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Thanks for the different ideas and key feats. My friends pretty obsessive about this stuff, much to her embarresment I might add, so I don't doubt she'll be prepared with a selection of creatures. Master Summoner seems the clear favourite, but i'll mention the druid, etc as well.
Thanyou;)

Coming back to Pathfinder, I have a friend who loves to summon an army of creatures in other games, and will no doubt want to do it again and will ask my advice because I've played Pathfinder before, but I feel kinda rusty so am looking for some ideas. She has enjoyed summoning animals and fey in the past, but she really likes using an army of animals as blockers/moral support, hehe;p

Anyway, any ideas - Class, Archetype, Race, good Feats, etc - will be welcome so I can concentrate on what im planning to play.

Thankyou

Thanks for all the input so far, I should note that I am only really aware of the Core, APG, UM, UC, and only very recently the ACG books. The DM we will have I hear is quite new to DMing, but a long time player, so probably has more resources I can use if I know what they are from. The Kineticist is new to me, as well as blackened curse and Admonishing Ray - but I may have missed them.

Btw (and I may leave this character for another time), I do like the idea at least of a "Toph" earthbender-style, melee Stone Oracle, with blind fight feat, possibly focused around tripping & intimidation - if I can talk a DM into making my curse Blind, but with a 15-30ft Tremorsense (again, this may be a dumb idea, but I would appreciate thoughts if I should make a post on a build like this to make instead?)

Looking to make a Wind Mystery, Haunted Cursed, Half-Elf Oracle (and to be fully transparent - I have an aged up Airbending Avatar Aang image bouncing around in my head)

Anyway, I was looking at grabbing (via racial Skill Focus) Eldritch Heritage: Arcane for a familiar (eventually improved) and extra spells via this. I even considered taking maybe some other heritages, like Elemental Water or/& Fire - but that may leave me a little short of Feats for possibly useful meta magic.

Roughly:
Stats = Cha > Dex > Con > Wis > Int/Str

Feats =
1) Improved Initiative
3) Eldritch Heritage: Arcane - Familiar.
5) Combat Casting?
7) Improved Familiar
9) ? Metamagic
11) Improved Eldritch Heritage: Arcane - x3 Spells (? on picks)
13+) ? Metamagics, ? spell focus, etc.

I'm not sure how to make this effective though, nor really sure on the Revelation best to take early on.

Anyway, welcome all input - even if its saying this is a really bad idea!

Thinking of making a Archeologist Bard (skirmisher-type) with a small (1-3 lvl) dip in Barbarian for the rage powers and some tribal heritage. Will Rage (morale bonus) stack with Archeogists Luck (luck bonus)?

Any other advice on this type of character would help as well. She'll probably have a reach weapon, when cant use her longbow, maybe spring attack, but ive not decided on much atm.

Thanks;)

Am working on a Barbarian with Scarred Rager Archetype + Dreadfull Carnage Feat + Terrifying Howl Rage Power, while finding feats/powers that work alongside this.

Since a reasonable Charisma will help (Str still being the main stat ofc), I am also considering things like Eldritch Heritage. I've been considering the Orc Bloodline and/or Draconic, and/or Serpentine. Since I am going to be human, I figured the Focused Study alt racial would be good here while bumping skills like Survival, Perception, Intimidation.

Also wondered about the power of certain rage powers like Spirit Totem, but I am abit out of my depth with all this. I just wanted to try something abit different.

Any ideas would be great;)

Thanks for all the advice/input, will take a look at the human FCB as well. REALLY looking forward to playing an Archaeologist now ;)

So I was considering the Archaeologist Archetype for my reach Bard, who is half-elven, and wondered if the races favoured class bonus will give me 1 rnd performance per level as the archetype description does go on to say that abilities, feats, etc effect the Luck ability as a bardic performance.

Have I got this all wrong?

Yea, I understand the reasoning about making the most of AoO's, the trouble is when I looked/thought about it, there really doesn't seem like a lot of great help other than Combat Reflexes (as notes in the posts about step-up and stand still).

I am somewhat dubious about usefulness of Combat Patrol on a 3/4 BAB, it may come into play maybe once during an encounter, but could waste my turn completely when a spell or a spring attack could at least get a hit in at my full BAB - same goes for Whirlwind, with lunge helping to encourage attackers to come into my threatened areas. This also avoids full-attacks with big minuses to hit after the first. That was my thinking at the time anyways, it may not work in practice.

Also, am kinda wondering if 2 levels of fighter would help.

Thanks for the input so far, am away for the weekend so look forward to reading hopefully more on returning;)

I am currently exploring the idea of a Arcane Duelist Bard, Half-Elf with a Flying Blade Ancestral Weapon (1d12 damage/x3 on crit, reach, with a -2 attack except with AoO's, then it has a +2 attack)

I am thinking that making the most of AoO's, as well as making standard attacks is the way to go as I think alot of full-attacks will miss, but I am open to suggestions and input as I cant decide on how to feat this. This was one of many ideas, but I am just really unsure of myself on this.

1st) Combat Reflexes
3rd) Dodge
5th) Mobility
7th) Spring Attack
9th) Combat Patrol
11th) Power Attack
13th) Combat Expertise
15th) Whirlwind Attack
17th) Lunge
19th) Furious Focus or Spell Focus: Enchants

My initial idea was a high damage (non-CM) approach skirmisher (with Acrobatics pumped with skill points and the Arcane Duelists Bladethirst to cleave if needed)

Any advice/ideas would be great!

Am set on a Half-Elf Bard and liked the idea of using an odd, but flashy weapon with reach. The Flying Blade fit perfectly and since it had a bonus with AoO's and penalty with normal attacks, I am looking for help on a good way to build a Combat Reflexes skirmisher-type, using my standard action mainly to cast spells, rather than attack.

The big problem I feel is keeping enemies more than a 5 ft-step away. here's a rough feat plan for an Arcane Duelist Bard, but its early days (btw; i kinda like Spellsong, it feels very bard-like to me)...

1st) Spellsong
3rd) Combat Reflexes
5th) Power Attack
7th) Furious Focus
9th) Lunge
11th) Discordant Voice
Beyond this I have no real hard idea, i've even wondered if feats like Stand Still, Pushing assault or Combat Patrol would be worth getting early. I am trying to avoid combat maneuvers though like trip, since my stats will be mad, focusing on Str, dex & cha and i'm not high BAB.

Any good spells would help as well, ive spotted Thunderous Drums (knock prone = AoO's when they get up) which may be usefull and perhaps Discordant Blast, but I am not nearly as experienced at pathfinder as I would want to try getting this character to work.

Any help would be great!

After a lot of thinking about this, I believed i'd focus on the (scorpion) whip, with a cestus for is I can get 5ft away, until 5th level when Id take the 1st of the 2 white-haired witch levels and then focus more on prehensile hair.

After this I was imagining a fight going somewhat like this:

A) Against say 1-4 bad guys (below party number so tough) = go straight in with the prehensile hair, get some AoO for a rnd and then go for the grapple/constrict.

B) Against 5+ bad guys = have the hair ready but at least early on whip them from afar to spellstrike and debuff as many as possible through frostbite & intimidation. However, I am kinda worried that I am screwing up the AoO to follow, as when they close i'd use the prehensile hair (with no intention of grappling).

Hmmm, starting to wonder if I should just get witch levels at 2-3 levels and forget the whip now altogether, would free up a feat as well (I think the whip idea came to via enforcer feat a while back)

Also: Was wondering if Impr.Trip, Gr Trip (and maybe tripping strike) was worth taking - although it wouldn't happen until 11-13th levels.

I was looking for something a little unusual with a Half-Orc, frost themed Magus debuffer (high Int & dex) on previous thread. In short, I was pointed towards 2 lvls in White-Haired Witch Archetype suggested (sorry forgot the peeps name who suggested it).

This appealed to me and when exploring Half-Orc racial options came across the ability to get a (scorpion)Whip...so now i'm considering if Prehensile Hair and Whip Hex-Magus is viable option or not (Probably discarding Blade bound).

I would love to know peoples opinions on this approach and how best to feat build it. I am looking at feats like Weapon Finesse, Rime Meta, Combat Reflexes, Enforcer/Cornugan Smash, Lunge (hopefully this works on the grapple, so I don't have to be next to someone - though Enlarge Person is an lesser-alternative I believe), Power Attack, Whip Mastery (and those beyond).

I think some things can be discarded above, considering that the Hair will be the standard attack, CM weapon & AoO weapon of choice, but hopefully full-attacks will be more common with a whip and when the hair grapples, I have the whip to attack whatever I wish.

Anyway, nuff said already, hope someone can provide wise advice on this. Thanks for reading my confused musing's ;)

I'm a bit unsure if I want to multi-class, but i'll keep the 2 levels of witch in mind. Hmm, doesn't that only allow a short period of use per day as well? Kinda liked the idea of using Prehensile hair for all sorts of fun stuff, as much as possible. Witch levels do fit my character idea to a degree, although not from level 1 ;)

Got a while before a new game begins, but I am currently a "healing" class as so I wont running another similar next time (i'm putting my foot down;p). I like the idea of a Magus and have something particular in mind. I'm looking for help to make the best of the kind of Magus i'm going to play...

1) Frost themed: born in a blizzard or something similar) so, things like Rime Meta, Cone of Cold and Frostbite spells - though I think anything "storm-like" will work too.

2) Half-Orc: her mother was an orc witch-doctor who died after being raped by the evil son of the good lord she gave her baby too to adopt.

3)Hexcrafter: Mother was a Witch of sorts

4)Noble Duelist: I'm not keen on the Duelist Archetype btw, but prefer to go with the Rapier Sword. I think Bladebound Archetype will work well with this (since it seems you can have both Bladebound & Hexcrafter).

Here is Lady Valaska d'Winter's current attribute focus, feat, hex/arcana & some spells I am considering...

Attributes Focus (DM tends to make us roll):
Primary: Intelligence
Secondary: Dexterity & Constitution (with Strength of 12 minimum)

Feats:
1st) Weapon Focus
3rd) Enforcer (from what ive read this should work well with Frostbite)
5th) Rime Meta + Power Attack
7th) Intensified Meta
9th) Extra Arcana (to get Arcane Strikes, looks like a must have arcana)
11th) Weapon Focus + Specialisation: Rapier
13th) Critical Focus
15th) Impaling Critical (Have this daydream of impaling a guy, ice tombing them with the blade still in and fighting with a backup rapier (they weigh only 2 lbs) until the tomb guy is dead and then summon my blackblade to my hand;p)
17th) Dazing Meta + Spell Perfection: Chain Lightning
19th) Impr.Impaling Critical

Hex/Arcana:
4th) Prehensile Hair (Hex): Ermm...I considered Misfortune, but the hair thing won because its cool and fun tbh, no idea on how usefull it will be.
6th) Arcane Accuracy (Arcana)
9th) Evil Eye (Hex) + Arcane Stikes (Bonus Arcana via Feat)
12th) Ice Tomb (Hex)
15th) Retribution (Hex)
18th) Lifegiver (Hex)

Spells of note so far:
CL1) Frostbite, Shocking Grasp.
CL2) Frigid Touch, Mirror Image (as well as Rime Frostbite & Intensified Shocking Grasp)
CL3) Vampiric Touch, possible Slow/Haste or Ray of Exhaustion.
CL4) Black Tentacles, Monstrous Physique II, Dimension Door, Gr.Invisibilty
CL5) Cone of Cold, Overland Flight, Wall of Stone.
CL6) Rime CoC, Dazing Chain Lightning, Gr.Dispel, Freezing Sphere.

Anyway, this self-indulgence has gone on long enough, any suggestions and changes are welcome;)

Gnome just fits my back story with her, half-breeds certainly wouldn't and neither would human. Originally I thought Halfling, but it soon changed to Gnome.

Probably gonna go with a the Bonded Item over a familiar tbh

Other peeps ( so they've discussed so far) are a Barbarian, Rogue and third is thinking Bard or Summoner I think, last I heard he was going more the latter.

Btw; my early level spells I am thinking so far...

Cantrips: Detect Magic, Create Water & Read magic (Beyond this I am not sure, I get a lot of bonus cantrips from Gnome & Haunted).

CL1: 1st Level) Cure Light Wounds (Believe you get "cure" spells as a auto-bonus spells as an Oracle), Bless (to be swapped out in later levels), & Shield of Faith, 3rd Level) Sanctuary, 5th level) Obscuring Mist probably.

CL2: 4th level) Cure Mod.Wounds (auto) & Lesser Restoration,
5th Level) Grace (or perhaps get this at 4th).

Anyways, thanks for the inputs, will be rolling this up in a week or 2, our current game is nearly at the end it looks;)

Yes I spotted Loathsome Veil flicking through UM last night, instantly popped out as perfect for Aurora, illusion (pattern) and she'll probably be still in a modified wedding dress (thanks her history).

There don't seem to be many illusion(pattern) spells of note other than that. Scintillating Pattern is the only choice I saw, and it looked pretty bad even with Awesome Display. (Note: Burst of Radiance looks good, but my DM is a bit hesitant on things outside the Core, APG and Ultimate books).

I will have to go home and check those other spells (I think this may be where my knowledge is weakest in the clerical/oracle spells). Also what three spells to get with the Heritage has me in a fix. I wondered if Project Image might be a handy pick up.

Anyway, great advice, feeling more confident about pulling this character off;)

Yeah, you make a good case for Persistent Metamagic, so that at 7th level. I still think Extend Metamagic can be useful, but perhaps later at 13th level, moving Dazing metamagic - which I must admit I like the look of alot;)

No Haste (Missed Blessing of fervour), so maybe get something like Fireball to take more advantage of Metamagics, or id there a really good spell to pickup for Awesome Display that I am missing?

Thanks, hope for more inputs;)

So, my group is preparing/talking about the next party to play in a few weeks and there is no real healing capable class, and no one seems interested in a arcane caster heavy class (Wizard, Sorcerer, etc). So I figured i'd try the Oracle and focus heavily on casting, here is how she is looking so far (roughly)...

Aurora Starbreeze

Class: Oracle
Race: Gnome (Probably get Eternal Hope alt.racial - fits with her back story)
Alignment: Lawful Good (yeah, a Gnome? Not sure I can make that work)

Stats (DM tends to make us roll so can only roughly plan this)
Str = aiming for 12 (after -2)
Dex = high as possible.
Con = high as possible.
Int = 10-12ish
Wis = weakest roll.
Cha = Highest roll.

History (work-in-progress): Princess to a long-destroyed, wealthy/advanced community of Gnomes, all murdered defending her on her wedding day from jealous human raiders. Her Oracle powers surfacing to rap her in a powerful stasis-sanctuary spell, awakening centuries after the event. Her people long forgotten, she strives to help all gnomes (and the good and weak) in the world, while ever haunted/reminded by the spirits of her long dead people.

Curse = Haunted
Mystery = Heavens:
1st) Guiding Star
3rd) Awesome Display
7th) Coat of Many Stars
11th) Mantle of Moonlight
15th) Moonlight Bridge
19th) Dweller in Darkness

Feats:
1st) Skill Focus: Knowledge (Planes)
3rd) Eldritch Heritage: Arcane
5th) Combat Casting
7th) Extend Metamagic
9th) Empower Metamagic (or Intensified)
11th) Impr.Eldritch Heritage: Arcane (Thinking spells like: Haste, Cold Ice Strike and something like Prismatic Wall)
13th) Dazing Metamagic
15th) Spell Perfection: Chain Lightning
17th) Gr.Eldritch Heritage: Arcane (+2 DC Evocation)
19th) Persistent metamagic

As you can see, heavy spellcasting (I kinda want to shock my party on how much "unlimited power" a humble Gnome Oracle-girl can be)

Anyway, any problems you can see, or maybe i'm being blinded by trying to make a kind of oracle/Sorcerer to better see better options. Any advice or input would be great;) Oh, and I haven't even considered what oracle spells to have.

At least part ranger is starting to become appealing and the Brawler archetype doubly so - it may fit my character well. Your post Errant Inlad uses a lot of the feats my OP had, so at I know I am on the right track. Oh, and as for no weapon focus feats, well, I know they are probably optimal, but not much fun when I could be picking up feats that give me new options like protecting another with a shield, rending my enemy between my weapons, etc. Yes I had feats like +1 dodge, but those where just prereq's.

Dorn-Duergar or the Scizore are interesting weapon choices I had not considered (as I am not committed to the axe, it just seemed like a nice weapon since I was a martial weapon for a dwarf). I had considered Steel Soul feat (before the Stalwart defender idea) but not Glory of Old, which i'll have to look into as well.

Btw, my OP was a bit long so I gave no real character background information, but maybe it will help peeps see where I am going (or not going). My Dwarf was raised by human parents and worked in a giant cityport where numerous races came to trade, his job was as a "Justicular" (Elite constabulary, a bit like riot police or SWAT). It is a tough living, law and order his unending goal until he left recently, his dwarven blood screaming for him to go in search of where he came from. Note: I will make a point of mentioning a "lust to wander the land..." and hopefully the DM will give me the Wanderlust trait to solve some mobility problems.

Anyway, too long again, thanks for all the responses. Its giving me plenty to think about:)

I kinda see your point with mobility XMorsX, however the Two Weapon Warrior Archetype bonuses to attack, damage & dodge require you to be making full-round action to get, so your kinda trying to stay still anyway (apart from a 5ft step). Btw, its probably not clear but i'll only start two-weapon fighting at 6th level (archetype bonuses don't really start to kick in until 5th) and that's when I switch to light shield until 11th level, when the archetype provided something called...

Improved Balance (Ex)
At 11th level, the attack penalties for fighting with two weapons are reduced by –1 for a two-weapon warrior. Alternatively, he may use a one-handed weapon in his off-hand, treating it as if it were a light weapon with the normal light weapon penalties.
This ability replaces Armor Training 3.

I did once consider Ranger Calagnar, not sure exactly why I stopped thinking down that route (I do have a strange aversion to that class, not sure why;p). That said, I will take another look and see as you've sparked my interest in seeing where it may differ as I am happy to take a small nerf to damage/defense for some non-combat funzies. Not sure how Stalwart Defender will go with it, but then I am not 100% sold on taking that prestique class.

Tempestorm, glad your son enjoys something similar it gives me hope. Really the only things that make Two Weapon Archetype appealing over straight fighter is the ability to use both weapons as a standard action & for AoO (more shield bashing) and the Improved Balance mentioned above that enables effective use of a heavy shield.

Thanks for the advice and input so far:)

So, its a bit of a complicated idea maybe, but I kind like to always have things to look forward to, start to finish, with my Pathfinder characters. That said, i've never really played straight melee combatant, so am looking for advice, well ahead of time, on this future character.

The things I am 100% sure upon is that he's a Dwarf, favours dwarven waraxe and (heavy)shield and likes to shield slam while defending the weak/allies. I know he'll never do as much damage as a straight damage dealing focused fighter, but I am trying to minimize the gimping of his output, as I doubt Antagonise will be an option (which I am more than okay with)

Anyway, stats, feats, etc.
(Note: Our DM makes us role our stats - 4d6 pick best 3 - though allows placing those stats where we choose, so I will be a bit vague, but give an indication of my thinking)

Strength = High as possible.
Dexterity = 16, preferably 17 (For Two-weapon fighting feats)
Constitution = Aim for 14+2 (racial)
Intelligence = Aim for 10
Wisdom = Aim for 12+2 (racial)
Charisma = Dump Stat/lowest role (-2 racial)
(I don't think this is an outlandish goal, but a bad role will probably force my to try this again some other time)

Racial changes = Relentless for the Bull Rush bonus, also I am not sure how I will use the favoured bonus. How much (if any) + to CMD vs.Bull Rush/Trips would be too much, or should I just go all into hp?

Two-Weapon Warrior = I am thinking from 1st to 13th level, making the most of the bonuses to 2 weapons (I believe shields are weapons, but it is something i'll have to check with my DM). I definitely like the 11th level bonus so I can use a heavy shield in my off-hand with light weapon penalties (its more a flavour thing for me than getting abit more damage out)

Stalwart Defender = Starting at level 14 i'm thinking of taking this (but this is a recent idea), since the 2Weapon archetype felt less interesting and the Stalwart feels like it could breath new and interesting things during my second half of this character. I am not altogether sure on which defence Powers to take, though Intercept seems to fit my flavour, and possibly some DR. I am still wondering if this Prestige class is worth it, or are there better ways to go that this at later levels?

Feats: (Put a ?? beside things I am really unsure of or question)
1st)Power Attack & Toughness (Stalwart Prereq.)
2nd)Cleave
3rd)Combat Reflexes
4th)Step Up
5th)Two-Weapon Fighting
6th)Improved Shield Bash
7th)Shield Slam
8th)Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (left until 8th in case need to +1 Dex)
Swap out Cleave for ?Doublestrike? (Possibly get later, 10th maybe)
9th) ?Saving Shield?
10th)Dodge (Stalwart prereq.)
11th)Shield Master
12th)Two-Weapon Rend
Swap out Step-Up for ?Pin-Down? (Before considering Stalwart, I
was thinking of getting Following Step & Step-Up & Strike)
13th) Endurance (Stalwart Prereq.)
15th) ?Lunge? (Seems handy for Stalwart, maybe I should take earlier)
17th) ?Shield Focus?
19th) ?Covering Defence?

Well, that's a lot of stuff, I still question all of it. Flavour aside, I always like to try to stay as useful as possible in my group (I hate being dead space), so any ideas on better things to go for is most appreciated

Thankyou;)