In celebration of kitsune getting added to yet another game, today’s Iconic Design will be a Starfinder kitsune! Specifically, a vanguard. Why? Because this is my blog and no one can stop me from doing whatever I want. NO  ONE. Well, almost no one … *glances towards Ryan and Perram’s office.*

Let’s get started!

Build Concept

• Ability Scores | Str 8 | Dex 16 | Con 17 | Int 10 | Wis 10 | Cha 12 |
  • Ability Boosts (5th): Str, Dex, Con, Int
  • Ability Boosts (10th): Str, Dex, Con, Cha
• Theme | Sensate (+1 Con) |
• Species | Kitsune |
• Feats | Improved Maneuver: Reposition (1st; Aspect) | Coordinated Shot (1st) | Weapon Specialization: Vanguard Weapons (3rd; Bonus) | Skill Focus: Intimidate (3rd) | Diehard (4th; Discipline) | Deadly Aim (5th) | Antagonize (6th; Discipline | Improved Demoralize (7th) | Improved Maneuver: Dirty Trick (8th; Aspect)|  Step Up (9th) | Step Up and Strike (11th) |
• Class Features: entropic attunement (critical effect, reach, weapon special property), entropic pool, entropic strike 4d6, flashing strikes, mitigate, reactive 2/day, uncanny agility
  • First Aspect (inversion) | aspect (1st) | embodiment (4th) |  catalyst (12th) |
  • Second Aspect (reaction) | aspect (8th) |
  • Disciplines | evasion (2nd) | metabolic stability (4th) | antagonize (6th) | swift antagonize (8th) | accelerate (10th) | improved evasion (12th) |

Playing the Build

Naturally, you don’t need to be a kitsune to play this build but you sure as heck can if you want to. The idea here is that you’ve got a lot of tricks for messing up your opponent’s day, both in terms of their positioning and their general action economy. One of the nice things about the inversion vanguard aspect is that as you level up, you basically get minor group Stamina healing options, giving you one of like four options in the game that can heal allies’ Stamina Points (the others being envoys, medics, and battle commanders). Coordinated Shot is awesome in a ranged-heavy party, and Improved Maneuver: Reposition allows you to set enemies in Squares where your allies are more likely to benefit from that feat. Improved Demoralize allows you to demoralize as a move action and synergizes well with the Antagonize disciplines that this build gets, and with so much Intimidate action Skill Focus: Intimidate makes a ton of sense as well. Going reaction as your second aspect gives you Improved Maneuver: Dirty Trick, which can be a very powerful option, and Step Up / Step Up and Strike are golden because they allow you to keep foes in melee range for your combat maneuvers, Antagomize / Demoralize shenanigans’, and of course, your entropic strikes.

One of my favorite tricks that this build has is accelerate, which is a weird little vanguard power that allows you to amplify the damage dealt by an area effect that you’re affected by for other enemies. Basically, you can ask your friends to fireball you, amplify the damage, and then use evasion / improved evasion to just negate most of that damage for yourself. Pretty cool, right?

And that’s my tricky vanguard build! Hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll see you back in two weeks for another Everyman Gamer article! What will I decide to write about? I dunno! I’ve been thinking about writing an article about my biggest annoyances with the Starfinder system, but I might just make more kitsune characters instead. Whatever strikes my fancy, ya know?

Take it easy!

Now, most Know Direction fans know that I’m not crazy about building PF2 characters the way that I was with PF1 characters, or the way that I still am with Starfinder characters. I find that the list of stuff you have spell out is just REALLY long because of how interconnected everything is. As a result, I don’t do a ton of Iconic Designs for PF2, but I’m making an exception for this one even though it took me like two hours to type up all the options I took for my character. Why the exception? Well, today I’m sharing my build for my catfolk gunslinger, whom I played in the aforementioned episode of KD Plays. Intrigued? Check out the rest of my build below!

Build Concept

• Ability Scores

  • Str 10; Dex 18; Con 12; Int 12; Wis 8; Cha 16
  • 5th Level: Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom
  • 10th Level: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma
  • 15th Level: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence Charisma
  • 20th Level: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma

• Ancestry

  • Catfolk
  • Clawed Catfolk
  • Feats: Well-Met Traveler (1st), Light Paws (5th), Wary Skulker (9th), Springing Leaper (13th), Aggravated Scratch (17th)

• Background

  • Tinker
  • Ability Boosts: Dexterity, Free (Charisma)
  • Feat: Specialty Crafting (1st)

• Class

  • Gunslinger (Dual-Weapon Warrior)
  • Features: Initial Deed (1st); Way of the Pistolero (1st); Stubborn (3rd); Gunslinger Weapon Mastery (5th); Vigilante Senses (7th); Weapon Specialization (7th); Advanced Deed (9th); Gunslinger Expertise (9th); Evasion (11th); Gunslinging Legend (13th); Light Armor Expertise (13th); Greater Deed (15th); Greater Weapon Specialization (15th); Juggernaut (17th); Shootist’s Edge (17th); Incredible Senses (19th); Light Armor Mastery (19th)
  • Class Feats: Sword and Pistol (1st); Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication (2nd); Double Slice (Bonus; Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication); Dual Thrower (4th); Running Reload (6th); Flensing Slice (8th); Dual-Weapon Blitz (10th);Pistol Twirl (12th); Two-Weapon Flurry (14th); Fatal Bullet (16th); Showstopper (18th); Perfect Readiness (20th)
  • General Feats: Toughness (3rd); Fleet (7th); Feather Step (11th); Expeditious Search (15th); True Perception (19th)

• Skills

  • Background Skills: Crafting, Engineering Lore
  • Base Skills: Acrobatics (T), Crafting (T; Class), Deception (T; Class), Diplomacy (T; Well-Met Traveler), Engineering Lore (T; Background), Intimidation (T), Thievery (T; Background), Society (T), Stealth (T)
  • Skill Increases: Acrobatics (E; 3rd), Deception (E; 5th), Survival (T; Int Increase), Acrobatics (M; 7th), Deception (M; 9th), Athletics (E; 11th), Athletics (M; 13th), Acrobatics (L; 15th), Deception (L; 17th), Athletics (L; 19th)
  • Skill Feats: Hobnobber (Bonus; Well-Met Traveler), Specialty Crafting (Alchemy; Tinker), Cat Fall (1st), Subtle Thief (2nd), Terrain Stalker: Rubble (4th), Kip-Up (6th), Quiet Allies (8th), Intimidating Glare (10th), Quick Jump (12th), Powerful Leap (14th), Legendary Sneak (16th), Wall Jump (18th), Cloud Jump (20th)

Play Guide

We played our Guns and Gears playtest episode at Level 8, and just about everything I wrote in the guide above is something my character had at Level 8 with one exception—I swapped Dual-Weapon Reload, which I had in the playtest, for Running Reload, which James Case had in the playtest. I missed that this ranger feat was also available to gunslingers, and I’m kinda annoyed that I made this oversights because in hindsight, my character was a Claw-and-Pistol pistolero which means my one hand was always available to Interact with my weapon. As a result, Running Reload is (and would have been) much more useful. In the final fight of Luis’s adventure, Running Reload would have allowed my catfolk gunslinger to run towards the enemies who were on the catwalk above us while reloading at the same time, giving him a better chance to get into the fray and fight claw-and-gun.

One of the things you’ll notice is that I didn’t take many feats from the gunslinger class, especially at early levels. This was intentional because I like to be difficult, but also because a bunch of the early-level feats feel extremely niche to me. There’s definitely more of an emphasis on cinematic flare than actual fighting, which feels kind of weird to me because my zeitgeist for a gunslinger is someone who is lethal to a tee with guns. The gunslinger kind of doesn’t feel like it gets a whole lot of tools to deal damage, and as we demonstrated in KD Plays, the damage firearms—and by extension, gunslingers—do get is overwhelmingly the result of the mechanics of their favored weapons, specifically the deadly and fatal traits. My build is, as a result, mostly designed around the interplay between various gunslinger feats and dual weapon warrior archetype feats—for example, Dual Thrower may have “throw” in the name, but it works with any ranged weapon, and lets me use Double Slice to make a claw-and-pistol attack. This in turn plays off of the Sword and Pistol gunslinger feat, which gives me a benefit based on the order I attack with my weapons; if my melee attack is first, my gun doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity, and if my ranged attack is first, my foe is flat-footed against my melee attack. When I get Flensing Strike, my Double Slice does extra damage if both my attacks hit, and Pistol Twirl allows me to t0 Feint with my gun as a single action that, ideally, plays out like this: Pistol Twirl, foe is flat-footed against my gun. Double Slice, gun attack first, and if that hits Sword and Pistol makes my foe flat-footed against my melee attack. If both attacks hit, Flensing Slice deals extra damage.

Much of the rest of my build consists of what-if options, as well as some thematic skill feats based around jumping and sneaking (aka cat skills). Dual-Weapon Blitz is a two-action ability that works great if I, for example, want to run up to an enemy with running reload, then move again and attack twice. While it’s far from ideal, one of the nice things about my Dual Weapon Warrior focus is that technically nothing says I have to focus on Sword-and-Pistol. If I get two firearms, I can dual-wield guns and do all my tricks with those, or if my guns all misfire I can drop ’em and do all my tricks with my claws.

Overall, this is probably my favorite build that I’ve ever designed for PF2. The gunslinger’s options combined with the Advanced Players Guide are the first time I’ve really looked at the PF2 ruleset as a player and have gotten a taste of that character building glee that I love in Pathfinder 1E; there’s something inherently fun about seeing various options and combining them together to great effect. The gunslinger’s tool kit isn’t about slowly loosening facets on a heavily-restricted game mechanic the way the gunslinger class was in PF1 or the way that many classes in PF2 are designed. (I’m looking at you, bard.) It’s about good, clean, honest, Wild West fun and I really like the class for it. More of this, please!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Character art designed using HeroForge.

The Build

• Ability Scores: Str 10 | Dex 16| Con 12| Int 10 | Wis 10 | Cha 14 (These stats assume you picked a species with only a bonus to Dex. If you get a second +2 and a -2, try for +2 Cha / -2 Wis or Int)
• Theme: Any (Add +1 to whatever ability your theme is associated with; I didn’t calculate theme bonus to AC in).
• Class: solarian 12
  • Class Features: flashing strikes, solar manifestation (lunar weapon 4d4), stellar revelations (black hole and supernova plus 5), zenith revelations (2)
  • Stellar Revelations: blade in the night (2nd) | stellar rush (4th) | defy gravity (6th) | vital reinforcement (8th) | gravity surge (10th) | glow of life (12th)
  • Sidereal Influence: Stealth (2nd; graviton) | Diplomacy (2nd; photon) | Sense Motive (11th; graviton) | Intimidate (11th; photon)
  • Zenith Revelations: solar acceleration (11th; photon) | wormholes (11th; graviton)
• Feats: Weapon Focus: Advanced Melee Weapons (1st) | Improved Feint (3rd) | Weapon Specialization (3rd; Bonus) | Skill Focus: Bluff (5th) | Greater Feint (7th) | Coordinated Shot (9th) | Deadly Aim (11th)

 Playing the Build

So, if you haven’t heard, the lunar weapon solar manifestation allows a solarian to manifest a solar weapon that’s an operative melee weapon. The lunar weapon has some pros (you get full Weapon Specialization to its damage rolls and its a feint weapon, if you want to build a Bluff solarian build) and some cons (it uses solar flare damage despite being a kinetic weapon and you can’t trick attack with it), but overall its a very cool, very flavorful option that I absolutely adore. Now, there are a bunch of different ways to build this character, but I personally think that one of the more interesting methods is to go lean all-in on the lunar weapon’s feint weapon property and make a solarian that’s surprisingly good at exploiting their enemies.

Overall, this build is pretty simple. You take Weapon Focus with advanced melee weapons so your lunar weapon hits more and both Improved Feint and Greater Feint so your feinting exploits weaknesses in your enemies’ defenses. Skill Focus: Bluff is kind of a necessity because like the soldier, the solarian doesn’t get inherent insight bonuses to skill checks that matter in combat. (Sidereal influence specifically doesn’t work during combat, which is why I did not choose Bluff as a sidereal influence skill. Outside of combat Sidereal wouldn’t stack with Skill Focus and during combat Sidereal does nothing.) I love Coordinated Shot on melee characters, especially ones that are already using their actions to leave their foes vulnerable; between Greater Feint and Coordinated shot, this soldier is causing a 3-point swing for allies’ attack rolls, which is pretty crazy to be honest. Deadly Aim is also pretty good here, since this solarian will probably be Feint + Attack instead of Full Attack, so taking the -2 penalty for a small damage bonus is pretty good.

Regarding revelations, I really like blade in the night because it essentially gives graviton solarians the same damage bonuses that photon gains, making graviton a very attractive option. Stellar rush is so good for weapon solarians that it’s basically mandatory and defy gravity is delightfully useful, giving our solarian a limited fly speed they can use whenever they want. I’m a big fan of gravity surge, as ripping weapons out of your foes’ hands will never be a bad play, and vital reinforcement is a reaction that your allies will love you for having. Finally, glow of life is a source of personal healing when things are bad. As for zenith revelation, I’m expecting photon to be a very frequent choice for this build starting at level 11, because solar acceleration is absolutely insane for it. The ability to use Greater Feint and then make a full attack as a standard action is insanely good for this solarian build!

And that’s my lunar weapon solarian build! Hope you enjoy it, and please continue to stay safe while quarantining and check out all of our awesome Know Direction Network content throughout the week!

Originally I wasn’t going to do an Iconic Design post today, but my plan to do a Teenaged Wasteland post today got thrown out of the window because I got really sick with some Not-COVID virus last week, and just like that POOF. An entire week gone. So, I needed something quick and easy to talk about and oh look I’m currently playing in a Pathfinder 1E home game with James Ballod and some of our friends, I know! I’ll just talk about my PC. Yeah, that’ll work.

Sorry fam. I’ll be back to my usual content in December, but for now I need this easy article. Thanks for understanding!

The Concept

So Way of the Wicked is a 6-part Adventure Path that goes from Level 1 to Level 20, where the entire concept is that you’re playing irredeemably evil characters who work for the Church of Asmodeus. (At least, that’s where we’re starting. I don’t know where we’ll be going from that; we’re about to hit Level 4.) Normally evil campaigns aren’t my thing; I play campaigns to be the good guy, not the bad guy. But I really wanted to get in on this campaign, which features my Dead Suns table with James playing instead of GMing plus another good friend, and man being in a fun group can really motivate you to step outside of your shell a little bit. One place I didn’t step out of my shell, though, is kitsune. I absolutely wanted to play a kitsune villain because exploring what an irredeemably bad kitsune would be like sounded amusing, especially since I’ve studied fox mythology from across the world and know about gumiho / kumiho.

Foxes feature heavily in East Asian mythology across cultures and nations, but interestingly foxes tend to be “Mostly Good” in Japan, “Neutral with a few famous Evil ones” in China, and “irredeemably Evil” in Korea. Part of the reason for this is that the fox is considered to be a symbol of Japan much as the Panda is a symbol of China or the Eagle is a symbol of the USA. And if we’re talking real talk here, Japan did some really terrible stuff to China and Korea during World War 2 wherein Japan invaded most of its neighbors and many of the Pacific Islands. Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea actually played a large part in changing Korean mythology surrounding foxes so that their version of the magical, shapeshifting animal was one that lured young people (usually men) into dark alleys and murdered them for their livers. It was a cautionary tale designed to try and remind Korean youths that their Japanese occupiers were dangerous and not to be trusted. And when translated to a kitsune PC, it’s absolutely fascinating….

Drawing more upon Asian mythology, in Hinduism the liver is an organ that’s associated with one of the seven chakra points on the human body. Chakra is like a mystical, life-giving energy that’s mostly involved with finding enlightenment in real-world theology, but is also heavily associated with supernatural super powers in Asian pop culture, particularly the wuxia genre. Combining these ideas, I decided that I was going to play a kitsune character who ate people’s livers for their chakra.

The Build

Below’s my character’s build! Important to note for this game, our GM has a number of home rules that we’re using.

1. We have 25 Point Buy.
2. All characters effectively have Weapon Finesse, Precise Shot, and Double Slice. Our GM believes those feats only exist to raise up certain options to baseline and that makes them inherently unfun, so we all get them for free essentially.
3. There’s a list of mandatory campaign traits; we all have to take one and it essentially defines what crime we did to end up in prison. Having one of these “Crimes of the Forsaken” traits is non-negotiable.
4. I had to actually get special permission from my GM to take the primalist bloodrager archetype, as this is generally considered a super OP archetype. I told him exactly what I wanted to swap, what I wanted in return, and why I wanted them and he was cool to make an exception for me.
5. Weapon Focus (and virtually every option like it that requires the selection of a single weapon) applies to an entire fighter weapon group of weapons instead. This is REALLY helpful to me, as I’m planning on a natural attack build.

Okay, with that out of the way, on to the build!

• Ability Scores (25 Point Buy)
  • Str 14 / Dex 16 / Con 12 / Int 13 / Wis 10 / Cha 16
• Race: Kitsune
  • Alternate Racial Traits: None
  • Character Traits: Crimes of the Forsaken (Murder), Nine-Tailed Scion (Race)
  • Favored Class Bonus: Gain 1/6 of a new Magical Tail feat.
• Feats: Realistic Likeness (1st), Magical Tail 1 (3rd), Eschew Materials (4th; Class), Extend Spell (5th), Power Attack (6th; Bloodline), Magical Tail 2 (6th; AFCB), Fox Form (7th), Aspect of the Beast (8th; Shapeshifter Bloodline), Multiattack (9th), Magical Tail 3 (9th; Bloodline Feat), Swift Kitsune Shapechanger (11th), Quicken Spell (12th; Bloodline Feat), Magical Tail 4 (12th; AFCB), Vulpine Pounce (13th), Furious Focus (15th), Magical Tail 5 (15th; Bloodline Feat), Magical Tail 6 (17th), Weapon Focus: Natural Weapons (18th; Bloodline Feat), Magical Tail 8 (18th; AFCB), Magical Tail 8 (19th)
• Class: Bloodrager (primalist, metamagic rager, urban bloodrager) 20
  • Bloodline:
    • 1st – Shifting Aspect
    • 4th – Spontaneous Change
    • 8th – Evolving Aspect
    • 12th – Primalist Rage Powers (Bloody Fist and Lesser Spirit Totem)
    • 16th – Primalist Rage Powers (Feast of Blood and Bloody Bite)
    • 20th – True Shapechanger
  • Features: bloodline, controlled bloodrage, fast movement, indominable will, meta-rage, restrained magic, tireless bloodrage, uncanny dodge
  • Spells (Total Known)
    • 1st (5; biting words, expeditious retreat, infernal healing, magic missile, protection from good), 2nd (5; mirror image, overstimulate, pouncing fury [swapped after 13th level], quick change [swapped after 11th level], see invisibility), 3rd (5; haste, heroism, fireball, protection from energy, tail strike), 4th (4; beast shape II, bestow curse, monstrous physique II, stoneskin)
    • Adopted Magic: sense vitals (7th), glibness (10th), bladed dash (13th), greater invisibility (16th), echolocation (19th)
    • Bloodline Spells: enlarge person (7th), alter self (10th), fly (13th), stoneskin (16th)

Playing the Build

So, this is essentially a 9-tailed kitsune build. Believe it or not, but I’ve never played in a campaign that got high enough for me to get all 9 tails without crippling myself. (I had an oracle in PFS that started the journey, but I never really played him enough to get all the way there.) I’m playing urban bloodrager for the flexibility; no penalty to AC and a bump to my Dexterity means that I’m pretty accurate and survivable, and by taking the Shapeshifter bloodline, I get claws whenever I bloodrage. This, combined with my bite natural attacks, lets me start with 3 natural attacks, which isn’t too shabby. I picked up Realistic Likeness for flavor and because the adventure was described as having a lot of subterfuge, so being a front-line melee who could turn into whatever I wanted seemed pretty sweet, and eventually I want Fox Form for similar reasons. For the most part, I don’t really use my character feats for the Magical Tail feats; the Nine-Tailed Scion race trait lets me use my Bloodrager class’s bloodline feats for those, and I also have the kitsune favored class bonus that lets me grab a couple extra Magical Tail feats as my Favored Class Option at 6th, 12th, and 18th levels.

So, the core of my shapeshifter build is the spontaneous change bloodline power, which allows me to swift action cast any transmutation spell on myself when I bloodrage. The bloodline has a ton of great options for this, like fly, enlarge person, alter self, and stone skin. As an urban bloodrager, I also swap damage reduction for a limited list of spells from other classes; I plan to mostly take bard spells like glibness and greater invisibility, but one of the nastier tricks I want is sense vitals, which is a divination spell that will allow me to temporarily gain sneak attack damage dice based on my caster level. I’m planning to try and talk the party into getting me a lesser rod of quickened spell or a similar trick to get this spell active on me faster, but I’m still messing around with it. One option I’m considering (but haven’t decided if it’s worthwhile) is adding a third archetype to my list: metamagic mauler. In addition to stacking with both primalist and urban bloodrager, metamagic mauler allows me to spend rounds of rage to apply metamagic feats to spells, so if I were to take Quicken Spell I could spend 4 rounds of bloodrage to quicken sense vitals on myself. That being said, Extend Spell’s a great option for Level 5 when I first gain meta-rage, allowing me to double the duration of my bloodrager spells for 2 rounds of bloodrage. It might not end up holding up as well at higher levels, though, since most of the best bloodrager buff spells work for rounds per level; if that’s the case, I’ll probably ask my GM if I can train into something like echoing spell, which is super nice because the echoing spell refunds its spell slot when I use it. At 8th level, I get Evolving Aspect, which actually gives me Aspect of the Beast (the 1st-level rage power simply gives it to me when I’m raging) and lets me pick a second option when I bloodrage. I haven’t 100% decided how I’m going to use this; part of me thinks that the best option is to pick the Darkvision option with the feat and take claws whenever I rage, since I don’t need claws when I’m not in combat and darkvision is useful all the time, but I’m still deciding. After all, it sucks to be locked out of 2 of my 3 attacks when I can’t rage for whatever reason.

The primalist archetype is a weird one in terms of balance, as it swaps one bloodline power for two bloodlines. I don’t really need or want the 12th or 16th level bloodline powers from the shapeshifter bloodline, but what I do want is the bloody fist / bloody bite / feast of blood rage powers. Most of these are from the Demon Hunter’s Handbook, and I had to get special permission from my GM to take bloody bite, as while the rage power itself lists no prerequisites, the section of the book that it’s in states it’s for half-orcs with a bite attack exclusively. My GM decided that since kitsune have a bite attack, it was fine as kitsune are kind of a less optimized barbarian / bloodrager pick than a half-orc. (Even as an urban rager, the bonuses I get for urban bloodraging are smaller than what a standard bloodrager gets.) Bloody Fist is the ultimate flavor; when I crit someone with a natural weapon or unarmed strike, I can rip one of their vital organs out. Bloody Feast lets me eat that organ as a full-round action to gain Hit Point healing and some combat benefits. Overall these choices are fun but not too powerful, fitting the character flavor I want perfectly. In each of the two level pairings I have, I’ve paired one of these arguably weaker rage powers with one stronger power to sort of balance the set out. Paired with Bloody Fist at 12th level is lesser spirit totem, which conjures a spirit that uses my Charisma to attack stuff. As a bloodrager, my Charisma’s not terrible so this isn’t an awful pick for me, essentially giving me another attack. I took lesser spirit totem so I could say that when my character bloodrages, I get a will-o-wisp like the kitsune in Japanese mythology. Bloody Bite, which I’m taking at 16th level, is the other strong rage power option; this one gives my bite natural attack bleed damage, which is simply strong.

Aside from those options, most of this build is me trying my damnest to pick as many of the good feats that require kitsune as a prerequisite as possible. I also don’t like gaining multiple tails at a time, so my build is designed so I never get two tails at the same level. (The journey is important to me.) Since I know this game will go all the way to 20th level, I’m also fine with my build taking until 20th level to get me all the tails. I only have 4 tails by 12th level, but starting at 15th level I basically use every feat I’ve got for more tails, with the exception of my 18th level bloodline feat, which I’m either using for Weapon Focus, Fleet, or Dodge; I’m planning on waiting to see what sort of high-level play experience we’re in for before committing to a feat. Heck, if our GM becomes a big fan of something like “silence on the party,” I might even use metamagic rager to take something like Silent Spell instead. In addition to Magical Tail, I also pick up what is arguably the most powerful kitsune feat chain; Swift Kitsune Shapechanger and Vulpine Pounce, which will let me Swift Action change from Human/Fox Form into my true form, charge, then full attack at the end of the charge. Fun times. The reason I let myself take these feats rather late in the build is simply that I can mirror their effects with spells; pouncing fury temporarily gives me pounce and is a transmutation spell, so when I want to pounce I can use my shapeshifter bloodline to cast the spell as a swift action on myself, then pounce. Quick Change is an hours-per-level long spell that also allows me to change shape as a swift action, and if I do it in combat my enemies are flat-footed against my attacks. Both things that kind of become obsolete once I get Swift Kitsune Shapechanger and Vulpine Pounce. I’m not 100% sure what I’ll be swapping them for, but right now I’m leaning towards old reliables like resist energy and glitterdust.

Speaking of spells, the urban bloodrager also lets me pick up spells from other spell lists that I wouldn’t ordinarily get. Obviously the trick is to pick strong transmutations that I can combine with my bloodline, but I’m also trying to pick up spells that fit the kitsune mythology. Sense Vitals (a divination spell) for powerful damage; glibness for kitsune lying; bladed dash because when I combine it with my bloodline power, it lets me move up to my speed, attack one person while I move, and it makes my move not provoke any attacks of opportunity; and echolocation because having 40-foot blindsight is powerful. Very, very powerful.

A Round in the Life

Here are some tricks this build can do.

• Swift action Bladed Dash allows me to basically run past someone without provoking and attack them once. I can then full attack them, either because I ended my movement adjacent to the target or because I set myself up for a position where I can use Vulpine Pounce to charge + full attack my target. My favorite, however, is to do this while I have sense vitals active, as I could theoretically bladed dash behind an enemy, striking them once along the way, then charge behind them into a better flanking position to take advantage of sense vitals.
• Swift action haste is never a bad idea.
• Swift action monstrous physique is probably the nastiest trick in the book, as there are a ton of powerful forms I could assume that have more natural attacks then what I would have in my base form.

My Character: Hanjae

To close out this article, I thought it might be fun if I shared the backstory I wrote for my Way of the Wicked character who’s using this build, Hanjae. Trigger Warning, it’s really dark and involves traumatic loss, blood, and cannibalism. There are no major spoilers for Way of the Wicked in this summary, as I wrote this before we started playing.

Hanjae was born Yeon Hanjae, to parents Yeon Hu and Yeon So aboard . Hailing from faraway Taeyin, the Yeon family left their homeland in search of a better life in Talingarde, hoping to use a combination of medicinal herbalism and occultic lore to find prosperity for themselves and their young son. Despite their isolationism, the people of Talingarde were warm and inviting to the Yeon family at first, and many were eager to purchase the medicinals they concocted. When Hanjae’s father, Hu, came down with a case of shapeshifter’s pox and accidentally revealed his true, kitsune form in a particularly bad fit of sneezing, the family was outed as shapeshifters to the public at large. Although the people of Martharyn were largely accepting of the Yeon family for their differences, individuals among them who compared the shapeshifting foxfolk to lycanthropes behind closed doors, the gossip surrounding them growing ever more outlandish until some claimed that the family routinely hexed the people of Talingarde with chronic illness simply so they could cure them of both their ails and their coin.

One day, Inquisitor Halston Krow came to the Yeon family, desperate for a remedy for his young son’s worsening illness. Hu and So went out to visit the ailing boy and did all they could, combing the finest medicines they could mill with chakra realignments and dozens of other, far stranger rites. Despite their best efforts, the boy died and Inquisitor Halston was stricken with grief. While drowning himself in a local tavern, a gossip told him the stories of the Yeon family, how they were actually sorcerous foxes who made healthy men sick for their own profit. Drunken and enraged, the inebriated inquisitor set himself upon the Yeon household in the dead of night and murdered both Hu and So in cold blood while Hanjae cowered beneath their bed in silent terror. For the next day, Hanjae remained there, immobilized by horror as blood pooled around him. It wasn’t until a business partner stopped by to check on the Yeon family after several days of absence that the people of Martharyn learned of the Yeon family massacre, and how their 10 year-old son was found half-starved in a pool of his parents’ blood.

A civics council eventually agreed that the Yeon’s properties would be sealed up and Hanjae fostered to a willing family until he came of age, at which point the house and all its belongings would be returned to him. As kind and accommodating as each of his foster families had been, all found the traumatized boy unsettling. For five years following his parents’ murder, Hanjae was stricken mute, able to reply only by writing responses on a small slate slab he kept with him on chalk. He complied with all tasks asked of him by his caretakers, went to school daily, helped his foster parents practice their trades and ran errands around Martharyn for them. But through it all, Hanjae’s eyes were empty and hollow, void of emotion, light, or laughter. Worse, Hanjae suffered crippling night terrors and awoke his foster families every night in fits of whimpering and screaming. Hanjae’s behavior was never blamed directly on him, but he was always, “Scaring the little ones,” or “Keeping the babies up at all hours, which isn’t good for their health.” Soon being shipped from home to home became a routine for Hanjae, never truly bonding with any of the people he stayed with.

Hanjae regained ownership of his family home on the day of his 18th birthday, his foster family at the time insisting he leave and take up residence there. The council had removed all sign of the massacre that happened in the Yeon home long ago, but none had bothered to clean the home or perform basic maintenance, making the house weathered and ill-suited for habitation. Hanjae spent his days doing simple work for carpenters and other handymen and used what knowledge he gathered repairing his family home, though as shoddy as the repairs were due to his inexperience, he had a functional roof over his head and needn’t worry about the ravages of the elements. With his home somewhat livable again, Hanjae began pouring over his parents’ artifacts, trying to fill the void in his heart left by their horrific deaths with whatever scraps of information he could find of them. In doing so, he poured over countless texts on chakra and herbs, as well as legends from his family’s homeland. Then one day, Hanjae found the register for his parents’ business. The first name he saw was Krow, Halston. Reading that name immediately triggered Hanjae’s traumatic memories, hearing his parents’ butcher shout that name, “You poisoned my son, Vasley Krow! You poisoned him!” Spurred onward by heartache, Hanjae visited every foster family he had stayed with and asked them of Krow, eventually learning that he was still serving Martharyn as an inquisitor. Hanjae needed to see for himself; he shapeshifted into a bloke of a boy and lazed about the church until heard him. A voice that had tormented his dreams for nearly a decade. The voice of his parents’ murderer. Something broke in Hanjae’s heart that day. Something crucial. For the first time in eight years, he spoke, muttering a promise under his breath to a murderer who hadn’t noticed him. “I’ll kill you.”

For the next five years, Hanjae planned the murder of Inquisitor Krow meticulously. Assuming the guise of a relatively unexemplary human, he took a job at the Inquisitor’s church and watched Krow constantly, noting every moment and memorizing his schedule and habits. By night, he scoured his parents’ books for anything he could find that might help him on his quest to end Inquisitor Krow. Instead, he found amidst his parents’ belongings a tome on chakra, the channels where spiritual energy resides within mortal bodies. From them, he learned how to access his own chakra, tapping into his inner strength to enhance his physical endurance, strength, and agility as needed and trained himself constantly, preparing himself to murder a murderer. Finally, after five long years of preparation, Hanjae began making his moves. He stalked Inquisitor Krow constantly, waiting for the perfect moment to strike at the man who ruined his life. One night, after the Inquisitor staggered out from a bar, Hanjae knew that it was the time to strike. He used his shapechanging powers to assume the form of Inquisitor Krow’s dead son, a form he perfected after months of studying the boy’s likeness in an old painting Krow hung within his home, and lured the inebriated inquisitor into an ally. Once there, Hanjae struck. Calling upon his personal reserves of chakra, he quickly murdered Krow, plunging his teeth into the inquisitor’s neck and ripping out his throat before he could make so much as a whimper. His parents were avenged. Waves of satisfaction poured over Krow, filling him with a giddy ecstasy as Krow took his final breaths. Hanjae jeered and taunted the dying man, overwhelmed by the moment, inflicting every cruelty his mind could come up with as 13 years of silent suffering poured out from the young man’s soul. In his indulgent throngs, Hanjae pulled Krow’s liver from his body and bit into it, wanting Krow to see his murder devour him like the useless slab of meat he was. In that moment, a surge of power the likes of which Hanjae had never experienced before flooded his senses. Later, Hanjae would recall from his parents’ writings that mortal chakra tends to coalesce in the liver, but for a moment Hanjae knew only bliss. Then he was thrown to the ground as several inquisitors, who had noticed Krow’s absence, stumbled upon the site of his murder and apprehended Hanjae.

During his trial, the judge demanded to know why Hanjae had murdered Krow, but Hanjae refused to speak of his parents, instead speaking only of the thrill of the hunt and of the satisfaction of bringing low a murderer. Although some suspected that perhaps Hanjae’s motivation was one of revenge, the maddened fox gave away nothing that supported or denied this, and regardless of motive Hanjae had unquestionably committed premediated manslaughter, so Hanjae was charged with murder and sentenced to death. He was shipped off to Branderscar Prison to await his sentence, his hands bound in iron mitts and his face muzzled so as to prevent him from using the deadly jaws and claws he had used to eviscerate Krow.

In Conclusion,

I hope you enjoyed this build, as well as a snippet of some of my fiction writing. Next week I’m planning on another Teenaged Wasteland article, but in the meantime a very safe and happy Thanksgiving to all our USA readers! Take care, and eat tons of Turkey!

When I sat down to play this one-shot, it was pretty clear right away which class I should try. While my 5E experience is pretty limited (I played a handful of one-shots way back when the game was first released and haven’t played it much since and have written a Kitsune product for the system), the game is pretty heavily inspired on Dungeons and Dragons’ 3.5 edition, and I played my fair share of that game back in the day. So when I sat down to build my character, I knew I wanted to play something I hadn’t tried before. To me, that was the warlock class, which was added as a core class in 4th Edition. So without further delay, let’s get going!

Character Build

• Race: Tabaxi
• Ability Score Priority: Charisma, Dexterity
• Background: Wanderer
• Class: Warlock 6
  • Patron: The Celestial
    • 6th: Radiant Soul
    • 1st: Healing Light
  • Subclass: Pact of the Blade
  •  Eldritch Invocations: Armor of Shadows, Beast Speech, Thirsting Blade
  • Spells
    • 3rd: Counterspell, Revivify
    • 2nd: Misty Step
    • 1st: Comprehend Languages, Cure Wounds, Guiding Bolt, Protection from Evil and Good
    • Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, True Strike

Playing the Build

So my goal with this build was to effectively play counterculture to what I would call the “stereotypical warlock,” a character who’s really broody and edgy and follows a patron who’s unquestionably bad or villainous at best. Most of the warlock’s core patrons are things like the Fiend or the Great Old One that definitely paint a non-heroic depiction of the class, so I wanted to try and be counter to that. I wanted to play a paladin without all the baggage of having to follow religious tenants, essentially. This build did a decent job of replicating that.

Since my patron is the Celestial, I got a really nice list of bonus spells added to my warlock spell list that I quickly took advantage of. Guiding Bolt is basically a cleric’s divine nuke, dealing pretty crazy single-target damage for a cleric spell. In Starfinder terms, it’s pretty comparable to a mind thrust spell that requires an attack roll to hit rather than a Will save to negate. I also grabbed cure wounds, another 1st level spell, and the 3rd-level spell revivify from this list. In addition to cure wounds and revivify, the Celestial grants me an ability that basically works like a healing cleric’s divine channel; I get a pool of dice that I can spend dice from in order to heal friendly creatures who are near me. I only get to roll d6s for healing, but in our one-shot that ability was crucial to keeping my party alive, as we had no other healers. Radiant Soul was also an extremely helpful ability; it let me add my Charisma bonus to any spells that I cast that dealt fire or radiant damage, radiant being something akin to “holy” damage in PF1. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, guiding bolt is a radiant damage spell, so my big 6th-level nuke got even nukier.

Of course, I’m a paladin first and a cleric second, so I needed to be good at fighting. I’m a pact of the blade warlock, which means my pact with the Celestial manifests through a physical weapon that I carry around with me. My chosen pact weapon was a +1 rapier, and being my pact weapon meant that I can store the weapon in hammer space AND I get automatic proficiency with it, which is super helpful. I picked a rapier because they’re finesse weapons, so I got to use my really good Dexterity bonus for my weapon’s attack and damage rolls. Going along with the theme of, “I don’t really need equipment, do I?” I took Armor of Shadows as one of my three eldritch invocations. An eldritch invocation is basically a warlock talent that modifies your class in some way, and in the case of Armor of Shadows, not only did this invocation give me Mage Armor as a bonus spell known, but it let me cast Mage Armor without needing to expend any spell slots. I was a big fan of this one; I basically cast the spell every few hours and just had magical armor on all the time. The other weapon-focused invocation that I took is called Thirsting Blade, and this invocation let me attack twice with my pact weapon whenever I used my action to attack. This is something that fighters normally get, so it was really nice to be able to unleash a dervish of steel whenever I wanted.

Warlock spellcasting is really interesting, and it reminds me a lot of what Paizo is trying to do with their new summoner and magus playtest classes for PF2. Warlock has a limited number of spells per day; at 6th level, I got 2 spell slots at a time. So yes, this is why having that ability that gave me mage armor without needing to expend spell slots is so good. These spell slots were always of the highest level of spell that I had, but I could use them to cast whatever spells I wanted from my list. Furthermore, the warlock spell list overwhelmingly favors spells whose effects improve based on the spell level of the spell slot you use to cast them; for example, cure wounds heals more Hit Points when cast as a 3rd level spell instead of a 1st level spell. Since my two spell slots always scaled with my level, it basically means that the vast majority of my spells got better as I got better. There are exceptions, of course; Comprehend Languages and Misty Step both don’t improve with level, but MAN are they useful spells regardless of that! However, the thing that really causes warlock spellcasting to shine is that whenever I finished an hour-long rest, I got both my spell slots back! This was REALLY helpful, as it meant that I could make sure that my party was reasonably well-healed if given enough time because I could cure wounds them and then just get the spell slot back.

Tying to Pathfinder 2E

One of the reasons I bring up my warlock build for 5E is that it seems to highlight a core difference in approach between PF2’s new limited spellcasting and that of the warlock in 5E. The warlock is very much limited in its spellcasting; you basically only ever have two spell slots at a time, but you’re also the only spellcaster in the game that can quickly regain those spells. The warlock is limited, yes, but that limitation makes them different rather than inherently inferior. The PF2 route for the summoner and the magus is the opposite—it’s clearly designed to make them more inferior spellcasters than their peers by virtue of being able to cast fewer spells in a given day. Personally, I don’t think that’s particularly fun, especially since the summoner and the magus are limited without any obvious strengths compared to their full spellcasting counterparts. The warlock can recharge their spells and has a good medley of spells for doing that. The summoner has an eidolon which is essentially a different flavor of animal companion, and the magus has an ability that’s arguably worse than Striking, then Casting a Spell. I think PF2 can learn a lot from the warlock in how to balance limited spellcasting; the goal isn’t to make limited = worse, but limited = different and strong in different ways. If you’re going to give a limited spellcaster worse spellcasting and nothing but an extra trained proficiency at 1st level to make up for it, then what’s the point?

And that’s my 5e warlock build! Hope you enjoy it, and please continue to stay safe while quarantining and check out all of our awesome Know Direction Network content throughout the week! Also, let me know if you want to see more 5E content from us here at Know Direction. We’re always looking to see what our viewers are into.

Creative Commons Credit: Tobias Ludendorrff by Swan–Ronson

Character Build

• Race: Brenneri.
• Theme: Tempered Pilgrmam (Cha / +1 Culture)
• Class: Envoy (Battle Leader) 12
  • Alternate Class Features: Motivational Expertise
  • Altered Class Features (Battle Leader): Got ‘Em (2nd), Glorious Shout [Regroup] (12th)
  • Skill Expertise: Medicine (1st), Diplomacy (5th), Bluff (9th)
  • Envoy Improvisations: Get ’em (1st), Inspiring Boost (4th), Improved Get ‘Em (6th), Quick Inspiring Boost (8th), Bedside Manner (10th)
  • Expertise Talents: Battlefield Medic (3rd), Surgeon (7th), Miracle Worker (11th)
• Feats: Longarm Proficiency (1st), Weapon Focus: longarms (3rd), Weapon Specialization: longarms (5th), Deadly Aim (7th), Improved Feint (9th), Greater Feint (11th)

This is a picture I had commissioned by Jacob Blackmon of my brenneri envoy! If you like the style, hit him up for a reasonably priced commission at commissionprodigyduck@gmail.com.

Playing the Build

My battle leader is very much designed to do two things relatively well: healing and buffing. This was a necessity based on party role: originally my character was a brenneri mystic who filled those roles, this character’s husband in fact, but he died during the first book of Signal of Screams. So I wanted to make sure the niche that I had set out to fill was still filled, but in a different way. You see, buffing is kind of difficult for the mystic. The number of raw numeric bonuses that the mystic has is lower than, say, the cleric in Pathfinder 1E, and most of those buffs aren’t very resource efficient. Not like the envoy, who can use Get ‘Em all day every day.

In building this character, I decided to take a bunch of the class’s Medicine-themed options, and I have to say I’m really impressed by how much better the envoy is at the Medicine skill baseline than, say, the biohacker. That feels weird to me personally, but it worked out well for Raka! Miracle Worker is an awesome expertise talent that gives me an opportunity to add my Charisma to my healing done with Treat Deadly Wounds, while Surgeon lets me use Treat Deadly Wounds on creatures more often then I would otherwise be able to. Battlefield Medic is a useful ability that allows me to pass out additional healing when someone’s life is on the line (which is also nice, because it lets me use TDW as part of a standard action when TDW is normally much longer then that). Motivational Expertise is the unsung hero of this build, however, as it allows me to give Stamina Points equal to my expertise die to any ally whose Stamina Points or Hit Points I heal using any of my actions. While this certainly means Treat Deadly Wounds, I prefer to use it in conjunction with serums of healing. I buy a butt load of serums and just administer them to allies for about a minute; they get a ton of Hit Points back and for each action I use, they also get Stamina Points back. It basically makes me super efficient with serums of healing, which my party has really enjoyed so far.

Of course, none of that speaks to why the Battle Leader archetype is so great. The answer? Got ‘Em. I love this ability SO much, because basically whenever me or one of my allies successfully crits an enemy or downs them, I can trigger the reaction to give them a damage bonus equal to half my Charisma. While it’s tempting to take this cry again to boost the damage bonus to equal my full Charisma bonus, my plan for the book’s end game is to take Glorious Shout instead, which will allow me to restore Stamina Points to an ally who triggers one of my conditions instead. What’s nice about that is that the victory cry doesn’t count against my Inspiring Boost envoy improvisation, and when I get Regroup I’ll also be getting Glorious Shout, which means I can trigger both Got ‘Em and Regroup with the same action. Nice!

As for my feats, Raka’s backstory is that she was a combat medic who married a prophet of Hylax (my previous character), so she became a pilgrim after spending her time in Varturan’s military, As a result, most of her feats are very weapon-proficiency oriented, favoring longarms and feats that allow me to boost the action economy of them. Deadly Aim is actually decent here, as I almost never full attack with this character due to always wanting an action for Get ‘Em or something else. I also picked up Improved Feint and Greater Feint so I have something I can do when I’m not able to shoot for some reason. (Say because my uplifted bear ally is blocking the hallway and I literally can’t take any shots without hitting his massive head. Hypothetically of course.)

And that’s my Battle Herald build! Hope you enjoy it, and please continue safe during all this quarantining and enjoy our GenCon coverage!

Being locked up for what my friends and I are affectionally calling “CoronaCon” gives you a lot of time to do … kind of nothing, right? I mean I’ve been writing and stuff, but what am I DOING? The answer is watching Steven Universe: Future on loop, listening to Steven Universe: The Movie’s soundtrack on loop, and genuinely being a Steven Universe otaku. Introvertism has its perks, right?

And that’s when it hit me — how to build Steven Universe in Starfinder! Obviously I need to share this build with the world, so here we are! Let’s do it!

Character Build

• Race: Human.
• Theme: Sensate (+1 Con / +1 Perception)
• Class: Mystic 12
  • Class Features: channel skill +4, healing touch, mindlink
  • Connection: Healer.
  • Epiphanies: Solar Barrier* (3rd), Expanded Skill Channeling (6th); Spell Bond (9th Level)
  • Mystic Spells Known
    • 4th: mystic cure plus cosmic eddy, death ward, mind probe, restoration
    • 3rd: remove affliction plus divine aspect, haste, lesser resistant armor, summon creature
    • 2nd: remove condition plus plus ectoplasmic snare, hurl forcedisk, force blast, shield other, status
    • 1st: lesser remove condition plus build trust, identify, life bubble, might of the elicoth, seeking shot, wisp ally
    • 0: detect affliction, detect magic, ghost sound, stabilize, telepathic message, token spell

Custom Option

This build includes a new epiphany, which is a slight tweak of an existing one (solar connection). Enjoy!

Solar Barrier (Su)

You have forged a connection to the powers of the cosmos, drawing upon a link to photons and gravity to forge a shield made from the primal stuff of the universe. You gain a solar shield, as the solar manifestation ability of a solarian with a class level equal to your mystic level. If you have levels in both classes, you add them together to determine the effectiveness of your solar weapon. You do not gain any other solar-weapon focused solarian abilities from mystic class levels, and you can’t take the solar connection epiphany.

Playing the Build

Okay! So how does this build capture the spirit of Steven Universe? Let’s get a quick look at his powers, as listed by the Steven Universe wiki.

• Bubble: Starfinder doesn’t have any spells like resilient sphere, which would be perfect for Steven’s bubble, but the life bubble spell absolutely solves the “bubble to protect from drowning / suffocating in space” part of this power. Spells like shield other and resilient armor are currently the closest this build can get to replicating this core Steven Universe power.
• Empathy Telepathy: The mystic has TONS of powers that fit this, namely mindlink and telepathic bond.
• Healing Spit: The healing connection, as well as the mystic cure spell and the healing touch ability, cover this niche perfectly.
• Phytoanimation: Starfinder doesn’t have a good way to make plant soldiers, so the closest we can get is the summon creature spell. The First World template kind of works, but if your GM is flexible you might want to see if you can talk them into letting you put the plant creature graft on your summons. You could also ask for the ghoran subtype graft!
• Shapeshifting: Steven’s shapechanging is kind of weird, as he’s only really able to change his age and transform himself into a horrifying cat monster. As a result, I don’t think this is an important power to give to Steven so I didn’t. If you want it, I’d drop a 1st-level or 2nd-level spell for polymorph personally.
• Shield Fighting: The solar shield connection power does this perfectly! Spells like hurl force disk and force blast are also designed to replicate several of the other maneuvers Steven does with his shield.
• Superhuman Strength Aside from just making Steven a beefy boy, giving him might of the elicoth can help us boost his Strength when he needs it.

That being said, there are a couple powers that Steven has that mystic can’t get. Let’s talk about them.

• Levitation. The big one is levitation, which is technomancer / witchwarper only. You could ask your GM for this if you want, but you could just buy the force soles, which let you walk on air.

And that’s my Steven Universe build! Hope you enjoy it, and stay safe during all this quarantining.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

“Smiles and laughter are always good, but never forget your Poker Face.”

In addition to being the most popular character on Detective Conan, Kaito Kid is a gentleman thief from one of my first and favorite manga, Magic Kaito. The classic manga from 1987 was finally given an anime adaptation in 2014: Magic Kaito 1412. (Which you can find on Crunchy Roll.) The titular character became a hit sensation and has popularized the phantom thief character archetype in Japanese pop-culture. In addition to his stage magic and Xanatos-level planning to complete his heists, Kaito is a master of disguises capable of becoming anyone at a moment’s notice, often drawing comparisons with  Edogawa Rampo’s The Fiend with Twenty Faces. But how can you play such a character in Pathfinder? Glad you asked!

Build Concept

• Race: Kitsune
• Class: unchained rogue (phantom thief) 12
• Class Features: finesse training, refined education, broad education, social sense +3, uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge
  • Rogue Talents: always prepared (2nd), minor magic (4th), major magic (6th), mockingbird (6th), case the joint (8th), weapon snatcher (10th), glib facade (12th), skill mastery (12th)
  • Rogue’s Edge: Sleight of Hand (3rd), Disable Device (5th), Intimidate (7th), Appraise (9th), Sense Motive (11th)
• Feats: Realistic Likeness (1st), Bookish Rogue (3rd), Deceitful (5th), Conceal Spell (7th), Skill Focus (sleight of hand) (9th), Deific Obedience (Nivi Rhombodazzle) (11th)

Playing the Build

Kaito Kid is all about using his sleight of hand, magic, and disguises to get what he wants without spilling a drop of blood. The phantom thief is the perfect archetype for our magician, able to completely master a number of key skills required to make this character a premiere skill monkey. Being able to take vigilante social talents gives us access to case the joint and always prepared, letting us leave our calling card the night before a heist and adapt to a situation as needed with a stash of scrolls, items, and mundane services.

But what would Kaito be without his stage magic?

Like our magician-themed thief, we are able to use a number of magic tricks to help support our insanely high skill bonuses. The character has a number of powerful spell-like abilities all able to turn the tide of any encounter, and passable as non-magical using Conceal Spell with your insanely high sleight of hand. Bookish rogue is a cornerstone feat of this build, letting you swap out spell-like abilities on the fly and helping you imitate a true spellcaster. As a kitsune, the Phantom-with-a-Thousand-Faces not only gets Realistic Likeness, but can stock up on kitsune star gems to recharge their spell-like abilities, including major magic. If you are playing this in Pathfinder Society, you can even spend two prestige points to get one for free. The kitsune favored class bonus also nets us a free rogue talent every six levels!

But what happens when you have to roll initiative? You might notice the phantom thief archetype trades away sneak attack. But Kaito Kid isn’t about gutting a guard’s vitals! In addition to an assortment of alchemical items and scrolls, the phantom thief can use weapon snatcher and their potential +36 to Sleight of Hand to go ahead and make those guards wish they had locked gauntlets. Against unarmed foes, you’ll have to rely on the Intimidate skill unlock, but most good battles have any number of opportunities to interact with the environment or abuse a well-placed magic item.

Other Notes

If you want to go full kitsune with this build, the mischievous tail feat-line from Planar Adventures will help you with your disarming. Fox Form is always super helpful too! While it doesn’t quite fit Kaito Kid, Psychic Sensitivity can help give the build a host of new options using Psychic Skill Unlocks. And depending on what kind of character you want to play, the diplomacy skill unlock might suit you better than sense motive. Just make sure to keep disable device so you can disarm magical traps, as a phantom thief inexplicably gives up trapfinding.

This is not a build for every gamer or every campaign. It requires an almost encyclopedic knowledge of 1st level spells, useful items and the ability to think on your feet to do your best to avoid a combat encounter. Many gamemasters and fellow players alike aren’t going to be prepared for you to have hired a local thug to dress like a city guard and arrest the entire party on a moment’s notice, or spontaneously conjure a secure transport and a slip of deposit from the bank of Abdar. You should let your friends know if you plan on playing this kind of a character, and make sure you don’t always try to avoid combat at all costs if the rest of your party is itching for a fight. Pathfinder is a cooperative game, and there are plenty of opportunities for this sort of character to shine, without always being in the spotlight.

“See you later, maybe next time we can meet under the moonlight.”

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Right then, let’s get started!

Build Concept

• Race: vesk
  • Alternate Ability Adjustments: venomthought
  • Alternate Racial Traits: observant (replaces fearless)
• Class: envoy 12
  • Envoy Improvisations: clever feint (2nd), clever attack (4th), get’em (6th) improved get’em (8th), hidden agenda (10th), spell gem understanding (12th)
  • Expertise Talent: borrowed guise (3rd), master of disguise (7th), extra change shape form (11th)
  • Alternate Class Features: polymorphic disguise
• Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (1st), Weapon Specialization (Bonus; 3rd), Skill Synergy: Bluff, Disguise (3rd), Skill Synergy: Diplomacy, Sense Motive (5th), Mobility (7th), Spring Attack (9th), Weapon Focus: unarmed strike (11th)

Playing the Build

So from what we see of Double Trouble in She-Ra, there are a few noteworthy things about them. They imply to have some measure of skill at sorcery, are adequate hand-to-hand fighters, are extremely nimble, and have potent shapeshifting powers. They’re also a lizard-like humanoid creatures. Although reptoids seem like an obvious choice, I went with vesk if only because that makes this build a little bit easier to get legalized at most GMs’ tables. Plus vesk are cool and don’t get played enough. New alternate racial traits venomthought and observant are a must for Double Trouble; venomthought changes the vesk’s ability scores, notably giving them a Charisma bonus for perfect envoy synergy while observant gives a MASSIVE +3 racial bonus to Sense Motive checks. That’s currently the highest racial bonus in the game to a general skill use that isn’t from a Speed (Ysoki get +5 to Acrobatics, but only to tumble through an enemy’s space).

Now, the build. Envoy with polymorphic disguise. This alternate class feature replaces expertise and all skill expertise options with a scaling polymorph ability that you can use to become a variety of different playable species. You get one form initially, but we’re building in room to pick up a second with our expertise talent options. Speaking of which, you can still take expertise talents, but you basically need to spend Resolve Points to use them. Borrowed guise and master of disguise are incredibly potent; the former allows you to steal a person’s stuff to disguise yourself as them while the later applies a massive penalty reduction to your Disguise checks. VERY helpful. I also picked up spell gem understanding so Double Trouble could run around with some helpful spell effects, like disguise self.

Feat-wise, Double Trouble’s got Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Spring Attack, and Weapon Focus: unarmed strike. As a vesk, they also get the insanely good 1-1/2 × level version of Weapon Specialization from their vesk racial trait, meaning this build can dish out some damage when it hits (which is helped via clever attack and improved get’em). Since you don’t have expertise, I also put in Skill Synergy with Double Double’s most important skills to make sure they stay competitive.

Other Notes

There’s one major magitech augmentation you’ll REALLY want for this build: Morphic Skin, as it eventually allowing you to basically turn into any creature of the same type. For Double Trouble, this means any humanoid. This ensures that  you can use your augmentations to appear as others while saving change shape to transform into common creatures in your system that are of a different type. For example, in the Pact Worlds Double Trouble would probably have one of their “extra forms” be that of an undead elebrian from Eox because they’re relatively common in the Pact Worlds system.

You might be wondering why you want the polymorphic disguise alternate class feature at all if morphic skin exists. The answer to that is that polymorphic disguise’s shapeshifting gives you real, powerful transformations that can be used to pick up abilities you wouldn’t normally have. Use it intelligently!

In Conclusion,

You can use the new Character Operations Manual book to make a very convincing double of She-Ra’s Double Trouble. You’re an awesome shapechanger, able to be anyone whenever you want using your mystical abilities. Of course, your real talent isn’t your shapechanging, it’s your ability to perfectly depict others using words and method acting. After all, anyone can shapeshift but it takes an artist to transform….

Thanks for joining me this week, everyone. For my next article, I’m going to do a PF2 build of a rogue that don’t need no Nimble Dodge to show you just how easy (and profitable) it is to say NO to an underwhelming feat. Take care, everyone!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Character Build

• Race Skittermander
• Theme Ace Pilot
• Class Biohacker (Medic) 6
  • Class Features biohacks, custom microlab, injection expert +1, scientific method (instinctive), spark of ingenuity 1/day
  • Archetype Features doctor (2nd)
  • Fields of Study biomedicine (1st)
  • Theorems treat condition (4th), treatment mastery (6th)
• Feats Weapon Focus: small arms (1st); Weapon Specialization (Bonus; 3rd), Fusillade (3rd); Medical Expert (5th)

Playing the Build

Post-release Xvi looks very similar to playtest Xvi, but with a few added benefits. For one, Xvi now has an unlimited number of minor biohacks, his custom microlab (the replacement for the old bioscanner ability) allows him to lock on to his allies to effortlessly administer aid to them, and the medic archetype allows his healing from serums he administers and his biomedicine field of study’s special ability to “overheal” into Stamina Points, which is going to make him extremely efficient at healing the party. Treat condition is still a powerful theorem, and I get to take it sooner because I don’t have to bog myself down taking quality-of-life theorums like quick load or friendly aim (seriously, those were the worst).

Some fun extra abilities that this build has now: if I use Fusillade to deliver a volley of healing serums to allies, as written the custom microlab should allow me to do so without needing to make any ranged attack rolls against allies that I’ve scanned with my microlab. SUPER useful and fun! Medical Expert also synergizes well with the custom microlab, but it’s not something that’s going to matter over the course of our Stellar adventure. Medical Expert notes that you can use the feat to treat deadly wounds as a standard action. Under normal circumstances, you can only treat deadly wounds on a target once per day unless you’re in a medical lab. And at 9th level, your custom microlab counts as being in a medical lab…. So yeah, two standard action treat deadly wounds per day! Nifty, right? Of course, this might just depend on how kind your GM is. The way that treat deadly wounds is worded, it says that most medical labs allow you to treat deadly wounds AT LEAST twice per day. So maybe they’ll let you do more? Never hurts to ask, right?

Expanding the Build

Obviously Against the Aeon Throne only goes up to 6th level, so Xvi’s build doesn’t need to go beyond 6th level. But if you’re at home and you’re thinking to yourself, “Hey Alex, what if I want to use this myself?!”, then you might be pleased because I’m not going to leave you hanging!

• Race Skittermander
• Theme Ace Pilot
• Class Biohacker (Medic) 12
  • Class Features biohacks, custom microlab, injection expert +2, scientific method (instinctive), spark of ingenuity 1/day
  • Archetype Features doctor (2nd), medical specialist (9th)
  • Fields of Study biomedicine (1st), pharmacology (2nd)
  • Theorems treat condition (4th), treatment mastery (6th), improved treat condition (8th), speedy serums (10th), arms expert (12th)
• Feats Weapon Focus: small arms (1st); Weapon Specialization (Bonus; 3rd), Fusillade (3rd); Medical Expert (5th), Multiweapon Fighting (7th), Quick Draw (9th), Tailored Serums (11th)

Beyond 6th level, I’m looking to add improved treat condition to my repertoire because WOW having the power to say “no” to nauseated is super good. Additionally, I imagine I’m going to want to be able to craft serums fast given how many I’m going to be firing out of my gun with Fusillade, so speedy serums seems like a smart bet (although it might be pointless in Starfinder Society if you’re going that route). Finally arms expert is really good for bonus damage. Supplementing my feat choices are Multiweapon Fighting, which should make it easier to shoot my small arms at enemies, Quick Draw, which allows me to quickly swap weapons around, and Tailored Serums, a really nifty feat that allows Xvi to grant bonus healing to serums that he tinkers with. This bonus healing only applies when he specifically designates one of his allies for use with the serum, but that’s hardly a downside. The real downside? Even though the feat doesn’t list an Intelligence score as a prerequisite, it’s uses per day are based on your Intelligence modifier. As a skittermander with an Intelligence penalty, Xvi literally won’t have the Intelligence to use this feat until 11th level, but if you’re NOT going to be a skittermander, pick it up sooner!

There are a couple of other feats I could have taken, but chose not to. Here’s a quick run-down:

• Double Tap: This feat lets you spend extra ammo to add your full Weapon Specialization bonus to a small arms attack. This is fine, but arms expert does this for the weapons I want to wield, both melee and ranged. Since there’s such a small number of theorums currently, I didn’t feel Double Tap was worth it.
• Quick Trickler: This lets you administer a serum as a standard action instead of a full action. It’s okay, but if I do my job right my guns will be pre-loaded, which means that feat is sort of … not better than just shooting someone.

In Conclusion

I think Xvi generally benefited a lot from the COM playtest. There were a few things that disappointed me; Field Dressing just isn’t reliable enough for it’s healing to be worth it, and it’s laughably outpaced by the envoy’s Hit Point / Stamina boosting option. There’s also not enough theorums or fields of study to pick from in this book; it’s about as bare-bones as you can get. That’s a problem with Starfinder’s extremely slow release schedule and general lack of content. (Unless we see biohacker content as AP backmatter or in Nearspace, we’re not going to see anyplace where new biohacker options would make sense until after GenCon 2020, since Starship Operations Manual was just announced.) I hope that we see some awesome biohacker content in the future, as well as plenty of expansions!

That’s all I got for today; have an awesome day and (if you live in the US) a very Happy Thanksgiving. Cheers!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Featured Image by Liz Courts.

Build Concept

• Ancestry: leshy
• Background: herbalist
• Class: sorcerer (hag bloodline)
  • Class Feats: Druid Dedication (2nd), Leshy Familiar (4th), Advanced Bloodline (6th), Enhanced Familiar (8th), Greater Bloodline (10th)
  • Spell Repertoire
    • 5th (4) mariner’s curse (bloodline); black tentacles, chromatic wall, shadow blast, shadow siphon
    • 4th (4) outcast’s curse (bloodline); confusion, dimension door, fly, phantasmal killer
    • 3rd (4) blindness (bloodline); haste, paralyze, slow, vampiric touch
    • 2nd (4) touch of idiocy (bloodline); dispel magic, faerie fire, hideous laughter, invisibility
    • 1st (4) illusory disguise (bloodline); bless, grim tendrils, magic missiles, phantom pain
    • Cantrips (5) daze (bloodline); chill touch, detect magic, dancing lights, prestidigitation, forbidding ward
  • Other Feats:
    • Ancestry Feats: Seedpod (1st); Ritual Reversion (5th); {Player’s Choice} (9th)
    • General Feats: {Player’s Choice} (3rd); {Player’s Choice} (7th)
    • Skill Feats: Natural Medicine (Background; 1st); Intimidating Glare (2nd); {Player’s Choice} (4th); {Player’s Choice} (6th); Battle Cry (8th); {Player’s Choice} (10th)

Playing the Build

So, we’ve got a spooky leshy build here! Going hag bloodline means that our leshy was probably created by a hag or a witch, while going druid dedication helps us build on our connection to plantlife while also giving us an adorable leshy familiar; perhaps it’s a sibling spirit whose ritual simply wasn’t able to attract enough plantlife to form a proper leshy. Maybe the character’s goal is to perform a leshy-creating ritual themselves in order to fully realize their sibling. Fun story stuff, y’all!

So how does this build actually work? Well, in true Halloween fashion it’s built around scaring your opponents. Why? The frightened condition is one of the few easily accessible effects in the game that lowers save DCs, and the hag bloodline has some awesome focus spells that all allow save DCs. The lower you can knock that save DC, the more likely your foe is to critically fail (or normal fail) your spells, so whenever possible you want to make your foes frightened. Now, another condition that will lower your foe’s saving throw bonuses and save DCs is the sickened condition, and the hag bloodline comes prebuilt with a great spell for inflicting this condition: mariner’s curse. This potent curse can make a foe sickened relatively easy, and makes it VERY difficult to remove the condition. When your foe has all the penalties you can toss on them, spells like paralyze and hideous laughter are potent options, greatly impeding your foe’s ability to act. Shadow blast is another great spell choice, as it does respectable damage whose type you can tailor to your current situation. Debuffs like sickened and frightened also apply to your allies, who will likely appreciate their abilities being more likely to land.

So, what does your familiar do? Your best bet is to take familiar abilities like spell battery for more spell slots and spell delivery for spells like vampiric touch, which will let you cast touch spells without worrying too much about it. (I mean, your familiar will worry but worse to worse you can perform a new ritual to put your sibling spirit into a new body, right?)

Fox’s Cunning author Dustin Knight notes that if you use this build in PFS (ya know, after leshies become accessible somehow), you can actually skip Druid Dedication if you align with the Verdant Circle faction, because they get a feat anyone can take for a leshy familiar.

In Conclusion,

This is a cute build full of Halloween cheer. You can use this wickedly witchy leshy and their familiar to frighten and ensorcell enemies using a combination of Intimidation, mariner’s curse, and whatever spells they feel like using. Maybe that’s why witches always cackle and are super scary; so they can land their spells!

I’m Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, and from all of us at Know Direction (plus titlecard artist Alan Cooper), have a very Happy Halloween! Make sure you come back to the site tomorrow, where Luis Loza has some extra-special All Souls’ Day treats (and maybe a few GM tricks) for you!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Without further adieu, let’s look at the build!

Build Concept

• Race kitsune
• Class shifter (style shifter) 11, monk (master of many styles) 1
• Feats Power Attack (1st), Furious Focus (3rd), Swift Kitsune Shapeshifting (5th), Dragon Ferocity (7th), Raking Claws (9th), Vulpine Pounce (11th),
  • Monk Bonus Feats Improved Unarmed Strike (1st), Shapeshifter Style (1st), Stunning Fist (1st)
  • Shifter Bonus Feats Dragon Style (1st), Crane Style (5th), Wildcard Feat (10th), Wildcard Feat (15th)
• Class Features defensive instinct +2, fuse styles, shifter’s claws (natural strikes), shifter’s fury, trackless step, unarmed strike, wild empathy, wild shape (form of the wild), woodland stride

Playing the Build

I’m sure none of you are TOO surprised that I made a kitsune build, but please note that the race is mostly inconsequential for this build; the only things you have to be a kitsune for is Vulpine Pounce and its prerequisite, Swift Kitsune shapechanger. Vulpine Pounce is an awesome way to grab a full attack at the end of a charge, but it’s not required. You could just use the style shifter’s wild shape to assume a form with pounce after all. That being said, you need to be a shapechanger or have Wild Shape to take Shapeshifter Style, so if you aren’t a kitsune you can’t really take any of the bonus feats until you get wild shape from the shifter class. That’s not a huge deal, but it’s something to keep in mind.

So the first question you’re probably asking, “What exactly does this build do?” In a nutshell, the style shifter is an archetype that grants you benefits when you use specific combat styles. For our purposes, Dragon Style and Crane Style are the feats we’re focusing on. Dragon style is an awesome damage boost, allowing you to add extra damage to your attacks based on your Strength modifier, while Crane Style is arguably the best defensive feat in the game. Shapeshifter Style, our third style feat, basically lets you pick from a menu of abilities to gain when you enter the stance. You can grab something defensive like a natural armor bonus (pretty nice considering you’re probably going to use your neck slot for an amulet of mighty fists instead of an amulet of natural armor) or a +1 bonus to Reflex save to bolster your defense, or you can simply pump up the damage of your claw attacks.

Most of the build is constructed around being awesome with the natural attacks you gain simply for being a shifter. At 11th level, you have claws that deal 1d8 damage baseline and ignore DR/cold iron, DR/magic, and DR/silver. You also deal 1d6 of bleed damage thanks to Raking Claws and Dragon Style allows you to add an extra half of your Strength bonus to your first unarmed strike each round; thanks to your natural strikes class feature, your claws count as unarmed strikes for all effects. When you grab Dragon’s Ferocity, you get to add twice your Strength bonus to your first attack each round and 1-1/2 times your Strength to all others.

It sounds pretty helpful, but what’s it look like in practice? Well, if you can net your self a 16 Strength (fairly easy, even for a kitsune) you’ll be looking at +6 to damage from your Strength on the first claw attack, +8 from Power Attack, +4 on your other claw and your bite (betcha you forgot you had one of those, right). That’s actually another reason we went kitsune; Raking Claws says you get additional damage when you hit with your primary natural weapons. Despite being shifter specific, it doesn’t care if those attacks are from your shifter’s claws or not. As a result, as a kitsune your true form’s bite deals bleed damage too. Finally, if you’re in Shapeshifter’s Style, brutal attack gives you +1 damage, plus an additional +1 for every feat you have that lists Shapeshifter’s Style as a prerequisite. You’re going to want at least the one; I’ll assume you’re using at least one of your wildcard slots for Shapeshifter’s Twist for an extra +2 damage. That brings you to 1d8+16 plus 1d6 bleed, for an average of about 23 before we factor things like enhancement bonuses and weapon special abilities. It’s not bad, not bad at all.

So, what’s your alternative? Shifting into Crane Style lets you fight defensively at a -2 for +4, and Shapeshifter’s Style gives you a +1 enhancement bonus to your natural armor bonus.  You’re looking at a +5 swing when you decide to be defensive. We haven’t talked about the style shifter’s style aspects yet because it’s tough to take advantage of Dragon Style’s aspect and Shapeshifter Style doesn’t have one, but Crane’s asepct further reduces the penalty from -2 to -1, and if you have enough ranks in Acrobatics you’ll get another +1 dodge to AC when fighting to AC with that ability. +6 to AC for -1 to hit is pretty amazing, in my opinion!

And while we could stop there because the damage on these claws is actually pretty good (even better, remember that your natural bite gets most of these benefits too), it’s worth noting that you can shapeshift like a druid because of the style shifter archetype. So yeah, transform into a dinosaur with pounce and destroy the world!

In Conclusion

This build is fairly strong. Maybe not as strong as a druid with magic, but strong in its own way especially regarding damage. It’s pretty great at switching from offense to defense and back, and the flavor of your body taking on aspects of the animals whose styles you embody is pretty sweet. Here are some guides if you want to switch things up:

• Because of how wildcard feats work, you’re definitely fine if you want to substitute the kitsune race for any other shapechanger, and you’re probably fine if you want to pick any other race. You’ll just have to wait longer to pick up some of the later feats.
• You might want to lean into Dex as a kitsune rather than go Strength-based. Luckily Raking Claws doesn’t have a prerequisite, but you can totally swap Power Attack for Weapon Finesse and Furious Focus for Piranha Strike. This’ll basically give you the same effect as the Strength-based build, but you won’t be able to ignore Piranha Strike’s penalty for your first attack in a round. You’re also going to want to skip on Dragon Style; since it’s adding its own bonus equal to your Strength modifier you can’t change your damage bonus with an agile amulet of mighty fists or anything (you’re definitely going to want an agile amulet if you go this route). Instead of Dragon Style, you’ll want to go Boar Style instead. This will let you deal an extra 2d6 damage each round if you hit with both of your claws, and later feats in the chain let you deal extra bleed damage AND get fast demoralizes on your foe. If you manage to grab all 3 feats, you’re looking at an extra 2d6 damage +1d6 bleed; even better, the Boar Aspect from your style shifter gives you ANOTHER 1 bleed damage when you hit twice in a round. This is really, really nasty folks. 2d6+1 bleed between Boar Style and Raking Claws!
• Finally, if you don’t care about having the Crane Style defenses, you could just ignore it AND Shapeshifter Style and just go Boar / Dragon. This combination is BRUTAL. Boar Style’s second feat, Boar Ferocity, gives you a free demoralize whenever you hit twice with unarmed strikes. Dragon Style’s style shifter aspect means your unarmed strikes deal damage of 1 size category larger whenever you hit a shaken foe. BOOM. Your claws are now 2d6 weapons, and your bite went from 1d4 to 1d6. Enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed this build. Look forward to more content from me on the Know Direction Network in the coming weeks on Wednesdays! I want to do more PF2 characters now that the Character Guide is out, and Character Operations Manual is like literally a month away; I’M SO EXCITED GUYS!

See you soon!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Creative Commons: Werewolf by sandara

Build Concept

• Race Brenneri; Theme Corporate Agent
• Feats Improved Demoralize (1st), Toughness (3rd), Longarm Proficiency (Military Training; 4th), Weapon Focus: longarms (5th), Great Fortitude (7th), Slippery Shooter (9th), Extra Resolve (11th)
• Class Envoy 12 (Stewards Officer)
  • Class Features expertise 1d6+2, weapon specialization
  • Archetype Features Diplomatic Training (2nd), Military Training (4th), Demand Surrender (9th)
  • Skill Expertise Diplomacy, Sense Motive (1st), Intimidate (5th)
  • Envoy Improvisation get’em (1st),  improved get’em (6th), clever improvisations (8th), situational awareness (10th), expert attack (12th)
  • Expertise Talent Slick Customer (3rd), Well-Informed (7th), Keen Observer (11th)

Playing the Build

Alright! Let’s get the belly-clams rolling, shall we?

This brenneri build is a bit strange in that it uses an archetype; I don’t use them often, but I’m using it here because brenneri have a racial bonus to Diplomacy and I wanted to see if I could do anything weird and unusual with that. What I came up with was an envoy build that focuses exclusively on using get’em. This is somewhat weird for me, as I’m usually all about gaming the envoy action economy for maximum effect. This build is kinda like that too, I guess, but different in that it’s very offensive-minded.

Alright, so the archetype we’re going to be using is called Stewards Officer; it represents a person who belongs to the Pact Worlds organization of the same name and can be found in the 3rd volume of the Against the Aeon Throne AP. Basically, this archetype gets three things in exchange for the envoy improvisations at 2nd and 4th levels and the skill experise at 9th level. The 2nd-level ability isn’t anything to write home about—our fuzzy little otter envoy will be getting two bonuses languages and the ability to use Diplomacy to Demoralize. That’s handy because we’re taking Improved Demoralize and we’re absolutely maxing out our Diplomacy bonus; in addition to Diplomacy being our first Skill Expertise, we’re also taking the Corporate Agent theme for a +1 theme bonus to Diplomacy checks too. Add in a maxed out Charisma score and you basically have the best Diplomacy in the game. (It’s gonna be 1d20 + 1d6 + 9; you could only have more at this level by taking Skill Focus, and the build will naturally buffer that feat out anyway.) Your 4th-level archetype ability gives you a bonus feat (we’re taking Longarm Proficiency) as well as a free Weapon Specialization with that new weapon type at 6th level; very useful. Finally, Demand Surrender is this neat ability that lets you ready actions and demoralize at the same time, which feels super cool and neat at a glance.

From the envoy side, you’re taking get’em as your only real “thing to do”. Every other improvisation you take enhances get’em in some way. Clever improvisations foots a Resolve Point cost for you once and expert attack allows you to spend lots of Resolve Points (2 specifically) to add your expertise die to 1 attack roll. Which you’ll be able to do, because this build also takes improved get’em. The final improvisation you’ll be taking is called situational awareness, which looks REALLY awesome because of how it handles with Demand Surrender. Basically, the demand surrender archetype ability has one weakness—you lose the benefit if the trigger you set for your readied action doesn’t happen. Situational awareness allows you to spend Resolve Points to change your readied actions’ trigger, a super cool synergistic ability for sure.

Aside from these abilities, we’re taking some quality-of-light fight otter feats, like Toughness, Great Fortitude, Slippery Shooter, and Expert Resolve to fuel expert attacker.

Overall this is a very different kind of envoy build, one that capitalizes on straight-shooting. I think it’d be pretty fun to play no matter your PC; the fact that you’re a fuzzy little otter just makes it all the more hilarious! And that’s all I have today; have an excellent labor day, and I’ll see you back here at the Know Direction Network next week. Bye!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts Know Direction: Beyond with Perram and James Ballod. Follow Alex’s Twitter @AlJAug!

We’ve had Pathfinder Second Edition for about a month now, but no Pathfinder Second Edition Iconic Designs! Simply put, this is due to the fact that it takes FOREVER to write a Second Edition iconic design. There’s just so much to account for over 20 levels, in fact there’s so much that I might end up cutting the level from 20 to 12. Anyway, I’ve mentioned before that my friend Julia is looking to start an actual play podcast next year, and this is my current character sketch for the character I’m going to play in that campaign. When building him, I wanted to try and get as close to a Steven Universe build as possible (hence the title image), so let’s see what I’ve manged to do!

Build Concept

• Ability Scores

  • Str 14; Dex 14; Con 10; Int 12; Wis 10; Cha 18
  • 5th Level: Str, Dex, Con, Cha
  • 10th Level: Str, Dex, Con, Cha
  • 15th Level: Con, Int Wis Cha
  • 20th Level: Con, Int, Wis, Cha

• Ancestry

  • Human
  • Skilled (Diplomacy)
  • Feats: General Training: Shield Block (1st), Clever Improviser (5th), Incredible Improvisation (9th), Cooperative Nature (13th), Cooperative Soul (17th)

• Background

  • Entertainer
  • Ability Boosts: Charisma, Intelligence (free)
  • Feat: Fascinating Performance (1st)

• Class

  • Bard (Fighter)
  • Class Feats: Lingering Performance (Muse; 1st); Fighter Dedication (2nd); Inspire Defense (4th); Harmonize (6th); Inspire Heroics (8th); Basic Maneuver: Reactive Shield (10th); Advanced Maneuver: Shield Warden (12th); allegro (14th); Advanced Maneuver: Quick Shield Block (16th); Eternal Composition (18th); Symphony of the Muses (20th)
  • General Feats: Sign Language (3rd); Read Lips (7th); Canny Acumen: Fortitude (11th); Fleet (15th); Feather Step (19th)
  • Composition
    • Cantrips: inspire courage (1st), inspire defense (4th), allegro (14th)
    • Spells: counter performance (1st)
  • Spells
    • 10th (2): alter reality, time stop
    • 9th (3): foresight, unfathomable song, wail of the banshee
    • 8th (3): dream council, spirit song (signature), teleport
    • 7th (3): possession, prismatic spray, retrocognition (signature)
    • 6th (3): collective transposition (signature), zealous conviction, teleport
    • 5th (3): cloak of colors, death ward, shadow blast (signature)
    • 4th (3): dimension door (signature), fly, telepathy
    • 3rd (3): haste, heroism (signature), invisibility sphere
    • 2nd (3): dispel magic, hideous laughter, restoration (signature)
    • 1st (3): soothe (Muse, Signature), color spray, magic missile, sanctuary
    • Cantrips (5) daze, forbidding ward, guidance, mage hand, shield

• Skills

  • Background Skills: Performance, Theater Lore
  • Class Skills: Acrobatics (reassigned from Performance), Athletics, Deception, Medicine, Occultism, Society, Stealth
  • Other Skills: Diplomacy (Heritage)
  • Skill Increases: Performance to Expert (3rd); Diplomacy to Expert (Heritage, 5th);  Society to Expert (5th); Performance to Master (7th); Diplomacy to Master (9th); Society to Master (11th); Stealth to Expert (13th); Performance to Legendary (15th); Diplomacy to Legendary (17th); Stealth to Master (19th)
  • Skill Feats: Group Impression (2nd); Glad Hand (4th); Virtuosic Performance, Sing (6th); Powerful Leap (8th); Cat Fall (10th); Continual Recovery (12th); Hobnobber (14th); Legendary Performer (16th); Legendary Negotiator (18th); Swift Sneak (20th)

Play Guide

Okay, wow. That’s even MORE stuff then I thought once you type it all out!

The basic idea is that this is a bard with a shield. I went human so I could grab the Shield Block feat at 1st level by taking the General Training human feat, then at 2nd level when there were no bard feats I wanted I picked up Fighter Dedication to get a much-needed boost to my attacks. Plus free martial weapon proficiency; always nice! As my build levels up, its feats are mostly focused on combining composition cantrips together to maximize the amount of buffing I can do for my allies. I also manage to pick up Shield Warden, which lets me use my Shield Block to protect my allies. Between that and inspire heroics combined with inspire defense, I can end up maxing out at +5 to AC to an ally by 17th level, which is pretty handy. Additionally, I have useful tricks like forbidding ward (which I could use in a boss fight to give an ally more AC) and cooperative spirit, which helps when I decide to aid others.

My spells are mostly themed around buffing and healing, but I tried to pick up some neat Steven Universe style tricks where I could. For example, things like dream council and possession are abilities Steven uses in the show, and I also thought that teleport was a cute way to do the gem teleportation pads. My skill feats and increases are mostly geared to make my character a singing diplomatic god with a few other helpful skills in there, like Society or Stealth.

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with this build, but I think that this article sort of reveals some issues that PF2 has — there’s really no way to do a simple character design. This article took me hours to write, and while I’m sure it’ll get easier in time the hyper compartmentalization of options sort of led to this difficulty. It was difficult to go step-by-step in making a high-level character because I had to constantly go back and revise choices I made based on new information. For example, I wanted to take Unconventional Improviser (a 3rd level feat), but I found out that if I waited until 5th level I could take it as a human ancestry feat and get that same feat, but better. This might not be as big of an issue in play, as the book has a general rule somewhere that states if a new option gives you something you already have, you basically can free retrain the old option. (I can’t remember where in that 600 page goliath the rule is, however.) However, this makes actually writing an article tough due to all the cross-referencing. Plus I basically NEED to tell you my skills, as I need to make sure that I qualify for things when I say I qualify for them.

So yeah, not sure if I’m going to do this again. We’ll see! Next time I’m going to do a starfinder build for Luis Loza’s adorable otterfolk! (Assuming I get my subscriber’s PDF before next week; I’M STILL WAITING! D:) Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Creative Commons Credit: TITLE by NAME

Concept

• Race: Samsaran.
• Class: kineticist 12
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (1st), Weapon Focus: kinetic blast (3rd), Power Attack (5th), Mobile Gathering (7th), Gather Might (9th), Enduring Might (11th)
• Class Features: burn, elemental overflow +4, infusion specialization 3, internal buffer 2 , gather power, kinetic blast, supercharge
  • Elemental Focus: air (1st), air(7th)
  • Defense: enveloping winds (2nd)
  • Infusions: kinetic blast (1st), blade rush (3rd), thundering infusion (5th), kinetic whip (9th), blade whirlwind (11th)
  • Metakinesis: empower (5th), maximize (9th)
  • Utility: air’s leap (2nd), past life evoker, (4th), wings of air (6th), aerial evasion (Bonus; 7th), celerity (8th), kinetic form (10th), ride the blast (12th)

Playing the Build

One thing I discovered in writing a build for past life evoker was that it was actually REALLY difficult to design an entire build around a once-per-day ability that lasted one minute. So instead of doing that, I made a build where the ability to pull an element on demand is helpful, but not necessary. Behind, my dancing breeze samsaran!

So, how does this build work. Insanely! Believe it or not, but it actually revolves around the last three feats in the chain: mobile gathering, gather might, and enduring might. Here’s the rundown.

• When you use gather power as a move action, Mobile Gathering allows you to move half your base speed. This likely means 15 feet for you.
• When you gather power, instead of accepting a burn reduction Gather Might allows you to accept a +2 alchemical bonus to Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution for every point of burn reduction you could have gotten from gather power. For a move action, this is +2 at 9th level when you get it or +4 at 11th level thanks to the supercharge class feature.
• When you accept burn, elemental overflow also gives you a bonus to your ability scores. At 11th level, this is a +4 size bonus to one score and a +2 size bonus to a second score.

So basically, I went out of my way to pick high-damage infusions that don’t really need to be stacked with one another, and whose burn cost is mostly low enough that infusion specialization reduces their cost to 0. Kinetic blade and kinetic whip are great for this. As a result, you can accept 5 points of burn to charge up your enveloping winds defense (or celerity or past life evoker), netting you the +4 size bonus to Dex and +2 size bonus to Con. Then any time you gather power, you get to move up to 15 feet (maybe more if you boost your speed, like with a pair of boots of striding and springing or your celerity utility talent), give yourself an extra +4 to Dex for another +2 to hit (a total of +4 from everything) and boom. This is why I took Power Attack on this build; you’re going to be rolling in To-Hit, so as long as you have the 13 Strength to qualify go ahead and Power Attack the heck out of those kinetic blade and kinetic whip attacks.

So, what does past life evoker do for you? Basically, it allows you to quickly grab a new element for optimal kinetic blading. Fighting something weak to a specific damage type that you don’t have? Grab it for a minute and wreck face! Since this build isn’t super dependent on what element you take, here are some suggestions for changes (I picked air for wings of air specifically, since I think that’s SO useful for a melee kineticist build).

• Aether: The elemental defense for aether is AWESOME; if you have enough time between fights, it basically shores up all the hit points you lost charging up elemental overflow.
• Earth: Not only is the defense (an AC bonus) great, but the rare-metal infusion where your kinetic blade overcomes most metallic-based DRs is REALLY good for damage dealing.
• Fire: Fire isn’t a great element for this build because its restricted to one specific damage type (fire) and its flame jet ability is generally a worse wings of air all around. Fire’s strength is in its awesome infusions, and you don’t really have room for most of the ones you’d want.
• Void: Void also isn’t a great choice for the same reason as fire—it only has two damage choices and one of the blasts is useless against undead, a common enemy type. Most of its abilities focus on allowing you to see in the dark and exist without breathing, so if those abilities are valuable to your campaign then go for it. Otherwise void is basically just an element for edgelords as far as this build is concerned.
• Water: Water is a fantastic element! Shroud of water is a great elemental defense, and you get access to kinetic healer if your group needs it. If your campaign is water based, the swim speed is also great.
• Wood: Wood is a surprisingly good element. Even though positive blast is useless for damage most of the type, wood blast is as versatile as earth blast. Wood also has an AC bonus like earth and some fantastic infusions. It’s utility talents, however, are pretty specialized.

And that’s that! After a long journey, we’ve made kineticists for every Tian Xia race. Since Pathfinder 2E is just around the corner, I’m expecting this to be my final PF1 Iconic Design. Next week I’m going to write that blog I keep talking about regarding character roles and how your design is affected by them.  The following week I’ll be traveling home from GenCon, so I don’t think I’m going to have a super in-depth article. Expect some light thoughts on my opinions of the newly released PF2 and that’s about it. After that on August 12th, I’m going to be doing my first PF2 Iconic Design! I think it’s going to be my design for my first PF2 PFS character, a human fighter. What will I do? Stick around and see!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time in the Dev Pit!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Creative Commons Credit: Lord of Sunlight by sstarkm

Concept

• Race: Wayang.
• Class: kineticist 12
• Feats: Skill Focus: Stealth (1st), Step Up (3rd), Dampen Presence (5th), Shadowy Dash (7th), Shadow’s Shroud (9th), Hellcat Pounce (11th)
• Class Features: burn, elemental overflow +4, infusion specialization 3, internal buffer 2, gather power, kinetic blast, supercharge
  • Elemental Focus: void (1st), void (7th)
  • Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), blade rush (3rd), kinetic whip (5th), darkness infusion (Bonus; 7th), blade whirlwind (9th), vampiric blast (11th)
  • Defense: emptiness (2nd)
  • Metakinesis: empower (5th), maximize (9th)
  • Utility: kinetic dissolution (2nd), skilled kineticist, (4th), greater skilled kineticist: Stealth (6th), gravity control (8th), eyes of the void (10th), greater gravity control (12th)

Playing the Build

This build is a weird one, mostly because it really can’t take off until 13th level, which is one level beyond the typical range of a Pathfinder Society Scenario. The basic idea of this build is that it uses the darkness infusion to create temporary areas of darkness that you can see through because you’re a wayang. Because of how its worded, if you shoot a foe with your kinetic blast, you basically draw a line from you to your enemy and BOOM. Everything in that line is darkness for a short while. Additionally, if you strike someone with a melee attack, their space becomes darkness for a short bit. This makes for some weird interactions with several of the abilities I picked for this build, as follows.

• Stealth Focus: This build is designed to be good at hiding. Every feat this build gets except for Step Up is designed to allow you to hide where you want, whenever you want. Greater Skilled Kinecticist also allows you to add half your kineticist level to Stealth checks, so since kineticist has Stealth as a class skill you’re probably looking at a bonus of +41 at 12th level (Dex +9 [includes the size bonus from elemental overflow], 12 ranks, +3 class skill, +1 trait, half level from greater skilled kineticist, +5 from a magic item like soles of the silent stride or subtle slippers, Skill Focus +3, +2 from lurker racial trait). That’s not going to ensure that all of your tricks work, but that’s a bonus most characters won’t be able to match.
• Dissolution’s Child: This racial trait is basically a once per day invisibility spell, but its WAY better in the hands of a void kineticist. That 5 rounds of invisibility can be super helpful when you’re trying to maximize your Stealth bonuses in combat, as its worth an extra +20. Moreover, the void element doesn’t really HAVE any good wild talents at 2nd level, so even if this isn’t the greatest its still helpful, and since telekientic invisibility has a lesser Stealth bonus (literally half), this is the largest easy-access bonus your kineticist could get outside of buying a ring of invisibility.
• Step Up: In my opinion, Step Up is one of the sillier things this build can do. Let’s say you run into a group and do something like kinetic blade or blade whirlwind and combine that ability with the darkness infusion. When you do so, you make a square of darkness in every space that you attack. Now, let’s say a foe uses a 5-foot step to move away from you, out of the darkness. Well, if you were adjacent to that target can could have used Step Up, congratulations! You can step up directly into that shadowy space and use Stealth next round. Huzzah!

Unlike many of my builds, this is a build that gets better when you level out of PFS range. Grabbing greater darkness infusion allows the darkness you create to be squares of supernatural darkness, and greater eyes of the void allows you to see through supernatural darkness. That means that this build, which doesn’t get to do any of its Stealthy bits against creatures with darkvision up until, like, 13th level, suddenly can. You also get a big boost from taking aether as your final expanded element at 15th level, as you can combine a whole bunch of composite blasts together into one doom blast. Plus aether is pretty thematic for void, since you can flavor the aether powers as gravity powers. Going into aether also allows you to unlock the kinetic-based invisibility options.

A Stealth build is definitely not your typical kineticist fare, but if you want to use this build to incentify groups of enemies from splitting up and moving around, this is an awesome build. If you cna stop your enemies from moving, its even somewhat defensive against foes unable to see through your darkness, since it basically gives you and your allies concealment. Next week is going to be my Part 2 of “How to Do PF1 Ultimate Classes in PF2” speculation series, and then I’ll finish this Tian Xia series with the Samsaran. Three weeks later I’ll be doing “How to Do PF1 Occult Classes in PF2”, and then I have an article on character roles like tank / healing / control and how Dev design is affected by them.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time in Iconic Design!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Creative Commons Credit: Bercerita dengan Wayang by Wikimedia Commons

Concept

• Race: Tengu.
  • Favored Class Bonus: 12/6 of a new Extra Wild Talent feat.
• Class: kineticist (kinetic knight) 12
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (1st), Two-Weapon Fighting (3rd), Improved Shield Bash (5th), Extra Wild Talent (Favored Class; 6th), Two-Weapon Feint (7th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9th), Improved Trip (11th), Extra Wild Talent (Favored Class; 12th)
• Class Features: burn, elemental bastion, elemental overflow +4, gather power, greater resolve, infusion specialization 3, internal buffer 2, resolve 5/day, kinetic warrior
  • Elemental Focus: water (1st), earth (7th)
  • Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), blade rush (3rd), kinetic whip (5th), pushing infusion (Bonus; 6th), blade whirlwind (9th), whip hurricane (11th), bowling (Bonus; 12th)
  • Defense: shroud of water (1st), flesh of stone (10th)
  • Utility: slick (2nd), kinetic healer, (4th), tengu blade lore (6th), veil of mists (8th), expanded defense (10th), kinetic revivification (12th)

Playing the Build

I’m actually decently excited about this build! The basic idea is that you’re a tengu that forms a weapon from ice that uses a light shield in the off-hand. The kinetic knight archetype is the ultimate build for kinetic blade users (provided Medium Armor and a Shield is your thing), and this build uses both to the extreme. Here’s the basic rundown (NOTE: remember that the kinetic knight’s kinetic warrior class feature counts as Combat Expertise and uses Con for Int for feats that need Combat Expertise).

• You should probably pick ice blast as your first blast. Being able to hit touch AC with your kinetic blade is extremely useful for a build that uses Two-Weapon Fighting.
• Tengu Blade Lore allows you to add several weapon properties to your kinetic blade. Your choices are blocking, brace, deadly, disarm, distracting, sunder, or trip. Of those, blocking won’t stack with your shield (which you need to wield in order to benefit from your elemental defenses), deadly is situational, and trip’s benefit is … unusual? Trip doesn’t give a bonus to trip attempts, so I guess it lets you dismiss your kinetic blast to avoid being counter tripped which is again, situational. Since the build specifically has you wait until you have kinetic whip to take this talent, your best bet is either distracting or sundering, because as a kinetic knight your kinetic whip automatically gains disarm and trip (though admittedly adding disarm or trip can be useful if you simply want to attack with your blade, and considering that using kinetic blade costs you no burn because you’re a kinetic knight that’s a legit tactic).
• Your elemental bastion ability basically allows your shroud of water to grant your armor or shield an enhancement bonus to its AC. It’s useful and helpful, and still allows shimmering mirage to active (which gives you a 20% miss chance as if from concealment).
• You can be a decent off-healer with kinetic healer and kinetic revivification. The latter is basically breath of life, so super helpful!
• The way its written, bowling is a substance infusion that stacks with kinetic blade / whip hurricane. If you are willing to pay the burn, you could theoretically strike everyone within a 10 foot reach with a disarm attempt with whip hurricane while also using bowling infusion to trip all those targets. Your Improved Trip and disarm weapon property would give you an extra +2 to both combat maneuver attempts.
• You have resolve like a samurai, so you can shrug off a bunch of conditions.

Basically, this water / earth kineticist build is a hyper-controlling build that can be used to deal good damage or knock everybody prone whilst taking their weapons. I think its a legit strategy to swap Improved Trip and Two-Weapon Feint for Improved Disarm and Greater Disarm if you want them, so you can send everyone’s weapons flying around the battlefield. Or you could swap those feats for Combat Reflexes and Vicious Stomp to make the tripping even nastier. (If you went this route, you could either purchase a deep red sphere ioun stone to get the feat for 8,00 gold or you could take the claws racial trait for tengu, which gives you two claw attacks and allows you to count as if you had Improved Unarmed Strike for feat prerequisites). The disadvantage (perhaps advantage?) of going the trip route is that you wouldn’t need tengu blade lore at all. A great utility power to take instead is waterdancer, which gives you a swim speed.

This build is a little bit wonky in that it has a lot of things it can do, and its up to you the player to decide how to do them. Being able to leave everyone prone on the ground with no weapon as a full-round action has the potential to be very strong, and unlike fighter builds with similar tricks this doesn’t sacrifice any of the kineticist potent damage to do so (unless you count giving up metakinesis). Next week I’m going to do a Dev Pit article on character roles and how that can make or break your game’s design! After that I’m going to be continuing my kineticists of Tian Xia series; I still have samsarans and wayangs left. Which do you want to see next? Leave a comment below or hop onto our Discord channel and tell me there. I’m looking forward to it.

This is Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, signing out!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Creative Commons Credit: Kenku Illusionist by  ThemeFinland

Concept

• Race: Human
• Theme: Outlaw.
• Ability Scores: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 16
• Feats: Longarm Proficiency (1st; Bonus), Weapon Focus: Longarm (1st), Versatile Weapon Specialization (3rd), Deadly Aim (5th), Quick Draw (7th), Fast Talk (9th), Skill Focus: Intimidate (11th)
• Class Features: expertise (1d6+1)
  • Envoy Improvisations: get’em (1st), dispiriting taunt (2nd), quick dispiriting taunt (4th), improved get’em (6th), hurry (8th), improved hurry (10th), expert attack (12th)
  • Skill Expertise: Intimidate (1st), Bluff (5th), Diplomacy (9th)
  • Expertise Talent: menacing gaze (3rd), create diversion (7th), well-informed (11th)

Playing the Build

This build also works well if you want to play Ashe from Overwatch.

When designing this build, Loren told me that the #1 thing she wanted was that she wanted to play a character who worked similarly to Ashe from Blizzard’s hit game, Overwatch. Ashe is pretty straightforward to build: she uses a longarm that possesses a sniper scope, throws grenades, and has a coach pistol that helps her withdraw from a fight. There isn’t a lot we can do about that coach pistol attack; the best way to simulate it would be the parting shot feat, but Mobility + Parting Shot is very feat intensive for an envoy, so I didn’t recommend that for Loren’s build. Instead, I decided to focus on the longarm attacks feat-wise; rifles are iconic to Ashe’s fighting style, and they need a bit of feat support to be worth it for the envoy. Specifically, I recommend taking Longarm Proficiency with the human bonus feat and Weapon Focus: Longarms as the 1st-level feat. Starfinder doesn’t have an unncessary BAB +1 requirement on Weapon Focus, and these two feats go a LONG way towards making anyone great with longarm shots. At 3rd level, Versatile Weapon Specialization is needed to add Loren’s level to damage rolls. Its mandatory to keep up the damage level. I also recommend Deadly Aim at 5th level. Loren is often going to be taking single shots as part of things like improved get’em or simply on her own, so Deadly Aim is actually pretty good here since she won’t have the action economy to full attack. At the capstone of our AP, I recommend Quick Draw because the envoy almost never takes full actions, so most of the time Loren’s going to have a swift action floating around. Might as well have a way to use it with Quick Draw. That being said, Fast Talk might be more iconic to an Ashe-style outlaw, so making that her capstone also makes a lot of sense. I also recommend Skill Focus: Intimidate for a higher level Ashe because with the envoy’s expertise, the feat basically allows her to reroll an expertise die she rolls with any of her expertise skills.

So, what skills SHOULD Ashe take with skill expertise? Intimidate, hands down. Being scary is Ashe’s thing, and it goes great with the dispiriting taunt improvisation. I talked a bit about this improvisation in between episodes on our first Stellar AP stream at Loren’s request; the advantage to this ability is that if you pass the check, you’re rendering the foe shaken. If you fail the check, you’re rendering the foe off-target. No matter WHAT you do, pass or fail, the foe takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls. You know, the IMPORTANT part of the shaken condition. Dispiriting taunt is a debuff that offers consistency more than anything, and when Sam gets the improved version, she can do it as a move action. Get’em is also a favorite tactic of our fearless leader, and its FANTASTIC, so I suggested to Loren she pick up that option shortly after. A perfect combination of actions allows her to taunt as a move action, then use get’em as a standard action combined with a shot from her longarm. Ouch! It may be beyond our game, but picking up hurry and improved hurry are also great, and the high-level expert attack feat allows Loren to dump some Resolve to have the best attack bonus of anyone in the party for ONE shot. Get’em, Loren!

So, maybe Loren doesn’t like these feat choices. What else can she get? Going Improved Feint and Greater Feint is an awesome choice because it gives Loren a move action that she can use against foes that can’t be demoralized, and Greater Feint creates an even larger attack-to-AC swing in our party’s favor. Between get’em and the flat-footed condition, our party would get a massive 4 point swing to AC, and if Xvi also hits the target with a counteragent we’re looking at a 6 point swing. It’s rather insane.

Overall, this is a fun, action-packed build that would allow Loren to be the mean-spirited captain she’s always dreamed of being. A combination of demoralizing and attacking with big guns while bossing her party around with get’em makes this the perfect build for Sam or anyone who wants to be part of the notorious Deadlock Gang! Next time I’m planning on writing an article about what I learned at PaizoCon (which starts THIS WEEK! AHHH!) and after that I’ll be returning to my Kineticists of Tian Xia series. After that will be a new Dev Pit article on the difficulty in choosing where your new content goes. Until then, take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying Games, owns Everyman Gaming LLC, and cohosts Know Direction: Beyond with James Ballod and Jefferson “Perram” Thacker. You can keep up with Alex’s exploits on the Know Direction Discord or at his Twitter, @AIJAug.

Creative Commons Credit: Ashe Overwatch by AyyaSAP

Concept

• Race: Ysoki.
• Theme: Roboticist (+1 Int).
• Ability Scores: Str 9, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10
• Feats: Skill Focus: Any (1st; Bonus) Weapon Focus: longarms (1st), Weapon Specialization (3rd; Bonus), Deadly Aim (3rd), Versatile Weapon Focus (5th), Versatile Weapon Specialization (7th), Cleave (9th), Slippery Shooter (11th)
• Class Features: bypass +3, coordinated assault, custom rig, expert rig, miracle worker 2/day, overload, override, remote hack
  • Artificial Intelligence: exocortex.
  • Exocortex Mods: Advanced Melee Weapons Training (7th), Enhanced Senses (11th)
  • Mechanic Tricks: overcharge (2nd), overclocking (4th), visual data processor (6th), improved overcharge (8th), hyperclocking (10th), invisibility bypass processor (12th)

Playing the Build

While I originally thought that the exocortex mechanic was terrible on paper, after a bit of digging I discovered that you can come pretty close to matching the soldier class advantage for advantage with a well-built mechanic. Now, for this build the most important attributes are Dexterity and Intelligence so while ysoki isn’t necessary, its a pretty easy pick because it offers bonuses to both of the build’s important stats. Elf could also work, but the Con penalty hurts HARD  in Starfinder, but since this build’s melee option doesn’t turn online until Level 7 you could theoretically boost yourself up to a Con 10 and be okay.

Yes. That’s right. I said melee build. Lemme work to it.

Early game this build uses the exocortex mechanic’s free proficiency with longarm weapons to great effect. At 2nd-level, you can use triple ammo to have your weapons deal an extra d6 of damage. This means that you’re only likely to get 6 shots out of your normally 20-shoot laser rifle, but its pretty rare for anything but a boss fight to last more than 6 rounds anyway. Plus you’ll be dealing an average of 8 damage with your laser rifle (compared to the average of 5 damage from a 2nd-level operative’s successful trick attack), so you’re doing pretty well for yourself. Now, you might be curious as to why I picked the Deadly Aim feat for this build. I don’t normally recommend it. As someone who’s played a 12th-level soldier through Dead Suns, there weren’t many opportunities I wish I had Deadly Aim, but that’s largely because my build was designed to get me into melee fast and let me sit there. That works well enough for a soldier, but the exocortex mechanic has one issue—retargeting. The exocortex needs to be retargeted onto anything you want to attack, which means you’re regularly feeding move actions to it that a haste spell (or a haste circuit) can’t circumvent. Deadly Aim is great for those turns where you need to designate a new target; its very niche, but Starfinder feat design thrives in niche situations.

One of the nice things about the overclocking mechanic trick is that it basically adds enough average damage to your roll so that your energy weapon does as much damage as a kinetic weapon of its kind. This means that if you’re a mechanic sticking to energy weapons, you’ll have a slight damage edge over a soldier using the highest-damaging weapons in the game simply because EAC is, on average, 2 lower than KAC. That additional 10% chance to hit adds up over time! If you wanted to edge out the soldier, pick a powered melee weapon that goes against KAC instead, like the buzz blade. In either case your single attacks are going to hit just as hard, just as often. (Note that Deadly Aim is great here too, since overcharge is a standard action. You can’t full attack when using overcharge, so your Deadly Aim allows you to getj ust a little more damage.) Note that its worth mentioning that a soldier will out damage you if you’re going full attack to full attack, especially since the exocortex mechanic doesn’t get any equivalent to soldier’s onslaught. But speaking from experience, the times when multiple attacks during an onslaught hit are rare. For all purposes your hits are going to be more accurate and will deal more damage. Additionally, the mechanic can copy the soldier’s awesome AC with overclocking, which gives an extra +1 insight bonus to AC. Coupled with heavy armor proficiency and only a soldier with the guard style AND the armored advantage gear boost will beat you. (To be honest, your AC could be higher than this if you’re willing to invest in powered armor, but that’s super expensive and it doesn’t scale well in society since the scaling rules don’t seem to be legal there, so I sort of ignored it.)

As a basic summary, if you’re comparing standard attack to standard attack, the exocortex mechanic does more damage. Once you get into full attacks, especially with soldier’s onslaught, the soldier can hedge out ahead, but its really more luck-based at that point. Onslaught isn’t likely to hit high-CR opponents (especially combatants), but a full attack will. Exocortex mechanic makes better use out of the Deadly Aim feat since it can’t always full attack, and exocortex has more skills and more quality of life utility (such as this ability’s ability to see invisibility). The exocortex’s options are also available more generally, as soldiers currently are VERY restricted by weapon time due to a lack of gear boosts options. (Hopefully COM fixes that!)

Overall, this build has really made me reconsider my opinion on the exocortex mechanic. While I still think that the option isn’t as flashy as it could have been, mathematically the exocortex is a sound option that is extremely competitive as a combination skill monkey / death dealer. Don’t expect the exocortex mechanic to be able to cover as many skills as the operative or even the envoy, but as a middle group between the operative’s “high skills” niche and the soldier’s “high combat” niche, the mechanic is a great option that can patch up tons of holes in a party composition. Next time I’ll be doing a Dev Pit on puzzle design in RPGs and after that you can look forward to my “samsaran kineticist” Iconic Design. Thanks for reading and have an awesome week!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying Games, owns Everyman Gaming LLC, and cohosts Know Direction: Beyond with James Ballod and Jefferson “Perram” Thacker. You can keep up with Alex’s exploits on the Know Direction Discord or at his Twitter, @AIJAug.

Concept

Any information important to understanding the build goes here.

• Race: Nagaji
  • Alternate Racial Trait: Hypnotic Gaze (replaces serpent sense)
• Class: Kineticist 12
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (1st), Spit Venom (3rd), Virulent Venom (5th), Weapon Focus: kinetic blast (7th), Shatter Defenses (9th), Hemorhaging Venom (11th)
• Class Features: burn, elemental overflow +4, gather power, infusion specialization 3, internal buffer 2, kinetic blast, metakinesis, supercharge
  • Elemental Focus: wood:  wood blast (1st), wood: positive blast (7th)
  • Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), pushing infusion (3rd), venom admixture (5th), mobile blast (7th; Bonus) venom infusion (9th), spore infusion (11th)
  • Defense: flesh of wood (2nd)
  • Metakinesis: Empower (5th), Maximize (9th)
  • Utility: venom speaker (2nd), kinetic awe (4th), merciful foliage (6th), herbal antivenom (8th), wood healer (10th), healing burst (12th)

Playing the Build

Okay, this build is EXTREMELY nasty once you get to Level 5 or so, but it definitely takes some build-up to reach there. At 1st level, you aren’t all that “special” as far as kineticists go. You’re a wood kineticist with Weapon Finesse and Kinetic Blade; as I mentioned in my nine-tailed kitsune article, Weapon Finesse and kinetic blade are awesome because they lower the feat count needed for the kineticist by one. Since you can run into melee and do the same amount of damage (sometimes more) that you could at range, having kinetic blade basically means that you don’t need Point-Blank Shot or Precise Shot—the reason being that Precise Shot’s main purpose is to remove a penalty that you take when you have tons of allies in melee with a foe. But you don’t take that penalty if you’re also fighting in melee. In summary, switch-hitting as a kineticist is ideal because its super easy to accomplish.

Now, your build really starts to take off at 5th level. Why? You have venom speaker, which is a nice quality of life ability that allows you to gather power while holding vials of poison and gives you a super potent poison lore ability (as the investigator). You could even take some alchemist discoveries that bolster the potency of your poisons if you want to, but you don’t need to with this build, though. Why? Well, you’re a nagaji, and nagaji can take the Spit Venom feat. This feat allows you to spit a venom into your opponent’s eyes to blind them as a full-round action. Not GREAT, but it can be useful. Where this power REALLY starts to take off, however, is when you include the nagaji poison-spitting feats from Pathfinder Player Companion: Potions and Poisons. There are three in total, but this build only has room for two of them. The first of them, Virulent Venom, adds an extra daily use of your Spit Venom feat while also causing your venom to deal acid damage equal to 1d6 +1d6 per 1/3 your level (technically Hit Dice, but this is a player-focused blog). At the level we get this feat, we’re looking at +2d6 acid damage, and this damage doesn’t care if your target is immune to poison or if they save against the poison. They just melt! The final feat in this build, Hemorrhaging Venom, gives an extra use of Spit Venom and causes foes that fail their save against your venom to take 2d6 bleed damage in addition to the venom’s usual effects. Ouch!

This is all well and good, but how does a full-action feat synchronize with the kineticist class? The answer, my friends, is the venom admixture infusion. This potent infusion allows you to infuse your kinetic blasts with poison; normally with doses of venom that you hold in your hand, but also with the poison from your racial abilities—Spit Venom is specifically called out here. So with this infusion, you can blast a foe with your wood blast and have them be affected as if by your Spit Venom feat, which also carries all of the riders of your Virulent Venom and Hemorrhaging Venom feats (venom admixture specifically says “they are affected by the poison”, after all). Venom Admixture costs 2 burn, so its pretty easy to mitigate; you get infusion specialization at the level you earn it, after all, so that burn cost of 2 is actually a 1, so if you gather power as a move action you’re fine most times. Where this build gets crazy, however, is when you start to add in OTHER infusions to the mix. Specifically, Venom Infusion and Spore Infusion. Now, all three of these infusions (venom admixture, venom infusion, and spore infusion) are all substance infusions, so they can’t be stacked into a single kinetic blast. But if you play your cards well, you can cause some MAJOR disruption to an enemy over the course of several rounds. Let’s take a look:

• Opener: Gather Power + Kinetic Awe. Kinetic awe is basically Dazzling Display as a standard action, but if you gather power before during doing it you get to add half your kineticist level to your Intimidate check. Opening with this move is GREAT because shaken opponents take a -2 penalty to saves, and they’re ripe for exploiting with the Shatter Defenses feat.
• Option 1, Venom Admixture: This choice lets you mix your Spit Venom feat (or any one dose of venom you’re holding) into your infusion. Your foe will take -2 to their save if you managed to make them shaken with kinetic awe, and they’ll automatically take 5d6 acid damage if you hit due to Virulent Venom and you being level 12. If your foe fails their save against the infusion, your Spit Venom feat will give them the blinded condition, which means they’re denied Dexterity to AC and all attacks against them get +2 to hit. Hemorrhaging Venom also activates if your foe fails their save, causing them to take 2d6 bleed damage every round. In short, this is the option you use to deal max damage and to bolster your party’s Hit Chance.
• Option 2, Venom Infusion: This choice sickens your opponent on a failed save, which gives them -2 to basically all damage rolls. Your foe will take -2 to their save if you managed to make them shaken with kinetic awe. Humorously, venom infusion doesn’t say that its a poison effect, so this is the best infusion to use if your foe is immune to poison. It’s also very effective if you’re out of poison doses or Spit Venom uses to use with venom admixture, and it can be used as a set-up to make other infusions even more likely to land, as shaken and sickened stack their penalties.
• Option 3, Spore Infusion: This choice causes your foe to become infected by fungi that deal a small amount of damage every round for 1 minute before exposing the target to a disease that deals Dexterity damage each round. Additionally, if you attempt to hit a foe infected by the infusion’s disease with a wood blast, you get +2 to your attack roll, +2 to the blast’s save DC (if any), and +2 to caster level checks to overcome spell resistance. This makes spore infusion a VERY powerful debuff to land on foes that are hard to hit or have high saves, although as a player the chance of you actually getting to see the disease land is pretty small; few combats last for 1 minute or longer at this point in the game. That being said, it is the most reliable option for lowering a foe’s AC (your Venom Admixture’s blinded condition doesn’t do anything to foes with special senses like blindsight, after all) and since it is a disease effect, there will be times that this infusion will work when venom admixture doesn’t.

Before we wrap up for the article, let’s day dream about a combat where you somehow managed to get all three of these options active on a single foe. What happens? Well…

• You’ve hit them with three physical kinetic blasts; at 11th level, this is a TON of damage, plus 5d6 from Virulent Venom, 2d6 each round from Hemorraging Venom, and 1d6 each round from Spore Infusion.
• Your foe is blinded for 1d6 rounds (average of 3).
• Your foe is sickened from venom admixture; if you used kinetic awe, they might be shaken too. This in total is -4 to attack rolls and saves, -2 to ability checks, -2 to skill checks, and -2 to damage rolls.
• You gain +2 to attack rolls, save DCs, and caster level checks to overcome spell resistance against the target.
• If they were shaken, your Shatter Defenses feat rendered the target flat-footed against your attacks.

That, my friends, is a bad time.

It’s pretty crazy to see how debuff-heavy you can build a nagaji kineticist, isn’t it? This is a kineticist that is capable of putting out massive damage while also dwindling away their enemy’s strengths, making them easier to hit and nullifying a ton of their offensive and defensive potential. Obviously it is going to be rare that ALL of these options are in play at the same time, but its pretty rare to see a character who can do offense AND debuffing so well in the same build at the same time! Next week I’m planning on doing my second-ever installment of the Dev Pit, so I hope to see you there. After that I’m going to be continuing my kineticists of Tian Xia series; I still have samsarans, tengu, and wayangs left. Which do you want to see next? Leave a comment below or hop onto our Discord channel and tell me there. I’m looking forward to it.

This is Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, signing out!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hello everyone, and welcome to another installment of Iconic Design! Before I start talking more about game design with my weekly articles, I wanted to take a moment to do something fun for me. You see, it was recently announced that the Know Direction Network is doing a second Actual Play podcast, titled Stellar, and I have the honor of being one of the show’s cast members. In Stellar, I’m going to be playing Xvi (pronounced Shee-Vee), a skittermander biohacker. What’s a biohacker? It’s one of the new classes that’s stated to come out in Starfinder: Character Operations Manual this year.

Now, it didn’t seem right to me if I didn’t do an Iconic Design for a character that I’m going to be playing in an Actual Play podcast, so that’s today’s topic! Of course, fair warning: since my class (the biohacker) is literally unpublished at the moment this build is HIGHLY subject to change based on what sort of things happen in Against the Aeon Throne and what the final version of the rules look like. Needless to say I am super excited to tell you all about my character, Xvi.

Concept

Any information important to understanding the build goes here.

• Race: Skittermander
• Theme: Ace Pilot
• Starting Ability Scores: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 9, Wis 16, Cha 12
  • Ability Boosts: Dex/Int/Wis/Cha (5th), Con/Int/Wis/Cha (10th)
• Feats: Weapon Focus: small arms (1st), Fusillade (3rd), Weapon Specialization (3rd; Bonus), Medical Expert (5th), Multiweapon Fighting (7th), Quick Draw (9th), Skill Focus: Medicine (11th)
• Class Features: custom scanner, injection expert +1, injections, spark of ingenuity 3/day
  • Fields of Study: Biomedicine (1st; Primary), Genetics (7th; Secondary)
  • Field of Study Breakthroughs: Biomedicine (5th; Primary), Genetics (11th; Secondary)
  • Scientific Method: instinctive
  • Biohacker Theorems: Friendly Aim (2nd), Quick Load (4th), Treat Condition (6th), Tranq Dart (8th), Far Injection (10th), Arms Expert (12th)

Playing the Build

Xvi’s build relies on a field of study that you’ve probably never heard of, seeing that Vanessa allowed me to write it custom for our Actual Play. The fact that the biohacker couldn’t hold a candle to the mystic as a healer really bothered me, so the biomedical field of study seeks to remedy that by creating an option that any biohacker can take that will them to be effective as healer (though nowhere near as effective as a healing connection mystic). Here’s a look at my custom-designed field of study:

Biomedicine

Biomedicine is the application of biological principals to clinical medicine.

Counteragent: You inject a autolytic agent into a living creature’s body, causing their cells to rapidly digest themselves with their own enzymes. The target gains the bleeding condition, taking 1d4 damage at the start of each of its turns for 6 rounds. This increases to 1d6 damage at 4th level, and by 1d6 damage every 3 levels thereafter.

Restorative: You can enhance a living creature’s cellular regeneration, causing them to gain fast healing equal to your key ability modifier for a number of rounds equal to your biohacker level.

Biomedical Cure (Ex): When you gain this field of study’s breakthrough, as a standard action, you can create and deliver a powerful restorative to a living creature that supercharges its rate of cellular regeneration. The target is affected as if you had cast a 2nd-level mystic cure spell onto them; if you are a studious mind, you add your Intelligence modifier to the total amount of healing done instead of your Wisdom modifier. At 7th level and every 3 levels thereafter, the effective spell level of this effect improves by 1, to a maximum of a 6th-level mystic cure spell at 16th level. Starting at 10th level, you can target the corpse of a recently deceased living creature with this ability in order to attempt to return them to life, as described by the 4th-level version of mystic cure.

Ultimately what ends up happening is that Xvi is going to have more mystic cures per day than a standard mystic and a useful out of combat healing option in the field of study’s restorative. Ultimately, this will likely make Xvi better at raw numbers healing than a standard mystic (i.e. a mystic with any connection other than healer). Where he ends up loosing out to mystics is on status effects and multitarget healing, Xvi is never going to have access to mass mystic cure or channel life, after all, though this build does have a solution for that: the Fusillade feat. Because skittermanders have at least four hands, Xvi qualifies for this awesome feat, which allows him to fire four small arms as if they had the automatic weapon property. It takes a LOT of set-up and only really works for a skittermander, but I can have needler pistols loaded with nothing but healing serums and fire them as part of Fusillade feat. This will allow Xvi to heal his allies if they are in a VERY small cone; 15 feet in fact. Definitely doesn’t have the raw power or numbers scaling of channel life and it is incredibly expensive, but in the rare moment I get it off it should be CRAZY fun.

Now, I’m sure a bunch of you are like, “Why did you go instinctive, Alex? Instinctive is TERRIBLE!” And while you’re right that studious biohackers are significantly better, Intelligence is a penalized stat for Xvi, so I didn’t think I could pull off the superior build mathematically. So I went Wisdom. In contrast Genetic’s ability to give enemies energy vulnerability is INSANELY powerful, so of course I took that for what is effectively the capstone of the Against the Aeon Throne Adventure Path. In terms of my theorems, I took Friendly Aim and Quick Load because by my guesses, those options are essentially mandatory to play the class. There’s no way I’m going to hit Kylf to give him an injection without Friendly Aim! Now anything past 7th level is something you won’t get to see me use in Stellar, but I REALLY like Traq Dart, so much so that I’d likely take Immonology as my third Field of Study just to be able to penalize my target’s Fortitude saves in preparation for a traq dart shot.

Notes on Weird Stuff

Since my build is technically a Playtest class, it would feel weird not to give the biohacker some real feedback as part of this article, so here it is.

• Spark of Ingenuity: Why does the biohacker table list this as “+1/day” instead of just increasing the number of uses per day? (I.e. 1/day, 2/day, and so on) Seems like a weird formatting glitch to me, but it threw me for a loop.
• Friendly Aim and Quick Load: These two theorems are going to be mandatory for ranged builds, as far as I can tell. That seems super unfun in the long run.
• Fields of Study: These are all super niche and tend to fall into “Spells, but worse” for their effects. Considering most of them have limited uses per day, the idea that you could use super advanced science to perfectly replicate spells seems AWESOME to me. I hope they buff these breakthroughs to be more like spells ultimately.
• Poor Scaling: A bunch of these theorems are simply too conservative in their scaling. A great example is protective restorative. DR or energy resistance equal to my KEY ABILITY MODIFIER? That’s NOTHING! Hopefully a bunch of these injections get a review for their use potential and are improved as a result, because the effects off of a bunch of these are just not strong enough to contend with the base math options.

And that about wraps up my build for Xvi as it currently stands. What do you think? What would you change about his build? What sort of changes are you hoping to see in the biohacker playtest class? Did I miss anything? Let me know on the Know Direction Discord channel, or in the comments below. I said that I was going to introduce my new freelancing and designing focused blog this week, but since I did Xvi’s article instead I DOUBLE PROMISE you’ll see me do an article next week. Until then, take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another installment of Iconic Design!

The end of First-Party support for Pathfinder’s 1st Edition is almost upon us. We haven’t had a new hardcover rule book since Planar Adventures almost two years ago, and May 2019 marks the end of Paizo’s Pathfinder Player Companion line. Before you know it, BOOM. Pathfinder 1st Edition’s official support will be… over.

So, what about yours truly? It’s common knowledge that I’m a Paizo freelancer. What’s my last big hoorah for the system? Well, in addition to my first-ever backmatter article coming out in April’s installment of the Tyrant’s Grasp Adventure Path (Last Watch), Paizo Developers Eleanor Ferron and the network’s own Luis Loza were kind enough to give me a small section in March 2019’s Player Companion, the penultimate Heroes of Golarion. I got to write two full pages of kineticist talents themed around Tian Xia, and was super grateful that they allowed me to contribute several “racial wild talents” to the project, themed around Tian Xia. It was an idea I had always wanted to do, but never got to. (That happens a lot when you’re a freelancer / publisher.) So I am going to spend the next few Iconic Designs building kineticists with each of these wild talents. To start, we’ll look at a kitsune build utilizing nine-tailed kineticist! Let’s go!

Concept

Any information important to understanding the build goes here.

• Race: Kitsune
• Favored Class Bonus: Gain 1/6 of a new Magical Tail feat.
• Class: Kinecticist 12
• Feats: Magical Tail (1st), Weapon Finesse (3rd), Magical Tail (5th), Magical Tail (6th; Bonus); Magical Tail (7th), Extra Wild Talent: torrent (9th), Magical Tail (11th) Magical Tail (12th; Bonus)
• Class Features: burn, elemental overflow +4, gather power, infusion specialization 3, internal buffer 2, kinetic blast, metakinesis, supercharge
  • Elemental Focus: fire (1st), air (7th)
  • Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), burning infusion (3rd), penetrating infusion (5th), kinetic whip (9th), torrent (9th; Bonus), blade whirlwind (11th)
  • Defense: searing flesh (2nd)
  • Metakinesis: Empower (5th), Maximize (9th)
  • Utility: nine-tailed kineticist (2nd), foxfire (4th), fire’s fury (6th), elemental whispers (8th), wings of air (10th), aerial evasion (12th)
• Magical Tail Spell-Like Abilities: disguise self (2 tails), charm person (3 tails), misdirection (4 tails), invisibility (5 tails), suggestion (6 tails), displacement (7 tails)

Playing the Build

So, before we get too deep into this build it would help to define what the wild talent that I’m basing this build around does.  Let’s pause a moment and check it out:

Nine-Tailed Kineticist

Element universal; Type utility (sp); Level 3; Burn 0; Prerequisites kitsune

You can cast a spell-like ability granted to you by any Magical Tail feat you have by accepting 1 point of burn, even if you have no daily uses of that spell-like ability remaining. You must be able to use wild talents of a level equal to the number of extra tails required to use a spell-like ability granted by a Magical Tail feat to use this ability to cast that spell-like ability (for example, you would need to be 15th level and able to use 8th-level wild talents to use this talent to cast the dominate person spell-like ability granted by Magical Tail). In addition, you can learn a Magical Tail feat that you qualify for in place of gaining a new infusion or utility wild talent.

Right off the bat, this utility wild talent sets up some of the guiding rules I followed when making this build: You don’t need more than one Magical Tail beat before 4th level, and starting at 4th level, you don’t need to have Magical Tail more often than once every 2 kineticist levels. Any beyond that and your nine-tailed kineticist utility talent doesn’t actually work with Magical Tail. So while we COULD triage and have all the tails by, like 6th level if we wanted to, you would end up with only one infusion (your 1st-level infusion) and one utility wild talent (nine-tailed kineticist), and a smattering of 2/day spell-like abilities. Basically, every feat, infusion, and wild talent you would normally get would go into Magical Tail instead. I guess having dominate person at level 6 (3 levels before the wizard and 4 before the sorcerer) is neat, but you lose a LOT of the class to get to that point and it doesn’t change the fact that nine-tailed kineticist doesn’t let you have more uses of that spell. If you want to be a fire-slinging nine-tailed kyubi as early as possible, however, it works.

Now, one thing that I particularly enjoy doing with my kineticist builds is picking Weapon Finesse and kinetic blade. My reason is pretty simple—it handedly replaces Precise Shot in a kineticist’s build. Why? If your target isn’t in melee, fire away! If they are in melee, you can run up and beat them up with kinetic blade, which often results in you dealing more damage then if you had simply shot once and left it at that. Now, as for my other infusions, burning infusion is great because you get extra accuracy versus foes that are on fire. For beating fire resistance, nothing’s better than penetrating infusion—even better, it applies to electricity blasts, which we build into at 7th level by picking expanded element: air. The reason I recommend expanding into another element is twofold. In Japanese folklore, kitsune are associated both with faerie fire (hence the foxfire talents I’m taking) and with lightning strikes, so air / fire is super thematic for the build. More importantly, however, fire and air both don’t have many “mandatory” talents that you feel like you need to take (unlike, say, aether), so the combo ends up working well. Better still, not many creatures have full immunity to both fire AND air. Resistances to both? Sure. But immunity to both is uncommon.

With this dipping, I recommend grabbing some of the REALLY useful air abilities, like the ability to exchange burn for evasion or get a constant fly speed. (Wings of Air is so much better than flame jet that it isn’t funny.) These aside, you’re mostly picking up Magical Tail feat and some cool utility for your kinetic blade.

Overall this is a fun, thematic build that makes better use of kitsune folklore than many of the other builds that you see out there. This is a kineticist who has a clear role in a party alongside some helpful magical abilities that they can use with a surprising amount of freedom thanks to nine-tailed kineticist. As I mentioned before I’m going to be delving into some other kineticist concepts using wild talents that I wrote in Heroes of Golarion, so stay tuned for that!

Additionally, I’m announcing that I’m putting Guidance on the shelf for now. While it was great as a player optimization article, I feel like I have less and less to say about GMing because my Network compatriots have SO MUCH great advice on the topic of GMing. I don’t feel Guidance is as important right now, although I might end up reviving it when PF2 comes out as a Player Guidance article. In the mean time, I want to start a new column on a topic that NONE of us talks much about—homebrew and freelancing. As a result, next week’s article is going to be the first Installment of Homebrewer’s Bastion, a new article column that I am pioneering to try and help everyone looking for advice regarding the creation and pitching of content to publishers! Hope to see you there!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

We’re approaching the twilight of Pathfinder 1st Edition, so I thought it would be fun to put together a quick build for a character that thrives in twilight. The shifter is a cool class with a lot of potential post-Errata, and I thought I would take some time to show you a neat build that you can make using Paizo’s new-ish Player Companion, Wilderness Origins!

Strap in for a howling good time below.

Concept

Any information important to understanding the build goes here.

• Class: shifter (weretouched)
• Base Ability Scores: You’re going to want to start with a 16 in Wisdom and a minimum 13 in Strength. When you get your ability boost at 5th level, put it into Wisdom so you can have a Wisdom of 19 when adding in a headband of alluring wisdom. You’ll need this stat by 7th level in order to qualify for my suggested feats.
• Feats: Power Attack (1st), Weapon Focus: claws (3rd), Shifter’s Rush (5th), Mutated Shape (7th), Raking Claws (9th), Frightful Shape (11th)
• Class Features: defensive instinct +3, lycanthropic empathy, lycanthropic wild shape, shifter claws (1d8/1d6), shifter’s fury, woodland stride, track, trackless step
  • Lycanthrope Aspect: wolf. Gain DR/silver equal to half the shifter’s level and is immune to curse of lycanthropy.

Playing the Build

So, what kind of neat stuff can you do with a weretouched shifter?

Well, its important to remember that this build basically loses EVERYTHING associated with having multiple aspects. Choose one aspect and choose it well. My sample has wolf for iconicness, but if we’re being real the most optimal choice is tiger. Now, you basically play the same as any other shifter except you have DR/silver up until 5th level. At this point, you get a hybrid form instead of any additional aspects. Your hybrid form works like a lycanthropic form; your size and general body shape is unchanged except for some bestial flourishes, like digitigrade legs or shaggy fur. The real advantage here is that your armor and gear doesn’t meld into your body when you go hybrid, and even provide a size bonus to Strength and Con as if you were one size category larger. This comes with numerous benefits; for one, if you pick a smaller aspect (say, rat), you’re not penalized for being forced to shrink small; your lycanthropic form is basically a battle shape for you. If you have an aspect with a Large major form, your hybrid form gives you an equally good option for fighting in close quarters where being Large is a hassle while also leaving you with all your weapons and equipment.

Now, what else do we have in this build? Power Attack and Weapon Focus: claws are fairly standard; they’re solid damage-boosting options that will help you out big-time no matter your build. Shifter’s Rush is an action economy saver, allowing you to basically turn a standard action (wild shape) into a free action whenever you also move 10 feet or more. In short, this is an excellent initiator. Mutated Shape is absolutely worth budgeting a 19 Wisdom for; it basically gives you another attack. I would recommend something that has a damage type your form doesn’t normally have, like a tail slap for your werewolf or a slam for your tiger. Remember, the tin might SAY mutated but that doesn’t mean you need to be a mutant if you don’t want to! Raking Claws is VERY strong damage; it basically gives you the rake universal creature rule for 1d6 damage, though it doesn’t stack. (If you go tiger aspect, however, you get rake baseline AND get to use this for even more damage! Bleed away!) Finally, Frightful Shape is this AWESOME cool ability that basically gives you frightful presence, but you can only affect any given creature once per day. Honestly, often times this is going to be worth it. If you’re in a campaign where lots of things are immune to fear, however, I recommend making sure you have 5 ranks in Knowledge (planes) so you can take Planar Wild Shape instead. Gaining the ability to smite a foe who could use a good smiting is NEVER a bad idea!

Whelp, that’s the build for this week! Did you like it? Leave your thoughts and comments below, and tune in next time for even more interesting character builds for Pathfinder and Starfinder! I did some work in this month’s new Player Companion, Heroes of Golarion, and I’m really looking forward to building some characters with it. Is there a build you want me to try? An option from a new Player Companion I might have missed? Shout out to me in our Know Direction Discord and let me know; yes, I do take requests.

Ciao everyone, and have an awesome week!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

The envoy has a LOT of different roles that it can fill in a party: face, buffer, debuffer, skill money, and more. When building an envoy, its very possible to build your character solely for buffing or for debuffing, but for today’s build, I’m going to be trying to give my envoy the tools to do both rather well. Can I do it? Strap yourselves in and find out on today’s Iconic Design!

Concept

Every good envoy knows that there’s a time for talking and a time for blasting with your awesome longarm weapon.

Any information important to understanding the build goes here.

• Class: Envoy 12
• Feats: Longarm Proficiency (1st), Weapon Focus: longarms (3rd), Fast Talk (5th), Unfriendly Fire (7th), Versatile Weapon Specialization (9th), Improved Initiative (11th)
• Class Features: expertise (1d6+2), weapon specialization
  • Envoy Improvisations: Clever Feint (1st), Get’em (2nd), Clever Attack (4th), Improved Get’em (6th), Inspiring Boost (8th), Don’t Quit (10th), Hurry (12th)
  • Expertise Talents: Borrowed Guise (3rd), Altered Bearing (7th), Convincing Liar (11th)
  • Skill Expertise: Disguise (1st), Bluff (5th), Diplomacy (9th)

Playing the Build

One of the things I really like about the envoy class is that all its abilities really allow you to customize exactly what your character’s potential actions look like each round. Every improvisation, expertise talent, and feat comes together to create an interesting, unique play experience that can differ dramatically from envoy to envoy. The same is true with this character build. Ultimately, I don’t plan to ever have my envoy build use a full attack during combat. Why bother when I can provide so many better benefits to my allies? Looking over it quickly, by 12th level here’s my potential action library.

• Get’em and Clever Attack: This is the default move here: give myself and my allies +2 to hit and damage one target, then use Clever Attack to render that foe flat-footed and make an attack against them. That’s a 4 point swing for me, which is bound to be HUGE for my full BAB allies.
• Get’em and Inspiring Boost: This is an effective way to give my allies a buff and protect a hurt ally by pumping just a little more Stamina into them.
• Get’em and Don’t Quit: Similar to the Get’em/Inspiring Boost combo, this allows me to remove one of several incredibly lethal penalties on my allies. It gets even better at high levels when you can spend Resolve and flat-out remove hampering conditions, but even at low levels just suppressing something nasty like confused or exhausted can really turn the tides of battle in your favor.
• Improved Get’em and Movement/Move Actions: This is the default action set if I need to move. Improved Get’em allows me one attack with get’em’s bonuses and still allows me a move action to do whatever else I want.

In addition to these great action line-ups, this build has all of the Disguise expertise talents. Why? Because They’re SO cool. Borrowed guise allows you to pull off that super iconic Hollywood “infiltrating the spy base” style event while Altered Bearing allows you to disguise yourself with amazing speed; its literally out of a Superman story. Convincing Liar is just good for this build; with so many Bluff checks flying around getting to either reroll or add your expertise die based on the result of the check is incredibly good when you’re trying to feint the pants off of your enemy.

In addition, this built has two feats that use Bluff that you don’t see very often: Fast Talker and Unfriendly Fire. I think that Fast Talker is an AMAZINGLY good feat. You can basically use it to prevent one enemy from acting in the first round of combat. Yes, I know that technically a surprise round occurs, but it excludes the target of your choice, who has to just sit there and do nothing while everyone forms ranks around them. This is REALLY good for shutting down high-impact characters, such as spellcasters or boss monsters. This feat isn’t reliable—you need to be able to talk to the thing you want to Fast Talk, but this seems like a feat that will happen enough times in a typical Starfinder game that you can really get some value setting up your team for success with this. The other feat, Unfriendly Fire, is just fun. Yeah, my character’s Armor Class won’t be the greatest in the world, but low rolls happen. And when they do, I can try a Bluff check to make my foe shoot someone else instead. Hilarious!

And that, my friends, is today’s build! When building my envoy I was a little disappointed in how few meaningful feats there were for a character who doesn’t just shoot all day long, hence why I ended up grabbing Longarm Proficiency and Versatile Weapon Specialization. Hopefully this gets addressed in Alien Archive 3 or more reasonably the Character Options Manual, but what do you think? Make sure to leave me comments below or in our Know Direction Discord, and thanks for reading. I’ll see you back next week for another installment of Guidance! Bye!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Concept

Fun Factoid: Farfetch’d as a concept is actually a play on a Japanese idiom that basically refers to a person who sets up the means to their own defeat. It translates loosely to “a duck bearing leeks”, because leeks were commonly used to season duck soup. This is why Farfetch’d has awful stats in Pokemon.

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Class: Summoner, unchained 12
• Feats: Combat Advice (1st), Summoner’s Call (3rd), Combat Reflexes (5th), Bodyguard (7th), Shield Proficiency (9th), Vanguard Style (11th)
• Class Features: aspect, bond senses, greater shield ally, life link, maker’s call, shield ally, summon monster VI, transposition
• Eidolon
  • Subtype and Base Form: Bipedal Aberration
  • Feats: Dirty Fighting (1st), Improved Dirty Trick (3rd), Improved Steal (6th), Enforcer (9th), Greater Dirty Trick (11th)
  • Evolution Pool: 9
  • Evolutions: ability increase (Strength; 2 points), flight (Ex; 2 points), weapon training (4 points)
• Summoner Spells Known
  • 4th-Level (4): greater evolution surge, stoneskin, ANY TWO
  • 3rd-Level (4): dispel magic, haste, heroism, restore eidolon
  • 2nd-Level (5): barkskin, summon eidolon, ANY THREE
  • 1st-Level (6): compel hostility, mage armor, ANY FOUR
  • 0-Level (6): ANY SIX

Playing the Build

This build basically plays like any other summoner—the summoner buffs the eidolon and the eidolon wrecks face. The way I see it, the summoner is like a Pokemon trainer, using “items” in the form of spells and shouting out orders via the Combat Advice feat. Farfetch’d, on the other hand, has Pokemon themed attacks like Swipe (Improved Steal), False Swipe (Enforcer), status condition attacks (Greater Dirty Trick), and can even fly. Weapon training ensures that our Farfetch’d gets to use his signature leek in battle (preferably using the stats for a Tetsubo, a massive club with a x4 critical threat modifier).

I don’t like telling spellcasters what spells to take because it tends to make the builds rigid and unable to cope with the specifics of an adventure path. That having been said, I think that greater evolution surge will do a good job with giving Dovah Queen the ability to simulate what a “Mega Farfetch’d” would look like, and the -skin spells remind me of a DefenseX item from Pokemon. (Haste is AgilityX and Heroism is SpecialX. Summon eidolon is, of course, your Pokeball (though you’re going to want to be Ash and have your eidolon out all the time if possible).

With this build, you could EASILY build a battle duck that’s nothing to laugh at. For example, if you allocate Farfetch’d’s armor bonus to natural armor, you’re looking at an eidolon with Dex 18 and +12 natural armor (total AC 26). Then throw on barkskin for an extra +4 enhancement to natural armor, mage armor for an extra +4 armor, and stoneskin for DR 10/adamantine, and you’re looking at a beefy AC 34 monster that’s difficult to hurt that wields a Tetsubo and has a summoner who can use Aid Another to bolster AC, attack rolls, and Reflex saves (thanks to Vanguard Style). You’re likely going to want to pick up a weapon with the benevolent enchantment, and if you go halfling with the helpful trait then that’s just icing on the cake. Your GM might not even be all that mad at you; yeah, your eidolon is a MONSTER, but in order for you to buff it so effectively you basically need to be adjacent to it like a good Pokemon trainer. That means you’re easy to punch in the face. (Hopefully your eidolon’s greater shielded ally is enough to keep you safe!)

And that’s today’s build! Thanks to Dovah Queen for giving me a neat topic to build around. If you want to request a build too, ask me on our Discord! In the meantime, I’ll see you back soon for another installment of Iconic Design! Have an awesome week!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Race: Skittermander (ultimately irrelevant; this build works for any race)
• Class: Soldier 1 / Solarian 11
• Feats: Improved Combat Maneuver: grapple (1st), Weapon Focus: advanced melee weapons (3rd), Weapon Specialization (Bonus), Coordinated Shot (5th), Enhanced Resistance: damage reduction (7th), Cleave (9th), Lunge (11th)
• Class Features: flashing strikes, skill adept
  • Fighting Styles: blitz (1st)
  • Sidereel Influence: Diplomacy and Sense Motive (3rd), Culture and Stealth (11th)
  • Skill Adept: Any two; skittermanders don’t really have the skill ranks for this to
  • Solar Manifestation: weapon.
  • Stellar Revelations: black hole (1st), supernova (1st), stellar rush (2nd), plasma sheath (4th), defy gravity (6th), subduing beams (8th), soul furnace (10th)
  • Zenith Revelations: solar acceleration and wormholes (9th)

Playing the Build

If solarians have a problem, its that they need too many ability scores to work well. Specifically, this affects their to-hit, since you typically want your 18 in the stat you’re going to use to hit things, but solarians don’t get to use their Charisma to attack rolls with their stellar weapon. (You can, however, get the soulfire weapon fusion from Starfinder Armory and add your Charisma to your stellar weapon’s damage rolls.) This is the reason why the Iconic Solarian is just so bad; he has his Strength maxed out, but his key ability stat (his Charisma) is low, meaning he has almost no Resolve Points and dies easily. My solution out of this problem was simply to take my first level in soldier. Yes, blitz is AMAZING for the solarian, but you don’t take a dip into soldier for the movement speed bonus or the initiative. You take it because as a soldier, you can choose Strength as your key ability score and therefore base your Resolve Points off of it. Yes, ONE level of soldier lets you do that.

Now, the major downside of not really boosting my Charisma (I keep a 12 at 1st level because Daxenrae is a skittermander) is that my revelations don’t have their DCs increased. The solution to this problem is, surprisingly, to simply ignore those revelations and focus on stuff that doesn’t care about your Charisma. Surprise, most revelations don’t. Interestingly, because graviton revelations are so utility oriented, its photon that has most of the “these don’t care about your Charisma” revelations, so I made the decision to throw my stellar balance out of whack. Normally as a solarian you want to keep your graviton and photon revelations balanced so you can become fully attuned faster. Yet except for supernova, no stellar revelation cares if you’re fully attuned. You don’t see that distinction as a mechanic until 9th level when the solarian gets zenith revelations. So for my build, I did two things that are odd for solarians.

• I picked revelations that didn’t use my Charisma to determine their save DCs or effects.
• I picked revelations that didn’t need to be fully attuned to work.

This left me with the list above, and its REALLY solid. Stellar rush allows Daxenrae to charge with no penalties while plasma sheath allows him to add extra fire damage to his solar weapon attacks. Subduing beams basically allows Daxenrae to make all of his solar weapon attacks nonlethal if he wants, and soul furnace allows him to attempt to burn away corruptions on his body and soul (aka dispelling harmful conditions). The only graviton revelation I took was defy gravity because its movement flexibility is extremely powerful and there wasn’t any other photon revelations I wanted at that level. As for zenith revelations, solar acceleration (which lets Daxenrae full attack as a standard action) is extremely powerful, but it isn’t a damage increaser. If it takes me one additional round to fully attuned to access that revelation because my cycle is out of harmony, that’s pretty fine. Wormholes is just a cool name, but I have no intention of ever actually using that zenith revelation. I’m only picking it because I have to.

Featwise, I grabbed Improved Combat Maneuver (grapple) because as a skittermander, my grappling is insane. My solar weapon counts as an advanced melee weapon for things like Weapon Focus, so I picked Weapon Focus: advanced melee weapons. This also gave me a fun interaction with the flame grips weapon from Starfinder Armory; they’re a one-handed advanced melee weapon with the grapple special property, meaning you can use them for grapples. Because its an advanced melee weapon, I get to add my Weapon Focus: advanced melee weapons bonus to grapple attempts with them, meaning that I get a bonus of +7 to grapple attempts on top of my Strength and base attack bonus. At his current level (4th), Daxenrae’s grapple bonus makes it so he’s only 5% less likely to grapple a foe then he is to hit them with his solar weapon. Those are VERY good odds, and totally worth one feat as an investment (Weapon Focus hardly counts since it benefits my solar weapon). From there, I just picked some strong melee feats like Cleave, Lunge, Coordinated Shot, and the ever-amazing Enhanced Resistance. Because yes, I WOULD like damage reduction equal to my base attack bonus.

So as a quick recap, my solarian:

• Uses Strength as his key ability score thanks to a dip into soldier.
• Ignores revelations that would benefit from a high Charisma score.
• Ignores revelations that require full attunement.
• Is unlikely to fully attune, but is designed to not be penalized too hard for that.
• Has an incredibly good grapple bonus.
• Has a movement speed bonus and initiative bonus.
• Is proficient with heavy armor, heavy weapons, longarms, and sniper weapons for free because he’s soldier.

This build comes with the downside that you don’t have Weapon Specialization until 4th level and your solar weapon damage is one level behind, but ultimately its a very strong build that is more survivable than the average solarian due to the fact it really only cares about your Strength score with Constitution and Dexterity as secondaries instead of needing those three PLUS Charisma. But these are just my thoughts; I’d love to hear yours! Leave your comments below, or tell me what you think on the Know Direction discord. (@ me as EverymanGamer!). Until next time, I’m signing out. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Build Concept

• Class: fighter 1, kineticist X
  • Optional: Kinetic Knight archetype
• Feats: Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Rhino Charge
  • Optional: Combat Reflexes, Kinetic Leap, Death from Above
• Class Features
  • Elemental Focus: Air
  • Infusions: Kinetic Blade (1st), Energize Weapon (1st)
  • Utility Talents: Air’s Leap (1st)
    • Optional: Aerial Evasion (3rd), Celerity (3rd), Wings of Air (3rd)
• Equipment: +1 conductive longspear
  • Optional: called weapon property, gloves of storing, combat sandals

Playing the Build

This build clicks online at 7th level, but you can achieve your goals by level 3 if you dip one level of fighter. The key to making a dragoon work is the Rhino Charge feat from Sargava, the Lost Colony. It allows you to ready an action to charge, but only moving up to your speed. This means we can spend a move action leaping into the air, then ready an action to charge an enemy (a standard action). The feat requires Power Attack and Improved Bull Rush, so you can’t start taking the feats until you get a +1 BAB. Since a kineticist is a 3/4 BAB class, you won’t be able to start taking these feats until level 3. A dip in fighter for your first level allows you to spend your 1st level feat and fighter bonus feat to get started, then pick up Rhino Charge once you hit 3rd character level. Making your character a human gives you a nice bonus feat so you can get everything you need at 1st level, but unless you can fly, you might have some trouble.

If you don’t have a means of staying in the air, the GM should rule that you immediately fall to the ground and some GMs won’t want you to ready for a condition that’s already met (i.e. “I ready an action to charge when I see an enemy; oh look I can already see one so I charge”). This is where the kineticist comes in. At level 6, you can pick up the utility talent Wings of Air that give you the constant effects of the fly spell. With this, you can get some hang-time until your conditions are met. Some of my favorites are readying to charge when, “an enemy does something aggressive, a creature approaches my party, the enemy spell caster begins to cast a spell.”

Breaking it Down

The aerokineticist, a kineticist who chooses Elemental Focus (air), gives the build a ton of high-flying flavor, but also enables so really powerful tactics. Lets look at each of my recommended abilities above:

Energize Weapon: If you chose electric blast, you can use this infusion to add 1d6 electric damage to all of your weapon attacks. As you level up, the energy damage continues to increase.

Kinetic Blade and conductive weapon property: Using these two, you can add your kinetic blast damage to one weapon strike each turn. If you’re charging, it’s likely to be on that attack. One key is getting to kineticist level 3 so you can pick up Infusion Specialization 1. This reduces the cost of your applied infusions by 1, minimum 0. Using it, a kinetic blade infused blast costs you no burn, so you can use it as much as you’d like with your conductive weapon.

Air’s Leap: This is a prerequisite for Wings of Air, and gives us some fantastic bonuses to jump. Perfect for a dragoon!

Wings of Air: This 3rd level utility talent lets us get that much needed “hang time” so we can properly ready a charge action while in mid-air (see above).

Aerial Evasion: If you go back for more 3rd level utility talents, this one grants you the evasion rogue class feature!

Celerity: The ability to grant yourself and your allies haste is invaluable. Consider picking up this utility talent.

Some folks have asked me about the Kinetic Knight archetype. It’s a great archetype for swinging around elemental weapons and grants some proficiencies, but losing the ability to make ranged attacks is difficult. For Final Fantasy purists, this might seem like a good way to go but dragoons do get the air based aero spells in some variations of the game, so it’s not outside of cannon to have neat air powers. You can also take the Familiar Bond feat line to eventually (3 feats) get your own pseudodragon!

Proper gear can help quite a bit. One of the difficulties is if you want to gather power. If you’re carrying a spear, you can’t do it unless you drop your weapon. There are two easy but expensive ways around this issue:

Called weapon property: This lets you teleport an attuned weapon back into your hand with a swift action, as long as it’s within 100 feet. You can drop your weapon, gather power, blast away, then use a swift action to get it right back.

Glove of storing: This fancy glove lets you store and retrieve an item you’re holding as a free action. Problem solved.

Combat sandals: While quite pricey, this high level item will make your life much easier as you can now charge past your allies and make reach attacks through them without them getting in the way.

Lets peak at a few feats that can really spice up this build:

Combat Reflexes: If you decide to use a longspear, you might as well put all that reach to good use and give yourself the ability to make multiple AoOs.

Kinetic Leap: With all the jumping power you have and the ability to fly, do you really need a +10 to jump? No, but it sure is fun to shoot up into the air. Your bonuses can get so high, you can eventually ascend faster by jumping than flying!

Death from Above: This works it’s way out to a +2 bonus when charging from above someone, but since you really need that hit to land in order to get your conducting weapon damage, spring for it if you have a feat available.

I’ve left quite a lot up to the imagination so you can craft your own version of a dragoon. Feel free to comment below with thoughts, suggestions, or ways you’re going to make your dragoon the most powerful dragon knight in your campaign.

So I know what you’re thinking. It’s “Alex, you told us that you were going to teach us more about the Starfinder RPG in your next article, and now you’re sitting here doing an Iconic Design instead you shill!” Yes, I am totally doing an Iconic Design INSTEAD of teaching you more about how to design for Starfinder. I admit it. But I have a good reason! This is a build I have literally been trying to make work for WEEKS for Starfinder Society, and I finally figured out how I wanted to do it and I just needed to SHOW YOU ALL. So there. On to the build!

Build Concept

• Class: mechanic 12
• Feats: Longarm Proficiency (1st), Weapon Specialization (Bonus); Versatile Weapon Specialization (3rd), Weapon Focus: longarms (5th), Improved Feint (7th), Greater Feint (9th), Enhanced Resistances: DR (11th)
• Class Features: Artificial intelligence, bypass +3, coordinated assault +1, custom rig, expert rig, miracle worker 2/day, override, remote hack
  • Drone Chasis: Combat (two melee weapon mounts, plus Advanced Melee Weapon Proficiency)
  • Drone Feats: Mobility (1st), Coordinated Shot (3rd), Weapon Focus: advanced melee weapons (6th), Weapon Specialization (9th), Extra Resolve (11th)
  • Drone Mods: enhanced armor (1st), speed (3rd), armor slot (5th), cybernetic bridge (7th), enhanced senses (9th), enhanced armor (11th)
  • Mechanic Tricks: repair drone (2nd), visual data processor (4th), distracting hack (6th), overclocking (8th), hyperclocking (10th), invisibility bypass processor (12th)

Playing the Build

The first thing that this build does is get longarms up and running for the mechanic as quickly as possible. Honestly, there aren’t that many great feats for a ranged-weapon using mechanic at low levels, and since you’re not forced into small arms like the operative is, there’s no good reason to avoid investing in longarm proficiency. So my first two feats are Longarm Proficiency and Versatile Weapon Specialization, while my third feat is Weapon Focus: longarms. Those are all basically required for a mechanic who plans on fighting even a little bit. So you might be wondering, “Alex, why are you investing in feinting so late?” That’s an excellent question, and the reason is twofold. First, the mechanic’s BAB means that I can’t qualify for Greater Feint, the feat that will allow my drone to benefit from my feinting, until 9th level. You need BAB +6 after all for Greater Feint. In addition, feinting isn’t strong action economy for the mechanic until 7th level anyway when the mechanic’s drone gains expert AI, which allows you to feint and attack while still having the drone take automated actions on its own. Finally, I don’t want to invest in Bluff—I want distracting hack, which means I shouldn’t bother with feinting until I can fit distracting hack into my build. Since the levels you gain feats and mechanic tricks don’t overlap, one of those options is always going to be “sort of bad” until a level passes and I have both, so having distracting hack first at 6th level (meaning I can actually feint as a standard action if I want to) means that feinting is, at least, an option if not a great action economy option.

Drone Feats: Mobility is, in my opinion, a must for the combat drone. It is such a massive swing in AC that protects the drone so effectively from attacks of opportunity that I can’t foresee a situation where I regret my drone not getting smacked into breakable pieces. Coordinated Shot is nice because it buffs everyone in the party, and since this is my SFS character, I won’t be super sad if another melee PC comes to the party with this feat because oh well, that’s just my drone. No harm done. It was tough picking Weapon Focus over Weapon Specialization at 3rd level, but the combat drone has a relatively low chance to hit so I felt it was a smart investment. I take specialization at the next opportunity for a feat at 9th level, and end with Extra Resolve at 11th. More Resolve Points for more opportunities to attack without needing my orders via the Power Core ability is REALLY good.

Drone Mods: Okay, so going over my choices quick, I feel that the enhanced armor mod is mandatory for a combat drone since they’re so difficult to heal. I really want my drone friend to survive if possible…. Additionally, getting my drone into and out of combat is super important, so speed is nice. Armor slot, which does what it says on the tin, is super good. Basically, I can put a jetpack into my drone, giving it a better version of the flight systems mod earlier. Hurray! Cybernetic bridge, from Starfinder Armory, is incredibly good. Basically you get to put one “freebee” cybernetic or magitech augmentation into your drone. If you have the appropriate number of ranks in Engineering or Mysticism, you can install it for FREE. FREE. I like free, and considering you can swap the augmentation once per day with only a little bit of work, this seems extraordinarily good.

Mechanic Tricks: Repair drone is basically mandatory if you’re going combat; your drone is directly in the line of fire and will take more damage as a result. I like visual data processor because it gives a great boost to Perception, and eventually leads into the insanely good invisibility bypass processor ability. Overclocking’s +2 initial bonus is okay, but Hyperclocking’s +1 insight bonus to AC and evasion abilities for your drone are INSANELY good. The real MVP here, however, is distracting hack. This awesome talent allows you to feint using the Computers skill as long as there’s a computer near your enemy to startle them with. This is actually REALLY easy to do considering at 1st-level your custom rig counts as a personal comm unit, which is a Tier 0 Computer. Yeah, that’s a thing. So if you staple a comm unit to your drone and carry your custom rig around with you, you’ll basically be able to feint whatever you want using your absolute best skill. Nifty, right?

Weapons: So this is the part where my build sort of “works”. Basically, the idea is that both the mechanic and the drone will be outfitted with energy weapons. EAC for most creatures is easier to hit than KAC, so the drone’s kind of low attack bonus doesn’t matter as much. At low levels I’ll likely outfit my drone with whatever weapons I can find, but the goal is to find a big two-handed melee weapon for the drone and slap it right onto it for massive swings of damage while my mechanic peppers people with energy blasts too. Currently, I’m planning on going for a “battle DJ” theme with my halfling mechanic having a sonic rifle, his custom rig acting as my holorecord spinners, and his drone acting as a giant subwoofer!

And that my dear readers, is the basics of my build! What do you think? Will this work in Starfinder Society or am I making a terrible mistake? I want to hear your thoughts in the comments section below, or in our Discord server. Don’t hesitate to @Alex Augunas with your thoughts and opinions! Until next time, I’m signing out. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Welcome back to another Iconic Design, I am filling in again this week for Alex. When the magus released, I immediately had a couple of characters in mind that used the class. After playing through my initial builds, I realized that I still wanted to play a full caster; let’s face it, I love full arcane casters most. After the arcanist was released, and I denounced all wizardry from then on, I found all the tools I needed to have a magus with Meteor Swarm capabilities … although it is very much a slow burn to accomplish.

Build Concept

Any information inportant to the build or its roots goes here.

• Race Any
• Ability Scores Int (16+), Dex (14+)
• Class Arcanist, Eldritch Knight, Fighter
• Archetype Blade Adept
• Feats Extra Arcanist Exploit, Arcane Armor Training (6th)
• Class Features
  • Blade Adept Adept Exploits
    • Spell Strike (3rd), Student of the Blade – Finesse (5th), Eldritch Blade (7th)

Gameplay

The main idea with this build, is to recreate a magus while still retaining the ability to cast 9th level spells. We could do this very simply with the Blade Adept archetype for the arcanist. It provides a black blade, spell strike, ways to improve the blade and some magus arcana. This, however, just wets the appetite and leaves me wanting more punch from in combat. The eldritch knight provides the ability to get BAB and Hit Points while also improving your arcane caster level, only requiring access to all martial weapons and 5th level spells as a barrier to entry. When you include the Eldritch Blade adept exploit, you see that your caster level becomes the power behind the black blade and not your class level, which means we now have the ability to mix and match arcane might with combat prowess … if you don’t mind waiting until higher levels to be all mighty and powerful. With the right combination of spells and tactics, you can have a lot of fun testing the limits of your lower level powers as you build up to the big stuff.

While any race will do, I suggest elf so that you can get the Int and Dex bonuses along with racial proficiencies in rapier. The elven racial trait Warriors of Old provides +2 init, which is always helpful for getting into or out of combat as needed. I tend to enjoy shocking grasp, and Draconic Infusion (electricity) ties in well with that. I would offset the Con penalty, though, as you will need your hit points. Also, favored bonus for elf/arcanist is +1 to arcane reservoir, which really helps offset the lowered pool from the blade adept archetype.

Because the arcanist need 6 levels to reach 5th level spells and the eldritch knight doesn’t provide a spellcasting increase with the first level, I highly recommend you don’t take your fighter level between arcanist and eldritch knight. You will have two levels without any spellcasting increase and it will really feel rough to only get a pair of feats as you watch your caster friends move on to a completely new spell level. When you take your fighter level isn’t as important, I just recommend 6th level or earlier. Whichever way you choose, you should be starting Eldritch Knight at 8th level. Optionally, if you want to be closer to an arcane ranger of sorts, then a level of ranger instead of fighter would allow you to gain tracking class features and skills as well as a single favored enemy.

I highly recommend dumping all of your feats into Extra Arcane Exploit so that you can spend them on normal arcanist exploits, blade adept exploits, as well as magus arcana. Through this, you can get a lot of combat oriented feats with your black blade without all the prerequisites (due to the archetype). At first level, you don’t actually have an arcane exploit, and so you will need to spend your first feats elsewhere, which is a good time to pickup anything else you might want for your build concept. I personally chose Improved Initiative. Something about having a +10 init makes me feel like I will always be able to get into or out of trouble as I see fit. Also, spending your fighter bonus feat on arcane armor training will allow you to make use of more armor options than just mage armor and bracers of armor.

With this path in mind, you are going to have a lot of pretty cool arcanist and adept exploits and magus arcana at your disposal. The ones that I find key ingredients are the Spell Strike (touch spells with melee attack), Student of the Blade – Finesse (more reliable ability to hit in combat), and Eldritch Blade (caster level instead of class level for black blade powers). The first and third are kind of the point of this build, but your ability to hit at low levels will be pretty weak, which is why I feel that diving into the finesse feats are important. I have also been able to overcome it in some situations with some tricky spell combos, but they are once per day use at low levels. Using true strike can let you hit if you must and combining it with shocking grasp can really put the hurt on a big bad. I have, on occasion, been known to use mirror strike with shocking grasp as well.

At this point, you continue to level up as an Eldritch Knight and then back to Arcanist afterwards. Between fighter feats from Eldritch Knight and Exploits from converting general feats to Extra Exploits, you will have an impressive collection of skills and powers to go with your (basically) 3/4 BAB and (eventual) 9th level spells. It may be a long road to 20th level, but I consider the sheer versatility of this build to more than make up it.

Now, if you’ll remember back to three weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to do a Two-Weapon Fighting version of the warrior poet samurai archetype. My original build is very much based on denying enemies their actions while you dance around the battlefield, but today’s build has a slightly different focus to match the different combat style. So let’s get ready to flurry! (Sort of.)

Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Class: samurai 1 / vigilante 11
• Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Improved Feint (1st; Bonus), Ranged Feint (3rd), Quick Draw (5th), Spring Attack (6th; Bonus), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (7th), Greater Feint (9th), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (11th)
• Class Features: challenge 1/day, dancer’s grace, dual identity, frightening appearance, graceful warrior, order, seamless guise, startling appearance, unshakable, vigilante specialization (stalker)
• Flourishes: kitsune’s mystique (1st)
• Social Talents:  All of these tend to be situational to your campaign, so pick whichever works best for the campaign you’re playing in. Honestly, the only one that would REALLY help you is going “Iron Man” (aka ignoring Dual Identity) and taking social graces for the +4 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks.
• Vigilante Talents: Cunning Feint (2nd), Lethal Grace (4th), Fantastic Stride(6th), Surprise Strike (8th), Vital Punishment (1oth).

Playing the Build

At its heart, this build uses a LOT of the same basic mechanic ideas as the original one. It uses the warrior poet’s awesome kitsune’s mystique ability to get some great abilities that sync up well with a feint-heavy build. Where it differs, however, is that it is NOT an unarmored build. It is a multiclass build that involves taking all levels after 1st in stalker vigilante. Why stalker vigilante? Well, it has what is by far the most useful feinting-based ability in the game, cunning feint. This ability is basically the entire Two-Weapon Feint feat tree condensed into a single feat. I highly recommend this option as soon as you can grab it. In addition, the surprise strike vigilante talent grants us a very big bonus to attack rolls when we strike foes who are denied their Dexterity bonus to AC, which is hopefully often. It is basically required for this build, as the vigilante levels don’t have the full Base Attack Bonus of the samurai class.

Unlike our last build, which was very melee-heavy, this one allows a lot of great ranged-based options with Ranged Feint. Cunning Feint can be used with any type of weapon, so Ranged Feint allowing you to feint with bows basically allows you to switch hit effectively. Combine that with Spring Attack and you’re a very great switch hitter, going wherever you need to be and not taking too much punishment for doing so. Run up to an enemy, use Spring Attack so you don’t provoke on the way in and kitsune’s mystique so you get to feint the foe for free, blast the foe for a bunch of damage with the stalker’s bonus precision damage, and once you’re in melee drop the bow, grab your melee weapons with Quick Draw and get to work.

Otherwise, this build plays almost exactly to the previous one. It’s less accurate, but it throws around SO many more attacks and it has a strong ranged component that the other one doesn’t have. So, what do you think? Would you rather play this build or the previous one? Leave me your answer in the comments below or tag it to me on Discord, and I’ll see you back soon for another installment of Iconic Design!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hello there, I am pitching in this week on Iconic Design to bring to you a healer that is able to keep the party on their feet while also keeping the enemy on their heels. My intention with this character was to build a character that was fairly simple to run, had plenty of healing, but also fun style and versatility.

Build Concept

Any information important to the build or its roots goes here.

• Race any
• Class witch (cartomancer) 5
• Ability Scores (Int 18+, Dex)
• Feats Point Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Extra Hex (every other feat)
• Class Features
  • Witch Patrons (choose one, my order of preference)
    • Healing, Mercy, Protection, Recovery
  • Cartomancer (for reference)
    • Spell Deck (1st), Deadly Dealer (2nd), Deliver Touch Spells (3rd)
  • Witch Hexes (my order of selection)
    • Healing, Evil Eye, Cackle, Fortune, Misfortune
  • Witch Spells
    • Curative/restorative required, charms handy, inflicts and harms optional

Gameplay

The core of this healer is the ability to heal your allies … without ever getting into trouble. The ability to use a card as a touch attack to deliver spells is amazing. As such, you will want to ensure that you have a least a small bonus to your Dexterity (I think my PC only has a 12 Dex) but going higher can only help, especially when you starting throwing cure spells at enemy undead (or inflict/harm if that is your jam). The super high intelligence is a must for any witch, really, as the DCs go up and you get bonus spells. Point Blank and Precise shot are imperative to being able to reliably target your tanks while they are in combat, and getting them right away ensures you are ready when you get Deliver Touch Spells at 3rd.

The base of any witch is the use of hexes, and most often that is evil eye. It is for this reason that I chose to use Human as my build so that I would gain an extra feat, letting my first level witch have healing hex, evil eye, and point blank shot. Since 1st level doesn’t provide a ton of spells, and the healing hex only works once per target per day, evil eye allows you to have something you can do every. single. round. Standard procedure for our group was to lower AC first, then lower attack second … as we want our hits to happen more than their hits fail. It also depended on how many targets there were and how we were fighting them, but generally hitting them is better than them not hitting you. To be fair, the point blank seems wasted during the first two levels, but I made sure to carry a crossbow make sure I was ready in that moment I could use it and get some extra damage.

3rd level is really where the magic happens. You gain second level spells, you and now deliver with touch, and you have precise shot to avoid the high ACs you normally encounter when targeting allies in melee. Because you are targeting touch, keep an eye on your allies’ AC so that you are away of you chances to miss. At 3rd level with 14 Dex (+2), +2 BAB, +1 Deadly Dealer, and +1 Point Blank Shot you should be looking at a +6 to hit Touch AC … meaning you likely only need a 4 or more for your tankiest of tanks … but that is still a 15% miss chance at best. If you are offsetting this with a higher Dex (or other means) then you don’t have to worry much within the 20 feet range increment of the cards, but if you step outside 20 feet you being to lose your bonuses quickly (-2 per 20 ft range increment, -1 Point Blank outside 30 feat). As you generally need to be close to an enemy for evil eye, expect to be sitting a couple feet behind the line like any good quarterback.

By 5th level, you will have your 3rd level spells, and hopefully the cackle and fortune hexes. This is where everything becomes really run. You can open an encounter with an evil eye to lower AC as the party gets into place (I would often delay my initiative to properly time a cackle) and then next round fortune your heaviest hitter and cackle. Fortune provides them the ability to choose an attack and roll 2d20 and take the better. Cackle extends every active hex within range by 1 round, as a *move* action. At this point, you continue to fortune/evil eye as needed/available while cackling, using ye olde 5 ft adjust to move/reposition as needed. When you finally do need to heal, you can do so at range with our old friend deliver touch spells so that you can stay in place and continue to cackle. I would *highly* suggest you make an audio recording and just have it queued up, you will use it a *lot*. 6th level is where you would gain another hex for the listed misfortune, which I consider to be the next choice in line, but it isn’t as important as the others.

I chose 5th as a target for this build because that provides 3rd level spells and the bulk of the primary abilities that I consider “required” for this build. I personally chose fly as a hex for my character, as I really liked the mobility options it gave me earlier to staying above/out of combat or moving to and from allies/enemies while staying out of reach. I also had the cauldron hex and chose charms spells like beguiling gift against enemies that made it to me to make them drink potions of sleep or the like. The later levels show just how insane this build can be when you are standing equidistant between two tanks fighting insane monsters and you can throw back to back HEAL spells from 30 feet away while cackling to extend their fortune and the enemy’s misfortune to ensure that your team is going to stay in the fight for the long haul. I am well aware that there or more efficient healers, and Vanessa has shown us an extremely sturdy healer, but I like to consider this one of the most versatile healers you are going to play. I also admit, that I went to a lot of trouble to give him a personality that would be such a build from being a “boring healer” … but the raw healing and hexing powers of the witch are not to be overlooked.

We want some great healing capability, both in and out of combat, and we want to be able to be able to take a hit. After all, healers are often primary targets on the battlefield. With this build, I not only make the healer a target, but I make them a tank. I WANT them to be a target, so my allies can feel free to roam around dealing all the damage they want.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Race Anything with a +Con (I chose gnome)
• Class kineticist (kinetic chirurgeon) 8
• Ability Scores Dex 14+, Con 20
• Feats Bodyguard, Combat Reflexes, In Harm’s Way, Toughness
• Traits Helpful (there’s a generic version and an improved version for halflings)
• Class Abilities elemental overflow (+2/+4, +2 Con, +2 Dex, 20% fortification), healing burst, kinetic chirurgery, kinetic healer, kinetic restoration, mercy (choose 3), metahealer (+1d6)

Gameplay

The core of this build is a healer, and as a “constitution caster,” our Con score is going to be the most important. For maximum effect, get an 18 in there before the racial bonus. Your second most important score is going to be Dexterity, as you’ll need it for Combat Reflexes and blocking attacks with Bodyguard. Finally, pick up the Helpful trait to boost your bonus on aid another checks. If you decide to forgo the Con bonus, you can choose a halfling and get a slightly better Helpful race trait. I like gnome, personally. Humans, half-elves, and half-orcs are also all perfectly valid choices; each good for different reasons.

In combat, you can keep your party alive with massive heals, healing 4d6+16 with a touch or send a burst of healing to all living things for 4d6+8. This is by using the kinetic healer utility talent, available to aether, water, and wood kineticists (wood uses the wood healer talent). Each time you heal someone with the kinetic healer talent, either you or the target must accept 1 point of burn. This deals 1 point of nonlethal damage per hit die that doesn’t go away until you rest for the evening. Most players get quite concerned about this, but I usually take all the burn myself unless I’m healing an NPC or someone who’s not likely to see combat. For healing multiple targets, you can heal every living thing in 30 feet with healing burst and it only costs 1 point of burn that I have to take myself. No big deal! Using positive blast with this, I can heal the full 4d6+8 and it only costs me a tiny 1 hp per level.

“But I still don’t like dealing damage to heal, it seem counter productive.” I hear you, however you’ve got a few things to mitigate this. One is internal reservoir, which lets us bank points of burn from days we don’t need it and keep them for days we do need it. This means that if you’re fully prepared for an adventure, you’ve got “free” heals from this reservoir. Another mitigation is investing in Use Magic Device and carrying a wand of cure light wounds like every other healer out there; it’s a class skill for kineticists so you’ll be fine there. The final big mitigating factor is your hit points. As a Con based “caster” you’re going to have a massive pool of hit points. If you have a +2 Con belt and choose +1 hp for your favored class bonus, you’re looking at a massive 116 hp on average (123 by PFS rules) at 8th level. Each big burst of healing only “costs” you 8 points of nonlethal damage. Considering you can do this 11 times per day at that level, that’s a LOT of healing. Top folks off with wand charges and UMD, and your party is golden.

Besides healing, your party will want you to help get rid of status ailments, and the kinetic chirurgeon has the answer in giving  you paladin mercies that you can add to your kinetic heals and even healing burst! One of the most powerful is the injured mercy, which grants the target fast healing 3 for a number of rounds equal to half your level. If you pick this up at level 9, you’re looking at a bonus of 12 extra hp per big heal. In addition to mercies, you can pick up kinetic restoration at 6th level. This utility talent acts a lot like lesser restoration, but it’s not called out as being the same. This means it will restore fatigue and ability damage, but not special case ailments that can be fixed with lesser restoration.

At level 9 you can also forgo your mercy to instead have the heal act as breath of life and restore a companion who’s died in the last round. Can I tell you how satisfying it is to bring your entire party back to life after a big AoE kills everyone but you? It’s VERY satisfying.

“But what can I do besides heal?” You’ve got your reasonably powerful kinetic blast that automatically gets stronger as you level. Based on your feat selection, you can be reasonably good at hitting your targets. I like to use my feats to make a really defensive character who uses Bodyguard and In Harm’s Way to boost their allies AC and take the hit for them if that isn’t enough. This directs the damage at me. You’ll find that the Helpful trait and benevolent armor will make this boost even stronger. The following build is granting +5 to AC when using these feats! That’s a 25% less chance that a swing will connect on one of my allies.

Last thing to talk about is power selection. Your choice of elements is aether, water, and wood. They’re all pretty good, but each have benefits and drawbacks. Aether has great single target healing as it’s healing is based on a physical blast, it also has a powerful defense talent in force ward that grants you a pool of regenerating temp hit points. Water also has a great single target healing based on a physical blast, but it’s defense talent isn’t as strong. I feel like getting the slick utility talent can make up for this, as you have unlimited grease spells with a high DC based off of your Con modifier. Wood is based on positive blast, which isn’t as initially powerful as it’s an energy blast that doesn’t heal as much. It’s strange, but that’s the way it goes. The good news is the defense talent is not bad, granting a bonus to your natural AC, and you already have positive blast to give as much power as possible to your healing burst if/when you get it at 8th level.

Finally, utility talents can grant a lot of flavor to your character, so look through those and see if any speak to you. Have fun with this extremely defensive healing build that will ensure the rest of your party survives to the BBEG!

Final Statblock

Female gnome telekineticist (kinetic chirurgeon) 8 (Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures 10, 90)
NG Small humanoid (gnome)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +11

DEFENSE

AC 24, touch 15, flat-footed 21 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 natural, +2 shield, +1 size)
hp 116 (8d8+80)
Fort +14, Ref +9, Will +2
Defensive Abilities fortification 20%

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee cestus +6 (1d2-1)
Ranged telekinetic blast +12 (4d6+16) or
positive blast +12 touch (4d6+8 positive energy)
Special Attacks kinetic blast
Kineticist Wild Talents Known
     Defense—force ward
Blasts—aetheric boost (positive blast), positive blast (4d6+8 positive energy), telekinetic blast (4d6+16)
Utility—basic phytokinesis, basic telekinesis, healing burst, kinetic healer, kinetic restoration, <any 2 telekinesis talents>

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 16, Con 26, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +6; CMB +4; CMD 18
Feats Bodyguard(APG), Combat Reflexes, In Harm’s Way(APG), Toughness
Traits helpful, <anything>
Skills Perception +11, Stealth +7 (+9 in snowy environments), Use Magic Device +13
Languages Common
SQ basic phytokinesis, burn (2 points/round, max 11), elemental overflow +2, expanded element (wood), gather power, internal buffer 2, kinetic chirurgery, metahealer
Combat Gear wand of cure light wounds; Other Gear +2 benevolent mithral erutaki coat, amulet of natural armor +1, belt of mighty constitution +2, ring of deflection +1, ring of force shield

Instead, I’m going to build a different character using a different set of options from Heroes from the Fringe that I adore—the Warrior Poet archetype for samurai! Well don’t delay, let’s get started!

You won’t see me call the warrior poet the Ronin Kenshin archetype, but holy crap it basically is!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Class: samurai 12
• Feats: Diva Style (1st), Combat Expertise (3rd), Power Attack (5th), Spring Attack (6th; Bonus), Diva Strike (7th), Greater Feint (9th), Diva Advance (11th), Improved Spring Attack (12th; Bonus)
• Class Features: battle dance, challenge 4/day, dancer’s grace, graceful warrior, graceful strike, greater resolve, honorable stand, resolve, skirmisher’s challenge
• Flourishes: kitsune’s mystique (1st), exodus of jinn (3rd), jinisiel’s guidance (5th), jinisiel’s guidance (9th)
• Order of the Songbird: versatile performance (oratory), (2nd), poetic inspiration (8th)

Playing the Build

Okay! Now that we’ve got our build together, what does it do? Essentially, the Warrior Poet is a high-Charisma armorless samurai, and if that doesn’t have you intrigued then I don’t know what will. Dancer’s grace essentially works like the canny dodge ability of the duelist, except you add points of Charisma to your AC when you’re completely unarmed and not using a shield. That’s right, no bucklers for this build! Flourishes are a set of abilities that replace most of the samurai’s abilities: mount, weapon expertise, banner, and greater banner. Losing weapon expertise kind of hurts because you lose the ability to take fighter feats, but the flourishes themselves are strong. They include things like Improved Feint (ignoring prerequisites) from kitsune’s mystique, bonus movement speed while unarmored from exodus of jinn, and uncanny dodge / improved uncanny dodge from jinisiel’s guidance. You get to keep resolve, greater resolve, challenge, the order, and honorable stand, so overall its a good deal for you.

Next, let’s talk about this build’s order, which also comes from Heroes from the Fringe. The Order of the Songbird is basically custom-built for the warrior-poet archetype. Its challenge benefit offers a substantial bonus on saves and to AC for being unarmored (basically what you would have gained from your armor), while also including a bunch of neat abilities and skill bonuses. At 2nd level, this order grants versatile performance (as a bard) with one Perform skill. At 8th level, once per encounter you can grant your allies a competence bonus to weapon attack rolls and damage rolls equal to your Charisma bonus for 1 round. This won’t stack with a bard’s inspire courage, but at basically any level of gameplay it’ll probably be higher anyway. The 15th level ability, which this build won’t gain, allows the samurai to declare one attack she makes per day a beautiful strike, which deals nonlethal damage and has a chance to charm her target (as charm monster). Very cool, very neat. Now, let me tell you about the build’s feats so you can see how we tie this all together.

The first thing to remember is that our class features and flourish choices end up netting us Improved Feint, Spring Attack, and Improved Spring Attack as bonus feats. Kitsune’s mystique also provides an additional boon for Improved Feint—the samurai can feint one enemy for free as part of the movement taken during a Spring Attack as long as she feints the enemy at some point during her movement. To build on that, we’re going to be taking Diva Style as our 1st-level feat. This awesome feat allows us to pick one Perform skill and use that Perform skill for feinting. We’ll likely be using Oratory, which is cool! Even with versatile performance you couldn’t normally use Perform (oratory) for feinting, so this is a neat benefit. The next feat in the chain is Diva Strike, which allows you to add your Charisma bonus to damage rolls against a target who is denied their Dexterity bonus to AC the first time you hit them in a round, and it culminates in the awesome Diva Advance, which allows you to not provoke attacks of opportunity from anyone you’ve feinted. Not only does this allow you to do things like use combat maneuvers with abandon, but it also allows you to make use of your “one feint per Spring Attack” to essentially choose two targets with Improved Spring Attack to attack, one of whom can be feinted for free. Alternatively, anyone you choose to attack with Improved Spring Attack can’t make attacks of opportunity against you for moving through their threatened area, so combined with Diva Advance, you could move without provoking from three different targets (the two you attacked with Improved Spring Attack and a third that you feint with kitsune’s mystique). It is a very cool, very powerful set up.

Damage-wise, this build has a lot going for it. Power Attack is always awesome, and the warrior poet has a “lethal grace” vigilante ability baked into it, which is perfect. The Warrior Poet can also use Weapon Finesse with the katana and naginata, so you’re looking at a STRONG reach weapon and a strong two-handed weapon that you can use in one hand. Carrying a full diamyo (katana + wakizashi) is very doable here.

Overall this is a fun, interesting build that does an AWESOME job of scratching the unarmored beauty itch. It’s basically a not-broken version of the sword devil, and the fact that it’s put on a class that people don’t normally like playing is EVEN BETTER in my opinion. Next week I’m going to look at a completely different way to use this versatile archetype, so stay tuned!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Spoiler — the answer is, “No. I’m weeeeeeak.”

But hey! A late Iconic Design is better than no Iconic Design, right? Anyway, I’ve been playing a lot of Starfinder lately, and as of today my -702 officially has more credit on him then my -701. It’s not Yenzie’s fault, though! My -702 has all of my Dead Suns character credit on him, so I basically played in Skitter Shot and ran two games at my local SFS and BOOM! Now my -702 is Level 4. I seriously don’t know how it happened, guys, but what I DO know is what I want my -702 to be. I have an opportunity to unlock a Skittermander, and what I REALLY want is a Skittermander Luchadore.

…

Yes, I put those extra dots there just so you could process the ridiculousness of what I want. But what I want is a skittermander luchadore and since this is my blog, the only way you could possibly stop me is by exiting out of the — NO DON’T DO THAT! I promise this will be a fun read! This build was actually difficult to come up with for two reasons: First, I didn’t want to use the Armored Storm fighting style because my local SFS has TWO soldiers that use it. Second, I didn’t want to use the Blitz fighting style because I’m playing a Blitz soldier in Dead Suns. Talk about your restrictions, right?

But don’t worry, I think I figured it out! Let’s see.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Species Skittermander; Class soldier 12; Theme gladiator
• Ability Scores: Str 16, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12
• Feats Improved Maneuver: grapple (1st), Weapon Focus: basic melee (2nd; Bonus), Skill Synergy: Bluff and Diplomacy (3rd), Cleave (4th; Bonus), Enhanced Resistances (5th), Unfriendly Fire (6th; Bonus), Antagonize (7th), Great Cleave (8th; Bonus), Skill Focus: Intimidate (9th), Improved Feint (10th; Bonus), Skill Focus: Bluff (11th), Greater Feint (12th; Bonus)
• Class Abilities
  • Primary Fighting Style shock and awe
  • Gear Boosts melee striker (3rd); blazing strike (7th), twinned threat (11th)
  • Secondary Fighting Style blitz

 Gameplay

So let’s get this out of the way—this is not a conventional soldier build, mostly because you’re investing rather handedly into feats and skills that are arguably more envoy territory then they are soldier territory. Regardless, the idea here is to have a character who has all of the really cool “active” combat feats that feel like wrestling moves. I mean, come on—does Cleave NOT feel like a wrestling move? What about trash-talking with Antagonize? Feinting people? (Okay, WWE / Lucha more then actual wrestling here.)

This build gives you an okay Intelligence to start—you’re likely going to take ranks in Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, and probably Athleticism or Acrobatics. (I recommend Athleticism, personally.) You’re grabbing Improved Maneuver: grapple right away so you can have an insanely high bonus to hit with grapple maneuvers and at Level 2, you’re taking Weapon Focus with basic melee weapons because you’re going to be primarily wearing a powered glove for a LONG time. This is mostly a flavor reason then an actual requirement—if you want to use this build and NOT restrain yourself to a grappling luchadore like I am, literally any powered weapon is better. I’m basically planning on using a cestus powered glove and slapping the weapon fusion from the SF CRB that makes your weapon bright for use with the shock and awe fighting style’s primary fighting technique at 1st level. This sweet ability allows you to use your glowy weapon to blind people when you critically hit them, which is pretty sweet. (Not going to happen too often, but sweet nonetheless.) This ties in nicely to blazing strike at 7th level, which causes any creature you hit with an attack with a bright weapon to become dazzled. Dazzled isn’t a huge penalty, but considering its a side effect for something I was already going to do, well, I’ll take it!

Unfriendly Fire is a great reason to invest in Bluff, right up there with Greater Feint. This sweet feat basically allows the character to trick an enemy into shooting another enemy once per encounter. It’s sweet and super effective if, say, you’re tricking a tough boss into one-shotting a mook for you. But of course we aren’t going to get skill-based abilities like Unfriendly Fire and Antagonize to land if we don’t have a decent bonus at these Charisma skills, and the soldier really isn’t great at those. So I make sure to pick up Skill Synergy to make Bluff and Diplomacy class skills for me while also grabbing Improved Feint to get even more use out of my grabs. (I really like that I can feint someone as a move action, then grapple them as a standard—I’m going to need all the help I can get to hid that KAC + 13 requirement for pinning a creature!)

Overall, this isn’t a super complex build. It just uses a lot of weird things that you don’t associate with soldiers. All of the Charisma-based abilities make this feel like a very skittermander soldier—great at fighting but always looking to get nufriends first!

Speaking of nufriends, this is a good time to make an announcement—we’re going to be getting a nufriend here on Guidance. Specifically, a new RPG that I’m going to be talking about. The Pathfinder Playtest! Yes, I know a LOT of you have been waiting for me to talk more about the Playtest, and starting with next week’s article on design space and how it pertains to the races, I will be. Look forward to it!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Race any
• Classes spiritualist (soul warden) 12
• Feats Spell Focus: necromancy (1st), Weapon Focus: scythe (3rd), Dazzling Display (5th), Threnodic Spell (7th), Shatter Defenses (9th), Greater Spell Focus: necromancy (11th)
• Class Features (Spiritualist): calm spirit 2/day, detect undead, nosoi scribe, phantom elegy, psychopomp’s bond, see invisibility, warding vessel
  • 4th-Level Spells Known (4): black tentacles, enervation, possession, shadowform
  • 3rd-Level Spells Known (4): bestow curse, dispel magic, fly, vampiric touch
  • 2nd-Level Spells Known (5): emotive block, inflict pain, inflict moderate wounds, purge spirit, touch of idiocy
  • 1st-Level Spells Known (6): chill touch, cure light wounds, psychic reading, remove fear, remove sickness
  • 0-Level Spells Known (6): detect magic, grave words, guidance, mage hand, stabilize, telekinetic projectile

Gameplay

I was REALLY worried at first that I wasn’t going to be able to find anything cool that this build can do, and then I read the phantom elegy ability. This 8th-level class feature is why you go soul warden. Basically, every phantom in Occult Adventures has a super strong, super awesome aura ability. And at 8th level, your nosoi can spend its rounds of haunting melody (a nosoi racial ability that gets enhanced by the nosoi scribe class feature) to basically become a tiny bard and “sing” to provide those auras to your party as you need. Yes, the nosoi appears to be able to cycle between the auras, which means:

• Anger: Allies within 20 feet basically mini-rage. They get +2 to attack rolls (no bonus type, so it stacks with everything) and –2 to AC. Surprisingly, this doesn’t come with the rage rider of “You can’t do stuff that requires concentration,” which is GREAT for you. This is the ability you use when you have a bard in the party and you want attacks to land.
• Dedication: Your nosoi sings and all allies get +2 to AC, CMD, and on all saving throws. The AC bonus is a deflection bonus, but the others are untyped. This is incredibly good at protecting your team from spellcasters.
• Despair: Your nosoi sings a fear effect that causes enemies to take a –2 penalty to all saves. No saving throw allowed. This is INCREDIBLE, and it makes the spiritualist’s list of save or suck spells all the deadlier. (Nosoi sings, you cast possession with a +2 bonus from your Spell Focus feats. Enjoy your new body.)
• Fear: Your nosoi can sing a song that causes fear effects used on enemies that fail a Will save to amplify. This build is DESIGNED to take advantage of this. Basically, you have your nosoi fly around with this song, then use your Dazzling Display ability. Enemies who you successfully demoralize have their fear condition amplified to frightened instead.
• Hatred: Your nosoi can sing a song that gives it attack and damage benefits against one target. This is probably the one song you will never have your nosoi sing. Its BAB isn’t great, and as a Tiny creature its damage and the fact it has to fly into enemies’ spaces make it very unlikely that using rounds in this way will ever be useful.
• Jealousy: Your nosoi can sing a song that makes opponents take a Will save or become staggered whenever they target a creature with an attack or spell that doesn’t affect it. If you want, you can use your nosoi’s at-will invisibility to make targeting it nearly impossible then have it sing this song. It’s bound to annoy your enemies VERY fast.
• Zeal: Allies get +2 to attack rolls and saving throws. It’s a competence bonus, so don’t bother if you have a bard in the party. Otherwise this is INSANELY strong. It doesn’t scale like a bard’s inspire courage or provide damage, sure, but you have six other awesome songs. Don’t complain.

So yeah, my verdict on this build is: insanely fun once you get to 8th level. You’ll feel like a bad psychic until 8th level, though. The familiar on its own just isn’t as good as a phantom until it gets the insanely powerful, insanely versatile phantom elegy ability. But I think that once you get there, you’ll love this build. You’ll love it so, so much for its versatility. Next week I’m going to be doing another Iconic Design, but I’m going to switching from Pathfinder to Starfinder. This time I’ll be looking at a build for a pirate. Because pirates are FUN! Until then, take care!

As a result, it should come as no surprise that there is a vocal group of Starfinder players out there who want a technomancer who wades into melee with a big-ass weapon and beats people with it. For those people, I have designed today’s build. A junksword technomancer. Enjoy!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Species: Any (avoid races with Str, Int, or Con penalties)
• Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10
• Classes: technomancer 12
• Theme: Themeless or Space Pirate
• Feats: Weapon Focus (junksword) (1st), Spell Focus (Bonus; 3rd), Weapon Specialization (Bonus, 3rd), Heavy Armor Proficiency (3rd), Combat Casting (5th), Toughness (7th), Lunge (9th), Focused Spellcaster (11th)
• Magic Hacks: empowered weapon (2nd), extended spell (5th), quick scan (8th), eternal spell (11th)
• Abilities: cache capacitor (2 slots), spell cache, tech lore +4
• 4th- (2 known): dimension door, junk sword
• 3rd (4 known): dispel magic, flight, haste, lesser resistant armor
• 2nd (5 known): darkvision, invisibility, make whole, mirror image, see invisibility
• 1st (6 known): comprehend languages, detect radiation, disguise self, life bubble, supercharge weapon, unseen servant
• 0 (6 known): detect magic, fabricate scrap, mending, token spell, telepathic message, transfer charge

Gameplay

So, the basic concept for this build is, “Cast junksword, apply junksword to enemy face.” Simple, no?

Well, compared to other melee builds that I do like solarion or soldier, there’s a lot to consider with a technomancer. First is the simple truth that you’re not going to reliably deal as much damage per swing as a martial character. Trust me, you’ll get close. But you won’t be able to do it consistently, and you’ll never get to make triple attacks. Them’s the ropes. But let’s be honest, you’re not going to WANT to full attack. You’re a 3/4 BAB spellcaster with no means of improving your to-hit outside of maybe Weapon Focus (I say maybe because junksword does not clarify what time of weapon the junksword is, so it’s not clear if you can pick a weapon type that Weapon Focus will apply to) and sometimes the empowered weapon spell hack. (I say sometimes here because this spell hack relies you to burn spell slots for the buff, a hard sacrifice to make.)

So, your best bet with this build is to play the long-haul. Make single attacks that you stack as much onto as possible and go from there. And trust me when I say that you can stack a LOT of damage onto junksword if you try. At 12th level, you’re looking at a weapon that deals 3d4 E damage (I recommend the powered variant because this allows you to target EAC, which is often easier to hit than KAC) plus a specialization bonus of +18 (1-1/2 times your caster level) with a BAB of +9. If you add empower weapon on top of that, then you can sacrifice a 3rd level spell to get +3 to attack rolls and +3d6 to damage rolls, basically bumping yourself up to full BAB. If you took the time to supercharge your junksword with the supercharge weapon spell the round before, you get another +4d6 damage. As a result, for two rounds of investment you’re looking at 3d4 + 7d6 + 18 + your Strength bonus (with my stats, likely a Str 20 for +5). This is an average of about 52 damage over two rounds, which isn’t terrible. An 18 Str Soldier with melee striker and a yellow star doshoko (2d10 + 18) is going to average roughly 29 damage per attack, or 58 damage over two rounds, so you are actually pretty close on average. As a bonus for you, the technomancer, you only need to rely on a single attack roll to get these results. As a penalty for you, the technomancer, you need to sacrifice two spell slots (a 3rd for energize weapon and a 1st for supercharge weapon), and one of those spells provokes an attack of opportunity (this is why I have Lunge in the build, as a matter of fact).

So that’s the core of the build, let’s talk about the support. Basically every other spell I picked is simply a problem-solving spell that you may or may not use in combat. I tried to pick a bunch of spells that could be loaded into the spell cache with the capacitor ability, and I also picked general utility ad buffing spells because junksword has such a long duration (10 minutes/level) that the plan is to just have it up in encounter areas and not worry about it. This is a good place to mention extended spell, a magic hack I took with the intention of doubling the duration of junksword. Very helpful; a single junksword lasts 240 minutes, or 4 hours, with this hack. Also in the essential department is eternal spell, which we take in order to cast supercharge weapon at will starting at 11th level. (Hey! Using the aforementioned combo now only takes a 3rd-level spell slot, and the spell that provokes can be used at will. Helping!) We also have Combat Casting and Focused Spellcaster to help out in those moments when we take attacks of opportunity for supercharging our weapon, but if we build our junksword with the reach ability and use Lunge, many opponents are going to be out of luck in regards to countering your casting.

Overall, I think this is a fun, interesting, and competitive build that should help satisfy many players’ need for both playing outside of the box and being mechanically complex. Next time I’ll be hopping back over to the Designer’s Water Cooler to talk briefly about comparative differences between classes and why you always need to think about how classes and abilities look on paper when you’re designing, using the Starfinder RPG’s soldier and exocortex mechanic in my example! But until then, I’m Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, and I’m always here to offer you a little bit of Guidance!

And then I decided to add a lot of mathematics to see whether this build holds any weight.

So, without further delay, my Armored Dervish Solarian build. Enjoy!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: solarian 12
• Feats: Multi-Weapon Fighting (1st), Weapon Specialization (Bonus), Fleet (3rd), Nimble Moves (5th), Lunge (7th), Deadly Aim (9th), Weapon Focus: basic melee weapons (11th)
• Abilities: flashing strikes, skill adept, solar manifestation (armor, +2 AC and resist 10), stellar mode, sidereal influence (4 skills)
• Stellar Revelations: black hole (1st), supernova (1st), plasma sheath (2nd), gravity boost (4th), corona (6th), crush (8th), blazing orbit (10th), defy gravity (12th)
• Zenith Revelations: solar acceleration (9th), wormholes (9th)

This build looks pretty cool on paper, but before I go ahead and pat myself on the back for coming up with it, we should probably check it out the math to see if it holds up. We’ll take three builds (an armor solarian with basic melee weapons, an armor solarian with longarms, and a weapon solarian) with all the same damage bonuses were applicable and see how they do against one another!

Playing the Build … MATHEMATICALLY!

So we have the build all nice and stated out, but does it hold its own against the more traditional “longarm solarian” or “solar weapon solarian?” Let’s see!

Ability Scores (Starting)

• 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 10
• Includes 2 boosts (5th, 10th), a mk 2 personal upgrade (+2), and a mk 4 personal upgrade (+4)
• Armor Melee: Str 18, Dex, 23, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 18
• Amor Ranged: Str 10, Dex, 23, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 20
• Weapon: Str 23, Dex, 17, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 18

Weapons

• Armor — Ultrathin Dagger (Item Level 12, 4d4 S), average 10 damage
• Armor — Impact Scattergun (Item Level 12, 12d6 P), average 42 damage
• Weapon — Solarian Blade (4d6) plus lesser gluon crystal (Item Level 12, +2d6) for a total of 6d6, average 35 damage

Attack Bonuses

• Armor, Ranged: +1 Weapon Focus
• Armor, Melee: +1 Weapon Focus, penalty to full attacks reduced by ­–2 from flashing strikes and Multi-Weapon Fighting
• Weapon: +1 Weapon Focus, penalty to full attacks reduced by –1 from flashing strikes

Damage Bonuses

• Weapon Specialization (+12 to the scattergun and solarian blade, +6 to each Ultrathin Dagger)
• Deadly Aim (+12 to the scatter gun, the solarian blade, and each Ultrathin Dagger)
• Plasma Sheath (Melee Only): +6 fire

Putting it Together (Full Attack w/ Deadly Aim)

• Armor, Melee: ultrathin dagger +15/+15 or +13/+13/+13 (4d4+20 plus 6 fire), average 36 damage per hit
• Armor, Ranged: impact scattergun +13/+13 or +11/+11/+11 (12d6 + 24), average 66 damage per hit
• Weapon: solarian sword + lesser gluon crystal +14/+14 or +12/+12/+12 (10d6 + 24 plus 6 fire), average 65 damage per hit

So far it looks like the weapon solarion blows the two-weapon armor solarian out of the water when it comes to damage, likely because they’re using operative melee weapons without any ability to increase the damage done by those weapons. Before we completely close the book on this build, however, let’s take a peak at what the numbers look like if we account for hits and misses.

At CR 12, the KAC of an enemy creature is going to be 28. With this in mind, we know the following:

• Armor, Melee: The solarian hits on a 13 or higher with two attacks (8 numbers times 5% per number is 40%), or 15 or higher with three attacks (6 numbers times 5% per number is 30%).
• Armor, Ranged: The solarian hits on a 15 or higher with two attacks (6 numbers times 5% per number is 30%), or a 17 or higher with three attacks (4 numbers times 5% per number is 20%)
• Weapon: The solarian hits on a 15 or higher with two attacks (6 numbers times 5% per number is 30%), or a 17 or higher with three attacks (4 numbers times 5% per number is 20%)

With this COH percentage in mind, the “average damage per round” of our solarians is as follows:

• Armor, Melee: 14.4 damage with two attacks (36 average damage per hit times 40% C2H), 10.8 damage with three attacks (36 average damage per hit times 30% C2H).
• Armor, Ranged: 19.8 damage with two attacks (66 average damage per hit times 30% C2H), 13.2 damage with three attacks (66 average damage per hit times 20% C2H).
• Weapon: 19.5 damage with two attacks (65 average damage per hit times 30% C2H), 13 damage with three attacks (65 average damage per hit times 20% C2H).

So, there you have it. Sticking with operative melee weapons as a solarian is going to lead to disappointment. Even if you’re hitting more, your numbers will be lower then that of a solarian of any other build, and your damage is going to be significantly lower by about 40% at all times. This is definitely within the range of “fixing,” however, and if we look at the operative, providing some bonus to other classes to keep operative weapons a viable choice for them is probably a good idea for the game’s long-term design. This actually echoes what I believe to be one of the core problems with the Starfinder system right now—mathematically the system pigeonholds itself hardcore, so that weird, quirky little builds like this doesn’t work. Based on this article and the one I wrote a few months back comparing soldier, operative, and solarian damage, I’m of the opinion that this game is in serious need of some “loosey goosey” –ness. I find it annoying that you gotta play a specific class to be good at a given role—in this regard Starfinder is more specialized than Pathfinder despite the clear design intention to reduce hyper specialization.

But that’s it for this week’s topic. Next week I’m going to be talking about anthropomorphic animal races and why most players don’t seem to respect them. I’m sure you’re already thinking up some ideas based around the preferences of a particular fandom, but I’ve got plenty to say and none of it involves taking pot shots at people’s interests. Until next time, I’m Alex Augunas and I’m always here for YOU when you need a little bit of Guidance. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Anyway, on with the build!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Species: Skittermander
• Ability Scores: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 13
• Classes: soldier 12
• Theme: Themeless or Space Pirate
• Feats: Improved Combat Maneuver: grapple (1st), Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus; 2nd), Improved Feint (3rd), Coordinated Shot (Bonus; 4th), Fast Talk (5th), Greater Feint (Bonus; 6th), Skill Focus: Bluff (7th), Lunge (Bonus; 8th), Weapon Focus: uncategorized (9th), Close Combat (Bonus; 10th), Unfriendly Fire (11th), Multi-Weapon Fighting (12th)
• Gear Boost: Armored Advantage (3rd), Melee Striker (7th), Bullet Barrage (11th)
• Abilities: primary fighting style (blitz), secondary fighting style (guard)

Gameplay

The essential idea of this build is, “I’m going to grapple that guy.” Now, if you’re going to grapple successfully in Starfinder, there are a couple of things you have to make sure happen:

• You need to make sure you can cross the gap to get to the thing you want to grapple.
• You need to be good enough at unarmed attack rolls to actually hit the high result you need (KAC + 8).
• You need to have a KAC that’s good enough that your enemy can’t just wriggle right out of your grapple right away.

So let’s talk about how this build accomplishes those tasks.

• Speed: Since we need to close the distance between us and our target, this build goes with the blitz fighting style as its primary fighting style. That extra 10 foot movement speed at 1st level is very helpful, and at 5th level the ability to charge across the battlefield without penalty is also helpful for closing the distance; it basically lets you move twice your speed and still get a hit in. Since this build doesn’t have room for Fleet, you’re going to want to take that augmentation that replaces your leg tendons with super circuits for more speed.
• To-Hit: Skittermanders are adorable, but the real reason we’re taking this race is for the delicious +2 bonus to grapple attempts that they receive. Between full BAB, a high Strength, Improved Combat Maneuver (grapple), and the grappler racial trait we’re looking at a grapple bonus of +11 at 1st level. This means that at 1st level you can grapple a CR 1 enemy with a 10 or higher, for a 50% chance. (A CR 1 creature has a KAC of 13, and the DC is KAC + 8. 13 + 8 is 21, and you’d need a 10 to hit 21 with a +11 bonus.) Eventually we get this down to a 9 for targeting CR = level opponents when Weapon Focus comes online, and the reason this build grabs Improved Feint and Greater Feint is so we effectively get another +2 to our roll because our opponent is taking a –2 from being flat-footed. As a soldier, this is about as reliable as you can be with the grapple combat maneuver without buffs from your party members.
• KAC: In order to make sure our enemies can’t easily escape our grapple, I’ve gone and taken everything the soldier can to buff their KAC. We’ve got the +1 from the armored advantage gearboost, and picking up the guard combat style means that we can squeeze an extra AC out of our heavy armor by increasing our maximum Dexterity. Since skittermander is a decent Dex race, this is likely a good idea as you gain more ability increases and eventually get to the mk II personal upgrades. It’s worth noting that if you play a vesk, you could have a better KAC because of their racial +1 KAC, but that would mean losing the Skittermander’s +2 to grapple attempts from grappler, and to be honest that’s WAY more valuable in the long run. Just getting someone grappled restricts their ability to act, and if they spend the action to try and escape, you’ve basically forced them to waste an action.

Grappling isn’t this build’s only tricks, however. Lots of resources went into improve Bluff so feints would be more likely to happen, and that decent Bluff bonus means that feats like Fast Talk and Unfriendly Fire are an option. Fast Talk basically lets you force a surprise round onto an opponent, while Unfriendly Fire allows you to redirect a shot onto your opponent. Lunge also has good combo potential with our skittermander. Since grappling isn’t always the best tactic, this build also has some neat options for unarmed striking enemies in Improved Unarmed Strike and Multi-Weapon Fighting. Coordinated Assault and Greater Feint allow you to provide some great party utility, and Lunge allows you to be a bit more flexible in your positioning.

Overall, I’d say this is a pretty great skittermander supplexer. It’s definitely not as easy to be a grappler in Starfinder as it is in Pathfinder; by my estimations, to pin someone whose CR = your level at 12th level, assuming everything you had was maxed out, you would need to roll a 40 (KAC 27 + 13). Assuming full BAB (+12), the highest possible Str modifier (+7, assuming Str 20 and a mk II ability crystal), Improved Maneuver (+4), and grappler (+2), you would have a bonus of +25, meaning you would need to roll a 15 to pin your opponent. Difficult, but not impossible. (In contrast, you would need a 17 with a non-skittermander.)

But what do you think? Leave your thoughts and comments below and tell me what you would do differently. Next time I’ll be hopping back over to the Designer’s Water Cooler to talk briefly about designing purposeful game mechanics, so stay tuned! But until then, I’m Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, and I’m always here to offer you a little bit of Guidance!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

This is my new HeroForge mini for Maisuro—fun factoid, I knew I wanted Maisuro to be genderfluid, so I incorporated the Nonbinary Pride Flags colors into their color scheme.

Hey everyone! I’m Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, and I’m back with another Iconic Design! Special thanks to KDN Captain Ryan Costello for filling in for me last week—my Grandfather suddenly passed away the week before last, and I asked him to fill in for me while I was attending his service and burial. I hope Ryan treated you all right while I was gone.

If you’re been watching the KDN Discord, you might have noticed that I’ve been chatting about a mesmerist that I’m playing in a home game. I absolutely LOVE Maisuro; they’re a genderfluid kitsune fashionista with the ability to adjust their appearance (and the appearance of others) using tons of different techniques. Since lots of people seemed interested in my build, I thought it would be fun to share it with you today. So let’s get started!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: mesmerist (material manipulator) 12
• Favored Class Bonus: Gain 1/6 of a new Magical Tail feat.
• Feats: Realistic Likeness (1st), Weapon Finesse (3rd), Dirty Fighting (5th), Magical Tail (6th; Bonus), Improved Dirty Trick (7th), Magical Tail (9th), Magical Tail (11th), Magical Tail (12th; Bonus)
• Abilities: hypnotic stare –3, mesmerist tricks, mental potency, painful stare, revision, towering ego
• Mesmerist Tricks: fearsome mein (1st), psychosomatic surge (4th), misdirection (6th), mesmeric mirror (8th), compel alacrity (10th), umbral transformation (12th)
• Bold Stares: Infiltration (3rd), disorientation (7th), sapped magic (11th)
• 4th-Level Mesmerist Spells (4): dominate person, enervation, innocuous shape, lesser simulacrum
• 3rd-Level Mesmerist Spells (4): bestow curse, claim identity, dispel magic, jester’s jaunt
• 2nd-Level Mesmerist Spells (5): blistering invective, disfiguring touch, hidden presence, quick change, shamefully overdressed
• 1st-Level Mesmerist Spells (6): color spray, hideous laughter, ventriloquism, vocal alteration
• Mesmerist Knacks (6): detect magic, ghost sounds, mage hand, light, prestidigitation, message

Play Description

I’m a firm believer that not all builds need to be powerhouse builds if that’s what your group needs, and that sometimes power comes in unexpected forms. For example, this particular build is basically designed to be the “magic Master Spy,” possessing the ability to very quickly and very easily change not only my appearance, but the appearance of others. That’s how I give my allies a “makeover,” after all!

So, how does this build work? Well, it really has two basic modes—in combat and out of combat. Outside of combat, I can change my appearance basically at will using the Realistic Likeness feat, and I can change other peoples’ appearance using a combination of the fearsome mien mesmerist trick and the revision class ability of the material manipulator archetype. Fearsome mien is especially cool because its basically a 24-hour disguise other spell that I can end to get a free Intimidate check on an opponent. Revision, in contrast, is a polymorph effect, but it’s a polymorph effect that I can do to ANYONE (assuming my target can pass a saving throw). In addition, I get helpful spells like quick change (swift action change), hidden presence (its like invisibility, but I make a few targets completely unable to detect me), and innocuous shape (I make someone look completely inconspicuous).  I also have lesser simulacrum, which makes great use of my massive Disguise bonus, and claim identity. In addition, most of the Magical Tail feats that I get are utility-based, allowing me to charm, change my magical aura via misdirection, and get additional disguise self castings on myself. (Meaning I can save my mesmerist trick uses for my allies.)

In-combat, this build relies mostly on its painful stare and bold stare abilities to make it easier for my allies to survive enemies, but it also has a few neat tricks. Blistering invective is a fun AOE fire damage spell that also intimidates my foes (every fashionista needs to be able to deliver a sick burn), and shamefully overdressed will allow my to force my enemies to take off their drab clothing. Disfiguring touch lets me make a foe look so ugly that they can’t do stuff right, and I also pick up some nice general utility spells like dominate person, enervation,  bestow curse, dispel magic, and jester’s jaunt. Finally, I also have some built-in Combat Maneuver usage in Improved Dirty Trick and Dirty Fighting, which gets amped up by my stare’s ability to penalize CMD. This definitely is one of my tamer dirty trick builds, but it should be more then enough.

So this is the current design-space for my mesmerist. What do you think? Leave your comments below, and I’ll see you back next time for another Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

My understanding of Hollywood changed when I heard The Joker described as a dream character for actors. No longer were super hero movies the bottom rung of the action genre. No longer was playing this famous character -arguably comic’s most recognizable villain- the subject of bribery (in Jack Nicholson’s case) or ridicule (in Mark Hamill’s case [and yes, in the 90s when Star Wars was making its mainstream comeback, Mark Hamill was mocked for having fallen so far as to need to take voice work). This is a different Bat-time and a different Bat-channel, and I will be stepping into the modest shoes of the Clown Prince of Crimes and playing a character based on The Joker.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: Witch (cartomancer) 8, alchemist 3
• Race: Gnome (dread gnome)
• Feats: Extra Hex (cackle) (1st), Deadly Dealer (2nd) (B), Accursed Hex (3rd), Improved Initiative (5th), Spell Focus (enchantment) (7th)
• Class Features: Patron (insanity), hex (evil eye), spell deck, deliver touch spells, alchemy, bomb, brew potion, mutagen, throw anything, discovery (concentrate poison), poison resistance +2, poison use, Bomb 2d6, swift alchemy, hex (misfortune), hex (scar), hex (charm)

Play Description

My ultimate goal with this build is to mess with expectations in as many ways as possible. That extends beyond what I do in character, such as choosing a prone Hero Forge miniature. It’s not a pose I thought I would ever order, but I love how it captures iconic image of The Joker letting loose.

I now regret not adding a mustache to the figure to paint over as a Cesar Romero homage.

Even though The Joker is usually depicted as quite tall (6′ 5″ according to The Joker Wiki), I built a gnome. I love a good gnome, and when I’m playing a character with a few screws loose, it’s my go-to race. I took a subrace (dread gnome) for a few reasons, one of which was to look like a gnome but do things most gnomes don’t do and be unable to do what gnomes are known for (specifically, speak with animals). Mechanically, the gnome’s small size and Con bonus are good for survivability, which is nice since I won’t be putting a lot of effort into defense otherwise. The Charisma bonus is key to the character, and while I would have liked to have found a Charisma-based class, having both high Intelligence and Charisma is important for the concept, and gives me a lot of skill flexibility.

This build started as a gunslinger that can shoot laughing gas bullets, but PFS-legality issues forced the idea to evolve. I ditched virtually everything from that original concept except the laughing gas when I realized the witch was far better for the concept, what with all the messing with people and cackling. The levels of alchemist I took were for the chemist elements of the character (more the weapons he uses than the time we see him in a lab). It ended up synergizing extremely well with witch as they are both Intelligence-based backline characters, with a shared theme of manipulation, complimentary skill lists, and the major deficit of one (the witch’s limited damage-dealing options) made up by a 1st level class feature of the other (bombs!). 

The only witch class feature that wasn’t perfect for my build was a big one: the familiar. Instead of trying to find the most Joker-appropriate familiar (sadly, hyena is not a legal familiar), I used the handy archetypes alternate class features chart on d20pfsrd to see if any witches dumped their familiars like so many Bob The Goons. It ends up that’s a common class feature for witches to drop, and none replaces it as perfectly as the cartomancer. Replacing the pet with a deck of cards? That can be thrown as a weapon?

Perfect!

I went pretty typical for hexes, although because the cartomancer gives up the 2nd level hex, I had to take the Extra Hex feat early or else wait until 4th level to gain cackle. I could have taken it as my first and only hex for four levels, of course, but it is literally useless without another hex to use it on. I make suboptimal choices for flavour with just about every character I make, but that’s past even my acceptable limit. 

Speaking of suboptimal choices for flavour, scar is hardly the best hex, but it has its uses. Mainly I took it to put a smile on NPC faces.

I took a fun witchy spell at 1st level, one I don’t remember ever seeing before. Discern next of kin tells me intimate details about a target’s family. Combined with message and a maxed out Intimidate score and we have Joker-brand fun. The insanity patron grants me hideous laughter, which is important to this build for obvious reasons, and a spell I just assumed was on the vanilla witch list. At least it was tied to my first choice of patron so I didn’t need to make logical leaps to justify taking it. I would have liked shocking grasp but am willing to let that go. As on-brief as a deadly joy buzzer spell would be, I doubt I’ll be going into melee enough to make the spell worth the effort of getting, and delivering it via Deadly Dealer blurs the visual I would be going for. I already have bestow curse (part of my Fel Magic as a dread gnome) and inflict wounds to deliver at range with the flick of a wrist.

For the alchemist side of my build, I debated finding an archetype that swaps out mutagen.  I’ve only played the character once and I took witch at 1st level so I still can go back and change this, but I was OK keeping it because the Arkham Asylum game set the precedence for The Joker mutating himself. It’s not why that character is remembered in that game and more to serve the needs of a video game end boss, but it happened:

I hoped I would be able to translate the bombs into either the chattering teeth from Arkham Asylum, or an acid spraying lapel flower, but either option took more than the one discovery my alchemist levels gain me. Feats are not an important part of this build so far, though, so I could look into subbing out some of my choices for Extra Discovery.

The Joker is a character that has been interpreted in so many ways. I went for a manipulative mastermind with my build, but it’s not the only way I could have built Quippy. If you have any ideas for options you think I missed or other directions a Joker build could go, I would love to hear about them.

Naturally, I felt like I needed to exploit said interaction. And now, you all profit! Go knock’em dead, lads and lasses!

Build Concept

This is basically the lynchpin to the build, the feat you spent 11 levels building to.

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: fighter (lore warden; AG version) 12
• Feats: Weapon Focus: kukri (Bonus), Dirty Fighting (1st), Improved Dirty Trick (3rd), Kitsune Style (Bonus), Kitsune Tricks (5th), Combat Expertise (Bonus), Vital Strike (Bonus), Cloak and Dagger Style (7th), Kitsune Vengeance (Bonus), Weapon Style Mastery (Bonus), Improved Trip (9th), Greater Trip (Bonus), Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge (11th), Improved Steal (Bonus).
• Abilities: scholastic, skill over strength, weapon training (light blades +2)
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: Weapon Style Mastery (9th)
• Sword Secrets: maneuver training (3rd), know thy enemy (7th), swift assessment (11th)
• Maneuver Training: dirty tricks +3, trip +2, steal +1

Public Service Announcement

Before I get started, I need to address the elephant in the room—the Adventurer’s Guide version of the lore warden archetype. I know there’s a lot of controversy around this archetype because of how heavily the lore warden was nerfed going from the Pathfinder Society Field Guide to the Adventure Guide. I will not deny this, nor will I deny that the archetype is sort of … flawed.

If you want my stance, I think that the new lore warden’s skill over strength ability is a terrible trade, and is completely unfun to play. You’re essentially trading all your class abilities at 2nd level for a benefit at 3rd level and beyond. Why do I say this? Well, you lose bravery and your 2nd level bonus feat for the ability to count as having Combat Expertise and an Intelligence of 13 for combat feats. While you do eventually get Combat Expertise at 6th level and you do eventually get a neat reduction to the attack roll penalty you take while using Combat Expertise, this doesn’t change the fact that you can’t benefit from “counting as having the prerequisites” until 3rd level when you actually get a feat. That means 2nd level is a dead level for you. If you’re a GM and you want a version of the Adventurer’s Guide lore warden that’s a little better balanced, I recommend errataing skill over strength to the following. (And yo, if anyone at Paizo who is penning erratas wants this, take it.)

Skill Over Strength (Ex): At 2nd level, you gain Combat Expertise as a bonus feat. For Combat Expertise and all feats that list Combat Expertise as a prerequisite, you count as having an Intelligence of 13 for the purpose of meeting the feat’s prerequisites. If you have an Intelligence of 14 or higher, you instead reduce the penalty on attack rolls for using the Combat Expertise feat by 1 (minimum –0). This attack roll penalty doesn’t stack with other effects that reduce the attack roll penalty of Combat Expertise.

This ability replaces bravery and the fighter’s 2nd-level bonus feat.

Nevertheless,  I legitimately think that New Lore Warden brings some strengths to the build. So without further delay, the analysis!

• NOTE: This build is NOT currently PFS legal because Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge is not legal. But hey, if you want to use it in a home game, feel free to. Just remember that it’s not always a good idea to create a build that will make your GM pull their hair out—you tend to lose GMs that way.

Play Description

What does the fox say? BLIND BLIND DAZZLED SICKENED DEAF!

So, how does this build work? Essentially it relies on a complex series of interactions between the Kitsune Style feat and the Cloak and Dagger Style feat. This build using the Weapon Style Mastery feat so you can have both styles up simultaneously, but technically you can also use it with a master of many styles monk or a varisian freestyle fighter if you want. However, I recommend lore warden because of the bonus feats and because it gains the maneuver training brawler class feature, which lets the character get a nice bonus to all of the combat maneuvers you’ll be using.

Yes, that’s right. ALL of them. This build REALLY wants to mess your face up with dirty tricks, and it also gets a lot of utility out of tripping and stealing from enemies. But let me explain how this build works.

That’s right! Back with a vengeance! A FOXY VENGEANCE!

First, Kitsune Style and its third-link feat, Kitsune Vengeance, all add special situations in which you can make dirty trick attempts against enemies. Kitsune Style lets you use dirty trick at the end of a charge, while Kitsune Vengeance lets you use dirty trick in place of an attack of opportunity. That last one is important because of the 2nd-chain link in Cloak and Dagger Style, Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge. This feat allows you to make a dirty trick attempt whenever you make an attack of opportunity. Seeing the big picture here? With both of these styles up at the same time, you can make a dirty trick as an attack of opportunity with Kitsune Vengeance, then immediately make a second attack of opportunity with Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge.

So many penalties!

But wait, there’s more!

In order to have Kitsune Vengeance, you need to have Kitsune Tricks. Kitsune Tricks allows you to drop two penalties onto your opponent per dirty trick. So when you make a dirty trick as an attack of opportunity, you’re actually slapping the penalties of four different conditions on them at the same time with this build (I recommend blinded and entangled on the first, followed by shaken and sickened on the second. This way you’ll get to lower your enemies’ AC by a bunch with blinded and entangled, making the second two conditions more likely to land).

But wait, there’s more!

Cloak and Dagger! Now with less stealth and more mayhem!

Cloak and Dagger Style also allows you to make a free dirty trick attempt against an opponent during a surprise round, AND it causes any opponent who attempts to remove a dirty trick’s penalty from themselves to provoke an attack of opportunity. Meaning you could just slap on completely different penalties with a new trick to keep your enemy constantly hindered by SOMETHING. Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge also gives you a free steal attempt whenever you successfully use dirty trick against an opponent with that feat, so why pass on that?

Most of this build is amassing the crazy number of feats you need to pull this trick off. It surprisingly doesn’t have Greater Dirty Trick yet (you could either sub out Improved Steal for that, or take it as your 13th level feat), but that’s simply how jammed-back this build is. If you’re wondering why I took Improved Trip and Greater Trip, it’s basically because tripping an enemy is an EASY way to get attacks of opportunity on them. SO, SO easy…. Plus you get a total of three maneuvers from maneuver training with this build, so it seemed worth it to me.

This build is kind of bonkers, and while it’s basically a one-trick pony, that one trick is a DIRTY trick. You’re a REALLY good fighter debuffer with this build, and never forget it! But that’s all I got for this week—tune in next Monday for a new article from Guidance or Iconic Design. (Whichever muse inspires me.) Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Howard loved to paint his own miniatures, and he was really good at it.

On Friday, January 12th, James and I lost a close friend. He was the manager of the FLGS that I ran Pathfinder Society out of, and a member of my Strange Aeons campaign. For those who knew him, Howard was synonymous with the store. He had a way of speaking that could make you laugh and tear you to pieces in the same sentence. He was an acquired taste, to be sure, but once he rubbed off on you, you couldn’t help but like him.

If you’ve never lost someone, I can’t begin to tell you what it feels like. That’s literal, by the way. One thing that I learned from my experience losing Howard is that everyone processes death differently. I’ve lost people before Howard, but they were family, not friends. Another thing I learned is that losing a friend is very different to losing a family member, by the way. When my grandparents and uncle passed away, I had a family support network that I could rely on. But when Howard passed away, I couldn’t rely on my family for support. They didn’t know him—all they could do is offer me their condolences, saying they’d support me any way they could. I reached out to Facebook with the news, and I got a similar response. And in that, I learned something else about how I personally react to death.

I needed someone who had similar pain to what I was feeling to begin to heal. All the talks and morale support I got from friends and family who had never met Howard didn’t really help me—I knew they were trying to be nice, but I also knew that they really couldn’t understand the connection I had felt, and what I had lost. So things people would say ended up falling flat. A common one that I got was people who said, “Wow, Alex. You wrote that so beautifully. Howard is smiling down on you from Heaven,” or whatever. And I always had to log off of Facebook or close the tab when I say that because I practically wanted to scream, “No, you don’t get it! He might have been touched later, but first he would have made SO much fun of me for writing that about him!” That’s just the kind of man he was.

I was originally going to try and turn this into an article where I connected my emotions back to Howard, but I decided against it. I’m doing a lot better—really, I am. Instead, I decided that I wanted to dedicate today’s Iconic Design to him. Howard had a favorite character—a barbarian/fighter who used the Thunder and Fang feat chain. Sadly, Howard’s character sheets are currently among his possessions with his family so there’s no way for me to know if I got it right. But I’m going to try.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: Fighter 6 / Barbarian 6
• Feats: Weapon Focus: earthbreaker (Human), Weapon Focus: klar (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Thunder and Fang (Bonus), Power Attack (3rd), Weapon Specialization: earthbreaker (Bonus), Improved Shield Bash (5th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (Bonus), Step Up (7th), Following Step (9th), Step Up and Strike (11th)
• Abilities: armor training 1, bravery +2, danger sense +2, fast movement, improved uncanny dodge, rage, uncanny dodge, weapon training +1
• Rage Powers: shove aside (2nd), quick reflexes (4th), no escape (6th)

Howard wasn’t like me when it came to building characters—he liked his builds simple and straightforward usually. This character, “Svenny” was a Thunder and Fang character who was all about getting up into your face. He was actually the first person I had ever seen take the Step Up feat, and boy, I was confused why I had never saw it before after he used it to absolutely destroy this wizard!

I don’t have much to say on this build—it’s Howard, and I will forever cherish the memories I had with it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: fighter 12
• Feats: Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Weapon Finesse (1^st), Step Up (Bonus), Power Attack (3rd), Following Step (Bonus), Difficult Swings (5^th), Step Up and Strike (Bonus), Run (Bonus), Step Up and Strike (7^th), Furious Focus (Bonus), Weapon Focus: elven curve blade (9^th), Stand Still (Bonus), Pin Down (11^th), Dazing Assault (Bonus)
• Class Features: armor training 1 (heavy armor), bravery, weapon training (heavy blades +2)
• Armor Training: armored sprint (7^th)
• Weapon Training: trained finesse (9^th); trained initiative (Bonus)
• Magic Items: cracked opalescent white pyramid (elven curve blade)

Play Description

Difficult-to-leave-me Swings.

The point of this build is movement control against the enemy, something this build is pretty darn good at. (The only things that are going to be rough for you are teleporters, which a fighter sadly can’t do much about.) The basic idea for this build is to get up into your enemy’s face and stay there while simultaneously not letting them leave. The basic lynchpins of this build are Difficult Swings weapon mastery feat and the Pin Down combat feat. Together, these two feats give you surprising control of the battle field, preventing foes with hittable CMDs from moving away from or escaping you. Fighting a foe that can take 5-foot steps into difficult terrain? No worries—you have the Step Up and Strike feat chain, so when an enemy tries to 5-foot step away from you, simply follow them up to 5 feet and thwack them on the head for trying!

NO ONE ESCAPES.

Now, using Step Up and Strike is an immediate action, and Pin Down is an attack of opportunity. Naturally we’re going to want to be able to make a bunch of attacks of opportunity. That means a Dex-based build, so while we’re at it we might as well grab Weapon Finesse and make a Dex build out of it. For this build, putting pressure on stuff you’re following around is key, so I grabbed a cracked opalescent white pyramid ioun stone for this build. This highly underrated ioun stone lets you pick one exotic weapon and make it a martial weapon for you, and I choose you, elven curve blade! The cracked ioun stone is super cheap at a mere 1,500 gp, so it’s totally worth having for this purpose. Since I’m using a two-handed finesse weapon, I figured that grabbing the trained finesse advanced weapon training option would be useful, as would Power Attack and Furious Focus. To round out this build, I decided to nab Dazing Assault at 11^th Level—that way I can get in close, not let enemies leave my side, and then trap them in place with the Dazed condition. What’s even more fun is that once you’ve turned Dazing Assault on, it stays on until the start of your next turn. So you can beat on someone with a full attack and make them attempt a saving throw per attack. Even if they fail, if they try to escape you get to Step Up and try to hold them in place. Nifty, right? Just for good measure, taking Stand Still lets you try to stop anyone who tries to move through your threatened area in their tracks, meaning that the mere act of approaching you is enough to trap your enemies in place!

Such a great ioun stone! If you want to splurge the extra 8,500 gp, you can upgrade this to a non-cracked stone, which gives full proficiency AND Weapon Focus as a bonus feat when socketed into a wayfinder.

This is a REALLY mean build that shows just how well martials can play battlefield control—sorcerers and wizards might be able to impair a bunch of people at the same time, but martials can lock down single targets with a build like this all while putting the hurting on them.

So, what do you think? Is this a build you would play or use on your players? How would you adapt it to your style? Leave your questions and comments below, and I’ll see you soon for another installment of Iconic Design! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Nope. Not at all.

Let’s get started!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: Bloodrager (prowler at world’s end, metamagic rager) 12
• Feats: Power Attack (1st), Legendary Influence (3rd), Quicken Spell (5th), Extend Spell (6th; Bonus), Catfolk Exemplar: claws (7th), Extra Rage (9th), Extra Rage (11th)
• Abilities: blood casting, blood sanctuary, bloodline, bloodrage, chosen of the spirits, damage reduction 2/–, eschew materials, fast movement, metamagic rager, spirit, spirit bonus +1d6, uncanny dodge
• Bloodline: destined strike (4th), fated bloodrager (9th), certain strike (8th)
• Legendary Influence: Weapon Focus (Champion), Raging Vitality (Guardian), Combat Reflexes (Marshal), Cunning (Trickster)
• 1st-Level Spells Known: shield; burning hands, cheetah’s spring, enlarge person, protection from evil, stone throwing, true strike
• 2nd-Level Spells Known: blur; false life, huntmaster’s spear, pouncing fury, see invisibility, vine strike
• 3rd-Level Spells Known: fly, force hook charge, haste, vampiric touch

Play Description

Okay, so the basic idea of this build is to play a Southern Mwangi catfolk who’s joined with the society’s Silver Crusade to stamp out evil. He channels the spirits of ancient “big cats” charged with purging evil from Golarian to accomplish this. So, how did I build this character?

First, I decided that the essential feats for my build were Power Attack, Quicken Spell, and Extend Spell. Those last two are the metamagic feats that I’m going to want to apply to my buff-heavy spell list using the metamagic rager class feature, Extend Spell lets me spend 1 round of bloodrage to double my spells’ duration, while Quicken Spell lets me cast some of my spells as a swift action. This is super helpful, as my build is largely built around claw natural attacks until I channel the champion. To this end, casting vine strike on myself and extending it for a round of bloodrage is a crucial part of my build. When I get enough rounds of rage to quicken enlarge person on myself (or others), however, things will get FUN fast. You never realize how many spells there are on the bloodrager spell list that you would cast if only it didn’t gobble up your full attack! Like a lot of those damage-based spells—quickened vampiric touch, followed by a full attack? Abso-freaking-lutely!

To go along with my claws build, Catfolk Exemplar was a must-have. The weapons version of the feat boosts my claws from d4 to d6, so I’ll be SUPER happy to have that come online. Between that feat and my vine strike, I’m basically hitting for greatsword damage with every swipe, which is awesome. To make sure I could use my powers frequently, I grabbed Extra Rage twice for 12 extra rounds of rage. (Aka 3 whole uses of Quicken Spell!) And to round out my feat selection, I picked Legendary Influence for some extra specialization and flavor.

This is a good time to go into what the spirits do for me. Prowler at world’s end loses most of its bonus feat and delays its bloodline powers substantially to get spirit powers, like a medium. Each spirit is associated with a big cat (leopard is guardian, lion is marshal, tiger is champion, and cheetah is trickster), with the archetype not gaining access to archmage or hierophant. Additionally, it gains spirit powers on a slightly delayed tack, and doesn’t get any of the cool shared séance buffs a standard medium has. In the end, my spirit priority looks like this:

Tiger (Champion): I get Weapon Focus and proficiency with the fauchard when I bind this spirit, plus eventually the ability to move and full attack. The fauchard is an 18-20/x2 polearm with reach, and I’m flavoring mine as a specialized jungle spear. I also get sick combat benefits and bonus damage for binding the Champion, and for combat scenarios this is my go-to.

Leopard (Guardian): I get Raging Vitality and bonus feat, the ability to wear heavy armor and a shield, and get bonuses to CMD. Eventually I’ll get energy resistance and better-than-bloodrager DR (DR/– equal to half my bloodrager level). This spirit is for when the flavor text makes it sound like we’re going into a really rough scenario, or when our group doesn’t have someone who can take a punch.

Lion (Marshal): I get Combat Advice, a séance boon from any spirit I want, and the ability to spirit surge anyone’s attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, concentration checks, and skill checks. Eventually, I’ll be able to buff people with a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls. Honestly, I don’t foresee myself using this spirit; it doesn’t synergize well with my abilities and the action economy doesn’t really get good until later

Cheetah (Trickster): I get Cunning as a bonus feat, ranks in two skills of my choice equal to my level (and those skills count as class skills), and eventually the ability to lesser sneak attack foes with surprised strike. This spirit is actually pretty darn good, a close contender with champion after I get surprise strike. I’d probably pick it if I had someone melee in the group to flank with, like a rogue, or if I was entering a scenario that I knew was going to be skill-based. Between Cunning, the Séance boon, and the Trickster’s Edge power, I basically get to pick three skills and get full ranks equal to my bloodrager in those skills, and they all become class skills for me. It’s REALLY great in scenarios where we might need to shore up a party weakness. (Oh no! No one in our party is a face?!)

And that’s my bloodrager build for my catfolk! I’m pretty excited about it, but what do you think? What do you like about my build? What would you do differently? Leave your comments below, and I’ll see you next week for another new article! Ciao!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

So with this in mind, it came time to revisit the vigilante, and I decided I wanted to do something cool with him. I wanted to be REALLY good at using Acrobatics, but not just balancing on tightropes or whatever. I wanted to be really good at actually using Acrobatics in combat to do stuff. So with this in mind (and knowing I wanted a few levels of vigilante), I put today’s build together.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: unchained rogue (kitsune trickster, scout) 7, swashbuckler (corsair) 1, vigilante 4
• Feats: Dodge (1^st; Bonus), Mobility (1^st); Skill Focus: Acrobatics (3^rd); Canny Tumble (5^th); Weapon Finesse (6^th; Bonus), Spring Attack (7^th; Bonus), Confounding Tumble Deed (7^th), Circling Mongoose (9^th), Sliding Dash (11^th)
• Abilities: debilitating injury, deeds, dual identity, finesse training (kukri), evasion, kitsune charm 2/day, kitsune guile, hidden strike +2d8, panache, rogue’s edge (Acrobatics), seamless guise, sneak attack +4d6, swift target, unshakable.
• Rogue Talents: combat trick: Spring Attack (2^nd); slow reactions (4^th); fast stealth (6^th)
• Social Talents: social grace (1^st), Intrigue Talent: Street Smarts (3^rd)
• Vigilante Talents: Leave an Opening (2^nd), Up Close and Personal (4^th)

Play Summary

This build uses a lot of moving parts from several different sources. First, it uses the corsair swashbuckler archetype from Blood of the Beast. It’s a weird little archetype that plenty of people look down on because it drops opportunity parry and riposte. I’m only going one level into the class, though; I need panache to qualify for Confounding Tumble Deed, and this archetype gets Dodge as a bonus feat at 1^st level, which is a feat that half of my best feats need as a prerequisite. Ultimately, it really works out for me.

The important classes in this line up, however, are vigilante (stalker specialization) and unchained rogue (kitsune trickster and scout). As you’ve probably guessed, my vigilante is a kitsune, but you don’t need the kitsune trickster archetype or the kitsune race to play this build; having an extra +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks really helps though, so if you take a different race try to pick something like halfling or vanara that (A) have a racial bonus to Dex and (B) have a racial bonus to Acrobatics. (Of those two, halfling is better stat-wise, but vanara is better for having medium weapons.) The scout archetype’s mobility is awesome, however; when charge, your attack is a sneak attack.

So, what exactly does this build do? Well, it has a few major tricks by PFS end game.

1. When you charge, you get sneak attack. Additionally, when you charge, you can use Sliding Charge to make an Acrobatics check to slide through your foe’s space. If you do, you count as flanking your opponent for your first attack at the end of the charge. (Between scout’s charge and Sliding Charge, your foe is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC and flanked.)
2. Up Close and Personal allows you to make a swift action attack against any foe when you attempt to move through their space using Acrobatics. If you succeed, you get to make an attack against your foe using your full hidden strike damage. If you fail, you still get the attack, but its reduced. Sliding Charge applies for this purpose, and will also allow that attack to deliver sneak attack damage.
3. Confounding Tumble Deed and Canny Tumble give you some neat perks when you move through an enemy’s space. Canny Tumble gives you an extra +2 circumstance bonus to hit your target, and Confounding Tumble allows you to spend panache as a free action so your foe is denied its Dex against all of your attacks before the end of your next turn. This means that when you charge, you can slide through your foe, get your free attack from the up close and personal vigilante talent, and then still get a sneak attack / hidden strike attack at the end of your charge as normal.
4. You have Spring Attack, which you can use to do similar shennanigins as charging, provided you’re at least 10 feet away. (You don’t get Sliding Charge, but you move through an enemy’s space, trigger Confounding Tumble and Up Close and Personal, and then take your attack against your foe after you’ve finished moving through their space.)

Overall, it’s a weird little build that makes you really good at flitting around and across an opponent while still being good at moving!

Next week, I’m planning on having my first Starfinder-themed article for you guys; a Guidance article talking a little bit about some things I really like in Starfinder’s rules, and some others that I don’t. I don’t know how long I’m going to be talking about Starfinder for, but it IS the new shininess. (Don’t expect me to give up on Pathfinder for long, though. My heart will always be in fantasy. :D)

But that’s all for this week; see you on the school-bound side of Gen Con!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

If you’re still interested, then read on to see what my dastardly plan is all about!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: mesmerist (gaslighter 4) / fighter 2 / Hellknight 6
• Feats: Skill Focus: Intimidate (1^st), Manifold Stare (3^rd), Weapon Focus: Order’s Favored Weapon (Bonus), Dazzling Display (5th), Startling Shapechange (Bonus), Swift Kitsune Shapechanger (7^th), Improved Dirty Trick (9^th), Vulpine Pounce (11^th)
• Abilities: aura of law, bravery +1, consummate cruelty, detect chaos, discern lies, disciplines, force of will 2, Hellknight armor 2, horrid mask, hypnotic stare, painful stare, smite chaos 2/day, towering ego
• Bold Stares: psychic inception (3rd)
• Disciplines: fearsomeness (3^rd), versatile intimidation (6^th)
• Mesmerist Tricks: fearsome guise (1^st), compel alacrity (2^nd), mesmeric mirror (4^th)
• Mesmerist 2^nd-Level Spells Known (2): blistering invective, quick change
• Mesmerist 1^st-Level Spells Known (4): forbid action, grease, mental block, psychic reading
• Mesmerist Knacks Known (6): detect magic, detect psychic significance, mage hand, light, prestidigitation, read magic

Play Summary

Okay, so this build is deceptively simple, and one of its biggest problems is that it needs two swift actions in order to get its ball rolling: quick change/Swift Kitsune Shapechanger and hypnotic stare. Luckily, you don’t really need them both active on the same turn, but regardless it is probably a good idea to invest some money into that shirt that let’s you use two swift actions in a turn once per day. Not a necessiry, but its helpful.

So, how does this Hellknight play? Essentially, you get a massive bonus on Intimidate checks and the ability to demoralize people whenever you use your change shape ability, thanks to the Startling Shapechanger feat (which is from Blood of the Beast). Between Skill Focus and consummate cruelty, you’re looking at a +5 bonus on Intimidate checks on top of what will likely be a massive bonus from your Charisma, ranks, and class skill bonus. (This will rise to an extra +8 when you get 10 ranks in Intimidate.) Obviously you’re going to want to trick out your Intimidate check bonus with a maiden’s helm (surprisingly the only wondrous item in the game that I could find that gives you a +5 competence bonus on Intimidate checks) too.

So, why are we going so all-in with the Intimidate thing? Well, one of the Hellknight prestige class’s most powerful abilities is the ability to automatically cause demoralized creatures to become frightened. Yes, you read right. Frightened. Unlike other, similar abilities (like the rogue’s edge for Intimidate) this discipline power uses your check result to determine the duration of the frightened condition, so you can very easily shatter an opponent to the winds. What’s better is that you have three different ways to demoralize people as a swift action. At Level 4, you can blistering invective to demoralize everything around you a standard action. At 7^th level, Startling Shapechange comes online, which means your swift shapechanger alternate racial trait will let you demoralize as a move action, and the quick change spell will let you do demoralize as a swift action. (Quick change let’s you change your shape as a swift action, making anyone who sees you do so denied their Dex against your next attack within a round. Startling Shapechanger basically let’s you demoralize anyone nearby when you change shape.) Finally, when you get Swift Kitsune Shapechanger at 7^th level, it will let you demoralize everyone around you for the same reasons as quick change.

So yes, you can demoralize an entire area as a standard action (blistering invective), a move action (fast shapechanger), and a swift action (quick change/ Swift Kitsune Shapechanger). Oh, right. And if you want to demoralize just ONE pain-in-the-butt guy, the fearsome mien trick will do that for you. Whenever someone tries to attack one of your friends with the impanted trick, you get to try to demoralize them for free. But you’re a hellknight, so you basically interrupt the attack with your trick and your foe runs away screaming. Hilarious, right?

So, you’re probably thinking, “This is all well and good, Alex, but everything is immune to demoralize by high-level play.” First, I consider that a feature, not a flaw. Rogues can’t always sneak attack. Spellcasters have to deal with spell resistance sometimes. Incorporeality really puts a hamper on a bunch of builds. Everyone has hard counters in this game, and if you use this build you will too. However, you can get past a LOT of those hard encounters with the psychic inception bold stare. Demoralize creates the shakened condition, which is a mind-affecting effect. This means that if you use your hypnotic stare against someone who is normally immune to mind-affecting effects, you have a 50% chance for your shaken (and frightened) conditions to work on them each turn. That is PRETTY clutch for a build that relies on mind-affecting abilities like this one!

So, that’s my weird kitsune Hellknight build. What do you think? Leave your comments below and let me know if there are any builds you’d like to see me tackle. Hopefully this makes you feel a little bit better about my skills, reader Zozh, as now I have FINALLY done an actual Hellknight build for the blog. Don’t expect it again! Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Instead, build a Hellknight signifier.

The design on the Hellknight signifier is much more solid; the class itself is very basic in what it gives you for entry and progression, but it more than makes up for it with the simple fact that you keep your full spellcasting progression. So, what to do? A Hellknight wizard? A Hellknight cleric? No. A Hellknight oracle.

I may not like the Hellknight prestige class, but the flavor for the Hellknights themselves is aces, and one of my favorites is the concept of the Godclaw; a pantheon of five morally different deities united by a common interest in the letter of the law. Path of the Hellknight has a neat Godclaw mystery to accompany this, so I decided to build an Order of the Godclaw signifier for Zozh.

Let’s take a peak, shall we?

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: oracle 6 / Hellknight signifier 6
• Feats: Abundant Revelations: Iomdaedae’s boon (1^st), Deific Obedience: Abadar (Bonus), Warrior Priest (3^rd), Power Attacj (5^th), Extra Revelation: instant armor (7^th), Hellknight Obedience: Order of the Godclaw (9^th), Extra Revelation: Torag’s Boon (11^th)
• Abilities: assiduous gaze, aura of law, catechesis, discern lies, godclaw mystery, revelations, signifier armor training 1
• Assiduous Gaze: vigilance (4^th)
• Revelations: Iomeadae’s boon (1^st), might of the godclaw (3^rd), Torag’s Boon (Bonus)
• 6^th-Level Oracle Spells Known (1): mass cure moderate wounds; harm
• 5^th-Level Oracle Spells Known (2): mass cure light wounds; lesser spellcasting contract, breath of life
• 4^th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): cure critical wounds; order’s wrath, divine power, dismissal
• 3^rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): cure serious wounds, hold person; channel vigor, dispel magic, daylight, contagious zeal
• 2^nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cure moderate wounds, daze monster; burst of radiance, Inheritor’s smite, communal protection from chaos, shared sacrifice, arrow of law
• 1^st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cause fear, cure light wounds; divine power, Abadar’s Truthtelling, barbed chains, bless, burning disarm
• Orisons Known (9): detect magic, guidance, light, mending, purify food and detect, detect poison, read magic, stabilize, spark

Play Summary

For the most part, this build plays like a 12^th-level oracle, but with some notable exceptions. Most of these exceptions come from the Godclaw mystery, believe it or not. First is the instant armor revelation—we’re obviously going to be picking Hellknight half-plate or Hellknight full-plate (half-plate is listed as being the official dress of the signifiers in Path of the Hellknight, but divine casters have no arcane spell failure, so there’s nothing stopping you from going full-plate). This revelation is super cool because you basically get to beam your armor off and on at will, but the real bonus is the heavy armor proficiency if we’re being honest.

Now, the second thing I want to talk about is the might of the Godclaw revelation. Basically, it gives you Deific Obedience (from Inner Sea Gods), but you choose one god from the Godclaw for the feat, and when you get really high level you can swap around your boon choices. Don’t want Torag anymore? Swap some of his boons for Asmodeus’s or Iomaedae’s or Irori’s or Abadar’s. There’s some extreme high-level flexibility there. Now, the revelation still makes you wait until the normal level (aka really high) to gain boons, so what we’re really looking at is the completion bonus for performing the ritual. Of the five Godclaw deities, I think Abadar’s is the best for the build; it’s a big bonus on saves against chaotic effects, which makes sense. (Granted, Irori’s bonus is INCREDIBLE, especially if you’re a bard.) So my basic choice would be to pick Abadar, and if you played this build at high levels swap the benefits as you need to.

Just in case one obedience wasn’t enough, I also grabbed the Hellknight Obedience feat. For the Order of the Godclaw, which gives a tasty, “Whenever a lawful divine spellcaster heals you, you heal 1 additional point of damage per die rolled.” And hey, guess what? YOU’RE a lawful divine spellcaster! Plus you get to interchangeably use your five godclaw deities’ holy symbols for spells and such, which is also pretty awesome and flavorful. (Makes me think of the priest from the original Mummy who kept praying to different gods while he tried to find the one that would halt the mummy for him.)

So aside from those things, what does this build DO. Well, its designed to be pretty good at walking into melee with the Order of the Godclaw’s favored weapon, the morningstar, and beating face. You’ve got Power Attack and at least four uses of Iomaedae’s boon, which basically means you can mini good hope yourself as a move action. (Note that by 7^th level, this ability equals good hope in to-hit and to-damage, which is again still worth it.) You have powerful buffs in spells like bless, contagious zeal, and channel vigor, and you also have good support options (like healing) and a few really awesome oh-crap spells to use on enemies, like barbed chains and hold person. Moreover, this build OOZES flavor; I built it using spells from four of the five Godclaw deities’ special spell lists from Inner Sea Gods. I could point out all of them for you, but instead I challenge you to figure out which spells I used and which gods they’re from. (Don’t worry, there’s a definition answer!)

Before I head out, I do want to point out one more combo: lesser spellcasting contract. Basically, this spell works like imbue with spell ability, except the spell ability you give to your ally lasts until the end of a contract of your design ends. Better still, that spell will return to your ally every time you prepare your spells, and while the contract is in effect, you gain a profane bonus to AC, saving throws, and all checks equal to the highest-level spell you give to your ally. So since it works like imbue with spell ability, that’s 2^nd level (provided your target has the HD and ability scores to handle 2^nd level spells), which means you can pop an Inheritor’s smite spell into your ally (a spell that normally is personal-only) or some other useful spell your ally might want to have, and in exchange you get what basically amounts to a permanent +2 bonus that won’t ever have stacking issues to a bunch of useful statistics. Very cool, very fun, very useful.

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design! I hope I made you proud, Zozh! Maybe next week I’ll try to tackle a more martial Hellknight build, or maybe I won’t. Who knows? Come back next week to find out what I decide to do next! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Traditionally, sniping has two major problems. First, sniping only nets you a single attack for low damage. Second, sniping comes with a nasty –20 penalty on your Stealth check to remain hidden. I’m going to give you a build that’ll give you the sniper feel you want while still being functional throughout play. Don’t believe me? Challenge accepted.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: unchained rogue (scout, sniper) 12
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1^st), Dampen Presence (Bonus), Precise Shot (3^rd), Expert Sniper (4^th), Rapid Shot (5^th), Master Sniper (Bonus), Deadly Aim (7^th), Ranged Feint (9^th), Extra Rogue Talent: fast stealth (11^th)
• Abilities: accuracy, advanced rogue talents, deadly range +30 feet, debilitating injury, evasion, finesse training (spiked gauntlet, shortsword), rogue’s edge, rogue talents, scout’s charge, skirmisher, sneak attack +6d6.
• Rogue’s Edge: Stealth (5^th), Bluff (10^th)
• Rogue Talents: dampen presence (2^nd), superior sniper (4^th), combat trick: Master Sniper (6^th), slow reactions (8^th), stalker talent: cunning feint (10^th), fast stealth (Bonus), quick shot (12^th)

Play Summary

Alright, so the basic idea behind this build is, “If at first you don’t sneak attack, try, try again.” The build is designed around having several different ways to gain ranged sneak attack (probably with a shortbow), and even when that doesn’t work having a back up plan.

So first, the basics: you need the core elements of any good ranged attacking build. Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot. From there, we’re also picking up Expert Sniper (which cuts the Stealth penalty to snipe by –10) and Master Sniper (which essentially lets you Rapid Shot while sniping); these two feats combined with the 5 rank rogue’s edge for Stealth basically allow you to full attack for two attacks while sniping without taking a penalty on your Stealth check. This is EXACTLY what this build needed to be decent at stealthing, and we’re going to kick it up a notch by picking up the sniper rogue archetype, which boosts the range we can sneak attack while stealthing and cuts the range increment penalty for our attacks in half. VERY useful.

Now, we have two other “sneak attack access” abilities going for us; one at 4^th and the other at 8^th. Scout’s charge is nifty if you decide you want to fight in melee fast. (Remember: you have Weapon Finesse and finesse training with the spiked gauntlet, so you can punch people for melee sneak attacks without ever dropping your bow.) At 8^th level, skirmish will give you sneak attacks whenever you’re on the move, regardless of whether you use a melee weapon or a ranged weapon. (Again, very helpful and useful.) Finally, at 10^th level you get your final kicker: the cunning feint vigilante talent. This awesome ability is basically Improved Feint on steroids; at your level, you can feint as a move action or in place of your first attack during a full attack action and apply the Dex denial to all of your attacks because even though the talent is locked at “10^th-level vigilante,” that’s plenty to get the full benefits of your chosen talent. And of course, we took Ranged Feint at 9^th level, so this all ties together nicely.

In short, this build will let you snipe, feint, and dash your way to sneak attacks. It is super versatile in this manner, and will let you effectively fight with your signature attack in a variety of circumstances. It’s got the standard sneak attacking build weaknesses, but overall it is a fun, versatile build.

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design! Come back next week for another one. And if you have any requests, leave’em below. I read them all and take them all into consideration when I’m planning my builds for the week. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Before we get started, I LOVE this prestige class because it includes my absolute favorite class feature: aligned class. Seriously, I think the aligned class mechanic is the future of prestige classes, and it was great to see it used here. If you don’t know, aligned class is a mechanic where the prestige class in question adds its level to your level in one base class of your choice: henceforth the “aligned class.” This level boost applies to all class features, but not core statistics like BAB, Fort, Ref, or Will. IT does, however, mean that if you could cast spells, this prestige class will boost your ability to do so. Unlike the only other aligned class prestige class currently in the game, the evangelist, the Chernasardo Warden only gives you a ½ PRC boost; meaning that you’re adding half your prestige class level to your aligned class level. This got me thinking, “How can I use this prestige class effectively?”

Well, the Chernasardo Warden’s class features focus heavily on switch hitting (aka switching from a ranged weapon to a melee weapon) and combat maneuvers, the best supported being trip and dirty tricks. Now, getting ALL that to work is going to take a LOT of feats; combat maneuvers and ranged combat are two of the highest taxed options in the game when it comes to feats. However, there’s an unorthodox class that synchronizes VERY well with this style of play, so that’s what I went with.

Everyone, feast your eyes on my Chernasardo brawler build!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: brawler 5 / Chernasardo Warden 7
• Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Power Attack (1^st), Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (3^rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Combat Expertise (5^th), Improved Dirty Trick (Bonus), Manyshot (7^th), Furious Focus (9^th), Greater Dirty Trick (Bonus), Weapon Focus: longbow (11th), Weapon Specialization: longbow (Bonus)
• Abilities: AC Bonus +1, advanced tactics, brawler’s cunning, brawler’s flurry (Improved Two-Weapon Fighting), brawler’s strike (magic), close weapon mastery, forest magic, guerilla tactics, knockout 1/day, maneuver training, martial flexibility (swift), martial training, unarmed strike, unchained heart +3
• Forest Magic: longstrider (1^st), spider climb (3^rd), lead blades (5^th)
• Maneuver Training: trip +2 (3^rd), dirty trick +1 (7^th)

Play Summary

Rather than ramble off all of the Chernasardo Warden’s class features (Pick up Fangs of War; this prestige class alone is worth it!), I’m going to focus on what makes this build work. Basically, both the Chernasardo Warden prestige class and the brawler feature a lot of bonus feats, and the brawler has the benefits of martial flexibility, which allows it to temporary have feats whenever it wants. This means that at Level 2 when you “only” have Point-Blank Shot, you can flexibly pull into Precise Shot. As you start to fill out your levels, you can use martial flexibility to effectively stay one feat ahead of the pack; always having things that you need or that take advantage of the Chernasardo Warden’s guerilla tactics class feature. Having access to the full girth of fighter bonus feats, Improved Maneuver feats (because you have Power Attack, Improved Unarmed Strike, and Combat Expertise), and even the ability to great Point-Blank Master by Level 12 is super useful.

Additionally, the levels that you gain bonus feats from your aligned class ability and the Chernasardo Warden prestige class itself often make it so you get several feats all at once; 11^th level and 7^th level in particular reign several feats down upon you. In short, this class gives you everything you need to do basically any trick you want with a melee weapon or a ranged weapon. Guerilla tactics lets you make free combat maneuver checks without interrupting the flow of battle or grants you bonus sneak attack damage dice when combat maneuvers aren’t your thing. Better still, your switch-hitting melee weapon is your unarmed strikes, so you actually don’t need Quick Draw AND still threaten squares around you in melee. And hey, if you want to pick a melee weapon for overcoming DR or whatever, you can totally pick a close weapon and go nuts with it via close weapon mastery. (And when I say “go nuts,” I mean it; you’ll have Improved Two-Weapon Fighting via brawler’s flurry at 12^th level, meaning that you’re basically making the same number of attacks at long range with your bow and at short range with your fists. Basically, there’s nowhere your enemy can run to avoid the full attack of death that you’re delivering.)

That’s it for this week’s installment of Iconic Design; next time we’ll have another awesomely cool build for you to check out. (I’ve got a request for a Hellknight build on my radar, and there’s also several really cool archetypes in Legacy of the Fey, so there’s no shortage of neat builds to make.) Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: fighter (aldori defender) 8 / aldori swordlord 4
• Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: aldori dueling sword (Bonus), Weapon Finesse (1^st), Weapon Focus: aldori dueling sword (Bonus), Dazzling Display (3^rd), Combat Expertise (Bonus), Improved Disarm (5^th), Quick Draw (Bonus), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Greater Disarm (7^th), Aldori Style (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: aldori dueling sword (9^th), Improved Critical: aldori dueling sword (11^th)
• Abilities: adaptive tactics 1, bravery +2, defensive parry +3, deft strike, disarming strike, display weapon prowess, steel net, weapon training (heavy blades) +1

Play Summary

So basically, your job is blender people with your dueling sword. Pretty simple, right? Well surprisingly, the aldori defender / aldori swordlord combo is okay at damage AND okay at not getting blundered. Imagine that.

So, offense-wise, our big advantage is that the new Adventurer’s Guide version of the aldori swordlord can use Dex to damage with his dueling sword irregardless of whether he uses it in one-hand or two-hands (as far as I know, the original was one-handed only). This roughly puts the dueling sword on-par with the elven curve because you get that delicious 1-1/2 times Dexterity on damage rolls. In addition to that, we’re picking up Weapon Specialization and weapon training +1 for damage, so if you’re using your sword two-handed, you’re likely looking at roughly 1d8+10 damage; it’s not amazing, but it’s not terrible either. (This is assuming you have a 20 Dex, of course).

Defense-wise, you’ve got Combat Expertise (stop hissing at me!), and TWO different versions of the defensive parry ability; one from your aldori archetype, and one from your prestige class. And strangely enough, they both do different things and the prestige class seems to advance the archetype’s ability (one’s a dodge bonus, one’s a shield bonus so unless there’s an errata-worthy typo, they stack). However, this is probably a good thing because you’re likely using a mithral breastplate at best. Assuming you are, you’re getting a +8 from the +2 breastplate, +5 from your Dex modifier, +4 from Combat Expertise, +3 from the fighter’s defensive parry, +1 from the prestige class’s defensive parry, and +5 from fighting defensively (you’re probably taking ranks in Acrobatics to boost the normal +2 to +3, and the aldori defender’s steel net ability gives you another +2 to your fighting defensively bonus). And hey, for the heck of it let’s assume you’re buying one of those fancy new aldori cloaks in Adventurer’s Guide that act as a cloak of resistance, but you ALSO get to add the cloak’s resistance bonus as an insight bonus to your AC when you fight defensively. Totally ALL of those bonuses together, that’s a +27 bonus to AC, meaning you have a 37 AC at level 12. ENJOY.

Did I say, “Passable at defense?” I meant “An Abadar-damned tanking god. “

Oh, and for extra giggles, your fighter’s steel net ability reduces the penalty for fighting defensively by 2, and his adaptive tactics reduces it by another 1. So instead of a cumulative –7 penalty to attack for this mighty defense, you’re only looking at a –4. Which is NOT bad. Also worth noting is that the majority of these bonuses only work when you’re attacking. You need to attack to be able to fight defensively, and the fighter’s defensive parry ability requires specifically that you full attack. So make sure you like doing math on the fly when you do this build.

Also, for extra giggles, I took the new Aldori Style feat. Basically, whenever you fight defensively or use Combat Expertise, you get an extra +2 on damage rolls with your aldori sword. Lol. For even more giggles, whenever you disarm someone, you deal your aldori sword’s damage to that target, sans your Dex bonus.

All in all, this isn’t a build that says, “I am going to murder you before you attack.” This is a build that gets up into your face and stays there. Boy oh boy does it stay that….

That’s all for this week, folks! Tune in next week for another blog article from yours truly; take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

So, what’s a kinetic chirugeon? Basically, it’s a kineticist archetype that focuses on healing over damage. It is REALLY flipping good at healing. Like, REALLY flippin’ good. It does have some innate limitations built in (specifically that you give burn to heal, which means there is a hard cap to the number of times you can heal someone). However, the kineticist (and by extension, the chirugeon) is the burstiest healer in the game, meaning it can throw around huge numbers for its healing whenever it heals. That in and of itself makes it a good build to look at, in my opinion. And considering I run this popsicle stand, that’s what we’re going to do today!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: kineticist (kinetic chirugeon) 12
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1^st), Precise Shot (3^rd), Toughness (5^th), Combat Casting (7^th), Improved Initiative (9^th), Iron Will (11^th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental focus (wood), elemental overflow +4, expanded element (aether), gather power, healing buffer 4, kinetic chirurgery, metahealer (1 die or breath of life), supercharge
• Mercies: fatigued (3^rd), sickened (5^th), haunted (7^th), injured (9^th), nauseated (11^th)
• Simple Blast Talents: telekinetic blast (1^st), positive energy blast
• Composite Blast Talents: atheric boost (7^th)
• Defense Talents: force ward (2^nd)
• Utility Talents: kinetic healer (Bonus), elemental whispers (2^nd), telekinetic finesse (4^th), kinetic restoration (6^th), healing burst (8^th), telekinetic maneuvers (10^th), kinetic revivification (12^th)

Play Summary

So one of the trickier parts of designing this build was trying to pick whether to go aether or wood as the primary element. Basically, when you take this archetype, you can pick from aether, water, or wood (Psychic Anthology has an alternate wild talent that you can take instead of kinetic healer if you go kinetic chirugeon). Personally, I don’t think wood is a strong choice, as you’re forced into taking positive energy blast as your first blast, which means you lose any ability to deal damage to things that aren’t undead creatures (and can’t affect constructs at all). So personally, I prefer aether’s elemental defense to water’s and aether can deal any type of damage with its physical blast, so I am going to recommend aether. (Plus aether’s defense scales REALLY well with taking burn, which is probably going to happen to you if you play a kinetic chirurgeon). However, you’re REALLY not going to see much of the aether-specific talents if you’re using this build. You’re mostly taking things that amp healing, and those are available to aether, water, and wood.

So initially, you get kinetic healer as a bonus utility talent, and then you grab elemental whispers. I really like elemental whispers because it gives you Alertness and a familiar ability of your choice for free. (Going +hit points or +initiative is a smart idea for this build.) Telekinetic finesse is simply a favorite of mine, and being able to find and set off traps from a distance is simply cool beans. From there, we take kinetic restoration, healing burst, and kinetic revivification as soon as we’re able. For our second “not-healing” utility talent, I picked telekinetic maneuvers, because having a healer who can trip or dirty trick opponents from afar is pretty awesome in my opinion—gives you something fun to do when friends don’t need healing.

Now, you might notice that there are no infusions in this build. That’s because the kinetic chirugeon trades them away; you get kinetic healer for free as mentioned at 1^st level, plus paladin mercies that you can put onto your kinetic healer ability. (Note—the healing burst wild talent counts as kinetic healer for the purpose of ALL kinetic chirugeon wild talents, so one of the strengths of this archetype is that like the merciful healer cleric, you have mercies AND can apply them to a bunch of people all at once.) I chose some of my favorites for this build, which include several of the new mercies from Healer’s Handbook. Sickened, fatigued, and nauseated are staples that remove several common, debilitating conditions, while haunted gives you the mental protections of protection from evil, and injured gives you fast healing 3 for a number of rounds equal to your kineticist level. This is SUPER helpful, especially the fast healing, which can take the edge off of big hits, automatically stabilize dying allies (one of the few healing-based powers this archetype doesn’t get), and basically auto-stop bleed effects.

Now, the place where this archetype gets hit damage-wise is in the fact that it loses metakinesis, which means no empowered for your blasts. However, you get an awesome metahealer ability instead, and throughout the course of our gameplay, you’ll get the ability to spend burn to add extra dice of healing to your kinetic healer and healing burst abilities, as well as the ability to breath of life allies. And yes, since healing burst counts as kinetic healer for all purposes, this archetype can combine metahealer with healing burst to AoE breath of life all allies within 30 feet of you. REALLY good if things are going down the drain fast, or you’d be unable to reach someone directly to hit them with kinetic healer. Plus since this build takes kinetic revivification, you can actually breath of life allies that have died a number of rounds prior equal to 3 + your ally’s Con modifier (minimum 0), so this combination of abilities basically gives you a better breath of life if you’re willing to place massive amounts of burn on yourself and your allies.

Finally, this archetype has a special version of the internal buffer ability—it holds twice as many points of burn, but those burn points can only be used for kinetic healer and other healing abilities. Which is … basically what you do. You’ve only got force ward as your only not-healing burn generator, so this is PERFECT.

Overall, I really like this build as far as healing goes. It’s up there for builds that I’d like to try someday. I think it would be a fun, effective healer that still has a decent offensive option to fall back on when allies aren’t dying (which isn’t something you can always say for all healing builds). I’d encourage you to try this build the next time your party needs a healer—it’ll likely take some time to master, but once you do you may not want to play any other healer ever again!

That’s all for this week’s Iconic Design! Going forward, I’m breaking away from the rotational nature of Guidance and Iconic Design, so you’ll see the next Iconic Design whenever I have new builds to share! (Hint—PRETTY OFTEN.) Also, if there’s a specific build or archetype or prestige class that you want to see me tackle, make sure to tell me in the comments section. I’d love to take a swing at whatever you serve to me. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

So I started thinking hard on what I wanted to do with my ratfolk. Playing up the swarming racial trait with a rogue sounded fun, but I didn’t want to do the build that literally ALL of my friends were talking about. (Rogues, slayers, investigators—skill monkeys with Stealth, basically.) Now, I LOVED the ratfolk lore about their conjuration and teleportation powers in Blood of the Beast, but I’m not a big fan of their warp discipline. So, what to do?

Obviously, find a different teleportation mongrel that worked. So that’s what I did, and this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Ratfolk (swap rodent empathy for cheek pouches)
• Classes: arcanist (school savant) 12
• Feats: Spell Focus: conjuration (1^st), Augment Summoning (3^rd), Extra Arcanist Exploit: quick study (5^th), Versatile Summon Monster (7^th), Dimensional Agility (9^th), Greater Spell Focus: conjuration (11^th)
• Abilities: arcane reservoir, consume spells, school focus (conjuration [teleportation])
• Arcanist Exploits: quick study (Bonus), dimensional slide (5^th), potent magic (9^th), swift consume (11^th)

Play Description

So the basically, the idea was to capitalize on the power and effectiveness of teleportation spells. I wanted to get as many as possible so I could constantly be moving myself and others around the battlefield at my whims.

In order to accomplish this, I decided to go arcanist and take the school savant archetype. In addition to giving me an extra prepared of my chosen spell school each day, school savant allows me to pick up the arcane school powers of one school (or subschool) of my choice, and I picked conjuration (teleportation). This replaces the acid dart domain power with shift, a nifty short-range teleportation spell that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. Then at 5^th level (my first arcanist exploit) I pick up dimensional slide. These abilities look similar, but they shine in different scenarios—before 9^th level, using shift effectively ends my turn because of how dimension door works but it will allow me to move further for that swift action. Dimensional slide, however, never costs me later actions and only works when I’m already moving. In other words, shift is for when I need to move without provoking for a long distance, while dimensional slide is for short-range escapes. Furthermore, shift can move me through more walls and obstacles than dimensional slide can, but dimensional slide is ultimately less restricted in its use. (I need only give up an arcane point, and those are easier to get than uses of shift.) Similar, but different uses.

Then at 8^th level, I get the awesome dimensional steps ability for party movement—very cool, very awesome. At 9^th level, I get Dimensional Agility, which significantly improves shift, dimensional steps, and dimension door itself. That’s a great list of movement-themed powers, which seems pretty great to me.

But wait, there’s more!

Between my school abilities and my feats, I have a bit of a summoning flair going on. I figure being as good at conjuration as I already am, Spell Focus (conjuration) was a decent pick that would stack with my arcane reservoir boosts (later improved even more by my potent spells exploit). This made taking Augment Summoning an easy choice, and picking up Versatile Summon Monster so I can summon flying lions and other delightful creatures seemed almost too good to be true! (For my second template, I’m planning on taking aqueous because it makes ANYTHING amphibious while also adding cold damage to attacks. AQUA LIONS GO!

And of course, I’m burning a feat to pick up quick study ASAP. Because that’s just what you DO as an arcanist. That’s your biggest strength right there.

So with that, I’m planning on having a super nimble ratfolk who can move wherever is best and (eventually) move his party members places too. I’m planning on taking conjuration spells that allow saves, spells that summon creatures, and spells that move myself and my allies around the battlefield. (Telekinetic charge seems fun!) This is still very much a work in progress, but if you’re looking for a spellcaster that can’t be kept down, this’ll do it pretty darn well for you.

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Probably because they know the Internet will tear down their livelihoods.

Oh well, it already happened to me once. Why not invite it again?

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: magus (puppetmaster) 12
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (1^st), Trick Spell (3^rd), Piranha Strike (Bonus), Spell Focus: enchantment (5^th), Greater Spell Focus: enchantment (7^th), Conceal Spell (9^th), Weapon Focus: short sword (Bonus), Extra Arcane Pool (11^th)
• Abilities: arcane pool (3 + Int; +2), charmstrike (2^nd level), improved spell recall, knowledge pool, puppet combat, spell recall, the show must go on
• Magus Arcana: flamboyant arcana (3^rd), arcane deed: menacing swordplay (6^th), hasted assault (9^th), critical strike (12^th)

Play Description

The first thing that I knew about this build was that I wanted to be a magus, and more specifically, I wanted to be a magus that played drastically differently from the stereotypical “shocking grasp gatling gun” magus that you always see. With this in mind, I found an archetype that REALLY intrigued me—the puppetmaster magus from Pathfinder Player Companion: Arcane Anthology. This archetype focuses rather heavily on trading out the high-damage output of the magus for more subtle magics. Among other things, it loses the ability to enhance its weapon, gains bard AND magus spells, and doesn’t have spellstrike. Instead of spellstrike, it gets the ability to “charmstrike,” which allows it to cast a 1^st-level spell as a swift action whenever a foe fails a saving throw that the puppetmaster casts. I really, really liked the look of this base mechanic, so I decided to dig deeper and see what I could come up with.

The first thing that I noticed is that getting bard spellcasting REALLY expanded my enchantment pool. The big spell that I get as a 1^st-level spell that wizards wouldn’t normally have is hideous laughter. Yeah, bards have hideous laughter as a 1^st-level spell, so puppetmaster magi do as well. Now expanding this further, I found a delightful combination of abilities that I could take realitively quickly. First, there’s a trait called domineering. This trait (from Quests and Companions) allows you to pick one 1^st-level enchantment spell that you are capable of casting and gain a +1 trait bonus to that spell’s DC. Nice! The other one is wayang spell hunter, which is a VERY infamous trait. For wayang spell hunter (which is a region trait), you choose one 3^rd level or lower spell and gain the ability to reduce the metamagic level increase of that spell by 1. After scouring for a bit more, I found the perfect feat to use it with—Trick Spell. From Dirty Tactics Toolbox, this Callistrian feat allows you to use your caster level and ability score bonus to make a dirty trick against anyone who fails a saving throw against an opponent that fails a Will save against the spell. (Note that only enchantment spells that allow Will saves to negate their effects can be trick spells.)

So if this is going to be my primary trick, I wanted to make sure that it worked somewhat regularly. With this in mind, elf, gnome, or kitsune is the way to go with this build—if you use Horror Adventures, all three have access to a racial trait that gives +1 to the save DC of enchantment spells. Additionally, you’re likely going to want Spell Focus (enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus (enchantment). Since this is still a magus build, Power Attack or Piranha Strike is also going to be a good idea (I’m going Weapon Finesse, personally, to make up for the loss of medium and heavy armor proficiencies at high levels). Finally, since this build is so saving throw heavy, I’m a big fan of demoralize. Specifically, of the Enforcer feat. With arcane deed: menacing swordplay, we can demoralize foes as a swift action whenever we want. Using this, we can actually use spell combat, beat up our target to demoralize them, use spell combat to cast hideous laughter on the target as an off-hand spell, and if the target fails, inflict a nasty condition on the target using Trick Spell in addition to the normal effects of hideous laughter. In effect, we become a debuffing machine.

Using these pieces, I cobbled together the build you see above. I’m a pretty big fan of the Conceal Spell feat, only it’s tough to justify taking it sooner then when I pick it up because of how many feats you need to make this build work. I’d consider that feat to not be “set in stone,” as it were. In any case, picking magus arcana for this build was tough because this archetype loses the ability to enhance its weapon, which many of the arcana are built around. I needed arcane need: menacing swordplay for my build, so I also picked up arcane deed. Having opportunity parry and riposte is nice, but with my BAB I’m not sure how often I’ll actually be doing that. (Coincidentally, it’s likely worth my time to take Combat Reflexes if I’m picking up flamboyant arcana so I can parry more than once if I need to. I’m going to sideline the notion for now, but keep it in the back of my head for later.) I’m a fan of hasted arcana because realistically, fights don’t last more than four or five rounds (which is about where my Intelligence bonus will be at Level 9), so one arcane point to haste myself as a swift action seems really good. Finally, the critical strike arcana just seems neat to have for this build—slinging more spells around can’t possibly be a bad thing.

So, what does this build look like in a fight? Let’s look at some by-the-numbers:

• Assume a spell combat attack with a +1 agile cruel weapon (I’m thinking shortsword or kukri).
• Attack with your weapon—if the target is shaken, your attacks cause the target to also become sickened thanks to the cruel ability.
• If the target isn’t demoralized and it can be, use a swift action via menacing swordplay to demoralize them. (Being demoralized causes you to take a –2 penalty on saving throws.)
• With your off-hand, cast tricky hideous laughter. Assuming you have an 18 Intelligence (which is a very fair estimate), this build will grant you a baseline DC of 20 (10 + 1^st level spell + 5 Int, +1 trait, +2 feats, + 1 racial trait). If the target fails, it falls prone, loses its action, and you get to make a combat maneuver check against the target (1d20 + 12 + Cha) to inflict another condition on that target. Personally, I’m a fan of blinded for the no Dex and extra +2 to hit.
• If you didn’t use your swift action to use menacing swordplay, you can now use it to charmstrike your target, meaning you get to cast another 1^st-level enchantment spell at it. I honestly don’t recommend chain-casting charm spells with this ability, as your best charm spell (hideous laughter) is likely going to take anything that fails its save out of the fight. Instead, you should use this when you feel the need to cast other spells (like fireball), so that you can hit a bunch of foes and then REALLY make someone’s day suck by adding an enchantment spell effect on top of it.
• Alternatively, if you REALLY want your enchantment or illusion spell to fire and you don’t care about charmstriking or demoralizing foes, you can use your swift action to bump up the DC of an enchantment or illusion spell you cast. Its +1 at 1^st level or +2 at 7^th level or later. (If you play past 12^th level, it goes up by +1 at every 4 levels after 7^th.)

Overall, I REALLY like this magus build. It feels fresh and different, and it has a couple of different races that can be good at it. (Kitsune, elves, and gnomes all have racial traits or alternate racial traits that give them the +1 to enchantment save DCs that you’re really going to want for this build, although note that the elf version from Horror Adventures only applies against humanoids.) I mean, no surprise to anyone but I’d probably want to try this out as a kitsune, if only because enchantments and the Trick Spell feat in general feel really trickster to me. (Curse you, Calistra, for stealing all the good feats!) Overall, I’m excited about this build and looking forward to trying it out!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Pathfinder has paladins, but the protection playstyle isn’t something you can really do all that well in Pathfinder because taunting isn’t a thing (that is, its not a thing unless you buy Ultimate Charisma, a book that —might— have been influenced by my desire to have an aggro-like system in Pathfinder). That said, the other day I decided that playing a proxy of my WoW Paladin in the Pathfinder Society sounded fun, so I sat down and tried to come up with a build that I thought captured the WoW Paladin well. Here’s what I came up with.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Elf: (Light against darkness alternate racial trait; Favored Class Bonus 10/2: +1 to healing/damage done by lay on hands)
• Classes: cleric or Sarenrae (crusader) 1 / paladin (tempered champion) 10 / holy vindicator 1
• Feats: Improved Shield Bash (Bonus), Alignment Channel (1st), Two-Weapon Fighting (3rd), Divine Fighting Technique (Bonus), Power Attack (5^th), Dual Enhancement (7^th), Great Fortitude (9^th), Weapon Focus: Scimitar (Bonus), Ultimate Mercy (11^th)
• Abilities: aura of courage, aura of good, aura of resolve, detect evil, divine health, divine grace, domains (Sun), lay on hands, smite evil (4/day)
• Mercies: fatigued (3^rd), enfeebled (6^th), restorative (9^th)

Play Description

The basic description for this build is crusader cleric at 1^st level, paladin from levels 2 through 6, holy vindicator at level 7, and paladin from levels 8 through 12. (And beyond, if you’re not doing PFS play like I am.) You sort of have to do it like this because your cleric level keeps your BAB from qualifying for holy vindicator until Level 6, meaning your 7^th level is holy vindicator.

Now, there are a couple options used here that might need some explaining. First, why did I pick cleric? Well, first I wanted the tempered champion paladin archetype, from Weapon Master’s Handbook. Tempered champion trades away spellcasting, which felt very “protection paladin” to me. (Currently in WoW: Legion, paladins don’t even use mana for anything significant except the flash of light spell.) However, to get into holy vindicator, I needed the ability to cast 1^st level spells, so dipping a level into crusader cleric made sense. It gives me the only domain I really care about (the Sun domain, FOR THE SUNWELL!), and I also get a bonus feat from a really specific list. Luckily, Improved Shield Bash is on that list, so I’m golden. This also makes me pleased because in the Warcraft lore, the first paladins were priests first, so this seems like a sweet throwback to me.

Tempered champion doesn’t really add anything new or exciting to the paladin class until 4^th level, when I get a bonus feat. One of the feats on that list is Divine Fighting Technique, and Sarenrae has a technique that I really enjoy the flavor of—she gives you the ability to deal nonlethal damage with the scimitar at will. I think that’s a fun and flavorful way to tie the WoW character to Golarion, so I picked that one. You may note that as per the rules, I could have elected to trade my Sun domain power (the 1^st level one) for the initial benefit of this divine fighting technique. I chose not to because I decided that I wanted the advanced benefit later, and since I’m not advancing my domain any, I would have had to take the feat again anyway. Plus the ability to ignore channel resistance when I channel is pretty cool. At 5^th level, I get the ability to spend uses of lay on hands to activate my divine bond, which is awesome. At 1 minute per level, this is an easy pre-fight buff, and uses for lay on hands uses is an AMAZINGLY efficient trade; you have TONS of those uses as you level up!

Now, maybe you’re wondering why I went holy vindicator. The answer is pretty simple—the vindicator’s shield ability. At 7^th level, I’ll have an effective 6^th level cleric channeling ability as a paladin, so I can drop two uses of lay on hands in order to infuse my shield with a +3 boost to my armor class. Pretty awesome! What’s even funnier is that if I choose to invest in a phylactery of positive channeling, it effectively boosts my dice by +2d6 temporarily and the investiture itself lasts until I lose it. It is REALLY useful for me, arguably more useful than the headband of alluring Charisma.

After that, I basically go back into paladin and pick up neat stuff that lets me do magic things without spellcasting. (For instance, the mercy that allows me to heal 1d4 ability damage per use of lay on hands is AWESOME for someone who gave up the ability to cast spells.) My battleplan is to go scimitar / heavy throwing shield and get bashing and returning on that shield so if I want to throw Warcraft-style, it’ll come back to me. Dual enchantment will let me put sick enchantments on both of my weapons (EVERYTHING IS FLAMING WITH THE DAWNFLOWER’S LIGHT?!), and Ultimate Mercy will eventually let me burn tons of lay on hands to return people from death. (This one is still in the musing stages—it is very possible I won’t regularly have enough lay on hands left over to make use of this.)

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this build, but I’m still mulling some things over. There are powers that I wish I could get on my paladin that I really can’t (like the shielded champion’s ability to throw his shield WAY better than the paladin currently can). This might be a build that I shelve until later when a better idea comes rolling around, or maybe I won’t end up doing period. I have WAY too much sentimental attachment to this WoW character to do anything but my best on this build, so if it’s not possible right now, it might be better to wait on it. Only time will tell, I guess!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Race: Halfling
• Classes: cavalier (disciple of the pike) 12
• Feats: Escape Route (Bonus), Risky Striker (1^st), Power Attack (3^rd), Steadfast Slayer (5^th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Chain Challenge (7^th), Outflank (Bonus), Lunge (9^th), Furious Focus (11^th), Weapon Focus: any polearm (Bonus)
• Abilities: agile charger, bigger they are (+1 per size category larger, max +3), monster hunter +6, pike charge, weapon training (polearms) +2
• Order of the Hero: monster expert (2^nd), resist energy (8^th)

Play Description

Okay, so this is a lot of stuff. Before I get started, I’d like to explain what these new archetypes and order options do. First, both have this nifty combination of abilities that allows the cavalier to add half his level on knowledge checks to identify monsters, so this class basically gets to add its full level to identify the abilities of monsters. Most monster IDing knowledges are also class skills for it, so if you manage to pull a 14 Intelligence (or a 12 with a headband), you’ll have almost no chance of failing to identifying a creature’s powers. Additionally, it gets limited resistance to certain energy types of its choice, a dodge bonus against bigger goes, the ability to make its charging bonuses, the ability to charge without penalty, and a morale bonus on damage rolls against big foes.

Yes, this is VERY similar to the other halfling Risky Striker build I did. The big difference is that as a cavalier, the damage bonuses are SILLY. How silly, you ask?

MATH TIME

• BAB +12, Str 16 (+4 on dmg w/2H; We’ll low-ball because he’s a halfling)
• Challenge +12
• Order Challenge +4 morale
• Power Attack +12 (2H; –3 on attack rolls, ignored on 1^st attack)
• Risky Striker +8 (–3 AC)
• Steadfast Slayer +2 to +10
• Weapon Training +2 (+2 on attack rolls)
• Weapon Enhancement Bonus +2 (+2 on attack rolls)
• Weapon Focus (+1 on attack rolls
• TOTAL: +18/+10/+5 (+46 to +54 on damage)

YOWZERS?! You read right, a +46 to damage if the challenged target is Medium, a +48 if its Large, and so on.

This build really only has two tricks: IDing monsters and killing them, but its really, REALLY good at both of those tricks! If the archetype and order are legalized, I know my little brother is looking forward to trying this build—maybe you will too!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

PS. For those at home who are counting, this is my 150th Iconic Design Build. Huzzah!

In case you’ve been living under a rock and have missed all of Luis Loza’s sick monsters and encounters, Luis designs sick monsters and encounters for Know Direction. But what’s more, he’s a Paizo designer just like Anthony and I, and in Psychic Anthology he wrote spiritualist stuff! But by far, my favorite thing he created for Psychic Anthology is the phantom blade archetype for spiritualists, which is basically Soul Reapers from Bleach.

So what can we do with a magical ghost weapon? Surprisingly, tons! Read below and see for yourselves.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: spiritualist (phantom blade) 12
• Feats: Spell Focus: conjuration (1^st), Power Attack (Bonus), Greater Spell Focus: conjuration (3^rd), Furious Focus (5^th), Weapon Focus (7^th), Weapon Specialization (Bonus), FREEBEE (9^th), Dimensional Agility (11^th)
• Abilities: calm spirit 2/day, detect undead, ectoplasmic pool, etheric focus, phantom tether, phantom weapon, reshape, spell combat, spellstrike
• Phantom Weapon: Alertness, phantom touch, quick manifest, telepathy
• 4^th-level Spells (4): cure critical wounds, black tentacles, dimension door, inflict critical wounds
• 3^rd-level Spells (4): inflict serious wounds, fly, haste, heroism
• 2^nd-level Spells (5): blur, cure moderate wounds, inflict moderate wounds, stricken heart, touch of idiocy
• 1^st-level Spells (6): burst of adrenaline, chill touch, cure light wounds, inflict light wounds, shield
• Knacks (6): detect magic, detect psychic significance, grave words, mage hand, read magic, stabilize

Play Description

Okay, so this is 100% a PFS build schematic, assuming that this archetype becomes PFS legal. (As of 3/13, Psychic Anthology hasn’t been added to the Additional Resources page yet.) Basically, because the phantom blade’s biggest draw is, “I have my own, personalized weapon,” I think that its usually best to pick a weapon that can be two-handed. Since stat allocation is real for the spiritualist and this build plays similar to a magus, I’m just going to recommend the good, old-fashioned staple of “big two-hand weapon” for this build.

So, the phantom blade LOOKS like a magus, but it sure as heck doesn’t play like one. That’s because the phantom blade lacks the magi’s signature spell, shocking grasp. That means that we actually need to care about and invest in touch spells to use with our spellstrike ability. (The horror!) To that end, the spiritualist actually doesn’t want for spells to use—she has access to cure and inflict spells, after all. So take life and death directly into your hands! Spellstrike the living with negative energy and spellstrike the dead with positive energy. Yes, despite being a psychic spellcaster, this build plays like a cleric-magus with plenty of fun arcane-style tricks. You can fly using the fly spell, cast haste and heroism, blur yourself for extra defenses, dimension door all over the place (which means if you plan on using this build in an AP, you could, theoretically, build towards a Dimensional Dervish build), and even drop some sick black tentacle beats.

Now, in addition to staples like Weapon Focus, Power Attack, and Furious Focus, one feat chain that I was sure to pick up for this build was Spell Focus (conjuration). Why? Because our main spellstrike spells allow Will saves for half damage, so we want that DC as high as possible. Other then that, this build looks and plays like a black blade magus. A less bursty-but-can-also-heal-you magus with a ghost sword, but hey, the flavor’s neat and different, and ultimately, that makes a build more than its massive numbers!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

I’ll need three books plus the Core Rulebook to make this work—the Weaponmaster’s Handbook, Villain Codex, and an all-new Player Companion, Heroes of the High Court.

Armed with paper knowledge, let’s get GOING!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: fighter 9
• Feats: Weapon Focus [any flail] (Bonus), Cunning (1^st), Power Attack (Bonus), Peerless Courtier [Sense Motive] (3^rd), Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training [Escape Artist] (Bonus), Peerless Courtier [Diplomacy] (5^th), Advanced Weapon Training: versatile training [flails] (Bonus), Weapon Specialization [any flail] (7^th), Furious Focus (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus [any flail] (9^th)
• Abilities: armor training 2, bravery +2, weapon training +2 (flails)
• Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training [Escape Artist] (Bonus), adaptable training [Knowledge: engineering] (7^th)
• Advanced Weapon Training: Versatile Training [flails; Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand] (Bonus), Versatile Training [polearms; Bluff, Intimidate]

Play Description

So I am almost positive that choice-wise, this is NOT the most effective way to build this fighter so he’s equal parts beast at fighting and doing skills. I’m sure you could pick different weapons and feats and take things in different order to have a much, much more powerful character. But the point here wasn’t to build the best fighter, it was to have the most skill points possible.

For this, I will be assuming that you (a) take all of your favored class ranks into skills, and (b) have at least a 12 Intelligence. I feel like if you want to be good at skills, those are both two very easy things to buy into. 2 point buy points for an Int of 12 isn’t a huge expense, after all.

Anyway, assuming you’re a straight, out-of-Paizo’s books fighter, you start with 2 skill ranks per level, for a total of 18 by 9^th level, and your favored class bonus cranks this up to 27. I won’t assume you’re human for this, but obviously if you go human, you’ll have 9 more skill ranks then what I list here. Now, at 1^st level, you’ll be taking the Cunning feat, from the Villain Codex. This simple feat is basically Toughness for skill ranks—you gain 1 more skill rank per level you possess. This bumps you from 27 skill ranks to 36. At 3^rd level, you’ll be taking a new feat from Heroes of the High Court called Peerless Courtier. Each time you take this feat (you can take it up to three times) you choose Bluff, Diplomacy, or Sense Motive. You gain the chosen skill as a class skill, and you get to use your BAB as your ranks in the chosen skill. AWESOME, right? This feat will bump you up to an effective 45 skill ranks (5 maxed-out skills, or effectively 5 ranks per level). As I mentioned, we can take this three times, but we’re only going to take it twice (the second time is at 5^th level, when we take it for Diplomacy). This’ll bump up our skill ranks from 45 to 54, or an effective 6 skills maxed out.

But don’t worry, we also have some classic choices in here! At 4^th level, we pick up the Advanced Armor Training combat feat, which we’ll use to pick up adaptable training. This lets us pick another skill from a larger list so we can use our BAB as our ranks in that skill. We’ll get to pick the adaptable training ability up to two times, which we’ll do once at 4^th level through the feat, and once at 7^th level just by swapping the penalty reduction for it. At 4^th level, we’ll be picking Escape Artist while at 7^th level we’ll be picking Knowledge (engineering). This adds another 18 skill ranks to our total (72 skill ranks, or an effective 7 skill ranks per level) as well as adding Escape Artist to our list of class skills.

Finally, at 6^th level, we’ll be taking the Advanced Weapon Training feat with our chosen weapon group, the unconventional FLAIL WEAPON GROUP, to get to use our BAB as our skill ranks in EVEN MORE SKILLS—specifically, we can pick Bluff and Intimidate with any weapon group, and the flail weapon group lets us pick Acrobatics and Sleight of Hand. All four skills are added to our list of class skills, and together they add an extra 36 skill ranks, for a total of 108 skill ranks at 9^th level (or an effective 11 skill ranks per level).

This takes pretty much ALL of our build options, but without too much of a hassle, we’ve crafted a fighter that basically has the same number of maxed-out skill ranks as a rogue with an Intelligence of 16, or a wizard with an Intelligence of 28 (and a really strange choice in class skills). Again, this isn’t the most effective use of these abilities, but hey! It is pretty freaking cool to think that you could, if you wanted, do something THIS far out there with the fighter class now. The fighter sure has come a long way, hasn’t it? Overall, I’m pretty amused by this build. I don’t know that it would be something I would do personally, however—I’d much rather keep a few of these skills and build into tricks that let me use my skills in combat, like feinting or demoralizing. However, this is neat and I’d call it a challenge complete!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I am a HUGE sucker for investigators because I absolutely love being good at skills. That being said, it was the flavor of the archetype that pulled me in. A master of making weird little robots and junk gizmos? Sign me up! So without further ado, let’s get started.

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: investigator (scavenger) 11
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (1^st), Extra Investigator Talent: inspirational expertise (3^rd), Studied Expertise (5^th), Extra Investigator Talent: sickening offensive (7^th), Extra Investigator Talent: inspired intelligence (9^th), Craft Construct (Bonus); Extra Investigator Talent: trap spotter (11^th)
• Abilities: construct mastery +6, gadgetry, inspiration (free Appraise, Disable Device, and Knowledge [engineering]), jury-rig, keen recollection, studied combat, swift alchemy, studied strike +4d6, trap sense +3, trapfinding
• Talents: mutagen (3^rd), quick study (5^th), amazing inspiration (7^th), combat inspiration (9^th), applied engineering (11^th)

Build Concept

So as a side note, I don’t think that this is a build that really NEEDS to go up to 11^th level for anything—that’s just basically when the archetype stops giving you anything new.

At a basic level, the scavenger is a 100% flavor archetype, making few substantial changes to the investigator’s core abilities. Inspiration is changed so you get free inspiration three different skills, your extracts are flavored as gadgets and you get Craft (clockwork) bonuses instead of Craft (alchemy), and you swap out the poison abilities for construct bonuses. You also get a nifty ability that allows you to use Knowledge (engineering) to identify wondrous items instead of Spellcraft, and you can do it without detect magic. Wondrous items are one of the most common magic item types, so I’m down with this.

At a glance, the inspiration changes look like a downgrade because you lose the ability to apply free inspiration to ALL trained Knowledge skills (you’re left with just engineering), but honestly, you get free inspiration on Disable Device AND trapfinding at 1^st level. That’s AMAZINGLY good. You also get this cool ability that allows you to heal mechanical items, reinforce them, or weaken them. For instance, on top of getting free inspiration to Disable Device AND adding half your level on the checks, you can “weaken” things like locks and other gizmos with this ability to reduce the DC of doing the thing you want to do by 1d6. That’s literally two inspiration dice right there! The archetype also trades out poison resistance for bonuses on fixing and slaying constructs, which culminates with the Craft Construct feat at 11^th level. Nifty, but you might almost be BETTER off playing this archetype in PFS, where you instead get Skill Focus with either Disable Device, Craft (clockwork), or Knowledge (engineering). Don’t mind if I do….

So with this in mind, how does the build work? Well, you’re a ratfolk, so high Dex and a Strength penalty. Therefore, picking up Weapon Finese seemed like a good idea, and I made grabbing mutagen a priority for my first discovery. (Although I also picked up inspirational expertise too. I love the idea of a super smart rat who gives everyone bonuses because he knows stuff.) Later, I pick up the feat that let’s me continue to spend expertise to give my allies the bonuses from that feat, and eventually grab the talent that gives me back the ability to add free inspiration on my Knowledge checks. So I know everything and can tell you all about it. I also pick up sickening offensive after I get studied combatant, so I can study things, making me more likely to hit them, and sicken anything I hit. That means the monster gets a helpful –2 penalty on attack rolls and damage rolls, all while I’m buffing my allies’ with my brain! Nifty! Other then those abilities, the build is a pretty standard battle investigator.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this investigator. This is something I would definitely think of playing in a home game, but I’m not sure if I would do it in PFS. It takes a while to set up to be really cool and fun, and ratfolk aren’t always available. You kind of want to make your boons count, you know? If I was REALLY going to do a ratfolk character in PFS, I would probably be more interested in this awesome rat swarm druid archetype that’s also in Blood of the Beast (assuming its legal). But I guess that’s another story for another time!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Paladins. Healing paladins. Who bleed!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Race: Aasimar
• Classes: paladin (martyr) 7
• Feats: Angelic Blood (1st), Reward of Life (3rd), Greater Mercy (5th), Ultimate Mercy (7th)
• Abilities: aura of courage, aura of good, aura of health, channel positive energy (3d6), detect evil, divine bond (agathion bond), lay on hands, martyr’s mercy, see no evil hear no evil, stigmata (countersong, distraction, inspire courage +2),
• Mercies: fatigued (3rd), staggered (6th)
• Traits: Envoy of Religion

Play Description

So, let me preface by saying that this is a surprisingly good healer in the amount of precision that it has. Normally when you have a healer, they either have weak “taps” in the form of cure light wounds spells, or strong bursts in the form of channel energy. Now, this paladin isn’t going to be able to out-heal a life oracle, but it comes with the old adage that the best healing is preventative.

Now, the martyr isn’t a paladin archetype that people talk about a lot—it alters the paladin’s role from bruiser to support, and many people don’t like that. Specifically, it loses smite evil and divine grace, and yes, I can hear all of the optimizers cringing as they read this sentence. However, the martyr gets some strong abilities to make up for this. First and foremost, they get inspire courage, distraction, and countersong, like a bard, only they use the Heal skill for their distraction and countersong skills instead of a Perform skill. However, this is ultimately a win for the martyr—bards usually need two different perform skills for those performances, since none of the performances for either of them overlap. This is super helpful for a low-skill character like a paladin.

Now, admittedly the ability you get for divine grace is low-power, but the one thing that becomes clear about this archetype is that it sacrifices the paladin’s personal defense to buff the group. Its auras give better bonuses then standard paladins, and its divine health instead provides a substantial boost to the party’s defenses. This paladin is a BEAST at protecting its friends—it even has 20-foot auras and the ability to use lay on hands at full strength at a range of 30 feet. That’s better than the Word of Glory feat (though it comes with the drawback of loosing Swift Action self-heal).

The paladin build also has a few surprise secrets in its arsenal. The first is the Angelic Blood feat, an aasimar exclusive. This awesome feat allows an aasimar to damage nearby evil outsiders whenever she takes bleed damage, and guess what? Your ‘bardic performance ability?’ Yeah, well its actually called stigmata, and you take bleed damage whenever you use it. So while you’re inspiring people, evil beings nearby are taking damage. Neat! (Note that this is REALLY easy to swap out if you don’t want to be an aasimar or don’t want the feat—I recommend Power Attack so you can get foes’ attention and be even MORE of a martyr.) Another neat trick is baked into the class—whenever the martyr uses lay on hands, she can remove conditions she didn’t select as mercies. However, when she does so she takes that condition on herself, meaning she could REALLY hurt herself in the process. For added fun, I took Greater Mercy, so if you heal someone with NONE of the conditions listed on the paladin list (including the new ones listed in Healer’s Handbook), you heal an extra +1d6 of damage. Ultimate Mercy might be one of my absolute favorite paladin feats in the game—send lay on hands uses to cure the final condition, death! Reward of Life is also nifty; you heal damage equal to your Charisma bonus whenever you heal another person with lay on hands. That’s nice, because you’re going to be healing others often.

Why?

Well, you have the agathion bond, that’s why.

This AWESOME new divine bond is one of three variant divine bonds from Healer’s Handbook. (Spoilers!) It is pretty simple—activate the bond as a standard action, then add your Charisma bonus to all healing you do for its duration (1 min./level). Why yes, it is THAT good. On top of that, if you’re willing to worship the Dawnflower, you can take the Envoy of Religion trait that allows you reroll any 1s that you roll when healing with lay on hands or channel energy. Why yes, I WOULD like some Dawnflower badluck protection! Don’t mind if I do.

If you were to progress this build, I’d say that at 9th level, injured is your mercy of choice. This AMAZING mercy gives anyone you target with lay on hands fast healing 3 for a number of rounds equal to half your paladin level. That is REALLY, REALLY good. I mean, at 9th level you’re talking about 4d6 + Charisma initial healing, plus an extra 1d6 if the target has no harmful conditions, plus fast healing 3 for 4 rounds. That’s rerolling all 1s, of course. And all that for one use of channel energy.

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Today, I’m going with the former. My friend Robyn ended up playing this really baller arcane trickster build that I absolutely loved, and I wanted to sit down and try to iterate a bit upon it. So, that’s the theme for today—make the arcane trickster even more baller!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: Brawler (Snakebite Striker) 1 / Rogue 1 / Sorcerer 4 / Arcane Trickster
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Precise Shot (3rd), Ranged Feint (5th), Combat Expertise (7th), Improved Feint (9th), Greater Feint (11th)
• Traits: Magical Knack (sorcerer).
• Note on Bloodline—I recommend something damage-oriented, like elemental or draconic. However, you’re only going to stick with your bloodline for 4 levels, so it doesn’t matter all that much. Choose what you want.

Description of Play

So this is a heavily specialized build, to the point where this might not be something you want to try in a game that 100% isn’t going to high tier. Basically, the build is built around the Ranged Feint, from Ultimate Intrigue, and using that feat in order to assure that you get sneak attack damage dice.

There are a LOT of guides on the arcane trickster, and a LOT of those guides tell you that your role in the party is to be, “A catch-all bag of usefulness.” Like, “You have the skills to do stuff that most other spellcasters can,” sort of thing. “Why go invisible when you have a Stealth bonus of +20,” or “Why cast knock when you have a Disable Device of +17.” That sort of thing.

So, that type of idea for the arcane trickster works, but it REALLY ignores what the arcane trickster is best at—absolutely destroying people with touch attack sneak attacks with spells. That being said, you generally don’t want to be up in melee touching people, because that first time you sneak-attack-shocking-grasp a guy for over 70 damage, they’re bound to look at you and say, “Wow, a glass canon. Let’s break it.” So naturally, sneak attacking at range is likely going to be the thing that you want to do. But greater invisibility isn’t a spell that you get for a LONG time. (As a 4th level spell, we’re talking 8th level, or 10th level for this build.) That being said, Ranged Feint is a great way to accomplish this without using up your spells and without needing to hunker down and focus on pumping initiative. You feint your foes, they get flat-footed, and you pummel them into the ground!

So, what types of spells do you want to use for this build? Fiery shuriken is a REALLY good spell for this, because the shuriken float around your head and strike at your foes for you. That means you can cast the spell, have them active, and do other things. (The spell actually doesn’t need you to focus on it to keep it active.) A particularly fun thing you can do at higher levels is have fiery shuriken active from a previous round, cast a spell (like scorching ray) and then launch a shuriken at your foe. Since both attacks are handled separately, they don’t fall into the “simultaneous spell” ruling that spell sneak attacks have to deal with, which means you can Greater Feint as a move action, then hit someone with two spells and deal sneak attack damage with each!

You’re not going to thrash anyone with this build, but we’re taking about +5d6 sneak attack damage on top of a 1d8 fiery shuriken and perhaps a 4d6 damage scorching ray. Pretty fun to be rolling that many dice at people!

So, what do you think? How would you build an arcane trickster, and what sort of builds do you want to see from Iconic Design in the future? One of the advantages of being on a bi-weekly format for this column is that I get to consider my options more, so a LOT of more complicated builds that I’ve passed on might actually be considered now! (Or they might be lost under the massive pile of Graduate Work that I have despite only being one week deep into the course! Yikes!)

At any rate, that’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

What’s the devoted muse do? Why, let me show you on today’s Guidance!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: Swashbuckler 3 / Mesmerist (Vexing Daredevil) 3 / Devoted Muse 2
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Weapon Focus (glaive) (1st), Bladed Brush (3rd), Combat Expertise (5th), Improved Feint (Bonus), Mesmerizing Stare (7th)
• Abilities: artful defense, artistic flourish, charmed life 3/day, consummate liar, hypnotic stare, nimble +1, painful stare, panache, swashbuckler finesse, towering ego
• Artistic Flourish: circling strike, deadly strike, distracted, harmonious strike
• Bold Stares: psychic inception (3rd)
• Dazzling Feint: Piercing Strike (3rd)
• Deeds: derring-do (1st), dodging panache (1st), opportune parry and riposte (1st), kip-up (3rd), menacing swordplay (3rd), precise strike (3rd), swashbuckler’s initiative (3rd)
• Mesmerist Trick: astounding avoidance (2nd)
• Mesmerist 1st-Level Spells Known (4): burst of adrenaline, burst of insight, ANY TWO
• Mesmerist Knacks Known (6): ANY

Play Description

Alright, so let’s get a few basics down. The devoted muse is a new Shelyn-themed prestige class from Paths of Prestige that’s built around looking REALLY pretty when you feint. So pretty, in fact, that you blast foes with negative conditions as you dart around. It’s a class that is built around swashbuckler mechanics and meshes really well with that class, but its also a feinting-based class, and one of the most important abilities for a feint-focused character is the Mesmerizing Feint feat chain, which make it possible to feint a variety of foes without penalty.

So in order to meet the class’s prerequisites, the most difficult being three feats (Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, and Weapon Finesse) as well as BAB +5, I took three levels of swashbuckler and three levels of mesmerist (vexing daredevil). Swashbuckler gave me the Weapon Finesse feat I needed, while at 3rd level vexing daredevil I get Improved Feint for free, as well as a dazzling feint ability. Dazzling feints allow me to inflict a penalty on foes when I feint them, and I chose Piercing Strike, which lets me make my painful strike hit a little bit harder. Its not an amazing boost, but 1d8+1 extra damage certainly comes in handy! Plus as a 3rd-level swashbuckler, I have an extra +3 damage from precise strike!

Now, you may notice I have some wacky feats in the build—namely Weapon Focus (glaive) and Bladed Brush. Those are no mere accidents, friends! Bladed Brush (which needs Weapon Focus [glaive]) lets me basically use my glaive as if it were a swashbuckler weapon. It can be finessed with swashbuckler finesse, counts as one-handed for all abilities I have, and even lets me add Dex to damage with my glaive! Better still, I can choose to remove my glaive’s reach as a move action, meaning you can’t really “close in” on me to deny me my ability to attack you. Very fun and helpful, but things get better with the PRC.

I don’t know if I can stress how awesome the devoted muse is. First, you get to add 1 point of Charisma bonus per PrC level to your AC, just like a swashbuckler’s uncanny dodge. Next, you get swashbuckler levels for the purpose of deeds and panache (PrC level –3, minimum 1), and it stacks with any existing swashbuckler levels you have. Finally, at 2nd level, you get this AWESOME ability called artful flourish, which lets you replace the “denied Dex bonus to AC” part of flanking with one of several very helpful abilities. At 2nd level, my ability lets me give my allies concealment against my target’s attacks. Even better, I can spend panache whenever I use my artful flourish to get another additional effect—I can move around my foe or deal extra precision damage, with the options getting more powerful as I level up.

As my devoted muse level goes beyond 2nd, I get feinting-based bonus feats, cool new artful abilities, and even bonus panache points. All in all, the combo is a very cool feinting-focused character who can do a LOT of very neat stuff with a simple Bluff check!

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC, and have a Happy Holiday! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Let’s look at a combination for a high-damage investigator today, on Iconic Design!

Build Concept

Here’s the basics for today’s Iconic Design.

• Classes: investigator 9
• Feats: Inspired Strike
• Abilities: investigator talents (amazing inspiration, combat inspiration), studied combatant
• Other: +1 inspired weapon (or better)

Play Description

This is essentially a baseline combination for the investigator, but it was spread across so many different sections of the Advanced Class Guide (classes, feats, and magic items) that it never crossed my mind that they could all work together. Essentially, an investigator who has the combat inspiration talent (minimum 9th level) and a +1 inspired weapon can play some inspiration used to get a pretty potent to-hit and to-damage modifier, abet with the restriction that you’re spending inspiration to do. Effectively, combat inspiration reduces the amount of inspiration needed to apply the investigator’s inspiration die on your weapon’s attack rolls by 1. (Its normally 2 uses.) Now, this is the same baseline effect as a +1 inspired weapon, so chances are that you’ll pick up the weapon first and have a more economic use of the inspiration ability in combat.

BUT, and I say ‘but’ in all caps because this is important to the build, BUT an inspired weapon has a secondary effect—if you already have the combat inspiration talent, you get to add twice your inspiration die’s result to your weapon’s damage roll instead. At 9th level, when you likely have amazing initiative, this is a not-so-insignificant range of 2 extra damage (if you roll a 1) to 16 damage (if you roll an 8), or an average of 9 extra damage. VERY impressive.

But what about the Inspired Strike feat? Well, this gem lets you spend a use of inspiration whenever you hit a target that you have studied using studied combatant to roll your inspiration die and add the result to the damage roll. So that’s another 1–8 damage, for an average of 4.5. Contrary to belief, that isn’t bad for a single feat’s investment.

But, of course, here’s the REAL question—can I combine these abilities? The answer is a resounding, “Yes.” Studied combatant is a standard action to begin (or a swift action if you’re like me and take the quick study investigator talent ASAP), but on the round afterwards you’re golden. It is a swift action to activate the combat inspiration talent, but the Inspired Strike feat doesn’t specify an action to use; it simply triggers with the choice whenever you hit a studied opponent. Now, factoring in that you’d need to be at least 9th level for this whole combo to work, here’s what you’re looking at for two uses of inspiration:

• +4 to hit and to damage from studied combatant.
• +1d8 to hit (average 4.5), +2d8 to damage (average 9) from inspired blade, not counting the weapon’s enhancement bonus.
• +1d8 to damage (average 4.5) from Inspired Strike.
• Total: WEAPON + WEAPON BONUSES + 4 + 3d8.

For some better context, let’s use the stats of my 9th level investigator, Ihan Ichihara. He’s a finesse guy with a rapier, with a Dex of 18 and a +1 inspired rapier.

• 1d6 weapon damage
• +4 from Dexterity
• +1 from enhancement bonus.
• +4 from studied combatant.
• +2d8 from his inspired weapon.
• +1d8 from Inspired Strike.
• TOTAL: 1d6 + 9 + 3d8, for an average of 25 damage at the cost of 2 uses of inspiration.

Am I going to be winning the DPR Olympics any time soon? No, not when that 25 damage costs 2 uses of inspiration per swing. But it’s a fun little combo that really shows off how the investigator can be used to deal damage. And let’s be honest here—this example is NOT the high end for damage with this build. I’m not Strength based and I don’t have access to the mutagen alchemist discovery. You can do a LOT more damage then I can, if you want.

Before we go, let’s look at a theoretical Strength-based investigator, with a Strength of 18 and a +1 inspired nodachi.

• 1d8 weapon damage.
• +6 from Strength (+2 for using it two-handed).
• +6 from Power Attack (BAB +6 at this level, or +7 if you multiclassed for weapon proficiency).
• +1 enhancement bonus.
• +4 studied combant.
• +2d8 from inspired weapon.
• +1d8 from Inspired Strike
• TOTAL: 1d8 + 17 + 3d8, for an average of 35 damage per swing at the cost of 2 uses of inspiration.

Not too shabby! And this is all before making my attack my studied strike (but honestly, in my opinion keeping the studied combatant bonus to hit and damage is more important long-term).

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design. Tune back in two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

With my work in Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Beast, I think I’ve managed to significantly help bring the nine-tailed fox fantasy into Pathfinder, and today I’m going to talk about a few player options that makes it work MUCH better than it used to.

Build Concept

Here’s the basics of what you’ll need:

• Classes: sorcerer (nine-tailed heir) 7
• Favored Class Option: 1/6 of a new Magical Tail feat.
• Feats: Magical Tail (1st), Magical Tail (3rd), Magical Tail (5th), Magical Tail (7th)
• Traits: nine-tailed scion (race)

Okay, so let’s talk about each of these moving parts in turn, and how it helps you to have more tails then any artist knows how to effectively draw on a single body. (Its totally true, by the way.)

First, you have the nine-tailed scion race trait from the Dirty Tactics Toolbox. This trait allows you to pick Magical Tail as a bonus feat with a whole bunch of different feat types. Bloodline feats are on this list, so we can trade the sorcerer’s bloodline feat gained at 7th level for Magical Tail. (1 tail down.) Since you’re 7th level, you have four feats to your name from character advancement, while we’ll also use for Magical Tail (5 tails down).

Next, the nine-tailed heir archetype from Blood of the Beast trades away all of your sorcerer bonus spells for the ability to gain Magical Tail as a bonus feat at 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter. This means that you’ll effectively gain two tails at 3rd level and two tails at 7th level. (7 tails down).

Finally, the new favored class option for kitsune grants the character a new Magical Tail feat for every six times the bonus is chosen, granting the character a new tail at 6th level. (8 tails down).

So, yeah. If you want to be a nine-tailed fox, you can officially do it as a sorcerer by Level 7, which is nice because its right in the middle of the PFS playing track.

Is it the most effective sorcerer build ever? Well, yes and no. On one hand, you’re not improving the spells you would normally gain and have significantly fewer spells known as a result of losing your bloodline spells. (One spell per level can hurt as a sorcerer, especially when you only gain one new spell known for each new spell level initially.) But that being said, Magical Tails allows a kitsune to diversify the abilities she has access to—why take disguise self as a spell known when you can cast it twice per day as a spell-like ability? Same with many other spells on the list, most of which are perfectly good spells that you might not want to allocate precious sorcerer spells known slots to. (Wizards, admittedly, don’t have this problem.) By the end, though, you’re getting powerhouse spell-like abilities such as dominate monster and confusion, and considering you’re getting these abilities at 7th level, one level before sorcerers would normally have access (and at the same time as the wizard), it’s a pretty decent deal.

Continuing the Build

Honestly, once you get all your tails you should really just start picking up standard sorcerer fare: things like Spell Focus and whatnot. Those are effective uses of your abilities, after all, and specializing down on your favored school of magic is ultimately a good thing for any spellcaster. If you’re REALLY in to magical tails, the nine-tailed heir archetype lets you continue to take the feat beyond 8 in order to add uses per day to your spell-like abilities. That’s probably overkill, but its there if you want it.

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design! I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving if you’re stateside, and a generally awesome week if you’re abroad. I’ll see you back in two weeks for another new build.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Starting today, I’m going to be trying something different for the next few Iconic Designs. Instead of providing a full 20-level character build, I’m going to hyper focus the Iconic Design articles on a single combo, whether that combo takes a specific combination of feats, class levels, alternate class options, or even all of the above. In effect, I’m only going to focus on the parts that you need to make the combo work, effectively making everything else a “FREEBIE” thereafter.

Why am I switching up my Iconic Design column in this way? A few reasons, actually. Completely filling out a build is time consuming, and listing options for things that aren’t needed is a drag. This is why I already like to leave freebees in my builds when it comes to spellcasting—I’m just progressing this to its obvious next step. In hearing from others, I’ve found that these articles work better when they’re short and to the point, and time is becoming more and more precious to me as of late (I’m starting my Graduate Degree program in January). So, a shorter, more focused iteration of Iconic Design sounds pretty good to me!

With this in mind, let’s get started by looking at the Circling Scout design!

Build Concept

Here’s the basics of the combo:

• Classes: Unchained Rogue (minimum 8 levels).
• Archetypes: Scout (Rogue Archetype).
• Abilities: Dex 13+
• Feats: Canny Tumbler, Circling Mongoose, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
• Skills: Acrobatics 5+.
• Other: slow reactions (rogue talent)

Play Description

The idea revolves around the combination of the Circling Mongoose (Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolbox) and Canny Tumbler (Pathfinder RPG: Advanced Class Guide) feats. Essentially, Circling Mongoose allows you to move around your opponent while attacking, but provokes attacks of opportunity as normal. Canny Tumbler allows successful Acrobatics checks made to move through a threatened space or area to render your foe susceptible to sneak attacks. Basically, you move around your foe, provoke the AoO, dodge it with Circling Mongoose, and then when you make your attack, Canny Tumbler kicks in and costs your opponent some major penalties.

Obviously you want to be a rogue to maximize the benefit of Canny Tumbler, but why the scout archetype? Well, the scout is ALL about mobility, so it makes the Spring Attack prerequisite a little bit less painful to swallow. (With the scout’s 8th level ability, you’ll be able to sneak attack on your Spring Attack, regardless of ally positioning.) This also gives you the option to charge in, trigger the scout archetype’s scout’s charge ability, and then use Circling Mongoose on your next turn to dance around your foes. I recommend slow reactions, because it basically turns off your foe’s attacks of opportunity. One attack, then boom. They’re done.

Basically, you can become super flexible with your sneak attacks while moving, and no matter what type of action you take, you’re moving around the battlefield.

Continuing the Build

In my opinion, sticking with options that continue to enhance your Dexterity and mobility are your best bet. This build is very feat-intensive, so going slayer might not be a bad idea. Slayer will give you more sneak attack at a slower rate, plus full BAB and access to more feats via a slew of awesome slayer talents. Another good option would be to go swashbuckler. The unchained rogue is already a finesse class, and swashbuckler gives you a great mobility option in swashbuckler’s dodge. Precise strike is also great for damage if you qualify, and options like menacing swordplay are cool and could lead into Shatter Defenses. Finally, NEVER underestimate the power of the 5th level swashbuckler weapon training ability—getting free Improved Critical with your weapon is amazingly potent.

That’s it for this week’s Iconic Design! Tune in after two weeks for more ideas for your next PC or NPC. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the Know Direction Facebook Group.

Hello, everyone!

Alex is currently in the clutches of a supervillian either with laser eyes or metal teeth, I can’t remember which. In his absence he left me a letter to help him out with Iconic Design until he gets back. Your Everyman Gamer will be back soon, a certain well-dressed Scot with a sports car and Walther pistol is on the case.

My Iconic Design is going to be much shorter than usual, but it’s close to my heart. I hate the fly rules. I hate using the word hate too, but the DC to keep flying after being hit is 10. DC 10 to avoid losing 10 feet after being nuked. It’s prohibitively hard to ground airborne opponents, so why not bring the fight to them and drag them down to your level?

I understand ranged attacks and magical flight exist but I want to solve this problem with a bang, well a collision really. In the flying skill it notes that a flying creature that suffers a collision while flying must make a DC 25 fly check or plummet to the ground. This is only against creatures using winged flight, but that is a difficult check to make. The only issue is how do you get up to them without magical flight? The answer is phreaking the acrobatics skill.

In this build we’re going to multiclass to phreak a ridiculously high acrobatics by 4^th level, with further abilities to turn a +33 check into 33 feet straight into the air. All of our choices are going to be related to increasing acrobatics so this character won’t be much of a fighter until about level 7 or 8, but it’s a worthy sacrifice for such awesome hops. Also this build is Pathfinder Society legal!

Build Concept

• Kitsune: We’re going Kitsune as per Alexs’ letter instructions and to capitalize on the Kitsunes’ +2 racial acrobatics bonus and their +2 Dexterity score bonus.
• Kineticist: Aerokineticist specifically. The air-based kineticist has some abilities that’ll let us make this build come to life.
• Vigilante: For this four level build, you could easily substitute Barbarian, but the Vigilante talent we’re going to take improves at higher levels and pays dividends.

The Magic

• Classes: Kineticist 2/ Vigilante 2
• Feats: Skill Focus (1^st), Kinetic Leap (3^rd)
• Trait: 1^st: Rice-Runner, 2^nd: FREE
• Abilities: Utility Wild Talent – Air’s Reach, Shadows Swiftness

You’ll receive other abilities from your classes, but these are the things you’ll care about for this jumping build. We’re going to assume that your Kitsune starts with a +4 Dexterity Modifier and at every level you put a rank into acrobatics. At 4^th level you’d end up with a pretty spiffy acrobatics bonus; +3 from Acrobatics as a class skill, +4 ranks in acrobatics, +2 racial bonus from Kitsune, +1 from Rice-Runner trait, +4 from Air’s Leap and +3 from Skill Focus for a healthy +17 acrobatics.

Now we get crazy. The Vigilante Talent Shadows Swiftness adds +10 to your base speed. For every 10 feet over 30 feet of movement you gain a stacking +4 to acrobatics. (Side note this would stack with the Barbarians Fast Movement).

Next the Aerokineticist Air’s Leap ability makes you always count as having a running start when jumping, doubling the result of your acrobatics check to jump AND take burn to QUADRUPLE the resulting distance of your jump. In Pathfinder each vertical foot is DC 4, so for every 4 you make on an acrobatics check you go up one foot.

Lastly we have the feat Kinetic Leap. Once a day as a swift action you can add +10 to your acrobatic check to jump. It’s a limited ability but if you take 1 point of burn, you can use this ability at will.

So after that lets just count where our acrobatics skill is at now. +3 from Acrobatics as a class skill, +4 ranks in acrobatics, +2 racial bonus from Kitsune, +1 from Rice-Runner trait, +4 from Air’s Leap and +3 from Skill Focus, +4 from Shadows Swiftness,  and +10 from Kinetic Leap for a static total of 35 BEFORE ROLLING THE DICE! Add in that whatever result you roll is QUADRUPLED to 140 if you decide to take a little burn for a static jump height of 35 feet (Once again without rolling!) Anime leaps for everyone!

Extra Credits

I love this build. It’s funny because you WILL take fall damage if you don’t have a Ring of Feather Fall. You can also increase your acrobatics by buying Boots of Striding and Springing and taking at least one Barbarian level later on. You are limited by your total move distance, as you can’t out jump your maximum movement for a round (interpreted as a double move).

As for higher levels and actually being a skilled combatant, continuing in kineticist would be very doable as its ability score variance is pretty low and you just need to have a good Dexterity and Constitution score, but really, the skies the limit. Heh.

Hello, everyone!

Monstrous Physique blogger Luis Loza came to me with an interesting idea a few weeks ago—what if Guidance and MP teamed up to do “A Boy and His Monster” builds? What do I mean by this? Well, “A Boy and His Dog” is a storytelling trope that features a character (the titular boy) and a creature of some kind that the the character is friends or companions with. The story usually features a close bond and is often (but not always) heartwarming. Today, we’re going to kick off the Marvel equivalent of this trope, starting with my build for Lunella Lafayette, AKA Moon Girl.

Buckle up—I’ll be doing this a little bit differently than usual!

Build Concept

Some notes about the build before we begin.

• Human: Although she has the Inhuman gene, Lunelle is human as of the most recent installment of her comic. She does have the psychic ability to swap bodies with her partner, Devil Dinosaur, but we’re going to be calling that a unique spell-like ability that she has. We’ll say that she trades her human bonus feat for it. Enjoy:

Inhuman Mind Swap (Sp): Lunelle’s psyche has been partially detached from her body as a result of her exposure to the Terrigan Mists, allowing her to swap minds with the only creature present with her at the time of her exposure—Devil Dinosaur. Once per day, Lunelle can cast mind swap (Pathfinder RPG: Occult Adventures) as a spell-like ability, using her Hit Dice as her caster level. She can only target Devil Dinosaur with this spell-like ability, but she does not need line of sight or line of effect to do so. As long as Devil Dinosaur is within the spell’s range, Lunelle can swap minds with him.

• Technician: Apparently my blasphemy has no bounds today! Instead of recommending a Pathfinder RPG class that can’t quite capture Lunella’s abilities, I am going to build her using a Third-Party class of my own design—the technician, from Radiance House’s Age of Electrotech. The class works a lot like the alchemist, except the technician builds wand-like devices called tinkers instead of potion-like substances called extracts. I am pretty fond of this class, and I hope you’ll see why shortly.

Alright, with this in mind we’ll begin!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: technician 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1^st), Precise Shot (3^rd), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: firearms (Bonus), Gunsmithing (Bonus), Rapid Shot (5^th), Deadly Aim (7^th)
• Abilities: electrotechnology, craftsman trade, innovations, lore master 1/day, upgrades (2 points)
• Innovations: lore seeker (2^nd), additional trade: firearms (4^th), firearm specialization (6^th)
• Craftsman Trade Abilities: self-purposed gear (1^st), versatile crafter: armor & weapons (3^rd)
• Firearms Trade Abilities: firearm proficiency (1^st)
• Battery Points per Day: 29 (Assuming Lunella has an Int of 20.)
• Technician Gadgets: armor gadget (1 pt.), cheetah gadget (2 pts.), glue gout gadget (upgrade 2; 2 pts.)
• Technician 2^nd-Level Tinkers: locate weakness (3 pt.), ricocheting shot (6 pt.)
• Technician 1^st-Level Tinkers: jury-rig (1 pt.), obscuring mist (1 pt.)

Whew! Lots of stuff to explain, so I guess I better get started.

**NOTE** I am not going to be spending ALL of Lunella’s battery points in this build—I just want you to have enough that you’re interested. Fully spending all of her resources would take me a lot of excess math.

First, the class has an “energy system” that’s based on battery power. This system is aptly called “battery points.” Battery points fuel all of your spell-like-but-actually-are-extraordinary-abilities powers, namely your gadgets (which are sort of like spells that you wear on your body until they’re needed) and tinkers (which are like wands in the same way that extracts are like potions). Lunella’s gadgets largely revolve around protecting her fragile, 8-year old body from harm in the form of the armor gadget and enhancing her mobility using cheetah gadget and glue gout gadget (which makes it harder for her foes to move). As a craftsman, she is proficient with any weapon she creates, and at 4^th level she dips into the firearm trade through a talent to get Int to damage—the technician is an Int-based class and Lunella is the smartest person in the Marvel Universe, even moreso than Reed Richards. Lunella doesn’t use her tinkers much, instead relying on the damage she deals to throw foes off-balance while acting as support for herself and Devil Dinosaur.

That said, she’s really not bad at damage. With a typical pistol (hers is likely a nonlethal taser) dealing about 1d8 damage, Lunella is looking at 1d8 + her Int + Deadly Aim. (The technician is a 3/4 BAB class, so likely +4 at 7^th level.) She can certainly ping her foes for damage in a fight.

Let’s go to the mid-levels and see how she progresses.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: technician 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1^st), Precise Shot (3^rd), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: firearms (Bonus), Gunsmithing (Bonus), Rapid Shot (5^th), Deadly Aim (7^th), Master Craftsman (9^th), Craft Wondrous Item (Bonus), Clustered Shots (11^th), Weapon Focus: pistol (13^th)
• Abilities: electrotechnology, craftsman trade, innovations, lore master 2/day, upgrades (4 points)
• Innovations: lore seeker (2^nd), additional trade: firearms (4^th), firearm specialization (6^th), trapfinding (8^th), study weaknesses (10^th), scavenger technician (12^th)
• Craftsman Trade Abilities: self-purposed gear (1^st), versatile crafter: armor & weapons (3^rd), seasoned artisan (9^th)
• Firearms Trade Abilities: firearm proficiency (1^st)
• Battery Points per Day: 77 (Assuming Lunella has an Int of 22.)
• Technician Gadgets: armor gadget (upgrade 3, 12 pts.), cheetah gadget (upgrade 4, 20 pts.), glue gout gadget (upgrade 2; 2 pts.)
• Technician 5^th-Level Tinkers: rapid repair (15 pt.)
• Technician 4^th-Level Tinkers: universal tinker (10 pt.)
• Technician 3^rd-Level Tinkers: force punch (6 pt.)
• Technician 2^nd-Level Tinkers: locate weakness (3 pt.), ricocheting shot (6 pt.)
• Technician 1^st-Level Tinkers: jury-rig (1 pt.), obscuring mist (1 pt.)

As Lunella moves into the higher levels, she starts picking up essential item-crafting abilities while also getting some neat combat tricks. She has ranged character classics like Clustered Shots, as well as the study weakness innovation, which allows her to add a bonus on damage rolls against anything whose weaknesses and abilities she identifies with a successful Knowledge check. Good thing she has the lore seeker innovation too, which gives her a nice competence bonus on Knowledge checks!

I upgraded Lunella’s gadgets to higher level versions of themselves. Armor now gives her a nice AC boost as well as a good chunk of DR, while cheetah allows her to make an extra movement and stand up from prone. I mostly left her tinker slots open, but picked helpful choices like rapid repair and the ever-used universal tinker, which is basically the universal formulae alchemist formulae except for technicians.

Let’s wrap up this build in the Endgame.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: technician 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1^st), Precise Shot (3^rd), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: firearms (Bonus), Gunsmithing (Bonus), Rapid Shot (5^th), Deadly Aim (7^th), Master Craftsman (9^th), Craft Wondrous Item (Bonus), Clustered Shots (11^th), Weapon Focus: pistol (13^th), Craft Arms and Armor (15^th), Skill Focus: Craft [electrotech] (Bonus), Craft Construct (17^th), FREEBIE (19^th)
• Abilities: electrotechnology, craftsman trade, innovations, lore master 3/day, upgrades (5 points)
• Innovations: lore seeker (2^nd), additional trade: firearms (4^th), firearm specialization (6^th), trapfinding (8^th), study weaknesses (10^th), scavenger technician (12^th), study attacks (14^th), genius (16^th), fast study (18^th), gadget mastery / master trade skills (20^th)
• Craftsman Trade Abilities: self-purposed gear (1^st), versatile crafter: armor & weapons (3^rd), seasoned artisan (9^th), improved versatile craftsman (15^th)
• Firearms Trade Abilities: firearm proficiency (1^st)
• Battery Points per Day: 151 (Assuming Lunella has an Int of 26.)
• Technician Gadgets: armor gadget (upgrade 3, 12 pts.), cheetah gadget (upgrade 4, 20 pts.), glue gout gadget (upgrade 2; 2 pts.)
• Technician 6^th-Level Tinkers: getaway (21 pt.), reverse gravity (21 pt.)
• Technician 5^th-Level Tinkers: rapid repair (15 pt.)
• Technician 4^th-Level Tinkers: universal tinker (10 pt.)
• Technician 3^rd-Level Tinkers: force punch (6 pt.)
• Technician 2^nd-Level Tinkers: locate weakness (3 pt.), ricocheting shot (6 pt.)
• Technician 1^st-Level Tinkers: jury-rig (1 pt.), obscuring mist (1 pt.)

Wowzers, I don’t think I’ve ever done a build with this much STUFF in it!

By 20^th level, Lunella has all the battery points. The array of tinkers and gadgets she could have access to is staggering—what I have is, like, maybe half of her points spent! In other words, she can prepare and prepare GOOD. She gets some neat tricks like reverse gravity and getaway, and she also rounds herself out with EVERY item creation feat she qualifies for. Sure, there are more combat-oriented options to pick like Improved Initiative or Iron Will, but really, you just KNOW that a girl as smart as Lunella (a girl smart enough to have hidden her own SECRET LAB UNDERNEATH HER SCHOOL) is going to build a giant robot someday!

I’m hoping this build doesn’t like plain or dull, because really the pure versatility in the technician class is astounding. Battery points are a bit like power points for Dreamscarred Press psionics save they require preparation—you have a nice big pool of them and you put them where you need them most. Ergo, sometimes the best thing you can do is just sit on what you have and use it when its needed. That’s smart, and that’s what Lunella Lafayette is all about!

I hope you enjoyed this special 3PP version of Iconic Design. If you’re interested in the class, please check out Age of Electrotech (written by yours truly) for more information about the crazy levels of awesome that exist in that book. Don’t forget to comment below, and I’ll see you next time!

Luis, ball’s in YOUR court now. 😉

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Welcome to Iconic Design, Private Sanctuary’s source for innovative and evocative character builds for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, written by Everyman Gamer Alexander Augunas. Today, we’re going to be looking at a build for Darkwing Duck.

I am the Gamer who is Average! The designer who lurks in the PFS forums, listening for inspiration but often getting nothing but extraordinarily bigoted dribble! I am the Everyman Gamer, and today I’m building Darkwing Duck!

Build Concept

Here’s a quick rundown on how I’m going to be building Disney’s favorite mock superhero.

• Tengu: Its pretty amazing how duck-like tengu can be, eh? I’ll be picking up the claws alternate racial trait instead of swordtrained; not only does Darkwing Duck never use a sword (as far as I can remember, anyway), but the claws trait counts as having Improved Unarmed Strike for the purpose of qualifying for feats. Nice, but not sure I’m going to use it. In any case, Darkwing Duck is a master at a type of martial arts known as Quack-Fu, and I feel like Improved Unarmed Strike from this trait is PERFECT for that.
• Gunslinger: Darkwing Duck’s primary weapon is his gas gun, and I’ve decided that I’m going to model that with the dragon pistol. That way you can use bullets when you want, or blast them with fire. Which is burning gas. Close enough—blame the 90s and their vehement disdain for firearms.
• Vigilante: The ultimate Darkwing Duck class!

And with these pieces, let’s look at the build!

Darkwing Duck Comic #1 (2016)

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: gunslinger 5, vigilante 2
• Feats: Gunsmithing (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Ranged Feint (3rd), Rapid Reload (5th), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Deadly Aim (7th)
• Abilities: deeds, dual identity, grit, gun training +1, gunsmith, nimble +1, seamless guise, social talents, vigilante specialization (stalker; 1d4), vigilante talents
• Deeds: deadeye (1st), gunslinger’s dodge (1st), quick clear (1st), gunslinger initiative (3rd), pistol whip (3rd), utility shot (3rd)
• Social Talents: renown (1st)
• Vigilante Talents: cunning feint (2nd)

Alright, so let’s go over the basics. First level is gunslinger—you need it for all your tricks. Second two levels are vigilante, because you can’t progress five levels without a dual identity and call yourself Darkwing Duck. (Also, picking up canny feint early on is REALLY nice.) To go with Canny Feint, we’re taking the Ranged Feint feat at Level 3. It means pushing back Precise Shot and Rapid Shot a few levels, but you get a bonus feat at 3rd level and its worth it for the antics.

Basically, as a feinting gunslinger you will NEVER miss. Ever. You’re already targeting touch AC, and with feinting at your disposal your target won’t get their Dex bonus either. You’re either giving up moving or one attack of a bunch in order to do this, and its almost ALWAYS worth it. Because the gunslinger’s game is taking advantage of trading penalties for damage, and with this combo you can make it work against ANYONE AND get a weakened version of sneak attack against your target for doing so. (+1d4 damage now, but abound to go up a lot in the mid levels.)

Like most gunslinger builds, the base class isn’t very relevant after 5th level, when you get Dex to damage with your guns, so plan on more vigilante levels as we progress forward.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: gunslinger 5, vigilante 9
• Feats: Gunsmithing (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Ranged Feint (3rd), Rapid Reload (5th), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Deadly Aim (7th), Clustered Shots (9th), Weapon Focus: pistol (11th), Snap Shot (13th)
• Abilities: deeds, dual identity, grit, gun training +1, gunsmith, nimble +1, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance, unshakable, vigilante specialization (stalker; 5d4), vigilante talents
• Deeds: deadeye (1st), gunslinger’s dodge (1st), quick clear (1st), gunslinger initiative (3rd), pistol whip (3rd), utility shot (3rd)
• Social Talents: renown (1st), loyal aid (3rd), well-known expert (5th), quick change (7th), safe house (9th)
• Vigilante Talents: cunning feint (2nd), surprise strike (4th), sniper (6th), stalker sense (8th)

As Darkwing Duck continues to advance into the mid levels, he gains many of the standard gunslinger tricks—Clustered Shots for overcoming DR, Weapon Focus for more hits, and Snap Shot for making attacks of opportunity against those foolish enough to approach him. As for his vigilante abilities, I took surprise strike for even crazier bonuses to hit against foes he can sneak attack, as well as sniper, which removes the distance limitation on from how far Darkwing Duck can use hidden strike against a foe. For social talents, I took loyal aid to represent his niece and pilot, well-known expert because Darkwing is something of a braggart, quick change because pretty much every modern super hero has this, and safe house to represent his sanctuary.

Overall, Darkwing Duck is actually starting to come together at this stage. He has a BAB of +9, so his Deadly Aim is at –4 / +8 for attack and damage. When he feints, he goes against flat-footed touch and gets an extra +2 to hit and +5d4 to damage (5d8 if his foe is unaware of his presence). His damage is pooled for the purpose of DR and hardness, and he has his Dexterity to damage. He also has a good array of social face-type skills, and is likely going to be VERY good at Bluff. Overall, a fun if less-than-optimized build.

Let’s check out the high levels.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: gunslinger 5, vigilante 15
• Feats: Gunsmithing (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Ranged Feint (3rd), Rapid Reload (5th), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Deadly Aim (7th), Clustered Shots (9th), Weapon Focus: pistol (11th), Snap Shot (13th), Vital Strike (Bonus), Combat Reflexes (15th), Improved Snap Shot (17th), Improved Vital Strike (19th)
• Abilities: deeds, dual identity, frightening appearance, grit, gun training +1, gunsmith, nimble +1, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance, unshakable, vigilante specialization (stalker; 8d4), vigilante talents
• Deeds: deadeye (1st), gunslinger’s dodge (1st), quick clear (1st), gunslinger initiative (3rd), pistol whip (3rd), utility shot (3rd)
• Social Talents: renown (1st), loyal aid (3rd), well-known expert (5th), quick change (7th), safe house (9th), great renown (11th), immediate change (13th), incredible renown (15th)
• Vigilante Talents: cunning feint (2nd), surprise strike (4th), sniper (6th), stalker sense (8th), Vital Punishment (10th), leave an opening (12th), rogue talent: bleeding attack (14th)

So, let’s look at the end game here. The big build-into is the Snap Shot feat, which we take advantage of using Combat Reflexes, the Vital Punishment vigilante talent (which not only gives you Vital Strike, but lets you use it on attacks of opportunity), and the leave an opening talent. As written, you’d “threaten” someone with your gun via Snap Shot, so the feat works. (And combos nicely with Vital Punishment.)

By the end game, you’re looking at roughly 1d8 + Dex + enhancement + 10 (Deadly Aim) + 8d4 (from hidden strike, or 8d8 if the target is unaware), plus 8 points of bleed damage from bleeding attack every round. Considering this build gets you to the coveted +16 BAB at level 20, you’ve got a total of 5 attacks per round (four iterative plus Rapid Shot), and giving up one to ensure that all of the others are hidden strikes is an EASY choice.

This isn’t the most optimized gunslinger build in the game, but it’s a fun, quirky little build for representing a fun, quirkly little cartoon character.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Its not secret that KDN blogger James Ballod LOVES anime. A few months ago, he asked me for a very specific build—Izumi and Migi from the anime Parasyte. At the time, we happened to be working on the Haunted Heroes Handbook (due out at the end of August), and I couldn’t tell him this at the time but we had a feat chain that did what he wanted perfectly—the Possessed Hand feats. I blew him off, told him it was impossible.

But scheming, I began.

Now the subscribers have their PDFs, and I am ready to share my Parasyte build with the world! cue dramatic lightning and thunder

So basically, Parasyte is an anime about parasites from space that infect humans and take over their minds and bodies. Its sort of like the book The Host (written by Stephanie Meyers, author of the Twilight series), except the parasites are horrifying monsters capable of warping their host body horror style. So completely different.

And that, my friends, is what we will be building today.

Ignore the part where this is a spin-off! Focus on the creepy alien hand! Creeeepy aliiiien haaaand!

Build Concept

So, how are we building Izumi and Migi?” Check out the play by plays below!

• Human: Izumi is human, and the bonus feat is sweet.
• Bloodrager (Untouchable Rager): The bloodrager’s class package reads like a checklist of powers that Izumi starts to develop when he’s bonded to Migi—enhanced strength, speed, and endurance. The reason I picked bloodrager over barbarian is the aberrant bloodline, specifically the abnormal reach ability. It captures the body horror of what Migi is quite nicely!
• Fighter (Eldritch Guardian): We’re going to get the opportunity to take Migi as a familiar, and two levels of Eldritch Guardian make it all the sweeter!

Ready to see this build put together? See below!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: bloodrager (untouchable rager) 7
• Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Possessed Hand (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Two-Weapon Fighting (5th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Hand’s Autonomy (7th)
• Abilities: aberrant bloodline, blood sanctuary, bloodrage, DR 1/–, fast movement, improved uncanny dodge, raging resistance (SR 16), uncanny dodge
• Bloodline Powers: staggering strike (1st), abnormal reach (4th)

So, I need to do some explaining on some of these feats. Possessed Hand and Hand’s Autonomy are two brand-new feats from the upcoming Haunted Hero’s Handbook product by Paizo Publishing. Possessed Hand basically puts a foreign presence into your hand. The hand is EXTREMELY distracting, and causes you to take a –2 penalty on concentration checks. In exchange, any attack that you make with your possessed hand gets a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls, and you get a +1 bonus on Disable Device and Sleight of Hand checks. Finally, once per day you can retrieve a stored item as a swift action, provided the retried item weighs no more than 5 lbs. The feat is themed around ghosts and possessed entities, but to me, this SCREAMS Migi from Parasyte.

In order to capitalize on the fighting style, I’ve taken Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, and Two-Weapon Fighting. Combat Reflexes is perfect to represent the duo’s enhanced reflexes while Hand’s Autonomy literally MAKES this build. You see, Hand’s Autonomy reduces the penalties for Two-Weapon Fighting by  –2 (to a minimum of –1), which means we’re only taking a –1 penalty to fight with two weapons. The hand also has a limited array of actions that it can use while you’re unable to defend yourself, which is neat.

I took the untouchable rager archetype because to me, spell-less is the best way to symbolize the duo. Plus getting free, scaling spell resistance is AWESOMELY good. (Unlike most spell resistance, the untouchable rager’s spell resistance is fairly relevant.) Also, picking up the aberrant bloodline implies that Migi is the cause of Izumi’s powers (which is 100% true) and therefore awesome. Plus the ability to extend Izumi’s research while raging (likely because of Migi’s morphic control over Izumi’s hand) is absolutely AWESOME.

Let’s move on to the mid levels and see what else I can do.

Izumi is the one without the ugly face.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: bloodrager (untouchable rager) 12, fighter (eldritch guardian) 2
• Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Possessed Hand (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Two-Weapon Fighting (5th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Hand’s Autonomy (7th), Hand’s Detachment (9th), Improved Initiative (Bonus), Lunge (11th), Iron Will (Bonus), Outflank (13th)
• Abilities: aberrant bloodline, blood sanctuary, bloodrage, DR 2/–, familiar, fast movement, greater bloodrage, improved uncanny dodge, raging resistance (SR 23), uncanny dodge.
• Bloodline Powers: staggering strike (1st), abnormal reach (4th), aberrant fortitude (8th), unusual anatomy (12th)

Basically, the idea is to take a fighter level at 9th level, so you get Hand’s Detachment and a familiar at the same time. The reason you want to do this is very simple—Hand’s Detachment transforms your possessed hand into a familiar that can detach itself from your body, but you don’t get any of the normal familiar abilities. If you gain the familiar class feature (which the eldritch guardian gets at 1st level without sacrificing a point of base attack bonus), then your hand gains all of the powers of a normal familiar if you select it as your familiar (its special ability is +3 on Sleight of Hand checks). And yes, it gains ALL abilities, which means it qualifies for familiar archetypes. Specifically, the mauler, which allows your hand to polymorph itself into a Medium-sized hand horror monstrosity.

And if you’re going to take ONE level in eldritch guardian, you might as well take two. Because that allows you to share all of your combat feats with your familiar. So now your familiar has Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, and if your GM is feeling kind, Two-Weapon Fighting and Improved Unarmed Strike at 9th level, plus your full BAB.

Adding to the list of fun is Lunge (which the familiar gains) and Iron Will, which represents Izumi’s steeled emotions as Migi’s cells course through him! The bloodline gives Izumi crazy powers like, “It is unlikely that you will ever be critically hit,” and “You’re not dying of dysentery on my watch!”

I wonder if I can do any more weird stuff with this build?

Meh. Maybe.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: bloodrager (untouchable rager) 18, fighter (eldritch guardian) 2
• Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Possessed Hand (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Two-Weapon Fighting (5th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Hand’s Autonomy (7th), Hand’s
  

  Fan artwork by zzyzzyy. Click on the image to view on the artist’s page at DeviantArt.com!

  Detachment (9th), Improved Initiative (Bonus), Lunge (11th), Iron Will (Bonus), Outflank (13th), Precise Strike (15th), Improved Grapple (Bonus), Improved Critical: unarmed strike (17th), Greater Grapple (19th)

• Abilities: aberrant bloodline, blood sanctuary, bloodrage, DR 4/–, familiar, fast movement, greater bloodrage, improved uncanny dodge, raging resistance (SR 30), resistance control, tireless bloodrage, uncanny dodge.
• Bloodline Powers: staggering strike (1st), abnormal reach (4th), aberrant fortitude (8th), unusual anatomy (12th), aberrant resistance (16th)

And here’s the end. Two creepy-ass grappling buddies with massive strength, full base attack bonus, and a crazy number of feats. You might be wondering why I never invested more in the Two-Weapon Fighting feat line. The reason is simple—you don’t have a second hand to TWF with while you have a familiar, so you have the first feat in order to make TWF pretty good when you and your hand are attached to one another (a free attack with only a –1 penalty on all your attacks isn’t terrible, especially in the early levels when you don’t have your familiar). But eventually you get to the point where you don’t NEED TWF anymore; you have your blender-riffic familiar to help you out with the extra attack. You might want to consider retraining Two-Weapon Fighting out for something else, since Hand’s Autonmy works like the feat-less TWF anyway for you. Its your call.

Whatever you decide, Izumi and Migi are ready to wreck all the parasytes they meet now!

So, what did you think of my build? Leave your comments and questions below, and I’ll see you back in two weeks for another Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hello, everyone!

Since James and I just did the brawler for the Private Sanctuary Podcast’s latest class features segment, I thought that it might be fun if I shared my brawler build with everyone today, since I am SUPER hype about it.

Are you ready? Let’s go!

Build Concept

Here’s the basic stats for the build.

• Trait: Child of Kintargo is the centerpiece of this build. From the Hell’s Rebels’ guide, it makes my character part of one of Cheliax’s ten major noble houses if I take Noble Scion at 1st level. But on a brawler? Challenge accepted, PFS. One important thing to note is that in PFS, the GM boon that unlocks the ability to pick Child of Kintargo gives you that trait as a bonus trait, so my brawler actually has three traits (this, heirloom weapon, and affable).
• Brawler: I ended up picking this class because of its ability to spontaneously grab feats. Also, because the idea of a noble who was a brawler was hilarious.
• Exemplar: One of the toughest things to decide on when taking the Noble Scion feat was, “What type of scion should I be?” The feat gives you a choice between about a half-dozen types of noble, and none of them really work for the brawler. That said, one of them gives you 3 bonus ranks of bardic performance if you have that class feature, and the exemplar archetype HAS bardic performance for all prerequisites and effects. So I took the exemplar archetype so my noble splendor could inspire the rabble.
• And that’s the basics of my brawler build. Let’s pop into the early levels and see what they’re like.

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: brawler (exemplar) 7
• Traits: Child of Kintargo, Heirloom Weapon
• Feats: Noble Scion (1st), Power Attack (Bonus), Quick Draw (3rd), Dirty Fighting (Bonus), Practiced Tactician (5th), Weapon Focus (7th)
• Abilities: brawler’s cunning, brawler’s flurry (Two-Weapon Fighting), call to arms, field instruction (1/day), inspire courage, inspiring prowess, knockout 1/day, martial flexibility (swift), martial training

This build isn’t super complicated. You take heirloom weapon with a one-handed monk weapon that you like (I picked the nine-ring broadsword because it looks cool) and take Noble Scion: scion of the arts. You take Power Attack as your first bonus feat and Quick Draw as your 3rd level feat. But why?

Shield juggling.

The exemplar loses out on the brawler AC bonus, meaning he’s somewhat squishy compared to an ordinary brawler. We can make up for that by shield juggling. Basically, you take a quickdraw shield and the Quick Draw feat, which allows you to stow or draw your shield as a free action when used together. With this combo, you start the round with your shield out, stow it as a free action before you attack, switch to two-handing your one-handed weapon as a free action, make your attacks, then switch back to one-handing your one-handed weapon and drawing your shield back out as a free action. It’s a super fun, super cool, imagery-heavy fighting style that has a sort of anime / cinematic feel to it.

I like picking up as many feats as possible that let me step into more feats using martial flexibility, so I took Dirty Fighting. Dirty Fighting will let me pick up virtually any combat maneuver feat that I want, whenever I want it, as it counts as meeting a bunch of combat maneuver feat prerequisites. I also grabbed Practiced Tactician because you really don’t get that many uses of this archetye’s tactician-style ability, and the power to take a teamwork feat with martial flexibility and share it with field instruction is both super cool and super good.

Let’s move on to the mid levels and see how this build progresses.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: brawler (exemplar) 14
• Traits: Child of Kintargo, Heirloom Weapon
• Feats: Noble Scion (1st), Power Attack (Bonus), Quick Draw (3rd), Dirty Fighting (Bonus), Practiced Tactician (5th), Weapon Focus (7th), Weapon Specialization (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus (9th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Lingering Performance (11th), Extra Martial Flexibility (13th), Improved Critical (Bonus)
• Abilities: brawler’s cunning, brawler’s flurry (Improved Two-Weapon Fighting), call to arms, field instruction (3/day), inspire courage, inspire greatness, inspiring prowess, knockout 2/day, martial flexibility (immediate), martial training

Aside from picking up Lingering Performance at 11th level, this build mostly looks like any other two-handed fighter build. Its pretty straightforward, some extra boosts to our pseudo-tactician and bardic performance abilities.

I don’t think there’s much to talk about here that a general brawler dossier doesn’t cover. Moving on to the endgame….

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: brawler (exemplar) 20
• Traits: Child of Kintargo, Heirloom Weapon
• Feats: Noble Scion (1st), Power Attack (Bonus), Quick Draw (3rd), Dirty Fighting (Bonus), Practiced Tactician (5th), Weapon Focus (7th), Weapon Specialization (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus (9th), Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Lingering Performance (11th), Extra Martial Flexibility (13th), Improved Critical (Bonus), Practiced Tactician (15th), Dodge (Bonus), Greater Weapon Specialization (17th), Practiced Tactician (19th), FREEBIE (Bonus)
• Abilities: awesome blow, brawler’s cunning, brawler’s flurry (Greater Two-Weapon Fighting), call to arms, field instruction (4/day), improved awesome blow, inspire courage, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, inspiring prowess, knockout 3/day, martial flexibility (immediate), martial training,

Endgame for the exemplar also isn’t very surprising. Like most brawler builds, the trick is to pick up things that are always useful as your normal feats, then grab things that are situationaly useful with martial flexibility. So for that reason, this is a mostly straightforward build and I’m pretty chill with that myself.

So, what did you think? What would you have done differently if you were building a noble brawler? Is this something you would try? Leave your answers and comments below, and I’ll see you back here in two weeks for another installment of Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

You know, for a class that I originally thought was SUPER boring, it turns out you can do a lot of silly stuff with the hunter class. Don’t believe me? Good, I’ll get a chance to change your mind with today’s Iconic Design!

Buckle up….

Build Concept

So what do you need for this build? Not much, really.

• Race can really be anything you want.
• Class: You’re almost all hunter except for a 1-level dip in the mammoth rider prestige class.

And with that out of the way, let’s get started!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: Hunter 7
• Feats: Combat Expertise (1st), Outflank (Bonus), Pack Flanking (Bonus), Power Attack (3rd), Totem Beast: bear (5th), Improved Spell Sharing (Bonus), Precise Strike (7th)
• Abilities: animal companion (wolf), animal focus, bonus tricks (1), hunter tactics, improved empathic link, precise companion (Outflank), nature training, orisons, track, wild empathy, woodland stride
• Hunter 3rd-Level Spells Known (3): summon monster III; anthropomorphic animal, greater animal aspect, strong jaw
• Hunter 2nd-Level Spells Known (4): summon monster II; animal aspect, harmless form, protective spirit, sense vitals
• Hunter 1st-Level Spells Known (5): summon monster I; cure light wounds, faerie fire, lead blades, liberating command, stone fist
• Hunter Orisons Known (6): detect magic, know direction, purify food and drink, read magic, stabilize, spark

• Animal Companion: wolf
• Feats: Improved Natural Attack (1 HD), Outflank (Bonus), Power Attack (3 HD), Light Armor Proficiency (5 HD), Improved Spell Sharing (Bonus), Precise Strike (Bonus)

The silliness of this build actually begins at 7th level, believe it or not. At 7th level, your animal companion improves to Large size, but more importantly you get the ability to cast 3rd level spells. And the absolute most HILARIOUS spell that you can cast is anthropomorphic animal. As a wolf, the only thing that you’re really losing by doing so is your trip special quality, but what you get in exchange is the novelty of being a Large anthropomorphic wolf. What? Not good enough? Well, okay. There might be ONE other super silly thing that you can do with this combination, but it doesn’t start here. Mostly.

Did you wonder why I put stone fist on this character’s spell list? It wasn’t for my hunter….

Basically, the idea is that you can milk an extra attack out of your animal companion by making unarmed strikes. The attack’s damage isn’t amazing—stone fist improves the damage of your unarmed strikes to 1d6 (sadly, it doesn’t clarify if this increases to 1d8 for Large creatures; I am assuming that it doesn’t). Regardless, two attacks from your wolf at this level isn’t terrible, especially when you’re including all of the crazy hunter perks that you give it like Outflank and Precise Strike, as well as classics like Power Attack. This build makes anthropomorphic animal into a legitimate combat buff for an animal companion that would normally be limited to a single attack per round.

So, what else can this build do? Improved Spell Sharing. As long as you’re next to your animal companion (and of course you will be, you’re literally built for this to be the best option that you can possibly take), whenever you cast a spell with a duration of 2 or more rounds, you can split that duration between you and your animal. Even personal spells, thanks to the share spells class feature. One of the most hilarious antics that you can pull with this tactic is Dirty Tactics Toolbox’s sense vitals spell. This spell gives you sneak attack, and by sharing your duration with your animal companion (who is almost always going to be flanking with you thanks to Outflank and Pack Flanking), you can both deal extra sneak attack damage. You don’t get this spell until Level 4, but that’s fine because that means 2 rounds of pain for both you and your animal companion! (Technically, 1 for you and 2 for your companion, but who’s counting?)

Some people are probably wondering, “Hey Alex, why did you take both carry companion AND harmless form? Don’t those do the same thing for your build?” The answer is “Yes and no.” Carry companion is great for when your animal gets super big, or you need to keep your animal safe and stashed for a while. (For example, your animal has taken enough Strength damage to render it helpless and you can’t heal it up quickly.) Harmless form is better when you’re adventuring someplace where you still might need your animal, but its “real” form is too conspicuous. As a wolf, harmless form is likely going to turn your animal into a dog of some kind, which means you’ll likely be able to bring your animal just about anywhere with no questions asked. Similar tools for slightly different jobs.

As one fine note for what is otherwise a very standard build, I’m a big fan of picking the Totem Beast: bear animal focus as a feat for my animal companion. Bear’s ability is an enhancement bonus to Constitution, and while bonus hit points and Fortitude save bonuses are awesome, they’re not really something that I’m willing to take instead of Strength or any of the other benefits of animal focus. So putting the Constitution bonus on a delay isn’t really a deal-breaker for this feat. Bonuses to Constitution are nice to have (and this feat is worth slightly more than Toughness for your animal companion at 1st level because of the extra +1 on Fortitude saves), but not having the full +4 on schedule isn’t a game-ender, which is why I like this.

Otherwise, this is a pretty standard hunter build. Let’s move on and see what sort of crazy things I came up with for the mid levels!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: Hunter 13 / Mammoth Rider 1
• Feats: Combat Expertise (1st), Outflank (Bonus), Pack Flanking (Bonus), Power Attack (3rd), Totem Beast: bear (5th), Improved Spell Sharing (Bonus), Precise Strike (7th), Escape Route (Bonus), Weapon Focus: falchion (9th), Paired Opportunists (11th), Punch Through (Bonus), Coordinated Charge (13th)
• Abilities: animal companion (wolf), animal focus, bonus tricks (2), gigantic steed (+2 Con, +2 Str), hunter tactics, improved empathic link, precise companion (Outflank), nature training, orisons, raise animal companion, second animal focus, speak with master, steed (wolf), swift tracker, track, wild coercion, wild empathy, woodland stride
• Hunter 5th-Level Spells Known (2): summon monster V: hunter’s blessing, stoneskin
• Hunter 4th-Level Spells Known (4): summon monster IV: air walk, animal growth, atavism, freedom of movement
• Hunter 3rd-Level Spells Known (5): summon monster III; anthropomorphic animal, burst of speed, companion mind link, greater animal aspect, strong jaw
• Hunter 2nd-Level Spells Known (5): summon monster II; animal aspect, harmless form, protective spirit, raven’s flight, sense vitals, share shape
• Hunter 1st-Level Spells Known (6): summon monster I; cure light wounds, faerie fire, lead blades, liberating command, longstrider, stone fist
• Hunter Orisons Known (6): detect magic, know direction, purify food and drink, read magic, stabilize, spark

• Animal Companion: wolf
• Feats: Improved Natural Attack (1 HD), Outflank (Bonus), Power Attack (3 HD), Light Armor Proficiency (5 HD), Improved Spell Sharing (Bonus), Precise Strike (Bonus), Escape Route (Bonus), Weapon Focus: bite (7 HD), Paired Opportunists (Bonus), Vital Strike (9 HD), Punch Through (Bonus), Coordinated Charge (Bonus), Improved Initiative (13 HD)

This part of the build (specifically Level 11) makes me cry sweet tears of pure happiness.

The first thing you should know is this—yes, mammoth rider is VERY easy to qualify for, and wolf is on the list of gigantic steeds. A one-level dip in mammoth rider is all we really need for this build, though, as we don’t want to stunt our spellcasting power and we don’t really need the scaling bonuses to Strength and Constitution that the Prestige Class provides.

What we do need, however, is the ability to cast 4th level spells at hunter level 10. Because at 4th level, hunters gain the ability to cast animal growth. And there are some WONDERFUL things that you ought to know about animal growth.

1. Animal Growth stacks with gigantic steed because the latter is not a magical effect.
2. Animal Growth is NOT a polymorph effect. So it stacks with … anthropormorphic animal.

So yes. At Level 11, you always have a Huge wolf, and you can have your choice between a Gargantuan wolf or a Gargantuan anthropomorphic wolf WHENEVER YOU WANT HIM. Why does it work? Because polymorph effects don’t stack, but animal growth isn’t a polymorph effect. And magical effects that increase size don’t stack, but anthropomorphic animal very specifically does not alter the animal’s size. So yeah, you can pregame anthropomorphic animal whenever you want (by 11th level it will have an 11-hour duration) and whenever you want to fight, BOOM. Animal growth. Giant wolf-man SMASH.

If you’re tired of punching things, why not consider 10,500 gp for a wayfinder with an opalescent white pyramid ioun stone? Its easy enough to give to your animal companion to hold, and it grants them proficiency with one weapon of your choice AND Weapon Focus with that weapon if the ioun stone is socketed into the wayfinder. Is this always going to be a tactic you’ll want? Nah, but when you spend roughly +6,300 on a +1 resizing weapon for your animal companion, you might be thanking me. If you really want, pick a weapon that you yourself wouldn’t normally wield (or be proficient with) and all of a sudden YOU can use that resizing weapon and YOU gain Weapon Focus with it when you wear the wayfinder. Imagine how much your friends will hate you when you choose something with reach and you give it to your now Gargantuan-sized animal companion! Heck, even as a huge companion its pretty scary. And if you need something a little smaller to fight with while inside of a dungeon, Harmless form will turn your wolf into a Medium dog for all your adventuring needs. You’ve literally just solved the one question that keeps the cavalier up late at night crying—how do I keep my animal buddy relevant everywhere I go? The answer is, of course, WITH MAGIC! And for those moments where being gargantuan is too much, you’ve still got the atavism spell (which stacks with animal growth if you have a LOT of buffing time).

Overall, this build has a LOT of flexibility for transmuting both you and your animal, and that’s really fun. Let’s take a look at the end game and see how it ends.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: Hunter 19 / Mammoth Rider 1
• Feats: Combat Expertise (1st), Outflank (Bonus), Pack Flanking (Bonus), Power Attack (3rd), Totem Beast: bear (5th), Improved Spell Sharing (Bonus), Precise Strike (7th), Escape Route (Bonus), Weapon Focus: falchion (9th), Paired Opportunists (11th), Punch Through (Bonus), Coordinated Charge (13th), Furious Focus (15th), Swing Around (Bonus), Harder They Fall (17th), Intercept Charge (Bonus), Lookout (19th)
• Abilities: animal companion (wolf), animal focus, bonus tricks (3), gigantic steed (+2 Con, +2 Str), greater empathic link, hunter tactics, improved empathic link, one with the wild, precise companion (Outflank), nature training, orisons, raise animal companion, second animal focus, speak with master, steed (wolf), swift tracker, track, wild coercion, wild empathy, woodland stride
• Hunter 6th-Level Spells Known (4): summon nature’s ally VI; greater dispel magic, mass binding earth, mass cure light wounds, wall of stone
• Hunter 5th-Level Spells Known (5): summon monster V: baleful polymorph, death ward, hunter’s blessing, stoneskin, wall of fire
• Hunter 4th-Level Spells Known (5): summon monster IV: air walk, animal growth, atavism, freedom of movement, jungle mind
• Hunter 3rd-Level Spells Known (6): summon monster III; anthropomorphic animal, burst of speed, companion mind link, stone shape, strong jaw, water breathing
• Hunter 2nd-Level Spells Known (6): summon monster II; barkskin, harmless form, protective spirit, raven’s flight, sense vitals, share shape
• Hunter 1st-Level Spells Known (6): summon monster I; cure light wounds, faerie fire, lead blades, liberating command, longstrider, stone fist
• Hunter Orisons Known (6): detect magic, know direction, purify food and drink, read magic, stabilize, spark

• Animal Companion: wolf
• Feats: Improved Natural Attack (1 HD), Outflank (Bonus), Power Attack (3 HD), Light Armor Proficiency (5 HD), Improved Spell Sharing (Bonus), Precise Strike (Bonus), Escape Route (Bonus), Weapon Focus: bite (7 HD), Paired Opportunists (Bonus), Vital Strike (9 HD), Punch Through (Bonus), Coordinated Charge (Bonus), Improved Initiative (13 HD), Swing Around (Bonus), Harder They Fall (Bonus), Improved Vital Strike (15 HD), Intercept Charge (Bonus), Lookout (Bonus)

As you’ve probably have guessed, we’re ending on lots of teamwork feats and lots of utility spells. By 5th and 6th level spells, there isn’t much left to take that falls into the “polymorph for days” category, so you pretty much just end up taking whatever support spells you need to make your stuff work. I’m cool with that.

So what did you think of my GIANT WOLFMAN build? Leave your comments below, and remember: if you want to request something for a build, PLEASE do not message or e-mail me privately. I will sincerely forget it / lose track of it without a place to consolidate suggestions. Next week Luis returns with a new monster for Monstrous Physique, so come back in two weeks for another exciting installment of Iconic Design! Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Alas, we’re finally here. The end of the Dynastic Races month. And who better close out my Kickstarter-promoting series than the small, shadowy wayangs?

Absolutely no one, that’s who’s better!

So let’s get cracking with a wayang built this instant!

Build Concept

We’re going to need the following to build our shadowy little buddy.

• Wayang: Duh.
• Oracle: WHY YES WE ARE DOING ANOTHER BUILD THAT THE RACE HAS POOR ABILITY SCORE MODIFIERS FOR DON’T JUDGE ME! X-|
• Shadow Mystery: Hey, I wrote that!

Let’s get started, shall we?

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: oracle 7
• Feats: Augment Summoning (1st), Superior Summoning (3rd), Spell Focus: illusion (5th), Greater Spell Focus: illusion (7th)
• Abilities: mystery (shadow), oracle’s curse (haunted), revelations
• Revelations: army of darkness (1st), dark secrets (3rd), wings of darkness (7th)
• 3rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (2): deeper darkness; bestow curse, cure serious wounds, summon monster III
• 2nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): invisibility; alter summoned monster, cure moderate wounds, darkness, summon monster II
• 1st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): blurred movement; bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, shadow trap, summon monster I, touch of blindness
• Orisons (7): bleed, create water, detect magic, guidance, light, read magic, stabilize

The shadow mystery has a few really neat options built into it, my favorite of which is army of darkness. Not only does this revelation count as Spell Focus: conjuration for the purpose of taking Augment Summoning and Superior Summoning, but it allows you to put the shadow creature template on your summons instead of celestial or fiendish. Is this the strongest option ever? Nope, but it is certainly thematic and fun. So much so that I took alter summon monster at 2nd level just to describe how may shadowy creatures are warping and changing form as I manipulate the raw shadowstuff that they are made from. Fun. So much fun.

Dark secrets is another neat option; it basically allows you to nab illusion (shadow) spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, the best of which are the shadow school spells. Things like shadow evocation, shadow transmutation, and shadow conjuration will all allow you to flexibly cast spells that you wouldn’t normally have access to as an oracle, which is very cool. Of course, this choice doesn’t really start shinning until around 8th level, so if you want to push this revelation back to your 7th level pick and take something else instead, I understand. I just really like wings of darkness and want to take it as soon as it’s available.

Other then that, this is a pretty general oracle build. The shadow mystery provides you with a ton of neat utility spells and tricks, so its up to you to figure out what you’re going to do in combat. I picked up lots of summon spells, then rounded out my list with some general “I win you suck” spells for combat.

Let’s see how this build evolves in the mid levels, shall we?

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: oracle 14
• Feats: Augment Summoning (1st), Superior Summoning (3rd), Spell Focus: illusion (5th), Greater Spell Focus: illusion (7th), Spell Penetration (9th), Greater Spell Penetration (11th), Solid Shadows (13th)
• Abilities: mystery (shadow), oracle’s curse (haunted), revelations
• Revelations: army of darkness (1st), dark secrets (3rd), wings of darkness (7th), Shadow Mastery (11th)
• 7th-Level Oracle Spells Known (1): mass invisibility; mass cure serious wounds, summon monster VII
• 6th-Level Oracle Spells Known (2): shadow walk; mass cure moderate wounds, harm, summon monster VI
• 5th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): vampiric shadow shield; breath of life, mass cure light wounds, summon monster V, ANY ONE
• 4th-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): shadow step; cure serious wounds, divine power, master’s escape, poison, summon monster IV
• 3rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): deeper darkness; bestow curse, chain of perdition, cure serious wounds, dispel magic, summon monster III
• 2nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): invisibility; alter summoned monster, blindness/deafness, cure moderate wounds, darkness, summon monster II, ANY ONE
• 1st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): blurred movement; bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, shadow trap, summon monster I, touch of blindness
• Orisons (9): bleed, create water, detect magic, guidance, light, read magic, stabilize, ANY TWO

There are two key aspects to this build’s fun factor here in the mid levels: the Solid Shadows metamagic feat and the shadow mastery revelation. Both essentially do the same thing—they improve the “realness” of your shadow spells if your target disbelieves them. Note that while you definitely should take the Solid Shadows feat, you probably want a metamagic rod or two of this stellar option as well. (If your GM will allow it, there’s also a stellar staff in Realm of the Fellnight Queen that has a similar power.) Using this feat, you can essentially bump a “standard” version of any of these shadow spells to rival that of a “greater” version in terms of realness, and if you can get the metamagic rod we talked about before, your “Greater” shadow spells will actually be 100% real at 20th level, meaning that it doesn’t really matter if your foe disbelieves or not. (You can reach 100% sooner if you have that staff I mentioned.)

So, let’s check out the end game, shall we?

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: oracle 14
• Feats: Augment Summoning (1st), Superior Summoning (3rd), Spell Focus: illusion (5th), Greater Spell Focus: illusion (7th), Spell Penetration (9th), Greater Spell Penetration (11th), Solid Shadows (13th), FREEBIE (15th), FREEBIE (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: final revelation, mystery (shadow), oracle’s curse (haunted), revelations
• Revelations: army of darkness (1st), dark secrets (3rd), wings of darkness (7th), shadow mastery (11th), shadow projection (15th), living shadow (19th)
• 9th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): shades; energy drain, mass heal, summon monster IX
• 8th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): greater shadow evocation; divine vessel, mass cure critical wounds, orb of the void, summon monster VIII
• 7th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): mass invisibility; destruction, mass cure serious wounds, summon monster VII, umbral strike
• 6th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): shadow walk; mass cure moderate wounds, harm, summon monster VI
• 5th-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): vampiric shadow shield; breath of life, mass cure light wounds, summon monster V, ANY ONE
• 4th-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): shadow step; cure serious wounds, divine power, master’s escape, poison, summon monster IV
• 3rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): deeper darkness; bestow curse, chain of perdition, cure serious wounds, dispel magic, summon monster III
• 2nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): invisibility; alter summoned monster, blindness/deafness, cure moderate wounds, darkness, summon monster II, ANY ONE
• 1st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): blurred movement; bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, shadow trap, summon monster I, touch of blindness
• Orisons (9): bleed, create water, detect magic, guidance, light, read magic, stabilize, ANY TWO
• Pretty standard spellcasting stuff all around. You have tons of summoning, lots of utility, decent healing, and plenty of save-or-suck spells. You even have a few options for wading into combat. All around, this build is a great generalist with some very, very nasty tricks.

What do you think? What would you have changed in this build if you were playing it? Leave your questions and comments below, and I’ll see you back next week for the month of July! Also, if you were thinking about pledging to my Dynastic Races Kickstarter, it ends at 3:00pm EST on Wednesday, June 30th. If you’re able to help, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

My Dynastic Races Kickstarter is still going on (AND WE’VE FUNDED!), so I’m still doing Iconic builds for each of the races. Thanks to those of you from the Know Direction readership who pledged last week; I couldn’t have done it without you.

This week, I’m moving down the list to our next topic of interest: samsarans. Today, I’m going to be grabbing the most powerful racial trait in the game and going to town with it.

You’ve been warned, so let’s do it!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Samsaran: DID YOU NOTICE MY THEME YET?!
• Mystic Past Life: This is sort of a no-brainer trait if you’re taking levels in a spellcasting class.
• Shizuru: I like worshing Shizuru because he’s fitting for samsarans (the god of samsarans, Tsukiyo, was raised from the dead by Shizuru) and because its an incredibly easy way to get proficiency with a katana. I approve of easy katana proficiency.
• Ability Scores: We’re going to try to maximize Mystic Past Life, so I’m going to recommend buying at least a 16 Wisdom, but go to 18 if you can afford it.
• WARPRIEST: Oh, the shenanigans we’ll make together….

And with that out of the way, let’s get started!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: warpriest 7
• Alternate Racial Traits: mystic past life (true strike [inquisitor], lead blades [ranger], entangle [druid])
• Feats: Weapon Focus: katana (Bonus), Weapon of the Chosen (1st), Power Attack (Bonus), Improved Weapon of the Chosen (3rd), Greater Weapon of the Chosen (5th), Vital Strike (Bonus), Nature Magic (7th)
• Abilities: aura, blessings (minor; good, sun), channel energy, fervor 2d6, focus weapon (katana), sacred armor +1, sacred weapon (1d8; +1)
• I REALLY like this build. I like it enough that I would probably play it in PFS if I had a samsaran race boon.

Basically, the first thing you do is grab your katana and become a bad-ass with it. Aside from Power Attack at Level 3, you’re investing fully in the Weapon of the Chosen feat line, with an emphasis on having all three feats before you qualify for Vital Strike at Level 6, thanks to the warpriest’s ability to use its level as its base attack bonus for feats. Then at Level 7, we take Nature Magic. Not because its good, but because it’s a prerequisite for a BUNCH of hilarious feats that we want in the mid levels.

So what’s the nastiest trick that this build can do? Quickening true strike with the fervor class feature. YES, YOU CAN QUICKEN TRUE STRIKE AS A SWIFT ACTION USING THIS BUILD. Now your Vital Strike attacks will never miss. Ever.

Aside from this one trick, this build is pretty much a standard warpriest build. Pick spells that buff you and remove negative conditions, mostly; that’s what the warpriest excels at. But I don’t want to dwell on what truly is a very by-the-books warpriest spellcasting strategy—let’s move on to the mid levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: warpriest 14
• Alternate Racial Traits: mystic past life (true strike [inquisitor], lead blades [ranger], entangle [druid])
• Feats: Weapon Focus: katana (Bonus), Weapon of the Chosen (1st), Power Attack (Bonus), Improved Weapon of the Chosen (3rd), Greater Weapon of the Chosen (5th), Vital Strike (Bonus), Nature Magic (7th), Devastating Strike (Bonus), Grasping Strike (9th), Staggering Blow (11th), Improved Vital Strike (Bonus), Winter’s Strike (13th)
• Abilities: aura, blessings (major, minor; good, sun), channel energy, fervor 5d6, focus weapon (katana), sacred armor +3, sacred weapon (1d10; +3)

By 14th level, we’re finally at the point where our sacred weapon has begun to improve our katana’s base damage. That’s pretty cool. What’s cooler is the fact that our sacred weapon ability now has the ability to add keen to our katana by Level 8, which means SUPER KATANA 15–20 CRIT RANGE! That’s SUPER fun.

What’s also super fun is the crazy add-ons that we start to get from our feats at this point in the game. We can pick up Grasping Strike (adds entangled Wis/day), Staggering Blow (dazes target 1/day), and Winter’s Strike (fatigues Wis/day). All of these feats either require no action or a free action to use, and all of them save Staggering Blow can be used after you successfully hit your target, which you’ll do because you have true strike as a swift action and the ability to roll twice on all your attack action rolls thanks to Greater Weapon of the Chosen. You also have Devestating Strike, which adds +4 to damage by 11th level. Overall this is an awesome, “I buff myself then debuff you into the dirt,” build.

Let’s take it to the end game and see where this build leads.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: warpriest 20
• Alternate Racial Traits: mystic past life (true strike [inquisitor], lead blades [ranger], entangle [druid])
• Feats: Weapon Focus: katana (Bonus), Weapon of the Chosen (1st), Power Attack (Bonus), Improved Weapon of the Chosen (3rd), Greater Weapon of the Chosen (5th), Vital Strike (Bonus), Nature Magic (7th), Devastating Strike (Bonus), Grasping Strike (9th), Staggering Blow (11th), Improved Vital Strike (Bonus), Winter’s
• Strike (13th), Improved Devastating Strike (Bonus), Improved Critical: katana (15th), Critical Focus (17th), Greater Vital Strike (Bonus), Bleeding Critical (19th)
  Abilities: aura, avatar of war, blessings (major, minor; good, sun), channel energy, fervor 7d6, focus weapon (katana), sacred armor +5, sacred weapon (2d8; +5)

And endgame! We pick up some extremely powerful feats that will either free up sacred weapon for other things or add general quality of life to our routine (Greater Vital Strike, Improved Devastating Strike). Overall, this build is NASTY. It has extremely high accuracy, competitive damage, and inflicts truly terrifying debuffs on enemies.

So, what did you think of this build? What would you change if you were to play it? How would you counter it? Leave your comments below, consider backing my Kickstarter, and I’ll see you back here on Monday for another installment of Guidance. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hey everyone! In honor of my Kickstarter, I’m going to continue with me theme of, “Builds for Alex’s Dynastic Races.” Today, I’m going to do a nagaji aspirant build. Because that way, maybe you’ll be “aspired” to throw some money at my Kickstarter.

*Crickets*

Let’s just ignore that bad joke and move on, shall we?

Build Concept

So, what is today’s build going to look like? Snakes. It has to be snakes.

• Nagaji. Snaaaaaaaakes!
• Druid (Naga Aspirant): A racial archetype for a class that the race doesn’t have any ability mods to? Challenge accepted.

Alright, let’s do this!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: druid (naga aspirant) 7
• Feats: Toughness (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Natural Spell (5th), Scribe Scroll (7th)
• Abilities: aspirant’s enlightenment, naga shape, nature bond (animal companion), trackless step, wild empathy, wild shape 2/day, woodland stride
• Animal Companion Feats: Weapon Focus: bite (1 HD), Power Attack (3 HD), Final Embrace (5 HD)
• Aspirant’s Bond: mage hand (1st), divine favor (2nd), shield (3rd), mirror image (4th), see invisibility (5th), displacement (6th), divine power (7th)

Building a naga aspirant isn’t too different from building an ordinary druid in the early levels. First, we’re taking an animal companion—the lost of the spontaneous casting really hurts the aspirant as a spellcasting class (that’s one whole spell per day per level), so we’ll go with MOAR SNAKEZ instead. The archetype itself trades very little; the big thing you get in this stage of the game is the ability to add a whole bunch of sorcerer/wizard spells to your list of spells known, and the list is actually REALLY good for both a spellcasting focus and a melee focus. Why a melee focus, you ask? Well, there are TONS of awesome defensive buffs on the list. Pretty much every good sorcerer/wizard defensive buff that’s 4th level or lower. Yes. I’ll take it. PLEASE.

Our snake is actually pretty good, believe it or not. We’re taking a constrictor snake, and that little buddy’s got grab AND a 4th-level advancement; a beautiful combination. At 4th level, a constrictor snake gets constrict, so all we need to do is bump up our snake’s Intelligence to 3 and presto! It can take any feat it wants. Including FINAL EMBRACE. This wickedly cool feat lets the snake grapple and constrict a LOT more then it normally could, which is helpful.

Now, it might seem weird that I’m advising you to take Scribe Scroll, but the general idea is that you’ll have TONS of short-duration, limited-use wizard spell buffs that its totally worth it. Obviously if you’re playing in PFS, this feat is off the table—I suggest Improved Initiative in that case.

And with that, let’s advance our little snake-man to the mid levels!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: druid (naga aspirant) 14
• Feats: Toughness (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Natural Spell (5th), Scribe Scroll (7th), Vital Strike (9th), Outflank (11th), Powerful Poisoning (13th)
• Abilities: aspirant’s enlightenment, naga shape, nature bond (animal companion), trackless step, wild empathy, wild shape 6/day, woodland stride
• Animal Companion Feats: Weapon Focus: bite (1 HD), Power Attack (3 HD), Final Embrace (5 HD), Outflank (7 HD), Final Embrace Horror (9 HD), Vital Strike (11 HD)
• Aspirant’s Bond: mage hand (1st), divine favor (2nd), shield (3rd), mirror image (4th), see invisibility (5th), displacement (6th), divine power (7th), divine power (8th), dispel magic (9th), fireball (10th), mage armor (11th), shield of faith (12th), charm person (13th) lightning bolt (14th)
• Augmented Form: Sting (9th), Poisonous Sting (13th)

Mid levels are big girl levels for this build. First, our nagaji and her snake are going to be grabbing Outflank for the simple reason that when you grapple someone, they’re basically stuck with you. The idea is that Mr. Snake will grapple people so you (the druid) can run over into the proper positive and flank with your snake for that tastey +4 to hit. Your snake is the grappler and you’re the poisoner. Eventually, anyway. The idea is to build into that second attack, your sting, which will allow you to go into the devastatingly effective poisonous sting feat. This fantastic ability allows your tail to deliver a sting that renders foes unconscious, and at the precise time you get it you can also take the Powerful Poisoning feat, which allows you to gain a bonus to the save DCs of your poisons when you use Power Attack. Plan for a decent Charisma modifier (+2 or +3) and you can EASILY render foes fast asleep in your animal companion’s loving, horrific embrace. (Because your animal companion will have Final Embrace Horror, which causes it to shaken anything it damages with the constrict attack.) That way, your foe will be fast asleep and completely helpless as your snake friend pins it to the ground almost effortlessly.

I know, this is pretty mean. Let’s move on to the end game.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: druid (naga aspirant) 20
• Feats: Toughness (1st), Power Attack (3rd), Natural Spell (5th), Scribe Scroll (7th), Vital Strike (9th), Outflank (11th), Powerful Poisoning (13th),
• Grasping Strike (15th), Winter Strike (17th), Improved Vital Strike (19th)
  Abilities: aspirant’s enlightenment, naga shape, nature bond (animal companion), trackless step, true naga, wild empathy, wild shape 8/day, woodland stride
• Animal Companion Feats: Weapon Focus: bite (1 HD), Power Attack (3 HD), Final Embrace (5 HD), Outflank (7 HD), Final Embrace Horror (9 HD), Vital Strike (11 HD), Final Embrace Master (13 HD), Weapon Focus: grapple (15 HD)
• Aspirant’s Bond: mage hand (1st), divine favor (2nd), shield (3rd), mirror image (4th), see invisibility (5th), displacement (6th), divine power (7th), divine power (8th), dispel magic (9th), fireball (10th), mage armor (11th), shield of faith (12th), charm person (13th) lightning bolt (14th), suggestion (15th), charm person (16th), magic missile (17th), true strike (18th), open/close (19th), acid arrow (20th)
• Augmented Form: Sting (9th), Poisonous Sting (13th), poisonous bite (17th)
• And here we are at the end game! Some fun things to note, our snake friend now deals double damage with his constrict attack. Furthermore, you have a number of HILARIOUS debuffing abilities tied to your vital strike. (Grasping Strike is especially good, as every time you strike someone they’ll have to save or become entangled.) You also literally have poison coming out of both ends now; your mouth deals Con damage and your tail puts people to sleep.

All in all, this is a VERY unique, if weird, build. I don’t think its going to win any DR Olympics or anything, but I’m willing to bet that you’ll have a stellar time playing it, especially if you play it in a campaign going up to 15th level. (Aka try it in an AP, but be prepared for it to just get “good” as society play ends.)

And that’s the end of my nagaji build! Like I mentioned earlier, I’m running a Kickstarter so I can write cool stuff about the nagaji, kitsune, samsaran, and wayang races, and I’m very much appreciate your support if you’re willing to help me out. Next week I’ll be back with a wayang-themed build, but until then, take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

You may or may not have heard, but I’m currently running a Kickstarter campaign! I’m looking to make a book on world flavor and character options for kitsune, nagaji, samsarans, and wayangs. In honor of that loafty goal, for the month of June I’m going to do character builds themed around those four character races.

First up, kitsune!

Build Concept

Here’s the basics of this build.

• Kitsune: No surprise, its practically in the title!
• Fighter: Basically, we’re going to pick up the nine-tailed scion trait from Dirty Tactics Toolbox and use the bajillion fighter bonus feats that our character will get to pick up a bunch of tails. Neat, huh?

But that’s enough dawdling; let’s get to the build!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: fighter 7
• Traits: Armor Expert, Nine-tailed Scion
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Power Attack (1st), Magical Tail (Bonus), Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training (3rd), Magical Tail (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: trained finesse (5th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Run (Bonus), Magical Tail (7th)
• Abilities: armor training, bravery +2, weapon training +1
• Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training: Acrobatics (Bonus), armored sprint (7th)
• Advanced Weapon Training: trained finesse (Bonus)

So the basic idea at the early levels is that you grab something that you can finesse (preferably a rapier at this point) and beat the crap out of someone with it using Power Attack. Meanwhile, you have awesome spell-like abilities that no one else has yet, and have Acrobatics as a fighter skill (plus what amounts to free ranks in said skill). At 5th level, when the build picks up trained finesse, swap out to a nodachi; the damage die is better and you’ll get the two-handed bonus to damage from Power Attack. (And if you decide to invest a little in Strength, you could edge out a little bit more damage there too.)

One thing I REALLY want to point out is the super underrated armored sprint advanced armor training, which basically gives you Run as a bonus feat. Run is SUCH an underrated feat, and you can basically get it for free as a fighter. Totally worth it in my book.

The early levels are sort of dry for this build; you cap out at FINALLY getting displacement at 4th level. Let’s move on and see how this build does at later levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: fighter 14
• Traits: Armor Expert, Nine-tailed Scion
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Power Attack (1st), Magical Tail (Bonus), Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training (3rd), Magical Tail (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: trained grace (5th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Run (Bonus), Magical Tail (7th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Weapon Focus: nodachi (9th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Sprightly Armor (Bonus), Magical Tail (11th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: nodachi (13th), Greater Weapon Focus: nodachi (Bonus)
• Abilities: armor training, bravery +4, weapon training +3
• Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training: Acrobatics (Bonus), armored spring (7th), armored master: Sprightly Armor (11th)
• Advanced Weapon Training: trained finesse (Bonus), trained grace (9th), warrior spirit (13th)

I really like this build for capping out on the Magical Tail feats at 12th level; that means the build is designed to give you the pinnacle of your mystic power well before PFS’s conventional play ends which is a perk to those PFS players out there. Additionally, the build picks up trained grace, which adds a nice chunk of damage to our nodachi attacks, and the warrior spirit advanced weapon training, which works like a limited version of the occultist’s transmutation implement ability. Other then those options, the feat choices are rather dry: Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Focus are simply SUPER good. Another “different” choice that I made was to grab Sprightly Armor as an Advanced Weapon Training. This ability allows our build to add its armor enchantment bonus on initiative checks, which is pretty great on a Dex-to-hit build.

I’m pretty pleased with this build so far; let’s wrap it up in the end game and see how it does.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: fighter 20
• Traits: Armor Expert, Nine-tailed Scion
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Power Attack (1st), Magical Tail (Bonus), Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training (3rd), Magical Tail (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: trained grace (5th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Run (Bonus), Magical Tail (7th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Weapon Focus: nodachi (9th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Sprightly Armor (Bonus), Magical Tail (11th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: nodachi (13th), Greater Weapon Focus: nodachi (Bonus), Furious Focus (15th), Critical Focus (Bonus), Penetrating Strike (17th), Greater Penetrating Strike (Bonus), FREEBIE (19th), FREEBIE (20th)
• Abilities: armor mastery, armor training, bravery +6, weapon mastery, weapon training +4
• Advanced Armor Training: adaptable training: Acrobatics (Bonus), armored spring (7th), armored master: Sprightly Armor (11th), adaptable training: Escape Artist (15th)
• Advanced Weapon Training: trained grace (Bonus), trained finesse (9th), warrior spirit (13th), item mastery: Racial Item Mastery (17th)

There are a couple of neat abilities here. The first one I really like is the Racial Item Mastery feat, which will give us three additional uses of racial spell-like abilities. With this build, we have a lot to choose from. I also grabbed adaptable training: Escape Artist because its bound to be better than a straight CMB check with my bonuses. Finally, I left two feats open for freebies; I think I’d pick the focus weapon advanced weapon training ability as one of them, and the armed bravery advanced weapon training as the other. In all, this build has awesome spell-like abilities, is a solid 2H melee build, and works well with the kitsune racial stat modifiers. I’m a pretty big fan of it and might use it myself in the future.

So, what do you think? Is this a build you’d use? What would you change? Leave your questions and comments below, and I’ll see you back next week. Also, if you’d like to support me, please consider tossing a few dollars at my Kickstarter project. Thanks, and have an awesome weekend!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hello and welcome!

I’m writing this from the West Coast, in scenic Seatac, Washington at PAIZOCON! PaizoCon is fun and awesome, but its also a lot of work to get ready for. I’m running three different scenarios throughout the convention for a total of 5 to 6 games, and I also wrote the prototype for my company’s first-ever published adventure, A Fox’s Wedding.

Between getting ready for vacation and being on vacation, I didn’t have time to put together an Iconic Design build today. (But don’t worry, there should still be a Guidance article on Monday if everything goes according to plan.) However, I don’t want anyone to ever say that I left you guys with nothing, so I decided that I’m going to share not one, but SIX character builds with you all today.

The six pregen character builds I put together for my A Fox’s Wedding builds.

As a fair warning, some of my pregens use content from my Everyman Gaming products, but I think that’s fine. They’re still fun, innovative builds. I hope you enjoy them, and I’ll see you on Monday for an all-new installment of Guidance. Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Author’s Note: I had a weird internet problem where I couldn’t get the pregen files out of my Dropbox at the DoubleTree in Seattle while at PaizoCon. I apologize for this being late! Also, I’m counting my  contributions to the Know Direction Network’s PaizoCon 2016 Preview Banquet Coverage as my installment of Guidance for May 30th, so don’t expect to see another article there. Hope you enjoyed the notes and photos!

Welcome to Iconic Design, everyone!

Today’s build request comes from BLZ_Renlar, one of the Know Direction Network’s Live Blog reviews. BLZ asks, “Hey Alex, can you do a cool star knife build that uses Startoss Style?”

Well, considering that it’s a week before PaizoCon and doing a build that’s SUPER easy to put together sounds amazing, yes BLZ. Yes I can. For you. And for no other reason.

😉

Let’s get started!

Build Concept

So, what will we use today? I’m glad you asked!

• Startoss Style: THE thrown weapon fighting style, this was specifically requested by our reader. It’s a must-have!
• Weapon Master Fighter: There are a lot of different ways to do this style well. I’ve decided to go Weapon Master Fighter for this one. Should be neat, right?

And that’s it! Easy, right? Let’s move on and see what’s up head in this build.

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: fighter (weapon master) 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Weapon Finesse (1st), Precise Shot (Bonus), Weapon Focus: starknife (3rd), Startoss Style: starknife (Bonus), Quick Draw (5th), Ricochet Toss (Bonus), Startoss Comet (7th)
• Abilities: reliable strike, weapon guard, weapon training (starknife +2)

Early levels are pretty simple: pick up the stuff you need for Startoss Style and make iterative attacks. I’ve also budgeted for Weapon Finesse at this stage in the game because you’re not always going to want to throw your star knife, but by 7th level we care less about that. (And we won’t care at all by 9th.)

It’s a very short, simple, and sweet progression that isn’t all that new or exciting. So let’s move on!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: fighter (weapon master) 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Deadly Aim (1st), Precise Shot (Bonus), Weapon Focus: starknife (3rd), Startoss Style: starknife (Bonus), Quick Draw (5th), Ricochet Toss (Bonus), Startoss Comet (7th), Weapon Specialization: starknife (Bonus), Point-Blank Master (9th), Advanced Weapon Training: trained throw (Bonus), Startoss Shower (11th), Advanced Weapon Training: focused weapon (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: starknife (13th), Greater Weapon Specialization: star knife (Bonus)
• Abilities: deadly critical, mirror move, reliable strike, weapon guard, weapon training (starknife +4)
• Advanced Weapon Training: trained throw (Bonus), focus weapon (Bonus).

At 8th level, you’re likely going to want to trade out Weapon Finesse for Deadly Aim using the fighter’s free bonus feat retrain ability, as by this point you’re going to be good enough at ranged that you don’t really need Weapon Finesse anymore. Also, immediately after you make this trade at 9th level, you’ll be picking up Point-Blank Master, which makes it so your thrown attacks with the star knife no longer provoke attacks of opportunity. From there, we start picking up fun toys like the trained throw and focused weapon advanced weapon trainings as well as more bonuses to hit and damage.

By 14th level, we’re looking at the following: 1d10 damage per hit (focus weapon) + 8 (weapon training, doubled by trained throw) + 4 (Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization) + 6 (Startoss Style) + 8 (Deadly Aim) = 1d10 + 26 + your Strength modifier. That’s REALLY good static damage!

Also, you have all the fun-ness of ranged Great Cleave (aka Startoss Style) and the joy of being able to throw stuff at people in melee and have them be unable to do a damn thing about it. I always like that! Let’s move on to the end game and see what we can do for this build.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: fighter (weapon master) 20
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Deadly Aim (1st), Precise Shot (Bonus), Weapon Focus: starknife (3rd), Startoss Style: starknife (Bonus), Quick Draw (5th), Ricochet Toss (Bonus), Startoss Comet (7th), Weapon Specialization: starknife (Bonus), Point-Blank Master (9th), Advanced Weapon Training: trained throw (Bonus), Startoss Shower (11th), Advanced Weapon Training: focused weapon (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: starknife (13th), Greater Weapon Specialization: star knife (Bonus), Rapid Shot (15th), Advanced Weapon Training: fighter’s reflexes (Bonus), Improved Precise Shot (17th), Improved Critical: star knife (Bonus), Critical Focus (19th), FREEBIE (Bonus)
• Abilities: deadly critical, mirror move, reliable strike, unstoppable strike, weapon guard, weapon mastery, weapon training (starknife +4)
• Advanced Weapon Training: trained throw (Bonus), focus weapon (Bonus), fighter’s reflexes (Bonus),

And that’s a rap! Extra attack with Rapid Shot is always nice; honestly, I really wanted this earlier, but short of pushing back the Startoss feats a few levels I wasn’t sure of how to get the whole style for BLZ soon while still getting Rapid Shot. In the end, I pushed it back, but if I was doing this build I’d probably delay Startoss Comet and Greater Weapon Specialization: star knife to pick up Rapid Shot sooner; more attacks REALLY boosts your damage as a ranged character.

All that said, nothing really strange here. Just a fun, functional Startoss Style build. Hope you enjoy it, BLZ!

So what suggestions would YOU make to BLZ for their build? Or what sort of build would YOU like to see me tackle next? Leave your comments and suggestions below, and the next time you read an Iconic Design from me, I’ll be in PaizoCon! Woo! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Hello and welcome to another installment of Iconic Design.

We at the Know Direction Network absolutely LOVE Adventure Paths, and most of us are involved in one or more of them. Currently, James Ballod and I are playing in Reign of Winter with a group of mutual friends, and today I’ve decided to share my bard build for Iconic Design.

As always, please remember that my personal builds are subject to more change then most that I do; they often reflect my current thoughts on mechanics and abilities at the time, but those may change based upon the needs of the adventure or new products that come out between now and the next time that I gain a level. With that in mind, let’s dive right in to the build!

Build Concept

I actually had a couple of rules in mind when I built Zanzo Xitan, my bard. You ready for them?

• Bard: I wanted to play a bard because I love skills and we had no arcane spellcasters in our group. But also because I enjoy making my enemies better and having neat tricks up my sleeve. Bard is pretty good for that!
• NO ARCHETYPES: I absolutely REFUSED to take archetypes for this build. Why? I wanted bardic knowledge and versatile performance. That requirement basically knocks out 4/5ths of bard archetypes in the game. (See Monday’s Gibbering Mouth on bard archetypes and variety for more info for my thoughts on this subject.)

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get started!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: bard 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Arcane Strike (7th)
• Abilities: bardic knowledge, bardic performance (countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence +3, inspire courage +2, suggestion), lore master 1/day, versatile performance well-versed
• Versatile Performance: sing (2nd), string (6th)
• Bard 3rd-Level Spells Known (2): dispel magic, haste
• Bard 2nd-Level Spells Known (4): glitterdust, grease, heroism, hold person
• Bard 1st-Level Spells Known (5): charm person, ear-piercing scream, grease, liberating command, hideous laughter, saving finale
• Bard Cantrips Known (6): detect magic, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, sift

My basic strategy when playing a spellcaster is to have an answer for every occasion, which typically means, “Have a spell that someone is vulnerable to.” Looking at my list, my big choices are hold person/hideous laughter, grease, and ear-piercing scream. Grease lets me REALLY ruin a fighter’s day by making him drop his weapon, while ear-piercing scream has a pretty good shot at dazing an enemy spellcaster. Hold person and hideous laughter allow me to stop enemies from acting.

Aside from those spells, I picked up several buff spells (heroism is my big one, but I also like saving finale and liberating command) as well as glitterdust, because we have no way of countering invisibility in our party, but unlike see invisibility, glitterdust has practical applications for fighting anything via blinding it and preventing Stealth. For my versatile performance, I decided my character was a singer, and I actually try (poorly) to sing in character when I can. Even though it isn’t a great combo, I took strings as my second performance because they made sense to me from a story standpoint; what can I say, I like the string/bow string combo!

Speaking of that, archery. I really like archer bards because it lets me stay in the back and cast spells while still having something to contribute if I want to fight. I can’t see archery staying a high priority for this character, but its fun while it lasts!

Not much else to talk about in the mid levels; let’s move on.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: bard 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Arcane Strike (7th), Leadership (9th), Manyshot (11th), Lingering Performance (13th)
• Abilities: bardic knowledge, bardic performance (countersong, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate, frightening tune, inspire competence +4, inspire courage +3, inspire greatness, soothing performance, suggestion), jack-of-all-trades, lore master 2/day, versatile performance well-versed
• Versatile Performance: sing (2nd), string (6th), dance (10th), comedy (14th)
• Bard 5th-Level Spells Known (3): bard’s escape, greater harrowing, shadowbard
• Bard 4th-Level Spells Known (4): freedom of movement, hold monster, greater invisibility, truespeak
• Bard 3rd-Level Spells Known (5): daylight, dispel magic, harrowing, haste, jester’s jaunt
• Bard 2nd-Level Spells Known (6): glitterdust, grease, heroism, hold person, sense vitals, silence
• Bard 1st-Level Spells Known (6): charm person, ear-piercing scream, grease, liberating command, hideous laughter, saving finale
• Bard Cantrips Known (6): detect magic, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, sift

Mid levels gets cool for my bard, mostly because I get a bunch of neat utility spells, like freedom of movement, daylight, and haste. Jester’s haunt is pretty cool because not only can I move enemies, but I can even move allies or even myself. It’s a very useful ability with a lot of utility that you get a full spell level before dimension door. Speaking of dimension door, I chose to hold out for bard’s escape, because that spell is AWESOME. Its basically a GTFO card, and my party is TOTALLY going to need that to survive Reign of Winter. I also picked up some neat spells, like sense vitals, dispel magic, and harrowing (Zanzo is a Varisian kitsune, so it fits).

In terms of feats, I picked Leadership because APs give you TONS of opportunities to recruit cool characters (maybe I’ll recruit that winter wolf character…), and it seems cool for that reason. I also grabbed Manyshot because its an awesome archery feat as well as Lingering Performance because its arguably one of the best bard feats in the game.

With that in mind, let’s check out the endgame!

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: bard 20
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Arcane Strike (7th), Leadership (9th), Manyshot (11th), Lingering Performance (13th), Harmonic Spell (15th), Clustered Shot (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: bardic knowledge, bardic performance (countersong, deadly performance, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate, frightening tune, inspire competence +6, inspire courage +4, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, mass suggestion, soothing performance, suggestion), jack-of-all-trades, lore master 3/day, versatile performance well-versed
• Versatile Performance: sing (2nd), string (6th), dance (10th), comedy (14th), ANY (18th)
• Bard 6th-Level Spells Known (5): brilliant inspiration, greater scrying, greater shout, mass cure moderate wounds, pied piping
• Bard 5th-Level Spells Known (5): bard’s escape, greater grease, greater harrowing, heroic finale, resonating word, shadowbard
• Bard 4th-Level Spells Known (6): breat enchantment, freedom of movement, hold monster, greater invisibility, truespeak, ANY ONE
• Bard 3rd-Level Spells Known (6): daylight, dispel magic, harrowing, haste, jester’s jaunt, ANY ONE
• Bard 2nd-Level Spells Known (6): glitterdust, grease, heroism, hold person, sense vitals, silence
• Bard 1st-Level Spells Known (6): charm person, ear-piercing scream, grease, liberating command, hideous laughter, saving finale
• Bard Cantrips Known (6): detect magic, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, sift

Endgame!

Nothing too fancy here. Again, I’m picking up a bunch of buff spells and make-my-opponents-cry spells, and I’m also focusing more on the performance side of things for my feats. I don’t really have formulated plans for this tier because Reign of Winter ends at 15th level, but if we ever kept playing the characters, I would probably want something like this.

Bard is actually one of those classes that I’m not great at building because bards don’t really have much to go off of (I think most of the bardic masterpieces aren’t worth what you trade for them, for instance). So if you have any thoughts or comments, readers, I’ve love to hear them below. How do you build your bards? What makes bards fun for you? Leave your comments and questions below, and I’ll see you back here on Friday for another installment of Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Originally, I was going to do another Ultimate Intrigue build for the final installment of Intriguing April, but after sitting in front of my computer for nearly three days, completely unable to cobble together something that worked, I decided, “To heck with it!” and am doing something completely different.

I’m known for my kitsune characters, but did you know I have a dwarf monk? Did you know that I’ve never built an unchained monk for the site before?

I think my problem is solved.

My brain is completely fried, folks, so I’m going to just dive on into this article. Dwarf monk. Boom.

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: unchained monk 7
• Feats: Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Stunning Fist (Bonus), Toughness (Bonus), Dirty Fighting (1st), Dodge (Bonus), Pummeling Style (3rd), Improved Reposition (5th), Improved Trip (Bonus), Pummeling Style (7th)
• Abilities: evasion, fast movement +20, flurry of bows (one attack), ki pool, ki strike (cold iron/magic/silver), still mind, style strike (1/round), unarmed strike (1d8)
• Ki Powers: sudden speed (4th), elemental fury (6th)
• Style Strikes: flying kick (5th)

The unchained monk is super optimized to punch people in the face, so that’s what I intend to do. I took the unstoppable dwarf trait from Inner Sea Races, so I get Toughness as a bonus feat, which is super helpful. I’m also picking up Dirty Fighting as my first feat for several reasons: first, its super thematic for a drunken dwarf monk (I don’t need no archetypes to be an alcoholic!) and second, I need to qualify for Improved Reposition, which I can’t take as a monk bonus feat. So that’s what I’ll do.

Ki power wise, I want sudden speed and elemental fury. Elemental fury gives me more damage on a decent duration and sudden speed allows me to overcome my greatest weakness: slow and steady. So now I move like a rocked. In terms of style strikes, flying kick is amazingly cool. Its like mini monk pounce at Level 5. I’ll take it.

I don’t know if its been said enough, but as someone who’s actually played the Unchained Monk, MAN is the new flurry of blows amazingly good. You hit ALL the time with it. I will even go as far as to piss off the haters by saying, “Yes, it is worth losing the good Will save progression for.” Because frankly, my Will saves aren’t bad; I’ve got +2 or +3 at Level 1, which is doable.

Speaking of doable, let’s look at the mid-levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: unchained monk 14
• Feats: Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Stunning Fist (Bonus), Toughness (Bonus), Dirty Fighting (1st), Dodge (Bonus), Pummeling Style (3rd), Improved Reposition (5th), Improved Trip (Bonus), Pummeling Style (7th), Dimensional Agility (9th), Ki Throw (Bonus), Dimensional Assault (11th), Dimensional Dervish (13th), Improved Ki Throw (Bonus)
• Abilities: evasion, fast movement +40, flurry of bows (two attacks), improved evasion, ki pool, ki strike (cold iron/lawful/magic/silver), still mind, style strike (1/round), tongue of the sun and moon, unarmed strike (1d8)
• Ki Powers: sudden speed (4th), elemental fury (6th), abundant step (8th), qinggong power: restoration (10th), qinggong power: barkskin (12th), qinggong power: blood crow strike (14th)
• Style Strikes: flying kick (5th), shattering punch (9th), hammer blow (13th)

So basically, my build is designed to let my dwarf teleport around Dragonball Z style while beating the crap out of things. At Level 8, I pick up abundant step immediately and then take Dimensional Agility. With my 10th level feat, I take Ki Throw and then Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish, and Improved Ki Throw.

So basically, here’s what happens:

• Full-Attack: I use a swift action to activate abundant step, allowing me to teleport 60 feet and full attack, taking a 5-foot step between each attack.
• Flurry of blows is now part of a full-attack for the unchained monk, so I can flurry during this attack.
• Part 1, I trip my target with improved trip. This should be pretty easy with my full-attack-bonus flurry of blows. When I trip my target, I can put him in any space I’m adjacent to that I want, or I can try to bull rush him into the space of one of his allies. If I don’t want to trip or can’t trip the target, I can just take two attacks in part 2 instead.
• Part 2, when I hit the target of my flurry, I basically deal double damage thanks to hammer blow. I can also ignore DR with the attack if I want to.
• Part 3, I can spend ki to either make another attack or deal an extra 1d6 points of elemental damage.

Its sort of crazy. Let’s finish the build off in the end game and see where it goes.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: unchained monk 20
• Feats: Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Improved Unarmed Strike (Bonus), Stunning Fist (Bonus), Toughness (Bonus), Dirty Fighting (1st), Dodge (Bonus), Pummeling Style (3rd), Improved Reposition (5th), Improved Trip (Bonus), Pummeling Style (7th), Dimensional Agility (9th), Ki Throw (Bonus), Dimensional Assault (11th), Dimensional Dervish (13th), Improved Ki Throw (Bonus), Dimensional Savant (15th), Improved Critical (17th), Critical Focus (19th)
• Abilities: evasion, fast movement +40, flurry of bows (two attacks), improved evasion, ki pool, ki strike (cold iron/lawful/magic/silver), still mind, style strike (1/round), tongue of the sun and moon, unarmed strike (1d8)
• Ki Powers: sudden speed (4th), elemental fury (6th), abundant step (8th), qinggong power: restoration (10th), qinggong power: barkskin (12th), qinggong power: blood crow strike (14th), FREEBIE (16th), FREEBIE (18th), FREEBIE (20th)
• Style Strikes: flying kick (5th), shattering punch (9th), hammer blow (13th), elbow smash (17th)

Like many builds, the core of my dwarf monk comes on-line in the middle levels, so there isn’t much that I really need at high levels. Compared to most of my builds, this one is still very much a product in motion; I’m messing around with feats that I like, trying to see what I can get to work and what I think the build needs. For example, I think this build could use Power Attack; I think I’m going to be hurting for damage, and Improved Reposition didn’t end up being as important as I thought it would be. Don’t be surprised if you see this build again in the future after I mess around with it some more.

So, what do you think? How would you fine-tune this build? Or is there something you still want to see? Leave your questions and comments below, and I’ll see you next week for another round of Guidance and Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

I don’t think we could POSSIBLY do Intriguing April without doing the king of vigilantes. The one, the only, Don Diego de la Vega aka ZORRO!

He’s like the most iconic non-super masked hero EVER. Let’s dive in and take a look!

Build Concept

Here’s what we’ll be using to build Zorro.

• Human: Zorro’s human. Duh.
• Vigilante: This is also pretty obvious.
• Mounted Fury: So its my personal opinion that the mounted fury was based around being Zorro. As a character, Zorro doesn’t fight from horseback often. That being said, having a loyal steed is a huge part of Zorro’s vigilante identity, so I’m picking the mounting fury archetype this!

Let’s get started!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: vigilante (mounted fury) 7
• Feats: Combat Expertise (Bonus), Fox Style (1st), Fox Insight (3rd), Combat Reflexes (5th), Improved Dirty Trick (7th)
• Abilities: dual identity, furious charge, mount (Tornado; horse), seamless guise, startling appearance, thorough change, unshakable
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), renown (3rd), safe house (5th), loyal aid (7th)
• Vigilante Talents: lethal grace (2nd), cunning feint (4th)

Diego’s character (aka Zorro’s social identity) is a bit less consistent in his abilities then, say, Zorro himself is. Diego is usually portrayed as someone who is indifferent towards romance, shuns action, and rarely brandishes a sword. He’s usually portrayed as a man who is well-versed in art, poetry, literature, and science, and all of those are true; he simply exaggerates those interests to throw others off his trail. Sounds like social grace to me! I also picked up renown and safehouse, so Diego can hide his stuff. (In some versions of the tale, Diego has a secret laboratory.) Finally, he usually has a small cadre of friends and/or lovers who helps him (especially in the Disney versions of the story), so I picked loyal aid.

As Zorro, Diego is an extremely competent fencer and wickedly intelligent. As a result, I picked up Weapon Finesse at Level 1, then promptly traded it in for Fox Style (from Ultimate Intrigue), when I reached Level 2. Fox Style is SUPER appropriate for the character; not only does it let him use his BAB for feinting, but the name Zorro literally means, “Fox” in Spanish, and Zorro is constantly compared to a Fox. Sounds good to me! I quickly tore through the chain on this character, and picked up Combat Expertise and Combat Reflexes for good measure, and Improved Dirty Trick so I can qualify for Fox Trickery in the mid levels. I also took the cunning feint vigilante talent because it goes perfectly with Fox Style, and traded my 6th level talent for the furious charge, which is basically the cavalier’s charge class feature. Very helpful for when Zorro needs to mount and charge.

Let’s look at the mid levels and see what’s next for our hero!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: vigilante (mounted fury) 14
• Feats: Combat Expertise (Bonus), Fox Style (1st), Fox Insight (3rd), Combat Reflexes (5th), Improved Dirty Trick (7th), Weapon Focus: rapier (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: rapier (Bonus), Fox Trickery (9th), Power Attack (11th), Step Up (13th), Vital Strike (Bonus)
• Abilities: dual identity, frightening appearance, furious charge, mighty charge, mount (Tornado; horse), seamless guise, startling appearance, thorough change, unshakable
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), renown (3rd), safe house (5th), loyal aid (7th), feign innocence (9th), great renown (11th), incredible renown (13th)
• Vigilante Talents: lethal grace (2nd), cunning feint (4th), signature weapon: rapier (8th), surprise strike (10th), vital punishment (14th)

Mid levels are truly excellent for this build. At 8th level, we grab the signature weapon: rapier feat to net Weapon Focus and Weapon Speicalization in one fell swoop. Despite trading the vigilante specialization ability, a mounted fury still counts as an avenger for the purpose of talents, so this works out well for Zorro. I pick up Fox Trickery asap, which lets you make dirty tricks attempts off of attacks of opportunity, and take surprise strike at Level 10, which gives you bonuses on attacks against foes that are denied their Dexterity to AC. Vital Punishment rounds out my talent choices, and I pick up awesome feats like Power Attack and Step Up too.

Diego’s social identity is mostly focused on improving his renown at this level, but feign innocence is pretty awesome for him; now he’s pretty good at lying even if he doesn’t need the Bluff skill for combat whatsoever. Cool.

Let’s look at the end game and finish this build off, once and for all!

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: vigilante (mounted fury) 20
• Feats: Combat Expertise (Bonus), Fox Style (1st), Fox Insight (3rd), Combat Reflexes (5th), Fox Trickery (7th), Weapon Focus: rapier (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: rapier (Bonus), Improved Dirty Trick (9th), Mounted Combat (11th), Step Up (13th), Vital Strike (Bonus), Improved Vital Strike (15th), Greater Vital Strike (17th), Power Attack (Bonus), Devastating Strike (19th), Spirited Charge (Bonus)
• Abilities: dual identity, frightening appearance, furious charge, mighty charge, mount (Tornado; horse), seamless guise, startling appearance, stunning appearance, thorough change, unshakable, vengeance strike
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), renown (3rd), safe house (5th), loyal aid (7th), feign innocence (9th), great renown (11th), incredible renown (13th), instant recognition (15th), subjective truth (17th), triumphant return (19th)
• Vigilante Talents: lethal grace (2nd), cunning feint (4th), signature weapon: rapier (8th), surprise strike (10th), vital punishment (14th), expose weakness (16th), shield of blades (18th), combat skill (20th)

End game! Let’s do this.

I decided to round out the build by grabbing all of the good Vital Strike feats, so Zorro can really devastate enemies on attacks of opportunity. I also took Shield of Blades, which adds a very strong defensive element to the character; now when he uses Power Attack and Combat Expertise, he gets a total of +10 to his AC by 20th level; 5 from Combat Expertise and 5 from shield of blades. For good measure, we can even add fighting defensively for a monstrous +12 to AC, plus a heavily penalized attack. I also took expose weakness, as this helpful vigilante talent will allow Diego to reduce his foes’ DR for a short time as a dirty trick. I also got to swap my earlier selection of Power Attack for Mounted Combat, and as my 20th level feat, I decided to take Spirited Charge. So now Diego can Power Attack Devestating Greater Vital Strike with bonus damage from lethal grace. And if he happens to get the heads up on an enemy, he can add vengeance strike in there too. Nasty.

So what do you think of my Zorro build? Leave your comments and requests below, and I’ll see you back next week for another all-new installment of Guidance! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

I apologize in advance, everyone; this is by far one of the nastiest builds I’ve ever made.

Let’s get started

Build Concept

Here’s what we’re playing with today.

• Unchained Rogue (Snoop): This archetype is basically the, “take skills back from the investigator” archetype. It makes a bunch of trades and alterations, the most significant being the swapping of trapfinding and evasion for inspiration.

That’s it. That’s the basis of the build.

Now watch me break it for a sizable chunk of monsters in the game.

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: unchained rogue (snoop) 7
• Feats: Enforcer (1st), Shadows of Fear (3rd), Bludgeoner (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (5th), Weapon Focus: light mace (Bonus), Sap Adept (7th)
• Abilities: danger sense +2, debilitating injury, evasion, finesse training (light mace), inspiration, rogue talents, rogue’s edge, sneak attack +4d6, uncanny snoop
• Rogue’s Edge: Intimidate (5th)
• Rogue Talents: underworld inspiration (2nd), combat trick: Bludgeoner (4th), weapon training: light mace (6th)

Early levels makes use of several moving parts, the big ones being underworld inspiration, Bludgeoner, Enforcer, and Shadows of Fear. Shadows of Fear is a new rogue talent that lets you sneak attack an opponent once per round as if you were flanking them provided that opponent has a fear condition. Underworld inspiration allows you to get free inspiration uses on a bunch of skills, one of them being Intimidate. Enforcer allows you to make a free Intimidate check whenever you deal nonlethal damage to an opponent, and Bludgeoner removes all penalties for dealing nonlethal damage with lethal weapons that deal bludgeoning damage. Sap Adept, another shining star, gives you a bonus on nonlethal sneak attack damage equal to the number of dice rolled.

At the current game, your plan is simple. Rush in, bop the bad guy on the head to demoralize him (likely getting an extra rogue thanks to free inspiration rolls on Intimidate), and then counting that foe as being flanked for the first attack you make each round. Very handy indeed.

However, the trick doesn’t get “dumb” here. No, that happens at Level 10. Let’s go check it out.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: unchained rogue (snoop) 14
• Feats: Enforcer (1st), Shadows of Fear (3rd), Bludgeoner (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (5th), Weapon Focus: light mace (Bonus), Sap Adept (7th), Sap Master (9th), Dazzling Display (11th), Shatter Defenses (13th)
• Abilities: advanced talents, danger sense +4, debilitating injury, evasion, finesse training (light mace, gauntlet), inspiration, rogue talents, rogue’s edge, sneak attack +7d6, uncanny snoop
• Rogue’s Edge: Intimidate (5th), ANY SKILL (10th)
• Rogue Talents: underworld inspiration (2nd), combat trick: Bludgeoner (4th), weapon training: light mace (6th), rumormonger (8th), stalker talent: twisting fear (10th), skill mastery (12th), inspired intimidator (14th)

Alright, so we’re adding some new players to the mix. Sap Master allows you to essentially roll double sneak attack damage whenever you deal nonlethal sneak attack damage to a flat-footed opponent, Dazzling Display is an AoE demoralizer, and Shatter Defenses allows you to treat anyone you smack that has a fear condition as being flat-footed. Also important is the 10th level advanced talent, stalker talent. We’re picking twisting fear, which is 100% legal because it interacts with the “vigilante’s” (now the rogue’s) reduced hidden strike damage. For our purpose, that’s just the d6s from standard sneak attack. So this combo is completely legal.

Round 1: Attack foe. Make him afraid with enforcer; add free inspiration via underworld inspiration and if needed, spend extra inspiration for a longer duration with inspired intimidator. If foe is demoralized, twisting fear triggers, causing the target to take damage equal to your sneak attack damage dice. If you’re fighting a lot of enemies or don’t want to worry about hitting things, use Dazzling Display instead and laugh as everything that you demoralize within 30 feet takes your sneak attack damage. Also, if you want, you can use your rogue’s edge for Intimidate to frighten things instead.

Round 2+: Attack someone that is shaken. Shadows of fear triggers, making your first attack count as flanking even if you’re not. If you hit, you’ll deal sneak attack damage because of shadows of fear, and the target will become flat-footed because of shatter defenses. Subsequent hits will deal double nonlethal sneak attack damage because of Sap Master. That’s 14d6 nonlethal for those keeping track at home.

Yeah, this is PRETTY nasty, and its not even talking about debilitating injury. It has its weaknesses (anything immune to mind-affecting effects is immune to all of these tricks, and plenty of things are immune to nonlethal damage), but MAN, this build is scary against things that can be scared, and honestly it gets good as early as Level 12; if you really wanted, you could drop skill mastery for the feat advanced rogue talent and pick Shatter Defenses then instead of Level 13.

Let’s look at a theoretical end game for this build.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: unchained rogue (snoop) 20
• Feats: Enforcer (1st), Shadows of Fear (3rd), Bludgeoner (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (5th), Weapon Focus: light mace (Bonus), Sap Adept (7th), Sap Master (9th), Dazzling Display (11th), Shatter Defenses (13th), Critical Focus (15th), Double Debilitation (17th), Blinding Critical (Bonus), Sneaking Precision (19th)
• Abilities: advanced talents, danger sense +6, debilitating injury, evasion, finesse training (light mace, gauntlet, ANY WEAPON), inspiration, rogue talents, rogue’s edge, sneak attack +10d6, uncanny snoop
• Rogue’s Edge: Intimidate (5th), ANY SKILL (10th), ANY SKILL (15th), ANY SKILL (20th)
• Rogue Talents: underworld inspiration (2nd), combat trick: Bludgeoner (4th), weapon training: light mace (6th), rumormonger (8th), stalker talent: twisting fear (10th), skill mastery (12th), inspired intimidator (14th), obscuring blow (16th), Blinding Strike (18th), FREEBIE (20th)

By 20th level, you’re the king of nasty things. Monsters are more likely to be immune to your schtick, but when you’ve got it, you’ve got it. This is 100% an intrigue build because it works best when your foes are things that you can demoralize and terrify; and when you get right down to it, what more is intrigue than fear?

Well, that’s my offering for this week’s installment of Iconic Design. What did you think? Would you play this build, or is it a bit too cheesy for you? Where could you see an NPC with this build in your game? Leave your questions and comments below, and be sure to come back next week as Intriguing April continues! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

So I felt really bad that I effectively didn’t give you an article last week (no I didn’t), so this week I’m going to make it up to you with TWO builds! Sort of.

As many of you might remember, I have a playtest vigilante named Cyril Takamine, aka the Bloodhound. Well, PFS Additional Resources have been updated, and now its time to rebuild him to make him compatible with the new Ultimate Intrigue rules.

BUT WHAT OPTIONS DO I TAKE?!

I’m down between two choices: sticking warlock like I was in the playtest or going stalker. And since the warlock is Logan Bonner’s brain child while Mark Seifter created the stalker, today on Iconic Design, its designer v. designer as we try to figure out WHOSE content I will be adopting for my character! Let’s do it!

Build Concept

Two builds, two concepts; let’s do it!

• Kitsune: Cyril is/was a kitsune. I’m not going to change that.
• Stalker: First option is to make Cyril a vigilante with the stalker archetype. This archetype is roguelike and features a special version of sneak attack, roguelike talents, and more. As a stalker, Cyril would take the duplicitous alternate racial trait from Inner Sea Gods for a sweet +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Disguise checks. (You’ll see why momentarily.)
• Warlock: Second option is to make Cyril a vigilante with the warlock archetype, which trades and alters a bunch of class features so he can cast spells and use mystic powers. This version of Cyril would keep the kitsune magic ability for its sweet, sweet +1 bonus on enchantment spell save DCs.

But enough about the general build; let’s do this thing!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Build 1
• Classes: vigilante 7
• Feats: Skill Focus: Bluff (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (3rd), Weapon Focus: kukri (5th), Combat Reflexes (7th)
• Abilities: dual identity, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance, unshakable, vigilante specialization (stalker; hidden strike +4d8), vigilante talents
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), double time (3rd), in vogue (5th), quick change (7th)
• Vigilante Talents: lethal grace (2nd), canny feint (4th), leave an opening (6th)

• Build 2
• Classes: vigilante (warlock) 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Two-Weapon Fighting (7th)
• Abilities: dual identity, mystic bolts (acid, electricity), piercing bolts, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance,
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), double time (3rd), in vogue (5th), quick change (7th)
• Vigilante Talents: arcane striker (2nd), tattoo chamber (6th)
• Spells: As a 7th level magus (3rd level spells), using the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

Okay, let’s start with the stalker. This build is focused around feinting, though not initially. At 1st level, the build assumes that you’re grabbing Weapon Finesse, then taking the Lethal Grace talent at Level 2. This will allow you to immediately trade out your Level 1 feat, which you can use to pick basically anything you want provided you could take it at Level 1. I like bluffing people, so Skill Focus: Bluff is my choice for the purpose of this guide, though Improved Initiative seems pretty awesome too. Weapon-wise, I’m planning on going kukri for crit-fishing because critical hits are fun, but the gladius is also a REALLY great weapon because it can be used for piercing or slashing, so I’m keeping that in mind as well. Featwise, the initial idea is to feint stuff with canny feint, which lets me feint as a move action, and eventually building into leave an opening, so if I feint you and sneak attack you, I get to feint you and sneak attack you again at the start of my next turn. Pretty nifty, though its honestly a compelling argument to switch from kukris to gladiuses; a 1d4 attack that might not be a hidden strike isn’t super compelling.

Switching over to the warlock build, my build is ranged-focused and starts by getting all of the important “thrown feats;” Point-Blank, Precise, Rapid Shot, and Two-Weapon Fighting. By the time I’m 7th level, that’s three touch attacks with a bonus of Dex modifier +0. Not great, but that’s why touch attacks are awesome, right? My energy types are going to be electricity because its cool and acid because its practical (few things are resistant to acid), and I’m picking up Arcane Striker as my first talent so I can have Arcane Strike as a bonus feat. At 6th level, I’m grabbing tattoo chamber because MY GOD THE ACTION ECONOMY ON THIS IS AMAZING. Tattoo chamber is great, and in my original build I had to wait a LONG time for it, so this is helpful. In addition, I can cast spells like a 7th-level magus using the sorcerer/wizard spell list. I miss the arcanist casting, but I have SO many more spells at my disposal now that its unreal. I would have liked an option to cast like a bard instead of a magus (I prefer spontaneous casting), but it is what it is. It is worth noting that as a warlock, you need never prepare a damge-dealing spell in your life. Why bother when you have mystic bolts? Instead, I will be using my spells per day to prepare controlling spells that let my character do things like drop foes into places where they become less effective (create pit) or paralyze them outright (hold person).

From a quick glance, its clear to see that the stalker has better damage and a more robust fighting style, but the warlock is the clear winner in the battle of versatility. At this point in the game, I find myself liking the stalker build a bit better because it syncs up PERFECTLY with the kitsune’s racial bonuses; that’s a small thing to like, especially considering we’re only talking about being one ability score off with the warlock, but it is worth considering. Let’s keep it in mind when we’re looking at the mid levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Build 1
• Classes: vigilante 14
• Feats: Skill Focus: Bluff (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (3rd), Weapon Focus: kukri (5th), Combat Reflexes (7th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9th), Improved Critical (11th), Power Attack (Bonus), Critical Focus (13th), Blind-Fight (Bonus), Improved Blind-Fight (Bonus)
• Abilities: dual identity, frightening appearance, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance, unshakable, vigilante specialization (stalker; hidden strike +7d8), vigilante talents
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), double time (3rd), in vogue (5th), quick change (7th), immediate change (9th), many guises (11th), mocking jay (13th)
• Vigilante Talents: lethal grace (2nd), canny feint (4th), leave an opening (6th), surprise strike (8th), inspirational vigilante (10th), shield of blades (12th), strike the unseen (14th)

• Build 2
• Classes: vigilante (warlock) 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Two-Weapon Fighting (7th), Weapon Finesse (9th), Ranged Feint (11th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (13th)
• Abilities: dual identity, mystic bolts (acid, electricity), piercing bolts, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance,
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), double time (3rd), in vogue (5th), quick change (7th), immediate change (9th), many guises (11th), mocking jay (13th)
• Vigilante Talents: arcane striker (2nd), tattoo chamber (6th), cunning feint (12th)
• Spells: As a 14th level magus (5th level spells), using the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

So stalker first again. Talent-wise, the stalker gets a LOT of cool abilities post Level 7. Surprise strike is AWESOME for a feinting-heavy character, as it gives a scaling attack roll bonus against foes that are denied their Dexterity bonus to AC. The vigilante doesn’t have many ways to gain offensive bonuses like that, so surprise strike is much-needed when its picked up. After that, inspirational vigilante. This was originally a talent I overlooked, but its worth mentioning that this talent scales EXTREMELY well. A standard investigator gets a number of inspiration uses equal to his Intelligence + 1/2 his level and can use inspiration for free on any Intelligence-based skill that he’s trained in. A vigilante, on the other hand, gets no free uses but instead gets one use per level. This means that early on (level 2), the investigator is going to have so many more uses that this talent isn’t worth taking. But at Level 4, my investigator has a total of five uses (+3 Int and 2 from level) while a vigilante would have 5. As the vigilante levels, he quickly outpaces the investigator in inspiration uses, which is what makes this ability worth it; the investigator is more about getting uses for free on skills while the vigilante is about having a LOT of uses for a lot of different things. After that, I took shield of blades (Power Attack sans prerequisites AND a bonus to AC when I Power Attack? Okay.) and strike the unseen, which is a bucket of bonus feats. I’m not convinced that Power Attack is the talent that this build needs, since all those Two-Weapon Fighting feats I have come at a hefty attack roll penalty, however.

Let’s shift over to the warlock. I decided to pick up Weapon Finesse at Level 9 and Ranged Feint at Level 11; the reason I took Weapon Finesse first is that my build won’t have canny feint until Level 12, and ranged feint doesn’t do much until then. Its worth mentioning that Ranged Feint is AWESOME; it is literally the feat that archer rogues everywhere have needed to be competitive (I’ll show you a new archer rogue build next week to prove it), and I’m happy to have it here. I’m also picking cold as my new energy type for 13th level, because in my experience more things are resistant/immune to fire, which means vulnerability to cold is more common too.

The differences between these builds are stark and fairly well balanced. The stalker is still REALLY good at damage, and the sheer number of cool abilities he has over the warlock is tempting. The warlock has CL 14 with 6th-level wizard spells in his corner, however, and a neat “ranged feinting with mystic blasts” mechanic that is tempting, though I’m not sure if its worth sticking around this long for.

Let’s check the endgame and see.

Endgame (15+)

• Build 1
• Classes: vigilante 20
• Feats: Skill Focus: Bluff (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (3rd), Weapon Focus: kukri (5th), Combat Reflexes (7th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9th), Improved Critical (11th), Power Attack (Bonus), Critical Focus (13th), Blind-Fight (Bonus), Improved Blind-Fight (Bonus), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15th), Greater Blind-Fight (Bonus), Bleeding Critical (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: dual identity, frightening appearance, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance, stunning appearance, unshakable, vengeance strike, vigilante specialization (stalker; hidden strike +7d8), vigilante talents
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), double time (3rd), in vogue (5th), quick change (7th), immediate change (9th), many guises (11th), mocking jay (13th), case the joint (15th), everyman (17th), any guise (19th)
• Vigilante Talents: lethal grace (2nd), canny feint (4th), leave an opening (6th), surprise strike (8th), inspirational vigilante (10th), shield of blades (12th), strike the unseen (14th), close the gap (16th), shadow’s speed (18th), hide in plain sight (20th)

• Build 2
• Classes: vigilante (warlock) 20
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Two-Weapon Fighting (7th), Weapon Finesse (9th), Ranged Feint (11th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (13th), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15th), Weapon Focus: mystic bolt (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: dual identity, mystic bolts (acid, electricity), piercing bolts, seamless guise, social talents, startling appearance, stunning appearance, vengeance strike, vigilante talents
• Social Talents: social grace (1st), double time (3rd), in vogue (5th), quick change (7th), immediate change (9th), many guises (11th), mocking jay (13th), case the joint (15th), everyman (17th), any guise (19th)
• Vigilante Talents: arcane striker (2nd), tattoo chamber (6th), cunning feint (12th), surprise strike (18th), inspirational vigilante (20th)
• Spells: As a 20th level magus (6th level spells), using the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

Endgame!

Both builds end strong by picking up their respective Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats; arguably that’s better for the vigilante, who is shooting at touch AC with a +3 benefit from feinting thanks to the surprise strike vigilante talent, but surprise strike doesn’t come online until 18th level for the warlock. Stalker picks up a massive +20 ft. bonus to movement speed, Greater Blind-Fight, and an ability that allows him to completely shut down attacks to make attacks of opportunity against him while he’s moving. Despite the number of talents the warlock possesses, he runs out of cool things to take at the end-game, and his number of special abilities still feels rather limited because of the number of talents that get spent on spellcasting. That said, this version is playable compared to the playtest, and because you lose a lot of cool vigilante talents for spellcasting, I personally feel that these two choices come out being pretty close power-wise. They’re good at different things in different ways, but overall they’re both functional.

That’s what makes this choice so hard….

So while I’m agonizing over choices, what do you think? Which of these two builds is mechanically superior? Which looks like more fun? Which do you think I should use for my vigilante’s PFS build? Leave your questions below, and I’ll see you back on Monday for another installment of Guidance as Intriguing April continues! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

One of the biggest reasons that prestige classes aren’t great in the current Pathfinder environment is that they simply lack the support that most base classes get. Every now and then, those rogue freelancers at Paizo manage to sneak some support in, however, and the result is BEAUTIFUL. Today we’re going to be using some of the new Blood of Shadows shadowdancer content to make a kickass Prestige Class build for this long-neglected class. Lets get started!

Build Concept

So, here’s the basis for today’s build. Let’s get to it!

• Shadowdancer: This is what I set out to build, right?
• Unchained Rogue (Scout): Shadowdancer is a neat prestige class in that it is SUPER versatile in who can take it; it just lists some skills and feats for its prerequisites. I’m taking the scout archetype for some fun interactions with the shadow jump class feature later on. You’ll see!

Easy enough! Let’s get started.

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: unchained rogue (scout) 5 / shadowdancer 2
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Combat Reflexes (1st), Dodge (3rd), Mobility (5th), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (7th)
• Abilities: danger sense +1, darkvision, debilitating injury, evasion, finesse training, hide in plain sight, rogue’s edge, scout’s charge, sneak attack +3d6, trapfinding, uncanny dodge
• Rogue Talents: minor magic (2nd), gloom magic (4th), fast stealth (6th)

As you’ll see, we’ve got a lot of cool, new Blood of Shadows options in this build to make the shadowdancer work. That’ll be a recurring theme. The build is pretty straightforward at the early levels; you’re picking up the prerequisites mostly, and since we can’t start picking up the “cool” abilities until Level 9, when your shadowdancer level will be high enough for shadow jump, I thought that this would be a good time to pick up Accomplished Sneak Attacker. Right now, you’ve got the Sneak Attack damage dice of a 7th level rogue while still being a shadow dancer, which is helpful. (It doesn’t stay that way forever, mind you, but it works for now.)

Now, the “weird” options that I’m going for are the gloom magic talents, which basically give you two uses of darkness as a spell-like ability at this level. There are LOTS of neat feats that require darkness as a spell-like ability as a prerequisite, and I’m going to try to be grabbing them as the build levels up. I also feel that poison use is a powerful ability for this build, and is a bit more flavorful than the typical “combat trick” setup that most rogues are going to take at this point. Of course, you’re also going to want to take Stealth as your rogue’s edge, if that’s the case.

But that’s enough for now, let’s move on to the mid levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: unchained rogue (scout) 5 / shadowdancer 9
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Combat Reflexes (1st), Dodge (3rd), Mobility (5th), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (7th), Flexible Shadow Jump (9th), Dimensional Agility (11th), Dimensional Assault (13th), Weapon Focus: any (Bonus)
• Abilities: danger sense +1, darkvision, debilitating injury, defensive roll, evasion, finesse training, hide in plain sight, improved uncanny dodge, rogue’s edge, shadow call, shadow illusion, shadow jump 160 ft., shadow power, slippery mind, sneak attack +3d6, summon shadow, trapfinding, uncanny dodge
• Rogue Talents: minor magic (2nd), gloom magic (4th), fast stealth (6th), major magic (8th), greater gloom magic (11th), weapon training (14th)

Now that we’re into super high level shadowdancer territory, there are a lot of cool things going on, the first of which is the Flexible Shadow Jump feat. Written by your truly in Blood of Shadows, this feat does several things. First, it breaks shadow jump up from 10-foot jumps to 5-foot jumps, effectively giving you 8 5-foot leaps instead of 4 10-foot leaps. The flexibility is SUPER useful, even initially. The other neat thing that it lets you do is treat shadow jump as the ability to cast dimension door for the purpose of feats like Dimensional Agility and the like. This means no more pleading with your GM; just do it! Flexible Shadow Jump is useful enough without this extra perk, but the fact that by the end of the mid levels that you’ll be able to charge with shadow jump AND deal sneak attack damage thanks to the scout archetype is really, really cool.

Let’s talk rogue talents. Greater gloom magic is deeper darkness as a 1/day spell-like ability and that’s useful, but major magic has a new secret friend. Dancing darkness, a new 1st-level spell from Blood of Shadows. This spell allows you to essentially create four “anti dancing lights” motes for 1 minute per level. This is SUPER powerful for the shadowdancer. Let me sum up why in two words.

Mario Pipes.

Basically, you have four motes that you can even move around, up to 100 feet PER ROUND that last minutes per level, and they’re reducing the illumination for you as they move about. This means you can cast the spell, then jump into a nearby shadow and pop out in the area created by the dancing darkness motes. Or better yet, you can drop the motes at your feet and reappear in a different shadow nearby. Honestly, this spell is so good for the shadowdancer. That’s it likely worth investing in UMD and wands just to be able to use it more. And weapon training? Meh, I figured the shadowdancer’s attack bonus might be low. There’s not much else we need since the rogue doesn’t have advanced talents yet.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about some of the amazing shadowdancer abilities that pop up at this level. Of them, summon shadow is by far the most powerful. A touch attack buddy that basically does at-will Strength damage? Yes, please. Shadow conjuration and shadow evocation, two of the most versatile spells in the game, as spell-like abilities usable multiple times per day? Yes. Please. Regaining improved uncanny dodge and uncanny dodge? Done. Two super powerful advanced rogue talents as class features? YES. Dear god, this is so tantalizing, I can barely contain myself! Let’s move on to the end game.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: unchained rogue (scout) 10 / shadowdancer 10
• Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Combat Reflexes (1st), Dodge (3rd), Mobility (5th), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (7th), Flexible Shadow Jump (9th), Dimensional Agility (11th), Dimensional Assault (13th), Weapon Focus: any (Bonus), Dimensional Savant (15th), COMBAT FREEBIE (Bonus), Extra Shadow Jump (17th), Extra Shadow Jump (19th)
• Abilities: danger sense +3, darkvision, debilitating injury, defensive roll, evasion, finesse training, hide in plain sight, improved evasion, improved uncanny dodge, rogue’s edge, shadow call, shadow illusion, shadow jump 320 ft., shadow master, shadow power, skirmisher, slippery mind, sneak attack +5d6, summon shadow, trapfinding, uncanny dodge
• Rogue Talents: minor magic (2nd), gloom magic (4th), fast stealth (6th), major magic (8th), greater gloom magic (11th), weapon training (14th), combat trick: FREEBIE (16th), FREEBIE (18th) see in darkness (20th)

So the shadowdancer capstone is pretty sick, giving you DR in dim illumination and darkness, plus the improved evasion rogue talent, plus doubling your shadow jump again. But that’s not enough shadow jump for me. I want ALL the shadow jump. So I took Flexible Shadow Jump twice. This feat starts by giving you 10 extra feat of shadow jump, but each time your shadow jump distance doubles, the benefit of the feat doubles with it. Until at 10th level, when each feat is worth +80 feet of shadow jump.

SOLD.

So with two selections of the feat (after all, I NEEDED to take Dimensional Savant at 15th level first so I could flank with myself THROUGH THE SHADOWS), we’re looking at a total shadow jump distance of 480 feet. Which is spent in 5-foot squares, for a hard cap of 85 shadow jumps. Pretty darn good!

Since most of this build is built around shadow jumping and shadow shadowing, the end-game doesn’t have many stipulations for what sort of talents you pick at this point. Take what you want, although I recommend see in darkness as your first, and only, advanced talent because its awesome.

So what did you think? Is this a shadowdancer you would play? Or do you need MORE shadowdancer builds? (Because I can do more. Believe it.) Leave your comments and questions below, and I’ll see you next week for another installment of Iconic Design, only at the Know Direction Network! Ciao!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Okay, okay! So the Gaang REALLY wasn’t back together. I’ve said multiple times that doing Aang / Korra just isn’t something that you can do with the current rules set, but fans were quick to point out that I missed a REALLY important character. The heart and soul of the Gaang, so to speak. I’m talking, of course, about Sokka.

Guess I need to rectify that.

Build Concept

Here’s our build guide for Sokka!

• Human: No other race in Avatar’s world (yet).
• Fighter (Lore Warden, Martial Master): This is one of my favorite fighter archetype combinations, and Sokka seems pretty adpt for it. He’s smart, versatile, and always has tricks up his sleeve. Plus he’s a warrior. Sounds good to me!
• Investigator (Sleuth): Did I mention that Sokka is smart? Like, “Basically invent the hot air balloon in a matter of minutes,” smart? If you look at Avatar: The Last Airbender as a whole, Sokka’s idea for improving the war balloon in the show basically leads to the giant Hindenburg-style airship that exists at the end of the game. He basically invents his way into Avatar’s industrial revolution. That seems inspiration-worthy to me, but while Sokka has made explosives in episodes before, he definitely isn’t an alchemist. That’s why we’re grabbing the sleuth archetype; its not a great archetype, no, but we need it for theme! FOR THEME!

And that’s the scaffold. Let’s get to building!

Book One: Air (1–7)

• Classes: fighter (lore warden, martial master) 4, investigator (sleuth) 3
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (Bonus), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: boomerang (1st), Combat Expertise (Bonus), Weapon Focus: boomerang (Bonus), Deadly Aim (3rd), Extra Investigator Talent: underworld inspiration (5th), Martial Focus: thrown (Bonus), Ricochet Toss (7th)
• Abilities: alchemy, deeds, expertise, investigator talents, keen recollection, maneuver mastery +2, poison lore, poison resistance +2, scholastic, trap sense +1, trapfinding +1
• Investigator Talents: expanded inspiration (3rd), underworld inspiration (Bonus)

So the basic idea for going investigator is simple: Sokka is REALLY good at knowing stuff, and inspiration is REALLY good for that. So we’re going three levels into investigator in order to pick up investigator talents so we can make as many skills into free uses of inspiration as possible; expanded inspiration, underworld inspiration, and a rank into each Intelligence-based skill make this possible.

While this is going on, Sokka is gearing up to be the boomerang king that he always knew he could be. He’s grabbing all of the necessary feats and abilities, as well as Martial Focus, which allows him to meet the weapon training prerequisite of Weapon Mastery feats. This means that at 7th level, he has the BAB and the feat to pick up Ricochet Toss, which means his boomerang will always come back to him. Huzzah!

Sokka has some feats and abilities that won’t be seeing much practical use right now, namely Combat Expertise and maneuver mastery. Don’t worry, we’ll get there for both of these abilities. Don’t believe me? Let’s head to the mid levels and see.

Book Two: Earth (8 –14)

• Classes: fighter (lore warden, martial master) 11, investigator (sleuth) 3
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (Bonus), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: boomerang (1st), Combat Expertise (Bonus), Weapon Focus: boomerang (Bonus), Deadly Aim (3rd), Extra Investigator Talent: underworld inspiration (5th), Martial Focus: thrown (Bonus), Ricochet Toss (7th), Startoss Style: boomerang (Bonus), Extra Martial Flexibility (9th), Startoss Comet (Bonus), Extra Investigator Talent: applied engineering (11th), Startoss Shower (Bonus), Vital Strike (13th)
• Abilities: alchemy, deeds, expertise, investigator talents, hair’s breadth, keen recollection, know thy enemy, maneuver mastery +6, martial flexibility (two feats; swift), poison lore, poison resistance +2, scholastic, trap sense +1, trapfinding +1
• Investigator Talents: expanded inspiration (3rd), underworld inspiration (Bonus), applied engineering (Bonus)

In mid levels, Sokka has a few neat things going for him. First, his martial master archetype kicks him, granting him martial flexibility. This is super useful because he has pseudo-weapon training through martial flexibility, which means he has access to the ranged targeting feats at easy cost, which gives him something to do with that fat bonus on combat maneuver checks that he gains from martial mastery. He also gains Startoss Style, which gives him a damage bonus with his boomerang, and Startoss Shower, which allows him to hit multiple opponents with his boomerang attacks. (AND IT STILL COMES BACK TO HIM!) He also gets Vital Strike, because Vital Strike’s extra damage dice comes into play with the Startoss feat line, allowing him to do extra damage to the first opponent he hits with his Startoss feat.

Just in case you were worried that the investigator levels were for fluff, at fighter level 7, Sokka gains know thy enemy, which gives him a big bonus whenever he successfully identifies an opponent’s weaknesses or abilities. And with inspiration, this’ll happen a LOT more often, as he’s constantly adding d6 to all of his Knowledge checks. I’m also choosing to invest in the applied engineering investigator talent, because that’s totally a Sokka thing. Other then that, we’re improving his skill with a variety of weapons (use martial flexibility to take whatever you want, Sokka; we won’t judge) while remaining surprisingly capable at skills. Who knew?

Let’s look at the final tier and see how he ends up!

Book Three: Fire (15+)

• Classes: fighter (lore warden, martial master) 17, investigator (sleuth) 3
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (Bonus), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: boomerang (1st), Combat Expertise (Bonus), Weapon Focus: boomerang (Bonus), Deadly Aim (3rd), Extra Investigator Talent: underworld inspiration (5th), Martial Focus: thrown (Bonus), Ricochet Toss (7th), Startoss Style: boomerang (Bonus), Extra Martial Flexibility (9th), Startoss Comet (Bonus), Extra Investigator Talent: applied engineering (11th), Startoss Shower (Bonus), Vital Strike (13th), Improved Vital Strike (Bonus), Greater Vital Strike (15th), Weapon Specialization: boomerang (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: boomerang (17th), Greater Weapon Specialization: boomerang (Bonus), Penetrating Strike (19th)
• Abilities: deeds, expertise, investigator talents, hair’s breadth, keen recollection, know thy enemy, luck, maneuver mastery +8, martial flexibility (three feats; immediate), poison lore, poison resistance +2, scholastic, swift lore, trap sense +1, trapfinding +1
• Investigator Talents: expanded inspiration (3rd), underworld inspiration (Bonus), applied engineering (Bonus)

End levels are pretty simple; we’re capping things off with Greater Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike for maximum Startoss multitarget damage, as well as the Greater Weapon Focus line. Know thy enemy becomes faster, and Sokka can now take up to three feats at the same time with his martial flexibility. Very cool, very helpful.

This build is strongly reminiscent of the one I made for Everyman Gaming, LLC’s Iconic Cavalier character, Kyr’shin Yilenzo. I honestly love this sort of build: the smart fighter who uses his wits as well as his weapon to win the day! What do you gals and guys thing? Is this the sort of build you’d play? Why or why not? Would you have done anything differently? What characters should I look at now, since I’ve finished the Gaang for REAL this time? Leave your comments and questions below, and I’ll see you back at the Know Direction Network next week for another Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

A few months ago, I got a request for a Shieldmarshal build, a gunslinging prestige class from Paths of Prestige. I figured that I’m on a roll with fixing up my arcane trickster build, so why not give this one a shot too? (See the pun? See it? SEE IT?)

Alright, I’ll move on now.

Build Concept

Here’s the basics of our build!

• Race: Any. I’m going to assume you’re human because you’re from Alkenstar, but there’s no reason to restrict this race. If you go human, Precise Shot is your human bonus feat, and you take Deadly Aim at Level 3.
• Gunslinger (Musket Master): I like me some d12s, so muskets it is! Plus their slightly better version of gun training is pretty attractive.
• Shieldmarshal: Honestly, this isn’t a GREAT prestige class, so I’m only going to be dipping my toes into it for a single purpose: danger sense. Initiative bonuses plus the ability to act on all surprise rounds? Yes please.
• Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer): Halt in the name of Abadar! Yes, murder all the things for your god! Sure, having sneak attack dice normally isn’t great for a ranged character, but who cares? As you’ll soon see, your initiative will be so monstrous that if a surprise round ever happens, chances are you’re going to murder face with a sneak attack musket shot.

Have I piped your interest yet? Good! Step this way, and see this build for yourself!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: gunslinger (musket master) 5, shieldmarshal 2
• Feats: Rapid Reload: muskets (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Quick Draw (5th), Deadly Aim (7th)
• Abilities: danger sense, deeds, eye for detail, gunmarshal, legal judgment 1/day, grit, gunsmith, musket training (muskets), nimble +1

Early levels, this build is a fairly standard gunslinger build. Rapid Reload, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot are your bread and butter. Deadly Aim is needed for damage. Quick Draw not only synergizes well with the gunslinger’s initiative deed, but it is also a prerequisite for the shieldmarshal prestige class.

Form the shieldmarshal, we get the AWESOME ability to act in all surprise rounds, much like divination wizards can, plus a small bump to our initiative bonuses. That said, shieldmarshal’s offerings aren’t great; we can do better in other classes, as you’ll soon see.

Let’s move on to the mid levels!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: gunslinger (musket master) 5, shieldmarshal 2, inquisitor (sanctified slayer) 7
• Feats: Rapid Reload: muskets (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Quick Draw (5th), Deadly Aim (7th), Improved Initiative (9th), Friendly Fire Maneuvers (Bonus), Clustered Shot (11th), Coordinated Shot (Bonus), Extended Bane (13th)
• Abilities: bane, cunning initiative, danger sense, discern lies, deeds, detect alignment, domain (tactics inquisition), eye for detail, gunmarshal, legal judgment 1/day, grit, gunsmith, monster lore, musket training (muskets), nimble +1, sneak attack +2d6, stern gaze, studied target +1, track
• 3rd-Level Inquisitor Spell (1): heroism, ANY ONE
• 2nd-Level Inquisitor Spells (3): invisibility, ANY THREE
• 1st-Level Inquisitor Spells (4): divine favor, heightened awareness, litany of sloth, longshot
• 0-Level Inquisitor Spells: brand, detect magic, light, read magic, sift, stabilize

So I’m really banking on this idea of the gunslinger with the fastest draw with this build, and going inquisitor helps this fantasy. A lot. First, at 2nd level, all inquisitors add their Wisdom to initiative checks, and Wisdom just happens to be the key ability score for the gunslinger’s grit. Neat! I also picked the tactics inquisition because at 8th level (which’ll be endgame for this build, but I digress) it adds the gunslinger’s Wisdom to ALL allies’ initiative, which is fantastic.

I’m also picking up Improved Initiative and taking heightened awareness as a 1st-level spell known for even more initiative shenanigans, and I’m trading judgment for studied target and sneak attack dice with the sanctified slayer archetype. This means that when you go first, you get to blow someone’s brains out with sneak attack. Makes winning initiative all the more satisfying. Around 12th level, you also get BANE, which is perhaps the most beautiful damage-dealing ability in the game. With your initiative, anyone that you beat in initative is likely getting a bane sneak attack gun shot right to the face, which is going to HURT.

What spells you pick with this build generally don’t matter too much, aside from heightened awareness. I tended to pick things that were generally useful, but am leaving most of the choices up to you. Fill your party’s gaps as you need to; you’re going to be a damage-dealing CANNON, so you might as well fill some other roles while you’re at it.

Let’s take a peak at the end game before we wrap this build up.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: gunslinger (musket master) 5, shieldmarshal 2, inquisitor (sanctified slayer) 13
• Feats: Rapid Reload: muskets (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Quick Draw (5th), Deadly Aim (7th), Improved Initiative (9th), Friendly Fire Maneuvers (Bonus), Clustered Shot (11th), Coordinated Shot (Bonus), Extended Bane (13th), Extra Bane (15th), FREEBIE (Bonus), Point-Blank Master (17th), FREEBIE (Bonus), Warrior Priest (19th)
• Abilities: bane, cunning initiative, danger sense, discern lies, deeds, detect alignment, domain (tactics inquisition), eye for detail, gunmarshal, legal judgment 1/day, greater bane, grit, gunsmith, monster lore, musket training (muskets), nimble +1, sneak attack +4d6, stalwart, stern gaze, studied target +1, talented slayer, track
• Slayer Talents: X (8th)
• 5th-Level Inquisitor Spells (1): ANY TWO
• 4th-Level Inquisitor Spells (3): ANY FOUR
• 3rd-Level Inquisitor Spells (4): heroism, ANY FOUR
• 2nd-Level Inquisitor Spells (5): invisibility, ANY FOUR
• 1st-Level Inquisitor Spells (5): divine favor, heightened awareness, litany of sloth, longshot, ANY TWO
• 0-Level Inquisitor Spells: brand, detect magic, light, read magic, sift, stabilize, ANY ONE

And boy, does this build know how to end a game. +4d6 sneak attack (or +5d6 if you want to swap out Extra Bane for Accomplished Sneak Attacker) AND +4d6+2 bane damage. Pinch me, I’m dreaming. On top of that, you end with 5th level inquisitor spells and a bunch of useful class features and abilities, including one slayer talent of your choice. (If you want to go damage, take combat trick and pick Accomplished Sneak Attacker, but you honestly don’t NEED that extra d6 of damage if you don’t want it.) Warrior Priest isn’t the most optimal choice, but it is a nice way to squeeze a little extra initiative out of this build.

And here’s our FINAL initiative tracker, not including any magic items you find! Dex + Wis + 4 (Improved Initiative) + 2 (Reactionary) + 4 (Heightened Awareness) +2 (gunslinger’s initiative) + 1 Warrior Priest + 1 (Danger Sense) = Dex + Wis + 14.

In short, you win initiative. Period.

I hope you enjoy this build! I’ll be back next week for some more Pathfinder goodness, both on Guidance and in Iconic Design. What did you think of this build? Is this something you would use? If not, what turns you off? Would you have rather seen me do a full 10-level shieldmarshal build? What sort of characters or options do you want to see me tackle next? Leave your comments below, and I’ll see you back here next time at the Know Direction Network! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

The last time I did an arcane trickster build, it relied on the old, “Spell-like abilities are spells,” ruling, and was invalidated when that ruling changed. That sucked. Thankfully, in the meantime my fellow Paizo freelancers and I have been hard at work under the guidance and permission of our fearless developer, Owen K.C. Stephens, slowly giving you more ways to use some of the existing prestige classes with a bit more style and playability. Few prestige classes needed this love and attention more than the arcane trickster, and I’m delighted to say that now, about a year after my original arcane trickster build, I am BACK with a fully-functional arcane trickster that will make you SUPER excited.

Yes, SUPER excited. Let’s see!

Build Concept

Here’s what we’re going to use to make this build work.

• Race: Race doesn’t really matter for this build; none of the favored class bonuses will come into play, and there’s nothing you need that’s racially basted. I’m going to assume that you’re not human for this build so what you pick can be more universally applied; if you go human, take a bonus feat. Go on, you deserve it.
• Rogue (Unchained): Obviously, we’re going with the unchained rogue here. Granted, we’re only going to be taking a single level of rogue, but who cares? Unchained nets you a little bit more than standard, so we’ll take it gladly.
• Wizard (Exploiter Wizard): This is one of Perram’s favorite archetypes and the game, and for good reason. It essentially takes a shiny new arcanist class feature and slaps it onto a class that gets new spell levels sooner than its case class. There really isn’t anything to miss from the arcanist, save its awesome spellcasting method. (Okay, so there’s something.)

With that out of the way, let’s look at this build!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: wizard (exploiter wizard) 3, unchained rogue 1, arcane trickster 3
• Feats: Scribe Scroll (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (3rd), Precise Shot (5th), Improved Initiative (7th)
• Abilities: arcane reservoir, exploiter exploits, finesse training, impromptu sneak attack 1/day, ranged legerdemain, sneak attack +2d6, trapfinding
• Exploits: potent magic (1st)
• Traits: Magical Knack (wizard) + one other

So you’re going to need to take your rogue level before 4th level so you can qualify for this class in time. (You need sneak attack to qualify for Accomplished Sneak Attacker, which will boost your dice high enough to qualify for arcane trickster.) Whenever you want to take it is fine; entirely up to you.

So, let’s talk about your spell selection as a wizard. First, you’re likely going to want something that enables you to make use of all those sneak attack damage dice; good choices include shocking grasp and chill touch as baseline spells; a good shocking grasp spell does a fair bit of damage (5d6 + sneak attack, if you’re flanking) while chill touch enables you to make multiple attacks with a single spell. I would go as far as saying that chill touch should likely be a stable of your build, complete with a rod of lesser elemental spell so you should shift its energy damage around based upon what you encounter. Scorching ray is also a fantastic damage-dealing spell, and will likely end encounters should you go first.

Now, let’s talk about buff spells. Typically when you go arcane trickster, you want to focus on “trickstery” spells because the arcane trickster’s spell progression lags so heavily behind that of a full, unmulticlassed caster. Not so with this build; you are literally only one level behind a wizard, or on-par with a sorcerer. Your caster level doesn’t even take a hit because you have the magical knack trait. So with this in mind, its safe to say that you can decimate your enemies if you want to, and that’s what I aim to do with this build. What’s the best way to do this? A little 2nd level spell from the Dirty Tactics Toolbox. This incredible spell basically gives you +1d6 sneak attack, plus an additional +1d6 for every 3 caster levels you possess (up to +5d6). AND IT STACKS WITH YOUR SNEAK ATTACK DAMAGE.

Did I get your attention? Yes, it STACKS. When you get this spell at wizard 3, you’re already looking at +1d6 to your sneak attack dice. When you reach the end of the early levels at Level 7, you’re looking at +2d6 sneak attack damage dice for 1 round/level each time you cast this spell. And as a level 2 spell, its still well within the “lesser rod of quicken spell” range. AWESOME.

So, you have incredible damage potential with your two-ray scorching ray (two 4d6 rays that sneak attack for +3d6 each, plus an extra +2d6 each on the first ray if you have sense vitals up). Now you just need to make enemies flat-footed. Well, we’re sadly 1 level short of being able to cast greater invisibility (the ultimate spell) at this point in the game, but there is another opportunity that your allies will love. Blind them.

Yes, blind them. Blast them with glitter dust. Hit them with blindness/deafness. Do whatever you need to do so your target cannot see. Hell, use your awesome potent magic exploit to blow arcane points to add +2 to the save DC of those spells. Because a target that is blinded is flat-footed, and for you, flat-footed means DEATH. And as I mentioned, everyone loves a flat-footed enemy. Because they die fast.

Feat-wise, this build takes what it needs to do its job. Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot enable it to fire rays with accuracy without missing, while Improved Initiative and a good Dexterity score help you go first to take advantage of flat-footed enemies. Accomplished Sneak Attacker is a must for this build, it boosts your sneak attack damage by +1d6 so you can qualify for arcane trickster.

And with all this under wraps, let’s look at the mid levels!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: wizard (exploiter wizard) 3, unchained rogue 1, arcane trickster 10
• Feats: Scribe Scroll (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (3rd), Precise Shot (5th), Improved Initiative (7th), Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack (9th), Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack (11th), Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack (13th)
• Abilities: arcane reservoir, exploiter exploits, finesse training, impromptu sneak attack 2/day, invisible thief, ranged legerdemain, surprise spells, sneak attack +6d6, trapfinding, tricky spells 5/day
• Exploits: potent magic (1st)
• Traits: Magical Knack (wizard) + one other

First, it is AWESOME that you can get your capstone by the end of the mid levels with this build. Second: Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack. This feat is Dirty Tactics Toolbox GOLD! GOLD I SAY! Each time you take the feat, you can use impromptu sneak attack one additional time per day. Yes, that’s right. One additional scorching ray of DEATH. One additional disintegrate of DEATH. A well-timed impromptu sneak attack is basically you flashing your death card, and with this ability you don’t even need to blind your target or go first. You just destroy stuff. It is beautiful.

And if that wasn’t enough, now you have invisible thief rounds. You can, up to 10 rounds per day (at 14th level), become invisible as greater invisibility. Since you can do this as a FREE action (yes, FREE action), I like to call this the, “Super Mega Oh My God Why Did It Have to Be the Face,” attack. Because until 9th level, you’re basically relying on those blindness spells and those impromptu sneak attacks to get the jump done. But invisible thief takes that idea and says, “Hey, you know what would be really cool? If you cast a quickened scorching ray with your metamagic rod and a regular scorching ray as a spell, and both of them were sneak attacks.”

Yes, theoretical me, that would be super cool. That, and going invisible with invisible thief and then dropping a sneak attack cone of cold or a sneak attack fireball.

Yes, arcane trickster. Welcome home. You were missed.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: wizard (exploiter wizard) 9, unchained rogue 1, arcane trickster 10
• Feats: Scribe Scroll (Bonus), Point-Blank Shot (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (3rd), Precise Shot (5th), Improved Initiative (7th), Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack (9th), Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack (11th), Extra Impromptu Sneak Attack (13th), FREEBIE (15th), FREEBIE (17th), FREEBIE (Bonus), Improved Familiar (19th)
• Abilities: arcane reservoir, exploiter exploits, finesse training, impromptu sneak attack 2/day, invisible thief, ranged legerdemain, surprise spells, sneak attack +6d6, trapfinding, tricky spells 5/day
• Exploits: potent magic (1st), quick study (4th), familiar (8th)
• Traits: Magical Knack (wizard) + one other

You know, when you do as much damage as I’ve already promised that you’ll do, its really hard to pick feats that matter. Chances are by the end game, you’ve already picked an array of spells that help you deal with things like energy resistance, energy immunities, and spell resistance, which are going to be your big three, “Oh-craps” as an arcane trickster. So really, take whatever you want for these last three levels. If it were I, I’d likely take Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, and Weapon Focus (ray), but that’s just my preferences. By this point in the game, you’re basically a god. The only thing you don’t have that a straight-class wizard would is the incredibly powerful arcane school capstone (and an extra 9th level spell per day), but the trade offs you make are excellent in your favorite.

Don’t get me wrong, this build isn’t flawless. The straight wizard is much better at control, and has access to more spells per day. This build, however, does have its advantages. For one, that 1d3+7d6 ray of frost was pretty scary BEFORE you went ahead and cast sense vitals. The ability to do 7d6 sneak attack damage with your black tentacles is also fairly terrifying. I don’t think that this is the best wizard build in the world; it certainly needs time to get going, but MAN, doesn’t it look fun!

What do you think? Would you use this build? Or have I utterly used and abused the arcane trickster? What do you like and what don’t you like, and are there any other prestige classes you’d like to see me try and tackle next? Leave your answers and comments below, and I’ll see you next week for another installment of Guidance! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Ah, the final member of Avatar: The Last Airbender’s cast of main characters. (Well, other then the Avatar himself, but the kineticist is NOT designed to let you play the Avatar. Not yet, anyway.)

Zuko is a bit more interesting than Katara or Toph in that he has displayed a much wider array of skills and abilities, and therefore he has a lot more for us to play with in terms of his build. So let’s do it, shall we?

Build Concept

Let’s talk about Zuko’s build.

• Human: All of the characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender are human, so this is obvious.
• Kineticist (Fire): He’s a fire bender. This makes sense.
• Fighter: Here’s a bit of a shocker! One of the common critiques of Zuko by other firebenders is that he’s “weaker,” than his sister. But he’s also shown to be a competent swordplayer, so we’re going to grab him a fighter level for a bonus feat and fun shennanigins. Hopefully.
• Variant Multiclass (Rogue): I like Zuko as a variant multiclass rogue; it gives him some neat tricks and abilities, and its another way we can further divide him from other benders (especially his sister). And besides, kineticists don’t REALLY need feats, so this is an easy pick.

So, multiclass kineticist, eh? Not the most optimal of builds, but we might be able to make it work.

Book 1: Water (1–7)

• Classes: kineticist 6 / fighter 1
• Variant Multiclass: rogue
• Feats: Toughness (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Weapon Focus (shortsword) (5th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus (fire), elemental overflow +2, gather power, infusion specialization 1, infusions, internal buffer 1, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower), utility wild talent
• Variant Multiclass Abilities: trapfinding (3rd), sneak attack +1d6 (7th)
• Blast Wild Talents: fire blast (1st)
• Defense Wild Talents: searing flesh (2nd)
• Infusions: burning infusion (1st), fan of flames (3rd), kinetic blade (5th)
• Utility Wild Talents: basic pyrokinesis (1st), cold adaptation (2nd), searing flame (4th), smoke storm (6th)

Alright, so let’s take a look at what Zuko gets, shall we?

First, let me say that fire has some AWESOME infusions, specifically 1st-level infusions. Few other elements have good options unique to their element early on infusion wise (which is why many need to resort to universal talents). Fire also has some incredibly thematic talents too; cold adaptation, for example, is literally taken from the Avatar TV series itself, where it is a MAJOR plot point for one of the episodes. (I’m not telling which!) That being said, fire also has some talents that are no-brainer choices; a perfect example is searing flame, which allows fire kineticists to burn away fire resistance. Considering how common fire resistance is, this is a MUST for all fire kineticists, Zuko or no Zuko.

So let’s talk about his not-kineticist stuff, shall we? Picking up Weapon Finesse via our fighter level lets Zuko use Dex to hit not only with his shortswords, but his kinetic blast as well. (At 3rd level, we’re going kinetic blade to represent Zuko’s small, fiery fist-blasts.) Because of how kinetic blade works, Zuko can also get an extra attack when using Kinetic Blade with Two-Weapon Fighting, which is pretty neat. I thought about going unchained rogue, but I think that in the long run, variant multiclassing is better for Zuko (his abilities grow substantially; you’ll see) and swashbuckler wouldn’t let you use Weapon Finesse with kinetic blade, so fighter it was. Hey now, an extra BAB never hurt any build, right?

So all that aside, there’s nothing too special with Zuko. Yet. Let’s move on and check in at the mid levels!

Book 2: Earth (8 –14)

• Classes: kineticist 13 / fighter 1
• Variant Multiclass: rogue
• Feats: Toughness (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Weapon Focus: shortsword (5th), Extra Wild Talent: fire sculptor (9th), Extra Wild Talent: flash infusion (13th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus (fire), elemental overflow +4, expanded element (air), gather power, infusion specialization 3, infusions, internal buffer 2, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower, maximize, quicken), supercharge, utility wild talent
• Variant Multiclass Abilities: trapfinding (3rd), sneak attack +2d6 (7th), evasion (11th)
• Blast Wild Talents: fire blast (1st), electricity blast (7th)
• Composite Blast: plasma blast (7th)
• Defense Wild Talents: searing flesh (2nd)
• Infusions: burning infusion (1st), fan of flames (3rd), kinetic blade (5th), kinetic whip (9th), torrent (11th), flash infusion (Bonus) brilliant infusion (13th)
• Utility Wild Talents: basic pyrokinesis (1st), cold adaptation (2nd), searing flame (4th), smoke storm (6th), basic aerokinesis (7th), firesight (8th), fire sculptor (Bonus), fire’s fury (10th), celerity (12th)

In Avatar, the power to create electric blasts is associated with firebending, so Zuko NEEDS to pick fire as his expanded element. His variant multiclass powers come together nicely, giving him another sneak attack die and evasion, and he gets some neat infusions and wild talents, such as the ability to blast people at reach with kinetic whip and the ability to haste himself (or others) practically whenever he wants. That power is especially nice combined with the fact that Zuko can TWF with his kinetic whip, allowing him to strike an impressive number of times per round. I also picked up firesight on Zuko because I love the smoke storm / firesight trick; make it hard for an enemy to see you, then strike them while they’re vulnerable. (This is especially powerful in conjunction with kinetic whip, which will allow you to keep enough distance from your enemies that they won’t even be able to see you.)

Fire’s fury is sort of a damage-dealing must-have that I’ve simply put off for too long in this build; sorry old friend! Overall, Zuko’s looking pretty nasty (as long as he can bypass fire resistance, that is), so let’s move on to the end game and wrap him up.

Book 3: Fire (15+)

• Classes: kineticist 19 / fighter 1
• Variant Multiclass: rogue
• Feats: Toughness (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Weapon Finesse (Bonus), Weapon Focus: shortsword (5th), Extra Wild Talent: fire sculptor (9th), Extra Wild Talent: flash infusion (13th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (17th)
• Abilities: burn, composite specialization, elemental defense, elemental focus (fire), elemental overflow +6, expanded element (air, fire), gather power, infusion specialization 5, infusions, internal buffer 3, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower, maximize, quicken, twice), metakinetic master, supercharge, utility wild talent
• Variant Multiclass Abilities: trapfinding (3rd), sneak attack +4d6 (7th), evasion (11th), uncanny dodge (15th), improved uncanny dodge (19th)
• Blast Wild Talents: fire blast (1st), electricity blast (7th)
• Composite Blast: plasma blast (7th)
• Defense Wild Talents: searing flesh (2nd)
• Infusions: burning infusion (1st), fan of flames (3rd), kinetic blade (5th), kinetic whip (9th), torrent (11th), flash infusion (Bonus) brilliant infusion (13th), explosion (15th), wall (17th), pure-flame infusion (19th)
• Utility Wild Talents: basic pyrokinesis (1st), cold adaptation (2nd), searing flame (4th), smoke storm (6th), basic aerokinesis (7th), firesight (8th), fire sculptor (Bonus), fire’s fury (10th), celerity (12th), fire shield (14th), ride the blast (16th), reverse shift (18th)

I really like the imagery of ride the blast, which is why I keep picking it for these Avatar builds (reverse shift too). I saved pure-flame infusion for last because it felt like a fitting capstone for Zuko, and both wall and explosion were just TOO cool not to take sooner than it. Other then that, there aren’t any surprises here. More attacks with Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (yeah, it’ll never hit, but all of Zuko’s blasts are touch attacks), and both uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge via multiclass rogue abilities. In all, Zuko is a super agile fighter who is decent enough with a sword, but truly shines when he gets to embrace his birthright and burn everything with his awesome firepower!

So, with that I’ve got all the major Avatar characters done. What do you guys think? Should I do more Avatar characters? (*eyes Azula*) Or maybe I should take a break from the kineticist…. Leave your answers below, and I’ll see you next week for another new article here, at the Know Direction Network! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Today’s build is sort of new because its inspired by someone else’s character, rather than actually based on it. That someone else is my friend Rachel Ventura, who’s best known for her association with Legendary Games. Rachel has a halfling rogue named Tiny the Goblin Slayer, and while today’s build isn’t based on anything she’s ever done in either of the games I’ve played with her, it is based on the idea of being small with an attitude!

Today, we’re setting our sights high by building Tiny, the Ogre Slayer!

Build Concept

Halflings are a lot of fun to build martial options for because they have a lot of weird feats, provided you can look past the Strength penalty. Today’s build will utilize the following:

•  Halfling: Its in the title, practically. You’re going to need to swap halfling luck for the adaptive fortune alternate racial trait, from the Advanced Player’s Guide. Personally, that’s one of my favorite traits because of how active it is. (Although I wish they would have let you add your Charisma to the number of uses per day; that would have been fun and thematic.)
• Fighter: We need feats for this one, folks!
• Variant Multiclass – Sorcerer: This can be replaced with taking Eldritch Heritage instead of Variant Multiclassing; just take Skill Focus: Knowledge (history) at 3rd level, Eldritch Heritage at 7th, and Improved Eldritch Heritage at 11th. I took Variant Multiclassing because its simplier in the long run, plus your effective sorcerer level is higher.
• Fate’s Favored: Yup, this is one of those silly luck-bonus builds. So grab a jingasa of the fortunate soldier and get to work!

With everything explained, let’s begin!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: fighter 7
• Variant Multiclassing: sorcerer
• Feats: Power Attack (1st), Steadfast Slayer (Bonus), Weapon Focus: Greatsword (Bonus), Furious Focus (Bonus), Fortunate One (5th), Risky Striker (Bonus)
• Variant Multiclass Abilities: harrow bloodline (1st), bloodline power: twisted fortune (3rd), improved bloodline power: see it coming (7th)
• Abilities: armor training 2, bravery +2, weapon training (heavy swords) 1
• Traits: Fate’s Favored

So basically we’re going greatsword halfling, which means a minimum of Strength 13. If my bloodrager can do it, so can your halfling! We’re going to be offsetting some of the disadvantages of being a halfling with an array of interesting feats; first, Steadfast Slayer. This feat gives you a bonus on damage rolls with two-handed weapons whenever you meet a number of requirements. First, you need to be the only character threatening an opponent. Easy enough. Second, your opponent needs to be larger than you. This bonus is +2 for every size category larger your opponent is than you, meaning it can add up FAST, but it isn’t particularly reliable most of the time. After all, chances are that you’re going to want at least ONE other ally in the fray with you, right? Think of it as a bonus for all those times it activates. The real heavy-hitter damage-wise is Risky Striker, which gives you a penalty to AC in exchange for a damage bonus. Nifty!

Fate’s Fortune is a bit of a no-brainer in this build, seeing as it boosts the luck bonus provided by the adaptive fortune trait. But why variant multiclassing / Eldritch Heritage? The answer lies within the 3rd-level bloodline power, see it coming. When you first get it, it provides a nifty luck bonus to a saving throw of your choice that can be changed as a full-round action. Fate’s favored boosts the bonus to +2 right off the bat, making it instantly better than any saving throw bonus feat, and the bonus just keeps getting better as you level up. This is why I took variant multiclassing over the feat chain; your effective sorcerer level from the feat chain is at –2 until you take the final feat around 17th level, while the variant multiclassing ability gives you your full bonus from the get-go. Also, variant multiclassing lets you take Alertness during the mid levels (not great, but acceptable) while taking the feat chain requires Knowledge (history) in the early levels; aka the worse feat of the two earlier in the game when you need the feats more. This is just my preference, but you can switch to Eldritch Heritage if you want to be good at Knowledge (history) or if you want to use this build in PFS.

Alright, let’s enough for now. To the mid levels!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: fighter 14
• Variant Multiclassing: sorcerer
• Feats: Power Attack (1st), Steadfast Slayer (Bonus), Weapon Focus: Greatsword (Bonus), Furious Focus (Bonus), Fortunate One (5th), Risky Striker (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: greatsword (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: greatsword (9th), Improved Critical: greatsword (Bonus), Alertness (Bonus), Greater Weapon Specialization: greatsword (Bonus), Adaptive Fortune (13th), Critical Focus (Bonus)
• Variant Multiclass Abilities: harrow bloodline (1st), bloodline power: twisted fortune (3rd), improved bloodline power: see it coming (7th), bloodline feat: Alertness (11th)
• Abilities: armor training 3, bravery +4, weapon training (heavy swords) 3
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: armed bravery (9th), fighter’s reflexes (13th)
• Traits: Fate’s Favored

Small strides here, folks. I get Alertness as a bloodline feat and pick up armed bravery and fighter’s reflexes as advanced weapon trainings. By 14th level, I’m looking at an extra +4 to each of my saves from these AWTs, plus a floating +4 luck bonus (thanks, fate’s favored!) to one saving throw of my choice. That’s a PRETTY potent saving throw lineup; +9 Fort, +8 Ref, +8 Will, and +4 to any one of those three before accounting for ability scores.

On top of that, you can REALLY pile out the damage to big opponents. Between Power Attack (–3 on attack rolls, +9 on damage rolls with a two-handed weapon), Risky Striker (–3 to AC, +6 on damage rolls), Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization (+4 on damage rolls), weapon training (+4 on damage rolls), and Steadfast Slayer (+2 on damage rolls per size category larger your opponent is than you), we’re looking at a fairly massive bonus on damage rolls, and that’s before counting for Strength bonuses, enhancement bonuses, or anything else! Those giants better watch out….

Let’s finish off at the end game.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: fighter 20
• Variant Multiclassing: sorcerer
• Feats: Power Attack (1st), Steadfast Slayer (Bonus), Weapon Focus: Greatsword (Bonus), Furious Focus (Bonus), Fortunate One (5th), Risky Striker (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: greatsword (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: greatsword (9th), Improved Critical: greatsword (Bonus), Alertness (Bonus), Greater Weapon Specialization: greatsword (Bonus), Adaptive Fortune (13th), Critical Focus (Bonus), Combat Reflexes critical (Bonus), Cut from the Air (17th), Smash from the Air (Bonus), Bleeding Critical (Bonus)
• Variant Multiclass Abilities: harrow bloodline (1st), bloodline power: twisted fortune (3rd), improved bloodline power: see it coming (7th), bloodline feat: Alertness (11th), invoke the harrow (15th), harrowed home (19th)
• Abilities: armor mastery, armor training 3, bravery +4, weapon mastery: greatsword, weapon training (heavy swords) 3
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: armed bravery (9th), fighter’s reflexes (13th), Trained Initiative (17th)
• Traits: Fate’s Favored

You can basically do whatever you want at 15th level; I simply decided to have fun with some Weapon Mastery feats. Since big monsters often have rock throwing, I took Cut from the Air and Smash from the Air alongside Combat Reflexes, so I basically have Opportune Parry and Riposte versus all ballistic threats. Pretty terrifying stuff to a Small or Medium archer, let alone a giant with a boulder!

And that’s all for this week’s build. What did you think? Leave your comments and questions below, and I’ll see you back next week for another article and another installment of Guidance. Take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Well, almost anyway. This week, I’ve got a build that I’m SURE you’ll absolutely love to try at the ta—

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Wha?! No, not another interruption!

YES another interruption! From me, Deadpool! The world’s most popular super hero and the absolute BEST role model for children of all ages! That is, if you’re a backwards hillbilly who doesn’t care about the emotional well-being of your child! JUST LIKE PA!!!!

Wow. That was more politics in a single sentence then I’ve had on Guidance since its conception.

And I plan to MAKE IT WORSE.

Greeeeat. So, I guess you want me to build you.

A-huh.

In Pathfinder.

A-huh.

A game you have absolutely no idea how to play?

Not yet, anyway. Currently I’m reading your Core Rulebook and browsing your community forms so I know what to do when I off you in a few pages.

Well, Pathfinder’s a bit harder then that to learn to … wait, what?!

Don’t worry about it! I know everything that I need to know about this game! Fighters are linear, wizards are mad-OP, and roughly 75% of the game’s fanbase consists of terrible people who’ve probably never touched a $@#$@$ in their entire lives.

DEADPOOL! This is an all-ages blog!

Hey now, I censored my naughtiness out. And besides, this way is better anyway. That way everyone can pretend that I specifically called out the precise kind of genitalia that they’d love to just take their !$#!@$ and #$@$%@#@#$@#$#@$#@—

ENOUGH. BUILD CONCEPT, NOW. Deadpool, everyone!

I’ll be here all article!

Build Concept

So, here’s how we’re going to make Deadpool work.

Yeah, you and Steve Rodgers can try all you want, but the only work I’m going to be doing involves my sword, a toupee, and a whole lot of blood.

Deadpool, you can’t be political on my blog.

WHY MUST YOU TRY TO RESTRICT MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND MURDER, ALEX?!

• Human: Deadpool’s human. Mostly.
• Slayer: Deadpool was a mercinary before he was Project X’s plaything. I think a couple of slayer levels will do him good.
• Barbarian: Now, I know what you’re thinking. But when you think about it, isn’t one of the flavor description of damage reduction, “wounds seem to close before your eyes?” Fast healing is SUPER difficult to get in Pathfinder, but the barbarian gets damage reduction in DROVES. Especially….
• Unchained Barbarian: The unchained barbarian specifically has the rage powers we need to make this build work. Regenerative Stance is the one we’re eying on specifically.

Ugh, can we PLEASE get this moving? I have to be at my movie premiere!

Deadpool, the premiere was WEEKS ago. RYAN REYNOLDS went.

Uh, of course he did! I told him that he should wear my costume to the performance and scare the $@#% out of random Hollywood celebrities by acting AS me while they WATCHED me on the big screen. I think he was worried about security of something. F#@%ing pansy.

Alright…. Let’s continue onward to the build, shall we?

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: slayer 2 / barbarian 5
• Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: wakizashi (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: firearms (Bonus), Antagonize (3rd), Weapon Focus: wakizashi (5th), Raging Vitality (7th)
• Abilities: danger sense +1, fast movement, improved uncanny dodge, rage, rage powers, slayer talents, studied target +1, track, uncanny dodge
• Rage Powers: brawler (2nd), regenerative stance (4th)
• Slayer Talents: Firearm Training (2nd)

Yeeeeeeep. I’m a sexy beast, and you KNOW IT! I mean sure, Wayde has his levels of slayer or whatever, but do you know what SCREAMS Deadpool goodness? Bar-freaking-barbarian. That’s right! You readers at home might not see it behind my awesome mask, but when I fight, I’m ANGRY! And yes, that’s when my script says that I have to tell you, because I can’t just say that you’re m#$%$#@-#$%^ing #@@$-@$$ design team won’t make fast healing easy for you mouth-breathing nerds to take as a class ability. But I digress.

Stop cursing off at my target audience and focus, Deadpool! First, we’re giving you proficiency with the wakizashi because you carry two bad-ass swords around you all the time, and we’re staying in slayer long enough to pick up Exotic Weapon Proficiency as a slayer talent. Then we’ll go Two-Weapon Fighting and pick up Antagonize, because you do NOTHING but Antagonize people.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

I know you do. I gave you the brawler rage power because you’re awesome at hand-to-hand fighting, and you’re going to be raging a lot in this build. I also picked Raging Vitality so when you rage, you get more temporary hit points. Better still, with regenerative stance, you slowly regain your temporary hit points from rage each round, sort of like—

Sort of like my healing factor! Yay! You did it, Alex! I mean, sure, your solution f%$@ing blows and doesn’t come anywhere NEAR being as awesome as my actual healing factor, but hey! You tried! Let’s get you a sticker; here, I got one right in my pants….

Deadpool, that’s a sword. Deadpool? DEADPOO—

I think I’ll take it from here, kids! Heh, “sticker.” “Stick-her.”

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: slayer 2 / barbarian 12
• Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: wakizashi (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: firearms (Bonus), Antagonize (3rd), Weapon Focus: wakizashi (5th), Raging Vitality (7th), Double Slice (9th), Power Attack (11th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (13th)
• Abilities: damage reduction 2/–, danger sense +4, fast movement, greater rage, improved uncanny dodge, rage, rage powers, slayer talents, studied target +1, track, uncanny dodge
• Rage Powers: brawler (2nd), regenerative stance (4th), unexpected strike (6th), increased damage reduction (8th), increased damage reduction (10th), come and get me (12th)
• Slayer Talents: Firearm Training (2nd)

Look at me now! I’ve gotten even cooler! I picked up neat feats like Double Slice and Power Attack and Improved Weapon Fighting so I can murder people faster. I also grabbed unexpected strike (because I’m unexpected) and picked increased damage reduction a LOT. That’s a grand total of DR 6/– for all the little Deadpool fans counting at home. 😉 Also, I took COME AND GET ME! because for some strange reason I’m REALLY good at getting people to Come and Get Me, and since I have Antagonize, I can FORCE people to Come and Get Me! So folks, COME AND GET MEEEEEEE!

I mean, I GUESS you could call me simple mechanically at this stage of the game. But I also GUESS that I’d have to come to your house and rip your #!#@$ ##@$!$@!@#$ Q!@$!#!@#@#$@!$, and then #$@#@%@@#!@@#^&(^&*^%^&%$@!!$@~$!@$.

I’m glad we’re all on the same page about this. Let’s finish the build!

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: slayer 2 / barbarian 18
• Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: wakizashi (Bonus), Two-Weapon Fighting (1st), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: firearms (Bonus), Antagonize (3rd), Weapon Focus: wakizashi (5th), Raging Vitality (7th), Double Slice (9th), Power Attack (11th), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (13th), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15th), Extra Rage (17th), Extra Rage (19th)
• Abilities: damage reduction 4/–, danger sense +6, fast movement, greater rage, improved uncanny dodge, indomitable will, rage, rage powers, slayer talents, studied target +1, tireless rage, track, uncanny dodge
• Rage Powers: brawler (2nd), regenerative stance (4th), unexpected strike (6th), increased damage reduction (8th), increased damage reduction (10th), come and get me (12th), increased damage reduction (14th), quick reflexes (16th), renewed vigor (18th)
• Slayer Talents: Firearm Training (2nd)

And that’s it, folks! More Constitution! More temporary hit points! More damage reduction! More sexiness! Behold, this is the absolute BEST DEADPOOL BUILD EVE—.

BLAM.

Horse tranquilizer. Powerful enough to take down an entire pack of elephants. Alright folks, I need to take care of this miss; if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, leave’em below. Obviously this isn’t the only way to build Deadpool; the character is absolutely INSANE. So how would you do it? What would you do different from me, or was there a choice I made that you REALLY liked? Leave your questions and comments below, or on our FORUMS! Until next time, I need to find some duct tape so this chatter box won’t be bothering me for a bit. Later.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

EDIT: Not to worry, Deadpool fans! I’ve gone and fixed the fact that I didn’t have a 6th-level rage power originally. And now I’m going to go make this article about 25% more sexy ….

DEADPOOL!

Someone said, “Its gotta be Zuko or Sokka. Who on earth would pick TOPH as the most requested character from Avatar: The Last Airbender?”

Uh, everyone. That’s who. Toph is AWESOME, and today we’re going to build her! Huzzah!

Build Concept

Alright, so before we get started let’s talk Toph.

• Human: There really aren’t any other races in TLA, so this makes sense.
• Geokineticist: Also a “duh.”

Super straight-forward, just how I like it! Let’s get started!

Book 1: Water (Off Screen; 1–7)

• Classes: kineticist 7
• Feats: Toughness (Bonus), Weapon Finesse (1st), Weapon Focus: kinetic blast (3rd), Combat Casting (5th), Improved Initiative (7th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus (earth), elemental overflow +2, expanded element (earth), gather power, infusion specialization 1, infusions, internal buffer 1, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower), utility wild talents
• Blast Talents: earth blast (1st)
• Composite Blast Talents: metal blast (7th)
• Defense Talents: flesh of stone (2nd)
• Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), pushing infusion (3rd), bowling infusion (5th), rare-metal infusion (7th)
• Utility Talents: basic geokinesis (1st), earth walk (2nd), kinetic cover (4th), tremorsense (6th)

Toph doesn’t join the cast until halfway through Book 2, but we need an early level build for the character so let’s do it. The hardest part of playing Toph is her blindness; oracle is the only class in the game that does the “I’m blind but only at ranged,” thing well, and try as I did I couldn’t add a level of oracle to this character in a way that felt meaningful. I might need to write some generic drawbacks or something so blind characters can actually work well, but that’s not my concern here. As a result, Toph doesn’t really become Toph until Level 6, when she gets the tremorsense utility talent.

This build isn’t bad, but I also think it’s a rather straightforward geokineticist build. Few tricks or surprises. Of course she has earth walk. Of course she has kinetic cover. Of course she has bowling infusion. Nothing really surprising here. And definitely, we HAD to take expanded element: earth for this build. Toph unlocking the secrets of metalbending is one of the defining scenes of book 2’s finally, after all. (Which is why its sort of awkward to have it at Level 7, but mechanics are mechanics.)

Speaking of Book 2, let’s go there. Now.

Book 2: Earth (8–14)

• Classes: kineticist 14
• Feats: Toughness (Bonus), Weapon Finesse (1st), Weapon Focus: kinetic blast (3rd), Combat Casting (5th), Improved Initiative (7th), Extra Wild Talent: extended range (9th), Extra Wild Talent: extreme range (11th), Extra Wild Talent: enduring earth (13th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus (earth), elemental overflow +4, expanded element (earth), gather power, infusion specialization 4, infusions, internal buffer 2, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower, maximize, quicken), supercharge, utility wild talents
• Blast Talents: earth blast (1st)
• Composite Blast Talents: metal blast (7th)
• Defense Talents: flesh of stone (2nd)
• Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), pushing infusion (3rd), bowling infusion (5th), rare-metal infusion (7th), extended range (Bonus), impale (9th), extreme range (Bonus), wall (11th), grappling (13th)
• Utility Talents: basic geokinesis (1st), earth walk (2nd), kinetic cover (4th), tremorsense (6th), shift earth (8th), greater tremorsense (10th), stone sculptor (12th), enduring earth (Bonus), greater shift earth (14th)

These are more earth abilities. This build remains predictable. Grabbing extended rage so we qualify for deadly earth (eventually) is a must, as is impale, wall, and grappling. I’m also a big fan of greater shift earth and stone sculptor; few kineticist elements get as much raw utility as geokineticists get from those two talents. Earth glide is awesome and I wish I had room for it, but it really is more of a Book 3 talent.

In any case, let’s move on to the end game and wrap this build up, Blind Bandit style!

Book 3: Fire (15+)

• Classes: kineticist 20
• Feats: Toughness (Bonus), Weapon Finesse (1st), Weapon Focus: kinetic blast (3rd), Combat Casting (5th), Improved Initiative (7th), Extra Wild Talent: extended range (9th), Extra Wild Talent: extreme range (11th), Extra Wild Talent: enduring earth (13th), FREEBIE (15th), FREEBIE (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus (earth), elemental overflow +6, expanded element (earth x2), gather power, infusion specialization 6, infusions, internal buffer 3, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower, maximize, quicken, twice), metakinetic master, supercharge, utility wild talents
• Blast Talents: earth blast (1st)
• Composite Blast Talents: metal blast (7th)
• Defense Talents: flesh of stone (2nd)
• Infusions: kinetic blade (1st), pushing infusion (3rd), bowling infusion (5th), rare-metal infusion (7th), extended range (Bonus), impale (9th), extreme range (Bonus), wall (11th), grappling (13th), deadly earth (15th), fragmentation (17th), snake (19th)
• Utility Talents: basic geokinesis (1st), earth walk (2nd), kinetic cover (4th), tremorsense (6th), shift earth (8th), greater tremorsense (10th), stone sculptor (12th), enduring earth (Bonus), greater shift earth (14th), ride the blast (16th), earth glide (18th), seismic master (20th)

Unlike Katara, who needs a LOT of talents (and therefore a LOT of feats) in order to feel like Katara, Toph stops really NEEDING talents beyond what she gets at 15th level, so you’re pretty much free to take what you want feat-wise. (Personally, I recommend taking earth glide with the Extra Wild Talent feat at 15th level and bumping seismic master up to 18th level, but that’s just me.) By the end, Toph is REALLY nasty at control. She can grapple, trip, impale, and blow stuff up just because she feels like it. This isn’t a super innovative build (kineticists tend to be VERY cookie cutter because there simply aren’t a diverse spread of feats or wild talents available to them yet), but its certainly a great build for Toph!

And that’s my build for Toph Beifong! Any questions or comments? Leave them below or post them on our forums. Make sure you tune in next week when we take a small break from Avatar for Valentine’s Day to pay homage to a rising star who’s threatened to kill me if I don’t give him his due. Until then, take care!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Back when I did my GM NPC build, I mentioned that there was a crazier healing-focused build that one could do then that one. A build SO crazy, so over the top, and so healing intensive that it makes everyone cry. Everyone. Naturally, you guys wanted to see what I was talking about so I wrote it up for you. I’m wonderful like that.

So welcome, everyone, to Alex Breaks the Healing Charts.

Build Concept

Let’s take a quick look at the specs before we get started.

• Kitsune: You don’t need to be a kitsune, but for this build, being a kitsune is WAY more economical. (You’ll see.)
• Oracle: The Life Mystery is a powerhouse when it comes to healing. You want it. Plus kitsune make decent oracles.
• Spirit Guide Archetype: Remember this beauty from my Shaman King build? The basic idea here is stacking the oracle’s ability to gain channel energy with the shaman’s ability to gain channel energy, giving ups an oracle that can channel a number of times per day equal to 2 + her Charisma modifier. It’s a very strong trick that makes up for the fact that the oracle is a full spell level behind the cleric at all times. Plus it makes the oracle sort of lackluster at most other roles. Additionally, this combo’s one-trick pony is raw numbers, which isn’t always the best way to heal. (Preventing damage and bolstering allies is an equally important part of healing, and overall this build eschews the healing cleric’s versatility for extreme specialization.) In short, if you want to be a numbers healer, however, this is how you do it!
• Pharasma: I want Fateful Channel for this build, so my oracle will be worshipping Pharasma. You can take or leave this.

Without further adieu, let’s get started!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: oracle (spirit guide) 7
• Feats: Magical Tail (Bonus), Extra Revelation: safe curing (1st), Extra Channel (3rd), Magical Tail (Bonus), Fateful Channel (5th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Bless Equipment (7th)
• Abilities: bonded spirit (life), life mystery, oracle’s curse (wrecking mysticism), revelations
• Revelations: safe curing (Bonus), channel (1st)
• Spirit: hex: enhanced cures (3rd), bonus spells (4th), spirit ability: channel (7th)
• 3rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (2): cure serious wounds; prayer, ANY ONE
• 2nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): cure moderate wounds, minor image; burst of radiance, hold person, ANY ONE
• 1st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cure light wounds, ventriloquism; bless, divine favor, ANY THREE
• Oracle Orisons Known (7): guidance, stabilize, ANY FIVE

Okay, so let’s talk about the moving parts of this build because there are a lot of them.

First, you need to know about spirit guide. Basically, each day at 3rsd level, you can pick a shaman spirit and choose one of that spirit’s hexes to have for the day. This guide assumes you will pick life every day, but technically you don’t have to; this build has a LOT of flexibility as a result, even if its just on a daily basis. Then, beginning at 4th level, you add all of your chosen spirit’s spells to the list of your spells known. Finally, at 7th level, you get your spirit’s spirit ability; this is when our build picks up double-channel.

Next, why I picked kitsune. First, the favored class bonus is cool. Invest four points into the bonus, and you get a weapon proficiency of your choice. Want a katana? You can do it. Elven curve blade? Sure. Anything you want. I’d probably pick katana, but it doesn’t matter to much. This isn’t why you pick kitsune. You pick it for wrecking mysticism, a kitsune-specific oracle curse from the Dirty Tactics Toolbox. Now, I wish I could have said that I was thinking about this combo when I wrote the Dirty Tactics Toolbox. I wasn’t. (I don’t think about healers THAT much.) But in exchange for one of the nastiest penalties of any oracle curse in the game, you get the ability to swap any number of bonus mystery spells for the Magical Tail feat. Now, not everyone is a fan of this trade. Its an oracle curse that makes you take a penalty AND give up something in order to get anything. But, and this is the big BUT, the life mystery and the life spirit have the SAME EXACT SPELLS. This means that you can effectively toss all of your mystery bonus spells for Magical Tail and STILL get those spells for free as spells known every day that you bind the life spirit with the spirit guide archetype. Are you still losing something? Yes, you’re still done a full set of spells per day if you choose to bind any spirit OTHER than the life spirit, but for the purpose of the life/life combo, you basically still have your spells. You can’t learn a spell twice, after all.

So in addition to having a bunch of extra tails (not super powerful, but a fun perk) and being really good at healing, what are you doing? Well, I decided to pick up Extra Revelation: safe curing as a feat at first level. Spirit guide trades about half of the oracle’s revelations, and safe curing was the one that I really wanted. Then at 3rd level, I picked up Extra Channel for two extra uses of channel. The benefits of Extra Channel don’t apply to both of the character’s channel abilities, mind you; as per a long-standing Paizo FAQ, if you have more than one channel energy ability, you get two extra uses of channel, split up however you like between the two pools. So this is useful, but not incredible.

What is REALLY great, however, is the Fateful Channel feat, which is my 5th level feat (I took it as soon as I qualified). Essentially, whenever my oracle channels energy to heal, this feat from Inner Sea Gods will allow my oracle to grant each ally affected by the channel one free reroll of an attack roll, skill check, or saving throw. The reroll has to be used within a number of rounds equal to my Charisma modifier, but as an oracle, my Charisma is GREAT, so I can do it fairly often. Finally, at 7th level, I get my second channel pool from my life spirit AND the Bless Equipment feat, which lets me burn uses of channel energy to temporarily place weapon special abilities onto my allies’ equipment. For instance, I can burn TWO uses of channel energy to put the BANE ability on one of my allies’ weapons for a number of rounds equal to my Charisma modifier. That is REALLY strong, and I can do this twice per day without even factoring in my charisma (1 use baseline from each of my channel abilities, plus two uses from Extra Channel).

Spellwise, I focused mostly on support through buffing and healing. The nice thing about this build is that it doesn’t really lower my spells known, and I have TONS of random eldritch utility from my Magical Tails. It makes me a healer with a lot of weird, situational tricks up my sleeves. (Or tails, as the case might be.)

At any rate, let’s look at the mid levels and see what comes next!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: oracle (spirit guide) 14
• Feats: Magical Tail (Bonus), Extra Revelation: safe curing (1st), Extra Channel (3rd), Magical Tail (Bonus), Fateful Channel (5th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Bless Equipment (7th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Selective Channel (9th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Improved Bless Equipment (11th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Greater Bless Equipment (13th), Magical Tail (Bonus)
• Abilities: bonded spirit (life), life mystery, oracle’s curse (wrecking mysticism), revelations
• Revelations: safe curing (Bonus), channel (1st), spirit boost (11th)
• Spirit: hex: enhanced cures (3rd), bonus spells (4th), spirit ability: channel (7th)
• 7th-Level Oracle Spells Known (1): mass cure serious wounds; regenerate
• 6th-Level Oracle Spells Known (2): mass cure moderate wounds; ANY TWO
• 5th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): magic jar, mass cure light wounds; cleanse, righteous might, ANY ONE
• 4th-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): cure critical wounds; blessing of fervor, debilitating portent, divine power, restoration
• 3rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): cure serious wounds; prayer, sacred bond, ANY ONE
• 2nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cure moderate wounds, minor image; burst of radiance, hold person, ANY THREE
• 1st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cure light wounds, ventriloquism; bless, divine favor, ANY THREE
• Oracle Orisons Known (9): guidance, stabilize, ANY FIVE

In addition to new spell levels (which are always nice) and more Magical Tail feats (which are fun and flavorful), we get a few more benefits. First, I finally have time to sneak Selective Channel into the build at 9th level, when it’s long overdue. I mean, we don’t REALLY want to be giving our enemies free rerolls, but getting Fateful Channel and Bless Equipment is more important because they form the basic gameplay of the build; you understand, right? Next at 11th level, we get Improved Bless Equipment, which makes it cheaper to use the Bless Equipment feat (one use of channel energy for bane? OKAY.) You also get the ability to double up blessings with Bless Equipment, allowing you to put two blessings on one object at the same time. Then Greater Bless Equipment turns online at 13th level, which allows you to bless TWO ITEMS WITH ONE USE OF BLESSINGS. I mean, WOW. One use of channel energy to give TWO weapons within range the bane ability? Or ghost touch? NULLIFYING TO REMOE SPELL RESISTANCE FOR A NUMBER OF ROUNDS?! Picture this, you bless two martial guys with nullifying, and then let them whack an enemy for a few rounds until your wizard can successfully turn it into a toad or whatever. It is freaking AMAZINGLY awesome. Oh, and did I mention that Greater Bless Equipment increases the duration to DOUBLE your Charisma modifier? And that, my friends, is how you make a cool option for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game!

The spell list, I feel, explains itself. Two spells I want to point out are sacred bond and debilitating potent. As a 3rd-level spell, sacred bond is AWESOME for low-level quicken metamagic rods. Burn a 3rd-level spell slot and you can instantly cast a cure spell on a far away target. Neat! Debilitating portent is a NASTY debuff that’s made all the nastier by the fact that kitsune get a +1 bonus to the save DC of enchantment spells. I mean, half damage ALL The time? End the spell to NEGATE a critical? Okay, I’ll bite! Let’s look at the end game to see how this build wraps up.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: oracle (spirit guide) 20
• Feats: Magical Tail (Bonus), Extra Revelation: safe curing (1st), Extra Channel (3rd), Magical Tail (Bonus), Fateful Channel (5th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Bless Equipment (7th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Selective Channel (9th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Improved Bless Equipment (11th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Greater Bless Equipment (13th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Extra Revelation: combat healer (15th), Magical Tail (Bonus), Quick Channel (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: bonded spirit (life), life mystery, oracle’s curse (wrecking mysticism), revelations
• Revelations: safe curing (Bonus), channel (1st), spirit boost (11th), combat healer (Bonus)
• Spirit: hex: enhanced cures (3rd), bonus spells (4th), spirit ability: channel (7th), greater spirit ability: healer’s touch (15th)
• 9th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): mass heal, miracle, overwhelming presence
• 8th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): mass cure critical wounds; divine vessel, ANY TWO
• 7th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): mass cure serious wounds; holy word, regenerate, resurrection
• 6th-Level Oracle Spells Known (3): mass cure moderate wounds; ANY THREE
• 5th-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): magic jar, mass cure light wounds; cleanse, righteous might, ANY TWO
• 4th-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): cure critical wounds; blessing of fervor, debilitating portent, divine power, restoration
• 3rd-Level Oracle Spells Known (4): cure serious wounds; prayer, sacred bond, ANY ONE
• 2nd-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cure moderate wounds, minor image; burst of radiance, hold person, ANY THREE
• 1st-Level Oracle Spells Known (5): cure light wounds, ventriloquism; bless, divine favor, ANY THREE
• Oracle Orisons Known (9): guidance, stabilize, ANY FIVE

I’ll be the first to admit that the 15th level trade for this build is quite bad. After the amazing mid-tier, End Game probably seems a touch boring because we already HAVE the important, moving parts for our build. All we have to look forward to is new spells, and while awesome in their own way, it isn’t “Oh my god drop everything,” awesome. Quick Channel at 17th level seemed decent considering I spent a feat making my Bless Equipment feat chain more economically friendly, and by 19th level I think you can pretty much take whatever you want and be fine. There isn’t much that’s going to improve your channeling ability in the way we’d like it to anymore.

Well, there you go, folks. You got one of the sickest healing builds that I could muster AND a nine-tailed kitsune build out of me all at once. I hope you’re happy! Next week on Iconic Design, we’ll be going back to Avatar: The Last Air Bender with the most-often demanded character from that series that I get. Who is it? Wait and see, dear readers. Wait and see! Have a great weekend. (And if you didn’t hear, I’m going to be GMing at a Charity Convention this weekend. The convention is streaming my game, which starts at 9am, live for your viewing pleasure. If you watch it, try to toss the charity we’re supporting a few bucks; its an organization dedicated to helping to teach Inner City Philly teens creative writing skills to help them apply for college. Check our Facebook group, 3.5 Private Sanctuary, for more details!)

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

It has been a long time coming, friends. You have NO idea how often I’ve wanted to sit here and write the halfling slinger that Perram wants, no, DESERVES! However, slings were a REALLY bad weapon to try and specialize in, especially anything that wasn’t an actual sling. It seemed like I would never give Perram his halfling slinger friend. But then a light at the end of the tunnel.

Me.

When I was assigned my sections in the Weapon Master’s Handbook, I KNEW that this could very well be my only chance to give halfling slingers some love. And by the gods, I took my chance. Thank you, Owen, for allowing me to make this build for Perram. And now, the halfling slinger build that Perram never knew he wanted.

Build Concept

Let’s look at the majesty that is this halfling slinger build.

• Halfling: Yes. Of course.
• Warslinger Alternate Racial Trait: Another obvious choice for a perfect build!
• Fighter (Vanilla): YES ALL THE UNDERAPPRECIATEDNESS BAKED INTO ONE DELICIOUS BUILD OF JUSTICE!

….I’m sorry. I got carried away there for a second in my revelry. Let’s get started, shall we?

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: fighter 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (1st), Weapon Focus: sling (Bonus), Slipshooter Style (3rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Startoss Style (5th), Weapon Style Mastery: Startoss Style (Bonus), Startoss Comet (7th)
• Abilities: armor training 2, bonus feats, bravery +2, weapon training 2 (thrown)

So basically, the idea is to grab Slipshooter Style as soon as possible. For the first few levels, you’ll likely be using a sling instead of a slingstaff, but as soon as you get Slipshooter Style, which allows you to treat the slingstaff as the sling for all purposes, you’re golden. From there, you start building into Startoss Style, which gives you extra damage, and then grab Weapon Style Mastery, which allows you to have Startoss Style and Slipshooter Style active at the same time. Nifty! Also, you’re likely going to want to pick sling with Startoss Style, as Slipshooter Style will allow you to spread your selection with the sling to all other sling-like weapons you possess.

Early on is very important, but not particularly exciting. Having an extra +4 damage while in Startoss Style is, however, pretty cool. That gives us a total of +6 as long as we’re within 30 feet of the target. Let’s move on to the mid levels and see if we can get it any higher.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: fighter 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (1st), Weapon Focus: sling (Bonus), Slipshooter Style (3rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Startoss Style (5th), Weapon Style Mastery: Startoss Style (Bonus), Startoss Comet (7th), Startoss Shower (Bonus), Deadly Aim (9th), Advanced Weapon Training: armed bravery (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: halfling slingstaff (11th), Advanced Weapon Training: focused weapon [halfling slingstaff] (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: halfling slingstaff (Bonus)
• Abilities: armor training 3, bonus feats, bravery +4, weapon training 3 (thrown, advanced weapon trainings x2)
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: armed bravery (Bonus), trained throw (9th), trained initiative (13th)

Mid levels is where we start to pick up some of the wackier abilities for our halfling slinger. We quickly finish off the Startoss Style chain with Startoss Shower (because you KNOW you’ve always wanted to cleave a sling bullet halfway around the battlefield with a flick of your wrist), then begin to grab more damage-increasing abilities for our slingstaff. Now, when it comes to deciding what advanced talents you want, you should always pick the options that’ll help you shine the most. I liked armed bravery because it makes bravery MUCH more useful, but you might want to take focused weapon first for the massive damage die bonus it provides. By the end, of this humble build, we’re looking at 1d8+Strength+6 (Startoss Style)+1 (Point-Blank Shot)+6 (weapon training plus trained throw)+2 (Weapon Specialization)+4 (Deadly Aim), for a grand total of 1d8+19, or an average of 23 damage per attack, with a total of four attacks per round. Not terrible! Let’s sign off with the endgame.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: fighter 20
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (1st), Weapon Focus: sling (Bonus), Slipshooter Style (3rd), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Startoss Style (5th), Weapon Style Mastery: Startoss Style (Bonus), Startoss Comet (7th), Startoss Shower (Bonus), Deadly Aim (9th), Advanced Weapon Training: armed bravery (Bonus), Weapon Specialization: halfling slingstaff (11th), Advanced Weapon Training: focused weapon [halfling slingstaff] (Bonus), Greater Weapon Focus: halfling slingstaff (Bonus), Greater Weapon Specialization: halfling slingstaff (15th), Clustered Shot (Bonus), Penetrating Strike (17th), Greater Penetrating Strike (Bonus), Improved Critical: halfling slingstaff (19th), FREEBIE (20th)
• Abilities: armor mastery, armor training 4, bonus feats, bravery +5, weapon training 4 (thrown, advanced weapon trainings x3), weapon mastery: halfling slingstaff
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: armed bravery (Bonus), trained throw (9th), trained initiative (13th), FREEBIE (17th)

So, what to take for those freebies? I’m pretty impartial to Improved Precise Shot myself, but its totally up to you. Aside from getting Penetrating Strike, there isn’t much left that’ll give you a flat increase to your damage, so I decided to focus on ignoring damage reduction. Between both Penetrating Strike feats and Clustered Shots, you will likely NEVER worry about damage reduction again. Ever.

So, where does this build end up damagewise? By 20th level, its sling has been progressed to 2d6 points of damage by focused weapon, and it has a total of +16 on damage rolls before magic enhancements and the like. On average, you’re looking at 23 points of damage, plus an extra +5 from enhancements and perhaps an extra 1d6 or two of damage from weapon special abilities. I’d say that 35 damage per hit is an accurate estimate, which isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. You’re hitting hard with this build, and you’re sporting five attacks while doing it. Without question, this build isn’t likely to beat a pure archer in effectiveness if only because the archer has TONS of feats that he didn’t require to be effective at his roll. But this build has a fun playstyle, and what’s best, it is PASSABLY FUNCTIONABLE at the table. I dare to call it effective, even!

So rejoice, Perram, and know that another iconic fighting style has been brought to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in style! Alex signing out!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Ever since Occult Adventures was released, people have been pelting us with requests for one particular series of characters. Characters who are beloved, who arguably take part in one of the greatest Hero’s Journey stories of our time. I’m talking, of course, about Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Shamaylan is a myth. Shamaylan is a myth….)

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, stop reading my article and go binge. Its like 60 episodes in all, with a total of three seasons. In my humble opinion, Avatar: The Last Airbender is the unsung Star Wars trilogy of our era, and any nerd or geek who doesn’t at least give it a try is missing out on a cultural phenomena. Who cares that its animated? Who cares that the cast is kids or that it’s a Nickelodeon show? If you have any amount of respect for me as a journalist, you will give this show the same 14 hours that you gave Agents of Shield, and I ASSURE you that you will be hooked if you give it a fair chance.

So with that kind of an intro, who am I going to be building today? Well, not Aang. Not now and probably not ever. Aang is basically a mythic character, and rules don’t exist that allow one to make a satisfying Avatar, so I am not going to bother to try and build something that will never be up to my standards. So instead, I’m going to build the female lead, a young lady who is, in my opinion, one of the biggest bad-asses in fantasy bar none, Katara.

Build Concept

Here’s a quick rundown on Katara.

• Human: There aren’t any nonhuman humanoids in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Kineticist: Duh. Avatar: The Last Airbender INSPIRED the kineticist class. There is nothing better for Katara.

Well, that was easy! Let’s get started on the build, then.

Book One: Water (1–7)

• Classes: kineticist 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Toughness (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Weapon Finesse, (5th), Extra Wild Talent: kinetic healer (7th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus, elemental overflow +2, expanded element (water), gather power, infusion specialization 1, infusions, internal buffer 1, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower), utility wild talents
• Blast Talents: water blast (1st), cold blast (7th), ice blast (7th)
• Defense Talents: shroud of water (2nd)
• Infusion Talents: pushing infusion (1st), quenching infusion (3rd), kinetic blade (5th), kinetic whip (7th)
• Utility Talents: basic hydrokinesis (1st), slick (2nd), icewalker (4th), kinetic cover (6th), kinetic healer (Bonus)

At the start of Book One, Katara’s abilities mostly revolve around water; she doesn’t start reliably using ice until near the end of the first Season. Thankfully, by our tier system Katara’s JUST gotten expanded elements (water) at this point. For her epic dual at the conclusion of the book, Katara’s done a lot of practice in mastering her form. Water whip is one of the first techniques she learns in the series, which is demonstrated by the kinetic whip infusion. She grabs Weapon Finesse the level she takes kinetic whip, which means she can stay mostly Dex-focused in her abilities; befitting her nimble fighting style. Utility-wise, slicks are among the most basic techniques in a waterbender’s arsenal, and icewalker is a must for a girl who grew up at the South Pole. Kinetic healer is Katara’s first “Extra Wild Talent” pick; she learns this at the North Pole after the epic climax of that season.

Onward to Season 2!

Book Two: Earth (8 –14)

• Classes: kineticist 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Toughness (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Weapon Finesse, (5th), Extra Wild Talent: kinetic healer (7th), Extra Wild Talent: extended range (9th), Extra Wild Talent: torrent (11th), Extra Wild Talent: spray (13th)
• Abilities: burn, elemental defense, elemental focus, elemental overflow +4, expanded element (water), gather power, infusion specialization 4, infusions, internal buffer 2, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower, maximize, quicken), supercharge, utility wild talents
• Blast Talents: water blast (1st), cold blast (7th), ice blast (7th)
• Defense Talents: shroud of water (2nd)
• Infusion Talents: pushing infusion (1st), quenching infusion (3rd), kinetic blade (5th), kinetic whip (7th), extended range (Bonus), impale (9th), torrent (Bonus), wall (11th), spray (Bonus), grappling infusion (13th)
• Utility Talents: basic hydrokinesis (1st), slick (2nd), icewalker (4th), kinetic cover (6th), kinetic healer (Bonus), waterdancer (8th), water manipulator (10th), ice path (12th), ride the blast (14th)

Book Two really sees Katara transform into a waterbending master. At the end of the season, she adopts a powerful eight-tentacle fighting stance against Zuko and Azula, which we’re representing with the grappling infusion, modified with the wall infusion. She’s gotten plenty of cool tricks by this point; she’s able to bend her allies across a channel with creative application of the water manipulate alongside Aang’s own bending abilities and she is able to throw so much water at her foes that she literally surfs at enemies along with her blasts, mirrored by the aptly-named “ride the blast” ability. She impales people with ice and can even freeze water solid enough to walk on it; Katara’s REALLY awesome by the end of Book 2, so much so that I was itching to see where her character went in Book 3. Let’s find out!

Book Three: Fire (15+)

• Classes: kineticist 20
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Toughness (1st), Precise Shot (3rd), Weapon Finesse, (5th), Extra Wild Talent: kinetic healer (7th), Extra Wild Talent: extended range (9th), Extra Wild Talent: torrent (11th), Extra Wild Talent: spray (13th), Weapon Focus: kinetic blast (15th), Combat Casting (17th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: burn, composite specialization, elemental defense, elemental focus, elemental overflow +6, expanded element (water, water), gather power, infusion specialization 6, infusions, internal buffer 3, kinetic blast, metakinesis (empower, maximize, quicken, twice), metakinetic master, omnikinesis, supercharge, utility wild talents
• Blast Talents: water blast (1st), cold blast (7th), ice blast (7th)
• Defense Talents: shroud of water (2nd)
• Infusion Talents: pushing infusion (1st), quenching infusion (3rd), kinetic blade (5th), kinetic whip (7th), extended range (Bonus), impale (9th), torrent (Bonus), wall (11th), spray (Bonus), grappling infusion (13th), extreme range (Bonus), fragmentation (17th), cloud (19th)
• Utility Talents: basic hydrokinesis (1st), slick (2nd), icewalker (4th), kinetic cover (6th), kinetic healer (Bonus), waterdancer (8th), water manipulator (10th), ice path (12th), ride the blast (14th), shimmering mirage (16th), tidal wave (18th), reverse shift (20th)

By the end of Book 3, Katara is among the most skilled waterbenders alive. It takes both her and Zuko to beat a comet-infused Azula, but in the end she ends up stopping Azula with a powerful, imprisoning blast. (We’ll call it the grappling infusion here.) Shimmering mirage can be flavored as a nice boost to her agility in battle and tidal wave is an ability she pulls out on several occasions when water is present. Reverse shift might seem weird, but here’s where I make it not-weird: it is the bender’s ability to mediate to send their consciousness to the Spirit World! Just about the ONLY thing that isn’t appropriate for katara is the capstone, omnikinesis; the ability to be flexible with the elements isn’t appropriate for her, but the ability to choose universal or water talents she doesn’t have sure is!

And with that, I present to you Katara, Hero of the Water Tribe! Who will I write up next, and when will that be? Who knows?! Come back next week and find out! 😉

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

First of all, hello everyone. Alex was busy with freelance deadlines, so I agreed to make an exception to personal not working on game-related writing unlike Milinarsted is done to take the reins for an iconic design. On top of Alex needing a break, he tells me people have requested more than once an iconic design based on my sumo-theme brawler, Daitora. Specifically, people want to know how I can have a 6^th level brawler with AC 13.

Build Concept

A sumo brawler with a tattoo of a tiger on his chest. I actually posted a character creation journal for Daitora on the site during the Advanced Class Guide Playtest. Part 4 specifically went into the build. But that only covered up to level 2, and it wasn’t in Alex’s sleek style, so onward!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: Brawler 6
• Feats: Meditation Master (bonus), Improved Unarmed Strike (bonus), Power Attack (1st), Combat Expertise (bonus), Tiger Style (3rd), Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) (bonus), Combat Meditation (5th), Slow Time (7th)
• Abilities: brawler’s cunning, martial flexibility, martial training, unarmed strike, brawler’s flurry (Two-Weapon Fighting), maneuver training, AC bonus, knockout, brawler’s strike (magic), close weapon mastery

Let’s get it out of the way now that I don’t build classes the same way Alex does. I have no idea how he would feel about me taking Meditation Master from Pathfinder Player’s Companion – Faiths & Philosophies at 1^st level. And even I know that, thematically, Daitora makes way more sense as a monk than a brawler. One of the underlying advantages of the brawler is that it eliminates the Eastern influence from the class. Then here I go, bringing the East to the brawler.

That said, there is a mechanical theme to my early choices: flexibility. Meditation Master grants me a +1 bonus to a single D20 roll per day and can be applied after a roll but before the results are determined. My other two first feats were Power Attack and Combat Expertise, feats that let me trade attack bonus for other advantages and the gateways to all of the combat maneuver feats. Fighting on a cliff? I use martial flexibility to gain Improved Bullrush. Fighting against a wolf? Don’t forget that Improved Trip also grants a bonus to CMD against trips. Fighting in a room with weird lava trenches? Been there. Daitora gained improved grapple and pinned the scenario’s villain face-first in the lava.

Tiger Style is largely a thematic choice, but the ability to deal slashing damage with an unarmed strike has come in handy (ha!) against creatures with DR, and it opens up Tiger Claws, which is even better against DR.

The end goal of the mediation feats I took was Slow Time. What warrior wouldn’t want the ability to grant themselves the effects of haste, especially in PFS where you never know who you’ll be adventuring with, but you’ll know you’ll appreciate the effects of haste.

Endgame (8-11+)

• Classes: Brawler 11
• Feats: Meditation Master (bonus), Improved Unarmed Strike (bonus), Power Attack (1st), Combat Expertise (bonus), Tiger Style (3rd), Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) (bonus), Combat Meditation (5th), Slow Time (7th), Tiger Claws (bonus), Tiger Pounce (9th), Weapon Specialization (Unarmed Strike) (bonus), Dodge (11th).
• Abilities: brawler’s cunning, martial flexibility, martial training, unarmed strike, brawler’s flurry, maneuver training, AC bonus, knockout, brawler’s strike, close weapon mastery.

This being a PFS character, I have only plotted it out to 11^th level, and even then everything after 6^th level is tentative.

Even though by 8^th level, martial flexibility grants me the option to complete my tiger style as a move action, I’m getting nervous about action economy. My meditation feats require full round actions, entering Tiger style is a swift action, I would rather commit to Tiger Claws and Tiger Pounce now and leave my martial flexibility options open. Plus, even though I’m not a tank, any round I have the option to flurry, I appreciate it.

I round out my feats with Weapon Specialization and Dodge. Dodge is not for the AC bonus, which I’ve basically given up on. It’s for what it opens up: Spring Attack and Whirlwind Attack. Whirlwind Attack is fun in concept but impractical. It entirely depends on who I’m fighting and how they fight me. But for those times when I find myself surrounded, I can gain the three feats I need as a move action for Whirlwind attack and hope to survive to go all E Honda out on them. Meanwhile, Weapon Spec is always useful and it’s a pretty exclusive feat so I feel like I am wasting an opportunity if I don’t take it.

But… AC 13?

You may have noticed very little makes up for my AC 13. It’s true. Without magic items, my AC will be 15 by 11^th level. Truth be told, his AC is low for an Erik Monaian desire to play a naked adventurer. In this case, a sumo traditionally wears a mawashi, unceremoniously referred to in the West as a sumo diaper. It’s way more like a thong than a diaper, people! Between the traditional sumo dress and the tiger ink on his chest, when I picture what Daitora looks like, I don’t see armour. Sometimes I see him in a 90’s X-Men leather jacket over his sumo uniform, but that’s it. 

Call it a masochistic experiment in vulnerability, but I’m OK with that. Bring on the iterative attacks that the GM usually assumes are going to miss. Bring on the monsters with abilities that only go off when multiple hits succeed. Bring on everything you’ve got. Daitora may be a brawler, but he’s not a moron. And he’s definitely not a tank. Instead, he stalks his prey pensively for a few rounds, meditating and observing the battlefield for just the right approach. Then he picks the perfect feats for the encounter and gets in the thick of things. He may spend a few encounters hurting, but he rarely spends them dying.

Ryan Costello is the founder of the Know Direction Network and co-hot of the Know Direction podcast. 

Today I’m doing one of the most commonly requested characters for Iconic Design. A character who everyone knows, and who needs very little introduction. Today’s character is Link, from the Legend of Zelda series!.

Build Concept

Here’s what we’re going to need in order to build a satisfying Link.

• Half-Elf: I can’t bring myself around to calling Link human, personally. At the same time, he doesn’t strike me as an elf either. As a result, I’m going to say that the Hyrulians are some sort of true-breeding half-elves. Which I’m perfectly okay with. I can’t really see Link with any of the alternate racial traits from any current Paizo source, so we’re going to use the standard set-up for Link. I think I’m going to go with Skill Focus (Acrobatics) for his free half-elven Skill Focus feat; he’s pretty Acrobatic in most of his games, though I think that Skill Focus (Ride) or Skill Focus (Handle Animal) is also okay.
• Fighter: Why, a single-class fighter Iconic Design? I too like to live dangerously.

With that out of the way, let’s talk stats!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: fighter 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Power Attack (1st), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Weapon Focus: longsword (3rd), Weapon Specialization: longsword (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: versatile training (5th), Cleave (Bonus), Great Cleave (7th)
• Abilities: armor training, bravery, weapon training
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: versatile training: heavy blades (Bonus)
• Weapon Training: heavy blades +1 (5th)

Low-levels, Link is a pretty basic switch-hitting half-elf. He’s got some fairly standard melee options (like Power Attack) as well as two ranged feats: Point-Blank Shot and Rapid Shot. In my opinion, Link doesn’t really need a whole bunch of ranged attacking feats because the bow is more of a backup weapon in the games rather than his bread and butter, which is the Master Sword.

One of Link’s iconic abilities is the spin attack, where he rapidly attacks everything close to him by spanning about. We’re replicating that with the Cleave line of feats, s it’s the best way to realize that maneuver. I’m also picking up the versatile training advanced weapon training as Link’s first advanced weapon training ability. I like versatile training because it gives bonus class skills and skill ranks, and for heavy blades the choices are Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, and Knowledge (nobility). I would pick Diplomacy and Intimidate for Link personally, but its really up to you. I can also see an argument being made to ignore this AWT altogether; its really just a preference of mine.

With that aside, let’s look at the mid levels.

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: fighter 14
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Power Attack (1st), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Weapon Focus: longsword (3rd), Weapon Specialization: longsword (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: versatile training (5th), Cleave (Bonus), Great Cleave (7th), Greater Weapon Focus: longsword (Bonus), Cleaving Finish (9th), Advanced Weapon Training: armed bravery (Bonus), Improved Cleaving Finish (11th), Greater Weapon Specialization: longsword (Bonus), Quick Draw (13th), Cut from the Air (Bonus)
• Abilities: armor training, bravery, weapon training
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: versatile training: heavy blades (Bonus) focused weapon: longsword (9th), armed bravery (Bonus), trained initiative (13th)
• Weapon Training: heavy blades +3 (5th)

Alright, let’s talk about more fights! We focus even more on fighting with the Master Sword via Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization. We’re also going to be replicating Link’s sick ability to knock away spells that are targeted at him with the Master Sword using the Cut from the Air and Smash from the Air (End Game) feats, both of which are Weapon Mastery feats from the Weapon Master’s Handbook. We also start picking up a bunch of advanced weapon training abilities, such as armed bravery (add bravery to all Will saves as well as the fighter’s Intimidate DC) and trained initiative (add bravery on Initiative checks). Cleaving Finish and Improved Cleaving Finish help us assure that Link will be taking his enemies down, but at the same time I can see an argument being made that they aren’t as “spin-dashy” as the Cleave and Great Cleave feats. If you don’t like them, then take Cut from the Air and Smash from the Air in their place and add Penetrating Strike and Greater Penetrating Strike somewhere. I’m sure you’ll make it work. ☺

Onto the End Game!

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: fighter 20
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Power Attack (1st), Rapid Shot (Bonus), Weapon Focus: longsword (3rd), Weapon Specialization: longsword (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: versatile training (5th), Cleave (Bonus), Great Cleave (7th), Greater Weapon Focus: longsword (Bonus), Cleaving Finish (9th), Advanced Weapon Training: armed bravery (Bonus), Improved Cleaving Finish (11th), Greater Weapon Specialization: longsword (Bonus), Quick Draw (13th), Cut from the Air (Bonus), Advanced Weapon Training: fighter’s reflexes (15th), Smash from the Air (Bonus), Critical Focus (17th), Tiring Critical (Bonus), Exhausting Critical (19th), Improved Critical: Longsword (Bonus)
• Abilities: armor mastery, armor training, bravery, weapon mastery (longsword), weapon training
• Advanced Weapon Trainings: versatile training: heavy blades (Bonus) focused weapon: longsword (9th), armed bravery (Bonus), trained initiative (13th), fighter’s reflexes (Bonus), dazzling intimidation (17th)
• Weapon Training: heavy blades +4 (5th)

Link rounds up his build with bonuses on Reflex saves and improved criticals. He also gets the Smash from the Air feat, which is awesome. I love that one!

Before I sign out, let’s talk about the kind of gear that Link can carry to replicate some of the most common Legend of Zelda ware.

• Slingshot: I guess grab a sling? Not really all THAT great.
• Bow: Link uses a shortbow.
• Bombs: Grab some fuse bombs. They’re the closest thing to Link’s bombs in game. (Plus going alchemist or wizard for the bomb class feature isn’t very appropriate for Link.)
• Boomerang: Like the sling, this exists in some places but I doubt I would bother taking the item proficiency feat for it. Link uses his boomerang primarily to solve puzzles, not to attack foes.
• Hookshot: For now, nothing like this exists in the game. A wand of force hook charge is probably the best you’re going to do in this regard.

And that’s that! I hope you enjoyed my Link build, and I hope to see you reading more Iconic design in the future. There’s lots more builds for me to show you, so make sure you stay tuned here at the Know Direction Network!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Last year, I did an entire week of cool character designs for Christmas. This year, I’m topping ALL of that with one, single Iconic Design that’s so chock-full of holiday cheer that you’re going to EXPLODE from it!

This year, I’m building Santa Claus.

Build Concept

How are we going to make this work? Easy!

• Human: Saint Nicolas was/is a human, so this seems fitting.
• Archery: Did you know that in addition to being the patron saint of children and redeemed thieves, Saint Nicolas is also the patron saint of Pathfinder’s most ridiculous damage-dealing weapon style?! Its true!
• Inquisitor: This is almost the perfect Santa Clause class. Santa knows when you’re away with detect thoughts. He knows if you’ve been bad or good with detect alignment. He only needs a way to see you when you’re sleeping, so to get that we’re going to be dipping into…
• Pathfinder Savant: This is an awesome prestige class that doesn’t get the credit its due. Among other things, this class will allow us to put scrying onto the inquisitor’s spell list, so we can finally have our dream of a Santa Clause build.

Well, how does this all come together? Take a look and see!

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: Inquisitor (sacred huntsmaster) 7
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (1st), Coordinated Shot (Bonus), Friendly Fire Maneuvers (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Enfilading Fire (Bonus), Manyshot (7th)
• Abilities: animal companion, animal focus, cunning initiative, bane, detect alignment, discern lies, domain (Animal), hunter tactics, monster lore, stern gaze, track
• Inquisitor 3rd-Level Spells Known (2): coordinated effort, nondetection
• Inquisitor 2nd-Level Spells Known (4): detect thoughts, knock, tongues, ANY ONE
• Inquisitor 1st-Level Spells Known (4): bless, cure light wounds, divine favor,
• Inquisitor Orisons Known (6): detect magic, detect poison, guidance, read magic, sift, stabilize

So the basic idea is that Santa Claus has Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as an animal companion, and shares all of his teamwork feats with him. Use the stats for a moose (which are flippin’ awesome). By level 7, Santa knows if you’re awake (detect thoughts) and he knows if you’ve been bad or good (detect alignment). We’re going to be spending most of the mid levels building Santa up to the point where he’ll be able to see you when you’re sleeping, but he won’t have that for a while yet. Use a Crystal Ball or something.

Moving on!

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: Inquisitor (sacred huntsmaster) 12 / Pathfinder Savant 2
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (1st), Coordinated Shot (Bonus), Friendly Fire Maneuvers (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Enfilading Fire (Bonus), Manyshot (7th), Craft Wondrous Item or Spell Focus: any (9th), Escape Route (Bonus), Magical Aptitude (11th), ANY TEAMWORK FEAT (Bonus), Deadly Aim (13th)
• Abilities: adept activation, animal companion, animal focus, cunning initiative, bane, detect alignment, discern lies, domain (Animal), esoteric magic, glyph-finding, greater bane, hunter tactics, improved empathic link, master scholar +1, monster lore, stalwart, stern gaze, track
• Esoteric Spells: scrying (2nd)
• Inquisitor 5th-Level Spells Known (2): scrying, ANY ONE
• Inquisitor 4th-Level Spells Known (4): ANY FOUR
• Inquisitor 3rd-Level Spells Known (5): coordinated effort, nondetection, ANY THREE
• Inquisitor 2nd-Level Spells Known (5): detect thoughts, knock, tongues, ANY THREE
• Inquisitor 1st-Level Spells Known (6): bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, ANY TWO
• Inquisitor Orisons Known (6): detect magic, detect poison, guidance, read magic, sift, stabilize

So how are we going to help Santa see people when they’re sleeping? Well, we need to get scrying onto his inquisitor spell list, and currently the easiest way to do that is with the Pathfinder Savant prestige class. Its 2nd level ability, esoteric magic, allows us to add scrying to the inquisitor spell list as a 5th-level spell. We spend most of the mid levels qualify for the class, but I like the flavor that adding those prerequisites bring to the class; Craft Wondrous Item for making toys and Magical Aptitude for using all sorts of Christmas gadgets. (Note that if you want to use the Pathfinder Savant in PFS, the class requires Spell Focus as a prerequisite instead of a crafting feat.)

Other then those elements, there isn’t a whole lot that we NEED to make a good Santa Claus. The teamwork feats in particular are tough because Santa has basically all of the feats that are super useful to him. (There are some exceptions, but not many.) I personally like the idea of taking selective invisibility as a 3rd-level spell so Santa is invisible to everyone save the children (sweet and sentimental), but its really up to you.

Let’s finish off Santa’s build so everyone can get back to their holiday festivities.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: Inquisitor (sacred huntsmaster) 18 / Pathfinder Savant 2
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (Bonus), Precise Shot (1st), Coordinated Shot (Bonus), Friendly Fire Maneuvers (3rd), Rapid Shot (5th), Enfilading Fire (Bonus), Manyshot (7th), Craft Wondrous Item or Spell Focus: any (9th), Escape Route (Bonus), Magical Aptitude (11th), ANY TEAMWORK FEAT (Bonus), Deadly Aim (13th), ANY TEAMWORK FEAT (Bonus), Boon Companion (15th), Additional Traits: magical knack if you don’t have it already (17th), ANY TEAMWORK FEAT (18th), FREEBIE (19th)
• Abilities: adept activation, animal companion, animal focus, cunning initiative, bane, detect alignment, discern lies, domain (Animal), esoteric magic, exploit weakness, glyph-finding, greater bane, hunter tactics, improved empathic link, master scholar +1, monster lore, raise animal companion, second animal focus, slayer, stalwart, stern gaze, track
• Esoteric Spells: scrying (2nd)
• Inquisitor 6th-Level Spells Known (4): find the path, legend lore, overwhelming presence, ANY ONE
• Inquisitor 5th-Level Spells Known (4): scrying, ANY THREE
• Inquisitor 4th-Level Spells Known (5): ANY FIVE
• Inquisitor 3rd-Level Spells Known (6): coordinated effort, nondetection, ANY FOUR
• Inquisitor 2nd-Level Spells Known (6): detect thoughts, knock, tongues, ANY THREE
• Inquisitor 1st-Level Spells Known (6): bless, cure light wounds, divine favor, ANY TWO
• Inquisitor Orisons Known (6): detect magic, detect poison, guidance, read magic, sift, stabilize

I have nothing else to say here save, “Come on, EVERYONE would bow before Santa Clause as though he were a god. EVERY. ONE.”

And that’s this week’s build for this special Christmas installment of Iconic Design. What did you think? How would you build old Chris Kringle? Would you do something differently, or stay the same? What sort of Iconic Designs do you want to see in the new year, and who do you want to see writing them? (I can totally try to get Ryan or Perram to write an article if people are interested in seeing their take on character building for an episode.) Leave your comments below, and I’ll see you back next week for our first Iconic Design of the new year! Take care. 😀

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.

Usually by the time I’ve shared a build with you, I have most of the kinks out of it. Well today, for the Holiday Season, you’re going to get something COMPLETELY different. This is a build that is super off-the-presses. Even more interestingly, this is a build that I designed not for PFS, but for an Adventure Path that I’m currently playing in: Reign of Winter. As a result, you’ll get to see a little bit of my “planning for the party” mentality as I design this character. And yes, before you ask, I’m a kitsune. Did you really think I’d be anything else when the Player’s Guide says, “This is a great AP to play non-Core races in?” Of course not. Let’s get to it!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Bard: I really wanted to be a skill focused support character for Reign of Winter, and I’ve always wanted to play a bard.
• Cavalier (Daring Champion): About the time I decided that I actually wanted to play a battle herald, not just a bard, I realized something really silly that I could do that really changed my build’s focus. That silly thing is daring champion. I don’t plan on taking many levels of cavalier (just two for the aid allies order ability), but daring champion does the thing I want at Level 1; it trades the mount class feature (what I would consider a huge liability in Reign of Winter) for champion’s finesse, which is basically swashbuckler’s finesse. Since I’m already getting “Weapon Finesse” for free, that left me with two options: focus on Dex-based melee or dip into ranged combat. My party has a dedicated Dex damage dealing (an unchained rogue, soon to be multiclassed into swashbuckler) as well as a dedicated archer (one of those terrifying two-bow kathasa rangers), so I decided that being the guy who was passable in both would be a fun niche for me in melee.
• Battle Herald: If you couldn’t tell, I really like this prestige class. Not to mention that all the best aid another builds use the battle herald because of the teamwork inspiring command.

All right, that’s the bones for you. Now let’s look at the meat.

Early Levels (1–7)

• Classes: bard 5 / cavalier (daring champion) 2
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Covering Fire (Bonus), Precise Shot (3rd), Arcane Strike (5th), Combat Expertise (7th)
• Abilities: bardic knowledge, bardic performance (countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence +2, inspire courage +5), challenge 1/day, champion’s finesse, lore master 1/day, order of the dragon, tactician, versatile performance, well versed
• Order Abilities: aid allies (2nd)
• Versatile Performance: sing (2nd)
• Bard 2nd-Level Spells Known (3): gallant inspiration, hold person, mirror image
• Bard 1st-Level Spells Known (4): charm person, ear-piercing scream, liberating command, saving finale
• Bard Cantrips Known (6): detect magic, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, sift, spark

At low-levels, most of the game is setting up the basic components to the build. Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot are vital to anyone even thinking about attacking at range, Arcane Strike is excellent for its interactions with the gloves of arcane mastery, and I’m picking up Combat Expertise to qualify for an ability I’m taking at 8th level (see mid levels). The interesting feat in this grouping, however, is Covering Fire, my tactician bonus feat. Covering Fire allows me to use ranged attacks when making aid another attempts, even against opponents that I don’t threaten. Basically, when making an aid another attempt, I pick one ally and make the check. If I succeed, my chosen ally gains my aid another bonus against the next attack made by whatever opponent I’ve chosen. And yes, as implied Covering Fire only works on aid another attempts made to boost AC. Now, what’s really nice is that the benefit that I’ve just mentioned doesn’t actually NEED my chosen ally to have Covering Fire to work. I can simply choose an ally, grant it the bonus, and be on my way if I roll 10 or better. So why is this a teamwork feat? Because if my allies have Covering Fire, I automatically grant THEM the benefits of my aid another attempt too.

So yes, if I use tactician, my entire party gains the feat. Which means my entire party gains the AC bonus from my aid another attempt. Fan. Freaking. Tastic. Sure, it only lasts for a couple of rounds (I’m only a Level 2 cavalier for now), but an ability like this in the right build can completely shut down an enemy in the right combat. Which we’ll see more of in later levels….

Mid Levels (8 –14)

• Classes: bard 7 / cavalier (daring champion) 2/ battle herald 5
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Covering Fire (Bonus), Precise Shot (3rd), Arcane Strike (5th), Combat Expertise (7th), Lingering Performance (9th), Swift Aid (11th), Virtuous Creed: protection (13th)
• Abilities: banner, bardic knowledge, bardic performance (countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence +3, inspire courage +5, suggestion), challenge 1/day, champion’s finesse, easy march, improved leadership, inspire greatness, inspiring command +2, lore master 1/day, order of the dragon, tactician, versatile performance, voice of authority, well versed
• Bardic Masterpieces: Battle Song of the People’s Revolt: Harrying Partners (6th)
• Inspiring Commands: teamwork (1st), sound the charge (3rd), shake it off (5th)
• Order Abilities: aid allies (2nd)
• Versatile Performance: sing (2nd), oratory (6th)
• Bard 3rd-Level Spells Known (2): coordinated effort, haste
• Bard 2nd-Level Spells Known (4): gallant inspiration, hold person, mirror image, Battle Song of the People’s Revolt
• Bard 1st-Level Spells Known (5): charm person, ear-piercing scream, liberating command, saving finale
• Bard Cantrips Known (6): detect magic, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, sift, spark

First big note: yes, I took the coordinated effort spell. It’s the only reason I made sure to go up to bard 7 with this build. When I’m out of tactician, I want to be able to spread my awesome teamwork feat, after all. Second, yes. I traded one of my 2nd level bard spells known for Battle Song of the People’s Revolt. It HAD to be the 2nd level spell slot gained at 6th level because at that point I have precisely the right base attack bonus to meet the feat’s prerequisites. Not I can use a bardic masterpiece to grant my allies Harrying Partners, which means that any aid another bonus that I grant lasts until the start of my next turn. Combined with Covering Fire and coordinated effort, I can very easily grant three separate characters a substantial AC bonus against all attacks a specific opponent makes until the start of my next turn.

Now, as I mentioned before, my party has a kathasa bow nomad ranger. This is basically an alien who fights with two bows, combining archery with two-weapon fighting. Imagine being able to use an insane aid another combo on this character to grant it massive bonuses to hit (via Harrying Partners, which requires the Combat Expertise feat that I took at 7th level). Currently it isn’t clear whether I can maintain a bardic performance and a bardic masterpiece at the same time, but I can 100% maintain an inspiring command while benefiting from a bardic performance via the Lingering Performance feat, which basically assures that I can have the teamwork inspiring command and my Harrying Partners feat active at the same time. Its going to stick to have to wait a level to have both, but such is the nature of progression.

The other new additions from the battle herald are basically the same as those from Friday’s build. The same several inspiring commands shine, and I took the same feats for the same reasons. With nothing else to say, let’s look at the end game to see how this build wraps up.

Endgame (15+)

• Classes: bard 8 / cavalier (daring champion) 2/ battle herald 10
• Feats: Point-Blank Shot (1st), Covering Fire (Bonus), Precise Shot (3rd), Arcane Strike (5th), Lingering Performance (7th), Combat Expertise (9th), Swift Aid (11th), Virtuous Creed: protection (13th), FREEBIE (Bonus), Scribe Scroll (15th), Improved Precise Shot (17th), Extra Performance (19th)
• Abilities: banner, bardic knowledge, bardic performance (countersong, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence +3, inspire courage +5, suggestion), challenge 1/day, champion’s finesse, complex commands, demanding challenge, easy march, improved leadership, inspire greatness, inspire last stand, inspiring command +4, lore master 1/day, order of the dragon, persistent commands, tactician, versatile performance, voice of authority, well versed
• Bardic Masterpieces: Battle Song of the People’s Revolt: Harrying Partners (6th)
• Inspiring Commands: teamwork (1st), sound the charge (3rd), shake it off (5th), none shall fall (7th), keep your heads (9th)
• Order Abilities: aid allies (2nd)
• Versatile Performance: sing (2nd), oratory (6th)
• Bard 3rd-Level Spells Known (3): coordinated effort, haste, fly
• Bard 2nd-Level Spells Known (4): gallant inspiration, hold person, mirror image, Battle Song of the People’s Revolt
• Bard 1st-Level Spells Known (5): charm person, ear-piercing scream, liberating command, saving finale
• Bard Cantrips Known (6): detect magic, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, sift, spark

Nothing particularly out of the ordinary here. I am taking Scribe Scroll so I can make myself some scrolls of coordinated effort (though I might do Craft Wand instead because I’ll have the gold at that level and casting per casting, wands are more cost effective than scrolls). After that, I’m just taking feats that I * might * need. My build is basically complete when I get the ability to have Harrying Partners and the teamwork inspiring command up at the same time.

At 14th level, I get a bonus teamwork feat from my battle herald class. I haven’t decided what I want to do with it yet; I might take Harrying Partners so I can spread the feat via coordinated effort without needing to start a performance to get it. I we also have a rogue and a bloodrager in the party, so I might take Outflank just to buff those characters on occasion. We’ll see. For all I know Reign of Winter will be over at 14th level, after all.

Before I sign off with this build, I thought I’d show the magic items that make this build possible as well as the bonuses it provides. Its basically the same as what I listed for my previous build (Friday’s), but with one exception:

• Gloves of Arcane Striking: You can add the damage bonus from the Arcane Strike feat to the bonus that you provide to allies with aid another. If you choose AC, you add the damage bonus from the feat to the aided ally’s AC. If you choose attack, your ally adds the damage bonus from the feat to the damage of its attack, should it hit.
• With that, let’s see where this build is in assisting:
• Early Levels: AC +5 (aid allies +1, gloves of arcane striking +2), ATK +4 (aid allies +1, benevolent weapon +1)
• Mid Levels: AC +9 (aid allies +1, gloves of arcane striking +2, ring of tactical precision +2, Virtuous Creed +2, inspiring command +2), ATK +8 (aid allies +1, ring of tactical precision +1, benevolent weapon +2, inspiring command +2)
• End Game: AC +13 (aid allies +1, gloves of arcane striking +2, ring of tactical precision +2, Virtuous Creed +2, inspiring command +4), ATK +11 (aid allies +1, ring of tactical precision +1, benevolent weapon +5, inspiring command +4)

That’s just NASTY.

Thanks for joining me for Iconic Design! Normally today we’d have an installment of Guidance for you to enjoy, but doing all Iconic Designs during the week of the holidays is something of a tradition for me. Make sure you come back next week for another installment of Guidance. In the meantime, what do you think of this build? I haven’t 100% cemented myself to it, so any thoughts and ideas that you might have are definitely interesting to me. I’d like to make a special shout-out to my fellow Philadelphia PFS player Greg E for giving me the idea for this build (he has a bard who is VERY similar to this one), as well as to Robyn A for running Reign of Winter for us. Also, my friend and VL James McTeague is moving from Philadelphia this week, giving up the role of Philadelphia VL and instead becoming a VO for Online Organized Play. No matter where you go, friend, please remember that you’ll be missed and remembered fondly!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.