Mike Schneider's page

Staggered: You may reasonably surmise that enemy activity is the cause of your being at 0hp in the last round.

Further notes: 1. no alignment has been given for the monsters; assume they are neutral. (If you want to compute hypothetical Smite damage, go ahead.)

2. I observe that I have not given AC figures for the round 3 monster. I will therefore up the ante slightly: Your AC target number in Round 3 is 30 no matter what (even touch or flat-footed, sole exception being you've rendered it helpless somehow). If you can nerf its AC by blinding it, feinting, etc, congratulations, you did! And now it's down to 30 from whatever higher value it originally was.

Suck it, Round 3.

That's the sort of ornery can-do spirit that our arena crowd really appreciates!

...the time to interview and hire hirelings is not taken into account because this is not a campaign. This is a DPS test....

PFS is a campaign. The first sentence of the (Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide) begins: "In an organized play campaign...", and the PSRGG is the "campaign bible". The DPR challenge is a hypothetical encounter.

Hiring NPCs for a specific, one-shot task is a contingency service: "Contingency services are similar to contacts, but represent paying hirelings in advance for future services that begin after a specified signal or time limit. Unlike contacts, most contingency services are arranged as a single transaction, buying one service performed in case of a specific event." Hiring first-level commoners to pack themselves in tightly around an uncaged monster is a suicidal request.

Even if you could bluff a regularly company (i.e., less expensive) of men-at-arms, they're going to start asking questions almost immediately, and subsequently jack up their rate, which you will pay, or see them leave.

What can hirelings do in PFS? As it turns out, not a lot. They can be hired for out-of-combat services, but typically cannot be for adventuring (bringing hired NPC spellcasters along is specifically proscribed). A "porter" is a vanity item costing prestige points, can only carry your stuff, and disappears into Hammerspace during combat.

* * * *

Wait, what's this? Hold the Scry-horn, everyone! Late-breaking news has informed us that newly-appointed head campaign-coordinator Tonya Woldridge is currently being held locked-up in a hall closet following a coup d'etat by rebellious regional venture-captains (something to do with a recently-implemented policy concerning candy treat requirements for the upcoming holidays -- a Snickers ban policy did not go down well, we hear, something to do with peanut allergies -- although our correspondents have yet to verify these potentially erroneous details), and for a brief time, chaos reigns down at the Lodge in Absalom.

Therefore, for the next week, ending at the stroke of midnight on Halloween, October 31st, PEASANT RAILGUN builds will be entertained in the arena. In fact, all fees are waived! The jails have been emptied, and a mass of "suicide squad" prisoners are yours to do with as you please, and you don't have to pay them a penny.

The mechanics will still have to be PFS-legal (items, spells, feats, etc), save regards to the employment of 1st-level commoners.

So an archer can draw a 2' arrow out of his quiver and hook it into another weapon (which requires the arrow's addition in order to function) faster than I can draw and slash with a weapon using a feat specifically worded to make said activity happen in the blink of an eye?

<furrowed-eyebrows scowl>

(IRL, you could do this before acceleration due to gravity has taken your dropped weapon all the way to the ground.)

If you see yourself ever casting Summon Nature's Ally more than 150 times, you'll save money over the cost of buying three wands.

Otherwise it's a CoR that you can't upgrade.

Benefit: While you are using the Snapping Turtle Style feat, the shield bonus the style grants to your AC increases to +2, and your enemies take a –4 penalty on critical confirmation rolls against you.

It falls in the category of "feats that are incredibly awesome while also being incredibly boring".

-- It'll save your life constantly, but nobody will notice.

When I saw the title of this thread, I had fond memories of Jiggy's DEX:7 spam-can paladin failing Acrobats checks.

"Timber!..."

(*sigh* ... I was worried something like this might happen when I set consumable price limit to 750gp because I wanted to see the interplay of Haste. In retrospect, if I'd wanted that, I should have just said that everybody gets it for free.)

= = = = =

Alright, here's what I'm going to do: For the arena's amusement, I will let this continue until someone reaches 1,000 -- at which point the contest will 'end' with the announcement that Form of 'Giant Monster': Wonder Twin Powers 'Activate' is LOLbroke given that it's fully twice as destructive as any other viable technique seen thus far.

The Challenge will then reboot with the following alterations: [Suggestion Box is currently open]

Aren't PFS scenarios kinda notorious for being weak though?

Depends on the year, depends on the GM, depends on the players, depends on party composition. Home games are typically well-oiled machines in which every PC is very familiar with what they others can do, and how the GM adjudicates. PFS tables are a train-wreck in a zombie apocalypse where you don't know who's in the seat in next to you.

...you'll be breezing along on autopilot as Ser Mutoid McClane thinking it's a total cakewalk, and all of a sudden a flying breath-weapon monster starts slagging the party while they're clamoring along a ledge, and you realize there's not a professional archer at the table and nobody's playing a blaster because oh-they-suck-compared-to-summoning-hordes-of-angels-but-oh-crap-it's-a-full -round-before-I-can-get-'em-to-show-up-and-*piss*-I-only-got-*1*-one-of-'em !

Barely surviving that debacle, you then have to get on a ship, and you know you're screwed now. All the remains to be determined is which poor sod is the one yanked over the side into the briny deep with "nonrecoverable" body loss.

Quoting Monstrous Physique:

"When you cast this spell, you can assume the form of any Small or Medium creature of the monstrous humanoid type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: climb 30 feet, fly 30 feet (average maneuverability), swim 30 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, and scent.

1) Since claws, bites, slams (etc) aren't on the list, my presumption is that the PC will not get them in the new form even if they're in a Paizo-product picture of the creature. I.e., not any more than they get the monster's umpittyump hit-dice, breath attacks, pounce, and so on unless so indicated.

2) What is RAW for what happens to the equipment, apparel, and weapons of a person in a "form"? (It doesn't say in the druid section or in Beast Shape.)

OK, that has to take the cake for the dumbest-looking monster (which has mainly done a decent job fixing D&D's old-school stupid artwork). --How does a normally humanoid fighter, trained with boots-on-the-ground, manage to function jiggling on a tail like that? Do both heads have a brain? Could you cast two spells at once because you have two heads, two brains, and two mouths? ...In a home game, I'd saddle the player with *severe* penalties trying to do his normal humanoid sword-fighting techniques while dangling out, maybe starting him off at -10 to everything and gradually getting slowly better as continues dabbling in the monstrous form for short periods of spell-duration time.

BUT this is a case of where PFS will permit you to get away with something thoroughly ridiculous, and the arena crowd is going wild, so it's in.)

= = = =

BTW, how are you getting the Elven Curve Blade to 2d6?

Have the tiger charge, make an acrobatics check to jump, and then use pounce to bring it down :)

*Winner*.

(Also, I'd go with cats and other supple-spined creatures such as weasels, but not horses or boars, being able to "stand" as a move action, transforming from a long creature into a tall one. They're not good at balancing upright, however, and need to continue expending the move to keep upright.)

that's by design

that way content creators can make money off of book sales for a decent amount of time b4 its added to a site for people to view for free

The major reasons why this is incorrect:

* PFS (whose players account a very large if not majority Pathfinder customer base) requires ownership (physical books or watermarked PDFs), and most in said campaign are not going to buy a dozen PDFs of the books containing the feats and items they want -- unless they already know what they are.

Paizo has hundreds of Pathfinder products now, and even if I owned every single PDF it'd be a gargantuan PITA to laboriously shuffle back and forth between them looking at spell descriptions, and trying to have more than a dozen pdfs open at the same time bogs the system.

Thus, lists are highly desirable.

...a half-elf raised in Tien by his mother who was a renowned sorceress with a snowcaster elf father (who may have been an Eldritch Knight or something similar) - we are starting at level 1 (in Reign of Winter) so his initial motivation is to seek out his father (wherever he has ended up)

So he would like a character that uses elf weapons (longsword, perhaps bow), has some magical ability, some performance ability and perhaps an asian/anime like companion (he also indicated an interest in perhaps having some unarmed combat ability but mechanically getting all of that may be difficult)....

Rycaut, try this: The PC begins play with a silvanshee, the cute little cat which I'm guessing was already the familiar you or he were thinking of when contemplating the Chosen One paladin archetype (since it fits the classic anime trope of a small magical creature whose purpose is to mainly sit on your shoulder and be totally squee! cute. In fact, he'll get it even if he doesn't take paladin at 1st level (which I recommend not to in this case; see build suggestion below). It's initial stats, however, will be very much like an ordinary housecat (i.e., not a INT10 magical outsider quite yet, as it's more immersive to build these things up).

But not for long, though, as there's just something a little off: At second CL, the cat becomes preternaturally hungry (eating twice as much Meow-Mix or mice as a normal housecat its size would) and begins putting on weight. (As the GM, you should have the cat raiding the party's pantry and running off with sausage-links, etc.) When the character levels to 3nd, his pet grows up from size tiny to small (i.e., bobcat-sized, although still cute and playful rather than ornery like a real bobcat), and a faint pattern of spots appears in its coat. At 5th CL, it reaches medium in size, and it is now painfully apparent that what was initially assumed a full-grown cat was in fact just a kitten of snow cat lineage. At 7th, it becomes size large with the Narrow Frame feat, and is available as a paladin bonded mount (any existing weapon or animal bond waived). Initially shy when tiny, it has become quite brave (treat as having the war-trained and attack-unnatural tricks built-in and also conferring Mounted Combat to its rider). If the character accepts it as his paladin Divine Bond mount (specifically: only as a paladin), it will remain a full-level familiar and animal companion provided no more than two class levels do not grant full-level companion advancement. Penalty: the quite intelligent cat will sense wavering commitment and develop a sense of despondent ennui should the character abandon the path of righteousness; it will not advance by any means whatsoever should the PC stray from the path of paladin. -- if the player wanted an Oath, this is it: be true to your buddy.

Hybrid cat stats: combine what's at both of those links, taking the better in each case (i.e., such as highest stats, the silvanshee's cold-resistance 10, keeping both familiar and companion abilities, etc), then advance to Large as per druid AC. Exception: its Spectral Mist ability only manifests in the case of taking any damage or effect which would kill it; death instead poofs it into a cloud of vapor which then dissipates. It reappears 1d6 days later, during which time the character endures whatever penalties come with losing an animal companion. (Don't let him know this ahead of time, and expect some real roleplaying out of it the first time it happens. (Treat the cat as a summoned creature which can't actually killed while on the material plane.)

To those who think this is all maybe a little too much, consider that the Chosen One archetype would normally grant both a familiar and Divine Bond, meaning that if both are being folded into one critter, it should be awesome. (Besides, he's a martial, and every once in a great while a martial should get a nice thing he can actually keep. Especially if they're good, and a good outsider has taken a shine to them.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Character build: Start him off with two levels of ranger, then all paladin (he'll get Divine Bond at 7th).

STR:14
DEX:14
CON:14 (half-elf 15,14,14,14,10,08 20pt array)
INT:10
WIS:08
CHA+17 (all bumps)

racial trait: Ancestral Arms (Exotic Weapon Proficiency:Fauchard)
character traits: Dangerously Curious, Demon Slayer

01 ranger1 [beastmaster archetype], Feat(g):Fey Foundling
02 ranger2 [combat style:archery:Rapid Shot#]
03 paladin1 [Chosen One:Divine Emissary:Religious Mentor], Feat(g):Fast Learner*
04 paladin2 [Smite Evil][Lay on Paws], CHA>18
05 paladin3 [Mercy], Feat(g):Greater Mercy
06 paladin4 [Divine Grace:CHA>saving throws/share w/cat]
07 paladin5 [Divine Bond:(Mounted Combat if Mount)], FEAT(g):Spirited Charge#
08 paladin6
09 paladin7 [True Form], Feat(g): Wheeling Charge

* Half-elves can take human feats, and in this case it's particularly good because half-elves get to chose two favored classes.)
# At 7th, use the retraining rules to swap ranger archery style to mounted style, and take Ride-by Attack, thereby permitting Spirited Charge at the same time in the general slot.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Backstory: The character begins play with a wicked-looking polearm only he knows how to use, a strange cat with luminescent purple eyes, and a small wooden box (a mundane family heirloom) containing a very old piece of parchment from his mother: It is a scroll discernible as of Instant Enemy to those with Read Magic -- which the character is unable to cast due to lacking sufficient wisdom to access ranger spells, or indeed any knowledge of magic whatsoever. But such inability has given him a fascination for all things magical despite lacking the genetic disposition for it, and thus the Dangerously Curious trait and the Fast Learner feat).

You have to look up every single thing you put in a build on a random webpage that changes every couple of months... Which you can't even search properly - try putting say "sacred geometry" into that page ... you don't get a hit.

Which is why I recommended searching Nethys first in my post at the top of this page. (Or just thingamabob + nethys thrown at Google will get you where you need to be 99% of the time.)

If you don't see the PFS logo, it's almost certainly not legal if the book it was published in itself has an entry on PFS' Additional Resources page and doesn't mention it (none of the feats in Occult Mysteries are legal). (Sacred Geometry was sacked in PFS for being either a massive table-hogging time-sink, or LOLwut!? broken if you used a phone app to solve it for best-possible result every time...not to mention fragging any semblance of immersive verisimilitude with a flame-thrower.)

Is simulacrum, game breaker that it is, banned? Of course not...

How about the "mandatory" buy of Gloves of Dueling - that you see in every single fighter build - Nope.

You mean those 15,000gp items that eat your hand slot and require anywhere from three to five levels in the otherwise arid wasteland of the dullest core class in order to properly activate them for a, in most cases, +2/+2 increase in one's existing bonuses, but only while wielding specific weapons?

You know else does that and only costs 25gp with a single level dip into a class with lots of cool skills and other 1st-level bennies, and works with every weapon in the book including improvised? -- A scroll of Instant Enemy used by any ranger archetype that doesn't forfeit either spellcasting or favored enemy. You could do this as a 1st-level character on your first adventure! (You will be saddled with the onerous requirement of having at least an 11 in wisdom.) And you know who else can swing that +2/+2 att/dmg at 1st level? Barbarians. -- The fighter squeezes the dear life out of his coppers to swing those gloves by 6th (more likely 7th) in PFS. Meanwhile, the ranger-dipping bloodrager is concealing his +1/Furious bardiche in a Glove of Storing. The dueling gloves are very nice, don't get me wrong, but they're hardly a must-have-or-you-suck item, and many astute practitioners of higher-order munchkinery still account fighter a suboptimal class.

======

But enough arguing, because that is not what the ticket-buying crowd was here for. The arena grows bored and restless....

Send in the next gladiators!

A Corset of Delicate Moves can turn a move into a swift 1/day....

Corset of Delicate Moves

Melee Tactics Toolbox pg. 28 (Amazon)
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot chest; Price 2,000 gp; Weight —
Description
This tight-fitting garment of fine silk has thin bone ribbing sewn into it. Once per day as a move action, the wearer can take an additional swift action. This swift action can’t be used to cast a spell or spell-like ability. The shirt must be worn for 24 hours before this ability can be used.

Oh. Really. I see what you did there, Paizo. Yet another instance of you creating new feats and items whose appearance immediately shuts down ubiquitous totally-makes-sense options that players have been using for over a decade, namely "downgrading" a move-action into a swift, because it absolutely makes sense, and everybody and their kid sister's uncle does it.

But cometh the GM to say: "You must now wear this really fruity ladies garment that eats your chest slot to do that incredibly common thing you used to do all the time for free...once, but try not do anything even slightly cool or it won't work."

~ ~ ~

Hey, you know what I can still do as a free-action? ...get *pissed*.

Intense, seething, mutagenic, elemental, claws-poppin'-out-everywhere RAGE.

BRAWHHWHHWHWAAARRRGGGHHHH! (Where's my lance? Where's my bat? Things gonna die now....)

race: half-orc, racial trait: Sacred Tattoo
traits: Fate's Favored(faith), Deadeye Bowman(religion:Erastil)
01 bloodrager [urban][bloodrider:mount][draconic:claws:Power Attack], Combat Reflexes
02 warpriest1 [Divine Commander:mount][Weapon Focus:longbow]
03 warpriest2 [Fervor], Quick Draw or Extra Rage

STR+16
DEX:14
CON:14
INT:10
WIS:14
CHA:10

* saves are +9/+4/+7 before buffs or raging
* +3 Luck bonus to att/dmg as a swift action 3/day
* +4 raging to the physical attribute of choice
* out-of-box mounts are still badass at 3rd-level
* full cleric spell list and partial arcane spell list
* Combat Reflex Enlarged(scroll) w/polearm
* decent archer (aside from lack of Rapid Shot)
* claws only appear when raging, so not a monster in polite-society
* Acrobatics, Diplomacy, and Perception are class skills

Equipment: bardiche, lance, composite longbow, javelins, scale barding, backpack full of cheap scrolls

Lady-J wrote:

i wonder if anyone has ever run a campaign at level 80+

That poor demented soul.

How does that even work?

GM: "Roll for initiative."

PC: <toss><add modifiers> "...174, I think...."

GM: <dryly> "It's a squeaker, but you go first."

PC: "Quickened Time Stop. Delayed Blast Universe. GTFO to another plane."

GM: "OK, you blew the universe up. Now what?"

PC: "I make a new one, filled with only the things I like."

1. Using the regular rogue. I want to see just how badly it functions and what exactly needs to be boosted in order to get it up to scratch.

Quote:

Looking at the types of monster you might expect to fight at that level... are you going to be able to cope with the DC 25+ Will saves and Fortitude saves that you're likely to face?

About as well as a fighter.

Except that that's awful (i.e., being a melee-obsessed 2010-era vanilla rogue with BAB-4 and half his feats traded for skills) at 17th level. (Not that he's likely to live that far; most of these types croak at 5th in PFS playing their first Tier6/8: they pay for Raise Dead out of prestige points, get killed again and have to pay cash now, then get killed a third time, and the player makes a new character.)

IMO, if you're going to be a melee scrapper using chained rogue, and you're not going to be the proverbial untouchable halfling, then you need to go the "power" route and shy away from the dink-dink-tink TWF mode than always leaves you ending your turn in a snarly monster's full-attack zone.

~ ~ ~

And for the love of all your blood that you want to keep inside you, play a dwarf. They're really good at what I am about to propose.

Concept: be a rogue who beats the tar out of things while restricting inbound damage and avoiding the massive feat-tax of TWF.

STR:15
DEX:14
CON+16 (dwarf 15,14,14,14,12,07 20pt array)
INT:12
WIS+16
CHA-05

traits: magical knack:cleric, accelerated drinker
01 bloodrager-1 [celestial][move+10][rage:13r/day], Extra Rage
02 cleric-1 [kurgess:community/travel][channel][move+10]
03 rogue-1 [SA+1d6], Raging Vitality
04 rogue-2 [evasion][talent:Trap Spotter], STR>16
05 rogue-3 [SA+3d6], Steel Soul
06 rogue-4 [talent:combat trick:Quick Draw]
07 barbarian-1 [move+10][rage:15r/day], Accomplished Sneak Attacker

Exploits:

* move50, 60 with 30m Longstrider, easily gets into flanking.
* stupid high saving throws with 16s, Steel Soul, and dwarven bonuses.
* faux "rage cycle" via Calming Touch power of Community domain.
* trigger scrolls/wands of cleric and bloodrager spells without UMD.
* not needing high UMD means dumping CHA is a very attractive option.
* free 1d6 damage (Celestial) every attack versus evil creatures.
* two automatic Perception checks versus traps in stone dungeons.
* not useless in long-range artillery duels (like nearly all TWFs).

Equipment at 6th: +1 adamantine bardiche, +1/Adaptable composite longbow, mithral breastplate of agile moves, mithral light quickdraw shield, belt of giant strength +2, cloak/amulet of...etc.

6th-level tactics: activate 25gp scroll of Long Arm (Bloodrager spell list) in prep round; reach is 15'. Swat from flank for d10+6(STR+belt)+3d6(sneak)+1d6(celestial vs evil) versus most opponents, and leave them too far away to reach you on a 5'. Enjoy AoOs with a swank polearm.

Memorize the Brace property rules of your polearm; realize that it works versus pounce (because a pounce is a charge). Around 10th, you'll have a +1/Furious/[/i]Fortuitous[/i] reach weapon, and will soon apply Cunning to it in conjunction with Improved Critical.

Two levels of ranger (for Track, Rapid Shot, and even more buff and utility triggering) are a good addition to the multiclass theme of maximum, impervious versatility.

08 ranger-1 [Track][Favored Enemy](avoiding the trap of BAB5 with rogue-5)
09 ranger-2 [Rapid Shot], Improved Initiative or FEAT(g)

* Two archery shots at 8th, three at 9th. Nice. +9d6 sneak-attack triple-tap against a flatfooter in the first round ain't too shabby at all. Killing things when they can't kill you is the distilled essence of roguery. (Finish that round by dropping bow and quickdrawing polearm.)

Nethys, because he has an awesome website.

You are specially trained to use your weapon skills in new ways.

Prerequisite(s): Fighter level 5th, weapon training class feature.

Benefit(s): Select one advanced weapon training option, applying it to one fighter weapon group you have already selected with the weapon training class feature.

Special: This feat can be taken more than once, but at most once per 5 fighter levels.

Special: Fighters that have the weapon master archetype can select this feat beginning at 4th level. The benefits of a weapon master’s advanced weapon training options apply only to his selected weapon rather than all weapons in the same fighter weapon group, and he can’t select the weapon specialist advanced weapon training option. A weapon master can select this feat as a bonus feat; if he does so, it doesn’t count for the purpose of the requirement that it can be taken at most once per 5 fighter levels.

If I have all that straight, a Weapon Master build can run like this:

01 F(WM)1: [FEAT(c)], FEAT(g), FEAT(h)
02 F(WM)2: [FEAT(c)]
03 F(WM)3: [Weapon Mastery+1], FEAT(g)
04 F(WM)4: [FEAT(c):Advanced Weapon Training(x)]
05 F(WM)5: [Reliable Strike], Feat(g):Advanced Weapon Training(y)
06 F(WM)6: [FEAT(c):Advanced Weapon Training(z)]
07 F(WM)7: [Weapon Mastery+1], FEAT(g)
08 F(WM)8: [FEAT(c):Advanced Weapon Training(n)]

...taking AWT in every bonus feat slot as well one general slot at 5th (with the next general slot kosher for AWT at 11th), correct?

Favorites:

1/1 Fighter, just because you're forced to roleplay how *rotten* your skills are, and how much you really need someone else in the party to figure out that whatchamacallit or talk to the thinginmahface. Yeah, that thing. I don't what it's called. Do you? No, I don't speak that language either.

1/1 4th casting: paladin, but only because I've never gotten around to ranger.

3/4 no casting: Rogue (chained or core, I like 'em both)

3/4 6th level casting: Bard, if only because there's a greater buildup of goodies for 'em than Inquisitors.

3/4 9th level casting: Clerics, because I'm in love with domain powers.

1/2 9th level casting: Wizard. (I can make myself look like a witch anytime I want to.) <make a will save> You see a witch.

If it stacks with fighter for Weapon Training, the level at which "Fighter Level Nth" feats may be taken, or some other useful goody, add it to the list.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brawler: ...a brawler's levels are treated as fighter levels for feat acquisition from 1st, and he is both "fighter" and "monk" for items that trigger off class.

Monk [Martial Artist]: "At 4th level, a martial artist may use his monk level to qualify for feats with a fighter level prerequisite when those feats are applied to unarmed strikes or weapons with the monk special quality."

Monk [Sohei]: Receive Weapon Training at 6th level, and upgrades it every six levels thereafter. (Fighter and Sohei levels do not stack for Weapon Training, and Sohei cannot take fighter-prerequisite feats.)

Samurai: From 3rd onward, samurai levels count as fighter levels and stack. (The text doesn't specify what for, but since the classes have no named abilities in common, the only thing left that it could logically apply to would be feats.)

Swashbuckler: "Swashbuckler levels are considered fighter levels for the purpose of meeting combat feat prerequisites." (This line of text appears in the Swashbuckler section for Bonus Feats, of which they receive their first at 4th, but it does not appear that they are required to confine themselves to their Bonus Feat slots.)

Warpriest: "(F)or the purposes of these feats..." (i.e., Warpriest Bonus Feats), "...the warpriest can select feats that have a minimum number of fighter levels as a prerequisite, treating his warpriest level as his fighter level." (Warpriests also treat their class level as BAB level when taking Bonus Feats.) The classes do not otherwise stack, and warpriest PCs may not take fighter-prerequisite feats in their general feat slots.

102. GM informs group of the Sphere of Annihilation Latrine after the TPK.

Huntmaster "Prerequisites: Handle Animal 1 rank; either the animal companion, divine bond (mount), or mount class feature; human. Benefit: If you have the animal companion class feature, pick one of the following types of animal companions that this feat affects: bird, dog, small cat, or horse. If you have the divine bond (mount) or mount class feature, this feat always affects horses..."

Blood & biscuits, Paizo...would you like to add a few more restrictions onto this underwhelming piece of cheese so that nobody takes it?

Well we are talking martials with dumped INT here.

-- You can't expect too much.

...So let's say 4 dex, 3 enhancement, 8 BAB, 1 weapon focus and 1 Point Blank

for a reliable +17/12 to hit at level 11 for 1d8+4 damage. Or +12/12/7 for 1d8+10 with rapid shot and deadly aim. That's still needing a 13 or 18 to hit against your average CR 11 creature.

Question: where did I ever maintain that the character would always Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim?

...I get the impression you've never ran a Stealth/Perception murder-rogue before. The kind of build that is capable of initiating combat on his terms versus an unaware opponent, riding out the surprise round drinking a buff potion, then full-attacking the next round versus Mr. Still Unaware's flat-footed AC.

And for the fiftytwelveth time, the dwarf can take out the lights and murder everybody in the dark. -- That is something he can do that applies huge penalties to opponent AC that no other rogue save a half-orc can accomplish versus a wide variety of targets. Halfling rogues have better raw numbers to skills and attack, but dwarves can alter the terms of the combat itself. Get used to asking the GM about the illumination wherever your are.

-- So he can't take out the lights every combat, and likely not even half or a third of them. The point is that he can still dish out enough damage (a 3/4ths BAB archer's job is to take out the "wobblies" before they get their turn, not bring down mastodons), and is a net-contributor (because he's not getting his head caved in by enemy full-attacks), and didn't gimp his starting attributes in a way that butchered his rogue class skills and racial saving throws.

And why would the archer rogue take point?

That's not where he wants to be in case a fight breaks out.

He should be standing 5 feet behind the heavy armored fighter. Close enough to spot traps for the team,

To get the automatic checks from Stonecunning and Trap Spotting, you need to be within 10'. If Mr. full-plate is clanking in the front, enemies will always be alerted and always enjoy ambush.

You may want to be behind the fighter during combat, but you don't want him on-point during exploration (where he ends up down a pit when the ambush is sprung).

...but not the first to be engaged in an ambush.

in PFS just doing more damage than you take doesn't make you a net contributor.

I never made such as argument, and that's not what net contribution is.

If the party must do (X) damage to defeat the scenario while not incurring more than (Y) damage itself (or PCs die), the characters with a high personal X/Y ratio are net-contributors. Light-infantry in PFS have notoriously low X/Y ratio: they require constant medication in combat because an enemy attacking light-inf usually hits whereas the same enemy attacking a tank usually whiffs.

If a rogue is designed for melee, then he's shoehoned into low X/Y in PFS if he's under any expection to contribute to encounters at all, gets killed his third time by 6th or 7th (if not earlier), and is retired by the player who correctly determines that the build is suboptimal.

Granted: Core is training wheels versus creampuffier opponents, but the arguments stand because I've BTDT in PFS. The 90% of mods that are cakewalks are there to fatten you up for the 8% that are tough and the 2% that are infamous TPK-generators. Straight-class strength-rogue light-inf die like mice.

102. GM: "Your latest batch of CLW potions from Cupid's Alchemical Concoctions were made with loving care. ...lotsa love, actually. I'm gonna need will saves from everyone, and fort saves from all the guys. And it's a weird save, too: take your bonus and make it a negative, because the healthier you are, the worse you fail this one."

102. The Phallus of Vecna.

A miserable one immediate action per round doesn't cut the mustard. Let's get around it.

Things to not include on the list: stuff that requires activation or otherwise works only on your turn (e.g., regeneration or fast-healing), or resistance gimmicks (because there's a million of those and they don't need explanation). -- Assume you've already blown through your DR, hardness, Fortification, False Life, and so on, and are facing big, bloody cartoon Xs in your eyes unless you can make a widget do its business right *now*.)

Things to definitely include: anything that can be triggered without using an immediate action (and especially if its text actually contains the word "heal").

Just a few off the top of my head to get things started:
_____

Items

Sundered Mask: Must worship Nethys. Must be charged by Nethys-worshiping divine caster.

Abilities

Another Day: advanced rogue talent negates (probably) a killing attack as an immediate action once per day.

Armored Sacrifice: fighter advanced armor training negates a hit entirely, apparently. (Poorly-worded and crazy broke. Will likely be nerfed. Enjoy while it lasts.)

Guarded Life/Guarded Life (greater): barbarian rage powers convert lethal damage to nonlethal.

Flesh Wound: barbarian rage power converts lethal damage to nonlethal once per rage.

Redirect Attack: advanced rogue talent negates an attack by redirecting it to an adjacent target once per day.

Resiliency: rogue talent gains temp hp upon going neg.

Feats and Traits

Deathless Initiate: immediate action negate damage by trading rounds of rage for CON bonus HP w/each.

Fight On (dwarf/half-orc feat): get temp hp if hit 0hp.

Resilient Brute (half-orc feat): once or twice per day, half the damage from a crit is converted to nonlethal.

Roll With It (goblin feat): negate melee attack by bouncing out of combat as immediate action.

Tenacious Survivor (half-orc feat): built-in pseudo-Breath of Life if acted upon within CON-bonus rounds after death.

Spells

Contingency (arcane 6th): you know it, you love it, you wish you could afford it more often.

102. GM <kid in candystore> "Ooo...it has psionic abilities...."

Polearm guy, eh?

Obs:

* Either Combat Reflexes (or barbarian's Quick Reflexes) should be somewhere in the build, and early. Achieving AoOs should be a major priority, because they represents entirely free extra attacks, and each one of those successfully achieved is going to dish out massively more damage than just about any other feat you could possibly take. The goal here is to make the enemy kill themselves on their turns without you having to do a thing.

* Accelerated Drinker trait lets you chug potions of Enlarge Person as a move action. (Note that going up in size decreases DEX -2, possibly costing you an AoO.) Even better if you can enlarge yourself as a swift action somehow.

* Fauchards are a seductive trap. Players generally want to get that sexy 18-20/x2 weapon right away, so it eats a precious feat slot to acquire early in the build when they only have a few, and the bestowed benefit (additional 5% to threaten) is pretty weak at levels when confirmation isn't neigh guaranteed, and the trip ability superceded by Improved Trip later on. Worst, fauchard forfeits the brace property, which, with shrew appraisal of the battlefield, generate more instance of double-damage than a +5% to threaten, and it can save your ass breaking a monster's pounce in the higher-level game. So leave that fauchard on the pawn shop wall next to the overpriced Gibsons and instead pick up a trusty bardiche, which is underrated and underpriced accordingly.

* If you're a STR guy, don't waste your time on Improved Initiative, because you are not going to go before any opponent designed around going first. Besides, you may not necessarily want to go before your caster allies can buff the party, and your combat strategy may prefer the enemy coming to you anyway (AoO-generation, etc).

* That said, don't be flat-footed in surprise rounds (because that is a rotten time to get pounced). Especially be extremely wary of barbarian archetypes which forfeit Uncanny Dodge -- because that is the first thing archetype writers love to cash out because they are evil little s#!ts trying to kill you.

* Vital Strike can't be used with Spring Attack, but it can be used with Bestial Leaper (which is basically Ride-by Attack for barbarians, and therefore even better than Spring Attack because you're not left adjacent to the opponent and don't have to move in a straight line due to charging requirement).

* Dump stats make you better. Pick one is a gimme. Pick two if you dare. Pick three if you don't care at all.

~ ~ ~

Pick the first one if your GM likes asking for skill-checks other than Perception; pick the second if he just runs you through dungeons.

STR+17
DEX+16
CON:14 (15,14,14,14,12,07 20pt-array + dual-talent human)
INT:12
WIS:14
CHA:07

--or--

STR+19
DEX+16
CON:14 (17,14,14,14,07,07 20pt-array + dual-talent human)
INT:07
WIS:14
CHA:07

01 [class]1 ...Combat Reflexes

"...regeneration...."

The Flubber Trophy Prize Committee (hereafter: FTPC) issues the following clarification to address confusion regarding Trophy #2's challenges: You die in ONE round, on the enemy's turn, as the result of three massive attacks. (This is not a combat-simulator, it is a crush-a-diamond-in-an-anvil-press-simulator to count how many carbon atoms it contains.)

Regeneration is therefore useless as it assumes you're going to survive until your next turn. – But that won't happen, because in order to properly ascertain how much damage you can actually take, we're going to kill you.

You have one immediate action (you receive only of these per round unless you've a gimmick that alters the normal rules) and any number of applicable instantaneous or automatic item- or ability-triggered effects.

If you have DR/–, you may apply it three times. If you have a form of DR which is not blanket DR/–, you may apply it once.

Half-orc Druid 12. <snip>

...go for the ultra-cheesy green man. It's rules-legality is debatable....

After brief consultation with the FTPC, they are issuing a ruling that, for the purposes of the contest, you may not transform into anything with a greater number of hit-dice. But you could wear your animal-companion as a hat; see below:

Dont forget about getting a familiar and having it cast the Shield Other spell on you.

<referees' huddle with the FTPC> ...and the ruling on the field is: In addition to yourself and your items, you may have up to one sidekick who has at most one active spell and one immediate action (if applicable). So, we'll allow this. (You may also be interested in the delightfully name "Die For Your Master" feat, which is tailor-made for exactly this purpose.)

Every defense? Armored Sacrifice (Advanced Armor Training) redirects the damage but doesn't stop it. Unless it is an effect that reduces HP without doing damage (like drowning), Armored Sacrifice will even stop the rocks fall, everyone dies....

<referee huddle> ...after considerable deliberation, FTPC has determined that the author of Armored Sacrifice is a methhead with missing teeth who should be trouted liberally and then dumped into a vat of acid. (According to it by RAW, Wile E. Coyote's parasol could ward off Superman chucking a planet at him.)

See new rule 3).

(Congrats on the name, btw; that's the sort of recklessly overconfident devil-may-care attitude we're looking for in the arena to make the crowd go wild.)
_____

Additional rules:

1) Calculate base HP as per PFS: full first, then half/round-up (unless you have an ability which bolsters).

2) Assume three-quarters/round-up for "cheap" buffs like False Life and half/round-up for other dice-generated temporary hitpoint effects. (Note that multiple castings of the same effect don't stack.)

3) Items or abilities that negate or evade enemy attacks won't do you any good here today. Actually, they were of use to you, but the contest isn't tabulating attacks that missed, only the three that got through and killed you.

Having recently read some 5e material, I have to say I like their approach. Paladins have no alignment restriction, but they still have an Oath with a code of conduct.

Furthermore, as always, I believe alignment ought to be dumpstered.

I think it's the best thing about the game world: What you do matters, and actions have consequences. There's continuity.

~ ~ ~

Part of the reason we all need of break from reality is because real-life is depressingly free of actual justice delivered swiftly, when at all. We wish we could get away with it like Paul Kersey from time to time, and these games let us vicariously take out the trash.

There are a fair number of Domain powers that don't care about level, and some good ones at that.

Well, for those ones I wouldn't be fishing around for improvements! ;)

102. You notice the saddle on the Gigantean-templated Nessian Warhound.

Prestigious Spellcaster for Prestige multiclassing

Variant Multiclass otherwise.

Prestigious Spellcaster runs counter to the purpose (not previously stated explicitly, but sort-of implied) of using cleric as the dip class, (although I imagine there are more options around 5th/6th when PrCs with skill rank requirements become kosher) as it'll then require a rank in a PrC as well.

Point of note: neither Prestigious Spellcaster or variant multiclassing are PFS legal.

Possibly an alternate favored class option if you choose the correct race.

Cleric: Select one domain power granted at 1st level that is normally usable a number of times per day equal to 3 + the cleric’s Wisdom modifier. The cleric adds +1/2 to the number of uses per day of that domain power.

I.e. get more uses of a stuck-at-1st-level (because we dipped) domain power rather than bumping up the power of fewer uses.

Sir Thugsalot wrote:

A paladin fights evil with "every means within my power". He does not get down on all-fours and try to bite a wolf with his teeth because that's "fair". No, he kills the thing with his "unfair" weapon.

-- My last paladin was multiclassed rogue and wore a Hat of Disguise while sneak-Smiting bad guys.

"Fair" isn't' in the CRB code, but "honour" is.

YMMV (or your deity's mileage may vary) on what is considered honourable.

If the movies are any guide, it's permissible to snipe nameless mooks all day and night, but you must face Basil Rathbone in single-combat.

The worst is trying to play a Rogue or Inquisitor with a Paladin in the group insisting that we fight fair and don't do anything dishonest, like sneaking around to scout for enemies, sneak attack the bad guys, or disguise yourself as someone else to infiltrate the bad guys.

"Fair"? ...that word does not appear in the CRB paladin text. (It does not appear anywhere in the Additional Rules section on alignments either.)

A paladin fights evil with "every means within my power". He does not get down on all-fours and try to bite a wolf with his teeth because that's "fair". No, he kills the thing with his "unfair" weapon.

-- My last paladin was multiclassed rogue and wore a Hat of Disguise while sneak-Smiting bad guys.

Consider the possible scenarios:

A: Miswording, it's meant to mean caster level for the domain spells and cleric level for the domain powers.
B: It's a Trap! Domain powers get no benefit, haha!

Do you consider scenario B possible?

Choice A relies upon one's assumption of RAI, which, since we are not clairvoyant, therefore defaults (especially in the case of PFS) to RAW, which leads to <drumroll> ...B (because domain powers use "cleric level" wording, not caster level).

Queue the Ackbar.

102) "I know we're under a tropical storm warning, but if X is still open do you want to play Saturday?"

102a "Hey, guys; there's room in the attic; let's play up there!" <while Harvey is pouring in through busted windows>

Beacon of Faith

You wield the might of your faith with power and clarity.

Benefit: Once per day as a free action, you may treat your caster level as if it were 2 levels higher when using one of the granted powers of your domain or inquisition, or when casting one of your domain spells.

Specifies caster level not class level, so if the domain text says "cleric level", then by RAW you can't apply the benefit.

(Beacon of Faith is an OK deal for a straight caster who pegs it to his top-drawer spell to lob it at +2 beyond character level. E.g. a 5th-level Sun domain cleric firing a 4d8 Searing Light (1d8 stronger than normal) out his 3rd-level domain slot. For any other use, it's a much crappier form of Magical Knack, although I suppose Inquisition-users could get more mileage out of it.)

Quick example:

Community Domain

Granted Powers: Your touch can heal wounds, and your presence instills unity and strengthens emotional bonds.

Calming Touch (Sp): You can touch a creature as a standard action to heal it of 1d6 points of nonlethal damage + 1 point per cleric level.

Magical Knack will increase a fighter2/cleric1's CLW to d8+3, but his Calming Touch appears to be stuck at +1 due to hard "cleric level" phrasing.

so first off I'd like to ask what is the Best Pole-arm build out there that dose not rely on magic other than items.

My Gm is allowing free Muti-classing

I'd Like to use Dex as my Attack and Damage and rely on AoO's. I'd Prefer something that has staying power Between level 6 and 14 and Something that is not a one trick pony

General observations:

* Get mad, son. Be downright angry. You want to rage against the machine.

~ ~ ~

(The following is an actual PFS character build from several years ago.)

dwarf: 15,14,12,12,12,12 20pt array

STR:15 (bump 4th)
DEX:12
CON+16
INT:12
WIS+14
CHA-10

traits: Accelerated Drinker, Magical Knack(cleric)
00 BA HP/Rg saves FT RF WI (include dwarf bonus vs spells; +3/+2/+2 when raging)
01 01 15/18 barb1 07 03 04 [Brutal Pugilist][move_10], Raging Vitality
02 01 23/29 clerc1 09 03 06 [kurgess:travel/community(calming touch][move+10]
03 02 33/42 barb2 12 05 08 [Savage Grapple][rage power:Quick Reflexes], Steel Soul

Equipment: +1 bardiche, MW dwarven boulder helmet, javelins, quilted cloth armor, potions of Enlarge Person ("Buy 'em in the 12-pack!"), backpack full of 25gp divine scrolls.

Exploits:
* drink potions as a move action
* move40, or 50 w/3hr Longstrider
* dwarf with 3 Channels/day and Diplomacy who doesn't suck at it
* 2d8+7 Enlarged wrecks Tier1/2 mooks. Power Attack can wait.
* two AoOs/rnd even while Enlarged w/10dex; AoO versus grabs
* 5 daily uses of Calming Touch negating fatigue

And: --Just look at those saves! Aren't they sick? Cake-walk through the mushroom fields.

Tactics: Guzzle an Enlarge potion, then 5ft and ready/brace polearm. (Enemy attacks, triggering ready action, then I have two further AoOs.)

~ ~ ~

What a blast to play: I ran him as a bon vivant enjoying the finer things and holding his own in hoity-toity society, yet on the flip-side pretty much slaughters any non-boss in a single hit. (Don't forget that a bardiche can be braced against a charge, and the enemy's charge doesn't have to be versus you, just through the polearm's fat threatened zone -- very underrated weapon. If you crit while braced and Enlarged, you're doing 6d8+21 as early as 1st level.)

Armor: when you're Enlarged and raging, you're as big as a barn and as difficult to miss. If you can reach it, that is. -- I wore scale at 1st level, then threw it away. Getting hit in melee generally meant that whomever did it had six seconds to live, so that didn't bother me. What did bothering was getting shot at by ambushing rogues, and that happened more often than you'd think...thus quilted cloth armor for DR 3/— vs small ranged piercing. Otherwise, save gobs on armor money to be better spent elsewhere.

For a long haul dungeon-crawler, the basic 20pt chassis can obviously be minmaxed (taking CHA as low as 5), with bloodrager replacing barbarian, etc.

Tip: Remember that a pouncing monster is making a charge action, which means your readied, braced barchiche nails it x2. (If you also have Pushing Assault, you then knock it back, ruining its charge and therefore also its pounce! Neat way to avoid unchristly gobs of damage.)

~ ~ ~

I stopped playing him prior to leveling to 4th, because I wasn't sure what direction to go. The following...

05 figh(x) Power Attack, Pushing Assault

....would be a logical development in a polearm martial

Kind of the opposite of what you're asking for, but there's Eclectic and Esoteric Training out of Inner Sea Magic that allow you to actually increase your Spellcasting *ability* (up to your character level.)

But, they're two of the most powerful abilities that Paizo has printed, especially because they're literally free as-written.

Eclectic Training (5 Fame): Guilds often require members to master and train in different subjects. When your Fame score in a guild reaches 5, choose one spellcasting class you have at least 1 level in—you increase your effective caster level in that class (including the number of spells you know and can cast per day) by +1, to a maximum caster level equal to your total Hit Dice. Single-classed spellcasters should still pick a class to which this bonus applies, since this bonus is retroactive

Esoteric Training (35 Fame): The bonus to caster level you gain from Eclectic Training increases to +3 (but is still limited by your total Hit Dice). You may select a second spellcasting class to gain a +1 bonus to effective caster level

The problem is the obtuse and confusing passage that I've bold-faced. -- As far as I know, there are no spellcasting classes that grant additional spells known or uses per day on the basis of caster (rather than class) level. So, it should be errata'd.

For example, a fighter3/cleric2 with all of (Magical Knack + Eclectic Training + Esoteric Training) would have a caster level of 5. -- But he's still a 2nd-level cleric; he doesn't receive 2nd- or 3rd-level spells. Getting d8+5 CLW and +2 Divine Favors is cool, but it's hardly "powerful" at the cost of three traits & feats.

Scott Wilhelm wrote:

There is the 2 weapon Fighter Archetype. That will allow your friend to use 2 Bastard Swords, 1 in either hand, at level 11.

vanilla fighter can do that at lvl 5

Yup:

05: figh5 [WT+1:bastard sword], Advanced Weapon Training (Effortless Dual-Wielding)

Effortless Dual-Wielding (Ex) The fighter treats all one-handed weapons that belong to the associated weapon group as though they were light weapons when determining his penalties on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons.

Now guzzle an Enlarge potion to be TWFing a pair of 2d8 weapons with 10' reach.

Note: the bastard swords aren't treated as light for other purposes, e.g. usage in grapples, etc.

Just as the title asks, can a cleric achieve what a rogue can do?

What I'm trying to do:
Stealth
Disable Devices (if not possible, I can do without)
High Burst Damage
PFS Legal
20 pt. buy

The main problem full-caster clerics have, even with carefully-chosen archetypes and traits, is generating enough skill points to do better than suck at a rogue's job. They could raise their INT beyond 12, but that's the classic cleric dump stat, and gets them, at best, 4 skills per level as a human (assuming they take HP each advancement).

Q. What kind of cleric are you envisioning?
* Summoner?
* Save-or-Suck-O'matic?
* Buffer, Dabbler, Pinch Healer?

-- Only the last of those works well as a multiclass, since it focuses on lower level spells. (This works well in PFS, which is a mainly low/mid-tier campaign which is also relatively cash-rich, so papering over deficiencies with items is a viable strategy.)

________
halfling, 15,14,14,14,12,07 20pt array
STR-05
DEX+17
CON:14
INT:14 (four 14s and a 17...ain't it sick?)
WIS:14
CHA+14

racial traits: Fleet of Foot
character traits: Crowd Dodger, Magical Knack(cleric)
alignment: CG

00 base: BA saves (+1 halfling racial)
01 rogu1 00 03 06 03 [unchained][weapon finesse][SA+1d6], Improved Initiative
02 clerc1 00 05 06 05 [cayden:travel/good(friendship:Powerful Bond)], move+10
03 rogu2 01 05 07 05 [evasion][Trap Spotter], Two Weapon Fighting
04 rogu3 02 06 07 06 [finesse training:kukri][SA+2d6], DEX>18
05 clerc2 03 07 07 07 Piranha Strike or Accomplished Sneak Attacker
or FEAT(g)
06 clerc3 04 07 08 07 [2nd-level spells]
07 clerc4 05 08 08 08 FEAT(g), ...etc

Exploits:
* UMD Mage Armor
* all-day 50' move w/Longstrider
* better-than-monk saving throws
* DEX-to-damage in a light 18-20 threat weapon
* caster level is only -1 off character level despite three in the dipping class
* Evasion, channeling, Cure Moderate Wounds, Lesser Restoration, and ability to make Acrobatics checks drastically cuts rate of consumable usage in mid-tier PFS
* communicates telepathically within 60' (requires one other good-aligned PC)

Party role: trapmeister, enemy sentry snuffer.

Tactics: run down enemy casters while Silenced.

Equipment: haversack (high priority), MW kukris, light crossbow (normally stowed), wand of Mage Armor, various rogue gear and masterwork +2-to-skill items

4 sk/lvl ...most important: Acrobatics, Disable, Perception, Stealth Misc. points in Bluff, Climb, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Kn:Local, Swim, UMD

Speaking of old school...

102) "I've decided to adopt the Arduin Grimoire critical hit tables for the rest of the campaign."

In all its resplendent glory:

01-02 Brain penetrated die immediate death damage 4-32 points
03-04 Voice box ruined total voice loss damage 1-8 **
05-06 Hand severed, die in 1-8 minutes damage 3-18
07-08 Impalement, weapon is stuck there damage 3-30
09-10 1-5 ribs broken damage 1-3 per rib
11-15 Leg, artery cut die in 1-10 minutes damage 1-8
16-20 Arm, as above die in 1-12 minutes damage 1-6
21-25 Achilles tendon cut fall immediately 1-3 **
25-30 Finger 1-5 roll side damage 1 each
31-32 Toes, as above damage 3 per 2
33-34 *1 Eye ruined (roll side) or torn out damage 1-6
35-36 *2 forehead gash blood in eyes, can’t see damage 1-3
37-38 *3 Genitals/Breasts torn off, shock damage 3-18
39-40 *4 Ear taken off, hearing loss damage 1-3
41-42 *5 Buttock torn off, fall, shock. damage 4-16
43-44 Stunned 1-10 melee turns. No fighting. Damage 1-2
45-46 Stunned 1-6 minutes. No Fighting. Damage 1-4
47-48 Minor concussion, as above. Stunned 1-10 minutes damage 1-6
49-50 *6 Moderate confusion, unconscious. damage 1-8
51-55 *7 Major skull fracture, unconscious. Damage 1-10
56-60 Throat cut, die in 1-3 melee turns. Damage 1-8
61-65 Arm torn off (roll % loss) die in 1-3 turns. Damage 4-24
66-70 Leg, as above, fall, die in 1-3 melee turns. Damage 4-48
71-75 Heart pierced die immediately. Damage 1-10
76-80 *8 Spine ruined, varied results. Damage 2-20
81-85 As for no. 33-34 both eyes blinded. Damage 2-12
86-90 *9 Node ruined -6 charisma, stunned. Damage 1-8
91-94 *A Head general, nothing apparent later problems. Damage 1-2
95 Guts ripped out, 20% chance of tangling feet. Die 1-10 minutes. Damage 2-16
96 *B Skull caved in major brain damage. Damage 2-12
97 *C Lung pierce internal damage. Damage 1-12
98 Head torn off immediate death. Damage 5-50
99 Body split in twain, immediate death. Damage 10-100
100 Entire head pulped and splattered over a wide area, irrevocable death insues. Damage total.

** – Indicated permanent damage
*1 – Unable to fight 1-10 melee turns (roll), loss is irrevocable.
*2 – Blo0d in eyes can’t fight for 1-10 melee turns (roll).
*3 – Immediate shock induced coma, death in 1-4 minutes.
*4 – Permanent 50% hearing loss and -2 charisma.
*5 – Shock induced coma for 3-30 minutes, permanent -3 agility, 1/2 speed.
*6 – Actually unconscious for 1-6 melee turns, after revival, confused and groggy for 6-60 minutes.
*7 – out for 2-20 minutes and amnesia for 2-24 hours afterward, 40% chance of it becoming permanent.
*8 – Roll six sided die with the following results:1=100% paralyzed; 2=left side ditto; 3=right side ditto 4=waist up ditto; 5=waist down ditto; and 6 means damage was too severe, death in one minute.
*9 – Breathing problems, -2 constitution as applicable to endurance, and a bad speech problem (1-12) months to learn to speak properly, etc.).
*A – Brain will hemorrhage in 1-10 days resulting in in either (roll) death, or total and permanent insanity, incoherence, etc.
*B – All mental faculties permanently halved, roll % of memory destroyed (starting at 50%), charisma reduced by 8.
*C – Permanently halving of strength, constitution, and endurance.

what is the ideal build path for a Knife Master Bandit with or without multiclassing all the way to 20th?

I have a theory as to why your GM isn't offering you a learning curve.