Winterheart

I've been running a Forbidden Fist/Trickster with great success lately. Very tanky and deals very respectable damage,

In other words...Forbidden Fist and Cipher is OP?

Do crits from riposte have a chance to give a phrase as well? I am starting to consider a new playthrough with a Trickster/Skald

Single class wizard wins imo. They just have so much versatility with their grimoires. Either no subclass or bloodmage.

The writing is very similar to what you would commonly get in DnD books and games, its very true to the genre in that regard. The dialogue choice may be basic, but you very often get choices that align with any alignment you'd wish to play. Its one of the few games where I've felt that playing a evil character did not outright punish you through dialogues. And I do agree with you on 2. I see this as one of the things that I really enjoy with the game, but it is not for everyone. At least the game came with a easy mode!

With most of the major issues Pathfinder had at launch being resolved I would say it has quickly become my favorite.

Question...as a shifter do the enchants on your armor and weapons still function while you are shifted?

Troubadour is the answer here. Best allrounder imo.

Aha, I thought there was a specific Herald build that had infinite paladin resources-

How does the paladin + chanter infinite resources work?

Bleakwalker/Beckoner is what you want. Pick any skeleton/shade summoning ability you come across.

On the topic of tanks. How would a Helwaker/Skald or Troubadour tank hold up? Been wanting to play through the game as a tank instead of the skirmisher when the next DLC hits.

A trickster/soul blade is a very good skirmisher with decent defenses. You can also use assassin/soulblade to make an extremly squishy, but also extremly good alpha striker. Both builds require a good deal of micro management though. The trickster/soulblade with a two hander has been my favorite so far, it offers good defenses, massive mobility, high damage and you can get some good cc from cipher.

They are all very bad choices in my book. Wizard, Druid, Priest absolutely need single class to max power level and number of encounter spell resources. Only Paladin + cipher will probably not be crippled. Not true on the wizard part. Wizard is an amazing multiclass option for any melee frontliner.

Depends on what you want to do. Wizards can be single target and aoe nukers, or debuff/buff machines. For damage you want to max out Might first, with dex, int and perception in any order you prefer after that. For debuff and buffing you will want your Int maxed out first. Unless you are playing on PofD I do not think you need that high Perception. Personally I like a higher dex and int for quickler and better effects of my spells. Resolve you can dump unless you plan to spend a lot of time in melee(Which mind you is a perfectly viable choice)