Mind over Metal: A Look at the Spells in Path of Iron

Spells are easily the most versatile tool a character can have at his disposal, and one of my favorite aspects of Pathfinder. I admit I'm a sucker for spellcasters in general in all the games I play, especially the ubiquitous "battlemage" type of character, one who uses spells in either a direct, aggressive form like a fireball or enhances his own capabilities to better go toe-to-toe with his enemies. So when it came time to write out some new spells for Path of Iron, I thought about what sorts of spells would that character use while sticking to the book's theme.

Most of the spells you'll find in Path of Iron have a pretty direct combat application, though there will be several that are used for crafting and artifice. Spells such as alter weapon can change the form of a weapon you're using while dancing steel can have the weapon fight for you. Squire's aid can help a group pack their belongings and don their combat gear instantly to respond to an ambush. The aptly-named spikes spell causes metallic spikes to grow out of nearly anything and has a variety of applications: put it on a weapon or natural attack to have it deal piercing damage and cause bleeding damage, or onto the floor to cover it in painful barbs, just to name a few. More powerful spells such as greater replicate can create an exact, but temporary, copy of a nearby object (including all of its magical properties), while the mighty field of blades summons innumerable weapons around you that you can wield and manipulate.

Here's a few examples of some low-level spells you'll find within Path of Iron:

ALTER WEAPON

School transmutation [metal]; Level bloodrager 1, magus 1, sorcerer/wizard 1, vanguard 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target weapon touched
Duration 10 min./level (D)
Saving Throw Fortitude negates (object); Spell Resistance yes (object)
With a firm hand you grasp a weapon and remake it into something new. Alter weapon changes the shape of the touched weapon into another weapon of your choice. The new form for the weapon must have the same size and handedness as the original; a greatsword could be turned into a halberd, but a dagger could not be made into a longsword. A ranged weapon can be altered, such as a longbow into a shortbow or a hand crossbow into a pistol, but this only alters the weapon, not its ammunition. The targeted weapon and its new form cannot be improvised weapons.
The weapon maintains its special material properties. If you target a magic weapon, the new form retains all special abilities of the original, if applicable (a keen greatsword, for example, would no longer been keen if altered into a greatclub). If you target a double weapon that has both ends enchanted, only the bonuses for one end of the weapon are granted to the new form, unless the new form is also a double weapon, in which case the enhancements apply to each respective end of the weapon. If a non-double magic weapon is altered into a double weapon, the bonuses only apply to one end of the double weapon, chosen when the spell is cast.
This spell cannot target an unarmed strike or natural weapon, even if it would normally count as a manufactured weapon for the purpose of spells (such as for a monk or brawler).

BLADE SPIRAL

School transmutation [metal]; Level bloodrager 2, magus 2, vanguard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a melee weapon)
Range see text
Area see text
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw None; Spell Resistance no
You finish the quick incantation and let go of the weapon, the magic flinging the blade against your foes. Upon finishing the casting of this spell, the weapon you used as a focus for blade spiral flies forth to attack. You can choose one of two different attack forms, as described below:
Forward Spiral: The weapon spins forth in a 60 foot line in front of you.
Centered Spiral: The weapon spins around you in a 10 foot radius, centered on you.
You make a single weapon attack against each foe in the area as if striking the target with a melee attack with that weapon, including any bonuses you would gain from feats or special abilities such as Weapon Focus. You roll separately for each target. Once you finish making the attacks, the weapon immediately flies back to your hand, regardless of whether it hit or missed its targets.
Despite the spell’s name, any sort of weapon can be used with blade spiral, not just bladed ones.

The Metal Descriptor

As you can see above, both of these spells have a descriptor not currently in Pathfinder, the "metal" descriptor. This is a new descriptor found in Path of Iron that applies to spells that either use metal directly (such as iron body and chill metal) or are used to target weapons and armor (such as alter weapon above). Some class features, feats, magic items, and archetypes found within Path of Iron will make use of this descriptor directly, such as the Metal Focus feat which increases the DC of any metal spells by +1. The book will include rules on how to incorporate this descriptor into your game's magic system, as well as a thorough list of all spells from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line that gain the metal descriptor.

Keep an eye out for the next preview, where I'll go into the new rune magic system introduced in Path of Iron, as well as the archivist base class that goes with it!

Two For the Price of One: Preview of the Vanguard Class

Today I'll be going over the second class of Path of Iron, the vanguard!

As with the saboteur, the vanguard class was designed to fill a role in Pathfinder that isn't well handled by the current rules while still keeping to Path of Iron's theme. The vanguard covers two roles in this case: the control of a construct, and a full-out metal/artifice themed magic caster. The vanguard fills these in the role of a combat-oriented support character, buffing himself, his construct, and his allies while still pulling his weight in battle. Outside of combat he serves as an artificer, making and identifying items with intuition and talent rather than practiced skills.

Vanguards have a d8 hit die, medium BAB progression, and good Fortitude and Will saves. He gets a solid array of weapon and armor proficiencies to play with (including firearms) but a pretty limited selection of skills. As the primary "metal mage" of the book he has 0-6 spontaneous casting like a bard does, with his spells focusing on metal, artifice, and support. Spells such as iron body, greater magic weapon, major creation, and disable construct are present: if the spell involves metal, objects, or constructs, chances are the vanguard has access to it. He also has access to some of the more staple support spells like bull's strength and haste. The class has three main mechanics to its name: Imbue, the Construct Companion, and the dualistic ability of Augmentation and Resonance.

Imbuing a spell functions like a more flexible version of contingency. Normally you can only make a contingent spell function on yourself, but a vanguard can imbue spells onto his weapons, having the spell trigger upon striking a target with that weapon. In addition, it's not limited to single-target effects. If the vanguard wants to imbue haste onto himself and sets it to trigger when he's struck, the spell triggers in its entirely as it were centered on him, letting him share the full benefits (or offensive power) of the imbued spell. At higher levels, the vanguard is even capable of imbuing multiple spells at once. This is primarily balanced by the limited nature of the vanguard's spell list, the fact that imbuing a spell takes 10 minutes, and the maximum level of spell you can imbue is limited (when he eventually gets his maximum of three imbued spells, one has to be 2nd level or lower, one is 4th level or lower, and one is 6th level or lower).

The construct companion is, of course, the most obvious feature the vanguard brings to the table. The companion is an intelligent, sentient construct, brought to life through the vanguard's innate magical power and intuition rather than practiced construction. The construct scales in many ways like an eidolon or an animal companion would, growing in strength as the vanguard gains levels. It comes in three main forms: combat form, eldritch form, and scouting form, which determine the companion's ability scores, speed, armor class, and class skills. As a construct, it comes stock with a large number of resistances already, but it's not without its weaknesses. It doesn't gain any extra hit points like a normal construct, nor is it immune to mind-affecting effects. Since it relies on the vanguard's magical power and will to keep it animated, it can't move more than 100 feet away or it shuts down, unable to act. It also shuts down this way if the vanguard is unconscious, asleep, killed, stunned, or confused, so the construct relies on the vanguard's support just as much as the vanguard relies on his companion.

The third, and most important, feature of the vanguard is its dual mechanic of Augmentation and Resonance. The vanguard is responsible for improving the functions of the construct companion, altering the magical power that animates the construct to grant it new power. These new abilities are called Augmentations, each one granting new abilities. Some are more suited to specific companion forms; an augmentation that grants the ability to cast a handful of low-level spells, for example, is best granted to an Eldritch form companion, as it will have the highest spell DC of the three forms. However, each augmentation serves a secondary purpose.

The vanguard can create what is known as a Resonance, a linking of the construct's new magically-granted capabilities with the vanguard's arcane power. These abilities are triggered by the vanguard and each augmentation has a different associated resonance. For example, the Energy Shielding augmentation grants the companion a scaling resistance to one energy type. By creating a resonance, the construct emits a field of energy that reduces damage of that type in an area around the companion, providing defense against that energy type to nearby allies. The choices the vanguard makes to augment his companion are vital to his combat strategy, as it determines not only his companion's power but also the vanguard's primary form of supporting allies and hindering foes. Of course, should the vanguard find he's in need of a different ability, he can spend a day altering the animating magic of his construct, changing out one of his selected augmentations with a different one, but the amount of time it takes to do so favors proper planning on the vanguard's part.

The vanguard is not without other mechanics to support itself and his construct. In line with his technical flavor, the vanguard receives bonuses on Craft, Disable Device, and Knowledge (Engineering) checks, as well as on Spellcraft checks to make or identify magic items. He eventually learns how to make items more quickly than others, creating mundane and magical items alike with great speed. He also gains a total of six bonus feats as he progresses in level, which can be either item creation feats or teamwork feats. Should he choose a teamwork feat, he automatically grants it to his construct companion.

That's all for now on the vanguard base class. The next preview will be going over some of the new magic spells that will be found in Path of Iron, along with the implications and use of the new metal descriptor.

On Your Feat, Soldier: Preview of Feats in Path of Iron

Feats are one of the features that ties all of the classes on Pathfinder together. It doesn't matter if you're a scholarly wizard or a brutish barbarian, every class needs feats in order to succeed, though some need them more than others.

The feats in Path of Iron will focus primarily around combat application, rather than magical classes. Feats such as Double Strike, which lets a two-weapon fighter hit with both weapons as a standard action, or Powerful Throwing, which lets a character use Strength for both attack and damage rolls with weapons, are just a few feats that will help combat characters have more flexibility when building their characters. That's not to say there aren't a few feats for the more magical types. Improved Bound Object will make bound objects a much more enticing choice for those with arcane bonds, and the Metal Focus feat will improve the DC of any spells with the new "metal" descriptor by +1.

But these aren't the most important part of the feat chapter. The big addition that Path of Iron brings are the new Technique feats.

Technique feats are much like style feats. Each technique comes in a series of three feats that build upon the last and work around a central idea and fighting style. You can only benefit from one technique at a time, though you can switch between multiple techniques if you have them much like you can with a style feat.

Whereas style feats were all built around unarmed strikes, techniques use manufactured weapons. Also, where style feats found their inspiration in nature and animals, techniques are based around the numerous Outsiders of the Great Beyond. Some of these techniques use specific weapons, where others are more general fighting techniques. The Demon Technique, for example, emulates a balor's signature of a melee weapon plus a whip in the off-hand, while the Inevitable Technique has a more general focus of consistent, even-handed attacks.

To top it all off, there will be archetypes for existing classes that utilize these techniques. The most prominent one will the Master of Many Styles equivalent that will go to fighters, which will allow the fighter to combine multiple techniques at once.

Talk is easy, though. What really counts are examples, right? Here's two of the current technique feat chains: the Archon Technique, which emulates a Shield Archon in its mastery of the tower shield, and the Asura Technique, which learns its own form of the dance of disaster from the Adhukait Asura:

Archon Technique (Technique)

You protect yourself from harm, your shield an extension of your body.
Prerequisite: Tower Shield proficiency, Improved Shield Bash
Benefit: The penalties to attack rolls for using a tower shield are reduced by 1, and you receive a +4 bonus to your CMD against attempts to sunder or disarm your tower shield. In addition, you can use a tower shield to make a shield bash as if it were a heavy shield, though it deals 1d6 damage for a medium sized creature on a hit.
Normal: You can’t make a shield bash with a tower shield.

Archon Defense (Technique)

Your strikes are as powerful as your defense.
Prerequisite: Archon Technique, Improved Shield Bash, base attack bonus +4
Benefit: The penalty to attack rolls for wielding a tower shield is reduced by an additional 1 (this stacks with the reduction from Archon Technique) and you always add your full strength bonus to damage rolls when making a shield bash with a tower shield. Using your tower shield to grant yourself total cover on an edge of your space becomes a move action, and you can spend an immediate action to change which side of your space you are defending.
Special: This feat counts as Double Slice for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites, but only when using a tower shield.
Normal: Using a tower shield to create total cover on one edge of your space is a standard action.

Archon Bulwark (Technique)

Your mastery of the tower shield makes it impossible to catch you off guard.
Prerequisite: Archon Defense, Archon Technique, base attack bonus +6
Benefit: If you successfully hit at least one shield bash attack with your tower shield when making a full-attack action, you can use a swift action to grant yourself total cover on one edge of your space. If you spend a move action to place your tower shield (with the Archon Defense feat), you can choose two contiguous sides of your space to defend, rather than just one. Changing which side you are defending using the Archon Defense feat changes both sides with the same action.

Asura Technique (Technique)

You fight with a flowing dance, striking in multiple directions at once.
Prerequisite: Dodge, Mobility, base attack bonus +6
Benefit: Whenever you take the full-attack action with a manufactured weapon, each consecutive hit you make against a different target than the last deals an additional 1d6 damage per previous target hit. For example, if there are three different creatures that you strike, the first successful hit deals no additional damage, the second target hit takes 1d6 extra damage, and the third target hit takes 2d6 extra damage. This damage bonus cannot increase beyond 2d6 damage and is not multiplied on a critical hit. The additional damage is only added once per target on the first attack you hit them with that turn.

Asura Motion (Technique)

Your flowing movement makes it difficult to catch you off guard, and even more difficult to escape your reach.
Prerequisite: Asura Technique, Dodge, Mobility, Combat Reflexes, base attack bonus +9
Benefit: The bonus creatures receive to attack rolls when flanking you is reduced by 1, and you gain a +2 bonus to dodge AC to avoid attacks of opportunity from moving through a threatened square (this bonus stacks with the bonus granted by Mobility). Whenever you make an attack of opportunity against an opponent, you can move up to 10 feet in any direction, so long as your movement ends in a space adjacent to that opponent. Your total movement each round from this feat can’t exceed your normal speed.

Asura Dance (Technique)

You slash with grace and speed, dancing around the battlefield to harry your foes.
Prerequisite: Asura Motion, Asura Technique, Dodge, Mobility, Combat Reflexes, base attack bonus +11
Benefit: Creatures do not gain an attack roll benefit when flanking you (though they can still gain other benefits of flanking, such as sneak attack). Whenever you take the full-attack action using a manufactured weapon and strike with a melee attack, you can move up to 10 feet before making your next attack. You must have another attack to make in order to move in this manner, and cannot move a greater distance than your normal speed in a single turn.

Keep an eye out for the next teaser for Path of Iron, where I'll go into the next base class, the vanguard!