Isaac Zephyr's page

The whole concept of a tabletop's rule fall down to chance, and in the case of the best builds, reducing that chance through consistency. I wanna try to make a character that does the opposite, both in concept and mechanics, but also in the sense of how to play the character. A concept that every action has a legitimate risk of failure, but also that super high payoff of reward. A character that is the very concept of gambling that gets shunted by the consistency of the game.

A Swashbuckler feels like the ideal class to facilitate this. They get a lot out of critical hits, though they lack the spectacular failure aspect. The class is too consistent, often widening crit range and giving large to-hit bonuses.

Basically I want the character to be early level Power Attack, where you feel the penalty, but the bonus is meaty. Like can only hit on a 15+ roll, but if they do hit massive damage and/or crazy debuffs. Is there possibility in this type of concept? I could forsee putting feats towards critical abilities as a potential, but I think that mandates being a Fighter, which with it draws in way too much consistency from things like Weapon Training.

I want the gamble to also stretch into the defense as well. A low chance to be missed, but perhaps a penalty if you do. Opportune Parry and Riposte from Swashbuckler again feels like it fits, especially when you look at it as a literal roll for roll skill challenge.

Abilities as well that gain benefits from bad situations. Like for example, when you're flanked you gain some benefit. Obviously not a consistent one, or that removes the risk. The whole point of actually playing this concept would be the rush of gambling, putting your life on the line for the sake of the big win. Take out that rush, it's just the standard fare, or a powergaming play.

This has been bugging me a bit since I first made a Musket Master, who get Rapid Reload (Muskets).

So just how specific do weapon choice feats have to be? In the case of the Musket Master what all qualifies under "Muskets" plural? The Axe Musket? Double Barrel Musket? The Rifle? If I want to take Rapid Reload on a pistol user, do you take "Pistols" or pick one type like say the Double Barrel Pistol? Or as in the feat do you go by type like "One-handed Firearms"?

Firearms is a unique Weapon Proficiency in that you take it once and get all. Why is it different? If you take Weapon Focus what do you Focus? Just one type of Firearm?

The normal weapons this never really mattered. It was always clearly say "Longsword", and unless another weapon says it counts as a Longsword doesn't apply.

Futsing around with a Solar Bloodline Sorcerer, and while messing about with my spellbook app I noticed something.

You get Searing Light as a bonus spell at level 3, but it's a 3rd level spell, which means you can't cast it until 5?

I find this is the biggest bar of entry for some of the more interesting builds. Of note I've got two characters that need to get over this hurdle. The first being a White Haired Witch, which more suffers from poor design decisions than anything. The other is a Sorcerer who I want to focus on using the Abyssal bloodline claws and the inherent +6 to Strength (through Eldritch Heritage, they're actually Crossblooded with two other bloodlines for the character I wanted to build, before someone suggests just taking Heritage on a different character).

Honestly, the missing +10 to attack over 20 levels hurts hard. I'm aware the tradeoff is spells that generally fire against TAC, or else target saves, thus very rarely will you need to be trying to hit AC at all. My point remains though, if that is what a character wants to do, how can you surmount this hurdle?

"When casting any spell that deals fire damage, you can instead heal your targets. The spell deals no damage, and living creatures affected by the spell instead regain a number of hit points equal to half the fire damage the spell would normally deal."

This seems to read as all targets of the spell, you can't be selective about who gets heals and who gets burned. So Fireball example, cannot drop it on top of your Fighter without either burning him to ash, or healing all the enemies around him. Other example Scorching Ray, firing multiple rays one can't be a healing ray while the others are burn rays.

Now stupid questions, are there any ways around this limitation? It's still a useful bloodline arcana either way with a tonne of utility, so no big deal if not, but I am curious.

Stupid question two, Blood Havoc for +1 damage per die. The spell now deals no damage, but heals for half the fire damage it would have normally dealt. So does the +1 per die apply as it would have been part of the spell's normal damage?

Question three, Elemental Spell metamagic and other partially fire damage spells. You can make a spell half fire damage, so how does that convoluted mess work if say Chain Lightning is dealing 50% elec, 50% fire, can you make the Fire portion heal? If anyone wonders why someone would ever do that, I counter that you never know what idea a player might come up with.

The fourth question, which I think is addressed by the ability but not sure, how are undead/constructs effected? It's not positive energy, and the definition of "living" as I've learned from Starfinder is kinda vague. If say a player in the party is a Dhampir would be a good grey area.

Question the last that popped into my head, saves. Since the spell no longer deals damage would it gain that "Harmless" keyword that lets you just tank it to the face?

EDIT: Another question: Fire Resistance. Damage it would have normally dealt. Does that mean before or after any fire resistance the target has?

Yet more, Crossblooded with the Solar bloodline. "Whenever you cast a spell with the fire descriptor, if it deals damage, it deals +1 point of damage per die rolled." same question as Blood Havoc.

I had always assumed these were interchangeable, but with Heroes of Golarion's release having multiple Bloodrager bloodlines and the Phoenix Sorcerer bloodline I'm not so sure.

I mean, the only differences between the two are generally a couple of different feat selections (Sorcerers getting Metamagic and Bloodragers often getting more Combat), and occasionally more relevant bonus spells.

Which kinda sucks, cause the Phoenix bloodline was thematically on point for a character concept I've had floating around for a long time. Downside they're primarily a melee greatsword user, which doesn't work for a flat Sorc, but would have been brilliant for a Bloodrager. (I know multiclassing would also be an option, but then it really delays the whole being reborn from ashes thing and nukes the capstone.)

But I digress, I've also suggested a person use the Sorc bloodline they wanted on a Bloodrager. In this case, the Nanite bloodline (as it isn't great on flat Sorc). So was I totally wrong and homebrewing for people this whole time?

Perfect Preparation (Ex)
"You have discovered the secret to preparing spells without having to refer to outside sources. You no longer need to prepare spells from a spellbook (if you’re a magus or wizard) or a familiar (if you’re a witch). You still must spend the normal amount of time preparing spells. You may keep or discard your spellbook or familiar."

Does this mean you can prepare any spell from your classes spell list, so long as it is of a level you can cast? If you can just do away with your spellbook there's no keeping track of what spells you know, so I can only assume you basically become an arcane Cleric in terms of spells.

I'm putting a group together for Second Darkness (and have had a lot if unfortunate ghosting which has me annoyed). So far, two players have completed their characters, and it's likely looking that the other two players are going to be new to Pathfinder (or tabletops in general).

So the two players with completed characters are a Tiefling Abyssal Bloodline Sorcerer with the basics kind of spells (Mage Armor and Magic Missile to start), and an Unchained Summoner with a Protean subtype Eidolon specializing in Grab/Constrict tactics early.

As these other two players are new, (or likely going to be if the ghosting pattern continues) I don't want to suggest anything too complicated, or force them into a missing party role. That said, I think a Cleric or Warpriest is a good suggestion, and possibly some form of Fighter or Barbarian?

I don't want to get too complex on archtypes with new players, because it's a lot for them to digest. Some have 5e experience I can build off of, so I may have an easier time explaining more complex stuff, but I don't want to rely on what they will/will not understand.

So what are some good suggestions?

Had a fun Wednesday Starfinder session as usual, but the story for this one was too good to pass up. Spoiler warning for book 3, of the AP, so if you've not played these encounters, your fair warning has been given.

So we hit the point of book 3 where our team was hunting down Xerantha Mortant. Thus far, our team of 5 including a Hacker/Sniper Operative/Starfinder Data Jockey, Drone Mechanic, Hammer Fist Soldier, Healing Mystic, and Intimidating Envoy/Skyfire Centurion were working about as effectively as that team can on Eox. The Envoy (me) can't do much with Dispiriting Taunt, the Mystic can't Mind Thrust anything, and the Vesk Soldier is our go to combatant (For Skyfire, the Envoy and Mystic are combat bonded so they can Harrying/Covering each other for +4). We're also only level 5 just due to the larger experience split, not that it means a tonne, just some checks are harder than others.

We get to the hut, looking down the path and of course seeing the gargantuan Ellicoth we get combat ready, failing our checks to learn anything about it. So it's big and scary, and our Vesk and Sniper do what they normally do. As the Envoy, I'd invested in a Radiation Badge, so we were able to find out the creature had that radiation aura at least. Our Vesk was the only one with level 7 armor to ignore the radiation, so the normal Envoy + Soldier melee plan is out the window (+1 Fort save means as usual the Envoy would be totalled by the saves). So with a call, we shift strategy to fan out, so that it can't get more than one of us in the aura. The Sniper was already fallen back, the Mechanic goes wide, the Mystic stays just close enough to the Soldier to still heal, and I as the Envoy Jump Jet (+Sky Jockey Feat so extra fly speed) onto the roof of the hut.

The hut is made of skin, so my being on it isn't exactly subtle. As the Ellicoth is moving in to keep us in aura, and I'm prepping a Mk 3 frag, a shot comes up through the floor. The GM has decided me being on the hut triggers Xerantha's ambush. So now we're a team of 5 level 5s, fighting an Ellicoth, and a Marrowblight, equivalent CR 10. Both these creatures basically can't miss us with attacks due to our armor, so it's a slug fest war of attrition to figure out which one we can drop first, or else die.

I frag the Ellicoth and back up to stay out of range of the radiation. We're now spread enough the Ellicoth needs to focus the Soldier, but the Marrowblight is a secondary CR 7 problem to deal with. The following round, Xerantha busts up through the floor with Pounce and is on top of my 19 AC no Fort arse. The only one close enough to even help me is the Mechanic.

I drew my Noqual Dueling Sword which has been my go to since undead are immune to my Improved Unarmed Strike as a human. And this is where luck shone brightly on my Envoy. I didn't roll less than a 17 the rest of the fight (except the first Fort save vs. Red Ache of course... But at this point it's almost expected my Envoy attracts diseases). The Mechanic shot once, and saw I had things more or less handled between insane rolls staying mobile enough to avoid the full attack, and punishing attacks with my Electrostatic Field Mk 1 (if my AC is too low to avoid most hits anyway, may as well benefit from it right?). So the Envoy is fighting Xerantha on the hut roof, while the rest of the party are all trying to focus down the Ellicoth which has started to really hurt our Soldier just from repeated blows. I have never felt more like we were in a Star Trek/Wars moment than this combat.

It was beautiful, my Envoy getting repeated strikes in and then taking blows back from the spurs. It was almost a rinse repeat of hit, back off, get approached, get spurred, until I was down to just 5 HP. At which point there was a choice. Either repeat again, and know the next blow would have me burning 2 Resolve to stay at 1 HP, or use my actions to draw a Healing Serum and heal myself, at the cost that I wouldn't have the distance between us and would be full attacked. The Soldier had been dealing with similar against the Ellicoth, with the Mystic doing everything possible to keep him alive (ironically giving the Ellicoth more healing from beating on our Soldier's HP, something we were unaware of due to our failed knowledge checks), but with the Mystic too far away I didn't have that backup.

I had been rolling hot all fight, even had a crit, (and with only a +5 to hit and a KAC targetting weapon, I needed it, min roll 16 to hit) but I knew pushing my luck would likely get me killed, because if I didn't heal the full attack would do me in through all my resolve. I also knew she wasn't doing so hot from repeated max to near max rolls (11-13 damage a hit from the sword, plus 3-6 from the Electrostatic field, and 24 from the Frag Grenade she was in the initial radius for since the GM ruled skin walls thin enough for her to shoot me through meant she got hit with the grenade when it tore through the wall). I took my gamble with the attack, knowing I probably stood a better chance at delaying her even if I missed since I could still move away and prevent her full attack.

I scored a second crit. Dealing near max (24 out of 26 potential). It wasn't enough to take her down, but my brash captain nature paid off. I was Kirk in that brief moment, where no matter what stupid decision I made, I would win. So instead of moving, knowing my remaining resolve would let me live 2 attacks from the full and proc the Electrostatic Field twice, I drew the Healing Serum. Xerantha died after hitting me one last time, forcing 2 resolve for me to stay in the fight, but dealing the last of her HP, destroying her.

The socially built Envoy, defeated a CR 7 boss solo, before the rest of the group had finished with the Ellicoth. So I was able to Jet Dash back next round close enough to get into gun range and help out on the last round.

It was one of those moments that'll be shared around the table as one of the best moments of the campaign, because we had no right winning, but the stars aligned and let everything work out. And how often does a 15 Str Envoy get to out-damage a maxed out Vesk Soldier? But yeah, really fun time and wanted to share, even though I don't frequent the AP threads for spoiler reasons.

If you cast Permanency on a Metamagic adjusted spell, does the Metamagic remain? Or wording the question another way: Can you cast Permanency on a Metamagic'd effect?

Example uses.

Heightened Spell: Dancing Lights
Increase the spell level to just higher than Deeper Darkness and boom, you have a light spell that dispels the darkness in a small area. Good for playing with a Drow player.

Widen Spell: Detect Magic
It's an emanation. Think of 120 ft. of permanent magic sight instead of the 60. Applies to any relevant emanation or burst spell on the Permanency list.

Burning Spell: Wall of Fire
If you're setting up a perma-wall, why not make it the best?

The list goes on, there's a lot of metamagic that can apply to the list of Permanency spells for different reasons. Is there any ruling or FAQ preventing it? I can't find it at all in the spell itself (or if it would have an inflated GP cost to Permanency).

Spell Perfection is a really fun feat. Ever since it was shown to me it's been a major consideration on most spellcasters I make. Doesn't work for all, some have better feats that give them more (like Extra Evolution on a Synthesist Summoner) or else never really use metamagic with more than a +1 to spell level (as was the case with an Eldritch Archer 10/Arcane Archer who only really used Spellstrikes and the occassional Selective Spell). Some though it can be really cool, so I wanted to open the floor to hear some cool ones.

I'm gonna set some rules. The first, class and applicable metamagic make a big difference, so present your perfected spells with those included, as well as maybe a small bit of either reasoning for why it is/was good (avoid certain AP spoilers if it was only amazing due to the AP it was in). Rule the second, a lot of this is opinion. Something can be good because it's meta-good, good because it's good wrong fun, or maybe there was just a single moment that made it all worth it around the table. Unless someone specifically asks for suggestions, be polite and don't down on their perfected spells.

That said, I've got three.

Spell Perfection (Shocking Grasp)
Class: Sylph Magus (Sigilus)
Applicable Metamagics: Intensified + Empowered + Quickened
Pretty much the standard type of offensive Spell Perfection. I actually got pointed to this one and it was my introduction to Spell Perfection, so it's not really my place to claim it my own idea. But added to Magical Lineage the character spell combats with Shocking Grasp basically all the time. They get so many preps of SG with adjusted overall spell level and flat out ignoring a metamagic adjustment (the level 1 spell slot ones are all Intensified + Empowered, as can all the level 2 slots be by Spell Perfection ignoring Intensified instead of Empowered (for +1 total adjustment)).

Spell Perfection (True Strike)
Class: Tiefling Wizard Diviner 8/Loremaster X
Applicable Metamagic: Quickened
True Strike is a really hard spell to metamagic. It doesn't have variables, can't be extended, but it is a super powerful spell. The wizard in question is blind, so True Strike ignores the Concealment, and gives a nice pretty +20 so no spells are wasted on a miss. The ability to turn the level 1 spell slots (of which Loremaster grants an additional bonus on top of the high Int bonus) into essentially Swift Action boosts to every other offensive (non-save) spell you cast is such a stronger boost that Spell Perfecting any of them individually. Essentially it takes away the 2-turn setup for True Strike, and lets you prep more 5th level spells (which you can use with True Strike, it pays for itself!).

Spell Perfection (Mindwipe)
Class: Kitsune Spiritualist (Fractured Mind)
Applicable Metamagic: Persistent + Extend + Spell Focus (Enchantment)/Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) + Spell Penetration
Taking the other route, using Spell Perfection for its other use to double up on making a spell nearly impossible to save against. The Spiritualist spell list is pretty light on Enchantment spells but this one seemed like the best (I'd be open to hear another Enchantment option from their spell list, or that they could get access too that would be fun). Add Persistent for free (I'm not sure if Extend works, since the effect lasts 1 Day/Level but the duration is listed as Instantaneous; see text) so they need to save twice against a double focused, double penetrating... Basically you will take 2 negative levels. It's only too bad that Kitsune Magic isn't also doubled from Spell Perfection since it's not a feat.

Playing a Wizard, curious to how this works. I had assumed that perhaps it worked one way, but have found evidence that my assumption is likely wrong.

The first DF Wizard spell I ever was interested in was Defending Bone, which since it was a Pharasma-granted spell I assumed that essentially meant you can't have it unless you worship Pharasma, and thus require the DF holy symbol of Pharasma even if you're a wizard in order to cast the spell.

Then while looking through some spell from Champions of Purity (researching Good-tagged spells), I stumbled onto Touch of Mercy, which isn't deity-specific but does still have a DF component, without a M alternative.

So it begs the question, what happens if a Wizard spell has a DF component? Does it matter? Can they take spells associated with any deity without worry because they're blasphemous dabblers who collect knowledge?

General discussion for GMs writing custom campaigns, and players in general.

In a campaign, would you prefer to write/play as the fellowship, the specialized group that needs to protect the hobbits on the way to Mordor, or the hobbits whom are the focus of the story?

I've had GMs do this poorly, where the group is written to be the fellowship, guiding an NPC along, but the NPC is written too powerful and outshines the players. I've written games both ways, where the players have been the hobbits in gritty realism type games and they felt too weak, and where they're the fellowship trying to stop a major threat but they felt the game was more about the NPCs and the villain than it was about them (to draw the LoTR parallel, I had them equivalently seeking the ghost army while the equivalent hobbits they were following were fighting demons and getting praise).

So which is the better to write the players as? In a case where they can't be both of course.

Plotting an Eldritch Archer Magus going into the Arcane Archer prestige class.

The Arcane Archer enchants mundane ammunition automatically, where the Eldritch Archer uses the Magus Arcane Pool to augment your weapon, which would be the bow?

So how does magic enhancement work for bows? Do you enchant the bow with Distance +1 etc, or do you enchant the ammunition with Distance +1 etc. And if you have both, I assume you simply use the better of the two?

I wanna make a Pain Taster. Seems fun, and the idea of a dominatrix/sadomasochistic character is up my alley. I'm not sure about a good base class to build into it though.

It's a martial prestige class, so going Warpriest doesn't seem great for the bigger whip damage die. The Rogue has some whip talents, and Cruelty would stack with Sneak Attack, but Diehard, Endurance, and Great Fortitude is all the feats gone, meaning pre-6 the whip isn't a fantastic weapon. Fighter has a bunch of bonus feats, and access to Weapon Training so could take Weapon Mastery Feats like Focused Weapon, but without going full Fighter that's going to be a lot to get the ball rolling.

I dunno, maybe there's an Archtype that'll work well?

Blind Zeal

Alright, I stumbled on this one and it is much nicer to a GM to say "I have this trait" than "I'm playing a character with a disability, hiw do you want to handle it?"

So, concerning this trait. It's a religion trait, and the character will likely not be on that religious path. They were a con artist gambler, saved after an outraged mark caught on and took their Tiefling eyes as compensation. Eyes that can cast Deathwatch? Valuable on the black market.

So yeah, they're true neutral and self interested. No matter how thankful they are to their Vildelite saviours who helped her see the world again, she's still flawed. Relying more on luck from a deity like Desna than an Empyreal Lord of martyrs and self sacrifice (though I do like the moral conflict of not wanting to abandon new friends that accept her in the party).

So question 1: if you don't follow a deity anymore what happens to a religion trait?

The other part to this, is the character in question is a Wizard. In particular a Divination wizard, replacing her sight lost in arcane sight, with spells like detect magic, arcane eye etc. As well they aren't giving up Necromancy, which opens up the option to animate dead an Istoq which can share senses.

So question 2: since you lose the benefits of the feat whenever you can see, would it be lost if you were able to see the world through another's (or magic) senses?

I'm having trouble picking a weapon for a Cavalier Sister-in-arms.

Banners have to be tied to either a pole, polearm, or lance.

Sister-in-arms means no mount or charging bonuses outside of Banner (Ex), so the lance is out.

Pole would mean occupying one hand, and thus the weapon would be one handed. Polearm is limited to polearms (obviously) most of which are two handed.

Being a Gray Maiden Initiate makes the longsword a good thematic choice, but I tend to default to swords for most characters I make (because I like them) and kind of want to mix it up.

If it helps: the battle concept for the character is going to be In Harm's Way to deliberately make myself the target of attacks to proc the Vengeful trait for +1 damage, and the Gray Maiden Initiate feat for +1 damage, with the use of teamwork feats like Blood for the Empire. The original concept was going the Sanguine Angel prestige class and a heavy Intimidate build, but I ended up remodeling that character as a fighter since it synergized better with the prestige class, and the Sister-in-arms gets much better action economy if you take it to 11. The Sanguine Angel also insisted on sword and board style combat which the banner really didn't allow for.

So yeah. Sword and board doesn't really work with a banner, so I need to pick something that works better. Thoughts?

I wanted to open floor discussion on this one. With so many base classes and archtypes, I've started to have players (including myself) refer to Prestige Classes as unappealing.

My own reasoning is generally abilities. I only very rarely multiclass at all since most abilities tend to have either limited uses or only a small bonus that goes up every 4-5 levels or so.

There are a few Prestige Classes that kind of address this, like any of the spellcaster "gain 1 level of spellcasting class" ones, which is why I ended up dabbling in a Wizard 7/Loremaster X, and I have a player going the road of Bloodrager 5/Dragon Disciple 10 since the Dragon Disciple continues not only the Bloodrager's spells (albeit slightly staggered), but also their bloodline ability.

Most though are simply... Bleh. I don't know how to describe it, especially when taking the Prestige Class as early as possible. I did a level up path for a Cavalier Sister-in-arms 5/Sanguine Angel 10/Cavalier Sister-in-arms X to endgame. The result was that the first 5 levels was all getting prereqs for the prestige class, 10 levels of being the character I wanted to make, equivalently starting from level 1 with feat selections to work towards the build I was going for, and then just nothing past level 15.

Returning to Cavalier was just getting class abilities that had no more utility anymore at that high a level (you likely wouldn't see most of them in your average AP), and it basically lends to the feeling that the character has hit their apex at level 15, so if the AP goes to say 18, then your next 3 level ups are going to be pretty boring. If it goes to 20 then your big capstone is +1 use of Challenge and your 5th attribute bonus. Taking a new class for those last levels can sometimes offer some front-loaded power but overall it's level 1 abilities at level 16. Not many are going to be that breathtaking.

Not to mention, Prestige Classes have no favored class bonus. So you're losing 10 skill/hit points or some other benefit to go down this route.

I dunno. Feels like Prestige Classes lose out to alternate classes and archtypes. The Duelist at this point is a watered down 10 level Swashbuckler. The Assassin is an inferior Ninja. If Dragon Disciple didn't work with Bloodrager it would be Bloodrager classic...

I dunno. Maybe I'm giving them a bad rap? But in 15 created characters I used a Prestige class once, and had to read through all of them to find a few I liked to try and practice building around. If more functioned like spellcaster prestige classes and supplemented your base class a bit I don't think it would be so bad. The Sanguine Angel actually had one optional ability that could be taken twice to continue Fighter Weapon Training, as well as Armor training and strangely enough Dreadnought Barbarian rage. Unfortunately the Weapon Training one was actually locked unless you already had Weapon Training, and since I didn't build a Fighter it was just a dead option which made me think maybe Fighter 5th should have been a prerequisite.

Which if Prestige Classes were like that; alternative paths you could take for 10 levels, on top of Archtypes,that supplemented the prerequisite class abilities I'd probably like them more. But yeah... Archtypes seem to with out 85% of the time, even on multiclass characters, a frontloaded Archtype for 3-5 levrls is a better investment than 10 levels of a prestige class.

This question came up while discussing another topic.

Basically, a Bloodrager 8/Dragon Disciple 10 already has every feat on the bonus feats list for the Draconic Bloodline (their Bloodrager level for Bloodline is increased by Dragon Disciple which continues to give a bonus feat at 6 and every 3 levels after, plus Dragon Disciple gives a bonus feat from the same list at 2 and every 3 levels after. By level 15 you have all the bloodline feats, and 1 more to pick at level 18), and has to select one. None can be taken twice, so what do you do?

I have a player for an upcoming table building a bloodrager. They want to use a glaive for when not in rage, but for when they are their draconic bloodline kicks in and they wanna use their claws (and I think they're aiming Dragon Disciple, so there's gonna be a bit in there too methinks).

So he asked me if there were any feats that let you use a polearm one handed in conjunction with claws (clearly I think the combat style they have in mind, based on Impa or Ganondorf from Hyrule Warriors) and barring that what the action economy was like for a character to not be dropping their weapon, but be using their natural attacks.

If there's one thing I've learned over my past couple of games: You can bring the wrong character to a game. In my Starfinder game, I made an Intimidate-focused character with unarmed as their main weapon, only to find out pretty much everything was a plant, undead, or construct making nearly all my class abilities worthless. In a run of Shattered Star, I brought a character who had a really long period offline waiting for specific feats and the challenge ratings of the AP escalated too quickly to keep up.

So one of my friends picked up the Emerald Spire, and as of yet he doesn't quite know what the power level of the module is (other than going from levels 1-15). I've got 13 characters in the backburner of varying concepts I enjoyed and want to play, and of varying power levels. I don't wanna make my party obsolete (nor do I know what they want to play yet), but I wanna be on-par minimum for the module. So listed by my opinion on their power weakest (or most in need of investment) to strongest, which 3 would be best for the module? So I can pick one and have my mini ordered and painted before game start.

- Tiefling White Haired Witch
Focused on the grab mechanic of the White Hair (Su) ability and maximizing those chances. Very self-buffing and CC, but low BAB and feat reliance makes this probably my weakest character concept.

- Drow Wildsoul (Arachnid) Vigilante
I love this character. Unarmed focus around Boar Style, Nightmare Fist (with Greater Drow Nobility at-will Deeper Darkness), and intimidating all the things all the time. Downside takes about 5 levels to get properly rolling, and until then damage is bad. Also not sure hiw well a Vigilante will work in a superdungeon (will be consistently in one area for Renown, but simultaneously in a dungeon where things will likely not have heard of me).

- Dhampir Oathkeeper Inquisitor of Asmodeus
Pretty good character, only so low because of the focus on using the Heavy Wrist Launcher which without Rapid Reload available is an arguably horrible weapon. The archtype also likely won't come into play much in a superdungeon, but I could be wrong.

- Kitsune Weretouched Shifter
A good Natural Attacks build. Lots of stacked on damage with Shifter's Edge and the Bull Aspect. Skills wise this character is also a bit of a healer which is good diversity. Really not sure how well a wilderness character will fair though in a superdungeon. Plus Pounce with the character is really only do-able once at the beginning of combat without spending a turn returning all the way back to human form to trigger Vulpine Pounce a second time.

- Half-Elf Musket Master Gunslinger 5/Sniper Rogue
One of my few multiclass characters. All the racial traits have been swapped for a half-Drow, so much like the Vigilante this is another Deeper Darkness at-will abuse character. This time using the darkness, staying out of combat for the most part and just using the sniping rules for everything. Full concealment, See in Darkness, and basically no penalties for sniping just makes the character deadly, but lower on the list because if a party isn't prepared for deeper darkness it can be a detriment to the party they're in.

- Suli Gloomblade Fighter
Two-weapon fighting, high Str high Dex, Sawtooth Sabre build. Mix of combination feats with the racial elemental assault and Incremental Elemental Assault feat mean this character is all about the full attack as as much extra damage on each attack as possible. Downside, can't manifest 2 Gloomblade weapons simultaneously until level 7 which slows up the build a bit.

- Kobold Hinyasi Brawler
Throw rocks for dumb damage. Being small is arguably bad, a different race would be better, but making this character was a deliberate challenge. Shikigami Style with the Brawler damage dice leads to VERY powerful hits, even though the race is small. Heavy feat reliance though means Martial Flexibility is going to be burnt very quickly for the early levels just to keep up, and isn't really hitting the good damage levels till 6 since the Hinyasi focus is light thrown on the build for Finesse.
*I actually need to rework this character a little. It was the first thrown character I built, and didn't realize thrown uses Str without Finesse, so I need to squeeze Finesse early into the build, which means pushing the fully online level back, and likely losing out on something in the higher levels.

- Aasimar Champion of the Faith Warpriest of Iomedae
That's a mouthful. Greatsword build that takes advantage of the Law and Sun domains to have a flaming smiting Greatsword. Build heavy into Power Attack, Hurtful, Cornugon Smash for intimidate multi-Power Attacking destruction. Pretty standard middle of the road power character.

- Kitsune Fractured Mind Spiritualist
Lust emotional focus on the phantom leads to a conflict, in that Fractured Mind doesn't have listed SLAs for it, which sucks. Default thought is that the SLAs just default to Spiritualist Standard. Pretty much an Enchantment spell abuse character with the Lust Phantom playing debuff tank rolls. Lots of battlefield manipulation but shut down by immunity to mind-affecting.

- Human Flying Blade Swashbuckler
What if I told you that every time this character was attacked, they got to make an attack of opportunity? A very powerful character when it hits 11, though comes online at 3 playing with Panache limits. A thrown-focus character with the dagger that cannot be approached for fear of free AoO. It's nice.

- Dwarf Makeshift Scrapper Rogue
Hit them with the shovel! Shikigami Style, Vital Strike, Sneak Attack... A Str-based rogue that will massacre you with a shovel. It starts arguably good, only thing stopping it from being top 3 is that there wasn't really a racial choice that supported it well enough that wasn't 3rd party (Half-Giant would have been fun). Good action economy in that standard action gets all the damage, or swaps sneak for disarm to keep getting sneak from Catch Off Guard.

- Sylph Sigilus Magus
Shocking Grasp ALL the things. Most people know metamagic abuse on casters, and how powerful casters can get. Biggest downside will be if there's an abundance of electric resist enemies, and thus waiting on Fencing Grace at level 11. Will be able to fly by then though without magic due to Sylph feats though, and the Sigilus bonuses are going to mean massive AC and resistances in light armor.

- Drow Synthesist Unchained Summoner
Another deeper darkness abuse character? What a surprise. Arguably the strongest character I've made. With the Shadow subtype on the Unchained Eidolon, more darkness=more abuse. Free See in Darkness, and without items all the stats wind up over 12, with at least 2 in surplus of 20. It's disgusting, though obviously weak to banishment. Even then though, augmented spider summoning and extra HP on HD for demons means that the enemy needs a lot of banishment ready if they're going to totally shut down this character.

How does it all interact?

I assume Hammer Fist overwrites a Powered Armor's attack die. I also assume there's nothing in the rules that says Natural Weapons doesn't apply when you're wearing Powered Armors.

Asking, we have a Vesk Soldier in the party and this is his thing.

Hey, I'm going to be GMing Second Darkness soon. While I was working on other stuff though (looking for the Agile weapon special ability), I was referred to Hell's Rebels for an NPC, and learned apparently Hell's Rebels had a bunch of NPCs for use in the other APs.

I really don't want to skim every AP for this kind of stuff, as I don't want to spoil myself in APs I may be playing in the future (since my tables tend to rotate GMs, in particular one of our next games is Skull & Shackles). So would anyone happen to know which books have extra stuff for Second Darkness, if any?

Bonus points if it could also be advised what level an NPC should be to be a challenge but not overwhelming for a party of 4/5. In case I want to slip in a few custom NPCs based on my players' prior adventures.

Working on what'll hopefully be my last character for a while (I'm amassing quite the collection of unused theory characters from exploring new classes as a GM). I'm better at companion characters after working on a Spiritualist, but still need help.

I'm making the thread title character, and I have kind of two potential paths. One base Summoner, one Unchained Summoner. The end goal is the Synthesist to be more or less a spider hybrid, either a tauric drider type (Bestiary 1), or a semi biped jorogumo type (Bestiary 3).

With the Unchained, the goal is to use the Shadow subtype and run down the Drow Nobility feat lines for at-will Deeper Darkness (though this would be my third darkness abuse Drow character, the others being a Nightmare Fist Vigilante and a full Sniper Gunslinger/Rogue), grab Spider Summoner for when the Eidolon isn't active and Extra Evolution whenever possible.

With flat Summoner there isn't the subtype lock so there's more points to throw around, but I dunno what the character's gimick will be beyond "spider-hybrid summoner".

The evolutions I wanna nab for either outcome: Web, Climb, Poison, Magical Attacks
- Optionals for whenever possible: Ability Increase, Improved Damage, Improved Natural Armor, Frightful Presence
- If base summoner, to do darkness build: Shadow Blend, Shadow Form, See in Darkness

Drider-form specific: Large, Pounce, Limbs (×?), Claws
- Optionals for Drider: Bite

Jorogumo-form specific: Bite, Limbs ×2, Claws (×?)*

*If built biped can't get Pounce, if built quadruped (two balance legs essentially) then need to purchase extra claws for arms.

So yeah... There's a lot I want to squeeze into this Eidolon spider-synth. Help please?

Gonna have a character going Startoss, Ricochet Toss, Rapid Shot, etc. So really they don't need this kind of an item, but I wonder if it exists. Beyond the answer of "returning weapon".

There's a practical use of course, getting thrown weapons back prior to Ricochet. However there's also the chance of running into something with Snatch Arrows. If my magic dagger is caught by the enemy, the look of abject horror on my character's face will be priceless, but the option to tug it back to me should my feats fail me just seems like a semi-cool thing.

So the range increment on a dagger is 10ft, 15-40ft for a Flying Blade, for a potential of up to 200ft assuming a max-level Startoss Shower. Does this cord exist?

I like the Fkying Blade archtype for Swashbucklers, which revolves around daggers or starknives. The starknife has a dozen feats like Star of Desna and Slashing Grace which can apply, but I much prefer the dagger.

So as a human, how far can the dagger be pushed as a weapon? Obviously not as far as the starknife, but it's gotta be respectable.

I was reminded of the Jorogumo, which is an awesome Japanese monster. What options can a player take to get spider-options on a character?

The two I can think of, the Arachnid Wildsoul Vigilante, and the Advanced Race Guide build example of the Drider.

But yeah, what are all the options? From just a little spider, to a little fluffing being spider-y like 4 piecing natural attacks in the form of extra limbs.

As far as I can tell, your phantom cannot benefit from your racial traits. However as a player this is throwing me for a loop, because your phantom is an aspect of your character, even moreso with the Fractured Mind Spiritualist archtype.

Fractured Mind
"Most spiritualists harbor the spirits of the deceased in their psyches, but a small number of them—known as fractured minds—draw their powers instead from a fraction of their own souls that resonates with extremely powerful emotions. These spiritualists’ phantoms are not spiritual allies, but rather extensions of the fractured minds’ own inner thoughts and emotions."

So, as a Kitsune, I took the alternate racial trait, Gregarious: "Whenever you successfully use Diplomacy to win over an individual, that creature takes a –2 penalty to resist any of your Charisma-based skill checks for the next 24 hours." Default when I'm doing my Lust phantom's actions I'm thinking about the debuff, even though I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply.

Maybe it's simply because most of my GMs generally let me control any minions/companions/cohorts I happen to have, trusting me to roleplay them appropriately (animals are generally too dumb to move tactically according to the book*, generally taking the fastest route to a spot they are commanded to go to for example). But I'm struggling a bit managing all the applications to my Spiritualist and Phantom because they do a lot of the same face character things.

*This is verbatim from the Playtest book, however I do know that within 1e books it is generally labeled as the GM's responsibility to control most non-PCs, including companions/cohorts. Animate Dead makes specific mention to needing to verbally command your minions which was one of my last dealings with these rules prior to now, so I may be wrong.

Someone has to have asked before... How does the Fractured Mind work if you have a non OA Emotional Foci? I really wanna build this character but having no SLAs would be a massive shot in the foot for the character.

This class intrigues me, but it is so beyond anything I have ever built that I find myself blanking.

I wanna use the Fractured Mind archtype. That's as far as I've gotten though (other than thinking I wanna play a Kitsune with it).

But yeah, I've read the class a few times, but have never made/played a character so focused around the idea of their companion. Taking Leadership one time, and the occasional familiar is about as far as I've got (and even then I generally take my familiars for their bonuses).

Straight up, White Haired Witch with Strength Patron is how this combo comes to be. Divine Power is the level 8 spell.

There are natural attack cleric options though too, so how does it all break down? Do you get the extra primary attack? It would lose its 1.5× even if it was your only because you're making multiple attacks. Tnat seems to me what makes sense, but I could be wrong.

Can it apply?

Rapid Reload reduces the Heavy Wirst launcher from Full-Round reload to Standard. If you have proficiency in Hand Crossbows you're proficient with the launcher, but does it count as a crossbow for Crossbow Mastery?

I have a concept but need a few tweaks to really solidify it.

Race-wise, I wanna play an Aasimar who doesn't know they're an Aasimar. I'm thinking Scion of Humanity, Celestial Crusader and Halo in order to nip most of the inhuman stuff away (as a Warpriest they could reasonably think the Halo is just one of their Orisons).

For the Warpriest stuff, I kinda wanna go Champion of the Faith following Iomedae. Weapon-wise though I wanna go Greatsword which kinda takes all of the utility out of Sacred Weapon. Greatsword is already 2d6, so Sacred Weapon won't increase it until 20, and Champion cuts out giving +1 modifiers etc. in exchange for being able to Smite.

The other bit is stats. The character needs at least 16 Wis, Cha for Smite (probably gonna settle 14), Str for the Greatsword, and Con as a frontliner. 20 point buy is gonna stretch that thin.

From any Core, Companion, or Campaign book. Society Legal is not a concern.

I'm working on an Inquisitor who uses a Heavy Wrist Launcher. I'm thiking the Oathkeeper archtype just because I like the idea of hunting down those who go back on their word, and I think it'd be fun to play in a campaign where our employer may plan to betray us.

Currently, I'm looking at a Vetala-Born Dhampir. Playing off their childish nature like the idea "you broke your word" and there is no convincing her away from the logic you must now be punished. However, their weakness to consecrate and hallow seems unwise for a divine character.

Also, side note, not really sure which deity to choose for the character.

If a White Haired Witch has no other natural attacks, whould their hair as a primary natural attack deal 1.5×modifier on damage? Or does White Hair (Su) using Int overwrite that making it just default Int mod?

Is this correct?

Masterful Warrior (Sp): 1/day True Strike, 2/day False Life, 3/day Haste

All the other Deific Obediences generally offer the 1st level spell 3/day, the 2nd 2/day, and the 3rd 1/day. This one not only appears to be backwards, but the 3rd level option is also Haste of all things. That's massive at 10th level assuming you're taking Diverse Obedience to access the Sentinel and Evangelist boons, or 8th if you're an Unarmed Strike based full BAB class taking the Sentinel prestige class ASAP.

I need a hand if someone's got a moment. Working on a Gloomblade fighter focused on Two-Weapon Fighting with Sawtooth Sabres (since thry count as light during TWF if you're proficient).

Character is a Suli with Mostly Human so Suli/Geniekin/Human feats are available. Elemental Assault is the main ticked damage booster applying 1d6 of wharever energy to both weapons.

Level 1, stats are:
Str 16
Dex 17
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 10

Level 1 feats as a fighter are Incremental Elemental Assault so Elemental Assault can be used in 1 round increments rather than just 1/day for level × rounds, and Exotic Proficiency with the Sawtooth Sabre so we can nab early Weapon Focus and other feats with it as needed.

So there's 1 feat/level as a fighter. The Gloomblade can't manifest 2 weapons until 7th, so there's not a lot of reason to have TWF before then (could be worth using the fighter retraining to slip it in though). To full build, it'll need:

Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Slice, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting. The basics. Since GTWF is gated to level 11, there's no rush, and Dex will be 19 for prereq by 8th using ability boosts.

Outside of that, I dunno what the character needs. I could fill them with assorted basics like Weapon Focus and such, but I'm not 100% sure the niche feats to push this build into the realm of my other TWF builds like the rock-tossing Hinyasi and the Nightmare Fist Boar Style Vigilante.

I find the Gloomblade interesting. Generally though, my martial characters (and even my half-martials) tend to be focused on their chosen fighting style. Whether it's martial arts in the dark, or hitting someone with a shovel.

I wanna try to take full advantage of the Gloomblade's versatility in being able to make weapons on the fly with enhancement bonuses. One minute I wanna be swinging a shadowy greatwpsword, the next tossing knives, only to become a two-weapon weilding dervish when surrounded on all sides.

Is this possible to do effectively? Or would it be spreading the fighter's feats too thin, since I don't think they can take things like "Weapon Focus (Shadow Weapon)".

This is a pretty simple request. Is 16 Int too low for a Grapple-focused White-Haired Witch?

Kraken Style and the Greater Grapple line need Dex 13 and Wis 13. I think I'll need Feral Combat Training too? Not 100% sure.

Kinda wanted Blood Drinker, but on a class without bonus feats I'm doubting it'll happen. Plus 1 subtype is a hard pick.

Feats wind up:
Improved Unarmed
Improved Grapple
Greater Grapple
Kraken Style
Kraken Throttle
Kraken Wrack
Weapon Focus (Hair)
Feral Combat Training

Which is 8/10 not including Rogue Talent supplements. Plus 1/2 BAB will probably level throttle those choices hard. It pretty much rules out getting the Stunning Fist, Jawbreaker, Bonebreaker, Neckbreaker that I really wanted for the build (BAB +8 req for Stunning means min level 16, which isn't a feat level). Grabbing Style was also appealing, but no Flurry and again, BAB limitations rule that out.

Anyway, I kinda wanna play the character as a Vetala Born Dhampir, since I've never used a variant subtype before. That and I like their weakness better. They get +2 Dex and Wis, so minimal investment to get my feat choices, but they take an Int penaltt of -2, capping me at 16. The Jiang-Shi Born get Int and Dex, but Wis penalty, so needing to invest more into there means 7 point buy investment to get up to par, and thus a 19 int max, which is appealing but Sonic vulnerability is gross. Plus their description doesn't fit the character concept.

Not above a different race since the Blood Drinker route is locked off. Will miss the +2 pin trait though.

Like... What does a party need, and what classes fill each of those niches?

Default "standard" party of 4 is generally Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric. Which feels like:

Fighter: Tank
Rogue: Skills
Cleric: Healing
Wizard: Damage

4e used the terms Defender for tank types with abilities that redirected damage away from their allies, Striker for high damage characters, Commander for leadership types with support and maneuverability stuff, and I think there was a Healer support one too. Then in later print there were classes that were hybrids of those four main roles.

Maybe I'm looking at it in an oversimplified manner. Pathfinder classes seem to try and represent their own niche. I noticed though in the last 6 characters or so that I've made that even though I made 6 characters they really can't make a party. They're all unique in their own little ways, but for the most part I think they all kind of fit the same role.

So what are the basic building blocks of a party? And what classes have each of those aspects? (Not including Archtypes of course, since that's a lot to sift through, and some remove the class' base role to replace with another.)

Working on a sniper character concept. Whilst Sniper is a Rogue Archtype, I'm aiming for a musket/rifle type, which would mean Exotic Weapon Proficiency. So I've got a few potential build path ideas for the character to function efficiently and wanna know how viable they'd be.

Build 1: Multiclass
Gunslinger (Musket Master) 5/Rogue (Sniper) X
Kitsune favored class Rogue

Advantages
- Super fast musket reload
- Bonus damage on shots
- Kitsune Favored Class will get extra Rogue Talents to make up for the Gunslinger levels

Disadvantages
- No favored class bonus till 5
- Will not get Dead Shot
- Lower overall BAB

Build 2: Vigilante
Vigilante (Gunmaster) X

Advantages
- Pure class with Hidden Strike
- Easy firearm access
- Proficient with all firearms not just musket

Disadvantages
- Lower die size than Sneak
- Not a Gunslinger to qualify for Grit feats
- Deed-like abilities limited to x-times per day
- Slow reload and thus shooting
- Hidden Strike limited in range

Build 3: Pure Gunslinger
Gunslinger (Musket Master) X

Advantages
- Full BAB
- More bonus feats
- Ever-increasing damage
- Super fast reload
- Dead Shot + Signature Deed for powerful shots

Disadvantages
- No Sneak Attack
- Limited skill points
- Not a lot of high-level stuff

Build 4: Pure Rogue
Rogue (Sniper) X

Advantages
- High Sneak Attack pool
- More Rogue Talents
- Proficient with all firearms not just musket
- Gun Twirling + Pistol for easy Sneak

Disadvantages
- Slow reloading
- Very feat intensive
- No high level Deeds

Been doing a lot of Shifter posts lately. Mostly curiosity when it comes to Natural Attacks and building one.

I did a level up chart in excel for my Weretouched Kitsune Shifter though and noticed even after the FAQ changes, she has a lot of dead levels. Made me wonder if the archtype's tradeoffs were worth it. So looking at it:

What you're explicitly losing:
- Limited to 1 aspect
- Wild Empathy limitations

What you're explicitly gaining:
- Hybrid form
- DR/Silver

What you're actually losing:
- Wild Empathy: unless you choose something you know will be in the campaign a lot having Wild Empathy for one animal is so niche as to be borderline useless
- Second through Final Aspect, Chimeric Aspect and Greater Chimeric Aspect: 4 different boosts, at least 3 of which are raw stats is a lot to give up. While Weretouched doesn't remove/replace Chimeric, it does render it redundant and thus equivalent to receiving nothing those levels
- Shifter's Fury: while not explicit I'll go into more detail on this one in the gains, needless to say, Weretouched will likely never use this

What you're actually gaining:
- Hybrid Form: is massive. Keeping your natural form's traits means keeping natural attacks, so races with natural attacks are huge so long as your major aspect doesn't overwrite them. Kobolds, serpentfolk, tieflings, and others with tail attacks run the gambit of getting to choose any, and as these attacks are part of the hybrid form, they're augmented by Shifter's Claws. That's a pretty insane benefit and worth a lot for many races, though as mentioned above due to this most Weretouched will never use Shifter's Fury, as many of the natural attacks granted by race like Kitsune bite, or Catfolk claws are Primary, so full BAB w/ Shifter's Claws benefits like Shifter's Edge and others massively outweigh iterative attacks (for perspective, my kitsune has 4 primary attacks at level 4 when they gain Hybrid, by the time they hit 6 and higher for the multiples, 3 extra full bonus +5 damage primary attacks that bypass most DR is way better than 1 extra -5 1d6+5 attack and taking -5 attack, -3 damage, and losing DR bypassing on the other weapons is not worth it)
- DR: not terrible. The odds of an enemy packing a silver weapon are almost nil unless they're a magic user who needs it for a focus. However said wizards, and most high-level stuff will generally be pounding you with magic which means pretty much nothing will bypass that DR. That said, Barbarians like the Invulnerable Rager gain DR/- of the same value which makes it seem less good

All in all, the Weretouched has some nice early advantages, but really gains nothing in the higher levels. The biggest hit is not having a 20th level ability at all, the Final Aspect instead being traded for +1 DR/Silver (technically the Weretouched still gains at-will minor aspect from it as well, though I imagine not many even 20th level adventures will have more than 23 minutes of pure combat encounters).

For comparison, lets look at 2 15th level shifters and compare a few things (They're going gearless because they would use mostly the same gear anyway. Amulet of Mighty Fists, Cloak of Resistance, etc.). My Weretouched Kitsune took Bull to round out her Str and get Gore for 4 primary naturals (Shifter's Claws, Kitsune bite natural, Major gore), she can also take advantage of Vulpine Pounce using Shifter's Rush, but to do it more than once a combat would eat up an hour of Lycanthropic Wild Shape each time (plus I'm not sure about whether ending Wild Shape is a free action, standard action, etc. Using Shape Change though would Swift action change to human and end Wild Shape as another Polymorph effect). She looks as follows (as a note, she can assume purely Bull form instead of hybrid and get the increased size Str and AC, however the hit to Dex and losing her Bite+Claws makes it an unwise trade for the gore full attack).

Kitsune Weretouched Shifter 15
Str 18 (Bull Aspect + Hybrid Shape)
Dex 21
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 8

AC 22, DR 7/Silver
Feats:
Weapon Finesse
Shifter's Edge
Shifter's Rush
Swift Kitsune Shapechanger
Piranha Strike
Vulpine Pounce
Toughness
Human Guise (building for Fast Learner and thus second toughness or skilled, or alternatively using Racial Heritage to nab an extra natural attack like the Kobold Tail Terror)

Full Attack: +16, Claw ×2 1d10+19, Bite 1d4+19, Gore 2d8+19 (+1d8 on Charge)

The second I'm lazy, so we'll do pretty much the same character, just as a standard Shifter. However many other races would likely be more ideal options (perhaps Human for a bonus feat?). Since the character can't really use Vulpine Pounce (and don't really need it since their main major aspect will be Tiger) they get a few more feats as well. They look as follows

Kitsune Shifter 15
Str 20 (Bear/Bull/Tiger Form + Bull Aspect)
Dex 25 (Bear/Bull/Tiger Form + Tiger Aspect)
Con 20 (Bear Aspect)
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 8

AC 24
Feats:
Weapon Finesse
Shifter's Edge
Shapeshifter Style
Shapeshifter Twist
Shapeshifter Savage
Piranha Strike
Martial Focus (Natural Weapons)
Toughness (probably better feats this one can take, but can't remember if Weapon Focus can apply to any natural or if you need to pick a specific like claw)

Tiger benefits: Pounce, Rake
Full Attack: +18, Claw ×2 2d4+24 grab, Bite 2d6+21 grab, Rake ×2 2d4+24

Bear benefits: Improved Natural Attack (Claws), Awesome Blow
Full Attack: +18, Claw ×2 1d12+24 (crit ×3) grab, Bite 1d8+21

Bull benefits: Powerful Charge, Awesome Blow
Full Attack: +18/+13/+8, Gore 2d8+24 (+1d8 charge)

So things to consider, the Weretouched can get magic items to augment their Dex and Con to level the playing field a little bit. That's a lot of gold spent though which the standard Shifter can put elsewhere to negate that. A Weretouched Tiger with a tail, gore, or wing attack from their natural form could take Rush and probably out-damage both round 1, however they wouldn't get Bull's Str bonus so they'll need to get boosts to that from other sources (they can't use Slashing Grace and Shifter's Edge, as Shifter's requires still using Str to damage, otherwise the Weretouched Tiger Kobood would be terrifying). The base Shifter does have a lot of setup without Rush and also needing to spend an extra Swift action to assume their Shapeshifter Style.

So all said, TLDR; is the Weretouched a fair tradeoff compared to the Base Shifter?

The obvious totem being the beast of pounce.

Questions however, the first I believe I know already and that's prerequisites you meet sometimes. Totemic Initiate, Disciple, and Master have a Str prerequisite ending at 17. If the Shifter's Str is only that high when using their Bull minor aspect, can they still take the feat? I think it's yes, but the feat can only be used while your Str is that high. The same as TWF feats on Brawlers with their Flurry, and Power Attack Barbarians with not enough Str.

Second question is the Beast Totem claws. Lesser Beast Totem gives you 2 claw attacks, though they are specific claws. How does that work with Shifter Claws? I presume the Shifter Claws would overwrite the Totem claws, however Natural Attacks in general talks about having as many attacks as your abilities grant. So would you wind up with 4 claw attacks? 2 from Totem, 2 from Shifter's? Or do your limited two arms limit you to two claw attacks?

Third question, though more a clarification. How many actions is it to activate all this? Swift for minor aspect, standard action for major aspect, end of first turn, swift for Totemic, charge turn 2?

Fourth, and more just clarifying. If you get +2 natural armor from Weretouched (or it could be race, either or), and then +1 per 4 levels from Totemic, do those stack or do you simply take the highest since they're the same type of bonus? I never remember which few bonus types are labeled as stacking, other than untyped, certain precision damage, and varying circumstance bonuses.

Working on a Shifter modelled after a Native American medicine woman. As a Shifter, rather than a Shaman or Druid, there's no spellcasting. What kind of things can one get into with just Craft (Alchemy) and Survival?

Ultimate Wilderness has foraging and salvaging, as well as harvesting poisons, and herbalism. They require ranks in Survival, Craft (Alchemy), and Profession (Herbalist) and can do a few interesting things all considered. Though the character would likely need to grab Poison Use from somewhere.

All in all though, how effective would this be? And what kind of feats would you need to be able to do it adventuring? Crafting is so slow the character would wind up sitting for days to make an antitoxin. Can't brew potions without a level in spellcasting so they're limited to alchemical items, how fast would it fall off?

Got some interaction questions, starting from the top.

#1:

However, instead of assuming a major form, she can assume a hybrid form that mixes the traits of her natural form and the major form of her aspect. While in a hybrid form, she gain a +2 size bonus to her Strength score, a +2 natural armor bonus to her AC, and all of the natural attacks and abilities listed by her major form. A weretouched also counts as being in her natural form for the purpose of determining whether she can extend her shifter claws.

So as a kitsune were-bull hybrid, this character would gain the gore attack, but still maintain having her natural bite, and her shifter claws. Would all of these attacks benefit from Shifter Claws?

While a shifter uses wild shape to assume her aspect‘s major form, her natural attacks gain the same benefits granted by her shifter claws ability.

Or would the bite attack still be omitted because it's not technically granted by the major form?

#2:

When you change shape into your kitsune form and use the charge action in the same round, you can make a full attack against your opponent.

How does the Vulpine Pounce feat work with the bull Major Aspect granting Powerful Charge?

When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, its attack deals extra damage in addition to the normal benefits and hazards of a charge. The attack and amount of damage from the attack is given in the creature’s description.

Does only the gore get Powerful Charge? Do all the pounce attacks? Or do none because the abilities cannot interact, and you much choose pounce or power?

#3:

Whenever you use Weapon Finesse to make a melee attack with your claws or a natural attack augmented by your claws, and you use your Dexterity bonus on attack rolls and your Strength modifier on damage rolls, you also add half your shifter level to the damage.

If the bite is not omitted, would all the attacks benefit from Shifter's Edge?

Had an idea based on an old character of mine. Wondering how to flesh her out.

So she was a kitsune but more akin to the native American stories of Coyote rather than the Japanese yokai. She was definitely more intelligent than charismatic so I'm thinking the alternative stat adjustment from Blood of Beasts where it's Dex+Int, and maybe Skilled in exchange for the Kitsune Magic and Agile, fun as the latter is.

Beyond that though, I really don't know how to build this character. A Str penalty is going to hurt the build, and the Shifter seems to be Wis-based for most of its features and its unarmored bonus. Natural attacks are finessable so maybe going Dex build? That's going to eat up a lot of feats though to pull off, since not only are Shifter Claws, but the Kitsune bite, are both 1d4 weapons (to start). I've also never really done a natural attacks build to know what kind of things are needed that way.

So stat layout, potential Archtypes, and feats are all kind of in my needed advice on this one if anyone can offer a hand?

When you voluntarily use one or more actions or feats that apply penalties to attack rolls with your melee weapons (such as a charge, fighting defensively, or using the Power Attack feat), the spirit reduces the total penalty on affected attacks by 1 (to a minimum penalty of 0). The penalty is reduced by an additional 1 for every 5 caster levels you possess (to a minimum penalty of 0). Only penalties incurred by voluntary use of feats or maneuvers are reduced by this spell.

This one is odd to me. My magus will still be taking it as an Aldori Swordlord to reduce Combat Expertise penalties to 0 and other such things. However I've scoured for how/if the ability affects Spell Combat.

Reddit's spell of the day thread seem to want to believe yes. It's a suggested Google search when you type in Blade Tutor's Spirit. I couldn't find an answer though.

BTS seems to have three restrictions. It's only attack rolls with melee weapons, the penalty needs to be from a voluntary source (so it wouldn't apply to being Shaken for example), and caused by a feat or maneuver. I don't think the -2 from Spell Combat qualifies because it doesn't apply to the third restriction, being a class feature, even though it functions by it's own description "like two-weapon fighting" which would fall under the umbrella of BTS' coverage.

I need help on this one. It's hard to find a proper comprehensive list of finessable weapons. Weapon Finesse has all light, the rapier, spiked chain, whip, and elven curve blade. However when you get into other weapons and feats, there's the Aldori dueling sword and the glaive through Bladed Brush...

I wanna know every Finesse weapon option so I can pick the one I like most for the character (regardless of whether a Magus can actually use it, that's step 2 I need some help with).

Currently I'm attracted to the Aldori dueling sword for its thematics and a potential 1 level Aldori Swordlord dip for Dex to damage, but many the Aldori feats insist on: "To gain these benefits, you must be wielding only an Aldori dueling sword (not using a shield, an off-hand weapon, armor spikes, unarmed strikes, or natural weapons)." and Spell Combat states "This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand." so I don't think a Magus can actually use many of the AC boosting feats.

I think I wanna use the Sigilus archtype since I won't need medium or heavy armor as a Dex build, but the Eldritch Scion to make Cha my casting ability and going full Intimidate build for the Swordlord is also inticing. I think I prefer Sigilus though because from my experience playing a Wizard, having a spellbook and being able to just buy new spells instead of waiting to learn them is such a powerful ability.

If I'm going Aldori or another of the more exotic Finesse options, I also think I need to be Human and start with the bonus feat. Though I can't start with Exotic Weapon Proficiency (BAB +1 prerequisite) the Aldori counts as a longsword when you don't have EWP. Though it wouldn't be finessable yet so I'd need a temporary option anyway.

All of this because after showing off two super-strong Improvised Weapon builds, a friend of mine has said (probably in jest) that I'll be building his Magus. I wanna build it my way first so I understand what the class needs from feats and class options before I suggest anything for the Magus he would want to play. I'm way more used to building martial characters (Gunslinger, Vigilante, Rogue, Brawler) and just flying by the seat of my pants with casters (Wizard, Oracle), so a hybrid confuses me. I'm not 100% sure what I should be investing in long term, and short term I'm getting hung up on weapon choice.

For reference, both these Archtypes have abilities that change Improvised Weapon damage to equal to Unarmed Strike damage.

At 5th level, a monk of the empty hand may spend 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action to deal damage equal to his unarmed strike damage with an improvised weapon for 1 round.

A hinyasi is skilled at fighting with improvised weapons. She deals damage equal to her unarmed strike damage while fighting with an improvised weapon. A hinyasi treats improvised weapons as weapons from the close fighter weapon group.

Improvised Weapon Mastery increases the weapon die size and crit range, but with the die size caps so I think Ki Weapons or Improvisation Training would overwrite it.

Increase the amount of damage dealt by the improvised weapon by one step (for example, 1d4 becomes 1d6) to a maximum of 1d8 (2d6 if the improvised weapon is two-handed). The improvised weapon has a critical threat range of 19–20, with a critical multiplier of ×2.

Shikigami Style on the other hand treats Improvised Weapons as a size category larger. I'm not sure how that interaction would work... :/

While in this style, you deal damage with improvised weapons as if they were one size category larger. For every style feat you have that lists Shikigami Style as a prerequisite, treat the improvised weapon as an additional size category larger, to a maximum of three sizes larger than its actual size.

Does Improvisation Training/Ki Weapons simply overwrite Shikigami Style's increases?

e.g. The pan is a 1d6 one-handed weapon, Shikigami Style treats it as large making the damage 1d10, as a 5th level monk/brawler your Unarmed Strike damage is 1d8.

In scenario A, the pan despite using the Large-size die would still only do 1d8 because it just flat makes it your Unarmed damage.
In scenario B, the pan becomes a 1d8 weapon from your Unarmed damage, then becomes 2d6 when considered Large.

Which is correct?

I know this is a bad idea, but I've always been a fan of fun and flavour over good ideas.

I've spoken a few times about my Drow Arachnid Wildsoul Vigilante character before. Sadly the game I was playing her in I left. Wasn't having fun dealing with the inexperienced GM and their partner at the table who got away with whatever they wanted. I did really like her though and want to use the character in another game.

She needs a minor rework (new materials, and I wanna tweak some of her stats and feat choices), and that got me reading into new materials. Thematically, I wrote her with strong connections to characters and events in Second Darkness (I have not played it, but it's the only source on the Drow families), including a how she got her Vigilante powers.

Now I have the option to rework her a bit. I wanna keep the story, but I've read up on some of Bestiary 6 including the Entothrope Werespider, and took a dip into Horror Adventures and Blood of the Moon.

How bad of an idea is it to try to run her with Horror Adventures Corruptions?

I love the idea of struggling with the affliction that gives her her abilities. Lycanthropy (or Entothropy I guess? B6 was released after HA so there's not a specific difference thing) or the Hive corruptions would fit into the idea. Downside, as non-traditional infection Lycanthropy requiring her to kill the source would be complicated (Blood of the Moon has other "how"s for contracting Lycanthropy not covered as well). It may mean she'd only be viable in a Second Darkness campaign. The Hive, while not as Entothrope, would be harder to cure considering the fleshwarping bit, but also fits with some of the thematics. It would also be more critical to fix since unlike Entothropy it's not temporary change.

I'm concerned though, starting the character with a corruption would just be a death sentence. The character isn't great, fairly below the bar using Unarmed Strike for only 1d3, using an Archtype on a class that's already a bit low in the overall power department, and using a selection of feats that means the character doesn't "come online" until level 8. The Manifestations would add a little bit, but the odds of failing the Lycanthropy saves on a low-Wis character means probably 3 quick fails for a dead char. The Fort for Hive is easier to succeed, but still... 3 for death, and no chance of the other players decided maybe we can hunt them down and help since they'll be a puddle of goo.