PF2e IMPOSSIBLE MAGIC REVIEW Pt. 1: Finally, the Summoner Reads It's Own Job Description

Impossible Magic promises to break the boundaries of spellcasting, which apparently means letting the Magus move, allowing the Summoner to actually summon things, and giving Ash even more ways to kill player characters. We've got lightning-powered sword dashes, six-action summon turns, weapons made out of your own soul, teleporting rogues, and an archetype that looks at another caster's spell and says, "Actually, I'm in charge of this now." Paizo may have called the book Impossible Magic, but after reading some of these archetypes, the only impossible thing is pretending Pathfinder still has a three-action economy.

Show Notes

Impossible Magic is here, and Pathfinder 2e's magic users are getting some long-overdue attention. We start with the returning Magus and Summoner, two classes that had great concepts but spent years fighting their own mechanics almost as often as they fought monsters.

The Magus gets one of the biggest glow-ups. More spell slots and dramatically improved action economy mean Spellstrike finally feels like the centerpiece of the class instead of an elaborate three-action hostage situation. New options like Running Recharge, Sprinting Spellstrike, Twofold Twine, and the gun-toting Volatile Spark make the class more mobile, flexible, and gloriously anime.

Then we tackle the Summoner, which has accomplished the revolutionary feat of becoming good at summoning. Expanded spellcasting means you can actually spend spell slots on summons without feeling like you just burned half your daily resources. Combined with Act Together, an Eidolon, and summoned creatures, the class can start doing deeply irresponsible things with the action economy. Just remember: summon creatures for useful abilities, not just attacks. Unicorn healthcare is apparently the future.

We finish by digging into Impossible Magic's archetypes. Captivator weaponizes being ridiculously charming, Hedge Mage becomes the master of an absurd number of little spells, Living Nexus eats magic and turns it into violence, and Soulforger gives you a magical weapon powered by your convictions and potentially your terrible life choices. Spell Shifter gets especially weird by manipulating spells already in play, while Veil Dancer offers teleportation, concealment, and stabbing people from gaps in reality. World Rouser rounds things out by turning the surrounding environment into a growing magical support zone.

And somehow, despite spending more than an hour on all of that, we still barely scratched the book.

Key Takeaways

• Magus is dramatically better thanks to more spell slots and major improvements to its action economy.
• Running Recharge looks like an extremely strong Magus option because it combines movement with recharging Spellstrike.
• New Magus options lean heavily into the class fantasy, including dual weapons, firearms, area Spellstrikes, and extremely anime movement abilities.
• Summoner finally has enough spellcasting to actually summon creatures without sacrificing most of its daily resources.
• Act Together combined with an Eidolon and summoned creatures can produce some spectacular action-economy nonsense.
• Utility summons may outperform creatures chosen purely for damage. Healing, spellcasting, and special abilities are where summoning really shines.
• Hedge Mage is built around mastering low-rank magic, cantrips, and heightened spells rather than gaining a traditional collection of high-rank spells.
• Soulforger is extremely flavorful and potentially powerful, but brings enough rules and subsystems that it practically deserves its own episode.
• Spell Shifter can manipulate ongoing magic by sustaining, redirecting, altering, or dismantling spells, making it one of the book's most unusual archetypes.
• Veil Dancer is essentially teleportation plus stealth plus stabbing, or as the episode puts it, a little bit of Misty Step: The Archetype.
• Impossible Magic appears very willing to bend Pathfinder 2e's sacred three-action economy in the name of making magic more fun.
• The overall verdict is strongly positive: there is a lot of mechanically interesting, flavorful material here, and there is far too much of it to cover in one episode.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

Meet the Hosts

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

Tyler Kamstra

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

Ash Ely

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia
• https://ashelydm.com/
• https://ashelydm.com/

Randall James

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

Producer Dan

• @Lzr_illuminati