PF2 Thaumaturge

Introduction

The Thaumaturge is an exciting, nuanced, and capable martial class capable of stepping into several roles within the party. With good martial capabilities and a dependence on Charisma, the Thaumaturge fits easily as a Face, and Striker. Depending on your build choices, you could also function as a Scout and you can pick up a few Defender, Healer, and Utility Caster capabilities, though you won’t match a fighter as a Defender or a full spellcaster on other roles. In some ways, the Thaumaturge is close to the Rogue in terms of party role.

Much like the Fighter, which becomes unique by your choices of equipment and class feats, the Thaumaturge distinguishes themselves by their preferred Implements, allowing you to pick up exciting capabilities based on whatever assortment of trinkets and knick-knacks you’ve collected. Several feats lean into this theme, allowing you to create and use free temporary magic items like scrolls and talismans which are usually expensive single-use tools for most characters.

However, the Thaumaturge does face some specific challenges. It’s a martial class with Charisma as its Key Ability Score, so you will simply never be as effective with a weapon as other martial classes like the Champion or the Fighter. You need to constantly juggle which items you’re holding, and your most important class features often place a tax on your action economy, so there isn’t as much room to play with action options as there is with many other classes. This is a complicated class to build and play, but it can absolutely be worth the effort.

Despite their deep customizability and a whole lot of great ideas in the class, several of the Thaumaturge’s options are frustrating due to apparent editorial errors which have yet to be corrected in Errata. Among the most consistent: many things allow you to use your Class DC in place of a spell or item’s existing DC, but those same options make no mention of spell attacks, which means that a huge number of enticing options simply don’t work for the Thaumaturge, and the text doesn’t make it clear if this is intentional or merely an error.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

Thaumaturge Class Features

Key Ability: Charisma. This makes you a good Face, but as a martial character it presents a challenge because your Strength and Dexterity can’t match those of character like the Fighter and the Rogue.

Hit Points: 8+ hit points won’t match a more durable class like the Fighter; you’re more comparable to the Rogue.

Proficiencies: Fairly typical for martial characters.

  • Perception: Starts at Expert, and slightly better than average progression.
  • Saving Throws: middling progressions for Fortitude and Reflex saves, and for some reason the absolute best Will save progression in the game. Since you can’t rely on Bulwark from full plate armor, building with some Dexterity will do a lot to improve your defenses.
  • Skills: 4+ Int is standard, and you get Occult Lore for free on top of your other skills. Depending on your build, you can add more skills with the Tome Implement and you can reduce reliance on knowledge skills like Arcana by taking certain feat options.
  • Attacks: Typical progression with martial weapons for a martial character.
  • Defenses: Typical proficiency progression for up to medium armor.
  • Class DC: By default, almost none of the Thaumaturge’s options rely on your Class DC, but you can add Critical Specialization Effects and some options like Scroll Esoterica can allow you to use your Class DC more often.

Esoteric Lore: A free lore skill which covers all types of creatures and which advances automatically without spending your Skill Increases. Excellent, and it reduces the need to invest a bunch of resources in knowledge skills like Arcana and Religion. The primary use for this will be with Exploit Vulnerability, but it can still be used to Recall Knowledge about curses, haunts, and creatures.

First Implement and Esoterica: See our Thaumaturge Implements Breakdown.

Exploit Vulnerability: Use this early in every fight. If you can find/create a weakness on your target, you’ll deal considerably more damage with your Strikes.

Implements Empowerment: This closes the damage gap between one-handed and two-handed weapons, which is important because you really do need a second hand for your implements and esoterica.

Second Implement: A second implement is a significant increase in your capabilities. See our Thaumaturge Implements Breakdown.

Implement Adept: You get the Adept ability for either of your two Implements. See our Thaumaturge Implements Breakdown.

Intensify Vulnerability: You can use the Intensify Vulnerability benefit from any of your implements (you have two when you get this, but you’ll have three eventually). Since you can choose, you might need only one good Intensify Vulnerability option, but you might look for multiple Implements with good options so that you can use whichever best fits the situation.

Second Adept: See our Thaumaturge Implements Breakdown.

Third Implement: See our Thaumaturge Implements Breakdown.

Implement Paragon: You only get one Paragon Benefit despite getting a total of three Implements, and it needs to be from one of your first two Implements because you get Second Adept before you get Third Implement. See our Thaumaturge Implements Breakdown.

Unlimited Esoterica: Exploit Vulnerability and Intensify Vulnerability are a persistent tax on your Actions in combat. Getting to use them for free is a massive boost in efficiency.

There is some abiguity in the function of the feature. Exploit Vulnerability and Intensify Vulnerability each cost one Action normally and can be used once per round, but that usage limitation is specific to the two Actions. RAW, it appears that you could use both of these Actions as Free Actions on the same turn every round. I don’t believe that is the intent because similar class features only give you one additional Action.

Thaumaturge Ability Scores

Strength-Based

The go-to option for most thaumaturges. If you’re going to be a front-line melee brute, this is the obvious choice.

Str: Attacks and damage.

Dex: You need +1 or +2 to fill out your armor’s Max Dex Cap. I recommend going for +2 if you can afford it because it will compensate for your poor Reflex saves.

Con: HP and Fortitude saves.

Int: You likely need to dump this. Fortunately, Esoteric Lore will cover most of your Recall Knowledge needs, and that’s Charisma-based.

Wis: Perception, Will saves, many skills.

Cha: Your Key Ability Score. You don’t need the score as high as a full caster, but it does set you Class DC, which can be very impactful.

Dexterity-Based

If you want to fill in as a Scout or if you want to fight at range, this is the way to go.

Str: You may need some for damage if you’re using a thrown weapon, but otherwise you can dump this.

Dex: Good for ranged weapons and many skills like Stealth.

Con: HP and Fortitude saves. You may be able to get by with very little Constitution if you stay at range with ranged weapons.

Int: You may be able to afford a bit of Intelligence to support your skills.

Wis: Perception, Will saves, many skills.

Cha: Your Key Ability Score. You don’t need the score as high as a full caster, but it does set you Class DC, which can be very impactful.

Charisma-Based

If you plan to build around the Wand Implement, you can rely almost entirely on Charisma. You might also take multiclass archetype feats in a Charisma-based casting class like the Bard or the Sorcerer.

Str: Dump.

Dex: You need +1 or +2 to fill out your armor’s Max Dex Cap.

Con: HP and Fortitude saves. You may be able to get by with very little Constitution if you stay at range with Fling Magic.

Int: With the ability to dump Strenght and with very little need for Dexterity, you can afford a bit of Intelligence to support your skills.

Wis: Perception, Will saves, many skills.

Cha: Sets your Class DC, which is the save for Fling Magic.

Thaumaturge Ancestries

Because the Thaumaturge is somewhat MAD, your Ability Boosts are crucial. You need a boost to Charisma and to either Strength or Dexterity, and a Constitution boost is strongly recommended since most thaumaturges will fight in melee without the protection of a shield.

Additional defenses such as high hit points or damage resistance are great, but beyond the Ability Boosts there’s nothing that you strictly need. Access to Uncommon or Advanced weapons may be helpful, but it’s not strictly necessary. If you’re looking at innate spells, consider defensive options, buffs, and utility options, but be mindful of your action economy because Exploit Vulnerability and Intensify Vulnerability place a lot of strain on your limited number of actions.

Despite being a martial character, the Thaumaturge doesn’t get access to Critical Specialization Effects by default. You can get them from the Weapon Implement, but if you’re not taking Weapon, you can instead get them from many Ancestry Feats.

CatfolkAPG: Perfect ability scores, and an abundance of feat options. You can fight unarmed using claws or teeth, you can get Critical Specialization Effects, and the Catfolk Luck feat chain is always useful. Catnap provides some easy temporary hp to pad your relatively poor durability compared to the Fighter.

DwarfCRB: Constitution and Wisdom boosts are great, but the Charisma flaw is a problem. If you use the Optional Flaw rules, you can reduce some combination of Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom to offset the Charisma flaw. Beyond that, the Dwarf has quite a bit to offer. High starting hp, easy access to fire resistance with the Forge Dwarf Heritage, and access to Critical Specialization Effects via the Dwarven Weapon Cunning feat. Guns and Gears adds some more great dwarf options, including Clan Pistol if you want to play a gun-toting ranged build.

ElfCRB: The Elf’s ability scores work well with a ranged, Dexterity-based build. The Ancestral Longevity feat chain pairs nicely with the Tome implement, allowing you to choose and change several skills every day. Other feats offer options like cantrips and improved mobility with Elf Step.

GnomeCRB: Perfect ability scores for a Dexterity-based build, but with a Strength Flaw you might want to stick to hand crossbows or the Wand implement. The Gnome has several interesting feat options. Canny Accumen (Character Guide) combines amazinglyu well with the Tome Implement’s Adept Benefit. Gnome Weapon Innovator gets you Critical Specialization Effects. First-world Magic and the Wellspring Gnome heritage can both get you some spellcasting. Animal Accomplice can get you a familiar without spending an expensive class feat.

GoblinCRB: The ability scores are perfect for a Dexterity-based or Charisma-based Thaumaturge. You can get access to Weapon Critical Specializations with Goblin Weapon Frenzy, and Goblin Weapon Familiarity offers access to the Dogslicer, which is a minor upgrade from the Shortsword. Burn It! tragically won’t work well with the Wand implement, but it does add a bonus to the persistent fire damage if you use the Fire element and have Wand’s Adept Benefit. You also have some options to use natural weapons, which can make using a shield viable.

HalflingCRB: Good ability scores for a Dexterity-based build, but with a Strength Flaw you may have issues with damage with melee and thrown weapons. Halfling Weapon Trickster will get you critical specialization effects, but there aren’t many other great feat options.

HumanCRB: The Human works well in any Thaumaturge build. You won’t get access to Critical Specialization Effects, but everything else is pretty great, and you can get them from the Weapon Implement.

KoboldAPG: Great ability scores, but with a Constitution Flaw you really need a way to mitigate damage, so te Amulet Implement is a good choice. You can get access to Critical Specialization Effects and some magic with the Dracomancer feat chain. Kobold Breath is normally one of my favorites, but the Exploit Vulnerability damage bonus only applies to Strikes.

OrcAPG: You can make the Thaumaturge work with only two boosts, and the Orc’s survivability make it an appealing option for a melee build. You have several options for fighting unarmed, which will make using a shield viable.

RatfolkAPG: You can make the ability scores work by using the Optional Flaw rules to dump Intelligence, but there’s not a lot of appeal once you do. The Pack Rat feats feel thematically appropriate for the Thaumaturge, but they don’t actually improve the way you use your implements and esoterica since the Thaumaturge’s class features are already pretty generous about how you switch between and use those items.

TenguAPG: You can make the Thaumaturge work with only two boosts, you can get critical specializations from Tengu Weapon Study, and eventually you can get some Advanced swords with Ecletic Sword Training. You can also get some spellcasting and flight, as well as a handful of other interesting options like Squawk.

Thaumaturge Backgrounds

Look for boosts to whatever ability score you’re planning to use offensively (Str/Dex/Cha) and either Constitution or Charisma. Remember that you get Dubious Knowledge for free, and the background rules don’t let you replace a duplicate feats, so as much as backgrounds like Hermit might make sense for the Thaumaturge, you’ll want to avoid them.

If you’re having trouble deciding, here are some suggestions:

  • Charlatan
  • Gambler
  • Haunted

Thaumaturge Skills and Skill Feats

You get Skill Increases at 3rd and 5th level to raise skills to Expert, increases at 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th level to raise skills to Master, and increases at 15th, 17th, and 19th level to raise skills to Legendary. That means that you can maximize at most three skills, and the rest of your skills might not advance beyond Trained.

You get Skill Feats at even-numbered levels, giving you a total of 10 Skill Feats (and maybe another from your Background) by 20th level. Generally, you want to invest these feats in the same skills which you are choosing to maximize, though in some cases you may want to grab feats from skills which don’t require that you be more than Trained.

  • Acrobatics (Dex): While not incredibly useful on its own, Acrobatics lets you qualify for Cloud Step and Implausible Infiltration, both of which are spectacular.
  • Arcana (Int): You get the most important parts of this from Occult Lore, so there’s little need to invest in this unless your party lacks a high-Intelligence character who can cover these skills.
  • Athletics (Str): A helpful tactical option for Strength-based builds.
  • Crafting (Int): You don’t have the Intelligence to back this up, and without a good way to use shields, you don’t need this to constantly repair your equipment.
  • Deception (Cha): An important Face skill, but you can do without it if you need to put skills elsewhere.
  • Diplomacy (Cha): The essential Face skill.
  • Intimidation (Cha): A helpful Face skill, and Demoralize is excellent in combat.
  • Lore (Int): Too numerous and too vaguely-defined. Occult Lore is the odd exception, and you get that for free.
  • Medicine (Wis): Leave this to someone in the party with higher Wisdom if you can. If you do need a healing option in the party, consider the Chalice Implement.
  • Nature (Wis): Leave this to someone in the party with higher Wisdom if you can.
  • Occultism (Int): You get the most important parts of this from Occult Lore, so there’s little need to invest in this unless your party lacks a high-Intelligence character who can cover these skills.
  • Performance (Cha): Too situational.
  • Religion (Wis): Leave this to someone in the party with higher Wisdom if you can.
  • Society (Int): You get the most important parts of this from Occult Lore, so there’s little need to invest in this unless your party lacks a high-Intelligence character who can cover these skills.
  • Stealth (Dex): You should have a bit of Dexterity either because you’re built around Dexterity or to fill out medium armor, so Stealth is a good choice.
  • Survival (Wis): Rarely useful, and you don’t have the resources to waste a proficiency on it.
  • Thievery (Dex): Used for both opening locks and disabling traps, no adventuring party is likely to succeed without someone passable at Thievery. You should have a bit of Dexterity either because you’re built around Dexterity or to fill out medium armor, so Thievery is a good choice.

General Skill Feats

  • Assurance: Assurance with Occult Lore means that against low-level enemies you can often guarantee success. But you should also be good enough at Occult Lore that you can score a Critical Success against those foes with reasonable frequency.

Thaumaturge Feats

Class Feats

1st Level

  • Ammunition ThaumaturgyDA: A frustrating tax if you want to use ranged weapons. Since the Implements require a free hand, you can’t use two-handed ranged weapons like bows or most crossbows, limiting you to pistols and hand crossbows. If you can handle the loss of range, consider using thrown weapons instead.
  • Diverse LoreDA: Turn one Charisma-based Lore skill into every knowledge skill, and then get the benefits of another Action when you use Exploit Vulnerability. Very efficient, and you’ll benefit from this constantly both in and out of combat. This alone allows you to dump Intelligence, which can simplify several of your other build decisions.
  • Divine DisharmonyDA: This is functionally similar to Feint, but it has several advantages. The range is 60 feet rather than within your melee reach, allowing you to use this at range. You get the option to use either Deception or Intimidation, which means that you could ignore the Deception skill in favor of Intimidation if you didn’t have the resources to invest in both. You can get a bonus to your check against certain creatures, but in most campaigns that will rarely come into play. Finally, the Success effect is improved so that the target is Flat-Footed against all of your Attacks for the rest of your current turn rather than just your next Attack that turn.

    With those things in mind, is this worth the feat and the Action to use it? Beyond the AC penalty, the Thaumaturge gains no benefit from making the target Flat-Footed, and considering that your action economy is already strained by Exploit Vulnerability and eventually Intensify Vulnerability, it’s hard to see where this fits into your tactics. I would love this on a rogue, but a Thaumaturge may struggle to use this consistently.

  • FamiliarDA: Familiars are excellent, but without the ability to cast spells and deliver them via a familiar or to get other resources like Reagents, your familiar is reduced to its most basic functions. It’s still useful, but not so good that you can build around it.
  • Haunt IngenuityDA: Too situational unless your GM is using Haunts constantly. Even in the example adventures in Dark Archive, there aren’t enough Haunts that I would consider this feat worthwhile.
  • Root to LifeDA: If you want to save dying allies, either Administer First Aid from the Medicine skill or grab a potion. Persistent damage is definitely a problem, but reducing the DC to end it from 15 to 10 still leaves a very high chance that your friend is going to continue burning/melting/bleeding, so spending a feat and two Actions to maybe help is hard to justify. This feat will rarely be more useful than Administer First Aid, and even in that narrow case where this is better, it still has a high likelihood of failure.
  • Scroll ThaumaturgyDA: Stunningly good. Access to every spell via scrolls means easy access to magical solutions to any problem, provided that you can afford the scrolls. Crucial options like Heal, utilities like See Invisibility, and whatever else you might need. I would rarely consider scrolls as an offensive option due to the persistent cost of doing so, but a well-timed Fireball is hard to beat. At low levels this will be too expensive to use frequently, so consider picking this up a few levels later or retrain your 1st-level class feat when it starts to decline.

    Keep in mind that you use your class DC for the scroll’s save DC, but the text makes no mention of how you handle spell attacks. I believe this was an accidental omission rather than an intentional limitation, but hopefully we’ll get some errata to clear it up.

2nd Level

  • Call ImplementDA: For the vast majority of implements, this is too situational to justify. The wording on what happens if you fail to recall your item is attrocious. RAW, if you fail to recall your implement even once, you’re unable to recall your implement permanently. I really hope that this is unintentional. It would be reasonable to regain the ability to recall your implement once you retrieve it manually, but that’s not what’s in the text.

    If you choose the Weapon implement with a thrown weapon, you can use Call Implement to allow you to repeatedly retrieve and throw your weapon. If you go this route, plan to retrain this as soon as you can get a Returning rune to eliminate the constant Action cost to get your weapon back for another throw.

  • Enhanced FamiliarDA: Familiars are really cool, but the Thaumaturge doesn’t have any unique ways to interact with their familiar. Pouring more feats into your familiar is expensive and won’t provide much benefit.
  • Esoteric WardenDA: Broadly useful, and Status bonuses are less common than Circumstance bonuses, so you can often stack this with other buffs. However, it’s very short-lived and it’s annoying to track, so it will often feel like a lot of effort for a 1 in 10 chance to actually matter. Against groups of identical low-level enemies, it’s more likely to be impactful both because you’re going to draw more attacks and because you’re more likely to score a Critical Success to get the larger bonus.
  • Talisman EsotericaDA: Talismans are excellent but expensive, so for most characters you might grab a few for specific problems and hope that you never need them. The ability to get two for free each day means that they’re now a go-to resource.
  • Turn Away MisfortuneDA: Only situationally useful. Misfortune affects aren’t especially rare, but they won’t appear in most game sessions, so you might go a long time without needing this, need it every turn for one encounter, then go back to not needing it again for months of real-world time.

4th Level

  • Breached DefensesDA: Resistance to physical damage is common and will become more common as you gain levels. Against some enemies, the resistance will be high enough that it may outweight the Vulnerability imposed by Exploit Vulnerability. In those cases, Breached Defenses will net more total damage. However, I’m not certain how often that will be the case. Personal Antithesis adds a Weakness equal to 2 + half your level, which may be enough that Breach Defenses will almost never be more impactful.
  • Instructive StrikeDA: Diverse Lore is significantly more effective for solving the same problem.
  • Paired LinkDA: Potentially very useful, but it depends heavily on your build and on that of whoever recieves the other half of your item. If you have a good support caster in the party (a bard or a cleric are good examples), this can be very powerful.
  • Thaumaturgic RitualistDA: Rituals are never Common rarity, which means that their availability is not guaranteed. Getting a few for free guaranteed is helpful, and the easy +2 bonus on the skill check means that your rituals are considerably more reliable. Keep in mind that the text of this feat is identical to that of the Ritualist Dedication feat (Advanced Player’s Guide), and there are no other Thaumaturge feats which require Thaumaturgic Ritualist, so if you want to explore rituals, the Ritualist archetype may be a more appealing option.

6th Level

  • One More ActivationDA: You only get to use this once per day total, not once per day per item. Not worth a feat. Buy more items.
  • Scroll EsotericaDA: The lowest point in the Scroll Thaumaturgy feat chain. A free scroll every day is nice, but 1st-level spells are inexpensive. You get a 2nd-level scroll in two levels, so this stays somewhat useful, but these low-level scrolls are still inexpensive enough that you can afford to buy them when you need them. If you do choose this feat, it’s almost certainly because you want to finish the feat chain, because this certainly isn’t good enough on its own.
  • Sympathetic VulnerabilitiesDA: Many of the Thaumaturge’s options appy to the target of your Exploit Vulnerability, but sometimes you’re going to face groups of enemies large enough that repeating Exploit Vulnerability presents a frustrating tax on your actions. The ability to apply the Personal Anthisesis to multiple creatures of the same type means that you can easily carve through numerous small creatures of the same type. You won’t always need this, but it will help often enough that it’s worth a feat.

8th Level

  • Cursed EffigyDA: Against powerful foes which justify the Action cost, this could make a big difference. The difficulty is finding options to capitalize on the penalty. Implement options like the Bell’s Ring Bell and the Wand’s Fling Magic both work, and if you have Scroll Thaumaturgy you could use spells.
  • Elaborate Talisman EsotericaDA: A deeper pool of expendable resources. Talismans are still both good and expensive, so more for free is nice. You can take this a second time at level 14 to get a total of 6 free talismans per day, but at that point you might have trouble using them all since you can only have on talisman on a weapon at a time and you need time to attach a new one between fights.
  • Incredible FamiliarDA: Familiars are really cool, but the Thaumaturge doesn’t have any unique ways to interact with their familiar. Pouring more feats into your familiar is expensive and won’t provide much benefit.
  • Know-It-AllDA: “at the GM’s discretion, you might gain even more additional information or context than normal.” You need a critical success to maybe benefit from this feat if your GM feels like it.

10th Level

  • Share WeaknessDA: If you have another ally in the party who relies on Strikes, this will yield a huge amount of additional damage output against single, powerful enemies. However, against groups of enemies you can’t always justify the additional Action cost.
  • Thaumaturge’s InvestitureDA: A great way to make a big pile of inexpensive, low-level magic items viable, but 10 is already a generous cap so you may not get much benefit. Think long and hard about whether you really need this and whether Incredible Investiture will be enough.
  • Twin WeaknessDA: A tiny of bit of guaranteed damage, but I don’t think it’s worth two Actions and a feat.

12th Level

  • Elaborate Scroll EsotericaDA: This gets you some very powerful spells, and scrolls of these levels start to get very expensive, so you get a lot of value for free each day.
  • Intensify InvestitureDA: Many excellent magic items stop being useful solely because they have a fixed save DC which becomes obsolete as you gain levels. This keeps those excellent items perpetually relevant, allowing you to stick to low-level versions of items rather than upgrading to a more expensive version purely for the better save DC. Unfortunately, RAW this has no effect on items which make spell attacks (ex: Decanter of Endless Water).
  • Shared WardingDA: This makes Esoteric Warden significantly more likely to have an impact. Sharing the +1 bonus to your whole part is a helpful protection, but remember that it’s still very short-lived.
  • Thaumaturge’s DemesneDA: This will almost certainly not impact gameplay. It’s not portable, you can’t reassign it if it’s ever destroyed or you lose access, and it doesn’t provide any resources that you can apply elsewhere. It’s purely a mediocre base as a 12th-level feat.

14th Level

  • Esoteric ReflexesDA: Use Amulet’s Abeyance (Amulet) twice in a turn to mitigate damage from two sources. Use Implement’s Interruption (Weapon) to Strike enemies twice between turns when they move around inside your reach. Ring a bell twice and experience double the disappointment. If you have at least one Implement with a Reaction (and you absolutely should), this is fantastic. Just remember that you can still only take one Reaction in response to a triggering event, so there will be rounds in which you don’t get to use both Reactions.

    You might also use this to capitalize on multiple Implements with Reaction options, but doing so is often both harder and less effective. The Amulet, the Bell, and the Weapon all have Reaction options, but since you only get one Reaction you generally can’t use them both on the same turn. However, you got your second implement 9 levels ago and you hopefully weren’t suffering through that much game time in hopes of surviving to reach this feat. You get your third and final Implement at level 17, and you could certainly choose another Implement with a Reaction, but if that’s your plan I recomend waiting to take this until level 16 so that you’re not sitting on an unused feat for three levels.

  • Grand Talisman EsotericaDA: If you took Elaborate Talisman Esoterica, you almost certainly wish that you could apply multiple Talismans to the same item so that you can use more in the same encounter. This feat lets you live that dream. You don’t necessarily need this, but if you have 4 or 6 free Talismans each day, you might have days where you don’t get to use them all without this feat.
  • Trespass TeleportationDA: Very situational, and when it does apply it’s both complicated and risky. You maintain your position relative to the target, so they’re free to put you somewhere extreemly unpleasant. If they teleport into the air becuase they can fly, congratulations: you’re airborn. If they teleport into a dungeon or something, you might find yourself in a wall and the feat doesn’t specify how that’s handled.

16th Level

  • Implement’s FlightDA: Effectively permanent flight without an Action cost to activate. Keep in mind that you do still need to follow the rules for flight, so you need to spend an Action flying to remain aloft.
  • Seven-Part LinkDA: Hopefully by this level your party has learned to work with the existing ranges of their spells. If not, lower-level options like familiar or the Reach Spell feat can solve this problem.
  • Sever MagicDA: Not always applicable, but at this level magic is abundant and many powerful enemies will have spells to buff themselves. This allows you to repeatedly attempt to counteract those spells without spending limited resources like spell slots, so you’re free to attempt this repeatedly until it works.

18th Level

  • Grand Scroll EsotericaDA: These spells are very powerful and the scrolls are justifiably expensive, so getting three for free lets you do a lot.
  • Implement’s AssaultDA: If you’re in an encounter with two or more foes, this is likely to yield more damage output than attacking a signle target twice. If you have Sympathetic Vulnerabilities and you already have Exploit Vulnerability running, you can carve through hordes of enemies of the same type in a hurry. Note that the Sweep weapon property appears to apply here, so strongly consider weapons like axes and make your first Strike against the least-important target in range.
  • Intense ImplementDA: Potentially very powerful, but it depends on your choice of Implements. You might intentionally choose an implement with a poor Adept Benefit but a strong Initiate Benefit, in which case this won’t help you.

20th Level

  • Ubiquitous WeaknessDA: Share Weakness, but it affects allies within 30 feet and doesn’t require you to spend an Action to trigger the benefits. It won’t help against enemies which don’t have a specific Weakness, but it’s very powerful when it does. If you have several allies in your party who rely on Strikes, this may be worthwhile. But if you only have one other martial ally and everyone else is using spells, you won’t get enough benefit from this to justify the feat.
  • Unlimited DemesneDA: This solves several of the issues with Thaumaturge’s Demesne, but doesn’t make it much more useful. You still don’t get any specific, tangible benefit from using it. Instead, take Grand Scroll Esoterica and use one of your scrolls to cast Magnificent Mansion. You get all the same comfort and protection, plus you also get a 6th-level spell scroll. Even better, use a lower-level magical option to get a safe place to sleep which doesn’t require you to have uncontested ownership of a 100 ft. square of land and save your high-level scrolls for something more interesting.
  • Wonder WorkerDA: Powerful, but also massively expensive to make it work since you need to invest so heavily in the specified skills on a class which has no other need to use those skills. You might limit yourself to one tradition to minimize the cost, but at that point why not just play a spellcaster?

    Amazingly, this is the only Thaumaturge option that specifies that it works with spell attacks.

General Feats

  • Incredible InvestitureCRB: The Thaumaturge has several options to encourage collecting and using numerous magic items. Incredible Investiture lets you stretch that a little bit further. If you do go this route, consider Thaumaturge’s Investiture instead.
  • ToughnessCRB: 8+ hit points is low for a front-line martial character, and Toughness can close some of the gap between you and more durable characters like the Fighter.

Thaumaturge Weapons

Since you need a free hand to hold implements and since the Weapon implement can only be one-handed, you’re limited to one-handed weapons. With the damage bonuses provided by Exploit Vulnerability, you want to hit with as many Strikes as possible, so Agile weapons are a good idea. You can also afford to use weapons with a small damage die since you get a lot of damage from other sourcers, so weapons like the Starknife feel like less of a sacrifice.

If you plan to use ranged weapons, your options are limited. Thrown weapons, hand crossbows, and one-handed firearms are your best bet. Even then, you need to take the Ammunition Thaumaturgy feat to be able to reload crossbows/firearms, which presents a persistent tax. It may be best to stick to melee until you can pick up a Returning rune for a thrown weapon.

  • HatchetCRB: A good go-to option for Strength-based builds, the Hatchet has Agile and Thrown. Sweep may be useful in encounters where Exploit Vulnerability can affect multiple foes of the same type.
  • ShortswordCRB: A good go-to for melee-only builds, but if you’re not going to benefit from Finesse, the Hatchet is a better choice.
  • StarknifeCRB: Agile, Deadly d6, Finesse, and you can throw it, allowing you to easily fight both in melee and at range. The Hatchet has a larger damage die, but the Starknife has twice as much range and Deadly.

Thaumaturge Armor

  • Explorer’s Clothing: Where every Dexterity-based build wants to end up.
  • Leather: Your likely starting armor for Dexterity-based builds.
  • Leather: Unless you completely dumped Strength, this is a good starting armor for Dexterity-based builds. Plan to upgrad when you hit 18 Dexterity at level 5.
  • Hide: Probably your best bet for a Strength-based build. You still need some Dexterity to compensate for poor Reflex saves, so filling out the +2 Dex Cap makes sense. At that point, you can stick to your dirt cheap starting armor for your whole career.

Archetypes

  • Fighter: The Thaumaturge has a lot of options in combat, but when it’s time to actually attack stuff you’re using the basic Strike action. That leaves lots of room for feats which offer more interesting ways to make an attack. Low-level options like Exacting Strike and Lunge may be helpful. Unfortunately, many of the Fighter’s feats won’t work with an Implement in your off hand.