Brightsaber's page

Thank you for your responses! I apologize for not replying sooner, but real life has a way of draining away the time available for Pathfinder.

Azothath, James Jacobs stated that the Strength given in Book 6 is an error and should be 25, so that's why I aimed for 25 in my calculations.

Book 3 Runeplague NPC Gallery description of Sorshen's Simulacrum mentions "...the souls of her vampiric army drifted away to be judged...." It sounds like Sorshen gave her undead minions an all-expense-paid (one-way) cruise to Pharasma, not Geb.

Book 6 makes it clear that she would eventually retrain out of enchanter wizard and the Thassilonian specialist archetype, so she can't remain an enchanter wizard. The way I interpreted her write-up in the Book 6 NPC Gallery and the Beyond the Campaign article was that she was moving beyond just Thassilonian rune magic and embracing all magical traditions, so I didn't think that runesage or cyphermage would be an appropriate archetype. I proposed exploiter wizard and that set of exploits because she would get another metamagic feat and item creation feat (signifying the expansion of her magical knowledge) and because she could use her arcane reservoir to make her spells more powerful and/or versatile (signifying greater mastery of magic).

Dryad Knotwood, when I started my calculations in my initial post, I was able to hit all her Book 6 numbers and the Str 25 (and slightly exceed the Book 6 Constitution) without needing the Enhanced Ability mythic Universal Path Ability. Because of that, that other statement from James Jacobs didn't seem to make sense unless her stats were intended to be even higher.

I agree that the key to retaining a character's character is to minimize the number of changes. I proposed changing 2 regular feats and 2 mythic feats. Skill modifiers remain close to the Book 6 numbers. Since we don't need Exceptional Ability, I've filled in the 2 missing mythic path abilities. My initial proposal was to change only 1 existing mythic path ability, but, on second thought, I'd also replace Mythic Presence with either Path Dabbling (Overcome Curse) or Component Freedom. Aside from adding an archetype and replacing her Alara'quin, that's not all that many changes.

Well-Prepared does seem nice, but Sorshen has been around for a long time, so Won't Stay Dead might explain that. However, the alternate capstone that appeals to me the most is The Boss, which includes the Leadership feat; we can keep Craft Construct by moving it from the Wiz20 feat (the 20th level capstone) to the regular Lvl19 feat. In this case, The Boss alternate capstone represents word of Sorshen getting out and the large number of people flocking to her such that, while "...Eurythnia, is at first more sparsely populated than Edasseril," it does not remain more sparsely populated than Edasseril for long.

If the concept of resurrection is a real possibility in your campaign world, then the societies that it affects will develop customs and/or laws to deal with it. If resurrection has been around for a long time, then each society will have a solution that fits with its cultural traditions. If resurrection is something that is newly available, then there will be discussion and/or turmoil as things get "figured out," and new aspects of the issue might continue to come up long after the initial solutions are determined (e.g. think about how the Internet has affected the world since it was opened to the public in the mid-1990's--laws, law enforcement, crime, taxation, espionage, warfare, etc. are still evolving a generation after its introduction).

If it's early days where the solutions haven't been around long enough to be set in stone, then, yes, resurrection is indeed jumping up and down waving its arms trying to get selected as the plot-hook of the next adventure you create.

What can be done about resurrection? Well:

1) You can side-step the issue. Just create a house rule that resurrection is not available.

2) You can limit the issue by adding non-RAW conditions. After all, you've said that this is a homebrew world that you're making, so you have complete control over how it works.
2.a) Maybe resurrection requires the permission of a deity of death/underworld/etc. If I remember correctly, the 1st edition AD&D description in the Dragon Magazine of the Suel deity Wee Jas said that her clerics had to commune with her to get permission before they were allowed to raise/resurrect the dead.
2.b) You could limit resurrection to its weakest form--raise dead. People who have been raised from the dead will have been gone for less time than a U.S.A. school's summer vacation, so a short absence should not cause much of a problem.

3) You can set a statute of limitations for resurrection. This could limit what titles/offices/honors, properties, etc. that a resurrected person can get back after being acknowledged as dead and succeeded by successors and having property distributed to heirs. There could be time limits for what can be restored to the resurrected person.

If you look redcelt32's Lines of Succession for Kingmaker, Pharasma's permission is needed, and a reasonable delay before succession can occur provides the opportunity to raise/resurrect the dead. If the dead person is restored to life after the mourning period ends, succession has legally occurred, so that resurrected person gets nothing from his/her/its previous life.

I can't find it now, but I think someone else in the 1st edition Kingmaker subforum said that, in their Kingmaker game, a person who is restored to life after succession is a commoner (if they were previously noble/royal) in addition to not being entitled to anything from their previous life.

I suppose there might be a small exception could be made if someone makes a will with a provision to hold certain possessions in a trust fund (hello lawyers' fees and trustees' fees and storage fees!) to be delivered to oneself in case of resurrection.

I haven't read about recent developments on the matter, but I believe the mythic sorceress Hao Jin turned up alive long after the temple of Abadar started executing her will in the manner she had previously specified. I doubt that any of her items awarded to the winners of past Ruby Phoenix Tournaments will be stripped from them and returned to Hao Jin.

Although Bilbo Baggins does not die in The Hobbit, he discovers at the end of the book that he had been declared dead while he was away. He eventually gets Bag End back from the Sackville-Bagginses (starting/intensifying a feud with them), but he did have to buy back much of his other property, and I think it's mentioned that he never got all of his silverware back.

If you are modeling societies in your world after real-world nations, you might find it helpful to search for those real-world nations' laws for what happens when a missing person is declared dead but is later found alive (and how imposters posing as declared-dead missing persons are dealt with).

I had to say good-bye to a feline friend this afternoon. To keep his memory alive, I want to make a group of catfolk NPC's/replacement PC's based on the cat friends I know/knew. I'm having trouble translating their descriptions into classes and archetypes, so I would appreciate advice as to what classes and archetypes are a good fit for the description of each cat. Most have descriptive names because I hesitate to give them a proper name before I find out if they are male or female.

Old School Group
1) Guard Cat (male white cat): Named so because he would eat quickly and then watch over the others while they ate. Suspected to be a ragdoll or have much ragdoll ancestry. Best friends with Shy Cat.
2) Tardy Cat (male white cat): Named so because he frequently arrived late when I set food out for them. Suspected to be a ragdoll or have much ragdoll ancestry. Best friends with Relaxed Cat.
3) Shy Cat (male white & black cat): This small cat was shy until he got used to me. Once, I was late to work by 20 minutes, so he sat by the bus unloading area (with Guard Cat watching over him) looking for me until I arrived. Best friends with Guard Cat. The other cats respected that he had "dibs" on the wet food whenever I included some with their meals. Passed away from unknown causes; I suspect the summer heat contributed. After his death, the group began to lose cohesion and attendance at meals became hit-or-miss.
4) Relaxed Cat (female black & brown striped cat): Named so because she was unconcerned by students walking on the board walk next to where she lounged on the grass. Best friends with Tardy Cat.

New School Group
5) Diantha (female black cat): Curious and companionable, she had no problems hopping into my vehicle when she thought I was scooping wet food out of the can too slowly. She already knew what a litter box was and how to use it, so I suspect her of being an abandoned pet. Permanently vanished during spring break; the others resurfaced weeks later, but she didn't.
Maybe a spirit summoner? Eidolon is "the elemental cat spirit of the ancestors."
6) Not Relaxed Cat (female? black & brown striped cat): Believed to be Relaxed Cat for several months until it appeared with kittens--all the Old School Group had been neutered/spayed. Wasn't relaxed, so I initially thought that it was the only survivor of some horror-movie-style experience that had killed the other Old School Group cats. Wouldn't let me touch it.
7) Smoky (light & dark gray striped cat): After meals, this cat normally left in the direction of the railroad tracks separate from the others. Would sometimes climb on top of my vehicle (checking out the view?). Wouldn't let me touch it.
8) New Black Cat (male black cat): Wary but companionable, he appeared a week before Diantha vanished. Like Diantha, he would hop into my vehicle when he thought I was scooping wet food out of the can too slowly. He also knew what a litter box was and how to use it, so I suspect him of being an abandoned pet. He sometimes used his paw to scoop food and then eat what was in his paw. Didn't like to be touched by New Gray Kitten. Scared away by Butterscotch when I brought him home to take him to the vet the next morning.
Maybe a brown-fur transmuter arcanist?
9) New Gray Kitten (gray kitten): Discovered by the cheerleaders and their coach, I was able to lure it out with food. It eventually grew comfortable with me and liked to poke New Black Cat. I suspect that Not Relaxed Cat and Smoky are its parents because they would sit 6-7 feet away and glare disapprovingly at me whenever I would sit in my vehicle and play with New Gray Kitten. Taken home by twin students; their teachers said that they could be relied upon to give it a good home and that their parents would not object.
10) Black Stripes (black & dark brown striped cat): This kitten showed up with Not Relaxed Cat one day. It looks similar to Not Relaxed Cat and Mini-Me but with noticeably darker stripes.
11) Mini-Me (black & brown striped cat): This is the other kitten who showed up with Not Relaxed Cat one day. Now that this kitten has grown, I can't tell the difference between it and Not Relaxed Cat.

Neighborhood Cats
12) Gracie (female gray cat): This friendly cat lived two doors down the street. She got me feeding neighborhood cats. She hung around my place so much that I suspect her family felt neglected and consequently got a very big dog. Because of door problems, she broke into my place at least once. She and her family moved last year.
13) Striped Gray Cat (female? dark & light gray striped cat): This quiet little cat could drive off Butterscotch when he was feeling territorial. Appeared to be friends with Gracie. Saw it less as time went on. The last time I saw it, it had acquired a collar and looked rather plump, so I suspect it was a pregnant female.
Maybe a slayer?
14) Butterscotch II (male orange & white cat): This cat was so affectionate that he got me taking ownerless cats to the vet...it hurt too much to see him limp, limp again, have a 3-inch cut in the side that exposed his insides, and be missing a half-dollar-sized patch of skin exposing his insides. He got his shots and got neutered. He liked to climb into my lap and cuddle. He aggressively protected what he thought was his, so I had to give him several stern talking-tos before he quit driving visiting cats away. He roamed the neighborhood even though he spent much time at my place. I like to think that he tried to find me a job; I got the only interview of my current job hunt two days after he vanished.
Maybe a crossblooded bloodrager?
15) Lola (female gray & white cat): It took nearly two years of feeding her and a trip to the vet before she sat in my lap for the first time. Originally, she was the cat at the bottom of the neighborhood totem pole, but after the vet visit, she was willing to take a swipe at Butterscotch if he got in her personal space; they worked out a lap-sharing agreement where she sat on my shins and he sat on my thighs. She already knew what a litter box was and how to use it, and the vet discovered that she had already been spayed, so I'm confident that she is an abandoned pet. Because of door problems, she broke into my place 3 times. She's athletic; I've seen her on my roof and my neighbor's roof even though there are no trees to climb up, and she likes climbing trees. She didn't like Buddy and would walk away if he got too close.
Maybe a bard of some sort?
16) Buddy (male white with brown stripes cat): This shy and gentle cat looked very handsome early last year. He started coming more often last winter, and it was obvious something was wrong; by spring, he was hanging around my place most of the time. Eventually, he trusted me enough to go to the vet; he had one of the worst cases of stomatitis that she had ever seen. No one knew who the owner was. He liked Lola but was willing to settle for her unfinished meals.
17) 2 black cats: One day, I saw a woman in the street in front of my place yelling at 2 black cats to go back to their place at the other end of the street. The handful of other times that I've seen them, they visit singly. They are calm and unaggressive towards other cats and shy around people. Diantha and one of them ate a meal in close proximity at their first and only meeting. When Butterscotch wasn't feeling territorial, they would lounge inches from each other.
18) Black & Brown Speckled Cat (black & brown speckled cat): This shy cat liked to lounge in my yard, but it stopped visiting after a few months. It did not let me get close.
19) Ragged Brown Cat (brown cat): This quiet little cat would visit every few weeks during the winter months. I thought we were on track to developing trust to take it to the vet and a groomer--it had horribly matted hair--but it stopped visiting when spring rolled around.

You are welcome to add your own feline friend to this list if you make a suggestion for one of my furry friends.

Per Rise of New Thassilon (Book 6 of Return of the Runelords), Sorshen is canonically slated to leave behind Thassilonian rune magic and retrain as a universalist wizard. From the wizard character creation advice that I've read, universalist wizards are generally considered lackluster compared to school-specialized wizards. What are better (more powerful) non-school-specialized options? I've heard good things about exploiter wizards—would that be the best choice?

Because I still think in terms of v.3.5 instead of 1st edition Pathfinder, I want to rebuild Sorshen as an optimization case study to improve my system mastery (which is low), which is why I'm posting in Advice. The primary goal is to optimize Sorshen to be "more powerful" with the caveat that this build is for the long haul and not just for a single adventure or AP; we're looking a time-frame of at least another 11,000 years and preferably all of eternity. Although her style tends towards indirectness (very appropriate for an enchanter), it would be nice if the resulting build could go toe-to-toe with a mythic opponent in her weight class and have a decent chance of winning. The secondary goal is to select options that feel like a good fit based on canon descriptions of post-Return-of-the-Runelords Sorshen; feel free to mention other options that would suit a generic power build (I do want to learn how to build well-optimized characters) but identify them as not fitting Sorshen. After this upgrade, we still want Sorshen to feel like Sorshen and not a clone of Baba Yaga, the Ruby Phoenix, Nex, Geb, the Whispering Tyrant, Old-Mage Jatembe, etc. Finally, Runeplague (Book 3 of Return of the Runelords) has a blood simulacrum of Sorshen, so this is both an opportunity to practice the process of creating a simulacrum and selecting options that also work at a lower power level. We want her simulacrums to be effective agents and convincing doubles.

Let's start with ability scores. Sorshen has Exceptional Stats for a 25-point buy. My numbers are based on https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2vb3j?6-Rise-of-New-Thassilon#41 and https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2vb3j?6-Rise-of-New-Thassilon#46. Sorshen's resulting Constitution is higher than listed in Book 6. Her simulacrum's Dexterity and Constitution are lower than listed in Book 3 (even after applying level increases there instead of Intelligence) and her simulacrum's Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are higher. Yes, I don't think it's appropriate for the simulacrum's level increases to apply to different abilities than Sorshen's, but that's the smallest change I can devise while also trying to get Dex and Con as close as possible to the numbers in Book 3—does anyone have a better solution?

Sorshen
Str 2 pts=12 +2a+5i+6e = 25
Dex 1 pt=11 +2a+5i+6e = 24
Con 1 pt=11 +2a+5i+6e = 24
Int 13 pts=17 +2a+5i+3v+5l+2m+6e = 40
Wis –2 pts=8 +2a+5i+3v+6e = 24
Cha 10 pts=16 +2a+5i+3v+8m+6e = 40

Blood Simulacrum
Str 2 pts=12 +2a = 14
Dex 1 pt=11 +2a+1l = 14
Con 1 pt=11 +2a+1l = 14
Int 13 pts=17 +2a+3v+2e = 24
Wis –2 pts=8 +2a+3v = 13
Cha 10 pts=16 +2a+3v+2e = 23

a=azlanti racials
i=inherent
v=venerable age
l=level increase
m=mythic increase
e=enhancement (Sorshen: from either Scintillating Garment or both belt of physical perfection +6 and headband of mental superiority +6 | Simulacrum: from Dance of Seven Veils)

Moving on to feats, a comparison of Sorshen and her simulacrum's feats divides them into two groups—the ones she selected up through 10th level and those selected afterwards. I've read many posts advising that arcane fullcasters (especially blade adept arcanists) should never choose to engage in mêlée, so Combat Expertise (which requires either an attack or full attack action to use) doesn't seem to fit. I'd move Spell Penetration into its place to help her simulacrum be a more convincing double when casting spells. Is there a better choice to replace Combat Expertise?

In the "after" group, I've added Leadership—it would be useful to form a loyal core of followers who can be relied upon to faithfully execute her designs as she builds New Eurythnia; after all, this time, she's truly playing the long game—another ten millennia or more—not merely for an adventure or even an AP. Alternately, Greater Spell Penetration would always be useful. Again, is there a better choice?

I understand Dodge's usefulness for touch AC, but I'm not sure about mythic Dodge's usefulness compared to other mythic feats. I've only read the mythic rules but never actually played a game using mythic, but I like the concept of Mythic Paragon. I like how Mythic Paragon boosts effective mythic tier for many mythic abilities, so I'm thinking it should replace mythic Dodge.

Does Sorshen seem like the sort of person to keep Spell Focus (enchantment), Greater Spell Focus (enchantment), mythic Spell Focus (enchantment), and Contagious Spell as a reminder of her past, or would she retrain those feats? I'm thinking that she would keep the non-mythic feats as a nod to her past, but retrain mythic Spell Focus (enchantment) to Dual Path (archmage) as a nod to her future and her embrace of all magical traditions.

In the description of Sorshen’s Sinuous Guisarme, Sorshen will abandon her title of Runelord of Lust when she "fully takes on the mantle of ruler of New Thassilon." That sounds like she needs a new Alara'quin—and she's the prime candidate for creating her new one since Xin (the creator of the 7 Alara'quin) isn't around anymore. We know that she's able to create major artifacts because it took her only 27 years from the discovery of the Everdawn Pool to analyze it and reverse -engineer it to create the more powerful the Eye of Desire/Runewell of Lust while still fulfilling her responsibilities as Runelord of Fertility or Love (as she was back then).

The existing Alara'quin weapon types are adamantine ranseur (wrath), dragon-tooth longspear (sloth), scythe (gluttony), lucerne hammer of unknown metal (pride), (gold and) mithral halberd (envy), double-headed mithral guisarme (lust), and glaive (greed). I like the nodachi because it can do piercing or slashing damage and because of its chances of scoring a critical hit, so I see Sorshen retraining from guisarme to nodachi as her new Alara'quin to symbolize her abandonment of Lust and her commitment to the future as Queen of New Thassilon. "Djezet is associated with enchantment magic, love, and lust," so I expect that Sorshen has studied it extensively and so would not be surprised if she had devised a djezet-based alloy that could be made as hard and tough as adamantine like the Alara'hai, Chellan. Because a dose of djezet can increase the effective level of a spell by +1, a djezet alloy weapon is also thematically appropriate to represent her embrace of all magic.

Since the nodachi is a martial weapon, adding a weapon modification only increases the weapon category by one step to exotic. Given the chances of scoring a critical hit (and expecting her new Alara'quin to be keen to boost that), Jagged Hooks (+2 damage on a critical hit) seems reasonable. Her simulacrums can use nodachis that have the keen and training (Exotic Weapon Proficiency (nodachi)) special abilities.

Human Eschew Materials
Lvl 1 Spell Focus (enchantment)
Lvl 3 Toughness
Lvl 5 Iron Will
Lvl 7 Dodge
Lvl 9 Spell Penetration
Lvl 11 Greater Spell Focus (enchantment)
Lvl 13 Quicken Spell
Lvl 15 Contagious Spell
Lvl 17 Exotic Weapon Proficiency (nodachi with weapon mod.)
Lvl 19 Leadership
Wiz 1 Scribe Scroll
Wiz 5 Craft Wondrous Item
Wiz 10 Craft Magic Arms and Armor
Wiz 15 Inscribe Rune
Wiz 20 Craft Construct
MT1 Spell Penetration
MT3 Iron Will
MT5 Dual Path
MT7 Toughness
MT9 Mythic Paragon

As an exploiter wizard, Sorshen gets 5 exploits and 13 arcane reservoir points (max. 23), and her simulacrum gets 3 exploits and 8 arcane reservoir points (max. 13). As someone who chose the trickster mythic path, she would naturally appreciate the flexibility offered by Quick Study and Metamixing. Potent Magic can compensate for the removal of mythic Spell Focus (enchantment) and boost spells of other schools as well. For the other two exploits, I'm thinking of Metamagic Knowledge (not sure which metamagic feat—any suggestions? Dazing Spell?) and Item Crafting (Forge Ring? Craft Staff?) but using the mythic universal path ability Ultimate Versatility to change those to Dimensional Slide or Spell Tinkerer or whatever else is needed (even Arcane Weapon if she absolutely must fight in mêlée).

EWiz1 Quick Study
EWiz5 Potent Magic
EWiz9 Metamagic Knowledge
EWiz13 Metamixing
EWiz17 Item Crafting

As a wizard, Sorshen gets 2 skill points per level. As an Azlanti human, she gets 1 bonus skill point per level. With an Intelligence of 40, Sorshen gets 15 more bonus skill points per level, and her simulacrum gets 7 bonus skill points per level from Int 24. By abandoning the Enchantment school specialization, she loses enchanting smile's +6 enhancement bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate, and her simulacrum loses the corresponding +4 bonus.

If Sorshen takes off both her Scintillating Garment and her headband of mental superiority +6 (I'm assuming both apply bonus skill points to the same skills), then her Int drops to 34, and she loses the skill points in Escape Artist, Fly, and Use Magic Device. To get to the +38 Fly skill in her stat block, she must have used 6 bonus skill points from her Favored Class Bonus (leaving +14 bonus hp)—I can't see or think of any other way to get the skill modifier up that high—so she still has a +18 Fly skill even without those two magic items. Escape Artist can be used untrained, so she is +9 in that skill without those two magic items.

There are 19 skills in Sorshen's stat block, but she only gets 18 skill points per level. I chose Craft (tattoo) and Craft (weapons) as the two skills that get half the usual skill points. I see Sorshen as a clothing fashionista and sculptor, so tattoos and weapons are merely secondary creative outlets for her.

Most Intelligence-enhancing magic items specify that the bonus skill points from the increased Int go into specific skills, but there is no such note in the description of the blood simulacrum's Dance of Seven Veils. Therefore, I'm taking full advantage of the flexibility offered by this omission to set the simulacrum's Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nobility), Knowledge (planes), and Knowledge (religion) to +15. Without the Dance of Seven Veils, the simulacrum's Int drops to 22, K (local) and K (nobility) drops to +12, and K (planes) and K (religion) drops to +13.

Sorshen
Bluff 20s +2l+15a = +37
Diplomacy 20s +2l+15a = +37
Disguise 20s +2l+15a = +37
Intimidate 20s +2l+15a = +37
Knowledge (arcana) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Knowledge (local) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Knowledge (nobility) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Knowledge (planes) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Knowledge (religion) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Perception 20s +2l+7a = +29
Sense Motive 20s +2l+7a = +29
Spellcraft 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Craft (clothing) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Craft (sculpture) 20s +2l+15a+3c = +40
Craft (tattoo) 10s +2l+15a+3c = +30
Craft (weapons) 10s +2l+15a+3c = +30
Escape Artist 20s +2l+7a = +29/+9
Fly 20s +2l+7a+3c+6f = +38/+18
Use Magic Device 20s +2l+15a = +47

Blood Simulacrum
Bluff 10s +6a+4k = +20
Diplomacy 10s +6a+4k = +20
Disguise 10s +6a = +16
Intimidate 10s +6a = +16
Knowledge (arcana) 10s +7a+3c = +20
Knowledge (local) 5s +7a+3c = +15/+12
Knowledge (nobility) 5s +7a+3c = +15/+12
Knowledge (planes) 5s +7a+3c = +15/+13
Knowledge (religion) 5s +7a+3c = +15/+13
Perception 10s +1a = +11
Sense Motive 10s +1a = +11
Spellcraft 10s +7a+3c = +20

s=skill ranks
l=luck bonus (from Sorshen’s Sinuous Guisarme)
a=ability score modifier
c=class skill
f=favored class bonus
k=competence bonus (from Dance of Seven Veils)

Finally, we get to her mythic path abilities. As I mentioned earlier, I've never played a mythic game, so my assessment is based on my gut reaction to each path ability's description. I am assuming that she took the Dual Path (archmage) mythic feat as mentioned above. Wild Arcana sounds like the best of the three archmage arcana options. I don't see any reason to change Fleet Charge as her trickster attack because it could be used as a method of withdrawing from a bad position as well as a method of attacking.

I counted only 8 path abilities instead of 10 in her stat block. Did I miss something? Assuming that I'm right about that, I propose to add Mirror Dodge and Ultimate Versatility as the missing path abilities. I've heard that mythic games usually turn into nuclear rocket tag, so Mirror Dodge will help her avoid getting tagged. Ultimate Versatility has already been discussed with exploits.

She has confusion, dispel magic, dominate person, irresistible dance, power word kill, power word blind, power word stun, stoneskin, and suggestion marked as mythic spells in her spells prepared list. With Mythic Paragon, Mythic Spellcasting gives us three more mythic spells to be specified when needed (or we could do that now).

With Mythic Paragon, Enduring Armor improves to a +15 armor bonus to AC, Thwart Detection increases to 12 allies, and Vanishing Move improves to CL 24. Both Mythic Presence and Menacing Whisper improve to DC 37.

I can see Mythic Presence used for crowd dispersal—especially if she somehow gets caught in mêlée. However, if there's something clearly better or more useful, then Mythic Presence might be a candidate for replacement.

I don't see the usefulness of Menacing Whisper. Can you see her invisibly standing next to a creature and either intimidating it or employing mythic power to use suggestion? With her other listed path abilities, I can imagine situations (or emergencies) where they are useful, but not for Menacing Whisper. Compared to a regular use of Intimidate to demoralize, it trades a range of 30 feet for the target not being able to see her. The suggestion option trades range (75 feet at CL 20) for a +9 DC compared to a use of Wild Arcana. The combination of needing to be adjacent to the target and also unseen by the target just kills this for me as a viable option.

Dual Path opens all of the archmage path abilities as potential choices and frees up Path Dabbling for a path ability from a third mythic path. Class Mimic, Channel Power, Component Freedom, Eldritch Breach, Overcome Curse (from Hierophant), Enduring Blessing (Hierophant), Sustained by Faith (Hierophant), Words of Valor (from Marshal), Words of Hope (Marshal), Loyalty (Marshal), and Impossible Speed (from Champion) all seem useful . If Leadership isn't selected as a feat, then Loyalty would be useful for establishing a core group of loyal and dependable followers. Component Freedom can substitute for Silent Spell, Still Spell, or a material component or focus worth 1200 gp or less each and every time she casts a spell; she could save on the cost of ruby dust for forcecage and true seeing ointment. Overcome Curse could be good defensively ("Thank you for that pretty, diamond-encrusted necklace of strangulation, but it didn't strangle me. Maybe it's defective? Here, you try it."). Class Mimic boosts versatility which a trickster would value. Channel Power probably provides the biggest boost for just about any spell she casts, so that's at the top of my list of replacements for Menacing Whisper.

MT1 enduring armor
MT2 mythic spellcasting
MT3 mirror dodge
MT4 perfect mimic
MT5 subtle magic
MT6 mythic presence
MT7 thwart detection
MT8 vanishing move
MT9 channel power
MT10 ultimate versatility

I eagerly await your advice.

A couple months ago, I was looking through Advanced Class Guide when I noticed the Feats That Grant Extra Uses sidebar on page 159 and that stuck in my head for some reason.

Java Man is correct. The stated number of extra uses is the total number of extra uses regardless of how many classes provide pools of the relevant feature. In your oradin example, Extra Lay on Hands gives you two additional uses, so you could apply them both to the oracle pool & none to the paladin pool (or vice versa) or one extra use to each pool.

The sidebar also mentions that you can change how the extra uses are split each day. Continuing your oradin example, one day your split might be all on the paladin pool, the next day all on the oracle pool, and the day after that one extra use to each pool.

I'm considering a campaign set around the time Thassilon was founded, so I've been thinking about the original 7 runelords. As a Thassilonian Enchantment Specialist, Sorshen would want to periodically check on her enchantments to make sure her ensorcelled minions weren't faking. In a similar vein, I would expect her to want updates on the status of Golarion while she waited in the Eye of Desire.

As to whether Sorshen was fully conscious or slumbering-but-semi-conscious, my take is that it is a combination of both but leaning heavily towards semi-conscious--just aware enough to receive news updates and consider what they mean for her plans and update her plans accordingly while not losing a wink of her beauty sleep.

One thing to remember about Sorshen is that she is the genius who reverse-engineered and improved upon the Everdawn Pool to create runewells. She set the standard for runewells, and--in accordance to Xin's benevolent vision--shared the design for runewells with her peers, something she later regretted per Secrets of Roderic's Cove. Xanderghul, the other runelord who governed from Xin's original appointments until Earthfall, created a runewell, but his pride wouldn't let him ride out the aftermath of Earthfall in something someone else designed, so it's unlikely that he would have made the effort to improve upon it. Karzoug, Alaznist, and Belimarius were the final runelords of their Thassilonian specialties, so they didn't have much time to try to improve Sorshen's design; the Return of the Runelords Timeline shows that Alaznist completed hers 17 years before Earthfall, so Karzoug probably had about the same amount of time, and Belimarius had to rush the job working from Karzoug's intentionally erroneous "Runewells for Dummies" handbook.

What I'm getting at here is that, while the other runelords had the "standard" runewell design, Sorshen had 1,159 years to upgrade the Eye of Desire. Whereas the other runelords had the runewell equivalent of the cave-built MCU Iron Man armor, she likely upgraded the Eye of Desire to the equivalent of the nanotech MCU Iron Man armor. Her Eye of Desire probably had secondary alarms to wake her up periodically (every century? every millenia?) even if the master alarm hadn't activated yet so she can get up and stretch her legs and double-check that nothing's amiss before going back to sleep. It likely had communications inputs to get news from her vampiric followers and probably had scrying features as well. The Eye of Desire probably enabled Sorshen to remain asleep but enter a state of semi-consciousness whenever news updates came in so that she could consider what they meant for her plans and update her plans accordingly. Over the millenia, that level of awareness gave her the time to reflect upon her life. Coupled with what she found when she emerged after Karzoug (and probably Ileosa) was defeated, that was enough for her to decide that she was done with Evil (but she's not ready to be Good--at least not yet. Ten thousand years from now...who knows?).

Askar Avari, that's an interesting take on her time inside the Eye of Desire. However, I'm not a fan of horror, so I'll be going with what I said above. Plus, I would expect that the immortality that we see in the game comes with the mental/emotional tolerance to deal with the passage of thousands, millions, billions, trillions, etc. of years without any problems unless Something Goes Very Wrong or The Plot/Storyline Demands It or both.

Thank you all for your comments. This has prompted me to review the rules relevant to your suggestions.

There was concern about (N)PCs having better abilities. One member of my playing group tends to invite others to play a session or two with us (usually to show them what is a role-playing game). Out of game, higher ability scores was intended as a guardrail to prevent an unlucky dice roll or misunderstanding of how the game works from killing a guest player's character without me having to fudge things too obviously.

As NPCs, let's assume the PCs are starting the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP. At various points in the AP, one duo might be encountered in a tavern celebrating a successful conclusion to Murder's Mark adventure, then celebrating their induction into the Pathfinder Society, and later celebrating successful missions for the Pathfinder Society (or even be encountered during missions). When the PCs return Queen Ileosa's brooch in Edge of Anarchy, they might witness Ileosa knighting the other duo for a Great Success in W1 Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale before it's their turn to approach the throne; the duo's new duties explain why both can't be away from Bloodsworn Vale for long, but one of them can be away for "a little while." We then have an in-game explanation for why the duos aren't pursuing the AP but are available for short portions of it when my playing group has a guest player.

Melkiador, would it make any sense to make the bloodrager's partner a shaman? The PDF text for Life Link is identical for both Life mystery and Life spirit, and shamans have many hexes similar to witches. Wandering Spirit and Wandering Hex provides additional day-to-day customization for whatever the current challenge might be.

Marcella, I wasn't planning on these two duos eating the players' lunch, but you've given me ideas for a new set of recurring NPCs.... (Cue evil GM laugh.)

Bellona, I'll admit the choice of aasimar was the player in me wanting to play with something more powerful than usual, and it was a little bit of a counterbalance to the consensus that blade adept arcanists are a bad idea.

Mysterious Stranger, I'm not good at synergy, plus I lean towards arcane casters, so I was hoping to make a bad idea somehow work. Your advice is much better. Do you recommend generic inquisitor or an archetype? It looks like Abolisher, Expulsionist, Infiltrator, Oathkeeper, Preacher, Umbral Stalker, and Witch Hunter avoids trading out any abilities that you mentioned.

Hi! This is my very first post. If I'm doing formatting, etc. wrong, please tell me how to fix it.

I'm a newbie to Pf1 coming from 3.5. I like the creative directions 1st ed. Pathfinder has taken, but I'm overwhelmed with all the choices available even after consulting some of the guides. I'm asking for help to make 4 characters to be as powerful as possible within the restrictions and character ideas below. I'm only looking at Paizo products; no 3rd-party, please.

I want to create two separate NPC adventuring duos as acquaintances and non-violent-rivals to the PC's. They represent other people in the adventuring business, so the PC's will encounter them from time to time, and the duos might complete some side-quests that the PC's don't pursue (a.k.a. "you snooze, you lose"). This is intended to give the players a feeling that life goes on for the rest of the world even as their PC's pursue their own quests and goals. The other reason for making these duos acquaintances is so they can be used as ready-made characters for drop-in players.

With half the numbers of the baseline 4-character party, I'm assuming that the adventuring duos have exceptional qualities to enable them to survive. For the first duo, that means near-perfect starting ability scores. For the second duo, I'm thinking that a 30-point buy would be appropriate (and no ability scores below 10). I don't want gestalt, but I think that some amount of "cross-training" would be appropriate, probably through archetypes and VMc and such. For example, some of the things mentioned in https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42moy?heal-skill-non-magic-healer will be used for recovering from injury.

I also want to try the evangelist prestige class from Inner Sea Gods, so both duos will be X5/evangelist 10/X+5 even though that loses any 20th-level capstone of their main class.

The main house rule is that I dislike magic-marts. In general, the NPC's' crafting philosophy will mirror that of the PC's—if the PC's are depending on others to make magic items for them to buy, so will the NPC's, which results in very few makers of magic items. However, the more item creation feats that the PC's take, the more NPC's will choose to become makers of magic items, which increases the availability of magic items for purchase. I don't mind PC's buying the magic items listed in a settlement's stat block, but, beyond that, I mostly consider buying magic items a reward for good gaming/role-playing or extraordinary success on a quest.

The first duo are an emberkin aasimar and a grimspawn tiefling best friends with the Unscathed basic magic trait. Both are neutral good blade adept arcanist VMc magi; I think a guide mentioned that VMc magus was needed to make blade adept work. I think of blade adepts as being like Jedi consulars in that they're willing to swing their trademark weapon but usually rely on their magic. The aasimar is a devotee of Sarenrae (sword bond to scimitar; spell resistance & remove disease variant abilities from Blood of Angels, pg. 19), and the tiefling is a worshipper of Iomedae (sword bond to longsword; spell resistance & see in darkness variant abilities from Blood of Fiends, pp. 16–17; prehensile tail alternate racial trait).

- aasimar - tiefling
Str - 18 - 18
Dex - 16 - 15+2
Con - 14 - 15
Int - 18+2 - 18+2
Wis - 17 - 17–2
Cha - 17+2 - 17
lvl 4 - Cha 20 - Cha 18
lvl 8 - Wis 18 - Wis 16
lvl 12 - Int 21 - Dex 18
lvl 16 - Int 22 - Con 16
lvl 20 - Int 23 - Int 21

Feats - aasimar - tiefling
1 - incredible healer - incredible healer
5 - deific obedience - deific obedience
9 - pathologist - spell penetration
13 - acupuncture specialist - healer's hands
17 - leadership - leadership

Arcanist Exploits (same for both?)
5 - potent magic
7 - metamagic knowledge
11 - greater metamagic knowledge
13 - quick study
15 - dimensional slide
17 - metamixing
19 - school understanding (void)

VMc Magus Arcana (same for both?)
7 - empowered magic
15 - quickened magic
19 - reflection

evangelist 1: which 2 skills?
evangelist 10: spiritual form +4 to which ability?

The second duo are rivals to the first duo, and they trained at a rival school. My thoughts for them are less developed, but they will be neutral worshippers of Gorum and Nethys. Should they use variant multiclassing? Compared to the first duo, is this duo slightly more specialized and slightly less concerned about being multi-role generalists? That could help differentiate between the 2 duos. I have no clue what races this duo should be and what traits they should choose.

I'm thinking the Gorum worshipper should be a primalist steelblood bloodrager with an aberrant bloodline, but one guide suggested that the destined bloodline fit well with steelblood, so I'm not sure which to use. (I don't want to use the arcane bloodline, since my playing group is planning a ifrit bloodrager with it.) With primalist, which bloodline powers should be swapped out, and which rage powers should be swapped in? Because of Gorum, I'm thinking greatsword and spiked full plate.

I'm drawing a blank when it comes to the Nethys worshipper beyond a 9/9 arcane caster. Inner Sea Gods mentions Gorum and Nethys as martial and magical counterparts, so the Nethys worshipper ought to be the arcane complement to the Gorum worshipper. If the Gorum worshipper remains a bloodrager, that means he has a bit of magical ability, so perhaps the Nethys worshipper has little more martial ability than the usual arcane fullcaster? Maybe a tengu with swordtrained, claw attack, or exotic weapon training or maybe one of the races with weapon familiarity?

- Gorumite - Nethysian
Str - 17 - ?
Dex - 14 - ?
Con - 14 - ?
Int - 10 - ?
Wis - 12 - ?
Cha - 14 - ?
lvl 4 - Str 17 - ?
lvl 8 - Str 18 - ?
lvl 12 - Str 19 - ?
lvl 16 - Str 20 - ?
lvl 20 - Con 15 - ?

Feats
(no idea what they should take except for Deific Obedience at 3rd level)

evangelist 1: which 2 skills?
evangelist 10: spiritual form +4 to which ability?