thalion's page

I had a lvl 2 Samurai (Ronin)/ninja in PFS that could outdamage fighters... without using his sneak attack.

Hmmm, I'd be interested in seeing that ronin/ninja build if you don't mind sharing it?

I've already specced dueliest to 16th level with three different builds. One Fighter/Duelist, one Ninja/Monk/Duelist and a Ninja/Magus/Duelist. If you are interested in seeing any of them let me know and I'll post a stat block from Hero Lab.

Hawktitan, could you please post the Ninja/Magus/Duelist build? I was toying with the concept of going Ninja/Magus (and more specifically kensai for the flavor) but could not find a way to make it work. Maybe I could get some insight from your build.

Thanks for the quick responses!

New player here.

I saw the errata and thread that says you can't use Vital Strike with Spring Attack.

However, can you do a Power Attack as the single attack when you do a Spring Attack?

Thanks everyone!

You can spend your skill points on any skill (but only one rank per level).

Oh, does that mean that at 2nd level, I couldn't add two points to a skill I didn't allocate any points to previously?

Thank you for the clarifications on UMD. I found those very helpful.

Hi, I'm completely new to Pathfinder. Haven't played 3e or 3.5e either so this is all new to me. (I'm an old 1e player).

A couple of people are planning on starting a Pathfinder game so I'm in the process of trying to generate a character for it.

As such, I anticipate having a bunch of questions as I go.

My first set of questions revolve around skills.

Okay, a class gets x number of skill points per level and that is modified by his intelligence bonus. I get that.

I also get the fact that each class has a list of class skills.

Does that mean I can only spend my skill points on those class skills or can I spend them on any skill I want?

If the latter, is the only difference between a class skill and a non-class skill the +3 bonus that class skills give when you add a point to it initially?

Question about UMD. I think I understand but I'm not wholly certain. From what I ascertain, a character can use a wand normally if the wand contains a spell from that character class spell list. But, if the wand doesn't... is that when the UMD check comes in?

So, I notice that the Magus has UMD as a class skill meaning that it's a skill he should at least think about taking because he might want to use it to cast wand spells that aren't on his spell list.

A wizard, on the other hand, doesn't have it as a class skill presumably because the wizard spell list is assumed to know all of the wizard spells and thus wouldn't need UMD. Is that a correct assumption?

How about if a wizard wanted to cast a cleric spell from a wand. Would he need to make a UMD check?

Also regarding wands in general. It says that you can use a wand to cast a spell that is on your spell list. Can you use a wand to cast a spell higher level than you have access to if it's on the class spell list or is it limited to spells that you can actually cast?

Finally, I'm planning on going with a magus/ninja multiclass combination. I notice ninjas (like rogues) have UMD as a class skill. If I were only interested in using a wand to cast spells from a magus spell list, would I need to make a UMD check as a ninja if I was multi-classed with magus?

How would you make his stats, assuming a 20 point buy?

Your thoughs are appreciated greatly but I was hoping to go more ninja than kensai whereas you propose going more magus than ninja.

Will it work okay going the other way?

Truesidekick, forgive the newbie question but why would having wakizashi proficiency make the kensai a great choice? Is it simply because the kensai would have access to improved crit?

Thanks ShadowcatX,

As Hayato Ken was saying, I figured I would just go into Kensai enough to get some buffing spells. There's already two front line fighters so I don't plan on being in melee combat all the time.

I was thinking of going with a ninja with limited spell use but I figure that multiclassing with a full spell casting class would make my ability to hit anything really bad.

My mistake was thinking that the Magus was a full BAB class (I'm new and not really familiar with everything yet) but with it being a 3/4 class, I can see why people are saying that I would have a hard time hitting things.

I wasn't planning on going deep into kensai (magus) and definitely not for offensive stuff. I was looking for utility and buffing things and I figure I could use the arcane pool to add int to attack rolls.

Ah, I see what everyone is saying.

Back to the drawing board.

I've never played Pathfinder before but a couple of friends of mine are starting a campaign at level 3.

I was planning on playing an elf ninja but got the idea of going ninja/kensei with the emphasis on the former.

I'm not looking for optimal. I'm just looking to see if the concept is viable.

It's as much for flavor as anything else.