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So, I'm wanting to make an Operative with a focus on Small Arms and also using Stunt and Strike instead of Trick Attack. Does anyone know how viable this is? Would the increased utility and debuffing options make up for the lower damage? I'm not completely opposed to picking up a dip in another class, but I'd like my character to primarily be an Operative. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for exploits other than Lightning Reload or Combat Feat for this kind of build, I'll take them.

Hello everyone, partly on request for a friend of mine I took some time to write up a homebrew ancestry for the snake-tailed Lamia. The primary inspiration was Monmusu, but I feel this should be usable as a more bestial snake-person too, if you’d prefer. Also, naturally, there is no reason there can’t be male Lamia.

Without any further ado, here is the Ancestry in question!
Lamia
Base Statistics
-HP: 10
-Size: Medium; however, your long tail means you take up an additional 5-foot space adjacent to you. If you did not move or only took a single move action in a turn, you can coil up as a free action so you only take a single 5-foot space.
-Speed: 25 feet
-Ability Boosts: Strength, Charisma, Free
-Ability Flaw: Wisdom
-Languages: Common, [racial language], [3-5 bonus languages for high INT]
-Traits: Uncommon, Humanoid, Lamia
Special Abilities
-Vision: Darkvision
Serpent’s Tail: Cannot be tripped, +2 to resist any other method of being knocked prone. Cannot ‘jump’, but after coiling up can lunge up to 15 feet in any direction, including straight up, without needing an acrobatics check.

Heritages:
-Serpent’s Venom: While most Lamiae do possess a pair of snakelike fangs, for most they are too small to be of use. You, however, were born not only with a large and dangerous pair of fangs, but also possess the ability to inject your victims with a mild venom. You gain a Fangs unarmed attack that deals 1d6 poison damage. Your Fangs are in the Brawling group and have the Finesse, Poison, and Unarmed traits. (Associated ancestry feats at 1 and 9. feat at 9 gives Poison effect, poison damage and Enfeebled)

-Serpent’s Gaze: Born with a brilliant hood, a hypnotic gaze, or perhaps a combination of the two, you have learned to use this feature to fascinate or intimidate others. You become trained in your choice of Diplomacy, Deception, or Intimidation. At 5th level you become an Expert in the chosen skill. (ancestry feat at 9 gives ability to cause Fascinated to single target)

-Echidna: Magic flows through your veins, marking you as an Echidna, a Lamia with potent magical powers. You gain one cantrip from the arcane or occult spell list. You can cast this spell as an innate spell at will of the appropriate tradition. A cantrip is heightened to a spell level equal to half your level rounded up. (associated ancestry feats at 5 and 9 give additional SLAs)

-Medusa: Also sometimes called a Gorgon. In mythology, Medusae are said to be able to turn someone to stone with their gaze, but in reality the magic you can focus through your eyes is far weaker. You gain the “Paralyzing Gaze” action. (associated ancestry feats at 5 and 13 makes it more debilitating)
--Paralyzing Gaze (2 Actions)
Frequency: Once per round
Requirements: You and your target can see each-other.
Effect: Your target must attempt a Will saving throw.
Critical Success: The target is unaffected, and cannot be targeted by Paralyzing Gaze again for 24 hours.
Success: The target is unaffected.
Failure: The target is Paralyzed until the start of their next round, and cannot by targeted by Paralyzing Gaze again for 24 hours.
Critical Failure: The target is Paralyzed for 1 minute, and cannot be targeted by Paralyzing Gaze again for 24 hours.

-Melusine: A subspecies of Lamia that often live by the shore, they are more akin to sea snakes than terrestrial snakes. While they seem to possess dragonlike wings on their arms, these are actually fins, and are used to aid in swimming. You gain a 10-foot swim speed and gain the Amphibious trait. (Level 1 ancestry feat increases swim speed to equal to land speed)

Ancestry Feats:
-Level 1
--Lamia Lore: [Lamia] Become trained in Athletics and Survival. If you’re already trained in one or both skills (such as through a class or background), you become trained in another skill of your choice. You also become trained in Lamia Lore.

--Lamia Weapon Familiarity: [Lamia] You are trained with Scimitars, Falchions, Longbows, Compound Longbows, Shortbows, and Compound Shortbows. In addition, you gain access to all uncommon Lamia weapons. For the purpose of determining your proficiency, martial lamia weapons are simple weapons and advanced lamia weapons are martial weapons.

--Constricting Coils: [Lamia] When you start a turn with a target already grappled, you can wind your tail around their body, allowing you to maintain your Grapple without needing to use either hand. While using your tail to grapple a target, you gain a +2 bonus to Athletics checks to maintain the grapple and can move to any space adjacent to your target.

--Ophidian Senses: [Lamia] You gain an imprecise Scent sense with a range of 30 feet.

--Tough Scales: [Lamia] You gain a +1 item bonus to AC while unarmored.

--Snake Friend: [Lamia] You gain a +2 bonus to Nature checks to Command an Animal if the target is a snake, and all snakes have a starting attitude toward you only of Indifferent. In addition, you can train Snakes as if you had the Train Animal feat.

--Envenom Weapon: (requires Serpent’s Venom heritage) [Lamia] [Poison] You can apply your venom to a weapon that deals Slashing or Piercing damage using two Interact actions. An envenomed weapon deals additional Poison damage each hit equal to one quarter your character level (minimum of 1) on each successful strike. Though it doesn’t act like an alchemical poison, it still disappears on a critical failure.
--Sea Snake: (Requires Melusine Heritage) [Lamia] Your Swim speed is upgraded to equal your Land speed.

-Level 5
--Flying Snake: [Lamia] When coiled up, you can instead launch yourself 30 feet in any direction, rather than 15 feet.

--Powerful Tail: [Lamia] You gain a Tail unarmed attack, which deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage with the Finesse and Unarmed traits. This attack can be improved with Handwraps of Mighty Strikes. This unarmed attack can be used at any time unless your tail is already occupied or somehow unavailable.
Special: If you have Constricting Coils, you can apply the damage from your Tail unarmed attack as a free action once per round to a target you have grappled with your tail; you still must roll attack to see if you achieved a critical. If you are using Constricting Coils, you cannot use your Tail unarmed attack.

--Tripping Tail: [Lamia] You do not require a free hand to perform a Trip attack; if you roll a critical failure, you are not knocked prone. You cannot use this feat if your tail is already occupied or somehow unavailable.

--Climbing Snake: [Lamia] You gain a Climb speed equal to your Land speed.

--Lamia Weapon Grace: [Lamia] Whenever you critically hit using a Lamia weapon or one of the weapons listed in Lamia Weapon Familiarity, you apply the weapon's critical specialization effect.

--Ophidian Arcanum: (requires Echidna heritage) [Lamia] Pick a single 1st level spell from the same tradition as the Cantrip you chose on taking the Echidna heritage. You can cast this spell once per day as an innate spell of that tradition.
--Stunning Gaze: (requires Medusa heritage) [Lamia] Paralyzing Gaze also inflicts Stunned 1 on a Success, and on a Failure or Critical Failure, when the Paralyze ends the victim is also Stunned 2

-Level 9
--Extra-Tough Scales: (requires Tough Scales) [Lamia] You become an Expert in Unarmored Defense if you aren’t already. When you gain a class feature that grants you Master or greater proficiency in any type of armor, you also gain that proficiency in Unarmored Defense.

--Grabbing Tail: (requires Constricting Coils, Expert Athletics) [Lamia] When you roll a Critical Success on a strike, you can attempt a Grapple check as a free action using your tail. You cannot perform this feat if your tail is already occupied or somehow unavailable.

--Spring Back: [Lamia] You gain the Spring Back reaction.
Spring Back (Reaction)
Trigger: You are attacked or subject to an effect that requires a Reflex Save.
Requirement: You are not Coiled Up (see Size notes)
Effect: You reposition yourself to any space within 5 feet of your ‘tail’ token. This provides a +2 bonus to your AC or Reflex Save.

--Greater Ophidian Senses: (requires Ophidian Senses) [Lamia] Your Imprecise Scent sense now has a range of 40 feet, and you gain a Precise Scent sense with a range of 10 feet.

--Potent Venom: (requires Serpent’s Venom heritage) [Lamia] A number of times per day equal to half your character level, you can attempt to inject a victim of your Fangs natural attack with Lamia Venom.
Saving Throw: DC=10 + CON mod + character level; Onset Immediately; Maximum Duration 1 minute; Stage 1 1d6 poison damage (1 round); Stage 2 1d8 poison damage and Enfeebled (1 round) 1; Stage 3 2d8 poison damage and Enfeebled 2 (1 round).
---Special: If you have the Envenom Weapon feat, you can apply this poison to your weapon.

--Hypnotic Glance: (requires Serpent’s Gaze heritage) [Lamia] Pick a single target that you can see and can see you. That target rolls Will.
Critical Success: The target is unaffected and cannot be targeted by Hypnotic Glance again for 24 hours.
Success: The target is unaffected.
Failure: The target is Fascinated by you for 1 round. So long as you maintain line of sight with the target, you can use Hypnotic Glance at the start of your next turn on the same target as a free action.
Critical Failure: The Target is Fascinated by you for 1 minute, and if they were hostile towards you, they are Indifferent for the duration of the Fascinated condition.
While fascinated, the Coerce and Make An Impression actions take only 1 round to perform, rather than 1 minute.

--Greater Ophidian Arcanum: (requires Ophidian Arcanum) [Lamia] Pick a single 3rd level spell from the same tradition as the Cantrip you chose on taking the Echidna heritage. You can cast this spell once per day as an innate spell of that tradition.

-Level 13
--Gliding Snake: (requires Flying Snake) [Lamia] If you launch yourself in the air with Flying Snake, at the end of your turn you can choose not to fall back to the ground, but to begin gliding. At the start of your next turn, you can move as if you possessed a 10 foot fly speed, but lose 15 feet of altitude at the end of your turn, and cannot take any actions other than to move until you either cancel your flight (immediately falling to the ground) or touch ground as a result of the altitude drop.

--Lamia Weapon Expertise: [Lamia] Whenever you gain a class feature that grants you expert or greater proficiency in certain weapons, you also gain that proficiency in Scimitars, Falchions, Longbows, Compound Longbows, Shortbows, and Compound Shortbows, and all lamia weapons in which you are trained.

--Petrifying Gaze: (requires Medusa heritage) [Lamia] [Curse] Paralyzing Gaze gains the Curse trait, and now inflicts Petrification on a critical failure rather than Paralysis. This effect lasts for 1 hour instead of 1 minute, at the end of which the target must make another Will save, with the following effects:
Critical Success: The target suffers no further ill effects.
Success: The target is Stunned 2
Failure: The target is Paralyzed for 1 minute, and then Stunned 3
Critical Failure: The target is Petrified for another 24 hours, at which point they can roll Will again, but at a stacking -2 penalty.
The Petrification effect automatically ends if the Medusa Lamia ever dies. Even if they return to life somehow afterward, the effect is still broken.

-Level 17
-Superior Ophidian Senses: (requires Greater Ophidian Senses) [Lamia] Your Imprecise Scent sense now has a range of 50 feet, and your Precise Scent sense extends to 30 feet.

Racial Weapon:
Fang Blade: [Lamia] [Agile] [Forceful] [Sweep]; Melee, Advanced, Uncommon, 2 GP, 1d6 S, 1 handed, - range, 1 bulk, Sword weapon group. If an Injury poison is applied to a Fang Blade, that poison gains a +1 to the DC per die of damage the weapon deal.

So, recently I learned about the Tyrant's Grasp adventure path, and the group I usually play with has gotten kind of excited about playing it, especially as we're currently making our way through Carrion Crown. Since I'm the sort of person who insists on making a billion different character concepts and then forcing myself to choose just one, I of course started thinking up character ideas for such a campaign.

This brings me to the thread title. One of my ideas is a Brawling Blademaster, as I really like the concept, but I'm trying to work out what sort of build would work best for it. Should I pick a style feat, or not? How much focus should I put on my unarmed strike versus using a sword? What kind of sword (or other one-handed weapon) should I use? Honestly the only thing I'm positive I want to do is make it a Human. Because I'm boring like that.

Anyway, if people could send me some suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Well folks, it's been a long time since I posted a thread here. I'm not sure what the consensus on this will be, but please look it over and give me any comments or criticisms you can think of.

Paladin Archetype: Holy Knight
Changes: Class Skills, Armor Proficiencies, Smite Evil, Lay on Hands, Divine Bond, Aura of Justice.

Replaces: Mercies, Spellcasting

Class Skills: Holy Knights gain Knowledge (Planes) as a class skill, but lose Spellcraft.

Weapons and Armor: Holy Knights lose the ability to wear Heavy Armor, but otherwise retain all their Proficiencies.

Detect Evil (Sp): A Holy Knight can use Detect Magic a number of times per day equal to 3+CHA mod. As a move action, they may focus on a single object or creature and gain information as if they had studied the object or creature for 3 turns. In addition, as a Full Round Action, they gain that benefit, as well as being able to determine if the object or creature's evil aura is that of an Evil Outsider's, and if so, they may perform a Knowledge (Planes) check with a bonus equal to their class level as a free action to identify the exact type of Evil Outsider. This otherwise follows the normal rules of a knowledge check to determine what exactly the target is.

Holy Blade (Su): A Holy Knight, at first level, gains the ability to focus divine energy into the form of a sword with which to destroy their foes. This is a Move-equivalent Action that provokes Attacks of Opportunity. This weapon counts as a masterwork sword you are proficent with (sword type chosen when the weapon is created). This weapon only exists as long as the Holy Knight is wielding it, and dissipates immediately after leaving it's owner's hands. Additionally, if the Holy Blade manifested is a Light Weapon, they may instead manifest two Holy Blades, but doing so invokes all the penalties (and possible bonuses) of Two-Weapon Fighting.

At second level, a Holy Knight gains the ability to manifest a Holy Blade as a free action by expending a use of Lay On Hands instead.

At 4th level, the Holy Sword is now a +1 sword you are proficient with.

Every 2 levels after 4th, you may increase the enhancement bonus, add the Flaming, Frost, Shocking, Corrosive, Evil Outsider Bane (Counts as a +1), Holy, Axiomatic, or Speed properties to the Holy Blade, or if the Holy Blade already has a total equivalent enhancement bonus of +10, he can change any of those properties out with new ones. These benefits are stacking and cannot be changed afterward. If manifesting two Holy Blades, They both benefit from these properties. A Holy Blade cannot otherwise be enchanted or improved.

At 7th level, the Holy Knight can manifest a One-Handed weapon and a Light Weapon instead of only two Light Weapons for Two-Weapon Fighting.

At 10th level, a Holy Knight may manifest a Holy Blade as a Free Action without spending a use of Lay on hands.

Smite Evil (Su): A Holy Knight uses Smite Evil like any other Paladin, and gains new uses of Smite Evil like a normal paladin. However, at 10th level, a Holy Knight may also bypass any forms of Regeneration that an Evil Outsider they are currently smiting may have.

Lay on Hands (Su): A Holy Knight gains a number of uses of Lay on Hands equal to 1+1/2 level+CHA mod. At 6th level, and every 4 levels afterward, the Holy Knight gains an additional use of Lay on Hands per day.

Holy Power: At 3rd level, a Holy Knight gains the ability to focus the divine energy of their Lay on Hands skill in a new way. This is known as a Holy Power, and they can be used to accomplish a variety of effects. At 6th level, and every 3 levels after, the Holy Knight may gain another Holy Power. Unless specified, these powers can only be used by expending a use of Lay on Hands. All Holy Powers that require a save of some sort have a DC equal to 10+1/2 level+CHA mod. Unless specified, all Holy Powers require either a sword or the Holy Blade to use, and are Supernatural abilities. This replaces Mercies

--Judgment Blade: Your blade glows with a holy aura, ensuring that one particular creature you strike will regret ever facing you. As a Move Action that does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity, charge your sword or Holy Blade with divine energy, allowing you to deal additional damage equal to your Lay on Hands on a successful weapon attack. This charge is not wasted if you miss, only discharges when you will it to, and lasts for until it is discharged. If you drop your sword or dismiss your Holy Blade, it still retains the charge. The charge only disappears if you rest for 8 hours, regaining all your uses of Lay on Hands.

--Cleansing Strike: You channel divine power through your sword, smiting any one foe unlucky enough to face you. As part of an attack action against an evil creature, you add your CHA mod and your Paladin level to the damage roll, and bypass all forms of DR they may have. In addition, Evil Outsiders, Evil Dragons, and Undead must make a will save or be Nauseated for 1d4 rounds. This damage does not stack on a target already affected by Smite Evil. You must announce you are using this Holy Power before you make your attack. At 12th level, this power also bypasses any form of Regeneration the target may have.

--Hallowed Bolt: Your blade begins crackling with divine lightning, and with a thrust, you unleash a short line of electricity to pierce your foes. As a swift action, you charge your weapon with electrical energy, allowing you to deal an additional 1d8 Electricity damage with all melee attacks, and your weapon gains the Reach property. This power lasts for 1 round/level. You may also expend the entire charge of this power at any point, dealing 1d8 damage per round left to all enemies in a line 25+5/2 levels feet long. The damage of this discharge is half Electricity, half Sacred, and a reflex-save halves the damage received.

--Divine Ruination: You unleash an explosion of holy energy from your blade, smiting all foes within range. As a Full-Round Action, you inflict 1d6/2 levels (max 10d6)+CHA mod damage to all foes within 25+5/2 levels feet of you, Reflex for half. This damage bypasses all forms of DR and Regeneration that the target may have, ignores total concealment, and is only affected by total cover. In addition, Undead and Evil Outsiders must make a Will save or be affected by Confusion for 1d4 rounds. Afterward, the Holy Knight is staggered until the end of their next turn and is considered Flat-Footed to all attacks. This Holy Power may only be chosen at 12th level or above.

--Holy Chant: Your mantra heals the wounds of a single ally that can hear you. By making a Full-Round Action, the Holy Knight may use Lay on Hands on a single target within 25+5/2 levels feet of the user. This use of Lay on Hands may not be used to harm Undead. This Holy Power may be used with Improved Lay On Hands, but only for healing hit-point damage. This Holy Power does not require a Sword or the Holy Blade to use.

--Holy Circle: Holy energy instills the ground around you, warding off evil. As a standard action, you may cast Magic Circle against Evil as a supernatural power. This effect works in all ways like Magic Circle against Evil, using your Paladin level as your Caster Level. This Holy Power does not require a Sword or the Holy Blade to use.

--Divine Armor: Holy energy coalesces around the user, creating a glowing outline of a suit of armor over the user, regardless of what they may actually be wearing. You may activate this power as a Standard Action, giving you a +4 sacred bonus to AC, lasting for 1 minute/2 levels; Alternatively, this bonus can be applied to a single ally, though the bonus is halved. At 10th level this bonus increases to +5, and increases again to +6 at 17th level. This Holy Power does not require a Sword or the Holy Blade to use.

--Vengeance: Immediately after being struck in combat, the Holy Knight surges with divine energy and punishes their foe. After being struck by a melee attack, you may make an Attack of Opportunity at your highest attack bonus plus your Paladin level against the foe that struck you. You do not need to expend a use of Lay on Hands, but if you do, you deal an additional amount of damage equal to 1/2 your Paladin level+CHA mod. If you took 4/level or more damage from the triggering attack, add an additional 2/level damage to your own. You must be at least 6th level to take this power.

--Divine Storm: As a standard action, you fragment your Holy Blade and unleash the shards of holy power in a storm of slicing fragments. This deals 1d6/2 levels (max 10d6)+CHA mod damage to all targets in a 15 foot cone. This cone increases to 20 feet at 10th level, and another 5 feet for every 4 level after. This power does not require a use of Lay on Hands; You can, however, spend a use to upgrade the damage to 1d8/2 levels. If you are dual-wielding Holy Blades, they are both consumed in this attack; If you are using a two-handed Holy Blade, you instead deal 1.5x your CHA mod as bonus damage. This can only be used with the Holy Blade, and destroys the currently manifested Holy Blade in the process.

--Heavenly Blade: As a full-round action, the Holy Knight can stab their Holy Blade into the ground, and immediately afterward have much larger versions of the Holy Blade shoot up underneath all foes within 30 feet of the Holy Knight, dealing weapon damage as if it were a size category larger. Non-evil targets may take a reflex save to negate the damage, evil foes may take a reflex for half damage, and Evil Outsiders take a penalty to this save equal to your Charisma mod. This power does not benefit from any feats or abilities that improve weapon damage, such as Power Attack. You must be 12th level or higher to take this Holy Power. This power can only be used with the Holy Blade.

--Divine Strength: You may use Bull's Strength on yourself as a standard action. This is a supernatural power. This works in all ways like the spell, using your Paladin Level as your Caster Level. You must be 9th level to take this power. This power does not require a Sword or the Holy Blade to use.

--Divine Shield: You may use Shield as a standard action. This is a supernatural power. This works in all ways like the spell, using your Paladin level as your caster level. You must be at least 6th level to take this power. This power does not require a sword or the Holy Blade to use.

--Divine Regeneration: The Holy Knight's wounds begin healing of their own accord. Using this holy power not only gives the Holy Knight the benefits of Lay on Hands, but they also gain Fast Healing 1 for 1 round/level. At level 13 this becomes Fast Healing 2, and Fast Healing 3 at level 17. This power can be granted to an ally. This Fast Healing cannot heal damage caused by Evil-aligned weapons and abilities, nor damage inflicted by Cold Iron weapons. You must be at least 9th level to take this power. This power does not require a sword or the Holy Blade to use.

--Improved Lay on Hands: Your Lay on Hands power now heals 1d6 per level damage, and you may expend two uses of Lay on Hands to remove 2d4 points of permanent ability damage. In addition, at level 12, you can spend 3 uses of Lay on Hands to remove 1 negative level; This usage of the ability can only be used once per day. Finally, at level 15, you gain Channeled Revival as a bonus feat. You must be at least 9th level to take this power. This power does not require a Sword or the Holy Blade to use.

Alignment Channel: At 4th level, A Holy Knight gains Alignment Channel as a bonus feat at 4th level. The Bonus Feats, Alignment Channel, Extra Channel, and the (Improved/Grand) Divine Blademaster class features all replace Spellcasting.

Bonus Feats: A Holy Knight may take a bonus Combat Feat at 4th, 11th, and 18th levels. The Holy Knight must still meet all pre-requisites for the bonus feats. The Bonus Feats, Alignment Channel, Extra Channel, and the (Improved/Grand) Divine Blademaster class features all replace Spellcasting.

Extra Channel: At 5th level, a Holy Knight gains Extra Channel as a bonus feat. The Bonus Feats, Alignment Channel, Extra Channel, and the (Improved/Grand) Divine Blademaster class features all replace Spellcasting.

Divine Bond (Su): A Holy Knight gains Divine Bond as normal, but may choose their Holy Blade for the first type; If they choose to apply Divine Bond to their Holy Blade, and are wielding two Holy Blades at once, the bonus granted by Divine Bond only applies to one of them.

Divine Blademaster: At 7th level, a Holy Knight becomes proficient in all sword and swordlike weapons. In addition, a Holy Knight gains Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization with their Holy Blade. If they already have one or both of these feats, they may instead gain an equivalent number of bonus Combat Feats. In addition, the Holy Knight may take the Craft Reliquary Arms and Armor feat without meeting the normal pre-requisites, using their Holy Knight level as their Caster Level. The Bonus Feats, Alignment Channel, Extra Channel, and the (Improved/Grand) Divine Blademaster class features all replace Spellcasting..

Aura of Justice (Su): A Holy Knight gains Aura of Justice like a normal Paladin, but all allies benefitting from this feature can also ignore enemy Regeneration like the Holy Knight.

Improved Divine Blademaster: At 12th level, a Holy Knight gains Critical Focus and Improved Critical with their Holy Blade. If they already have one or both of these feats, they may instead gain an equivalent number of bonus Combat Feats. The Bonus Feats, Alignment Channel, Extra Channel, and the (Improved/Grand) Divine Blademaster class features all replace Spellcasting.

Grand Divine Blade Master: At 17th level, a Holy Knight gains Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization with their Holy Blade; If they already have one or both of these feats (somehow), they may instead gain an equivalent number of bonus Combat Feats. The Bonus Feats, Alignment Channel, Extra Channel, and the (Improved/Grand) Divine Blademaster class features all replace Spellcasting..

Northswain's Strike (Su): At 20th level the Holy Knight can, as a full-round action, make a single Melee Touch Attack against the target with his Holy Blade, and flood their body with as much Divine Energy as they can muster. This attack deals full Holy Blade damage plus CHA mod, and then the target must make a Fortitude Save (DC=10+1/2 class level+CHA mod). If they are unsuccessful, they take an additional 10d8 damage; A successful save reduces this to 3d8 damage. In either case, if the target is reduced to 0 HP or less from this damage, their body is reduced to a pile of ashes as if struck by a Disintegrate spell; If they don't die, however, they then become immune to this ability for 24 hours. This attack can be modified by expending uses of Lay on Hands, adding an additional 4d8 damage per use spent. Good creatures gain a +5 bonus to the save, while Evil creatures gain a -5 penalty. Good Outsiders are immune to this effect, while Evil Outsiders take an additional -5 penalty (totaling at a -10), are permanently killed even if not on their home plane, and all attempts to revive them must succeed at a DC (20+1/2 class level+CHA mod) spellcasting check to succeed This attack can only be used with the Holy Blade. No matter the result of this attack, the Holy Knight is staggered for 1d4 rounds afterward, and the effect cannot be removed by any means other than waiting it out. The Holy Knight may use this ability a number of times per day equal to half their CHA mod, minimum 1.

NEW FEAT!
Name: Extra Holy Power
Pre-requisites: Holy Power class feature
Benefit: The character can choose another Holy Power.

Name: Improved Holy Blade
Pre-Requisites: Holy Blade class feature, +12 BAB
Benefit: Your Holy Blade now counts as a Holy Avenger in addition to all it's other properties.
-----------------------------------------
The three things I can think of right off the bat that might need a little changing:

1.) Is the Holy Blade's progression too powerful?

2.) This class gains 11 bonus feats, though only 3 of them are (normally) freely selectable. Should I tone this down a bit?

3.) I've been constantly see-sawing on how to go about Northswain's Strike. I'm not sure if it's truly balanced, too powerful, or not powerful enough. I'm also uncertain if it should be gotten alongside the normal Paladin Capstone, Holy Champion.

Also, for the Holy Powers that mimic the effects of spells, should they remain Supernatural Abilities or should they be Spell-Like Abilities?

Template – Arcane Ronin (CR variable)
This is an acquired template that may only be given to creatures capable of wielding at least one sword and who have at least 10 INT

Spellcasting: Arcane Ronin creatures gain Caster Levels, Spells Per Day, and Spells Known as a Magus of half their HD. These bonuses stack with any gained from levels as a Magus, but only non-Magus HD count for the bonus from this template.

Arcane Pool: Arcane Ronin creatures gain an Arcane Pool, as the Magus class feature, as a Magus of half their HD. This stacks with the Arcane Pool gained from Magus, but only non-Magus HD count for the bonus from this template.

Wings of Blades – The creature is capable of levitating any ‘sword’ weapon behind the creature's back in a ‘wing’ pattern. These blades must actually be in the creature’s inventory, however while the blades are levitating they do not count towards the creature’s inventory weight. Making the blades float behind the creature is a standard action, and they can be dismissed and returned to their sheathed state as a free action. There is no cost to maintain the wings. For every 5 HD the creature has, when they make a full attack action, in place of their additional attacks they instead may make an attack with one of the blades that comprise their wings at their maximum attack bonus, to a maximum of 4 additional attacks at 20 HD, not including their initial attack with a held weapon. These strikes are considered magic for the purpose of overcoming DR. When making a full attack action with the wings of blades, the additional attacks with the blades do not have to be the same target as the initial attack with the weapon the creature is using, provided the additional targets are still within their attack range for the blades. The blades that make up the wings share the same Arcane Pool enchantments as the weapon the creature is wielding. Once they have gained 15 HD, the Arcane Ronin creature gain flight speed 60 with average maneuverability with the blade wings.

Bonus Feats: Flyby Attack – When an Arcane Ronin creature reaches 15 HD, it gains Flyby attack as a bonus feat, even if the creature does not qualify for monster feats.

Ability Scores: +2 STR and +2 INT if HD is 8 or less; +4 STR, +4 INT, and +2 CON if HD is greater than 8.

Primarily what I was hoping for was help in determining a CR range, though if anyone has any suggestions for something to add, change, or remove, I'm all ears.

So, I recently made a Catfolk Ranger, planning on going Natural Weapon style with them, and I took the Cat's Claws alternate racial trait. However, I was planning on going for a strong DEX build, with only a bit of STR for the bonus melee damage. With that in mind, I present to you this question: Do you use a pair of Claw attacks like you would Two-Weapon Fighting, or are there different rules for natural weapons? I'm a little confused by this due to the abundance of monsters with two or more natural weapon attacks but no TWF, or even MWF. Could I please get some verification here?

So, I was looking over Monk, and I noticed that there were a good few things wrong with the class. After coming here, I discovered I wasn't the first person to notice this. As a result, I decided I'd put together my own ideas on how to 'fix' Monk and make it more competitive with the other melee classes.

This is my rough draft of the result, and is likely to undergo a few changes before I try playtesting it. I was hoping I could get some comments and criticism on this, because so far I've only talked to three people about this, and I need more opinions to get a good idea of whether this needs more work or not.