I'm definitely interested! A bit about me: I've been playing pathfinder for around 10-13 years, growing up playing it with friends. I started playing pf2 pretty close to its official release, and I'm even in the midst of running my own pf2 campaign with a handful of friends. Admittedly, I have played a pbp of kingmaker 4 years ago, but we didn't get very far and hadn't even built a kingdom yet, only knowing of 5 settlements/groups:
said groups:
some elves that were never developed, bandits led by the Stag lord, kobold den ruled by a gnome, mite tree, and mere mentions of a boggard settlement ruled by a black dragon
.
character: halfling thaumaturge (mirror/amulet) amnesiac or nomad background
backstory:
Valhorn Brambleshadow was born to a family of travelers, nomads, and beggars. The elements and long treks drove many to their knees, but Valhorn survived. Always a lucky child, he'd find coins on the ground and all the non-poisonous berries, and so many of his cohort would follow him to water or work, inflating the young one's ego. To add fuel to the fire, Valhorn discovered in adolescence that he had a knack for minor magics and made contact with an outsider claiming to have a connection to Desna herself.
With his newfound friend, Valhorn's luck only seemed to grow: where he walked, a coin had fallen; when he gambled, he won; when he prayed, Desna answered; and the people he met in the streets, turned out to be nobles and kings. His wealth and status grew like this for years, all going to his head.
By his 30s, Valhorn Brambleshadow was now an arrogant man: he took what he wanted and boasted of his many supposed birthrights. He traveled to the river kingdoms to stake out a plot for his grand palace, with all it's land, he'd have ample space for luxurious gardens, personal quarries, and his own forests to hunt rare and imported game; and it was all unoccupied too! Unoccupied, save for the "savages", which he thought could surely find some new shrubbery to defecate in. As he sent his extraplanar friend to survey the lands, it came across some of these "savages", curious as to how they went about thir lives, they spoke in great detail. Through conversation, it felt as though the outsider lived a second lifetime, where freedom, happiness, and hard work were paramount, and coin held no value. The entity returned to Valhorn, upset that both of them had strayed so far from the path of Desna. Wishing for freedom and purpose, the outsider longed for the way things were, but The Halfling scoffed, reminding them of how their backs ached and feet blistered from their old travels. "But if you want your freedom so badly, fine. I don't need you anymore. You've outlived your usefulness." Taken aback, and already hurting, the entity left, saying they would return to the outer planes and make things right.
That night, the halfling awoke in a daze, setting about his morning routine in the camp, he found that the pocket mirror he had beside his bed no longer showed his reflection. Fearing vampirism, he left the tent in a panic, hoping to ask someone to check him for a bite mark, but nobody was there. In fact, he didn't remember coming out here with anyone. Where was he anyways? Who was he anyways?? a million questions raced through his head, none of which he could remember the answers to. Wandering in a direction he hoped was civilization, he discovered both Brevoy and the fact that nobody recognized him. All he had left was the mundane gear he took out camping and a dozen scraps of a former life, many with new and strange properties. The memory of his existence was seemingly wiped from the records. He took up the name Marwan Forrestep to set out to find out who did this, and the best place to start was where he had woken up, wherever that was.
note: without his friend and memories, Marwan will not wind up like his past-self, so you can rest assured they will remain a hero.
Im thinking investigator and maybe ranger with overwatch dedication
Alright, looking at a monk/rogue with the bellflower tiller archetype. They've also precariously balenced getting 3 multiclass dedications (thaumaturge, witch, alchemist) using their regular class feats. Still need to purchase equipment, but assuming the thread is still alive in a day or two, i will submit the backstory and items.
Until then, heres a poorly formatted "character sheet":
Spoiler:
Human (sylph), rogue (mastermind)/monk, bellflower tiller, once bitten background
16 20 18 14 10 18
13 reagents (1 creates 2 of the same item)
Formula
Sunrod
Smokestick
Journeybread
Choker arm mutagen
Animal repellant
Elixer of life
Snake oil
Booktheif brew
Has he/she actually used bluff yet? If so what for? I imagine they could convince a dwarf he's really a goblin just by saying so.
using silent image to help a bit, i convinced a group of enemies i was a god (albeit, we were all standing by it's tomb). recently, i convinced an angel of some sort that i was their son and they were my mother. after some effort, i convinced an undead solar that i was their son and they were my father. i convinced an entire town that their leader was about to kill them all. twice. same town, same leader. i convinced someone that they ate my child. i convinced a man into beleiving i was their wife and we had had a child. i swindled a druid out of their house and 2000gp.
with the right GM, this character can cause some serious mayhem.
However, you have a sky-high modifier and nothing to do with it.... Might I suggest the greatest trait of all time, Power of Suggestion? Because... yeah.
level 15: additional traits. though swapping that trait with one of the level 1 ones could be helpful, depending on GM leniency
You can get very close to those numbers with a perfectly functional build, actually:
** spoiler omitted **
I think +24 at 1st, +49 by 10th, and +65 at 20th is good enough for all purposes in-game, and you're still a max-intelligence wizard so you're a competent character basically by definition.
keep in mind that this build hasn't added headbands, wishes, or any other items or spells to boost these numbers.
while unavoidable combat can get pretty rough, having played this character, its surprising how many situations you can lie your way through.
Can a crossblooded bloodrager get the aberrant 4th level ability at lvl 4, then grab the black blood 4th level ability at lvl 8 to get 15ft reach? do they stack? they're coming from seperate sources, but the abilities have the same name and effect.
to address your concerns:
1)
summoners don't get bluff as a class skill
race bonuses are one of the few that actually stack
text:
Bonus Types: Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don't generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus of a given type works (see Combining Magical Effects). The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one, although most penalties have no type and thus always stack. Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source.
i didnt realize, but there seems to be 2 secret keeper traits, im referencing the faith trait which is "+3 bluff if vs a sense motive check"
2)
rogue then gets class skill bonus
3)
yes, but the DC is only if they're using stuff like zone of truth, where you'd be screwed anyways. its a paper-thin precaution agaist that stuff until you get a better defense as a master spy, and the +5 bluff is nice
I probably should've added this in my first post:
bluff level-by-level breakdown:
A) beguiling liar- +4 (race)
B) cha mod- (cha)
C) ranks- +char lvl (null)
D) skill focus- +3 [+6 at lv10] (null)
E) skilled (eidolon)- +8 (race)
F) spy rogue- 1/2 level (null)
G) mesmerist- 1/2 level (null)
H) inquisitor wis mod- (wis)
I) master spy- level (null)
J) deceitful- +2 (null)
K) class skill- +3 (null)
L) lifeless gaze- +2 (insight)
M) familiar- +3 (null)
N) secret keeper- +3 (circumstance)
O) voice of the sibyl- +1 [+3 at lv10] (null)
P) careful speaker- +2 (null)
As the title says, I decided to build a character who maxed out their bluff modifier, at the cost of their combat abilities. However, with their bluff modifier, they can usually avoid combat entirely! I just decided it would be fun to share it.
feat honorable mentions:
intoxicating flattery, confabulist, deceptive exchange, knight of the twisted word
I intentionally avoided any spells or items to boost your bluff in this build (like glibness), so it could get higher if desired. Although a hat of disguise works wonders.
so, im building a true neutral cleric with a true neutral deity. from what i understand, this means he doesn't have a strong aura, but still has the aura class feature, and therefore qualifies for sacred summons.
now, my question is what could he summon using sacred summons?
the wording of the feat might suggest that any creature without an alignment subtype would apply, but at the same time, nothing might apply as nothing has a neutral subtype...
My build revolves around the clause that states if you get a familiar from different sources, their levels stack to determine total familiar level. As of right now, at 20th CL, the familiar is level 117!
but to make sure I understand:
You don't. :-)
Basically, the stacking of familiar levels mean that all levels that can count toward a familiar does. Sorcerer 3/Arcanist 2 will have a 5th level familiar. Not (3+2)+2 from effective sorcerer level + effective arcanist level. In other words, each level can only count once toward the familiar level. You are not stacking caster levels of the various classes.
Generally, without very special stuff, at 20th CL, you have a 20th CL familiar.
/cevah
My bad, I abreviated CL to mean Character level rather than caster level. But I'm using tricks like variant multiclass witch and take Wasp Familiar to have levels count towards my familiar twice.
Though I don't want this to turn into an argument on wether or not that would grant 2 familiars, grant a super familiar, or grant 1 regular familiar, effectively making one of them useless. That is a question that I will bring up with the GM. I just want to ensure that certain things stack seperately first.
Before I can answer any of these questions, do you have a link for how you obtained this familiar? From what I can see in the Familiar Folio, Serpentine is not given as a bloodline familiar option. I only nitpick because if it was house-ruled that you could gain a familiar as a Serpentine, on the condition that its a viper, then there's a good chance your GM isn't going to let you replace it with something else, and none of the rules will back you up since the entire thing is based on a house rule in the first place.
However, generally, it appears that:
1. A regular viper familiar could be replaced by improved familiar.
2. A viper familiar could be replaced by a wasp familiar with Imp statistics.
3. You could take Improved Familiar with Wasp familiar, but all it would let you do is replace the wasp with something from the improved list. Nothing about Improved Familiar implies that it in any way grants effective levels for familiars, so you would be qualifying for the feat with your wasp familiar, but only gaining the option to instead select from the improved list. Legality aside, there's an incredibly good chance that a GM would rule that replacing your Wasp Familiar would piss off your deity and cause you to lose it, especially since you ARE given a viable way to improve the familiar (by taking Wasp familiar twice and using Imp stats).
EDIT:
Also, as far as I can tell, the Arcanist ability ought to work with the bloodline familiar ability.
I got the Viper familiar as per the 3rd level serpentfriend power. In the second scenario with Bloodline Familiar, I have a different bloodline. Or, technically crossblooded. My build revolves around the clause that states if you get a familiar from different sources, their levels stack to determine total familiar level. As of right now, at 20th CL, the familiar is level 117!
but to make sure I understand:
In 2), the wasp replaces the viper, but their levels still stack for purposes of determining the familiar level.
In 3), it seems to be dependant on the timing. ie: If I take Wasp Familiar then Improved Familiar, I get an improved familiar and probably piss of my deity. If I upgrade an old familiar with Improved Familiar then take Wasp Familiar, I end up with a wasp familiar and the Improved Familiar feat is effectively wasted.
And another question.
I take a bloodline familiar for my 1st level bloodline ability, then multiclass into Arcanist and take the Bloodline Development exploit. Will the two stack, allowing my Bloodline Familiar to continue scaling alongside my Arcanist levels?
So, lets say I take 10 levels of a sepentine bloodline sorcerer. I have a viper familiar.
1) Can I take improved familiar to upgrade the viper to a different creature entirely?
2) Can I take the feat Wasp Familiar? (assume I multiclass out of sorcerer so as to avoid a different arguement entirely)
3) How does Wasp Familiar interact with Improved Familiar? Wasp familiar specifically states that I can't have 2 familiars... Would it just result in having a higher level wasp? a higher level Improved Familiar?
take skill focus (bluff) for 1st level feat, the subjective truth (social) trait, and honeyed words and convincing lie as rogue talents. false attacker talent could be funny too.
keep charisma and wisdom high
with this build, at lvl 1, you have a +18 to bluff(1 rank +3 class skill +4 racial +5 charisma +3 feat +2 trait)
by 10, without items (assuming a 14 wisdom), you'd have a +38(10 ranks +6 cha +2 trait +6 feat +2 wis +2 rogue +1 mesmerist +2 master spy +3 class skill +4 racial).
at 20, with a headband +6 wis +6 cha, you have: +64(20 ranks +10 cha +5 wis +6 feat +2 trait +4 racial +10 master spy +1 mesmerist +3 rogue +3 class skill)
of course, one could still add the +5 bonus from rakshasa bloodline whenever.
