Experiment 626's page

I'm hoping you mad geniuses can help me with a magus//swashbuckler build!

I took the bladebound archetype as the GM's stingy on items and I don't feel like chasing magic weapons. I was tempted to go kensai so I could avoid armor hassles as well, but I just can't wrap my head around the diminished casting.

We're starting off at 2//2 level as well, and I don't want to wait for a build to come together - I want things to work right out of the gate and keep right on working, as I doubt these characters will even see 6th level. We get 3,000 gp for starting money. No item can be over 1500gp in price.

Any tips? Caveats? Suggested feat progression through level 6?

Here's the build. Thanks!

Unnamed Hero
Elf magus (bladebound) 2/swashbuckler (inspired blade) 2/gestalt 2 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 56, 125, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9, 47)
CN Medium humanoid (elf)
Hero Points 1
Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 24 (2d10+4)
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +4; +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities charmed life 3/day; Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee dagger +3 (1d4+1/19-20) or
dagger +3 (1d4+1/19-20) or
dagger +3 (1d4+1/19-20) or
rapier +7 (1d6+4/18-20)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+1, 4 points), deeds (derring-do, opportune parry and riposte), panache (4), spell combat, spellstrike
Magus (Bladebound) Spells Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +5)
1st—color spray (DC 14), shocking grasp, windy escape[ARG]
0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost, touch of fatigue (DC 13)
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 17 (17 vs. disarm)
Feats Fencing Grace, Weapon Focus (rapier)
Traits reactionary, two-world magic
Skills Acrobatics +5 (+1 to jump), Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Escape Artist +5, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (local) +7, Knowledge (nobility) +7, Perception +7, Profession (gambler) +5, Ride +5, Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +5, Spellcraft +7 (+9 to identify magic item properties), Stealth +2, Swim +2; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Common, Elven
SQ arcane focus, elven magic, hero points, inspired panache
Combat Gear wand of shield (13 charges); Other Gear mwk studded leather, dagger, dagger, dagger, rapier, tent, hanging, thread (50 ft.), twine (50'), wrist sheath, spring loaded (2), 119 gp, 9 sp, 8 cp
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Focus +2 to concentration checks to cast arcane spells defensively.
Arcane Pool +1 (4/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Charmed Life (3/day) (Ex) Choose to add Charisma bonus to save before roll is made.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Fencing Grace Add Dex instead of Str to rapier damage. +2 CMD vs. disarm if you have at least 1 panache point.
Hero Points Hero Points can be spent at any time to grant a variety of bonuses.
Inspired Panache (Ex) Gain no panache from killing blow, only from rapier crits.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Panache (Ex) Gain a pool of points that are spent to fuel deeds, regained on light/piercing crit/killing blow.
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Spellstrike (Su) Deliver touch spells as part of a melee attack.
Two-World Magic (Touch of Fatigue, Magus [Bladebound]) Add a 0-level spell from another class to your spell list.

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I was looking over some domains to try to hang on my creepy monk inquisitor gestalt guy and checked out the Dragon subdomain, as it was rated pretty highly in Bodhi's Inquisitor Guide.

What can one do with the nonlethal gaze attack one gets from the Scalykind domain?

Venomous Stare (Sp): You are a true lord of reptiles, able to induce pain, panic, and confusion with a mere glance, and your mesmerizing eyes can even drive weak creatures into unconsciousness. As a standard action, you can activate a gaze attack with a 30-foot range. This is an active gaze attack that can target a single creature within range. The target must make a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your cleric level + your Wisdom modifier). Those who fail take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage + 1 point for every two cleric levels you possess and are fascinated until the beginning of your next turn. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. This is a mind-affecting effect.

At 4th level, the Dragon domain grants a breath weapon. Besides the Noxious Bite feat and an acidic breath weapon, what can be done to optimize this or at least give it more options?

Dragonbreath (Su)

At 4th level, you may use a breath weapon once per day as a standard action. When you gain this ability, choose acid, cold, fire, or electricity—this determines what kind of damage your breath weapon deals. Once you make this choice, you cannot change it later. Your breath weapon fills a 15-foot cone, and deals 3d6 points of damage—this damage increases by 1d6 points at every even-numbered level you gain beyond 4th level. A creature hit by your dragonbreath attack can attempt a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 your cleric level + your Wisdom modifier) to take half damage. At 9th level, you can use this ability two times per day, and at 1 4th level you can use it three times per day.

Thanks in advance for your ideas and input!

Folks, I've got an existing character that I might want to revamp, depending on your input. Not only the build, but tactics and other ideas will all be considered!

We're starting off at level 3 (straight classed) or 2//2 (split). Starting money is 3,000, no items over 1500 gp, and no dipping is allowed - the gestalt paths have to be 1 class. We can have more than 2 classes eventually, but that's a long way off, if ever. We roll for attributes and I got lucky, thus the high stats. I sunk my 2 points into wisdom as both classes draw off that stat, and I can buff my attack bonus more easily than my wisdom with Divine Favor + the Fate's Favored trait, and various Judgements. Lastly, all spontaneous casters get extra spells known based on their intelligence in this campaign world.

Here's what I'm after:

Crowd control and debuffing focused - DPR bores the heck out of me. Pulling people's jerkins up over their head, pushing them off of cliffs, or setting off a dose of smoke bomb in a room full of baddies to let me use my blindfighting feat while they flounder makes me giggle. I'm also a decade-long student of various martial arts, so I like trying to fit what I know can work into the game. The party I'm trying to slot into seems to need some control and buffing (buffing via debuffing, in this case) but I'm trying to avoid the God Wizard role as that's what I usually play and its already covered by another player.

Versatility - we're in a low level, lowish magic game, so skill points and class skills really matter, and we spend time doing intrigue/social stuff at least as often as combat. There's at least 1 rogue that I'll probably be pairing up with along with an Arcanist//Investigator, so I'll probably be their "heavy"/bodyguard on various missions.

I need a character that works now, not 3 levels from now - Waiting for feat chains or items that never arrive only leads to frustration on my part, and we're topping out around 6th level anyway.

We'll be in the city at least part of the time, and the majority of opponents will be humanoid. I'm sadly addicted to feats, mostly because I want to be able to take people's weapons away from them, poke them in the eyes, trip them, grapple them, or toss them into other people like bowling balls. If I could fit in Equipment Trick: Rope, I'd be even more ecstatic. Hogties, whips, and ranged entangles? That sounds like one hell of a Friday night to me! That means I probably have to stay Human, even though the Half Orc probably works better in terms of darkvision, some weapon proficiencies, and saving throws (esp. via the trait I'm already taking).

Here's what I came up with. Domains are open. I had the Conversion inquisition in the old campaign but no longer have to cover the face role - I can be bad cop/enforcer to someone else's good cop instead. I picked the Night subdomain as I liked the free blind fight feat and can envision using it along with a smoke pellet or darkflare, but Tactics, Torture, or Repose caught my eye as well.

I took the Command spell due to high wisdom and will be picking up Blistering Invective at 4th level. Command is largely "ranged combat maneuvers", Litany of Sloth lets me flank or attempt maneuvers without fear of reprisal, and Blistering Invective will let me intimidate similar to the Dazzling Display feat.

This guy was put together before the ACG came out, so there might be a better mousetrap that can be built. Help me make this guy every foe's worst nightmare and every party's dream debuffer/troubleshooter!

Kane
Human inquisitor of Nunya Bidness 2/monk (maneuver master, qinggong monk) 2/gestalt 2 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 58, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 51)
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +7; Senses Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +4 untyped bonus)
hp 22 (2d8+6)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +7
Defensive Abilities evasion
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +4 (1d6+3)
Special Attacks judgment 1/day, stunning fist (2/day, DC 15)
Inquisitor Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd; concentration +6)
At will—detect alignment
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 2nd; concentration +6)
1st (3/day)—command (DC 15), divine favor, expeditious retreat, protection from evil
0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, detect poison, guidance, light, sift[APG]
Domain Darkness (Night subdomain)
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Statistics
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Str 17, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 19, Cha 12
Base Atk +1; CMB +6 (+8 dirty trick, +8 grapple, +8 trip); CMD 21 (23 vs. dirty trick, 23 vs. grapple, 23 vs. trip)
Feats Blind-fight, Combat Reflexes, Improved Dirty Trick, Improved Grapple, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist
Traits bred for war (shoanti), fate's favored
Skills Acrobatics +7, Bluff +5, Climb +7, Escape Artist +7, Heal +8, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (nature) +6, Knowledge (planes) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +8, Ride +7, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +6, Stealth +7, Survival +8, Swim +7
Languages Common, Custom Language, Giant
SQ flurry of maneuvers, monster lore +4, night hunter, stern gaze +1, track +1
Other Gear 150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Blind-Fight Re-roll misses because of concealment, other benefits.
Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Fate's Favored Increase luck bonuses by 1.
Flurry of Maneuvers (1 maneuver, -2) (Ex) At 1st level, as part of a full-attack action, a maneuver master can make one additional combat maneuver, regardless of whether the maneuver normally replaces a melee attack or requires a standard action. The maneuver master uses his monk level in pl
Improved Dirty Trick You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when performing a dirty trick.
Improved Grapple You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when grappling a foe.
Improved Trip You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when tripping.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Inquisitor Domain (Night)
Judgment (1/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Monster Lore +4 (Ex) +4 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures.
Night Hunter (1 rounds, 7/day) (Su) Become invisible to all but darkvision in dim light or darkness.
Stunning Fist (DC 15) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Track +1 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.

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Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC®, and are used under license.

Our gaming group's had a minor disagreement over the verbiage of the Detect Thoughts spell.

You detect surface thoughts. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.

1st Round: Presence or absence of thoughts (from conscious creatures with Intelligence scores of 1 or higher).

2nd Round: Number of thinking minds and the Intelligence score of each. If the highest Intelligence is 26 or higher (and at least 10 points higher than your own Intelligence score), you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends. This spell does not let you determine the location of the thinking minds if you can't see the creatures whose thoughts you are detecting.

3rd Round: Surface thoughts of any mind in the area. A target's Will save prevents you from reading its thoughts, and you must cast detect thoughts again to have another chance. Creatures of animal intelligence (Int 1 or 2) have simple, instinctual thoughts.

While the text of what occurs in the 2nd round of the spell seems clear that you gain information on every mind in the area of effect, the language of what occurs in the 3rd round is being interpreted in 2 different ways - one person seems to think that "any mind" means you can read the surface thoughts of "any (1, single) mind in the area of effect", while another has interpreted it to mean "any (all of them) mind in the area of effect".

Is there anything that backs up either viewpoint, or is this going to be a table variation thing?

Thanks!

My players will be tasked with finding some old caches of military weapons left buried by an empire that freely used necromancy and alchemy to bolster their military might. Can anyone think of some good things for the PCs to find?

Thus far I've got catapult munitions containing fast plague zombie botfly swarms, more with shadows inside contained by ghost salt, normal alchemical ammunition, frost giany bloody skeletons that were to be used as mobile artillery platforms, undead troops awaiting orders, and carrion golems.

Any other ideas? Are there some supplements or adventure paths I can snap up to help with writing up the quest for these caches?

I'm playing a luring cavalier/wizard in a home game. If he casts Magic Missile or uses a wand, does he get to apply his far challenge damage to each Magic Missile that hits his challenged target?

I have the same question about Scorching Ray. I assume his damage applies to each ray that strikes the challenged target, and doesn't just get added to the total at the end. This case might be a bit different because there's actually an attack roll involved for each ray, unlike Magic Missile.

Hey, folks! I've got a human 3rd lvl master summoner that I'm currently playing and I'm looking for some ideas for 2nd class options.

I have the following stats: Str 13, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 18; Alignment neutral

Feats: Boon companion*(see below), improved initiative, Augment summoning (class feature), superior summoning

Traits: Reactive, diabolical dabbler

*My eidolon has been house-ruled so that is has full progression instead of half for the price of a feat, but this is with the understanding that I will have a flavorful skill monkey and not a combat monster. Stats have also been swapped around to reflect this: S: 9, D: 13, Con: 12, Int: 13, Wis: 14, Cha: 15). The idea was to have a "competent secretary" while the boss was a slacker & blowhard.

Thus far I have racial bonuses in UMD, Craft alchemy, sense motive, & perception.

I'm open to any suggestions but looking specifically for advice on 2nd & 3rd classes. I've been looking at bard & oracle, but nothing's jumped out and grabbed me yet.

Thanks in advance!