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I have a Tengu Ranger for Pathfinder Society. My concept is that he lived in a Tengu settlement that was commonly tormented by a local Tien village, so his Favored Enemy is Humans (he especially dislikes Human children). I took the Claws alternate racial trait to gain two claw attacks in addition to my bite attack so I could have three natural attacks per round. However, now I need to make a choice. I could do one of these four things

1: Stay straight Ranger. I would need to find a level 3 feat to take, which might be Combat Reflexes (to take advantage of my Wolf animal companion's trip attacks later down the line) or Improved Grapple.
2: Take a level of Fighter. This would give me the feats I would need to get me Feral Combat Training (Claws) and Boar Style. I love the idea of my character attacking someone, dealing bleed damage and flying away to wait for them to die.
3: Take two levels of Barbarian. I could take Extra Rage as my level 3 feat and Fiend Totem, Lesser to gain a Gore attack during Raging. Obviously, this could raise my damage potential quite a bit, but I would lose a level of my animal companion.
4: Take the two levels of Barbarian and the level of Fighter. I would be a natural attacking fiend, but would lose two levels of my animal companion, and three levels of all my Ranger, plus all the Feats that the build would require (Weapon Focus, Feral Weapon Training, Boar Style, Extra Rage)

Here is my idea for a feat tree, if I went straight Ranger:

1 Power Attack
2 Weapon Focus
3 Improved Grapple?
5 Boon Companion
6 Aspect of the Beast (Night Senses)
7 Tengu Wings
9 Tengu Raven Form
11 Quick Draw
11 Improved Vital Strike

My concern is that I feel like getting Favored Enemy bonuses and high level spells (such as Instant Enemy) is going to be more important than doing tons of damage. Another concern is that lots of natural attacks is only really a benefit at low levels. At higher levels, around 11 or so, it will nearly always be more effective to utilize a Two Handed Weapon, especially if I am hasted. If I take two levels of Barbarian and a level of Fighter just to enhance my natural attacks, I'm losing a lot of better balanced Ranger features at higher levels.

Which way should I go? I feel like I need to have a plan before I play him again.

An enemy has greater invisibility and attempts to stealth. He also attacks someone in melee.

Would the target automatically know what square his target was in after a hit? Or would he have to roll a Perception check to figure it out?

I guess this would also go for someone getting attacked in total darkness.

I know that the attacker would take a -20 to his stealth check, but if his stealth score is really high without invisibility, he might still be difficult to detect.

I have been running a group of friends from work, who are all Game of Thrones fans, through some adventure modules. We have run through Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God, and we are halfway through The Midnight Mirror.

We have taken a few months off, so I would like to start over with new characters, in a new setting. I want to choose an AP that satisfies the following criteria:

(a) the setting, style, or story should somehow resemble Game of Thrones. I want something that feels medieval in nature.

(b) the AP should have consistent, satisfying combats. I am running the game for new players, who have very little experience with RPGs. I know APs can tend to have lots of role play and investigation, sometimes to the point where they can have no battles within an entire session of game play. A game that has a lot of action right off the bat would be ideal. The group likes role play, but they are new enough that they want to fight, just to learn the rules if nothing else.

I've played/run through Carrion Crown, and am about to start Shattered Star as a player. I own the first book of Kingmaker, as well as the full books of Rise of the Runelords and Shackled City, but am not familiar with all of those.

I think the third book of Carrion would be great for this group, but not the first or second. The first one is too much about undead, and the second has far too much investigation and role play compared to combats. The setting and werewolf plot of the third book would be great to run through, so I'd love to find something like that for first level characters.

I'm building a Ranger/Alchemist, in the vein of Link from early Legend of Zelda games. I think it's a good fit, but I definitely want him to be as mechanically viable as possible.

He'll have the resources to fight up close, but will mainly be a bomber/archer. I was thinking to do full attacks with an arrow when making a full round action, and then using the Explosive Missile option when skirmishing and only having a standard action to attack.

Here is my build so far:

Elf Preservationist Alchemist 2 / Urban Ranger 2
STR 14, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 16, WIS 13, CHA 9
Feats:
1 Net Proficiency (Spirit of the Waters)
1 Point Blank Shot
2 Throw Anything (Alchemist)
2 Extra Bombs (Alchemist-Society)
3 Precise Shot
3 Rapid Shot (Ranger)

I want to take all of the rest of the levels in Alchemist, with one extra level of Ranger at level 7 to qualify for Manyshot or Clustered Shot earlier, and also to gain Trapfinding.

The rest of the Discoveries and Feats I was planning on:

4 ?
5 ?
6 Explosive Missile
7 Manyshot
9 ?
9 Clustered Shot
11 Force Bomb
11 ?

The problem with the Alchemist is that it is endlessly buffable, so my first instinct is to just use extracts, wands and potions to buff up. I could use Alchemical Allocation to gain the benefits of a Heroism or Good Hope potion without using it, and I could eventually invest in a wand of Instant Enemy to make a boss into my Favored Enemy. However, I know I probably shouldn't spend more than a round or two buffing during combat, so I should look at picking Discoveries that can speed up that process.

I guess my main questions are:

1) Do I need "Precise Bombs"? If allies are near the target, I could shoot arrows, or I could take a Targeted Bomb Admixture if I really need to use a bomb. Or is Precise Bombs still necessary?

2) Is the Smoke Bomb / Stink Bomb combination the best early combination? As a wizard, I feel like players always despise the person that casts Fog Cloud or Stinking Cloud on the enemy, since they impede on visibility. Plus, I could see how their use could be somewhat situational. On the other hand, nauseating the enemy could give me a couple rounds to buff up, which would be pretty important...

3) Should I go for the "different element" pattern, kind of making my own Arcane Archer, if you will. I could get Frost Bomb, Acid Bomb, Concussive Bomb, etc. to choose a different element that will enhance my arrows using Explosive Missile.

4) Any other options I'm not considering? Should I save a spot for Dispelling Bomb, Tanglefoot Bomb, Fast Bombs, Blinding Bomb, Confusion Bomb, etc.?

So many options, but I can't tell what will be the best strategy in the long term. Any advice?

I have a friend that was really excited about the flavor of the Winter Witch prestige class and already started making one using GM credits. However, I see that it is not included in the list of approved Prestige Classes from Paths of Prestige

When looking at the Winter Witch Prestige class, I'm really not seeing anything that would be overpowered for players. The witch loses new hexes in exchange for some light Oracle-level flavor abilities, like thawing and sculpting ice and snow, ignoring half of cold resistance, and seeing through blizzards. The winter witch gains one hex, "Ice Tomb", which is quite powerful but is currently legal for regular witches to take at level 10 (same level as the Winter Witch).

Now, all of the things the Winter Witch Prestige gains after level 13 are incredibly powerful, but seeing as this would be after retirement, I don't know why this would be an issue.

Is it really intentionally banned or have all the archetypes not been approved yet? Will other Prestige Classes from Paths of Prestige become available? I see that only 19 out of the 30 are currently approved.

As the subject says, is an "evil outsider" always of evil alignment? Is it possible for a succubus or other demon to relinquish its evil ways, become neutral or good alignment and still be considered an "evil outsider"?

First of all, it would make good flavor to have a scenario in which a demon is actually on the good guy's side, for whatever reason. I would like to write something like that.

Secondly, I was looking at the Ranger spell, "Instant Enemy". It's an ok spell for a Ranger, but I was thinking it would be so much more valuable for a Paladin/Ranger multiclassed build.

Let's say you are an 8th level Paladin. You take a level of Ranger and make your favored enemy "Outsiders (Evil)". You buy a wand of "Instant Enemy". Here is the spell description:

With this spell you designate the target as your favored enemy for the remainder of its duration. Select one of your favored enemy types. For the duration of the spell, you treat the target as if it were that type of favored enemy for all purposes.

Let's say that there is a Neutral Elemental with DR 10/- on the field. You use your wand of Instant Enemy on the elemental, and you now consider it to be your favored enemy of "Outsider (Evil)". Now you would be able to smite it, correct? You now get +2 on attack and damage for your favored enemy bonus and another +16 on damage rolls for smiting it, in addition to bypassing any damage reduction.

Of course, this wouldn't work if "Outsiders (Evil)" aren't always evil. If it was just an evil character (something besides undead, evil dragons, or evil outsiders), turning it into an evil outsider would be a bonus, so it's still a good deal, but it looks to me that by RAW, you could turn anything into an evil outsider, ready to be smited. Even Lawful Good characters. No?

Ultimate Combat added the entire Feat Tree for Net fighters (including Net Adept and so forth), with the first feat being "Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net)".

However, there are some races that allow proficiency with a net as an alternate class feature, such as the Elf "Spirit of the Waters" trait and the Half-Orc "Beastmaster".

If you are proficient with a net because of either of these racial traits, do you still need to have "Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net)" to take "Net Adept" or any such feats?

What are the rules for gaining a new familiar in Pathfinder Society? I can't find anything in the rulebooks. It seems like taking the "Improved Familiar" feat should be a good idea, but the rules seem to not make it that simple.

If I'm reading it right, this is what it says:

A wizard can acquire a new familiar if the old one is lost, dies, or is dismissed by the caster. However, the wizard needs to wait a week, and then pay 200 gp per level in order to replace the familiar. This is apparently the case even if he already has a living familiar and chooses to only dismiss him. The new familiar will only know two spells per level, and he must repurchase all other spells that he lost. The only way around this is to play a Society game with another wizard, have him pay to have all of his spells placed in his spellbook, and then after getting the new familiar, playing another game with the same wizard and transferring all the spells back over.

A witch, however, can only acquire a new familiar if the old one is lost or dies. There is no rule about a witch being able to dismiss a familiar ever. And thus, if a witch wishes to gain a familiar, she must either kill her old familiar or lose it somewhere. Then, it costs 500 gp per level in order to acquire the new familiar. Then, she must rebuy all spells, besides the two per spell level she got. She can do the "teach her spells to another witch's familiar" trick, but again, she has to find another witch with which to commune in two consecutive games.

Has there ever been any specific information regarding gaining an improved familiar? I feel like we are in the dark here and are tempted to make up rules about how this is done, but I don't see any approved rules set to state how this process should be done the right way.

I want to take the Improved Familiar feat, but there is so much red tape to it that it probably wouldn't be worth it the way I'm understanding it.

I have a rules question.

I've always thought that when an alchemist made an extract, it was basically like a limited use potion that could be only used by him (unless you take the infusion discovery of course). However, a fellow player interpreted the rules as you drinking the extract, then essentially "casting" the spell, aka an alchemist could drink a CLW extract, and then touch a fellow player to heal them of the damage healed from the spell. I was pretty sure that this was not the case.

Then, I saw that "communal resist energy" is an alchemist spell. What? I'm thinking that my friend must be right, as how else could this function? Either the alchemist essentially "casts" it when he drinks, allowing his fellow adventurers to also benefit from it, or he has to pass the extract around so everyone takes a swig. Besides the communal aspect, there is no difference between "communal" and standard "resist energy", so I'm really in the dark here.

I am running into a brick wall as to which direction I should take my character. We are starting into the Carrion Crown adventure path with a 15-point buy. I was excited to try the Harrower character, which I think would be a good fit with the cleric and volunteered to be the healer.

Other characters in the party are:

1) Paladin (Undead Scourge archetype), 2) Rogue (16 STR, two handed fighting), 3) Wizard, 4) Sorcerer (Celestial bloodline) / Summoner (Master Summoner)

Cleric

Stats: STR 12, DEX 13, CON 10, INT 12, WIS 16, CHA 13
Alignment: CG
Domains: Travel (Exploration), Luck
Traits: Dangerously Curious, the Carrion Crown trait that gives +2 to Knowledge (Religion)
Feats: Harrowed, Toughness

I am considering my backstory to be a Varisian gypsy who has been mentored in the ways of the undead by the professor. My goal is to be a healer that can function as a buffer and a second line fighter.

I want to dip into a level that will compliment this build. I was thinking a skill-based character (like Inquisitor or Bard), or something with a full BAB, as the Harrower levels will leave me quite hurting in offense. Some thoughts:

1) Bard - Skills would compliment the character, gain a whole new spell list, could inspire courage for a few rounds
2) Inquisitor - could unlock the Domain ability faster, skills, gain judgment ability
3) Cavalier - armor, weapons, teamwork feat (or Gendarme feat), BAB, Order of the Dragon bonuses
4) Ranger - skills would compliment the character, favored enemy could be used for undead, martial weapon use
5) Fighter - generic dip, extra feat but no notable skill bonuses

I want my character to retain the gypsy flavor, but still be relevant in combat, so I'm a little conflicted here. I am leveling up my cleric, and I have a little bit of leeway to shape my character up to level 2, but then I'm pretty much locked in (I could up my strength a bit if I was going into a fighter). Any help would be very much appreciated.

If you are using a vanish or an invisibility spell and are using a ranged weapon (like a net, javelin, or arrow), would it be better to make yourself invisible or to make the weapon invisible? If you are invisible, you throw the net and it instantly becomes visible again, so would the opponent still be denied their dexterity bonus? Or would it be better to vanish the weapon, as that way it would remain invisible until it contacted the opponent?

Also, you do get one attack off before becoming visible again, correct?

Last question: when you cast vanish as a first level character, it is a standard action, so on your next round, do you get to use your standard action while invisible if it is a 1 round spell?

I was inspired by Treatmonk's Bard guide and thought I would play around with a net while playing my Half-Orc bard.

However, I'm starting a longterm campaign with three other players, and one of them is an alchemist with 20 intelligence. We are playing the games as Pathfinder Society, so he automatically gets the Extra Bombs feat, giving him 12 bombs per day.

If I used the net to entangle an enemy, it's pretty much a given that the splash damage of one bomb is going to completely destroy the net, isn't it? The net has 5 HP and the bombs would automatically do 6 splash damage.

I have to admit, I hate swarms. Mainly because I encounter them all the time and no one seems to know the specific rules about them:

(1) if a cleric uses selective channel, can he choose to disclude a swarm from the channel? Or can channel energy even affect a swarm? I thought the hit point total represents a percentage of the swarm getting killed off, which means that healing couldn't bring them back to life. After all, it's not like it becomes unconscious when under 0 HP, so I'm not sure how it can be healed.

(2) if you throw a splash weapon at a swarm at the same square where a PC occupies, does both the swarm and the PC take full damage, or does only the swarm take the full damage? And beyond that, if you throw a weapon at a swarm and you miss, how do you determine where the splash weapon lands? Is there no chance that the PC would take the direct hit? And if you rolled a d8 and determined that the weapon hit another swarm square, does the swarm take full damage? And does the splash damage count for other swarm squares? Would a splash weapon cause 150% damage or does it cause 150%+3 damage or does it just cause normal damage +3?

There is always a debate about swarms when I run into them, and then the rules seem to be up to the GM and different every occasion.

I noticed today that when a player was using a level 7 Kyra as a pregen, the character had 6d6 of Channeled Energy. From the looks of it, Kyra should not have 6d6 of energy until level 11. I'm pretty certain that this is an error.

So I played tonight with a group that included a first timer playing a 7th level Kyra. When she channeled energy, she got 6d6 of energy. I'm not sure why this is possible. I keep looking over and over at the build, and I want to find what rule is in it because I want to steal it for my character. Is there any way a level 7 character can have more than 4d6 of channel energy?

http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/pregeneratedCharacters

I recently GM'ed a PFS scenario (my first time) for a bunch of level one and two characters (Paladin, Barbarian, Fighter, Witch). I felt like I was pretty prepared and ready for battle.

However, there was one mechanic I hadnt prepared myself for: player reach. The Paladin had a longspear with an attack bonus and damage bonus of +6, and before any of my NPC's got close enough to attack, they were all AOO'ed to negative hit points. The monsters: dogs, guards, violet fungus, zombies, ghouls. I think the only monsters that got a hit in were the violet fungus and one ghoul, the latter only because the Paladin made a crucial mistake and triggered an AOO himself.

The players ended up cake-walking over the scenario. I wish I had more to work with to make it more challenging for them, but I either lacked the resources or the knowledge of how to contend with this. Any advice in case I encounter a similar situation in the future?

We played through the Beginner's Box, and I'm gearing up to run my PCs through Crypt of the Everflame. I'm pretty excited about it.

I was wondering what the best follow-up module would be. I know the obvious pick should be Masks of the Living God, which I bought, but I also bought Feast of Ravenmoor, and really loved the setup and atmosphere. It seems quirkier, with more of an emphasis on storytelling. Also, I'm not convinced that Masks really FEELS like a sequel to Crypt of the Everflame, since the events are tied together by intangibles that aren't readily apparent just by playing through the events.

I was hoping that I might be able to use both modules in the same campaign, but after reading them, I realize there is no way I could do both and have it be satisfying for the players, as there is a basic plot hook in both that is much the same.

Which one would you recommend, in an either/or scenario?

Also, here is my current plan for a campaign. This is largely based on ratings and which ones have the most diverse and interesting stories. Any suggestions or concerns? Any of them that may not work in the grand scheme of things?

Level 1/2: Crypt of the Everflame
Level 3: Feast of Ravenmoor or Masks of the Living God
Level 4: Carnival of Tears
Level 5: Carrion Hill
Level 6: Entombed With the Pharoahs
Level 7: Realm of the Fellnight Queen
Level 8: Crucible of Chaos
Level 9: The Harrowing

Something to keep in mind: I'm playing with 6 or 7 movie buffs that have no experience with tabletop RPGs. Also, I'm pretty new to the whole GM thing myself.

I am taking a crash course both in Pathfinder and Game Mastering. I recently played through the Beginner Box with a bunch of people, and that worked out pretty well.

Next I'm going to start Crypt of the Everflame. I was trying to figure out a way to print out the map from the module using my Canon Photoprinter, but I saw that map had all of the trap doors listed in plain site on it. I then realized there was a flip-mat already custom-made for the module, so I ordered that.

But then what? What is the best way to handle maps when using modules. I also have the "Masks of a Living God" module, and as far as I can tell, no easy pre-made packet exists that allows you to make a map for it.

The other issue I have is that these flip-mats are set up so that you can see the entire dungeon at once, instead of seeing each room as you go along. I know the Beginner's Box says it doesn't matter, but I think it takes a lot of the mystique out of the exploration element. Is there an easy way to hide most of a flip map before you explore?

What solutions do other GM's use? When I played D&D back in the day, I never used a map. But now, it seems like a standard. Do you use map packs? Do you print out maps? Draw on a Flip Mat ahead of time? Draw on a Flip Mat as you explore? Use some sort of specially formatted paper for map-making? Are there other modules that have pre-made flip mats? I feel really in the dark here.

Any advice would be great.