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Anyone else have any ideas?
TWF is an option I considered. Laser gun with a shield is a cool mental image. I was planning to do a 2hander and rifle instead, but I'm not set in stone with it.
What technological skill other than disable device do you plan to invest in? Maxing out Knowledge engineering as well. I'll be the one identifying and operating most tech stuff.
I'm playing an android Slayer for Iron Gods. He's the primary skill monkey/trapfinder of our party as well as the main frontliner. I want to make him into a switch hitter build giving him power attack and a greatsword to go with his longbow. Eventually I want to be switch hitting with an energy weapon, and I'm trying to decide whether multiclassing techslinger once I have access to a good energy weapon is worthwhile. I'm also not sure which Ranger style and feats to take. Rapid Shot seems obvious, but the rest I'm not sure of. My current build plan is as follows Str: 17 Dex: 17 Con: 14 Int: 14 Wis: 10 Cha: 6 Traits: Numerian Archeologist, Clever Wordplay (Intimidate) Feats: 1 Technologist
Looking for general feat/talent advice as well as any other build suggestions.
Just to further clarify, if you have no other natural attacks on your form like claws, and you only bite on your attack (no manufactured weapons) then your bite will be at +8 1d3+12. This can be very useful in a situation where, say, you're grappled and wielding a two-handed weapon, but want to attack your grappler.
Not taking witch levels is hard for a witch because hexes are such a big part of the class and very few PrCs will scale hexes. If he's determined here's a crazy thought: Take the Spell Hex as the 10th level major hex. This gives you a spell-like ability. Then he can go dragon disciple. 4 6 or 8 levels would be my choices of drop out points. 4 gives you +4 Str, breath weapon, some natural armor, a feat, some bloodline abilities and 19 caster level. You get 3 major hexes after spell hex naturally and of course can take extra hex feat for more. 6 gives you the +2 Con boost, blind sense, another bloodline feat, CL 18 and 2 major hexes. 8 gives you +2 int, FotD1 1/day, more armor, another feat, and 1 major hex. Still CL 18. If he wears a robe of arcane heritage, he's got 12 levels in dragon bloodline abilities for extra natural armor, energy resistance and another breath weapon. Depending on where you drop off, your hex DC's will either be -2 or -3, so I'd suggest allowing ability focus for his primary offensive hex. Delicious fright hex isn't awesome, but it's got nice draconic flavor.
This is for a WotR character and I'm using level estimates for tier access based off those books. Enduring Armor gives you 3+mythic tier force armor which is always on.
Enduring Armor - Max 13 Armor Bonus
Cons:
Component Freedom - Max 14 Armor Bonus (+5 Platemail)
Cons:
I'm torn. My character is more of a beast build (10 caster levels over 20 levels) so delayed access to component freedom doesn't hurt quite as much. That said, at max level I'm only looking at a 1 AC difference and as I've mentioned, I'm not sure how good the special armor enchantments are. Any thought's/suggestions are appreciated.
When the low templar makes his damnation/redemption choice, he gains a planar cohort appropriate to his actual alignment, gained as if he had taken the Leadership feat. This planar cohort appears to him and pledges her loyalty to the low templar immediately. If the cohort perishes, the low templar must wait a week before calling upon a replacement. If the low templar has the Leadership feat, he gains a +1 bonus to his Leadership score. If he replaces his cohort gained from the leadership feat with the planar cohort, the maximum level equivalent for his planar cohort equals the templar’s class level –1, rather than –2. Okay, so this sounds neat but it's vague as hell. What exactly is a planar cohort? Are the talking about an extraplanar creature? Is it a creature from any plane other than the material as long as it matches alignment? Also, very few of the examples of monstrous cohorts are extraplanar. How do I judge what the planar cohort's appropriate level equivalent is? Neither CR nor HD are appropriate measures going by the example monstrous cohorts. Has anyone played this PrC? Any examples of cohorts picked or how this was handled? Anyone have a better way of judging monstrous cohort level?
Unfortunately, the necro affinity feat only changes how cure and inflict spells work so you still can corruptive touch/negative energy channel heal. Feat selection depends on fighting style, but with that int ask your gm if you can qualify for unsanctioned knowledge. Adds some nice spell options like dimension door.
Wizards are a powerful option. Potentially stronger than a sorcerer at a given level. Potentially. The reasons I rarely play wizards are twofold. Bookkeeping and lack of spontaneous access to his spells. Wizards are like Batman. Give them knowledge of what they're facing and time to prepare and they're nigh unstoppable. Drop them into the unknown, however, and they often times don't have the right tools for the job. A sorcerer knows fewer spells, but with good selection and metamagic, he almost always has the answer to the problem at hand. The wizard might have the right spell memorized, but probably only once. What if it fails, or the thing makes its save? The sorcerer can just keep trying. I certainly see the appeal of wizards, they're just not for me.
Basically, dies anyone have a list of classes/PrCs that either fully or partially count as fighter levels for feat qualification.? Off the top of my head only magus and EK.
Your Radiance Bright lady Mistress of fire
I agree, it sounds awesome, but I don't think it is intended to work that way. Well a bouncing spell wouldn't work because the icicle dagger isn't a single target spell which bouncing spell requires. The Rime spell specifically calls out working for spells with the frost descriptor doing damage to a target. The conjured dagger is part of the spell. By your ruling you wouldn't allow empowered/maximized cloudkills or anything which alters spell damage that isn't a direct damage spell. That seems a bit narrow minded. Either way, your houserules are your houserules.
You're welcome to run your games however you want, however I agree with most of the people here that your expectations of what a paladin is and what's required of him are ridiculous. I could very well see a paladin who's a drunkard or a lecher who has trouble controlling his earthly vices yet rises with righteous fury against those who hurt innocents. These guys are real people, not angels. They're righteous arms of their god, but that doesn't mean they are perfect. Let the guy have a vice are two to make him seem like a full fledged personality instead of a cardboard caricature.
I agree, it sounds awesome, but I don't think it is intended to work that way. Would you allow metamagic on a druid's flame sword? What about spiritual weapon? What about a flaming sphere? They're persistent magical effects. An icicle dagger is no different, imo. It's not like the most effective thing you could be doing with your spells anyway.
Unless you went hexcrafter magus of course.
If at 20th level you had 9th level spell access with a 19 casting stat, what offensive or battlefield control spells would be on your spell list. Some easy ones magic missile
Might not be pure optimal, but I feel like you need a dynamic shield-basher type ala Russel Crowe in Gladiator using performance combat to get the crowd on their side. Ranger 2, Fighter (Two Weapon Warrior) 5 Str 18
Max ranks in Perform(Act) and intimidate. Ranger 1: Favored Enemy(Human), Weapon Focus (Gladius), Dazzling Display
Uses a breastplate, heavy steel shield and gladius. If he charges, hits with both weapons, or successfully bull rushes with his shield slam he uses a swift action to either demoralize with Hero's Display or get +1d6 to damage for all attacks until the end of his next turn with savage display and a +6 perform check to influence the crowd. Without any magical gear this is what he looks like: AC 20 (21 during a full attack) A full power attack after a savage display against a human without any crowd bonuses looks like this: Gladius +11/6 1d6+13+1d6 19-20x2, Shield Bash 1d6+11+1d6 x2(shield slam) This would make for a memorable fight (IMO) with the crowd possibly turning on your hero.
Edit: HOLY CRAP! Sorry about the necro, had a bunch of tabs open and didn't notice the date on this one.
You're right. Missed the part about it being based on your deity's portfolio. However: If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, she still selects two domains to represent her spiritual inclinations and abilities (subject to GM approval). I'd suggest that your spiritual inclinations and abilities can be expressed as/by portfolios. RAW, you're 100% correct. In practice, picking your domains requires GM approval, though, so it should follow that a thematic selection of portfolio aspects could/should be applied when your spelling out your individual faith. Still, as with many additions beyond the core rulebook, variant channeling was not thoroughly vetted to make sure it all works with the core rules.
Any good suggestions on how to rule this for the moment?
A neutral cleric of a neutral deity (or one who is not devoted to a particular deity) must choose whether she channels positive or negative energy. If you don't worship a particular deity, channel negative energy and you take the ale/wine domain, you can choose to the harm effect.
Both are useless for positive energy channeling. Undeath is the only weird one, but it's pretty obvious from the way it's spelled out that it affects negative energy used to heal undead.
2 level dip into ranger for TWF is better than 15 dex worth of point buy, if you really want to go that route. Get high Str, Cha and Con which you need for any pally build anyway. Eventually get Mithral full plate to wear heavy armor while TWFing. ITWF isn't really worth it anyway and getting TWF unlocks a lot of the shield feats later on. It's not optimal, but it can be fun for sure. Adding smite damage to multiple attacks is nice. Consider using a heavy shield with a kukri or a light shield with your falcata as alternatives to minimize TWF penalties. You want high threat range if you plan on taking bashing finish.
Kyzbyn is right (despite his and BBTs OT spam). Half-fiends gain the outsider (native) type. Your barbarian "friend" shouldn't have taken any damage at all.
You control how much influence your cohort/eidolon/animal companion has. If round times or power levels are getting out of hand, utilize your minions in a less overt way. Aid another is a valid support action. Have them hang back and protect their masters instead of dog-piling every fight. They can always jump in if the going gets tough. The GM uses restraint all the time to keep the game flowing and interesting. The BBEG doesn't gather his entire army of minions, scry you out, then teleport in with a 30 CR fight. I feel like the players share some responsibility to keeping the game running smooth. I'm an optimizer. I love building powerful characters. It's like a puzzle to me how to make some unique character concept as effective as possible. Not all the players at my table are. I could make builds that one-shot every encounter, but I don't because the game wouldn't be fun. Instead I sometimes make more interesting yet not 100% optimal choices in build and combat. The point is this: if you feel like you need to be reigned in, reign yourself in. If you can't or don't want to, the only ways to restore balance are to rebuild the party or have the GM supercharge the encounters.
The guy sounds like a jerk so good riddance. That said, your first post didn't specify, but were there any other outsiders present that you were fighting against? My first impression was that you were, but rereading your post I see you never specified. If this happened in the heat of combat, then just desserts. If, however, you burned two alignment channels out of the blue just because and happened to kill your teammate in the process I'd say you were metagaming and planning on screwing him over. Either way, sounds like you guys aren't friends. I don't understand gaming with people you don't like.
Cleric to hellknight has tons of roleplay value, but I don't think dipping for another domain is worth it mechanically. First, you need 3 levels to get the first discipline, second your hellknight levels are treated as cleric levels for what abilities you access in that domain. That doesn't mean your cleric levels stack with it since they're not powering that domain. If you don't care about advancing your cleric casting any further, I do think you could make a very flavorful martial build doing this, though.
Honestly, I'd rule you'd get a save in that case. Sitting out of a fight is probably more against your barbarians nature than defending someone. Would it be against your character's nature to protect someone against your party if he wanted them to live? You wouldn't have to try to kill them, just disarm, sunder or otherwise disable. That said, it really does come down to DM fiat.
Despite that, plenty of non-SR spells that can ruin their day. Cloudkill comes to mind.
Most (not all) sources of CL increases don't improve it past character level. I'd double check.
Thanks, that's what I was leaning towards but wasn't 100%.
You don't have to use your hands for unarmed strikes. If you use unarmed strikes with natural attacks your natural attacks become secondary attacks at -5 to hit and half damage str bonus to damage. If you have multiattack and it becomes -2 to hit. If you are a 14th level witchwolf monk and you have 18 Str, 10 BAB and multiattack with no other feats your attacks would look like this: Unarmed Strike +14/9 2d6+4, Bite +12 1d6+2, 2 Claws +12 1d4+2 OR Flurry of Blows +16/16/11/6 2d6 + 4 Hope that clears things up.
It's probably better to take Bloodrager to 20 than Bloodrager 16 DD 4. It's not clear that DD advances the Bloodrager draconic bloodline If DD does advance the bloodrager draconic bloodline it's not too bad, but you miss out on Tireless Bloodrage and Mighty Bloodrage, not to mention a feat and an extra point of DR. Stat-wise, going DD nets you a +2 strength over straight bloodrager, but loses 2 con, will saves. The Bite from DD is the only notable addition, and it is very nice IF it works with bloodrager bloodline claws (which are always on in raging). If it only works with the Sorcerer bloodline then you only get it 3+CHA rounds per day. So... how good it is depends on your GM's ruling until an official ruling is made.
My questions are about the bolded sections of text. First, seamantle grants you improved cover from your enemies, but to they gain cover against melee attacks and reflex spells you make? Second, what does the spell mean by "ememies can attempt to use fire spells within the seamantle"? Does that mean they have to physically enter the column of water in order to cast fire spells at you, or do the fire spells just have to target inside the column. For example, scorching rays obviously would not pass through the barrier of the seamantle, but would a fireball targeting the inside of the seamantle as it's point of origin work? Could a caster cast the scorching ray if they are inside the seamantle? My interpretation is that you get cover from enemies not them from you, and casters have to physically be within the seawall to try to cast fire spells at the user of the seamantle. I just want to make sure I'm thinking of it the right way.
I just cant stand low saves, :p This build doesn't have low saves. It has F 9 R 8 W 13 just from class levels. Straight fighter only has a +12 Fort. Add in a Cloak of Resistance and stat boots to fort and reflex and you're sitting pretty. Also in FotD 3 you've got +8 Con with no Dex Penalty so your Fort and Will saves are now pretty rock solid. Reflex is still average looking, but the save or sucks are all in Fort and Will. I'm not saying more saves is bad, I'm just saying in this case, I don't think it's worth it for what you lose. In a non-mythic build, when you need a higher BAB to be effective in melee, I'd say the paladin levels have a much stronger case for being there.
If you are only going into a one level dip of MoMS, I think an Unarmed Fighter is better. You still get the free style feat and improved unarmed strike, but you also get +1 BAB, armor proficiency to use brawling armor, and proficiency with some really good weapons like Sansetsukon. Problem here is you need Stunning Fist to get Dragon Ferocity, and you need a 13 wis and 13 Dex to get Stunning Fist as a feat. Not worth it in an Already MAD point buy, but if you roll up some crazy stats, sure. MOMS gets stunning fist for free, also your unarmed strike damage starts at 1d6 which makes a bit of difference when you're turning huge size. @Rorek - I was originally convinced Paladin was a good choice, but I really think if you have access to mythic tiers dropping the paladin levels is the best plan. Getting Shapechange as a 9th level spell lets you pretty much keep it up all day. With Shapeshifting Mastery you don't really care about your base BAB other than feat requirements. Ultimately, you lose access to Wish (if you let DD advance bloodline spells) and Shapechange, CL 18 instead of 20, as well a couple 7th and 8th level spells known and per day, in exchange for a weak 1/day smite and a good buff to saves. Pally is still good if you use a weapon and only want a DD dip for the stats and don't want a nearly full casting build.
Honestly, if you want to be always using Natural Attacks, I'd consider going straight Sorc/DD. Take the Archmage ability Shapeshifting Mastery: Your ability to magically adopt other forms is unparalleled, and you can expertly translate your arcane might into brawn. You add half your tier to the caster level of spells or extracts from the polymorph subschool. While under the effects of a spell or extract of the polymorph subschool, you can use your caster level instead of your base attack bonus when making natural attacks that rely on your new form. Always fight in a polymorphed form. You will be attacking at full bab. You get 9th level spells, and full dragon bloodline progression. I'd take Shapechange as my 9th level spell keep it up all day (3.3 hours per casting if you take the Magical knack trait to count as CL 20). Alternatively, I'd consider 1 MOMS/Sorc 15/DD 4. Same caster level, but you get access to the dragon style feats. You would technically also get access to using Imp unarmed strikes in addition to your natural attacks.
If it's for WotR there are some Champion abilities which kind of makes your build work, rorek.
MOMS leaves you an extra feat slot for weapon focus. Choose the Natural Weapon group and take weapon focus in any natural weapon. Also makes Imp critical and even imp natural attack worth it.
How are you taking dragon style without improved unarmed strike and ferocity without stunning fist?
Would you mind terribly linking to it? I'd like to see the reasoning so I can decide to get behind it or not.
Metallic wings isn't as bad as it seems, especially for a two-handed weapon paladin who doesn't need lots of feats to compete. The burnished skin feat that gives NA +1 and cold iron natural weapons is as useful as the dodge feat (if not slightly more so), and two wing attacks that you can smite with give you substantially more damage on a full attack. Sure you're getting they're only 1d4 + 1/2 str a piece, but your smite damage goes through 100%. They also don't hurt your manufactured weapon's attack bonus like TWF would. The wings are permanent so you can get permanent GMF on those buggers instead of the obscenely priced amulet of mighty fists, and you can still wear an amulet of natural armor. Alternatively, if you've got the funds, GMF the wings and get the amulet of mighty fists with holy, bane, wounding, whatever else you want. I'd only use this tree on a game that goes to high level, but if you're going to at least 15, you've got four feats left over. The only real necessary one for a two-hander is Power Attack. That gives you 3 for whatever else you want. Mith breasplate is the best option. I don't think you can make celestial full plate mithral. It's already made of a silver material that lowers it to medium armor. Another possible option would be mithral or celestial full plate and a sash of the war champion to get armor training 1.
Probably late, but the black blade can only be a one handed slashing weapon, rapier or sword cane. Phalanx/skirnir works, though.
When you use a weapon to perform a combat maneuver you usually add to your maneuver CMB the weapon enhancement bonus + anything else you're using to increase that weapon's attack roll (weapon focus, weapon training, etc). When you perform a shield slam do you add your shield bash bonuses to the CMB of the bull rush?
He wants two because animate only works for 4 rounds then has a 4 round cooldown. He wants to animate for 4 rounds, then when the shield falls to the ground call the other shield to animate for 4 rounds while the first recharges. Repeat ad infinium.
I would think so. You're paying too much for your upgrades, though. The upgradeable ability lets you enchant it like your crafting. Increasing the shield enhancements from +2 to +3 would be 2500 (4.5k - 2k). Increasing the weapon part from +1 to +2 would be 3000 gold (4k -1k)
This thread is a combination of a brainstorm on my part and a request for advice and criticism. I'm playing with rolled stats which can't be rearranged. They are as follows before racial adjustments: 18 Str
I'm thinking about making a sword and board Slayer with two-weapon fighting to improve defensively while maintaining good offense. First off, is there anything that prevents a Slayer from taking and using Heavy Armor Proficiency? I didn't see anything in the build that stated that, and even the ranger style talents say you're just picking a feat from that style. I'm probably going to go human for the extra feat. Not sure whether the +2 will be best in Dex or Wis. I'm not sure whether a scimitar with a light shield or a kukri with a heavy shield is better. I'm leaning towards the heavy shield/kukri. Stealth is a big part of the slayer, but between low dex and high ACPs, I'm not sure it's feasable. That said, if I take the armor expert trait and have both mithral fullplate and a mithral heavy shield I'll only be at -2 from ACP. Adding stealth and then greater stealth enchantments on my armor might actually make it usable. Here's the rough sketch of the build. Many feats and Talents still open. Traits: Armor Expert, Chance Encounter(Campaign) Feats: 1: Heavy Armor Proficiency, Improved Shield Bash
I could use mythic path/tier/ability advice too. I'm thinking trickster dual-pathed into Champion or Guardian. I'm not yet familiar enough with mythic abilities to determine this one yet.
The occult patron grants command undead. Maybe ask your GM if you can swap the level 12 create undead spell for something else. The Light patron gives some stuff, but most of the anti-undead stuff is higher level. Elements patron will give you some blasty stuff that works against undead. Very few witch hexes have an effect on undead. Protective ones like ward or healing hexes will have use in fights against them. You'll always have some things to do, but honestly, in a primarily undead fighting campaign, witch would not be my first choice.
In case you're still not convinced, here's a basic fighter build straight from the core rulebook with 15 point buy, feats spent on both offense and defense, no archetypes, nothing dumped, no fancy tricks and ~4.5k of his 10.5k estimated wealth by level spent: Human Fighter 5 Str 18 (16 +2 racial)
Equip
Feats: 1: Power Attack, Weapon focus (Greatsword), Iron will
At 5th level he's attacking at a +12 to hit for 2d6 + 9. He can take a -2 on his attack roll for 2d6 + 15. Cleave lets him hit two adjacent creatures for a small hit to his AC. This is all base level stuff. Not optimizing, not even really trying hard. |