Magaambya Attendant spellcasting stat

[likrin]

Good morning Pathfinders,
I was looking at Halcyon Spells and Magaambya Attendant, I wanted some verification on the spell casting stat. It looks like all the Halcyon Spells are based on intelligence if you choose Arcane and Wisdom if you choose primal. So a Wizard would cast his arcane spells with Intelligence and Halcyon Spells with Wisdom or a Druid would do the opposite.

[Ascalaphus]

No, it's a bit different. This dedication is pretty clever, if by clever you mean have to read it ten times to get what they're after :P

We start out with Magaambya Attendant. You learn a single cantrip, from the arcane or primal list. Note that it doesn't say anywhere that this is a Halcyon spell.

If you pick the cantrip from the arcane list, then if you weren't already trained in arcane spellcasting, you become trained in arcane spellcasting with intelligence as key stat.

If you pick the cantrip from the primal list, then if you weren't already trained in primal spellcasting, you become trained in primal spellcasting with wisdom as key stat.

--- Example ---

So let's say that Bob is a sorcerer with an arcane bloodline. He takes Magaambya Attendant and has to pick a cantrip.

If Bob picks from the arcane list, then nothing changes to his spellcasting training, because he was already trained in arcane spellcasting.

If Bob picks from the primal list, then Bob also becomes trained in primal spellcasting based on wisdom, in addition to already having been trained in arcane spellcasting with charisma because he's a sorcerer.

Let's say Bob is very pretty but not so wise. But he picks Disrupt Undead, a spell sorcerers normally can't get. So he now has two different types of spellcasting trained.

--- Time passes, Bob levels up ---

Now he takes Halcyon Speaker. He gets to learn two Halcyon Cantrips and 2 level 1 Halcyon Spells, and gets a level 1 Halcyon Spell slot. He can cast Halcyon Spells using his arcane and primal spell slots. Bob is an arcane sorcerer so he only has arcane spell slots.

Now we flip back to page 100 to see how Halcyon Spells work.

Ok, picking Halcyon Spells is easy: they just have to come from the arcane or primal list. So Bob picks some primal spells, because he did this whole Magaambya thing to get into a different spell list. He picks Heal and Longstrider.

Okay, on to casting. It says: "Each time you cast a halcyon spell, decide whether it is an arcane or primal spell." Well, Bob is trained in arcane spells using Charisma, and primal spells using his (lower) Wisdom. So usually when Bob goes to cast spells, he's going to decide that it's an arcane spell so that he can use his Charisma.

So it's going to be pretty rare that you don't want to cast using your main school. Maybe that one time when you're playing a zany adventure in the court of the faerie king and he only allows primal magic. Haha says Bob, I can do that!

Most of the time, going Magaambya is basically a way for wizards, druids and sorcerers to do a bit better at multiclassing as the other because you get to use your main casting stat, but you do gain the spells at later levels.

---

So what was the whole point of Magaambyan Attendant giving you training in spellcasting? Well, Joe also went to the Magaambyan academy but he's a rogue so he doesn't have any spellcasting training yet. But in his freshman year he gets to pick which tradition of spellcasting works best for him.

Actually that's an interesting idea for a rogue: go heavy on the Wisdom (Perception junkie), take Magaambyan Attendant for a primal cantrip to get Wisdom based casting, then Magical Striker so you can sneak attack with cantrips, and then Halcyon Speaker to pick up some more arcane cantrips and utility spells as well. Magaambya Assassin: in theaters this spring!

[likrin]

Ascalaphus wrote:

No, it's a bit different. This dedication is pretty clever, if by clever you mean have to read it ten times to get what they're after :P

We start out with Magaambya Attendant. You learn a single cantrip, from the arcane or primal list. Note that it doesn't say anywhere that this is a Halcyon spell.

If you pick the cantrip from the arcane list, then if you weren't already trained in arcane spellcasting, you become trained in arcane spellcasting with intelligence as key stat.

If you pick the cantrip from the primal list, then if you weren't already trained in primal spellcasting, you become trained in primal spellcasting with wisdom as key stat.

--- Example ---

So let's say that Bob is a sorcerer with an arcane bloodline. He takes Magaambya Attendant and has to pick a cantrip.

If Bob picks from the arcane list, then nothing changes to his spellcasting training, because he was already trained in arcane spellcasting.

If Bob picks from the primal list, then Bob also becomes trained in primal spellcasting based on wisdom, in addition to already having been trained in arcane spellcasting with charisma because he's a sorcerer.

Let's say Bob is very pretty but not so wise. But he picks Disrupt Undead, a spell sorcerers normally can't get. So he now has two different types of spellcasting trained.

--- Time passes, Bob levels up ---

Now he takes Halcyon Speaker. He gets to learn two Halcyon Cantrips and 2 level 1 Halcyon Spells, and gets a level 1 Halcyon Spell slot. He can cast Halcyon Spells using his arcane and primal spell slots. Bob is an arcane sorcerer so he only has arcane spell slots.

Now we flip back to page 100 to see how Halcyon Spells work.

Ok, picking Halcyon Spells is easy: they just have to come from the arcane or primal list. So Bob picks some primal spells, because he did this whole Magaambya thing to get into a different spell list. He picks Heal and Longstrider.

Okay, on to casting. It says: "Each time you cast a halcyon spell, decide whether it is an arcane or...

This was the best way of explaining the archetype. Thank you!