9Reeds's page

I have a character concept for a Dwarven Shaman (speaker for the past archetype) based on the art of the Sundering Axe female dwarf from the NPC Codex who will be my first ever dwarves caster. The idea is she will seem slightly unhinged constantly being berated by the spirits of her 2 great great great Grandfathers who absolutely despised each other in life and now war over who can give her the best help, advice and protection. She is the first Child to be born from the meeting of their bloodlines. Both their spirits would thematically be linked to the Battle-axe and Warhammer she carries. I will represent this by using the feat Spiritual Guardian and appropriate spells when ever possible.

There are a lot of great thematic spells already on the Speaker of the Past spell list that help represent the spirits aiding her like unseen servant, spiritual weapon and spiritual ally but after digging up my old Dwarfs of Golarion book if found the spells Ancestral Communion, Ancestral Gift and Summon Ancestral Guardian. They would all be great to get her to cast but Summon Ancestral Guardian is absolutely perfect. Showing the bickering ancestors putting aside their differences to protect her together when in need.

Any one have any idea how to add any of these spells to her spell list. Early level effectiveness does not matter as I will be making her with gm credit.

While I am at it two more linked questions.

Can a speaker for the past take the flexible hex feat or the extra revelation feat ?

Any thoughts on good thematic traits to pic ?

I would love to see a male Gnome as the swashbuckler, specifically Noole from Pathfinder Tales Blood in the City. We have no martial non Magical Gnome Iconic's at the moment and to me his Art was the first thing I thought of when I read the rules for the Swashbuckler class. I do not think we are allowed post links but it can be found on this very Website on the post about the Blood of the City Sample Chapter on August 8, 2012.

Yay titles all official now

Pathfinder in the south east is small but growing we have about 4 or 5 rotating GMs and around 20 players in the area.

Yay me. Though a bigger yay to all my players and GMs and the Pathfinder Ireland for introducing me to it all.

Unfortunately it is not possible to add alchemical weapons to bombs even though the rules say bombs are treated as weapons. The problem is this:
Drawing the components of, creating, and throwing a bomb requires a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.

As the bomb must be made and thrown as one standard action there is no time to interrupt the middle of the action with a move action or swift action to attach the alchemical weapon to it. The way around this is to take the explosive missile discovery. Use your move action to attach your alchemical weapon to an arrow then as a standard action create a bomb attach it to the same arrow, then fire the arrow for all the damage on one shot. You loose the attack being a touch attack but gain range and a considerable boost to the damage on your initial target.

Yep thanks to both of you.

Thanks for the fast and simple answer. So the standard bearers mount ability is different to the normal cavalier mount ability as although it functions the same and has exactly the same name it is replacement ability and so is not the ability beast rider asks to have switched. Is that correct ?

I was thinking of an Order of the Lion Cavalier with the Standard Bearer Archetype just to really ramp up the idea of inspiring his Allies. I was just wondering can I stack the Beast Rider Archetype on top of this at level 5 to get him an actual Lion to ride at level 7?

A standard bearers relevant changes are here http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/classArchetypes/cavalier. html
I have just picked out the relevant parts.

Banner
"At 1st level, a standard bearer gains the banner ability. This ability is identical to the standard cavalier’s banner ability, except that the morale bonuses on saving throws against fear effects and on attack rolls made as part of a charge increase at 5th level, and every five levels thereafter.

This ability replaces the standard cavalier’s mount ability."

Mount
"At 5th level, a standard bearer gains the service of a loyal and trusted mount. This mount is identical in all ways to the standard cavalier’s mount.

This ability replaces the standard cavalier’s banner ability."

The beast Rider gets Exotic Mount as an ability there is a lot of text in that one so I will just pick the parts I see as having a problem

"At 1st level, a beast rider forms a bond with a strong, loyal companion that permits him to ride it as a mount. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the beast rider’s level as his effective druid level."

"This ability replaces the standard cavalier's mount and expert trainer abilities."

The Standard Bearer still has the expert trainer and Mount abilits to trade for the Exotic mount class feature but does not gain mount until level 5 instead of the usual level 1. There are multiple examples of Archetypes giving new class features at one level and replacing features the class would have gotten at a later level so I do not see that as an issue I just do not know if am missing something that would disallow it by RAW.

Personally I feel that the standard bearer should be able to replace its mount ability with exotic mount but only at the 5th level when it actually has the mount class feature to trade as to receive the mount at level 1 just seems to be a bit over powered and not in the spirit of the rules unlike receiving it at the 5th level where you are still taking the associated penalty for choosing the standard bearer archetype.

There is probably some rule I do not know about that makes the whole idea impossible but just though I would ask.

Any thoughts ?

I was intending on getting the gun at at level 2 not 1 but it looks like i will have to wait for level 3 so because of fame points. At least at level 3 he is pretty awesome. Thiefling idea is cool but looses me and early feat which i need to have everything up and runing for level 3 instead of 5. I think i will go wand of mending and switching to throwing stars for the rest of he battle if all my guns jam. Its not a great fix but i can't afford 5 levels of gunslinger to make it reliable. If i was doing that i would just be better going normal gunslinger or pistolero which wastes sneak attack and ninja powers.

That's to bad. Looks like the second level will have to be normal pistol as well so. The only way i could see around that would be doing a scenario in an area where DB pistols were available to purchase but i do not know of any.

To bad about the casting time (i should have read it more closely), good item to have outside of battle for me though. I could take the Veteran of battle religion trait and Honored fist of the the society combat trait and get the best of both worlds.

Those are great options. what do you think would be more useful.
Reactionary gets me a slightly better chance to got first and get a flatfooted shot in round 1.
Honored Fist gets me an extra invisibility attempt per day which would be fantastic.
Or Blade of the Society gets me a little extra guaranteed damage. Useful but i think Honored fist has it beat.

What about a wand of mending. its cheap and with my high charisma bonus and maxing skill points in use magic device i would only loose one combat round to repair a pistol if both ended up miss firing. I could do it while invisible keep the character safe while repairing.

Deleted the other level threads. I will post them later when i have better ides of what i want to do. Thanks for the heads up on editing. This is my first time posting on the forum.

Great points from both of you. My intention on miss fires was to make the pistol a reliable one eventually and when i have enough gold to get another one as a back up.
I don't ever intend to take another level in gunslinger past level 1 just more ninja to increase my sneak attack damage and extra Ki and ninja Skills.
The wand could be a great way to save money. Maybe with good scouting i might be able to use it just before battles and get a turn or 2 from it. Sadly though gunslingers are really gold intensive to play.
I forgot to add the +1 bonus to hit for the masterwork Double-Barreled pistol (fixed now) so my to hit is slightly better. Its not much but its something. Will also change sneak attack to affect the first 2 bullets instead of just the first.
Any ideas on a second trait and maybe a faction to join. I am thinking lantern lodge just for the ninja aspect.

That is something i was wondering about. A double barreled pistol trades -4 to hit for 2 attacks at once with the same action. I have done my calculation erring on the side of caution only giving the first bullet sneak but i think the first 2 bullets might actually qualify as they are fired as the same action.

Also i cant see any way to get greater invisibility with out at least 7 levels in a caster class which would make the point of getting greater invisibility kind of pointless as sneak attack progression and pistol damage would be to stunted to warrant it. While i can get a minimum of 4 invisibilities a day out of vanishing trick without loosing my damage progression.

Problems i see with the build

How many Bullets would get sneak attack damage ? (I went for the lowest possible outcome, could be much higher damage the other way)

Does Rapid shot and double barreled pistol actually allow you to fire 4 Bullets in a turn ? (I guessed yes)

Does invisibility affect all the attacks you make in the turn you started invisible or just the first attack ? (I assumed all)

I wish it was a Halfling instead of a human as i think they are cooler, any way to do this with out putting me way behind on feats and damage in early levels ?

Level 3

Gunslinger (mysterious stranger) 1: Deeds, grit, Gunsmith
Ninja (Scout) 2: Poison use, Sneak attack +1d6, Ki pool, Ninja Trick.
Feats 1st: Rapid Reload (Double-barreled pistol), Human: Point-Blank Shot, 3rd: Rapid Shot (Rshot)
Grit: 4
Ki pool: 5
Ninja Trick: Vanishing trick

This is where the build gets interesting and gets most of its power. First combat turn is the same as the last but grit is not spent on focused aim instead a Ki point is spent on vanishing trick at the end of the round to go invisible for a big damage swing in round 2 with a full attack action coupled with rapid shot and double-barreled pistol and hitting flat footed AC on round 1 and 2.

Round 1: Move up to 30 into the heart of the enemy group and fire at any flat footed enemy. At the end of your turn use your swift action to activate vanishing trick.

DB pistol: +2 BAB, +1 Masterwork, +1 PB shot, + 3 DEX, -4 both barrels = +3 hit
1d8 (4 avg) + 1 (PB shot) + 3 (sneak) = 8 damage
Both barrels should hit as before doing 16 damage.

Round 2: use a full attack action coupled with rapid shot, Focused aim and DB pistol to fire at an enemy within 20. they are automatically flat footed.
,
DB pistol: +2 BAB, +1 masterwork, +1 PB shot, + 3 DEX, +2 Invisible, -4 both barrels, -2 Rshot= +3 hit. 4 Bullets.
1d8 (4 avg) + 1 (PB shot) + 4 (Focused aim) + 3 (sneak) = 12 damage (9 for bullets 3 and 4 without sneak)
Averaging 21 and 42 damage if half or all bullets hit.

Possible 58 damage in 2 rounds.

At later levels the inclusion of increased sneak damage, extra ninja and rogue tricks, deadly aim, magic items and stat bonus increases continue to help damage potential scale to threats met.

Level 2
Gunslinger (mysterious stranger) 1: Deeds, grit, Gunsmith
Ninja (Scout) 1: Poison use, Sneak attack +1d6
Feats 1st: Rapid Reload (Double-barreled pistol), Human: Point-Blank Shot
Grit: 4
After the first mission in level 2 he should have saved enough gold up to buy a masterwork Double-barreled Pistol. This is his weapon for the foreseeable future and will always be using the firing 2 barrels for 2 attacks as one action option.

Round 1: Same as before but adding sneak attack damage to flat footed enemy and double barreled attacks. Assuming only one sneak attack per action rather than attack, if it is the other way then it only makes this better.

DB pistol: +1 BAB, +1 masterwork, +1 PB shot, + 3 DEX, -4 both barrels = +2 hit
1d8 (4 avg) + 4 (focused aim) + 1 (PB shot) + 3 (sneak) = 12 damage
Firing 2 bullets and generally hitting against the enemy's lowest possible AC he averages 24 damage killing any level 2 goon and gaining your grit point back or seriously damaging the mission boss.

Round 2: Same as before but loose flat footed and sneak damage so averaging 9 or 18 damage depending on if both barrels hit.

Possible 42 damage in 2 rounds.

Level 1
At level 1 he is just a mysterious stranger with a normal pistol and always using cartridges just trying to save money until level 2

Human (Alternate trait: silver tongued)
Traits: Reactionary, (need another good one)
Gunslinger (mysterious stranger) 1: Deeds, grit, Gunsmith
Feats 1st: Rapid Reload (Double-barreled pistol), Human: Point-Blank Shot ( PB shot)
Base stats:
STR 10, DEX 17, CON 11, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 18.
Grit: 4

Round 1: Move up to 30, fire at a hopefully flatfooted enemy. spend a grit point on focused aim (FA) to do damage and reload next turn as a move action.
Pistol: +1 BAB, +1 Point-blank shot, + 3 DEX = +5 to hit.
1d8 (4 avg) + 4 (focused aim) + 1 (point-blank shot) = 9 damage
This should be enough to one hit kill any level 1 goon and get the grit point back, or seriously damaging the level boss.Gunslinger

Round 2: Repeat same but enemy no longer flatfooted.

possible 18 damage in 2 rounds.

I had an idea for a gunslinger Ninja build for pathfinder society. The idea is that he would be the party face and also a big damage dealer. Just wondering what people think of this build and is it society legal. I will show how i envisage his level progression and damage potential in the first 2 turns of combat. It is built around the idea of combining grit points and Ki points to maximum effect, combining firearms ignoring armor and flatfooted ignoring Dex to fire against a near constant 10 AC or lower.

Sorry for how long it is.
Summary is combine Focused aim with vanishing trick for high damage shots and double-barreled pistol and rapid shot for multiple shots per turn.

Damage progression summary (average peR turn)
Level 1 = 9
Level 2 = 21
Level 3 = 29
Level 4 = ?