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To answer the OP's question, you should never kill your players - that's murder.

But I believe he meant as many have answered above - notably Skeld and Lord Fyre - that to not let your players feel the repercussions of their choices will only encourage poor playing. Likewise, let them be heroes - they should be choosing the challenging roads, knowing there will be trials and tribulations. Don't coddle them by preventing death - sometimes a beloved character passing can lead to an epic "But We Must Save Them" side quest - but maybe let them get knocked out by the kobold in the bar fight who rolls three crits in a row vs "sorry Ryan, hand me Taldorgs character sheet; his barbarian rage can't even save him now."er

I should mention, as a player and a GM, that players need to understand your game. In early levels make traps non-lethal, stupid monsters should have poor tactics - and for heaven sakes, only ambush the campsite if they forget to tell you who's taking which watch. But if someone falls down the 50 ft pit and no one brought rope...and they fail a Heal-self check...

Also, attempting to intimidate a King into extra reward should kinda be an auto fail - imho, but honestly it comes down to having fun.

If you're all newish find a balance that suits your group, anything we can all provide for you is purly opinion =D

Aasimars can take Scion of Humanity Some aasimars' heavenly ancestry is extremely distant. An aasimar with this racial trait counts as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race, including feat prerequisites and spells that affect humanoids.

@Robert - good call with UMD

As to our homegame, we've just allowed wizards to research Enlarge Outsider and make it function exactly as Enlarge Person, but it effects Outsiders instead of Humanoids. This has lead to several spells that used to be Humanoid specific getting applied to Outsiders - so far it has not been gamebreaking in the slightest(currently level 17 on average, been with this group 11 years myself, core of group has been gaming since high school 20+ years)

Everyting Are said.

It's worth noting that a Free Action must be part of another action - if you can't take any actions, that includes Free ones - and that your GM has the final call on the number of Free Actions you can take in any given round. Notably, they can be part of Immediate Actions and Attacks of Opportunity(Combat Reflexes + Improved Snapshot + Rapid Reload would be pretty lack-luster if it wasn't so).

If you have a specific strategy in mind - as a Barbarian rage cycling comes to mind - talk to your GM and make sure s/he's fine with it before you wade into that herd of angry zombie gnolls.

Let's look at the prereqs

Improved Familiar

Prerequisites: Ability to acquire a new familiar, compatible alignment, sufficiently high level.

Ability to acquire a new familiar. A witch can acquire a new familiar anytime a week has passed after it dies/becomes lost/is dismissed. Including at level 1.

Compatible Alignment As far as I know, there are no alignment restrictions on level 1 familiars, so also a go.

Sufficiently high level A level one familiar is available at level one. Having more options doesn't mean you must choose them.

RAW there is no reason for the player to wait for a level beyond the 1st - as long as they understand they will have to use ingame time and level appropriate gold to summon the 'Improved' familiar.

You should get experience when your GM says you get experience.

If you only gain experience from combat, expect to be expected to crawl under that table - or find another way to assist the combat.

Talk to your GM about when s/he awards experience, so that you're not disappointed in the future. Or make your next character a Tiny caster, so you can ride on someones shoulder and let your spells do the work.

No comment for PFS, other then I can't see any game that treats all 'if your GM allows it' options as 'aaaand no' as allowing it at a table.

For a home game...I'd look at the balance rules, and impose penalties on the mount and mounted as necessary. I wouldn't want a Pouncing Barbarian-Mount carrying a Small Sized Aasimar Ranger Crit Machine-Rider able to both full attack, Ranger Animal Companion flanking ofcourse...and the teamwork feats, oi.

An official ruling seems to be necessary, as RAI vs RAW is again in question. But honestly I feel common sense can be applied here.

Another way to look at this rule is to compare it to the known abilities of Bo Duke, of Dukes of Hazard Fame.

True, he's not a paladin, but the Detect Evil ability works much like the Dukes 'Get in the Car' ability works.

First:
At will, a paladin can use detect evil, as the spell.
vs
At will, Bo Duke can open a car door and sit on the seat, as the action.

Then:
A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds. While focusing on one individual or object, the paladin does not detect evil in any other object or individual within range.
vs
Bo Duke can jump through the window of the car door(which will be conveniently open) and land on the seat.

You do one or the other. One is not a prerequisite for the other.

Any roll can have mitigating bonuses or penalties. I often award good RP a +1 or +2 in favor of a roll for the PC's.

Apply in reverse. Maybe this cleric knows of/knew the person this wraith used to be. If they have items with great importance to the wraith it might give them enough of a bonus to use Command Undead. Maybe they've even gone to the extent of unearthing the body of deceased lover/spouse? Thus giving them an edge with this particular wraith, but not others.

This could even be a fantastic RP oppportunity for your PC's to break the control your cleric has, re-santify the bones/destory the keepsake, etc - after a knowledge(local) or spellcraft check or what have you.

A Hospitaler doesn't fuel her Channel Energy with her LoH. You get the straight 2 extra uses of CE. The exception in the feat's special note gives a pally 4 extra LoH uses, but only for channeling energy - and a regular pally expends 2 uses of LoH to CE - because not having a CE pool would make the feat useless otherwise.

Now, if you had a seperate class that also contained the Channel Energy class feature you would have a floating '2 uses' to be applied to either feature.Source

@ Qralloq - I think that makes balance sense, raising it to 7th level.

@ Ascalaphus - why not let it be compatible with Boon Companion? If someone wishes to use a feat, why not let them? Also, if restricting the list to mounts only - should the feat exclude classes who already receive mounts?

Could they be small sized tieflings? There's lots of options to customize their appearance, and stats of a small on are identical to the standard medium (just adjust +1 hit, dodge, -1 CMB etc)

Our house rule is similair to Dazz's. Its a straight half your hp though, no minimum. And a failed fort save means you're knocked out. You wake up as soon as you gain an hp, or someone makes a stabalize check on you. We've only ever lost an npc to the rule - and for encounters where we're using non-lethal force its been a blessing.

@ Altus - I thought so as well, which is why I added Animal Affinity as a prereq - also adds the flavor of 'this guy is already naturally better with animals'.

This is designed more for the player who wants a mount or animal companion - but their class doesn't really help them. The mounted fighter, the priviledged wizard, etc.

Do you feel it would be better to disallow it for a character that already receives an animal companion/mount?

expanding on BillyGoat's ideas - which sound good to me - if this slaver is a one shot 'boss fight' I'd lean towards Serpentine for better combat options. But if this is a recurring villian, possibly near BBEG territory, nothing plays with their prey like a big kitty.

This is a 3.0 feat, trying to port it over, balanced and tweaked for PF. Critiques and thoughts welcome.

Wild Cohort [General]
You have a special bond with a wild animal, and it is willing to travel and adventure with you.
Prerequisite: 5th Level, Animal Affinity
Benefit: You gain an animal cohort. The animal cohort is generally friendly to you and is willing to follow you and adventure with you. If given proper training, the animal cohort will willingly serve as your mount, guardian, and companion.
You can choose from a badger, bird (eagle, hawk, owl, etc), boar, camel, dog, horse, pony, shark, snake (constrictor or viper), or wolf from the druid’s animal companion list. You may choose another animal you feel is more appropriate to your character, pending your GM’s approval.
Treat your effective druid level as 4 lower than your character level. For example, once you reach 7th level, you would calculate the strength of your animal cohort as a 3rd level druid.
You can use the Handle Animal skill on your animal cohort to ‘handle’ it as a free action rather than as a move action, and you ‘push’ it as a standard action rather than a full-round action. You gain a +2 bonus on all Handle Animal checks made with your animal cohort. Additionally, if the animal cohort is trained in riding or combat training you gain a +2 bonus on Ride checks with your animal cohort.
You can only ever have one wild cohort at any given time.
Special: Druids, rangers or any other class which has selected an animal companion or mount, who take the wild cohort feat gain an animal cohort in addition to their animal companion or mount. Although the two abilities are similar, they follow different sets of rules and must be tracked separately.

I'd be more interested in knowing about werewolves in his world. Werewolves are usually mindless carnage machines. If you're expecting 'an army' of them, does this include siege engines, tactical groups, etc?

If the answer is yes, if one of your group is a stealthy fellow, make a concentrated dose of some kind of silver based poison/powder, sneak into the enemy camp and add it to thier food/water supply. That should slow them up atleast a bit.

Damage Reduction

Damage Reduction does not negate touch attacks, energy damage dealt along with an attack, or energy drains.

Included link for further clarification.

I had a similar character, I took high levels of Knowledge: Engineering, Craft: Boyer/Fletcher(crossbows fell under this in our campaign), and the Master Craftsman feat. After constructing a pair of Repeating Hand Crossbows, they were enchanted with self-arming (it pulled its own lever), and I enchanted the bolt clips with the equivalent of a permanent Abundant Ammunition.

Pewpew

In our home games, monks always have the option to trade Stunning Fist for Perfect Strike, Flaming Fist or Extra Ki.

@ Sharkles - Drakkiel got this one. Your Barbarian level is only adjusted in regards to your Rage (including Greater, Mighty and Tireless) class feature. Since there's no mention of it in the Archetype, I'd assume you still get Greater at level 11. So despite a slower start you catch up to morale bonus goodness.

@MagnusPrime - You still gain rage powers at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20.

This looks overall like a solid Archtype. Trading 3 rounds of rage, half your rage powers, and uncanny dodge for an animal companion and abilities that support said AnCom in combat seem balanced and flavourful.

Detect Evil for a Paladin is 'at will' but its also a move action - so no full round attack.

The damage of Smite Evil that scales with level (+2/pally level) is only applied to creatures that are Outsider (Evil), an evil Dragon or an Undead - and only on the first successful attack.

If you really want to frustrate the Paladins, give a couple of big bads Crane Wing and/or Snake Style - guess who's attack he's deflecting every round?

Also - don't play your villains like chumps. If they know the heros have 2 paladins in the party they're probably gonna stock up on items/spells like Good Bane weapons, or scrolls/wands of Protection from Good/Lawful.

edit: Ah, thank you Blakmane. I always misread that as part of the CHR mod adjustment.

Byrdology - remember that the attacks Snake Fang grants must me Unarmed Strikes. Also that Crane Wing can only be used when you have one hand free.

So, either you're wielding a 1h weapon OR a shield, you won't be able to do both with this build and use all your feats.

I'm not sure where your Pistolero is getting all the +dmg to his shots.

He has gun training, so he adds his Dex mod(+6) to damage. If the target is within 30', he gets +1 for PBS, and a +1 gun also provides a bit. Where is the other +5 coming from?

Generally, until higher levels, when the Zen Archer is dealing higher base damage and attacking more - the Gunslinger is going to be a dps monster. Keep in mind, bullets cost 1g each, and arrows are 1g per 20. That dps gets expensive, even with crafting.

Lemartes - correct, you ignore the size penalty on medium weapons, but still have to pay attention to the handedness, so no Muskets...this feat suddenly feels very underpowered, as a Pistol changing to a 2h weapon means you don't have a free hand to reload...

Squawk - if you went Weapon Master(Bastard Sword) 3/Shohei 6 - you could use a Large Bastard Sword without penalty, with FoB and Ki Strike.

So, this only works if you’re a Goblin. And you use the

Add +1/4 evolution point to the eidolon's evolution pool. These bonus evolution points must be spent on evolutions that deal fire damage or protect the eidolon from fire (for example, resistance, energy attacks, immunity, breath weapon, and so on).

You only need to do this up to level 16, for 4 points. You also have to take Extra Evolution as every feat.

So, at 20th level you have an Eidolon attacking 6 times after a charge
with +28 for 4xBite[(4d6+15)+1d6fire], 2xClaw[(3d6+15)+1d6fire]

and with each successful free grapple attempt (of which you get 6, with a CMB of +36) you trigger 2 free Rakes [(3d6+15)+1d6fire]

and with each successful claw a Rend [(3d6+22)+1d6fire] is triggered, limit once per opponent per round.

or vs a low AC opponent take a -4 to hit for +8 damage (via Power Attack) on each damaging strike. All of this is not includin cumulative damage from Hammer the Gap.

To get the most out of you character, as he's been built, you're going to need to assign each of your next 3 Stat boosts(levels 8, 12, 16) to dexterity in order to qualify for Greater Two Weapon Fighting by level 16. In order to get the most (damage wise) out of this character you may have to make liberal use of the fighter's ability to retrain.

I advise against an archetype, with your character you'll get more benefit from weapon and armor training as is then you will from substituting. I've found most of the Fighter archetypes to be for advanced level dipping, or very specialized/focused character concepts.

I read above you have Dodge, this is an ok feat at low levels, but should be re-trained at level 8 - as +1 AC at that level means a lot less - consider quick draw, as that was a feat you were wanting to pick up anyway.

Again, these are just suggestions to make the most of you concept, as is, it'd be very different if we were building this from the ground up =D

And yes, get Sun Sword(s) as soon as you can. Best method I've ever encountered is getting a fellow player to craft them at cost.

Also, avoid the different sized weapons, the size penalty is cumulative with other penalties. So making a small Bastard Sword will make the -4/-4 only change to -2/-4. And the same applies for getting Large Sun Blades, as a medium creature, you go from -2/-2, 1d10/1d10 to -6/-6, 2d8/2d8. As a medium creature wielding large weapons they change a weapon category, and even though they count as shortswords, they're large short swords, so in your hands they caount as 1 handed weapons, not light.

Wanna move through tunnels as a large creature? Consider this feat from 3.5 I usually end up giving it to a mount/animal companion if they're large or bigger

Would the fear effect count as a circumstance? Will save is pretty general, and circumstance(this case it being a fear effect) bonus's do stack.

I'm also assuming if the fear effect specified a Fortitude save we wouldn't be in a state of question =D

I'll second spirit totem and supersition for your barbarian's focus.

As to the Oracle flavor - consider the Ancestor Mystery, as it would emphasize your 'connection with the spirits'.
And, just for a little optimization, consider the Curse Lame. I only suggest it because upon hitting level 9 (half barb levels = 4 + 1 Oracale = equivilant Oracale level of 5) you become immune to fatigue, therby letting you rage cycle, meaning your 'once per rage' rage powers can be used every turn - assuming you stop/start your rage at the beginning of your turn.

If you don't think you'll ever reach that level - or you feel its cheesy - I'd consider Clouded Vision or Haunted, given your concept.

Seems pretty cut & dried. ESiv lets you become a huge elemental with built in DR 5/-.

Barbarian DR (which is an extraordinary ability, not physically dependent) stacks with other DR's.

So as a Huge Elemental with 16 Barbarian levels, you'd have DR 8/-.

Depending on how much you want Uncanny Dodge, you might be better taking the Invulnerable Rager Archetype, letting you get DR 13/- in your elemental form; DR 8/- the rest of the time.

Although I'm not sure how you're attaining an equivalent Druid Level of 12 for your wild shape, unless your GM is houseruling you can take the feat Shaping Focus twice with stacking effects.

If your TWF fighting fan player is willing to mix concepts with another player, look at Feint Partner. This could let her play any martial class she wanted, and her partner could be a Rogue or Alchemist(Vivisectionist), gaining that valuable sneak attack damage.

Also, is it critical she TWF? Just because she carrys two fighting fans, does it mean she has to attack with both of them each round?

I also second atleast a dip into Ninja, giving her access to poison. I think its one of the only ways to do so in PFS.

Ah, forgot about that Lemon. So you'd have to take Glide and WitF to get your Tengu investing points in FLY from first level.

@ Ben. OP was looking for a way for his Tengu to get Fly as a class skill, Glide is cool though.

Just checked out Wisdom in the Flesh - that trait was designed for this! Great find, and its in the APG - which is PFS legit.

I'm merely stating RAW.

In the case of Dijinni Style the benefits are listed separately with different qualifiers. It offers you

1) When you're using DS+EF to deal electric damage = bonus electrical damage equal to your WIS mod.

2) When you're using DS and have charges of EF = +2 dodge AC vs AoO.

There's nothing in the feat about needing to be using EF to gain the second benefit.
This is different from Marid Style, as it lists all of its benefits with the same qualifiers.

Sounds like you need to check out Kobold Quarterly #14. This is an alternate racial trait for Tengu.

Skybound: Some tengu view their avian appearance as a sign that their race was meant to soar the skies. Known for spending hours or days atop trees, buildings, mountains, or any other structure of any height, eyes to the sun, feeling the wind play across their feathers, these tengu long to float among the clouds. Tengu with this racial trait gain Fly as a class skill and can take ranks in Fly without having a natural fly speed and can use Fly to negate falling damage (see Fly skill) without a having a fly speed. This ability replaces low-light vision and sneaky.

edit: ah, missed this was for PFS...not sure if thats approved yet.

No, the Maris style says you gain one extra use of Elemental Fist per day. Then it goes on to specify that while using EF(for cold damage) and MS you gain the benefits of extra cold damage and the 5' reach. You don't get the secondary benefits when you're not using EF.

IF it had said "Benefit: You gain one additional Elemental Fist attempt per day. While using this style your reach with your unarmed strikes increases by 5 feet. While using this style and Elemental Fist to deal cold damage, you gain a bonus on cold damage rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier." Then it wouldn't affect your reach.

But, you can only use EF once per round - as per the feat - regardless of how many daily uses of it you have, thus you can only gain the full benefit of Marid Style with one attack per round. This is why the area of effect of your Whirlwind is dependent on your GM's interpretation of Whirlwind and if it counts as one attack - or as many attacks made with one Full Attack Action.

Regardless of the wordings of the Archetype granted ability, Maximum Dex Bonus and Armor Check Penalty are each only one number. When the TSS is using a Tower Shield they apply the benefit from Tower Shield Training to that number.

So a level 3 TSS gains -4 ACP and +3 MDB (or -1/+1 without a TS). This bonus grows by an additional -1/+1 every 4 additional levels gained, up to a max -7/+6 at level 15.

So, unless you're making your Tower Shield out of Darkwood - and wearing armor without its own ACP - you're still taking a -3 ACP(-2 if its Masterwork/magic) at level 15. I can't see this as gamebreaking.

Plus, Mr. Nelson has shared his opinion in regards to RAI, and they seem to match up with RAW in this instance. Whodathunk.

Your reach to all of those squares would depend on if your use of Elemental Fist is applied to every attack you make with Whirlwind (ie it counts as one attack) or if it only affects one attack you make (ie, it only gets applied to one attack - of your choice - during the series of attacks you can make while whirlwinding). Otherwise you only have 15' reach from enlarge person and lunge. Which at higher levels of monk is an UAS not to sneeze at.

Unless specifically noted - like Barbarian DR - DR doesn't stack. If a PC/NPC has multiple types of DR, you only apply the highest benefit.

Depending on what classes you're blending, wolfen, it might not stack.

So, I'm a big fan of mounts, but I also love playing classes that don't get them, or ones that really should (like gunslingers, they're cowboys, where'd da horses go?)

Ideas include - magical items (maybe like figurine of wonderous power) which is a mount that scales with level? Maybe you have to feed it? Maybe it has an alignment, and maybe the evil ones have...particular tastes?

- feats that can give you a mount, or that let one class stack with another that provides one.

I'd also love to see more Sorcerer bloodlines - I never get tired of thinking about 'how would that get in yer blood?'.

And Non-Combat feats in general - that don't rely on class features. There's enough of those - but maybe stuff like:

Spooky: You get a +2 on saves to resist fear effects and a +2 on intimidation, cause you're spooky.

Oh, and I'd love Gunslinger: Archetypes please =D

This is for a campaign that is going to be very fantasy wild west. Guns are common items (advanced firearms are still rare) but pretty much anything in the PF books are allowed. I havn't run this past my GM yet, and was hoping for the opinions of the Paizoboarders.

The campaign in question is the 3rd part in an ongoing story line - because it has changed from d&d 3.0 to PF we have the option to rebuild or create a new character. We'll be level 16 to start and rising into EPIC territory (we've been advised to be prepared to multi-class past 20)

Zen Marksman

But if Hulk picks up Thor while Thor is holding Mjölnir, did Hulk pick up Mjölnir?

Tangent - Vicious is a weapon enchant. The Barbarian Damage reduction specifically reduces damage dealt by a weapon or natural attack. Wouldn't it still apply, since the damage is coming from a weapon (albiet your own)?

@ Ssalarn Why does Vicious damage bypass a Barbarians DR?

edit: ah, thank you SaddestPanda

Re-edit: wow, just looked up damage reduction and realised our group has been playing it wrong for 15 years XD We'd been playing as it applies to every batch of damage you ever take.

If he really just wants to get big, suggest dipping 2 levels of rogue - to take Rogue Talent: Minor Magic. Then he can spend a feat to gain Extra Rogue Talent: Major Magic - and here he chooses Enlarge Person.

If he wants a longer path - or to truly optimize by taking both - he should look at the Eldritch Heritage: Orc line.

A friend of mine once played a wizard, who was the groups cook, who early on were ambushed by goblins during dinner prep. Said wizard, not having any spells prepared yet, did the only thing he could. He attacked them with his frying pan. After 2 critical hits in a row he vowed to enchant it, if he lived - it was a lot of goblins.

Over the course of the campaign it became a +3 flaming, goblinbane frying pan; it also granted skill focus(profession:chef). Our bacon was always delicious XD

Be careful in PFS. I believe there is a limit to the amount of summoned creatures you can have at a time - just to streamline gameplay - so even if RAW you can have multiples out at once, PFS 'bylaws' may prevent it.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that in a ROLEplaying game, any character can experience a moral dilemma. Having played a Lawful Good rogue, my DM was happy to set me up with possible pitfalls, and I walked the line many times between Good/Neutral territory. But this is all 'good storytelling' as far as I'm concerned. What changes it with the Paladin, and to a lesser extent other 'honor/code bound' classes is that there is a game mechanic to strip them of their powers. This can be handled maturely or...otherwise. It will vary from group to group, GM to GM. If you're a Paladin and your solution is 'detect evil' + 'ping' = 'slaughter fest' and this can happen when you're in the library, or the King's Court, then any GM worth his salt will step in - either with cautionaries, reminders or outright "really, you're gonna do that?" prior to an outright stripping. But again the nature of the offense and the frequency with which they occur will be prime factors.

1)Some do, some don't. If they specify a benefit Unarmed Strike, no they won't help you. Otherwise, yes.

2)You would pick Weapon Focus (Gauntlet)

3) Pay attention to your feats, some will modify damage in general, some will not. Just remember using a Gauntlet is not an a unarmed attack. You're armed. With a gauntlet.

4) A gauntlet is technically not armor, it does not have an Arcane Spell Failure chance. The only issue would be if your GM rules a spells somatic component requires skin contact or some such, yes, there could be an issue.

5) An unarmed strike can be any part of your body - foot, knee, elbow, forehead, etc. So yes, with TWF you could Gauntlet/UAS, cause as you say they're both light weapoons. Keep in mind you CANNOT punch someone with a gauntlet as an unarmed strike, it is armed. The gauntlet is a weapon.

Yes, enchanting a gauntlet only affects attacks made with the gauntlet. If you have the levels to spare, and desperately want to have magical abilities with UAS, consider a dip into monk - making your UAS count as natural attacks for the purposes of buff spells - and get a permanent Magic Fang cast on yourself. Its cheaper then the amulet. Downside is you can't add enchantment properties, just pure + hit/damage.