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So, I'm locked into playing a big, beefy Shoanti Warpriest.

What I'm thinking is, if I play a Sacred Fist instead of a regular WP, I get access to Crusader's Flurry, and I get to run around without armor.

I lose Sacred Weapon, Focus Weapon and Sacred Armor, and my level 3 bonus feat. I gain the ability to make 2 attacks at the very low levels (with FoB). Traitwise, I'm thinking Heirloom Weapon for a Greatsword, and Fates Favored because I'm a Warpriest.

I'm unsure about feats. Not having +1 BAB really limits my options at level 1; I don't know if I will have the opportunity for retraining, so I guess I'm taking Weapon Focus: Greatsword at level 3 and Crusader's Flurry at level 5.

Feat suggestions very welcome. And if I could find a way to flurry with an Earthbreaker, that would be so great.

The star of the archetype is Dead Aim:

At 1st level, the hooded champion’s can spend 1 panache point when making a single ranged attack

with a bow to make a ranged touch attack instead. The target must be in the bow’s first range increment.

"When making a single ranged attack". That means it can't be used with a full attack. At that makes it a dubious action at level 3 and obsolete at level 6.

Well, I suppose it can be used with Snap Shot or Target of Opportunity.

What I mean is, if an archetype or selectable class ability gives you something that is normally a class ability of another class, you can take the attendant feats.

Examples: Life Oracle and Channeling feats, Hexcrafter Magus and the Hex Strike feat.

The case against is that while these characters have the substance of the required ability, they don't have the correct label.

Examples: [Channeling] feats require the "Channel Energy class feature". A Life Oracle has a class feature called "Revelation", an option called "Channel", which works like a cleric's Channel Energy class feature, but with a different name. Similarly, the Hexcrafter Magus has one or more Hexes, but not the required Hex class feature for Hex Strike - it's called Hex Magus or Hex Arcana.

My first argument is of course the assumption of perfection failure, or, "objection your honor, assumes precision of writing not in evidence".

But the meatier argument starts with this July 2013 FAQ entry:

Archetype: If an archetype replaces a class ability with a more specific version of that ability (or one that works similarly to the replaced ability), does the archetype's ability count as the original ability for the purpose of rules that improve the original ability?

It depends on how the archetype's ability is worded. If the archetype ability says it works like the standard ability, it counts as that ability. If the archetype's ability requires you to make a specific choice for the standard ability, it counts as that ability. Otherwise, the archetype ability doesn't count as the standard ability. (It doesn't matter if the archetype's ability name is different than the standard class ability it is replacing; it is the description and game mechanics of the archetype ability that matter.)

Now, this FAQ is only discussing archetypes in the context of parent classes that have the class feature in question. But the bolded part is a statement of intent that might be applicable in other cases.

And indeed, Advanced Class Guide gives us the Primalist Archetype of the Bloodrager class, with the Primal Choices feature, which gives you the option of selecting Rage Powers, and then goes on to say that it "does not count as the rage power class feature for determining feat prerequisites and other requirements."

This exception implies a general rule that if you have one or more rage powers, you qualify for feats as if you had the rage powers class feature; more generally, that if you have the ability to use a given class feature, you counts as having that class feature for the purpose of prerequisites and requirements; this extends the FAQ ruling and is consistent with the bolded statement of intent.

Counterarguments, please?

So, Erinyes Devils have constant True Seeing. Do summoned Erinyes have True Seeing?

Summon Monster: "Creatures summoned using this spell cannot use spells or spell-like abilities that duplicate spells with expensive material components"

But, IMO, the usual rules meaning of "use" is "activate", not "benefit from". By this line of thinking, the Erinyes doesn't need to "use" True Seeing, it's already active.

Thoughts?

Bleed damage can be stopped with Heal checks or magical healing. And AFAICT, the Heal skill can only be used on others.

So, someone with no access to magical healing, and no ally or kind stranger willing to bind their wounds, is going to bleed out in a matter of minutes. Right?

Poisons are terrible for PCs. But can we salvage something useful?

First off, these are the Society legal poisons (from the FAQ):
Giant wasp poison (DC 18, 1d2 Dex, 210 gp)
Large scorpion venom (DC 17, 1d2 Str, 200 gp)
Medium spider venom (DC 14, 1d2 str, 4 rounds, 150 gp)
Shadow essence (strictly inferior to giant wasp poison; we don't care about the difference between damage and drain)
Small centipede poison (DC 11, 1 dex, 4 rounds, 90 gp)

...I'm not impressed.

Alchemy Manual adds a LOT of new poisons to that list.
Flaming Doom (DC 18/2 saves, 1d6 fire dam + save vs catching fire, 900 gp)
Smell of Fear (Inhaled DC 17/2 saves, 1/min for 6 minutes, 1d2 Wis and Shaken becomes Frightened)
Alchemical Isolation (inhaled DC 13/1 save, initial defeaned, secondary blinded, 1/minute 2 minutes)
Count Ambras punishment (Contact DC 16, onset 1 minute, 1/minute for 6 minutes, initial: 1 dex drain and Nauseated 1 minute, 350 gp)
Confabulation powder: inhaled DC 18, 1/minute 2 minutes, staggered + extra effects, 80 gp

Okay, now we've got some serious debuffs on the table. Interestingly, they're mostly Inhaled or Contact.

Next post: How to use poisons.

I'm seriously considering Evolved Familiar for my Crow (Raven) familiar, to gain 5' reach on the bite.

But what would that look like?

So, the PCs at my table include:
An Oath of Vengeance archer Paladin
A dual-revolver gunslinger
A Tiger animal companion

...and a drunken master halfling. Who is really having trouble pulling his weight. So I was thinking, what if the Raven's Head was somehow massively useful to his character? He doesn't hit enough, and doesn't do enough damage, so...+Level to all damage done, to living mortals (not outsiders or constructs) and undead, while holding the rod in hand?

I'll running this soon. Going through the module, I see a lot of terrible, terrible statblocks.

Merrick Sais, the Druid Vampire. Cool chatacter. But with a +9 BAB, +7 Str modifier, and several feats dedicated to melee fighting, and being the sole opponent in the fight, "+16/+11/1d4+8/17-20" is NOT something you bring to the table.

The Vampire Enforcers on p. 25 (who start out as a social encounter, then somehow chug 2 potions before the fight starts?). With rapid reload and haste, they can do ....+13/+13/+8, 1d8, 19-20 with their crossbows? Or +16/+16/+11, 1d8+9/19-20 with longswords. Maybe if all four can surround the most vulnerable member of the party, it could be a fight.

Lady Evgenya was written by someone who doesn't understand rules nor high-level combat. Her tactics mention quickened dimension door, which she cannot actually cast because metamagic adept doesn't work that way. "If forced into melee, she casts X then fights like Y" - I see this in a lot of statblocks, and it's always wrong. If forced into melee, she has one, maybe two rounds to live unless she solves that problem.

Radvir himself only has 3 enslaved spawn at 38 hp each to flank with. He's not going to get much sneak attack in.

Has anyone done a rebuild of those to provide meaningful opposition to a level 11 party?

You know the issue I'm talking about. Just add another +1 to the people who would like to see the forum software settings changed.

So, I was discussing how terrible the First Worlder archetype is, and then I realized that the casting time for Spell-Like Abilities is unclear.

From the Bestiary: "Using all other [meaning not "Constant"]spell-like abilities is a standard action unless noted otherwise"
From the Core Book:"A spell-like ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description."

First off, let's agree that those two statements are meant to be functionally identical. When a Duergar uses her Enlarge Person SLA, it should not matter if you wrote that ability down from the Advanced Race Guide or the Bestiary.

"Unless otherwise noted" means "unless otherwise noted right here". It certainly doesn't mean "standard action, except you look up the casting time for every single spell and use that instead". That interpretation would make the entire "standard action unless otherwise noted" pointless, and would furthermore assume that spells had a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise - they don't, every single spell has casting time listed.

So, Bastards of Golarion has this interesting little trick:

So, "The new target must be within the spell's range". So what happens if the spell has a range of "Touch"?

Questions:
*With Ride-By Attack, given a simple setup (two combattants on a featureless plain), can you charge in such a way that you can simply continue moving in a straight line after attacking?
*Given that the mount can't attack during a Ride-By-Attack, do you interpret "the closest space from which you can attack the opponent" from he perspective of the mount or the rider?

Problem: When you draw a straight line from your space to "the closest space from which you can attack the opponent", the continuation of that line - the movement you would make as part of a Ride-By-Attack - will often pass through the enemy's space, making it impossible to do so without employing very obscure tactics.

Basically, if you and your target are aligned on the same row of squares, you can't do a ride-by attack by the rules as written. If he's offset by one row, you can. This is obviously unsatisfactory.

Given that any reasonable reading of the rules must take into consideration the Principle of Implied Exception (for an example, see Ferocious Summons), I think it's most reasonable to assume that Ride-By Attack allows you to charge to a space that would allow you to actually ride by.

Question: If the mount and rider have different Reach, who can attack on a mounted charge and where does the movement end?

I've noticed a frustrating amount of table variation on the topic of mounted charges. This shouldn't be happening; a human with a lance on a horse charging someone is not a weird corner case scenario, it's a very basic concept that should be clear from the basic rules.

As I understand it, when a knight charges, the horse does the actual charging, moving to the closest space from which the horse can attack. Given that the horse has a reach of 5', and the lance has a reach of 10', this would preclude the knight from actually attacking. Which is obviously not the intent. So the mounted combat rules has the lance attack being a "kinda-sorta readied attack gaining the benefits of a charge", not an actual charge.

The opposite case, where the mount has greater reach, is pretty rare; you can always get 10' with a weapon, and a mount would need to be Gargantuan or have special reach; if it has special reach, like a long-necked dragon, I would probably allow it to make a "claw charge", putting within 10' instead of 15', at the cost of making an inferior attack. Thoughts?

Relevant to the topic at hand:

Lance: If I have the pounce ability and I charge with a lance, do my iterative lance attacks get the lance's extra damage multiplier from charging?

No, for two reasons.

One, because a lance only deals extra damage when you’re riding a charging mount—not when you are charging.

Two, even if you have an unusual combination of rules that allows you to ignore the above limitation, it doesn’t makes sense that those iterative attacks gain the damage bonus....

—Sean K Reynolds, 03/01/12

AFAICT, Flurry of Blows just sets your Strength multiplier to *1. It doesn't change the fact that you're two-handing the weapon.

I'm looking to make an Eldritch Knight archer, starting at level 3.

On the arcane side, I'm using Scryer Diviner, and still undecided between that tempting arcane bond (bow) and a familiar. I'm kinda committed to being an Elf.

On the martial side, there are many options:
*Magus. Arcane Pool kinda-sorta compensates for the lack of BAB, but it doesn't really bring anything to the table. Although I could take the Soul Forger archetype, and have both a bonded item and a familiar.
*Monk (Sohei) doesn't synergize well with an archer-wizard.
*Fighter gets me a bonus feat, but that's it.
*Cavalier, Samurai, Gunslinger, Brawler, Bloodrager: Like Fighter, but worse.
*Skald is so terrible, it gets a line all to itself.
*Paladin (Divine Hunter) is a pretty sweet dip for Precise Shot, but then I'd have to be a Paladin.
*Barbarian (Urban) gives me +2 to hit for a few rounds everyday; not terrible.
*Ranger doesn't get me a bonus feat, but I get Favored Enemy, which is nice, access to Ranger spells, and a very nice array of skills.
*Hunter or Swashbuckler don't synergize well
*Slayer gives me nice skills, but I'd rather have FE than Favored Target.
*Warpriest looks very juicy. Free Weapon Focus, effectively full BAB, fort and will saves, blessings and access to the Cleric list. I can still dump Cha, because I'll only be taking one level.

So, a friend of mine wants to play a Paladin with good Knowledges, starting at level 2.
Other than a level of Oracle, any suggestions?

I'm looking to make a switch hitting kind of character, and I'd like to be able to make a ranged attack as a class ability. Ideally, I'd like to be able to reliably hit multiple enemies at short range for a little bit of damage, with some sort of debuff attached, but I'm open to compromise.

I know Alchemist would be a great choice, but I'm trying to avoid duplication. I'm looking to start at 3rd level.

Apparently, nothing generates more questions that the Magus. So we need a repository of all rules, explanations and rulings. I hope you fine gentlemen will help me with this.

Let's use this thread to gather the information, and a document to collate and present it. Unattributed quotes are from the FAQ.

**Link to the document**

[u]Spell Combat[/u]
Q: How does it work?
A: You must be wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon(*), and have the other hand free(**). You can then cast a Magus spell(***) and still attack(****) with your weapon.

(*) Light or One-handed melee weapon:

Q: When using Spell Combat, can the weapon in my other hand be an unarmed attack or a natural weapon?

A: Yes, so long as the weapon is a light or one-handed melee weapon and is associated with that hand. For example, unarmed strikes, claws, and slams are light melee weapons associated with a hand, and therefore are valid for use with spell combat. A tail slap is not associated with a hand, and therefore is not valid for use with spell combat.

Q: When using spell combat, do I specifically have to use the weapon in my other hand, or can I use a mixture of weapons (such as armor spikes and bites) so long as my casting hand remains free?

A: You specifically have to use the light or one-handed melee weapon in your other hand.

(**)Presumably, the free hand is necessary for somatic and material components. But it's a separate requirement for Spell Combat, so you need a free hand even if you don't need somatic or material components.

(***) Casting a Magus spell means casting a spell, cantrips included, from the Magus spell list, that you've prepared in a Magus spell slot. The Broad Study and Wand Wielder Arcana change this.

(****) Attacking with the other hand. You get to make all the attacks you could make with that hand if you were making a Full Attack, including Haste. If you have natural attacks or multiple arms, you can't use them with spell combat as you could with a regular Full Attack.

Q: Magus, Spell Combat: If I use spell combat, how many weapon attacks can I make?

A: You can make as many weapon attacks as you would normally be able to make if you were making a full attack with that weapon. For example, if you are an 8th-level magus (BAB +6/+1), you could make two weapon attacks when using spell combat.

Edit 9/9/13: This is a revised ruling about how haste interacts with effects that are essentially a full attack, even though the creature isn't specifically using the full attack action (as required by haste). The earlier ruling implied that spell combat did not allow the extra attack from haste (because spell combat was not using the full attack action).

Q: Can you use Flurry of Blows with Spell Combat?

[u]Spell Strike, Touch spells, holding the charge[u]
Note that when you cast a touch spell, you can attempt a single(*) touch attack(**) as a free action in the same turn that you cast the spell. Spell Strike lets you replace that touch attack with an armed attack, and that's how a 2nd level Magus has 2 attacks per round: One weapon attack, one spell (from Spell Combat), one free touch attack (from the rules for touch spells) turned into a weapon attack (from Spellstrike).

(*) It's a single touch attack, even if you cast Chill Touch:

Magus, Spellstrike: If I cast a spell that allows multiple touch attacks, can I deliver all of those spell touches through my weapon?

Yes. For example, if you cast chill touch (which allows multiple touch attacks), you could use spellstrike to cast and deliver the spell through your weapon, and in later weapon attacks you could use your weapon to deliver the remaining spell touch attacks (one spell touch attack per weapon attack).

If you have multiple attacks per round with that weapon (such as from having a BAB of +6 or higher), you can use the weapon to deliver multiple spell touch attacks per round, so long as you have uses of that spell touch attack remaining.

For example, if you are an 8th-level magus (BAB +6/+1) and you cast chill touch, you have up to 8 uses of that spell touch attack. If you make two weapon attacks in a round, you can deliver two spell touch attacks per round (one for each successful weapon attack).

Q: But I read that you can touch up to 6 targets in one round?

(**) Attempting a touch attack.
Q: Can I use a natural attack or unarmed strike?
A: With Spellstrike, absolutely. Whether or not a non-Magus can substitute an unarmed strike or natural weapon attack for the free action touch attack is unclear.

Q: Can I use a combat maneuver?
A: Unclear. In my opinion, yes.

I like Conjuration. So I've slapped together more than one wizard, but I'm thinking that all the CL boosts I've accumulated....really aren't that helpful. So I thought I'd look over the school, see what's what.

0. Level
- Nothing to see here

1. Level
- Mostly durations. The good spells either last 1 hour/level, or 1 minute/level, where 1 minute is usually enough. SM I and Stumble Gap each last for rounds and need a CL boost, but neither are really good options.
The only spells that have variable effects are Corrosive Touch (an inferior Shocking Grasp) and Icicle Dagger (a complete waste of a spell slot).

2. Level
Acid Arrow: 1 round, +1 round/3 levels.
Arrow Eruption: Targets 1 creature/level.
Create Pit: Duration and effect, tops out at 6th level.
Cushioning Bands: Can prevents 12 damage/level, but I don't see this spell maxing out ever.
Fiery Shuriken is level-variable.
Glitterdust is rounds/level, but 3 or 4 rounds is usually plenty.
Mount, Communal: Both the intended use and "Wall of Horse" benefits from a higher CL.
Reloading Hands last 1 round/level.
Stone Call does damage, then creates difficult terrain for 1 round/level.
Conclusion: A slight increase in duration is widely useful at level 3 or 4. CL boosts benefit inferior or specialty spells.

3. level
Note: At this point, 1 round/level hardly needs a boost.
Ablative Barrier can convert 5 points of damage/level. So, it's highly level variable. On the other hand, if you expect to be hit by more than 5 attacks in a day, you're not playing your wizard like I play them.
Ice Spears is not terrible, and conjures 1 spear/4 levels.
Pellet Blast scales up to level 10, but is an absolutely terrible spell.
Phantom Steed: The spell is variable up to level 14.
Spiked Pit: Level variable up to level 10, but doesn't really need the extra depth.
All in all, not much call for CL. Only Spiked Pit and Ice Spears are spells I'd regularly memorize.

4. level
Acid Pit: At this point, you really don't need a longer duration.
Black Tentacles: More grapple is better.
Conjure Deadfall is level-based, but not even good enough to be a 3rd level spell.
Dimension Door: 1 passenger/3 levels.
Fleshworm Infestation: 1 round/level. Potentially useful for a hit-and-run attack.

...so basically, CL is useful, especially at levels 3 to around 5, but save DC is probably far more useful.

I love squeezing the rules until something interesting falls out, and here's what I've been thinking recently.

Getting spells known of a higher spell level than your highest available spell slot is easy:

*Clerics and Druids know all spells of all spell levels they are able to cast divine spells from (Source: the Magic chapter of the Core). So, having a high-level divine Spell-like Ability gets them every spell of that level as a spell known.
*Oracles can take the Haunted curse and accelerate the curse with a Favored Class Bonus, getting Telekinesis as a spell known at level 7.
*Ancient Lorekeeper Oracles can add wizard spells known of a level beyond their ability to cast.
*Expanded Arcana (feat from APG) will let you add one spell known, with no level restriction.
*Wizards can just straight up scribe any wizard spell they come across.
*Abilities that let you add spells "lower than the highest level spell you can cast" can be tricked. Favored Class abilities, spontaneous caster retraining, cross-class pilfering like the Magaambyan Arcanist or the Pathfinder Savant (who can actually just scribe an 8th level spell from any class in his spellbook without using any tricks). This is very useful in and of itself.

But what do you do with your high level spells known? None of the immediately obvious tricks will let you actually cast them: Arcane Bonded Object and Spirit Ranger both stipulate spells you're actually capable of casting. IIRC, Heighten Spell + Metamagic cost reducer has been patched, so that trick is out.

The Shadowcasters Shadow Spells ability seems to be a winner. " He may prepare a number of additional spell levels of spells equal to the level of the highest-level wizard spell he can cast." For this to be abusable, a SLA needs to qualify. Let's quote an official post from the Pathfinder Design Team:

"The same rule should apply for all creatures with spell-like abilities, including PC races: the creature's spell-like abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions"

As an example, let's take an Elf Wizard with the Dreamspeaker alternate racial trait and 15 Cha. He can cast Dream, as a 5th level sorcerer/wizard spell, 1/day. That means he can prepare 5 levels of spells using Shadow Spells. If he can get his hand on a 5th level spell to scribe it, that means that this 1. level wizard can cast an actual 5th level spell. Of course, he's also an Enchanter (Controller), and starts casting Gate and Blood Money Wishes once he's level 8.

Other possible exploits:
Collaborative Thaumaturgy will let you maximize or widen a spell. With 3 assistants. I see this more as a trick for expensive permanent spells than an adventuring activity.

Metamagic Mastery Unfortunately, you can't get this AND the delicious 9th level spell of an 8th level Enchanter. But there are still ways to squeeze in a spell slightly better than what you'd otherwise be able to cast.

Adding Flurry of Blows to a Swashbuckler seems like a good idea. So let's do that.

Monk Dip
I haven't found anything that extends FoB to anything other than Monk weapons. So, we will need a Monk weapon that also satisfies the "light or one-handed piercing" criteria for most of the Swashbuckler abilities. That means Cestus, Siangham, Lungchuan Tamo, Wushu Dart, Emei Piercer, Fighting Fan.

Cestus and Emei Piercer both modify your unarmed strike. Monks are proficient with the Cestus and it has a 19-20 threat range, so there's really no contest. The Fighting Fan is cooler, of course, but it's a poor weapon, and it's exotic to boot. I thought there was a trait to gain proficiency with a Monk weapon, but it seems I misremembered. Maybe it was a Boon.

As 1. level Monk, we get IUS, FoB (that's what we're here for), a bonus feat (Combat Reflexes?), Fast Movement, an AC bonus, and Stunning Fist.

For Monk archetypes, there's Flowing Monk (feat options, Redirect replaces Stunning Fist), Martial Artist (solves alignment issues), or Sohei (replaces Stunning Fist with the ability to act in a surprise round - winner!)

But I want a Rapier!
Ok, FINE. That's going to require two dips at least. A level of Monk to get Flurry of Blows; and a level of something with Channel Energy, to qualify for Crusader's Flurry. Also, your choice of Deity is Quindiovatos, Besmara, Zura or Cayden.
As for Channel Energy, the obvious answer is Cleric. Crusader archetype will get you a bonus feat, and there's a lot of fun to be had with a Cleric dip.

Life Oracle is another option. So is anything else that grants Channel Energy at level 1 - such as a Necromancy Wizard, or anyone with the Aquatic Domain (or other limited channeling domains). A Spellbreaker Inquisitor shores up the Swashbuckler's Will save nicely. But if you think your GM is going to be difficult about it, just choose Cleric.

So, I was noodling around with a character build, and considering Ki-Rin Strike. But then I read it: "While using Kirin Style against a creature you have identified using that feat". That refers to the swift action to use Ki-rin style to identify an enemy. So, that's 1 swift action to enter Ki-rin Style, 1 swift action to identify the target, 1 swift action to actually add damage. So, on your 3rd swift action you actually get something worthwhile from your investment. Damn, that's nowhere near useful enough.

So, the Spellslinger is all kinds of cool, in theory. I'm not sure straight Spellslinger is worth it, though: Everything you need comes up front, and levels 2-20 are just nerfed wizard levels.

Rules issues:
1) Can spells from other classes be used to power Mage Bullets? Sure. The FAQ for Bloodline Arcana covers Mage Bullets too.
2) Can spell slots from a spontaneous caster be used to power Mage Bullets? I'd say so. The ability refers to sacrificing "a spell", not "a prepared spell". Usually, I'm not the one arguing semantics like this, but spell/prepared spell/spell slot is a distinction that the writers and editors are usually clear on, and it works fine with the flavor, so I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

So, ideas:
*Myrmidarch Magus. There's thematic overlap, but then I remember that Ranged Spellstrike is only useful for extending the range of short-ranged touch spells by using dye arrows and tangle bolts.

*Regular Magus. You can use a swordcane-pistol; stab a guy, step back, cast scorching ray through your enhanced gun...you'll retain the use of Spell Combat and be a switch hitter, but you're not doing anything interesting with Spellstrike, and Mage Bullets won't help your melee attacks.

*Bladebound. If you can convince your GM the the black blade swordcane-pistol you're bound to gets the enhancement bonus for both blade AND barrel, then you can probably convince him of something far more useful.

*Cleric or Druid. Good casting progression. Wearing armor doesn't hinder your spellslinging.

*Sorcerer. Best blasting spells, and you're basically giving up 1 level of sorcerer for a scaling bonus to most of the blasting spells.

*Eldritch Knight (aasimar or drow for early entry). Fighter 1/Spellslinger 1/EK. Or Spellslinger/sorcerer/fighter/EK. Or replace Fighter with Magus; the ability to add another +1 to your gun might be worth +1 BaB and a feat.

*Mystic Theurge. Spellslinger 1/Cleric 2/MT (with requirements met by racial SLAs and domain abilities).

Other ideas?

This guide

Designing a Swashbuckler class for D&D: How everyone fails at it

This is written in the context of Pathfinder, but is as valid in 3.0, 3.5, or similar systems. Some of it is valid for any system, and most of it is valid for a redesign of the Monk as well.

Who is the Swashbuckler? To me, he is first and foremost Zorro, specifically Duncan Regehr in the 1990ies series. He might be Inigo Montoya, Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, or Kiefer Sutherland as Arthos.

He is always witty, charming, nimble and quick with a blade. Often a rapier – but Robin Hood is a master archer and a decent staff fighter, Zorro is as handy with the whip as he is with the blade, and most of them are very good with fists and chairs in a tavern brawl.

What does he do? He fights. The Musketeers fight the Cardinal’s men. Zorro is always beating the crap out of Sgt. Mendoza’s handful of imbeciles. Inigo’s duel against The Six-Fingered Man is the climax of The Princess Bride. He is not necessarily averse to sneakiness and planning, but he defeats worthy foes face-to-face, not through ambush or backstabbing.
As someone who fights, he needs to better than Fighter in favorable situations (and worse than a Fighter in unfavorable situations, if you believe that fighter is a valid balance point), like a Ranger, Paladin or Barbarian is.

There are roughly four types of fight:
1. The hero against unworthy rabble – Zorro disarming four men with a sweep of his blade, after which they run away.
2. The Duel – Robin draws his sword for the climactic showdown with the Sheriff.
3. The Grand Melee – The Musketeers fight the Cardinal’s men.
4. The Boss Fight – A party of diverse heroes takes on a single opponent and barely wins.

Of these fights, 1 and 2 are the most common in Swashbuckler movies. 3 and 4 are the most common in D&D, because it’s a team game, not a lone hero game. Any Swashbuckler class designed with 1 and 2 in mind is a failure at the concept stage.

The Swashbuckler needs to be able to defeat enemies. In the movies, a duel flows back and forth, with many exciting last-second parries and dodges. D&D fights are over after 5 rounds, and someone prancing about with a rapier doing 1d6+4 gets ignored while his party is carrying his ass and wondering why they brought him. Disarming and Demoralizing all the enemies is not good enough either; being forced to play Mobile Annoyance Zone while the Fighter beats the enemy is unsatisfactory. Assuming the enemy can even be disarmed and demoralized to begin with. For any conceivable foe, the Swashbuckler has to be able to contribute appropriately to the unambiguous defeat of the enemy.

The Swashbuckler is obviously a profoundly low-fantasy concept. And every low-fantasy concept is inherently a low-level concept as well, but I’ll stick to the low-fantasy half of the problem. At his core, the Swashbuckler is a human who fights humans. I turn to Sinbad, the first Fantasy Swashbuckler who comes to mind, to see how he fights monsters. The answer is “Poorly”. A functioning Swashbuckler has to be able to fight spellcasters (Evasion and a good Reflex save is not enough), dragons, constructs, undead and oozes.

Finally, a Swashbuckler should not be forced to use a rapier. Or a scimitar. Longsword, two daggers, falcata-and-buckler should all be valid choices.

I'm going to compile a list of the very best traits, and I'll be happy to take suggestions.

The benchmark I'm going for is "unique ability" or "better than half a feat". Conditional bonuses - with the conditions being outside the player's control - will be rated very low.

"+1 to skill X and it's now a class skill" won't be in the guide. They're good traits, but they're a subject all of their own.

I'm going with RAI over RAW. See First Memories - by a mechanistic reading, it will give you an additional set of SLAs if you've traded away Gnome Magic for Magical Linguist, but that's not the interpretation I'll be assuming.

Magic Traits:

Beast of the Society: For a level 4 or 5 Druid, doubles your one daily Wild Shape.

Gifted Adept: +1 CL is a useful boost. Not a Trait bonus, for purposes of stacking.

Havok of the Society: 1 point of force damage is very useful to ensure that a "rider" effect on the spell works.

Magical Knack: The +2 CL for multiclassed characters.

Magical Lineage: The -1 SL adjustment for metamagic.

Naturally Gifted (Gnome): An additional daily use of one racial SLA, floating. Very useful in some builds, like low-level Summoners.

Two-World Magic: Mostly used to get Touch of Fatigue for a Magus, but has other uses.

Faith

Birthmark: +2 vs charm and compulsion is probably more than 50% of Iron Will. An holy symbol that's concealable, theft-proof, disarm-proof and sunder-proof is just gravy.

Unnatural Presence (Old Cults): Intimidate vs vermins, animals.

Combat

Accelerated Drinker: Even with all the limitations, it's an action economy booster.

Armor Expert: Useful for offsetting non-proficiency penalty as well.

Bullied: +1 on unarmed AoO. Marginally worth it for specialized builds, for example Snake Fang, but not as a general ability.

Defender of the Society: Trait bonus to AC all the time? Nice.

Dueling Cloak Adept: Specialized, but big bonuses for a trait.

Strong Arm, Supple Wrist: Extra range on thrown weapons, if you're not making a full attack. Nice for an Alchemist.

Threatening Defender: If you're taking Combat Expertise anyway, this trait is free +1 AC.

Equipment

Dealmaker: Buy magic items anywhere. But high risk of being straight out GM-blocked.

Heirloom Weapon: Very useful. Note that races with "treat X as martial" can use this.

Rough and Ready: Any weapon you want, except the crit is 20/*2 and you can't get a magic weapon version. +1 trait bonus to hit.

Race

Beast Bully (Tiefling): Use Intimade to push or handle - but not train - an animal. Free maxed out skill for a few concepts.

Blessing of Darkness (Tiefling): +1 CL for a self-buffing Cleric.

Bred for War (Shoanti Human): +1 CMB.

Chain Master (Tiefling): +2 to trip with a whip is very nice.

Color Thief (Goblin): +2 to a high-value skill, under circumstances you control and would probably be in anyway.

Helpful (Halfling): Giving +4 with Aid Another.

Shield Bearer (Ulfen Human): +1 damage to shield bash is 50% of Weapon Specialization: Shield, and it comes with a small daily ability.

Suicidal (Tiefling): Nice tanking trait.

As the title says, does that work?

Step 0: Wizard 1/Figter 6/Arcane Archer 1

Retraining, Step 1: Remove a level. We remove a level of Fighter. We are now a Wizard 1/Fighter 5/Arcane Archer 1.

Retraining, Step 2: Check legality. I still have my feats, level 1 spellcasting, and most importantly, +6 BaB: 5 from Figter levels, 1 from Arcane Archer.

Retraining, Step 3: Add a level. I pick Arcane Archer.

Step 4: Repeat 1-3 until I'm a Wizard 1/Arcane Archer 7.

Obviously, the process ought to fail in step 2. But, RAW, I don't see that it does.

Sword & Board fighting kind of blows. Sure, you can do a decent shield-bashing guy, but then, you end up leading with your shield, and you discover that what you actually want is TWO shields.

I'm looking at a sword & board warrior who doesn't focus on shield-bashing, and I see a guy who's not carrying his own weight in a party. Basically, he does only 2/3rds of the damage he should be doing. What can we do to help the poor fellow?

***work is calling - I'll be back***

Can a Huntsman cavalier take the Horse Master feat?

(Well, yes, he can*, but will it do anything for his Hunting Companion?)

*Horse Master requires Skill Focus: Handle Animal and "not having an archetype that trades away Expert Trainer". Huntsmaster still has Expert Trainer.

This shield protects the wielder as if he had the Deflect Arrows feat.

Nice. I might pay a +2 bonus for that.

...Once per round when he would normally be struck by a ranged weapon, he can make a DC 20 Reflex save. If the ranged weapon (or piece of ammunition) has an enhancement bonus, the DC increases by that amount. If he succeeds, the shield deflects the weapon. He must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Attempting to deflect a ranged weapon doesn't count as an action. Exceptional ranged weapons, such as boulders hurled by giants or acid arrows, can't be deflected.

Going by semantics, this is an additional property of the shield - so you can auto-deflect once per round and roll to deflect once per round.

Going by intent, I suspect that the roll-to-deflect is supposed to be the only effect. In that case, no-one is ever buying this.

Going by experience, however, this is the D&D 3.5 DMG referencing the 3.0 PHB copied into the PF Core and the description is supposed to say "This shield protects the wielder as if he had the Deflect Arrows feat", period.

Gloves of Arrow Snaring: Twice per day, the wearer can act as if he had the Snatch Arrows feat.

Snatch Arrows feat: When using the Deflect Arrows feat you may choose to catch the weapon instead of just deflecting it. Thrown weapons can immediately be thrown back as an attack against the original attacker (even though it isn't your turn) or kept for later use.

Problem: As written, the gloves allow a wearer who already has the deflect arrows feat to catch instead of deflecting, twice per day.

Question: Is this intentional, or are the gloves meant to allow an unskilled wearer to catch arrows 2/day?

A paladin with the bonded mount can explicitly take more exotic choices than horse, with GM approval. My GM suggested a Griffon.

I was thinking about using the Roc animal companion for stats, but using pounce+rake (like the Bestiary griffon) instead of grab. does that seem reasonable?

Also, feat suggestions? I'm level 13, so it has 6 feats. I've alreay decided on light barding, so armor proficiencies won't be relevant.

Name suggestions? I'm a Varisian half-orc going by Victor and worshiping the Inheritor.

I want to use dirty trick. A lot. Let's brainstorm descriptions.

1: The brow gasher - blind
2: The twisted helm - blind
3: The Wet Willie - shaken
4: The Wedgie - entangled

The Hair Magus is a popular concept. With this thread, I hope to settle the rules questions once and for all.

First off, Prehensile Hair at level 3. "Hex Arcana" is not a sub-ability of Hex Magus, it's an archetype ability in it's own right, and it says you can select a Hex as an Arcana - and you pick an Arcana at level 3.

Second, Spell Strike with the hair. That works. And if it doesn't, the rules for touch spells in the combat chapter take you to the same place.

Third, secondary natural attack. If your secondary natural attack is all you attack with, it's -0 to hit, 1½* Strength to damage. Confirmed by SKR here.

Fourth, Spell Combat. You can't use it with your hair, as that doesn't satisfy the requirement for light or one-handed melee weapon. Spell Combat isn't a Full Attack (terrible ruling IMO), so you can't attack with your hair while you Spell Combat.

Fifth, Spell Combat and AoO. If you do use Spell Combat, you probably take the -5 to hit and ½ Str penalties on AoO with your hair until next turn.

Sixth, Enlarge Person and Reach. It's unclear to me what the reach is, but I think it's actually just 10'.

Comments, arguments?

I'm looking to run a module; there's a door described as "Nearly impossible" to break through for 1-2. level characters, and the module supposes that they will gather the things they need and experiment with the (trapped) lock until the door opens.

However, "Nearly impossible" is apparently hardness 12, 120 hp. A first level character with str 18, power attack and a greataxe, will do an evenly distributed average of 3,75 damage per round, breaking through in 32 rounds, or just over 3 minutes of work. That's hardly "nearly impossible", and this isn't even a dedicated doorbreaker, just a regular THW warrior-type.

I want to play a halfling cavalier/summoner charging astride my gecko-like eidolon. So, obviously, I want "climbing charge" to be thing that you can do. That means I'll have to find support for my concept in both the charging and climbing rules.

From the srd, on charging:
*You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles)...
*If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement...you can't charge.

Now, if you have a climb speed, climbing along the wall or ceiling doesn't "hinder, block or slow" your movement, provided you have a climb speed and can make your climb check (with -5 for accelerated climbing) by taking 10- you're moving at full speed with no risk of failure.

With charging out of the way, let's look at climbing. Climbing is part of movement, generally a move action. But not always a move action. You can't Run - but that exception shows that other actions than "Move Action" can include climbing - such as Withdraw, or indeed Charge.

Climbing does require "both hands" (that's humanocentric!), so I don't know how that would work with a six-limbed creature.

In conclusion, I find that both Charging and Climbing rules allow for climbing charges - given a sufficiently skilled climber. Any counterpoints or comments?

I'm looking for just. one. more. way to boost CL for my 1. level caster. I'm already considering Varisian Tattoo and spell specialization, gifted adept and precocious spellcaster, and Transmuter of Korada. Is there anything else out there?

Edit: Oh, and I need it to be PFS legal too, so the campaign trait from RotRL is out.

If I'm summoning elementals, I'll summon air elementals to deal with flight, water elementals against boats or sharks, and earth elementals if I want Earth Glide. But to mess up regular, non-flying foes not particularly resistant to flame, I'd expect a fire elemental to be my go-to guy. Destruction is the very core quality of Fire, after all.

But the stats...
The Small Fire Elemental, if it hits with a +4 attack, and the target fails all saves, an average of 1d4+(1d4*1d4)= 8,75 damage. Giving the average opponent a +0 reflex save modifier and assuming he wont bother to spend an action putting out his burning pants drops this to 5,625.

Meanwhile, the small earth elemental attacks at +7 for 8,5 damage - not damage over time, no saves involved, just more damage. He also has +1 AC and +2 Hp over the fire elemental, just to rub it in.

For the medium elementals, it's +7 to hit for 8,875 damage against ref save +3, vs +10 for 12,5 damage.

With the large fire elemental, it's +12 to hit, assuming ref +5 for easy math, for 24,25 damage, but the Earth elemental has +15 for 30 points.

The earth elemental outperforms the fire elemental by a lot. And i'm not even going into fire resistance or the suckiness of damage-over-time.

I used to think that the Int penalty from a Str boosting mutagen was terrible, because I was still stuck in "ability penalty = reduced ability" mode. But the ability penalty is just a penalty to spell DCs and some Int-based rolls. Int penalty does not affect:

• Throw Anything damage bonus
  
• Bomb save DC
  
• Int-based discoveries like Sticky Poison

Extracts that call for a saving throw...are probably affected.

Animals, Large or smaller, from Ultimate Equipment are legitimate purchases. Including "Cat, Hunting". 100 gp. You look up the entry, and see that it buys you a Cheetah or Leopard.

A Leopard does 16.5 damage on a charge (with a +6 attack bonus) +Grab. It has 19 Hit points. A starting character can buy this.

Does anyone else see a problem here?

Attacking everyone in a 15' cone and ignoring concealment is sweet. Doing 1d8+0 damage, not so much. So, how do we boost damage? Here's my ideas, give me yours.

Alchemy?
The interactions are vague.
Near as I can tell, if you use the Grenadier's Alchemical Weapon, you should apply the text literally. "The alchemical item takes full effect on the next creature struck by the weapon". If you roll to hit the nearest target first, it even makes sense in-universe; I put some fire in this load of shot, and somebody's getting burned.

Explosive Missile doesn't work. It would be awesome - each target takes direct hit damage AND creates splash, but Explosive Missile only works on bullets, not handfuls of pellets.

Class Features
Challenge and Smite work...poorly. Sneak Attack doesn't work at all (precision damage), Inspire Courage works just fine. Ranger abilities, including but not limited to Favored Enemy, are fine; they are not precision damage. The Inquisitor's Bane ability (and judgments) works fine. The Gunslinger's Gun Training (or Musket Training, Focused Aim or Pistol Training) adds to damage just fine.

Traits & Racial abilities
Nothing to see here, AFAIK.

Feats
Feats specifically can't add to damage with a Scatter Shot. Moving on.

Magic
Anything that adds a bonus, adds a bonus. Elemental weapon enhancements, which I normally don't recommend, might be worth it for a scatter shot, since you probably won't miss the extra attack bonus you could have had instead. Conductive Scatter-guns work, and they rock. You can activate it when you hit a target, and it works once per round, so there's really no confusion. Limning pellets are utterly awesome.

Plenty of Monks don't have Flurry of Blows. But they DO have Maneuver Training, which also replaces "BaB" with "monk level". Could a lvl. 6 MoMS not go "Full Attack, trips only, BaB +6 so I've got 2 attacks"?

Unfortunately not. Maneuver Training only replaces BaB for the purposes of calculating CMB. Our 9th level MoMS can Full Attack for +6/+1, or +9 trip/+4 trip or a combo - not +9/+9 either.

Too bad.

The Hybridization funnel creates a mixture of two splash weapons. When thrown, "Creatures are affected as if hit by both".

How does that work with PBS and the Alchemist's damage bonus? It seems to me that PBS should only apply once, but the Alchemist ability twice. Opinions?

Snake Fang is a [Combat] feat, that applies to a single weapon (Unarmed Strike). So, I should be able to take Martial Versatility (Snake Fang) and make my counterattacks with a Temple Sword, Spiked Shield or Natural Attack, correct?

I'm making a guide for those considering a single level of cleric. So far, Ive done an intro and rated the domains. Input welcome!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AVXjJ2zxAm38LDfzUBilKwrNRGXiYdY7DwfGrf4 y7Ew/edit?usp=sharing