I'm running a mythic campaign right now and of course the antagonists are mythic as well. Unfortunately, it isn't exactly clear how some abilities interact when it comes to determining if someone provokes an attack of opportunity. I've been specifically having issues with Defensive Move and Slow Reactions vs. Cage Enemies and Unexpected Strike.
Defensive Move:
Once per round, you can designate one opponent. Unless you attempt to move through that opponent's space, your movement (including standing up from a prone position) doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity from that opponent. If you move through the opponent's space, you can still attempt an Acrobatics check to do so without provoking an attack of opportunity. You can take this ability more than once. Each additional time you select it, you can designate one additional opponent when you move.
Slow Reactions:
Opponents damaged by the rogue's sneak attack can't make attacks of opportunity for 1 round.
Cage Enemy:
You can pin enemies foolish enough to face you. As an immediate action, you can expend one use of mythic power to hinder opponents until the end of your next turn. When this ability is active, any creature moving out of one of your threatened squares, even when making a 5-foot step or using a form of movement that doesn't usually provoke attacks of opportunity, provokes an attack of opportunity from you. If your attack of opportunity hits and deals damage, the creature remains in its current space and its movement ends. Alternatively, you can expend one use of mythic power as part of a charge. If the charge attack hits, the target can't move itself from its space until the beginning of your next turn (though others can move the creature).
Unexpected Strike:
The barbarian can make an attack of opportunity against a foe that moves into any square threatened by the barbarian, regardless of whether or not that movement would normally provoke an attack of opportunity. This power can only be used once per rage. A barbarian must be at least 8th level before selecting this power.
So the question is, in what circumstances would the AoO go off and in what circumstances would it be avoided?
I do have an unchained summoner that's grandfathered into PFS. She has UMD at +19 and a quadruped familiar, is a half-elf, and still has haste as a level 2 spell. Should I use her?
Erm, let me clarify that we aren't intending to run as 3 + a pregen, its just that its only the 3 of us planning out characters specifically for this and we will recruit one or two more people for when we run it.
In terms of detecting/disabling traps, we were planning on using a wand of pony-down-the-hallway (aka SM1) to do that. I also think that wands would work for out of combat healing, fully planning to walk in loaded up with consumables for contingency plans.
-Several wands of CLW
-Wand of SM1 or SNA1 depending on spell lists
-Scrolls/Potions of Delay Disease, Delay Poison, Remove Fear, Resist Energy, Remove Paralysis, Lesser and normal Restoration, Fly, Protection from Arrows, Calm Emotions, See Invisibility + Glitterdust/Faerie Fire, as not covered by group spellcasters
-Remove Curse, Dispel Magic known by at least 1 character
-Something to deal with swarms
Without using any specific spoilers, myself and two of my friends tried to play Bonekeep about a year ago. We were completely unprepared for the difficulty level and nearly got TPK'd in our third encounter before fleeing the dungeon with one player permadead. Now that we have a bit more experience with the game and PFS in general (and all earned a replay), we're going back for revenge.
I'm trying to help design a 3 person party that can destroy Bonekeep as hard as it destroyed us before. Maximum level is 7 for the first two modules and 9 for the third, so that's the level I want to optimize for.
One of my friends has already decided on his build - looks something like this:
HUMAN BRAWLER 1/PALADIN 6 (Divine Guardian/Sacred Shield)
STR 14, DEX 13, CON 14, INT 7, WIS 10, CHA 20 (not including magic items)
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (brawler free), Shield Focus (1), Combat Expertise (1), Archon Style (3), Archon Diversion (5), Missile Shield (archetype free), Bodyguard/In Harm's Way (archetype free conditional)
The general idea is that through his archetypes he can grant massive bonuses to our AC and his Archon Style can divert attacks that would hit one of us onto him and his stupid-high AC, plus he can pick up combat maneuvers with Martial Flexibility if he wants to. The downside is he doesn't do much damage, so my other friend and I need to find a way to deal enough to make up for it. I was thinking that using Paired Opportunists would work well with Archon Style, but it would require both of us to have melee-viable characters so we wouldn't have any full casting.
As a slight addendum, I believe that RAW if you can cast 1st level arcane spells and you have a cantrip that scales with your character level as your caster level, you can use the caster level for the cantrip as your caster level for Arcane Strike. The feat never states WHICH caster level you use. :D
For the regular spells, probably look into the usual suspects - haste, fly, invisibility, glitterdust, mirror image.
For normal spells, I highly suggest this guide if you haven't seen it already. It outlines some of the better words and combinations on every spell level.
Another way you could go with this is, once your tiger gets to be large, riding it. This works extremely well with the previously suggested dragon style since your cat can pounce while bringing you up to the frontlines. Additionally, if she is going at least 3 levels into hunter, you should take a serious look at teamwork feats. Outflank, Pack Flanking, and Paired Opportunists make a very strong combination if she works primarily melee, whereas an archer or spellcaster would want more defensive feats like Escape Route and Shake it Off.
You can also make your kitty a bodyguard, using Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard. I wouldn't go for In Harm's Way unless you're okay with going through 17 tigers over the course of the campaign though. Additional Traits can help this build by being Adopted by Helpful Halflings, with an extra trait for whatever you want (armor expert is nice).
One thing I like to do is set up two parties that are constantly getting into disputes with each other. The players can join sides if they want, or try to act as intermediaries, but even if they don't they might get swept up in some of the side effects (fireball going off over their head, one of the NPCs they were questing for gets captured/killed etc).
Bonus points if you make both of the sides relateable so that its very hard to choose.
So this is a set of 2 characters for PFS, both have been GM blobbed to level 3 already. The general idea is for the two of them to blow enemies up quickly with melee attacks of opportunity. I'm only listing build-relevant stuff gained at each level
Player 1:
Vanilla Half-Elf
Stats: Str 14, Dex 17 (18 at 4th), Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 15 (16 at 8th)
Traits: Defensive Strategist (Religion), Fencer (Combat)
---
Required Gear: Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid Ioun Stone (wakizashi), +1 Menacing Wakizashi, +1 Answering Wakizashi, "Core 6" stuff
Player 2:
Dual-Minded Half Elf
Stats: Str 17 (18 at 4th), Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 13 (14 at 8th), Cha 14
Traits: Reactionary (Combat), Temple Guardian (Regional)
Deity: Kurgess
Player 1 has Lookout in Battle Presence and Player 2 has Paired Opportunists. Combat begins and Lookout probably triggers, due to high investment in perception and multiple people rolling. Player 1 has bonkers high initiative mod for going towards the front and swift-action changes Lookout to Coordinated Charge, then charges, bringing anyone else who wants melee with him at the cost of their swift actions. Player 1 cannot get a full attack, but he will Greater Trip if plausible to get an extra attack for everyone.
Player 2 auto-flanks with his pet and moves his pet to flank with Player 1 as well. Any crits scored by him or his pet cause an AoO from everyone threatening. Both have decent armor for tanking and decent saves from Divine Favor, and Player 1 has the option of parrying any critical threats to himself with a +34 to parry and riposte specifically.
After the surprise round, Player 1 can make a full attack - +23/+23/+18/+18/+13 at 15-20 crit range. Any criticals provoke from everyone, including himself. If he's feeling really sadistic he can add poison to all of the strikes via his bloodline, but he probably wants to delay until after Player 2 if possible, because...
Player 2 has two good options. For boss battles, he can spend 3 of his 12 rounds of Greater Bane as a melee touch attack through his weapon and let everyone else's attacks be treated as if having Greater Bane for the rest of the round. Between his Allosaurus and Player 1, that's at least 8 attacks benefiting.
His second option is to touch Player 1 with the Luck Domain power and watch him crit forever. He can do this 5 times per day, so its quite reasonable to do once or twice per fight. Allosaurus just eats everything because that's what they do.
Things that are crit-immune kind of make them sad until they realize that the Greater Bane trick still works as long as someone can identify their type/subtype. Things that fly...well, that's what potions are for.
As for skill-dependent levels...they're actually still not too badly off because of high Cha, high Dex, and decent Wis.
My main thoughts on this are that I'm not sure whether Player 1 would benefit more from turning the last 3 levels of Swashbuckler into something else. Fighter could give him +2 CMB/CMD, Coordinated Charge a level early, and Weapon Training. Even 1 level of Paladin gives him Paladin spells, an extra Weal, and channeling. Brawler gives less of a bonus but makes his mutagen last longer and give him bonus move speed. A well-timed level or two of Cavalier could give him Coordinated Charge, challenge, and an order ability and he can always trade out the mount. Heck, he could even go Bloodrager for a level and get his raging criticals to debilitate people.
You won't need the dip in Hunter at all if you want to just get a Horsemaster's Saddle. It basically gives you Hunter's Tactics for 12k and some nice bonuses to some checks as icing. I'd think about going Cavalier 4/Barbarian x with the Horse Master feat and/or be a half-orc with the Beast Rider feat on the Mounted Fury archetype.
Animal Focus is nice but not really that necessary. Enjoy your extra rage rounds and powers instead. :)
We're already using plot-based experience. I do have an established group of three BBEGs working together - a necromancer with an undead army, a four-armed abberation pain taster, and a stalwart defender that's already proven to be a pain in the @$$. They're all in the level 15-18 range and have special abilities as well.
They've also accidentally become enemies with the cult of Rovagug, so either of those groups could jump in. The main group has data on their fighting styles (although two group members have died since then, so its only half-accurate).
In terms of the players' own combat abilities, I have a generally fire-based blaster wizard (burning skeletons have definitely started showing up a lot), a sort of cleric/paladin with rage that focuses on melee control and casting support, and a mouser/unchained rogue/vivisectionist who does surprisingly large amounts of damage as a tiny race. The fourth player died in our most recent session and I don't know what he's bringing in now.
The wizard is relatively straightforward to counter, but I'm not sure about the rogue-thing, who is the other min-max player.
I've been running a campaign that kind of walks the thin line between gestalt and mythic - basically, in addition to giving my players a feat every odd level as usual, I'm also giving them a special ability, chosen by them and theoretically balanced by me, every even level. These abilities range anywhere from gaining a single basic class ability from another class (like mutagen or slow-progression sneak attack a la VMC) to allowing an aligned class with a similar prestige class (monk with Champion of Irori) and a few other odds and ends that are not as strong but full of flavor (a battle-oriented cleric using her fist as her holy symbol). A couple of players have also taken tier 1 mythic abilities for their choices.
The problem is that my players are now level 8 and they've been tearing through some CR 11 encounters like appetizers. Two of the players are min-maxers playing fairly optimized characters, and the other two are playing fairly average but still enjoying themselves. I also think that part of the problem is an NPC cleric one of them got through leadership that's been channeling healing during combat with a phylactery one of them crafted for him.
When I have managed to throw challenging encounters at them that actually feel like the right CR, its generally not because the monsters are actually tougher but because they've taken out one of the min-maxers and/or the cleric early on, but this usually results in near-tpk. I'd like some help figuring out a middle ground that's exciting for them and me, but doesn't almost kill everyone involved.
Basically you can build a Hyde alchemist but instead of focusing on Str and Enlarge you focus on Dex and Reduce. Chug a combined extract of reduce person / ?? and go to town with a feral mutagen or chuck a few bombs.
A combined extract of reduce person and longarm, perhaps? The restriction on transmutation spells only applies to polymorph effects, so they stack AND you get to keep your 5ft reach.
My personal favorite is the feat Fortified Armor Training combined with Quick Draw and about 500 quickdraw bucklers.
Oh you got crit? Have it break your non-magical shield you weren't using and then drop the shield and grab a new one! Bonus points if a party member has Mending and can fix them.
+1. In my opinion stand still is a waste of a feat as it only works for adjacent squares and as a tiny creature you don't threaten adjacent squares.
Your own square is considered to be an adjacent square.
Rules text: (Under Attacks) Melee Attacks: With a normal melee weapon, you can strike any opponent within 5 feet. (Opponents within 5 feet are considered adjacent to you.)
There is a big issue with using a Bard in this build.
A bard can not use both Inspire Courage AND Battle Song of the Peoples Revolt at the same time. They would have to drop one to use the other. The earliest that a bard can use both at the same time is at lvl 10 with Virtuoso Performance (lvl 4 spell). However, at this point, there is an absolutely better choice of buffing with Symphony of the Elysian Heart. I would not pass up mass freedom of movement for the extra party AoOs.
I'm not saying its necessarily the best choice for a full bard, I'm listing it as a possibility for people who are interested in these kinds of builds. You may have noticed that there are several other classes that I recommend as dips. If you want to play a straight up buff bard, you're probably better off looking at a guide for bards. :)
Actually, what I am saying is that Bodyguard is described in the rules unambiguously as an Attack of Opportunity trigger, and in my opinion, it is not necessary to further qualify it as a DM's discretion thing.
It is no more up to the discretion of the GM than to suppose that rolling lower than your opponent's Armor Class on an Attack Roll is a Miss.
Maybe its because I tend to run with perhaps an overly strict group, but as long as there's any room for debate over a subject I'm going to mention that.
I'd hang on to Outflank, because it's a solid +2 to hit while flanking. Actually, you should take it earlier than Paired Opportunists.
I would...if it weren't for the BAB requirement. I suppose I could start with it as Paired Opportunists and change it as soon as I hit +4 BAB though...not a bad idea.
I was already planning on Fate's Favored, and a sling as my backup weapon since it's adaptable for free. I was also planning on using the Bane Baldric to boost my bane to mitigate the problems of multiclassing some and putting my half-orc FCB into the alternate inquisitor bonus.
I really don't want to give up the Hurtful/Cornugen Smash free attack combo, especially when my Intimidate is going to be pretty nice, though.
What would be a good option for my last teamwork feat? Are there better options for my earlier teamwork feats?
There's nothing to stop you homebrewing something like this. I have a homebrew campaign that I'm currently designing that starts off with the characters being plane-shifted away from their homes and placed on basically the game-battlefield of a group of squabbling deities who then place a barrier around the plane that prevents interplanar travel until you have a sufficiently high level. The goal of the players is to not get destroyed by the other pawns of the gods while still leveling up enough to be able to leave.
Now mind you this is a Lvl 10-20 mythic campaign so you might not need to go quite as overboard in making it hard for your players to escape. :)
So I don't usually play beatstick characters. I'm trying to make a half-orc Inquisitor with a greatsword that focuses on melee with a little bit of face as well. My first level is Fighter for proficiencies and Power Attack.
Race: Half-Orc (Sacred Tattoo, Fey Thoughts: Bluff, Sleight of Hand)
Stats: Str 17->18 (4th), Dex 14, Con 13->14 (8th), Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 12
Deity: Calistria (mansluts are hilarious)
Domain: Trickery - Deception (for 1st level power and mirror image)
I thought about getting Swift Judgment but I'm starved for immediate actions already between my domain, Hurtful, bane, and judgment, so I didn't think it would help. Any advice on my level 9 and 11 feats and my level 10 teamwork feat?
I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned the Battle mystery Oracle. Between the two revelations Weapon Mastery and Maneuver Mastery you can gain 5 combat feats, all of which you probably wanted. The Skill at Arms revelation can stand in for your armor and weapon proficiency, so basically you get almost full divine casting with Fighter-comparable levels of bonus feats.
Your BAB will lag a little bit, but as you aren't requiring it for prerequisites just use the spell Divine Favor in combat to shore it up and you'll be fine. Spontaneous casting is also the easiest kind to handle as a new player - you pick a small number of spells to get familiar with and fire them off like a machine gun instead of agonizing over a list of 80 spells every morning.
For curses, if you don't want to think about it too much I'd go with Tongues and have your party all learn your special language or Legalistic. If you want to feel actually encumbered by your curse, Lame has some nice perks (esp if you end up in heavy armor) and Deaf is surprisingly useful sometimes as long as your DM lets you learn to read lips.
If you take the Aberrant bloodline then you can get a tumor familiar that automatically gains fast healing 5 when its attached to you. In terms of combat forms, I highly highly recommend that you get a familiar with regeneration because they only have half of your hit points and if they full die, it costs a ton of money to replace.
Nycar and Arbiter are both good forms for defensese and regeneration. If you just want a familiar that takes the protector archetype and bodyguards forever, Scarlet Spider and Octopus have a dex of 21 for 6 defenses per round. If you want a better familiar bonus, the following creatures have 4 bodyguards per round.
Hare - 4 initiative
Hawk - 3 perception (day)
Hedgehog - 2 will
Donkey Rat - 2 fort
Do note that Improved Familiars do not gain the ability to speak with animals of their own kind and therefore cannot take either the Protector or Mauler archeytpe.
I'd like to see some more subtypes get represented by races. Right now we have a ton of humanoids and some native outsiders, but I'd like to see a Paizo-created race that actually has some of the subtypes like undead, dragon, fey, and monstrous humanoid. I know you can do them in race builder, but most DMs I've played with do not allow it.
Other than that, please flesh out favored class bonuses for the already existing races and give them some more alternate racial traits and archetypes. I really like racial archetypes, so it always seemed like a shame to me that races like Suli, Kitsune, and Merfolk only have one racial archetype whereas Dwarves have 4.
Ring of Seven Lovely Colors, Lion Cloak, Pelt of the Beast, Animal Totem Tattoo
All of these give you limited wild-shape or wild-shape-like things. If you really wanted earth elemental form you can also do Elemental Earth Belt. Alternately, play a skinchanger, Tengu, or Kitsune for racial shapechange abilities.
Eldritch Claws feat, Amulet of Mighty Fists, and Deliquescent Gloves are all a good start. If you're really having issues, Feral Combat Training and Pummeling Style can help but you'll have to switch between that and Snake Style depending on your needs at the time.
The sheer fun look and effectiveness of options two and three is now forcing me to figure out where to juggle my stats so I can get the 13 intelligence that is now entirely mandatory for my build. Damn you 15 point buy!!!!
Options for getting Combat Expertise without 13 int:
1 level of Brawler (martial flexibility or mutagen, both surprisingly nice. Both work with Wild Child archetype to progress your pet)
1 level of Swashbuckler (if you REALLY like parry and riposte and have decent Cha)
2 levels of Fighter - Lore Warden (now with extra skill ranks and bonus feats!)
2 levels of Ranger - faithful to Cayden Calean (probably sub-par but it works)
1 level of Magus - Spire Defender (if you like cheese and your DM is ok with it, this is probably strictly best since it ignores prereqs, gives you 2 feats, AND you can use it to cheese Arcane Strike if you want.)
1 level of Cavalier - Qabaret Outrider (if you're ok with never being a full Cavalier, it also gives you a free Improved Maneuver feat. Ask your DM if it stacks with your pet's levels even though your pet isn't a real mount.) Requires Racial Heritage (Lashunta)
TL;DR
I'd recommend Brawler or Magus as the best options here, Brawler also nets you IUS for prerequisite purposes and flexible offensive options, whereas Magus just gives you 2 free feats upfront.
There are a couple of ways that you could take this.
Thing #1: Friendly Tank-helper
Use Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, and the Additional Traits feat (your dinosaur was raised by halflings, and is very Helpful) to become an AC machine for you or your tank. For teamwork feats, Harrying Partners will let the bonus to you last a full round on just one AoO and potentially some utility like Escape Route (never provoke again!) and Shake it Off (better saves). If you really don't mind constantly replacing it you can always get In Harm's Way, but that could suck if you bond with it too hard.
Thing #2: Pounce Murder Machine
Teamwork feats are Lookout, Distracting Charge, Precise Strike, and Coordinated Charge. Outflank + Pack Flanking helps too. Make sure your main character has high Perception and stands next to your dinosaur. In the surprise round, you charge and make one attack and your dinosaur uses an immediate action to charge and pounce. Then it gets a full attack. For your companion, look into Power Attack, Weapon Focus, and eventually possibly Dazing Assault. Consider getting Improved Unarmed Strike and Dragon Style if your allies are bad at charge lanes or you are not consistently in the front.
Thing #3: Flank/AoO Buddy
Teamwork feats are Outflank, Pack Flanking, and Paired Opportunists. Works best if you have a Menacing weapon and a high crit range. Anytime you crit, both you and your pet take an AoO at +10 (after accounting all bonuses). Anytime your pet crits, the same thing happens. If you can convince your melee friends to also pick up Paired Opportunists, they can join in with a +4-+8 depending on their positioning. Your companion's base feats should include Combat Reflexes and then Dodge/Mobility. If you want more damage, look into Power Attack, Rending Claws, and Rending Fury. This build has the upside that it doesn't require your companion to have an Int of 3 until its level 9 and you've had two chances to boost it.
Thing #4: Actual Tank
You don't want a deinonychus for this, which is why I'm listing it last. Anklyosaurus is a very good choice if you need this, with an extra 11 natural armor by level 7 and the excellent Stun ability. Toughness helps make up for its low Con and other good feats include Combat Reflexes (think Stand Still on steroids), Weapon Focus, and after an Int of 3 Ability Focus (stun) is incredible and Tribal Scars can give it more hit points and a couple nice perks. Teamwork feats are Extend the Bulwark and then whatever you want. Works well with Archer builds for this reason.
Side note #1: Why you don't want Armor Proficiency feats
Your pet should be wearing armor. Armor Proficiency is the intuitive way of doing this but sadly not the optimal route because feats are so limited and precious. Since the only downside to non-proficiency in armor is based on the armor check penalty, any pet can wear Darkweave Cloth Hide Barding (+4 AC, max Dex +6) without suffering ill effects. If you happen to pick up Additional Traits, you can also pick up Armor Expert and then choose between Darkweave Do-Maru (cheaper, +5 AC, max dex 6) or Mithral Breastplate (+6 AC, max dex 5).
Except the dex to damage is only for one weapon type. So - pick either bite, unarmed, or claws. (Though I still say that Aspect of the Beast doesn't apply once you change out of your standard form.) So - only one of those would get their dex to damage at level 3 of Unchained Rogue.
Another good reason to leave out the claws. Put your dex to damage on your unarmed strikes, punch with your little bird fists for massive damage, and leave your natural attacks for sneak attack or get Feral Combat Training to make it apply to both.
If you can afford the feats, you may be better off taking eldrich heritage for the claws. That way you can take the ghoul bloodline, and get paralysis at level 7.
The problem I have with the sorcerer claws is that this FAQ implies that there are strict limitations on the claws. It isn't a problem as a quadruped but since it classifies birds as a flying biped and explicitly states that bipeds can only grow claws on their hands (which birds don't have)...
It wouldn't be as much of a problem except that my local PFS group has proven to be extremely bass-ackwards about rules and I don't want to chance them retroactively telling me it doesn't work, like they did with my last two characters.
Initially, the Unchained Rogue looks to be tailor-made for this build but, upon trying to incorporate it, it becomes apparent that its abilities become largely redundant once you add in a level of Swashbuckler and the Amulet of Mighty Fists (Agile) that the build necessitates. A shame; it'd be nice to streamline the build a bit with the Unchained Rogue. Meh.
Actually, Unchained Rogue has a couple of nice things for this. Some of them are just nice, like Dex to damage (saving your amulet gold for actual enchants) and weapon finesse.
Then you have three abilities that are pretty massive contributions. First, you get the ability to use a Climb check to gain bonuses to your AC that can eventually equal those you gain from Monkey Shine (Vexing Dodger's Limb'-Climber). Second, you gain the ability to enter a medium creature's square whenever you feel like (Vexing Dodger Underfoot Trickster). Third, you get Debilitating attack. Your choice, would you rather keep your target from ever running away again or give yourself another Monkey Shine plus share half of it with your friends.
If you combine Monkey Shine, Limb-climber, Disoriented debilitating injury, and Underfoot Assault, you get a total of +14 effective AC when you fly into your enemy's square, 6 of which comes from Unchained Rogue.
So how does this stack up against the original? What feat would you choose for level 11? Or would you go ancestral weapon half-elf and forgo Skill Focus (Intimidate)? (or find a way to keep that feat, or Dauntless Destiny?)
Definitely pick up EWP with the half-elf alternate trait, having a finessable reach weapon at early levels will keep you out of trouble and there's better ways to bump your intimidate. Consider the Extremely Fashionable trait for maximum rogueness.
Other feats to consider are Piranha Strike, which is power attack for finesse builds, and Improved Initiative for getting the sneak attacks started early. I almost hate to mention it after you just carefully removed the charisma, but Intimidating Gaze is good for making your intimidates stick during boss fights.
So who is your intended audience for your guide? The answer to that question is important for deciding how to handle conflicting opinions and ideas.
...? My intended audience is everyone who would want to use/abuse attacks of opportunity. My solution for handling conflicting views is to state my viewpoint and the other viewpoint. I don't understand why you're so worked up about it.
Even though you can't make a good attack, just aid another, it's still an attack of opportunity. Just as much as Snake Fang and Vicious Stomp only allow unarmed attacks of opportunity and Improved Combat Throw only allows a Tripping attacks of opportunity, Bodyguard only allows Aid Another attacks of opportunity.
The problems I have with it as a DM are twofold. The first and most important is that Aid Another is not an attack action, ESPECIALLY if it can only be used to add an AC bonus. My interpretation of the rules is basically that if you get a chance to attack an opponent when you normally shouldn't be able to, that constitutes an attack of opportunity. That's what makes sense to me. Getting a free attack because you helped your ally dodge an attack doesn't.
Second, I think that allowing Bodyguard on Paired Opportunists is brokenly overpowered. I don't usually have a problem with brokenly overpowered things as long as they follow RAW, or even if they make sense, but with the combination, I can't really condone them.
Again though, this is my personal opinion as is reflected in my guide, some DMs might choose to allow it but I am not one of them. :)
I really appreciate that you are giving credit to the people contributing ideas to your guide. If you keep that up, I feel comfortable with your incorporating my ideas and builds into this project. In fact, I'd write up something special, an article or something, for you if you gave me a byline.
I'd be honored. Although I haven't been keeping up this thread quite as much this past week due to some RL chaos, I intend to keep updating it as long as there are updates to make :)
VMC is rocky but with very specific applications and a player who has strong familiarity with all of the classes, it can work out pretty well.
In particular, the sorcerer VMC stands strong in place of the Eldritch Heritage tree. The barbarian VMC is nice for several martial classes like beastmorph alchemist, paladin, etc. The rogue VMC is notable for bypassing prestige class sneak attack requirements. The oracle VMC can give fatigue immunity for rage cycling and a few perks, although usually its better to be an oracle with VMC barbarian than a barbarian with VMC oracle.
tl;dr sorcerer and barbarian VMC are pretty decent, rogue and oracle are useful for some specific builds. In general most of them could use a power boost (looking at you VMC monk!) in order to be more helpful than harmful.
Inherent Ability Bonuses are fantastic. Stamina pool is underwhelming at best. Unchained Rogue is good progress. Unchained monk and barbarian took a step forward and then a step backward, leaving them approximately where they started. Unchained summoner/eidolon is...flavorful. All of this (particularly the monk) would have been much better if they'd given half a thought to archetypes when making their revisions.
Scaling items are cute but hard to implement and the choice is pretty limited. Esoteric components are a cool idea implemented in a way that requires way too much bookkeeping. Glancing blows are good, but the iterative attack removal system can really mess up a crit fishing build.
So part of what I'm looking for are mechanical tricks that could be incorporated into house rules. Ideally, I'd like the PDT to drop by this thread sometime next week, say "hey, there are some good ideas here! Maybe we should make an Ultimate Martials That Don't Suck Gnoll Testicles supplement with some new class features, feats, rogue talents, and whatnot!"
Oh okay, I get it now. There's a few things that might help then.
-something that lets abilities that stop mundane movement also stop magical movement. Pin Down, Stand Still, Halting Blow etc. Because contingency teleport sucks and so does dimension door.
-something to allow anyone or maybe just rogues and ninjas to use a stealth roll instead of a will save to save against divination effects. Skill Unlock should have covered this but didn't.
-there should really be a kind of debilitating strike (unchained rogue) that sickens your enemy or some feat that lets you use a Dirty Trick (or maybe a Trip too) instead of a debilitating strike.
-not sure if it currently exists or not, but the ability to use disease instead of poison for poison use feats?
-Improved Know Weakness would be pretty helpful for skill monkey rogues. Maybe have it last longer, or allow sneak attack, or improve the damage for every 5 points you make your check by.
-Let the bonuses from weapon training work on penetrating DR just like magic weapons of their bonus.
-Absolutely anything that lets you deal damage to an incorporeal creature without being magical.
-More/better ranger combat styles! Grappling style, a natural attack style that doesn't suck, a defensive fighting style for Tankgers (Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Diehard, Stalwart, Improved Stalwart), reach style (Lunge, Combat Reflexes, idk)
(Just on a side note, Innate Item Bonuses from Unchained can be reflavored and significantly help reduce the martial/caster discrepancy)
Another claw option: either a Sorcerer dip or Eldritch Heritage for Draconic Bloodline.
Actually, I'd strongly consider EH for Ghoul Sorcerer since then you can start paralyzing your opponents when you hit level 7. That's a *really* good reason for them to not ignore you.
the idea is at 5th level he's sherlock, at 10th level he knows what his target is thinking and how he behaves, at 15th level he knows how he reacts on an instinctual level and thus knows exactly where he's going to be at any time of day even when he brakes schedule, at 20th level he knows the exact square he's in as he knows exactly how he reacts to everything, every single step before he makes it.
the wizard could be invisible and the rogue still knows what square he is in, even probably ingore any concealment he has. he's just that good.
remember at 20th level he should be able to do mundane things comparable to 9th level spells.
Ah, my mistake. I thought we were talking about things that work with the current RAW and good roleplaying.
If you don't know, I would go Shaman since they can literally change roles on the fly once they get to level 4. I know that prepared is hard but if you focus mostly on your spirit magic as the changing part and keep the rest constant it shouldn't be too hard.
If you want to blast things, I'd consider a sorcerer VMC into evocation (admixture) so that you can change energy types on the fly and still keep your spells. There are several excellent guides to this.
If you prefer summoning, a summoner is pretty much all there is to it. Use your eidolon as a skill monkey or rogue and dismiss it in battle in favor of summoning all the things.
If you prefer healing, Life Oracle or Oradin is pretty much the best HP battery known to mankind.
If you prefer buffing, you're in luck because pretty much anyone but the blaster can do that. Pick a second role and to that as well. If you REALLY want to focus on buffing, become an alchemist/investigator and give infusions to everyone or become a Brown Fur Transmuter Arcanist and polymorph the s$*# out of your friends. Alternately, there's always the bard.
If you prefer control, witches, Heavens/Occult oracles, god sorcerers, and shamans all have access to excellent control.
If you just want to be good at all the skills, bards, lore oracles/shamans, summoners with skill eidolons, and int-based casters all work out pretty well.
I'd recommend words of power, but if prepared casting is too rough for you then that system would practically paralyze you. For that reason, I only recommend it if you're going blaster and therefore have pretty much the same spells every level anyways.
Interesting ideas, all of them. Is this "knowing where he will be" in the sense of "he's in Absalom," "he's in the library," or in the sense of "he's three squares to the left of the green marble end table"? Or are those three separate levels of the ability?
It depends on how long the rogue spends studying him and how good he is at taking notes, I would assume. Biological clocks tend to synchronize over time - for instance, people tend to have set times when they wake up, go to sleep, eat food, use the toilet. A wizard would probably have set times of day that he studies magic, experiments, deals with minions, prepares spells etc.
So during these "set times" the rogue probably knows where the wizard is within about 10ft, and less if its something like going to toilet. In the intermittent times, the rogue would have a more general idea, maybe within 50ft, and during unusual circumstances like the wizard's daughter is having a baby or something, he could be just outright wrong unless he was in the castle when the wizard left.
Honestly its more of a roleplaying DM discretion thing than anything else.
As for knowing if the thing he's tracking is illusory, clone, etc that's just a straight-up sense motive check that the rogue can take 20 on since he's following him constantly.
Oracles aren't the worst summoners, but they're far from the best. The lack of a way to summon as a standard action makes them worse than the summoner class, wizards, clerics, arcanists (occultist archetype) or druids (animal shaman archetypes).
You left out Preservationist Alchemists, who can get a tumor mauler familiar to fly on and then dump vials down onto the battlefield all day. I would say they're arguably the best choice since without their familiar friend they can still do pretty much everything.
1. Mutagenic murdering
2. Bomb's away (preferably from bird)
3. Standard action summon (either list!)
4. Pass out buff infusions (the enemy is ghouls? give your fighter an extract of Undead Anatomy and now he's a ghoul too!*)
*At level 7+
Obviously it'll take a few more feats and discoveries than you currently have to get all 4 of these up and running, but you can grow into it. For small alchemist-friendly races that can ride their familiars, I'd suggest Ratfolk or Wayang.
Good idea! It looks like Domain Strike only lets you kick with one domain, but luckily there are a lot of archetypes that give a cleric only one domain. I kinda wish there would be a good way other than UMD to gain access to mage armor even if that is late.
If you only want one domain and would like your wisdom to work a little harder, consider two levels of Inquisitor instead. You don't get as many spells but you keep a domain and get to use your Wisdom as a bonus to initiative and knowledge checks. Plus, judgment has options for increasing your AC.
Alternately, nothing's to say you can't take Domain Strike twice if you find 10 bad kicks a day is that much better than 5.
Finally, if you are that concerned about your will saves then taking one level of cleric and one level of inquisitor gives you more will save, still keeps one domain at full progression, and gives you pretty much all of the goodies except a stacking caster level (which by this build, I'm assuming CL isn't an issue you're concerned with).
On a side note, if you're looking at a 20 point buy and starting at level 12, I would consider the following spread:
Str 10, Dex 17 (advances to 20), Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 13
This qualifies you for all of your feats, and gives you a decent wisdom. If you prefer you can move 2 points of Str into Int.
The problem with domain strike is that domain powers scale with cleric/inquisitor/druid level. If you only have a level or two, they are underwhelming in duration or effect.
That's why I suggested the domains I did. All of them are perfectly viable and massively annoying to your opponent at level 1. I left off the ones that don't get sufficiently annoying until 4 or 6. :)
Last I checked Nauseated doesn't prevent swift actions [including Quickened Spells.]
Am I mistaken?
RAW it does, but if you want to play hardball and say he can quicken spells as a move action then I'll just give our rogue an archetype and a race. Make him a halfling Vexing Dodger and have the sneak attack on his poisoner's gloves be used to do a fast dirty trick to sicken the wizard. Then it stacks into nausea and helplessness on the first round. :)
