[Pathfinder] Ultimate Magic

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Pretty big chunk of it is up over at PFSRD and I've been looking through it to wile away the time until I can obtain my own.

Magus class, some kind of Gish-in-a-can that I don't care about.

Bunch of new options for the other casters. New archetypes for everybody.

• New discoveries for Alchemist. Archetypes include Chirurgeon. Psychonaut, and Vivisectionist.
• Specialty bardic performances for Bards. Archetypes include Demagogue and Geisha.
• Whole list of ACFs for Channel Energy for Clerics. Cloistered Cleric, Separatist, Undead Lord.
• Animal and Terrain Domains for Druids. Dragon Shaman, Saurian Shaman, Reincarnated Druid.
• Replacement Domains for Inquisitors.
• Monk Vows. Meh. Only one archetype, but it's a big one; the Qigong Monk, which replaces almost all of the standard features for a buffet of options.
• New Oracle Mysteries. Dual Cursed Oracle, Enlightened Philosopher.
• Oathbound Paladins. Basically a huge list of Archetypes. The Ultimate Mercy feat lets them spend 10 uses of Lay on Hands to raise dead with no material component.
• Ranger Traps and an Archetype to use them.
• New Sorcerer bloodlines and archetypes that modify them.
• Eidolon templates for the Summoner, new Evolutions. Broodmasters have multiple weaker Eidolons. Synthesists fuse with their Eidolons to become melee monsters.
• Arcane discoveries for Wizards. Replace bonus feats, give you everything from crafting bonuses to animal speech to immortality. Metal and Wood elemental schools.
• Saved my favorite for last. Witch. Oh god yes. New hexes. Alternate patron lists. Archetypes. The Hedge Witch Archetype sacrifices her 4th and 8th level hexes for spontaneous healing like a Good Cleric. With no alignment restriction. A full spellcasting, Int-based, arcane healer with no alignment restriction. I have wanted this for ten years and everyone keeps telling me to just play a Cleric. Awwwyeah.

Bunch of new feats, goodies for everyone, but the stuff that really stands out to me are the Paladin feats. Paladins got a lot of love in this book.

Whole bunch of new spells, expanding everyone's spell list and several spells exclusively for use as Qigong Monk SLAs.

• Create demiplane, complete with lesser and greater versions. Available to Cleric, Wizard, and Witch but requires permanency to last longer than 1 day/level. I am now choosing to view the absence of permanency from the others' spell lists as an oversight. Hope my DM sees it my way.
• Anthropomorphic animal. It's like a temporary, weird version of awaken.
• Interplanetary teleport. Conspicuously absent from the Witch list.
• A 5th level version of astral projection.
• Cape of wasps, in case you want to be COVERED IN BEEEEEES. Also, a pretty nice spell, like a cross between fire shield and fly.
• Control summoned creature. "Nice looking succubus you just summoned. Mine now."
• All kinds of really specialized mind control.
• Next time the town guards decide to hassle you, cast epidemic or plague storm. Hope they like leprosy.
• You can make it rain poisonous frogs. Poisonous. Frogs. From the sky. Yes.

I haven't even read half of it yet, and I am already very, very happy with this book.

[Khantin]

play a cleric :)

in seriousness though, that sounds bad ass. I just started a pf game playing a witch, and we don't have a divine type. Getting that spontaneous healing acf would be a boon for this campaign.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Yeah, between that and the healing hexes. It's actually enough to lure me away from Bard/Chord. Possibly permanently.

[Infernalbargain]

I want to get cracking at a fey-infernal sorcerer.

[Axinian]

[*] Cape of wasps, in case you want to be COVERED IN BEEEEEES.

AHH! THEY"RE IN MY EYES!!!!

And hey, respect the Magus! It's pretty darn awesome as far as gishes go. It's like a duskblade with some of the factotum abilities built in.

[Violet Octopus]

Heh. One of my players plays a druid, which he wanted to replace with a bard that would basically be an expy of the Doctor. It'll be interesting to see his reaction to the Reincarnated Druid archetype.

[sreservoir]

I think echoing spell is badly-worded enough that it does not preclude the interpretation that the second casting lets you cast it again. am I missing anything?

[Arutema]

I think echoing spell is badly-worded enough that it does not preclude the interpretation that the second casting lets you cast it again. am I missing anything?

Nope. There's a long debate over this issue on the Paizo boards.

Rime Spell metamagic + Elemental (Water) Bloodline + Scorching Ray looks like a nice combo. Take Cold damage and be entangled, no save.

[Grommen]

Friend of mine tells me every time I talk to him "Man that Gunslinger looks kool".

[Gemini Lupus]

So...much...material...need...more...time...and games to play in

[McSmack]

I have a lvl 6 fire sorcerer with the draconic (red) bloodline. I'm not seeing much in there that tickles my fancy. Don't get me wrong there's lots of nice stuff in there, but not seeing a whole lot for mid level characters. Nothing really makes me want to stand up and pay attention, as a fire sorcerer.

Looks like most everyone else got some love though.

[Ashram]

Friend of mine tells me every time I talk to him "Man that Gunslinger looks kool".

Wrong book. You're thinking Ultimate Combat, which is still supposedly two months away. :P

[Akal Saris]

Ooh, looks more interesting than I had expected! Glad to hear there are lots of ACFs coming - more are always appreciated

[GoatBoy]

Anthropomorphic animal. It's like a temporary, weird version of awaken.

SUFFER NOT THE FURRY TO LIVE.

[BobVosh]

[*] Cape of wasps, in case you want to be COVERED IN BEEEEEES. Also, a pretty nice spell, like a cross between fire shield and fly.

http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=289


Any word on the alt magic system, or did they scrap it?

[Curious]

The Split Hex feat looks damn nice; double the pain, double the gain.
All this love is making me want to play a witch.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Any word on the alt magic system, or did they scrap it?

It's in the book, but the PFSRD section on it is still incomplete-- this is all from the WIP area-- and I never bothered with it in the playtest.

[CTrees]

The synthesist summoner seems like a truly incredible gish. It's limited to a +15BAB,sadly, but... otherwise, holy carp.

[grarrrg]

Paladins get a lot of neat tricks.
As mentioned, they can take a feat that allows them to Raise Dead (as early as Level 8 with minimal/no tricks, Level 5 if you can get an insane CHA boost).

They can also take a feat to improve their spell list.

And one of the Oaths trades away Divine Grace (boo!) but gives you the ability to trade uses of Smite Evil in exchange for minutes of +5ft. reach (WOO!), the same Oath at 11th level gives you extra AoO's equal to your Cha mod while using Holy Reach (stacks with Combat Reflexes). AND you get Haste and Divine Power added to your spell list (note: PF Divine Power works a little differently than 3.5, BAB is not changed/set, but you gain an extra attack)

[Prime32]

That healing monk archetype can theoretically destroy a language if it has access to sufficient clones. (its capstone destroys you and prevents your name from being written or spoken)

[Akal Saris]

Witch Hex:

Prehensile Hair (Su): The witch can instantly cause her hair (or even her eyebrows) to grow up to 10 feet long or to shrink to its normal length, and can manipulate her hair as if it were a limb with a Strength score equal to her Intelligence score. Her hair has reach 10 feet, and she can use it as a secondary natural attack that deals 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small witch). Her hair can manipulate objects (but not weapons) as dexterously as a human hand. The hair cannot be sundered or attacked as a separate creature. Pieces cut from the witch’s elongated hair shrink away to nothing. Using her hair does not harm the witch’s head or neck, even if she lifts something heavy with it. The witch can manipulate her hair a number of minutes each day equal to her level; these minutes do not need to be consecutive, but must be spent in 1-minute increments. A typical male witch with this hex can also manipulate his beard, moustache, or eyebrows.

DEAR GOD.

Cook People (Su): The witch can create fabulous spells by cooking an intelligent humanoid creature in her cauldron, either alive or dead. Using this hex creates one meal or serving of food of the witch’s choice, typically a delicious stew or a dough suitable for cookies, pastries, or other desserts. Cooking the victim takes 1 hour. Eating the food provides one of the following benefits for 1 hour: age resistance*, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, eagle’s splendor, fox’s cunning, neutralize poison (instantaneous) owl’s wisdom, remove disease (instantaneous). Alternatively, the witch can shape the dough into a Small, humanlike creature, animating it as a homunculus for 1 hour. The witch must have the cauldron hex to select this hex. Using this hex or knowingly eating its food is an evil act.

AWESOME.

[Axinian]

Cook People (Su): The witch can create fabulous spells by cooking an intelligent humanoid creature in her cauldron, either alive or dead. Using this hex creates one meal or serving of food of the witch’s choice, typically a delicious stew or a dough suitable for cookies, pastries, or other desserts. Cooking the victim takes 1 hour. Eating the food provides one of the following benefits for 1 hour: age resistance*, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, eagle’s splendor, fox’s cunning, neutralize poison (instantaneous) owl’s wisdom, remove disease (instantaneous). Alternatively, the witch can shape the dough into a Small, humanlike creature, animating it as a homunculus for 1 hour. The witch must have the cauldron hex to select this hex. Using this hex or knowingly eating its food is an evil act.

AWESOME.

Huh. Didn't see that one. That combined with Child Scent is COMBOTASTIC! Eating babies for fun and profit! (and eternal damnation)

[Luckmann]

Yes! The Alchemist Formulae list update is added! Just what I was going to ask for.
Thanks a lot!

A general question, though; What are words? I couldn't help but to notice that Alchemists apparently have a list of Words too, but it's news to me.

[Prime32]

Witch Hex:

Prehensile Hair (Su): The witch can instantly cause her hair (or even her eyebrows) to grow up to 10 feet long or to shrink to its normal length, and can manipulate her hair as if it were a limb with a Strength score equal to her Intelligence score. Her hair has reach 10 feet, and she can use it as a secondary natural attack that deals 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small witch). Her hair can manipulate objects (but not weapons) as dexterously as a human hand. The hair cannot be sundered or attacked as a separate creature. Pieces cut from the witch’s elongated hair shrink away to nothing. Using her hair does not harm the witch’s head or neck, even if she lifts something heavy with it. The witch can manipulate her hair a number of minutes each day equal to her level; these minutes do not need to be consecutive, but must be spent in 1-minute increments. A typical male witch with this hex can also manipulate his beard, moustache, or eyebrows.

DEAR GOD.

I know.

[CTrees]

Huh. Didn't see that one. That combined with Child Scent is COMBOTASTIC! Eating babies for fun and profit! (and eternal damnation)

There are one or two for altering your house, too. You can be the witch from Hansel and Gretel, using only RAW. I <3 Pathfinder, sometimes...

[grarrrg]

Witch Hex:

Prehensile Hair (Su): ......

DEAR GOD.

Cook People (Su): ......

AWESOME.

I think you got your comments mixed up.
The hair thing is pretty sweet (bobobobobobo bobobobobobobo not withstanding).

[subject42]

I'm interested to see how the Wizard's wand ACF plays out. That looks abuse-tastic for some reason.

[McSmack]

Witch Hex:

Prehensile Hair (Su): The witch can instantly cause her hair (or even her eyebrows) to grow up to 10 feet long or to shrink to its normal length, and can manipulate her hair as if it were a limb with a Strength score equal to her Intelligence score. Her hair has reach 10 feet, and she can use it as a secondary natural attack that deals 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small witch). Her hair can manipulate objects (but not weapons) as dexterously as a human hand. The hair cannot be sundered or attacked as a separate creature. Pieces cut from the witch’s elongated hair shrink away to nothing. Using her hair does not harm the witch’s head or neck, even if she lifts something heavy with it. The witch can manipulate her hair a number of minutes each day equal to her level; these minutes do not need to be consecutive, but must be spent in 1-minute increments. A typical male witch with this hex can also manipulate his beard, moustache, or eyebrows.

DEAR GOD.

Cook People (Su): The witch can create fabulous spells by cooking an intelligent humanoid creature in her cauldron, either alive or dead. Using this hex creates one meal or serving of food of the witch’s choice, typically a delicious stew or a dough suitable for cookies, pastries, or other desserts. Cooking the victim takes 1 hour. Eating the food provides one of the following benefits for 1 hour: age resistance*, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, eagle’s splendor, fox’s cunning, neutralize poison (instantaneous) owl’s wisdom, remove disease (instantaneous). Alternatively, the witch can shape the dough into a Small, humanlike creature, animating it as a homunculus for 1 hour. The witch must have the cauldron hex to select this hex. Using this hex or knowingly eating its food is an evil act.

AWESOME.

And now I have a new villian. PC's are gonna freak out when the missing villiage girl stumbles into town as an animated cookie and delivers a cryptic warning.MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

[CTrees]

Grabbed the book at lunch, will read thoroughly tonight. Flipping through, there are rules for wearing constructs as armor! If I read correctly, you can start with animated objects, for which they've published actual Craft Construct rules! Three thoughts: 1) Kill your enemies, craft them into a flesh golem, wear it while attacking more of your enemies. 2) Mithril golems looks like they'd count as LIGHT ARMOR! (your hindered as if wearing a breastplate. make it mithril...) 3) Colossal Animated Object (or other golem) -> humungous mecha! HUMUNGOUS MECHA!

[subject42]

1) Kill your enemies, craft them into a flesh golem, wear it while attacking more of your enemies.

Can constructs wear armor? I want to play a Matroishka doll.