Manijin's page

I'm seeing a lot of posts about DPR, needing an 18 in a stat to be even remotely decent at anything you plan on doing extensively, and how difficult monsters are, and I'm wondering if anyone has done any DPR testing with a few simple builds/classes to indicate the expected damage output of the party against a CR=APL foe.

Now, that's just handling encounters on one end, not accounting for monsters (in which case, we'd do an AC vs. Attack Bonus comparison), but I can't help but wonder if the game is half as cutthroat as the boards seem to suggest, and instead if GMs haven't learned how to run/create balanced encounters in the new system yet.

So, I've been pretty vocal about some of the things I struggle with or am frustrated by, but there are some elements of the game that I find are REALLY well done. If you have some, feel free to add. I might disagree, but that's okay. For me:

1) Runes. Specifically, weapon runes. Weapon runes are SO COOL. I can't say anything about the pricing, because I'm not familiar enough with the economy, but whoever changed weapon properties into the existing runic versions, or had the idea for it, did a great job. Each elemental property feels very distinct in its application, returning got an appreciable buff, and all of the other runes feel really spot on. I've found myself trying to do buildcraft around RUNES rather than classes, so to me that's a great thing (in regards to runes, anyways).

2) Unarmed combat. Monk unarmed combat, specifically the style feats and their progression, is pretty rockin'. Even better, other classes get access to unarmed combat, and they do so in really flavorful ways. The difference between an unarmed Barbarian, Monk, and Paladin is appreciable due to class choices, and that's a wonderful thing.

3) Multiclassing. I know that some people are sore on this subject, but I actually think that this method of multiclassing is really well done. I hope we get to playtest more multiclass/progression feats, because I really want them all to be spectacular. The amount of character concepts this opens up is pretty decent, even though it sometimes feels like a patch for boring feats. (But I'm still mad about my Arcane Trickster touch-cantriper.)

4) Heal/Harm. These two spells in particular define what almost all damage-dealing spells should be like. The way it interacts with action economy is brilliant, and changing damage-dealing spells to function like Heal & Harm ALONE would create cool gish-characters.

5) Rogue. Every time I look at the Rogue, I want to play one. The skill progression is awesome, getting tons of skill feats is awesome, and most Rogue feats feel like they're in a good place, with lots of interesting choices. This class may have my gold medal for best designed, and for me to say that about the rogue is a big deal.

That's all for now, but as I think of more, I'll post. I just want the crew to know that I actually really like some elements of the game, and want to see more of these good elements show up. Post your favorites, too!

Okay, small rant incoming. I'm getting ready for a homebrew campaign starting in the playtest rules and I'm coming up with characters. The problem is, almost every time I think of a neat concept that I can't FATHOM being overpowered, the rules just flat out tell me "No!"

So, I was thinking about Rogues, as I often do because they're a pretty well-designed class in the playtest, and trying to make the whole "Gish" character work without resorting to Cleric/Wizard, because it really irks me that the Mystic Theurge is probably the best Gish in the game. (FYI, Gish is a magic/martial hybrid, for those of you who might not be aware of the term). I started thinking: What about Arcane Trickster? Could I make that work? I remembered reading that Sneak Attack worked with Unarmed strikes, and sure enough, melee touch attacks from spells count as unarmed strikes! With all of these spells costing two actions, but targeting Touch AC, including cantrips, I really liked the idea of a melee spell-slinging rogue.

Then I get to the rules on spell attacks:

Spell attacks are unarmed, but they don’t apply any special benefits from your weapons or unarmed attacks, nor do they deal any damage outside of what’s listed in the spell.

I will give the rules this: They've covered the base for this kind of interaction. But COME ON! Almost every time I think a character concept might work, I'm sent into this spiral of frustration with this game. I get that the rules are tight, but why are they so freakin' restrictive? Is there going to be some super special rule surrounding the Arcane Trickster dedication feats? Are we really worried that, what, MONKS are going to start picking up cantrips because they might get an accuracy bonus with them?

Actually, stop right there. That's a thing that could be neat, right? Monks critting more frequently with cantrips and touch spells because of their accuracy bonus? Well, no, not any more than wizards and sorcerers anyways, so it's basically a waste of time. And don't get me started on how "meh" sorcerers are. I heard they were going to be spontaneous primal casters and got so excited!... and there's basically no incentive to play them over a druid. Ever.

Paizo, please just consider loosening the reins a bit. The system has some upside, but the game is so restrictive it's aggravating. More cool stuff, less fuddy-duddy rules.

I was thinking about a character concept, and was trying to fit Shield Proficiency in there by the time I got Gray Maiden Dedication, but I noticed that Gray Maiden dedication doesn't require Shield proficiency, but Maiden Armor Expertise, as I'm reading it, grants automatic Expert proficiency with Shields, bypassing even needing to be trained in them altogether. Is this intended? I think it's cool that you can get shields on a character without needing to devote proficiency to it, but it seems like an unintentional bypass.

What if we regrouped all martially-oriented feats into Generic Class Feats, and fighters simply got bonus ones? Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, Rogue, and Ranger (and other classes, to a smaller extent) suffer from having interesting class options taken up by martial abilities that really seem like they should be available to everyone. I don't even mind Attacks of Opportunity being a feat that fighters happen to get for free. Then you could open fighter class abilities to being more about cool options. Some of them are actually pretty solid. Getting extra reactions for shield blocking? Nice! Martial classes getting a charge-like ability? I can dig it. But right now it feels like too much space is being used reprinting martial feats that should be generically accessible, not to mention that some of the feats in the game still suffer from the Feat Tax problem. I'm not saying everything should be stripped away, but the fighter class still feels really mundane, even if he gets decent stuff, because all that stuff is still mundane, and it's difficult to understand why it should be restricted to that class in the first place. (To be fair, some of this problem is alleviated with Fighter Multiclassing, but that just makes being a Fighter embarrassing when all of my powers are so readily available).

That having been said, the base chassis for most classes is actually pretty solid (though there are some constraints and omissions that I think ought to be addressed, like to heavily incentivizing gear choices, also Paladins need SMITE), and it's starting to grow on me a bit. I just think the game could offer more for those classes that want more generic combat utility, and that the martial classes would be more exciting if they had less generic abilities. It's one of the reasons Barbarian looks so cool, even if it may have issues in some places, while other classes feel kinda... meh.

*Clarification: I'm not saying that fighters should just lose all their feats/class features and gain bonus generic feats. That's lame. I'm saying there are enough generic feats that they should be taken out, and fighters, paladins, etc. should be given cool replacements for them.

So, I noticed that there are gish options for the playtest, which is a good start, but most of them are pretty lame. Cleric gets Channel Smite, which is unarguably the best Gish option in the game (Channeling Harm through a melee attack for 2 actions is actually pretty solid). But the other gish options seem really limiting.

For example, let's look at a Wizard with Magical Striker. Magical Striker only lasts for your turn, not even a full round, and completely prohibits movement. Do you know how many Single-Action spells I found? I counted 4, most of which are high level Power Word: X spells (for what it's worth, if these were expanded to lower levels, it would actually be really cool to see a Power Word specialist character for Gishes), one of which is True Strike which is... cool, but not terribly interesting, especially considering that it has no improvements for heightening. There are two considerations I'd like to put out there:

1) Magical Striker could last longer. Until the start of your next turn would be fair, and sets up an obvious reach-theme with Attack of Opportunity (which should be a general feat, but that's neither here nor there). This at least seems synergistic with something, instead of a generally uninteresting ability.

2) Magical Striker should work with Cantrips, and touch spells should all be castable with a single action, increasing their range by adding actions like Heal and Harm. These two spells really set the standard for what spellcasting should be like, and the way they work is AMAZING. Imagine a Freeze cantrip that works like Ray of Frost, but with additional actions that work like heal/harms? THAT'S a cool cantrip that doesn't deal too much damage and has obvious utility and synergy with different playstyles. Plus, while cantrip damage scales with level, it scales VERY poorly compared to weapon damage. Having it function with Magical Striker creates a very clear use for them, and I would argue opens up lots of build variety (all of a sudden, Cantrips become much more useful to martial characters, for example).

So, a bit of background: I'm a video game player, as I assume many of you are, and one of my favorite games of all time is Dragon Age: Origins. I love the story, the lore, the combat and the character customization. Everything just really pops with that game. My main character, after several attempts at playing trying to find a character I really liked, was a greatsword-wielding, heavily-armored Rogue. Since gear was equippable based on attribute requirements (Strength, Dexterity, Magic, etc.), you could do that. It sounds weird, but stick with me.

In Dragon Age: Origins, Rogues didn't have ANY two-hander-oriented abilities. They had 3 general ability trees, one for generic rogue stuff, one for two-weapon fighting, and one for archery. But the game calculated sneak attack as a critical hit with bonus damage, and with the right combination of abilities, I managed to make an effective character with lots of utility. It was a ton of fun.

When Dragon Age II came out, I was excited about continuing to adventure as this jack-of-all-trades, soldier-ish character. I got through the tutorial, to the first town, went to a shop, and... I couldn't equip greatswords. It's not that I didn't have the stats or anything, but my character was simply physically incapable of wielding a greatsword, despite having done that in the entire first game. I gave the game a little bit of a go after that, but that was the end of it. Why?

Because the rule that had been put in place was arbitrary. There was no reason my character shouldn't be able to wield a Greatsword, but the game designers decided that I didn't have any authority on that decision, and removed some of my agency as a player for... really no discernable reason.

A lot of the PF2 class design feels arbitrarily limiting at the moment. Why can't rogues fight effectively with two-handed weapons? It's... arbitrary. Why do fighters and paladins need to wear heavy armor and be almost entirely in melee? It's... arbitrary. And that's not to say those other options aren't necessarily available, but because all combat options come from class choice at the moment, and class is so limited in what it provides, you can't really specialize outside of the very specific scope of what classes allow. Starfinder did a wonderful job of allowing pretty much any class to do anything well given appropriate feat and talent investment, but Starfinder was also a very closed system: It's space opera, so pretty much everybody is supposed to use space guns and space swords. I get that fantasy isn't as contained in its scope, but why is there only one really "meh" option for Wizards/Sorcerers wanting to mix it up in melee? Why is the Shield cantrip so punishing(10 minute cooldown)? Why can Rogues only sneak attack with agile/finesse weapons, but we only have one-handed agile/finesse weapons? Too many class features enforce an archetype rather than encourage creativity, and if this were a video game I'd probably think it was alright and entertaining, but not terribly engaging.

TL:DR - Class structure is too rigid in the playtest, and class features force certain playstyles. They should be opened up, at least a little.

There are tons of spells we love, but what three spells do you love so much that you'd like to see them in the Playtest / Base version of Pathfinder 2.0? I'll start us off:

1) Climbing Beanstalk - This spell is probably my favorite spell in the whole game. I love the visual, the versatility, the practicality; everything just screams cool in my book. I do think it should be a 1st level spell, but other than that I love it.

2) Raven's Flight - Another really neat utility spell. Given the short duration, I think this should also be a 1st level spell, but I love the flavor of it, and providing a movement mode typically not available until higher levels feels really good. I feel like if you combined it with Feather Fall you'd have a really boss spell.

3) Stone Shield - This spell is one of my favorites ever, and while it looks like the Shield spell may be getting turned into a reaction cantrip (which, if true, thrills me to no end), I love these kinds of utilitarian abilities with short casting times that come up precisely when you need them, and have immediately noticeable effects.

So, I've looked up a few threads about flame blade, and not found any that directly address some of my questions. I'm looking at playing a Green Scourge archetype druid, with a couple of other archetypes that do cool stuff I want, but mainly this is the focus: How does flame blade work with a few things?

1) Furious Spell Metamagic. As written, I believe that Furious Spell would cause the base Flame Blade spell's damage to increase by 4(x2 Spell Level). However, the Green Scourge's "Nature's Armaments" ability says this:

When adding weapon special abilities or increasing the enhancement bonus, the final level of the spell expended is 1 higher than the base spell level (2nd for shillelagh and 3rd for flame blade), increased by the additional special abilities’ total base price modifier (see Table 15–9 on page 469 of the Core Rulebook). For example, creating an aberration-bane vicious flame blade requires spending a 5th-level spell slot, which also counts as a 5th-level spell for purposes of dispelling.

It's the "...counts as a 5th-level spell for the purposes of dispelling," that gets me. It seems to indicate that Flame Blade, cast with those improvements using a 5th level spell slot, becomes a 5th level spell. Would it, then, gain a +10 damage bonus from the Furious Spell metamagic? I think so, but I'm not much of a spellcaster, so my rules-fu is a bit rusty.

2) Divine Fighting Technique: Sarenrae's Mercy Does a flame blade count as a Scimitar for the purposes of this feat? According to the spell, you wield it as a scimitar, which means you could, theoretically, deal nonlethal fire/cold/lightning/etc. damage, while healing you once you qualify for the advanced version. Again, given that you wield the flame blade "as a scimitar", I think it should work, but I understand that might not be accurate. Thanks!

Today I had a bit of free time, and was engaging myself in a thought exercise. Namely: How far can I take buffing?

It's a tricky question, and depends entirely on the kind of buffing one plans to do. I've made my halfling Defensive Fighter, but I wanted to play around with something I'd tinkered with previously: maximizing self-buffing. To that end, I've come up with something that, I think, seems like a fun mechanical exercise.

To start with, we'll be looking at the Bard today. You could easily do this exercise with an Evangelist Cleric (and in fact, it would probably work out better in the long run), but for simplicity's sake we'll take bard.

Of important note is that our bard must be Human. This will become apparent in a moment, but I wanted to clarify that he must be human, or at least part human (this could work with a Half-Elf almost equally as well, and Half-Orc might also be tolerable. Certain kinds of Aasimar with the right traits could also qualify.)

So, we have our bard, and we all know what bards do well: Inspire Courage. But wait! Inspire courage is not a morale bonus! Well, we can't have that, but we ought to do with it what we can. Now, at 1st level, we need to make a rather important decision: Do we want to be a flagbearer? It's a tricky one. We want lots of feats, but flagbearer is also a really good choice for the party, and we're going to get a Banner of the Ancient Kings anyways, but we're mostly concerned with Heroism, which won't stack for most things (you still get the damage). In the end, the damage buff from Flagbearer is probably worth the feat, but you're basically forced into two-handed, reach weapon combat (like that's a bad thing).

So, we're going to assume you go Flagbearer at 1st level, which is just about the best Bard feat there is. Remember, though when I said we needed to be a human? Remember that boring human option that gives you 3 skill focus feats? Well, we're taking it. Why? Because Skill Focus (Perform: Oratory) is a prerequisite for Eldritch Heritage: Imperious Bloodline, of course!

So, the first feat is garbage. Imperious bloodline's basic power gives us basically nothing. However, at level 11 we get access to Improved Eldritch Heritage, which gives us Heroic Echo. At this point, I'm sure you see why we grab the feat. At 11th level, it increases our Morale AND competence bonuses by 1! This means Flagbearer and Inspire courage both get a bump, and we can share that +2 net bump to our allies as an immediate action for MANY combats. But wait, we still have feats leftover!

One of them will, of course, be Encouraging Spell. In fact, it may behoove you to take this one early if you choose to take a trait that reduces your Heroism Metamagic cost by 1, simply because Heroism gets mighty strong, particularly when you combine it with:

The Courageous weapon trait! That's right, for the low, low cost of a +1 enhancement bonus, you get bonuses to so much stuff. Last, but certainly not least, at a higher level we can pick up a Pale Green Prism! Guess what? Competence bonuses from different sources stack! There's definitely more, but let's take a look at our Bard at 1st, 5th, and 11th:

1st: You have flagbearer and inspire courage. Your weapon is up to you, but you have a base +1 to attack and damage rolls, up to +2 with inspire courage. If you have a decent strength score, you can pack up to 1d8+5 with a longsword at 1st level. Not bad at all, considering you're also buffing your whole group and have a few backup spells.

5th: Things have started kicking in, now. At 3rd level you took Encouraging Spell, and now you can have Heroism up for 50 minutes giving you a +3 to everything! You have a +8 to attack, +3 extra damage (Inspire Courage), and that's not including stats or any magical gear at all. A simple +1 weapon and 16 Strength puts you at +12 to hit and 1d8+8 damage. Not much, but again, that +3 you're pumping out to all your allies makes a world of difference, and your Saving Throws are likely some of the best in the party. Your skill checks are DEFINITELY the best.

11th: Man, so much stuff turns on by this point it's crazy. You've just picked up Improved Eldritch Heritage, you probably have a Banner of the Ancient Kings AND a +2 Courageous Weapon (At least), and you might even have your Pale Green Prism ioun stone. You are a mad, mad buffing machine. You get: A +5 to pretty much everything from Heroism itself, a +2 to everything from your Ioun Stone, Flagbearer gives you an extra +4 damage, and your Inspire Courage bonus on yourself goes up to +5. You have a spare feat in the middle where you could take something like Power Attack, and you probably should.

Overall, assuming you have only the things listed here, you have: An Attack routine of +20/+15 (Higher if you have good Strength (not included) and/or a better weapon), an extra +11 damage rider (Higher if you have Good Strength and/or a better weapon and/or Power Attack), not to mention the fact that you can throw out Haste AND inspire courage AND your super-buffed Heroism on the rest of the party. You can even increase the bonuses to Inspire courage and Heroism/Flagbearer as a swift action.

All this not including the fact that you also have about a +7 to all skill checks and saving throws above any other gear you have.

The damage numbers may look small (though, realistically we'd probably assume about a 20 Strength by this level, adding another +5 to Hit and 7 damage, not counting Power Attack), but given how good he is at pretty much everything else, and how much he buffs the party, I'd say he's doing pretty well for himself.

Did I mention that it turns Moment of Greatness into a pretty nifty spell? I don't think I did.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Did I miss out on a critical bonus somewhere? Is a single level of Freebooter ranger REALLY worth taking? I'd love to hear it.

Do you think a Blossoming Light Cleric should be able to wear/wield a Ring of Force Shield?

Let me explain the situation. I have this idea in my head of an unarmored Blossoming Light of Iomedae who eventually multiclasses into the Holy Vindicator, using the Prestigious Spellcaster feat to keep my full casting progression. If I do this, however, I run into the problem of having the Vindicator's Shield ability be, essentially, useless, as Blossoming Light clerics can't "wield or wear...shields" without losing their powers.

The question is really a 2-parter:

1) Do you think a Blossoming Light Cleric could use a Ring of Force Shield and keep her powers?

2) Do you think that the effect of a Ring of Force Shield would qualify as a shield that could be used by a Holy Vindicator's class feature to be amplified?

I'm interested both in your RAW interpretation, and your reasonability interpretation. To me, the RAW is iffy, since the legitimacy of the ring effect being an actual shield isn't totally clear to me (given the "Functions As" nature of the rules text), but more importantly I wonder: If a player came up to you with this character concept, do you think it would be unreasonable, regardless of RAW? I'm tempted to think not, but I'd like to know your opinions anyways.

I'm gonna come out and say it: I struggle with making characters in Pathfinder. I feel like the system rewards certain styles of play EXTREMELY heavily (optimization and a variety of powerful builds), but generally doesn't encourage sub-optimal, flavor-oriented choices.

Now, as a DM, I don't mind this. I can customize my content for the level of optimization and playstyle of my group, but as a player I'm often concerned with the whole idea. What if my DM throws really hard encounters at us because he expects me to optimize well?

The easiest solution, and the one I expect immediately, is talk to the DM ahead of time and make your intentions clear. I intend to do so. However, here's a more interesting question:

Pathfinder, as a system assumes competency, and by that I mean viability with some optimization. How should I talk to a DM about the level of difficulty I would like, and how would I go about making interesting decisions in the character creation process that allow for abilities and effects that, while sometimes suboptimal, provide great narrative potential?

I'm considering a character concept revolving around someone that completely eschews all forms of magic. He won't refuse magical assistance from other players, but he refuses to use any form of magic himself. I'm looking at an Investigator build atm, currently with a focus on just being super skillful and using Aid Another to help his allies.

My main question is, on what should I spend my money to benefit myself, and the group, if I will not be using magic items?

Okay, I had an idea for a character that worked as a dual-wielding cleric focused around dealing damage to undead and outsiders. The idea revolves around using two-weapon fighting with the Greater Channel Smite feat and the Sun domain to, basically, add your level to each damage roll plus however many Channel Dice you can muster (plus just the extra dice to evil outsiders). There's also the chance to be an Aasimar and add another 1/2 your level to each hit potentially, keeping in mind all of procs saves for 1/2 damage.

I know it's FAR from optimal, but it seems like fun, as the idea of a character dual-wielding Sun Blades and turning into a flurry of radiant fury is delightful. However, I'm not sure that the rules support my interpretation of the character.

What do you think? Does the Sun domain apply it's bonus to Channel Smite? If so, how do you think it works with Greater Channel Smite?

So, I'm playing in a group that, despite having generous stats rolled, have not only built their characters somewhat poorly, but also have exceedingly poor system mastery, as well as almost no understanding of character abilities or even remotely good combat tactics.

Try as I may to teach them, they also all happen to be really opposed to help, trusting in what, so far, has been DM unluck to get through the encounters we've faced, despite several close encounters.

So, here's my question: What kind of character an I make that can carry the party? I wouldn't normally ask this question, and so far I've focused on trying to improve the group through buffing/debuffing/combat maneuvers. But support only works when the support given is used well, and mine never has been. So... thoughts?

Okay, so I recently made a character for a campaign designed around martial support of my allies. The purpose of the thread is not only to showcase some cool synergies that I don't see mentioned often, but also to identify whether or not I've missed anything, or need to change things around.

So, the goal of the build is helping my allies. I'm currently playing in a gestalt game, but 99% of what matters in this build is on my Cavalier side. I'm playing a Halfling Cavalier/Hunter, with Order of the Dragon. We're level 4, and I've currently taken the Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard feats. Why?

Well, thanks to the Helpful racial trait for halflings, when I use Aid Another, I grant my ally a total of +7 to their AC against the triggering attack, or +7 to their next attack roll against the Aid Another target. (Side Note: There's a bit of debate about how the order of the dragon ability works, and I've never seen it resolved, but this is how our table rules it.) That's +4 from Helpful, +3 from Order of the Dragon.

My plan is to just completely keep going down this route, wielding a reach weapon to ensure that I can bodyguard anyone near me all the time. The beautiful part comes when I can start passing around Harrying Partners via Tactician.

Now, to the task at hand: What ELSE can I do to pump up these bonuses? I know about the Benevolent weapon enchantment, and I can grab a trait for a spell-like ability (again, controversial, that's my table ruling) to qualify for Arcane Strike which lets me grab the Gloves of Arcane Striking, but is there anything, and I mean ANYTHING else I can pick up to pump up my Aid Another bonuses? Any feats or other suggestions to help the character out?

I wanted to get the boards opinions on how this should be handled, as I've always wondered how to do it, and do it well.

So, in a sort of adventuring bubble where the adventure and loot are all predetermined by the DM, factoring consumable items into the group's WBL is a relatively simple task. There's simply a limited amount of treasure in the adventure based on the group estimated level, and consumables are simply part of the total wealth available to the characters.

However, assuming we aren't in a totally perfect wealth situation, how do you, as a DM, deal with wealth by level in regards to consumables?

Let's look at this. Simple example:

At 4th level, each character should have roughly 6k GP worth of items and treasure. However, while one character may be spending his wealth on sustainable items (cloaks of resistance, +1 weapons, etc.), let's say another is buying limited use consumables (lots of wands, potions, minor wondrous items, etc.). By the time the next level rolls around, the first character is likely looking at some minor upgrades, and maybe saving up for bigger items.

The second character, assuming he used all those consumables he bought, is now (compared to the first character) significantly behind his WBL if we take his inventory at its current level. He will have been chugging/handing out potions, burning through wand charges, and milking those wondrous items for all they're worth, but now if we look at both their available items, he's losing steam, and out a good bit of money.

How would you handle this situation? On the one hand, it seems unfair to throw gold at people that buy consumables to keep their current level WBL reasonable, but on the other hand it sucks to be way behind everyone gear-wise just because he decided to buy items that would be useful now rather than later.

So, this may be an odd question, but I was thinking about it, and can't find any rules that disallow it.

There's this new Fighter archetype in the Familiar Folio called Eldritch Guardian, and it's the bee's knees. Basically it replaces relatively few class abilities (just two feats + Bravery) for a full progression Familiar that shares your combat feats. Then I started wondering:

If I picked up Martial Weapon Proficiency: Lance so that my familiar had it, and had, say, the dreaded Monkey familiar with the Mauler archetype, could I as a small sized creature mount the medium monkey whilst it is mounted on another creature? You could even take the rest of your levels Cavalier for more mounted combat goodness, and an almost full progression mount. My question isn't one of viability: it's simply one of possibility.

Obviously this is utterly ridiculous, and I wouldn't pull out this kind of wackiness unless I was playing in a game that called for it, but it IS something to consider.

So, I've recently developed a huge interest in the Antipaladin class, and have been scouring the different archetypes looking for cool stuff. I saw fearmonger, and thought it sounded awesome.

Then I read the abilities, and, as written, they just... well, they don't work. There was one thread on this issue, and it never garnered much attention, but the rules brokenness of this archetype I would THINK would warrant an easy fix.

If you don't know about it, here's The Archetype. As you can see, you replace Touch of Corruption with a very specific effect... and then get a bunch of Cruelties that require touch of corruption to function. As it stands, all the archetype does is, basically, lose 2 class features (Touch of Corruption & Cruelty) to sometimes gain back HP from fear spells, a few times per day (and very little HP at that).

C'mon. This is a bit ridiculous. It's one of the more poorly worded archetypes, and I can't help but feel that a few minor word changes would make it actually usable.

Okay, I was just looking through this in the rules, and MAYBE it takes a little too long to come online, but the image in my head is simply amazing.

So, Magus gets access to the Dimensional Dervish feat line, which is all good and well. Teleport + Full attack is awesome. Then I noticed that one of the prerequisites was Dimensional Assault which seemed a bit... well, lackluster.

But then I thought to myself: Wait, what if I wanted to maximize Dimensional Assault? What's the best thing I can do on a cha-...OH MY GOSH. And the WarpLanceCharge magus was born. Not only can you get one of the most mobile mounts ever in the form of Phantom Steed (though it eats a spell slot), but you get to do all the cool stuff that using a lance entails.

Two-Handed Damage? Check. Hand free for spellcasting? Check. Ignoring any difficult terrain, including allies and other obstacles? Check. The ONLY real concern I have is whether or not you can use Spellstrike with a held spell charge in conjunction with a charge. My get says "No", but my heart says "Please?"

What do you guys think? Is the image of a teleporting, arcane-fueled cavalier atop a Conjured Steed too amazing, or is it too little, too late, and asynergistic?

Well, really, it's more like a slayer-like druid. I was checking out the Nature Fang druid archetype, and I realized that I really liked the flavor of it. It just seemed a little... lackluster by itself, as cool ability progression stops after about 6th level. (The added Slayer talents are quite sick, though).

Then I remembered that druids can get more sneak attack damage via the Crocodile Domain and realized that I'd finally found a class combo that filled my need for a druid-style rogue, or rogue-style druid, without having to worry about an animal companion, and getting lots of bonus feats and sneak attack, plus of course the full spellcasting.

But I figured, why stop there? If I wanted more combat orientation, I actually can fully qualify for the Gray Warden prestige class by 7th level, which gets me slightly better sneak attack progression, plus the Inquisitor Judgment and Bane abilities, at the loss of a tiny bit of spellcasting progression. It's all pretty freaking cool, imo.

My question is... how do you go about making this great? Now, my first inclination is to go two-weapon fighting for sneak attack, and with the bonus accuracy from Studied Target and Judgment, plus the Bane ability, it might work pretty well. My only problem is that it's feat intensive, but with Slayer Talents I can actually get Improved Two-Weapon Fighting before I even have +6 BAB, lol.

Alternatively, I COULD take the Natural Weapon combat style, which, if I started off as a race with a bite, would give me 3 natural attacks to use. I could even select Multi-Attack and combine it with something like unarmed strikes or Armor Spikes to have a rotation of Weapon/Bite/Claw/Claw. Combine that with spells like Natural Rhythm and Strong Jaw, and I think it's a decent contender.

What are your thoughts? Would I be better of as a Gray Warden, or going straight Nature Fang/Crocodile domain? Is there a better combat style choice?

*Edit: I also forgot to mention the possibility of going Samsaran, as being able to pick up Fate's Favored and Divine Favor would be a pretty significant boost to damage.

I had a character concept going through my head and I wanted to see what the community thought of it.

Essentially, I really like the idea of playing a Rogue, and I wanted to capitalize the idea of the Skirmisher. Combine that with my love of the one-hit-wonder, and I wanted to see what I could do with a single strike... or rather, a single shot.

While there several ways to go about it, I wanted to emphasize precision damage, hence the rogue. Then I looked at Kirin Strike, and wondered how I could work it in in a way that brought up my early damage a fair bit, which SCREAMS MoMS monk.

Then we grab Focused shot, which is just a standard action attack that adds Int to damage with a ranged attack. With Rogue levels, I figure I can get 1d8+Int Mod+2d6 Sneak Attack+2x Int Mod at 5th level (Monk 2/Rogue 3). I would only have a +3 BAB, but that's what I'd have anyways at this level as a single class. All of this investment will REQUIRE Point Blank shot and Precise shot at 1st & 3rd to qualify for Focused Shot at 4th if I spend my rogue Talent on it. That plus Deadly Aim should make me okay.

The big benefit is the massive number of skill points with that high Intelligence modifier, plus the other style feat benefits. Any thoughts? Does this seem like too much work for too little payoff?

Alright, I had a rules issue with a player this evening concerning Spellstrike. He said that he, and several past DM's, had ruled that the attack roll made with the magus Spellstrike class feature was made against Touch AC, whereas I ruled that it was a normal weapon attack.

I'm pretty sure I've got it right and that he (and his past DM's) were crazy, but I wanted to double check and make sure that the attack roll is treated as a normal attack roll and not a touch attack.

This thread is designed for those posters who insist that the Sacred Weapon class feature of the Warpriest is fundamentally flawed, and needs to be totally rewritten, or at least remove the notion of the Warpriest being forced to use his favored weapon.

(For what it's worth, I'm not one of those persons. I just think we could use a thread for it.)

Okay, first of all, I know that RAW a Paladin cannot multiclass with a druid and maintain his powers, and vice-versa. That having been said, a group I am DM'ing for just slaughtered the animal inhabitants of a forest to create flaming, skeletal critters to use as mines for an attack against a cult.

I feel it suitable to design an encounter which implies the consequences of their actions, but make no mistake: My goal is not to punish them. I think they would actually enjoy slaying a champion of the forest. As such, I'm gonna wave the obvious rules inconsistency to give them a fun, but challenging, fight.

The thing is, I don't really know how to optimize this concept. The group will be 7th level by the time the fight occurs, and typically do well in combat encounters (they'll have a CR5 undead ally with them), and there are 5 of them, most of whom can dish out some pretty sick damage, with an Antipaladin, Ranger, and storm Cleric in the front while the Arcane Trickster and Rogue support with flanks and sneak attacks.

I think the Paladin/Druid could manage, but I'm curious to see how the community would build it without my input. My initial thought is Paladin 5/Druid 5 against this group for decent wild shaping smites and some good Summon Nature's Ally spells, but I could also see Paladin 2/Druid 8, or Paladin 6/Druid 4, etc.

Anyways, thoughts?

In order to prevent further thread derailing in the Magus thread, I'd like to move the conversation here instead.

The question I posit to the community is this: Do you view Paladins as being useless outside of combat scenarios?

Keep in mind that I'm leaving the question purposefully vague, and I would like posters to explain why they believe their opinions. I will refrain from jumping in on this thread until a little later on, though I'm fairly certain most people know where I stand.

Whoever designed the Forgemaster Cleric and Stonelord Paladin archetypes for dwarves deserves some sort of amazing prize. These are two of the most well though out archetypes I have ever seen. They're flavorful, cool, and quite balanced just at a cursory glance. They embody what people think of when they think dwarves, and provide meaningful and brilliant substitutions for them. Stonelord Paladin in particular is just a stroke of brilliance. I never thought I would want to play a Dwarf Paladin, and now I absolutely NEED to.

Thank you, whoever you are.

So, here's the basic premise:

I love the arcane warrior type of character. Magus, Eldritch Knight, and Dragon Disciple are all some of my favorite character concepts. However, most ideas regarding these types of characters focus far more on the magic side, or focus on being lightly armored. The idea of the plate wearing magical warrior is not well-represented in Paizo, and so I introduce you to the Warden!

Looking for feedback. I combed through this several times, but I'm looking for things I may have missed (if anything seems overpowered, underpowered, if Stalwart comes too early, things like that). I tried to keep the spell list thematic, but I don't know if I may have missed something.

Okay, so, I've long been interested in the Brightness Seeker, ever since I saw it in a copy of Elves of Golarion (at least, I think that's where it's from). When I first saw it, I was rather unimpressed. Seemed like it had odd, situational abilities, and I didn't care for it too much. Plus, I've never been too big on elves.

But the more I've looked at it over the years, the more it's grown on me. I mean, look at what it does over the course of only 5 levels:

Once per day bonus (starts small, becomes life-saving)
Fear "Immunity" for themselves and nearby allies (+10 to the save? Pretty much a guarantee at that point)
Wild Shape (only as a 5th level Druid, but stacks, and is still useful)
Free Reincarnation (this ability is sooo cool.)
Awesome Situational Bonuses (via Channel Past Incarnation)

Now, all of the above abilities are great, but here's the best part about Brightness Seeker:

It can be used by any class.

Seriously. Any elf (non-caster) class could qualify for this sucker and gain some benefit. I'd even argue that they can gain a LOT of benefit. Just a few ideas:

1) Natural Weapon Fighter. Those abilities can actually be useful! Plus, you qualify for the Aspect of the Beast feat, which means you can choose between getting a Fly Speed, Swim (with Amphibious thrown in), a decent AC boost (via Nat. Armor), or BLINDSENSE OR SCENT. You don't lose anything a pair of duelist's gloves won't make up for, and you'd probably end up taking Iron Will as a feat anyways.

2) Barbarian. Just anything. You're a raging, wild-shaping barbarian. You don't get quite the variety as a druid, but you get to pounce, large numbers of attacks, and rage helps make up some of the difference between a druid and yourself. Rage powers blend nicely with the class abilities, too. Oh, and Channel Past Incarnation is glorious for you, too.

These are just a couple of examples, but there are so many possibilities (Wild Shape + Favored Enemy? Wild Shape + Smite Evil? GRAVY). And, seeing as how the PrC is only 5 levels, you don't even miss out on many class abilities from your base class!

Does anyone else have any other cool ideas for the PrC? Is anyone just seeing this for the first time?

Keep in mind, I know any character can be off the wall or weird in a roleplaying sense. I'm looking for funny, bizarre things you can do mechanically that could actually work in-game without significantly gimping yourself.

I'll start:

Grippli Cleric of Gozreh - Animal Domain & Frog Domain (it's a druid one, but it definitely fits the god).

Animal Companion is a Giant Frog. Character focuses on a few mounted combat feats, but mostly on spellcasting. Most combat is handled by the Animal companion, but if needed the two can combine forces and lay down a decent amount of hurt.

So I heard you like Frogs.

So, I'm notorious for making really nasty BBEGs for my group to fight.

Anyways, long story short, the primary foe of an adventure I'm planning (spanning level 4 to level 7, 5 characters) will be a disgruntled, malicious Tojanida who has accidentally opened a rift to the Abyss in an attempt to impress a gorgeous Tiefling priestess of Asmodeus, and has become tainted by the demonic forces he has unwittingly released.

Does a Half-Fiend Tojanida with 7 levels of Sorcerer (Abyssal Bloodline) [CR 14] seem like too much for a party of 5 APL 7?

Now, let me explain my rationale behind this:

Resistances don't stack, so he'll be stuck with the best resistances granted (aka, Half-Fiend), which negates several either inherent or class-gained abilities. His spellcasting won't be terribly effective (with a Charisma of 14 including a HD bump), but he will have access to quite a few handy spells, with the likely inclusion of Mage Armor, Mirror Image, Acid Arrow, and Lightning Bolt. His BAB will be low for a CR 14 (+9), but he'll still be fairly accurate, and with a 20 Strength (likely 24 with Bull's Strength), he should be putting out respectable damage to the group of level 7s. Throw in some monster summoning, and I'm thinking it should be a really, REALLY tough (though beatable) fight.

What do you guys think?

*Added notes: This will be the only encounter of the day, so NOVA is a guarantee, and the group will have a SUPER dedicated healer (Life Oracle).

My search fu is weak, but I couldn't find anything, so I thought I'd ask.

I recently considered a CN cleric of Lamashtu with the Chaos Domain (Demon Subdomain) and the Strength Domain (Ferocity Subdomain), and both of the Subdomains grant the Rage spell as a 3rd level spell.

I realized that I didn't know much about it, and thought I'd better brush up on it. Everything looked fine, until I noticed the Concentration + 1 round/level duration, which kinda stinks, but is okay.

But then I noticed the targets, and realized that, but maintaining concentration, you can prevent enemy spellcasters from casting ANY spells as long as they are in medium range. Is this correct?

I mean, the spell is kinda "meh" as a group buff, mostly due to losing spellcasting (though I'm not sure if that applies to my cleric Spell-like abilities from the domains), but without a saving throw OR allowing for spell resistance, would you be able to effectively lockdown spellcasters?

I recently started looking at some monk archetypes, and I really like the idea of creating a monk that specializes in using Ki for abilities, as well as acting primarily as a support character.

My idea, at the moment, is Qinggong Monk/Ki Mystic/Sensei, focusing primarily on Dexterity and Wisdom as is primary attributes, with a major focus on having a massive Wisdom score (for more Ki points), as well as using lots of feats on the Extra Ki feat.

I could see a few races working, but right now Human looks like the best, with the Favored Class bonus going towards the extra Ki point every 4 levels, and the bonus feat early on allowing me to take Extra Ki more liberally later on. I've heard there's a weapon enchantment out there that allows you to use your Wisdom modifier instead of Strength for damage, which would be a handy feature.

I had considered taking the Hungry Ghost archetype, but it doesn't really fit the flavor, and I don't plan on him focusing on melee combat much, just enough to be survivable and contribute a little, mostly working as a movable buffer with Aid Other, Advice, and Ki points for a little crowd control/AoE damage with the various spell-like abilities.

Anyways, which feats do you think would be useful for this build (besides Extra Ki)? I'm looking at Improved Initiative, Dodge/Mobility, and Combat Reflexes/Bodyguard. Any other suggestions?

I was recently thinking to myself how, lately, alot of my character builds are very, VERY similar. Two-handed weapons seem to be the way to go, but it got me thinking:

Why do we very rarely see one-handed weapon builds? Most builds are focused either entirely on the offensive or defensive aspects, with very little in between (aside from Crowd Control).

Now, assuming that the game is designed around APL+1 encounters, how much damage should each character be able to deal in order to end an encounter with some, but not a large amount, of resource loss to the party (i.e., a standard encounter)?

I started look at the total hit point amounts of various Bestiary entries, as well as the estimated HP per level according to the Creature Creation guidelines in the Bestiary, and the numbers seem so amazingly low that I can't help but wonder if high-damage optimization is even necessary for the average encounter.

Now, don't get me wrong. YMMV, especially when DM's can make more or less difficult encounters to cater to the group style and power level. However, assuming APL+1, does the average damage needed to defeat an enemy seem low, especially compared to the numbers optimized characters can put out? Does this change the perceived effectiveness of various classes which are frequently said to put out incredibly small amounts of damage? (i.e., Monk and Rogue)

Okay, here's my question: Do rays and melee touch attacks count as weapons for the purposes of the Arcane Strike feat?

I could see both interpretations of this one, which is why I feel the need to ask.

On the one hand, Arcane Strike seems to imply (by virtue of making the weapon count as magic for bypassing DR) that it only applies to physical weapons. Further discounting this theory is that fact that Weapon Focus states that Rays and Melee Touch attacks may be selected, but only for the purposes of that specific feat, meaning they would otherwise not be treated as weapons.

On the other hand, the fact that they can even be selected as options for Weapon Focus/Specialization, in addition to the fact that you are considered to be armed when making melee touch attacks, seem to imply that they are treated like weapons, and would thus qualify for the bonus damage granted by Arcane Strike.

I'm personally leaning towards the first interpretation, but would absolutely love to be proved wrong. Thoughts?

So, I just saw a video done by Extra Credits about Transgaming and realized something.

What if events and experiences people had in Pathfinder Society had an impact on people's experience in Pathfinder Online, and vice-versa?

Now, don't get me wrong, coordinating something like this between two separate (if associated) companies could be difficult, but it'd definitely be a great way to get MMO players excited about PFS, and PFS players excited about trying Pathfinder Online.

Basically, you could tie your PFS ID# to your Pathfinder Online account, and completing various modules and adventures would be credited towards your account, granting you access to extra benefits based on what happens in PFS, such as access to items with unique appearances, a resource boon, or maybe even (as an extreme example), access to a special ability associated with your PFS character.

Or on the other hand, playing Pathfinder Online could grant you access to special benefits in Pathfinder Society, such as very small increases in fame, access to limited, novelty gear, or maybe even one-per-session abilities associated with your Pathfinder Online character's abilities.

I know it'd be tough to balance and work out, but what do you think about the possibility?

Okay, my search fu may be weak, but I looked all over the forums and could not find a definitive answer for the thread title question.

There are several Sorcerer bloodline arcana that increase damage dealt with abilities by a static amount based on the number of dice of damage dealt by the spell. Normally, this isn't an issue, i.e., a 5d6 fireball now does 5d6+5 (or 5d6+10 if you roll that way).

However, adding sneak attack to the equation has the possibility of increasing the damage dealt by a spell directly. Damage dealt from the sneak attack class feature is added to the total damage dealt (it is not a separate form of damage that can be resisted by damage reduction), even if it is not multiplied on a critical hit. Additionally, the increase in damage dealt by sneak attack is of the same type as that which was used to attack the target.

Honestly, I could see the rules going both ways. On the one hand, having the Arcana damage bonus apply to sneak attack wouldn't be terribly overpowered in most situations, as in most cases you need to give up caster levels in order to gain that sneak attack damage.

Alternatively, there are a few character builds (Okay, really, just Arcane Trickster) that would get a good bit of benefit out of an extra ~10 damage per spell from sneak attack if the Arcana does provide this benefit.

I guess at this point the question becomes, "Does applying Sorcerer Arcana benefits to Sneak Attack damage unbalance any existing archetypes/classes, or make any obsolete?"

Thought? RAW? Let me know.

First off, let me say that I'm very... intrigued by the prospect of a Pathfinder MMO. That said, looking at the website, I have a few concerns, questions, and ideas:

1) The Skill System

Sound like you guys have been enjoying Skyrim :P. Seriously, though, I really like the idea of "You play the way you want to" character design, where you build your character up from scratch. However, from what is available to us so far, there is no potential limit to the number of skills a player possesses. Realistically, this makes sense. You can do ANYTHING you want. However, what would happen when a single player maxes out EVERY skill? Don't get me wrong, it's a neat idea for a single player game, but in an MMO, you need other players to help shore up your weaknesses (not Holy Trinity style, though).

My suggestion? I really, REALLY like the skill system idea, and want it to stay. However, perhaps during character creation, a player can select specific skills to be "class skills," which have a hard cap that is twice as high as the non-class skills, or instead of being higher by a factor, is simply "X" number of points high enough to equip better gear, allowing for specialization while still having to build up various skills and allowing for variety in playstyle (think of the FFXI subjob system combined with Elder Scrolls IV).

2) PvP

Okay, here's the deal. I'm an organized PvP person. I like competitive matches of equally numbered teams. Fortunately, you have set the game in the River Kingdoms, which is known to have Gladiatorial arenas, which is perfect for this. HOWEVER! Persistent PvP in an open world is, frankly, just a bad idea. Even imposing harsh griefing penalties... will not stop griefing.

Don't get me wrong. A dedicated PvP server, or the ability to switch on or off PvP might work. However, I would actually recommend a PvP zone... perhaps a pirate city or something like that, where players can still participate in "theme park" style quests under the constant threat of PvP. This type of combat should award experience, just as fighting traditional monsters would (perhaps giving experience equivalent to that of an elite or higher monster?). In fact, there could be pirate city assassination quests, asking you to kill X number of players. Heck, there's an interesting organized PvP idea: Assassination. Free for all for X number of people, where killing your target grants points, and initiating combat with someone who isn't your target imposes a penalty.

3) Cooperative Play

We need to ensure that players are not competing for "theme park" resources. Sure, if you want to have a competitive, engaging economic system, you can limit the number of crafting resources. However, MMOs in the past have proven that "tagging" monsters is just not a good mechanic. It discourages cooperation outside of grouping, and grouping generally imposes an experience penalty. Allow non-grouped players to share experience and rewards while granting ALL involved players completion towards "theme park" quests.

4) Hybrid Payment Model

Don't do a monthly fee. Just... trust me. It's not a good idea. You may look at WoW or SWTOR and think, "But those games had monthly fees, and they're HUGE!" (SWTOR isn't out yet, of course, but it's gonna have a really large player following already.) But here's the thing: WoW may be the biggest, baddest MMO on the market, but what are the most SUCCESSFUL new MMOs on the market? The free-to-play ones. I'm not talking "free-to-play up to level 50 then you have to pay for content" mmos. I'm talking about games like the original Guild Wars, where you pay for the game, and then you play it. The Pay-Once model with an in-game cash shop has already proven immensely successful, and this type of payment model is, frankly, one of Guild Wars 2's bigger selling points to MMO players. If you make a good game, people WILL be extraneous cosmetic items and bonuses. Heck, if you make an AVERAGE game they'll buy all those things.

Basically: If I payed for the game, I should be able to play it, and it's a MAJOR turn off playing through a game for free, and then being shut down because you don't have access to all the content. It doesn't make players pay; it makes them quit.

5) Branding

This is the smallest issue for me, but I think it may be an important distinction. I would try calling it Golarion Online, or The River Kingdoms, or something like that, rather than Pathfinder Online. My reasoning is this: The two games will be very, VERY different. I mean, in a system that uses skills rather than classes, you become unable to replicate various aspects of the tabletop game that are "balanced" for this very game. I mean.. how would you do Animal Companions? Those are KEY aspects of two classes that, when thrown into a skill-based system, become FAR too powerful. I would recommend strongly separating the Pathfinder RPG and this new MMO, at least in name, so that people UNDERSTAND that the two are very different entities.

Whew. Glad I got that off my chest. Anyone is, of course, free to comment, discuss, etc.

Okay, so I'm DESPERATELY trying to make the Duelist prestige class work, and I think this may help. (It may be an exercise in futility, but dangit, I gotta try!)

Monk 8/Duelist 10/Monk 2. I prefer Unarmed Strikes, so I'd probably go straight Monk and take Monastic Tradition, but if you wanted to use a piercing weapon, Sohei would work nicely as well. Definitely take Hamatulatsu (turns unarmed strikes to Piercing damage).

Two routes I'm looking at. The first is going Kirin Style. Normally the Int. bonus is POINTLESS, but when you're looking at it basically applying to your AC, the style becomes a good bit more useful. 2xInt to one attack per round? An extra 10-14 damage isn't GREAT, but it's not bad, either.

Alternatively, take dragon style, monastic tradition, and combine with Duelist to get a REALLY nice chunk of damage per hit. Plus, you get enough attacks to sacrifice for Parry if you need to, and all of your attacks are made with the same weapon.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

It's a simple question that, I think, a lot of us all deal with. Now, I'm not necessarily talking about teamwork at the table. People who all get together and play the same adventure USUALLY engage in some form of teamwork.

However, from an optimization perspective, collaborative character building seems like it'd be more popular than it is.

A little backstory:

My best friend and I were recently starting a new Pathfinder game, and we decided to make our characters based off of teamwork. So, we picked the two classes that are normally the more ignored ones: Cavalier and Rogue. You see, by themselves, many people are often unimpressed. Rogues do poor damage, and the Cavalier usually seems pretty bland.

However, teamwork makes this combination a wonder to behold (and I'm not just talking about the feats, but I'll get to that in a minute). The rogue will be taking the weapon finesse/Two-Weapon fighting approach, with an emphasis on getting Menacing weapons ASAP, and the fantastic Butterfly's Sting feat, while the Cavalier will be picking up a rockin' x4 crit weapon, and a decent dexterity modifier so he can pick up combat reflexes.

Now, I'm sure many of you can see where I'm going with this, but think about it for a second. Not only does the rogue have a dedicated flank buddy, but once the Outflank feat comes into play, he'll be getting a +6 or more on his flanking attack rolls. In addition, the Cavalier gets to enjoy the best possible crit range EVER (15-20/x4, essentially), while the rogue gets to use his highest static melee damage in the game (say what you will about strength, the Rogue increases by a flat ~3.5/2 levels). In addition, thanks to all the hit bonuses, the rogue is getting bumped up into auto-hit territory, AND he still gets his cool effects (Assault Leader and Strength Damage come to mind).

Now, with a bit of really simple teamwork and coordination, two somewhat bland classes have become quite powerful. In fact, it's downright awesome.

Now, my point: If something this simple is SO effective, why don't we see more of it in guides and such? Or, heck, average gameplay?

Okay, so by now we all know that, more often than not, static modifiers are the way to go. The get multiplied on crits, and usually come with bonuses to hit as well.

This thread is not about that.

This thread is about how awesome it is to pick up a fistful of dice and lay down the pain with 'em. I don't care how much damage your barbarian did, I just threw down more dice than you've ever used since level 1.

So, what are your favorite classes for throwing down lots of dice, or what are some great fistful stories?

My favorites? I mentioned this in another thread, but Magus and Rogue. For SURE. Funny thing is, I usually build both the same way. Charge in and drop the dice bag on some sorry fool. With a Swashbuckling Scout, I get Greatsword proficiency, meaning I'm doing some wicked damage right off the bat. Magus takes a little time to build up steam, but once you throw in a level of Sorcerer, you take dice damage to a whole new level XD.

Incidentally, I was once part of a CR5 group that was fighting off a CR9 protean (can't remember what it was called). I did more damage than anyone else because those extra dice helped me punch through DR (and nobody really had anything to penetrate DR at that level). 5d6+10 hurts a lot more than the poor sucker thought it would.

Did end up turning me into a squirrel and losing my sapience, though. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Let me just start off by saying that I am, generally speaking, NOT a fan of 1 level dips. They leave a sour taste in my mouth. I suppose it feels a little like cheating to me.

But then again, I love big numbers, so I do what I have to.

I was reading a thread recently wherein a poster had mentioned a Crossblooded Sorcerer with the Orc and Draconic bloodlines, capitalizing on the stacking +1 bonus to damage rolls to get some really effective spell damage.

Well, I thought, why not apply this delightful bonus to the Magus? For a -1 BAB penalty, a one-level progression bump on basically ALL Magus abilities, you can add +2 damage per dice to all lightning or acid spells (aka, Shocking Grasp OR Corrosive Touch) depending on the draconic heritage selected, and with the right traits, you're casting at full Magus level anyways. The best part? This bonus stacks with spell critical hits. It's almost paladin-like in how it works, adding double your level to basically EVERY spellstrike you make, which doubles AGAIN if you crit with your 18-20 weapon. Oh, and it increases with Empower, too, since Empower increases the number of damage dice.

Alright, so, I was doing some character brainstorming because I finally got a look at the monk stuff in Ultimate Combat, and I came up with a concept for a Monk of the Four Winds/Ki Mystic/Sensei (yes, they stack).

I'm thinking I'll make him Dexterity/Wisdom-based, wielding a two-handed weapon, with enough points in Strength for Power Attack, then focus on the Panther Style feats once I get access to them.

Essentially, the build becomes kind of a Monk/Bard, granting rerolls to allies, Inspire Courage, and all the other awesome benefits of being a monk (I'm also looking forward to a Ki-weapon so I can use Elemental Fist through it). I don't remember exactly what panther style does, but I DO remember it being kind of based on AoO's. This way, losing flurry of blows doesn't hurt as much because I'll be making my attacks through that medium while buffing my allies. I took Combat Reflexes to combine with it, because, why not?

1) Any suggestions as to what weapon to use? Feat Ideas?

2) What exactly do the Panther Style feats do again?

Kensai

Alright. I get the concept, and to be honest, I REALLY like it. The archetype is really awesome, and I can't WAIT to make my own Kensai.

However, a thought occurred to me. Without armor (except the new 0% Arcane Spell Failure armor), the Kensai really needs a high Dexterity score to be effective. Now, Canny Defense helps to shore up that bonus to be pretty respectable, but then we run into another problem... this basically means that the Kensai, like most other magus builds, will probably end up using (gasp!) a scimitar. Yes, I COULD use an Agile weapon and it'd work fine, but a kensai being better with a scimitar than, say, a wakizashi... katana... or any of the other cool new weapons available to us (My first thought was actually to use a Tonfa. Yeah, I'm weird like that.) just seems... a little off.

Is it time to start seriously considering a feat that lets you apply your Dexterity Modifier to attack/damage with any weapon (weapon finesse prerequisite) as a part of the core rules?

I'm going to be starting an Eberron game soon, and decided to go with shifter as a race (lycanthropic ancestry, wild heritage, all that jazz). Seeing as how some of the new material from Ultimate Combat is on the PFSRD now, I decided to take a look at the Barbarian stuff.

I gotta tell ya, I REALLY like Urban Barbarian. In fact, I think it may be one of my favorite Barbarian Archetypes, mostly because the Tank-barian seems more feasible to me.

So, here's what I've got:

Level 4 Urban Barbarian/Savage Barbarian
20 Point Buy:
-- Strength 12
-- Dexterity 19 (+2 Racial, +1 Level)
-- Constitution 14
-- Intelligence 10
-- Wisdom 13
-- Charisma 10

*Note: We are using a variation of the racial attributes wherein you choose only a single racial attribute bonus and lose the other bonus and penalty.

With Leather Armor and a +1 Shield, and a nifty amulet of natural armor, I'm looking at a 20 AC, bumped up to 24 while Raging and Shifting thanks to some of the Shifter-centric feats. Over the next few levels I'll be looking at a couple more shifter feats to give me another +4 bonus to AC while shifting, picking up the Beast Totem rage power (which are thematic AND functional), and probably Guarded Stance just for a little extra something.

In addition, I'll be looking at grabbing an Agile Rapier in order to actually put out some decent damage, and with Beast Totem eventually granting the Pounce ability, this seems like a pretty decent build. Any thoughts as to ways to either A) Increase my defenses or B) round out the damage a little more?

Is casting a spell with an alignment descriptor considered an act of the descriptor's alignment in Golarion? When asking this, I am referring to things such as Organized Play and the general view of the world from the mind of the developers.

In addition, branching off of that path a little bit, is it the general assumption in Paizo Material that any spell with an alignment descriptor, or an action leaning towards a particular alignment, should, eventually, change the acting character's alignment?

Feel free to discuss, but I'm really actually interested in the views of the developers, so as not to make myself the fool by pulling a "but JJ said!", which I know he isn't a fan of :P

In keeping with the spirit of my previous archetype, here is my second archetype attempt. (my previous archetype, The Engineer, can be found here.)

Bard Archetype: The Mesmer

Improved Counterspell: A mesmer gain the Improved Counterspell feat as a bonus feat. This ability replaces Countersong.

Bardic Performance: A mesmer gains the following types of bardic performance:

Empathy (Su): A mesmer can use performance to cause a single creature to physically empathize with any creature it attacks. A creature affected with this ability must succeed at a will save (DC 10 + ½ Bard Level + Charisma modifier), or be affected by this ability for as long as the mesmer maintains the performance. Once per round, when the affected creature makes a melee or ranged attack with a weapon, the affected creature takes 1d6 points of damage. This damage cannot be reduced by any means. This damage increases by 1d6 at 4th level, and every 3 levels thereafter. This ability replaces inspire courage.

Clumsiness (Su): At 9th level, a mesmer can use performance to disorient his foes, causing them to stumble and trip. Once per round, as a swift action made while maintaining this performance, you may cause a single creature to fall prone unless it makes a successful reflex save (DC 10 + ½ Bard Level + Charisma modifier)

Mass Empathy (Su): Starting at 14th level, a mesmer can affect 1 creature for every 5 bard levels with his her empathy bardic music. However, the link is more difficult to maintain with more creatures, which weakens the effect on individual creatures. Reduce the damage dealt by Empathy by 2d6 for each creature beyond the first. Example: At 14th level, Empathy deals 5d6 damage. While targeting two creatures, each creature takes 3d6 damage from empathy. This ability replaces frightening tune.

Versatile Spellcasting: A mesmer gains the ability to counter spells from different schools. Choose one school of magic. Your spells known count as being from this school for the purposes of countering spells. You gain an additional school in this manner at 11th level. This ability replaces versatile performance.

Backfire: You learn to channel spell energy back at spell casters whose spells you counter. Any time you successfully counter a spell, the caster of the spell takes 1d6 points of damage per spell level of the countered spell. This damage cannot be reduced by any means. This ability replaces inspire competence.

Counterspell Mastery: A mesmer learns how to use her spells efficiently, allowing her to counter spells of equal, or eventually higher level than her own. Beginning at 4th level, a mesmer can counter a spell by readying a spell of the same school that is of equal or higher level than the spell being cast. At 5th level, a mesmer’s spells are considered to be 1 level higher for the purposes of determining the level of the spell it can counter. This bonus increases by 1 at levels 11 and 17, allowing a 17th level mesmer to counter 9th level spells. This ability replaces lore master and jack-of-all-trades.

Counterspell Perfection: A mesmer learns how to expend almost no effort in countering spells. At 20th level, a mesmer can expend a spell of any school to counter a spell, and can ready an action to counter a spell as a swift action. In addition, whenever a mesmer counters a spell, she gains the ability to cast that spell once for the next 24 hours, using her bard level as her caster level and her charisma modifier for all relevant spell effects, such as save DC, etc. If the mesmer does not cast the spell within the next 24 hours, the spell is lost. This ability replaces deadly performance.

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm working on a collective group of Archetypes for a specific campaign setting I'm working on. They'll have a very specific feel, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people figure it out rather quickly. Here's my first attempt at an archetype, the Alchemist Archetype: the Engineer. I'm look for thoughts, criticism, but mostly I want to see what the initial reaction is as far as balance is concerned.

Just wanted to mention real quick, when it comes to Firearms, I use Pistols and Rifles to refer to the Flintlock counterparts, and I don't penalize my players for trying to play a cool gun character, so full-attacking with firearms is totally possible.

Alright, so, it's looking like my poor halfling Rogue/Ranger just met an untimely end by being turned into a squirrel, and we don't have any spellcasters that can cast Dispel Magic in the group.

So, I'm looking for critique on my next character, a Paladin of Shelyn.

For the Race, I'm looking at Half-Elf, but Rakshasa-Spawn Tiefling is really high up there as well.

We're 7th level, so I'll probably be looking at:

Weapon Focus: Glaive
Combat Reflexes
Power Attack
Unsanctioned Knowledge

as my feats. I'll be taking the Hospitaler and Sacred Servant archetypes (my DM let's them stack), and will probably end up taking the Charm domain, though the Luck domain would be pretty useful, too. Adding a few bard spells to my list will be nice, too (Vanish, Mirror Image, Haste, and either Dimension Door or Hold Monster).

Balance will be on Strength and Charisma attribute-wise. Any other suggestions?