doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
To be clear, part of why they aren’t called a swordmage is that they don’t have spell slots and all that. They still cast spells though, they just learn how to by learning a technique with the arcane spell or arcane ritual tag. It can be counterspelled, and it usually requires components (if casting with a focus allows you to ignore the material component, you can also perform the somatic component with your Dweomer Weapon), you can only prepare so many at a time, etc.Absolutely.
My Aethernaut ended up not called Swordmage to separate it from anyone else’s expectations and to fit it more fully into my world and its vibe, so they are also alchemists and analytical observers, and ritualists. They have d10 hp, strong unarmored defense, and damage mitigation features, leaving them to focus on offense and mobility and utility with their Aether techniques (which they scribe in thier manuals esoterica and can teach eachother and anyone else that can learn techniques with the arcane tag).
And I’ve been considering moving them back closer to proper sword-magery. But techniques give me more freedom and allows that cross pollination between technique using classes.
But the Anathemir (binder/witcher hybrid) also has a book (Goetic Key), as does the Witch (sort of a summoner/wizard/druid) has their own (Book of Shadows) along with their Fetch (advanced familiar bound for life to the witch, each trading part of thier soul to the other). Even the Astari (monk rewrite leaning more into the mystic esotericism a la Agrippa and Thibault) has a book where they keep esoteric knowledge and sword forms and techniques.
This helps make these classes more interoperable, without needing to multiclass. Instead there are MC feats, and you can learn techniques and/or spells from other classes if you find them.