Single school caster

[harbqll]

So lately I've been reading the Alex Verus books by Benedict Jacka, and they're making me want to explore a new character idea.

The main character in these books is a mage, in a modern setting, similar to Jim Butcher's Dresden files. But the way magic is organized in these books is that mages tend to be, if not one-trick ponies, then very focused.

The main character, for instance, is a diviner. And that's about all he can really do. He can read the future, and a few other scrying type abilities, but that's all. No fireballs, lightning bolts, flying, healing, etc.

And the question I've finally gotten around to: Is there already a variant spellcaster class in one of the PF books that is restricted to a single school of spells? If not, I guess I'll have to brew one up.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Why do you need to create a class with the restriction hard coded in? Just use one of the standard spell casting classes and limit your spells to a single school. I wrote up a gnome bard that only used illusion spells. He was a storyteller that used illusions to bring his stories to life.

You could also focus on a theme instead of a school. An elemental sorcerer would be perfect for this. Since they can change any spell to match their chosen element, they can actually take a spell using any element and cast it as a spell of your element. Normally the elemental sorcerer can cast the spell either way, but nothing prevents you from only using the version that matches your element. You could even do the same with magic items.

[SheepishEidolon]

Thassilonian Specialist from Inner Sea Magic is one step into this direction: Two schools get completely removed from your spell list, as compensation you gain a school spell slot each level you can use twice.

Are you set on wizard, anyway? You could pick just spells of your chosen school for a sorcerer, and look for a fitting bloodline.

[OmniMage]

I was thinking sorcerer as well. It can only know a small number of spells, and has the most power to go with a small list of spells known. The ability to spontaneous cast spells is a plus.

Pick all the divination spells you want, and maybe pick a few wizard divination specialist abilities while you're at it. If you want to be like a wizard, then maybe make the character consult a spell book every day while they 'prepare their spells'. Be an Int spell caster instead of a Cha spell caster.

That is what I would make quick and dirty. You might need to make a few changes down the road.

[Lelomenia]

This is an archetype i would’ve wanted to see. You’d have to home brew pretty heavily to compensate for the restriction though. Or you can always just ignore your larger spell access, but that feels pretty unrewarding.

[OmniMage]

I was thinking. How exactly would you contribute in combat? You are proposing making a wizard that does not have any buff or blasting spells. Just divination. I have a mental image of wizard fighting using a crossbow and not striking well because they have a poor attack bonus. They are doing this because they have no spells to help in a fight.

My new suggestion is to instead model the character after a bard. It'll give you a better hit dice, reflex roll, and attack roll. Your spell progression will be worse, but still good. Just divination spells though.

I would keep the bardic knowledge and lore master abilities, as they'll help improve the results of knowledge skill checks. I assume that you'll want this because you want a character that knows things.

If you would rather go the sorcerer route, I'd reduce the spell slots you get from each level. Not the amount when you first get them, but rather reduce the cap. A 4th level sorcerer has 6 1st level spell slots (+ bonuses). I'm suggesting you reduce it to 5 or 4. Trade those slots for some better combat ability.

[Diego Rossi]

Maybe you can try playing an Occultist. He has a very narrow set of spells linked to the implements he has, but he has several special abilities and 3/4 BAB. Not a full spellcaster as he has only 6 levels of spells, but he will stay a viable character even with a narrow focus of his spells, as he has several special abilities.

I have played one only for 2 levels, so I am not sure if he stays useful at higher levels.

[Mysterious Stranger]

I think the divination was more of an example than a concept. Creating a divination specialist who can contribute to combat is probably going to be extremely difficult. Other schools may be a better choice. I can easily see an illusionist being able to contribute to combat.

Not all illusions are mind affecting so they can still do things even vs thing that have immunity to mind affecting.

[SheepishEidolon]

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Creating a divination specialist who can contribute to combat is probably going to be extremely difficult.

Hrm, I'd try to use options beside spells here. If the diviner is a wizard, high Knowledge results are relatively easy to achieve and do contribute to party's success. Spellcraft allows to tell the party what actual nasty things the opponents are doing. The Bruising Intellect trait means Int based demoralize attempts - which are no game winners, but should contribute more than firing a crossbow.

And maybe you covered the scouting before, with your spells. Maybe See Invisibility will become necessary once in a while. And for sure you will cover the appraisal and identification of loot afterwards. So IMO it's completely ok if you lean back most rounds of combat and chomp pizza instead. Though it seems wise to speak about this at session 0.

[Temperans]

This is one of the situations in which Spell Slinger Wizard and Siege Mage Wizard excel at. In both cases you are making 4 schools into opposition schools.

How you become relevant in combat? Well Spellslinger sacrifices spells to get weapon bonuses.

As for divine spells for combat:
* Battlemind Link: Effectively double up a combat round and get reroll on attack roll.
* Named Bullet: No misfire, attack with 30 ft hit touch AC, unaffected by regular concealment, normal hits become crits and deal bonus damage (max 20), on a crit double bonus damage (max 40).
* Greater Named Bullet: Same as above but 40 max on a normal hit, and 80 max on a crit.
* Locate Weakness: On a crit roll base damage twice and take the better one.
* Sense Vitals: Sneak Attack max 5d6 at CL 15.
* True Strike: Make those named bullets count.
* Anticipate Thoughts: Increasing Atk bonus and AC.

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On another note, Thessalonian Specialist Shadowcaster. Just get a bunch of shadow spells that replicate other spells.

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Closer to what you want is Occultist where you have to pick what school your spells come from and have to pick schools multiple times to get more spells. So, if you pick Divination 7 times you would have 7 spells of each level that are divination.

[zza ni]

single elemental kineticist?

[Azothath]

my only advice is if you homebrew this class do a better job than Thassilonian Specialist where the negatives outweigh the positivz9es. Wizards will need to cast from 3 classic schools at a minimum to be effective.
Secondly you should clone a few spell into different schools so more casters can access them changing an effect to match the new school.

[Name Violation]

Actually, after looking at some of the occultist archetypes it's a really strong option even when limited to 1 school. The extra class abilities make up for lack of spell power

[harbqll]

SheepishEidolon wrote:

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Creating a divination specialist who can contribute to combat is probably going to be extremely difficult.

Hrm, I'd try to use options beside spells here. If the diviner is a wizard, high Knowledge results are relatively easy to achieve and do contribute to party's success. Spellcraft allows to tell the party what actual nasty things the opponents are doing. The Bruising Intellect trait means Int based demoralize attempts - which are no game winners, but should contribute more than firing a crossbow.

And maybe you covered the scouting before, with your spells. Maybe See Invisibility will become necessary once in a while. And for sure you will cover the appraisal and identification of loot afterwards. So IMO it's completely ok if you lean back most rounds of combat and chomp pizza instead. Though it seems wise to speak about this at session 0.

Well, in the novels, Alex is extremely difficult to hit in melee because he can see the future. He literally knows what you're going to do before you do. The character has also capitalized on this with a lot of mixed martial art training. But a lot of the time he simply avoids the fight by knowing when and where the badguys are going to be looking, and simply not being there. He's also a big fan of some variation of 'running out into traffic just in time for the delivery van rounding the blind corner to plow into the person chasing him'.

All things that are fine for a novel but not really for an RPG. But yeah, I'm more interested in the one-trick-pony mage aspect of it than the divination specialist.

[DungeonmasterCal]

If you allow 3rd party material, Rogue Genius games went a step further and created each specialist as its own class, with unique abilities and more.

Rogue Genius Games - "Specialty Casters"

[Azothath]

harbqll wrote:

Well, in the novels, Alex is extremely difficult to hit in melee because he can see the future. He literally knows what you're going to do before you do. The character has also capitalized on this with a lot of mixed martial art training. But a lot of the time he simply avoids the fight by knowing when and where the badguys are going to be looking, and simply not being there. He's also a big fan of some variation of 'running out into traffic just in time for the delivery van rounding the blind corner to plow into the person chasing him'.

All things that are fine for a novel but not really for an RPG. But yeah, I'm more interested in the one-trick-pony mage aspect of it than the divination specialist.

so he has what is colloquially known as "plot armor". the worst kind of writing tool

In the Game that is a very powerful effect.

I'd say just do a simple human Diviner wizard and bonded object amulet and go with that. Nobody is going to force you to learn or cast shunned school spells. You can also try the Mage-killer, a build I did.

[Chell Raighn]

Occultist can very easily be restricted to only one school of magic… an Occultist only has access to spells of schools they have implements in. They can learn 1 spell of each spell level for each implement they have. So if you want a character hyper focused in only one spell school, simply select the same school for every implement. It isn't very optimal, but it can be done, and depending on what school you choose, you could be a very potent specialist…

[ShroudedInLight]

Dual-Cursed Oracle and Cyclopean Seer Oracle both tinker a bit with dice rolls. You could also play as a Samsaran in order to add a few extra dice manipulation spells to the list, like Hermean potential.

You'd have to manually limit yourself to the spells, but seeing briefly into the future and taking advantage of it sounds like dice manipulation to me far more than it sounds like focusing on a single school of magic.

[Sysryke]

Just a thought, but doesn't True Strike fall under divination? I know for the OP, divination is an example and not necessarily the goal, but I would think a Div. focused caster could be a very potent combatant. Use mechanics like called shots to inflict debuffs, and carry an arsenal of weapons with various special properties that are just the right tool for the challenge you have foreseen. This character wouldn't be the party's prime damage dealer or AoE specialist, but would be a heck of a tactition, support, debuffer, and maybe even field controller.