The Blatant Rook's page

Looking at all sorts of builds today and the question came up of building a "tank" (as much as it can be a tank in a game like Pathfinder) that uses polearms.

I am looking at Fighter. For defensive purposes Phalanx soldier seems better, but polearm master builds upon the polearms advantages (namely reach and trip). Phalanx allows my character to still use a shield and wield his polearma one handed, but is that worth what I might miss out on from polearm master?

I also kind of detest feats that give you penalties to hit while giving bonuses to other things, like power Attack and Combat Expertise, but doesn't seem like I'm getting out of those with a polearm user

Thank you!

I'm thinking in my next game I am going to play a fighter, but be an archer since everyone else is melee. I've been trolling around the Internet for help on build ideas and I came across the idea of using the Snap Shot chain. Of course, Improved Snap Shot has been weakened for balance purposes, so my question is this: is it still a worthwhile chain of feats for what amounts to a defensive ability (assuming enemies come at me the right way) or should I use those feats for something else?

You know I never did bother to check dates on what I was reading, thank you.

I am trying to build a fighter as an archer, so the Combat Reflexes - Snap Shot - Improved Snap Shot chain is something that I am looking into.

Reading online however people are talking about that chain giving you a 15ft threat range, but as far as I can tell by reading them, it only gives you a 10ft threat range. With a ranged weapon, that is.

Am I missing something? Am I misinterpreting the rules?

Thanks for your help.

Why not use a longbow? Same damage as a large-sized shortbow, and it would be closer to the quarterstaff he wants.

The bow is for his Large-sized Hybrid form.

I tried to explain to him that a quarterstaff and a bow were built differently, and wouldn't exactly function that same doing the other's job. I feel the bowstaff would break extraordinarily quickly.

I am not the DM unfortunately. I am just trying to prevent an argument between my friend who really wants to do this and the DM, who thinks like me and does not think it is allowed.

I get my friend's logic, though. A medium creature picking up a large-sized bowstaff of a shortbow, you would think that would be use-able as a club or something. I think at most an improvised weapon is in order, but I still would want to see chances of the bowstaff breaking.

A friend of mine is playing a medium sized character who is a Dire Wolf Lycanthrope. He wants to use a Large-sized shortbow, except that when he is in human form, he will unstring the bowstaff and use that as a quarterstaff. He argues it is roughly the same size, and should be legal.

My thoughts are that since bows are considered two-handed weapons when on size, and you can't use two-handed weapons when they are a size category bigger than your character, that he should, by extension, not be able to use the bowstaff as a quarterstaff. However, realistically, I can see where he got the idea.

I wanted to know if this idea was legal, if he can actually use the bowstaff of a large-sized shortbow as a quarterstaff while still in human form, and thus medium sized.

Keep in mind, a Dire Wolf lycanthrope becomes large size when in Hybrid or Animal form.