A character based solely on crafting

[Jibberjabba]

Ok so I am kindda new to Pathfinder (I was in a one shot game and played a fighter) and I had an idea for a character but since my GM and group is fairly new we couldnt come up with an answer. So we plan to run Carrion Crown and I wanted to make a character that uses wands, rods, and staffs like a gunslinger would use a gun. I want him to rely mostly on his extended selection of rods and wands and other magical items he builds. I would take quick draw so I could constantly switch between wands and rods to blast out spells. Does this sounds possible? I was looking at wizard as a class but I feel bard might give me more as a skill monkey. Any ideas?

[Seranov]

I'd advise against it. While it would be cool to have a very large number of spells to cast (as a wand lets you cast more often than you would, normally) the spells in wands tend to be quite a bit lower-level than if the spell was cast by a caster. A level 2 Wizard with 18 Int using a CL1 wand of Shocking Grasp isn't going to do terribly much compared to just casting the spell themselves (DC15 vs. DC11, 2d6 vs. 1d6 damage)

You absolutely could make a character like this, but I imagine you would start feeling inadequate pretty early on unless you changed your focus towards doing the spellcasting yourself (and/or spending a ton, if not all, of your wealth on making wands/rods/staves).

[Kazred]

It's not exactly what you described, you might want to consider an Alchemist. They're very much a 'bag of tricks' kind of character and they have the points to be a decent skill monkey. You'll be using potions and bombs more than wands, but UMD is a class skill so there's nothing to stop you from packing a half-dozen wands along side your other toys.

[Morgen]

Hate to burst your bubble but Quick Draw doesn't work like that anymore (well anymore if you played 3rd edition D&D.)

Alchemical items, potions, scrolls, and wands cannot be Quick Drawn as per the feat itself.

Being well equipped with disposable magic items for different situations is still completely fine to work towards and should work just fine for most games. If you had some super fast leveling or high level game it would be less useful.

Also you might consider Magus as I think they had some arcana stuff that dealt with wands which might be interesting for you?

[Tjaeden]

Isn't there a feat tree based around dual-wielding wands?
And if you get higher level, you can take feats to use your spell slots/DCs instead of a staff.

Go with Wizard + item, make it a cool wand. I went with a Diviner + Amateur Gunslinger and made a revolver my special item for that very campaign - not amazingly overpowered, but cool and very versatile.

Also, this is expensive at lower levels.

And when I saw the thread topic, I thought you wanted to make a Blacksmith or the like =P

[RumpinRufus]

If you can convince your GM, the 3.5 class Artificer (from Eberron) sounds like exactly what you're looking for. I think it's been adapted for Pathfinder, although I've only tried out the 3.5 version.

If you want to dual-wield wands, there's a prestige class (also 3.5) called Cannith Wand Adept.

However, Artificer is the single most gear-dependent class there is, and I think I've heard the Carrion Crown is very skimpy on loot. I might suggest you wait to play an Artificer-type character for a richer campaign. (I came into a campaign with a level 11 Artificer who only had about one-sixth of the standard wealth-by-level, and it's been quite tricky to stay effective without a lot of cash, although I can usually contribute with things like Wall of Force and Solid Fog (which is a far far better spell in 3.5))

[Psion-Psycho]

Wizard with the staf-like wand discovery makes wands effective at ay level. Best damage dealing wand in my opinion are fireball, lightning bolt, magic missile, melf's acid arrow, and disrupt undead.

[LibraryRPGamer]

If your GM will let you use 3rd party stuff, there is the Artificer and Machinesmith on the SRD. I'd give you fancy links, but, my HTML skills are failing me right now. So, here are some URLs:

Artificer - http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/art ificer

Machinesmith - http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/louis-porter-jr-design/ma chinesmith

[EvilMinion]

Yea, the Staff-Like wand discover alone makes going wizard sort of a must. Though even then, you're not going to see that benefit 'til level 10 or so.

You might also want to make yourself a half elf, and take the racial option for the Arcane Training racial trait... (though I'm a little unclear on how it works, it seems like it might be useful)

[Morgen]

Oh wait, this if for Carrion Crown? Yeah....not really a good adventure path for that particular idea. Might want to shelve it for some other time.