Lyle McMillen's page

My gaming group has traditionally (since well before PF, back in 3.0 days) generated stats using 4d6, discard lowest, re-roll if more than one 1 rolled, and as a consequence are quite over the top for AP's as well. Average stats tend to the 13-14 mark, and the players consider a 9 or 10 a very low stat. The party hits harder, and is harder to lay a hand on due to better saves and AC. In addition, I have a couple of decent optimisers playing.

For ease, I just apply the Advanced simple template to pretty much every beastie on the fly, which turns out to be very similar to your proposed mods. It ends up not being overpowered, although I find I need to juice up solo bosses a little more, particularly their defences.

The players end up feeling like they earn their victories (their relief after a hard-fought victory over Vordekai in Kingmaker recently was very rewarding), and I minimise the amount of extra work I have to do. It sounds like you are close enough to spot on. Just keep an eye on the players' anxiety during encounters - they should know they have to pull out all the stops every so often just to survive.

Actually, by RAW your base speed (i.e. speed while walking/running) does change to match the base speed of your new form, as described in the descriptions of the specific rules covering each of the schools of magic. Under the Polymorph subheading in the Transmutation school (sorry, don't have a CRB page reference to hand just now), it is stated: "Your base speed changes to match that of the form you assume." However, your fly, swim, burrow, and climb speeds are all limited by both the form and the spell, whichever is lower.
Every druid player and GM should read this section very carefully - polymorph effects are very powerful and versatile, but have well-defined limts.

As a GM and player, I'm firmly of the opinion that feats should work to the character's benefit, not detriment. As far as Leadership goes, the player and GM should work together to set up a cohort that is both useful and a viable NPC the party will allow into their lives - it's not an excuse for the GM to work a mole into the party and screw them over. Your GM sounds a bit adversarial in an area that they really shouldn't be.

Remember, you can dismiss and recruit cohorts pretty much at will - there's no mechanical penalty for doing so. If the cohort is not working out, dismiss them and actively recruit someone more compatible with your character's goals and personality. Just do it in character - there's some great role-playing opportunities.

And remember, if Leadership is going to be more of a problem to your character than any other feat thanks to your GM, take another feat instead. I'd like to see your GM work your Power Attack against you....

Be prepared for the ranger's player to make life *interesting* in some of the situations you'll be presented with in Kingmaker, regardless of the character he's playing. There's a heap of scenarios which can be a bit of a nightmare to negotiate if your party doesn't pull in the same moral direction (be that benign or malevolent).
The party I GM for is mostly LG (the party is lead by a cleric of Erastil), and there have been some vigorous arguments at the table about how best to handle certain NPC's and situations. However, bandits have been consistently captured and/or killed, interrogated if possible, and frequently hung (either as execution or as warnings) on the sides of roads or in prominent positions. The party have had absolutely no qualms about this, and as a GM I feel they have been acting in complete accordance with their alignments doing so (including LG!).
Kingmaker is full of grey areas and problems with multiple solutions, and not every challenge has an easy way out of it. Having said that, the only questionable act you described was the killing of the bandit you had promised to let live. There is an easy way to avoid this in the future - interrogate bandits with the promise of release (or a stay of execution) *if* they cooperate. If they don't cooperate, hang 'em. The next one should then cooperate.
Having said that, I would question a LG character who under any circumstances released a known bandit to continue to kill and rob innocent folks. None of your party are LG, so it shouldn't be an issue.
Enjoy Kingmaker! It's a great AP.

As you are new to RPG's, the Beginner's Box is an excellent place to start - the one outlay gives you a simplified rules set (very important when you are learning the concepts!), a battlemap, an excellent starter set of pawns, and a brief set of adventures to break in your new players.

If you want to dive into the deep end after this, the CRB and Bestiary 1 are pretty much must-haves. Any other hardcover is then a matter of playstyle and what your group want to do - however, the APG is a standout. As others have mentioned, you can check out most of the content of the various hardcovers on the PRD.

As you are not an experienced GM, I'd recommend an adventure path over a homebrew campaign to begin with. Paizo's adventure paths are excellent, with great depth and interesting scenarios, both for the GM and the players. They also start at level 1, and the players can figure out how their characters play as they progress instead of being tempted to dive right in with a higher level character. AP's are also quite cheap, and save a HEAP of time preparing for a session.

Get a good group of friends to play with, and have fun! Welcome to the wonderful world of PnP RPGs!

I've always been fond of Gallant Inspiration - a bonus to an attack roll or skill check within short range for any member of the party at a critical juncture can be an absolute life-saver, and as a level 2 spell it's relatively cheap.

Actually, there's a heap of good bard spells that suit an intelligent item - Rage, Heroism, Mirror image, to name a few.

I think you are all missing something in the "wizard making a wand of CLW without using the spell by adding 5 to the DC" debate that is critical to wand, staff and scroll creation. From the RAW, at the end of the paragraph describing the +5 DC for missing prerequisites:
"In addition, you cannot create spell-trigger and spell-completion magic items without meeting their spell prerequisites."
Wands and staves are spell trigger items, so you need the spell prerequisites, or access to someone who is willing to assist.
Scrolls are spell-completion items, and have the same requirement.

I agree, however, that potions are an unclear area under RAW. The best guidance I use as GM is the following from the Brew Potion feat description: "You can create a potion of any 3rd-level or lower spell that you know ..." However, Craft Wand uses the same language, so I use the requirements for Craft Wand as a guide. Fortunately, my players easily accepted the ruling that potions are essentially created in the same manner as spell-completion items.
Hopefully this will be addressed in an FAQ sometime to help out GM's with less cooperative players.