Pathfinder 1E Advanced Class Guide Playtest Rules

As announced before, the book is going to have ten new classes that are each mixtures of two existing classes. In the playtest, these two are the new class's "alternate classes". You can't multi-class with a class and one of its alternates or a class with the same alternate. Following that logic, it seems like they should errata the Magus so it has Fighter and Wizard as its alternates.

Here are some initial thoughts on five of the ten classes based on their presentation in the playtest rules. I'm looking forward to hearing y'alls views on these and the others.


Two I particularly liked:

Arcanist - Sorc/Wiz - A Sorcerer who can change their list of spells each day by studying them like a Wizard. One fewer spell per day per level, and ties with a school and a bloodline. Or alternatively, a Wizard who can flexibly reuse their memorized spells like a Sorcerer. I didn't have much hope for this one in advance because I couldn't imagine how they were going to do it, but now I can imagine it becoming the default to lots of people who can't decide which of the two core arcane classes they want. That they all have bloodlines could tie it nicely to the background of some campaign worlds and explain why not just everyone can learn magic (in a world where that wasn't the case, everyone could just choose the Arcane Bloodline and ignore the idea of it being in the blood).

Shaman - Oracle/Witch - Clerics worship gods, Druids worship nature and natural powers... Shamans worship spirits. Get some bonus sponstaneous spells, hexes, and a familiar to go along with the standard cleric/druid type hp/BAB/spells per day. Comfortably feels like it fills a thematic gap even if it isn't all that different and I like it a lot better than either the Oracle or Witch. A lot of NPC ideas immediately come to mind, and I can see it fitting in as the go-to divine PC class in some campaign settings. (If they separated stone and metal, would it do all of the worlds classic elemental systems?)


One I need to think about more:

Swashbuckler - Fighter/Gunslinger - Light-armored stabby Fighter. Use Panache to accomplish deeds. Panache (like Grit) equals the Chr mod to start day, and then regain for crits or killing blows with light or one-handed piercing weapons. Deeds give bonuses on actions, initiative, etc.. Another I wasn't expecting much from... I'm going to ponder this one some more though and try to imagine how it would work in play (haven't played a Gunslinger, I imagine if I had I wouldn't need to ponder much.) Are these the kinds of abilities that appeal to those who want the players to have more narrative control of combat or like some of the powers in 4e? If this is used, shouldn't there also be a variant of the Rogue with a panache/grit equivalent? Or maybe an Amateur Swashbuckler feat (like Amateur Gunslinger) and maybe variants for other types of weapons too (Archers? Dwarves with Hammers?)?


And two I was particularly disappointed in:

Skald - Barbarian/Bard - d8, 3/4 BAB. Sing to let your allies rage. I had higher hopes for this one... I don't no what I was expecting, but this one isn't exciting me now.

Warpriest - Cleric/Fighter - d8, 3/4 BAB. Bard-rate of spell advancement with orisons. Combination of Cleric and Paladin abilities. Bah! I wanted d10-full BAB Paladin equivalents.


I didn't really have expectations of the other five... and they didn't really surprise me one way or the other. Would it be cooler to call the Slayer a Bounty Hunter instead? Is it the first d8/full BAB class? (Edit: Apparently it was announced as a typo and should be d10).

I just managed to download it, but haven't had time to look yet. I'm interested in the brawler most of all - I like the idea of a non-monkish unarmed fighter.

Morrus said:

I just managed to download it, but haven't had time to look yet. I'm interested in the brawler most of all - I like the idea of a non-monkish unarmed fighter.

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I wonder if they were expecting the site to go down with the load or if they were surprised.

That one seemed like low hanging fruit with the non-ki Monk archetype on the one-side and several light/no armor and good at hand-to-hand or close weapon fighter archetypes on the other... but I can definitely see the appeal of the idea and I've been mulling it over for P6 for quite a while (tentatively mushing a few of the relevant fight archetypes together into a new one). I'm interested in your thoughts on the Martial Maneuvers class feature when you get a chance to look through it.

annnd there would be World of Orea's Shaman class...verbatim, no less: Clerics channel Divine, Druids channel Nature, Shamans channel Spirit.*facepalm*

steeldragons said:

annnd there would be World of Orea's Shaman class...verbatim, no less: Clerics channel Divine, Druids channel Nature, Shamans channel Spirit.*facepalm*

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Cleric-divine, druid-nature, and shaman-spirit are pretty standard power sources for those class types across various editions.

Bloodrager is pure metal. Investigator and Slayer are tight little packages. Swashbuckler looks good, although they might get a bit bogged down having so many deeds. I don't like pet classes, but Hunter seems to be a fine pet class.

Shaman is pretty cool. Arcanist is interesting and flexible and not really more complicated than wizard, which is kind of cool. Warpriest looks good assuming I'm missing the part where they can spontaneously cast healing spells.

On the flip side, the Brawler seems like it'll be too complicated for my table. Floating feats just add a ton of complexity. Similarly, the Skald actually seems simpler to me than the normal bard, but Spell Kenning worries me.

There are a couple options that aren't really any more complicated than existing simple classes, which is nice.

Granted, that's a cursory review based on coolness and complexity... but that's exactly how my players choose their classes. So it seems fair.

Cadence said:

I wonder if they were expecting the site to go down with the load or if they were surprised.

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Between the sale that was already hammering the servers and the playtest launch, I think they had to expect it. There just wasn't a good way around it (Stop the sale? Delay the playtest?)

Cheers!
Kinak

I would say that the Arcanist may be a little OP because you essentially get the best of both worlds in one class.

Paizo pretty much said this when they announced the book at Gen Con 2013, but the even if you weren't there, the subtext is clear: this book is their acknowledgment that multiclassing doesn't really work (or at least not at much as they want(ed) it to).

I love the Arcanist (because I always loved the Spirit Shaman from Complete Divine, and this is the same casting mechanic). The blood magic mechanic is pretty boring, though, I hope they liven it up.

Investigator is great flavor. A rogue with alchemy, with a ton of use for Intelligence. I was hoping that the Inspiration would be per encounter like the Factotum, but it's another per day resource. Definitely has the Sherlock Holmes feel I think they were going for.

Shaman is pretty cool, although the fact that is casts just like a cleric (cleric spell list, preparation, Wis based) doesn't make it feel very much like either the oracle OR witch. The spirit mechanic is legitimately cool, although I worry about the bookkeeping of changing your wandering spirit each day. I'd rather the wandering spirit give you one big bonus rather than a menu of selectable options.

The Brawler is another good concept, although being able to swap feats constantly could be another bookkeeping nightmare.

Skald is a yawn, and Warpriest is just the divine magus, minus the ruling nightmare that spellstrike causes.

Bloodrager is inspired, nothing to complain about there.

Slayer, Swashbuckler, and Hunter seems fine, but I'm not very interested in them to dig around.

TwoSix said:

The Brawler is another good concept, although being able to swap feats constantly could be another bookkeeping nightmare.

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I imagine most people will have two or three favourites that they use frequently. It should be fine.