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Power's Guide to Not Playing a Class But Doing Everything It Does Better Anyway
This is a pretty simple guide. I will list a class, then I will present a build that can pretend to be that class and beat the actual class.
Alchemist: Prestige into
Brewkeeper from practically any spellcaster (but ideally a
Shaman for the multiple spell lists).
Herbalism bond
Druid.
Cleric with Alchemy subdomain (from either the
Artifice or
Magic domains). Maybe
Thuvian Alchemist prestige class too.
Arcanist: Exploiter Wizard prestiged into
Magaambyan Arcanist. Obtain Arcane Bond with the Bloodline development exploit (or
Eldritch Heritage (
Arcane) if you're burning charisma and feats on an arcane bond that scales without burning swift actions) and since the core rulesbook states that Wizards who do not specialize are referred to as universalists, just make an
Amulet of Magecraft your arcane bond. (If your GM specifically wants you to have universalist school powers, you may have to get the School Development exploit for Universalist or just UMD it with a
Pragmatic Activator /
Clever Wordplay trait.) Add a
Planned Spontaneity feat and now you're spontaneously casting all over the place as a prepared caster plus you get exploits and you're 1 level ahead of the Arcanist on spell progression. You could also get the
Greater Spell Specialization (or
Preferred Spell) feat for even more spontaneous casting. In addition
Extra Spontaneous Spell Mastery will give you extra uses of spontaneous spell mastery and prestiging into
Loremaster for 1 level and taking a lot of
Secret of Magical Discipline feats will give you absurd spontaneous casting power. Honestly, if you're not hung up on exploits, then just doing Universalist Wizard (Crafter subschool) with an Arcane Bond and entering into
Magambyan Arcanist with a 1 level
Loremaster dip for a ton of
Secret of Magical Discipline feats and an
Amulet of Magecraft bond and perhaps
Planned Spontaneity feat is a pretty easy way to get going. You can also add
Annihilation Spectacles to spontaneously cast the entire Transmutation school, and if you use UMD you can make a
Necromancer's Athame behave as if you were a necromancer using it as your Arcane Bond and spontaneously cast the entire Necromancy school also.
Barbarian: Primalist Bloodrager. Also, see Bloodrager below.
Bloodrager: Cleric with the
Rage subdomain
and the Anger
inquisition (
Clerics can take inquisitions, it's just typically a bad pick). The combination of the two will stack a Barbarian level higher than your class level from level 8 onwards (also gives you solid rage rounds). Given that the
PFS Skald 7 pregen has an Extra Rage Power feat and treats it as a separate source from class rage powers, it's safe to say that since the Extra Rage Power feat is not your class's rage power, it can give your Cleric rage powers with level restrictions just fine. Downsides are that you don't get rage until level 6 and you don't get rage powers until level 12. You could also just play a
Skald and give him
Extra Rage Power feats.
Oracle 4/
Barbarian 2 with
Rage Prophet prestige class is also an option.
Bard: Evangelist Cleric. Prestige into an
Evangelist of
Calistria (or just use
Deific Obedience +
Diverse Obedience for lvl10 access) if you want 3/day
Saving Finale.
Brawler: Lore Warden (PFS Field Guide version) +
Martial Master Fighter or
Mutation Warrior +
Martial Master Fighter (invest feats into
Ascetic Style for
Ascetic Strike if you also wanted the damage die)
Cavalier: Paladin with the mount bond or
Inquisitor with
Chivalry inquisition.
Cleric: Nature Priest Druid. Add
Samsaran race with Mystic Past Life to rob Cleric list for spells (add Miracle if it's time for 9th level spells). Also, any domain bond Druid if you use
Shaping Focus and either prestige into 5 levels of Exalted (for extra domain) or 3 levels of
Stargazer (for
Stars subdomain). Add one or more
Loremaster PrC levels for
Secret of Magical Discipline feats if you want to take it to the next level. Alternatively the
Shaman class gets a massive set of spells and can add Cleric spells to the Shaman list with
Human,
Half-Elf,
Half-Orc, and
Vanara favored class bonuses (but it must be 1 level below the highest level spell the shaman can cast). Maybe add
Samsaran race again or
Serendipity Shaman archetype if you need
Miracle or other 9th level spells.
Eldritch Scoundrel Rogue: Vivisectionist 1 /
Wizard 4 /
Arcane Trickster (use an
Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat to obtain the second 1d6 sneak attack). If you really want rogue talents, go
Ninja 2 /
Wizard 4 /
Arcane Trickster (and use
Accomplished Sneak Attacker for the second 1d6 sneak attack)
Fighter: This thing doesn't even really have class features. You can get 20 str or dex and combat feats with any class, which is why the Cleric (esp.
Crusader Cleric) and Bard are better Fighters than the Fighter, because they get all those self-buffs on top. (Yes, you can build a Bard as a Fighter and wreck face.) Probably the most direct approach to being a Fighter Plus is playing a
Human Molthuni Arsenal Chaplain Warpriest and using the Human favored class bonus that gives bonus combat feats, giving you a good number of bonus feats, Advanced Weapon Training, and swift action self-buffs like Sacred Weapon and
Divine Favor, along with self-healing with Fervor. If you
need a giant bucket of bonus combat feats, just play a
Slayer and take Ranger Combat Style and Rogue Talent (Combat Trick/Finesse Rogue/Weapon Training/etc)
slayer talents. A ton of feats, same HD, better saves,
much better skill ranks, and other perks. Honestly, even a
Human Ranger (esp. if you trade the animal companion for
Freebooter or
Fortune-Finder to get a versatile favored enemy or
Witchguard to take the Witch's Strength
patron for
Divine Favor with
Magical Knack and
Fate's Favored traits) can be played as a more effective and versatile Fighter. And of course a
Nature Fang Druid gets virtually all the perks of a Slayer, so it works too (but no slayer talent at level 2 will slow you down slightly, but at least you have an animal companion or domain and spells, including self-buffs).
Gunslinger: Gun Chemist Alchemist,
Trench FighterHunter: Sacred Huntmaster Inquisitor (possibly combined with
Green Faith Marshal),
Nature Fang DruidInquisitor: Cleric prestiged into
Gray Gardener.
Prestigious Spellcaster can cover the dead casting levels, but even without that you have superior casting to the Inquisitor. Use
Samsaran race with Mystic Past Life if you want to obtain Inquisitor spells also, but then you will need either the
Guided weapon property (if GM allows - PF has a hazy relationship with its 3.5 era content, since it started off claiming that it was a totally 3.5 compatible system and later became more its own distinct ruleset that still used a fair bit of 3.5 era PF content) or
Guided Hand feat in order to obtain a good attack modifier.
Medium: Unsworn Shaman using
Planar Heritage (
Shabti) in order to grab spells off of the Psychic spell list. Alternatively, a
Shabti race
Spirit Guide Oracle.
Monk: Sacred Fist Warpriest. If you use
Crusader's Flurry you can even flurry with any melee weapon you have as a favored weapon.
Ninja/Rogue: Vivisectionist +
Trap Breaker Alchemist. Alternatively,
Archaeologist Bard (Take
Maestro of the Society and
Fate's Favored traits to boost the rounds and luck bonus. Use
Sense Vitals spell for sneak attack.). The
Slayer and
Ranger can also easily be played as a superior Rogue, which also brings us to the
Nature Fang Druid with the
Crocodile domain (which is a superior Slayer), especially if you take the Trapfinding slayer talent or use
Monitor Obedience (
Imot).
Oracle: Some of the mysteries can't be imitated, but
Speaker of the Dead Shaman with the
Human favored class bonus gets Cleric spells and access to both the Oracle's
Ancestor and
Time mysteries.
Stargazer gives access to
Heavens mystery as well. You can also UMD a
Soothsayer's Raiment to obtain its revelation as if you were an Oracle with the appropriate mystery.
Paladin: Self-cast
Bestow Grace of the Champion as a martial
Oracle. If you don't want to wait for level 14 to eclipse Paladins, dipping two levels of
Pathfinder Savant will let you take the spell from the Paladin list, and since it's also on your class list, you don't get a level penalty, so you can cast it at level 9 instead (level 8 if you used the
Samsaran race's Mystic Past Life for early Bestow Grace of the Champion).
Scar Seeker prestige class (especially with
Prestigious Spellcaster feats) for 4+ levels works also. If you are LG you can also take
Deific Obedience (
Tsukiyo) with
Diverse Obedience to get a single smite evil per day as a Paladin equal to your hit dice.
Psychic: Psychic bloodline
Sorcerer or
Draconic bloodline using the Esoteric Dragon's variant draconic arcana. If you want a psychic knack, use the
Two-World Magic magic trait. You don't get phrenic amplifications or psychic disciplines, but you do get psychic casting. Esoteric Dragon with
Paragon Surge can even flexibly expand your list of psychic spells known with any psychic spell as desired. Combine the two with cross-blooded and you can generally out-psychic the psychic as long as you have
Paragon Surge,
Emergency Attunement, and probably a
Mnemonic Vestment to make up for your lower spells known. You can probably use the Psychic bloodline power that auto-levels psychic bloodline spells to trade a spell known at your highest spell level on an even level for an extra spell known while you use your favored class bonus to pick it up and re-level it.
Ranger: Nature Fang Druid using slayer talents for Ranger Combat Style and grabbing an animal companion or the
Feather subdomain.
Shifter: DruidSlayer: Nature Fang Druid with the
Crocodile domain and
Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat
Sorcerer: Blood Arcanist. Any arcane spellcaster with 10 levels of
Bloatmage PrC can also obtain the sorcerer bloodline of his choice at his caster level.
Summoner: Occultist Arcanist.
Evangelist Cleric that focuses on monster summoning (especially if we throw in
Alter Summoned Monster abuse).
Swashbuckler: Daring Champion CavalierWarpriest: Crusader Cleric. Use
Ascetic Style for
Ascetic Strike with the
versatile design modification to make any weapon count if you want the damage dice. Take the
War Blessing feat if you want a lesser blessing too.
Witch: Pact Wizard (Haunted Heroes Handbook version) and prestige into
Stargazer for 1 level then take
Extra Hex feats. Alternatively, if you want to prepare spells off of your familiar for some crazy reason,
Spirit Whisperer Wizard prestiged into
Stargazer for 1 level. Really anything with a single Stargazer prestige class level gains Witch hexes and can take Extra Hex feats. Use
Samsaran race for Mystic Past Life if you also want to take stuff of the Witch spell list (or a 1 level
Loremaster PrC dip).
Unsworn Shaman can also effortlessly impersonate a Witch, especially if it leverages favored class bonuses to take spells that the Witch has (either using
Outsider Heritage (
Shabti) or just regular Cleric spells) on top of what's available through
Arcane Enlightenment temporary hex abuse. Honestly a regular
Shaman can take over a Witch's job too, especially with the
Ritual Hex feat. Lastly, the
Fiendish Obedience (
Mestama) with
Damned Disciple (or the
Evangelist or
Demoniac prestige classes) will give you access to a grand hex.
Wizard: Shaman built for
Arcane Enlightenment hex, especially with a
Dreamed Secrets feat on top. A
Samsaran Cleric robbing the
Reliquarian Occultist list (as it is a divine spellcaster), taking some suitable domains, throwing a
Dreamed Secrets feat on top, and prestiging into
Veiled Illusionist (for spells like
Invisibility,
Shadow Conjuration/
Evocation/
Enchantment/etc,
Shadow Walk, and
Simulacrum) can also cast from the Wizard list for almost all intents and purposes while also being a Cleric. Throw in the
Construct subdomain and you also get
Limited Wish. A
Cleric prestiged into
Evangelist (
Sifkesh) also obtains access to a
truly massive amount of spells courtesy of obtaining options belonging to the worship of various deities even before we mix in
Ecclesitheurge or
Appeaser (this one denies you access to evil descriptor spells, but lets you cast your domain spontaneously) archetypes to obtain access to all domains.