Heretek's page

For starters you should drop XP and start doing ad-hoc while keeping everyone equal. That'll help things a lot.

Secondly I'll agree with the above in that you should probably have the Slayer slightly off screen fighting off a mob probably.

If you're giving up Spell Combat to focus on a two-hander, I would seriously consider Frostbite; once Frostbite is active, you can go two-hand iteratives with a nasty magic bonus. By higher levels, multiple Frostbites on a two-hander full attack is more dangerous than a single Shocking Grasp with a bunch of one-hand strikes anyhow, and Rime Frostbite rather gimps enemy stats (which keeps you much safer).

As a STR-based Magus, you can make very good use of Monstrous Physique - besides the other bonuses, you get a +2 natural armor bonus (which will stack with enhancement bonuses to natural armor like amulet). Monstrous Physique: Gargoyle is available at a reasonable level and grants plenty of nice bonuses, works with a lesser Extend rod, and has a pretty cool flavor.

Unfortunately after further consideration I've decided on a different character, but had I continued with this, Frostbite was definitely the new spell of choice. This idea will just have to wait.

So my play group recently had a little run with 5e, and while we liked it, we are coming back to Pathfinder for our next campaigns. Since I'm known as being the guy who optimizes too much, I figure I'll use a class I like a lot, and deliberately not use one of their strengths. In this case: the Magus, and Spell Combat.

So the idea is to likely play as a Kensai Magus and use probably a Nodachi, and focus on Shocking Grasp Spellstrikes with it. Since it's a 2h weapon I can't Spell Combat, and get that action economy, but I'm hoping the Spellstriked nodachi will be sufficient damage despite this.

One worry is playing a Kensai STR build has me quite weak with regards to AC since I'll probably have a poor DEX, so my survivability will be down quite a bit, but am I nerfing myself way too much to be effective, or could this possibly work? Thoughts?

What a bloody mess.
She's 13, and new to the game, you can't expect her to know how to build a character, or even all her abilities and how they are used. For instance why the bloody hell would you let her have 7 CHA as a paladin?

You're at fault for not helping her.

As mentioned, Dimensional Dervish requires a full round action, using your swift action to DDoor, so the real benefits of Favor are wasted.

Let me get this straight: You want to give casters martial proficiency? Do you want to expand the Caster/Martial Disparity even more or something?

Anyway if you want the proficiency, dip Fighter. That's the simplest option. It's how just about all Wizards get into Eldritch Knight typically anyway.

The problem with giving casters free martial weapon proficiency is that you're taking something away from martials to do it. And in order to balance the scales, you would have to give martials something like exotic proficiency, which would...

Actually, why not give martials exotic proficiency?

All martials get free Power Attack, Weapon Focus and EWP at level 1. Sounds like a solid houserule.

Unchained Rogues can't take Offensive Defense. I noticed this myself while building something a few days ago.

We are playing giantslayer which is why i want to go with this. All those large weapons the are dropped are useless in terms of normal uses so i wanted to make use of them. I want to go tower shield specialist fighter and use 1 handed large weapons, or maybe just a vanilla fighter..... but the main goal is sword and board. The DM does not allow dual archetyping in the same class or else i would just go that route.

Your DM doesn't allow you to take multiple archetypes that should normally stack? Stupid.

Anyway as I mentioned earlier, go with a Large Bastard Sword, pick up EWP and you can use it 1h.

It can be interpreted as in it allows you to use a large sized 2h weapon in 2 hands, or that it allows you to use a large 1h weapon in one hand.

Personal recommendation. Get a Large Bastard Sword. You can use it one handed even if it's large if you have the proficiency, or just use it 2h. He can't BS you on that.

Heretek wrote:

BadBird wrote:

If you take Advanced Weapon Training: Weapon Specialist you can get 2 weapon feats, so it's 2-for-1 even if you take it with a feat. If you weren't using that already.

I am taking Advanced Weapon Training, though I was going for Defensive Weapon Training to get +3 AC.

What I mean is that Advanced Weapon Training also comes as a feat, so you can get Specialization and Improved Critical for 1 feat.

Ohhh, I did not know that... Hmm... I can even fit Blind Fight in now, this is great, thanks.

I wouldn't be all that worried about one -10 attack that you'll get at the next level anyhow. Debilitating Injury is like a +4 to all your later attacks, which is a major help.

If you take Advanced Weapon Training: Weapon Specialist you can get 2 weapon feats, so it's 2-for-1 even if you take it with a feat. If you weren't using that already.

I am taking Advanced Weapon Training, though I was going for Defensive Weapon Training to get +3 AC. I was also doing Advanced Armor Training and taking either Armored Juggernaut for DR 2/- or Armor Specialization for +2 AC. The DR is probably more useful, but I like the idea of 38 AC.

Have you thought of using an unchained monk.

I thought about it, but I'm too married to the two-bladed sword, even if it less-optimal than I'd like.

I was thinking that if you are emphasizing teleporting and flanking, maybe find a way to get even more Sneak Attack Damage.

Did you say you expect to have the only melee character? Then you can't rely on Flanking to lock in your SAD. Work in a backup method like Dirty Tricks Cornugeon Smash and Shatter Defenses, or Feinting.

Well that's where Accomplished Sneak Attacker comes in. I'll agree that having some kind of backup like Feinting would be ideal, but I only have so many feats.

I think I'm pretty happy with the Rogue/Fighter build for the moment. Had to lose Offensive Defense when I noticed UnRogues don't actually get it. Terrain Mastery is an odd pick, but it fits with Horizon Walker. Endurance is getting retrained since I'm buying a scarlet and green cabochon ioun stone for Endurance.

1 Fighter 1 Iron Will, Endurance(Retrained into Outflank), TWF
2 UnRogue 1
3 UnRogue 2 Weapon Training, Extra Talent: Terrain Mastery
4 UnRogue 3
5 Fighter 2 Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Double Slice
6 Fighter 3
7 Horizon Walker 1 ITWF
8 Horizon Walker 2
9 Horizon Walker 3 Dimensional Agility
10 Fighter 4 Weapon Specialization
11 Fighter 5 Dimensional Assault
12 Fighter 6 Improved Critical
13 Fighter 7 Dimensional Dervish, Armor Training: Armor Specialization or Armored Juggernaut
14 Fighter 8 Greater Weapon Focus
15 Fighter 9 Dimensional Savant, Weapon Training: Defensive Weapon Training
16 UnRogue 4 Combat Trick: Two Weapon Rend

You could always just go Rogue 4/ Fighter 9/ Horizon Walker 3. +4 from Weapon Training and gloves, 2d6/3d6 Sneak Attack/ Accomplished Sneak Attacker, and up to 7 bonus combat feats if you include the Weapon Training and Combat Trick Rogue Talents. Archetypes for a few more assorted goods if desired, Fighter feats for more combat buffs. If you can use the Weapon Master's Handbook, you can even make the Double Bladed Sword into a finesse weapon with Fighter's Finesse and then apply Trained Grace to it for double your Weapon Training bonus, though strength-based works just fine anyhow.

I think we are finally on to something here. I'm building this up and I think this actually works. Sadly none of the archetypes seem to be helping though. Also my AC is significantly higher now thanks to Defensive Weapon Training and replacing Dodge with Extra Rogue Talent for Offensive Defense, giving me a 39 AC after I sneak attack thanks to Accomplished Sneak Attacker. Sadly I lose the extra attack from 16 BAB though.

With this Rogue/Fighter build I end up with:
HP 201
AC 36, 39 with Offensive Defense
17 Fort, 15 Ref, 16 Will
A lot less skill points
80ft DDoor
Dervish with Outflank
+28 2d6+15
+32 2d6+15+3d6
+27 2d6+15+3d6
+27 2d6+15+3d6
+22 2d6+15+3d6
1d10+10 if MH and OH both hit

With the Slayer(with Accomplished Sneak Attacker)
HP 202
AC 34
20 Fort 16 Ref 16 Will
A lot more skill points
60ft DDoor
Dervish with Outflank
+27 2d6+12
+31 2d6+12+4d6
+26 2d6+12+4d6
+26 2d6+12+4d6
+21 2d6+12+4d6
+16 2d6+12+4d6
1d10+10 if MH and OH both hit

I'm still leaning Slayer for the extra attack and skill points, but all that extra AC I can get with Rogue/Fighter is quite nice. Debilitating Injury is also a thing the Rogue/Fighter can do which is quite nice inflicting -4 to AC, or -4 to attack. This is a tough choice.

It's still an immediate action to activate, so it's still in conflict with Dervish, unfortunately.

Slayer can still work without Study; it just raises the question of why you would pick a class with that issue as opposed to all the other options out there. Sneak Attack is the best argument for it; without that it would be an absolutely terrible class to use for this. You could even just splice some Weapon Master into Slayer for a combat upgrade with little consequence.

I totally get it if your concept doesn't involve a casting class; Horizon Walker is great stuff. But casting DDoor as a spell and casting it as an SLA is pretty much identical (it doesn't even have a somatic component), so don't let that part worry you.

Well crap, I thought for sure you could use a swift and an immediate in the same round knowing that I was losing my swift for the next round, but that is a problem. I'm already taking 3 levels of Weapon Master, I'll have to try dablling in more Weapon Master levels and see if I can still make the TWFing work. I'd really rather not drop TWFing the two-bladed sword from this. Slayer works so well because of Ranger Combat Styles for free TWF, ITWF, and TWRend, and the sneak attack is just gravy on top of it. Losing Studied isn't a total deal breaker, but it's definitely a problem I need to find a way around now.

The fact that Slayer can't use its combat buff actually makes it a rather weak choice in my opinion, when compared to all the powerful alternatives that can be thrown together by 16; Unchained Rogue/ Fighter/ Horizon Walker with Effortless Lace rapiers; dual 9-rings with Ascetic Style and Dragon Style on some kind of Sorcerer/ Dragon Disciple/ Martial thing; there are an awful lot of options that don't involve using a class that's gimping itself without swift action.

Again, I do lose Studied Target swift action, but only for the first hit, since I can still activate it once I start flanking and sneak attacking on the second hit.

None of those options still fit the theme though. Also Horizon Walker is still the best option in my opinion since it's an SLA, and doesn't require actually casting spells. I just get a solid 3+WIS uses of Dimension Door, which is frankly excellent. Sorcerer and Dragon Disciple is simply too far off the mark, and this is clearly not a rogue or rapier using build. The monk one could theoretically work, but I don't want to change weapons.

Is there a dimensional dervish build that could come online by level 9 or so?

Kudor's earlier build does it but he retrains several feats at level 9 to do so.

Is that the weapon master fighter archetype, or is there a weaponmaster prc I am unaware of?

Yea, he means the Fighter archetype. If you're just after damage it's pretty much one of the best archetypes for Fighter, since it only requires a 3 level dip to achieve Weapon Training which you can then take advantage of with Gloves of Dueling.

Cool build. I've always wanted to play with these feats when I first saw them, but I mainly play PFS because home games seem to disintegrate by mid level. That means, you are basically done by 10th or 11th level, so this feat chain is out of reach.

I don't even play PFS but it's still pretty rare I get to go over level 12 so I deliberately wanted to do something that comes online late with this.

Synergist could be fun, but I feel none of these quite maintain the same feel I'm looking for with this build, BadBird.

Ellioti, sadly DSP based classes are very unlikely as the DM would rather not deal with a new mechanic like maneuvers, especially at a high level.

Horizon Slayer isn't bad at all, but did you consider the applications for a level 16 Eldritch Knight type character for using a Dimensional Dervish build? By level 16, you're able to play with things like level 7 spells and Spell Perfection. Slayer is good for the Sneak Attack, but trying to use Study Target and Dimensional Dervish together is pretty dysfunctional.

I definitely agree with Studied Target and Dimesnional Dervish not working together, and it's really unfortunate, but I don't really see another alternative to obtaining the TWFing I need. I'm open to your suggestion on how to do this with the EK, provided I can maintain a high enough attack bonus to be worthwhile.

Kudor, walk me through what I'm seeing at that level 9. Are you picking up 3 Dimensional feats? I can't even figure out how you're getting 2. How's the second and third coming online at that time?

He's retraining Toughness and Endurance into Assault and Dervish.

Outflanking with yourself definitely needs Combat Reflexes. You need the boots that improve your movement speed. Because Dim Door is limited by this.

Got the Boots of Striding and Springing already for that 60ft Dimension Door range.

I thought about Combat Reflexes, but I don't see myself critting nearly enough to make use of it, even if I am at a 17-20.

Alright, here is what I have so far now at level 16.

Human
Slayer 10/Horizon Walker 3/Weapon Master Fighter 3
STR 25 DEX 16 CON 18 INT 12 WIS 18 CHA 7
HP 202
AC 35 Flatfooted 31 Touch 19
Fort 20 Ref 16 Will 16

Traits
Armor Expert
Indomitable Faith

1 Slayer 1: Endurance, Iron Will
2 Slayer 2: Two Weapon Fighting
3 Slayer 3: Improved Initiative
4 Slayer 4: Weapon Focus
5 Slayer 5: Big Game Hunter
6 Slayer 6: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
7 Horizon Walker 1: Dodge
8 Horizon walker 2:
9 Horizon Walker 3: Dimensional Agility
10 Slayer 7:
11 Slayer 8: Dimensional Assault, FCB Extra Talent: Improved Critical, Slow Reactions
12 Slayer 9:
13 Slayer 10: Two Weapon Rend
14 Weapon Master Fighter 1: Dimensional Dervish, Outflank
15 Weapon Master Fighter 2: Dimensional Savant, Blind Fight
16 Weapon Master Fighter 3:

Equipment:
Two-Bladed Sword
+2 Cold Iron Impact Holy
+2 Adamantine Impact

+4 Mithral Full Plate
Ring of Protection +4
Amulet of Natural Armor +3
Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone +1 insight to AC
Gloves of Dueling
Cloak of Resistance +4
Headband of Inspired Wisdom +4
Belt of Physical Might +4 STR/CON
Deep Red Ioun Stone +2 DEX
A bunch of other items

Adding in Outflank and Studied Target my full round Dimensional Dervish looks like this, assuming I'm not activating Study until my 2nd hit through an immediate action on sneak attack through flanking.

+27 2d6+12
+34 2d6+11+3d6
+29 2d6+15+3d6
+29 2d6+11+3d6
+24 2d6+15+3d6
+19 2d6+15+3d6
1d10+10 if MH and OH both hit

Still really tempted to add in Double Slice again just to make that math all even, but this looks pretty solid to me? Could probably drop Impact, but I'm just a fan of that 2d6.

Looking for more advice on this.

Few reasons the feats aren't discussed:

1. Evil. Most campaigns don't allow evil.
2. They require a deal to be made in game. You can't just take the feat and say you did it. It typically needs to be RPed within the game and your DM must allow you to summon a devil for such purposes.
3. The no rezzing thing.

Hell's Vengeance is a solid means of being able to make use of the Damnation feats, and it's even recommended in the Player's Guide as I recall. Diabolist is a solid means of bypassing the penalties as well.

So yea, the feats are typically really good, especially if you're an Antipaladin and take Mask of Virtue and Soulless Gaze. Maleficarum is pretty useless for martials, but pretty much everyone can make use of at least 2 of them.

137ben wrote:

Gabriel Cantrell wrote:

My point either way is that it is rather rude to be demanding a 'fix' for something when they aren't even willing to offer a suggestion for what that 'fix' should be.

The OP is not being paid to write rules. The OP is paying Paizo to do that. If you already know what you think the rules "should" be, then you have no reason whatsoever to pay Paizo one dime--just play your game with your rules. If you're on this forum at all, though, it's because you lack either the time, skills, or desire to write your own game, and so are willing to pay someone else for a game they wrote.

Of course, buying someone else's game is only worthwhile if that person did their job in the first place. Which, in this particular case, Paizo didn't.

typos happen in all books, not just Paizo's.

Typos are one thing. It's another when said typo results in an archetype being unplayable as written.

New idea:

Slayer 10/Horizon Walker 3/Weapon Master Fighter 3

With a 3 level dip into Fighter I lose 1d6 of sneak attack, a favored terrain, and Plains terrain mastery, but gain weapon training, which means I can buy Gloves of Dueling for a +3 to hit and damage on each hit.

While I can flank with myself in an opening volley thanks to Dimensional Dervish/Savant, it's not something I can really use a lot, so I'm not particularly likely to get much out of sneak attack after the first round. Also I can deal with just dropping heavy armor proficiency and just settling for a mithral breastplate, which also opens up an extra feat.

That lizardfolk barbarian... is he attacking with all of those attacks?

What race are you?

Humans get 1/6 slayer talent that you can use to get
1) Rogue Talent > Combat Trick > any combat feat
2) Adv Talent > Opportunist

Human, and I already did it, see:

Opportunist seems less useful since I'm likely the only one in melee. Though flanking with myself to allow myself additional attacks of opportunities with myself could get rather silly.

I'd drop double slice. It's only giving you a maximum of 6 damage a round on a full attack and you don't need it for two weapon rend.. Also, double check with you GM about heavy armor training shutting down. Ranger combat style. Many people including me rule that because the slayer talent references the ranger ability it shares its medium armor limitation.

Yea, Double Slice is kind of just thrown in there at the end since I wasn't sure what else to grab, and I hated the idea of having to remember to remember to only use half STR mod for off-hand hits.

Interesting remark about Ranger Combat Style and heavy armor. Wearing mithral full plate is treated as medium armor though, which still works.

Got the opportunity to join a high level game starting at level 16, so I thought I'd try a build I'd never really want to level through since it didn't come online until much later. Queue the Dimensional Feats: Dimensional Agility, Assault, Dervish, and Savant. In addition I've also opted to go for TWFing using a double weapon, the two-bladed sword. Proficiency is solved with the 1.5k ioun stone, which is easily affordable. Normally I'm the first to steer people away from TWFing, but I feel like just being silly here frankly.

Right now I've got Slayer 12/Horizon Walker 4, to get the bulk of TWFing through Slayer talents, and Horizon Walker for the dimension door SLA.

Human
STR 17+3 DEX 14+1 CON 14 INT 12 WIS 14 CHA 7

1 Slayer 1: Iron Will, Endurance
2 S 2: TWF
3 S 3: Improved Initiative
4 S 4: Rogue Talent: Weapon Training
5 S 5: Armor Prof Heavy
6 S 6: ITWF
7 Horizon Walker 1: Outflank
8 HW 2
9 HW 3: Dimensional Agility
10 HW 4
11 S 7 FCB Extra Talent: Improved Critical, Dimensional Assault
12 S 8 Rogue Talent: Slow Reactions
13 S 9 Dimensional Dervish
14 S 10 Two-Weapon Rend
15 S 11 Dimensional Savant
16 S 12: Adv Rogue Talent: Feat: Double Slice

The main things I'm questioning right now are the 4th level of Horizon Walker, and the Heavy Armor Proficiency. I'll likely be the only person in melee, so I'm not too sure I'm comfortable downgrading to a mithral breastplate. The idea was to take Plains as my 2nd terrain mastery to remove the movement penalty for wearing mithral full plate so I could dimension door for longer distances, but I'm not sure it's quite worth it. I was also considering Power Attack but it just really doesn't seem nearly as worth it with TWFing, though with a two-bladed sword I can definitely still use one end of it 2h to get some nice mileage out of it.

Looking for any advice, as well as purchasing recommendations, since 315k is frankly, a lot. 3pp suggestions are fine, but are subject to my DM of course.

Not total magic immunity but it's pretty close... why not make the boss a golem?

I dunno, if the only person specialized for melee is a bard while the crafting and healing situations are fine I think a melee cohort or two might be helpful. The skinwalker barbarian and the griffon riding cavalier have been huge helps in combat.

If the only melee DPS in the party is a bard then I simply must question your playgroups decision making abilities. Requiring leadership to fill in a critical missing party element is hardly advisable, nor optimized.

Oh, and I'll be taking Leadership, but only to get a crafting Wizard for the pure money saving goodness for the party and also more spells for my spellbook. He won't be adventuring with us.

Getting a crafting slave with Leadership is exactly what you do to optimize leadership. No one actually uses leadership for an NPC party member to join battles with.

Zaister wrote:

Derro are weird small underground humanoids, noted for their dark blue skin, white hair, their insanity, and their propensity to abduct surface humanoids for "experiments".

You can find them described in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, or in much more detail, well, in Classic Horrors Revisited, or here.

So they're pathfinder's version of the Wee Mac Feegles? Awesome, do they have rules for using them as a PC? If so I now know what my next non-psf character is.

Derros have existed within popular culture since the mid 1900s. This guy invented them, Shaver. DnD, and Pathfinder took the concept and modified them obviously.

Also no, Derros are not a 0 HD race. You'd need GM permission and some finagling to play one.

So Spirit Guide is highly suggested for the Oracle side, which is fine, due to the increased flexibility. Is there a suggestion for the archetype for the Paladin side? If suggestions for it are in the referenced Oradin guide, I can check it out later.

For the Paladin side it depends on what you're looking for. If you really want to play up the healing aspect, then Hospitaler. You get a weaker channel, but a whole separate pool, which once again will stack with Holy Vindicator and the Cavalier VMC. The base class works as well, and if you want to help out more in the damage department, Oath of Vengeance is always a solid pick. Sacred Servant could work, and on the flipside if you don't care so much about Paladin casting, then Warrior of the Holy Light could also work.

I don't think I'm seeing what's so great about VMC Cavalier Order of the Star; could someone explain the primary benefit I would be going for there?

I said why in my first post:

Tiefling straight Paladin is one of the hardest to kill. Their favored class bonus for paladins is crazy good. Pick a variant tielfing heritage that is +CHA, +STR/+CON and -WIS.

Paladins make pretty decent party healers, agreed. They don't need a high AC at all due to the excessive self-healing.

Agreed that going straight paladin is easily the hardest to kill, and if you're content with using wands for healing others, then it's the best option.

Sounds interesting; I've seen Oradin mentioned a lot on the forums here, and just to ensure I understand, is that just an Oracle and Paladin multiclass? Is there a specific ratio that is recommended?

Correct. Typically you go 3-4 levels of Life Oracle, and the rest in Paladin. There's some debate as to the best order to level in. Personally I like..

1 Oracle 1 Channel
2 Paladin 1
3 Paladin 2
4 Oracle 2
5 Oracle 3 Lifelink
6 Paladin X

We are only currently level 6, so the Oracle would need to at least be enough levels to bond with all other party members correct? That would mean not enough levels of Paladin to even have spellcasting yet

How many people are in your party? You only need 3 levels for a normal party of 4. Also if you're already level 6 then swap the above order with Paladin first so you get the extra max HP from level 1.

Tiefling (Kyton-spawn) Oradin with Fey Foundling

Fey Foundling + the Tiefling Paladin FCB and Hero's Defiance will make you nearly impossible to kill. Add in the Lifelink from Life Oracle and you have an effective means of in-combat and out of combat healing. If you care less about damage, then Hospitaller is a great archetype for Paladin, and you can get some great Channeling efficiency with levels into Holy Vindicator since it stacks with both Hospitallers channels, and the Oracle channels.

For even more cheese, consider a VMC into Cavalier Order of the Stars. You'll lose a ton of feats, but...
"In addition, the cavalier adds 1/2 his cavalier level to any levels of paladin or cleric he might possess for the purposes of determining the effects of channel energy or lay on hands."

Fauchard

There are other responses, but those are largely due to other factors. Nodachi is a polearm without reach, and can be used with Shield Brace for 2hed damage while still wielding a shield. Longspear is the definitive simple weapon reach weapon. Most of the martial options aren't much better, though Bardiche is basically the best of them due to the 1d10 19-20/x2.

As mentioned, if you're going dex, you want the Inspired Blade dip, if you decide to go STR, then you save yourself a bit of pain.

Personally I'll always recommend in favor of a STR investigator. Level 3 you take Mutagen, no questions asked, and level 5 you get Quick Study, again no questions asked. You will do this or suffer. From there you're pretty free to go as you please.

Thank you Captain-Green

I am looking at using sacred geometry to get access to the metamagic, so Quicken is less favorable.

I know sacred geometry is broken, and am going to run it past the GM before I take it, and it is a PbP so the extra time needed is no issue.

Sacred Geometry

You have about a 0.01% chance of a DM ever allowing Sacred Geometry. Look at other options.

I was going to pick the racial resistance that gives one resistance, and 1 Nat armor.

Personally I just never find this useful. Your mileage may vary.

Also keep in mind if you go Eldritch Archer you get a free arcane bonded gun, ideally this is a Revolver, and since it's an arcane bond, adding enhancements and enchants only cost half price and do not require the relevant item creation feats.

I know you picked Gunslinger for Dex to damage, but have you thought of Warlord?

Everyone knows DSPs gun using classes/archetypes blow away the Gunslinger. But it's 3pp and most DMs don't allow it.

Heretek wrote:

As mentioned earlier, OP is using 3.5 material. Summon Undead doesn't exist in PF.

Except via the Skeleton Summoner feat. But that one is still technically summon monster.

Except OP is clearly summoning 4 Owlbear Skeletons. This is only doable with the 3.5 spell which specifies Owlbear Skeletons. Also Summon Undead is special in that the weaker versions summon the exact numbers of creatures, not 1d3/1d4. So OP is using Summon Undead 4 to Summon exactly 4 Owlbear Skeletons obtained from Summon Undead 2s list, each time.

If you're going for Stalwart then the fighter dip is more worth it than losing the 2 feats I'd say . Also yes Reactionary and Improved Initiative stack.

Do you really think it's fine for your DM to just suddenly roll your saves for you and then say, "you failed, you died"? It's just numbers right?

The sane response is of course not. You should have the freedom to roll those saves, to fail or succeed is in the die in your hands. Not the DM. You control your charcter, not the DM.

All of them. No 3pp unless specified or requested under careful consideration. DSP stuff like PoW is generally accepted.

Why bother asking the players to roll to identify a monster? Everyone typically just randomly rolls their own knowledge when encountering one and hopes they hit gold by getting the right knowledge and roll. The ranger skilled in knowledge nature sees some terrible monster that's actually undead, rolls his nature and goes "nope, definitely not nature", meanwhile the cleric rolls his religion and hopefully triumphantly is capable of informing the ranger of what it actually is.

As mentioned earlier, OP is using 3.5 material. Summon Undead doesn't exist in PF.

Add in an Antipaladin and you're onto something devious. For searching though try Archives of Nethys.

Seems like you got the gist of everything on how to smash faces.

The 15 con is not wasted at all. The 15 dex is, unless you somehow planned to do some TWFing. For a weapon a falchion is always solid, though a greatsword is always great and recommended too. Statistly, the crit based weapons tend to deal more damage overtime and would generally be viewed as more optimized... but who doesn't love a good greatsword? If you're going down the CAGM route, the fauchard is the most optimized weapon though. Later down the line you'll want to enchant your weapon with Furious, quite important.

For feats, Raging Vitality you want at level 1, 3 at the latest followed by Power Attack also at 1 or 3. For your Rage powers, jump down the Superstition tree and Beast Totem trees. Both are just extremely important, and Spell Sunder is something that will never get old, and is one of few things unique to barbarians.

I'd still recommend not stealing from the party ever, and if you do, do it once, and get caught doing it, so nothing is actually lost. Also the party doesn't need to know your goals at all. Earlier I played an AP with an Asmodean Cleric. My character kinda got thrown into the party since we were all out for vengeance on someone, but after a series of events I realized I was in a good position to gain a great deal of power by sticking with the party, so I did, and became friends with them even. I knew I may need to betray them in the end, but I'd try my hardest to make them see that my goals were for the best. I obviously never informed them of any of this, though as an Asmodean they knew I had ulterior motives. In the end I sacrificed myself to save the city... a wish gone horribly wrong.

Planning for an alignment shift is an idea but it's best left open ended. Base the alignment shift on the actions of the party, not a pre-built plan. Also keep in mind Paladins are more prone to kill evil than redeem it. Sarenrae is an exception but even then Paladins of Sarenrae are expected to kill evil if it does not go along with the redemption.

As for unchained ninja nokizaru, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Remember, all nokizaru alters is the ki pool, and replaces sneak attack.

The results that come from that chunk of plastic are not effected by who throws it unless someone is cheating, so the question stands. Would you be happy if the player rolled the dice by reaching over the GM screen and rolling it so they couldn't see how it landed? Actually rolling the dicephysically is a pretty minor bit of player agency at best.

I disagree. Rolling the dice physically is a crucially important aspect. If you really don't see a difference in a player rolling a skill and a DM then I just don't know what to tell you. Taking away a players rolls is simply a terrible idea. I'm aware Paizo themselves encourage DMs to roll cettain skill checks in secret, but I simply do not.