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A friend of mine wants to play a Bard that uses his music as a weapon. Like, a guitar that deals sound damage or something like that. Any ideas on how to make this work?

Hello, folks.

I've asked before about some rules on possession to try and build what I want for my game, but the more I think about it, the more I'm sure there is already something similar to it in the system and I'm just missing it.

I want to include a demonic conspiracy in my game. There is an international alliance spearheaded by the church of Asmodeus and these demon worshippers are infiltrated in it, trying to bring their masters to the material world. For these cultists, I wanted them to be hosts to demon possession - once you defeat the host, you have to fight the actual demon.

Greater Possession solves some of my problems, but Occult Adventures is silent on voluntary possession (or at the very least I couldn't find anything about it).

What I want is for the demon to grant the host some kind of special ability during possession. I don't want to bring the old 3.5 rules into it if at all possivle (Fiendish Codex has some guidelines for demon possession which I could borrow, otherwise).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can make this work?

Guys, where can I find rules for demonic possession? I tried a quick search on the PRD and d20pfsrd and came up empty.

I just noticed that a Shield Champion Brawler with Bodyguard, In Harm's Way and Combat Advice pretty much covers all the bases for a Captain America build (by level 5, no less).

Where to go from there? More Brawler? Paladin?

Isn't it about time we got a unicorn miniature?

Which is the best class to take advantage of a half-orc's Sacred Tattoo + Fate's Favored?

I'm going to DM for a few players that are new to Pathfinder tomorrow. I wanted some kind of spell/power card handout to give them. I'm sure someone must have done that already. Do you guys know where I can find it?

Hello, fellows. I'm going to start a new game soon. Players begin at 5th level. Now, my players want to try a few odd concepts and I want to help them, but I don't know exactly how. Also, I need some help with encounter building. Can you guys help me? ^^

1) One of my players wants to run a shapeshifting unicorn, basically a unicorn that has a human form. I don't think a unicorn would fit a 5th level party, so I'm looking for alternatives. A skinwalker kind of works. Beast Shape IV would work for unicorn shape, but it's not accessible at 5th level. I think the Hunter's Animal Focus helps. I'm thinking something along the lines of a unicorn who was cursed to live in a human form, but can still tap it's potential. So basically - how much unicorn can I cram into a skinwalker, and how?

2) Another of my players wants to create weapons and armor from enemies he kills, like Monster Hunter. He wants to run a Master Craftsman Ranger, but I'm afraid that is going to be somewhat underpowered. Any suggestions on how to make this work or how to fullfil this concept in another way?

3) For my first adventure, I think I'm going with a town that gets attacked by a ragtag gang of hobgoblins. The players find out the hobgoblins lived kinda peacefully in a cave nearby, but a goblin tribe forced them out. The tribe is a barghest cult and I'm toying with the idea of giving the barghest leader a Large green dragon as a mate - meaning I get a hook to throw a half-dragon barghest at them later.
I don't want to limit myself to goblins and worgs, though. What other encounters can I use to make this a bit more colorful, without moving away from the theme too much?

Thanks in advance!

Wind is really strong out there - 50 knots. In Pathfinder terms, that's a windstorm. I read the wind rules just for the heck of it and figure out if I was a Pathfinder character, I'd have to make Str checks to get back to my room.

Reading the wind rules raised a few questions, though:
1) If you fail your Str check to move forward, is your move action still spent?
2) Do you make a Str check for every square or movement or just one Str check per round?
3) Can you make Magic Missile attacks during windstorms?

Wish me luck on those Str checks, I need to get some sleep soon! :D

Hello, folks.
I'm a bit confused by the Picaroon archetype. It gets Two-weapon Finesse and Melee Shooter only works if you're using two weapons. However, it doesn't replace Precise Strike, so you basically lose an ability (and a pretty powerful one, at that) for nothing.
I really like the idea of a dual wielding Swashbuckler and was considering how to make this archetype work. Betwee the dagger pistol and the Gun Twirling feat, I think you could begin your turn with both guns in hand, shoot one, put the other one away, draw the other as a dagger and use Precise Strike with it. You would be fighting with two weapons, but since you can always draw or sheathe your guns before and after you attack with Gun Twirling and Quick Draw, I think Precise Strike works. Not only that, it should work for melee normally.
Mind you, it's a feat intensive way to achieve a dual wielding Swashbuckler, but I think it works. Am I wrong?

Hey guys.
I was thinking and I realized it has been a long time since I've tried a d20 game inspired by classic JRPGs (Final Fantasy IV, V and VI, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, etc). So I want to do that and I want to do Pathfinder. What I'm looking for are ideas on what I should do.

Which elements of Pathfinder are best suited for a JRPG style game?
How should I make the setting? I have no idea on which plot I'm going to run.
Which 3rd party material should I use? I'm definitely going to use Path of War and Psionics Unleashed, but what else?
Are there any items or monsters you think work specially well in such a format?
Should I start the game with few players and gradually expand the roster, as it usually happens in JRPGs?

Any suggestions would be very very welcome.

Does anyone know of a way to get an oracle's curse without actually being an oracle?

So, I am going to give some rewards to the player characters in the game. One of them is a dual wielding Swashbuckler (with a homebrewed feat that allows Precise Strike with dual wielding) and I'm consideing giving him a Sun Blade and a Gloom Blade, because I think it's incredibly cool. They just hit 10th level.
Am I being too nice?

Hey, guys.
As a sideplot, I'm going to introduce a kolyarut going after a member of my party. I don't want to make this inevitable too complicated, but I don't want to make it too powerful as well. I want to try and optimize it using only the treasure it is supposed to have (a +2 bastard sword plus 13,500gp) and moving its feats around (maybe skill ranks as well, thought those seem fine). One thing I noticed is that the kolyarut can easily have a bunch of allies with geas.
Any suggestions on which feats I should trade, which allies it should have and which items it should buy?

Hey, guys. I'm planning the next story arcs in my game and I would like some feedback on the basic plot and possible encounters I could run. This is for a 10th level party, btw.

Arc #1: Armaggedon Engine & Friends
Some giants are terrorizing a viking country. They are fighting fiercely, but losing ground because the giants have guns. Big guns. I'm including a giantess with a hair pin that casts haste, a giants wielding cannons as two-handed firearms and catapults throwing trolls over city walls so they can regenerate inside. Players are actually after the hair pin, which is part of a bigger magical item they are assembling. Another complication is that some agents from a magitech dystopia want the same item and that the vikings don't really want any help.
The twist is that the "giants" are actually vikings from a tarrasque worship cult and have move morphed into that form. Cue giantess becoming a mini-tarrasque dual wielding cannons for the final fight.

Arc #2: The Dark Phoenix Saga
A crime lord is trafficking in spellcasters, using geas and magical items to keep them under control. That crime lord is a corrupted phoenix. Her second in command is a witch, who actually does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to actually enslaving those spellcasters. Specific techniques on slaving spellscaters would help, I can just homebrew some slave collars but I'd like to avoid that.
Punishment technique for this crime lord is roasting enemies alive in his aura, which makes them come back as wights afterwards. I'm ruling the wights are under her command as well, just because.

Arc #3: Undead Revolution
A previous great empire suddenly rises in power through adhering to strict discipline through devil worship. A revolution tried to topple that regime, but was crushed by the devil worshippers. The leader returned as a powerful undead. He is planning to cause major catastrophe to create a gashadokuru out of it. His unlikely allies include the revolutionaries themselves, most of whom believe him to be alive (instead of undead) and the hamadryad from a nearby forest choosing the smaller of two evils. His mount is a gorynch. A marut is coming for the revolutionary, which might be either good or bad for the players.

Hey, guys. I have a kobold Swordsage/Sorcerer in my game and I'm having trouble coming up with a magical item around 10k to givi him as a reward for a quest. He already has all the basics, such as ability enhancers and AC bonuses.

Hey, guys.
You know how in some videogames you defeat a boss and then he transforms, becoming a monster, and you have to fight it again?
I like doing that kind of thing in my game, keeping it for climatic fights. In 3.5, I did it with Craft Contingent Spell - revivify + heal to get them back in the fight plus whatever transformation spell I wanted.
Pathfinder doesn't have multiple contingencies (for good reason), so in my current game I'm using modifier orbs of dragonkind. They have all the powers of orbs of dragonkind and orbs of dragonshape, plus if you're defeated when you have one, it casts heal + form of the dragon III on you. So far it only happened once (my players are fighting an organization that is gathering the robs) but the effect was so very well. I even threw a Valkyrie Profile reference for good measure - "my soul burns... my power has awakened!"

Of course, I won't be able to use the orbs of dragonkind every campaign (neither do I want to do it). Basically, what I'm asking here is:
- do you have any stories about dual form bosses in your Pathfinder game?
- do you know of any ways to get dual form bosses in the Pathfinder rules, even if you haven't used it yourself?

Thanks in advance!

I think the concept behind the blocking weapon trait is very cool and I'd veyr much like to use it. However, as it is it sucks. It's stuck at +1, doesn't stack with an off-hand, doesn't stack with Two-Weapon Defense. Is there any way to optimize this or am I just gonna have to houserule something?

Hey guys.
One of my players has a character that is one of the best swordfighters in the world. Due to some in character reasons, he will be putting that character away for a while.
I want to get ready for when that character comes back, though. The idea is that she is going back to her homeland to investigate some problems, but she will arrive at the same time a swordfighting tournament is going on.
What I need your help with is who is going to be in the tournament. I'm looking for swordfighting builds, around level 4~7. The player character is 9th level, but she is really supposed to be the best so I don't anyone at the same level as she is (except for the previous guy who was in this position - he's 11th level, but he's old and doesn't fight anymore).

Any help here, guys?

Hello, folks.

In the game I DM, I have a janni wizard who took control of a big region of the world. He unified separate tribes into an empire. He did this by enslaving genies (carefully choosing which genies no one would miss and keeping this a secret) and milking wishes out of them. I haven't defined how many genies he has enslaved, but I'm guessing ten is a good number.

Even though he can get whatever he wants from the wishes, he controls it very well - you can only benefit from that if you're completely loyal to him. So basically, everyone in the empire is more or less well fed and well provided for, unless you are against him in any way - then it's no soup for you. If you're skilled at something or if he just likes you, expect top grade pay, a heroes' feast every day - that kind of stuff.

This means he can equip his troops with basically anything he wants. My players are about to meet a diplomat from this empire (the janni's grandson, a suli Magus) with a few bodyguards (human Fighters, I'm guessing 4th level - they're elite, after all). Which equipment should I give them?

My party is level 9, but I'm more worried about the wish thing making sense than WBL and balance here. All suggestions are pretty much welcome.

Hey, guys. I quite like the catfolk racial feat Nimble Striker. I was thinking on ways to get the most out of it, but aside from the obvious feats needed (Lunge, Cleave, Claw Pounce) I don't know what I'd take. Catfolk Exemplar is not as good as it could be...
I'm not sure about which class I should use. Ranger sounds like an easy choice, since I could choose the natural weapon fighting style and take Aspect of the Beast as a bonus feat. Psychic Warrior also sounds apropriate, but I really want full bab for this build. Slayer (from the ACG) looks like a good choice, with the skill points and bonus damage to improve upon Claw Pounce.
Is there any way in Pathfinder to get iterative attacks with claws?
This is initially for an NPC in the game I DM, but if I get a PF game to play in I would play something like this.

Hello, guys. One of my players is rebuilding his character as a Swashbuckler. I allowed him to use a custom feat to dual wield short swords and still get to use his Swashbuckler abilities (such as Precise Strike). He is 9th level human Swashbuckler.

Any suggestion on feats and equipment for him?

Hello! I've been considering using a Red Mantis Assassin against my party for a while. The Slayer playtest class looks perfect for this. Any suggestions on feats I could take for such an NPC?

I'm planning on running a murder mystery subplot in my next game. I was wondering if anyone has ever done that in Pathfinder and if you have any suggestions on what I should or should not use, what an assassin could do to cover his tracks even if magic is used against him and all that.

Hello, guys!
For my next PF session, I'm planning a kind of murder mistery.
A noble is being attacked by a particularly canny revenant. The players are hired to protect him. Thing is, the revenant has backup as well - he comes with some minions (minor undead) and buffs.
The (kinda obvious) twist is that the revenant was the noble's lover. She was daughter to a spellcaster, who is buffing her and giving her minions to help her. However - and this is a least obvious twist, IMHO - it was her father who killed her and used illusions to look like it was the other guy.

This looks cool enough to me, but I want help with the spellcaster. Which class should I make him? I wanted to get fox's cunning on the revenant, to justify her running away when overpowered. I think Alchemist fits the mad scientist vibe, but I need minions (and undead could work). Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, this is for a 5th level game.

Let's say I want to play a character similar to Hiryu, from Strider and MvC series. Which class work work better?
I'm considering Fighter (Swordmaster)/Ninja or Soulknife.

Hey, guys.
So, the Skirmisher archetype for Rangers can get some tricks. One of those is Stag's Leap, which could be worded better:

"Stag’s Leap (Ex): As a free action, the Ranger can attempt a running jump without moving 10 feet before the jump."

Does this mean you can, as a free action, gain the ability to make a running jump without a running or start or does it mean you get to jump without a running start as a free action? I like the second option better, but it does sound a bit too powerful, specially compared to other movement-related tricks such as Surprise Shift and Chameleon Step.

Hello, guys.
I have a new campaign coming up and one of my players is interested in having a unicorn mount. However, with Leadership, you have to be at least 10th level to get a unicorn. Not only that, the unicorn looks severely underpowered when compared to its folks as 8th level cohorts, such as the Shadow Mastiff or the Giant Owl; it looks more in line with the Pegasus, a 6th level cohort. Should I just houserule unicorns to be lower level?

Hello, folks.
I have a doubt: as far as I know, Synthesist Summoners can't use the eidolon's ability scores to qualify for feats because they are not on 24/7. OK.
However, I've seen plenty of Synthesist Shiva builds running around for Multiweapon Fighting. How does the Synthesist qualify for that feat, since it only has 2 arms? I mean, if the Synthesist can indeed get Multiweapon Fighting, it should be able to use the eidolon's ability scores to fulfill requirementes.

So, as far as I can tell, a half-giant Gunslinger that dips Barbarian (Titan Mauler) can dual wield cannons. I'm thinking about using this in my game, kind of as a curve ball of sorts.

Is this a terrible idea? Will it make for a memorable encounter? How should I build this guy?

Any help is appreciated.

Am I reading something wrong or does a dragon using Alter Self to disguise himself as a human get +2 Str? Isn't that weird?

I'm trying to make a CR 11 Crimson Assassin NPC, but I keep getting more and more confused about the sawtoothed sabre. It is not finesseable, right? So the character would need high Strength.
Also, I don't see any ability for the Crimson Assassin to cast while wielding two swords. Is there any way to go around that? Or should I just select spells that wouldn't be used in combat anyway?
Any suggestions for the pre-Crimson Assassin class?

I think I may be missing something. From what I read, construct armor just means the armor/golem acts as a hit point buffer of sorts. Is that correct?

Hello, guys.
My players will fight a lycanthrope in my next section and I'm considering the possibility of one of them being infected. In fact, one of them could use a power boost and an extra shtick, such as scent (he is a TWF Rogue and is kind of overshadowed by everyone). I'm just not sure how I should deal with that within the rules. The bit about monsters as PCs does not cover templates acquired during play. Should he just get that as freebie, with the disadvantages of the template evening it all out?