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I really want to play a half-orc Summoner/Barbarian with the Blood God Disciple archetype for the summoner, where your eidolon can eat enemies and give out evolutions. Take a couple of teamwork feats (Precise Strike is pretty good if you have a bite and a falchion and your eidolon has claw/claw/bite/rake). Usually the caster would go first and double move to a flank, and then the eidolon pounces into melee.
I'd be fine with adding my Cunning & Panache Rogue and Commander classes to this compilation, as well as a handful of other things I've written here and there. I'd offer my conversion of the Artificer as well, but it's probably too close to WotC's closed content to put it anywhere outside of a messageboard's Conversions section.
There's no restrictions placed on it like there are for, say, the cavalier, so I'd say it was just the same as the druid list.
Not until level 2. Works the same way with all the other "make an extra class choice" powers like Extra Rogue Talent, Extra Discovery, Extra Mercy, etc. You have to get to a level where you get the first power of that type before you can pick up other ones.
Note that this is a problem for archetypes that swap out the first instance of that ability - it also delays access to the Extra Whatever feat.
You can drop Str for Int, sure. Prepare a Strength mutagen and keep your barb rage rounds, and you'll be fine. You can drop feral mutagen and just use a greataxe or something if you'd prefer, but feral mutagen is a really solid melee combat option, especially if you're boosting Strength quite a bit with mutagen and rage. Since they're all primary attacks, you get a lot out of that.
Dropping, say, Power Attack, Iron Will, feral mutagen, and wings will get you a lot of space to take bomb-related discoveries. I'm playing a bomb-focused botanist alchemist at 7th in Serpent's Skull right now that has the following discoveries:
Infusion
Tanglefoot Bomb
Smoke Bomb
Stink Bomb
Precise Bombs
Scrap Bomb (reflavored as Thorn Bomb, a burst of thorns that does piercing damage and a bleed effect, the goblin requirement was ignored)
He's fairly effective at dealing damage and utility effects. See if your GM will allow Ability Focus (bomb) if you want to focus as much as possible on bombing - the effects can be pretty debilitating if they fail them, especially Stink Bomb and Tanglefoot Bomb (great against flyers).
Blood God Disciple can do it - you get all the standard alchemist buff effects plus you can get evolutions when your eidolon kills stuff.
It depends a lot on how many stat points you have, and how powerful everybody else in the group is going to be. You won't be as good at either as a specialist, obviously, but it's possible to play as a switch hitter.
You can have middlish stats for Str, Dex, Con, and Int and tanked Wis and Cha scores. That will get you what you need to do melee (Str, Dex, Con), ranged (Dex), and alchemy in general (Int). You probably won't be amazingly high at any of them, but if they're all 14ish you can do okay. Your mutagen will help considerably. Fits pretty well for a half-orc as well.
Important stuff for the ranged game would be Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and the Precise Bombs discovery. Tanglefoot Bomb, Stink Bomb, and Force Bomb are powerful bomb modifiers that you can pick up relatively quickly.
Melee alchemists generally want feral mutagen, vestigial arms, and wings. Alchemists get a good selection of defensive buffs, so they can scrap in melee decently - remember also that you can wear armor without any arcane spell failure chance, so a dip that gives you armor proficiency can be kinda tempting. I'd recommend barbarian, considering you're playing a half-orc that will go to melee if pressed - you can rage at that point and it will help your melee abilities a lot, and you probably won't be there for very long.
All alchemists want something like Iron Will or other ways to boost Will saves.
Barbarian (Drunken Brute) 1/Alchemist (Beastmorph) 7
Str 14
Dex 13 +2 racial
Con 15 +1 at 8th
Int 15 +1 at 4th
Wis 10
Cha 8
Class Abilities
Rage (7 rounds/day)
Drunken Brute (drink a potion as a move action, drink booze to not spend rounds of daily rage)
Bomb 4d6+6 10/day, DC 15 for negative effects (low DC due to relatively low Int, so don't count on your bomb's secondary effects - if you're doing a dedicated bomber max out your Int, includes bonus from alchemist favored class option for orc)
Brew Potion
Mutagen (when you use your mutagen, you get +4/-2 stats, +2 natural armor, a claw/claw/bite routine and your choice of two of: climb 30', fly 30' (avg), swim 30', darkvision 60', low-light vision, and scent)
Throw Anything
Discovery (feral mutagen)
Poison Use
Discovery (precise bombs)
Discovery (wings)
Feats
1 - Point Blank Shot
3 - Precise Shot
5 - Iron Will
7 - Power Attack
Equipment
Mighty Composite Longbow (for long range attacks, bombs are short-range weapons)
Mithril breastplate (proficient with medium armor, keeps 30' speed)
Lots of potions
Admixture Vial (mix two extracts into one)
It's certainly similar to the 4e Warlord and the 3.0 Marshal from the Miniatures Handbook, surely that's intentional.
Kolokotroni, that's a good point about not getting extra actions. It does effectively allow a caster to do two actions (one on their normal turn, and then again just after the marshal gives them a readied action) but it does prevent them from taking another action the next round.
He does... as long as those magic items are potions.
The trouble is that handing out a free standard action to allies is quite powerful, and most powerful when you've got allied spellcasters. There's a reason that Quicken Spell is so high level and 3.0 haste got nerfed so it didn't give multiple spells per turn - that's a really good ability that shouldn't be available for a long time.
I think you'd probably be fine if you specified that the action had to be an attack or physical action of some kind - not a spell or magical ability. Your archery-based example seems fine, but as written, you could use it on your wizard friend, and his readied action could be "cast my most powerful spell when I see a valid enemy target". If he has a valid target in sight, it immediately triggers, and thus gets a free spell, doubling his spellcasting options as often as you want to spend your uses of this ability. Once you can do it as a swift action it gets even crazier.
I would also add a caveat that a target can only be affected by a marshal's command once per turn - otherwise technically a team of marshals could turn a single ally into a whirling dervish of destruction, or at high level you could have a target ready two actions (use M.C. as a standard and a swift in the same turn, since you get both).
Not sure on the reasoning behind Inspiration having the option for the marshal not to include himself - with temporary hit points, you always use the best set, and then take temp hp damage to all of them, effectively. You're never going to not want to include yourself.
I really like the concept, it's one I explored myself a while ago with a new base class after I didn't like the cavalier. Readied actions are a bit complicated to base an archetype around, though, I think.
When I play a paladin, I always choose a sin that they aren't very good at dealing with. Maybe he has an anger problem and loses his temper - Wrath. Maybe he believes that being chosen by the divine makes him better than the people around him (Pride). Maybe he's a womanizer (Lust). It helps to give them something to strive against as a flaw, rather than just being noble and good all the time - that's not very interesting.
Paladins I've Played:
A paladin/sorcerer, the son of a pair of powerful wizards. He was a champion of the goddess of magic, and fought against those who used magic irresponsibly. His sin was pride - he came from a powerful, famous family, and was wealthy from birth, and believed he was better than others. Still, he fought against evil and protected everyone as well as he knew how - he just wasn't all that considerate about it sometimes.
A Catholic demonslayer paladin whose family was killed by demons. His sin was Wrath - he couldn't keep things together very well when people disagreed with him or made things more difficult, whether by hurting others or getting in his way.
A swashbuckling paladin/rogue that ran a detective agency. He was a cat burglar in his youth, and steadfastly ignored the call to service by the twin gods of justice (Mercy and Vengeance). When he got drafted, though, he served under a paladin that recognized his calling and taught him what it meant. He fought against corruption and acted as sort of a Batman figure in his town. In a noir-ish twist, his sin was Lust - he had a difficult time believing anything bad about women, and was a sucker for a damsel in distress.
In my campaign gnomes are extinct, so that'd be the comparison. Their homeland was overrun in the war between the elemental-oriented primordial dragons and the gods. It's currently the area known as the Broken Lands, which is home to dinosaur-riding voodoo orcs.
I agree with Eben - I'd go into this class with a magus gestalt with a Conductive weapon.
As written, the class needs to go into melee to deliver touch effects to steal souls. The familiar Deliver Touch Spells ability doesn't let you channel Su powers, so you have to get up there. Wizards generally don't want to do that, though gestalt makes that much less of a problem.
As either a wizard or a magus, I'd take a vivisectionist+beastmorph alchemist as the second class here. You could describe it as your character is a master of death and has learned to absorb power from your fallen foes - maybe he harvests bits from his enemies to make his extracts? Alchemists can get pretty creepy, and the vivisectionist+bestmorph combination allows you to play more toward the front lines, as they get a number of powerful self-buffing abilities.
Another option would be a kensai magus, which is a magus that loses some casting power to be a better unarmored fighter and the ability to focus on a particular weapon. With a wizard gestalt and a conductive weapon that could be quite effective - you'd have all the normal wizard defensive stuff, plus the Canny Defense power, +Int modifier to initiative, and bonuses to critical hits, which would work well for energy drain through a conductive weapon. You could choose your Kensai levels to advance, so you'd gain full wizard spellcasting and slower access to the poorer magus spell list. If you're going all the way to 20, Wizard 20 // Magus (Kensai) 10 / Souldrinker 10 would be a pretty nasty character, though somewhat lacking in Hit Dice and BAB.
30. A young girl, possessed by a pair of powerful spirits that keep each other in balance - one good, one evil. When these spirits manifest, the girl's personality is subsumed - but which one will appear? (Wild Flower from Jade Empire as a Synthesist Summoner)
31. An apprentice wizard makes a mistake with a summoning and binds a minor outsider to his own soul. As he grows more powerful, so does it.
32. A child's parents make a deal with a powerful outsider to watch over and protect their unborn child. When he's born, a small outsider arrives to watch over him, forming a bond as they age together.
33. Through a little-known ritual, a follower of a dark god has learned to feed the life force of his enemies to a pet. As it devours more and more souls, the beasts's power increases until it's no longer a creature of this world.
They apparently decided they'd rather have PCs with animal companions start with powered-down versions of just about any animal, rather than the old level adjustment system that powerful animal companions used. It does allow you to start play with the companion you want, though it's kinda awful if you think about it too hard (you're sending baby creatures in to fight to the death!)
It also restricts some concepts, and I'm not too sold on the balance for a lot of the animals - big cats and some of the dinosaurs are clearly better than the vast majority of the available options. I'd also like to see a few more animals that start as Large so you can have a mounted druid effectively that isn't riding a horse or a camel, or just walking around next to their animal companion until 7th level.
I realized when I saw this that I never submitted my version of the Pathfinder artificer to this list.
It's intended as a straight conversion of the Eberron artificer to Pathfinder class design sensibilities, with a talent/pool point system similar to the magus, along with a sort of ranger-y option between four thematic choices - creating a blasting rod with mechanics like the alchemist's bombs, turning yourself into a construct over time, bonding with a specific item, or creating a homonculus that is a lower-power version of an eidolon.
There's also a number of new spells at the end of the document.
Click here to view the PDF
I'd allow a bandolier or belt full of alchemical flasks, though keep in mind that it might be dangerous to be carrying a bunch of fragile grenades all over your body.
Here's how I would have run it.
1. After being grappled, the wyvern spins around with a started shriek and attempts to take control of the grapple as a standard action, pulling your character off its back and into its claws. It rolls 1d20+16 vs your monk's CMD. It cannot move this round, but beats its wings furiously to maintain its position (Fly DC 15 check to hover). If it fails, (something happens - the Fly rules are unclear, but I assume it drops by 10'). If it fails by 5 or more, it drops to the ground (in this case both would suffer falling damage, though I'd probably allow the wyvern to count for Slow Fall).
2. Monk's action. If the monk is still in control of the grapple, he gains a +5 bonus on grapple checks against the wyvern this round. To maintain the grapple, he must make a grapple check to do something (move, damage, pin, or tie up). If he's not in control of the grapple at the beginning of his action, he can make an attempt to gain control of the grapple.
3. Wyvern's action. If it is in control of the grapple, it gains a +5 bonus to the grapple roll and makes a grapple check as a standard action to move half its speed. If it's not in control of the grapple, it can make a CMB check to gain control. It could also make a full attack including a bite, which has the Grab ability, so it could in theory try and full attack then take over the grapple again with Grab, assuming that hits. All of those attacks would suffer the penalties for the Grappled condition, though.
Show them the text of the feat? It's quite clear, and is a significant change in the way the feat works. Pathfinder isn't 3.x, and things don't always work the same way. This is a fairly standard example. (Unfortunately, this change makes Cleave a significantly less useful feat in a lot of ways. Mostly because it's a standard action, and the adjacency thing really hurts, as smart opponents are usually trying to flank you, and are thus rarely adjacent to each other.)
Yeah, just looking at it on the PRD and PFSRD, I don't see any rules for the caulborn's "Premonition" ability either. Odd.
Here's the Watcher of the Wastes - I'll work on the Eyes of the Wastes template next, but it's much simpler.
Note on the kami thing - kami in Pathfinder are the "guardian nature spirits" so it made sense to use those existing mechanics, and they rely heavily on the concept of a ward, as well. The resistances/immunities that the template grants are the base kami abilities.
Creating a Watcher of the Wastes
"Watcher of the Wastes" is a unique template that can be added to any humanoid creature that undergoes a specific ritual that grants it the mantle. This ritual can only be performed by the current Watcher of the Wastes, or by the powerful nature spirits that grant the Watcher their power. This title is usually granted to a powerful servant of nature, typically a druid, ranger, or cleric of a nature-oriented deity.
CR: Same as the base creature +3.
Type: The creature's type changes to native outsider, and they gain the kami subtype. Recalculate base attack bonus, base saves, and skill points based on any racial hit dice the creature may possess based on its new type.
Senses: The creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60'.
AC: The Watcher of the Wastes gains a +2 insight bonus to AC while within the area of its ward.
Defensive Abilities: The Watcher of the Wastes gains immunity to bleed damage, mind-affecting effects, petrification, and polymorph effects, and gains resist acid 10, electricity 10, and fire 10. While within the area of its ward, the creature gains fast healing 5.
Abilities: The Watcher of the Wilds gains a +4 bonus to its Wisdom score and a +2 bonus to its Constitution.
Special Abilities:
Guardian of Nature: As a swift action, the Watcher can imbue a single weapon with a portion of nature's fury. This ability can affect either one of its natural weapons or a touched manufactured weapon. While the ability is in use, the weapon becomes an aberration bane weapon, as the weapon special property, granting it an additional +2 enhancement bonus against creatures of the aberration type, and dealing an additional 2d6 damage against any such creature struck. This ability can be used for a number of rounds per day equal to the Watcher's hit dice plus its Wisdom modifier.
Imbue Eyes of the Wastes: Through a little-known ritual, the Watcher of the Wastes can apply the Eyes of the Wastes template to a willing creature. This takes a 24-hour ritual involving the Watcher and the prospective Eye of the Wastes, and must be performed within the Watcher's ward. If the Watcher has an animal companion or familiar, it automatically gains the Eyes of the Wastes template.
Merge with Ward (Su): As a standard action, the Watcher of the Wastes can merge its body and mind with its ward. When merged, the Watcher can observe the area where it merged as though it were still in that location. It can move its point of perception up to 60' as a move action, as long as it remains within its ward. The Watcher can also, as a standard action, move its point of perception to any creature with the Eyes of the Watcher template within the Wastes. It can emerge as a standard action, appearing at its current point of perception as though stepping from the terrain.
Share Senses (Su): As a standard action, the Watcher of the Wastes can use the senses of any creature within its ward with the Eyes of the Wastes template, as share senses (APG), though the Watcher receives all sensory input from the target creature. The target creature is aware of this effect, and may attempt to resist (Will DC 10 + 1/2 the Watcher's hit dice + Wisdom modifier negates). Using this ability requires the Watcher to maintain concentration on the effect.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th or the Watcher's Hit Dice, whichever is higher, save DCs are Wisdom-based) (Sp):
- At Will - detect aberration (APG), speak with animals, whispering wind
- 3/day - commune with nature, nature's exile (APG), spike growth
- 1/day - rest eternal (APG), summon nature's ally v
Ward: The Watcher of the Wastes is a guardian of a specific area, and the natural spirits that infuse it grant their servant power in that region. While within its ward, the Watcher gains a +4 bonus on initiative checks and Knowledge (Geography), Perception, Stealth, and Survival skill checks. While within its ward, the Watcher leaves no trail and cannot be tracked (though it can leave a trail if it so chooses). If the Watcher of the Wastes has the favored terrain ability at a bonus higher than +4, it instead uses the highest favored terrain bonus while in its ward. Whenever a spell of 6th level or greater is cast within its ward, the Watcher of the Wastes automatically rolls a Perception check (DC 25 - the level of the spell). If successful, the Watcher becomes aware of the caster's general location and the type of magic used (arcane or divine). Additionally, some of the Watcher's special abilities only function within the area of his ward.
I'll work on something today, could be interesting.
You might consider E8 rather than E6 - there are a lot of abilities gained at 8th level that would serve as good capstone powers.
My rogue revision that uses the grit mechanics calls the Int-based grit "cunning" and the Cha-based grit "panache".
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Here are a few spells from an artificer conversion I did a few years ago - they'd be appropriate for this type of character, I think.
Animate Weapon
Transmutation
Level: artificer 5, magus 5
Components: V, S, F (a melee weapon)
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 minute/level
You touch a melee weapon in your possession, which animates and moves to attack as you direct. For the duration of the spell, it acts as a creature on its own, with hit points as normal for a weapon of its type, an AC of 20 + your Intelligence or Charisma modifier, its normal reach, and a fly speed of 30' (perfect). It can make a single attack each turn, and its attack bonus is equal to your caster level plus your Intelligence bonus or Charisma bonus, whichever is higher. It deals normal damage for its weapon type plus your Intelligence or Charisma modifier, and all magical properties are active as though you were wielding the weapon. If you have any feats or special abilities that apply to that weapon type, they apply when you are wielding it through this spell. Directing the animated weapon requires a swift action on your part each turn - if you don't direct it, the weapon takes no actions.
Guarding Blade
Abjuration
Level: artificer 3, magus 3, sorc/wiz 3, summoner 3
Components: V, S, F (a miniature engraved dagger worth 50gp)
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level
You enchant the spell's focus, causing it to grow to the size of a longsword and animate to defend you. For the duration of the spell, the blade floats next to you, parrying attacks directed at you and striking at your enemies. Anyone striking you with a melee attack provokes an attack of opportunity from the blade. It threatens the area adjacent to you, and can make a number of attacks of opportunity per round equal to your Intelligence or Charisma modifier (whichever is higher). It strikes with an attack bonus equal to your caster level + your casting stat modifier. It deals 1d8 + your casting stat modifier damage per hit, and threatens a critical hit as a longsword (threat range 19-20, damage x2). It strikes as a magical weapon for the purposes of penetrating damage resistance.
Each round on your turn, the blade performs the Aid Another action to assist you. Normally it assists your AC, but you can direct it to assist you on attacks instead as a free action.
Eh? All the caves I've been in were chilly.
Fromper wrote: SteelDraco wrote: Yeah, I've never seen the value of most of these abilities - changing them to a swift action does make them much more useful. They're awesome for buffing other people just the way they are. Clerics are best as a support class, and these domain powers do a great job of supporting that. Clerics can do combat, but their powers aren't always geared towards going that route themselves.
The trouble is that they're almost never worth taking the action to do it. I realize this may be related to my tendency to play and run games with relatively few encounters in a day (don't like dungeon crawls) but it's almost always more effective to be doing something else, even if your goal is to buff an ally.
Yeah, I've never seen the value of most of these abilities - changing them to a swift action does make them much more useful.
The best idea I've seen for encouraging combat maneuvers is dead simple and I want to try it as soon as I run a Pathfinder campaign.
You only provoke an AoO if you fail the maneuver.
Guide is a good archetype - unless the campaign is centered around a particular group of foes, I think Ranger's Focus is better than favored enemy. The ability to choose a foe and then get a significant combat bonus against them is pretty useful. I played an archer, and would frequently pick a target and then completely wreck them.
You also get better bonuses from favored terrain, as I recall.
It's not crazy powerful, but I want to play a half-orc barbarian/summoner with the Blood God Disciple archetype for the summoner. Just run around with you and your eidolon, murdering stuff and eating them.
I've only played in one gestalt game, where we all played githzerai and one of our halves had to be in a psionic class - I played a ranger/psychic warrior that eventually started taking levels in an anti-psionic prestige class. He was pretty powerful.
I also wrote up a fighter/psychic artificer that focused on archery - he'd be even more powerful in Pathfinder, considering the bonuses that archery got.
I would play the heck out of that monk/magus with kung fu genius - that'd be a great character. Take kensai for a double-dip of Int to AC for the fun of it, and then Crane Style.
There's certainly some design space available for items that buff the eidolon, but I'd be pretty wary of them - I'm of the opinion that they're pretty crazy powerful already, or can be. Summoners are a class that's super easy to powergame with, and how much of that is a question best left to the group.
I think evolution points make the most sense as a buff to give, although you could describe any of the normal equipment given to an eidolon that way as well - the amulet of natural armor/belt of strength/etc could just as easily be some kind of magical link to the summoner, as long as you stick to the item restrictions that are part of the class where the two share item slots.
I wouldn't change the Hit Dice of the eidolon, that's pretty well set to their summoner level, though I can see a feat option for catching up a multiclassed summoner along the lines of the Natural Bond feat.
As to your idea of why the outsider is forming the bond and agreeing to become an eidolon in the first place - that's awesome, and I intend to steal it.
Adaptable Combatant: Fighters are masters of adapting to the needs of a combat situation, changing their fighting style as necessary to win. At 4th level, this fighter can change his most recent bonus fighter feat to one other combat feat he qualifies for. Activating this ability is a swift action that costs 2 grit.
I always described it as color fading as the light failed, and once they're using darkvision they just see shades of grey.
Yes, it applies to every attack in a round that qualifies for a sneak attack. This would be every attack in a flanking situation, but Dexterity bonus loss depends. Some of those, like Feint, specify the next attack. In that case it's only one attack. If it's for the round, though, it will allow for multiple sneak attacks.
This isn't remotely overpowered - rogues are really pretty bad at dealing straight damage. You could say that they would deal 50d6 damage, but that's not going to happen - rogues just don't have good ways to get a high attack bonus, and a good chunk of those attacks are going to miss.
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One of the most memorable encounters in my gaming career was an aquatic encounter completely out of left field - wraith sharks.
We were in an environment that had been described as a dried-up ocean that had been destroyed by a magical cataclysm, and were wandering around old shipwrecks - I believe the thing we were looking for had been lost when the disaster destroyed the ocean. We had several undead encounters, so we knew the area had lots of undead.
But what we didn't expect was a group of wraith sharks to come 'swimming' out of a wreck, acting just like they were still at the bottom of the ocean, only now they were undead monstrosities that didn't need water to hunt us down and kill us.
Invulnerable Rager is better if you're abusing the cord of resolve, since it negates the damage from it completely by the time you get DR 3/-, as I.R. DR is doubled against nonlethal damage.
Otherwise I can see a point to Brutal Pugilist and spending some money on adamantine heavy armor.
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142. A Lorekeeper Inevitable
Inevitable, Lorekeeper
This ornate metal-bound book begins to shift, as a half-dozen articulated legs lift it up and several jeweled eyestalks sprout from it, peering intently around the room.
Lorekeeper, CR 2
XP 600
LN Tiny outsider (extraplanar, inevitable, lawful)
Init +4; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., detect chaos, glyph sight, low-light vision; Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 13 (+4 Dex, +1 natural, +2 size)
hp 13 (2d10+2); regeneration 2 (chaotic)
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +3
Defensive Abilities constructed; resist fire 10, SR 13
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks electrical arc
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd; concentration +5, Int-based)
Constant—read magic
At Will— mending, unseen servant
2/day—forced quiet (UM) (DC 15), identify
1/day—quench (DC 16)
STATISTICS
Str 6, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 11, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 14
Feats Skill Focus (Knowledge [Arcana]), Weapon Finesse (B)
Skills Craft (books) +8, Knowledge (Arcana) +11, Knowledge (Any One Other) +8, Knowledge (Planes) +8, Linguistics +8, Perception +5, Spellcraft +8, Stealth +17, Use Magic Device +5
Languages truespeech
SQ absorb scroll, all-around vision, book warden, glyph sight, scroll adept
Absorb Scroll (Su): As a full-round action, a lorekeeper inevitable may absorb a scroll it is holding into its body, allowing it to be added to the pages within the lorekeeper. It may use this scroll at a later time without having to retrieve it, and may present the scroll to anyone using the it as a book.
Book Warden (Su): All books, scrolls, and other written information within 60' of the lorekeeper gain resist fire 10, and may use the inevitable's saving throws if the object has to make a saving throw.
Electrical Arc (Su): Lorekeeper inevitables can unleash a debilitating jolt of electrical energy dealing 1d6 points of electrical damage to a single target within 30' as a ranged touch attack. A target struck by this must make a Fortitude save (DC 14) or be staggered for one round.
Glyph Sight (Su): Lorekeeper inevitables may make a Spellcraft check (DC 10 + spell level) when it would trigger a glyph, rune, symbol, or similar effect. If it succeeds, it does not trigger the effect, and will not trigger that effect for 24 hours.
Scroll Adept (Ex): Lorekeeper inevitables gain a +10 racial bonus on Use Magic Device checks made to activate a scroll or other writing-based magical item.
ECOLOGY
Environment libraries and ruins
Organization solitary
Treasure standard plus 2d4 levels of 1st and 2nd level scrolls
Lorekeepers are inevitables tasked with collecting and cataloging the written knowledge of the humanoid races. They can be found in and around most sources of written information, often acting as librarians for their companions. They are less involved in the war against chaos than most inevitables, preferring instead to ensure that the massive libraries of the axiomites contain as much of the sum total of knowledge found across the planes as possible. They often mount expeditions to relocate lost libraries, gathering as many books as possible and adding them to their libraries.
An inactive lorekeeper looks like a large book, about a foot and a half square and eight inches thick. They are covered in intricate gearing made of a number of brightly-polished metals, with small jewels worked into the machinery. An intricate locking mechanism holds the book closed, but it cannot be picked - the book-shaped inevitable only opens its pages to those it deems worthy based on their ability to contribute to the knowledge contained within. If opened, the lorekeeper contains a near-limitless number of pages of metallic foil. These pages can display the contents of any book that the inevitable has read, and can be used as an extremely efficient and well-cataloged index of that information.
When active, a lorekeeper sprouts a half-dozen articulated metal legs, each with a four-fingered hand capable of very delicate motions. It also sprouts a half-dozen eyestalks, each tipped with a jewel, from the cover of the book, allowing it to peer in multiple directions and read up to six books at a time. When it speaks, it does so in a quiet, measured tone with a faint buzz to it. Lorekeeper inevitables can speak and read any language. Each day, a lorekeeper is inactive for a period of an hour, while it sends a daily log of the information it has absorbed to its axiomite masters. Other than this period, it does not need to rest.
If forced into combat, a lorekeeper will prefer to use its stored scrolls to neutralize hostile parties as quickly as possible and attempt to stagger critical opponents with its electrical arc. Once it has used its scrolls, it will typically attempt to retreat and hide - the inevitable knows that it is not well-suited to combat.
This type of inevitable most frequently visits the material plane to act as a familiar. To summon a lorekeeper familiar, a spellcaster must be at least 7th level, possess a lawful alignment, and have the Improved Familiar feat. While acting as a familiar, the lorekeeper will function as a duplicate of its master's spellbook without incurring any additional cost - the lorekeeper simply reads and copies the existing spellbook into itself.
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46. A Taste for Adventure by Gort Ribcracker: A journal and cookbook written by a half-orc adventurer and chef extraordinaire. Gort spent nearly a decade wandering the wild frontier fighting all manner of dangerous monsters and wild beasts, and then eating them. The sections of the book that detail his many adventures are rambling and only semi-coherent, but the sections on cooking are lovingly and beautifully written. This volume contains recipes for all manner of monsters, from behir ribs glazed with a reduction of red wine and garlic to yrthak soup with wild shrieker. Anyone perusing the book for an hour gains a +2 bonus on Profession (cooking) checks and a +1 bonus on attack rolls to confirm critical hits against creatures of the Magical Beast type for one day - some of the jointing and butchering sections get a bit gruesome, and recommend the use of a greataxe for best results.
26. Parables of the Unconquered Dawn A slim book, with a cover embossed with a gold-ish image of a rising sun. It consists of advice and life lessons based on the teachings of Sarenrae. Each chapter is headlined with a quotation from her holy scripture, and explains in detail how this aphorism applies to the everyday life of the lay follower. If a follower of Sarenrae studies this book for ten minutes at dawn, once during the day they may gain a +1 bonus on a single Will save.
27. Plants of the Guldarak Jungle, An Alchemical Treatise A thick book, full of beautifully detailed botanical illustrations that surround and accent the text. The author switches frequently between Common and Elven, apparently due to the more precise botanical terminology found in the Elven language. It contains a detailed accounting of a number of plants of the titular region, and discusses in some detail the alchemical applications of each type of plant. It grants a +2 bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks related to botany, and a recipe for tanglefoot bags derived from the sap of the stogol-gum tree allows anyone with Craft (alchemy) to make tanglefoot bags with a +2 bonus to all DCs at a 25% cost increase. If an alchemist with the tanglefoot bomb discovery reads this text they gain a permanent +1 bonus to the DC of their tanglefoot bombs.
28. The Tragedy of Sir Lyonson A play in three acts. The tale of a paladin coming to the end of his career and his fall from grace, as fears of his advancing age and lack of an heir cause him to commit more and more desperate acts to protect his people against an encroaching orcish tribe. This copy is annotated with stage directions that seem to recast one of the minor characters as a scheming succubus that is secretly behind the whole thing, an interpretation missing completely from the original text.
Hm. You could massively refluff an armored hulk barbarian so that your rage is an effect of your armor running hot, and then the fatigue is you letting it cool down, so you're less effective. A lot of the rage powers do what you want mechanically, so after that it's just a matter of how you want to describe them.
Barbarian with Armored Hulk and Totem Warrior archetypes
Beast Totem: While raging you gain a +1 natural armor bonus that increases by +1 for every four barbarian levels.
Beast Totem, Lesser: Gain two claw attacks while raging (you could do slam attacks too if your GM allows, not a big change)
Dragon Totem Wings: Gain a fly speed while raging. Steam jets that propel you into the air!
Elemental Rage (fire): Your attacks while raging release gouts of steam that burn your attackers!
Energy Resistance/Absorption/Eruption: Your suit can absorb energy, then shoot it at your enemies as an attack!
Fiend Totem, Greater: Enemies adjacent to you take damage and are shaken - you release a gout of steam that burns nearby foes!
Guarded Life: Your armor keeps you alive!
Yeah, this would work really well for what you want mechanically, you'd just have to have a flexible GM who was willing to accept your refluffing of the armored hulk barbarian as a STEAMPUNK JUGGERNAUT!
Lunchbox, the build order I posted above was...
B1
B1/F1
B2/F1
B2/F2
B3/F2
B3/F3
B4/F3
B4/F4
B5/F4
B6/F4
B7/F4
With four light weapons, you get to pick which one is your primary (and thus gets your iterative attacks). For this build I think Armor Spikes is the best primary weapon due to Wounding on the spikes.
I haven't crunched out all the numbers for attack and damage, but off the top of my head...
Raging Strength = 22, +6, full Strength on all attacks due to Double Slice
Brawler gives +3
WS gives +2
Say +2 for the weapon + 1 Con from Wounding
+ a grapple attack on each hit
Each armor hit then is 1d6 + 13 + 1 Con + a free grapple check.
Spiked gauntlets would be probably +1 material (one cold iron, one silver?) + an energy enchantment, say, one shocking, one sonic.
1d4 + 10 + 1d6 energy + a free grapple check
It's honestly not that amazing DPR at 11th level, and anything with DR will hurt him badly, but it's mostly a fun character concept, and DPR isn't everything - optimized characters mostly walk over the Adventure Paths, in my experience.
Dwarf Fighter (Brawler) 4 / Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager) 7
Basic plan of the build - you're fighting with four weapons - two spiked gauntlets, armor spikes, and a dwarven boulder helm. Your full attack at 11th level is six attacks (I would do armor/armor/armor/gauntlet/gauntlet/helm). They all do your full Strength bonus due to Double Slice, +3 more from the Brawler archetype. If you hit with the armor spikes or gauntlets you can immediately make a grapple check due to Hamatula Strike. Once per round you can do a bull rush instead of an attack, probably the helm. If you succeed you get an extra armor spikes attack due to Spiked Destroyer.
If you ever crit with the armor spikes (on a 19-20) you impale your opponent with Impaling Critical. Each turn on their turn they take damage from your weapon. Your opponent can spend a move action to pull you off, which deals damage again.
Strength Surge allows you to, once per rage, gain a +7 bonus on a combat maneuver check, usually either grapple or bull rush. You can then end your rage as a free action and start it again the next round.
The big limitation is the lack of pounce, which you can only get at Barbarian 10. As it is though, you can shred one enemy at a time pretty effectively.
Stats
Str 18
Dex 15
Con 13+2+2 from cord of stubborn resolve
Int 8
Wis 7+2
Cha 9-2
Feats
Two-Weapon Fighting
Double Slice
Improved Unarmed Strike (while raging, from Brawler)
Improved Grapple
Weapon Focus (armor spikes)
Spiked Destroyer
Hamatula Strike
Weapon Specialization (armor spikes)
Critical Focus
Impaling Critical
Rage Powers
Brawler
Knockback
Strength Surge
Equipment
[list]
cord of resolve from Ultimate Equipment, the most crazy broken item for a barbarian ever. Take 1d6 nonlethal damage instead of becoming fatigued at the end of the a rage. Due to Invulnerable Rager, this character has DR 6 against nonlethal, meaning he can end his rage every round, and thus use 1/rage powers every turn)
2 magical spiked gauntlets
Magical dwarven boulder helm
Best magical armor spikes you can afford, preferably keen wounding
Best medium armor you can get (scale mail or breastplate, or mithril heavy armor if you want to pay for it)
Brawler gives him +1 attack/+3 damage with every weapon he uses - spiked gauntlets, armor spikes, and the boulder helm are all close weapons. I's a heck of a/deal. Note also that most of the armored hulk stuff doesn't help dwarves.
Here's a try at 11th level.
Dwarf Fighter (Brawler) 4 / Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager) 7
Str 18
Dex 15
Con 13+2+2 from cord of stubborn resolve
Int 8
Wis 7+2
Cha 9-2
Pwent is a very unbalanced character, and a decent way to play a character with a bunch of dump stats - he's dumb and charismatic as a post, and not very bright. He makes poor decisions and is too impulsive not to have a Wisdom penalty, even though the dwarf racial bonus helps a bit.
The high Dex is pretty unconventional, but I needed it for the TWF stuff - this build is centered around attacking with as many weapons as possible, essentially spiked gauntlet/spiked gauntlet/armor spikes/boulder helmet.
I'll be back later with feats and class abilities.
How about just Divine Instrument as a name, rather than Ready to Rock?
Bardic music in PF is measured in rounds per day, rather than uses per day. It's also a pretty powerful ability to grant - the Evangelist cleric archetype replaces one whole domain and several levels of channel energy with a limited portion of the benefits of bardic music (though admittedly at full level).
Spell list seems reasonable if you tone down the power of Divine Singer - you're granting a lot of non-cleric spells, but the 1st level power is pretty useless. Break Enchantment feels out of place, though - everything else is directly sonic/music related, and that's just a thematic link.
Yes, you do. Remember that normally other creatures don't get any effects from your extracts unless you have the Infusion discovery.
The trouble is that irrelevant doesn't apply there. Irrelevant would be, say, a CL 3 resist energy (fire) and a CL 20 resist energy (fire). Both are technically active, but one is irrelevant.
Multiple resist energy spells are fine. Generally you can have multiple instances of the same spell up anyway, even if they do the same thing. In this case they're even doing different things.
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I'd say that was the compromise to not needing an instrument to use the skill - there also isn't an instrument to boost it.
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