
Merellin |
Out of the classes that can cast up to 4th or 6th level spells, What ones are your favorite?
I like such classes as they tend to be competent combatants, With magic, and often some other stuff too. My favorite of them, And the only one I tried so far.... Is the Alchemist. I absolutely love them, But want to try more 6th level and 4th level casters. So tell us, Who do you like best of the classes with 4th or 6th level casting?

David knott 242 |
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I rather like the Medium, especially the Spirit Dancer and related archetypes. It has only a limited selection of Medium spells (as it is a 4 spell level class with cantrips), but each day gets to select a useful combinations of cleric and sorcerer/wizard spells.

Chell Raighn |

So far from my experience in play...
Bloodrager: is really more of a powerhouse martial with some minor spellcasting for added utility...
Magus: perfect blend of martial and caster, literally no other class comes close to them in blending both martial combat and spellcasting.
Occultist: in stark contrast to the bloodrager, the occultist feels more like a full caster with some martial capability to bolster its survival.
Bard: I often forget that Bards can be competent martial combatants...
Ranger: same exact boat as the Bloodrager... it’s easy to forget that they even have spells sometimes.
Paladin: every Paladin I have ever played with seems to forget that spells are a thing until it comes to healing and they don’t want to waste their lay on hands or channel energy charges... Or when we enter a cave and they are the only one without dark vision so they of course immediately cast daylight...
Eldritch Scoundrel Rogue: Illusions are love, Illusions are life, and your coin purse is mine. In all seriousness 6th level spellcasting on a rogue is just amazing... vanish to move into position them immediately sneak attack from stealth, greater invisibility for several rounds of uninterrupted sneak attack goodness, dimension door across the room, magical assistance on pickpocketing and lock picking... what is not to love?
Medium: feels a bit lacking... 3/4 BaB and 4th level casting... sure it gets zero level spells unlike most 4th level casters... but usually 4th level spellcasting is meant to offset having a full BaB... the class doesn’t really provide anything spectacular to make up the difference in my experience... though the spirits can be rather fun...
Alchemist: I have a serious love-hate relationship with this class... overall the class is amazing and most of the archetypes are incredibly flavorful allowing for a myriad of different play styles... but when it comes to their “spells”... there is a lot left to be desired... so few extracts per day... only learn 1 new extract per class level... it just feels far too limited... then there is the fact that unless you take the infusion discovery you can’t even share your extracts with allies outside of certain archetypes...

Chell Raighn |

The inquisitor is a very strong option, with too many archetypes that overshadow other classes, including the summoner.
I built a character for a campaign that I haven’t got to use yet using the Inquisitor class... that is pretty much the Hunter class but better... effectively getting all the features of the Hunter class keeping the strongest of the inquisitor class features, and even getting a domain to boot... so... yeah... it definitely has archetypes that overshadow other classes...

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Bard and Summoner have been my favorites so far.
I suspect I'd enjoy the Inquisitor and Spiritualist as well, but I haven't played either yet.
I want to try out that celestial Bloodrager, as well, but generally don't care for 4 level caster classes (preferring Paladin and Ranger archetypes that swap out spellcasting for something more on-theme).

David knott 242 |

Medium: feels a bit lacking... 3/4 BaB and 4th level casting... sure it gets zero level spells unlike most 4th level casters... but usually 4th level spellcasting is meant to offset having a full BaB... the class doesn’t really provide anything spectacular to make up the difference in my experience... though the spirits can be rather fun...
The spirits are what make all of the difference. A Medium channeling the Champion spirit basically functions as a full BAB warrior, while one who is channeling the Archmage or Hierophant is a 6 level caster.
And a Medium with the Spirit Dancer or similar archetype can do both in one day if they don't waste too much time doing so.

Zwordsman |
I've never played a 4th level caster. Not really truly anyway.
as for 6th.
Gunchemist Alchemist, or, Talismancrafter Occultist
The former is just a ton of fun, visually cool, and lets me recreate some Magic Bullet style characters (Outlaw Star for one).
The latter is just mechanically interesting. Able to use touch stuff at range, hand out spells to their allies, or summons/minion entities. It plays narritively interesting to me. Also is the best representation in offical content of a "Onmyouji" from pop culture.
If I had to choose between the two.. Not sure actually. I've had more time with the Gunchemist than the Talisman Crafter. Would depend on the ga me.
Gunchemist is great ranged damage.
Talisman Crafter is great support.
I haven't figured out what to do with talisman crafter when not using a spell. Weapons feel a bit muted on them.

UnArcaneElection |

4/9 casters
Best of both concept and chassis: Bloodrager (although the Bloodline Feats could use some tweaking, and the failure of the Bloodrager Bloodlines to match up consistently with the Sorcerer Bloodlines is a real head-scratcher).
Great concept, but chassis really falls flat: Medium -- the whole thing just seems largely unworkable unless you just go mainly Champion and then use the other Spirits occasionally as needed.
Great chassis, but the concept is problematic: Paladin -- aside from the alignment issues (which have been beaten so many times that they have become Undead horses), what religion in their right mind is going to let some random person off the street directly turn into a Holy Warrio? Seems like asking for a lot of falls . . . .
Worst of the worst: Child of Acavna and Amaznen Fighter.
Still wanted: Backcross hybrid of Myrmidarch Magus with Fighter, but done right, and that pretends that Child of Acavna and Amaznen Fighter was a bad dream(*) that didn't really happen.
(*)Not exactly a nightmare -- more tha kind of dream that I often have that something really nasty happened to the bathroom and I'm the one that has to clean it up . . . .
6/9 casters
Best of both concept and chassis: Magus (although judging by the mini-guides that have had to be written to explain Spell Combat and Spellstrike, the text could really use a clarity rewrite).
Honorable mention: Alchemist/Investigator.
Great concept, but the chassis is problematic: Summoner.
Great chassis, but the concept is problematic: Inquisitor -- what religion in their right mind is going to let some random person off the street directly turn into an above-the-law, behind-the-scenes Troubleshooter? Seems like asking for an awful lot of Heretics, or a Heretic takeover . . . .
Worst of the Worst: Greensting Slayer Magus? Although I might be forgetting some other really bad archetype.
Still wanted: Rage Prophet Base Class.

baggageboy |

The reason I like the old version is you use the medium spell profession so you start with spells from level 1 and that you have both the bloodrager list, plus the druid list (up to level 4) on your spell list so you can use wands of cure spells and all sorts of awesome fun stuff. The new version neutered the archetype hard

MrCharisma |

Paladin -- ... what religion in their right mind is going to let some random person off the street directly turn into a Holy Warrio?
...
Inquisitor -- what religion in their right mind is going to let some random person off the street directly turn into an above-the-law, behind-the-scenes Troubleshooter?
Great list, I like the detail you've gone into, but I think there's a misunderstanding about how one becomes a Paladin/Inquisitor.
A lot of this is left to the flavour of the Player/GM - so they don't spell it out in a rules fashion - but it's not usually assumed that anyone can just choose to be a Paladin and suddenly get divine power.
Inquisitors probably are problematic, but that's an intentional part of their flavour.

ShroudedInLight |

Easy Bloodrager for 4th level casters, they're a ton of fun no matter what level you are playing at. Barbarians in the early game, able to self-buff as the game goes forward freeing up your other casters to do important things.
6th is easily the Hunter which is also my favorite class in the game. With Hunters and Slayers in existence the Ranger class is entirely obsolete. Slayers are better executioners of hated foes without worrying about specializing into bugaboos and only encountering weeble-wobbles while Hunters are the single best pet class in the game. They make a much better "man and his ostrich" adventurers than any old ranger can hope to match. Plus, Hunters get both the Druid and Ranger spell list while taking any spell that appears on both lists at its lowest level. That is very powerful as the Ranger cheats a bunch of spells onto its list at low levels.
Heck, Invoke Deity is a favorite Hunter spell of mine if you have money to burn. By 10th level, you should.

UnArcaneElection |

UnArcaneElection wrote:Paladin -- ... what religion in their right mind is going to let some random person off the street directly turn into a Holy Warrio?
...
Inquisitor -- what religion in their right mind is going to let some random person off the street directly turn into an above-the-law, behind-the-scenes Troubleshooter?
Great list, I like the detail you've gone into, but I think there's a misunderstanding about how one becomes a Paladin/Inquisitor.
A lot of this is left to the flavour of the Player/GM - so they don't spell it out in a rules fashion - but it's not usually assumed that anyone can just choose to be a Paladin and suddenly get divine power.
Inquisitors probably are problematic, but that's an intentional part of their flavour.
I wish Pathfinder 1st Edition had gone with an updated version of the Prestige Paladin from AD&D 3.5 Unearthed Arcana (Kirthfinder actually did this), and then done the same thing for Inquisitor.