weird 5th (3 slots) synesthesia 1st (3 slots) soothe Cantrips (10th) detect magic, mage hand, prestidigitation, read aura, sigil
Feats Allegro, Charming Liar, Confabulator, Effortless Concentration, Eternal Composition, Expeditious Search, Fascinating Performance, Glad-hand, Goblin Scuttle, Goblin Song, Group Impression, Harmonize, Inspirational Focus, Inspire Competence, Inspire Defense, Inspire Heroics, Legendary Negotiation, Legendary Performer, Lengthy Diversion, Lie To Me, Lingering Composition, Melodious Spell, Quick Disguise, Recognize Spell, Shameless Request, Skittering Scuttle, Slippery Secrets, Symphony Of The Muse, Untrained Improvisation, Very Sneaky, Very, Very Sneaky, Virtuosic Performer
Other Abilities greater resolve, irongut goblin, resolve, signature spells
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Born in the sewers below Absalom, Ak scavenged the streets of the great city to survive. He learned to be diplomatic and deceptive to avoid the wrath of the longshanks. Eventually he discovered that by acting a buffoon he could make money to survive. He started with simple buffoonery, but a cleric of Shelyn discovered him and encouraged him to develop his artistic talent further. He got into puppetry and become renowned as a children's entertainer. Eventually he was so popular and successful he got into serious acting.Ak uses hat of disguise to disguise self as a gnome in new cities. Ak had lots of bad experiences growing up as a goblin in a humans world, but the kindness of the cleric of Shelyn taught him to work through these difficulties and try to win over people. Still he is cautious in new places and slow to reveal he's a goblin.
He's famous for his portrayal of the puppet "Pork Chop" (think Lamb Chop) and well as he's performance of King Lear (whatever the Golarion equivalent is).
Alto sax for playing Careless Whisper.
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If a sorcerer picks this feat up with MC, does it work with the sorcerer's repertoire, or only with the Bard MC spell repertoire?
The two staves we're for flexibility across days.
As for why not using shift? I didn't think of it. I also don't really intend to use a weapon very often.
The daggers are just because they come with the class kit.
As I said, it's not completely thought out.
Sorcerers have their own version of the feat, and generally don't need to poach the bard's feat to have a similar effect. (Though I suppose they could try doubling up.)
Add all the spells in your repertoire to this book for free. You can use the Occultism skill to Learn Spells (page 238) and add them to your spellbook by paying the appropriate cost, similar to a wizard.
When it says add spells in my repertoire for free it means going forward as well right?
If yes what happens if I use the Swapping Spells in Your Repertoire option? So for example at level 5 I learn 2 level 3 spells and put them in my book. At level 6 I decide to switch one of them for a different one then add a new spell into my repertoire from leveling. Does my book now contain 4 level 3 spells?
In order to learn a new spell to add to my spell book for esoteric Polymath, would I basically need to pay the price of a scroll and attempt to learn it? Otherwise I couldn't add it to my book? Basically does the spell dissapear from my book the next day if I want to add a different spell the next day?
I'm only Trained in Occultism with no positive modifier in INT. If I fail the check (which is likely) I can't get again till the next level? How can I near guarantee my success? Seems like a low chance of success, trying to learn an uncommon 3rd level spell at level 5.
Hmm, ugh, how much higher would the DC be on the third level spell since the spell is uncommon?
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Hmm, ugh, how much higher would the DC be on the third level spell since the spell is uncommon?
DC would be 22.
If I had a spell already in my repertoire could I use Esoteric to automatically make it a Signature without having to "learn a spell" for the higher level versions of it?
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Yes.
During your daily preparations, choose any one spell from your book of occult spells. If that spell is already in your spell repertoire, you can treat it as an additional signature spell that day.
If the spell isn't in my book already but I just leveled up, could I add it as my Esoteric Polymath spell or do I still need to find/buy the scroll and at it to my spell book first?
I think Esoteric Polymath is better as your second muse, while Maestro is better as your core muse.