Greetings!

While I do enjoy the Paizo website for knowledge gain, or time-wasting in the Advice area.  I was wondering: Any Brilliant Character designers our there whom could examine my Fighter?

Originally, I constructed him for a basic City-Guard at Level 4 with a standard 20-point build.  However, construction was completed a long long ago... My goal: I'd like to update him from my original build - however, I am stuck with my original build: Sword & Board.  And after reading the Advice forums, not a whole lot there.  You've got your basic items, but nothing unique...
Therefore, I thought maybe you guys could come-up with something interesting to play, but still a Fighter.  Also, I would-be open to Multi-classing during the rebuild - that is something I have little experience with and would LOVE to learn more about.

Thank you in advance!

Here's the Character Output: (If you need more information, just ask!)
Rolen Atwenti
Male Human Fighter 4
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +7; Senses Perception -1
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Defense
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AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (+7 armor, +3 shield, +3 Dex)
hp 48 (4d10+8)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +0 (+1 vs. fear)
Defensive Abilities bravery +1
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee heavy shield bash +8 (1d4+4) and
. . +1 warhammer +10 (1d8+5/×3) and
. . light hammer +8 (1d4+4)
Ranged composite longbow +5 (1d8+4/×3)
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Statistics
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Str 19, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 11
Base Atk +4; CMB +8; CMD 21
Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Improved Shield Bash, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (warhammer)
Skills Intimidate +7, Ride +6, Survival +6 (+8 to avoid becoming lost when using this)
Languages Common
SQ armor training 1
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds (3), potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of cure serious wounds; Other Gear +1 lamellar (steel) armor, +1 heavy steel shield, +1 warhammer, arrows (20), composite longbow, light hammer (2), bracers of armor +1, backpack, masterwork, bedroll, belt pouch, chalk, cold weather outfit, compass, flint and steel, grappling arrow, silk rope, torch (4), trail rations (4), trail rations, waterskin, 81 gp, 3 sp, 5 cp
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Special Abilities
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Bravery +1 (Ex) +1 to Will save vs. Fear
Cleave If you hit a foe, attack an adjacent target at the same attack bonus but take -2 AC.
Cold weather outfit +5 Fort save vs. cold weather.
Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Compass +2 circumstance for Survival or Knowledge (Dungeoneering) to avoid becoming lost.
Improved Shield Bash You still get your shield bonus while using Shield Bash.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.

Well, I would highly suggest you do not use wisdom as a dump stat on a fighter.  Failing charm in every combat is not a good way to ingratiate the party to you

But she's soo pretty...

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Edit:
Whoops!  Hit enter a bit too soon!
When I was building the character, I mistakenly reversed the two stats; it's one of the reasons I am rebuilding.
Also, I was thinking about moving or attempting to build a Dragoon...thoughts?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:30, Tue 08 Dec 2015.

If you want true min/max-y style advice I would make Int a dump stat (you get so few skill points anyways, if it's important select it as a level bonus occasionally) and none of your key skills key off of Int either.

So I would even out those odds and give you a WIS of 12, CHA of 10, INT of 8.

You're street smart, not book smart :)

If you want to excel in your role as a front-line guardian and warrior without leaving Fighter, your best and most satisfying option is to take the Myrmidon archetype https://docs.google.com/docume...6cdv7_44J8w564s/edit here. Iron Tortoise is an entire discipline devoted to shield-fighting, full of bashes and defensive options, and Piercing Thunder and Scarlet Throne work as excellent compliments, favoring powerful single blows and leaping strikes. Piercing Thunder isn't hugely hammer friendly - it's for playing something between a phalanx spartan, Achilles, and a Final Fantasy Dragoon - but you can take Weapon Group Adaptation to make any class of weapons part of all your disciplines. Primal Fury is all about charging gloriously and smashing up bad guys, and Golden Lion is for the tactical Fighter who wants to lead and coordinate allies while crunching troll noses with the broad side of his shield.

If you have no chance of getting third-party content allowed and still want to be a fighter, you know the drill: run at things that look like spellcasters or stand in front of your own spellcasters and keep your fingers crossed. As noted, dumping Wisdom is a really terrible idea. I'd consider lowering Dexterity to 14 for at least Constitution 14, and doing whatever you have to to get Wisdom to 12. Cleave isn't great; I'd swap it out for Dazzling Display so you can make some use of your Intimidate, or anything else, really.

One thing I've always found works well with fighters is a reach trip weapon, and the Improved Trip line of feats.

Yes, this means you can't dump INT, but being able to stop almost anything around you from being able to move is worth it, I think.

Alternatively, for those who really really want a stat to dump, a 1 level dip in Brawler will let you get Combat Expertise without pre-reqs.

Cleave is good at low level, and as long as you take it as a fighter bonus feat you can retrain it later to something more useful at higher levels. Going for Improved Shield Bash and Weapon Focus (warhammer), however, is not very helpful, as you can still only use one of them to attack (unless you are willing to accept some truly awful penalties to use two one handed weapons without any of the feat that mitigate those penalties).

Oh, and about your equipment: bracers of armor do not stack with actual armor, you should go with a ring of protection or an amulet of natural armor instead.

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Dragoon: there is one glaring weakness to dragoons, and it is the horse. Unlike a cavalier, your horse does not improve with level, which means that it is extremely fragile at high level. Unless you intend to graduate to more exotic mounts, it will likely be very frustrating. Even if you do, there are always places where your mount can't go.

That does not mean you shouldn't consider mounted combat, as a fighter you have enough feats to devote a few to it if you want. Horse might not last long at higher levels, but they are also cheap at those levels. Just don't make it your whole concept.

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One thing you can do is to just concentrate on wielding a weapon very, very well, and on doing lots of damage with it. You'll be surprised at how much damage you can do if your really try. You'll have plenty of feats left over: that's when you can think about going into combat maneuvers, or to invest in critical feats, or mounted combat... but as long as you can do a decent amount of damage, with a reliability that wizards or rogue will never match, you can make sure your enemies won't just ignore you.

It is cheesy as hell but you can also double up in shields and go two-weapon fighting and shield bash. You can get very high AC and decent damage on a full round attack with spiked shields.

Thank you for all the feedback!
From what I am gathering and reading from all the sources available - Sounding a lot like Fighters are as PraguePride mentioned:  Smack with Weapon and wear a lot of armor.

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As for the 'cheese', I would but! I am in another game with a few of the same Players and they groan a bit about my character in that:  Halfling Barbarian (Titan Mauler)
Talk about cheese...

I'm building a natural attack barbarian, Ragebred skinwalker, beast totem rage powers.  Is she able to take imp natural attack, http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/...roved-natural-attack , or multiattack feats. Even though she does not have her natural attacks always active?

From what I could garner, I'd say: Yes.  My thinking is around the lines of: Unarmed attack would fall under the wordings or Natural attack.  However, I do know a few DMs that may say: In the description it does not contain the word: Unarmed.  Therefore, it would-not count.

Yet..
If you'd like, send me a sample character sheet; I could use my Hero-Labs to build it. That program does an amazing job with: "Double-checking" oddities.

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And just for fun...
Here is my Cheese Character:

Udofire Milltall
Halfling barbarian (titan mauler) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat 30)
CG Small humanoid (halfling)
Init +3; Senses Perception +3
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Defense
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AC 17, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size)
hp 14 (1d12+2)
Fort +4, Ref +3 (+1 bonus vs. trample attacks), Will -1; +2 vs. fear
Defensive Abilities underfoot; Resist underfoot
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (1d3+2/19-20) or
   horsechopper +4 (1d8+3/×3) or
   longsword +4 (1d6+2/19-20)
Special Attacks low blow, rage (6 rounds/day)
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Statistics
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Str 15, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 11
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 16
Feats Dodge
Traits bully, dirty fighter
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+5 to jump), Climb +8, Intimidate +5, Perception +3; Racial Modifiers +2 Acrobatics, +2 Climb
Languages Common, Halfling
SQ big game hunter
Other Gear lamellar cuirass[UC], dagger (5), horsechopper[ARG], longsword, backpack, bandolier[UE], bedroll, belt pouch, fishhook (2), flint and steel, mug/tankard, sewing needle, signal whistle, string or twine[APG], thread (50 ft.), trail rations (7), waterskin, whetstone, 88 gp, 1 sp, 5 cp
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Special Abilities
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Big Game Hunter (Ex) +1 to hit and +1 dodge bonus to AC vs. foes larger than self.
Dirty Fighter +1 damage when flanking.
Fearless +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against fear. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by halfling luck.
Low Blow +1 to critical confirmation rolls against larger creatures.
Rage (6 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Underfoot +1 AC vs. larger opponents and +1 save vs. trample

Hey, folks. I've been toying with the idea of a poison-using character. I've got a general grasp on what constitutes a good poison to use and how to go with a poisoner route (Poison Focus, Treacherous Toxin, Master Alchemist, Toxicological Timing feats etc.) but was wondering if any of y'all had some experience with a poisoner that you'd like to chime in with. I know poison isn't really a route that's worth it for the adventuring PC, but with praguepride's new, less 'adventure' and more intrigue-heavy game, I thought this might be the perfect chance to see what a poisoner can do, if not just manufacture poisons for someone else to use.

Well the first question is do you understand the Poison Unchained rules?

It greatly changes the lethality of poisons as instead of just doing ability damage, each poison has a set track that it follows. This means that minor poisons are no longer deadly even against targets with poor ability scores but deadly poisons can be deadly even if you have a high ability score if you roll poorly on your saving throws.

Not that I have any foresight as to what you will be facing...

Black Lotus is the deadliest as it is DC 20 and skips several states so you can kill a target in as quick as 4 rounds.

Charisma poisons become interesting because of the Pliable state where opponents pretty much auto-succeed at Bluff/Intimidate/Diplomacy checks.

Int/Wis poisons are useful against skilled adversaries. Mages and Clerics especially are vulnerable because it also impacts their spell DC's.

Str/Dex poisons are useful in combat again because it impacts their combat stats.


All in all I would say from my experience and observation is that poisons are great against commoners/low-level NPCs but don't expect much from them against higher level enemies. I mean sure it's possible but even DC 20+enhancements isn't too bad to hit for a 10th level fighter, and that's assuming they don't have magical means against the poison.

Instead I would view poisons as a subtle buff/debuff, a gamble to put stuff in your favor as you pursue another avenue of approach rather then an end in and of itself.

Unchained poisons definitely changes the game, but for the intrigue-heavy setting, confabulating powder ( http://www.archivesofnethys.co...nfabulation%20powder ) was the most interesting.

I've signed up to a Hell's Rebels game and I have gone for a member of a noble house, taking the Child of Kintargo trait and Noble Scion feat.
However, I'm not sure what to spend the 200gp on from Child of Kintargo.

It can only be on a singular, non-magical item, which makes it hard to decide on.

I'm playing a human bard archivist, so I don't need to go for anything such as armour, I could go for a Composite Shortbow with a Str +1 bonus, as currently my range weapon is a sling (I'm cheap, sue me!), knowing that I'll get better as the game progresses.
I'm not looking at going down the crafting route, as otherwise something like an Alchemist's Lab would be perfect.
Would a Forger's Kit get used enough to warrant picking?

Hmm. You could get a masterwork instrument for 100gp. That's only halfway there, but might be worth it depending on your perform skills.

Alternatively, you could just get a piece of jewelry valued at 200gp. Nobles rarely wear things less than 100gp.

Well met, all. I am new to this board so I figured I would jump right and get some input on a character idea of mine.  I am playing it in Pathfinder Society play, so there are restrictions, but the gist of it is I want to play a swift, Tengu swordsman. Presently he is still level one so I can tweak him if need be.

  I initially went with Unchained Rogue because of their Finesse Training at 3rd level which let's them add DEX to damage with one finesse weapon (plus sneak attack damage is nice) and he is using an Elven Curve Blade (1d10,18-20/x2, 2-handed but can be used with Finesse). And since Tengu are proficient with all sword-like weapons, being a rogue doesn't hamper this choice.

  Alternatively, I found a feat in the Advanced Class Guide that let's you treat a 1-handed slashing weapon as a piercing weapon and also apply DEX to damage. Weapon Focus and Weapon Finesse are prereqs.

 So do you think it would be better to go Fighter and spend all of my initial feats into getting the DEX damage early on (as well as better BAB and HP), or stick with U. Rogue for more skills and sneak attack damage?

This one's somewhat tricky since we don't know your regular playstyle. If you're looking for which one is mechanically better, I'm sure someone else can answer that better than I. However, if you're looking for which one better fits your description of "swift, Tengu swordsman", it's a toss up.

If you want a 1 or 2 handed weapon master who is combat focused, I'd probably go the fighter route. The extra BAB and feats will give you a nice edge in terms of using your sword better, and they tend to fit the flavour of best combatant with their chosen weapon better.

At the same time, sneak attack and rogue talents (as well as extra skills) might give the rogue some nice combat advantages in terms of damage/status effects, as well as some more flexibility out of combat. I'd probably go this route if I wanted to be an awesome duelist but not necessarily the exemplary swordsman.

  Aye, I would say I am leaning more "awesome duelist" as well.  I know there are going to be fighers or barbarians or what have you that out damage me, but this seems a little more unique than the traditional "sneaky rogue".  I have never been the min-max sort, so the skills appeal to me as a method to sort of...balance out or otherwise flesh out the character.  Turn him into an interesting sell-sword rather than another murder hobo.

Is this PFS legal? http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classe...types/martial-master

  I believe so, its from the Advanced Class Guide.

Unchained Rogue by a long shot. Your all-around efficacy is much higher in and out of combat, and while you won't see the same damage numbers the Fighter's lead is not significant enough to warrant consideration.

Don't worry about optimization, Unchained Rogue gets you half of the way just by itself, which is why it's nice - I know Paizo gets a ton of flak for its whole martials-are-garbage philosophy and I know they're pretty much categorically entrenched against touching the core problems with melee combat in Pathfinder, but Unchained Rogue is honestly okay. They do their thing well and it's a fun thing to do.

Just wrote up a mock bibliography for a fetchling alchemist/rogue character. I'd love to hear some feedback on it.

• Musculoskeletal Degeneration In Victims of Skiabiological-related Incidents
• Testing Modalities for Material Arcanozoology
• Sunlight Deprivation in Diurnal Humanoids
• Resurrection Consequence: Alchemical Cadaver Preservation
• Tangible Shadow Animation and Effects on Material Humanoid Physiology
• Kayal Pigmentation Modification and Efficacy on Material Plane
• Efficacious Application of Conjured Quasi-real Skiamaterials
• Extraplanar Adaptation to Light-Absent Environments
• Drow Physiology and Quasi-thaumaturgical Illumination Manipulation
• Coercion Modalities Utilizing Cordyceps-like Variant of Derro Fungi

This message was last edited by the player at 06:33, Sun 21 Aug 2016.

After seeing the anime "ViVid Strike!", I want to make a Magical Child Vigilante that fights unarmed. As much as I build characters, I still don't know how to make an unarmed combatant that can pull through on damage without being a Monk. Any advice?

How about the Brawler class?