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The Shaman class gains the spirit magic class feature, which allows them to spontaneously cast a limited number of spells from the spirit they have chosen. You also gain the spells on your wandering spirits list when you gain the wandering spirit class feature.

My question is, are these spells considered spells known for item use and crafting? Specifically for potions, on the crafting side, as the ruling seems to be that you can't just up the crafting DC by 5 to compensate for missing prerequisites when making potions, scrolls, wands, or staves.

And for the item use side, can a shaman use a wand of enlarge person only when that spell is provided by a spirit?

Does the spells gained from your permanent spirit differ from the ones gained by the daily chosen wandering spirit?

I have found nothing indicating any which way this would go, but I would think it goes like this:

All the spells on the shamans spell list are, of course, spells known. The spells from your chosen spirit are also spells known. The spells from your wandering spirit are only known so long as that spirit is chosen.

I was looking up the 'Steal' maneuver for someone, and couldn't help but notice that one can use a whip to make steal attempts. Now, I really want to make up a whip focused character, with trip and steal. I was about to embark on a search through the various books I have to see what all there is that would add to this build idea.

But then, I thought, this idea has surely been done before! And probably done by people far better at it then me, to boot!

And so, here I am, asking if anyone has a most excellent whip wielder build? I was going to go fighter, just due to the sheer number of feats required to do this. At least, it appears to be quite a few feats.

I tried googling "Whip Build", but all I got were trip builds that use a whip. Certainly good info to go on for a whip master, but not precisely what I was going for.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be most welcome!

I have found the FAQ stating that rays can be affected by Improved Critical and the like, as rays are considered weapons. Where does it state that rays are considered weapons? Or, more precisely, are other touch spells considered weapons, and where is it stated? Thanks for the help, folks!

I submit that the Skald makes for the best summoner in the game. Especially the Totemic Summoner. Basically, you get morale bonuses, enhancement bonuses, fast healing, and DR for everyone affected by your inspire rage, not to mention all the affects of rage powers you take. AND you can throw on the Augment Summons feat for even more bonuses, although depending on the totem you select, they may not stack with the totem bonus. But, you could give them a +6 morale to str and con, and +6 enhancement to str, dex, and con, fast healing 6, DR, and rage power bonuses...

Can other classes get these kind of bonuses? I haven't even looked into the feat that allows you to add a Summoner 1 point evolution to summoned creatures.

I very well could be wrong, but this seems to be the best combo of summoning in Pathfinder.

First off, I have to admit that I mostly really like the artwork in the Pathfinder books. Mostly.

There are, however, a few that are a problem for me. LOL, nothing bad, just they are wrong. In the Monster Codex, the Orc Ranger is holding her knocked bow wrong. In the ACG, so is the Hunter and the individual in the Skald Archetype sections. I gather the artist for each hasn't scene a real archer in action. Again, no big deal, but a bit funny...

Also, there are a large number of pictures of individuals holding their blades, as if ready for action, and the scabbard is on the same side as the hand holding the weapon...

Anyone else notice any minor 'oops' like these? I don't know why, but I just love finding these...

Do force effects ignore hardness? I can't seem to find it either way in the books...

So I was looking through the UE at the various pole arms, and I noticed that the illustrations for the bill and the halberd are mirror copies of each other. So, I was wondering, if I have weapon focus halberd, but I hold it with the blade pointed the other way, do I need weapon focus bill to retain the bonus?

Seriously, I find it a bit lame that they just reversed the image for two items like that. How much effort would it take to find a separate picture for the bill? I mean, to anyone that is interested in historical weapons, that is most certainly not a bill. Very much a halberd, though.

So, I have been looking over some of the classes with the idea of making a maneuver master, specifically with Disarm, Trip, and Grapple. Of course, any other maneuver's that get added in would be icing on the cake.

The vast majority of baddies in the game have been humanoids, and I don't see anything to suggest that will change any time soon, so these maneuver's seem to be the best to focus on.

So, my quandary is, like most people on these forums, is what class to take? Fighter is a good choice for the sheer number of feats, and might be the better choice for damage out-put in the end.

But the Barbarian might just be the one to edge out the fighter. He would have to be more focused on the types he can get "improved", but his damage, at least while raging, would be higher. Not to mention, his CMB benefits from rage.

For similar reason's, the Bloodrager is a good choice, with the added benefit of some spells. They certainly have some good spells to help out with maneuver's, so this may be a better option.

But then there is the Monk, which in my mind, is well known as a grappler and tripper. Tripping, disarming, or grappling a stunned opponent is vastly easier then otherwise, too. So, not a bad option.

Which brings us to the Brawler, with the maneuver training. This class looks like it might be the best of them all for what I am looking for, here.

So what have your experiences been with this sort of character? What class worked best in your opinion? Is there certain weapons that helped in this? I was looking through the UEG, and there are a bunch of weapons that would give bonuses to several of these. have any of them served you well with this type of character? I eagerly await your ideas!!

I have an idea for a sacred fist warpriest. The guy is nuts. Bonkers. He loses it whenever any of the party gets hurt. But does he get mad at whatever caused the damage? No no no... Its the party members fault for allowing this to happen! What is wrong with you, you idiot?!?! STOP TRYING TO DIE!!! And thus, he would deliver his cure spells via non-lethal unarmed strikes.

My question is, how would that work? Would the cure spell cure the non-lethal damage as well as the regular damage? After all, the punch would be delivering the spell, so the damage would have to come first.

So, I have acquired the ACG, and I have to say, I like the classes there in. I know a lot of folks here don't much care for them, but to each their own.

The Investigator is quite interesting. Now, I don't want to get into a debate about the class per se, what I am wondering is, what reasons, mechanically speaking, would someone play a Rogue (look!! I didn't say Rouge!) instead of the Investigator?

For me, the reason I play a Rogue is for the skills. Stealth and Acrobatics are important, but the real important ones for me were always Disable Device and Perception. The Investigator gets half his level as a bonus to those two. And he can make any Knowledge check untrained (did they toss in a bit of Bard, as well?). Then the talents they can select are pretty nice. If your the "face" of the party, Expanded Inspiration is fairly good choice, for one. And Extracts. I may be wrong, but it would seem to me that Mutagen would be mighty nice to have regardless of build.

I don't know, but this seems like a better Rogue than the Rogue.

What are your thoughts on this? Yea? Nay? Or is it one of those 'only in this situation' deals?

Is there a way to make, essentially, a monk with rage? I know the Martial Artist Archetype doesn't have an alignment restriction, so multi-classsing Barbarian and martial Artist would do it... I just don't want to multi-class. Is there an archetype out there for either the Monk or the Barbarian that does this? It seems to me that Flurry of blows and rage are meant to go together. Guy rains blows upon opponent in a fit of rage. I don't know, but that just sounds right.

Again, looking through the Archetypes, and I have come to the conclusion that this is a better Archetype for a Ranged Fighter than the Archer Archetype. What do you think?

If a caster uses a spell, such as charm or dominate, on a target, and the target saves, does the caster know that it didn't work? Can the target, assuming it knows what spell was just cast on it, make, say, a bluff check, or something similar (perhaps a Perform: Acting check?) to trick the caster into thinking the spell actually worked?

I was reading through this Archetype, and noticed something.

Deadshot allows you to add half your dex bonus to the damage. Greater Deadshot allows you to add your dex bonus to the damage. I don't see anything that says Greater Deadshot cancels out Deadshot, so that means 1.5 your Dex to the damage. Is there anything that says otherwise? I haven't seen anything online about this one way or the other.

Note: I am aware of the "readied action" part of all this, and realize it isn't all that good an ability, so please leave the arguments concerning this aspect and the fact that using a Longbow is superior (or not, as your opinion may or may not be) to another thread. Thanks.

Anyone know where I can find the Brawler's bonus feats? They were left out of the PDF I have with that class.

This strange man came to the village. He was dressed weird, and talked weird, and our women were bigger and stronger than him. He was rather sad, so we didn't kill him. Poor, pathetic excuse for a man, really.

But then he started teaching us things. Amazing things we had never thought of! So after the hundreth amazing thing he taught us, the Chief asked, 'how do you know all these things?' And the man pulled out this strange object, and said 'Books.'

So, the chief tells me to go and learn from this man all that you can. Get all the knowledge from the books that you can, that we may also know all these amazing things! So, I went to the man, and started trying to glean the knowledge from the book. But it wouldn't tell me anything. The man laughed, and told me I needed to learn to read. And so I did. After that, I found that there were MILLIONS of books, some useful, some not, but they were all far to the south.

And so, the Chief sent my Barbarian, along with the strange man, down to the south to gather books and knowledge, and bring it back to the people.

There is the gist of the background of my book loving Barbarian. I took the Berserker of the Society trait, and one that makes Linguistics a class skill. I have made him an Invulnerable Rager Archetype with the Superstitious Rage Power (along with the Human Racial Bonus, of course).

Here is the prob I have. I am very interested in the role-play aspect of the game, so for me, there is a real issue of my character using magic items, let alone letting anyone cast magic on me! However, this will REALLY nerf my character, so how do I go about using the magic items, and allow friendly magic, while still using Superstitious? Just seems the two don't go together.

I could say that I don't like "bad medicine", and the resistance I have just happens to block "good medicine", too. Except if I was in that situation, and my "stop bad medicine" ability stopped my allies magic, then I would be mighty pissed at that supposed ally, and want a real good explanation of why he tried to cast bad medicine on me???

I suppose I could say he is rational enough to know that this is just a case of "all or nothing", and it works on all magic, but I just don't see most barbarians be all that rational. Rational just doesn't seem to fit the barbarian feel, to me.

Any ideas?

I read a guide for the Alchemist, and it mentioned getting a ranger spell as a formulae known. How do you do this? Even if you multi-classed with Ranger, it still couldn't be a formulae, it would be a Ranger spell.

I am working on making a Human Wizard, and I was looking through the traits in the Ultimate Campaign Guide. So many of the seem good! Anyone have some insight on which two are best? I am probably going to take Reactionary, because init. bonuses are always welcome.

So, if a Cleric has an item that gives him a +4 to Wisdom, or a Wizard has an item that gives him a +6 to Intelligence, are those considered temporary bonuses when determining bonus spells and skills?

So, I was thinking, and this occurred to me. Instead of making, say, a Human Pistolero (or whatever archetype, or lack thereof, type of Gunlslinger) that is a 20 level progression in that class, wouldn't it be better to just take the first level of Gunslinger, and then go Fighter the rest of the progression? What are you really losing out on? It seems to me you would gain a lot more with this build.

OK, that was maybe a bit over dramatic... But, here is my question, oh guru's of PF. Can something like a Prismatic Wall be made invisible?

I was reading through the Formulae of the Alchemist, and came to Transformation. This appears to be nothing but a good thing for the Alchemist.

1) Doesn't lose the ability to use his extracts, as they aren't being cast when you use them, your basically drinking a potion.

2) The bonuses from Transformation stack with your Mutagen, as the bonuses are of a different type.

3) You still can use your bombs, as they aren't a spell, but a weapon.

Anyone notice any other Formulae for the Alchemist like this?

Does an Alchemist need to buy a bunch of vials and flasks for all his zany things he can do? I would imagine so, but thought I would ask in case there was something I missed.

When it comes to feats like Extra Discoveries and the like, your character has to be of high enough level to have the class feature in order to take the feat, correct? My DM seems to think as long as you have the feature in your class, you can take the feat. This would mean an Alchemist could take Extra Discovery at first level and have one before he should, at second level.

I believe I am right, here.

So, I am pondering an Alchemist for a game I am in as an alternate character should my Half Elf Wild Caller buy the farm.

I really should have made this guy instead of the Wild Caller, but such is life.

I want this fella to be a bit unstable, to say the least. So, Vestigal Twin, Tumor Familiar and the like are definitely getting in there somewhere. Ooze in a Bottle, Vomit Swarm, and the like will surely be part of it as well.

But, as I read over the alchemist, I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find the answers to, so I hope someone here has found them and can direct me to the location of this information.

Under Bombs, it says the range is 20 feet. Is this the increment, or the total range? In the Ogres guide, it implies that it is an increment, but I can't for the life of me find where it says so.

Are there ways to get spells as extracts that aren't on the Alchemists extract list? Again, in the Ogre's guide, it implies you can, specifically referring to a ranger spell. Is there some alchemist only way to do so, or is this something any caster class can pull off?

I am fairly certain I had other questions as well, but I am too tired to think of them at the moment, so I will post them later(I hope).

Any help directing me to the answers of these mysteries will be highly appreciated, and feel free to post any other zany ideas to make this zany guy even more zany! Thanks!!

P.S. If it helps any, I am going with a Mad Bomber idea, and he will have Alchemy as a skill for sure, as his Opus is to find out if there are scientific ways to copy magic. Thinking Human, and his traits will be Pragmatic Activator for Int to UMD, and Reactionary(?) for the bonus to Init. Point Blank Shot and Precise shot seem like good feats for first level. But, I may switch Precise shot to Splash Weapon Mastery...

I have just started a game with a DM new to Pathfinder. I am playing a human Barbarian. His name is Gath Bloodaxe.

The DM ran a mini adventure for each character, as part of the background for them. Long story short, I had an episode right out of Conan the Barbarian. I stumbled across an ancient tomb, and discovered a Cold Iron Greataxe covered in corrosion and filth, just like in Conan. I hit it against some rocks, and the crud fell off, revealing a very impressive Greataxe. (I have the rich parents trait, and actually paid for this, but he worked it into the story, very cool.) I also found on the skeletal kings head an untouched by the ravages of time horned helmet. Anyone familiar with Gath the Barbarian will know what this looks like. If your not, just google Gath the Destroyer, and you will see what it looks like. The DM had seen these pictures, and modeled the helmet off the pictures.

Now, similar to the original story of Gath the Destroyer, the helmet, once put on, will not come off.

Here is where the moral dilemma comes in. The helmet gives me a power. That power is immunity to exhaustion and Fatigue!!

Now, I know that the DM doesn't know about rage cycling. I also know that the helmet is in some way part of the story he is running. Do I inform him that he has broken my character? He specifically mentioned that I wouldn't have to worry about being fatigued after raging, so having a helmet stuck on my head isn't as bad as it could be. Do I tell him how EXCELLENT it actually is? By the way he described the helmet in great detail, and went on about how nice it is, even though my character hates having the damn thing on, I know its a vital part of his game, but even so...

CROM, I don't know what to do...

So, are the XXform spells a viable way to go for a caster to be a melee combatant? Beastform, Form of the Dragon, etc. etc. look pretty good. Or is there more to it?

Hello, all! I have two builds here, and I was wondering if I missed anything vital, or if there is a better way to do it.

First is a Human Gunslinger (Pistolero Archetype). So far, I have the list of feats. Well, mostly. Here they are in order.

Class Bonus: Gunsmithing
Human Bonus: Point-Blank Shot
1st Level: Precise Shot
3rd: Deadly Aim
4th: Class bonus: Two-Weapon Fighting
5th: Rapid Shot
7th: Improved Two weapon Fighting
8th Class Bonus: Rapid Reload
8th Hammer The Gap
11th: Improved Precise Shot
12th Class Bonus: Greater Two Weapon Fighting
13th: Clustered Shots
15th: Shadow Strike
16th Class Bonus: ??
17th: ??
19th: ??
20th class Bonus: ??

I wouldn't have minded getting Improved Initiative in there, but 16th level seems a bit late in the game to take that one. I feel like I am getting feats too late, though, like I should have gotten them in earlier in the progression.

The other build is a Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager Archetype). He will ALWAYS be using an axe of some type, and is starting with a masterwork Greataxe. I have the feats and the Rage Powers tallied up, but I feel as if I didn't really pick all that well. I get the feeling I am wandering around with this one, and I should have focused more, or something.

Here are the feats to start.
Human Bonus: Raging Vitality
1st: Power Attack
3rd: Combat Expertise
5th: Improved Trip
7th: Felling Smash
8th: Greater Trip
11th: Tripping Assault
13th: Raging Brutality
15th: Raging Deathblow
17th: Stunning Assault
19th: ??

The Rage Powers are:
2nd: Beast Totem, Lesser
4th: Superstitious
6th: Beast Totem
8th: Witch Hunter
10th: Beast Totem, Greater
12th: Eater of Magic
14th: Ghost Rager
16th: Renewed Vigor
18th: Renewed Vitality
20th: renewed Life

The idea was a tripping, magic resistant barbarian, but I think I wandered a bit aimlessly with this one as well. Or, its pretty good. LOL, I can't tell until I see them at each level, to be honest.

So, if anyone has any suggested fixes for these, or just a re-ordering of feats/ powers, please let me know. Also any suggestions to fill the gaps would be appreciated as well. I appreciate any assistance offered.

I saw something where the idea was that by 11th level, a gunslinger (Pistolero Archetype) could get off 10 shots on his turn. This is using two double barreled pistols, and from what I can see, is fine, except I can't for the life of me figure out how he is getting free action reloads!

There is a Deed at 11th level that allows you to reload a single barrel as a free action, but thats the best I can find.

I am making a Half-Elf Summoner, or rather Wild Caller, and I have the Weirdest problem I have ever had making a 3.P character.

I don't know which feat(s) to take. This isn't the usual "I have narrowed down the feats I want to only 2,000", no, this is a "I haven't found any feats that really seem good for this character" problem.

I don't have Ultimate Magic, yet, so there very well could be awesomeness in there for a Summoner, but as of right now, I don't have any real ideas on what to take.

This character doesn't seem the type to go into combat themselves, thats what an Eidolon is around for. So combat feats seem to be out.

I don't see much of anything that boosts the Eidolon, although I suppose later on when I cast Summon eidolon, then Augment Summoning would be nice. However, how often am I going to be running around without the Eidolon, my pal, running with me? The eidolon seems to be rather beefy, so I don't expect it to die hardly ever.

With one of the worst spells per day and spells known spell casting ability, so Expanded Arcana isn't all that great a choice, but it is starting to look like the best one, anyway. At least when I hit higher levels, I can start taking the Item Creation Feats, and this will expand my selection of items I can make.

Of course, I could go with Improved Init, and then take stuff like Extend Spell (when its relevant), but I have so few slots, I don't know if I want to do too much metamagic.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it. Thanks!!

As I am reading through the various posts, here, I see a lot of "full casters are OP!!" "No they aren't!" "Rogues are underpowered!!" "Fighters are underpowered!!" "Monks are Underpowered!!" "No they aren't!!"

So, what is a balanced character class in Pathfinder?

I sincerely hope that none are.

In my experience as a player and a DM, I have found what really makes any character class over or under powered. Its a combination of the player, and what the DM lets him get away with.

Most of the time its nothing more than ignorance of the game rules, or the specific rules concerning some class ability, but other times, its a player reading things in such a way to benefit his character doing something it really shouldn't. I have found the best way to stop 90% of the shenanigans people try at the table is a liberal dose of common sense.

Unfortunately, the classes that are the "most broken", like wizards and druids, are that way because they are the easiest to break. It takes very little effort to read any of the hundreds of spells there are to your advantage. Its always funny to read how someone has come with the "uber-awesome loop of planet destroying power" they were so smart to find out how to do with the wizard they have...OK, its not all that funny, its more sad that they think they were so smart to come up with an easily de-bunked ability...

Anyone disagree? Have other opinions?

I was perusing the core rulebook, and noticed under the Pathfinder Chronicler that the capstone ability is identical to the Horn of Valhalla (iron), where you call forth barbarians... yadda yadda... The point is, when I checked the Horn of Valhalla to see how long the Barbs stick around, I noticed it says "they arrive with the starting equipment for barbarians". Is there starting equipment for the classes? I haven't been able to find any such list, I just rolled up my characters cash, and bought stuff.

Also, I noticed in the Ultimate Combat Guide there are feats with Naga or Serpentfolk prereqs. Which book are those in?

As I read more and more PF characters, races, archtypes, feats, and skills, I see the gulf between 3.5 and PF getting wider and wider.

Has anyone tried to port stuff from 3.5 to Pathfinder? I was considering porting over the Book of Nine Swords stuff, but the amount needed to be changed seems daunting. Feats don't work the same, skills don't work the same, and there are so many abilities available to Pathfinder characters that I am beginning to think there really is no point.

I can see they are compatible, but it doesn't look like its a good idea, even though they are.

I am going to be starting a game, soon, and I think I am only going to have two players.

One is a Vanaran(? is that the races name?) Monk, or as the player likes to say, a Monkey Monk. He was unhappy that I told him that "flinging poo" does NOT do any damage...

The other player is a Tengu Rogue. Pretty sure the player isn't aware of how much ravens like shiny objects...

Anywho, I am missing a primary caster, and someone or thing that can take damage and keep the baddies interested. So, I will probably have to run a DMNPC. But, I only want to run one character, so I am thinking either a Druid or a Cleric.

Any ideas on a simple, easy to run build for such a character? Perhaps one could show me to a build already done? Race and class ideas are welcome, as well as archtypes, but I may just go with the standard class for simplicity.

The game starts at level 1, and goes to around 17, maybe higher.

Is it worth it? I am not totally convinced the Dragon Bloodline is all that good, to be honest. Claws for a Sorcerer are pretty... Meh.

However, it DOES feel like the PRC is much better suited for a Sorcerer, unlike that joke of a PRC in 3.5. Except for the strength bonus.