AvatarVecna
2017-10-10, 06:58 PM
So, I've got a character I've played in a few games across various editions at this point, who is pretty solidly characterized so far. Basic gist of the character is a MLPverse Changeling raised by ponies who was more or less continually "disguised" as their pony-form throughout their childhood, only finding out they were a changeling following a long solo trip in her adulthood, and as a result of their more harmonious upbringing has a strong preference to solve problems without resorting to force/coercion any more than necessary; things like Dominate Person and the like would feel really squicky for her, but using mental nudges to lead people in the "right direction" would be acceptable if it was for the "greater good" (note: I'm not saying that screwing with people's minds is necessarily justified, but this character is balancing the morality of "messing with people's minds only a little bit" against "continuing to not starve", and is generally trying to make it as painless as she can). Part of this approach has lead her to become an adept negotiator, and becoming rather skilled at pushing positive emotions into people (which leads to more positive emotions in them and others, which she can feed off of while still not making everybody collectively worse than they started, essentially "farming" the happiness seeds she plants in others).
In 5e (the first game I played them in), Bard was the most fitting choice for a character with an enchantment focus who didn't fight very much, although Warlock could probably also have fit. Bard, Beguiler, and Disciple Of Peace could fit well in 3.5, which is how I've built them before. In a currently-running PF game, I build them as a Bard (using the Ponyfinder "Mystic Prancer" archetype), but the standard approach to magic never truly fit what I had in mind; I was always bending the fluff of spellcasting to fit my own description, but I was still spouting nonsense and doing jazz hands.
In the Ponyfinder game, one of the other players turned me onto the Mesmerist class, which is a near-perfect fit for what I imagined her as, so I've put in a rebuild request with the DM. As it happens, I've also been looking at building this character for a hopefully-long-term PF gestalt game, and was looking for both general Mesmerist (as the only guide I've found barely lists half the archetypes and seems not as detailed/complete as I'd like) as well as gestalt ideas I hadn't considered.
Also, for either game, any Mesmerist Archetype suggestions are appreciated. I haven't checked them out much, I'm still mostly looking over the other stuff right now.
Consummate Liar is okay for what I'm wanting, but a bonus to Diplomacy (or maybe even Disguise) would be preferable. Bluff is definitely still among my main skills, though, so a bonus here instead of there is still quite useful.
Hypnotic Stare is fantastic, particularly with some of the stuff that gets attached to it later. I'm not sure if there's any way to increase the penalty it gives, but it feels like the kind of thing where there might be a feat for that somewhere.
Mesmerist Tricks gives me a lot of little things I can do with my allies, if I'm willing to mess around with their heads a bit - which I am, if it's for their own good. Here are the ones I'm considering and why:
Chain Of Eyes: By feeling what my target feels, I get some sense of what's causing them to feel that way; by opening up the psychic link even deeper, it's almost as good as experiencing what they're sensing myself. Don't know how optimal/useful this ability is, but it's close to enough to fitting my fluff that I have it on the list.
Gift Of Will: This is about the only one that isn't a question of if I'm taking it, but when I'm taking it. It fits my character fluff to bolster my ally's will with my own by feeding them courage and confidence, and I've got a feeling that it's a pretty great option.
Linked Reaction: if I've got an emotional link with one of my allies, and I spot an ambush or whatever, I can send them a pulse of alarm, and if I feel alarm from them, I'm equally warned. Fits my fluff, and since I intend to take Perception, putting this on another perceptive PC will make it harder for us to be ambushed.
Psychosomatic Surge: So, healing is one of the things I've had this character do before, under the "hit points are largely an abstraction of what keeps you going, including your mental resolve and determination to keep going". My fluff means it makes sense for me to boost the mental side of toughness, and this is an ability that lets me do that (although only with THP, but ah well). Getting more healing abilities is definitely something I'd like to try and do, although getting too much healing feels like it would dip much more into meatspace healing than I'm comfortable doing via emotion-manipulation-magic.
Mask Misery/Reflect Fear: Reflect Fear suppresses/reflects any fear effect, while Mask Misery suppresses Fascinated/Shaken; the former seems much better early on. However, Mask Misery gets an upgrade at lvl 6 to suppress Confused/Dazed/Frightened/Sickened (and ends Fascinated/Shaken altogether), which means RF is only better because it reflects stuff and can suppress Panicked. Additionally, bonuses against/immunities to fear effects or mind-affecting effects become more common as you climb up the level ladder, making the narrow focus of Reflect Fear worse at higher levels. If there's some way to retrain Mesmerist Tricks when leveling up, that would solve this problem for me. If not, I'll probably take Mask Misery and depend on Gift Of Will to overcome fear effects before MM gets its upgrade.
Unwitting Messenger: If I've got room for it, this fits the fluff well enough, and could be a neat little tool in my hypnotic negotiator's toolbelt.
Allay Pain: Well, it fits the fluff. Unfortunately, DR 15/- against one attack dealing nonlethal doesn't seem very...masterful to me. Maybe if it was DR 15/- until the beginning of my next turn (with no conditions for when it was allowed to be applied), it would be more useful, but as-is, it's just appropriate fluff-wise. Unless I'm missing some significant ability to turn lethal into nonlethal that I can give to my allies or expect them to have...
Concealing Veil: Protecting my friends from divinations is a bit of a stretch on my intended fluff, but it seems pretty useful.
Greater Mask Misery: This takes away the final reason to keep Reflect Fear long-term, I think. Not like there's a ton of tricks anyway, so may as well take this one, right?
Mental Fallback: This perfectly fits the fluff of my abilities, the characterization I'm going for, and it seems pretty useful to boot. Protecting my allies for unfriendly enchantment is very fitting and useful, I think.
Willful Ignorance: Giving my allies a limited ability to tell un-divine-able lies is potentially useful if there's a good liar in the group besides me, but as a Cha-based caster with a leveling-by-class Bluff bonus and the Glib Lie ability, it seems like I'd be outsourcing one of the only things I'm objectively best at. Maybe it's good for having a corroborating story, in case people figure out that I'm not necessarily good for my word? I mean, I'll be trying to maintain my reputation anyway, but still...regardless, this ability seems to fit my fluff, and I'm likely not strapped for tricks, so it's on the list.
Painful Stare: I don't want this ability on my character sheet. I can see why it'd be useful. I can see how Mesmerist isn't feat-starved, and has a bunch of feats for enhancing this. I can see how I don't really contribute to group DPR if I don't use it. I don't care. I don't want this. It doesn't fit. I could barely justify Inspire Courage to myself, since it was boosting my allies ability to hurt people, and I don't want us hurting people unless it's absolutely necessary, but I could accept that as giving them a bonus they didn't necessarily need to use. Painful Stare can be sort-of put on my ally's conscience in the same way, but it scales much quicker, to the point that it still makes me uncomfortable. Is there something less violent I could replace this with? Can I make it nonlethal and knock people out, maybe? Is there an Inspire Courage-esque thing I can replace it with that scales less quickly than the basic Painful Stare? Or should I just resign myself to not using this?
Towering Ego: My Will saves will be boosted quite a bit, which makes getting hit by fear effects much less likely (especially combined with Touch Treatment and Reflect Fear/Mask Misery). I'll need to watch out for intimidation though...is there maybe a feat to extend the range of my Hypnotic Stare, so I can stay out of most thing's Intimidate range while still doing stuff?
Bold Stare: Lots of little things I can add onto my Hypnotic Stare to lock down my main target even more. Here's what I'm considering and why:
Disorientation: Locking down attempted violence should keep my allies safe while I talk the person down. Making the target less accurate is almost always gonna be significant, too.
Infiltration: Allure would give an initiative penalty instead of a CMD penalty, but initiative is only rolled once (and usually, the die matters more), and it requires me to have applied the stare before combat started (which isn't super-likely but will happen sometimes, probably). Meanwhile, a CMD penalty makes it easier for them to be dealt with nonlethally via trips, disarms, and grapples if need be.
Nightmare: If I end up deciding I want to induce fear in my enemies to keep them from attacking people effectively, this will be a fantastic way to help ensure their ensnared. It's definitely low on my list though, and could come off completely if I decide I'd rather avoid the fear route.
Oscillation: Making it harder to attack people is fantastic in my book. This one also has a slight martyr side effect (they can still target me normally) that fits the character well. "Focus on me, don't worry about them" seems like the kind of combat distraction she'd pull.
Psychic Inception: I'm gonna be honest, this is only on the list because it's far and away the single reason most people consider an enchantment/illusion focused mage worth playing: the fact that a number of creature types are completely immune to your schtick makes you feel awful, which is part of why PF got rid of a number of creature types' immunity to SA. Getting around that limitation is incredibly useful to any Mesmerist wanting to use most of their class features against mindless opponents...and I don't think it really fits my character's approach to magic. Does it make sense for me to push enough emotions into an unthinking corpse that it can feel love or happiness or anger or fear? Does it make sense that I can use emotional manipulation to seize temporary control of a machine? Maybe it makes a bit of sense for bugs, which are living creatures and have (likely stunted) emotions, but more extreme cases of mindlessness are very questionable to me.
Sabotage: I can't be affected by Diplomacy anyway, but making Intimidation harder is great, and the target might try to persuade an NPC we have with us or something. This isn't fantastic of course, but it's extremely fitting for the character.
Sapped Magic: Sending apathy, sadness, arrogance, and whatnot can make mages try less, and there's no doubt it'll be useful to my allies to no-save debuff the enemy mage.
Susceptibility: Just like Sabotage, but even more so. This fits my character so well, but I doubt it's exactly...optimal.
Timidity: As with Disorientation, suppressing the violence gels with me. I'm not sure how much a -3 to damage will be useful at lvl 20, though. Maybe if they've got lots of attacks? Disorientation is probably better than this, if I have to choose between them.
Touch Treatment: Psychic Healer fits me very well. Yessssssss. The 14th lvl upgrade is also fantastic.
Manifold Tricks is a nice, gradual upgrade to Mesmerist Tricks. Probably tempts me to use them up rather quickly, though.
Glib Lie will be quite useful for maintaining my guise as a normal pony, as well as for my general Party Face duties.
Rule Minds: I'm unlikely to intentionally use this even when I get it, since it feels like going much further than she'd be really comfortable with.
Bard (Mystic Prancer)
Pros: Half my bard-level to Knowledge checks, and to Bluff/Diplomacy against those I don't yet know well. Versatile Performance to gradually increase my skill pool. An additional Cha-based casting pool with complementary spells that won't be shut down by fear. Bardic Performance gives me extra stuff to do in combat besides fight, and is quite versatile to boot.
Cons: The chassis is giving me nothing, except maybe a few extra class skills, and the casting goes against what I had in mind for her ability to cast, even though it's probably the next closest to what I want.
Cleric (Merciful Healer)
Pros: Good Fort save is nice, Channel gives me some AoE healing, and spontaneous Cures will greatly boost my ability to heal my allies pain. The mercy's I'll get also help.
Cons: Standard casting really doesn't fit, and now I'll have enough healing that I'm gonna need to explain why mental rejuvenation and psychic emotion therapy is sufficient to heal gaping wounds. Also really didn't see her magic as being as powerful as a full caster, and spontaneous seems like it would fit the fluff better than prepared. Mostly fluff issues, basically.
Paladin (not sure what archetype)
Pros: D10 HD. Good Fort save and poison/disease immunity. Detect Evil makes it easier for me to determine whose requests I need to carefully consider and question. Divine Grace either stacks with Towering Will or frees me up to switch it with something else (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to stack them in PF). Aura Of Courage shuts down one of my big casting weaknesses and buffs my allies. Lay On Hands gives me some Cha-based healing every day, and Mercies will let me heal conditions as well. Channel Energy gives me AoE healing. I have very limited divine casting, which avoids the power issues I had with Cleric. Aura Of Resolve will protect me and my allies from mental manipulation even further. Aura Of Righteousness is a fantastic defensive buff to me, and a decent one to my allies.
Cons: The spellcasting is prepared, and still not really the emotion/thought based casting I'd prefer, but that's small potatoes compared to the rest of my complaints: Smite Evil, Aura Of Justice, Aura Of Faith, and Holy Champion are much too violent for my tastes. Getting rid of them, particularly Smite Evil, is something I'd very much like to do, but I'm not too familiar with Paladin archetypes. Is there a good one for the kind of thing I'm trying to do, a really pacifist paladin? Is there perhaps a good way I can turn it all nonlethal? That'd be vaguely acceptable and is probably easier to pull off than the other idea.
Unchained Rogue (Professional3PP)
I've requested this archetype before and it usually goes over well.
Pros: Giving up sneak attack for lots more skills and flexible skill bonuses will be a fantastic boost to my non-magical utility. There's enough Rogue Talents that I can almost certainly find plenty of stuff that doesn't involve stabbing people. Skill Unlocks will be fantastic too.
Cons: The chassis does basically nothing for me beyond skills, and enough class features/rogue tricks are focused around stabbing people that my options will be comparatively limited.
Fey or Unification3PP Sorcerer (not sure what archetype, maybe Crossblooded?)
Pros: Spontaneous Cha-based casting, spells known will keep me from getting too far outside what I'm intended to be good at, and bloodlines let me pick up some nice abilities.
Cons: Still not really the kind of casting I prefer, and the chassis is doing jack-all for me.
Oracle (not sure what archetype)
Pros: Spontaneous Cha-based casting, spells known will keep me from getting too far outside what I'm intended to be good at, and mysteries/curses let me pick up some nice abilities. Also, more of a buff/heal focus than the sorcerer, I'd wager.
Cons: Curses suck to have, and I'm not sure which one would fit. Beyond that, it's not the kind of casting I'd prefer, and the chassis does next to nothing for me.
Some other occult caster
I haven't looked into any of these, but it's likely there's something that would fit well with what I have in mind. Any suggestions, and why?
As a small aside, I'm also considering the following prestige classes, although I'm not sure when to take them or on which side:
Devoted Muse
Enchanting Courtesan
Master Spy
Noble Scion
Which of these are best fit to which build is advice I could also use. Please and thank you!
In 5e (the first game I played them in), Bard was the most fitting choice for a character with an enchantment focus who didn't fight very much, although Warlock could probably also have fit. Bard, Beguiler, and Disciple Of Peace could fit well in 3.5, which is how I've built them before. In a currently-running PF game, I build them as a Bard (using the Ponyfinder "Mystic Prancer" archetype), but the standard approach to magic never truly fit what I had in mind; I was always bending the fluff of spellcasting to fit my own description, but I was still spouting nonsense and doing jazz hands.
In the Ponyfinder game, one of the other players turned me onto the Mesmerist class, which is a near-perfect fit for what I imagined her as, so I've put in a rebuild request with the DM. As it happens, I've also been looking at building this character for a hopefully-long-term PF gestalt game, and was looking for both general Mesmerist (as the only guide I've found barely lists half the archetypes and seems not as detailed/complete as I'd like) as well as gestalt ideas I hadn't considered.
Also, for either game, any Mesmerist Archetype suggestions are appreciated. I haven't checked them out much, I'm still mostly looking over the other stuff right now.
Consummate Liar is okay for what I'm wanting, but a bonus to Diplomacy (or maybe even Disguise) would be preferable. Bluff is definitely still among my main skills, though, so a bonus here instead of there is still quite useful.
Hypnotic Stare is fantastic, particularly with some of the stuff that gets attached to it later. I'm not sure if there's any way to increase the penalty it gives, but it feels like the kind of thing where there might be a feat for that somewhere.
Mesmerist Tricks gives me a lot of little things I can do with my allies, if I'm willing to mess around with their heads a bit - which I am, if it's for their own good. Here are the ones I'm considering and why:
Chain Of Eyes: By feeling what my target feels, I get some sense of what's causing them to feel that way; by opening up the psychic link even deeper, it's almost as good as experiencing what they're sensing myself. Don't know how optimal/useful this ability is, but it's close to enough to fitting my fluff that I have it on the list.
Gift Of Will: This is about the only one that isn't a question of if I'm taking it, but when I'm taking it. It fits my character fluff to bolster my ally's will with my own by feeding them courage and confidence, and I've got a feeling that it's a pretty great option.
Linked Reaction: if I've got an emotional link with one of my allies, and I spot an ambush or whatever, I can send them a pulse of alarm, and if I feel alarm from them, I'm equally warned. Fits my fluff, and since I intend to take Perception, putting this on another perceptive PC will make it harder for us to be ambushed.
Psychosomatic Surge: So, healing is one of the things I've had this character do before, under the "hit points are largely an abstraction of what keeps you going, including your mental resolve and determination to keep going". My fluff means it makes sense for me to boost the mental side of toughness, and this is an ability that lets me do that (although only with THP, but ah well). Getting more healing abilities is definitely something I'd like to try and do, although getting too much healing feels like it would dip much more into meatspace healing than I'm comfortable doing via emotion-manipulation-magic.
Mask Misery/Reflect Fear: Reflect Fear suppresses/reflects any fear effect, while Mask Misery suppresses Fascinated/Shaken; the former seems much better early on. However, Mask Misery gets an upgrade at lvl 6 to suppress Confused/Dazed/Frightened/Sickened (and ends Fascinated/Shaken altogether), which means RF is only better because it reflects stuff and can suppress Panicked. Additionally, bonuses against/immunities to fear effects or mind-affecting effects become more common as you climb up the level ladder, making the narrow focus of Reflect Fear worse at higher levels. If there's some way to retrain Mesmerist Tricks when leveling up, that would solve this problem for me. If not, I'll probably take Mask Misery and depend on Gift Of Will to overcome fear effects before MM gets its upgrade.
Unwitting Messenger: If I've got room for it, this fits the fluff well enough, and could be a neat little tool in my hypnotic negotiator's toolbelt.
Allay Pain: Well, it fits the fluff. Unfortunately, DR 15/- against one attack dealing nonlethal doesn't seem very...masterful to me. Maybe if it was DR 15/- until the beginning of my next turn (with no conditions for when it was allowed to be applied), it would be more useful, but as-is, it's just appropriate fluff-wise. Unless I'm missing some significant ability to turn lethal into nonlethal that I can give to my allies or expect them to have...
Concealing Veil: Protecting my friends from divinations is a bit of a stretch on my intended fluff, but it seems pretty useful.
Greater Mask Misery: This takes away the final reason to keep Reflect Fear long-term, I think. Not like there's a ton of tricks anyway, so may as well take this one, right?
Mental Fallback: This perfectly fits the fluff of my abilities, the characterization I'm going for, and it seems pretty useful to boot. Protecting my allies for unfriendly enchantment is very fitting and useful, I think.
Willful Ignorance: Giving my allies a limited ability to tell un-divine-able lies is potentially useful if there's a good liar in the group besides me, but as a Cha-based caster with a leveling-by-class Bluff bonus and the Glib Lie ability, it seems like I'd be outsourcing one of the only things I'm objectively best at. Maybe it's good for having a corroborating story, in case people figure out that I'm not necessarily good for my word? I mean, I'll be trying to maintain my reputation anyway, but still...regardless, this ability seems to fit my fluff, and I'm likely not strapped for tricks, so it's on the list.
Painful Stare: I don't want this ability on my character sheet. I can see why it'd be useful. I can see how Mesmerist isn't feat-starved, and has a bunch of feats for enhancing this. I can see how I don't really contribute to group DPR if I don't use it. I don't care. I don't want this. It doesn't fit. I could barely justify Inspire Courage to myself, since it was boosting my allies ability to hurt people, and I don't want us hurting people unless it's absolutely necessary, but I could accept that as giving them a bonus they didn't necessarily need to use. Painful Stare can be sort-of put on my ally's conscience in the same way, but it scales much quicker, to the point that it still makes me uncomfortable. Is there something less violent I could replace this with? Can I make it nonlethal and knock people out, maybe? Is there an Inspire Courage-esque thing I can replace it with that scales less quickly than the basic Painful Stare? Or should I just resign myself to not using this?
Towering Ego: My Will saves will be boosted quite a bit, which makes getting hit by fear effects much less likely (especially combined with Touch Treatment and Reflect Fear/Mask Misery). I'll need to watch out for intimidation though...is there maybe a feat to extend the range of my Hypnotic Stare, so I can stay out of most thing's Intimidate range while still doing stuff?
Bold Stare: Lots of little things I can add onto my Hypnotic Stare to lock down my main target even more. Here's what I'm considering and why:
Disorientation: Locking down attempted violence should keep my allies safe while I talk the person down. Making the target less accurate is almost always gonna be significant, too.
Infiltration: Allure would give an initiative penalty instead of a CMD penalty, but initiative is only rolled once (and usually, the die matters more), and it requires me to have applied the stare before combat started (which isn't super-likely but will happen sometimes, probably). Meanwhile, a CMD penalty makes it easier for them to be dealt with nonlethally via trips, disarms, and grapples if need be.
Nightmare: If I end up deciding I want to induce fear in my enemies to keep them from attacking people effectively, this will be a fantastic way to help ensure their ensnared. It's definitely low on my list though, and could come off completely if I decide I'd rather avoid the fear route.
Oscillation: Making it harder to attack people is fantastic in my book. This one also has a slight martyr side effect (they can still target me normally) that fits the character well. "Focus on me, don't worry about them" seems like the kind of combat distraction she'd pull.
Psychic Inception: I'm gonna be honest, this is only on the list because it's far and away the single reason most people consider an enchantment/illusion focused mage worth playing: the fact that a number of creature types are completely immune to your schtick makes you feel awful, which is part of why PF got rid of a number of creature types' immunity to SA. Getting around that limitation is incredibly useful to any Mesmerist wanting to use most of their class features against mindless opponents...and I don't think it really fits my character's approach to magic. Does it make sense for me to push enough emotions into an unthinking corpse that it can feel love or happiness or anger or fear? Does it make sense that I can use emotional manipulation to seize temporary control of a machine? Maybe it makes a bit of sense for bugs, which are living creatures and have (likely stunted) emotions, but more extreme cases of mindlessness are very questionable to me.
Sabotage: I can't be affected by Diplomacy anyway, but making Intimidation harder is great, and the target might try to persuade an NPC we have with us or something. This isn't fantastic of course, but it's extremely fitting for the character.
Sapped Magic: Sending apathy, sadness, arrogance, and whatnot can make mages try less, and there's no doubt it'll be useful to my allies to no-save debuff the enemy mage.
Susceptibility: Just like Sabotage, but even more so. This fits my character so well, but I doubt it's exactly...optimal.
Timidity: As with Disorientation, suppressing the violence gels with me. I'm not sure how much a -3 to damage will be useful at lvl 20, though. Maybe if they've got lots of attacks? Disorientation is probably better than this, if I have to choose between them.
Touch Treatment: Psychic Healer fits me very well. Yessssssss. The 14th lvl upgrade is also fantastic.
Manifold Tricks is a nice, gradual upgrade to Mesmerist Tricks. Probably tempts me to use them up rather quickly, though.
Glib Lie will be quite useful for maintaining my guise as a normal pony, as well as for my general Party Face duties.
Rule Minds: I'm unlikely to intentionally use this even when I get it, since it feels like going much further than she'd be really comfortable with.
Bard (Mystic Prancer)
Pros: Half my bard-level to Knowledge checks, and to Bluff/Diplomacy against those I don't yet know well. Versatile Performance to gradually increase my skill pool. An additional Cha-based casting pool with complementary spells that won't be shut down by fear. Bardic Performance gives me extra stuff to do in combat besides fight, and is quite versatile to boot.
Cons: The chassis is giving me nothing, except maybe a few extra class skills, and the casting goes against what I had in mind for her ability to cast, even though it's probably the next closest to what I want.
Cleric (Merciful Healer)
Pros: Good Fort save is nice, Channel gives me some AoE healing, and spontaneous Cures will greatly boost my ability to heal my allies pain. The mercy's I'll get also help.
Cons: Standard casting really doesn't fit, and now I'll have enough healing that I'm gonna need to explain why mental rejuvenation and psychic emotion therapy is sufficient to heal gaping wounds. Also really didn't see her magic as being as powerful as a full caster, and spontaneous seems like it would fit the fluff better than prepared. Mostly fluff issues, basically.
Paladin (not sure what archetype)
Pros: D10 HD. Good Fort save and poison/disease immunity. Detect Evil makes it easier for me to determine whose requests I need to carefully consider and question. Divine Grace either stacks with Towering Will or frees me up to switch it with something else (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to stack them in PF). Aura Of Courage shuts down one of my big casting weaknesses and buffs my allies. Lay On Hands gives me some Cha-based healing every day, and Mercies will let me heal conditions as well. Channel Energy gives me AoE healing. I have very limited divine casting, which avoids the power issues I had with Cleric. Aura Of Resolve will protect me and my allies from mental manipulation even further. Aura Of Righteousness is a fantastic defensive buff to me, and a decent one to my allies.
Cons: The spellcasting is prepared, and still not really the emotion/thought based casting I'd prefer, but that's small potatoes compared to the rest of my complaints: Smite Evil, Aura Of Justice, Aura Of Faith, and Holy Champion are much too violent for my tastes. Getting rid of them, particularly Smite Evil, is something I'd very much like to do, but I'm not too familiar with Paladin archetypes. Is there a good one for the kind of thing I'm trying to do, a really pacifist paladin? Is there perhaps a good way I can turn it all nonlethal? That'd be vaguely acceptable and is probably easier to pull off than the other idea.
Unchained Rogue (Professional3PP)
I've requested this archetype before and it usually goes over well.
Pros: Giving up sneak attack for lots more skills and flexible skill bonuses will be a fantastic boost to my non-magical utility. There's enough Rogue Talents that I can almost certainly find plenty of stuff that doesn't involve stabbing people. Skill Unlocks will be fantastic too.
Cons: The chassis does basically nothing for me beyond skills, and enough class features/rogue tricks are focused around stabbing people that my options will be comparatively limited.
Fey or Unification3PP Sorcerer (not sure what archetype, maybe Crossblooded?)
Pros: Spontaneous Cha-based casting, spells known will keep me from getting too far outside what I'm intended to be good at, and bloodlines let me pick up some nice abilities.
Cons: Still not really the kind of casting I prefer, and the chassis is doing jack-all for me.
Oracle (not sure what archetype)
Pros: Spontaneous Cha-based casting, spells known will keep me from getting too far outside what I'm intended to be good at, and mysteries/curses let me pick up some nice abilities. Also, more of a buff/heal focus than the sorcerer, I'd wager.
Cons: Curses suck to have, and I'm not sure which one would fit. Beyond that, it's not the kind of casting I'd prefer, and the chassis does next to nothing for me.
Some other occult caster
I haven't looked into any of these, but it's likely there's something that would fit well with what I have in mind. Any suggestions, and why?
As a small aside, I'm also considering the following prestige classes, although I'm not sure when to take them or on which side:
Devoted Muse
Enchanting Courtesan
Master Spy
Noble Scion
Which of these are best fit to which build is advice I could also use. Please and thank you!