What Does "Legacy" Mean? & Other Questions

[FlayeSFS]

8th level Versatile Human Battle Mage; my first PF2 character. Strictly PFS adventures at the friendly local or conventions.

I have an Endless Grimoire, which is marked as a "legacy" item on AoN. What does this mean?

Counting Slots: as I understand it, I start with 3 1st level slots. If I prepare spells using the Grimoire, I can prepare an extra 1st level slot. My familiar has the Spell Battery master ability, which gives me an extra 1st level slot. Being a Battle Mage, I have an extra slot that can be filled with a Battle Mage spell. I'm seeing 6 total 1st level slots. Am I doing that right? If I manage to acquire a Ring of Wizardry that gives 2 extra 1st level slots, would that mean 8 total 1st level slots? Or, is there a stacking issue with the Grimoire, the Familiar feat, or something else?

I spent my 2nd level class feat on the Rogue Dedication. I feel that it's wildly "front loaded" & an excellent choice, but later dedication feats -- like Skill Mastery -- make it even better. Friends of mine in Indianapolis argued that this choice kept me from getting valuable Wizard feats ... but I don't really see any such thing until at least 6th level, & in any event I don't think they compare with the Rogue dedication benefits & the ability to get Mobility. Anyone have thoughts on this? FWIW, the Rogue dedication fits perfectly into the character's backstory.

I do not currently have a staff. I keep looking at the Common staves available, but I can't help thinking I should wait until 10th level to get a better one. Am I making a silly mistake thinking this way?

Finally, anyone have thoughts on things like Spellhearts & Talismans & such? Many thanks in advance!

[HolyFlamingo!]

"Legacy" means the item was printed prior to the mid-edition "remaster" update and might contain some minor rules incompatibilities, such as references to alignment or outdated terminology. 95% of the time, you won't have any issues using it. For Society specifically, you're expected to use the remastered version of any item if it's available. However, since no such version of the Endless Grimoire exists, you should be fine.

Society does expect you to own or at least have regular access to any books you pull material from (excluding Player Core 1 and 2 and a few special cases), so pay attention to which sources you're using and make sure you can bring a copy (physical or digital) to the table with you.

Additional spell slots don't cancel each other out, so you should be fine on that front. Rogue dedication is great. Low level staves are pretty meh, so you're not missing much.

[Squark]

1) Legacy means the source predates the remaster. That usually doesn't affect the legality of an item in PFS unless the item was related to the old spell schools (evocation, illusion, transmutation, etc) though.

2) Yes. I don't know that you need that many 1st rank spell slots, but yes.

3) Did you just take the school of battle magic from the Player Core, or the War Mage Class archetype from Battlecry! In the former case, go ahead, base wizard feats are dissappinting. In the latter, you must take War Mage dedication as your 2nd level feat, and will need to have three War Mage feats before taking another dedication barring some shenanigans like the Human feat Multitalented at 9th level. Fortunately, unlike regular wizard feats, War Mage feats are excellent and worth taking.
Edit: Upon double checking, the class archetype is "War Mage", not "Battle Mage", so probably never mind. Just my memory being unreliable.

4) Not in my opinion. I prefer utility staves.

5) The spells from spellhearts, aside from the cantrip, scale poorly and aren't worth it. You have enough cantrips as a wizard, so unless a spellheart has a nice passive, I wouldn't bother. As for talismans, I don't recall any that work well for wizards.

[NorrKnekten]

Legacy just means that the source of which it was printed in was for the old pre remaster edition and thus might not be compatible with the newer changes,

You can get quite a few sources of additional slots indeed and to my knowledge there is no issue stacking items that give additional spellsslots.

Dedications does not stop you from getting the wizard things you want down the line. Mobility is a great defensive tool even if it is only for one attack per round, I would not really call it front loaded as Sneak Attack doesnt apply to spells until you get Magical Trickster which becomes available at level 8.

You can upgrade items for gradual improvement, doing so with a staff lets you go from a lower level version to a higher level version while only paying for the difference in cost between the two items.

[FlayeSFS]

Thanx all, it's nice to see I've got at least a few things right :)

& yes, I DO need that many 1st level spells. Because reasons!

[The Raven Black]

Scrolls are basically prepared spell slots that only cost money. And, for an 8th level PC, 1st level spell scrolls are extremely cheap.

Buy scrolls.

[ScooterScoots]

The scroll buying strategy is to buy lower level scrolls of things you don’t want to keep prepared, but might come up. Earthbind is a great example, so is laughing fit.

Generally speaking you should never be buying on level scrolls, they’re too expensive. The one exception I can think of is having a panic wall of stone scroll if you dungeon crawl a lot, which could block a hallway and allow escape. But certainly don’t be throwing them often.

Wands are best for buffs you’ll be using for a long time. The two categories are daily buff and 10 minute prebuff. Longstrider, darkvision (5) and contingency + whatever spell you’re putting in it are examples of daily buffs (though you can have multiple contingencies!), and heroism is an example of a 10 minute prebuff - once you’re high enough level you can afford to carry 8 wands + some scrolls and use it literally anytime it’s even plausible you do something important within 10 minutes. That’s around 12th to 13th level, and there are some other wands that become worth spamming at higher levels (false life, second rank invis, sometimes Stoneskin).

[FlayeSFS]

I endorse the "buy scrolls" advice. However, in PFS adventures, I've not seen a "need" for more scrolls than the PFS agent gives me at the start of the session, so I haven't really taken advantage of buying more. I probably will in future, though.

I'll take a closer look at wands, that's another thing I've not really got into yet.

Thanx much!

[moosher12]

These are the main mechanical changes from Legacy to Remaster that I found to distribute to my players:

• Alignment to Sanctification: Alignment no longer exists. Instead of choosing an Alignment, you may dictate any number of edicts and anathema that bind your character’s actions. Each Alignment was replaced with a corresponding Sanctification: Good Alignment to Holy Sanctification, Evil Alignment to Unholy Sanctification. Lawful and Chaotic alignments were removed, and not associated with any sanctifications. Each Sanctification has its own corresponding trait, and interacts with abilities with the Sanctified trait. Alignment damage was replaced with spirit damage, and alignment resistance was replaced with resistance to spirit damage and resistance to attacks with the corresponding Sanctification trait. See Sanctification Overhaul on page 41 for more information.
• No Spell Components: Spell components were removed. Spells with material or somatic components instead have the Manipulate trait. Spells with a verbal component instead have the Concentrate trait. Spell Component Pouches were removed from the game. Primal Symbols and Religious Symbols are no longer necessary to cast spells for Clerics and Druids, but may have other uses.
• No Spell Schools: Spell Schools no longer exist, and you need not keep track of a Legacy spell’s school. Wizards replaced Spell Schools with Arcane Schools. Arcane Schools contain spell curriculums which act as more freeform spell schools defined by a given theme, allowing overlap of one spell over multiple Spell Schools. Drop any Spell School traits (Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Necromancy, Transmutation) from any spells when converting. The Illusion trait was an exception that survived into the Remaster.
• No Activation Components: Item activation components were simplified. The Command component was replaced with the Concentrate trait, and no longer has the Auditory trait. The Envision component was replaced with the Concentrate trait. The Interact component was replaced with the Manipulate trait.
• Positive/Negative to Vitality/Void: Positive effects are now Vitality effects, and Negative effects are now Void effects.

As far as I can see, the Endless Grimoire works just fine in both legacy and remastered, and needs no compatibility modifications

[The Raven Black]

FlayeSFS wrote:

I endorse the "buy scrolls" advice. However, in PFS adventures, I've not seen a "need" for more scrolls than the PFS agent gives me at the start of the session, so I haven't really taken advantage of buying more. I probably will in future, though.

I'll take a closer look at wands, that's another thing I've not really got into yet.

Thanx much!

PFS is very different from an AP.

For example, most PFS scenarios take place within a single day. A scroll of 2nd level Tailwind will do the job same as a wand but it will be cheaper and available at a lower level, both for buying and for my old favorite of Trick Magic Item + Assurance.

I tend to have several consumables in my PFS PC's gear, including at-level scrolls for key spells like Heal or Air Walk.

[Errenor]

Also to my knowledge and memory you can't acquire Rings of Wizardry in PFS. They are uncommon and there were no boons for them. I suspect it's because the orgs think rings give too many slots and only to arcane casters with no analogues for other traditions. Wizards must not have nice things :)

[FlayeSFS]

"Also to my knowledge and memory you can't acquire Rings of Wizardry in PFS."

So far as I know -- which admittedly isn't much -- the RoW doesn't appear in any of the "one-shot" mods, but I do know of an AP in which it can be found. Obviously I will not say which AP it is :) What I don't know is whether or not APs can be run "PFS legal."

[Errenor]

FlayeSFS wrote:

"Also to my knowledge and memory you can't acquire Rings of Wizardry in PFS."

So far as I know -- which admittedly isn't much -- the RoW doesn't appear in any of the "one-shot" mods, but I do know of an AP in which it can be found. Obviously I will not say which AP it is :) What I don't know is whether or not APs can be run "PFS legal."

APs are entirely out of PFS. They are always free-play. GMs (and players) do what they like. So it doesn't matter if the Ring can be found in an AP.

What does matter though is that most APs allow GMs to grant players 'chronicles' which players can apply to their normal PFS characters. PFS and AP characters aren't connected mechanically at all (but players can recreate PFS char in AP and vice versa of course, only narratively though, they still are different versions). So if in one such chronicle the Ring would appear, it could be given to a PFS char. But I don't think this has ever happened.