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So my DM is letting us re-work some aspects of our characters before we reach level 4, so I was thinking maybe take out reactionary for something a bit more fun, like magical lineage.

I'm playing a winter witch.

I'm curious what metamagic and what one spell would be good/fun to specialize in?

Off hand I'm thinking spells like:
Snowball (Throw rime, and then later, extra damage metamagic feats)
Flurry of Snowballs (as above, but AOE, for 1 spell level higher)

Also, suggestions can be for things not specifically for a winter witch.

I thought about trying to do touch spells cus of Reach metamagic... but there's doesn't seem to be many good touch spells. Maybe chill touch at best?

Simple idea:

What are fun ways to re-flavors the Witch cackle instead of just creepy laughter?

Doesn't have to be just vocal either! Love to hear some ideas.

Protective Luck (Su)

The witch can cause fate to twist so that it benefits a creature within 30 feet for 1 round. Whenever that creature is targeted by an effect that requires an attack roll, including weapon attacks, the attacker must roll twice and take the worse result.

At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. A witch cannot use this ability on herself. Hexes that affect the fortune hex, such as cackle, also affect protective luck.

Soothsayer (Su)

The witch’s predictions become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Benefit(s): When the witch uses the evil eye hex, fortune hex, misfortune hex, or retribution major hex, she can choose to delay the effect. If she does so, the hex takes effect the next time the target makes a roll that could be affected by the hex (such as an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check) or is affected by an action that could be modified by the hex (such as being attacked when the hex would affect the target’s AC), whichever comes first (ignoring actions that are not in combat and actions that have no penalty for failure). The duration of the hex begins on the same round as the action that causes it to take effect.

The hex is wasted if it is not triggered within 24 hours.

is this too powerful a combination?

With protective luck + soothsayer you can pre-protect your whole party before any fight.

Add in cackle and they are protected the whole fight, every fight.

Maybe it's not as great as I think it is. Admittedly I have to stop moving to keep cackling, sometimes I'll be forced to move and not cackle, breaking the chain.

But, unlike fortune, I can just keep using it for every fight.

Fortune works in the same way but is only good for one fight, because once you stop cackling you can't affect your team again.

I know the wizard, and especially the arcanist, have ways to speed up preparing spells (the arcanist has an ability that burns one of their arcane points and you get a spell re-prepared in 1 round!)

Essentially I'm trying to find out if there are ways for any other prepared caster class to get such benefits:

Re-prepare a spell slot that already has a prepared spell in it
Prepare a spell slot faster than 15 minutes (ideally within 1 round or 2 so it can be combat viable)

So, recently there was a debate on how Unshakable Chill (the spell) and "Severe Cold" rules work.

From my understanding, when you suffer Sever Cold conditions, you are fatigued and like fatigue rules, you may suffer exhaustion if you get hit with a fatigue causing source again.

So, basically, Unshakable Chill + another Unshakable Chill / Touch of fatigue should cause exhaustion that won't go away till they heal their non-lethal damage/get enough rest.

My fellows seem to think because it says "A character who takes any nonlethal damage from cold or exposure is beset by frostbite or hypothermia (treat her as fatigued). These penalties end when the character recovers the nonlethal damage she took from the cold and exposure.

specifically the bold part there, that you only count the fatigue penalties, not the condition itself and its ability to upgrade to exhaustion.

Is this true? How the heck does severe cold work with relation to Unshakable Chill?

If indeed it only gives the penalty and not the condition of fatigue, then I can't think of ANY use for Unshakable Chill.

So, my DM says he'll allow my familiar to use a wand or other similar activated item (even though I believe the PFS ruling is no regular familiar can use magic items and only a small list of improved familiars can, and only wands)

But, they need to be able to speak, hold/manipulate the wand, and of course, they use their use magic device.

So, are there ways (feats, items, spells etc) that can give a familiar a spare "hand" to use? (not necessarily a real hand, but some way to get my rabbit familiar the ability to hold and use things)

Speaking I got covered. Probably going with the Decoy archetype and by level 5 they'll be able to speak.

I've done some searching and I haven't found any conclusive answers. Someone mentioned a Blackwick Cauldron, which does allow you to make as many potions as your GP limit allows in a day. But that's near 10k gold!

Surely there is a cheaper means to not have to spend 4 days brewing up a cure light potion for each party member.

I'm sure Alchemist get something that allows them to break this limit. Not sure what though.

What feat, classes, abilities, items, allow you to make more than 1 potion a day?

So I'm playing a witch and am thinking of giving my bunny familiar the valet archetype. IF I do I'll take brewpotion/Cauldron Hex.

But I'm confused with how the interaction works.

Cooperative Crafting

Benefit: You can assist another character in crafting mundane and magical items. You must both possess the relevant Craft skill or item creation feat, but either one of you can fulfill any other prerequisites for crafting the item. You provide a +2 circumstance bonus on any Craft or Spellcraft checks related to making an item, and your assistance doubles the gp value of items that can be crafted each day.

So first off... is it the familiar who is the main crafter or can my witch still be the main crafter?

When it mentions "Doubles the gp value of items that can be crafted each day"

Is that effectively doubling the speed I make something? Like, a potion takes 2 hours, would it take 1? (potions taking 8 hours for 1,000 takes 4?)

Does the assistant also take part of the work? So, if it goes to 1 hour of crafting, would my assistant do 30 minutes of work and I do the other 30 minutes? Or would we complete it IN 30 minutes cus we're both working on it at the same time?

Or is the crafting time assuming both are crafting at the same time?

So, I've decided to play winter Witch seeing as the concept sounds "cool" on paper, but I'd like some help in building it.

The problem is I'm fighting an up hill battle since most things will either be resistant to me or flat out immune.

Case in point, first games handful of fights were:

Sit and do nothing cus the zombies in that encounter were immune to cold damage (and all my mind effecting abilities) so I tried to guidance... Oh wait we have a bard. So I tried to aid another... Oh riiight -3 to melee hit.

So I did functionally nothing there.

Next fight was against some dragon worm thing, find out real quick it's immune to slumber, fair. It's a dragon type I suppose. Then I think, great time to try and pull out my prehensile hair and try to use frostbite cus it probably will shake off anything else, and hey fatigue is something, even if it is just one round.

Sadly the animal companion in the party murderlated it by round 3 (cus growing my hair is a standard action) so I had no opportunity.

Couldn't heal my party member cus the bard had healing.

Then pixies! Heck, ice pixies but you know, something I could sleep I was pretty sure! I go first and.... Doesn't work.

Then the sorcerer goes and casts sleep spell and knocks two of em out.... At this point in just feeling pointless. Sure, the third pixie got their revenge by color spraying him but...

Well I cast obscuring mist thinking to protect my teamates who are unconscious.

Turns out it just wastes 2 turns as I life the fog after that and we find the one pixie left just ran away with their buddies.

So ya, first time playing an adventure path, 1st level, felt pretty darn useless. And I know level 1 is gonna be rough for anyone. But I just felt so gosh darn useless and I can't help but feel it's gonna be that way

So question 1: is winter Witch even remotely viable for this module? Sure, uphill battle, but am I just playing a pointless character?

Question 2: if still somewhat viable, how would you build your winter Witch for the Reign of Winter campaign?

I should mention I'm not looking for spoilers but if you know what's gonna happen and can give vague advice like "you really gonna want this ability or spell, trust me" then that works.

So the original concept was I wanted to play a Doctor and the best fit for that I felt was Alchemist. So I wanted to try and make a healing and utility/support focused Alchemist.

Then I found the Gun Chemist.... and I realized healing bomb works with their bullet instead of bomb ability. Meaning I could shoot people with healing.
Single target, use exploding bullet for splash, or use a shotgun for scatter.

All these things seemed super fun and now I want to try and make "Shoot you with healing" a viable/fun play style. Though I'm still quite new to most things Alchemist.

So that's where you guys come in~

Basic set up as per the DM:

The system is Pathfinder(1st ed). Characters for it will be level 5, 20 point buy for stats, 10,500 GP starting funds, using the “Guns Everywhere” Pathfinder ruleset(Guns are simple weapons and at 10% cost, Gunslinger gets Gun Training @ level 1.) and the PFS HP track.

Small Rules Clarifications as well: 1. Detect Magic will not detect illusion spells such as invisibility. 2. Enchantment spells will have the effect of being apparent after they have worn off. IE If you cast Charm Person and it wears off they will know you cast Charm Person on them.

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So, with this all in mind I'm playing a German Doctor who defected during the Great War, to America. (Badger person probably, actual race does not really matter beyond the mechanics, so my Badger dude can be slapped with any race template, though try to keep it under 15 RP, was probably thinking just human to keep it simple and free feat. Though Wayang and Elf seemed pretty good options as well)

Current thoughts on Stats:

STR 8
DEX 15
CON 12
INT 17
WIS 8
CHA 12

Since we're starting at level 5 I'll probably pump my dex to 16 as the 4th lvl ability bump. Then at level 8 later I'll raise my int. My race template will most certainly want to be an INT based race so 19 starting INT most likely.

I want him to be focused around healing and shooting. With utility and buffing being secondary options.

I think I'm pretty sold on Gun Chemist and Inspired Chemist as archetypes.

I'm taking Infused discovery for sure. Other abilities I was thinking about was spontaneous Healing then later Healing Hands.

Numerical Alchemy and Applied Engineering all seemed pretty fun.

Oh I should mention those are Investigator Talents, which I can access thanks to the Inspired Chemist archetype (2 talents for the price of one discovery! pretty nifty). Though the downside is any such talents are only usable while suing my Cognatogen, which the archetype replaces my mutagen for.

(there's a bit of a, probably unintended, exploit where you can take the "Two Talents in-place of a discovery" choice and then take one talent and one "Alchemist Discovery" , or 2 discoveries (which is limited by the investigator list of allowed discoveries to take). They would still be limited only when using the Cognatogen, but still that seems like an exploit and won't be used, sadly. But extra discoveries via feats still work to get 2 talents.

Haven't even thought of items yet really either.

So, the idea came about as a joke, but I'm curious now how one might homebrew a "reverse summoner" where basically you play an intelligent eidolon as the main player character, but can summon your spellcaster like a summoner could their eidolon.

Maybe it's due to some freak accident in the binding process, maybe one of the gods had some fun, whatever the reason, the Eidolon is the player, the summoner is the summoned companion.

How would you build this and make it balanced?

Summoner is already pretty busted (from what I've heard, never got to play one :< )

But I doubt one would just use the base rules for summoner or unchained summoner.

What are your thoughts? Like the concept? How would you make this class?

Got two main questions to pose here (asked them in the advice forum when asking advice about a character I'm making, but realized it might be good to post these rules questions here)

1) Does the brawler's flurry ability work with the swashbuckler archetype Whirling Dervish's 7th level deed? In effect, do I get the extra attacks like I normally would?

For example, normal two-weapon fighting rules, when I'm level 10, and just have swashbuckler levels, have the two-weapon and improved two-weapon fighting feats, I'm entitled to 4 attacks normally during the Whirling Dervish Deed.

That's when I normally can full-attack and thus my full allotment of attacks is 4 for whirling dervish.

"Whirlwind Dance (Ex) At 7th level, a whirling dervish can sweep through her opponents’ lines like a cyclone. As a full-round action, she can spend 1 panache point to move up to her speed. She can make attacks against creatures with her reach during this movement, up to the number of attacks she’s entitled to with a full attack. Each attack is made at her highest attack bonus, and must target a different creature. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. This deed replaces superior feint and targeted strike."

Now say, I take 2 or 3 levels in brawler. With Flurry I'm allowed to use one weapon for all my two-weapon fighting attacks, and I've been told and looked up the FAQ that brawlers can both use the flurry ability to apply for feats with two-weapon fighting as a pre-requisite and apply early for Two-weapon fighting feat improvements, like improved two weapon fighting at level 7 (rather than getting it for free at level 8) BUT it's still only usable with flurries.

So now I can use one weapon and get 4 attacks like two-weapon fighting (same number of attacks, same penalty to hit, the only difference is I don't need two weapons and can gain precise strike with each hit, where before I was not able to due to the rules behind precise strike [I was fine with this trade off, but I found out about this possible combo])

Now that I have a full attack that only uses one weapon, can I use this same feature in qualification for the whirling dervish dance ability?
Will I get 4 attack still and can I still stick with 1 weapon?
Raw and Rai rulings are welcome.

2) If I took levels in both swashbuckler and figher (archetype Varisian Free-Style Fighter
Will my swashbuckler levels combine with my fighter levels when concerning the martial flexibility ability the archetype grants?

Swashbuckler is a hybrid class and does get considered for pretty much every thing a fighter does as its own level (feats, weapon training, etc)

"Martial Flexibility (Ex): A Varisian free-style fighter gains martial flexibilityACG as per the brawler class feature, treating his fighter level as his brawler level for the purposes of this ability. This ability replaces the bonus feats gained at 1st level, 6th level, 10th level, and 12th level, as well as weapon training and weapon mastery.

Again, Raw and Rai welcome

Having a hard time deciding what two feats to take for my next level (level 8) I'm retraining a feat I don't use much, and getting a bonus one at 8.

Two weapon fighting swashbuckler crit fishing build.

Feats I have already took the two weapon fighting ones, enforcer, and quickdraw and combat stamina.

Dex based.

I'm mostly trying to concentrate on mobility and doing the whirling dervish archetype for swashbuckler: move and hit many enemies, possibly making them all shaken or worse in the process.

So I have 2 feats to think of taking, possibly a third of I want training weapon enhancement on one of my swords.

Any ideas on what to take?

I want to avoid just damage or to hit bonuses, even ac or save buffs I kinda want to avoid. I want more options rather than stat buffs.

Like blind fight + blinded blade style.

Or butterflysting to share crits. Stuff like that.

So what two feat combinations (possibly 3) would be super neat to take? Maybe even 4 if it's worth waiting to level 9 to get the big 4th ability.

Bonus points if they have really neat and useful combat stamina options.
They do have to be combat feats sadly cus bonus combat feats.

Got an upcoming game where I'll be playing a hunter. I'm excited to try as I've always loved the class, but I've never got to play one till now.

So, what I'm looking is advice for spells to take (known, scrolls, wands etc), teamwork feats, and items I should be working towards.

My build concept does not require me to be optimized (I don't think anyone in the group for this game will be that optimized) so "fun" trumps "this does more damage".

I'd much rather take something that gives me more interesting options or combos and not just a simple stat increase. Though my character is going to be very MAD, starting at level 3 = STR: 14, DEX: 16, CON: 13, INT: 10, WIS: 14, CHA: 14

Also, I'm wanting to run this character as a mounted switch hitter. He uses a scimitar, has a tail attack, and uses a bow. Admittedly the ranged option is more just a side option. I won't be getting any mounted or ranged feats. The idea being I'll use a bow when out of range and once I close in the distance I'll switch to melee.

And I might not be mounted all the time either. I want to be fluid enough to work both mounted and not mounted.

The animal companion is basically a wolf template (though grab not trip)

oh, and I'll be using the Courtly Hunter Archetype.
Part of this is a bit of homebrew. I get to keep the bonus feats and precise companion rather than just having my animal companion share in my skills (which aren't that many anyhow...) We both agreed that the archetype already suffers from a worse Animal Focus, and getting slightly better skill checks doesn't seem right to loose a tone of feats to make the class work. (yes, the idea is the courtly hunter is more geared towards social encounters rather than fighting, but in a game where you do a good healthy amount of both, trading tones of feats (that count as double feats since you share them with the AC) for the use of some ranks in a few skills.... seems damn piss poor. Heck it seems piss poor even in social situations, unless you really want your AC to be doing that diplomacy check)

The reason I'm taking Courtly Hunter is for the flavor of it being fey touched, as my character is a custom race under 12 RP and is a bit of a fey himself (can do gnome magic and can shapechange). So having an option to scale the big scary beasty into something a bit more travel size, helps out a lot.

I know a few things I'll be getting for sure. Dirty Trick, Pack-Flanking, Outflank and paired opportunist.

But, what other teamwork feats should I be on the look out for? Escape route sounds nice, but maybe just a floating feat (switched in when needed) same with improved share spell? Which teamwork feats should I try and get as set in feats and which ones should I keep in mind to switch around as needed?

What regular feats? I had my eye on a few. Like Butterfly Sting (to share my crits to my animal companion or other allies), maybe Planar Focus to give myself some more interesting animal focus options? Is expanded hunter tactics worth it? (move action give one ally a teamwork feat for a few rounds, once per ally per day, and only works if they are adjacent to me or the AC)

Then there are the spells, what spells are golden to take (since I have such limited spells known) and what spells should I have as a scroll or wand?

Again, going for fun options over pure stat increases if possible.

Also, a side question but... since Courtly Hunter's AC doesn't learn tricks because of having a familiar's level of intellect... does that mean they can't use Skirmisher tricks? Since you have to use bonus tricks to learn those I think... which seems odd that getting smarter negates your ability to use those XD

As it says on the tin.

I'm theory crafting a mouser swashbuckler build and am curious when movement stopping abilities trigger.

The mouser allows you to be in the enemies square and share it, giving the enemy some disadvantages.
But it occured to me they could just take a 5ft step away and attack a friend regardless, even if I had step up it wouldn't matter (unless I was tiny, in which case moving into enemy squares is free to do, which as a small race I plan to use wands of reduce person to be tiny when needed). But then I realized I have no means to stop them from leaving if they just move! It triggers at AoO so I could trip them potentially but... Does tripping them leave them in the square they started or the square next? I'm not sure about the normal instance of this, let alone the mouser ability saying "When they ATTEMPT to move they provoke"

So I'm curious, when does trip or stand still or the mouser ability trigger?

1) Trip and Standstill trigger on the space after the threatened space they leave, thus dropping or stopping them 10' away from the target (or in a mouser's case 5' )

2) same as 1 but the mouser ability specifying "attempt" means you drop/freeze in place before ever getting to move.

3) both regular rules and mouser rules stop or trip the person in the square they try to leave, giving them no movement.

Simple question,

Has there been an official ruling on whether a piercing OR slashing weapon works for abilities that call the use for a piercing weapon or slashing weapon, even if you're using the other damage type.

Sample case:

Swashbuckler using a dagger's slashing damage type to overcome specific DR and benefit from his finesse class ability (which requires a piercing type weapon)

Example 2:
Using a dagger to deal piercing damage but applying Blade of Mercy + Enforcer (which requires a slashing type weapon)

Example 3:
Getting the benefits of both previous examples at once. (Piercing or slashing damage giving swashbuckler finesse and triggering Blade of Mercy's benefit)

From what I could find, there has been no official ruling and both sides have fair arguments. I see most people ruling all the above examples work though. It might still be DM fiat.

Recently got into a discussion with my gaming group about AoO and how some of them don't like how they interrupt the flow of combat and some characters can make them really busted.

Case in point, I run a swashbuckler. Currently built for two weapon fighting and taking advantage of 10' reach+ Attacks of Opportunity, especially with Parry and Riposte.

All ready they think swashbuckler is crazy powerful

(even after two combats where I was 5hp from death. The last combat my luck was horrible. Rolling 1s, rerolls into 1s, my Parry rolling an 18 or 19 being beaten not once, but twice by a natural d20 roll. Couldn't get a crit or kill a thing to save my life or dwindling panache, got grappled and couldn't roll decent to escape artist out...)

Cough, so anyhow, that aside my DM was quick to shutdown a new feat I wanted to take at level 7.

In the new Chronicles of Legends book, there's a feat:

Surprising Strategy (Combat)
Source Chronicle of Legends pg. 9
Your quick swordsmanship leaves your opponents struggling to predict your moves.

Prerequisites: Riposte class feature.

Benefit: In addition to the attack of opportunity you can make when you successfully parry an attack, you can attempt a dirty trick, disarm, or sunder combat maneuver with a +2 morale bonus without provoking an attack of opportunity against the creature whose attack you parry, so long as the creature is within reach.

I looked at this and was like "heckin awesome, I can do some really fun Zoro flavor with this."

I liked the flavor enough I thought of taking it over my previous choice when I reach 7th level, improved two weapon fighting.

In my mind, the effect of this feat, while nice, is still not better than an an extra attack you can make actively on your turn (which can also be manuvers and I can get around provoking by having longer reach)

But, that's not how my gaming group sees it. They think it's way too powerful a feat given to an already way too powerful class.

I don't see it... But maybe I'm wrong?

Is this feat overpowered for two weapon fighting saashbuckler? Are Attacks of Opportunity and abilities that key off them too powerful?

What's your thoughts?

I don't think there's any material out there for how to follow a set string of rules to make a custom Animal Companion but I really want to flavor one for the upcoming campaign I'll be playing in.

You might think "Just be a summoner, Eidolon is a build your own animal companion" and I wanted to, trust me! But, our group is deadly afraid of summoner, even the unchained version. (I've never once played or seen one played but I've always wanted to)

So, instead I decided to go with another pet synergistic class: The Hunter.

As I was building the hunter (going for switch hitter build. I know it's not optimal all too well, but I like the flavor of being able to ride into combat with arrows and switch to melee as needed. Also yes, the animal companion will be used as a mount) I realized the idea of the character I was going for and the idea I had for the animal companion, didn't really fit a normal "Animal". Would fit perfectly for an eidolon but alas...

Our group is pretty okay with flavoring things to look or be like whatever we want so long as it makes sense and doesn't change anything mechanically.

So looks wise this is what I doodled:
Uru, Spirit of the Forest

I was wanting something akin to a plant like otherworldly fey animal creature. (Part of that I thought would be cool is parts of its body, mainly the limbs, are made using woven together vines)

I'm also taking the Courtly Hunter Archetype to better fit that flavor too, as it describes your animal companion being "Fey Touched". Plus, making it shrink to tiny size will certainly be nice as something like this walking into town would definitely turn heads or cause some sort of ruckus.

So anyways, down to the build, I went back and forth between just Generic Wolf, or even the Gulper Plant, and a few other options along both the plant and mammal line of things, but nothing seemed to really fit.

So I came up with my own trying to keep things balanced and inline with things like the wolf, plants, and other baseline creatures that aren't super powerful.

Size: Medium
Speed: 40 ft. Climb 20ft
AC: +2
Attack: Bite (1d6 plus grab) + 2 Claws [or maybe flavor as vines attacks?] (1d4) [maybe just the bite and no extra attacks?]
Ability Scores: STR: 14, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6 [same as the Riding Elk]
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole (1d6 acid)
Special Qualities: Freeze, Low-light vision [instead of freeze maybe scent? Or Maybe Dark Vision?]

7th lvl advancement:
Size: Large
AC: +3 Nat
Attack: Bite (1d8 plus Grab) + 2 Claws (1d6)
ABility scores: +8 STR, -2 Dex, +4 Con
Special attack: Swallow Whole (1d8 acid)

So that's what I came up with. What are your thoughts? Under powered, over powered, just right? Is there a way to better balance it (like 1st party material that actually covers making your own companion)? How would you build this creature concept?

My gaming group is going to run a one shot this Friday using level 20 characters. All Pathfinder material is legal, but no 3rd parties OTHER than path of war (which I know very little about but a few of the players really like).

I'm at a bit of a loss on what to play. I've never played a character past level 15, let alone level 20.

What are some fun classes to take all the way to level 20?

I'd really like to use capstone abilities if possible (that's the main draw I figure of going that far) so try to avoid multi-classing unless it nets some really cool and fun build to play or is like, a prestige class that gets its own fun capstone.

A few ideas I thought of was taking either Kineticist or Elemental Annihilator kinetcist to full 20.

Base Kineticist gets to become the Avatar at level 20, essentially getting access to all wild talents and abilities of all elements.

Annihilator trades that out to be able to do an insanely powerful Nuke of 5 elements. (and if I understand it right, using certain kineticist abilities will allow you to throw out 2 in a turn and they can be empowered. Ontop of that, I believe you can make them into a sword and the sword version can use vital strike which will double the damage yet again, I may be wrong but I got something like 200d10 in one round XD )

I was also thinking of taking a character I ran in the past to level 12 all the way to 20. A wizard. There's nothing complicated about progressing them to 20 other than getting items. Cus there's really only the "Immortal" capstone and you get level 9 spells (and I built my Exploiter Wizard to have ALL the spells, and spells cost half as much for him).

It's not a flashy capstone but level 9 spells could be super fun.... but that might be TOO much variety for a one shot. I would probably want something quick and simple, not overly complex.

Thought maybe taking some class that gives an animal companion then going into Mammoth Rider up to their 10th level, ride around with Gargantuan and possibly Colossal sized mounts. That would be a pretty silly and fun concept for a one shot.

But ya, what are some fun ideas you guys have for level 20 characters?

Hello everyone!

Been mulling over running a Warpriest in the next campaign I'll be in. The GM is new to GMing and wants to avoid too much janky stuff (so I'm avoiding complicated things like multi-classing, or say, an undersized 1 handed dorn-durger + sphinx hammer two weapon fighting build )

I'm sticking with something a bit more simple. A tank/frontline/Defender fighter type who uses a warhammer (and maybe shield).

The game is going to be slightly more narrative than usual, so my character needs more than just straight up fighting abilities (which is why I chose warpriest. Some versatility with spells, can heal or buff, and not sole focused on combat).

So my stat allotment reflects this (IE I didn't dump INT) but I'm still not sure what I really should go for in a build like this and what is needed. I feel like my health is too low, I feel my skills are still too low, I feel my to hit might be too low, I feel my AC is... probably okay?

Besides being worried about stats I'm also not certain on feat choices. At one point I thought taking cleave was the go to idea... then I read an article on how bad an option cleave is even for someone who only ever hits once a turn for a long while anyways. I thought maybe two weapon fighting but ran into power attack and two weapon fighting eating away at my already perceptively low to hit value.

I guess to start, let's show what the character looks like, here's what I have so far:

Roth [name pending]
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Human, Warpriest, Lawful Good Lvl 3

STR: 16
CON: 13
DEX: 13
INT: 13
WIS: 14 (+2 from Human makes it 16)
CHA: 7

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Traits:

Ancestral Weapon (+1 for all cold iron weapons and I get a free masterwork coldiron weapon)
Eyes and Ears of the City (perception as a class skill and a +1)
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Blessing 1: Nobility Blessing
Blessing 2: N/A --- Traded for Divine Fighting Technique (Way of Patient Strikes --- Basically combat reflexes for wisdom using warhammer)
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Warpriest Deity Favored Weapon: Spear
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Feats:

1) Fast Learner (+1 skill, +1 hp, +1 fav class bonus per level)
Human Bonus Feat: Dodge
Warpriest Free Feat Weapon Focus: Warhammer

3) Power Attack
Bonus Feat: Mobility

-----

Future levels:

5) Uncertain?

6) Bonus Warpriest Feat: Combat Patrol (thankfully warpriest subverts their 3/4 BAB with sort of counting like full BAB and fighter for their bonus feats)
Bonus Warpriest Favored Class Feat: Vital Strike
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Gear:

Cold Iron Masterwork Warhammer (with Power attack it's currently around +7 to hit, 1d8+5 single handed, 2 handed 1d8+7 )

Coldiron Spear: +7 to hit, 1d8+4 --- Thrown +5 to hit

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Defense: AC currently around 22 (9 armor, 1 shield, 1 dex, 1 dodge(

Full Plate Masterwork
Masterwork Light Steel Quickdraw Shield
or
Masterwork Buckler?

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I'm not sure on shields... should I get a buckler so I can easily switch from 1handed to 2 handed, should I just get the quickdraw shield so I can waste swift actions to put my shield away or draw it? Should I just forget the shield entirely and go Two handed hammer the entire time? (I'm pretty sure I don't want to go with the heavy shield as that would make spell casting impossible, since I need at least one hand free to do somatic components)

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Anyways, that's the build.

Some things to keep in mind: I NEED skill points. right now 5 per level is barely sufficient enough I think to warrant a playable character for a game that may involve lots of skill check rolls. Also, 13 intel is required for fast learner which gives me the +1 skill, HP, and fav class bonus.

I know this part is probably hurting me the most but I can't dump INT... only have 2 skill points a level, or worse, None, is really going to hamper my options outside of combat I feel.

Con is dangerously low as well, to make up for having a higher INT, but, I feel a d8 +2 per level is probably sufficient for a class that can heal itself easily enough. Plus, if I really need hit-points I figure I could take toughness at level 5 since I've got no other idea (or toughness level 3 and take mobility at level 5?)

What are you ideas? Thoughts on builds? How to make this a somewhat decent social/narrative character without gimping his combat abilities too badly? What's a good stat Array (20 point buy)? Are the feats I'm choosing a good idea? Should I pick others? Is there some idea or build I haven't thought of that involves this general style of warpriest? Maybe TWF is more viable than I think?

Hek... maybe I should just go back to my weird ass idea of using an undersized Dorn-Durger in my main hand and a Dwarven Sphinx Hammer in the off hand so I can have reach with the Dorn-Durger, close range with the hammer, and if I need to, throw the thing at someone's face from range (with level 5 being the level I get a blink back belt OR I work towards getting returning on the hammer)

Hello everybody!

I'm new to playing a wizard but not to Pathfinder or casters in general. But I'm much more used to playing a sorcerer or oracle where your spell's known is very limited.

Now I'm taking a crack at a prepared caster, a wizard, and really need help as the choices available are staggering!

Part of my choice fatigue/freeze up is I can't seem to find a universally good list for spells that doesn't seem just... well daunting. Is there a tool or resource out there that helps to organize, search and filter spells, and in general, allow me to cobble a spell book together much easier?

So, while I try to dizzy myself with all the options I figured I'd ask here for advice on spells to take. I'll start by describing the type of character/wizard I'm going for.

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He's a Neutral Good Elf Wizard (Bonded Wizard Archetype) level 8 starting character. He'll start with the base allotment of spells you can know starting off. 3+INT 1st levels, +2 per level any spell that can be known after that. He also has 1,000 gp (possibly 3,000gp if I decide to make my cloak of resistance +2 a +1 instead) for extra spells.

We're using the 25 point buy ability scores so his INT is 26 (18 base, +1 at level 4 and 8, +2 from race, +4 from item)

He's a junior professor and librarian from a noble family. Forced to stay in his job and city and never allowed to leave due to sheltering and controlling family. A group of adventurers passes through and does some heoric deeds impressing the wizard well enough to try and join their group and sneak out of the city.

He's a Divination school focused wizard but the city he's from and the school he attends makes liberal use of Necromancy. Long and short of it is they see dead bodies as a waste, might as well raise them and put em to work like an organic robot labor force.

So his focus should be on Divination and Necromancy. His opposition schools are Evocation (ballsy, I know, but we already have a pure blaster mage in the group) and Enchantment.

Our group's play style is much more narrative than combative/mechanical. But we do get into fights from time to time. But spells that are not as good because they suck in combat are fine additions so long as they give great social and utility applications.

He's also the knowledge nerd. (filling in the gaps of knowledges that the team lacks).

I see this character as a utility, buffer, debuffer, diviner type character. But much more leaning on the utility aspect. He has Fast Study which allows him to prepare spells in 1 minute! (so I can keep my prepared list relatively free all day and only prepare when I need to)

The only spells I wish to stay away from (mainly for the sanity of our GM) is heavy book keeping type spells (like AoO stat damage) or level reducing spells. Also I want to avoid most mind control, save or die type spells (except for the obvious undead controlling stuff). It's why enchantment is an opposition school.

Oh, and last thing, only spells from Pathfinder official books (but any official book is okay).

So with all of that in mind, what spells would you suggest at each level?

Also if you just have general suggestions on how to play a wizard or useful tips/tools that too would greatly help!

I've been reading over the new rules for pathfinder 2.0 and something I was really hoping for was how perception, stealth, and facing (or the lack there of) works in pathfinder.

I've always loved to play rogue but it always struck me as odd that sneaking just could not be done effectively in combat without magical assistance or some extraordinary abilities. The act of trying to stay behind someone's back or out of their sight while they are distracted is seemingly thwarted because pathfinder and DnD rules like to give characters 360 degree vision.

When I read the first line in the book describing the Seek action I was thrilled! Seeking had a cone of sight, I thought facing would be a thing for sure!

But sadly having read the section on Perception and the section on stealth, they basically left these two areas the same. They did give an action to "distract" using the deceive skill so at least you can attempt to run out into non concealed squares before hopping into concealment again. But the issue still stands, once combat starts, even if you started the fight in stealth and they don't know where you are, the moment you try to be a rogue and do rogue things (like sneak up behind and stab a fellow) you're seen just by stepping out of the shadows like they pinged you from radar.

This feels bad both mechanically and narratively. There are means to make stealth in the middle of a fight viable, invisibility being the obvious "supplement" but not everyone has money to spend on magic items or has the magic to make that happen.

Sometimes my rogue wants to be able to run into another room, hide for a bit, wait for a target's back to be turned before he enters again and charges/stabs that same guy that no longer knows his exact whereabouts!

So I propose a way to incorporate facing rules that don't change the current rules set all too much and allow for a basic facing strategies to be implemented without making it busted or belittling other means to be stealthy in a fight like with magic and abilities.

During combat/Encounters, all characters have a 180 degree (or 90 or whatever seems fare) view cone of precise sensing/focus. Any creature or object in this view are treated as the rules currently state for sensing with no changes (so trying to sneak through this view cone without cover, distraction etc would knock you out of it)

Any creature outside this view cone (so to the sides or behind them essentially) gives a character the "sensed" status. You know your enemies are there but your focus is elsewhere at the time being.
All creatures may spend a free action, triggered by another creatures action, to change their facing towards the triggering event. So say a bold face rogue is in your face and trying to circle behind you, you can follow their movements, essentially your "facing" follows them so as to not loose track of a potentially deadly enemy trying to get at your back.

With this sort of set up it essentially allows a cleverly sneaky character to use position, tactics, and stealthy espionage to get behind an enemies back. Because their back is always considered to be "sensed" and not concealed or seen, you can always catch them flat footed, so long as they aren't following you with their facing/precise sense cone of vision, which most will if they know you're there.

This also makes regular characters looking to get an easier hit on an enemy have an easier time if they manage to get behind the enemy without being noticed, or they surround the enemy. Alternatively if you have a good teamwork another player or enemy can call to their ally as a free action to just let them know there's a guy behind him going for the stab (if they see him and aren't behind that person as well)

I know with the way I've described it, the idea isn't perfectly worded and there's plenty of room for exploiting, but I want to hear some thoughts on this idea?

I just have always loathed the stealth/perception interactions and how you can't really employ strategy based on creature's facing.

It seems wrong to me that when I haven't broken stealth but my team has and the fight starts that I can't get a sneak attack on the enemy because they were already had a turn to act before I stepped out of the shadows to shank them.

It's equally frustrating that I can't get behind a group of enemies covering their flanks but not their backsides, and try to stealth and stab so long as I got their focus off of me.

Equally it allows enemies and players to try and hit a "weak" area. Essentially if an enemy ignores the giant sword swinging fighter or barbarian they'll be flat footed to the attack coming from behind.

You could also implement facing dependent abilities, flaws, spells, conditions. There's a lot you can do with it. Of course that does make things a tad more complicated.