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Unless all magic system used the same spells (which means they wouldn't be able to truly design systems that were that different from each other), I don't see a world where one of those magic systems (likely the one that the core classes like sorcerer or wizard are going to use) is going to be heavily favored over the other in newer books and thus the classes that that used the other magic systems would be heavily in disadvatange.
With that said, I would prefer for them to make a single and functional magic system rather than them releasing a new magic system every year until they release one that people truly like. I don't care if we end up losing classes like the kineticist along the way since the whole reason the kineticist exists in the first place is because people want non-vancian casters to play as. In a system with less attrition any elemental caster could take the role of the kineticist.
Unless all magic system used the same spells (which means they wouldn't be able to truly design systems that were that different from each other), I don't see a world where one of those magic systems (likely the one that the core classes like sorcerer or wizard are going to use) is going to be heavily favored over the other in newer books and thus the classes that that used the other magic systems would be heavily in disadvatange.
The very existence of spontaneous and prepared spellcasting right now proves this wrong. Both are completely different systems for using spells that make spellcasters play radically differently from one another, despite using those same spells. Adding more spells benefits both types of casters as well, so it's not like prepared spellcasters as a group receive significantly more content than spontaneous casters or vice versa. Again, this to me is a lot like claiming that adding more martial weapons favors Fighters over other martial classes or the like: although some particular weapons work especially well with certain classes and their own unique mechanics, the addition of more martial weapons is to the benefit of all martial classes, whose different features draw from that same pool when Striking.
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I would hardly call spontaneous and prepared "completely different", but that's me I guess.
I would hardly call spontaneous and prepared "completely different", but that's me I guess.
I'd say they're fundamentally different systems for accessing and using spells that lead to completely different playstyles, as is the essence casting system you brought up, but if you don't think the difference is that big, that's great, because the kinds of systems suggested earlier on are even less different! Still would lead to radically different playstyles that would therefore allow much more differentiation across casters despite relying on the same core of spells, but not exactly the game-wrecking, ultra-complex brain-melter some on here appear to be crying wolf around.
I said "which means they wouldn't be able to truly design systems that were that different from each other" in my original comment explicitly thinking about prepared and spontaneous since both of them are IMO not that different from each other in the grand scheme of things, and yeah I would add essence casting to that list too since ultimately it still runs in the same framework that prepared and spontaneous casting use.
So yeah, we aren't really disagreeing here but rather using different words to mean the same thing.
But besides that, since I personally don't see vancian casting being a thing in PF3e, I don't see prepared or spontaneous casting being a thing either. There could be some classes that use slighty different versions of the "main" casting system in PF3e, but I'm inclined to think most classes will still use the default system, with probably classes like kineticist if its ever adapted using a variant to fit its style better.
But besides that, since I personally don't see vancian casting being a thing in PF3e, I don't see prepared or spontaneous casting being a thing either. There could be some classes that use slighty different versions of the "main" casting system in PF3e, but I'm inclined to think most classes will still use the default system, with probably classes like kineticist if its ever adapted using a variant to fit its style better.
I honestly still feel this hits the same problem as above of unnecessarily blinkering one's perspective when the possibilities of a brand new game edition are extremely open-ended. If, for instance, spells were usable at-will as a baseline, I think it would be entirely possible to recreate spontaneous and prepared spellcasting as they exist now, even essence casting, using those at-will spells as a baseline and appropriate tradeoffs, such as being able to prepare far more spells than those not using those systems in exchange for those systems' inherent tradeoffs. Similarly, one could create a Focus Point-style system to cast those spells in limited amounts each encounter for a different set of benefits, and so on and so forth. Again, same core of spells, but a plurality of applications that could easily lead to different casters feeling like they access magic in radically different ways. Even a Kineticist who'd have to Channel Elements first to access magic could draw from those same at-will spells in a fundamentally different way from, say, a hypothetical 3e Sorcerer who cast a limited amount of those spells at-will and with fewer restrictions.
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Unless all magic system used the same spells (which means they wouldn't be able to truly design systems that were that different from each other), I don't see a world where one of those magic systems (likely the one that the core classes like sorcerer or wizard are going to use) is going to be heavily favored over the other in newer books and thus the classes that that used the other magic systems would be heavily in disadvatange.The very existence of spontaneous and prepared spellcasting right now proves this wrong. Both are completely different systems for using spells that make spellcasters play radically differently from one another, despite using those same spells. Adding more spells benefits both types of casters as well, so it's not like prepared spellcasters as a group receive significantly more content than spontaneous casters or vice versa. Again, this to me is a lot like claiming that adding more martial weapons favors Fighters over other martial classes or the like: although some particular weapons work especially well with certain classes and their own unique mechanics, the addition of more martial weapons is to the benefit of all martial classes, whose different features draw from that same pool when Striking.
Spontaneous and Prepared are barely different. The difference is in how you create the list of spells on your character sheet for the day. After that, everything else is basically the same.
That's nothing like bringing Psionics or Spheres of Magic or such into a game, where they function in completely different ways.
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I think the amount of new content published for Kineticist says something about whether it's a good strategy to write classes that need you to explicitly assign new content to them.
My biggest concern for Runesmith, too. Kineticist doesn't interact well with the rest of the game and thus barely exists in it as far as new content is concerned. See: Mythic as the glaring example.
You could add a new spellcasting tradition and as long as they remember to tag spells with it, it would probably be okay. But a significantly different magic system wouldn't have that and would need far more ongoing support to not fall way behind, and it probably wouldn't get it.
The track record for this isn't great.
Spontaneous and Prepared are barely different. The difference is in how you create the list of spells on your character sheet for the day. After that, everything else is basically the same.
That's nothing like bringing Psionics or Spheres of Magic or such into a game, where they function in completely different ways.
I'm not sure anyone's really asking for either of those to be bolted on as separate systems, especially since psionics have been conclusively defined as occult spells in Pathfinder. I suppose it comes down to taste, as I do think spontaneous and prepared spellcasting (and essence casting for that matter) profoundly affect which spells you choose and how you use them, but once more, if that's not seen as very different at all, then all the better: we'd thus be all on the same page if the ask were for one caster class to use spells at-will, another to prepare a larger amount of those spells, another to have a large spontaneous repertoire of those spells, another to use those spells a limited times per encounter for some bonus, another to use a ramping essence mechanic, and so on and so forth, because those different magic systems would be perceived as similar enough to not require a whole new ream of content built around it.
In fact, just to give examples using existing casters, how's this for a magic system per spellcaster and magic-user in PF2e:
And you know what, spheres of magic could absolutely work with this if those were built into the edition from the ground up: each tradition could round up a certain number of spheres, e.g. mental magic and the elements for arcane, different casters could access additional spheres or a more limited amount (e.g. just the fire sphere for a fire Kineticist), and divine caster domains could just be those spheres of power as well. Again, this is a hypothetical 3e we're talking about; it doesn't have to just be 2e with another coat of paint, and there's no point to stifling ourselves or each other when it doesn't even seem like we're disagreeing on the essentials.
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When I first heard the concept of Runesmith as a martial that uses rune magic, it kinda gave me an idea that was a bit more future-proofed than what we got.
I was familiar enough w/ Paizo's designs at this point I knew they wouldn't do it, but I did have a flicker of hope that Runesmith actually used and ripped magic out of all the rune items as part of its core mechanic.
Instead of the class using it's page budget to print a big list of it's own 1-off siloed magics, the Runesmith's text could have instead been instructional translation for how you would interact with the existing rune items; how you would copy out the element, dmg die size, and then paste that data into your own traced rune abilities.
(And there would of course be a RS magic that outright just Etched temp copies of property runes wholesale.)
But for most of their kit, the Runesmith's "runes" would look more like a collection that's all meta / "diacritic" runes, and those meta-runes would use the existing rune items as base datasheets to draw from.
This would include basic relationships between energy types, traditions, debuffs, and "damage-adjacent-effect" for default relationships.
Something like
Energy:Fire | debuff: Enfeebled | dmg-adjacent: persistent dmg
Energy:Cold | debuff: -speed | dmg-adjacent: dmg on foe action
And a RS rune would then use the existing data of a reference rune first, while having default values for any blanks.
So if a rune item had no element, but had a -speed effect, that would default to doing cold damage when tied to a damaging meta-rune.
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That core design would mean that Runesmith would still need a good list of it's own meta-runes that could/should be expanded with new content, but it would also ensure that simply adding new rune items to the game would also expand RS's choices.
Thanks to wep/armor runes already being power-budgeted to occupy a single slot on a piece of gear, Runesmith could use that as a design trick to have confidence against balance concerns.
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But alas, we instead got a class design that cosmetically apes Exemplar, but without it's beating heart.
Exemplar revolves around Immanence passives, and Trans bursts of power.
Runesmith's runes provide passive effects while the rune is upon a creature, and bursts of Invoke power that consume the rune.
Exemplar's design core is its limitation, where your single spark can only be in one place at a time, and it must move every time you tap that Trans potency.
That class considers a once per *day* 0A "move your spark" power to be a valid L12 class feat.
(should probably be once p hour, tbh, but the point stands)
Runesmith forgets to have any class-specific limitation-dance like that, and it's instead about abusing the action economy as best as one can, selecting your choice of 2 or 3 damage runes so that each Invoke can nuke multiple types at once without hitting the system-wide redundant effect limitation.
Trace is a 1A no-fail action. Invoke is a 1A no-fail action.
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I am returning to the original topic to respond to a good comment by Ascalaphus. I replaced their bullet marks with numbers for easier reference.
All that to say, curriculums really need to be published with a good starting set of spells in order to get off the ground, because they probably don't get a lot of extras later on.
I think the curriculum class feature had a lot of potential. You could write a bunch of generic, fairly setting-independent curriculums and then also make some really specific ones for specific guilds in your setting. All you had to do was make sure you put a good selection of spells in it...
What makes for a good selection of spells?
(1) They need to be broadly useful during an adventuring day. If you aren't regularly using your curriculum bonus slots because all the spells are terribly niche, then they're dud bonus slots.
(2) You need spells that age well in low-rank slots. A damaging spell doesn't age well in a low-rank slot because they need to be heightened to do enough damage to justify the action economy. Nor does a counteract spell from a low-rank slot. So you need some of those spells that stay relevant, like Sure Strike or Laughing Fit.
(3) You need the curriculum to be special. Other wizards from different schools, and even other spellcasters, should be curious about the secrets of your school. So "uncommon because it's exotic" spells (not "uncommon because it pulls the rug out from under your plot", please). Or maybe spells that aren't normally on the arcane list. I mean, sorcerers get out-of-tradition blood magic, clerics get odd spells from their deity, oracles have a way to dip into other lists, and so forth. It's an easy way to make the other wizards envious of your school's curriculum.
I feel like this has largely not happened. Some vaguely thematic spells got shoved into a curriculum with little attention paid to usefulness or excitement value.
The D&D/PF1 wizard schools of adjuration, conjuration, divination, etc. were designed to offer specializations to wizards. I remember the gnome illusionist in AD&D, a wizard that specialized in illusions. A wizard would have a specialty school and lacked two forbidden schools. Their justification is that different schools of magic required learning different magic. But as D&D advanced into new editions and into Pathfinder, the exclusivity of the schools faded, and the specialty school just became a line of bonus spells. Fortunately, since the bonus spells covered one seventh of all arcane spells, it was easy to satisfy Ascalaphus's first two points. The third point about curriculum feeling special was mostly satisfied by that curriculum being a fundamental division of arcane magic.
In contrast, the curriculums in the Remastered Player Core wizard schools felt generic to me. They failed the third point.
I presume that that was a deliberate design choice to allow the Player Core wizard to fit into many different campaigns, but the result lost a lot of flavor about attending the school itself. Furthermore, the spells chosen for many schools often often had only a loose connection to the school's theme, diluting the impact. This might be because of the limited number of spells in Player Core alone, but the designers could have made more effort to include the arcane spells that are best for each school.
School of Ars Grammatica had verbal spells, either speaking such as command or writing such as runic weapon. This theme was not a playstyle based around effects, but more an academic style about a minor feature of the spells.
School of Battle Magic is about spells for war. This is a coherent theme that any damage spell will fit into. Good for a blaster wizard.
School of the Boundary had spells built on teleportation and extraplanar travel. This was a coherent playstyle, but the 4th-level translocate is the first spell that is solidly in that theme. The lower rank spells feel like filler.
School of Civic Wizardry has a construction and demolition theme. But most of the curriculum spells did not fit the theme, so the list has lots of filler. What do 2nd-rank revealing light and water walk have to do with construction?
School of Mentalism focuses on mental spells. This theme is coherent, but bards and other occult casters feel better at it.
School of Protean Form has a transformation theme. This is a coherent theme with some good representative spells, such as pest form and enlarge. But the self-only transformations lead the wizard, with only 6+CON hit points, to risk themselves in melee. The 10 temporary hit point of 5th-level elemental form don't last long against 9th-level damage.
School of Unified Magical Theory gains a 1st-level feat and extra uses of Drain Bonded Item instead of a curriculum. This is a nod to the previous universalist wizard, but its theme is a lack of a specific flavorful theme.
My Strength of Thousands campaign began in March 2024, so those were the Remastered options available for playing a student wizard at the Magaambya Academy. Instead, the player of wizard Idris chose a pre-Remaster divination wizard. Idris has used his free archetype for two Magaambya-centric archetypes: Magaambyan Attendent and Halycon Speaker. Idris has been roleplayed as a dedicated student who spent most of his time in the library learning new spells. His spellcasting favorites have been divination, hour-long buffs, and illusion spells for his theater classes. Idris also learned a lot of self-protection magic because he had fewer hit points than the bard/druid's animal companion. None of the Player Core schools fit Idris.
The first new school was Red Mantis Magic School from standalone adventure Prey for Death August 2024. I don't own that book, so all I know about it is its Archives of Nethys entry: "While any thug can commit a murder, proper assassination requires finesse and guile. Deep within the Crimson Citadel, the Red Mantis assassins have developed a specific selection of spells they teach to all magically capable members. These spells complement the assassins’ clandestine and deadly methods." The spells in its curriculum fit that assassin theme.
Paizo released Lost Omens Rival Academies in March 2025. This lorebook tells of a convocation of six magic schools at Nerosyan, Mendev: The Academy of the Reclamation from Sarkoris Scar, Cobyslarni from the First World, Kitharodian Academy from Taldor, the Magaambya from the Mwangi Expanse, the Monastery of Unbreaking Waves from Jalmeray, and the the University of Lepidstadt from Ustalav. Some less prominent school participated, too, such as the Bloodstone Conservatory from Irrisen, the Academy of the Sublime from the plane Axis, and the Sidhedron Spires from New Thassilon.
The book is very flavorful about the many academies, but it provided only three new wizard schools.
The School of Rooted Wisdom for the Magaambya is split into five branches. I am very familiar with those branches from my Strength of Thousands campaign. The Cascade Bearers focus on arcane research, and their wizard school forces on telekinesis. That is a mismatch, but the telekinetic theme is coherent. The Emerald Boughs focus in studying culture and society, and that includes serving as spies. Their wizard school goes for the spy theme with illusion and scrying magic. Rain-Scribes are the experts in exploration and logistics. Their wizard school focuses on staying equipped and comfortable on the road. The Tempest-Sun Mages are the defenders of the Magaambya and their wizard school offers combat spells. The Uzunjati are the storytellers and historians. Their school has two new buff spells designed specifically for them: Kgalaserke's Axes and Ibex's Harvest. The rest of the Uzunjati curriculum spells are mostly telepathy.
These five curriculums have coherent themes, despite two mismatches with the branch themes.
The Academy of the Reclamation offers the wizard School of the Reclamation. "Your study of magic in the service of rediscovering lost knowledge for the Sarkoris Reclamation has taught you that much that was once lost can still be found,..." declares a theme of archaeology in hostile territory. And its curriculum gains the four new spells mental map, overwhelming memory, bridge of vines, and restore ground. They and the other spells fit the theme.
The School of Thassilonian Rune Magic is associated with the minor academy Sidhedron Spires, but Thassilonian sin magic is well established in Golarion lore and I am unsurprised that Paizo developers granted it a school. Like the School of Rooted Wisdom, the School of Thassilonian Rune Magic is divided into branches. These branches conver the seven cardinal sins. The common curriculum offers some scrying and combat spells. Envy offers debuff spells, including the new thief of fortune. Gluttony offers ghoulish spells on a devouring theme, including the new devouring void. Greed is less focussed in its theme, offering illusions of treasure, ways to carry real treasure, and the new spell chrysopoetic curse, which hinders weapons and armor by tempoarily transmuting them to gold. Lust's curriculum is loaded with charm and suggestion spells. including the new spell love's sacrifice. Pride's curriculum is loaded with illusion spells. Sloth's curriculum offers sleep-themed debuff spells, such as the new indolent haze, and spells that summon creature for work and comfy shelters for rest. Wrath's curriculum offers damage spells.
The Archives of Nethys currently lacks the branch details of the School of Rooted Wisdom and School of Thassilonian Rune Magic.
Imagine Idris built with School of Rooted Wisdom. Idris joined the Rain-Scribes branch in my campaign. The player explained to me that this was to represent Idris being a small-town anadi who was more comfortable in the countryside than in the city. Idris is largely a Boy Scout with the motto, "Always be prepared," so Rain-Scribes fits.
Common Magaambya Curriculum
cantrips: detect magic; 1st: alarm; 2nd: dispel magic; 3rd: safe passage; 4th: mountain resilience; 5th: control water; 6th: truesight; 7th: energy aegis; 8th: quandary
Rain-Scribes Additional Curriculum
cantrips: light; 1st: mending, summon animal; 2nd: shape wood; 3rd: cozy cabin; 4th: liminal doorway, unfettered movement; 5th: magic passage, summon dragon; 6th: chain lightning; 7th: planar palace; 8th: earthquake; 9th: metamorphosis
School Spells
initial: halcyon mists; advanced: call the ten
Detect magic and light are commonly-used cantrips, though light assumes the character lacks darkvision. At 1st level, alarm represents camping out--odd that it comes from the Magaambya curriculum rather than the Rain-Scribes curriculum. Mending is useful for repairing non-magical gear in the field, but fails Ascalaphus's point #2 because it ages out since higher-level gear is magical. Summon animal does not fit the Rain-Scribes theme of exploration, because explorers discover native animals. A Rain-Scribe could use a good pack horse, but not one that lasts for only one minute. 2nd-level shape wood could make a ladder or a shelter, but the shelter usage will be superseded by the 3rd-level cozy cabin, which in turn will be superseded by the 7th-level planar palace.
Ascalaphus's point #2 is hammered home by the Rain-Scribes curriculum. We have a nice chain of getting better spells for shelter on the road, but what would the Rain-Scribe wizard do with the lower-level slots afterwards?
Practicality is best measured in actual gameplay. Currently in my campaign the 9th-level party is chasing 8th-level bandits. The exploration and logistics of Rain-Scribes should be good for such a quest. In a homebrew scene, the party used a bard's Umbral Journey to get ahead of bandits in a stolen boat and ambushed them on the river. Idris provided divination on their location and buffed the party as the boat arrived at their location. Only two 5th-level curriculum spells, control water and summon dragon, would have helped. Maybe an alarm spell planted upstream would have warned of the boat's approach, but the chance of false alarm would be high. For the other group of bandits on foot, Idris could summon a tracking animal such as a bloodhound to follow their trail. mountain resilience does fit Idris's self-protection needs. Utility is there, but less than I hoped.
June 2025 saw the release of two more sources of wizard schools.
School of Gates from Lost Omens lorebook Shining Kingdoms is inspired by the elf gates of Kyonin, but it is basically a teleportation school like the School of the Boundary. It was newer spells, some new ones along side it in Shining Kingdoms. One of those new spells, 2nd-level warping pull is what I would expect from a solid teleporation curriculum.
School of Kalistrade also from Shining Kingdoms is about putting on a good show as a wealthy mage. The spells are good choices for the theme, but I suspect that few player characters will find that theme to be practical.
School of Magical Technologies from To Blot Out the Sun in the Shades of Blood adventure path I know only from its Archives of Nethys entry. The curriculum spells on the theme of magical technology are merely conjuration of objects, but they are reasonably useful spells. They also include mending, which would be useful at high levels if the wizard used non-magical technology.
The more recent schools are closer to satisfying Ascalaphus's three points, but they do not meet the mark.
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Thanks for that thorough analysis.
I broadly agree - I really enjoy the enhanced flavor of the later schools, it feels to me like writers are catching on that they lowballed the Player Core schools a lot.
I think school design is something where you really need to sit down and be upfront: this has to be useful for PCs. Don't go "well, it's flavorful, and only a powergamer would care...". Yes, we want flavor, but all players care about usefulness.
There already exist lots of spells and you should be able to find good stuff for any school theme. And if not, that's actually even better, because then you really have a good opportunity to do some capital-D Design. It's time to either steal from other traditions or write uncommon spells.
Giving uncommon (because exotic, not because troublemaker) spells to schools is an easy way of making the school offering a bit more special. Jealousy between wizard academies for each others' special techniques is a strong trope.
Likewise, out of tradition curriculum spells are IMO an option. I went looking for proof that arcane sorcerers get non-arcane bonus spells but actually it turns out there's only one premaster genie bloodline that does. Well I guess Paizo still believes the arcane list is super special there. Clerics, non-Arcane Sorcerers, Psychics, Oracles, Animists all have ways to borrow from other traditions.
But hey, if this is the hill to die on, then fine let's go haunt that hill. If a school really should have a spell but it's not arcane, give them an uncommon spell that's just a little bit different and unique to the school.
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I really enjoyed the R. Scott Bakker "Prince of Nothing" novels, and that series REALLY goes into rival wizard schools. I firmly believe it's a solid plot and flavor element and that Paizo has woefully under-exploited the possibilities here.
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I'm one who thinks the idea of having new additional Arcane (non-focus) spells that are uncommon and unlocked by specific schools.
I think in the past I actually suggested that one thing that could get tied into school spells would be having certain schools have 'variant' versions of a spell in their domain. Wizards of the school can prepare the spell and can cast it as normal, or cast the variant as a choice at casting time.
These variants would otherwise be uncommon spells. And guess what, these uncommon spells, as they are created, also provide additional content that Spell Tricksters can choose to pick up.
Guess what, having uncommon spells also brings back more value to spellbooks. Because if a spellbook has an uncommon spell in it, someone could potentially make it a spell known, and then access it later. Uncommon spells wouldn't be easily poachable out the bat by sorcerer or witches who might otherwise have chosen arcane.
Make some of these uncommon spells things that support a Wizardly lifestyle including some spells that are downtime supportive.
Another option that might be interesting. What if we created a rarity that was between common. (basically available to everyone easily) but not entirely Uncommon. Lets call it Niche. Niche spells are not so uncommon that you normally need to unlock it by paying a feat, or choosing a specific ancestry, or being from a particular country. Instead it normally requires bothering to pay someone for a copy of it. Not ubiquitous, but not uncommon.
Niche spells "Don't" automatically become available to casters who don't have spellbooks/familiars defining their spell limits. They aren't automatically available for choice by Repertoire spontaneous casters either, but they aren't that hard to get with some looking around.
You could even create some Niche divine spells that clerics automatically know. Niche might even be great things for Rituals too. IN fact, I think Clerics should start out learning a few divine Rituals/Rites as part of their starting kit. Allow all clerics to know them, the oracles don't necessarily get a pass on getting access to them, but they could invest to get them if they really wanted.
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Ohh... interesting thought.
While the above thought on Niche spells was just to make some spells less common, but not fully uncommon. If these spells tended to be more 'niche' and not useable in really wide conditions, you could potentially have them have a mechanical effect.
Niche spells get associated with a slot, but if you choose to slot a niche spell into a slot, you can select a second alternate niche spell to slot in with it.
So lets even pretend that although we all know there is a Resist Energy spell that is common.
Lets suppose there could exist a Resist Cold spell, that is Niche. It only gives you the choice of granting resistance to cold, not any of the others. Perhaps due to this limitation, it might actually grant Resist Cold at 6 instead of 5. There might also be Resist Electricity, Resist Fire, etc. spells. It might be easy to understand why the Resist Energy spell has taken over being Common, as it is far better in the wide sense. So it isn't as easy to find the more individual spells. But if someone had several Niche spells they might get some use out of picking ones they know will likely be useful, because choosing the Niche ones they get more choices out of it than their total number of slots.
I'll admit although I think that has some validity to it, I'm not sure if I just prefer the simplicity of making some spells be not common, but not entirely uncommon, with all that baggage. Doing the above would mean we would have to insure that all such spells were not as widely versatile as it grants additional spell choices. I'm not positive I'd always want that to be the case.
Thanks for the summary of schools, Mathmuse. Did “Rival Academies” list all the current schools at the time of its printing? If not, that is long overdue, especially if any future Paizo publications have a significant amount of spells or added schools.
Thanks for the summary of schools, Mathmuse. Did “Rival Academies” list all the current schools at the time of its printing? If not, that is long overdue, especially if any future Paizo publications have a significant amount of spells or added schools.
No, Rival Academies did not list all the schools.
After the first chapter "Welcome to the Convocation," the lore book had one chapter each devoted to the main sponsors: Academy of the Reclamation, Cobyslarni, Kitharodian Academy, the Magaambya, Monasatery of the Unbreaking Waves, and University of Lepidstadt. The next chapter "Invitees" listed individuals attending from other academies: Acadamae, Academy of the Sublime, Arcanamirium, Bloodstone Conservatory, Dacilane Academy, Divine Conservatory of Magic, Hall of Lambent Oaths, Halls of Revelation, Indraracha Institute, Kimanéz University, Proving Grounds, and Synostosis Academy. The Sidhedron Spires had their own chapter next to highlight the Runelord archetype and the wizard school of Thassilonian Rune Magic. The last chapter provided guidelines for running an adventure at the convocation.
Put Player Core had mentioned other academies as inspiration for the wizard schools. The School of Ars Grammatica is taught at Pathfinder Society's School of Spells. The School of Battle Magic mentions no individual academies. The School of the Boundary is taught at the College of Dimensional Studies in Katapesh. The School of Civic Wizardry is taught at Manaket’s Occularium or the Academy of Applied Magic. The School of Mentalism is taught at Farseer Tower and the Stone of the Seers. The School of Protean Form is taught at Kintargo’s Alabaster Academy and the Fleshforges of Nex. And the School of Unified Magical Theory mentions self-study. Comparing the lists, none of them are invited to the Convocation of Rival Academies. Nor are the Player Core wizard schools mentioned.
The backstory of the rogue PC Roshan in my Strength of Thousands campaign is that her mother works at College of Dimensional Studies in Katapesh. Roshan was borh a kitsune and became a fleshwarp with ifrit versatile heritage and an embedded Gelid Shard due to a lab accident involving the Elemental Plane of Fire. I had the mother, Setareh, visit the Magaambya campus once. She simply teleported over. Another semester, infamous medical researcher Kassi Aziril from the Occularium in Manaket, Rahadoum, served as a visiting professor at the Magaambya. So the College of Dimensional Studies and the Occularium are significant in my campaign but snubbed in Lost Omens Rival Academies.
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Realistically, the school remaster fundamentally changed the value proposition of the Wizard as a 4 slot caster, but that change was never really accounted for elsewhere in the remastering of the class.
Keeping schools to their current format, even if they are good versions of schools (gates) doesn't actually redress this change.
Using Ascalaphus 3 points above, a lot of schools - at least to me - fail point (1). For a lot of schools, at several levels, I feel like I am just taking the least bad / least niche option rather than something I actually want or am excited to have.
Many fail point (2) on their face.
It was just a lot of take, with very little give attached.
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I personally feel the Runelord class archetype had an interesting model with its anathema: although I don't think Wizards should have to follow those in general, I feel school edicts could work well as broad guidelines for determining which spells fit in a school's curriculum. For instance, if the School of Battle Magic had the edict of: "Curriculum spells must deal damage, aid in the mitigation of damage, or enhance attacks," then that would cover nearly all of the current list while also allowing a host of other appropriate spells like sure strike, steel fortifications, instant minefield, and explosive barrage: not only would this help provide options for lower-rank slots that would actually be useful at higher levels, as well as just make every curriculum more versatile, it would future-proof these curriculums so that they don't stay calcified when an expansion like Battlecry! rolls out with spells that'd be a great fit for an older school.
With regards to the OP, I also feel this would make creating new schools even easier: if I wanted an elemental school, for instance, I wouldn't even need to define a curriculum, I could just poach the Elementalist's focus spells and write a school edict of "Curriculum spells must have the element's trait". Boom, done. If the rules gave permission to poach non-arcane spells that fit the edict, even better.
When I first heard the concept of Runesmith as a martial that uses rune magic, it kinda gave me an idea that was a bit more future-proofed than what we got.
I was familiar enough w/ Paizo's designs at this point I knew they wouldn't do it, but I did have a flicker of hope that Runesmith actually used and ripped magic out of all the rune items as part of its core mechanic.
Instead of the class using it's page budget to print a big list of it's own 1-off siloed magics, the Runesmith's text could have instead been instructional translation for how you would interact with the existing rune items; how you would copy out the element, dmg die size, and then paste that data into your own traced rune abilities.
(And there would of course be a RS magic that outright just Etched temp copies of property runes wholesale.)But for most of their kit, the Runesmith's "runes" would look more like a collection that's all meta / "diacritic" runes, and those meta-runes would use the existing rune items as base datasheets to draw from.
This would include basic relationships between energy types, traditions, debuffs, and "damage-adjacent-effect" for default relationships.
Something like
Energy:Fire | debuff: Enfeebled | dmg-adjacent: persistent dmg
Energy:Cold | debuff: -speed | dmg-adjacent: dmg on foe action
And a RS rune would then use the existing data of a reference rune first, while having default values for any blanks.
So if a rune item had no element, but had a -speed effect, that would default to doing cold damage when tied to a damaging meta-rune.
_______________That core design would mean that Runesmith would still need a good list of it's own meta-runes that could/should be expanded with new content, but it would also ensure that simply adding new rune items to the game would also expand RS's choices.
Thanks to wep/armor runes already being power-budgeted to occupy a single slot on a piece of gear, Runesmith could use that as a design trick to have confidence against balance...
That is very interesting, it might have made Runesmith both more distinct class and more in line with the whole system.
Should we create a separate post about "what I think final version of Runesmith should be" :)
Giving uncommon (because exotic, not because troublemaker) spells to schools is an easy way of making the school offering a bit more special. Jealousy between wizard academies for each others' special techniques is a strong trope.
I have some recent thoughts about these uncommon spells, inspired by Loreguard's comment. But I am going for troublemaker spells, bwahaha.
I'm one who thinks the idea of having new additional Arcane (non-focus) spells that are uncommon and unlocked by specific schools.
I think in the past I actually suggested that one thing that could get tied into school spells would be having certain schools have 'variant' versions of a spell in their domain. Wizards of the school can prepare the spell and can cast it as normal, or cast the variant as a choice at casting time.
These variants would otherwise be uncommon spells. And guess what, these uncommon spells, as they are created, also provide additional content that Spell Tricksters can choose to pick up. ...
I mixed Loreguard's ideas with a little implausible detail about the College of Dimensional Studies and a realization that I could make an arcane school spell especially powerful if I added the restriction, "This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot." Except that I am not going for raw power; instead, wizards as masters of reshaping reality need game-breaking options but not too many of them.
Pathfinderwiki's entry on the College of Dimensional Studies says that Dark Markets, A Guide to Katapesh, said,
One of the most unique features of the college is its lack of doors. All students are expected to possess an array of travel magic and are expected to be able to teleport between rooms. Students of the college are also expected to create scrolls of transport magic as part of their payment for the college's unique education.
When I read that, I thought that that must be awfully tough on the 1st-level students, who have no teleporation spells. They would have had to take their lessons in an outbuilding with doors. But what if the wizard School of the Boundary provided a 1st-level teleportation spell?
Very Short Gate [two-actions] Spell 1
Uncommon, Concentrate, Teleportation
Based on Magic Passage Player Core pg. 342
Tradition arcane
Range touch; Area 5-foot-wide, 5-foot-tall, 5-foot-deep ethereal passage
Duration 1 round
Access Wizard in School of The Boundary only.
You can step through the ethereal plane to bypass obstacles. You create a gate through the ethereal plane to an adjacent square. You can see through the gate to that adjacent square and then you may Step through the gate. The gate is flat terrain for Stepping regardless of the terrain on the adjacent square. If the square cannot be occupied, then you remain in the gate and are returned to your original square when the gate expires. The gate remains open until after one more person, including you making a return Step, passes through it.
Heighten (+1) One additional person can pass through the gate before it collapses.
Special This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot.
"Prepared only in a curriculum slot" is a tough restriction. 1st-level students at the College of Dimensional Studies would use a buddy system: one student wizard would open a very short gate for both to enter a doorless classroom and the other student wizard would open another very short gate to exit the classroom. A 1st-level adventuring wizard and his barbarian teammate could gate through a barred door and unbar it to let the rest of the party in, messing up a simple obstacle in a 1st-level dungeon. So the spell is troublesome but it would be troublesome only once per day until the wizard gains a 2nd-level curriculum slot.
Nonetheless, a wizard of the School of The Boundary being able to pass through the ethereal plane at 1st level is very flavorful.
I am very familiar with the Magaambya due to my Strength of Thousands campaign, so let me try creating a special spell for each Magaambya branch.
Coax Monologue [two-actions] Spell 1
Uncommon, Concentrate, Linguistic, Manipulate, Mental, Subtle
Based on Suggestion Player Core pg. 360
Tradition arcane
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 creature
Defense Will; Duration 1 round
Access Wizard in Emerald Boughs branch of School of Rooted Wisdom only.
A simple query leads a creature to talk more than it intends. The target attempts a Will save against responding. The target will respond in a language you understand, if they can.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target spends one action on its next turn on Demoralize.
Failure The target spends one action on its next turn describing information that you would have gained from a successful Recall Knowledge check to identify it.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target provides critically important additional information.
Special This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot.
Liberating Word [reaction] Spell 1
Uncommon, Concentrate
Based on Liberating Step Player Core 2 pg. 92
[b]Tradition arcane
Access Wizard in Tempest-Sun Mage branch of School of Rooted Wisdom only.
Range 30 feet; Targets one target creature
Trigger An enemy damages, grabs, or restrains your ally.
You free an ally from restraint. If the trigger was an ally taking damage, the ally gains resistance 3 to the triggering damage. The ally can attempt to break free of effects grabbing, restraining, immobilizing, or paralyzing them with a +1 status bonus. They either attempt a new save against one such effect that allows a save, or attempt to Escape from one effect as a free action. Whether or not it needed to escape, the ally can then Step as a free action if it's able to move.
Heighten (+1) The damage resistance increases by 3 and the status bonus to break free increases by 1.
Special This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot.
Share Skill Spell 1
Uncommon, Linguistic, Manipulate
Based on Share Lore Divine Mysteries pg. 259
Tradition arcane
Cast 1 minute
Range 30 feet; Targets up to 3 creatures
Duration 10 minutes
Access Wizard in Uzunjati branch of School of Rooted Wisdom only.
You tell a story that provides temporary enlightenment about a skill. Select a skill feat you know that requires a skill proficiency in its prerequisites. The target creatures who satisfy the prerequisites of that feat gain that feat for the duration of the spell.
Heightened (2nd) The spell grants them temporary trained proficiency in a skill prerequisite to the feat to help satisfy the prerequisites.
Heightened (3rd) The temporary proficiency is expert.
Heightened (4th) The temporary proficiency is master.
Heightened (6th) The duration increases to 1 hour. The temporary proficiency is master.
Heightened (8th) The duration increases to 1 hour. The temporary proficiency is legendary.
Special This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot.
Spellsurge [one-action] Spell 1
Uncommon, Concentrate
Based on Haste Player Core pg. 335
Tradition arcane
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 creature
Duration until the end of your next turn
Access Wizard in Cascade Bearers branch of School of Rooted Wisdom only.
Your research enables more flexibility in spellcasting. The target creature gains the quickened condition on their next turn and can use the extra action for only a Sustain action or in a Cast a Spell activity.
Special This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot.
Workday [two-actions] Spell 1
Uncommon, Concentrate, Manipulate
Tradition arcane
Range 30 feet; Targets One 1st-rank arcane spell with duration 1 hour.
Access Wizard in Rain-Scribes branch of School of Rooted Wisdom only.
You reinforce a spell to last through the entire workday. The duration of target spell increases to 8 hours.
Heightened (any) Workday can be cast on a 1-hour arcane spell of Workday's rank or lower.
Special This spell can be prepared only in a curriculum slot.
The 1-hour 1st-rank arcane spells are breadcrumbs, charm, fashionista, glowing trail, illusory disguise, instant pottery, invisible item, item facade, negate aroma, nudge the odds, reed whistle, tailwind, and unbroken panoply.