JDLPF's page

Okay, so what's the rules for 1st Edition Tier 6-7?

The blog post says it's okay to play with three players at the table for 7th level scenarios?

So if I run a Tier 6-7 scenario, I run it with three players and no pregens if three players are at the table?

Or if I run a Tier 6-7 scenario with two players, do I add just one?

Or do I ignore this part of the blog and add one pregen for a table with three players, and two pregens for a two players table?

Hi all,

I'm planning to run a Pathfinder Society scenario from Season 1 for some players, and need a clarification surrounding the official rules for minimum table size, since I haven't GMed Society games for a few years.

A player has mentioned that the minimum table size has been reduced to 2 players, so I'm checking how this ruling is officially applied to First Edition.

The first source I checked was the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide. Page 11 of the rules states the following:

LEGAL TABLE SIZE

The minimum table size for a Roleplaying Guild Organized Play session is four players. The recommended maximum is six players. In cases where you simply cannot seat four players, you may run a table of three players, and play an appropriate level pregenerated iconic character in order to meet the minimum table size of four PCs. Pregenerated iconic characters are available for 1st level, 4th level, and 7th level (see the Pregenerated Characters section on page 6).

The next source I checked was the Organized Play Legacy FAQ and Campaign Clarifications. Zero results for "minimum table size".

The next source I checked was this blog post on Organized Play Table Adjustments. This states the following:

For tables at levels that have pregens available. GMs can now run up to two pregenerated characters to fill a table up to the four-person minimum. The GM can control these pregens themselves or designate one or more players to control the additional character(s), so long as the player agrees to do so. This should help our smaller lodges and Society home groups participate in our program and continue firing and reporting games.

This blog post seems to be referring to Second Edition, given the immediate sentence following this states it's for Second Edition.

Finally, there's reply #65 in the comments on the blog, stating that a decision was made on a private communication channel that this applies to First Edition.

Can I please have some clarity on what the official ruling is for table size in First Edition Pathfinder Society, and where this official ruling is found beyond a comment on a blog post about a private conversation?

Silent image does not allow you to change the image at will. You can move the image within the range of the spell, but cannot change the effect once cast.

What if it's an illusion of a force that can fill the area of my spell with selective areas of colours?

What about using Silent Image to make an illusion of something like a swarm of cockroaches, or have an illusionary red dragon use fire breath, which would be multiple illusions or altering an illusion? What about an illusionary ogre throwing a javelin or firing an arrow, which is separating one illusion into two?

I'm considering taking Silent Image as a spell on my sorcerer next level, and was wondering if the following usage of the spell is something you'd consider a valid strategy in combat.

On my character's turn in combat, I'd gaslight any intelligent creatures we're fighting that I'm gonna use my magic to blind them. Then I'd cast the spell, filling all squares affected by the illusion with a momentary flash of bright light.

Once the flash occurs, I'd swap to creating an orb of pure black around each enemy creature's head, which goes from the surface of their skin out to a 1 ft. circle. I'd move the illusion of pure black with the creature as it moves in combat while concentrating on the spell.

From the enemy's perspective, I've cast a spell and turned them blind. From the party's perspective, I've made all visible enemies into easy targets for the ranged and melee players while I'm concentrating.

Do you think the enemy would gain the blind condition from this, with the relevant penalties (no Dex to AC, penalized movement, etc.)?

I'm also wondering how the rules for interacting with illusions apply here.

If the enemy's only interacting with the spell via sight, I'm thinking they shouldn't get any kind of will save for disbelief, unless they have some suspicion that the effect is an illusion, such as an opposed spellcraft check or a creature outside of the area of effect telling them it's an illusion. Would that be a valid take on this?

I notice you don't have much arcane caster support in your group. If you're comfortable with playing a caster instead of a melee fighter, have you considered a healer Sorcerer?

A Sorcerer with the Phoenix bloodline can cast infinite positive energy healing via cantrips. They're not a combat healer, but they're the ultimate support class at out of combat healing, 1 hp per round with no resource expenditure.

There's two ways to go about building a Phoenix Sorcerer healer. The first way is to take the Magical Lineage trait to reduce metamagic costs by 1 on a single spell. Select Acid Splash for this spell, and take the Elemental Spell metamagic feat.

The second way is to take the Crossblooded Sorcerer archetype, and pick up Elemental (fire) and Phoenix bloodline. You can now heal with any energy spell, but the downside is -2 will saves and -1 spell known per level.

In either case, you're still gonna be a full class 9th spell level Sorcerer, with access to all those juicy arcane spells to support your group.

My current character is an Ifrit Crossblooded Sorcerer. I have +4 racial initiative, +4 initiative from my 1st level feat, +2 trait initiative, and +4 familiar initiative from taking a compsognathus bloodline familiar at 1st level. That's +14 initiative at level 1 before adding stat modifiers, meaning I'm pretty much always going first. Adding a valet familiar archetype also gets you some silly synergy like taking Escape Route as a feat and never provoking attacks of opportunity for movement, since your familiar occupies your square and shields your moves.

If you want a good out of combat healer that never runs out of juice, Phoenix Sorcerer is top tier.

Don't forget to also split the party XP with the assisting NPC.

Means of swift action movement include the wizard conjuration/teleportation school power of shift (also available to arcanists) and a batrachian helm.

Just a quick note, the Shift power works like Dimension Door, meaning you can't take actions after you use it, per the Dimension Door rules.

There's also a single move action per day using the Quick Runner's Shirt

"Velstrac."

It really depends on your budget. Without any idea of how much you can spend, it's hard to recommend an item.

Plus, from my experience, it's rare for a character to fill every slot with an item, except at extremely high level play.

What classes did you plan for the L20s?

I'd suggest they simply split up after a massive conflict of personalities, each going their own direction.

The rogue secretly loved the cleric, but when she started seeing the fighter, he ended up brooding over it until eventually drawing his blade on the fighter, getting badly beaten for his trouble. The cleric, realizing that the fighter wasn't actually who she really wanted, broke it off with him, but the fighter took it badly. The wizard was completely disgusted with all of them over being so childish, and after the bad blood, the four broke up their band, seeking to get as far away from each other as possible.

Interestingly, Iomedae's church does spend a fair bit of time discussing the danger of hubris.

I'd recommend this excellent blog post by James Jacobs discussing the eleven acts of Iomedae. She's credited as teaching her followers to consider the spirit of her acts, avoid her faults, and learn from her actions, not her words.

Letting her followers exceed their reach and fail? Sounds like a teaching moment of someone who believes actions speak louder than words.

Or to put it another way, the archetypes remove the fighter bonus feat class feature for that level, granting you a different class feature instead.

Since that fighter bonus feat class feature is replaced, it is not a valid option for retraining using the bonus feats retraining class feature of the fighter.

JDLPF wrote:

How about the healiest healer that ever healed?

So you missed the Ninja/Shaman's near limitless channels per day by level 5 then...

I did! The trick of cycling ki into channel using consumables and back into more ki using the ki channel feat is clever, but I think I prefer having a 9th level casting class and avoiding a 2 level dip.

Based on the handle length, I'd say it's more a one-handed weapon, otherwise the size of the blade head would be incredibly unwieldy if the length of the handle was designed for a two-handed grip.

Although, all the extra crap on it makes it pretty poorly designed at doing what it's supposed to do anyway. You might as well just use a spiked mace and avoid the risk of hitting with the flat of the weapon.

How about the healiest healer that ever healed?

Kitsune Double Life Spirit Guide Oracle

This support build's focus is being a hit point dynamo, constantly tossing out channel energy bursts which also give allies rerolls on their attacks, saves or skills. It utilises a few great synergies in the archetype to gain more than it loses, adding bonus racial feats without losing anything compared to the base class.

The build is strongest from 5th level onward, with 7th level doubling the effective channels per day for the build. It plays well as a summoner outside of the role of healer, since the channel bursts can also benefit summoned monster allies and grant them rerolls without any extra resources spent.

Yeah, this one is rules legal, but keep in mind a few things.

1. Check their saving throw DC calculations carefully. Metamagic does not increase spell saving throw DC. Thus, Ball Lightning is only a DC of 14 plus whatever their casting modifier and miscellaneous feats produce.

A standard CR 15 combat creature should have a +16 Reflex saving throw bonus on average. Even if the player is adding a +7 from their casting stat, that's still around 75% odds of making each saving throw.

2. Dazing spell only works if the creature takes damage from the spell. Any creature with resistance to electricity 10 is going to have near even odds of stopping any damage going through from 3d6. Resistance 20 or protection from energy will completely shut down this strategy. Spell resistance is also another show-stopper.

3. If we assume they're using a metamagic rod for at least part of the combination, a valid enemy strategy is to disarm or sunder their rod.

Thanks for your response avr!

The biggest part of the racial entry that I'm having trouble with relates to the saving throws. Permanent negative levels don't have a saving throw.

It seems like the intent was for the racial ability to remove temporary negative levels gained through energy drain effects, but the way the entry is written is... less than ideal.

From the Dhampir racial entry:

Resist Level Drain: A dhampir takes no penalties from energy drain effects, though he can still be killed if he accrues more negative levels then he has Hit Dice. After 24 hours, any negative levels a dhampir takes are removed without the need for an additional saving throw.

What happens when a Dhampir gains a permanent negative level, such as from Raise Dead?

From the Crafting skill description:

To Craft an item, you must meet the following requirements:
• You have the formula for the item

From the Magical Crafting feat:

You can Craft magic items, though some have other requirements, as listed in Chapter 11. When you select this feat, you gain formulas for four common magic items of 2nd level or lower.

If a wizard has the Magical Crafting feat and wants to scribe a scroll of a spell from his spellbook, what is required?

A: He knows the "scrolls" formula, and can craft a scroll of any spell he knows.
B: He only knows four common scroll formulas of a specific spell, and must purchase additional formulas to scribe any other spells he knows.

I'd recommend working out the CR for the encounter first, and basing it on that.

The rules for custom traps allow you to set a CR based on average damage (usually +1 per 10 hp average damage) so use that as a guide for how dangerous the rock crusher should be compared to your group's APL.

I'd simply take the stat block of a medium animated object and call it a day.

I'd like to challenge your claim that the attack penalty is worth the trade because you hit more often due to having more attacks.

In terms of combat potential, let's look at DPR, or Damage Per Round.

Let's take a pair of 6th level barbarians and see how much they can put out against an AC 19 enemy, both wielding masterwork weapons.

Our two-handed barbarian has taken Power Attack, Furious Focus and Weapon Focus (Greatsword). He has 22 Strength when raging.

Our two-weapon barbarian has taken Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Slice and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting. He has 18 Dexterity and 18 Strength when raging.

Here's the attack sequences:

Greatsword: +14/+7 (2d6+24)
Shortsword: +9/+4/+4/-1 (1d6+4)

Our greatsword will hit AC 19 80% of the time on the first attack, and 45% of the time on the second attack. It deals an average of 31 damage per hit. So per round, we'd have 125% chance of dealing 31 damage, for an average of 38 DPR.

Our shortsword will hit AC 19 55% of the time on the first attack, 30% of the time on the second and third attack, and 5% of the time on the fourth attack. It deals an average of 7.5 damage per hit. So per round, we'd have 120% chance of dealing 7.5 damage, for an average of 9 DPR.

This isn't counting criticals, but these overwhelmingly favor the greatsword build as well.

Do not go down the rabbit hole of Polymorph Any Object.

Only an ocean of madness filled with the tears of players and GMs alike awaits you.

Given that there are no spells that create an area of magical darkness below 2nd level, and that Unwelcome Halo's text clearly states it negates magical darkness spells, I'd say it works exactly like it says on the tin.

I did my best with your wall of text, but while the math is nice, the formatting needs serious work.

So, here's my rebuttal as to why a Barbarian two-weapon fighting build is inferior to a two-handed fighting build.

1st: Feat Tax

At a bare minimum, you need to take Two-Weapon Fighting as a feat. This puts you 1 feat behind other builds, which can wield a two-handed weapon without penalty.

2nd: Attack Bonus

You will have at best a -2 penalty to your attack rolls compared to a two-handed weapon fighter. This means an additional 10% of your attack rolls will miss the enemy's AC compared to if you were wielding a two-handed weapon.

3rd: Multiple Attribute Dependency

Whilst you shouldn't be dumping dexterity on a martial character, the dexterity feat prerequisites for Two-Weapon Fighting only get steeper the deeper you go into the chain. This costs you in other areas of your build, whether it be lower mental or physical attributes.

4th: Cost of Equipment

A two-weapon fighter needs two weapons. A two-handed fighter needs one weapon. A two-weapon barbarian using two +1 furious weapons spent over 16,000 gp on their weapons. A two-handed barbarian spent only 8,000 gp on their weapon. The two-handed barbarian will have better gear than the two-weapon barbarian.

5th: Damage Reduction

Any creature with DR will mean you deal less damage with many small hits compared to more damage with one big hit. Many creatures have DR.

Note that Constitution damage is different to Constitution drain. I'm assuming your poison has dealt damage, since drain is much rarer.

Thus, the following line from the Raise Dead spell applies:

"A raised creature has a number of hit points equal to its current HD. Any ability scores damaged to 0 are raised to 1. Normal poison and normal disease are cured in the process of raising the subject, but magical diseases and curses are not undone."

So your character, if given a Raise Dead spell, would be alive and with sufficient Constitution damage to have a Constitution score of 1, in addition to any other effects that may be present.

Also note the rather obscure 1st level spell called Unwelcome Halo.

This spell's text specifically says: "If unwelcome halo is brought into an area of magical darkness (or vice versa), the effects of both spells are temporarily negated, so that the otherwise prevailing light conditions exist within the overlapping fields of effect."

Thus, a potion of Unwelcome Halo is a great purchase for a non-good character which can completely negate a spell such as the 3rd level Deeper Darkness. A great cheap means to cancel a nasty effect.

Prankster gnomes are a rather over-used trope. I'd personally much rather play with someone that makes a character motivation that isn't overused.

As an example, I once played a dwarf paladin of Torag. However, I claimed that his worship of Torag's holy symbol of the hammer representing the forge was paired with a sickle representing the fields, for all who toil at honest work bring honor to the gods. He constantly spouted rhetoric condemning the bourgeois and urged the proletariat to rise up and claim the means of production.

In your case, try to come up with a concept for your character that's identifiable but unique. For example, why not make him a politician or businessman?

"Why hello sir, pleased to make your acquaintance! The name's Boondoggle Filibuster, and I'd like a moment of your time to bend your ear. Have you ever thought that the rulers of your fair city aren't doing enough to support the common man? Do you yearn for safer streets, better wages, and more jobs? Yet instead, the elite all have their snouts in the trough, gobbling up your hard earned tax money! Let me share with you my five-step plan to revolutionize your city!"

A portable hole and a bag of holding.

Act 1, the Big Bad Good Guy shows up to curb-stomp the party, you stick the bag inside the hole.

Goodbye good guy!

I do an 'every character kit' system that I use for Pathfinder Society games, where I have a standard list of items I feel are appropriate for every single 1st level character I create.

Whilst it might not be exactly what you're thinking, perhaps you might find it useful for your purposes.

I also highly recommend a 750gp wand of cure light wounds when you can afford it. Give it to your healer to cover yourself for heals.

Adventuring Equipment
----------------------------

Sack of Powder - 1 cp (1/2 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Invisible enemies at low levels suck. This is a ranged AC 5 attack that outlines them for a mere copper piece.

Chalk - 1 cp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
A cheap way to keep track of your movement in a dungeon, leave messages to others, or draw pretty pictures on walls.

Torch - 1 cp (1 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
You'd be surprised how often an open flame is handy. This also gives you a last-ditch effort weapon for swarms, even if it's only 1 point of damage per hit.

Earplugs - 3 cp (0 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
You get a +2 circumstance bonus to language-dependant spells or abilities whilst wearing these. Useful against enemies that you know will use enchantments, and incredibly cheap for their bonus.

4 Candles - 4 cp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Again, having an open flame handy is more useful than you'd expect.

Inkpen - 1 sp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Don't be an illiterate barbarian. Seriously, even barbarians should carry one of these and be ready to write down important information in character.

3 Oil Flasks - 3 sp (3 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Grease a flight of stairs. Add a fuse and throw it at a swarm. Rub it on yourself to slip out of a tight spot. In a pinch you could also light a lantern with it, I suppose.

Waterproof Bag - 5 sp (1/2 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Five times the cost of a regular sack, but temporarily protects your gear from water damage. Remember to keep your sack of powder, torch and other water sensitive items in this.

Wooden Holy Symbol - 1 gp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
A great litmus test to determine if the NPC is a vampire. Present this strongly at them and see if they recoil.

Grappling Hook - 1 gp (4 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Weighty, but handy to get your rope where it needs to be.

Potion Sponge - 2 gp (0 lbs) [Advanced Race Guide]
Keep one of these loaded with your go-to underwater combat potion and you'll never need to worry about putting ranks into Swim.

Spring-Loaded Wrist Sheath - 5 gp (1 lb) [Adventurer's Armory]
At lower levels keep a dagger handy. At higher levels keep a wand inside. Plus it's just plain cool.

Ink, 1 oz. vial - 8 gp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
For your inkpen, obviously.

Journal - 10 gp (1 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Always keep notes. Write down names of important NPCs, goals for the quest, riddles encountered, copies of maps, everything. Then you get to freely ask the GM to repeat themselves by simply saying "I wrote that down in character, so I check my journal."

50 ft. Silk Rope - 10 gp (5 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Lighter but more expensive than hemp. Worth the cost to keep your weight down. Also great if your character is into kinky stuff. Never leave home without rope!

Smoked Goggles - 10 gp (0 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Makes you all but immune to gaze weapons, plus you can wear your sunglasses at night.

Pathfinder's Kit - 12 gp (22 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
I prefer this kit over many others. You've got your obligatory hobo items like a backpack, bedroll, waterskin, flint and steel and rations, but doesn't load you up on torches and an iron pot like many class kits. You get a signal whistle for when you're in trouble because you split the party since it seemed like a good idea at the time. You get a whetstone for an extra +1 damage on your first hit with a bladed weapon. You get a dagger to put in your spring-loaded wrist sheath.

Total: 60 gp (38 lbs) - Leave your rations and bedroll at camp or on a mount to take 12 lbs off this total

Weapons
--------------

Alchemical Silver Cestus - 25 gp (1 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Your always-on melee threat item. Superior to a spiked gauntlet in pretty much every way. Make sure you do bludgeoning damage, as the piercing would suffer -1 damage penalty due to the material. A cheap means to bypass DR/silver too, if you're in a pinch.

Cold Iron Kunai - 4 gp (2 lbs) [Ranged Tactics Toolbox]
This one serves triple duty as a backup thrown weapon, a DR breaker for fey, demons and the like, plus the item text specifically calls out it can be used as a crowbar or piton without risk of damaging the weapon.

Total: 29 gp (3 lbs)

Pets
-------

Guard Dog - 25 gp [PRPG Core Rulebook]
It's a move action and DC 10 Handle Animal check to command your guard dog to defend you. You don't even need to be trained in the skill for this usage. Simply take 10 on this skill out of combat, or take 20 if you're exceptionally uncharismatic. Having an extra pool of hit points for this cost is great value for money.

Total: 25 gp

Alchemical Items
-----------------------

Tindertwig - 1 gp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
For when you need a fire RFN.

2 Sunrods - 4 gp (2 lb) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Light and vision is king. Unless your whole party has darkvision, carry a few of these and don't be stingy about using them.

Vermin Repellent - 5 gp (0 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Swarms suck at low levels. Vermin repellent isn't perfect, but it might just be enough to convince a swarm to go chew on someone else instead. Worth the cost.

Smokestick - 20 gp (1/2 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Blocks line of sight, but the rules are sketchy about whether you need to light it on fire first or if it self-activates as part of the use. If your GM is finicky about the activation, glue a tindertwig on it and call it a day. It's a handy item that can buy you total concealment against ranged attacks.

Smelling Salts - 25 gp (0 lbs) [Ultimate Equipment]
Okay, you beat the bad guys, but where do you go next? Easy, just grab one that hasn't bled out, stabilize him and then use smelling salts. Intimidate him for information about the bad guy's plans. Does your check fail? Kill him and try the next one. Also a really handy item to have in case the party healer is knocked out.

Holy Water - 25 gp (1 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Okay, it's not really an alchemical item, but it's close enough. It's also a decent way to contribute damage against both undead or evil outsiders, especially if they've got some kind of exotic damage reduction you don't have anything to bypass.

Smog Specialty Smoke Pellet - 40 gp (0 lbs) [Dungeoneer's Handbook]
Remember how much invisibility sucks? This is the sack of flour's big brother. Negate a creature's invisibility for 1d4 rounds if you throw it into their square.

Tanglefoot Bag - 50 gp (4 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Entangled, no save, 2d4 rounds. All you gotta do is hit them with it. Can be a lifesaver at low levels against bosses.

Air Crystals - 50 gp (0 lbs) [Pathfinder Society Field Guide]
Underwater combat sucks, but a bag of these can save your character if they're able to get them out in time. Just make sure you have them in your mouth before you get grappled by the kraken.

Total: 220 gp (7.5 lbs)

Potions
--------------

Potion of Touch of the Sea - 50 gp (0 lbs) [Advanced Player's Guide]
Never worry about water again. Get a 30 ft. swim speed for 1 minute. Keep this in your potion sponge.

Potion of Feather Step - 50 gp (0 lbs) [Advanced Player's Guide]
Difficult terrain can ruin your day. This lets you ignore that for 10 minutes.

Potion of Remove Sickness - 50 gp (0 lbs) [Ultimate Magic]
The bonus to saves isn't nearly as good as the ability to negate the sickened condition for 10 minutes. There's many creatures that can inflict this status, so a counter is always handy to have as a backup.

Potion of Protection from Evil - 50 gp (0 lbs) [PRPG Core Rulebook]
Typically the most common enemy type you'll face, and this one has a bunch of benefits. Deflection and resistance bonuses, prevention of mental domination, and that sweet protection from summoned creatures can shut a summoner down cold.

Total: 200 gp (0 lbs)

Locked door? Locked chest? Locked manacles? Forget ranks in Disable Device, just jam a durable adamantine arrow into the lock and wiggle it around!

Does this mean durable adamantine arrows are legal for play?

If so, that's a great cheap way to bypass a lot of stuff's hardness. Dig through solid rock with an arrow!

Meh, save for half spells would finish him right fast, since he's got no evasion.

Rumors have it the head is actually a long lost artifact, the Head of Vecna!

Oh wait, wrong universe.

Pick a small race, like halfling or gnome.

Select the medium class.

Pick up a wand of enlarge person.

Congratulations! You're a Small Medium Enlarged!

A Trap the Soul gem attached to a pig, covered in barbecue sauce.

If that fails, swap the pig with the Paladin, and double the sauce.

In response to most of the above theorycrafters, I'll submit my own experiences playing the Invulnerable Rager class. I played one near exclusively for Pathfinder Society, and it rocked out quite hard in damn near every scenario I played.

For example, at 5th level we fought the skeleton of an undead dragon. Being a mindless creature, it showed no tactics and would simply attack the closest living target. So, I walked up to it, hunkered down with Stalwart and Total Defense, and simply ate every attack it threw at me. The combat lasted 15 rounds, letting us conserve resources by whittling away at the creature using cheap ranged attacks, and in total it cost me two charges of a cure light wounds wand to restore the lost hit points afterwards.

The basics of the build I used are below the spoiler, due to length.

Oh I meant to ask, what route did you take for this?

This is one of those builds I always wanted to do but could never quite make to satisfaction.

I did one for Pathfinder Society, and it rocked out quite hard in damn near every scenario I played.

The basics of the build are below the spoiler, due to length.

Similarly to the above, I believe defensive barbarians are an underrated build. Specifically, the invulnerable rager archetype with the stalwart feat, stacking up the DR/- to negate the need for AC.

Having played one to great effect, I find they're a refreshing type of character that employs a variety of tactical choices to dominate the battlefield. Pairing the reckless abandon rage power with the combat expertise feat feeding through stalwart to trade AC for DR, they can bring a hefty amount of damage dice whilst still soaking up generous levels of punishment without significantly denting their hit point pool, extending their staying power long after many other classes would be looking for a fast exit.

Pairing this with spell sunder at later levels is almost cheating.

Make him a strictly consensual necromancer. He only animates dead bodies who have given written consent to their remains being animated prior to their death. He offers cash to their families in compensation. He views it as simply a more extreme form of organ donation.

On the flip side, it is quite possible to play a character with extremely poor stats effectively, so long as you focus on characters whose abilities aren't based on their stat rolls.

A summoner with a focus on pimping out their eidolon, a druid focused on buffing their animal companion and using summon nature's ally, or any 9th level spellcaster that uses the summon monster spells can effectively contribute to a combat encounter even with very poor initial stats.

In essence, if your own stats are poor, borrow something else's stats instead.

1. A novelty scroll case bearing the inscription "World's Best Wizard"
2. A stuffed weasel with a brass plaque that reads "Trouser, Familiar #4"
3. Guidebook entitled "Top 20 Haunted Mansions of Ustalav"
4. Architectural plans for a wizard's tower labeled "Wizard Willy's Extendable Erection"
5. A "Wizard's Weekly" magazine, with a succubi centerfold.

Actually, the rules do point to summons being specific, individual entities rather than figments.

But that being said, from a game mechanics perspective, they follow your orders to the best of their ability, even if that wouldn't normally be their usual behavior. Demons would ordinarily try to rip apart any mortal creature, but the magic of the summoning spell compels them to instead obey your commands.

Many GMs often overlook the communication aspect, especially when it comes to intelligent creatures such as elementals. If you speak Terran, for example, you can hold a (likely rather dull) conversation with a small earth elemental for the duration of the spell. However, there's a lot of languages out there, so you'd be lucky to get more than basic auto-pilot tactics from most summoned creatures.

From the shadowdancer prestige class in the core rulebook:

Summon Shadow (Su)
At 3rd level, a shadowdancer can summon a shadow, an undead shade. Unlike a normal shadow, this shadow’s alignment matches that of the shadowdancer, and the creature cannot create spawn.

So, to begin with, have you written up a formal code of conduct for your paladin? Two paladins might have very different approaches to the same problem, so it's useful to have a written code before you start.

For example, here's two different codes based on two core deities:

Paladins Of Abadar

Paladins of Abadar defend the weak, protect the innocent and act as lawful authority figures wherever they travel.

• I am a protector of the roadways and keep travelers from harm. No matter their destinations or goals, if they are peaceable and legitimate travelers who harm no others on the road, I will ensure that they pass safely.
• Bandits are a plague. Under my will they come to justice. If they will not come willingly before the law, where they can protest for justice in the courts, they will come under the power of my sword.
• Corruption in the courts is the greatest corruption of civilization. Without confidence in justice, citizens cannot believe in their countries, and civilization begins to disappear. I will root out corruption wherever I find it, and if a system is fundamentally flawed, I will work to aid citizens by reforming or replacing it.
• I am an aid to the markets. I ensure equitable trade between merchants and citizens. Theft on either side is intolerable.
• I make opportunities, and teach others to recognize them. When I aid others, I open the way for them, but will not carry them—they must take responsibility.

Compare to the following:

Paladins Of Shelyn

The paladins of Shelyn are peaceable promoters of art and beauty. They see the ugliness in evil, even when cloaked in the form of beauty, and their job is to prevent the weak and foolish from being seduced by false promises. Their tenets include:

• I am peaceful. I come first with a rose. I act to prevent conflict before it blossoms.
• I never strike first, unless it is the only way to protect the innocent.
• I accept surrender if my opponent can be redeemed—and I never assume that they cannot be. All things that live love beauty, and I will show beauty’s answer to them.
• I will never destroy a work of art, nor allow one to come to harm unless greater art arises from its loss. I will only sacrifice art if doing so allows me to save a life, for untold beauty can arise from an awakened soul.
• I see beauty in others. As a rough stone hides a diamond, a drab face may hide the heart of a saint.
• I lead by example, not with my blade. Where my blade passes, a life is cut short, and the world's potential for beauty is lessened.
• I live my life as art. I will choose an art and perfect it. When I have mastered it, I will choose another. The works I leave behind make life richer for those who follow.

A formal means of justifying your actions with the GM can go a long way towards avoiding alignment infractions in the first place, plus it makes a great roleplay tool!

If you're new to GMing and are looking for advice on building encounters for a three part story, it'll help to know the average party level of your group will be. If you're aiming for a CR 11 boss (which is a 12th level NPC with PC class levels), your party should all be around 9th level to keep the fight challenging but winnable, or 8th level for a super tough battle. If they're all about 12th level, they will likely steamroll the boss. If they're under 8th level, there's a good risk of a TPK if the boss is particularly optimized or has good luck on rolls.

Especially if you're new to running multiple NPCs on the board during combat, you don't want to pick a crunchy class like magus that uses a variety of situational bonuses and buffs unless you're intimately familiar with the class. Unless you regularly play a magus and know their quirks backwards, it'll be easier to build a more static build such as a fighter or barbarian.

The particular feat I'm discussing, Flickering Step, only requires 9 ranks in Knowledge (Planes) as a prerequisite, and adds the Dimensional Agility feat chain to a Fighter's combat feat list, so it's basically built for a BAMF fighter (pun intended). Of course, that's just my knee-jerk reaction to your request, without having any specific knowledge of your group's typical tactics in combat.

In this scenario you're using the second function of the Gate spell, per the following:

Calling Creatures: The second effect of the gate spell is to call an extraplanar creature to your aid (a calling effect).

So to know if you can use it this way, let's check the rules for a calling effect.

Calling: a calling spell transports a creature from another plane to the plane you are on. The spell grants the creature the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin, although the spell may limit the circumstances under which this is possible. Creatures who are called actually die when they are killed; they do not disappear and reform, as do those brought by a summoning spell (see below). The duration of a calling spell is instantaneous, which means that the called creature can’t be dispelled.

So from this wording, we can see the following:

1. The Gate spell calls extraplanar creatures.
2. A calling effect transports a creature from another plane.

Thus, unless the Gate spell is cast on a different plane than the one where the 20th level monk currently resides, you can't use it to call them.

Also note that in no way is Gate limited to calling creatures of the outsider type. You can use a Gate spell to call a 1st level human commoner from the elemental plane of fire if you wish, so long as they're considered an extraplanar creature.

From a design perspective, its really handy to have a Chart I can use for my NPCs with class levels to build them without needing to bother with a good portion of bean-counting. I often apply ABP to my NPCs in order to keep them current with the PCs without flooding the PCs with hundreds of cloaks of resistance and rings of protection.

This is an awesome tip and I wanted to thank you for this idea. I'd never considered this route of applying ABP in generating NPCs, and I definitely agree that having unique, cool loot is far more interesting than, "you find each of the bandits has a cloak, ring and armor that detect as magical."

Definitely stealing this one. Any suggestions for a good chart for on-the-fly NPC generation? (Sorry for the derail to the OP)

As a player, I enjoy this game for the fun inherent in a story where outcomes are based on a degree of random chance. Introducing an extra layer of risk is, for my way of thinking, a good option so long as it doesn't completely derail the game.

For example, our group regularly plays with the Critical Fumble Deck, using the harshest interpretation of the rules (a natural 1 is an automatic fumble). This has resulted in some game-defining moments, such as when the monk fumbled his attack roll and lost the ability to use unarmed strike for four rounds, or whenever the kineticist rolls a fumble, and the table collectively groans and leans back, dreading the results (the spell fumbles are particularly nasty).

This very much depends on the group dynamic at your table. For us, it's always the same group of guys and gals sitting around a table each Friday night, drinking and snacking as we crack jokes and pursue wild fantasy adventures. A bit of random chance isn't going to ruffle anyone's feathers since we're not treating it as a competitive sport. For other tables, it might very well end in tantrums, torn up character sheets and eternal oaths of hatred.