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So, I like characters that are a bit different from the norm. My primary PFS character is currently a kitsune life oracle/spirit guide grabbing the life spirit so I can get TONS of channels per day. Then I take bless equipment to make those channels more proactive.
With that in mind, I'm looking to start another character after the unfortunate death of my skald.
I'm between 2 options currently:
Lore Warden fighter that goes into the prestige class Student of War.
He would specialize in sundering, using smashing style to make trips when sundering, so I don't fall behind in useful actions.
Then, while keeping my int fairly high, going into Student of War to make up the AC loss from being so MAD otherwise.
H-Skill focus Knowledge Local
1-Power attack
1-weapon focus earth breaker
2-improved sunder
2-combat expertise
3-smashing style
4-weapon specialization
5-dodge
and I don't know for certain what else from there.
Second thought is a mysterious stranger gunslinger. Halfling.
Levels 1-5 will be slinger
1-rapid reload
3-point blank shot
4-precise shot
5-rapid shot
Then grabbing 2 levels of juggler bard and going into TWF. The juggler will let me be considered to have a free hand while holding two guns, so as long as I'm using paper cartridges, I'll be free action reloading two guns.
7-TWF
9-ITWF
11-Something else. Maybe deadly aim.
I understand that in general the characters aren't totally optimized. I like working towards optimizing concepts, even if the concepts aren't optimized. But, that's what I'm working with.
Any opinions on how to do either better?
Reasons I should do one over the other?
Any other weird yet effective character builds you like me to consider?
Waiting until level 4 for Precise Shot? Ugh. I wouldn't want that. I played around with a Gunslinger concept, but in the end, they're good for nothing except dealing damage, which can get boring.
If you DO want to stick with Gunslinger, I'd recommend taking a 1-level dip into Far Strike Monk. You can get Precise Shot AND Quick Draw as bonus feats from 1 level, plus you get the unarmored AC bonus, which means you can dump Str for higher Wis, without hurting AC or encumbrance too much.
For the sunder build, I'd consider going for Improved/Greater Trip, so when you get your free trip from Smashing Style, you also get an AoO. Pick up Felling Smash eventually to use the same trick on turns where you don't get a full attack. My wife uses that combo on her fighter, and she can mess stuff up with a move->attack->trip->attack routine.
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Another good dip for gunslingers can be inquisitor (with the right archetype/inquisitions) so that you can do more than just damage and allows you to use wisdom not only for grit but for cha based skills, int, and a few other things. Of course this is if you are not sold on mysterious stranger.
Another thing about the fighter is that in my history in PFS sunder usually ends up being game breaking or near useless (as in fighting a no weapon monster) and tripping falls off in later lvls if not totally invested. Also if you do go the sunder route I would highly suggest having the sunder rules along with the hardness chart nearby or on hand.
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@RDN
I agree waiting until 4th level is going to hurt, but the only way around that is to be human or take rapid reload later. I'm not too keen on either.
Going along with the race and intended multiclassing, I don't see monk as a good idea, since I won't be unarmored and I won't have good wisdom.
The trip advice makes some sense, but it's a lot of feats that only amount to one or two extra AoOs. Combat expertise (or dirty fighting), improved trip, and greater trip to do nothing but generate an AoO. Doesn't even boost my trip CMB with smashing style, since it uses the sunder bonus.
@CC
As mentioned above, I intend to go mysterious stranger Gunglinger that uses Cha for grit instead of Wis, so an inquisitor dip isn't very good.
Most of the people I've played PFS with buy almost all of their equipment, so I'm hoping it won't matter too much if a few pieces of armor get sundered along the way.
Good advice regarding printing out the sunder tables. I was going to have the page number handy, but having a print-out for the DM is better. Thanks!
@RDN
Going along with the race and intended multiclassing, I don't see monk as a good idea, since I won't be unarmored and I won't have good wisdom.
Yeah, I forgot you were using Mysterious Stranger, so wouldn't be taking advantage of the Wis synergy. But you can still wear armor, since you weren't flurrying anyway, so it's not really that important. You're basically trading 1 BAB for 2 bonus feats and a solid boost to all your saves.
The trip advice makes some sense, but it's a lot of feats that only amount to one or two extra AoOs. Combat expertise (or dirty fighting), improved trip, and greater trip to do nothing but generate an AoO. Doesn't even boost my trip CMB with smashing style, since it uses the sunder bonus.
Oh, I didn't catch that about Smashing Style using the same bonus for the trips. In that case, it probably isn't worth it, even though you get Combat Expertise for free.