Malakaus's page

If you'll allow me to take liberties about your character, I think there's a more viable way to make this character both functional and fit your character. Some optimization involved.

STR:15
DEX:17
CON:14
INT:7/14
WIS:7/14
CHA:9

Dump charisma since neither barbarians or fighters use much charisma based skills. The 7/14 between INT and WIS is for you to decide whichever is more appropriate for your character: Someone who's fairly smart but short-sighted, or something with a strong will but ignorant? Feel free to twist that into whatever flavor you'd favor.

Racial Feats:
Halfing Luck > Underfoot
This will give you additional dodge AC against opponents larger than you (Which is pretty much everyone) but you'd give up a +1 to all your saves.

Keen > Low Blow
Trades your +2 to Perception check to get a +1 on Critical Confirmation roles. Highly situational, but if you still want to TWF Kukris you'd need to make sure your crits land.

Slow Speed & Sure-Footed > Fleet of Foot
Basically gives you a 30ft movement speed at the price of losing a +2 to Acrobatics and Climb. Since you'd need to be a Titan Mauler to make use of the Bugbear's greatsword, which also takes away your fast movement, you'd need the extra movement unless you intend to charge everything, but that doesn't make for a good TWF.

Weapon Familiarity > Anything else
Not exactly Pathfinder Legal, but if you can ask your GM if you could try to trade out Halfing Weapon Familiarity with anything else. Orc, elven, dwarven, whatever. I'd suggest Elven myself so you can later get the Elven Branched Spear (Reach, Brace, +2 to Attacks of opportunities, and WEAPON FINESSABLE!) that just came out in the recent Melee Tactics Toolbox, though I don't know how your character would come across something like that.

Character Traits: I don't know if you have APG, so I'm going to assume you're just using whatever resource you can access online.

Bloodthirsty - Does 1 extra point of damage when you kill something (Kind of redundant at that point) or when you confirm a crit (More useful). It also doubles on a Crit, allowing you to do an additional +2 to damage on crits.

Killer - Like Bloodthirsty it's only useful if you crit a lot, but for kurkis it essentially gives you +2 to damage after you confirm a critical hit. It's a flat +2 however, and not multiplied by your critical hit modifier.

With both these traits, on any critical you confirm, you're doing at least 4 points of damage, plus your other modifiers to damage and whatever you role on your damage die.

Level/Feat Path:
1. Two-Weapon Warrior (The class feat path for this archtype is very good for TWF)
Feat: Two-weapon Fighting
Bonus Feat: Weapon Finesse

2. Two-Weapon Warrior
Bonus Feat: Double Slice

3. Titan Mauler
Feat: Two-Weapon Defense

4. Titan Mauler
Ability Score: STR or DEX, depending if you like getting more hits or hitting harder. If you put it into strength you get 16 strength which is a +3 bonus to hit and damage, but if you put it into dex it's an 18 which is a +4 to hit for your kurkris.

That's just for your initial levels. I'm going under the assumption that your character might have also already had some levels before the bugbear killed his brother, so he more or less began to first rage at level 3.

Since getting the 10k+ to sink into magical enchantments is largely out of the question for most of my early game, I was wondering if there was a class or loophole that would at least help me get Improved Critical for my Nodachi ASAP before level 8 or so. Any ideas?

Sounds good, but for the UMD advice: I dumped Charisma because my tengu isn't really a talky type. I let my brother to the talking since he's an Inquisitor. I don't have EoG though, so I don't know how much that'll help me without shelling out the dosh. Any other advice?

So me and my brother just rolled up a pair of Tengu Archers (He's some sort of inquisitor and I'm a Zen Archer). Neither of us are going for optimization and just for what we thought was neat. My Zen Archer catches arrows and my brother shoots people from 500 feet away and so forth. So obviously our weakness as Tengu's is melee. While I am hoping to have a couple of tanky players on my team my Tengu would be prepared for the coming melee. Not necessarily by going into the fray himself (Though out of the two brothers he is better at strait up melee) but by setting up traps and such to keep the enemy away from him and his bro.

That being said, aside from tossing caltrops everywhere I don't know what other items I could use in a fight to zone a battlefield. My only concern is melee enemies, like guys who charge or animals. Note I'm not looking for weapons but for tools and such. Something I could hurl on my opening turn so me and my brother don't have to worry about horsemen making a kebab out of us.

Aw, so much potential lost... Oh well. A new question:

I noticed that the Temple Sword mentions that monks are proficient with it, even though it does not mention it in the monk's weapon proficiency list. I'm not even sure if you can use Flurry of Blows with a Temple Sword. Not that I have any problems with the weapon, but it makes me curios; what other weapons have the "Monks are proficient with" descriptor that isn't show in a monk's initial weapon list?

So guys, another question:

A second level Titan Mauler gets Jotungrip, which allows her to wield a two-handed weapon with just one. Sounds baller... Now, what if she had two-weapon fighting, and that weapon was a double weapon? Can she still do her double attacks with that weapon? What if she had another one on her off hand? In a full round attack, could she do a double attack with each of her double weapons?

4. Yes, you can buy and use wands for any spell on the bard spell list, even ones you don't have as spells known and even spells that are too high a level for you to cast yet. Holding a wand in your off hand doesn't require Two Weapon Fighting - that's only if you're taking a bonus attack with a weapon. However, you wouldn't be able to cast spells with somatic components while holding both a whip and a wand - you'd have to sheathe one as a move action that provokes AoO.

I'll add Weapon Cord to my Whip so I can just and pull as a swift action.

1-The DM's ruling is harsh, but within the bounds. It isn't the call I would make though. Flip side: there's nothing stopping you from getting fire resist 10 on a ring and regularly setting yourself on fire for fun. Call yourself Fezzik or Krieg and party down with burnination. "I'm gonna put my pain into your soul!!!"

Sounds cool, but are there any rings that I could buy to do that? I play PFS, so I can't craft it.

3: Grease, aka "the spell even a 20th level archmage gets use out of."

My Bard has Grease actually. Right now he has Grease, Hypnotism, and Sleep. Though I think I will get Moment of Greatness. I'll be best buds with Barbarians.

Just so I don't end up creating multiple threads about separate questions, there are a couple of questions that I have that I'd like some answers too.

Fire-Forged Censtus/Spiked Gauntlet - So I was just wondering what I'd used 2k of my "Whatever money" (Basically some extra gold I save after adventures for silly things) for and while I was skimming through Ultimate Equipment, I saw this Fire-Forged Steel section. I don't have the money to put that into full plate, and at the time I was also doing some shopping to upgrade my Orc Fighter's mostly mundane steel weapons into different materials. I have some Cold Iron, Alchemical Silver, and an Adamantine, and with the change left over I pondered the idea of Fire-Forged Cestus/Spiked Gauntlets. I spoke to some other GM's near my table about it, but they figured that if my orc stuck his fists into an open flame, he'd take fire damage from it. But looking at the section for Fire-Forged steel, I had thought that if it was made from that material, it would allow him to safely put his hands into an open flame. Now maybe I can't do that with a pair of Cestus since they're partly made out of leather, but what about a pair of spiked gauntlets? Or Armor Spikes?

Another material related question: Aasimars don't have to do the 24 hour check with viridium weapons, do they? Specifically, this is for me Muse-Touched Aasimar Bard. I figured that he might need something to give him an edge if he ever found himself in melee, and with Weapon Finesse he'll do what he can with his short sword. "But what else could he do?" I thought. Once again looking through Ultimate Equipment, I spotted viridium, and while I was pondering what the price of a lead-line sheath would be, it also mentioned that Oozes, Plants, and Outsiders are immune to the deadly emanations of Viridium. Aasimars are Outsiders with a native subtype, so I figured that he'd be mostly safe from the side effects, so long as he doesn't cut himself with his own sword or anything.

A question unrelated to materials but still about my bard; he just hit level three after playing an our-of-tier level 4 game, and I felt that even he couldn't really prove his worth in some of the fights (Indeed, the game was ended early since it took my group so long to do any meaningful damage to our second encounter). In terms of fight style, I have my bard use a whip with Weapon Finesse to trip opponents. He's also a Sound Striker who I hope to get to level six to gain access to Weird Words, but that won't happen if he won't survive to that level. Now he has Word Strike, but a measly 1d4+Bard Level isn't really something I'd center his fighting style for, especially since it'll use one of his Bardic Performance Points which I need for, ya know, Bardic Performances. And even than it's halfed against living creatures, and I doubt it can do much against anything with with a good level of hardness (Like robots or something) that's worth attacking. Additionally, in this campaign my Bard's Daze and Hypnotism weren't much use against the opponents we faced due to their 5d+ hit die. I got more use out of Resistance and Glitterdust (Spell-like ability) so with that in mind, what should my Bard's new first level spell be? I'm thinking of something that he could use to support his allies, but also something he could use on himself if need be.

Another question related to my bard's spells; could I purchase spell wands from any of his level-one spells? Because while I don't intend to use my new level 1 spell for an offensive spell, I was wondering if I could purchase a Wand of Chords of Shards. Additionally, would it be possible for my Bard to hold his whip with his main hand and his wand in his off hand? That way he can either try to trip with his whip OR use his wand, depending on whatever the situation warrants. Or would that require two-weapon fighting, even though a wand isn't a weapon? I know he could potentially take the Weaponwand spell for this, but I'd rather use a spell for something less item dependent.

Another question related to my Orc Fighter, is there a feat which would allow him to do a full round attack on a charge? I know some animal creatures get pounce, but is there an equivalent that my orc could obtain as a feat or something?

So, I've got my mind about creating his Half-Orc Shaman-like character. Originally just a Scarred Witch Doctor who in the fluff leaves the clan due to ideological reasons, but I also just brought Advance Class Guide and found that the Blood Rager sounds too awesome to pass up, since to me it sounds a lot like a melee/magic class that fits with my style of combat (Raging into a fight).

Now I know that Scarred Witch Doctor and Blood Rager don't really have much skills or magic in common, and the reason I even chose Scarred Witch Doctor is because it's Constitution based, allowing me to focus more on my physical stats. That being said, how well would a Blood Rager (Or any Archtype of a Blood Rager) synchronize with a Scarred Witch Doctor build? Also, Scarred Witch Doctor is the First level and I largely intend to forgo armor entirely.

So I'm about to join a home brewed game with either an orc/Half-Orc. I like how a Scarred Witch Doctor is constitution based which I think would work well with my Blood Rager, I just need help with a bit of optimizing so it doesn't seem like I just tried something that look good on paper, but not so much in practice.

So what I need help with is deciding first if I should make the character an Orc or a Half-Orc and what sort of traits should be taken. If I went orc I think the only thing I'd change is it's Ferocity for Squalor, but for a Half-Orc he would have Shaman Apprentice as well as Sacred Tattoo. Any other suggestions would be considered if they work.

I also need to decide if I should initially be a Blood Rager or a Scarred Witch Doctor. Either way they would have a Great Axe and no armor; I had in mind that my character only wears a cloak and is otherwise nude. In Battle they would simply wad into melee in a rage (If Blood Rager) or with a Scar Shield (If Witch Doctor).

And that's about all the thought I've put into it thus far. More advice would be welcomed.

So when the new season came out I had my Half-Orc Fighter enter the first scenario. Did fairly well but the loot seemed meh to me. Later when I was doing additional reading on the new stuff did I discover Chainsaws are an Exotic weapon! Totally want one. That being said, what feats would be needed to use a Chainsaw? Simply "Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Chainsaw" or do I have to take the Technologist Feat as well?

Also, I heard that the actual book that contains technology is banned in Pathfinder Society Official Play, is this true? And if so, could I still use a Chainsaw if I find one in a Chronicle Sheet?

And lastly, would a Chainsaw be usable for a Titan-Mauler's Jotungrip? I don't have a Titan-Mauler, but it's something I'm curios about.

Hmm.... So how about if I took a Mysterious Stranger/Picaroon? Because I really want to try the whole Sword-and-Gun fighting style. I plan to save up for a Double-Barrel pistol to minimize the need to reload after ever shot.

So I was looking over some of the hybrids classes and stumbled upon Swashbuckler, which in turn showed me the Archtype for Picaroon. Now I was initially drawn towards Swashbuckler because it gave me the idea that it was some sort of Gunslinger hybrid, but when I looked at it's weapon proficiency list it made no mentions of guns. It seemed more like a Fight/Rogue with some Gunslinger feats so I was going to dismiss it when I saw the Picaroon class, which was exactly the class I was looking for.

Now looking at Picaroon, I noticed that it did mention proficiency with guns but nothing about armor. The Archtype itself says that it's weapon proficiency with simple, martial, and firearms replaces Swashbuckler Weapon Proficiency, but what about armor proficiency?

Additionally, I have had it in my mind to create a sort of an Elvin Rogue-Gun-Fighter, and Picaroon seemed simpler to fulfill the Gun-Fighter prerequisite than having to take an individual level in more classes. But that aside, I can't say I know what I'm going to go from there. I plan to take my first level in Picaroon and than one level in Rogue.

Picaroon would be my character's combat option, whereas I'm taking Rogue for it's class skills (Though I wouldn't mind the extra rogue feats as well). But yeah, any advice and suggestions would be nice.

At level one with my current feat+racial bonus my bard's Charisma is 20. Strength will be his dumpstat so anything that relies on it is vetoed. While he has a Shortsword, the Whip will be his go to weapon (If Sound Strikers can still use it). Generally a ranged combatant.

There's only two things I certainly want for my bard: Bardic Knowledge and range capability. Anything that doesn't involve my bard having to be right next to the enemy. Hence the whip.

So Ranged Soundstriker 4/Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger 1 does sound like an interesting way to make my Bard, but can you tell me more about the Musetouched Aasimar? While I don't plan to take my Bard into melee, it piques my interest.

Wordstriker looks interesting, and I think I will try to take the Arcane Strike feat. What book do I need for Wordstriker?

I haven't put him into actual play as a level 2 yet, so I can still remake him until he plays a scenario. I did chose bard mostly so that there's someone who handle the skill roles, but with that in mind I also want him to have some way to contribute into battle.

Could a Bard take the Arcane Strike Feat however? And if the weapons would be considered magical, do they still take penalties for my bard's low strength (Currently -2). His current weapons is a Sap, Short Sword, Short Bow, and a Whip. Originally had Point-Blank shot but I"m going to replace that for something else.

And I'm not entirely sure how to spec him. Currently I min/maxed him to have high charisma by sapping his strength and using Racial bonus (Aasimar) but now I must decide how to play him in the future. I find that he's a beast in skill rolls but in combat I couldn't even break a plane of glass. As a person who regularly plays as an In-your-face Fighter, being useless in a fight just puts me off in a bad way. But I don't know how to spec my Bard into being mildly competent in a fight without taking away his skill checks.

The only thing I'm certain he can't do is melee due to his low strength and survivability, so I'm thinking of making him into some sort of archer or spellcaster, though neither are play styles I have much knowledge with.

Hmm. That would explain why I was told it was a bad idea. Granted, I really enjoy the idea of throwing my axe at my enemies, but ten feet isn't really enough to justify putting the money into a throwing enchantment, or shelling out more money that I might not be able to get (I get into the negatives at least once per game, my life expectancy is dependent the the mercy of the team's cleric) though I may look into it some more later.

So, new question; any ideas how to make this a viable idea? The purpose behind (aside from the fact that I find that I'm throwing my weapon to be awesome) is so when I set up ambushes with my party, I can still get an attack in even if the enemy is not in my melee range.

Hypothetically speaking, once I amass enough gold for it, I want to enchant my fighter's Double Orc Axe with a Throw and Called Enchantment. However the subtle delicacies of magics have always eluded me, as well as the entire business with thrown weapons in general.

From my understanding, an improvise thrown weapon (Be it an actual weapon or something like rocks and sticks) have a range of 20 ft. The throw enchantment would allow me to use that same weapon as an actual throwing weapon without the improvisation penalties, as well as increase the range by 10ft (30ft in total, if I am reading it right). The Called enchantment would allow me to reobtain my weapon after throwing so that I do not have to be completely unarmed in the event I decide to chuck my weapon or otherwise am separated from it.

My concerns I have though would be thoughts, comments, and ideas with this. I've talked to a few others, but the only ones who actually have any opinion on the matter claim that throwing weapons are fairly bad anyways. They don't really explain beyond that aside from "Throwing weapons have been nerfed" which doesn't help since they don't tell me how and in what ways, or how it may pertain to the enchantments I would like.