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I'm putting together a one-shot adventure where the players are pregen monsters without any equipment. The monsters are getting tweaked from their native stat blocks, but the biggest change is probably in their feats.

What feats would people recommend I trade out on the following monsters, and for what feats should I look at instead?

Marilith
Bleeding Critical, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Improved Critical (longsword), Improved Disarm, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (longsword)

Elder Air Elemental

Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved InitiativeB, Iron Will, Mobility, Power Attack, Weapon FinesseB

Adult Silver Dragon
Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lighting Reflexes, Multiattack, Power Attack, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite)

Noble Efreeti
Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (scorching ray), Toughness

Beholder
Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (ray)

I'm planning on putting this item on a boss NPC my players are likely to encounter sometime soon.. wanted to get ideas on its GP value.

"Soul of Draco"

This jeweled necklace is uncomfortably warm to the touch. When worn, it becomes intensely hot, dealing 1.ire damage per round to the wearer until removed.

Each time the wearer casts a spell with the fire descriptor, she is temporarily sheathed in flame. If she is hit with a melee attack while casting the spell, the attacker takes 1d6 fire damage and must succeed a Reflex save (DC same as the spell) or catch fire (1d4 damage each round until a successful Reflex save negates). For a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell, the wearer gains cold vulnerability and doubles any fire resistence. Melee attacks by the wearer during this period also deal fire damage and ignite the target as above.

After wearing the necklace for a week, the user gains the additional ability to summon a phantasm only he can see of a noble efreet. The summoned efreet is always the same creature and is familiar with the wearer's conduct while wearing the necklace. If the efreet approves, it will lend the wearer its considerable knowledge in the secrets of fire. i

Reconfigured Spell [Metamagic]
A metamagic preferred by quick-witted and paranoid combat casters.
Benefit: A reconfigured spell substitutes the verbal component for a somatic component, or vice versa. Only a spell having either a verbal or a somatic component, but not both, may be Reconfigured. A spell cannot benefit from the Still Spell or Silent Spell feats and this feat Bard spells cannot benefit from this feat.
A Reconfigured Spell uses a slot the same level as normal.

Faith-Infused Spell [Metamagic]
This favorite metamagic of subsersives and spies allows a divine caster to some access to her magic even without her holy symbol.
Benefit:. A divine spell enhanced by this feat can be cast without the benefit of a divine focus. In order to benefit from this feat, the caster must have had access to her divine focus when she last received spells or spell slots.
A Faith-Infused Spell uses a slot one level higher than normal.

I was thinking about a TWF rogue with a one-level dip into Maneuver Master for Flurry of Maneuvers, specializing in Dirty Trick.

The idea would be to use Dirty Trick to blind the opponent before unleashing a full round of sneak attacks.

Thoughts?

I decided that it might be interesting to try a Pathfinder Society game at Gen Con, considering I've never played PFS before and figured Gen Con games might be geared for new players.

I couldn't make heads or tails of the event descriptions, or figure out what ticket to buy. So I visited the Pathfinder rooms upstairs, figuring I could get some explanation as to what was going on.

No luck. I managed to walk around the room for 15 minutes trying to figure out what was going on, but never once saw a sign pointing me to a place to go, or a person who wasn't already fully occupied with a rather urgent task or who seemed appropriate to ask for direction.

So I thought I'd try here. What procedure, if any, could I engage in tomorrow that might result in me getting to make and play a Pathfinder Society character, having never done so before?

And for my future benefit, where should I have been able to find this information online or onsite?

My understanding is that when you cast Enlarge Person on someone, they and all of their equipment double in each dimension and weight eight times as much. This creates an encumbrance problem.
Lets say that a human with 10 Str is carrying 30 pounds of gear; this is within his light load.
Under the effects of Enlarge person, he is now a Large creature with 12 Str, which has a light load of up to 86 pounds. And he's now carrying 240 pounds of gear -- which is just barely within his heavy load!
More science-educated fiction writers have noted this problem for years (square-cubed law, etc.) that things don't scale well. But for characters wanting to get the benefits of Enlarge Person, this is a real problem that their ability to handle mass doesn't increase proportional to their volume the way their mass does. Any ideas?

I had the toughest time figuring out the math for this, but it appears that the expected value of a poison requiring two consecutive saves to cure, with an infinite duration, is:
1/p^2 effects experienced
Where p is the probability of making a successful save against the poison.
The variable p can be spelled out more explicitly:
p = (21 - poison DC + save mod)/20
Which translates to:
expected value = 400 / (21 - poison DC + save mod)^2
Of course, p needs to be confined to the range of 1/20 to 19/20, and for very low-p situations the duration of the poison is likely to significantly reduce the actual expected value. Exactly how is something I'm still considering.

In my homebrew-setting game, the existing five characters have just reached level 2, and a sixth player is being introduced this week.
Existing characters are:
Half-elf illusionist wizard
Gnome strength/luck cleric
Dwarf bear shaman druid
Human generalist fighter
Halfling mounted paladin
... so I'm recommending that player #6 consider a rogue, or maybe a bard, to fill in the skill support party role we're currently missing.
I'm a new PF GM having run 3.5 games for years; the whole group is new to PF, however.
Assuming this player takes my recommendation, what sort of advice/guidance should I give him toward building a fun and effective rogue or bard for this group? It's 32-point buy at level 2, so he has the stats to pull off a very MAD build well. Any advice?

Please assess power level and critique.

Certain avoidance [Certainty]
You have become disciplined and repetitive in your movements to avoid harmful effects.
Benefit: When making a saving throw, you may use your certainty score in place of rolling a d20, adding all other modifiers as normal. Your certainty score is twice the number of Certainty feats you have, but does not exceed 10 even if you take a sixth Certainty feat.

Certain timing [Certainty]
You have become practiced in the speed of your reactions.
Benefit: When rolling your initiative, you may use your certainty score in place of rolling a d20, adding all other modifiers as normal. Your certainty score is twice the number of Certainty feats you have, but does not exceed 10 even if you take a sixth Certainty feat.

Certain adroitness [Certainty]
You have learned to be careful and avoid obvious follies when performing most tasks.
Benefit: When making a skill check, you may use your certainty score in place of rolling a d20, adding all other modifiers as normal. Your certainty score is twice the number of Certainty feats you have, but does not exceed 10 even if you take a sixth Certainty feat.

Certain prowess [Certainty]
You are confident in avoiding rank errors even in the face of your foes.
Prerequisite: Any other Certainty feat.
Benefit: When making an attack roll, you may use your certainty score in place of rolling a d20, adding all other modifiers as normal. An attack made when using your certainty score in place of the die roll is never a critical threat.

Certain mage [Certainty]
You are confident in your spellcasting efforts.
Prerequisite: Any other Certainty feat.
Benefit: When making a caster level or concentration check, you may use your certainty score in place of rolling a d20, adding all other modifiers as normal.

Student of certainty [Certainty]
Your continued discipline in the arts of stability allows you to submit to chance but still fall back on your skill.
Prerequisite: Any two Certainty feats.
Benefit: When making a roll for which one of your Certainty feats would apply, you may announce before rolling whether to use this feat. If you do, you take the better of the rolled result or your certainty score. You may use this ability once per day per Certainty feat that you possess.
Special: You may take this feat any number of times, receiving three additional uses per day of the feat (in addition to the benefits of having an additional Certainty feat).

Stabilizing influence [Certainty]
Through example and morale, you can extend the benefits of your training to your allies
Prerequisite: Student of Certainty, any other three Certainty feats.
Benefit: When your ally makes a roll for which one of your Certainty feats would apply, you may as an immediate action before she rolls apply a daily use of your Student of Certainty ability to her roll.

Master of stability [Certainty]
Your discipline allows you to exceed the normal limits of customary results.
Prerequisite: A certainty score of 10.
Benefit: As long as you possess at least six Certainty feats, your certainty score is 12 instead of 10.

I don't think any of my players read these boards, but I'd ask you not to read this thread if you do as I don't want to be worried about spoilers for you.

I'm starting to GM a Pathfinder game this Friday. The players are mostly very experienced 3.5 players with little-to-no Pathfinder experience (we have a couple who are newer to tabletop altogether).
Homebrew setting, five [soon six] characters at level 1, 32 point buy. Party consists of:
Half-elf wizard (universalist)
Human cleric (Strength/Luck domains)
Dwarf druid (probably melee/companion focused)
Halfling paladin (mounted)
Human fighter
[gnome rogue or bard: will join after a couple of sessions]

Their first "adventure" should be heading cross-country (random bandit encounters) into a mage's crypt with close quarters and lots of traps/puzzles.

I'm an experienced 3.5 GM with zero PF experience. I've been studying the rules, hanging out on these boards, and talking with my players, but I'll admit I'm a little nervous about things I don't expect breaking the game and making my setting unfun. I know I have to beef up the encounter CR to deal with very high point-buy and more than four characters (as well as a set of players that are, quite frankly, brilliant). What should I expect? What advice can you give either to me, or that I can pass along to my players, to help us make sure that we have a good time and that the game stays challenging but winnable?

Thanks in advance for the input. I'm happy to explain more about the setting and the hook if it would help the discussion.

There were enough posts on another thread for me to want to just spin off the discussion separately.
A lot of people seem to assume that an ape (either animal companion or wildshape) should be able to wield weapons in its forelimbs. Are there any RAW or official rulings to support this, or is it just assumed because they have "hands" they should be able to wield humanoid weapons even while other animals can't?

I'm starting up a PF game, homebrew setting, at level 1. One of the players has rolled up a very setting-appropriate halfling paladin with Mounted Combat as her level 1 feat. She bought a riding dog, which cost around half her starting gold allotment. This dog will very likely become her Paladin Mount at level 5; the character is close to it.
The PC has Handle Animal +8 (including one of her precious paladin skill ranks), and from a story point of view, would have had the opportunity to have trained the dog herself.
I'd like to get any thoughts on allowing her to spend the much-reduced gold value for a non-riding dog (25 vs. 150 gold if I remember correctly) and let her train it herself in background. I'll note that the player has not asked for this. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the player to spend the gold (and clearly the player doesn't), but I'm wondering whether it sets a problematic precedent or goes against the intent of a set "starting gold" value to allow things like this.
Thanks in advance for your input.