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I've got some players in a higher level/longer term game who want to breed Dire Wolves and Dire Wolves w/ the Advanced template for use in their military forces and for sale to their allies.

They've got enough druidic and handle animal prowess their plan seems reasonable enough and they've got plenty of downtime in game.

Once they're done 'domesticating' (they are being bred/trained as military mounts) and training them, is there somewhere in the rules it gives me a way to calculate the value when they're sold? I thought there was but I'm not finding it at the moment.

If there is, anyone know offhand what the average sale value would be for a trained Dire Wolf mount and/or a trained Dire Wolf mount raised to the Advanced template?

I was reading over the Wood Shape spell and wondering, given how functional Stone Shape is, what uses it would have. Especially in environments where wood is prevalent like a forest or rural town with buildings made mostly of lumber.

I'm also lazy at math, but I know we've got some aces at it around here, so looking at it's area (one piece of wood, size no greater than 10 cubic feat +1 cubic feat per level) how much cubic feat of wood is involved in...

... a crude one or two person canoe?

... a crude 1 person shelter? [1 inch thick walls sound right? a door and one or two windows or view ports?]

... a crude 4-6 person shelter?

... a wooden bulwark? (or even a simple fence? would provide some cover/stop charges)

Or any other functional objects people can think of?

In a general sense, I'm just curious what functional uses people can think of for this spell and then how much wood/what caster level would be functionally needed to pull it off.

In PFS does Flaming Sphere affect swarms?

While there's regular back and forths on the issue every 7 or 8 months on the regular rules forums I'm honestly just curious what the PFS stance is.

BoF says the bonuses don't stack with Haste/similar effects. Haste has an earlier version of a similar rule at the end. However neither clarifies if it's referring to the overall spell or the specific bonuses in each (which in some cases are different).

So, is that referring to the line by line bonuses or the spell as a whole?

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Two old threads on this from 2011 came up in search...

Sept 2011
[http://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/browse?path=%2Fthreads%2Frzs2msm5]
Ended in saying you can't stack the bonuses in the spell that overlap but can take the best of each or use a bonus from one spell the other spell doesn't give. I.E., so you could take the Haste benefits with the Metamagic benefits of BoF for example, or take the Haste benefits but replace the +1 bonuses with the BoF +2's. You just can't stack the specific identical things, I.E. +1 attack not +2, either +1 or +2 to AC, not +3.

Jan 2011
[http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2lq4m?Blessing-of-Fervor-Haste]
Ended in saying the spell doesn't stack with spell, I.E. casting one spell effectively entirely prevents the other from taking effect.

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Curious if this has ever been resolved by a FAQ a PFS ruling*, a more recent thread that didn't show in a quick search, or a precedent in another spell/pair of effects, etc.

*(I am specifically curious how PFS rules it, but also interested in it enough in a general sense I kind of wanted feedback from the larger PF community which may have the answer by now.)

I have a player interested in playing a LN or N Hobgoblin (Fighter) in an adventure set in the Linnorm Kingdoms.

I'm considering letting him go for it but I'm curious if the reaction to his character in an 'average' establishment would be... well, let's face it, "friendly" is probably out...
+leave him alone/ignore (no love but, if he pays and leaves others alone, he gets left alone)
+subtle cold shoulders (little higher on costs, best room and gear never available for him, not invited to reindeer games, but nothing outright aggresive)
+passive aggresive (the 'accidental' spilled beer, attempts to provoke but not outright attack first, up to 'your kind can't enter here' )
+outright attacks to some degree (wait until he leaves and ambush him, '[no words, just weapons start getting drawn and he's charged]).

I'd assumed the middle options in most places, cold shoulders and higher prices and prob. some passive aggresive moves.

Not that it makes a huge diff. but he is openly a follower of Gorum (wears a holy symbol he paid for, etc) and (backstory) he has belonged to a (mostly ulfen) group of long boat raiders before (so he does 'look the look' and can 'talk the talk' of the Ulfen people).

The game will travel through the Kingdoms, though the other PCs have no love for most of Southmoor or Broken Bay so if people there don't like him the rest of the group would probably take that as a good sign. He will however be alone for parts of some of the adventures and that's what I'm mainly interested in. (When he's not alone the group has a party face that by level 3 or 4 can prob. defuse any common situation).

Anyway. Opinions? Should I let him do it? Or, staying true to setting, would it mean I'd have to have him getting attacked all the time?

If your GM gave you the chance to add one of these two spells to the Druid list at spell level 4 which would you take, Terrible Remorse or Icy Prison?

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spells/icyPrison.html#_icy -prison

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spells/terribleRemorse.htm l#_terrible-remorse

Leaning Icy Prison, seems more Druid-y, seems like it would shut down more types of enemies (ranged, caster, meleer, you might survive hitting yourself but trapped is trapped), I have some concerns immune to mind effecting might become more common at high levels than immune to cold, and I'd be only one in party with access to it (we have a TR caster already), but wanted a 2nd opinion. I've seen more than a few people here over the years mention Terrible Remorse as a green-blue spell for classes that get it, don't want to ignore it if it's better and I'm just not seeing it.

Creature must come from Bestiary 1-4
Size must be Small or Medium
Type must be Animal
Can't be aquatic, could be flying
No other stat matters, just what is the highest single attack (ideally a creature with only 1 attack form for 1.5x str bonus to dmg)

So far "Giant Porcupine" from Bestiary 3 with it's 2d6 tail slap seems to be the highest, anything with 3d4, 3d6, etc that I might have missed, or other 2d6 contenders?

Helping a friend make a first PC based on some concepts they liked. Some of the concepts are builds I don't really play, figured best to get some outside advise.

Player desires...
+ An Inquisitor as the class (possib. Preacher archtype)

+ Desires a reach, more specifically polearm style, weapon as their theme weapon of choice (Given the class this was an initial hurdle, but the GM already said any [martial] polearm choice the player makes will be considered their deity weapon)

+ Built with the ability to either sunder, trip, or disarm (i.e. taking the 3 feats needed to get 'greater' feat version, if not more) (GM is considering giving the player Combat Expertise for free if they go trip or disarm, at least for this their first pc, eliminating the feat tax)

[Player is leaning Hooked Lance if Trip, Bill if Disarm, Bec De Corbin if Sunder, but open to other polearm options. Player originally wanted Naginata but GM nixed that and, given how cool he's being with combat expertise and deity weapon, best not to push it and just stick to Western polearms.]

+ Game will go from level 2 to 18-20. GM is experienced with PF but definitely more casual/less hardcore [his villians won't be terrible but he won't be combing the forums to over optimize them either]. Group is looking a bit melee heavy (only 1 9-spell-level caster of 4-5 players) but no others are taking combat maneuver feats (afaik). Others are mostly two hander or duel wield damage builds. Common foes/BBE expected are humanoids, (thankfully mostly corporeal) undead, demons. Those three will make up 2/3 the encounters from what we're being led to believe. A dragon or two will likely also make an appearance.

So with that in mind...

Which of the three combat maneuvers would fit best into these limitations?

Which polearm would fit that maneuver best? (Right now the player is leaning trip, because another player pointed out the AoO from Greater Trip in a group with 4 PCs that are melee in some way would be cool, but that's not in stone).

What can the Inquisitor offer to aid in the build? (IE will any judgements contribute?)

At level, say, 10-15, what kind of stats/feats will the player NEED to be looking at to make the maneuver effective?

I recall that in Absolum his worship is allowed. I believe on Mediogalti Island/Ilizmagorti it's allowed as well, and tolerated in Nex. Obviously in the nationless lands (Mwangi, Shackles, maybe River Kingdoms, etc) there's no one to outright ban it.

Is there anywhere else though [In the Inner Sea region] that it's openly tolerated, even if not encouraged? Cheliax (I assumed no) or Nidal? Irrisen? Geb?

Q1) Is an undead/necro themed caster functional for high end (L13+) play?
[I.E. Do undead minions and Necromancy spells keep pace when common foes become high CR Planar beings, older ages of dragons, high level Paladins/Barbarians that can deal hundreds of damage a round, literal armies, and other casters that can enter god mode, etc]

Q2) Either way, what's the most effective class for that sort of build?
[I.E Cleric or Oracle? Wizard or Sorc? Etc.]

Q3) What's the most effective way to play that out?
[I.E. Use lots of minions? Use the death spells with divination for scry and die? Any "must have" spells/items/feats (esp. from newer books)?]

Not really a rules forum question because I understand how the rules work regarding the critter, and have no problem functionally running it, but I was curious what it represented descriptively.

I know very little of hyena's, or whatever prehistoric creature was the basis of the dire hyena, method of attacking. If a dire tiger was on one side of a player and a dire hyena was on the other, what exactly makes the dire hyena's attack narratively greater reaching? I had imagined it as a lunge, but I realize that would have been achieved by them having the feat lunge. Is it an extra long neck or something?

I know the 10ft Dire Hyena reach has been around awhile so I don't think it's just a typo, but I'm hoping someone who knows more about their biology can educate me. What exactly am I describing to my players when they attack but aren't adjacent?

I notice many of the Druids good buff spells for their companion target Animals. If a Druid goes with a Vermin companion ala U.M., is there an effective way (w/o using 3pp material) to get those spells to land on their faithful insectoid follower?

Hitting FAQ on this
Still seeing this discussed
I think the answer is in the rules already... though poorly worded
I think the answer is no, Sylvan is not valid with Eldritch Heritage
I also think we all think something about the issue, and it comes up enough the RAW isn't clear enough, so instead of discussing it let's just FAQ it

I bet total over 500-1000 posts have already been made about this issue, let's get it clarified and move on to something new.

To the Devs: The question is...
Can you use the Eldritch Heritage feat for a wildblood archtype bloodline, Specifically Sylvan, to gain the animal companion

I've got 10 platinum and a jade circlet that says "no", but even if I'm wrong at least the question will stop being asked.

I have to narrate a scene and don't need to play the whole battle out, seems like a lot of work as the PCs only need to know who wins and by how much and either result forwards the plot, but I would like it to be generically accurate not just GM fiat in who wins.

It starts Round 1 with an Adult Black Dragon, who also has 1 class level of cleric (Evil, Water as domains) and 1 of Rogue, noticing he's about to be attacked by 2 Greater Air Elementals. He's about 150 feet away from them, he has initiative before them, and they're all 600 feet up. He only had "Bless" up on himself at that point. The elementals have the benefits of Augment Summon. They have 11 rounds left on their duration (dragon doesn't know that).

The skies are clear, the fight should be aerial (that's GM fiat for a reason), and it is a fight to the death (again, for a reason).

In round 6, two Large Lightening Elementals (also with Augment Summon) will arrive to assist the Air Elementals, 8 rounds left on their duration at that point. They'd also have Resist Elements:Acid cast on them from a 6th level caster.

Now I'm not asking for a play by play, if someone wants to go for it but I only added the details so people could make a better guess, but I'm debating the general "who do you think wins the fight" and "generic why's" of how they did it to believably describe to the players.

Edit: The winner doesn't matter, CR's seem close enough, but as the PC's set this up (as part of somethin bigger) yet the Black Dragon was a noteworthy side villian that was respected if not liked I figure he at least deserves to only fall if he'd actually lose the fight on average.

Running some APs that were meant for 4-5 person, 15pt build parties
Read the section on CRs which mentioned parties of 3, much less 2, are probably an "average level" lower than encounters are made for
2 players for the game, and none of us are fans of excessive NPCs in the party, GM PCs, or multi PCs per player
I'd like to boost them, as opposed to me recalculating every encounter down one

First off, the PCs picked decent classes [support caster... druid but might get retconned to cleric, melee ranger]
I gave them 25pt buys (which they didn't min max, neither has lower than an 11 in anything, but they did priorities the right stat or two first)
We don't use hero points, but I gave them the "antihero" free extra feat at 1st level to help
They're also both smart players... they generally think before charging in

I'm debating giving them, at level 11
+ a free 2pt boost to a stat of choice (it will count as a racial bonus)
+ a free 2nd 'antihero' feat
+ a 3rd, possibly 4th trait

Between the initial boosts, and the L11 stuff, will this help make the two of them on par with a traditional 4 person 15pt build party? Will it make up for their biggest flaw, loss of actions? (Though animal companions, cohorts, and familiars may eventually come ino play as well)

Edit: my alternate idea was doubling wealth by level, unsure how that'd play out though.

Some of the subforums here have some overlap so this is just a rephrasing of what I asked in the pathfinder campaign forums, still not sure which was 'right', but I'm looking to purchase some paizo books, hard or soft cover, that best detail the Mwangi Expanse and VarisIa. What are the best paizo products for covering those regions?

Just curious what paizo product (hardcover or softcover) best covers each of the following subregions of Golarion.

Mwangi Expanse

Varisia

I'm looking for the best book, or two at most, that covers each (especially from a fluff/current fluff perspective). I liked them in the ISWG, but Mwangi made me curious for more, and Varisia needed more.

When making a staff and determining the pricing order, is it only level of spell that factors in, or does charges required count too? Either way, where is that stated in the rules (printed or FAQ/errata/updates)?

Example, 3 spells being put in staff
Spell Level 3 spell [will use 3 charges per use]
Spell Level 3 spell [will use 2 charges per use]
Spell Level 2 spell

The spell level 2 spell has to go last, but of the spell level 3 spells, can you make the "2 charges per use" secondary to the 3 charges per use, so as to lower staff cost?

I found the two previous threads discussing this but I do not see any response from any devs (except SKR I think, who only said "don't allow costs higher than 3 per use", and I'm unsure if that was speaking opinion or for paizo), I can't find an errata or FAQ for it, nor in the most recent thread I found did there seem to be a player consensus or an answer from backmathing the pregenerated staves.

Sidequestion: Does anyon know how Herolab handles it?

Through Animal domain I've got a Mantis Companion (Level 8) and the Beast Shape III spell that through Share Spell I'll use to make him an Allosaurus (for damage w/o losing reach).

First...
Large needs to become Medium as base, per the Polymorph general rules
-4 str, -2 con (unsure why this, but it's RAW), +2 Dex
I assume at this point I also recalculate the Atk/Ac/Cmb/Cmd/etc +/- for size
+1/+1/-1/-1 respectively

Now with it's new Medium "base"
I apply the spell
+6 Str, -4 Dex, +6NatAr

Then, apply/recalculate the size based bonuses, now Huge
-2/-2/+2/+2 respectively

And lose it's old abilities for Low Light, scent, grab, pounce, rake, new move speed, new attack methods, reach/space, etc

Do I have the right of that?

[2nd question to herolab users... is there a way to get it to do all that automatically?]

It appears through Share Spell I can combine Beastshape III/animal only (from animal domain) with a Mantis animal companion (from animal domain + Ult. Magic).

If so, when the animal companion is level 8 (PC11), using Beastshape III, what's the best melee combat form to turn the Mantis into for doing raw melee damage? Dire Tiger? Allosaurus?

Pg. 173 of my copy, Adjusting Character Wealth by Level

25% for first feat, okay, that's solid
Then
Up to 50% for multiple feats... that's got some room for interpretation

Is it

A- (IIRC 5) "There are 5 crafting feats, as you take them you get closer to 50%, needing all 5 to get the full 50%" (and if so, what % WBL at what number of feats? 25%/4 for that last 25%? 10% for 2nd 5% for 3-5%? GMs call?)

Or is it

B- "You have two crafting feats, thus multiple, you immediately move the full "up to", congrats on maxing your WBL bonus, the remaning 3 have no effect on it for you anymore" [seems harsh on dedicated crafters but certainly simpler, hence why I hope this is what RAW means]

Or is it

C- Paizo has no stance, GMs call (as PFS doesn't deal with it at all)

I'm assuming B

I'm wondering if this is FAQ/errata worthy, but I figure if it is people will click it, if it's not someone will know the RAW for A or B over the other.

I need to refine what spells I'm adding to a PC I'm playing's list. Playing a Samsaran Druid, caster style, who will also have Impr.Eldr.Herit.: Arcane

It's a high level game, started at 8 nearing 13, will play to 20 over next 2-3 months and continue til end of year. Small group, 3/4 time it's me and a Barbarian, rarely we get an Inquis. or Monk (work diff. nights so never both).

In total I'll get 5 Cleric spells (of any level) and 3-6* Wiz/Sorc spells added to my list.
[*The GM house rules IEH:Arcane choices to be like Expanded Arcana, 1 at highest level or 2 lower]

Currently
Cleric
Miracle (9)
Spell Resistance (5)
Dimen. Anchor (4)
Bless. Of Fervor (4)
Magic Circle vs Evil (3)

Wiz/Sorc
Greater Invis (4) [Debating Invis (2), for longer duration]
Charm Monst (4)
Cold Ice Strike (6)
Curse, Major (6)
Time Stop (9)

Good choices?
Any 'must haves' I missed?
Suggestions?

Ever since UM was released with Superior Summoning it's changed how I play Druids when I'm casting SNA. Since I'm cat sitting (smelling a whole different kind of "summon nature" when I go near that litter box :P ) and want to kill some time I figured I'd see how useful people ranked SS at SNA's various levels for Druids.

Obviously some of this is circumstantial... in a small room you just can't summon a lot of creatures, in a mass battle 1 big creature just can't be everywhere... but in a 'general' sense, how do you rank Superior Summonings usefulness at the various levels?

Let's say a 1-4 scale, where
1= SS is generally useless (you'd take advantage of it less than 1/5 the time)
2= SS slightly to somewhat useful (you'd use it sometimes, at most half the time)
3= SS is useful (you'd most often use it, but you'd occasionally use the single higher creature time to time)
4= SS is tops (Unless space was a concern or something, you'd use the higher level creature less than 1/5 the time)

How would you rank each SNA level?

Overhead a Wizard player discussing a cloak for his snake familiar and while I wasn't an active party to that discussion it got me wondering about other nontraditionally shaped sentient creatures.

Could an intelligent weapon like an artifact or black blade use items? As just some examples (I'm sure more exist), could an artifact have a ring of invisibility crafted around it's hilt that it controlled when it wanted it's "owner" to appear unarmed? Could a black blade sheathed in a scabbard of keen edges invoke the command to sharpen itself?

I'm assuming no, some line in the item rules prevents it, but I realized I hadn't heard of the issue since 1st or 2nd Ed (a GM created item there that had taken control of the player had a ring with a one use teleport spell put around it's hilt, so if the player regained control, the sword would invoke the ring, which was "it's" not the players, and port away. Obviouly that was heavy houserule territory.)

Going to be playing a Druid, with an animal companion (leaning cat or mantis) and an improved familiar (any a True Neutral alignment PC can take), who has the Fur domain.

Everyday I'll have Beastshape 1 and 3 (animal only I believe) and eventually (for a few games at least) Shapechange, might as well plan on using them.

Suggestions on fun combinations of the AC or familiar with those spells? (IIRC I can use it on them, wondering what fun tricks I could pull).

By fun I do include powerful (anything that makes my AC better in a fight), but also just creative uses (Shapechange must have a few).

I've got a choice to make with a druid I'll be playing. It's a druid for a small game (2-3 players) set in the middle of nowhere (Mwangi Expanse [sp]) and so I want an AC as an extra party member [cat early, maybe mantis later for flavor].
The ACs main jobs are added perception rolls for the group, bodyguarding me so the tank doesn't have to, guarenteeing a flanking budy for the tank if needed, or if we're jumped by multiple lower CR creatures soloing some of them.
However as I'll be playing a caster druid and the game will be higher level (3/4 of the game will be at Level 11+) I can see the advantages to going animal/fur/feather domain and getting some extra spells [esp Antilife shell and SMVIII(even w/ the restrict)].
Sadly boon companion is not allowed (not in the books the GM is allowing), so I can't use a feat to get the best of both worlds.

Basically...
What's more valuable
3 extra levels on my animal companion
Or
Having the weaker AC, but an extra antilife shell and SMVIII and some other semiuseful spells, and some mild domain powers

The other PCs are a Barbarian all the time, and a Rogue who will only rarely be at game.

Bookless at moment and can't be caught scrolling PRD/d20, not sure how to answer this myself. Figure someone here will know.

Player wants to hit big bad with hex
Hex has range of 30ft
Player doesn't like how their witch has to be so close
Player (55ft away IIRC from story) uses SMII Quickened to put a creature 25 ft from big bad
Player hits their own summoned critter with hex, splits it to big bad
Player dismisses SMII creature

First instint was "seems off", but w/o knowing exact wording on eligable targets for hex and split hex not actually sure. Could just be useable loophole.
Edit: PC (and that particular player) are CN, so I don't see an alignment issue.

If no RAW is available, I'm curious what PFS treats the RAW as.

If this isn't something that's ever been clarified anywhere (though I'm assuming somewhere it has, in all the FAQs/erratas/Dev comments), maybe I can get some FAQ hits on it, as for balance table-to-table reasons it seems like something that needs an answer.

---

A caster puts up a Wall of Stone, using we'll say Shades.

Enemy goes to hit it (I know "interaction" has some discretion, but I think most would agree hitting something is interacting with it)

Enemy makes the Will save, realizes it's an illusion/shadow.

Which applies...

A) The enemy has an 80% chance of hitting the wall, and a 20% chance of going right through it as if the wall wasn't there (Is that per turn he rolls the %? Or for the duration of the spell whatever he first rolls is always applied?)

or

B) To that enemy, the spell only has 80% the HP/hardness of a real Wall of Stone to that foe. (I'd assume in that case for the duration of the spell, but what happens if that enemy and an enemy that failed their will save are both wailing away at the wall?)

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It looks like (B) would make the shadow spells much nicer, as you could depend on the spell always doing something, but (A) seems like it'd be easier to adjudicate for a GM. Since Shadow spells are described as quasi real I'd want to lean towards (B) as well, but from what little I can recall off my head I could easily be missing something.

I'm on the spot to answer this question as best I can, and I have zero PF materials with me at the moment to attempt to look it up.

Playing a Magus for a one-off game (well, 3-off), so using it to try out some archtypes/spell selection/other things I usually don't do with the class.

I was debating grabbing critical focus and one of the "X critical" feats, and maybe going for critical mastery and a 2nd "X critical" feat, but I wasn't sure if it's worth it for the more feat starved Kensai compared to a Fighter.

Since the feats are late game and by late game many foes are immune to critical hits or the effects those feats cause, or can quickly gain immunity, I'm curious if that 2-4 feat investment is worth it.

Staggering critical seems the most worthwhile if I only take one (shuts down meleer's, at least mildly limits caster mobility, does it's thing to a short extent even on a save by the foe). If I had taken two I had been debating deafening critical but after my thread the other day confirmed the initiative penalty doesn't take place until the next combat (which ideally I don't want my foe ever seeing), it isn't the caster debuffer I was hoping for. If I took two... maybe sickening, since it debuffs saves and doesn't appear to allow a save against it (crit lands = it goes off at full value).

Thought I'd toss this out for general feedback though, so

For a Kensai Magus (Bladebound Kensai, tech.)
Is critical focus and one of it's critical feats worth it?
Is critical mastery and a 2nd critical feat worth it?
If yes to either or both, which feat(s)?

(If group make up matters, it's a Sorc, a Cleric, a Ninja, a Paladin, and the Magus, levels of the 3 games will be 14, 17, and 20, if foe composition matters, across the board. There'll be PC race/classes, dragons, undead, outsiders of at least 3 types, we can expect a good sampling of bestiary 1 and 2 at least, probably 3 as well)

Combat is ongoing, everyone has rolled their d20 to see when they go.

The big nasty gets critical hit, and deafening critical goes off (we'll say for sake of argument he got thwacked in the jewels so hard he can't hear, because he's a big nasty and as players we don't like him).

Does the initiative penalty from his newly acquired nutshot induced deafness immediately knock him back in the initiative order?
OR
Does it not apply yet, and only applies if he lives and down the road gets in another fight while he's still deaf?

Short version... Do initiative check penalties/initiative penalties apply to checks already made, and currently in effect? Can a foe be knocked back in initiative order during an ongoing combat?

This question could also apply to most things that effect initiative, certain dex reductions, etc

This is mostly for a game that would be started at L10 and go up to 20 and then still go a bit longer, but it's an interesting excercise in general, what might be some alternatives to Shocking Grasp, for the purpose of magic lineage/spell perfection/etc?

It's such a staple o so many builds, does it have competative alternatives?

Vampric Touch? Spellblending/Arcana'ing for Enervation? Corrosive Consumption? Do any start to stand out?

What about combined with certain builds? [Example: A hexcrafter using his ability to lower saves to try and make Disintigrate nasty, or a Kensai using vampric touch combined with their high late game ACs to make a passable tank]

+Assuming we're discussing Sum Mon 7-9 and Sum Nat Ally 7-9, during character levels 15-16+

+Assuming we're generally talking casters who don't have class/archtype rules that otherwise alter the question (not shaman druids, summoner class, conjuring wizards, etc).

Q: How often do you use summons at those levels?
(once per fight or more? once per adventuring day? once in a blue moon?)

Q: Do you have a favorite go-to summons? Why?
Q: What role are you using them for?
(tank? dpr? just flanking? special powers?)

Q: Augment Summoning, do you feel it's needed/useful/pointless at that level of play?

Posted a question like this a week or two ago but I made it WAY too intricate for casual answering, so hopefully attempt #2 gets at least a few replies.

Is it possible for a Druid, who otherwise reveres/enjoys nature completely, to dislike bugs? To obviously understand their place in the natural order of things, but to personally not want them around him? (Maybe he's arachnaphobic, or got bit by skeeters a lot as a kid, or got attacked by a swarm once and has PTSD from the experience)? [In example... might use his powers to repel bugs while he sleeps, but not going so far as wiping them out... in action he respcts their place, but just doesn't want that place directly near him]

Just curious how others use the SM and SNA spells as they near the high end of the game. Say levels 15+, in particular how you see them used against CR16 - CR21+ creatures, and the SM VI-IX and SNA VI-IX range.

Do you use them at those levels? How so?
Often/How do you think the compare to other spell choices at those levels? Do you have a favorite summon/multiple summons from a higher level spell?

How do they perform IYO?
Do you find them effective/How do you keep them effective? (Do you think they can be effective "stock"/"out of the box"? Do you feat into Aug Summoning, and/or feel you need to? Depend on buffs? etc)

If it matters, what are you often facing at those levels, what's your group make up? (If those have a bearing on your answer)

Really kind of an open ended topic, looking for feedback from players with experience to share.

Edit: Also if anyone's had any really creative/unconventional uses of them at those levels, share away. Not every problem a SM/SNA helps solve has a CR attached to it after all.

We all know the stinkers. The character in a stat rolled game that comes up with all 8-10's and has to play it anyway. The villain the novice GM makes that seems powerful but fights alone and doesn't account for the PCs # of action advantage. The fun player in a group who insists on playing a novel concept even if it's mechanically crap in the game your GM has decided to go min-max on your group and shoot for a TPW.

Normally such bad luck, inexperience, or decisions pay a price. Those are the times we groan and try to forget.

What about the times they DON'T though. When the character with crap stats rolls hilariously high. When the rookie GM suddenly pulls a brilliant move and uses just the right power at the right time to balance out a mistake and make the groups jaw drop from a fight they thought they/probably should have won. The time that RP'd players odd concept ended up with just the right trick that actually saved the day, that made the GM's jaw drop at how THAT character undid his plot/encounter since it wasn't him intending to feed the character concept but just a stroke of player genius from left field.

Anybody got any odd ball stories like that to share?

Assuming...
...a game that will go to a high level (15-16 at a minimum, 19-20 is possible), and be played through all the levels (so the whole range of power is traveled through).

Assuming...
...a caster Druid, so Domain spells will get some milage, in a small to average (3-5 person) mixed group, so an animal companion isn't neccesary but isn't entirely redundant either.

Question...
...What Domains of the Paizo Pathfinder core books (Core, APG, UC, UM, ARG, etc) available to Druids (including Druid archtypes from those books) do you feel are on par with the better animal companions (at least the orange, really the green to blue ranked ones from the two Druid guides on here) available.

And of course...
... Why do you feel that way.
[edit: and of course if you can give an example of how at your table you (or your GM) made the most of a particular domain, or animal companion if you think all domains are stinkers in comparison, please do tell]

This has been kicked around on the forums forever but I can't find any formal answer.

1) Has there ever been an official Paizo response (FAQ clarification, Dev comment, Errata update) changing Spiritual Weapon and Spiritual Ally to be casting stat based, not just wisdom based?
Something that would be PFS valid or RAW game valid, so players in those games with Oracles, or Clerics who use Int as their casting stat, gain full use of the spell.

2) If not, and if you think it's a possible error of omission (no non-Wis casters with access to it when the core book was written), please FAQ it here. Maybe SKR or someone will see it and at least either consider the issue, it's balance implications, and edit it, or formally put it to rest that they aren't changing it for whatever reason.

When new players come to a table they often want to have some say over their characters profession, yet they often have only vague ideas what the classes mean by name.

Since the base classes now span 4+ books (or several online clicks), I thought it'd be cool if some people here with time tried the following writing exercise...

Include as many as you can/feel comfortable with of the base classes... the Core rulebook 11 of Barbarian to Wizard, the 6 from the APG (well, 7, AntiPaladin), 3 from UC, and Magus from UM. (to make it easier I'll put a list at the bottom of this post to cut and paste)

For each class, do the following...

1) Write a 1-3 sentence at most description. Try and summarize what the class thematically represents, what it functionally does on the table/for it's group, and how it does it.
(note: reasonable length sentences)
(note: when in doubt and whenever possible, brief is better)

2) List 1-3 famous fictional characters that the class could represent.
(note: famous here generally means commonly known. An obscure fantasy character from a little known book wouldn't count, Bilbo would. An obscure anime character from an untranslated series wouldn't count, Ash from Pokemon would. Mainly ask yourself if a non-gamer/geek/nerd might know of them, and if in doubt use the more popular/pop culture character whenever you can. However, since what's commonly known can vary generation to generation, region to region, if you can't think of anything but an obscure character that's fine.)

Try and leave personal bias out of it, plenty of threads exist here to rant about whatever class you think is broken and this isn't an exercise in telling beginners what the most powerful classes are, it's about explaining to a new player "This is what this class usually means thematically. This is what it does on the table" while also making sure not to be verbose and overload them.

---

Barbarian

Bard

Cleric

Druid

Fighter

Monk

Paladin

Ranger

Rogue

Sorcerer

Wizard

Alchemist

Cavalier

Inquisitor

Oracle

Summoner

Witch

Anti-Paladin

Magus

Gunslinger

Ninja

Samurai

Q1 (Possible FAQ candidate?)

Time Oracle
Time Sight revelation

RAW...
1- Is it saying you only get the most recent effect? (which was my first interpretation of it's RAW)
2- Is it saying all three effects apply at once?
3- Is it saying you can chose which one applies? (what it seems like RAI would be, but seems like the least possible via RAW)

[Edit: I had seen this come up before, http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2myhy?Time-Mystery-Revelation-Time-Sight , but never a reply on a formal answer, and I believe it's beyond the level PFS has an opinion]

Q2
PFS Dark Tapestry Oracle
alignment question

Can a Dark Tapestry Oracle hold a Good alignment? Specifically in a Golarion setting, by rules as allowed in PFS?
I'm not seeing directly where they can't, as Oracles draw from general divine power, yet the three Gods listed are all evil, so again, what's RAW and is it RAI. Is there any good/non-evil in the great darkness between stars? Or is it all PathCthulhu's summer home?

Lunchtime discussion here, friend brought up the difficulty at higher levels of a lower magic group (say 1/3 and 1/2 casters like Rangers, Paladins, Magus, Inquisitors at best, but no more than 1/2 the group has spells, and NO full 9 spell level classes) pinning down and eliminating a high level (say level 13+ at least, 15+ really) enemy caster who has access to even a decent spell set and had some forethought defensively.

So that got me thinking...

1) What do you consider the most effective and common defenses high level casters use personally when confronted, especially by a group lacking full casters (example: spells that make them hard to hit, spells that simply teleport them out of harms way, etc)

2) What do you consider the most effective and common defenses high level casters use in defensive of their [fortress/tower/abode/cave/etc]

And 3 and 4

3) How do you counter 3, using the resources commonly at a caster-light groups disposal (assuming normal WBL, group is 2-4 levels below the enemy caster).

4) How do you counter 4, using the resources commonly at a caster-light groups disposal (assuming normal WBL, group is 2-4 levels below the enemy caster).

Note: For the sake of this discussion, getting a high level caster of your own is NOT an option.
(That's taking the easy way out ;) , no deus ex machina npcs or mercenaries)

I want to say it was in the APG or UM. Might be confusing it with a 3.X feat but pretty sure it's in PF.

It allowed Wizards to take I want to say 1 spell at their current higher spell level or 2 of levels below that, and they have it permanently memorized like "Read Magic", so they can always prepare it even without their book handy.

Name of that feat? I'm mid discussion with someone right now, but don't have any books handy and trying to figure it out quickly.

(We promised our GF's we wouldn't talk games tonight, can't risk getting caught searching through pages of a PF app or PDF on our phones. ;) )

For Samsaran caster Druids with Mystic Past Life, what do you think the best five spells to gain from the Cleric (or any other divine list) are?

Assume the game goes to whatever level your games normally do (For us it's currently aimed for 18-20).

I know "Miracle" is a given, what other solid spells exist the Druid normally doesn't have access to? Dimensional Lock, Prayer, Magic Circles, Spell Immunities come to mind as nice, Greater Planar Ally I've heard good thigns about, Create Demiplane Greater too, but with only 4-6 picks it'd be nice to get the best bang for the spell buck and that might mean looking for some earlier gems as well.

GF messages me that our GM got back to us with our ability rolls, asked her what I got, and while she didn't have the message on hand she remembered it was pretty good Int and Cha (guessing 16-18s), good Dex (guessing 14), decent Con (12ish), and Str and Wis were low (8-10ish).
So, roughly...

Str 10ish
Dex 14ish
Con 12ish
Int 16ish
Wis 10ish
Cha 16ish

What class/race combination would you take with that?

The only caveat is I only play classes with some magic (Though I'm not entirely tied in to 9 level full casters, it can be a 4 or 6 spell level hybrid), but I think with that general stat array that's a solid choice anyway.

I have a few rough ideas (Oracle, Sorcerer, Wizard, maybe a Magus with the right race) but nothing flushed out, and I thought I'd put this on here and see if any ideas bounce around that I like. Maybe it's a good array for something else I'm not even thinking of at the moment.

I'm going to be playing under a GM who runs more than a few house rules but he's been a fun GM of other games and I'll sacrifice my usual adherence to RAW for what I know will be a good story and a lot of fun. Another upside is he'll also let us tweak things in the book to add variety of our own.

We're only playing with what's in the Core rules and the APG, anything from other books requires his approval and the default answer is "no" unless it's a weak class (most of us were okay with the Rogue getting some stuff from UC, and the one who wasn't we appropriately cuffed upside his ear)

He knew I wanted to play the Fey bloodline even though it was 'weaker' than Arcane, and no matter what I do I wouldn't be more powerful than a Wizard player we have (who's red lining a Conjuration spec Wizard, where as I'm avoiding total dump stats and wanted an Intelligence of at least 12 if not 14 on top of my Charisma), so he basically said "Have fun, thanks for not power gaming, now give me a good alternative spell list and power game, just keep it themed".
[I think he wants me ready as a foible if the Wizard starts messing with a new player we have, as in "literally never played an RPG before"]

So I decided on the following...
Fey should be mysterious and good at misdirection
Fey should be able to influence nature and primal forces
Fey should be able to influence minds (though not dominate)

I decided every 3 spell levels (1-3, 4-6, 7-9) should have a spell for each of those, so I didn't stack them all on one end of the power scale (IE not putting all 3 mind influence spells at 7-9 for example), and I came up with the following list...

1)Entangle
2)Hideous Laughter
3)Non Detection
4)Confusion
5)Wall of Thorns
6)Permanent Image
7) Greater Teleport
8) Charm Monster: Mass
9) Time Stop

I think this will be a good themed list, powerful, but not more powerful than a well built Cleric or Wizard (or probably an Arcane or Sylvan bloodline Sorcerer), but I wanted to post here for some feedback.

What guidance is there as to how these work together? If there is no clear cut, is this something worth trying to get a FAQ on?

As I'm reading over them, RAW seems to indicate Immunity to Illusion would just make you immune to Shadow Evocation/Conjuration effects, they're Illusion spells, reading the rules for Immunity, too bad so sad.

However by decription, the RAI would seem to be Immunity to Illusion, when applied to Shadow spells which are 'quasi-real' and thus not full illusions like other illusion spells, should work like an auto-save on the Will check, so the illusion part of the spell fails, but the quasi-real gets through (as it didn't require belief and wasn't by description an illusion, but was actually present)

I know Shadow spells can be a can of worms on the forums here, I was just curious if there was any guidance from on high on this issue [either Devs or PFS rulings], and wanted to get some general feedback on it (from people with the books handy or with better access to the online rules than I have at the moment). Any guidance on this anyone wants to give would be appreciated.

I've seen this discussed a few times but never seen the final RAW answer... in PFS play, can a spellcaster using elemental body to assume a humanoid form of the elemental still cast spells with somatic components?

Just curious what spells and arcana Magus prefer to employ when knowing they'll be fighting Undead across the various levels.

Obviously buff spells don't change much (shield, haste, etc, are just universally good), but on the offense what tricks and spells do you prefer? Any "must haves" at the various spell levels or arcana levels? If the Paladin in your group looks to you before fighting undead and says "Don't make me pull all the weight on this one", right after you fire back with "That's what your mom said" because he can't make those kind of jokes because he's lawful good*, what spells would you sit and mem for the day? Do you take any spell blended ones for just such encounters? What arcana (Ghost Blade for example) set themselves apart?

*note: paladin crack just said for humor, much love to my holy brothers in combining spells and combat. not an actual attempt to start a discussion on if lawful good and the paladin code allows "your mom" jokes. (although that could make an interesting thread)

If/when you're playing a Sorcerer what bloodline/style do you play, and at each of the 9 spell levels (10 if you want to count 0 level), what TWO spells do you consider the most "must have" at each level?

I leave how you define "must have" and if you want to explain it in your reply up to you, it could be "key spell of the build I use" or "spell every caster should have at this level", it could be "most useful at the level you get it" or "most useful as part of a lvl 20 complete list", or whatever standard you want.

There are some wonderful guides out there for spell casters and certainly going off the "blue" standard is a quick answer, but I'd like to hear both the opinions and viewpoints that might reinforce those old standards or might differ or come from a use of a spell other people might not commonly think of.

I'm building a Witch and I'd narrowed my patron choices down to three, reading the various guides they all seem well ranked (T/D are blues, E is green), and I'm debating which is the better choice.

It's really a case of liking them all (Endurance for Miracle, the others for Time Stop+several lower level spells I'd like), and at this point knowing I've either got to roll a d6/2 and randomize my choice, or come here and ask some other players for their personal opinions on Pros and Cons of Deception (v) Endurance (v) Time as Witch patrons.

Couple of notes if they matter...
The game will go to 20. It should spend about equal time in most level ranges, with maybe a little longer in the very middle and on the back end as we hit the main plot arch and later cap out the story.
The other group mates will include a Cleric/Druid (prob casty Druid but not 100%), Fighter (prob sword/board or TWF), Sorceror (unsure what type), and "archer" (unsure beyond that), BUT I know their will be at least 1 level... prob in the 7-13 range... I'll have to solo, so I can't entirely sacrifice self power for group functionality.
Group has a N to G alignment slant, absolutely no CE/NE allowed
Game will involve multiple adventure types (dungeon crawls, overworld intrigue, etc)