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Welcome, Blithelight!
Glad you're here!
So!
Hello, I'm Blithelight, first post on here, so not much to tell about me.
Right now, I am playing pathfinder for pretty much the first time, but I've dabbled in D&D first edition before so it's not totally foreign to me.
Anyways, my trouble right now is picking a class.
I am currently playing a bard, and in all honesty it's fun, but really isn't something that's wowing me, because I've only ever played a bard.
Right now I'm trying to find a class that wows me and makes me really excited to play it, one I won't get bored of while making or yada yada. Which is really proving to be difficult.
What I'm ultimately looking for is to make a class, that can do ranged aoe, but isn't a sorcerer/wizard or alchemist. I am also unable to use the Summoner, Anti-Paladin, or unchained classes, as per DM request.
Can anyone at all help?
Elements patron witch, fire domain theologian clerics, kineticists, druids, flame oracles, lore shamans.
Well, there's a lot of classes.
As JaM noted: witches, clerics, kineticists, druids, oracles, and shamans all have potentially blasty abilities.
I'm not sure what ranged Area of Effect antipaladins get - if you just mean negative channel, than any non-good cleric can grab that; if you just mean Smite, than a normal paladin has that.
Do summons count? Because any caster can spam those pretty well.
Vigilantes do pretty well (depending on archetype) at ranged and AoE effects, and the magus spell list, starting at 2nd level, has a fair to moderate number (depending on what you mean; some or most of those may not qualify, depending).
The arcanist is neither sorcerer nor wizard, but works kind of like an ever-so-slightly-lesser version of both (you prepare your spells, then spontaneously cast from the list; but you don't get bonus spells), and then the various occult classes have all sorts of things, and the arcane archer can just load an area-of-effect onto its bow, and so on.
There're really a lot of ways to get ranged AoE effects, depending on what you're looking for and what you like.
Do you have any other concepts in mind?
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Druid could be a good fit for you. It's a versatile and powerful class, but it adds complexity step by step. You don't have to figure it all out at first level, and can change your mind about a lot of things along the way.
The only "mistake" you can make at first level is choosing an ability array that doesn't suit your desired role. I.e. if you want to fight, you should have good physical stats. If you just want to cast, don't skimp on wisdom.
Clerics and Oracles are suprisingly good at blasting if built correctly. You need the Flame Mystery for an oracle or the fire (even better: ash) domain for a cleric. Theologian or Ecclesitheurge Archetype helps the cleric A LOT.
You seem limited to fire spells but only until you check the cleric spell list for good evocation spells that can benefit from Greater Spell Focus. There's Sound Burst (AoE disarm!), Shatter, Holy Smite, Flame Strike, Cold Ice Strike, Blade Barrier, Holy Word, Sunbeam, Strombolts, Earthquake, Firestorm, Sunburst and Implosion.
And if you REALLY want to make your GM mad, there's always Dazing Spiritual Weapon...
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Any particular race you want to play? Also what mental stat do you want to use?
Recommendation by Stat
Int Magus
Wis Cleric Fire Theologian
Cha Flame Oracle
Also, why no sorcerer? They are simple, powerful, and effective
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If I might make a suggestion, your indecision may be due to the fogginess of your concept.
Remember Pathfinder and D&D variations are primarily heroic fantasy games, allowing you to fulfill archetypes from heroic fantasy fiction.
"Ranged AoE" isn't a character concept any more than "Damage Dealer" or "High AC". Those are benefits a character has, not a concept in and of themselves.
Might I suggest, thinking about a heroic archetype you'd like to fulfill? Then finding an unusual way to fill it?
What if you're a Gandalf type, but you play a storm Druid? (I'll bet you'll be pretty happy with the ranged AoE there)
What if you're a mad-bomber what bombs at midnight, but you're an unchained rogue with an archetype that grants some alchemist goodies?
What if you want to be someone blessed/cursed with elemental power? A Bloodrager, a Sorcerer/Fighter/Dragon-Disciple, or Kineticist might fit the bill.
I dunno, I find it hard to build characters around abstractions like damage output. However building "the best spy in Brevoy", or "Exile from a Foreign Land", or "Kid with his first sword and a naive sense of honor" is easy to build for.
Well the problem is that classes, mainly physical ones are early on powerful, maybe enough to "Wow" you. The higher difficulty classes like wizards, clerics, and druids take more time to work well but once they do they have an impressive list of spells.
Unless you actually work to make a unique build it easy to make a "cookie-cutter" idea that applies to most types of characters. You a have a tier 9 caster? Pick Quicken spell. Melee character, Power Attack.
Ranged AOE is something most casting classes can do, but not level 1. I only know if the Druid's Entangle spell at that point.
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The Kineticist isn't a Sorcerer, Wizard, or Alchemist but can do AoE. With average BAB, light armor, and high Con you might be able to step up and do some fighting too.
Your race giving charisma can help, but if you want that kind of social skills, you probably want a class that gives you a reason to have high charisma and a good amount of skill points. Oracle might be a good match for that (or possibly the charisma-based archetype of Kineticist, though that archetype is a bit on the weak side). Vigilante and Swashbuckler are also pretty good at charisma stuff, but not as good at ranged AOE.
Also, I think considering the flavor aspects of race is really important, especially since +Dex +Cha like you seem to want is like, the most common bonus array. Do you want to have blood from another plane? Do you want to be exotic and eyecatching when you walk around town? Do you want people to think you're creepy and have a hard time being out during the day? Do you want to be small? Do you want to be human, or do you especially want to be not human?
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A flying blade Advanced Class Guide swashbuckler that uses the Weapon Master Handbook startoss style feat chain will be able to hit multiple targets with one dagger throw.
And in addition to 5 levels of Swash you could take 4 levels of Weapon Master fighter to pick up the Richochet Toss advanced weapon training feat so your favorite friendly dagger returns to your hand after.
It might be more complicated or less magical then you're looking for, but it came to mind.
Otherwise, magus will eventually get AoE.. . A Myrmidarch magus could also do similar dagger hijinks without multiclassing..
That's one of the problems I have, I don't want to rely to heavily on spells or melee, I really want a mix between the middle, but to still be powerful if I do go down the middle between the two.
To everyone else that I didn't specifically quote, if you want to keep throwing ideas or thoughts in please do, the more the merrier, it will help a lot in the long run, and help eliminate choices that I might not like, or want to push into. So please keep helping, and thank you everyone for all the help you are giving. I...
It sounds very much like you want a Bard now.
they have moderate attack bonuses, middle tier spells, and can use light armor while still being able to cast. Not dedicated either as a warrior class or spellcaster class. It also fits the roll of an ambiguous morality character and its primary stat for spellcasting is Charisma with skills and spells to assist that.
It also has songs that can support the party or yourself.
If you want a perfect middle-road character, that is difficult. You would have to sacrifice something.
The Skald is a variant of the Bard that is much more about the combat side with greater access to weapons, armor, Barbarian Rage in song form, and additional powers while using its Rage Song. Its less versatile on utility skills and support.
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The Skald is a variant of the Bard that is much more about the combat side with greater access to weapons, armor, Barbarian Rage in song form, and additional powers while using its Rage Song. Its less versatile on utility skills and support.
I'll just pop in to mention that, while Skalds are great, they depend much more on what the rest of your group looks like. Bards are great with everybody. Skalds don't really work at all with dex-to-damage builds, barbarians, bloodragers, and not nearly as well as bards do with archers. STR magus will only use the rage sporadically. (can't rage & cast in the same turn as magus are wont to do) That's why I'd never recommend one for PFS as a primary character (would be fine if you had other options for tables where a skald would suck).
However, if you have STR melee builds in the group which aren't barbarians, bloodragers, or magus, skalds are an awesome option. Frankly, probably the thing I personally like best about them vs bard is that their song stacks with the Inspiration spells - which are awesome but don't stack with Inspire Courage.
What your describing sounds a lot like a bard. Perhaps archetyped
May I suggest taking a prestige class. From your description so far you might enjoy Eldritch Knight, Pathfinder Savant, or Dragon Disciple
If you would be ok without spellcasting you could be a rouge. They are very jack sparrowy, make excellent tricksters, and can use a high charisma or int score well
If you really want a "powerful" character that can use magic and melee, then it wouild be some variation of the Druid or Cleric. They have spells to improve their combat abiltities.
Even a tier 1 spell the Cleric gets accesss to at level 1 is Divine Favor which increases your chance to hit and damage. It grows in effect as you level and you can get access to much stronger "buff" spells that make make you as about good as a Fighter when used, but also keep all your other spells.
Druid with Wild Shape can still cast spells in animal form. Imagine a huge dinosaur calling down Lightning on people or summoning other dinosaurs.