Can’t I just cast like everybody else?

On paper, the Alchemist looked interesting – bomb-throwing, funny-sounding infusions, lots of custom rules.  Basically, it’s a replacement Bard – a limited arcane caster (who doesn’t *really* cast as such, he brews) who operates as a support character with some combat capabilities delineated later.   I skimmed all the classes and the Alchemist was the one I decided I wanted to playtest.

In practice, it gave me a headache.  I understand the urge to build a non-casting caster, but I ended up having to study for some time just to figure out how to make the class work.  (Not study to optimize, just to play, and I’ve played a lot of classes).

Mutagens – wouldn’t touch them.  I’m sure some players will want to build a self-only casting physical-stat booster who wades into melee despite a medium BAB, simple weapons and light armor – but not me.   (Also, I think there are other classes that probably do this better).

The few options to build a party-support character seemed weak – blade poison isn’t that great after low levels and being able to cast my spells into little infusions so other characters could drink ‘em later seemed clumsy at best.

So I built a Mad Bomber.  The Bomb options are kind of neat, though I wish they were a little more divided into Discoveries that Stack and Discoveries that Don’t Stack.  As it is, part of your Discovery stacks, but not the rest … headache.  Bomb damage is about the same as a Rogue’s sneak attack, but is a tad easier to deliver since it’s a Touch Attack and doesn’t require special conditions.  On the other hand, for most of your Alchemist career you can throw one Bomb as a standard action and are kind of wimpy.  I spent the level 10 Playtests wandering around trying to be relevant and getting killed.  I’m pretty sure my level 7 Ranger in our usual Campaign could take this guy at level 10.

That said, in the level 15 playtest I became a B-52.  I could throw bombs equal to my BAB, and with Rapid Shot and Haste (assuming both are legal) I could throw 5 bombs a round – at that level, 40d6+45, all touch attacks, with me needing to roll a 2+ with all but the last bomb against the big demons we were killing.  Considering I could throw various damage types, I could literally carpet-bomb big enemies and kill their sidekicks with spash damage.  At the moment it felt cool because I could finally do something useful, but in hindsight, that’s a tremendous amount of damage output.  (I can’t keep it up long because I only had 24 bombs per day, but still … until I run outta bombs, it’s evil.)

Casting was frustrating.  Because I hadn’t taken the ability to make my personal spells usable by others, I literally could do nothing to help my friends in battle and often couldn’t be effective myself, because I couldn’t hang in melee, had to get close to toss bombs, and couldn’t buff or heal my friends when they needed.  Even if I had been able to infuse my ‘spells’ for use by others, they still had to waste actions drinking them.  Any other buff caster would be better.  I did my most useful actions UMDing wands to help my allies, which was lame.

Recommendations and Thoughts:

I did like the class concept, even though it’s not very high-fantasy – still, a mad bomber is a fun idea, and though I didn’t use it, the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde mutagen build was at least amusing.

Make NO bomb discovery stack with any part of any other.  Make all the things that modify Bomb abilities that stack into feats – so I can get the increased splash radius or smoke or rapid-fire or whatever as feats.  (I didn’t need many feats, because few of them help me throw bombs, and I’m not REALLY a caster …)

Please, please make the Alchemist a standard caster.  It’s OK to know some magic in order to perform Alchemy.  If you cast like an underpowered wizard, you could use Metamagic feats and items and would be governed by all the ‘normal’ magic rules.  This would make for a much shorter, less complicated character description which can concentrate on special abilities and bombs and not the intricacies of casting without being a caster.  This would make it easier to be a party support character – and much, much more useful without being overpowered.

The Alchemist is enough of a skill-monger to sub for a Rogue, if they could disarm magical traps.  Just sayin’.

Throwing one bomb per Standard action is too weak and throwing at full BAB is nuts if you go for rate-of-bombing.  I’m not sure if there is a proper compromise for this.

And now for the rest of the party:
The Summoner:

A souped-up Conjurer or an uber-Druid – the Summoner is a cool character concept.  Basically, it can pull some magic and a lot of Summoning, plus it has a seriously heavy ‘pet’ that’s a mutable outsider – basically build-a-monster that is your Summoner’s loyal servant – called an Eidolon.

Oh, my.  After the playtest, we all agreed our Summoner was easily the most powerful character on the battlefield even though the Player hadn’t bothered to buy his 10^th level gear and only had a single magic item at 15^th.  This character never personally engaged in combat.  There were some rounds he was magically dominating the battlefield and the Eidolon wasn’t even participating.

First, the Eidolon is WAY too complicated.  I heartily dislike it as character ‘pet’.  I recommend you remove from the class entirely.  The Summoner is powerful enough with spells and their Summon Monster Spell-like ability.

If the Eidolon can’t be gotten rid of, please consider making ‘Eidonlon Master’ it’s own class – because, really, the guy controlling it doesn’t NEED spells of his own – or, at the very least, making it a ‘track’ of Summoner ALTERNATIVE to Summon Monster(Sp); having both of these was just amazingly powerful.

I liked the idea of the Summoner, but would modify it.  First, I’d make the Summon Monster(Sp) creatures individuals – you’re summoning the same monster(s) every time, so you build a relationship (and might be able to upgrade) your critters.  We thought it’d be cool if, for example, at 1-4 you can summon one Elemental, then at 5-8 two types, then 9-12 three, and so forth.  By 16^th level you could summon whatever elemental type you needed, and perhaps might have upgraded your extraplanar allies a bit with feats or items.  Seemed like a cool class different enough from a Druid to make them worth playing.

Overall, cool character concept, but the Eidonlon and SM(Sp) combination is ugly.

The Inquisitor:

Imagine a smoothed-out multiclass between Cleric and Ranger (with a dash of Paladin) and you’ve got something like an Inquisitor.  Limited casting (more Bard, not Pally), Cleric-ish selection of weapons, and some cool abilities.  Could sub for a Ranger or Pally or light support caster.

This class seemed pretty good from my side of the table.  He needed a Battle Buddy to really use his powers, but did well in Melee and later on tossed some handy spells.   We didn’t notice any abilities or skills that seemed over or underpowered, though anything ‘Teamwork’ seemed a bit weak.

The Witch:

Basically another heavy-caster class, like a Wizard or Sorc; the Witch (A Witch!) has a few special abilities and less of a direct-damage casting list.

Not too shabby – like most power casters, struggled a bit to hit her stride, but contributed a LOT to the battles and was generally liked – except the NAME.  First, ‘Witch’ makes everybody assume a female character, and second, ‘A Witch’ causes spontaneous Monty Python and the Holy Grail quoting, which chews up game time every time it happens. 

The Cavalier:

A dedicated mounted fighter focused on lance charges and with banners to boost his allies, the Cavalier is distantly related to the old 1st Edition Cav.

Oh, the poor Cavalier.  Of all the classes we tested, this was the only one I think we’d reject completely.  The Cavalier is WAY too dependent on horses and charging.  The poor Cavalier was the most prone to be killed or badly wounded.  Fighting a dungeon crawl without a mount was crippling.

I played a Cavalier back in 1^st edition and loved him.  Right now, there’s really no reason not to play a Fighter instead.

Suggestions (radical):  Repurpose this class.  Were it me, I’d make them a non-magical buffer like a Bard who can fight well in melee – Cavaliers Lead the Way or something like that.  Possibly Morale boosting abilities for all allies in 30’ on a Charge OR when set to Receive a Charge.  (Radius increases when mounted or something).  Morale bonuses to Save if they make a save or Crit if they Crit.  Their mount and allies mounts should be able to charge further.  The ability to take a Monster Mount at high levels.

Their abilities – whatever they are – need to work on foot and mounted, or they swap abilities when on foot or mounted, or as a last resort, give them two Cavalier tracks, one specializing in being mounted, the other for being afoot.

Finally, if you’re going to tie most of their combat power to a mount, you’ve got to make sure they can keep their mount with them.  What happens when the Cavalier has to adventure underwater?  In a narrow hallway?  I’d let them magically summon their horse.

The Final Word:

OK.  I’m a High-Fantasy, Low Magic kind of player in general, a roleplayer who rarely min-maxes and doesn’t much care for multiclassing for optimization.  That said, there’s little among these classes that appeals to me.  I’d ban Summoners outright from my campaigns without major changes to their Eidolon and power level.  I doubt many would play an Alchemist or Cavalier without minor changes to the first and major to the second.  Right now the Inquisitor and Witch would fit into my Campaign setting and games just fine.  Wish we’d gotten to test the Oracle …

Mainly, though, all these classes are COMPLICATED.  Some needlessly so.  I realize every class can’t be simple, but Pathfinder has enough shared mechanics in combat, magic and monsters that creating new classes shouldn’t require quite so much mental gymnastics.  I’m not asking for dumbed-down classes, just elegance in gameplay, even if it takes more playtesting and more time.

I’m sure the other guys will chime in with their thoughts, then they’ll send them on to Paizo.  I’m looking forward to seeing the final product!

More specifically, I rather like the Summoner and the Witch.  I like what they did with the Oracle, but it doesn’t particularly strike my fancy, and I think the Cavalier is a little redundant.  I’ll go into each class a little more specifically.

Summoner: d8 hit die, 3/4 BAB, Strong Will Save, 2 Skill points per level from an odd list (includes UMD), simple weapons, light armor, spontaneous spells from a limited but useful list with slightly better than Bard-ish progression, Summon Monster as a spell-like ability 3 + Cha mod times per day (which scales up as if you were a Wizard casting it) for 1 minute per level, and a bunch of supernatural abilities.

Unique-ish abilities: Starting at 1st level you get an Eidolon (basically a pimped out arcane Animal Companion), which you can summon once per day, and it stays with you until it dies or you dismiss it. The Eidolon improves as you gain levels. Notably, it is not tied to your caster level and does not officially count as a Special Mount or Animal Companion, which means that if you multi-class or enter a PrC, your Eidolon will quickly become useless. So Summoner 20 is pretty much your only viable Summoner build. You can also sacrifice hit points to keep your Eidolon alive (and vice verses at 14th level), which makes tanking a viable option.

The eidolon is my favorite part of this class.  You get a pool of points each level to build your pet.  You give it limbs, attacks, defenses, SLAs, skills and movement types.  As you progress in levels, you get more points.  You can just add new features or you can entirely rebuild your critter.  It’s up to you.  The spell casting is a nice addition, but the real focus of this class is the eidolon and the SLA of Summon Monster that you get.  The summoner’s Summon Monster is a standard action (rather than one round) and it lasts for a minute, rather than one round per level.  So, up to level 10, your summons last longer than anyone else’s (barring Metamagic Extend).  Combats rarely last longer than 10 rounds anyway, so it doesn’t make much difference if your fiendish dire tyrannosaur is there for one minute or two.

There are still some issues to work out with the summoner, such as the ability to summon 7 extra attackers to the field straight out of the box. (Yes, it takes 7 rounds and then you are done for the day, but with the one minute duration, you can summon them right before opening the door to attack the BBEG.)  Some of the “evolutions” (that is, the modifications for the eidolon) are either way too useful or way too useless.  But that’s what a playtest is for.

Overall opinion: Excellent class that I would love to play when it is finalized.

Witch: d6 hit die, 1/2 BAB, Strong Will Save, 2 Skill points per level from a Wizard-ish list plus UMD (does every Pathfinder class get UMD?), simple weapons, no armor, prepared spells from a good but limited list with Wizard spell progression. You also get a Familiar, which adds bonus spells known to your list depending on which Familiar you choose.

Unique-ish abilities: You gain Hexes at 1st and every even level, which are for the most part basically debuff oriented Invocations. They allow a Save, but are Supernatural abilities, so you don’t have to worry about Spell Resistance or AMF.

I really like the witch.  It seems like an excellent, flavorful class.  It seems rather well balanced (I’d put it high tier 3 or low tier 2).  If you play Pathfinder core only (no 3.5 books) then this class fares very well.  If you start bringing in splatbooks from 3.5, then it starts to get rather weak, as it has a unique spell list, with a mish-mash of arcane and divine spells.

One thing I like (and am hesitant) concerning the witch is that its familiar doubles as its spellbook.  This is great, flavor-wise.  The witch doesn’t get its spells through books, but by a commune with a pseudonatural being.  Each familiar also gives the witch a set of bonus spells that differs from familiar to familiar.  The problem is that the witch familiars are no tougher than the wizard/sorcerer’s familiar.  Meaning they die pretty quickly when it comes down to it.  Something needs to be done about this.  I suggest treating the familiar as a summoned creature (like the eidolon, for instance) that you can summon each day as a level 1 SLA.  That way, if it takes more damage than its current HP, it just gets un-summoned and you can get it back tomorrow.

Also, one other problem with the witch is the hexes.  They are (for the most part) excellent buffs/debuffs.  The only problem is that, while they are (Su) abilities, they explicitly provoke AoOs.  This wouldn’t be too terrible if it weren’t for the fact that the vast majority of them are touch attacks.  Not ranged touch attacks, but “walk up to the scary creature with your d6 hit die, low strength, no armor and poor BAB and try to punch him without dying” touch attacks.  This, I am sure, is being changed.  The current fix seems to be that they simply don’t provoke AoOs.  This still means you have to wade into melee but with a feat or two, you can skirmish with these.

Overall opinion: Fix the hexes and I will stat this up as my next villain without any question

Cavalier: d10 hit points, Full BAB, Strong Fort Save, 4 Skill points per level with the Paladin’s Skill list, simple/martial weapons and all armor and shields (except Tower Shield). You get a Druid’s animal companion as a mount (using the same rules) but without the Share Spells ability. You get a some Fighter bonus feats.

Unique-ish abilities: Once per combat you can “Challenge” a foe, gaining scaled Precision damage against them (7d6 at 19th level), but you count as being Flanked against everyone else (buy armor of Heavy Fortification or something similar to protect against Rogues). You must join an Order, and you gain some abilities and roleplaying restrictions based on which Order you join. The abilities are a mixed bag and you generally can’t change Orders without a lengthy conversion, so choose carefully. You also must take an Oath, which gives you a very minor bonus and imposes another roleplaying restriction. At 11th level, you get a free Special Attack (Bull Rush, Trip, etc) when you Charge. At 20th level, your Charge damage is multiplied and Stuns enemies for 1d4 rounds (and notably, if they Save they are still Staggered for 1d4 rounds).

Like I said earlier, I don’t see any real reason for the cavalier.  It’s essentially a fighter/paladin focused on mounted combat.  The orders/oaths are an interesting idea, but poorly implemented, I think.  You get mechanical bonuses for roleplay.  I understand that roleplay is very important.  I am a big fan of it, but my archivist doesn’t get mechanical bonuses for playing him like a bookish scholar rather than a juggernaut of destruction.  The party cleric doesn’t get mechanical bonuses for making sure to face east every morning and bowing to the west every night because he worships the sun.  But the cavalier gets mechanical bonuses for not having sex if he takes the Oath of Chastity.  Bleh.

Other than that, the “challenge” ability seems a little messed up.  You challenge a specific enemy, which lets you toss a couple extra d6s at him when you hit.  However, this makes you considered flanked to everyone else on the battlefield.  Just hope you aren’t fighting anything with rogue levels!  It seems to try to mimic the “marked” condition that 4e introduced, but it does it poorly.  This ability, in my opinion, needs to be completely scrapped.

Overall opinion: mounted combat is too limited in most campaigns to justify a whole base class.  Cut this into a 5-10 level prestige class for paladins/fighters/rangers and I would love it.

Oracle: d8 hit die, 3/4 BAB, Strong Will Save, 4 Skill points per level from a Cleric-ish list, simple weapons, light armor, shields, Spontaneous spells drawn from the Cleric’s list using the Sorcerer’s spell progression.

Unique-ish abilities: You are cursed in some way (blind, deaf, etc) but also gain a special abilities based on your curse (darkvision, tremorsense, etc). You also gain “Revelations” as you gain levels, which are Supernatural and Extraordinary abilities. Which abilities you get depend on your chosen “Focus.” Like the Cavalier’s Order, they are a mixed bag in terms of power level and usefulness.

This is, in my opinion, what the Favored Soul should have been.  Spontaneous divine caster that actually works.  I’m sad to say that I probably spent the least amount of time reading this one.  This is largely due to the fact that this class just isn’t really my thing.  It’s well built and I like that the mechanical bonuses come with mechanical drawbacks (rather than roleplay ones like the cavalier).  No real complaints or suggestions.

Overall opinion: if you liked the favored soul, but thought getting wings was silly, the oracle is for you.

Overall overall opinion:  I like what Paizo is doing with their game.  While I wouldn’t play all of these classes, I do like the lack of power creep and the diversification.  I can’t wait to see their final versions.

I will put up a review of the next two playtest classes when they appear.