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Created this soldier as a backup character for when the DM kills my fun but unoptimized character and I want revenge. I like how much wisdom you can get in this build without sacrificing much for it.

Major Tom: Human LN Soldier 11

1: 13/16/10/10/14/10
5: 15/18/10/12/16/10
10:17/18/12/14/18/10

Theme: Ace Pilot
Fighting Style: Sharpshooter / Blitz
Gear Boost: Laser Accuracy / Bullet Blast / Powerful Explosive

Feats:
1: Weapon Focus: Longarms / Skill Synergy: Stealth & Perception
2: Versatile Focus
3: Spellbane
4: Improved Initiative
5: Skill Synergy: Sense Motive & Piloting
6: Adaptive Fighting
7: Enhanced Resistance: Fire
8: Improved Critical
9: Sky Jockey
10: Slippery Shooter
11: Great Fortitude

Skills: Max ranks in Acrobatics, Piloting, Stealth, Perception, Sense Motive, at level 5: Survival, at level 10: Medicine.

I ran out of good combat feats pretty quickly and would welcome suggestions (don't suggest Deadly Aim, I've seen the math on that, it's a trap).

I'm a little torn on the stat distribution, as putting 18 dex at creation is tempting, but I think I prefer then higher wis score for perception and sense motive. It gives the soldier some utility out of combat as the scout and lie detector. Will depend if the party has those roles covered by other characters.

For weapons, plan on buying the best laser longarm for primary, a good projectile rifle for FR enemies, and looting all useful heavy weapons for fun times.

At level 11, this character will have a very accurate triple full attack, a +14 to initiative, and saves of 10/9/11 (+2 vs spells). Out of combat they will be a top tier pilot, and a solid scout, tracker, and lie detector.

In the many years I've played Pathfinder, it's always irked me how builds and classes based around strength are almost always sub-par. Strength just never did enough, either in or out of combat, and caused builds that maxed it to be very one-trick. Dex was always the king of physical stats, with modifiers to initiative, reflex saves, AC, and multiple essential skills. There was just no contest. However, the power gap between casters and martials was so severe as to make the gap between strength and dex irrelevant.

When Starfinder came out I was immediately excited about the new balance between casters and matials. Martials were given universal improvements (immediate access to iterative attacks, level to damage, benefits to running MAD over SAD stat builds, better feats, ect.) and casters were all reduced to spontaneous 6th level casting. I loved the concept of the Solarian class most of all, and last night finally built one top to bottom.

Imagine my disappointment upon realizing, after all the love given to martial builds, strength is still unquestionably the worst stat in Starfinder. All the issues with strength builds in Pathfinder were ported over to Starfinder and made all the more glaring by the improvements given to dex builds.

First, let's look at what strength modifies in Starfinder:

Now consider the actual usefulness of each of those points.

Currently there is no way to get dex to damage on any weapons so strength is the best (and only) option for melee builds, and melee builds have the highest damage potential. One point for strength.

Athletics is, at first glance, a great skill. Combining all climbing, jumping and swimming checks into one skill is a definite improvement from Pathfinder. However, just like in Pathfinder, the actual need for these skills are limited. Starfinder is full of options for improving player's mobility. Whether it's through augmentations that give you gills and suction cups, armor upgrades that attach jetpacks, feats that simply grant a climb speed, or all the classic spells for flying and teleportation, the need to actually make an athletic check beyond the early levels is eliminated. There are simply too many universally obtainable mobility upgrades for athletics to retain value throughout a campaign.

Finally, there is carry capacity. Players become encumbered when carrying bulk equal to or greater than half their strength score. For 25c, players can purchase an industrial backpack which increases carry capacity by one more bulk, assuming the bulk is stored in the pack. Thus a character with a flat 10 strength can carry 5.9 bulk. To put that into perspective, the majority of heavy armor and weapons weigh 2 bulk. A character with 10 strength could wear Vesk Overplate armor and wield a IMDS Missile Launcher and still have almost 2 bulk of miscellaneous equipment and weapons stored on her person. If that's somehow not enough, you can purchase an armor upgrade for 2500c to increase your carry capacity by another 3 bulk. As long as you don't intent to carry multiple sets of heavy armor and weapons on your person, no character needs more than 10 strength for carry capacity purposes.

Beyond the ability to effectively smash someone in the face, making strength your primary stat isn't accomplishing much. It gets even worse when you consider what strength CAN'T do.

Strength cannot:

That's right. In starships, dex modifies pilot checks and gunner attack rolls, int modifies engineer and science officer checks, and cha modifies captain checks. Only strength and wisdom are left out and wisdom, a primary casting stat with modifiers to will saves and several good skills (including the most rolled skill: perception) is already in a very good place.

Also, notice that everything strength can't do the other primary physical stat, dex, DOES do. Dex modifies ranged attacks, initiative, reflex saves, AC, two different starship roles and four different skills.

The worst part of strength's failure as a stat is how it's still almost mandatory for one class: the Solarian. There's no question the Solarian works optimally as a melee combatant. Too many of its best class features are melee-only. And because strength is so one-dimensional, the Solarian suffers a lack of versatility. Yet every other class can choose to ignore strength and still work optimally and diversely. If you're not shoehorned into melee, why would you spend even a point in strength (unless you're a soldier with a heavy weapon fetish)?

So not only did the Starfinder devs fail to update strength in any way from it's lackluster origins in Pathfinder, but they also shackled it to the Solarian, dragging what should have been an amazing class down with it.

All in all, I'm disappointed with the dev's lack of effort in transitioning strength, with all it's well-documented and long-standing flaws, into a new system while leaving it practically unchanged.

I'm working on a vigilante to play in an upcoming Hell's Vengeance campaign. While going through the new feats in UI, I found Notorious Vigilante and wanted to create a build around it. Would appreciate some feedback, especially on if this is worth doing over a simpler combat archetype like Serial Killer.

The Ripper
Male Human Vigilante, lvl 11
Lawful Evil

Initial 20-point buy:
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 16

Traits:
Blade of Mercy, ???

Feats:
1) Enforcer, Two-Weapon Fighting
3) Weapon Focus
5) Dazzling Display
7) Notorious Vigilante
9) Shatter Defenses
11) Demoralizing Display

Vigilante Talents:
2) Lethal Grace
4) Twisting Fear
6) Up Close and Personal
8) Evasion
10) Mighty Ambush

Social Talents:
1) Renown
7) Great Renown

By level 7 I can begin combat by moving through an opponent's square, taking the swift action attack from Up Close and Personal and demoralizing them via Enforcer, which procs the bonus non-lethal damage from Twisting Fear. Then I finish moving into position and use a standard action Dazzling Display, triggering AoE damage from Twisting Fear.

At 9th level I can unleash full attack actions on the second round, and any demoralized opponent will be considered flat-footed, thus proc'ing the vigilante sneak attack.

Finally at 11th I can choose between setting up flat-footed opponents to full attack down and possibly drop with a successful Mighty Ambush, or I can move again, proc'ing Up Close and Personal and Twisting Fear, then standard action DD'ing, causing AoE damage and fear tracking opponents with Demoralizing Display.

While all this seems cool on paper, I'm concerned it may take too long to come online, and may invest too many resources for the results achieved.

Creating a new character for a homebrew campaign. Currently the goal is an arcane caster who, in a perfect world, can take over as party face from our paladin. Note that we are playing with sloooooow progression (5-6 sessions per level) and are currently 4th level.

My big question is about building an arcane caster who can charm the natives. We are entering very unfriendly but not quite hostile territory, so the party needs good people skills. Are there traits, feats, and/or items I can get to make an arcane caster a big hit with the ladies (and everyone else)?

I would note I am very hesitant to play a sorc or arcanist, as slow progression means it will be months before I see level 3 spells. Additionally, I love the idea of a ratfolk (an approved PC race due to setting) using illusion and enchantment to begile the more traditionally beautiful races who look down on his people. Third party content is accessible on a case by case basis, so if there's any hidden gems out there I'd love to hear about it. Thanks for the help!

I'm starting a new campaign as a druid, which will be my first time playing a class with an animal companion. We will be starting at level 3 and it's a slow progression campaign. I've been reading the rules for controlling animal companions and frankly, it strikes me as an overly-complex, clunky system. And while there are plenty of guides for which animals make good companions, I haven't been able to find answers to several questions.

First, there's tricks. As a druid I get a some for free but need to train the rest. If we're starting at level 3, can I come in with extra tricks trained, with the assumption I've spent time working with my companion before the adventure started? What are the most important tricks which will give me full control over my pet in combat?

Second, how important is getting 3 Int on my companion? Since it's a slow progression campaign, animals which grow at level 4 are looking more attractive, and my favorite is the constrictor snake. However, the snake starts with an Int of 1, so I will not be able to raise that to three for the bonus feats, skills, and comprehension of language until level 9. How much, if at all, will that hold my pet back?

Finally, are there any common house rules I could ask my DM about to simplify using an animal companion? Thanks for the advice.

My group is about to start a homebrew campaign with slow progression leveling. We will be starting at level three, and the DM expects the campaign won't got much past level 12. All hardcover books allowed, no splats or 3rd-party. While not all the party roles have been set, we have a rogue, a frontline melee of some type, and a sorc called (leaving me and one other player to finish the roster).

So, with slow progression, the level 12 as the cap, and the party make-up in mind, what classes would people recommend? I'm leaning towards a divine caster, since there isn't any in the lineup. Druid looks interesting, but so many options, it's intimidating for someone whose only been playing Pathfinder for 6 months. Thoughts?

I'm building a level 11 Occultist Arcanist for RotRL and I'm toying with the idea of rolling half-elf for access to Spell Surge. As a half-elf, I can still get the elf favored class bonus for more arcane reservoir points (ideal for more occultist summons) and a few other solid racial features. My questions lies with how Spell Surge would interact with the arcanist's casting style.

As far as I can tell, if an arcanist cast Spell Surge to gain Expanded Preparation, he'd have 1 (or 2) empty prepared spell slots. At this point, the arcanist could use Quick Study to put spells into these open slots, which would remain available to cast for the duration of Power Surge. It's not ideal for casting in combat, but it works well at the beginning of the day for a long duration spell, or just before engaging in a difficult fight of which you are warned. The wording on Quick Study makes this combo questionable (it says you may replace a spell with another spell) but I don't see why it couldn't replace an empty slot with a spell. It's serving the exact same function.

On a related note, do you think I have a reasonable chance convincing my DM I can use Spell Surge to take Spell Perfection, counting the metamagic feats I gain through the exploits Metamagic Knowledge and Greater Metamagic Knowledge as two of the three required metamagic feats?

I'm preparing a level 11 human exploiter wizard for my current RotRL campaign. Only hardcover Paizo books allowed, no splats or 3rd party. My DM ruled I can take the feat Extra Exploit, and with all that in mind I've created the following character:

Race: Human
Class: Exploiter Wizard (ACG)
Traits: Reactionary, Magical Lineage: (TBD)
Stats: 7 / 14 / 12 / 18 (+2) / 12 / 8 (20-point buy)
Feats and Exploits:
1 - Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning, Bloodline Development (gain Arcane Bond: Ring)
3 - Superior Summoning
5 - Acadamae Graduate (DM allows this feat), Craft Wondrous Item, Consume Magic Item
7 - Extra Exploit: Dimensional Slide
9 - Extra Exploit: Quick Study, Potent Magic
10 - Quicken Spell
11 - Extra Exploit: Counterspell

I have several concerns with this build. First, I am dumping four feats into summoning because I believe summoning is the usually most useful thing a wizard can do in combat. However, if I'm dumping this many resources in summoning, should I just roll a conjuration (subschool: teleportation) wizard? I don't want to do that, as my last caster was a standard conjurer, but I'm concerned this build may not be strong or different enough to warrant trying. However, an arcane utility caster is absolutely what the party needs.

Additionally, I'm not convinced my stats are distributed optimally, and neither am I sold on human, as the spell pen and +2 initiative on Elves is very attractive, and the extra feat may not be needed starting at this level. However, the human alternate racial to ignore fatigue once per day synergizes well with Acadamae Graduate.

I'd appreciate feedback from experienced wizards especially. This is my first PF campaign so my experience in general is sorely lacking. Thanks.

I'm playing a level 11 conjuration spec wizard (oppositions schools are necro and enchant) in RotRL. It's a 5-man party where I am the only arcane caster. My character just discovered info about upcoming baddies and knows they will be powerful casters, so it is no meta-gaming for me to start planning out a strategy to counter BBEG casters.

This is my first PF campaign and my first caster of any type, so I'm definitely lacking in experience on all fronts. However, our DM had a reputation for being tough, and that's proven to be an understatement as the player death count nears 10. After my lovingly crafted barbarian was 100-0'ed by a boss, my goal for this character is to fight BS with BS, and everything I read tells me wizard is the way to go if you want to bend all the rules. So I've spent more time researched the class and the arcane spell list than I spent preparing for many college finals, and I think I've got a basic handle on things.

That said, I expect these upcoming caster fights to be tougher than anything we've faced by a significant degree, so I've come to you all hoping for advice on good anti-caster spells and tactics as a wizard. All Advanced and Ultimate hardcover books allowed, but most things banned in PFS are banned here. Thanks for the help.

Thanks for taking a moment to help a noob. I'm currently in my first Pathfinder game, and I'm playing alongside several extremely experienced players and a veteran GM. The pressure to not hold the group back is real.

I'm rolling a IR Barbarian. The group is level 8 and the campaign will take us to level 18, so I'm trying to map my build. I've done plenty of research, read all the guides available, and I'm confident in most of my choices. I'm going Improved Stalwart for extra DR and CAGM + Dazing Assualt with a reach weapon for battlefield control.

However, I've got several questions regarding the in-game value of several rage powers which look great on paper (and are well-rated in guides), but may suck in practice. I just don't have the experience to make a good choice. Any input from seasoned players would be extremely welcome.

The three rage powers in question are Ghost Rager, Unexpected Strike, and Spell Sunder.

Ghost Rager: I've already taken Superstition and am using my human favored class to beef it up even more. Thus Ghost Rager will be providing a serious buff to my touch AC. Unbuffed, my touch AC is 14 and unlikely to improve anytime soon. Is it worth spending a rage power to have a fighting chance at avoiding touch attacks?

Unexpected Strike: Before you ask, my GM has banned any cheesy infinite rage cycling mechanics. I am using Roused Anger and the human Heart of the Field racial to get a few rage cycles a day (because at some point I'll need a heal and not want to resist it thanks to Superstition). All that to say, once a rage powers are not something I can do every round. Still, an extra swing seems like a really powerful asset, especially with Dazing Assault. Will I get enough use out of this extra attack for it to be worth something?

Spell Sunder: Some guys claim this is the greatest rage power out there. Others say it's too situational and the DC is too high unless you pick up Strength Surge. Of course, you also need to pick up Witch Hunter as a prereq, so Spell Sunder will require four of my feat/rage power slots to be optimally functional. Currently the party has a Oracle and a Cleric (although that will probably change, our cleric is on his fifth character, the suicidal bastard) so should I leave dispels to the casters, or is it worth the high cost?

Thanks again for any advice you have to offer. It's much appreciated.