Depends on how much of a spoiler you want.
When I see stats like those and hear 'tiny party', I instantly think hybrid character that can throw a powerful control spell one round and cut down the opposition on the next. With all the options out there now, it's not that hard to create an Oracle or Cleric or Eldritch Knight that can do both.
One of the major questions with builds regards your GM's style with pre-buffing - does he just handwave buffs? or allow the fairly typical 'one round' kind of thing, like 'I cast x as we move in to begin fighting'? or is every battle a cold start on round 1? That makes quite a bit of difference on a small party when doing something like a Bard or battle Cleric that typically needs a round of buffing to start going.
I've got an (in my opinion) pretty cool Witch-Warrior character that can do a TWF pounce by level 9, as well as cast quite a few potent spells and use a significant amount of skills, healing, utility and etc.
I would go for the Drow Noble Archeologist Bard. Since you are going solo you want a class that does is more self-reliant. The archeologist’s class abilities focus strictly on himself. Many of the Arcane Duelist, and Inquisitor class ability work best with other people around. Bardic Knowledge is going to be more useful than Monster lore because you don’t have other party members to cover knowledge skills.
Put the 18 in DEX and go for a DEX to damage build. Make sure to take lingering performance for your next feat. Take Fate’s Favored as one of your traits and make sure Heroism is one of your second level spells. Pick up lingering performance as your next feat (your first two will be needed for the DEX to damage).
Depends on how much of a spoiler you want.I know about the basics of the adventure path. Also about parts of the first book. I was a actully the one who was planning on gming it for my group before our schedules got messed up, but I have not read it yet. Spoilers happen but as long as someone dose not tell me the whole thing I'll be ok.
Then I was going to suggest a PC that can use a warhammer for reasons that should be obvious, but the best multi-tasker for that is a magus or warpriest, IMO, but you'll have a hard time with traps.
A parallel to the bard archaeologist is an investigator empericist. They give up cantrips, but are potentially nearly as strong as a full-BAB class with all of their abilities. They also have the cool ability to whip up an extract in only a minute, so you get some flexibility if you want to leave extract slots open.
A 1st level dip in a martial class would solve the warhammer problem, I guess. Hmmm...
Well, you can't dex to damage the warhammer, so I don't know. I'd tinker in Hero Lab (I'm actually running 2 groups through Giantslayer now, so that's what I'm doing regularly anyway), but I'm at work.
If I had any advice for you on this campaign, it is this. Hit it as hard as you can because giants hit HARD!!! If you are playing it with a two man crew, I suggest you expend every resource you have in the effort. To that end, I show you the kind of build I wanted to make for the campaign, but chose not to due to party balance (both in character and out of character). See the spoilers beneath each for my reasoning behind the choices.
STR: 20 (18+2)
DEX: 10
CON: 15
INT: 17
Wis: 17
CHA: 12
On a side note, I'd like to say this. While you are going to get into melee, do not do so until it is a last resort. Giants will eat you alive in melee, especially if there are two or more. AC is hardly going to matter in this campaign, though you do want it high. You want miss chances, concealment, blinding, etc. Fight dirty.
Druid is the chassis. Nature Fang and Druid of Gorum are the archetypes. Half-orc is the race, with Shaman's Apprentice and Sacred Tattoo alternate racial traits. Take Fate's Favored and Magical Knack (Druid). Get Roll With It (the none-goblin trait) or Dwarf-Trained as well, if you can use a drawback for another trait (superstitious is a good one).
Druid is a 3/4 BAB class, with 9th level spell access that has the ability to both heal, control the battlefield, summon, and blast (and while not the absolute best at it, it is functional). A druid just by itself will do fine, but we aren't here to do 'just fine'. We are going to CRUSH these giants.
Half-orcs are found naturally in Trunau and have a LOT of good alternate racial traits. We take the best of the best for success.
Take the Rage sub-domain if at all possible. Between the Druid of Gorum archetype and your martial focus, it should not be too difficult to convince the GM to allow it.
Dip a level of Sorcerer. We want this. Orc and Elemental (Air/Electricity). The 1st level bloodline power we don't care about. Trade that away for Blood Havoc
Anyway, the idea behind the choice is this. Sorcerer allows use of 1st level arcane spells, ability to use arcane magic items without UMD checks, and gives us the ability to BOOST the damage on some of our blasting spells while allowing use to shift the damage type to something else if the monster appears immune. Frigid Touch can work on a cold immune monster when it is electrical. Call Lightning does 3d6+6 damage, making it actually useful (average 16.5 dmg vs 10.5)
Also, Shield is a good spell to have from the arcane list. Let's us alternate between 1h weapon attacks and 2handed as needed.
Now, we will want to take a Variant Multiclass of Magus. Arcane Pool. Magus Arcana. Spellstike. Magus Arcana. Magus Arcana. Yes, it is worth the 5 feats, hands down.
We want familiar. Now, we may already have one based on how your GM ruled but this is probably the first arcana we should pick up because of the Protector archetype. Essentially, you get +50% extra HP, essentially putting you on par with an actual barbarian in the HP department. This thing will save your life. Take good care of it. It will become a target.
We kinda want Bane Blade. You can pick another one if you wish, since this comes on VERY late.
Overall, the mains reasons we chose Magus are the familiar and the Arcane Pool. Between Studied Target, Arcane Pool, and Rage, when you are forced into combat you are not going to miss and you are going to hit hard, especially if you take power attack.
On to feats. We want Spell Focus (Evocation). Depending on your chosen fighting style, Divine Fighting Technique (Gorum/Greatsword Battler) and the Vital Strike Chain could be useful. Extra Arcana seems a good choice, since you are not barred from it on VMC. I'd say use your feats on combat related feats to enhance your choices with Slayer Talents. Definitely pick up power attack somewhere.
Vital Strike Charging: If you need to get close to an enemy and want to do some damage, but don't have pounce, this is your best bet. DO NOT CHARGE IN unless you are SURE you can finish off the giant in a final blow. You will eat a full attack and it will HURT!
Extra Arcana: I love the idea of swashbucklers and Magi can get Flamboyant Arcana. Don't fall for this trap. Unless you are very intentional, you aren't going to be reaching numbers high enough to parry their attacks. Find something else more useful.
Slayer Talents: Here is where the fun begins. You want a Ranger Fighting Style. Pick one and go to town on it. I recommend Sword and Shield style. You can pick up the three main feats with the chain (Two-Weapon Fighting, Shield Master, Bashing Finish) and pick up Shield Slam with another talent. Improved Shield Bash may need to be taken by a character feat, or a permissive GM that allows multiple Combat Trick talents.
If you go two handed,
Why sword and shield? Defense is the name of the game. I know I said AC doesn't really matter, but the number of magic items you are wielding (shield included) can influence your success. Yes, two handed does more damage, but we don't want to get into melee until we have to. Shield Master is a highlight of the chain.
More details? We are not a full BAB class. We want the extra attack granted by TWF. We also like the free attacks granted by critical hits. Shield slam gives us free bull rush attempts and possibily drops the target prone. If we get into melee (and we will), we need to turn the fight to our favor rapidly.
Let me know if any of that sounds good to you and I'll followup with more suggestions on spells, tactics, etc.
I've got an (in my opinion) pretty cool Witch-Warrior character that can do a TWF pounce by level 9, as well as cast quite a few potent spells and use a significant amount of skills, healing, utility and etc.Love to hear about it. That is my goal with this character build. As for pre-buffing, it various but normally allowed, he sometimes hit hard with an ambush but most of the time buffing before a fight is not an issue.
Pasted from another thread, the general idea is...
Unarmed Fighter 1/ Synergist Witch 8/ Eldritch Knight
Traits: Magical Knack, Fate's Favored1UF. (+Improved Unarmed Strike) / +Dragon Style / {Artful Dodge}???
2SW. *Witch Patron: Strength / *Symbiosis: Low-Light Vision
3SW. Two-Weapon Fighting / Hex: Nails
4SW
5SW. {Arcane Armor Training}??? / Hex: Flight
6SW
7SW. Arcane Strike / Hex: Tongues
8SW
9SW. *Symbiosis: Bite Attack, Darkvision, Fly 60(good), Pounce / Improved Familiar: Agathion, Silvanshee
10EK. +Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
11EK. Power Attack
12EK.
13EK. Persistent SpellIt maintains Heroism and generally Ironskin; Arcane Eye helps with scouting. As battle begins it activates Divine Power for the extra attack and the 1+1/3levels attack and damage bonus, and enters Dragon Style while invoking a minute of it's Symbiosis flight for Fly 60(good). Single attacks are made with two-handed longsword, but the primary combat focus at higher levels is obviously pounce...
With Dragon Style and flight active, it can charge up to 120 feet through the air and through allies' spaces if needed to deliver a pounce attack with Two-Weapon Fighting and Arcane Strike:
Longsword -2/ Dragon Unarmed -2/ Longsword -7/ Unarmed -7/ Claw -5/ Bite -5/ Longsword -2.
The Witch spell list grants stuff like Glitterdust, Hideous Laughter, Confusion and Wandering Star Motes, so there are lots of control options as well as death-from-above pounce attacks. You also gain access to some healing stuff.
On a 20-point-buy, the idea is to go strength-based and use Arcane Armor Training and Ironskin for good AC. With your rolled stats and racial options as powerful as they are, you could probably modify it in a few different ways - ability-saving tricks like using Artful Dodge are totally unnecessary, and Arcane Armor Training is probably irrelevant when you can have high STR/DEX/INT all at once.
Edit: just a note on the build at lower levels - while the pieces are still coming together at level 4, you've already got a sword/ dragon unarmed/ claw full attack and a two-handed standard attack. When the Flight Hex kicks in at 5, you've basically got the core of the build working (minus the pounce). You could shuffle feats around so that Arcane Strike and maybe Power Attack come online much sooner.
There are all kinds of other strong ways to run an Eldritch Knight with those stats, since issues with AC and multiple attributes just aren't really issues. I really like Strength Patron Witch for the divine buff spells and the ability to use Quickened Ill Omen on some builds, though Wizard has great stuff as well, like Blade Tutor's Spirit. Depending on how your GM feels about the retraining rules, you can pick up Dimensional Dervish by level 9 on an Eldritch Knight instead of using Pounce.
Regardless of which class you choose to go with, one really nice combo with those stats would be to use an elven curved blade in two hands, using finesse for attack and 1.5xSTR + Power Attack for damage. With your ability to have multiple high stats, it will typically way-out-damage the usual DEX-to-damage stuff.
While I am still leaning towards the Archaeologist Bard for the skills and general abilities but the combat potential of these two builds in pretty impressive.
The Archaeologist bard is impressive, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I once made a half-elf archaeologist that was nearly untouchable by his enemies ... until they nerfed Amateur Swashbuckler. I merely rebuilt him with VMC Magus and got Flamboyant Arcana once Unchained came out.
Now with the Drow Noble (since I have decided to stick with the Drow Noble since it is a rare chance to play one and I hate traveling in mountain in D&D and pathfinder games without easy access to feather fall (knocked off to many cliffs in to many games) these will be my stats.
Str 18 Dex 14 Con 10 Int 19 Int 19 Cha 17 (Please note I have not yet added my 4th level bump).
Hey, if you get to play a drow noble, go for it. Much better than a half-orc in any case. I just don't like the elf's penalty to CON. You are going to want as much HP as you can get because you will be getting hit. A LOT. If you want to stick with Bard, swap your wisdom and CON scores. You'll need to HP and Fort save more than the Will save, especially since the Will is your good save.
Given that this is my planned set up and I am looking for someone with a skill set with enough skills to handle mixed situation being able to deliver a heavy blow as needed.
Oh, you'll have enough skill points with that setup. Just don't spread yourself out too thin or focus too much on certain skills. Take enough acrobatics to avoid falling off cliffs or slipping on stuff, but don't try to max it out. You are not going to easily get past the giant's check for CMD. It just won't happen.
Skills that you will find useful are: Disable Device (yep, you need it), Knowledge (the big ones, Arcana, Planes, Religion), Spellcraft, Survival, Stealth, Use Magic Device. I'd put ranks into Ride and get a flying pet when you get the chance, since teleporting might be outside your skill range. (Shameless plug: Druids get tree stride & transport via plants, ways to feed themselves, make shelter and conceal it, etc).
Also at this point outside of the ring of sustenance is their anything that you would see as a must have magical item for solo builds?
Well, I have some suggestions. As I mentioned in my previous post, I never used the build I laid out for you but did modify it heavily (still tanky, very effective, just no uberly so for party balance). I commonly made use of Impact Gauntlets to catch those pesky rocks the giants are always throwing at me. Also, Fog-cutting lenses + Fog cloud/obscuring mist has saved my arse innumerable times when giants get too close. Lesser rod of quicken will be amazing too.
A final word of caution. I seriously stress NOT getting into melee with giants if you can at all help it. Build you character knowing you will be forced into it on occasion but do NOT seek it out. Pouncing will get you killed unless you setup the battlefield for it. My character never died (came close a few times saving everyone else) but I saw several of my team mates get cut in half or squashed in one round from a full attack. I nearly soloed the 3rd book's boss and her pesky minions (when I say solo, I was the wall between our big gun "a halfling kineticist, and I kept them back while cutting them down). Our sorcerer got evicerated and our witch pretty much killed himself. No one wants to listen to 'the tank' when he says use walls of force to funnel the enemy ... nooo.
I hope my druid build tempts you enough to try it out. You can make it with a Drow Noble. Half-orc is not required. I outlined the mechanical aspect but the real fun stuff, the spells and tactics, they will sell you on it.
If you're going Drow Noble, why not go Weapon Finesse? You can start with an enormous DEX score that way, and you can use one-handed Fencing Grace rapier, two-handed elven curved blade, or even dual rapiers (with Effortless Lace to remove the -2 penalty for not using a light weapon). Fencing Grace rapier means you can use your DEX for damage, but you've also got the stats to go with strength-based damage while using finesse if you want to. Or you can use the Agile weapon property to make weapons use DEX for damage magically.
Wielding two Agile rapiers could be pretty awesome; you would just eventually want the Quick Draw feat to make spellcasting work well with it. If you're allowed to have any two medium magic items right from the start, you could be wielding two powerful Agile rapiers that do enormous damage (and just spend 2,500 cash for an Effortless Lace on one of them).
Generally, if you do end up in a close-quarters situation, you want your full attack to be a death-sentence.
Archaeologist Bard is a great character in general. The only potential issue with it is that it can be rather light on higher-level spells/day if your strategy is to use a lot of powerful casting.
I think you are missing a golden opportunity to play a Ratfolk Mouser Swashbuckler with Monkey Shine.
Base your whole character off of a murderous version of Micky Mouse from The Brave Little Tailor. Talk in an overly chipper high pitched voice. Say things like "golly" and "gosh." Punctuate sentences with laughter.
Don't warn your GM.
I think you are missing a golden opportunity to play a Ratfolk Mouser Swashbuckler with Monkey Shine.
Base your whole character off of a murderous version of Micky Mouse from The Brave Little Tailor. Talk in an overly chipper high pitched voice. Say things like "golly" and "gosh." Punctuate sentences with laughter.
Don't warn your GM.
*snorts with laughter*
"Golly G, Mister Giant! I surely hope that part is not that important."
Watches with impassioned, yet indifferent beady mouse eyes.
"Gosh, you sure do bleed a lot! That had better not be stained! I have to sell you worldly possession to my best friend at the local market!"
*sobers up*
Uh, yeah. That would be absolutely hilarious. And then you would die, horribly. Don't melee with a giant. Even if you get in his square.
Well, the subtle goal of the whole campaign would be to make your GM horribly kill Micky Mouse, and then never let them forget it.
This screams mind control / necromancer wizard to me... giants usually have low will saves, so dominating them for days ahould be easy. And then if they die, use them again as your unliving army. Who needs a party if you can bring your own?Ok it looks like thanks to this little post my next several character ideas are taken care of...
Come th think about it is their any classes that work well multi classing with the Archeologist Bard (I'm wondering about classes like fighter, Inquisitor, druid, or alchemist) or at this point should I just not worry about that.
I probably wouldn't multiclass Bard, since they're already slow with spell progression and their abilities are kind of important. There are some 1-level multiclass things that can help with improving stat distribution, but your stats are going to be absurdly good anyhow.
You have made some amazing points about the Druid and to be honest I only tried to play one Druid every back when 3.0 came out and that only lasted one session. Now I got to look at the viability of a Druid (any archetype)/Archeologist Bard. Considering my stats I am wondering what I could build that would be 2nd level Archeologist Bard/ 2nd level Druid, any good combo ideas?
As for magic items really leaning on getting a ring of regeneration as my major item what do you think?
My best advice? Don't multiclass a bard. No, not even with Druid. But don't hold me to that as if set in stone. That Archeologist bard I mentioned before? I multiclassed him with 4 levels of Investigator (Sleuth). I had a massive pool of Grit, Panache, and Luck points. I was versatility incarnate. The only problem I had was hitting hard. Luckily my other party embers did that for me.
Trust me, between Studied Target, Arcane Pool, and Flame Blade, you won't need luck bonuses to hit.
As for the Ring of Regeneration? Skip it. Get Boots of the Earth instead. If you are going to play the Druid I suggested, get a Lesser Rod of Quicken. Buff spells are good, especially as a swift action.
Thanks for the advice, I'll keep my Bard single class. As for the boots, wow it just goes to show you even when you own a book you can miss some real gems. Mind you it will be a little annoying to miss out on boots of striding and sprinting.
Hmm, well since you are playing a bard, check out the Bardic Masterpieces, especially Triple Time. Won't stack with the boots, but it is a good alternative. Extra performance will be necessary if you plan on using masterpieces.
Also on that note I going to grab Seducer for the 1/day Charm Person and +1 to enchantment spells and I am looking at grabbing Surface Infiltrator so now I am just wondering if is it worth losing Dark vision for this campaign.
Swap it away. Darkvision is easy enough to pick up as you go through the campaign, especially if you are getting additional loot to offset your CR impairment. Charm Person might get you somewhere in this campaign. I was never of the mind to try. My druid worshiped Gorum and hated giants and orc. Being friendly was not really in the cards.
As for traits as I mentioned my Gm house rules that you get 4 Traits and I have picked 3 of them
Fate's Favored - Whenever you are under the effect of a luck bonus of any kind, that bonus increases by 1.
Reactionary - +2 to initiative.
Desperate Focus - +2 bonus on concentration checks.I am wondering what would be good choices at this point for the other?
I'd swap Reactionary for Warriors of Old. Its an elven race trait that does the same thing. Get Accelerated Drinker as your combat trait. Might save your life a time or two.
On that note... Potions of invisibility are going to be your friend, as are scrolls of higher level spells. Invest in them and UMD.
Also note that I have access to the 3.5 Drow of the Underdark book, anything out of their you would recommend?
Sorry, don't have that book.
I am glad your first session went so well. My memory of the first book is filled with great roleplay and horrible, protracted battles. My idea of a good time is not 10+ CR appropriate encounters that drain your resources (and HP) in a row without rest between. We survived only because of some seriously good rolls towards the end there.
The next book is pretty good, though it is where we had our first character death and I was still too low level to enact reincarnate. Orcs do not go down easily. Remember they have Ferocity.