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I was looking over the Druid, and wondered if anyone has built a non-monk grappling druid? Using Wild Shape to overcome the size limits and various ways to boost Strength. From my first look it seems feat availability is the big bottleneck.

I was looking at these feats:
Natural Spell
Shaping Focus <-- For Level Dips
Powerful Shape
Improved Grapple
Greater Grapple
Rapid Grapple
Hamatula Strike <--- Can a druid learn this when they get Constrict access?
Improved Unarmed Strike

I have a few questions about some interactions. I have ideas but I'm just going to present the case and I'd like to hear your insights.

The character: Cleric 1, Trickery and Travel Domains/Magus 6, Broad Study Arcana/Mystic Theurge 10. The race will need an appropriate SLA to round off entry reqs for the prestige class.

By now you might see where we're going.
Using Spell Synthesis in conjunction with Spell Combat enabled through Broad Study. Specifically, when combined with Spellstrike.

How would you run it?
Are there any clarifications(required?) for casting two touch spells using the Theurge's capstone?

Any feedback is welcome. I'd like to see what people think.

Thanks in advance for your time and input. There are two builds: a Kensai archetype and a standard Magus. Design parameters were: Wayang, 20 points, DPR-oriented, Built to level 9. This character is being played after retiring a previous one via Eyes of the Ten, which as I recall means I can increase one attribute by +2 beyond what has been factored.

The Alternative...

More Questions
I feel pretty confident on spell selection but any insight, tips or suggestions are appreciated! Especially regarding wands to use and Spells to take via Spellblending Arcana.

Perception untrained - Getting a penalty from Wis and no bonus from Training, I am not convinced I should even take this skill. The check will never be reliable. I was tempted to take Acrobatics instead. Thoughts?

Shocking Grasp - Man, what a great a spell for this class. There aren't too many others that synergize as well. I was tempted to look into some cold spells for an alternative and to maybe pick up Rime Spell. Has anyone else looked into this? What did you discover?

Metamagic Feats - Do you have any suggestions? Intensify Spell is the gold standard, but piercing spell and rime spell looked like good ones. Building for Trip and Toppling spell looked like good ideas, anyone seen that in action?

Wand Wielder says I can use wands with Spell Combat. It does not specify that the wands need to be for spells on the Magus Spell list. Does this mean I can use, say Wand of Bless with Spell Combat?

Metamagic Rods, it looks like a Magus uses them the same way as any other caster, correct? How does it interact with Spell Combat?

Dimensional Agility and the entire feat chain. Is it a trap? I want it to be cool but my initial assessment is that It's not worth it.

That's it, thanks again for any help!

How would you build a Wayang Rogue? At first I was thinking spring attack and vital strike with the scout archetype, but the BAB progression is prohibitive. Then I thought maybe Alchemist/Barbarian/Rogue. What are your thoughts?

I was wondering if this was intentional. It seems awkward that two Ifrit could turn and enlarge each other, but be unable to enlarge themselves.

Efreeti Magic: Some ifrits inherit an efreeti ancestor's ability to magically change a creature's size. They can cast either enlarge person or reduce person (the ifrit chooses when using this ability) once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level equals the ifrit's level). The ifrit can use this ability to affect other ifrits as though they were humanoid creatures. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait

FAQ question:

Still pondering what to do with an Ifrit
I have been thinking on an Immolator archetype Inquisitor. To reduce the stat investment I felt like using the Elven Curved Blade enchanted with Agile.

I felt like picking up Power Attack, Weapon Finesse, and then there's the challenge of how to get proficient in the Curved blade. Anyone know if I can do that with a trait? Heirloom Weapon would allow it, but then I couldn't have it made from a special material later (I have a weakness for Adamantine). Alternatively I could adopt a reach weapon but I would have to stat out differently, and mitigating the loss of Wisdom is already very expensive. Weapon choice is definitely something I'm unsure about, but I am fairly convinced I want to go with a two-handed build instead of ranged. I'm open to any suggestions.

How effective are Intimidate enhanced combat options? I haven't sat a table with a character who uses them yet, and while the numbers look good I'm still a little uncertain. Especially considering some of the feat investments.

What are your thoughts on losing Bane for Flaming and Greater Bane for Flaming Burst?

I could stick with the Fire Domain, which is pretty terrible, or I could look elsewhere as long as Fire is in the profile. I am pretty certain I'll trade out Fire Resist 5 for Wildfire Heart (+4 Init). If I drop the Fire Domain (I would select either Ash or Smoke, to be honest) I would also trade Fire Affinity for Fire in the Blood (limited fast healing) and Burning Hands for Enlarge/Reduce (including Ifrits, though it specifies OTHER Ifrits, which makes me sad)

I have some trepidation on replacing Smiting, which offers many ways to overcome DR, for Immolation, which reduces Fire Resistance exclusively.

To pad out the spell selection how viable is Expanded Arcana for spontaneous casters? One of the reasons I want to use a two-handed weapon is to reduce feat requirements so I can pad out in other areas, and this one was a concern.

I really, really love UMD, any arguments as to why I should not take Dangerously Curious as a Trait? (Namely, two other traits that further my other investments)

Current Design Intent Summary:
Use the Elven Curved Blade to capitalize on Flaming Burst additional critical properties. Compensate for low Wisdom with items and spells that do not require saves or have layered effects. Go first with absurd initiative bonus and avoid surprise with absurd perception.

So, I was thinking of building a Control style Sorcerer. I ended up with a race boon(Ifrit) for PFS and was toying around with different builds using that race.

One of the advantages I saw was the incredible bonus to initiative I could establish: +4 Race, +4 Imp Init, +4 Familiar(Varisian Tattoo Archetype), +4 Deuling weapon (spiked gauntlet), + Dex Mod, +2 Trait mod. This could be around +20 to Initiative without too much expense.

DC's could be +6 at level 1 (Elemental(Fire) Bloodline and Cha).

Any suggestions or advice on how to put something like this together? I haven't spent much time building casters so this would be difficult terrain for me in Pathfinder.

I have an Ifrit race boon for PFS, and I have to admit, I'm a little torn about what to play. Any ideas or suggestions on good synergies?

I was poking around with Eidolons and wanted some input on how these abilities interacted.

From my reading of these abilities whenever a piercing attack hits you make a grapple check and if successful you may apply Constrict damage.

So, I was fooling around with the Summoner and came up with this Snake Form build for an Eidolon. I'm looking for suggestions or advice on how to fine tune it or shore up weaknesses I may not have thought about. You know, the usual feedback.

This was built at Level 16, without Evolution feats.

I put the ability increase into Con for +2 DC to Poison Saves over a net +1dmg/Atk/CMB form adding it into Str, which gives me the stat block:

It gets a +34 to grapple checks and upon each successful grapple does Constrict damage (2d6+12) as a bonus. After the first successful attempt the check becomes +39. Grapple feats provide for three checks a turn, and a modest penalty allows for recurring Sting attacks which apply a DC23 poison (1d4 Str dmg, 4 rds, 1 save to cure) which also trigger Constrict via Hamatula Strike.

Did I miss anything? Could I do it better?

I came across an interesting question today and wondered if we could get a discussion going for a little insight.

Scenario:
A character has multiple attacks in a round.
This character possesses the feat Quick Draw.
This character also has more than one weapon.

The character is in combat with a creature. For the this scenario it will be round one of combat. The character begins the combat round unarmed and declares a Full Attack Action to use all of the attacks available. The first attack hits but the creature has damage resistance to the attack type.

1) Can this character use Quick Draw to then draw a weapon and finish the rest of the attacks with the desired weapon?
2) Can it be done using both one-handed and two-handed weapons?
3) Could it be done on a charge presuming the character had that capability?
4) Could it be done using one weapon at first and then another second? (Drops the ineffective weapon and draws the more effective one)
5) If the character is attacking initially unarmed, would the need for Quick Draw be bypassed with the presumption that the character is using knees/feet and holding the weapon at bay until required?
6) If the attacks are iterative or non-iterative how would that affect the interpretation?

I was excited to build my very first fantasy epic Gunslinger character type. I enjoy swashbuckling stories and have always felt early firearms were a legitimate addition to any game where fireballs, dragons and talking swords lurked. Your opinion may vary. I'm new to the Pathfinder Society and it took me some time to track down all the relevant rules for use with my proposed character. What really surprised me was discovering that, as far as I understand, a Gunslinger is not a viable character until it has reached level 11 in class, and to be viable it must select Lightning Reload as the Deed for that level and have selected Rapid Reload(Your Firearm of Choice).

Follow me on the logic as I would love to be mistaken.

Per the Firearm rules on reloading:

Early Firearms: Early firearms are muzzle-loaded,

requiring bullets or pellets and black powder to be rammed
down the muzzle. If an early firearm has multiple barrels,
each barrel must be loaded separately. It is a standard action
to load each barrel of a one-handed early firearm and a
full-round action to load each barrel of a two-handed early
firearm.

And we know from the Core Rules Book that you only get one standard action per round and one swift action per round.

There are six types of actions: standard actions, move actions,

full-round actions, swift actions, immediate actions,
and free actions.
In a normal round, you can perform a standard action
and a move action, or you can perform a full-round action.
You can also perform one swift action and one or more
free actions. You can always take a move action in place of
a standard action.

Okay, so best case scenario is a one-handed firearm.

Now a Gunslinger's BAB is topnotch and grows every level, capping at +20/+15/+10/+5. The Gunslinger also receives d10 hit dice, reinforcing that this is a combat focused character template. Like most character classes of this type gear is very important to performance. So I spend a lot of time hunting down exactly what gear is viable for Pathfinder Society Organized Play.

Equipment: No firearm sized Large or larger is available for purchase. The double hackbut and culverin on Table 3–4 and advanced firearms on Table 3–5 and are not permitted in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. No character may purchase a firearm unless she possesses the Gunsmithing feat and firearms are never considered Always Available; a character must possess enough Fame to purchase any firearm not found on a Chronicle sheet or granted by a class feature. All ammunition except metal cartridges may be purchased.

Okay, so Gunslingers are restricted to weapons that all must be loaded with a standard action per barrel. These weapons are hard to obtain and never reduced in cost. Ammunition is also costly but much easier to come by.

If you have stuck with me so far here are the elements:
1) I must expend my turn either firing my weapon or reloading it. If I possess the Rapid Reload feat I can spend my turn reloading two barrels of a firearm at maximum. One barrel as a Swift Action and one barrel as a Standard Action. No translation exists for equivalent swift actions to standard actions and, really, shouldn't.
2) All Pathfinder Society available firearms have either a one or two shot capacity for ammo except the Pepperbox, which contains 6 barrels. Each barrel must be loaded as a separate action.

With Rapid Reload and a pistol the first 5 levels of a Gunslinger's life are not terrible. You get your one shot, and if you took Rapid Reload instead of Point Blank Shot or Precise Shot you can receive your full compliment of attacks. You cannot take advantage of Rapid Fire unless you buy a weapon with another barrel. If you choose to use a two-handed firearm you are restricted to firing every other turn regardless.

So, let us then assign an array of guns, weapon cords and the Quick Draw feat to the Gunslinger. The effect is a character who can fire a lot of bullets once and then...has to reload a lot of barrels while other people fight for their lives.

The problem as I see it is that the Gunslinger is a combat focused class that is unable to receive a full compliment of attacks in the weapon they specialize in for 11 levels. After that point, if the character is to receive the benefits of a Full Attack action they are *required* to buy a specific feat and select a specific Deed, otherwise 16th level arrives and the character (after one good bullet storm from multiple weapons) Fires +16(BOOM)/+11(BOOM)/+6(click)/+1(click). This reload cap is a serious bottleneck to the class' effectiveness.

Am I missing something critical here? Because I can see no way to pull my weight as a Gunslinger until level 11. Even then I am required to select specific options in order to take advantage of basic game mechanics like the Full Attack action, which seems fairly absurd to me for a class that uses the highest BAB and second highest hit dice.

Thanks in advance for any insight you have to offer.