The ABC’s of VMCs

by Nova Wurmsonbarbarian_by_thedurrrrian-d6mfvo6.jpg

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Variant Multiclassing (VMC) is an option from Paizo’s Pathfinder Unchained that trades specific class features from a chosen class in exchange for half your normal level up feats. This effectively lets allows you to gain class features from a second class while giving up none of the progression of your main class.

VMC eats up a whopping half (five!) of your character’s feats - the ones normally gained at 3/7/11/15/19. That’s a huge portion of your character’s power and customization - it doesn’t mean that they’re never useful (otherwise this guide would be very short), just that they require careful thought before taking.

Important Points to Note:

  • If your base class grants you lots of feats (i.e. ranger, monk, DSP marksman), this comparative risk/reward ratio swings more into the favor of variant multiclassing).
  • If you can pick up feats through other means, such as a race, archetype, item, spell, racial favored class bonus, etc., the penalty is lessened. On the flip side, what you gain from variant multiclassing might be more easily replaced with one of the above avenues.
  • If you’re starting at high level, the penalty for for variant multiclassing is somewhat lessened. At level 3, you have one feat from level-up; if you need 2 feats to function properly, you’re screwed. At level 15, you have 4 feats from leveling, so as long as you needed 4 or less feats, you’re fine.
  • Building on the last point, many of VMC pickups are at strikingly different levels of usefulness at different levels - again, if you’re starting at higher levels, you’re more likely to have passed the mark where each VMC could become useful. For example, the rogue VMC just gets trapfinding at level 3 (pretty meh), but starts getting some sneak attack at level 7. The wizard VMC just grants a familiar at level 3 (and a feat for a familiar is a fair trade), but gets an arcane school ability at 7th level, which could become something like swift action teleportation or a scaling bonus to initiative.
  • If your preferred fighting style is very feat-light (i.e. two handed weapons that just need Power Attack), variant multiclassing is more valuable to you. If your preferred fighting style is very feat-heavy (i.e. two-weapon fighting or ranged) you might not be able to be effective at all until higher level.
  • As mentioned above, you aren’t giving up any progression on your main class. A level 20 barbarian VMC paladin still has Mighty Rage, 10 rage powers (gained as a level 20 barbarian), DR 5/-, BAB +20, etc. A sorcerer VMC oracle still has level 20 arcane spellcasting with full bloodline progression.
  • In general, choosing a VMC leaves you a little more “locked into” your build. You’ll hopefully have enough feats for exactly what you need, but not necessarily everything you want. To put it another way, 5 feats could grant you a lot of different things: A mobility feat, a defensive feat, an offensive feat, and two more feats besides, each of them hand-picked that might have nothing to do with each other

Variant Multiclassing and NPCs:

The group that most consistently gains from VMCs is NPCs. There’s a few reasons for this:

  • NPCs have lower wealth by level (WBL) than PCs, often meaning they can’t afford expensive magical items for important effects that a VMC can provide (flight, stat boosts, defenses, etc.).
  • NPCs don’t need to be prepared for the variety of challenges a PC must deal with, so it’s fine for them, so the potential versatility of VMC isn’t necessarily great for them, but the raw power others grant is wonderful.
  • Similarly, NPCs don’t have to level up: If you make a level 7 NPC, it never had to suffer through a drought that a particular VMC had at 3 - it just gains the benefit.
  • NPCs will generally only participate in 1 encounter a day (i.e. being slaughtered by the PCs), so the limited use abilities that many VMCs grant are more useful for them; instead of saying “I can only use this once a day?” they can be content in knowing “I will use this in every combat of my life.”
  • PCs generally piece together more complicated and nuanced builds, while NPCs are usually purpose-built one-trick ponies. Instead of picking a ton of feats for an NPC (especially a high-level one), slap a VMC on it, and your life just got that much easier.

Variant Multiclassing and Prestige Classes:

Many prestige classes are limited in some way by a need to multiclassing - losing out on the progression for 1 or 2 classes for a combined progression later on. With an appropriate VMC, you can sometimes sidestep this penalty for a “single” class entry. On the other hand, prestige classes like Arcane Archer, Duelist, and Loremaster (if you wanted them for some reason) become brutal to try to qualify for with so few feats.

Arcane Trickster - Any arcane caster VMC rogue can qualify at level 11.

Eldritch Knight - Any arcane caster VMC battle oracle for the skill at arms revelation can qualify at level 7 (as long as they can cast 3rd level arcane spells).

Battle Herald - Cavalier VMC Bard can qualify without "wasting" caster levels, potentially making for a fairly competent front line support for people that don't want to be casters. Also gets an eventual +7 [!] Inspire Courage.

Rage Prophet - Oracle VMC Barbarian can qualify at 11. You’ll never get the Greater Rage ability from Rage Prophet...but you’ll get it at Oracle 11/Rage Prophet 8 anyway, amusingly.

Retraining and VMCs (Special thanks to Psyren)

Two important facts here:

1) You can retrain your VMC - whether to enter it, to go from one to another, or to alter the choices you made when taking it in the first place. It can be expensive to do so (both in terms of time and money, especially if you have to go it alone with no trainer) but you can do it. This allows you to wait to take a VMC that is terrible at low levels, e.g. Monk, and enjoy the feats. as you level instead; alternatively, you can go with a VMC that is better early on and then switch to another VMC that is better at mid-late levels.

2) PF retraining is retroactive - they look at your character as it currently stands rather than making you take abilities in strict sequence. This means that you can get an ability at X, and then retrain an earlier feat/class feature/etc into one that needed X as a prerequisite. For example, a VMC barbarian cannot take Extra Rage Power until they actually gain a rage power at 11 - but once you hit 11, you can retrain any or all of your level 1, 5 and 9 feats into Extra Rage Power even though those feats came before, and you will count as a Barbarian 5 when selecting those feats (half of 11.) This has a big impact on certain builds.

A Warning About Spells

Paizo has specifically stated the following in an FAQ:

New Spells Known: If I gain the ability to add a spell that is not on my spell list to my list of spells known, without adding it to my spell list, can I cast it?

No. Adding a spell to your list of spells known does not add it to the spell list of that class unless they are added by a class feature of that same class. For example, sorcerers add their bloodline spells to their sorcerer spell list and oracles add their mystery spells to their oracle spell list. The spell slots of a class can only be used to cast spells that appear on the spell list of that class.

Whether or not your group/GM holds to this FAQ can drastically changes the power level of many of the abilities on this list. The witch VMC, for example, would gain a spell of each level (often very good spells, too) from their patron ability; the arcane sorcerer bloodline would grant a few spells known of your choice from the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

If you’re a GM making the decision about whether or not to implement this FAQ for your group, ask yourself one key question: Are the spellcasters in my group already breaking the game constantly? Let’s be honest: The ability to take spells from other class’ lists is extremely powerful, if not outright broken with a minimal amount of optimization. If your spellcasters mostly can be trusted to keep it reasonable, consider loosening these restrictions, especially for partial and spontaneous casters. If you can smell the munchkin coming off your players a mile away, enforce the FAQ ruthlessly.

Compelling Dissenting Opinion:

Slithery D on the GitP forums notes:

“I think the plain language of the FAQ only limits you from adding new spells to your list. If the bonus spells are both on the Wizard/Sorcerer list and your spell list (not uncommon for Oracles and especially Psychics) you should be able to pick extra spells known from that intersection.”

This could be a fair compromise for many groups - not giving access to cross-spell list abilities, but still granting a few free spells known.

VMC Combos

Editor’s Note: Though I’m trying to credit people for their ideas, I want to point out that 1) I’m often copy-pasting their original posts (so there may be errors and I may not agree 100% with their content), and 2) I have made edits to their posts - sometimes formatting, grammar, and the like, but sometimes to the content and opinions expressed as well.

        -Nova

(Unchained) Rogue (Ninja, Slayer, etc.)  VMC Magus - Prescient Attacks is possibly the most reliable way I’ve seen of trigger sneak attacks in Paizo’s catalogue. Magus VMC Rogue works just as well (probably better, gaining 6th level spells), but Magus was already powerful enough to begin with, and it’s often more fun to find ways to bring the classes that struggle a little up than crank the powerful even higher.

DSP Guru (Sineater) VMC Cavalier - Take Order of the Hammer to deal monk unarmed strike damage with nonlethal attacks; guru basically does nothing but nonlethal attacks. Guru is very feat heavy, so it’s tight squeezing everything you need in, but it can work.

Ninja VMC Monk - Unarmed Strike is a better version of Unarmed Combat Training + Master, so you’re trading away one feat for two feat-equivalent features there (one of which would otherwise be inaccessible until level 10). Evasion saves you another Ninja Trick for something genuinely interesting, as does Improved Evasion. But what’s really good about this pairing is the Ki Pool VMC ability - since the VMC Monk ki pool isn’t gained from class levels, it stacks with your Ninja ki pool for a total of (level + Cha) ki - enough to spam Invisible Blade without a care in the world. You’ll have some AC issues (somewhat offset by the level 15 dodge bonus), but if you’re invisible for the full duration of every fight, that won’t really matter. Note that you can simply wear armor until the “ki pool” VMC feature comes online if retraining isn’t available- you lose the monk VMC benefits, but until the ki pool, you can live without the others.

---Extra Anchovies (with a nod to Psyren)

Paladin/Cleric/Other Channeling Class VMC Cavalier Order of the Stars

All levels count as 1.5 for progression of Lay on Hands and/or Channeling power.

---grarrrg

Cleric VMC Monk - A use for those otherwise useless spells like Ki Leech and Blood Crow Strike. Well, Qinggong monk always had a way to use them, but a way for a cleric to use them.

---Arbane

Unchained Monk VMC Cleric - The reverse of the above. Your charisma isn’t your strong suit, but there are other goodies to grab. Plant domain, as is mentioned below, grants a bonus to unarmed damage rolls equal to ½ class level; +10 damage per unarmed strike at 20 alone is worth considering - though monks have some crazy long feat chains to consider.

DSP Aegis VMC Magus/Wizard/Paladin - Aegis is an extremely feat-independent class with strong base abilities and little use for its swift action - Something the Magus, Wizard, and Paladin VMCs can make good use of. I’ve written an Aegis guide which can be viewed here.

Lore Warden+Martial Master Fighter VMC Bard - If you take Fighter (Lorewarden/Martial Master) with a Bard VMC you wind up being able to tailor your feats to each combat situation while having enough potential skill to contribute outside of battle. This combination pushes the Fighter into Tier 4 territory (and arguably tier 3). Lore Warden grants 2 skill points that must be spent on Knowledge skills and makes all Knowledge skills class skills. Getting Bardic Knowledge at level 3 allows you to split your ranks between 4 knowledge skills. With a 12 Int and your favored class bonus you can have an effective 8 skill ranks per level. At level 11 get Versatile Performance and the ability to retrain skill ranks, so now you've got 9 effective skill points per level.

Your level 7 Bard ability is specifically labeled Bardic Performance, which means you qualify for lingering performance, effectively tripling your performance rounds per day. Lore Warden gives you Combat Expertise effectively for free, and you trade Armor Training for scaling bonuses to all CMB & CMD checks. Starting at level 5, Martial Master allows you to pick up a different Improved Maneuver feat in each combat. With the combined bonuses you'll be able to land maneuvers even at high levels. The Lore Wardens Know Thy Enemy ability does grant a Competence Bonus, as does Inspire Courage, so those don’t stack, unfortunately. It’s still one of the most adaptable and competent mundane builds out there.

---NightbringerGGZ (with a nod to Molosse)

Underground Chemist Rogue VMC Alchemist - 1/2 Level to Alchemy checks that stacks with the VMC Alchemy bonus (have you ever wanted to be good at Alchemy with literally no effort?), Intelligence to damage for Alchemical splash weapons (something the VMC doesn’t grant), Sneak attack with splash weapons, potentially including non-primary targets (though the wording is unclear), Compatibility with Scout, granting easy sneak attack after 8, and fairly easy sneak attack with Charging Hurler before then. Drop Dead Studios also has a similar archetype, Chemist, that's even better if it's allowed, granting all of the above except the potential to sneak attack on non-primary targets plus its own pool of bombs with a special damage bonus that stacks with the increased number of dice from the Alchemist Bombs feature.

---Ilorin Lorati

[Any] VMC Wizard (Master Smith) - Build any wondrous item or magic weapon/armor the party needs in a fraction of the time via Arcane Builder and Master Craftsman. Alternatively, you can make golems with Golem Constructor. Classes with bonuses to craft and/or less need for feats (like Lore Warden Fighter and Aegis) are good choices.

---Psyren

Witch VMC Sorcerer (Bloodwitch) - The main advantage here is that you can get a bloodline without needing the Charisma score demanded by the Eldritch Heritage feat chain.This applies to any class that wants to get a bloodline and dump Charisma. Obviously you’ll want a bloodline here that is less Charisma-focused - some good choices include Destined, Impossible, and Orc. ---Psyren

Unchained Rogue VMC Wizard (Dabbling Trickster) - In addition to a familiar to help you on your capers and checks, you also get an arcane school (Foresight is great) and a cantrip (Mage Hand, Arcane Mark and Prestidigitation are all good choices.) For your Arcane Discovery, look at with Knowledge Is Power, Time Stutter or Ioun Bond.

---Psyren

Hunter/Divine Commander Warpriest VMC Inquisitor - Solo tactics works well with the boatload of teamwork feats hunter brings, and you’ll gain the benefit of them whether or not your pet is the one flanking with you. Hunters are generally feat-light to begin with as long as you’re not going for a ranged build.

Accepting suggestions for more!

Rating Cheat Sheet

Excellent - Great option - you’re getting a lot for what you give up.

Good - You’re probably getting a little more than what you give up.

Decent - Maybe a fair trade? If you’re not really planning on using it, skip it.

Bad - You probably shouldn’t ever take it. Giving up more than you’re getting.

Core Classes

Barbarian***

What’s worth five feats? Maybe a +2 bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and Will saves at level 3, plus a rage power (note that there’s no stipulation you can’t take the Extra Rage Power or Extra Rage feats), plus DR 3/-, plus Greater Rage. Yeah, there aren’t that many feats that can get you all that.

Bard**

Lots of bonuses to skills and knowledge checks - if you’re completely set on making an extreme skillmonkey or have a way of milking milking Knowledge checks like the 3.5 Knowledge Devotion feat, VMC Bard is worth looking over. There’s not anything egregiously bad here - there’s just not much you’d be overjoyed to take or can plan a build around. It’s a way to get inspire courage without bard class levels.

Cleric***

Spontaneous casting of cure spells is nifty, though you already have to be a spontaneous spellcaster with them on your list...so that’s like, what, Druid, Witch, Shaman, Warpriest, Ranger, and Paladin? Channeling with massive penalties and 1st level domain powers are mediocre, but once you hit level 11/15/19, it becomes really great. Definitely a case of “buyer beware” - at level 20, it’s probably worth 5 feats; at level 1-3, it’s definitely worth a feat; at levels 7-10, I’m not sure it’s worth 2 feats.

A lot of the potential value of this VMC comes down to whether you’re picking up a domain with a solid 1st level ability . Air Domain? Pointless. Trickery Domain? Potentially useful. Liberation? Now we’re talking.

Melee classes may be interested in Plant Domain: Wooden Fist is great for unarmed builds, while Growth’s Enlarge is a swift-action enlarge person (special thanks to Kurald Galain).

Check with your GM whether things like Travel Domain’s speed boost and Trickery Domain’s bonus class skills apply - personally, I think RAW would say they do.

If you find something interesting with Domain Strike, let me know.

Druid***

The animal companion is nifty, but comes online late and sadly somewhat irrelevant until your class level=druid level. Other than that...turn into a dog at level 15? Eeeeh. I guess it’s an all-day method of flying. Sweet spots are probably level 11 and 19-20. If you’re starting at level 19 (or an NPC), then Large size, pounce, etc. are pretty great. Otherwise, it’s a long time to wait for those abilities.

Fighter*

It’d be a little silly if the VMC of the Fighter just gave you feats (the real draw of the Fighter), so the Fighter is unsurprisingly pretty poor. The ability to move at full speed while armored is nice, and a +2 untyped bonus to attack and damage rolls is nice, but this VMC is rarely worth it.

To expand on that statement: +2 to attack rolls is approximately equal to 2 feats (Weapon Focus+Greater), and +2 to damage is approximately equal to 1 feat (Weapon Finesse). Bravery and Armor Training 1 and 2 are probably equal to 2 feats, meaning this VMC might technically be worth it over 20 levels. However, the barbarian gets a +2 bonus to attack rolls and a +3 bonus to damage rolls (assuming a two-handed weapon) from just the first level ability.

Monk**

Your use of this VMC comes down to two major questions: Are you fine with no armor, and are you Wisdom-focused? If so, you can pick up a nice chunk of AC, improved evasion, unarmed damage, and some Ki (always useful for qualifying for things, at the very least). If you’re wearing armor, move along.

For fans of DSP, this VMC makes it so that anyone with at least 1 power point can potentially qualify for Psychic Fist.

Paladin***

I really like PF lay on hands - the ability to heal yourself up to 8d6 damage 10 times a day as a swift action should not be underestimated. Smite Evil is basically 1/day “This boss dies.” The mercy is useful, and the divine bond - while coming online late - still is a pretty substantial bonus to your weapon a decent number of times per day. As long as the code of conduct and alignment restrictions are fine with you, Paladin can definitely be worth the cost.

Ranger*

Unfortunately, like the Fighter, the real draws of the the ranger class simply aren’t present here. If you got one prerequisite-less fighting style feat, some ranger spells, or more favored enemy progression, this could have had potential. If your GM assures you that you will be fighting one specific enemy type in one specific kind of terrain the entire game (i.e. zombie apocalypse in a city), then I’d give it a solid, “Eh” and a half-hearted shrug.

Rogue***

Finally, another way to get Trapfinding, Evasion, and Improved/Uncanny Dodge! I’m kidding, of course: The main reason you’d take this is for 4d6 sneak attack. Remember that it comes online at levels 7/11/15/19 - that’s pretty long to wait for that damage (or an obvious time to retrain), but if you have a way to activate it easily, this is a great pickup.

Sorcerer***

Ok, how familiar are you with the Eldritch Heritage line of feats? Because that’s basically what you’re getting, with a few hiccups.

  • Taking Skill Focus+Eldritch Heritage+Improved Eldritch Heritage (x2 to get the 3rd and 9th level abilities)+Greater Eldritch Heritage is five feats, but VMC sorcerer actually gives you a (bloodline) feat back. You do get the benefit of actually having a Skill Focus feat, but something like Improved Initiative (which is on several bloodline feat lists) is a straight upgrade for most builds.
  • VMC sorcerer will get you a 3rd level bloodline ability at level 7 (vs Eldritch Heritage’s 11), but Eldritch Heritage will get you a 9th level bloodline ability at level at level 11 (vs VMC sorcerer’s 15).
  • You can drop out of Eldritch Heritage at any point (i.e. just take a few of the feats), but once you pick VMC sorcerer, you’re locked in.
  • VMC sorcerer lets you use class level=sorcerer level from the beginning, while Eldritch Heritage puts you at a -2 penalty until Greater Eldritch Heritage at 15.
  • VMC sorcerer has no Charisma prerequisite, vs Cha 13/15/17 for the various levels of the feat.

But enough about the comparison: The core concept (sorcerer bloodlines on non-sorcerer classes) is complicated enough that Eldritch Heritage has its own guides. I’ll throw out a few random bloodlines to whet your appetite; these aren’t necessarily the most optimal bloodlines, just examples of the kinds of things you might be able to grab: Shadow (rounds of greater invisibility, hide in plain sight), Ghoul (rounds of haste, burrow, fast healing), Orc (+6 inherent bonus to Str [!], natural armor, large size), Nanite (self-resurrection, gain 3+level on a roll), Rakshasa (permanent nondetection and alter self). There are tons of bloodlines that are complete traps as a VMC. Keep in mind you do not get the bloodline spells, and arcane bloodline does not grant you spells as per the FAQ above (unless your GM rules otherwise).

Wizard****

You get a familiar, a wizard bonus feat or arcane discovery, an arcane school (sans level 20 ability), and a cantrip (woooo), but the levels at which you get them are kind of bizarre. You don’t get the 8th level ability until level 19, which sounds bad, but they’re mostly terrible to begin with. You get the cantrip at level 11 (because that’s when mage hand really starts to shine). Either way, you’re looking at a familiar and the 1st level ability for most of your career, and then an arcane discovery Thankfully, several of those arcane school abilities are #$%^ing incredible, and there’s plenty of fun arcane discoveries to choose from.

A quick breakdown of what 1st level arcane schools can get you:

  • Abjuration - Resist 5/10 to an energy of your choice, can be changed daily plus an action-heavy AoE deflection bonus.
  • Conjuration - Summoning spells gain bonus rounds equal to ½ your level plus a completely forgettable acid attack. With the Teleportation focused school (replacing the acid dart), this goes up to four stars.
  • Divination - Can always act in the surprise round, +½ level to initiative, plus you can grant a creature a +1 to +10 bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks for 1 round, even if it requires a standard action and touch range.
  • Enchantment - Bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate
  • Evocation - +½ level to damage from spells, only applies once per spell. Take the Admixture focused school.
  • Illusion - Illusions last ½ your level in rounds after you stop concentrating plus no-save ranged touch blinding (limited by HD, though).
  • Necromancy - Command/Turn Undead as a bonus feat.
  • Transmutation - I guess it’s fitting that transmutation would change heavily depending on your circumstances. You get a scaling bonus +1 - +5 enhancement bonus to 1 physical ability score - great for NPCs with little WBL, underwhelming for most PCs. You should basically always take a focused arcane school to sub out telekinetic fist.
  • Universal - Hand of the Apprentice (hearty guffaw).
  • Air - Fly at will from level 10 onwards.
  • Earth - +1 insight bonus on attack and damage rolls of you are both touching the ground, bonus on some CMD checks.
  • Fire - Resist fire 5/10, reactive damage.
  • Metal - Bonus damage to creatures wearing metal, worthless bonus spells (see the note about spells).
  • Void - A flat saving throw bonus vs. spells and SLAs; worthless bonus spells.
  • Water - Swim checks/swim speed
  • Wood - Enhancement bonus to Dex, Con, or Wis; a short spear; worthless bonus spells (sadly)

Focused Arcane Schools

These substitute out one or more abilities that the “classical” arcane schools normally grant.

  • Conjuration (Teleportation) - Swift action teleportation; you don’t even lose the extended duration summons. Even though by RAW it ends your turn (as it functions as if by dimension door), but there are still an incredible number of uses for this: Avoid obstacles, “5ft. step” in difficult terrain, get into difficult-to-access locations, escape danger, or a personal favorite of mine: Move up+attack/full attack, then teleport away so your opponent can’t 5ft. step and full attack you.
  • Evocation (Admixture) - Change the damage type of spells; you still get the damage bonus from intense spells.
  • Banishment (Abjuration) - Apply shaken/staggered to enemy summons with a touch. No save, at the very least.
  • Controller (Enchantment) - Communicate with creatures you have charmed/dominated.
  • Abjuration (Counterspell) - Touch attack hinders spellcasting. By RAW, I don’t think you ever get the 6th level ability - talk with your GM. If you do get it at a reasonable level, it’s probably worth more.
  • Conjuration (Creation) - Make small objects. Until level 19, the only difference is that you lose Acid Dart - it would just be a matter of preference...but you want to trade acid dart away for teleportation.
  • Transmutation (Enhancement) - Short duration enhancement bonuses/nat armor bonuses are pretty bad. However, it’s a straight upgrade from telekinetic fist, if you’re set on transmutation
  • Divination (Foresight) - A quasi-reroll; it’s a free action, at least, so it’s arguably better than the Diviner’s Fortune buff that Divination gets anyway. You’re still getting your +10 bonus to initiative at level 20, so it’s mostly a matter of preference.
  • Evocation (Generation) - Increased duration on evocation spells, but loses the bonus damage from intense spells.
  • Necromancy (Life) - Heal creatures for a piddly amount with spellcasting.
  • Enchantment (Manipulator) - Touch attack (with saving throw, too) to charm.
  • Illusion (Phantasm) - Foe provokes AoO with a touch. No save, at least. You still get the extended duration illusions, but if the campaign gets to 19th level, you lose your swift action invisibility.
  • Divination (Scryer) - Medium (get it?) range scrying; you need line of sight and effect. Now, work with me here...if you can already see the location, why do you need to magically see it? Yeah, there are edge cases where it might be useful, but this is mostly a garbage-tier ability. Remember that you’re only replacing Diviner’s Fortune - you still get the best part of Divination if you really want this.
  • Illusion (Shadow) - Entangling that’s reduced by bright light...replacing blind.
  • Transmutation (Shapechange) - ONE ROUND natural weapons are kind of “meh,” but it’s better than telekinetic fist.
  • Necromancy (Undead) - Grant your undead temp HP, turn resistance, and bonuses to attack rolls and saving throws. It’s definitely better than the grave touch ability if you’re building an undead army.

So obviously, the wizard VMCs vary from utterly useless to almost incredible. Purpose-built casters focusing on evocation, illusion, or conjuration (maybe even necromancers with the Necromancy (Undead) ability) can find useful abilities, but ultimately anyone can benefit from swift action teleportation, flying and hefty initiative bonuses. You’d think the 8th level abilities would change these, but they’re pretty much all terrible at level 19 (except Universal, which gets a tiny bit better with limited metamagic reduction).

As far as I’m aware, this is the only way to get a wizard arcane discovery without wizard or arcanist levels. There’s quite a few intriguing options:

  • Time Stutter (time stop a few times a day)
  • Knowledge is Power (Int to CMB and CMD!)
  • Creative Destruction (temp HP equal to the number of damage dice when you cast an evocation spell)
  • Idealize (+2/+4 to enhancement bonuses from transmutation spells)
  • Steward of the Great Beyond (stop teleportation and summoning effects as an immediate action - sure to make your PCs or GM rage)
  • Golem Constructor (kind of fun - I’m partial to the alchemical golem, since it only needs to hit ranged touch attacks).
  • Alchemical Affinity (Straight caster level boost for most alchemists)
  • Forest’s Blessing (CL and save DC boost for some Druids and those that cast from the druid list)
  • Infectious Charms (Get a second cast of charm/compulsion spells)
  • True Name (Get an Outsider pet; some RP requirements. Great one to retrain at 15)

Base Classes

Alchemist **

Probably not worth using. Bonuses on Craft (alchemy) are usually not worth a feat (though it’s better than Skill Focus (Craft) at levels 8-9 and 14-20). A couple bombs a day are a nice back-up, but with no discoveries to boost them (or Int to damage), they fall flat. Now, a +2 to AC and a +4 to Str, Dex, or Con is noteworthy, so if you’re high enough level to start with mutagen, you might mull it over a little. Swift poisoning at 15 and poison immunity at 19 is...niche, to say the least. If it granted you discoveries, there might be something to talk about, but this option is generally average at best.

Cavalier***

I’m not a fan of the cavalier, so any way to get any halfway decent part of the class and run is fine by me. However, a single challenge per day (at character level -2) is pretty terrible early (+1 damage for -2 AC against everything that’s not your target), but scales extremely well into the late game (+18 damage for -2 AC). Take the Chain Challenge feat if possible. Tactician/Greater Tactician are nice, especially for NPCs. Really, your decision about whether or not to take Cavalier kind of comes down to whether you’re getting something amazing from your Order...unfortunately, there aren’t too many amazing Order abilities, but if you really optimize around them, you can piece together a cool build. Here’s a few fun ones:

  • Flame grants the suicidal but entertaining Glorious Challenger plus immediate action movement on the first round of combat.
  • Cockatrice gets a free Seize the Moment effect
  • Dragon gets some useful buffing abilities
  • Hammer gets a free sunder or grapple on each full attack against a target of their challenge, plus monk unarmed damage when dealing nonlethal damage (possibly useful for DSP Gurus)
  • Land’s ability to make a foe flat-footed against improvised weapons as a swift action is kind of a poor-man’s Prescient Attacks (see the Magus below)
  • Lion can grant allies a bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to Cha for 1 round 1/combat
  • Shield essentially gets the 3.5 Stand Still
  • Tome gains the ability to use scrolls.

Overall, the cavalier VMC has some fun abilities that aren’t generally worth 5 of your feats without planning your build around it - pick it up only with a plan.

Gunslinger *

Uh...you don’t actually get a gun until level 7? 3rd and 7th level Deeds at 15th and 17th is frankly insulting. Most classes have a “gun” archetype - use that instead, or just dip one level of gunslinger - it’ll grant you all the abilities this multiclassing ability gives up to level 11. I’ll repeat that: One level of gunslinger grants all the abilities this VMC gives up to level 11. How are you even supposed to take all the requisite ranged feats?

Inquisitor ***

Fairly decent; judgements are a nice, flexible boost, but the very few times per day you can use it are disappointing. You can get some mileage from Stern Gaze for an Intimidate- or Sense Motive- focused (a la Snake Style) build - if you’re doing one of those, this could go up to green or blue to you. Solo Tactics is fine, but it doesn’t actually give you any teamwork feats - if your class natively grants you tons of them (i.e. Cavalier, DSP Warlord, DSP Tactician, any of the 100s of archetypes that grant a bunch of teamwork feats), this could be valuable to you. This one isn’t for everyone, but there are gems for those working for them. Like the cavalier, make sure you have a plan before taking this.

 

Magus ****

The arcane pool isn’t particularly exciting at first glance (though you’re not locked out of Extra Arcana), but the enhancement bonus stacks with your weapon’s existing bonus. Remember how the Fighter VMC ultimately just gave you a +2 bonus to attack and damage? At level 7, you’re getting a +2 bonus to attack and damage just from your arcane pool - a limited number of times per day to be sure, but if you’ve got a minimum Int of 12, you can do it 4 times a day at that level. The ability to quickly gain elemental damage is useful for getting around regeneration.

The level 7/15/19 ability grants you a magus arcana with magus level=character level, and there are quite a few interesting magus arcana to choose from. A few highlights:

If you’re interested in a more thorough discussion in the magus, check out a guide here.

Oh, and by the way (if that wasn’t enough), you get spellstrike too. When you cast a spell with a range of touch, you get a free weapon attack to channel the spell through. Even if your class doesn’t have spells baseline, you can use wands to trigger it.

In short: Magus has lots of fun options no matter your level of optimization. Note that Spell Blending arcana does not work with the FAQ ruling on spells in place.

Oracle ***

An Oracle’s curse already scales at half level for multiclass characters, but you won’t need to delay your primary class with an oracle dip. The benefits of curses range from middling (mage hand and ghost sound) to pretty solid (blindsight, tremorsense, immunity to nasty conditions).  The curse could allow someone to get into Rage Prophet through some silly builds.

Getting revelations as an oracle of character level -6 is pretty lame and sucks most of the power out of this choice - it depends heavily on whether this only affects the choices available to your or their function. If your GM rules that the CL-6 only applies to the choices, oracle gets substantially better. Still, there are enough options (especially at level 15/effective oracle level 9) that it’s worth glancing over. Also remember that you’re picking from a limited list of revelations with some of the best choices removed (Cha to AC instead of Dex, we hardly knew thee).

A few highlights from the APG mysteries (Special note: As has been pointed out, some of these options aren’t on the “approved list” of revelations. Use at your own risk):

  • Battle: Reroll some bad conditions on a failed save, swift action healing, BAB=CMB for one combat maneuver+Improved+Greater feats; martial weapon proficiency+heavy armor proficiency; immediate action movement;
  • Bones: Uh...skeleton pal?
  • Flame: Base speed+Nimble Moves+Acrobatic Steps; turn into an elemental; swift action damage+blur; fly speed.
  • Heavens: Bonuses to illusion spells; flight; moonlight bridge
  • Life: Enhanced Cures (Level 20 1d8+14 cure light wounds isn’t terrible - or 1d8+20 if CL=oracle level), Life Link (the old Oradin trick just got that much easier), Safe Curing (Don’t provoke AoO when casting a spell that cures hit point damage).
  • Lore: +20 to an Int-based skill check, Cha to Knowledge, inherent bonus to Int; Cha to AC and Reflex saves instead of Dex is not available. Arcane Archivist opens up a lot of utility spells for Non-Wizard casters, but you do need a wizard spell book.
  • Nature: Mount, Summon Nature’s Ally (if FAQ isn’t in effect),); the Cha to AC ability isn’t on the “approved list.”
  • Stone: Free swift action trip on crit, burrow, swift action damage+difficult terrain.
  • Waves: Waterwalking+swim speed+water breathing; slow enemies with cold damage spells: water elemental form
  • Wind: Wings of Air (Flight for (at least) 9 minutes per day as a swift action), Invisibility (eventually becoming Great Invisibility), Vortex Spells (No-save staggering on spell crits),

Summoner (Unrated)

I feel like the Summoner is a heavily unbalanced class and don’t allow it in my games because of the sheer power of having a melee brute equal to or better than a Fighter plus a 2/3 caster with possibly the best spell list of all 2/3 casters.

Now, the VMC is much, much weaker than the Summoner. The level 3 summoning ability is garbage, and the level penalty AND evolution point reduction are a huge hit to the beast. If I had to, I’d probably rate it around *** for the sheer brokenness a second round of actions entails, but it could be that the nerfs to the eidolon are enough to keep it in line with, say, an animal companion.

Witch ****

Did you want a familiar? If all you want is a familiar, go wizard where you can get a +10 to initiative.

Now, hexes are great in theory, but you only get 3 of them, there’s no way to get more, they only function as a 1st level witch until level 15, and they take the time to punch Slumber right in the ioun stones. Fortune, Evil Eye, and Cackle are probably near the top of the list for most people, since they don’t require saves.

If your GM  would allow your witch level to equal character level for the purpose of the level 1 witch hexes you take, including save DCs (and I highly recommend they do), I could see bumping this VMC up to three stars. Flight, Misfortune and Slumber would all be solid choices under those circumstances.

Another problem for most situations: Hexes are mostly very action heavy - the Witch class has an interesting balance where you use hexes as your bread and butter, and you bust out your spells for the heavily lifting. The VMC doesn’t grant 9th level spellcasting, obviously, so you really need to rely on your base class to do most of the work with Witch sprinkled in for flavor. If you’re a support-ish class or pet class, witch VMC can help you stretch your resources.

A major hex at 19 is groovy, but comes online very late.

The real tipping point that could bring this VMC from 1 stars to four is the patron, which grants 9 spells known. If the FAQ on spells is in place, this is worthless; like, literally worthless: The patron spell class feature of the witch only grants bonus spells. If not, there’s lots of goodies like true resurrection, planar ally, time stop, haste, gate, black tentacles...for full casters (especially spontaneous casters), this VMC gets a four star rating if the FAQ is ignored.

I would also recommend dropping the cantrip for something useful at level 11. The easy answer would be another hex - or maybe any feat that requires hexes or familiars.

Special Thanks

Extra Anchovies on the GitP forums for reviewing this, making tons suggestions, and catching many, many mistakes I made.

Ilorin Lorati for a reminder to add a section on prestige classing.

Serafina for a lot of help with the Oracle section in particular.

Everyone else who has made comments on the doc and the GitP thread!

To Do List:

  • Add more “Top VMC combos”

Recent Changes:

  • Added’s Psyren’s advice on retraining.
  • Added a section on the Aegis, Underground Chemist/Chemist Rogue, and Lorewarden Fighter.
  • Added several suggestions from Kurald Galain.
  • Added a link to the Giant in the Playground thread .
  • Increased the wizard arcane discovery list.