Halfling's Shadow's page

My friends and I are finally out of the bash demos for the beginner's box and we are going to start into a adventure path of our own creation. For this path I decided to play a bard. I tested the waters of my bard build using a human bard whose build was focused on melee distraction casting.

The build was this:

Str: 16 +3
Dex: 14 +2
Con: 14 +2
Int: 13 +1
Wis: 10 +0
Cha: 16 +2

(Note: These abilites were non standard point buys based on 6 groups of 4d6 drop the lowest roll)

Fort: +2
Ref: +4
Will: +2

Equip:
Longsword
shortbow
leather armor

attack bonus
+3 melee
+2 ranged

AC: 14
touch: 12
flat:12

init: +2
spd: 30

feats:
[human]arcane strike
[lv1] eschew material

nine skill ranks: (too long to list all but but ranks in these)
acrobatics
diplomacy
knowledge arcana
knowledge planes
linguistics
perception
perform oratory
spellcraft
use magic device

spells:
lv 0
dancing lights
detect magic
mage hand
predestigitation (sp?)

lv1
grease
sleep

What I found was that this bard was average in encounters and was only good for diplomacy outside of combat. So after this I decided to change the flavor of my bard and decided to go with my gut on the build than stick to a guide.

I changed the race to halfling and I have him set as jack of all trades from the get go. I stuck to a 25pt buy so I could use him outside the group if needed.

Str: 14 +2
Dex: 18 +4
Con: 12 +1
Int: 12 +1
Wis: 7 -2
Cha: 16 +3

(This is after racial bonuses/penalties are applied)

Fort: +2
Ref: +7
Will: +1

Equip:
longsword (sm)
H. Slin Staff (sm)
Leather Armor

Attack bonuses:
melee: +3
ranged: +5

AC: 17
touch: 15
flat: 13

init: +4
spd: 20

feats:
martial weapon proficency(H. Sling Staff)

7 skill ranks: (again going to list the one with ranks in them)
knowledge(planes)
perception
perform oratory
perform dance
spellcraft
stealth
use magic device

spells:
lv 0
dancing lights
detect magic
ghost sounds
mage hand

lv 1
grease
silent image

For some reason this build screams fun, my plans are to take the feats at lv3, if my GM allows it rapid reload(H. Sling Staff); so I can make reloading the sling staff a free action and get some distance if I need to; but if not then I will take fleet or point blank shot, then at level 5 take then other of the two then at level seven take mounted combat for the phantom steed. Then mounted archery after that at 9.

So how does this sound? Interesting? A flagrent disreguard what a bard is?

So my friends and I are all new to Pathfinder, we are currently going through the beginner box using the pre-gen characters to get a decent feel for the mechanics of the game from both the PC and the GM side. While we are doing this we are also creating our own primary and secondary characters to use when we finish the box stuff.

We have all agreed to stick strictly to the core rules as we really don't want to confuse ourselves more than we already do while we play.

We are all starting at level 1: Here is my character thus far:

Name: Alton Greenbottle
Race: Halfling
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Class: Rogue
Age: 25
Height: 3' 3"
Weight 38 lbs.

Ability scores: (The racial traits are already applied, and before you wonder the agreed upon generation by my friend and I was we roll 4d6 per ability and removed lowest roll) (*used a random generation program I wrote but I think the seed number I used heavily favored 5's and 4's)

Str: 12 +1
Dex: 17 +3
Con: 14 +2
Int: 15 +2
Wis: 15 +2
Cha: 17 +3

The ranked skills are Acrobatics, Climb, Disable device, knowledge(dungeon), knowledge (local), linguistics, perception, escape artist, sense motive, stealth
everything is either 6,7 or 8 except stealth which is at 11

Fort: +2
Dex: +4
Will: +2

Perception: +3

Feats:
Point blank shot

Equipment:
Shortbow (small) 1d4+1
Shortsword (small) 1d4+1
Arrows(40) (I expect to miss for now)
Leather armor (Light)
Outfit
(*other equipment will be decided at quest time and for now we are ignoring inventory/load penalties during quests)

Special:
Sneak attack +1d6
trap finding

Growth rate is Medium: ~2,000pts

My idea was to stealth into locations scout a room for traps and treasures, and when combat come around I stealth to flank and shoot from a safe distance. My focus is to do the exploring outside combat, but I don't want to slouch inside combat either. The drawback is that because Halflings are small characters I have to used small weapons which are not as powerful as the weapons of other races.

I am looking for advice on how I should go about my leveling my Character, to make him a force to reckon with. And I want to focus on ranged combat and stealth as well as disabling things outside, while sticking to the Core Rules.

I like this little dude a lot, which is why I want to take him far before he retires especially since he can last longer (age-wise) than the other races in my party.