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No limit use cantrips were a thing in PF1, and not hard to get, but now pretty much any ancestry can grab a cantrip with no power or levelling, merely from being born. The system in general and Golarion in particular are very high-magic settings, how does this affect the ordinary person?

Heritages matter and are relevant to even the lowliest NPC, consider the Cavern or Desert Elf's Darkvision or heat protection for example. Similarly, an unlimited use cantrip is quite an ordinary thing for many otherwise ordinary folk.I'd like to explore how these might work in the game, and perhaps in the game's in-world society.

- STABILIZE is superb. That and profiency in medicine make a perfectly capable village nurse or the lay clergy for someone like Sarenrae.

- MESSAGE has many ordinary uses. Gossips, government officials, criminals - but also consider the uses in a high-magic, low-tech city. Have an NPC with this cantrip in the town's best inn and have links to the receptionist in the town hall. This is a basis for rudimentary telecommunications.

- PRESTIDIGITATION is fun, and I'd expect children's entertainers to spam it. It also has the tidy and cook capabilities - the head chef at Magnimar's best restaurant spams it. The ultra fast but expensive dry cleaner spams it.

- JOIN PASTS is for diplomats and marriage counsellers.

- LIGHT is for explorers and guides. Perhaps very lavish aristocrats employ Light casters instead of candles?

- PRODUCE FLAME has many practical uses. Lamplighters, firestarters etc. I can imagine a tundra guide with no fighting ability but some Survival skill and this cantrip being a very employable NPC.

- CHILL TOUCH. I have seen a reference in Curse of Plaguestone that this can be used to make ice from normal water. There you go. Chill Touch can make ice. useful for preservation and bartending.

- Most of the offensive cantrips are not much use for NPC jobs and may make the person unwelcome in their little society, but even then I can imgaine ACID SPLASH being useful in something like mining or cleaning work.

- GUIDANCE is extremely useful for PCs and no less for NPCs. It works in every walk of life - a quick boost to your Diplomacy as a beaurocrat, a help with your smithing, etc.

No published adventure I have seen has these minor tricks yet in a setting with access to such magic being trivial, wouldn't they be used? Would there not be a niche?

Ideas very welcome.

I didn't play the playtest so please bear with me.

What has happened with NPC classes, Commoner, Expert etc.? Are they gone? I can imagine they might be for simplicity and as things in the new bestiary are simplified it's esy to make a low-level Human 'monster' without many features.

On the other hand, it seems that Backgrounds shoud still work with NPCs. Blacksmith background for example, or Sailor. They don't need lots of fighting ability to be Trained in Crafting or have Sailing Lore as a feat. Even giving a cantrip is a simple addition, it'll do for an Adept.

The Possession spells are much improved variants of Magic Jar. Some elements are not clear to me.

- I'm a Witch or Wizard and I am in battle with some Giants. I use Possession on one and proceed to wail on the others. I want to cast a spell. I can do the Verbal and Somatic components fine, do I need a spell pouch, or a big spell pouch for that matter - this Frost Giant's hands can't fit into a M size spell pouch. while this is not a problem for wildshaped Druids or Psychics or Sorcerers, do I need Eschew Materials?

- This possessed Giant is still wearing armour. Does this affect my Arcane Spell Failure Chance?

- Possession is not mind-affecting nor is it a death effect, very nice, but is still blocked by Protection from Good. What is the quickest or most efficient way of dispelling that barrier?

- Overusing the spells is a guaranteed way to draw the wrath of the GM. Playstyle tips?

"Path of the Hellknight" is one of the best books in some time. Hellknights have always been fascinating and this book makes them sing, so I have been thinking about Hellknight concepts for any class.

There are two questions - can it be done? Almost yes I think. Importantly one doesn't have to take the prestige classes to be a Hellknight which obviously opens things up. *Should* it be done? We have 14 Orders and many options, something should fit.

Druids can wear the new Hellknight Leather and LN is no problem. The best Order is the Rack, and it works well.

Order of the Rack look like book-burners and killjoys to some outsiders but to members it is a bastion of traditionalism and solid conservatism. Their slogan could be Make Golarion Great Again.

OotR dislike cities seeing them as hives of waste and polluting innovation. A Druid Hellknight would travel to farmers and villagers, encouraging honest toil, wise agriculture and modest behaviour. It's a very patrician attitude, with RP challenges (like all Hellknights) but it could work. Horses and wolves are very normal animals and perfectly adequate Druid ACs. A horse-riding Druid with his HK longsword and fine Armor is impossible to differentiate from any other person worthy of authority, which sits well with their mindset.

There are a couple of technical issues. The Reckoning is very powerful but it is Cha-based, thus bad for a Druid and the initial benefit helps against poison. Most Druid Archetypes swap out Venom Immunity for redundancy.

Druids don't actually qualify for Signifier unless they take a domain instead of an animal. I wouldn't worry anyway, because of Wildshape progression we only want one level, HK gives us a bit of BAB and a Smite, but you might not bother and just take the Reckoning. To wear Dragonhide plate we need to take the Heavy Armor feat so may as well combine it to also qualify for HK. The description for HK plate doesn't specify which material is needed so Dragonhide Hellknight plate is very possible, not cheap, and impossibly haute couture, but possible.

I think this illustrates haw varied HKs can be and I'm interested in seeing any unusual yet valid concepts. Barbarian is out because of alignment, but Steelblood Bloodrager is definitely in, which could be interesting.

1) Oracle
2) Vigilante
3) Bloodrager
4) Mesmerist
5) Magus
6) Witch
7) Psychic
8) Alchemist
9) Inquisitor
10) Skald

It is trivially easy for any 1st level PC to have unlimited Cantrips or Orisons.

It makes a vast difference to the game on a practical level. A 1st level Arcane caster need never worry about washing with Prestidigitation, a 1st level Divine caster with Create Water makes long distance travel tolerable and does odd things in the 3.5 designed Legacy of Fire.

Magic is sufficiently prevalent on Golarion - how much difference would it make if everyone had a little?

3/day, like the Trait (I forget the name). A Commoner with Purify Food and Water 3/day makes an excellent taster for a noble. Arcane Mark for scribes and business secretaries. Ghost Sound for theatre actors. Know Direction for guides.

The 'Dipping for Fun and Profit' guide exists but it hasn't been updated for a couple of years. What is the board's thoughts on the new ACG classes?

Swashbuckler: BAB, D10, Panache pool, Deeds. Weapon Finesse (restricted, but qualifies for chains).

Good for: Magi, sword fighting Bards, Cha classes who want a bit of zip and sword skill? Ninjas, even Oracles?

Brawler: BAB, D10, Improved Unarmed Strike with 1d6 punch, Brawler's cunning to qualify for feats, Martial Training, bonus combat feat, Martial Flexibility, Brawler's Flurry

Good for: Master of Many Styles Monk is the most obvious, getting flurry back and the many styles/Martial Flexibility mixing to create very broad options. Monks in general. Many melee types actually, the combat feat and the flexibility are not restricted to punching. I could see it working with Cavalier for a proper tough guy.

Skald: lots of skills, bardic spell list, can cast those in armour, Inspiring Rage, will save boost.

Good for: Similar to Bard. Not sure. Bloodrager might work as it gives two different spell lists for wands, similar stats needed and gives a pool of limited rage on top of the normal Bloodrager's. I want it to work with Magus. Swashbuckler, as the Cha will be good and it gives a bit of utility casting (or stuff like Vanish) with another combat option with rage.

Hunter: animal companions need to scale, and this is the problem. Animal Domain Clerics might be able to do something, especially Clerics of Erastil. The martial weapons help. Witch might work if you can make that AC your familiar.

Slayer: BAB, D10, Fort and Ref, tons of skills, martial weapons, Studied Target, Track (several archetype options), Slayer Talent.

Good for: Lots. Eldritch Knight. Martial Cleric. It's the best martial dip IMO.

Bloodrager: Not a lot here, I fear. The Bloodline and related powers are so important and they scale by level. The spell list will help on UMD, and you could cast while raging as a Wizard or Sorcerer if the spells or on the Bloodrager list. Possibly something like Bloodrager 2/Sorcerer 3/Dragon Disciple would work.

Warpriest: No idea. Something can be done with Fervor to cast swift buff on yourself.

Arcanist: No idea. Possibly a bit more flexible than the Sorcerer or Wizard for dips, because they have a lot of Exploit choice. Would work with Arcane Trickster, but that is a build not a dip. Witch maybe?

Shaman: Umm. Weird (but good) class anyway. Gets a familiar and an odd spell list. 4th level is too high for a dip, but the Wandering Spirit adds lots of flexibility.

Investigator: all the skills and the points to use them, good will save, Alchemy, inspiration, trap finding, poisons

Good for: Rogues, but if you are doing that you may as well be an investigator anyway. Utility for Magi. Slayers and Rangers will get pretty much every skill, use of Alchemy and Inspiration to make up for the drop in BAB.

------

As you can see, this is a tentative start, but I'd encourage posters in this thread to fill out more options and details.

Gary Gygax once admitted that adventurers would horribly distort any local economy the party visited. That was in AD&D days with random item drop tables.

In these PF days, adventuring is the only business to be in. The WBL table suggests 1000gp as a conservative estimate at level 2. That enough for the party to buy a wand of CLW and some Masterwork weapons. That makes them already tough enough to take town a village as well. Luckily, the dumb monsters plaguing the hamlet don't know how to invest their treasure chest.

And it grows. By level 4 a classic party could buy out their local lord.

There is a lovely illustration in an early OotS strip in which the yokels try to take the PC rubes for every penny.

And I don't care how many villagers don't like the party rolling into town, if someone has a high Diplomacy score and the party can throw a couple of hundred GP at the locals they come around soon enough.

But these people must have seen it before. Paizo has been great for LGBT and racial inclusion but they can't get rid of classism. I'm not asking them to, it's a social dynamic that works for adventures. Rich, poor, slaves, owners, subsumed, overlords etc.

Adventurers are outside the traditional three tiered class structure.

They are rich. really rich. Or at least they should be, I will address this later. They are famous, and not in the local way, in a world with Bards and Divination and Enchantment they are properly famous, Jennifer Lawrence or Jose Mourinho level. So they are outside class distinctions.

Class may not mean much to American Parthfinders, but being rich isn't everything. It certainly wasn't in the pseudo-renaissance idea of Golarion. Think of Taldor and Cheliax or the troubles in Galt. You can't just buy in - not that adventurers do, more later.

Does Golarion just accept adventurers and the PF Society as a necessary evil to combat the never ending filth?

Probably, yeah.

PCs have an incredible amount of money. Or at least they should have. I have an 11th level Witch who has never ever drawn her pair of +1 Cold Iron daggers. They have never been used in anger. And nobody cares, she's too rich, even though she has almost no cash to her name.

The balance of the economy is magic items.

Lords spend their money on land, merchant princes spend it on getting more money, but PCs spend it on magic items.

Magic Items are the only reason for deflation on Golarion and they are a vital part of the economy.

Consider a Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2. It is a very standard item for a PC and at 4000gp, chump change to those who can afford it.

Construction Requirements

Craft Wondrous Item, cat's grace; Cost 2,000 gp (+2)

Components V, S, M (pinch of cat fur)

I think the money vanishes into the ether from adventurers' pockets into nothingness, leading to some sort of economic equlibrium. Where does the cash material component of magic item creation go? It disappears.

Either vellum and weird ink suppliers on Golarion are the laziest, richest, most shareholder-curtailed companies, or cash does in fact disappear regularly. Hence Abadar being such a grasping fool about it.

Adventurers destroy economic theory. They amass far more wealth than their locality has, and they spend more than any community can saturate.

But their money barely exists, it's like future bonds. My 8 Str Witch doesn't haul around 100k in gp, she has spent the lot on fancy magic items with a pitiful 50% resale value. She can barely afford a night in a tavern, if the concept of paying for stuff wasn't so distant for her.

And when money is so transient, or at least not an end in itself, and when titles and land are not incentives, but just power without definition, where do the class societies of Cheliax and Taldor and all of them, Nex and Qadira and even the Linnorm Kings go?

I can't be the only player fascinated by the Red Mantis Assassin. It isn't raw power, but it triumphs in cool. The best method used to be Ranger entry, but I think Slayer beats it. Given how gish classes give more options and essentially more fun at the table and the Slayer base makes a great fighter, I'm pretty sure this could work.

Please offer comments and ideas.

Stygian Slayer 8/Red Mantis Assassin X (8 for the saves and extra talent and extra Invisibilty use)

Skill requirements are easy, you take Stealth and Perception anyway.

Feats are always annoying, you can get Two Weapon Fighting as a Ranger talent, but you have to buy Alertness, Weapon Focus and Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Sawtooth). Still, that can be done by level 3 if neccessary.

Stygian slayer dumps shields and all but light armour, which suits RMA, as he can't cast spells other wise. No loss. He also loses a Slayer talent. In return, he gets invisibility san an SLA. He also gets wands of Illusion and some others. Stygian Slayer 8 gives Invisibility 2/day.

Red Mantis Assassin gives a number of benefits, mainly in spellcasting. Concentrate on the Transmutation as you can grab Illusion through spell trigger stuff (not just wands, btw).

He has nearly full BAB, he has a great range of Illusion and Transumtation spells, his two-weapon fighting will actually work, he has a few extra die on his Sneak Attack. He can do odd things like invisibly sneak attacking while transformed into a monster. That has to be cool.

I have a concern about effectiveness of some illusions at higher level when this all comes together, but Rule of Cool for an unusual Gish very much appeals.

Any advice? Thematically, these two classes seem happily wedded. Can he stand up as a playable PC though?

Enora sounds great! I love this. Interesting route for them to go with the first Iconic from Rahadoum.

I played a game with new players at level 1. Other players were learning the rules so I made a 20 point Paladin so he could be brave at the front, protect the others, lead by example etc. GM also told me we would find a wand of CLW at some point.

All fine until game time when GM decided we must all roll 3d6 for stats instead. I also couldn't change class.

These were my rolls:

STR: 12 DEX: 11 CON: 11 INT: 9 WIS: 8 CHA: 11

2 point equivalent. And most of it was on useless 11s.

I did what I could, put 2 Human points into Str so he could at least hit things, I took Fast learner so he had a vital HP and a second SP, and away we went.

It was actually quite fun, thankfully becuase of the new guys. They needed advice so monsters were not too efficient. I played as a crappy Fighter with Detect Evil and the only one in the party with Knowledge Religion.

In conclusion, it can be done and the game was fun and I thank the GM.

Should it be done though? Absolutely not. Playing Gygax style cannon-fodder commoners is fun for a one-shot, but they would not work in a normal game. For example, my guy would not function after level 1 with 11 Cha. No Divine Grace, Smite Evil doesn't hit, no spells, etc.

Pathfinder has class features which require minimum 16s to function. They are not set in stone like in AD&D, but they are there all the same. The most obvious one being minimum casting stat to cast spells of a particular level.

Also, it was quite fun to play a humble squire who wanted to be a Paladin (but would never make the grade) but I wouldn't want to do it for more than one session.

It's clear from this experience that PF is a game about superheroes. Even 15 points is a massive boost over commoners, and class abilities - from spells to rage to sneak attack to bloodlines - are nowhere near an ordinary person's experience, nor do the mechanics support them. I beleive the designers have no intention of making them like muggles. My experience has cemented in my mind the idea that Pathfinder is an extremely high-fantasy game and the PCs are best off reflecting that design decision.

(BTW next week I am playing a 25 point gestalt game which will come as welcome relief)

Spoilers for GoT S4 E8 in this thread.

I have just seen the episode and if you have you will know what I am talking about.

How do we make his weapon style in PF?

I imagine it can be done with the Swashbuckler class, with maybe a house rule which allows a spear to be included in Swashbuckler's Finesse.

It fits otherwise. Light armour, he uses Dazzling Display. He also clearly uses a lot of Panache. It's a classic high Dex and stratospheric Cha build.

Maybe a bit of Monk for that Wushu stuff? Nothing else about Oberyn is at all monastic though.

Thoughts? I know GoT is low magic and doesn't translate to PF easily, but if one wanted to make a PC who used that same sweeeet fighting style, could it be done?

The party is starting from level 1. We are all gestalt. I want to make a super shining knight. We have most divine and arcane covered (it being gestalt and all).

Our GM has encouraged the following idea and I very much enjoy the flavour of it. It's pure inspirational superhero:

Paladin//Bard/Cavalier/Battle Herald.

As I say, we start at level 1 and that is the direction me and the GM have agreed on. What advice does anyone have? Longspear might be in order for the banner, and just risking the Arcane Spell Failure for armour might have to be done. I don't want a mount. I do want to be all about Iomedae.

My idea is that she's near unkillable (Paladin) while giving huge bonuses to her party members.

We are doing a version of Rise of the Runelords on hard mode to balance the gestalt.

Cheers, any advice welcome.

Vive la Revolution.

Swashbuckler archetypes, guillotines, Scarlet Pimpernel, a Bastille-like prison, and Marie-Antoinette's toy farm. All of that sort of thing, please.

However, given recent Adventure Paths (Wrath of the Righteous is about the Worldwound and Demons, Mummy's Mask is about Pharoahs and liches, Iron Gods is about robots and barbarians... From Space) we might be getting a more 'down to earth' adventure as Paizo like to balance things.

Therefore, why not Galt? It's quite relatable and it would allow for a heady campaign of political intrigue. Plus, because it isn't an exact historical analogue, it can have semi-related signifiers in the setting, like musketeers or Bolshevik revolutionaries.

I like the idea of calling it something like Fraternité, ou la Mort! (Fraternity or Death!), a variant on the famous tripartite motto.

Area cylinder (40-ft. radius, 20 ft. high)

DESCRIPTION
A rain of dirt, gravel, and small pebbles fills the area, dealing 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage to every creature in the area. This damage only occurs once, when the spell is cast.

For the remaining duration of the spell, this debris covers the ground, making the entire area difficult terrain. At the end of the duration, the rocks disappear, leaving no aftereffects (other than the damage dealt).

Stone Call clearly does not remove invisibility or other stealth effects. However, during the round when the pebbles fall, wouldn't it act like Glitterdust, giving indicators? Enough for a circumstance Perception bonus at least?

Combining the two spells would be aggressively effective.

Related question - how does difficult terrain affect spotting invisibility? Sand, snow and gravel all makes noise and footprints.

This is brand new so not everyone will have seen it yet.

It is a new Sorcerer Bloodline. 'Fear me, for I am a Div!'*

Whenever you deal damage to more than one creature with a spell that affects an area, the save DCs of your spells increase by 1 for 1d4 rounds.

I suppose if you are planning to launch multiple fireballs it might be alright. Very situational though.

It seems to be the bloodline for annoying people. You get to break objects with your first bloodline power. You can use it on weapons, but you have to touch it.

You get a couple of spells not on the Sorc/Wiz list, they are about being vexing and breaking stuff. I am not sure about their ultimate power, but they are very fun and the sort of thing a vandal would like to cast: Insect Plague (11th) and Earthquake (17th).

It has an irritating/very useful against divine 9th level power:

Corrupting Aura (Ex) At 9th level, you can surround yourself with an aura of corrupting energy for a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level.

Any creature within 10 feet of you takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage + 1 for every 2 sorcerer levels you possess, and it is sickened for 1 round. In addition, any creature within the aura that attempts casting a divine spell must succeed at a caster level check (DC 15 + double the level of the spell) or lose the spell. You can use this ability once per day at 9th level, twice per day at 17th, and three times per day at 20th.

Charming stuff, and it doesn't exclude your party mates.

So far it is not amazing, but is full of flavour and story. You can play a truly awful person with this bloodline, a total delight to have around.

Of course, abilities scale with level. Unless I am reading something wrong, the 15th level power is incredible and an auto-win button.

Squander (Su) At 15th level, you gain the ability to force others to waste the opportunities they are given. Once per day as a standard action, you can cause a target within 30 feet to gain the staggered condition for a number of rounds equal to your sorcerer level. The duration is halved if the target makes a successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Cha modifier).

Once a day, an enemy is Staggered and can only move or take a standard action for a minimum of 7 turns. Assume they make the save. It doesn't matter. It won't help them.

A Paladin can get a mercy to heal the condition, the Restoration subdomain can deal with it and the Ring of Ferocious Action will remove 5 rounds. The Heal spell doesn't fix Staggered. I can't think of much else. Yes, most enemies at that level have spellcasting, but they are often flying and unless they have perfect fly speed Staggered will nail them.

Anyway, interesting book. Insane people who want to play Pathfinder on hard mode may like to try the Order of the First Law for Cavaliers. People who enjoy insulting Rogues may amuse themselves with the Trap Finder trait which lets you disarm magical traps. For the price of a trait. Blood of Pharoahs is a better trait for mst people though. And the new version of Living Monilith is brilliant for Wizards.

*it may be a good bloodline but 'Div' is still a hilarious word if you're British

I do not GM and have only recently started playing melee types. Why is it so complicated? Why don't they use spells like normal people? Anyway. I am stupid at maths and close reading evidently, but I cannot fathom this.

Please go through these examples:

A) Crazy Bob is a Barbarian 6. On a standard round he hits with BAB +6. On a full round he hits twice with BAB +6 and +1.

This we know.

B) Crazy Bob has taken Beast Token 1. He has 2 claw attacks. His level BAB is still +6,+1.

What are his standard and his full round attacks? Are they both primary? How would Improved Unarmed Strike help him here?

C) Crazy Bob is still a Barbarian 6. Due to an item or something, he gets Form of the Dragon 1. This gives 1 Bite, 2 Claws, 2 Wings and 1 Tail attack.

How does this interact with his iterative attacks? If he didn't have any (Barb 1 for example), what difference would the primary attacks (claws and bite) vs. secondary have? What about full-round?

D) Crazy Bob is a Barbarian 20. On a standard attack with his sword, he hits with his normal BAB, +20. He has Form of the Dragon cast on him.

To clarify, how would all of this combine? He now has 1 Bite, 2 Claws, 2 Wings and 1 Tail attack, please show how this works with a standard action and a full-round attack.

I would appreciate some advice for a build.

The game will be the Legacy of Fire AP.

The class is Cleric of Sarenrae, 20 point buy, level 1. GM says CRB and APG only, but might be able to fiddle.

Other than that, suggestions are very welcome.

So far I am thinking:

Human (for feat and because Clerics have awful skill points)

STR: 11
DEX: 10
CON: 14
INT: 12
WIS: 17
CHA: 14

Domains: Heroism (Sarenrae gets it from Glory), loads of buffs and it gives a massive boost to Diplomacy.

Fire. I know the AP is called Legacy of Fire, and there will doubtless be fire-immune monsters, but not immediately. The 1st Domain power is a cheap blast I can spam, the 8th protects against fire from the tougher monsters. Plus, I'll probably use the Glory/Heroism spells by then.

Is this sensible or will it get me and the party killed? 20 points isn't enough for good spells and fighting, so I'll let the party Paladin do the melee.

Any other methods?

Also, any trait suggestions? I'm not having Finding Haleen.

For feats I am thinking Selective Channel, Augment Summoning, Scribe Scroll...

New classes that need some Cha include:

Arcanist: some SLAs,
Bloodrager: Spells, Sorc stuff, probably Intimidate
Brawler: No
Hunter: No (but a good Handle Animal will be useful)
Investigator: No, oddly, because the Cha skills can be given such an outrageous boost that it makes no odds - Diplomacy and UMD are neccessary but the class will be running at more than max anyway.
Shaman: several Hexes
Skald: clearly, Cha based caster with Bardish stuff
Slayer: No, they can be miserable assassins
Swashbuckler: Panache
Warpriest: Yes, many Blessings need a bit.

Maybe 4 don't need Cha.

This is all a Good Thing.

It's a good thing for two reasons.

1) MAD is good. It forces more rounded characters rather than people picking classes which reward boosting a stat to 20 at 1st level and dumping the rest, Wizard being the most notorious perpetrator.

2) This is far more important - Pathfinder PCs are essentially superheroes. Everyone who has played this game has seen a superhero film or comic or story. NO proper superhero dumps Cha. In the old-school party of Wizard-Cleric-Rogue-Fighter one could get by with everyone dumping Cha for combat effectiveness. Now that has changed.

The ACG has meant that at least half of the party won't be pig-ugly or cripplingly shy. In fact, it skews the trend so that many of the party will be charming, self-confident, beautiful-looking or more.

Just like a bunch of heroes are supposed to be.

Does this work?

Elvish Alternate Racial Trait of Dreamspeaker gives Dream as an SLA (5th level Arcane) which would allow for early Eldritch Knight entry.

It needs Cha 15, but I suppose you could go for Drow or Half-Elf and boost Cha with a Sorcerer chassis instead of Wizard.

Any good?

A new campaign of Way of the Wicked has started. For those who do not know, it is an evil-only mega adventure with a few house rules.

Due to the vagaries of the campaign's character generation, I have these level 1 stats. Please note, aside from racial modifiers these cannot be changed.

STR 17
DEX 12
CON 8
INT 10
WIS 8
CHA 18

I am aware that these are not ideal, and certainly not the bumper crop most advice-seekers submit. Nevertheless, these are my fixed numbers.

Other restrictions include alignment must be LE and because we will be interacting with suspicious NPCs, standard looking humanoid races are strongly encouraged.

Here is where I welcome advice.

Don Cassius Cornwall

Race:
- Human, so I can put +2 into Con then initial Favoured Class bonuses into HP while still getting skills.

Class(es):
- Antipaladin 2 (the campaign has an LE variant, for those who don't know it, that is more or less the only difference).
- Sorcerer 3
-Dragon Disciple 8
- Sorcerer 7

Because it is a 20 level campaign, the guy needs to survive at all levels, so a 17th level sweet spot is no use. Thus Antipaladin 2 with his great strength for fighting initially, then start building on the spells and Draconic powers.

The Draconic bloodline is compulsory for DDs, but I thought I might make him Crossblooded with the Stormborn line. This is because Crossblooded does not hurt much with DDs (the -2 to will doesn't make any odds against 3 classes with good will saves and the Paladin Cha thing) and Stormborn is good for flying and electricity. Let me repeat, Lawful Evil is set in stone, thus my only real Draconic options are Green or Blue.

The DM will be a stickler for roleplaying reasons for taking options (I also have no taste for justifying absurdities), so given his alignment, Red, Black, White and Good Dragons are out, as well as Abyssal, Orc and many other Crossblooded bloodlines. With Blue; Djinni, (Air) Elemental and Infernal are probably acceptable, but they don't give much. A Stormborn Dragon seems pretty cool too, as long as Daenerys Targaryen doesn't sue for copyright.

Feats to suit. Toughness may have to be a feat tax. Power attack, maybe Metamagic later, etc. etc.

HP and armour are a real concern. I went with AP 2/Sorc 3 because of the spell progression and because extra AP things I can't see using much.

Please critique this idea.

Alternately, please suggest an entirely different build, but bear in mind the alignment, initial stats and requirement to be playable from 1-20 are immutable factors.

Thanks.

There has been a recent discussion about the frequency and probability of magic users in Golarion and the mathematics suggested it comes out at between 1 and 2%. This is fine, but I often imagine low-level magic to be common enough not to be worthy of remark. Certainly even Barbarian PCs tend not to express alarm when the Sorcerer starts shooting. The administrative systems of the world routinely have some magic, from grand high vizier Wizards in the great cities to a hedge Adept in a little village.

How would a world change with a little more? If, for example about 10-20% of the population had a randomly determined Magical Talent trait (giving a cantrip as an SLA), jobs could be more specialised without power dramatically increasing. As a trait, these cantrips could be used by even very low-level commoners and experts.

Some examples:

- Purify Food and Drink: A slave in service to a merchant lord uses this in her capacity as food taster. Commoner 1.
- Read Magic: A scribe working in the library can catalogue books better. Expert 1.
- Lullaby: A nursemaid helps put the children under her care to bed. Commoner 1.
- Dancing Lights: A watchman creates a semaphore signal every evening to signal the all-clear. Warrior 1.
- Ray of Frost: A blacksmith works faster at cooling and tempering his steel. Expert 1.

I haven't put this in the homebrew section as I just want to know how it would change the world and what applications it would have, not neccesarily use it in a campaign. I think it would go somewhere to explain why people like a 1st level Bard, often seen as just a glorified pub musician has some actually rather sophisticated continual use magics (one can typically cast Prestdigitation, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound and Light for instance all day long at his lowest possible character level. That sort of power amongst 1st level non-casters is astonishing. And this guy just drinks and wenches in the tavern all day long).

I see much advice about optimal Inquisitor races suggest Half-orc, Half-elf and the usual Human. These are very good but there is a powerful option.

Archon-blooded Aasimar. Yes, Aasimars are good anyway, but this is especially suited.

+2 Con, +2 Wis - both vital stats.
Celestial Resistances, Darkvision, always good.
Skill boosts: Intimidate and Sense Motive - perfect.
SLA: Continual Flame - thematic and useful.

My 1st level 20 point build for Verchiel the Inquisitor is

STR 16, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 16, CHA 13. This could be optimised but I hate dumps and I want to use Cha for other things than just Intimidate without the Conversion Inquisition.

Stern Gaze and the standard feat choice of Intimididating Prowess gives 1st level skills of Intimidate 11 and Sense Motive 10 without min maxing. Stern Gaze of course means that this only increases massively.

The benefits of this build are that it is not a one-trick pony, other Inquisitor powers such as hitting things and spells have not been sacrificed.

For religion and domain I wanted something super good, the guy is a baby archon after all, LG. One can go for Iomedae and the very good Archon Domain if you just want to hammer the point home, but I have Chosen Shelyn for the Luck Domain powers and the Glaive favored weapon. Some Empyreal Lords also work, like Neshen and Ragathiel. Here is another advantage of the Archon Aasimar, Continual Flame. For any LG warrior you want a flaming blade, it just looks cool. You have Darkvision yourself but your friends might not. It's once a day and doesn't have that pesky 50gp component so after a week your friends and family will have it too.

I'm pretty sure it is PFS legal too. Less sure about using Continual Flame as your Day Job, although that is what any sensible Aasimar would do. Perhaps you could call it Temple work, but it mostly involves you setting up Everburning Torches in alcoves.

The major problem is feat economy. PFS for imstance, only goes up to 12th level so there are only 6 feats to play with. One has to commit to Intimidate if the feats are to be spent. All the teamwork feats will have to be the free ones.

1- Intimidating Prowess
3- Power Attack
5- Weapon Focus
7- Dazzling Display
9- Cornugon Smash
11- Free choice at last. If it isn't PFS I's be likely to get Angel Blooded then Angel Wings but then again I think looking cool is important.