Edymnion's page

Okay, without trying to get into specifics, the overall feel I have from the playtest is this:

That the goal was to simplify character creation in many ways in order to let new players to the TTRPG genre get started quickly and easily.

I feel like a lot of the issues I have stem from this, and that they all boil down to the same root cause.

That the attempt to streamline ends up with the effect of trying to lead players by the nose to certain outcomes, instead of making it easier to build what the player can come up with.

People talk about the bloat of 1e, but what that ended up doing was giving a dozen different paths to the same end destination, and those different paths lead to a greater diversity overall.

Instead of layout out a myriad of different ways to achieve a goal, and then finding a way to help point people towards the options that would suit them best, it feels like what happened was more closing most of those side paths down entirely so that there are less choices to make.

While less choices up front does indeed make getting started easier, in the long run it means there are less places to go. Which means more people getting into the game, but less people STAYING with THIS game.

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To use a metaphor/allegory, back in the day I was in a guild in World of Warcraft. We wanted very much to be a high end raiding guild, but we didn't have enough skilled players to fill the large team requirements that raiding had at the time. So, we made the decision that we'd take in almost anybody, we'd train them in how to raid, we'd help gear them up so that they could raid, and then...

...then everyone would leave our guild to join one of the hardcore raiding guilds. We became a revolving door that trained and geared half the hardcore raiders on the server, but because we couldn't give them the end goal they wanted (those cutting edge final raids), they left us as soon as they got good enough to be accepted by another guild.

That is kind of what I'm seeing PF2e as being right now. A gearing guild. Its something that wants to be more, but is stooping down to appeal to the entry level players, but doesn't have the end game content (the complexity) to retain any of them once they've got their footing.

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So overall recommendation?

Rethink the guidance. Instead of having clear goals for where you want players to go, refocus on creating ways to help people navigate a more complex path.

New people in 1e were overwhelmed by choices and options because there was nothing there to shield them from the excess. Having a million choices is not a bad thing, if there is a way to filter them down to a dozen or two that would be right for what you were wanting to make.

Do I have an easy answer on how to do that? No, I don't. But I do fully believe that you need both an easy entry for new people, AND the full complexity for the older people, or you will fail. New people are fickle and will come and go, who will buy one or two books in large numbers and then vanish. Old players will buy damned near everything, but are fewer in numbers.

The goal should be "How do we make it easier to transition newbs into vets", not "How do we sell as many books as possible to the newbs before they wander off?".

Look at the Rogue. The description starts out good, saying that while the stereotype is a thief and a scoundrel there many are respectable and honorable doing jobs like being scouts or bounty hunters. Thats great, it immediately sets up "there is more than one way to play this class".

But when we get to the "You Likely" and "Others Probably" sections its nothing but negative "you're greedy", "you're a law breaker", "nobody trusts you". What the hell? The Rogue hasn't been a sticky fingered thief since AD&D 2e. They've been the default "expert adventurer" for decades. Why is the "This is how a rogue probably acts" defaulting immediately to the 70's thief mindset?

Fighter isn't much better. Its "You're obsessed with weapons, think puzzles are a waste of time, and everybody thinks you're dumb."

If we're going to be offering flavor advice to new players, could we maybe not do the absolute worst stereotypes the genre has ever produced as the default assumptions?

For a fighter, instead of saying things like "you have little time for complex things", maybe something more along the lines of "You are likely to see things in terms of immediate goals and steps required to achieve them"?

For rogues, instead of saying "come to you to break the law", maybe "Come to you for out of the box thinking and creative solutions"?

Something to promote the idea of "Hey, this class is a mechanical toolset, it might define what you can do, but it doesn't define who you are".

I'm still reading, but my first knee-jerk reaction after getting through character generation, classes, and skills?

Everything feels VERY cookie cutter, like its actively promoting only the most generic fantasy tropes, and that it is actively punishing anyone who wants to play against type.

I dislike the entire idea of how default ability generation works, as you no longer get a choice in how your character is really built. Back to playing against type, you can't do a Dex fighter anymore because the classes force you into taking stats you don't want. And then its going to be a case of either everybody has identical cookie cutter backgrounds, or the entire concept of backgrounds are going to be ignored and it just becomes "Pick some more stat boosts". Frankly, should have just ran with point buy and called it done (which is completely missing, I notice, yet that archaic sacred cow of rolling for stats is still there).

Speaking of ability scores, why do we even still have them? Monsters in the bestiary don't have them, they just list modifiers. Why do players still use them? If the idea was to streamline and simplify, getting rid of 3-18 format ability scores seems like an obvious place to do it, so why are we holding on to it if literally nothing uses it?

And I just cannot get over the "Everything is locked behind class walls". If I want to play a Paladin tank? Tough luck, only the Fighter gets shield feats. Want to play a sorcerer with a certain bloodline, but don't want the spells the designers think are appropriate? Tough luck, you don't get to choose from a generic spell list anymore.

And my god, having everything stretched out over so many levels just makes the entire idea of having to wait to play the character you want to play SO MUCH WORSE! Apparently the answer to "High level play is kinda broken" was to say "Hey, lets make the un-fun parts of low level last as long as humanly possible!".

So yeah, its basically what I feared from the previews, only worse. GREATLY reduced customization, a system that actively punishes you for thinking outside the box (I need to be trained in Religion just to READ A HOLY TEXT?!?), and is overall just very video-gamey.

Knee-jerk reaction is that you don't make characters anymore, you basically just choose between premades. And that is AWFUL. A system should allow you to make whatever you want, and help you do it. This... this feels like it is actively fighting against you if you want to go even slightly off-center from what the devs think you should be doing.

Okay, I'm wanting to build an app for doing Harrowings since my wife is going to be running Curse of the Crimson Throne and she's going to have to do a lot of those.

It'll probably never get beyond our two phones, but on the off chance I knock it out of the park and want to put it on the app store, what exactly are the rules I need to follow for that?

So I've got a character that pretends to be innocent but is actually a Gravewalker Witch with lots of undead.

One thing led to another while doing some research surfing and I hit on the Magical Child archetype for the Vigilante. Lets the character split their personality into two distinct personas so that the social persona doesn't get bad rep or repercussions for what the vigilante persona does.

So basically I've hit on having a Magic Girl Necromancer.

I'm thinking if I take it to MC 3/ GWW X, I'd really only lose out on Grande Hexes and a few 9th level spells per day (but would still get 9th level spells), and the benefits are pretty nice (like Safehouse to hide corpses in for later and Shadow's Sight for darkvision).

Plus taking a Margay Cat for a familiar would give a +3 to Bluff, which would really help, and taking it 3rd level would get Improved Familiar (maybe a Beheaded?).

Anywho, thoughts on the best point to make the level break? 1 level dip would get the personas and 1 social talent, 2 would get the vigilante talent and an extra Hex, 3 gets the second talent and improved familiar. Plus some extra lvl 1 summoner spells.

I have basically two versions of this, what I call the PC version and the NPC version. The NPC version is easy, evil and creepy, doesn't need a lot beyond that because players are frankly incredibly unlikely to ever learn much about their background or motivations.

The other is the PC version, which is much less overtly evil (and hence much more likely to get to see extended amounts of play).

We're going to be talking about the PC version (obviously).

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Basic concept origins:

Mostly a combination of two other characters from various sources as the starting point. Erandis d'Vol from Eberron (whom I made into a young teenage girl when she was forced into becoming a lich, and generally made a more sympathetic character), and a half-orc character I had once who's motto was basically "People see what they want to see, and as long as that is what you show them, they don't bother looking any deeper". Basically the smart guy who played dumb brute.

Combine those with a smattering of "ancient evil that looks little and innocent", like Babette from Skyrim or Claudia from Interview With A Vampire (with some smatterings of Samara from The Ring) and you've got the basic idea, the innocent looking little girl that is really a monster. Because creepy little kids are creepy.

Oh yeah, and the villain Baby Doll from Batman, as she's basically the non-magical epitome of the concept, IMO.

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Mechanically:

Actual crunch-wise, its an adult Halfling Jinx Gravewalker Witch with Childlike, and possibly a 1 level dip into Juju Oracle for the hitdice boost to Animate Dead.

Lots of ranks in Bluff to present themselves as a human child to try and squirm their way out of situations where being a necromancer would usually get them run out of town (at best). The whole "boo hoo, I'm lost and these scary monsters were going to eat me!" routine.

Most of the feats and the like are pretty standard and self-explanatory, make lots of powerful undead minions.

Likely going to take a lot of debuffing hexes along with Cackle (reflavored to be creepy childish giggling) to be sort of an anti-bard that debuffs enemies to make them easier prey for the undead minions.

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Background/Fluff So Far:

The short version is they are an ex halfling slave from Cheliax that managed to escape due to looking a great deal like a human child, who while living on the street trying to get out of town finds an evil possessed teddy bear that promises to give them the power to escape to freedom (aka its their poppet). They agree, and manage to get out of town. Now there's a childlike looking Halfling with a demonic stuffed animal whispering in their ear who tends to see the dead as tools and resources rather than, well, a corpse.

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What I'm looking for help on:

For the PC version, I'm clearly going to have to bend the character less Evil and more Neutral, so general tips on how to keep it more "You wear dead animals and enslave live ones to do your work, I just use a little bit more" are appreciated. Things like only using animal or monster corpses instead of humanoids to avoid the whole "Thats my grandmother's corpse carrying your pack!" moments, how to hide/conceal your undead to keep from making a scene, that kind of thing.

Tricks/mannerisms to help sell the manipulative fake-child aspect.

Any potential mechanical tricks/combinations that would go well with the concept.

Oh, and it is a given that the PC version would not be hiding what they really are from the other PCs/players beyond the very beginning, it would be limited to manipulating the NPCs.

I want to make sure I'm reading this right.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch/archetypes/paizo-witch-a rchetypes/gravewalker/

Abilities like Aura of Desecration and Bonethrall specify both at what level they are usable, and what level Hex they replace. Bonethrall specifically says its usable at level 1, and replaces the 4th level hex gained.

Now, Possess Undead is the one I'm looking at.

It says the Gravewalker can possess anything its got control of, and it replaces the 8th level Hex, but otherwise makes no mention of what level it can be used at. Other witch archetypes with similar abilities state what level they can be used at, this one doesn't.

Does this default to letting them possess undead at level 1 (via Bonethrall)?

Rather simple sounding and straighforwards question.

If you take Skill Focus (Linguistics), would you get languages known from it? Or just the decipher script/forgery/etc side bonuses?

Okay, the Rogue talent Bleeding Attack says the target takes bleed damage every turn unless a heal check or a healing effect is applied.

The rogue talent Careful Stab says that any time precision damage would reduce a target to less than 0 hp, you can choose to instead leave them at -1 and stable.

So how would these two interact if they are taking bleed damage from earlier, and then Careful Stab is applied at the end?

Does Careful Stab being applied second mean it's stabilize effect takes precedence and ends the bleed, or does the target continue to take the bleed damage and render Careful Stab useless if used together?

Okay, I had seen people talking about the Kineticist here on the boards, and it was always about the burn. Did some uber high level reading on the class, basically saw "Spellcaster that takes damage to power up their spells" and tossed it aside without a further glance.

Other day I was at the book store with a friend that, ahem, did terrible things to the bathroom which made me feel obliged to buy something, and saw Occult Adventures and decided to pick it up.

Got it home, started reading, and holy cow. Kineticist is a Last Avatar style bender/elemental super hero class. Heck, a Terra (Teen Titans)/Earth Bender geomancer has long been one of my "Can I make this?" barometer builds on how good a mechanics set was, and here it is specifically built out as a single class sub-option.

We've got Last Avatar monk style benders in here, we've got Iceman/Human Torch style superheroes, and they actually power up more the more burn damage they take.

So much better than I thought it was, so yeah. I feel I owe an apology to everybody that gushed over the Kineticist that I silently derided in my ignorance. It really is all that and a bag of chips.

Looking to make a seductress, a full on "Men are stupid, they'll do anything I tell them" style manipulator. Think Jessica Rabbit's effect if she were actually trying.

Far as I can tell, a vanilla bard seems to be the best class option, I mean they literally get an ability called Fascinate.

Are there any other classes/archetypes I might have missed?

Beyond that, I'm mostly looking at using the bluff/diplomacy combo to make the target think something was their own idea for the mundane twisting around fingers.

Or any general ideas at unlikely places to look for goodies?

Quick question:

For traits like Gifted Adept that give +1 caster level to a single spell "that you can cast", does "spell you can cast" mean "spell on your spell list" or "spell known"?

Aka, can you use it on a higher level spell, or is it only good for 0-1 lvl spells?

Are there any magic items specifically designed for storing undead, or that can be used as such?

Primarily I'm looking for ways to store zombies and skeletons on a character so that they can easily enter town without having to leave their horde outside of city limits.

Something like a Robe of Bones that you can add to would be ideal, otherwise I suppose the only real alternative is a portable hole?

So I'm wanting to build a breed of technomancer. One that uses magic to enhance tech, as opposed to the other way around.

First thought was starting as a Spellslinger wizard for magic bullets then multiclassing with some musket master gunslinger.

But I think I'd also like to get some craft construct in there as well.

Go for a devotee of Bligh out to prove that there is always something new under the sun.

Just checking in to see if someone has pointers or has tried a build like it before I spend a week going over every book out there.

Okay, roll with me for a moment.

Did you ever read Interview With a Vampire? Remember Claudia? Or for a more modern example, Babette the child vampire in the Dark Brotherhood from Skyrim?

Thats our premise, an otherwise adult character in a child's body that uses the guise of an innocent child to get away with murder (sometimes literally), or at the very least to completely put an opponent off guard (you gotta be pretty damned messed up to attack a kid).

Only instead of being a vampire, she's a necromancer. She deceives people into believing she is a child in order to trick them into being protective of her, to believe she is weak and helpless, or to lure in predators for easy raw materials for her undead army.

Purpose of thread is to help refine the mechanics to support the concept.

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Class: Gravewalker Witch
Patron: Enchantment

Race: Halfling with Childlike.
Alternate Racial Traits: Halfling Jinx and Human Shadow
Favored Class Bonus: +1/4 caster level on patron spells (which just happen to include all of her animate/control spells)

Race Description and Reasoning:
Okay, the original build I was using for this was a Bones Oracle with the 3PP Child curse until someone pointed out the Childlike feat for Halflings, which opened up a lot more great opportunities.

Halfling is already small, and finding gear for her should be much easier (the Child curse specified that any non-magical armor had to be specially made to fit), and Childlike grants some very handy bonuses to the whole "pretend to be an innocent child" schtick, including not just a +2 to Disguise but negating the age/race penalties as well. Basically, nobody is going to question that she isn't a child without damned close inspection. Could grab Pass for Human later if Childlike proves to not be enough to cut it, or if I just run out of good sounding feats for any given level to complete the illusion.

Halfling also offers Halfling Jinx and Human Shadow for alternate racial traits. Jinx lets her throw a whammy on anyone that gets close to her to drop all of their saves -1, which comes in very handy with her patron spells (discussed later). Human Shadow lets her actively hide behind humans and other creatures larger than themselves, which is great for the "I'm a scared a little girl hiding behind the big strong grown up" bit.

Fearless is just icing on the cake.

And the halfling Favored Class bonus is +1/4 caster level for "determining the effects of spells granted by her patron", which for Gravewalker includes her Animate Dead, Control Undead, Command Undead, etc spells, so she's going to be animating greater amounts of undead than normal right off the bat. Even before everything else, by the time she gets the ability to animate anything she'll be doing it at a higher caster level than normal.

Class Reasoning:
Right off the bat Gravewalker Witch gets her poppet, which so very easily becomes a teddy bear or other stuffed animal which is already perfect for the concept.

For Patron I'm going with Enchantment primarily for the 2nd level spell, Unnatural Lust. To keep this concept more within the realm of acceptable characters for play (aka not totally evil and depraved) she hangs around bad parts of town basically luring in sickos and lowlifes who would want to take advantage of an innocent young girl. Gets around the whole morality issue of animating innocent people if she's luring out the very people that deserve to get offed and using them for "research" and spare parts. The ability to make sure and remove 100% of doubt from any witness that she was "an innocent victim", tossing a Jinx on them to lower their saves and then hitting them with Unnatural Lust to get them all handsy will come in quite handy should a guard walk by while she's killing a target. Dominate Person and Dominate Monster will also come in handy should someone see through her ruse and she needs an immediate out. For anyone wanting to use her as an antagonist, nothing says setup like casting Unnatural Lust on a PC in the presence of guards or nobility to paint the group in a really poor light, to say the least.

Hexes:
Most of her early hex slots are taken up with gravewalker abilities, but three stand out as being good candidates for her limited early slots.

Charm - Again plays into the idea of her being deceptive and luring people in. Makes her target one step more friendly, meaning they will be much more likely to not question her and possibly even act protectively towards her. She's as much about controlling the living as she is about controlling the dead.

Misfortune - Makes the target roll twice on just about anything that requires a roll, and take the lower of the two rolls? Combine that with Jinx and her charm/enchantment powers are going to be damned near unresistable.

Prehensile Hair - Not really so much to make her stronger in combat or in manipulating people, but she is Small size with a Strength penalty. The hair uses her Intelligence in place of Strength, and can be used as a weapon (even if its only 1d2) meaning she can kill commoners with it fairly easily without having a weapon on her to blow her disguise. It also acts as a limb with reach, meaning that if things go wrong or she's up against something that doesn't fall for her tricks, she can grapple it at a safe distance long enough for someone or something else to deal with it. Plus there's the cool/creepy factor of living hair.

Traits:
Convincing Liar - +1 to Bluff checks and Bluff is a class skill, required for the concept because Witches don't get Bluff as a class skill normally.

Gifted Adept (Animate Dead) - +1 caster level means more HD of undead controlled.

Feats:

Already covered that Childlike is required for the concept, and that Pass for Human is a good choice if there's nothing better for a given level.

Other than that, there really aren't any feats that I can find right away that would help with this build specifically, so there's actually a lot of leeway in feat choices.

The core aspects (animating undead and the deception) don't really have must-have feats to make them work, so about the only thing that springs to mind is Spell Focus (Necromancy) to help out with the limited direct damage spells she gets (like Inflict Wounds, Poison, Enervation, etc).

Can use the poppet to turn touch spells into ranged touch attacks, but they aren't necessarily rays so weapon focus wouldn't help...

Looks like Pass for Human may be on the table sooner than I thought!

Skip the bit in the block below if you don't care about the lead up to the question and want to get straight to the crunch.

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Okay, a while back I was playing around with a tiefling rogue/ninja more to figure out how to mix and match natural weapons with unarmed attacks than anything else. Did a few generic test characters, never really took it anywhere.

But I've been playing a lot of Disgaea 5 here lately, and the lead character in it is basically a demon monk (primarily fights with bare fists), and it started reminding me of that tiefling claw/UAS character, so I've been going over some of the more fluff bits in my head to round out an actual character instead of just a build.

Also have been interested in finding good ways to reflavor the oriental background flavor out of the Ninja class to be more acceptable in a western-centric game. They make great assassins and the like, but wanted something more acceptable for an average PC than an assassin.

Looked at the tiefling, mourned that they couldn't get full wings like an Assimar can in PF, and glanced through Favored Class bonuses. Rogue: +1/2 to Sneak Attack damage per level against Outsiders, and Ninja is basically just an alternate Rogue, so that would still apply.

Bam, he's a demon hunter! All the ki tricks and supernatural stuff he does isn't a result of being a Ninja, its a result of him being half-demon who fights fire with fire! Shadow clones are a lot easier to accept with the idea of them being demonic power than they are Naruto jujitsu stuff.

Could even work with the DM so that when I level up and take a particularly supernatural Ki trick I could fight something demonic that has a similar power and "absorb" it to learn it for myself (aka, thats the fight I level up on, and use it as justification for why I suddenly became able to make shadow clones of myself).

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Okay, so we have a premise, tiefling demon hunter who has demonic abilities (aka, ninja ki powers and tricks) and hunts "his own kind". Likely going to go with claws and unarmed strikes mixed and matched (claws first at the lower levels, then put in improved UAS with the claws becoming secondary natural weapons later on) to be a nice little flurry of demon ripping death.

What I'd like to do is add in a few extra twists that one wouldn't necessarily expect, or that help to drive the demon hunter aspect home, but I'd like to keep it as straight Ninja if possible.

First thought was "I need some kind of Favored Enemy style thing for demons/evil outsiders". Quick internet search turned up a Demon Hunter(combat) feat from a book I don't have that was basically +2 to attack rolls against demons, and thats kind of like a watered down Favored Enemy. I'd like a little more focus there if possible though, without having to go into a full on Ranger dip just for the one Favored Enemy.

Second thought was "What if his blood really gets boiling when fighting demons, like Barbarian Rage where he just really gets into it specifically against them?" Thing is, rage like mechanics are really hard to come across outside of being a Barbarian, and again not to keen on dipping into every class under the sun if I can avoid it.

Anyone with ideas on how to give it unexpected mechanical twists, like watered down versions of other class abilities beyond what I can do with Tricks/Talents?

If I do end up dipping, have been looking at Urban Barbarian for their Controlled Rage, or perhaps even Monk to make use of Monk's Robes for all the unarmed strikes. Gotta admit just the flavor of going Qinggong Monk and picking up Scorching Ray sounds pretty nice even if it doesn't end up being all that mechanically powerful. Demons shooting fire and all that.

Okay,I'm a long time rogue fan over many different games, but increasingly I find that I don't like how completely unreliable Sneak Attack is. You either are shredding anything in your path, or you're barely plinking away with really nothing in between.

Also love a traditional dagger rogue, but the damage output still stinks, especially when you aren't getting SA.

So, I'd love to sacrifice Sneak Attack and get something akin to Monk unarmed damage progression with daggers, and maybe a dagger flurry. Basically sacrifice the high spike damage for a more reliable and steady damage source with what is usually a fairly weak weapon to create something that can stand up in a straight fight without being useless.

Is there anything along those lines already written up in something I can't think of off the top of my head?

Basic background, I have a Zen Archer Monk I'm running through Rise of the Runelords (no spoilers please, I'm in this game specifically to play through it once before I GM it), and long story short I'm considering taking Leadership to get a cohort that can buff and heal me and the rest of the group, as we are a little short in those areas.

For various reasons, I've decided that my best bet is going to be a Sprite with high Charisma and class levels in Oracle. Literally be a pocket healer. Main things I'm looking at it for at the moment are the fact that as an Oracle it will have access to spells like Abundant Ammunition, Magic Weapon, Bull's Strength, and other buffs that will go well with an archer, as well as being able to cast healing spells.

So, three things I need some help with:

1) I've been going through oracle mysteries, and I think I'm pretty much settled on Life Oracle for this just to turn them into a more efficient little healing battery. Does anyone have recommendations for a Mystery that might end up meshing better?

2) One thing that I'd really like it to be able to do that an Oracle can't do is cast Mage Armor on me. The Lore mystery would let me do that fairly late (11th level for the cohort, so 13th level for me, and it burns a 2nd level slot). Is there some way I get an Oracle to be able to cast Mage Armor through a feat or a trait I'm overlooking? Besides a level dip in Sorcerer.

3) Any thoughts on how to make them a better buffer? For example, it will have a good Charisma score being an Oracle, so I'm looking at Eldritch Heritage and the Destined bloodline, which would let it grant (level - 2)/2 bonus to attack rolls/skill checks/etc to whoever it touched. So if I pick up Leadership at 7th level, it would be a 5th level cohort, that would be 3x + Cha mod a day that it would be granting +1 to hit for 1 round, which means full attack all at +1. Would become +2 at the next level, yadda yadda yadda.

What kind of mundane weapon would you consider the best candidate to reflavor into a drill? As in a big conical piercing drillbit?

First thing that comes to mind for me are picks. Perhaps a Heavy/Light Pick combo for TWF, or a 2h Pickaxe.

Well, actually first thing that came to mind was a lance, but there isn't, as far as I can tell, any form of Short Lance that could be effectively used without being mounted.

Mechanically the pickaxe pretty much is a lance, just trades the double damage on a mounted charge aspect for bigger crits.

Other things that sprang to mind were katars/punching daggers, shortswords, and shortspears, but I'm liking the high crit on the picks for that "drill straight through" aspect.

While leafing through Ultimate Equipment, I found the Headband of Ponderous Recollection. I really, really like the idea of this item.

I'm playing a warforged zen archer monk in an Eberron game, and the idea of him being able to analyze who/what he is fighting and adapt is quite fitting.

Problem is, as a ZAM, intelligence is not useful to me as a stat booster. I can still go for a Periapt of Wisdom for my Wisdom booster to free up the headband slot for it (I can always qinggong monk myself into Barkskin, so the Amulet of Natural Armor isn't really important), but part of me is still cringing a bit at paying for a stat booster when all I want is the secondary effect from it.

So, is anyone aware of any other items that give a similar effect to the HoPR? Or just that uses the Know The Enemy spell?

So I've got a Zen Archer Monk and was flipping through Ultimate Equipment and just reading all the magic goodies to see if I got any "Ooh, gotta have that!" moments.

Normal stuff like haversacks, and efficient quivers were no brainers, but while trying to decide on bracers, I found the Bracers of Falcon's Aim.

Not only are they cheaper than Bracers of Archery, Lesser, they are more powerful (does the same thing, and still buffs perception and gives wickedly awesome crit to bows). I would go so far as to say that they are on par with Bracers of Archery, Greater even.

Has there been an errata on this?

Okay, game I made up long, long ago on the WotC boards back in the 3.0-3.5 era, figured it might be fun to play here again.

Take a well known character or item, figure out how to build them in Pathfinder, post the general idea of the build up, and see if people can figure out what character/specific item you were building.

Example:
This Mounted Fury Barbarian wields an adamantine bastard sword that, on command word activation, casts Transformation on him and his mount, a Dire Tiger.

Answer: He-Man

Remember, its not about making intentionally difficult riddles out of the game, but you can provide nothing beyond how it is actually built in game mechanics.

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I'll kick us off.

This Bladebound Magus's black blade takes the form of a lawful good longsword, and he wears both a Mirrored Mithril Buckler and a Spiked Gauntlet on the other hand. He makes frequent use of the Teleport Blade ability, and seems to cast Deadey's Arrow at least once per adventure.

While reading through some archetypes I never bothered to look at, I came across the black blade magus.

"Gets an evil blade partner, eh."

"Wait, it's your alignment, cool, so it could be Good aligned."

"Whoa, you can call for the sword to come to your hand, and it does?"

"I can cast ray spells with it?"

Great, now I want to play a cat folk black blade magus. Sword if Omens, come to my hand!

So question, is there a way to get it to project an arcane mark into the sky, and buff allies while we're at it? Holy crap, magus does get mass buffs! Okay, how about ways to get it to go from a dagger to a longsword?

Thundercats, ho!

In 3.5 I had a character (well, a cohort, but thats not important) that for story reasons was a half-angel. Not an Aasimar, but a first generation half-angel that was slowly awakening to their true nature.

Mechanically, they were a Favored Soul. They got spontaneous divine casting, energy resistance, damage reduction, and wings.

I'm wanting to convert this character over to Pathfinder, but I'm running into some problems with the angelic powers portion, which I consider to be one of if not the most important parts of the character.

Best fit that I've found so far is an Oracle with the Life mystery, and taking the Eldritch Heritage feat chain to grab pieces from the Sorcerer's Celestial bloodline. Namely Angelic Attack, Celestial Resistance, and Wings of Heaven.

(Not sure thats a 100% legal use of Eldritch Heritage since technically its a Bloodrager bloodline and not a Sorcerer bloodline, but Bloodrager has Sorcerer as a parent class, so close enough.)

Mechanically, that gets me pretty darned close to the concept. Counts as Good aligned, lots of healing powers, has wings, and can even turn into a golden white energy being.

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Alternatively, I could ditch the Heritage feats and deviate from concept a bit by taking Aasimar as the race, and swapping out for the alternate racial ability Scion of Humanity so that they look Human, and then go for the Angel Wings feat.

I think I like this approach better, as its far less feat intensive, and I can get the wings much earlier.

Can also still pick up Eldritch Heritage for the lower level stuff like Angelic Attack.

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Anyone with suggestions for things I may have missed for a character that seems normal but slowly evolves into an angel over time?

I actually want to try and make a gunslinger type character. I can see a gnome being obsessed with this new kind of weapon, but...

...for the life of me I cannot see how the Gunslinger is a viable class. The guns are so expensive and so very limited that I just can't see how they're playable.

Especially with the way they're loaded. It stretches my suspension of disbelief that you can rapid reload a crossbow, and these muzzle loaders are even worse.

I can see how this gun design can be useful as a backup weapon, or as a highly situational weapon, but for the life of me I cannot see how the Gunslinger is suppose to be a practical class.

Any gunslinger fans able to show me what I'm missing?

Are there any feats/traits I'm not seeing that would allow for more or less passive ways to influence a fight?

Specific scenario is a zen archer who's not really hurting for feats, so I'm looking into things to let him help out with more than just dpr incombat.

I would jump on Dazzling Display, but as a high mobility archer, I ideally should never be within 30' of an opponent.

So, what other kinds of options can I look at?

Perhaps combine flurry with some bleed damage for limited AoE (flurry one bleed effect per shot onto as many different opponents as possible)? Ability damage or status effects I can piggyback on an arrow?

What about the other side of things? Being able to give small buffs to the party while attacking?

Mainly trying to see if there are any options for buffs/debuffs I can use while maintaining as much of a normal attack routine as possible.

Okay, got a synthesist build I'm toying around with,and I'm looking at the idea of using reach, grab, and create pit to start throwing things into pits for some battlefield control.

So, few questions:

1) Maintaining a grapple is a standard action, is there any way I can reduce that so that I can Grab, hold the creature, and then cast the pit under it's feet to drop it in?

2) If not, I can always cast first and then grab things. Is there a way to move a grappled opponent sideways? I can always take the Push/Pull evolutions, but those are only towards/away from you.

3) Anything else I might be forgetting? As a synthesist I'll have plenty of straight up combat power, but the ability to completely remove someone from combat, even if just for a few rounds is very enticing. Any other reliable way to throw people into holes that I should read up on?

Okay, current character kick (what can I say, I like making characters in my down time and having them ready to go when a game opportunity presents itself) is a Synthesist Summoner.

Basically I've been looking at some of the spells, and seeing great prank material (come on, can cast spells like Grease, Glue Seal, and Create Pit?), so I'm wanting to build a gnome summoner.

Idea I've got in my head is an anime-esque female gnome (big eyes, small pointed face, unnatural hair color, all the normal stuff) that looks cute and harmless until she summons/merges with her eidolon and proceeds to curbstomp anything in her way.

"Awww... what a cute widdle girl, what are you going to do, go cry to your mommy?"
*anime-esque suit up/transformation sequence*
"Ah crap..."

Here's the catch though, I am at a complete and utter loss as to what the eidolon suit should look like. Generic glowing transparent semi-humanoid psionic bubble armor is one possibility, and is also very boring, as are simple "you summon a suit of armor". Anime style mecha is just plain not fitting for a fantasy campaign, so those are out (which includes any kind of clockwork form too). And can't think of any monster form that would be really fitting.

So, anyone up for a little fluff brainstorming? What kind of fluff description would you think goes well with a cute little gnome girl turning into a Medium or Large sized... thing for combat? Don't wanna go too horrible looking (so doesn't turn into some kind of eldritch horror), and while I considered something funny like maybe a succubus, probably don't wanna go whimsical or sexy with it either. Really want to try and hit that "Ah crap..." deadpan response from her opponents as opposed to full on pants wetting.

Not really looking for optimized mechanics or anything like that (I can do mechanics just fine on my own), just some ideas on forms that might be fitting.

Barbed Vest let's you do some minor damage to anyone hitting you unarmed or if you are swallowed.

Is there anything out there that has that same kind of passive thorns like effect, but more powerful?

Something kicking around my head that I thought I'd ask for some feedback on.

Basic idea is to make TWF a little easier on the pocket book, with the main drawback being that you can't have two different weapons for versatility.

MIRRORED
Price +3 bonus; Aura moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Weight —

This special ability may only be placed on melee weapons. If the wielder's opposing hand is empty, a Mirrored weapon creates a magical copy of itself in that hand. The mirror copy is treated as being of the same material and possessing the same enchantments as the original. The mirror copy weapon vanishes if dropped or handed away, or after being thrown at a target.

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Cost +3 bonus
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, major creation

So, question that I've come up against lately while building a character.

If the character has the appropriate feats/skills, is it kosher to stretch your starting gold by saying you crafted it yourself for the standard half price?

Specific situation is a zen archer monk at lvl 1. Normal starting gold for monks is insufficient for a longbow, but the character has enough total skill modifier to Take 10 and successfully craft one.

So, when it comes to a raw lvl 1, should starting gold reflect full market value of gear, or can crafting be used to stretch the budget?

Been wanting to do a storm themed sorcerer for a while, but none of the bloodlines available really work for what I have in mind. So, how does this look, balance wise?

Its mostly a mash up between the Stormborn and Djinni bloodlines, with a unique 1st level power. Not sure if its in line or not, given the arcana.

Storm Touched
You were struck by lightning at an early age, and have been marked by the storm as one of it's own.

Class Skill: Knowledge (nature).

Bonus Spells: shocking grasp (3rd), gust of wind (5th), lightning bolt (7th), shout (9th), overland flight (11th), chain lightning (13th), control weather (15th), whirlwind (17th), storm of vengeance (19th).

Bonus Feats: Dodge, Empower Spell, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Knowledge [Nature]), Toughness, Weapon Finesse

Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to electricity. This also changes the spell’s descriptors to match this energy type.

Bloodline Powers: Your connection to the storm manifests in several ways.

Thunder & Lightning (Su): Starting at first level, whenever you cast a damaging spell with the Electricity descriptor, you deal an additional +1 sonic damage for every 2 sorcerer levels you possess.

Stormchild (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain resist electricity 5 and resist sonic 5, and treat wind effects as being one step less severe. At 9th level, you treat wind effects as being two steps less severe and gain blindsense 60 feet against concealment from natural or magical fog, mist, or weather effects.

Thunderbolt (Sp): At 9th level, you can command a stroke of lightning to strike from above in a 5-foot-radius cylinder 60 feet high. The thunderbolt inflicts 1d6 points of damage per sorcerer level; half of this damage is electricity and half is sonic. A Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier) halves this damage. Creatures failing their saves are deafened for 1 round. At 9th level, you can use this ability once per day, at 17th twice per day, and at 20th three times per day. This power has a range of 120 feet.

Elemental Movement (Su): At 15th level, you gain a fly speed of 60 feet with average maneuverability.

Storm Lord (Ex): At 20th level, you are one with the storm. You gain immunity to deafness, stunning, and wind effects and gain blindsight 120 feet against concealment from natural or magical fog, mist, or weather. Once per day, when attacked with an electricity or sonic effect, you may forgo your saving throw and absorb the energies of the attack, healing 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise have dealt.

Okay, so was thinking of ways to get more reliable sneak attacks on my dual wielding unarmed fighting ninja and went "Duh, if heavy armor targets are the problem, get Brilliant Energy. Bypass their shields and armor, while sneak attacking in surprise rounds to kill their Dex based touch AC."

But then I realized, Brilliant Energy can't be turned off. So what happens when an unarmed fighter with an Amulet of Mighty Fists with Brilliant Energy puts it on?

Do we say they are selective enough to still be able to pick things up? Or do their gloves/boots/rings just fall through their bodies and hit the floor?

Heh, assuming the gear goes BE and doesn't fall off but your hands still pass through non-living matter, could a character even take the amulet off if their hands just pass through it?

And considering that by the RAW, any part of your body can be used to attack with, would you basically become completely ethereal (to non-living matter)?

So I've got a character I like enough to want a mini for. Thing is, I know I'll never find exactly what I want. Fortunately, I know my way around a jeweler's saw and some greenstuff, so I can modify.

Character is a tiefling ninja that uses claws for his main attack (no weapons).

So what I'm looking for is a male humanoid wearing something like Edward Scissorhands' belted leather. Or anything with lots of armor detail that isn't obviously full plate.

Something with large clawed hands, or at least open hands that I can resculpt into claws.

Something with an uncovered male head I can put horns on convincingly, or even a nice tiefling head that isn't an impossible to remove mass of hair.

Now obviously it would be nice to find something like a drow in fancy leather I could just swap hands on and sculpt some horns, but I can mix and match as needed.

Been looking on my own but haven't found anything good yet. Thought with everybody here with countless minis in their collections, maybe somebody has something close they could point me towards.

Pewter or plastic or vinyl, doesn't matter as long as it's to standard scale. I can Frankenstein it all together.

Anyone with any ideas? I think I'm going crossed flipping through Reaper's entire catalog...

So out of curiosity, I looked to see if Pathfinder's Hypnotism spell had the same wording as 3.x's. It does. Although its a little less reliable due to Pathfinder not having a Fanatic attitude level. Its still good enough.

While the subject is fascinated by this spell, it reacts as though it were two steps more friendly in attitude. This allows you to make a single request of the affected creature (provided you can communicate with it). The request must be brief and reasonable. Even after the spell ends, the creature retains its new attitude toward you, but only with respect to that particular request.

And with this and enough patience, any lvl 1 sorcerer can take over the world.

Step 1: Find anyone that you can convince to let you cast a spell on them. Pay them if you have to. Only thing that matters is that they voluntarily allow you to cast a spell on them, aka they willingly forgo their saving throw.

Step 2: Cast Hypnotism. Use the suggestion "Trust me". The target has now gone from Indifferent to Helpful in regards to trusting you, and that change is permanent. Under 3.x, you could get them up to Fanatic so that they would do as you asked without question, even to their own deaths, but Pathfinder's Helpful is enough to get them to fight for you, so it should still suffice for this.

Step 3: Use their new found trust to get them to wave any future saving throws against your spells, and proceed to cast Hypnotism as needed until you change their attitude about you completely. They won't remember what happened after the spell ends, so they will think their new attitude is their own idea, and hence won't question it.

Step 4: Repeat over time to build a small army of people that are Helpful to you. You are now a cult leader. Use your helpful followers to Aid Another on your checks to recruit more people into voluntarily failing their saving throws.

Step 5: Recruit other wizards/sorcerers/characters with UMD and get them to learn Hypnotism/give them wands/scrolls of Hypnotism. Get them to Helpful across the board, and have them go out and do the same thing to other people in a pyramid scheme.

Step 6: Take over ever increasing territories. Start with small villages until you've won the entire village over. With their help, move to taking over larger villages, then cities, nations, and the world.

Sure, you can only hypnotize 2d4 hitdice at a time, but even at level 1 that means you can potentially recruit up to lvl 8 characters. The vast majority of humanoids in any setting are going to be lower level than that, and by the time your followers are numbered in the tens of thousands, you will have sufficient political power to control the higher level characters through more mundane means.

Just be sure to keep things on the down low at the start, which is when you are most vulnerable. Once you have your base cult set up, you can start abducting people and forcing them to submit to your magic brainwashing, which when you're done you can easily convince them that what you did was for their own good and let them go, to bring you even more.

As long as you don't tip your hand too early, the authorities shouldn't catch wind of what you're doing until its too late and you've already taken over enough of their own ranks for them to join you as well.

Think of it like a cross between being a charismatic campaign speaker, and being able to make your own manchurian candidates in bulk. Once you've got other spellcasters under your thrall, it pretty much becomes exponential growth and cannot be stopped.

So I'm thinking of building a Ninja. I didn't really like most of the weapon choices, and after watching an odd episode or two of Power Rangers I started looking into unarmed builds. Saw the monk/ninja build with the feat to keep up unarmed damage, but in the end I came to a tiefling with the Maw or Claw sub ability. Combine that with the prehensile tail sub and I've got a suitably monstrous character.

The advice I need revolves around using those claws. Never really played a character that relies on natural weapons as their main attack routine.

Can I use the claws with iterative attacks from high BAB? How do two claws interact with TWF?

Additionaly, I know I can enhance base claw damage with Improved Natural Weapons monstrous feat, but I assume that just like a monk the only way I could enchant my claws is with the amulet of mighty fists?

Basically I'm grooving on the idea of the shadowy demon ninja that kills with his bare claws, I'm just not 100% up on what all would be required for a good mauling.

In the early/intermediate stages of coming up with a scratch necromancer base class that matches what I want in a true necromancer, and I'd love some feedback to help talk it out into something workable.

Basic Tennants of my Ideal Necromancer:

1) Aracane, Spontaneous
This is a class where power comes from study and personal power, not religious devotion and submission. Its about knowing what you want and gaining the power to reach out and take it for yourself, not praying to a god to just hand it to you. I also am more fond of the idea that once you know how to do something, you know how to do it. No vancian here.

2) Partial Caster
I would want to limit the overall caster power of the class, as ideally it should revolve around what makes it special and unique instead of just constantly getting more and more powerful spells like a wizard/sorcerer does.

3) Horde Combat
The primary form of combat should be through the use of undead hordes. I'd like to see this as a class feature instead of just a spell known (even if automatically known) just so it can be better tailored to the class. Would basically be a Summon Undead type system that they can convert spells into, much like a cleric converting spells into Healing, or some other form of flexible resource.

4) Soul Reaping
Part of what I consider a good necromancer is the ability to benefit from the deaths of their victims. The ability to take the life force of one being and use it in some form. Possibly tie it into the horde summoning? Perhaps instead of having it as simple as summoning style spells, the necromancer could have a hitdice pool per day, which they could augment by killing other creatures. You kill X hitdice worth of living opponent, you add X hitdice to the pool you draw from to summon more undead.

5) Becoming Undead
Like the Dread Necromancer from WotC, I think the path and capstone ability of becoming a Lich is a nice idea, and steadily increasing resistances and immunities would be a good way to fill dead leavels.

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Without going into a full rough build yet, I'd like to try working out the abilities, see if I can get some input on them, then can work out how to spread them out as we go.

Base Abilities
Hitdice: d8
BAB: Medium
Saves: Will strong
Spells per Day: As Bard
Skillpoints: 4 + Int
Armor Prof: Light armor, but not shields. Necromancers do not suffer arcane spell failure from wearing light armor.
Weapon Prof: All simple plus one martial melee weapon of choice

Explanation: Key part of the visual appeal of a necromancer IMO is the intimidating armor, so I want them to be able to wear armor. Same with carrying an intimidating weapon beyond just a wizard staff. Ability to wear armor, carry a melee weapon, and restricted casting means bard like hitdice and combat abilities.

They're not as skillful as Bards, but I'd want them to be able to keep up on at least Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcana), Bluff/Intimidate/Diplomacy, and a flavor skill as core skills, so 4 seems to be the right amount there.

Would have a custom spell list, mostly necromancy spells, things that are thematically appropriate, etc.

Primary Abilities

Summon Undead:
Spread out across a standard I-IX grouping like Summon Monster, with CR appropriate undead to summon at each stage. Unlike normal summoning spells though, the limit is the number of hitdice they can summon per day. So if they had 4 hitdice of undead they could summon, they could bring up a single ogre skeleton, or they could bring up 4 human skeletons. Undead that are more powerful than their hitdice would otherwise indicate could simply have their summoning hitdice cost adjusted (so say a skeleton with 1 HD that has a template that gives it +1 CR could cost 2 HD to summon). Follows basic summoning rules (1 round per level, etc).

Touch of Death:
To start with, would give +1d4 negative energy damage to unarmed attacks. As the levels increase, it would gain +1 to +5 damage. At some fairly early point have the base damage increase to 1d6, and allow the ToD to be applied through a melee weapon at a reduced 1d4 base damage.

Well of Souls:
The number of hitdice the necromancer can summon per day. Start it out low and increase it based on level. Your Well of Souls resets to base value after 8 hours of rest. Keep the overall amount fairly low though, as it can be refilled by...

Soul Reaping:
Any living creature that dies the same round it has taken damage from Touch of Death transfers it's hitdice into the Well of Souls. At early levels, it could be say 1/2 hitdice, then as level increases it bumps up to full hitdice. This will encourage the necromancer to actually get out there participate in combat with his armor and hitpoints, as well as give him an incentive to kill. Good (relatively speaking) necros might only use this on things that attack them, while evil necros would be the kind slaughtering an entire village just to power themselves up.

Embrace of the Grave:
Necro's body begins taking on the qualities of a Lich, gaining DR, magic resistance, etc. Capstone would be fully transforming into a Lich without paying for the process or having a level adjustment as the power was spread out across leveling as a class feature.

Minor Abilities
Things to potentially round out dead levels or in case the overall power of the class seems a little low. Wouldn't all make it in, but stuff to think about.

Command Undead:
Minor ability but manditory, IMO. Doesn't channel negative energy like a cleric, but perhaps could burn hitdice from Well of Souls to make the attempt. Say at a cost of 1/2 the hitdice of the undead you are attempting to command to make the attempt (which can fail, and you've still spent the hitdice for the day), and later have it scale up to being able to burn an equal amount of hitdice for a no save command? Essentially half the cost of summoning it yourself to make the attempt, or pay the full cost to summon the same thing to enslave it outright with no chance of failure?

Soul Drinking:
Convert hitdice from your Well of Souls into healing for the necromancer. Say 1 hp per hitdice spent? Wouldn't be something the necromancer would want to do if they could get healing from other means, but when the chips are down being able to rebuild the body from the souls of your victims sounds very necromancerish to me.

Fear Aura:
Once per round as a swift action cause anything in a 5' radius to make a will save DC 10 + 1/2 necro level + Cha mod or become Shaken.

Undead Master:
Summoned or created undead gain a bonus to strength/dexterity and hitpoints. Say start at +2 Strength and Dex with +1 hp per hitdice at start, and then later scale it to +4 and +2/hitdice.

Horde Lord:
When creating permanent undead via animate/create undead, the total number of hitdice of undead you can control is 4 + Cha mod per level, instead of just plain 4 per level.

Efficient Animation:
When casting spells such as animate dead or create undead, the gold cost of the material components is halved.

Create Greater Undead:
With spell level capping at 6th, the necromancer wouldn't normally be able to cast Create Greater Undead. Just flat out give the ability to cast it to them as a class ability.

Potential Necro Only Spell Ideas

Create Soul Gem:
Duration of 1 minute/level or until activated, next time you use Soul Reaping, the hitdice that would normally be added to your Well of Souls are instead transferred to a gem worth at least X gp per hitdice stored, which then becomes a Soul Gem. Any hitdice over the value of the gem are lost. As a swift action, you may transfer all of the stored hitdice into your Well of Souls. Using the stored hitdice burns out the gem leaving nothing but a valueless black stone.

Master's Touch:
Duration of 1 round/level, 1 + cha mod undead under your control (minimum of 1) gain the benefit from your Touch of Death ability, and can trigger Soul Reaping.

Okay, so specifically the rules are that you can:

1) Attack a square that you think an invisible opponent is in, and have a 50% miss chance. DM rolls the chance if the creature is there or not so that you can't be sure.

2) Grope around with both hands to try and make a touch attack in any 2 adjacent squares.

So... what happens when you can get a bead on the target by say the scent ability or the target makes a noise that you can hear, thus giving you what direction its in, and then you just flat out shoot in that direction?

Just about any ranged or even thrown weapon should have a fairly flat trajectory over the short run, with faster weapons being able to fly flatter, so lets just say first range increment = relatively flat and level flight.

Example, lets say an archer is on a grid, and there is an invisible opponent 20 feet (4 squares) directly to their right. Archer gets the idea that the target is directly to their right, and fires their bow in a straight line.

Would/should the arrow have a chance of hitting anything in it's flightpath, regardless of whether or not the player specifically called out the square the opponent is standing in? Would/should the arrow be able to effectively "target" every single square in the line to see if it hits anything?

I'm leaning towards yes, simply because a line spell like a Lightning Bolt could potentially hit them as long as they were in one of the affected squares.

Pathfinder officially still uses Knowledge (101 Different Things) to be able to size up an opponent.

If you want to look at a Dragon and figure out how many HD it has, thats a Knowledge (Arcana) check. If you want to look at a Vampire and figure out it has a weakness to sunlight, thats a Knowledge (Religion) check. If you want to see how many hitdice a humanoid has, its Knowledge (Local).

To be able to just watch an opponent and get a feel for how strong they are, a character must be a walking encylopedia, and that doesn't sit well with me.

I would expect a seasoned warrior to be able to watch another warrior move and get some basic idea of how skilled they are, or get a rough idea of how thick something's hide/armor is, etc, without also knowing the name of every local lord and which fishwife was cheating on her husband. Perhaps even make it so you can recognize when a special maneuver has been preformed (like say a Power Attack, or when someone is using Weapon Finesse).

How well would you think it would work to split this kind of "size them up" stuff into a new skill? Say take it away from Intelligence as it isn't a skill based on study and memorization of creatures, and make it Wisdom based like Perception?

Wanting to put together an archer character as more of a Han Solo style rake. As we know, sneak attack and range typically don't mix since you can't flank at range, and the whole hide/shoot/hide thing is... unreliable at best.

So instead I'm looking at a more mobile attrition based archer. Namely using Sniper to push out his sneak attack range, and Scout for the Skirmisher ability (move 10' and get sneak attack regardless). I then plan to pick up the rogue tricks for Bleeding Attack to add a constant bleed to targets, and Minor/Major Magic to pick up True Shot. Feat wise go for Shot on the Run.

That makes up pretty much the core of the build. Basic idea being (as I'm sure you've already figured out for yourself) that it will basically never stop moving, constantly dodging around to keep up a nonstop sneak attack barrage while staying well out of harm's way himself. Would also be able to stay effective against larger groups of enemies by hitting them one by one with that bleed damage and moving on to the next one. Should also be especially effective against high AC targets as it only takes one True Strike Bleeding Attack to turn a hard fight into a waiting game.

Sure, its not going to compare damage wise to a flanking TWF rogue thats dishing out three or four full sneak attacks per turn, but it has a lot more survivability (IMO) by not being anywhere near melee, and has the ability to basically pick any target on the field for SA damage at will. Can also pick up TWF as well with a trick just in case.

Anyone see any major flaws that I'm overlooking, or have ideas on how to improve?