'Fey Warrior' Critique & Suggestions


Advice


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So I've been trying to figure out how to create a warrior character that just screams 'fey in the blood'; while the Fey Bloodrager is cool, it just wasn't doing it for me. The goal is combat with a passable secondary magic niche, and hopefully no glaring weaknesses - generally we try to use PFS legal as an objective boundary. So a lot of crunching and considering later...

Tyrrhus the Raven-Eye, Fey~Blooded Warrior
CN<->CG Human (Dual Talent), Bloodrager 1 / Sorcerer 6 / Gold Dragon Disciple 4 / Eldritch Knight
Crossblooded Bloodline: Draconic & Fey
Traits: Magical Knack, Indomitable Faith

STR: 16/18+ (+4DD)
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 8
CHA: 14/16

1Br. ~Power: Claws | Power Attack
2So ~Power: Laughing Touch
3So. Extra Rage
4So ~Power: Dragon Resistances
5So. Hurtful
6DD
7DD. +Toughness / Cornugon Smash
8DD
9DD. Extra Rage
10So ~Power: Fleeting Glance
11So. Arcane Armor Training
12EK. +Improved Critical: Scythe
13EK. Heighten Spell

Primary Weapon: "Wrothwyrd" ~ +1 Courageous, Furious Scythe
Greater Magic Weapon + Heroism + Rage + Furious + Courageous for a massive magic power infusion.

Secondary Weapon: "Wiccawyrd" ~ +1 Conductive Cestus
Allows Laughing Touch to be used with a Hurtful combo or full attack while wielding a scythe. Spellstoring is also handy...

The general idea is to create a character reasonably comperable to a Barbarian in combat ability. By level 9 BAB is 3 lower, but strength is 4 higher and Power Attack 1 less of a penalty, making actual attack similar. Damage-wise, less power attack and more strength also equal out. Hurtful allows for a lot of extra scything. I can't think of anything more 'fey warrior' than going into a laughing rage, punching terrifying uncontrollable laughter into a foe with a cross-check, and then slashing at them with a lightning-fast scythe strike when they flinch. (S)Laughter is contageous!

Spellcasting ~
2~ Shield
4~ (Mage Armor) / Enlarge Person
5~ Thunderstomp / +Vanish
7~ (Hideous Laughter) / Mirror Image
9~ (Fly) / Heroism / Scorching Ray / Protection from Evil
10~ +Greater Magic Weapon
11~ (Resist Energy) / Confusion / Haste / Invisibility / +Fireball

While generally a weaker offensive caster, the Fey Bloodline brings Hideous Laughter and Confusion up to a passable standard, while the Draconic Bloodline gives Scorching Ray and Fireball a boost. Thunderstomp can be played off of strength and caster level for a ranged trip. Warping minds, throwing fire and magical stomping seems like a perfect fey-themed spell niche.

Well there it is; suggestions welcome.


I like the theme, but your will saves are gonna be in the drain with the WIS dump plus crossblood


-Grijm- wrote:
I like the theme, but your will saves are gonna be in the drain with the WIS dump plus crossblood

Yeah, that's a worry. The up-side is that the levels of Sorcerer and Dragon Disciple are high Will, which compensates quite a bit; Heroism and a Courageous weapon are a godsend.


Very bad Will save and not a lot of rage and no spellcasting when in rage is bad points in this build IMOP. I would look at the destined blood rager pehaps with a little bit of Primalist to get claws and more natural armor, (you Can do without the reroll to hit and the save vs. Death power) and get laughing touch via eldrich heritage.
I have a redcap inspired gnome bloodrager that did that ( with out the Primalist part) stay in bloodrager and live with your limited spellcasting.
And if not.
Why take 6 levels in sorcerer? Wouldent 4 levels allow you to go DD and then 4 levels DD would let you go EK.
And get a bit of extra Will save.
And remember to get back and tell how it goes.


Or you could squeeze in Mad Magic from advanced class origins if you need to cast spells while raging.

Mad Magic (Combat)
Magic is in your blood, allowing you to cast spells no matter how furious you become.

Prerequisite: Bloodrage class feature or perfect clarity rage power.

Benefit: You can cast spells from any class that grants you spells while in a bloodrage, and you keep your rage benefits when using moment of clarity during a rage. If you have the greater bloodrage class feature, you also gain a +1 bonus to the save DCs of spells you cast while in a bloodrage.


Cap. Darling wrote:
Very bad Will save and not a lot of rage and no spellcasting when in rage is bad points in this build IMOP.

You raise good points that I did a lot of thinking over. As I mentioned above, the multiclassing helps. Comparing to a Barbarian at 9:

Will save: Barbarian at 9 = 3. This at 9 = 0Br +4So +2DD, -2crossblooded = 4. Wisdom dump -1, trait +1. They both Rage. The Barbarian can use Rage powers to help, this guy has Courageous Heroism. Hopefully it's enough... anyhow it's not quite the horrible liability it seemed at first.

Rage: Barbarian without any extra at 9 = 22. This guy with 2x Extra Rage at 9 = 18. Generally he spends his rage more carefully, though the idea is to get up to a decent amount once the whole Furious, Courageous thing comes together with Greater Magic Weapon.

The Sorcerer levels at 10/11 are for the sweet, sweet extra spells from FCB. Without that, his all-important level 3 stuff would take forever to come together. Also there's a boost to Will saves, and hitting level 9 in bloodlines.

Being unable to cast while Raging stopped bothering me so much when I thought about it in terms of practical use: once he goes into a Rage and commits to melee, he's spending all his actions on combat anyhow. If he really needs to stop, he stops. This goes along with the general idea that for this guy, Rage begins no sooner than the first swing of the scythe, if even then. It's for when the buffs are cast, spells are flung, and it's time to live or die by his weapon. Not a perfect system, but that's the idea anyhow. Thanks for pointing out Mad Magic though, that's worth considering...


Indeed, I did a little calculation for the will saves as well, wasn't as bad as I thought to be, the sorc and DD levels helped a lot in that department. As for the courageous heroism for saves, you do require some pre-buff while a barbarian can do it for free with Headband of Havoc.

The other thing I do noticed is that you did not take diehard or raging vitality, quite the risk of permadeath every time your hp drops to 0.

Otherwise, the build kinda rocks, with that balance with caster and martial levels! XD


-Grijm- wrote:
The other thing I do noticed is that you did not take diehard or raging vitality, quite the risk of permadeath every time your hp drops to 0.

Just noticed that the Irrepressible trait is a lot better for his Will saves in general, +4 and upwards bonus vs. Charm and Compulsion.

Raging Vitality would be handy, but it just sucks so much else out to get. Oh well, it feels like less of an issue if I rationalize the Rage HP as a 'well, you'd be dying already instead of still fighting or falling back' bonus. At least there are good magic defenses available - I love the mental image of a laughing, raging scythe warrior under the effects of Mirror Image.


I was under the impression that you were gonna be crossblodded in both classes and there fore would get -4 to the Will. I dont Think you Can go crossblooded in only one class. Since the bloodline class feature says that bloodline from other classes must match.
Also you win only 1 BAB from EK with one caster level lost. If you plan to go beyond level 13 i support going into EK but for only one BAB i would rather stay sorcerer til 8 or only go sorcerer 4 and then spend the level 11 feat on expanded arcana.
But besides that it looks fine to me ATM.


I don't know if this is any kind of input for you at all honestly, but I would have done it totally different if I were trying to do this.

I'd use a Lore Warden fighter, or a Ranger, and take feats for the fey bloodline.

Gold dragons (or any dragon really) just don't seem very fey to me.

As you said you could probably do something with the Bloodrager, but you aren't interested in that.


Ah, yeah if Bloodrager would have to be crossblooded then just Barbarian works fine. I only changed it to Bloodrager for the free (mostly unused) Draconic claws and the flavor.

The EK is intended to continue, though grabbing some Monstrous Physique sooner is sure tempting. Anyhow once Heightened Confusion is available, lowered spell choice isn't the issue it was. Becoming a calikang or shadow giant or whatever can wait a little, and abusing Intensified Battering Blast needs a few more levels.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know for sure if Hurtful is PFS legal? I'm pretty sure it is, and it's an awesome ability chain for anyone who gets into combat without constantly needing their swift action.

Edit: having to go into the whole 'dragon' thing was a mechanical necessity at first, what with those 4 levels of Disciple being so important. But I really warmed to it once I started thinking about the character's fey blood as a chaotic mess of magical influences: "Dragon?! There's Dragon in there too!?" ... *gloating laughter*.


I did not see any mention of Steadfast Personality to alleviate the Will save weakness...perhaps you would not be interested in modifying your feats, but this is a very good alternative for a class that needs Charisma anyway (at least as a secondary stat).

Scarab Sages

I don't know if you have looked at the Occult Adventures playtest at all, but the Mesmerist looks like the best single class Fey blooded option I've seen.


Steadfast would be tempting if the Irrepressible trait didn't do the same thing, and feats were so needed for a reasonable amount of rage.

I haven't seen the Mesmerist, but I'll keep an eye out. I generally wait before poring over any new stuff these days.

Really the character concept is kind of unorthodox fey. Sort of a mad magical strength along with somewhat bipolar tendencies to joy or rage... or joy and rage.

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