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I'm relatively new to Pathfinder, so unsure how most encounter monsters are played. Tried to search through the forums, but not entirely sure what this would be considered.

So given a monster's intelligence, what do you expect their in-combat behavior to be like? What is the difference between the monster's listed int bonus versus their base int?

At what level of INT do you expect monsters to:
Avoid AoO?
5-Foot step?
Reposition to AoE the most people?
Make use of combat maneuvers?
Target weakest and squieshiest person?
Target strongest and biggest threat?

I really have no base line for what a creature of INT 0 or 2 or 5 or 7 or 15 should really be doing. Should players be able to roughly gauge a monster's cognizance and adjust their in-game strategies or are monsters always hard to read and predict?

Thanks!

So for experienced players, this is likely an easy question, but when are you flanking? I tried searching the forums, but could only find more complex flanking questions.

After reading the rules for flanking and looking at the large creature example in the PRD, I came to a disagreement with another player as to when you get flanking.

FFF
-M-
-P-

Corner
FF-
FM-
--P

I was told it would only be like the below

-F-
-M-
-P-

Corner
F--
-M-
--P

Because you can use corners when considering which sides the creatures are touching and in the first grid, cell 8 touches both corners of the medium monster, I thought cells 1 and 3 would be considered flanking.

In the PRD's large example, the Fighter and Rogue didn't count for flanking because the Ogre was so large that the Fighter was basically on the side, however, if you were to reduce the Ogre's size to a single square it would look like the flanking line would touch the both sides of the mob including the corner.

Figured this would be a straight forward question, but new to Pathfinder and this differs from other game mechanics with similar rules so thought I would double check. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but would like to know for planning purposes.

Basically, which spells can I choose?
Only spells I can cast at the time I take the trait?
OR
Any spells from my spell list?

It says from my spell list, which AFAIK the PRD only ever refers to spell list as all the available spells for that class, so I'm just not sure if Lore Seeker is a sweet mid~late game trait that involves roleplaying (hence a campaign trait) OR if it is relatively useless if I only take it at level 1.

I was hoping to get some advice on bestiary options for Beast Shape I~IV. I was looking for good offensive options as well as anything that had general utility (climb, fly, etc).

For BS I, my current go-to DPR form is Deinonychus - 2 talons (1d8), 2 claws (1d4), and a bite (1d6).

BS II looked like I would just add the giant template to make a mega raptor improving its attacks to (2) 2d6, (2) 1d6, and 1d8; also would get pounce. BS III could be a mega-mega raptor doing (2) 3d6, (2) 1d8, 2d6.

For BS III/IV I wasn't sure if I gained any of the unique abilities of the magic beast (Blink Dog's blink, Unicorn's cure wounds, etc). As far as utility for them, I'm really at a loss.

BS III best DPR option looks like Aurumvorax with 1d6bite, 4 1d4 claws (starts small so could be made medium to increase damage).

BS IV best DPR option looks like a Chimera with 2d6 bite, 1d8 bite, 1d8 gore, 2 claw 1d6. High Girallon had 1 1d8 bite and 4 1d6 claws. Hodag has bite 1d10, 2 1d6 claws, 1d8 tail, and then a 1d8 gore (unsure if Hodag's gore/bite stack).

Also - when I beast shape do I keep my base movement speed or would I gain its listed movement speed? It lists the climb/fly/burrow speeds I could pick up, but it doesn't mention the base movement speed.

So, what do you guys generally turn into with Beast Shape? Thanks!

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/spells/elementalTouch.html#elem ental-touch

I have questions about the last paragraph of the rules:

Subsequent attacks inflict the normal damage, but the additional effects do not stack. This spell grants no special protection to anything held in or worn on your hands. When you cast this spell to deal acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage, it is a spell of that type.

What's confusing me is if the "subsequent attacks inflict the normal damage" means that during the 1rnd/lvl duration is the normal damage considered to be the 1d6 elemental damage?

Say I cast the spell at level 6 and choose Acid, would this mean that:

My first round would give my attack +1d6 acidic damage with the first attack dealing 1 poison damage for 2 turns and 5 turns of +1d6 acidic damage?

OR

My first round would give my attack +1d6 acidic damage with the 1 poison damage and then the next 5 turns would have the poison damage?

OR

Neither?

Assuming I took the form of something with hands, could I wield weapons and use iterative attacks?

It looked like people were in agreement that an air elemental form could use a bow so wasn't sure if this extended to other forms.

Specifically,

If I cast Form of the Dragon with a BaB of 11/6/1, could I swing three times with a falchion and pair it with a secondary Bite/Wing/Wing/Tail combo?

Or use TWF to gain 3 attacks per hand plus the four natural attacks, netting ten total attacks?

When spells give redundant effects, is it that the weaker/older spell is cleared from the stack or is its effects just latent until the stronger/newer spell wears/dispels?

Specifically
Transformation has the description:
Components V, S, M (a potion of bull's strength, which you drink and whose effects are subsumed by the spell effects)

When it talks about its effects subsuming bull's strength, would it remove the buff or just prevent stacking?

If I were a level 20 caster for example and casted both in the same turn (quickening the Bull's Strength), in 11 turns would Transformation wear and let me keep Bull's Strength?

More realistically, before entering a known fight I would like to cast Bull's Strength on myself since the duration would essentially last the entire fight, but intermittently make use of Transformation since its duration is only in rounds. Would that be possible or would Bull's Strength just be removed from the stack?

I know the effects wouldn't stack, just unsure if the spells could stack for duration purposes.

Do racial penalties and bonuses apply if I change my form? If I get +2X/-2Y because I am race A, would this change if I altered form into race B? Would racial bonuses stack or be replaced by the +/- str/dex/ac/nac etc?

If I use beastshape, form of the dragon, and the like, can I cast enlarge person on myself in addition? Specifically I am a gnome (small) and become medium (form of the dragon), could I cast enlarge on myself to become large? I'm guessing I can't because my size was already changed, but wanted to double check. What if I were medium and cast beastshape/FotD on myself, could I cast enlarge to boot since my base size didn't change?

I just started my fist PF campaign as a level 1 gnome draconic sorcerer and I am looking at how to optimize melee as best as possible.

I completely recognize that
1. Sorcerers aren't the best melee
2. Gnomes aren't the best melee
but I'm going to suck it up for flavor and just try to work what I have for the best!

My GM likes to stick by written rules so I'm looking for advice on how best to play this out with limited variation from RAW.

For feats I plan to pick up
Arcane Strike
Improved Natural Weapon (claws)
Weapon Focus (claws)
Rending Claws
Power Attack
Multiattack (maybe)

Trait Heirloom Weapon (claws)

Spells would include mage armor, shield, bull's strength, rage, heroism, true strike, haste, enlarge person, shocking grasp, vampiric touch, beastshape (dinosaurs), form of the dragon, and transformation. Might be able to swap magic weapon for magic fang.

My current plan was just to take sorcerer and dragon disciple to 20 to keep the role playing aspect in tact, which will make my damage even less without spells.

BaB would go up to 12 (20 with transformation). Strength would be 2~14: +2 rage, +4 bull's strength, 4~8 strength from form change, and another 4 from transformation. I would get another +4 to hit from weapon focus, heirloom weapon, and heroism.

I think I picked up the majority of feats, spells, and other abilities to augment my melee prowess before considering additional/alternative class levels.

If anyone has any advice on other feats/spells/abilities/ideas to pick up I'd love to hear them. I'm a bit hesitant to start adding other classes into the mix just because I don't know how those affect roleplaying, but if people have ideas on how to explain why a gnome turning into a dragon might pick it up, sure!

Thanks in advance!

If I cast beastshape I and turn into http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dinosaur.htm#deinonychus

Would that +7/+2/+2/+2 for the natural attacks stack on my BaB and STR?

If the deinonychus form receives to hit bonuses, would form of the dragon receive any additional bonuses?

Or am I misinterpreting beastshape?

Can I use wings (su, Sorcerer Draconic-bloodline lvl 15) as a natural attack?

If they could support my weight to fly (ie not vestigial) it seems like I could attack with them as a secondary natural weapon. I found the chart for wing damage based on size: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/universal-monster-rules

I have been unable to find any standard rules for what constitutes a natural weapon. Some races start off with claws and bites, so it would seem that if the appendage is fully formed and strong enough to take action (grab, lift, fly, etc) then it should be able to be used offensively.

If I can't normally make use of the wings as a natural attack, any advice on how to make them usable?

This is my first post about my first pathfinder campaign, which is basically my first full roleplaying campaign...so definitely open to all forms of advice.

My character is a lvl1 Gnome Draconic-Bloodline Sorcerer; planning to become a Dragon Disciple. The campaign is going to be pretty slow (2/month) and the dragon aspect ties into the character's background.

I really do like the concept of using natural attacks augmented by magic so I've been trying to figure out what feats would optimize them. I've been looking at Improved Natural Attack (Claws), Rending Claws, Weapon Focus (Claws), Arcane Strike, and Power Attack. If anyone knows of any other feats that would help I'd love to hear advice.

Because I've never played a serious campaign, I also have no idea how much defense I should be aiming for. I picked up Mage Armor and plan to get Shield, Bull's Strength, and eventually I can get 7 natural armor from bloodline traits...but as for lower levels I'm really unsure as to what I should get to keep myself alive. I did not expect to actually use any armor since it looked like it would require a lot of feats and other investments to make it practical.

Three questions that I was hoping someone could clarify:

Improved Natural Attack rules seem a bit wonky. It looks like I can take it once per attack type (once for claws, once for bite, etc) or does it mean I can only choose one attack type (claws or bite) and be able to take it multiple times only for that type? I'm not familiar with how rules are worded so guessing this is an easy question. Also, this is listed as a monster feat, but it was also listed under the Ranger feats for their aspect of the beast. Can players typically choose this? Could a draconic sorcerer choose this? My GM wanted to hear the community's feedback before deciding himself.

At level 15 I gain leathery wings, is there a way to use them as a natural attack? It looks like wings start out at as 1d4 each and are secondary weapons, could I just immediately use them as such once I gain access to them? Would I need to choose a specific feat or other ability to be able to attack with them?

I have not been able to find any rules about growing a tail or horns. These don't seem to be included in any class abilities nor do there seem to be any standard rules for them. Ideally I would like to start taking on a more permanent form of the dragon. I figured for aesthetics I could begin to grow a tail and horns, but I was confused on how to turn these into actual natural attacks.

My main goal was to be a melee fighter focusing on natural attacks and then mildly augment that through the use of buffing spells. My feats would all be geared towards using natural attacks instead of any metamagic or other spell feats.

So if anyone has any general feedback on how this would work, I would love to hear it! Thanks in advance.