Show the bard https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b1hq_xhfCFjtAyjJMKrdtxRbtDEC1kNm6ZYfvS6 HqIw/edit?pli=1 Aasimar is the most optimal buffer choice, so I wouldn't worry about anything at all there. If anything I'd be prepared for the maximally buffed, hasted, heroism boosted shredding machines that the druid's pet, the swashbuckler, and the synthesist will turn into with those kind of buffs.
Just to throw out, since you say you don't want to get your hands dirty and if you have all paizo sources allowed, I'd strongly suggest master performer and grandmaster performer. That's +2 to all bonuses from your performances, which would bump a lot of your buffs to your allies. Also haste is a bonus to hit and AC, not damage. Other than that what the others have said is solid.
It completely depends on the type of campaign that you're in. Honestly I think pathfinder really works best as a Five man Band, not four. The group I've actually seen tear everything up the most was a Paladin(melee coverage), Guide Ranger(Ranged damage), Cleric (healing and divine support), Sorcerer(buffs and some arcane blasting), and Bard (stupidly effective buffs to hit and damage, and knowledge/skill coverage). That group was all straight out core races, core classes (with maybe 1 archetype), and they routinely WRECKED encounters at +3 levels.
If you have space for a 2 level dip, Nature Warden has a nice defensive buff for people optimizing favored terrains. "Mystic Harmony (Su): At 2nd level, a nature warden in her favored terrain gains an insight bonus to AC equal to half her favored terrain bonus. She loses this bonus when she is immobilized or helpless."
Oh ogres, why didn't I think of that! Thanks for the suggestions, those will work great. Man, those bloody skeleton ogres are really good for 5th level. Check my math if you don't mind, did I miss anything? Ogre bloody skeleton, animated in a desecration. HD 4d8
Attacks
I've heard really good things about wrath of the righteous, sounds like a fun time! Question: are androids capable of casting magic and wielding divine power? I looked androids up on the srd and didn't see anything indicating otherwise. I'm thinking about a mystic theurge type, just wanting to make sure that casting was allowable. I figured that would help streamline roles in a party of 4.
So I've been thinking about putting together a necromancer or possibly a juju oracle (thanks to ravingdork for some excellent inspiration). However, one thing I'm running into is the problem of actually having you minions follow you around. Is there a convenient way to have them at your disposal in case you run into trouble, but still not freaking out the local populace every time you leave a dungeon and venture into town?
Often times the best thing you can do to help a barbarian survive around level 5-6 is (somewhat paradoxically) buff the everliving crap out of her Damage. If she can kill everything around her with 2 hits, then she won't have to worry about taking as much damage from their attacks. In pathfinder, offense trumps defense the majority of the time. In addition, as a wizard with 24 int at 6th level, your spell DCs should be plenty high to be throwing out some debuffs. I'll use an example: no archer will hit the barbarian if they're blind (glitterdust), melee will have a 50% miss chance. Also look at Create pit, Web, Grease, color spray, ray of enfeeblement, etc. If an enemy is blind, prone, and unconscious... then your barbarian isn't exactly going to have to worry about getting killed, now is she? In addition she can feel great because she's the one actually splatting enemies. That being said, if you really want to help her survive purely from a defense side, then Mage armor, Blur (miss chance is often better than a futile attempt to buff barbarian's low AC), or anything that provides temporary HP/resistances/DR will help tremendously. Hope that helps, if you want something more we're going to need more specifics about your build, her build, and the type of game you're playing in.
Hey all, I was looking over alchemist discoveries and just noticed boneshard bomb automatically reanimates creatures that you kill. Is this any good? It seems like it could be amazing (kill the dragon babies and reanimate them as skeletons to attack the mother? Check!), but I don't have any experience with the effectiveness of skeletal minions. Is there a way to make this work well? If so it could be an awesome accessory ability to a mad bomber.
Hey all, I see people talking about natural attacks being awesome but after looking at several builds I'm having a hard time seeing how you would be able to consistently get sneak attack, short of higher level stuff like improved invisibility. Am I missing something, or is sneak attacking with multiple attacks really a hit or miss sort of thing?
After talking to my friend he complained about how wizard cantrips are pretty worthless, and he couldn't see any reason why you would ever use 1d3 ray of frost instead of say, shooting a crossbow. I remember reading somewhere about making cantrips useful, but I can't come up with much of anything. Any help? The only thing that really jumped out at me was the intense spells evocation school power, but that seems like it would take a long time to add much.
Rival merchant gang beating them into town. If the PC's can't make good time their wares might be worth less than they were expecting (profession/skill/handle animal checks) Caravan leader tries to pull a fast one and change your deal, demanding a bigger cut of the profit (diplomacy, intimidate, appraise, several different options). Guards give them a hard time, or possibly the merchant's guild in the town they get to want their palms greased. Give them some leeeway in solving the pressure (find a way to blackmail the leader of said group, start rumors, drive a hard bargain, recruit allies, talk to the mayor). Give them some sort of incentive to CARE about the encounters and you should get a better response. The greasy snivelling low life who "don't want no trouble to happen to you" might get a more lively response than guard #739 demanding 5gp. Finally, some sort of river/ferry crossing! It's a classic trope for a reason, social encounter, opportunity for the PCs to save or possibly even earn some money. Combat is an easy optional add on, even a side question for a miniature aboleth who ate some customers last week. There are tons of things that you can add.
I actually played a paladin through that level range in RotRL, two options I'd go with are greater mercy (preferred) and furious focus to ignore power attack penalties now that they are getting bigger. You really just have to make it to 11th level, where you can break out aura of justice... and give the gunslinger, synthesist, twf rogue, and fighter +11 to damage. (our party only had 2 damage dealing characters and that still wasn't even funny when I unleashed that). Have fun, and... spoiler alert: seriously consider adding giant bane to your weapon
I know that most everyone around here likes to build characters that are as self reliant as possible, but in this case it's a known quantity that there will be a well built cleric, wizard, and bard in the party. Assuming the bard is optimized for support, and the other two are amenable to buffing the crap out of the damage dealers, how would that change the best builds for melee and ranged? Normally I know everyone says two handed weapon fighting with static bonuses is the best hands down (I'm not disagreeing), but with a large bonus to hit and possibly damage as well, could other builds with more attacks surpass that standard?
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