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So I was reading some posts about the aid another action and possible uses of that... and the bug hit me again. So, I thought, let me see if I can stand on the shoulders of giants and come up with a build that could be interesting and viable to play.
All paizo books are allowed, no third party.
Now this guy very much lives up to the helpful halfling description: "You see nothing wrong with letting others achieve greatness so long as the job gets done" and feels very in tune with how halflings are described. Your front line fighters will love you and the amount of additional damage the party is able to dish out will likely increase quite a bit.
He is also fairly survivable with very good AC, very good saves easily hitting the blue category in this table and has a decent amount of hit points to boot.
He's a poor to mediocre hand to hand combatant by himself, but that's not really the focus of the build. What he does bring to the table is this: Increase Aid Another bonus to ridiculous levels and make it stick the whole round.
Move close to a frontline fighter and buff him for:
+15 to hit
+4 damage
+14 AC
AND
+14 to hit
+4 damage
+11 AC
for another frontline fighter.
Without casting a single spell (of which he has plenty)
Now, two things are somewhat unclear to me and may change the numbers slightly:
1) Can you fight defensively to use aid another? (-4 to hit isn't so daunting when you only need to hit AC 10)
2) Swift aid as it is worded is a less effective aid another action for a less effort (swift action) - +1 bonus vs. +2 bonus. In this build I have assumed that it is an aid another with a -1 modifier, so that all the other additives to aid another will work the same way (e.g. the helpful halfling trait with normal aid another gives a +4 bonus, with swift aid it gives a +3 bonus). Has anyone seen a clarification for this?
Please comment, critiqe and make suggestions to improvements, point out rules or errors etc.
So how this may play out:
Round 1 - new encounter, roll initiative
Swift action: Start singing battle hymn (inspire confidence)
Standard action: Use Battlefield presence to give all party members the Harrying Parther teamwork feat
Move action: Move next to your frontline fighter
Free action: Offer your other frontline fighter to join you in the ranks (move adjacent to you)
You are now providing everyone in your party a +4 competence bonus to hit and damage. If someone moves to attack the ally next to you, you get to use an attack of opportunity to give them an extra +11 AC (Bodyguard) which will last until the beginning of my next turn (Harrying partners).
Round 2
Free action: Assign your shield enchantment bonus AC to fighter #1 for +3 AC (Guarding shield)
Free action: Activate combat expertise and fighting defensively
Swift action: Swift aid another (fighter #2)
Standard action: Aid another (fighter #1)
If you can attack and hit AC 10 (with -8 to hit for fighting defensively and combat expertise activated) you are now providing +15 to hit, +4 damage and +3 AC for fighter #1 AND +14 to hit, +4 damage for fighter #2.
With Harrying partners this means that fighter #1 and #2 will have this bonus not only for their next attack, but for all attacks until your next round. Which means that in all likelihood, all their attacks will hit, including later iterative ones. So even though you yourself do not inflict a single point of actual damage, the odds are that you will be the cause of the PARTY getting more hits in and not being hit as often in return. Being the halfling that you are you will be bobbing and weaving like crazy, trying not to get hit, all the while distracting your enemy and assisting your allies.
If anyone attacks fighter #1 or #2 you can use AOOs to provide them with an additional +11AC. (Or anyone else adjacent to you, you have 7 AOOS available to you every round, so you could potentially do this for a lot of allies.
Note that I haven't even mentioned spellcasting. You can of course also count on the normal bard buffing by haste, good hope, heroism etc etc as well as life savers like the "finale" spells when needed.
With some time to prepare, or a lull in the battle, you could also cast "Coordinated Effort" to give you and 3 allies the benefit of the Escape Route teamwork feat, making positioning easier.
Your party should love you.
Race:
Halfling
Attributes: (not super important, but the numbers below should be attainable with magic items)
Str 8
Dex 20
Con 18
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 22
Alternate Racial Traits:
Fleet of Foot (base speed of 30 feet)
Traits:
Helpful halfling (+4 to Aid another)
Battlefield disciple (increase aid another by 1 on attack rolls)
Class levels (archetype):
Lvl 3 Paladin (Holy Tactician)
Lvl 12 Bard (Arcane Duelist)
Starting off at level 1 with Holy Tactician, alternating with Arcane Duelist until level 6. Then Arcane duelist all the way.
Feats:
Lvl 1 - Combat expertise
Lvl 2 - Arcane Strike (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 3 - Combat reflexes
Lvl 5 - Bodyguard
Lvl 5 - Escape route (Bonus feat from HT)
Lvl 7 - Harrying partners
Lvl 9 - Swift Aid
Lvl 9 - Disruptive (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 11 - Lingering performance
Lvl 13 - Extra performance
Lvl 13 - Spellbreaker (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 13 - Medium armor prof. (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 15 - Master performer
Skills:
Acrobatics 3 ranks (gain a +3 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively)
...the rest
Items: (Wealth by level - 240000 gp)
Gloves of arcane striking (5000)
short sword, Benevolent +2 (18000)
Mithral breastplate, benevolent +3 (20150)
Large shield, guarding +3 (16000)
Ring of tactical precision (11000)
Amulet of natural armor +3 (18000)
Ring of protection +3 (18000)
Belt of dexterity & con +4 (40000)
Headband of Charisma +6 (36000)
Metamagic rod of quickening, lesser (35000)
Cloak of resistance +4 (16000)
Other odds & ends (ca. 7000)
Saves:
Fort 4+4+3+6+4 = 21
Ref 5+8+1+6+4 = 24
Will 1+8+3+6+4 = 22
AC:
Base 10
Small 1
Dex 5
Armor 6
Ench. 3
Shield 2
Ench 3
NA 3
Deflect. 3
Combat expert. 4
Fight Def. 3
Total 43
Great idea in original post, but I see 2 problems:
Only 1 use per day of Weal's Champion means that most of the time you won't be able to add the full bonus to your allies.
Delaying Bard spellcasting progression by 3 levels is rough. At least get Magical Knack (probably by way of Additional Traits(*)) to offset 2 of the 3 lost caster levels.
(*)If you need to squeeze in a Campaign Trait, bump Battlefield Disciple out of your original traits and get it together with Magical Knack using Additional Traits. Fit it in by bumping Combat Expertise back to insert just before Swift Aid (unless I missed another feat that requires it).
By large shield, did you mean heavy shield?
I can't find the Master Performer feat.
For the Succor Mystery alternative, since some Revelations effectively give you bonus feats, you might be (just barely) able to afford to go VMC Bard to get in the Bardic Performance, although this leaves out the Bardic Performance improving feats and Additional Traits (although you have less need for the latter since you won't need Magical Knack, so if you have to squeeze in a Campaign Trait, you could instead take a Drawback).
@ Derrick
That's a good find - I wasn't aware of the Succor mystery.
So building on that you could get +4 from helpful halfling, +5 from succor, +1 from the ring for a total of +10 to aid another / +9 for swift aid (if my rules interpretation is correct)
That's a pretty good deal when you have 9th lvl spells too...
It doesn't exactly fill the role the very helpful halfling does, but is a nice backup action for an oracle and doesn't need to have a build around it...
@ UnArcane Election
Ah, but I haven't even used the Weal's Champion ability. The only reason for going Holy Tactician is to get the Battlefield presence ability to hand out the Harrying partner teamwork feat. It is a swift action, so good chances you can get to use it during an encounter, but in the example above it is much better to use swift aid every round if possible. Of course, if you only have one frontliner with you, it's easier to prioritize, but then again you may want to use some quickened spells or what have you....
Delayed bard spell progression is rough, agreed. Then again, this build isn't really that interested in spells. He does his work through others...
Traits and feats may be switched around for specific campaigns, good catch.
Yes, I mean heavy shield (",)
Master Performer is a feat from the Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide which is PFS legal I belive and should be ok by most GMs.
One of the tricks here is using the Gloves of arcane striking which helps quite a bit with the aid another bonus. Using drawbacks could be a solution to traits - in my current campaign we don't use drawbacks, but if your GM allows them it's a good way to squeeze in that camapign trait for instance
Just to help clarify, I'm pretty sure the bonuses from HELPFUL and SWIFT AID don't stack the way you think.
Since both are worded as replacing the original number rather than modifying it you have to choose one or the other (meaning standard action +4 or swift action +1).
You're still going to give +11 to hit for that guy though (I think) so it's not terrible.
Also I'm pretty sure there's a different trait you can pick (instead-of/as-well-as Helpful) that gives a +X to all aid-another checks (+1 I think?) instead of changing the base number. I'll see if I can remember what it's called ...
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Master Performer is a feat from the Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide which is PFS legal I belive and should be ok by most GMs.
Master Performer is definitely not pathfinder society legal, has a significant roleplaying requirement, and should definitely not be allowed by DM's without due consideration.
To put it in perspective, Counterpoint to inspiration gives a +1 to ardic music, and is a massive feat chain that requires a mate to do the same. Whilst not all feats are equal, there is a very good reason Master performer is not PFS legal. It is very, very powerful.
Also the succour mystery calls out specifically that it does not stack with other bonuses on aid another (Paizo got wise to that after a few of these thread popped up).
@MrCharisma
Yes, I've been trying to find a ruling/faq/dev statement on that subject as well, coming up short so far.
- Swift Aid gives you a reduced effect Aid Another action.
- Helpful increases the effect of an Aid Another action.
Seems to me that helpful does interact with the swift aid feat, but if so how? Does swift aid give you 1/2 of the total effect or -1 to the total effect?
Still worth it, but would be good to know...
Are you thinking of a different trait than Battlefield disciple (which is already in the build)? If so I'm intrigued :)
Also seems like the jury is out on the question of using fighting defensivly with aid another - at least I couldn't find a good answer in the rules section....
@MrCharisma
Yes, I've been trying to find a ruling/faq/dev statement on that subject as well, coming up short so far.
I don't know if there is an FAQ, but the way it's worded grammatically prohibits them from working together.
Think of it like this:Your normal aid another is +4 due to your Helpful trait (General).
When you use a swift action to aid another the bonus changes to a +1 (Specific).
Specific trumps General.
OR
Helpful specifically says: "you grant your ally a +4 bonus instead of the normal +2." Since you weren't granting a +2 bonus (you were granting a +1) Helpful doesn't "activate" so does nothing (Helpful only changes a +2 to a +4, it doesn't change a +1 to a +3).
Either way the result is the same.
If it's a home game check with your GM, their opinion will be more important than mine.
Are you thinking of a different trait than Battlefield disciple (which is already in the build)? If so I'm intrigued :)
Derp =P
No I was thinking of Battlefield Disciple, I just missed it in your build.EDIT: Oh good find by Derrick Winters (above). You could be a Gillman adopted by Halflings or a Halfling adopted by Gillmen?
Also seems like the jury is out on the question of using fighting defensivly with aid another - at least I couldn't find a good answer in the rules section....
As far as I can tell you can. Aid another uses an attack-roll (1 always misses and 20 always hits and other stuff that goes with an attack roll). The main point about not being able to use abilities like this is that you have to take the penalty to get the benefit. In this case you are taking a penalty to your aid-another roll, so you should be able to take the benefits as well.
As long as you're doing this remember that 3 points into Acrobatics gets you a further +1AC when fighting defensively:- Skills If you have 3 or more ranks in Acrobatics, you gain a +3 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively instead of the usual +2, and a +6 dodge bonus to AC when taking the total defense action instead of the usual +4.
At lower levels this might be better than combat expertise.
Also while I was looking for a ruling on Aid Another (didn't find it) I found COMBAT ADVICE which could be useful?
Both Swift Aid and Helpful replace the normal "+2" effect of Aid another - iirc, they do not stack.
The trait that offers +1 to aid another is Azlanti Inheritor, a gillman-only
racialrace trait.
Subtle but important difference.
It looks like a "Race" trait, not a "Racial" trait, but correct me if I'm wrong there.Really great find though =D
IF USING BUTTERFLY STING:
On the Bodyguard FAQ: use a whip for threatening enemies. Use a magical buckler in the same arm as the whip, and use the whip ONLY for threatening enemies for Bodyguard.
In the other hand carry a weapon that works well with Butterfly Sting (like a rapier or kukri).
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I have a girl scout investigator/ vigilante who does similar work.
Consider three levels of investigator to get effortless aid talent:
Benefit: The investigator can use an aid another action as a move action instead of as a standard action. An investigator can expend one use of inspiration to instead perform an aid another action as a swift action.
And remember, aid another's stack!
Thanks for all the feedback, exactly what I was hoping for from this illustruos forum and its patrons :)
@zedorland
Master Performer is definitely not pathfinder society legal, has a significant roleplaying requirement, and should definitely not be allowed by DM's without due consideration.
Looking more closely at this feat chain I think you're absolutely on the money. Good call - I'll revise the build and trade these for other feats.
@Derric Winters & MrCharisma
Well done on finding obscure traits! Kudos! Working an "adopted by gillmen" trait into the background story may be a bit of a braintwister. Perhaps a gillman adopted by halflings could work... I'll note it as a possibility, but stick with Battlefield disciple for now.
On the topic of swift aid and helpful halfling:
I don't know if there is an FAQ, but the way it's worded grammatically prohibits them from working together.
Perhaps you're right, but as you say, GM is the final arbitrer. For now I'll assume he agrees with you in the build. That would mean that the swift aid will be at a base +1 to aid another - but will still benefit from benevolent abilities of weapons and armor, gloves of arcane striking and ring of tactical precision, correct? If so that's still a sizeable bonus to provide to someone on a swift action...
As long as you're doing this remember that 3 points into Acrobatics gets you a further +1AC when fighting defensively
Yup, already taken into account in the original build. ;)
As far as I can tell you can. Aid another uses an attack-roll (1 always misses and 20 always hits and other stuff that goes with an attack roll). The main point about not being able to use abilities like this is that you have to take the penalty to get the benefit. In this case you are taking a penalty to your aid-another roll, so you should be able to take the benefits as well.
Agreed - but check with your GM. For this build I'll assume we can convince the GM.
Also while I was looking for a ruling on Aid Another (didn't find it) I found COMBAT ADVICE which could be useful?
In the right build, yes, but with this bard build we're already providing a +3 competence bonus to hit and damage through inspire courage and maintaining this as a free action every round. Being the same kind of bonus they won't stack unfortunately...
AND LASTLY, EVERY BODYGUARD BUILD SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS UNFORTUNATE FAQ ... SORRY TO BE THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS.
That is something to be aware of. As written, pre-FAQ you only had to be adjacent to your ward, it said nothing about having to threaten. So this can be remedied by using a reach weapon, but that again makes it harder to use a shield and its sweet "benevolent" ability. Alternatively you can move so that you always threaten the same enemy. My intention here is to use a 3rd level bard spell Coordinated Effort to give party members the Escape Route feat - this should make it a lot easier to position ourselves where we threaten the enemy without being killed by AOOs.
One more question came up: Being that aid another specifically stacks, would a swift aid and an aid another from the same source (the helpful halfling in this case) also stack? I.e. could the halfling use a swift aid to give Frontline Fighter #1 (FF#1) a +8 bonus to hit AND then give him a +11 bonus to hit for a whopping +19 bonus to hit?
@ spiffy337
That's a really interesting build as well. Cautious fighter and Blundering defense are good finds, I think I'll see if I can incorporate those into the Very Helpful Halfling build! Thanks.
Question on the Blundering Defense though: Using this, will you provide your adjacent ally with 1/2 of your total dodge bonus, or only 1/2 of your dodge bonus originating from Fighting Defensively/full defense (including cautious fighter)? What I'm thinking of is other sources of dodge AC e.g. combat reflexes or from monk/duelist abilities etc. Consider a halfling monk with high wisdom and combat reflexes (perhaps a sensei archetype) - he could pump the AC provided to your ally considerably if the feat gives 1/2 of your total dodge bonus...
Butterfly Sting seems a good choice for your Legionnaire - for the bard based build I posted however... He doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of hitting a barndoor. In fact he has to be somewhat mindful to not gimp himself so bad that he struggles to hit AC10 for aid another. So handing out confirmed crits is not something he will be doing on a regular basis :)
One comment to the golden legionnaire is that even at high levels he's often going to have to make a choice of which buffs to give. United defense and Authorative command are swift/move actions, and Aid another is a standard action you are limited to a 5 ft step in terms of movement to position yourself for use of the bodyguard feat. Also, without the harrying partners feat the bonuses from aid another will only apply to the first attack done by/received by your ward. Still a very interesting build for sure. Hope you have fun playing him in PFS - would be interesting to hear what your experience with him is :)
@ Oli Ironbar
Sounds like an interesting build, would you care to share it?
If you weren't already crammed full of required feats and already dipping 3 levels of Paladin, I would say dip 1 level of Mouser Swashbuckler, which lets you get underfoot to an opponent and mess up their ability to attack somebody else (-4 penalty), AND gets you free Weapon Finesse so that you can use your amazing Dexterity with your weapon (your current build DOESN'T have Weapon Finesse, which really hurts), including succeeding at Attacks of Opportunity against an enemy that tries to leave their square that you moved into; your Panache will also be considerable from your awesome Charisma. If you could manage to squeeze in Weapon Focus and Fencing Grace or Slashing Grace, even better.
One other thought I had was if you can convince some other players to take on some of the functions in your build, they may be more effective spread out over more characters (as well as allowing you more breathing room to fit in things like Weapon Finesse/Weapon Focus/{Fencing|Slashing} Grace.
* * * * * * * *
By the way, I want to incorporate parts of the builds above into characters/parties(*) for Giantslayer and/or Ironfang Invasion (at least).
(*)Again, spread the features out over multiple PCs.
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Updated based on your feedback :)
One of the key features of this build is being able to dish out teamwork feats, specifically harrying partners to provide aid another bonus the whole round and not just on their next attack - this will make your frontline fighters hit even high AC enemies with all their iterative attacks and using power attack etc etc.
Compared to the first build, his saves and hit points are the same but AC is up by 2 due to cautious fighter, meaning he is even more survivable.
Inspire confidence will still affect all allies for +3/+3 to hit/dmg.
Aid another bonus is at +11
Swift aid bonus is at +8
All adjacent allies will get a +2 to AC from Blundering defense.
Aid another to FF#1 will give +14 to hit (including inspire confidence)
Swift aid to FF#2 will give +11 to hit (again including inspire confidence) - Alternativly using both swift aid and aid another on FF#1 for +22 to hit (Allowed by RAW?)
Allies qualifying for Bodyguard will get +13 to AC on AOOs (including blundering defense)
Aid another bonus will last the whole round, making sure that the BBEG has a hard time hitting your peeps.
Toss in some haste/heroism/finale spells as needed.
With all modifiers he is at +9 to hit so barring a natural 1 he will hit AC 10 and succeed on aid another.
Race:
Halfling
Attributes: (not super important, but the numbers below should be attainable with magic items)
Str 8
Dex 20
Con 18
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 22
Alternate Racial Traits:
Fleet of Foot (base speed of 30 feet)
Traits:
Helpful halfling (+4 to Aid another)
Battlefield disciple (increase aid another by 1 on attack rolls)
Class levels (archetype):
Lvl 3 Paladin (Holy Tactician)
Lvl 12 Bard (Arcane Duelist)
Starting off at level 1 with Holy Tactician, alternating with Arcane Duelist until level 6. Then Arcane duelist all the way.
Feats:
Lvl 1 - Combat expertise
Lvl 2 - Arcane Strike (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 3 - Combat reflexes
Lvl 5 - Bodyguard
Lvl 5 - Escape route (Bonus feat from HT)
Lvl 7 - Harrying partners
Lvl 9 - Swift Aid
Lvl 9 - Disruptive (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 11 - Cautious halfling
Lvl 13 - Blundering defense
Lvl 13 - Spellbreaker (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 13 - Medium armor prof. (Bonus feat from AD)
Lvl 15 - Lingering performance
Skills:
Acrobatics 3 ranks (gain a +3 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively)
...the rest
Items: (Wealth by level - 240000 gp)
Gloves of arcane striking (5000)
short sword, Benevolent +2 (18000)
Mithral breastplate, benevolent +3 (20150)
Large shield, guarding +3 (16000)
Ring of tactical precision (11000)
Amulet of natural armor +3 (18000)
Ring of protection +3 (18000)
Belt of dexterity & con +4 (40000)
Headband of Charisma +6 (36000)
Metamagic rod of quickening, lesser (35000)
Cloak of resistance +4 (16000)
Other odds & ends (ca. 7000)
Saves:
Attr + Bard + Paladin + Divine Grace + Item
Fort 4+ 4+ 3+ 6+ 4 = 21
Ref 5+ 8+ 1+ 6+ 4 = 24
Will 1+ 8+ 3+ 6+ 4 = 22
AC:
Base 10
Size (Small) 1
Dex 5
Armor 6
Ench. 3
Shield 2
Ench 3
NA 3
Deflect. 3
Combat expert. 4
Fight Def. 3
Cautious ftr 2
Total 45
To hit:
BAB 12
Size (small) 1
Str -1
Combat expert. -4
Fight Def. -4
Ench. 2
Inspire confidence 3
Total 9
Aid another bonus Attack / AC
Helpful halfling 4 / 4
Ring of tact. 1 / 1
Arcane str. gloves 4 / 4
Battlefield disc. 1 / 0
Benevolent arm. 0 / 3
Benevolent weap. 2 / 0
Total 11 / 11
Swift aid bonus Attack / AC
Swift aid 1 / 1
Ring of tact. 1 / 1
Arcane str. gloves 4 / 4
Battlefield disc. 1 / 0
Benevolent arm. 0 / 3
Benevolent weap. 2 / 0
Total 8 / 8
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@UnArcaneElection
Yup, he his crammed for feats. No two ways about it. Though I don't think weapon finesse and such is a huge deal for the Very Helpful Halfling. After all, he's not interested in hitting his opponents, only in using aid another. Hitting AC 10 to trigger aid another is something he can do unless he rolls a natural 1...
By all means, incorporate anything you find useful - let me how how they play if you want, I'd be interested to know :)
PS: The mouse swashbuckler was a cool class, I hadn't noticed that one before.
I am playing in a campaign where a player made a helpful kobold (adopted :p). We ruled that bodyguard required you to have the target you are trying to protect within melee reach. This is partially because we use Path of War and everyone is super mobile.
With the whip tail attachment and the enlarge tail spell our kobold radiated a 15ft bubble of safety. where you got +8 ac and attack bonuses.
We retired the helpful kobold because he was too effective. He basically made all enemy martial characters worthless since no one could get through the +8 bonus AC or so he would provide.
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I guess another approach, given that you're going to tank your spellcasting anyway, would be to go whole hog with it and dip even more, adding 1 level of Mouser Swashbuckler (as noted above, the Underfoot Assault Deed lets you debuff enemies by -4 when they are trying to attack your friends, which seems VERY helpful to me) and 2 levels of Lore Warden Fighter (gives you 2 floating bonus feats and free Combat Expertise, which you normally can't get with Intelligence 10):
Halfling with stats as before, but also worship Torag(*) to qualify for the Defensive Strategist trait.
(*)Torag, despite Dwarvish origins, is a deity whose worship has general distribution, and is thus a legitimate choice for Halflings; furthermore, to be a Paladin who isn't a Gray Paladin, you have to be Lawful Good anyway.
Initial Traits: Battlefield Disciple (Combat) (increase aid another by 1 on attack rolls), Defensive Strategist (Religion, gives you almost Uncanny Dodge in a trait), Helpful (Race, halfling) (+4 to Aid another)
Initial Drawback (to pay for the extra trait): Overprotective (the penalty isn't too bad for what you're doing, and the flavor fits)
1: Mouser Swashbuckler 1: Swashbuckler awards Swashbuckler Finesse = modified Weapon Finesse (you definitely want this first) and gives you the Underfoot Assault Deed (see above); Level 1 character feat = Weapon Focus ({insert your Finessable one-handed Piercing or Slashing weapon here}) (you also want this first)
2: Lore Warden Fighter 1: Fighter Bonus Feat = {select one of Fencing Grace|Slashing Grace} (you also want this as soon as possible after first) -- you are now personally effective in combat, and devote further levels to become extra-helpful, although the Arcane Duelist Bard levels certainly won't hurt with being effective in combat yourself
3: Lore Warden Fighter 2: Fighter Bonus Feat = Combat Reflexes; Lore Warden Fighter also awards Combat Expertise in addition to the Fighter Bonus Feat; Level 3 character feat = Bodyguard
4: Holy Tactician Paladin 1: -
5: Arcane Duelist Bard 1: Arcane Duelist Bard awards Arcane Strike; Level 5 character feat = Extra Performance (to make up for being way behind -- with this build it can be squeezed in a lot earlier, while you are waiting to get enough Base Attack Bonus to qualify for Swift Aid)
6: Holy Tactician Paladin 2: -
7: Holy Tactician Paladin 3: Bonus Teamwork Feat (awarded to use with Battlefield Presence) = Escape Route; Level 7 character feat = Swift Aid
8: Arcane Duelist Bard 2: Arcane Duelist Bard awards Combat Casting (you left this out of your build)
9: Arcane Duelist Bard 3: Level 9 character feat = Harrying Partners
10: Arcane Duelist Bard 4: -
11: Arcane Duelist Bard 5: Level 11 character feat = Cautious Fighter (I couldn't find Cautious Halfling)
12: Arcane Duelist Bard 6: Arcane Duelist Bard awards Disruptive
13: Arcane Duelist Bard 7: Level 13 character feat = Blundering Defense
14: Arcane Duelist Bard 8: -
15: Arcane Duelist Bard 9: Level 15 character feat = Lingering Performance
16: Arcane Duelist Bard 10: Arcane Duelist Bard Awards Spellbreaker; also becomes able to cast in Medium Armor
At this point you now have everything that was in your latest build using just 1 more character level, and have some extra stuff to make you a lot more effective in combat yourself (and put back in Extra Performance), as well as being for practical purposes +4 more helpful whenever you use your Mouser Swashbuckler ability to get in an enemies space (by way of applying a -4 debuff to the enemy). You might want to rearrange some stuff, but you definitely want the Mouser Swashbuckler level first and the Lore Warden Fighter levels second. Your Bard spellcasting is now degraded to effectively that of a delayed 4/9 caster instead of the equivalent of a 4/9 caster in your original build (who would get 5th level spells at 16th level and 6th level spells at 19th level), although you will actually get 5th level spells at 19th level. Even so, with the Charisma you put above, you might still get some spells to stick, although it's better to concentrate mainly upon defensive, other buffing, restorative, and utility spells. On the upside, your Base Attack Bonus will be better (even getting you to +16 at level 20), meaning that at some levels you will have more regular attacks (which can potentially be used for Aid Another, although the first couple of iteratives can be useful as attacks in their own right).
@Knight Magenta
We ruled that bodyguard required you to have the target you are trying to protect within melee reach
That's already part of the rules I believe:
Bodyguard excerpt:
When an adjacent ally is attacked, you may use an attack of opportunity to attempt the aid another action to improve your ally’s AC.
...and not only that, but you also need to threaten the attacker of your ally to use the Bodyguard feat as pointed out in an earlier post. So longspear and spiked gauntlet will probably be good choices for weapons.
We retired the helpful kobold because he was too effective
That is hilarious! :)
@spiffy337
Right, so if I could squeeze in Crane style that would take the dodge bonus from fighting defensively up a notch. With the Blundering defense feat you want to hit those even numbers
Fighting defensively w/3+ ranks Acrobatics: +3 dodge AC
Cautious fighter: +2 dodge AC
Crane style: +1 dodge AC
You could be doling out +3 to AC to everyone who is adjacent to you. Any way to pump this further within the same build I wonder...
@UnArcaneElection
I really like the mouser for this build, even a 1 level dip gets a lot of mileage. 5 Panache points will most certainly make you a big (small) nuisance for most opponents, and being in the opponents square will make it quite easy for your allies to be within your zone of protection, even without using reach weapons. Which of course makes using a benevolent shield better again... I like it.
As for the lore warden levels and weapon focus, I'm not entirely convinced. If you aim to be a reasonable damage dealer yourself, then yes. If you're fine with never dealing an actual hit point in damage yourself throughout your adventuring career, then no. I was planning on the latter, dealing damage only through assisting my allies to hit.
And yes, bard levels and casting is fairly tanked, only to be used for buffing and out of combat (apart from the obvious inspire confidence), but you do get the staples like haste, heroism etc to cast when/if you have no other way of being helpful :)
Trait called fool for friends is a flat +1 to Aid another.
LVL 15 Aid for +14AC Can do it as a standard, move, and AoO.
Animal companion that can intimidate and Aid for +5 using bodyguard
Gives +5 Luck to adjacent with Blundering Defence
Can give +11 Nat with draconic defender.
Can give +2AC for a negative -1AC with a swift
And a bunch of other stuff that has users per day
Race: Halfling
Alt Race Traits: Fleet-footed
Traits: Helpful, Cautious Warrior
Global level: 1| Class level: Monk 1| Class abilities: Advice (Inspire courage)| Feats: Improved unarmed strike, Dodge, Toughness
Global level: 2| Class level: M1 Cavalier 1| Class abilities: Sworn Defence, Challenge 1/day, Order (Order of the dragon), Tactician| Feats: Escape route
Global level: 3| Class level: M1 C2| Class abilities: Order ability (Aid Allies)| Feats: Cautious Fighter
Global level: 4| Class level: M1 C3| Class abilities: Intercept | Feats: Body Guard
Global level: 5| Class level: M1 C4| Class abilities: Challenge 2/day, Expert Trainer| Feats: Blundering Defence
Global level: 6| Class level: M1 C4 Paladin 1| Class abilities: Weal's champion, Detect evil, Aura of Good
Global level: 7| Class level: M1 C4 P2| Class abilities: Divine Grace, Lay on Hands| Feats: Horse Master
Global level: 8| Class level: M1 C4 P3| Class abilities: Tactical Acumen, Battle Field Presence| Feats: Harrying Partners
Global level: 9| Class level: M1 C4 P3 Investigator 1| Class abilities: Alchemy, inspiration, Trapfinding| Feats: Combat Reflexes
Global level: 10| Class level: M1 C4 P3 I2| Class abilities: Ceaseless Observation
Global level: 11| Class level: M1 C4 P3 I3| Class abilities: Keen recollection, Trap sense, Investigators Talent (Effortless Aid)| Feats: Crane Style
Global level: 12| Class level: M1 C4 P3 I3 Golden legionnaire| Class abilities: Authoritative Command, Defy Danger +2
Global level: 13| Class level: M1 C4 P3 I3 GL 2| Class abilities: Intercept, Unified Defence +2| Feats: Stand Still, Crane Wing
Global level: 14| Class level: M1 C4 P3 I3 GL 3| Class abilities: Allied Retribution
Global level: 15| Class level: M1 C4 P3 I3 GL4| Class abilities: Improved Aid| Feats: Swift Aid, Draconic Defender
Items
+2 benevolent shield
+2 benevolent armour
Ring of tactical presence
Fighting defensively bonus: +11 AC [2 (bace) +1 (Cautious Warrior) +2 (Cautious Fighter) +1 (Acrobatics) +4 (Crane Wing) +1 (Crane Style)]
Aid another bonus: +14 [4 (Helpful) +1 (Improved Aid) +3 (Aid Allies) +1 (Allied Retribution) + 2 (Benevolent shield) + 2 (Benevolent Armour) +1 (Ring of tactical presence)]
Other:
Draconic Defender: +11 Natural
Blundering Defence: +5 luck (adjacent)
Advice: +1 Hit, +1 Dmg Competence (standard start, free) (all allies)
Challenge +2 attack circumstance (all allies), +1 AC
Weal's champion +1 DMG Competence +½ Cha Hit
Animal Companion
Boar
Bodyguard Archetype
Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.; AC +6 natural armor; Attack gore (1d8); Ability Scores Str 22, Dex 15, Con 19, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 4; Special Qualities low-light vision, scent, ferocity. Feats Additional traits (Adopted (helpful), Fools for friends), Bodyguard, Intimidating Powerness, Dazzling Display, Weapon Focus (Gore), Skill Focus (Intimidate)
[edit:] I forgot the archetypes Holy tactician Paladin, Honor Guard Cavalier, Empiricist Investigator, Sensi Monk
Would the Cavaliers Aid Allies and the Halflings Helpful Halfling stack or would they both just increase the base?
At 2nd level, whenever an order of the dragon cavalier uses the aid another action to assist one of his allies, the ally receives a +3 bonus to his armor class, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. At 8th level, and every six levels thereafter, this bonus increases by an additional +1.
The way it is written (it is written in the book the same) it says it doesn't replace anything so it adds a whole +3
@UnArcaneElection
I really like the mouser for this build, even a 1 level dip gets a lot of mileage. 5 Panache points will most certainly make you a big (small) nuisance for most opponents, and being in the opponents square will make it quite easy for your allies to be within your zone of protection, even without using reach weapons. Which of course makes using a benevolent shield better again... I like it.
Keep in mind that the shield needs to be a Buckler to be friendly to a Swashbuckler with low Strength. Still not bad though, since you aren't going to be Shield Bashing anyway.
As for the lore warden levels and weapon focus, I'm not entirely convinced. If you aim to be a reasonable damage dealer yourself, then yes. If you're fine with never dealing an actual hit point in damage yourself throughout your adventuring career, then no. I was planning on the latter, dealing damage only through assisting my allies to hit.
{. . .}
Well, since Combat Expertise is a prerequisite for one of your Helpful feats, and Lore Warden Fighter 2 gets you Combat Expertise prerequisite-free (although Mouser Swashbuckler modifies the prerequisite so that you could meet it anyway) AND 2 other bonus Combat Feats that you really need, it lets you start getting online a lot faster even as it makes you combat-effective -- note that you're getting Bodyguard at character level 3 instead of character level 5, although in exchange you have to wait to character level 7 instead of character level 5 for the Holy Tactician abilities to kick in -- but then again it also opens up a feat slot that you can use for Extra Performance on your first Arcane Duelist level to have a decent amount of Bardic Performance for your character level.
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My son has a similar build for PFS. He uses Phalanx Soldier Fighter to be able to use a Bardiche one handed and still use a shield. With Two-Weapon Fighting he can use that shield to bash (and more importantly to threaten) adjacent foes. He also uses Order of the Dragon Cavalier with the Strategist and Honor Guard archetypes. His mount is a Bodyguard Animal Companion Archetype so knows the same tricks he does. The mount helps him place himself and the mount during the first rounds of combat. I would look into all of these options.
I would also suggest looking into the following items: Pliant Gloves, Long Arm Bracers, Boots of Striding and Springing, Drinking Horn of Bottomless Valor and the Fortuitous weapon enhancement. Fortuitous doesn't help when Bodyguard triggers but since you are likely going for reach you will have a lot of AoOs trigger near you.
I would also suggest looking into the Vanguard Style line of feats. They pair up nicely with Bodyguard and Combat Patrol.
edit: Also, I have this thread with both Mark Seifter (resident Paizo rules guy) and Jason Nelson (the designer behind Combat Patrol) posting in support of how they work together.
@ UnArcaneElection
Buckler it is :)
Lore warden does add some nice feats, but at the cost of bard levels. Hm, perhaps it might be worth it at that...
@Lune
That is a really interesting build as well! Do you have a post where the full build is detailed?
Just in case you want to put some of this build on something other than a Halfling, and you happen to be playing Ironfang Invasion:
{. . .}
World-Weary: You’ve seen the horrors of war, and had hoped you’d seen the end of it. You’ve retreated from the ghting—likely from the front line with Molthune, but maybe from the crusade of Lastwall or the political in ghting of Ustalav—and now just want to protect and provide for those you care about. You gain one of the following as a permanent class skill: Appraise, Heal, Knowledge (history), Sense Motive, or Survival. When you perform an aid another action to improve a creature’s Armor Class, you increase its AC by +4 rather than +2.
{. . .}
^Just realized that if you are a Bard, Fighter, Paladin, and Swashbuckler, you already have every one of the skills in the World-Weary campaign trait in class, so you definitely don't want to trade out the Halfling version of the Helpful trait for the World-Weary campaign trait.
Also, "in ghting" should be "infighting" above -- copy and paste from PDFs does weird things sometimes.
Either Frontier Healer or Ironfang Survivor should be fine, though -- you just have to figure out a way to squeeze in another trait. Additional Traits is tempting, but this build is already REALLY feat-starved. Almost tempted to throw in 1 or 2 levels of Sohei Monk just to get some more bonus feats, to free up a character feat for Additional Traits. Now, if you get Additional Traits, that gives you 2 traits, so you could either ditch the drawback, OR you could also get Indomitable Faith (Faith -- doesn't interfere with any of the other traits) to shore up your weakest Save, which is Will (due to having only middling Wisdom while you have good Constitution and awesome Dexterity). I would have said Irrepressible, which is normally better for your high Charisma, but Paladin's Divine Grace makes Irrepressible redundant. Do note that Holy Tactician Paladin trades out Aura of Courage, so getting Half an Iron Will is actually significant, and pretty good for a trait.
Just had a thought: If you go Brawler (for instance, Exemplar Brawler instead of Arcane Duelist Bard, to get Bardic Performance and some more bonus Combat Feats), I wonder if Holy Tactician's Battlefield presence works with feats gained through hMartial Flexibility? Exemplar Brawler's Field Instruction, which is otherwise redundant with Battlefield Presence and limited use, does.
Dot