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The short version:
Grabbing leadership, specifically want to build a semi-thematic defender for my wizard who will also be helpful in battlefield control. After exploring a ton of options, what I decided on was a Phalanx Soldier Fighter/Witchguard Ranger. He'll be polearm + shield threatening 5' and 10', focusing on primarily the shield and bull rush stuff for feats.

The long version:
My wizard is a collegiate arcanist wizard (so very "good") and has a lot of good-focused feats and spells, worships a good god, etc. He is a buffer/debuffer/controller type wizard, so he'll end up making his cohort even better pretty quickly.

Cohort stats are pre-rolled 18 14 13 12 11 9, and for theme purposes he's going with Angel-Blooded Aasimar (2 str, 2 cha), so his final starting stats will be: 20 13 12 11 14 11 (+1 dex at L4). He's starting at L6.

The feat build so far...
L1 - Ranger: Two Weapon Fighting
L2 - Ranger: Style: Weapon & Shield - Imp. Shield Bash
L3 - Fighter: Shield Slam, Combat Reflexes
L4 - Fighter: Power Attack
L5 - Fighter: Imp. Bull Rush
L6 - Fighter: Gr. Bull Rush

Now, if I'm thinking about this correctly, he will threaten 10' and 5', so he becomes a standing blockade around the wizard or anyone else he's guarding, he can do multiple AOO's (3 per round), and if he successfully shield bashes, he'll get a free AOO on the target (most of the time). Oh, and he'll be using a Madu (heirloom weapon trait), so if he goes defensive, he'll only be -2 for +3 AC (acrobatics)

Here's what I'm thinking the rest of the way...
L7 - Ranger: (Free) Bodyguard, ??
L8 - Ranger: -
L9 - Ranger: ??
L10 - Ranger: Shield Master

So, here's the questions:
1) For levels 1-6, given the thematic angle (a guard for a wizard), do you think there's any more efficient or cool way to go about this?

2) For Levels 7 & 9, what feats would you recommend? (I'm currently debating cleave, cleaving finish, bashing finish, imp. TWF...)

3) Is there anything I'm missing that would make this build not work like I think it will? The plan is to have him kind of "in between" the wizard and the melee, able to hit from 10' out but still catch anything moving to get to the wizard.

Thanks!

I know... I know... but, still.

Let's assume you have a L2 Magus, L3 Viking Fighter.

If he casts the shield spell:
Shield creates an invisible shield of force that hovers in front of you. It negates magic missile attacks directed at you. The disk also provides a +4 shield bonus to AC. This bonus applies against incorporeal touch attacks, since it is a force effect. The shield has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance.

And has the L3 Viking ability Shield Defense:
Starting at 3rd level, a viking learns the art of fighting with a shield. Whenever she is wearing medium, light or no armor and wielding a shield, the viking's shield bonus to AC increases by 1. (etc)

So... the crux of this is in the "wielding" part of the viking ability, IMO. Does a magus who has the shield spell up (which is defined as a shield of force with no penalties) get the +1 shield defense bonus?

Important stuff:

- Custom races are allowed in this game, 10 pt, only "standard" group traits allowed.
- Will have an 18 in Cha starting, rest doesn't really matter right now.
- Not looking for versatility at all, looking for a highly thematic character (see below).
- Not sure which dragon color yet, leaning toward black as acid seems there are slightly less monsters with resistance to it.
- Looking for answer to a specific question below as well as general comments on the build.

So, that said, what I'm looking to do is a "Alpha Kobold" custom race, specifically that will meld well with sorcerer, so here's what I'm thinking:
Humanoid (Kobold Sub-type); Small; Normal Speed; Normal Languages;
Human Ability Scores (0); Flex Feat (4); Advanced Charisma (4); Darkvision: 60' (2);

Crossblooded Draconic/? (Leaning toward Sylvan) - Specifically wanting to do crossblooded, as I will likely not need or want claws for a few minutes a day on this character... he's going to be pure caster. Thinking Sylvan because I can replace claws with a animal companion (and snag boon companion at level 3 or 5).

So, let's assume I'm doing Draconic/Sylvan for now. Here's where things get questionable:

At level 3, I can take woodland stride (which is nice) or Draconic Resistances (here's the problem). But at level 1, I was planning on doing Draconic Aspect and Draconic Breath as feats. I honestly can't remember, or find, whether the two sources of resistance and natural armor would stack. If not, it seems that my only choice would be woodland stride.

Secondary to that... here's what I'm thinking for level 1-3 (he'll be 3rd level when brought in)

Starting Stats: 10 14 13 10 10 22
Fav. Class: Sorc - +1/2 Damage (elemental choice that matches draconic stuff)
Trait: Focused Concentration (+2 Conc)
Trait: ? (leaning toward reactionary or something that bumps handle animal)

L1: Animal Companion (Something scaly); (r) Draconic Aspect; (1) Draconic Breath
L2: -
L3: Draconic Resistance (if it stacks) or Woodland Stride; Bonus Spell: Entangle;(3) Boon Companion

So, at that point, he would have a solid animal companion (possibly one he can ride), a nice backup attack in draconic breath, and possibly really good resistance and nat armor, depending. Spells would include a 0 and 1 level that match the elemental type he's going for, etc.

Thoughts, and answer to the stacking question?

Edit - Nevermind, found my stacking answer... so, general thoughts on the thematic kobold dragon-sorcerer thing?

First, and most importantly, I'm assuming that it's an "all or none" sort of thing when you decide to retrain an archetype. But, the way it is written, it doesn't specifically say that AND it also doesn't specify what is my primary questions here:

:: If a character has Archetype A, can he retrain out of an ability he doesn't want and keep the rest?

:: If he can, could he then retrain into an ability from another archetype that fits that same slot?

:: If both of those are viable, as an example, could a Phalanx Soldier Fighter retrain out of "Stand Firm" (L2 Ability Swap) and then retrain into "Pole Fighting" (L2 Ability Swap from Polearm Fighter)?

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. Again, I'm really just looking for clarification if anyone has seen anything official/semi-official regarding retraining (I looked and couldn't find anything) or in general what you as a GM would allow.

Edit: I just re-read this section in Ult. Campaign and my assumption seems correct, I missed a sentence when I first was reading this, so I guess my questions above are more of a "would you allow" than "is it RAI" - obviously as written it's intended to be all or not.

I mean, half of us have pondered this at one point or another, and aside from the so-so arcane heirophant from 3.5, there's really no good way to combine a companion and a familiar, and really, there should be. After all, with the slew of great combinations of characters that could receive both of these, it'd be nice to not have to manage 2 pets, or at the very least, have one with some added bonuses. Keep in mind this would be for house rules, as it would obviously need a ton of polishing if I were putting this out there as something to put into a paizo product.

So here's my idea...

Imbued Companion
Requirements: Animal Companion class ability; Familiar class ability; Spellcraft 5 Ranks; Handle Animal 5 Ranks (May use Knowledge Nature instead? Either way this sets up for a 5th level character at minimum, which seems reasonable, though I was considering making it potentially available with just the class abilities so that if someone did manage both at 1st level, like a druid with eldritch heritage somehow, then... yeah).

You gain the ability to imbue your animal companion with all of the benefits of a familiar. This requires performing the ritual as listed under the Wizard Familiar entry (Core Rulebook pg. 82), but grants the companion all of the benefits of being a familiar as well, with the following notes:

:: The level of each ability is not changed. The companion gains the abilities listed for the appropriate class level with which you gained the familiar ability, and so on.
:: Only one Natural Armor adjustment may be used - take the higher bonus granted by either your animal companion class ability or familiar class ability.
:: Any improvement (e.g.: Share Spells) that is duplicated in both class abilities does not in any way stack - the improvement is only gained the first time it is available.
:: The Familiar intelligence score can be improved upon with the stat bonuses available from the animal companion class ability.
:: The companions HP is determined by the animal companion ability and is unaffected by any rules regarding the HP or HD of familiars.

Advanced Imbued Companion
Requirements: Imbued Companion; Spellcraft 10 Ranks; Handle Animal 10 ranks (see notes above)

The effective level for your animal companion class ability is now equal to your total class levels. Example: If you are a Druid 5, Wizard 5, you are effectively level 10 for your animal companion class ability and all bonuses and increases linked to it.

Improved Imbued Companion
Requirements: Advanced Imbued Companion;

The effective level for your familiar class ability is now equal to you total class levels while applied to your imbued companion. Example: If you are a druid 5, wizard 5, you are effectively level 10 for your familiar class ability and all bonuses and increases linked to it.

Obviously wording and grammar might need some touch ups, but what do you guys think overall?

Ok, first lets start with the basic part.

Character has 4 Arms which are clawed (1d4 primary), has a bite attack (1d4 primary), and qualifies for Multi-Weapon Fighting (more than 2 arms, dex 13).

Can the character wield a pair of weapons in two of the arms, and still get the natural weapon attacks (claw, claw, bite) with the other two claws and bite as secondary attacks?

Then... let's say the build is something like this (I won't bore you with the whole thing, just the important parts):

Half-Orc (Toothy) Master of Many Styles Martial Artist Monk 5 (stick with me), Vivisectionist Beastmorph Alchemist 4 (sneak attack and more bestial goodies), Natural Weapon Ranger 3 (obviously needed for this build).

Obviously he'd take the vestigial arms (so he has 4 arms), feral combat training (and the pre-req weapon focus), and he'd have imp. unarmed. from monk, and multi-weapon fighting. Not even getting into all the bonuses from the mutagen and so on... the question is, would he be able to do a full attack (remember, he doesn't have FLURRY because of Master of Many Styles) for 3 attacks (multi-weapon and base attacks) and then do his 3 secondary natural attacks? I know it may seem like the same question twice, but I know there's going to be differing opinions on this one out there.

...also, assume that I took any necessary prerequisites to get all this stuff. :P

I know it may seem like there's a lot of feats flying around, but I'm in a custom game where we get more bonus feats than a standard game.

Ok, so... my fellow PF DM and I have had a few different ideas on how to handle some of these things, but I figured I'd put it out here for some help to see if there has been any official errata or any RAW we've missed to help clarify.

For all below, assume we're talking about a character that has 2 Claws and 1 Bite, all primary.

1:: If we're reading correctly, a level 1 character with the above natural attacks could, as a full-attack action, get 2 claws and 1 bite at full base attack bonus. Please let me know if this is not correct, though I think it is.

1a:: If so, let's assume that same character wants to act as if fighting with two weapons, but while still only using natural attacks - would he be able to make an "off-hand" attack with one of his claws or bite, or would it have to be, for example, a kick or head-butt or something?

1b:: If he CAN use his claw/bite as the "off-hand" attack, I know (by RAW) that all of his natural primary attacks would be considered secondary, receiving the -5 attack roll, but would they also receive the penalties from two-weapon fighting, or would those penalties only apply to the "off-hand" attack(s)?

2:: Let's assume a higher level version of the same character (L20 Ranger or something). He's picked up multi-attack, two-weapon fighting, Imp. two-weapon fighting, and Greater two-weapon fighting. Would he effectively be sitting at something like this for the attack roll penalties from attacking with everything:

-2/-2/-2/-2/-7/-12

2a:: Assuming I've done that right, that actually helps answer the first few questions, but then there comes the min-max question of which ends up being better... 3 attacks at full attack bonus and full strength bonus, or 6 attacks with various penalties to attack rolls at only half-strength bonus?