Have a character concept that seems pretty out there / demanding. Looking for help to make it work.


Advice


First off, this will obviously not be an optimized character so much as I'm going for a conceptual idea. I will be listing what I want this character to be capable of in three lists, need, want and "would be nice".

Needs:
-able to fight with a mix of sword swings and unarmed strikes. (This is both the main thing I want him to be capable of, and the most difficult to make practical IMO)
-decent number of skills (enough to cover physical skills including stealth and a decent intimidate, Sense motive and perception)
-high dex (pretty straight forward)
- want to stick to either human or half elf for race choice
- at the most wear light armor

Wants:
-A functional animal companion (despite being a want this is a huge one and would really add to what I'm going for, not sure how viable it would be to keep him functional tho. Side note I will be choosing a wolf if that helps any)
- very small amount of sneak attack (not a real biggie, in fact it could easily be dropped to the "would be nice section" would totally be fine without it but it would fit nicely)
-decent wisdom (if I could get this to have some combat oriented benefit that would be great, but while I don't want this character to be terribly smart, the sort of intuitiveness along with straight up willpower really fits the character)

Would be nice:
- ability to go unarmored (seeing as monk could have some use in this idea I'm throwing it out there that it'd be cool. Side note I do not want to be tied to deity so I'd like to avoid sacred fist if possible BUT if not then I'll take it)
- very remedial magic (I'm talking virtually no blasting spells here, small buffs and maybe a very small amount of elemental stuff that adds to my melee akin to flaming weapon)

Now I know this is a lot of weird and conflicting ideas but I've been wanting to make a character along these lines for a very long time but I'm clueless as to how to make any pieces of this work together. To anyone who offers some help thank you sooo much.

Also in case anyone knows where this idea is coming from, I am aiming to make a character who resembles Yuri Lowell from tales of vesperia, the animal companion being his trusty "dog" Repede. If only you could train animal companions to use daggers lol.


Monk / Summoner

Seems the most like what your looking at. Just make your E a wolf....

Instead of sneak attack you and the Eidolon both take precise strike....


Quote:
-able to fight with a mix of sword swings and unarmed strikes. (This is both the main thing I want him to be capable of, and the most difficult to make practical IMO)
Quote:
-decent number of skills (enough to cover physical skills including stealth and a decent intimidate, Sense motive and perception)

Hmm... Monk. There ARE monk swords you can use with flurry. That's my first instinct. Also has lots of skills.

Quote:
-A functional animal companion (despite being a want this is a huge one and would really add to what I'm going for, not sure how viable it would be to keep him functional tho. Side note I will be choosing a wolf if that helps any)

Animal Ally.

Boon Companion.

Quote:
- very remedial magic (I'm talking virtually no blasting spells here, small buffs and maybe a very small amount of elemental stuff that adds to my melee akin to flaming weapon)

Qinggong Monk.

This should get you what you want.


Wild child brawler/ hunter split.


Precise strike relies on int which I was hoping to leave at a ten but it's something to think about. While the wolf being an eidolon would have perks I'm sure I was hoping to keep him a little more mundane. plus keeping him alive would be an interesting endeavor and eidolons can just be summoned back the next day which would defeat the whole idea of omg I care if this thing takes a hard hit, plus I like the idea of him being a friend rather than servant. I also feel the summoner class would provide little to no martial benefit, the, at least to my knowledge, mostly buff magic is nice but I feel like that class might to magically inclined, and I would want nothing to do with the summoning aspect.


...why not just go Ranger? 6+int, animal companion, style feats let you bypass prereqs (so you can take strength feats while being dex based), spells use wisdom so you have incentive to invest. You can two-weapon fight with a sword and unarmed strikes or just make iterative attacks with a sword and unarmed strikes (you can change which weapon you're using for every iterative swing).


Hm, the hunter wild child mix is definitely worth looking into.
Inlaa I do enjoy this idea but have some questions with it. First of all, boon companion specifies that I need to get the companion from a class, it says you need the animal companion or familiar class feature. So does that other feat act as the class feature in this instance? Also if I am pure monk what would keep my weapon on par with my fists at later levels?


Just going ranger doesn't help with my unarmed damage is the only thing I saw against it.


Well, here...

Boon Companion wrote:
Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class feature.
Animal Ally wrote:
Benefit: You gain an animal companion as if you were a druid of your character level –3

So, it's a class feature. You're just getting it from a feat. It works.

Quote:
Also if I am pure monk what would keep my weapon on par with my fists at later levels?

That one I'm not sure about sans "you'll have weapon enchantments on your weapon and it can be made of adamantine." That's an advantage for your weapon, I think. Someone else can probably advise you better on this.

My apologies. I'll think on this later but there are lots of people on this forum that probably already know the answer to this question. I, myself, just... don't.


No worries, very good thoughts, thanks a bunch :)


There are plenty of ways to mix sword and unarmed for profit...

Greater Brawling Rage Power - make one unarmed strike offhand per round; take Dragon Style so that it's a 1.5XSTR offhand. You don't need to be a full-on Barbarian, 2 levels and Extra Rage Power (and some Extra Rage) does it.

Domain Strike - once per round, you use an unarmed strike instead of your normal weapon to inflict a really nasty domain power like Chaos Touch or Gentle Rest. Also, hex strike on a Shaman. Works nicely with TWF, though not required.

Unarmed offhand TWF - use a powerful one-handed weapon two-handed, then switch it to mainhand for TWF and use offhand unarmed strikes with a Bodywrap of Mighty Strikes. Or a cestus for that matter, if that's good enough for you. Same flavor really. Any class that picks up one level of Master of Many Styles can do all sorts of crazy stuff with unarmed strikes alongside a weapon, and you can cross it with Kata Master to go all 'Swashbuckler' with a Monk sword and punching.

Use stagger and Medusa's Wrath - A Cleric 1/ Sohei X can pick up Medusa's Wrath as a bonus feat at 10 and use Domain Strike: Gentle Rest to trigger it, while otherwise wielding a temple sword or nodachi or whatever two-handed. Even before Medusa's Wrath, you can run around crossing a sword and a staggering magic punch.


bowser36 wrote:
Just going ranger doesn't help with my unarmed damage is the only thing I saw against it.

Damage comes from the additional damage more than it does the base damage. That is why kukris which only do 1d4 tend to have the highest DPR before you go into exotic weapons. If it was about the base damgage then having a one-handed weapon in your main hand would be better. Your animal companion should also be flanking and getting your favored enemy bonus to attacks and damage, and they can do relevant damage.

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