I had a character that was supposed to be a "do everything" type character for PFS. The concept was to be able to fulfill all roles in a party. I wanted to be able to fill the role of tank, striker, healer, skill monkey and party face. I don't care about blaster as I do not consider that an essential role in combat. As for ranged attacks, well... I could bring spells into play for that but that wasn't going to be a big focus here.
I was going to accomplish this concept by being a Lunar Seeker Oracle and not have very high ability scores in favor of bumping my Cha and Int up to fulfill the role of skill monkey and party face. I was taking the Primal Companion Revelation to gain a Tiger animal companion and then taking Monstrous Mount and Monstrous Mount Mastery to turn it into a Griffon. The animal companion would fill the role of tank and striker for me.
Well, that is the part that no longer works. Apparently you can't take Monstrous Mount if you are a Lunar Oracle because even though the ability gives you an Animal Companion as a Druid of the same level it isn't considered "divine bond (mount), hunter's bond (animal companion), or mount class feature with an effective druid level of 4." Personally, I disagree with that and believe that it is most certainly a mount class feature as much as any other class.
SKR has a very wordy post here on the subject. The long and short of it is that somethings that are slightly different are meant to work the same and qualify you for the same feats. Even though they are slightly different. So if a Nature Oracle can qualify with their Bonded Mount Revelation then I don't see why a Lunar Oracle couldn't do the same thing with their Primal Companion Revelation. But apparently that is how it is currently ruled and although I am likely to find several PFS DMs who agree with me I don't want to deal with table variation.
So, alas, my concept will not work the way that I have it built. I still want to do it though so I'm looking for other ways to accomplish the same thing. I considered just dropping Monstrous Mount but I really liked the idea of having a flying pouncing mount. I thought about trying to give it other means of flight such as spells, etc but it just doesn't seem the same. I was hoping I could buy an Eidolon Evolution via the Evolved Companion feat but that is a 2 point evolution so that is out. I had already been going to take the Wing Buffet Evolution but I can't do that if it doesn't have wings. So... what does that leave?
Well, I could just switch to Nature Oracle, I guess. It has 2 Revelations that are effectively the same (Bonded Mount <-> Primal Companion, Nature's Whispers <-> Prophetic Armor). I will admit that Friend to Animals is pretty appealing as well if I am going to be mounted frequently. The rest of the Revelations I find pretty meh, though. Barkskin would be nice to add to her spell list, though. I was planning on getting Improved Share Spells and it works well with the Cleric buffs.
There is Seeker Sorcerer but it doesn't have the ability to heal and wouldn't be able to fill that role. Druid apparently doesn't qualify for Monstrous Mount for the same reason Lunar Oracle doesn't and I think that is equally silly for the same reason. Doesn't matter though as a Druid doesn't get anything like Trapfinding. And before it is suggested, no, I don't want to dip a level of Rogue (or anything else that gets Trapfinding at first level).
So am I missing anything else that would work here?
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Bard can do it all and then some. Bards built with a combat role in mind can do a good job at it.
Now if you want a animal companion you will need to take the feat to get one.
Animal Ally
Required: Nature Soul, and character level 4
Benefit: You gain an animal companion as if you were a druid of your character level –3 from the following list: badger, bird, camel, cat (small), dire rat, dog, horse, pony, snake (viper), or wolf.
Dealing with traps. One trait, and one spell known. Now you can handle any trap no archetype needed. I played a bard to retirement with this spell. I never played a scenario where this spell and max ranks in disable device was not enough to take care of any traps. Their are so few magic traps I hardly ever really need to cast the spell. I think I used it a total of two times. However you could also just spend 4,000 gold on a page of spell knowledge, or Spell Lattice if you don't want to use a spell known slot.
Trait: Vagabond Child: Disable Device as a class skill.
Spell: Aram Zey's Focus
School divination; Level alchemist 2, arcanist 2, bard 2, investigator 2, skald 2, sorcerer/wizard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (masterwork thieves’ tools worth 100 gp)
Effect
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 minute/level (D)
Description
Aram Zey created this spell for use by his students, both to increase their confidence in their skills and to ensure more of them survived encounters with deadly traps. If you don’t have the trapfinding class ability, this spell grants you the trapfinding ability of a rogue of half your character level.
@Lune
You seem to have put a lot of work into this! Unfortunately, I find your question kind of vague... Do you want to know what kind of class/archetype you must take, or are you fine with items which would allow you to bypass or replicate the requirements you are lacking?
Could be a point to be more specific in your title, too. I'm just here because I was curious. I bet "Need help to create a character who can fulfill all roles in a party" would attract more attention.
Or if you're feeling humorous... "Help my character become the swiss army knife of pathfinder!"
Righty, just to add to Calagnar's advice.
You don't need the Trapfinding class feature to actually find the traps. You only need Trapfinding to be able to disable magic traps, so it only needs to be cast after you have found the trap.
(Just clearing that one up for you if you didn't know. The name "Trapfinding" is kinda misleading)
yeah get four characters go play by yourself if you're wanting to do everything. Unless you're okay being decent to bad at everything and just want to be able to try, in which case you're not really meeting any of your goals of doing things.
calagnar: Yeah, I wanted to go the animal companion route.
Also, the Trapfinder trait is a campaign trait and thus isn't allowed in PFS. That spell is a good replacement, though. If I were looking to play a Bard then I would definitely do that.
Wonderstell: You are probably right on the title. I couldn't think of a good way to put it. I did say Trapfinding as an actual game term as I would like the character to be able to disarm magical traps.
Chess Pwn: Yeah... you are not being helpful. Can you tell me how the character that I put forward would not be filling any of the stated goals?
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Lunar Seeker Oracle is going to be your best option then. I know you can't get the exact companion you wanted. However their are still really good animal companions on the list. You could try doing it as a druid, or hunter however they don't do the face role with out some sacrifices in other areas. From the sound of it you wanted to use the animal companion to fighting and not get in to melee your self.
Option that can work effectively.
Sylvan Sorcerer: With a high UMD you could use wands to cover healing with a high success ratio. The spell list over all is much better as well. You would need the same two things the bard did the trait and spell known for magic traps. The real down side is the lace of skill points makes it very hard to do skill monkey portion.
You think Lunar Seeker is better than going Nature Seeker then?
If I go Lunar Seeker since I can no longer take Monstrous Mount / Mastery that frees up 2 feats. Have any suggestions on what I should get? I suppose I could take Extra Revelation.
Yeah, I thought about Sylvan Sorcerer but dismissed it due to lack of skill points and healing.
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You think Lunar Seeker is better than going Nature Seeker then?
If I go Lunar Seeker since I can no longer take Monstrous Mount / Mastery that frees up 2 feats. Have any suggestions on what I should get? I suppose I could take Extra Revelation.
Yeah, I thought about Sylvan Sorcerer but dismissed it due to lack of skill points and healing.
Nature lacks a lot of good options for revelations when compared to lunar. So to me it's not even a real contest. I would go human and use eye for talent.
Reach Spell(Metamagic) is really good for healing. I take it on most of my casting based clerics. So you don't have to be in the front line to heal them in a emergency. Short range will cover most combatants with the cost of one level increase. This also opens up touch spells that normally are not used by casting clerics due to not needed to be in combat. You might think of Magical Lineage Bestow Curse so you can use it at close range with not level increase. I find Bestow Curse one of the best debuff spell. Due to targeting a normally low save compared to most others. A good option if you are playing neutral. Magical Lineage Fleshworm Infestation. I would not go with any spell above level 4 due to the lack of time you will be able to use it in game play.
cavernshark: But you offered helpful advice, he did not. I know what you mean about being able to do everything and not sharing the spotlight. However this was more for the purpose of having a character that any table would want. I would probably spend more time filling the niche that needs filling than trying to steal other's spotlight. The purpose of this isn't to do so well at everything that I outshine everyone else at what they are doing. It is more so I can fill gaps. ...its just a concept.
Herald Caller, hm? That is an interesting option. I could even take the Animal Domain and Boon Companion.
calagnar: Yeah, Reach Spell is good. I confess I haven't played many full support characters. I will give it consideration on this one too but I wasn't planning on going super deep into healing.
To reinforce Cal's point, Reach Spell is amazing - especially for making various 'touch' spells ranged. Offensive spells like Bestow Curse and Poison, and for group buffs like Communal Resist Energy!
If you want to make a flexible character for PFS, I think you might be better served by making a character that can switch between roles, rather than one that covers them all at once (though having a companion that can fill some is a great idea, with the feats for an AC almost anyone can do it).
The only "modular" class I can think of off the top of my head (aside from full casters just using spells), is a Shaman. You'd have to spread out your stats, and probably try as many tricks as you can to reduce MAD-ness, but with their wandering spirit ability they can swap into various roles each day, with a single primary role to boot.
I'm not super familiar with them, but the Life spirit and Battle spirit should cover healing/melee roles, and I'd bet there's a spirit/spell combo that can help cover lots of skills/trapfinding. Not sure about face skills, but it could possibly be built for. Maxing UMD would help even more.
Medium is supposed to do this sort of thing.
Paulicus: Heh, I never thought about communal spells with reach spell. I like that. Shamans are decent but suck at skills and don't get trapfinding.
DominusMegadeus: Honestly, not a real big fan of any of the Occult classes. They don't hrm... play well with others? I dunno. They seem like they were built for a different rules system or something. I kinda like the concept of them all just not the delivery. That being said I haven't looked at the Medium yet. I think it is the only one I haven't. So... I'll go take a look I guess.
Rashagar: Where to go to see what is allowed in PFS. I hear ya on the magical trap thing, but sometimes there are mechanics built into adventures that require "disarming magical traps" that aren't traps. Anyway, it is just something I want to be able to bring to the table. I can always use dispel magic.
So, out of curiosity is there any PFS legal way to give an Animal Companion wings? The only thing I can come up with is Wings of Flying.
