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My starter character for this campaign, a seasinger bard, died two levels ago. I built her to be mainly a buffer and she was really helpful to the party. But she was really soft in combat and when she was surrounded by enemies she died quickly (it was a fight the party started at a party... they attacked the host. So I was caught off guard, my character was in a bad place, and was cut down and dead in less than two rounds. I didn't even get to swing a single punch).

Anyway, I rolled up an 8th level storm druid to replace her with the idea of being better able to protect myself. She recently reached level 10.

The druid has been great defensively. I am good at keeping her alive no matter what. But I don't think I am contributing much to the fights. My spells and abilities don't seem to do anywhere near as much damage as melee. I tend to fail my caster rolls or our enemies have spell resistance or make their saves. When I do damage, it's peanuts compared to melee. I can be helpful, but it seems very situational.

To top it off, I am really not a good player when it comes to druid mechanics. I am slow playing because I have to look up wildshape forms and I am still learning the spells. I use other players turns to come up with what I think are good ideas and look things up and make a plan, only to find out when I announce my actions that its not allowed or I misread how something works. Sometimes the situation changes and what I planned to do is not longer needed (the enemy I was going to attack is now dead). So then I scramble and rush to come up with an alternative idea for my turn and it's a crummy one. I tend to just quickly use Lightening Arc and Storm Burst so as not to hold up the game too long.

So I am thinking I am just not contributing to the fight right and could use some advice. I never played a druid before this and it didn't help that I jumped in at level 8 so I didn't learn along the way. Any tips on what I should be doing? Focus on buffing, debuffing, am I supposed to deal damage but am not doing it right? What should be my go to actions in combat to be useful?

For what it's worth, I am pretty good a RP I think. I have an interesting backstory and even after playing her for several sessions and two levels, the party still hasn't figured it all out and they are confused by her a little. Her mood changes, literally, with the weather. And she keeps a cursed doll because she's in love with it and thinks someday it can become a real person. She's also a bigamist and has several husbands scattered around the Shackles. But somehow, she manages to get into the good graces of important NPCs (I play her mood to the weather and it just kind of works out--I think the GM is helping with that, haha).

But I really want to have just as much fun in combat as I do when we are in town and I get to role play her. We seem to do a lot more combat/adventuring than RP, so most times I literally am not having fun. I need help. Thanks!

I am not sure what it is, I suspect it's because we started playing Pathfinder remotely (on a website now) with the pandemic, but anymore I find playing the game a chore. I am contemplating quitting. And please understand this is something to do with me... the GM is doing a great job and the other players seem to be having fun. So it's not them.

I think the reason for this is even though I've never been a good player, at least in between turns I could socialize a little or pick the brains of my fellow players about my next move (they are very helpful). Now, I have a turn and it's 20 minutes of silence before my next turn. I get bored--what made the game fun for me is gone (interacting with the people in the group). But maybe if I could be a better and more valuable part of the party, I would enjoy things more. It's worth a shot.

Like I said, part of the problem is I am just not a good player and I no longer can lean over and ask someone who knows the rules better if my idea will work the way I think. I wish I had more free time to dedicate to learning all the rules better, but it's just not a luxury I have (busy job with long hours, single parent, dealing with a mother with health issues, etc). And to top it off, I am playing a spell caster. Which is even more complicated because of all the spells and the rules around those. But the group needed one, so I made storm druid. I really wish I was playing something simpler... I was for a while, but my bard died a fee months ago. Things really went downhill for me since then when I think about it.

So any advice and tips on shortcuts I can use to better my play would be helpful. I've made index cards of some of my spells, but there are just so many that it's more impractical to use the cards than to just use the web to look up the spells. I end up trying to flip though pages and look up spells and skills for things I want to do, think I got it, only to find out I am wrong. Or worse, the battlefield changed and now I need a new plan. The spells usually don't do what I think they will do (usually I over estimate how good they will be) and I feel like it frustrates the GM and the other players. I know I feel frustrated myself because I feel like I am bogging things down for everyone.

I enjoy role playing. In the past, what I lacked in game mechanics knowledge, I could usually make up for with RP and being clever about things. I tried to make my character more interesting by making her mood tied to the weather (she calm and happy in clam, sunny weather and chaotic and almost mad in stormy weather). And I thought it would be funny if I have a lover in every port--usually caused by being there during a stormy day and acting irresponsibly. I even had the character "fall in love" with a doll during a bad storm and the doll ended up being cursed. But I think the online way we play doesn't lend itself well to RP because it just seems so inconsequential. And I seem to have lost my way of being clever with NPCs to change the outcome of things. I think the GM tries, but it falls flat with the other players and they don't pick up on it like they would when we played in person. Maybe if I can think of a better way to RP online, that would being some spice back in to the game for me.

Please, help me think of ways to hang in there. Hopefully this online playing will only be a short time more (a lot of the people in my group are high risk, so playing in person isn't really an option just yet). But I am at my breaking point. For months, the game has felt more like a chore than something fun to do. I've been pushing myself because I know it means a lot to my friends and I have hopes of playing in person again soon.

Thanks!

Edit to add, we are playing Skull and Shackles (if that helps with ideas).

My character in Skull and Shackles died. Mainly due to the party doing something reckless (in my opinion). They started a fight and killed the local lord at a party we were invited to. They started this fight with my character standing right by fighter types on the lord's side. So, in the combat, my squishy character was attacked and also not helped by the party (across the room killing the lord) and died quickly (in three rounds).

She was a seasinger bard and really did a lot to buff the party, spread our infamy, and acted as the party face. The other players just seem to be more interested in chaos and combat rather than role play or social interactions.

Our party consists of a Brawler, Monk, Inquisitor (who doesn't really heal although I think he can), and an Alchemist. The other players are really, really good at min/maxing while I am more of an RP, build character story kind of player. I spent days building a backstory, motivations, and goals for my, now dead, character.

The GM has to adjust our encounters for these min/maxed characters too. That stinks for me since I am not a min/maxer. I think that's part of the reason my character died in just three rounds of combat. I need to make something that can survive better.

I am building a storm druid, level 8. I don't really want to min/max too much because I want a character that is interesting. But I really need to have a character that can dish out damage, not rely on the party for help, and the party needs someone who can heal and such.

My character concept is a somewhat carefree druid who is moody like the weather. I even considered tying her personality to the weather (in good weather she's happy go lucky and pleasant but during storms she's angry and mean). She has no real aspirations or goals (that backfired on me with my other character, the party is too chaotic). She just likes to travel around like the wind. She also likes to spend time in wild shape, not human shape--especially birds (so she can cast spells and attacks from above).

But what I really need help with are the raw numbers, feats, stats, that sort of thing. I could use some guidance to make sure I am not making any fatal errors. Here is what I have so far (we use a 20 point buy and skill progression):

Str: 10
Dex: 18
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 19
Chr: 12

HP: 67

Feats:
Improved Initiative
Elemental Spell: Electricity
Natural Spell
Powerful Shape
Wild Speech

Traits:
Magical lineage: call lighting
Reactionary

I am not going to go into skills but I have a lot of points on knowledge nature, survival, perception, and diplomacy (someone has to do it and most of my friends use charisma as a dump stat).

I am not sure what gear to get at this point. I am thinking about some kind of wildshape armor. While I like the idea of casting spells from above, maybe I can do something to make myself a good melee fighter in wild shape?

I can tweak this character a little but not too much. The GM let me bring her in mid adventure (since my other one died within the first 30 minutes of our latest game). But he's okay with me tweaking things afterwards since it was a rush job to get me back in the game. I just have to be careful that the changes aren't too major. I didn't even have any gear when I played. I am stuck with druid and probably the feat powerful shape too because I specifically used it to save some of the party from an angry mob and guards. But I think I can change other things like stats, skills, and other feats (and like I said, I need to add gear).

Thanks for any help!

I am trying to figure out what to do. If I RP my character correctly, she would leave the party. But I don't want to roll another character. So I am trying to figure out how to make this work.

I have a LN (lawful in that she follows her own, personal code) seasinger bard whose long-term goal is to be an information broker in the shackles. To that end, she's been trying to make friends and contacts throughout the Shackles. Being trust worthy is her brand. She's started a small secret society of bards that she calls, "The Deep Water Society" it's a fraternity for pirate bards to share information and look out for each other. It's very, very small... I've only recruited a few. But she hopes one day to grow it and be a power in the Shackles in her own right.

Anyway, the rest of the party isn't acting in a way that's good for making allies and being trustworthy. We were sent by The House of Stolen Kisses to investigate what's going on with Jolis Raffles. We were supposed to get him to go back to what he does (which we interpreted as being getting him back to freeing slaves) or replace him.

My character made friends with Raffles underlings and, in exchange for an audience with Raffles, promised no harm would come to him.

We were invited to a party. It was fun, we were mingling, I ran into some old friends and then, a fight broke out at the party. It was between an NPC friend and an NPC who killed a friend of ours, Rosie Cusswell (who happened to also be a friend of Jolis' first mate). Jolis' first mate joined the fray, and I, who wanted to help my friend and Jolis' first mate, started inspire courage. My GM said that he wouldn't consider it me getting directly involved in the fight, but kind of like I was egging on "my side."

Then Jolis attacked our NPC friend by firing a crossbow at him. Jolis had a wager on the fight and with his first mate and me joining the side he was betting against, he figured he'd even things out so he didn't lose the wager.

Then, for reasons I don't fully understand, our monk did a sneak attack on Jolis and basically killed him with a flurry of blows and a ki point. Our captain laid in the killing blow. Then all hell broke lose and to make a long story short we ended up killing just about everyone in the room... or should I say my party did. I kept inspiring and added haste, but also tried my best to diplomatically end things, especially with the first mate who my character felt was a friend and who was now really angry at the whole party for killing her Captain. I just didn't roll high enough to stop things. My character has been taking hits from the first mate, but won't hit back, she just keeps trying to talk. I am almost dead, but can get out of things if I want. I have an escape plan.

We ended up having to leave the game in the middle of the melee and will pick things up next game. But I am the only character highly damaged and my guess is we will get though this and win the fight. Of course, we would have killed Jolis Raffles and all his guests except the handful of NPC friends we had there who joined our side.

But here is the thing, there is no way my character would stick with her crew after this. It goes against everything she believes, everything she is, and everything she is working for. Of course, I can just ignore it and keep playing, but I really am more of an RPer and story person than stats and such.

What can I do RP-wise to justify staying with the crew?

I am thinking about insisting that the party get Jolis rezzed or she walks. He might be mad at us afterwards, and he was still harmed, but it's the only thing I can think of that my character would accept to make things right.

There is one other hook. My character is searching for her lost uncle and the party has some leads. It would help her to find him by sticking with the party... but I don't know with the way I play her that she would compromise her personal code, even to find her uncle faster.

Also, this is the second time the crew has betrayed someone. I (and my character) wasn't around the first time it happened. My character didn't like it, but since she didn't give "her" word and wasn't there, she overlooked it.

But what if we can't do that? If no one can rez in the town (or if all of Bag Island turns on us for killing their leader and we just have to run)? How can I justify staying with the party/crew? I need some ideas to salvage my character.

Thanks!

I posted a few days ago about rerolling a character for Skull and Shackles. I've just been really frustrated with my character not seeming to be useful to the party. I posted some of this before, but I will repost so people who didn't see my other post might know what I am talking about.

I am playing a sea singer bard, but the character is not working like I thought. We are up to level 6 so I've been playing her for a while, but the more I play, the less useful my charter seems. I think she's not an asset to the party at all.

Here are the issues I seem to have: I am too specialized. I barely get to use any of my sea singer skills. The only one I've ever had the chance to use was sea shanty at the beginning of the campaign since then, there has not been any opportunity to use them where it would help anything. The bard abilities I gave up for Sea Singer would have been useful quite a few times.

Another issue, the other players are very experienced and very good at building strong characters where I am not. I suspect they may min/max which is fine, they seem to like it. We have creatures coming at us that hit with a roll of 30 and such, and do 20+ points of damage when they hit. I have to stay away from combat. My spells fizzle, a lot, as saves are made. I need to be able to be useful. I don't have to be fighting, but I need to contribute something. Not just sitting back, inspiring courage and watching arrows bounce off things (if I even hit).

The thing that really disappointed me was the last playing session where the party took two NPCs along so they could have some healing, buffing, and magic (those should be my niche).

The only niche I fill is party face because all of them used charisma as a dump stat. I've used that for some roll playing stuff, but I don't know if any of that is going anywhere (I am trying to build a secret society of bards... an information sharing network).

We have a brawler, monk, inquisitor, and alchemist in the party. We used to have three melee characters when we started, so I went ranged.

Here is my bard:

Race: human
level:6 sea singer bard

Str: 14
Dex: 16
Con: 11
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 18

Feats: Point blank shot, Precise shot, rapid shot

Spells:

0 Dancing lights, detect magic, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, read magic
1 Cure light wounds, ear piecing scream, grease, vanish
2 alter self, heroism, pyrotechnics, silence

Is there anything I can do going forward to make her stronger?

I am currently a player in a Skull and Shackles campaign. I am playing a sea singer bard, but the character is not working like I thought. We are up to level 6 so I've been playing her for a while, but the more I play, the less useful my charter seems. I think she's not an asset to the party at all. I talked to the GM and he said I could make a replacement character this one time.

Because I don't want to repeat the same mistakes, I thought I would seek extra help building a new character. Here are the issues I want to avoid again: I am too specialized. I barely get to use any of my sea singer skills. The only one I've ever had the chance to use was sea shanty at the beginning of the campaign since then, there has not been any opportunity to use them where it would help anything. But there have been times the bard skills replaced would have been helpful. So I want to avoid over specializing/making a character that relies on situations to be an asset.

Other other issue, the other players are very experienced and very good at building strong characters where I am not. I want to have a strong character too. I suspect they may min/max which is fine, they seem to like it. I don't like doing that, I prefer balanced, but I need to do so while still being at their "level" so to speak. We have creatures coming at us that hit with a roll of 30 and such, and do 20+ points of damage when they hit. I need to be able to be useful when fighting that sort of thing. I don't have to be fighting, but I need to contribute something. Not just sitting back, inspiring courage and watching arrows bounce off the thing.

I think the thing that sealed it for me was the last campaign where the party took two NPCs along so they could have some healing, buffing, and magic (that should be my niche).

The only niche I fill is party face because all of them used charisma as a dump stat.

So I am trying to build something fun to play, something the party actually needs. I've played a witch before, briefly, and I really had a lot of fun so I think I want to go that direction.

The other characters in the party are a brawler (our Captain), a monk, an inquisitor, and an alchemist. So a nice full caster witch would fill a nice niche. I thought about a sea witch, but nixed the idea because I thought I was over specializing like I did with the sea singer. I could use any advice. This is a rough draft of sorts, but I want to make sure I am going in the right direction.

We have a 20 point buy. Here's what so far:

Race: Elf
level:6 witch

Str: 10
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 19
Wis: 10
Cha: 14 (I would lower this and bring up Dex or even Con, but all the other players have this as dump stat. We need someone with social skills)

Feats: Extra Hex, Extra Hex, Accursed Hex

Hexes: Flight, Cackle, Evil Eye, Slumber, Water Lung, Prehensile Hair (love that the hair gives me 10 foot reach for touch attacks)

Patron: Deception

Skills: I don't know if breaking down all of them is that useful, but I put points in:
Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge Arcana, Knowledge Nature, Perception, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device

Background skills:
Appraise, Craft Tattoo, Profession Fortune Teller, Profession Sailor, Linguistics.

I haven't decided on weapons and I am still going though spells. I think I like some of the touch attack spells to use with my hair like chill touch or touch of idiocy. I will take healing spells, but may mainly use wands. Not sure about the heal hex as an option too (not just to heal, we run into a lot of undead).

As for the character, I envision her as being a lot like a burnt out hippy with a quirky personality. But when battle starts (or someone makes her angry), she will turn into the opposite she will be focused and no-nonsense and be a real, well, witch. Should be an interesting contrast. She's going to be very chaotic, so her motivation is she's just bored with what she's doing now and piracy sounds like fun.

Thanks for any help with this.

Hello everyone!

I am excited, next week we start a new campaign, Skull and Shackles! I am playing a sea singer bard who mainly fights using a bow. I have two bards built. One human and one aasimar (one of the other races our DM is allowing). I really can't decide between the two.

I have two different backstories for each that should be fun. I think I like the aasimar's story a little better than the human's story. Both are equally good at being bards (performance, charisma, spells, etc). Both have the exact same stats except strength. Both have all the same skills, spells, and equipment. I used Treantmonk's guide to archer bards to help me (with a little bit of tweaking since I am playing a sea singer).

I just need some help deciding which to play. I tend to be short sighted when it comes to planning characters for later on. I ended up not liking my early choices with my last character so I want to avoid doing that again. Which would be better/more fun? Which would be better to keep playing (at higher levels)? Or maybe I am just over thinking things and should roll percentile dice.

Aasimar advantages: I like my backstory idea for her a little better. She is slightly better than the human with slightly higher stats and a few higher skills. This gives her a 14 strength which will be helpful with future bows and if she gets into melee. She gets skill progression just like the human. So her skills will always be better. Dark vision is a plus.

Aasimar disadvantages: It seems like all of our party is playing exotic races, it might be nice to have a human. She is also lacking that extra feat and always will. So she starts off not as good at fighting and I've lost characters in early levels before due to that. If she dies, the character is gone. Also, our GM RPs things well when "weird" races come to town. Right now the party is made of all kinds of weird races (goblins, half orc, a half elemental, and one PC hasn't said what he's playing yet, and then there is me). I most likely will be the party face and if that's the case, another "weird race" might be a big handicap for us.

Human advantages: Humans are cool (they are my favorite race aside from halflings). They are the best race for making everyone work together and interacting with NPCs in towns and such. Plus I get two feats which gives me point blank shot and precise shot together. She doesn't get darkvision, but with a spell like dancing lights, who cares.

Human disadvantages: She starts off with a lower strength which affects bow use later on and swimming (could be important). It's only one point, but it's a +1 difference for skills and leveling up I am not adding to strength. I am adding to Dex and Charisma. While they are my favorite race to play, I played a human in our last campaign (lasted three years). It might be nice to play something different.

By the way, I considered halfling too. I ended up just not liking it for the seasinger after I built one and tried to come up with a backstory.

Thanks!

I've gotten some great advice here, I hope you can help again.

I am currently playing Pathfinder Kingmaker with my group. We are almost to the end of it all and the GM is going to be starting a Skull and Shackles campaign when it's over (maybe in a few months).

I decided I was going to play an Inquisitor and was pretty set on that. I even rolled up the character. But now I am having second thoughts. You see, my current character is a rogue and I like her, but I am at level 15 now and, to be frank, the character is complicated and I often forget what I can do with her. She's a rogue with the swashbuckler template and we are mythic on top of that. The complexity make it more of a chore anymore to play her than fun. I hardly role play in battle because I am constantly reviewing her abilities and such so I can figure out what to do.

I have this fear that the Inquisitor might end up getting that way too. I started to think that maybe I would have fun playing a warrior instead and going for depth when it comes to the character more so than the mechanics. I think something where the special abilities are more "built in" as opposed to remember I can do X or Y or Z, might be more fun for me and allow me to focus more on role playing.

So any advice? Is the inquisitor going to get mechanically complicated? Would a fighter accomplish what I am thinking of? Or is there something else.

On an aside, there was a point where our GM had me help him by RPing an NPC. I was told to give him a "french accent." I had a lot of fun with that using an accent and sometimes saying whole sentences in French. It added a lot of flavor and the rest of the gang told me I "HAD" to play a french pirate. That was a simple character and easy to play mechanically. So that's where this idea is coming from.

The rest of the group is going to be the following:

Daring Champion
Slayer
Bard
Skald

Thanks!

I've posted before (when I was thinking of running a bard in Skull and Shackles) but I've since found out another player wants to run a bard and, I'll be honest, in Kingmaker I'm currently the party face and I've had enough of it after a few years. I want someone else to do it.

I seek help because I am terrible with creating characters for Pathfinder it seems. My first character was a Paladin (who died) and my main character now started off as a gambler/swashbuckling rouge (great for cities, I didn't know what Kingmaker was). Anyway, my character's only good asset in Kingmaker is her Charisma and I'm the party face. Everything else, the other characters have left me in the dust (damage, to hit, ect). Wish I made something else. If we weren't so close to the end of the game and if she wasn't the "queen" now, I might try to kill her off. I realy don't enjoy playing her anymore (although I still love the game).

So with my bard concept for S&S gone, I thought Occultist. Well, the group decided no on Occult Adventures (which is fine, I started to find it a bit overwhelming). Now I'm thinking it might be fun to be a cleric or inquisitor of Besmara. The GM told us we start out press ganged, I figure that could be my right of initiation into my holy order. A wiser higher level cleric (or whatever) taught me the ropes and then sold me into slavery as part of the start of my clerical or inquisitor career...good luck! My ultimate goal could be revenge too (GM wants us to have long term goals we are working towards) even though this would have been expected by my character.

So my question and advice I'm seek is, are these decent concepts for the adventure (no spoilers please)? I just don't want to get stuck with another city rouge in the wilderness.

And, of the two, what would really be more useful and level well. Again, I hate that my current character seems so weak compared to the others. Especially considering that I think, to make things a challenge for the rest of the party, the GM has to make things nearly impossible for me to fight (more than one encounter, my only hope to hit has been a 20 while the barbarian need only roll a 4 to hit the same target).

Any tips for building the character too? I'm thinking water and storm domains. Or maybe trickery instead of storm.

Also, as a backup idea, in case the GM says no to Besmara, I'm thinking cleric of Calistria. It seems to fit the theme, including my revenge plan. Plus, it could be a fun character to play. I'm thinking knowledge and luck domains. Maybe trickery instead of knowledge.

It looks like I would be the only one playing a divine character: others are the bard, gun slinger, archer or ranger, and one unknown. We aren't even going to have a druid. So I think the party could use a cleric or inquisitor.

Hello. I haven't posted in a long time. I can't say I am new to Pathfinder anymore I suppose. I've been playing a Kingmaker campaign for almost three years now! I have a human rogue there and she's been a lot of fun (although I never intended for her to end up being a queen). We also have a side plot going (characters that work for our main Kingmaker ruling characters to do all the extra side quests). I have a witch there who is a lot more fun than the rogue.

Anyway, our GM is wrapping up our Kingmaker campaign and is going to be starting a new campaign called Skull and Shackles. I am pretty excited about a fresh start because when we started Pathfinder I was new and made a lot of mistakes building my rogue character.

For Skull and Shackles, originally we were going to only be allowed half casters and I was going to play a bard. But things have changed (we tested the campaign with NPCs) and the GM decided to allow full casters. I was still thinking about playing a bard and asked the GM is he would allow me to play a kinsune because I had a fun character concept. I told him about it and he is okay with me playing a kinsune but suggested I might want to look into Occultist as well as bard.

Occultist seems to fit well with what I want to do! I am so glad he suggested it (he always gives awesome suggestions when you ask for his help). He was the one who suggested a witch for me and that character was a lot of fun, more so than my main Kingmaker rogue who is now queen!

But I have to make a couple of confessions: 1) Occultist is a little confusing to me. Luckily we are starting out at level 1, so I can learn as a I play 2) I poorly planned my Kingmaker rogue. I think this is because in the past, I played many DnD games and rarely did we ever get above 7th or 8th level. So I tended to focus on what was good at early levels without planning ahead. My Kingmaker rogue is 14th level now and I have a lot of regrets (I've made up for a few things, but I wish I planned better in the beginning).

Hence this thread!

I really want to make this Kinsune Occultist with a flare for collecting fine art. It's her drive in life, collect as much artwork as she can. It's going to be a near obsession. But I need suggestions to plan her. I like Kinsune because I personally like shape shifters and my rogue and my witch were both human. I want something different. When looking at races, Kinsune is a race that just greatly appeals to me. Plus, their love of wandering can fit well in the campaign.

Occultist fits in with my play style (at least the spells do and how spells are not selected ahead of time works). I like flexibility. My implements can be small, fine art objects too. So collecting art can not just be an obsession, but an obsession with a purpose as she searches for art to use as a means of becoming more powerful.

Does anyone have any advice on builds, where to start, online guides (I found a few, not sure which ones are "good"). Or is this character concept going to be a dud and will I have regrets again? Thanks!

Hello everyone.

I am looking for advice on a character to play for an upcoming pirate adventure.

A little background first, I started playing Pathfinder a couple of years ago and we've been playing one campaign that whole time. I love rogues so I created one.

Well, long story not so long, I hate my character now. She just didn't level on par with other characters. A lot of that had to do with early on, I was new to Pathfinder and didn't realize a lot of things that would have helped me better plan. I was a new player playing (what I was told) is a weak class.

With some help from the GM (he's been very helpful BTW), I tried to compensate for weaknesses by multiclassing and we also ended up being mythic. It helped, but she still lags behind the other PCs and she's not very good in a fight. Many times I can't even hope to hit enemies unless I roll a 20. She does poor damage (compared to the other PCs) and has few hitpoints. Her only saving grace is that she's good in role playing situations and has a high Charisma. But that suffers from my own lack of being very verbally articulate. What good is a 19 Charisma if the player herself can't think of the smooth words to say when the GM asks, "So what do you say to them?"

I just want our current campaign to end quickly (or for my character to die... of course, other PCs would just resurrect her). I mainly stick it out because I like the group I am playing with and they are having fun. But I am secretly hoping it all ends soon.

We also played a side adventure for a while where I ran a witch. I liked her a lot better, and that's saying something because I don't usually enjoy playing spell casters. I really liked the hexes.

Back to the main topic. We have a pirate campaign coming up (Skull and Shackles) and I am eager to start anew with a fresh and better planned character. I still like the idea of rogues, but I don't think I want to play another one. I am considering a fighter or ranger. I may also consider a bard, but our GM is banning all full spell casters and I want to leave the bard option open to the players who really enjoy spell casting.

Any advice for building a character (heck, any advice on what kind of character to play)? I want to play something that scales well (unlike my rogue). I found a pirate cavalier archetype last week (of course now I can't find it online anymore) that sounded interesting. I want to get ideas soon so I can start planning out a new character and how she will level. I don't want to make the same mistake I did before with my rogue.

Any help to start me off on the right foot so I have my sealegs when we start the new campaign would be very helpful. Thanks!

Hello all. I have an 8th level rogue that's getting set to level and I was hoping for some advice on what to do... just some ideas in general. I am open to anything. I kind of toyed with the idea of going after levels in bard or fighter. But I don't know if that will do more harm than good really.

Let me start off by saying I like interesting much more than optimized. I come up with a concept and build around that. But unfortunately, I think a few of the other players are much more experienced in Pathfinder than I am and knew better how to build "strong" characters (where I just went for what I thought might be fun. The end result is, in combat, I am kind of weak. But because the other players have stronger (and higher level) characters, the GM has had to make things challenging for them. The problem for me is this has made fighting near impossible at times for my character. I am no better than the summoned creatures that fight with us. The best thing I have going for me is flanking for the other characters (and being hard to hit with a high AC).

In our last session, the only way I could hit anything was with a natural 20. I "won" one of our biggest battles by using diplomacy and my very poor role playing skills, lol. I am quickly being outpaced by the other characters in the party (especially the spell casters--although I did come in handy when the cleric wasn't around and I could use magic device and use a divine wand to help one of our mages with my super charisma).

We are playing the Kingmaker campaign and my character somehow has become the baroness of our little territory. She's a human, a drunk, a gambler, and (as I mentioned) a rogue. Think of her more as a swashbuckling, silver tongued, three-musketeers kind of rogue more so than a thief. I've pumped a lot into diplomatic and charisma-based skills and she fights using dervish dance. She has a heart of gold and is kind and generous... she is neutral good.

We are also mythic characters and I took the trickster class--it blended well with rouge and my role as the party "face." I mainly took things related to sneak attack and making that more deadly... but mostly I use "display of charisma" which, when I use it, gives me +20 to any charisma-based role (both for diplomacy and feint).

Stat wise and such, here's what I have so far:

S- 10
Dex- 21
Con- 10
Int- 14
Wis- 12
Cha- 14 (16 with a headband I wear)

Feats
-Armour Prof light
-Combat expertise +/-2
-Dervish Dance
-Dodge
-Dodge (mythic)
-Improved Feint
-Mobility
-Rogue Weapon Proficiencies
-Simple Weapon Proficiency - all
-Weapon Finesse
-Weapon Focus (scimitar)
-Weapon Focus (mythic scimitar)

Traits
-Blade Bravado
-Fortified Drinker

-Special Abilities
-Amazing Initiative
-Bane (fey) from my weapon
-Bleeding Attack +4
-Display of Charisma
-Evasion
-Hard to Kill
-Improved Uncanny Dodge
-Legendary Power
-Legendary Surge
-Surprise Strike
-Treacherous Critical
-Offensive Defense

I have a bunch of magical items too, which I won't list. But I will mention my weapon. With the mythic template and such, I chose to make "The Lonely Blade" my legendary weapon. I have a mythic bond to the weapon.

My weapon (The Lonely Blade) has the abilities of

- returning (it can teleport back to me)
- unstoppable strike
- upgradable

Thanks!

Hi there. I am fairly new to Pathfinder (13th session of playing the game, although I've played very similar games). I didn't know what I was getting into when I started, but I originally had a paladin (who died) at the beginning of the second or third gaming session. I had to quickly build something to join in the game and built a rogue based on a character concept I had in another game.

So I rushed to build a character in a game I have little experience in and am still learning. I only just recently learned about these forums and guides.

I am getting ready to level to level 6 (need to before the next session this upcoming weekend) and need some guidance.

In a nutshell, we are mainly in the wilderness in something called "Kingmaker." My character concept is a smart-alec swashbuckler (think something like Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride meets Zorro... but female). She started off as a drunk and gambler who came to the area to work off debt instead of going to a debtors prison. We are also playing mythic characters. Honestly, my character idea fits better in a city (didn't realize we'd be in the wilderness). But I adapted.

She's not only ended up being the party face, but also the baroness of the area. She tends to try to talk our way out of battles, she helps make unlikely allies for my party and my "kingdom" (think kobolds and paladins all working together), and if it comes to it, she kind of fights a little dirty if need be (and will lie in negotiations). She tends to be good at diplomacy (with rolls and role playing). She uses humor and tricks people if need be (I've kept enemies out of a fight by tricking them with lies--making the fight easier for the rest of the party). But she's kind of heart and believes in giving people second chances. But I also tend to be weak and fall quickly in battle.

Our GM is great. He always gives me good advice and I've asked him about leveling (and he's given me great ideas--like my Display of Charisma ability). He gives an honest opinion and has the mindset of we are playing together to have fun (not GM vs players). But I have so many paths to pick and I've been bugging him all week with questions, I want to give him a break. I want to make sure I remain viable to the party--and there is just so much to choose from path-wise. So I just want some additional expert opinions and ideas that way I can decide and then present what I will do to the GM.

While she has a lot of skills that help the party and she come up with creative ideas, I've noticed my character is weak in combat compared to the others and because my other character died, I am behind the rest of the group in level and weaker in general anyway. And if I (as a player) am not on my toes and think clever, my character doesn't do well. The GM has to make the encounters hard for the others, but I am so weak in combat that I fall easily if hit to much. Last fight, I got hit twice in the first round and was out the entire battle until the druid could heal me. This isn't the first time this has happened.

I like my character concept, but she's changed as she's become a baroness. I even changed my alignment to reflect how I was actually playing her (change from CG to NG). She very well could "mature" into something more than a gambling drunk avoiding prison... in fact, in a lot of ways, she has already moved away from her carefree days and more seriously into her role as ruler.

I can't decide if I should stay rogue (keep it simple, but I worry that I will stay weak)... pick up levels of fighter (toughen up a bit and maybe pick up something more interesting)... or maybe even pick up levels of bard (find strength in buffing and supporting my party in combat). Even ranger and cleric have crossed my mind. I should add my fellow players are wonderful too. The barbarian makes sure I get flanking (and if he can't help, spell casters summon for me to help me flank).

Other characters in the party include a barbarian, wizard, alchemist, and druid. We do fairly well as a group for what it's worth.

Here are my stats and basic info if it helps:

Human Rouge (swashbucker) level 5/ Trickster level 2

St: 10
Dex: 20
Con: 10
Int: 14
Wis: 12
Cha: 14

Fort: +1
Ref: +9
Will: +2

I am fortified drinker (+2 to mind effecting saves up to 1 hour after drinking).

HP: 41

Feats:
Combat Expertise
Dervish Dance (use my dex bonus to hit and for damage with scimitar)
Dodge
Improved Feint
Weapon Finesse
Weapon Focus Scimitar
Weapon Focus (Mythic) Scimitar

Traits
Blade Bravado
Fortified Drinker

Special Abilities
Display of Charisma (mythic power, +20 to Charisma uses 1 mythic point)
Evasion
Hard to Kill
Mythic Power
Sneak Attack
Surge
Surprise Strike
Treacherous Critical

Not sure if you need skills, but I have a lot of those. Also, I am planning on maybe taking mythic weapon with a blade (scimitar) I found. It's called "The Lonely Blade" and it has a bonus vs. fey.

Thanks!