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I am considering building a Barbarian with lesser and regular fiend totem. Basically whenever someone strikes me they take 1d6 points of damage from these spikes that surround my body. If I have an amulet of mighty fists, would it increase the damage?

Synthesists use the Eidolons BaB when fused. This is nice for non multiclassing characters as the BaB is higher. But if I want to multiclass, my eidolon's BaB will end up in the toilet. It would be nice to have something similar to boon companion, or even better an ability that allows you to use your own statistics if higher. Something like this:

Absorb Caster Essence

An fused eidolon absorbs the caster's BaB and physical ability scores when they are higher then his own. Eidolons do not need to absorb all of the scores, only the ones higher then his own.

or

Boon Eidolon

Your Eidolon's BaB and HD are calculated as though your summoner level was 4 higher, to a maximum effective summoner level equal to your character level. This does not effect skills, feats, ability scores, or max attacks.

I am playing around with a rogue build, and I was hoping for some feedback. The character will focus on AoO and tripping. He will wield a whip and will trip, entangle (fury's snare), and use wands. I am thinking silent image will probably be the more common wand, but web and entangle will likely be common as well. I cannot believe how feat intensive whips are.

He will be a drow blooded half elf. I figure a rogue should have darkvision even if it gives him light sensitivity. He will take a few levels of the fighter archtype lore warden. His stats will be:
STR: 7 DEX: 18 CON: 15 INT: 14 WIS: 15 CHA: 15

Here is the feat chain:

1 Fighter 1 [race] Exotic Weapon Prof (Whip), [level] Antagonize [class] Weapon Finesse,
2 Rogue 1
3 Rogue 2 [class] Weapon Training: Whip [level] Whip Mastery
4 Fighter 2 [class] Combat Expertise, [class] Improved Trip,
5 Fighter 3 [class] Manuever Mastery, [level] Fury's Fall,
6 Fighter 4 [class] Imp Whip Mastery
7 Rogue 3 [level] Greater Trip
8 Rogue 4 [class] Combat Training: Fury's Snare
9 Rogue 5 [level] Combat Reflexes
10 Rogue 6 [class] Trap Spotter
11 Rogue 7 [level] Dodge
12 Rogue 8 [class] Fast Stealth,
13 Rogue 9 [level] mobility,
14 Rogue 10 [class] Crippling Strike,
15 Rogue 11 [level] Spring Attack
16 Rogue 12 [class] feat: Whirlwind Attack

And the skills

(points per level) Skill Name: (1) Acrobatics, (1) Perception, (1) Disable Device, (1) Use Magic Device, (.75) Diplomacy, (.75) Intimidate, (.5) Bluff, (.5) Sense Motive, (.5) Stealth, (.5) Slight of Hand, (.25) Disguise

For those unfamiliar with Lore Warden:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fig hter-archetypes/lore-warden

Edit: I can trip everyone within range with Whirlwind Attack right? I should probably get that feat earlier.
Edit 2: I am thinking of getting wands of summon minor monster, and use them with whirlwind attack for flanking. That is alot of sneak attack damage.

If have a whip and I plan on tripping people with it, which feat would I need? Would agile manuvers allow me to trip with my whip (excuse the rhyme :-)). I noticed the FAQ mentions that weapon finesse would allow me to do this, but do I have the choice of either feat? I would rather have Agile Manuevers so that I can use dex to escape grapples without pumping escape artist.

Edit: And as a follow up question, does the scorpion whip allow AoO? If I get a regular whip and the Opportunist rogue talent, would I be allowed to take the AoO generated by the rogue talent with a whip?

If a creature has a fly speed, and a heavy load. Can he fly? If so what is his new speed? Do I just use the same speed changes as though he were walking? It says that a creature can lift double his maximum load off of the ground, but can only stagger around with it. Can I fly with double my maximum load?

I have the improved familiar feat, and my familiar has 3 skill ranks in UMD. I currently have none. So if I put four ranks into UMD, he will increase one rank by raw. I don't have any need for the skill, and want to know if there is anyway use my skill ranks to train my familiar only? If I am willing to give any benefits that I would gain from the skill, can I simply add one rank to my familiar?

If I have a natural armor bonus from my race or an item, would I keep that bonus when I use the Druid's wildshape ability? It says constant bonuses (except AC) remain, but it seems to me that they are referring to AC from armor not magical AC. Am I wrong?

So I read about the Shaping Focus feat (+4 to druid level for the purposes of wild shape), and wondered how I could min/max that feat. I figured a Barbarian could take the most advantage of this. I figured a level 4 druid/rest barbarian would be ideal. I figure they lose 1 BaB and some Hp for going druid, but gain additional +6 Natural armor and Str in exchange, plus they can nearly always be in animal form. Since they can rage while being an animal, they could be bad ass.

What does do you think about this? Invunerable Rager would get half of his level as DR, minus the druid levels of course. This would be very nice. If you went Nagji, you would get an additional 1 natuaral armor and could take certain arcane spells such as mirror image. Healing, mirror image, moment of clarity, wild speech would make a high damage monster that was hard to kill.

I am just looking for feedback.

If I use spellcraft to teach a spell on a scroll to the ring, does that consume the scroll? Basically I am considering wandering around with several scrolls and teach a different spell to the ring depending on the encounter. Would this work? I suppose each time I risk failing the check and having to try again with another spell.

I am making a level 6 Sorcerer, which will probably be human. I definitely want a Faerie Dragon as a familiar, and my DM is letting me get him a level earlier, albiet with temporarily diminished abilities.

I know everyone is against Crossblooded, but at the moment it seems to be the best choice. I am planning on getting Fey and either Arcane or Serpent. Here is my current feat selection

These are assuming I choose Arcane and Fey
Feats: (1) Defiant Luck, [Human] Inexplicable Luck (3) Bestow Luck, (5) Improved Familiar (Faerie Dragon), (7) Greater Spell Focus, [Bonus] Spell Focus (Enchantment), (9) Widen Spell, (11) Heighten Spell, (13) Spell Penetration, [Bonus] Quicken Spell, (15) Spell Perfection (Confusion), (17) Spell Perfection (Hold Person), (19) [Bonus] Silent Spell

Here is the spells so far
0: Ghost Sound, Caltrops, Drench, Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Scoop, Spark, Light, Mending, Mage Hand, Disrupt Undead
1: (Free) Entangle, Silent Image, Charm Person, Grease, Ray of Enfeeblement, Vanish
2: (Free) Hideous Laughter, Web, Touch of Idiocy, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Pyrotechnics, Glitter Dust,
3: (Free) Dispel Magic, Haste, Hold Person, Stinking Cloud, Suggestion, Summon Monster
4: (Free) Poison, Dimension Door, Confusion, Enervation, Moonstruck, Black Tentacles
5: (Free) Tree Stride, Feeblemind, Cloud Kill, Dominate Person, Telekinesis
6: (Free) Mislead, Repulsion, Cloak of Dreams, Serenity
7: (Free) Greater Teleport, Mass Hold Person

and my stats
STR: 7 DEX: 14 CON: 15 INT: 14 WIS: 12 CHA: 20

I am planning on using my favored class to pick up extra spells each level. I may have too many or too few spells on certain levels.

Basically I am planning on very rarely using any damage spells. Charm, Dominate, Hideous Laughter, Confusion, and Web/Entangle are going to be the basic idea each round. My familiar will be wielding a wand and delivering touch spells while invisible when necessary.

I really like the Fey's laughing touch ability, as it seems like a fantastic lifeline. Also if I pick up a Sorerer's Robe, I think I will be able to use ranged. We will see what the DM has to say about that :-)

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/robe- sorcerer-s

I have a few things that I do not like though. I do not expect to use metamagic often, I don't like increasing spell levels. If that is the case, then I am getting several feats and an bloodline arcane that I will rarely use. I am picking up the metamagic feats strictly for Spell Perfection. I have never played a Sorc before, however, and I may find myself using these feats far more often.

The human feats seem better designed for a fighter, and the ability to force my opponent to reroll a crit confirmation roll seems useless as I expect most monsters will be unable to miss me with my low AC. I am picking them up because adding 8 to my allies rolls seems fantastic, and game changing.

I have a few other ideas. Pick up Racial Heritage, Lucky Halfling and Well prepared. Instead of the human feats. Or Racial Heritage and Effortless Trickery for Silent Image. Maintaining Silent Image as a sift action, or rerolling an allies saving throw using my saves 1/day may be superior, and is cheaper feat wise.

Also if I went serpent and fey, I could pick up the magical knack trait which should remove the minus to my class level for my familiar. Also because a dragon is reptile like, I may be able to pick the Faerie Dragon. I am thinking raw would say no, but it could go either way. I like the class skill and bloodline arcana way better for Serpent, although I wouldn't use any of serpents feats.

Another solution would be to drop the crossblooded, an idea I really like. One way to do that would be to get the tatooed sorcerer archtype. I am not big on losing the 1st level power, though. I may pick up Eldritch Heritage just to get it back.

What does everyone think? I feel my feat selection is subpar at best, and I don't feel as I am using the crossblooded to it's full potential, as I am using 90% fey, and just one or two other abilities.

How do tattoos work? If I tattoo mirror image on myself, does that remove the duration? Do I use one of my castings when tattooing myself? What about Vanish?

Can someone explain how this works and suggest some spells to use with it?

If two creatures are communicating, and one of them has telepathy. Do they both need to talk aloud? Basically can the creature with telepathy hear thoughts directed at him by non telepathic creatures? Can I allow telepathic creatures to hear certain thoughts?

Do improved familiars grant bonuses when they are near you similarly to regular familiars? I don't see anything listed, so I am guessing no, but I figured I would ask anyway.

Do they advance in level at all, or do they just gain health as you advance? I am looking at getting a faery dragon which is a level 3 Sorc. Very cool stuff. It says in the description that they gain levels in Sorc as they age.

What is the rules with skill tricks? If I know a skill trick, do they know it as well?

Does a sorcerer have to use all of the wildblooded changes, or can he pick and choose? I am interested in going with the wildblooded sage archtype which allows you to use Int instead of Cha for all class abilities, this replaces the plus 1 to DC when using metamagic. The problem is sage replaces the familiar with a lame arcane bolt. I want to keep the familiar. Anything official on this? I don't think the DM would take issue with this, but I wouldn't mind something to back up the idea.

Last night we were fighting Ghasts and killed many of them. We created a wall of dead ghasts to block off a cavern entrance so we could sleep. During the night some new ghasts show up and begin moving the bodies. We hear them and send the rogue to investigate. He shoots one and runs. After a few minutes nothing happens. We move forward and correctly guess they are hiding in the pile of bodies.

It says the spell cannot do damage, but it can slowly lift objects weighing up to one pound. So according to the rules I can lift a dagger.

Can I pick up my dagger using the spell and move it into the eye of one of the corpses? The bodies are not moving, so I do not mind this taking 20 minutes to line the dagger up on the eye. My goal is to slowly to keep stabbing eyes until one of the ghasts jumps. It seems ranged attacks would be smarter, but I didn't realize the severe range limitations of the spell last night.

According to my DM, I cannot even use the spell to move the dagger through a piece of paper as this would damage the paper. I believe that the dagger is the one damaging the ghast/paper, rather then the spell. Because the spell is only indirectly damaging the object, the rule doesn't apply. Since the spell specifically states the object is moved slowly, I could never use this against a moving dodging creature.

Can I get an official ruling on this?

In 3.5 tumbling was a bit overpowered as the DC never increased and characters no longer needed to roll. In pathfinder we have a system that uses a monsters CMD instead allowing the DC to go up as the monster's difficulty increases. This makes more sense, but weakens tumbling to the point of becoming too expensive for marginal gains. Since CMD is increased by BaB: most fighter type monsters will usually have an approximately 50% chance of getting their AoO. Advanced tumbling maneuvers such as tumbling through a square becomes nearly impossible. If a monster has a 50% of hitting me as I tumble past, is it worth it to gain flanking? Maybe if someone is sneak attacking, otherwise no. Any lightly armored tumbler has armor check penalties making the maneuvers even more likely to fail.

Armored fighters should be slow, and easy to run past. Large creatures should be the easiest targets when tumbling through their square. According to pathfinder's rules, however, they are both harder targets to move past. We should not have to invest in magical items, or spend feats to use a skill for it's main purpose. Acrobatics has many uses, but the most obvious is tumbling and without feats a non halfing will never be better then average at it. Also you will need to invest max ranks just to stay average.

There are several solutions to the problem, but one must first realize a key motivation behind the change. Simplicity. Paizo didn't want a new rule for every situation. This makes sense as the alternative would lead to confusion and time waisted looking up rules.

An easy fix would be using the feint rules for tumbling as tumbling past someone would be very similar to feinting. Make a DC 10 + opponents sense motive check to succeed. This would make it very easy to succeed at later levels against most monsters, but would also allow monsters to invest skills in stopping tumbling.

Another possibility would be to use half the creatures HD, instead of BaB, for the creatures CMD when using acrobatics to tumble past a creature. This would increase the complexity, but also allow fighters (who have too few skills already) to remain difficult to tumble past.

For those unconvinced, this about this character:
An average tumbler would be a human rogue wearing a chain shirt with 16 dex. This is a character that should be able to tumble effectively. I think effectively would be about 75% success rate against the average monster. Doing the math this gives the rogue an acrobatics of 4 plus his level. At higher levels he can expect this to reach a 7 plus level due to dex boosting items, and ability score increases. As a rough guess I would estimate 35% success against the average monster. Rogues do not have the HP to survive many hits, tumbling past one creature would be too risky and tumbling past several could result in death.

I am DMing a group that has been battling boars and wolves and I am wondering how to properly play the animals. If a grease is cast between the monsters and the players, will the animal walk around it?

How will they react to illusionary sounds? A big bang I don't think would scare them. The players tried to get them to chase the sounds of people talking. Any other tactics that should work?

This is their first time playing so I am going to give them hints of what works and what doesn't.