Yorkblack's page

NPC#1 (For the Inquisitor)- Half-Elf Flagbearer Bard using a Long Spear and reach weapon. Will take 7 levels in Bard (for Haste and move action performance) and then 4 levels in dragon disciple (For d12 HD, Natural armor, feat, Claws and Bite, Breath weapon, and +4 STR). Will want a good Longspear and Banner of the Ancient Kings. This is the force multiplier and Buff Bot. He will pick up AoOs with the longspear and do melee damage (From Reach) after a round of buffing. Out of combat he sings and spreads the word of your group's adventures. Make sure to use mirror image liberally and keep him in the 2nd ranks and not rushing out ahead. Remember he is a cohort and not a PC. Even tho he is well built he is still a few levels behind the PCs.

NPC#2- (For the Wizard)- Human Arsenal Chaplain Warpriest with an archery Focus. He will bring the ranged pain as well as offer a few more buffs to himself and the party. Since he is a prepared caster he can pick up removal spells when needed. Also since he is a cohort keeping him in the back does help keep him alive.

That's very specific. I like the idea for the bard, but that may be too complex for the inquisitor, and I think I'll do it myself. I'm not too fond of the warpriest idea though, I'd like to avoid more spellcasters

Hello everyone !

In the game I'm currently playing, we're only two players, and to make up for this small number we're both planning (with gm approval) to take the leadership feat to get a cohort each.

I'm an elf, battlefield control wizard, focused on conjuration, and the other player is a half-elf str-based melee striker inquisitor, mostly following the suggestions from this guide : https://docs.google.com/document/d/19N7y6cKFLAr2KMMiKc8A1XG6R4iOmwaNFS7iAs1 7zyU/edit?hl=en_US

There are two things to consider though : the other player wants his cohort to be either elf or half-elf, and while we were thinking of paladin earlier, it wouldn't really fit.

In terms of complexity, I don't mind having a cohort a bit more complex to build and to play, but the other player, being less experienced than I, would prefer a more straightforward class.

So, what would you suggest for us ?

Thanks a lot! I've never played a bard, I think it could be fun

You may be right... And I admit that being able to circle in the air on a griffon, throwing spells all over the place, is very appealing to me :D

It probably needs another topic, but if I don't take a cohort designed to be a griffon rider, do you have any suggestions for a good cohort for a wizard ? I don't really know what would be the best for the group (where the other character, as I said, is an inquisitor)

Actually monstrous mount and monstrous mount mastery are only necessary if you want to hook the animal companion abilities and progression onto the griffon. If you are ok with it just having 'regular griffon stats' then all you need is handle animal skill or diplomacy.

Depending on what you want from the griffon and cohort this may be just fine. An archer character where the mount is just to keep them up in the air and away from trouble will probably be ok with a 5HD mount well into the mid teens.

That opens up quite a few options, possibly even having the griffon just be the mount for your wizard character.

I worry that the griffon would be too vulnerable at some point though. I mean, imagine we're lvl 12 or something, the moment we fight some CR13-14 flying creature, the griffon would just look like a tasty snack and be OS.

Hello everyone ! In our game, we recently acquired a griffon egg. I'm a wizard and the other player is an inquisitor, so not really oriented towards fighting with a griffon , but since we're only two players we were planning to take the leadership feat to get a cohort. I know the griffon will be ready to be ridden in a long time, and anyway we're not at that level yet, but I'm preparing the build nonetheless !
What I had in mind was, like the title says, a hunter, because it's a combat oriented class with access to an animal companion, and he would take the monstrous mount feat to take the griffon as his animal companion. I know in theory he can't, like the druid, but i have the all clear from my GM.
The two other classes I was thinking was a cavalier, because, after all, it's kind of the point of the class, but the cavalier is kind of a one trick pony, whereas the hunter is more versatile (I think, I haven't played one to be honest), and paladin, because of the divine bond.
If there are other classes better suited for what I want, or maybe some archetypes, feel free to let me know !
Since it will be a long time until the griffon can be ridden, I'm asking for suggestions for a level 10 build. Maybe it will be possible before, maybe later, but I think that's a good base. So, what classes, races, feats, etc, can you suggest me ? I know that of course monstrous mount and monstrous mount mastery are mandatory, but for the rest, I don't really know...
Thanks a lot !

Hi, I was wondering if you had any advice concerning 3rd party material : which feats can be interesting, which classes can be a good idea for a dip or for multiclassing, this kind of thing. Thank you :)

Just noticed you already did, sorry about that, you can ignore my previous comment :p

Hi, I was wondering if you had any advice concerning 3rd party material : which feats can be interesting, which classes can be a good idea for a dip or for multiclassing, this kind of thing. Thank you :)

Does the effortless lace can help ? It's supposed to allow you to use a one handed weapon for a larger size than you without penalty, or turn a one handed weapon your size in a light weapon. I know it's not stated, but it would make sense if it allowed two handed weapons to be treated as one handed, wouldn't it ?

So if 1.000 hobgoblins are archers, we are looking at 50 natural 20s per round. A small band against an organized army of 5.000 is ridiculous. I heard roman-greek mentioned - that were the guys with the best tactics and organization around and not a howling mob of dumb barbarians (who got their asses handed to them by the legions).

Sun Tsu said it in his book: there are battles that should not be joined :)

If you refer to what I was saying, the teutoburg battle was an ambush where an alliance of german tribes completely destroyed 3 legions (and the auxiliaries that go with them). So yes, they were a bunch of barbarians, though they were not that dumb if they managed to kick their asses.

Damn you're right. That would be excellent for a trip based magus. Using battlefield control spells with one hand and tripping people can be great. And combining enchantment from the pool with the dueling feat can, indeed, make insane cmb bonus. I mean, imagine you have a +1 weapon and add 2 from the pool, that's already a total of +9 (+3 enchantment and +3*2 dueling). Add feats to boost your trip and no one gets past you. Really, I hadn't thought of that, but that could be a very interesting build.

why do you say the only way? you can enchant it with agile.

No you can't, you can't further enchant the black blade.

Too bad there's no threat range on the flaive. Crits are importants for magus.

I'm no expert but you have a ninja with you, is it really important to get one more sneak/scouty guy ?

If you want to stretch them out into a line, a landslide before they arrive damming a stream might do the trick even in a wide canyon. 25:1 odds are easier to beat when you don't have to fight them all at once and funnelling them into a narrow-ish space along the edge of a new lake would do that.

What he said. Landslide to narrow the canyon, combine that with people in ambush at this point, maybe your strongest fighters in the front line if you can narrow the terrain enough, rain death (by arrows, magic, boulders, whatever, from the side, leaving them nothing to eo but retreat. Really, teutoburg style, if a bunch of german barbarians could destroy three legions, you can do the same.

Is there any canyon or corridor he would pass through ? Mount an ambush, maybe bring big rocks and make them roll from above on them, disrupting their formations (think teutoburg battle, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest , but rocks instead of flaming balls of wheat, though you could use that too). Even if you can't, try to to setup an ambush in some way, take the advantage, and find a way to make them believe they're outnumbered, and maybe some will flee, lr at least they will be shocked and less efficient. You could also use guerilla tactics along the way to kill a few as they advance. If you can, destroying their supplies might help too, they won't come if they're starving to death along the way.

It woule still be less powerful than taking a real cohort, so I think it's fine. I mean, if you're lvl 8 and you want to take a mount, you coule take a synthesist summoner 6 who would be far more OP than a hippogriff with 4 lvls

Maybe he is very arrogant and doesn't want the gods above him, so he defies them by trying to be more powerful than them ?

Any other suggestions ? I'm not fond of buying the thing either, because it is expensive for a mount that doesn't lvl and will probably die in a few levels. Thank you for your opinion though :)

I am bladebound, so no familiar :/ And, I don't like the idea of being small very much. I know, it is good for me and I should use reduce person when I get the chance, but as stupid as it is, I prefer keeping my height :p

Hello everyone !
I'm playing a bladebound kensai magus, dex based, and even though the fly skill is fine, I would really like a mount, because I think they can be pretty good for maneuvarability, and, most of all, flavor (long story short, my character was a ranger, with a background of being an excellent rider and loving nature and animals, and got resurrected as a magus, but still keeps his personnality).
So, since magus don't get animal companions or anything, what do you think would be the best way for me to acquire a mount, and what mount in particular would be best ?
For now I thought about gettin a druid cohort via leadership, and borrowing his AC, or a synthesist eidolon, which would be pretty great (since eidolon seem to be overpowered already, having it at my lvl-2 wouldn't be a big deal, though it gets large only at lvl 8, so 10 for me). Of course monster cohort is also a possibility, but they seem to be pretty weak (you need lvl 10 for a griffon and he would be destroyed in a minute at this lvl...)

Any advices ?
Thank you !

Yup this was answered before, but thank you all the same :)

That may be good at a higher level, but force punch is a lvl 3 spell, so I don't have access to it and won't for 2 lvls. And since a trait is supposed to be taken at the character creation, I don't think it could be put on a spell you don't have access to at creation, though I'm not sure about that. Still, thank you for your advice, but I don't think that would be great for me... and furthermore (love that word), we don't play often so I won't get to level 7 before a while, and not speaking about lvl ten. We might get there someday but it won't happen soon.

Thanks a lot ! That still leaves one question though :p

- I took fey thoughts as a racial trait, being an elf, and I can make class skills two skills in a pretty big list. Obviously the first I chose was perception, but not sure about the second. I was thinking about stealth, acrobatics, and escape artist. What do you think would be best ?

I think that covered pretty much everything I had in mind. Just not sure what would be best about the skills :
- Fly skill : even if I get a griffon, I will still have to fly by myself sometimes. How much do I need in fly ? Is having a total score of 15, enough to be sure not to fail a hover check, enough, or do I need more ?
- I took fey thoughts as a racial trait, being an elf, and I can make class skills two skills in a pretty big list. Obviously the first I chose was perception, but not sure about the second. I was thinking about stealth, acrobatics, and escape artist. What do you think would be best ?
- languages : I start with common and elven, and have an int of 22. Do the bonus granted by the headband counts towards languages ? Meaning : do I get 5 or 6 languages ? And which ones do you think would be best ? Gm advised me to take dwarvish, but couldn't think of anything else.
- Knowledges : as a magus, I get arcana, dungeons, and planes. We usually don't do a lot of dungeons, most of the campaign is in open space, and we haven't fought a lot of undead since the beggining, so I think dungeons might be less useful, not sure about the other ones though.

After that, I think that will be all :)

Okay, guess I'll have to see with him when this happens then, thanks :)

My mistake, I thought I couldn't do full round actions at all mounted. So you're right, this is very useful, I can spell combat and move, and the griffon can attack too, all in the same round. I wonder if the blade dash spell would work too...
I think I get it for the cohort rules. I can have it as a cohort when I reach 12 of leadership, and then it levels up like a PC. And so, because I always have tons of questions :
do I specifically need to be 10 or is it just that I'll have probably have 12 of leadership at 10th level ?
If so, I saw two woundrpus items, pretty cheap, that boost my leadership score by 3 points. Can I have my griffon as a cohort sooner by wearing them ?
Do they stack ?
Since they give +3 each, if they stack, does that mean that at lvl 9, with a 17 leadership point, my griffon can have 5fighter levels ?
Can I change something about the stats, feats, etc pf the griffon when I get it as a cohort, ot do I keep him like written in the bestiary ?
Since he will be at a lower lvl than the rest of the party, does he xp faster ?
Does a template cr+1 is equivalent to one level of fighter ? And by the way, which templates would you advise ?

I'm sorry if answering my questions only bring up twice more every time, but thanks a lot !

Forgot to mention, but it has been cleared with gm, so it works :)

Thanks for the clarification ! Guess I should read a little more about the base rules sometimes :p

That's the third time you answer my questions, and in two different threads, I will soon start to think you are stalking me :p
Lunge seems pretty awesome, as concentration checks seem to be pretty hard at low level, and a -2 to ac is no big deal, I have lots of them, so guess i'll do this and take intensify at 7. The reason I wanted to take it at 5 was to have my 7 slot free to take leadership, but then I realized I wouldn't have the lvl to take it as a cohort then, so it wouldn't be very useful.

About the griffon mount, I thought you couldn't full attack if the mount moves in the round, but maybe I misunderstood something there.

I thought deflection was only for touch, if it's not you're right it's far better ;)

Good to know for the black blade !

There's only two questions you haven't answered : would I need handle animal (I'm not sure how it works with an intelligent creature), and how does the scaling work for a monster cohort ? When does the griffon start to gain levels ?

Thanks a lot for your feedback and your advices, you're great ;)

Oh and I have a very stupid flavor question : does a black blade has to be black ? I mean, I know it's in the name, but nowhere in the description does it say it's black. That's not something really important but that kinda bothers me :p

I took the natural armor because as a kensai, I add my int to my dodge bonus, so my touch ac is already great, so I figured boosting a little my flat footed ac would be good. But after all they are pretty much the same now (19 flat footed, 21 touch), so if you think boosting the touch is better, why not ;)
I'm not really fond of taking a dip in fighter, mounted combat ks not bad but it's once per round and I think a griffon is a pretty tough beast to begin sith, and skill focus is quite useless, since it's a class skill and uses dex, if I max it I'm already at 14 at lvl 5, which seems pretty good.
Why do you think the item creation feat is bad ? As a kensai I have no armor, and as a blackblade I don't have to pay for my weapons, so 90% of my money will be going into wondrous items. Being able to divide the price by 2 forever, for a feat, seems pretty good to me :)

Hello everyone !
After reading a lot about it, with thehelp of several good guides, I made myself a bladebound kensai magus, sacrificing a little magic to fight more effectively. The game starts at lvl 5, and the base stats are really high.
Here are his stats :
Race : elf
Class : Magus 5 (bladebound, kensai)

Stats :
Str 12
Dex 22 (17+elf+lvl 4+belt)
Con 14 (16-elf)
Int 22 (18+elf+headband)
Wis 16
Cha 10

Traits :
Magical lineage (shocking grasp)
Desperate focus

Feats :
1 weapon finesse
1 weapon focus, bonus kensai
3 Slashing grace
5 intensify spell (shocking grasp)
5 craft wondrous items

Stuff :
2 pearls of power 1
Belt of dex
Headband of int
Cloak of resistance 2
Amulet of natural armor
Wands of mage's armor, shield, vanish
Black blade
Every wondrous items here are crafted are half price

First of all, I would like your opinion on this build. Do you think it's good ? Should I change something ? Mostly I'm think about intensify spell, i don't know if it's really useful to take it at 5th level, I thought perhaps I should wait till 7th, but then I don't really know what to take instead. Your advice on this would be great !

Second, the last word of the title : griffon.
As part of the campaign, my gm hinted there would be a very good chance that I get a griffon. Don't know when or how, I think it won't be before lvl 7-8, but still. So, my question would be : what do I do with it ? Should I invest in ride, and use it as a mount ? Can a mount be good for a magus ? Or should I use it more as an ally, who could help me by doing maneuvers like overrun, flanking ennemies, etc ? Either way, would leadership be a good investment so he can level up too, and how exactly does that work ?(never used leadership, and didn't really understand how it works with the description.) Would the handle animal be useful too ?

Thank you for your advices !

Another thing : there is a good chance that I will get a griffon later (hint from the gm, don't know how exactly but that's for scenaristic reason), so I was wondering if it might be good to invest in ride rather than fly, and use the griffon as a mount in fight (when i get it, I will probably take leadership to have it as a cohort and scale with it). Or should I just use him to assist me in close combat, by flying around, using maneuvers, flanking ennemies, etc ? (And doing damage of course, a griffon is peetty good in a fight after all)

Yeah forgot about the traits, of course I took magical lineage :p
That's what I thought too but I was wondering if maybe strength would be useful sometime, but guess I'll switch str and wis then, thank you ;)

Hi,
First of all, thanks a lot for your guide, it helped me so much !
However, I'm playîg a game where characters have very high stats, and it wasn't exactly covered in the guide (which is normal since it's unusual).
I have an elf, and without items, my stats are : str16, dex 16(18 with elf bonus), con 16, int 18(20), wis 12 cha 11. I'm pretty sure my dex, int and con have the right scores, but I don't know if I should put more in wisom, strength or charisma, since they all seem dump stats to me... I start at level 5, and took as feats finesse, slashing grace (so dex to hit and dmg), intensify spell (shocking grasp) and craft wondrous items as feat (since I'm also a bladebound, wondrous items are going to be most of my items, with a fe wands and a few rods). So, are my stats good where they are or should I rearrange them ? Oh and if you have better suggestions for my feats I would listen, but I'd like to keep wondrous craft.
Thank you !

Okay, that's pretty much what I thought, but I don't know it seemed strange to me. So IPS is still far better, that's good to know. Thanks guys !

Hello everyone !
I recently discovered the feat "elven accuracy", which says "Benefit: If you miss due to concealment when making a ranged attack with a longbow or shortbow (including composite bows), you can reroll your miss chance roll one time to see if you actually hit."
What does miss due to concealment mean exactly ? Can I reroll any miss if the target has concealment, or only those I miss by less than the concealment value ? If it's the former it would be pretty overpowered, but the latter is quite strange imo. So how does it work exactly ?
Thank you !

Thanks a lot !

Hello everyone !
I'm looking for a stuff for my elven ranger, lvl 5, with the following stats :
Str 16, dex 21, con 14, int 17, wis 14, cha 12. I know, the stats are quite overpowered because we have a quite overpowered way to get them. And they're not very optimized.
I also have a horse as my animal companion, who is lvl 5 too because I took the boon companion feat. Other than that, I'm a pretty classic archer ranger, inspired by Lasthots and Treantmonk guide.
I have 10,500 gp, all paizo books allowed, and I will have to check with my gm item by item for 3rd party but if it's not too exotic it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you !