Arcanists in Second Edition

[Ed Reppert]

I'm thinking it should be possible to approximate a first edition Arcanist in second edition. First question that jumps out at me is "which would be better: wizard with a sorcerer dedication, or the other way round?" I'm currently working with the former approach, but I wonder what other people think.

[Kyrone]

Wizard with a staff.

[Ed Reppert]

Hm.

Enora, at first level, has a wand of mage armor with five charges. So I gave her that wand (but not with five charges, of course). At fourth level, she also has a wand of CLW and a staff of minor arcana (which is not a thing in PF2E). I'm thinking of a staff of abjuration for her, but it's 6th level, so would have to wait a while. Instead of wands of CLW I went with trained in Medicine. And yes, at first level she has a (mundane) staff. And of course, she wouldn't get Sorcerer Dedication until second level (or maybe later).

Note: Enora's 1E stats are based on a set of "Iconics" files for HeroLab I found somewhere around here.

[Temperans]

I feel Arcanists are something like:

Prepared Spellcaster with spontaneous casting.
Can only cast spells from the slot they are prepared in, unless it's a signature spell.

One of their main features is being able to refocus (or substitute spending focus) in combat by spending spell slots.

Their feats would have lots of different focus spells and abilities: Blasts, Shapeshifting/Illusions, "Primal/Wild/Random" magic events, Magic item manipulation, Variable Metamagic, etc. Many of the Arcanist Exploits work really well needing only minor adjustments.

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Now for using just the current classes. Wizard with Arcane Sorcerer dedication is definetly the closest. Or at least the closest to a School Savant/Blood Arcanist.

Going Wizard with Primal or Divine Sorcerer dedication and Maangambyan dedication would sort of work for Maangambyan Initiate.

White Mage Arcanist probably uses a healing staff (until a similar ability is made).

[Barnabas Eckleworth III]

I wouldn't even try this with current classes.
Like Temperans said, they were prepared casters with spontaneous casting. So, I'd start there. And give them abilities in line of the same power structure as what other casters get (metamagic feat choices, and something in place of wizards' school abilities and bonded item and sorcerers' bloodline abilities).

[Old_Man_Robot]

Halcyon Speaker is the best option open to you at present.

So far its the most dynamic way to capture the spirit of the Arcanist, without all that spell point stuff.

[Ed Reppert]

Hm. I hadn't thought of that one. Thanks!

[Alchemic_Genius]

Halcyon Speaker is a solid way to go. I'd also consider the spell substitution thesis. Not a perfect substitute for prepared spontaneous casting, but not the worst. OG arcanist also had a similar power anyways

[Isiah.AT]

I was brainstorming a custom faction that is based around Sorcerers and giving them a focus power that lets them substitute a spell from a spell book. This is similar to the Wizard arcane thesis spell substitution and lends more weight to said ability in the lore.

In essence this focus power lets them reformat their pattern (Mage the awakening reference) so they can change the types of spells they can cast.