Battlefield Control help


Advice


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Im about to enter a lvl 4 homebrew pirate esq campaign. My party will consist of a Witch(hella glass cannon, i helped build so i know), a Blunderbuss Gunslinger, A ranger(bow), and an Antipaladin, and then me. I want to be able to protect my backline in a fight. What are some builds/ways of me protecting them?

I was thinking a polearm fighter for some reach or something along those lines. Any advice would be awsome. THANKS

Shadow Lodge

Fighting with a reach weapon has a drawback in that the referee can get you backed up to a wall and force you to share damage with his creatures and they last longer.

I like the idea of using a reach weapon. This is my way of handling this little drawback. I use the feats combat reflexes and quick draw. When you are backed up to a wall or just can't retreat any longer I drop the reach weapon and quick draw the melee weapon and attack.

One of my favorite control feats are the trip selection feats. Keep in mind you do not have to have the trip feats in order to trip an apponent. Simply be large with a potion of enlarge person. When attacking two squares away you do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

With a reach weapon most medium sized creatures cannot reach you when you provoke attacks of opportunity.

Being large gives you a plus two to your strength score and a plus one bonus to your CMB. You get a minus one to attack armor class being size large.

I like the trip feats over the disarm feats and keep in mind sundering weapons destroys treasure.

Being size large means you attack the third and fourth square away all around you with a reach weapon in hand. You really have control of the battlefield then. I would recommend at least a 14 dex.


Tripping is great, but I wouldn't focus on it for your party because you have 2 ranged combatants. Prone enemies have a +4 AC vs ranged attacks. A reach build would still be good though but using a different tactic.

A "stand still" fighter, "come and get me" barb with dazing assault, or a whip magus using rimed frostbite (entangle, fatigue, shaken via enforcer). I think whips really fit the pirate theme. Try this out:

Human Magus (Kensai)
Traits: magical lineage (frostbite) & bruising intellect

1 (F) slashing grace: whip, (H) weapon finesse, (bonus) exotic weapon proficiency: whip, (bonus) weapon focus
2
3 (F) whip mastery, (arcana) flamboyant arcana
4 +1 DEX?
5 (F) rime spell, (bonus) enforcer
6 (arcana) arcane deed: precise strike
7 (F) improved whip mastery

If you still want to focus on trip, try out this build:

Hobgoblin Fighter (Loremaster)/Monk (Maneuver master)
Pit boss alt racial trait (for whip proficiency)
*could go half-orc with city-raised trait too*
Traits: reactionary, indomitable faith

1 F1 (F) Weapon focus: whip, (bonus) Combat reflexes
2 M1 (bonus) Improved unarmed strike, (bonus) Stunning fist, (bonus) Improved trip
3 F2 (F) Whip mastery, (bonus) Fury’s fall, (bonus) Combat expertise
4 F3
5 F4 (F) Improved disarm, (bonus) Weapon spec: whip
6 F5
7 F6 (F) Improved whip mastery, (bonus) Greater trip
8 F7
9 M2 (F) Greater whip mastery, (bonus) Improved grapple
10 F8 (bonus) Greater grapple
11 F9 (F) Sleeper hold
12 F10 (bonus) Greater disarm
13 F11 (F) Pin down

This build allows you to trip, disarm, and/or grapple :)

CMB using a +3 whip & large size @ level 13:
Trip: BAB12+STR6+DEX6+Race1+ManeuverMastery6+WeaponTraining2+ImprovedTrip2+Greate rTrip2+WeaponFocus1+Size1+Weapon3 = 42
Disarm: BAB12+STR6+Race1+ManeuverMastery6+WeaponTraining2+ImprovedDisarm2+GreaterDi sarm2+WeaponFocus1+Size1+Weapon5 = 38
Grapple: BAB12+STR6+ManeuverMastery6+WeaponTraining2+ImprovedGrapple2+GreaterGrapple 2+WeaponFocus1+Size1+Weapon3 = 35

Shadow Lodge

KnotAguru, I like your build, would you recommend a scorpion whip?

You recommend the lore for fighter over the brawler, why?

Your build has reach being a size medium creature which is key to help protecting your party. When increased to being a size large creature, your reach doubles which is what I would call a requirement for control and that you cause attacks of opportunity using CMB to hamper the enemy as your enemy moves within your reach. The larger you are he more command of the battlefield you have.

really, I like this kind of stuff.


A regular whip works fine once you have whip mastery.

Lore warden over brawler for more bonus feats and maneuver mastery, which adds +2 bonus on all CMB checks and to his CMD and it increases to +4 at 7th level, +6 at 11th level, and +8 at 15th level. Brawler maneuver training is a bit more limited.

To be honest, I built the lorewarden/MM before ACG. I'm sure it could be done with brawler, just not as quickly or efficiently.

I agree on reach for battlefield control The whip is a great weapon. It has a 15' reach, but only threatens your natural reach with whip mastery or +5' with improved whip mastery which is still a 30' diameter when large. Keep in mind that the magus has enlarge person on his spell list while a fighter/monk would have to rely on items/friends. Though you could make it permanent if you don't think you'll ever need to fit in small spaces :)


spiked gauntlets are a great way to use a reach weapon and still be able to beat face when someone backs you in a corner. Spiked armor is another option, and funny.


Lunge. That is my advice.

Lunge gives you +5' of reach during your turn, and only during your turn. It does not directly help with Attacks of Opportunity.

But it does let you set up the battlefield to your liking.

Normally, a reach fighter (I am assuming pole arms for a lot of this; little whip experience) ends his turn with the enemy 10' away. The enemy can get to him using a 5' step. This means the enemy does not draw an AoO, and it still gets its full attack.

With lunge, the enemy ends up 15' away. As in, they may have to move 10' to get into range. This means they draw an AoO. This means that they likely lose their full attack. That is a rather solid defense, and seems worth the -2 AC from lunge (if it is even used).

Also, with your 5' step included, you can full attack anything in a 45' circle. Getting your full attacks off fairly regularly seems like a fine advantage. It also means less moving to get those attacks off, which seems like an advantage when you are acting as the 25' circle of pain that prevents beasties from eating the warts off the witch's face.


summoning would do much to aid you in this cause. You needn't be a great summoner with 4 or 5 feats invested in it but I do think you being able to on occasion use a spell to add protection for the back line OR free you up to help them yourself is very worthwhile. Also I noticed the group isn't great at healing, not horrible but not great either, so a little bit of channeling (charisma 10) would be welcome. towards that end I propose a reach cleric.

The question is what archetype to take. Evangelist is always good, crusader with demon subdomain would make you as good as almost any fighter in conventional fighting but still have spells. Even a theologian is justifiable with domains like madness. Just grab a conductive weapon and debuff the heck out of the enemy and let your friends clean up.

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