History Characters / PathfinderClasses

* RapidFireFisticuffs: Flurry of Blows is the monk's tactical bread and butter, allowing him to attack more rapidly than the average melee fighter, using powerful unarmed strikes. Of course, he can also use this ability with designated monk weapons, including the [[SimpleStaff quarterstaff]], [[FightingWithChucks nunchaku]], and [[StockNinjaWeaponry shuriken]].

* DumbMuscle: The Tactician archetypr specifically focuses on subverting it, as it's a Fighter who specializes in using their brains and tactical knowledge to control the battlefield.

* {{Expy}}: The class enables you to be an expy of a number of famous superheroes from real-life fiction. The Stalker combat option is inspired by stealth-based superheroes such as Franchise/{{Batman}}. It gets even more blatant with the archetypes; the Brute is [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]], while the Magical Child is Franchise/SailorMoon (complete with magical animal guide). The Wildsoul allows you to pick an animal from which you derive your powers from, one of which is notably [[Franchise/SpiderMan an arachnid that allows you to create webs]], another which is a falconine that [[ComicBook/HawkMan gives you wings]]. The Gunmaster archetype is for any SuperheroPackingHeat. The Warlock is ComicBook/DoctorStrange. Additionally, through minor editing/combining of the Magical Child and Mounted Fury archetypes, you can be a Franchise/KamenRider, or, alternatively, [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse He-Man]].

* BadassNormal: No magical powers, but can still compete against all of the mystical monsters and creatures. Some archetypes avert this and include magical buffs, though.

* AllMonksKnowKungFu: Averted deliberately with the Cloistered Cleric archetype, which is based upon/inspired by the actual monks of Medieval Europe. It trades armor and weapon proficiencies, and a significant amount of spellcasting ability, for knowledge-related perks (bonus to Knowledge checks in general, bonus to checks relating to written things, ability to help others pass skill and ability checks by giving them instructions).
* AlwaysLawfulGood: Averted, clerics can devote themselves to ''any'' divinity regardless of that divinity's alignment. As such, you can play as a cleric of a demon lord or a god of torture just as easily as you can be a cleric to a god of law or love.

* SpellBlade: The Forgemaster archetype specializes is being able to imbue arms and armor with temporary magical abilities by drawing magical runes on them. This averts InstantRunes, though, as it takes a full-round action to craft a single rune.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Druids are likely to avert this in general, but the Naga Aspirant archetype really averts it; these druids revere the human-headed SnakePeople known as Nagas, and eventually transform themselves into one permanently.

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted, as Fighters naturally make better use of armor than other martial classes which might equip similarly heavy armor. With enough practice, a sufficiently skilled fighter can outright ignore the penalty their armor provides, meaning they can be just as nimble and deadly while constantly improving their protection. Averted even harder by the Armor Master archetype, which focuses on mastering the usage of shields and the heaviest armor possible to attain a veritably impregnable defense.

* DumbMuscle: Fighters can play this straight or avert this as they choose, but one archetype, the Tactician, specifically focuses on averting it, as it's a Fighter who specializes in using their brains and tactical knowledge to control the battlefield.

* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]]As in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Monks must be LawfulGood, LawfulNeutral or LawfulEvil. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] by the [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Martial Artist Archetype]], who has no alignment restrictions.

** Averted by the Martial Artist, who loses access to the ki-pool class feature in exchange for Fighter feats, a PressurePoint based ability, and an assortment of CharlesAtlasSuperpower features.

* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: Averted. The Paladin depends on armor to protect themselves in melee, but can still cast spells, as per Clerics.

* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]]As in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Paladins must be LawfulGood. They received an EvilCounterpart class, the Antipaladin, which must be ChaoticEvil, in the Advanced Player's Guide. Averted with the Gray Paladin archetype from Ultimate Intrigue, which allows a paladin to be LawfulGood, LawfulNeutral or NeutralGood. This allows the paladin to to be more flexible with their code, but at the cost of reduced divine power.

* KnightInShiningArmor: Embodies the archetype. The Sword of Valor class archetype takes it up to eleven, while the Empyreal Knight quite literally becomes an angelic knight as they level up. Finally there's the Shining Knight archetype itself, which specializes in mounted combat. Averted by the [[TheGunslinger Holy Gun]] archetype, both in flavor and mechanics. They lose proficiency in the heavier styles of armor, as well as the ability to detect evil, in exchange for a gun. They are explicitly described as breaking the mold of the "knight in shining armor."
--> ''" Holy guns roam the world searching for evil. And where they find it, they put it down."''

* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: Averted. The Paladin depends on armor to protect themselves in melee, but can still cast spells, as per Clerics.

* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]]Averted. Unlike in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', where both the Knight class and the Cavalier PrestigeClass required a Lawful alignment, Pathfinder Cavaliers have no alignment restrictions.
* CripplingOverspecialization: The Cavalier's fighting style typically emphasizes mounted combat. Fighting in areas where mounted combat is impractical or impossible can severely hamper the Cavalier's fighting strength (and given that this is '''Dungeons''' and dragons, a Cavalier can generally expect to see these kinds of areas often). Although, some players have worked around this by using small sized characters.
** That said, the class is actually better off than its counterparts in ''D&D 3.5''; Pathfinder Cavaliers spend a mere five features on getting a mount, better ability to train a mount, and better charges whilst mounted, with the rest of its levels focused on aiding allies and Order-related abilities. That said, they're still less than optimal if they can't access their mount, which is particularly important for Beast Riders and Fell Riders. The Gendarme archetype trains to be a mounted terror almost to the exclusion of other abilities -- this is how the archetype is ''described''. Naturally, they fall headfirst into this.
** The dependency on mounts is averted by a number of archetypes that remove the mount and focus on either the party support of knight-styled combatant aspects of the class. Examples include the Castellan, the Constable, and the Daring Champion.

* FantasyGunControl: Averted; one of the valid archetypes is the Musketeer, after all.

* ArmorIsUseless: Gunslingers generally prefer lighter armor and mobility for defense, and their weapons use a target's touch armor class rather than their regular AC, effectively invoking this trope without specialized defensive powers. Averted by the Gun Tank archetype, which focuses on wearing heavy armor to deflect attacks whilst they blow folks away with their own guns.

* FantasyGunControl: Actively averts this. The ''Advanced Class Guide'' introduces the Bolt Ace archetype, which applies the Gunslingers' skills and abilities to crossbows, allowing those whose [=GMs=] enforce this trope to still use the class.

* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]]Averted. Though the Samurai of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' were required to be Lawful in alignment and lost their abilities if they ceased to be Lawful, the Pathfinder Samurai has no such restriction. Even the "anti-Samurai", or {{ronin}}, is a class archetype rather than a "state of fallen grace" or "EvilCounterpart" PrestigeClass, in contrast to the fallen and anti-paladins.

* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: Averted. Being able to cast arcane spells whilst wearing heavy armor is one of the class's special features.

* SuperReflexes: The Spire Defender archetype develops these via its magic, as it tends to operate in difficult terrain and thusly places mobility and ability at a premium over armor. They gain Combat Expertise and Dodge as bonus feats, and can spend arcane points to boost various agility and mobility related skills, but lose innate training with armor, as well as the innate ability to avert ArmorAndMagicDontMix.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Averted. Rather than depend solely on their Sorcerous talent to cast spells, Arcanists deliberately study Wizardly lore and magecraft to gain their abilities.

* UnequalRites: Mostly averted. Arcanists develop by freely merging and hybridising techniques and lore from both Wizards and Sorcerers, though apparently ''some'' wizards regard their arcane exploits as somehow cheating (then again, the reason this is known is that ''other'' wizards decided the exploits were a perfectly valid magical technique and figured out how to use them themselves).

* InspectorJavert: The "relentless inspector" archetype naturally lends itself to this.

* MasterOfNone: Averted, in theory; the Skald has less talents in healing or knowledge-type skills than the common bard, but is tougher and better in a straight-up fight.

* TheBerserker: As is standard depiction for the Barbarian in roleplaying games. The class revolves around its "berserker rage" class feature. The Wild Rager takes it UpToEleven and is designed as being even more of a crazy, frothing-mad berserk maniac than the standard barbarian.

* CelibateHero: One of the {{Heroic Vow}}s that a Monk can take is the Vow of Celibacy, which requires abstaining from all sexual and intimate physical activities. The Monk takes it UpToEleven compared to the Paladin; they refuse to share a room with another person, sleep on the opposite side of the camp from the rest of the group, and are forbidden from even touching others or allowing others to touch them -- combat is, thankfully, a valid exception, but all peaceful or pleasurable contact must be shunned, including receiving helpful touch-delivered spells.

* KnightInShiningArmor: Embodies the archetype. The Sword of Valor class archetype takes it UpToEleven, while the Empyreal Knight quite literally becomes an angelic knight as they level up. Finally there's the Shining Knight archetype itself, which specializes in mounted combat. Averted by the [[TheGunslinger Holy Gun]] archetype, both in flavor and mechanics. They lose proficiency in the heavier styles of armor, as well as the ability to detect evil, in exchange for a gun. They are explicitly described as breaking the mold of the "knight in shining armor."

* CriticalHitClass: The emphasis in the class features on "one-handed piercing weapons" encourages this, given that tends to mean players pick rapiers (by default an 18-20 crit range). UpToEleven with the Whirling Dervish archetype, which gets to use the relevant class features with scimitars instead, which also have the widest crit range of any one-handed weapon in ''Pathfinder'' (18-20).

A Cleric after taking a level in badass or a Paladin UpToEleven, this class's faith in its deity is so strong that its blood literally burns with righteous power and holy fervor.

* NecessaryDrawback: Monks have the second highest defense out of all the martial classes, are the fastest, and are the only class that can make two attacks in one action in any scenario. In exchange they fight barehanded, making them generally weaker than other martial classes, and even if they can use weapons, their options are limited.

* NotQuiteDead: The Swashbuckler feat Cheat Death lets you ignore being killed, letting you hang on with just one hit point. [[NoOneShouldSurviveThat You can use it to ignore multiple lethal events in short order since there's no cooldown on its usage]], but each use of the feat increases your ''doomed'' condition by 1, meaning that if you try to use it too often, you'll survive the killing blow... and then drop dead immediately afterward.

* KnifeNut: Rogues tend to use daggers anyway, but the Knife Master archetype specializes in it.

* ArmorPiercingStrike: One ability the default Inquisitor gets at higher levels is to make all of their confirmed criticals function like this - they ignore damage reduction, they temporarily repress any type of regeneration that has a workaround, plus they deal extra energy damage if they use it against a foe vulnerable to it.

* FantasyGunControl: Played with. On Golarion the reintroduction of Gunslinger early into the lifespan of Pathfinder Second Edition {{subvert}}s this, as firearms are integrated into the various cultures of the various regions with much more ease. Their accessibility and power are likewise much more balanced than before. However firearms- and in fact the Gunslinger itself- are uncommon and thus are up to a GM's discretion regarding their inclusion. DevelopersForesight grants the Gunslinger class proficiency in crossbows as well as firearms, ensuring that Gunslinger is (at least mostly) playable even should guns be a non-factor in a given campaign.

* LightningBruiser: It varies based on your Hybrid Study- some are more bruiser, some are more lightning- but medium armor proficiency, martial weapon proficiency, and 8+Con HP/level put Magus in the same league as the likes of Ranger and Monk. Combined with access to buff spells like Haste, Mirror Image, Blur, and more, a Magus can be a self-sufficient terror in a fight that can not only hit hard and fast but also withstand a surprising number of hits as well.

* WeakButSkilled: In terms of casting, a Magus doesn't come anywhere close to full casters like Wizards, Sorcerers, Witches, or even Oracles. A Magus will only ever have '''four''' spell slots on its own, whereas full casters will have more than that by level ''3''. Even with its Studious Spells feature giving Magus a small handful of additional spell slots, they're restricted solely to a specific list of utilitarian spells. Where a Magus excels however is its capabity to capitalize on self-buffs and devastating windows of burst damage via {{SpellBlade}}. A Magus will never control the battlefield or debuff enemies the same way a full caster can, but prudent use of their spells combined with higher durability and martial training permits any Magus to positively devastate a vital target while still being in the thick of things.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Save-based spells. Magi can learn and cast spells from the arcane traidition much like Wizards, giving them the same extensive options for a wide array of AoE spells and crippling debuffs. Unfortunately between key ability scores and proficiency levels a Magus' spell DCs are always going to be at least 1-2 points lower than a primary caster with the same investment, and in a system where every modifier counts that difference can be critical. Between that and a Magus' bounded casting leaving them with only four spell slots by default (not counting extra slots for Studious Spells or multiclassing), a Magus is typically far better off making the most of their spell slots for buffs and attack spells.
** "Expansive Spellstrike", a low-level feat that allows a Magus to use save-based spells with Spellstrike, similarly falls under this. To whit, while Expansive Spellstrike allows you to use spells that have AoEs or requires saves (normally Spellstrike can only be used with spells that themselves have attack rolls), it does nothing to improve your spell DCs. On top of that, it '''requires''' that any AoE spell you use be centered on the target you're striking. Meaning that if you're trying to Spellstrike with a Fireball or similar spell, you ''are'' going to be caught in the blast zone. The one exception to this might be the "Starlit Span" Hybrid Study and its ability for ranged Spellstrikes, wherein the ability to use a distant target as the source for cone, burst, or emanation spells would prove much more useful.

* FighterMageThief: An interesting case in that many of the Magus' subclasses- referred to as "Hybrid Studies"- fall into this dynamic. "Inexorable Iron" and "Sparkling Targe" both fall under the Fighter, specializing in using heavy two-handed weapons for Inexorable Iron while Sparkling Targe specializes in KnightlySwordandShield. Inexorable Iron's features are specialized for sustaining itself while in the thick of battle while unleashing devastating strikes, whereas Sparkling Targe empowers its shield against magic and makes itself an unyielding wall. "Laughing Shadow" is the Thief; it specializes in moving fast and staying light on its feet, benefitting from wearing as little armor as possible and doing extra damage to flanked or distracted foes. It gains abilities to feint and obfuscate enemies and even teleport across the battlefield for quick hit-and-run tactics. "Twisting Tree" meanwhile fills the role of Mage; as the Hybrid Study that specializes in the use of staves it naturally has more spells available to it than other Magi and can make use of staves without interfering with its other features, something the other Hybrid Studies struggle with. Its features likewise make the most of staves, allowing them to strike from greater distances with the weapon and further empower their staff via runes and weapon traits.

* WeakButSkilled: In terms of casting, a Magus doesn't come anywhere close to full casters like Wizards, Sorcerers, Witches, or even Oracles. A Magus will only ever have '''four''' spell slots on its own, whereas full casters will have more than that by level ''3''. Even with its Studious Spells feature giving Magus a small handful of additional spell slots, they're restricted solely to a specific list of utilitarian spells. Where a Magus excels however is its capabity to capitalize on self-buffs and devastating windows of burst damage via {{SpellBlade}}.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Save-based spells. Magi can learn and cast spells much like Wizards, giving them the same extensive options for a wide array of AoE spells and crippling debuffs. Unfortunately between key ability scores and proficiency levels a Magus' spell DCs are always going to be at least 1-2 points lower than a primary caster with the same investment, and in a system where every modifier counts that difference can be critical. Between that and a Magus' bounded casting leaving them with only four spell slots by default (not counting extra slots for Studious Spells or multiclassing), a Magus is typically far better off making the most of their spell slots for buffs and attack spells.

* BagOfSpilling: An interesting variation. Magus and Summoner both have a unique casting progression dubbed "wave casting"; whereas other casters get and keep spell slots as they level up, Magus only has access to spell slots of the highest two levels it can cast (and cantrips). This means a Magus has to be incredibly sparing with the spells they use while shoring up their limited spell slots with wands, staves, and potentially multiclassing. The more limited spell casting does of course come in exchange for a variety of other abilities that other casters could only dream of, so in theory it evens out.

* FighterMageThief: An interesting case in that many of the Magus' subclasses- referred to as "Hybrid Studies"- fall into this dynamic. "Inexorable Iron" and "Sparkling Targe" both fall under the Fighter, specializing in using heavy two-handed weapons for Inexorable Iron while Sparkling Targe specializes in KnightlySwordandShield. Inexorable Iron's features are specialized for sustaining itself while in the thick of battle while unleashing devastating strikes, whereas Sparkling Targe empowers its shield against magic and makes itself an unyielding wall. "Laughing Shadow" is the Thief; it specializes in moving fast and staying light on its feet, benefitting from wearing as little armor as possible and doing extra damage to flanked or distracted foes. It gains abilities to feint and obfuscate enemies and even teleport across the battlefield for quick hit-and-run tactics. "Twisting Tree" meanwhile fills the role of Mage; as the Hybrid Study that specializes in the use of stave it naturally has more spells available to it than other Magi and can make use of them without interfering with its other features, something the other Hybrid Studies struggle with. Its features likewise make the most of staves, allowing them to strike from greater distances with the weapon and further empower their staff via runes and weapon traits.

** "Expansive Spellstrike", a low-level feat that allows a Magus to use save-based spells with Spellstrike, similarly falls under this. To whit, while Expansive Spellstrike allows you to use spells that have AoEs or requires saves (normally Spellstrike can only be used with spells that themselves have attack rolls), it does nothing to improve your spell DCs. On top of that, it **requires** that any AoE spell you use be centered on the target you're striking. Meaning that if you're trying to Spellstrike with a Fireball or similar spell, you _are_ going to be caught in the blast zone.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Save-based spells. Magi can learn and cast spells much like Wizards, giving them the same extensive options for a wide array of AoE spells and crippling debuffs. Unfortunately between key ability scores and proficiency levels a Magus' spell DCs are always going to be at least 1-2 points lower than a primary caster with the same investment, and in a system where every modifier counts that difference can be critical. Between that and a Magus' bounded casting leaving them with only four spell slots by default (not counting extra slots for Studious Spells or multiclassing), a Magus is typically far better off making the most of their spell slots for buffs and touch spells.

* MechanicallyUnusualClass: Kineticists can create supernatural effects, but the game mechanics involved are quite different from standard spellcasting.

* MechanicallyUnusualFighter: Even beyond the Summoner differing from the classes around it, the Fey Eidolon goes further to diverge ''significantly'' from the other Eidolons. While any Eidolon can take a feat path that gives them some small degree of spellcasting ability, the Fey Eidolon takes this concept and runs with it, becoming a mini-mage attached to their Summoner. As a result, the Summoner themselves veer closer towards a traditional spellcaster when aligned with the fey creature, gaining access to illusion and enchantment spells from the arcane spell tradition in addition to every primal spell they get access to simply by bonding with the Fey Eidolon.