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I'm playing a more martial focused Bard using Path of War and our group is using feat tax removal. I wanted to grab a reach weapon to stay behind the front line and still actually be able to hit things. Path of War/Psionics is the only allowed 3rd party stuff for this campaign. GM is 'allowing' Spheres of Might/Power, but with a normal campaign and Psionics on the table, there isn't much of a reason to use these.

Is there anything with a single feat can be reach and finesse-able? I know Path of War has Polearm Dancer which can user Spears or Polearms with weapon finesse, but with the Bard's Proficiency, that gives us the Boarding Pike or Longspear. The Elven Branched Spear can be got with Exotic Weapon Proficiency, but isn't actually better than the Boarding Pike or Long Spear. The only difference is the +2 to AoO on the Branched Spear.

We have a new player and starting a different campaign and he currently doesn't enjoy his Paladin as even with the limited spells the Paladin is a bit too much for him to learn the system. Lay on hands/Channel/Spells/Smite Evil/Bonded Weapon is too much for him.

We semi-agreed on Fighter as it can grab all the basic feats, give like two combat options that aren't full attacks (Whirlwind and Spring Attack or something), and the rest can be dumped into skill ranks through advance armor training/generic bonuses like Weapon Focus/Specialization.

He has mentioned his idea of the character and he wants to focus on role play (skill points helping that) and basic combat. However, with the campaign actually starting in the next two weeks, he mentioned the idea of monk as I tried to ask for his character's fighting style. What is the best way to go about a monk without Ki Powers? Is a Fighter just with Wilding Strike (eventually 1d10 unarmed punches) and Dragon Style/Ferocity with TWF just the 'best' way to go unarmed with some good skill ranks?

Not counting Magus that can abuse critical hits, how powerful would a weapon be with a bigger critical threat range? Does making it one Handed or light with a low damage change enough to try and balance it?

We are eventually going to be playing Zeitgeist, so the party is going with a weird theme of support casters.

We are having a vanilla cleric, psionics tactician, and either a fighter/barbarian or blaster caster (class unknown). The first two are pretty set in stone, the last isn't but is a newer player and the party veto'd him getting a PoW martial if he wanted to play martial.

I'm probably going to be the most front line of the two supports, the tactician focusing on Int/Cha and maybe grabbing some Dex for ranged attacks. The cleric is the opposite of a min max optimizer and I don't want to say will be useless, but likely won't be bothering with a weapon at all.

I was wondering if giving up spells for martial maneuvers would be worth it. I'm not sure how much the Bard spell list overlaps with the Clerics, so even if we have the full martial to buff, I'm not sure how much of the Bard spells would be "useless" compared to the cleric buffing.

I know that Golden Lion is basically it when it comes to Ally buffing, with some in Primal Fury and counters/protection in Iron Tortoise. Are there any other disciplines that should be considered?

So, I recently had a 4th player join the party, and they are stuck at 20ft movement currently. The rest of the party is far beyond him. He is a paladin that has yet to decide at 5th if he wants to go mounted or not, but I'd like to try to give him option before that.

The rest of the party is a Mounted Archery Cavalier, a Monk/Aegis (Psionics) Multiclass currently sitting at 55ft base speed with the ability to use haste on self only (psionics again) for 85ft, and a Fighter with a D&D convert race to be at 35 movement with a reach weapon.

Sitting at 20ft movement means that the first turn of combat is usually spent with a double move into a charge the next turn depending on the battle. Haste would be a great spell, but only one person can use it, but range is personal. The only options I know of are Fleet, which is a horrible feat, Boots of Striding and Spring for a permanent +10ft, Quick Runner's Shirt for another move action that ends your turn, or Boots of Speed for 10 rounds of self haste.

Beyond those, is there any way to increase his movement speed? He wants to be in the middle of battle, so archery or any ranged option as the "go to" for combat is out.

It is a bit too late to backtrack on things now, so I can't really just say "Oh no, X really happened", because they players took actions because of it. I know details are sparse, but I don't feel like detailing the entire campaign so far with stuff that may or may not be useful. I'll answer questions as I can.

So, anyways, Homebrew campaign. A flood of letters got sent out, asking for ransom for parents/sibling/blah blah. Most of those that received the letter, including an NPC inside the party, have gone home to check on things. They have found that nothing is wrong, everyone is safe, and that the ransom letters are worthless.

I had something else planned with an attack on one city that was the main center of the letters going out, but that doesn't exactly work when suddenly everyone is home. My only other idea was a massive distraction, using it to buy time for something or just try to create general panic.

I'm not sure exactly which direction to take this that actually makes sense.

I ask this to see what other people are doing, because I'm getting annoyed at a player. That player has free time, so there isn't really excuses like being tied up with other things like work/family.

So our group has started taking about an hour out of sessions when needed to level up now. What do you do as groups? Do you expect your players to level up outside of the table? Is everything done only at the table?

I have a nice world map made for my players from Inkarnate, but that's really only good for a world view. I've seen a few good map makers, but they all world maps, zoomed out of the world.

Does anyone have a decent city maker to use?

I'm making a trio of NPCs for my party to eventually face, but are otherwise heroes in the world I'm DMing. They are all unarmed builds for story reasons are being built for level 13-16.

I have a Champion of Irori, a Sylvan Trickster Rogue using Hex Strike, and no ideas for a third NPC. I was looking for a fun or interesting unarmed build that wawsn't monk, since Champion of Irori is close to being "a normal monk". A brawler is also out since I don't feel like doing that paperwork for an NPC.

So, I have a playing want to take combat patrol. If he sets up a patrol with a reach weapon, does he start threatening in front of him now, since he can move to make the AoO?

Except, a bandit pulls out a bow directly next to player. Does the bandit promote an AoO for making a ranged attack, or does the player not have the ability to threaten there normally and can't attack the bandit?

For Using Spheres of Might, gaining talents in Boxing, Brute, Open Hand, and Wrestling spheres gain increased unarmed damage. If you already have unarmed damage, 3 talents just increase your size category for unarmed damage.

Under Equipment Sphere, Monk Weapon Training (discipline), if you have this talent, Flurry of Blows, or Brawler's Flurry, any time you take an attack action, you can take a -2 to all attacks and make another attack with any weapon this talent would grant proficiency in.

When do these rules ever come into play?
-Brutal Pummeler for the Brawler loses his Unarmed Damage and Brawler's Flurry.
-Sundering Hand and Drifting Lotus for the Monk lose Unarmed Damage and Flurry of Blows.
-Street Fighter loses both but gains a worse version of the Equipment talent, being locked out from using Flurry with the Dual Wielding Sphere.
-Beastsoul, Shadow Boxer, and Yamabushi don't grant Sphere of Might talents or progression.

These rules don't seem to ever come into play unless another class randomly gets Flurry of Blows/Brawlers Flurry. I know some archetypes can give unarmed damage, but it seems weird that random archetypes can gain the increased damage but the star unarmed Monk and Brawler can't.

I'm building a high level NPC that my players will meet and likely ask for help from. I think a weird mix of monk abilities with an Oradin build would likely work the best for this NPC.

Level is up in the air, but likely somewhere between 13 and 16. Stats don't matter a ton, as with any other starting options for the most part.

Is there better way other than a few Oracle levels to get life link while going into Champion of Irori? Planning on cheesing a little with the high wisdom/charisma build and using channel energy with an item I forgot the name of to dump in back into ki pool to then use smite evil/lay on hands a ton more times per day.

I've taken back up the mantle of GM, and as we are 2 months into our campaign, mostly getting into the groove of this again.

One problem I'm noticing, or rather my players are noticing is lack of detail. I try to describe as much as possible, but I don't always give all the details needed sometimes. Two examples from today's session.

I know some of this isn't describing as much as possible, but I'm not sure how much the party should be asking or looking for clues. This session seemed somewhat sour for most of the players, and I'd just like to get some advice on trying to steer them in the right direction of things without giving long out of character explanations of things that are going on the the background.

Bandits are attacking caravans inside a hex. The only thing the party knows is the bandits aren't looking for treasure as they seem to be only attacking people in this one hex and aren't going full out to attack, caring little about whatever the caravan might be transporting.

The hex in question is just past a mountain range and next to a town, you they can semi-keep North/South/East/West without too much trouble. The land is a barren tundra, so it would be easy to get lost in the dunes and rolling hills of the landscape. The town has no info on where inside the hex the bandits are, as they are keeping all guards posted in case of an attack on the city, and thus haven't been exploring themselves.

What is the best way to have them try to find the bandits while exploring the hex and not just having them roll d% with a lowering DC as they keep exploring?

Two simple questions. Party was in a narrow corridor and turned a corner, found a pressure plate trap. Without the tools to disable it, they decide to jump it. They can't see exactly how big the trap is in the square, but know it isn't more than the 5ft square.

Is this only a 5ft jump (edge to edge over the trapped square), 10ft jump (what it would be for normal movement)?

Also the acrobatics says that anyone with a higher base land speed gets a +4 per 10ft above 30. If the party has haste, can they use that to get a bonus to their acrobatics check?

I'm starting back as a DM again and I was wondering what are fun items to give to players that can be useful for more than just "It makes my stats get bigger"?

Consumable or magic item, what are some of the most unique and fun items that may never actually be on a players "I need to buy/craft this" list? Feather tokens are a given but are still fun to hand out. Robe of Useful items is amazing for a smart party early on.

I'm going to be playing an Eldritch Guardian in Zeitgeist and wanted to play a technology focused fighter, grabbing a Clockwork Familiar or Inevitable Arbiter with Improved Familiar later on. These can fight decently with having Regen or DR + half fighters HP over half Wizards HP.

Is there any way to fight with a familiar before then? I was planning on getting an Ioun Wyrd, but any familiar before 7th is going to have trouble with its size. I can't grab mauler if I want the Improved Familiar later and it seems a waste for 6 levels to have a familiar with all my combat feats sitting around doing nothing.

Is there any way for the Ioun Wyrd to be a decent fighter before 7th?

I stumbled across a feat and forgot to save it somewhere. It gave you Pounce either Once/Day or Once/Encounter, wasn't sure if it was 3rd party or not but with the requirements and limited usage it seemed like a normal Paizo feat.

I know Barbarian get the Beast Totem to get pounce and the Plains Domain for Druids to grab pounce. This was a random limited usage feat.

I'm helping one of our newer players with a build since they have asked for system and I just wanted to make sure I gave them everything I could find. They are playing a Warlord from Path of War, so their combat options are fine meaning they can go hard on the bull rush without gimping them otherwise.

I'm building a Zealot and was going to take Elemental Flux over Solar Wind with the trait that trades out a discipline. I saw Tap Animus and Awakened Animus in order to us it instead of power points, which would be nice to keep Sleeping Goddess maneuvers pumped up.

Is there anything to do with Animus if you aren't a Mystic or Animus Adept? I can't find any other feats or anything else in Path of War to use Animus.

I'm not sure if Blood Arcanist is allowed to take wildblooded Sorcerer bloodlines, but the GM has okayed it.

I'm helping a newer player make a build. She liked the idea of Druid with animal companion and spellcasting, but the Arcanist made more sense for her since the last short lived campaign was with Spheres of Power. We are going to be playing Zeitgeist with Core + Path of War/Psionics rather than Spheres this time. We are attempting to go to 20th and are starting at 1st with a 20pt and max 18 in any stat with racial adjustments.

The Arcanist has better buffs for the party and some good buffs for the animal companion with stuff like Mage Armor and Haste. I know a few good exploits and mainly sticking to the more defensive options first (Arcane Barrier, Dimensional Slide) before picking up Counterspell and the other spell based exploits. I know for animal companions, Evolved Companion is an amazing, and Boon Companion is needed due to the Sylvan's decreased animal companion level.

Besides that, I have no idea where to go and the player currently doesn't have any idea either. They only said they wanted to focus at least somewhat equally on their animal companion and spells.

Piercing Thunder and Primal Fury deal a lot with charge attacks. For an example, Bronze Lancet Charge, a level 1 Piercing Thunder maneuver does damage as normal +1d6. If you choose to bullrush instead of dealing damage with this maneuver, would you still get the bonus damage?

So, I'm asking for advice from regular pathfinder, but I'm playing a Warlord from Path of War focusing in Primal Fury/Piercing Thunder which gives a lot of maneuvers for charging. I'm also going to be using Primal Fury style which lets me charge through opponents spaces, make an attack against one enemy you pass when you charge, and be able to fly with a charge equal to your speed.

Most charge builds and feats seem to be based around mounted combat, with Spirited Charge or Rhino Charge. Are there any other charge feats worth picking up?

I'm not sure if Magical Knack works with spheres of power or not, but my GM has limited it to 1 CL increase. There are a few traits to increase a few spheres or +2 CL with restrictions on a specific sphere and the "Gift of Magic", which gives +2 CL to a sphere of your choosing.

Conjuration has Boon Companion talent to increase your summon as though you were 5 levels higher (not exceeding HD).

Is there any other way to increase caster level without a certain class? I was looking into playing a martial like the Armorist or a Champion of Spheres archetype for the Soulknife, and looking for a way to bump up the CL of a sphere.

So, lets say Bard and Rogue want to play characters. The Bard plays someone that is good at covering the fact they used a spell. Still Spell, Silent Spell, Conceal Spell, Spellsong feat, whatever.

Now, people know generally when magic happens even if the source isn't clear. A fireball doesn't come from literally no where. How does the Rogue go about claiming he actually caused the spell other than waving around a wand and a bluff check?

I realize this is partly third party, but it deals with tamed animals/animals in general for core pathfinder rules.

The Beastmastery Sphere has a talent, Bolster Beast, that lets you add a hit dice to one of your tamed animal through a couple hours of work.

1) Is there any way to tell an animals HD other than its HP in its stat block?
2) What goes up for an animal when it gains a HD? Does it gain feats as normal, does it gain the +1 stat bonus at HD 4/8/etc.?
3) What are some of the better animal subtype creatures to use?

Scaled Disciple

So, I was thinking about creating a "redeeming" Kobold taking a divine class to help those he can. Traveling around and attempting to help undo the destruction that his kind (real dragons) might have done. I was hoping through buff spells to become decent at combat.

I was planning on using a manufactured weapon and multiattack with Kobold's bite/tail and DD's claws, taking at least Tail Terror and Kobold Confiedence. I'm not sure about Dragonic Paragon as the Breathe Weapon seems really bad still, doesn't do anything for the Dragonic Aspect/Energy Resistance, and only gives a 20ft fly speed compared to the 60ft just a few levels later. Unsure of where to go from there.

The obvious starting place seems Cleric, since Scaled Disciple's first sentence deals with domains, but it mainly deals with adding Dragonic Bloodline spells to spells you can caster. However Oracle can have some great uses with the Curse half scaling with other classes and the Life Mystery being extremely powerful after leaving Oracle. There is also the Shaman which I have no idea how useful that would be, or the animal companion classes, Druid/Ranger/Hunter, which seem like they would end up gimped as they have more stuff that scales with class level.

Weird question,. but is there any feat or magical item that can turn excess healing into temporary HP?

I was wondering which of these (or another option that I didn't think of) would be the most useful, as it seems the Scholar with this many Scholar Knacks devoted to pets. Also what would a scholar build look like? I assume mainly going into the Beastmastery sphere.

-An Animal Companion with the Mauler Archetype. You'd want an AC that ended up Medium size or forgo the increase to Large Size for an AC and just gain some stats. This would be a heavy hitter but wouldn't do much more.

-An Animal Companion with the Sage Archetype. With the Animal Companion getting an actual hit die, the sage archetype gives it a huge amount of skill points along with the Scholar's 8+int means you cover all the skills yourself while being a normal animal companion.

-An Animal Companion with the Decoy Archetype. A more roleplay heavy animal companion, but could be fun.

-Improved Familiar with Animal Companion bonuses and a possible archetype (mauler) for brokenness. Something like the Inevitable, Arbiter would probably be best with a weapon.

I am playing a voyager in an upcoming campaign, but it is being converted to Spheres of Power for the most part. I keep 1/3rd my normal power point pool (as the normal Stored Power voyager gets at 4th), but have nothing to spend it on except for Blink, Manifestation of Speed class feature at 2nd.

Are there any Psionic feats that use power points? I know about Deep Crystal weapons, but most feats seem to expending psionic focus rather than points. Are there any psionic feats that the voyager can take to use power points, or any other items?

So this idea came from my GM while working on some custom stuff for Metaforge. The main idea was that the Aegis had the ability to get heavy armor on (and use customizations for powers), and would try to stay at some range and be a scaredy cat almost. When hit in melee, he'd have something similiar to the Soulknife archetype Feral Heart's forced Claw Growth.

Anyways, that doesn't work because the Aegis sucks at actual spellcasting and the current character is working in a different direction. I was thinking of creating either a Rage Prophet with a blasting Oracle somehow or going the arcane route with Dragon Disciple or Eldritch Knight.

I'm not looking for actual rage, so Barbarian isn't a real requirement (except for Rage Prophet obviously). just a martial class that can swing a sword around (or claws) well enough. I wanted to avoid Magus, since I wanted a clear divide of Magic and Martial.

A soulknife with this ability can expend her psychic strike while making a charge to make an additional attack with her main hand, albeit at a -5 penalty on the attack roll, at the end of a charge action. If the soulknife is wielding two mind blades and has the Twin Strike blade skill, she may instead make an additional attack with each mind blade, but each of these additional attacks suffers a -5 penalty on the attack roll in addition to the penalties for attacking with two weapons. The soulknife does not apply the expended psychic strike’s damage to her attacks. The soulknife may only gain the benefit of this blade skill once on any charge. The soulknife must have the Furious Charge blade skill and be at least 8th level to choose this blade skill.

Would this stack at all with Pounce while only using Natural Weapons?

Would it work with a manufactured weapon with pounce? I realize the pounce part of the charge has to be made with natural weapons (likely bite + clawsx2).

The archetype feats seem weird for me.

-Spellcasters can just use cantrips as many times per day as they want.

-Barbarian gets rage 1/day until 4th, which is when you may want to pick up a totem except for the fact that totems usually require you to be raging.
-Fighter can use AoO once/day until 4th.
-Monk doesn't get flurry at all, even once per day, and can pick it up at 10th.
-Paladin can use Retributive Strike once/day.
-Ranger Hunt Target is once/day and loses half of its effects (the better half)
-Rogue straight up just gets surprise attack, but suffers massively if you pick up the pitiful sneak attack feat.

It just seems that the spellcasting feats gain a lot more. I know that the martial archetypes give proficiency in weapons/armor, but that normally isn't a big thing unless you are coming from Sorcerer/Wizard.

The spellcasters also gain a ton more at the end of the day. Taking archetype feats all the way up can get you 8th level spells, or 15th character level stuff. Every martial extra feat dedication says you only count as half your level for prerequisites, meaning you can grab a 10th level feat at max.

I wanted to play a Goblin without being an annoying little b#*%@, and I realized the most effective way is language. The only goblin word I know of is "longshank" for the bigger races. What are other common goblin words?

I'm helping a new player start to get an idea for their second character in the playtest, and I see that Animal Form already lists attack bonuses and damage bonuses, along with AC.

Does this mean nothing, including level, matters when in wild shape with the except of Con for HP?

Also, does the Druid seem a little weak compared to other classes? The plant order seems meh other than the 1st level familiar, animal companions have been nerfed, the wild shape is something you can do with spells anyways, and the storm order seems limited. The best power seems to gain Wild Shape uses based on your Strength, but this is only from looking over the Druid and not playing one.

We finally had our session 0 and the GM told us we would be needing a second character soon, after we finished up our first one. I along time concept I've always wanted to try was a Wizard/Monk hybrid, focused on self buffing and fists with a few damaging spells for flair. Something close to Armstrong from FMA.

With the Monk archetype feats finally released, it seemed like a really great way to create something like this. The new action economy and general lack of AoO means spellcasting in close range is fine and you can follow up with an attack.

I don't have any preference, but I'd rather be Wizard or Sorcerer, since those two classes seem like the less likely character to be in the front lines. I'm assuming the Sorcerer with the Divine spell list would be the best fit, but I haven't had a good chance to look over the 4 spell lists yet.

Also, which is the most important monk archetype feat to pick up at 4th? Basic Kata for a stance, Unarmored Expertise for 1(?) bonus to AC (not sure if you start out "trained" or "untrained" if you aren't a monk in unarmored defense) or Monk Resiliency for more hit points.

So, our group is 4~5 sessions away from wrapping up a campaign, and we are pouring over the playtest book. No one has any idea what they want to play and no one seems to exactly hate any class.

My idea was that your class had to be random (roll a d10), but another one put forth that some part needs to be random. (Roll for race, class, or background). That eventually lead to "since it is easy to get whatever stats you want, make all three random", which not everyone liked.

I was wondering if anyone else had fun ideas for creating characters using the new PF2 methods and not rolling for stats.

I think the obvious choice would be a wizard, but anything works. I had another stupid idea, have a Wizard that pretended his magic was nothing but parlor tricks. By day he is a simple "con man" of illusion, by whenever he party decides to go on a quest, he is a normal wizard, and can play off any magic he uses as a "simple trick".

I wanted to avoid just using Prestidigitation, as anyone trained in spellcraft has a decent chance of seeing what is going on. Skills obviously go into the basics for a stage magician; Bluff, Sleight of Hand, Perform Comedy(maybe), Escape Artists.

Is there anything else that can be used to simulate magic (tricks or real) without just using Still/Silent spell, or any magic/alchemic items to help? A hidden alchemist fire can be an easy substitute for a "fireball" with a decent bluff/sleight of hand check (get the audience looking somewhere else and slip the flask out) but a wand of fireball is rather obvious. A Still/Silent fireball is still going to be able to be spellcrafted.

My player is creating a legendary item rather than finding one in the world. I wanted to make him small wondrous items to represent his background, since he did put some effort into it and this is wrapping up his personal side quest.

I was trying to make each item around 10k max, as they are for a level 7 character (it's an e7 game). They are gaining some mythic tiers and more gold instead of levels.

I was thinking of an apron that either gives decent fire resist or better for resist but has a penalty of armor check, max DeX, or movement speed.

Also stealing these dwarven forge guanlets, modifying them to be a bit better but I don't want to gold cost to be too high.

Last I was thinking of a useful helmet or a hammer that would useful as a non weapon, but I have no idea yet. This would probably be the least powerful item of the set, but I wanted 3 different pieces the player needed to forge his weapon.

I'm trying to make a legendary item, and it used the remains of a black dragon. I was going to use spellcasting 3x for it, but I needed help with spells. What spell selection is the best to show off this came from a black dragon, and not just any random dragon?

I have a question I can't seem to find answer to/want to double check.

The Lancer sphere lacks a talent to add two impale abilities at once like most other spheres, and the line at the bottom of the Impale ability only says you have to have already impaled a foe to use any talent with an (impale) tag. Does that mean you can use multiple talents at the same time?

The basic idea is a normal Barbarian rages and gets stronger. This Barbarian gets so mad, he throws down his weapon and punches you.

My main idea was using TWF with your fists and Dragon Style to make punches far harder than a weapon, but with variant multiclassing, the normally low feat requirement for a Barbarian suddenly jumps very high. It will be 9th level before being able to get Power Attack, Dragon Style, and Raging Vitality, with Dragon Ferocity coming in at 15th if I don't pick up TWF.

I know that most of the damage from attacks comes from static bonuses, but it doesn't feel like a raging barbarian using his fists if he is just rolling 1d3s.

I'd like to defend the fight for a small second, and the fighter only getting AoO off the bat.

We don't know what else is going to happen. The monk may get AoO off the bat, but he can only make trip attempts, so it is called something else. The rogue can take advantage of fumbles and get an attack off with that. AoO may be more limited with what classes can do with them. A Barbarian, the spell sunder-er anti-magic master, may know how to get AoO better on mages but not movement.

Every class is getting a reaction, so it isn't like Fighters get to do this and the Palaidn just has to sit and do nothing off his turn.

This sounds weird, but I'm trying to make a martial character that can see the future. Not THE future, but all versions of the future, and they must try and pick the correct one.

I'm trying to get as many attack rerolls, or rolling twice and taking the better, as possible. My first two thoughts are either Cleric with Luck domain or Dual Cursed oracle, but that doesn't go very far.

Systems available - Psionics, Path of War, Spheres of Power/Might

Not asking for suggestions, I just wanted to know what your table uses for minis.

Our group started with and still uses them for baddies/NPCs, the paizo official cardboard figures, mainly because they were cheap and it was an easy way to start.

The group has fractured a bit since then. The DM and one player uses actual figures from reaper minis for plot point characters. Another player uses HeroForge for 3d printed minis. I've recently found myself using a Lego minifgure after realizing how expensive HeroForge can be if you get some unlucky deaths.

One of my players wants to take the Incanter's omni mental familiar, and is asking what bonus he gets (+2 natural armor, +3 to a skill, etc).

The entry for incanter says that it only replaces speak with animals of its kind, and the beastiary link doesn't say anything.

This familiar seems to gain a lot, but the player is giving up a lot of feats for this. I said to the player that the familiar seems powerful enough and he really doesn't need a bonus, but the bonuses aren't always very powerful, so I'd figure I'd try to give him something.

So, due to some weird things, our campaign is "ending" at 7th level but we can keep gaining feats through train, using retraining rule.

What ways do I have through magical items a 7th level player can afford, or feats other than the obvious skill focus (fly) can I use to boost my check?

I'm at 60ft (40ft with armor) average maneuverability with a -2 check from dex + acp. I know the first step is to get mitral armor, but that leaves me with a +1 bonus, +4 if I manage to grab skill focus.

Long story short, party's healer critical failed on magic (Spheres of power drawback he took) and created a zone of darkness centered 30ft away from the caster. They are in a small cave and just killed some giant insects, so lots of blood.

I wanted it to make a tough and special fight for them. I try to do something weird whenever a player with "Wild Magic" fumbles his magic.

What CR creature would be a good fight for a fifth level party of three?

I don't know how best to describe this, but our current GM is having a more open ended game than normal, which I am not disliking, but just note we aren't using an AP or module.

In the moment I'm having fun (minus botched dice rolls and bad communication), but it feels afterwards during the week like I'm second guessing my character choices (feats and abilities, not tactics used) and that I'd be better off with a different class entirely.

I feel like the current party dynamic is working well, but I feel semi-useless, even being the major factor in a fight. I'm not sure if the newness and magic of Pathfinder is finally wearing off, but nearly every week I see myself thinking I'd be better off as literally anything else.

I'm very good at statting characters. I love the systems part of pathfinder and creating ideas of what to play. I usually know exactly what I'll pick at least until 8th with a good idea after that.

I have no idea how to make a backstory. It normally comes from systems. (Spheres of power) Caster has a drawback and has a magical sign that always goes off when casting? Flare for the dramatic and showman. Fighter crafts his own gear (master craftsman) because the party wizard is only taking wondrous? Fighter is an expert blacksmith and is annoyed at buying anyone else's "low quality" work.

I get little quirks or ideas, but it doesn't make a character. They seem hollow. Any advice for helping create actual characters?