2 Characters for brutal campaign

[Dungeon Master of Fine Arts]

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I'll be joining a Skull Serpent campaign that is extremely brutal (1-2 characters die each session).

I picked out and built two characters for the campaign, a main character and a backup and I would like some advice regarding optimization, as it appears that optimizing (also caution) is key to surviving this campaign.

This is 10-point buy, standard starting gold, 2 traits and 99% of Piazo material allowed. The character details are below:

Dreg – Half-orc gunslinger (musket master):

A former member of the "Dark Raider" orc gang that turned to high-sea pirating after discovering the secrets of gun powder. Their ferocious fighting abilities far exceeded their nautical skills, and Dreg is the only soul to survive the sinking of their ship and arrive safely to the nearest shore of the Sargava.

Stat Block.

Dreg is a guerilla sniper. His main technique would be to find a good spot for cover, drop prone and shoot! As you can see he doesn't have much gold left, as he spent half of his fortune crafting his masterwork rifle and the other half on his handy haversack which he needs so that he doesn't get encumbered (beyond his armor, buckler and rifle he really can't carry much). I also gave him Acute Dark Vision so that he can snipe in the dark. I'd like some advice regarding how to increase his hit/damage and ability to avoid direct combat if possible.

Rohan Swansong - Human ranger (beastmaster, skirmisher):

The ex-royal huntsman of a corrupt baron (aren't the all?). Rohan left the service of his lord after an unjustified tax-increase threaten to diminish his wages. He traveled to the Mwangi Expanse in search of big game and rare meats. On his path, he came across an abandoned Allosaurus pup which he is currently rearing into ferocious hunting companion. He has little patience for authority, religion and Chelexians. He respects hard-workers, hard-drinkers and those who strive to look after their own.

Stat Block.

Rohan is switch hitter that will ultimately become a mounted combatant, once his Allosaurus reaches level 7. I wasn't originally too keen about making him a skirmisher, but with the 10-point buy, I couldn't up wisdom so I opted to drop his spell casting abilities. Right now I'm mostly concerned about Rohan's ability to survive for long in close combat. His AC and HP seem a little low. The first thing that comes to mind is getting rid of his Falcata and switching it for a Toughness feat. Luckily, he has about 5000 left for magic items.

His Animal companion currently has and AC of 23 (= +3 studded leather armor +3 dex +6 natural +1 dodge feat) and 27hp (with his toughness feat).

I wrote specific areas where I think characters could use improvement. But feel free to completely rip them apart or give me advice that I haven't thought of. They want to live! I would like to stick to their general concepts more or less.

[Heaggles]

They are both good I would make both sense it sounds like you have a good chance of losing your first one.

[gnomersy]

Never, ever, ever, ever drop prone. It sounds awesome and thematic and sniper-y but it will get you dead when you're at knife fight range like most of the combat in PF and it doesn't net you any significant advantages against anything but ranged combat.

Honestly I'd suggest tanking int into the ground and dropping strength to a 10 to funnel more points into dex on the gunslinger because that's the only important stat they have. Alternatively put some more into Con if that's your big concern. If you really must have a melee option pick up finesse and an agile weapon at some point.

You could also consider not buying the handy haversack and using the bag drop method for encumberance avoidance for a while and buying one later when you have more money and less important bonuses to get your hands on. In this same vein of thought I probably wouldn't go for a masterwork buckler or a masterwork gun at this point and would instead go for a belt of dex +2 since it gets you +1 AC, +1 to hit, and +1 damage next level as well as +1 to ref saves and since you can craft your own gun you can just do that whenever the chance arises.

As a point you should also be aware that rapid reloader from musket master only works for muskets and won't apply to your rifle. Which means you can't use Rapid shot with your current build.

[Dungeon Master of Fine Arts]

Gnomersy, all of your advice is great.

Here is Dreg's new array:

Str 10
Dex 20 (15 +2 racial + 1 level boost + 2 belt of Dex)
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 14
Cha 6

Dreg now has an AC of 21, an attack of +9 and 37hp! I am a little concerned about the 3 skill points he gets each level, but I guess all he really needs is in the long run is stealth and perception.

I have a followup question for you. What do you think if I got rid of the archetype and started Dreg out with a pistol? so that he could perform a rapid shot without rapid reload (using a paper cartridge).

Then I can get Dreg to craft his masterwork rifle and take rapid reload (rifle) at level 5.

[gnomersy]

I like skills but honestly their value is pretty low so yeah you can get by with 3/lvl as a combat specialist.

I like the stat block, the pistol still costs you a standard action to reload normally though and even with cartridges it only goes down to a move action not a free and since rapid shot requires a full attack that's still a no go.

Consider swapping Rapid shot out for Deadly aim, it's not quite as good but it doesn't require shooting more than once to work and puts out a decent amount of hurt(albeit less than an extra attack) and then grab rapid shot after you get rapid reload(rifle).

Alternately you can stick with Musket Master since you lose very little by doing so and get a free rapid reload(muskets) from it and just be okay with using a musket until you get the feats and money to upgrade to a rifle. And even when you do you still have the musket as a backup if somebody disarms you or something.

[Dungeon Master of Fine Arts]

Good stuff. I'm going to stick with the musket and rapid shot. Here's why:

The Musket Master has a deed called Fast Musket that allows him to load a two-handed firearm as if it was a one-handed firearm.

So Standard action + rapid reload + paper cartridge = free action. Thus allowing Dreg to use rapid reload and do 2d12 a round.

Later on when he upgrades to a rifle, I'll give him another rapid reload and stuff the musket in the haversack. But first I will try and convince my DM to let me switch out rapid reload (musket) for rapid reload (rifle), just like a fighter switches out bonus feat. It's a long shot, but like you said, I lose nothing by sticking with Musket Master.

Thank you Gnomersy for helping me optimize Dreg, he is a far better character now. If you have time and interested I would appreciate some help with Swansong as well.

[RumpinRufus]

Love the character of Rohan Swansong. Does he follow the Pyramid of Greatness?

[gnomersy]

I'm not quite as good with Rangers since I've never tried to build one but for starters why 11 int? I mean I assume it's just a throw away point but you may as well throw it into wisdom since it could be increased to boost your tricks per day as well as will save in the future and your will save is bad news bears too.

Are you really sold on the falcata? I think you're spreading him a little bit too thin to be honest. It's not like mounted combat or archery are feat light options and while you can 2hand fight with relatively low feat investment at least if your going to go with an exotic weapon it feels unnecessary. At least for me if I'm going to go into an exotic weapon it's going to be my default weapon otherwise why bother spending the feat on it.

As an aside if you're using your fav. class bonus as human to net your pet bonus hp ignore this but if not I'd probably suggest switching to half elf if you're going to go with an exotic weapons since they get it as a trade option instead of skill focus and the other stuff they have is slightly better than the +1 skill point per level from human imo.

[Dungeon Master of Fine Arts]

RumpinRufus, Swansong IS the Pyramid of Greatness. His warhorse is named Trager and his Allousaurus is named Leslie.

Gnomersy, thank you again for your advice. I completely re-built Swansong. I dropped his Falcata feat for Shield focus and made him into a mounted ranger. He should now be able to hold his own on horseback (later allousuarus back), on foot, with a bow or with a warhammer. He also has spells again, and a wand of gravity bow and lead blades. I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

[Blueluck]

I agree with gnomersy about the falcata. It's a good one-handed weapon, but not good enough to be worth the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat. You have three weapons available to you (bow, lance, sword), and it seems silly to me to spend a feat to make your sword crit slightly more.

In fact, with a 16 STR and Power Attack, I'd suggest a greatsword.