Here's the deal: our party of 5 has only one melee character, a Paladin. He has a good build for tanking damage, but doesn't have anything to actually prevent enemies from rushing past him to his buddies. We don't want to force him to go down that road, but since we now lost our "off tank", we are looking for alternative ways to make our ranged safer. The only other melee help we have is a ghost from our Spiritualist, while the rest of us are two Gunslingers and a witch.
So we are looking for any idea on how to make it harder for melee enemies to come close to us.
The first ideas that came to mind are caltrops and marbles, to prevent charges and slow them down, or larger obstacles to make some sort of barrier. The issue with it is the time required to put them down: we can do it IF we know the fight is gonna happen. But while in a dungeon, we don't always know when and from where we will be attacked, and we can't always lure the enemies to our "prepared spot". Tanglefoot bags are also on the table...
Another idea is buying animals or hiring mercenaries, to build a better front line. It can work, and it's not too expensive, but animals require Handle Animals checks (which we are not great at), and mercenaries are not cheap in the long run (and since we are not Evil, we can't just get "cheap ones" to have them slaughtered after one fight...)
Any other idea? How do you defend your ranged characters from melee enemies or from ambushes from the back?
Combat Reflexes and Combat Patrol with a Reach weapon.
granted for a paladin, depending on how he was build- that may require a complete rebuild.
Rather than focusing on making one person do a job, why not talk to the players about assisting in that regard, and reconsidering their own tactics?
As for the other characters- why two gunslingers? try talking one into possibly rebuilding to a Ranger or some other martial class that can be proficient in both ranged and melee.
They could also look into buying Dagger Pistols or Hammer/Axe Musket, so they have melee options without wasting action economy.
What Emotional Focus is the Spiritualist's Phantom? Anger/Hatred are the most melee focused emotions, that could help impede threats. Kindness has a psuedo-Assault Leader ability, that would help the paladin or any flanking ally make an attack
We didn't plan to ask the Paladin to rebuild, which is why we are looking for other ways.
The gunslingers are a Musket Master and a TWF Pistolero. I don't think they'll get those weapons: the damage is far lower than their default or double barrelled counterparts; they are more likely to get quick draw to solve the action economy problem. Also they are proficient with all Martial weapons, so they could fight melee.
The main issue is mostly their damage; while they do huge amounts of it at range, having negative STR scores really brings down their chances to do any at close range. Weapon Finesse can help to hit, but none of us can still afford (and won't for a long time) an Agile weapon (even worse, 2 Agile weapons for the TWF), and the pistolero is also small sized, meaning even less damage.
I think the Focus is Hatred. So that should help.
The witch gets the summon monster line of spells, if they start choosing to learn them. Insta-meat-shields.
Beyond that, the casters can focus on the various terrain control spells that stop jerks from getting up to you or bottleneck terrain-- pits, black tentacles, grease, all the classic conjuration stuff. Make there be a path that leads to the squishies, and have the paladin be blocking that path.
It depends on level to some extent. A witch with spite loaded with frigid touch or vampiric touch can survive the first round at least, but to do that they need to be 7th+ level to cast spite. A +1 spell storing armored kilt could do the same but if you're unable to afford an agile weapon that's probably off the table too.
A gunslinger can easily dip a level in some class to become more effective in melee. Past 5th level (barring certain archetypes, which musket master and pistolero aren't) there's little enough in the gunslinger class that they might as well. A level in swashbuckler to be able to parry for example, or a couple in warpriest for some buffs, or in magus for a different sort of buffs.
If you can get any room at all then Dien's suggestions should work wel.
Thanks for the advice.
We just level up at 7th level, so we do have some good spells already, but not many.
The Pistolero will probably dip into Fighter, to get some feats and improve his melee capabilities, while the Musket Master is interested in Investigator as far as I know.
Any other tip? Cheap magic items or even common ones that could help?
Bober wrote: Any other tip? The easiest solution is to recognize that the pair of gunslingers are d10 classes. They should also have a good AC due to high DEX and Nimble. They can easily take an AOO or three. Have them soak up an AOO to shoot in melee when they come across the critter that they simply can't 5-ft step away from. Taking an AOO isn't the end of the world.
All told, the gunslingers can easily soak up the round needed for the witch to drop in the extra summoned monsters Dien suggested.
The party should also focus fire on all foes that do run past the paladin. A pair of gunslingers should be able to mow down a foe or two per round, and more if they are mooks. Let the paladin get his extra damage from AOOs for the foes running past and smile all the while.
Does the paladin have a mount? Wand of Mount is a great control wand. Also the witch can learn Mount Communal(aka wall of horseflesh). Honestly the best way for a melee to control is for him to deal the most damage. Hence the enemy are forced to try and focus him down
Yeah...two gunslingers in a party of 4 is a really bad party composition. Not that it can't be made to work, but it's definitely more difficult than having a more normal party composition.
I doubt the paladin can do much alone, to protect all 3 of you so it's probably best if one of the gunslingers start to work on melee more.
Since they've both apparently tanked their dex, it might be worthwhile to take 4 levels in unchained rogue to get dex to damage with a melee weapon (and also debilitating injury). The elven branched spear could work very well (if one is an elf). It's a finessable reach weapon.
As a gunslinger, one of you can take empty quiver style and hit people with your gun grammaton cleric style if they get in melee range.
can't they just, 5ft step and attack?
Like this is "real life" and you're really going to go after the scariest thing, and that's often the casters.
And unless the AoO is scary enough, the enemy should just take it and still reach his target.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Just give the guy a polearm, stand a short distance behind him, and have him trip anyone who tries to get at you.
Even if a few enemies manage to break through, it should greatly mitigate the amount of trouble headed your way. Since many of you are d10 classes, you should be able to weather those few blockade runners just fine.
No rebuild necessary, merely a different tool. Since the paladin would be hitting people from 10 feet away, his trip attempts aren't likely to provoke and so he won't even need the Improved Trip feat.
We fixed up the Pistolero a bit, so he has 10 STR (no negative mod) in order to be able to do something in melee if needed. From level 8 he will begin taking levels in Fighter, and eventually Weapon Finesse.
The paladin does not have a mount, as far as I know.
The party is composed by 5, not 5. 2 casters (witch and spiritualist), 2 gunslingers, and a paladin.
I know it's not a perfect combo, but that's not a big deal.
I'm not sure why 4 levels in UC Rogue. The DEX to damage, from what I could see, is at 3rd level.
The Pistolero could go that way, instead of Fighter; the issue is sneak attack, something that from what I can see it's very unlikely to happen ranged without more feats (which he can't spare; ranged + TWF is already pretty intensive). Another issue is that we would still wait 3 more levels, which will take a while :S
There is no need for the empty quiver style, we can just get a melee weapon if that's the issue.
Step and attack is a possibility only if we are in large spaces. Also, the enemy can then get close and attack again, so they would still be engaged in melee if that happens. Which brings me here, looking for alternative ways to keep them away xD
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