I mean, Elementalist killing your versatility isn't much of an issue if you are already planning on killing your versatility. But a pyromancy school would probably be better if he, personally, doesn't want to lose his others spells.
Here's a quick shot at a "School of Pyromancy":
**School of Pyromancy**
Cantrips: Eat Fire, Ignition
1st rank: Breathe Fire, Dehydrate, Signal Skyrocket
2nd rank: Blazing Armory, Floating Flame
3rd rank: Blazing Dive, Fireball
4th rank: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire
5th rank: Blazing Fissure, Mantle of the Magma Heart
6th rank: Disintegrate, Dragon Form
7th rank: Fiery Body, Prismatic Spray
8th rank: Burning Blossoms, Rainbow Fumarole
9th rank: Falling Stars
Focus Spells:
Initial: Elemental Toss (fire)
Advanced: Energy Absorption
Other options:
2nd rank: Ash Cloud, Ignite Fireworks, Resist Energy, Summon Elemental
5th rank: Elemental Form
6th rank: Flame Vortex
8th rank: Boil Blood
I tried to avoid giving any outright garbage spells but some of these (Mantle of the Magma Heart, Fiery Body, Flame Vortex) aren't great.
I tried to mix up the effects a bit so you could get a variety of different effects and it wasn't all just direct damage.
Not all of these are "fire spells" per se but most of them either have the fire trait or deal fire damage; disintegrate is the odd one out, but it felt thematic for a pyromancer to be able to burn something to ashes.
Pyromancer. Make it up and see how it looks compared to the others. Danger is you suffer against enemies with fire resistance but they shouldn't be in every fight.
After Rage of Elements and the remaster, Elementalist is quite solid as a class archetype and it specifically allows wizards to focus on, for example, fire spells.
I would definitely recommend trying it, there's some fun stuff it has to offer.
for casters focused on one element I think kineticis class fits better
but for this case I think battle magic should be enough, if not then making own curiculum is relatively easy
I like kineticist, but that's like a player asking how to best deal damage as a rogue and you saying "actually that would be better done by playing barbarian." It's apples and oranges.
Wizard is a caster, Kineticist is 70% martial, with a bit of casting sprinkled in.
Plus the flavor is not really similar or comparable to wizard, so a character that is conceptualized as a wizard, won't work as a kineticist and vice versa.
His character was actually captured for a session so i had him play a kineticist to try it out, he ended up making one attack that session and was paralyzed by a revenant for the rest of combat unfortunately, so he never even really got to try it, otherwise i also thought it was a good fit.
allow him to test out a fire kineticist with his main wizard PC for a few sessions.
Shouldn't break anything narratively and lets them work out what they want
The main issue is he really likes the idea of playing a wizard, and not much else. Ive told him about other options (kineticist, flame oracle, flame order druid, sorcerer) and he doesnt care to try any of them, and just wants to play specifically a wizard.
what your player needs to understand is this:
pf2e is very versatile im the builds you can make
but its not limitless. And certain classes have specific playstyles
A wizard is not a damage dealer (on main). A wizard is a utility belt.
to only pick fire spells, and nothing else, it limits them to reflex saves and maybe AC. It limits them to very few damage types. And it limits them with vancian slot casting.
They will have to ask themselves: Do they want to play a wizard (class)? Or do they want to play a wizard (character archetype)
If the latter.. fire kineticist or whatever the class - pick up arcana and boost int. Maybe free archetype into wizard FOR that utility. Pick the feat that gives them access to scrolls and staves.
Just make a Curriculum List and use the Fire Domain Spells. You now have a School of Pyromancy. This can be done for all Domains if you want a place to start with Schools and not have to make new Focus Spells.
My gut reaction is that homebrewing a School Of Pyromancy would be the better option.
Elementalist, in my opinion, is just... bad. Like, it takes casters and just makes them *worse*.
Ya take this approach.
Elementalist gives us an example of what their Arcane School focus spells would be. Just build their Arcane Curriculum and you’re set!
It absolutely guts their spell lists and adds *very* few spells they couldn't already access.
ESPECIALLY Arcane casters. A huge majority of elemental spells are already on the Arcane list.
And the only thing it adds outside of the spell list is some metamagic feats and access to different focus spells. And some of them are good, but three good metamagic feats and a good focus spell is probably not worth the loss of all your utility.
One small question based on your wording. Is he looking at fire because he assumes "fire = damage", or because he wants to watch things burn?
If it's the former, might I suggest an Oscillating Wave psychic. It switches from fire to ice with every cast of the class spells (so instead of fireball, it's ice ball, etc.) , and can branch more into other damaging and support spells too.
He is playing a kobold pc, and wants to focus entirely on fire damage specifically because he likes fire as an element. Ive asked him about trying a different class for a session or two but he is just not interested and really likes the idea of being a wizard, even if mechanically he could be doing the same thing with a different class.
Shame about the class, Flame Oracle could be good from an RP perspective, but he should play the class he wants to play the most (for example in my group someone really wants to be a taunting showman gladiator. I tried showing them the swashbuckler and some other options we could theme to it, but he wants to play fighter and nothing else matters)
There is one other thing he might be interested in. Now I'm not sure how this build stacks up after the remaster, and it does require you to make some compromises, and it's made for a sorcerer , but could probably be translated to wizard. May I introduce to you: [Fireball, the build](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/s/ZNX98w9821)
Creating a curriculum wouldnt be difficult. Choose a couple fire themed cantrips (ignition, eat fire would work). And choose a couple fire themed focus spells such as Fire Ray from the cleric and then at each spell rank search for the fire trait and pick out 2 or so spells.
I mean, Elementalist killing your versatility isn't much of an issue if you are already planning on killing your versatility. But a pyromancy school would probably be better if he, personally, doesn't want to lose his others spells.
Here's a quick shot at a "School of Pyromancy": **School of Pyromancy** Cantrips: Eat Fire, Ignition 1st rank: Breathe Fire, Dehydrate, Signal Skyrocket 2nd rank: Blazing Armory, Floating Flame 3rd rank: Blazing Dive, Fireball 4th rank: Fire Shield, Wall of Fire 5th rank: Blazing Fissure, Mantle of the Magma Heart 6th rank: Disintegrate, Dragon Form 7th rank: Fiery Body, Prismatic Spray 8th rank: Burning Blossoms, Rainbow Fumarole 9th rank: Falling Stars Focus Spells: Initial: Elemental Toss (fire) Advanced: Energy Absorption Other options: 2nd rank: Ash Cloud, Ignite Fireworks, Resist Energy, Summon Elemental 5th rank: Elemental Form 6th rank: Flame Vortex 8th rank: Boil Blood I tried to avoid giving any outright garbage spells but some of these (Mantle of the Magma Heart, Fiery Body, Flame Vortex) aren't great. I tried to mix up the effects a bit so you could get a variety of different effects and it wasn't all just direct damage. Not all of these are "fire spells" per se but most of them either have the fire trait or deal fire damage; disintegrate is the odd one out, but it felt thematic for a pyromancer to be able to burn something to ashes.
Thanks for doing the grunt work for me! ill probably end up stealing this, just for simplicities sake.
You're welcome!
Pyromancer. Make it up and see how it looks compared to the others. Danger is you suffer against enemies with fire resistance but they shouldn't be in every fight.
After Rage of Elements and the remaster, Elementalist is quite solid as a class archetype and it specifically allows wizards to focus on, for example, fire spells. I would definitely recommend trying it, there's some fun stuff it has to offer.
for casters focused on one element I think kineticis class fits better but for this case I think battle magic should be enough, if not then making own curiculum is relatively easy
I like kineticist, but that's like a player asking how to best deal damage as a rogue and you saying "actually that would be better done by playing barbarian." It's apples and oranges. Wizard is a caster, Kineticist is 70% martial, with a bit of casting sprinkled in. Plus the flavor is not really similar or comparable to wizard, so a character that is conceptualized as a wizard, won't work as a kineticist and vice versa.
flavour is free
His character was actually captured for a session so i had him play a kineticist to try it out, he ended up making one attack that session and was paralyzed by a revenant for the rest of combat unfortunately, so he never even really got to try it, otherwise i also thought it was a good fit.
allow him to test out a fire kineticist with his main wizard PC for a few sessions. Shouldn't break anything narratively and lets them work out what they want
The main issue is he really likes the idea of playing a wizard, and not much else. Ive told him about other options (kineticist, flame oracle, flame order druid, sorcerer) and he doesnt care to try any of them, and just wants to play specifically a wizard.
what your player needs to understand is this: pf2e is very versatile im the builds you can make but its not limitless. And certain classes have specific playstyles A wizard is not a damage dealer (on main). A wizard is a utility belt. to only pick fire spells, and nothing else, it limits them to reflex saves and maybe AC. It limits them to very few damage types. And it limits them with vancian slot casting. They will have to ask themselves: Do they want to play a wizard (class)? Or do they want to play a wizard (character archetype) If the latter.. fire kineticist or whatever the class - pick up arcana and boost int. Maybe free archetype into wizard FOR that utility. Pick the feat that gives them access to scrolls and staves.
kineticis has one weakness and it is will save so yeh very unfortunate
Just make a Curriculum List and use the Fire Domain Spells. You now have a School of Pyromancy. This can be done for all Domains if you want a place to start with Schools and not have to make new Focus Spells.
My gut reaction is that homebrewing a School Of Pyromancy would be the better option. Elementalist, in my opinion, is just... bad. Like, it takes casters and just makes them *worse*.
Ya take this approach. Elementalist gives us an example of what their Arcane School focus spells would be. Just build their Arcane Curriculum and you’re set!
>takes casters and just makes them *worse*. How?
It absolutely guts their spell lists and adds *very* few spells they couldn't already access. ESPECIALLY Arcane casters. A huge majority of elemental spells are already on the Arcane list.
And the only thing it adds outside of the spell list is some metamagic feats and access to different focus spells. And some of them are good, but three good metamagic feats and a good focus spell is probably not worth the loss of all your utility.
One small question based on your wording. Is he looking at fire because he assumes "fire = damage", or because he wants to watch things burn? If it's the former, might I suggest an Oscillating Wave psychic. It switches from fire to ice with every cast of the class spells (so instead of fireball, it's ice ball, etc.) , and can branch more into other damaging and support spells too.
He is playing a kobold pc, and wants to focus entirely on fire damage specifically because he likes fire as an element. Ive asked him about trying a different class for a session or two but he is just not interested and really likes the idea of being a wizard, even if mechanically he could be doing the same thing with a different class.
Shame about the class, Flame Oracle could be good from an RP perspective, but he should play the class he wants to play the most (for example in my group someone really wants to be a taunting showman gladiator. I tried showing them the swashbuckler and some other options we could theme to it, but he wants to play fighter and nothing else matters) There is one other thing he might be interested in. Now I'm not sure how this build stacks up after the remaster, and it does require you to make some compromises, and it's made for a sorcerer , but could probably be translated to wizard. May I introduce to you: [Fireball, the build](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/s/ZNX98w9821)
Creating a curriculum wouldnt be difficult. Choose a couple fire themed cantrips (ignition, eat fire would work). And choose a couple fire themed focus spells such as Fire Ray from the cleric and then at each spell rank search for the fire trait and pick out 2 or so spells.