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I'm playing a hydrokineticist and looking at taking a VMC. Does the oracle of waves' freezing spell work with a kinetic blast that allows a save?

So what feats would people view as must-have, or does that depend on whether or not I'm going melee? I've seen toughness being touted as pretty much essential, as well as point blank shot and precise shot. But if I decide to focus on melee, 2 of those feats seem a bit pointless.

I hadn't considered going super siege weapon. That's actually a really tempting option, considering it's a pirate game. With water manipulation, I could stop a ship, then proceed to blast it from a distance... Tempting :P

Yeah, I'm grabbing swim speed and water breathing from undine, it seemed too useful to pass up!

Is melee the favourable option compared to range? And I was considering just staying pure water, but now I look at it, are there any real advantages to doing so? Air does seem quite tempting. Thanks for the replies guys :)

Hi guys, I'm about to join an ongoing game where the party is a band of pirates; pillaging, plundering and looting from the Queen's Navy and other pirates alike. They currently have a pretty well rounded party, so I decided that since they already function pretty well, a kineticist isn't going to drag them down too much.
To clarify, I've avoided the kineticist for ages because it seems like a class that boasts versatility at first glance, but if you want to be effective you need to hyperspecialise. Since this party hasn't set foot on dry land for longer than a day so far, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out the hydrokineticist.
We're level 7, 20 point buy, plus I get level 6 WBL as starting gold, and the only thing that I'm set on build-wise is playing undine. Are there any feats/items that I should look at if I want to be an asset to the group? I'd rather not go full melee, but the longer I look at the class (and the fact that without kinetic blade you don't get iterative attacks with your blast) the more I think that if I want to be useful I'll have to wade into the thick of things.
Thanks for the help! :)

A friend of mine was gming for his first time. In a way I think that made it easier for him to deal with this sort of thing, as he wasn't thinking about mechanics at all.
The party rocked up to a gigantic stone door, festooned in flaming torches, skulls, oddly shaped glowing things etc. Assuming (correctly) the big bad was waiting for them on the other side, along with the magical mcguffin (I can't remember what the artifact was). Having fought in one combat that day, they decided to rest by the door, to regain the handful of spells they'd used. Being a rather munchkin-esque party, they came up with every trick in the book to make sure that nobody would be able to disturb them. 8 hours later, they buff up, charge in, and discover that the big bad had moved. To add insult to injury, the guy had had enough time to call a planar delivery company, so even his golden throne was gone. The company left their card;

"Adventurers knocking down your door? Out of minions? Fear not! The Kwik Klear service ensures that everything of value, including yourself, will be safely ensconced within another castle within 7 hours and 30 minutes. Speak to our sales rep for our price plans."

After a few more instances of this (they got rings of sustenance and then discovered Kwik Klear's premium service) the party stopped trying to nova fights and instead paced themselves. The martial characters in the party appreciated it.

I remember we had a gm who made a wizard npc who had trapped his mansion with magical traps. The trick was the traps only activated if detect magic was cast within their vicinity (our rogue had it as a spell like ability and used it religiously). This meant there weren't any traps for us to deal with (in this particular section) unless we were actually looking for traps, at which point dealing with the summoned monsters became much harder when we were trying to dodge random explosions. It was an interesting section, but I would use that only as a section, not for a whole game. That would get old fast.

Thanks guys, this is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
To clarify, my party doesn't mind that I'm not much help in combat. I make everything else less of a headache, which suits them. I was just looking for a way to branch out and at least contribute in combat. All these suggestions fit the bill nicely :)

Basically the title. I'm playing a level 4 phantom thief rogue in a party with a paladin, a cleric and a wizard. I decided to focus entirely on social and out of combat utility.
What I was wondering is are there any magical items, or even non-magical items, that I could use to be helpful to the party in combat? I don't want (or particularly need) to deal tons of damage, or provide exceptional control. I'd just like to have something that can make combat a bit easier for the rest of the party.
Many thanks :)

Play a bard. With a few good rolls you could create stories at nearby taverns that spread. Name each of the other players in the story with any name of your choosing. Eventually more people will know the characters by names you've chosen than people who know them by their true names. For bonus points see if you can convince the player characters that the names you have given them are their true names. When the other players complain point out that you're doing it to protect their hard-fought anonymity, if they'd wanted their real names used they should have given them to you.
Plus, no one can be as melodramatic as a bard. They want to brood in a corner? You can brood in a corner whilst having everyone pay attention to you, with your cloak mysteriously fluttering in a phantom breeze, capturing the imagination of everyone nearby. Point out that if the others are wanting to hide, you're helping them do so.
As for combat? Give yourself all the buffs. Refuse to include your allies as "I don't even know your name, how can we be allies?" Upon victory, spread more stories of your daring do, minimizing the contribution of your "party". Once again, if they wanted to play a bigger part of your story, all they need to do is ask, and give you a name to use.

This is all assuming that there is absolutely no way to deal with them outside of leaving the game, which it sounds like you don't want to do.

"If you're going to go evil, have the other players on board" should be in large red letters across every single evil class/feat/alignment description. Playing evil without the party's knowledge, or doing so when you know that no one else wants an evil person in the party, means you're just setting out to ruin everyone else's fun.
Tell them you'd like to try an evil character, but because it's not the norm, ask them if they'd be willing for a trial session. If you can do it well, and you fit in with the party, then great. If not, your character gets pulled. I'd expect the same from a player who decides they want to play a paladin in a group of neutral/evil pcs.

Unless the paladin is playing stupid good ("I detected evil, therefore it must immediately be slain!") then it can work. Lawful evil clerics can actually get along with paladins relatively well, providing you're playing the long con.
Just remember, even if you're playing evil, you have to be nice to the party. Don't mess with their stuff, don't set them up to be slain, don't try to make the paladin fall.
Instead, work with the paladin to help spread law (easier to control people if there's law on your side), and the importance of people being in communities (they're easier to influence that way). Use the advantages you get being morally flexible to help prevent issues arising that would put the paladin in a bind.
Why would you have an in-character reason to be nice to a paladin? Maybe you think he's a nice guy, and it's a shame he was raised by some do-gooding monks. Maybe you respect his convictions, even if you don't share them. Or maybe it's just the fact that having a paladin in the party is the best cover when dealing with evil-hunting npc's. No one is going to believe you're the one who's been involved in political hanky-panky if you've got a paladin with you :P

As to how to get around his detect evil. My suggestion is don't. It's more dangerous to trick him for a while then have him discover, than being up front about it when you meet. Inform the paladin that, like the paladin himself, you are working as a proxy for your god on this plane. You understand that your gods have their differences, but for the sake of <insert plot hook here> you think it would be advantageous to work together for the greater good. So long as you remain on good terms with him, help him when he needs it, and stress the importance of working together as a party, you can both play the characters you want.

Asmodean advocate can be hilarious fun. You're a competent face, and the viper becomes an imp at level 8. With a couple of craft feats, and if you've got downtime, you could grab a couple of item crafting feats (craft wands for example) and hand wands to your familiar to use.
If your class isn't locked in, you could try a big shift, and play a false priest sorcerer of asmodeus. You'd get the blasting spells, and later on you could start to gather cleric scrolls to get insane flexibility.

i) We had a goblin in a game who went down the dragon disciple route after hearing someone mention "you are what you eat". There was a dragon corpse nearby.
ii) Facial hair is a sign of untrustworthiness.
iii) Always honour an explosion with another explosion.
iv) The only gods are goblin gods. Any clerics who believe otherwise are simply being fooled by your superior deities.

Renegadeshepherd wrote:

Chaos only lasts until the end of that turn if I remember rightly

No, it lasts the entire round. That said, I agree that Oracle's Misfortune is the best option because it's an immediate action.

Divine protection, you mean the divine feat that adds to your saving throw 1/day? Or is there something else I'm missing?

I *think* he means divine interference, which allows you to expend a spell slot as an immediate action to force an enemy to reroll an attack, with a penalty on the reroll equal to the level of the spell slot.

The false priest sorcerer archetype (providing he's a high enough level) is awesome for NPCs. He can fake any divine spell he likes providing he's got the resources, but if he's definitely a bona fide cleric, asmodeus will make a deal with anyone :P

As far as I can gather, he was wanting his character to work for a lich (a villain established in the plot already); for whatever reason, he was looking to trick the party into following him into the lair of the lich. The players are about levels 3-4, and so obviously cannot fight a level 15 lich.

The workaround I had in mind when this was mentioned by the player was that he'd be betrayed by the lich as soon as he handed in the party (she's not the most trustworthy of people, and by then she'd see him as a loose end), and the characters would all be locked up in the same prison/necromancy experiment chamber, and they'd have to figure out a way to escape together.

Obviously, this isn't perfect, but it was the best I could come up with to keep people on the same team if a betrayal ever did occur.

Why is he wanting to take them there? Is he being offered a reward from the lich for doing so? If it's just to watch the rest of the party be tortured and killed, that's a big red flag.

Having an evil character in a party is like adding seasoning to a fine steak. It's good if you're careful. But if you're dumb, you end up having a mound of pepper on a plate. And no one likes eating a plate of pepper.

So while my lawful evil lawyer might twist arms, sack cities, blackmail innocent baby orphans, or sacrifice countless innocent people, at the end of the day everything that I do is to help the party. From a pragmatic point of view, it's because you shouldn't s+&% where you eat. Pissing off the rogue is likely going to end up with my throat slit and my pockets emptied. Swindling the fighter could mean that he doesn't have good enough armour, dies, and I'm the next guy the monsters turn to. And don't get me started on betraying the druids or rangers. Having birds s!$&ting on you every waking moment isn't conducive to looking like an upstanding, respectable citizen.

Playing CE, and to a lesser extent NE, means that at some point you're likely to find your goals don't meet the rest of the party's. At which point as a player it is on you, not them, to work out how to make things work. If the rest of the party isn't evil, I would strongly recommend telling your player to steer clear of those two. And if he knows right now that he is going to end up messing with other players, and is ok with that, point out that he's deciding to ruin everyone else's fun. If he's still ok with that, kick him.
Having an evil person in the party, even if you have a paladin (providing he's not stupid good), can be a great benefit to the group. You can open doors others can't, cross lines they can't cross, and generally take shortcuts that they can't see. If you're smart, you can keep everyone happy, and enjoy a richer game because of it. But if you act stupid evil, you're going to end up as steak, burnt steak if the wizard has his way.

As a general rule, alignment is how you should act to the world the gm makes. But to the party? You should just try to be nice :P

A gnome hoaxer bard with power of suggestion and babble peddler. Act like a used car salesman towards the enemies.
"What's that good sir? You want to impale me? Wellllll let me tell you sir that that poor excuse for a sword you're carrying just won't cut it! Luckily for you I happen to have the latest and greatest weapons from the far east! Take this fine weapon. Why yes, it does just look like a stick, but to the right person this weapon reveals itself to be a deadly spear! What's that? You can see it as a spear? Well I'd be happy to give it to you, in return for that sword you're carrying."

A half elf medium who has absolutely no clue what he wants to do with his life. Pretend each day you've decided to be something else ("I've decided I'm going to be a wizard today!"), take improvisation, improved improvisation, the racial trait improvisation, and be able to turn your hand at pretty much anything.

It's a bit annoying that there are a lot of abilities to do it, but they all seem spread across multiple classes. I can't see anything jumping out at me that I could multiclass to make magic items the focus :( Ah well, thanks for the suggestions :)

Hi guys, I've had an idea kicking around in the back of my head for a while, and I was wondering if anyone else has tried to make something like this before.
I'm wanting to try to make a character who specialises in using magic items, and has ways of improving them.
For example, is there any way to improve the DC's of wands, recharge wands without using money, get extra uses per day of items etc.?
I considered making a rogue who could do this, but if I want to craft items I'm going to need some magic to get crafting feats.
I realise this is quite a bit like the artificer from 3.5, and I'm sad that the class hasn't come across to pathfinder, but is there any way to multiclass something together to make a pathfinder equivalent?

Many thanks!

In a game I was in we had a goblin "cleric" (read: alchemist) who worshipped the great god K'Boom. The guy was awesome to play with, as he fleshed out pantheon to contain K'Boom's brother, K'Blam, and his son, K'Blooie. The universe was started when K'Boom and K'Blam came together and created the first bomb, resulting in the Big Bang. K'Boom is the god of things that violently explode, and K'Blam is the god of the things that explode violently.
While that particular pantheon probably won't fit into your game, it probably wouldn't be too hard to justify a goblin god of fire having his favoured weapon be some form of bomb :)

The Prankster bard gets a taunt ability instead of inspire courage, but unfortunately you have to be a gnome :(

Damn, I thought it was the first one, but I really hoped I was mistaken ^^

How would you price specific cursed items? For example, creating dust of sneezing and choking can be made from dust of tracelessness, which is 125gp to make. The problem is I think only having to pay 125gp for crafting an item which has the potential to deal 3d6 con damage on a failed save to enemies within 20ft, and stunning them for 5d4 rounds even if they succeed, is a little bit too cheap :P

Hi guys, I was just looking to see if any new archetypes had come out recently, when I ran across the hoaxer.
At first glance it seems pretty cool for making a swindler, but I was wondering if I could get some clarification on a few things.
1: Bad Deal- Specifically, when you place a hex in an item, to keep the hex there do you need to keep expending rounds of bardic performance, even if you've not given it to someone yet?
For example, if I place evil eye in it, do I need to expend a performance round to put the hex into the item, then spend more performance rounds while I'm making a diplomacy check to make a person take the item, and even when they've taken the item, it's only granting them a penalty for either a round or (+int) rounds?
Or, do I need to spend a round to hex the item, it stays hexed until I give it to someone, then I can keep spending performance rounds to keep the item hexed, thus giving them the penalty for longer?
If it's the first, I've got to say the archetype seems pretty bad. It's a lot of resource expenditure to give a person a penalty which the witch can give from range, without any required set up, and can be maintained via cackling.

2: Curse Crafter- So the hoaxer gets some crafting feats, but only to craft cursed items. The problem is, I can't seem to find rules for deliberately making cursed items, and most of the specific cursed items I can find have a high caster level (12+) meaning the feats are pretty useless until 12, if they can be used at all. So am I able to just make inverted magic items (ring of -4 str etc.) or is there a page that I'm missing?

Sorry for the wall of text, this is the first time I've seen a bard archetype that interests me in a while :)

Another way he could get around the cost is using the trait "power of suggestion". It has great synergy for a con man (my forger adores it) and could let him pull basic tricks until he gets the money together for the actual kit.

I'm playing a character in a large online game who specialises in making "accurate replicas" for collectors. I've given other players such items for minimal cost, in return for first bidding rights on items they may procure via using said replicas. This gets me access to valuables that I might not otherwise receive, as well as giving me potential blackmail if the players end up in a position of power.
This could work as a potential plot hook, as the forger could offer a document in return for rare papers and inks, and could return later on as a potential antagonist, or could sell the information to an established villain.
The world of white collar crime is a tricky place, if someone is offering something for free, it's got a hidden price. The rogue could end up learning that the hard way :)

Thanks for the replies guys! If I'm being completely unbiased they really shouldn't stack, as they would make me a bard with 9th level spells. I just wanted to try to make a good (well lawful evil) support character, and being able to buff my allies whilst lawyering my enemies sounded like a lot of fun ^^
I'll ask my gm but seeing as it's a large online campaign (Dragonsgate) I don't think the rules can, or should, be bent for one person. I just wanted to check if it was actually rules legal :)

Hi guys, I'm about to start playing in a new game, and decided on playing a cleric. After a bit of consideration I'm leaning towards taking the asmodean advocate because it gives me the potential to deal with social situations, whilst still having the full cleric capabilities.
My question is can I also take the evangelist archetype? Asmodean advocate stipulates that I can only have 1 domain, and it must be trickery. Evangelist simply says that I can only have 1 domain.
I'm just wanting to check if I can take both, or if the fact that the archetypes both alter the same ability prevents me from taking them together.

Many thanks!

Ok, scenario time: my party had befriended the crown princess of the world's largest nation. Upon her father's death, she was to become Queen, but her younger brother usurped her and tried to have her killed, but she got away. The PCs helped her and have spent the last 6 levels raising an army to retake the throne. The battle ensued and they pushed their way into the castle.

Several big fights later they have captured the young king, who surrendered and is demanding the right to a trial by moot, a legal trial where a member of the royal family is brought before the Duke's and Duchess' of every major city and allowing them to decide the royal family member's fate. This is not only legal, by the law of the land this is the only way that a member of the royal family can be tried.

The new Queen doesn't want to give it to him, worried that her brother has too many contacts and friends among the noblemen to make for a fair trial. She wants the paladin (team leader and her betrothed) to execute him immediately for crimes against the throne. He is torn, after all, he knows the young king is not evil (his smite evil didn't work) and he is no immediate threat. Then again, if hes found innocent of his crimes by the moot, he'll be allowed to slither away to raise an army of his own.

So would carrying out this order (or allowing another to do it for him) cost the paladin his powers?

For a crime, 2 things are required. The act itself (actus reus) and the intent (mens rea). While the young king may have failed in the act, the intent was certainly there, meaning he SHOULD flag up evil. If he doesn't, then maybe the queen isn't as nice as she appears?

Any advice folks? :)

I was just wondering how channel energy would work with a Hex Channeler/Witch Doctor Shaman with Life Spirit/Envoy of Balance.

Hex channeler gives you 1 pool of channel energy, with the option of increasing it by using up a hex slot. I'm assuming that the feat "Extra Hex" allows you to boost it faster. You can use it 3+cha times per day.

Witch Doctor gives you a channel positive energy pool which treats your cleric level as your shaman level -3 for 3+cha times per day.

The life spirit gives you channel positive energy with your shaman level being treated as your cleric level, but only 1+cha times per day.

Envoy of balance then advances your channels, and stacks with levels granting channel energy before it.

My question is, how do they each interact? Can the hex be taken to bolster another pool? Do feats such as improved channel apply to them all? Which one would envoy of balance raise? I've been trying to get a channel build to work before, and with bless equipment etc and the plethora of channels I'd have, I think this might be it.

Much appreciated :)

It doesn't sound like he shut down ANY in-game solutions. Just death and permanent binding.

But those are the only two solutions in "The adventurer's guide to teamwork"! :P

If you have a friendly wizard with you take him aside and inform him that you think someone is stealing from you, and that it may affect your ability to protect him (I'm assuming you're not high level?).
Ask him to cast shrink item several times on a large stack of boulders, then paint them and put them in a pouch. If the rogue can detect magic they will radiate slight transmutation, so he'll probably steal them. Then get the wizard to say the command word. Unless the rogue is using a strength build (frankly, even if he is) he's probably going to be stuck.
Another option is to ask to have alarm cast on you, set it to mentally alert you if anyone comes with 20ft of you or touches you, excluding the rest of the party besides the rogue.