Sir Clericalot's page

One of my party-member friends sent this to me last night. What a hoot! he knows me and my bard-loving, chaotic nature and this is right up my alley. Our DM also thought it was great and might allow me to play one of these Gentleman characters. Ha! Here's how I see it:

My human male Gentleman is named "Sterling." He drinks a lot.
Game situation: Sterling is surrounded by nasty ogres and things look grim. He utters his catchphrase: "Danger Zone!" This seems to inspire his allies and baffle his enemies, but he only grins and takes a long pull on his flask of distilled spirits. The ogres close on him, and he says "I'm on a horse!" Whereupon, a fantastic black stallion rises up underneath Sterling and sprints away from the ogres. During the gallop, Sterling uses the feat Quick Draw to put away his flask and re-arm with his bow. Away from the danger zone, and almost as immediately, the horse disappears beneath him. The ogres, befuddled that they did not get any attacks on either the human dandy or his momentary steed, turn to face Sterling, archer. Roll for initiative!! Ha!!

I'm working up a gnome Stygian Slayer and I like how their special abilities (Invisibility at 4th level, Illusion spells at 7th, and Shadowy Mist Form at 10th. They have a watered down sneak attack damage, but they have a full BAB and d10 HP. Plus, with access to both Ranger fighting styles and Rogue talents, in addition to Slayer talents + feats, you could craft a pretty deadly sneak with that archetype. I haven't gotten to play my gnome yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

I've gone back and forth on 2-weapon fighting, but ultimately went with it for a few reasons, not all of them damage related. First, the hooked hammer a cool gnome weapon and I had decided on gnome already. The Slayer class gives access to the Ranger (parent class) fighting styles. I went up and down that list and still came back to 2WF, since the hooked can be used with 2WF. Also, with more feats along the 2WF style track, I can gain more iterative attacks- which is important when adding in the sneak attack bonus damage (which can active if I'm flanking an enemy). As for Assassinate, the Stygian Slayer's ability to turn invisible at 4th level (once per day, more as he levels up), and the Shadowy Mist form, and various illusionist spells he has access to starting at 7th level all could make it easier to get into position for the assassination attempt. I could see it used in and out of combat, using those abilities and/or spells. That the Stygian Slayer (with a full BAB) can be an effective frontline fighter is icing on the cake! Thanks for the input; I often bug my local group of players with these character options and I think they're tired of me at this point! Ha!

Good question, Smallfoot! Sometimes, I'm not 100% sure why I do the things I do. It might be that my thinking was to advance both Str and Dex in roughly equal increments. But, now that you point it out, that gains me nothing. Good advice! Much appreciated.

Howdy, Pathfinders! I been lurking/reading for a few months and I love it when people share their character builds, so I thought I would send along one of my own. We’re winding down a 2+ year slog through Rise of the Runelords (6 people party, with 4 PhD instructors and an Associate Provost, so time is limited). I’ve been playing clerics for this party for about four and a half years and though I dearly love the class, I need something new. So, I went searching for a martial class, but one out-of-the-ordinary (I think I’m genetically predisposed to oddball characters/classes). I read a recent thread on here about optimizing, min-maxing, and munchkining and it made me step back and think about how I build my characters. Generally, I go for roleplay flavor, spellcasting, and the ability to add to party success in combat, rather than being the tank, or the blaster, or the party face. But, I think it will be a case of musical chairs with the folks in my party and we’ll all try on new, different roles.

As such, I knew this new character would need a frontline combat ability, but a sword-and-board (bored) fighter wouldn’t cut it. I rolled up a Martial Master archetype and it came close to giving me the versatility I wanted, but he seemed limited out of combat. We’ve got folks at the table who don’t care much for the roleplay aspect (focusing on doing massive damage in combat), but I think it’s something important and fun! I also rolled up a Warpriest, but that’s another Divine Class offshoot and it just felt stale to me (plus the current barbarian is going Oracle with his next character). I poured over the books (beyond the core classes) and finally found it- the Stygian Slayer! Right out of the box, it’s a fun, challenging class, but I decided to up the ante by making him a gnome- Arglebargle Goblinhobbler!

What I like about the class is the ability to: be sneaky, to use spell-completion & spell completion items, to do sneak attack damage, cast illusion spells, and with a full BAB + d10 hit dice. So, why go gnome? I dunno, I’ve never played one and I like going against type. He hails from Umok- a besieged gnome enclave. He has taken up the task of gaining in skill, wisdom, and wealth so as to finally free the gnomes of Umok from the constant threat of goblins. He is willing to risk The Bleaching so that future generations will live free from fear. I see him as a mercurial, pugnacious type- willing to go up against foes much larger than he and fearing nothing. Gnomes get racial bonuses in things that are very beneficial for Slayers, and Stygian Slayers in particular (illusion magic, stealth bonuses, low light vision, etc.). He’s chaotic neutral, worships Cayden Cailean, but there’s a bit of an edge to him- a desire to prove himself in combat and to dispatch enemies by whatever means necessary (assassination, if need be). I really like all of the cool class benefits that come online as he levels up- sneak attack damage, spell use, shadowy mist form, etc. The class also allows me to build him as a 2WF, using the gnome hooked hammer; drawing on the Slayer talents to utilize Ranger fighting styles.

So, down to the nitty-gritty, the stats/stuff. Our DM believes in epic-level characters and gave us a 35 point buy for our ability scores (I know, it’s high). He ramps up his monsters accordingly and there are challenges aplenty. I knew I’d take the racial -2 hit to Strength, which most people would avoid if they wanted a martial class character. But, I think that’s offset as the sneak attack damage comes online and with the Ranger fighting style feats/bonuses. Plus, it’s about the character, not the numbers, IMO. Speaking of which, here’s his ability scores:

Str: 16, Dex: 16, Con: 16, Int: 13, Wis: 12, Ch: 10

As stated previously, I’m arming him with the hooked hammer, and javelins for ranged attacks. At first level, I’m putting one rank each in Craft, Alchemy (tanglefoot bags, smoke sticks, maybe poison later on), Perception, Stealth, Survival, Sense Motive, Disguise, and Acrobatics. My first level feat is Gnome Weapon Focus. That was a hard choice, but it gives him atk bonuses right away and the ability to switch to another gnome weapon if I feel so inclined. I try to map out where I think feats might go and went back and forth over what I could take. It’s almost too much- to sort through all the options and find the right combination for the character. I wanted to draw on both the Ranger and Rogue parent classes and keep the roleplaying aspect intact. I came up with this possible progression: 2nd level- 2 Weapon Fighting (Ranger fighting style), 3rd- Improved Initiative, 5th- Quick Draw, 6th- Trapfinding (Rogue Talent) & Improved 2 Weapon Fighting (from the gnome favored class trait, 1/6 Slayer Talent), 7th- Iron Will, 8th- Trapspotter (Rogue Talent), 9th- Accomplished Sneak Attacker, 10th- 2 Weapon Rend (Ranger fighting style), 11th- Improved Critical, and 12th- Assassination. I didn’t go higher than 12th level, as experience as taught me that most of the time, these choices will change as I progress. At 4th level, I’m going to add 1 to my Dex score, at 8th, Strength will get a bump, and at 12th, Dex gets another bump. At some point, I will have to put a point into Int, so I can cast 4th level illusionist spells. I went with the 2 Weapon Fighting style since sneak attack damage applies to every hit- the more attacks, the more likely he’ll hit, the more damage he can dish out. I might have to take improved crit twice, for each end of the hooked hammer, but at x4 and x3, it’ll be worth it, I think. Ideally, he’s going to use all the Stygian Slayer abilities to get into sneak attack position, then turn into a Tasmanian Devil of attacks.

That’s what I’ve come up with, but I’m open to suggestions, comments, and questions! Thanks, Chris

I've been "stuck" playing the cleric in our party for about 5 years now and I gotta say, I like it! Clerics got a nice boost with DnD 3 and then Pathfinder took it even further. While I think they still get short-changed with Skill points and class abilities as you level up (compared to say the Thief who gets something at every level), the access to ALL spells (our DM allows any Paizo-published spell) and Positive Energy bursts sorta make up for it. I found this thread a while back and decided to shift my current cleric's focus from Buffer/Band-Aid dispenser to Archer. Right now, he's at 10th level, Cayden Cailean, Strength and Travel domains.

Unfortunately, my initial build, ability scores, and feats don't really lend support to my change of role. Why change to archer? Because we've got 3 tanks up front who mulch the crap out of anything they encounter in melee and 2 arcane casters who de-buff and blast- which leaves me doing very little. We're doing the Rise of the Runelords adventure path and we're up in the Hook Mountain area. Associating with the Black Arrows gave me the idea to go archer and fill the role of ranged specialist. But, how to do this with an improper build/feats? Spells and a few other feats, of course.

With about 8 rounds or less of prep time (less than a minute), I can turn my cleric with 14 Dex, 16 Strength into the deadliest force on the battlefield. Here's how (I'll go over the spells, then add up the bonuses): at the start of the day, cast Hunter's Blessing and select what you expect to encounter as your favored enemy (giants, in our case) and select favored terrain (mountains). That gives a +2 Sacred bonus to attack and damage for 1 hour/level. My guy is borrowing a non-magical Composite Longbow (+3 str bonus), so I also cast Greater Magic Weapon (+2 bonus at 10th level) at the start of the day.

When combat is close, but you're not engaged yet, I cast Bestow Weapon Proficiency (longbow), Bless, and Wrathful Weapon/Holy (each 1 minute/level). The first spell negates the -4 to attack roles for being non-proficient (as most clerics are), the second adds a +1 Morale bonus to attack rolls, and Wrathful Weapon adds 2d6 damage. So, as long as the rest of the party doesn't ding around too much, you've got some buffs for a little while.

The trick is timing the last sequence of spells. If you can set an ambush or maybe the benefit of something like clairvoyance, then you can chose when combat starts. In the last 36 seconds before combat starts, cast these spells and activate these feats (in order): Spiritual Ally, Cleromancy, Bless Equipment (feat), Channel Vigor, Divine Power, and Channeling Force (feat). The first two aren't critical, but the Ally gives you another attacker that you don't have to Concentrate to maintain and the latter gives you some bumps to add to initiate or saving throws. Bless Equipment allows me to add the Bane weapon quality (vs Evil, in this case) which adds another 2d6 to damage and bypasses DR. Channel Vigor adds +4 to ranged attacks. Divine Power is huge: +3 to atk and dmg, plus the extra attack per round. Finally, Channeling Force adds 7 to damage (the # of d6 you can use in Channel Positive Energy, and my guy has a Phylactery of Positive Channeling, which adds 2d6 to my total).

If I can get all of those spells off, with my modest ability scores, I can attack 3 times per round at +21/+16/+21 and do 1d8 +19 damage per hit (factoring in BAB, Strength, and Dexterity, while at -2 from attacking at great than 110'). I've selected the spells so all the bonuses stack. Added damage from Bless Equipment and Wrathful Weapon should stack because the first is adding for the giant bane and the other for the target being evil. Granted, I can only keep up all the bonuses for 5 or so rounds and a LOT of spells get used up to get there, but it can be done. I've got other spell slots open for buffing and healing, so I'm not totally focused on being an archer. But, against big, bad bosses, it's worth it. I've mocked it out and I can do over 400 points of damage in 5 rounds (with only 1 critical hit).