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I am contemplating a champion of Irori, and I am feeling that Soulforger would be a pretty nice implementation of the "divine ki" idea that monks have, within this context. But could it even be applied to fists?

Hilarity re: throwing fists with Bounding Weapon aside, it seems you cannot apply soulforging to handwraps. Do people see solutions?

Hello!

I group I am in is going to start a new campaign soon, and I'd love to play a character build on some visuals I have in mind, but can't seem to turn into actually functional mechanics. Please see whether it's salvageable!

* Wiry, rugged and nature-centered. Preferably no heavy or metal armour.
* Strong affinity with storms.
* I want them to be able to take on a storm/whirlwind shape and fight in that shape.

A summoner with *Meld into Eidolon* has the thematics baked in, but I don't think it actually works very well, even if it has the benefit that you can ditch both dex and strength.

Druid only gets elemental wildshape at level 10, and air elemental really doesn't do enough. I am fine with them accepting intermediate natural shapes to an extend, but I have a strong dislike of forms that disrupt my immersion - such as dinosaurs. So it's probably from mundane animals and a select few monsters such as unicorns or owlbears into a barely functional elemental shape. That doesn't sound promising.

Is there much that can be done with Soul Forger at lower levels? I would need to layer that on top of a ranger, barbarian or a similar class, but that might have potential.

Flavour-wise, Oracle is awesome, and right up my alley. I loved them in PF1, and the new curse mechanic looks the be a continuation of what they used to be. I did give a glance at the Tempest, but I see nothing that that really works with the transformation element, even if they carry the storm in their soul.

Sorcerer seems to mostly be an Oracle with less theme for the purposes of this character concept. They are also more fragile, which would complicate matters for someone who at least now and then wants to mix it up.

Would you have any suggestions, please?

Hello!

I am in the process of converting a PF1 character over to PF2, but with the change to remastered rules, I am in a bit of a quandary. How does one make a Rashasha-spawn (beastbrood) these days? Nephilim seems obvious, but that is where it stops, since my character had no natural weapons worth mentioning (although she had some fur, a tail and minor horns). There was a Beastbrood option before the remaster, but it's gone now, and I'm at a bit of a loss.

Hello!

After some time away from PF, I am getting back in the swing of things, and PF2 looks lovely so far; I am quite happy with what I see. Having said that, I'd like to find a local game if possible, but it's hard to guess at where to start. Is there a database with active venture captains and where they run their games, online or (preferably) in person? I am located in Mansfield OH, in the USA, in case that helps. That's over basically the biggest little city between Cleveland and Columbus, over an hour to either. Local would be nice. :)

Thank you,

Pat

PS. I am running two current campaigns (with a third ran by one of my players), and I'm slowly convincing my group that we may want to migrate to PF2 once each current campaign runs its course. But that is probably not relevant to PFS!

I have a character that is an Elf. He already exists in-story, but never had been given a character sheet, and I'll be playing him soon!

So, here's the given elements.

* Must be an Elf with a falcon or hawk (or possibly eagle) companion
* Must be proficient in longbow and light armour at least
* Fairly decent knowledge skills for his low level
* Must know (at least basic) healing spells
* 25 point build, so suboptimal race choices are no great concern. We don't really min/max.
* One archetype per class only.

Any Elf obviously can be proficient with a bow, although Eglariel's a bit of a voluntary outcast of Elven society. He also thinks of his avian companion as an intermediary with the spiritual forces that grant him his magic. It'll be tempting to give it some sort of celestial template later, or even have it become a sun falcon.

My first though was druid, with the Feathers subdomain. The Eagle domain gets a familiar instead of a companion - saves a feat for Boon Companion - but that makes it a lot harder for it to become a battle option, I think. Granted, I've never tried to have a familiar fight. Archetype-wise, I like Season Sage (I don't see wild shape as being in-character). I'd love Feyspeaker - except that it's fey! Eglariel's a spiritual type, not someone to lean on fickle and mostly unknowable aliens. Feyspeaker makes the bow also a mostly pointless thing beyond the very low levels, but I can live with that. I love archery, but he's primarily a caster.

Oracle has a lot of good flair, although the more Elrond-leaning thematics might not gel so well with a high charisma. Cleric is too organised - he believes in finding your own spiritual path, even if you may well end up with the same patron as someone who does that through a church.

What is there in shaman that might work? I've never really looked into them. Wizard has issues with the healing side of things, and since it looks like Eglathiel will be the only real caster of the group (otherwise paladin, monk and vigilante), I want access to condition-removal without UMD required. Paladin mercies can help, I am sure, but I'd rather make sure I can cover the "support" role - which I enjoy, truth be told.

Any opinions and/or suggestions for me to look at? Thank you all in advance.

Does anyone know of ways to gain versatile performance, other than through Bard, Deific Obedience (Shelyn) and the Warrior Poet archetype of Samurai?

My husband has, to my surprise and delight, decided to run a campaign using PF1, and is adopting the Golarion pantheon but otherwise a small homebrew setting (planning to expand it over time).

I have decided that I want a female kython-born tiefling who is ashamed of her Zon-Kuthon links. Not that she is actually part of the faith, but she feels that she embodies too much of his essence to be comfortable. She expresses herself through dance, and I plan for her to be proficient with bladed scarfs. Yes, the echoes of chains > scarfs is entirely on purpose, but that is something she'll have to work out over time.

Currently, I am thinking Vigilante, using the whole disguise theme as a vehicle for her coming to grasp with "inner nature" versus heritage and what you show to others. The bladed scarves being very feat-intensive also works here, since vigilante is pretty forgiving when it comes to picking up abilities.

So, questions...

* A non-dex race is going to hurt, and AC is going to be a real problem. She could easily have ties with a monastery, but Wis isn't likely to be her strong suit, and Scaled Fist is a terrible fit, backstory-wise. Just start with Dex 15 anyway and do what I can (even though the front line's going to be a scary place), or is there a way to weaponize Cha a little better? At least we're using a 25-point build, and Lethal Grace makes a finesse build doable.
As an aside, Con-to-AC would be awesome for (former) ZK ties, but the closest I can find is the racial option to swap some resistances for 1 point of natural armour. And I am not sure I want to saddle her with that, since she already has enough problems accepting who she is.

* Are there ways to get reach on the scarves? I think I would like to dip in trip maneuvers. Probably less easy to implement than feint, but feint hurts on a 3/4 BAB build. I'd much rather work with AoOs.

* A Shelyn affiliation is kind of obvious, but I kind of like the Irori self-improvement angle, too, especially *mental*. She's got a lot of repair work to do and won't be preachy enough to try and use performing as a way of prositelyzing, which seems more or less inherent to the faith of Shelyn (bless their soul).

* Is there a non-terrible way to mix unarmed martial arts with dancing / bladed scarfs? Most trained dancers have very good muscle tone and I can totally see kickboxing mixing well, but the rules angle worries me.

Hello!

I'm brainstorming a new archetype for warpriests of Sune (a deity from the Forgotten Realms, with a portfolio resembling Shelyn with a dash of Callistria). This is based off the classic Heartwardens, which originated as a type of specialty priests in AD&D 2nd edition, then later a knightly order for paladins (yes, a chaotic good deity with paladins; those were the days) and a prestige class in the 3.x days.

Feel free to give me feedback, especially if you see balance issues. I suspect that most people will promptly propose to multiclass it with 2 levels of paladin, but that's on them :).

As it stamds, I suspect it's slightly weaker than the standard warpriest, since it's more MAD, but that is mostly a drawback to optimizers - I'm not a fan of dump scores myself. Even so, I did take it into account.

Heartwardens
The specialty priests of Sune

Heartwardens are an archetype for the Warpriest class of the Pathfinder roleplaying game. They function as the special emissaries of the faith of Sune in the Forgotten Realms, tasked with bringing inspiration to the despondent, grace to the downtrodden, and protection to those who create beauty. As such, it is a martial class and the Heartwardens are expected to be able to hold their own in a fight, if necessary, although they are encouraged to find non-combat means of conflict solution if at all possible.

Alongside the above tasks, they are charged with spreading the faith of Sune by example. As such, they should always aim to present themselves in a pleasing way and to encourage love, friendship and merriment in their wake by their words and actions.

Alignment: Heartwardens must be Chaotic Good or Neutral Good.

Class Skills: Heartwardens lose access to Intimidate and Knowledge (Engineering) as class skills, and gain Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Nobility) and Perform (all). They have 4 skill points per level instead of 2. This changes the warpriest's class skills. They must at all times have maximum ranks in either one Craft or Perform skill, and are encouraged to develop further artistic abilties when they have reached their potential in a prior skill.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Heartwardens are proficient with simple and martial weapons, plus the sacred weapon of Sune (a wimple, sash or other ornamental piece of accoutrement used as a whip); they are proficient with light armour and bucklers, but not medium armour, heavy armour, or shields larger than bucklers. When using armour heavier than light, or shields heavier than a buckler, Heartwardens lose their AC bonus (see below).

AC Bonus (Su): Sune smiles upon those spreading her word, and protects those who show off her grace. As long as Heartwardens are unencumbered and not wearing any armour, nor shields (not even a buckler), they receive an Armour bonus equal to their Charisma bonus, to a maximum of twice their Heartwarden level.
In addition, they can, as a full round action, enhance their armour (either physical armour or the bonus armour from this ability). This grants a +1 Sacred bonus at 4th level, increasing to +2 at 7th and an additional +1 every 3 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +6 at 19th level. These bonuses can be used for special abilties off the following list: Calming, Fortification, Glamoured (counts as +1), or Harmonizing (counts as +3). The duration of this enhancement is one hour per Heartwarden level, or until she is no longer within eyesight of other people (whichever comes first). This works otherwise as Sacred Armour, and replaces that ability.

Blessings: Heartwardens can choose from the following Blessings: Charm, Glory, Good, Healing, Liberation. This is otherwise identical to the standard Blessings ability.

Fervor: The number of times per day that a Heartwarden can use Fervor is equal to 1/2 her Heartwarden level + her Charisma modifier, rather than 1/2 her Heartwarden level + her Wisdom modifier. It is otherwise unchanged.

Hello folks,

I'm working on a new character for a campaign that should start in a few weeks. It's going to be a small party (three or four people), so role flexibility will be good. I know one of them will be a fairly traditional monk, but it's otherwise as of yet unclear what people want to play.

Now, regarding campaign information, I know we'll be doing quite a bit of wilderness and social stuff, since we'll be busy gettting a colony off the ground. This suits me, since I enjoy utility characters.

So, here's my ideas - and the issues I run into.

1. I play far too many Inquisitors. It's my favourite class by a decent margin (although this is in good part because paladins are crippled in the skills department). Something different would be good.

2. As mentioned, I enjoy utility characters, and this should fit the campaign very well. It seems that divine casters will have a significant role in the campaign, and this also suits me well.

3. I am not a fan of bad action economy classes. Were it not for this, I'd probably love Oracles more. [Reach life oracles aren't too bad, of course.] The errata to Divine Protection hurt them badly, as well, even if it was frankly necessary.

4. I've got a fancy to play a swashbuckler-themed character. A one-level dip of the actual Swashbuckler class, possibly with the Inspired Blade archetype, is likely a decent option. I've thought about a straight dex Magus (possibly Bladebound), but I'd like access to condition removal spells, and we will NOT be using traits - so UMD is going to be a problem on that chassis. Besides, I'm not sure how our wealth will look, but I suspect it's less than usual, so depending on consumables for status removal and healing may not be a good plan.

5. Bard is a lovely class in concept, but they give up a lot to become acceptable front line combatants. They do cover access to healing (if wealth allows for wands), buffs, skill utility and so forth rather well. I'm keeping an open mind on playing one.

6. I have permission to use the Evangelist prestige class, which opens up a lot of classes for skill utility, once I'm past the early levels.

7. I've never played a War Priest, but they seem to be a bit like an Inquisitor-minus at first sight. Fervour will be used for too many things I'm afraid, so access to Channel may not be so easy if you need it for fast buffing, too. Lovely amount of bonus feats, though.

8. Paladins, once you ignore the skill issues, are a wonderful class for roleplaying purposes; I'm quite fond of them. But enemies may not be evil (most animals and many monsters are not), and Detect Evil has been houseruled to only work on outsiders and creatures with a divine aura (such as clerics). This impacts Inquisitor a little as well, but at least they aren't reliant on smite. I feel they are too restricted in how they operate for mechanical reasons as a result.
There's a houserule in paladins' favour, as well - they are not restricted to LG, but to the exact alighment as their deity. This will adjust their Detect Evil and Smite abilities as one might expect.
Having said that, I don't mind a slice of paladin flavour, but that can be done with RP on a very different chassis.

9. I dislike weak defences. Decent saves, AC and a non-crippling health pool are very welcome, as are self-heals. [It's what piqued my interest in War Priest.]

Am I overlooking options? Shaman doesn't strike me as the right flavour at all (I'm looking at something a bit more cosmopolitan, and spirits wouldn't be his thing), although a Ranger might work, I suppose. Their spells aren't much good for keeping the party trucking, though, and UMD isn't in their wheel house, either.

I'm not looking to optimize hard, to but enjoy being able to contribute in more than one way, especially in the non-combat arena. Suggestions very welcome!

Hello folks,

Got a new campaign upcoming, and I'm in a bit of a quandary about my character. Here's the premises, the way I understand them:

1. Kingmaker AP, starting at level 1.
2. The group is 5 or 6 people big, but pretty inexperienced overall, or at least inclined to unoptimize. This is best exemplified by the fact that we have a rogue (and future fighter multiclass) pure archer in the party.
3. Allowed material is Core and APG. Ultimate Campaign, Combat and Magic material may be allowed on a case by case basis, but I get the feeling that apart from traits and downtime rules, not a lot will see play.
4. 25 point builds. Two traits, one of which is from the AP.
5. I'll probably be the only real frontliner. Yes, we do have a druid as well, but the player is more of a roleplayer than a tactical gamer, and I suspect that she'll not optimize for shapechanging beyond the usual basics, such as Wildspeech. The bard seems to go for skills, spells and flirting with random NPCs. So yes, it's up to me :).

Given the above, I was thinking of a cavalier, since the GM mentioned that a mount was almost never going to be a problem. We will probably need that charge impact - and the mount can be an extra body in the front line, too, not to mention a flanking buddy after a dismount.

Since we will probably lack a pure arcane caster (even if the bard will do his best, it's not quite a wizard), the battlefield control may come down to the druid and myself. I've never tried it before, but the feat Combat Patrol looks appealing. Would that work, even if I use a sword rather than a polearm or longspear? Can you even use it mounted with a lance? How about Lunge?

My current ideas, although scattered, run roughly as follows:

* Cavalier, Emissary, Order of the Sword. At least 8 total levels.
* A dip into Inquisitor, for extra class skills, saving throws, and wand/spell access. Judgment and Divine Favour will cover for the lost BAB. Not sure yet how much of a dip. Initially, I was thinking 3 levels, for Solo Tactics, but if I go Emissary, that synergy is suddenly not so strong. Maybe Chivalry inquisition, so I don't lose levels on my mount? Deity probably along the lines of Falayna.
* The Sword Scion trait looks nice. Probably more fluff than anything, although a free +1 is never amiss. Still, it won't hurt as an RP hook, and fits the chivalry theme.

I'd much appreciate some suggestions regarding feats I should incorporate, and which ones to skip. I have very little experience with martial controllers.

Hello there,

I'm busy designing a character that simulates the (giant) praying mantis in his or her fighting style. [I'll admit that this is inspired by Dragonlance.] I definitely want this to be a martial-oriented character, with good enough defenses to survive in the front line. It also has to be functional from fairly low levels onwards, so please no suggestions that only kick in at level umpteen! Last but not least, the race must be human, although I can gain access to natural claw attacks through some background shenanigans.

So far, I've whittled down the options to:

* Barbarian, beast totem.
Pro: good armour, full BAB, good hit points. Access to Pounce at high levels, which is very fitting for a Mantis. Rage powers simulate bonus feats, although many are conditional.
Con: Rage isn't very mantis-like. Urban Barbarian could kind of circumvent this, but that's a strange setup for such a "natural" fighting style.

* Ranger, natural weapon fighting style.
Pro: good armour, full BAB, decent hit points, fairly good saves, access to some spells (such as Lead Blades). Some bonus feats. Good skill selection.
Con: will start to slip behind at higher levels compared to casters, since a non-TWF, non-iterative melee character will have issues getting enough swings in. Claw/claw/bite may not suffice.

* Monk, Sacred Mountain / MoMS?
Pro: easy access to Mantis Style, which is flavourful and not bad (in my opinion). Very good saves. Thematic - the mantis was a symbol of Majere, the Dragonlance deity of good-aligned monks. Ki Mystic would fit as well, since Majere's is a very scholarly faith.
Con: all the usual monk issues, such as the choice between lousy AC or mediocre damage/hit chance. Qigong does give access to Barkskin, but that's meager solace. Probably too MAD to be workable, since I don't play sub-10 (and preferably 12+) Int characters.

* Druid, Desert Druid archetype
Pro: why simulate a mantis when you can become one? Spells solve many issues and bridge the BAB gap with the martials. Good saves. Access to Pounce through the Plains domain at a lower level than anyone else.
Con: kicks in much later, since wild shape only allows for vermin at level 10 for the Desert Druid (and not at all for other druids, as far as I can tell).

* Inquisitor
Pro: good saves, arguably the best skill set of these classes, spells bridge the gap with the full BAB classes. Captures the "servant of the mantis" feel very well. Good at working with group members in melee.
Con: could get very feat starved, as well as run into the "no iteratives" problem. Probably the weakest melee combatant due to a lack of attacks.

* Fighter, Brawler or Unarmed
Pro: lots of feats, very good damage.
Con: weak saving throws and terrible skill options. Probably best used as a 3-5 level splash/multiclass for the Brawler, or a 1-level dip for the Unarmed Fighter.

My impression is that the Ranger covers the bases best, but I fear it will be unbalanced (much stronger at low levels than later, with few ways to compensate for it). Monk and Druid have thematic advantages, but the former suffers from being a monk and the latter from taking forever to get up and running.

Have I overlooked options? Do you guys and gals have suggestions on how to patch this together? I'd probably build this character with a starting level of 4th, maybe 5th. Wealth will be probably a little under average, but not by a lot. 20 point build.

Thanks in advance :)

Hi!

Going to start playing WotR before too long, and I have my character's personality and such pretty much in mind - but the mechanics are as of yet pretty fuzzy. Given that I'm brand new to the Mythic rules, and given that the campaign traits seem to have some kind of future effect basec on what mythic path you take, I'd like a bit of advice. Please avoid AP spoilers if at all possible.

Basic character concept:
Boy born to a Kelishite fishing family, goes to school at the local temple to Sarenrae to learn his letters and numbers. Feels inspired by the peaceful grace of the priests and priestesses and decides to follow a similar path. Reality of the world means he's learned to defend himself and not to be a fool in the face of other people's wiles, but he's essentially a young man who walks with a clear vision in mind and heart that anyone, no matter how far they have fallen, can be redeemed.

Basic character role:
Skill monkey and spell/combat support. I know I'll most likely be the only skill-focused character in the party, and that there's a fair chance we'll have a combat-oriented divine caster of some kind. It's unclear whether I'll be the party face, but I'd like to be at least competent in that department.

Current idea:
Inquisitor with the Redemption inquisition. Combat will be mainly melee with a scimitar, although focus will be group support. I want a minimum of 6 skill points per level. No interest in bard for this character.

Questions:
Should I dip Life Oracle for Channel Smite > Guided Hand > Mythic Guided Hand? Or would it be better to skip using a shield and aim for Weapon Finesse > Dervish Dance?
How about Butterfly's Sting? I like the idea of it, but that plus the prerequisite Combat Expertise may be costly on a frame without much in the way of bonus feats.
Would it be better to aim for the Hierophant or the Trickster path? Trickster allows me to pick up one or two Hierophant abilities, but I can't go as in-depth. If I end up being the main divine support caster, I may need quite a bit of extra spells. Hierophant would allow me to cover the "cleric" role a lot better as an inquisitor. Trickster has a lot of nice options for skill-focused characters, from the looks of it - but the character background I have in mind seems to suit Touched by Divinity a lot more.
I'm not sure how well it would work out to do a more even split between Oracle (or cleric I guess, although I strongly prefer spontaneous casters) and Inquisitor. Normally, I'd be very leery of multiclassing casters beyond a small dip. I did consider an Oradin, but that would involve sacrificing the Redemption inquisition (I don't think Divine Servants can take inquisitions), the loss of a lot of skill points, and an alignment that isn't NG or CG, which I would prefer in this case. It would sync well with Guided Hand, though.

Suggestions are very welcome, but please try to avoid spoilers: I enjoy the story more when I don't know it ahead of time. :)

I'm considering playing a character that's a knight of a deity with shuriken as their favourite weapon. Obviously, it'd be awesome to have that as a Divine Bond, if for thematic reasons alone. How to implement it, though? Since they are ammunition, there's no easy way to handle it that I can see.

Oddly enough, it seems that darts actually count as "ammunition (thrown)", but lack the kind of text that makes shuriken so odd. They are also sorted under ranged weapons (whereas blowgun darts, which are pure ammo, are properly listed as ammunition).

The pilum and jolting dart would run into problems as well, since it specifies that they are destroyed after use.

In a related question, is the shrillshaft javelin destroyed after use? It would make sense that at least the thunderstone is used up, but nothing of the sort is mentioned in the descriptive text.

I'm tentatively planning out the near future for my non-archetype bard. She's a light crossbow user (I know, it's hardly optimal), and so far it looks like this:

Human feat: Point Blank Shot
Anti-hero feat: Precise Shot
Level 1: Arcane Strike
Level 3: Lingering Performance (likely)

So, a list of feats I'm interested in are:

Rapid Reload
Rapid Shot
Multishot (level 9 minimum)
Deadly Aim
Vital Strike (level 9 minimum)
Clustered Shots (level 11 minimum)
Discordant Voice (lvl 11 minimum)

I'm getting the impression that there just won't be enough room for all that I want, so I need to prioritize. I'm thinking that getting rid of Rapid Shot and Multishot is a bad idea, although it's very tempting, since I could conceivably dump Rapid Reload as well in that case. Then again, at level 7 starting bardic performance is a move action, so freeing up that move action is probably a good idea.

I suspect that spellcasting will remain a fairly major part of my activities, so I wouldn't be shooting all day long. Even so, I don't feel spell focus is too important, given that we have a pure caster dealing with enchantments in the party already. Grease and Glitterdust are awesome, but not sure it's worth spending a feat for two spells!

Could you guys and girls help me with the deliberations? I'd love to hear some opinions.

An Oracle of the battle mystery can learn the "Maneuver Mastery" revelation, which allows the oracle to treat 1 specific combat maneuver as if her BAB was equal to her oracle level.

Maneuver Mastery (Ex): Select one type of combat maneuver. When performing the selected maneuver, you treat your oracle level as your base attack bonus when determining your CMB. At 7th level, you gain the Improved feat (such as Improved Trip) that grants you a bonus when performing that maneuver. At 11th level, you gain the Greater feat (such as Greater Trip) that grants you a bonus when performing that maneuver. You do not need to meet the prerequisites to receive these feats.

How does this interact with the prerequisites of feats like Disarming Strike? RAW seems to indicate that you need to meet the full BAB 9, since only "while performing the selected maneuver" do you count as a full BAB class. Am I reading this correctly?

Baseline info:

I'm building a character that is going to be a dex-based duelist, using a single (agile, when affordable) sword and the snake style feats (from a monk splash, equal for both classes). Assuming that the "Singleton" ability of the Freehand Fighter qualifies for Dueling Gloves: would you prefer to use a Kensai or the Freehand Fighter (or the Swordlord)? Mind you, in case it's the Kensai he would use NO elemental dmg spells, and possibly only use cantrips (Touch of Fatigue) for spellstrike (plus a few utility spells of course).

The reason that the Freehand Fighter sprang to mind is that it grants the attack and damage bonus from "Singleton" to all attacks. With one hand holding a sword, that still means the unarmed snake style attacks can benefit from that.

Initially, I was strongly looking at Swordlord, but neither the GM nor I are too fond of the Crane feats, and although Steel Net is awesome, it also only gains Weapon Training I at level 9, which is very late. I'm not sure whether Snake Style alone will make a Steel Net worthwhile, if it delays the damage that much.

Note, that I'm ruling the Swashbuckler class out, since I'm not going to have a good enough charisma to make it all that worthwhile, I think. There's some minimums in wisdom I need to hit for the concept, and points only can be spread so far.

So, I'm working on a concept character. This particular character would be a ranger and have the Eldritch Heritage feat (for a staff). I believe that allows him to enchant it both as a quarterstaff and as a spell-storing staff, but that's beside the point of the question I have.

A magical stave would allow a ranger to cast ranger spells from it. So far, so good. Is there actually a practical way to restore those 10 charges it has, though? It takes a very long time for a ranger to gain higher-level spell slots, and I'm not even sure NPCs would be able to, given that the staff is only magical for the owner of the Arcane Bond.

So, last week my poor gnome died in our Reign of Winter game, and I decided to replace him with a Slayer, using the brand new released updated playtest document. Here's the build I used, incorporating items (using level 5 wealth):

Thugar Sevenfold
Dwarf, Slayer 6, NG alignment

Str 16 (18), Dex 15, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 6
Fort +9, Refl +7, Will +3 [Add 3 to all these for Glory of Old / Hardy]
Init +2. AC 21 (touch 12, FF 19). HP 64. CMD 22.

Feats: Improved Shield Bash, TWF, Dorn-Dergar Master.
Talents: [Ranger Weapon & Shield Style] Shield Slam, Shield Master; [Combat Trick] Big Game Hunter.

Favored Target +2, 2 targets; Track +3; Sneak Attack +2d6.

Gear: Daredevil Boots, Belt of Giant's Strength +2, Incandescent Blue Cracked ioun stone, +1 dragonhide spiked heavy shield, masterwork mountain-pattern armour, frostforged masterwork +1 Dorn-Dergar, cold iron Spiked Gauntlet, 2* cold iron Dwarven Maulaxe, wand of CLW, scrolls of Endure Elements, sundry other gear.

Skills: acrobatics, perception, stealth, survival maxed. Several extra languages learned, plus a smattering of intimidate, knowledges and outdoors skills.

So, today was a puzzle session, it seems, and I tend to enjoy those. Having 7 skill points per level meant I could contribute in a variety of places to skill checks, which is nice. In fact, the only reason I don't play more clerics and paladins is their abysmal amount of skill options. Good job on the Slayer design so far :).

First up, a very large boar. It won initiative and charged our fighter, who was standing in the mouth of the narrow passage we were in. The fighter got tore up pretty good. On my turn, I tumbled past the boar (he blocked entry to the room entirely), failing 1 check out of 3 and getting partially around him. Plan was to hit him next round with 3 attacks from the flank.
Second round saw the fighter getting critted and dropping very low, which meant that he could not set up a flank as he needed to stay near the cleric for a heal or he might die. I had the choice of tumbling and hitting once from a flank for 2d6 sneak attack, or studying and attacking once. I decided upon the latter and shield bashed him, using my +13 bull rush as a free attack. Maneuvers are still lousy, though, since I failed even though I rolled a +32. Did a bit of damage.
Third round, the fighter was mostly patched up and did good damage, and the sorceror plus druid got some nice spells in. The boar died before I got to take my full attack.
I'm afraid I didn't take much away from this fight, other than that the "study as a move" mechanism, especially for someone with multiple attacks, is disappointing. I suspected as much, but wanted to try it, this being a playtest. Should have gone for the sneak attack instead.

Second encounter, a skill/trap challenge. Combination of very good fortitude saves (yay dwarf), and some decent swim and acrobatics rolls, meant that this was cleared with minimal trouble. It's nice to have non-combat functionality.

Third encounter was very disappointing from a playtest perspective, as I rolled a natural 1 on a fear save in turn 1 and was out of the fight immediately (well, for 12 rounds; same thing, really). Since TWO people failed their saves versus fear (plus 1 person versus Confusion), this was a long and arduous fight, that almost TPK'ed us (5 man party). We burned through quite some scrolls and some wand charges to first win the fight, then recover.
It's hard to claim I learned anything here about the class. Observation shows that I should have contributed meaningfully, even with physical attacks versus an incorporeal enemy, since my very healthy 64 hp plus 3 attacks would have allowed for a much more rugged front line than a just a twohander fighter (when he wasn't babbling or self-harming), a sorceror (who rolled abysmally on his caster level checks), a cleric (taken to the dry-cleaners by hit point damage in three rounds) and a druid, who did a good job nibbling the spirit down with whatever was at hand.

The rest of the session involved more skill checks. I reminded myself to put extra points in knowledges for next level, and that Int 12 gives a low knowledge base when only some are class skills. Still, you cannot be good at everything, and I feel that Slayer is hitting a very sweet spot between rogue and ranger when it comes to skills. The lack of Knowledge (nature) is a little odd, but that's probably because I themed Thugar as a monster hunter, not a bountyhunter.

Comparing the Slayer with the other characters in the group, all of us being level 6 at this point in time, has me feeling the class is solid. The fighter has slightly better damage potential, but it's not a big gap and I'll take 6 skill points and a better skill list gladly. Everyone else was a spellcaster, so that's a tough comparison. I think that dumping charisma is perhaps not the best choice, since power attack / cornugon smash is a strong tactic, and UMD is so powerful, but the class is MAD, so it's choices. I already went for a good Con, since we needed to firm up our front line (hence, also, the TWF/shield bash build), so there really wasn't much room for a good Charisma. It will be interesting to see the results of people building Slayers with different stat priorities.

So, that's it for this week. Next Wednesday another game, and more playtest data. Hope this helped at all!

Any idea how the Shield Master feat interacts with the Bashing enchantment?

Let's assume a spiked heavy shield +2 and strength 10. That would normally do 1d6+2 damage on a shield bash.

Now let's take the same shield and strength but add Bashing, a +1 equivalent enchantment. Does the damage now "reset" to 2d6+1? (I think that 2d6 is two sizes up from 1d6, but could be wrong.) Does it add an additional +1 to the existing enhancement bonus? [Note, that the feat doesn't actually list a type for the bonus, but enhancement seems a fair guess. Could be untyped, though.]

How would the level 10 ability of a Rage Prophet ("Greater Rage") work for a barbarian of the Urban Barbarian archetype?

The Huntmaster archetype gains, at level 14, the Quarry ability from the Ranger. Problem is that they need a favourite enemy to be able to use it, which they do not receive. Is this FAQ material, or am I overlooking something?

I presume that the original intend was for this to work on the target of a challenge, but there's nothing at all indicating this.

Under the "Mount" ability for Cavaliers, on the d20pfsrd site, the feat "Master of your Kind" is listed as suitable for a Cavalier mount. I see no feasible way that a Cavalier mount could actually qualify for that. Am I missing something?

I'm working on a character idea that boils down to the following:

1. Bard, archeologist archetype.
2. If the story permits, hopes to become a Dragon Disciple, but not before Bard 6 is attained.
3. Would take DD at least to level 8, possibly 10.
4. Will be using weapons, or at least take no abilities, feats etc relating to natural weapons until he actually becomes a DD.

So, having stated that, would it be worthwhile to consider the Eldritch Heritage feat line, probably starting at level 5? The way I read the feats implies that you gain a virtual sorceror level, ONLY for purposes of the bloodline power you take the feat for - not the rest of the abilities you gain from Blood of Dragons - equal to your (non-DD class level-2). That would mean it'd bump the effective sorceror level of one power per feat from the DD level to the total class level -2: for most of the character's career, a +4 to the power's level only.

Frankly, to me the interaction between the feat chain and the prestige class seems very weak even for dedicated natural weapon types, yet people recommend it for some reason, for the non-sorceror DD's. I don't get it. Am I overlooking something?

First of all, thank you for clicking the thread :)

So, this isn't about naked, pointy-eared luscious people of your preferred sex, but about a character I am working on. As you may have guessed by now, it's going to be a spellcaster emphasizing buffs.

Now, to give you the broader picture. We have a fairly large group, with generally about 6-7 people present. Of those 7, there is 1 (one) real spellcaster - a witch. She is focusing on summoning and some heals. We also have a summoner, but he's a melee character, together with 3 of the 5 others. There is an alchemist, who seems to focus on self-buffing. The one non-melee, non-spellcaster is an archery ranger.

I'm playing one of the many melee characters - a reach paladin. I enjoy the character, but it would be real good to pull out a bit more support for the party once in a while, especially since we've been struggling a little lately. I think that our melee guys are being hindered by the rather low wealth standards we're using. [We're level 4 and our only magic items are various potions].

So, as a result of the above, I was considering either a bard or a wizard, in both cases focused on "support" with a sideline in control. For flavour reasons, I would like him to be at least passable with a bow, and have at least 5 skill points per level. We use a 20-point buy, with no stats at creation allowed to be under 8 or over 18, after racial modifiers. Everyone is currently level 4, and it's probably safe to plot no further than level 12. We might get there, but that's plenty far away in any case.

Some questions:

1. Elf?
The free longbow proficiency with gravity bow spell from wizard would fit the flavour nicely. Half elf can get the proficiency through ancestral arms but has lousy wizard favourite class options (although good ones for bard). Human is always ok of course - I'd miss the spell penetration I am sure, but the extra feat is tasty (although I'd need to sacrifice a trait to get proficiency through Heirloom). Would love a gnome, but the archery would hurt a lot with their small size and awkward stats, even if they make otherwise awesome bards and passable illusionists.

2. Bard or wizard?
Is sorceror on the cards at all? Would oracle or druid be even within pitching distance?
Tough call here. Bard has the better BAB, and bow use might not be totally superfluous that way once the buffs are in place. Bard 7 can get the performance going without spending a standard action, which is very nice action economy. Wizard has better battlefield control, though, but arguably worse buffs (even if they get several good spells earlier). Magus doesn't have the spell slots to cast many group buffs, and they make lousy archers. Likewise, Inquisitor doesn't have buffs to contribute, although they at least make good ranged combatants.
Chances are that the bard has the best overall defences of the various options, the oracle aside (although that might be tough to fit in the role).
Note: due to our very low wealth standards it's pointless to expect we'd ever have spare wands for an improved familiar to use. Familiars still are very useful, of course, but the item might actually be a consideration instead.

3. Prestige class? Archetypes?
Generally, prestige classes are garbage in Pathfinder. Arcane archer has great flavour but I doubt it would actually contribute much, and dragon disciple loses a ton compared to a stock bard. Likewise, I don't see Eldritch Knight actually build upon the core classes very well for what I want. Divine Scion isn't an option since I don't fancy Erastil this time around - I need a break from lawful good :). Mystery Cultist looks spiffy, but the prerequisites are ... cumbersome.
The wizard doesn't seem to have any useful archetypes. Bard has arcane duelist and sandman, but both are pretty much melee focused. There's the cleric evangelist, but that's a very low skill point build, I would think, and not much of an archer to boot. That seems to be about it, too.

I would love to hear some ideas. In a low wealth situation, support abilities that buff multiple people, or debuff/control the enemy, should really shine, but it's hard to figure whether bard or wizard (or an alternative class) would be preferable.

How feasible is it to teach teamwork feats to a mount, animal companion or familiar? The specific situation I am thinking of is a non-mounted cavalier using his "mount" as a flanking buddy, but it could apply to many other situations and character types as well.

Hello folks,

I am working on a concept character, but I'm somewhat struggling at getting the pieces of the puzzle to fit together. Let me know if you guys have any input / ideas.

The premise of the character is an Agathion-blooded (Idyll-kin) Aasimar that was found in the wild as a very young girl by people from a local monastery. She didn't know how to talk, read or write (at the time) and seemed throughly unfamiliar with "civilized" culture. On the other hand, she has a natural rapport with animals. The monastery folks recognized her as having some kind of strange gift and decided not to disturb that too much, ending up teaching her "animalistic" fighting styles.

In effect, I want a panther-style oriented character that has wilderness skills. Our play-group is used to low xp games and we usually play E6 or E8 as well. Magic items are rare and magic item crafting for players is not allowed (other than scrolls and potions, and even that requires downtime). We use a 22-point build and 3 or 4 traits (depends on the GM).

Now, Agathion-blooded Aasimar have access to a trait that allows for TN or NG monks, which appeals. I guess a MoMS monk/barbarian would be possible that way - but would it be effective, using only unarmed strikes? What are the alternatives? Agathion aren't blessed with the best stats for a monk, but that race is a must-keep.

I would prefer to avoid dropping below Int 10. She may be uneducated, but she's not stupid, and I find it frustrating to deal with the social aspects of very low Int, not to mention the skill point problems.

Note, that the monastery doesn't have to be monks. Could be clerics or paladins (or druids?). I just love the idea of the wilderness child in a monastic environment. Wish that the "alignment grace" would extend to paladins, though.

So, for an upcoming campaign, it seems our GM decided we needed luxury. The statline we get to work with is 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 (before racial modifiers). Only core races plus Aasimar/Tiefling, though (which suits me well - I tend to play humans). We also get to start at level 3. As a result, I figured I'd do something very MAD - a zen archer monk / divine hunter paladin.

How would you build that? Especially the level division is an issue, so far. It's pretty clear that Monk 3 is mandatory, and it's tempting to pick up Oath of Vengeance, which would lead towards Paladin 4 minimum. Would you go Paladin 4 / Monk 4 (ki pool?) and see from there? Or set out for Monk 3 and paladin until the cows come home, focusing charisma over wisdom? Maybe even Pal 1 / Monk 8 ? Is Improved Precise Shot and Weapon Specialisation worth going Monk 6 for - since I would otherwise not meet the prerequisites (but monk bonus feats ignore those)?

Right now, I'm thinking something like this as an intermediate build to aim for:

Aasimar Monk (Zen Archer) 3 / Paladin (Divine Hunter, Oath of Vengeance) 5

Str 15 +1 level 8 = 16
Dex 12
Con 13
Int 14
Wis 16 +2 racial = 18
Cha 17 +2 racial +1 level 4 = 20

Bonus feats: point blank shot (monk), perfect strike (monk), wf: longbow (monk), precise shot (paladin), point blank master (monk), dodge (monk)
Feats: Deadly Shot, Improved Initiative, Extra Lay on Hands, Noble Scion (Scion of War).

Thank you in advance for the input!

Would a follower of Norgorber with the Shadow Dodge and Hellcat Stealth feats be able to use Shadow Dodge in bright light? It's so far an academic question, but I can see that come up in the near future :)

Hi!

I'm considering translating an old Forgotten Realms character to Pathfinder. He always used a bastardsword, since he was a follower of Kelemvor. [The old 3.0 build was ranger (favourite enemy undead of course) 1 / paladin 7. Since the old incarnation actually found an intelligent sword, it seemed cool to go Bladebound Magus this time around instead of paladin. The ranger level might become Inquisitor - similar skills. Not sure yet on that account.]

Now, I understand that a Magus requires a one-handed weapon to do their thing, and they require a hand free as well. Bastard swords (and dwarven axes) are clearly onehanded, even if some people need to use them twohanded. But would you be able to use them twohanded (for the extra strength/power attack bonus) and then lift one hand off as a free action to make use of your Magus abilities? And would this change if you don't have the exotic weapon proficiency feat? [This would not be an issue for me, but it's good to understand the nuances of the rules.]