Invoking IP: Way to Go Wikipedia!

Like many bloggers, I do a lot of my initial research on a topic at Wikipedia.  It's a great place to start researching something and, for really basic facts, I feel safe sending the world to learn through it.  I know that it's open source status freaks a lot of people out, but I think that's a strength rather than a weakness.

While working on my forthcoming blog about parody, transformative works, and fair use in roleplaying games, I needed to snag a photo of 2 Live Crew.  The members of 2 Live Crew fought one of the most famous fair use parody lawsuits all the way to the Supreme Court and won there.  I liked the photo at Wikipedia, so I decided that I'd use it.

Since I write about intellectual property, I try to be respectful of it by only using materials that authors have made public.  If an image is public domain, I use it.  If the image is freely distributable but requires attribution, I attribute.  When I tried to snag the 2 Live Crew photo from Wikipedia, I got the following message:

Wikipedia's media page will let me use the image of 2 Live Crew, but gives me options for proper attribution.  (Image in question "2LiveCrew" by The Doppelganger at en.wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2LiveCrew.JPG#mediaviewer/File:2LiveCrew.JPG)

How awesome is that?!  Mad points to Wikipedia for understanding that materials ARE going to be used online so creating a system that encourages people to use them legally and respectfully!

Invoking IP: Fair Use & Parody

On today's Invoking IP section, we are going to discuss two very important and related copyright concepts: fair use and parody.  We are going to do it with two of the most fun subjects I can think of: early 1990s hip-hop/rap music and (because this blog is focused on gaming topics) the Ponyfinder expansion to the Pathfinder™ RPG rules. 

Because, you see, there are times that you can copy a copyrighted work without the copyright holder's permission at all!  Best of all for us, Congress has actually spelled out what those times are.  So, it's perfectly permissible to just blatantly copy—but only certain circumstances.  We call these circumstances “fair use.”  What are those fair use circumstances?

·      Criticism;

·      Comment;

·      News reporting;

·      Teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use);

·      Scholarship; or

·      Research[1]

Fair use is one of the ways that I’m planning on getting away with the postings on this blog, should they ever be challenged.  My product reviews fall pretty squarely into the criticism column (though we could discuss that in greater depth), though they could also be considered news reporting (and we will discuss that).  But, since all of this is for an eventual law review paper, I think that the teaching, scholarship, and research prongs hold particularly well.

Surprisingly helpful fair use flowchart for teachers.

But there have to be limits even to how far you can go in fair use.  Obviously, I couldn’t just jump in, drop a copy of a copyrighted RPG rulebook onto the blog wholesale, and call it fair use.  There must be some sort of limits there.  What are those limits?  Well, Congress has established those as well!  When weighing whether or not something qualifies as fair use, we consider four factors:

·      “The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes” [2] – This one is pretty obvious.  Why are you using the copyrighted work and what is your reason for using it?  In my example above, when I posted an entire RPG rulebook for “educational purposes,” I’d likely fail this prong.  Why?  Because I don’t need to post the entire rulebook to get my educational points across (which blends into element three, infra[3]);

·      “The nature of the copyrighted work”[4] – This factor considers whether or not the protected work is of the type that we expect to grant copyright protected to.  It makes less consideration of the copy.  There are some obvious natures of works that we expect to see protected like novels, paintings, songs, etc.  In one case, a publisher did publish an entire copy of a copyrighted work and (sort of) got away with it under this prong: Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service.[5]  Why only sort of?  In Feist, one telephone directory publishing company copied another phonebook and published their own.[6]  We get several great nuggets out of Feist (facts are not copyrightable[7], compilations of facts generally are copyrightable[8], some (albeit quite low) level of creativity is required for a copyright[9]; the discoverer of a fact cannot copyright it[10]; the arrangement of a compilation of facts can have the necessary creativity to take copyright protection[11]; there is no reward for the sweat of the brow of compiling facts[12]). 
The Feist Court ruled that the telephone directory was so devoid of creativity in setting out a compilation of names, addresses, and telephone numbers that no valid copyright could be issued.[13] A phone director falls within a “narrow category of works in which the creative spark is utterly lacking or so trivial as to be virtually nonexistent.”[14]  But, the Court also noted that, “The very object of publishing a book on science or the useful arts is to communicate to the world the useful knowledge which it contains. But this object would be frustrated if the knowledge could not be used without incurring the guilt of piracy of the book.”[15]
So, the phone directory in Feist wasn’t protected because it wasn’t subject to copyright at all.  But, if it had been, a phone directory is exactly the sort of document that wouldn’t be subject to copyright protection.  As we continue down this road, we will see another type of document that is “factual” and generally considered unable to be copyrighted: a document listing the rules of a game;

·      “The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole”[16] – This one is easy.  How much of the original work did the copier use and how much of the copier’s work is used from the original?  While this might seem like an easy consideration, “no plagiarist can excuse the wrong by showing how much of his work he did not pirate.”[17]  What we are really concerned with is whether or not the passages that “qualitatively embodied [the author’s] distinctive expression”[18] were taken, or the “heart of the work.”[19]; and

·      “The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”[20] – This one is also pretty easy.  Does publishing the copy (for free or for a price) impair the author of the original work’s ability to get paid for her authorship?  If so, you are done.

These four factors are weighed against each other, but with no factor having a controlling role.[21]  If a copier can prove that, on balance, the factors weigh more in favor of the copy’s equities than in favor of the copyright holder’s equities, then the copy is a fair use and will be protected.  Educational copies are almost always acceptable.  Commercial copies, unsurprisingly, generally are not.

So, I think I am sitting pretty in writing this blog.  Most of the publisher’s whose material I cite to have given some sort of license for using their material.  Additionally, my uses fall pretty well within the fair use categories.  This blog is for educational, scholarly, and research purposes.  It also encompasses portions of commentary, criticism, and (when I’m really on the ball) news reporting. 

Without going into the case law about how I fare on the four fair use factors, I think I come out pretty well.  The purpose and character of my use is not for profit and it’s educational (see above).  The nature of the copyrighted works I cite to is something that we’re going to be debating for some time.  While some of them are going to be clearly subject to copyright, other’s may or may not be.  Those that are merely expressions of facts or rules may or may not have a substantial level of originality in their arrangement—or they may not!  I don’t use much copyrighted material in my blog posts and what little I use is not the majority of what I’m writing.  Additionally, it is not the “heart” of the material I’m quoting.  Finally, you know I’m not getting paid for this thing, so that works for me.

I know I promised you Ponyfinder and hip-hop, but this post is getting long.  We will do the analysis on Ponyfinder as fair use parody another time.  But, just so you have something to sink your teeth into, check out:

This original song
This parody of the song

This original work
This "parody" of it.

---

[1] 17 U.S.C. § 107 (2012).

[2] 17 U.S.C. § 107(1) (2012).

[3] Infra is lawyer-speak for below.

[4] 17 U.S.C. § 107(2) (2012).

[5] 499 U.S. 340 (1991)

[6] Id. at 343-44.

[7] Id. at 344.

[8] Id.

[9] Id. at 345.

[10] Id. at 347.

[11] Id. at 349.

[12] Id.

[13] Id. at 362.

[14] Id. at 359.

[15] Id. at 350 (quoting Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99, 103 (1880).

[16] 17 U.S.C. § 107(3) (2012).

[17] Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp., 81 F.2d 49, 56 (CA2), cert. denied, 298 U.S. 669 (1936).

[18] Harper & Row Publishers v. Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539, 565 (1985).

[19] Id.

[20] 17 U.S.C. § 107(4) (2012).

[21] Though there is some scholarly research out there that argues that the nature/purpose and the economic disenfranchisement prongs are, in fact, controlling.  See Barton Beebe, An Empirical Study of U.S. Copyright Fair Use Opinions, 1978-2005, 156 U. Pa. L. Rev. 549 (2008).

Invoking IP: Review Graphics Done

Hello Invoking IP fans!  For a long time now, I've wanted to get some good examples to review what exactly is and isn't copyrighted.  While I don't have the analysis done yet (and won't for awhile), I've decided I'm going to use some images from Paizo/s Inner Sea World Guide.  Why am I using these?  Well, Paizo makes it a policy to allow public use of their art once it's been posted on their website.  So, I can use these pages to describe what within them is public domain (due to inability to copyright), what is up for fair use, and what is locked content.  Interestingly enough, Paizo allows for use of the art that has been published, but does NOT restrict you from making derivative works.  That's helpful too, because although I'd argue that my slight edits here fall within fair use (education), it's certainly easier to just know that I'm allowed to mark on their art.

Without further ado, here are the pictures I plan on using along with the areas that I'll highlight for discussion:

This website uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Inc., which are used under Paizo's Community Use Policy. We are expressly prohibited from charging you to use or access this content. This website is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc. For more information about Paizo's Community Use Policy, please visitpaizo.com/communityuse. For more information about Paizo Inc. and Paizo products, please visit paizo.com.

Player's Companion Review: Familiar Folio

So, what do we see inside the Familiar Folio?  It’s weirdly organized (pro tip: the familiars are not in the beginning of the book), but has some real gems in it.  Almost the first third of the book is devoted to intro content and to archetypes.  In fact, there are a whopping nine archetypes in this book and that doesn’t include the options to just give familiars to sorcerers (who do not get a new bloodline related to familiars, in case you are wondering).  The book does go a long way to help customize familiars and includes archetypes that familiars can take and feats for familiars.  Characters also have options to beef up their familiars, including specializing familiars in a wizard school for a feat, in a sorcerous bloodline in exchange for the 1^st level bloodline power, or a witch’s patron in exchange for waiting on patron spells by one level.

There are also new familiars.  Some are so banal you’ll be shocked they weren’t already included, like chickens.  There are some fun tropical and Australian-inspired familiars.  Finally, there are three new monster bestiary entries that can function as either monsters or as improved familiars.  The front and back covers give comprehensive lists of all the possible familiars in the game, both standard and improved.  Further, inside the book is advice for reskinning a familiar from one type to another or even how to retain game balance while modifying a familiar to better reflect the animal’s real abilities.

The normal expected items and spells are in this book.  The spells are pretty much what you’d expect, though there are some surprisingly inventive drugs and other pieces of equipment.

Archetypes

This book just dives straight into archetypes.  First we have two pages of “Character Archetypes,” followed by two pages of “Caster Archetypes.”  I’m not sure what differentiates the two except that the character archetypes section includes both casters and non-casters.  What do all 8 archetypes presented have in common?  Surprise, surprise!  Everyone gets a familiar.  Personally, I think the ones in the character archetypes are better thought out.  The familiars for the Chosen One (paladin), Eldtritch Guardian (fighter) and Leshy Warden (druid) are all exceeding well thought out on a flavor level and do a good job balancing their new abilities for those that get traded out. 

For instance, the chosen one’s text mentions that she often doesn’t know that she’s a paladin at first level, merely that she is guided by her religious mentor (familiar).  By the time the chosen one reaches seventh level, her familiar unveils its true celestial form.  A paladin following an eagle sacred to Iomedae could be a lot of fun to play.  Perhaps a young Kellid girl develops a strong bond with an eagle that seems less afraid of her than of other animals.  One day, she feels the eagle is trying to lead her east.  Eventually she makes it to Mendev, where she plans to join the 5^th Crusade.  And bam, you have a character seed for a Wrath of the Righteous campaign right there.  In one of my homebrew settings, the Kyrii Virtu are a group of forest dwelling humans.  Because the main human god there is a lawful good deity of home and community, my young eagle following chosen one could just as easily worship him.

The eldritch guardian and the leshy warden are both interesting takes on their particular base classes.  The eldritch guardian gains a familiar and, when the two can see each other, can share feats with his familiar.  He’s also much better attuned to detecting magical energy than the base class.  I really like the idea of trading out bravery for a +1 to mind-affecting will saves in general as well—it’s thematically within the archetype’s range and it also does a good job beefing up what’s generally considered one of the weaker classes.  The leshy warden does a good job incorporating the leshy (see Bestiary 3 pp. 176-180) wholistically into the class.  While I don’t love this archetype in particular, it gives me some ideas about trying to create a fey druid archetype that builds off of this base while using the fey creature template from Bestiary 3.

I don’t much care for the duettist, who trades several bardic abilities for the ability to share the use of his remaining performances with his familiar.  The beastblade magus was interesting—he must take a familiar as his first magus arcana.  Over time, he gets better and better at sharing touch spells with his familiar, first having the familiar deliver them and later even able to have a touch spell charged on the familiar and casting another spell.  The homunculus alchemist gives up far more than he gets—especially already being able to get a familiar through a discovery.  The synthesist witch looked interesting, but complicated.

I didn’t much care for the wizard archetypes—the familiar adept, the spirit binder and the pact magic adept.  Both get more specialized familiars, but must trade away all the wizard bonus feats and select an additional opposition school (even universalists). This seems like a lot to ask.    On the flavor front, however, archetypes do excel. The familiar adept gains spells through his familiar like a witch, while the pact magic adept’s familiar is heavily tied to a particular outer plane (of any alignment).  How to explain an evil familiar of an opposite alignment?  It’s trying to tempt it’s master into folly, of course! 

Finally, the spirit binder is REALLY interesting.  The spirit binder’s familiar used to be a close friend of relative whose spirit the wizard has caught and tied into an animal’s body.  The familiar even has some class levels as if it was a member of the former relative’s class.  The spirit binder gives up his bonus feats in favor of granting them to the familiar, who will adopt the skills of its inhabiting spirit as it progresses in power.  In my homebrew, there are a race of hyper-illusionist giant elephant men called the kaluski.  They are trapped into worshipping the wendigo.  As I read through this, I started thinking about how cool it would be if each tribe’s main wizard was a spirit binder and each of them had bound their predecessor in accordance with the wendigo’s wishes.  AND…that just became canon. 

Familiar Archetypes & School Familiars

That’s right!  The crazy kids at Paizo are giving you archetypes for your familiars as well.  Familiars gain levels according to the total of character class levels from classes that grant the familiar.  At first, I was a little dubious, the first archetype, the decoy, did not blow me away. But, there are some really interesting ideas here that modify your basic familiar.  In particular, I really enjoyed:

·      the figment archetype (the familiar is a manifestation of the master’s imagination),

·      the mascot (the familiar shares its bond with more and more party members as it gains levels), and

·      the sage (the familiar has INT of 5+its level and can make lots of untrained knowledge checks.

Skipping a section, we also get feats (School Familiar and Greater School Familiar) that allow wizards with a specialist school to get some awesome options for their familiars.  I have never been a big fan of specialist wizards (or of familiars, for that matter), but these feats could make things worthwhile.  The effects vary based on what school a wizard is specialized in.  While evocation did make out pretty well, it was nice to see some effects where I didn’t immediately think that the evocation and transmutation skills were the best.  It’s nice when enchanters and abjurers can have nice things too.

The book has also taken time to grant completely optional familiars to sorcerers (and anyone with sorcerer-like powers, such as a bloodrager) and witches (same).  Sorcerers trade their first level bloodline power for the familiar and a power associated to the bloodline for the familiar.  Witches gain a power for their familiar based on their patron, but must take their patron spells one level later.

In a list from most to least awesome (sort of, the top ones are all basically interchangeably awesome), here are the wizard school familiars:

·      Necromancy

o   Lesser: Whenever familiar successfully uses aid another for an ally’s attack, that attack deals full damage to incorporeal creatures.

o   Greater: Familiar is healed by negative energy as if undead.  Familiar is immune to energy drain.  Familiar is constantly under effects of a hide from undead spell.  Whenever familiar hits with a natural attack, the creature hit takes 1 negative level.

·      Evocation

o   Lesser: Energy Boost: Familiar gains resistance 10 to a selected energy type.  Whenever a spell with selected energy type is cast while caster is within 5 feet of familiar, it does bonus damage equal to it’s spell level.

o   Greater: Eldtrich Battery: Familiar becomes to immune to type of energy selected for lesser power.  If familiar is the target of an evocation spell of this energy type and cast by its master, the familiar can store the spell (including attached metamagic feats) and use the spell later as a spell-like ability.

·      Enchantment

o   Lesser: Manipulative Abettor: If familiar shares square with target of master’s enchantment spell, its DC increased by 2.

o   Greater: Puppet Master: Once per day familiar makes a melee touch attack.  If it hits, victim must make a will save (DC 10 + ½ familiar’s hit dice + familiar’s CHA modifier) of be affected as if by charm monster.  Effects last so long as the familiar remains conscious and within 5 feet of victim.  After an individual is affected once, immune to further uses of this power.

·      Abjuration

o   Lesser: Energy Block: Familiar gains energy resistance equal to half caster’s level to one type of energy and can share resistance with one ally within 5 feet of it

o   Greater: Disruptive Spirit: Whenever familiar hits an enemy with its natural attack, victim of attack is subject to dispel magic.

·      Illusion

o   Lesser: Illusory Maestro: Master can transfer control of illusion to his familiar for maintaining it.  This also increases DC of resisting the illusion by 1.

o   Greater: Phantom Swarm: As a standard action, familiar can appear to be a swarm.  Those who fail to disbelieve in it are subject to swarm attack of 1d6 + familiar’s CON modifier.

·      Divination

o   Lesser: Ever Ready: Familiar and master both roll initiative.  Master can assign which individual takes which initiative.  Familiar benefits from master’s forewarned school power and always acts in surprise round.

o   Greater: Greater Scry on Familiar: Master gains scry on familiar ability and can use it as if using greater scrying.

·      Conjuration

o   Lesser: Master’s Side: Familiar can return to master’s side 3+INT bonus as if using dimension door

o   Greater: Summoned Shell: Whenever master casts a Summon Monster N spell, the familiar can inhabit one of the summoned monsters for the duration of the spell

·      Transmutation

o   Lesser: Dispel bait: Caster imbues familiar with a spell from level of his choice, losing the spell.  If one of caster’s transmutations is going to be dispelled, the familiar is within 10 feet of it, and the spell stored is equal to or higher than the transmutation being dispelled, the familiar can use the stored spell to bring that transmutation back immediately.

o   Greater: Infinite forms: Once per day, familiar can polymorph into any familiar (but not improved familiars) of its choice, granting its master bonuses as if it were a different type of animal.

Approximating Familiars

We also get some advice on “approximating” familiars, which is the same thing as reskinning them.  This is actually super helpful—likely especially so for Pathfinder Society players who may or may not run into GMs that allow this sort of thing.  Now, it is clear that it can be done.  First off, they straight up endorse making changes from one animal to another when the changes are pretty obvious.  When not, they make some suggestions for how to do so without destroying the balance underlying the game.  Most of the advice is obvious, but it’s also probably good for those that don’t sit down and meditate on game design.

Feats

The book then gives feats for both masters and for familiars themselves.  Feats of interest include Familiar Bond, which lets any character gain a familiar; teamwork feats to let multiple casters deliver spells through each other’s familiars; and telepathic communication with your familiar.    There are also feats for the familiars themselves.  These include upgrades to all the familiar archetypes through a feat. 

New Items – Mundane, Alchemical, and Magical

First of all, we have some new drugs, which are always interesting.  Felines can now be affected by catnip.  There are hazemind concentrate (ingested) and hazemind mist (inhaled) which move their victims’ attitudes to others one step closer to indifferent.  Mundanity grease can temporarily sever the bond between master and familiar. 

The aquarium ball and the replenishing aquarium ball make it easier to transport aquatic familiars overland.  Featherleaf barding will help protect your familiar, and also grant some great bonuses to flying ones.  Finally, spell-sharing collars allow familiars and animal companions holding spells and spell like abilities from their masters to transfer the spells and abilities to other animals wearing attuned collars.

New Familiars

We get a whole slew of new familiars.  Some of them are  so common I’m surprised they aren’t already incorporated into the game, like the chicken.  The koala and the peacock are awesome, though not suprises that they haven’t been added quite yet.  The new improved familiars, the cat sith, the caypup, and the pseduosphinx are all awesome.  They also come with full bestiary entries and a GM could make so much trouble with a pack of cat sith in a small town or even a city.  The cat siths may or may not be loosely based on the cats from T.S. Elliott’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and the derivative musical Cats.  We’re also treated to some examples of truly exotic familiars like the ioun wyrd, the leopard slug, and the petrifern—the last of which is hilarious.  It’s a mobile plant that defends itself by petrifying—itself!  I can just imagine some great RP opportunities.  Paladin, “The orgre ambush has been defeated.  Time to head onwards.”  Wizard, “One second.  We have to wait for Petey the Petrifern to return to a mobile state.”  Paladin, “Not again.”

New Archetypes

Level	Chosen One (Paladin archetype)	Notes
1	Aura of good, detect evil, divine emissary, religious mentor
2	Lay on hands, smite evil 1/day	Lay on paws; smite evil 1 level late
3	Aura of courage, divine health, mercy
4	Channel positive energy, divine grace, smite evil 2/day	Divine grace 1 level late; lay on paws
5	Divine bond
6	Mercy
7	Smite evil 3/day, True Form
8	Aura of resolve
9	Mercy
10	Emissary’s smite, smite evil 4/day
11	Aura of justice
12	Mercy
13	Smite evil 5/day
14	Aura of faith
15	Mercy
16	Smite evil 6/day
17	Aura of righteousness
18	Mercy
19	Smite evil 7/day
20	Holy champion

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Duettist (Bard archetype)
1	Bardic knowledge, bardic performance, cantrips, countersong, distraction, familiar, fascinate, inspire courage +1
2	Versatile familiar, versatile performance, well-versed
3	Inspire competence +2
4	Performing familiar
5	Inspire Courage +2, lore master 1/day
6	Suggestion, versatile performance
7	Inspire competence +3
8	Dirge of doom, harmonizing familiar
9	Inspire greatness
10	Jack of all trades, versatile performance
11	Inspire competence +4, inspire courage +3, lore master 2/day
12	Soothing Performance
13
14	Frightening tune, versatile performance, symphonic familiar
15	Inspire competence +5, inspire heroics
16
17	Inspire courage +4, lore master 3/day
18	Mass suggestion, versatile performance
19	Inspire competence +6
20	Deadly performance

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Eldritch Guardian (Fighter archetype)
Class Skills	Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (duneoneering), Knowledge (engineering), Perception, Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Survival, Swim, Use Magical Device
1	Bonus feat, familiar
2	Bonus feat, bravery +1, share training, steel will +1
3	Armor Training 1
4	Bonus feat
5	Weapon training 1
6	Bonus feat, bravery +2, steel will +2
7	Armor training 2
8	Bonus feat
9	Weapon training 2
10	Bonus feat, bravery +3, steel will +3
11	Armor training 3
12	Bonus feat
13	Weapon training 3
14	Bonus feat, bravery +4, steel will +4
15	Armor training 4
16	Bonus feat
17	Weapon training 4
18	Bonus feat, bravery +5, steel will +5
19	Armor mastery
20	Bonus feat, weapon mastery

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Leshy Warden (Druid archetype)	Notes
1	Green empathy, leshy caller, leshy familiar, nature bond, nature sense, orisons, wild empathy
2	Woodland stride
3	Trackless step
4	Leshy tender, resist nature’s lure, wild shape 1/day
5
6	Wild shape 1/day	Small and medium plant creatures only
7
8	Leshy tender, wild shape 2/day	Large plant creatures added
9	Venom immunity
10	Wild shape 3/day	Huge plant creatures added
11
12	Leshy tender, wild shape 4/day
13	A Thousand Faces, Spirit Whisperer
14	Wild shape 5/day
15	Timeless body
16	Wild shape 6/day
17
18	Wild shape 7/day
19
20	Wild shape (at will)

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Beastblade (Magus archetype)	Notes
1	Arcane pool, cantrips, spell combat
2	Spellstrike
3	Magus arcana (familiar only)
4	Spell recall, Tandem touch
5	Bonus feat
6	Magus arcana
7	Familiar pool, knowledge pool, medium armor
8	Improved spell combat
9	Magus arcana
10	Fighter training
11	Bonus feat, familiar spellstrike, improved spell recall
12	Magus arcana
13	Heavy armor
14	Greater spell combat
15	Magus arcana
16	Counterstrike
17	Bonus feat
18	Magus arcana
19	Greater spell access
20	True magus

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Familiar Adept (Wizard archetype)	Notes
1	Arcane bond (familiar only), arcane school, cantrips, extra opposition school, Familiar spells, focused school 1/day, scribe scroll	Uses familiar instead of spellbooks
2
3
4	Familiar lesser school power
5	Bonus feat, focused school 2/day
6
7
8	Familiar greater school power
9
10	Bonus feat, focused school 3/day
11
12
13
14
15	Bonus feat, focused school 4/day
16
17
18
19
20	Bonus feat, focused school 5/day

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Homunculist (Alchemist archetype)
1	Alchemy, bomb 1d6, brew potion, homunculus familiar, mutagen, throw anything
2	Discovery, poison resistance +2, poison use
3	Bomb 2d6, swift alchemy
4	Discovery, experimentation
5	Bomb 3d6, poison resistance +4
6	Discover, swift poisoning
7	Bomb 4d6
8	Discovery, experimentation (2 points), poison resistance +6
9	Bomb 5d6
10	Discovery, poison immunity
11	Bomb 6d6
12	Discovery, experimentation (3 points)
13	Bomb 7d6
14	Discovery, persistent mutagen
15	Bomb 8d6
16	Discovery, experimentation (4 points)
17	Bomb 9d6
18	Discovery, instant alchemy
19	Bomb 10d6
20	Grand discovery, experimentation (5 points)

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Pact Wizard Adept (Wizard archetype)
1	Arcane bond (familiar only), arcane school (extra opposition school), aura, cantrips, pact, pact summons, scribe scroll
2
3
4
5	Bonus feat
6
7	True form
8
9
10	Bonus feat
11
12
13
14
15	Bonus feat
16
17
18
19
20	Bonus feat

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Spirit Binder (Wizard archetype)
1	Arcane bond (soulbound familiar), arcane school (can’t oppose necromancy), cantrips, lost talents, scribe scroll
2
3
4
5	Bonus feat, Lost talents
6
7
8
9
10	Bonus feat, Lost talents
11
12
13
14
15	Bonus feat, Lost talents
16
17
18
19
20	Bonus feat, Lost talents

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified

Level	Synergist (Witch archetype)
1	Cantrips, hex, symbosis, witch’s familiar
2	Hex
3
4	Hex
5
6	Hex
7
8	Hex
9
10	Hex, major hex
11
12	Hex
13
14	Hex
15
16	Hex
17
18	Hex, grand hex
19
20	Hex

Strikethrough = Ability replaced

Yellow = New Ability

Blue = Same ability, new level

Green = Ability modified