I have been asked to help build a character for a nine year old that loves pirates and wants to start playing Pathfinder. He wants a pirate with a hook hand as their main weapon.
The problem is that I have no idea how to do this. I've never built a maimed/handicapped PC before. I need to keep the build as simple as possible for a nine year old embarking on their first ever role playing experience.
My natural thoughts tend to fighter or barbarian archetypes but I don't know how to make this work. Is there anything in the books about using a hook hand as your weapon and what feats would go with that?
Appreciate any help!
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It's a light weapon, so Rogue or Swashbuckler synchronize pretty nicely. If blaster-casting isn't too complicated, then a Sorcerer or Magus using a Wizard Hook and touch spells can work pretty well!
Hook hand is already a listed weapon.
There are two archetypes that would be thematically appropriate as well.
Well, first, lets establish something- I am not sure if hook hands are in any fighter weapon group. It is one of those odd ball weapons that might just have been left out.
But for simplicity's sake, lets assume that the hook is a type of close weapon. The oddball stuff, like stabbing pin type things and wooden stakes, get put into that category. And really- what could be closer than an item that is in the space that was supposed to be taken up by your hand?
Swashbuckler could be considered for your build, allowing normal weapon use with nice bonuses... but hook hands have terrible criticals, and swashbucklers heavily rely upon criticals (since they are made for rapiers). So lets assume you need to deal with how the two above assumptions clash.....
With that, you can make an effective hook hand build. This works off of some core assumptions
1. This character only has one missing hand (I mean.... you could cut off both, but that would be a bit extreme, no?)
2. Light weapons are usually not very good when you are not using getting a ton of attacks from things like TWF (unless you have something like swashbuckler to make up damage).
So what are some good ways around the contradiction of these assumptions? Brawler. It gives you a version of TWF that lets you use 1 weapon for all attacks. So you get proper damage, but you don't need to mess up your image.
Now, a simple brawler? Brawlers can be a bit difficult to use since they have martial flexibility (which temporarily gives you pretty much any combat feat you could qualify for- this could lead to a lot of searching in the books for niche feats). The Mutagenic brawler archetype, however, trades away martial flexibility in return for getting the alchemist's mutagen (and some bonuses to close weapons while using that buff).
So the summary: a pirate that likes getting drunk on a weird ale, and then get into bar fights. Sounds about right.
Well, first, lets establish something- I am not sure if hook hands are in any fighter weapon group.
The Corsair posits the existence of a Pirate Weapon Group:
The Pirate Weapons group consists of the crossbow, cutlass, dagger, hook hand, rapier, and short sword.
I'm not sure if that means any other kind of fighter can take it, but I'd allow it.
Also,in this blog post with the updated weapon groups, the hook hand was added to the close weapon group (so it works for Brawlers.)
Fair enough.
General point- brawler is a fine choice if your stylistic goal is to use a single light weapon (that happens to be a monk or close weapon).
You do not even need to particularly stick with the class. You get brawler's flurry at level 2, which gives you the altered version of TWF, adn you can use it with normal TWF feats (improved TWF, greater TWF, TWF rend, etc.).
So you could spend the rest of your levels in something like ranger or slayer- something that gives you TWF feats. So a brawler 2/slayer 6 is still great. This gives you the option to grab more skill points, and other useful abilities.
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Appreciate the help guys. I went with the corsair archetype for a fighter since this is for a nine year old trying things out. He has a hook hand and a cutlass, sounds like fun to me if I was a nine or ninety year old.
Appreciate the help guys. I went with the corsair archetype for a fighter since this is for a nine year old trying things out. He has a hook hand and a cutlass, sounds like fun to me if I was a nine or ninety year old.
One of the problems with using mixed weapons is that it doesn't play nice with weapon specific feats, such as weapon focus. For fighters especially, this can be a problem (since a plain old fighter can usually take up to 4 weapon specific feats).
Luckily, corsair is actually a rather nice lynch pin for this kind of build. It simply 'adds' the pirate weapon group, rather than replacing weapon training entirely. That means it qualifies for advanced weapon training.
So at some point, this build could benefit from taking the 'weapon specialist' option for AWT. This lets you apply feats like weapon focus onto every weapon in your chosen weapon group. So you could get both the hook and the rapier to share feats with the pirate weapon group.
You could, in theory, build for dexterity to make use of two-weapon fighting to use both the hook and the cutlass. Dervish Dance should work for the Cutlass ("It is treated as a scimitar for any effects that apply to scimitar") and though you couldn't easily get dex to damage, you could take advantage of the Advanced Weapon Training "Trained Grace" for bonus damage on the hook.
Incidentally, disarm and TWF can work pretty well together. You get to disarm, and then use AoO's and break guard, so it can be pretty fun.
Can you lose a hook hand if you fail a disarm check by a lot?
Cult Leader Warpriest of Besmara
1d4 x2 crit is horrible. Warpriest sacred weapon makes it far less horrible.
For his other hand, give him a rapier (her favored weapon). Dual wield them, with sneak attack for damage building.
Naturally have fate's favored with swift action divine favor.
I would recommend Plunder and Peril as a first game for a 9 year old pirate lover, and, if at the completion of the book they want to continue, you can flow the story into Skull & Shackles book 3.
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I have been asked to help build a character for a nine year old that loves pirates and wants to start playing Pathfinder. He wants a pirate with a hook hand as their main weapon.
The problem is that I have no idea how to do this. I've never built a maimed/handicapped PC before. I need to keep the build as simple as possible for a nine year old embarking on their first ever role playing experience.
My natural thoughts tend to fighter or barbarian archetypes but I don't know how to make this work. Is there anything in the books about using a hook hand as your weapon and what feats would go with that?
Appreciate any help!
Been working on a hook hand character myself, which is probably similiar to what a child would want (simple fighters are the best). Biggest challenge is that you can't really use your hook hand for other things, like loading ranged weapons, holding a two handed weapon, or equipping a Shield (as far as I know). On the other hand, it's a simple weapon, so most classes can use one, which gives options to character design.
Some odd build options, but here's what I got so far:
For 1st level, I'm a Human Fighter (Undecided on archetype). Human has the Giant Ancestry Racial Trait (+1 CMB and +1 CMD, -2 Stealth), and Combat Expertise for his racial Bonuse feat.
Attributes (20pt buy) 14, 14, 14, 14, 15, 7. (yeah, that +2 on everything except CHA, which is dumped, with wisdom being my high stat...though any of those stats could be the 15). Well Rounded character, with good skill access. Plus, Pirates should be ugly....
Traits are Pillager (Combat, +1 Disarm and +1 Steal) and Clever Word-Play (Social, Allows a CHA skill to use INT instead of CHA, I selected Bluff.)
1st Level Feats are Improved Feint (Feint is Bluff, and Bluff is INT based with the above) and Improved Disarm.
Basically the Character can Feint as a Move action (Roll Bluff check and if it beats opponent's Wis/sense motive check, target loses Dex to AC which also loses Dex to CMD). Then I can swipe with the hook hand to disarm (+1 BAB, +1 masterwork hook hand, +2 Str, +1 Giant Ancestry, +1 Pillager, +2 Disarm property on the hook hand, +2 Improved disarm = +10 on disarm attempts).
Pretty 1 dimensional tactic, and it only works if they have held weapons, but not the worst plan. Character should have a good balance of skills and attributes, so you can really try anything and be at least decent (except social skills, but good social skills on a pirate seems unflavorful).
For later levels, my plan is a Spiritualist (with a Jealous Phantom) which is why Wisdom is my high Stat. A mostly unrelated choice, but the above forms a study 1st level character. But, really, you could go anywhere with this build. A solid 1st level character, especially for someone new.
Regarding Archetypes mentioned in this thread, The Corsair's Pirate weapon group includes the Crossbow and the Hook Hand, but you can't load the crossbow without two hands (even the hand crossbow).