XMorsX's page

Without the 3.5 kung fu genius feat, monk/witch is not really viable, unless you have rolled extraordinary (pun intended :P) good stats. And even then, you would need to lvl in witch in order to have respectable DCs on your hexes, crippling even further your BAB and your hit-dice, and of course losing the flurry and unarmed dice progression etc. I just don't see it working without homebrewing some kind of PrC that progresses Hex DCs and the basic monk stuff (AC bonus, flurry of blows, stunning fist, and unarmed strike class features) along with medium BAB and d8 Hit Dice.

A cleric dip for the no-save staggered domain touch attack could be potent though.

StreamOfTheSky wrote:

Because hitting my head on doorways and entering combats with -1 to initiative and -2 AC is totally what I wanted. :p

This is why they make helmets. :D

Had to post it.

I guess well rounded means efficinet in a variety of (mostly combat) situation. In this case, 7 Wis is totally fine. I can add to the fun factor of RPing if nothing else.

Reckless Paladin? Who would have thought of that? ;)

Beware of your attack bonus if you TWF. I would probably avoid it and instead use scimitar + Dervish Dance or just a single agile Wakizashi. Otherwise you may end up missing all the time against the tougher opponents. This way you will also have a free hand for wand or consumable usage. If you go with aa scimitar, take the trait blade of mercy and the enforcer feat for free intimidate chacks every time you attack with non-leathal damage.

The Scout archetype is almost a must-have.

Fox Shape is unneeded. Ypu will already have a great stealth and disguise modifier, and you can go invisible when you absolutely do not want to be tracked. From the other hand, Realistic Likeness and Vulpine Pounce (and Swift Kitsune Shapechanger as a result) are great racial feats you should definately consider. Realistic Likeness will also cover any potential use of fox shape for infiltration purposes.

If you are into multiclassing, 2 lvls of Paladin will give you smite evil 1/day and the much needed Cha to saves. Playing a lawful good ninja is not as hard as it sound too, all the ninjas were disciplined warriors. It will also give you proficiency with martial weapons, opening the way for using an agile sap + sap adept + sap master feats. This is the way for the bigger sneak attack DPR too. If you want to keep the eastern flavor, you can do this with a nunchaku too, but you will need an extra feat, Bludgeoner.

Evolutions: Bite, Improved Bite, Improved Damage (Bite), Reach (Bite), Ability Increase (Strength), Trip (Bite), Poison (Bite)

Feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Bite), Combat Reflexes, Lunge, Vital Strike. Furious Focus may not be allowed, as it specifically mentions in the description about holding your weapon with two hands.

Biped or Quadruped base forms. The firstone has bigger reach, the second one starts with bite. I would probably start with the quadruped evolution, since you will start at lvl 1, and at low lvls evo points are very limited.

Half-ELf of course for the favored class bonus. Their racial archetype is also great for making a face-rolling eidolon, despite the loss of enery attacks and other good evolutions.

EDIT: Lemeres makes a good point about the bite attack. ANiotehr reason to prefer the quadruped base form.

Here is a monklinger idea from grarrrg.

Human (cause Spike is a human, duh)
End levels will be Gunslinger (Musket Master) 13/Monk (Flowing) 4/ undecided 3 (more Gun? more Monk? other?)
Yes, I know Spike used a Pistol, not a Rifle, but we are pretty tight on Feats, and Musket Master gets Rapid Reload as a Bonus.

Levels taken as:
Gunslinger 1, for the obvious reasons
Monk 2, for the general Monk-goodness
Gunslinger +4, Dex to Damage
Monk +1 (or +2) for Still mind (for Monastic Training), may go ahead and grab Monk 4 so we can get our Ki Pool started.
Gunslinger +8, Bleeding Wound and qualify for Signature Deed at 11, bonus feat at 12, and Immune all Misfires at 13
(Monk +1 if we stopped at level 3 before)

Approx Stats, asssuming 15 point buy
Str 10 (using Weapon Finesse on our unarmed strikes, while we don't care about increasing damage, we do not want a penalty either)
Dex 22 (16 base, +2 Human, +4 levels)
Con 12 (planning on being 'near' melee)
Int 8 (the Human Skill bonus cancels out the penalty)
Wis 14
Cha 10

Feats (in approx. order)
We have 2 feat-chains going on
Dodge>Mobility>Deft Shootist (the only feat that lets you RELOAD without provoking)
and Point-Blank>Weapon Focus>Rapid Shot>Snap Shot

1 Dodge
1 Mobility (human)
1 Rapid Reload (gunslinger)
2 Weapon Finesse (monk)
3 Deft Shootist Deed
5 Point-Blank Shot
6 Weapon Focus (gunslinger)
7 Rapid Shot
9 Snap Shot
11 Combat Reflexes
12 Improved Critical (gunslinger)
13 Improved Snap Shot
15 Signature Deed > Bleeding Wound
16 Greater Snap Shot (gunslinger)
17 ??
What else should be here?

Class choices to fill the last 3 levels>
Fighter for the Feats, possibly taken earlier in the build, but then we further delay Bleeding Wound deed....
More Gunslinger, there are some nice Deeds at 15 we can snag, as well as the Bonus feat at 16
More Monk, a few Passive bonuses can be had here, nothing major.

I would probably go for Musket Master 5.

If Trench Fighter is allowed, definately grab the opportunity to add ex to damage and get lots of bonus feats with only 3 lvls of fighter. My issue is that in order ot have it allowed, you should play a guns everywhere campaign, in which the Gunslinger has Dex to damage by lvl 1. But if you can convince your GM to allow it in a normal setting, Musket Master 1 / Trench Fighter 4 makes for a great start.

In PF, there are not so many good range attack spells as was in 3.5, so the duskblade will not equally shine.

The Cabalist magus is a 3rd party magus archetype that casts spontaneously, but the aracana pool will let you take back spells that you prerared and cast, so being a prepared caster as a Magus is not very limiting.

That being said, Duskblade is pretty easy to convert, as long as you use the magus spell list for his pell list. Otehrwise, converting every 3.5 spell to PF may be a hassle.

Well my DM shot down my idea :(. He doesn't think Bashing stacks with shield spikes. He said he would allow it if I two handed the shield but he thinks its too powerful to use in TWF. I couldn't even make an argument for it.

Vs GMs that think that a couple of dice make for overpowered PCs, I suggest playing a straight Wizard or Sorcerer, or maybe a Samsaran wizard with summoner spells or a Half-elf oracle with paragorn surge and eldrich heritage (arcane).

A Come And Get Me barbarian with a two-handed weapon will also do the trick though.

A great combination is being a Brawler or a Viking fighter with a heavy shield + Cestus. This way you take full advantage of Shield master, you can hold your shield with both hands for standard action attacks and you also take the bonus damage of the close weapon group in the case of the Brawler fighter.

Quite possible the best archetype for a sword + shield build is the Rondolero Duelist. He fights with a falcata + buckler, and he can make shield bashes with bucklers, so he can still grab his sword with both hands for the standard action attacks.

If you can make patience up to the 7th lvl, the Thunderstriker also becomes an interesting archetype.

Is the Razmiran Priest sorcerer PFS legal? If it is, it is the way to go for a UMD specialist.

XMorsX wrote:

Well, it is not a terrible choice, but unless you can add Dex-to-damage, there is not a reason to choose guns over bows, the touch AC is not worth having to deal with missfires.

You are less MAD as you don't need STR to keep from attack roll penalties.

Unless you play with 10pb or you rolled really abyssmal Strenght, having Strengh to damage is actually a great bonus.

As soon as you make your bow adaptive, you also eliminate the potential attack roll penalty.

To the OP, it is not that a pure ranger with aa gun does not work, it is just that it is a worse choice than your standard martial.

Well, it is not a terrible choice, but unless you can add Dex-to-damage, there is not a reason to choose guns over bows, the touch AC is not worth having to deal with missfires.

A Musket Master would actually be a better chpice for your concept. Nathaniel "Hawkeye" Poe uses a Musket, and only teh Musket Master gunslinger makes them competitive. You could go Musket Master 5 / Ranger x, so that you aquire Raped Reload for free and Dex to damage, and then continue with the Ranger features.

Because neither Guide, nor Freebooter stack with Trophy Hunter, you would have to make a choice between them. I would either go for a Guide Skirmisher (swift action for bonus damage, since you lose favored enemy you may as well trade spells (as Instand enemy is now useless to you) for tricks that can be done as part of your attack, or Trophy Hunter, so that you keep Favored Enemy + Instant Enemy (better choice in the long tun). Vanilla ranger is also an option in case you want to keep the animal companion. In the last case you will need Boon companion though.

It is a great 2lvl dip for getting back the Quick Clear deed as a Mysterious Stranger or for aquiring the Cha-to-dmg deed as a non-Mysterious Stranger, but not so great as a stand-alone class. What do you really want from the Ranger?

At least, you should consider going Gunslinger (archetyped) 5 / Trophy Hunter X for Dex to damage.

- Alter self:

Lizardfolk (swim speed)
Troglodyte (2 claws + bite)
Sasquatch (move speed, sences)

- Beast Shape I

Deinonychus (60 move speed + 4 attacks)
Eagle (fly speed, 3 attacks, small)

- Beast shape III

Galvo (Three attacks (two with 10ft reach), blindsense, darkvision, swim)
Aranea (web, also has poison, darkvision, and a climb speed)
Peryton (fly speed at 60ft (good), three attacks)
Aurumvorax (Five attacks, all with grab, four rakes)

- Greater Polymorph: many choices, reach this lvl and we discuss it again :)

You can't be both an Urban Barbarian, and a Scarred Rager Barbarian.

Yeah sorry, I meant scarred witch doctor.

1 lvl urban barbarian / 6 lvls Scarred witch doctor / 10 lvls Eldrich Knight/ continue with scarred rager

You will not be able to cast spells while raging, but you will be able to use hexes, and raising Con will increase the DC of your hexes, although you should not focus on DC-based curses.

You will be essentially a gish with more limited spellcasting than the standard wizard gish, but wiht Con as its casting stat.

Lowering your Str and your Con for raising Charisma is not a wise decision. You should definately start with 12 in each, with 14 being preferable.

Other than that, Pack Lord druids and Huntmaster cavaliers are difficult to be utilised efficiently if you multiclass, because you lose too many animal companion lvls when you have more than one.

For example, at lvl 10 if you have only one animal, with boon companion you can afford to dip up to 4 lvls of other classes and do not lose AC lvl progression. Instead, as a 10 lvl pack lord / huntmaster, you have two lvl 5 animals, that can scale up to lvl 9 with two boon companion feats and at 10 lvl with the Huntmaster feat if they qualify. No place for multiclassing.

As a result, what I suggest is to take a look at the Hunter class of the advanced class guide. It is a combination of Druid and Ranger, it has full BAB, 6 lvl divine casting, lets you choose an animal companion from the full druid list and also lets you use teamwork feats with your animal companion like Inquisitor's Solo Tactics. There are also a couple of nice new teamwork feats geared for archers in the same pdf.

A Dwarf Maneuver Master with the Giant Hunter ACF and the Earth Child Style feat tree would be thematically and mechanically (because, well, giants) appropriate for this campaign.

You could also do it with a flowing monk if you prefer so.

It is less optimal than the more standard approaches (quadruped + pounce + claws, or a biped eidolon with reach and lots of Strenght), but it can be done pretty effectively, espacially for PFS.

You need Grab + Constrict, Ability Increase (Strength) every time it is available and Improved Damage (bite). Also note that, apart from the standard improved/greater grpple and rapid grappler, you should take the final embrace master feat tree to bring your damage on par with the rest of the group.

Swallow Whole is fun and you should eventually take it, but the Large evolution takes priority.

I still think my Archer Rogue is a pretty decent build (just Rogue4/Fighter1 for now). I've noted in an earlier post why I think this is the case.

By the way, I just scrapped a two-weapon Ranger build. I looked at what a Ranger's future advancement is like and it was nothing exciting for me. He's really all about tracking and outdoors (and I don't see a lot of that in PFS play which is all I play now). I changed him to a Zen Archer....I think this will be a cool, fun build.

Favored Enemy + Instant Enemy makes for an unbeatable combination for the Rnager's DPR. Also, excluding wild empathy and woodland stride, Rangers have a full animal companion progression, thay obtain quarry (more DPR boost vs a single enemy) and eventually Improved Quarry, camouflage (limited HiPS) and eventually true HiPS and finally Master Hunter for the times you have only a standard action available.

And also, spells.

Zen archer is also feature and feat heavy, but as far as Rogue is concearned and its suboptimal, barring a selected few, talents, I would say that the Ranger has a much better lvl progression. The outdoors theme is just a small part of the whole ranger package.

Are you intetrested on converting 3.5 material to PF? There is the Enlightened Fist PrC, that mixes monk with a caster class. It essentially allows you to scale monk features along with caster lvls, at 3rd lvl you can use a touch spell as part of your unarmed attack and at 7 lvl a ray as part of your unarmed attack. It will not break the balance of the game too, it is considered a weak prc by 3.5 standards so it should be fine on PF.

A Monk 2 / Crossblooded Empyreal Dragonic Sorcerer 3 / Enlightened Fist 10 is a solid build.

Your starting stats could be (for a Human with the +2 racial to Str):

STR 17
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 14
CHA 7

For AC, consider a Wild Dragonhide Plate. You cannot do better than that.

The book Way of the Wicked - Devil My Only Master introduces a way to gradually give a player the vampire template and alleviate its weakness. Becoming a vampire is basically a 5 feat chain, and you can take even more feats for covering your weaknesses and obtaining interesting abilities.

My suggestions:

- Remove spring attack, it is a wek action to start with and easts through your feat pool.

- Improved Familiar at 3rd lvl grants you only weak familiars, you need to have caster lvl 7 in order to aquire the good ones.

- Improved Share spells is better for mounted PCs. Your familiar may spend a lot of time by your shoulder, but it will also deliver touch attacks, scout etc. making the feat not a great investment. I am sure you can find something better to take by this lvl, maybe Quicken Spell.

- Highten spell and spell focuses are not good choices by themselves, but they unlock great feats, like preffered spell (take haste or emergency force sphere!) and augment summoning for a flanking buddy.

- You should definately take Arcane Strike, it is free damage.

- If youa re looking for feats to replace spring atatck effectively, take Combat Expertise , Blind Fight and eventually Moonlight Stalker. You can have the latter permanently activated with a casting of Blur, and it is free attack + damage bonus while having the benefits of concealmnet and blind-fighting.

It does not necessarily do less damamge than a full-attack. It works like clustered shot, you essentailly never miss (small deal for a gunslinger though) and if you crit it is a hell of a crit.

I expect it to be lower at total damage, but if it does not fall very behind it could be totally worth it for a "sniper" musket master.

For entering eldrich knight, a great option is the gendrarme cavalier. You can take power attack as a bonus feat + the cavalier class features like challenge 1/day and an order ability.

Fighter will let you qualify for fighter-only feats sooner though, if you intend to take any of these, Lore Warden is a better choice.

Very nice concept and execution.

You may wish to move quicken spell abit later into the build, 9th lvl for a spintaneous caster is usually not a good time to quicken spells.

I guess that selective spell is for youe dispels, right?

Also, consider taking spell perfection at 15 lvl, it doubles every variable you add to this spell, so you will make your dispels stronger.

EDIT: Useful staff I found in an older thread:

Items: strand of prayer beads standard. Get lots of them, +4 to cl, counts for dispel magic.

feats: spell focus abjuration - why? Prerequisite.
varisian tattoo - why? +1 cl to abjuration therefore dispel magic
spell specialization - why +2 cl to dispel magic and later greater dispel, or both if you want.
reach spell - why? because dispel is suddenly long range, and heal is short (you're still the healer probably) and prerequisite
piercing spell - why? because sr sucks even when your cl is super high, also prerequisite
divine interference - why? no reason really I just really like it
quicken spell - why? two dispels per turn is better than one, also a prerequisite for...
spell perfection!!! - on greater dispel magic. doubles feat bonuses to cl, allows a free metamagic
improved counterspell - why? prerequisite
parry spell!!! - why? returns countered spells. Brilliant, you will make excelent use of this.

take magical lineage greater dispel magic so you can quicken it with spell perfection.

I do not really agree with improved counterspell + parry spell, but everything else is right on the spot about how to increase your dispel effectiveness.

Unfortunetely, you cannot aquire plant traits as a synthesist summoner, so you will never emulate good enough a treant IMO. There is an elf druid archetype that lets you take a treant animal companion and you can also eventually wildshape in a trent, that is the closest you can be in your concept IMO.

If your Gm is open to houserules, you could make an evolution similar to undead appearance but covering plant traits.

A d6 1/2 BAB PC will never do well in melee, unless fully buffed. Even then, you will look underwelming.

Your feat build is solid (but why delay dimentional dervish?), but a straight wizard will not cut it for a front-line combatant.

You definately want to qualify for Eldrich Knight, even with the traditional way of fighter / ranger / cavalier / warpriest 1 / wizard 5 / EK 6.

Also, bear in mind that a magus has a better chassis for an arcane caster that uses monstrous physique spells in combat. Spell comat and spell strike greatily enchance its potential, you may want to consider playing one instead of a wizard.

Is Moonlight Stalker worth sacrificing Power Attack?

How will he get a reliable source of concealment?

Probably not, but it is certainly worth to delay it.

You can have permanently activated by casting blur on you. In this case, it equals weapon focus + greater wf + weap. spec. and you also get the benefits of blind-fight.

If you go for the eldrich heritage and master performer feats you should probably drop moonlight stalker (and drop Int as well). Otherwise, it is a great feat chain to have by the time you can reliably cast blur on you.

About the ideas discussed of not using dervish dance.

Archery is too feat-intensive.

TWFing as well, and also you cannot cast without a hand free.

Natural attacks are interesting though. A skinwalker with the extra features feat can start with 2 hooves and a gore attack, add a trait for a bite attack and a two lvl dip in natural weapon style ranger for two claw attacks and you have a total of six natural attacks at lvl two. Continue with dawnflower dervish and let the carnage begin.

Here is a mostly rogue TWFer shield basher that dips Ranger for early access to the shield master feat.

The same principle would apply to the normal rogue too, although without the ranher lvls, it may not be optimal to twf, just use the shield as is.

If you do not want to multiclass deep into ranger as the above build, consider a 3 lvl dip in brawler fighter and TWF with a heavy shield + cestus or two light shields, utilizing the Bludgeoner + Sap master feat tree. Stack Enforcer on top of it. Or even a build that does not use TWF, just take improved shield bash and use it with the above options.

Besides being viewed as "overpowered", what is the problem?

I thought it was second best to the Thundercaller anyways.

It is not overpowered, it is underpowered if anything. It is the mass volume of rolls that are required every time the bard uses this ability.

Weird words is broken (not overpowered, badly designed). There is a fix suggested by the PF designing team though, located here.

I've never used Metamagic before, is it worth the higher spell slot?

Too generic of a question. If you are asking about elemental spell, then no, it is generally does not worth it, use a higher lvl spell of the appropriate element or use a rod of elemental spell. But metamagic like dazing, persistent and quicken definately worth a higher lvl spell slot, assuming you use them with the right spells.

For blasting, an empowered fireball is generally more damaging than the equivalent lvl blast spell.

The biggest issue with flagbearer is that anything with brains will sunder your flag and then you will have penalties.

Also, you cannot cast without a hand free, so wielding both scimitar and a flag becomes a major issue mid-combat.

I would suggest keeping blade fo mercy, enforcer and the master performer feats, and forgoing the flagbearer feat.

You need high Int for many skil point. In addition, you need high Wis for spellcasting and perseption. A decent dex is necessary, because you will probably fall back to a repeating crossbow should you are forced to battle. You can afford to not increase Con, dump Str entirely and also take the conversion inquisition nd dump cha too.

With elite array, you look at something like this:

Human Infiltrator inquisitor

STR 10
DEX 14
CON 11
INT 12
WIS 17 (15+2)
CHA 8

Choose the Focused Study alternative racial trait for 3 skill focuses per lvl.

Alertness, Cosmopolitian, Insightful Gaze, Intimidating Gaze, Master of Disguise, Strong Comeback are some of the feats that can give you skill bonuses. Shake it off and stealth synergy are good teamwork feats to choose.

You also have Disguise Self. Check your spell list, I am sure there are intresting spells to use. Confess comes to mind.

Awesome! So much help already! If you guys think Trip + Grapple will leave me stretched I'm open to other combat maneuvers. I'm going to look over these builds a bit more in detail and respond again with more questions but thank you guys so much!

Edit: So if I'm using monk levels do I just want to not be wearing armor/worrying about AC too much?

You are welcome.

Trip is a great maneuver when it works, but many times it is very hard (high CMD)/ impossible (flying/immune) to do it.

Grapple is not so great unfortunately, unless you invest everything you have in it. It is a supplementary maneuver in the above build though, when you need to isolate someone badly, or to counter a caster etc.

Check the various combos that can be done with the above feat choices (greater trip + vicious stomp, binding throw, the wolf style feats) and the maneuver master class abilites and see if you like the playstyle.

Arguably, Dirty trick scales better than any maneuver, and focusing in trip + dirty trick is mechanically more efficient that trip + grappling. You lose though an interesting interaction like Binding throw.

5 (-3) is a pretty steep dump. I think I'd draw the munchkin-line in this build at 6 (-2) for Cha. If Will became an issue there's enough feats to go around to put in Iron Will to get it to +8.

Oh come on, you do not fool anyone, the wizard dip is a clear evidence that you try your best to improve your build. What is the difference between 5 or 6 Cha anyway, outside of game mechanics? You are still a rude / primitive / ugly goblin trying to make a name of himself.

From the other hand, 0 willsave will result on be taken out of the battle in every battle there is a wizard. I have seen it happens and it is not funny for the sayed player, failing the save of a hideous laughter (DC 18) at 1st lvl, when he rolled 18 but had 8 Wis. Definately not worth it.

Indeed, 10 Wis is asking to be dominated. Definately fix it.

A more balanced array would be (assuming 15pb):

STR 12 (14-2)
DEX 20 (16+4)
CON 10
INT 12
WIS 12
CHA 5 (7-2)

Assuming 20pb:

STR 12 (14-2)
DEX 20 (16+4)
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 14
CHA 5 (7-2)

What do you want to keep from the monk? Flurry? Style feats? Rage-cycling with martial artist (I suggest against it though, too much investmnet)?

The best way to do it IMO is dipping two lvls of master of many styles-monk of the sacred mountain and then continuing with Savage barbarian. Use your monk bonus feats to take snake style and snake fang, and then procede with dragon style and dragon ferocity. The armor bonuses of monk and savage barbarian stack up nicely.

It could look like this:

Human Master of many styles monk of the sacred mountain monk 2 / (urban) savage barbarian 3

Traits: Adopted: Enlightened Warrior, Quain Martial Artist

STR 20 (17+2+1)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 14
CHA 7

1 Barb Power Attack, Combat Reflexes (Human Bonus)
2 Monk Snake Style (bonus), Stunning Fist (bonus), IUS (bonus)
3 Monk Toughness (bonus), Snake Fang (bonus), Dragon Style
4 Barb RP: Superstition or Reckless Abandon
5 Barb Dragon Ferocity

@ XMorsX: I strongly disagree with more than 4 levels of maneuver master. If you really, really want the free feat and the meditative maneuver, then I guess maybe 6. But lvl8 is a massive trap... although, on further reading you aren't forced to make two extra maneuvers so I guess it could be fine-ish.

EDIT: Also, I never paid attention but maneuver defense seems like it could give you free AoOs agains't foes with Grab or Trip on their natural attacks (wolves, krakens, whatever). That's pretty good actually.

The 6th lvl is quite essential for Greater trip without the Int prereq. Meditative Maneuvers will make your CMB competitive and maneuver defense is actually solid vs trips and grabs as you pointed out.

I went up to the 10th lvl because this build is very reliant to ki and has no easy way to replenish it. But you are probably right, the 6th lvl is a good stopping lvl.

Indeed, you are not forced to make two maneuvers on a full attack, so having more options is definately good.

Anyway, here is a revised version with only six lvls of maneuver master:

Human Qinggong Maneuver Master Monk 6 / Lore Warden Fighter 6

STR 19 (+1 at 4th lvl)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 14 (+1 at 8th and 12th lvls)
CHA 7

Traits: Bred for War, Snowstride

1 Monk Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip (bonus), IUS (bonus), Stunning Fist (bonus), Vicious Stomp (Human bonus)
2 Monk Improved Grapple (bonus)
3 Monk Ki Throw
5 Monk Binding Throw, Power: Barkskin
6 Monk Greater Trip (bonus)
7 Fighter Wolf Style, Enhanced Ki Throw (bonus)
8 Fighter Greater Grapple (bonus)
9 Fighter Wolf Trip
10 Fighter Wolf Savage (bonus) (you should have a headband of Wis +2)
11 Fighter Rapid Grappler
12 Fighter Pinning Knockout (bonus)

The Binding Throw maneuver seems to fit for your case. Maneuver master up to lvl 10, then possibly lore warden or brother of the seal if you are allowed for the rest of your lvls. It is not going to be a broken build (certainly worse that the options LoneKnave presented) but it will allow you to mix trip and grapple in an interesting way.

Feat wise, it should look like this:

Human Qinggong Maneuver Master Monk 10 / Lore Warden 3

STR 19 (+1 at 4th lvl)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 14 (+1 at 8th and 12th lvls)
CHA 7

Traits: Bred for War, Snowstride

1 Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip (bonus), IUS (bonus), Stunning Fist (bonus), Vicious Stomp
2 Improved Grapple (bonus)
3 Ki Throw
5 Binding Throw, Power: Barkskin
6 Greater Trip (bonus)
7 Wolf Style, Power: Gaseous form
9 Wolf trip
10 Greater Grapple (bonus)
11 Pinning Knockout, Rapid Grappler (bonus)
12 Wolf Savage (bonus)
13 Enhanced Ki Throw

Definitely going to take an Admixture dip to get around weaknesses.

If I was to go Crossblooded, would the loss of spells not hinder a blaster too much?

This is why you dip in sorcerer and you take the rest of your lvls in Wizard.

Bear in mind that archery is a feat-intensive combat style, and the loss of the 6th lvl ranger bonus feat will greatly delay access to Improved Precise Shot, which is the main benefit archer rangers have over any other archer class, save zen archer. Also, having two viably strong companions means that you must take Boon companion twice, cutting from the archery feats even more.

I suggest choosing between focusing on archery with the vanilla ranger or using a more standard melee approach with the beastmaster archetype. It is not that you cannot combine the two of them, it is that it will not be smooth and convenient. Melee is also more supported from teamwork feats.

Also, take a look at the Hunter class from the ACG (combination of Ranger + Druid). It seems right on the spot of what your wife wants, and it has also some great teamwork feats for archery-focused hunters. It is a great class overall, with the ability to give to its animal companion the teamwork feat you know, it seems the perfect match for a nature themed archer with a loyal companion.

Conjuration gets my vote. More versatility, and Plane Shift is a better save-or-suck/lose/die than destruction will ever be.

Are you sure it is worth delaying all the features of Archaeologist for 8 rounds of rage? It seems more of a burden to me than anything else. The rounds will end fast (2 battles is the best scenario) and you may have to deal with fatigue more often than not. And all of these for a +3 at your attack rolls, which would be great if you could maintain it, but alas you cannot.

For limited duration large bonuses, I would much rather dip Divine Hunter paladin, for a free feat, martial weapon prof. + cha to saves that work all the time. Smite may only be once per day, but you will become a total anihhilator vs this enemy given that you will add cha to attack rolls, bonus damage and, most importantly, you will ignore every DR.

Apart from that, have you considered being an Aasimar? Their alt. favored class bonus works for Archaeologist Luck, giving you a much better progression to your signature feature.

The paladin dip seems even more appealing, seeing that you delay Precise Shot until lvl 5.

I also agree to drop Vagabond Child.

Indeed. Th original aoncept was about a fighter, I changed it for achiving early access to Dragon Ferocity, but I forgot to address the restriction.

As others pointed, Enforcer + Blade of Mercy allow you to apply the shaken debuff on every hit you make, as long as the enemy is not immune to non-leathal damage. Also, on a critical they go frightened. You have both the Cha and teh skill point to make it happen. This is a much better effect than Weapon Focus (which can also be obtained through an Ioun Stone in a Wayfidner) or Arcane Strike will ever hope to be.

Combat Reflexes is situationaly good, but you have not way to provoke AoOs by yourself, so it usage is limited.

Cleave is great at low lvls, but becomes almost useless when you obtain iteratives / haste etc. If you can retrain it, take it at 3rd-5th lvl, otherwise ignore it.

Explaination of the stat array:

STR 10
DEX 16 (+1 at 4th, 8th, 16th and 20th lvls)
CON 12
INT 12 (+1 at 12th lvl)
WIS 7
CHA 14

-STR: You need a minimum for solving encumberance issues. As
Ashe pointed out, you can also take a trait to aleviate this. But this way you lose a trait, and the bonus points are not enough to raise Dex. 14 Con is indeed good to have though, so ti is a consideration. My biggest concearn is that you will permanently loss access to Power Attack. If you do not care about that, go ahead and dump it.

-Dex: No commant, the higher the better.

-Con: 12 Con is low, but between your high AC, the defensive spells you have and the quickened heals you can do to yourself, it is not a deal-breaker. If you can live with no Power Attack whatsoever, dump it to 7 and take the Muscle of Society trait instead.

-Int bonus skill points, and a min of 13 is required for combat expertise and eventuallu moonlight stalker. The last one is equivalent to weapon focus + greater wf + weap. spec., and you also aquire the benefits of blind-fight from the feat tree, making it eventually a better investment than the fighter only feats, as long as you can have it permanently applied. In your case, you can.

Ashe, I am afraid that the Flag Bearer feat does not mesh well with Dervish Dance. However, the Grand Master Performer feat tree meshes excellent with Dawnflower Dervish, and I could see it replace the eldrich heritage or the moonlight stalker feats. If it replaces the latter, I would suggest starting with 12 Str and 10 Int, raise Str to 13 at 12th lvl and dip in a class that can give Power Attack as a bonus feat at 12th lvl.