Emil Snakecharmer's page

"Dizzying Defense (Ex): At 15th level, while wielding a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon in one hand, the swashbuckler can spend 1 panache point to take the fighting defensively action as a swift action instead of a standard action. When fighting defensively in this manner, the dodge bonus to AC gained from that action increases to +4, and the penalty to attack rolls is reduced to –2."

The fighting defensively action lets you make a melee attack at a -4 (or in this case, -2) bonus. Does that mean that the swashbuckler just gets a free stab as a swift action with this ability? And if so, what about her other actions? Could a swashbuckler make a full-attack action and then get her quick jab in, allowing her to add +4 to her AC and get a free attack without penalizing her full attack action?

So, the Pathfinder system fixed a lot of issues with the 3.5 game, but one thing that got grandfathered in hard was Feat Taxes. Feat Taxes are feats that you are essentially required to take. They do not boost your character's growth in any way, they only remove or limit arbitrary penalties imposed on your character to make sure that anyone who tries to do what you do without the feat sucks at it. In actuality, what this accomplishes is it discourages feat-starved classes from trying alternate weapon styles, or if they decide to use those styles, it costs them precious feat slots that could be used to otherwise actually improve the character.

So, this fix is going to involve two things:
1) Removing or altering the arbitrary penalties
2) Changing or removing the feat taxes
3) Profit

Let's get started then!

Point Blank Shot/Precise Shot
Problem: If you are an archer at 1st level, you are useless because you eat a giant -4 penalty for firing into melee (AKA, every shot in the fight beyond the first round), and you can't even take the feat tax to get around it at 1st level unless you are human or a fighter because it requires a feat to qualify for it! Not only that, but a warrior who has a bow as his backup weapon is pretty useless with it unless he only pulls it out for flying enemies. A penalty inflicted for using a weapon should not equal or exceed the non-proficiency penalty, period.
System Changes: The -4 penalty for firing into melee is removed. It is assumed that the character's Dexterity score and Base Attack Bonus reflect his ability to aim difficult shots well enough without requiring a feat for it. (The penalties for soft cover remain)
Feat Changes:
Point Blank Shot: This feat is removed.
Precise Shot:
This feat's prerequisites are changed to: Dex 19, Basic Archery, Base Attack +11
This feat's benefits are changed to: Your ranged attacks ignore the AC bonus granted to targets by anything less than total cover, and the miss chance granted to targets by anything less than total concealment. Total cover and total concealment provide their normal benefits against your ranged attacks.
Improved Precise Shot: This feat is removed and is replaced by the new Precise Shot feat.
New Feat: Basic Archery (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Dex 13
Benefit: When using a ranged weapon you are proficient with, you gain a +1 bonus on damage rolls while you are within 30 feet of your target. This bonus increases by +1 for each 4 BAB you have, to a maximum of +6 at +20 BAB. You also get a +1 bonus to your attack rolls if you are further than 30 feet away. This bonus increases by +1 for each 4 points of BAB you have, to a maximum of +6 at +20 BAB.
Special: The Basic Archery feat replaces the Point Blank Shot feat in all archer feat prerequisites.

Justification: In addition to the Precise Shot feat being a tax, the Point Blank Shot feat is...bland. It's weak, and it doesn't make sense that it's a gateway for all the other archery feats (including Far Shot), when it's designed to pigeon-hole you into a certain style of fighting. The new feat scales better and gives you leave to either play a high-risk, high-reward point blank archer, or an accurate and deadly sniper, at all levels of the game.

Two-Weapon Fighting
Problem: Where do I even begin? The feat exists, to start. It does nothing except lower (not even remove) arbitrarily assigned penalties. It forces you to only use light weapons in your off-hand despite there being plenty of warriors in lore who dual-wielded longswords or battleaxes or whatever they wanted. You are forced to spend 5-7 points in your Dexterity score to qualify for it, which basically turns Weapon Finesse into an additional feat tax for you, and the Strength penalty to your off-hand means that even if you somehow manage to escape ALL the other pesky restrictions, you're forced to take ANOTHER feat tax (Double Slice) to use your ability scores as you're supposed to, all for a weapon style that is completely reliant on multiple dice rolls (more chances for natural 1s), penalties, and full attack actions. And DR destroys you.
System Changes: Using a weapon in each hand inflicts a -2 penalty on all your attack rolls for the round. As a standard action or at the end of a charge, you may make a single attack with each weapon at your highest attack bonus. As part of a full attack, you get an attack with each weapon for each attack that your base attack bonus allows, at the attack bonus allowed (So a level 20 fighter with 2 weapons gets 8 attacks at +18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+8/+3/+3, after the penalties for fighting with two weapons are assigned). There is no additional penalty for wielding a one-handed weapon in your off-hand, but you cannot wield a two-handed weapon in one hand. You apply your full Strength bonus/penalty to damage rolls with both weapons.
Feat Changes:
Two-Weapon Fighting: This feat is removed.
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting: This feat is removed.
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting: This feat is removed.
Double Slice: This feat is removed.
New Feat: Two-Weapon Style (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +1
Benefit: When fighting with a weapon in each hand, each successful attack against a creature gives you a +1 competence bonus to your attack rolls against that creature for the rest of the round. This bonus stacks with itself and does not apply to any attacks of opportunity you make before your next turn.
Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat in all prerequisites.
New Feat: Two-Weapon Savagery (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack +1, Two-Weapon Style, Str 15
Benefit: When you damage a creature with two different slashing and/or piercing melee weapons in the same round, that creature takes additional bleed damage equal to your Base Attack Bonus. This damage does not stack with itself.
New Feat: Two-Weapon Pounce (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack +6, Two-Weapon Style
Benefit: At the end of a charge, if you are wielding a weapon in each hand, you may make a full round attack.
New Feat: Twin Weapon Focus (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack +1, Two-Weapon Style
Benefit: If you are wielding a weapon in each hand and they are the same type of weapon (two handaxes, two daggers, two longswords, etc), you gain a +1 bonus to your attack and damage rolls with each of them. This bonus increases by +1 per 6 BAB you have, to a maximum of +4 at +18 BAB.
Special: If you are a fighter who wields the same type of weapon in each hand, and that weapon is one of your Weapon Training groups, this feat instead doubles your Weapon Training bonus for that weapon (but doesn't give any additional benefits).

Justification: Some of these changes might seem a bit overpowered, but non-Sneak Attack two-weapon users need the buff to compete with two-handed users. Besides, you have to remember that these guys have TWICE the expenses monetarily, they have to spend twice as much gold to keep both their weapons relevant and special. No reason to tax them any further than that in my opinion.

Combat Maneuver Feats:
Problem: I actually like the combat maneuver feats. Yes, you can't make a combat maneuver check without one without provoking an attack of opportunity, AND if you get damaged during the AoO you automatically fail, but I still feel like the combat maneuver system works well. The only issue I have with them is the feat tax before you get to the Improved X line.
System Changes: Just a small one here: You still provoke an attack of opportunity for attempting a combat maneuver check without the associated feat, but you don't automatically fail the check if you take damage from the attack of opportunity. (You still fail if your roll is too low though).
Feat Changes: This is a global one so I'm going to just type it out instead of naming every Improved X feat. All Improved X feats have the Power Attack or Combat Expertise feat removed from their prerequisites. The Strength and Intelligence prerequisites remain.

Justification: This is something I've run into quite often with my players, how they want to just shove a guy one time or steal a guy's weapon. It makes sense thematically, nothing wrong with trying it out, but they argue there's no need for their characters to have dedicated training and specialize their build around it if they're only going to try it every so often. So let's keep the AoO there as encouragement to take the feats, but let the AoO be punishment enough and not have it also waste their turn if they take damage. As for the feat tax removal, I don't think I should have to spend two feats to do what I want without taking attacks of opportunity. Also, it greatly lessens the feat tax on a maneuver master monk/fighter who want to do EVERYTHING.

Rapid Reload/Crossbow Mastery
Problem: As I'm sure you all are aware, crossbow users are completely overshadowed by bow wielders. For no reason. Really, there is no reason for this. The only "justification" here (besides the mechanics of a real crossbow and not all weapons are created equal, plus crossbows are simple weapons) is that crossbows deal slightly more damage. But the ones that deal more damage take even longer to reload, so you're not getting any real benefit out of it. Now, I understand wanting to weaken crossbows so that wizards and sorcerers don't use them like everyone else, but if you can spend a feat to ignore the mechanical part and load it as fast as a bow, then...shouldn't you just be able to do that anyway? Plus, even if crossbow's deal slightly more damage, composite bows get to add Strength to theirs, and that's not fair.
System Changes: If a character is proficient with all martial weapons or has at least +3 Base Attack Bonus, he can reload a crossbow as a free action. All crossbows (regardless of their type) can be reloaded by any character as a move action. Reloading a crossbow does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though firing one still does).
Feat Changes:
Rapid Reload: This feat is removed.
Crossbow Mastery: This feat is removed.
New Feat: Crossbow Expert (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Dex 13
Benefit: When wielding a crossbow, you can ignore up to 5 points of your target's Damage Reduction.
New Feat: Aim for the Heart (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Dex 17, Deadly Aim, Crossbow Expert, Base Attack Bonus +11
Benefit: As a standard action, you can line up the perfect shot and attempt to run your target through with one bolt. You fire one shot at your highest attack bonus, and if you hit, you deal additional damage equal to triple your Dexterity modifier and ignore all of your target's Damage Reduction.

Justification: It's a common difference between crossbows and bows: crossbows hurt more and bows shoot farther and can use more arrows. Since you can't use the Manyshot feat with a crossbow or make a crossbow composite, I think it's totally fair to have the crossbow wielder be able to fire a single deadly bolt that deals more guaranteed damage than all of his attacks of the round would do if he rolled a bunch of dice.

Shadow Strike
Problem: When I say the word "rogue" or "ninja", a lot of things probably pop into your mind. Each class is open to its own flavor of course, there can be honorable rogues and urban rangers and ronin samurai, but still...one trope that deserves recognition is the deadly thief who sneaks up on you in a dark alley, stabs you from behind and leaves you for dead while he walks away whistling and carrying your coin purse. The assassin prestige class requires levels of rogue or ninja to get in, so you can see that rogue is, at some basic level, about stealth and Sneak Attack. Right? I hope no one yells at me and tells me rogues are secretly all about finding traps and having high Skill Points and trolling enemy sorcerers with Evasion. o.O

This one is actually not as well known, but rogues as they are now can't Sneak Attack a creature with concealment unless they have the Shadow Strike feat. This means that a rogue without darkvision who attacks another creature without darkvision in a dark alley (effectively making the rogue invisible, a perfect time to strike) does not get Sneak Attack dice, and only results in one pissed off commoner after you stab him with your dagger for 1d4. The Shadow Strike feat itself doesn't actually do anything, it only nullifies the arbitrary restriction, thus making it a perfect candidate for my feat tax purge.
System Changes: Rogues can Sneak Attack creatures with partial concealment (but not total concealment). They still need to roll for miss chance.
Feat Changes:
Shadow Strike: This feat's benefit is changed to "When you successfully Sneak Attack a creature with concealment while it is denied its Dexterity bonus to its AC, you deal 1 additional Sneak Attack damage per die. (This feat's benefit does not apply if you merely flank a creature with concealment while it retains its Dexterity modifier to its AC).

Frostfell's Wings of the Phoenix
School Transmutation (Polymorph) [Fire]
Level Wizard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (A pouch of ashes collected from the corpse of a phoenix before it resurrects)
Range Personal
Target You
Duration 1 min/level

By calling upon the fires of the fallen phoenix, you partially transform your body into a beast of fire. You grow a pair of burning wings that support your weight, giving you a fly speed equal to twice your base land speed. You can ascend at half speed and descend at double speed. Your maneuverability is based on your Size.

Tiny or Smaller: Perfect
Small or Medium: Good
Large: Average
Huge or Larger: Poor

You can make attacks with your wings, treating them as secondary natural weapons that deal damage based on your Size (1d4 for a Medium creature) plus half your Strength modifier. You take a -5 penalty on your attack rolls with your wings, which can be modified by the Multiattack feat if you have it. Your wings deal an additional 1d6 fire damage to any creature you strike with them.

Frostfell's Improved Fireball
School Evocation [Fire]
Level Wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (The ashes of a slain fire elemental)
Range Long
Area 20 ft radius spread
Duration Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex Half SR Yes

This spell is cast in the same way as fireball, and still detonates prematurely if the bead touches anything before it reaches its target.

When cast, the target is seared in an explosion of blue flames, burning hotter than any dragon's fire. This power comes from the Plane of Fire itself.

This spell deals 1d6 points of fire damage to all creatures in the area of effect with a Reflex save for half (maximum of 15d6 fire damage). Additionally, this spell ignores up to half your caster level in fire resistance of the target (max 10 resistance ignored). If the target is immune to fire, it instead takes half the damage this spell deals (which can be reduced to a quarter of the damage with a successful Reflex save).

Author's Note:

Frostfell's Flight of the Phoenix
School Transmutation (Polymorph) [Good]
Level Wizard 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (A phoenix's tail feather), M (See Special)
Range Personal
Target You
Duration 1 minute/level (D)

Description

This spell allows you to assume the form of a true phoenix. Your size becomes Gargantuan and you gain darkvision 60', low-light vision, a +8 racial bonus to your Perception checks, and detect magic, detect poison and see invisibility as constant spell effects (caster level equal to your caster level).

You gain 2 talon attacks and 1 bite attack as primary natural weapons. Each talon deals 2d6 damage plus your Strength modifier. The bite deals 2d8 damage plus your Strength modifier, and an additional 1d6 fire damage.

You gain a land speed of 30' and a fly speed of 90' (good). You also act as though you have the Hover feat.

Your reach with your weapons becomes 20'.

You gain a +12 Size bonus to your Strength score, a +10 Size bonus to your Constitution score, and a +14 natural armor bonus. You gain the [fire] subtype, becoming immune to fire damage, but gaining vulnerability to cold damage. You gain DR 15/Evil, and Regeneration 10. Cold or evil weapons or spells do lethal damage to you. You gain spell resistance equal to 6 + your caster level.

You lose the ability to cast spells while in phoenix form, but any 6th level or lower spells with the [fire] subtype that were prepared by you when you cast this spell become available to you as spell-like abilities that you can cast at will with a caster level equal to your caster level. The DC to resist these spell-like abilities is equal to this spell's DC.

You gain the Shroud of Flame supernatural ability (as the standard phoenix). The DC for the Reflex save is equal to this spell's DC.

Additionally, once per year, if you would be killed while you are in phoenix form, you rise from the ashes in 1d4 rounds (unless your body is completely destroyed by an effect such as disintegrate). You come back with 1 permanent negative level and full hit points, as if you were revived by the spell resurrection. You cannot be resurrected if your body is slain while on desecrated ground. After this effect is used, all further castings you have of this spell (including spells you cast from a magic item) will not allow you to resurrect yourself until one full year has passed.

Special:
You have the option of not including the resurrection in the effect as you cast this spell (and you don't have to include it if you already have been resurrected within the last year). If you wish to include the resurrection effect in a casting of the spell, that spell has an additional material component of a diamond worth at least 10,000 gp (The diamond is consumed and you are not refunded even if you do not die and resurrect during the casting).

Hey guys! What's your favorite class feature in PF? Paizo content only please. By class feature, I mean a specific ability that is listed in a class or archetype's section (stuff like Smite Evil or Rage, not spells or rage powers or rogue talents).

Your decision could be based on the power of the ability, the utility of the ability, or just how plain cool it is thematically. But let us know the reason as well!

I'll start. My favorite class feature in Pathfinder is the Dancing Flame supernatural ability from the Fire wizard (Arcane Elemental Schools, APG). This ability just epitomizes everything I think a fire mage should be able to do, and I'm depressed that sorcerers don't get it because I feel like it displays an innate control over fire rather than something you studied to get.

Picture this, the ability to raise your hand and instantly move any nonmagical fire 30 feet. If the fire has a new fuel source, that fuel source catches fire and the fire continues to burn. If it doesn't, the fire is extinguished. So awesome! In a game without electricity, this gives you unchecked power at night. Sure, we can all assume the torches are lit, but unless those flames are completely covered in glass, I can move the flames and extinguish them and instantly disappear from sight along with the rest of my party. Or I can move fire from a guard's torch to his leather boots and laugh as I run away while he tries to put himself out. (Again, all of this seems like a sorcerer's innate ability rather than a studious wizard).

So, that's my favorite class feature. What's yours?

I'm building a gnome wizard for PF, and of course when you think a gnome wizard, you think illusionist. So I created a character that is a Mage of the Veil that will be going into the Veiled Illusionist PrC.

Here's the thing though. Since he is a pathological liar with no trust for anyone and he remains constantly in disguise thanks to his Hat of Disguise and (soon) his veil pool, I don't want the party to know anything about him. So I worked with the DM and we came up with a way for the DM PC to know my character and help the party recruit him without them knowing anything about him.

Essentially, the party is going to come to a town where the entire city is abandoned and there are gang signs everywhere. They will be met by a few of my "associates" (all of them either illusions themselves or my character in disguise) who will inform them about The Deceiver, a powerful black market thug who intimidated the entire town into fleeing thanks to his huge amount of ghost thugs (basically, me in disguise coming to places wearing The Deceiver's sign and collecting protection money and harassing others, then vanishing and never using that disguise again. Hence the ghost part).

After the party escapes the illusion I plan to trap them in (walls and ceiling closing in on them), my character will emerge, permanently disguised as a dwarf barbarian with a warhammer that I am not proficient in, begrudgingly joining the party.

The group will love this because there is only one real warrior in our group (unless the alchemist decides to be the barbarian kind instead of the bombing kind), so they won't question anything.

As the game goes on, I plan to slowly use more and more of my magic (I already have Still Spell and Silent Spell, as well as Magical Lineage (Major Image) so once I get level 7 and have 4th level spell slots I will devote them solely to Stilled Silent major images).

The issue I'm worried about is, how much troll is too much? I know it's going to be funny, sure, especially when they find out I've been lying to them the whole time, but I don't want to wreck the game because of it. I want to find a nice balance between useless fake fighter and giant jerkface wizard who could have been saving the party the whole time.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm making a gnome Veiled Illusionist and I'm wondering about a rules query here. If I cast shadow evocation or shadow conjuration and mimic a spell that allows a saving throw, does the DC increase from my Gnome Magic racial feature or my Spell Focus (Illusion) feat affect the DC?

Here's an example. I have 19 Intelligence and I cast shadow evocation, simulating the spell fireball. The text states "any saving throw allowed by the spell simulated is allowed as normal, but the DC is set to shadow evocation's level (5th)". So, the DC for the Will save to disbelieve is 21 (10+4 Int + 5 level + 1 Gnome Magic + 1 Spell Focus), but would the Reflex save allowed by fireball be 21 or 19 (as if it was an evocation spell)?

This is kind of a longshot, I guess, but are there any feats that are specific for Samurai? Like how there are fighter feats, and channeling feats, and Judgment feats and etc? I'm only wondering because I have no idea what to spend my feats on with this samurai character. Not nearly as many feats as a fighter, so I can't just blow half of them on the Weapon Focus line, but I do get a few bonus feats here and there.

The character is a male Lawful Good human Sword Saint whose main combat focus is to take hits and deal plenty of damage. He wields a powerful katana in both hands and tries to take his opponents down in one strike (with Iaijutsu Strike).

The character will carry a ceremonial wakizashi but never draw it unless he is somehow disarmed. His out of combat skills center around Knowledge (Nobility), Intimidate, and Craft (Painting) for his ceremonial artwork and calligraphy.

I guess Power Attack is inevitable but I'm not really sure what else I need. I'm hoping there are some feats I don't know about that give you really cool uses for your Resolve or grant some sort of benefit against the target of your challenge.

The Arcane Archer class looks really cool. It adds a lot of nice options and basically acts as a gold conservation for the archer, but my question is, though the class itself looks interesting, what does it do?

The arcane archer has a few cool tricks, like shooting through walls and shooting around corners, but since you're an arcane caster, you could just fly above the walls and take shots then, right? You'd avoid them altogether and you would be safer from counterattack and could make full attacks. Even if you couldn't fly, you can only use Seeker Arrow and Phase Arrow as standard actions (thus you are limited to one arrow, and since you have to use that standard action to use the ability, you can't also Imbue it with a spell, so the arrow only deals 1d8+5+1d6 elemental+2d6 aligned plus bonuses, so about 19 damage. Not exactly going to bring down the powerful hiding enemy.)

Other than that, the arcane archer has his signature Imbue Arrow ability, but with +6 BAB required to get into the class, you're probably going Sorc or Wiz 4/Fighter or Ranger 4 to enter the class, or maybe just Fighter or Ranger 6/Wiz or Sorc 1. With the generous casting from the first entry point, you would still have to wait until Arcane Archer 3 to get fireball available as a sorcerer. So then, you could shoot a few fireball arrows per day, with a caster level of 6 (or 8 if you took Magical Knack), at level 11.

So the caster with some powerful weapons part is out, because you lose too much casting to get into the class. I guess it's supposed to buff the archer side of it?

But the archer side of it involves losing access to bonus feats from the base class, as well as extra bonus damage from Bane/Favored Enemy/Weapon Training. Instead, you get free enhancement bonuses (which you should already have if you're at the appropriate WBL, a level 9 warrior should definitely have at least a +1 bow by now) and free elemental and aligned damage to your weapons (admittedly nice, but I'm not sure if it's stronger than flat bonus damage when you factor in critical hits).

So...am I missing something? What does the arcane archer do? Or is the idea simply to add "more utility" to your combat-focused character?

I'm making a secondary character for a level 20 game at the DM's request and I've decided after some deliberation to go with a Transmuter Wizard 9/Fighter 1/Eldritch Knight 10 build, focused on changing forms in combat and becoming a melee monster.

Here's my current stat block/gear:

Race: Hobgoblin

HP: 282

AC 26 (+5 robe of the archmagi, +5 ring of deflection, +6 Dex)

Original Statblock (rolls): 18, 14, 15, 15, 14, 13

Special Houserule: Every 4 levels, choose one score to increase by +2 (instead of +1). All 10 points went into Str.

Str 39
Dex 22
Con 28
Int 19
Wis 14
Cha 13

Gear: Amulet of mighty fists +5, belt of physical perfection +6, robe of the archmagi, ring of deflection +5, headband of intellect +4, manual of gainful exercise +5 (consumed), manual of +5 Con (consumed)

I get the standard 20 feats for 20 levels, plus Scribe Scroll, one bonus metamagic/item creation feat from Wiz 5, one bonus combat feat from fighter 1, and 3 bonus combat feats from EK 10, for a total of 25 feats I need to pick.

My main combat spells will be beast shape IV, form of the dragon III, and monstrous physique. I plan on using poisons from snakes, grappling from constrictors/tigers/bears, breath weapons and tons o' attacks from dragons, and whatever else I come up with. Essentially I never want to play the same creature twice, just kind of change into whatever I feel like at the time. No real plan on that front.

So...what kinds of feats do you guys suggest for a weaponless, magicless melee character (since I won't be able to cast spells in combat most of the time unless I'm in dragon form).

So, I'm playing a Pathfinder game with a first time DM, and we've been having our fun taking things slow for a few months, but now we've all decided to move into epic play. From 11th level, we are about to head into a boss rush and end the current game's storyline, putting us at level 20 in the next two weeks or so.

In addition to that, we're about to cross into an interdimensional portal from Golarion to another planet (essentially a new plane that our DM has homebrewed). The new world will be very heavily futuristic oriented, but also apocalyptic, like Halo or Fallout.

Our DM has requested that we each bring a second character into the game. I am the only person at the table who really actually understands the rules and optimization (and thus I have to act as rules lawyer from time to time, since the rules are admittedly pretty convoluted and hard to remember).

Here's the party composition so far:

Standard party:

Paladin 12
Wields a greatsword and uses a houseruled version of Greater Cleave that allows 5' steps between each attack as many times as there are enemies adjacent to the enemy you stepped to.

Paladin 4/Alchemist 8
Actually a homebrewed class that combines the alchemist with the 3.5 artificer to grant a lot of crafting feats and craft bonuses for free, in addition to bombs/discoveries.

Half-Celestial Barbarian 12 (Me)
Initially started out as a fear-based build, with me having a +32 to my Intimidate at level 12, but the nature of the combat we run into (either hordes of useless enemies that we cleave through or giant bosses with hyper HD that are immune to fear) I've basically wasted a large portion of my build (Including 1 feat slot and 2 rage powers). However, the Half-Celestial template and my free angelic weapon (A +5 holy ghost touch concussive halberd) have allowed me to remain relevant as our team's main source of damage. Because I feel gypped by all of this, I have decided to rush the Beast Totem line of rage powers, even though they don't make sense thematically, just to give myself pounce.

Cleric of Sarenrae 12 (Healing and Heroes Domains)
Focused on summoning

Fighter 12
Pretty awful build to start, but his damage has creeped up next to mine after the DM gave him a +2 halberd that grants him a +10 untyped bonus to his Strength score while he (and only he) is wielding it.

Monk of the Four Winds 12
A new player. I don't know much about his build.

Dragonborn Ranger 20
Using some kind of 3.5 super-powered conversion of the Dragonborn template as a race, and is somehow able to consistently make DC 26-29 Will saves despite only getting +6 from her class. DM's PC. Wields a pair of intelligent artifact katanas in melee, but prefers to Hide in Plain Sight and use her heavy crossbow.

Revealed Secondary PCs

Oracle of Heavens 20

Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer 20

Lion Shaman Druid 20

Okay, so I've never played at high levels before, and certainly never with a party this large before. I want to do something fun, unique, and different, but...what?

We have an arcane caster, two divine casters, plenty of melee, a skill monkey, a mobility warrior, and a barbarian who can cast resurrection for free once per day.

So, what can I do here? What class could I possibly play that wouldn't be completely irrelevant? We're at the level where skill checks are completely negated by low level spell slots reserved solely for utility, so I don't think a rogue would be any good.

Help me out, Paizo!

I am attempting to build an Eidolon who is capable of unleashing a flurry of powerful attacks, but without all the extra arms. I figured I'll just give her a pair of Cestuses and let her take the Two Weapon Fighting tree, but I'm wondering how her claws would work into the attack routine.

So, with a pair of +5 speed cestuses and the Greater Two Weapon Fighting feat, would my attack routine look like this:

Cestus +18/+18/+18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+8 and 2 claws +10/+10?

Or just the cestus? Or the cestus and one claw? I'm confused.

The Tetori monk archetype states in its Graceful Grappler ability that a tetori monk gains the Grab special attack with its unarmed strikes.

The universal monster rules state that a creature with the Grab special attack gets a +4 bonus on combat maneuvers made to start and maintain a grapple.

This bonus, I believe, is to make up for the fact that most monsters don't get Improved/Greater Grapple as feats (because of the IUS requirement), so instead they just get a nice boost to their CMB when using their special attacks to put them on-par with a humanoid doing the same thing.

So my question is, does an 8th level tetori monk with the Grab special attack gain an additional +4 bonus to all his grapple checks? (Putting him at +16 for his grapple checks without Str/Dex, between monk level+Improved Grapple/Greater Grapple bonus feats and the Grab attack).

The Antagonize feat has gained a lot of notoriety, but it is so far the only true "aggro" mechanic in Pathfinder, and while the majority of players will likely argue that roleplaying is sufficient to play a tank, this feat should be available for the times when it is not (for example, when facing an enemy who is racist towards one of your allies, who hates spellcasting, who targets women or men, or who is too afraid of you to engage you, etc).

There are three major problems with the Antagonize feat that I have seen so far, and I will attempt to fix them all here.

1. The Antagonize feat, as written, can force a completely peaceful person to engage with you for no reason, with no regard to the law or situation.

2. The Antagonize feat requires a skill check on the part of the initiator and does not allow any magical defenses on the part of the target. However, how the skill is used is not explained in any meaningful way, and creatures immune to fear are somehow immune to Antagonization (I guess).

3. The Antagonize feat, post-errata, will only protect your allies for a single turn against a caster or an archer. While this was changed largely because of the outcries against how the feat works on casters and archers, the new feat basically makes it so you can only soak damage for your party for a round, rather than forcing your enemy into a compromising position where you can control them.

So, let's fix this as such:

Antagonize
"I'm the one you want!"- Snow Villiers, Final Fantasy XIII
Your words and gestures bite through the enemy and force them to lash out at you rather than your allies.
Benefit: As a standard action, you may target a single creature within 100' of you. This creature must be able to see and hear you, and its attitude towards you may be no better than hostile. You make a combat maneuver check against the target's CMD. The target gets a +5 bonus to its effective CMD if it is immune to mind-affecting abilities, and/or a +5 bonus to its effective CMD if it does not understand the language you speak, and is immune if it is unable to inflict lethal damage upon you in any way, magical or mundane (for example, being an unarmed character without the Improved Unarmed Strike feat or any offensive spells prepared/known).

If you succeed the combat maneuver check, the creature must shift its focus towards you for the next 1d4 rounds, plus 1 round per 5 points you exceeded its CMD by. If the creature is a melee character, it must move to engage you in melee, but it will take the most logical path, avoiding all attacks of opportunity if able, and never knowingly taking a path that threatens its own life via environmental hazards. For the duration of the effect, the creature will engage you in melee with no regard for its current health or your allies, though it will always spend its move action/5' step to get into the most favorable position possible.

If the creature is a ranged character, it must direct every arrow/bolt it fires at you, as long as it can see you, for the duration. If the creature loses line of sight or line of effect to you, it will move in order to attempt to re-establish that line of sight/line of effect, with the same precautions mentioned above.

If the creature is a spellcaster, it must include you in all area-of-effect spells it casts, or target you with any spell it casts. For the duration of the effect, the caster may not cast defensive or utility spells on itself or its allies, and may only take offensive actions that include or target you. If the caster runs out of offensive spells to target you with, it will switch to its possessed weapon of choice. If the creature has no weapon, the effect is broken immediately.

Whether the combat maneuver check succeeds or fails, the creature becomes immune to the effects of this feat for 24 hours after it resolves.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

There. Now it's a combat maneuver check, which removes the skill tax and also can now be left up to personal interpretation and flavor. The duration is extended so that soaking damage from a ranged character or caster will actually allow your allies enough time to get the favorable position on them, while still not having the first version's problem of forcing the enemy to ignore its normal tactics.

Suggestions? Comments? Would you allow this feat now?

So I was looking over the Daggermark Poisoner prestige class and it looks really good, actually. Poison may be an expensive and unreliable method of fighting, but it's definitely flavorful and cool. So any way I could use poison effectively would be welcomed.

The path seems pretty clear to me, Poison User Rogue 10/Daggermark Poisoner 10, with a high Dex and Int to give me plenty of survivability and a high DC for my poisoner attacks.

But that's the obvious stuff. I need help filling in the blanks. Here's what I've got so far:

Rogue Talents:
Lasting Poison

(Swift Poison is a waste as you already get it as a class feature of Daggermark Poisoner)

Advanced Talent:
Deadly Cocktail

That leaves me with three extra rogue talents and few toxic tricks to choose, as well as weapons and feats. If you were building a Daggermark Poison rogue, what weapon would you use to deliver your venoms? What toxic tricks or feats would help you? What kind of magic items would be useful for this build?

Beast Form (Su):
When a Beastform barbarian rages, he transforms into an animal and fights with claws and teeth instead of steel and wood. Instead of the normal bonuses provided by rage, a beastform barbarian assumes the form of an animal. This ability functions identically to the beast shape spell, and is explained in detail below (The following is just reminder text, it does not stack with the actual effects of the beast shape spell). If he becomes a Medium animal, he receives a +2 bonus to his Strength score and a +2 natural armor bonus. If he assumes the shape of a Small animal, he gets a +2 bonus to his Dexterity score and a +1 natural armor bonus. This is a (polymorph) effect and carries all such rules with it (such as gaining all natural attacks of the chosen form and having all the barbarian's gear meld into his new form for the duration). Additionally, while in Beast Form, the beastform barbarian receives a +2 morale bonus to his Reflex saving throws. This ability otherwise functions as rage, has the same limit on how many rounds it can be used per day, and still fatigues the beastform barbarian when he ends it. A beastform barbarian cannot use Beast Form while fatigued or exhausted. This ability replaces rage.

Hunter's Instinct (Ex): When the beastform barbarian assumes an animal's form, he chooses one of that animal's modes of movement and increases it by 10 feet for the duration of the transformation. This ability replaces Fast Movement.

Heart of the Lycanthrope (Ex):
Beginning at 2nd level, the beastform barbarian's skin begins to get tough, like the fur of the animals he changes into. And yet for some reason, he cries out in true pain every time he is hit by a silver weapon...A beastform barbarian gets Damage Reduction equal to 1+1/4 levels. This Damage Reduction is overcome by silver weapons. This ability replaces uncanny dodge and damage reduction.

Body of the Lycanthrope (Ex):
Beginning at 3rd level, the beastform barbarian's fur has really sprouted, and he sheds his human clothes and lets the animal protect him. The beastform barbarian is unable to wear armor (non-magical clothing with an armor bonus of +0 is fine), but his fur grants him a +1 natural armor bonus that persists even if he changes his form through magic or supernatural abilities. This natural armor bonus does not stack with any other natural armor bonus except enhancement bonuses or the bonus provided by a beast shape spell or effect. The natural armor bonus increases by +1 at 6th level and every 3 levels afterwards (to a maximum of +6 at level 18). A beastform barbarian with the Body of the Lycanthrope ability is unable to receive an armor bonus of any kind to his AC (including bonuses from spells like mage armor). This ability replaces trap sense.

Improved Control (Sp):
At level 5, the beastform barbarian gains a greater mastery over his abilities, allowing him to transform for non-combat purposes without tiring him afterwards. The beastform barbarian is able to change his shape, as the beast shape I spell, for up to 1 minute per day per class level, divided into 1 minute increments (these increments need not be consecutive). While using Improved Control, the beastform barbarian does not receive any bonuses to his ability scores, and all of his natural attacks are treated as secondary attacks. As an added bonus, the beastform barbarian is treated as a spellcaster with the beast shape spells on his spell list for the purposes of activating magic items like wands or scrolls. His effective caster level is equal to his class level. This ability replaces improved uncanny dodge.

Improved Beast Form (Su):
Starting at level 6, the beastform barbarian's Beast Form ability now functions as beast shape II. The Reflex save bonus granted improves to +3. Additionally, the beastform barbarian's Improved Control ability now functions as beast shape II as well. This replaces greater rage.

Greater Beast Form (Su):
Starting at level 10, the beastform barbarian's Beast Form ability now functions as beast shape III. The Reflex save bonus granted improves to +4. Additionally, the beastform barbarian's Improved Control ability now functions as beast shape III as well. This replaces mighty rage, and does allow the beastform barbarian to assume the form of magical beasts.

Mind of the Lycanthrope (Ex):
Starting at 14th level, the beastform barbarian is treated as an animal rather than a humanoid (or whatever his type is) for the purposes of being affected by spells and spell-like abilities while he is using Beast Form or Improved Control. For instance, while in Beast Form, the beastform barbarian would no longer be a valid target of the dominate person spell, but would be a valid target of the charm animal spell. This ability replaces indomitable will.

Supreme Beast Form (Su):
Also starting at 14th level, the beastform barbarian's Beast Form ability now functions as beast shape IV. The Reflex save bonus granted improves to +5. Additionally, the beastform barbarian's Improved Control ability now functions as beast shape IV as well. This replaces mighty rage.

Spirit of the Lycanthrope (Ex):
At 20th level, the beastform barbarian's power reaches its limit. When in Beast Form, the beastform barbarian can change his form every round as if using the shapechange spell, though he is still limited to animals and magical beasts. Additionally, the beastform barbarian can now assume the form of any animal or magical beast, regardless of size.

The adjustments for a Gargantuan creature (of either type) are +10 Str, -6 Dex, +10 natural armor. The adjustments for a Colossal creature (of either type) are +12 Str, -8 Dex, +12 natural armor.

The adjustments for a Fine creature (of either type) are -8 Str, +10 Dex, +6 natural armor.

While in Beast Form, the beastform barbarian gains all of the special qualities, special attacks, and supernatural abilities of his chosen form (but not spellcasting or spell-like abilities). This replaces the beastform barbarian's level 20 rage power.

I've got a new game coming up and the DM is determined to make sure we have as much fun and explore as many options as we like. Here are the rules for character creation:

Ability Scores: 25 Point Buy
Starting Level: 2

Races: Any non-monstrous, or any monstrous as long as you could hide it successfully in a human city (so basically, no Large or crazy monstrous features), includes 3pp races on a case by case basis. Additionally, the Create Your Own Races program is allowed, though you must use 11 points or less.

Classes: Summoners are banned, all other classes are up for grabs, including 3pp stuff on a case by case basis.

Starting Gold: 800, plus one item upgraded to masterwork quality for free.

Bonus Feats: Each character receives the following feats for free: Weapon Finesse, Power Attack, Heighten Spell, Precise Shot, Agile Maneuvers.

What do you guys think? Freaking awesome, right? Epic fantasy level ability scores, any race I want, any class I want, a free masterwork weapon, and all the annoying feat taxes out of the way.

The other players have all decided what they're going to do for the most part, so here's the party make-up:

TN Dwarf Inquisitor of Urgathoa (He's a dwarf with a scythe, he loves it). Magic Domain (for the ability to toss his scythe like a boomerang)

CN Elven Bladebound Magus (He wanted to play a fighter/mage, so he settled on magus, and when I told him about the bladebound archetype, he got super hyped about having his own talking sword)

TBA Demonspawn Tiefling Sorcerer, heading into Dragon Disciple at level 6.

TBA TBA Archery Ranger (He's been busy with a project for school, so he's not as active as the rest of us).

Then there's me and one other person who are both still mulling it over. So as you guys can see, unfortunately the knee-jerk "Build a wizard with 20 Int at level 1 and destroy the world!" isn't exactly going to cut it. I've got three arcane casters in the group already.

The setting is urban, so also unfortunately I won't be able to make a Barbarian Mammoth Rider (sadface), and since summoner isn't allowed I can't make a Master Summoner who calls forth all servants of Hell to destroy everyone.

So, I'm not sure what to do, really. I have so many options! What would you do, in my situation? Game is going to 20th level, but you know how slowly a game usually progresses.

Hey guys. A group of guys I play League of Legends with heard me talk about Pathfinder one night and have requested that I teach them how to play and play a game with them. I like these guys and they're good people, so I've decided to teach them what I know and play their first game with them. However, I'm not a DM. As much as I would like to run their first game for them, I'm not a dedicated storyteller (I've tried to DM before but I always lost my muse early on).

We all know each other, and we're all working together in real time to make our characters (and we might develop some kind of connected or shared backstory between us), so party unity is absolutely not an issue, but these guys have literally never roleplayed before and I'm teaching all four of them the rules and the basic premise right now as I type this post. So...

There are five of us. If anyone would like to give these newbs their first taste of a campaign (I'd like it if the game could go on for as long as a real campaign, like a few months at least), then please come forward. Of course, I'd like to ask for your patience with all of them. :)

I have no suggestions for a game, we're open to anything!

I really like the flavor of the inflict wounds spells. A holy man who can deliver a devastating strike of negative energy and bring a warrior to his knees. I was particularly influenced by this interpretation.

However, Pathfinder has changed the ways that SoD spells work, and because they ripped off harm to do it, they decided to nerf harm because harm was not supposed to be a SoD in their world, for some reason.

So here's my question. How do you optimize a cleric (or an oracle, I guess) to dish out that negative energy damage? I checked the guides, but the Bad Touch cleric turned out to be not what I thought it was.

Here are some specific questions:

1. The inflict spells scale with the cleric's caster level, but they only add one damage rather than one dice of damage per level, and their caps are abysmally low. How do you increase the damage of these spells, other than the obvious Empower Spell feat?

2. How do you cast touch spells while threatened? Are there ways to increase your concentration check other than with Combat Casting or traits? Is there an easy way to just not provoke when you cast while threatened? (I want to be in the fray, I don't want to rely on Reach Spell or anything. Again, this is for flavor)

3. Other than constructs and undead, are there any other creatures who are immune/healed by negative energy?

Hey, so I'm writing up a hellknight for this game and my DM and I are looking for some lore/background information on the Order of the Rack. My character wants to change them into allies, but in order for me to really join and for my DM and I to maximize the roleplaying value of the experience, we need to know as much about them as possible.

So far we only have The Bastards of Erebus (we're buying as we go), so if there is an in-depth explanation of the Order in one of the later books, please tell me which one, or perhaps it's online or in another book somewhere?

To be clear, I'm not looking for any spoilers, I just want to know as much as I can about the Order's goals, their values, and their society among members, stuff like that. The kind of stuff the DM would need to roleplay a hellknight officer effectively when he's talking to a new recruit.

So I'm playing a tiefling transmuter (going into Eldritch Knight) in a Council of Thieves game that just started. The best part is that I'm with a group of total noobs, so I can hide it from all of them. XD

My DM and I are kind of bastards like that. Anyway, so I've told the rest of the party that I'm a minor human noble, and though no one has seen me in combat yet, I brandish my longsword threateningly and people seem to think that I'm a fighter. (Again, lack of understanding of classes/class features by every other member of the party is really going to help me here).

My character is even wearing armor because transmutation magic is super-slow in PF, and I can't really transform to fight until level 5 when I get beast shape I.

So my question to everyone is, when I do get my awesome transformer spells, which forms are the best for which spells?

Please reply with as much information as possible to the following questions:

Which form is the best for grappling at level 5 (spell level 3)? Include an answer for both monstrous physique I and beast shape I, please.

Which form is the best for raw damage at level 5 (spell level 3)? Please include an answer for both monstrous physique I and beast shape I.

Which form is the best for undead anatomy, in terms of whatever cool special attacks you can get?

Which form is the strongest poisoner (Any spell)?

Which form gives you the best AC (Any spell)?

Which form gives you the best defensive special abilities (Any spell)?

In case anyone's curious, I'm level 1 right now, and my stats look like this:

Str 17 (16 +1 Transmuter ability)
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 8
Cha 8

Feats: Toughness, Scribe Scroll, Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longsword)<- Given for free due to my awesome backstory

Arcane Bond: Ring (Family Heirloom of House Grulios)

Arcane School: Transmutation (Restricted Necromancy and Evocation)

Planned Build: Transmuter 5/Fighter 1/EK 7 (Council of Thieves ends at level 13)

So I'm stuck in a bit of a conundrum here, trying to figure out what I want to do with this character I'm making. I love fire spells, and upon discovering the Fire Elementalist wizard and the long list of fire spells that I didn't know about from various sourcebooks, I was overjoyed.

The problem now becomes, what should I do with this knowledge?

I want to make a fire-based caster, but I'm not sure whether I should go with an elven wizard or a gnome sorcerer.

Here are the pros and cons of each:

Wizard

Pros-
Int is a better score than Cha
Wizards get early spell level access
The Dancing Flame elementalist power is freaking awesome
Wizards have the potential to know more spells, allowing me to possibly learn every fire spell I want if I can find the scrolls
Elven Magic- bonus to spell resistance penetration

Cons-
Spell knowledge is completely DM dependent, while a sorcerer actually knows more spells than the wizard if there are absolutely no scrolls or spellbooks available
Fewer spells per day
Must prepare alternate spells in order to deal with energy resistance/immunity
Spellbook can be targeted, and then character is useless (This happened to me and I was reduced to having two spells for two entire sessions, since then I have never listened to anyone who claims a wizard's spellbook is not a weakness).

Sorcerer-

Pros-
Pyromaniac- Bonus to caster level and produce flame as a spell-like ability
Varisian Tattoo for free as a Tattooed Sorcerer, +1 extra CL with evocation, for a big bonus (3d4+3 with burning hands at 1st level)
More spells per day
More damage per spell (Red Dragon bloodline arcana power, and increased caster level from Pyromaniac and Varisian Tattoo)
Can spend one spell known on lightning bolt and instantly be able to switch strategies against any fire-immune enemy.

Cons-
Bloodline powers are all pretty bad
Slower movement speed
Slower spell level access
Fewer skill points

What do you guys think?

Also, if anyone wants to, I'd like some basic suggestions for the build. I have a 20 point buy, and no score is allowed to be below 8 after racial adjustments. Starting level is 1, no evil alignments. The rest of the party is a paladin, a summoner with a serpentine eidolon, and an archer ranger going into Horizon Walker.

I have no interest in being versatile. All of my spells known and spells per day in either build are going to be dedicated to setting things on fire or otherwise blasting them to hell.

So I was busy making my new fighter for a desert campaign setting (he's a gypsy nomad who is looking to try and start his own city so that his people have a place to settle down, particularly his 7 year old daughter), when I noticed something I thought was a little odd.

Apparently, you don't take ACP penalties for the Perform (Dance) skill. This doesn't really affect my character too much since I'm wearing a chain shirt (although my total bonus to Perform (Dance) at level 1 is only +1, so I'm glad to not have to drop that to negatives), but it seemed a bit funny to me. Yes, Perform is a Charisma based skill, but dancing still requires a lot of flexibility and movement (though I suppose it depends on the dance).

Nice to know that those Armor Master fighters can still do the robot with no penalty if they choose to (or just drop their shields and start break-dancing, apparently).

So I'd like to build a myrmidon for this new game I'm joining. I know the term might be a little ambiguous, but the myrmidon I'm referring to is the class from the Fire Emblem games that involves a warrior with an incredibly high critical-hit ratio.

So I decided to build a Weapon Master Fighter (falchion). Primary stats Strength and Con, secondary Dex.

Race is Dual Talent human (+2 Str/Con).

The scores at level 1 (20 PB) are:

Str 18 (10 points)
Dex 14 (5 Points)
Con 14 (2 Points)
Int 12 (2 Points)
Wis 12 (2 Points)
Cha 9 (-1 Point)

Feats: Weapon Focus (Falchion), Power Attack.

My later feats are going to include the Greater Weapon Focus/Weapon Specialization line, as well as Improved Critical, until I get to level 11 and can start taking critical feats. Then I'm going to load up on as many as I can to give myself plenty of options. Blinding, Staggering, Stunning and Dazing Critical all sound good.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions for a crit-focused fighter build?

Starting level is 1. My other two party members are a summoner and a rogue/shadowdancer.

So Im thinking about playing an aasimar synthesist summoner in this game who is like a guardian angel to the party paladin. That said, Im trying to build an angel eidolon as best I can. The current level of the group is 5 and we're going up to level 30.

So here are the obvious bits-

Biped Base
Flight (Wings)
Damage Reduction 10/Evil
Spell Resistance
Immunity (Cold, Elec)
Resist (Fire, Acid)

Im going to start with a one-level paladin dip for martial weapon proficiency and Smite Evil. The party bard is a craft maniac and we already have well over one million gold, so I dont think it will be too long until he can craft me a holy greatsword, so that saves me the need to take Magic Attacks or Weapon Training.

The above costs me a total of 15 evolution points, out of a potential 26. I might take the Large evolution as well, so thats 19. What else would you guys suggest?

With the amazing introduction of archetypes, Pathfinder has become a game where you can always play the same class but have a fundamentally different character each time.

That in mind, Im wondering how widespread and diverse the options really are. So Im going to pose a question here.

If you had a five player table and every player decided to roll up a fighter, how do you think it would look? Are there enough different, effective weapon styles for everyone to have their own niche and still be relevant?

To be clear, Im talking about a hypothetical game involving five players who all decide to play single-classed fighters, and by fighter, I mean the core class, not just the role.

Ok, so this recent thread about melee polymorph builds has got me fired up! But now, Im trying to decide how best to proceed. The way I see it, I have two options.

I can either go Barb 1/Transmuter 5/Eldritch Knight 10/Transmuter 4, or I can go Sorcerer 20. The first build has higher hit points and BAB, while the second allows me to pump my Strength score higher via the Orc Bloodline.

The transformation spell will let me get full BAB regardless, and by going EK, Im losing 11 hit points from my favored class bonus.

Race will be human, for the Strength and Con bonuses thanks to the dual gifted racial feature. Favored class bonus will be hit points, the only spells I need are polymorph spells.

What do you guys think? Sorc or Eldritch Knight?

The Dragon Ferocity feat states that if you take it, you are allowed to take the Elemental Fist feat without meeting the prerequisites, and, if you are a monk, you may "use the feat as if you were a monk of the four winds".

The Elemental Fist feat itself does state that a monk of the four winds gains the feat for free, but when it comes to the daily uses, it just says "A monk with the Elemental Fist feat may use it a number of times per day equal to his monk level, plus an additional time per day per four levels of a class other than monk."

So the Elemental Fist feat doesn't have any extra uses for a monk of the four winds. That comes from the Monk of the Four Winds' first class feature, which makes the Elemental Fist feat's damage scale pretty decently with your level.

So my question here is, if I'm a normal monk and I grab Dragon Ferocity, and then I spend a feat slot to take Elemental Fist, do I get the scaling damage progression as if I was a monk of the four winds?

Also, can you use Stunning Fist and Elemental Fist on the same unarmed strike?

The other day I was chatting with a person who has never played Pathfinder before about the summoner, which he likes because apparently there's some kind of summoning magic in Skyrim that he thinks is similar to the class.

Anyway, while he was reading the evolutions, we both got bored and decided to discuss how to tack on as many crazy evolutions as possible in order to get the most ridiculous-looking beast imaginable. (We decided on an 8 legged spider with the limb (arms) evolution and weapon training in order to hold a longbow above its head. Different than a drider, just a spider with arms randomly sticking out of its head. Also a tail with a stinger that has the Push evolution and the Major Magic evolution [Scorching Ray] that it would shoot out of its stinger. Wings, gills, scent, keen scent, Skilled (Disguise), a second head on its underbelly, swim (But not climb! That would be stupid!), elemental attacks (Electricity), and shadow blend).

That got me thinking. I want a spider. So I'm trying to figure out how to best make a spider eidolon. The problem is that it really doesn't take that much, and so I run out of things to spend my evolution points on.

Here's my evolution points. As a Wild-Caller half-elf (Racial archetype that gives 1/4 extra evolution points but restricts what evolutions you can take) stacking with the half-elf favored class bonus (1/4 extra evolution points), and 4 iterations of the Extra Evolution feat (you can't take the last one, since you don't get a feat slot at 20th level), my summoner has a total of 40 evolution points to spend.

Here are the evolutions that are completely necessary in order to be a spider (Assuming Quadruped Base)-

Limbs x2 (Legs)- Gives my eidolon a total base land speed of 60'. Also some seriously messed up bonuses versus trip, and of course, you have to have eight legs to be a spider. (Total cost- 4 points)

Climb- Spiders can climb. The climb speed is equal to your land speed, so my spider eidolon can actually climb at a total speed of 60'. Really nice. (Total cost- 1 point)

Web- Self-explanatory. The limitation of 8 uses per day makes me a sad sad half-elf. (Total cost- 3 points)

Poison (Bite)- Here we're going for Con poison, as it is deadly and deadly spiders are better than debilitating spiders. Also, Con poison is horrendously overpowered since each failed save makes it harder for you to succeed the next save. (Total cost- 4 points)

Tremorsense- Spiders get this. It's a very nice ability, I think. (Total cost- 2 points).

So those are the things I feel are necessary in order to get a spider. And it only costs me 14 points. So we move on to the flavor stuff.

Huge- There's no reason to have a spider if it isn't enormous and freaking people out. Combine with enlarge person for a Gargantuan spider and win Pathfinder. (Total cost- 10 points)

Grab (Bite)- See below. (Total cost- 2 points)

Swallow Whole- The only thing that will scare the out-of-character people at your table more than allying themselves with a Gargantuan spider is allying themselves with a Gargantuan spider that devours its prey. With the impressive Strength and Size bonus that Huge gives, plus full BAB and the bonus from Grab, spider's grapple checks should be pretty decent. And since he's Gargantuan, he can easily devour Huge and smaller creatures, which is the majority of what you will be fighting in the game. (Total cost- 3 points)

Those make my spider more awesome, which is great, but that's still only 29 points. So I'll attempt to fill the rest out myself right here.

Improved Damage (Bite)- The spider only has one natural attack to its name. (Albeit at an incredible Strength bonus, which it gets 1.5x since it's the eidolon's only natural attack. Plus, thanks to the 9th level summoner feature Multiattack, the eidolon gets its bite twice per round). (Total cost- 1 point)

Improved Natural Armor x5- Being a giant spider is awesome, but it kind of tanks your AC what with the -4 Size penalty and the hit to your Dex. The best way to fix that is with +10 natural armor! (Just hope you don't run into any guys with touch attacks). (Total cost- 5 points)

And...I hit a wall! That's 35 points spent, and I don't know what else to give it. So, I turn to you, Paizo.com. What do you guys think I should do with my spider? Do you have any suggestions for how to make him more spider-y? (Also, I've never played a game where a Gargantuan creature would be a problem, save the Council of Thieves game I'm in right now, and that's just obvious. So, maybe it's just me, but I really don't see all the dungeon-crawling that people fear at actual tables, most of my fights take place in forests or plains. Different DMs, I guess.)

I'm joining a Play-By-Post here on Paizo. We're starting at 4th level, and so far the party looks like a bard, a monk/lore warden, a magus, a sorcerer, an Invulnerable Rager barbarian (me) and one undecided.

The problem is that unless the undecided guy chooses to play a cleric or something, we won't have someone who is able to heal very often or particularly well. It was suggested we get a wand of cure light wounds for the bard to have, but that's only good for out-of-combat healing. At the current level, I'm really worried about our party's ability to survive long enough to get healed. Only my character is able to wear medium armor, and it's not like the rest of them are playing high hit-dice classes either. One lucky crit on the DM's part and we could be down a player.

So, I decided to volunteer to play the healer in order to keep the group alive. The problem I'm running into now is...what do I do? What class should I play?

I'm already playing a druid in another low-level game, so I'd rather not play a druid. Inquisitors and bards don't have enough spell slots or fast enough progression. So that leaves me with the oracle or the cleric, basically. But...man, the cleric spell list really bums me out. There's nothing exciting on it.

To be clear, I don't want any links to any optimization guides. I'm an adult, I've seen the guides and read them before. That's not what I'm worried about. What I'm worried about is how to play one of these classes without boring myself.

With either class I don't need to worry about preparing cure spells, so I can just keep them on the back-burner for when I need them and otherwise play my own style. The problem I'm having is...what style should that be?

I don't want to melee, there's already a couple of other guys who are going to do that. Blasting also seems unlikely, given the presence of a low-level sorcerer. And you can't really build a ranged warrior with an oracle or a cleric, there aren't any domains or mysteries that support it and neither class has proficiency with a single bow.

So...what does that leave? If I'm wearing medium armor, that 20' movement speed will cut into my ability to deliver touch spell buffs, but if I'm not wearing it, I'll get cut up.

Oh right, here are my scores by the way. (We had to roll, there's no rerolls): 18, 10, 11, 12, 12, 13 (Pre-racial, pre level 4 boost).

Ah, one last thing. This is a human-only game.

So, what do I do now? I guess the only thing I can think of is either sub-par blasting and trying to keep up with the sorcerer or debuffing, but is a low-level cleric/oracle really any good at that?

I don't like illusion magic, by the way, so please don't suggest anything like that. It's just a personal distaste.

This has probably been asked before, but I'm just curious and I couldn't find any recent threads discussing it. The oracle of life gets mass heal as a mystery spell at level 16. Mass heal is a 9th level oracle spell. So, does the oracle of life somehow get mass heal as an 8th level spell, or does he just have a 9th level spell known and he has to wait until he gets to 18th level to be able to cast it?

Recently there was a DM looking to run a Jade Regent game here on the boards and his thread attracted a surprising amount of interest. I can understand that, though, having played through the majority of The Brinewall Legacy, I can personally attest that this AP is one of my favorites. I really like the setting, and the NPCs are very likable.

So, I'm just posting to see if there's another DM out there who would be willing to run this AP as a PBP for those of us who'd like to give it a try? Character creation and the like would be up to the DM of course.

Anyone who might be interested in playing, feel free to dot for interest and once we find a DM we can start trying to get back in the game again.

Im joining a level 5 Pathfinder game, but I'm afraid the half-elf wild caller Synthesist I threw together is above the power level of the party to a noticeable degree. So I thought Id make a mounted barbarian instead. The party needs melee at the moment.

My Ability Scores- 18, 17, 16, 16, 16, 15 (I rolled really well)

I only have 5000 gp available for starting gold.

DM has a house-rule. You get +2 to an ability score of your choice every 4 levels instead of +1.

So, what race/feats/rage powers do you guys suggest for me to start with? I am going to be a Medium barbarian on a Large mount, already decided this. What mount is good to use? The Ferocious Mount rage power and the Mounted Fury archetype seem to encourage an aggressive mount with good Str and primary naturals, so a horse wouldn't work too well right?

Hey all. I'm going to be playing in a new tabletop Pathfinder game here (hopefully) soon, and I want to make a character who is angelic. I'm not really familiar with any ways to do this in Pathfinder, though, so I'll go ahead and ask the boards.

In order to really fit the concept of the angelic character, the following key points must be realized:

Flight, preferably at-will and with wings rather than magical, but I know this one will be difficult, so as close to at-will flight as possible.

Some kind of ward against evil.

Some kind of way of punishing or smiting evil.

The ability to speak all languages.

Protection against acid, cold, poison, and petrification.

Obviously, all of this must be accomplished while my character is of the Good alignment.

Starting level is 7. I know I will probably have to work up to this, and I don't mind that, it could be fun roleplaying, but I would like to have at least one or two angelic traits realized at this point. Also, I would like to accomplish this by using as little multiclassing as possible. (The only reason I don't go straight oracle is because I am not aware of any way for the oracle to gain flight).

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Extra Evolution

Your eidolon has more evolutions.

Prerequisite: Eidolon class feature.

Benefit: Your eidolon's evolution pool increases by 1.

Special: This evolution can be taken once at 1st level, and again at 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th.

Assuming that the last sentence of this feat was supposed to say "feat" instead of "evolution", there's a bit of a problem here. I think the RAI is that the existence of this feat is supposed to allow summoners to get up to 5 extra evolution points by level 20 (with a heavy investment on their part).

The problem should be obvious then. Characters do not receive a feat slot at level 20. So, how does this work, exactly? You can't get the final Extra Evolution unless you go Epic (Assuming Epic even exists in PF, I haven't seen any rules for it that I know of).

Has there been any errata on this?

Hey guys. So I'm rolling up Damian the Transmuter, a 1st level tiefling wizard who is going Eldritch Knight (without any dips, since outsiders are already proficient with all martial weapons). Once I get to 5th level and get access to beast shape I, I'm going to spend all of my combat time polymorphed into various forms, usually monstrous humanoid, dragon, giant, undead, or whatever else I can change into that does not lose spellcasting.

However, until I get to that level, I need to stay alive while I'm in melee. So I'm trying to figure out exactly how to use reach weapons to do that.

My ability score array is:
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 15 (+1 from Transmuter), Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 5.

I took Toughness as my 1st level feat, so my hit points are 13. (6+3 toughness +3 Con +1 favored class).

My restricted schools are illusion and necromancy.

So my question is this: If I take a two-handed reach weapon, can I also wear some spiked gauntlets and use them to attack people who are adjacent to me, just so I can use the reach weapon to keep everyone off my case? I don't have Combat Reflexes, but I can still AoO someone for 1d12+4 damage if they try to come up and attack me, and when they do get within 5' I can hit them for 1d4+3 without needing to step back or adjust my position.

How does this sound to you guys? Am I doing it right, or is my wizard simply doomed to die in melee at 1st level?

How does the spell fiery body work with regards to electricity, exactly? The spell's text says that you are immune to electricity in the fourth sentence of the spell, but the fifth sentence of the spell turns around and says you take half damage from it. So which is correct?

Trap Sense. It gives rogues and barbarians a dodge bonus to their AC against traps. But, when a character triggers a trap, by the very nature of what a trap is, the character who triggers it is surprised. Therefore, that character is denied his or her Dexterity bonus to AC, therefore that character does not get any dodge bonuses to AC.

So how does Trap Sense even work? I mean, yes, barbarians have Uncanny Dodge by this point, but rogues don't. And what about if you trade Uncanny Dodge away in an archetype? Then you're left with a class feature that is literally broken, it cannot function as written.

How does a character without Uncanny Dodge (such as a 3rd level rogue) even get Trap Sense? You trigger a trap. You instinctively sense that a trap has been triggered, as the trap is triggered, and you should have a better time dodging out of the way, but because the trap surprised you, you are not able to dodge out of the way.

As written, the ability does not function as intended at all. Can I get some advice on this? What is the point of Trap Sense if it can't even work on its own?

So I just downloaded the Carrion Crown Player's Guide (because apparently there is no Player's Guide for Legacy of Fire) and it looks really cool. I've played in exactly one horror game, and unfortunately, I was the one who was running it. Horror games are cool, but not so much when you don't have the element of surprise that comes with being a player.

So I'm wondering if anyone is interested in running a Carrion Crown game at the moment. If there is interest, I would like to try and join such a game. I have a concept in mind for a human Undead Scourge paladin.

Incidentally, all I've heard from my group is how difficult this Adventure Path is. My current DM said, "If you want to play a game with some party wipe, run Carrion Crown". To me, that's actually kind of exciting, since a real risk of death always makes games more fun and challenging, in my opinion.

Hello everyone. This is my first post on these messageboards, but I've been playing Pathfinder for a few months now, and D&D 3.5 for 2 years before that.

I'm very interested in the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. The group that I play with mentions it constantly and I have heard many exciting and interesting encounters, and the Player's Guide makes it sound very exciting. Most of the games I've played have been pretty "normal", as in, there was one consistent goal, and my party and I worked towards that goal, killing monsters, solving puzzles, and talking to NPCs along the way.

That all changed, however, when I started the Jade Regent AP in a RL game with my group. Oh man. We just went from hook to hook and I didn't see half of these awesome encounters coming. So many cool monsters and NPCs, and even though I have a six person group, we've had our share of difficulties. So I have to say, I'm very impressed with Paizo so far when it comes to pre-written modules.

Is anyone else interested in playing a Council of Thieves game, or running one? I'd like to play as a Half-Elf Urban Ranger with the Conspiracy Hunter trait.