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Okay, cool. I'm going to go NG with Summon Good Monster and Sacred Summons then. The Agathions seem way more useful than the Azatas for my Evangelist, thankfully.

The Neutral Monsters are interesting but I think Neutral Good is the best alignment for me.

Second: Summoning creatures is a very peculiar strategy. At lvl 12, you will be able to drown the battlefield in creatures, even decently powerful ones. Sacred summons does this: When summoning creatures with the same alignment subtypes as your deity's alignment, you do so as a standard action. If not using mythic rules, you NEED this. Further alignment considerations then: You can't summon any creature that isopposed to either your or your deity's alignment. Ergo, pick the SAME alignment as your deity. The feats summon good monster and summon neutral monster are similarly important to expand your creature list. When I made my summoning cleric, I found NG to be brilliant. You get both the CG and LG summons, plus you can summon NGs as standard actions. As it stands, I would suggest NG, LN or CN, and avoid the LG and CG, since you are in essence going to need both summon good and summon neutral monster to maximize that setup. Just to clarify: Celestial animals do not get alignment subtypes.

Wait, so as Neutral Good with Summon Good Monster, I'd be able to summon which as a Standard Action? The Agathion monsters? And then I'd have access still to the Azata and the Archons as a Full Round Action?

Or if I chose Summon Neutral Monster and were CN, I could summon the Proteans as a Standard action, but also the Psychopomp and Inevitables as a Full Round action?

I was looking at Lawful Good for the Archons but I cannot possibly roleplay that alignment. So there's no way for me to summon the Archons as a Standard Action without being LG.

I think I'm finally getting it.

EDIT: And I could also summon the Astral Deva as a Standard Action if I were NG, right? Should mention I have no deity, but an ideal (Valor) that I think is pretty much as NG as you can get.

Last question. So I'm putting the actual character together right now. In ust judging how previous games have gone, AOOs don't happen too often unless we are the ones triggering them. As a result, I'm leaning towards more of a buffing/support focus.

How should I lay out my ability points?

The first iteration of this Cleric (with gear and 25 point buy) came out to:
22 STR | 18 DEX | 18 CON | 10 INT | 16 WIS | 12 CHA

I'm thinking about rearranging that somewhat. If I were to keep the exact same numbers, I was thinking something like:
18 STR | 16 DEX | 18 CON | 10 INT | 20 WIS | 14 CHA

This would give me an extra Channel, more bonus spells, and higher DCs for the occasional spell that involves a Save DC (such as some of the Spontaneous Evangelist spells or some of my Domain spells).

This might be spreading things too thin, however. My melee power goes down pretty sharply. Then again, my melee abilities are mostly related to buffs and magic effects anyway, right?

Sounds like a good spot for an Archer Bard, too. Buffs from the Bard stacking with buffs from the Cleric and the Archer Bard's pretty solid DPS from ranged would be a good ol' time.

If your not doing melee at all then free up your 2 Feats and go full caster/buffer. Keep the summoning feats but dump the strength in favor of casting stats.

I'd prefer, really, to do most of my duties through casting and less with melee, but I'd read that caster or support Clerics weren't as effective without some kind of martial backup route and the Reach Cleric seemed like the best choice.

Yeah, I don't anticipate doing much melee-ing pretty soon here and will most likely take a back ranks role soon enough.

Manipulating the summons will be the bulk of my role, with the rare damage dealing spell when I have no more buffs to put out. That's the place I'd like to be.

Is there anything like the Ring of Wizardry for Divine Casters?

Yeah, I'm not beholden to any of the feats I chose. Power Attack is iffy since dealing damage is not my primary concern, though Combat Reflexes seems like a must.

Quick Channel doesn't seem like it's worth it yet, not when I only have a handful of Channels a day and the buff is only for one round.

Thank you, guys. This is really helpful.

Really appreciate it.

Want us to post some sample spell lists that are appropriate to a Summoning-themed 12th level Evangelist Cleric with some martial skill?

I'd really appreciate that. Magda, you're swell.

The more I look at it, the more it seems like for a CG Cleric that Sacred Summons isn't worth it at all. There's only two azata that are useful, the one I can summon with Summon Monster IX and the one I can summon with Summon Monster V. The other, the Liliend, won't do anything since I'll already be doing my Bardic Performances with Evangelist.

I don't see any good reasons to take it as a CG Cleric but I could be wrong.

Hmm...and what do Chaotic Neutral characters get to summon? Monsters with the Chaotic subtype? There is no Neutral aura, right?

So if I'm Chaotic Good, can I only summon Chaotic Good monsters? Or are those just the ones that I can summon as a Standard Action and the rest take a full round?

Well, I guess I might be confusing myself. So I have a Chaotic Good aura as a Chaotic Good Cleric, right? So with Sacred Summons, I can summon as a Standard Action any monster that has Chaotic or Good as their subtype? Or does it have to have Chaotic and Good (such as the azata creatures)? If it is the latter, then Summon Good Monster doesn't seem as useful.

Also, what about all the creatures who have no listed subtype? Sacred Summons does nothing for them?

But not creatures without any listed alignment even though they share my alignment?

Yeah I did but I have a hard time synthesizing much of the information since I've never played a Cleric before or really played any class like this. I'm always a Bard or a straight physical DD.

I'm going Human so I'm thinking, as far as traits/feats:

Trait 1 - Reactionary
Trait 2 - ???

Human - Spell Focus (Conjuration)
1 - Sacred Summons
3 - Augment Summoning
5 - Superior Summoning
7 - Power Attack
9 - Combat Reflexes
11 - Divine Interference
13 - Discordant Voice

I'm not so worried about metamagic because our GM gives out a lot of great loot, much of which has a BUNCH of metamagic effects on it.

What do y'all think?

Oh wait, I should probably throw Summon Good Monster in there...

What's the deal with Sacred Summons? I don't quite get what it's saying or what it allows me to do differently with my summons besides letting me summon some (which?) creatures as a Standard Action?

Yeah I did but I have a hard time synthesizing much of the information since I've never played a Cleric before or really played any class like this. I'm always a Bard or a straight physical DD.

I'm going Human so I'm thinking, as far as traits/feats:

Trait 1 - Reactionary
Trait 2 - ???

Human - Spell Focus (Conjuration)
1 - Sacred Summons
3 - Augment Summoning
5 - Superior Summoning
7 - Power Attack
9 - Combat Reflexes
11 - Divine Interference
13 - Discordant Voice

I'm not so worried about metamagic because our GM gives out a lot of great loot, much of which has a BUNCH of metamagic effects on it.

What do y'all think?

It's worth noting the rest of the party composition, forgot to do that.

We have:
A debuffing/CC Witch
A DD fire Sorcerer
A war hound Barbarian that specializes in Trip and Trip-generated AOOs
A Zen Archer

After deciding on Cleric over the Oracle, I need help with the build as I've never made a Cleric before. This is a replacement for my current character, a Cavalier.

I have never played this type of character before so I'd appreciate spell suggestions. I'm going to be going with the Evangelist archetype and will probably take the Heroism domain. Will most likely be either Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral, depending on what works best. Also thinking about taking the Variant Channeling for Valor/Glory (seems like they should be the same as for Heroism) to give the AC buff from my Channels.

I'd also seen the stuff about the Reach Cleric. I would like to try to build that into the character as well but I want to primarily be Support/Buff/Caster-focused.

Any help would be appreciated!

Important Things:

We're 12th Level.

I don't remember what the point buy was. I can include my Cavalier's current stats to give you an idea of what we're working with as far as power levels are concerned. I think we may have used a 25 point buy? But I'm not sure. I have equipment bonuses within the parentheses.

Cavalier's stats: STR 24 (20+4), DEX 18 (14+4), CON 20 (16+4), INT 16 (14+2), WIS 14 (12+2), CHA 7

As for books, we're allowed to use all official material on the PFSRD. There are certain 3pp things we can use but we have to run it by him first. Mostly, though, we just use official stuff.

House Rules:
- Always get full HP on level up (i.e. d10 HD always equals 10+Con HP)
- Cure spells work as Close range instead of Touch
- Cure spells always heal the maximum amount

I don't remember what the point buy was. I can include my Cavalier's current stats to give you an idea of what we're working with as far as power levels are concerned. I think we may have used a 25 point buy? But I'm not sure.

Cavalier's stats: STR 24 (20+4), DEX 18 (14+4), CON 20 (16+4), INT 16 (14+2), WIS 14 (12+2), CHA 7

As for books, we're allowed to use all official material on the PFSRD. There are certain 3pp things we can use but we have to run it by him first. Mostly, though, we just use official stuff.

House Rules:
- Always get full HP on level up (i.e. d10 HD always equals 10+Con HP)
- Cure spells work as Close range instead of Touch
- Cure spells always heal the maximum amount

Don't think there's anything else of relevance.

Actually, gonna make a new thread for all of this to keep things more focused.

I don't remember what the point buy was. I can include my Cavalier's current stats to give you an idea of what we're working with as far as power levels are concerned. I think we may have used a 25 point buy? But I'm not sure.

Cavalier's stats: STR 24 (20+4), DEX 18 (14+4), CON 20 (16+4), INT 16 (14+2), WIS 14 (12+2), CHA 7

As for books, we're allowed to use all official material on the PFSRD. There are certain 3pp things we can use but we have to run it by him first. Mostly, though, we just use official stuff.

House Rules:
- Always get full HP on level up (i.e. d10 HD always equals 10+Con HP)
- Cure spells work as Close range instead of Touch
- Cure spells always heal the maximum amount

Don't think there's anything else of relevance.

Of all of these roles, the Summoning Specialist is the one that makes the most sense to me from the Dragon Age setting.

I was going to play a Cleric who encountered a spirit of Valor and has been driven to become an exceptional hero. Part of the spirit's effect has granted him the ability to tap into the creatures of the spirit realms and ask them to come to the physical plane.

So could one build a Summoning Specialist and Reach Cleric in one build? How would that look?

We're at level 12 right now and my Cavalier's stats are pretty ridiculous right now (STR 24, DEX 18, CON 20, INT 16, WIS 10, CHA 7) so my Cleric would probably be equally silly.

My biggest problem with prepared spellcasters is that I often don't know what I'm going to be up against, especially in this campaign we're running, in terms of resistances and whatnot.

It just feels limiting and I hate being caught without the right spell for the situation.

Okay, I was taking a look at Evangelist Cleric...

I might have to just get over my dislike of having to prepare spells because the Evangelist Cleric is exactly what I'd want to play. I also found out that I can leave spell slots open to put spells into later in the day. I didn't think that was possible. That makes it a whole lot better.

Hmm...

I just want to be useful and right now I don't feel useful at all. The most I contribute to any fight is Inspire Courage and the -4 to saves from my Challenge as Order of the Staff, but it's not even an ability I can use willy-nilly. The rest of the fight, I'm moving around the battlefield getting a Standard Action attack because everyone is so much more mobile than I and because the War Dog only gets one attack a round, so he is constantly on the move, moving the ranks up.

I always play Bard. It's my favorite class. But I've played it in every single campaign as my main class and want to try something different (even though everything seems inferior to the Bardic experience, the more I play other classes). I like being in a support role as a buffer and Oracle seemed like a good way to go.

I mean, I could build a Bard in like, ten minutes, that would be amazing but it's gotten to be so tired of a playstyle for me. I like the idea of going Divine this time around and trying to do some kind of buffer/support/healer role.

And yeah, we do have crazy high stats to match their crazy high damage but what we lack right now is any kind of damage mitigation, whether that's from Protection spells or other buffs to the party, debuffs to the enemy beyond Slumber Hex and Misfortune, or simply healing damage taken. I think that's the role that needs filling.

Cure Wands work the same, but heal the maximum amount on the wand as per the caster level of the wand. Essentially, we just don't roll the die. Cure Wands still must be used at Touch range though.

I want to specialize in healing because our DM throws crazy strong monsters at us and we usually have to rely on NPCs he brings in or annoying deus ex machina type characters healing to deal with status effects, HP loss, ability drain, etc. It gets old. I contribute very little right now.

Despite the fact that we're healing for the maximum amount, we're still taking half our HP in damage from a single monster's attack. In our last campaign, an enemy one-shotted two of our NPCs in a single round. Most needed are buffs to AC, to CMD, and against status effects and debuffs.

All we have right now for healing is our Witch using Split Hex coupled with a magic item that lets him affect a person twice with his Healing hex for 72HP. But that's once per day and that 72HP lasts maybe one or two hits.

I want to be able to buff well and prevent us from taking damage in the first place. As well as give the party the strength to be at their best.

EDIT: Why would a caster with spell DCs complement the Witch? Because of things like Evil Eye? We never have problems with Spell DCs and he mainly uses Slumber Hex and other CC stuff, not save drainers.

I absolutely hate non-spontaneous casters. Annoys the heck out of me.

Or if there's any ideas for other things that might complement the group, that'd be appreciated

I'm thinking about building an Oracle for our Dragon Age themed campaign.

Right now, the party consists of:

1) A Witch (primarily uses Slumber Hex, Misfortune, and CC spells)
2) A Zen Archer
3) A Barbarian (Mabari War Hound, huge CC power with Trip, huge HP and AC)
4) A Fire-specialized Sorcerer
5) And my current character, a Cavalier

Not huge on my current character. The rest of the party is incredibly mobile, while I'm busy trying to play catch up. Challenge is very limited and even with the Inspiring Commander archetype, tossing out Inspire Courage and using Aid Another and Teamwork feats, I still feel pretty useless.

One thing we don't have, though, is a good buffer/healer type character. So I was thinking about making an Oracle along those lines.

Important notes: In our campaign, Cure spells have a Short range and all healing heals for its maximum possible amount which makes Cure way, way more useful.

I was thinking Life or Nature Mystery, but I'm open to other ideas. As far as curses, I was thinking Dual-Cursed with Blackened as the non-progressing curse since I don't plan to be attacking with weapons that much. For the progressing curse, I am not sure, maybe Deaf or Haunted.

Thoughts?

Any ideas?

I have an 11th Level Inspiring Commander Cavalier (Order of the Staff) in a campaign I'm playing in.

Our DM is really keen on giving the party gear and items that are very relevant to their class and their abilities. However, he's kind of stumped as to what to give me. In sifting through the pages of Magic Items/Weapons/Armor, it's very evident that the Cavalier doesn't get much love. I'm trying to think of ideas for what would be useful or interesting to discuss with him.

I'm playing a Sword-and-Shield Cavalier with the focus on being a tank and aiding my allies. The feats that I have thus far are:

Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Furious Focus, Intimidating Prowess, Cornugon Smash, Swift Aid, and Dreadful Carnage

(Teamwork feats are Escape Route and Outflank)

There were a few ideas I had, like some kind of Heraldry as a Shield Enhancement or a shield add-on that functions as the Flagbearer feat or some such but I could use some more input!

Any ideas on this?

I know Aid Another can be used to help on spell saves but is there a time limit on this Aid Another bonus? Like, if I aid an ally one round and then two rounds later, a caster fires off a Fireball, will they still have that bonus?

Part two of this question is, if so, can Aid Another bonuses of different types be in effect at the same time? Like if I aid an ally one round for his Attack but he doesn't attack and then I aid the same ally for his AC, will he retain the bonus for Attack and AC? Or does the second aid overwrite the first?

EDIT: Found the answer to the second question but the first still stands.

But it prompts another question. The rules say multiple people can aid an ally and that similar bonuses to stack, but if I can aid someone twice in one round, do they get both of those bonuses? With Swift Aid and a Standard Action to Aid Another, I could give a bonus to AC and Attack. Is this legal?

Haaarumph.

I guess it's still worth taking since I can add my Int modifier to the AC bonus they get but man, I was really hoping that would work :(

Any other thoughts on this?

I don't understand what you mean about the triggering mechanism. It's the same triggering mechanism, an ally being attacked triggers the feat. What changes is the area in which I can use Aid Another, which is modified by Inspiring Voice,

Maybe I don't understand what you meant.

EDIT: And in reading the Normal for the Bodyguard feat, it seems to imply that what changes is the type of action used for Aid Another (from Standard to an AOO action) in which case I would think it would be doable?

I am playing an Inspiring Commander Cavalier and I had a question on interactions between Bodyguard and one of its abilities.

The class ability Inspiring Voice allows me to use Aid Another on assist an ally within 30 feet and when using aid another on a non-adjacent ally, I have to make a Perform check. My question is, tould I use Bodyguard from 30ft as well, using an AOO to aid them?

The text of Bodyguard states it's an adjacent ally, but that could be per the rules of Aid Another and those rules change once I gain Inspiring Voice.

Most of the Bard archetypes are not worth what you lose.

I'd say, go Core Bard, get rid of Toughness and Skill Focus, take Power Attack and Arcane Strike, and get a reach weapon (preferably a Fauchard with the Heirloom Weapon Trait). Take Furious Focus somewhere in there if you want to ensure you're always hitting.

Spell choices are good. Strength is a bit low. But change those things and you'll be far more worthwhile in combat and out of combat with Versatile Performance.

Batman doesn't exactly inspire people, though. Except for inspiring fear, I guess.

Actually, the best analogue I can think of is Bean from Ender's Game but slightly less smart and significantly stronger.

Fomsie, that was the idea that I had come up with too, making him similar in some ways to Dexter.

Most find him forgettable and unassuming. Some find him unnerving, due to his detached demeanor. He has little in the way of people skills and sees people mostly for their usage, not for their personality or their friendship.

But yeah, he could certainly be capable of describing to his foes how exactly he will break their bones or crush their army. To a demon, he can pull on his vast knowledge of demons to explain exactly what he's going to do to them.

Some find it cocky. Until he acts and they realize he wasn't bluffing, not in the slightest.

I haven't. My model for comparison was something like...what's a good example...maybe like Spock? But more intimidating?

The problem is he's also a Cavalier (Inspiring Commander, Order of the Staff) so I'm trying to work in why people want to follow him or what it is about him that inspires people to greatness.

I wanted some advice on how to play this character.

He's got 21 STR, 16 INT, and 7 CHA.
He's got Intimidating Prowess and the Bruising Intellect trait.

He's built to Intimidate, but through his Intelligence and Strength, not through his Charisma.

So how does this character play out? I had the idea that he was so smart that he would cut people down with his words, exposing and digging into their weaknesses. But that seems more the realm of high WIS, not high INT.

Mainly, I need help figuring out how this kind of character would intimidate people besides simply using his muscle. Any ideas?

Okay, current build update. Used the starting wealth to buy my character a Headband of Mental Prowess (Int/Wis) and a Belt of Physical Might (Str/Dex). So right now:

Level 9 Order of the Staff Cavalier (Inspiring Commander)

STR: 21 (16+2+1+2 from Equipment)
DEX: 16 (14+2 from Equipment)
CON: 16 (16)
INT: 16 (14+2 from Equipment)
WIS: 14 (12+2 from Equipment)
CHA: 7

Trait: Bruising Intellect
Trait: Savant

(1) Teamwork Feat: Duck and Cover
(1) Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
(1) Feat: Power Attack
(3) Feat: Furious Focus
(5) Feat: Intimidating Prowess
(7) Feat: Cornugon Smash
(9) Teamwork Feat: Escape Route
(9) Feat: Swift Aid

Feats are level 11, 13, and 15 will be Discordant Voice, Dreadful Finish, and Combat Reflexes, though not necessarily in that order. If I can find some way to function without a shield, I'd also like to pick up Flagbearer. I'm going to try and lobby for a beefy Quickdraw Shield.

Any thoughts?

Any other input on this, folks?

I really appreciate the advice thus far!

EDIT: You posted just before I did!

My worry with losing the shield is, as the primary martial combatant and the tank of the group, I need that extra AC pretty badly. With equivalent equipment to my current character in the game, I'm at a 28 AC with a Ring of Protection +2 and an Amulet of Natural Armor +2 and a +2 Heavy Shield and a 14 Dex. The enemies we're fighting are hitting a 26 AC no problem, and often higher. I'm really loathe to give up the additional AC to switch to a two-hander as a result.

This actually a major problem. Half your supportive abilites are about helping martials in melee. I would say to go archer and take the enfilading fire for your zen archer, but then you would have to drop the intimidation, which is probalby more useful as this way you drop the enemies's saves for your casters. Escape Plab is probably justified as a result.

I would suggest that you drop the order of the dragon and take the order of the staff instead. It gives bonuses that spellcasters can better take advantage and modifies the aid another to a way that is more interesting to them.

Your RP perspective is fine.

Your traits are Bruising Intellect and Savant as a result.

Without a way to generate AoOs, you hsould probably swap Combat Reflexes
with Mounted Combat. You do have a horse after all. But probably you should take Furiosu Focus first, so that you can take Dreadful Carnage at 11th lvl.

The ideal stat array is probably:

STR 18 (16+2)
DEX 12
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 12
CHA 7

I don't have a mount; the Inspiring Commander archetype ditches the mount and was the main reason I took it. But switching to Order of the Staff could be pretty awesome, since that stacks with what Aid Another can already do while the Order of the Dragon only improves on what Aid Another does. I'd be able to boost Caster Level, Concentration, or Dispel Checks by 5. The Witch is who needs the negative to Saving Throws most since he uses all these Hexes with his low-ish DC. With my Challenge and with a Demoralize, that's a potential -5 to their DCs, which is awesome. The Wizard mostly uses Scorching Ray though, so the lowering of DCs isn't that useful for that (though the Demoralize and Inspire Courage certainly is).

As for Dreadful Carnage, I saw that but didn't take it as I felt I wouldn't be the one landing killing blows most of the time. Also, Furious Focus requires a two hand weapon or a one hand weapon in both hands, which would remove my shield AC, which is a problem.

Also, Arcane Vessel is kind of useless for me since none of my allies ever cast those kinds of buffs, which is a bummer. I really like the mobility potential that Strategy brings.

So with a 25 point buy, what should I do?

I don't want to dump Wisdom for the Perception rolls, I guess I could dump Charisma (though that sounds strange from an RP perspective).

I can't get everything to add up the way I like.

EDIT: How would you roleplay this guy? I see him as a brilliant tactical commander who has own people over not by his charm or inspiration. Instead, he has won people over because he's never lost a battle he planned. Not once. He isn't one to take credit for it, though. He doesn't care much for that. He is an exceptionally skilled combatant, but that is out of necessity, not out of glory. He wants to see his enemies crushed and he has devoted his mind and body to that purpose, eschewing social graces and charm, forgoing the lessons of the world and people around him.

To an extent, he sees others as tools to fight against the evil in the world, though he values an exceptionally well crafted tool as any good craftsman should. This makes him terrifying to some, but the major source of his intimidating power comes from his brilliance and his brawn that knows no point or purpose other than to destroy what threatens him and his order.

Does that sit right for High Int/High Strength and Low Wis/Low Cha to y'all?

It is indeed a great archetype.

Dreadful Carnage is a far better choice than Great Cleave for AoE intimidation.

Take the Bruising Intellect trait. Now you intimidate based on your Intelligence, so you can safely dump your Charisma. My interpretation is that you use Intelligence for perform, correct me if you are sure I am wrong here.

Your other trait should be Adopted (Helpful) for a bonus to Aid Another.

It is better to take Lookout at 1st lvl and Outflank at 9th lvl as your teamwork feats IMO.

With Outflank, having Combat Reflexes is mandatory too.

You qualify for the battle Herald PrC at 6th lvl. I am not sure if it is worth it, but you should definately check it out.

Ooh, nice find with Bruising Intellect. Perform works off of Charisma and isn't a class skill for Cavaliers. Making the Aid Another check from a distance is a DC10 roll so I wanted to make it a class skill so that I'd get the +3 bonus and never need more than one point to make it nearly impossible to fail.

As for Adopted (Helpful), that won't work for our setting (which is basically Dragon Age). As for Outflank, that didn't seem useful since I am the only melee combatant. The others are a Witch, a Sorcerer, and a Zen Archer.

But Bruising Intellect is a definite must. Yes...

Hey all. I built this Inspiring Commander Cavalier after finding it and realizing this was everything I ever wanted: a competent martial party leader and tank that has a support focus to it. I'd like some input on how I've got it built out so far.

Human Order of the Dragon Cavalier 9 (Inspiring Commander)

STR 18(16+2)
DEX 14
CON 16 (14+1+1)
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 10

(1) Bonus Teamwork Feat: Duck and Cover
(1) Feat: Power Attack
(1) Human Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
(3) Feat: Combat Reflexes
(5) Feat: Intimidating Prowess
(7) Feat: Cornugon Smash
(9) Feat: Swift Aid
(9) Bonus Teamwork Feat: Escape Route

Carefully Hidden Trait (+1 to Will, +2 vs Divination)
Savant Trait (+2 to Perform: Oratory and Perform is a Class Skill)

The next feats I'm going to pick up are Discordant Voice and then work my way to Great Cleave. The rest of the party are ranged fighters and spellcasters, so I want to use Cornugon Smash to Demoralize as many enemies as I can with my +18 bonus to Intimidate to soften them up so the casters and ranged fighters can tear them apart.

Meanwhile, I'm also using my Challenge to lower its AC even further and my Inspiring Command/Inspire Courage to increase their attack rolls. With Shaken, Challenge, and Inspire Courage, they're at a +7 to hit. I'd use Challenge to more or less 'call targets' for focus fire efforts. If I need to close a gap between myself/the party and the enemy of my Challenge, I use Strategy and grant us all an Immediate action movement.

If I see anyone getting into trouble, I can Aid from 30ft away on one of the squishier party members to give them a +6 to their next save or to their AC against the next attack. Or if we're in trouble, I can use Rapid Tactician to give us all Escape Route, Strategy to give us an Immediate Action movement, and Swift Aid to Aid anyone who is dangerously low.

I like this build. I like it a lot. The only thing I'm not sure of is if Combat Reflexes will really be of any use. Might swap it out for Cleave or Step Up, don't know what would be more useful. What do y'all think?

EDIT: Would also like comments on attribute importance. I feel like I have to spread things a little thin so I'm skimping on DEX since I'll have good armor and a shield to beef that up. CON I need to take hits, INT for the Initiative bonus and for my other abilities, STR is obvious, and I don't want to drop WIS or CHA too low because I need WIS for Perception and CHA for extra Intimidate.

I'm not primarily ranged. I generally start off with ranged attacks until the enemy is in melee range and ten move in and strike. My melee damage is FAR superior to my ranged damage, so I was going to build off the cat's ability to Trip.

Don't know what to do to boost that, though, since Weapon Finesse already gives me Dex to my CMB for Trip

Ah, I see. So what are good recommendations for gear to equip?

Mithril Chain Shirt, I imagine?
Belt of Dexterity
Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists (or some equivalent)

???

Any other suggestions?

I don't understand this business with Tricks. It seems like a pretty dumb system. I understand the idea behind it for some of them, for some of the specialized ones like Flank or whatever, but it seems awfully...unnecessary.

What Tricks are important?

EDIT: Also, what slots can animals use for equipment?

Well, the spell-less ranger gets his full Ranger level for the Animal Companion so the AC is more potent than the standard Ranger. I was thinking about Weapon Finesse and Power Attack, then getting Armor Proficiency and putting money aside for better gear.

We're playing in a modified world based on Dragon Age so enchantments are a bit harder to come by. We also get max hit points per level so his HP ain't too bad right now.