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With the ACG there are now even more great 3/4 BAB, d8 HD, 6/9 casters. They can fill just about any niche competently. No, they're not as strong as a Cleric, Druid or Wizard but that's to be expected.

I was thinking about how best to create a 4-player party that uses these classes, trying to meet the usual anvil, arm & hammer roles with also having healing, out of combat utility and all the rest. It is actually pretty easy to come up with a powerful combo without the game-breaking power of a full caster.

How would you create a balanced and effective 4-person party using Bards, Alchemists, Inquisitors, Warpriests, Hunters, Maguses (Magi?), Investigators or Summoners?

*Edit* Anyone who suggests "4 Synthesist Summoners" or "4 Master Summoners" will make me shake my head sadly.

There seem to be quite a few classes and archetypes that benefit from dipping elsewhere for certain builds. I've often thought that Evangelist Clerics get a lot from a martial dip for weapon & armor proficiencies if they go for a melee or reach role. 1 level of Steelblood Bloodrager even lets them use a bunch of arcane wands as a bonus.

What are your favourite 1-2 level dips, and why?

I can't seem to find much on these forums about the new Spirit Guide Oracle archetype. Which is a bit surprising when it seems so powerful. A Spirit Guide who starts with 13 Int and decent Cha can get a flexible ton of spells through the Lore Spirit hex Arcane Enlightenment.

If I read this right, from level 3 you can daily cherry-pick a number of wizard spells (any level) equal to your Charisma modifier to add to your list of spells known. You can change your choices daily by rechoosing your wandering spirit. The only limit seems to be that you need an Intended score of 10+spell level to cast these spells, but 13 Int and a Headband of Vast Intellect solves that.

Arcane Enlightenment balances out for Shamans, who as prepared casters aren't hugely restricted by spells known. For Oracles it's a different story, and adding half a dozen spells known to your highest castable level is massive, especially from the tasty goodness of the Wizard list.

I was having a think yesterday about the various long or permanent duration spells available, and the shenigans you can get up to with each.

A Dwarf Cleric in heavy armor with the Travel Domain and Longstrider can have the highest movement in the party all day, everyday!

With the Wall of Stone spell and a month of downtime you can build yourself a pretty decent castle. Use Transmute Mud to Rock to create a foundation and Stone Shape for extra windows/arrowslits. If you really want to get advanced you can throw in Move Earth to create a moat.

What are your favorite long duration or permanent spells? Bonus points if you can get them to all day use with an extend rod.

My GM has decided to run a couple of low-level short campaigns as an offshoot to our main module. The theme is a trading caravan moving across a newly-settled wilderness so I thought playing a wandering bard might be fun. I have no idea what the rest of the party will be though.

I've had a read around and seen some very interesting ideas. Fiznab's "Buffer Bard" guide throws up the idea of using the Flagbearer feat, and I can see my GM permitting me (at low levels) to use a normal flag attached to a Longspear as per the Banner of Ancient Kings. And if my weapon of choice is going to be a Longspear why not go the whole hog and take inspiration from the Reach Cleric?

The general aim is to be a buffer/debuffer/melee support. Buff the party with Inspire Courage, Flagbearer and spells, debuff the enemy with spells & (eventually) Dazzling Display and get AOOs to boot. Mix in skills and a bit of healing potential and he'll be a true Jack-of-all-Trades.

Likely feats in no real order:
Flagbearer
Combat Reflexes
Power Attack
Arcane Strike
Weapon Focus (Longspear)
Dazzling Display
Lunge

I did see a thread about nine months old about a similar build, but wondered if anyone had experience playing a Reach Bard. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm playing a Kingmaker campaign as a druid at the moment. We're at the point of establishing a town and starting to build a Kingdom. I'm only level 4 currently but have been looking through the spell list for interesting opportunities that can be used for kingdom building, defense and so on.

Reading through Awaken it seems you can get an awful lot for your money. If you can find yourself a Gargantuan Tree you can get yourself a 10HD, CR 9 permanent helper/guardian for the low, low price of 2000GP. You can go off adventuring safe in the knowledge that a giant, sentient Tree watches over your town. You can even technically cast it multiple times, but this means the original trees don't need to obey your commands. They may do if it's in their best interest though.

There are a few other possibilities as well:

Plant Growth probably wouldn't be very useful as each Hex covers 150 square miles and each casting covers less than a square mile (0.78 sq miles, approx). Even with 4 castings a day it'd take you a month and a half to cover a Hex. I suppose you could use higher level slots to increase coverage per day, but it's still a huge effort for minor gain, DM permitting.

I've seen a couple of suggestions on these boards about using Wall of Stone to create City Walls, Castles, Bridges and suchlike.

What other interesting and permanent or semi-permanent uses of spells are there out there for Kingdom building?

I'm currently playing through Kingmaker, so I'd appreciate low spoiler responses, but I need some advice.

My party have just defeated the Stag Lord and his father. We recognised that the father was essentially a victim and used non-lethal damage to knock him out. We're now stuck with a crazy level 6 druid who we've left in the care of a temple for the meanwhile. He's none too happy with our Fighter for killing his son either. As the party are entirely neutral and good we didn't want to kill him, and my character is a fellow Druid and argued for keeping him alive.

We've got quite a bit of cash for clearing out the Stag Lord's stronghold, and I was wondering if people thought that paying for a higher-level cleric to cast Heal would be worthwhile? Could this spell help to restore his sanity, or is it a waste of time? If not, I'd appreciate any better suggestions.

I'm about to start playing a Druid for the first time. I've read a couple of guides but would appreciate advice on a few things:

1) Spell selection - Which spells are most effective at each level, and what should I have memorised at all times?
2) Combat priorities - What do you do first in combat, and which other factors help to make your actions successful? I was planning on a Control spell like Entangle to start followed by a couple of Summons.
3) Onward progression - Metamagic feats? Item Creation? Superior Summons? What makes a Caster Druid a powerhouse? (Apart from Natural Spell, of course)

I'm starting at level 3, probably going with a Human for the bonus Feat. Feats will be something like Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (Conjuration) and Augment Summoning, primary stat Wisdom with decent Dex and Con. The current party has a Wizard and Cleric already, as well as a Fighter, Ranger and Thief, so in was planning on a flexible Battlefield Control/Summoner type. The Caves (Earth) Domain seems to give a good number of control spells, so it seems a good fit. Any good tips for a rookie Druid?

I'm joining an ongoing Kingmaker module in a couple of weeks and am unsure of which class to play. The party seems pretty balanced as is with a 2h Fighter, Switch-Hitter Ranger, Bard/Rogue, Wizard and Cleric. However, attendance may be a bit of an issue and there seems to be a player missing sometimes.

I am trying to create a flexible Battlefield Control/Support Caster who can fill in should the Wizard or Cleric go AWOL. At present I'm leaning toward an Oracle, Druid or Witch as all have access to interesting control/debuff and heal/support combos. This character will be starting at level 3 with a 20 point buy.

I've had a look at various guides to each class and have a couple of ideas but would appreciate a bit of help processing it all. Does one of these classes really stand out in this flexible role?