I'll be playing in a Carrion Crown game and decided a long time ago that I wanted to try a bloodrager. I'm going to play a crossblooded Arcane/Destined human bloodrager who uses a nodachi. The GM gave us our stat array and here's how it works:
8 points for 3 stats; other three stats are fixed at 18,16,10. After consideration I'm thinking of the following:
Str 18+2
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 13
I'm a little concerned about my the low Will save I'll have due to being Crossblooded, but I have some extra feat slots in my build so might just address that with Iron Will. I also thought about dumping Int in order to get some extra stats but I just always dislike stat penalties. Thoughts?
I would drop int for wis with this setup, that low will save is going to hurt.
Carrion Crown is very skill intensive, so might not be great to dump INT.
I personally don't like Crossblooded because Will penalties are tough for Bloodragers, and let's just say Carrion Crown will have you rolling several saves of all kinds.
Perhaps you should go with 12 DEX and go with Steelblood for heavy armor, get INT to 9, use the extra 4 points to pump CHA to 15. This will allow you to get +1 CHA at 4th level and probably Steadfast Personality at 3rd level to boost saves.
Yep, STR would still be 18, CON 16 and WIS 10.
@Java Man - Unfortunately I can't do that straighforwardly because of the way the GM is doing stats. The 18, 16, 10 are set and can't be adjusted with points. So if I wanted to be able to dump Int I'd need to put the static 10 into Dex. On the other hand, I could go with a 10 in Dex and bump Wis up to 14 without dumping Int.
@Secret Wizard - The 4th level Destined bloodline power gives a +1 scaling luck bonus to saves and AC. Since I'll be taking the Fate's Favored trait, that will immediately start me off with a +2 to all my saves, which is nice. I originally didn't want to do steelblood, but if I did I could drop my dex and put those points somewhere else...
Bloodragers qualify for Arcane Strike at lvl 4, though they can't actually take it till 5. At level 4 they become CL 4 also, so by lvl 5 you're getting a +2 to damage off Arcane Strike. It's a nice combo if you're not using lots of swift actions.
@My Self - for sure not doing primalist, but Arcane Strike will be my 5th level feat.
Make sure Raging Vitality is one of your feats. I try to get it by 3rd level. You already have a high enough constitution for it, so that isn't a problem. Death by Raging isn't fun.
I don't personally like cross-blooded, even without it I find the Will save low on Bloodragers. I would suggest you choose between the Arcane and Destined (both are very good bloodlines) rather than going cross-blooded.
@Bret - I'm doing crossblooded and sucking up the low will save because I want bloodline powers from both bloodlines. Raging Vitality is going to be my 1st level feat.
Going Crossblooded without Primalist for Superstition is just putting a giant sign on yourself saying "Please dominate me so I kill my party". Again, it's advised you not do so. Also, unless your DM is outright banning Primalist, there's no reason to not take it.
Going Crossblooded without Primalist for Superstition is just putting a giant sign on yourself saying "Please dominate me so I kill my party". Again, it's advised you not do so. Also, unless your DM is outright banning Primalist, there's no reason to not take it.
If the GM is going to put us up against things that can cast dominate at 1st - 3rd level we have bigger problems than my character's low will save.
Which bloodlines are you crossing? and is it really worth such a low will save?
Which bloodlines are you crossing? and is it really worth such a low will save?
Destined and Arcane. Taking the level 1, 4, 16, and 20 bloodline powers from Destined, levels 4 & 8 from the Arcane bloodline. And like I said above, when I take the level 4 Destined bloodline power I'll be getting a +2 to my will saves that will eventually scale up to +6. So I'll just need to survive the low levels.
Not sure you will.
Not sure you will.
Well, it's a chance I'm going to take. Honestly, you're all acting like having a poor Will save for the first few levels is a certain death sentence. Maybe Carrion Crown is super lethal, but I don't know of any Will-save based effects that are SoD that players can be reasonably expected to deal with between levels 1-3.
Sleep, Color Spray and Glitterdust can all pretty much wreck an opponent at low levels. Fear effects also tend to be Will based. They don't kill, just prevent the victim from taking part in the combat.
I don't think the low Will is a death sentence, but I also don't know what is in that module.
You'll probably do just fine during the first 3 levels.
But I think Secret Wizard, Heretek et al do have a very valid concern, even though you'll have Fate's Favored and the 4th level fated bloodrager power of Destined. In short, at 10th level, you'll have a net -1 penalty to Will while raging (-4 crossblooded, +2 fated bloodrager + 1 trait), 5 less than the +4 net bonus of a primalist, non-crossblooded bloodrager with Superstition.
Putting this into perspective, a classic manipulator like the CR 7 succubus has a DC 23 dominate person. Should you be targeted by her spell at 10th, the chance of your current build (+3 class, +3 cloak, +3 luck, -2 crossblooded) not trying to chop up the other members of your party would be a pretty terrible 25%, half of what the above mentioned version with Superstition would have.
That said, I do think there are a rare few builds that could make the crossblooded trade-off worth it. But your build, which AFAICT seems to be aiming for durability, is not one of those IMO.
Which brings me to the most important question: what are the objectives for this build? What combat role(s) are you aiming to fulfill? ("Being durable" is nice but not a combat role unless you also have abilities to consistently make certain enemies will target you instead of squishier party members.)
Taking the level 1, 4, 16, and 20 bloodline powers from Destined, levels 4 & 8 from the Arcane bloodline.
So you're getting arcane's 4th and 8th level powers at 8th and 12th level? Seems OK to me if you decide to keep crossblooded.
Regarding your ability scores, I'd put the 10 in Dex if you're aiming to be a striker. If you're aiming for a melee control tank, I'd maybe simply switch with the current Cha for 13 Dex or keep it as is. I also question whether the human +2 bonus is best spent on your Str, as an 18 will likely be sufficiently high anyways (though this of course depends on what you're planning to do in combat).
Also, I recommend you decide on your weapon AFTER you know which combat role and related specific mechanics you'll have. As is, there's absolutely no good (mechanical) reason for you to wield a nodachi instead of for example a great sword or lucerne hammer, not to mention a reach weapon + armor spikes. And keep in mind that Exotic Weapon Proficiency costs you a mere 1.500 gp (cracked opalescent white pyramid ioun), making a lot of the exotic weapons superior choices after the very earliest levels (unless perhaps if low level magic items will be difficult to find in the setting).