Tengu Combatant Character Advice, Kingmaker

[DocShock]

Hey guys,

We're about to start up a kingmaker campaign and one of our characters wants to play a Tengu combatant, so we're looking for (spoiler-free) advice about what to run, or just cool Tengu character ideas. Archer inquisitor seems obvious, but with the prevalence of the aldori dueling sword in this campaign, I was thinking unchained rogue (automatic ADS proficiency from being a Tengu) who took the sword lord trait.

Our other frontliner will be a Hunter who specializes in tripping people and hammering them with AOOs. A rogue with outflank and paired opportunists seems like a good match to the wounded-paw-gambit Hunter. Gang up also seems great considering the hunter and animal will always be working in tandem. Anyone have sweet build ideas, or advice for a Tengu bruiser? Open to any class except druid or Oracle which were his last 2 classes.

[nennafir]

Spoiler:

We are only in part 2 right now but there are lots and lots of fey. Being able to speak with them and having some diplomatic skills seems prudent. Hmmm...Also, our archer seems to be getting the most loot so make sure you have someone who is longbow focused.

[Arcaian]

The main issue I see with unchained rogue is that you've got a -CON modifier - at d8 HD, you're already pretty squishy as a rogue, so you'll have to be very careful about that. If you were a frontliner, a d10 HD would be nice, so you could try Slayer? You'd be very similar to a rogue, but just that bit more survivable. You lose out on the trap stuff, but if you've got someone else to handle that, it's always an option.

Otherwise there's a ranged hunter - you'll have two in the party then, but you can have a kick-ass animal companion, and you can be a very effective ranged character. Allows teamwork feats stacking easily as well! :)

A tengu makes an excellent gunslinger as well - +dex and +wis are the only things they're interested in basically. Could also make a good warpriest - you're tank enough, especially with swift-action self buffing to help out. Makes a very interesting character - I like warpriest a lot.

EDIT: There's also Shaman. I don't know much about them to be honest, but as a WIS based caster, +wis +dex -con is pretty good! :) I'd still say gunslinger/warpriest personally though :)

[DocShock]

Ranged Hunter is a really interesting idea. It might not synergize very well with a trip build (what with the +4 to AC vs ranged attacks and all), but having 4 fighters with a ton of teamwork feats could make for some powerful builds.

[Atarlost]

Tengu isn't a great combatant. The advantages they do have are swordtrained/exotic weapon training and the good barbarian favored class bonus. Based on bastard sword proficiency rulings swordtrained should count as EWP for the Aldori Dueling Sword.

Dex to damage is available from the first level of the Aldori Swordlord PrC or 3 levels of urogue. Swordlord has some annoying prerequisites but doesn't involve a BAB drop or d8 hit die.

I think cavalier might be the best swordlord entry. It offers more skills and better class skills than fighter. A gendarme of the order of the cockatrice can qualify after level 5 with 3 feats to spare, 2 of which must be from a restricted list. Daring Champion is another possible entry with 2 feats to spare, since with exotic proficiency the ADS counts as piercing for ability restrictions. I'd only take 5 levels of Swordlord I think and only prioritize the first.

The other route is to go strength based superstitious barbarian with a falcata or some useful eastern exotic weapon.

A battle cleric of Sarenrae using dervish dance is the munchkin option, but not exactly the thematic choice for your campaign.

Archery is okay, but doesn't leverage anything but the dex bonus. In my experience archery only lives up to its reputation when you fudge the cover rules. Someone is always blocking your aim unless you line up exactly on the grid axis.

[DocShock]

Seems like the aldori dueling sword u-rogue would be okay if the 12 con and d8 hit dice don't kill you. The big perks there are the free natural attack from being a Tengu and the big AC penalty you inflict with debilitating strike. Plus there's the sword Lord trait which is basically weapon focus ADS and weapon focus longsword. Plus it stacks with real weapon focus, so I feel like a rogue could be pretty effective. The combination of outflank and gang up also seems like it would get you pretty far.

I agree that cover can be annoying. Inquisitors and Rangers have solutions for that, but I don't know how well a Hunter can get around the -4 penalty.