Is this PrC worth it?

[torrasque666]

The Magaambyan Arcanist(Collegiate Arcanist on the d20pfsrd, dunno why they didn't go with that, sounds nicer) is a fully advancing wizard prestige class. It gains the ability to swap its Mastered spells out at level 4. And to the untrained eye(read: mine) it seems like a semi decent class. You do have to burn a skill feat on it though to enter, which means that its another metamagic/useful feat that you can't take. Is this class actually worth the levels for a bit of flavor? Flavor-wise it seems nice to me, but I want to know if its abilities make up for it. After all, it does actually get class features unlike pure wizard which only gets bonus feat/discoveries.

[avr]

Unless your spellbook gets toasted on a regular basis it's a 2 feat tax to enter, no one takes Spell Mastery normally. As you note you're missing out on 2 bonus feats too if you take it to 10th level. 4 feats is a fair bit to miss out on.

Despite that it has its points. You get druid & eventually some cleric spells, you get an aura of good so Sacred Summons is an option if you're a conjurer, and you get to spontaneously cast your mastered spells from midway thru the class.

I think as a wizard I'd probably prefer all the feats but there's some specialised concepts which could use it.

[Spore]

Very specialised as said but there are a few cleric and druid spells I would kill for to have on the list of a wizard. Greater magic fang, Entangle, Warp Wood, Freedom of Movement, Animal Growth (with any Summon x spell animal), Antilife Shell, Heal, Earthquake and Elemental Swarm are all very welcome spells on a Wizard spell list. You also get Align Weapon (Good), Dispel Evil, Holy Smite, Holy Word and Holy Aura.

Also, permanent undispellable Protection from Evil. With great saving throws, she can use Altruistic guardian to protect the Fighter from Dominate effects. She can protect the rogue from Fort saves and so on. I really really like the class. It's like an arcane theurge but good.

[Khantin]

At 9th level they can prepare an unused empty spell slot as a full round action as opposed to a 15 minute action, int-mod times a day. Pretty decent for a bat man wizard.

[torrasque666]

I would imagine around then you could have around 28 INT, right? Or at least 26, so you could leave almost any level slot open for when you need it.

[grarrrg]

It gains the ability to swap its Mastered spells out at level 4.
It can change its Mastered spells at 2nd, it can Spontaneously cast Mastered spell at 4th.


I want to know if its abilities make up for it. After all, it does actually get class features unlike pure wizard which only gets bonus feat/discoveries.

A Wizard also has School abilities that (generally) scale with level, and some Arcane Discoveries can be quite worth it (and they require a strict WIZARD level, not just Caster level), yes a Wizard doesn't have a lot of "features", but it gets more than 'just feats'.

As for is it worth it? It can be. Gaining access to off-list spells is always pretty tasty, and giving a Wizard (limited) Spontaneous spellcasting is just icing on the off-list cake.

[Gemini476]

There are very few PrCs in Pathfinder that are worth it - the Magaambyan Arcanist, Bloatmage and Exalted are the common examples, IIRC. Oh, and there's a pretty neat assassin-esque one that I forgot the name of.

Spell Mastery may normally be a fairly useless feat if the DM never throws you in a dungeon or otherwise temporarily take a away your spell book, but the Magaambyan Arcanist makes it useful again. You can change the mastered spells, prepare them in a minute (and eventually as a full-round action), spontaneously cast them, effectively get one extra slot of your highest spell level usable only for mastered spells...

It's a pretty good PrC. Getting one first-level druid spell and two more of each level up to fifth as well as one sixth and also all the spells on the Good domain is a pretty neat extra. Oh, and permanent Protection From Evil is nice.

If you really want to cheese the system, check if Wizard 5/Magaambyan Arcanist 1/Evangelist 10 is for you. That's a lot of class features on top of your casting.

Whether or not any of these options are superior to Wizard 20 (or Wizard 15, I guess) is up to you.

[grarrrg]

It's a pretty good PrC. Getting one first-level druid spell and two more of each level up to fifth as well as one sixth

It all depends on when you take the levels.
If you get in ASAP and take all 10 levels right way, you'll get one 1st level Druid spell, one 6th level, and two each in between.
But if you delay some, or all, of the levels you can have two each of 4th, 5th, and 6th, and get FOUR 7th level Druid spells.
It all depends on how bad you want/need the other abilities.

[torrasque666]

So would it be better to alternate between Wizard/Evangelist and MA?

Also, I'm finding it hard to find information on what seems to be the primary mechanic of Evangelist, the divine boons, as I can't afford to purchase books right now.

[grarrrg]

So would it be better to alternate between Wizard/Evangelist and MA?

That depends on what you think the 'best' abilities of MA are, and how soon you want/need them.
The first couple levels are pretty blah.
Level 3 is when the 'good' stuff starts, straight until...
Level 6 is a decent stopping point, as level 7 probably isn't all that helpful (depends just what you are fighting though).
Level 10 can definitely be delayed until you can grab a 7th level Druid spell though.


Also, I'm finding it hard to find information on what seems to be the primary mechanic of Evangelist, the divine boons, as I can't afford to purchase books right now.

There's a guide (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j93nfBS7fdK4zJ94-fqjoQV6-yAMl6TpTsq0U4gH5Ws/edit?pli=1) for that, although it isn't complete. You'll probably need to find an actual copy at some point.
Due to copyright-stuff I highly doubt that we'll EVER see a decent/useable write up on the SRD.

[NamelessNPC]

So would it be better to alternate between Wizard/Evangelist and MA?

Also, I'm finding it hard to find information on what seems to be the primary mechanic of Evangelist, the divine boons, as I can't afford to purchase books right now.

Here you go
http://www.archivesofnethys.com/DeitiesByGroup.aspx

[Southern Cross]

I'd also note that 10th level in this prestige class also gives you the druid ability timeless body.

[torrasque666]

Going off of the original topic, how does Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple measure up against a pure Sorcerer?

[grarrrg]

Going off of the original topic, how does Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple measure up against a pure Sorcerer?

Assuming just Sorc/DD (no other classes):
Short answer: More gishy, but a lot less casty.

You still get full Bloodline abilities, which is nice, and you get a huge HD boost in addition to 3/4 Bab, add in the STR/CON boosts and you have a nice Gish-in-a-can setup.
But you lose 3 caster levels if you take it the whole way, which means no 9th level spells.

The recommendation here is to only take 8 levels of Dragon Disciple (or possibly just 4). That way you still get the best from Dragon Disciple, and still get 9th level spells.
Honestly, the last 2 levels of DD on an otherwise pure Sorc build are pretty redundant. Sure your Fly speed improves at level 9, but the big gain was _having_ a fly speed to begin with. Level 10 is also just more of the same, giving you larger Blindsense range and a 2nd daily SLA of Form of Dragon, neither of which is super impressive. Especially considering that the Draconic Bloodline gives _ALL THREE_ Form of Dragon spells as bonuses...kind of a waste.