Exelithur Vindragon's page

You can click the picture of my charcater to see m build or go here:
http://paizo.com/people/ErodelAlorius

Basically I designed him to be a bookworm wizard with lots of knowledge, speciliazing in Knowledge Arcana (with which he can take 10 at any time with a +12 for a total of 22). I wanted to make him a very devoted and classic kind of Pathfinder, someone whose not in the Society their own gain or ulterior motives but for the sake of exploration and discovery itself. My last character Exelithur Vindragon (http://paizo.com/people/ExelithurVindragon) was a Bard take on this concept, however where he tried to be more melee requiring decent STR DEX CON CHA and INT scores he was a bit too spread out and therefore not too great at any one thing. I tried to find a way to fix this and decided that I wanted to focus on his INT so a WIzard was the obvious choice. The Scroll Scholar Archetype was exactly waht I wanted for the character and when I found the Pathfinder's Focus trait it was perfect. Overall I think I'm much happier with this concept.

I definitely want him to go into one of the Pathfinder Prestige classes (Pathfinder Chronicler, Pathfinder Field Agent, or Pathfinder Delver) and I'm leaning towards the Field Agent because of his affinity for his compass which he will be upgrading into a Wayfinder at his earliest chance. Field Agent would still allow him to gain spells if I choose that as my first Field Agent training and then I'd be getting upgrades to my Wayfinder which seems very thematically appropriate that a devoted Pathfinder, and officianado on Knowledge Arcana would be so involved in restoring, tinkering, and improving his once old and broken compass/wayfinder. The Pathfinder Delver and Chronicler seemed to be more in tune with a Bard or Rogue design and wouldn't grant me any more spells so I'm debating strongly agaisn it. I realize in the long run it'd probably be more beneficial ability-wise for him to stay as a Wizard class than to go into Field Agent but the thematics of the character are very important to me, very much more so then optimizing my character's build to be as effective a monster killer/trap disabler/spell caster/whatever as possible. A lot of what I read on these forums is most often about optimizing builds and designing characters to "dip" into classes they have no right "dipping" into in order to take advantage of some ability while throwing the thematics of hte character out the window. Characters should be more than just stats. The world paizo has created is immense, deep, and utterly wonderful and embracing and delving into that world and its opportunities is what makes the game fun. I don't want just another shallow stereotpical optimized wizard build, Erodel is a unique character all his own, and becoming a Pathfinder Field Agent seems right up his alley.

So basically I would love to hear what you guys think of my character build, stats, thematics, and all keeping in mind that his effectiveness in game is as important his personality and style. Also if I've accidently used something not allowed in PFS please let me know and I'll look for a fix!

You guys were a great help last time!
Thanks!

(Click my name to see my full Character Build or go to http://paizo.com/people/ExelithurVindragon)

I was wondering what people thought of my build for my first PFS game. I wanted to build him as a a very Pathfinder-y kinda guy loyal to the Grand Lodge who loves to explore ruins and gather information and lost treasures and such. I felt the Archaeologist Bard Archetype was thematically appropriate as well as functionally. Given that Arcaheologists Luck seems to be a major component of the class since its replacing all aspects of Bardic Knowledge I wanted to focus on that and making him more combat-oriented and hands-on. I figured that the Fate's Favored trait fit nicely with the luck bonus since he'll now get a +2 to attack, damage, skill checks, and saving throws (or just about everything other than AC). With a CHA score of 16 he'll have 7 rounds of it, which isn't a lot, except when paired with the Lingering Performance feat which basically triples the duration. Since activating Arcaheologist's Luck was changed to a swift action instead of the normal standard action for Bardic Performance, using a Swift action every 3 rounds to start it up again for a total of 21 rounds in 7 intervals of 3 rounds sounds pretty darn amazing. With decent STR and DEX scores he schouldn't have too much trouble in combat other than his rather low HD/HP and no CON bonus to help have me a bit worried, but them's the stakes. I also realize that Additional Traits probably isn't the most popular choice of feats especially as a Human Bonus Feat choice but I couldn't help myself since there were just too many thematically appropriate (and brilliant) traits that I couldn't choose between. I couldn't think of much else for Feats to choose at 1st level anyway besides Extra Performance perhaps or something. Come to think of it, it may be worth it to give up the Additional Trait feat and take Toughness for the extra +3 HP. Being a tougher than normal Bard would fit his style and 8 hp instead of 5 at 1st level and then another +1 every level thereafter would be pretty nice since I want him to be able to hold his own in combat (not necesarily a front man tank or anything, but not the stereotypical hide around the corner and play the mandolin type either.)

Other than that he seems to be a rather well balanced character to me and a very good representation of a model Pathfinder. I'd love to hear any advice anyone has on my build or if I've accidently included something thats not PFS legal. (I did my best to double check but you never know.)

So I'm planning a level 1 Unarmed Fighter with the following feats:

Human Bonus Feat: Combat Reflexes
Level 1 Feat: Panther Claw
Unarmed Fighter Bonus: Improved Unarmed Strike
Unarmed Fighter Style: Panther Style

And if my GM allows I'd like to substitute Hero Points for the Bonus feat at first level so:

Hero Point Substitute Feat: Dodge (planning on taking Mobility next level)

My problem is that if I'm goign to be using retaiatory strikes and provoking attacks of opportunity, I need some kickass AC. Try as I may, I just couldn't squeeze in Panther Claw AND Mobility so it was sort of a toss up and I'm still not sure which to pick for sure, but the answer to my question may help me pick.

So my question is more of a clarification, because by my understanding, this should work.

If Panther Claw allows you to make retaliatory unarmed strikes as a free action to any opponent who makes an attack of opportunity at you for moving through their threatened area , then does that mean that I could take a standard action to use Total Defense to gain a +4 bonus to AC, and then take a move action through an opponent's threatened area provoking an atack of opportunity (which should hopefully miss) and then I am allowed to make my retaliatory unarmed strike as a free action agaisnt them, even though I'm using Total Defense?

The reason I ask is because in the definition of Total Defense it says I'm not allowed to make attacks of opportunity, and a retaliatory unarmed strike is A LOT like an attack of opportunity, but technically, its not. So aesthetically it seems like it shouldn't work, but according to the strict wording of the abilities, it should work, right?

Since an unarmed fighter is only proficient in Light armor, my AC would be 17 (10+4(chainshirt)+2(DEX mod)+1(Dodge)) but it would be 21 if I could use Total Defense and 25 by next level when I get Mobility for the extra +4 when moving.

So is this feasible? Or should I just take Mobility instead of Panther Claw and only make one retaliatory unarmed strike a round as a swift action? And if it does work like I think, should I just take Mobiltiy anyway for the 25 AC just to make sure that the 1 AoO doesn't hit?

I appreciate any and all feedback I can get :P Thanks!