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The Virtuous Bravo archetype for Paladins replaces the Mercy class feature with the Nimble feature from Swashbucklers. The magic item Merciful Baldric allows a paladin to choose three extra mercies they don't already know and add them to the list of mercies they can use for the day.

My question is: does the baldric allow a paladin who has given up mercy to gain access to mercies? Is it "the list of mercies they can use is empty", or "they can't use mercy at all"? Would UMD change the answer at all?

I agree that adding Mythic rules can help shore up the weaknesses of such an undersized party, instead of or in addition to Gestalt.

In either case, one of the biggest weaknesses of small parties is action economy. It doesn't matter how optimized you are for a given role, you still only get one standard action in a given round.

To that end, if you do go the gestalt direction, consider classes/class combinations that both increase your action economy and help cover your weaknesses. Evil campaigns add the additional complication of making healing harder to manage without utilizing arcane healing or playing something like a dhampir to make negative energy heal you.

To that end, you could do something like, say, a Summoner/Oracle to cover a lot of spellcasting while putting another body on the field, and maybe something like an Antipaladin/Rogue to get a durable frontliner with a lot of skills for out-of-combat usage.

That's what I thought. I just seem to recall some kerfuffle over the similarly-worded Feral Combat Training a while back, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some FAQ or whatever.

Can Hex Strike or Revelation Strike be used in conjunction with Ascetic Style to channel hexes/revelations through a melee weapon? If so, it seems like it might be a decent option for the right sort of character, especially since quarterstaff is on the list of weapons that can be used with Ascetic Style. Maybe a Wood Oracle (Spirit Guide) taking advantage of Wood Bond, or a Magus (Hexcrafter/Staff Magus).

You could go for a legit Hellknight. Something like an Order of the Ennead Star Cavalier, a Godclaw Oracle, or a Masked Enforcer Vigilante, building towards one of the PrCs.

You could run with a Witch and pick up Cauldron Hex. You could also run something like a Hunter and make alchemical arrows in addition to whatever else. Alchemy in itself is one of those skills you can plug into just about any class for an interesting bit of flavor.

Being an evil campaign, I assume this is a home game? Are you allowed any 3rd party material?

Nothing third-party, no.

I considered Feral Gnasher, but in this instance I'm not really feeling a goblin. I want something...creepier, hence considering stuff like Mooncursed or Dhampir. Pathfinder goblins are just a bit too ridiculous to be particularly creepy.

My question is a simple one. Can a Skinwalker keep their Change Shape abilities while polymorphed with the Shifting Rage ability of the Mooncursed Barbarian archetype? I'm relatively certain that it's a no on the first part that emulates Beast Shape, since it's more or less a short-duration Wild Shape. But at level 5 they get Hybrid Rage, which shifts them into a hybrid form rather than entirely into an animal. Would the Skinwalker abilities be able to apply then?

I suspect probably not, but the idea of, say, a Witchwolf Mooncursed Barbarian is just too cool, and I want to find some way to make it work.

The Throat Slicer feat lets you CDG unconscious, bound, or pinned targets with a light or natural weapon as a standard action, so maximizing my efficiency at reaching that pin is a goal.

Hamatula Strike is a good feat for this. It could conceivably let me skip taking Savage Jaw as a rage power, since it would more or less give me Grab on my bite attacks for every attack, rather than once a round. The BAB requirement means it would come online a bit later, but I'd be able to work up to Feasting Bite two levels sooner. Though that's the same level I'd need to pick up Greater Grapple for action efficiency, so maybe not. Still probably good to pick up, though.

So I have an opportunity to play in an evil game, so I wanted to go full on for a nasty sort of character and draw from some of the evil material in a few of the splat books (like Horror Adventures and Champions of Corruption). To that end, I've got an idea for a barbarian, but I'm not quite sure the best way to pull it off.

The idea revolves around bite attacks, Throat Slicer, and a number of particular rage powers. Specifically, Animal Fury, Raging Grappler, and Savage Jaw. Another one I definitely want to utilize is Feasting Bite, though that one requires being a half-orc. The idea is to grapple and pin someone, then use Throat Slicer to CDG with my bite attack, to go full bloodthirsty throat ripper.

There are a few archetypes that might help with such a build, namely Mooncursed, Raging Cannibal, or Brutal Pugilist.

An example build could maybe look like

Half-Orc Barbarian (Raging Cannibal)
Level 1: Improved Unarmed Strike
Level 2: -Animal Fury
Level 3: Improved Grapple
Level 4: -Raging Grappler
Level 5: Throat Slicer
Level 6: -Savage Jaw
Level 7: Greater Grapple
Level 8: -Bloody Bite
Level 9: Rapid Grappler
Level 10: -Feasting Bite

This build would (assuming I understand grapple rules right) let me once per rage gain Grab with my bite and deal damage a second time with it through Raging Grappler. The next round, I could then use a move action to maintain the grapple, a swift action to pin, and a standard action to CDG. Since CDG is a critical, this would trigger the healing from Feasting Bite as well as the temp HP from Raging Cannibal. If I killed the target, I would also then regain rage rounds.

A similar build could involve a dhampir rather than a half-orc, and utilize the Blood Drinker/Blood Feaster feats. I'd lose out on the healing from Feasting Bite (unless a half-orc qualifies for Racial Heritage: Dhampir?), but my bites would deal Con damage. The temp HP from the feat wouldn't stack with the Raging Cannibal HP, so I could utilize Mooncursed or Brutal Pugilist instead. Dhampir also have the race trait Final Embrace, netting a not-too-shabby +2 to pinning.

Thoughts?

If you really want to wield oversized weapons, the Titan Fighter fighter archetype has an ability that's much more straightforward, though it's limited to two-handed weapons (so no one-handing Large bastard swords or whatever). The archetype could make for an interesting multiclass with Titan Mauler, since the fighter gives the better ability to wield larger weapons and the barbarian has abilities to reduce the penalties. Also, the Effortless Lace magic item reduces the penalties for outsized weapons by 2, which should stack with the class reductions. It's relatively cheap, too, albeit vulnerable to sunder.

What, thematically, are you trying to accomplish with the character? Hitting things with big weapons, or with natural attacks?

You can get really cheesy and just dual wield spiked gauntlets, loading up one with straight enhancements and the other with stuff like Defending to stack up your AC even higher. Punching everything to death with metal fists is pretty badass, and let's you get some fun monklike flavor on something like a barbarian (Furious fist adding to AC would be great). Not quite what you were looking for, but a fun usage of the feat line nonetheless.

Some of the Oracle mysteries get an armor ability. Some of those could conceivably be flavored as power armor.

One of the things I like most about Shielded Gauntlet Style is the extra AoO that can also be a disarm or steal that doesn't provoke. It seems like it would work well with classes that have a lot of convenient ways to get AoOs. To that end, something like a CAGM Barbarian (Urban Barbarian is legit for Dex builds, or just run Unchained) could work (I like the visual of taunting someone to hit you, then punching them in the face for it.) Or perhaps a Hunter taking advantage of stuff like Paired Opportunists and Broken Wing Gambit. The teamwork thing could also work with an Eldritch Guardian fighter teamed up with a Mauler familiar.

Also, because the Gauntlet enhancement bonus would also get added to AC, consider classes with the ability to temporarily enhance their weapons. A Paladin or Warpriest could make it work.

Honestly, this could be an interestingly thematic combination. I'd totally love to see, say, a Scaleheart Skinwalker Inquisitor. The racial Wisdom penalty would hurt, but the Strength and Con bonuses would be great, and access to a bite attack would be useful.

The Death Roll ability for the Crocodile domain has me thinking of a grapple build. The fact the domain gives you a familiar could also be useful if you make him a Mauler to help get the flank for sneak attacks.

You could consider a race that already has easy access to natural attacks, like Skinshaper. Then you wouldn't have to wait until hybrid form to have a focus on natural attacks, and feats that apply to natural attacks will be useful regardless of form. Then you could pick up the right totems and be a veritable natural-attack blender. Beast totem is an obvious choice, though claws are a bit redundant. Fiend totem is another strong one.

Personally, I like the idea of a Coldborn barbarian who's capable of shifting into various levels of bear, including an actual bear. Besides, there's nothing saying he can't be culturally Ulfen, even if he's not strictly human.

Either Alchemist or Oracle (Wind) would both give you legit wings (on at least a temporary basis), with Alchemist lining up well with the racial stat array and Oracle being a very thematic choice.

Most of the Perform stuff is in the wheelhouse of the Bard, but there's a couple items for other folks.

The Dawnflower Dervish archetype for Fighter utilizes Dervish Dance. So does the Whirling Dervish archetype for Swashbuckler, though neither technically rewards you for Perform (Dance) (beyond the benefits of having the feat).

The Janni Style feats have ranks in Perform (Dance) as prerequisites.

There's the Deadly Troupe teamwork feat with Perform (Dance) prereqs that boosts feint and Acrobatics.

The magic item Boots of the Eternal Rose boost Perform (Dance) and let you use dancing to cast Daze Monster.

The item Daring Dancers lets you 5-foot step over difficult terrain and lets you cast Dimension Door if you have 5 ranks in Perform (Dance).

The item Hypnotic Tattoo lets you use dancing to inflict a -2 penalty on Perception and Sense Motive to an enemy while dancing (with no save, I believe).

After chatting with my GM about the campaign, I've decided against mounted combat, because the kinds of places we're going to be going aren't going to be very mount friendly, and mounted combat is a massive feat investment that I might only get to use some of the time.

Now I'm not sure where to go. I've got myself a bit more wiggle room in my build, and I was considering changing up the Bloodrager side of things for Crossblooded Celestial/Draconic. Divine Grace and the fact I'll end up taking Iron Will as a bloodline feat (for lack of better options) offset the Will penalty and I get some more flexibility for interesting powers.

I was thinking of grabbing the Celestial Angelic Attacks, Celestial Resistance, trading out the 8th level power for Lesser Beast Totem and Beast Totem, trading out the 12th level Wings for Greater Beast Totem and Come And Get Me, picking up Dragon Form at 16, and using a Robe of Arcane Heritage (GM says it works with Bloodrager) to get Ascension.

The idea is to combine Pounce with Form Of The Dragon (which has 5 natural attacks) to obliterate things, while also having a respectable AC from the combination of the Form Of The Dragon natural armor bonus plus the bonus from Beast Totem (and whatever defensive spells I wanted to cast).

I'm just not quite sure how to build right for it. I want to use a manufactured weapon while not polymorphed, which probably just means a big two-hander and Power Attack. I'm not sure if it's worth investing all the feats in Dragon Style + Feral Combat Training just to be able to add some more damage to my two claw attacks when polymorphed. Ascetic Style + Dragon Style + Weapon Style Mastery could be good, but it's an obscene number of feats, even with some of the bloodline feats being relevant.

Horn of the Criosphinx is probably a good idea. Maybe I should build for Intimidate, too?

The Rageshaper archetype might be worth it, especially if I can combine it with Improved Natural Attack to get 3d6 claws.

This might be fun to put on an Order Of The Penitent Cavalier (Constable). He can grapple on a charge and tie up enemies who aren't pinned, which should satisfy the "bound" requirement of Throat Slicer. Tying someone up also means that you could theoretically leave them tied up, and you aren't limiting yourself by remaining stuck in a grapple. Order Of The Hammer also gets some fun grapple-oriented abilities.

There's some other feats that could be used on the right build (most likely a Slayer), like Dastardly Finish, Merciless Butchery, and Slaying Sprint.

Some magic items would be useful here, too, like Final Word (war razor that adds +4 to the DC and lets you ask the ghost questions), Hero's Release Pendant (no AoO for CDG), and maybe Mantis Embrace (gloves that CDG like sawtooth sabers and cause a fountain of gore).

Are the various hybrid classes considered to be their own unique classes for purposes of meeting requirements for things like magic items, or are they considered to be their parent classes?

The specific example I'm thinking on is the magic item Molvënn (which I'm not sure if I'm allowed link since it's not on the SRD). The item gains additional abilities in the hands of a Barbarian (much like how a Holy Avenger gains abilities in the hands of a Paladin). If a Bloodrager wielded such an item, would he be considered a Barbarian and thus gain the extra abilities, or is Bloodrager a distinct class that would have no special interaction with the item?

Courageous got nerfed.

I suppose that's what I get for not checking every FAQ and building most of my characters off online resources with sketchy updates to things like that. Ah well, so much for the morale-stacking Bloodrager.

Heroic Echo might still be useful, at least.

So, it's an established combo that Courageous (and Furious) weapons play well with barbarian Rage. I'm curious, though, about it's interaction with the Imperious sorcerer bloodline's Heroic Echo ability.

For reference, Courageous reads "This special ability can only be added to a melee weapon. A courageous weapon fortifies the wielder’s courage and morale in battle. The wielder gains a morale bonus on saving throws against fear equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus. In addition, any morale bonus the wielder gains from any other source is increased by half the weapon’s enhancement bonus (minimum 1)."

Furious reads "This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons. A furious weapon serves as a focus for its wielder’s anger. When the wielder is raging or under the effect of a rage spell, the weapon’s enhancement bonus is +2 better than normal. If the wielder has a rage power that gives a skill bonus while raging (such as raging climber, raging leaper, or raging swimmer), the wielder gains an enhancement bonus to that skill whenever the weapon is wielded or held in her hand, even when she is not raging. This bonus is equal to the enhancement bonus of the weapon (and also includes the +2 if the wielder is raging)."

And Heroic Echo reads "At 3rd level, when you receive a morale bonus from any spell, spell-like ability, or magic item, including those you cast on yourself, that bonus increases by +1. At 9th level, this ability also applies to competence bonuses. If you receive a morale effect (or a competence effect at 9th level) that affects an area or multiple targets, as an immediate action you can share your increased bonus with all other recipients. This increase to other participants lasts a number of rounds equal to your Charisma bonus. You can use this ability once per day, plus one time per three levels after 3rd."

What I'm already aware of is that a barbarian wielding, say, a +2 Furious Courageous weapon would bump it up to a +4 while raging, and Courageous would bump the morale bonus of the rage up by 2 (half the enhancement bonus of the weapon)

What I'm unsure of is how that interacts with Heroic Echo. Normally, Heroic Echo only applies to bonuses granted by spells, spell-like abilities, and magic items. The barbarian rage ability is supernatural, so no interaction with Heroic Echo there.

But does the improvement on the rage from Courageous count as originating from a magic item, and thus interact with Heroic Echo? Would the raging character with the +2 Furious Courageous weapon and the Heroic Echo ability gain a +3 to Strength (+2 from Courageous, bumped up by 1 more from Heroic Echo)?

Not that +1 Strength really means a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, I'm just not sure if it works.

I'm not sure what your end goal/character theme is, but a few basic critiques.

Your Strength is too low, and using your racial bonus on Dex is inefficient. It's better invested in Strength. You want to start off with at least a 16 Strength.

Your Intelligence is probably too high. It seems you're really trying to get a lot of skills/skill points, which maybe fighter isn't the best for. If you really want to play up the intelligent fighter thing, check out the Lore Warden archetype. Also, talk to your GM about implementing the Background Skills system.

You can't take Advanced Weapon Training at level 5. You have to wait until level 9, after you've selected your first group. You also don't get your first option for Advanced Armor Training until 7.

It's probably not worth it to invest in so many Critical feats, even with a high-crit weapon like the fauchard. Pick one or two, and focus the rest of your feats on things like Combat Patrol to really make the most of your reach weapon.

The Sneaky Maneuver rogue talent comes to mind. Take a penalty to hit and do a maneuver in place of Sneak Attack damage.

Dirty Critical Hit is something to build towards at later levels.

Kitsune Style lets you dirty trick on a charge and apply two conditions at once.

Quick Dirty Trick lets you sub an attack for a dirty trick.

Improved and Greater Dirty Trick let you stick your conditions for longer.

I'm tempted to take the Monstrous Mount and Monstrous Mount Mastery feats to get a Griffon mount. It's a flying mount with 5 natural attacks and Pounce, which can get even more terrifying when you add in stuff like the Ferocious Beast rage power and stuff like Heroism shared via Blood Bond.

The nice thing about going mounted is that the bloodline feats for Celestial include Mounted Combat and Ride-By attack, which helps offset the need for things like Boon Companion.

Lance is the usual go-to for mounted combat, but I'm not sure how good it is if I ever want to fight while not mounted. Would sword and board still work with mounted combat? It seems like it would combo well with a pouncing mount and Mounted Skirmisher.

I've played natural-weapon oriented characters in a lot of other games, so I'm leaning towards weapon based combat. I'm just not sure whether I should go with sword and board to blenderize things, or a big two-handed Courageous Fortuitous Furious Holy weapon and take advantage of CAGM to smack people down.

Bloodrider is an interesting suggestion. As a half-orc, I could qualify for Beast Rider, or pick up Monstrous Mount and end up with something more interesting than a horse. Totem Beast might also be a good choice.

I also have the familiar from Chosen One, and I'm not sure how to best utilize it. It's locked into the Emissary archetype, so no Mauler. It also gets bumped up to an outsider (probably cassissian) and can change back into its original form. I'm curious if I could make it do something with Emissary's Smite, which gives it my Smite bonuses.

Also, the campaign is set to send us into the Abyss, so there are a fair number of evil outsider bad guys in my future, which makes the Celestial line more useful.

So, I'm going to be playing into a very high-level, high-powered game with a gestalt character and possibly including Mythic stuff, with the end goal of the campaign being that our heroes are actively working to ascend to godhood.

The character I've decided to play is a half-orc gestalt Bloodrager (Celestial)/Paladin (Chosen One), whose all about the glory of battle and stuff.

Things that are set in stone about the character: Race, classes, Paladin archetype, Bloodrager bloodline. Everything else is fair game.

It's a 30 point buy. Starting level is 18. 685,000 gp starting gold. Two traits. All current Pathfinder material is allowed, including the DSP psionics and most other third-party stuff (pending DM approval, but since the scope of this game is sort of intended to be OP, there's a fair bit of leniency).

Current design thoughts; I was thinking of using Primalist to ditch the 8th and 16th level bloodline powers to pick up the Celestial Totem rage powers and Come And Get Me. I know Celestial Totem isn't mechanically all that great, but combined with the abilities of the bloodline, I'm really a fan of the thematic idea of going from half-orc warrior to blazing angel of vengeance, complete with wings and a halo, whenever I rage. The increased healing aspect of the first Celestial Totem power also plays well with Lay On Hands.

I'm not sure whether I should be using the standard big heavy 2-handed weapon, or whether to take advantage of stacking Rage+Smite and go with TWF, either with weapons or sword and board. Either way, my goal is as much about durability (through DR, AC, saves, resistances, self-healing, etc.) as it is about damage output. I want to be a badass tank.

Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Play a Fighter of a race that gets claws (or take Aspect of the Beast). Technically speaking, you don't have to use your hands for an unarmed strike, so I believe you can Two-Weapon Fight with them and get claws as secondary natural attacks. Nice thing is that the natural weapon fighter group includes unarmed strikes and natural weapons, so your Weapon Training bonus will apply to both.

Unarmed Strike is a valid target for the Focused Weapon AWT, which will make it scaled like Warpriest damage (which I believe is close to or the same as Brawler damage progression), so combined with the static damage available to Fighters and the pile of feats you can get, you can make it work out alright.

Unfortunately, the good Unarmed-based fighter archetypes lose Weapon Training (and thus AWT), so your best bet is just vanilla fighter.

Feral Combat Training got nerfed, so it's not really worth it unless you're trying to use Stunning Fist or something (which is bad for Fighters).

Being Int focused lends itself well to something like Amateur Investigator.

The archetype basically reads as "ultimate nerd", so the characterization could be of someone super focused on certain fields of knowledge, as well as collector of knowledge in general. Maybe they're super bookish and have spent a lot of time in dusty libraries and are now seeking to explore the world.

Maybe they're that one guy who has a lot of useful information but no social skills and ends up annoying the party when he rambles on about all the obscure details of his favorite subject.

He could also be a Vulcan-like level of logical kind of person. Mathematical genius, doesn't handle emotion well. An interesting counterpoint to someone like a Barbarian in the party.

Where is this Perfect Scholar archetype described?

Inner Sea Intrigue. Gives you all Knowledge skills as class skills, swaps out a ki power for basically Bardic Knowledge, and gives you a scaling bonus to hit after you miss a target.

It seems like it would be a good candidate for the mechanically-subpar-but-thematically-interesting Kirin Style line, assuming you're using it on an Unchained Monk (which is mechanically good enough compared to base monk that it can take a nonoptimal style).

It could also be a good thematic candidate for the Perfect Style line, of which I think Unblinking Flame is the best option.

It also stacks with Monk of the Mantis if you wanted to go that direction and focus on Stunning Fists, which Learn From Failure can help you stick.

Too bad there isn't a Pathfinder version of the old 3.x "Kung Fu Genius" feat that let you swap Int for Wis for all relevant monk abilities.

Personally, I have fun using the intense specialization ability of a fighter to play concepts that would be nonoptimal or difficult to pull off for other classes. Sure, you could be Greatsword Fighter #148828282, but a Barbarian can usually match your output and have more interesting class features in the process.

But with things like AWT and/or the big pile of fighter archetypes, you can build for flavor. Maybe there's some exotic weapon that you really like the flavor of but only does like 1d3 damage. Take AWT Focused Weapon, and the dice damage dice scales like a warpriest. Maybe you really like a particular feat path that has a huge pile of prerequisites, and a fighter can get you there twice as fast as some other classes. Maybe you just REALLY hate missing, and want to be able to jack your attack accuracy through the roof.

sacred summons doesn't care about the alignment of the creature you summon at all. All it cares about are the creatures subtypes. IF those match then it works. And if you have extra subtypes then it doesn't work.

That's the advantage of going LG, because you can nab the various LG outsiders (who have alignment subtypes) that match your alignment aura (which does have to do with your alignment).

Which I suppose makes LN a less interesting option, because the various templated animals won't benefit from Sacred Summons.

That said, it's a free bonus feat, so it's not the end of the world if you don't use it heavily.

On closer look, Summon Good Monster isn't all that great, though giving a specific set of summons Diehard isn't necessarily terrible.

Sacred Summons is limited to exactly your aura/alignment, so that's where it gets trickier. Most of the standard combat monsters are NG, but most of the useful outsiders are LG or CG. Being either Lawful or Chaotic also opens up the option for swapping Celestial for Resolute or Entropic, which can be useful when fighting nonevil enemies.

An interesting thing is that the Expanded Summon Monster feat says that normally templated creatures (which is generally animals/magical beasts) summoned exactly match your alignment, regardless of whatever other alignment they might normally have, and get to choose between Celestial or Fiendish, meaning that those creatures added by the feat automatically qualify for Sacred Summons.

Given that Resolute is probably more useful than Entropic (since most enemies you face will probably be chaotic, though it depends on the campaign), going with a lawful deity would be good.

So then it's a matter of if you want to be summoning a lot of outsiders (in which case LG is better), or if you want to summon a lot of templated animals (in which case LN is better).

The most flexible (though not necessarily strongest) option overall is probably LN with Versatile Summon Monster and Expanded Summon Monster feats. That would give you the option of choosing one of 3 alignment-based templates or two element-based templates for any given animal.

Speaking of elements, beware that Herald Caller limits you to only being able to summon elementals if their subtype matches a domain of your deity, so you're a little restricted there.

You also get to add a specific few options based on your deity.

Overall, looking at domains and portfolios and stuff, your best bet is to be either an LN follower of Gozreh (he can summon friggin templated giants, as well as two types of elementals), with either the Animal domain (nice to have something to hit stuff without a summon) or the Growth subdomain (if you want to be a melee combatant) or an LG follower of Sarenrae (she gets jinn and fire elementals) with the Heroism subdomain (aura of heroism is GREAT with a field full of summons).

Now, I'm not an expert on summoning, I just have fun doing research on game stuff :P

Dirty Fighter fighter archetype gets a nonspecific "Can use dirty trick in place of an attack" at level 9.

A lot of the dirty trick feats don't specify melee or ranged (Dirty Critical Hit, Dirty Disarm, Dirty Trick Master)

You could potentially combine the Trick Shot ability of the Archer fighter archetype with Dirty Disarm, since the archetype specifically allows disarms at range.

Assuming you're playing a good-aligned cleric, the Summon Good Monster feat adds 5-6 different monsters of good alignments (mostly a lot of creatures with the celestial template, but also a fair number of outsiders) PER TIER of Summon Monster. Depending on your cleric alignment, most of them should be available through Sacred Summons.

Expanded Summon Monster lets you add another 2 creatures per tier to your list, with a lot of Celestial templates and a handful of outsiders.

Versatile Summon Monster lets you change out those Celestial templates for things that might be more useful (Aerial gets flights, electric damage, and DR/-, and Primordial gets speed boost, some SLA's, and a bumped up natural attack).

In theory, all of these could apply to Sacred Summons if you choose your lists, alignment, and deity right.

There's some fun feats for summoning, especially since you get some of the core ones for free. Evolved Summoned Monster can be good for beefing up a summons AC or natural attacks. Expanded Summon Monster giver you some new options. Summon Good Monster gives you a whole pile of monsters that work with the limitations of the archetype. Versatile Summon Monster gives you some different template options (I prefer Aerial and Primordial). Sacred Summons is of course an important one for action economy.

Overall, summoning focused characters can be incredibly versatile, especially once you start being able to get multiple rounds of usage out of a summon or multiple summons for a single spell.

I think it's just an awkward wording that means the bonus specifically affects the demoralize usage of Intimidate. Intimidate IS resisted, sort of, in that there is a DC that needs to be hit. It's effectively saying that there's a penalty to the person you're rolling against, but since something like food you eat can't actually inflict a penalty on someone else, it's just worded weird.

A properly-built fighter is almost always going to do consistently high damage. That's also usually the only thing they CAN do. The Rage Prophet has spells, the Rogue has skills and sneak attack. The fighter just hits things.

Give him fights that let him shine, but also consider changing up encounters and challenges to let the other players also shine. Give the rogue an opportunity to sneak around and ambush. Give the Rage Prophet a chance to turn the tables with some spells.

If the player behind the fighter is genuinely interested in the whole party having fun, he'll understand you designing some encounters that don't necessarily give him a chance to be top dog. If he pitches a fit about not constantly having an opportunity to be a meat grinder, then it's a problem with the player's attitude more than it is with mechanics or GMing.

There are battle masks, perfumes, unguents, trail rations, and a few other mundane items that provide a boost to Intimidate. The idea of applying something to an armor or helmet to boost your Intimidate isn't as far-fetched or cheesy as it sounds.

You could go with some kind of Bard. Maybe with the Celebrity archetype, and have some of the bonuses only apply to one of your Vigilante identities. Duettist could be good if your GM lets you have an overlapping familiar feature. Or go with Arrowsong Minstrel, which would let you use both your Bard and your Vigilante/Summoner spell slots for Ranged Spellstrike and pick up some expanded spells in the process.

You most likely already have Power Attack, so taking Hurtful is an option. Intimidate with a standard then smack them with a swift.

You could also grab Shared Judgment, so you pass off your second Judgment effect to an adjacent ally. Doesn't help the resource limit problem, but does help buff your teammates.

There's also some flavorful stuff like Exploit Lore or Improved Monster lore.

Maybe try to incorporate some of the Dazzling Display line into your build? Inquisitors, especially half-orcs, have some sky-high Intimidate checks. Doing something like spending a round to render shaken (and possibly flat-footed) nearby bad guys will give you something to do that isn't resource-dependent, isn't outshining the members of your team with damage, and contributes by lowering enemy abilities.

If you know you're focusing on a certain weapon, Mock Gladiator trumps Bludgeoner. Getting the benefit of a feat for the cost of a trait is always worth it, especially for such a feat-heavy build. Taking Bludgeoner only really seems worth it if you're going for the Cudgeler Style feats.

Which actually wouldn't necessarily be a terrible thing, as long as you're content to always do nonlethal.

If you really want to milk Intimidate, grab Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses, Violent Display, and Disheartening Display. The idea is to use either Enforcer/Cornugon Smash or Sneak Attack/Violent Display for a free Intimidate/Dazzling Display, which is escalated by either the Thug ability to increase it from shaken to frightened, then Disheartening Display bumps it up to to Panicked, so when they're flat--footed and running away you can wail on them with AoOs and Sneak Attacks. Combat Reflexes can also be good here, and eventually you can build towards stuff like Sneaking Precision so you can tack on Critical feats to your Sneak Attacks.

Skill Focus isn't worth it. Some useful traits to look into are Mock Gladiator (to let you apply Enforcer with a weapon without attack penalties) and possibly take Bruising Intellect and just tank your Charisma and bump Intelligence instead, to get more skill points instead of fighting against a racial Charisma penalty.

For sheer coolness factor, I'm a fan of the Cornerstone Crossbow. It basically lets you fire it like a magical grappling hook with a chain of force that pulls you to whatever solid thing you aimed it at. The Sharpshooter's Blade is also a useful thing to attach to a crossbow in case you get stuck in melee.

The Designating ability on your weapon can also be great if you have a lot of martial characters in your party, especially ones with a lot of attacks.

There's also some cool magic ammo, like Splitting Bolts.

Eyes of the Eagle are good for anyone. 2500 gp for a +5 Perception. You could also go for an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 for 2k, or a Ring of Protection +1 for 2k. Or a +1 Cloak of Resistance and +1 Bracers of Armor for a combined 2k.

If you really wanted to make a fear-based Swashbuckler, take a two or three level dip in Thug Rogue. Thug + Violent Display + Disheartening Display. Maybe throw in something like Enforcer or Cornugon Smash. You hit them with a sneak attack, they're either shaken or frightened if you beat the DC enough, then Violent Display triggers, which in turn triggers Disheartening Display. Bam, whole combo from normal to panicked/cowering. Shatter Defenses also keeps it going by helping ensure you land the sneak attacks.

I think Slayers or Vigilantes are the better class for Intimidate builds, but a Swashbuckler can pull it off well enough.

It could look something like:
Half-Orc Inspired Blade:
Traits: Mock Gladiator, maybe Bruising Intellect and dump Charisma.
1:S1: Weapon Focus, Finesse, Fencing Grace
2:R1:
3:R2: Combat Trick: Dazzling Display. Enforcer.
4:R3
5:S2: Power Attack
6:S3:
7:S4: Violent Display, Shatter Defenses
8:S5:
9:S6: Disheartening Display
10:S7
11:S8: Critical Focus, Sickening Critical
12:S9:
13:S10: Sneaking Precision
14:S11
15:S12: Staggering Critical, Bleeding Critical

You can go wherever from there. Basically, in the early levels you're a pretty standard Swashbuckler sort. You get some sneak attack dice, and you're able to demoralize enemies with nonlethal rapier hits at no penalty. You'll get some extra skill points and Evasion, with only one point of BAB loss. Then it all comes online at level 7, when you get to set up the combo. Past that point, you might as well take advantage of your basically guaranteed sneak attack damage and Sneaking Precision to trigger some critical feats with, which are already a solid investment for a high crit weapon like a rapier. You'll be able to throw out panicked, sickened, staggered, all pretty much guaranteed. You'll run into occasional conflicts over swift action usages, but once you're able to AoE apply Shattered Defenses it becomes less of a problem.

The levels are staggered like that so that you get bonus feats at the time you have the BAB to qualify. You could probably rearrange it for more Swashbuckler levels earlier, especially if you went human over half-orc.