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Spirit Dancer Medium could be fun, their capstone is really cool with the ability to bind all six spirits at once. It's super expensive to do so it's strictly for nova moments, but it basically makes you a god for the duration. You also get the spirit bonus to ALL THE THINGS.

With all the new releases, it can be hard to keep track of the amount of archetypes available for each class.

The purpose of this thread is to highlight any archetypes you find especially interesting. Not necessarily the power options, but those you feel offer interesting powers or transform the base class in interesting ways.

Here's a few to start with:

Arrowsong Minstrel (Bard): A recent addition from a relatively obscure supplement, this is still one of the most interesting bard archetypes I've seen. It's basically an Arcane Archer in a can. I've always been a fan of bardic archers, and this one has many tools to help make it work. Precise Shot at level 2 and what almost amounts to Improved Precise Shot at level 6, as well as the power to attach spells to your arrows and the ability to borrow evocation spells from the wiz/sorc list.

Diminished Spellcasting is admittedly a major drawback, but I feel this could still work pretty well for bards with archer/blaster aspirations.

Spell Sage (Wizard): Losing both arcane bond and arcane school hurts, but this gives some really interesting powers in return. The ability to throw a +4 CL bonus onto a spell a few times per day benefits everyone - it's a potent nova power in the early game, but even later on it can help you by scaling up your spells and perhaps unlock level-based benefits 4 levels early (Phanton Steed comes to mind).

The real gem is the power to spontaneously cast *anything* from the bard, cleric or druid list. This is strictly an out-of-combat trick because of the extra casting time, but this still offers an unparallelled amount of versatility. You can dig up any obscure utility spell you might need from these 3 lists, and you can cure pretty much any condition, up to and including death by disintegration.

Spirit Dancer (Medium): I like this much better than the base Medium, because it lets you mix and match powers through the day instead of being stuck with a single spirit. You still don't get to switch within single encounters until very late, but you can at least pick appropriate spirits for each encounter.

The limited rounds are a drawback, but you'll usually have enough to last the combat rounds in a given day, at least. I still wish there was an Extra Spirit Dance feat, though.

Its capstone ability is also hilarious, even if it makes you hemorrage spirit dance rounds. Enjoy getting your spirit bonus to practically everything and making use of all six legendary powers.

The favored class bonus for Half-elf Occultists gives a bonus on checks to identify magic items, but at 2nd level when you'd start getting first +1, the class gains the ability to identify without any skill check.

Communal Water Walk (lvl 4) is strictly worse than Water Walk (lvl 3) in every way.

I don't think it's meant to beat the dedicated martial classes. You trade power for versatility, I think that's the design behind the class.

You may not be as great in combat as the Barbarian, but on the day your party has to visit the King's court, you can turn into a master of diplomacy and tact overnight. When your party needs to travel far, you can turn into a wizard who knows Teleport. When the group's full cleric tragically dies, you can know the Raise Dead spell next morning.

It's meant to be adaptable. I just wish it could do more ability- switching during a single day, that's my main issue with the class as it is.

That, and the favored locations thing, of course.

A low level sorceror whose only spells known were Mount, Feather Fall and an undisclosed third spell which was apparently even more situational, since he never once used it.

In fairness he actually did manage to get a lot of utility out of those spells - especially Mount, which he used both as a combat distraction and to pull off out of combat horse sale cons.

Mythic opens up some interesting new ways for arcane casters to stack armor bonuses - something that isn't normally viable for them.

Enduring Armor is the easy choice - mage armor that eventually scales up to 13.

Augmented Mythic Fly on top of that is another potential +10 Dodge bonus to AC (and +10 to reflex saves).

Add in the Mythic Paragon feat and both bonuses increase by 2.

That's +27 AC just using Dodge and Armor bonuses. Of course you can't have Fly active all day, but extended it can still last a good amount of time. Extend Spell actually becomes quite a bit better as a feat in Mythic because Mythic Power uses are much more precious than spell slots in most cases, so the tradeoff when extending Mythic buffs is very nice.

Arcane shapeshifters also love mythic.

Shapeshifting Mastery + Mythic Arcane Strike together negate some of the main drawbacks of polymorphing.

Your bad BAB is boosted to full, and you won't be in critical need of Amulet of Mighty Fists since you can buff all of your natural weapons with an enchantment of your choice with a swift action. This includes Bane, which is hilariously powerful when you have the power to apply it spontaneously as needed.

Your AC can also benefit fully from the aforementioned spells and powers while you are shapeshifted - in addition to the natural armor you get from polymorphing in the first place.

If you need to cast spells while polymorphed you can take component freedom a few times - or just be a dragon :-)

Alchemist is nice. You have both bombs, extracts and mutagen right from the start. Probably a pretty decent supply of bomb doing quite good damage at that level - much more than an actual blaster wizard confined to something crappy like burning hands would manage.

Travel Domain cleric qualifies for Agility at 7 and doesn't need to multiclass to make a decent melee character. You will probably want to use the Theologian archetype or find another way to cast domain spells more than once per day.

There's something seriously odd about bloodline spells. Why are they delayed so much, couldn't they at least show up when you get that level of spells? As it is now a lot of them will be near-useless by the time you get them.

Cause Fear at level 7? - good luck finding anything it works on at that point. Similar issue with Deep Slumber at level 13.

Lightning Bolt at level 13, 3 levels after it has reached its damage cap?

This might be extended to the fact that the Bloodrager uses magus spells in the first place - many of the blasting spells are at or near their damage caps by the time you can get them, and any save DCs will be abysmal with only 4 spell levels. There's a reason the paladin and ranger lists are tailor-made to those classes and predominantly feature buff and utility spells. The magus list just doesn't really seem like a very good fit for the bloodrager mechanically - I guess in practice only the buffs will end up seeing any use.

He could simply be very condescending towards humans - view them as stupid, primitive and violent, but still believe he has a responsibility to protect them because they're too dumb to do it themselves. So he would behave like an arrogant jerk a lot of the time, but still ultimately work for their safety.

And of course he might eventually overcome his bias. I played an elf who was convinced all humans were stupid, but eventually become friends with a human wizard who managed to convince him that humans were not all idiots (though he continued to maintain that most of them were!).

Yeah, that race is more powerful than everything else out there to a significant extent, mainly because of the massive stat boosts.

Honestly, I'd recommend staying within the standard races if you're new to the game. You could just fluff your half-elf as having a slightly draconic appearance, maybe grab the Eldritch Heritage: Draconic feats later on.

On a similar note, be aware that summoner is one of the most complicated classes in the game, so it may not be the optimal choice for a beginner either. You could just make a draconic sorceror (minus disciplie, since that's not allowed). Then you'd still get a lot of draconic powers, breath weapon and a lot of nice spells on top of that. And sorcerors are much easier to play than summoners since you don't have to deal with the Eidolon rules.

I don't see why DR would be a particularly big problem for a slinger. He can pierce two kinds of DR right from the start, he can use bullets made of special materials (thus making it much easier for him to pass DR than a melee guy who has to switch weapons) - and he *hopefully* has a magic gun at this point. I honestly don't see why he is particularly weak against DR compared to an archery ranger, say.

We have a gunslinger player in our group (just reached level 8) and her character is clearly one the most potent of the 5(as far as damage goes, he is beaten only by our optimized, buff-stacking vivisectionist/beastmorph alchemist). Yeah, at the very low levels there was a bit of turn 1: Shoot, turn 2: Reload - but between feats and alchemical cartridges he always gets several shots a round now. And he pretty much always hits.

Looks very nice!

A minor nitpick: You technically can't put ranks in Fly before level 5, which I believe would limit you to at most a +9 bonus (assuming you put all 4 skill points in it at level 5). Also, in that case you can't have your other skills maxed out at that point.

Also on skills: Why UMD? It's a good skill, but it requires a BIG investment before its worth it, especially on a character with negative Cha. And you have few skill points as it is. Any campaign-specific reason you have it?

The problem with making Know(Local) region specific is that it - though it makes perfect sense - severely nerfs what is already one of the weaker knowledge skills to begin with (unless playing a very localized campaign).

I tend to mostly interpret knowledge (local) as the ability to quickly pick up knowledge about whatever place you're travelling to/in - overhearing rumours, following the local news, observing and picking up clues passively while moving through the land. That way it can make sense even when applied to exotic regions your character never visited before.

The official FAQ entry on the Holy Vindicator's Sacred Shield ability (which, like aura of menace, has a "hit in combat" clause) might be illuminating here:

"The holy vindicator prestige class has an ability that gives him a sacred bonus to AC until "struck in combat." Does a touch attack count as being "struck"? What about a spell like magic missile or fireball?

The ability lasts until an opponent makes a successful attack roll against the vindicator's Armor Class.

–Sean K Reynolds (11/24/10)"

So an attack would be anything targeting AC, disqualifying stuff like magic missile and fireball. I think this is a decent interpretation, otherwise it might also be considered too easy to "attack" the archon for a spellcaster. Certain spells would simply auto-succeed.

It would depend on the god(s) in question I suppose, but I imagine most of them would be pretty displeased - or at least one of the involved gods would be. I mean, I could see a chaotic good trickster style god approving of a plan to disguise oneself as a cleric of [insert evil deity here] to infiltrate an evil temple, but said evil deity would probably regard as a significant offense.

I would love to see a buffed version of the Pathfinder Chronicler's Deep Pockets ability. Being able to carry around a set amount of GP/mythic tier in "unspecified items" would be a really nice power for a trickster-type character.

Wizard no longer getting free spells on level-up when taking a PRC. It's not even a major power-nerf, it's just an annoyance - and makes the wizard even more dependent on campaign downtime than he already is (levelling up in the middle of a huge, multi-level dungeon crawl? Tough for you, you have to wait until there's downtime to get your new level of spells).

It's not as if there are any grossly overpowered wizard PRCs out there, so I don't think it's needed as a balancing factor.

I think it's a bit too powerful for a feat.

Consider what you get out of +2 strength:

1+ to attack/damage - sometimes more damage, with a 2-handed weapon (already superior to weapon focus or weapon specialization, without even looking at the further benefits. )
+1 to CMB and CMD
+1 to two skills
extra carrying capacity

+2 Dex is even better:

+1 AC (already we have the dodge feat)
+1 to Initiative (1/4 the benefit of yet another feat)
+1 to SEVEN different skills (hard to directly compare to other feats, since a large boost to few skills is arguably more powerful than a small bonus to lots of skills)
+1 to ranged attack rolls (once again, better than weapon focus)
+1 to reflex saves (1/2 a feat)

+2 Con is not that potent, though. It's basically Toughness+, though at least it stacks with toughness. Scary in combination with the Scarred Witch Doctor, though:

+1 hp/level
+1 fort saves

I would take (at least one of) these feats every single time with any martially-oriented character. I think there's a reason why there aren't any feats that buff ability scores. Back in 3.5 getting a mere +1 to an ability score was restricted to *epic* feats (admittedly not the most powerful epic feats, but still), and giving a full +2 at first level seems very powerful.

There could be number of reasons.

The prepared vs. spontaneous issue is one. I myself have grown to prefer spontaneous casters because I don't enjoy making so many selections every single adventuring day.
A related factor is that a cleric, unlike a wizard, is often held strongly accountable by the rest of the group for his or her spell selection. I can't tell you how often I've heard players say stuff like: "You only prepared TWO restorations?! But you knew we were going into the crypt today!" or "You didn't prepare Break Enchantment? Guess it's your faults that we have to haul the petrified wizard back to town!". That's unfair, of course, but cleric spell selection tends to be heavily evaluated by the rest of the party, which can add extra pressure.

Another issue is that - in Pathfinder - cleric can seem like a "bland" class in the midst of all the cool and flavourful options most other classes get. They get domains, and that's basically it. Some domains are nice enough, but many of them are just weak or boring.
Compare with the Oracle: There's a ton of customization available within each mystery with all the revelations, and power-wise every single mystery has *some* great revelations.

And of course there's the issue of being shoehorned into a healing role, as well as the sometimes rather boring divine spell list (oracles share this to an extent, but with mysteries oracles can branch out their selection more easily).

I agree that the penalty seems a bit odd - also because it is no real drawback at higher levels, merely an annoyance.

I guess they might be thinking of bomb save dcs. A mindchemist can pump save dcs of his save or suck bombs much more easily than a wizard pumps his spells, and this could be a big deal at higher levels. Still not enough to merit the difference, though.

Guidance is actually one of the best orions in Pathfinder. It's pretty much +1 to all skills for all party members in out of combat situations (since you can use it at will). Bound to make a difference sometimes.

Build an extravagant mansion/castle somewhere. It's always nice to have a classy home base between adventures.

Hangman Trees are extremely difficult, especially if they surprise the group. My first encounter with one ended in a near-TPK as well, thanks to a ton of failed will saves and those *explicit language* spores - I think they are really the most dangerous thing about it. You have most of the party going "Oh, how nice, the monk decided to climb that fine looking tree over there" while he is rapidly getting eaten, screaming for help.

Only one who survived the encounter was the wizard, who wisely ran away.

It's not really disastrously weak. Basically it amounts to a +1 caster level to your spells x times per day. The only restriction is that you can't have yourself as a target, but you don't need to target the person making the wish, you can just as well use it with offensive magic given an appropriate wish ("I wish our enemies would burn!", etc)

The ability gets most fun when you can use it directly against enemies with Heart's Desire, though, especially once they start getting penalties to their saves. Looks like it could be so much fun, with the right GM.

There's no way to swap out Wisdom for a cleric, as far as I know.

You could make him an Oracle instead, their fluff and mechanics may lend themselves better to an insane persona. The Dark Tapestry mystery might fit the theme somewhat.

Otherwise you could simply argue that there might a strange and alien form of wisdom associated with madness, and just run with the cleric concept. The Madness domain is pretty powerful too - and usually you don't get to use it much because it doesn't fit your typical adventurer cleric all that well.

I roll behind a screen. Not because I fudge rolls, but because I don't want the players to know exactly what the monsters can do. Keeps them on their toes when they don't know the monster's attack bonus ("ok, did it just get really lucky for a few rounds, or are we in deep, deep trouble?".

I just discovered Calcific touch. I dismissed the spell as useless when I first read it, but I can see how dealing no-save Dexterity damage could be useful in many situations - especially to one or two-shot powerful enemies with low dex (like Oozes, huge dragons, Purple Worms, etc...). Proably best combined with Reach Spell, though.

If for some weird reason you have decent Cha (and are good-aligned), Bestow Grace is pretty nice. Good saves are very valuable at high levels, and BG stacks with most other sources of saves.

As for Haste vs. Displacement, I think Displacement may be a little better. Simply because Haste is usually something the party arcanist will throw on everyone during the first round of combat, as it is such a powerful buff.

This is not really thought out in-depth, but just some initial thoughts. I apologize if some of it seems too obvious:

I would probably do something like Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 10/X OR Wizard 20
(depending on whether you want to focus a lot on throwing stuff at people, since then you want a decent attack bonus. Though even then it may not be worth the loss of two caster levels and delayed access to TK. You could consider starting with Wizard 9 and then finishing your build off with Fighter 1/EK 10, as a sort of compromise)

Pick Magical Knack (if going Eldritch Knight) and Magical Lineage (Telekinesis) for your traits. Gifted Adept (Telekinesis) wouldn't hurt either, though it's a quite small bonus.

A Diviner with the Foresight subschool is my best suggestion for specialization - the Prescience power is very useful if you're going to make use of the combat maneuver aspect of TK.
Alternatively a Transmuter of some kind would let you prepare more TK spells - and allow you some more flexibility if you buy a pair of Annihilation Spectacles.

For feats, get Spell Specialization (+Greater) for Telekinesis. Eventually you also want spell perfection (Telekinesis) - which will handily double your bonus from spell specialization in addition to its other benefits.

Metamagic feats will obviously not come into play until later on. You want quicken eventually, but you probably can't use it with TK before level 15. Still and Silent could be useful combined with Greater Spell Specialization to get out of a tight spot.

If you want to throw people (or their objects) around with Violent Thrust you also want to optimize save dc - which means Spell Focus(+ Greater) in Transmutation and Persistent Spell metamagic.

Finally, many uses of TK allow Spell Resistance, so consider Spell Penetration - note that they give double bonus when you have spell perfection.

I think the Foresight subschool is clearly the coolest one as far as school powers go. Prescience is all kinds of awesome, there are SO many advantages to getting a "pre-roll", and you can use it many times per day. It also works just as well at wiz 1 and wiz 20, making it great for multiclass wizards too.
Simply put, the ability to roll a d20 at the start of one's turn and then deciding what to do based on how high the roll was is amazing ("a 20 - then I better throw something with an attack roll so I can crit" - "12+ - then I'm fairly certain I'll beat Spell Resistance with this maze spell" ...etc, etc...). It's also very flavourful for the diviner, the whole knowing whether your attempt at something will suceed or not beforehand.

It's also a free action power, meaning that using it won't eat into your action pool when you reach the point where most rounds are going to be you throwing a regular spell + a quickened spell.

Foresight also retains all the initiative benefits, and gets a very nice aura at level 8.

Teleportation is a close second, I admit, and might come out on top when one also considers the generally higher utility of conjuration spells.