MrCharisma's page

Are you trying to get a super high strength score? Or are you trying to get a super high modifier on a single strength check? (I ask because a "weightlifting competition" seems like a strength check.)

The reason I'm asking is because Barbarians and Primalist Bloodragers can take ...

Strength Surge (Ex) (PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 33): The barbarian adds her barbarian level on one Strength check or combat maneuver check, or to her Combat Maneuver Defense when an opponent attempts a maneuver against her. This power is used as an immediate action. This power can only be used once per rage.

This makes levels in one of those classes (probably Bloodrager, let's be honest) worth more than most other classes. Alchemist and a few other things can give bonuses, but even Dragon Disciple isn't quite pulling it's weight.

Well Metamagic Rager only matters if you're actually going to be casting Bloodrager spells, which means taking at least 4 levels of Bloodrager, and really significantly more than that if you really want it to be worthwhile. As a dip for a Druid it's probably not worth it.

Steelblood Bloodrager on the other hand gives Heavy Armour and Indomitable Stance. If you're going to wear heavy armour the other thing to remember is that the Bloodrager's usual speed bonus is lost when wearing heavy armour, which means you will not only be slowed by heavy armour, you will also lose that bonus. Steelblood trades out the speed bonus for Indomitable stance so you're at least getting something back for that lost class feature. Also if you wanted to take 2 levels in Steelblood you'd get Armoured Swiftness, which is their version of Fast Movement - whether that's worth another level is up to you.

TLDR: I think Steelblood is an excellent suggestion for a dip into Bloodrager, especially since it stacks with the Id Rager, and helps one of the main drawbacks of the Id Rager - their even worse than usual AC penalties.

I mean, Id Rager could be a good option if you have the defences to deal with the lowered AC.

I think Bloodrager is one of the best dips for extra damage. If you have 14 CON and you take a 1 level dip into Bloodrager along with the EXTRA RAGE feat then you have 12 rounds of rage per day, which is more than enough for most days. Id Rager specifically would not only give you Rage (and with the extra STR it's better than usual) but it would also save you a feat on Power Attack.

Looking at the Cave Druid, at 10th level you'd get the ability to turn into a Carnivorous Crystal. Assuming you take 1 level of Bloodrager at the next level you would have +8 BAB, which would mean your Power Attack bonus would be -3 to hit, +9 damage (uses the x1.5 modifier for a creature with a single primary natural attack). The +6 to STR would effectively negate the -3 to hit from Power Attack, meaning your Rage would give you -2 AC, +2 HP per HD, +0 to hit and +13 damage. At level 16 Power Attack gets to the next breakpoint so the total becomes -2 AC, +2 HP, -1 to hit for +16 damage. You would also qualify for RAGING VITALITY for some extra survivability, and eventually RAGING BRUTALITY for even more damage (though it will burn through your Rage quickly). If you took all these options you would end up with ~+20 damage per hit from all of this.

Bloodragers also qualify for BLOODED ARCANE STRIKE, which is a phenomenal feat for Vital Strike builds. I just read ARCANE STRIKE and noticed that it scales with "caster level", not "Arcane caster level", which means your Druid levels could increase the damage from Arcane Strike. However this probably requires a permissive GM, as that clearly isn't the intent, and if you're going by strict RAW then 1 level of Bloodrager techincally doesn't qualify you to take Arcane Strike (you'd need to get to level 4 before you actually gain the "Ability to cast arcane spells"). Check with your GM, but if it does work then this can add another ~+12 damage when raging and Vital Striking.

Whether you think any/all of that is worthwhile is up to you.

The other Martial dip I really like is 1 level of Brawler. Martial Flexibility is a really good ability, and the basic chassis of Brawler is very good as well (+1 BAB, +2 F/R saves, +0 W save, d10 HP, Improved Unarmed Strike, d6 damage with fists). There are a couple of archetypes that get Martial Flexibility in other classes, so they could be worthwhile as well.

My thought was a GREEN KNIGHT Cavalier. It gives you Endurance and Diehard as bonus feats at level 1 instead of a Mount. Aside from you already stating that you wanted one of those feats, they're also the prerequisites for the STALWART feat, which I think is great. You also become pretty darn tough (you also get an ability called "Stalwart" in-class that is basically Evasion for Fort/Will-saves), which seems to suit what you're looking for as well.

If you're willing to do 1 level of Monk (can be unchained to keep full BAB if you like) you can get CRANE STYLE as a bonus feat [ooc](without the prerequisites, because Monk)[ooc], and you can use Crane Style with the Stalwart feat to fight defensively with only a -2 to hit instead of -4, and you also get +1 to AC, giving you -2 to hit for +3 AC. By taking 3 ranks in ACROBATICS you get another +1 AC when you fight defensively, and you could take the ALDORI CAUTION background trait for another +1. This means you'd have a total of -2 to hit for +5 AC when you fight defensively, but with the Stalwart feat you'd instead get DR:5/- when you fight defensively. Later on you could take IMPROVED STALWART to make that DR:10/- instead. You don't technically Need the Monk dip for this, but it saves you 3 feats.

You don't have to do all of this, but doing it means you end up being one tough mother ... hubbard. I think standing there and just taking the hits, but shrugging them off like they're nothing is very thematic for this character.

THREAD NECROMANCY

So I think the lack of a save is OP considering the feats Improved & Greater Dirge of Doom enhance the ability significantly. And Frightening Tune does get a save and it's higher level. Bard in my game has been destroying enemies with it because he has the feats. Throw a fear spell or intimidate check on top and you have something better than Frightening Tune because of a lack of a save. I think this was a serious oversight by the design team.

Hi Chris, welcome to the forums.

At the top right of each post you can see a time and date. That's the time and date when the person posted. In this case you can see that this thread hasn't been active for ~15 years, and that this conversation was happening the year the Core Rulebook (CRB) first came out. As such it's unlikely that any of the people in this thread are likely to respond (clicking on their profiles I can see that none of them have posted in over 3 years).

Reviving old threads isn't necessarily a problem, but something to think about is that A) They probably won't respond, B) The issues they're talking about may have been resolved in the meantime and C) It's often not obvious when someone revives an old thread, so you can have people responding to posts that are irrelevant (eg. If I hadn't noticed the dates I may have responded to Alex B. without realising that (s)he hasn't posted since 2010). For this reason, whenever I revive an old thread I like to make it super obvious that I've done so by doing something like putting a bold heading at the top of my post (as above).

In this particular case, I don't know that there has been any further clarifications from Paizo (I couldn't see any after doing a quick search) but the fact that they have never clarified to say that there IS a saving throw even after 15 years and 2 new games is a pretty strong indication that no saving throw is required. Dirge of Doom does what it says it does.

It does however say that DoD cannot be used to make someone Frightened or Panicked, so while it's a fairly strong effect it doesn't stack with other forms of Shaken to become stronger forms of fear. It can lower someone's save and then you can use a fear effect on them, but you couldn't stack DoD and Demoralize (for example) to make someone Frightened. Just clarifying in case that helps.

Anyway, that was a lot but I really do want to welcome you, I hope you get a lot out of things here =)

Yup, an Anger Focus Id Rager gets +6 STR and -2 DEX when they Rage (they also get Power Attack for free, but only when they Rage).

Note that this makes them more than usually fragile, since the -2 to DEX combines with the -2AC from Rage to give you a total of -3AC, and with medium armour and likely low DEX to begin with this makes you about as easy to hit as a Wizard.

But the balance is a bit questionable when the Magus needs to "buy" new kinds of possible enhancements with his Arcana. The Magus is a great class for me, but it suffers a bit of backlash from "we have given too much awesome stuff to the Inquisitor and the Summoner."

The Magus can do things that Warrior Spirit and Legacy Weapon can't.

A 17th level Magus can add +5 worth of enhancements to their weapon, can use that +5 enhancement on either actual enhancement bonuses or on equivalent weapon quality upgrades, and (unlike the other classes) can split that +5 bonus as they please between enhancements and weapon qualities. They have a more limited list to choose from, but can use any and all of the bonuses on whichever effect they wish. They could turn their +4 weapon into a +5 Speed, Keen, Flaming weapon, or into a +4 Shocking, Flaming Burst, Icy Burst weapon. With they right Arcana they could turn it into a +4 Flaming, Ghost Touch, Holy, Flaming, Keen weapon.

The Occultist and the Fighter (and the MAC Warpriest and whoever) can't do that, they can only choose ONE special quality to add to the weapon. a 17th level Fighter wielding a +4 weapon can turn it into a +5 Speed weapon, but they couldn't turn it into a +4 Speed Keen weapon, nor a +4 Flaming, Frost, Keen, Ghost Touch weapon (nor could they turn it into a +6 weapon or above as per the normal rules).

Now I'm not saying it isn't strong, and I'm not even saying it isn't stronger than the Magus ability, but there are opportunity costs to this. Also it costs a standarad action and an Advanced Weapon Training option for the Fighter (which is at least a feat), where the Magus gets it for free and uses a Swift action.

Occultist usually isn't walking into melee with a weapon every combat

Hahaha! Oh man that's a good one.

Not only do Occultists have Legacy Weapon from the TRANSMUTATION IMPLEMENT, but the Implement also gives them essentially a free belt of STR (or DEX if you prefer) from the Resonant power (and one that scales extremely well). On top of that they also have the ability to be a full-BAB class with the TRAPPINGS OF THE WARRIOR Panoply Resonant Power, and they can also use the Base Power from Trappings (Martial Skill) to grant themselves a feat as a move action, thus actually stealing the Brawler's main schtick as well (albeit at a very expensive cost, 3 MF points is way to steep).

So a level 6 Occultist can start with Full BAB and a free +4 STR belt (that doesn't use the Belt slot), and can then grant their weapon an additional +2 or equivalent bonus (eg. +1 and Bane) as a Standard Action, and then give themself a feat on top of that as a Move Action.

The actual limitation on both Legacy Weapon and Warrior Spirit is that they both say you can imbue any ONE special property in place of enhancement bonuses. So you could have Flaming, or you could have Frost, but you can't have Flaming and Frost by spending +2 worth of enhancements. This stops you from doing what something like the Magus does and stacking useful buffs like Keen with other things - that and they still can't break the +10 limit on weapons, as you said.

I don't think this is a particularly hot take. I think everyone basically agrees with you.

I personally don't think it's quite as bad as it's made out to be. You can play around it if you know it's going to happen. You get hit, which means your image shatters and deals a small amount of damage to your opponent (to which there is no save btw) and then your opponent has to use a move action to attack you again. So you can use this to deal some chip damage and protect yourself from multiple attacks.

Having said that, you could still do everything I mentioned above if the Thaumaturge got a choice here, and as you say it would be more playable. I don't really know why they made it not a choice (I mean, obviously for flavour reasons, but again that doesn't really break if you give them a choice), so I'd definitely house-rule it to give the player the choice.

For what it's worth, I'm playing an Amulet/Mirror Thaumaturge with the Reflection heritage, so I've taken the Mirror as my first Adept Implement. I have yet to actually play it since leveling up so I don't know how it will go exactly, but I don't imagine it will break my character. It's definitely the worse option mechanically though.

I didn't quite have to respec, but my Bloodrager in Iron Gods is pretty powerful and I decided not to take the options I'd been planning on. I'm playing a Primalist, and my AC is super low but I have substantial damage reduction, energy resistance, crit negation, the ability to force rerolls, oh and I have 7 AoOs and a 15 foot natural reach most combats. I WAS going to take Come and Get Me and Reckless Abandon to capitalise on my strengths, but I'm already breaking the game enough that my GM is having touble balancing the game. I thought this combo would be enough that he'd flip the table so I just didn't take them.

Maybe that, unless you have allies with sneak attack, being denied dex to AC doesn't hurt giants much?

Yeah I'm assuming this is what they meant. Giants don't have enough DEX for it to be useful unless you have a class mechanic or something that lets you take advantage of Flat Footed in some other way.

So I haven't really used the Moonlight Stalker feat-line, but I have played a Bloodrager with concealment to level 17.

My Bloodrager has a Minor Cloak of Displacement (permanent passive 20% miss chance), and it's been incredibly useful.

A 50% miss chance doesn't give you +50% survivability, it effectively gives you +100% survivability. Essentially the enemy would need twice as many attacks to take you down because half of them would miss.

A 20% miss chance effectively makes you 25% more survivable. Increasing that to a 30% miss chance would make you ~43% more survivable, which is a ~14% increase from the 20% miss chance.

At level 8 with Greater Invisibility in tap from your bloodline you can get a 50% miss chance, which is effectively +100% survivability. A 60% miss chance would effectively give you +140% survivability, which is a 25% increase in survivability

That was a lot of numbers without any explanation, but if you can reliably get a miss chance (which you can from your bloodline) then increasing your miss chance by 10% will increase your survivability by 14-25%. Whether that is worth 3 feats is up to you.

I think they might be right about the feint feats being less useful, but the base benefit from Moonlight Stalker and the increased survivability from Moonlight Stalker Master both seem pretty solid to me.

Also remember that a 5-foot step doesn't provoke AoOs. You can only take a 5-foot step if it is the ONLY movement you make in a round though, so you can't step and then move to avoid the AoO.

So for DEX-to-Damage there are a few ways to go: FENCING GRACE and SLASHING GRACE are more-or-lese the same feat for different weapons. Note that Slashing Grace gives the example of a Longsword but gives no way for you use Weapon Finesse with a Longsword, this is because this feat was written with the SWASHBUCKLER in mind. A 1 level dip into Swashbuckler would be enough, or you could simply stick to light weapons that can use Weapon Finesse anyway (a 1 level dip for Parry/Riposte isn't a bad option). Swashbuckler also works fine with Fencing Grace. Alternatively you can go with DERVISH DANCE, which is 1 less feat but locks you into the Scimitar and stops you from using a buckler.

The other usual method for DEX-to-damage is to put the AGILE property on your weapon. This frees up some feats, but likely won't come online till a bit later and also will delay other weapon upgrades like KEEN or FURIOUS. If you have a lot of feats you want this could be a good way to go, but it also means that finding a cool +3 flaming weapon of awesomeness is less exciting for you since you rely on an enchantment that won't be found on random loot.

Regarding going STR vs DEX build, DEX is a better stat for everything besides damage, but STR is better at damage. Having a +2 racial bonus to DEX means +1 to hit and damage, but you can't get the 1.5× stat modifier to damage with DEX unless you take 3 levels of Unchained Rogue (which is an option but is a huge delay). My 17th level Bloodrager has 30 STR, which means he's getting +5 damage from the 1.5× modifier, and another +5 from the 1.5× modifier to Power Attack, plus his base weapon gives 3d6 damage as opposed to a 1d6 Rapier. That's 2d6+10 damage as a bonus that a Rapier-wielding Catfolk wouldn't have, and I've saved 2-3 feats as well. The cost for you there is that it would be -1 to hit because you wouldn't get your racial +2. It's also worth noting that STR gives you Climb, Swim and a higher carry capacity (not terrible but not terribly amazing either), while DEX gives you bonuses AC, Reflex saves, Initiative and a whole lot of useful skills. So it's a trade-off. If you go DEX you spend a few feats and get way more defence and utility, if you go STR you get more damage and save some feats. Both are good. Also note that there is a high level Barbarian/Bloodrager feat called RAGING BRUTALITY which lets you add your CON to damage a few times a day, so either way you'll end up dealing pretty massive damage.

As far as Charisma is concerned you only need 14 CHA for a Bloodrager, and you only need it that high by level 13 so that you can cast 4th level spells. You could go with 12 and buy a headband of CHA if you like. I ended up going 14 CHA and getting a +4 Headband on my Bloodrager because the headband was cheaper (16,000gp) than a 3rd and 4th level RUNESTONE OF POWER (18,000gp and 32,000gp respectively) and I wanted the extra spell slots. I can't imagine taking a Bloodrager past 18 CHA, the benefit isn't really worth the cost unless you dip Paladin or something.

For Bloodlines all I can say is that the Arcane Bloodline is very strong.

Oh and one last tip: At early levels Bloodragers are actually kinda fragile, their HP isn't enough to really tank but the penalty to AC is a significant problem. When you get to level 7 or so this suddenly switches and you'll never be in danger again, but those early levels you actually have to be careful. If you decide to play DEX-based Urban Bloodrager this won't apply to you since you'll have a higher AC from DEX and Urban Bloodragers don't take a penalty to AC. I guess that's probably a point in favour of the DEX-build.

Technically Infinity ...

(Blood of the Moon pg. 13): While raging, you ignore the effects of being at 0 or fewer hit points until you have been at 0 or fewer hit points for 1 round, at which point the appropriate consequences for your current hit point total take effect. Even death can be postponed this way, potentially allowing you to survive if you receive sufficient healing before the round is up. You must be at least 12th level to select this rage power.

It only lasts for 1 round, but if your allies can heal you back to the point you won't die before the end of that round you can keep going. I'm sure someone can come up with some more useful solutions.

Thank you for the detailed post @MrCharisma ! Seems like an Occultist can do quite well without Trappings then, It seems like such a versatile class with many build options.

For this idea I was looking at occultist because it seems like they can be a decent martial while still having plenty of other things they can do, With their spells and powers and skills and stuff. I quite like the 6th tier casters. :)

100%

My favourite class since second edition DnD has been the Paladin. It' a Martial class with some magic and some flavour to help you roleplay, so it's stayed my favourite through multiple editions. The Magus and Alchemist almost supplanted the Paladin but didn't quite take the top spot, but the Occultist managed it. It's my favourite class in so many ways, and yes it fits your description perfectly.

What I will say is that if you want to be a Martial character you need a Transmutation Implement, you'd be giving up too kuch otherwise (of course you can ignore Transmutation if you're playing more of a caster). I also advise getting a defensive Implement fairly early if you want to be on the front-line. Abjuration is the obvious choice but Divination or Illusion can do the job, I'm sure there are some other Implements that can combine to give you enough defence to get by. Other than that it's basically up to you. I've absolutely loved the Conjuration implement for the movement abilities and utility of the spells, and Divination is great (though keeping both Transmutation and Divination resonant powers fully powered is hard to do), but they're all good depending on the campaign and your preferences.

I read a guide to Reach Clerics just before I read the Occultist, and I think everything in that guide applies to the Occultist as well as the Cleric. There are so many standard action spells and abilities, and having the ability to attack enemies on their own turn really lets you use both the martial and caster sides of the class in a way that would be difficult otherwise.

Another option is Battle Host Occultist.

I'm not a a fan of Battle Host. It loses 2 Implements, and early ones at that. Implements give you passive abilities, active abilities and spells-known, so losing one is bad, but losing 2 before level 10 is way too much of a penalty for the bonuses you get. Also it isn't elligable for Panoplies if that's a problem.

Absolutely 100% yes, Occultists keep up with damage.

So first things first, by RAW you do Not have to equip your shield to benefit from Trappings, but I think it's a totally reasonable stance to say you do. It's still completely fine for damage and it's probably RAI, so I'm not gonna tell you to argue with your GM.

So for damage, you'll probaboy struggle a bit for the first few levels, but once you get a +1 weapon (or get to level 6) you can use Legacy Weapon to make your weapon a +1 BANE weapon. This adds +2 to hit and damage and +2d6 bonus damage vs any one creature type for 1 minute, and will absolutely be the most powerful buff you can give yourself. Between this and the Physical Enhancement Resonant power you'll essentially be getting +5 to hit and 2d6+5 bonus damage to every attack by level 6 for the cost of a standard action. If your GM finds this too cheesy, maybe ask about using the RUNEFORGED property instead of Bane. It essentially gives the same bonus as Bane against themed enemies, but it doesn't quite cover all enemy types and costs a +2 enhancement bonus instead of +1.

Speaking of standard action buffs, the Occultist has a lot of them and they can quickly clog up your action economy. Personally I think Lead Blades is a waste of time. It's ~+2.5 damage, which is just not impactful compared to Legacy weapon, it lasts for minutes per level, but unless you get advanced warning of your combat that's still usually an in-combat spell and it takes up a spellslot that could be used for something else. If you want to deal damage in combat you have to actually spend actions doing damage, so my recommendation is to have 1 buff (almost always Legacy Weapon) and then start swinging. Spending more time buffing is reducing your overall damage output. If you really want more damage from your Longsword, a potion of Enlarge Person is only 50gp, and gives you the same damage dice upgrade, plus 1 damage from the increased STR, plus reach. I recommend a potion rather than a wand or spell because Enlarge Person has a 1-round casting time (you start casting now and the effect happens at the beginning of your next turn) which means it can easily be interrupted, but Potions ignore casting time so it's a move+standard and you're instantly big.

Speaking of Reach, since the Occultist has a whole bunch of standard action buffs and Legacy weapon gives a damage bonus that isn't multiplied on a crit (the +2d6 damage from Bane) I recommend a reach weapon, and Combat Reflexes if you can fit it in (12 DEX is enough to make Combat Reflexes worthwhile). This lets you attack on other people's turn, increasing the number of extra +2d6s you get to add and allowing you to take non-attack actions if you want to. Also as a general rule denying space is good in PF. You can even do this with Trappings if you really want to by taking the SHIELD BRACE feat (a Buckler or Darkwood shield has 0 ACP).

Speaking of Trappings, you don't need it. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't take it, or even that it isn't good, but you absolutely 100% deal enough damage without it. Think about our 6th level Occultist from earlier who is already getting +5 to hit and 2d6+5 damage from their Transmutation Implement. Well they'd be getting a whopping +2 to hit from Trappings. That's not quite true, they'd also be getting their iterative attack 2 levels earlier, and they'd get scaling bonuses from feats like Power Attack earlier as well (Power Attack often lowers your damage as an Occultist since you have such high damage bonuses, the penalty to hit is more impactful than the bonus damage even with a 2 handed weapon, check whether it's right for you) but even so the bonuses from your Transmutation Implement are having a more significant effect on your damage output than the bonus from Trappings. If you have a reach weapon then the iteratives aren't even adding that much since you're probably getting 2+ attacks at full BAB every round anyway. Now as I said that doesn't mean Trappings is bad - it's quite powerful even - but it comes at a cost, and that cost is that you lose access to 1 Implement. I actually think Trappings is a perfectly fine Panoply to take since there are often multiple Abjuration/Transmutation spells you might want to take, but if there is another Implement you want instead you shouldn't feel like you need Trappings to be competetive. If you Do take Trappings, take it at level 6 when you get the extra attack, it's totally not worth it for +1 to hit at level 2.

So where does all that leave us? I recommend taking a reach weapon (but you don't have to), focus on 1 standard action buff per combat, you can take Trappings if you want but don't need it, and pretty much no matter how you build around that you'll be fine for damage.

Also take a look at archetypes. My Occultist is a Haunt Collector, which is good for those Implements with bad Resonant powers. There are other good ones depending what you want, it's worth checking them out.

Playtest wrote:

Apparition's Possession
You relinquish control of your physical body to an apparition,
allowing it to fully unleash its spiritual power at the cost of
your own agency. Until the start of your next turn, you are
immune to control effects and spells that attempt to influence
your actions, such as charm or command, unless its spell rank
is more than half your level. However, the only actions you
can take are to Stride, Strike, Cast an apparition Spell, Cast a
vessel Spell, or use an action that has the apparition trait.

So, first of all, it only works on spells, not abilities (like a Harpy's Lure, Kelpie's stuff).

I think you just misread that.

Secondly, it only works on spell-casters who are either your level, or below your level (depends on how the math shakes out. A level 11 caster has access to 6th levels pells like dominate, meaning it works on a level 11 animist who isn't level 12 yet). Thirdly, there are a lot of monsters that get access to spells much earlier than their level would indicate, which makes this ability useless against them (Succubus, Vampire Count, Invidiak).

I think this is similar wording to other similar abilities, I'm prepared to be proven wrong though.

It also runs the opposite problem of, at level 20, there is no way to mess with them because max spell rank is 10, even if Tar Baphon is trying to compel them.

I don't mind that as a capstone, that might just be me though. It's immunity to a very specific (though debilitating) type of effect at the cost of 1 action per round.

I would say most PCs who finish an AP would be able to solo the first 4 books of basically any other AP. The experience gained from those 4 books is probably enough to level them up enough to solo book 5. However book 6 is usually geared towards a party of 4 high level adventurers, so even a fairly well optimized PC would have real trouble with this.

Having said that, you could certainly build a PC who could solo another AP. If you had particular APs in mind it would be easier to tailor, but you could build a generalist that would be able to handle most APs. We're in the middle of book 6 of Iorn Gods, and some of the weapons in that AP are ridiculous, load up on batteries and you'll be golden. I'm sure a lot of APs would have some advantage that you could bring to the next one.

I know I'm a bit late to the party but the GHOSTSLAYER feat should work in an antimagic field.

Yup, it extends all relevant hexes within range.

With fortune and misfortune, the target chooses which roll they can reroll, but it only works once per round. You also have to make the choice before you roll. So, they could choose to reroll the conformation roll, but then they would not be able to reroll the attack roll. The conformation roll is a separate attack roll even if it is using the same modifiers as the attack roll.

Just clarifying that this is only true for Fortune. Misfortune forces you to roll twice on all affected rolls.

Fortune (Su) (Advanced Player's Guide pg. 66): The witch can grant a creature within 30 feet a bit of good luck for 1 round. The target can call upon this good luck once per round, allowing him to reroll any ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, taking the better result. He must decide to use this ability before the first roll is made. At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. Once a creature has benefited from the fortune hex, it cannot benefit from it again for 24 hours.

Misfortune (Su) (Advanced Player's Guide pg. 66): The witch can cause a creature within 30 feet to suffer grave misfortune for 1 round. Anytime the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, it must roll twice and take the worse result. A Will save negates this hex. At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. This hex affects all rolls the target must make while it lasts. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

The Raven Black wrote:

Because obvious is not an absolute. Consider that several posters see it one way and AFAICT only you see it your way.

I'm on his side.

I'm not, but I see the argument.

Once again I feel like the argunents have been presented. If people aren't convinced then they're not going to be, and as has been said it's up to our GMs to decide (if you are the GM then it's your prerogative).

Only general 'unarmed attack bonus' does not even exist on your charsheet. Or in the Pathbuilder.

As Ascalaphus said, Pathbuilder is not an official Paizo product, so it's totally irrelevant.

What is an official Paizo product is the archivesofnethys website ...

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Expert in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

Trained in unarmed attacks

I still don't understand how this is supposed to work and how this is relevant. 'If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead.' Why for a wizard you just take your number with your 'Fist' attack and compare it with the number from the spell, and for a fighter you can't just take the same number for the same attack and compare? Yes, it's bigger for a fighter and can be different for different fighters, so what?

I didn't see the difference either at first.

If you look at a Monk, they're trained with "unarmed attacks". Then at level 5 they become an expert in "unarmed attacks".

If you look at the Fighter, they're expert in "unarmed attacks". Then at level 5 they can become a master in 1 weapon group. The brawling weapon group includes fist, which happens to be a type of unarmed attack, but it doesn't give you master proficiency in all unarmed attacks. The relevant quote from Animal Form is: If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead. It doesn't say if ANY unarmed attack bonus, it's referring go your training level with "unarmed attacks", which at this level is expert.

So the fix is to take MARTIAL ARTIST dedication at level 6 (which is doable because I'm using the Free Archetype rules). Martial Artist says: Whenever you gain a class feature that grants you expert or greater proficiency in certain weapons, you also gain that proficiency rank in all unarmed attacks. Because this applies to all "unarmed attacks" we can use it for Animal Form.

I'm probably going to use THIS PICTURE (and I just learned she's named "Renna Hammer"). I currently have her wielding an Earthbreaker, she has an Arcane Tattoo as an Ancestry feat, and I'm probably gonna give her tattoo crafting as her first skill feat. Probably not the most optimised, but I'll likely make Hammers her weapon specialization for thematic reasons, someone else fan deal with the ranged attacks (or you know, I'm still an Expert with bows).

Also she won't be a smith, I just had to find a picture with leather armour that looked the part, and it's sometimes difficult to find female character art that isn't hyper-sexualised. This picture (it maybe the one just below of the same character) ticks all the boxes and looks pretty cool. Enough for me to change my build around it slightly.

But who knows, that decision is likely months away, anything could happen between now and then ... hopefully less death this time =P

Oh, although one advantage I'm seeing is that I don't have to pick Brawling as my Fighter Weapon Specialization. Martial Artist seems to just keep my "Unarmed Attacks" trucking with whatever weapon group I pick.

OK, 30 seconds later and I'm already less annoyed. Thanks guys.

No they're right. Fighter works different than monk.

At level 5, you pick a weapon group to become master in. You can't pick "unarmed" because that's not a weapon group itself. What you need is to find a weapon group that includes the unarmed strikes you want to use.

Oh I see. The Monk was Trained/Expert in "Unarmed Attacks", while the Fighter is only Expert/Master in "Fists". I'd still be an Expert at 5 but I wouldn't get Master proficiency.

Gah, that's a super annoying hoop to jump through, but I guess I have to see which level 4/6 Fighter feat I want to miss to take Martial Artist. I guess it's not a terrible hoop, but still ...

Cool thanks for clarifying. And yeah, only a problem at level 5.

Your unarmed attack bonus with weapons that don't belong to a weapon group don't get full fighter proficiency.

So that's why taking Martial Artist is suggested for this build.

I don't need the Animal Form attacks to get higher proficiency. I'm using my regular unarmed attack bonus with my FIST that I get by choosing the BRAWLING weapon group for my Fighter Weapon Mastery. This was the whole thing about how the Monk would work, it should work the same way with the Fighter.

That's my understanding of everything that was said on the previous page, and also everything else I've read about this.

If your unarmed attack bonus is higher, you can use it instead.

You run into a problem here because the attacks given to you by forms do not disclose a weapon group, so your expertise in brawling doesn't help you. That's why martial artist is useful.

Do you mean Weapon Specialization? Yeah I won't get the +3 to damage, I think I'm ok with that. But for proficiency bonuses to hit I don't need the Animal Form to be a particular weapon group since I'm replacing the spell's attack bonuses with my unarmed attack bonuses, and they only care that my fists belong to a weapon group before I Wildshape.

If I decide I need more damage I can look into Martial Artist. I likely won't be looking at this till at least level 6 since I'll obviously be taking the Druid archetype first, but it's good to know what I get out of it.

What level will you reach in the end ? Superbidi (a poster on the forums) has a monster of a build that has the highest DPR at very high levels.

Level 10. We're playing QUEST FOR THE FROZEN FLAME, so there are also some stipulations about not having much access to metal armour and weapons, that kind of thing (no spoilers please).

IIRC it starts with Fighter MC Druid, then Martial Artist to boost your proficiency with all natural attacks, then MC Alchemist for Feral Mutagen.

I don't think I need to boost proficiency with unarmed attacks, since I can use the Fighter bonus and fists are part of the Brawling weapon group. I can just use my own unarmed attack bonus (which will be Master proficiency by level 5) in place of the standard bonus granted by Animal Form.

Honestly I don't think I need any more bonuses to attack rolls, I'll already be +4 compared to most martial classes, meaning my 2nd attack with an agile weapon will be at the same bonus as everyone else's primary attack. It's more about what kind of versatility I might be able to get.

I'll check out Suoerbidi though, thanks for the tip =)

So for example, double slice requires you to use two weapons. Can't do that with unarmed strikes. Snagging Strike requires you to have a hand free. In bear form, you'll have plenty of free hands so this one works.

Awesome, thanks. Exactly what I was looking for.

Those feats are also good because they make life easier for the rest of your party. It lets the fighter be the "can opener" that gets the first hit in against tough enemies (using your superior high to hit) and then makes them easier to hit for the rest of the party.

Exactly what I'm going for, and feats like Intimidating/Knockdown also carry a debuff on enemy offensive capabilities as well.

I'd also add Knockdown and Dazing Blow as possible feats.

Oh yeah I just didn't include those because I knew they were usable, less questions about hand-shenanigans ... although I now see that Knockdown actually does require a free hand, so should have been on my list =P

Good to know it works though.

ARISE THREAD

Thank you all for the help. Unfortunately, literally 30 seconds before we hit level 2 my character was killed by a few unlucky rolls. Unlucky for me =(

The good (?) news is that since I hadn't got to level 2 I hadn't actually done any of my Druid stuff, which means that's all still on the table. I've decided to build a new character that still uses Wild Shape, but I'm going with Fighter as a backup plan.

TLDR: I'm making a level 2 FIGHTER with the DRUID ARCHETYPE (using FREE ARCHETYPE and ANCESTRY PARAGON rules) to be a WILD SHAPE Fighter

I guess my main questions are about which feats work with Animal Form and which don't. Assuming I'm in say Bear form (which has a bite attack and 2 claw attacks), which of the following do you think would work: DOUBLE SLICE, SNAGGING STRIKE, COMBAT GRAB, DRAGGING STRIKE, DUELING PARRY, TWIN PARRY, DUELING RIPOSTE, CUT FROM THE AIR, DISARMING TWIST or TWIN RIPOSTE? Later feats don't really matter since our campaign only goes to 10, but feel free to discuss them.

I'm also probably going HUMAN, but DWARF has slightly better stats. I really like the Human feats though (particularly COOPERATIVE NATURE and CLEVER IMPROVISOR, that kind of thing), and with Ancestry Paragon rules that makes a big difference. We're probably getting into Advice territory here rather than Rules, but I'm less familiar with Dwarf feats, so if there's anything cool I'm open to it.

Diving completely into advice territory, does anyone have any other possible archetypes that could pair well with a Wild Shape Fighter? I've heard some rumblings about Wrestler or Martial Artist, but I'm not sure I get the nuances, and there could be other fun things to try. I'm focused on being the best Wild Shape combatant I can be, though I'd also like to focus somewhat on debuffing enemies and assisting allies if possible (looking at Combat Grab or Intimidating Strike as my preferences for the 2nd level feat).

Also if you think this is diverting too much from the Rules Forum I'm happy to make another thread in the Advice forum. I figured it's easier to keep it all in one place, but maybe it's easier for everyone else if I separate this into 2 threads?

You all talking about gargantuan things. I raise you 8 medium butchering axes. They weight 25 lbs each, the perfect weight. They are medium sized, perfect for carrying on a floating disk. 3d6 damage x3 crit is a decent amount of damage.

It's not exactly a raise. 3d6 ~= 10.5 damage each. 4d8 ~= 18 damage each. That's a ~40% reduction in damage.

It's totally acceptable damage, don't get me wrong, but if you're trying for the highest damage it's not going to cut it.

zza ni and Diego Rossi I had no idea that either of you were not native English speakers.

But yes, you can fling up to 1/level objects/creatures/whatever, but if using the violent thrust you only get to attack 1 enemy by RAW.

Haste is fundamentally better than Slow because Slow grants a saving throw, Haste does not.

Well my argument was that even a 50% success rate with Slow still makes it more impactful on the action economy a lot of the time, so the saving throw is more of a balancing factor than an unmanageable detriment. You should also be able to get higher than a 50% success rate if you put resources into it.

<Lots of stuff - namely caster enemies are the scarier ones and they don't care about Slow>

I don't especially disagree with this. Caster enemies are less affected by Slow, and as such it becomes a less useful debuff. But the same can be said about caster allies being less affected by Haste, making it a less useful buff.

I think the fundamental thing to realise is that Haste and Slow effectively serve the same function. They both change the action economy in the favour of the caster and their allies. The more casters on the enemy side the less useful Slow becomes, while the more casters on the allied side the less useful Haste becomes. In a 4v4 caster-vs-caster fight neither of these spells would likely see any use.

Your experience is that caster enemies tend to be the most threatening, so that's when you would break out the good spells, and that's fair enough. In my experience though caster enemies are Much less common than caster allies. There are 44 classes in the game (37 if you exclude unchained and Alternate classes) and 24 of them are 6/9 casters or 9/9 casters (23 excluding Unchained and Alternate). In my experience most parties have 2-3 casters, and at least 1-2 of them will be casting as their main schtick. Meanwhile the average encounter is mostly martial enemies, with the occasional caster. While this could simply be that we play at different tables, I also think an encounter against a serious caster could be better served by readying actions to hit them with Magic Missile or similar - if action economy is king then denying that enemy caster their actions will be more impactful than either Haste or Slow. This doesn't make Haste or Slow better or worse, but it does mean that the encounters where this matters may not be the best judge of which spell is better.

I will say 2 things though. First is that both of these spells are fantastic, and I do think they both have a place. I wouldn't say that 1 is always the best choice, Schrodinger's Wizard would have both and would apply the best spell to any given situation. The second is that I appreciate the discussion. I think the whole point of this thread is to have these discussions, which is why I brought it up in the first place.

I guess my premise is that Haste is the easy spell, and that's why it's considered so good by everyone. You always know what it's going to do and how it will impact the combat. Slow seems a little harder to pin down because it has a limited area and a saving throw, but there are a Lot of situations when Slow is objectively a better choice than Haste, and I often see people skipping it because they don't put the thought into it, and from an optimization standpoint this saddens me.

I think one of the reasons Witches seem so unbalanced to GMs is because it puts the onus on the GM.

A Bard may have the same overall impact on a combat, but almost all the number crunching happens on the players' side of the table. A Witch on the other hand generally creates work for the GM with almost every action. Some of their hexes like the Healing and Fortune hex are completely player-centric, but these tend to be very limited in their use due to the 1/day/ally clauses. Offensive hexes with that same clause still allow the Witch to use those hexes every round of every combat, and each round requires the GM to recalculate their stat-blocks. Not only does this create a little more work for the GM, but it puts the effects of those hexes right in the GM's focus.

This is a bit circumstantial, but I made a Hexcrafter Magus as a backup character for our Iron Gods game, and the GM decided to run our backup characters through a couple of the side-quests. I wanted to use debuffs, so I went with an unarmed build that used Misfortune plus Hex-Strike, and used Protective Luck plus Soothsayer. I chose these hexes partly because this was the least amount of extra work for the GM that I could think of (to use 5E terms, they both just give enemies disadvantage). Not only did this almost completely negate any extra work for the GM rewriting stat-blocks, but these two hexes don't stack with one another (or rather, stacking them doesn't really do anything). Also worth noting that I didn't take the Cackle hex, because as a Magus I want my full attack actions.

The GM basically flipped the table on me. Despite the fact that Protective Luck was sometimes the only thing I was able to contribute to the combat, the GM thought my character was the one causing all the problems because it's so obvious from the GM's perspective when these hexes make the difference between a success and a failure. Raising an ally's AC and debuffing an enemy's attack modifiers may have the same end result, but one of those things is far more visible to the GM.

From what I am reading, Protective Luck is not a viable target for Soothsayer..

It is, the text is in Protective Luck:

Protective Luck (Su) (Heroes of the High Court pg. 9): The witch can cause fate to twist so that it benefits a creature within 30 feet for 1 round. Whenever that creature is targeted by an effect that requires an attack roll, including weapon attacks, the attacker must roll twice and take the worse result. At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. A witch cannot use this ability on herself. Hexes that affect the fortune hex, such as cackle, also affect protective luck.

And then you look at Soothsayer and it says it affects Fortune/etc.

The reason Protective Luck works so well with Soothsayer is because both hexes have no limit on how many times they can be used per day (including no limit on using it on the same person multiple times per day) and since Protective Luck can be cast on allies it can easily be cast before every combat.

MR CRITICAL wrote:

how many Huge sized BASTARD SWORDs,can i get at lvl 8 ?

If it works as the Telekinesis spell, 8.

Yup, this.

So you'd make 8 attack rolls using your Caster level plus casting modifier. It's against regular AC not Touch AC, so it'd be a little harder than usual for most casters, but let's say you get 5/8 hits, that's 20d8 (~90) HP worth of damage.

You also have a chance to crit, and as far as I can tell that uses the weapon's crit modifiers, so that essentially increases the damage by ~10% on average. You could even take Improved Critical when your BAB is high enough (if it doesn't use their crit-modifiers you still have a 5% chance to crit, so ~+5% damage from crit-chance).

You Could use magic weapons to get flaming/frost/impact/whatever damage as a bonus, but unless you're seriously rolling in cash this is totally not worth the money.

It's also an excellent spell against something like Mirror Image. Remember that attacks that miss by 5 or less destroy an image, so even the misses have a chance to help. By level 8 this spell should be able to take out Mirror Image in a single standard action.

Why not cast both?

Honestly, that's a great idea for tough fights.

For smaller encounters though it's kinda a waste of resources. I guess by high level it's not though, so yeah do that.

just to make sure it's clear, when you go down with wounded 1, then come back up... you're wounded 2 now.

Yup.

You go down with wounded 1. Now you're Dying 2 before you even fail your saves (you automatically go to Dying 1 + your wounded value = Dying 2).

Then you fail a save and go down to Dying 3.

You fail another save and go down to dying 4, but luckily you have the DIEHARD feat so you're still not dead.

Then you're revived by an ally, and you're Wounded 2 (You were Wounded 1 before you went down so now you're Wounded 2). Your previous Dying condition doesn't matter, only your Wounded condition.

Then you get knocked down again and you instantly go to Dying 3 (you automatically go to Dying 1 + your wounded value = Dying 3). Once again your previous Dying condition doesn't matter, only your previous Wounded condition.

EDIT: Oh I read that as a question so I thought I'd make a more elaborate answer. I just realised it wasn't a question, but I'll leave my answer here and hopefully it'll help someone =P

Darpeh wrote:

Also, total defense *only* precludes AOOs not all forms of attack. There is no language about all attack rolls (even though that kind of makes sense).

True. Probably it was written that way to allow the Quickened casting of spells with an attack roll and the use of immediate/swift actions that require an attack roll, but it creates some interpretation problems.

It is a bit ridiculous that if you cast a Quickened Scorching ray while fighting defensively you suffer a -4 to hit, but if you do so while using Total defense you don't suffer any penalty.

Well you could cast a non-quickened scorching ray defensively and get the same benefit for a much lower spell-slot. Would 4 levels of spell be worth a +4 to hit?

Or you could cast a Quickened scorching ray without taking the -4 penalty and then a regular un-quickened scorching ray with the -4 penalty and still have the AC bonus for the rest of the round.

So the cost of Full Defence is still the standard action.

7th: Haste

Pound for pound, there is no better statistical buff in the game relative to the resource expended to obtain it. The raw damage contribution of Haste in a party with multiple martials is insane. The fact that it can also reduce damage with higher AC and Reflex saves is fantastic, as well as enabling tactical options that would otherwise have been impossible with the increased movement makes it peerless as a numerical buff.

This is a specific disagreement, but in my opinion SLOW has a greater statistical impact than Haste.

There is no doubt that Haste is an unbelievably good spell. If it were a 4th level spell we would still cast it every combat. If it were a 5th level spell it would still be high on people's list of spells to cast. This spell approximately doubles the effectiveness of the entire party, increasing damage output, movement speed and defences of the entire party all from a single standard action.

However Slow effectively does the same thing. Action economy isn't just about increasing your own actions, it's about increasing your actions in relation to your enemies' actions. The attack penalty and AC penalty give the same numerical benefit of Haste, and halving enemy movement speed gives the same general benefit as Haste [ooc[(increasing your movement speed compared to theirs)[/ooc], but the 1 extra attack from Haste doesn't come close to comparing to reducing enemies to 1 attack per round. Sure low level enemies might only have 1 attack, but those enemies aren't usually the real threats. Against any enemy that matters reducing them to 1 attack per round is effectively nerfing them into incompetence. But the real thing that makes this spell better than Haste is that it benefits casters just as much as martials. Haste gives your martials better action economy compared to enemies, but Slow gives the martials and the casters better action economy.

Now I will wager that a 5th level wizard casting Haste on the party is likely to have a greater impact than casting Slow. None of the party have 2 attacks yet so Haste will double the number of attacks (and with the +1 to hit this will more than double the damage output), while a Slow spell might reduce enemies from 1 attack to 1 attack. But the higher your level the lower the advantage of Haste and the higher the probably advantage of Slow.

There are 2 potential disadvantages of Slow, but I don't think either of them are enough to actually make Haste better. First, there is a saving throw. It's possible that enemies are unaffected by it. Second, while the party is usually grouped up at the beginning of combat and able to be buffed with a single cast, the enemies are more likely to be spread out. For this reason Hast is more likely to affect 100% of the intended targets, while Slow could have something like a 50% effect rate. I would say though that even 50% is often as useful as Haste, which just goes to show how good it is. And while a single enemy could entirely negate Slow with a single save, a single enemy who fails that save is likely a huge problem if not debuffed. Landing that debuff could be enough to render the encounter trivial.

When I think about the answer to the question, "What are the best arcane spells?" the first thing that occurs to me is that establishing meaningful criteria is going to be paramount to make any sense of the ensuing list.

When I think of this I would probably go with "which is the most powerful spell from each spell level?" It's not quite the question that was asked, but it does seem difficult to compare something like Silent Image with Time Stop. On the other hand, how many times will you cast Time Stop compared to Silent Image? Even in a campaign that goes all the way to 20 you only have 3-4 levels to cast Time Stop, while you could be solving problems with Silent Image from level 1 all the way to 20. Having a best-at-each-level lets you compare them to like-spells, rather than trying to tie in all the variables associated with all levels of spells.

Of course then we have the problem of spells having different levels for different classes, but they're usually only different by 1 spell level.

What do the rules for the ability say?

I assume whatever the ability is it references the spell.

So the best damage modifier for Telekinesis is to find the highest damage weapon that weighs less than 25 lbs and carry a bunch of them to throw around.

The best option I've heard is a Huge sized BASTARD SWORD, which weighs 24 lbs and deals 4d8 DAMAGE, making Telekinesis 4d8 (~18) damage per level, maxing out at 60d8 (~270) at level 15 (which can crit, but with 15 attack rolls it's virtually impossible that they'll all crit). That's the same damage as Diego Rossi's Colossal Javelins, but presumably smaller and easier to transport.

MrCharisma wrote:

Honestly, even if that interpretation were correct it wouldn't explicitly follow that allowing iterative touch attacks would automatically allow Spellstrike to target touch AC.

Spellstrike is still specifically a Melee attack, not a Touch attack. You would be able to use your offhand to try to touch an enemy between attacks if you wanted to, but this would not use the weapon's reach, critical threat range or enhancement bonuses (or anything else for that matter), making these "Touch attacks" nothing to do with the Spellstrike ability.

I’m not sure this is entirely correct… you are probably right about crit threat range and enhancement bonuses as well as any other bonuses or effects applied to the weapon itself… however reach is an entirely different story. If you deliver a touch spell through a reach weapon, there is nothing preventing you from using the full reach of the weapon. Its no different than a witch with prehensile hair delivering touch spells at 10ft reach, or casting long arm on yourself to get reach.

That aside… it isn’t entirely clear if a magus can in fact deliver a touch spell as a touch attack through their weapon, though the wording of spellstrike does seem to heavily imply that they can.

Here's my reasoning.

Let's say that Wonderstell's interpretation is correct, and that you can deliver Touch attacks as iterative attacks with your hands. This is generally NOT something that can be done through weapons, you'd have to use a hand instead. But then the Magus has Spellstrike ...

Spellstrike (Su): At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack.

The key part of the sentence there is: "as part of a melee attack". If the sentence didn't include that then yes, that would seem reasonable that the weapon could use touch iteratives like casters can. But Spellstrike only allows you to deliver spells through your weapon as part of a melee attack. It's not even a separate sentence, it's all right there in the 1 sentence. Allowing touch attacks with the weapon would require text to allow it, and that text isn't there.

Honestly, even if that interpretation were correct it wouldn't explicitly follow that allowing iterative touch attacks would automatically allow Spellstrike to target touch AC.

Spellstrike is still specifically a Melee attack, not a Touch attack. You would be able to use your offhand to try to touch an enemy between attacks if you wanted to, but this would not use the weapon's reach, critical threat range or enhancement bonuses (or anything else for that matter), making these "Touch attacks" nothing to do with the Spellstrike ability.

I'm in a bit of a rush so I don't have time to flesh this out or add in links and things, but I'm not a huge fan of the Deathless feat line. I'd rather prevent myself from getting below zero than invest in all that. I do remember that ghost, he was a jerk to us as well.

My Iron Gods character has gone down the Stalwart feat line, which has been amazing. I'm a Bloodrager so it adds to my preexisting damage reduction. Also if you are looking at Barbarian, the Invulnerable Rager ends with 3 more DR than the regular Barb/Bloodrager, so if going Stalwart the difference is less meaningful.

If you go Stalwart you'll either want Combat Expertise (if your to-hit bonus is high enough to take the hit) or something like Crane Style.

A 1 level dip into Green Knight cavalier or Unbreakable Fighter gets you Endurance and Diehard as prerequisites for Stalwart, or alternatively a 1 level dip into Monk (probably unchained to keep your BAB up) gets you Crane Style plus a couple of pther bonuses. I wouldn't take more than a 1 level dip though, assuming the campaign finishes at level 17 you want those 6th level spells.

If you go Crane Style there's a trait that gives you +1 AC when fighting defensively, which would be -2 to hit for +5 AC (or DR:10/- with Improved Stalwart). Crane Style does have the disadvantage that it takes a swift action though, and that's something you'll likely want to use at the beginning of encounters as a Warpriest.

Just some thoughts, I get no internet at work so I thought I'd put this in before going "offline" for the day. I'm a 17th level Bloodrager (mostly) who's made an absolute unit of a tank in this AP. Also Chainsaw for the win!

I feel like we just had the OP say "My character is overshadowing everyone else at the table" and a bunch of people replied "No it isn't". It's not what everyone said, but still ...

Ok, so:

Offence: At levels 1-4, 10-14 and 20 you will be -1 to hit behind most Martials. This is ... it's a bigger deal than it would have been in other editions, but it's not That big of a deal. Specifically at level 8, it's not a problem at all. Yes you are a Martial character. For damage you are limited to 1-handed weapons, but you get a damage boost that essentially puts your 1d8 Longsword on par with a 1d12 weapon, so your damage will be good as well. Some classes like the Barbarian have a damage bonus but then so do you, the main difference is that your damage doesn't multiply on a crit. Thaumaturges are good damage dealers.

Solution: As others have said, weakness damage isn't multiplied on a crit so make sure you're doing this right. Also you do need to set this up, so action economy will hurt you more than most classes. Make sure you're spending the correct actions to exploit vulnerability, and that if you're not using it you aren't forgetting to remove the damage from your calculations. Also note that Thaumaturges don't get the critical specialization effects for their weapons, so not only does your Exploit Vulnerability not multiply, you also don't apply conditions like Flat Footed or Prone to your targets on a crit. Most Martial characters should have critical specialization by now.

Defence: Your AC is low, and your HP is low, but you essentially have the Shield Block reaction from your Amulet. This shield block also comes with a lingering damageresistance, making it even better vs enemies who attack multiple times. Between the Pros and the Cons this probably puts you on-par with other fragile-ish Martials like the Rogue.

Solution: This might just be some luck if you aren't being hit much. Maybe try using your reaction to protect other PCs more often? You'll still be helping negate damage, but people might not see you as the tank so much. Also this ability can only be used agsinst the target of your Exploit Vulnerability, so make sure you haven't been inadvertently giving yourself protection when you shouldn't. Once again, action economy is going to hit you harder than most - it's the same action to prepare both your offensive and defensive powers, but you have to renew it on every target, so be sure you're doing this correctly.

Social Skills: A Thaumaturge with a Regalia Implement should be the undisputed king of social skills. Well maybe not undisputed, but unless someone else is investing heavily into this area you should be the best.

Solution: I don't think this one really needs a solution, this is your niche.

Knowledge checks: As others have said Diverse Lore only works with Recall Knowledge checks, not all uses of the skill. Also note that the in-combat use (free check when using Exploit Vulnerability) only ever gives you a regular success on Recall Knowledge, even if you rolled a critical success on the check.

Solution: I actually do think Diverse lore is somewhat poorly designed. Not only do you essentially get free Master proficiency on all recall knowledge checks and you get to use your primary stat. The only people who will ever have higher bonuses are extremely specialized characters, and even then they'll only have +2 compared to your checks. Maybe retrain this skill into something else (I think Root to Life is an incredible feat - less flashy super useful, and the lack of flash could help keep the heat off you in this case) so that you don't overshadow other PCs in their own sphere of specialization.

Miscelaneous Utility: Between your Regalia, your Talismans, your Scrolls (both the free ones you craft each day and any that you buy) and any other skills you have you likely are rpoviding more utility than most. This class is good at utility.

Solution: Once again make sure your action economy is correct. You have to spend an action to pull out a scroll before using it (one action to retrieve scroll, 2 actions to use it). Talismans also take actions, some are free actions but some are not, double check this. Affixing a Talisman to an item takes 10 minutes, each Talisman can only he affixed to a single item, and each Item can only hold 1 Talisman. Final word on Talismans, if people think you're OP, just hand them out to other PCs atthe beginning of the day and they can feel badass when they get to use them - you're still helping the team and being the best but the focus isn't on you. Same can be said for free scrolls really. One last note: You CAN swap Implements as a free action as part of using that Implement, and this DOES mean that you can be holding your Regalia and free-swap to your Amulet as part of the Reaction. However since the Regalia doesn't have any actions associated with it you CAN'T swap back to the Regalia without spending the actions (1 action to put away your Amulet, 1 action to retrieve your Regalia). I don't know if this has come up, but it's another thing worth checking. Personally I believe the Intensify Vulnerability action should work to swap back, but I have seen this debated - also the Regalia's Intensify isn't exactly spectacular (it's the equivalent to Aid Another), so it's probably going to come up less often than your Amulet.

Conclusion I guess: The Thaumaturge IS a strong class, but it probably shouldn't be the absolute strongest in most of these areas. It sounds like part of this is just that the other players didn't optimise as well as you (be that by chance or design), but however it's happened you've become the "Star" of the show. My advice would be to simply try to use your abilities to help others succeed and make double sure you're spending the correct actions to get everything working. Also swapping out Diverse Lore for something else - it's jot actually that powerful (you could already use Esoteric Lore on creatures) but it does kind-of step into other PC's niches. Doing these things should at least take the spotlight off you, and since ("hogging") the spotlight is the problem that should solve most of the dispute.