Arcane Caster Question (Noob Question #?)

[DwarfInTheFlask]

I know about the Wizard and the Sorcerer being the normal useful Arcane casters who use utility spells and all those.

I know Warlocks, Warmages, etc are blasters (How many blaster classes exist?)

Is there any other Arcane class that is not a Blaster class and can use spells a little more liberally then those classes but maybe not have as much as the Sorcerer or Wizard.

I know PF introduced the Witch and such which is actually very cool with its Hex spell like abilities and so forth.

I am just curious I know Divine Casters have Cleric, Druid. and Archivist in 3.5 as tier 1s and so forth but I just figured other then the Wizard does the Arcane casters have anything else?

I know my GF would love to play a class that goes around just collecting spells from any schools or something. Its why she is playing the Witch so far but it would be awesome since we both like to RP exploring around and finding lost books and tomes and trying to find magical items and learn spells.

[Aegis013]

...
I know Warlocks, Warmages, etc are blasters (How many blaster classes exist?)
...
Is there any other Arcane class that is not a Blaster class and can use spells a little more liberally then those classes but maybe not have as much as the Sorcerer or Wizard.
...
I know my GF would love to play a class that goes around just collecting spells from any schools or something.

I'll caveat my response by saying I'm not particularly familiar with pathfinder material, so this will be limited largely to my knowledge of 3.5.

In 3.5 there also exist the kind of "limited Sorcerers" such as Beguiler (Social, trickery stuff, illusions and the like), Dread Necromancer (Necromancy), Bard provides similar.

If your definition of blaster can fit into melee guys too, classes such as Duskblade and Hexblade can do the Gish archetype well (magical melee type characters).

There are a handful or Prestige Classes that do sort of this kind of thing, with less of the collecting of spells but more of the gaining somewhat more limited spellcasting, such as Suel Arcanamach.

Psionic classes can cover similar, but aren't arcane, they're psionic.

Binder kind of sort of fits the Arcane who can use his powers more liberally but is more limited.

As far as what your gf is looking for, mechanically the most fitting options are also some of the most powerful; Wizard, Archivist, Spell-to-Power Erudite.

[DwarfInTheFlask]

I keep coming to the answer that Wizard is the end all beat all of Arcane, where as the Divine Casters have Three Tier 1 classes. Druid, Cleric and Archivist.

Can Archivist learn Arcane?

[Aegis013]

Sadly no, but it can learn every divine spell in the game. It gets its 2/level from the Cleric list, but if it say, finds a scroll of a druid or paladin spell, it can scribe that spell into its prayerbook and act like that is just another one of its spells.

Wizard is the most comprehensive Arcane, and one of the most powerful, with a huge deal of support throughout various books. That doesn't necessarily make it the end-all-be-all. It just depends on what you want.

I forgot to mention Spellthief is another limited Arcane.

[DwarfInTheFlask]

Well that was kinda my comment, Really other then the Sorcerer every other Arcane Class has a limited spell list(Bard, Warlock, Warmage) and is a blaster or a single focus kinda character (Beguiler for Diplo style, Necromancer for Necromancy, etc)

So if you Gestalted a Wizard and a Archivist you could in theory learn every spell in the game?

I meant by end all for Wizard is that it is the only real class that has access to as much arcane goodies. Where as Cleric and Druid and the like have access to the entire Divine Spell lists of their respective lists. With Archivist being the one with the widest general list.

[Emperor Tippy]

Look at the Sha'ir from the Dragon Compendium.

It can prepare any Sor/Wizard spell and a number of divine spells, one of which is Miracle. Miracle is able to replicate any 8th level or lower Cleric spell for no cost.

[DwarfInTheFlask]

I found this
http://dndtools.eu/classes/spellcaster/

Its a generic spell casting class, I could have my GM work on this for a game.
Would getting ride of the spells known and replace it with a spell tome be to much?

Maybe change the Bonus Feats for class features?

[Spore]

To pitch in for the PF witch class: They get some divine healing spells, debuffs spells from both lists and arcane utility. They really miss out on many evocation spells: They get lightning bolt, but not fireball for example.


I found this
http://dndtools.eu/classes/spellcaster/


Is that what power gaming heaven looks like? That is basically tier 0 right there, isn't it?

[ArcturusV]

A few odd corner cases?

As far as "blasting" there is also the Shugenja. A divine caster (But doesn't come with armor prof... so yeah...) who has elemental magic. Lots of "blasting" stuff if you pick Fire in particular.

Maho-Tsukai, a prestige class, but it has a fixed Arcane spell list going up to level 9 spells.

[DwarfInTheFlask]

My ideas or the straight link?

I thought so too after I posted, to cherry pick from three tier 1 lists even if at lvl 20 you only get 3 level 9
EDIT:
I looked it up and yeah Warrior. Expert, and Spellcaster are to be used if you do not wish to add a very complex class system. It advises if you use normal classes then these would not be very good to add into the same setting.

[bekeleven]

You're looking for an arcane caster that has a list more limited than wizard but isn't restricted to blasting, illusion/enchantment, or necromancy.

And nobody even mentioned the Wu-Jen.

[KillianHawkeye]

So if you Gestalted a Wizard and a Archivist you could in theory learn every spell in the game?

No, because Wizards don't have access to every arcane spell in existence. There are a few spells that are Sorcerer-only, and off the top of my head both Bard and Wu Jen have some that are not on the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list.

[DwarfInTheFlask]

Ok so StP Erudite Gestalted with Archivist would though, Erudite can learn any arcane spell as its restricted.

My GF and I do this in a lot of games, we search out spells and such because we like to know loads of spells in things like Oblivion, Skyrim, D&D homebrew settings, etc. We like to play those types of characters.

So I am not looking for a class that is more restrictive then the Wizard I am looking for a class that is LESS restrictive and I think only the StP Erudite meets that combined with the Archivist who can do that for Divine spells.

Of course I do know of Action Economy to a point, one spell per turn but still I like playing that type of character who is constantly looking and being a little dorky about his spell studies and my GF often plays a character like that too but more Hermione-esque.

[Red Fel]

Ok so StP Erudite Gestalted with Archivist would though, Erudite can learn any arcane spell as its restricted.

My GF and I do this in a lot of games, we search out spells and such because we like to know loads of spells in things like Oblivion, Skyrim, D&D homebrew settings, etc. We like to play those types of characters.

So I am not looking for a class that is more restrictive then the Wizard I am looking for a class that is LESS restrictive and I think only the StP Erudite meets that combined with the Archivist who can do that for Divine spells.

Of course I do know of Action Economy to a point, one spell per turn but still I like playing that type of character who is constantly looking and being a little dorky about his spell studies and my GF often plays a character like that too but more Hermione-esque.

If you play in games together, it may be more fun to play characters who are experts in separate fields, and whose areas of expertise play off of one another, rather than to play characters who both have the same nigh-infinite spell list. Think of any setting where there are two nerdy-types: One is usually an expert in, say, mechanical sciences, and the other in biological sciences. (For recent examples, we need look no further than Pacific Rim or Agents of SHIELD.) And then, quite often, circumstances arise that require one's area of knowledge and the other's, used in tandem to produce the desired effect.

What I'm suggesting is, instead of trying to build one character who has access to all of the spells, why not two characters who have access to all of the spells between them?

[DwarfInTheFlask]

I am aware, it is usually we play it as a competition but we also like to be sure if one of us goes down the party is not suddenly down half the magical field where you might need that players spells to solve a problem. Our DM does a lot of problem solving playing around our spell obsessed duo.

But I do get the idea and we likely will start doing that to be easier I am just curious for now.

So to be more clear.
For the Arcane player StP Erudite
For the Divine Player Archivist

Is that about right?

[TuggyNE]

I am aware, it is usually we play it as a competition but we also like to be sure if one of us goes down the party is not suddenly down half the magical field where you might need that players spells to solve a problem. Our DM does a lot of problem solving playing around our spell obsessed duo.

But I do get the idea and we likely will start doing that to be easier I am just curious for now.

So to be more clear.
For the Arcane player StP Erudite
For the Divine Player Archivist

Is that about right?

Or you could just cut to the chase and use Psionic Artificers for everything. :smallwink: