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Another thing to consider is that while blinking your opponents have a 50% miss chance vs you. From a mathematical stand point that gives you a huge advantage. The fact that a Yurei has fewer attack makes it even stronger. The Yurei has a 20% chance to lose one attack per round, but any attack against him only has a 50% chance of working. That means every attack from every creature has a 50% failure rate. From a tactical standpoint you are better off while blinking.
While fused, the synthesist loses the benefits of his armor. He counts both as his original type and as an outsider for any effect related to type, whichever is worse for the synthesist. Spells such as banishment or dismissal work normally on the eidolon, but the synthesist is unaffected. Neither the synthesist nor his eidolon can be targeted separately, as they are fused into one creature. The synthesist and eidolon cannot take separate actions. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist can use all of his own abilities and gear, except for his armor. In all other cases, this ability functions as the summoner’s normal eidolon ability (for example, the synthesist cannot use his summon monster ability while the eidolon is present). This ability replaces the class’s eidolon ability, bond senses, and life bond The armor you cannot use is the physical armor you are wearing, not AC. You still use all of your other abilities that increase your AC. The synthesist archetype does not explicitly restrict what stat bonus is used for AC. Normally a character has no choice of what ability modifier they use for AC. But in your case, you have an ability that alters that. The bolded section from the description of the synthesist explicitly states you can use all of his own abilities and gear except his armor. The oracles revelation is not armor so you can still use it. Forcing you to use your DEX bonus would be denying your ability to use the revelation. The DEX modifier of the Eidolon is not important in this case because the revelation changes what ability you can use for AC.
Painful Grasp is a special attack. Considering it is a touch attack that deals 12d6 untyped damage and cause sickness for 1d6 rounds. I would not consider that weak. A spell-like ability usually has a limit on how often it can be used. A constant spell-like ability or one that can be used at will has no use limit; unless otherwise stated, a creature can only use a constant spell-like ability on itself. Reactivating a constant spell-like ability is a swift action. Using all other spell-like abilities is a standard action unless noted otherwise, and doing so provokes attacks of opportunity. It is possible to make a concentration check to use a spell-like ability defensively and avoid provoking an attack of opportunity, just as when casting a spell. A spell-like ability can be disrupted just as a spell can be. Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled. Blink is listed as a spell like ability. The section on constant spell like abilities says that reactivating it is a swift action. The that and the wording on constant spell like abilities indicates it can actually be turned off.
The Magus is the class that has the best short term power boost at the expense of longevity. This archetype makes it even worse. Doing that is not balancing the archetype it is doing the opposite. Now instead of just going nova the archetype is going super nova. Giving up medium and heavy armor proficiencies on a DEX based class is not that limiting. The combined DEX and AC bonus of most armor ranges between 8-10. A chain shirt has a combined AC bonus of +8 (+4 from armor, +4 from DEX), full plate has a +10 (+9 from armor, +1 from DEX). That is without factoring in special material. A mithral chain shirt has a maximum AC bonus of +10 and costs less than a suit of full plate. The most powerful magus builds are usually DEX based because they want to use a one-handed weapon with a high critical range. Spellstrike allows the magus to use the critical range of the weapon instead of using 20. That is a huge advantage especially when you add in improved critical or a keen weapon. Almost all those weapons can be used with weapon finesse. Add in a DEX to damage feat and the magus only needs enough STR to avoid encumbrance penalties. Almost every magus build I have seen for a magus that is even mildly optimized is DEX based. Even without the DEX to damage, graceful weapon is much better than weapon finesse. Being able to use weapon finesse with any one-handed weapon is too powerful. In addition to allowing, it to be used with higher damaging weapons with a high critical range, it allows those to be used with DEX to damage feats. A magus with a Falcata and slashing grace gets 1d8 damage with a critical range of 19 -20 and a multiplier of x3. That would require a feat or being a half elf and trading out skill focus. This archetype still gets a lot more than it gives up. All of its later abilities are much more powerful than what they replace.
The spell dancer archetype was mentioned mainly to show that there is actually an archetype that allows for what that OP wanted. While it does not give a lot of abilities it also does not lose many of the magus class features. It gives up the ability to enhance your weapon, a single feat and medium and heavy armor proficiencies. Losing the medium and heavy armor proficiencies is not really a loss for an archetype that is obviously intended to be DEX based. The fact that you replace the armor proficiencies with an insight bonus to AC make mean you are not really losing anything and will in fact have a better AC than most magus, and will also boost your touch AC. Spell dance does sacrifice some offensive ability but gives a scaling movement bonus as well as a dodge bonus vs AoE for moving. But more importantly it gives you the ability to gain several useful abilities as a swift action. One round of fly, haste or blur are not great but are still useful. Being able to use dimension door as a swift action is much more useful especially if you are using the dimensional feats. Freedom of movement for 1d4 rounds as a swift movement is extremely good. That is well worth what you give up. The archetype gives both acrobatics and perform dance as class skill. This fits the idea of a dancer and also makes it fairly easy for the character to pick up dervish dance at 3rd level. While it does use two of the characters feats it comes online almost as soon as the proposed archetype gives. You are tied to using a scimitar but that is actually a very good weapon for this build. If not, slashing grace would mean DEX to damage will not be available till 5th level. The only drawback for this is that it requires you to play an elf or half elf.
Saying AC based on armor scales by level is kind of meaningless, because nearly all aspects of the game scale by level. A 1st level character has very little resources but improve in almost every aspect as they go up in level. About the only thing that does not normally improve with level are things like size, special senses and movement. Even then there are usually ways to improve them at higher levels if a character wants to. Even most static bonuses are to things that can increase as the character levels up. For example, a druids nature sense is a flat +2 to Knowledge Nature and Survival, but as the druid goes up in level, they can put more points into those skills to increase the bonus. All AC scales based on level. The DEX based character continually improves their DEX as they level up. Those that do not wear any amor gain access to things like bracers of AC, and improve those as they level up. The character that does not increase their AC as they level up will not survive.
From a quick glance it seems to be very unbalanced. You give up very little but gain quite a lot. The Spell Dancer archetype from the APG is a lot more balanced.
The two abilities never directly interact. So, the resistance from elemental bond will never change. The only way they interact is through a spell being cast. Elemental Conversion does change the descriptor so if the new descriptor matches that of your Elemental Bond it gains the benefit of the extra levels. But that also means if that if the new descriptor does not match that of the Elemental Bond it does not gain the benefit of the extra levels even if the original descriptor did.
For the most part A symbol spell that does not specify otherwise will have the limit assuming it says it functions like symbol of death. But it also depends on what exactly the symbol does. Many of the spells have effects other than damage and a HP limit would not make sense. Symbol of Striking last until the duration runs out of it makes a number of AoO equal to your caster level. Symbol of Dispelling has a duration of Instant and specifically states it affects every creature in the area. The only way to tell is to read the description of the individual symbol spell.
RAW also do no prohibit a dead creature from taking an action. RAW being dead does not impose any other condition, including unconsciousness or helpless that would prevent you from taking and action. Sometimes you have to use common sense.
If you are maintaining the grapple obviously you are touching the grappled creature therefore it can still attack you. You would need to impose the pinned condition to render it unable to attack you. Even then it could try and escape by attempting a combat maneuver, or escape artist check.
I have to disagree with the idea of AC based on armor scaling with level. While an extremely low-level character may not be able to afford heavy armor, by the time a character reaches 4th level or higher that ceases to be true. AC based on armor may be restricted at low level, but once you get past low level it no longer is a factor.
In the early days of Pathfinder before DEX to damage became available DEX based builds were almost non-existent. The only ones who bothered with them were standard rogues. During that time rogues were considered a useless class. I do not know how long you have been playing, your earliest post I can see is Nov 2nd 2015. That is several months after Pathfinder Unchained came out. Prior to that rogues were considered to be the worst class in the game. The earliest DEX to damage was Dervish Dance in 2011, followed by Agile enchantment in 2013, 2014 added slashing/fencing grace and in 2015 unchained rogue gave made DEX to damage a class feature of the unchained rogue. The unchained rogue fixed a lot of problems of the core rogue and is a viable class. Sneak attack can be deadly but it is not reliable, without DEX to damage a rogue has very little way to increase their damage when sneak attack is not available. As a ¾ BAB class using feats like power attack that trade accuracy for damage is not a good idea. A core rogue is still a very weak class. By early days I was referring to prior to 2014.
Although the gods work through many agents, perhaps none is more mysterious than the oracle. These divine vessels are granted power without their choice, selected by providence to wield powers that even they do not fully understand. Unlike a cleric, who draws her magic through devotion to a deity, oracles garner strength and power from many sources, namely those patron deities who support their ideals. Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of the gods that share their beliefs. While some see the powers of the oracle as a gift, others view them as a curse, changing the life of the chosen in unforeseen ways. Role: Oracles do not usually associate with any one church or temple, instead preferring to strike out on their own, or with a small group of like-minded individuals. Oracles typically use their spells and revelations to further their understanding of their mystery, be it through fighting mighty battles or tending to the poor and sick. An Oracles deity has bearing on their oracle abilities. The source of their power is not necessarily their deity; in fact, their source could be something that their deity opposes. Oracles do not choose to become and oracle, the power that grants them their abilities chooses them. The first two paragraphs of the class descriptions have some details on this. Looking at the deities of some of the mysteries you will find some with directly opposing deities. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist uses the eidolon’s Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, but retains his own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The synthesist gains the eidolon’s hit points as temporary hit points. When these hit points reach 0, the eidolon is killed and sent back to its home plane. The synthesist uses the eidolon’s base attack bonus and gains the eidolon’s armor and natural armor bonuses and modifiers to ability scores. The synthesist also gains access to the eidolon’s special abilities and the eidolon’s evolutions. The synthesist is still limited to the eidolon’s maximum number of natural attacks. The eidolon has no skills or feats of its own. The eidolon must be at least the same size as the synthesist. The eidolon must have limbs for the synthesist to cast spells with somatic components. The eidolon’s temporary hit points can be restored with the rejuvenate eidolon spell. While fused, the synthesist loses the benefits of his armor. He counts both as his original type and as an outsider for any effect related to type, whichever is worse for the synthesist. Spells such as banishment or dismissal work normally on the eidolon, but the synthesist is unaffected. Neither the synthesist nor his eidolon can be targeted separately, as they are fused into one creature. The synthesist and eidolon cannot take separate actions. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist can use all of his own abilities and gear, except for his armor. In all other cases, this ability functions as the summoner’s normal eidolon ability (for example, the synthesist cannot use his summon monster ability while the eidolon is present). This ability replaces the class’s eidolon ability, bond senses, and life bond. The Synthesist does use the DEX modifier of the Eidolon. It also specifies you use the CHA of your character not the Eidolon. The Synthesist also retains all of his own abilities including revelations. Since you retain the revelation there is nothing preventing you from using your CHA modifier for AC if you wish. The wording of the revelation actually gives you a choice of which to use, so you can use whichever is higher.
Pathfinder is by default a point-based system, so in most cases a character with a high STR is not going to have the points for a high DEX. Most of the time a full STR build will have a DEX of 13 or less and be using heavy armor. Classes that are limited to medium armor may have a bit more, but usually at the price of lowering their STR or other stats. STR builds fall into one of two broad categories. The most popular is the two-handed weapon build that focuses on damage. This is one of if not the highest damaging build in the game. The 50% increase on both STR and power attack give them much higher damage bonus than normal. I am not going to bother going further into this build because it is well known and does not need more explanation. The other build is a sword and board build using a weapon and shield. A lot of the times players try to match the damage of the two-handed build by going two weapon fighting with the shield. That build rarely works and is incredibly difficult to pull off because it requires both a high STR and a high DEX and a large number of feats to pull off. Many players underestimate the defensive value of simply using a shield. They look at the +2 bonus and do not factor in that a magic shield will increase the bonus even higher. Magic armor including shields are cheaper than weapon. Cost wise the cost of both magic armor and shield will be about the same as a suit of armor with an additional +1 bonus. For example, the cost to purchase +2 full plate and a +2 shield will actually be cheaper than purchasing +3 full plate. This puts the character using a shield 2 -5 point of AC higher than one not using a shield. By 12th level your STR based character should be around 25 STR, that gives him a +7 STR bonus. 2-5 points of additional AC does not sound too bad, especially if you are giving up the extra damage from a two-handed build. But 9 -12 points of extra AC is too much. Having two stats that add to AC is unbalancing unless it comes with major restrictions. Monks can add DEX and WIS to AC but cannot use any armor. As to factoring in special material on light armor that really does not change anything. A mithral chain shirt still has a max AC bonus of 10 which is only 1 higher than full plate. Add in a shield and the character with full plate and shield has a max AC bonus of 11 before the armor and shield is enchanted. Agile is only a +1-bonus equivalent but the way enchanted weapons work the cost of the weapon scales up as it goes up. A +1 enchantment on a sword is an additional 2,300 gp, a +2 enchantment is an additional 8,300. Since a weapon has to be at least a +1 weapon before it can have any other enchantments that raises the cost significantly. According to the wealth by level chart no character of less than 5th level can afford one, and even then, it takes up almost all your wealth. Realistically 7th level is about as soon as a character can expect to be able to afford an agile weapon. Even then it does not give 1.5 DEX to damage. Every DEX based build I have seen always incudes DEX to damage. In the early days of Pathfinder before DEX to damage became available DEX based builds were almost non-existent. The only ones who bothered with them were standard rogues. During that time rogues were considered a useless class.
Without using special material, a DEX based character in light armor and a STR based character will have about the same AC. The total AC bonus including DEX bonus of almost all amor is about the same. The light armors that have no maximum DEX bonus only give a +1 AC bonus. Full plate and O-Yoroi are the only armors that can get up to a +10 total bonus. All other armors are capped at 9 or less. The majority of all armor has a max AC bonus between 8-9. The other thing to consider is that your total encumbrance also limits your AC. Anything higher than a light load limits your max DEX bonus to +3. Until the character can afford a handy haversack and special material armor that severely limits how much they can carry. Even then they can easily end up with a medium load if they are not careful, especially if they dump STR. The STR based character in heavy armor usually does not need to worry about encumbrance and can take full advantage of any armor he can afford. Getting DEX to hit is fairly easy but that is only half the equation. Without DEX to damage the DEX based character usually falls way behind in effectiveness. With the exception of the unchained rouge getting DEX to damage is a minimum of 2 feats and severely restricts the weapons that can be used. Getting DEX to damage on a two-handed weapon or with two weapon fighting is extremely difficult. All this shows that the STR based character is not being penalized by not getting STR to AC. In fact, they have significant advantages over a DEX based build. Allowing them to get STR to AC would imbalance the game.
Scared by War specifies an additional point when you heal someone. Unless the cantrip provides healing Scared by War does not apply. The Unicorn bloodline power does not work. If you really want to heal with cantrips you could play a crossbloded phoenix, elemental (fire) sorcerer. The Phoenix bloodline allows you to turn fire damage into healing, but there are no damaging fire cantrips. The elemental bloodline arcana allows you to change the damage type of a spell to your element. By combining those two arcanas you can cast a jolt (or any damaging cantrip) turn the damage to fire and heal 1d3 (+1 for scarred by war) damage.
The way I would handle it would be to simply omit the protected target from your response. Describe the effects of the spell like you normally would for all other targets and circumstances, but make no mention of the protected target. Depending on the circumstances this may give a clue to the caster of the divination spell. For example, if you cast detect thoughts and one of the targets is protected, the fact that target is not showing up may give a clue that something is wrong. Don’t give them any information except that the target does not register. Let the player try and figure out why the target is not registering. The player may think that there is something else going on. An illusion of the target could produce the same effect, except that casting the divination spell would probably be considered interacting with the target and the player would usually get a save vs illusion if the spell allows a saving throw.
Mind Blank specifies that scrying that scans an area works, but the protected creature is not detected. That seem to indicate the correct way would be that the spell is successful but returns no information regarding the protected subject under a mind blank. A ring of Mind Shielding is based on nondetection not mind blank. But the magic item is a lot more limited than the spell. All it does is make the wearer immune to detect thoughts, discern lies and magically discerning the subject's alignment. But none of the magic items or spells say they prevent the spell from working. All of the spells and items also only protect the subject of the spell or item. This further supports the idea that the spell succeeds but returns no information about the target under protection. If the divination spell affects an area, it would return information on other creatures or objects in the area. For example, a detect evil would not affect the evil character with the ring of mind shielding but would detect other evil characters in the area of affect.
Besides nostalgia what is the purpose of doing this? As prepared spell casters wizards have to choose what and how many of each spell they cast per day. A sorcerer has less spell to choose from but can spam out what spells they know. A bad selection for a wizard can render the character useless for that day. Having a completely random selection of spells makes that more likely. Having the perfect selection of spells per day is nearly impossible unless the GM is telling the players exactly what to expect. In reality most of the time the wizard ends up with some useless spells. This has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of the class too much.
Instead of having random spells why not use a spellcraft check. Allow the player to choose the spell but require them to make a spellcraft check to gain the spell. If they fail the check they have to choose a different spell and make a spellcraft check to learn that spell. Keep repeating the process until they gain the number of spells they are entitled to. If the character is a specialist, you could require that at least on spell has to be from the characters school. The spells gained for going up a level are supposed to represent spells the wizard researches during down time. So, gaining completely random spells when going up a level does not really make sense.
The rule does not say that a character that recognizes the spell is illusion does not need to make a save, it says that a character faced with proof the illusion is not real needs no save. Shadow spells are partially real, so there can be no proof they are not real.
Other than allowing an evil party member the redeemer does not alter the paladins code. That means that even though the paladin will accept the evil character in the party he will not permit evil acts. The paladin’s code specifically states that the paladin must “punish those who harm or threaten innocents.” The main reason the paladin’s code prevents evil party members is to prevent party fights. When the evil party member actually does something that is evil the paladin must do something or he breaks the code. That means if there is an evil party member that character cannot follow their alignment. The redeemer is only useful if the evil character is not really evil, but for some reason must be of that alignment. But in that case that character is probably going to have problems because he cannot actually be evil.
In probably any other campaign there is not going to be a need for a monk to flurry with a gauntlet. The only reason they need to in this campaign is to avoid STR damage that they should not be taking. My suggesting that the monk should be allowed to flurry with gauntlets are specific to this campaign or those following a similar rule. It is also based on the logic of the campaign not official rules. As I said the RAW solution is that a character striking a shadow does not take STR damage. But since the campaign is breaking RAW for this, I see no reason not to break RAW for the flurry of blows.
Pummeling Style does not require using your bare hands the requirements are you need to be using unarmed strikes. The gauntlet specifies that it is an unarmed strike. Furthermore, the description of flurry of blows for both the core monk and unchained monk also specify that they can be used with any combination of unarmed strikes and monk weapons. Unarmed strikes are a defined game mechanic, so unless there is a rule or a FAQ stating otherwise you should be able to use both pummeling style and flurry of blows with a gauntlet. Doing so would mean you use the damage of the gauntlet instead of the weapon but other than that it should work. Considering the whole problem is due to a house rule that states striking a shadow causes the character to take STR damage because it “make sense”, I do not think they are strictly following RAW. If you are going to break RAW and make it so that hitting a shadow causes the attacker to take STR damage because it makes sense, you should be able to flurry with blows with a gauntlet for the same reason. By the same line of reasoning the character should also be able to use gloves instead of gauntlets to allow them to get the full benefit of their unarmed strike damage. The RAW answer to this question is that striking a shadow with an unarmed strike does not cause the striking character to take STR damage.
The rules for FCB state that once chosen they cannot be changed. In Pathfinder the specific overrules the general. To me the rule about not changing a FCB is more specific than the rule on a sorcerer being able to swap out spells. That would indicate that a spell gained through FCB cannot in fact be swapped out period. Since the rule on the FCB predates the ability to choose spells known as a FCB this is going to be up to the GM. From what the OP said about the GM it is unlikely the GM is going to rule on this.
Each character begins play with a single favored class of his choosing—typically, this is the same class as the one he chooses at 1st level. Whenever a character gains a level in his favored class, he receives either + 1 hit point or + 1 skill rank. The choice of favored class cannot be changed once the character is created, and the choice of gaining a hit point or a skill rank each time a character gains a level (including his first level) cannot be changed once made for a particular level. Prestige classes (see Chapter 11) can never be a favored class. You cannot change a FCB at all. The section is from the core rule book which came out before the idea of racial FCB, but it should still apply.
This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes. A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack. The cost and weight given are for a single gauntlet. Medium and heavy armors (except breastplates) come with gauntlets. Your opponent cannot use a disarm action to disarm you of gauntlets. Benefit: Whenever you use a full-attack action or flurry of blows to make multiple attacks against a single opponent with unarmed strikes, total the damage from all hits before applying damage reduction. This ability works only with unarmed strikes, no matter what other abilities you might possess. Gauntlets specify they are an unarmed strike, so why would using them with pummeling style be a problem? Pummeling Style requires you to use an unarmed strike which a gauntlet is.
Would using gloves or something similar work for those using unarmed damage? If bashing them with a shield does not trigger the damage, why does hitting them with a glove or a gauntlet do so?
I think one of the reasons so many people favor the 1 level dip is fear of missing out. They see the fighter wearing heavy armor and using better weapons and want the same thing. They ignore the fact that the fighter is often useless in many situations their characters can contribute to and focus on what they do not have. They also focusing on instant gratification and ignore the fact that by gaining a slight advantage now they pay a greater price for it at higher level. If you want your cleric to have a good weapon and use heavy armor the best way is to pick a deity and or races to provide the weapon and spend your 1st level proficiency on heavy armor. For a full caster using a feat is much better than losing a caster level. With few exceptions multiclassing in Pathfinder 1E is usually a mistake. Taking 2 levels of paladin for an oracle is one I can see being worth it. Adding CHA to all saves for a CHA based character with only one good save is a huge benefit. Being able to add CHA to hit and AC and bypass all DR is also useful at any level. Lay on hand is great at early levels but becomes minor once you reach higher levels. The one benefit the oracle does have is due to their high CHA they get more lay on hand than normal. Add in proficiency with all martial weapons and heavy armor is minor but still useful. The other multiclass combination that works surprisingly well is fighter/rouge. Neither class have many level dependent class features and the synergy between the classes is quite good. If you use the unchained rouge, it is even better. You end up with a character with 2 good save, 5 skill points per level, 5/6 BAB, weapon finesse and DEX to damage, and a lot of other class feature that work well together. Armor training and weapon training also are very useful. Your sneak attack is weaker than a pure rogue, but you have a better chance of actually hitting.
Clerics already get proficiency in medium armor, shields and their deities favored weapon. Many races also gain proficiency in some decent weapons. Dwarves, elves and half orcs all have proficiency in some good weapons. Half elves can gain proficiency in any martial or exotic weapon by trading away adaptability. Gaining proficiency in all martial weapons is not that important for a cleric. Druids do not gain their deities favored weapon but are proficient in scimitars and spears. That leaves only shaman and oracles of a race without racial weapons. Oracles of battle can gain proficiency with heavy armor and all martial weapons from a revelation. At 1st level no one can afford heavy armor. Even after you gain a level or two the only heavy armor you can afford is not much better than a breast plate. Until you reach at least 4th level heavy armor is going to take up the majority of your wealth by level leaving you no room for anything else. By the time the divine caster can afford heavy armor their medium BAB is starting to reduce their ability to participate in melee combat. But at that point their spells are becoming more important. So, while a single level dip in a martial class looks good on paper, in reality it is not as beneficial as it seems.
To be able to cast greater shadow conjuration a sorcerer has to be at least 14th level. The material component is only 10 GP. At that level the cost is not even worth mentioning. Since it is not a matter of cost this is obviously an attempt by the GM to weaken the spell. If Diego Rossi does not like the spell, he should simply ban the spells, instead trying to twist the rules to nerf the spell.
Shadow conjuration can mimic a lot of spells, but the result is weaker than the spells it is mimicking. In addition to allowing a save to reduce the effect shadow conjuration also has overcome any spell resistance the target has even if the spell being mimicked does not. The fact that the targets of the spell in this encounter have a difficult time making the spell is irrelevant. Limited Wish specifies it is duplicating a spell. Shadow Conjuration specifies it is mimicking the spell. That is a subtle difference but is still different. With limited wish you are actually casting the other spell, with shadow conjuration you are casting an illusion that works similar to the other spell. Using limited wish to cast acid spray does not in fact require you to provide the material component. Limited wish only requires you to provide that cost more than 1,000 gp. Since the material component of acid spray is below that cost, you do not have to provide the material component. The fact that other spells that can duplicate or mimic other spells specifically call out that material components need to be provided seems to make that the exception not the rule. All of this seems to indicate that shadow conjuration does not require you to provide any material component.
There spell lists aren't in the description, or do anti paladins just get access to the whole spells? As prepared divine casters paladins get access to their whole spell list but must choose which and how many of each to memorize.
Don’t forget about their spells. If they are aware the party is coming and have a chance to buff themselves, they get a lot tougher. Spells like protection from good and eagle’s splendor will increase their already substantial defenses. Animate Dead will allow each of them to have a 48 HD of minions. Nondetection can block divination including see invisible or even true seeing. Litany of weakness only takes a swift action and fatigues the target with no save. Corruption resistance will allow them to take less damage from attacks that affect evil creatures including smite evil from the paladin. Vestments of the Champion allows them to grant their armor a +3-enchantment bonus. Their CR rating is only 13 but they are much tougher than that. Fully buffed and attacking from surprise they may be too much for the party to handle. Most of them when fully buffed will have AC approaching or exceeding 40, saves at or above +20, and nearing 200 HP. Their Individual damage when using smite good may be able to kill a character in a single round.
Paladin of Ragathiel
Paladin of Erastil
Paladin of Iomedae
Paladin of Sarenrae Human vampire antipaladin 12 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 118, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 270)
I created a party of 4 fallen antipaladins, each with a different fighting style. I based their fighting styles on their original deity but did use the free feats and stats the vampire gets. The first is a Human DEX based dervish dancer of Sarenrae. I went for human because this build is pretty feat intense and the extra feat allowed him to pick up whirlwind attack. I wanted to include improved critical but decided whirlwind attack fit the concept better. If you want to swap out whirlwind attack for improved critical, he becomes a lot deadlier. He also maxed out stealth so has obscene stealth bonus. The next is a half drow sword and board style fallen paladin of Iomedae. She has shield snag and fights with a snarl shield. The snarl shield has the disarm property, so she usually disarms her opponents before using her shield for damage. Skill wise she focuses on bluff and disguise. The antipaladin spell list includes disguise self and peerless integrity, so she often poses as her former self to trap the unwary. The third one is a halfling archery focus fallen paladin of Erastil. He uses the typical feats of an archer and tries to get as many shots off as possible. Smite good not only boost his damage for each shot it also overcomes the DR problem most archers have. Due to high DEX and small size, he also has an obscene stealth bonus. In combat he will often use weapon bond to make his bow unholy to further boost the damage. The last one is a demon spawn tiefling of ragathiel using a bastard sword. His combat style is based on getting two very powerful attacks. Cleaving bash allows him to use vital strike with cleave. He really does not specialize in any one skill, but his stats still give some decent bonus. All four characters get up to third level spells. While that may not seem all that impressive the antipaladin spell list is incredibly useful for these characters. I have already mentioned disguise self and peerless integrity. Invisibility is also on the spell list and all the characters using heavy armor are using mithral plate, so they all have decent stealth bonuses. The lowest bonus in the group is +12 before the +20 bonus for being invisible. Since vampires can use gaseous form at will they can easily maneuver into position and surprise the party. Weapon bond allows their weapons to make their weapons magic up to a +3 bonus or add enchantments to it. If they are striking from ambush, there is no reason they cannot use both weapon bond and smite good at the same time. More than likely all of the character will make their weapon a +1 Unholy weapon. I have the full stat blocks for this party I can post if you are interested.
Have the character use a quickdraw shield. Quickdraw shields can be readied/put away as a swift action combined with a regular move. If you have the quick draw feat it becomes a free action. The existence of and rules for a quickdraw shield prove the player is in error.
How about a party of 4 Anitpaladsin, that were paladins that fell from grace when they became vampires after failing to kill Strahd? A vampire antipaladin is incredibly powerful because the boost the two most important stats for the class. Have each anitpaladin be a former paladin of a different deity. They came together and were so sure that with 4 of them they could easily kill Strahd, but were defeated and became what they hated the most. 1 is a DEX based dervish of Sarenrae, 1 is a sword and board paladin of Iomedae, 1 is an archer of Erastil, the last one is a two-handed specialist of some god with a greatsword or similar favored weapon.
You did not mention point buy so it is hard to come up with actual write ups.
AI is a tool nothing more. It can be a useful tool for those that know how to use it, but it is still a tool. Part of knowing how to use it is understanding is limitations. Its main benefit is its ability to search for information using natural language instead of computer terminology. With it you can find the information on the web you want without having to write a computer program or sort through 3,000 websites. The second main benefit is being able to use it as a sounding board and have it double check your ideas for flaws or blind spots. You often need to verify its sources because there is a lot of false information on the internet. I have used it to help build and run campaigns based on a specific era or culture. It has been very useful for research and keeping track of what I have done.
The archetype does not say you cannot gain levels in wizard, it says you cannot progress further as a wizard. Gaining spells per day is progressing further as a wizard even if you are not gaining levels of wizard.
Not telling a player about a game mechanic is in my opinion is something that only a poor GM would do. You don’t have give them all the details, but they should be aware of the option. The characters are part of the world and as such be aware of the way it works, even if the players themselves do not. It is the GM responsibility to let the players known things about the world (or campaign) their players would know.
I had a player in a campaign I ran that played a half orc paladin with the fey foundling feat and ferocious resolve. He also took the warrior of holy light archetype, so got extra lay on hands. The character was more unstoppable than unkillable. The only way to take him down was to actually kill him. Between his self healing, saves and other defenses he was also the character that was the hardest to kill. The warpriest would be similar but lack some of the defenses the paladin has. Taking the protection and restoration blessings would further boost your defenses and improve your healing.
As I GM I would be hesitant to nerf a good tactic for my players. From the sound of things it looks like the players have invested some resources into being able to counter spell casters. Purposely invalidating those investments is not fair to the players. The question I have is this tactic making it less fun for the players, or is the GM simply upset because the story is not following his predefined script? If my players manage to come up with a tactic that completely shuts down my plot and they are having a good time I consider that to be a successful game. That being said there are plenty of options for a caster to negate these or any other tactics. A mirror image would have a good chance of completely negating this tactic as would anything that gives a miss chance. Hiding the fact the caster is casting a spell would also work. Having a minion spell caster disguised as the boss at the beginning of the encounter can allow the boss the freedom to do what he wants. Preventing the melee character form moving into position can also be achieved in multiple ways. A flying caster will usually shut down this tactic. Casting a spell that takes a swift action will trigger the readied action but allow the caster to cast the spell he really wants. Darting Duplicate will completely negate most melee character’s ability to disrupt a spell. It not only triggers the readied action; it also causes the melee character to waste his AoO on the illusion. It does offer a will save, but that is usually most melee characters weak save. It is also only a first level spell, so a high-level caster is not likely to need the slot or spell known.
The dwarf FCB specifies it increases the amount of progress he makes in an 8-hour period. That means no matter how many times you take the FCB, the minimum time does not change. You still need to take at least 8 hours. When traveling you can work for 4 hours but it only counts as 2 hours. So, 4 days working for 4 hours while traveling equals 8 hours. The rules do not allow working on more than 1 item at a time. Which means no matter how much progress you make, you can still only make 1 item per day. There may be feats and abilities that change that but by default only 1.
Gaining an extra spell per spell level for a spontaneous caster is a huge advantage. Being able to change those spells on a daily basis make it even better. The fact that many of these spells are not on the oracle spell list makes the ability incredibly powerful. You can always take extra feat Extra revelations to regain your lost revelations. But no feats will give you the ability to swap out 17 different spells known of each spell level you can cast. A 16th level spirit guide oracle of the heavens with the blackened curse will have 29 spells known of up to 8th level just from his mystery, curse and sprit, including all cure spells. That still leave the player the full allotment of spells known to choose. After taking extra revelation 3 times you still have 6 feats left. If you take the restoration (or life spirit) you get most of the condition removal spells and breadth of life can restore a dead character. You will also have channel energy to heal and can take enhanced cures to boost your cure spells, especially the lower-level cures. Play a race that gets extra spells known to give you even more spells known. At this point the limited number of spells of a spontaneous caster is not really that much of a limit. You know more spells than the cleric can memorize and can cast more spells. |
