I've had a character concept for a while that I've never tried to create via Pathfinder's rules because I don't see how it could work, but Paizo's got a innovative community and maybe there's just stuff that I missed.
Basically this guy is blacksmith / miner who mines out his own minerals to forge. He's supposed to be a half decent fighter. While not graceful he's sociable and intelligent (not a genius though). The other big thing is that I've wanted was that he's supposed to be able to manipulate stone and earth, nothing else, no blasty spells, no illusions, just straight geomancy or transmutation.
Is this character possible within Pathfinder?
Depends how you want to manipulate earth and stone.
For a close-in transmuter type guy I would suggest the magus. You have the int for a bunch of craft / profession skills. You have a decent BaB and can do damage.
You can re-flavor some of the magus spells a bit so that they match more. For example, shocking grasp becomes a punch that momentarily turns your fist to stone and creates a massive impact.
There are also a few elemental spells for which you can choose acid as the element. The magus does not have very many long range blasty spells so that fits.
If you want a more controller-type transmuter, I suggest a cleric of an ideal. Take Artifice and Earth domains. Play a dwarf. Wear stoneplate. This gives you more buff type spells that you can look at as drawing on the earth's strength. If you want to be more combat-focused, you could even take the crusader archetype.
Yea, alchemist is probably best. If you can, Super Genius Games has this product with "spagyric devices". Basically, temporary wondrous items that replace bombs, mutagens, or extracts. That seems like it'd fit well, and lord knows it can't be any worse than the mutagen.
Perhaps you could also ask the GM to base things off of Wisdom, instead of Int so you still can be dumb.
Oh god, why didn't I think of the alchemist? Any reason as to why a mind chemist? Was thinking maybe the crypt breaker archetype would be perfect though.
Hmm... After looking at the formula list, I don't think it really fits what I want him to pull off. Mainly moving the earth such as creating pits and digging tunnels (seeing expeditious excavation in here). I'm going to go ahead and see if I can make him a cleric. Maybe get him a variant channel. I really don't want him to be a "healer", but clerics are more than that right?
I considered doing a blacksmith crafter character and was looking at the soul forger magus archetype. Sadly his spell list doesn't really reflect what it looks like you're going for there.
You could also try a druid dwarf variant focusing on your prescribed requirements as well as netting the ability to wild shape into elementals on a regular basis. I'd run him as a cultivator of the earth's bounty as opposed to someone who does strip mining. He'd get odd looks at the high school reunion, but I think it would fit well.
The cleric variant channeler is a cool idea, but I don't know if the spell list reflects what you're going for here.
A fighter with master craftsman, craft magical arms and armor and power attack and weapon specialisation to make up the difference. Oh, and a couple of scrolls and possibly a cleric/oracle dip of the specific spells you're after.
Otherwise an Oracle with the above craft feat... and I think there was a stone mystery. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Alright dudes, I've been looking at all the suggestions.
I'm thinking he'd be mostly a cleric with the Metal (sub of Earth) domain and possibly Martyr (sub of Nobility) just because of how I see his personality (he's a sociable guy because he cares about people and tries to protect them, so he'll put himself on the line) with the Forge channel variant.
The Druid won't work because of the whole metal restriction. He practically breathes metal, and besides him not being very graceful (lacking in dex) he'll need more armor to protect himself. So I'm thinking he should take a level in Sorcerer to pick up the Expeditious Excavation, which is something I see his character using, and Shield (again lacking in dex). Also taking Deep Blood gives him Knowledge Dungeoneering and Tremor which fits his character very well. I'm going to give him Eldritch Heritage at 3rd level just so Tremor advances. I'm also thinking about taking up to 3 levels of (two handed) fighter class to make up in combat and to pick up Lightning Reflexes.
Is there anything wrong with my logic? Is there a way to make this better?
I don't think that the metal restriction applies to stone crafted equipment.
I'd still probably go oracle metal over cleric metal for the massive boosts to armor and melee if you want to go that route. Crafting works a little better as well imo.
The only problem I see with your current set up is that it is a little MAD and pretty low on ac. Due to the multiclassing you're going to take a hit on your primary crafting caster level, which probably won't be too much of a factor its just something that you should keep an eye on and it will delay your usage, depending on when you snag those levels, of your crafter feats.
There's also the Artificer class it's 3rd party and might not be exactly what you're going for as the d6 HD hurts, but you could focus on STR, CON, and INT and take weird science abilties and gear them towards metal and earth spells.
An artificer/fighter multiclass would probably fill the fluff you're looking for, but otherwise I'd say go Alchemist and the above suggestions are probably better ones.
When looking at the alchemist, it seemed like it was only better when it came to alchemy, which I don't really care about.
As for choosing Oracle over Cleric, this is a tough choice. The metal mystery does have some nice stuff that would help him but I'm giving up that other domain and Forge channeling and taking a curse which I don't see any of them fitting him. Besides, I like the idea of him being a wise and perceptive.
Hmmm...