Selaxasp

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For argument's sake, we'll assume our Cavalier is Order of the Tome, though it makes little difference at first-level.

Things they have in common:

Everything not class-dependent: points to buy ability scores, racial abilities, traits, etc.
Same hit die
Same BAB
Same save progressions
Same weapon proficiencies
Same shield proficiencies
Same starting wealth
Same number of skill points per level
Most class skills: Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Linguistics, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Swim
Same general role in party

Advantages the Cavalier has:
Heavy armor proficiency
Less MADness due to less Dex dependence (and theoretically Int dependence if the Tactician plans on getting to level 15)
Challenge 1/day provided she follows her order's edicts
Mount
Bonus to Linguistics checks (or some other skill depending on order)
The actual Tactician class feature (bonus teamwork feat and ability to grant it to allies)
Class skills: Bluff, Knowledge (arcana, religion)

Advantages the Fighter has:
Class skills: Knowledge (dungeoneering, engineering, geography, nobility), Survival

Guess your Tactician had better hope that Knowledge (Geography) is getting rolled constantly. On the bright side, by eleventh level your Tactician will be able to spend an entire turn to Aid Another two allies as long as all three of you are adjacent to the same monster, so I'm sure the investment will pay off in the long term.


Then what are these?

Armor Master 17
Brawler 5
Brawler 17
Corsair 15
Tower Shield Specialist 17

Gray Disciple 19
Martial Artist 11
Martial Artist 17
Sohei 11
Sohei 17

Gun Tank 6
Gun Tank 14
Mysterious Stranger 9
Mysterious Stranger 13

This is with the most generous definition of empty levels I can come up with. If a level so much as increases a single save DC of a single class ability (like Buccaneer 6 or Gun Tank 18), then I didn't count the level as empty. These levels give nothing at all except a hit die, the usual skill points per level, maybe a point of base attack bonus, and maybe progression to the class's base saves.

(Honorable mention goes to Tactician 1.)


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We're going to seek out the greatest possible crafter, assuming that only one use of Aid Another per check is allowed.

She'll be a Samsaran, for +2 racial Int and a +2 racial bonus to Craft (Armor). She's twentieth levels, with all five level bumps in Int, a +6 Headband of Int, a +5 Inherent bonus to Int, and a +2 Profane bonus to Int from a Succubus, for a total of 38 Int.

Naturally, she has Skill Focus (Craft (Armor)) and Prodigy (Craft (Armor) and something else). Unfortunately, masterwork armorsmith's tools don't stack with Cooperative Crafting, as they are both circumstance bonuses.

Her assistant is a 20th-level Alchemist feeding her Grand Cognatogens regularly so that the +8 alchemical bonus to Int is always active (and extracts of Lesser Restoration to undo the ability damage they cause). She also receives an extract of Crafter's Fortune each week. In order to use the Grand Cognatogens, our crafter has at least one level in alchemist. Her assistant has Cooperative Crafting to help and is Aiding Another for an additional +2.

Since we are sparing no expense, she also has a legion of 19th-level Bards who are Inspiring Competence round-the-clock to give her a +6 competence bonus.

Finally, the Adopted --> Collector trait gives her an additional +2 bonus, since she crafts where her collection is.

So, in total, our bonus to Craft (Armor) is;

+18 (Int)
+5 (Luck from Crafter's Fortune)
+2 (Aid Another)
+6 (Skill Focus)
+4 (Prodigy)
+2 (Trait from Collector)
+6 (Competence from Bardic Performance)
+2 (Racial)
+2 (Circumstance from Cooperative Crafting)
+20 (full ranks)
+3 (class skill)

For a total of +70.

(Only one of the crafter's twenty levels has been fixed, so if anyone knows any other first-party Craft bonuses that class levels could provide, please remind me and I'll add them.)

Now, we want to find the absolute fastest that Mithral Full Plate could possibly be crafted, so we'll assume that divine intervention grants our crafter a 20 on every Craft check, for a total of 90.

Mithral Full Plate costs 10,500 gp, or 105,000 sp, and since it provides a +9 armor bonus, its DC is 19, which we increase to 29 to make the job faster. Each week, we make 29*90*2 sp worth of progress (the *2 comes from Cooperative Crafting), for a total of 5220 sp per week. It will take 21 weeks of crafting to complete the armor at this rate, so our dedicated perfect armorsmith who rolls a natural 20 on every check requires almost five months to complete a mundane set of Mithral Full Plate. It is not physically possible, as far as I know, to create Mithral Full Plate any faster than this.

Unless you're a ninth-level Wizard, in which case Fabricate can do it in six seconds.


Spell Hex:
You can transform a 1st-level spell into a hex.

Prerequisites: Major hex class feature.

Benefit: Select one 1st-level spell in the class that grants you the major hex class feature. You can learn that spell as a hex, and can use that hex three times per day. This is a spell-like ability. You use your class level in the major-hex-granting class as your caster level for the spell hex. The spell hex uses your hex DC instead of its original spell DC.

If the spell is a touch spell and you miss the creature, you cannot target the creature with that spell hex again for 24 hours. If the spell allows a saving throw to negate or take a partial effect from the spell, and the target succeeds at that saving throw, it cannot be affected by the spell hex for 24 hours, even if it is in the area of the spell hex.

The obvious benefit is that it uses your Hex DC, so it could be useful with a first-level spell that would be useful were it not for the save DC becoming trivial (and it not being worth Heightening). Taking Quicken SLA later makes casting it a swift action, which is also nice. Unfortunately, looking at the Witch spell list, there's nothing in particular that I would really want as a hex. Most spells either already have a hex equivalent (Charm Person) or don't allow a saving throw anyhow (Ill Omen) or just wouldn't be very useful at higher levels anyhow.

The most interesting use I can think of would be to play a Samsaran and use it with something stolen from a different spell list (Grease, perhaps?), but even then, I'm not sure if it's worth a feat (or two feats to Quicken) plus the race choice (which has a Con penalty and means missing the human bonus feat). Especially when I could just take Extra Hex instead, since by the time Spell Hex becomes available, so are Major Hexes, which don't have per-day limits and are generally better than first-level spells anyhow.

Are there any decent uses of this feat or is it just a dud?


Can attacks of opportunity be made with hair from a Witch's Prehensile Hair hex (or with the White-Haired Witch archetype)? Or is it unable to threaten, like a whip?