Hey so my group has decided to do a pf2e game when our current campaign, Exalted 3e, wraps up in a few months. Currently looking like we're going to run Strength of Thousands with FA but not limiting it to Mage/Druid but still needing some magical themes to at least kind of fit the students at magical college vibe. Im playing around with character concepts since this will be my first time playing pf2e, I've played 1e and every version of DnD since 2e and countless other TTRPGs over the past 30 years. One that I'm wanting to do is a two weapon Dragon Instinct barbarian but I'm having trouble finding a magical archetype to dabble in along side Dual Weapon warrior since for the most part spellcasting isn't an option while raging. Any advice on how to get the magical theme on a barbarian is much appreciated. My other concept is a tanky Earth/Wood/Fire Kineticist so prefer not to go that route with my archetype.
Strength of Thousands suggests simply giving the player Wizard or Druid archetypes at level 2 as a bonus feat, so that they have the appropriate magic to be in the school even as a martial character.
I do recommend picking up some magic just to fit the theme. This is an Arcane/Primal magic school, and a character that can't do either of those at all in SOME form doesn't make any sense to be a student there in the long term. Sorcerer or Witch would also work fine, and a Dragon Sorcerer fits thematically with a Dragon Barbarian pretty well. :)
As a Barbarian, you won't be doing much combat casting, since you can't cast most spells while raging except by using Moment of Clarity and you're better off hitting things anyway. So I'd prepare buff spells you can use before combat, utility spells (like water breathing), or healing.
As a GM, I went one step further and gave them free archetype and required the level 2 pick to be Wizard or Druid, possibly with delaying the requirement to pick up 2 additional feats until a higher level (or not at all). This would be a GM decision. Its worked well for us, as it let folks play what they want but still have magical ability the way the campaign expects.
In my Strength of Thousands campaign, I also allowed my players to take any free archetype that gave arcane or primal spells eventually. I chronicled a non-spoiler side adventure at River Into Darkness Revisited. in which I listed their choices, but let me repeat them here.
Cara'sseth Ti'kali, a catfolk fire kineticist with wizard free archetype
Idris, an anadi divination wizard with Magaambyan attendant free archetype
Jinx Fuun, a tengu enigma bard with druid free archetype
Roshan Azar, a fleshwarp eldritch trickster (elemental sorcerer) rogue with Gelid Shard free archetype
Stargazer, a ghoran enigma bard with druid free archetype
Wilfred Eugenus Rosehill-Aglag, a dromaar redeemer champion with magus free archetype
Zandre, an elf starlit-span magus with dragon disciple free archetype
I allowed the Magaambya Attendent archetype, too, despite it not granting spells, because it fit the setting.
I wonder how well Dragon Disciple archetype would fit Jade Retribution's dragon-instinct barbarian. Its 4th-level Dragon Arcana feat grants more spells known to a draconic-blooded sorcerer, so I counted Dragon Discipline as a spell-granting archetyle, but a barbarian lacks the spell-slots prerequisite for that feat. If the barbarian also took draconic sorcerer multiclass archetype with their class feats, they would qualify for dragon disciple. Roshan's player pointed me to a thread that explained that the free archetype is not supposed to interfere with selecting other archetypes, but I lost the link.
Another option is that the War of Immortals setting book coming out in late October this year will have a Bloodrager barbarian-only archetype. Though that is 2 months away, a free archetype does not matter until the character reaches 2nd level. A PF1 bloodrager is a barbarian-sorcerer hybrid, so a PF2 bloodrager archetype will very likely grant spellcasting with the arcane or primal tradition.
One consideration for a barbarian is that many spells require concentration to cast and a barbarian cannot concentrate while raging. The Moment of Clarity feat allows concentration, but it has a single-action cost slowing down spellcasting. Thus, look through the list of non-focus spells that doe not require concentration and decide which spells fit your character before chosing a spell tradition. Or maybe your barbarian will want to use magic mostly for utility. I once played a PF1 bloodrager Val Baine who figured that her sword dealt enough damage during combat and that spells were mostly for outside of combat.
Barbarian seems like the martial that is the hardest fit for this premise, because of the fact that "rage" and "magic" rarely go together well due to the concentrate trait. So I agree with Mathmuse that "wait until the War of Immortals book comes out and see how the Bloodrager class archetype works.
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I've seen a barbarian in PFS who thought he was a wizard, but with anger issues.
Mechanically, he just looked deeply for spells that don't require Concentrate. There's a handful of them like Jump that are actually extremely convenient for martials.
And out of combat of course he could use some utility magic.
Thanks for all of the Advice and hopefully War of the Immortals and Bloodrager drops in time but the way our Exalted game is going probably only have about a month left in it.
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I'm going to note that you're going to want some method of non-violent conflict resolution. I'm playing a fire kineticist and part of the way through the first book. Having a toolbox that is mostly just 'kill things' has caused some friction as Magaambya very definitely treats violence as a last resort. Unless you enjoy that kind of roleplaying, as I very much do, you'll want to invest in skills and such accordingly. I suggest playing a human with the Cooperative Nature feat so that you can still help out skill specialists even if you're not the greatest at a particular skill.
I'm going to note that you're going to want some method of non-violent conflict resolution. I'm playing a fire kineticist and part of the way through the first book. Having a toolbox that is mostly just 'kill things' has caused some friction as Magaambya very definitely treats violence as a last resort. Unless you enjoy that kind of roleplaying, as I very much do, you'll want to invest in skills and such accordingly. I suggest playing a human with the Cooperative Nature feat so that you can still help out skill specialists even if you're not the greatest at a particular skill.
Yeah, this. SoT is a campaign where "solve every problem with extreme violence" is not going to go super well. Having a spread of skills and a way to do things peacefully matters.