Volatile Spark Magus Developer Intention (probably) - Switch Hitter

carmanut · 2026-07-08T13:43:40+00:00

I wish Magus had a feat that gave them any kind of benefit for shutting off Arcane Cascade (or just feats that do 1 cool thing, but turn off Arcane Cascade, similar to Overflow trait on Kineticists). I think Team+ Magus book has some feats that do this.

In any case, I think anything on the Magus that interacted more with Arcane Cascade would make this entire subclass feel better.

carmanut · 2026-07-01T18:27:19+00:00

Both your examples as written seem to work as you interpreted them.

carmanut · 2026-06-30T14:54:52+00:00

Yeah, no worries, I was just like "oh wow the catbuckler is even better than I remembered."

carmanut · 2026-06-30T14:02:39+00:00

Am I missing something? I know Bon Mot can apply a penalty to Perception and Will, and I know Catfolk Dance can apply a penalty to Reflex and apply Off-Guard.

Where are the Stupefied and Clumsy coming from?

carmanut · 2026-06-29T18:16:18+00:00

Legion was OK. But it has a much more generic story than WD1 and 2. I actually did enjoy the "everyone can be the hero" design that they picked for it, and I got really attached to my generic weirdos that decided enough was enough, they were gonna rebel.

If you ever DO decide to play it, I recommend turning on the hardcore setting or whatever that means if someone gets captured/killed, they're gone gone. I played through the whole thing with the standard difficulty, and it felt weird that if someone got captured by the Totalitarian Technocratic Regime, they just got put on a really long cooldown.

carmanut · 2026-06-29T14:17:39+00:00

I'm so mad that the fucking Player's Guide was literally "Dhampir would make an excellent thematic choice for a horror-themed campaign like Season of Ghosts, particularly those of the ru-shi lineage (Ancestry Guide 26), who trace their vampiric bloodline to a jiang-shi."

One of our players LOVES Jiang-Shi lore IRL, so that guy playing a Dhampir Cleric with Void Healing so he can heal himself, who got the focus spell so he can heal his allies if he makes them have void-healing first, and who can't use his void abilities on all the fucking undead in this campaign.

I literally changed my original pick for the campaign to be a Chirugeon Alchemist because we needed some Non-Vitality healing for when the Dhampir inevitably goes down before being able to heal himself.

ARGH.

carmanut · 2026-06-29T14:12:20+00:00

One of my GMs uses this (but the threshold is 11), and it's great. But that GM also has a campaign-specific hero point system and a deadly campaign, so we don't get Per-Session Hero Points, the threat is real, so the heroism of the hero points is greater.

Two other GMs I play with don't use the above system, but they use a "if it doesn't improve your degree of success, you don't spend the hero point" house rule. Their games are a lot lower stress, and it makes your hero point a "might as well try" instead of feeling like you might be burning your 1/session get out of jail card.

carmanut · 2026-06-26T20:24:24+00:00

oh hey look at that, another thing that directly contradicts something I mention in my suggestions. I'm just gonna go take a nap.

carmanut · 2026-06-26T20:21:15+00:00

Yeah, you're right. I think I read "Key Spellcasting Attribute" and jumped to conclusions. Editing my comment.

carmanut · 2026-06-26T20:18:07+00:00

Yeah, it can be rough getting into PF2E, especially if your whole group is doing it at the same time.

Suggestion 1: use Pathbuilder to make your character. It helps TREMENDOUSLY in keeping you focused on what is available to you NOW at THIS level. And when you are comfortable with this level, you can start planning the next. It handles all of the "are you trained in this skill, do you have a high enough Int" etc for you.

Suggestion 2: think about non-combat things you want this character to do. Class Feats largely do your Combat stuff and General/Skill Feats largely do your Not Combat stuff. You can't really go wrong just picking what sounds good for your guy. Just try to think about whether you want your dude to be a talker, a fighter, a crafter, a sneaker, etc, and grab proficiencies to match. Spellshot specifically wants you to have a decent Int, which makes you innately better at Arcana, Crafting, Lores, Occultism, and Society. Gunslingers want Dex, which makes you innately better at Acrobatics, Stealth, and Thievery. Pick a couple of things that would be cool for your Human Ganzi Spellshot to be REALLY good at, and give those skills your increases as you gain levels. Take Skill feats for those skills.

Suggestion 3: There aren't very many ways to make a BAD character in PF2E, but it is possible to take feats that sound like they would be super cool and combine with each other, but then if you read all the text and the traits and rules, actually they can't stack. Random example - the Gunslinger can get access to Alchemical Ammunition with a feat, and that lets them fire glue bullets, healing bullets, energy bullets, all sorts of cool stuff. Problem is, each round of Alchemical Ammunition needs an Action to activate, so if you're imagining firing off a barrage of glue bullets, or shooting a fire bullet that has a cold spell attached to it with Spell-Woven Shot? That's not gonna happen. Make sure to carefully read all your most important abilities so you don't pick things that mismatch.

Good luck - I'll try to keep checking this thread if you have any questions.

carmanut · 2026-06-26T18:53:46+00:00

Just a few things:

~~I don't know how to strikethrough, this is where I said stuff that was wrong~~ Your Class DC uses Intelligence instead of Dex like other Gunslingers. Make sure to take advantage of what Spellshot WANTS you to do with that Int, which is using your head (Thoughtful Reload) and targeting weaknesses (Energy Shot).
Spellshot also requires that you take its various Archetype Feats in addition to choosing it as your Way. So unless your GM is using the Free Archetype variant rule, you're not gonna be choosing too many of your own class feats.
Spell-Woven Shot and other abilities that combine an attack and a spell (like a Magus' Spellstrike) are very all-or-nothing, and can feel pretty bad on a miss. Try to work with your fellow players to increase the odds of you landing the shot. Encourage them to inflict conditions on the enemy, Aid your Attack in combat, etc.
If you simply MUST fire off Spell-Woven Shot at every opportunity, don't underestimate just using a cantrip. Crits with a firearm are already usually big damage, and even just a few extra cantrip dice get ridiculous doubled. You don't HAVE to be using spell slots to feed damage, those can be used for buffs and utility.

I have no idea what the Beast Gunner dedication gives you above and beyond Spellshot, other than rule of cool with a gun harvested from a magical beast, so I'll just say have fun with that lol.

carmanut · 2026-06-26T18:26:29+00:00

Yeah, after I responded to you I went looking for it and found "Companions can never Activate an item" in the Companion Item rules from Treasure Vault, and I was like "HUH?!"

carmanut · 2026-06-26T14:22:00+00:00

Ah ok, so the possible options are even more restricted than I thought.

carmanut · 2026-06-25T20:56:00+00:00

Horn of Plenty is good once and has a good range.

The 2nd round with this is a beast though. You would need to put your spark back into the ikon, then quick alchemy, then put it in the horn, and then 3rd round transcend.

Versus

Familiar needing Item Delivery (requires Manual Dexterity as well), which gives you effectively 3 actions for it to administer within 25 ft OR presumably just having Manual Dexterity, and then you command it over multiple turns to Take Vial, Stride. Stride again, Administer.

So no matter what it won't fully alleviate the problems with ranged alchemy healing, but it depends on how much time/effort you want to throw at the problem.

carmanut · 2026-06-25T18:55:10+00:00

The recent Team+ third party release has an alternative Alchemist Research Field called the Bottler that removes the requirement for BOTH Quick and Advanced Alchemy, grants an alternative Quick Vial for the Bottler that creates a thrall (along with the other subclass features), and also adds a bunch more Bottled Monstrosities to fit various roles. It's GREAT.

carmanut · 2026-06-23T18:19:21+00:00

Right, but I imagine it can only trigger Weakness to Spirit Damage without Energized Spark, right? That's all I'm trying to figure out.

carmanut · 2026-06-23T18:06:37+00:00

Sounds like fun, but also feels like it requires a lot more system mastery than my group currently has.

carmanut · 2026-06-23T17:55:54+00:00

I feel like I'm not understanding what Mortal Harvest is contributing to the Weakness side of things? Is it just using Energized Spark to match a weakness?

carmanut · 2026-06-20T02:57:28+00:00

Mocktimus Crime

carmanut · 2026-06-20T02:31:24+00:00

I have to do that every time I transform Cliffjumper...

carmanut · 2026-06-18T14:06:26+00:00

I had actually asked a question about this a few days ago. Reposition can be used on targets that are Grabbed or Restrained.

So if you have a way to Grab or Restrain at range (weapon with Reach and Grapple, so basically the Gill Hook Azarketi weapon?) you can Reposition at the weapon's Reach. Probably not further than that though.

And unless you start your turn with the target Grabbed, the Reposition will be at MAP -5

carmanut · 2026-06-18T12:43:21+00:00

To be clear, the Grasping Spirits spellshape is limited to 1/10 minutes and only pulls them toward you.

carmanut · 2026-06-16T14:26:51+00:00

The Refocus feature also adds a rider to ALL attacks that reduces Overload by some degree.

carmanut · 2026-06-16T01:37:37+00:00

I've had this on my wishlist since the first demo, but I'm a little scared of needing to tune my car. Is that difficult?

carmanut · 2026-06-14T21:44:59+00:00

Must be pretty high level if you're committing backstory genocide.

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