Made for possible use in private campaign and it's my first time using one of the new classes.
I was going for a Warpriest focused on ranged attacks and shields and using as many Halfling only options for feats as was feasible. That means I had to make some sacrifices for the ranged combat.
The warpriest mitigates the small damage die of the sling and gives many options to boost its damage further: Spells, Blessings, enhancing the weapon, Weapon Specialization feats, etc.
And while the sling is not the optimal ranged weapon it does have the advantage that it can be used together with a shield, thanks to Ammo Drop.
So I basically have 3 options to fight:
A) At distance with shield equipped, going for few but strong attacks using Vital Strike & Deadly Aim, while having high AC against other ranged attackers.
B) In melee, shield bashing and/or firing sling bullets (with no AoO from the ranged attacks thanks to Point Blank Master or at early levels thanks to Air Blessing).
C) At distance without shield, full attacking using both hands (when I am in a safe spot) using the Warslinger Halfling racial trait.
Class: Standard Warpriest
1 Houserule in effect: You get 1 extra feat at first level for 1 Flaw.
Feats (B = Bonus feat from Warpriest, L = normal feats from level, F = Feat from Flaw)
Does not have any stats posted as those are rolled when the game starts.
B1 - Weapon Focus (Sling)
L1 - Ammo Drop (reload one-handed without an AoO)
F1 - Point Blank Shot
B3 - Deadly Aim
L3 - Arc Slinger
L5 - Improved Shield Bash
B6 - Weapon Specialization (Sling)
L7 - Point Blank Master
B9 - Greater Weapon Focus (Sling)
L9 - Vital Strike
L11 - Cautious Fighter
B12 - Improved Vital Strike
L13 - Uncanny Defense
B15 - Greater Weapon Specialization (Sling)
L15 - Desperate Swing
L17 - Rapid Shot
B18 - Greater Vital Strike
L19 -
Blessings: Air and Protection
Some feats that didn't make it, but would be cool if they could be fitted in somehow:
If I drop Point Blank Master I could pick up Rapid Shot earlier, but then I would have to rely on the Air Blessing whenever I am in melee and that is a standard action to activate.
I could not fit in Precise Strike, but from past experiences I find that firing into melee does not pop up that often if you are a bit careful and you can just eat the penalty when it happens. And Improved Precise Strike I can replace with the seeker ability on the sling.
Crane Wing would be a really cool addition to the Cautious Fighter feat-series, however meeting the prerequisites is hard and costs a lot of feats (unless I multiclass which I don't want to cause I would lose damage die progression which is the main reason going for Warpriest in the first place).
Two-Weapon Fighting. Would also be nice for a combination of Sling and Shield attacks.
Questions that arose during building:
1) When enhancing the scared weapon there is of course the limit on the flat +x bonus of 5, but there seems to be no limit on the extra abilities you can give it. It is only interesting of course in high level play, but I am curious.
Could I (at lvl 20) theoretically have a +5 vorpal, brilliant energy, vicious weapon for 2 minutes?
2) The list for special abilities you can give a weapon, is written like this:
The warpriest can enhance a weapon with any of the following weapon special abilities
However some abilities listed normally can't be applied to all types of weapons (keen for blunt weapons for example).
Usually in a class' description it is mentioned if you can ignore restrictions (Ranger bonus feats) or if you still need to fulfill them (Brawler martial flexibility feats). Not so here. It would be cool if you could break some rules here (vicious ranged weapon?), but I doubt it is intended.
3) How does Arc Slinger interact with the distance weapon ability? Arc Slinger allows the +1 bonus from Point Blank Shot to be used in the first normal range increment of the weapon. It also lists said distances for Slings (50) and Slingstaffs (80).
The distance weapon special ability doubles the range increment of a weapon. But is that still the (new) normal range increment for the purpose of the feat?
4) Are there any alternative favored class bonuses for the warpriest?
Comments on the warpriest class:
Might become one of my favorite classes. I was already a big cleric fan and this one has a lot of options.
I love that it is possible to take the Greater Vital Strike with a class that has a maximum BAB of 15.
If you have ideas to optimize this further I am all ears.
A couple of general suggestions off the top of my head:
If you're a ranged-based character, get Precise Shot as soon as possible. In my experience, my ranged characters (four, concurrently) shoot into melee at least 80% of the time. If your party is mostly reach weapon users, you might be able to get away without it. Otherwise, it should be one of your first level feats.
I wouldn't ever take Deadly Aim until you have Precise Shot: Stacking Deadly Aim penalties on top of into melee (-4) and cover (-2 to -4) will reduce your to hit down into the "fishing for a 20" range.
You can use a buckler until you pick up Ammo Drop, so you have a little bit of a shield bonus, at least.
Generally, Rapid Shot will get you more damage than Deadly Aim, so you usually want to take that first.
Getting Vital Strike after you have iterative attacks is less helpful, since you have to take a standard action to Vital Strike. The Vital Strike tree plus Rapid Shot don't work together at all.
For #3, I would say Arc Slinger would work with the Distance capability. That said, I don't think the distance capability is that helpful if you're using a sling staff. On a normal sling it's probably worth it.
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I'll echo Gwen, and just sate that in addition to Precise Shot, you also want Improved Precise Shot. Cover is murder to ranged builds and you need a way to bypass it. Dropping Vital Strike is also a good option. The main reason to play ranged is to full attack each round, and Vital Strike stops that from happening.
You can activate Air Blessing as a swift action with quicken blessing, and it's so good for ranged character that it's worth doing.
@Gwen Smith
Ammo Drop also prevents me from provoking Attacks of Opportunity when reloading which sadly Warslinger does not. That's why I took it early.
If you think Precise Shot is so important I can try switching things around.
I didn't take Rapid Shot because I wanted to go the Vital Strike route, since the Warpriest's sacred weapon damage increases nicely. Although I overlooked that the small size still reduces the damage dice of the weapon. So vital strike does not look as attractive as it was making the character.
And I am aware that Rapid Shot gives an overall DPS bonus. That is what I meant when I wrote I was sacrificing some attack power.
I am also aware that Vital Strike and Rapid Shot do not work together. I took Rapid shot so late just in case I ever need to spam attacks. However if I am single attack focused I could drop it altogether.
And I am using a normal sling. Sadly neither Ammo Drop now Warslinger seems to work with a Sling staff. I could of course just go for the staff and drop multiple ranged attacks per round as a whole. But since the Sacred Weapon Bonus quickly surpasses the Staffs increased damage, the only advantage left would be the higher range increment.
@Imbicatus
People rarely take cover in our games. It never seems to come up somehow.
Going Vital strike was what I found interesting change for a ranged build. I have a hard time throwing the basic premise of the character out the window, because it doesn't do the most damage.
And Quicken Blessing has the same problem as Point Blank Master. It still costs a feat I desperately need for other things.
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However I may have another idea. If I can pump my AC into the sky I could simply ignore the AoOs I provoke when attacking and drop Point Blank Master as a whole.
Here's my halfling warpriest slinger build (currently level 7):
NG Halfling Warpriest of Chaldira Zuzaristan
Str 12 Dex 19 (21) Con 12 Int 12 Wis 14 Cha 9
Alternate Racial Traits: Adaptable Luck, Warslinger
Traits: Fate's Favored, Lessons of Chaldira
Feats:
B1 - Weapon Focus (Sling)
L1 - Point Blank Shot
B3 - Rapid Shot
L3 - Precise Shot
L5 - Large Target
B6 - Weapon Specialization (Sling)
L7 - Deadly Aim
Blessings: Good, Luck
As much as I'd like to go the Ammo Drop and Juggle Load route, it's too many feats for what you get compared to just using the Warslinger alternate racial trait.
I really wanted the Air blessing, but also really wanted to worship a Halfling God and Lessons of Chaldira is also a pretty great trait. Luck is a decent blessing, though, and thematic for the character.
He's got a +1 Seeking Sling, which takes care of most concealment. Cover is still an issue, but he's also hitting at something like +14/14/14 1d6+12 with Divine Favor and Channel Vigor up. He'll also add 1d6 from the Good Blessing when he can and another 1d6 from Flame/Frost/Shock when applicable. Large Target gives him +1 for each size his target is larger than small. So it's almost always at least +1.
I like Large Target earlier than Deadly Aim because there's not accuracy penalty and it scales up against larger (and usually scarier) foes.
If he gets caught in melee, the plan is to use Holy Ice Weapon to conjure up a Short Sword. The +dmg/lvl give it a nice boost to make up for his general lack of focus on melee.
Hope that's helpful.
To answer your questions:
1) No. There is a hard cap of +10. See this FAQ or Weapon Special Properties (3rd paragraph).
2) I believe you are restricted to what the property allows. I can't find any rules for either side.
3) What Gwen said.
4) Yes. See this page, just below the class links.
@Gwen Smith
Ammo Drop also prevents me from provoking Attacks of Opportunity when reloading which sadly Warslinger does not. That's why I took it early.If you think Precise Shot is so important I can try switching things around.
I understand. It also lets you keep a hand free, which is important when you're a caster. If your experience so far is that you don't see a lot of melee penalties on ranged attacks, you might keep your 1st level feats the way they are, and switch out Deadly Aim for Precise Shot at 3rd level.
Of course, you'll still take AoOs for firing the sling, even if you don't for loading it, so if you don't need the free hand, you could wait and pick up Ammo Drop around Point Blank Master. (Another thought: slings can qualify both as projectile and as thrown weapons. You could grab Close Quarters Thrower earlier than Point Blank Master, if that works better for your build.
And I am aware that Rapid Shot gives an overall DPS bonus. That is what I meant when I wrote I was sacrificing some attack power.
Ah! I had misread "attack power" as "attack bonus"...That makes much more sense now!
And I am using a normal sling. Sadly neither Ammo Drop now Warslinger seems to work with a Sling staff. I could of course just go for the staff and drop multiple ranged attacks per round as a whole. But since the Sacred Weapon Bonus quickly surpasses the Staffs increased damage, the only advantage left would be the higher range increment.
Right. (Brief moment of silence for the death of my favorite weapon of all time.) You'll have many more uses for the distance weapon ability with a normal sling.
Going Vital strike was what I found interesting change for a ranged build. I have a hard time throwing the basic premise of the character out the window, because it doesn't do the most damage.
I toyed with the idea of rebuilding my early-retired sling staffer (in PFS) wielder with Vital Strike to replace Rapid Shot, et al. Didn't really have enough prestige to pull it off. It's an interesting approach, though.
Vital Strike does have several advantages. It applies to any weapon, ranged or melee, so it gives you a lot of flexibility. If you don't take Precise Shot or if you have a lot of cover penalties, you probably won't hit with your iterative attack anyway, so your damage will even out quickly. Also, with Vital Strike, you can take advantage of some fun feats like Focused Shot and Bullseye Shot that take a move action.
If I implied that you "shouldn't ever take Vital Strike", I apologize. I just wanted to make sure you had all the information before making your decision. And it is completely your decision. I've seen a really nice Vital Strike build with Furious Finish. It looks like there are some nice new Vital Strike-based feats in Advanced Class Guide, too.
However I may have another idea. If I can pump my AC into the sky I could simply ignore the AoOs I provoke when attacking and drop Point Blank Master as a whole.
That's got some potential. You'd also suck up AoOs from the bad guys, freeing up your friends to move around the battlefield.
Some very nice ideas here. Thanks for that.
@Fruian
Since I don't know exactly who the GM will be I wanted to build as close to the rules as possible.
If he allows then I will switch to Sling Staff. This would have the great benefit of freeing a feat as I won't need shield bash. I took that so I was able to threaten around me.
Although... I could just use a gauntlet or armor spikes for that.
@redward
So you try to just stay out of people's way when attacking?
Although few enemies have more than one AoO. I guess if you'd provoke for each shot and for each reload it would still be only 1 AoO.
I didn't know about the large target feat... might switch that for deadly aim.
@Gilbin
Thanks for the clarification.
The Halfling even has the perfect bonus! 1/4 Weapon damage progression... Vital strike just became more attractive again. And I might be able to multiclass.
@Gwen
All good suggestions.
Love the Furious Focus thing. Together with the Halfling Favored Class option of pushing my weapon damage die, I could afford a multiclass dip.
Why would a sling count as thrown weapon?
Corrected Feat Progression (under Assumption: No Mulitclassing, Vital Strike Focus, only the Sling possible for the reload feats)
B1 - Weapon Focus (Sling)
L1 - Ammo Drop
F1 - Point Blank Shot
B3 - Precise Shot
L3 - Arc Slinger
L5 - Large Target
B6 - Weapon Specialization (Sling)
L7 - Point Blank Master
B9 - Greater Weapon Focus (Sling)
L9 - Vital Strike
L11 - Cautious Fighter
B12 - Improved Vital Strike
L13 - Uncanny Defense
B15 - Greater Weapon Specialization (Sling)
L15 - Deadly Aim
L17 - Bull's Eye Shot
B18 - Greater Vital Strike
L19 - unused so far
Deadly Aim dropped further back for high level dmg boost, replaced by Large Target.
No Improved Shield Bashing, I just use armor spikes or a gauntlet to threaten.
Dropped Desperate Swing. I over read it was only once per day <.<
With the halfling's favored class option, the damage of the weapon progresses even faster (reaching medium greatsword damage at level 12... not bad for a small sling).
The focus on single attacks would allow me to stay out of range of melee attackers. Running away, Firing a shot. Then the others would have to follow after me. Especially against enemies with many attacks on a full attack I could reduce that to two in the worst case (1 AoO and one Charge). If I am faster I could even kite (need some speed shoes for that though).
Corrected Feat Progression (under Assumption: No Mulitclassing, Vital Strike Focus, Sling Staff can be used)
B1 - Weapon Focus (Slingstaff)
L1 - Ammo Drop
F1 - Point Blank Shot
B3 - Precise Shot
L3 - Arc Slinger
L5 - Large Target
B6 - Weapon Specialization (Slingstaff)
L7 - Point Blank Master
B9 - Greater Weapon Focus (Slingstaff)
L9 - Vital Strike
L11 - Cautious Fighter
B12 - Improved Vital Strike
L13 - Uncanny Defense
B15 - Greater Weapon Specialization (Slingstaff)
L15 - Deadly Aim
L17 - Bull's Eye Shot
B18 - Greater Vital Strike
L19 - unused so far
Not much difference featwise. However I can use the Staff as melee weapon as well with the same damage/attack bonuses from my feats and the high damage die from warpriest. Definitely makes melee more interesting.
I could switch between melee and ranged on the fly and use most of my feats for both scenarios.
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Not much difference featwise. However I can use the Staff as melee weapon as well with the same damage/attack bonuses from my feats and the high damage die from warpriest. Definitely makes melee more interesting.
I could switch between melee and ranged on the fly and use most of my feats for both scenarios.
A slingstaff also is not a double weapon. You only have to enchant 1 end to work on both. So a +1 Slingstaff gives +1 to both melee and ranged options.
Its not broken or anything it is a Exotic weapon. I'm just a huge fan of Slingstaffs and like Gwen said in pathfinder they effectivly killed it off by not allowing it to work with sling feats.
No love for the halflings...this is why they are always slaves and low level NPCs.
@Fruian
Since I don't know exactly who the GM will be I wanted to build as close to the rules as possible.
If he allows then I will switch to Sling Staff. This would have the great benefit of freeing a feat as I won't need shield bash. I took that so I was able to threaten around me.
Although... I could just use a gauntlet or armor spikes for that.
Armor spikes. The reason is not only do they allow for the attack but they are Auto attacks when grappled. It adds defense in an offensive item. Id never think twice on grappling a halfling...unless they are wearing armor spikes.....makes that worm regret trying to swallow you whole.
By the way I'm a huge fan of Dragonlance and tasslehoff Burrfoot swinging his famous Hoopak (sling staff). Because of my love for them and that I noticed Piazo forsakes the sling staff I made it my mission to make it work in my home groups by offering the option as a house rule. Most DMs have something they have houseruled...this is just one of my biggest pet peeves.
But let me just put these classes into your head if you ever get a slingstaff go ahead:
Hunter
Ranger
Divine Hunter Paladin (lets put smite on the Bonded stick of doom)
SLAYER!!!!!!
Why would a sling count as thrown weapon?
Because it's in the "Thrown" group for fighter weapon training.
If you were looking at Cautious Fighter and/or Crane Style, Close Quarters Thrower has Dodge as a requirement anyway.
@redward
So you try to just stay out of people's way when attacking?
Although few enemies have more than one AoO. I guess if you'd provoke for each shot and for each reload it would still be only 1 AoO.I didn't know about the large target feat... might switch that for deadly aim.
Yep! With high dex and swift access to things like Shield of Faith it's not hard to get a decent AC up in a hurry. And the little guy holding a sling is rarely going to be the first target when combat starts.
But I'm also not looking at a 1-shot vital strike build; I'm trying to get off 3 or 4 shots in a round. So I'd need both loading and shooting to not provoke if I wanted to go that route.
Until the sling gets up to 2d6 (wayyyy late) I'm not really seeing the return in Vital Strike. An extra d6 is just one Blessing or Sacred Weapon away (or Deliquescent gloves, for always on). You need something like a Musket (or Gravity Bow) to really make Vital Strike pop.