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continuumg
2018-08-07, 12:51 PM
Hello, all!
What I have here is a fairly simple archetype for wizards who want some added value as party face.
A court wizard is typically an adviser on arcane matters for high-ranking nobility.

Diplomacy
A court wizard adds diplomacy to his list of class skills. Additionally, he may use his intelligence modifier rather than his charisma modifier for diplomacy checks.

Social Talents
At 2nd level, the court wizard gains the renown vigilante social talent.
At 4th level, and every two following levels, the court wizard gains another vigilante social talent of his choice, using his wizard level in place of his vigilante level. For the purpose of vigilante social talents, a court wizard does not have a vigilante identity and is always considered to be in his social identity.
This replaces Arcane Bond

Opposition Schools
A court wizard must choose one additional opposition school.
A universalist court wizard instead loses access to his school powers.

rferries
2018-08-08, 01:57 PM
Not too familiar with Pathfinder, but hard to argue with such a classic archetype (Merlin, Gandalf, etc). Nice!

Gorum
2018-08-10, 01:35 AM
Arcane Bond is level 1, the ability that replaces it is level 2. As a DM, I'd give all those abilities at level 1 AND remove the Scribe Scrolls feat.

And I would probably force the wizard to be a generalist instead of having an extra opposition school. If you are the top wizard, you can't afford a blind spot.

Finally, "court wizard" is a position of prestige. It would make for a better prestige class / NPC character. Or, have ONLY higher level abilities be replaced (Last school abilities or spell progression) so that a character is able to pick it when he's already recognized.

What would make for a good archetype is the way the wizard was taught, especially if it alters first level abilities. For example, compare how much sense a lvl 1 "court wizard" makes compared to...

> Academy-Trained Wizard
(Could use some Knowledge checks instead of some skills like a bard does with perform. EG.: Nature for Survival or Medicine (not both), Nobility for Diplomacy, etc)

> Experimentalist Wizard
Must be a generalist wizard, replace scribe school abilities with bonus spells, but those must be only arcane spells you DON'T know. You may treat bonus spells from high intelligence as bonus slots for Experimental spell. Experimental spells are cast as if the caster was spontaneous. Caster level for these bonus spells is Caster level -2+1d4, minimum 1.

Gorum
2018-08-10, 01:37 AM
That said, an Academy-Trained Court Wizard (if court wizard becomes prestige) would make a very interesting character.