Hello people of Paizo. This is my first time posting, but I've been lurking around and feeding on your discussions for over a year now.
I have created a ranged mesmerist (my DM lets me use the trait Heirloom Weapon for a pepperbox) who focuses mainly on his Painful Stare and Mesmerist Tricks abilities, but I'm not sure of how fun it is going to be to play him. I need your wisdom and critique to help me make this character a masterpiece of roleplaying-ability while also keeping most of his deadliness and utility in combat.
We start at level 9 in an evil campaign, and on the team we have an Anti-Paladin, a mostly ranged Alchemist, and a melee-focused whip user (forgot his class).
Here are the important parts of my build:
RACE: HALF-ORC
Burning Assurance (+2 racial bonus to Perception checks)
Sacred Tattoo (+1 luck bonus to all saving throws)
Favored Class Bonus Mesmerist (Increase Painful Stare bonus damage by 1/2 your level)
SKILLS
Bluff 21 (3-9-9)
Disguise 17 (3-9-5)
Diplomacy 19 (3-9-7)
Kn Religion 13 (3-9-1)
Perception 12 (3-9-0)
Sense motive 12 (3-9-0)
UMD 17 (3-9-5)
TRAITS
Heirloom Weapon (Pepperbox)
Fate's Favored (Increase luck bonuses by 1)
Finish the Fight (You gain a +1 trait bonus on your attack rolls against creatures you have already injured in the last 24 hours)
FEATS
Lvl 1: Point-Blank Shot
Lvl 3: Reflexive Trick
(This makes it so that I can implant a trick into myself and trigger it all in a single immediate/swift action. Very useful to react to spells with Astounding Avoidance or attacks with Mesmeric Mirror)
Lvl 5: Precise Shot
Lvl 7: Intense Pain
(This increases the damage of my Painful Stare)
Lvl 9: Deceitful
(One of the prerequisites of Cunning Caster)
Lvl 11: Cunning Caster
(Casting spells without anyone knowing it? That is so cool. However, is it worth it..? This is one the main things I'm hesitating about.)
Lvl 13: Clustered Shots
(Gotta get past that DR somehow)
Lvl 15: Spell Trick
(This lets me implant a spell as a Mesmerist Trick and choose what triggers it. My DM specified I can only use spells that don't affect the enemies because it could be overpowered otherwise.)
Lvl 17: Manifold Stare
(Lets me use my Painful Stare one more time per round. I'm taking this feat more than one time, but instead of using all my feats for it I'm replacing some Bold Stares for it. It is specified in the feat that you can replace a Bold Stare for this feat.)
Lvl 19: Rapid Shot
MESMERIST TRICKS
Lvl 1: Mesmeric Mirror
Lvl 2: Compel Alacrity
Lvl 4: Mask Misery
Lvl 6: Astounding Avoidance
Lvl 8: Psychosomatic Surge (Is it worth it?)
Lvl 10: Fearsome Guise (24 hours disguise self, is it worth it?)
Lvl 12: Reflection of Weakness
Lvl 14: ???
Lvl 16: ???
Lvl 18: ???
Lvl 20: ???
BOLD STARES
Lvl 3: Psychic Inception (become able to affect mindless creatures)
Lvl 7: Disorientation (Hypnotic Stare penalty is applied to attack rolls)
Lvl 11: Replaced by Manifold Stare feat
Lvl 15: Sapped Magic (Hypnotic Stare penalty is applied to the DCs of the target's spells/spell-like abilities and to its Spell Resistance)
Lvl 19: Replaced by Manifold Stare feat
SPELLS
I don't focus much on my spells in combat. They are a very neat addition to my character though. In combat I would use spells that don't give a save or that don't depend on the enemy failing its save (for example: Ill Omen, Terrible Remorse, Dimensional Door). I might need some help choosing good spells for combat and for roleplaying.
ITEMS
Pepperbox
(My plan is to rush the upgrades of my firearm until I can make it a Pistol of the Infinity Sky, or Pepperbox of the Infinite Sky haha. This is going to be costly, but will negate the need to reload and the misfire)
Wand of Mending with 10 charges (To repair my Pepperbox when it misfires)
Mask of the Mesmerist (Gives many bonuses to my class)
Mesmerizing Tattoo (better hypnotic stare and diplomacy checks)
Mainly the big six (armor, belt, headband, cloak of resistance, amulet of natural armor, ring of deflection)
So yeah, I have planned it out but am still hesitant.
Is Cunning Caster as great of a feat as I think it is for a Psychic Caster with good Bluff?
Is taking Manifold Stare 3 times along with Rapid Shot to be able to do my Painful Stare damage 4 times per rounds too much? Should I invest these feats / bold stares elsewhere?
Are my feats all good? Should I change any of them?
Which spells are great for me since I don't have any Spell Focus and am a 2/3 caster? I know my Hypnotic Stare nerfs will saves, but I just don't like save-or-s#cks in general.
Thanks a lot!
Forgot to add my ability scores (including belt/headband):
Str: 7
Dex: 18
Con: 16
Int: 12
Wis: 10
Cha: 20
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How about a single level dip into Mysterious Stranger to add Cha to damage a few (renewable) rounds per day? Additionally, it gives you Gunsmithing and you don't need the Heirloom Weapon trait.
PS I'm not personally a great fan of Cunning Caster. It's cool, ok, but for me it's not worth two feats. Especially in this case, since spells are not the main focus of this character.
Thank you for taking the time to answer me!
I read the Mysterious Stranger archetype of the Gunslinger, but it does not work with what I intended. The Mysterious Stranger uses his swift action to add Charisma to damage, and I am already incredibly swift starved because of both my Hypnotic Stare class ability and the feat Reflexive Trick that lets me implant and activate a Mesmerist Trick as an immediate/swift action.
The Gunsmithing feat is interesting, but all the benefits it gives me will be rendered null by a "Pistol of the Infinite Sky" Pepperbox, which I plan on enchanting as soon as possible by saving up my gold. Also, if I realize that I really need it I can just take the feat by replacing Deceitful and Cunning Caster.
For the Cunning Caster feat, you are totally right. I shouldn't invest two whole feats into something that is far from being the main focus of my character. I just wanted to find something cool to do with two feats, and haven't found anything really worthwhile yet.