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That is assuming you are putting half you skill points into spell craft. Paragon Surge grants a temporary enchantment bonus, so it does not grant any extra skill ranks. I don’t know about you but when I play a sorcerer I want a bit play with more in skills than that. I would rather max out UMD than spellcraft. If I am playing a shapeshifter bloodline sorcerer I am going to want good rolls in disguise, fly and knowledge Arcana as well. Having a social skill besides disguise is also going to be useful.

The penalty on spellcraft for not having the prerequisite is -5 per missing prerequisite. That means the sorcerer using this to gain item creation feats is going to be limited to single prerequisite items.

I don’t see this as being that easy to abuse.

A Ring of Continuation only works on spells with duration of 10 minutes per level or greater. Paragon Surge has duration of 1 minute per level. So, if the spell is left as a transmutation spell only a sorcerer with the shapechanger blood line and a ring of continuation is going to be able to use it to actually be able to use Item creation feats. If you change the school to enchantment that eliminates even that loophole.

Even if it works sorcerers are CHA based casters with very few skill points per level. Chances are a sorcerer is not going to have that high of a spellcraft roll. They also have limited number of spells so, have issues with crafting. The can of course that a penalty to their spellcraft roll to ignore the prerequisite of having the appropriate spell, but as I said they are already at a disadvantage when crafting.

I have to agree that a DEX based build should require some effort. In reality DEX based builds are on par with STR based builds and maybe even a little more powerful. I wrote up a couple of DEX based paladins and inquisitors with the existing rules, and they all turned out to be incredibly good. Neither class has good reflex saves or touch AC. The higher DEX fixed those weaknesses. If you can manage to get evasion on the inquisitor, he pretty much ignores most spells after 11th level.

By 10th tier chances are the mythic spell caster has an artifact. The path ability legendary item makes gives the item powers that scale up as your tier increases. Taking it twice makes it a minor artifact, taking it a third time makes it a major artifact. Artifacts are a lot more common in a mythic game.

Also who says an artifact has to be a sword. Hero Lab lists 13 magic staves that are artifacts. There is no reason you could not use a spell that qualifies as a weapon to deliver a coup de grace. If that spell came from an artifact, it would meet the requirements to kill a 10th tier mythic creature.

The other thing to consider is that at this level you don’t need to kill your foe. Neutralizing and imprisoning creatures of this level is a long-standing tradition in myth and fiction.

It does appear to be from the computer game. In which case I don’t think it belongs here.

Hellknight are focused on LAW above all. They may be without mercy, but they also rarely act out of spite. They also for the most part do not punish the innocent, or do things for personal gain. From what I have read most hellknights are lawful neutral. There are a decent number who are evil, but not all are. Even those that are evil tend to be more focused on law than evil.

A Hellknight sees things in a very black and white manner. The law is the law and is to be obeyed period. The idea that a hellknight is without morality is not accurate. They will respect the rights of others as spelled out by the law. They don’t make exceptions or bend things to be nice they follow the letter of the law. If the law says stealing is wrong they will prevent someone from stealing and punish those who do so.

Anitpaladins on the other hand are all about themselves. They are required by their code to put their own interests before all else. They can actually become an ex-antipaladin for not doing so.

Changing the school to enchantment [mind-affecting] might be a good idea. You are basically giving the target an ability that is mostly mental. Both Bestow Weapon Proficiency and compel tongue are enchantment. Paragon Surge is actually changing you physically into something different. This spell is granting you a new knowledge not transforming you physically. That seems to be more an enchantment than a polymorph spell.

Paragon Surge grants one racial ability from both races that the half elf does not have. They gain the stat bonus of an elf and the free feat of a human. That is why the spell only works on half elves. It is amplifying something that the character has but is not manifested. I could see making a race neutral version of the spell that grants just the feat.

If you keep the restrictions on the feat the same as Paragon Surge you don’t need to bother with the restriction you are thinking about adding. Casting the spell multiple times would be pointless because the feat choices are set on the first casting.

Choosing an item creation feat would also be pointless as the spell only last 1 minute per level. I don’t know any item creation feats that allow you to create a magic item in 20 minute or less. The only exception might be an alchemist with swift alchemy but they can already get brew potion.

A material component of an item representing the feat would be highly appropriate.

If you have a lot of tier based abilities it can be very useful, but on this build I am not sure it would be useful. Don’t forget the character already took dual path to gain access to Enduring Blessing. He also took Enduring Blessing twice to be able to use it on 1 minute per level spells. With the emphasis on raising his INT I am also assuming the character took Enhanced Ability (INT), Shapeshifting Mastery is another path ability that fits the build. Shapeshifting Mastery opens up Multimorph which is useful path ability for the character.

He will want a decent number of mythic spells so taking Mythic Spell lore a few times is going to be a good choice. That is a lot of mythic path abilities and feats to be taking. Unless the character is extremely high tier, he may not have the mythic feat to spare for Mythic Paragon. That would be best taken after some of the other feats.

Eschew Materials is not needed if you have Natural Spell. Natural Spell allows you to use any material components or focuses you possess even when in Wild Shape.

Using only the core rule book is going to simplify your build because it removes so many options. Your spell list and feats available are a fraction of what the full game has. My copy of Hero Lab lists well over a hundred 1st level druid spells, the core rule book has less than 20.

I would recommend against using the animal domain. The first three spells you gain from it are only good at controlling animals. The next two spells are duplicated by class abilities. This means until 11th level the spells are at best marginally useful in most campaigns. If your campaign is focused on surviving in the wilderness the first three spells might be more useful. Most of the other available domains are going to be more useful for a caster focused druid. I would stick with the animal companion for the nature bond.

Considering your smaller spell list and the fact Druids can spontaneously cast summon Nature’s Ally focusing on summoning is a good route. Augment Summoning is in the core rule book. Take Spell Focus Conjuration at 1st level, Augment Summoning at 3rd and Natural Spell at 5th. After that there is not much that really stands out for feats.

For stats I would probably try and get 14 in STR, DEX, CON and 17-18 is WIS (including Racial bonus). If you are using a 20pt buy dump CHA to 8 to get 17 WIS, on a 25pt buy you can get a 18 WIS without dumping CHA.

After that you can focus on general combat feats like dodge, toughness, lightning reflexes to boost your defenses. I know this may seem like a bare bones build, but with only the core rule book there are not a lot of options.

While mythic paragon will work like you suggest keep in mind the bonus is only half your caster level. Spending a mythic feat for an extra +1 bonus is a bad use of resources.

Potent magic on the other hand would be worth it. That is something any Arcanist should be taking as soon as they can. The extra 2 DC on your spells is well worth it.

Actually, I think Heroism might actually be better as a long-term buff especially if you have mythic heroism. +4 to all attacks, saves, skills and damage rolls is hard to beat at least for the martial classes. The bonus might be smaller for attack and damage, but it applies to all attacks. That way if your melee focused character has to switch to a ranged weapon, they still get the bonus. Having the bonus apply to all saves and skills is also very good. I have both an archeologist bard and an inquisitor written up that use this.

If you can renew your spells with a mythic point don’t worry about spell slots. Boosting the DC of your saves is going to be more useful.

By resources I mean that you spent a mythic feat and two path abilities to be able to do this. You also gave up half your normal feats for the ability to take Arcane Discoveries when an arcanist can already do that by taking the exploit Arcane Discovery (from Arcane Anthology).

I assume you have the Shapeshifting Mastery as a path ability. This is going to turn you into an absolute beast. You add half your tier to your caster level for spells of the polymorph sub school and use your caster level instead of your BAB for natural attacks that rely on your new form. Since you add your ½ your tier to the caster level you can actually get a higher bonus to hit than a full BAB class. At 20th level tier 10 your bonus to attack is 25.

Are you a half elf? That spell only works for a half elf and has a range of personal. Since the duration is 1 minute per level it requires you to have taken Enduring Blessing twice. The only way to do that is if your path is hierophant or took dual path and chose it as one of them.

I don’t have the details of your build but from the sound of it, it is not well optimized. You are spending a lot of resources to get what you want, and one dispel magic can bring it all down.

Even if you extend it past 24 hours it will not grant spell slot or skill ranks. As I pointed out earlier the description of the spells explicitly says it does not grant spell slots or skill ranks. Having the bonus be considered permanent does not alter that. This is a clear case of the explicit overruling the general.

Fox’s Cunning gives you a +4 bonus not a +12. Powerful Change increases that to +6 (+8 at 20th level). So, the most it can boost is +8 at 20th level. In pathfinder the specific overrules the general. Since the description of the spell explicitly states it does not grant extra spells or skill ranks. Even if you manage to make the spell permanent it will not grant extra spells or skill ranks. It would boost the bonus from INT based skills like spellcraft but it would not grant any extra skill ranks for any skill.

Enduring Blessing (Su): Whenever you cast a spell with a duration of 10 minutes per level or longer upon one willing target, you can change that spell's duration to 24 hours. If the spell has other duration conditions, those still apply (for example, the duration of stoneskin changes to 24 hours or until discharged). A creature can't be subject to more than one spell affected by this ability at a time; if another is cast upon the creature, the first one ends. You can select this ability a second time at 6th tier or higher. The second time you select it, you can use it on spells with a duration of 1 minute per level or longer.

Actually, you can use Enduring Blessing on more than one spell. Each creature can only have a single spell modified by Enduring Blessing at a time. Nothing prevents you from using it on multiple targets as long as each target only has a single spell with Enduring Blessing, but each enduring blessing requires its own spell even if the spell normally affects multiple targets.

RAW Enduring Blessing states it has to be used on a willing target. That could be interrupted that it can only be cast on a sentient creature. Align Weapon targets a weapon or group of weapons. If the weapon is intelligent, it could be considered willing, but otherwise is not a valid target. Personally, I would not have a problem with allowing Enduring Blessing to work with Align Weapon, but that would be a house rule.

A Swarm is not actually a creature, it is a collection of smaller creatures that individually are not threat, but the sheer number make it dangerous. RAW Swarms are composed of fine, diminutive, or tiny creatures. Anything larger cannot be made into a swarm. If you want a collection of larger creatures the Troop type would work.

An Animal Lord is supposed to be a unique creature created by the gods the description states only one Animal Lord for a specific creature is active on a world at any one time. So, I would say that a swarm or troop of Animal Lords is definitely not RAI and probably also not RAW. Any templates that look like they create unique creatures should not be a swarm or a troop.

Lycanthropes are humanoids. As far as I know there are no tiny or smaller humanoids, so that template is not suitable for swarms. You could use the troop type if you want an army of werewolves.

The giant template might be ok for creating really big swarms, but it would not create swarms of larger creatures.

How are you extending it?

Enduring Blessing has a fixed duration of 24 hours. That is going to override most other thing that extends duration. So, the feat extend spells would do nothing.

A move action actually has two meaning in the game. The first is the type of action (Standard, Move, Full Round, Swift and Free), the second is the action of moving. Move actions include move, control a frightened mount, direct or redirect an active spell, draw a weapon, load a hand crossbow or light crossbow, and other actions. A double move is allowed, but it is taking two actions of moving. This is a case of the rules explicitly allowing you to move twice, not a general rule.

Wanting DEX is not the same thing as being DEX based. Most classes actually want DEX. Unless you are using heavy armor all classes benefit from DEX. Many arcane casters prioritize DEX after their casting stat. That does not make sorcerers and wizards DEX based.

An unchained monk is better off prioritizing WIS over DEX. They will still want a decent DEX, but WIS will be higher. Since the unchained monk has poor Will saves, WIS boost that as well as AC and most of their other class features.

Sympathetic Alchemy will allow the alchemist to use his own cure extracts to heal the homunculus. But this only works on the alchemist own extracts. It does not work on spells or even another alchemist's extracts.

A move actions is a specific type of action. You can use it to move, but it can also be used for other things. The spell states you use a move action to direct the spell. That does not make directing the spell a move.

The way I would do it is that the drow have to have a full round without being blinded or dazzled before they can be subject to a new penalty. Basically their eyes have to fully adjust to the darkness before they can be subject to a new effect. If they are subject to bright light again before their eyes fully adjust it continues the dazzled. If they get a full round with neither penalty any bright light would be treated as a new instance.

This is may or may not be RAW but to me it is reasonable.

If you are building a DPR monk you probably want to go with Dragon Style and take Power Attack. That is not a DEX based build. Even a DEX based monk is probably not going to want to dump STR because it also affects thrown weapons like shuriken.

While a DEX based build should require some investment maybe Piazo did restrict DEX to damage too much. I don’t think it would have hurt to allow a combat feat that allowed any single weapon that works with weapon finesse to get DEX to damage.

While you have to invest more for a DEX based melee character you get a high return on the investment. All STR provides is offensive ability and some utility (climb, swim, carrying capacity etc.). DEX without any investment provides a lot of defensive ability and significant utility. That is why you rarely see anyone buying down DEX. STR on the other hand is one of the few stats that you do see characters buying down. A lot of arcane casters or DEX based characters end up buying down STR.

Full BAB DEX based melee classes can often dump STR to boost up DEX even higher. I have seen a lot of Swashbuckler builds posted on the forums with a STR of 7. I have never seen a STR based fighter build posted on the forums with a DEX of 7. Usually, the STR based melee combatant has a 12-13 DEX.

Take a 2nd level fighter using a 20 point buy as an example. Both fighters have a 14 CON and 12 in CHA or WIS. The first fighter dumps STR to 7 and has a 20 DEX (after racial adjustment), The second fighter dumps DEX to 7 and has a 20 STR (after racial adjustment). The first fighter takes weapon finesse, weapon focus (rapier) and fencing grace. The second fighter takes power attack, weapon focus falchion, and Furious focus. The first fighter uses a masterwork rapier and leaf armor, the second has a masterwork falchion and masterwork banded mail. The first fighter has a AC of 18 one attack at +9 doing 1d6+5 damage and a reflex save of +5. The second fighter has an AC of15 one attack at +9 doing 2d4+10 damage and a reflex save of -2. The first fighter has an initiate of +5 to the seconds. The first fighter has a move of 30 to the seconds 20.

The first fighter has a lot better survivability than the second one. He is going to be taking a lot more damage than the first. Spells like entangle, grease and ray of enfeeblement are going to affect him a lot more. He takes a -7 on his acrobatics or stealth compared to a +5 for the first fighter.

I know many people don’t think the gunslinger has anything to offer past 5th level, but some of the higher class abilities are actually useful. The bonus for Nimble increases by 1 per 4 levels, they also get bonus feats every 4 levels. Being able to get DEX to damage with multiple firearms gives you more flexibility on weapons. Some of the higher-level deeds are good and synergize well with the inquisitor side. Evasive combined with stalwart and all good saves mean you have a good chance of ignoring the effects of spells. Add in Slingers Luck to reroll a failed saving throw and it is even better. That combination does not come online until 15th level but is still very good.

Judgements require a swift action to start or to change but continue to last until the combat ends. Bane also specifies it takes a swift action to start or change, but has a finite duration, but does not have to be used consecutively. I have always assumed it was a free action to end Bane. This means the inquisitor will have to spend the first round of combat bringing up judgements or bane but can use his swift actions for other things after that. If he wants both bane and judgement functioning it would take two rounds.

A gunslinger can use alchemical cartridges with rapid reload to reduce the reload time to a free action. At 11th level they get Lighting Reload which also reduces the time to reload. Taking rapid reload and using alchemical cartridges is a no brainer for this character. This will greatly reduce the conflict of swift actions.

Gunslinger and inquisitor is an incredibly good pairing. Unchained monk and inquisitor might be a little better, but it is a solid choice for a gestalt game. A DEX based paladin and archeologist bard would also be good.

I am assuming you are referring to leaving the spell slot open when you are talking about reserving a spell slot.

Prepared casters don’t lose slots, they lose spells. If there is no spell prepared in the slot there is nothing to lose. Only “casters that do not prepare spells” lose slots. The Spell is obviously referring to spells prepared. Wizard's spells are stored in their spell book and having a spell disappear from a book when the character is raised from the dead makes no sense. Clerics know all spells on their list and having one disappear from their spell list makes even less sense.

Magical Knack boosts your caster level for damage and other level dependent aspects but does not grant you the spell slots. So, a one-level dip will mean you have the spells of an 19th level character but cast them as if you were a 20th level character.

I mentioned the mysterious stranger in my post, but that does not change the fact that a 9th level primary caster needs a much higher casting stat than a 6th level utility caster.

Use a pepperbox and take two weapon fighting and a gunslinger/inquisitor can rack up some serious damage bonuses. Give the character improved critical for the pepperbox and at 15th level they have a 47% chance of rolling at least one critical hit. Throw in gun training, judgement of destruction, and divine favor and you have a good chance of doing around 200 points of damage in a round. Take the feat double bane and the damage goes even higher. A critical hit from a pepperbox at this point is going average 97 points of damage, with a minimum of 83.

Getting Evasion and Stalwart on the same character that has all good saves makes you incredibly tough to affect with magic. That better than mythic saves because it applies to all attacks including mythic spells. Mythic Saves is 5th tier ability.

Gunslingers get DEX to damage at 5th level. Multiclassing for 3 levels delays the other gunslinger class features. Gunslinger also gets a bonus feat at 4th level.

Another advantage to the gunslinger/inquisitor is at 11th level an inquisitor get stalwart, at 15th level as long as they have 1 grit remaining gunslingers get evasion. So, at 15th level if you make your save to take no effect from anything with a will or fort save and no damage from anything with a reflex save. If you took Trench Fighter that does not happen until 18th level.

Gunslinger/Inquisitor is going to be better than Gunslinger/Oracle for several reasons. First is that both are WIS based classes. Going with Oracle is going to require investing in CHA in order to access those higher-level spells. The gunslinger grit is limited to his WIS modifier, so they are going to need a decent WIS. If the inquisitor focuses on buff and defensive spells, they need a good WIS but do not need to max it out. They can easily get by with a 16 WIS plus a headband. Having both characters important mental stat the same means the headband boost both classes. This also allows the character to max out DEX as the primary stat. WIS also has the benefit of increasing Will saves. You could take Mysterious stranger to shift the gunslingers grit to CHA, but you still have to prioritize CHA over DEX.

There is also more synergy between gunslinger and inquisitor than there is between gunslinger and oracle. Adding both DEX and WIS to initiative means you have a much greater chance of going first, and the higher DEX of the gunslinger/inquisitor boosts that up higher. Many of the inquisitor's class abilities are designed to boost their combat effectiveness and can be used with a gun. The oracle relies on spells and revelations for his power. These for the most part cannot be used with a gun.

The inquisitor is much better at skills than an oracle. Not only does the inquisitor get more skills and class skills, but they also get bonuses to multiple skills. Stern Gave boost intimidate and sense motive, Tracking is situational, but still useful. Monster lore helps in identifying creatures. Stealth as a class skill on a DEX based character is always useful.

The inquisitor may only have access to 6th level spells, but the spell list is actually very good at buffing and utility. It has a few offensive spells but does a better job at other things besides combat. With spells like disguise self, invisibility, Knock, Heroism the inquisitor can really shine out of combat.

The big problem with the gunslinger/oracle combination is the inability to use the major class features at the same time. Nearly all the gunslingers class abilities focus on using a gun. The most powerful class ability of the oracle is their spells. It is very difficult to cast spells at the same time you are using a gun. You could use buff spells, but the inquisitor gets many of those same spells, and has other abilities that can be used while firing a gun. This means you are choosing which class to favor each round instead of using abilities from both. This ignores what makes the gestalt a different than a standard game.

The section I posted states “Divine spellcasters prepare their spells in largely the same manner as wizards do, but with a few differences.” That means they follow the rules for arcane prepared casters unless something specifies otherwise. Since there is nothing specifying they do not lose spells when they are dead they do. This is kind of a grey area, but that is my reasoning for how I would do it.

Raise Dead:
A character who died with spells prepared has a 50% chance of losing any given spell upon being raised. A spellcasting creature that doesn’t prepare spells (such as a sorcerer) has a 50% chance of losing any given unused spell slot as if it had been used to cast a spell.

The bolded section on raise dead does not say that spontaneous casters have a chance of losing the spell slot. What it says is that casters that do not prepare spells have a chance to lose spell slots. The Arcanist does actually prepare spells, so the line about casters that do not prepare spells does not apply to them. Until the Arcanist came out there was no spontaneous caster that prepared spells, so it applied to all spontaneous casters until that point. This is the one instance where Paizo actually wrote the rules incredibly well. A GM may decide that Arcanists have a chance of losing spells slots, but RAW that is not how it work.

Raise dead works the way it does because the spell description says it works that way. It is a clear case of the specific overruling the general. If a GM wants to alter how being dead affects spells that is their right as a GM, but at that point it is a house rule.

Divine spellcasters prepare their spells in largely the same manner as wizards do, but with a few differences. The relevant ability for most divine spells is Wisdom (Charisma for paladins). To prepare a divine spell, a character must have a Wisdom score (or Charisma score for paladins) of 10 + the spell's level. Likewise, bonus spells are based on Wisdom.

The above sections states that Divine spell caster prepare their spells in largely the same manner as wizards do. That means by default the divine prepared caster follows the same rules as a wizard. Any changes to how their spells work have to be specified or they are still subject to the same rules as the wizard.

Raise Dead specifies if you prepare spells (which an Anrcanist does) you have a 50% chance of losing the prepared spell. It does not directly specify that spontaneous lose spell slots. What it does specify is that if you do not prepare spells, you have a 50% chance of losing a spell slot.

The rules in Raise Dead only apply to Raise Dead and spell that act like it. Breath of Life does not reference Raise Dead in any way. So, a wizard brought back with Breath of Life loses all spell slots, a sorcerer loses nothing. A cleric loses all spell slot, but an oracle does not lose anything. With Raise Dead the wizard and cleric have a 50% chance to lose each prepared spell, the sorcerer and oracle has a 50% chance of losing each slot. The Arcanist is treated like a wizard for this.

I was thinking a Master Summoner focusing on Summon Mastery instead of the Eidolon. At 1 minute per level instead of 1 round per level the summons have more usefulness. Gaining Augment Summoning at 2nd level makes the summoned creatures even more powerful. The Summoner is the class that really focuses on minions.

Summon Monster will work. If you are willing to invest a couple feats it can be even better. Picking up Augment Summoning will be worth it, but it does require spell focus conjuration.

One thing to keep in mind about skeletons and undead in general is they are actually not that good in combat. Animate Dead is a 4th level spell, so at 7th level (minimum to cast the spell), you get 7 skeletons. That is a CR 4 encounter. Summon Monster! V allows you to summon up a single celestial dire wolf. In a level appropriate encounter, the celestial dire wolf is going to be a lot more effective than 7 skeletons. The celestial dire wolf is going to kill 1 skeleton per round. The skeletons are unlikely to be able to harm the wolf at all because of the DR 5. The wolf will also have 10 points of resistance to 3 types of energy, and spell resistance.

Create Undead is a 6th level spell, so at 11th level you can create a single ghoul. Monster Summoning VI gets you a fiendish dire tiger. To make matters worse the ghoul is not even under your control. You need to be able to command undead to be able to control it. That pretty much means you are going to be limited to skeletons and zombies. You could of course animate something more powerful than a human, but it is still going to be less powerful than what you can summon.

Undead minions are not as useful as you think. About all they are good for is being able to deal with very weak foes. The only time minions become significant are if the character has a class feature that gives him minions. From the sound of it what you need is a Summoner.

Have you considered summoned creatures? The Summon Monster lines of spells are on the Wizard’s spell list. That could last you until you get high enough level to get Planar Binding.

They are also hundreds of feet long. The description states few have ever seen one from head to tail. That means they are at minimum 200 feet long and could exceed 1,000 feet long. An 8-foot rattle snake can strike from about 5 feet away. Using that as a basis a 200-foot rattle snake would be able to strike somewhere between 66.7 to 133.3 feet away. If anything, the reach of the Bhole is understated.

As I mentioned I have run a mythic campaign, so I think I know what I am talking about. Agile also gives the creature +20 to initiative. That will mean the target creature will be almost certain to attack at least once before the party can act. Dual initiative gives you two rounds of actions in the same round. This allows you to make a very aggressive action before the party can act and then take up a defensive posture for protection. In addition to the extra round, it also boosts all movement by 30 feet. This can allow a creature to be able to attack and still remain out of reach.

The template also benefits a more powerful creature more than it benefits a weaker creature. Slap this on a wolf and it is not a big deal. Slap it on an ancient red dragon and the dragon is a lot tougher. The wolf gets a single extra bite. The dragon can get 6 extra attacks or could cast two extra 7th level spells. Mythic is more of a force multiplier than simply adding power. On something weak it may not seem that bad, but on something powerful it can be overwhelming.

The divination school of wizardry is often cited as one of the most powerful due to the initiative bonus. Dual Initiative is even more powerful than that.

The mythic rules are broken. Anytime you use a mythic ability to counter the argument it is not broken you just lost that argument. Don’t get me wrong the mythic rules can be a lot of fun. I have run a mythic game and it was a blast, but it raises things up to a whole new level and anything not on that level is left in the dust.

The CR adjustments are really only for assigning XP. Using them for anything else is not useful.

Every post except the original one mentions needing to make an attack roll.

One thing to keep in mind is that Pathfinder is a game. The whole point of playing the game is to have fun with your friends. That should be the absolute top priority. Sitting out the rest of a session or worse yet multiple sessions because your character died is not fun. This is a good way to lose players.

I can see if the character dies at the end of the session it might make sense to wait till the next session to bring in a replacement. If there are any NPC’s with the group the player could be allowed to play the NPC until it makes sense to bring in a new character. What should not happen is the player is left for long periods of time without a character to play. If the player does not have a character ready and wants to use the time to create one, continuing the session while the player writes up the new character is also acceptable.

It’s kind of pointless use Eldritch Knight with Magus. They end up weaker in magic than either a straight Magus or a F1/W5 EK.
At 16th level the straight Magus has access to 6th level spells and a caster level of 16, the Magus/EK has access to 5th level spells and a caster level of 5th level spells and a caster level of 15, The F1/W5/EK9 has access to 7th level spells and a caster level of 14. The caster level can be boosted to full in both EK builds with Magical Knack. The straight Magus has a BAB of 12, the M/EK has 14, and the traditional EK has 13. The pure Magus has the best saving throws at 10/5/10, The M/EK has 10/5/8 and the traditional EK has 8/4/7.

The F/W/EK is has the strongest magic, where the M/EK is the weakest. The Pure Magus also has more class abilities from the Magus including Heavy Armor and Fighter Training. The only advantage the M/EK has is 1 point of BAB on the F/W/EK. I don’t know about you, but I think access to 6th and 7th level spells are better than 1 point of BAB.

Deadly aim has a lot of limitations on it. Not only does it require making a ranged attack, but the attack roll also has to be against the targets normal AC. It specifies that the damage bonus does not apply to ranged touch attacks, but the penalty does apply to those.

As long as the mother is a Hag the Changling should not be a problem. You already stated the father is the common parent, but that is up to you.

The Ganzi are the chaos-based native outsider.

RAW they are separate abilities so need to be activated individually. Since you can only perform a single immediate action in a phase only one will be triggered on a sneak attack.

That being said, the abilities are very similar so I can see a GM allowing them to be used at the same time. Check with your GM and see if he will allow it as a house rule.

As to the lenses it only applies to the slayer levels. The Fiendish Studies is actually better than Studied Target, so is not the same thing.

Mithral and similar special material is your starting point.

A Fighter’s Armor Training can reduce the ACP and increase the maximum DEX bonus. VMC fighter can grant this ability to other classes.

Celestial Armor has greatly reduced penalties above what Mithral can give.

The trait Armor Expert will reduce the ACP by 1.

Considering the Archetype comes from Inner Sea Magic and was published 13 years ago I doubt it was written by AI. Humans are just as capable of writing poorly written material as an AI. Many of the Paizo supplements suffered from poor writing and proofreading. Stop blaming everything on AI.

@AwesomeDog What you are saying is reasonable, but RAW that is not what the ability does. If this was the advice forum and the poster was asking how I think it should work, I might agree with you. The ability grants the invisible condition against undead. Invisible is a clearly defined game term. Since the ability only affects the Tiefling the arguments about unintelligent undead attacking other targets besides humans or humanoid is not relevant to this ability.

The Ganzi could have been created by the cult leader summoning a chaotic spirit.

This actually expands out the list a bit more. Fetchlings, Changlings, Deep Ones (Hybrid) might be possible. It also adds all half humans to the pool.