EmberKin's page

The thing to remember is that the Magus class in and of itself was originally designed to fulfill the fantasy niche of the Eldritch Knight in a more updated and streamline package. Many archetypes are the result of attempts to wrestle grandfathered PrCs from past editions into a manageable form. The Eldritch Archer and to a smaller extent, Arrowsong Minstrel were attempts to rehash the spirit of Arcane Archer onto a new Pathfinder friendly chassis of mechanics.

The skillful caster who represents the laws of nature has existed before you fools took "nature" to refer only to the woodlands.

In fact, it exists as two entire classes, Alchemist and Investigator.

Hmm...I'd call them Science Bards. Great flexible chassis that opens up a lot of character varieties and wear multiple hats, but to me they fail at being lumped into the "Nature Bard" role due to not being able to cast divine spell. Preservationist, Horticulturist, Bramble Brewer do tack on some woodsy vibes. Admittedly a failure on my part is that I've always viewed them through the filter of Urbane, Victorian, or Noir type characters. Thinking on it now, both classes could easily be used to fulfill something like a "Hedge Witch", "Wiseman of the Woods", or "Perceptive Huntsman" fantasy right out of box.

Now that newish Fey Trickster Memserist has tossed it's hat into the ring as a contender for the one true Nature Bard. Baseline Mesmerist was already the Psychic Bard/Beguiler 2.0 but this archetype swaps it over to fey based nature flavor. It's a charisma based 3/4th divine caster using the Hunter's Druid/Ranger spell list. Still has some strong social options baked into it's class options. Instead of buffing the party like a standard bard, Fey Trickers are probably better off supporting the group by debuffing the enemies and going for battlefield control spells. Painful stare is nice, but seems to be lacking in combat steroids compared to Hunter and SH/GFM Inquisitor if that's what you want to focus on. Could go for Samsaran Shenanigans to steal some of the better Inquisitor or Paladin buffs spells, but just can't make up the difference in potential that Animal Focus, Animal Companion, Judgements, TeamWork Feats, or Bane provide.

If you're willing to stick to blades you could go Tengu. They're proficient with all "sword-like" weapons.

May need to stock up on a few birthday gifts for my GMs. 'Course they're really just an excuse for me to use the books in their games :P.

Just wrapped up a short campaign with me playing a LN GFM/SH Inquisitor tag teaming with a NG Feral Hunter and a CN Lunar Oracle with a TN Sylvan Sorcerer added in for extra musty furbags. Trees were hugged, toes were stepped on, and those blight druids were repelled.

Seriously though, it was an interesting experience to be in a party full of druid substitutes in a brief campaign with an organization of evil druids as the BBE.

EmberKin wrote:

While not PFS legal, the Mauler Archetype lets your Familiar become a secondary combat pet.

The Mauler is PFS legal, it is on pg 11.

Additional Resources wrote:

Pathfinder Player Companion: Familiar Folio

Archetypes: all archetypes on pages 6–11 and 14 are legal for play,

I meant Maulers combined with this build wasn't legal because in PFS you're only allowed 1 combat pet.

If I'm reading this right taking both archetypes if you took the Hawk familiar you'd get that plus an animal companion (who could use your teamwork feats). . .

That would let you set up the kind of characters from fiction with multiple loyal animal companions, right?

Yes, you could get an Animal Companion plus an animal Familiar if you choose one of the Eagle/Crocodile/Monkey/Serpent/Frog Druid Domains. While not PFS legal, the Mauler Archetype lets your Familiar become a secondary combat pet. A small Inquisitor could also use a Mauler Hawk familiar as an airborne mount and let their regular animal companion as their main land mount.

I like it. Seems like a very cool (Alt)class.

However Wild Step is such a crazy downgrade its not even funny. I mean really outside of Power of Nature (which doesnt even add to spells known just spell list) everything that GFW switches is a downgrade.

Agree'd. Love the fluff, but hate the crunch from Green Faith Marshal. Though getting the Eagle Domain may be worth it. Adding Fly shores up one of Inquisitor's greatest weaknesses. Also the Familiar Folio added some tricks that could be used with the Hawk familiar. For example giving it the Sage Archetype for a mini Bardic Knowledge or Mascot for more team synergy. Losing most of it's social steroids and Stalwart really is pretty damn painful.

Sorry to necro this thread, but I find myself in a similar situation. Though in my case my case it's a Samasaran Hunter rather than an Inquisitor looking to grab some of the more juicy divine combat buffs missing from the Druid/Ranger list. Has there been any recent spells added in splats that should be considered?

I think I'll pick a Compsognathus familiar, which grants a +4 to Initiative and has 8 STR, so no-one can argue that he can't load a crossbow.

I need to know its weight because I'll be carrying it.

Well I guess if movie magic can make raptors open doors, I suppose it could let their little cousins with no opposable thumbs somehow manipulate crossbow bolts.

Heyas all, was reading through the new Cohorts and Companions book and something caught my eye:

A character with an intelligent item cohort can enhance and improve the item’s magical abilities as if possessing the appropriate item creation feat for creating an item of its type.

If a Magus turns their Black Blade into a cohort, does that supersede the the rule that BladeBound Magi can't normally enchant their Black Blades? I expect the answer is no, but thought I'd double check.

The Warpriest class is both uninspired niche-wise and mechanically. It comes off looking unfavorably next to every other class that can fill the same niche.

I really wanted to like Warpriest, but I have to agree it just doesn't have the skills to pay the bills. Other than being a Holy Beatstick, Warpriest doesn't excel at anything. Sadly, it's not even the best at filling that role. Cherry picking a few spells of the Paladin/Inquisitor lists isn't going to fix a class that is mechanically flawed.

Heyas all, I'm working on a new character for a home campaign and I want her to have an Arcane Bonded Weapon for her to tinker with. There seems be a million and one ways to get a familiar these days, but few to get a Bonded Item. Can anyone point me at ways to get one besides being a Wizard, Arcane Duelist, Blade Adept, Bonded Witch, Soulforger, and Arcane Bloodline/Mongrel/Eldritch Heritage/VMC Sorc.

Wait, is this "androids can only take levels in a few classes" a thing?

Do people actually think race should define character class, especially with PCs?

This is sort of a real mechanical thing. The android's racial trait that prevents them from benefiting from Morale Bonuses does lock them out of from excelling at classes that revolve around buffing themselves with Morale Bonuses such as Bards and baseline Barbarians.

Is there a particular reason you don't want to use Investigator class that came out last year in the Advance Class Guide? It's pretty much tailored made to do exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

Just having a bit of a kerfuffle at the table. When an ability/spell/feat/ect says it does "'X' for one round", when does the effect end? At the beginning of the inflicter's next turn, or at the end of the next turn?