Dragonchess Player's page

@wraithstrike and Lyrax, I was going by the thread title "immediately after dimension door." Delaying sort of works, but you act on the next initiative count after the spell, not "immediately." Both delaying and readying do wonky things to the initiative order, though.

Dragonchess Player wrote:

You are confusing respect for the hobby with interest in the history/minutiae of the hobby. For instance, someone can respect comic books without knowing (or caring) about the (many) versions of Batman

You mean Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney, Bates, right?

[threadjack]

And Adam West, whoever does the current animated TV show, the various comic book iterations, etc.

For the Hulk, there's the gray Hulk as well as the green Hulk, not to mention Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno (TV series) as well as Eric Bana, and IIRC some animated TV shows as well.

Superman has vastly more versions/iterations, going back to the 1930's (!), than just the (recent) movie versions by Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh.

I could go on, but most of what I know I picked up second-hand and by some quick research on Wikipedia.

[/threadjack]

Considering the way this thread has been going over the past several hours, I'll repeat the very end of my other post: "Cast thou the beam from thine own eye..."

I'd say: "Yes, but only if you've readied an action before being transported."

Sylvanite wrote:

Also...what does it even mean in the OP that these durned whippersnappers don't have the same respect for the hobby??? I can't even fathom what the heck that might mean. They regard it as a game?!?! Oh noes!

I'll tell you what I think it means. I have players at the table who couldn't tell you who Gary Gygax or Dave Arneson are (unless they googled it first)... Who know every person that works at Blizzard software, but don't know names like Monte Cook or Erik Mona.

You are confusing respect for the hobby with interest in the history/minutiae of the hobby. For instance, someone can respect comic books without knowing (or caring) about the (many) versions of Batman, the Hulk, Superman, Wolverine, etc. released by various artists/media over the years. That they are more interested in the minutiae of computer games than RPGs means about as much as those that are more interested in the minutiae of comic books than RPGs (and I've met tons of gamers who are fanatical comic book trivia nuts with no knowledge of RPGs beyond a basic understanding of the rules).

Not everyone who wants to play RPGs has an interest in the history or "big names" of the hobby. They may not even care about learning more than one game system or playing in more than one genre (i.e., gritty fantasy, historical fantasy, high fantasy, steam-punk, horror, gritty modern, heroic modern, modern fantasy, cyberpunk, superheroes, space opera, etc.). This does not mean that they "lack respect for the hobby." If all the only RPG they care about is the oWoD Vampire, how does their lack of knowledge of the history of AD&D/D&D show lack of respect for the hobby? Even if they play 3.5/4e/Pathfinder, asking they to know about previous/other versions of the game is setting the bar pretty high, IMO. Gygax and Arneson had limited to no contribution after 1st Ed AD&D and Cook was pretty much gone from WotC by the 3.5 roll-out.

Who think a character background means "His mom got raped by an orc, so he's half-orc and he loves to rage, so he's a barbarian."

Umm, yeah. Nothing new here. There were players like that going all the way back. It has nothing to do with new/old gamers, but rather individual playstyle.

Who think it's "unfair" that they don't get their dexterity bonus to AC in a surprise round, or before they act in the initiative order.

Again, nothing new. The existence of rules lawyers and/or "the rules don't let me do what I want" types have been around since the beginning.

Who think there's absolutely no problem dropping into a long running campaign for a short session here and there, because they want some "gaming time."

Unless you're very lucky, being able to game on a regular schedule (especially more often than once or twice a month) is pretty rare outside of a few dedicated individuals who devote most of their free time to RPGs. Again, you're setting the bar pretty high for those with a life outside of gaming (note that this isn't meant to be a slam, but a recognition that work, relationships, children/family, and other hobbies/interests can seriously eat into available time).

Those are the things that I see as a lack of respect for the game... I was just saying I think I understand where a certain amount of elitism comes from. It comes from a standard of knowledge about the game that doesn't seem present or active in some players.

"A standard knowledge of the game" that is about events/people from 10-30 years ago. Those who have been in the hobby for less than 5 years (or who switched from another system they've been playing for 15-20 years) "lack respect."

"Cast thou the beam from thine own eye..."

From what I recall, the baatezu/devils were (originally) fallen celestials before the first mortal souls (lemures) started appearing in Baator/Hell. The original baatezu began using the mortal souls as minions and a source of replacements/new types. There isn't much information about the Ancient Baatorians, but there are hints that those that weren't wiped out or driven into hiding may have been coopted (i.e., barbed devils, bone devils, and ice devils, possibly including bearded devils and horned devils). Erinyes, kytons, the Lords of the Nine, as well as pit fiends (corrupted into "stronger" forms) were probably remanants of the fallen celestial host. Hell cats may be advanced/augmented beasts (i.e., similar to hell hounds but further along in the process).

Yugoloth origins are more obscure/conflicting. The most cohesive origins point to the baernaloth proto-fiends, who supposedly had extensive flesh-shaping abilities/techniques. According to some tales, the baernaloths created all the original fiendish races, who then later "rebelled" and "stole" the flesh-shaping techniques to create newer types (whether this is true or propaganda is not made clear).

The various celestials seem to have a mix of origins, depending on type and home plane. Angels and lillends seem likely to be "original" celestials, while archons, eladrin, and guardinals seem likely to be adapted/created celestials.

Titans, deities, and other beings may also play a role in various outsider origins.

we'll have a Druid, Two-Weapon Fighter, Cavalier, Ranger, & (eventually) a Sorcerer.

Some quick advice on improving the party's effectiveness:

1) The group has plenty of combat capability; the ranger may want to either focus on archery or be an archer/melee switch-hitter (depending on Str and Dex). In fact, everyone with at least a decent/semi-decent Dex (12-14+, depending on generation method) should invest in a ranged weapon/thrown weapons (i.e., sling for the druid, short bow for the fighter, javelins for the cavalier).

2) As the only caster starting out, you may want to concentrate more on battlefield control and healing than usual for a druid. Once the party can afford a couple wands of cure light wounds, sharing healing duties between the druid and the ranger (using wands) can be very efficient. In fact, with this party configuration, you should strongly consider taking Craft Wand ASAP, since there are so many spells shared between the druid and ranger spell lists; if the ranger can use wands to act as a buffer/healer, the entire party's survival chances increase at the same time as the demands on the druid decrease.

Truly heroic (in several senses of the word).

As they say in the SCA: "Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!"

With those stats, I'd recommend against going sword and board; to get the most out of sword and board, you pretty much have to go the Improved Shield Bash/Two-Weapon Fighting route (requiring 15+ Dex). If you're willing to go with 18 Str, 16 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 12 Wis, 8 Cha, you can have a good weapon/shield fighter; +1 Dex to qualify for Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and all other advancements in Str. Note that this is expensive in both feats (Improved Shield Bash, Shield Slam, Shield Master, Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Slice, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, and Two-Weapon Rend, in addition to Power Attack and other feats) and equipment (a bashing shield, possibly with defending shield spikes, in addition to your normal weapon).

For a straightforward two-handed weapon character, falchion and scythe are good choices for damage (with keen or Improved Critical); falchion threatens more often, while scythe does more damage on a critical hit; statistically, they do the same average damage. If you're looking for more options than just damage, bill (APG; brace, disarm, reach), guisarme (reach, trip), and ranseur (reach, disarm) are good choices; spiked gauntlets are handy (intentional pun) if opponents get inside your reach.

It's the rogue going into arcane trickster who should be covering the blaster role to get the most out of Sneak Attack (even acid splash and ray of frost can be useful when adding +2d6 to +7d6) and Surprise Spells. The earliest entry to arcane trickster would be rogue (recommend the sniper archetype for Deadly Range) 3/wizard 3. Take the Magical Knack (Wizard) trait to keep caster level from lagging as much and the Craft Wand feat ASAP to have several wands of ranged touch damage spells (acid splash, ray of frost, acid arrow, scorching ray, etc.). The Reach Spell metamagic feat can also be useful for spells like shocking grasp and vampiric touch.

For a sorcerer archer, I'd recommend taking the battlefield control role (especially with the Fey bloodline) and using the bow/crossbow for ranged support. Earliest entry to eldritch knight would be sorcerer 6/fighter 1 or sorcerer 6/ranger 1. The bonus fighter feat is nice, but you may find it more useful to take a level of the guide archetype ranger for Ranger's Focus and the ability to use wands of ranger spells (like aspect of the falcon, barkskin, cure light wounds, etc.) without a Use Magical Device check. Again, take the Magical Knack (Sorcerer) trait to keep your caster level up. Your best starting spells are probably dancing lights (more versatile than light), daze, mage armor (personal protection), and sleep; both daze and sleep are Enchantment (compulsion) spells and gain the +2 DC increase from the Fey Bloodline Arcana. One possible advancement strategy is to take the ranger level as your second character level (for proficiency in bows) and resume advancement as a sorcerer with your third character level (taking the Expanded Arcana feat to gain gravity bow).

@Kamelguru: It may not be the "optimal" choice, but your response is not helpful.

So the question is does the Witch have acid splash or not? I hope so I think all casters should have some kind of 0 level attack spell.

The witch doesn't have a damaging 0-level spell on their spell list. However, their hexes more than compensate IMO.

If you want a witch to be able to use acid splash at 1st level, I believe you have three options:

1) The Varisian Tattoo (Conjuration) feat (initially printed for 3.5 in Rise of the Runelords Player Guide and republished in Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting; I don't know if it has been converted to Pathfinder RPG in the Inner Sea Primer). The 3.5 version requires Spell Focus as a prerequisite, so the character has to be human to take it at 1st level, and allows the character to cast acid splash as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to their Con modifier (min 1/day, CL equal to HD, Cha-based save DC), as well as bumping the CL of Conjuration spells by +1.

2) The APG feat Arcane Talent allows the character (must be elf, half-elf, or gnome with 10+ Cha) to cast one 0-level Sorcerer/Wizard spell three times per day as a spell-like ability.

3) The APG trait Magical Talent allows the character to cast one 0-level spell once per day as a spell-like ability.

In fact, I wrote up a 1st level witch (Elements patron) for Serpent's Skull with Varisian Tattoo (Conjuration) and Magical Talent (ray of frost) to emphasize the elemental theme.

For Pathfinder including the APG, I'd probably go with:
Druid (animal companion, some buffs, healing, summons, Wild Shape)
Paladin (combat, Diplomancer, minor buffs and healing; great against "team evil," especially undead)
Witch (battlefield control, some buffs and healing, good versatility; patron selection is very important, as certain spells like haste or invisibility can only be gained from a specific patron)

These three characters have enough overlap that they can support/fill in for each other in many cases (all have buffing and healing capability, etc.), while retaining distinct areas in which they shine. As long as one character invests in Disable Device as well as Perception (possibly the witch, since it's an Int-based class, although the druid can also work with 4+Int mod Skill Ranks and Perception as a class skill), they should be able to deal with just about anything a 4-character party can. Alternately, a cleric and/or oracle in place of the druid and/or paladin can also work, with a bit more effort in domain/mystery selection.

Core Rulebook only, I'd go with Cleric, Druid, and Wizard for sheer magical power. These three classes can prepare and cast 95+% of the spells in the game with few restrictions.

For a wizard/ranger/eldritch knight (especially with those stats), I'd have recommended an elf instead of a human: 1) you start with proficiency with bows, 2) you gain a +2 to Dex AND +2 to Int (the -2 to Con only costs you 1 hp/level and +1 from your Fort save; considering false life, it's not a huge hit IMO), and 3) you gain proficiency with the elven curve blade with your first ranger level.

A wizard 5/ranger 1/eldritch knight 10 has a +13 BAB (+15 with heroism active) and casts spells as a wizard 14 (CL 16 with the Magic Knack trait from the APG), making a decent archer/secondary combatant as well as filling the standard wizard role of battlefield control/utility caster.

Yes, a TWF sword+board fighter can be an effective option. You can focus early on with a heavy spiked shield (1d6/x2) and a light weapon (short sword, light mace, sickle, or dagger); invest in a few javelins for ranged attacks, also.

You will lag behind the "normal" TWF type (and the two-handed weapon type, of course) in DPR and have fewer options for ranged attacks, but can have a higher AC (potentially much higher with defending shield spikes). You will also have to invest more heavily in feats and magic items. There are always trade-offs (the poor criticals from the shield are another). Generally speaking, damage is only so-so until +11 BAB (when you can take Shield Slam and Two Weapon Rend). Shield Slam's free bull rush attempt is really the best benefit of this style other than the higher AC.

Nice breakdown of AC.

I always shake my head at people who say "AC doesn't matter at higher levels because opponents auto-hit." Just going by the core rules, it's easy for just about any character that can wear armor to get an AC of 10 (base) +11 (+5 mithral breastplate) +5 (14 Dex and belt of incredible Dexterity +6) +5 (ring of deflection +5) +5 (amulet of natural armor +5) +1 (dusty rose prism ioun stone) = 37 before any other modifiers for a total investment of 29,200 + 36,000 + 50,000 + 50,000 + 5000 = 170,200 gp (right about the "recommended" 25% of WBL for a 19th level character, even if you count the belt as a defensive item).

If a player wants to maximize AC, then a total AC of 10 (base) +14 (+5 mithral full plate) +3 (16 Dex) +7 (+5 heavy steel shield) +5 (ring of deflection +5) +5 (amulet of natural armor +5) +1 (dusty rose prism ioun stone) = 45 before any other modifiers is attainable for 35,500 + 25,170 + 50,000 + 50,000 + 5000 = 165,670 gp; which is less expensive than the character above. For a couple of feats (Improved Shield Bash and Two Weapon Fighting) and a more expensive shield (+5 bashing light steel shield with +5 defending shield spikes; 159 + 36,000 + 310 + 72,000 = 108,469 gp), a character can have an AC of 49 when full attacking (AC 44 when not using the defending shield spikes) and the shield is still a light +1 magic weapon (bashing) that does 1d8 base damage (bashing, shield spikes).

If almost every opponent you face at 19th level has a +35 or better attack bonus, get a new GM. Per the Bestiary, Table 1-1, that's a high attack value for a CR 24 creature.

You cannot have spell storing ammunition/missile fire devices, RAW. However, you can have ammunition/weapons that activate a spell effect on impact; see arrow of sleep, javelin of lightning, etc. The differences are that ranged attacks are treated as expendable, rather than reusable, and the effect is automatic, rather than discretionary.

I came up with a few characters, all APG classes:

Fijit Spitfire, Female Gnome Alchemist; Master Tinker (proficient with any weapon personally crafted), Obsessive (+2 Craft (Weapons) checks), Pyromaniac; Favored Class - Alchemist (+1/2 bomb per day per level); Rich Parents trait; can make any weapon except bows (Craft (Weapons) 1 gives a modifier of +8 with 14 Int, can take 10 to meet any DC of 18 or less) and starts with a repeating heavy crossbow, injection spear, and alchemical silver battle aspergillum; will handle locks and traps; will take Master Craftsman at 5th and Craft Magic Arms and Armor at 7th

Name TBD, Half-Elf Summoner; Ancestral Arms (Short Bow), Arcane Training (Summoner); Favored Class - Summoner (+1/4 to evolution pool per level); Ease of Faith trait (raised by church of Pharasma); party diplomancer; biped eidolon ("Praetor") with Improved Natural Armor and Weapon Training to help with melee combat

Name TBD, Human Cavalier (Order of the Star, Pharasma); Birthmark trait; main party combatant; looking at multiclassing to oracle of life and becoming a holy vindicator

Victor, Human Inquisitor (Pharasma, Souls Domain); Undead Slayer trait; secondary party combatant (Toughness feat); looking at becoming a master spy (based loosely on the character Victor Cachat by Eric Flint in the Honor Harrington series by David Webber)

The group will be heavily involved with the local church(es) of Pharasma, which provides three of them a ready-made backstory as to why they are together and an obvious motivation/plot hook for an undead-heavy campaign.

FatR wrote:

Shut down the cult, then enact local reforms necessary for the vigilante organization to go legal, then shut down the parts of organization that try to continue criminal activities. And don't forget to also shut down the evil church, while you're hanging around. A nice fodder for a couple of adventures. What's so difficult about coming up with this decision, save for your own desire to make the situation unwinnable?

Well fine, you ignore the actions of a organised crime syndicate for six months, while your busy fighting a cult, by which time they have slipped further from the positive elements of their past, and you end up going to war with former allies and friends. The Watch move in and take over the drugs trade, and the natives of the district suffer doubly.

Your little war with the church costs hundreds of lifes, makes you outlaws and your success destabilised the entire society, as one of the arms of government collapses, the insueing plagues and invasion brings the death toll into the hundreds of thousands.

It isn't about it being unwinnable. This is after all a role-playing game. No one wins the game. Rather it is about making a characters choices meaningful. Choices must have consequences.

I'm going to have to side with FatR here.

You seem to be deliberately "punishing" the PCs for trying to make the "right" choices out of what seems to be a misplaced need for "dramatic tension." If the consequences of doing the "right" thing are as bad or worse than being selfish bastards, you're just training your players to run nothing but selfish bastards.

You can have "meaningful" consequences without turning your campaign into a Hobbesian dystopia. If the entire society is in such bad shape that things would turn out as you say, why are the PCs even trying to help in the first place? Better to completely replace the government, call in a good aligned church, and reform the society. Yes, this will still cause suffering and require an extensive long-term commitment (not a half-@$$ed attempt like Afghanistan or Iraq) to accomplish, but an honest reform (not just a gloss of reform while changing the individuals in power or the installation of a puppet regime) will provide the populace better opportunities to make a living without needing to resort to criminal/immoral activities and give them better protection from predation by criminal organizations or abusive governmental arms.

I would have likened to see the gunslinger as an archetype that could span across several different classes. While it is built off the fighter class, it'd make sense to see a derivative appear under the rogue, bard, ranger, or even a paladin if one wants to make a stretch.

Unless we should be expecting feat taxes that will allow the other classes to get a taste w/o getting the complete advantage that the alternate base class would receive.

You mean like the Amateur Gunslinger feat that allows any character to have Grit and take the various Grit/Deed feats? Granted, the ones in the playtest document are not comprehensive, but it wouldn't be too difficult to expand the selection (and I'm assuming there will probably be more included in Ultimate Combat).

Personally, I prefer the approach that Paizo has taken: primarily archetypes and/or alternate versions of classes instead of tons of similar base classes and prestige classes (i.e., sandman bard instead of bard/rogue, ninja rogue instead of monk/rogue, etc.); I also tended to use the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana, as well. However, there are still some concepts that are difficult to pull off mechanically without multiclassing/prestige classes/new base classes (the APG base classes, for example).

I think there could be a bit more support for multiclassing, but the Paizo staff seems to be filling in some of the gaps (i.e., holy vindicator, nature warden, rage prophet, etc. in the APG). With Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat, I expect to see even more of the gaps filled in (either with archetypes, alternate versions of classes, or a handful of prestige classes); they also seem to be taking a "whole system" view when designing new options, so I don't expect too much overlap (or 20+ different versions of one concept).

Lord Fyre wrote:

Yes, that is what we need!

We need a good Space Opera RPG (and supporting adventure material).

A key to "Starfinder" to me would be to limit the range of known space, and make a great deal of this game about exploring new solar systems.

I would imagine a core of maybe six or seven populated planets and only a small host of playable races. Else you get into such a variety of playable races that you get bogged down in the character creation process, or nothing seems special or unique because everything is weird.

Did anyone else play Star Frontiers?

Yes, although it had its problems. Alpha Dawn had no spaceship rules and Knight Hawks' tacked on rules didn't always mesh well.

TSR's Alternity system (and the Star*Drive setting) did a fairly good job, IMO. It had very different system mechanics than d20, however, and the lack of supporting material (due to TSR's collapse/buy-out) means a lot of work for the GM.

Note that a lot of the problems with a space opera campaign are similar to that of a fantasy sea-faring campaign: the cost of the ship (both initially and repairs/upgrades/replacements), hiring and upkeep of a crew (unless the PCs can do everything that's required to operate/sail the ship), and what the party does when not "flying/sailing around waiting for someone/something to attack them." The first is usually handled through deus-ex-machina methods, so that the party can start with a ship that they would otherwise not be able to afford; alternately, they start as members of a crew on a ship owned by an NPC, which provides a ready-made "patron" for the PCs until they can afford to purchase a ship (or possibly salvage one). The second requires a lot of GM involvement and deftness, as the crew will be supporting characters similar to cohorts/followers (or actually be so). The third is the one that "scuttles" many long-term campaigns, since it requires the development of an economic rules system to track the purchase/transport/sale of bulk cargos to determine profit/loss or a strict limitation on PC actions (such as serving in an established navy).

The other issues with high-tech weapons can be dealt with by using Armor as Damage Reduction or something similar and adding modifiers/energy resistance for energy weapons (i.e., "reflective armor provides an extra +2 AC vs. laser weapons" or "thermal armor provides 5 points of energy resistance vs. plasma weapons"). You could even have certain types of weapon/armor combinations that minimize colateral/friendly fire damage during boarding actions (i.e., low velocity projectiles/flecettes (2d4 damage) and heavy armor (DR 8 vs. such weapons)). Of course this may mean having several different weapons/armors in the ship's armory for each crew member.

Oliver McShade wrote:

What i call the GREED factor. Short term Gain for long term loss.

I don't know that I'd call it greed, but more, too much big-picture views (from a large corporate standpoint) instead of the ground-level view.

Maybe it's why I'm not in business and not a rich man, but were I a business owner with my own product lines, I'd rather have a few/many smaller, steady, carefully shepherded product lines than one or two big gigantic product lines.

(semi-rant) Look at it this way: If I am a corporate executive, axing a "marginal" profit-making division allows more money to be put in two things - a division with a higher profit margin... and a raise for myself, since I "saved" the company so much money. If you track real (U.S.) wages over the last 20-30 years (even before the recession), the average executive compensation is 20-30 times (!) what it was in the 1980's while average worker compensation has either not increased or slightly declined overall (there was some increase in the 1990's). The U.S. worker is also the most productive per capita (2nd on an hourly basis, IIRC) in the world; the vast gains in productivity due to automation and IT have been basically "skimmed off the top."

A lot of the underlying issues with the recession can be traced to poor business decisions based on maximizing stock price/executive compensation at the expense of producing an actual corporate product. Long term company management has not been much of a consideration with large companies for a long time. I'd recommend the documentary about the Enron colapse, "The Smartest Guys in the Room;" the difference between Enron and many other corporations (can we say the banking industry?) is a matter of degree, rather than kind.

Because you can still learn and prepare (using 2 spell slots instead of 1) spells of your opposition schools in Pathfinder RPG, you should look over what spells you will want to have readily available and/or wish to take advantage of a higher CL; these spells are candidates for your prepared slots while other spells can be scribed on scrolls or placed in wands. You should choose your opposition schools so that you will mainly be "casting" their spells using scrolls and/or wands.

That said, Evocation and Necromancy are pretty decent choices as opposition schools for an eldritch knight. A couple scrolls of false life (easily replaced) as well as a wand of enfeeblement and a wand of scorching ray (can be readily replaced if you have the Craft Wand feat) can provide you with some of the utility of those scools. Do not give up the Enchantment school, since heroism (+2 on attack rolls, saves, skill checks, lasts 10 min/level) should be one of your staple spells as an eldritch knight, unless you will be constantly scribing multiple scolls of it for each adventuring day.

So, yeah, you're not gaming 1e like 3x, and intelligent wizards aren't cranking out magic items, sorry.

See my post above discussing Potions of Longevity, Elixirs of Youth, Reincarnation, Clone, lich-hood, etc.

It's not as easy to "crank out magic items" in 1st/2nd Ed AD&D as it is in 3.x D&D, but it can definitely be done.

As far as the original topic goes, you can have a "magic item economy" without "Magic-Marts," as several people have already commented.

One of the things I liked about 3.x was that the developers finally got rid of the illogic of "magic items are common enough to be found in abandoned houses (U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh) and dungeons, as well as in the possession of a decent percentage of the population (~2-10% is a decent precentage for luxury/niche products) and even monsters, but they are never (or hardly ever) sold/traded." How many people, as a percentage of the population, can afford Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, stretch limos, etc. or even private jets? Somehow, these items still get created and sold/traded; in fact, there even exist "stores" (show-rooms, etc.) where you can just walk in and buy them "off the shelf."

Granted, these establishments are few and far between, just like high-value jewelry stores/trade shows (another real world equivalent). Treating magic items as a commodity is a smart thing when developing a world; just treat them as high-value items and draw on real world practices to help determine how you handle them in game.

Unstated among the discussion is one other reason some GMs refuse to allow the PCs to purchase magic items: control. Some GMs want to limit the PCs' choices to make it easier to dictate/guide/predict their actions or use certain plot devices. There's a basis for this in previous versions of the game, which could be pretty heavy-handed at times. However, since the CR system (which is not perfect, but a much better guide than existed previously) is so dependent on the expected Wealth-By-Level and "standard" items to function without modification, GMs who restrict magic item availability need to do more work when creating/modifying adventures; this can actually result in an enjoyable campaign, but the GM needs to be aware of it going in and make adjustments or it will start to fall apart when the PCs hit 5th-9th level.

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Which is pretty meaningless when a Wish can raise it right back. Per pg. 11 on the 1st Ed AD&D DMG, as long as the score is under 16, it's one Wish per point of increase.

Meaningless? When that wish is going to age you 3 years (1e DMG page 13)? I wouldn't consider that meaningless.

By the time you have access to Wish as a spell, it's also fairly easy to make Potions of Longevity (although the cumulative 1% chance of reversal means this isn't a good long-term solution) or Elixirs of Youth (if allowing content from 1st Ed AD&D Unearthed Arcana). Note that there are other methods for high-level magic users to extend their life span: Reincarnation and Clone being two possibilities often used by those who don't want to make the transition to undeath as a lich. Higher level versions of Magic Jar to permanently transfer psyches between bodies also received attention in 1st/2nd AD&D.

I'm using the 1e PHB as a mousepad. Let me check...

Permanency is an automatic -1 con in 1e.

Which is pretty meaningless when a Wish can raise it right back. Per pg. 11 on the 1st Ed AD&D DMG, as long as the score is under 16, it's one Wish per point of increase.

Permanent magic items (unless clerical/druidic or racial items, as laid out on pg. 116-118) could only be made by 16th+ level magic users with 16+ Int (to be able to cast Permanency) or 14th+ level illusionists (using Major Creation and Alter Reality) in 1st Ed AD&D, anyway. Given the limitations, most "minor" permanent items would probably be created by churches or illusionists. The only magic users willing to "mass produce" permanent magic items would be 18th+ level arch-magi with 18+ Int who can cast Wish to recover the lost point of Con (of course, an arch-mage should have raised all of his ability scores other than Int to 16 with Wishes, if we're actually running them "correctly" in 1st Ed).

Check out the Ultimate Magic preview on Words of Power for a rough guide to designing spells. It won't cover everything, but can be used as a fairly good meterstick.

The actual in-character reseach process is covered in the Core Rulebook.

For many campaigns, or even the "baseline" Pathfinder game (as represented by the pre-generated iconics), you do not "need" to start with a 20 Int at level 1 to be an effective wizard. As many have stated, a single class wizard starting with a 15-17 Int can work just fine.*

*- Note that I tend to use 15-point buy and expect "well rounded" characters instead of hyper-optimized, overly focused "one-trick ponies." And yes, I consider a wizard with 7 Str, 14 Dex, 14 Con, 20 Int, 7 Wis, 7 Cha (an elf would have 16 Dex, 12 Con) a "one trick pony" in that he has extremely limited options except for casting spells and acting as a sage at 1st level (he has a lot of skill ranks but has poor modifiers outside of Dex- and Int- based skills, his Will save is +0, etc.); well, he can hide in the back and shoot his light crossbow, but he can't carry much in the way of ammunition (23 lbs or less for all gear or he's at a medium load).

For a swashbuckler wizard, an elf (or half-elf with the Ancestral Weapon alternate racial trait from the APG or a human using the bonus feat on Martial Weapon Proficiency) would probably be the easiest race to take as they can start with a rapier. 20-point buy: 12 Str, 16 Dex, 12 Con, 15 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha (13 Str, 15 Dex for a half-elf or human).

Another possibility is a creepy, but strong necromancer wizard who likes to use a scythe: Human 20-point buy 16 Str (+2 race), 14 Dex, 14 Con, 15 Int, 10 Wis, 8 Cha (I'll occasionally drop one ability score to an 8, if it fits the concept; a necromancer with a low Cha is almost cliche); Martial Weapon Proficiency (Scythe) as one of his 1st level feats; enlarge person and mage armor as two of his starting spells. He's not going to be as good at melee as the fighter, but with a +3 attack bonus and 2d4+4 damage roll (2d6+6, 10 ft reach with enlarge person) he's more competent than the "typical" wizard.

Dragonchess Player wrote:

AdAstraGames wrote:

It is possible to fire a Light or Heavy crossbow from a braced or prone position. Doing so gives +2 to hit. You may not reload a crossbow while prone,

It's slightly awkward, but if you roll over onto your back, you can c#&% many crossbows without having to stand up or kneel. Roll back over, place a new bolt in the groove, and you're ready to go.

I've never seen this done with a medieval or renaissance crossbow; most really rely on being able to put your foot in the stirrup and keep your leg straight to pull back on the string/turn the cocking winch.

You have to point your toe to prevent the crossbow from sliding off your foot and lock your knee/tense your leg to keep it steady; since leg muscles are generally stronger than arm muscles, you should be able to keep the leg from moving. Depending on the the crank action on the winch (for the heavier draws), you may need to elevate the leg (resting it on your other ankle or the toe of your other foot, or possibly even higher) to clear the ground. It's not as easy as when standing/kneeling and you have to use your leg/arm muscles more. However, it allows you to better utilize cover by keeping a low profile/silhouette.

What character could be created from these stats?

Level 1
Kingmaker Campaign
Race:
Class:

STR 12
DEX 8
CON 15
INT 13
WIS 10
CHA 9

The only two stats I'm allowed to swap around are INT & WIS.

...

I've gathered some more info on a couple of the other party members:
Gnome Alchemist
Gnome Druid - Animal Companion Cheetah
Human Barbarian or Ranger - maybe, its still up in the air.
Me - ??

You will probably fit best in this party as a battlefield controller. Additional healing would also be useful.

Human Witch
12 Str, 8 Dex, 15 Con, 15 Int, 10 Wis, 9 Cha; all advancements in Int

Use the alternate favored class option to gain an additional spell to your familiar each level. Mage armor should be one of your initial 1st level spells to help your AC.

Good hexes include Cackle (especially in combination with Evil Eye and/or Fortune), Cauldron (although it may overlap too much with the alchemist), Evil Eye, Fortune, Healing, Slumber (even with the "low" Int, the DC scales reasonably well; can be used the round after using Evil Eye to give a -2 on saves), and Ward. A fox (+2 Reflex saves), scorpion (+2 Initiative), or weasel (+2 Reflex saves) might be your best familiar choices, although raven (+3 Appraise checks, speak one language) and toad (+3 hit points) can also suit some concepts. Good patrons include Agility (for cat's grace and the staple haste), Endurance (concept; some good buffs), Plague (for a darker character; command undead may also be useful, as the party otherwise may have difficulties vs. undead), and Strength (concept; bull's strength and greater magic weapon can be useful).

Because there is a lot of down time in Kingmaker, magic item creation feats can be very useful, as well as the Hedge Wizard trait. Take the Extra Hex and Scribe Scroll feats at 1st level, Craft Wondrous Item at 3rd level, Craft Wands at 5th level, and Craft Magic Arms and Armor at 7th level and the party will have plenty of useful magic items as the campaign progresses.

RAW, eldritch knight levels do not count for class abilities such as Intense Spells. Core Rulebook, pg. 385: "Diverse Training: An eldritch knight adds his level to any levels of fighter he may have for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites for feats... He also adds his level to any levels in an arcane spellcasting class for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites for feats." Also, "Spells per Day: At the indicated levels, an eldritch knight gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for additional spells per day, spells known (if he is a spontaneous caster), and an increased effective level of spellcasting."

The issue is if you allow Diverse Training to apply to an evoker's Intense Spells, then you will get players who want it to apply to an abjurer's Resistance, a diviner's Forewarned, or a transmuter's Physical Enhancement...

the spells you want to use in combat are battlefield control or buff spells.

Both of which are the witch's weakpoints. You get spells from both the cleric and wizard lists, yes. But you mostly get the -wrong- spells from those lists, in terms of battlefield effectiveness.

<eye roll>

Spells like enlarge person, ray of enfeeblement, sleep, glitterdust, hold person, web, dispel magic, heroism, ray of exhaustion, stinking cloud, black tentacles, etc. are just horrible in battlefield effectiveness... Granted, most of the buffs that are exclusive to the cleric list depend on the patron you choose.

It is possible to fire a Light or Heavy crossbow from a braced or prone position. Doing so gives +2 to hit. You may not reload a crossbow while prone,

It's slightly awkward, but if you roll over onto your back, you can cock many crossbows without having to stand up or kneel. Roll back over, place a new bolt in the groove, and you're ready to go.

A mithral breastplate and boots of striding and springing go a long way toward making the loss of armor training palatable. As far as deciding between Phalanx Soldier or Polearm Master, I'd say Polearm Master might be a better fit for the mobile combatant you describe. A bill (APG) might be the best weapon choice, with the brace, disarm, and reach special features, plus granting a +1 shield bonus to AC when fighting defensively.

A two-weapon fighting paladin can be about as effective as a two-weapon fighting rogue in a typical campaign with evil foes. Just as a flanking rogue gets Sneak Attack damage with all attacks when flanking, a paladin gets Smite Evil bonuses with all attacks against their declared target.

Feats can be an issue, since the paladin does not gain bonus feats like a rogue using rogue talents. Because of this, humans can be better at this sort of thing: 14 Str, 16 Dex, 12 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha (15 point buy, +2 Dex); Improved Shield Bash, Two-Weapon Fighting at 1st, Double Slice or Power Attack at 3rd, +1 Cha at 4th, Power Attack or Double Slice (whichever wasn't taken at 3rd) at 5th, Shield Slam at 7th, +1 Dex at 8th, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting at 9th, Shield Master at 11th, +1 Cha at 12th, Two-Weapon Rend at 13th, etc. Depending on the campaign, Alignment Channel, Channel Smite, and/or Turn Undead can also be useful.

If you wanted, you could even fight with a heavy (bashing) spiked shield as your primary weapon and use a variety of light weapons (handaxe, light mace, shortsword) as your off-hand weapons. A few javelins for throwing, and you're ready to act as the party tank, with some ranged ability, for most dungeon encounters.

I bought Amulet of Mighty Fists for my Alchemist who has three natural attacks, but I made the Amulet corrosive (+1d6 acid) instead of just +1. For having +1d6 acid damage for all of my three attacks is worth the money in my opinion. I would also think they're treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction, since it's a magic weapon special ability.

It's already been covered, but...

Technically, if you have an amulet of mighty fists (corrosive), then your natural attacks are not counted as magic for overcoming damage resistance since they lack an enhancement bonus; see Overcoming Damage Resistance on pg. 562 of the Core Rulebook. However, I didn't see anyone mention that the +1d6 from acid is considered energy damage, which is not affected by DR; acid resistance/immunity will apply to reduce/negate the acid damage, though.

Since 3.0, the rule of thumb was to break ranged touch attack spells into two "weapon types" for purposes of feats: missiles and rays. acid splash, acid arrow, or the 3.x orb spells are missiles, with just about every other ranged touch attack spell (or spells modified by Reach Spell metamagic) being rays or using other rules (such as splash weapons for fire seeds (acorn)). Acid Dart, Binding Darkness (APG), Fire Bolt, Hand of the Acolyte/Apprentice, Icicle, Lightning Arc, and Telekinetic Fist domain/school abilities should probably be considered missiles, while other ranged touch domain/bloodline/school abilities are explicitly rays. 3.x and earlier versions had more missile spell choices than Pathfinder, so the difference was less glaring.

The only sticking point for using "ranged touch attacks" as a weapon type (as long as splash weapons are treated as their own type), IMO, is the spell spectral hand. It is neither a missile nor a ray, but delivers ranged touch attacks and already gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls. As long as spectral hand and splash weapons are not included, I don't think it would be unbalancing to combine the missile and ray types in Pathfinder.

I have 3rd level rogue halfling that is about to level up and I am in doubt about my future levels.

Would it be better to go pure rogue, or, at level 6, when I meet all the requirements, turn it into a shadowdancer?

...

On the other hand, the pure rogue is a bit boring and halflings are slow and can't see in the dark.

Looking forward to hear the advice of experienced players 'round here :)

It all depends on what you want to do with the character. For a combat-focused rogue, you should decide whether you want to be a damage dealer (keep Sneak Attack high) or impose other effects. If you're thinking of switching to shadowdancer, then you should be looking at rogue talents like Bleeding Attack, Combat Trick, Slow Reactions, and Surprise Attack; if you have the APG, then Befuddling Strike, Distracting Attack (if there is another rogue in the party), and Positioning Attack may be useful. Agile Maneuvers can help you make use of the rest of the Combat Expertise feat chain (other than just Improved Feint). Dazzling Display can inflict penalties on all foes within 30 ft and Shatter Defenses sets up additional Sneak Attacks. Enforcer (APG) can be useful in some circumstances to inflict penalties on foes. Extra Rogue Talent (APG)can be very useful. Fleet improves your base speed. Gang Up (APG) allows flanking bonuses without actually having to flank. Go Unnoticed (APG) is almost like a limited Hide in Plain Sight. Lunge allows you to attack with reach. Step Up, Following Step (APG), and Step Up and Strike (APG) can provide additional movement during combat. Taunt (APG) allows you to use Bluff in place of Intimidate to Demoralize. Toughness gives extra hit points. Under and Over (APG) can be useful if your GM uses foes that grapple a lot.

Aside from the Fleet feat, there are some other ways to improve on your speed: Taking a level of barbarian improves your base speed by 10 ft (note that this is not an enhancement bonus, so it stacks with boots of striding and springing, expeditious retreat, haste, or longstrider); taking a level of bard, you can select expeditious retreat as a spell known; taking a level of cleric with the Travel domain also improves your base speed by 10 ft, as well as giving you longstrider as a domain spell; taking a level of druid gives you access to longstrider; taking a level of ranger allows you to use wands of longstrider without needing a Use Magic Device check; taking a level of alchemist (APG), you can select expeditious retreat as one of your starting formulae; taking a level of inquisitor (APG), you can select expeditious retreat as a spell known. Taking a level of oracle (APG), the following mysteries/revelations may be useful: Battle - Surprising Charge and Flame - Cinder Dance.

Being able to see in the dark is easy enough to gain through spells and/or magic items, so don't let that drive your character's development.

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Many of them, Evil Eye included, have a limitation of "Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day."

Evil eye does not have that statement attached to it.

<sigh>

I was looking at the wrong hex.

So, to answer the original question, a witch can stand silently using the Evil Eye hex over and over on a sleeping target. However, because of the short duration (3 + Int mod rounds), it's not very useful to do so. However, the greater hex Nightmares would be a good choice for this tactic.

Dragonchess Player wrote:

...as SLAs with unlimited uses...

Hexes are supernatural -- they are better than SLA's in almost every way.

Yes, I was being sloppy with my terms. However, some GMs do house rule them as SLAs (whether this is a good or bad house rule can be a discussion in and of itself).

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Spectral hand is extremely useful with a variety of touch spells (touch of fatigue, etc., as well as many cures and buffs);

Silly question here, but you can use Spectral Hand in conjunction with the various Inflict spells, right?

Core Rulebook, pg. 346: "A ghostly hand shaped from your life force materializes and moves as you desire, allowing you to deliver low level, touch range spells at a distance... For as long as the spell lasts, any touch range spell of 4th level or lower that you can cast can be delivered by the spectral hand." (emphasis mine)

I was thinking of taking a bat for a familiar.

Did you pick it for flavor reasons to fit a theme? The +3 bonus to Fly skill checks has good synergy with the Flight hex, but if you're going for a particular theme, then that can help you pick the patron and/or hexes.

For hexes...how do they function really? For example lets say i use evil eye. Does the target know somehow that i am targetting him with evil eye? If the target is sleeping can i just stand there silently and keep using evil eye over and over?

They normally function as supernatural abilities (Core Rulebook, pg. 221). Some GMs may house rule many of them as spell-like abilities (also pg. 221), instead (which means they are affected by dispel magic and spell resistance, can be disrupted, etc.). Many of them, Evil Eye included, have a limitation of "Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day."

Any suggestions on feats/patron/spell selection then?

The witch is a versatile character, with a strong selection of battlefield control, buffing, and utility abilities/spells. They get decent healing capability, as well.

Hexes are the witch's bread and butter; as SLAs with unlimited uses (apart from the "one attempt per target per day" on many of them), they can be used as desired without the need to conserve them. Useful hexes are: Cackle (extend the effect of many "one round" hexes), Cauldron (a feat plus a skill bonus), Evil Eye (lasts one round even on a successful save, can be extended with Cackle), Flight (feather fall at will (equivalent to a 4,400 gp magic item) and skill bonuses plus levitate once per day and several minutes of fly as you gain levels), Fortune (a nice buff for allies, can be extended with Cackle), Healing (extra healing is never a bad thing, improves at 5th level), Misfortune (can be very nasty, especially in combination with Evil Eye; can be extended with Cackle), Slumber (can readily disable many single opponents and also scales (no HD limit*, DC improves with level); nasty in combination with Evil Eye and/or Misfortune), and Ward (a simple, long-lasting buff that's easily renewed). Extra Hex is a good feat choice, even for Cauldron.

*- some GMs may house rule this to HD equal or less than the witch's level; also, since sleep is an Enchantment [compulsion], the effect is blocked/suppressed by protection from or magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law.

Generally, spell selection will be similar to a wizard of equal level (with some additions and subtractions). The witch has some of the best battlefield control spells, so I'd recommend picking up several area effect ones (using hexes to disable single targets). Spectral hand is extremely useful with a variety of touch spells (touch of fatigue, etc., as well as many cures and buffs); as are the various summon monster spells during the middle levels. Patron choice is useful for expanding available buffs (Agility, Endurance, Wisdom) or providing focus to the spell selection. Animals is great if you want to focus on summoning and augmenting animals. Deception is good for buffing sneaky types and/or avoiding hazards. Elements adds some direct damage options to the witch's sparse selection (yes, you can have a decent blaster witch and use your hexes for battlefield control/disabling). Plague is a good choice for the necromancer witch archetype (or even an undead hunter). Shadow can be even better than Deception for a sneaky, deceiver witch. Strength is good for witches that want to self-buff (eldritch knight?). Transformation is great for a shapehifting witch. Trickery has a good mix of defense, offense, and utility spells. Water can be very powerful/useful in costal/ship-borne campaigns.

EDIT: I'd written that arcane trickster might be a possibility for a sneaky witch, but the witch lacks mage hand.

Why not just use a repeating crossbow for pretty much the same effect?

If it's a way to get around the two-hand restriction for cocking/loading a crossbow (i.e., to allow a crossbow to be used with a shield), then you may be better off ditching the crossbow for an Alkenstar pistol with multiple barrels (historically fairly common before the invention of the cap and ball revolver) or just using a wand of magic missile/acid arrow/scorching ray with Use Magic Device or with a level in a spellcasting class that has that spell on it's spell list.

However, you can make special ammunition/weapons with Master Craftsman that have spell effects: see dagger of venom, javelin of lightning, screaming bolt, slaying arrow, and sleep arrow in the Core Rulebook and boulderhead mace, dustburst bullet, searing arrow, sizzling arrow, and tangle bolt in the APG for examples. Some of them will be out of your price range to start with, though.

<grumble>

After re-reading the complete description of Master Craftsman, you will need to take the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, as well. Since you can't qualify for Master Craftsman until 5th level, Craft Magic Arms and Armor may need to be your 7th level feat.

Not incorrect, simply not being pedantic.

The OP asked if they could take the Craft Wondrous Item feat and create a headband of vast intelligence. The answer is: "Yes, you can, but you need to use Master Craftsman to qualify." The answer you gave was "No."

Quote:

Is There anyway of reducing the cost of making a potion?

There is a trait called Hedge wizard which makes a small reduction in all magical items made (but the alchemist can't make anything BUT potions)

Correct on the Hedge Wizard trait, but incorrect on the alchemist being unable to create other magic items. The feat Master Craftsman allows the alchemist to make other items via a Craft or Profession skill (armor or weapons for the most part, as well as some wondrous items).

Also, remember that "potions" include such things as oil of magic weapon, etc. that affect objects instead of creatures.

The problem is the prerequisite "spellcaster level X" for the magic items, the alchemist isn't actually casting spells.

From the description of Master Craftsman: "Ranks in chosen skill count as your caster level for the purposes of qualifying for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor or Craft Wondrous Item feats. You can create magic items using these feats, substituting your ranks in the chosen skill for your total caster level."

Apart from the Reach Spell metamagic feat on various cure X wounds, etc. spells, there are two other options:

1) As mentioned, good clerics can Channel Positive Energy to heal everyone within 30 ft; the feat Selective Channelling allows you to exclude enemies.

2) The sorcerer/wizard spell spectral hand can allow the caster to use any touch spell of 4th level or less at medium range (100 ft + 10 ft/level); a mystic theurge can cast the spell natively or a wondrous item could be created (market price of 2,160 gp per use per day).

A caller of angels.

I'm working on a similar concept, at the moment: A half-elf orphan raised by a church, but unsuited for the priesthood (8 Wis) makes a pact with the church's deity to summon ascociated outsiders (i.e., extraplanar creatures via summon monster); the eidolon is the "enforcer/guide" of the pact as well as the summoner's companion/helper. Biped eidolon with Improved Natural Armor and Weapon Training probably (starting with a morning star and javelins to take advantage of the biped's 16 Str; Power Attack as the starting feat), possibly improving to martial/selected exotic weapons and/or Two-/Multi-Weapon Fighting, depending on the "base" outsider type (angel, archon, avoral, etc.). A CE summoner who wanted a "marilith" eidolon could start with the serpentine base form and work up to all twelve arms.

Very cool looking build!

So as far as potions go, can you make a potion of fireball? Assuming you increase the DC by 5 for not having the spell. Or do you have to make a potion something that needs to be drunk?

Technically, you can't make an area effect potion; that's what the alchemist's bombs are for. A potion of sleep/deep slumber is perhaps stretching the rules slightly, but would only affect the imbiber and not an area; the spell's write up also states "one or more living creatures" and the description makes it clear that it doesn't affect everything in the "10-ft.-radius burst" like (for example) burning hands.

However, you can make special ammunition/weapons with Master Craftsman that have spell effects: see dagger of venom, javelin of lightning, screaming bolt, slaying arrow, and sleep arrow in the Core Rulebook and boulderhead mace, dustburst bullet, searing arrow, sizzling arrow, and tangle bolt in the APG for examples. Some of them will be out of your price range to start with, though.

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Well, you could try a gnome alchemist with the Master Tinker alternate racial trait from the APG (+1 Disable Device, Knowledge (Engineering) checks; treated as proficient with any weapon they have personally crafted) and Obsession (+2 Craft (Weapons) checks) specializing in personally crafted weapons such as: a repeating heavy crossbow with a variety of alchemically enhanced ammunition (bolts tipped with ceramic heads containing acid, alchemist's fire, alkali, flash powder, liquid ice, smoke pellets, sneeze powder, thunderstones, etc. or even bolts tipped with bomb vials), an alchemical silver battle aspergillum (for holy water and other substances, such as oil when under the effect of resist energy and using fire breath to ignite opponents after they are doused), an injection spear (a spear with a hollow metal head that can hold one dose of poison or a potion; when filled, any successful attack injects the dose into the target's bloodstream; weapon stats as normal spear, 100 gp; from Pathfinder 20, House of the Beast; works well with potions of blindness/deafness, deep slumber, ray of enfeeblement, ray of exhaustion, etc. created with help of an ally/henchman/follower or a high enough Spellcraft check), or any other weapons you may think up (possibly even firearms).

After all, Golarion gnomes are considered at least halfway insane anyway...

This is... a cool idea. Really cool! Now, gnomes aren't my favorite race, but I can see myself playing such a character, provided I could find a way to optimize it. As it stands, alchemical items are fairly useless at higher levels, so I would need to find a method of increasing their effectiveness.

Also, I'm not sure that the spells you mentioned can be made into potions; I don't have much experience with item crafting, so I could be mistaken, but aren't potions limited to range personal? Or do I have that backwards.

I'd be interested in seeing how this build would be built, using 25 pt buy at 7th level.

A rough possible build, focusing on ranged attacks:

Gnome Alchemist 7
Master Tinker (APG), Obsession (+2 Craft (Weapons) checks), Pyromaniac* (APG)
*- Doesn't help the odd levels, but makes the even levels better; only works for fire damage, though; the alternate SLAs make a nice touch
Favored Class: Alchemist - +3.5 bombs per day
12 Str, 16 Dex, 12 Con, 17 Int (16 +1 advancement), 10 Wis, 12 Cha
Class Features: Alchemy (+7 Craft (Alchemy) checks, identify potions, create extracts), Bomb (4d6+3, 13 bombs/day), Brew Potion, Mutagen (+2 natural armor, +4 Dex, -2 Wis, 70 min), Throw Anything, Discoveries (pick 3; useful choices include Acid Bomb, Concussive Bomb, Dispelling Bomb, Explosive Bomb, Frost Bomb, and Shock Bomb), Poison Resistance +4, Poison Use, Swift Alchemy, Swift Poisoning
Skills: Craft (Alchemy) 4 (+18), Craft (Weapons) 6* (+16), Disable Device 7 (+13), Knowledge (Arcana) 4 (+10), Perception 7 (+12), Spellcraft 7 (+13), Use Magic Device 7 (+11)
*- Allows crafting of masterwork weapons and creation of magic weapons of up to +2 enhancement bonus; for making/upgrading starting weapons and/or ones found
Feats: Brew Potion*, Master Craftsman (Craft (Weapons)), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Throw Anything*, +1 feat (recommend Extra Bombs, Extra Discovery, Iron Will, or Leadership)
*- Bonus feats
Extracts: 1st-5, 2nd-4, 3rd-2
Formulae: pick 7 1st-level, 3 2nd-level, and 1 3rd-level formulae; additional formulae can be added at the costs specified on pg. 219 of the Core Rulebook ("...wizards charge a fee for for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to half the cost to write the spell into a spellbook..."; also, "an alchemist can also add formulae to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs and time requirements. An alchemist can study a wizard's spellbook to learn any formula that is equivalent to a spell that the spellbook contains..." per APG pg. 27-28)
Gear: 10,500 gp worth (a headband of vast intelligence +2 and a +1 repeating crossbow eat up 6,700 gp; the remaining 3,800 gp can be used for +1 studded leather or a mithral chain shirt, a masterwork alchemical silver battle aspergillum, a masterwork injection spear, and some alchemical items and potions)

You have the potion restrictions backward; you can't make potions of spells with with a range of personal. "It can duplicate the effect of a spell of up to 3rd level that has a casting time of less than 1 minute and targets one or more creatures." (Core Rulebook, pg. 477)