Pathfinder Solo gestalt summoner skald

[thegoldenfedora]

Hey all!

It looks like I might be playing a solo game soon and I have been trying to come up with what I should play. I figured master summoner (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/archetypes/paizo-summoner-archetypes/master-summoner/) made a lot of sense for a solo game and then I really liked the Battle Scion skald's (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/skald/archetypes/paizo-skald-archetypes/battle-scion-skald-archetype/) ability to give everyone combat feats, rage powers and teamwork feats. It has a tactician feel to it that I'm digging right now.

I'm new to solo and gestalt games and I don't often play casters so any advice you could give about those would be great!

What combat feats, teamwork feats or rage powers would you want to have spread around all of your summons? I was thinking about being a half orc so I could use battle song of the people's revolt (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/bardic-masterpieces/masterpieces/battle-song-of-the-people-s-revolt-percussion-wind/) in order to give amplified rage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/amplified-rage-teamwork/) to all of my summons.

No info on the game yet so I guess this is more of a thought exercise than anything else. I'm assuming it will be 20-25 point buy and starting at level 1-3.

[Geddy2112]

Your most important stat is charisma, with strength being a close second. You can dump wis, and you don't need high INT as your eidolon can sub in the skills you are not trained in. Dump it as low as you feel comfortable; with versatile performance you should not be short ranks even with 8 int. Dex around 12, maybe 14 but you have medium armor proficiency. That said, you will still suffer spell fail from your summoner spells in medium armor so keep that in mind for the early levels. Once you have mithral breastplates or celestial chainmail it won't be an issue. Anything else should go into con, but you have minions so hopefully you don't need too much.
For 20 pt buy before racial modifiers, I would probably go 14/12/14/10/8/16, and if I was half orc throw the +2 into strength.

The feats you need are skald's vigor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/skald-s-vigor/), and greater skalds vigor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/greater-skald-s-vigor/). Giving fast healing to yourself is one thing, but giving it to all of your summoned minions is bonkers. Since you get augment summons for free, it frees up your tree. Lingering performance is a must, and it is a toss up between it and skald's vigor at level 1. I would probably go with lingering at first level when you have the fewest rounds of performance, and then get skald's vigor next. Discordant voice (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/discordant-voice/) is normally a good bard/skald feat, but unless you are summoning monsters bringing their own weapons/your eidolon has a weapon, you don't need it. Consider the summon good or summon neutral monster feat, if your alignment matches. THe summon evil monster feat is not as good but worth looking into. Since you get augment summons for free, you won't have spell focus: conjuration, but if you get it, look into the starlit/moonlit/sunlit summons feats. I personally like starlit the best, as it gives blind fight and bonuses to perception/stealth in dim light/darkness, making them better scouts. THe other feats give more situational resistances and make the creatures shed light as the spell, blowing the stealth. That said, there is no reason you could not take all three feats...

For your monsters, pack flanking and outflank are incredibly good teamwork feats. Power attack is a must, as even the lower level monsters will qualify from the raging song+augment summons. Giving out the spirit totem tree hands out a TON of free negative energy attacks every turn and concealment against ranged attacks, and is probably the most powerful thing a skald can have on their allies. I would bypass taking battle song of the peoples revolt and just get amplified rage as a teamwork feat, then power attack, then the spirit totem tree(you can use bonus feats to pick up extra rage powers to get these).

Since it is a solo game, your DM is probably going to allow leadership as a feat. Better off, you can get it for free at level 7 by stacking on the warlord (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/skald/archetypes/paizo-skald-archetypes/warlord-skald-archetype/) archetype.

Feats/powers in order
1: Lingering performance
2: Augment summons
3: Skald's vigor, amplified rage(rage power feat)
5: extra rage power(lesser spirit totem)
6: rage power feat: power attack
7: extra rage power(spirit totem), leadership(bonus)
9: rage power feat: pack flanking or outflank, extra rage power: greater spirit totem
11(or retrain from 10) greater skald's vigor
12: rage power feat: pack flanking or outflank
13: summon good/neutral monster

[thegoldenfedora]

That's awesome thanks!

Skalds vigor is new to me so I'm excited about that. Is Simon good monster good because of there added monsters? I'm only asking cause, I can already do the standard action summoning.

The battle Scion ability to share teamwork feats requires the receiver to have the prereqs, while battle song of the people's revolt does not which is why I was using the masterpiece for that. I may have misunderstood the wording, but I think the skalds ability to share stuff is limited to what he chooses at 3rd, 6th and so on.

Good catch on that archetype stacking!
Thanks

[Geddy2112]

Skalds vigor is new to me so I'm excited about that. Is Simon good monster good because of there added monsters? I'm only asking cause, I can already do the standard action summoning.
Skald's vigor is silly good when you have the greater version and a bunch of summoned monsters running around. Also a way to score healing for your eidolon which is kind of hard to come by. Summon good monster adds some monsters, some of which are very good(ha!). The big sell is that it gives every single good monster you summon diehard as a free feat, making them last longer in combat, particularly since raging song increases their con. Stacked with augment summons and the amplified rage feats, and you have monsters with very high con and since diehard lets them continue fighting until they hit -HP=CON, they are going to be able to take a serious beating. Once they are fast healing...well, you see where this is going.


The battle Scion ability to share teamwork feats requires the receiver to have the prereqs, while battle song of the people's revolt does not which is why I was using the masterpiece for that. I may have misunderstood the wording, but I think the skalds ability to share stuff is limited to what he chooses at 3rd, 6th and so on.
Ooh you are right on that one, the song of the people's revolt is needed for that. So start it right after you start your raging song, eventually at level 7 you can do both in the same turn. Eats into your summoning action economy but really good once it is up and running. Indeed you can only share those feats you pick at those levels, but power attack and the teamwork ones should be good enough. You still share rage powers as normal, making the extra rage powers worth getting.

Also, might get some more help in the 3.5/pathfinder subforum.