Shadow on the Wall's page

Alright so I wanted to make a Reincarnated Druid build and I am a little stuck. I am throwing this on one side of a GESTALT Ranger build using Skirmisher Archetype

So using Full BAB I can take Druid to level 5, and then gain Living Monolith at level 6, I would lose 1 level of spell casting for the Druid but I think I can live with that. It also means I won't be gaining any Wildshape.

Living Monolith is great for the Reincarnated Druid as it removes its weakness at level 10 so by level 16 he becomes completely immune to his one weakness.

On the ranger front I am not sure what hunter tricks to focus on. Nor the fighting style. If my character dies and reincarnates he will be at a location within 1 mile of his body but it doesn't mean he will be able to return to get his stuff immediately, as if he dies within the first week of his reincarnation he loses his life forever and cannot be raised or resurrected just reincarnated.

Samsaran is the race and taking Mystic Past Life, so need to know a good list of spells from the divine classes to take. I was thinking picking from Paladin due to Restoration at level 4 spells which would help me out with my permanent neg levels each time I die and come back.

My rolls are as follows: 16, 18, 18, 14, 15, 16
Samsaran have a +2 to Int and Wis, -2 Con.

Alright so I am going to be running a game soon for four players, plus myself. Two of the players are at least familiar with the system but do not know anything of optimization or min/maxing but are aware of how the system works. And two of the players are brand new, still in the packages.

I needed advice on what to run for them that would get them into the game and not really bog them down with to much info at once. I would run the beginner box but I also don't want to bore the experienced players by running something they know over and over again.

We have run the Crypt of the Everflame a few times so I don't really want to use that one but if anyone knows a good module or AP that might be good to get someone started on I would love to hear it.

I am also giving them a Jiminy Cricket analog to help answer questions IC and aid them on their quest. I am giving that creature the Eternal template from Super Genius Games (Basically short of a god intervening or a special weakness the creature is unkillable (for long)) So they need not worry about their little buddy dying off right away.

After all the talk about how the shade template is just to powerful for a character to really play with I decided I wanted to change my angle of attack.

I want to make a character similar to Duncan MacLeod from the Highlander series. Highlander has Immortals who cannot die unless their head is removed. Well we cannot make a race only killable from Vorpal weapons as those are expensive as heck and one of the far less inventive ways to kill someone.

So I wanted to take the Elan and take on one side of my gestalt Reincarnated Druid 5 and on the other side, a Paladin.

Because of the Venerable age he has +3 to all mental stats which allows me some use of the Druid spell list (I only get to 3rd level spells)

But once I get to 5th level of Druid I don't know what else to take. I plan on taking Paladin as far as possible.

So any advice on what to take after Druid 5?

Also I plan on pleading for a Runeforged (jealous) item drop.

Is there anyway to get more resistance to death effects, or immunity to it?

Ok so I have been wanting to make a shadow based paladin lately in a gestalt game. But I was curious if taking Paladin//Arcanist would be a little too powerful?

Arcanist save DCs are based on Cha which Paladin has in spades. My Build revolves around using the Shade template which adds a +4 deflection bonus to AC and +4 bonuses to all saves which is a luck bonus.

So I could get away with wielding Light Armor and not be too squishy as well as have ungodly good saves, full BAB a good HD and some skills (Paladins really should have 4+Int as a martial)

Is the following just too powerful?
Shade[CR 2, No HD]
Paladin
Arcanist

Elan
[Start Venerable for +3 to mental and no negs to physical]

Take fate's favored trait to make the luck bonus to saves a +5 on top of my Cha.

Taking a few flaws allows me access to more feats, so I could readily built for moderate spell usage and moderate combat with little trouble right?

WARNING: I am using Pathfinder as the basis of this build, but I am making use of 3.5 (3rd Party) rules and game options as well as features like Templates, Flaws, and Feats.

I wanted to build a shadow based paladin. Now I don't mean anti-paladin.
I wanted a character who uses the shadows and darkness to strike fear into the hearts of evil beings, to use the night they shroud themselves in to terrorize them.

So I am taking the Shade template
I am currently running this as strictly a one sided idea. But we tend to play Gestalt games, so I will have access to a whole different level run. I am thinking of taking something then adding Shadowdancer onto it.

The Shade Template has a CR of 2, currently I am keeping that on the Paladin side but with Gestalt I will likely shift it off to get the most out of my paladin levels.

Flaw Feat: Power Attack
Flaw Feat: Exotic Weapon Prof (Falcata)
Human Bonus: Weapon Focus (Falcata)
1: Amateur Swashbuckler (Parry and Riposte)
3: Combat Reflexes
5: Extra Smiting (Smite Evil 4/Day total)

Flaws are:
Chivalrous Courtesy
Code of Arms

Smiting at 4 times a day allows 1 smite per battle (Assuming 4 battles a day)

Now the Falcata I am using uses another 3.5 book called AEG's merceneries (might be 3.0 don't know)
But I am giving it the Laminated Steel and Serrated edge mods (900 and 300 GP) I add those and the price of the weapon (18 GP) and times it by the number of mods (x2) so I am paying 2436 GP for this sword but it is now dealing 1d8+1 and crits at 18-20/x4. So at level 8 I will be picking up Improved Critical or maybe buying Keen before that. A 15-20/x4 weapon when Smiting is dang scary and of course can add that to the riposte from the deed I am picking up.

Any insights on this idea so far?

I was looking through the Pathfinder SRD and i noticed that two of the most iconic Cha based characters the Paladin and Bard, why don't they have the Deeds in one of their archetypes?

I mean the Daring Champion could have easily been the name of a Paladin who makes use of the Opportune parry and riposte abilities and would do great with the Precise Strike on top of Smite.

But honestly the Bard would have done even more amazing of a job if given the five six deeds of a Swashbuckler.

So why don't we have deed archetypes for those classes?

How does Extra Smiting from 3.5's Complete Warrior interact with the way Paladin's smite works in PF? 3.5 and PF were suppose to be compatible but with the upgrade to Smite this ability seems WAY to powerful.

Because from the way it is worded it you gain two extra attempts to Smite per day. So at level 5 when you gain your next feat, you can choose to take this feat and give your paladin Smite Evil 4/day instead of the 2/day it would normally have.

Or am I reading this all wrong and they wouldn't interact at all?

So in an upcoming game I wanted to play a character that is based around using Shadows, Darkness, and Intimidation. I wanted to play a character almost like Batman, in that at night or in darkness creatures that have heard of him Fear him.

The game is a gestalt and so I have a little more room to work with for sure but I really want to roll into the Shadowdancer Prestige Class.

So I have a few things I need advice on.
1. What race best fits this style of character?
2. What template best fits this style of character?
3. What class should I take on the side I am taking Shadowdancer on?
4. What class should I take as my straight run on?

3.5 Material is allowed so long as I can find a reliable source (no Dndwiki).
We are using CR buy off rules should that come up. (Creatures with HD can only buy off CR down to half their original DR, Creatures without Hd can buy it all off.)

The Shade template from the Campaign Setting of Faerun is one of my favorites and would mix well with the Shadowdancer PrC as a lot of it is shared and compliments one another and a Shade with a Shadow Companion just sounds badass... I wonder if I can name him Robin.

I am not sure what classes to go with though, I have seen a guide called 'Why is that Shadow holding a Greatsword' a guide to Two-Handed Shadowdancer which strongly suggests Paladin, which would actually work for a Strict moral code character one that wants to put an end to evil. And of course the mechanics of Paladin are pretty nice. But it also suggests Ranger and a few others might be nice such as Brawler for the flexible feats, or straight fighter for the boatload of feats. There was an archetype I saw somewhere that gave a boatload of feats to another class almost as much as a fighter but I forget where i saw it.

For my solid 1-20 style class I just don't know I considered Arcanist for the ability to do virtually anything if given enough time. And appearing from the shadow to throw fireball might be funny from time to time.