One of the things I've been most excited about in the new APG is the feat Eldritch Nails for the witch class, which gives you an unarmed attack and, more relevantly for this thread, lets you deliver 2-action non-cantrip offensive hexes through your nails attack. Unfortunately, there are only two two-action offensive hexes, and they are both Focus 5 spells that become available with the major lesson feat at level 10. Is it intended that this feature only be usable with these two hexes, or was there a typo/oversight somewhere here? As is, the feature seems essentially useless and even potentially self-crippling, considerably worse than the already dubiously useful Hex Strike from PF1.
So, the feat Healer's Hands carries with it the ability to treat deadly wounds as a full-round action. The Clockwork Surgeon trait allows the user to as one of its options cut the time required to treat deadly wounds in half. So my question then is this: what is half of a full-round action? My gut says move action, as one can douuble-move as a full round action, but I'm unaware of any precedent on this. The only other example i can think of is time reduction steps in reloading crossbows and firearms, which is never defined as "half" and appears to operate in smaller increments.
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Ok, so I've got a question about a couple of Alchemist discoveries that happen to add/replace arms. Specifically, I'm wondering if I could, as an Alchemist, take the vestigial arm discovery, then take the Monstrous Graft discovery to replace my vestigial arm with one from another humanoid. In the answer got his I'd like to know:
1. Can a vestigial arm (as an arm) be replaced by Monstrous Graft?
2. If yes to 1, then can this grant an additional natural attack in the form of a claw or slam?
My reading thus far is a yes to both, as Monstrous Graft only requires that you swap out an arm without further restriction, and the rules governing vestigial arms would cease to be applicable as the vestigial arm is replaced by a different one with different governing rules. Am i missing something here, or is my four-armed, four-slam-attack alchemist build a go?
Hey all, I've got a bit of a flavor pickle that I'm looking for help with. So for my group's next kingmaker campaign ill be playing a ratfolk underground chemist/makeshift scrapper rogue. His backstory revolves around faking his way into and through most of wizarding college (because it was the only institution of higher learning in his home city) with a combination of alchemy, magic items, and sleight of hand, then faking his own death before an exam where he was sure to be outed and fleeing to where he now has joined the PC group for an expedition into the lawless river kingdoms, still under the pretense of being a wizard. Im planning on making heavy use of alchemical weapons and wands to maintain the charade, but still need some appropriate item to use as an improvised weapon for his makeshift scrapper ability. My first thought was a false wizards staff with compartments that he could embed wands in to conceal their use, but finding no means of making that work by RAW I am looking for other options.
So, what would a rogue pretending to be a wizard use as a melee weapon that qualifies as improvised? My current frontrunner is to use wands themselves as clubs, and flavoring it as him having figured out ways to bring out small amounts of their magical power at a time to enhance their impact and damage when swung, which would fit well with his Supernatural Improvisation ability. Im still unsure if wands as weapons wouldn't have some harsh mechanical downsides given their fragility though, so im looking for more suggestions for thematically appropriate items.
ps: i know that the counterfeit mage archetype is made for such a backstory, but it didn't reflect the variation of means he uses to fake magic well enough for me, and doesn't stack with underground chemist.
Got a rules interaction that I'm a bit unsure of here: if I am, say, a Barb10/Heritor knight6 with greater beast totem and mighty strikes, and find myself staggered, via say diehard, can I then charge as a standard action and use mighty strikes to add vital strike damage to my standard-action pounce attacks? Im not able to think of a good reason why not, but wanted to ask the boards before making assumptions.
So does the following work:
Staggered > 1 action/turn
Charge >available as standard action due to staggered
Pounce > full attack on charge, regardless of action used.
Mighty strikes > apply vital strike damage to any attack made as standard action
Therefore: full attack + vital strike on each attack?
So, im playing a fighter of Cayden Cailean in an upcoming campaign, and was hoping to get some advice on good feats/tools to play up the "drunken bravado" shtick.
The stuff I have already found is as follows:
Blade and Tankard Style, as the core of the build.
Courage In a Bottle, to add +2 to bravery bonus when drunk.
Improved Bravery, to add bravery to all mind-effecting saving throws
inspiring bravery, to make this a party buff
the new Bravery in Action and Undaunted Bravery feats to add my bravery bonus to my initiative and intimidate, respectively
Sash of the War champion for another +1 bonus to bravery
Amulet of Courage (from divine anthology) for another +1 bonus to bravery
Tankard of the Drunken Hero for heroism among other benefits
Drunken Brawler, for temp hp, -2 ref, and +2 will and fort
possibly armed bravery advanced weapon training as an alternative to improved bravery
So here's the build im thinking:
Half-orc, 20 pt buy, Shaman's Apprentice and Sacred Tattoo alternate racial traits
Str 16 Con 14 Dex 16 Int 7 Wis 10 Cha 13
Traits: Fortunes Favored, Fortified Drinker
1 Fighter: Endurance (Shamans Apprentice), Two-Weapon Fighting, Blade and Tankard Style (replaces shield prof.), Power Attack
2 Fighter: Bravery +1, Drunken Brawler
3 Fighter: Courage in a Bottle, Armor training 1
4 Fighter: +1 Dex, Bravery in Action
5 Fighter: Weapon Training 1 (rapier), Advanced Weapon Training: Armed Bravery
6 Fighter: Bravery +2, Imp. Two Weapon Fighting
7 Fighter: Advanced Armor Training: either Armor Specialization or Armored Confidence, either Weapon Specialization or Cornudgeon Smash
At this point i'm unsure whether to go for an intimidation focus with Undaunted Bravery and Cornudgeon Smash, or go more for straight damage and AC. Saves should be pretty dang high across the board, with reflex as the lowest. Damage output should be decent, so long as I can get some buffing potions or infusions to chug. I'd really like to get some of the barbarian rage powers that give bonuses for drinking, but the only in-class means is viking which replaces bravery, and VMC Barbarian would both reduce my available feats and not solve the issue till level 11. I also cant really afford the early Strength investment or Racial Heritage feat required for Raging Brute.
So I guess what I want to know is this: are there other alchohol and/or bravery themed options that would be useful, and am I pouring to much into these two to have a functional fighter?
Gonna keep it short and sweet. Would a Vox Mesmerist's Wounding Words ability be able to be used in conjunction with vital strike? Relevant text to follow:
Quote:
At 3rd level, a vox can focus the power of his voice to magnify the force of his blows in melee. As a standard action, a vox can make a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of sonic damage plus 1 point per mesmerist level. Alternatively, he can make a single attack with a melee weapon as a standard action, adding the listed sonic damage to the damage dealt by his weapon on a successful attack. He can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.
It seems to me that this would indeed work, as vital strike modifies a standard action attack, allowing a vox mesmerist to pile on pain strike, vital strike, and wounding words into a single attack for a reasonable if not overly-impressive big-hit build. Am I missing something?
So for as long as the rules subsection of the Pathfinder forums has existed, threads have perennially popped up with folks trying to combine vital strike, spring attack, and charging in some combination. Throughout the years, folks have told them "no, those don't stack", and everyone has left saddened and/or frustrated.
So let's have another one of those, 'cause I think I may have finally found a RAW solution to this age-old problem, and while I'm sure there's some nuance im missing, it looks solid to me.
EXHIBIT A: Divine Fighting Technique in the Weapon Masters Handbook entitled Gorum's Swordsmanship. Relevant text reads as follows:
Quote:
Initial Benefit: If you have the Vital Strike feat, you can
apply its effect to an attack you make with a greatsword at the
end of a charge.
EXHIBIT B, YOUR HONOR: A feat from the Advanced Race Guide entitled Martial Versatility. Reads as follows:
Quote:
Benefit: Choose one combat feat you know that applies to a specific weapon (e.g., Weapon Focus). You can use that feat with any weapon within the same weapon group.
This feat will be used with Gorum's Sowrdsmanship, which applies to the greatsword as a weapon, opening the feat up to all heavy blades.
EXHIBIT C IF IT PLEASE THE COURT: The Horselord Archetype of the Cavalier, relevant abilities read as follows, bolded for emphasis:
Quote:
At 6th level, a horselord gains the benefits of the Mobility feat so long as she is mounted. Additionally, the horselord deals double damage while using a one-handed slashing weapon from the back of a charging mount, as though using a lance. This replaces the bonus feat gained at 6th level.
Quote:
At 9th level, a horselord gains the benefits of the Spring Attack feat so long as she remains mounted. The horselord uses her mount's movement for this action and neither the horselord nor her mount provoke attacks of opportunity from the target. When making a single attack with a one-handed slashing weapon while using the Spring Attack feat, the horselord treats her mount as charging. This ability can be used to qualify for other feats that treat Spring Attack as a prerequisite; however, the cavalier can benefit from those feats only while mounted.
So, we combine these three things (in a level 4 titan fighter/6 horselord cavalier worshiping gorum) with a mount and spirited charge and we get:
A charging spring attack with a bastard sword applying vital strike damage, which is tripled from the horselord ability and spirited charge.
Is this an actually functional combination of these three oddities, or am I missing something? I'm a little worried that the horselord text might be a bit weird re: spring attack, but i'm pretty confident about the other stuff enabling a vital strike triple-damage bastard sword charge.
So, as many of you may or may not know one of the features of the recent Occult Adventures book was the innocuous little gem that is the Eastern Star Cavalier order. On the surface, this order seems to make the cavlaier a little more defensively focused, giving significant AC and saves, as well as a smidge of DR, to the cavalier class provided that the character in question generally favor defensive fighting and/or combat expertise. After not seeing it used for much since, however, I've decided to do what I can to take this defensive cavalier chassis and dial it up to eleven.
"But Sumutherguy," you ask, "what can you do with this? Don't you know that defensive-focused martials are rather silly and ineffective, and that monk-paladins are already the best at AC and save pumping?"
"Aha", I reply, waggling my eyebrows knowingly, "watch and be surprised my skeptical friend, as I work arithmetic wonders"*
*"arithmetic wonders" here being defined as "i looked up stuff in a book and plugged it into a calculator aren't I so brilliant"
So here goes:
Race: Halfling
20 pt buy: 10 Str 16 Dex 16 Con 8 int 10 wis 16 cha
traits: cautious warrior, fortune's favored
Alright, so here's our first milestone. At level 3 with Guarded active we have saves of Fort 9, Ref 8, Will 5. A bit lacking in our will save, but strong overall. More importantly, entering into defensive fighting now gives us 2(base)+1(trait)+2(cautious fighter)+1(crane style)+1(acrobatics = 7 bonus AC when fighting defensively for a -2 to attack. Not bad for level 3, eh? With a chain shirt and buckler that brings our AC to 27, or 28 against challenged foes.
"OHHHHHH" You are screaming in your mind, "It's another monkadin, big deaaallll."
Why must you always be so negative?
Level 5: Monk 1/cavalier 2/paladin 2: DIVINE GRACE BABY. Also, Lay On Hands and Draconic Defender.
Now, divine grace adds your CHA to your saves and Draconic Defender gives an ally (you count as your own) a natural armor bonus equal to your dodge bonus from defensive fighting. Which, right now is 7.
So this brings our defenses to Fort 15, Ref 11, Will 11 and 34/35 AC. Pretty dang good, but we can GO HIGHER.
Now, crane wing is a bit of a controversial feat. It gives you an additional +4 dodge bonus when fighting defensively, but that bonus goes away if an attack misses by 4 or less. Normally, that would be a pretty big problem, but we ahve other feats that serve as a force multiplier here.
So, with crane wing our dodge bonus to defensive fighting is now 11, with a -2 to attacks. Pretty hefty. This means that our Draconic Defender bonus is now also 11 while crane wing is up, and that on top of this we have the new Blundering Defense luck bonus to AC which is equal to half of our dodge bonus, so 6 if we include fortune's favored. The Crane Wing +4 therefore actually gives us a net +11 AC, more than a sufficient cushion to keep it up consistently.
Our last level is Cavalier 4/Monk 2/Paladin 2, for deeds, 1 dex, and a +1 to our order bonus.
With this our defenses while fighting defensively end up as follows:
Saves: Fort 19 (3 attribute + 10 base + 3 grace + 1 halfling +2 guarded), Ref 13 (4 base + 3 attribute + 3 grace +1 halfling +2 guarded), Will 13 (7 base + 3 grace +1 halfling +2 guarded)
Those are some pretty ridiculous figures, and this is without any magic items! At Level 9 with lower-than average WBL and average HP rolls our Halfling multiclassed monstrosity could also have:
Rod of Balance
Headband of Alluring Charisma +2
Cloak of Resistance +2
+1 Buckler
+1 Agile Rapier
Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2
Lesser Luck Mail
For the following array:
Level 8
HP: 85
Fort: 24
Ref: 19
Will: 18
AC: 56 when defensively fighting
DR 1/-
Against the target of a challenge, saves and AC all go up by 2. Against a smite target, AC goes up by 4. Also, Evasion, for what that's worth.
Attacks: Rapier +11/+6 for 1d4+8 damage. 1d4+12 in a challenge, +15/10 and 1d4+14 in both a challenge and smite. Not incredible, but not as horrible as some defensively-focused builds. The Cavalier combo of challenge and precise strike really save our bacon here.
"But you never really solved the problem of a defensive martial being generally ignorable and ineffective. Anyone can stack Daring Champion damage bonuses." You beam into my brain with your mind-lasers.
Alright, so I've recently been looking into the treat deadly wounds bit of the heal skill in combination with skill unlocks to see if there's any way to make this thing useful. Unfortunately, it seems that this action has a hard limit on the one-hour duration that it takes to apply such care. The skill unlocks, however, make the healing provided useful, if not ideal, come late levels, enabling healing for 240 hp each use by level 20 (natural rate of 2/level/day, three effective days, x2 for long term care effect). This healing still presents a problem, however: it can only be done after someone has been hurt, and the time required means that it must be away from any fighting where a character could just heal naturally anyway.
Enter the preemptive surgeon. Have you ever been elbow-deep in some yahoo who got himself cut up, thinking "boy, tending to dying people is a hassle. I wish there was some way that I could fix them before they get themselves all messy." Well, dream no longer, because with occult powers there is a way!
For this advanced and new technique of surgery we need the following:
1. ranks in the heal skill.
2. a being (hereafter referred to as your Meatbag) which is alive or otherwise able to be tended to.
3. the Psychic Sensitivity feat, to unlock faith healing
4. the Psychic Healer feat.
This last one is the real cornerstone of this combination. The Psychic Healer feat, you see, allows you to make a Treat Deadly Wounds check, and add an additional number of temporary hit points to your Meatbag equal to the amount healed. This seems a little underwhelming at first, given that you still have to take an hour to do this, but these temporary hit points last for a further hour, plenty of time to find mortal danger! Know you are going into a fight soon? Lay your Meatbag onto a table and sew him up, before the injuries even happen!
The temporary hit points gained will be as follows at each skill unlock tier, assuming that you beat the DC by at least 5:
That's a pretty respectable chunk of temporary hit points for your lucky Meatbag! But wait, there's more!
Let's say that your Meatbag is level 10. Said Meatbag buys an otherwise rather unassuming item called Comfort's Cloak. This cloak does many things, but we only care about one effect here: "When taking a full 24 hours of rest, the character regains 5 times his Hit Dice in hit points instead of twice his Hit Dice in hit points." This means that when your Meatbag "recovers hit points and ability damage as if it had rested for a full day" it is multiplied by this effect!
This means that if your Meatbag gets a booboo, your level 10 heal check on said Meatbag will heal them for 10 times their hd, giving them 100 temporary hit points to run around with for the next hour. We can add Bandages of Rapid Recovery to this to make it 140 instead.
Now, 140 temporary hit points for an hour sounds pretty powerful at level ten, but why stop there? Your Meatbag can purchase a Periapt of Wound Closure at the very next level and double that healing rate, bumping the total heal and the total temp. hp to 300! At level 20 this would cap out at a whopping 1200 temporary hp, no small benefit for two feats! Even at level 5 some simple Bandages of Rapid recovery will give them 18 temp hit points to soften up the first blows that they take, or 27 if they are a werebear-kin with the Reviving Rest trait. Treating others not enough? Be a tiefling with the Friendless trait! Want to do this multiple times a day? take the Battlefield Surgeon trait and pump your Meatbag up an additional time!
Healing wounded companions is a practice for a more primitive time, be a modern medical practitioner and heal your patients for wounds they will receive in the future! Unlock the potential of Psychic Surgery™ and leave those silly divine healers in the dust! Remember, their cries of "abomination!", "monster!" and "unethical!" are just envy of your intellect and medical prowess.
PS: I realize that some among those who may read this may say "wait a minute, you can only get as much temporary hp as was missing from your Meatbag in the first place!" To that I say that from my reading of RAW, excess healing may be lost but the healing still technically occurs (just normally without effect) and therefore permits the gain of temporary hit points beyond what missing hit points were regained in the healing process.
PPS: even if that's not the case, just poke your Meatbag with a scalpel for awhile (I hear those Zon-Kuthon types are into that sort of thing), and give him/her/it extra temporary hp equal to their total hp-1.
TLDR:
1. get two feats and some items
2. give ally (or self) 1,200 temp. hp at level 20,
3. ???
4. PROFIT
I've got a question as to whether some things stack via RAW.
So, first the level 8 ability of the vexing dodger rogue archetype grants the following rule: "At 8th level, when a vexing dodger attempts a dirty trick maneuver against a creature she's climbing, she gets a bonus on the combat maneuver check equal to the number of sneak attack dice she has."
second, the level 2 ability of the bounty hunter does the following: "At 2nd level, anytime a bounty hunter is able to deal sneak attack damage to a studied target, he can instead attempt to hamper the target. The bounty hunter must declare that he's using this ability before the attack roll is made. If the attack hits, it deals damage normally, but instead of rolling sneak attack damage, the bounty hunter can attempt a dirty trick combat maneuver against the studied target as a free action, adding 1 to the combat maneuver check for each die of the bounty hunter's sneak attack damage."
third, the feat surprise maneuvers gives the following bonus: " If you have sneak attack, when you attempt a combat maneuver check against a creature that you are flanking or that is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC against your attack, you gain a bonus on the combat maneuver check that's equal to your number of sneak attack dice."
Now, my question is this: Am I correct in thinking that since the vexing dodger ability gives a blanket dirty trick bonus to climbed targets, the bounty hunter ability trades out sneak dice for a bonus, and the surprise maneuvers feat adds a bonus to any combat maneuver made against a flanked or flat footed foe, that they would all stack if all conditions are met, as each provides a different bonus in different but not-mutually-exclusive circumstances? Therefore could a rogue9/slayer3 PC who's climbing and flanking a studied target be able to hit that target and make a free dirty trick maneuver at a +18 bonus?
Alright, so I've been working on making a detective character for an upcoming Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign to be run by my wife. As the groups resident PC-optimizer I'm looking not to overshadow the rest of the party in building this character, so I've been looking at the rogue class to keep me from going crazy and making it too powerful. My goals in doing so were to see if I could make a more nonlethal-based, dirty-fighting build to fit with the character's personality as a streetwise detective and policeman. Well, I am here to tell you that after scouring the SRD, I have not been disappointed. Be prepared, wall of text ahead.
Now, the rogue as a class suffers from a myriad of problems, but among them are the following:
1. high potential damage per hit from sneak attack, but not enough BaB and no other steroid to help them hit with such attacks
2. situational applicability of sneak attack and resulting huge variance in performance as a combatant
3. generally dependent on TWF to maximize SA output while also not really being able to afford the huge feat tax involved or the cost of enchanting two weapons.
4. generally low AC due to light armor + no room for shields
Now, the biggest problem with the rogue to-hit to me seems to be that they are meant to rely on opponents being denied dexterity bonuses, which is a condition that is only rarely met and which the rogue has few if any tools to bring about. The rogue's damage and attacks are both therefore incredibly dependent on getting foes flat-footed (or effectively flat-footed), which is a difficult prospect indeed for a rogue. Feinting is an old way of achieving for this, but unfortunately suffers from the rogue's poor BaB and lack of steroid. What the rogue needs is a way to do some sort of combat maneuver or similar that will make an opponent vulnerable and actually has a chance of success. Well, there's one other combat maneuver that can cause an opponent to lose their Dex bonus, and that's Dirty Trick. Now this too suffers from the same issue that Feint does on a rogue, namely that they simply don't have any way of making it hit often at all...or do they?
Enter the Skulking Slayer. This is a half-orc archetype for rogues that provides the rogue with a very interesting mechanic, namely the ability to sacrifice their sneak attack damage to instead gain a bonus on steal maneuvers equal to 1&1/2 their SA dice or on, you guessed it, Dirty Trick equal to their SA dice. So there we have a steroid! Of ten at level 20, hmm, not really so great anymore. But wait, there's more! The feat Surprise Maneuver from the Advanced Class Guide lets us add our sneak attack dice as well, and what's more the two stack, as Sneaky Maneuvers lets us add our dice as a bonus whether or not we actually make a sneak attack or roll our dice as part of the attack. So now we have a +20 to Dirty Trick or a +25 to Steal at level 20 or a +10/+12 at level 10, not bad. If we combine this with the Scout Archetype, we could be charging into people and blinding them reliably throughout our leveling.
Alright, so this rogue can now blind people halfway effectively, but he still has the problem of damage. First of all, if this guy is charging people to get his dirty trick bonuses off, then he has no iterative attacks on the charge , and wont get any in any case until level 8 if he's not investing all his feats in two weapon fighting, right? Here to help us solve that issue (and help a bit with the AC) is the Snakebite Striker Brawler. A two level dip in this class will net us another sneak attack die, brawler's flurry, a bonus feat, IUS, and +2 BaB. IUS doesn't seem particularly important here though, as after all as a skulking slayer we will be always wielding a two-hander to take advantage of those d8 sneak attack rolls, right? Well, that's an option, to occupy both hands for some extra strength damage and 1 bonus damage per SA die, orrrrrrrrr we could put something else in that off-hand, like say a Burglar's Buckler, which adds to our low AC and to our dirty tricks. Now in our main hand we equip brass knuckles. Why, you ask? For nonlethal shenanigans, of course! We will get to that later, however, right now we still have the problem of having to move at least ten feet per round before getting our free sneak attacks/dirty tricks, and we need to be full-attacking to really get our damage going post-blind.
There are two ways that I've been able to find to sidestep this problem. The first of these is Jaunt Boots, which lets us move 15ft in a 5ft step 3/day. Not bad, but not great either. What we really want is an unassuming little Combat Performance feat called Mocking Dance, which lets us move an extra five feet as part of a swift action performance check (or our full speed if we want to provoke AoOs), letting us use a swift action each round to activate our scout sneak attack, and if we want to do some further feat investment we can pair it with dramatic display and masterful display for a +2 to all our attacks to boot or heroic display for a free intimidate check.
Now to the reason why we got unarmed strike: nonlethal damage without having to spend another feat, and some AC bonuses to boot! First off, we have brawler's flurry now, so we can use our offhand for a shield, beefing ourselves up a bit. I'm sure that by now everyone knows the value of the sap adept and master feats in really ramping up SA damage, but there are some interesting synergies that Sap Master has in particular with other aspects of the rogue. Now, what Sap Master does is double sneak attack dice when sneak attacking and dealing nonlethal damage. Unfortunately by RAW this doesn't stack with Underhanded Maneuvers or Surprise Manuevers. However, there happens to be a particular two rogue talents that benefit from this: Offensive Defense and Harrow Strike. That's right, you could at level 10 be getting +10 dodge AC for a successful sneak attack, or do 10 random ability damage instead of SA damage. Since we are unarmed, we can also throw knockout artist on top of the sap feats for another +1 damage per SA dice (doubled by sap master), and can also take enforcer for some free intimidate checks that would work well with performance combat feats or the Shatter Defenses feat. In fact, with shatter defenses and a successful intimidate check, we wouldn't even need to dirty trick to get the flat footed condition.
So, after all of this, we will have a rogue who can do the following, provided feat allowance and assuming liberal use of rogue talents to take said feats:
2d6+6 nonlethal SA per 2 levels
2.5x SA dice to steal, 2x to dirty trick, 1x to other
+1/SA dice to AC on SA hit (so, 1/level)
guaranteed first attack SA + full attack for swift action so long as we have space to move each round
free intimidate checks on hit
extra attack from brawler's flurry, ability to wear buckler without sacrificing dpr
shaken enemies are flat footed with shatter defenses, so we can make enemies who cant be blinded shaken, and ones who cant be shaken blinded for sneak attacks all the time!
still low BaB. dramatic display helps a tiny bit, but im a theorycrafter, not a miracle worker.
Does it make the rogue suddenly the best class ever? Eh, not quite. I like this build though, and look forward to being able to contribute to my party without being overbearing, and while also feeding my inner minmaxer.
Alright, so I've been looking around at style feats lately, and have come upon a potentially interesting combo, at least if it works the way I am interpreting it to work.
So, the basis for this is the feat False Opening, along with either Snake or Panther Style feats and the Medusa's wrath feat. The Idea qould be that a monk would step into a threatened square, and FoB an adjacent enemy with a combination of shuriken and unarmed strikes, using False Opening to intentionally provoke an attack of opportunity. If a given opponent takes said attack, this would trigger Snake Fang or Panther Style, giving the monk 1-2 retaliatory unarmed strikes depending on said monk's feats. These retaliatory strikes in combination with the dex-depriving of False Opening would in turn trigger Medusa's Wrath, allowing a further two attacks for a total of your full attack combo + 3-4 extra at highest BaB. Heavy feat requirements but a neat combo, imo, and one that would get even crazier if combined with the ninja class for SA damage and flurry of stars. Such would give a total of two bonus shuriken attacks and between 3 and 4 bonus unarmed attacks in a turn, all at highest BaB, targeting flat footed AC, and applying sneak attack damage.
Entirely dependent on the DM not being a jerk and having monsters just "happen" to not take said attack of opportunity, of course. So, is there any rule minutae that I am missing that would prevent this from actually working?
I've seen throughout these past few months a few assorted threads on this forum about the kirin style feat chain and its uses, and beyond a Focused Shot Alchemist who throws one bomb for 4x his Intelligence per round or the Duelist who gets slightly more damage sometimes nobody seems to have been able to come up with much. I've been thinking how to optimise these feats however, and may have come up with an excellent application: The Charger.
More specifically, I am referring to the mounted lance-charger, be it a ranger, fighter, or cavalier (though fighter would definitely be easiest given the heavy feat requirements) in combination with the Combat Style Master feat. The problems with the Kirin feats are as follows: two swift actions to start up, kirin strike only works on one attack, and kirin path is only useful if you want to keep distance. I am of the opinion that a lance-charging mounted combatant with the Combat Style Master feat is able to sidestep these problems rather elegantly.
First, the CSM feat allows us to start any combat with kirin style already activated. While this doesnt negate the second swift action requirement, we can at least do something useful in that time by getting into position for a charge, firing off some shots with a bow, or making other identify checks with the lore warden or student of war class features. While the action tax isn't entirely eliminated, it is cut in half, and we can activate another feat such as janni style to help us a bit more with the upcoming charge.
Second, the issue with the restriction of Kirin Strike to one attack. Well, when lance charging we only really have one anyway. And look at that, Kirin Strike is added after the hit as a flat bonus to damage, which if I am correct means that it is applied to the damage doubling/tripling from the lance. This means that a lancer with spirited charge could be adding 6x his intelligence to his charges, which is no small modifier, and an even better bonus than he gets from strength.
Third, Kirin Path. One of the most unfortunate things that can happen to a lancer in my experience is being backed into a corner by an enemy or group of enemies. Kirin Path allows us to avoid this problem, moving behind any enemy that tries to box us in, ensuring that no matter how they advance we will always end up on the side of our enemy that allows us the most room to move our mount and set up further charges.
These facts together on top of the nice save bonuses that kirin style provides already make me believe that, at least in this case of a mounted combatant with enough of a feat progression, kirin style can be far better than its mediocre reputation, and may in fact when combined with such things as the Student of War prestige class make an intelligence-focused fighter not only possible, but a quite effective combatant, and I for one am quite looking forward to playing a scholar-knight in a campaign I'll be starting next week, assuming of course that this doesnt get the crane-style nerfbat because "style feats arent allowed to be good on non-monks" or "intelligence isnt allowed on martials" or something.
So im looking to make a character for an upcoming Pathfinder campaign, and have up to this point generally played LG or LN nobility types. I'd like to mix this up a bit and make a bit of an antithesis to these.
Enter the character concept: A yeoman farmer and war veteran of Brevoy who has struggled under the bullying and domineering of nearby lords and knights, and has gotten ahold of some books of Galtian philosophy. Now having stirred his resentment into outright hatred of all aristocracy, he desires to overthrow feudal structures and exterminate nobility both as people and as an insitution. The planned alignment is CN, as he's very against the prevailing political order of the land, resents the law, and while he has lofty ideals of equality lets his hatred of nobles rule him too much to be good. So, my question is, how do I mechanically construct this guy in a way to fit the concept as well as possible?
The most obvious choices are of course fighter or ranger, but these seem to lack the sort of rabble-rousing leadership/symbol capabilities that im looking for, at least so far as given class features. Therefore, I'm looking to go for a cavalier, and am particularly interested in the Order of the Land.
My question, then, is what sort of archetype would fit both thematically and be effective in combat, or if another class would be better suited in general. Right now im waffling between a ranged-focused luring cavalier and a vanilla or huntmaster cavalier focused on the improvised weapon ablities of order of the land with either a pitchfork or a combat scabbard, depending on DM ruling regarding enchanting improvised weapons. It should be noted that I don't want to be a "knight in shining armor" type, so i'd prefer not to focus on charging and whatnot. Additionally, relevant feats and traits that would strengthen this build/concept would be welcome.
Alright, so I've been looking at the monk class for awhile, and have really wanted to play a monastic character lately. Unfortunately, the Pathfinder monk class only really works, mechanically, for the eastern shaolin variety of monk. With the advanced player's guide and ultimate combat, however, I think that I may have come up with a passable non-martial-art based monk build, who focuses his ability scores in mental stats rather than physical and is much more conducive to a pacifistic monk of a western tradition. My only question now is whether or not I will be useful to a party with said build, and with this I require your sage advice. I'm not aiming to have the greatest build in the world, just to be a character that will actually contribute to a party in a standard campaign. So, here goes:
My DM is likely to go for a 20-point buy score system, and im not sure if he would let me start at middle age. If he does, my statline for a human monk should be 10 12 12 14 18 14 at level 1. If he does not, it will be 10 10 10 14 18 14.
I will be taking the Ki Mystic, Sensei, and Monk of the Lotus archetypes. These three will sacrifice most of my offensive unarmed strike power, while giving me bardic performance, knowledge and skill check bonuses, the ability to let other party members reroll their actions, a larger ki pool, and a more pacifistic replacement for stunning fist as compensation. Additionally, I will take the vows of celibacy, cleanliness, fasting, and peace, as they fit with the intended western-style monastic character and further increase my ki pool. I would take poverty, but fear that such would be a headache for my DM, who would be less able to balance my character via loot drops.
So, at level 4 i will be a monk with a +7 to hit and 1d8 unarmed damage, 12 ki, 16 AC, +1 Inspire Courage, +2 to knowledge checks, +4 to skill check ki power, 28 skill points, no flurry of blows, a no-damage stunning fist that prevents moving or attacking at a higher DC, and 4d8+4 HP. Decent enough as a support/skill-monkey to not be a liability?
So, I'm going to be a PC in a campaign soon with a bunch of folks who are just getting into pathfinder, starting at level 4, and am thinking that I'd like to try out a rage prophet, both to see how it plays (in-combat and RP-wise) and to avoid being the dominating party member due to my experience advantage. Our party is already going to have a dedicated healer/protection cleric, so I was thinking that I would tool my prophet to make her job even easier.
The plan is to go Vanilla Barb 2/Life Oracle 3/Rage Prophet X, grabbing the channel energy and life link mysteries, as well as the extra rage and channel feats. This will allow me to concentrate damage taken by the party onto myself, making it easier for the cleric with her empowered cure spells to keep up with enemy damage output by focusing on a single healing recipient. Meanwhile, I'll be able to heal a bit myself if things get hairy, take some hits with the high HD I get, and do some ok melee damage. The statline I've rolled up is 18,14,18,13,12,14, and im gonna be putting my next two points into Charisma.
