Half Orc Sacred Tattoo only gives +1 to saves.
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Cat = 3cp, 8lb 120000gp = 12000000cp 12000000cp/3 = 4000000 cats or one 32000000lb cat. Extra points if it's the size of a normal cat, just incredibly dense.
Rappan Athuk only holds up to parties level 16 or below, after that there isn't a whole lot that can challenge/kill the party other than the odd CR 27 encounter hidden in the darkest corners every other level. By the time my party was level 20 and knocking on Orcus's door, they were so strong I had BUFFED the encounter (added two balors, Sonechard, a bunch of Maralith's and a stone demon) and they mopped it up in 4 rounds. A few went down but they were either wished back to life or got a breath of life, while the others tanked through everything with a constant supply of mass heals.
Now that I read that, Dervish Dance is broken RAW, but I'm pretty sure 99% of GMs would rule in favor of RAI. Also, RAW you could still go two levels of Alchemist and get the Vestigial Arm discovery and TWF with Scimitars while still retaining a free hand. You wouldn't even lose out on sneak attack damage because you could use the Vivisectionist archetype.
I had an oracle who walked around as a huge sized Treant, had a 48 STR, could fly at will, and could full round for almost as much damage as the full fighter (archer). All while having full casting. I checked his build, it was legit (gimicky, but legit) Oracles can pretty much whatever the hell they feel like, and do it well.
I GMed Rappan Athuk from start to finish, started at 2, ended at 20. The PC's ascended to demi-god status after defeating Orcus. Was a fun campaign with many lulz to be had at ever level. Near the end I stopped trying to challenge the PCs and just tried to kill them, and in a few cases I managed just that.
You need to realize it's not the books that make for imbalanced characters, it's the players that make the overpowered characters. A Core Wizard that hits level 12+ is still stupidly powerful, regardless of what race or feats it has. I don't have any of the books, but I do use the d20pfsrd for material, and basically anything goes that's not 3pp (and even then it's up to the GM's discretion). The only time I ran into absurdly strong characters was when I was running a campaign and the party was approaching the end and everyone was almost at level 20, and even still most of their power was coming from the fact that they were high leveled, not a few gimmicky feats they took. And even the one or two of them that were gimmicky had weaknesses. Sure there was a wood oracle that had a 48STR and vital-striked for 24d8+to-damn-high, but hit him with a few fort or will saves and he's drop pretty quick. Just tell your players not to play gimmicks/one-trick-ponies and you'll be fine.
A typical encounter should late 2-4 rounds, depending on the set-up. A large encounter with a miniboss/BBEG should probably only one or two longer than that. The only time I have experienced long encounters was in the two final encounters of a level 1-20 campaign. The first one lasted about 6 rounds (spanning about 3 hours in real life) where the party had to fight an absurdly powerful barbarian and two incorporeal (who did practically nothing). The barbarian died in three rounds, and then was promptly resurrected by the impossibly angry god sword he was wielding. The last encounter only lasted that long because the final boss (Orcus himself) was hiding from the party trying to ambush him (the party had gotten so strong at that point that Orcus was legitimately afraid of their power).
Have the kobolds capture a troll, and stick a ring of shield other on it and the bbeg. The troll will never die due to regeneration, and the bbeg essentially doubles his health pool without wasting a casters action economy which could be better spent casting create pit or web. Your party may hate you, but this is the kind of thing that make encounters memorable.
If that doesn't work, remind your GM that would also rule out the Pit spell. As for Two Weapon Rangers, you don't need high dex (a 16 would be the most you need to get the most out of breastplate). Since your combat feats don't need to meet the pre-reqs of the feat, you could technically take TWF with a 7 dex. I'd recommend Half Orc or Dwarf.
Rope trick creates an extradimensional space, much like a bag of holding or a portable hole. If such items function in the dungeon, there is no reason that rope trick shouldn't work.
Trapfinding sounds like it would be useful (I think a ranger archetype might give you that as well). Favoured terrain (underground)would just be stupid powerful. If you'd like to make the most out of the darkness you could take a few levels in Shadow Dancer. If you're going to have trouble resting, look at the spell Nap Stack. Also look to see if you can get an illusionist wizard/sorcerer or perhaps a conjurer/abjurist so if you're desperate to rest you can set up some solid defences. Rope trick comes to mind. Best of luck!
On d20pfsrd there's a good list of demon lords and arch devils (mostly statted up by Frog God Games). They're mostly just beefed up outsiders with absurd amounts of, well, everything (see Orcus). In a campaign that was a mix of homebrew and Rapan Athuk, my party took on the archdevil Alastor, the demon lord Sonechard, Orcus himself (albeit he was significantly weaker after they had destroyed the three temples), and they also had the privilege of having Maphistaal thrown at them by a barbarian who was under control of an intelligent item (who also happened to be a minor god). As for designing them, just stack them up with as many outisder hitdice as you think appropriate, and then load them up with feats, SLA's, prepared spells, and special abilities (third party or otherwise). You need to remember that demon lords / archdevils are practically demigods, and that means their powers can be as varied and strong as you deem appropriate.
Magical Item that can cast Teleport Object and Greater Creation at-will/x/day.
Class: Inquisitor. My god has declared your existence illegal. I being extermination in 5 seconds. No, I am not paid to think. Monster: Hands down it has to be the Bandersnatch in all of it's forms. Diety: It's a toss up between Achekek and Groetus. One is a LE bad ass who can, and will, kill anyone or anything it's ordered to. The other one is madness and insanity incarnate, and is the Be-All and End-All of the planes.
"Stuff" Good suggestions, I'll probably have to talk over the homebrew things with my GM, but he's the kind of guy who's open to cool stuff like this. As for caltrops, I much prefer bear traps. They're bigger, meaner, and do 2d6+3. Sadly they weigh a ton and my carrying capacity is a pittance.
I'm questioning why you're using a weapon you're not proficient with, a long sword would be much better. You lose the X3 critical, but you get +4 to hit with it (which is massive). Vital strike is not a good feat for Full BaB classes like Paladins as most of your DPR comes from full round attacks, I would choose Lunge instead. The extra reach it gives you can be stupidly useful. The only way you're going to get more AC is through magic items, the best you could do otherwise is taking the feat Shield Focus for another +1 to AC, or fighting defensively for +2 dodge AC (but that imposes a -4 to hit).
I'm playing a Tiefling Gunslinger (3PP Mechanistic) into a Living Legends (3PP prestige class, Tome of Munitions) in a friends homebrew campaign, and my character is optimized in the same way that a brick is optimized to be aerodynamic. Really what I'm looking for is a way remain useful inside and outside combat. I have a 16 INT so I can skill monkey it up a bit, and I get trapfinding from Mechanist so I'm the party's pseudo-rogue. In combat though my damage is pretty pathetic. I won't have Rapid Reload or Deadly aim until level 7, the remaining of which I'll have to take at level 9. The campaign is going to have few magic items in it, so I can't rely on that sort of thing. My Str is a 9 and I don't have the feats to get Weapon Finesse so melee is right out. What I'm really looking for is mundane or alchemical (and preferably cheap) ways of making my character just a little more than useless. Any amazing / cheesy / amazingly cheesy mundane or alchemical item combo's you guys know of?
To quote The Dungeon Bastard, "You're talking epic level play here. If you don't drop 600 points of damage every time you fart, you're not playing right."
Frightful aspect: Enemies who hit you become panicked. Greater shadow evocation: Any 7th level or lower evocation spell is at your disposal. Incredibly versatile. Form of dragon III: Because f*ck you, I'm a dragon. Maze: No save, takes enemies out of the fight for at least two-five rounds (depending on int). Power word stun: at mid levels you'll be hard pressed to find something with more that 150 HP. Cast for at least 1d4 rounds of win. Limited wish: If your GM isn't NE and twists wishes on a whim.
The first thought at came to mind is drink stronger alcohol.
You can do it just fine, though you take a few rounds to get going. Knife master + scout archtype + spring attack means you get one sneak attack a round. If you want to add more to that, take two levels of monk as a master of many styles and get kirkn style and kirin strike. You can now identify monsters to get +2 saves, +2 ac, and x2 your intmod to dmg. Dip 5 levels lore warden fighter for good bab, combat expertise, feats, and weapon training. It basically means you can be all int/dex and still contribute to a fight. Make sure to have at least a 10 str as not to take -1 to dmg on your rolls.
Get your GM to buy the NPC Codex, then go around mugging every beggar you see. Seriously, the carry 200gp on them if you check their stat block.
Gnome sorcerer's seconded. They're naturally good at it, and there's good feats to help make even your average illusion spell awesome (see Effortless Illision, and Threatening Illusion).
A single PC can not realistically kill a god. Dieties have way too many minions you'd need to fight through. Statistics say enough of those minions will roll 20s, and you will roll you will also roll enough 1s, that you'll be dead a few rounds in (if you're lucky). It's like trying to kill the Russian President Vladimir Putin (I don't recommend this, he has at least 10 monk levels): Sure there are people out there who could take him down 1 on 1, but in practice you're going to have to get through the Russian Secrete Service. The target isn't the problem, it's the entourage that makes the task difficult. Now perhaps if you had a decent sized group of level 20/10 adventurers (6-10), you might be able to do it with enough GM fiat and maguffin hunting/destroying. One PC will just not cut it.
A 7th level wizard can pretty much anything it damn well pleases all over a party that doesn't have dispel magic. Fly + Greater Invisibility + Protection from Arrow (if they party doesn't have a magical bow) or Wind Wall if they do + energy resistance (PC's main blasting spells). Wizards raining fireballs from 400 feet in the air are always fun. For the GM, not the PC's. If you looking for something more creative than a wizard, use terrain to your advantage. Archers firing from a nearby cliff side, make the PC's fight uphill giving them -2 to hit against the enemies, use traps like pitfalls or trip wires to hamper movement. You don't have to "counter", you just have to make things difficult.
Point her towards the Kirin Style feat tree. It gives you +2 to Ac and saves against enemies which you make a successful knowledge check against, and later gives you double your Int mod to dmg, and the ability to take movement when an identified enemy ends their turn adjacent to you. The best way to achieve this quickly is two levels of Master of Many Styles (Monk Archetype). She's still going to lack +s to hit, but you could just let him to re-spec her Cha to Dex.
SGG Guide to Flavorful Combat: A rule set to add with normal combat rules that makes combat more cinematic and flowing while not actually changing the numbers of everything too much. Rules for things like leaping off buildings and landing on dragons, to fighting while falling from extraordinary heights. Tables of different epic finishing blows, or gruesome / spectacular descriptions of how certain staple spells affect an enemy and their soon (negatively) altered anatomy. Of course, it will also contains your amazing art work to supplement the vivid descriptions :)
One I remember from Unforgotten Realms is: The PCs step into the room, there are two NPC's chained up in the middle of the room. The PC's move over to free them and then everything drops away and they're standing on a platform surrounded by water (or lava) as far as the eye can see. The NPC's tell them the only way to escape is to make the platform 2 people lighter. The smart answer: Two people jump
If they don't kill the NPC's, they give them some advice on the next challenge then vanish into thin air.
Look at the feat Lunge. Another 5 feat range on your reach is absolutely trolling (basically huge sized reach) and it lets you get more DPS out of your AoO's.
I much prefer Cornugon Smash over Dazzling Display. It's more action efficient, and though it only targets one (maybe 2) enemies, it's affecting the enemy that really matters (the one you want dead). Add on top Intimidating Prowess for maximum terror, you won't even need a positive CHA score.
I'm no GM... But I thought there where level restrictions on scrolls? Or is that just a DC thing? They have to be your CL or lower I believe. Though again, that doesn't mean you can't go find your local God Wizard and paying him a hefty sum to do it for you.
Scroll of create demiplane + scroll of permanency + ranks in UMD Hire someone to do it for you. Do it because you're the GM, and you can do anything. If you player's ever ask how you did it, just wave your hands in the air and yell, "REASONS!"
getting to lvl 20 in a cool campaign is on my bucket list!! Two of my 6-7 person party just hit their plateau of level 20 in campaign that mixes Rapan Athuk with some homebrew material, with the rest of the party only 1 encounter away from hitting 20. Sadly, it's more likely your GM will die of a rage aneurysm of having to GM for a high level party. Seriously, it's hell. My party wants to steal a giant golden bridge from inside the dungeon, and I told them it's protected by the magic of the god of the plane of fire. They ignored it for a bit, but then they took a detour to hell and realized how stupidly powerful they are. In a single workday, they killed: 20 CR12s, 8 CR13s, 4 CR16s, 9 CR17s, 1CR 18, 1 CR19, 5 CR20s, and Alastor (Asmodeus's execution) a CR23 with only one casualty (a lich who regenerated two days later). Now they're debating going to the plane of fire to kill the god just so the can steal the bridge. The scary part is they probably could do it.
It's a post I made on this exact idea, though taking it a bit to the extreme. I messed up a bit, as Shield of Swings only gives +4 Shield Bonus to AC, but that still means you're hitting 31 AC at level 6 (only 4 of which is coming from a buff, the Alchemist's mutagen) at the price of having absolute garbage for damage. It does not account for magical items either, so you could easily have a 35 AC (Bracers of armor, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor). It's an extreme case, but you can use the ideas in here to piece together a character of your own. Best of luck!
If you're the creative type, just get some modding clay and make your own.
Funny, I had a feeling that the advice you'd get would be more along the lines of: "don't play a rogue". You're going to want toughness to make up for the -2 con.
I'm running a high level campaign that's a mix of homebrew and FGG's Rapan Athuk, and my PC's are embroiled in an interplanar conflict between the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the long lost "Fifth" Horseman (The creator of all demon kind). There's at least a word doc page of backstory that I'd have to run through to make it all make sense, so you'll just have to go with me here. The long and short of it is that the fifth horseman was split into pieces and trapped in 6 different weapons. Four of these weapons are broken and released their power back to the main weapon, and a fifth one is in possession of the party, and the sixth is the god sword. I need some epic mooks for the final showdown between the PC's and the poor sod that picked up the bastard sword and is now a vessel of this mad god. The PC's are around 19-20, and for the most part well optimized. The one thing they lack is a dedicated Arcane caster, though they have a Magus who helps fill that roll. The BBEG is a 20th level Invulnerable Rager who is stat-stacked out his ears, and has two templates (Fiendish and Broken soul). Adding to his CR is the magic weapon, which has the casting of a level 17 cleric, and gets it's own standard and swift action every time the barbarian takes his turn. Due to this massive action economy advantage, I estimate he alone is about a CR 25, and they're going to end up fighting him twice in succession (the sword prepared Resurrection). Be creative! Thanks!
I love the fall damage mechanic, and how it caps at 20d6. That means when high level adventurers get together and get drunk, instead of doing kegstands they just D-Door straight up for gits and shiggles. The cleric heals them back up every trip or two, and they keep going as long as there's spell slots. Good times.
God Wizards are gods because of the sheer number of things they can do. Witch's have a spell selection that is only a quarter what a Wizard has access too. They might not be all quality spells, but the number of contingencies a Wizard can cover is mind blowing. That is why Witches are not the God Wizards of PF, and Wizards are.
This was meant to be humorous and inventive, not a discussion on economics. Please try to keep it that way. Here's another one I heard a while back. It's a 3.5 scheme, but interesting none-the-less. Hunt down a dragon, kill the dragon, find is horde. But wait, there's more! Dragon hide is quite valuable, so get your druid or ranger to skin it for you with their high survival skill, there's an extra 2-5k in gold to go with their horde. Finally, use Flesh to Salt on their body. It will turn that 15000 pound dragon in a giant pile of salt. Salt (if I remember correctly) sells for 1-5gp per pound. You just made an extra 15-75k in gold, along with the dragon hide, and the dragon's horde! The will work on any monster really, but dragons are nice because you can dex damage them into oblivion quite easily, and they come with the added bonus of their horde and their hide.
Post your silly, yet ingenious, ways of making absurd amounts of money. I'll start with a fairly simple one. For this you need: 1 Lich, the Lich's Phalactery, a mortar and pestle. So you've just defeated the campaigns Lich, and have found his mountain of treasure, and even his phalactery. But wait, there's more! Don't go smashing the phalactery just yet. Gather up the lich's bones and grab a mortar and pestle, and start grinding. A skeleton weighs about 15% of a creatures body (so 160 pound human, lets say), which means you've got a good 23-24lbs of bones. Now, a dose of posions should probably not be more than 1 ounce. which means you have 23*16 doses of lich dust (a posion). Lich dust costs 400gp per dose. You now have 368 doses of lich dust (or 147200gp). 1d10 days later, the Lich will regenerate, and you're party will be ready and waiting to beat him into a pulp (literally). Repeat for infinite profit. Note: you may need to jump from town to town to sell it all, supply and demand and what not.
Running Rappan Athuk at the moment, and the party is only 100-200k exp off of level 20, this is what they look like. Human STR based magus: Can prepare more fireballs than you can shake a stick at, and wields a sword with a god trapped in it. Can also prepare more fireballs than you can shake a great club at. Has a tendency to get mixed up in inter-planar conflicts. Changling Wood Oracle: Transforms into a Treant, and then buffs some more to get upwards of 50 STR. Wields a great club, deals 120+ damage in a vital strike, and likes to joke about playing baseball with the party Halfling being the ball. Was a fey king's personal body guard before taking up a life of adventuring. Halfing Ninja: Uses a short bow, and is the party punching bag. His full round attacks are painful if the enemy doesn't have seen invis, but pretty useless otherwise. He is currently in the sticky situations of being undead, after hot-headedly trying to solo a 19th level sorcerer lich. That was fun moment to GM. Human Soracle (Lore mystery, Draconic bloodline) / Theurge: Party buffer/debuffer, has more spell slots than the magus has fireballs. Likes nature a lot. She's a complete Charisma stack, and could convince you that, yes, the sky really is made up of float blue space mice. How stupid you must feel thinking otherwise all this time. Human Archer: Likes to make full round attacks, and has a tenancy to obliterate most anything in one round provided she has line of sight.
Ophiduan Psyonic Warrior (3PP): Uses his psionicly manifested claws to tear things into to itty-bitty pieces. Plays Chaotic Stupid, and makes brash decisions, then complains when he nearly dies. Elf-Lich Wizard: With a spell selection like no other, he is the most useless 18th level wizard you can imagine. Swapped out scribe scroll for brew potion, which well house ruled so that he makes pastries instead of potions. Honey crueller of bull's strength anyone?
There is currently a Wood Oracle Changeling in my party who has done nothing but stack Strength. We're running Rappan Athuk, and he's managed to survive to level 19. Between long duration buff spells, items, eldritch heritage (abysal), and tree shape, he's has 48-50 STR at the moment. He walk around as a huge sized treant with a greatclub and beats on people. His vital strikes are hitting for an average of 120-some, and his fist attack is being made at some rediculous number (+45 or something). His full-rounds are absolutely devistating. If anything, I'd recomend doing this. It's pure and simple hilarity.
The tears of sadness in their eyes bring tears of joy to mine >:D But seriously, I like the world building part of it. Though it is fun to watch my party almost get killed as they challenge Asmodeus's Execution to combat.
Inquisitor all the way. Pick up a big 2h weapon, power attack, and start judgementing. Added bonus of not having to be LG, because LN is much more fun. Morally questionable, while not out-right evil characters are the most fun to play. I even love their spell list, lots of great utility packed in to it. The Preacher Archetype is also really awesome; your party will love you every time you let them reroll an unluck 1, or confirm their crit.
Nerfs are definitely not the way to deal with this. The solution is to give martials something to boost their own power. Paladins and Rangers are martials, but are still considered better choices than Fighter or Cav due to their varying class features and their limited spell casting. It's similar in the way that Ninjas are (generally) considered better than Rogues due to the casting like power their ki pool gives them. You could even argue that Monks have a better chance against casters than a Fighter due to their variety of class features that give them things like D-Door and SR (this isn't a monk thread, take the argument somewhere else). The way to close the gap of power is to give the classes without spell casting, or other special abilities that mimic spell casting, more utility in every-day situation. Whether it is giving them spells, or limited x/day class features, this would help ease the disparity between casters and martial. Barbarians might be an exception, due to their rage powers giving them many different bonuses, from AC, to energy resist, to fly, climb, and swim speeds. You never here people complain of Bards, Inquisitors, or Magus's being weak or bad, because they have a decent selection of spells and class abilities to provide utility to their kit. Wizards will still be the gods of the party, and the Fighters will still be primarily DPS, but that one time the wizards forgets to prepare a spell, or doesn't think polymorphing a enemy into a giant cock (rooster) is a good use of his action, then there will still be someone who can step in and get the job done. And it might just be the Fighter. Just imagine: New Fighter class feature announced! Polymorph (Rooster)
Give the the Dodge feat and you'll have Duck Dodgers.
...This also includes a charge via Pounce with a flurry following. I could be wrong, but I don't think FoB counts as a full round attack for Pounce.
Two levels of Master of Many Styles monk to pick up Kirin Style and Kirin Strike to get double your INT to damage. Then just go into the Crossbowman archeype for Fighters and take typical crossbow feats + Vital Strike / Devastating strike tree. Eventually you'll have your Dex to damage, Double your INT to damage, deadly aim, and be dealing 2-4d10. Your readied actions will be the bane of all casters. Make sure to grab items that let you see invisibility so they can't screw you in that regard.
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