Pathfinder 1E So many questions... [Mid to High Level PF Stuff]

[rainsinger]

First, my apologies... it's been so long since I've played in a semi-standard no-house-rules pathfinder campaign, and I GM so often that my brain is stuck in character ADHD mode and I'm going nuts with bad feat entries and such... so I might make your brain assplode. Apologies ahead of time.

Due to a combination of bad wording, really oddly efficient archetyping and wanting to intentionally be the most ridiculous "within the rules" character I can build, I've run into a bunch of questions that I couldn't find GOOD answers to, with hours of searching (keep in mind, these are the leftovers, I had about 5x more that I was able to figure out). Some of these need "official rulings" type of info, others are purely "what do you think" and yet others are "I can't figure out if this would work" - let me know.

1. Elemental Fist - As worded (badly) the feat requires having imp. unarmed, but doesn't require the attack being made to be unarmed in order to apply the elemental fist effect. So, as an example, let's say I end up a Zen Archer or Weapon Adept and take elemental fist... can I use it with my weapon?
2. Here's the scenario: Let's say, for instance, I am a cleric of erastil/monk of four winds. I have weapon focus (longbow) and take crusader's flurry. Can I, as this character, flurry with that bow (all signs point to yes)? While I have found some forum posts regarding this, there is a lot of debate about 2H weapons while using this ability, even though it is spelled out pretty obviously.
3. Combine those two... just for fun. Now stop giggling and move on.
4. Rage Monk - Obviously martial artist to drop the alignment restriction, then probably invulnerable rager urban barbarian. No armor = wis & dex (+bonus) to AC, potentially the bonus from the martial artist ability, DR from barbarian and so on. Not amazing, but it'd be competitive. The thing that interests me most is both the immunity to fatigue and the ignore DR. When you combine that with the tremendous amount of damage buffs that barbs get, it seems like a really powerful combination. Thoughts?
5. Even worse, a plate wearing, two handed sword wielding monk. Cleric of whatever (erastil for bow, someone else for a big sword, whatever) + Monk of Four Winds (or whatever) + Paladin (some fun archetypes for this build too). Crusader's Flurry + Elemental Fist + Smite Evil + Domain Abilities + Buffing spells + Channel Smite + Flurry with a Big Weapon... and so on. Thoughts?
6. Falconer Ranger. Not the only way to get a full-level companion as a ranger, but the quickest, and you get some neat tricks out of it. Built as an archer with an "eye in the sky", my figures put it middle of the pack against other archer builds, but with the added benefit of the companion, which actually can get pretty nasty as it levels (though obviously nothing compared to a velociraptor or big cat, etc.). Thoughts?
7. Best pure sword and board combat monster - Two Weapon Fighter? I'm just not sure... I could make a case for a couple fighter builds, or a paladin with the right feats, even a ranger with the right build. But it seems like with the plethora of shield abilities and fighter specific stuff, two-weapon build (I get to attack with both hands in a standard action? Rofl) seems the best. Someone correct me here?

Anyway, thanks for any and all replies, sorry if I made you want to throw a box of kittens at me.

 

[Wycen]

1. No. It has a typo yes, but nowhere does it say "melee attack". It says elemental fist/strike which you should consider like stunning fist.

2. No. By parsing the sentence and putting emphasis on "as if using the Two-Weapon Fighting feat" you could not use a bow because does not qualify for Two Weapon Fighting.

3. Ok.

4. I'm starting to notice a pattern based around the word "monk".

5. While I don't know about monk archetypes, wearing armor negates monk AC Bonus (Ex) ability so the rest someone else can comment on.

6. My thoughts on this aren't worth much. I guess it depends on how much use you think you'd get out of animal empathy. I don't think our ranger ever used it, so he'd have no problem exchanging it for a bird companion. Except he wanted a griffon.

7. I can't correct you as I'm not so oriented toward martial characters. But, I'd say sword and board is better than monk. Most things are better than monk in my opinion.