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Hello all. I currently have a thread going for a Funerary Paladin, but am helping some other players with their builds as well.

One player wants to play a Human Bard who is something of a pacifist. Which means no dealing damage to opponents or otherwise causing direct harm. The player is ok with debuffing, disarm/trip, etc. So mainly it’s just the avoidance of dealing damage.

I believe for the most part this build is pretty straightforward. I’m planning for them to use a net, Dazzling Display, entangle, trip, maybe disarm. Typical Bard spells with a preference for buffing, but some debuffs as well, especially if there are nonviolent ways of dealing with enemies, like Charming, Diplomacy, etc.

Beyond that, any thoughts or input on such a character?

Hello all. It’s been a while since I played Pathfinder or participated on these forums, so apologies if I’m rusty.

I’m looking for advice (both flavor and mechanical) on a Paladin build. The concept of the build is a Paladin whose main focus is on the proper care, handling, and disposal (burial, cremation, whatever) of the dead. The main thing I’m interested in is the True Death Inquisition which I believe I can get via the Sacred Servant archetype, which geants the Paladin a domain, which I can use to select an inquisition instead.

Beyond this, I didn’t have too many ideas for the build. I’m torn between a sword/board and 2-hander build, with a leaning toward 2-hander. I’m also interested in fitting in a “gray guard/paladin” aspect as well, though the Gray Paladin archetype is incompatible with the Sacred Servant archetype. So if there is another/better way of getting a domain, I’m open to ideas. I may also look into getting the 3.5 Gray Guard prestige class approved for use.

This build will be used in the Hells Rebels adventure, in case that makes a difference. 20-pt buy most likely. Other players are still developing characters but I believe a Psychic Warrior and a Psychic Detective are in the works.

If any other information would be useful, let me know.

I don't see this specifically covered anywhere, but I'm guessing the answer is: you can't. Figured I would ask anyway, just in case.

I was wondering if there is any way to "upgrade" equipment by paying the difference in cost between a lower level version and a higher level version. This would be true for weapons and armor mainly.

What about for computers? If I want to upgrade the tier of my computer, can I pay the difference? Of course, you'd have to take into account any upgrades or modules you currently had whose cost was also dependent on tier or base cost, and make sure to pay the difference there as well. I'm not trying to circumvent the costs of those things. I'm only trying to circumvent the cost of losing 90% of the cost invested in a previous item in order to get the next better item. If I'm not a Mechanic (whose Custom Rig is an autoleveling computer) but I still want to have a sweet Computer rig to hack with, do I constantly have to sell off my previous model at only 10% recovery and re-buy a brand new computer, buying essentially all the same components at an increased price due to the increased tier?

The Mooncursed Barbarian archetype replaces Rage with "Shifting Rage", which replaces the normal effects of Rage with an effect based on the Beast Shape spell. Beast Shape is a transmutation (polymorph) spell.

Under the rules for polymorph spells, there are a few important lines such as: "...all your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function)."

So, in my mind, this means that you would not gain any armor bonus from your armor while using Shifting Rage, since it emulates a polymorph effect and has no text to circumvent the polymorph line about armor ceasing to function.

There is some argument that at level 5, when the Mooncursed gets "Hybrid Rage", that would allow them to keep their armor. But the only exceptions listed there are that you keep your forelimbs and legs (and therefore the ability to manipulate items like weapons and spell components and provide somatic components, as well as the ability to walk as normal) and can talk (assumedly both to communicate and provide verbal spell components). No mention of still getting armor.

So, am I correct that you do not continue to benefit from armor (magical or otherwise), including losing the normal armor bonus to AC?

Watched Equilibirum, with Christian Bale, and made me wonder if there was a way to make a gun-wielding monk?

Does an 11th level character that is Variant MultiClassed Barbarian qualify for the Extra Rage Power feat, thanks to their Rage Power secondary class feature?

A Combat Maneuver check is an attack roll.

A Large or larger creature has both a penalty to attack rolls and a special size modifier to CMB/CMD.

So, when a Large creature makes a combat maneuver check, what bonuses/penalties do they get for being Large? Do they get both the size penalty to the "attack roll" (-1) and the special size modifier to their CMB (+1) that they add to that attack roll, effectively netting no bonus/penalty? Or does the special size modifier displace the normal size modifier for the roll as a whole?

Is a School Familiar an archetype option for any Wizard, or do you have to take the feat (forget the name) just to have the archetype? If you do need the feat, does this mean your Familiars abilities suddenly change over when you take the feat?

I'm interested in building a character that likes to bite/eat his enemies. While looking into it, I think I've also decided I want it to have some grappling capability as well, which eventually evolved into the idea of an alligator/crocodile type character, that latches onto his opponents with a bite, then tears them apart, eating them a chunk at a time.

My current idea is a Lizardfolk Barbarian, and am considering using the Death Roll feat, which allows knocking the opponent prone after grappling, but also going prone myself. I'm also considering the Raging Cannibal archetype. I'm also considering some 3rd party material that allows for using strength checks to remove limbs, which I then devour. If there was a 1st party way to do this, though, that's always preferable.

I'm looking for any other ideas/suggestions on how to make this a gruesome and effective build.

I just want to make sure that I am getting this right. A Skinwalker (Ragebred), with Extra Feature, Animal Fury, and Beast Totem (lesser), can have 2 Claw attacks, 2 Hoof attacks, a Bite attack, and a Gore attack, and during a full-attack, all are at full BAB, except for the bite, which is at -5?

I'm interested in a character themed as a grim-reaper. Something that uses a scythe and touch attacks to deal damage, cause debilitating effects, etc. It sounds like a Magus would work well to combine the two or a Cleric for both melee and casting capability. Is there a more divine-flavored Magus that would fit better?

Any recommendations for some spells that would fit the theme?

I'm not looking for a necromancer build; just something that deals damage and/or locks down targets using melee touch attacks.

The rest of the character (skeletal features, long flowing black robes, etc.) can all be flavored, but the delivery of death via a scythe that channels the touch of death would have to be something mechanical.

If you are wearing armor with armor spikes, and you make your initial grapple check to grapple someone, do the armor spikes deal their damage if you succeed?

What if you maintain the grapple and choose the "pin" option, or some other option other than "damage"?

After some research, the answer seem to mostly be inconclusive, though with a heavy lean towards the "no it does not deal damage, unless you are maintaining and choosing the damage option, and then it only does the damage of the spikes (with appropriate modifiers), not unarmed+spikes or some other combination".

I just wanted to see if there was ever a more solid answer on this, or if it's still considered vague, or if maybe the consensus has switched back to the idea that the spikes deal auto damage on any successful grapple check.

If I have 4 Levels in one class with Lay on Hands and 3 Levels in another class with Lay on Hands, how do they stack?

Do I have 3+1/2 Cha mod uses that heal 2d6 from the first class and 3+1/2 Cha mod uses that heal 1d6 from the other class, or do I have 3+1/2 Cha mod uses total, but that heal 3d6?

So, I've always heard here on the forums that the Leadership feat is totally broken, and that no DM should allow it, and if they do, every PC should take it.

My question is: why?

What makes Leadership so broken? Is it the extra cohort you get? Or the veritable army of underlings? Is it too much action economy? Too disruptive to the table? Too much book-keeping?

What makes Leadership so broken?

Is there a way to make it less/not broken? Maybe only allow the cohort, but no underlings? All of the characters are in the DMs control? Something else? If you could "fix" Leadership, how would you change it, while keeping it as intact as possible, such that you would allow it at your table.

(The main reason I ask this is because I have a fellow player who has asked to take the feat; our DM has not answered yet, but my default assumption was the answer would be no, since that's what I always hear the default answer should be. However, it got me to thinking that I've never really heard WHY it shouldn't be allowed; only that it shouldn't. Also, it seems like it could make for some good flavor, like, for example, if a player wants to start a business or mercenary band or some such. However, I know there are downtime rules for such things, and they are both money and time intensive. So using a feat to circumvent much of that could be way too powerful.)

There is a fellow player in one of my current campaigns who doesn't know what to buy for her Warpriest and being as it's such a new class and I've never built/played one, I was hoping to get some advice for items for her. I checked the guide, but it only has weapons/armor suggestions.

For background/reference, we are playing through Council of Thieves, are currently level 5, just finished the asmodean knot (chapter 2?) and are currently spending the cash we earned from the massive dungeon crawl.

She got about 6050 from her cut of the treasure, and might have some cash already on hand, but I'm not sure how much. Currently has no magic items that I am aware of, so I'm assuming a couple of the big six is what would be suggested, but just wanted to make sure.

I'm currently playing in a Council of Thieves campaign, and we just escaped the Asmodean Knot (sp?) dungeon.

I had a question about one of the encounters: There was a room with a big black floating monolith in the center, and an infinite, warping, staircase. Apparently the monolith spouted some kind of insubstantial ghost things while someone is in the room. When we encountered it, we managed to barely kill one, and then had several people have their Str drained before we managed to escape; one fairly severely.

My question is: was this meant as an encounter you are supposed to run away from for certain? Not having or having gained any magical weapons seems to make it pretty difficult to succeed at that encounter, so I'm just wondering if that wasn't supposed to be a winnable encounter, or if we missed something, or what.

Our GM later hinted to me, out of character, that we were probably supposed to have tried to break the stone, but that didn't seem obvious at all at the time, and on top of that, the fact that the scary, incorporeal, unkillable ghosts were coming out of it made all the players want to get AWAY from, not jump the gap and go attack it.

I've been asked to help build a character for another player. He was making a high-AC Kval Paladin until he found out that armor bonuses for Tiny armor are cut in half. The main intent was to be a high AC, high saves, healer. The rest of the party kind of has DPS taken care of, but we've had some party casualties due to no healer and glass cannon syndrome.

Now I know that for Healer, being able to use a wand of Cure Light Wounds is normally all that is necessary for the most part. We have another Paladin in the party that can do that though. What we need is someone who can do combat medic-ing; saving a PCs life in the middle of combat if need be, and maybe preventing death if possible as well.

So, something with high AC and saves, and some ability to buff/heal. Damage dealing is less important. I think Paladin still fits the bill, though I think a dex-based Fighter could squeeze out more AC (but not as good of saves, and nothing to do with healing/buffing).

Basically he wants to make sure his character is extremely difficult to kill, and wants to expand that to the rest of the party as best as possible as well.

Any ideas welcome.

Does Feral Combat Training allow you to use a bite, claw, hoof, gore, or other natural weapon to make the attack allowed by Vicious Stomp?

Vicious Stomp says it must be an Unarmed Strike. But Feral Combat Training says that while using the chosen natural weapon, you can apply the effects of feats that have a prerequisite of Improved Unarmed Strike (which Vicious Stomp does).

So, it would seem that FCT allows you to use the chosen natural weapon with VS, but maybe not. It does say "while using the chosen natural weapon...", but you aren't using the natural weapon until you go to make the attack, and you can only make the attack with the Unarmed Strike.

So it would almost seem like a chicken/egg issue. You can't apply FCT until you go to make the attack, but you can't make the attack with your natural weapon unless you apply FCT.

This leads me to believe it does not work, but wanted to see if I was wrong.

Startoss Style says:

"You cannot use this ability if you are carrying a weapon or a shield in your off hand (except for a buckler)."

What if you are using shuriken and TWF-ing? Technically, each time you throw a shuriken, you don't have anything in your other hand, but is one hand always considered your off-hand? Even so, are you even considered "carrying" ammunition in your off hand if all you are doing is throwing it?

A possible scenario would be that you start your turn with nothing in your hands. Assuming you have Quick Draw (pretty much required for a shuriken build), you go to make a full attack. You make your first attack with your main hand. Assuming you hit, you get to add 2 damage from Startoss Style (not carrying anything in your off-hand). Now you make your attack with your off-hand. As part of that attack, you get to draw the shuriken as a free action and then make the attack. You aren't "carrying" the shuriken in your off-hand. You drew it and threw it.

Maybe the feat needs to be re-worded; if they intended it to not work at all while TWF-ing, I think the restriction should have been more carefully worded.

Can a Fighter with the Warrior Spirit AWT choose shuriken as his weapon for the day, and if so, when he spends a point to enchant a shuriken, does it only do a single shuriken, or can it do up to 50, per the normal enchanting of ammunition rules?

I'm curious as to how character deaths typically are handled in other groups. Our group has currently had a bit of a stir-up due to a character death.

As background, we are playing through Legacy of Fire (WARNING: potential spoilers throughout).

One of our players has died 3 or 4 times since we started, amounting to about 5-6 different characters since the very beginning of the first book, since he started with a different character when we picked it back up recently. He has just gotten kind of unlucky with being critted and the unfortunate target of some high rolls in combination with playing squishier characters. All-in-all, it's been kind of a rough time for the player, making a new character every week, only for them to die after half a session. To top it off, he normally likes to play characters that fit the theme of the setting (arabian or desert-themed) and he's starting to run out of ideas that haven't been done between all the other players and all the characters he has been through.

On the other side of this, we have one player who has been playing a shocking grasp Magus since we started back up (he was not in the original group that played through the first chapter). Who made it all the way through this chapter but then died at the very end, on the way to the big city (forgot name) due to a

Now the first player has been understandably glum, and I feel for him, and would be perfectly understanding if he was frustrated. However, he has handled it pretty darn well, other than being kind of lost for what to play next.

The second player (who got to see what the first player was going through) was extremely upset about his character dying. More so than I've ever seen a player upset about a character dying before. Granted, this player is normally very attached to his characters, from an RP stand point, but it turned into a big thing between him and the DM.

The player wants to bring in a new character just to finish out the trip back to town, and then have his magus character resurrected. Now, to me, that would be the players call as to the cost involved with doing so coming out of his share, and then surviving with the negative levels until he can get those removed.

However, the DM doesn't like the idea of a) a throw away character being introduced just to get the player through the next session, or b) "buying spells". The second means that, until we can cast Reincarnation, Raise Dead, etc., ourselves, we won't have access to resurrection magic. His stance on this is that death should matter and being able to just buy resurrection magic doesn't support this. Fair enough, I say; his game. This is the first time it's come up because all of the other character deaths just involved introducing a new character and moving on, so it hasn't been a topic of discussion or an issue until this point.

Now, to me, it's the DMs call as to whether or not NPC spellcasters are willing to sell res magic or not. It sucks that the player lost this character that they liked so much and put a lof of effort into building, but another player has very recently lost 4-5 characters they liked and put a lot of effort into preparing as well, so: perspective. And if the player doesn't like the idea of just playing what is essentially a re-introduced clone of the first, then he will just have to find a different idea I guess.

Anyway, watching all this drama unfold made me wonder how other groups handle such situations. Thoughts?

I have a friend who is interested in playing a caster who specializes in AoE spells that leave behind a damaging cloud/field/terrain/etc. A good example would be a Fireball with Lingering Spell applied, although Linger doesn't last very long. So it would be preferable if there were a way to make the spells stick around longer. Alternatively, spells that already come with a lasting damaging effect would likely work even better, but I'm also open to ways to make more traditional spells last.

So I guess what I'm looking for is either some ideas for spells that fit the build, or ideas for ways to make other spells do the same thing.

I'm interested in making a blaster focused on electrical damage and am torn between a traditional blaster caster and an air kineticist focused on the electrical side of the air element.

I was wondering what everyones thoughts were on which is the better blaster. My preference leans towards a kineticist because I don't like the idea of potentially running out of spells, but a caster seems easier in that you don't have to worry about collecting various infusions to get the various shapes you want; just select the right shaped spells and you're good.

I want to make a Merfolk with the Seasinger and Secret Magic alternate traits that is a Bard that's focused on enchantment/emotion/love effects. So something like a controller bard. I'm considering a third party archetype called the Serenader as well, but not 100% sure. Will probably have ranks in Sing.

Beyond that, I'm looking for some input and suggestions on how to build something like this.

I'm interested in a classic fighter that straps on the toughest armor he can find and swings the biggest sword he can find, tanking damage and dishing it out. With a lot of the new options released in the past months for Fighters, I think this has become a viable build, but wanted to get the input and thoughts of the community as well.

For Advanced Armor Training, I'm thinking about including Armor Specialization and Armored Juggernaut. For Advanced Weapon Training, Armed Bravery, Defensive Weapon Training, and Fighter's Reflexes.

For feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Specialization, Furious Focus, Improved Critical, Cleave, Great Cleave, Cleaving Finish, Improved Cleaving Finish, Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, Greater Vital Strike, Devastating Strike.

For race, considering either Human for the extra feat or Half-Giant for Powerful Build.

For items, obviously the highest +X Greatsword and Hellknight Plate I can find, along with a Str/Con belt, Cloak of Resistance, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, Wis Headband, and Gloves of Dueling.

I think that covers most of the build. Anything I am missing, or suggestions for replacing some of the items above?

Our current campaign will involve the party inheriting a keep that we will then use as our home base. Our GM plans to use downtime rules for us to do work on the keep, and assured us that the keep will matter; somewhat indicating that we might have more encounters here, that it might get assaulted, etc. I believe he also plans to provide some building resources as additional treasure along the way so that we don't have to use character resources to work on the keep.

So, what I would like advice for (this being our first time using these rules) is:

1) How/what to build? I've glanced over the downtime rules, with regards to building towns/structures, and see that there are several "types" of rooms that we can convert current rooms into, or add on. What are some of the suggested ones we should try for first?

2) Customizations? What are some special customizations/defenses we should be adding? Things like arrowslits, crenellations, and murder holes come to mind, as well as some sort of ditch or moat.

3) Anything else? Any other items, upgrades, customizations, etc., that you recommend?

Our GM is instituting a new homebrew rule he read about and liked (because he's a masochist of a GM and doesn't like anyone to enjoy themselves; that's at least half true) in which before you can retrieve a stored item from a container, such as a backpack, you must first retrieve the container itself. Items stored in easily accessible locations, such as bandoliers, do not receive this penalty.

My question is, does this seem like an unnecessary action tax? Are the actions of the game already designed and balanced such that "retrieving" the backpack is already taken into consideration? Are there any downsides to hanging every item you own off of a hook, strap, belt, bandolier, belt pouch, or other non-backpack location? Does this seem like it's unfairly biased towards characters who have the strength to wear everything on their person, as opposed to characters who would rely on something like a handy haversack? Any other thoughts or insights on how this will affect our game?

I'm looking into a Slayer build and was wondering what are some recommended magic items for a Slayer, beyond the basics (weapon, armor, cloak, amulet, belt)? Any specific enchantments or wondrous items I should be looking into?

I'm going to be starting a campaign this week at 6th level. Playing a Human Ranger with the Wild Hunter and the Skirmisher archetypes, and planning to ride my Wolf companion. At 6th, the Wolf is still medium, but she will be large at 7th, so this first level will be a little rough.

Current feats are: Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Trick Riding, Mounted Shield, Spirited Charge, and Undersized Mount. Undersized Mount will be retrained to Boon Companion at next level. Even with the feat, me and my gear are a heavy burden for the Wolf, so she's at -20 spd and -2 AC. I chose the Racer archetype for her though, so that helps make up for the speed loss a bit, and Mounted Shield helps with the AC.

Traits are Armor Expert and Reactionary.

Equipment includes a mithral breastplate and a +1 lance.

Single Hunter Trick is Sic 'Em, and main Animal Focus will likely be Bull, though I can switch it up as needed.

Any other suggestions for the build?

I'm working on a character build for a friend for an upcoming campaign, and the core concept of the character is a minotaur barbarian with an emphasis on charging and not having his movement prevented. So he should be good at not being affected by things like paralysis, entanglement, difficult terrain, grappling/pinning, or anything else that would restrain him or hinder his movement in some way.

I will have to work with the DM on designing an appropriate race to reflect the minotaur, but the main thing I'm looking for is ideas on feats, class features, items, etc., that would best reflect the anti-restrained idea. A Ring of Freedom of Movement is kind of the epitome of what I"m talking about, but we are starting at 6th level, so that would be a ways off, and it would be nice if it wasn't item dependent.

Anyone have suggestions on how to ensure the character stays mobile?

Beyond that, the character will be using an axe and should be good at making lots of attacks and dealing lots of damage. Lots of attacks of opportunity would be nice, as well as anything else that can interrupt and punish opponents with attacks. Also, tripping opponents (or otherwise knocking them prone) would also be fitting for the concept of the character, so if there is a good way to fit that into the build as well, that would be good.

I know Barbarian builds are typically fairly straight-forward, but if anyone has ideas for rolling all of these concepts together into one cohesive and effective build, that would be great.

I have a character concept that I am working on for a Paladin, and there are 4 archetypes I want to combine. Now, these obviously don't stack per normal rules of determining if you can combine 2+ archetypes, due to the class features affected. However, I know that some posts I've seen on these forums talk about how their groups have allowed some combinations if the combinations aren't too broken and/or if the changes/replacements are allowed to stack in such a way as to not end up with more than what you started with.

I intend to discuss this potential character with my DM, but wanted to get other players/DMs input on whether or not they think it is a gamebreaking combination. I don't think it is, obviously (otherwise I wouldn't be bringing it up), but I do like some outside, impartial, input.

So, the 4 archetypes are:
Oath of Charity
Sacred Servant
Warrior of the Holy Light
Purifier (3rd party)

Now, to sum these up, each changes/replaces the following class features in some way:

Oath of Charity: Lay on Hands, Divine Bond, Code of Conduct, Spells
Sacred Servant: Smite Evil, Divine Bond, Spells, Aura of Resolve
Warrior of the Holy Light: Spells, Aura of Faith
Purifier: Weapons and Armor Proficiency, Lay on Hands, Smite Evil, Mercy, Aura of Courage, Channel Positive Energy, Aura of Justice, Holy Champion

So, the 4 class features where some overlap occurs are: Lay on Hands, Spells, Smite Evil, and Divine Bond.

Lay on Hands: Oath of Charity affects the amount of healing from LoH by decreasing my healing on myself by 50% and increasing the healing on others by 50%. Purifier gives me LoH one level earlier lets me use LoH on others as a Move action (but without Mercies) and allows me to sacrifice my own HP to provide more HP to another target. Both of these are additive features that are balanced by the diminished capabilities that each archetype causes elsewhere.

Spells: Oath of Charity adds additional spells to the Paladin spell list, and Sacred Servant adds additional spells slots via a domain. However, Warrior of the Holy Light completely removes spells, meaning I'm not getting the intended spells benefit from Oath of Charity or Sacred Servant anyway. So I feel like this is actually a weakened interaction.

Divine Bond: Sacred Servant gives an alternate, and mandatory, choice for the Divine Bond involving a holy symbol instead of your weapon or mount, but Oath of Charity straight up replaces it anyway, so I wouldn't gain the feature from Sacred Servant, since it is replaced by Oath of Charity.

Smite Evil: I saved this one for last, as it is the interaction that gives me the most advantage, and therefore the one I feel is most likely to cause the interaction to not be allowed by someone, and therefore the one to be the most talked about. Sacred Servant diminishes Smite Evil by reducing the rate at which I gain additional uses of Smite Evil, but Purifier wants to completely replace Smite Evil with a class feature called Rightful Retribution. So, with this combination, I'm gaining Rightful Retribution by giving up a diminished version of Smite Evil, instead of a full version of Smite Evil. I.e: Sacred Servant was balanced by taking away SOME of Smite Evil and giving me other features elsewhere, and Purifier was balanced by completely taking away Smite Evil and giving me Rightful Retribution, so I should be giving up Smite Evil and some MORE Smite Evil, but I only have one Smite Evil to give up.

Now, this means that of the 4 class features that overlap, 2 are a wash, one I actually lose something and another I gain something. To me, this is roughly a wash. To add to this, for the domain I gain from Sacred Servant (the main perk you gain for getting a reduced Smite Evil feature) not only am I not getting the domain spells (since I'm giving up spells with Warrior of the Holy Light) which I already mentioned, I'm also choosing an Inquisition instead of an actual domain; an option that the Inquisition rules even points out is a weaker option. Now, granted, this is usually a weaker option because of the domain spells, which in this case I know I won't be getting anyway. However, the Inquisition I want is the True Death Inquisition, which will have a useless 1st level ability for me, as it only affects Cure spells, which I won't have.

So, all-in-all, while it does require houseruling to allow for the combining of these archetypes, due to the multiple modifications to multiple class features, I feel like they don't combine in an overwhelmingly positive way or in a way that results in an overly broken character build.

Thoughts?

I'm making a Paladin for a friends upcoming custom campaign and have gotten most everything figured out except for Traits.

What would be some good traits for a Paladin? The build I'm going for is a two-hander wielding combat medic type, with a focus on Lay on Hands and Mercies. Archetypes are Sacred Servant and Warrior of the Holy Light.

What would be the best way (in your opinion) to build a Faceless Man? The main identifying talent would be the ability to reliably disguise one self as someone else. Beyond that, being good at sneaking, infiltration, bluffing, poison use, death attack (or assassinate or other similar ability), sneak attack, silent/unnoticable kills, and other abilities typically associated with an assassin are also desirable for such a build.

I like the Druids A Thousand Faces ability for the disguise, but that seems difficult to fit into an assassin build.

Slayer seems fitting for just about everything except the disguising.

Nature Fang seems pretty good, being pretty close to a cross between a Slayer and a Druid, though dropping BAB down to 3/4 is kind of disappointing.

Any ideas or other suggestions?

How viable is a Druid with a focus on weather effects for battlefield control? I'm thinking things like fog, wind, rain, lightning, etc., used to control, move, hinder, and/or blind enemies. I know that such a build would be kind of party-dependent (because fog typically blocks line of sight in both directions), but if the party were ok with it, and properly prepared for it, is it a viable build? I'm not sure how many weather-based spells/effects there are, so I'm not sure if there is even enough here to focus on.

Watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug this week, for the first time (BotFA is up today). Got inspired to make an Orc riding a Wolf/Worg/Dire-Wolf build.

Would like to avoid Cavalier if possible, as the flavor doesn't seem fitting. Would prefer a Barbarian if that is possible. Mounted Fury looks like my go to archetype, though I'm open to other suggestions.

Just looking for input/feedback on the idea and how to best make it a beast in combat.

EDIT: I'm starting to lean more towards just going the Nature Soul>Animal Ally>Boon Companion route.

I know VMC is a little more useful for Kineticists because of their short list of "required" feats, so I was wondering: what VMCs would be suggested for an Earth/Water/Aether tank Kineticist?

So I was watching Constantine last night and was mildly inspired to make a build based around the idea: very anti-demon, anti-undead, able to fix/heal those that have been possessed/harmed by them.

Then this morning, I find a thread here on the forums talking about "the Medic" role of the party. Seems fitting.

So. I'm interested in making a divine-powered support character. Healing is an obvious must, as would be things like Remove Poison/Disease/etc. I feel like focusing too much on Constantine would make it kind of a corner case (would have to be a campaign based on the idea of lots of undead/demons/possesions/etc.), but it is inspired in part by him, so feel free to suggest something if it fits with the overall theme as well. I know focusing too much on the healing side lease me kind of useless when everyone is healed, so some buffing would also be good to include.

One thing I got interested in while researching this is the Life Link revelation/hex from Oracle/Shaman. I like the idea of always being linked to my party members and giving them health back slowly, then dumping healing spells on myself. It kind of makes my HP pool a shared HP pool. It also means I can focus on getting things like fast healing and/or regeneration for myself, and it will benefit the entire party at the same time. Enhanced Cures and Spirit Boost both also seem useful and fun.

I'm not used to building these kinds of characters, so any help/suggestions are appreciated. I'm very interested in those revelations, so Oracle or maybe Shaman is what I'm looking at right now, though I wouldn't mind some kind of Cleric, Paladin, Warpriest, etc.

Lastly, my initial idea for the Constantine character was for a non-spellcaster; a divine character who still worked miracles, healed, etc., but did so without spells. I don't know if it's possible to make the above character idea work without being a spellcaster, but I'm open to the idea of using a spellcasting class with an archetype that gives up spellcasting for some other useful benefits.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions/ideas.

How feasible is it to run a Dwarf Kineticist that never wants to take Burn damage?

I ask because I want to make a tanky character based on an Dwarf Earth Kineticist, but I still want to be able to utilize thinks like Diehard and/or Flagellant. But Burn makes them useless.

Does refusing to take Burn neuter the class too hard to make it worthwhile?

So, I got inspired to plan a build based on the War Boys, from Mad Max: Fury road, but not sure how to even start going about it.

I'm pretty sure incorporating the cars would be pretty impossible; I considered emulating the effect by using a mounted build, but not sure if that's the direction I want to take the character.

Anyway, here are some elements that I would like to be worked in, somehow; the more, the better:

1) Shiny and Chrome: Some form of raging/berserking; preferably initiated by ingesting something like a potion, mutagen, extract, etc.

2) Weapons: Spears, Pistols, and/or explosives.

3) Immortan Joe: Would be nice if there was some divine aspect to the character, to represent the War Boys reverence of Immortan Joe, though could be as simple as a custom deity for flavor.

4) Bare-chested; preferably unarmored if possible. I know "no wearing armor" is totally possible, but it would be nice if there was some AC bonus associated with it.

I'm thinking maybe a Alchemist would be a decent way to do it; Mutagen and extracts of Rage would cover 1, Bombs and Spears would be covered, so that's most of 2. Other classes with a Mutagen archetype could also cover this, though, such as a Mutagenic Mauler Brawler, and using alchemical items for explosives. I was thinking maybe a Warpriest or a Bloodrager could also work, but haven't been able to put anything together that quite seems to work just yet.

Anyway, looking for any ideas, including other elements I could include.

Just watched Little Witch Academia: Enchanted Parade and was inspired to build a spellcaster that combines spellcasting and technology, especially in the sense of casting spells through a firearm.

Some quick researching showed me that the Spellslinger archetype of Wizard or the Eldritch Archer archetype of the Magus may be what I'm looking for, but I'm definitely open to ideas.

Basically, I'm looking for a build that utilizes some combination of magic and a firearm and can either "spray" an area (things like cones, bursts, blasts, lines, etc would be fine for this), or, if possible, focus fire on one target, making lots of "attacks" (doesn't have to be actual attack rolls involved; something like multiple bolts from Magic Missle going at the same target would work).

A crossbow would be an acceptable alternative to a firearm.

The problem I'm seeing is that there doesn't seem to be a "rapid fire" firearm option; probably for good reason. There are builds for things like a Ninja throwing lots of shuriken, and making lots of individual attacks for small amounts of damage that can add up. I'm looking for something like that except using a ballistic weapon in combination with magic.

Outside of Spellslinger and Eldritch Archer, if there is a class that is something like an Artificer, that is focused more around gadgets and technology, that would be perfect, but not sure if something like that exists (at least not that could also support the attack style described above).

Anyway, I'll be researching a bit on my own some more as well, but whenever I start a build I like to also make a post to get ideas from the community, since it's really easy for me to miss things or attempt a build that's beyond the scope of possibility in Pathfinder. Anyway, thanks in advance for any input.

I'm looking into making a new character for a gestalt campaign I'm currently in. One of the character concepts I'm considering is a Goblin pyromaniac who uses fire bombs from the Alchemist class. As the other side of the Gestalt, I want to look into creating a horde of flaming skeletons and implanting them with bombs so I have a horde of flaming explosive undead. I am looking for suggestions on what would be a good class that complements the alchemist and is also a good necromancer chassis.

I'm interested in remaking a party-favorite character from 4E: A Halfling Fighter. The problem is 4E had a way to draw aggro in the mark mechanic, but Pathfinder does not, as far as I know. I was hoping that maybe I missed something, but if not, am looking for other ideas to basically be a front-line melee debuffer/tank. I was thinking maybe an Intimidate build might be capable of pulling off a similar effect, spreading Shaken effects over all the enemies is pretty close to what marking did. I'd also like a way to "punish" enemies who attack allies, if possible.

The base of the build is a Sword-and-Board Halfling with high AC/defenses. He basically would stand up front and try to draw the attention of enemies by making it difficult to hit allies and punishing them if they decided to anyway, then weather the storm with his high defenses when they chose to attack him instead. Weaknesses included AoEs, since they were able to circumvent the penalty by attacking him and his allies at the same time.

So, I have a character concept that I've used in other, more free-form, systems, and was wondering if I could do anything like it in Pathfinder.

The race of the character is a conglomeration of human, fey (shapechanger), and dragon, but looks human basically. He has wings as well, though can activate and deactivate them at will.

The class of the character is a little weird. He wears black plate mail (though I'd we willing to use Breastplate), and dual wields a katana and a more traditional sword (longsword, bastard sword, something like that). I would be willing to just use two of the same swords flavored differently so that feats like Weapon Focus could apply to both. He is also fairly sneaky, so I'm thinking dex-based build (would help with the TWF as well) maybe with Slashing Grace to help with damage. He was also a spellcaster, with the plate armor not causing any issues. His typical spells were fairly basic things like invisbility (to help with Stealth) or fireballs and such for crowd control. Haste wouldn't be bad either. So he's basically a gish, with a preference for the physical side and the magic side being mainly utility with some blasting.

I was thinking maybe Fighter with variant multiclass as a draconic sorcerer, even though that doesn't give me spellcasting. Also going to look into the Magus or maybe Dragon Disciple and/or Eldritch Knight.

Just looking for some suggestions to help get me a little more direction.

I have a rough concept for a build I want to try to put together, and wanted some input since it's a little weird and I'm not sure exactly how to go about it.

The idea for the build started with the thought that Con, Wis, and Dex are often the most improtant abilities because they cover AC, HP, Fort, Ref, and Will, which takes care of Defense, and any one of them could cover offense, depending on the build (Con for Kineticists, with Dex as a secondary that would also be getting pumped, Wis for some spellcasters, and Dex for archery builds or finesse builds). So the build would dump Str/Int/Cha and evenly bump Dex/Con/Wis. I'm also interested in including Diehard and/or similar feats as an extra layer of toughness, and Flagellant to add an extra touch of "If you want to beat me, you'll have to kill me". Toughness may also find a slot if possible, as it fits both fluff- and crunch-wise.

That's the rough concept of the build. Having a way for one of the 3 ability scores to cover the roles of one of the other 2 would bring it down to a 2-ability build, but not sure if that's possible.

I'm also heavily considering Monk as the class, for the full saves across the board, as well as a bonus to AC based off one of the stats I plan to bump. Making a Dex-based Monk isn't super effective, but it's possible, as is a Wis build. Though I'm also attracted to the tanky-ness of the Barbarian.

So that's the rough concept; a tanky build with high defenses all around that doesn't sacrifice offense. I'm not 100% sure where to take it from there, or what would be the best way of going about it.

I've always been interested in playing a spellcaster that uses their magic to "hulk out" essentially. I've looked into alternate options, like Alchemists and mutagens, but now I'm interested in investigating a pure spellcaster that uses spells like Transformation or various Form spells or other similar effects that turn them into a beatstick.

So, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to make a viable build like this.

(Wild Shape is another possibility, but I want to leave that off for a different build concept for now; just looking for spell-based transformations for now).

Can someone explain how using Perception to notice traps works? I see in the Perception rules that it says that a player has to state they are looking for traps. Why would they not be, though? Is there some sort of penalty to speed/movement the player should be taking if "looking for traps"?

I had heard from someone else in our group that searching an adjacent square for traps was a full-round action. If this is the case, it seems extremely time-consuming for the party.

Why isn't there just a perception check by everyone when they get near the trap? It says in the trap rules that a player gets a Perception check to notice the trap before setting it off.

I have a rough idea for a character that is very brutish (probably Barbarian, maybe Str-Monk/Brawler) that focuses on giving as much pain (damage) as well as receiving it. So I'm wondering if there is a build (or just a class, feat, whatever) that flourishes as more damage is received? I'm thinking either Orc or Half-Orc with Deathless Initiate might be ok, though it seems a precarious place to try and stay. A Were-Boar might also be somewhat fitting.

I think there's also a feat that makes you deal extra damage but also deal damage to yourself too, but can't remember what it is. Might be a magical enhancement that I'm thinking of though.

A sub-theme of the character, if there's room, would also be that he is an agent of pure-chaos; will probably be CN alignment. I don't know if there are any feats/items/classes to support this as well. I seem to recall an old magic item that was basically a cloak of chaos, but don't remember much else about it, but that inspired me to make a character based on spreading chaos, just like there are characters that spread Good or Law(ful).

Anyway, any ideas for such a character?

I'm looking into building a Fire/Fire/(Aether or Fire?) Kineticist.

I've read over the handbook for it which was a great help in getting started, but just want some advice for finishing up some decisions.

First off, is there much if any benefit in going Expanded Element (Fire) twice? I know there's a minor bump in attack/damage/DC/CL, but it doesn't seem worth it when I could get Aetheric Boost instead as well as all the other benefits of having a second element to choose from. It would give me another infusion/talent which helps with the second question. Or is there a different suggested element I go for my second expanded element in order to be a better blaster?

Secondly, I need some assistance on cutting down the list of Infusions/Talents that I'm interested in. The lists so far look like this:

Infusion Wild Talents (16)

Burning Infusion
Draining Infusion
Eruption
Explosion
Extended Range
Extreme Range
Fan Of Flames
Flurry Of Blasts
Grappling Infusion
Kinetic Blade
Kinetic Whip
Mobile Blast
Pure-Flame Infusion
Snake
Torrent
Wall

Utility Wild Talents (18)

Cold Adaptation
Elemental Grip
Fire Sculptor
Fire's Fury
Firesight
Flame Jet
Flame Jet, Greater
Flame Shield
From the Ashes
Heat Adaptation
Heat Wave
Kinetic Form
Reverse Shift
Ride the Blast
Searing Flame
Smoke Storm
Spark of Life
Trail of Flames