[PFS] The Orphans' Lodge (Inactive)

Game Master Cyril Corbaz

Not sure what I want to play. But I am thinking EITHER a melee paladin or a gunslinger. But dang, smiting with a gun does sound pretty sweet.

A lot will depend on Zizazat's choice - and I'm pretty flexible so I can wait to choose.

@GM Derek W, I misread what you said but am going to use my reply anyway :) One level of Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger, the rest Paladin? Focuses aim might as well be Smite since you are virtually guaranteed to hit. Charisma to damage with smite could be pretty nasty. I do not know if there is another gunslinger archetype that has charisma replace wisdom.

I had been considering creating a gunslinger with a level of cleric for the growth domain and carrying a small Double Hackbutt so that when I am large I can wield it without mounting for 2d10 damage. Get rapid shot and that is a potential 4d10+2 a round at first level. But then I discovered the double hackbutt was not PFS legal - curse them for anticipating my exploits!

Right now I'm looking at a melee based build with a dog.

I've created 'Ic', a Mindchymist/Psychonaut alchemist. I'm toying with the idea of making him hyper-intelligent but brain-damaged (think: River Tam from Firefly), the result of some unspeakable devilish experiment. Occasionally consumes a cognatogen to be able to be 'normal'.

Working him out as we speak. Any suggestions for good alchemist gear?

Someone more original than me (i forgot who) once suggested 'dentist' as the appropriate occupation for an alchemist. I've been toying with that idea as well. Next patient please!

I would say make sure you craft everything you can, its like a 2/3 discount and that includes some really great items - not just alchemists fire, but weapon blanches, etc. The Hybridization Funnel is a great item as soon as you get the fame to afford it.

An alchemist dentist?

Just a quick update...

Broken Prince - Melee summoner w/tanky eidolon (& summons)
DM Kludde - Ranged(?) Mindchymist/Psychonaut alchemist
GM Derek W - Melee paladin or Ranged gunslinger
GM Lithrac - Ranged Winter witch
Pedwiddle -
Zizazat - Melee druid w/dog companion

@Kludde - I'm assuming you'll be throwing splash weapons most of the time, since cognatogen will be increasing Int (and thus splash damage)? If so, you'll want to have an assortment of alchemist's fire, alkali/acid flasks, holy water, etc.

Here's the first draft of my winter witch. Any comments are welcome, since I've never played one.

One of the things I'm considering is switching one of my traits to magical lineage (snowball) and taking Rime Spell. Thoughts?

I am sure I recall a thread saying a winter witch could not take a rabbit familiar in PFS, because its not specifically called out in their list. Let me see if I can find it...

Winter Witch Familiar Question

Otherwise looks great to me, even fits well with your current avatar.

Switching out a trait is tough as I really like the intimidate boost, and perception is always a must have. I might be tempted to take additional traits and pick up magical lineage and something like reactionary. To do so I would probably drop Evil Eye, though that is more because I do not find it fun in play, when I've run a Witch, than from any other perspective - not entirely sure why.

There she is. I'll have to change the familiar as you pointed out, or wait for the FAQ to be updated.

Just making my character, but how about having everyone take one unusual starting language that we could use as a secret language between ourselves. Azlanti? Thassilonian? Shoanti? Shoanti would be great for me since its locked in as my eidolon's other language.

I really had to scrimp on gear because I had to buy both an Elven Curved Blade and an Earthbreaker. So it Earthbreaker, Elven Curved Blade, Studded Leather Armor, Spell Component Pouch, and 0gp.

Do we all want to select the same faction? Is there any faction that is more involved than others in our proposed run?

Ok, so definitely no glaring need in the melee department here! If we have BP and Zizazat both doing melee plus friends builds, we'll have 2 flanking pairs in most games!

And Kludde's alchemist could just make our damage output get really high really quickly. I am not opposed to building a caster for the games that Lithrac is GMing. (Which may be the majority). I'm just not sure we need another big damage-dealer. But killing monsters quickly does reduce the need for healing later.

I'll focus on a gunslinger for now.

Anyway, Pedwiddle you mentioned making a bard. Would you be interested in being our main skills person?

And I think the common second language could be cool. We'll all need 12 INT or a point in linguistics. I have no problem there, I don't like to dump INT anyway.

@Lithrac: I see you entered yourself in the list as GM for the Confirmation. If you want, I can run it as well, so you can get some playtime in.

I own the scenario, and have run it before, so should be no problem (and contrary to previous remarks, I'd actually love to run it).

Ok, so definitely no glaring need in the melee department here! If we have BP and Zizazat both doing melee plus friends builds, we'll have 2 flanking pairs in most games!

The only issue will likely be DR. The eidolon's damage output may not be an issue, but most animal companions and druids don't pump out big numbers.

And Kludde's alchemist could just make our damage output get really high really quickly.

Unless there's something I'm missing, the mindchymist/psychonaut archetypes reduce the bomb output to very little (d4 instead of d6 and skip some levels of damage increase), so I'm not sure where that damage is coming from. For that matter (and please don't take this the wrong way - I'd imagine it's a lack of imagination on my part), I don't really see the appeal of either of those archetypes.

I am not opposed to building a caster for the games that Lithrac is GMing. (Which may be the majority). I'm just not sure we need another big damage-dealer. But killing monsters quickly does reduce the need for healing later.

I'll focus on a gunslinger for now.

I think that'll be fine.

Anyway, Pedwiddle you mentioned making a bard. Would you be interested in being our main skills person?

I think we're waiting on a 7th (?), so I'll leave it up to them as to whether they'd want to play a skill monkey or something else. If I do it, though, I think I'll play an archer bard.

And I think the common second language could be cool. We'll all need 12 INT or a point in linguistics. I have no problem there, I don't like to dump INT anyway.

That'll be fine by me, as well.

If I do end up playing a bard, here are some of my thoughts.

Unless there's something I'm missing, the mindchymist/psychonaut archetypes reduce the bomb output to very little (d4 instead of d6 and skip some levels of damage increase), so I'm not sure where that damage is coming from. For that matter (and please don't take this the wrong way - I'd imagine it's a lack of imagination on my part), I don't really see the appeal of either of those archetypes.

Yes, that's my weakness. I tend to completely disregard character viability when building something, hoping the nice character concept will make up for it. The archetypes seemed fitting for someone that has been experimented upon by something outer planar and disturbing. Cognatogen and high int will give big bonuses on splash damage. d6 vs d4 doesn't make that much of a difference.

Interesting thoughts about a language. I'm up for any of them, since I have enough Int to learn whatever is necessary. Why not Shoanti, but if we do so we should make it part of our common background. Did someone teach us this language at the orphanage and we used it as a "secret language" to pass messages without Auntie understanding them, for example?

I'm a bit more dubious about a common faction, especially as far as traits are concerned. I've picked Grand Lodge as a sort of default choice and for the "Perception as class skill" trait, but I know that different characters have different needs. If we can, why not

Side note - switched familiar to weasel until I take Improved Familiar (at 5th or 7th).

Pedwiddle - I like your bard concept. Arcane archer is something that I've been wanting to see at my table for a long time. Do you know the Lingering Performance feat? It's also a very good one to take early.

Kludde - I've put you in for The Confirmation. Thanks for stepping up!

Concerning GMing, I've put my name for the final Lissalan arc because I wanted to play this series of scenarios with my thassilonian-flavored sorcerer. Since I won't be playing Veviane after 10.0 anyway (I'll be GMing EotT), maybe I could step down as GM for the Lissalan arc (10.0->11.2) and play them with Shandor? That might be interesting for those who want to GM more, like Kludde? Would that be a problem? If it is, I will GM the series and no harm done of course.

Since there's no news from Mezegis, I've asked someone else who is a relatively new but very promising PFS player. Waiting on his/her reply.

Its plausible that Arcad and Dac only spoke Shoanti when they came to Auntie Baldwins, so maybe the rest of you had to teach them common and learnt Shoanti in the process?

DR should not be a big issue for me since both summoner and eidolon are using double manufactured weapons. By the time it becomes a big issue druids have spell and access to items that can help circumvent it.

A bard is more powerful in a party with two companions, a potential +7 damage per round at 1st level, more if anyone wields more weapons is great.

How do we want to handle character advancement for the GMs characters? Just have GMs apply credit to keep their characters level with everyone elses?

Interesting thoughts about a language. I'm up for any of them, since I have enough Int to learn whatever is necessary. Why not Shoanti, but if we do so we should make it part of our common background. Did someone teach us this language at the orphanage and we used it as a "secret language" to pass messages without Auntie understanding them, for example?

I think that's as good a reason as any, really.

Pedwiddle - I like your bard concept. Arcane archer is something that I've been wanting to see at my table for a long time. Do you know the Lingering Performance feat? It's also a very good one to take early.

Yeah, I'm very familiar with the feat, I just don't see how to fit it in (especially if I go the Arcane Archer route). Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Concerning GMing, I've put my name for the final Lissalan arc because I wanted to play this series of scenarios with my thassilonian-flavored sorcerer. Since I won't be playing Veviane after 10.0 anyway (I'll be GMing EotT), maybe I could step down as GM for the Lissalan arc (10.0->11.2) and play them with Shandor? That might be interesting for those who want to GM more, like Kludde? Would that be a problem? If it is, I will GM the series and no harm done of course.

Heh - I didn't even realize you were the player behind Shandor...we've played together before. :-)

Its plausible that Arcad and Dac only spoke Shoanti when they came to Auntie Baldwins, so maybe the rest of you had to teach them common and learnt Shoanti in the process?

That makes sense!

How do we want to handle character advancement for the GMs characters? Just have GMs apply credit to keep their characters level with everyone elses?

Yes, I imagined that all the credit would go to the characters dedicated to this campaign, so that everyone is exactly at the same amount of XP/fame at the same time.

Heh - I didn't even realize you were the player behind Shandor...we've played together before. :-)

We did indeed! I chose you all not only because I've already GMed for you, but also because we played together and I enjoyed it. :)

*****

I'd like to turn this into a campaign so that it's easier to keep track of new messages. We could keep this campaign for coordination (and the gameplay thread for IC roleplay outside scenarios), and have separate campaigns for every scenario. What do you think?

Lastly, I think we should name our lodge. "GM Lithrac's lodge" was only meant to be temporary, and not meant to last. Any suggestions? Here's a couple to get started:

"Auntie Baldwin's Lost Children's Lodge"
"The Orphans' Lodge"

Any ideas on how to give a gunslinger a more "fantasy" vibe instead of "American Western movies"? My mind keeps drifting to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, and that may not fit too well here...

Anyway, the below is a very basic outline for my:

The Orphans' Lodge campaign link (temporary title, will change it when we are set on one title)

I find I have to think steampunk, I'm not sure how to tie it more closely with fantasy. I have a lot of fun with my gunslinger, but I'm embracing the wild west attitude. Maybe emphasising the fact tha its a powder weapon not a rifle? Honestly I tend to be thinking Han Solo, or Boba Fett, rather than Clint Eastwood. Maybe you could use your race choice to up the fantasy?

@GM Lithrac I like The Orphans Lodge, we would presumably not be overfond of Auntie Baldwin. On the other hand its not accurate, Arcad is not an orphan - background nearly done. Auntie Baldwins is not exactly and orphanage... But its simple, catchy, and evocative.

Concerning GMing, I've put my name for the final Lissalan arc because I wanted to play this series of scenarios with my thassilonian-flavored sorcerer. Since I won't be playing Veviane after 10.0 anyway (I'll be GMing EotT), maybe I could step down as GM for the Lissalan arc (10.0->11.2) and play them with Shandor? That might be interesting for those who want to GM more, like Kludde? Would that be a problem? If it is, I will GM the series and no harm done of course.

My bias is always towards GMing, so if you find yourself on the GM list for a scenario you'd actually want to play, just holler. I'll happily commit to GMing a scenario three years into the future :)

If you don't mind me switching characters for this final arc, then great, and thanks!

I've set up a campaign for The Confirmation, with a gameplay and a discussion thread to dot in. Once everybody has their characters set up, we can start the first scenario. Let me know when you're ready. (I understood this campaign to be only for the down-time intervals - correct me if I'm wrong)

Down time intervals? I'm not sure what you mean Kludde? I believe we are planning to run it in a pretty much continuous manner.

This campaign is only for:

- roleplaying between scenarios / events not linked to a specific scenario (gameplay thread)

- discussion about our characters' development, tactics, use of gold & fame, who's going to GM the next scenario, etc... in a word, coordination (discussion thread)

I imagined it to be the "Lodge" the characters would return to after their latest mission and prepare for the next one. I'll also keep track of things (scenarios played, playlist, etc.) on this campaign. Think of it as a meta-campaign, a frame for the scenarios we're about to play.

Ah, I see you meant this Campaign as in the forum construct, I was puzzled there :)

Yes, sorry that wasn't clear.

(^-- Cha-Ka's player)

Hey all! I haven't quite had a chance to read over all the comments in this thread yet (I'm supposed to be somewhere in 11 minutes).

I'd totally be up for a team theme of some sort. For modules, I've only played the two with GM Lithrac so far (Confirmation and currently Tide of Twilight). I'm not really that familiar with the modules, so I'd be up for whatever. Although admittedly, I'm not really sure how the whole replaying a module thing works with PFS since I'm pretty new to it.

For characters, the two I've been thinking about recently are
1) A paladin focused on having high AC and getting enemies to attack him rather than his allies (antagonize feat) named Granite Ward. He might be a bit too silly though since I was planning on having him be an agent of the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate sent by Director Fury to protect people (I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't been watching a certain Marvel based tv show... *whistles* ). And that probably doesn't fit with PFS stuff where back story is perhaps meant to be more than fluff.

2) The ACG investigator (I think that was the name of the Rogue/Alchemist) class also looked interesting.

I could come up with other ideas though. I'm generally pretty open to things with a preference for playing classes that I either haven't played recently or didn't get that far with.

I'll also post again later after I've read everything that has thus far been said.

Glad you could join us Cha-Ka! You shouldn't worry about replaying, since The Confirmation (which we'll start with) can be replayed as many times as you want with level 1 characters, and we won't play Tides of Twilight.

One important thing for everyone though:

Since the playlist appears to be definitive, please don't play/GM the scenarios that are on it!

So, I'm a little at a loss for what kind of character you guys still need in the party. Someone mentioned a skill monkey, which seems like would work for an Investigator, but don't Alchemists also tend to have a lot of skills due to high Int? Plus since Investigator is Rogue/Alchemist, I'm not sure if that would be good if there's already an Alchemist. And I don't know how much Pedwiddle liked the Bard idea.

And I think you said you were good with melee, so maybe not the Paladin. Someone mentioned some teamwork-type classes, so maybe Inquisitor? I haven't ever played one before/am slightly unsure of what kind of party role they're good for. They look vaguely Magus-like for party roles with Med BAB and some spells.

@Anon A Mouse - if you're interested in creating an investigator, go for it. They get just as many skill points as bards (more than alchemists, less than rogues), and have a reason to have a high Int besides, plus free uses of inspiration on Knowledge checks.

That said, I may still create a bard for inspire courage, etc., but focus on face skills rather than knowledge skills; after all, bards need Charisma anyway.

Anyone have any other thoughts on this?

Okay, so giving it a little more thought, I'm hesitant to create another Bard. As I said before, I have an Arcane Duelist Bard already. This one will be ranged (and thus considerably more feat-starved) and will open up the option of going Arcane Archer, which might be cool, but I'll ultimately be making many of the same choices with this one as I did with her. I'm (only slightly, really) concerned that that will make for a less-than-stellar experience.

In addition, if Anon A Mouse is going investigator, then the pressure to have skills covered with my Character is reduced. If that's the case, then we might be just as well off if I went with some other Charisma-based class.

This leads me to my question...and please answer honestly, because while I understand "play what you want" is the norm, if anyone has concerns about the choice, I'd prefer to hear it now rather than regret the decision later.

How would everyone feel if I went with the Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle I mentioned earlier? It would be a full divine casting class, using the cleric spell list (which we don't currently have a source for) with some arcane spells to make things interesting. The character itself would look something like this:

Ancient lorekeeper would be amazing, you'll love it. My PFS #1 character is an ancient lorekeeper, and it's a blast to play. It would also solve the healing problem. Great!

I am totally fine with Pedwiddle going oracle. It would make me feel less like I was stepping on his toes with an investigator. :P

I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing during combat. Investigator's combat abilities look pretty weak, which makes me want to go for a support role. Things I"m considering are

- Aid another. Although I'm a bit worried about being in the thick of battle. Fighting defensively/Combat Expertise might help, but I'm not sure if they can be used with aid another?
- Eventually getting wands to help with UMD when that gets better, but that's not going to be for a while.
- A friend suggested poison. Except investigators aren't listed on the PFS FAQ, and while they get some poison abilities at 2nd level, none of them are called "Poison Use." I've also generally gotten the impression that poisons are pricy and not that great. I'm also not really sure how Craft (alchemy) works in PFS. Is it just done between sessions and we assume we have as much time as we want? And do we roll or can we take 10/20?

I'm open to any suggestions.

Oh, also, did we decide to take Shoanti as a language?

@Pedwiddle an Oracle would certainly be very welcome, having access to that spell-list for restorations, etc., will probably save us a lot of grief and coin. As a bit of a power gamer I do not think I would want to play a bard arcane archer, it does not seem to combine well and would be very feat starved. I struggle to see how the arcane duelist abilities are worth giving up Inspire Courage, especially in this group set up. But the best characters are those you have fun with, and I do really enjoy having a lot of skills.

@Anon A Mouse Investigator is allowed, there are just no changes they felt the need to spell out in additional resources. Poisons are poor in normal play and dreadful in PFS, you are limited to a list which excludes the useful poisons, and you end up spending hundreds of gp per attack to do a type of damage that typically ends up being a very weak debuff if your enemy fails the save most foes are best. Doing a few dex damage is rarely relevant and even strength damage is less optimal than simply dealing more.

I am running an elven Investigator, still 1st level, extracts are great and being able to craft alchemical items is excellent. With Crafy Alchemy you either roll in front of a GM, or take 10, in practice its probably always better to take 10, then you pay a 3rd of the items price. There is some awesome stuff available like weapon blanchs. I am not exactly sure how to play him, very skilly but I am worried about contributing in combat, so far I've been using a longbow.

I'm not very fond of poison in Pathfinder, and in PFS even less so. Investigator sounds great though! The key thing is to be able to contribute however you can in combat, for example by flanking, providing ranged support, alchemical supplies, etc. You don't need to be an optimized combat beast to be helpful, especially if your field of expertise is skills.

I think the Shoanti thing is settled, I haven't heard any dissenting opinion at least.

Pedwiddle if you need any advice about the AL oracle please let me know, I'll gladly help!

BTW I am tentatively using Latvian for Shoanti. Romanian is Varisian, Latvian is Shoanti for me at least :)

Ok, so I'm going with Tiefling investigator. I think I'm going to go with the combat strategy of "drink a potion/extract of shield and pray to the gods that I don't get killed while distracting the enemy." Because I've never had a character who tried to go for aiding another in combat, so that would be interesting.

I've gotten most of the crunch done, so I just need to write some fluff. So the plan was we're all from the same orphanage? Is there anything I should know about that?

I was going to post this last night, but ran out of time. I'm posting it in its entirety, but feel free to ignore the parts that don't apply.

My suggestion for investigator would be one of the following:

- Go with a halfling and, if you have the sourcebook, get the 'helpful' trait from Halflings of Golarion (which gives a +4 whenever you aid another instead of the normal +2), and do that primarily for the first couple of levels. As you level, get the Effortless Aid investigator talent, as well as those that allow you to use your inspiration for free on skills, and Quick Study. You'll have the choice of whether to aid another or be a skirmisher, getting in flanking position, etc.

- Go with a medium race that either gives you racial weapon familiarity (Half-Orc or Half-Elf (with alternate racial trait)), or pick up a specific weapon via Martial/Exotic Weapon Proficiency, and treat yourself like a rogue for the first few levels (though you won't have sneak attack). Grab the mutagen alchemical discovery to pump Strength or Dex, possibly pick up Medium Armor Proficiency (if you don't want to use acrobatics for positioning), get the Quick Study investigator talent, and you'll hopefully be ready for your studied strikes when you get them.

I would say go with Elf for the longbow proficiency, but Studied Strike only works with melee attacks...

Well, here's the initial shot at my inquisitor.

Adopted is a valid trait in PFS, right? And using that I could get 'helpful' even without being a halfing. And would actually fill nicely the gap in his back story that I'm thinking up. And for the extra sources, should I take a screenshot of the appropriate page or something?

Okay, so we're clear, my plan with this character is to arm him/her with a longspear and cestus, with a shortbow for emergencies only. I plan on using the reach weapon and combat reflexes early on in a fight for action economy, and using those early standard actions for buffs or offensive spells. That said, I need a little help picking a curse and a mystery.

As I said earlier, if we're intending to have a shared language anyway, it would be easiest for my Oracle to take the Tongues curse and for us to use one of the languages in that restricted list (Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Ignan, Infernal, or Terran). If we're set on Shoanti, then my preference is, I think, to go for either Haunted or Deaf.

- Deaf will be difficult early on (especially since he could only get a single rank in Linguistics at level 1, for either Shoanti or Reading Lips - unless he could get Reading Lips as a racial option for bonus Int?), but Silent Spell for free might be situationally useful.

- Haunted will mean that wands and potions would be strictly out-of-combat for him, but with a weapon cord, there would be little danger of losing his weapon. The spells aren't too bad, either.

As far as Mystery, I've narrowed things down to Time, Wind, or Wood.

Time - gives him the best chance of going first in a round, and would be particularly helpful with the Deaf curse. Also, a self-buff blur, a reroll, and a move-action teleport aren't terrible.
Revelations: 1 - Temporal Celerity, 3 - Time Flicker, 7 - Rewind Time, 11 - Time Hop

Wind - gives him free armor, whenever-he-needs-it invisibility, flight, and a fairly effective blast that will do 1d6 per oracle level and cause deafess with a failed Fort save (effective against casters)
Revelations: 1 - Air Barrier, 3 - Invisibility, 7 - Wings of Air, 11 - Thunderburst

Wood - gives him a boost to hit (not quite on par with a full BAB class, but it helps), a pretty nifty blast, free armor (which should be usable with Magic Vestment?), and the ability to...well, speak with wood.
Revelations: 1 - Wood Bond, 3 - Thorn Burst, 7 - Wood Armor, 11 - Speak with Wood

Thoughts?

I think the talking in tongues sounds kind of cool and would be a good reason for us all to know that language: to talk to you when you go into one of your "fits." I don't know how other people feel about changing the shared language though.

I also think the Time mystery sounds cool, but that could just be because it's not an elemental-type mystery, which I feel like I see a lot. I don't know too much about oracles though.

Arrgh, after all this I'm just not getting a good vibe on the gunslinger concept. I can see the mechanical choices, but I can't get into it.

I don't want to build another ranged type. I have a 9th level archer ranger in PFS. I have had plenty of fun "shooting" a bow.

I keep coming back to melee types, but with two others running PC + "pets" (sorry to lump the eidolon here) the field will get very crowded.

Time is definitely a must in my opinion. Ability to roll init twice and take the best result as early as level 1 is amazing, and you mentioned Time Hop as well.

I think we won't have access to haste in this party, so Time will definitely be great. You can access the best spell in the game, period in two ways:

1) Take the Haste/Slow revelation. You have it a limited number of times per day, so it might not be the best. However, you can get it at 7th, which is early compared to your other option.

2) Take it as your arcane spell at 8th level. It's a bit later, but you can cast it several times per day.

... or both! That's actually the way I went for my AL Time Oracle. Time is really a solid choice, even more for a melee character.

As for the curse, why not Lame? With a reach weapon it won't be as bad, and the benefits are amazing. Otherwise Haunted is a good one if you're not going to switch wands mid-fight. Two spring-loaded wrist sheaths will be a must then.

Well, it seems Time is the winner.

I'm not 100% sure on my 7th-level revelation. An immediate reroll could be amazing, but the ability to cast haste OR slow with the Speed or Slow Time revelation could also be great ( I could use it as haste once per day until I get the spell, then I could use it as slow once per day).

As for the curse, I'm not going lame for the simple reason that I'd be using medium armor, and would thus end up moving at 15'. If I were going for the Metal mystery, I'd go lame in a heartbeat, because the first revelation I'd get would be the one that gives you a 10' increase to your base speed...but that doesn't really fit the character.

So, then, Haunted it is!

@DMGW - if you can't get into gunslinger, no worries. If you're concerned about crowding, then you might consider some of these options:
- use a reach weapon from the second row when necessary,
- create a skirmisher (someone with high Dex and light armor that can use acrobatics to get behind enemy lines),
- consider creating a melee cleric (you can melee when there's room, or buff/channel/cure when there's not), or
- consider creating an arcane caster (someone that can alter the flow of battle from behind the melee lines)

Summoners get early entry haste so we will have access to it - and from 4th level onwards it will probably be how I start combats. I would say pick the mystery you think is most fun, time is strong, but I am a big fan of Wind. Had you considered the Legalistic curse? It basically is not a curse.

GM Derek W what about an alchemist? Bombs are the other other ranged option of choice, and when you get the discovery that allows others to drink your extracts you make an amazing buffer to.

@GM Derek W - I'm not set on my melee druid build 100% so I could switch it up a little if that helps?

Summoners get early entry haste so we will have access to it - and from 4th level onwards it will probably be how I start combats.

Ah, yeah, 4th level haste is nice. Since that's an option, I think I'll reevaluate when the time comes - if we find that we want more uses, then I can provide them.

I would say pick the mystery you think is most fun, time is strong, but I am a big fan of Wind.

Do you agree with the revelations I had selected for Wind? Is there something in particular you find more appealing about it than Time?

Had you considered the Legalistic curse? It basically is not a curse.

It's very much against the feel of the character, in my opinion.