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I did some more planning for the Whip Kensai/Lore Warden build and I think I've improved it a lot. It is rough at level 1, but it should be fun and effective from then on. I'm going to start this character in a PFS game today. I'd love to hear any thoughts or advice you have.

Race: Tiefling with the prehensile tail alternate racial trait
Traits: Magical Knack (+2 CL) and Adopted:Whip Master(+2 to trip with whip)
Attributes:
Str 7
Con 14
Dex 19
Int 18
Wis 10
Cha 5

I dumped strength because it won't be important after lvl 1, and charisma because I don't mind playing a gruff, unlikable tiefling. With that, I can start with 14 con and +4 in both my major stats.

Level 1; Kensai 1: Weapon Finesse, Whip Proficiency (B), Weapon Focus Whip (B)
This will be a rough level: 1 first level spell, no martial weapons, and the whip doing 1d3-2 damage. Probably have to stick to tripping, using a weak sickle, and casting a color spray every once in awhile. I'll just let someone else carry me through the first module.

Level 2; Lore Warden 1: Dervish Dance (fighter)
This feat will help me be useful at lower levels, and I will trade it out at level 9 for a whip specialization. The whip isn't great at this point, but I can now deal some great damage with my scimitar and throw out a spell every once in awhile.

Level 3; Lore Warden 2: Whip Mastery, Combat Expertise (B), Improved Trip
Alright, now I have options. If they can be tripped, pull out the whip and go to town. If not, I can still deal some great damage with my scimitar.

Level 4; Kensai 2: +1 dex
Now I get spellstrike and a second spell slot with caster level 4. I can start tripping someone from 15 feet away, and then hitting them with shocking grasp for 4d6 while they are down. Around this time, I should be able to afford some pearls of power. Eventually, I want to have several level 1 pearls so that I can cast all of my spells every battle.

Level 5; Kensai 3: Fury's Fall, Magus Arcana(Arcane Accuracy)
At this point, my CMB for whip trips can easily get up to +27 (4 BAB + 2 enhancement + 1 WF + 12 dex twice + 4 arcana + 2 trait + 2 feat). I can trip huge creatures with an enlarge person scroll. And the scimitar and shocking grasps are still very effective when damage is called for.

Level 6; Kensai 4:
Level 2 spells are finally here. The kensai lvl 4 ability sucks for whips, and no spell recall is a bummer. But not spending my arcane points on recalling spells means I can keep up arcane accuracy more. And pearls of power pick up some of the slack from losing recall. This level is also when my dex bonus to AC maxes out at +9 without attribute enhancements. Not bad, with enchanted ceremonial silk armor on top of it.

Level 7; Lore Warden 3: Improved Whip Mastery
I want Kensai 5 more, but I need to get +6 BAB this level to make my feat progression work. The +2 CMB is nice, and being able to threaten with my trip-tastic whip is great. But one AOO isn't nearly enough...

Level 8; Kensai 5: +1 dex, Combat Reflexes (bonus)
This is more like it: 10 foot threaten radius with 6 AOOs per turn. Or enlarge self to make it 15 feet. Trip them and then AOO them again when they stand up. Level 5 also means I can start adding effects to my weapons.

Level 9; Lore Warden 4: Greater Trip (bonus), Weapon Spec (trade out dervish dance), extra arcana(maneuver mastery trip)
Now that I have an agile scorpion whip that threatens and doesn't provoke AOOs, I don't need a scimitar any more. Greater trip and maneuver mastery round out my AOO-tripping excellence.

Level 10; Kensai 6: Disruptive (magus arcana)

Level 11; Kensai 7: Greater Whip Mastery

That is as far as I can expect to go in Pathfinder Society games, but it should be really effective throughout. Anything that can be tripped will be tripped. Anything else will still suffer ranged touch spells and frequent AOOs. I'll be behind the curve when it comes to spell casting, but it should be worth it.


Jasper Boswell wrote:
Can you trip with your tail too?

Unfortunately not. It mostly just gives you a pseudo-quickdraw for small items. If you take a feat, you can grab unattended items (like disarmed weapons) as a swift action. It might be useful for sleight of hand.

The actual text is "Many tieflings have tails, but some have long, flexible tails that can be used to carry items. While they cannot wield weapons with their tails, they can use them to retrieve small, stowed objects carried on their persons as a swift action. This racial trait replaces fiendish sorcery." A prehensile tail is cool and fiendish sorcery is useless to a non-sorcerer, so why not?

It requires some interpretation, but depending on your DM you can transfer items to and from your tail as either a free or swift action. It is especially useful if you take the wand wielder arcana, if you DM says you can use wands with your tail. One true strike trip per turn at 15gp apiece, anyone?


Galnörag wrote:
Jordon, wondering why you went blackblade scimitar for your whip build? Just for DD?

For one thing, a a tiefling wielding a spiked whip and a black scimitar is just plain cool.

I originally went black blade scorpion whip, but realized that isn't really effective. For a dex-based whip, you really want agile and/or dueling enchantments to make it a viable weapon. But, at least RAW, you can't add those to a dark blade. Playing PFS, I can't count of DMs letting me add those with arcane pool. So the only effective black-blade weapon where you can add dex to damage is a scimitar.

The synergy between a dex whip and dervish build is substantial. For two skill ranks and 1 feat in DD, I add a lot of versatility and make my first several levels much easier. If I face something that my whip isn't effective against, I can have my tail hold my whip and pull out my scimitar. It triples my spellstrike threat chance and is much better at low levels, and lets me switch up the damage type at will. It will probably become less helpful at higher levels, though.

I might drop the black blade to get the extra arcana and arcane points. If I end up relying only on my whip at higher levels, I can grab two more levels of lore warden and trade DD for another feat. Alternatively, I can drop the dervish completely and grab another feat. There are a couple of nice teifling racial feats I could grab. That also lets me take lore warden at first level and use a rapier instead of an AOO-provoking whip.


I just realized that I can't take Dervish Dance at lvl 1. So I'll have to go Kensai at lvl 1 and Lore Warden at lvl 2.


My PFS build for a Tiefling Scimitar-Bound Whip-Kensai with a 2 lvl Lore Warden dip for the proficiencies and 3 bonus feats. It should be effective all the way from level 1 with the scimitar. It really comes into its own around lvl 6, when I switch to enlarging with an agile dueling scorpion whip and AoA-trip everyone within 15 feet.

20 point attributes
Str 10
Con 12
Dex 17+2 (+1 at lvl 4)
Int 17+2 (+1 at lvl 8)
Wis 7
Cha 7-2

Racial traits prehensile tail
Focused mind +2 concentration
Adopted (Chain master) +2 on trip with whip

lvl 1 Lore Warden 1
Weapon Finesse
Dervish Dance

lvl 2 Kensai 1
Weapon Prof (Whip)*
Weapon Focus (Whip)*

lvl 3 Kensai 2
Whip Mastery

lvl 4 Kensai 3
Black Blade Scimitar

lvl 5 Kensai 4
Combat Reflexes (or EWP)

lvl 6 Lore Warden
Combat Expertise*
Improved Whip Mastery

lvl 7 Kensai 5
Improved Trip
Greater Trip

lvl 8 Kensai 6
Magus Arcana (accurate strike)

lvl 9 Kensai 7
Fury's Fall (double dex bonus ftw)

I could also trade out the trip feats and get combat patrol. With enlarge person, that covers an area 50 ft across. And at lvl 15 I can transform into a huge humanoid, complete with a 45 ft reach and a threatened area 65 feet across(with about 15 AoAs/turn). But I can't use combat patrol and spell combat on the same turn, which is a big trade off. My AoAs are pretty awesome anyway, so I'll probably skip it.

After that, I'm not sure what to do with the rest of my levels. Weapon mastery would be nice, along with disruptive. There are many good magus arcanas. I also need to grab some metamagic feats (intensified for shocking grasp). I might also try to fit in another Lore Warden level for the +2 CMB and CMD.