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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide

Chapter 3: Archetypes

Source Advanced Player's Guide pg. 149 2.0
Beyond your class and general feats, you can expand your character concept by choosing an archetype. Are you more heavily armored than your peers from the sentinel archetype? Are you a viking, experienced in seafaring and raiding? Perhaps you're a medic, tending to the fallen. These are just a few possibilities archetypes offer.

Great character concepts don't always fit neatly into a single class. If you want to build on what your character's class allows them to do, using an archetype is a simple way to adapt any class to fit your vision for your character.

Applying an archetype requires you to select archetype feats instead of class feats. Start by finding the archetype that best fits your character concept, and select the archetype's dedication feat using one of your class feat choices. Once you have the dedication feat, you can select any feat from that archetype in place of a class feat as long as you meet its prerequisites. The archetype feat you select is still subject to any selection restrictions on the class feat it replaces. For example, if you gained an ability at 6th level that granted you a 4th-level class feat with the dwarf trait, you could swap out that class feat only for an archetype feat of 4th level or lower with the dwarf trait. Archetype feats you gain in place of a class feat are called archetype class feats.

Occasionally, an archetype feat works like a skill feat instead of a class feat. These archetype feats have the skill trait, and you select them in place of a skill feat, otherwise following the same rules above. These aren't archetype class feats (for instance, to determine the number of Hit Points you gain from the Fighter Resiliency archetype feat). Each archetype's dedication feat represents a certain portion of your character's time and focus, so once you select a dedication feat for an archetype, you must satisfy its requirements before you can gain another dedication feat. Typically, you satisfy an archetype dedication feat by gaining a certain number of feats from the archetype's list. You can't retrain a dedication feat as long as you have any other feats from that archetype.

Sometimes an archetype feat grants another feat, such as the alchemist's Basic Concoction. You must still meet the prerequisites of the feat you gain in this way.

Additional Feats

Source Advanced Player's Guide pg. 149 2.0
Some archetypes allow other feats beyond those in their entry. These are typically class feats, such as fighter feats that represent certain combat styles. The list of additional feats includes the feat's name, its level, and the page number where it appears. You can take the feat as an archetype feat of that level, meaning it counts toward the number of feats required by the archetype's dedication feat. When selected this way, a feat that normally has a class trait doesn't have that class trait.

Multiclass Archetypes

Source Advanced Player's Guide pg. 149 2.0
Archetypes with the multiclass trait represent diversifying your training into another class's specialties. You can't select a multiclass archetype's dedication feat if you are a member of the class of the same name (for instance, a swashbuckler can't select the Swashbuckler Dedication feat).

Spellcasting Archetypes

Source Advanced Player's Guide pg. 149 2.0
Some archetypes grant you a substantial degree of spellcasting, albeit delayed compared to a character from a spellcasting class. A spellcasting archetype allows you to use scrolls, staves, and wands in the same way that a member of a spellcasting class can.

Spellcasting archetypes always grant the ability to cast cantrips in their dedication, and then they have a basic spellcasting feat, an expert spellcasting feat, and a master spellcasting feat. These feats share their name with the archetype; for instance, the witch's master spellcasting feat is called Master Witch Spellcasting. All spell slots you gain from spellcasting archetypes are subject to the restrictions within the archetype. For instance, the eldritch archer archetype allows you to pick a spell list when you take its dedication feat. If you pick arcane spells, the archetype then grants you spell slots you can use only to cast arcane spells from your eldritch archer repertoire, even if you are a sorcerer with occult spells in your sorcerer repertoire.

Basic Spellcasting Feat: Usually available at 4th level, these feats grant a 1st-level spell slot. At 6th level, they grant you a 2nd-level spell slot, and if you have a spell repertoire, you can select one spell from your repertoire as a signature spell. At 8th level, they grant you a 3rd-level spell slot. Archetypes refer to these benefits as the “basic spellcasting benefits.”

Expert Spellcasting Feat: Typically taken at 12th level, these feats make you an expert in spell attack rolls and DCs of the appropriate magical tradition and grant you a 4th-level spell slot. If you have a spell repertoire, you can select a second spell from your repertoire as a signature spell. At 14th level, they grant you a 5th-level spell slot, and at 16th level, they grant you a 6th-level spell slot. Archetypes refer to these benefits as the “expert spellcasting benefits.”

Master Spellcasting Feat: Usually found at 18th level, these feats make you a master in spell attack rolls and DCs of the appropriate magical tradition and grant you a 7th-level spell slot. If you have a spell repertoire, you can select a third spell from your repertoire as a signature spell. At 20th level, they grant you an 8th-level spell slot. Archetypes refer to these benefits as the “master spellcasting benefits.”

Alchemical Archetypes

Source Advanced Player's Guide pg. 150 2.0
Some archetypes give you abilities to use alchemy in a similar manner to an alchemist and say that you get the basic alchemy benefits. This means you get the Alchemical Crafting feat, infused reagents (a pool of reagents usable to make alchemical items), and advanced alchemy (allowing you to make alchemical items during your daily preparations without the normal cost or time expenditure). The individual archetype might impose special restrictions or benefits, or adjust the number of reagents you get or your advanced alchemy level. The rules for these are in the Alchemical Crafting feat, and rules for infused reagents and advanced alchemy are in the alchemist class section.

If you gain infused reagents from more than one source, you use the highest number of reagents to determine your pool rather than adding them together. For instance, at 2nd level an alchemist with a +4 Intelligence modifier would normally get six batches of infused reagents per day from the class, and a character with the Herbalist Dedication feat would normally get two batches. A character who is both an alchemist and an herbalist has six batches—the higher number from alchemist—but is able to use them for abilities in the class or the archetype. Your advanced alchemy level always depends on which ability you're using. In the example above, the herbalist's advanced alchemy level for their herbalist abilities is 1st, though it's 2nd for alchemist abilities.

Temporary Items

Source Advanced Player's Guide pg. 150 2.0
Several archetypes allow you to prepare temporary items. Much like the infused items created by alchemists, these temporary items last only a short time before becoming useless. Examples include temporary scrolls created by the scroll trickster and temporary weapons, armor, or adventuring gear created by the scrounger.

Temporary items are clearly not up to the same quality as other items, so they typically can't be sold. If an ability doesn't list how long a temporary item lasts, the item lasts until the next time you make your daily preparations. Any effect created by a temporary item also ends at that time if it hasn't already (unless it's a permanent effect).

Related Rules

Archetypes (Source Core Rulebook pg. 219 4.0)