Mysterious Stranger's page

Flatfooted is only really going to apply at the beginning of combat. The other problem you will have is that you cannot get multiple attacks if you move more than a 5 foot step. That is probably going to limit your ability to catch your target flatfooted and still get multiple attacks. If you need to move to attack or to get into a flanking position you are limited to a single attack. I am not saying your strategy will never work, but I do not think you will be able to pull off multiple sneak attacks as often as you think.

Personally, I would go for fast stealth instead. The extra move from the monk makes that very useful.

Skill focus gives you +3 to the skill until you have 10 points in the skill, then it gives you +6. With focused study you get skill focus at 1st, 8th and 16th level. Basically, you trade out a singe feat for up to 3 feats. Since you are only going up to 12th level you will only gain 2 feats.

Pressure Points only does a single point of ability damage. Since it takes 2 points to lower a bonus you are probably not weakening your opponent with every hit. Most of the time it will take 2 hits to weaken your target. It also only works when you get sneak attack. Getting sneak attack on multiple attacks is often hard to do. Vanishing will get your sneak attack on the first hit but after that you are visible and will not get sneak attack. You will need to flank your target to be able to deal sneak attack with more than one hit.

I would not take the 5th level in Ninja; all you really need is 3 levels. But I can understand going for 4 for uncanny dodge, dispatchment and the ninja trick. I am not sure that pressure points is worth spending a feat on. If you really want that 3rd die of sneak attack take accomplished sneak attack instead of extra ki, or iron will.

If you take the alternative racial trait focused study you get skill focus at 1st and 8th level in place of the bonus feat. Skill focus stealth and latter perception would be good. Delay jabbing style or weapon focus until 3rd.

He is picking up DEX to damage from the Unchained Ninja. For a finesse build that is incredibly useful, but he only needs to go 3 levels of unchained ninja to get that. Going to 4th level gets him uncanny dodge and dispatchment. Being able to keep both the DEX and WIS while flatfooted is actually pretty good. Dispatchment is +2 to hit when the target loses his DEX bonus or is flanking his target makes it more likely that he will hit with his sneak attack.

Normally going 4 levels does not gain you much, but in this case it does. At 3rd level when he gets DEX to damage it adds +4 to damage, by 12th level he should have around a +7 DEX bonus with a belt of dexterity. At 12th level he should also be getting around a +12 AC due to DEX and WIS, uncanny dodge means even when you catch him unprepared, he still has a good AC.

Invisible Blade has a prerequisite of 10th level Ninja, the character only has 4 levels of Ninja so will not qualify.

Jabbing master requires Mobility, but you are not taking that until 10th level, so you can not take Jabbing Master at 9th.

Extra Ki would be my choice for your last feat. You are relying heavly on your KI pool so every extra point helps. You also have still mind that gives you +2 to saves vs enchantments. That does not work vs everything requiring a will save, but it does work vs a lot of them.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Exemplar archetype and the Venomfist archetype are not compatible with each other. Both modify the class feature Unarmed Strike and close weapon mastery. The rules of archetype stacking are clear that archetypes that replace or modify the same class feature cannot be taken on the same character.

Both will stack with the constructed pugilist, but you can only have one of them in combination with the constructed pugilist. How the unarmed strike works is going to depend on which other archetype you take. The exemplar archetype completely replaces unarmed strike. So, the constructed pugilist with the exemplar archetype will do 1d3 damage assuming he is medium size, and the damage will never increase. The venomfist archetype modifies the class feature so it does damage as if it were one size smaller. So, the medium constructed pugilist with the venom fist archetype will start out doing 1d4 damage and increase that damage as he levels up. Since you cannot have both the exemplar and venomfist archetype on the same character the problem of what happens with both archetype is irrelevant.

This is RAW and does not need a developer to say so.

If one abjuration spell is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such spells with the Perception skill drops by 4.

Glyphs are abjurations so are subject to the above rule. So, casting them too close together or on your own gear will make them easier to spot.

The so-called classic party is sorely lacking in class features, and diversity. Each character has a clearly defined role, and no other character will be able to assist or backup that character.

Except for the rouge the classes have very few class feature. They are not totally absent, but they do not have much. Even the rouges class features are a bit underwhelming. Most of the other classes have more class features even when you limit it to the core rule book. Compared to the ranger or paladin they are extremely lacking.

All but the cleric has two poor saves and neither the fighter nor wizard have a primary stat that boost saves. The rogue has the worst saves, followed by the wizard. The fighter can come out a bit better because he can use a headband of WIS to give him a bit of a boost. The rogue is going to be the face of the party so will probably be using a headband of CHA.

When it comes to skills only the rogue has both decent amount of skill points and a lot of useful class skills. The wizard will have a decent amount of skill point due to INT, but other than knowledge skills and spellcraft does not have a lot of useful class skills. Both the fighter and cleric have almost no skill points.

Half the party has no magic ability so that means the cleric and wizard are the only sources of magic. There is no backup healer so if something happens to the cleric there is no way to get him up quickly. The best option would be for the rogue to max out UMD so he can use some magic items to get the cleric up in case of an emergency.

To recap ¾ of the party has at least two poor saves, most of the party has no skills, you have only one character that has any real combat ability. Half the party has no magical ability at all. There is only one character that can handle social challenges well, but that character is also handling all the scouting as well. That does not sound like a balanced party.

You can build a character that can contribute his share to combat without having to be a beatstick. This will take some resources, but does not have to be that much. If he does that, he can scale back some of the other things he is contributing to the party. If that is the case either the archaeologist bard or the empiricist investigator is decent for that. All they really need is Weapon finesse and way to get DEX to damage and their combat ability becomes decent enough that they can do more than hide in a corner until it is over.

The empiricist investigator still has better out of combat utility, but if the bard switches his high stat to DEX and uses his spells for larceny related objectives he does very well. If he picks up a few more combat related feats he can becomes very good in combat. The investigator has more baked into combat ability, which is why I suggested it. They can also leave all their extract slots empty and make the extracts as needed. This makes them a better at filling in roles because they have access to more spells. For healing the restoration line is an absolute must have. If the archaeologist bard can devote his spells to thievery, he can get very efficient at it, but he cannot do that and heal.

There is at least one outsider that has changed alignments. I forget the exact detail but it was devil or demon and it did not lose the alignment subtype. Even if the outsider no longer follows the alignment that does not change the fact that they are made up of the essence of their original alignment.

If I remember correctly, they detected as boot good and evil.

Here is the build I came up with for the investigator. I used a 20-point build and initially had the following stats: STR 8, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 20 (with racial bonus), WIS 9, CHA 7. At level 4 I raised the WIS to 10 to get rid of the -1 penalty on Will saves, the rest went into INT. I took focused study to gain skill focus at 1st, 8th and latter 16th level. Favored class bonus was used for extra skill points.

For feats I took alertness, extra Investigator talent, focused inspiration, great fortitude, and Iron will in addition to skill focus with perception and sense motive. I took iron will and great fortitude so the character is more resilient to magic and will be unlikely to need assistance in combat. Signature skill sense motive at 10 level allows him to read minds after spending 1 minute in conversation with someone by making his sense motive roll with a -20 penalty. At 12th level with heroism up he has a +15 bonus and adds a d10 to the roll. On the average that gives him a +20.5 to his sense motive after the penalty.

Trap spotter means he automatically gets a roll to notice a trap when he is within 10 feet of the trap. Amazing Inspiration boost the inspiration die to 1d8. Infusion allows him to affect others with his extracts. The rest of the inspirations add more skills that he can add the inspiration die to without using an inspiration point. This saves his inspiration point for things like taking 20 on knowledge skills, other skills, attack rolls or saving throws.

He has 168 skill points and uses his INT modifier for over half of them including on diplomacy, sense motive perception, and bluff to lie. He adds 1d8 to the following skills without having to spend an inspiration point: diplomacy, heal, all knowledge skills, linguistics and spell craft, bluff, disable device, disguise, intimidate, and sleight of hand. He adds 1d10 to all perception and sense motive sill rolls without having to spend an inspiration point. He also adds +12 (for a total of +24) to craft alchemy to create alchemical items. He cannot roll less than a 15 and, on the average, will roll 28 for heal checks. This will allow him to stop bleeding or other condition needing a heal check. All skills except disguise, ride and survival have at least a +10 bonus. The only skills he cannot make a check on are handle animal, crafts other than alchemy, perform and professional skills. He can also use heroism to get a +2 bonus on all skills for up to 2 hours.

The character only combat abilities are baked into the class but are still useful. He can use studied combat to get a +6 to hit and damage. If he has heroism up it gives him another +2 to hit. He can also use studied strike to add 5d6 damage but ends the studied combat. For the most part even with studied strike he is still plinking away, but when a target is almost down, he can often finish them off. At 12th level with a +2 rapier, he will be +18 and can do 6d6+7 damage using studied strike.

Below is the full stat block of the build. The numbers include the +2 bonus for heroism and the studied strike bonus. For magic items I used the ABP as a guideline but used the items. the headband gave him +12 to climb and swim.

Investigator
Male human investigator (empiricist) 12 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 30, 100)
CG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +35
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Defense
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AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 19 (+6 armor, +2 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 87 (12d8+24)
Fort +13, Ref +17, Will +15 (+4 save vs. illusion and disbelievable effects)
Defensive Abilities trap sense +4; Resist unfailing logic
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 rapier +18/+13 (1d6+1/18-20 plus 6 melee precision damage)
Special Attacks studied combat (+6, 8 rounds), studied strike +5d6
Investigator (Empiricist) Extracts Prepared (CL 12th; concentration +20)
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 26, Wis 10, Cha 7
Base Atk +9; CMB +16; CMD 24
Feats Alertness, Extra Investigator Talent[ACG], Focused Inspiration[ACG], Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Signature Skill, Skill Focus (Perception), Skill Focus (Sense Motive)
Traits precise treatment, student of philosophy
Skills Acrobatics +12, Appraise +14, Bluff +15 (+25 to lie (as a result of using Int instead of Cha)), Climb +16, Craft (alchemy) +14 (+26 to create alchemical items), Diplomacy +15 (+25 to gather information (You can use your Intelligence Modifier instead of Charisma), +25 to persuade others but not to gather information (as a result of using Int instead of Cha)), Disable Device +33, Disguise +9, Escape Artist +15, Fly +12, Heal +15, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +16, Knowledge (engineering) +16, Knowledge (geography) +16, Knowledge (history) +16, Knowledge (local) +16, Knowledge (nature) +16, Knowledge (nobility) +16, Knowledge (planes) +16, Knowledge (religion) +16, Linguistics +16, Perception +35, Ride +6, Sense Motive +35, Sleight of Hand +12, Spellcraft +25, Stealth +21, Survival +2, Swim +13, Use Magic Device +25
Languages Azlanti, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, Kelish, Orc, Osiriani, Skald, Sylvan
SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +12), ceaseless observation, inspiration (1d8, 14/day), investigator talents (amazing inspiration[ACG], eidetic recollection[ACG], expanded inspiration[ACG], infusion, trap spotter, underworld inspiration[ACG]), keen recollection, trapfinding +6
Other Gear +2 mithral chain shirt, +2 rapier, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of incredible dexterity +4, cloak of resistance +3, headband of vast intelligence +4, ring of protection +2, investigator starting formula book, masterwork thieves' tools, 46,525 gp
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Special Abilities
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Alchemy +12 (Su) +12 to Craft (Alchemy) to create alchemical items, can Id potions by touch.
Ceaseless Observation (Ex) Use INT instead of CHA for gather information (+10)
Eidetic Recollection (Su) Can always take 10 on Knowledge checks, use 1 inspiration to take 20.
Expanded Inspiration (Ex) Free Inspiration on Diplomacy, Heal, Perception, Profession, Sense Motive (if trained).
Focused Inspiration (Perception, Sense Motive) Roll 2d8 (or 2d10 if normally rolling d8) when adding inspiration to selected skills.
Infusion Create an extract can be used by anyone but takes up a slot until used.
Inspiration (+1d8, 14/day) (Ex) Use 1 point, +1d6 to trained skill or ability check. Use 2 points, to add to attack or save.
Keen Recollection At 3rd level, an investigator can attempt all Knowledge skill checks untrained.
Studied Combat (+6, 8 rounds) (Ex) As a move action, study foe to gain bonus to att & dam for duration or until use studied strike.
Studied Strike +5d6 (Ex) As a free action on a melee hit, end studied combat vs. foe to add precision dam.
Trap Sense +4 (Ex) +4 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
Trap Spotter (Ex) Whenever you come within 10' of a trap, the GM secretly rolls for you to find it.
Trapfinding +6 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Underworld Inspiration (Ex) Free Inspiration on Bluff, Disable Device, Disguise, Intimidate, or Sleight of Hand (if trained).
Unfailing Logic +4 (Ex) +4 save vs. illusion and disbelievable effects

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I am enjoying the conversation and am looking forward to Tom’s response. I find this type of back-and-forth discussion helps me be a better player and GM. This type of debate is what develops system mastery. Seeing other people’s ideas expands your understanding and creativity.

I know you are not interested in specific builds, but I would be interested in what build Tom comes up with.

Many of the spells you are using are also on the investigators list. The investigator also has a lot of other useful spells including polymorph spells.

The bard also has a very limited number of spells known and is already FULLY covering the role of healer including condition removal. Neither class will be able to cover every role all the time. The bard as a spontaneous caster will need to choose what he can do with his spells and has very little flexibility to alter it. Being able to change his formula daily allows the investigator to adjust to the current needs of the party. This means he can fully cover more roles than the bard.

Pageant of the Peacock only works on INT based skill; it does not change any skills to INT based skills. That means it only works on appraise, craft skills, knowledge skills, linguistics, and spell craft. It is also does not work with either bardic knowledge or lore master. Also, if you are playing an archeologist bard you do not have bardic performance so cannot take Pageant of the Peacock.

One of my original criteria was the character needed to be able to find and disarm magical traps. There are only two bard archetypes that I know of that can do that. They are the archaeologist and the archivist. Both archetypes trade away versatile performance, so versatile performance should not be factored in. The archaeologist trades away all performances so cannot take pageant of the peacock. Your arguments have included the features those archetypes do not have.

I have suggested a complete build and I am only using class features of the archetype I am using. What build are you using?

The OP stated they should have no other combat ability that was not baked into the class. Both Studied Combat and Studied Strike are baked into the class so are fair game for use to comparing other classes.

The big advantage the empiricist investigator has is he can use his INT modifier for nearly all his skills. This allows him to dump CHA and still have decent social skills. Starting at 2nd level he uses his INT modifier for disable device, perception, sense motive and use magic device as well as diplomacy when gathering information. The trait Student of philosophy allows him to use it for the rest of diplomacy and to bluff when lying. Precise healer will allow you to use INT for healing. That means the investigator is using INT for 19.5 skills, and the other 10.5 skills use other stats.

Versatile Performance does allow you to use one perform skill for the bonus for two skills. Perform is pretty much a useless skill otherwise. That means it only really gives you 1 extra skill per versatile performance. Where the bard is maxing out a perform skill to gain two skills, the investigator is maxing out one of those skills. So, the bard has one extra skill they do not have to put points into. There is also a lot of overlap on the skills so the bard may not get full benefit for all versatile performances. Four of the performance give bluff as one of the skills, four of them also give diplomacy as one of the skills. If the bard wants to use both counter song and distraction he needs to make sure, he has at least one preform from each list. This further restricts what performance skills he can chose from.

By lowering STR to 9. WIS to 8 and CHA to 7 the investigator can start with a 20 INT and 14 in both DEX and CON. If the Bard dumps INT, he ends up with less skills and the tanks some very important skills. Likewise dumping WIS is going to kill your perception and sense motive. In fact, the bard is likely going to dump STR a bit to get an extra point of INT. Assuming you go for a human for the extra skill point that means the bard gets 8 skill points per level to the investigators 12. By 8th level the investigator will have 13 skill points per level due to raising INT at 4th and 8th level. At 12th level the bard will have 3 versatile performances which will give him the equivalent to 12 skill points per level, which is still behind what the investigator has.

The investigator can add an inspiration dice to all knowledge; linguistic and spell craft rolls if he is trained in those skills (which he will be). Expanded Inspiration adds diplomacy, heal, perception, profession (probably not trained in) and sense motive to that list. Underworld inspirations add bluff, disable device, disguise, intimidate, and sleight of hand to the list. That is 21 skills the investigator adds a d6 without having to spend inspiration points. The investigator also has trap finding so adds half his level to all disable device roll, and perception rolls to find traps. The investigator can also spend inspiration points on any skill to get the extra d6 to the roll.

When it comes to knowledge skills the investigator has the advantage. The investigator with a 23 int that puts a single point into a knowledge skill has a +10 bonus. The bard at 12th level and a 12 INT that puts 1 point into a knowledge skill has a +11 bonus. But the investigator also adds 1d6 to the roll, which on the average will bring the bonus to 13.5 with a minimum of +11. As you mentioned the eidetic recollection gives the investigator the ability to take 10 on any knowledge skill and if the spend an inspiration point, they can take 20. Eidetic recollection is better than lore master because it can be used more often. A 12th level bard can take 20 on a knowledge skill twice a day, a 12th level investigator will have 12 inspiration points per day, so can theoretically take 20 12 times per day, but will probably use the inspiration points for other things besides just taking 20 on a knowledge skill.

The bard is not better at social encounters because the investigator is using his INT bonus instead of his CHA bonus on diplomacy and bluff to lie. They also use INT for perception and sense motive instead of WIS. They also get to add the inspiration dice to all those skills, plus intimidate, and disguise without spending and inspiration point. Being able to sweet talk and lie to your opponent is only half the battle in a social encounter, being able to spot what your target is doing or when they are lying to you is the other half. The investigator is way better at that then the bard.

The bard is good at skills, but they cannot match an empiricist investigator. An investigator without the empiricist archetype does not have quite the advantage the empiricist has but are still a bit better than the bard. The best bard archetype for what the OP wants is probably the archeologist bard, but they trade away all performances, well versed and versatile performance.

Archeologist bard, inquisitor, magus and warpriest would be my choices.

All characters are medium BAB classes with 6/9 spell casting and good fortitude and will saves. You get two arcane casters two divine casters, two spontaneous casters, two prepared casters, two skill monkeys, ¾ of the party has some access to healing and can at least use wands. If the inquisitor takes the right inquisition, you also have two face characters.

Bards do not have access to heal, restoration or any spells that bring back the dead. That means they cannot deal with ability damage, ability drain, negative levels. Nor can they deal with insanity or some of the other things heal can remove. The investigator also lacks the ability to bring back the dead but can handle everything else. The bard is also a spontaneous caster with very limited number of spells, if they take all the condition removal spells that leaves them very few spells for other purposes.

Bards also do not get trap finding, nor do they get disable device as a class skill. As you said the bard’s primary stat is CHA, Investigators get the same number of skill points, but their primary stat is INT which means they get a lot more skill points than the bard. The Empiricist archetype and a couple of traits mean the investigator use INT for almost all skills. This means the investigator only really needs to boost his INT and can ignore or even dump the other mental stats. Which gives a higher bonus and more skill points. The investigator also gets inspiration so that he can add the inspiration dice to the skill check in addition to all other modifiers. With the right talents the investigator can make it so he gets to use inspirations without having to spend the inspiration points on most of his skills. In many cases the investigator can spend a single point of the skill and have a +8 bonus and roll a 1d6 in addition to the d20. The bard is a good skill monkey and has a decent spell list but cannot fully fill all the roles this character would need to do.

The investigator also gets studied combat and studied strike. That means his combat ability will be better than the bard, but since this is “baked into the class” it meets the criteria of the OP. So, not only will he be a better healer, trap finder and skill monkey, his combat ability will be better.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

I have played a character like that, but not in Pathfinder. I played a character in a Hero System game that had almost no direct combat ability but had skills that were incredibly high. The campaign was set in modern times, but we fought strange monsters. In many ways it was similar to Call of Cthulhu. Most of what we went up against was immune or at least highly resistant to normal damage. My characters job was to figure out how to kill the monster, then I let the rest of the party do the actual fighting.

I was also a highly skilled doctor and on more than one occasion saved the other PC’s from dying. We had no access to magic, so normal medicine was the only way to keep the characters alive. The campaign was also heavy on investigation, and my character was the absolute best in that area as well as in technology. In many cases I would invent or modify the weapons the other characters used to allow them to hurt the monsters.

So, while I did little or no damage, I still made major contributions to combat. In Pathfinder that is the equivalent of the buff and support that the OP does not want to do.

Actually, I think these are some pretty great examples. I truly don't mean to be shifting goal posts, I'm just not always clear in my phrasing. The fact that these contributions to the other players' combat efficacy are done outside of the combats is what makes this work. When I said no to buffing and specific combat support buffs, I was specifically thinking of in combat actions. Things done before hand do fit the spirit of what I'm asking about.

I think not wanting to participate in combat is a mistake. If you are spending combat actions to help the party in other ways besides direct damage that is fine, but your character should be doing something in combat. Combat is too much a part of the game to sit out entirely. Doing so is likely to cause the other players resentment. Prebuffing the party is also going to mean you are not contributing in surprise encounters or other situations where you have no time before combat begins. Many of the best buffs are short duration so need to be done either in combat or right before it.

The game I ran Doc in was a lot different than Pathfinder in both mechanics and setting. The biggest difference was that 90% of the time normal weapons the party used were useless or at most highly ineffective. Without my character figuring out the monster’s weakness the party could not win. When we encountered a monster that was damaged by salt, I modified some paint guns to use highly concentrated salt water instead of paint. Even when we ran into werewolves my character not only figured out what they were, he also was the one to make the silver bullets. That is not something that was available for purchase in the campaign.

What it comes down to is the all characters need to contribute their share to the success of the party. In most campaigns combat is the single most important and common obstacle. So, in most campaigns a character that is not contributing to combat in a meaningful way is going to need to solve the majority if not all the other problems the party encounters to do their share. If the character is not contributing to combat in a meaningful way the other characters in the group are going to need to make up the difference which will lower their ability to contribute to solving other problems.

At minimum the character will need to be able to fill the roles of face, healer (with all condition removal), trap removal (including magical traps), and skill monkey (including all knowledge skills and scouting). In addition to the above requirements the character needs to be able to survive the combat without any help from the party. If one of the other characters needs to protect this character that will reduce that character ability to contribute to combat and now the party is in even worse shape.

The only class I can see that might pull this off is a human empiricist investigator. They will need to have the infusion talent so they can use their extracts on others, and a few other talents to allow them to use inspiration to boost their skills without needing to spend inspiration points. They would also need the trait student of philosophy to allow them to use INT instead of CHA for Diplomacy and Bluff. Between the archetype and the trait, he can use INT on all parts of Diplomacy, but can only use Bluff to lie. Precise Treatment will get INT to heal. Focused Study will give him skill focus 3 times instead of any one feat. That will help with the skills that are not INT based. With INT being his highest stat and getting 6 skill points per level and the human extra skill point he should have lots of skill points. Studied Combat and Studied Strike will give him some combat ability even with no other resources are used for combat.

Since UMD will be INT based the character will be able to use scrolls and other magic items for spells that are not on his list. This is going to be how the character will be able to bring a dead character to life.

Heroism is going to be very useful for this character as it lasts a long time and gives a bonus to all skills, attacks and save.

The big problem I see is the other characters may not want to be relegated to playing beat sticks.

Unless what gives you the feat says it ignores prerequisites the rule that if you do not meet the prerequisite means you cannot use the feat still applies. So, even if the word Any allows you to take the feat, the character would not gain the benefit of the feat. The ranger bonus feat includes that language which is why they can gain the benefit of the feat even if they do not meet the prerequisites.

Inspire courage can increase the DPR of a party significantly. It may not seem like much, but it adds up especially once you get to at least 5th level. Depending on the party inspire courage can boost the DPR by 25% and in some cases could double the DPR of the party. If the party has pets and summoned creatures it is even better. I would consider that a good contribution to combat.

Inspire Courage is a buff that affects the entire party including most summoned creatures. The bonus to attack and damage are competence bonuses so will usually stack with almost anything. If the bard is using inspire courage, he is buffing the party even if he does nothing else.

So, you are suggesting the OP plays a poorly played character? Anyone doing that is likely to be kicked out of most games.

That may be true, but I would still advise against the orc bloodline. The extra damage is good, but I think not having any decent bloodline powers, only 1 good bloodline feat, and half your bloodline spells being poor choices is not worth the 1 point per die.

The draconic bloodline will give him a breath weapon, energy resistance and natural armor bonus, wings at will with no duration, 3 good feats, and better bloodline spells. The only weak bloodline power is claws which will be traded out for Blood Havoc anyways. His damage with spells of his energy type will match the orc bloodline and all others will only be at most 1 HP per level lower. I would much rather play a sorcerer that can fly above his enemies and rain down spells, than play a sorcerer with a high STR that becomes large.

Draconic gives you immunity to sleep and paralysis in addition to your energy type. It also gives blind sense 60 ft. The Draconic capstone is way better.

Good point.

I have to agree with Derklord on separating out characters. Part of the problem is players often feel if they are not specialized in something they cannot do it.

I had a paladin in a game I run that focused on melee combat but still had a bow. The party had finally confronted the boss of story arc, and the paladin had declared a smite evil on the boss at the beginning of the fight but had been delayed by the boss’s minions. When the battle turned against the boss it flew away. When this happened the player of the paladin gave up and complained there was nothing he could do. When I pointed out that he had a bow, his response was I don’t know how to use it. His chance to hit with the smite evil up was 1 point short of his chance to hit the boss without the smite evil but using power attack. If the paladin had run out of smite evil’s he would not have hesitated to attack the boss in melee. This was a high-level paladin, with a good CHA, so even though he did not take a single archery feat he still had a good chance to hit and was doing decent damage that bypassed all DR.

There are a lot of classes that have class abilities that work regardless of what type of weapon you are using. The ranger’s favored enemy and the inquisitor’s bane can be used on any weapon. If you are a full BAB class and are proficient in the weapon you can usually do some damage in any combat even when not using your preferred weapon. Even most ¾ BAB class can contribute something in combat when using a different method of attack. It may not be as much as your normal damage, but it can still win the battle.

If he is going to go for a sorcerer focused on doing damage with his spells Orc bloodline is a poor choice. The bloodline gives you the Orc subtype including darkvision, but also gives you light sensitivity. Most of the bloodline power are designed to boost your melee combat, which most sorcerers avoid. The bonus vs fear and latter immunity to fear is not bad, but those are usually will save which is the sorcerer’s good save. Half the bloodline spells also do not do any damage.

The draconic bloodline would be a better choice. They get the same bonus to damage on the spells but are not restricted to fire. The bloodline powers are more useful especially the breath weapon and wings. The bloodline spells are not damaging spells but are for the most part useful. The main concern is getting all three form of the dragon spells. The capstone is also much better.

The solar bloodline is also a good choice especially in an undead heavy campaign. It gives a bit of healing and condition removal which is always useful. The bloodline spells in a normal campaign are ok, but in a campaign with a lot of undead they are incredibly powerful.

I believe it used to be popular for Bards to be played this way, which is why the Bard class itself was unpopular for a time. The Cleric class also has a tendency to occasionally be played as a pure healer in the back rather than a combatant which is also somewhat frowned upon as it often does not mesh well with the party's needs in such a combat-driven game, though the Cleric does at least heal the party that is now being more injured for lack of a combatant.

Personally, I believe this noncombatant form of play is better suited for systems other than Dungeons & Dragons and derivatives.

The Bard is one of if not the best buffing and support class in the game. The OP specified he was not talking about buffing and supporting the other characters, which leaves out the bard.

The rules about summoned creatures are the exception, because the section on summoning specifies, they expire. But that rule does not apply to anything else, including called creatures.

One reason to include this is because the archetype relies on this skill for a lot of its abilities. By putting in in the archetype like it did means the archetype will not stack with any archetype that remove craft as a class skill. I do not know of any archetypes that do remove craft as a class skill, but the prevents future (at the time the archetype was created) archetype that removes craft as a class skill from working with this archetype.

All characters have an unarmed strike; the brawlers class feature unarmed strike modifies the unarmed strike all characters have. So, if you take an archetype that replaces the unarmed strike class feature your constructed limb does damage as a normal unarmed limb. If the archetype modifies the unarmed strike class feature you use those modifications on the constructed limb.

The starting constructed limb is mainly flavor. This way if you start at 1st level you can still play the class like it was designed to be played. This is like the wizard staring with a spell book.

Unless the spell specifies otherwise, they do not stop when the caster dies or goes unconscious unless they require concentration. I cannot recall any spells that specify that but there may be some.

Unless the spell is dismissible the caster cannot end the spell before the duration runs out even if they wish to. Spells that are dismissible have a (D) at the end of their duration. Spells that require concentration are always dismissible, but do not require an action to dismiss.

I have played a character like that, but not in Pathfinder. I played a character in a Hero System game that had almost no direct combat ability but had skills that were incredibly high. The campaign was set in modern times, but we fought strange monsters. In many ways it was similar to Call of Cthulhu. Most of what we went up against was immune or at least highly resistant to normal damage. My characters job was to figure out how to kill the monster, then I let the rest of the party do the actual fighting.

I was also a highly skilled doctor and on more than one occasion saved the other PC’s from dying. We had no access to magic, so normal medicine was the only way to keep the characters alive. The campaign was also heavy on investigation, and my character was the absolute best in that area as well as in technology. In many cases I would invent or modify the weapons the other characters used to allow them to hurt the monsters.

So, while I did little or no damage, I still made major contributions to combat. In Pathfinder that is the equivalent of the buff and support that the OP does not want to do.

Melkiador is right about the party size. In your typical party of 4 having 25% of the party not contributing significantly to combat is going to hurt. In a party of 6 that drops it down to 17% of the party not contributing significantly to combat.

You also need to make sure the non-combat area you are focusing on is extremely useful to the party and occurs enough that your ability makes up for not contributing in combat. Having a single skill or ability at high levels is not enough no matter what the skill or ability is. For example, having a high bluff or diplomacy is not going to cut it. Having a high bluff, diplomacy and sense motive and a few other abilities to boost your ability to be useful in social situations would be more acceptable. Your abilities also need to be significantly higher than anyone in the party for this to work. If the bard in the party has an equal diplomacy and the inquisitor has a higher sense motive this concept does not work.

An inquisitor works well for this concept. I have a build I call the Voice of God that is extremely good at social situations. He is a half orc with an 8 CHA with the reformation inquisition and takes the half orc FCB of intimidate and identify. He maxed out diplomacy, intimidate, sense motive, and perform oratory. His bluff is also high, but not as high as the other social skills. At 12th level he matches the 15th level mythic paladin that also has maxed out diplomacy. I took signature skill for intimidate, but if you switch it to diplomacy, he would be able to alter the attitude of an NPC in one round with a +16 bonus after taking the -10 penalty.

This character is actually very good at combat, but you could change the build to be less focused on combat than he is.

Since the player has already played 2 clerics and a warpriest the oracle would be the easiest for him to play. Although the clerics may have focused on buffing and healing, they still had access to their entire spell list, so the player is probably at least familiar with the spell list. By 12th level an oracle of heavens with the blackened curse will have 16 spells from just his mystery and curse. If he plays a human oracle and puts the favored class bonus into extra spells known he will still have 12 0 level, 7 1st level, 7 2nd level, 6 3rd level, 5 4th level, 3 5th level and 1 6th level for spells he can choose. He can also have 3 offensive revelations (spray of shooting stars, interstellar cold, and dweller in darkness) in addition to awesome display. His color spray should be able to affect creatures as if they were 7 HD less, so it will knock out, blind, and stun creatures of up to 9HD, and blind up to 12HD.

But the player wants to try a spontaneous arcane caster. Since he is looking for damage, crowd control, and utility my suggestion would be to play a school savant arcanist with the admixture as his school. Intense spell will add damage to all his evocation spells; Versatile evocation will allow him to change the damage type to overcome resistances or exploit vulnerabilities. Being able to prepare an extra evocation spell per spell level will be very useful. Most evocation spells are focused on damage, but it does have some crowd control spells as well. Wall of Force is a very good crowd control spell.

The arcanist gives him the ability to boost either his caster level or the DC of the saving throw. Both can help increase the damage he deals with his spells. For feats he can take spell focus and greater spell focus evocation to boost the DC of the saving throw. Spell penetration and greater spell penetration are also something he will want especially as he levels up. If he goes for an elf he could (with potent magic) boost the caster level by 8 to overcome spell resistance. Or he could boost the save on his evocation by 4 and the caster level would still be 6 higher than normal to overcome spell resistance.

Since the player has already experienced at playing a prepared caster that should minimize the problems many inexperienced players with having to memorize spells.

One thing about the sorcerer is that they are often easier to play. Having a small list of spells, you can cast as needed obviously has some drawbacks, but it also has some advantages especially for a player that does not know the spell list well. With a sorcerer the player can focus on knowing his spells and not worry about the others. That makes it easier to understand all your spells and when best to use them. The arcanist or other class that prepares spells has more spells to keep track of and must figure out which ones will be useful for what the party is going up against. The sorcerer usually chooses his spells based on being able to adapt them to multiple circumstances. The individual spell may not be optimal but usually can get the job done.

In all honesty if this is your first time playing a full arcane caster the sorcerer may be a better fit. They have less choices than the arcanist but requires less system mastery. You know ahead what your abilities will be so can focus on figuring out how to use them to the best advantage.

If you did want to try an oracle an oracle of the heavens with the blackened curse can play very differently than a cleric or war priest. There are enough cleric blasting spells and revelations for that mystery you can create a very good blaster. If you take the ability to cast inflict spells spontaneously you can even go for a bad touch blasting build. Oracles get to decide whether they cast cure or inflict spells, and their alignment has nothing to do with it.

What besides a full spontaneous caster do you want in a character. That is going to be more important in choosing a class than which class is "better".

Which is better or more powerful is a very subjective question. A lot of it will depend on the player as much as the class. If you as a player do not use a class feature well, it becomes less important to the question of what is better. For example, I had a player playing a paladin who totally ignored his spells. For that player switching to an archetype that traded away his spell casting was better even though what he gained was less powerful. While you are not playing a paladin and obviously do not want to trade away spells the example is still valid.

If you are open to a psychic, are you open to other full spontaneous casters. An oracle is also a full spontaneous caster and with the right mystery they can get access to many spells from other list that can allow them to be very different from a cleric.

One thing that should also be considered is will the character being taking any archetypes. This affects the arcanist more than it does the sorcerer. For the most part the archetypes for the sorcerer are not that good and do not really alter how the class works. The archetypes for the arcanist on the other hand can fundamentally alter how the class works.

The blood arcanist as has already been mentioned allows the character to function very similar to a sorcerer. The school savant allows you to gain the specialty school features of a wizard. The elemental master gives the character some non-spell attacks. Both the school savant and elemental master also give the arcanist the ability to prepare 1 extra spell per spell level. The unlettered arcanist uses the witch spell list instead of the wizard spell list. Other archetypes offer even more unusual abilities.

Before choosing between arcanist and sorcerer I would take a look at the arcanist archetypes to see if any of them look like something you want to play.

Having a decent CHA will be useful to an Arcanist but it does not need to be super high. They have more stat requirements than a sorcerer or wizard, but they are nowhere near as bad as a monk. The sorcerer is in the same boat if they want a decent number of skill points.

A Peri-Blooded Aasimar would work well for an Arcanist. Not only do they get a bonus to both INT and CHA they get a bonus to spellcraft and knowledge planes. The point buy on the campaign will also affect this. On a low point buy the need for more diverse stats hurts more than a higher point buy. If the game is using a 25 point buy (my preference), this will not be that big of a deal. On a 15 point buy it will be painful.

What it really comes down to is what the player wants out of the character. Either a arcanist or sorcerer could work for what the OP wants.

Consume spells has a minimum of 1, so even in you dump CHA you can still use it at least once. Overusing this ability will mean you have even fewer spells. It is probably better using Consume spells only when you really need the arcane points.

When it comes to saving throws that is where the arcanist has the advantage. With Potent Magic the arcanist can increase either the caster level or the saving throws DC by 2. That is equal to the bonus provided by spell focus and greater spell focus and stacks with those feats. Because it uses a limited resource it you probably cannot use it on all you spell at higher level, but when you do use it, it is very good.

The need for CHA is going to depend on your build. For some having a decent CHA is going to be needed, but in other cases you do not need CHA.

On paper it seems that both classes have the same number of spells that they can cast at each level. But the sorcerer gets bloodline spells, and many races get extra spells known as an FCB. This can give the up to 3 extra spells per spell level they can choose from. This still does not match the arcanist’s ability to change his spells daily, it does lessen the impact of having a limited number of spells. In this I would still give the advantage to the arcainist.

In number of spells cast per day the sorcerer obviously comes out ahead. But the arcainist has more than just spells to use, they also get exploits. Exploits give the arcanist options that the sorcerer does not have. In some cases, it can make spells more powerful and harder to resist. Being able to raise the caster level or DC of the save by 2 (with Potent Magic) is something the sorcerer cannot match. Being able to teleport 10 feet per level as a 5-foot step is incredible. In some cases, the exploit can give the arcainist an attack.

The sorcerer does get bloodline powers and arcana but a blood arcainist can gain those by sacrificing 4 exploits and magical supremacy. The blood arcainist will still have 6 exploits at 20th level. The sorcerer does get bloodline feats but only 3 of them. The feat Extra Arcanist Exploit makes each exploit worth a feat. So that puts the blood arcanist up 3 for comparison. Are the extra spells a sorcerer can cast better than having potent magic, dimensional slide, and school understanding admixture (intense spells and versatile evocation). You do not need to take the blood arcainist archetype, but it makes it easier to compare the powers of the two classes.

The last thing to look at is the stats. On the surface it would seem the sorcerer has the advantage on this. But consider how useful CHA is besides casting spells or for class features. Both classes get 2 skill points plus INT bonus per level. That means the arcainist will have a lot of skills, where the sorcerer will have very few. If you are ok with playing a character with no skills the advantage is with the sorcerer, but if you want any skills they come out fairly even.

The main advantage to the arcainist is flexibility. Not only can they change out their spells daily they have a lot of options for the player to choose from. About the only choice the sorcerer gets is what bloodline they take. Blood Arcainist and School Savant archetypes gives you the option of playing something very similar to a wizard or sorcerer but still having some flexibility to customize your character with exploits.

Do you know what the other party member are going to be? That will help to figure out what type of out of combat utility would be more useful. If another character is already focused on an out of combat role and is better suited for it than you character you are not really going to be able to contribute anything even with appropriate skills or abilities. In other cases, the party may want all characters to be competent in certain areas. For example, if the rest of the party is good at stealth and your character is not that might limit what you can actually do.

The archetype gives you craft construct. That means you can simply build another one when your familiar is destroyed.

At 1st level normal studded leather is available and affordable. At that point his DEX bonus will not be higher than 5. As he levels up it will raise as gains stat increases for level and picks up a belt of DEX. Darkleaf studded leather is also a better option and cost less than a mithral chain shirt.

STR can be a concern when carrying equipment but there are things that can help. Usually the heaviest item a character has is armor and weapons. Special materials like mithral and darkleaf cloth can help with that. Mithral weapons also count as silver but do not have the damage penalty and weighs half what a normal weapon does.

Playing a small creature can be beneficial to a character with a low STR score. The carrying capacity for a small creature is ¾ of that of a medium creature, but most of their gear weighs ½ of normal. A normal chain shirt will take up 96% of the light load for a medium character with an 8 STR. A normal chain shirt will take around 64% of the light load of a small 8 STR character.

When you have a small character using special material for their equipment the weight limit becomes a lot less of a problem. But not all items are subject to size some things are not based on the characters size. Spell books and alchemy crafting kits are not reduced for small characters, neither is treasure.

Human works fine and the extra feat is helpful. The OP wanted a small race, so I choose gripli for the bonus to DEX and WIS. The human warpriest can start out with two weapon fighting, weapon focus, and weapon finesse. So, at 1st level he will have 2 attacks at +3 to hit doing 1d6 damage. At 3rd level he can get slashing grace and two weapon grace. Which allows him to get DEX to damage on the main hand and half DEX to damage on the second.

Being small does reduce the damage die, but it also gives the character a +1 bonus to hit due to size. Gripli not only gives good stat bonuses it has a lot of out of combat utility that the OP valued. It is also the reason his STR is 8 instead of 10.

The warpiest may be a ¾ BAB class but the weapon focus and greater weapons focus offset some of that as does the small size. At 12th level those bonuses bring up his chance to hit equal to those of a full BAB class without those feats. The lower BAB means things like piranha strike scale up slower. That means he gets less damage but also means he takes less penalty so that evens out.

Two weapon fighting requires a very high DEX so there is not a lot of room for STR in a 20 point buy. But as a DEX based character your AC will be coming mainly from your DEX, and you will be using light armor. A mithral chain shirt or dark leaf studded leather is your best bet. Kukris are also light weapons and only weight 1 pound each for a small character.

By 11th level a warpriest using two weapon fighting has 4 or more attacks per round. That means the chance of a critical threat is 76%, not 51%. With all the bonuses to hit the warpriest has by that level anything high enough to be a threat is probably going to hit. The character will still need to confirm the critical, but that is about all. This does not factor in if the character gets other attacks from things like haste or AoO.

If you can play a Grippli warpriest that should give you everything you want. It does take longer to develop than the human but has much better out of combat ability. Grippli get a climb speed which gives you a +8 bonus on climb and the ability to take 10 even while in danger. They also get a +4 bonus to all stealth rolls due to size, and an additional +4 in marshes and forest. Having a high DEX is going to boost that even higher. Use a trait to get a stealth as a class skill and a +1 bonus and you will not need many skill points to have a good stealth roll. WIS is going to be your primary mental stat and that will give you a good bonus to heal, perception, sense motive and survival. A trait can give you a +1 to perception and make it a class skill.

With all those bonuses this character can still make a decent scout even with very few skill points. Being able to spontaneously convert any spell to a cure spell, fervor, channel energy and access to condition removal spells you are also the healer of the group. In social setting your perception and sense motive allows you to be aware of what is going on.

In Combat divine favor is your main buff and at higher levels you will have it up for all combats. The feat Dual enchantment means you can boost both your weapons, but only with the lower bonus enchantments. But adding an extra d6 of elemental damage to all your attacks is still pretty good.

Bellow is a build that could work.

Grippli warpriest 12
Small humanoid (grippli)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15
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Defense
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AC 26, touch 19, flat-footed 20 (+6 armor, +2 deflection, +6 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 87 (12d8+24)
Fort +13, Ref +14, Will +16
Defensive Abilities sacred armor (+2, 12 minutes/day)
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee +1 kukri +19/+14 (1d8+15/15-20) or
+1 kukri +19/+14 (1d8+11/15-20)
Special Attacks blessings 9/day (Good: battle companion, holy strike, Protection: aura of protection, increased defense), channel positive energy 5/day (DC 21, 4d6), fervor 11/day (4d6), sacred weapon (1d10, +3, 12 rounds/day)
Warpriest Spells Prepared (CL 12th; concentration +17)
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 25, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 10
Base Atk +9; CMB +8; CMD 26
Feats Dual Enhancement[ACG], Greater Weapon Focus (kukri), Greater Weapon Specialization (kukri), Improved Critical (kukri), Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Slashing Grace[ACG], Two-weapon Fighting, Two-weapon Grace, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (kukri), Weapon Specialization (kukri)
Traits highlander (hills or mountains), seeker
Skills Climb +16, Heal +10, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +15, Sense Motive +11, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +21 (+23 in hilly or rocky areas, +25 in marshes and forested areas.), Survival +11, Swim +5; Racial Modifiers highlander (hills or mountains)
Languages Common, Grippli
SQ camouflage, swamp stride
Other Gear mwk mithral chain shirt, mwk kukri, mwk kukri, 52,284 gp
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Special Abilities
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Blessings (9/day) (Su) Pool of power used to activate Blessing abilities.
Camouflage +4 Stealth in marshes and forested areas.
Climb (20 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Dual Enhancement When using div bond or sac wep, you may enha 2 wep or both ends of a dbl wep.
Fervor (4d6, 11/day) (Su) Standard action, touch channels positive/negative energy to heal or harm. Swift to cast spell on self.
Sacred Armor +2 (12 minutes/day) (Su) As a swift action, grant armor enhancement bonus or certain powers. Use 1 fervor as free action to also activate Sacred weapon.
Sacred Weapon +3 (12 rounds/day) (Su) As a swift action, grant weapon enhancement bonus or certain powers.
Slashing Grace (Kukri) Treat chosen weapon as 1-handed piercing weapon and can add Dex instead of Str to dam.
Swamp Stride (Ex) Not slowed by difficult terrain in swamps, unless magically manipulated.
Two-Weapon Grace Can gain effects of certain feats limited by free off hand when two weapon fighting.
Warpriest Channel Positive Energy 4d6 (5/day, DC 21) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.

A human warpriest can start with two weapon fighting, weapon finesse, and weapon focus. Assuming a 16 DEX that will give him two attacks at +2 doing 1d6 each. Cast Divine Favor as a swift action and that increases your chance to hit to +3 and the damage to 1d6+1. At 3rd level he can pick up slashing grace and two weapon grace to get DEX to damage on the first attack and half of your DEX bonus on the second. At 5th level his damage dice goes up to 1d8 and he can pick up piranha strike. 6th level gets you weapon specialization for an additional +2 to damage per attack. That should put you to two attacks at +4 doing 1d8 +11 for the first attack and 1d8+7 for the second. If you are having trouble hitting skip using piranha strike to improve you bonus to hit to +6 and your damage drops to 1d8 +7 for the first attack and 1d8 +5 for the second. At 12th level you will have 4 attacks per round and be doing 1d10 +17 with your main hand, and the offhand doing 1d10 +12, with a threat range of 15-20. This is using normal weapons and with no belt to boost your DEX.

If you really want to do a lot of damage with a low dice weapon the obvious answer is a warpriest. The damage dice scales up with level to a maximum of 2d8. You start out at 1d6 and reach 1d10 by 10th level. They also get bonus combat feats and can even get fighter only feats. The can use fervor to cast their buff spells as a swift action. Blessing and the ability to add enchantments to their weapons gives them even more ways to boost their damage.

The only drawback is their skills, but a human with FCB will get at least 4 per level with a 10 INT, if you can swing at least a 12 INT that jumps up to 5.

When looking at the archetype you need to look at the entire archetype not just one alternate class ability. Sometimes one of those replaced may not be quite as strong as what it replaced but another alternative ability may make up for that. Spell Sage replaces both Arcane Bond and School Specialization.

You give up Arcane Bond for Focused Caster. The main benefit from Arcane Bond (Object)is the ability to cast any wizard spell you know once per day. Being able to enchant the item without requiring the feat is nice but all that really does is save you some gold. Arcane Bond (Object) also comes with a big drawback. If you do not have the object casting your spells becomes a lot more difficult.

Spell Study gives you the ability to spontaneously cast any spell of off three different lists. Considering how many spells on those lists are also on the wizards list that means that you can also cast a fair number of spells off the wizards list by casting them as another class. The Bad list gets early access to a lot of spells so in some cases you might even be able to spontaneously cast a bard spell using a lower-level spell slot. You may even be able to do this with some spells of the cleric or druid list. Spell Study is giving you better spontaneous casting than Arcane Bond (Object).

Focused Spell allows you to increase your caster level by 4. That is a powerful ability. Your caster level affects multiple aspects of the spell not just damage. It can often also increase the range and or duration of the spell. It also helps in overcoming spell resistance and making caster level checks to see if the spell succeeds. Dispel Magic when used with Focused Spell becomes a lot more reliable.

Looking at all this archetype gets compared to a standard wizard looks like they should be ok. You have access to 4 spell lists, better spontaneous casting that a standard wizard and the ability to turbo charge a few spells. By 8th level you get 2 uses of both Focused Spell, and Spell Studdy. You are giving up 1 extra spell of each spell level, but you have a lot of options the specialist does not have.

To get full use out of the archetype is going to require very good system mastery. Having access to 3 other spell lists does not do you any good if you are not familiar with those spell list. If you as a player have enough knowledge that you can remember most of the details of most of the spells on all 3 lists with only minimal looking up details it may be worth it. If not, this character may end up slowing down the game to and annoying the rest of your group. I would not recommend this for a beginning player. Ideally this should be played by someone who has been a GM for a few games.

Intense spell the 1st level evocation school ability has a similar wording but specifies it is once per spell. That seems to support the idea it may not be per round. RAW is not really clear if these types of things apply more than once, so it will be up to the GM.

What it comes down to is that although you can drop a hand of the weapon you still need to use at least one hand to hold the weapon. So, unless you have another free hand you do not have a hand available for other purposes.