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Technically most spontaneous casters would be self taught, but really anyone could be self-taught. Oracles are suddenly cursed and given power, so they have to learn their magic themselves.
Sorcerers are born with their magic, even if their family doesn't have magic, often leaving them to learn it themselves.
Bloodragers are similar, except the 'magic' bit is weaker than a sorcerer.
Magical Child Vigilante has their magic instilled through a familiar bond that they might not be familiar with.
Psychics could just gain their powers one day.
Spiritualist could just become a patron to a wandering spirit one day.
Summoner could have accidentally formed a pact with an eidolon and that's where they develop their magic from.
All in all "self-taught" could just be spells chosen at early levels to be 'quality of life' spells. Wizard studies magic such as Preserve to keep their food fresh. Ears of the City to keep up to date with current events without having to go outside. Unseen Servant to help with basic chores like sweeping or dusting. Etc.
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Technically most spontaneous casters would be self taught, but really anyone could be self-taught. Oracles are suddenly cursed and given power, so they have to learn their magic themselves.
Sorcerers are born with their magic, even if their family doesn't have magic, often leaving them to learn it themselves.
Bloodragers are similar, except the 'magic' bit is weaker than a sorcerer.
Magical Child Vigilante has their magic instilled through a familiar bond that they might not be familiar with.
Psychics could just gain their powers one day.
Spiritualist could just become a patron to a wandering spirit one day.
Summoner could have accidentally formed a pact with an eidolon and that's where they develop their magic from.All in all "self-taught" could just be spells chosen at early levels to be 'quality of life' spells. Wizard studies magic such as Preserve to keep their food fresh. Ears of the City to keep up to date with current events without having to go outside. Unseen Servant to help with basic chores like sweeping or dusting. Etc.
Yeah but ive always looked at classes like wizard and arcanist as more formal training.
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How do you define self-taught? Are you talking about someone who has absolutely no training in magic whatsoever? Does learning from books without having a formal teacher count? How about someone with a small amount of formal training who had to learn the rest on their own?
You could have a Wizard who learned everything from books he found or inherited without having any formal instruction. I imagine the library of a Wizard contains a lot of books on magical theory and not just spell books. You could have a character whose father was a wizard that died when the character was an infant. The character could teach himself magic by reading his father’s books. The character could become a wizard without ever being formally trained. Admittedly this is going to be extremely rare.
Spontaneous casters may not even actually be able to how learn to do magic. Their magic could be something they are born with and need no training at all. Their choice of spells could be completely a matter of inheritance instead of training. They could be born knowing all their spells even if they don’t have the power to cast them. In this case would the spontaneous caster qualify as “self-taught”?
A psychic hasn't necessarily dealt with any power outside their own head, and may not have inherited magic of any kind. They'd be my top choice for self-taught.
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OCCULTIST. You learn 1 spell-school per Implement, so you're learning new schools of magic as you level up.
Also, I give that answer to every question, so you know ... =P
No particular spell list stands out as self-taught. Any of them could be, but any of them could be from formal education. Even spontaneous casters, although associated more with being self-taught or even instinctive, could potentially be formally trained (as well as the more common scenario of training themselves) to cast certain spells (think of them as doing exercises), while as others noted above, prepared casters could be self-taught from books they inherited or managed to acquire (including a Rogue managing to steal a spellbook and then become a Wizard and eventually an Arcane Trickster). Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Paladin, Shaman, and Witch stand out as least likely to be self-taught -- most Witches have a Patron training them (even though usually not in a formal education setting), and most of the others have some kind of faith hierarchy instructing them. (Still doesn't totally rule out an unusual self-taught practitioner, and certain archetypes within these do lend themselves to being self-taught.)
What has the spell list to do with "self taught"? I can see the mechanics of learning spells being relevant for that. I can see spell selection being relevant for that. But the spell list? Casters usually use under 10% of their spell list, why would it be relevant what the other 90%+ contain?
Yeah but ive always looked at classes like wizard and arcanist as more formal training.
Nothing in those classes require outside training. There isn't even a mechanic to learn from another person! Unlike for witches, by the way.
People often think that prepared casting means learning in a school and spontaneous casting means learning at home, but that's far from the truth. To quote the Sorc description, "these magic-touched souls endlessly indulge in and refine their mysterious abilities, gradually learning how to harness their birthright and coax forth ever greater arcane feats". This could just as well describe formal training.* People also often think that Wizards are inherently kinda lawful whereas Sorcs are inherently chaotic, but that's also not necessarily true, as the Sorc description further says "some seek to control their abilities through meditation and discipline".* This is again something that is actually easier to learn in formal training.
Just like you could totally play a Sorc as formal trained could you play a Wizard who's entirely self-taught. This could come in two flavors: Trial-and-error, and book-learning. The former could be someone who develops magical abilities, and writes down what to do to (re)produce magical effects, what hand gestures work best, and so on, in time creating a book with instructions to repeating their own best results. The latter would be someone learing from (a) book(s).
Classes with outside sources for their magic (Witch, any divine caster, Pact Wizard (both versions), etc.) can't be completely self-taught, but they can learn magic without another mortal teaching them. Indeed, it's very easy to roleplay them that way, as it's basically the default (although all of them also work for a 'formal training'-character).
*) A school of youngsters that have spontaneously developed strange unnatural powers? All it needs is for the headmaster to sit in a wheelchair!
Kineticist.
Kinda have an idea about magic, let's try some weird stuff
Kinda funny, because the show the class is entirely based on is all about the protagonist looking for masters to recieve formal training!