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Lipstitch! Mostly because I used it as a GM on some party members and had fun watching their horrified expressions as a described the effects of the spell. =D

None of the players had encountered the spell before either, so we had a fun quick session of questions. Can I talk? No but you can make a kind of muffled scream loud enough for everybody to hear. Um... I can't cast any of my spells, can I remove the bindings? Sure you can either cut them out or with a strength check you can just burst the bonds (at which point everybody winced).

It's a great spell to toss at the casters in your party!

It depends entirely on the types of monsters you expect to face. To be honest, all of those traits are highly situational, but you may face off against enough aquatic enemies in a pirate campaign for the trade to be worthwhile.

Now, if you're going to be facing off against a bunch of orc-pirate crews then I wouldn't make the trade =)

I also recommend picking up Sleeves of Many Garments as a quick way to change your outfit. For the low cost of 200 gold you complete your disguise. Talk to your GM about whether this would give a bonus on your disguise checks. At the least it should prevent penalties associated with wearing inappropriate outfits.

With that high of a CHA you should be using Use Magic Device as well. Some partially charged wands of Tongues could be a big help. Tongues can also be made permanent for only 7,500 gp!

You could also try a Grenadier Alchemist with the Explosive Ammo discovery. Fire bombs along with your ranged attacks for some really nice damage. It's also a build that could make use of Focused Shot.

Going Synthesist Summoner basically lets you ignore what ever you put in your physical stats and turns you into a very effective melee damage dealer with good buffing capabilities. If you really want to play in this game, it is the way I would handle your rather low ability score rolls.

If I were in your situation I would probably just quit the game. If the DM is being unreasonable before the game starts then things will just get worse down the road. I wouldn't waste my time with a game that just isn't going to be fun.

I'm getting ready to play my first character for PFS and I'm thinking of playing an Inquisitor of Sarenrae that focuses on Intimidation tactics to get people to back down when possible.

I was hoping some of ya'll would take a quick look at my level 1 build and let me know if it can be improved or if anything needs to be tweaked for PFS.

Darn you Dakota Strider, you were just a bit faster than me.

Nimble Fingers, Keen Mind - Found in Faiths of Balance, requires you to worship Brigh

I have to disagree Mathwei. The Huntmaster is perfectly viable for use and can provide some pretty fun gameplay.

You're restricted to either a Dog or a Bird for your pet, which aren't the best options but aren't terrible either. A Bird can use some neat tricks to harass enemies and the dog becomes Medium sized with a pretty decent stat block at level 4. Either option is more convenient than a Horse or Camel for exploration and dungeon crawling

You give up the Banner ability, but that's no great loss. Instead you get some useful tracking abilities for you and your animal. Tactician only affects you and your pet, which is a pain but this isn't an ability you could use all that often anyway.

The boosts you get to your animal companions are nice as well. When you issue a challenge your boost your pet as well. If you pick a dog, it gets a free trip attempt after every successful attack! Sure that's just once per round, but extra damage plus a trip with your guaranteed flanking buddy is pretty nice for any melee character.

Personally, I also like the additional tracking / bounty-hunter themed abilities you get. Invest some skill points into Survival and Stealth and you could play a very different Cavalier from the standard type.

1) Always have a copies of your player's character sheets. The best way to plan out challenging but not impossible encounters is to have the player abilities available for review. This also helps you catch cheaters.

2) The witch is clearly not abiding by your original instructions to take it easy on you. Since you've already accepted and played some sessions with the character it's a bit late to reject the character entirely. You should discuss the power level of the character with your player and see if he'll volunteer to either tone it down or play something else.

3) Generally speaking taking stuff (gear, pets, familiars, ect) away from players is something they won't like. You can get away with it as a temporary plot device but you should expect them to spend time trying to restore / replace their "stuff". If you want the lack of an item to be important, I suggest adding a pressure element that prevents the party from immediately looking for a replacement item.

4) We need more info on your Dhampir. If the killings are random murders then dump her to evil.

Really depends on what spells are prepped, but you could possibly force the enemies out. Cast some "cloud" spells over the wall to spread noxious fumes. Summon hordes of monsters on the wall and send them in (along with the Eidolon). Keep your fighter types near the main entrance and when the enemies come out use Pit and Wall spells to funnel them right to your allies.

Also, are you able to set anything in the fort on fire? Burning everything to the ground works wonders.

Wait... ya'll aren't good aligned are you?

Mystic Theurge gains spells, but your overall spell progression is slowed significantly. You also will lose out on higher-level class features, which can be a bummer. Also note, many of those Oracle revelations scale with your Oracle level, not your spell level. Only taking a couple of Oracle levels then going into Mystic Theurge is going to make them less effective. IMO, this is going to be your least effective option as an Ice Blaster.

I've actually been toying with this idea myself though, so let me run through the various options I've come up with:

1) Winter Witch (Witch and the Winter Witch PRC)
This build gives you a mix of blasting, debuffing and crowd control with healing thrown in. You lose one level of spell casting, but your hexes continue to scale with the Prestige Class levels. You'll have fewer blasting spells but any touch spells are Cold Spells (+2 to the DC from an archetype feature and PRC bonus) and do a little additional cold damage. You also have some nice ice-themed hexes.

The nice thing about this build is that you can mix up the use of spells and hexes. If you have longer adventuring days you don't have to worry about being stuck with nothing to do after running out of spells.

2) Oracle - Ancient Lorekeeper
I had a Fire Oracle build that could easily be adapted to playing an Ice Oracle. You have to qualify as an elven race to go Ancient Lorekeeper, so I recommend playing a Drow. This lets you pick an choose spells from the Wizard spell list as your bonus spells from your mystery, though at one spell level lower than the highest you can cast. Overall, that's a really nice benefit.

This lets you grab quite a few of the Oracle Revelations of the Winter mystery, many of which are really really nice! You'll get armor bonuses, some really nice blaster abilities (a couple of which grant concealment), the ability to automatically Slow enemies that fail saves against your Cold spells and some other cool options.

3) Sorcerer 1 / Wizard the Rest
I know this sounds weird, but it can actually work fairly well. You're taking a single level of Crossblooded Sorcerer in order to pick up the Arcana's. Your wizard spell progression is delayed, but it winds up being on part with a normal Sorcerer. This nets you the flexibility of Wizard spell casting with some of the best benefits of being a Sorcerer. You also get a Wizard school, which opens up some flexibility in which bloodlines you grab. Choose from the following:

Wizard Schools
Admixture - Change the energy type of a damage dealing spell a number of times per day equal to 3+Int
Universalist - Useful if you plan on using meta-magic at higher levels.
Transmutation - Bonus to Dex that improves as you level (lets you start with a higher Int)
Sin Specialist (Wrath) - Two bonus spell slots per day.

Sorcerer Bloodlines
Draconic - +1 Damage / dice, claw weapon
Primal - +1 Damage / dice, weak ray attack
Elemental/Marid - All damage dealing spells with an energy type deal cold damage, weak ray attack
Boreal - The DC of cold spells is increased by +1
Rime-Blooded - Cold spells also can Slow the target
Orc - +1 Damage / dice, Darkvision, Light Sensitivity, buffing ability

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Serpentine or Undead. That opens up more creatures as targets for Enchantment spells.

With the Starsoul bloodline you may want to pick up some Evocation spells. Not necessarily blasting spells, but I'm a big fan of Hydraulic push and other similar spells. They're useful offensively but they can also find other uses for these spells if you're clever.

As a Kitsune Sorcerer you have a ton of bonuses towards Enchantment spells, so I would pick up a few of those spells at the least. Personally, I would go for a bloodline that helps you out with Enchanting, but I understand if you want to go for a concept of some sort.

Run him in the home-brew campaign and talk to your GM about a custom teamwork feat that lets the ranged characters ride on your shoulders.

Make em all teenagers in a bad horror flick. Level 1 characters being chased by a big baddie, their goal is simply to evade and survive.

If you're able to retcon the invulnerability at all, why not borrow from the character Max Damage (Incorruptible comic series). He has a varying degree of invulnerability, depending on how long he's been awake. The longer he's awake the more damage he can absorb, but after a couple of days he starts suffering the mental issues associated with sleep deprivation. If he sleeps his invulnerability is reset, giving him a couple of hours each morning for things like shaving.

So give your player a stacking DR bonus that depends on time elapsed since he woke up. Maybe +1 DR every two hours. If he stays awake for a certain interval of time apply the Fatigued condition. If he's awake too long, apply the Exhausted condition. Maybe add some additional levels of fatigue into the mix.

This could make for some interesting game play. At what time of the day does the party carry out a mission? Later in the day and Invulnerable Character can absorb a lot of damage, but other characters may be low on spells / abilities. Does this character have limited use per day abilities, if so, does he want to rest to refresh them, or stay awake and pump up his DR?

An Inquisitor has a number of "Litany" spells. These provide a number of buffs and debuffs which could make a for a pretty cool character. They also have some Inquisitions and Archetypes which let you use Wisdom for social skills.

A standard bard could fit this role, and there are some archetypes that really enhance it. Use Enchantment spells, with your comments being the verbal component of the spell. As a bard you'll have a ton of skills to throw around too, so don't be afraid to make skill checks.

If you really want to commit the role-playing aspect, a Rogue or Ninja has access to quite a few conversation oriented tricks. You're going to be grabbing these at the expensive of combat focused ones, so you'll have to be very careful about what feats & tricks you pick. Most of these options are also themed more for a talkative / trickster type of character.

If you order from Reaper you can usually order wings separately. When I needed a Strix I just looked for figures that didn't have a bunch of crap on their backs. A little work trimming down some pieces, a little "green stuff" to fill in gaps and the character works pretty well.

If you're willing to spend a bit of cash though, I second the Dark Sword minis. They've got some cool looking winged characters.

I'd also caution you that it may be best to use a token in actual combat. Even when other players are being careful, wings tend to be rather fragile and fall off pretty often.

Hero Labs would be the best character generator to use, but I'll warn you, it can be somewhat expensive.

As for your character concept, it sounds pretty fun. The Samurai in Pathfinder is an Alternate Class, which is basically just a really complex Archetype of one of the other classes. In this case, the Cavalier. I'd suggest you take a look at the Luring Cavalier, which will give you most of the same abilities as a Samurai, but boosts your ranged capabilities. The Luring Cavalier lets you use your Challenge ability on ranged attacks, unless your challenged target hits you with a melee attack, at which point it switches to a normal melee challenge.

For your Bard level, take a look at the Dawnflower Dervish archetype. This archetype gives you the option of performing a Battle Dance, where your Inspire Heroics, Greatness or Heroism performances apply only to yourself, but are double strength. It also gives you the Dervish Dance feat for free, letting you use your Dex for attack and damage when fighting with a Scimitar.

This build would let you focus on Dex for you main combat stat, so you wouldn't have to worry about spreading your stats too thin. If you want to boost up your Cha a bit (for social skills) then you should look into choosing the Order of the Cockatrice, which grants you an improved version of the Dazzling Display feat.

So my first piece of advice would be that a Dual-Wielding Pistolero may very well fall under your GM's definition of power gaming. I also get the impression that the race is a bit more primitive than other races on the world, a Gunslinger might be a very unusual class to come from their society. I'd ask the GM for approval of the concept.

If it were me, I would play your character as a detective. I'd suggest playing a Mysterious Stranger if it wasn't for that CHA dump. As an alternative, why not dip a couple of levels into Inquisitor? An Infiltrator Inquisitor with the Conversion Inquisition could use Wisdom on Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate checks instead of Charisma, and gets to double-dip on Bluff and Diplomacy. You also get a couple of spells and some bonuses that are useful for sneaking into social environments.

Heh, I have a similar situation with the players in my home-brew game. The main enemy is a race of lizard-like extra planar beings that attack in large swarms. One of the first things the players wanted to do was check the gender of the corpses. Knowledge Nature checks have become a running gag.

As for how to deal with your situation, just talk to the players. Let them know that to speed up game play they don't have to describe chopping up the corpses after battle, you're just going to assume that's standard operation procedure and they won't have to worry about an army of undead following them.

Of course if you want to have fun, you could have a cabal of necromancers stick multiple corpses together into one large undead creation =)

Players are always going to try to make their characters as good at what they want that character to do as possible. We're playing heroic characters, we want them to feel heroic. To a certain extent, we're always going to try to optimize.

It sounds to me like your main concern is players who optimize for Combat Situations, putting all their resources into making their character a deadly combatant. The only way to make that happen is to include a number of situations in your game that requires more than just combat.

Chase scenes, races, gladiatorial combat (where skills like ride or performance combat might come into play) and infiltration missions are some good options. You might also throw in some political intrigue, mystery solving or just day-to-day living. You may even have player pick up Profession skills if you make it known that there would be a use for them.

If all of that stuff happens behind the scenes though, your players are going to build their characters to be more effective at the stuff that happens during actual play. You should also make sure to talk to your players. Tell them upfront that they will encounter as many or more non-combat situations as battles and they'll start building characters able to handle multiple situations.

I've actually taken a long look at this PRC for a home brew game I'll be playing. I'm playing a Kitsune who's family has inserted themselves into the local nobility, and plan on having a lot of fun with the Realistic Likeness feat. I debated a number of class options, but settled on playing a Ninja and spending Ninja tricks on some of the more social rogue talents.

As for the PRC, here are my thoughts:

You're going to have to give up quite a bit of personal combat potential. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that you get Leadership for free, and your cohort is only a level behind your character. The social benefits you gain are fun, and the free gold as you level helps you equip your cohort pretty well. You might want to consider taking Teamwork feats along with your cohort.

You should also consider that most of the abilities you gain are going to be most useful in an RP heavy game, and particularly ones where you stay in large population centers. A Charlatan Rogue / Noble Scion isn't going to be able to use his strengths all that often if most of your time is spent in the middle of a jungle. Make sure the adventure path is an appropriate one for this class, or that your GM is ok with working in opportunities for you to play this kind of character.

Finally, making sure your GM is ok with the static bonuses you get. Many GMs would have a problem with you just receiving free gold as you level. If you have many players, they might not want you to take leadership either. Adding extra characters can extend combat sessions.

You might also want to look into a Monk build. This is more of an avoidance tank, but you would be much better at avoiding blows than other tanks. Add in a high Dex and combat reflexes and you can punch everything around you, drawing their attention.

It's not exactly fair that you're not getting to build your character with the same rules other characters had. Your GM should be focusing on making sure your character's stats are roughly on par with those of the other players.

It's also not fair that you have to try to try to fill every role. You have an Alchemist and a Wizard, and with the party going from 5 members down to 3 they both could and should modify their characters a bit to help with that goal. If the Wizard has been playing a blaster, let him go "God Wizard", he'll be much more effective. The alchemist could fill literally any role, it's the most versatile class out there.

That being said, it sounds like you want to play a bard, and it could actually work really well for you. Take a look at the Dawnflower Dervish. You won't be able to buff your allies with your Bardic Performance, but you gain double the bonus on yourself. This lets you use Inspire Courage for a nice boost to attack rolls and damage, and starting at level 9 you can use Inspire Greatness for a nice defensive boost (4 bonus hit-die, D10s).

You'll want to look into mixing levels of Rogue, Ninja and Monk. How much of each is up to you and depends on what elements of fighting like Robin you most want to focus on.

Mixing Rogue & Monk lets you concentrate on two stats, Dex and Wisdom. Once you have 4 levels of Monk you have a Ki Pool and can start picking up Ninja tricks. This would let you use your Ki Pool to throw smoke bombs by level 6. With Monk Robes you can afford up to 5 levels of Rogue (for 3D6 sneak attack) without hurting your Unarmed Strike damage or AC bonuses.

Ninja & Monk works ok together, but now you need to worry about three ability scores: Dex, Wis and Cha. Those stats fit the character however, so I don't see it as that big of a deal. With this build you can go Ninja for your first two levels, getting Smoke Bombs at level 2. Your Monk Ki pool should merge with your Ninja pool. Again, plan on just five levels of Ninja, you want Monk for the damage boosts.

Pure Ninja would be the last option. You won't have the unarmed damage you'd get with a monk build, so you should probably pick weapons Robin and/or Nightwing would use.

As for "batarangs", those would be reflavored shurikens. You can fight with them, but I would point out that shuriken builds tend to be sub-optimal. If you do want to focus on these, go pure ninja with a ranged build. Plan on using them to sneak-attack, using Vanishing Trick to guarantee that sneak attack.

R.A.W. I think it is the first formula... But I think the Last one is the one I will use for home games.

Metal Cartridges don't state they reduce the time. They are just basic metal cartridges like what we use in Modern Times.

Check out the paragraph describing Alchemical Cartridges on the PRD: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/combat/firearms.html#alch emical-cartridges

Specifically: "Alchemical cartridges make loading a firearm easier, reducing the time to load a firearm by one step (a full-round action becomes a standard action, a standard action becomes a move action, and a move action becomes a free action), but they tend to be unstable."

The faster reload time is a property of all alchemical cartridges. Metal Cartridges count as well, they're just far more powerful than standard cartridges as they don't increase the misfire chance.

I'm not seeing where Metal Cartridges don't count as Alchemical cartridges. The description specifically says that they are Alchemical:

"These sturdier versions of alchemical cartridges serve as the ammunition for advanced firearms. They can hold either bullets or pellets."

In my mind that would reduce the reload speed of a revolver to a free action.

The Snap Shot feat chain is nice for a Pistol user, but as a Musket Master I would ask myself how often I'm going to be within 15 feet of my enemies. Personally, my goal would be to maintain distance and unleash on targets before they can get to me.

Signature deed is nice, but not necessary for a Musket Master. If you choose to only go up to level 5 with a gunslinger you can open up some nice multi-classing options. I'm a big fan of mixing in Inquisitor levels. That nets you Judgements, Bane and spell casting for increased damage and utility. You can also boost your Initiative to incredible levels =P

Alternatively, mixing in Monk levels boosts your AC & Saves while giving you the option to become a switch-hitter. Grab Weapon Finesse and an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists. Then pick up some Monk's Robes. You'll now add Dex to damage and attack rolls for both ranged and melee attacks. You have some useful Grit abilities, and you don't lose any progression on your Monk AC bonuses or Unarmed damage.

Additionally, the logic that allows you to use Crane style with a bow should also apply to a musket. So feel free to grab those styles that require you to have one hand free.

I have an idea for a character and would like some thoughts on how effective it would be and how it should be built.

The idea is to start with a Ninja, adding the Bandit archetype, and go to level 4. I then take at lest two levels as Paladin with the Sword of Valor archetype.

By level 6 I'll be able to choose to have surprise rounds at the start of fights, and will be able to take all actions I'd like. This seems pretty cool, but I'm not sure how effective it will be. What do ya'll think?

While invisible you gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and your target is denied his dex bonus to AC. This makes the Vanish trick really useful, especially once you hit level 10 and pick up Invisible Blade.

You could also take Leadership and build yourself a fighter cohort that focuses on Maneuvers that help you out. A Tripper or a Feinter would be useful, setting up opportunities for you to Sneak Attack and giving you a flanking buddy. That also gives you somebody to partner Teamwork feats with.

Well there you go proving me wrong Lamontius. Those Wyrd minis are pretty cool.

Trying to sneak attack at ranged as an alchemist will be challenging. A Two-Weapon Vivisectionist that concentrates on melee and occasionally throws a dagger would be easy to make into an effective build. However, if the player is set on playing ranged, bombs will be more effective.

If you do go the Bomb Route you can go with either a throwing build or a weapon focused build. The throwing build basically just picks up the various thrown weapon feats and tries to toss bombs out with iterative attacks. Mix in some Barbarian levels for access to additional throwing rage powers & feats, plus something to do when you run out of bombs. You will run out bombs QUICKLY.

The second build is to go Grenedier. With this build you play as a blaster caster, launching one powerful attack each round. At level 4 you pick up the Explosive Missile discovery, which lets you make the ammo on a ranged attack also explode like a bomb. I would suggest a Heavy Crossbow as your weapon, since the discovery will let you load and fire the explosive bolt as a Standard action and you get a nice crit range on that attack. For feats you pick up the basic required ranged feats, and grab discoveries that give your bombs added effects. You only get one attack per round, but each attack hits hard, deals splash damage and can provide some helpful crowd control.

You're not likely the to find a miniature of a Wayang, and off the top of my head I don't know of anybody that has a model that would be easy to modify.

I'd suggest you find a picture that will work for your character and print it out on card stock. You can prop it up on a base and have something cheap and easy to replace.

Well, as the GM you get to decide how advanced fire arm technology is. If you're worried about Advanced Firearms being too powerful, just don't allow them. A Gunslinger can still be effective if he uses a Pistol or a Musket. Keeping the technology level low also makes some of the early, more flavorful guns more appealing.

You gain a bonus to attack rolls and AC, but the trade off is that you'll have lower Strength than other fighters. Your damage will be lower at early levels but will even out at mid to higher levels. If you expect your fighter to reach higher levels eventually, then the size of your character really isn't that big a deal.

Your stat array is good if you go Urban Barb, letting you have Str 18 / Dex 18 while enraged. Otherwise, I would personally even out your Str & Dex and let your Rage boost your Str up. That way your ranged attack rolls will be a bit higher, which I always recommend when going with a thrown weapon build.

I had a quick thought. You might want to consider going with a Mobile Fighter build. This would give you bonuses when you attack and move, and at level 11 would let you take a move action and a full attack action. This would also let you take advantage of Martial Versatility and Martial Mastery, letting you switch up the kind of throwing weapons you use.

What you should do really depends on the players. If they just want to get on with the story line and they have the funds, then the should be able to pay for the Res with little difficulty.

If you think they'd enjoy a side-quest though then that is almost always going to be more fun. Prepare a NPC for the monk's player to use during your regular session and then plan a 1 on 1 session with them later (if you want to do the whole spirit realm thing).

Alternatively, that ghost template idea is actually really cool.

Since your son is already familiar with the DDO Paladin, he'll probably be comfortable with a Pathfinder one. Go with a 2-Handed weapon build and he'll have feats to spare for extra Lay on Hands or for Channeling Feats. The archetypes can be fun, but aren't really needed if you just want a useful and fun character.

If he wants to play something a bit different, how about a Hedge Witch? By level 4 you don't have to prepare your Cure Spells before hand, just sacrifice a spell slot to cast it. You also get to play with Hexes, which are just a ton of fun.

I like the concept of the game, but it is going to be really tough. I would talk to your GM about allowing armor to grant Damage Reduction. I would also talk to the group about allowing Archetypes, as they're necessary to make some character concepts mechanically viable at first level.

For your stats, I would recommend you go with the folowing:

Str: 12
Dex: 16
Con: 10
Int: 12
Wis: 7
Cha: 14

I feel like this works for your character concept, I see the character as being very acrobatic. It's also a better option for mechanics. You get a boost to AC and Initiative, as well as a boost to ranged attack rolls. Remember that when throwing a dagger it only has a 10 foot ranged increment and you suffer a -2 penalty on your attack roll for every extra 10 feet. You may find that you're more effective if you pick up a Shortbow down the road.

For feats I'd suggest you pick options that will help you the most in combat. I'd lean towards just going Point Blank Shot and Precise shot.

If you want to have some fun in close quarters though, you might want to look at using Alchemical Items. Grabbing Throw Anything and Splash Weapon Mastery gives you the effects of the Far Shot feat on splash weapons and a +1 bonus on your attack rolls. This also gives you quite a bit of offensive versatility, and those splash weapons are most effective at first level. You can still toss your daggers or anything handy you find at hand as well.

For Spells, I really really really suggest that you don't heal. Let somebody pick a cleric to cover your healing for you. You're going to be using your Cantrips for the bulk of your spell casting, but you only have 4 so be careful with which you pick. I'd go with Prestidigitation, Daze, Flare and Unwitting Ally but you'll want to coordinate with other spell casters in your group. I like Charm Person for a first level spell, but I'd take some other than Cure Light Wounds.

If you can get your GM to allow archetypes, take a look at Arcane Duelist. If gives you a nice offensive boost.

Have you thought about building a melee character with your Eidolon as a team-mate?

With a Half-Elf, you could pick up a melee weapon and wade into combat. You'd use buffing spells to protect yourself and boost your damage output. You could use your Eidolon either as a mount to take you into combat or you could build it as a team-mate with both of you using teamwork feats.

Either way, you'll be doing a large amount of damage each round.

Matt2VK wrote:

GAH! Deleted my post.

I hate when I do that.

I was looking at making a Crusader Cleric with the feat Dervish Dance but do you all think the Dervish Dancer Bard is better for my purpose?

Dawnflower Dervish (a different archetype from Dervish Dancer) can deal really nice damage and a higher levels can cast healing spells as a swift action. It also gets you access to those healing spells you want, and you get Dervish Dance for free right at first level. It makes for a pretty good build.

How about giving it the Oread Crystalline Form alternate trait?

Crystalline Form: Oreads with this trait gain a +2 racial bonus to AC against rays thanks to their reflective crystalline skin. In addition, once per day, they can deflect a single ray attack targeted at them as if they were using the Deflect Arrows feat.

I'm with James. Play something you'll find fun that is able to use wands of Cure Light Wounds. Just make sure to keep a couple on you at all times, as bad luck can lead to you burning through a wand fast.

Don't forget that if you're crafting the item you only pay 1/3 of the cost. So 233 gold 3 silver 4 copper.

When you target a square any individual on that square only takes the splash damage, which would be the minimum possible damage dead dealt. Firing at the ground is more useful for laying down ground effects IMO.

Make sure you get the Distance property on your gun. If your GM will allow you to use a Revolver that would be a huge help as well (mostly so you can extend the range at which you target Touch AC).

If you are going to be at a Long enough range Musket Master could be a better Archetype.

You get Rapid Reload for free and if you go to level three you get Fast Musket deed.

The thing to note is that Explosive Missile specifies "one-handed firearm bullet". Now, since one-handed and two-handed firearms use the same ammo you could argue that this doesn't restrict you from using a musket or a rifle, but you should run that by your GM first.

If your GM allows you to use a two-handed firearm then go musket master. The extra range is going to be a huge boost.

To start out with, go Half-Orc for the favored class bonus that boosts your bomb damage.

Next, I would suggest a 1 level dip into Gunslinger so that you can use guns. This will delay picking up Explosive Missiles until character level 5, but you'll be able to target Touch AC with your weapon attacks.

You'll be able to use a pistol for explosive ammo, but not a musket. Personally, I think it makes no sense that you can use Explosive Ammo with a Heavy Crossbow but not a musket and you can even rules lawyer that it is legal if you go strictly by RAW, so I would talk to your GM about letting you use a 2-handed firearm. This way you can actually fight with a musket.

For Feats you'll want some of the standard ranged feats. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot and Deadly Aim to start with. You can make use of Focused Shot with your high Int, and Rapid Shot is never a bad option. You might also want to pick up Catch off Guard so you can make melee attacks with your rifle.