How about this, would Terrain BOnd work better than Instant Enemy? It treats the current terrain as your most favored terrain. Now the wording is a little iffy but I see it as being interpreted in two ways.
1) You gain the bonuses equal to your highest terrain, and that's all.
2) The terrain you are in becomes swapped to that of your most favored terrain. For example, if you chose Terrain Dominance (Urban), and you were currently in the forest, you would treat the forest as if it were the Urban terrain, so for all intents and purposes forest = urban and therefore any creature that is native to either urban or forest terrains are now subject to your Terrain Dominace.
It's absolutely no help if you encounter something like a pack of Gnolls in the forest, but it might be a more RAW legal method of making your Terrain Dominance more versatile.
Well then lets get hypothetical. Theoretically, if an aquatic subtype creature was printed that was not native to aquatic terrain, would it invalidate your argument?
Yeah.
Well Terrain Bond seems to be an even easier way to solve this problem and it has a wonderful hours/2 level duration (which is weird, but still pretty long). Also, RAW the only interpretation possible is your number 2 Tels because:
"You treat the terrain you are in as your most favored terrain until this spell ends."
It explicitly lets you treat whatever terrain you are in as your most favored one. Good catch!
How about this, would Terrain Bond work better than Instant Enemy? It treats the current terrain as your most favored terrain. Now the wording is a little iffy but I see it as being interpreted in two ways.
1) You gain the bonuses equal to your highest terrain, and that's all.
2) The terrain you are in becomes swapped to that of your most favored terrain. For example, if you chose Terrain Dominance (Urban), and you were currently in the forest, you would treat the forest as if it were the Urban terrain, so for all intents and purposes forest = urban and therefore any creature that is native to either urban or forest terrains are now subject to your Terrain Dominace.
It's absolutely no help if you encounter something like a pack of Gnolls in the forest, but it might be a more RAW legal method of making your Terrain Dominance more versatile.
That spell, yes I see as being much closer to the intent. In fact, the wording is iffy enough that I'm not sure whether 1 or 2 would be closer to RAI.
The RAW for Instant Enemy are clear enough to me, but in an attempt to not derail this thread any more than I already have, I have made a rules forum thread about it here.
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...Using a mechanic that is explicitly written in the game is a "cheat code"? I wasn't aware the writers at Paizo were so oblivious as to not realize that Druids could use wildshape to pounce.
I'm going to assume I'm misreading that last part because if you're actually saying that the purpose of this thread is to pick the worst fighter mechanically so that we can build our real life character/virtue then... that may be the scrubbiest, most elitist statement I've ever seen.
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In other news, I've finally taken the time to read the Samurai.
It's aight.
Worth noting that the Samurai can pick up Mounted Skirmisher to get access to mobile full attacks.
Worth noting that the Samurai can pick up Mounted Skirmisher to get access to mobile full attacks.Note that mounted skirmisher can't be combined with a mounted charge though, so Barb is still the better mounted damage beast by a fair margin.
Yeah, RageLancePounce is still the nastiest option, whenever there's a clear charge lane. But I consider Mounted Skirmisher a passable substitute; RLP is more damaging, MS is more tactically flexible. Plus the samurai has easier access to a full-progression mount.
Design Manager
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Yeah, RageLancePounce is still the nastiest option, whenever there's a clear charge lane. But I consider Mounted Skirmisher a passable substitute; RLP is more damaging, MS is more tactically flexible. Plus the samurai has easier access to a full-progression mount.Worth noting that the Samurai can pick up Mounted Skirmisher to get access to mobile full attacks.Note that mounted skirmisher can't be combined with a mounted charge though, so Barb is still the better mounted damage beast by a fair margin.
I think ifrit may have just reclaimed the "top dawg in mounted combat" title with Blood of the Elements. Check the new Order:
A cavalier of the order of the f lame devotes his life to the
pursuit of personal glory. Even if such pursuit puts his
own life on the line, the cavalier pursues legendary status
and the fame and glory associated with such renown.
Edicts: The cavalier must pursue glory for himself
and those with whom he associates. He must strive to
heap glory upon his name, no matter the costs. He must
challenge and defeat an ever-increasing host of rivals to
further cement his illustrious reputation.
Challenge: A cavalier of the order of the flame becomes
ever more emboldened with each glorious victory. As an
immediate action after reducing the target of his challenge
to 0 hit points or fewer, the cavalier can elect to issue a
glorious challenge to an opponent within 15 feet.
Glorious Challenge: A glorious challenge does not count
against the cavalier’s number of challenges per day, but
otherwise acts like a cavalier’s challenge class feature.
When he issues a glorious challenge, the cavalier takes a
–2 penalty to AC for the duration of the glorious challenge
(this penalty stacks with the usual –2 AC penalty against
opponents other than the target of the cavalier’s challenge).
The cavalier gains a morale bonus on melee damage rolls
against the target of his glorious challenge equal to 2 ×
the number of consecutive glorious challenges he has
issued thus far. As long as he continues to defeat targets
of his glorious challenges and there are more opponents
in range, the cavalier can continue to issue glorious
challenges indefinitely, with the penalty to AC and the
bonus on damage rolls increasing with each subsequent
foe. For example, a 5th-level cavalier that has just issued
his third glorious challenge after defeating the original
target of his challenge takes a –6 penalty to AC (–8 against
creatures other than the target of his glorious challenge)
and gains a +11 bonus on melee damage rolls (a +5 bonus
from his base challenge ability plus a +6 morale bonus for
three consecutive glorious challenges).
Skills: A cavalier of the order of the f lame adds
Knowledge (local) and Survival to his class skills. Whenever
the cavalier’s current hit point total matches or exceeds his
maximum hit point total, he gains a bonus on Intimidate
checks equal to 1/2 his cavalier level (minimum +1).
Order Abilities: A cavalier of the order of the flame gains
the following abilities as he increases in level.
Foolhardy Rush: At 2nd level, the cavalier can charge
across the battlefield at a moment’s notice. Whenever the
cavalier attempts an initiative check, as long as he rolls an
11 or higher on the die, he can move up to his base speed as
an immediate action and he is not considered f lat-footed.
If the cavalier takes an action to move during his next
turn, he subtracts the number of feet moved during the
initiative check from his total movement.
Daunting Success: At 8th level, whenever the cavalier
confirms a critical hit with a melee weapon, as an
immediate action he can attempt an Intimidate check to
demoralize all foes within 15 feet who can see him. This
ability can be used only once per combat.
Blaze of Glory: At 15th level, the cavalier can declare a
blaze of glory as a standard action. For a number of rounds
equal to his Charisma modifier, the cavalier increases his
base speed by 10 feet, can ignore difficult terrain while
charging, and gains a +4 bonus on his attack rolls (instead
of +2). A cavalier can use this ability only once per combat.
Interesting that they're also using encounter-based dynamics in the abilities. But your damage is limited only by the number of enemies you fight and a single challenge use can now be cycled through an entire encounters worth of enemies, so you get way more use and damage out of your challenges than you used to. Just gotta be careful of the fact that it turns your full plate into tissue paper.
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Design Manager
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And you have to be an ifrit. I think ifrits have a wisdom penalty, which you really do not want on a high damage martial.
Cavalier: "And that's the Rogue, Cleric, and Paladin... That just leaves you, me, my new boss, and the 180 points of damage I'm about to deal to you, wizard"
Wizard: "If I get back to that tavern I'm feeding the guy who confused 'evil enchanter' with 'evil necromancer' his own liver"
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And you have to be an ifrit. I think ifrits have a wisdom penalty, which you really do not want on a high damage martial.Cavalier: "And that's the Rogue, Cleric, and Paladin... That just leaves you, me, my new boss, and the 180 points of damage I'm about to deal to you, wizard"
Wizard: "If I get back to that tavern I'm feeding the guy who confused 'evil enchanter' with 'evil necromancer' his own liver"
*Quickened Teleports*
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I'm surprised no one has considered gunslinger more vocally for the DPR aspect. A 20th level Aasimar (Plumekith) Gunslinger (Pistolero) could easily have an attack routine of:
Ranged +5 courageous double-barreled pistol +32/+32/+32/+32/+32/+32/+27/+27/+22/+22/+17/+17 touch (1d8+5d6+39/19-20 x4) with Arcane Strike, Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot, and firing both barrels
That is fairly bare bones on the optimization, and an average DPR of 732 before we even factor in critical percentages.
To hit
20 bab
13 Dex
5 weapon enhancement
1 point blank shot
1 competence (pale green ioun stone)
3 morale (flawed pale green stone + courageous)
1 haste
-6 deadly aim
-2 rapid shot
-4 firing both barrels
Damage
13 Dex
3 Pistolero pistol training
12 deadly aim
1 point blank shot
5 arcane strike
5 weapon enhancement
Barbarian...they hit like hell, never die and almost have spell immunit
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My personal favorite, if perhaps not the absolute strongest (it suffers from a low to hit for level), is the giant crusher monk.
Whatever race, Monk {Tetori} 20. To get the most out of it, you must take Celestial Obedience to Valani for the wrath of nature ability. It ends up like such:
Str
18 base
2 race
5 level boosts
5 inherent (+5 manual)
6 enhancement (+6 Str belt)
10 size (wrath of nature into gargantuan earth elemental)
46 Str
Unarmed Damage
2d10 medium 20th level monk ->
4d8 stonefist gloves ->
16d8 3 actual size jumps to gargantuan from wrath of nature ->
32d8 self cast scroll of strong jaw w/UMD
With dragon style for the bonus Str to damage, you end up with something like:
Melee +5 unarmed strike +39 (32d8+56/19-20 x2)/+39/+39/+34/+29 (32d8+47/19-20 x2)
That is before factoring in grab, constrict, free action release, repeat on every attack that lands as well.
Edit: small edit for forgetting Tetori replaces flurry of blows. Another option to net all the flurry attacks would be to run a nagaji race with the final embrace line for your grapple/constrict/free release nonsense.
The OP asked about the best melee combatant.I'm surprised no one has considered gunslinger more vocally for the DPR aspect. A 20th level Aasimar (Plumekith) Gunslinger (Pistolero) could easily have an attack routine of:
Ranged +5 courageous double-barreled pistol +32/+32/+32/+32/+32/+32/+27/+27/+22/+22/+17/+17 touch (1d8+5d6+42/19-20 x4) with Arcane Strike, Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot, and firing both barrels
That is fairly bare bones on the optimization, and an average DPR of 768 before we even factor in critical percentages.
Deft Shootist makes the Gunslinger a melee combatant with a very long reach.
Barb
Str
16 base
2 race
5 level boosts
5 inherent (+5 manual)
6 enhancement (+6 Str belt)
10 size (foram of dragon III)
8 Rage
3 Courageous weapon
53 Str
Melee +5 furious courageous keen falchion
+ haste +50/+50/+45/+40/+35 + come and get me(2d8+90/15-20 x2 staggering critical)
Its a situational buff just to show the build at max power. You can get the buff from a ring to.
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Hmm, interesting question, can a dragon wield a weapon?
Assuming it can you need to account for the weapon being the wrong size for you as well. When you use FotD your gear merges into your new form. You can put your weapon down first but you are now a huge creature using a medium sized weapon.
Also that is a pretty high requirement on UMD. Level 8 spells require a DC35 check. You also need to emulate an 18 Int which is DC33. It also costs you 3000gp per use and is only lasting 15 minutes.
In fairness, dragons can manipulate wands and staves, so I don't think a weapon would be out of the question.
If this was a routine the PC intended to regularly employ though, they would just have to buy a huge version of that weapon to lay on the ground, shapechange, and pick up to get the best use out of it.