blangel's page

Hello everyone, I am an occasional player and a frequent GM of Pathfinder 2e since its official release. During the years, the way I GM changed, since I started RPGs I was always an advocate of "full pen and paper" and no electronics at the table. But after having tasted a fully remote and "assisted" GMing style with Foundry during the lock-down, I was more inclined to introduce more electronic tools to assist me during the encounters in my physical games. I tried a lot of stuff but as I didn't find anything that perfectly met my needs for the way I GM, I decided to make my own android application and published it on the playstore.

I posted several months ago about the first release of this application and promised the integration of conditions tracking in it *soon*. However, life happened and it took me half a year to finish it. But the latest version include a lot of other changes since my initial post.

tl;dr

Pathfinder 2e battle tracker is an Android application for Gamemasters. It helps you keep track of the turn order, hit points, conditions and more during your encounters and gives you tools to make your encounters smoother and focus on the important part of the game instead of book-keeping, number tracking or doing math.

So, what is it?

It's a simple initiative tracker with some additional features to make it a "encounter/battle" tracker. The main goal of the design was to have a clear interface with the most important information always displayed in an easy to read layout, without too much bloating. And limit as much as possible the time spend in menus and the number of clicks to do actions *during* the encounter.

A presentation video is available here

What does it do?

Well it tracks initiative, duh ... More seriously once you set up an encounter it displays a list in initiative order of all the characters involved. With the currently playing character highlighted and navigation button to move the turn. For each characters it always displays:

* Display initiative order and keep track of the current turn and total number of rounds
* Load NPCs from a bestiary including all published Paizo's books
* Track HPs
* Add/substract damages or heals to HP, with buttons to double or halve the value automatically
* Track reaction use
* Define custom additional reactions
* Track conditions, update their remaining duration and current value
* Update the AC and saves score depending on the penalties applied by conditions
* Track persistent damage, automatic but optional roll for damages and recovery check
* Open quickly full NPCs statblock on Archives of Nethys
* Apply weak/elite templates
* Roll initiative from Perception, stealth, or define it manually
* Save and manage party of PCs
* Load PCs from Pathbuilder 2e
* Define different colors for the characters, usefull with duplicated NPCs to keep track of the minis or tokens used
* Save and load any number of encounters
* Export current state of the tracker as text format (Markdown). This feature was request by someone who do play-by-post.

It also does math for you and you can update hit points by adding damage or heal value directly.

You can easily rearrange the turn order by editing manually the initiative value, or by drag and drop of a character. Dying PC may also be moved automatically just before the initiative rank of the currently acting character.

But how do I build an encounter ?

I'm sure it's going to take time to do that during a game session?

That's where you are wrong ! You have several options for this.

* First, you can find all the NPC from books published by Paizo in the application. You can add them to the encounter and either let the application roll the initiative with Perception or Stealth score, or set up yourself the initiative value if you roll the dice. You may also edit the stats of the NPC before adding it to the encounter if needed. You can also apply weak/elite template.

* For the PCs you can prepare them beforehand in a specific menu. Save their stats and everything and then add them with 2 clicks to any encounter. Same as above for setting up the initiative. You can also import PCs from Pathbuilder 2e.

* Last option is to create a character manually. This indeed takes a little bit more time to inputs all the stats, but most of them are optional. And once it's done you can save it forever in your phone (forever = until I break the API for loading stat blocks ...)

* Finally, you can save a whole encounter with all its characters, their initiative, current HP, etc. And load it at a later time. With this you can prepare beforehand a "library" of encounters for the next session and just load them up when needed.

But why do you need this application?

How do you use it?

Well, for a bit more than a year I started to automate things behind the GM screen during encounters. My main goal was to speed up "my" turns during battle and to free my mind from math and number tracking. Don't judge me, I love this as a player. But as a GM I want to spend all of my brain and time focusing on the narrative part, the descriptions, and also the strategic decisions of all of my NPCs.

First step was to remove most of the dice rolls for my NPC using pf2 easytools on my tablet (amazing tool btw). But I still needed to write down the initiative order and track the HP (oh damn, scary subtractions and additions! Mock me, but I'm sure your brain also stop doing math after 11pm) and all various conditions.

Then I found out about the BattleTrack application on my phone. It allowed me to roll initiative automatically and update the HP without doing math, incredible!

It's nearly what I wanted, but it's made for DnD 5e and missing some major features for me. The main one being condition and persistent damage tracking. I still tracked them on paper like in the antique time before electricity and screens were invented. And how many times have I forgotten to add/substrate something from a condition to a save or to the AC ? How many times did I forget to roll the persistent damages ? … You don't know ? Hopefully, neither my players …

That's why I decided to make my own application. I still have pf 2 easytools on my tablet but replace battleTrack on the phone with my own application

What do you want from us ?

Nothing ? Actually, maybe that you give it a try … I'm making a self promotion of the app in the hope that you will find it useful too, and maybe it will help you in your games like it helps me !

I'm also of course looking for feedback. Unfortunately my previous post didn't attract much beta-testers, so most of the features and design choice were made according to only my own tastes and needs.

You can leave feedback directly on this post, on the playstore, or you can write them here to have more tracking and follow up discussions here

But it's not free!

Yes, indeed. And for two main reasons:

1) I hate advertisements with all my heart and vowed to myself when I started programming outside of work that I will never include any ads in my applications for money.

2) I've spend a significant amount of my time in this application. Even though it started as "just a tool for myself and my own games" it evolved beyond that and I've spend much more effort on it that I had if it was just for me.
I've put the price at what I believe is fair with regards to what it provides, and what I would accept to pay if someone else made this application.

You can always try it and ask for refund if you are not happy with it. If you missed the time for refund but really don't like the app, send me a message.

Cheers everyone, thanks for your time reading this wall of text !

Hello everyone. First of all, if self-promotion posts are forbidden here I will delete this asap. But I checked the guideline and I didn't find anything about this.

I am an occasional player and a frequent GM of Pathfinder 2e since its official release. During the years, the way I GM changed, since I started RPGs I was always an advocate of "full pen and paper" and no electronics at the table. But after having tasted a fully remote and "assisted" GMing style with Foundry during the lock-down, I was more inclined to introduce more electronic tools to assist me during the encounters in my physical games. I tried a lot of stuff but as I didn't find anything that perfectly met my needs for the way I GM, I decided to make my own android application.

I am using it for some weeks in my games and kept adding stuff to it, and now that I think it's in a stable and usable state I am putting it on the playstore on early access here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piR.pf2eBattleTracker

## So, what is it?

It's a simple initiative tracker with some additional features to make it a "encounter/battle" tracker. The main goal of the design was to have a clear interface with the most important information always displayed in an easy to read layout, without too much bloating. And limit as much as possible the time spend in menus and the number of clicks to do actions *during* the encounter.

## What does it do?

Well it tracks initiative, duh ... More seriously once you set up an encounter it displays a list in initiative order of all the characters involved. With the currently playing character highlighted and navigation button to move the turn. For each characters it always displays:

* Current/max hit points
* AC
* Saves
* If it has its reaction available
* A small icon when below 50% or 25% hit points (I use that for description of the state of the NPC, when applicable)

It also does math for you and you can update hit points by adding damage or heal value directly.

You can easily rearrange the turn order by editing manually the initiative value, or by drag and drop of a character. Dying PC may also be moved automatically just before the initiative rank of the currently acting character.

## But how do I build an encounter ?

I'm sure it's going to take time to do that during a game session?

That's where you are wrong ! You have several options for this.

* First, you can find all the NPC from books published by Paizo in the application. You can add them to the encounter and either let the application roll the initiative with Perception or Stealth score, or set up yourself the initiative value if you roll the dice. You may also edit the stats of the NPC before adding it to the encounter if needed (Applying weak and Elite template at this step is in the todo-list!).

* For the PCs you can prepare them beforehand in a specific menu. Save their stats and everything and then add them with 2 clicks to any encounter. Same as above for setting up the initiative. (Very soon you will be able to import them from Pathbuilder)

* Last option is to create a character manually. This indeed takes a little bit more time to inputs all the stats, but most of them are optional. And once it's done you can save it forever in your phone (forever = until I break the API for loading stat blocks ...)

* Finally, you can save a whole encounter with all its characters, their initiative, current HP, etc. And load it at a later time. With this you can prepare beforehand a "library" of encounters for the next session and just load them up when needed.

## But why do you need this application?

How do you use it?

Well, for a bit more than a year I started to automate things behind the GM screen during encounters. My main goal was to speed up "my" turns during battle and to free my mind from math and number tracking. Don't judge me, I love this as a player. But as a GM I want to spend all of my brain and time focusing on the narrative part, the descriptions, and also the strategic decisions of all of my NPCs.

First step was to remove most of the dice rolls for my NPC using pf2 easytools on my tablet (amazing tool btw). But I still needed to write down the initiative order and track the HP (oh damn, scary subtractions and additions !) and all various conditions.

Then I found out about the BattleTrack application on my phone. It allowed me to roll initiative automatically and update the HP without doing math, incredible!

It's nearly what I wanted, but it's made for DnD 5e and missing some major features for me. The main one being condition and persistent damage tracking. I track them on paper like in the antique time before electricity and screens were invented. And how many times have I forgotten to add/substrate something from a condition to a save or to the AC ? How many times did I forget to roll the persistent damages ? … You don't know ? Hopefully, neither my players …

That's why I decided to make my own application. I will still have pf 2 easytools on my tablet but replace battleTrack on the phone with my own.

## Wait a minute ...

Now you talk about conditions and persistent damages being the main missing feature of this other tool, but you didn't mention that in the description of what your tool can do !

Hey, looks like you are following. Good, take this hero point !

That's right, it's not there *yet*. This was the main feature I wanted to have, but I had to start with everything else. And now that the rest is working, I already replaced the previous application with mine in my game. So maybe it can be useful for you too !

Anyway, as soon as I'm done with all the small remaining details on the current features, I will focus my work on adding the condition and persistent damages tracking and release the application out of early access.

## What do you want from us ?

Nothing ? Actually, maybe that you give it a try … I'm making a self promotion of the app in the hope that you will find it useful too, and maybe it will help you in your games like it helps me !

I'm also of course looking for feedback.

## TL;DR

New android application for GM : initiative tracking, and other encounter tracking. Now in early access, when I am done adding the conditions and persistent damage tracking and have a stable version it will be completely released.

Here is the link to subscribe to get a notification on the playstore when it is out of early access: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piR.pf2eBattleTracker

Here is the link to participate to the early access: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.piR.pf2eBattleTracker

You can leave feedback directly on the playstore, or you can write them here to have more tracking and follow up discussions: https://github.com/314r-app/pf2eBattleTracker_issues/issues

Cheers everyone, thanks for your time reading this wall of text !

Hello everyone, after some builds and campaigns with the core classes and system I'd like to try something new for my next campaign. I'm looking for some new system with fun mechanics and my choice are between a sorcerer with word of power or a geokineticist. Both classes bring some new stuff and they seems fun to play !

If I go sorcerer it's going to be mostly a blaster burning stuff and making big 'splosion, if I go geokineticist it's going to be tank / battlefield controller protecting the squishy by controlling the progression of the ennemy and taking hit for them.

I have hard time making a choice, mostly because ressources on these classes are not easy to find. So I'd like to hear all the pro/cons you can give on both choices. I'm not looking for specific advices on each build, only global appreciation for both playstyle and system.

I don't care if I'm not optimal, I just don't want to be useless to my team. My biggest fear is that a lot of feat / equipment won't work with this classes and there isn't a lot of specific stuff for these systems. So : is one of this idea (or both) viable ? Or are they both bad in terms of gameplay/fun/usefulness ?

Little bonus : I have a nice background ready for the sorcerer, but only vague ideas for the geokineticist.

Hello everyone, I post here because I have hard time choosing teamwork feat for my monster tactician inquisitor which just up level 6.

I'm a switch hitter but mostly ranged (nearly all my feat are spend on ranged combat). I only go in melee when needed or against lot a small enemies.
Short summary of my class : I have free teamwork feat every 3 level. I can swap the last one few times a day as standard action but the other one are fixed. With solo tactic I consider every allies as if they had the feat for the placement and action prerequisites and with summon tactics I give my teamwork feats to my summoned monsters.

So now I have to choose one teamwork feat, but most of them are based on being in melee, adjacent to an ally or flanking. Until now I mostly used "non combat" feat like stealth synergie.

I play in a full ranged team : alchemist (spe in throwing bomb), gunslinger (will probably go for assassin PrC) and wizard (Evocation).

• Target of opportunity is a must have with my team, but I can't take it before level 9.
  
• coordinated shoot and enfilading fire can be good, but there are no melee except my summoned monsters.
  
• Outflank can be nice when I go help my monsters in melee but I'm mostly shooting with my bow, so not always usefull ...
  
• Broken wing gambit / wounded paw gambit : free ranged attack is always good, but only work with my summons (and not with solo tactic). Plus my summoned monster have no benefit from it (and take more damages).
  

Do you have any suggestions for me ?

Hello everyone,
I have played few D&D 3.5 campaign and I'm currently playing my first pathfinder one. I never really considered the use of mount for my previous campaign for different reasons, but now someone in my party just buy a war-trained horse with full armor. He really want to play with a mount and try to find one since level 1.

I think that if he is the only one to have a mount, he won't use it's full potential (because he have to wait for us most of the time). So I bring the idea that everyone should buy a mount.

We are a full ranged party with :
- gunslinger (the one who buy the mount)
- wizzard
- alchemist (specialized in throwing bomb)
- ranged inquisitor (me)
- ranger (not always here)

(we are all level 5)
So I think that as ranged characters we could take great benefit of the mounts.

BUT, the mount also bring some disadvantages (I don't only consider the mechanical aspect but also the roleplay, note that our campaign are not a lot combat-oriented)

- We have to take care of them, and we can't bring them inside dungeon/cave (although we mostly play in outside area)
- We make a lot of "stealthy" and assassination mission, horse are not really stealthy ...
- It can sink a lot of money if we loose them often (killed in combat or other causes)
- I worship Elhonna ( we use 3.5 pantheon), godess of nature. I can't harm animal (even indirectly or by inaction) or put animal in danger. So I think I'm not going to use my mount in combat, or at least not when it can be hit.
- My build is already feat-intensive and I can't take mount related feat until level 11. But I can use some gold and few skill point.

If you have any other pros / cons to help me decide wether or not I should buy a mount I'll take it !

Hello everyone,
I post here because I like the idea of a ranged character with ton of differents arrow for every situations. But is it viable in pathfinder ?

My GM made some house-rules for this : the ammunition doesn't need a +1 enhancement bonus before adding special ability and I can buy any number of magical arrow (I do not have to buy stack of 50 every time). This cut down the cost of flamming arrow and other +1 bonus to 46Gp / arrow.

I was planning to take effective quiver, and a +1 conserving bow (to avoid loosing cash when I miss) and buy some arrow for each kind of elemental damage and/or damage reduction type.

Then I can stack the + bonus on the bow (or bonus like seeking / speed / ...) and use my magical arrow for flexibility and adaptability.

I really like the idea but I keep thinking that it's going to cost a lot, it's 46Gp per shoot with +1 bonus ...

What do you think of this plan ? What kind of special arrow can be nice for this ?

Hello everyone, I know the rules for wizzard's spell preparation but there is something unclear for me.
What happen when the wizzard is waked up during the night and have to fight ?

The rules states

Rest: To prepare his daily spells, a wizard must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but he must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If his rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time he has to rest in order to clear his mind, and he must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing his spells. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, he still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.

For me "clear his mind" mean "erase the spell list of the last day". So if the wizzard wake up after ~6-7 h of sleep does he have an empty spell list or does he still have his remaning spells from the last day ?

Hello everyone, I write here because I want some advice on my character and how to improve it.

I play a lvl 4 human inquisitor (monster tactican archetype) focused on ranged combat who worhsip a good godess of nature (we don't use pathfinder pantheon).

- My stats are 12 Str / 18 Dex / 12 Con / 10 Int / 14 Wis / 8 Cha
I fight with a composite longbow and a morgenstern as secondary weapon. My feats are point blank shot, quick draw and precise shot. I plan to take rapid shot level 5 and many shot level 9. I'd like to take augmented summon but I can't take it before level 11, I don't even know if we are going to play this far ...

- My team is only composed of ranged : alchemist (specialize in throwing bomb), wizzard (evocation) and gunslinger (dual pistol). We try to take advantage of this and plan fight where we stay out of melee, but it don't always work (rarely work in fact :o) And I often have to ditch in melee because the enemy catch me or to save the wizzard or the gunslinger.
This is a big issue because my character is not made for melee fight and I don't want to. But I don't really know how to avoid this situation (I try to do battlefield control with my summoned monster but it's not enough). My summoned monster often get one or two shooted and I don't know how to change that.

- For my skill, I focused on a "party face" with conversion inquisition (use Wis for social skill) and some thief/scout skill.
I maxed intimidate, bluff and stealth and put lot of point in diplomacy, survival and sense motive.

- For my spell list I'll take some must-have buff (divin favor, shield of faith) cure light wound and then utility spell. Mostly for stealth or investigation situation (invisibility, darkness, alarm, bloodhound, disguise self, ...)

- For the roleplay, I serve the godess of the nature (good alignement) but i'm neutral because I often have to do the dirty work. My main goal is to track and destroy the corruption or the evil in the nature. My secondary goal is to protect the nature from some bad humans.
If we encounter some cultist doing evil ritual, some of my teamates want to kill them to loot their magical item, some want to stop them to save the nearest village, some just don't want to take risk and avoid them. I just want to kill. All of them. And i'll try to force my team to help my, using lies or bluff if necessary.
If an enemie flee, i'm going to chase him down and force my team to follow me, or even go alone if necessary.

I also have a strong survival instinct and I don't like to take useless risk. I'll try to avoid danger if possible and can flee from a fight if necessary (to come back stronger and more prepared and finish what I started). The only time where I take risk is for task which serve my godess. The reason for the little "cowardice" is simple : Maybe I could have done a little more good by taking risk, but a dead inquisitor can't serve his diety at all. The longer I stay alive, the more bad guys I can kick out of this world.

So, I'll take any advice, specially on how to avoid enemy to come in melee range of our team or what item I should buy. I know for the big 6 but we are really short in gold, on my list there is the handy havresac, cure light wound wand, + strenght and + Wis item and of course magical bow. Also, any advice on level 7 feat ? (it's going to be spell focus(conjuration) if I want augment summoning level 11 ...) Maybe I can try to talk my GM to change my level 3 feat (quick draw) if necessary, but I often need to change weapon ...

An other important point is that everyone in my party have night vision (and one have darkvision and another one a kind of blindsense abilitie). We often act during night so I can be a big dead weight, I know there is a 3 level spell for this but what are the other option before that ? Permanent darkvision item is too expensive, and potion can became too expensive too if I use a lot of them.

Hello everyone, I'm going to play to inquisitor with monster tactician archetype for a god of the nature.
But, the classic summoned monster are pretty limited for combat tactic and absolutely useless out of combat (in our table, they don't understand complex order and are way less smart than animal companion, because they don't have training).

So, we (my GM and I) are going to make a homebrew ability which replace the "summon monster" ability of the monster tactician :

I can bound with specific "animal spirit", and then call this kind of monster. This is going to follow the rule of summon monster but the called monster will behave more like a well trained animal companion. He will be a magical beast that understand my order (but some order can be too complex for them, or they just don't want to do it because it's not in their nature or too dangerous).

I can bound with one "animal spirit" for each level of "summon monster" spell I know, and each time we a spirit on the list of this spell (including all extanded or alternative list and SNA lists).

Moreover, every time I earn a new summons monster spell level, the previous animal will get improvement (upgrade HD, caracteristic, duration or number or add template ... it still need to be defined).

So my questions are :
- Do you think it's worth it ? I restrict a lot my summoning list and thus lose some flexibility. But, my monster will be more usefull and more able for out of combat uses.

- What kind of upgrade can I get for every new level of summon monster spell ?

- And the most important, for the roleplay aspect : How do you think I should "bound" with this spirit. I see it like a contract I have to negotiate with them, and they allow me to use a fraction of their power to summons this monster. But what can I do for them ? Swear to use it in a way that help their goal (I worship a god of nature, but "protect the nature" is not really a precise goal) ?

How and where can I look for / meet this spirit ? I don't want this part to take a lot of time because i'm not the only player ! Or maybe something I can do alone with my GM, but I still need to have break time and I can't travel to specific place during this break.

Hello everyone, I'm here because I play a character who can summons monster as spell-like abilitie (for standard action, 1 min / CL instead of 1rd). But, I'm going to use a custom list of monster with less beatstick and more monster with useful / out of combat abitilies.

I take inspiration in the expanded summon monster list and the list of monster specific for priest of some god (summoner handbook). I could probably use any other monster, but I should choose carefully the level needed to summon it ...

For now, I have found some interesting monster for specific use :

Baboon (1) : climb, opposable thumbs
- can retrieve/steal items, climb inaccessible place for human, ...

Ram (2) improved bull rush (lot of possibilities just with this, only +5 CMB but probably going to houserule powerfull charge to affect bull-rush when charging)

Silvanshee (3) : speak with animal + truespeech = universal translator
+ really good spy/scout (tiny, fly, myst form, dimension door, ...)

I have only looked for monster below summons monster 4. There is a lot of other possibilities but i'd like to hear some of your propositions !

Hello everyone, I was planning to play a inquisitor for my next campaign.

Here is what I planned :
- Inquisitor of Erastil (LN)
- Human
- Probably monster tactician archetype (with summon nature's ally instead or monster, for RP reason).
- Ranged inquisitor, fight with longbow and use the summons with teamwork feats to control the ennemy.
- Spell selection oriented for out of combat use (investigation, utility, survival, ...) and the must-have buff spell.
- conversion inquisition and max rank in social skill.
- rogue-like and scouting skill.

Not really sure about feats : classic ranged combat feat (point blank, precise shot, rapid shot and many shot are mandatory).

But then I don't know between more advanced combat feat (deadly aim, weapon focus -> snap shot -> improved snapshot, point blank master) OR summons feat (spell focus -> augmente summoning -> superior summoning).

Anyway, I'm here because I finally met the other players and here is our team :
# alchemist with ranged weapon
# paladin (he didn't choose a god yet)
# ranger (he didn't choose a combat style yet)

So, i'm afraid that the ranger and I have the same role in the party. I'm going to try to convince him to not take archery as combat style (I need a good IRL diplomacy check).
But still ... We have a lot of skill and role in common ...

What are your advice about that ? Should I consider another class (but I really like this one ...) ? Should I change my build or we can both play like this without issues ?

PS : I'm probably going to take healing spell, but only for out of combat or emergency.

PS 2 : I'm pretty sure nobody will try to min/max or optimize his character.

Hello everyone, I'm looking for advice about the first level spell of the bard.

For my next build I'm going to make a 1 level dip in bard for some reason.
That's why I'm looking for 2 first level spell that can be usefull for this kind of build.

So :
- no spell which depend on the CL
- no damage spell
- If possible no saving throw (i'm going to have a ~ 11 CHA)

- every situationnal spell can be used with scroll.

At first, I was thinking of CLW, but I'm probably going to buy a wand for this ...
Identification seems usefull (i'm going to have a hight spellcraft score) but I can deal with scroll ...

Free/immediate action spell seems to be the best choice because I can't use a scroll/wand as free action. For this kind of spell, feather fall seems great.

Any suggestions ? (my character will mostly fight in melee, but i'm also looking at nice utility/social spell. Also, i'm not going to use any instrument, but sometimes perform : dance)

PS : If i'm right, I can use a wand with any spell of the bard list even if I don't have the level (without UMD check) ? That seems weird ... (it wasn't like this in DD 3.5, isn't it ?)

Hello everyone, I try to find all the possible/better ways to get a visual representation of your character.
I think it's a really important part when you make a new character to visualize your creation, and to give to your friend/DM a way to see your character like you see it in your head.

I already found/use several tools but I'm sure you can help me to find other :

# https://www.heroforge.com/
+ 3D model, lot of possibility for fantasy character, 3D print available
- no color (except if you pay to get the miniature and paint it), no good for 2D support (character sheet, book cover, ...)

# http://www.heromachine.com/heromachine-3-lab/
+ 2D, color, easy to use
- 2D (yeah I know it's also a + ...), few choice for race, face feature, and pose. bad quality (IMO) / cartoon style.

# Ask a skilled artist ?
+ good and personnalized drawing, no limitation
- who ? (a friend, a stranger of the internet ? where can i find one ?)
note : I know there is some sub reddit where you can ask people to draw your char, but it never work for me (try 2 times, and I asked politely !)

# use a game to re-create your character (ie : skyrim with ton of mods or any rpg with great customisation)
+ good quality, lot of choice for the equipment (with mods)
- hard, long (don't say what you are thinking about !). Limited choice for the physical features.

Any other suggestions ?

Hello everyone, I'm going to start a new campaign and the inquisitor is one of the classe I might try. I'd like some advice on my character :

I want a dex based character, so ranged inquisitor with longbow most of the time. I'm probably going to take the preacher archetype.

I want to character who can scout and help in the nature and i'd like to take the feather domain for an animal companion (never play a class with animal companion, it look nice for the RP). So I'd consider Erastil as god, but the Lawful Good alignement is pretty hard :( i'd like to be Chaotic Neutral ... Is there any other option ? I like Erastil because protecting the little village/community from monster and living in the nature fit with my roleplay. I think an elf is also a good choice of race for this kind of character.

I'd also like to be a skillmonkey and help the party. My performance in combat are secondary, I just don't want to be completely useless.

For the feat I think I'll take the basic ranged combat feat : point blank, rapidShoot, manyShoot. Probably Deadly Aim and/or precise shoot and boon companion.

There are some point where i'm really not sur :
-Is animal companion really usefull ? I also like the conversion inquisition so i can be a face (and I like it).

-Did I need weapon finesse and another weapon ? An agile elven curve blade would be awesome.

- I was considering the use of whip, mainly for trip ? But I think it require too many feat to be effective ...

- For the stat, i think i need some strength for the composite longbow, so what are the priority ? (we are going to roll the stat)
Dex>Wis>Strengt=Cons>Int>Cha ?

Hello everyone, I have a big question for you.

After playing some games and reading a lot, I obviously know a lot of thing about the game : how magic work, a tons of existing spell and magic item, strength and weakness of some monster , ...

But my new level 1 character shouldn't know all this things ! So how do you play (or roleplay) this ? When you know something important about the event in the game, but your character don't know it ? I know the knowledge check can help, but it's not enough roleplay-wise.

During my very first campaign the GM forbid the player to read the GM-book, especialy the list of magic item and spell of the other class. Same with the bestiary book. I think it was a really good idea, but it only work for the first campaign.

Hello, I need advice on how to protect precious items.

I have play few campaign in D&D 3.5 but it's going to be my first pathfinder campaign. We usualy use a low progression rate and play a lot of "low fantasy" at the beginning. So in the previous campaign we have loose some important item several times (spellbook, unique weapon, important item for background story, ...). We survive a shipwreck, get mugged multiple time, arrested by city guard and so on.

So my question is : what can I do in order to protect some of my items ? I have few idea in mind but I don't really know if the spell or items needed exist.

- Something that you use on the object, and then you can teleport the object back in your hand.

- Morph the object in something useless (so the thief don't steal it)

- Reduce (a lot) the size of the object, so you can hide it

- Bag that look empty exept if you have a password

PS : As I said, I ask for low level stuff (max lvl 8) and the cheapest/easier to find are the best.

Hello everyone, I have a question for you.

We (4 players) are going to start a new campaign (our first in Pathfinder). I want to try one of the new classes and I want to be an hybride between fighting and casting, with dex as primary stat for fighting (yeah I know it's pretty specific).

Anyway my two choice are :

- Magus dervish dancer (bladebound and maybe kensai)
- Inquisitor with ranged weapon

My personnal favorite is the magus, but I wait for the choice of the ohter players. One of them already choose an alchemist (with gun) and the 2 other are limited to the basic class (GM choice, it's their first game).

So, after this long introduction, my question is :

Is the magus usefull in a party where there is already another arcane spell caster ? (especially a small party of 4 players).

If the other caster is a wizard-like, he can have all the utility spell (which the magus doesn't have) but if he is a sorcerer-like and only have evocation spell ...
In that case what can be the role of a magus ? A full fighter class will be more usefull.
The other will always be better and with only 4 players I don't think that two arcane spell caster are usefull...

Hello everyone, I have a question regarding the black blades (intelligent weapons form the BladeBound magus archetype ) :

In the table for the progression of the black blade we can read "enhancement bonus" but is it an alteration bonus or can i choose any propertie with the same cost (eg : flamming or keen) ?