I need to be healer...and arcane caster... and carry more than my share in melee


Advice

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We have a five man party going into this Coliseum style game and the party make up is melee, melee, melee/ranged hybrid, melee/ranged hybrid
The GM has made it clear that we need to have healing and arcane magic for some parts. They have the trap finding/handling part taken care of so i need to the rest.
I realize knee-jerk reaction is going to be something along the lines of "why is that the party make up" or "let everyone die and start over" etc but I feel that I am up to the challenge so lets see if we can work something out. Time to be productive!
What I've come up with is the "Spirit Summoner" using the Shaman life spirit's channel energy.
Healing: That would give me a decent number of channel per day to heal some damage in emergencies and out of emergencies I could use wands. It would also give me lesser restoration, remove poison, etc if that becomes a problem.
Arcane: excellent utility and crowd control spells. I would have to spend money on more spells known, but those are the breaks.
Damage: Eidolon... I suppose I could join in the fray and flank/fight since I have limited spells per day, but I'm not sure if that would be spreading myself to thin.
Anyone have alternate "do everything" builds that would be better?
I did think about Cleric but that leaves us with no arcane, a witch or bard could heal and buff (or debuff) but aren't putting out any damage.
I'm working on the actual build now (25pt buy level 4, $7,500) so if you guys have alternate, equally good or better ideas let me know.
Thanks in advanced


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Bards (especially Arcane Duelist or Dervish if you really want to enter the fray) and Skalds are good. In particular Skald gets access to other spell lists with Spell Kenning if sometimes you need it.

Another Option could be Samsaran Magus that takes healing spells from the Witch or Bard list.


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War sighted Ancient lore keeper oracle of life. Healing, fighting, mystic theurge in one package. Pure broken cheese.


Elven racial archetype ancient loremaster oracle with battle or steel mystery.
15/10/5 bab
Obviously divine spells
Replace mystery spells with arcane spell of your choice that is one level lower than the highest you can cast

Hex magus is a decent melee and caster and I think they can heal somehow.

Otherwise be a half elf and multi class. I'll come back if I think of any good classes to mix.


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The Arcanist has an Archetype - White Mage.

You can burn Reservoir points to spontaneously cast Cure spells of any level you're capable of casting.

Let's just put that into perspective: You can spontaneously cast Cure spells just like a Cleric.

But UNLIKE a Cleric, you don't need to trade out a Spell to do so. You just spend 1 Reservoir point and cast whatever Cure spell you feel like, as long as you're an appropriately-high enough level (lv3 2nd level spells, lv5 3rd level spells, lv7 4th level spells, etc.)

And while you're not as bulky as a Bard, you're still a full Caster and thus very capable of handling yourself in a scuffle, especially if you also take the Brown Fur Transumter Archetype as well.


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"At 1st level, a white mage can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to use one of her spell slots to cast a cure spell"

Arcanist casts from spell slots like a sorcerer, so you actually do spend an arcane reservoir point AND one of your spell slots for the day. That said, it's still a real nice ability.


Lore spirit for shaman gets you Divine spells and arcane spells, and if you need you can get cleric spells too, take it as your wandering spirit or as your spirit from the feat that gives you another hex from a spirit. Make your familiar a mauler and pick earth spirit as your main to give it DR 5. Now it'll handle some melee and you have all the casting you need. It is quite MAD as you'll need Wisdom, int, and cha, but it's doable.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

You want to do it all... You can't.

You need to set priorities on what you want to do, and minimum standards for acheivement in each area.


This is the build so far, if I messed some stuff up let me know. I know if I have to cast enlarge before every fight it will slow me down, but I don't want to be a small race so there's that. Now that that is done I'm going to check out some of your ideas and see whats what. Also, for this build I'm not sure about equipment, I know I need a specialty saddle and some armor/barding for myself and my eidolon but what else? Again, thanks for your imput and help.
Summoner
Str:(17+1@4) = 18 Dex:14 Con:14 Int:7 Wis:11 Cha:14
Human
Feats: Bonus-mounted combat, 1-ride by attack, 3-spirited charge
(@ 5 pick up wheeling charge)
Traits: Heirloom weapon-lance, reactionary
Skills: Ride, UMD?
BAB: 3, Hp: d8+2
Fort: 3 Ref: 3 Will: 4 (all +2 with shield ally) AC:10+armor+dex+shield ally…
AB: +7 for 1d8 + 4 X3
Spells: six 0 level, four 1st level, two 2nd level
Abilities: eidolon, life link, bond senses, shield ally
EIDOLON
Str:15 Dex:15 Con:13 Int:7 Wis:10 Cha:11
Quadruped
Feats: combat reflexes, power attack
(@ 5 pick up improved natural attack)
Skills: Perception, spellcraft, knowledge arcane, knowledge event…,
BAB: 3, HP d10+1
Fort: 4 Ref: 5 Will: 1 (all +2 with shield ally) AC:10+armor+dex+natural armor+shield ally…
Evolutions: (7evo points)Bite(0), Limbs (0), Limbs(0), Mount (1), pounce(1), claws(1), reach-bite(1), reach-claws(1), skilled-perception(1), swim(1)
Abilities: Dark vision, link, share spells, evasion
Ring of enlarge person for eidolon= $4,000 leaving 3500 to spend on the rest of the gear
If I can’t buy the ring I will just cast the spell before combat each round and buy a shocking amulet of the mighty fist.
Being large it gets +8 str, +4 con, +2 natural armor, -2dex, -1 ac and attack, and +1 CMB
Str:23 Dex:13 Con:17 Int:7 Wis:10 Cha:11
Saves change to Fort: 6, Ref: 4, Will: 1 (+2 w/shield ally)
AC: :10+armor +1 dex +4 natural armor +2shield ally -1
Hp bumps to d10+3
AB: w/power attack = +8 bite 1d8+8, claw 1d6+8,claw1d6+8
Tactics are to cast haste on the party then charge in and stab things unless the battlefield doesn’t lend to it. If it doesn’t I stay back and do crowd control while my buddy goes and rips things up.


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Surprised nobody mentioned Witch yet. An arcane caster, but gets to cast a fair amount of stuff that is normally accessible to divine casters but not arcane casters. With the Healing Patron, you get a pretty complete set of bad status removal spells, tool. Do note that since you can only have one Patron, you won't be much of a blaster (which needs the Elements or Winter Patrons, unless I missed another blaster Patron). Hexes are great for debuffing, but you can also take the Healing Hex (and later the Major Healing Hex) for 1 free Cure Light Wounds (later Cure Moderate Wounds, then Cure Serious Wounds, then Cure Critical Wounds) on each party member and friendly NPC without needing to use any spells. (@bowser36: This is how a Hexcrafter Magus heals.) Starting at caster level 2 (to get enough duration to let it work), Hex Vulnerability (which should really be at least a 2nd level spell, not 1st) enables you to cheese Hexes again on creatures, friendly (Healing/Major Healing/Fortune, in case you don't have a Cure Light Wounds Wand or it runs out, or later on if you need to re-cheese your bigger heals) or hostile (most other Hexes) -- this is especially cheesy if you can get it onto a Wand at caster level 2 (even if you have a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, which is cheaper until you get to level 5, you will eventually want a Wand of CL2 Hex Vulnerability anyway). (This should also work for Hexcrafter Magus, since they add [curse] spells to their spell list.)

Witch also has a bunch of cool archetypes of its own to fit various needs, some related to healing, some not. Going into detail about all of the good ones would take too much space here, but one in particular deserves a paragraph of its own.

One of the archetypes to consider (especially if you don't want to be a Healbot) is Orc (could be Half-Orc in non-PFS, but not as good) Scarred Witch Doctor, with which your primary casting stat is Constitution, so that you can actually be fairly beefy (and Orc's +4 Strength helps with the offensive part of being beefy). If you take a 1 or 2 level dip of a martial class (preferably first) and the Magical Knack trait (2 level buffer against delayed caster level progression) and then get 6 levels of Scarred Witch Doctor, and you aren't worried about progressing Hexes past 6th level, you could actually make a pretty good Eldritch Knight (this is one of very few remaining decent Eldritch Knight builds after the SLA FAQ nerf; Scarred Witch Doctor Eldritch Knight is good because it doesn't use the pre-nerf SLA FAQ, and in fact enters 1 level later than the earliest possible entry to the prestige class, or 2 levels later if you also needed the 2nd level martial class features/feats). Get decent Dexterity and Combat Reflexes and wield a polearm, and use reach tactics (with Enlarge Person, when appropriate) as if you were a Reach Cleric to control the battlefield, except that you often have the option of using Hexes instead of spells (probably more than making up for having less spells per day than a Cleric) -- just be sure to choose Hexes that you will use a lot and that don't need much scaling with Witch levels to make them good. If the campaign goes long enough for you to get Eldritch Knight 10 (or maybe even if not), it would be worth picking up Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Fauchard) to crit fish. Eldritch Knight gives you just 1 level less than full spellcasting progression for 10 levels, gives you 3 Bonus Combat Feats (and effective Fighter levels for qualifying for them), and gives you d10 HD (which combined with your Constitution means you won't be squishy as long as you can get a decent armor class without falling into the trap of Arcane Armor Training), and full BAB, for effective ~5/8 BAB initially and ~3/4 BAB at the end. Normally, Magus would be a better Gish, but Magus and the current crop of Magus archetypes don't work very well with two-handed weapons, including polearms (they can wield these if they didn't trade out martial weapon proficiency, but then crimp their Spell Combat).

Shadow Lodge

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1) Why do you need to do more than your share of melee? Needing to survive in melee is one thing, but why does this group need more melee damage? A scarred witch doctor with the healing patron makes a pretty tough arcane healer but isn't the best for damage.

2) Did your GM indicate what kind of arcane magic he expects? Druids, despite being divine casters, are quite good at battlefield control (a typical wizard thing), have some nice defensive buffs, and are capable of melee. Conversely bards are fantastic buffers but lack a lot of the traditional battlefield control.

You can also ask the rest of the group to pick up combat maneuvers, demoralize, Bodyguard, teamwork feats, or other things that expand their roles besides pure damage without changing the core concept.

Consider reading the Forge of Combat if you haven't already.


^In case #1 was for me: The reach Eldritch Knight idea would be for battlefield control, which the group actually doesn't off the bat seem to have (although "melee" is pretty broad, and maybe one or more of the "melee" characters is actually a controller and I just haven't figured it out yet from the OP).

I should clarify that with Eldritch Knight, crit fishing (including on AoOs) is good if you manage to get to Eldritch Knight 10 because of the Spell Critical ability, which is a sort-of substitute for Spellstrike that isn't as good overall because it requires you to make a Critical Hit, but it does let you cast the spell as a Swift Action, and it gets better as your Critical range gets wider (multiple AoOs per round with Keen Fauchard . . . mmmmmmmm). The purpose of these would be not so much to do damage (although that is significant), but to stop enemies in their tracks.

Of course, Scarred Witch Doctor could be a good foundation for a non-martial Witch as well, and it can stack with several other archetypes, as long as they don't modify or replace the level 1 Hex (replaced with Constitution-Dependent and Hex Scar) or the Familiar (replaced with Fetish Mask).

Anvil: Witch can debuff and battlefield control (ratio changed in favor of the latter if adding on Eldritch Knight); Reach Eldritch Knight helps with the battlefield control part of this, at the expense of some of the debuffing part
Arm: Witch can buff (not as good at it as some others, but still something worthy, and probably the best you're going to get given that you have to be the anvil as well)


A witch, with the healing patron can be good enough at healing. And is a good arcane caster. Spirit talker will evens allow you to use a few wizard spells from level 6.
A shaman, wile not a arcane caster can, with the life spirit, heal in the big boys league. With the Hair hex you can use wis to hit and Dam with a natural reach weapon, just make sure you dont have other weapons and it acts like a primary one. With wandering hex or spirit talker you can have a few wizard spells from level 6,


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Alchemist

The Exchange

Ancient lorekeeper half elf oracle, lunar mystery. You deal with the casting, your animal companion does melee.

Viable at later levels -sylvan sorc using razmiran priest archtype. Same as above.


Cleric/wizard -> Mystic Thurge... Arcane and healing done.

Melee is taken care of by summons...


The problem is that it is a coliseum. Any character dependant mostly on spells per day is likely to be screwedish. Out of these the scarred with doctor is the only one I would feel safe making (because hexes are only limited by the number of enemies), but it doesn't seem very thematic and kind of boring. "Yep evil eye/ill omen, sleep, coup de gras again"


I'd go with a witch. Arcane/Divine hybrid and never ending utility with hexes.


We have a half elven item bonded witch with the healing patron. It's working out pretty well, though he's not a melee character.


I did see anu of it, but Scared Witch Doctor? You will be able to work your way in melee (Main stat con...), being an arcane caster and a good healer (healing hex +hex vulnerability). Take one level of Barbarian/ Bloodrager and have fun!


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If you want to compete with the other 4 characters in melee, then be honest with your party and tell them you plan on being bad at spellcasting.

If instead you want to be the sole magic user in the party, then own it. Don't sully yourself by picking up a weapon, you have MAGIC! Lord it over them constantly and make sure all of your feats have the word "Spell" in them.


Again, if I go out caster what do I do when I run out of spells? Witch is feasible,because of hexes... I may just build a witch and the summoner above and see. Suggestions for the build above or melee witch as far as feats, gear, traits etc.
If I make a witch it will probably be witch(swd), barbarian, mutation fighter with ability focus sleep hex so it would only be level 2 witch (4 caster level w/trait) and my two feats would be used... (ability focus, extra hex). There's a post on here somewhere where I posted this witch but I'm on my phone so no link.


I am confused by exactly what you want want exactly.

Do you need a competent arcane caster in your party. If you do, don't multiclass. Pick something and stick with it.

Do you need a large healing output. If you do, you will need to build towards it seriously. Multiclassing probably won't work. If you just need some sort of healing, your best bet is wands. Either use a CLW wand (UMD it if you can't get it on your spell list) or if your GM lets you use infernal healing wands instead, because they have a really high hp/gp ratio.

Do you actually need to hold your own in combat, or do you just want to be able to contribute. If you want to actually be a credible threat, you will need to pick a class/archetype that can do this decently in and of itself (or provides a pet that can do it for you). Trying to multiclass to make up for bad martial ability gets you an armourless level 1 fighter with a good will save.

I personally would go for a razmiran priest sylvan sorcerer. Your animal companion can handle the beater role (with boon companion), and you get a full caster with a fairly high amount of slots to work with (and you can ride the animal companion and longspear/crossbow/acid splash things when not casting important stuff). If you play a small character and get a roc animal companion, you can also enjoy flight and all the defensive benefits that come with it.

Razmiran priests get their 2nd SL bloodline replacement spell at lvl 3 for some reason, and it doesn't have the "can't swap" rider like bloodline spells do. This means you can have 2 second level spells of your choice at 4th level(you do lose the entangle bloodline spell though). This should be helpful.

With an 19 starting cha(+5 mod after lvl 4 bonus) + 4 ranks in UMD + 3 class bonus + 2 razmiran bonus + 1 competence bonus ioun stone you can get a check bonus of 15. You will get about 16 uses average out of a CLW wand before a natural 1, and you will make the check 80% of the time. Spending a feat and a trait gets you to autopass territory.

Even if your GM lets you use infernal healing wands, you can instead use UMD for low level scrolls. Taking along 40 lvl1 scrolls costs you 1000 gp. You are probably not running out of things to do, and you should be extremely flexible given you have access to every spell list this way using UMD. It won't be super reliable unless you burn a lot of resources on it (25ish% failure rate per attempt), but you are trying to fill 3 roles so what do you expect, the cracks are going to show somewhere.


Oh the barbarian level was for the con boost from rage, same with the mutagen. Sleep dc was 23 or something ridiculous at level 4. The increase in bab was just a happy coincidence

Shadow Lodge

@UnArcaneElection - my post was directed at the OP.

Korthis wrote:
The problem is that it is a coliseum. Any character dependant mostly on spells per day is likely to be screwedish.

Is this something the GM has told you, or something you've assumed? To me, "coliseum" doesn't necessarily mean that you will be having a lot of drawn-out fights that exhaust all your resources.


Korthis wrote:
Oh the barbarian level was for the con boost from rage, same with the mutagen. Sleep dc was 23 or something ridiculous at level 4. The increase in bab was just a happy coincidence

You have like 9 rounds at most of rage at that level. If you are so worried about running out of spell slots then using this is silly. FYI rage also prohibits casting since it requires concentration (by strict RAW not even urban barbarian gets around this, although your GM might be lenient and say RAI is casting is fine).

Brewing mutagens take an hour and lasts 10 minutes. Unless you are expecting an hour between every fight or most of your fights to happen within 10 minutes mutagen will be worthless for the majority of your day.

It is a nice trick when it is going, but you are losing second level spells for it. You are really gimping yourself as an arcane caster by doing that.

I should also point out that the scarred witch doctor archetype doesn't change what ability score you get your bonus spells per day off. You still need a decent Int, and will have less spells than an int based witch (multiclassing aside).


Korthis wrote:
Again, if I go out caster what do I do when I run out of spells?

The same thing we all do. Pull out your wand of magic missile and tell your party you're done adventuring for the day.

The dual caster role just doesn't have room to spend levels and feats on melee.


Spells would be for out of combat for the witch, hexes (su abilities) don't have components or require concentration. The Mutagen would only be for boss encounters and rage would bump the dc by two when needed. I would have first level spells and be missing out on two castings of an second level spells with the trade off of +2 to hex dc 9 times per day. Seems like a decent trade off as sleep can end creature and the second level spells would probably be glitter dust.


That's a great tradeoff... if you don't care about being an effective caster.


Korthis wrote:
Again, if I go out caster what do I do when I run out of spells?

You do what every other caster does... you go to sleep.

If your group has decided they are all out-and-out damage, and left it to you to carry all of the rest, then my advice: Just Say No.

Tell them you will play a ____________. Fill in the blank with the race/class combo you want to play, and leave it at that.

Asking one player to be every role but dps, oh and by the way, competent at melee, is ridiculous.

If you still want to try it, a vanilla Bard maneuver master could maybe just manage it, if most of your opponents will be humanoid.


With a 25pt buy I'd be tempted to go Half-Elven Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle of Nature, with something like:

Half-Elf Lorekeeper, 17/19+, 7, 14, 10, 8, 17+
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Lineage: Hideous Laughter

1.(Half-Elf Ancestral Arms: Elven Curved Blade), Nature's Whispers Revelation, Noble Scion of War Feat.

Divine Protection at 5, Persistent Spell at 7, eventually Heighten Spell.

Pick up 4-Shield, 6-Hideous Laughter, 8-Mirror Image or Heroism, 10-Confusion.


Spontaneous spellcasters have lots of spell slots. After the first two or three levels it's hard to run out of spells in the middle of the day.


Bacon666 wrote:

Cleric/wizard -> Mystic Thurge... Arcane and healing done.

Melee is taken care of by summons...

Unfortunately, this recent SLA FAQ nerfed Mystic Theurge into near uselessness.

Snowblind wrote:
Korthis wrote:
Oh the barbarian level was for the con boost from rage, same with the mutagen. Sleep dc was 23 or something ridiculous at level 4. The increase in bab was just a happy coincidence
You have like 9 rounds at most of rage at that level. If you are so worried about running out of spell slots then using this is silly. FYI rage also prohibits casting since it requires concentration (by strict RAW not even urban barbarian gets around this, although your GM might be lenient and say RAI is casting is fine).

Mad Magic gets you around this, although you need to be a Bloodrager instead of a Barbarian unless you take 2 levels of Barbarian, spend your Rage Power on Moment of Clarity (which is really just a Rage Power tax) and pay a feat tax at 3rd level taking Extra Rage Power(Perfect Clarity). Still, as a level 1 or 2 Bloodrager, you won't have very many rounds of Bloodrage, so it probably isn't worth the feat tax even as a Bloodrager.

Snowblind wrote:

{. . .}

I should also point out that the scarred witch doctor archetype doesn't change what ability score you get your bonus spells per day off. You still need a decent Int, and will have less spells than an int based witch (multiclassing aside).

I suspect that this is a mistake in the editing of the archetype, since it doesn't make much sense.


@turambar Delaying spell progression doesn't = broken terrible caster especially if all of your dcs can be boosted at will and you have unlimited save or dies at your disposal. It amounts to slightly less options to boost the options that you have.
As to "what do I want to do/accomplish"
I want something more comprable to the above summoner build; good melee, good casting, healing capability.

Im actually thinking about tweaking the ability scores changing the spirited charge for selective channeling...


You need to look back at your objectives here.

You want to be an arcane caster, and a healer, and decent at melee.

Your Fighter/Barbarian/Scarred Witch Doctor build, as-is, accomplishes none of that.

You are not a good arcane caster. You are not a good healer. And... you're not actually good at melee. You're good at setting other people up for melee and that's it.

If you're okay with that, then sure, play the Scarred Witch Doctor. But you've moved away from your core objectives to do that.


My preference would be an Arcanist White Mage for healing and arcane. Decide on Summon Monster or polymorphing for "carrying your share in melee".

Sounds kind of fun actually, as long as your party can absorb the lack of focus.

Another alternative is a witch or shaman, obviously.


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It's too bad the psychic book isn't out.. I can think of one or two that would help ... either the summoner one or that other class with the items

White mage arcanist,
or Witch seem the most useful (though less melee)

otherwise yeah... Bard. Sound striker (using new faq) and that healing archetype (there are like 2 or 3 but I forget which is best)


Korthis wrote:
good melee, good casting, healing capability.

If the usual CLW wand and Cleric list is good enough healing, then it's not that difficult to have solid melee and casting. But if you're trying to throw in some kind of healing mastery into the mix while still doing everything else, I'm not sure what you can really hope for. If summoning is enough to qualify as "good melee" then it can work out fine, but they're spells-per-day intensive, they're still only summons, and you're still likely a casual snack for anything that gets to you.

The Lorekeeper Oracle I posted above has solid AC that can reach Fullplate-and-shield levels with Shield (plus absurdly strong survivability if you grab Mirror Image), effective two-handed melee that can become devastating with Divine Favor/Power, and a couple of select enchantment spells that can break brains as well as anything. There are also other options for powerful battle/caster hybrids with some healing, like Monk1/Cleric characters with high Strength and Wisdom and choice Domain and Archetype selections. With a well-build battle/caster character, taking a round to heal is usually going to be an awful waste of their time and options anyhow.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

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Dunno why you're fixated on Arcane. Any good Cleric, Oracle or Druid build will do what you want.

==Aelryinth


Pearls of power can help you if your worried about running out of spells. I don't know anything terribly specific about them but apparently that is what they are for.


Could you provide more info in what the DM us planning? Is this like a Thunderdone thing? Ancient Rome? American Gladiators?

Grand Lodge

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Thunderdone? Is that the blase version of the Thunderdome?


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yup.. too vague of a request here.
For instance in arcane.. is it plot only can use arcane, or the spells-if so what kind. What do yo uwant to do with your casting? is it just buffs, or is it battle field control?

How Much healing do you need?

Do you want to be melee centric with a lil dash of the rest, or just be ablet o avoid death in combat?

For instance if you wanted light battle field control, ability to melee when need be, and you want to be able to heal some. Alchemist can do all that relativel well-with healing/candy buffs being the worst out of it. (only so many extracts per day after all-for a large group). bombs can damage or alter field a bit too (not as good as pure wiz/sorc spells), and with mutagen and feat choices can hold it's own in a fight.

As could a Bard (sound strike+healing archtype comes to mind).

but if you want tons of healing, then really none but the witch or arcanist wihte mage is gonna pull that off...

honestely.. white mage (and if it stacks-(i don't know off hand) blade adept) arcanist into eldritch knight could manage a little of each really. but none of them amazingly.

Grand Lodge

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Paladin. Take the "Dangerously Curious" trait and max out UMD. Use lots and lots of wands.

You've got yourself a warrior who can cast arcane and cleric spells.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Peri-Blooded Aasimar Hex Channel/ Hedge Witch Witch (any N):

You get +2 INT (spell-casting) and +2 CHR (Channel Energy). Trade your (Sp) for extra +2 CHR or INT. Take alternate Scion of Humanity, then take Racial Heritage: Gnome at 1st level. Invest in Hex Vulnerability wands.

You can start play with two 20's (INT & CHR) or an 18 and a 22. Your 1st hex is Healing, and at 2nd level you start channeling negative energy like it's going out of style (9 times a day). A few Extra Hex feats, and the fact that you're a Gnome (1/6 hex per level favored class) means you have plenty of powers to play with while negative channeling as well as an evil cleric. You don't even have to take Selective Channel. With a tiny flying familiar, you can simply strafe the enemy. Birdie lands on a bush 30 ft away, and you drop a bomb.

Hex Vulnerability wand is better than CLW as soon as you hit 2nd level, and crazy better than CMW wand when you hit 5th. A basic CMW wand costs the same as a 6th lvl Hex Vulnerability. Hedge Witch allows you to spontaneously cast "Cure" spells, and the Healing patron grants you access to Restoration(s), Cleanse, Pillar of Life, and True Resurrection. That's a crap ton of healing.

Witches have plenty of stopping power spells, too. Classics like Magic Missile, Sleep, and Burning Hands. Oh yeah, and Snowball. Pound for pound the single most impressive, single target spell up through mid level. Throw on an Intensified Spell, and it's a 2nd level, 10d6, no SR, F save or staggered spell-y goodness.

Will your STR and DEX suck? Most assuredly, but no one can be all things without sacrifice.


Aelryinth wrote:

Dunno why you're fixated on Arcane. Any good Cleric, Oracle or Druid build will do what you want.

==Aelryinth

This actually seems to be the crux of the problem.

It is fairly straight forward to build a divine caster that can hold their own in melee, cast and heal at the same time on a 25 pt buy.

Arcane casters...not so much. You will need to make sacrifices.

Why do you need arcane casting anyway. You said your GM told you you would need it, but all the arcane caster lists are filled with variety. You GM could expect you to have almost anything. Find out what is expected and we might be able to give you better build advice.


I once played a cleric in a 3.0/3.5 game that was more the match of the barbarian in the group.


My question is why do you need to carry melee in a group that is almost all melee? Is it a commandment in the arena that "though shall not hex they enemy"?

Dark Archive

I'm playing a Scarred Witch Doctor with the Elements patron and a level in Mutation Fighter in the Reign of Winter campaign. As this class has been mentioned by several others in this thread, I may cover a couple of similar points.

PROS:

  • You have more health points than you'll know what to do with.
  • Your spell DC's are ridiculous for your level (currently 8 for me).
  • ((My primary expenditures have been on an adaptive longbow, a belt of constitution, and a decent polearm, and two pearls of power level 1. This is ~12k in gear. Throw in a cloak of resistance and you're at ~13k. This is under the expected wealth for a 6th level character. Despite being about 2.5 levels undergeared, I am still devastating to most encounters.))
  • As far as hexes go, you don't need to rely on debuffs. Not even sleep. Scarred witch doctors benefit more by buffing themselves and slaughtering foes. Pick up healing (learn the hex vulnerability spell to get to out-heal a cleric out of combat), flight for mobility, and perhaps Swamp's Grasp to limit foes' mobility. Spirit Talker, as mentioned upthread, will further add to your versatility.
  • In melee, you will mutilate your foes with every hit. Your BAB won't be too hot, but this is what flanking is made for. Add in spells like Vomit Swarm, Aggressive Thundercloud, and Twilight Knife to further increase your damage output each turn.
  • In ranged combat, when not slinging spells, your arrows will be nearly as effective as your melee strikes.

CONS:

  • Your AC, even with the Scarshield hex, will be difficult to get high. However, you HP accounts for this.
  • Action economy can be rough.
  • Not getting multiple attacks in a full attack can be especially rough.

Regarding role play, orcs don't have to be boring. You certainly won't be the brightest member of most parties, but treat that as an opportunity to play up the brutal nature of orc culture. Have fun with it.

I hope this information is found to be informative


Dieben wrote:

I'm playing a Scarred Witch Doctor with the Elements patron and a level in Mutation Fighter in the Reign of Winter campaign. As this class has been mentioned by several others in this thread, I may cover a couple of similar points.

PROS:

  • You have more health points than you'll know what to do with.
  • Your spell DC's are ridiculous for your level (currently 8 for me).
  • ((My primary expenditures have been on an adaptive longbow, a belt of constitution, and a decent polearm, and two pearls of power level 1. This is ~12k in gear. Throw in a cloak of resistance and you're at ~13k. This is under the expected wealth for a 6th level character. Despite being about 2.5 levels undergeared, I am still devastating to most encounters.))
  • As far as hexes go, you don't need to rely on debuffs. Not even sleep. Scarred witch doctors benefit more by buffing themselves and slaughtering foes. Pick up healing (learn the hex vulnerability spell to get to out-heal a cleric out of combat), flight for mobility, and perhaps Swamp's Grasp to limit foes' mobility. Spirit Talker, as mentioned upthread, will further add to your versatility.
  • In melee, you will mutilate your foes with every hit. Your BAB won't be too hot, but this is what flanking is made for. Add in spells like Vomit Swarm, Aggressive Thundercloud, and Twilight Knife to further increase your damage output each turn.
  • In ranged combat, when not slinging spells, your arrows will be nearly as effective as your melee strikes.

CONS:

  • Your AC, even with the Scarshield hex, will be difficult to get high. However, you HP accounts for this.
  • Action economy can be rough.
  • Not getting multiple attacks in a full attack can be especially rough.

Regarding role play, orcs don't have to be boring. You certainly won't be the brightest member of most parties, but treat that as an opportunity to play up the brutal nature of orc culture. Have fun with it.

I hope this information is found to be informative

I am curious, how many HP do you have and how High is the DC on the hexes? With and with out mutagen.

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