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I like the idea of creating a tricky, illusion-wielding, stealthy Cleric of Sivanvah ("patron goddess of illusion magic, tricksters, and those who keep secrets").

I know I can make a Cleric with the Trickery domain (or one of its subdomains) for a smattering of tricksey spells. I know that if I use the Ecclesitheurge or Theologian archetypes, I can use my non-domain slots to cast those spells more often... but I will still have very few illusion spells to choose from. What I'd like is divine caster:

  1. Whose spell list contains more than 1 illusion / level
  2. (Bonus points) if it provides enough skills points to more easily be stealthy

Is there a Pathfinder class (or, more likely, archetype) that casts Divine spells but has access to a significant number of illusion spells?

My DM might consider 3rd party, but 1st party is preferable.

I recall in Warhammer v1 that Clerics of Ranald (their god of thieves) used the Illusionist's spell list, but otherwise worked as Clerics, and I wonder if I've missed an archetype somewhere that does something similar.

If not, I feel like the classes that comes closest to my vision currently would be a Sorcerer or Mesmerist, reskinned as divine...but I wonder if there's something better out there (perhaps as an archetype for Clerics, Inquisitors, or Warpriests).

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Reliquarian Occulist

A reliquarian occultist does what you want:

  • The reliquarian archetype changes the occultist’s spells from occult to divine. They are still Intelligence-based—and reliquarian does change mental focus to be Wisdom-based, so that is a fairly significant drawback.

  • The occultist spell list has quite a large number of illusions, and you can specialize in them

  • The reliquarian also gains a domain, which could be the illusion domain

  • 4 + Int skills isn’t bad, particularly on a class that rather likes Intelligence, but Stealth is not a class skill

The occultist is a very strange spellcaster, only getting to 6th-level spells despite being a “primary” spellcaster, without some other schtick (e.g. martial combat à la magus or warpriest, party buffing à la bard or skald, skill-monkeying à la investigator). However, what they get instead is a very large number of spells known that they can cast spontaneously. Generally speaking, the occultist is considered to be somewhat on the weaker side (for a ⅔-caster), but it’s still pretty solid. Also, thematic as anything—easily the most evocative expression of “magician” in Pathfinder, in my opinion.

To mitigate the occultist’s weaknesses, I usually use the silksworn archetype—and in my games, the silksworn’s mental focus and devoted mystic features are more the norm. So perhaps ask your GM if they would be amenable to making mental focus equal level + Int + Wis, similar to the silksworn’s level + Int + Cha, and to have the devoted mystic feature on the reliquarian (minus one for the domain, so three at 1st and then as normal for devoted mystic). Or even swap the reliquarian’s spells to Wis or Cha, and use Wis + Cha to be quite similar to a cleric. This does a lot to make the occultist more fun and give them the staying power that I consider appropriate for a primary spellcaster, particularly one without access to the highest-level spells.

Filidh Bard

A filidh bard kind of does what you want as well:

  • The filidh archetype makes the bard’s spells divine, and leaves them as Charisma-based which may be more appropriate for an illusionist or trickster. On the other hand, it’s the druidic kind of divine magic, which may not match what you’re looking for.

  • The bard spell list has a great number of illusions

  • 6 + Int skills is as good as you’re going to get with any kind of serious spellcasting, and Stealth is in-class.

Ultimately, the Pathfinder bard—unlike the 3.5e one—is again rather weak for a ⅔-caster. Bardic performance is really limited, scales extremely slowly, and can get in the way of other actions. Between the greater match of the reliquarian and the relative weakness of the bard, I like the reliquarian occultist better than the filidh bard for this, even if you have to take the Black Sheep trait or something to get Stealth in-class.

3.5e Divine Bard

Speaking of the 3.5e bard, there is a divine bard variant in that system as well. Since the 3.5e bard was awesome compared to the Pathfinder one, if allowed to use this instead of the Pathfinder bard it might be solid. Ultimately, the divine bard throws a lot of roadblocks in your way—need both Wisdom and Charisma for spells, and blocked from casting spells with an alignment descriptor you lack (rather than only being blocked from casting spells with an alignment descriptor opposed to your own, as with most divine spellcasters).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks! I hadn't thought of either of those archetypes. One correction, the Reliquerian only uses Wisdom for their Focus Pool. The still use Int as their casting stat (making them a bit MAD, sadly, though I still think it's a good option). \$\endgroup\$
    – Jeff Fry
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 5:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JeffFry Good point—though that does help with skills, perhaps. Personally, I tend to make the mental focus and devoted mystic features of the silksworn occultist to be the default—it’s a bump that moves the occultist closer to where I think they “should be.” So perhaps ask your GM to allow the reliquarian to use Wis+Int for mental focus, and devoted mystic too (modified as appropriate for the domain, of course). \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Commented Dec 4, 2018 at 14:04
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As another alternative, there is the Shadow mystery of the Oracle class. Specifically, the Dark Secrets revelation allows you to add Shadow Illusion spells directly to your spell list. Stealth also gets added to the class skill list, and the class gives a base of 4 skill points per level.

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