Three-level Spellcasters for Pathfinder 1st edition

It’s often bothered me in 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder 1st edition that full spellcasters cast 0 to 9th level spells, secondary spellcasters 0 to 6th, and minor spellcasters… 1st to 4th. The lack of 0-level cantrips takes away some of the roleplaying an utility options that would be great for paladins, rangers, et al; and 4th level spells are a bit much for a lot of those classes.

Plus, the 9/6/4 division just bugs me. Going 9/6/3 is more pleasing to my brain, and makes room for 0-level spells without adding more stuff for the minor spellcasting classes to track. It also opens up some room for more powerful spellcasting options in ways other than spell level, which allows us to explore how to make spellcasting more satisfying and customized for the minor spellcasting classes.

I’ve been toying with the idea since 1999, and still am not done with it, but this is finally in a place where I could do early playtesting on it.

(Art by warmtail)

Caster Level and Swift Spells

One of the things that can frustrate players of minor spellcasters is that often taking time to cast a spell actually reduces their effectiveness in combat encounters. Obviously if we’re bumping things down by a spell level from 1st-4th level spells to0-3rd level spells that’d be even worse… unless we do something about it.

So, first, I’d just make caster level for these classes equal to class level.

More importantly, my envisioned redesigned system would give minor spellcasters specific circumstances, thematically linked to each class’ role and flavor, under which they could cast a spell as a swift action. And, yeah, that makes guidance the go-to 0-level spell for these classes, and true strike a no-brainer for the medium, but that kind of issue can be tackled after some playtesting of the core system. (Similarly, the question of what to do with class-specific 4th-level spells, such as holy sword, can be tackled later.)

*An antipaladin can cast spells from his class spell list as a swift action on himself and any target he has as the focus of his smite good ability.

*A bloodranger can cast spells from his class spell list on anyone but himself as a swift action while blooodraging.

*A medium can cast spells from his class list on anyone who participated in his last séance to invite a spirit to inhabit him.

*A paladin can cast spells from her class spell list as a swift action on herself and any target she has as the focus of her smite evil ability.

*A ranger can cast spells from his class spell list as a swift action on herself and any creature that is a favored enemy.

Spells Per Day

All the minor spellcasters would use the same spell class chart under this revised system. The table below uses my no-columns spell-list shorthand, which is something I occasionally develop ideas in before bothering to put it in a final format. Each line presents the character level, then the number of cantrips (noted as a numeral and then ‘c’), 1st-level spells (numeral and then ‘i’), 2nd-level spells (numeral and then ‘ii’), and 3rd-level spells (numeral and then ‘iii’). Thus, a 14th level minor spellcaster (‘3c, 2i, 2ii, 1iii’) gets 3 cantrips, two 1st-level spells, two 2nd-level spells, and oone 3rd-level spell per day.

Spells Per Level

4 1c

5 1c

6 1c

7 1c, 1i

8 2c, 1i

9 2c, 1i

10 2c, 1i, 1ii

11 2c, 2i, 1ii

12 2c, 2i, 1ii

13 3c, 2i, 1ii, 1iii

14 3c, 2i, 2ii, 1iii

15 3c, 3 i, 2ii, 1iii

16 3c, 3i, 2ii, 1iii

17 4c, 3i, 2ii, 2iii

18 4c, 3i, ii, 3iii

19 4c, 4 i, 4 ii, 3iii

20 4c, 4i, 4ii, 4iii

Once polished, this might become part of a “Revised Path” edition of Pathfinder 1st ed from me. In many ways it’s perfect for that — the revised class would work as desired, but someone could play the old version of the class if they preferred.

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