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I was discussing parrying and raising a shield with a buddy and he pointed out that parry provokes attacks of opportunity, and any other reaction that triggers due to a manipulate trait.

Compared to raising a shield, which does not have the interact trait, why would making the parry trait need include an interact action?

And, as part of a (possible) larger issue, what sort of nested interact actions (aka: actions that include interact actions nested inside) are out there that might actually cause problems because they have a hidden manipulate trait?

Pretty much just the title question. Catfolk, Tengu, kobold, and all the other confirmed playable ancestries are up for discussion.

For me I want to see Tengu have a feat that allows them to mimic the exact sound of a (humanoid, probably) creature they have heard, granting a bonus to deception rolls to disguise as that creature. Corvids are quite the linguists after all.

I personally like the witch for the most part. A few relatively minor tweaks here and there and it should be good to go.

But it lacks the ability to get Reach Spell, which is not only a pretty big disconnect from the other spellcasters- all of whom have that feat as an option- but also makes it difficult for Witches to use many of their offensive hexes without putting themselves in extreme danger.

I've been going back and forth with some people regarding the Oracle's curses and the interaction with revelation spells. What are your thoughts on the following changes to the Oracle's class features?

First, I think Oracles should be deemed the 'Focus Spell' spellcaster. What's in the playtest now seems to suggest that, at least. So either the Oracle should have the ability to do more interesting things with focus spells or they should be able to use them more often. My concern with the former is power creep, and my concern with the latter is spamming focus spells throughout the adventuring day.

My suggested solution is to grant at level 1 a 1/day use of a revelation spell that doesn't advance the Oracle's curse at level 1, just like their Advanced and Greater Revelation feats grant.

So at the start of the first combat they could potentially burst three focus spells in a combat, though then they'd be stuck with one focus spell per combat for the rest of the day. Then advanced and greater revelation feats, when they get it, grants them a total of 3/day no advancement of the curse.

That makes it so revelation spells don't have to get a buff and the oracle can't spam multiple of them every single combat, just one additional time per day. I think it's especially important to give oracles that option because there are currently two means of refreshing Focus Points (a gnome feat and a familiar) that oracle's cannot benefit from at all. And there will likely be more options to recover Focus Points in the future as well.

Second, What do you think about having some other minor benefit alongside the minor curse? Particularly for Life and Flames mysteries, the initial mystery benefit seems super lackluster; I mean, Life is a slightly better version of Toughness and Flame is a (very slightly) better version of Canny Acumen[Reflex]. Both are 1st level general feats. Whereas Battle Oracle gets exactly what I'd expect for the mystery benefit, and it's pretty good (heavy armor is great- better than what a Warpriest gets and I approve!). It wouldn't be anything game changing, but something that grants a reason to bump yourself to the minor curse effect in the first place is a good way to go. It could even be a benefit that ONLY applies when you are at your minor effect, and temporarily goes away if you go to Moderate or above on your curse level. Things like +1 bonus to your Mystery's associated skills or something like that would go a long way in my opinion.

Lastly what are your thoughts on having some harsh conditions placed on the oracle rather than unconsciousness if they advance their curse too far? I really like the thematic of "this person's curse is wracking their body so much they cannot function" but having them knocked out will likely only lead to a character's untimely and narratively-disappointing death. Something like Doomed 1+Flat Footed, and can no longer use Revelation Spells for the remainder of the day or something like that. Harsh penalties, but if a character is in a bad situation already, they still have a chance to get to safety.

I just ran through some encounters from a PFS scenario, and had four players play one playtest class each. The consensus is they all do fairly well compared to existing classes, and I tend to agree.

Things that stood out to me as a GM:
Investigator: Study can be pretty difficult since you’re using a Wis based spell (perception) as an Int-based class. Had Study just been a form of Recall Knowledge or making a Perception check using Int instead of Wis would be a smart way to go, in my opinion, as the investigator is just a bad fighter when unable to utilize his class abilities relatively consistently. This was particularly true when we fought a lv 6 creature with super high will saves, making the investigator completely give up trying to use their main combat ability on them because they needed to roll a 17 or better to succeed at the study alone. A few suggestions that could help fix that: 1) give investigators a feat that lets them auto study creatures they’ve already succeeded or crit succeeded on a study. So long as they spend the one action to study, they’d get the benefit of a success. 2) Allow Investigators to choose between Int or Wis as their class ability score. For that matter, add Cha there too, as that would really allow players to really customize how they want their investigator to act during their campaign. That way, Wis based Investigators will have a good chance to succeed at Study, 3) make Study key off of Int for the perception check rather than Wis. 4) just make it part of a Recall Knowledge check.

Swashbucklers: a bit of the same as investigators honestly. Both classes are really good against equal or lower level creatures but vs big bads, consistently able to gain some sort of class benefit could go a long way. Maybe spend an action to gain panache until the end of the round but can’t use that panache for a finisher and gain less bonus damage, but it requires a significantly easier DC or maybe even no DC.

Oracle: flame and life curses need to be rebooted. Battle oracles could use a small damage boost as part of their curse benefit. Mystery initial benefits for flame and life a bad and should be replaced with something more unique. I mean, the flame oracles benefit is about as good as Canny Acumen so we should really go a step above that. Toughness for life oracle, too.

Witch is actually in a decent spot IMO. Reach spell is absolutely needed for them, however, as it can be used to encourage witches to use their offensive hexes on creatures without putting them in serious harms way. Also every other spellcaster class has it.

All in all I’m happy with the classes. Some need some major tweaking though

Of the spells an elemental sorcerer leaves that takes spell slots, burning hands and fireball are the only two with the * indicating the elemental trait changes.

So a 5th level water elemental sorcerer learns fireball at 5th level, gaining the water trait in place of fire and dealing bludgeoning dmg.

But let’s say I don’t pick fireball as my 3rd level signature spell. I’ve learned the spell and that’s that.

At 7th level when I gain 4th level spells, I could learn fireball again since it’s not a signature spell and it would normally deal fire damage.

And if I pick fireball as my 4th level signature spell, as far as I can tell I can now cast fireball at any 3rd or higher spell slot and I can make it deal either bludgeoning or fire damage as I choose.

Is that intended? Am I correct in my interpretation? What are any potential unintended consequences of doing this?

*Edit: interestingly, the bloodline does not state the new elemental trait replaces the old one, you just add it. So a water elemental sorc who casts fireballs casts it with both the water and fire trait.

I'm looking into the crossbow ace ranger with Precision hunter's edge, and I was informed of an oddity in how the Penetrating Shot and Double Prey feats interact with the precision hunter's edge.

So if I Hunt Prey on both creatures A and B, A is providing lesser cover to B, and I use Penetrating Shot targeting both of them, do I get the bonus precision damage on both targets?

Precision Edge states:

You have trained to aim for your prey’s weak points. The first time you hit your hunted prey in a round, you also deal 1d8 additional precision damage. (Precision damage increases the damage you already deal, using the same type, but is ineffective against creatures that lack vital organs or weak points.) At 11th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8 precision damage, and at 19th level, the extra damage increases to 3d8 precision damage.

This can be taken two ways: either the "prey" in the bolded part is singular, in which case the bonus damage absolutely applies to both targets- much in the same way a character with double prey could Strike target A and get bonus damage, Stride, then Strike target B for bonus damage. OR "prey" is plural and the bonus damage only applies to one target.

Any ideas as to which it is?

As the title; specific interaction would be to spend one action to command a familiar with manual dexterity to reload a heavy crossbow that you are wielding, effectively getting the same reload speed as a light crossbow.

Not actually considering utilizing this, but I imagine there are (or will be, if guns are reintroduced to the game) other scenarios in which utilizing a familiar kind of breaks the balance of certain weapons or other items.

I'm wondering for those who have played a fair amount at this point what sort of Lore skills you may have encountered or found particularly useful.

There have been a couple of society scenarios where Pathfinder Society lore came in handy.

I also imagine Ship or Vehicle lore would help a lot too, as a driver/sailor.

You’re always trained in spell attack rolls and spell DCs for your innate spells, even if you aren’t otherwise trained in spell attack rolls or spell DCs. If your proficiency in spell attack rolls or spell DCs is expert or better, apply that proficiency to your innate spells, too.

Say I'm a Gnome occult sorcerer with First World Magic to grab Electric Arc as an innate spell from the primal tradition. Once I become expert in Occult spell attacks/DC, considering the innate spell rules don't specify the innate spell must be from the same tradition to match proficiency, would my Electric Arc become expert as well?

It seems to be yes, but I just want to double check with the community.

full rules for Innate Spells here, for reference

I was looking at building a fighter with Sorcerer dedication for Glutton's Jaws, when I realized the jaw attack is not given a weapon category. Looking at the draconic bloodline's claws, they don't either.

Which really put a damper on my plan for my fighter build; how could I advance my jaw attack to master at 5th if I can't choose the weapon category they're in?

Correct me if I'm wrong but all other unarmed attacks fall under the Brawling category, including Wolf Jaw and the Razortooth Goblin's jaw attack, so following that pattern it makes sense to throw the claws and jaws from the sorc bloodlines in that group too. But I don't have a way to advance that category through fighter weapon training, which is really unfortunate.

Do all unarmed strike types fall under the Brawling category of weapon groups? I'm particularly hoping to this question answered for PFS, so this can't exactly be a "just ask your GM" type answer.

Outside of the rogue's ability to gain minor poisons that do a bit of damage, what is the mechanical benefit of taking that feat? According to the CRB:

Applying alchemical poisons uses Interact actions. A

poison typically requires one hand to pour into food
or scatter in the air. Applying a poison to a weapon or
another item requires two hands, with one hand holding
the weapon or item. The Usage entry for a poison
indicates the number of hands needed for a typical means
of application, but the GM might determine that using
poisons in other ways functions differently.
...
Injury: An injury poison is activated by applying it to
a weapon, and it affects the target of the first Strike made
using the poisoned weapon. If that Strike is a success and
deals piercing or slashing damage, the target must attempt
a saving throw against the poison. On a failed Strike, the
target is unaffected, but the poison remains on the weapon
and you can try again. On a critical failure, or if the Strike
fails to deal slashing or piercing damage for some other
reason, the poison is spent but the target is unaffected.

For comparison, here's the feat in question:

Requirements: You are wielding a piercing or slashing weapon and have a free hand.

You apply a poison to the required weapon. If your next attack with that weapon before the end of your next turn hits and deals damage, it applies the effects of the poison, provided that poison can be delivered by contact or injury. If you critically fail the attack roll, the poison is wasted as normal.

Special: During your daily preparations, you can prepare a number of simple injury poisons equal to your rogue level. These poisons deal 1d4 poison damage. Only you can apply these poisons properly, and they expire the next time you prepare.

Obviously the feat gives you the 1d4 dmg poisons, and if you're a rogue and want to go for that, great. But outside of that, I see little reason to give rogues what appears to be a worse version of an ability anybody can already do, since the poison is lost if not used before the end of your next turn while applying it normally seems to last indefinitely unless you crit fail the attack roll.

If I have Shield as, say, an innate spell, as well as Shield prepared as a cantrip, can I cast another Shield after using Shield Block, even if it hasn't been 10 minutes yet?

So in building a gnome storm druid and looking it over again, I realized I may have made a mistake building my character. My 5th level ancestry feat, Energized Font, requires that I have "at least one innate spell from a gnome heritage or ancestry feat that shares a tradition with at least one of your focus spells"

I had picked Wellspring Gnome as my heritage, so I could learn Shield as a druid, and I must have missed the bolded part above. I really want Energized Font, but I also want Shield for survivability at lower levels. Plus, Druids get Shield Block for free so i might as well utilize that.

So my rules question: While, logically, it makes total sense that a focus power like Tempest Surge shares the Primal tradition, where does it explicitly state that Focus powers share a magic tradition? It's not on the traits of the focus power.

And, while I'm on the topic, a bit of advice: Assuming I can't be a Wellspring Gnome and also take Energized Font for a Primal focus power, is there a way for me to get the Shield cantrip without multiclassing, while still being able to take Energized Font? I'd like to be able to utilize Shield Block at low levels for survivability. And with only 10 str my Bulk isn't super high to be able to carry a shield. I'll be taking Hefty Hauler at 2, which will help at least. I'd just prefer not to wield a shield.

My current ancestry feats are Animal Accomplice, Energized Font, Vivacious Conduit, First World Adepts and Fey Fellowship.

Piggybacking off of this thread I really want to discuss the limitations of character concepts within the realm of society play. Particularly with the use of learning spells, but this also very much applies to magic items, feats, and mundane equipment too.

As it is right now (and hopefully this will change when the actual society role play guide is released), all common equipment with an item level of your level or lower is always available to purchase. To purchase uncommon or rarer equipment, it has to be your level or lower AND appear on a chronicle sheet. In the case of uncommon equipment, it could also be purchased if you have a feat or ability that explicitly opens up uncommon options for you, such as weapon familiarity ancestry feats.

There is also the Home Region slotless boon which grants access to uncommon equipment based on your region.

So from what I can tell there is a huge issue that society play is going to face that home games uniquely don’t have to. And that’s how the game will support players who wish to play very specific character concepts. Examples are found in the thread I linked above. How often can we rely on encountering a particular wizard with exactly the spell we want for a build in their spellbook, at an appropriate time for us to be able to learn such an uncommon spell like teleport? Or a cleric to use Circle of Protection?

If I want to make a character concept that, at its core, requires the use of particular uncommon equipment feats or spells, how does Society handle that? PF2 wants to put that sort of power in the GMs hands, allowing someone who wants to make a specific character to actually do so. But GMs don’t have that authority in society play to allow players access to that.

I’m afraid a lot of people are going to be turned off from 2e Society play because too many things that would be core to a character concept would be unavailable because they’re labeled uncommon.

And I don’t believe the answer should be making them available in the form of feats; it wouldn’t make sense in my mind for availability to come from skill or class feats, and general feats are so limited already (we only get 5 throughout our whole career! And PFS probably won’t be going to level 20 very often!) that it really wouldn’t be fair to force players to pick up a general feat for that when other players can pick whatever else they want.

Boon rewards probably makes the most sense, being able to gain access to equipment based on reputation, but I didn’t see that as an option when I looked through the online guide.

And this whole thing is primarily for uncommon stuff; I think between that and common items, most people will be satisfied in whatever concept they have. Rare and unique items being accessible through special boons or rewards makes sense for the most part. I just don’t want to be stuck with needing to go through particular adventures to get an item on my chronicle sheet that is a big part of a character’s concept. And I’m concerned that is what is about to happen.

I'm trying to figure out the action economy of having an animal companion, or just minions in general-

Rules written down for context:

Lastly, a slight nit-pick about the support action animal companions get- why can't they Strike after using Support? They're already limited to only two actions per round; why can't they support and Strike in the same round given that Support has no traits or anything and only takes one action? It really seems counter-intuitive when building a character with the intent of fighting side-by-side with their animal companion.

I'm sure this was just a typo, but the first paragraph under Animal Companions states:

An animal companion is a loyal comrade who follows your orders without you needing to use Handle an Animal on it. Your animal companion has the minion trait, and it gains 2 actions during your turn if you use the Command an Animal action to command it; this is in place of the usual effects of Command an Animal.

Bolding mine.

Is "Handle an Animal" is meant to be "Command an Animal," and does that mean a character with an animal companion does not need to roll a Nature skill check to succeed at using the Command an Animal action?

I get the feeling this is not correct, but I read that the bonus to attack rolls given from elemental overflow will increase the attack rolls when I use energize weapon, just like it would with kinetic blade. Reading over elemental overflow, it states:

...she receives a bonus on her attack rolls with kinetic blasts equal to the total number of points of burn she currently has...

this seems to imply that if I were to use Energize Weapon on say a longbow, I would not get elemental overflow bonuses because I'm not actually attacking with a kinetic blast, but

By using infusions along with her kinetic blasts, a kineticist can alter her kinetic blasts to suit her needs. Infusions come in two types, each of which changes a kinetic blast differently: a substance infusion causes an additional effect, while a form infusion causes the kinetic blast to manifest in a different way.

This suggests that all infusions are part of a kinetic blast, and energize weapon is a form infusion after all, just like kinetic blade is. Whether this has any bearing on elemental overflow bonuses I'm not sure, but I'm hoping one of you can clear this up for me.

Essentially I love the idea of making a cinderlands adept that primarily uses a conductive longbow (half-elf with weapon familiarity) but without any accuracy boots for the bow I don't think I'd be able to make one that is effective enough for my tastes.

Got two PFS boons, one of which lets me play a catfolk and another that lets me gain a "traditional mount" for a list of uncommon/rare races in place of their normal options for mounts- the catfolk option is a Big Cat.

So I'm looking for a catfolk build that has the Mount or Divine Bond class feature- I can only substitute the options from those features with the big cat, so things like Animal Ally or Ranger's Nature Bond won't do.

I'm open to being a spellcaster, multiclassed, or whatever; I just want to combine my boons so I can have a lion mount. And I don't necessarily need to be a mounted build, but I do need the Mount class feature (or divine bond)

I'm hoping for something a bit more than a standard cavalier or paladin, preferably something that is unique to catfolk, maybe? or some sort of theme around luck. The Mounted Fury vigilante looked decent, maybe I can get advice on a good build for that?

Ideas?

I'm making a Neutral Good Undine Ocean's Echo oracle with the Elemental mystery- main strategy is standard action summon Earth or Water elementals, tack on Augment Summons and Superior Summoning, and use Inspire Courage and possibly throw on the Blood Rage spell for funsies.

But with minions to do most the damage stuff for me, I'm thinking what kind of fun spells could I benefit from worshiping the right deity. Pharasma lets me cast False Life as an Oracle, for example. But she's not exactly fitting for my theme here. Plus I retired my Life Oracle in PFS who was devout to her, so i'm looking for something different.

Are there any good elemental/water themed deities that are 1) PFS legal, 2) able to be worshiped by a Neutral Good character (within one step; I'm set on alignment), 3) fits the elements/water theme I have going for this character and 4) grants decent or interesting spells for me to cast as an Oracle.

I've been combing through Inner Sea Gods and Archives of Nethys for a bit now, but there's so many deities I figured asking for help would be, well, helpful.

I'm not set on worshiping a deity for this character, so if nothing satisfying comes up I won't be disappointed, but I thought it best to ask around.

*edit* despite no mechanical benefit I might worship Onos since they seem kind of cool and fits the theme. Still on the lookout for new spells though.

I have a Human occultist, currently level 3, for PFS. My first three implements are Transmutation, Necromancy, and Divination. As a general rule I'm using a necromantic servant and soulbound puppet to give me temporary allies to soak up hits, and using legacy weapon on my greatsword for Bane.

In the future I'll be picking up Mind Eye for scouting, Energy Shield (abjuration) for protection, Mind over Gravity for flight, and at 11th level Side Step (divination) for mobility.

My current feats are Heavy Armor prof, Extra Mental Focus, and Power Attack. I thought about making him a ranged build but I decided that archery as a general combat style in pathfinder was not my cup of tea.

Outside of what I already have, I'm not sure what else I need in terms of feats. Almost all my spells are buffs or defensive spells, so I don't really care about spell DCs.

Things I'm considering:
*Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
-> Weapon Versatility
*Lunge
*Improved Initative
*Maybe Flickering Step?
*Improved Critical

What else should I consider for feats?

I played a fun scenario in PFS a while back which has a unique item that I would love to acquire for this particular character, so I plan on GMing or replaying the scenario in the future. I have the build mostly fleshed out. My main role is utility support with UMD and face skills, + trapfinding. In combat my goal would be to remain unseen and use the sniping stealth mechanic and the Master sniper feat to get two potshots off with sneak attack.

Here is the build. This is for PFS so I know 11th level isn't a huge deal since it's the end of the character's career, but I'd love suggestions for a fun feat and rogue talent that would be a decent capstone for this character.

Suggestions to fine-tune this character are also very welcome.

Combat tactics are to use Shadow's Shroud if I'm not a 5ft step to cover. At level 5 I can snipe at nearly any time thanks to Shadow's Shroud and only at a -10 penalty to stealth. At 6th I no longer take a penalty for sniping thanks to Skill Unlock, and at 7th I am able to make two attacks. I need to save up 22,500 gp for some special goggles that work like Sniper's Goggles+, and I should have access to that item as early as level 7.

Beginning at level 5, how useful will Go Unnoticed be? whoever I beat in initiative will not know what square I was in when combat started but that is less of an issue for me than simply being able to snipe. Even if an enemy knows what square I am in, i have evasion for AoEs, they can't target me with spells, and attacks have a 50% miss chance. so I'm open to retraining that feat after level 5 but I would appreciate advice on what to replace it with, if anything.

*edit* I'm willing to change archetypes too but I don't want to give up trapfinding. The ability to disable magic traps is something I want to be able to do.

Someone claimed on an advice post about certain style feats and that you don’t have to enter into them as a swift action. Particularly, pummeling style and jabbing style. The poster claimed that while you do need to use a swift action to enter into the style at the beginning of combat to use subsequent feats like pummeling charge, the base feats are passive and can even be used while in other style feats.

My understanding is that is incorrect, because they are listed as “style” feats, similar to “combat” feats, and there are specific rules to use any style feat- you must use a swift action to enter into a style and benefit from that feat chain, and unless you’re a MoMS or something similar, you can only be in one style at a time.

Unless I’m missing something?

So if you haven’t watched the show, Klaus can speak to the dead and

Outside of his abilities he’s a drug addict but very charming and witty. No physical combat potential outside his spirit abilities. On the contrary he’s kind of useless in combat himself.

So Spiritualist and Medium are the first classes that come to mind for recreating Klaus, but I would be interested to see what others can come up with. The character obviously has to have a focus on spirits, maybe undead though that’s not quite the vibe Klaus has going for him. The spirits are other people, not monsters. And they/it would be the focus of the character, not necessarily Klaus himself as he would just be the channaler.

Maybe a summoner would work if the eidolon was the right base form? What do you guys think? No 3PP, and try for as little reflavoring as possible.

I'm making an elf Foresight wizard with my offensive spells focusing on Conjuration and Transmutation. Not summoning so much on the conjuration route, mostly things like aqueous orb and glitterdust, and spells like Slow on the Transmutation side. Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, and Displacement will be my standard buff spells.

I have a greensting scorpion familiar and I'm considering what, if any, archetype I want for my familiar. Considering my low HP thanks to being both a wizard AND an elf, I was thinking of the Protector archetype for a bit more AC and the ability to split HP with my Familiar, but the worry is the lack of HP the familiar itself has. I wouldn't be able to split HP very often that route. I do lose out on delivering touch spells if I want to buff allies but I don't plan on doing that too often.

The other archetype I was looking at is the Arcane Amplifier. My character won't be doing too many touch spells but the ones I do use would benefit quite a bit from that archetype. I am at least getting frigid touch to use with my spell storing haramaki (eventually) so I would use the Amplifier's abilities, even if it's infrequently.

So what archetype would be best for me, if any?

*Edit* also, quick question, for the 8th level foresight power, what type of action is it to start emitting the aura?

Sorry if this has been asked before but I was rereading through the kineticist class features when I noticed some weird wording.

... Gathering power in this way allows the kineticist to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent she uses in the same round by 1 point. The kineticist can instead gather power for 1 full round in order to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent used on her next turn by 2 points (to a minimum of 0 points). If she does so, she can also gather power as a move action during her next turn to reduce the burn cost by a total of 3 points.

Similar wording is used in Supercharge:

At 11th level, when using gather power as a move action, a kineticist can reduce the total burn cost of a single wild talent by 2 points instead of 1. When using gather power for 1 full round, she can reduce the burn cost of a single wild talent by 3 points instead of 2.

Notice the bold wording

My impression has always been you total up the total burn cost of everything you use then subtract the amount Gather Power/Supercharge gives you, so an 11th level kineticist can use, say, an Empowered, Maximized Wall blast (normally 6 burn), take 2 away from infusion specialization, 2 from Supercharge (GP as a move action only), and either take two burn or use internal buffer to mitigate that. BUT if Supercharge only applies to wild talents rather than Metakinesis as well, the total burn cost would be 4 because Empower and Maximize wouldn't be affected.

Now, Gather Power should work just fine with metakinesis because you're reducing the burn of the blast you use but that's not the same as what Supercharge says if I'm reading it correctly. So what is the case with Supercharge? Is it meant to simply increase the effectiveness of Gather Power or does it apply to a single wild talent that is tacked on to a blast. If the latter, does Metakinesis count as a wild talent for that purpose?

I just saw on a reddit thread something about being able to drop your guard as a non/free action, allowing an enemy to take an AoO on you even if you did absolutely nothing. This would allow, say, a snapping turtle clutch style tetori monk to initiate a grapple as an immediate action and still allow that monk a full-round action like attacking.

Is that actually viable per the rules?

Hey, I'm currently in Return of the Runelords and was a bit unhappy with where my first character was going so with my GM's permission I retired that character and rolled up a new one- Vivisectionist+Beastmorph alchemist with an animal companion. GM gave his stamp of approval for this build, but I want to make sure I'm following the build by the rules.

Through Viv I can Baleful Polymorph my small cat A.C. into a squirrel for a massive Dex bump at level 9. Throw on an agile AOMF and I'm sitting at a passive 34 Dex before magic items and buffs.For the purposes of allowing my build to come online he's handwaving the headache of dealing with the saves by assuming the Fort save fails and will save succeeds (He's a nice GM)

If I use Marionette Possession on my now-squirrel A.C, because I retain my class, I should be able to then imbibe my feral mutagen for a Dex bump and the claws/bite without problem, right?

If I were to take a level in Master Chemyst, would I be able to use my Mutate ability while possessing my A.C?

As for feats, if my PC has power attack or lunge, can I use those feats while possessing my companion? Am I limited to feats that the Companion has only? Since I retain my class, would I get the fun sneak attack dice I get as a Vivisectionist?

Would a 4th level weretouched shifter with the Deinonychus aspect have 5 primary natural attacks and pounce? That’s a 2 claws from base shifter, and 2 talons and a bite from the aspect. You’re treated as your natural form for extending your claws so it seems to me that you would get all 5 attacks.

Throw that on a barbarian with the fiend totem for a gore attack on top of it and that’s 6 primary attacks at 6th level. Level dip in White Haired Witch at 7 for a hair primary attack too and haste to make 8 natural attacks per round at a fairly low level.

I'm a fairly experienced GM for PFS, which has pretty strict rules on how to run the written scenarios, but I'm about to start a roll20 home game as GM with a few friends, and could use some advice on GMing. My work has left me with very limited time to prep original material, so this group gives me the chance to practice GMing a little more on the fly.

A few details: I'm fairly rules-oriented but the players are not, so I'm trying to be a little lax on the RAW, for the most part. For example, I'm allowing Slashing Grace to work with a magi's spell combat because he doesn't want to be stuck with a scimitar and dervish dance. Little things like that. So far, no homebrew equipment or class features.
This is my first time GMing a home game. There are three players, two of whom are fairly new but know the rules of the game well enough, and 1 that is brand new to Pathfinder but is coming from 5e so familiar with the general idea of tabletop. It's also why I've been a bit more relaxed with the rules, as I don't want to lawyer them over stuff they might not know about and take away the fun.

Because it's three players, and only one that I would consider optimized, I'm going to regularly introduce NPC companions to help. I'm thinking their primary job can be to distract the mooks while they take on the BBEG?

These guys want to play a pretty relaxed, not so serious game. Work constraints make it so I don't have the ideal time to prep, so I'm looking into just having a general plot and rolling with it. As of right now, I'm introducing them as mercenaries who get hired by a guy who needs to stop an "organized" group of goblins trying to burn down a local library. I have a warpriest of Nethys that will hopefully be a reoccurring character to accompany them in order to ensure I don't kill them in the first session. Wand of cure light wounds and bless are in his inventory, and he'll gift the cure wand after the quest with a small number of charges remaining. The players are starting at level 2 and the first boss they're going to face is a 3rd level pyrokinetic goblin (purposefully nerfed- not ideal stats, and no precise shot, but if they get hit they're getting fairly seriously hurt). After the fight they'll have to put out the fire that has started. I was thinking climb checks to prevent the books on high shelves from catching on fire, acrobatics or CMB checks to snuff out flames, and perception checks to snag the important and unique looking books first.

Thoughts? One thing I do want to do, especially early on in the game, is to have a wide variety of challenges, from chase scenes to intrigue, that can be encounters, not always combat. I'm also looking for advice on filler- I'm hoping they'll role play enough that a few goblin fights and a trap or two will be enough to last a first session, but with them being fairly new I can't be too sure how they'll be playing. General advice will be welcome as well. Thanks in advance!

So this is the Sand Bomb from Antihero Handbook:

A 2nd level alchemist can take this as a discovery. Bombs are known for their ability to hit consistently thanks to it being a touch attack. So a 2nd level alchemist can consistently throw on one of the strongest debuffs in the game (blindness) and do so quite consistently. Granted it's only for 1 round but 1 round is often all your allies need to really mess a blinded enemy up. It also acts as a blindness AoE, albeit the splash targets get a save.

Is there anything even remotely as powerful as the Sand Bomb for any character? A no-save blindness effect that only requires a touch attack? It only gets better when you get fast bombs. I played a scenario with my alchemist who picked it up at level 6 and I shut down encounters.

Obviously in home games GMs can limit stuff, but assuming all paizo published stuff is on the table, what other abilities even come close to matching this power?

hey everyone, either my google-foo is terrible or there aren't any updated public spreadsheets (excel or google sheets) that help with keeping track of kineticist resources.

Does anybody have/know of a public resource that I could use? I'd very much appreciate it, thank you.

From the Additional Resources:

The Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain does not qualify for the Advanced Weapon Training on pages 18–19.

Does this mean for PFS I cannot have any AWT abilities or just that I can't take AWT in place of regular weapon training advancement from my class levels?

For example, if I'm a lv 9 Arsenal Chaplain, because of PFS ruling I would not be able to get an Advanced Weapon Training ability in place of the expanded weapon training from the class, but would I be able to pick up the Advanced Weapon Training feat f=as my 9th level bonus feat, given that I do have the weapon training class feature and I count as a 9th level fighter for the prereqs?

Making a (most likely Half-Orc) warpriest of Gorum utilizing TWF and all the bonus static damage WP get access to like Divine Favor, Destruction Blessing, and Weapon Specialization. I can accomplish this using a double weapon or I can go Kukris, but I could use some advice on choosing which route to go.

On one hand, if i go Orc Double Axe I can get 1.5x strength and bonus power attack damage whenever I end up only getting standard action attacks, which is fairly frequently. I can also cast spells without needing Fervor and also without having to drop a weapon. Quick Draw is not as needed either since it is just one weapon. With Half-Orc Weapon familiarity, I gain proficiency in it from level one.

On the other, going Kukris not only has the benefit of equal damage dice by lv5 as the Orc Double Axe (1d8) thanks to sacred weapon, I also have the higher critical threat range. With the human favored class bonus to get more combat feats, I could get an extra combat feat at 8 to get Improved Critical right away. I have the feats for quick draw early on, too. The drawback is I can't cast spells without using fervor unless I drop a kukri. This also applies for using fervor to heal myself when needed.

One other option would be to pick up Two-Bladed Sword Prof and get improved critical with that (not as good as kukris, but it's the only double weapon with 19-20 crit range)

I do plan on conserving spells pretty much solely for use with Fervor, preparing spells like divine favor and shield of faith almost exclusively, but I also want one or two spells available for as needed status removal spells.

Also, slightly different topic, what about battle pois? it seems like fun with Sacred Weapon to deal just fire damage damage, but it also seems a bit too convoluted to use in PFS. Edit* Realized Sacred Weapon does not allow weapons that only deal elemental damage to increase the damage die

I'm making a warsighted, dual cursed lunar oracle for an upcoming campaign (War for the Crown) and I need some help figuring out what feats and revelations I should get for him at the mid levels.

From Warsighted archetype I gain martial flexibility and I plan on flexing to dedicated adversary a bunch to get that sweet +2 to hit and damage. Also plan on using Fates Favored and divine favor to boost attack and damage to make up for subpar strength.

Starting at lv2 with 650 starting gold. Campaign is likely to take us to 12ish. Could actually use help with starting equipment too, now that I think about it.

Currently this is the build:

Tiberius
Half-Orc Warsighted, Dual-Cursed Lunar Oracle
Curses: Possessed (progresses), Tongues (does not progress)
Traits: Fates Favored, Child of Two Peoples
Str 14
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 16+2
Feats:
1) Noble Scion of War
3) Extra Revelation: Prophetic armor
5) Power Attack
Revelations
1,7, 11, 15: Martial Flexibility
3: Primal Companion (Tiger)
5: Misfortune

I gain an additional revelation at 13 if we ever make it there, but as for my build I'm not sure what feats I should consider. I have martial flexibility for combat feats and weapon familiarity with greataxes and falchions, which are decent weapons. What should my standard weapon of choice be?

My plan for the character is to be fairly versatile in combat. We have a dedicated frontliner in the party and my animal companion, but I want to keep the others who are more squishy safe if need be. At early levels I'm planning on crowd control at range with barbed chains and melee with shield of faith and divine favor, and using cure spells on an as needed basis. Using my favored class bonus I'll be learning status removal spells too.

Until I hit level 3 and I get prophetic armor I'm sticking with a Morningstar, a heavy shield and scale male. Once I'm 3rd and get cha to AC, I might switch to light armor (or maybe breastplate?) And go 2h weapon from then on.

Any help with feat suggestions or other critiques for my build are welcome!

Looking into making a warpriest alchemist build utilizing a conductive sling, and came across the sand bomb discovery from the antihero handbook:

When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can pack the casing full of sand that explodes in an abrasive cloud on impact. A creature that takes a direct hit from a sand bomb is blinded for 1 round, as are any creatures in the splash radius that fail a Reflex save (DC = 10 + half the alchemist’s level + his Intelligence modifier).

Just a couple quick questions:

If the bomb auto blinds, that is pretty good for me since I rely on damage outside of just bombs even if I don't get the extra damage.

Hey, I'm moving from the great PNW allll the way to Fairfax Virginia this August, and I was hoping to find both starfinder and pathfinder society play. Im not new to either systems and have GM'd for both. Depending on when and where society play is being offered, I would totally be up for setting up a space as a venture agent (once I settle into my new place).
If anyone familiar with the fairfax area could let me know where some locations offer society play, as well as what days, I would much appreciate that. If anyone is able to, I would also love to know of any potential areas that I could set up as a VA.
Thank you!

Going through the various bestiaries to find animals of huge size or magical beasts of medium size that have crazy reach. So far I've found the Elasmosaurus which is huge sized and has 20ft of reach, but are there any creatures that have more than that which would work for BSIII?
I'm considering having my 11th lvl oracle of life use paragon surge to pick up Improved Arcane Heritage(Arcane) for an Arcane spell, snagging BSIII and using it on her familiar to 1) focus fire away from me and 2) deliver both good and bad touch spells to allies/enemies, respectively.

I've been musing over this character concept for a while now and I think I finally want to actually start playing her.
The idea is through the Menacing ranger combat style, TWF, enforcer and sap master, getting 6d6+6 sneak attack damage by lv7.

Human Slayer (no archetype)
Str 15+2 racial, +1@ lv4
Dex 15
Con 14
Int 08
Wis 13 (+1@ lv8)
Cha 10

Feats
1) TWF
1) Enforcer
2(menacing combat style feat) Intimidating Prowess
3) Hurtful (retrain to Accomplished Sneak Attacket at lv6)
5) Sap Adept
6(menacing combat style feat) Shatter Defenses
6(Combat Trick) Improved TWF
7) Sap Master
9) Hurtful
11) ???

Slayer talents
2) combat style feat
4) Trapfinding
6) combat style feat
6(favored class bonus) Combat Trick
8) blood reader
10)Hunters Surprise

The plan is to dual wield saps (one of which is a cruel sap) and focus fire a single target. First hit, I can intimidate them. If successful on the hit and subsequent intimidate check, they are shaken for at least the next minute with Enforcer. On the next successful hit on the target, they are sickened from the cruel weapon, and are now flat-footed to my attacks. On every hit after that, as long as I connect at least one time each round, I deal double my sneak attack dice (totaling 6d6+6 sneak attack damage per hit) and would have 4-5 attacks, depending on if I'm hasted, and they all go against flat footed AC.

The issues I'm seeing on paper- pretty low AC, and not great will saves. I also have no bonuses to hit except for study target, and the TWF penalties cancel out the attack bonus from study.

Are there any suggestions for shoring up my weaknesses, or maybe there's a better way for me to go about getting a nice sap master/shatter defenses combo for some crazy nonlethal damage?

My PFS skald just hit level 9 and for the first time in his career has an open feat- his concept build is almost done and is just waiting to hit level 11 for Greater Skald's Vigor, so anyone accepting his raging song gets fast healing 8.

His breakdown is as follows:

This character has died once. On the first round of a combat he did somewhere in the vicinity of 80 damage to the BBEG, who then focus fired on me, and told his three mooks to focus fire on me. I was brought down to -17 and kept on singing, thanks to Diehard. After trying to retreat, I failed to make an acrobatics check to avoid the AoOs and thus died. Fortunately we had a paladin with raise dead ultimate mercy in the party.
As a result of me dying, I briefly considered Escape Route because by RAW it works with my Valet familiar. That said, it's incredibly cheesy and after talking to some VAs I've decided not to go that route.
It was also brought to my attention that because technically the fast healing I gain from Skald's Vigor is magical, due to Inspired Rage being a supernatural ability, the feat Fast Healer would also apply to the amount of healing gained from my fast healing. This, i found, seems to also be pretty open to table variation, and I want to avoid that.

So. I'm looking for a feat to increase my character's survivability, and I want to avoid table variation.
Other options, things that may be more for flavor of the character than anything else, are also welcome suggestions.
Thank you!

I'm wanting to make a fate's favored Gnome Archaeologist and thought a 3 level dip in Unchained Rogue for dex to damage would be a good idea. But the build relies on obtaining rogue talents from the chained list, not the unchained list.

If my build is 3 Unchained Rogue/4 Archaeologist Bard, I would have two talents gained- one as a U.Rogue, and one as an Archaeologist. It's obvious to me that I need to pick from the Unchained list when I get a talent from the U.Rogue class features, but does that lock me in for only having access to Rogue talents from the Unchained version?

Specifically I'm looking to get the Ki Pool talent as my Archaeologist talent. Is it possible?

I just sent an inquiry email at a location in Kenmore, just off of highway 522, that could potentially serve as a venue for PFS.

Having access to that venue is not a guarantee; I'm waiting to hear back about whether we are allowed to have recurring reservations and whether or not we are allowed to reserve the space for long enough to get a standard scenario finished. If we are able to use the space, we would be able to reserve nearly any day of the week, though I believe a Sunday 12pm venue would be most suitable for people (I could be wrong, it might just be most suitable for me :D ).

Unless there seems to be a lot of interest in the venue, I would advocate to use this venue every other Sunday, so as to not monopolize the room we would be using every Sunday afternoon. The store closes at 6pm on Sundays, so a 12pm start would probably be the latest we would want to look at for start times.

Please, post and let me know what you think!

I'm currently making a Slayer with Enforcer, Shatter Defenses, and Sap Master feats. Went human, with Bludgeoner, Accomplished Sneak Attacker, and took the Menacing ranger combat style, so the build is all set starting at level 7.

Shatter Defenses seems to be a poorly worded feat, however.

Benefit: Any shaken, frightened, or panicked opponent hit by you this round is flat-footed to your attacks until the end of your next turn. This includes any additional attacks you make this round.

From my understanding, in order to make your opponent flat-footed, you have to meet two separate conditions:

Say I full attack a target who has not been shaken. On a successful hit dealing nonlethal damage, I free-action demoralize through Enforcer. On a successful intimidate check, they are shaken for a solid 2-3 minutes, again thanks to Enforcer. For my second attack and beyond on the full attack action, the conditions seem to be met in order to make my opponent flat-footed, though the order of operations is off; I hit them when they weren't intimidated, and now they are intimidated.

Am I right in assuming that the rest of my follow up attack in that same round goes against flat-footed AC?

In addition, since Enforcer extends the duration to an absurd length of time, assuming I continue attacking the same target and hit at least once each round, would they continuously be flat-footed against my attacks?

I'm looking at the Ankou's Shadow archetype from Legacy of the First World and it sounds like a really fun class to play for PFS. I've been wanting to make a new Dex-based melee fighter for a while now and I think this is the way I want to go. That said, I need some advice on some stuff.

First, I'm strongly considering two levels in Ninja for vanishing trick. Not only is it thematically appropriate but it allows me to get a few extra d6s in with sneak attack on a more regular basis.

As for playstyle I'm thinking I'd move in and as part of my move action deploy my shadows for flanking, make my attack, then use vanishing trick to disappear. from then on it's full attacks and using Ki for an extra attack.

My biggest questions are what race I should play as with this style and what kind of combat style I should be going for. My first thought was a halfling with Slashing Grace, but maybe TWF would be better? 16,000 gp for two +1 agile weapons will be expensive though.

What feats should I be looking at, other than Weapon Finesse? Accomplished Sneak Attacker would be good if I can fit it in, but based on suggestions I may have a lot of feats open or I might be feat locked.
Thanks.