In a 20 minute Twitch stream (linked in the title), Paizo announced two new classes being play tested starting next week:
The Runesmith
A slotless support caster/“melee magician” that invokes both passive and active “spell” effects by drawing runes on everything.
The Necromancer
A prepared Occult caster that summons undead “thralls” to do their bidding. Thralls sound like they are cheap, disposable summons intended to be utilized as an encounter resource.
We should get our hands on the playtest resources on 9 December. As someone who’s gone from playing a Champion to a Guardian, I’m pretty pumped to have another melee support class. There’s been an embarrassment of riches this year for support players who don’t want to use spells! It’s kind of giving me WoW Shaman vibes (which, of course, was my WoW class).
Oh yeah. I completely forgot about runes’ use as transferable magic item properties. That makes it very different. I actually think I like it a little more. But only a little; I tend not to like classes based around crafting very much. Alchemist is the same.
But I agree there’s a lot of interesting room to explore with different takes on spellcasting. The kineticist was a fantastic concept that seems to have been very well received.