PF "Red Mage" Magus

[Reprimand]

So I've wanted to make a red mage from ff1-etc and either the bard or the magus comes the closest but the bard has the music gimmick and focuses on mostly illusion/enchantment. So I'm using Magus as the base class.

What class abilities would be appropriate to trade for access to healing (CLW-CCW CLWM heal and maybe a raise dead spell?), sorcerer like casting instead of wizard like casting, and maybe 4/level skill points

[Extra Anchovies]

I'm not familiar with the specifics of the Red Mage, but the goal here is a more casting-focused magus with some healing spells, yes? If so, how about this:

+2 skill points at each level
+cure [light/moderate/serious/critical] wounds, their mass versions, and Heal added to spell list at appropriate levels (no mass cure critical/serious)
+1 spell per day of each spell level
=spontaneous casting
-no medium or heavy armor
-no spellstrike

Trading spellstrike for the extra spell/day of each level and skill points is something that I offer to Magi in general in my games, because it makes for a nice buff-gish option instead of the standard channel-gish role that the Magus tends to fall into.

[Kurald Galain]

The Magus already has two archetypes that make it a spontaneous caster, so you could start from those. It also has one healing spell (Infernal Healing).

For the rest, I'd drop the L3 arcana slot and medium/heavy armor, and maybe one of the bonus feats.

[Baroncognito]

Well...

There's no magus archetype that gets healing, but there is an arcanist archetype that gets healing. White Mage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/archetypes/paizo---arcanist-archetypes/white-mage).

It allows an Arcanist to sacrifice one point from her arcane reservoir to use one of her spell slots to cast a cure -blank- wounds spell.

If we assume this is roughly balanced, then:

This archetype sacrifices 2 arcane exploits for this ability. An arcanist gets ten arcane exploits in total.

A Magus gets 6 magus arcana, so probably should only sacrifice the third level magus arcana.


At 3rd level, a red mage can expend 1 point from her arcane pool to use one of her spell slots to cast a cure spell (any spell with "cure" in its name) from the cleric spell list as if it were on her spell list and prepared. The spell must be of a level the magus can cast. At 13th level, the red mage can expend 5 points from her arcane reservoir and a spell slot of at least 5th level to cast breath of life.

This ability replaces the magus arcana gained at 3rd level.

Alternatively, if Variant Multiclassing is allowed, you could secondary Cleric or Paladin.

[Reprimand]

The red mage is more so the jack of all trades class. Bard would be perfect if not for the music support gimmick and enchantment/illusion focused casting

Some offensive spells/debuffs some defensive spells/buffs/healing

moderate skill points

low-mid HD

Mid bab

can wear some armor while casting.

[Baroncognito]

Bards don't need to have anything to do with music.

Perform: Oratory and Perform: Comedy just mean you get to talk a lot during combat.

Archaeologist bards don't even get performances.

[Draco_Lord]

Do not forget to max out Handle Animal, as it is the more crucial of all skills in the Red Mage's arsenal.

For those who don't know, this is an 8-bit Theater Reference.

[Reprimand]

Bards don't need to have anything to do with music.

Perform: Oratory and Perform: Comedy just mean you get to talk a lot during combat.

Archaeologist bards don't even get performances.

I meant the bardic music abilities in general.

[Spore]

Let us shore up what a classical (FF 1 thinking here) red mage has to offer:

- Fire/Ice/Lightning blasts
- weapon prowess of a rogue
- some buff spells (haste, slow, shielding spells)
- healing spells

Long story short: While this might feel like :elan: Elan the Bard it is actually more like :nale: Nale the Fighter/Rogue/Sorcerer. Sadly Pathfinder doesn't hold up so well in regards to multiclassing. I'd say go for Rogue/Sorcerer/Arcane Trickster (Sage Bloodline for more skill points because Int) OR Rogue/WITCH (Elements Patron)/Arcane Trickster.

[saxavarius]

Do not forget to max out Handle Animal, as it is the more crucial of all skills in the Red Mage's arsenal.

You can do anything with Animal Husbandry!!

What you want is a 3.5 factotum that focuses on magic
yes I know this is for Pathfinder; not really to knowledgeable about it.

[Kurald Galain]

Sadly Pathfinder doesn't hold up so well in regards to multiclassing. I'd say go for Rogue/Sorcerer/Arcane Trickster (Sage Bloodline for more skill points because Int) OR Rogue/WITCH (Elements Patron)/Arcane Trickster.

So if you don't want to multiclass, you're basically describing a plain Magus and a Magus with the Hexcrafter archetype, really :smallamused:

[TheIronGolem]

I meant the bardic music abilities in general.

Archaeologist doesn't have those. It trades all that stuff for rogue abilities.

[Reprimand]

Archaeologist doesn't have those. It trades all that stuff for rogue abilities.

It still doesn't really say I do a bit of everything but I'm not great at it. Also I hate illusion and enchantment focused casting. I like magus for the base because it already is a magic blasting/fighting mix just throwing in healing spells and changing it to spontanious cha based casting with maybe some more skill points since its not int focused casting with those changes while taking away medium and heavy armored mage casting and getting rid of a few other things.

I just don't really know what to give up in return.

[Oneris]

It still doesn't really say I do a bit of everything but I'm not great at it. Also I hate illusion and enchantment focused casting. I like magus for the base because it already is a magic blasting/fighting mix just throwing in healing spells and changing it to spontanious cha based casting with maybe some more skill points since its not int focused casting with those changes while taking away medium and heavy armored mage casting and getting rid of a few other things.

I just don't really know what to give up in return.

So, a Blade Adept Arcanist, somehow mcgyvered to be compatible with the White Mage Arcanist?