Giant Man: More from the Advanced Class Guide

Here is another Marvel Super Hero made from Pathfinder. Again this is something put together quickly so I'm sure you could tweak it to make it better or a bit more thematic. I know Giant Man doesn't use a huge sword but it works better in Pathfinder.

There were a few things that caught my eye back in my long Early Thoughts post on the ACG. Animal Soul allows you to cast many of the really great Druid buffs on yourself. The Primal Companion archetype for Hunter allows you to grant yourself a bunch of evolutions when your pet is dead/not available.

So with a swift action you can make yourself almost as tough as a Synthesist Summoner, and then use your standard action to drop Atavism or some other great Druid buff on yourself.  Sure the Teamwork feats become something of a waste but in most cases that's not a huge loss. Just leave yourself without an Animal Companion and you are very powerful.

Not game breaking by any means but could be fun.

Giant Man
Advanced Human Hunter (Primal Companion) 15
CN Huge humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +27
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Defense
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AC 32, touch 12, flat-footed 32 (+11 armor, -2 size, +9 natural, +4 untyped)
hp 303 (15d8+195)
Fort +27, Ref +16, Will +21
DR 10/lawful; Immune electricity, fire
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee +4 falchion +30/+25/+20 (3d6+40/15-20)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +17)
   At will—raise animal companion (neg level when cast)
Hunter (Primal Companion) Spells Known (CL 15th; concentration +22):
   5th (4/day)—death ward, fire snake{super}APG{/super} (DC 22), stoneskin, summon nature's ally v, whip of centipedes
   4th (5/day)—atavism{super}UM{/super} (DC 21), dispel magic, echolocation{super}UM{/super}, freedom of movement, summon nature's ally iv
   3rd (7/day)—darkvision, life bubble{super}APG{/super} (DC 20), quench, spit venom{super}UM{/super} (DC 20), summon nature's ally iii, water walk
   2nd (7/day)—aboleth's lung{super}ARG{/super} (DC 19), allfood{super}APG{/super} (DC 19), barkskin, lesser restoration, protection from energy, sickening strikes{super}ARG{/super} (DC 19), summon nature's ally ii
   1st (7/day)—cure light wounds, endure elements, entangle (DC 18), faerie fire, resist energy, snowball (DC 18), summon nature's ally i
   0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, know direction, light, purify food and drink (DC 17), read magic
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Statistics
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Str 45, Dex 10, Con 32, Int 10, Wis 24, Cha 14
Base Atk +11; CMB +29; CMD 44
Feats Animal Soul, Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Back to Back[UC], Furious Focus[APG], Improved Back to Back[UC], Improved Critical (falchion), Improved Spell Sharing, Intercept Charge, Iron Will, Outflank[APG], Pack Attack[UC], Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus (falchion)
Skills Acrobatics -1, Appraise +2, Bluff +4, Climb +16, Diplomacy +4, Disguise +4, Escape Artist -1, Fly +10, Heal +9, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +20, Knowledge (geography) +20, Knowledge (nature) +20, Perception +27, Ride -1, Sense Motive +9, Stealth -9, Survival +27, Swim +16
Languages Common
SQ animal companion, greater empathic link, hunter tactics, improved empathic link, primal surge, primal transformation, raise animal companion, swift tracker, track +7, wild empathy +17, woodland stride
Other Gear +5 breastplate, +4 falchion, belt of physical might +4 (Str, Con), cloak of resistance +5, headband of inspired wisdom +6, 93,050 gp
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Special Abilities
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Animal Companion (Ex) If no current companion, summon nature's ally spells last 1 min/level but only 1 at a time.
Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Animal Soul You can allow spls and eff that affect anim, anim comp and special mnts to affect you.
Back to Back +2 to AC vs flanking foes if adj to ally with this feat.
Damage Reduction (10/lawful) You have Damage Reduction against all except Lawful attacks.
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Greater Empathic Link (Su) Can communicate telepathically with animal companion in 1 mile.
Hunter Tactics (Ex) Animal companion also gains the bonus teamwork feats, but doesn't need to meet pre-reqs.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Fire You are immune to fire damage.
Improved Back to Back As a swift action when adj to flanked ally with this feat, gain +2 to AC against flanking foes.
Improved Empathic Link (10 mile) (Su) As the familiar ability, but as a swift action can see through companion's eyes (but not own).
Improved Spell Sharing Divide share spell dur evenly between you and companion. Can move apart w/o ending effect.
Intercept Charge When opp charges ally with feat, mv up to speed to get in way of charge.
Outflank Increase flank bonus by +2 if flanking ally has same feat. If you crit, ally gets an AoO.
Pack Attack Ally's attack allows you to take a 5-foot step
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Primal Surge (Su) As a swift action, touch companion to grant it an extra evolution.
Primal Transformation (Animal Companion Dead, 15 minutes/day) (Su) As a swift action, activate eidolon evolutions on animal companion (or self if companion dies).
Raise Animal Companion (Sp) Can bring animal companions back to life, but incurs 1 negative level.
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as touch spells.
Speak With Master (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Swift Tracker (Ex) Tracking penalties when moving at normal speed or faster are reduced.
Track +7 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Wild Empathy +17 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Move through undergrowth at normal speed.

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Paizo Advanced Class Guide: Preview

I don't know why they don't do these releases via Bittorrent? Instead they crash their website for half the day, losing sales and annoying their fans who want to read the play test.

That bitch aside here are my first impressions of the new classes in the playtest:

Arcanist: It is a full arcane caster so its going to be insanely powerful. It is basically a wizard with delayed (sorcerer) casting but more flexible casting options. Seems pretty solid.

Bloodrager: Barbarian with limited arcane (Magus spells) casting and a bloodline. Loses all Rage powers. Seems solid.

Brawler: An improvement over the vanilla Monk but I'm not convinced we have a winner here. A much sturdier melee combatant and less MAD. I'd like to see one in action.

Hunter: Don't care for it. If you wanted a full power animal companion as a ranger you could get it by spending a couple feats. I'm not a fan of Teamwork feats and that your animal companion shares yours seems to be the big draw here. This class loses the ranger's martial prowess and the druid's 9th level spells and gets Teamwork feats? No thanks.

Investigator: The rogue killer. Seriously why would anyone ever play a rogue ever again? You lose a little bit of sneak attack, 2 skills per level, and evasion. You gain alchemy and a ton of cool tricks that come with it, a bunch of neat poison stuff, Inspiration, and Investigator talents which are at least as good if not better than Rogue talents.

Shaman: Cleric like casting (wisdom, prepared, no delay), blends mysteries with hexes. I'm sure there is stuff in there to love. Seems pretty solid.

Skald: Bardbarian. Seems very niche, more of an archetype for bard then a full blown alternate class. The bestow rage power is cool but would really only benefit large groups with lots of melee fighters. Spell Kenning (cast any arcane spell) give this class great versatility - as long as you are not in a rush.

Slayer: The other reason to never play a rogue again. For people that think rogues should be deadly melee opponents this is the class for you. An unlimited use, more flexible but less powerful Favored enemy, slower sneak attack progression, Ranger saves, Ranger BAB, Rogue talents.

Swashbuckler: I can see what this class is trying to be. It is a decent melee combatant that hits easily but doesn't do much damage. It does, however have a ton of tricks at its disposal, cool tricks but most are limited. I like the flavor, but I'm afraid for most campaigns this guy would be an underachiever, but probably really fun to play.

Warpriest: Hmm, a cleric with crappy casting but nicer weapons and armor. Does get lots of bonus feats but doesn't say anything about being able to choose fighter only feats. Would make a strong archer, but I think for melee combat the cleric is the stronger choice.

So that's my initial impression. I have not tried any builds yet or seen any in play. I rather question the existence of some of them but I'm sure they will find people who will love them (maybe even me). They do render the rogue obsolete and put another nail in the monk's coffin (other than some of the strong monk archetypes, I don't know why you would play one anymore).

I am going to try to squeeze the Skald into an upcoming encounter and I see a spot when I could swap in the Bloodrager. The brawler and Slayer are intriguing and I'm sure I can squeeze them in somewhere. Let's see if they can score some kills this weekend (or if any of the replacement PCs use classes from the playtest).