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Hey everyone,

I'm a little embarrassed to try to plug my show on here, but I figured some people might be interested. We are running through the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path and are having a killer time running it. I feel like the sound quality is decent enough for us just starting off. We feature a rough and tumble half-orc bard, a rough and tumble human ranger, a druggie gnome, a mesmerist with a bit of a wild streak and a rough and tumble human paladin.

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I've been trying to think of a way to introduce a phantom thief as a NPC villian in a game I've been running or as a single character in an intrigue one off I'm doing.

I think maybe the best way to deal with combat is just survive it. I've been thinking of super long distance sniping build or a disengaging feint build that lets me run if I get into melee.

Look at the bardic masterpiece Pagenant of the Peacock. It's not perfect but it's a really good bonus if you optimize it right.

Do arcane trickster levels increase the effective level of the familiar?

I like the idea of the familiar being the center piece of the build.

I know this isn't what you want 200% but 3 levels of zen and the rest inquisitor is the sweet spot. You can dump dex and shoot entirely on wisdom plus get 5 bonus feats from the monk side.

The shield trained trait (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/religion-traits/shield-trained) would be great for the build. It lest you treat heavy shields as light weapons which reduces the TWF penalty.

I'm talking about taking levels of sorcerer and then something that gets sneak attack (like vivisectionist or slayer and then trickster on the one had of the gestalt..........

I talking about doing trickster on the other side of the gestalt.

Phantom thief gives up sneak attack so if you went trickster that's the only place you'd get it from.

Rapid shot. Precise shot. Deadly aim doesn't normally work with touch attacks but was ruled to work on firearms. Two-weapon fighting. Clustered shots.

I actually tend to think of the Doctor as an empiricist investigator. Inspiration is just too good to pass up.

I'm trying to come up with a unique battle for my PCs to engage in. Basically my BBEG is a harvester vigilante who commands a large number of level 1-2 minions. The concept is to max aid another bonuse to supercharge the minions. Does anyone have access to the wording of the "team player" vigilante talent for spymasters handbook? I'd like to see if I can incorporate it and can't seem to find it online.

Magus and inquisitor? Both have decent skills with the right traits and are both excellent Martials. Casting is obvious. I'd make the magus go strength Melee and have the inquisitor go ranged.

I personally love the archetype. A human that takes rogue talent FCB gets 13 rogue talents which can be turned into combat feats. There are a lot of fun things you can do in combat with a combination for lots of feats and skills. Phantom things will never do tons of damage but as a debuffer/battle field controller (with intimidate feats) or a AoO build using certain style feats you could do a lot of work.

11. I figured I'd take extra arcana to make it work.

I'm also not tied to the magus. I just want to figure out the best way (sans guns) to make the most out of the spell.

I'm thinking about building an Eldritch archer magus who focuses on the named bullet spell (we're starting at a high enough level to get it from the spell blending arcana). My question is how would you go about optimizing it?

I'm thinking about a one big hit build that would get as much damage behind the first shot of of a spell combat. Guns are out of the question so I'll probably go longbow for the x3 crit multiplier.

Eldritch heritage (storborn) will let you apply the shock property to weapons and eventuall call lightning bolts.

Is a dip in MOMS the only way to get more than one active at a time? I swear I saw a feat once but I may be wrong.

I'm trying to decide between a grapple build and an Attack of oppurtunity build with panther style.

Bewildering koan is a good idea. However, unchained monks can't take ki pool as a talent and giving up unchained gives up a lot of the power in the class (i.e. The unchained version gets up to 10 skill unlocks).

I should also note that I'm willing to dip if a build were to require it. Probably not enough to get a ki pool though. :p

Alot of my options seem to be dedicated to denying dexterity (or making the enemy run). Outside of sneak attack are there any interesting abilities that are only triggered on denied dex or flat-foot?

One of the draws of the archetype is a skill boost of up to 10 skills equal to half your level. Are there any useful combat abilities that can use skills? I would consider feinting but that doesn't feel like it'd be too useful if no one has SA and I don't have abilities that trigger on denied dex.

I was considering grappling, tie-up and Then coup de grace. Or any ability that would help me get the helpless condition for assignation style combat.

My group is going to start a game that focuses on political intrigue in the coming weeks and I want to try out a Phantom Thief from ultimate intrigue. It gives up sneak attack for massive boons to skill and the ability to take the combat trick rogue talent and the major magic rogue talent as much as you want (also certain social talents from the vigilante). So hypothetically I can get as many combat feats as a fighter.

The issue I'm having is trying to figure out the best route for combat. No sneak attack means less damage in combat and the class doesn't offer attack or damage buffs in the features. So what is my best option for combat?

It's a 25 point buy I'll probably be a human and an unchained rogue.

Greater age resistance is a 7th level arcanist spell. Lasts 24 hours.

Mythic vital strike multiplied the bonuses. That's what I was using.

Like I said a the beginning I wanted to see what I could do within the system. I'll look into making a non mythic character. I didn't realize that transformation stacked with polymorph spells. That'll be a decent place to start (especially since you get it for free from the bloodline.)

Since transformation gives you martial weapons you could also pick up a greatsword and get the same attack bonuses as a figher. You could also couple that with the size bonuses you get from the 15th level Orc power.

Could they somehow cool down the surface of the lava (with a water or cold based spell) and then use acrobatics checks as to not break the weak surface. If it does break a swim check the rest of the way.

I assumed they be the same, but if they're not regular monk. I'm fond of the archetypes for this build.

I know saving money isn't the best reason to dip, but you get the full bloodline by level 17 this way and lets you have enhancement bonuses that can't be stolen. Its really personal choice, but at level 5 you have the equivalent of a 4000 gp item that you can spend on other things.

Hypothetically you could wade into combat naked and still have the same strength bonus. If you're into that kinda thing ;).

I should make note that not dipping is best if you want to maintain earlier spell levels. I don't think high level spells are super important to the build becaus you can choose an earlier beast shape spell to focus on and retrain when you get to a higher level. Also, you'll be in Melee as much as possible so spells can be used more sparingly than normal.

If I could afford herolab I'd just post it but a brief description will have to do. The basic goal is to get your strength and caster level for a polymorph spell as high as possible. Since I was just theorycrafting I based my numbers off of Form of the Dragon III.

I started with 17 strength and put the half elf bonus to make it 19. I also took the racial trait mordant envoy (+1transmutstion CL). 15 Int to start because you only NEED it to be 19 to get 19th level spells. Traits were magical knack and lore keeper.

Take the school understanding (shape change) exploit before level 5. At level 5 dip wizard and your arcanist levels stack with wizard to determine school powers. At level 9 take the bloodline development exploit (Orc) and dip sorcerer at 10. Same story; arcanist levels stack with sorcerer levels for bloodline powers. So at level 10 you get the wizard school at 9th level (+2 enhancement bonus in strength that buffs every fifth level) and 9th level Orc blood line (+2 inherent bonus to strength or +4 with robes of arcane heritage).

You'll need mythic tiers to make the build work. I think it's best with atleast 3. Go archmage (maybe dual path with champion if you want fleet warrior). The first path ability needs to be shapeshifting mastery. It add half your tier to polymorph CL and let's you use the caster level of the spell as BAB instead of your standard BAB. Next take mythic bloodline and mythic school. These add 4 level to the effective bonuses of you school and bloodline. So at 11th level you have an adjusted wizard school of 14 (+3 strength bonus) and a bloodline of 18 (+6 inherent bonus in strength). Add mythic spell casting as a feat or a 4th teir path ability.

My feats to this point are: spell focus (transmutation), varasian tattoo (transmutation) power attack and then a metamagic feat of your choice. (With the remaining feats you can customize. Eventually you want spell specialization and spell perfection in the spell of your choice. I also took mythic power attack

Required exploits are: school understanding, bloodline development, potent magic, metamagic knowledge and greater metamagic knowledge (the last two let you qualify for spell perfection.

By level 20 I got a strength of 62: 17 to start, 2 from race, 5 from leveling, 6 inherent bonus, 6 from a belt (at level 20 for the school you switch the two +5 enhancements into dex and con), 10 from mythic Tiers, 2 from the mythic path ability that lets you add to an ability score and an 18 size bonus from mythi form of the dragon ( remember brown fur transmuter lets you add an additional 2 to an ability score).

Caster level for form of the dragon 3 is 34. 18 from arcanist levels, 2 from magical knack, 1 from lore keeper, 5 from shapeshifting mastery, 1 from varisian tattoo, 2 from spell specialization, 3 from spell perfection, 1 from a orange ioun stone, and 1 from mordant envoy. This can be augmented up to level 38 by using potent magic in conjunction with the archmage's wild arcana.

So at level 20/ archmage 10 you Bab while using FOD3 is 38 and strength is 62 for a +26 bonus. That's +64 to hit. Mythic Power attack at 38 BAB is -10, +30. A dragons claw will hit at +52 and do 3d6+56. You get 6 attack on dragon form. If you want to go with mythic vital strike the claw could do up to 3d6+224. The bite is even higher as it gets time and a half in strength and power attack. 3d8+84 (normal) or 12d8+376 (vital strike).

As a side note the Orc bloodline gets a the power "touch of rage" that you could use as a swift action if you take quicken SLA. That's a free +10 to attack and damage on all of your attacks.

All and all that's massive Melee damage with access to 9th level spells. There's also an exploit that lets you cast while polymorphed. Your AC will be good (not great) because you get large natural armor bonuse. Your will save is good but the other two are average. Another good thing about the build is you save money on items that buff physical ability scores so you can spend that to shore up weaknesses.

I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting and/or missing, but that's the basics of the build.

-Cass

Say I dip a level of monk for the unarmed damage and flurry of blows and then take the rest of my level as in another class (say fighter for arguments sake). If I want to get the improved and greater versions of two weapon fighting, does the flurry of blows class feature count as TWF for the prerequisite or would I have to take The feat separately. I'm only planning on fighting with unarmed strikes. Thanks.

At max level this thing can kill Lucifer in two rounds (only missing on a 1) using vital strike. I feel like it might be fun to write up a build guide. It's super strong at high level, but is comparable to a martial at lower levels.

As far a item creation feats go I would assume that you need a caster level for the feat that would allow you to craft any item the feat allows. Say you want to forge ring (CL 7 requirement) and you're a 6th level wizard. If you augment your CL for a specialized spell (say shield of faith placing your CL for casting the spell at 8). I think you'd qualify to use the feat only to create rings of protection. I would assume its similar to someone with 13 strength taking power attack and then having their strength drop to 12 (via aging). You can have the feat but you can't use it until you buff your strength.

Under the definition that the rules give us increasing the CL of a polymorph spell should increase the BAB much like raising the CL of a fireball raises the damage dice.

I know this isn't representative of the whole build but at Wizard 1/Sorcerer 1/ Arcanist 18 using form of the Dragon III against a CR 20 Oppnent the DPR is 504. The only buffs I have applied are a CL 20 Greater Magic Fang and a keen amulet of Mighty Fists.

I do have a sample version of it at level 5 with a single mythic tier that can kill most CR appropriate enemies in 1-3 rounds. The build seems fun and I feel like it could be an interesting BBEG.

Thanks, Ravingdork. This character isn't going to come online until mid level and needs atleast one mythic tier to work, but the numbers I'm getting are really good. I'm out damaging the best barbarian or Paladin I've ever made.

I wonder is varisian tattoo would affect the BAB benefit of shapeshifting mastery?

Ultimately the goal is to go with a form of the dragon spell for polymorph so items could be useful before shifting but not after. Although the transformation spell would allow me to use weapons. I don't want to take weapon focus because the types of attacks will be changing. I don't really know what I want to do in combat besides damage.

I attempted building it and came to the conclusion taking wizard at level 5 is the most optimal (arcanist gets second level spells and the physical enhancement ability is a +2) and sorcerer at 10 is best (atleast for Orc because you get the inherent bonus and might be able to afford a robe of arcane heritage which gives you the +4 bonus at effective level 13).

All in all by level 20, if optimizing strength, I'm getting a 62 strength score (while polymorphed) with a +20 BAB from shapeshifting mastery and magical knack.

My problem now is I don't know what to do with feats. Outside of power attack (at level 3) I don't know what I need. Are there feats that specifically enhance transmutation spells?

I just realized that brown fur doesn't get its abilities until level 3 (4 with the wizard multi class). That's just a +2 to strength so it won't make a huge difference.

What would happen if yo took the mage's tattoo(transmutation) feat, or an arcanist's potent magic to raise CL?

I should add that I'd probably start play at level 8 with two or three mythic tiers. Also, I'm imaging the character more as a fighter that will eventually get high level spells.

I'm willing to delay the sorcerer level. If I end up going Orc there's not a real reason to take it until my effective bloodline level is 9 for the inherent strength bonuses.
Comparing it to a martial (we'll do it at arcanist 1/ wizard 1)
I start with say 15 strength, add1 enhancement from the school ability, cast alter self for a +4 size bonus via brown fur and that's a 20 strength at level 2. On par with what a fighter could reasonably have. My arcanist CL is two for natural attacks because of the mythic power shape shifting mastery. That's a +7 to hit. Transform into a troglodyte for claw, claw, bite (1d4+5 three times). That doesn't quite beat a martial but it is three attacks at full BAB (that can be buffed) compared to one. Assuming everything hits (obviously not going to happen but for the purpose of this) that's an average of 22 damage compared to a great sword with power attack (17 damage). I realize it's not perfect but, can still be effective while getting better with age.

Right now this is just theory crafting but if it works I think it would be fun to play in a home game.

The basic idea is taking brown fur transmuter for a level and using the human bonus feat to pick up extra exploit at level one.I'd take school understanding (transmutation) and bloodline development (I don't know what yet). Then I'd dip a level of wizard and a level of sorcerer. Both exploits say that if you gain an actual bloodline or school from another source it lets you count your arcanist levels for progression of "powers and abilities." Then I'd take the rest of my levels in arcanist. I'd take magical knack to keep caster level up and to answer the BAB concerns my GM gave us mythic teirs in the game I'd play in so I can take the archmage ability to treat CL as BAB while transformed. At that point I'd have a 19th level school and Bloodline (barring items to raise the level of them of course).

So my questions:
1. what bloodline synergizes best with a transmutation/melee specialist?
2. IS this just a terrible idea?

If you're Buffing, you'll want to go first so an initiative trait like reactionary can be good.

How are you criting on an 18-20? The weapon only crits on a 20 which should expand to 19-20 with improved critical. Unless I'm missing something...

If the wizard is planning on summoning have them stat out their summons for combat before the session to save time at the table.

I like a combo of zen archer and inquisitor. You get all of the damage bonuses from inquisitor added to all the extra attacks defense from the monk. Plus wisdom does almost everything for you.

The undine race gives you a swim speed and meshes well with monk for unarmed fighting. You could also go summoner to summon aquatic animals.

It might be worth noting that for certain builds Celestial Full Plate does the same thing as the heavy training talent (in essence).

I would normally agree, but the vigilante power attack talent gives you a shield bonus when you use it so it might compensate a little.