Breaking pathfinder!!!

[Mrark]

Hi everyone. We’re starting a new campaign, leaving my beloved 3.5 because DM thinks that pathfinder is just better because it is more equilibrated. He is really convinced about this, so that he said we can use any pf manual and source, and he can deal with it.
So we’re starting al lvl1, give me all the best optimization you know! Thanks to everyone :)

[Particle_Man]

Is Mythic allowed? Can you start at level 1 and mythic tier 1?

[Mrark]

Is Mythic allowed? Can you start at level 1 and mythic tier 1?

What’s mythic? Btw Yes I guess

[Biggus]

What’s mythic? Btw Yes I guess

Mythic is sort of like a lesser form of divine rank. You can't choose it, the DM decides when and if the party gains mythic ranks. If it is available, it introduces lots of powerful options:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/mythic/

As for classes, full casters are the most powerful as in 3.5. Some of their more broken tactics like Polymorph have been scaled back, but they have plenty of new tricks. Check out the Arcanist for example, which combines some of the best features of Wizard and Sorcerer:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/

Also, if you're playing a human or half-elf, have a look at the spell Paragon Surge, which can temporarily give you ANY feat you qualify for:

https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ox7t?The-Mini-Guide-to-Paragon-Surge

TBH I'm not an expert in PF, I'm sure others will be able to give you more detailed advice, but this might provide a good starting point.

[Kurald Galain]

DM thinks that pathfinder is just better because it is more equilibrated. He is really convinced about this, so that he said we can use any pf manual and source, and he can deal with it.
Your DM is correct that PF is more equilibrated. Note that "more" doesn't mean "perfectly". Anywhere between level 1 and 12, your DM is probably entirely right that he can "deal with it"; and very very few campaigns ever go above level 12 anyway.

That said, obvious places to start are a Witch with the slumber hex; or anything with multiple natural attacks; or having a dinosaur as your animal companion; or the summoner class.

[Particle_Man]

If mythic is allowed take sorcerer for the class, archmage for the mythic hero type, and wild arcana for the archmage special ability (called arcana). Congrats now you can cast any non-racially exclusive spell on the sorcerer spell list of a level you can cast (not just spells known) five times a day at plus two caster level, in addition to your regular spells. Even if you never gain another tier, this is huge.

[Mehangel]

I don't know about it "breaking the game", but most GMs disallow the following in games: taking Sacred Geometry as a feat, blood money and infernal healing as spells, and playing a tiefling with mortal parentage of a large-size race.

[iceifur]

Our game table was quite fond of spamming the scribe's binding (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Scribe%27s%20Binding) spell. Gotta love it when your enemy's life is an open book. Literally literally.

[Eldariel]

Animate Dead got buffed. Summon Monster got heavily buffed. Planar Binding and Planar Ally are as strong as ever. Shrink Item and Explosive Runes as well. All the usual suspects work in PF just fine. Play a Wizard (or an Arcanist is fine too when he's not spell-retarded; Exploiter Wizard can pick their Quick Study and be almost as versatile while still being a Wizard though).

Diviner Wizards can get Foresight school power, which is just dumb-good. Bloatmage can make for nigh' infinite spells per day. In general, Wizards in PF even outdo 3.5 Wizards in some senses. Unsurprisingly, it's still the best class. And yeah, Sacred Geometry is ridiculous. Spell Perfection too.

[Particle_Man]

Another fun way to buff sorcerers is to use the human favoured class ability to increase spells known. There is a repeatable feat that does this too.

[Psyren]

Yes, you can break Pathfinder. The ceiling is lower (e.g. no Ice Assassin, Diplomancy, or double-CL Gate) but it's still a 3.x game.

My question is, what would breaking your GM's game get you exactly? At best you all waste a bunch of time resetting the now broken game. At worst there are hard feelings or they decide to just abandon PF entirely for something like 5e. Is that what you want?

[legomaster00156]

Yeah, I... don't understand why you want to ruin your friend's game. Pathfinder is not perfectly balanced, nowhere close. It is just better balanced than 3.5, which is a low hurdle to cross.

[GrayDeath]

OK, if youa re merely trying to break the game to "show your DM whos boss, my suggestion is: Dont.

If you want to play something as ridiculously OP as some 3.5 stuff, and in Game crush what your DM is throwing at you, for your own enjoyment, that is something else.

If you want to do it in a way that was (outside of TO) impossible in 3.5, I would suggest playing a summoner. YOu effectively are a "almost 9th Level caster" as the list gets a lot of good stuff earlier, have a fully customizable "better Animal Companion", and can break action eceonomy without much effort.
Especially together with the buffed summon monster.

Or

Just go Sorcerer with Arcane Bloodline and use the variant Favoured CLass Bonus and the extra Spell feats to buy those spells you really need ( and be an almost Specialized Wizard but with CLass Features and Spont. Casting). Its one of the classes that got more power AND flavourful in PF (actually it was my favourite class for a while ^^).

[Mehangel]

I also don't understand why you are interested in breaking the game as it doesn't really prove anything. I have yet to play a pen and paper RPG (D&D 1st-5th ed, Pathfinder, Burning Wheel, FATE, Blades in the Dark, etc) that could not be broken, but that doesn't mean it can't have a fun or balanced game either. For example, i find pathfinder with the right 3rd party content (Spheres of Power + Spheres of Might) to be especially entertaining.

[MeeposFire]

As somebody who distinctly does not like Pathfinder I would not recommend doing this. Even though I would agree that PF is not really balanced all that well (at all) and since it is based on the frankly awful 3e action economy I can see many ways of showing how screwed up the game could be BUT why would you want to do that in an actual game? Just to prove a point? You can do that without ruining a game. You can prove this without doing it in game. Rather I would recommend finding something that will be fun for you and your game.

If you really want to do something perhaps rather than breaking the game find something that runs in an odd manner that may not have been intended but is fun and does not break the game. Sadly I do not do enough PF work to know what that could be but some others on here probably do.

[Psyren]

If you really want to do something perhaps rather than breaking the game find something that runs in an odd manner that may not have been intended but is fun and does not break the game. Sadly I do not do enough PF work to know what that could be but some others on here probably do.

There should be plenty of that in the Dysfunctional RAW thread, whose link escapes me.

[upho]

Hi everyone. We’re starting a new campaign, leaving my beloved 3.5 because DM thinks that pathfinder is just better because it is more equilibrated. He is really convinced about this, so that he said we can use any pf manual and source, and he can deal with it.
So we’re starting al lvl1, give me all the best optimization you know! Thanks to everyone :)As other posters have mentioned, while there's a bit less risk for serious mechanical balance issues in PF than in 3.5, your GM is unfortunately gravely mistaken if he believes that PF is somehow free of options able to cause highly problematic PC power differences.

To give you (and your GM) an idea of just how great a difference in overall "adventuring power" there may be between two PCs built and played strictly according to the rules, for example a very highly optimized and wisely played wizard, druid or summoner would be able to solo a vast majority of Paizo's APs run as written, likely by about 5th level. And by 10th level, such a high-op PC could be powerful enough to breeze through adventures designed for their level without so much as breaking a sweat. In other words, the truth is a single high-op PC can be capable of dealing with challenges which an entire party of low-op PCs (like say Paizo's "iconics (http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/iconic-characters)") of the same level would find impossible, despite having at least four times as much total XP and wealth. And with options from third party publishers, the number of classes and build types which can be made equally mechanically powerful increases drastically, as does the maximum PC power possible at most levels.

So before you even start thinking about "the best optimization" for "breaking Pathfinder", I strongly recommend you first talk to the other players and your GM to get a better idea of their expectations, preferences and opinions on PC power and when PC power differences become a problem. If you simply try to make the most powerful PC the rules allow for with the help of (often very) experienced people on the forums while ignoring the general power level expected by the other people in your game, you're practically guaranteed to end up with a highly overpowered PC. Which in turn may make it near impossible for your GM to design appropriate challenges and may ruin the fun.

All that said, if your GM has already made it clear he actually wants you to go completely bananas and aim for a PF version of Pun-Pun, then you should of course go ahead and do so. If so, I'd especially try to make the most out of the likely extremely rare opportunity to use third party options without restrictions. I think there are a lot of stuff you can do by combining options from different third parties which wouldn't just be hilariously powerful, but also make for some highly unorthodox and bizarrely flavorful stuff. Like say... hmm... How 'bout a gigantic psionic eight-armed robot with eye-lazors and rocket feet, who combines Spheres of Might-pimped far-reaching AoOs with psionic self-buffs and powerful Path of War action economy boosters?


Your DM is correct that PF is more equilibrated. Note that "more" doesn't mean "perfectly". Anywhere between level 1 and 12, your DM is probably entirely right that he can "deal with it"; and very very few campaigns ever go above level 12 anyway.Probably when it comes to the "typical/normal" rather low optimization levels of most games/groups. But the OP asked for "all the best optimization you know", and I do think the most ridiculously high-op PCs GitP regulars can come up with most likely have far more power than anything the "typical" people in such groups would believe possible, and probably in a different universe than any PC they've actually seen in play. So I'm fairly certain this GM would find it practically impossible to deal with the huge power differences between the "normal" PCs and the "GitP high-op monstrosity".

(At least I know I personally would, despite already knowing much of what to expect as a nerd who spends too much time on this forum. Just thinking about trying to create mechanically appropriate and fun challenges for such a party gives me a headache.)

[Kurald Galain]

a very highly optimized and wisely played wizard, druid or summoner would be able to solo a vast majority of Paizo's APs run as written, likely by about 5th level.
That strikes me as extremely implausible. Please post a build that does that, and an overview of how it would solo at least one actual AP.

[Mnemius]

I once, at a organized play event at a convention, ran into a monk/some sort of prestige class that was monk+paladin, that was using ki via several steps to use channel energy. And they had a feat where they could choose to get ki back equal to the dice of the channel energy instead of the healing.

The cost of ki to use channel energy was less than they were getting back from it. This was by level 9? 8? I'm told it took some liberal reading of the rules though.

[Andreaz]

Hi everyone. We’re starting a new campaign, leaving my beloved 3.5 because DM thinks that pathfinder is just better because it is more equilibrated. He is really convinced about this, so that he said we can use any pf manual and source, and he can deal with it.
So we’re starting al lvl1, give me all the best optimization you know! Thanks to everyone :)

Pathfinder is only tangentially better balanced than 3.5

HOWEVER


1) It is still the better game of the two. Class design is more interesting overall, with several high quality products outside the core (esp 3rd party).
2) It's a major **** move to want to ruin his fun just to make a point. If you can't deal with it civilly I suggest you don't bother playing, for the alternative will be a hot mess.

[pabelfly]

Why not give Pathfinder a legitimate chance? You've said you like 3.5 and Pathfinder is pretty closely-related to it, you might end up liking that system just as much as 3.5.

[Mrark]

I do not want to be a jerk. I am just a fan of optimizing things up and I rarely have a chance of playing them. So now that I can I’d like to play some really really good stuff, but since I don’t know anything about classes, races, PrC, feats, (...), I am asking here. Master told we have almost complete freedom in building our Character, so this is kinda what I want... Among the answers I’ve seen some hints but my knowledge about this game is too little to use them wisely.

I’d kinda need a build order and some specific advices on how to use it

[legomaster00156]

See, that's not what you said. You implied you want to break the game open because you don't want your GM to be correct. If your goal is instead to build a high-optimization character because it's what you have fun with, that's a different goal.

[Segev]

What kind of characters do you like to play?

If 3rd party is available, Psionic classes can FEEL ridiculously powerful because they have features that are...bold design choices for their levels. But generally don't break anything in practice. Just in the Psion class, you can go Nomad to gain at-will teleportation; with a feat and by 5th level, you're teleporting your move distance or greater as a move action. Astral Constructs are also really powerful, though whether they stack up well to a Summoner's Eidolon, I'm not sure.

The Soul Knife in PF is actually pretty amazing with its versatile build options.

On the Summoner-ish side of things, the Magical Child archetype of the Vigilante class lets you play a magical girl (or boy), using summoner spellcasting and a familiar that gets free improved familiar upgrades as you level up.

Playing a straight-up wizard is going to be pretty well as powerful in PF as it is in 3.5. Druid slightly less so, because shapeshifting got nerfed pretty hard in general in PF. Though the druid still has an animal companion, and there are feats to improve that (as well as feats to improve familiars, which a magical child might be interested in). I am particularly fond of the fact that Necromancer wizards get Rebuke/Command Undead as a class feature.

And then there's the Investigator, which makes skill checks ridiculously well.

[Caedes]

I’d kinda need a build order and some specific advice on how to use it

There are some great sites out there that have gathered some builds and in-depth reviews of different classes. Such as Zenith Games and RPGBOT.

There is even a great compilation thread here in GitP.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?233029-PF-Optimization-Guides-Compendium


That out of the way. I am also a huge fan of 3.5 and love the versatility it gives me in character building. That being said Pathfinder has it's pluses and minuses as well.

I have found that overly optimized characters in a "typical" PF game quickly diminishes the fun when outshining the rest of the party, and ultimately has just lead to boredom for myself. This has created a new Meta for me in PF character creation in finding the power level where I can still wreck things but I am not just roflstomping everything that comes into view.

But that is just my view. :D

[Lord of Shadows]

How 'bout a gigantic psionic eight-armed robot with eye-lazors and rocket feet, who combines Spheres of Might-pimped far-reaching AoOs with psionic self-buffs and powerful Path of War action economy boosters?

Wow... just, wow... One of these should be in everyone's toolbox to pull out at those certain moments. LOL

[upho]

That strikes me as extremely implausible. Please post a build that does that, and an overview of how it would solo at least one actual AP.
Well, I'm not surprised you think so, I did as well when I first heard a similar claim on the Paizo boards. Until I actually tested it myself with a human Master Summoner, starting chapter 2, "The Skinsaw Murders" of Rise of the Runelords Anniversay Edition. Let's just say that the Skilled evo is ridiculously cheap and that hasted giant celestial augmented riding dogs are pretty darn good at chewing up your enemies. Especially when you can summon 2 -4 of them per SLA use with Superior Summoning and as a Master Summoner can have up to no less than twelve of them in the same combat, plus up to an additional 32(!) non-giant Medium ones... Provided you play smart, take your time and are careful with your resource management, no problems. By 9th level, it would've been really easy.

[FaerieGodfather]

Pathfinder is only tangentially better balanced than 3.5

I would disagree with this statement... Pathfinder solved a lot of the little problems in 3.5 at the expense of exacerbating the more serious problems.

Every spellcasting class in Pathfinder got a major buff in the changes to concentration. Wizards and Sorcerers got major class feature buffs, and spontaneous casters get a huge buff from the Human racial Favored Class Bonus.

Fighting Men got all of their most important combat feats cut in half to compensate for everyone else getting one-and-a-half times as many of them.

The only area where I'd call Pathfinder "better balanced" is in replacing the proliferation of Prestige Classes with Archetypes. Not perfect, but better in so many different ways... for most purposes.


1) It is still the better game of the two. Class design is more interesting overall, with several high quality products outside the core (esp 3rd party).
2) It's a major **** move to want to ruin his fun just to make a point. If you can't deal with it civilly I suggest you don't bother playing, for the alternative will be a hot mess.

On the other hand, both of these statements are spot on.

Really, the best thing to do is quit fighting over which game is better (it's still Pathfinder) and treat them both as 98% compatible second party publishers for one another.

[Kurald Galain]

Every spellcasting class in Pathfinder got a major buff in the changes to concentration. Wizards and Sorcerers got major class feature buffs, and spontaneous casters get a huge buff from the Human racial Favored Class Bonus.
You omit that the most common breaking spells got nerfed (except at top level where almost nobody plays anyway).


Fighting Men got all of their most important combat feats cut in half to compensate for everyone else getting one-and-a-half times as many of them.
Hahaha, that old chestnut again? Yes, if by "all of their feats" you mean one feat (i.e. Improved Trip), in exchange for getting more feats, bonus feats, and much better class features. Such as that fighters get to follow you if you 5' step away, or parry spells with their weapon, or get extra skill points and a familiar. Sure, fighter will never be the strongest class, but PF's fighter blows 3E's out of the water.

[Kurald Galain]

Well, I'm not surprised you think so, I did as well when I first heard a similar claim on the Paizo boards. Until I actually tested it myself with a human Master Summoner, starting chapter 2, "The Skinsaw Murders" of Rise of the Runelords Anniversay Edition.
Fair enough, the summoner is pretty ridiculous, and moreso at low level. I'm not so sure if other classes can match this, though.

[unseenmage]

Our game table was quite fond of spamming the scribe's binding (https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Scribe%27s%20Binding) spell. Gotta love it when your enemy's life is an open book. Literally literally.

I love that spell.


Also, Simulacrum. Just Sim spam and watch the gameworld crumble.

Make Trompe L'oeil versions of your party.

Action economy still rules the roost, use it well and you'll break the world over your knee

[Eldariel]

Fair enough, the summoner is pretty ridiculous, and moreso at low level. I'm not so sure if other classes can match this, though.

Once Animate Dead comes online, you're pretty golden as a Wizard/Cleric with an otherwise summoning shell (Bloody Skeletons are stupid good against most enemies, being nigh' unkillable and unlimited control pool with Command Undead). Wizard in particular gets lots of daily castings when built to that effect (Sin Casting, Arcane Implement/Bloatmage and the like) and has all the usual nighty shelter options, BFC and such in lower level slots. Don't even need many of the better versatility options probably since you can just minion through most problems and prepare spells for the few things minions won't cover.

Honestly, PF buffed minionmancy, which was already the strongest thing in 3.5. Summon Monster in particular got absurd buffs, and then feats to throw on top of it. Animate Dead too. And Lesser Planar Binding and its ilk went untouched. We even got Lesser Animate Dead for even earlier nonsense.

[Segev]

Once Animate Dead comes online, you're pretty golden as a Wizard/Cleric with an otherwise summoning shell (Bloody Skeletons are stupid good against most enemies, being nigh' unkillable and unlimited control pool with Command Undead). Wizard in particular gets lots of daily castings when built to that effect (Sin Casting, Arcane Implement/Bloatmage and the like) and has all the usual nighty shelter options, BFC and such in lower level slots. Don't even need many of the better versatility options probably since you can just minion through most problems and prepare spells for the few things minions won't cover.

Honestly, PF buffed minionmancy, which was already the strongest thing in 3.5. Summon Monster in particular got absurd buffs, and then feats to throw on top of it. Animate Dead too. And Lesser Planar Binding and its ilk went untouched. We even got Lesser Animate Dead for even earlier nonsense.

Sadly, you have to play 3.5 or 3.PF to pull this off, but a trio (or quartet) of Slaymates and Chain Spell (plus maybe Extend Spell) applied to command undead does amazing things for mindless minionmancy.

[upho]

I do not want to be a jerk. I am just a fan of optimizing things up and I rarely have a chance of playing them. So now that I can I’d like to play some really really good stuff, but since I don’t know anything about classes, races, PrC, feats, (...), I am asking here. Master told we have almost complete freedom in building our Character, so this is kinda what I want... Among the answers I’ve seen some hints but my knowledge about this game is too little to use them wisely.This sounds a lot more reasonable. And of course you should try and make the most out of this rare opportunity, just not in the typically game-breaking "most powerful PC build possible"-sense.


I’d kinda need a build order and some specific advices on how to use itWell, what would you like to play? Considering the insane amount of options and subsystems you have access to, we can most likely help you create any PC you wish for. And as long as we're not talking about insanely broken stuff, I truly mean any PC.

A few examples:


Amorphous blob of goo with an amorphous blob of goo companion? No problems. It can even be made amazingly versatile and very effective as a more pure stick-wielder, a more pure pointy-hat (caster), or virtually any kind of pointy-hatted stick wielder (gish). As long as you're OK with your stick and/or hat getting a bit slimy, of course...
Any creature you can build with the race builder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/creating-new-races/) (does unfortunately not necessarily create well balanced results at all).
Near full simultaneous arcane/divine/psionic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/psionics-unleashed/) casting, veilweaving (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/akashic-mysteries) and martial maneuver (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/path-of-war/) progression, combined with plenty of Spheres (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/start) stuff. This can make you an incredibly powerful and versatile gish able to pull off shenanigans otherwise utterly impossible.



...spontaneous casters get a huge buff from the Human racial Favored Class Bonus.

Fighting Men got all of their most important combat feats cut in half to compensate for everyone else getting one-and-a-half times as many of them.Just a nitpick, but both of these statements are misleading, the second one so much so I almost suspect you're actually joking:

1. Not all spontaneous casters get the stupid "extra spell known" human FCB (only bards, oracles and sorcerers IIRC).

2. Fighting men in PF can not only bypass the usually worthless Combat Expertise tax, but also IUS and any Int 13 or Dex 13 prereqs of all combat maneuver related feats. (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dirty-fighting-combat/) On top of that, the benefits of many of PF's "Greater" combat maneuver feats can be made much more significant than those of any "Improved" feats in 3.5, and combat maneuvers overall can be made extremely reliable and very effective during all levels in PF, so much so that especially some full-bab classes focusing on them may not even need to bother about boosting their melee damage at all, or may boost damage to hilarious levels via long chains of AoOs and free combat maneuvers (which can be a considerably more versatile and far less wasteful melee damage dealing method than 3.5-style übercharging). There's nothing in 3.5 which allows non-casters to come even remotely close to this.

[upho]

Wow... just, wow... One of these should be in everyone's toolbox to pull out at those certain moments. LOLHeh, yeah, you can do some pretty weird things if every option for PF ever published is accessible. And honestly, I think my robot idea would seem pretty sensible in comparison to the weirdest stuff at least theoretically possible.


Fair enough, the summoner is pretty ridiculous, and moreso at low level. I'm not so sure if other classes can match this, though.Yes, and especially the Master Summoner is even more ridiculous. And it remains stupidly strong throughout all levels thanks to the inherent strength and versatility of the SM and gate spells, the summoner's silly strong super-conjuration spell list and easy use of UMD, not to mention the many great spells, feats and items to further buff and pimp your summons with.

But considering for example animate dead is a 3rd level spell for clerics and oracles, and they have access to some very potent necromancy buffs, I think those could manage it from 5th as well (although they'd probably have to go EVIL™ and they'd be a bit more dependent on finding good "working material", of course). Especially if they're allowed to apply the "haunted" exoskeleton template version to the bloody skeleton template as per RAW, as that gives their already nasty undead bugs Int 10 along with skills and feats for no extra cost whatsoever. Probably worth a side-quest of finding and invading a nearby giant spider nest or similar just to get a supply of decent material...


Once Animate Dead comes online, you're pretty golden as a Wizard/Cleric with an otherwise summoning shell (Bloody Skeletons are stupid good against most enemies, being nigh' unkillable and unlimited control pool with Command Undead). Wizard in particular gets lots of daily castings when built to that effect (Sin Casting, Arcane Implement/Bloatmage and the like) and has all the usual nighty shelter options, BFC and such in lower level slots. Don't even need many of the better versatility options probably since you can just minion through most problems and prepare spells for the few things minions won't cover.Yeah, from about 7th level when they get access to animate dead, wizards are probably just as capable of soloing APs as summoners. And thanks to their greater casting versatility, they're probably capable of dealing also with the (likely very rare) challenges a summoner might find very difficult or impossible, if those exist in published APs. (Although just as for their divine colleagues, EVIL™ and finding suitable material may be an issue.)


Honestly, PF buffed minionmancy, which was already the strongest thing in 3.5. Summon Monster in particular got absurd buffs, and then feats to throw on top of it. Animate Dead too. And Lesser Planar Binding and its ilk went untouched. We even got Lesser Animate Dead for even earlier nonsense.When it comes to SM and to a lesser extent necromancy, as far as I can remember the 3.5 versions, I agree with you. But (lesser) planar binding? Seriously?

I mean, yes, the binding spells are still strong in PF, but since none of the many related insane hd boost options found in 3.5 exists in PF, the PF binding spells are primarily great for purposes other than getting powerful combat allies (in sharp contrast to the 3.5 versions).

(Could it be you've made the seemingly very common mistake of assuming that most/all PF's hd binding boosts increase the spells' max hd limit for one single creature, like most otherwise similar 3.5 boosts? AFAIK, the only option in PF which actually does this is the Caller's Feather (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/c-d/caller-s-feather/) (2,000 gp), and using it for that purpose destroys it. All the other boosts - such as the continuous benefit of the mentioned Caller's Feather - only increase the max total hd of creatures which can be bound by one casting, not the max hd of a single creature.)

[RedMage125]

Something fun I've done with a level 1 build is make a Wizard with an Initiative bonus of +16.

Put a 14 in DEX. Take Elf for a race (boost DEX to 16) , and the Fleet-footed Alt Racial trait (+2 Init)
For a Background trait, take reactionary (+2 init).
Be a Divination Specialist Wizard, and get class level as bonus to init (+1 right now), but more importantly...YOU ALWAYS GET TO ACT IN THE SURPRISE ROUND.
Have a Composugnathus familiar (+4 Init)
Take Improved Initiative as your 1st level feat (+4 Init).

Boom, you have a +16 Initiative modifier, and you always act in the surprise round, so you may even get to act before the creature ambushing you (but at least you won't be flat-footed), and you can always Ready an action...