Soul's page

A friend of mine asked me for some advice about the Rise of the Runelords campaign he is running where the party have gone... a bit chaotic evil.

nonspoiler question: What do you do when the party revolts against the entire Adventure Path and instead tries to destroy the driving factor of the story?

A friend of mine asked me for some advice about the Rise of the Runelords campaign he is running where the party have gone... a bit chaotic evil.

Nearing the end of the first book the party have caused issues in Sandpoint, to the point where they were conspiring to and assaulting town members over various arguments. They were given an ultimatum by the Sheriff that if they continued with their actions they'd be de-deputized and removed from the case they were being paid to help with. They continued, and at the end of the last session the Sheriff followed through with his threats, and now the party is planning to attack and pillage Sandpoint.

At this point in the story they should be eradicating a goblin tribe nearby and moving towards Magnimar. My friend is at a loss for what to do, because despite his best efforts to build extra encounters and rp scenarios to allow the party to make amends with Sandpoint, they've dug in their heels and ignored all of these options. I've already suggested that they sit down out of character as a group and talk about why they hate sandpoint and if Rise of the Runelords is the right AP for them at the moment. Failing that, how should the GM handle going forward?

My first thought was that he dangle some powerful MacGuffin that would help them destroy the town, or perhaps dangle cooperation with the nearby goblin tribe in doing so, then have the Sheriff show up with powerful backup from Magnimar who then arrests the team and drags them kicking and screaming to Magnimar, but that feels like a slap on the wrist that won't actually push them in the right direction. It wouldn't be a problem if the defense of Sandpoint weren't literally the entire driving factor of the AP...

//////spoiler warning///////

Before you read any further, this post is about the Wrath of the Righteous campaign, and more specifically the final book. I will do my very best to avoid any possible spoilers, but if you haven't yet played the ap and do not want any potential spoilers no matter how small I suggest you not read further.

//////spoiler warning///////

I played a PFS scenario with a player several months ago. At one point during the scenario he talked about how his Blossoming Lights cleric could channel energy in either a 30' burst, 45' cone, or 60' line. I am wanting to play an offensively channeling cleric at some point and would like to know how he was doing that, but I can't remember his name for the life of me. Was hoping someone here would know how to do it.

We've got a new AP starting up in the next few weeks and for once I have the opportunity to join the AP at the beginning, not filling a vacated slot to help a struggling party along. I've always built characters to be what the party needed, and am now sort of at a loss as to what to build now that I finally get to be one of the first to make a character. I get to be the one forcing the party to build around me for once!

The only other character thusfar is the low templar my brother will be playing. As soon as I mentioned that he was invited he said "imma play my low templar!" so... whatever.

My current characters are a Conversion Inquisition Inquisitor of Erastil, a Vanara small-size mouser/vexing dodger, a human zen archer, a dwarven switch hitter ranger, an aasimar life oracle, an aasimar bard, a Hugh Man monk, and a Cavalier/Warpriest/Cleric/Battle Herald 6 archetype monstrosity. I've a build in the works for a palmonkadin Champion of Irori that might be okay in this setting but isn't really something I want to play with a Low Templar.

Things i've looked at in order of likelyhood of being played:
Dwarven Forgemaster cleric: The gm has told me that in the mid to later levels your characters get downtime, so a crafter wouldn't be the worst character in the world. Forgemaster is a tad MAD and gives up Channel as well as both domains, but being a gruff Dwarven cleric who hammers holy symbols of Torag into the carapace of demons with a warhammer seems really thematic and fun to play.

Just another Inquisitor: There are a few things I could do with inquisitor, including the classic Sanctified Slayer Conversion Inquisition Inquisitor. Could worship Ragathiel, or go out on a limb and be a LE Inquisitor of Asmodeus sworn to purge the world of the blight that is demons.

Fate's Favored (Un)Lucky Bastard Halfling: Archeologist 1/Combat oriented oracle or warpriest X who worships Desna and uses Starknives. Basically a random joe who accidentally found himself in the worldwound while treasure hunting and Mr. Magoo's his way around with the boost of Fate's Favored. low STR, high dex, con, and Cha.

Please, feel free to add any input on your thoughts for each of these in the setting but avoid spoilers.

I've been holding on to it for what seems like forever but I've finally decided to use my Boon. Problem is I have no idea what type of character I wish to play. For those of you that don't know, the Prodigy boon confers a 1 time permanent additional plus 2 bonus to one ability score on character creation. Generally speaking, I'd like to use it on a character with above-average chances of surviving the early levels of its career. I'd also like it to be a well-rounded character that can do more than be a murder hobo. I've extensive playtime with Bards, Inquisitors, Rangers, and Rogues and I generally tend toward Dexterity/Charisma characters. Finally, I live 2 hours from the nearest Pathfinder Society Lodge, so I'd like to play something that is "fun" in the 2-5 range and "really fun" in the 8-11 range. As fun as it is, my Rogue Barbarian that had to wait until level 10 to sneak attack properly was so un-fun to get to that point that I'd rather not have a similar experience.

The characters general backstory is that she/he is one of the orphan children in Absalom that my OG character, an aged and retired inquisitor 14 of the Silver Crusade, has a tendency to take under his wing. He's become a bit of an eccentric older man (of 38) in the time since he retired from the Society. This opens up any playable race excluding Aasimar (I have several, don't want another even though I have the boon to create a new one still.) and Wayang (currently playing a slow advancement wayang alchemist 2 online)

I want to stay away from Divine Casters and "Tanky" characters although I don't mind some beef. I currently have my Alchemist, a Ranger (5, standard advancement), Bard (7, standard advancement), and Life Oracle (8... or 9?, standard). Additionally, my local DM's have had bad experiences with animal companions and while I am more than capable of running one correctly they have a bit of a vendetta against them and have been known to target animal companions. That should about cover it, thanks in advance for any and all class suggestions.

Can't for the life of me figure out a reason for this change other than to directly nerf a popular weapon. The weapon should be S versatile P like all of the other arming sword variants. It really feels like it was simply an oversight. It's exactly the same as a longsword, except it can be held in two hands like a greatsword.

Edit: If it is a balancing issue, it would fit in more with the arming sword variant if it was 1d8 s/p one handed, 1d10 s/p two handed. This makes the arming sword tree look like this:
Shortsword 9 silver 1d6 p/s finesse agile.
Longsword 10 silver 1d8 s/p
Bastard Sword 35 silver 1d8 s/p one handed, 1d10 s/p two handed
Greatsword 20 silver 1d12 s/p

each damage dice above 1d6 is covered in this tree and each sword feels unique and like it has a certain tactical advantage over the others in certain situations.

Hey All!

about to be starting a new character with my local PFS group, and i was thinking about playing the new hunter class.

I wanted to play a halfling and do mounted combat with my animal companion, then i got to thinking...

Hunter gets access to alot of different animal companions, including the Roc.

is there any reason i cant use my flying animal companion as a mount at level 1?

so, a friend of mine has been playing a Gestalt game of 3.5/pathfinder with a group of other friends and, after some bad rolls and various other mistakes, as well as some real life scheduling conflicts, has decided to leave the group. the GM wanted to do a showdown between the Pirate (im sorry, Privateer) crew that i have two characters in, along with four other friends, and their DND group. cool beans.

so i get to build, more or less, 2/5 parts of the 5 man crew of this privateer vessel up to the gestalt level of the other group... being 12. my two characters are an inquisitor and a life oracle. the life oracle doesnt particularly benefit from Gestalt, because she already does amazing things as a single class, but the other just makes her more fun, so ill find something to do with her.

anyroad, the inquisitor, while already fairly strong at level 12, has amazing potential. i went through and thought about each class individually to decide what would make it the most broken as possible, what with his focus on dex and a little wisdom, with decent charisma low strength and intel. it was then brought to my attention that i could reroll stats, since we used an array for one game type and the converted Gestalt rolled 5d6-2d6 and made 3 columns, then picked the best. i hope you see where this is going... here, in the following spoiler, is the result of my evil machinations...

i built him using herolab with the community gestalt file made by ShadowChemosh

lets look back at this offense tab shall we?

"Ranged +1 flaming reliable double-barreled musket +24/+24/+24/+19/+14 (1d12+29/19-20/×4 plus 1d6 fire)"
this is with Judgement active (seeing as its going to be only one combat we take part in, and the gm is going to give both parties time to buff... ive also activated a number of my spells and other abilities) both parties are confined to normal races, so bane will not be an issue, with both knowledge checks and spells at my disposal during the buff period...) but even so, this is without Bane, and without haste... assuming reloading isnt an issue, and that i will gladly spend grit to reroll missfires, not to mention im hitting Touch AC, from greater invisibility, as well as with oil of silence... i pity the other team. i added up the damage, and with everything active assuming 5 hits my minimum damage, with no crits and with all 1's on the d12's, is 195 per round, not counting Haste... is there any class that can live that at level 12?

in an upcoming campaign i plan on playing a... well, you know what, i want to avoid class-stereotypes. (although im sure once i give my stat array you'll guess what im playing... whatever.) it is 20 point buy and my stats are:

STR 6

DEX 14

CON 14

INT 12

WIS 20

CHA 8

(EDIT: My character is Middle-Aged, which allows me to drop a point in all physical for another point in all mental stats. which is why my stat array looks... off.)

at level 1 after racial modifiers. problem is, ive never played a character with wisdom of more than something around 14 or 15 at level 1. considering 10 to be average my characters are usually pretty wise but... i honestly have no idea how to play one like this. any tips would be recommended, aside from the basics like be patient and make sure to write down important information to "recall hearing about" later

Hello, and thanks for stopping in to help.

I've been planning a home campaign for about a year now, and im finally ready to start and have gathered my players, who are now ready to start as well, but as i go over the first mission less than 2 weeks before the start of the campaign (august 2) im starting to have some worries about it being too hard for them...

I've built a character as an npc designed for a specific fight we intend to carry out (i can post the characters statblock if you like) she's a flavoring of Rogue+fighter+Shadowdancer and is designed to fight a group of 5 pc's at once, but im running into problems where some of what she was designed to do seems a little foggy in the rules.

so the encounter goes like this

EDIT: as an added bonus to me, let me know what you think of the fight!

I'm gearing up and almost ready to go for a new campaign my friend is running in a new world that our gaming group built country by country, continent by continent, it's based on the pathfinder system and allows all pathfinder material, (no 3.5) but i've suddenly run across the issue that everyone runs into at least once in their gaming career... i dont know what to play!

our party has no constraints. realistically, id like to stay within the core races, but more exotic races are "available" although less-than-encouraged, the world is a superstitious place, and racism will be a real thing. as far as classes, everything playable. however, i dislike gunslingers, and while you're welcome to post a gunslinger build i probably wont be playing one. (x4 crit touch AC d12 damage? lets make a gm's worst nightmare!)

so the point... Give me some ideas! post your most fun, strongest in and/or out of combat, or just plain wacky builds. id like to stay within the category of "viable" so i wont play a monk1/fighter1/rogue1/bard1/wizard1/sorceror1/druid1/ranger1/paladin1(or barbarian) or anything else ridiculously multi-classed, and id like to not just be a one-trick-pony (they tend to have issues where gm's dont like to do the same thing all the time, and if you're not versatile you're going to do alot of sitting there bored) but other than that, go crazy!

So, I've been wanting to run a short campaign based in Golarion, specifically Galt. the premise is rather similar to Eden of the East (great anime).

the pc's get a letter (they're all level 5, and human, Aasimar, or Half-human at least, and with some link to Galt, Andoran, or Cheliax) that contains a token and instructions to deliver the token to a very specific bar in Absalom in exactly 3 weeks, and that they will be VERY well rewarded for their trouble. the campaign picks up with them standing in front of the bar (preferably one by one, as they arrive at the place we play) and make their way inside. after presenting the token to the barkeeper they're escorted to an empty library, with a secret door that the barkeeper opens and motions for them to go inside.

inside is a room with a long table and a lone woman dressed like a maid (shes a very high level caster, and the room is actually a Demiplane, or is linked to one, havent decided) she says nothing, but the players see name placards at the table for them to sit (this is reflected on the table) so they sit in mostly silence aside from their introductions and such. once everyone is there and seated and introduced (like i said, they start at level 5) the woman taps on a large mirror on the wall next to her and casts something described as an augmented scrying cast silently and still (to show off her level a little) if they pass a dc25 or so check on it, but getting higher will still lead to "its unlike any scrying you've ever seen before, and it must have been INSANELY difficult to cast" and the pc's are introduced to Darl Jubannich (who is the mastermind behind the whole thing, a knowledge history will give them a loose backstory at a high dc, or knowledge nobility at a moderate one) Jubannich will speak through the mirror, and tell the PC's a short narritive about a man who has spent his entire life attempting to save Galt from itself giving him the moniker Grandfather.

he tells the pc's that Grandfather has chosen them because they show promise, and because he is confident that they are able enough to make the decisions and actions that can bring about a lasting change in the war-torn nation. he tells the pc's that they are to stay together as much as possible, and that they are free to do whatever they see fit to meet the goals they are given, and no questions will be asked. the pc's are told that the tokens are magical items (around this time the tokens that the barkeeper took from them appear on their person, most likely in a pocket), and that by holding the token to their mouth and speaking a request they can be assured that it will be preformed (changed below, but i left this here because i want your thoughts on this idea for the token). finally, the kicker, they are informed that they have funding in a total amount of 2.5 million gold peices, to be spent however they see fit (they are told that personal equipment will be limited to level-appropriate values as determined by me out of character, so they dont become overpowered and break the combats i have planned) they are also warned that if they havent completed their goal to Grandfathers satisfaction by the time the money runs out, they will face the Final Blades (if you dont know, the final blades are a guillotine that kills for good, meaning no resurrection. period.) the pc's are told their gold pool will not be growing in any way over the campaign, and that even though they have plenty of gold to pay for rez's death is still a big deal (this is one of the things im concerned about, i need SOME way to dissuade them from being careless... maybe by making death give a permanent negative level that cant be healed...?) i will give them a sample list of favors, mainly ranging from bribes to assassinations to teleportation spells for fast travel and etc. i want the pc's to feel like they can do almost anything with the token, but that doing so will cost them potentially large sums of money.

i have a number of missions and scenarios that are designed to challenge characters from level 5 to 15, and ill make sure they know that unless they really play well and strech their gold level 15 is going to be the max (i REALLY dont want to get into the super-high levels, where combat starts to take hours) and we'll probably move at a pace of 1 level every 2 or 3 games, unless they meet certain goals. im going to let the campaign develop rather dynamically, however i am toying with the idea of presenting them several small goals that will lead to their major goal being accomplished (which would be finding Grandfather A.K.A Jubannich in a position of suitable power, or getting one of themselves in a similar position that he approves of.

these goals will include turning a member of the counsel that leads galt in this world to their side, killing/otherwise eliminating them, or setting them up to be taken out of power or convincing a large population of galtans to follow them (unlikely, but do-able). i have 12 npc's built (the counsel) ranging in level's based on when the party wants them to be targeted, i also have a series of 12 keeps/dungeons/caves/hideouts/etc that is associated with each of these counselors. (i intend to press upon the pc's the idea that they're basically an elite group specifically picked to do this, if they dont already get the idea, and they should feel like they are the best people for the jobs, particularly with their gear being top-of-the-line)

as i type this out and get it all on paper (so to speak), im going to leave my initial ideas for the tokens above, and state here that i think that seems a bit too tempting, and that the pc's may not even decide to take care of things themselves, due to this fact im probably going to change it to an insurance policy, telling them that if they're caught they will be able to use the tokens to bribe people, and/or otherwise get themselves out of trouble as an insurance policy, or if they make a mess of a house (slaughtered guards, murdered counsellors, they'll be able to pay a large sum of their gold (which i track) to have a cleanup crew hired, things like that.

a secondary idea is to present it to the players that they simply ARE an elite group that this guy has gathered to suit his own agenda, and play it like a less dynamic campaign, but i dont want to do this, that sounds to close to just a normal old campaign. i want the players to feel like they're having money and resources just absolutely thrown at them, but i also want them to feel like their task is daunting and almost insurmountable, and i want them to fear failure.

CONCLUSION

i apologize for my rambling, while ive spent some considerable time designing each of the parts, you can see im having some issues really getting everything connected and coherent. my questions to you all is one, do you like the idea behind the campaign (tldr? change Galt with nearly unlimited resources or die) two, is it something you'd be interested in playing? three, do you have any recommendations based on backstory, history, basic campaign designs or other really simple things, that im just being stupid and not thinking of? please be honest, i think its a good idea but if you think it'd be boring, overwhelming, or otherwise unfun to play, please let me know, and dont be afraid to make suggestions i didnt think of!

Thanks,

Soul.

a friend of mine knows that i love to theorycraft pathfinder characters, and posed a challenge to me that i honestly am having difficulty with. He wants me to find a way to make a viable dagger-wielding dexterity based fighter that runs into fights headfirst and doesnt die, basically what he wants is a Rogue that can toe-to-toe enemies, rather than rely completely on allies and sneak attack to function. my initial thoughts were a heavily armored pointblank, precise shot, improved snap shot, combat reflexes fighter that went in round 1 and threw half a dozen daggers with Hammer the Gap, pulled aggro on the whole room, snapshotted everything that moved into range to hit him, then turtled up and let his friends pick off anything still living, but he says he wants it to be a pure melee dps style build, so no throwing daggers.

i have a few more ideas, but id like to see if theres anything that ive not thought of that you all can come up with to make this viable, so im asking here before i send him any more ideas. you basically have a clean slate, but try and keep builds under level 12, and it HAS to be a pure fighter using dexterity wielding some from of finesse weapon, preferable daggers/kurki/wakaizashi

Humanoid (goblin) Barbarian- Titan Mauler archetype
NE

str 16
Dex 14
con 15
Int 8
wis 8
cha 8

Grubt Manslayer of the Gobchaw clan! slayer of many longshanks and hoofed man-beasts! Destroyer of many books, and envy of all pesky little Gnomes! Grubt's clan hear tale of Horse-men called Sentacks or something... centurks? It no matter how they called! men-horses are abominations! they must be destroyed! if they exist at all. Grubt's chief (and father-in-law) decide Grubt have much skill, more skill than any other Gobchaw! Grubt decide to go hunt Centark down and bring back man-horse-skin for Chief to gain much glory! almost by chance Grubt come upon a group of longshanks (party yet to be determined... indecision and all that) that hear tell of Centark near Belhaim, and promised to help Grubt find and kill man-horse. Grubt not trust the Longshanks completely... but several of them spoke Goblin, and Grubt trust goblin-talkers more than others... at least as far as Grubt can throw them...

I've begun playing an Oracle in society play and love it, however a question came to mind the other day, does an Oracle require a holy symbol to use her holy powers like a cleric? it says in several spots that their powers arent exactly chosen, and more forced on them, so from this i would think not. however that brings up issues on how they focus their powers. bah.

Ive recently begun playing a pfs Dual Cursed Oracle with the clouded eyes and Deaf curses, and im looking around for ways to get past the language barrier caused by being deaf from birth. usually what she does is use a notebook (i even purchased a wizards spellbook and it appears on my characters sheet) and communicates that way, but this isn't practical in combat, so i was wondering what the PFS rulings on different sign languages was, which ones you could learn through the Linguistics skill, and how communicating through those works with allies. would we be able to create our own code of signs usable only by us if we each took a rank? would we be able to learn a Sign version of Common, Celestial, or other more commonly spoken languages? could this be used to communicate to each other in combat (no facing rules in pathfinder unless you explicitly state you are averting your eyes)? or would i and another member need to learn something like Drow Sign Language (if possible) and simply translate between us?

Saren
Azata-Blooded Aasimar (Musetouched) Fighter (Two-Handed Fighter) 4 Ranger 8
NG Medium Outsider (native)
Init +6; Senses Perception +11
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 26, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+8 armor, +3 shield, +3 Dex, +2 deflection)
hp 108 (12d10+32)
Fort +15 (+4 vs. hot or cold environments and to resist damage from suffocation), Ref +15, Will +6; +1
trait bonus against enchantment spells and spell-like abilities
DR 2/—; Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee Greatsword of Viscious Thunder +12/+7/+2 (2d6+20+2d6 (& 1d6 to wielder)/17-20/x2+1d8
sonic+deafened)
Ranged Darksbane (Str +5) +19/+19/+14/+9 (1d8+7+2d6 vs. Evil/x3)
Special Attacks favored enemies (evil outsiders +2, human +4), overhand chop, shattering strike +1
Spell-Like Abilities Glitterdust (1/day)
Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 5):
2 (1/day) Bear's Endurance
1 (2/day) Lead Blades, Gravity Bow
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 21, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 9
Base Atk +12; CMB +15 (+16 Sundering); CMD 32 (33 vs. Sunder)
Feats Endurance, Improved Critical (Greatsword), Manyshot, Opening Volley, Point Blank Shot, Power
Attack -4/+8, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (Greatsword), Weapon
Focus (Longbow)
Traits Loyalty, Resilient
Skills Acrobatics +3 (-1 jump), Bluff -1 (+3 vs. human, +1 vs. evil outsiders), Climb +14, Craft (leather)
+9, Diplomacy +5, Escape Artist +3, Fly +3, Handle Animal +6, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (dungeoneering)
+6 (+10 vs. human, +8 vs. evil outsiders), Knowledge (nature) +6 (+10 vs. human, +8 vs. evil outsiders),
Perception +11 (+15 vs. human, +13 vs. evil outsiders, +15 while in forest terrain, +13 while in
underground terrain), Ride +8, Sense Motive +1 (+5 vs. human, +3 vs. evil outsiders), Spellcraft +6,
Stealth +12 (+16 while in forest terrain, +14 while in underground terrain), Survival +10 (+14 vs. human,
+12 vs. evil outsiders, +14 while in forest terrain, +12 while in underground terrain, +14 to track), Swim +7
(+11 to resist nonlethal damage from exhaustion); Racial Modifiers +2 Diplomacy
Languages Celestial, Common
SQ animal companion link, clangorous (dc 13), combat styles (archery), favored terrains (forest +4,
underground +2), hunter's bonds (animal companion, wolf), share spells with companion, swift tracker,
thundering (dc 14), track, wild empathy, woodland stride
Other Gear +2 Adamantine Agile breastplate, +2 Clangorous Buckler, Darksbane (Str +5), Greatsword of
Viscious Thunder, Belt of physical might (Dex & Con +2), Cloak of resistance +2, Handy haversack
(empty), Headband of inspired wisdom +2, Ioun stone (pale blue rhomboid), Ring of protection +2, 695 GP
--------------------
TRACKED RESOURCES
--------------------
Glitterdust (1/day) (Sp) - 0/1
--------------------

Special Abilities, Feats, and Gear-abilities
--------------------
Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Clangorous (DC 13) When hit can activate for thunderstone effect, or sound burst if critically hit (Fort
part).
Damage Reduction (2/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Damage Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Acid attacks.
Damage Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Cold attacks.
Damage Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Electricity
attacks.
Endurance +4 to a variety of skill checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Favored Enemy (Evil Outsiders +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Favored Enemy (Evil Outsiders).
Favored Enemy (Human +4) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Favored Enemy (Human).
Favored Terrain (Forest +4) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Favored Terrain (Forest).
Favored Terrain (Underground +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Favored Terrain (Underground).
Loyalty +1 to save vs. enchantment spells and spell-like abilities.
Manyshot You can shoot two arrows as the first attack of a full attack action.
Opening Volley Successful ranged attack grants +4 on next melee attack roll
Overhand Chop (Ex) Single attacks with two-handed weapons receive double STR bonus.
Point Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Quick Draw Draw weapon as a free action (or move if hidden weapon). Throw at full rate of attacks.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as
touch spells.
Shattering Strike +1 (Ex) +1 Sunder and damage vs. objects.
Swift Tracker (Ex) Tracking penalties when moving at normal speed or faster are reduced.
Thundering (DC 14) On a critical hit, foe is permanently deafened (Fort neg).
Track +4 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
Wild Empathy +7 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Move through undergrowth at normal speed.

I'm building a bard for PFS organized play, and i was wondering what kind of bard (from the options) you all would prefer to play with.

Bard 1 pseudo-ranger: in combat will buff allies with spells/performances, and will then proceed to whip out his/her trusty bow and peg an enemy here and there, or fling a spell at an enemy here and there, as situation demands. they aren't amazing damage in combat, other than their buffs, but they do have some decent supplemental damage and mobs will fall quicker than had they done what a traditional bard does and just focused on casting buff spells or throwing out dazes.

Bard 2- the buff jockey: in combat this bard will cast literally every buff they can, they have a massive UMD and use wands/scrolls to buff every party member, as well as using bardic performance. the true 5th party member.

Bard 3- the AoE Crowdcontrol: this bard uses spells/wands/dirge of doom/scrolls to create as many crowd control oppertunities as possible, this bard spams black tentacles and doesnt buff as well, or deal much damage in combat, but they can potentially end a fight with a single cast if they get lucky.

Bard 4- the Combat-controller: this bard spends the first few rounds buffing and letting their team get into position, they then take up position 10 feet behind the tank and use a whip/net to trip/entangle enemies, prevent charges/5foot adjusts, lower AC, or the best feature for a bard ever, Dazzling Display. this bard will buff their allies, trip/entangle enemies, then cause huge negatives in a 30ft radius.

I'm going to play Rise of the Runelords with some friends of mine and we're using pfs rules, with some lee-way as far as races and illegal items so im not really worried about items and such, i can take care of that. what im really having trouble with is feating it out (other than level 1) and naming her. im playing a Life Oracle with the Cloudy Eyes curse. she was born in Taldor, but her powers come from Sarenrae ( plot twist ) because of her disability and shamefull divine abilites (in the view of her parents) they had planned to abandon her as a child, but they couldn't bring themselves to do it so they kept her in hiding, claiming she had died at childbirth. when she was old enough to be away from them her parents arranged for her to be sent to a relative in Absalom (or wherever Runelords begins, i havent really read much about it) but i CANNOT think of a good Taldan name for her so if you could shoot me a few ideas thatd be awesome. barring the name and/or any other cool things i could do with a level 1 character, she can channel and has selective channel and battle caster as well as a trait that total to +3 to concentration checks for casting while in combat, her abilities are str 8 dex 8 con 14 int 12 wisdom 10 and charisma 20(18), and has 11 hp. i debated taking lifelink instead of channel, but i decided that that would be too risky at only 11 hp.

your advice is appreciated.

I'm going to be building a PFS legal blind monk. simple as that, but i'd like to share the build and take... loose, recommendations of hurdles that would need jumping and ways to do it to make it a viable class. He will be young, Tian, lawful neutral, and will be a monk-oracle multiclass. he will fight unarmored and unarmed. I'm just going to post the full build and not the level by level build, mostly because i dont remember when i took each thing...

im only going to post the things you have to choose to take btw.

he is a Battle Oracle(8) with the Clouded Eyes curse and a Maneuver Master Monk(4)

Abilities (and level up increases)

Str 14
Dex 14
Con 12 +1
Int 08 +1
Wis 16
Cha 14 +1

feats

Dodge
extra ki
extra revelation x2 (surprising charge, maneuver mastery (bull rush))
Quick Draw
Greater Grapple
monastic legacy

Revelations

Surprising Charge
Maneuver Mastery (bull rush)
Resiliency
Weapon Mastery (unarmed)-

Oracle spell choice- Inflict spells

I've not outfitted him with gear yet, thatll come later, but i know his stat focus on gear will be spread out. ill not be sparing expenses there, with belts of str-dex, a headband of int-wis-cha (probably)

anyway the general tactics are to loacate enemy, jump on enemy, cmb enemy, move on to next target.

I've heard that paizo might eventually have a contest or something for players to create a new society scenario, i may have missed it or it may be pure rumor, but i'm really interested in something like this. my real question, other than is this a real thing, is how much fame would a PC need to have through pfs in order to be well known enough to potentially appear in a scenario? i've heard about gm's that get to a certain point maybe being added to scenarios, and i think it would be awesome to be able to write your own famous character into a scenario that you yourself wrote. i'm a writer... just fyi.

I am currently working with a group of my friends to level up some characters to 12 so that we can play Eyes of the Ten. we're having alot of fun and doing alot of new things none of us have done before, and i decided to play an Inquisitor of Erastil (i know its strange.) our party consists of a Paladin of Iomidae a Cleric of Sarenrae a Rogue (of Pharasma) and occasionally a Musket Master Gunslinger or Life Oracle.

one thing that i personally have been struggling with is my AC, and the rogue has the same issue. my saves are pretty good, so i dont generally run into issues with casters (except the occasional fireball or AoE) the rogue on the other hand... well lets just say hes sat out on more than one caster boss...

while at level 10 I and the rogue are doing very good damage (if he sneak attacks) and the paladin outshines us both (everything is evil at this level, and he does something like 8d6+1d8+30 static when smiting with an AC of 34 normal and 38 when smiting.) we keep running into the issue where the more intelligent enemies see that they cant hit the paladin that's wrecking their day, so they decide to kill us squishier players who also do lots of damage.

we have plenty of gold to work with by now, and i would like to help both the rogue and i itemize a little more for defense. I am currently using a +1 Adaptive Holy Composite longbow, and he is currently using a pair of +1 Agile Keen shortswords. we both currently wear +1 Mithral Chainshits, +1 cloaks of resistance +1 belts of dexterity (his) and +1 belt of physical might (mine) +1 rings of protection, and boots of escape.

he has 22 AC and i have 23, and what im trying to decide is with the 20-30k we have to work with how should we go about increasing this? should we be doing dex-for-dodge bonus or magical armor? is there another way to increase saves aside from CoR, like a luck bonus enhancement on armor?

I'm sure that there are umpteen posts on how to make a more viable build like this, but in my looking around most of the ones i saw didnt really address the issues i have with mine.

As a halfling all of my weapons are on the small template, and as a ninja all of my skills are dex based (other than Ki Pool) so naturally Weapon Finesse is an excellent early feat, but as a rogue archetype the ninja focuses on getting that sneak attack bonus through one of the many methods you can.

That said my first issue is that my ninja's wakizashi (a lovely weapon)deals 1d4 on a regular attack (god awful) and 1d4+1d6 on a sneak attack, at level 1 that's a fairly decent amount of damage (minimum 2 maximum 10 damage, somewhere between a rangers (1-8) and a barbarians (greatsword 2-12 + whatever. low level barbs are ridiculous) but i run into the issue where, as a halfling before having the cash for wands of darkvision and levels for more tricks for darkvision, getting sneak attack is ridiculously difficult except when flanking with my flank-buddy fighter because I cant stealth with enough light for me to see by and i cant sneak attack without having the light to see. any tips you can give me on this would be surely appreciated. EDIT: i took the Vanishing Trick ninja trick, so x (ki-points) times per day i get a free sneak attack)

one thing i thought about was multiclassing as a monk, which would grant some unique bonus's. if i took 3 levels as monk i would get a much greater ki-pool (more ki= more free sneak attacks= profit) flurry of blows presents some unique opportunities with stealth and sneak attack, but i have a question with that as well, would i be able to flurry of blows off of a feint attack (or improved feint), can i flurry of blows with my twin wakizashi or would i need to use a different weapon. if i do multiclass should i do 1 ninja then 3 monk resulting in 1 ninja then 3 monk and ninja thereafter or 1 monk level every 4 levels after the second so ninja, monk, ninja ninja ninja monk ninja ninja ninja monk and ninja thereafter (freaking confusing even to write, sorry) EDIT: as an afterthought, Barbarian Ninja. sneak attack with a greatsword?!?!

any other advice would be greatly appreciated, including other races/classes to enhance my ninja, after all the whole build is based on making that archetype better and more fun.