FractalLaw's page

Please cancel my Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Pawns, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Maps, and Starfinder Accessories subscriptions.

I seem to have ended up with two copies of the Special Edition Gamemastery guide, one part of my subscription and the other not.

Please remove the non-subscription copy from my order.

I ran this last night.

I'm also missing 10-22.

I think I probably screwed something up.

I had added the new GM screen, combat pad, condition cards, and character sheets to my sidecart yesterday before the accessories subscription was available. When it became available today I subscribed to it, but ended up with doubles of everything in my sidecart. In an attempt to fix this myself it appears to have gotten somewhat screwed up.

Please verify that I am properly subscribed to Pathfinder Accessories and that I'll just be getting one copy of each when my order generates.

Please cancel my Pathfinder Battles subscription.

10-9 is not available as an option to report for.

While my monthly subscription order appears to have shipped, the PDF for the Plane-Hopper's Handbook is not on my download page, nor was it listed in the shipping notice email.

Flat footed CMD should be normal CMD less Dex, Dodge, and any other modifiers that specifically aren't active while flat footed.

It doesn't seem like anything more than those two rules from the CRB should be needed.

I have a player running a Priest from Kobold Press' "New Paths Compendium". They're not proficient with any armor or shields. I know he could take a feat to become proficient, but would it be feasible to make the Channeling Shield into a ring?

Put channeling on a buckler. A masterwork buckler (which is required for it to be magic) has no penalty for using it while not proficient.

No. Enhancement bonuses only allow you to overcome alignment and special material based DR, and then only for some special materials.

Can you not requisition scrolls?

I'd also just try explaining to the GM that this is really denying a wizard a core part of being a wizard, the acquisition of new spells. Ask if he can work something out.

As to scribing scrolls, remember this section of the core rulebook:

If the caster is out adventuring, he can devote 4 hours each day to item creation, although he nets only 2 hours’ worth of work. This time is not spent in one continuous period, but rather during lunch, morning preparation, and during watches at night.

It's somewhat debatable if you can raise the spellcraft check DC by 5 to scribe a scroll of a spell that you don't know, but that may be an option for you. I'd personally interpret it as your character performing research, but your GM may take it another way.

If you really are stuck without being able to acquire spells then your list is pretty solid so far. Greater Invisibility would be a good option. Teleport would help enormously with almost everything.

I'm unable to report for event #90466. I can, however, report for my other events.

When I try to report for #90466 I get a "Sorry, there was a problem handling your request. The system administrator has been notified." error page.

The strict answer is yes, but it this seems like a loaded question to me.

What are you thinking of doing?

So, is there any chance in this thread of getting an answer to just how Mythic Vital Strike actually works. 6d6+72 damage versus 6d6+144 damage for a single hit is a very large difference, especially at low tier where the higher damage value is very likely to kill a PC outright.

How did people who ran this at Gencon do it?

I doubt we'll get an official ruling overall, but Robert Brookes (the scenario author) did comment that the 'sane' version was the one intended in the scenario design, which is good enough for me.

Yes, the convention list is very much appreciated.

I can't find it right now, but IIRC that "sane" version of mythic vital strike is was some designer explained at some point, likely because of the adventure path.

A clarification how it is supposed to work for this scenario would be appreciated, you might be able to come back from the "sane" interpretation, but you would need something like a wish to come back from the insane version.

A breath of life should be able to bring back most characters hit by the "insane" version, assuming that they were at full health when they were hit. Unless it crits; the only thing to be done for a PC crit by that would be to find a very large diamond.

When I mentioned that Mythic Vital Strike was very poorly worded the "multiply ... by the number of weapon damage dice you roll" part was what I was referring to.

When Vector uses a Improved Vital Strike he's rolling 6 damage dice, meaning that his strength and mythic power attack bonuses should be multiplied by 6, not 3.

I think it would be a perfectly reasonable argument to say that RAI was that it should be sets of damage dice, but that's not actually what the feat says.

I've run this twice now. I've used the RAW version both times. Each time, before making Vector's first attack and outright murdering a caster, I've gone through and explained exactly how I arrived at the numbers I was using.

Everyone has agreed with my reading, while at the same time also agreeing that Mythic Vital Strike is really, really broken.

As an aside, in my home games I use the RAI version. I usually like embracing the mythic cheese, but MVS is with foe biting, beyond morality, and undetectable on the short list of things that are simply too broken to use.

We went from level 1 to 20 (and mythic tier 1 to 10) when I ran Wrath of the Righteous. I do not expect it to happen again anytime soon.

I do also have a level 20 PFS character that played most everything from level 12 up with the same group of people. It's not quite the same thing, however.

I've never actually played that character at level 20, either.

For reasons that are unclear to me, the PCs at my table let Isah go without negotiating any terms. I had him stick around through the process of fixing things, but he then left at the start of combat.

I'd have let them do anything reasonable, even beyond the normal 'safe' wish options, but screwing with them a little if they went crazy.

They could have used the help against Vector.

There's nothing specifically in the rules for that that I'm aware of, but I'd personally allow a heal check, DC 25 or so, to detect them.

I'd missed it initially, but the Breath of Lysianassa is the real protection from the PCs from the fire dominant planar trait as long as they stay within 30 feet of someone holding it.

Vector should never use a full round attack, because mythic vital strike is vastly better than his two slams.

Using mythic power attack and mythic vital strike, his attack should be:

Slam: +26 (6d6 +72 plus erasure)

Due to mythic power attack, on a crit it would be:

Slam: +26 (12d6 +234 plus erasure)

This is using the RAI reading of mythic vital strike, but mythic vital strike is very poorly worded. A RAW reading is much nastier:

(6d6 +144 plus erasure) for the normal attack and (12d6 +468 plus erasure) for a crit.

He can potentially do two of those in a round.

I'm going to be running this this Sunday and have just finished my initial read-through.

I certainly never expected to see "CR 17/MR 7" in a PFS scenario. I'm really looking forward to that one.

A few questions and observations:

Which version of DR/Epic should we use? The one that requires a +6 weapon to bypass, or the one from Mythic Adventures that just requires a +6 equivalent weapon to bypass?

Having Sorrina give the PCs standard potions of resist energy (fire) seems like a trap. The potions would be CL3, last half an hour, and grant 10 points of fire resistance. This would be largely ineffective against the amount of fire damage that the PCs will be taking.

Nonetheless, I'm debating dispelling the PC's energy resistance. It seems like something a smart monster would do, but with the 3d10 fire damage a round in most areas it's pushing the limits on how harsh I want to be as a GM. Still, it is a 12-15.

What alignment is Isah? Standard Efreeti are of course LE, but that seems a bit odd for him as written.

How many points does Vector's regeneration heal a round?

Generally, yes, if there's an stat bonus usually associated with one slot, in this case a belt, it costs 50% more to move it to another slot or 100% more to make it slotless.

In keeping with this, I'd personally allow a ring of giant strength +2, but it would cost 6000 GP.

The easiest way to bypass protection from evil is not to be evil; the protection from possession only applies to the alignment that the spell protects against.

I'd like either go exploiter wizard for the boosted DCs or witch for the debuffing prior to casting possession.

Psychic might also work well as you would still be able to cast in forms that can't perform verbal or somatic components, though you could just take the metamagic feats to get around those as well.

My monthly subscription order for July is very odd. It has just about every Starfinder product in it, but in a cancelled status.

Take a look at the Holy Shield paladin archetype, especially in combination with a 1 or 3 level dip in to Tower Shield Specialist fighter.

With a +5 tower shield and the shield focus feat you can provide a +10 shield bonus to AC to all allies around you as well as a +10 cover bonus to AC to one specific ally. You can also reduce all damage that your allies take from a single evil source by half.

There's also a style feat, Mobile Bulwark Style, that will allow you to set the shield as a move action, which is a massive benefit to action economy.

I noticed that a few other people have had their tags and subscriptions fixes, so I thought I'd ask here again for you guys to take a look at mine.

I just attempted to subscribe to all four starting subscriptions for Starfinder. This was done under order 4347953.

Currently, my forum tags only show the Starfinder AP and RPG subscriptions.

My subscription page only shows those ones as well, however if I go to the product pages for the subscriptions they all show as purchased.

Attempting to access my order history from my account page returns the "Sorry, there was a problem handling your request. The system administrator has been notified." error page.

Thank you.

I ended up with two copies of Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Caverns in my monthly subscription order. Please remove one.

Augmented Mythic Baleful Polymorph, cast in the middle of a city.

The downside to this route is that unless you are running a very mythic game, the PCs have approximately zero chance of defeating the caster.

While not a formal FAQ ruling, there was a developer post on this very subject.

I will note that I ended up banning it and foe-biting 3/4s of the way through Wrath of the Righteous because they were simply too powerful. All of my group supported the decision.

The rogue needs to make a stealth check when they move up. If they aren't spotted by their target during the move then they can attack once and get a sneak attack.

No, there aren't any story-related reasons that will cause you problems.

Rename it as you will.

Jeffrey Reed wrote:

He was adding hit die to his homonculus.

There's a lot of other really dubious stuff, but that's the source of it being OP.

He was also using the celestial servant feat to add the celestial template, which doesn't actually seem to apply to the promethean alchemist's homonculus, but combined with the increased hit die (he had boosted it to an 11 HD creature) gave it cold, acid, and electricity resist 15 and DR/10 evil.

Ah, yes, celestial servant would not be a valid feat for the Homunculus Companion class feature as it is not an animal companion nor a familiar.

But, I can see how easy it would be to believe that the Homunculus Companion could be advanced using the homunculus crafting rules(which, again, are legal). In fact, it is a tiny bit of a gray area. The Homunculus Companion is a homunculus... but I think RAI would be that the two are seperate as the Homunculus Companion is a unique style of homunculus. Especially since the rules for the two do not match well.

PFS FAQ wrote:

"Can a character have a homunculus created as a familiar?

A character must have the Improved Familiar feat to select a homunculus as a familiar. Since crafting is not allowed in Pathfinder Society, the character must hire an NPC to craft the homunculus on her behalf. Usually, an NPC can not craft a custom item for a PC but this is an exception to the rule.

Per the homunculus entry in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, a baseline homunculus costs 2,050 gp. If a PC wishes to purchase a homunculus with more than 2 Hit Dice, each additional Hit Dice adds 4,000 gp to the total price. Consider, however, that there is little need to advance a homunculus familiar in this manner, since the familiar's hit points and abilities are based on the character's stats rather than its own Hit Dice."

Note the language in that FAQ that explicitly calls out the improved familiar feat. That is not how the promethean alchemist gets their homonculus.

He was adding hit die to his homonculus.

There's a lot of other really dubious stuff, but that's the source of it being OP.

He was also using the celestial servant feat to add the celestial template, which doesn't actually seem to apply to the promethean alchemist's homonculus, but combined with the increased hit die (he had boosted it to an 11 HD creature) gave it cold, acid, and electricity resist 15 and DR/10 evil.

I got a copy of his character. He failed the audit, badly. He was upgrading his homonculus per the craft construct rules.

There were several other issues.

I'm not trying to punish him, though I can certainly understand how you might think so; while I do personally have some issues with aspects of his build, those are rightly addressed by campaign leadership by means of the additional resources list.

The original purpose of this post was asking what I can do to address the fact that the stated intro to part 2 makes no sense for his character, for the reasons given.

I don't like ignoring the consequences of player choice merely because of the needs of plot.

I also am quite aware that given the argumentative nature of this particular player, that I would get a huge argument from him if I were to tell him that he had no memory of what happened the first time they went in.

I don't think just saying "because I said so" is good GMing.

Merely saying that the plot demands it would not avoid that fight.

I do understand run as written, however, and am going to go with Andrew's suggestion for handling the plot backstory, should it matter.

Apropos to nothing else in this discussion except the Bonekeep-money question, I happen to have had a case of running Bonekeep 1 where a rogue sneaked away and stole some of the other encounters' treasure after/while the rest of the party was dying, and after a thorough check of the scenario's wording, some of the rooms do say "if the party finds/acquires the XX, they gain XX gp" At the time, I felt bad for everybody else so I let that count, but it wasn't a sure thing to me; I can see the ambiguity there as well as both sides on it.

In some cases that is what the treasure line reads. Had that been this case for this particular section, I probably would have been more generous. This section, however, awarded treasure contingent on the defeat of the encounter. The encounter was ongoing at the time and was in the middle of making attacks when the time ran out. I can't see how that would qualify as defeating it in any sense, so no gold was awarded.

Am I the only one who thinks he was under no obligation to pay anyone's condition costs, everyone had final say on whether their character 'pushes on', and if he did recover the items from an encounter of course the group gets access to them.

I won't pretend I know him or the group but his actions seem reasonable, I'm told he is playing by the campaign rules, and he wants to play this game with a legal character. Everything seems acceptable to me.

The scenario specifically says that the party is awarded a certain amount of gold if they defeat an encounter. In this case the player used a steal combat maneuver to take the unique necklace that the boss had.

I did not award the gold as they did not defeat the encounter (the player ran down the 5 hour clock by running around the map after every other PC was dead). I did, however, leave the unique necklace on the chronicle sheet in recognition of the fact that they stole it.

The player then proceeded to send me a rather hostile message this morning demanding to be given a portion of the gold for the encounter.

is his homunculus large? because otherwise it can't carry his skin, since it starts at tiny and functions as a familiar, which doesn't gain any str. increases.

If it is still tiny, than it's heavy load is: 40 lbs.

but let's set that aside for the moment and come back to his combat style. It's a familiar, so it has half his normal maximum hp. Even if he increases it's Constitution to obscene levels, it still only has half of his normal hp.

Assuming the best possible hp he could have at 7th level is 8+(5*7=35)=43 hp for HD and then assuming a permanent con modifier of +7, favored class for HP, and toughness and we're looking at a total hp of 106, which would mean that his familiar would have 53 hp.

additionally, he can have up to 1 3 point evolution (assuming that he took extra evolution as his 5th and 7th level feats), so no large, meaning that it has to move into an opponent's square, provoking attacks of opportunity to do so, in order to attack. Also apparently dragging the alchemist's skin into melee as well.

I'm not seeing how a tiny creature with a at most 14 strength and at most 53 hp is going to break bonekeep on any floor.

It's the Promethean Alchemist Homunculus. Medium size with an advancement basically along animal companion lines. The skin has the compression ability, which is what he's using to make the stored in the backpack argument. It's reaching, but I don't see any major reason to disallow it.

I'm trying to work out an audit with the rest of the local leadership, as I won't personally have time to do it during our next sessions.

The player has been audited in the past, however, and has passed. I expect the same here.

In general, however, he uses the promethean archetype for some advancement, buffs it substantially with extracts, and has given all its gear to it. The skinsend is mainly there to allow the alchemist a means of using the telepathic bond ability while not actually being physically present.

to be clear, this is not a simple homunculus. it's the one from the promethean alchemist archetype.

The skinsend is an issue because the first time the party went in they explicity did not succeed and were captured. This would mean that his body would have been left somewhere, which I need to deal with.

The skinsend itself is just something that I need to deal with as a consequence of the party being captured. The horribly broken part is his homunculous itself.

The player claims that he does this as something of a self-nerf as his homunculus is so powerful itself that to add an alchemist as well would be too much. The homunculus really is that broken and could likely have soloed the entirety of bonekeep 1, given time.

I've spoken a bit with the player about how he's handling the duration of skinsend. He claims to be recasting it, which seems to open up an entirely new set of issues.

I will be running part 2 of bonekeep in a couple of weeks.

One of the players will be running a staggeringly broken build, which basically involves playing an alchemist's homunculus familiar. The actual alchemist is not generally present, as he uses skinsend and leaves his body elsewhere. The homunculus then caries the skin in a backpack.

The player is argumentative to the point of making me consider if I want to run the subsequent sessions. The other players are great, however, so I don't want to screw them over by dropping out, nor is it really fair of me to ask another GM to take over and have to deal with the cheese monster.

Skinsend has some limitations, namely that it has a CL*hours duration. The character in question is level 7, meaning he has 7 hours. Bonekeep is 12 miles away from Absalom and the party includes dwarves, so their overland travel rate is 2 miles per hour. He therefore has to leave his body in the wilderness somewhere if he's to return to it in time.

Other than that, the build is legal, if incredibly broken.

The party starts Bonekeep 2 with no memory of their first venture in to level 2 of bonekeep, but they were in fact captured per the adventure.

I need to figure out what this means for the homunculus and alchemist.

The party was captured. Those of them not immune to mind effecting had their memory wiped.

If the party was captured then skinsend would have ended before the skin returned to the alchemist's body. This means that his body would have been left at 0 HP, helpless, in the middle of the wilderness.

There's something of a question of what I, as the GM, can legally say happens at this point. Does a wolf come by and eat him? Does he starve to death? Does he just have to pay the body recovery cost merely for sitting down at the table? He needs a regeneration at this point due to skin send, but again, that's just for sitting down at the table.

What happens to the homunculus, which has all his gear? Is it released too? It seems more likely to me that being focused on the mind, the enchanter would have just destroyed it, but that seems quite harsh.

If the homunculous is still captured, then given the context of the scenario it seems odd to allow a body recovery on it or it's gear; the players are explicitly being sent back in to figure out what happened.

Does the mind wipe still effect the alchemist, even though he's remotely operating his skin? If not, what does he remember about the dungeon?

I'm a 4 star PFS GM and Venture Agent. Parts 1 and 2 of Bonekeep are already in my downloads, but part 3 is not.

I believe that I'm supposed to have access to part 3 and would like to have it in my downloads so that I can run the arc.

So, Heroes of Golarion introduced a collection of feats for the use of firearms in Arcadia, where black powder and ammunition is even rarer than the Inner Sea Region outside of Alkenstar. Of particular note is the feat 'Spell Cartridges'.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/spell-cartridges-combat/

With Arcane Strike active, it allows the wielder of a firearm to fire a force bullet (1d4 per 5 CL) with the range and crit modifier of the base firearm, without the use of black powder or ammunition. What build can make the best use of this?

Things to remember:
No reload time!
As long as you're taking at least five levels of Gunslinger for Gun Training, damage die size isn't of great concern.
Dual-balanced weapon modification will open up greater viability for dual-wielding firearm builds, now that reloading is resolved.
Check with your GM if Stock-Striker Style's last benefit will work with TWF feats as it will with Weapon Finesse.
Pirates and corsairs, enjoy your waterproof firearm solution!
Possibly no noise or muzzle flash anymore? Sniper builds? Check with GM if this will affect any Gunslinger deeds which may have a 'physical' component, like Distracting or Menacing Shot.
The ONLY standard Gunslinger deed which requires the expenditure of ammunition is the Stop Bleeding function of Utility Shot.
Force bullets still target touch AC, and remain viable for Deadly Aim.
Spell Cartridges is NOT a standard action to use, so full attacks are still in play.
NO RELOAD TIME!

For builds that use spellcasting levels as more than a dip (4th level spells minimum), consider the upgraded feat:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/infused-spell-cartridges-combat/

Need to get around an energy immunity (WE'RE LOOKING AT YOU, FIREBRAND ARCHETYPE), or exploit a vulnerability?
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dragon-shot-combat-grit/

Those are all the highlights I can think to connect with this at the moment. Please discuss. (:

Backlash3906 wrote:

Related to this general discussion, what are the strongest options (especially feats) for Eldritch Guardian, for the fighter to synergize with their Mauler familiar? To the best of my knowledge, natural attack fighters are not a great option, even with Natural Weapons as a Fighter Weapon Group, and I'm not sure what other loadout is best to work for both of them.

Is Intelligence of 6 deemed enough for Exotic Weapon Proficiency, assuming the familiar has sufficiently compatible anatomy?

Monkey style, paired opportunist combat reflexes, intrepid rescuer (Kurgess followers only): every attack to you OR to the familiar generates an AOO attack from BOTH you AND the familiar

Oh My Strong Man I love this.

"Spot! Combat positions!"
*familiar falls flat to the ground*
"Good boy, Spot!" *also falls flat to the ground* "Now, advance!" *Fighter and familiar begin belly-wiggling across the battlefield*

Some items to consider from People Of The Wastes:

Gun Chemist (Alchemist archetype) discovery available with a 2 level dip
Chemical Stability: When firing an alchemical ordnance, the gun chemist reduces the misfire value of the firearm by 1 (minimum 0) and ignores any increased misfire value from using an alchemical cartridge.

Create Enhanced Firearm feat
Prerequisite(s): Craft Magic Arms and Armor; Craft (weapons) 1 rank or Gunsmithing.
Benefit(s): When you craft a firearm or magical firearm, you can use reinforced components to make the weapon more reliable. This increases the item’s total construction cost by 10%. The misfire chance of the weapon is reduced by 1. This can never reduce a firearm’s misfire chance by more than 1.

The latter will cost you an extra feat, but it's worth considering if you expect to have crafting time available.

As for myself, I've always thought the "get out after 5th level" was overly harsh. I'm a big fan of Bleeding Wound. Ability Damage bleed (you can inflict multiple types simultaneously, given enough iterative attacks) either puts your enemies on a rather harsh timer for them or burns through their action economy if they want to heal it.

I like Gunslinger, but even I'll admit the over-5 levels of it have become even less essential for gun-usage in the face of Martial Focus + Impressive Grit. IG will let you have a number of uses per day of dead shot, startling shot, or targeting equal to your Int-modifier.

Damage dealing is the least interesting thing about the Gunslinger for me. I like all of the deeds that let you make the cinematic actions the character type is known for in cinema.

But avoid Pistol Whip like the plague; take Empty Quiver Style. Please.

Does anyone know if VMC Alchemist meets the "Alchemist 4" requirement of Explosive Missile? VMC selections are referred to as a 'secondary class', so...?

Hey, I don't know if you're still planning on updating this guide, but I have a few ideas. I feel that juggler is best used when you want to duel wield whilst requiring a free hand. This could be to reload a weapon, like a crossbow or gun, or simply to cast spells without dropping a weapon. I've come up with a couple of build ideas for juggler. I focus on having bard as the main class, though in principle with these builds you could just dip juggler for 2 lvls.

Juggling Picaroon
This build uses the unpopular swashbuckler archetype picaroon as a 1 lvl dip. The dip gives you proficiency with one-handed firearms, panache on guns and one-handed piercing weapons, Weapon Finesse, TWF when using a one-handed gun in one hand and a light or one-handed piercing weapon in the other, and the ability to spend 1 panache point to avoid attacks of opportunity when firing your gun for 1 attack that round. Phew, that's quite a lot!

The main idea is that you fight with a pistol and dagger, shooting at the enemy and tossing a dagger at them for extra damage. The juggling allows you to reload your gun while duelwielding, and at lvl 6, you can juggle two pistols and a dagger so you can make your twf full-attack using only your pistols. A build might look like this: Picaroon 1/Juggler X
lvl 1 feat:Point Blank Shot
Human bonus feat:Precise Shot
lvl 3 feat:Rapid Reload(pistol)
lvl 5 feat:Arcane Strike
lvl 7 feat:Rapid Shot

Three levels of Maverick|Mysterious Stranger would go really well with that; Charisma-Grit, bonuses to Sleight of Hand and Bluff, IUS, a small bonus to Will saves, and Dazzling Display with firearms.

If this campaign doesn't feature fighting at least one Kaiju with a team of 3-5 Zords, then you have wasted everyone's time, my friend.

If you have a problem that can be solved with money, you don't have a problem, you have an expense.

Okay, bit of a mental exercise I've been kicking around, to see what is the most damage that can be placed on a single crossbow bolt (outside of factors like Vital Strike and ability mods). Focus should be on modifications that don't allow a save against them.

We have to start with the Gastraphetes, for a base damage die of 1d12. Gravity Bow will boost that to 3d6.

Explosive Missile will allow the attachment of an Alchemist's Bomb, for increased scaling damage (and as EM is a standard action, we have less incentive to worry about full-attacking, so we only need to get the Gastraphetes down to a move action. Has there been any clarification on it for Rapid Reload?).

The alchemical tool, Unstable Accelerant, will add another 1d6 to the bomb damage. Not sure how this interacts with...

The Conductive weapon property will allow two bombs in one piece of ammunition with Explosive Missile.

Slow Burn arrows/bolts deal 1d6 the following turn, after a successful hit.

Splintercloud arrows/bolts deal 1d3 on impact, but can be negated with a save. Can alchemical arrows be combined?

Anything else to add?

If you go Rifle three levels of Musket Master is well worth it. You reload with Alchemical cartridges as a free action. After that go Witch. You don't need Point Blank or Precise since you hit on touch and most monsters touch ac are lower then their regular ac. Dragons being on perfect example of this. If you are going another gun one level gives you some nice abilities enough to take. It depends on what you are looking for but I'd recommend at least one level of gunslinger.

If he has an actual rifle, then Musket Master isn't all that necessary. All Advanced firearms, one or two-handed, reduce reloads to a free action with Rapid Reload.

Advanced Firearms: Advanced firearms are chamber-loaded. It is a move action to load a one-handed or two-handed advanced firearm to its full capacity. The Rapid Reload feat reduces this to a free action.

This enchantment grants a weapon's wielder usage of a single combat feat.

"The feat is chosen when this special ability is placed on the weapon."

Would that mean, like Bane, the same enchantment could be placed on a single weapon more than once, as the feats differ each time?

Could I have a +1 Training (Ricochet Toss)/Training (Impressive Grit)/Training (Trick Shooter) Chakram, with a cumulative value equivalent to a +4 weapon?

Piling on multiple feats with this method is still fairly restrictive, due to the wording: "That feat cannot be used as a prerequisite for any other feats and functions for the wielder only if she meets its prerequisites." Thus, you can't put the entire TWF/Trip/Disarm/etc chain on a single weapon.

As long as we don't run into whatever Dou Bral met out in the black..

Given the prevalence of undead in Pathfinder, I wonder how many established characters (and at least one evil iconic) will still be around, even this far into the future?

I also REALLY am anticipating some possible changes to domains (and the practices of the followers) of some of the Pathfinder deities. Within mortal lifetimes is one thing, but I can hardly expect gods to be completely idle for that long.

Let's hope the bindings on Rovagug's prison are still holding, or were refreshed at some point >_> There were a lot of "five minutes into the future" problems to be aware of in the setting.

I'm preparing a thrown weapon user for an upcoming campaign, and while big damage numbers are always fun, I'd like to focus on spreading around special effects (party casters and Startoss Style) and ranged combat maneuvers (Ranged/Ace Disarm, Ranged/Ace Trip). This is about being able to hinder enemies as much as possible, and let the 2-handers and such dish out the real damage once they're down or disarmed.

Area of consideration, in no particular order:

Classes
Brawler - Full progression of Martial Flexibility, but fewer weapon options. Proficient in javelin, but that won't benefit from Close Weapon Mastery. Wooden stake or wushu dart get CWM benefits, but with very poor range. Needs to take Martial Focus in order to get Ricochet Toss (which synergizes with Ace Disarm). Fewer combat feats than..

Fighter (no archetype) - Feats, feats, and more feats. Weapon Training opens up Ricochet Toss and the Ace feats, and Trained Throw and Focused Weapon are attractive AWT options. Gets all martial weapons.

Fighter (Lore warden) - Best scaling bonuses I know of for all combat maneuvers.

Fighter (Martial Master) - Gets some of the Brawler's flexibility, making feat investment in Startoss/Vital/Targeting feat chains a little more merciful. It's a big slowdown though, compared to a pure Brawler. Can be combined with Lore Warden. Replaces Weapon Training, so Martial Focus will be required.

Feats
Ranged Disarm > Ace Disarm
Improved and Greater Disarm/Trip
Ranged Trip > Ace Trip
Trick Shooter (+2 on all Ranged Combat Maneuvers)
Startoss Style/Comet/Shower
Ricochet Toss
Deadly Aim and Quick Draw are prereqs for other feats

Thrown Weapons
Chakram - Martial, 30ft, d8 damage, need to wear heavy armor or deal with having to make Reflex saves when used for melee.
Javelin - Simple, 30ft, d6 damage, -4 penalty for melee
Atlatl - Martial, 50ft, d6 damage, see Kestros for other details
Kestros - Exotic (Martial for halflings, but increases the need for Focused Weapon) 50ft, d8 damage, like the Atlatl, negates the need for Ricochet Toss outside of Ace Disarm. Part of the Thrown weapon group, but uses ammo (possible exploits with Startoss Shower). Needs Rapid Reload for full attacks.

Combat Stamina is being given to Fighters (possibly all pure Martials) as a free feat.

Campaign will be running from 1st level with epic fantasy point buy. Personal preference is to not go with anything below an 8, after racial mods, for starting ability scores.

Any build advice is appreciated, and all Paizo material is allowed. Thank you!

P.S. Ranged Feint just makes me angry all over again that it's not a Combat Maneuver. :p

Kurgess truly is the patron deity of "Bro... do you even lift?"

The Mortonator wrote:

Bolt Ace's Pinning Sho (****)t has a format error from the stars.

The stars only cause problems, fixed.

Glad to see the fault in our stars has been taken care of. :D

I put this breakdown of different style requirements together in case it helps. Obviously there are varying conditions depending on how far you go into the Styles' feat chains, but this list is meant to reflect the 'average' use of a Style. Feel free to reformat for the guide if you want to phrase things differently, but please credit if you do. (:

No attacking/wielding conditions
Archon Style
Dwarven Hatred Style
Grabbing Style
Kirin Style
Kobold Style
Kraken Style
Wolf Style

Must have one hand free
Crane Style
Snapping Turtle Style

Must have/expend uses of Elemental Fist
Djinni Style
Efreeti Style
Marid Style
Shaitan Style

Must have/expend uses of Stunning Fist
Dragon Style
Mantis Style

Must use a charge attack
Kitsune Style

Must use a charge attack to deal nonlethal damage
Cudgeler Style

Must use a bow, crossbow, or firearm
Empty Quiver Style
Overwatch Style

Must use 'Elven' weapons (longsword, rapier, or any melee weapon that has "elven" in its name)
Elven Battle Style

Must use 'Gnome' weapons and have available spell slot, spell of the illusion school, or a spell from the gnome magic racial trait
Illusive Gnome Style

Must use 'Orc' weapons and Bullying Blow feat
Orc Fury Style

Must use unarmed strikes
Boar Style
Dragon Style
Earth Child Style
Jabbing Style
Janni Style
Panther Style
Pummeling Style
Snake Style
Tiger Style

Wielding close fighter weapon group weapon with Weapon Focus feat
Outslug Style

Wielding Monk weapon or weapon with Weapon Focus feat
Ascetic Style

Wielding sling bullet ranged weapon
Slipslinger Style

Wielding weapon from the axes, hammers, or flails fighter weapon group, using it for a sunder attempt
Smashing Style

Wielding weapon from the heavy blades or light blades fighter weapon group
Swordplay Style

Wielding weapon from the polearm or spear fighter weapon groups
Spear Dancing Style

Wielding weapon from the thrown fighter weapon group
Startoss Style

A special note for Monkey Style, because it changes significantly with each step of the Style chain. No requirement > Unarmed Strike > Stunning Fist

The gastraphetes, from Distant Shores, with 120ft of range, 1d12 damage and 19-20/x2 crits (can be improved by crossbow training, gravity bow, and aspect of the falcon) is the biggest and baddest crossbow in the game now. You'll need crossbow mastery to bring down reload times, and either get used to shooting from prone (no penalty to ranged attacks) or carry an immovable rod to brace it, but you'll hit like several runaway ox-carts.

Please finally give us the "gun mage" that the Spellslinger should have been. Preferably for the Magus.

What about the firearms that also include melee weapons? For the purposes of things like the fighter's weapon training class feature, does the melee part of the firearm fall under the firearm category or the original weapon's? (Dagger, sword cane, warhammer, battleaxe)
The description of the items in ultimate combat said that they are enchanted like double weapons, but I didn't see them in the double weapon category. How does two weapon fighting work for these double weapons? Especially curious about the one-handed ones.
Similarly, does a feat like Weapon Focus apply to both parts of the firearm, or would it need to be taken twice?

Dirty Tactics Handbook should help with this. Toxicant Alchemist gives you the ability to create scaling DC poisons that you can apply to a weapon, which I believe standard rules should allow for a set number of pieces of ammo as well? It should stack with the bomb damage infused into Explosive Missile.

On the Gunslinger side of things, you'll want the Poison Shot Deed (grit feat). 15 foot cone spray options for poisons that are typically inhaled or ingested. Good close range support for a Gunslinger that doesn't want to use alchemical cartridges and increase their misfire chance; AND there's no chance of poisoning yourself, so if you're using an Alchemist archetype that gives up Poison Use(like Grenadier, which lets you slap alchemical items onto ammunition) that's another benefit.

At the totally non-optimal end of things, there's the Experimental Gunsmith archetype for Gnomes. The ONLY way I know of to get class-level scaling on the DCs for run of the mill alchemical items (tanglefoot, alchemist fire, etc). For the life of me I can't figure why they never made this (or Gun Scavenger) int-based for grit like they did Siege Gunner...

Cost prohibitive at lower levels, but something fun I thought of with Sneaky weapons. The actual benefit of the weapon doesn't require you using it to make in the attack. With free action activation, combined with Quick Draw, you can cycle through a number of the weapons to get consistent sneak attack on one-handed ranged weapons. (Actually, if you have a two handed crossbow or firearm down to a free action reload, you can probably take one hand off it to draw-activate-drop the Sneaky weapon and then put your hand back on to fire. Legal by RAW, but your GM may hate you.) Better if you can avoid provoking with reloading and firing, but if you have kept your defenses up and you aren't facing scores of enemies with Combat Reflexes, you should only have to worry about one attack.
Sneaky keys off of "melee reach", rather than adjacent, so Lunge should work as well if you especially want to avoid provoking. You can also just draw-wield-drop whips (still the only one-handed reach weapon?) as necessary to fulfill the reach requirements.

The space around you is going to look like an episode of Extreme Hoarders as the battle goes on though...

Idiot question: do weapon enchantments without an enhancement bonus (Sneaky is fixed at 5000gp) require a masterwork or a +1 weapon? The latter is obviously more expensive, but for how slowly number of attacks scale on 3/4 BAB, even with Rapid Shot and/or Haste, might still be worth it.

Would like to see discussion on other ways to consistently get sneak attack on range.

It's a trait; "Additionally, you can select magical tail as a bonus feat whenever your favored class grants you a bonus bloodline feat, combat feat, or metamagic feat instead of the normal type of feat granted by the class. You cannot exchange specific feats granted by a class or race for magical tail in this manner;--"

Fighter 6 is the fastest way to get all of the spell like abilities online, but I would be interested to hear about other build ideas as well.

Dirty tactics toolbox introduced a new racial trait for Kitsune. Nine-tailed Scion gives a +1 trait bonus to any racial spell-like abilities, and the ones gained from the Magical Tail feat. It also grants the option to take the magical tail feat whenever you would be granted a bonus metamagic, combat, or bloodline feat.

This means Kitsune fighters can have a whole host of HD-based SLAs online by sixth level, capping off with 2/day Dominate Person (5th level spell!).

The downside, obviously, is that the building is set in stone out of the gate. With one other trait to select, and freedom to choose archetypes as long as they don't interfere with bonus feats, plus equipment, what suggestions does anyone have on improving this?

For the sake of convenience, here is the lineup of abilities gained from magical tail:
disguise self, charm person, misdirection, invisibility, suggestion, displacement, confusion, dominate person

Sometimes the oppressed don't want justice... They just want their turn.

This looks gorgeous! Can't wait to see the rest. (:

So basically.. pretend to be a monk and use a monk like a sword.

Although you should probably ask the monk if they're okay with that first...

Eeasiest way to make a shark fly:

Hurler Barbarian.

Landings may be an issue.

Would a practicing worshipper of Callistria count as performing their daily obedience by allowing this grapple? Or at least by charging others to watch/

Without turning to houserules or fan conversions, what is the best way to recreate the feel and function of the Warmage in Pathfinder? More military (and artillery) than the Magus, but less a pure caster than a Wizard or Sorcerer.

Any combination of classes or PrC's is fine. Prefer a method that doesn't rely on race-specific shenanigans.

Requirements of function:
Stronger HP than an average 'pure' Wizard or Sorcerer.
Wide selection of offensive spells; covering all energy types OR with a way to get past resistances/immunities.
Capable of adapting to changing conditions with spell selection.
Ability to cast in light armor and/or light shields without penalty, eventually progressing to medium armor.
Bonus Feats focused on expanding spell list OR providing Metamagic effects without using higher-level spell slots.

A way to include a comparable function to Warmage Edge (secondary/tertiary ability modifier to spell damage) would be nice, but I don't think it would be considered as 'defining' as the other elements.

Thank you for any constructive suggestions. (:

White-haired witch, so the fur can do all the somatic components when it isn't grappling everything under the sun.

Beat me to it! :D