Sacob's page

The extra strength, the extra armor, the spell levels, all those make sense from a mechanical standpoint (I already have medium armor at 8 Eldritch Scion, Spell Combat, etc).

Thematically, being Dragon Disciple is awesome. Even with the Draconic bloodline from Bloodrager, it doesn't feel as hardcore dragon-y as does a Sorcerer with Draconic or a DD. And I love the idea of magic/melee going hand in hand. I made a Warpriest not too long ago that was incredibly fun (but probably a little too strong) using Sacred Fist and one level dip of Inspired Blade. Lots of attacks, still a free spell cast every round if I want, but far fewer than a Magus would get.

It should also stack with the Eldritch Scion archetype of Magus then, since you pick a Bloodrager bloodline. Spending an arcane point to access the skills is a little hefty though...

I'm looking at the Barb/Sorc, and seeing if I can come to terms with NOT being able to cast and full attack in the same turn. It's an uphill battle, folks.

@BadBird, you're really good at selling it. I'd like to run some of the numbers, see what kind of damage a Barb/Sorc/DD does vs the Eldritch Scion/DD. The higher spells definitely make the Barb/Sorc more versatile (switch hitting has always been a trouble spot for characters that I make, I focus way too hard in a single aspect).

I'm gonna have to go back to the drawing board for a little, see what kinds of options are available.

@Davor, you're absolutely right, especially given a Magus spell list and spells per day. I can always do the Arcane Mark thing to get a free attack, but it would depend on the enemy (worth losing to 1d6 per hit and status debuffs to get an extra 1d6 + str? Probably not)

Off topic, but I really wish the Magus broad study arcana worked earlier than 6 or 7, whenever it is available. It'd be great to deliver a bunch of Sorcerer spells as a Barb/Sorc/Magus with only a 2 level Magus dip :P

Thank you for pointing out the Close Range issue, I missed it entirely. That puts a real damper on the Snowball spam.

Would you say the benefit of using a 2h weapon outweighs the ability to use a spell/weapon at the same time? Magus is obviously appealing because of the spell/attack each round, as a Barb/Sorc is most of your time spent smashing or casting?

My only concern for Chill Touch is I would either not get all of the charges out of it (I would be able to hit 3 times at level 8, 4 if I am hasted) and then I would lose it on the next turn when I cast a spell, or else I wouldn't get my extra attack for casting a touch spell the next turn (or ranged spell, with Close Range arcana) with Spell Combat/Spellstrike.

The counter to that is rather than 12/12/7 I would get 14/9. If I decided to pull out a second weapon (Kukri perhaps?) I would need to bump up my Dex to qualify for feats (especially if I wanted the later ones, which would hoestly be awesome). If I bumped up dex and went as a dex magus, then it would make even more sense for me to give up DD, since the Str bonus is useless in that case.

Quick Draw is definitely a feat for me to look at though, it would be really cool to have an actual shield that I am pulling out to block attacks, only to put it away quickly when I go on offense.

Now, I'm no Magus expert, and I know there is a good amount of Eldritch Scion dislike out there. And I know that the Dragon Disciple is, generally, not a great prestige class. I have been debating between Bladebound/Kensai and Eldritch Scion/Dragon Disciple for a while, but I don't think I can pass up the dragon-ness. So, with all that in mind, I was hoping for some advice on how to build without being very weak. I like the idea of a white dragon as well, so a lot of my damage will hopefully be cold related.

25 point stat buy, I was going to play Nagaji probably (for the awesome stats, +1 natural armor, and free Draconic language).
Str 18
Con 14
Dex 14
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 17

Starting at level 8, which nets me:
2 Magus Arcana
5 Feats (4 level 1 Magus)

Arcana:
Close Range (Snowball instead of Shocking Grasp for my bread and butter)
Wand Wielder (I like the idea, but I'm not 100% attached)

Feats:
Intensified Spell
Spontaneous Metafocus (Snowball)
Craft Wands?
Weapon Focus (Scimitar)?
?

Traits:
Magical Lineage (Snowball)
Reactionary? Reflex Save?

My combat stats at level 8, unless I'm mistaken would be something along the lines of:
+12/+12/+7 (Spell combat, 22 str with belt, weapon focus, 6/1 bab, +1 weapon)
1d6+7, 8d6 for intensified snowball

28 AC (10 + 7 (+1 Breastplate) + 3 Natural Armor + 2 Dex + 4 Shield spell +1 Amulet +1 Ring)

These numbers are off the top of my head, I don't have my sheets in front of me. Please feel free to correct anything that is wrong, and I would appreciate any help or insight anyone has into making this character not terrible :)

Thank you for those suggestions! I had neglected to mention the spikes (they feel almost necessary with this flavor of character to me!) but I love the Celestial bloodline with Bloodrager. Well worth the HP loss.

I'm playing Dwarf, again for flavor, as well as for the Relentless racial and extra saves. I have the Glory of Old trait (Five Kings Mountains regional) and Indomitable Faith (+1 will, basic faith). That puts HP at 67 and saves at 12/9/6 at level 6.

The armor is a combination of Chain torso, Studded Leather legs, Horn Lamellar arms. This makes it medium armor (eventually I would like to get mithral of a similar suit), which is okay, since making it mithral is quite expensive for a level 6. The light armor would net me another +1 AC from my brawler AC bonus, but it's cheaper to have the ring and medium armor.

AC breakdown is as follows:
+8 armor (+1 brawling piecemeal)
+3 shield (+1 heavy steel shield)
+2 dex
+1 ring

Love the boots. Definitely picking those up.

Let me know if you have any other ideas, thank you!

My friends and I are starting a new campaign at level 6. The character I've been dying to play is essentially a brawler, with a few level dips here and there. The idea is charge, full attack (with Pummeling Style), trip (AOO), enemy falls prone (AOO), and whenever I feel like moving people around the field, attacking with my shield and getting free bull rushes.

1 - Barbarian
2-6 Brawler
7-8 Master of Many Styles Monk
9+ Brawler (mostly)

The feats for levels 1-6 are as follows:
1 - Power Attack
3 - Improved Shield Base
3 - Combat Expertise
5 - Improved Trip
6 - Pummeling Style

After that I'll be doing the following (with the MoMS feats):
7 - Pummeling Charge
7 - Shield Slam
8 - Pummeling Bully
9 - Combat Reflexes
11 - Vicious Stomp
11 - Greater Trip
13 - Shield Master

So, level 6 is 16000 gold. I have:
Piecemeal Armor +1 and Brawling
Heavy Steel Shield +1
Protection Ring +1
Amulet of Mighty Fists (Furious enchant)
Belt of Giant Strength +2

Thoughts?

You don't need shield proficiencies to use shields. You just suffer the armor check penalty on certain rolls without it. But a light shield doesn't have a penalty if it is masterwork or better. And a heavy shield doesn't if it is mithral.

Without shield proficiency you can't get most of the necessary feats :(

Brawler can't use shields for defense without a level dip or some burnt feats, and as far as attacking with a shield, the shield has to be in the off hand for a shield bash to bull rush I believe. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Right now where I am at is 6 levels of Slayer (gets me Stealth, Sense Motive, Perception, and sneak attack + studied enemy +2, two ranger feats for shield slam and shield master, and power attack from combat trick), and then the rest going into Fighter(Brawler) for the weapon and bonuses. At level 11, that gets me both Shield Master and GTWF, and even with the slayer dip I'm not behind in feats because all my slayer talents went towards them.

Kause, would you pick ranger over slayer? Slayer can get the same bonus feats, but also additional martial skills in lieu of spells.

Re: reach weapon with shield bash - that sounds awesome, and I'm definitely going to build that at some point. I'm pretty dead set on the close combat right now. Cestus and spiked shield seems so cool (despite likely not being optimal)

Well, I know it isn't ideal. I assume that most of these builds are going to want a three level dip into fighter (brawler) in order to get close weapon bonuses (+1/+3 if I remember correctly) which means waiting until 18 for the brawler equivalent of GTWF. I don't want to take the whole chain, but I'm also impatient and don't want to wait.

I'm building a level 11 character (if the build comes together slightly after, that is totally fine too). The idea that I have is a super gristly dwarf, loves getting messy, loves killing things, fighting fair doesn't factor into it. Original, I know :). Follower of Gorum (Shield-Trained trait and Spiked Destroyer feat). Slayer, Fighter (Brawler), Brawler, and Ranger, each of these classes have something I want, but obviously it is impossible to have it all.

Weapons are shield bashing (Heavy Spiked Shield), Cestus, Armor Spikes, hopefully doing lots of overrun/bull rushes (spiked destroyer!)

Multiclassing any of these isn't a problem - I've been looking at Fighter(Brawler)/Brawler, Ranger/Fighter, Slayer/Fighter mostly. I'd say Slayer/Fighter is in the lead for my favorite, but the Martial Flexibility seems too good to pass up. Would it be worth going Brawler to get it, and just getting the TWF feats instead of waiting for 15? That would mean I need double slice as well, since Brawler's Fury is what is giving me the extra dmg to offhand....

I keep going in circles in my head. I need some guru guidance to show me the path!

Feats I want: TWF chain, Shield Slam, Power Attack, Shield Focus, Shield Master, Imp Shield Bash, Spiked Destroyer, Weapon Focus (Spiked Heavy Shield), Steel Soul.

Stats after Dwarf Mod:
(Getting TWF) 18, 15, 16, 10, 10, 6
(Not getting TWF) 18, 14, 16, 10, 12, 6

Thank you in advance, everyone is always so knowledgeable and helpful.

Blessed hammer is exactly what I'm looking for, thank you! I'm debating on whether power attack is worth it for this build, I expect to be doing a fair amount of melee, but pa on a 3/4 seems counter intuitive to me

So I'm very likely spreading myself too thin. My character concept is caster cleric, but able to deliver touch attacks via my weapon, hence magus 6.

My stats are, currently (dwarf modifiers listed but not added in)
13
10
14 (+2)
12
18 (+2)
7 (-2)

So channeling isn't exactly my forte. Cleric of torag, big on the war hammer, devilbane priest archetype (heavy armor, bonus spell pen feats)
Feats required:
Combat casting
Power attack
Weapon focus war hammer
Channeling smite
Guided hand
Bouncing spell

And my weapon will be guided, to add wis to dmg. If I focus on magus spells without somatic components, I can rock the heavy armor with spell strike, and try to deliver big bad touch attacks.

The problems I see with this are mainly my cleric caster level will be too low to be useful in higher encounters, and that the build takes a while to ramp up. I would appreciate some brutal criticism along with suggestions on how to make the build concept functional. Thank you!

The closest I've come to an answer through my internet research is "the continent of Tian Xia" which is not exactly what I'm looking for. I want to know about the cities they live in, common practices (outside skin bleaching and ritual scarring), how their young are raised, etc. And the internet has never been so unhelpful before!

Does anyone know where I can find more information about this awesome-in-theory race?

At level 1, let's say I take the Arcanist archetype Unlettered Arcanist (gives me a familiar, gets rid of the spellbook, uses witch spells). At level 2, if I want to take the School Savant archetype, what would my Arcanist casting level be?

This is assuming, of course, that the two classes wouldn't be mutually exclusive. Please let me know if that is the case (I don't see why it wouldn't be, they don't alter the same feature at all) so I don't go too far down this rabbit hole :P

Unarmed Swashbuckler, that would be another interesting build I would like to try. Take two levels of MoMS to get full Snake Style, and then the rest into Swash (or an archetype that fits) would be kinda awesome. In fact, possibly back to another drawing board :P

Snake Style (and Panther Style) feats all work off of unarmed attacks. If the extra hits applied to Rapier, that would be fantastic, but I'm pretty sure the literal reading is Unarmed Strike only. While I'm not opposed to it, I'm unsure of the rules. Since my offhand is unarmed, would I be taking TWF penalties to attack if I use my Unarmed Strike? And if so, do I lose a lot of the Swashbuckler stuff that says I can ONLY have one weapon equipped, and an empty offhand? Or should I take TWF feats and be stabbing and punching all over the place? I want all the feats!

Deflect Arrows is something that I had to sacrifice for the two levels of MoMS :(. It is level 9 (I believe), but I can only get to 7 of Duelist with the 11 in Swash (for Signature Deed, and the deed that grants Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, and Improved Uncanny Dodge). The level 7 still gets me Elaborate Defense for when I'm fighting defensively though, though for Flurry I might need to rethink how far down duelist I go. I might have a spare feat lying around, so getting Deflect Arrows and those sandals would be great to make me even more tanky!

Fortuitous weapon, how did I not know about this!?

I had a few builds set up to make use of Panther Style, Snapping Turtle Style, and Wolf Style. Panther I would take Panther Style and Panther Claw to make the AOO a free action. I'm not sure I am allowed to do this with Panther, since it is Unarmed attacks.

With Turtle I am unsure as to whether I would want just the first (+1 shield bonus to AC) or take all three (+2, applies to touch AC, -4 crit confirms). And with Wolf, I would only take the first. With fortuitous and my multiple AOO per turn with 2 parries, people would be constantly tripping. Provoking more AOO when they get up!

Would it be worth going down these lines and possibly giving up the Step Up chain?

So I have been doing a lot of research into this class combo. I was looking for a Dex based fighter with lots of armor, but still could be a relatively good Diplomancer. After perusing boards and reading lots and lots of these threads, this is what I have put together. It is based on the build found here: http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2014/10/fighting-smart/

Traits:
Dangerously Curious (UMD)
Trap Finder (Disable Device)

Race: Kitsune (-2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha)
Stats:
Str 10
Dex 18
Con 10
Int 13
Cha 16

1-4: Inspired Blade
5-6: Master of Many Styles
7-13: Inspired Blade
14-20: Duelist

4 stat bonuses to Dex, 1 to Int

Feats:
1. (Bonus) Weapon Finesse: Rapier, Weapon Focus: Rapier
1. Fencing Grace
3. Dodge
4. Mobility
5. (Bonus) Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist
5. Crane Style, Crane Wing
6. Crane Riposte
7. (Bonus) Improved Critical: Rapier
7. Combat Reflexes (House rules let me change this when I level up, when I achieve the feat through Duelist)
9. Step Up
10. Following Step
11. Step Up and Strike
13. Signature Deed: Parry and Riposte
15. Greater Weapon Focus: Rapier
17. ?
19. ?

If my math is correct, at level 20 this will net me (while naked):
Fort: 8
Reflex: 24
Will: 8

AC 29
Fighting Defensive AC 35 (-1 atk)
+10 to hit
+27 dmg (+6 Dex, +11 IB (Precise Strike deed), +7 Duelist (Precise Strike), then the IB rapier talents)

In addition it has +8 to AOO from movement.

I built it like this to get the Signature Deed feat for Parry and Riposte, as well as the Duelist Parry/Riposte. Every round I can forego one attack to parry and get AOO, and I can parry/riposte when I choose WITHOUT needing to spend the panache point. Couple that with the step up line and I can stick on things while still getting AOO on them.

I have no idea what kind of gear to get, or in what ways I can improve the build. Any help would be greatly appreciated!