Pathfinder Is Still Bad

[Voss]

Why... elf? Dex is a weird choice to focus on, especially in the face of the Con penalty, as the AC difference is fairly marginal, especially at low levels (once you can stack a bunch of crap on it, the combined total can be pretty decent, but for the first couple levels, you still have shit AC). The halfling is less goofy in that regard, and actually mechanically better if you want to just push AC and touch attacks higher.

As for specializations, and easy... conjuration and enchantment. Illusions can depend on the DM. Necromancy comes into play later. Alteration is largely support, good support, but you can simply take those spells alongside conjuration and enchantment.

Evocation, divination and abjuration are pretty much the bottom, unless you have some campaign specific uses of divination or abjuration spells.

[rampaging-poet]

I'm also making an Elf Wizard for Pathfinder. I decided to specialize in Conjuration because it has at least one spell at every level I'll be happy to have every day. My banned schools are Abjuration (because I can always make scrolls of Dispel Magic) and Evocation (because duh). None of the school powers stuck out as being all that great except Necromancy's Command Undead and Illusion's blinding ray.

Also Voss, in Pathfinder Elves also get +2 to Intelligence, +2 to overcome spell resistance, and +2 to identify magic items. They are hands-down the best core race for a wizard from a numerical standpoint.

[Doom]

Well, Mage Armor gives a pretty hefty bonus, and 1/hr level is pretty much "whole adventuring day" after a level or so.

The high dex means you also can use a bow pretty well (I know, PF wizards already get stupid numbers of spells as it is...but can you stack on idiotic feats like adding Int bonus to damage), and is a good backup in case I can't "5' step, LOL" every time to get out of melee for casting.

I might well just go Halfling, go daze-happy when I need to (although that hit die restriction is rough, still might waste a feat for a little while on 'Finesse), and Bluff-nuts at times, too. I have a spare 16 for Cha.

Still, the monster summoning is so stupid-broken (I choose any monster I want, including any elemental? Damn, going a bit overboard on utility there...), it's hard not to take, past level 1 anyway.

So, let's put Elf aside as too obvious. Suggestions for Halfling Enchanter (trying to max Bluff), or Halfling Conjurer (trying to maximize...something)?

[Voss]

Also Voss, in Pathfinder Elves also get +2 to Intelligence, +2 to overcome spell resistance, and +2 to identify magic items. They are hands-down the best core race for a wizard from a numerical standpoint.

Yes... but I was confused by the prioritization of Dex. Not the other shit.

[Rawbeard]

Ranged touch matters sometimes. *shrug*

[Doom]

Yeah, but it's only an extra +1 (but bottom line, since ranged attack is dex based, you MUST use a dex bonus race for most any wizard type).

Any breakable ways to make Halfling Enchanter work? Between the Cha bonus, the Enchanter Bonus, a viper familiar for +3, that's a lot of bonus, above and beyond what a spell might give. But I don't have the system master to put anything together with it.

Otherwise, I'll just go straight munchkin and elf wiz away.

[rampaging-poet]

Also Voss, in Pathfinder Elves also get +2 to Intelligence, +2 to overcome spell resistance, and +2 to identify magic items. They are hands-down the best core race for a wizard from a numerical standpoint.

Yes... but I was confused by the prioritization of Dex. Not the other shit.

Sorry, I missed that. I have no idea why I thought you didn't know that. I wouldn't prioritize Dex above Int either.

For my wizard, I didn't look too closely at the familiar list. Part of that is because I'll be playing with a new group via Skype, so keeping track of a familiar would be cumbersome and potentially spotlight stealing. That's also why I didn't seriously consider being a necromancer with a horde of skeletons. Speaking of which, does Pathfinder specify what uncontrolled skeletons do, or is that still up to the DM?

[Doom]

Well, I'm trying something less than the perfectly obvious...elf is the no-brainer, but I'm trying to see if there are any other options.

I can live without the Int bonus...improved DCs isn't relevant if you mostly summon monsters and buff yourself/others. If you start with a 16, that sets up for up to 6th level spells, and you won't get any less bonus spells than anyone else until level 7 (and by level 8 you can have an 18 int, assuming you don't just make a relevant magic item).

I guess I'll see if anyone else has significant Diplomacy-type ability...if so, Halfling Wiz it is, otherwise I'll go with all the obvious choices.

Under the assumption of a Halfling wizard with 18 Cha, Enchanter...what would I go for?

[rasmuswagner]

Under the assumption of a Halfling wizard with 18 Cha, Enchanter...what would I go for?

Magical Lineage (charm person), Bouncing Spell feat. Humanoids are often encountered in groups, and this way, if the first one saves, the next one has the opportunity to fail.

[Antariuk]

If outsider races are allowed, consider aasimar or tiefling. The variants Pathfinder spat out with the "Blood of..." pamphlets give you the extact bonus stat arrays you want for a wizard.

[Doom]

Thanks, I'll go with Tiefling just to be a little different. The munchkin at the table is aasimar cleric, which should give plenty of extra healing.

I still think it's nuts that a first level wizard gets 4 first level spells (one which need not be memorized in advance), 7 innate attack spells for easy damage (plus 3 more for tiefling, if he wants them), and infinite cantrips (quite possibly including Daze), which cover a wide range of utility.

[Avoraciopoctules]

I was skimming the SA tradgames forum, and it looks like casters get some pretty wacky options from the NotEpic rules.

Mythic Magic

It's time for that section of the book that's devoted to properly supporting the casting gods of Pathfinder. This is a big section, with more pages than the feat section and also more information-dense, since mythic spells can have afford to have fewer lines explaining their effects. There's no way this won't be several posts.

Mythic spells are basically juiced up versions of pre-existing spells, allowing you to spend one MP when you cast the spell to have some sort of increased effect. Many spells also have augmented versions, which allow you to spend even more MP to achieve an even greater effect. You don't need to specifically prepare mythic spells, just spend your MP at the moment of casting. If you cast the spell without spending any MP, it functions as normal. Additionally, when casting any mythic spell you can spend additional points of MP to make it Potent (+2 to DC and to caster level checks to beat SR) and/or Resiliant (-4 to checks to dispel it, and enemies can't counterspell it unless they also spend an MP). Combined with an augmented version of a mythic spell, and some features like the Archmage's Channel Power and you can dump an impressive amount of MP into one spell. Better hope it's good enough to end the encounter in one shot or otherwise seriously inconvenience your enemies.

Mythic characters don't normally learn mythic spells, they have to spend either a feat slot or an ability slot to pick up a number of mythic spells known equal to the character's tier, which means if you went all-in you could probably learn 150 mythic spells by spending all your feat and ability slots. This is probably a complete waste, since you would only have around 20 MP to spend on them- personally I wouldn't acquire mythic spells more than four times, and even three is probably pushing it. Spending one slot to pick up some is certainly not a bad idea if you're any sort of serious caster.

At any rate, on to the spells. Same deal as the feats: I'll give a brief description of the original spell for most of them before explaining the mythic part (mostly because I don't know what half of these spells do).

Spells A-D

-Ablative Barrier: Normally a protective spell that provides a small armor bonus to AC (meaning it doesn't stack with actual armor), converts 5 points of lethal damage per attack into nonlethal damage (or reduces the nonlethal damage by 5 if already nonlethal) and dispels after taking absorbing 5 points per CL (50 max), the mythic version adds half your tier to the armor bonus, amount of lethal damage it converts, nonlethal damage it blocks, and your caster level before it discharges. Honestly, not that great of a spell; it doesn't absorb much, there are better sources of AC and DR, plus I'm not sure if it actually raises the maximum cap from 50 to 75.

-Animal Aspect: Normally a feat that lets you personally draw upon the abilities of animals a little bit so you can do things like gain a bonus to jumping, climbing, running, swimming or some Dexterity skills, this one lets you also add a +2 size bonus to one of your physical ability scores and a +1 enhancement bonus to your natural armor, or cast the non-mythic version on another creature instead of just yourself. It's a pretty mediocre bonus, only advantage it has over better polymorph spells is that it doesn't necessarily render you unable to use your gear (but that's still an option with the right forms anyways).

-Animate Dead: Normally a spell that lets you turn corpses into zombies or skeleton buddies, this one lets you add your tier to the CL to determine how many undead you can animate at once, but sadly doesn't let you animate more than the 4 HD per CL cap. It also lets you spend another MP to ignore the 25 gp/HD caster level cost, which isn't bad. The augmented version lets you spend 2 MP at 6th tier to add one of two mythic templates to your new undead buddy to boost its capabilities for 1 day/tier or 10 MP at 8th tier to make a mythic skeleton out of your newly created friend. There's lots of fun things you can do with a reanimated corpse, and the mythic version of this spell can get you a really big bad skeleton buddy, especially if you've got desecrate on-hand.

-Animate Objects: Normally a spell that lets you create animated objects so you can re-enact Disney's Beauty and the Beast, this spell makes your objects stronger and gives them 50% more construction points (which means more fun special abilities). At the end of the day they're still constructs and not particularly powerful, but it's not bad to be able to animate your sailing ship and make it fly or something.

-Animate Plants. It's normally like animate objects, except druids use it on plants. The mythic version is exactly like mythic animate objects, except usable on plants.

-Anticipate Peril: Normally a feat that adds your CL (max 5) to the next initiative check the target makes, this adds your tier to the bonus and maximum. +15 to initiative is nice, not sure if it's worth a spell slot and an MP, but it's still a perfectly serviceable mythic spell.

-Antimagic Field: Normally a spell that shuts down all magic and supernatural abilities within 10 ft, this one lets you select a bunch of spell schools equal to 1/2 your tier to function normally in your AMF. Note that that's spell schools- supernatural abilities (including many mythic abilities with an (Su) descriptor) and maybe magic items still won't function. If you can live without your magic items for a few minutes, this is a pretty advantageous trade for a good chunk of spellcasters. Look at it- you're a spellcaster who is relatively unaffected by antimagic, the biggest spellcaster bane in the game.

-Arboreal Hammer: Normally a spell that lets you animate a tree branch to smack your foe, with a higher caster level letting you animate bigger branches to do more damage, this one lets increase the tree's Strength score by your tier to increase its attack and damage as well as animate two branches at once, which can stagger an opponent if they both hit and the target fails a save. Augmented version lets you spend 2 MP to animate three branches, which can stun a foe on a failed save if all three hit, followed by 1d4 rounds of being staggered, or half that if the target saves. This is some nice action denial, only problem is that you need to have opponents who remain within reach of your Whomping Willow. Gets more interesting if you can combine this with animate plants.

-Arcane Cannon: Normally a spell that lets you create a magical cannon that loads and fires by itself and can channel your spells into its shots, this one increases the cannon's damage and toughness, lets you channel touch spells into its shots and expend energy damage spell slots to make the cannon do a half-and-half mix of untyped damage and energy damage for several rounds. The cannon can have some nice accuracy since it uses your CL for its BAB and adds your casting stat to its attack while making a touch attack for enemies in close range, but it doesn't seem to reload any faster than normal, which means your 1 round/level spell might only make a couple of attacks before the duration expires, and it'd take a rather specific campaign to justify this sort of expense.

-Baleful Polymorph: Normally a spell that forces a Fortitude save to avoid being turned into a small harmless critter and then a Will save after a failed Fort save to avoid losing your mind to the animal form, this one means that anyone who fails the Fort save automatically blows the Will save, and prevents shapechangers from being able to undo the spell like they normally could. Even if you succeed on the Fort save you're still shrunk one size category and have a cosmetic resemblance to that critter for 1 min/level. At 9th tier, you can drop 4 MP to use this ability on everyone else at 8 HD or fewer within one mile of your target save for up to your tier in creatures that you choose to spare. This spell provides a hearty "fuck you" to anyone with a bad Fortitude save, and also lets you turn an enemy army into an army of kittens. A dangerous spell indeed.

-Bane: Normally a spell that gives enemies within 50 ft who fail the save a -1 penalty to attacks and saves vs. fear, this gives a -1 penalty to attacks, saves and weapon damage rolls while forcing affected enemies to roll twice and use the lowest result on the next save or attack made. Not bad, but it's a low-level spell with a low-level DC and effect. Not as much bang at higher levels.

-Barkskin: Normally a spell that adds an enhancement bonus based on your caster level to the target's natural armor, this one gives you DR/magic equal to double the armor bonus, or DR/epic if you spend two MP at 6th tier. DR is nice, but DR/magic is pretty weak in most cases. DR/epic is great against non-mythic foes though.

-Battle Trance: Normally a spell that lets you become more unstoppable in a fight by letting you fight on when below 0 and gives you THP and a +4 morale bonus vs. mind-affecting abilities, it also makes it hard for you to cast spells, think or walk away from a fight. The mythic version improves the save bonus to +6 and adds more THP, while the augmented version for 2 MP at 6th tier makes you immune to non-mythic mind-affecting spells, gives DR 5/epic and a +4 morale bonus to strength. Inability to flee can come back to bite you, but immunity to some mind-affecting spells and a bonus to strength is fun stuff. Still kind of a niche spell though.

-Battlemind Link: Normally a spell that lets you make a mental link with an ally to share d20 rolls for initiative at the start of battle as well as attacks if you're going after the same target (or give the target a -2 penalty to saves if you cast spells at the same target), this one lets you share mythic path abilities if you use them on the same creature (though an ally must still pay MP if copying one of your abilities that requires it). For starters, I would like to point out that the spell normally lets you target "you and one ally" which means it qualifies for the Archmage's Abundant Casting ability since it targets more than one creature, thus you can turn this spell into a 12-man mythic hive-mind. This has serious potential for abuse in the right hands.

-Beast Shape: Normally a chain of spells that represent Paizo's attempt to reign back the horrors of polymorph by limiting the effect to only a mild attribute bonus and limited additional special features, the mythic version of the spell increases the bonus to ability scores and decreases the penalty by +2, as well as improving your natural armor and crit multiplier for one natural attack by 1. Spending two MP at tier 2 adds a further +2 to the ability score bonuses, and lets you spend 1 round per tier during the spell acting as though you had Natural Spell. In theory you can cast while turned into an animal, but most people like animal forms for the face-eating potential and I'm not even sure Natural Spell works with Beast Shape since it's for Wild Shape, and thus might not do anything.

-Black Mark: Normally a curse that's activated when the target does something you prohibited, its activate renders the target shaken while on/in water more than 5 ft from the shore and makes it so all aquatic or water creatures are automatically hostile to the target. The mythic version makes it so that whenever you're more than a mile from shore, you're attacked by aquatic monsters as if summoned by Summon Nature's Ally VII. So it's an daily stream of angry dolphins or whatever. It's a way to pointlessly be a dick to someone, though I don't know what sort of PC would have much use for this.

-Black Tentacles: Normally a spell that generates tentacles that can grapple enemies in the area, the mythic version adds your tier to the grapple attack and makes it do more damage, while you can augment it for 2 MP at 6th tier to double the number of tentacles and the number of grapple attacks you can make against a creature per round, as well as letting you take a -5 penalty to grapple things that are immune to grappling if it comes from a non-mythic source. Black Tentacles is a great crowd-control spell at lower levels, but your bonus is unlikely to scale up fast enough to keep up with CMD at high levels. Still, at least you can smack around a squad of lower-level creatures.

-Blade Barrier: Normally a spell that lets you create a wall of whirling blades that damages anything that passes through it for 1d6 damage per caster level (15d6 max) Ref save for half, this one increases the damage dice to d8s and lets you cast the spell as an immediate action. Spending 2 MP at tier 3 lets you move the barrier 10 ft as a move action, though you can't change its shape or orientation and any creature who winds up in the path of the wall can save as normal. Still, throwing a wall in front of a charging opponent could be interesting depending on how it it treats running through multiple squares of the blade barrier.

-Blasphemy: Originally a spell that nuked all non-evil creatures in the range with a Will save-or-lose whose effects were greater if your CL was significantly higher than the target's HD (up to and including flat-out death), this one adds your tier to the difference vs non-mythic creatures making it more likely you'll murder a ton of dudes. Foes who fail the save also take a -4 penalty to attacks and saves and have their SR lowered by 5 while under the other effects of the spell. Blasphemy, Holy Word and its kin are some seriously potent nukes if you can ratchet up your CL difference.

-Bless: Originally a spell that provided a +1 bonus to attack rolls and saves vs. fear to you and allies within 50 ft, this one adds the bonus to attacks, saves and weapon damage rolls and allows affected creatures to roll twice and take the higher result on one save or attack of the subject's choosing while the spell lasts. Pretty good, but the morale bonus might not stack if you've got better spells.

-Blessing of Fervor: Normally a spell that lets you and your allies pick from a variety of bonuses to attacks, speed, defense, saves or spellcasting each round while the spell lasts, this one lets you pick two bonuses each round, providing a nice series of options that just about any character could find appealing. A nice spell.

-Blinding Ray: Normally a spell that lets you fire up to three rays of light that blind the target for one round on a failed save, or does minor damage and blinds for 1d4 rounds if the target is sensitive or vulnerable to light, this one blinds for 1d4 rounds on a failed save, dazzles for a round on a successful save, though if the target is vulnerable to light it's blinded for 1d4 rounds on a successful save or permanently on failed save. Blinding is a nice penalty to most foes, though this is a Fortitude spell so it's not as effective against beefy melee monsters you'd like to blind compared to other blinding spells.

-Blindness/Deafness: Normally a spell that forces a target to make a Fortitude save or be permanently blinded or deafened (your choice when you cast the spell), this one forces the target to make a save vs. blindness and a save vs. deafness. Nice, but deafened isn't really that harmful compared to blinding a foe most of the time, so it's usually not worth the effort to know and cast the mythic version compared to just blinding the target (or deafening it in those rare occasions where it's useful, such as when the target has echolocation).

-Blink: Normally a spell that lets you blink in and out between the Etheral plane and the real world to avoid half of all attacks from people who can't strike at ethereal creatures, this lets you spend a move action to stay on one plane or the other until the end of your turn, or a swift action if you spend 2 MP to augment this at 6th tier. Being able to control your stay makes sure you don't accidentally interrupt your own attacks or spells, which is nice and improves the defensive value of this spell by a great deal against most foes.

-Blistering Invective: Normally a spell that lets you Intimidate opponents within 30 ft so hard that they burst into flames, this one increases the damage, removes the save and makes it so they can't put themselves out as long as they're demoralized, and removes the language dependency and size penalty to Intimidate checks against things larger than you if you spend 2 MP at 5th tier. As hilarious as this ability is, being set on fire is still fairly low key- 1d6 points of damage per round. About the only thing it's good for is messing with low-level foes.

-Blood Crow Strike: Normally a spell that lets you punch fire/negative energy bolts at people from a distance using your unarmed strike (I think?), this one treats the unarmed strike as if you had Improved Critical, adds your tier to your monk level and lets the fire damage bypass fire resistance (but not immunity?). A rather poorly written spell to begin with, and I'm not sure you're going to get a whole lot of use out of a personal ability that requires monk unarmed damage and 4th level spell slots. At this point, it's easier to have someone cast Air Walk on you and then run up to punch them in the face.

-Boiling Blood: Normally a spell that lets you pick some enemies and make them take 1 point of fire damage per round, or pick some orcish allies and give them a +2 morale bonus to strength, this one increases the damage to 1d3 points of fire damage and gives 5 fire resistance to orcish allies. For 2 MP you can treat all allies as orcs when you cast this spell. A pretty underwhelming novelty toy, you'd have to seriously work at it to make this competitive with real spells.

-Break: Normally a spell that lets you apply the broken condition to a medium or smaller object within range that fails a save, or destroy it if it's already broken, this one lets you target one object per caster level and spend 2 MP at level 3 to break the objects on a successful save and destroy them on a failed save, assuming the object isn't mythic or held by a mythic creature. Usually smashing your loot is a bad idea, but there are probably things you might like to smash if you're creative enough.

-Break Enchantment: Normally a spell that lets you undo enchantments, transmutations and curses, even instantaneous ones that couldn't otherwise be broken, though they're limited to 5th level effects or lower. This one lets you automatically break non-mythic effects, adds your tier to the caster level check and half your tier to the level of effect you can break. For 2 MP at 7th tier you can bounce the effect back at its originator. A solid and useful spell to have in your pocket given the number of save-or-lose spells you'll run into.

-Breath of Life: Normally a curative spell that can be applied to creatures who have died in the last round in an attempt to bring them back over the threshold of death with no permanent negative level penalty, this one increases the amount healed, works on creatures who died within two rounds and can even bring back people who died from death attacks if the subject also makes a successful second save against the Death Attack's DC. For 2 MP at 9th tier, the spell can either be applied to once creature per caster level or a creature who's been dead for one round per caster level. It's certainly cheaper than springing for a raise dead or resurrection, and somewhat more combat-ready, though Hierophant or Guardian characters can get a somewhat better ability through Relentless Healing if they also have access to heal or a similar big-ticket cure ability, which can put the target in fighting shape instead of lingering with only a few HP. Still, not bad at all.

-Burning Gaze: Normally a spell that lets you spend a standard action to set people or objects on fire with your mind if they fail a Fort save, this moves it to a standard action, increases the damage from 1d6 to 1d8 and if you spend 2 MP you can use it to set one creature/level on fire as a full round action once during this spell. Being set on fire is still low-key damage, but at least you can torch a place? Good for messing with peasants, I suppose.

-Burning Hands: Normally small (15 ft) cone of low damage (up to 5d4) fire, this turns it into a slightly larger cone (20 ft) of slightly larger damage (up to 5d6). A terrible waste of resources.

-Burrow: Normally a spell that lets the target burrow through loose soil and the like at a speed of 15 ft (10 in medium or heavy armor) or through stone at a speed of 5 ft, though it doesn't leave tunnels and the subject must surface in order to breathe, this one lets the target breathe underground and increases the burrowing speed every three tiers up to 40 ft through dirt and 20 ft through stone at 9th tier. For 2 MP at 3rd tier, the target leaves a tunnel behind it for the duration of the spell that other creatures can squeeze through. There are some useful options for clever tricks in here, especially if you have characters who can hit and run in melee.

-Call Animal: Normally lets you call out to the wilderness for a particular animal type, and if one is in the area it will show up and then you can try to befriend it. The mythic lets you call up one animal per two caster levels, makes them automatically friendly and gives you a bonus to working with them while also allowing you to use this ability on magical beasts (though those get a save to resist the effect). Given that you can phone up things with a CR equal to your CL, you can pretty much double your fighting force at mid-levels by rolling around with a band of dire bears. It's going to be limited by the environment and the lack of high-level creatures to befriend, but when this thing works it works really well.

-Call Lightning: Normally a spell that lets you call down a free bolt of lightning once per round that does 3d6 electric damage normally or 3d10 if you're outdoors and in a storm, this increases the damage to 3d10 normally or 5d10 in a storm, makes the damage a mix of electric and sonic, and dazzles and deafens its targets- 1 round if they make the save, 1 minute if they blow it. Free damage is free damage, even if it's not all that much, though the conditions are probably the two weakest conditions in the game. Sadly, there's no similar upgrade to the spell's bigger version: Call Lightning Storm.

-Cape of Wasps: Normally a spell that summons a wasp swarm that provides concealment against ranged attacks, damages and poisons enemies who strike you in melee or lets you fly slowly and ungainly, this increases the swarm so it affects everyone around you as normal, adds your tier to the distraction DC, improves your flying ability and lets the swarm still screen you while flying. A novel spell, but the swarm does not have the HP to last long at high levels against any sort of area attack.

-Chain Lightning: Normally a spell that deals 1d6 damage per caster level (Ref save for half) to an enemy before jumping to nearby enemies within 30 ft of the primary enemy at a reduced DC, this increases the damage to 1d10 per caster level, eliminates the DC reduction for secondary and lets it chain targets so long as they're within 30 ft of another target, making it a high-damage surgical spell if you have access to a metamagic rod of Maximize.

-Changestaff: Normally a spell that turns a staff into a treant without the special ability to animate/speak to trees, this one turns it into a mythic creature and adds "epic" to the qualities required to beat its DR. At 7th tier, you can spend 2 MP to give it a mythic template. Only advantage this has over just boosting your summons is that it lasts for an hour per caster level. Still, it can whomp away on a wall or something.

-Chaos Hammer: One of a line of spells based on alignment that does damage and status effects, this one is a chaotic spell that damages (Will save half) and slows lawful opponents (with more damage to lawful outsiders- up to 10d6 compared to 5d8), but only does half damage with no slow to neutral creatures. The mythic version increases the damage up to 10d10 and 5d12 and the slow duration to 2d6 rounds, with 1 round of slow even on a successful save. The damage is still pretty mediocre, and if you want to slow dudes you should consider just casting slow.

-Chill Metal: Normally a spell that causes metal equipment to become colder and increasing damage people touching or wearing it over several rounds, this version increases the damage dice from d4s to d8s and each time the target takes cold damage from it must make a Fort save or take a point of Dex damage. Kind of underwhelming, but at least this spell already affects one creature per two levels.

-Chord of Shards: Normally a spell that lets you do a cone of 2d6 piercing damage (Ref negates) via music during a bardic performance, this increases it to 2d8 points of piercing damage that ignores DR and 1d8 points of sonic damage. Like Burning Hands, a complete waste of your time and resources barring a ridiculously contrived scenario.

-Circle of Death: Normally a spell that forces 1d4 HD of creatures per caster level of 8 HD or less to save or die, this changes it to 1d6 HD per caster level and adds your tier to the cap. For 2 MP at 6th tier targets take 1d6 damage per tier if they succeed on the save. Being able to kill off a pile of lower-level opponents can be pretty nice, but I don't think the augmented version is worth it at all- even if you're targeting mooks, they'll probably die to the death effect anyways.

-Cloudkill: Normally a spell that creates a cloud of deadly poison gas that automatically kills anyone of 3 HD or lower, serves as save or die for 4 to 6 HD, and a save or Con damage for creatures with more HD, this lets you move the cloud 10 ft as a move action and adds your tier to the thresholds so a 10th tier character can kill a creature with 13 HD or fewer with no save. For 2 MP at 6th tier you bypass poison immunity of living creatures, letting you scythe your way through creatures like plants, oozes and outsiders. Good for low-level crowd-control while violating the Geneva Convention.

-Color Spray: Normally a short-range cone of light that lets your enemies taste the rainbow and become stunned, blinded or even knocked unconscious if their HD is low enough, this adds half your tier to the HD threshold and makes it enemies are dazzled for a minute on a successful save. A heavens oracle can already subtract their Cha mod from the enemy HD to determine the effects of this spell, letting you take one of the save-or-lose kings of low level combat pretty damn far.

-Command: Normally a spell that lets you force a target to take a specific action for a round such as moving, dropping prone or doing nothing, this lets you affect once creature per caster level and even creatures who save are staggered for a round. So for the price of an MP and a 1st level spell, you are guaranteed to screw up the next turn of anyone who isn't immune to mind-affecting effects. Nice.

-Companion Mind Link: Normally a spell that gives you a telepathic link with your animal companion that lets you communicate with it as though you shared a language and make it do basic tasks without a Handle Animal check, this one lets your companion understand complex commands and do anything that someone with an Intelligence of 8 could do. Exactly what an Intelligence of 8 would be is left uncomfortably undefined, but it lets your animal buddy be a fully functioning part of your team so there's that.

-Cone of Cold: Normally a spell that creates a wide cone of 1d6 cold damage per level (15d6 max), Reflex half, this increases it to 1d10 per level and creatures who fail the save get encased in ice, halving their speed until the ice is destroyed via fire/bludgeoning damage or a Strength or Dispel check, though incorporeal creatures or those who are immune to grappling can't be affected. For 2 MP, you can make the damage half cold and the other half your choice of bludgeoning/piercing/slashing by throwing hail or icicles or whatnot into the mix. More damage and crowd control, but there are probably better spells.

-Confusion: Normally a spell that causes creatures within the burst to save or be confused, having a large chance of basically losing their turn each round as they do random things. The mythic version increases the penalties taken so that even acting normally still has a -2 to attacks and checks, and for 2 MP you can force one creature per round to roll twice and take the worse result when it comes to determining what they can do. Makes a great spell better.

-Conjure Black Pudding: Normally a spell that lets you conjure a black pudding slime monster that attacks the nearest creature (including you), this one gives the pudding and any that split off from it Fast Healing equal to your tier, which really messes with the split system by letting them split, heal, then split again well past the point where a normal pudding would have stopped. The puddings also won't attack you, though they can't take orders and any of your allies are fair game. For 2 MP at 6th tier you can add a mythic template to the prime pudding (but not its split-off versions). Interesting options if you can throw the pudding in a blender and then let it infest the place, but it lasts only 1 round/level and it's not really a threat at higher levels. You probably have other spells that are more worth your time.

-Consecrate: Normally a spell that blesses an area with holy energy, making it so it's harder to resist your channeled energy (+3 to your DC) while undead take a -1 penalty to attacks, damage and saves in the area, while consecrating an area with a shrine, altar or similar feature devoted to your deity doubles the bonus to DC and the penalty undead take. The mythic version lets you pick one of your alignment components other than evil and treat outsiders with opposite alignment as though they were undead. Could be decent if you have a portable altar or shrine and are in an outsider-heavy game, since the spell lasts a while.

-Contagion: Normally a way to touch a creature and give it a disease if it fails its Fort save, this one makes the creature contagious to everyone except you who it touches or who touches it (including natural weapons and unarmed strikes) and those touched must make a save at the spell's DC -4 or contact the disease. For 5 MP at tier 7 this you can apply the spell to every living thing within a mile, excluding up to one creature per tier who's within line of sight. Not really all that useful for your average band of adventurers due to the time it takes for a disease to take root and the fact that the DC of the disease itself isn't that great vs. high-level foes, but it's a way to commit acts of war against a community of peasants and bring back the Bubonic Plague.

-Contingency: Normally one of the few great evocation spells since it allowed you to cast Contingency and then another spell that would take effect when certain conditions were fulfilled (like "if I am incapacitated, teleport me home"), this one lets you cast it on your friends as well as yourself, though you can only have up to 1 + 1/2 your tier contingencies on your companions and no companion can have more than one at a time. At 5th tier you can spend 2 MP to reduce the casting time from 10 minutes to one round plus the casting time of the second spell you're using, though this drops the duration from 1 day/level to 1 hour/level- still good for planning an assault on someone. Contingency is a good spell, and this lets you spread the wealth around.

-Control Weather: Normally a spell that makes you spend ten minutes to start controlling the weather within a few miles to slowly take a form appropriate to the season ten minutes after you decide what to go for. The mythic version drops the casting time to a standard action, doubles the duration to a minimum of 8d12 hours (and either 12d12 or 16d12 hours for a druid depending on how multipliers stack) and decreases the change time to 11 rounds - tier instead of 10 minutes. 2 MP at 6th tier lets you ignore seasonal limitations and shortens the change time to a round, allowing you to be a capricious deity when it comes to the local climate. Given the duration of the spell and the fact that you get new spell slots and MP every 24 hours, so it's possible chain this spell long enough that you basically control the climate of your own little zone of territory as long as you live.

-Cup of Dust: Normally a spell that lets you curse a target to be dehydrated and be so thirsty that no liquid drunk can stop it, though I'm not entirely sure if it can actually kill the target since it says that it cannot inflict more nonlethal damage from dehydration than the target has hit points- does that prohibit the conversion of nonlethal to lethal when you take more nonlethal than you have HP? Anyways, the mythic version does 1d6 nonlethal damage per tier immediately on a failed, adds your tier to the DC to resist dehydration, and makes it so the target derives no benefits from any sort of potion, elixir or other thing that requires drinking. While not something most player characters will find much use for, it is a way to mess with someone if you aren't going to kill them immediately.

-Cure Light/Moderate/Serious/Critical Wounds: Normally a spell that heals 1d8 per level of the spell plus caster level, capping at 5/10/15/20 for C(L/M/S/C)W respectively, this doubles the amount healed and makes it so that the spell also cures up to 1 point of ability damage per level of the spell. More recovery is more recovery, though if you're a Hierophant you could probably just use your MP to cast heal through Inspired Spell/Recalled Blessing once you know the spell. Life oracles who remove the caster level cap will get more out of the lower-level versions.

-Damnation Stride: Normally a spell with an incredibly confusing duration element that allows you to teleport a few hundred feet away and leave a blast of fire in its place, the mythic version leaves behind a cloud of noxious fumes that nauseate creatures caught in it who fail a Fort save. At 6th tier you can spend two MP to drag one unwilling adjacent creature along with you for a ride, plus one additional adjacent creature per additional MP spent. Creatures may make a Will save to resist it after making saves against the fire and stinking cloud. Teleportation is nice, abduction can be nice as well if they're nauseated and unable to do much to harm you after you arrive.

-Darkness: Normally a spell that causes a touched object to radiate darkness, lowering the light level by a step (bright -> normal -> dim -> darkness), the mythic version makes even the brightest days dark, and can't be broken by non-mythic spells. Even darkvision is only about as functional as normal vision in dim light, and creatures within the darkness take a -2 penalty on saves vs. fear. Since darkvision doesn't pierce this, it can be fairly disadvantageous for both you and your enemies, but it's not bad if it's used as a form of area denial or if you have some non-sight-related way of targeting people in the spell.

-Daybreak Arrow: Normally a spell that makes ammunition shine with bright light, doing 1d6 extra damage to undead and those harmed by sunlight, bypassing the DR of such creatures and letting half the damage of the attack similarly bypass DR. The ammunition sheds light like a sunrod for 1 round after the attack and creatures who take penalties in bright light take those penalties for 1 round after being hit. The mythic version doubles the penalties for bright light, does 1d8 instead of 1d6, completely bypasses DR of undead and those harmed by sunlight and shines for 1 minute after the attack. Kind of campaign-specific, but not bad if that's your kind of game.

-Daylight: Normally a spell that makes a touched object shed bright light within 60 ft and increase light levels (see Darkness) within 60 ft from there, and creatures within the bright light take penalties if they're sensitive to it (but aren't damaged or destroyed by it). The mythic version makes the second 60 ft into normal light, doubles the bright light penalties and grants a +2 to saves vs fear and Perception checks to those within the bright light. Not quite as powerful as the mythic darkness, but more light isn't bad.

-Death Knell: Normally a spell that lets you touch a dying creature to force it to save or die and give you 1d8 temp HP, a +2 enhancement bonus to Str and a +1 bonus to caster level for 10 minutes per HD of the target, this increases the range to 25 ft + 5 ft/tier, increases the THP to 2d8 and the enhancement bonuses to +4 to Str and +4 to Dex. At 3rd tier you can spend 2 MP to use the spell as an immediate action against a target you just killed, granting no save. The THP is weak, and you probably have better sources for the attribute bonuses, but +1 CL is +1 CL if you can spare it.

-Deep Slumber: Normally a spell that puts up to 10 HD of creatures in a small area to sleep for a few minutes or until knocked awake/murdered, this one raises the cap to 20 HD of creatures affected in any order you choose and any effect that would normally waken the target just allows it to make a new save. At 5th tier you can spend 2 MP to only allow the subject to be awoken by mythic effects, 3 MP to increase the duration to 10 years/level or 4 MP to do both, with creatures under the effect of the spell aging and breathing, but not requiring food or drink. A great way to save-or-lose even high-level foes and be a fairy-tail villain.

-Defile Armor: Normally a spell that gives your armor a +1 enhancement bonus/4 levels and DR 5/good when you use judgement or smite, this one gives you DR 5/good or DR 10/good when judging/smiting, and at 3rd tier you can spend 2 MP to add half your tier as a profane bonus to AC. Not bad if you're seeking out every form of defense boost available.

-Desecrate: Normally the inverse of consecrate in that it boosts channeled negative energy and undead with double bonuses when there's a shirne/altar in the area, it also doubles the amount of undead you can animate with a single spell. The mythic version is like mythic consecrate and lets you pick one of your non-good alignment components and penalize outsiders of the opposite alignment. Campaign and mobile-altar dependent just the same.

-Detect Scrying: Normally a spell that lets you automatically learn of scrying attempts on you and attempt to locate the caster on an opposed CL check, the mythic version automatically gives you an image of the scryer, its direction and distance if non-mythic, bypasses CL checks to overcome detection blockers and lets you cast a mind-affecting spell on the scryer as an immediate action if you learn the target's location, spending 1 MP per level of the spell you're casting. At 6th tier you can spend 2 MP bypass mind blank effects to locate the creature and can teleport to the target through non-mythic blocks if you leave within a minute, or compel it (Will DC 10+ 2x tier) to try to teleport to you, bypassing non-mythic blockers on its way to you. Scry-and-fry is a valid concern at high-levels and this is a strong way to tilt things in your favor.

-Devolution: Normally a spell that makes an eidolon make a Will save or lose 1 evolution + 1 per 5 CL for 1 round/level, starting with the most expensive. The mythic makes the eidolon lose at least one even on a successful save. An incredibly niche spell, one that's more likely to be used against PC summoners than the rare NPC summoner.

-Dictum: Blasphemy, meet the Lawful version. Increasing penalties for a failed Will save based on difference between target HD and CL, this one adds your tier to your CL and makes non-lawful targets take a -4 to attacks/saves and lower SR by 5 if they fail the save. Not quite as good as the good/evil variations, but still a potentially potent nuke.

-Dimension Door: Normally a spell that teleports you and willing creatures up to hundreds of feet, though you can't take any other actions after teleporting that turn, this one increases the duration to 1 round/2 levels, teleports you alone and leaves an invisible one-way portal behind that can be used by your CL in creatures that you designate, though they can't take further actions on the turn they travel through the portal. Useful, but the action-ending means you might have a traffic jam around the portal exit.

-Dimensional Lock: Normally a spell that blocks extradimensional travel in or out of a target area, the mythic version doesn't block your own travel, and at 4th tier you can spend 2 MP to make the spell redirect incoming teleportation to a different area on the same plane that you're familiar with, though a Spellcraft check against your CL will reveal the switch and allow the caster to abort the teleport (still expending the spell). Useful, but the 20 ft radius area is kind of a let-down if the opponent figures it out and teleports just outside it.

-Discordant Blast: Normally a spell that does 3d6 sonic damage and makes a bull rush check using your CL and your casting stat to everyone within the cone/burst, this does 5d6 sonic damage, gives you a +2 to the check and can pierce non-mythic silence effects, dispelling those of 4th level or lower. Low damage and has the same CMB problems that most maneuvers have. Meh.

-Disfiguring Touch: Normally a spell that curses and disfigures the target with your choice of -2 to attacks or saves, -2 to an ability score, -5 ft to move speed or some other low-key disfigurment, the mythic version lets you apply two penalties and you can spend 2 MP to render the target fatigued while under the curse. Another spell more suited for messing with someone for a few days rather than a conventionally useful one.

-Disintegrate: Normally a spell that does 2d6 points of damage per caster level against a target who fails a Fort save (5d6 on a successful save) and turns everything but the equipment to dust if the creature is reduced to 0 HP by the damage, this one does 3d6/CL (60d6 max) and 1d4 Con damage or 5d8 and 1 Con damage on a successful save, adding "Con reduced to 0" as another possible source of disintegration. At 7th tier, you can spend 2 MP to fire two rays, or fire one ray at a non-mythic creature to automatically disintegrate it on a failed save. You can get some nice damage out of this one, especially if you can get a metamagic rod of maximize.

-Dispel Magic: Normally a spell that lets you make a caster level check to knock out another spell, this one lets you dispel two spells instead of one, heal 1d4 per level of the highest-level spell you dispel and roll twice when using it to counterspell. The nonmythic greater version of the spell is probably better, but this is useful too.

-Divine Favor: Normally a spell that grants you up to a +3 luck bonus to attacks and weapon damage, this lets you apply the bonus to saves and skill checks or cast the spell on a living ally. A solid boost to your capabilities if you're looking for stacking bonuses.

-Divine Pursuit: Normally a spell that lets you copy the burrow/climb/fly/swim capabilities of a creature you've damaged as long as it remains within 1000 ft, this adds 30 ft to the speed of the ability you copy, letting you catch up quickly. Good for chasing the unexpected.

-Dominate Person: Normally a spell that lets you assume total mental control of a humanoid for 1 day/level, though commands contrary to its nature may grant new saves. The mythic version adds 2x Tier to the Sense Motive DC to detect your control, lets you punch through spells that block mind control with a CL check if the effect is mythic, or automatically if the effect isn't. If the target succeeds on breaking out of your control later, you can spend an MP as an immediate to force it to reroll and take the lower result. Control rulers and enjoy.

-Draconic Reservoir: Normally a spell that lets you absorb up to 6 points of energy damage per CL (60 max) and release it the form of 1d6 extra energy damage to your next attack, the mythic version absorbs up to 10 points per CL (100 max) and functions like burst weapon, doing extra elemental damage on a critical hit. At 3rd tier, you can spend 2 MP to allow you to apply the extra damage to all attacks you make that round. Stylish, but most of the time enemies that attack with elemental damage are also immune to that same elemental damage, which makes this less appealing compared to Resist Energy.

-Dragon's Breath: Normally a spell that lets you fire off 1d6 energy damage/caster level (12d6 max) in a cone/line based on a dragon's breath weapon, the mythic version lets you cast it two more times within 1 minute/CL, waiting 1d4 rounds between uses. Thematic, but I'm not really sure it's all that worth it.

-Dream: Normally a spell that lets you or a touched messenger go into a trance and then deliver a message of any length to a dreaming creature, this one lets you learn the answers to one question per two caster levels from the target if the target fails a Will save, though the answers are short and cryptic. Stylish, but not something most people are going to need.

-Dust of Twilight: Normally a spell that creates an area of dust that puts out torches and lanterns, dispels light spells of level 2 or lower and makes creatures in the area fatigued if they fail a Fort save, this one forces creatures in the area who failed the Fort save to make a Will save or fall asleep, with a successful save giving them a -5 to Perception and a -2 to saves vs. sleep (as lullaby, though the duration isn't given). For 2 MP, you can add half your tier to the level of light spells that it dispels. The sleep effect might bypass the HD cap on normal sleep spells, which is nice, though it's a two-save-or-lose spell, which has lower odds.

And that covers A-D. Only another two to three posts to go.

[John Magnum]

I'm beginning to get drawn into a Pathfinder game. Now, I've barely played any 3.5, so I've got a lot of inexperience in general and then also inexperience with PF specifically. What drew me to it was the Tengu crowperson race, and playing a Tengu is non-negotiable because I want to be a crowperson. They get a carrion sense, so I'm going for a necromancer cleric.

The game is starting at level 1, which is already a bad sign. Among other things, without taking the Undead Lord archetype, there's absolutely nothing a necromancer can do that's recognizable as corpse-raising until level 3. So, right now all I have is a single skeleton companion, who will probably end up being the toughest token on the field because he gets gear AND natural armor AND damage reduction. Already promising.

It's annoying that they don't have stats for any skeletons except the HD1 Human Skeleton; if you want anything you have to apply the becomeSkeleton() transform to some particular dead monster. Presumably eventually I'll have a good intuition about what makes for a particularly good skeleton or zombie.

It's also interesting looking at the spell lists, even for the first couple levels. My understanding is that clerics get sweet buffs, but I'm not really that sure which ones are crucial. 1st level spells are shitty enough that it's easy to tell that Bless is about it, but what are 2nd through 4th level buffs that are particularly good? Or incapacitating spells?

It's still pretty interesting going.

[...You Lost Me]

you have to apply the becomeSkeleton() transform

I wish this was the pay PF referred to animate dead.

[Andostre]

Replying to the http://d20pfsrd.com topic from a month ago because I just came across this yesterday...

Well that site has its own problem - accessibility. Its really nice that they went to all the rouble of collecting the free stuff, but its impossible to select what you want to see. And its all in there, every single piece from every module, companion, adventure path, you name it. So when you MC says: "CRB, Ultimate Magic, and ISWG only", good luck figuring out your content. I really hope they'll do an upgrade on the sitemap so you can select content sources.

I've always wanted a checkbox to filter the garbage out. Maybe a voting system where people can vote down garbage feats/spells and you can filter it by that. The worst part of making a character for Pathfinder is sifting through all the option bloat. There's maybe 1 feat out of 10 that's worth anything.

This won't solve the poor filtering system the site has, but it sounds like the website is planning on voting system to evaluate how valuable a piece third-party content is. (You might need a Google ID to read that thread.) It might not go anywhere, and it's not that useful without some sort of filtering system, but I like that the administrators of that site recognize the issue.

[Archmage]

It's also interesting looking at the spell lists, even for the first couple levels. My understanding is that clerics get sweet buffs, but I'm not really that sure which ones are crucial. 1st level spells are shitty enough that it's easy to tell that Bless is about it, but what are 2nd through 4th level buffs that are particularly good? Or incapacitating spells?

At 1st level, hitting people with a weapon is still a reasonable life choice. You have medium armor and channel energy, plus your deity's favored weapon. If your deity's favored weapon is at all decent, you can use that. You're a fighter with some extra abilities and that's more than adequate.

As for good spells at low levels: You get good single-target crowd control. Command is still solid, but PF has introduced "forbid action" and "murderous command," which are all good against anything not immune to mind-affecting. Protection from [alignment] is a solid buff. Hold person. Sound burst. Aboleth's lung is a hilarious new Pathfinder save-or-die. Bestow curse. Blindness/deafness. And yeah, you can make undead.

[John Magnum]

Aboleth's lung is cool, but I'm not sure it really works in combat time. Everyone can hold their breath a really long time. I guess it depends on whether the MC declares that with no water around to take a breath of, you immediately begin drowning. SKR made some sort of decree on the matter, but it was a bunch of bloviation about how magic does exactly what it says it does and the drowning rules don't have minutiae but it doesn't just answer one way or the other "Does a character subject to Aboleth's lung get 2xCon rounds of breath-holding before starting to drown?"

[Archmage Joda]

Ok, this is probably going to sound similar to asking which is shinier between two polished turds, but which tends to be better in pathfinder, a barbarian or a fighter, where "better" is defined as does better damage, is able to handle itself in more fights, and has the lesser trouble being relevant outside of combat?

[Rawbeard]

Barbarian thanks to the shiney rage powers. Also more skillpoints. That alone makes him not suck ass as much.

[hogarth]

Ok, this is probably going to sound similar to asking which is shinier between two polished turds, but which tends to be better in pathfinder, a barbarian or a fighter, where "better" is defined as does better damage, is able to handle itself in more fights, and has the lesser trouble being relevant outside of combat?

I'll say that neither one is particularly relevant outside of combat, and the fighter does more damage (those piddly +1 bonuses from Weapon and Armor Training add up).

[Juton]

Ok, this is probably going to sound similar to asking which is shinier between two polished turds, but which tends to be better in pathfinder, a barbarian or a fighter, where "better" is defined as does better damage, is able to handle itself in more fights, and has the lesser trouble being relevant outside of combat?

In 3.5 the barbarian outshine the fighter in raw damage and out of combat utility, as meager as it is. In Pathfinder I think a fighter, if you dumpster dive correctly, can put out the same or more damage than a raging barbarian at level 5-6 onwards. If you want to spam attacks like trip and you dumpster dive correctly you can be roughly as efficient tripping in Pathfinder as in 3.5.

But you should still probably play a barbarian. The biggest reason is the barbarian can have better defenses than the fighter, a fighter gets dominated as easily or more so in Pathfinder than in 3.5. The barbarian also has a bit more out of combat utility and is more straight forward to optimize than a fighter.

[Rawbeard]

So I get out of another PFS scenario whose author does not know how to handle "high" level PCs ("high" being level 10-11, lol) without srewing them over using omnicient tactics (Pagoda of the Rat, if anyone cares), by having a bunch of Inquisitors without anything but knowledge religion apply the correct bane to the various types of critters the PCs bring (or are themselfs) with the excuse that the players where observed by a nearby hidden (lol, behind thin walls with bunch of arrowslits, hello scent, tremorsense, constant detect allignment all, let's not tell the players, k?) Enchanter with knowledge arcana and history (wait... does don't do shit against humanoids, animals and outsiders...) so everyone knows exactly who is what and when and why and what to do to not make them able to act. Sou ka. Fuck you and arigatou.

Bad enough. Then I do the math on their attack and damage bonuses... They aren't even close. Motherfucker, does anyone actually know the rules of this fucking game? And why is it ALWAYS Inquisitors that I catch doing bad math to get insane bonuses from a billion sources that don't stack in hopes nobody checks?

Why do they feel the need to break the rules to be dicks instead of actually using the fucking rules and spells to be dicks? How hard can it be to remember that magic exists for more than just giving you + to attack and damage? Jeezuz fucking Christ.

As usual I have no point to make, but that shit pisses me off.

[name_here]

I guess it's always inqusitors because they aren't from 3.5 so few players have a good handle on how they should work.

[hogarth]

...Kinda. It was helpful, but I was hoping they'd include some of the fiddly bit changes. Like the temp bonus math change thing. ?

You might find this post helpful:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mcmk&page=12?What-are-some-things-about-the-Pathfinder#563
A guy was trying to compile a list of changes like you suggest, but he gave up in 2011 and the discussion is still running today...

I'm still learning about hidden changes from that Paizo thread! The latest one: in Pathfinder, alchemical silver bludgeoning weapons don't have a damage penalty.

[Juton]

Speaking of hidden changes, Eldritch Knight and Mystic Theurge can be entered a lot earlier now. Here's the ruling:

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9qow

So you can go Fighter 1/Scryer Wizard 1/Eldritch Knight +. This is actually a positive change, but if you read the ruling it doesn't appear that it was intentional.