Thunderlord's page

Background:
I am currently in a Shattered Star campaign and retired my Grey Maiden character at the Lady's Light. I have come in as a Slayer who is focused on damage as a sort of support for our tank. While I do not plan on dying or retiring, this character was dreamt up as my backup for my first character and I am now in need of another.

Our party is made up of a Paladin, Cleric, Arcanist, Sorcerer/Fighter, and my Slayer. We are rather lacking in terms of ranged combat and dungeon exploration. For a campaign supposedly focused on dungeon diving, there have been a surprising low amount of traps so far. We are currently 5th level.

I went through a couple ideas trying to put together a sort of Indiana Jones type of treasure hunter then I was inspired by the the Crank Crossbow. I have compiled some notes for a character that could use his crossbow effectively while having the ability to help lead some dungeon diving.

Build:
Half-Elf
Bolt Ace Gunslinger 5 / Double Scion Vigilante 2+
My thinking here is that this deep dip into Bolt Ace will grant me the ability to focus my other choices on more out of combat options. I am not married to Double Scion but I selected it to give me the wiggle room ranged combatants sometimes need. I also think Avenger Vigilante is a fine option to retain full BAB and a decent amount of skills. This is also to grab the Always Prepared social talent.

Feats are tricky and I am pretty sure they will have to be ranged combat ones but I am particularly interested in seeing what options you all can come up with. Focused Shot seems like a sure fit.

The only thing set in stone is that I want this character to use a crank crossbow. I would greatly appreciate any ideas the community can come up with.

I wrote a homebrew module and eventually got to play it with my group when one of members had to pause another game we were playing. I also wrote up some traits, class archetypes and prestige classes for use in my setting. My question is about a weapon I created that some of these classes get to use.

I know that since I am the GM that I can rule however I want but I decided to see what the community thinks. Since the head has reach and the cue is melee, can a player cleave while switching which side of the weapon he is using. One of players tried this and I allowed it. However, to my knowledge there is not an official weapon that does this so I was wondering if that would possible. The cleave rules don't seem to stop the player from switching weapons. Would it be possible to hit a target, drop a weapon, quick draw a reach weapon, and attack an enemy adjacent to the first?

Either way, I just wanted this to be a versatile weapon and my player has certainly gotten some good use out of it. I would not have thought that a cavalier could be so deadly out of the saddle but he just cleaves my groups of enemies.

This exploration began with me wondering what a cavalier who specialized in fighting giants looked like. I call it the Titan Lancer. It's a Titan Fighter 1 / Titan Mauler 1 / Gendarme X. Order of the Hero works better thematically but Sword is just so good.

I see no reason why a Titan Fighter couldn't charge with a large lance but I was wondering if he could do it one handed. As ridiculous as charging into giants with a tree for a lance in one hand and a tower shield in the other is, I was wondering if this was legal or if somewhere its said that the one-handing a lance when mounted only applies to properly sized lances? Naturally the penalty for this nonsense who be a -6 to attack for what amounts to +5 avg damage (14 dmg instead of 9).

Alternatively, is it possible that the mount downgrades the large lance to be an effective normal lance for the purposes of wielding so that one could two hand a large lance without Giant Weapon Wielder penalties?

As this is not a rules question, I am operating under the assumption that Cruel Hex is indeed compatible with Beast-Bonded and that Improved Familiars can be Mauler familiars. If you see any glaring problems that any normal GM would have against this then please let me know.

The idea came from trying to make a Demon-Sworn's Quasit more effective. This is my backup character should I die in our Ironfang Invasion campaign.

I think my problem here is that my character himself has no feats. Is this build anywhere close to viable? Are the rule hand waves too much? Is there something else that does this but better? I really just want to be a caster with a cool demon bodyguard.

I am currently making a character who specializes in trials by combat. So naturally I went with Paladin VMC Cavalier for Smite and Challenge. I threw in a level of Swashbuckler and I wanted to prestige into Inheritor's Crusader. Swash 1 / Paladin 4 / Inheritor's Crusader 3 / Paladin X. While studying cavalier orders, I came across the Order of the Star which looked perfect. At 7th level my character would be using channel energy and lay on hands at effectively 7th level.

Then I got to thinking, what if a Paladin 7 variant multiclassed cavalier with order of the star? Would he be capped at 7 or would he be effectively be paladin level 10? This problem will eventually effect my build at 10th level where my Paladin should be channeling at 11th level effectiveness.

This question has been asked before but it did not receive an answer better "than ask your GM." While I appreciate conjecture, I'm looking for a ruling or precedent other than "bracers of the merciful knight." I will certainly ask my GM beforehand but I'd like some ammunition in case he tries to shoot me down. I still haven't cleared Variant Multiclassing with him yet either.

Do you need to use a one-handed light or piercing melee weapon one-handed to regain panache? If a str based swashbuckler decided to use his buckler hand to two hand his morningstar and killed an enemy, would he gain panache? What if his morningstar was large sized? Could a Falcata Swashbuckler regain panache with a large falcata?

My older brother is going to be starting Ironfang Invasion soon but his party has decided to roll random characters. As to how random, race class and the not, I only know that his class was random and got stuck with Sorcerer. Another player rolled Wizard and will be summoning leaving my brother with the clear blaster caster path. The problem is, he is already playing a blaster sorcerer in another campaign. He is being a good sport about it but I suggested that he could make his level in sorcerer his dip level. He is interested in multi-classing but he needs a real build. I did my usual Dragadin shilling but he seems to want to be casting focused.

What options does he have? Sorcerer dips don't seem too powerful other than for blasting. Can a Sorcerer 5 / Dragon Disciple 10 survive melee, especially at early levels?

Retreating or advancing in the other direction is a necessary experience in pathfinder. The players are not supposed to be unstoppable otherwise the game would be boring and would be better as role playing without stats and numbers. The numbers should better experience, not dictate it. So what happens when a power gamed or optimized party runs into a room they are under leveled for?

The party that has never known defeat or never had to flee eventually meets its match and the result is never pretty. These parties would never "reasonably" want to or know how to retreat because of their unstoppable record. When they find themselves in too deep, survival usually takes GM grace or meta-gaming.

Example 1: The party walks into a room and is ambushed by high cr trolls. 10 trolls vs 5 adventurers? No problem. Except it is and the party gets wrecked. Before the TPK, a GM could decide to spare the party by sending the trolls to fight a real threat or a player could decide that his Paladin of Iomedae who never retreats, stuffs his party into a bag of holding and full withdraws.

Example 2: A party on a hotstreak with few character deaths runs into a room with a Nosferatu, I think. The vampire gives the party the option to retreat at the cost of two thousand gold. The party that has yet to meet its match decides to attack the vampire that they couldn't hope to defeat and are properly beat up. The TPK was looking certain until the power gamed barbarian decides to grapple the vampire and tie it up. Two party members are down and one is dominated. Before He could coup de grace the vampire it poofs into a swarm of bats. The few remaining party members grab their incapacitated friends and run away with their last friend chasing them as he is still dominated. The GM later revealed that he played the vampire wrong and could've easily killed the party but he didn't read the encounter before hand because it was not supposed to happen.

How could GMs avoid these situations? How can players avoid getting themselves into these situations? Example 1 was hypothetical though inspired by a different game. Example 2 recently happened.

Is pathfinder too strict with its numbers? I know GMs are free to change encounters to make sure that this doesn't happen but some only go off of the APs. We had a party that skipped the Castle in Jade Regent because the Barbarian used his barbarian strength to open a gate that was supposed be opened with a key that is found by clearing the dungeon. Our GM didn't adapt the campaign or give us ways to catch up on xp so each encounter ended with a character dying until we stopped the game.

Maybe my tables are just bad at retreating but I've seen it too much. Is it always the players fault or is the game too strict?

I was made king in our Kingmaker game and after a few sessions we have established a consort. We are both Aasimar, though of different heritages, and I am aware that my heirs will not be Aasimar at all. How do I manage this?

I will be playing the consort when she is not busy popping out heirs, which is way she is an Aasimar in the first place. I know I could've married an elf so that my heir would live a long life like myself but I wanted to play a swashbuckler so I needed the dexterity and charisma. I am ok with having heirs that I'll out live since I could just make more or let my grandchildren run the kingdom when I die. I realize that our party will likely die one day and the heir won't matter since the campaign would be over but I want to look into this for story purposes.

If I have a human heir, I risk assassination because of him wanting the crown. Even if my son doesn't covet the throne, his son might or his son's son. I can imagine it now, after 200 years of running the kingdom, the king is slain by his grandson who had no real connection with him and was pressured by his wife. My being assassinated is unlikely as my bodyguard is a paladin with ultimate mercy so I'd have to be sent to another dimension or killed by a death effect. I am also a Witch so by the time my son or grandson is old enough to betray me, I'd be a high level and pretty powerful.

If I pull an Abraham and have an heir with an elf, my heir would have a long life like me and could inherit the throne when I die and he'd still be fairly young. My problem with this is that it'd pretty much defeat the purpose of having an Aasimar consort in the first place. It would also be kinda of messed up for the consort too. I know I wouldn't like to be one who has let his wife get with a celestial to create an Aasimar so this off the table.

I am interested if I can pull a Sarah and have an Aasimar heir with my Aasimar consort. I'm pretty sure that Aasimar skip several generations but I like the idea of only having Aasimar rule my kingdom. Is there some boon I can find/earn or can a wish give me an Aasimar heir. While my character isn't greedy or selfish, he'd see spending the gold for a wish as a selfless act for his son.

I'd like suggestions for what everyone thinks the best course of actions I could take for my kingdom are.

After some very weak search fu, I have turned up nothing. I am creating a Paladin who uses Desna's Shooting star but Starknives do a pitiful 1d4 dmg. I'm considering using an effortless lace to negate the penalty of using a large starknife but there lies the problem.

Do large light weapons become one handed weapons or two handed weapons. I assume that it'd become a two handed weapon but I'm curious because two handing a starknife would be goofy and I don't think that I can add Cha and 1/2 to the damage.

Srd says, "If a weapon’s designation would be changed to something other than light, one-handed, or two-handed by this alteration, the creature can’t wield the weapon at all" I don't fully understand this statement. Are large light weapons too unwieldy? I get that 2500gp for 1.5 more average damage is crazy but I'm a crazy guy.

There's nothing like bringing a splatbook to the table and telling your GM you can brawler's flurry a greatsword. So I bought said splatbook.

The Adventurer's Armory 2 has so many goodies I feel were overdue and among said goodies are weapon modifications. Versatile Design adds a weapon to a fighter weapon group though the text says "considered to be a weapon of that weapon group (such as for the fighter’s weapon training class feature" but does this "consideration apply to say Brawlers Flurry "Starting at 2nd level, a brawler can make a brawler’s flurry as a full-attack action. When doing so, a brawler has the Two-Weapon Fighting feat when attacking with any combination of unarmed strikes, weapons from the close fighter weapon group or a brawlers weapon proficiencies which read "A brawler is proficient with all simple weapons plus the handaxe, short sword, and weapons from the close fighter weapon group. What happens if you modify an exotic weapon to be a close weapon, does a brawler have proficiency? Is this RAW and if so is it RAI? Even it is legal I'll have trouble getting it past my GM so I'll need ammunition.

We're running Runelords as a four man party and the group seems solid. We have a ranger, paladin wizard and sorcerer.
Our Ranger is on the frontline and is the group skill monkey. He also stealths ahead, tracks and heals.
The Paladin is the tank, face and impromptu healer.
The wizard is our Arcane master who covers knowledge checks and what not.
The sorcerer, me, dipped into monk as I use wisdom as my casting stat. I don't feel like I contribute much to the group other than in role-play.
So if my character were to die, not unlikey as I'm playing a sorcerer monk, what should I play? The glaring empty roles I can see are ranged attacks, which I currently cover with rays, and an actual healer. The problem is that I'm currently playing a dedicated archer in another campaign and a full blown healer in another.

I like to build my own characters so I'm basically asking for role suggestions rather than optimized builds.
I will not play:
A healer
A mage
A ranged fighter
A rogue

I find these these constraints too difficult to work with so I ask the advice board.