Saevus's page

Thanks for the additional input. It's all just fun and games (literally) :)

So I'll update with the top choice of my 3 ideas for the group (Session zero after the holidays)

First, this is not PFS. Apologies if I used a bad acronym somewhere, this is a game a very long time 3.5/PF DM buddy of mine is running. His current group finished a campaign and is retiring the characters and they lost a player so I am coming on in. I am not new to games, but new to PF in that I have not played it, but after a metric crap ton of studying I think I have a good idea.

Level 1, 20pt buy, any official content is a go, but with the usual caveat of DM last say. As of right now not sure of the whole group, I know there will be a Dex based Investigator in the group, who plans to get a wagon and fill it with potions.

So..my thoughts as of right now are Halfing Cavlier of the Sword (Not married to Sword, I like the bonuses, and to be fair its really simple, I know it's mount centric, but that is kind of the point)

Str = 14
Dex = 14
Con = 14
Int = 9
Wis = 12
Cha = 14

Why these stats? Who knows. Other thoughts I had were 15/14/14/10/10/12. That gets me into the next tier of STR at 4...I'm used to systems where dumping stats punishes you differently than PF so its not in my soul to do it but my concept is that of a kind of Lovable dumb Knight who is constantly trying to do the right thing. I do realize swords lvl 15 bonus is based on CHA, but I don't imagine we'll even get to 15, maybe 12-13, I bumped it just because it was cheap and gave me one face skill to fall back on. 14 dex may even be too much if I plan on using heavy armor, I'll admit while I feel good with most of the core rules now, equipment foo is not yet my thing.

Traits:
Outrider Racial (probably overkill, but not gonna be making many sure footed checks in heavy armor)
Reactionary (+2 initiative seems really solid)
Seeker (class based perception always seems like a good idea)
There were so many traits in so many books, my head could explode trying to figure them out. I bet you all money there are better ones out there, but I found these, they seemed simple and useful. Feedback always appreciated.

Favored class/Skills: I was going to use this to get an extra skill point so I could get Ride, Handle Animal, Diplomacy, Perception and Sense Motive most levels.

Again....it's a limited choice, you seem to need Ride and Handle animal, I wanted one quasi face skill if I was going to carry 14 CHA around, so we'll try to be diplomatic and might as well be able to tell if someone is blowing smoke if I am talking to them. Not sure if there is a better way to approach this.

Feats

1 Mounted Combat
3 Power Attack
5 Ride By Attack
6 (Cav Bonus) Spirited Charge (After this I get fuzzy)
7 Furious Focus, Maybe Risky striker if we fight a lot of really big things
8 (Order of the Sword bonus) Trample (I originally liked sword mostly for the feat here, then realized I get everything I want way earlier. May need a new order....)

Mount: Wolf. I do not want him to get big....I want those phat stats on him, but if he stays medium, I'll never have to argue that the wolf and I can make it somewhere. (Or not much) IIRC I get a feat to start on him, was going dodge off the list I had....seems like a sub-par choice, but I need to look at this whole build you mount process again.

Equipment? I don't know. No clue how much money we will have to work with, just assumed avg amount of gold for the class. Starting out, I was thinking Buckler, Lance, Longsword, 4 Mirror Armor (highest AC I could find cheap enough to start with), some wood barding for the wolf. I don't have any idea what is good to look for later, I may depend heavily on the group to guide me in this department.

So that's most of it I think using your guys info and being reasonably certain I can get charges off enough to shout and hoot over, that is where I am at.

Topic for another thread, my runner up idea is a brawler and if I am being honest, the concept of the Halfing Cavalier appeals way more, but a brawler looks mechanically like a blast.

Super appreciate all the help, Do you know by chance what book it says I don't have to let the wolf grow? I want to be able to point to it because of my 3 mount miniatures, the wolf looks the most awesome and I was going to be sad to lose him.

I'm well set now, This character is going to happen. It's exciting to be able to manage the concept, since every other idea I came up with over the last week turned out to be completely useless.

I still feel this build is a bit of a one trick build, but I'm going to try and use whatever team buffs I have as much as I can and be a quasi face and hope for the best. I've been so busy running games the last few years, I can't miss this chance to play even if I just lance a few things in the face.

I appreciate all the input. This is a great community.

I think I'm definitely going to try and figure this out. I'm confused as hell by the mount, and they get bigger at certain levels so I need something else for my guy to ride at level 4, and they can be trained. Whole thing boggles my mind. BUT...I'm glad to see that a Halfling Knight running around on a dog is doable and won't take till level 18 to put a hit or two down on things. I don't see much of a way to be pure cavalier and have a ranged weapon so that's gonna hurt when I can't get at the enemy, but I guess all pure melee have to deal with it somehow. I'll ride a wolf till level 4 then I'm going to ask to use a ram, just because I have a sick Ram for my guy to ride. Won't be a real flexible character, but I've got a gnome druid and a Dwarf musket gunner as backup. If this guy bites it, I can try something else.

Now to trundle through all the rules. Not sure how swapping a shield to go 2h on the lance, then back to shield works, but we'll see if I can figure that. Not sure the interaction between the mount's attack and something like ride by or even what all the hubbub about attacks of opportunity is, but I have my idea firmly planted.

If anyone has a sample build of just a straight Cavalier, and wanted to post it, no one would say no. I'll do some google foo too, has to be something out there, but sometimes they are old and there are A LOT of PF books, and sometimes they seem different.

I think I have the Core Rules, Advanced Players guide and I think..Ultimate Combat in my cart, will that cover whatever I do with this Cavalier?

It all makes sense, and I appreciate the thoughts outside the box of say bog standard "Cavalier".

I GM a lot of other systems, but I'll give PF credit where it's due, after doing some reading tonight, there sure are 1000 ways to skin any cat in PF these days.

Not sure I am any closer, but I've got time. I do like the idea of a reach fighter kind of guy with a glaive or the like, but then I'm into the shelf of minis for something other than a Halfling armed with a jousting lance.

The bane of a game having this many fun looking classes, tonight alone, I was eyeballing a goblin gunslinger with an oversized pistol, a halfling riding a dinosaur, my gnome druid mini, a monk archer, all these crazy barbarian archetypes, the alchemist looks interesting, I've got a great gnome tinker mini (not sure that's a class, but I bet it is somewhere, lol)

Man this one is tough. I only play in someone eleses game once every 15 years, got to make it count! :)

Hello,

Long time lurker, I am an active GM for a number of other systems, but the last time I was a player was in 2002 for a 3.x campaign. Have a chance to jump in a new campaign that a buddy is running after a long time player dropped. However, it's pathfinder, and besides owning precious little in the way of books, I am not real up to date on the maths in PF. I was hoping folks out there could help me, I am really good at coming up with terrible ideas, so I assume this idea I have is a terrible idea, but I am hoping there is a way to translate it so I am not a drain on the group.

I love Miniatures, and I have this awesome Halfling Knight, I can mount him on a Wolf, a Ram, a bat, or this Feathered Raptor Dinosaur. I've wanted to build a character based around this guy for awhile, I picked him up for a player in a different game and painted it and then the guy changed ideas, so he sits on my shelf being awesome. Problem is, I have no idea if there is a viable build that would not just be an under powered quasi-fighter who charges around swatting at things with a lance, and then fails to hit anything that flys or is on a ledge or a wall or whatever.

I've done some searches and it seems like it might be viable, but its been so long, I understand little of the jargon in the post, and don't know what books might have info that would help me in this endeavor.

So, all that being said (Thanks for sticking with me here), If I wanted to do a Halfling who mostly runs around mounted on an animal of some sort, is it: A) Viable? B) What should my stats look like?, C) What are the must have books that would describe the class or archtypes I would need? D) Is it possible to build in some backup, so he's not a one trick pony when he inevitably can't get a lance on target?

I appreciate any insight the folks around here can give me. I just want to try something I have a cool mini for and might be a little different. In 25 years of gaming, I can't remember a mounted combat focused character, but a small one might be able to get his chicken or dog or whatever into a dungeon, but I am acutely aware that if I show up with a pants on head build I'll get funny looks and my PF math-foo is weak here.

My other options are Gnome Druid (Who is an amazing mini, but I wanted to dinostomp things and from what I can tell, you don't get that till 6 and gnomes are bad melee beatsticks because stats)

A Dwarf Gunner (I can't figure out the math on muskets, they seem like they are really limiting number of attacks wise, without the cool POW effect of a lance)

or I could dig up a goblin Bomber. I know nothing of the alchemist, and would have to read up on how good that could be.

Cheers and thanks for reading!