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Here's a build that works great if your DM is fun, or crazy, or a little drunk, and willing to squint hard enough. If you are a fan of goblins, explosions, and people wielding weapons that are patently too large for them, then read on!

Blammo is a goblin gunslinger using the Oversized Goblin variant. He is therefore a Medium sized creature with +2 STR, +2 DEX, and -2 CHA. As far as his other goblin racial traits, nothing has been changed, so take any that you like. Junk Tinker, for instance seems quite thematic.

Ability Scores
10 point: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 5
15 point: Str 16, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 5
20 point: Str 16, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 14, Cha 5
25 point: Str 16, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 16, Cha 5

A note on the high strength: I'm not sure how much pathfinder says that a cannon weighs (spoilers). I figure that with muleback cords or extradimensional space, we can figure this one out by the time it's important. If your DM can't be asked to keep track of encumbrance, so much the better.

Skill Points
We have between 3 and 5 per level depending on Favored Class bonuses and which array you got stuck with. I recommend picking a few of your best options and maxing them out, considering. Perception is (as usual) one of your best options, Craft: Alchemy will help to keep you in ammo for a fraction of the usual cost, and Stealth is also an okay option given our light armor and high Dex (especially if your cannon is in a bag of holding or something). If you plan to take Siege Gunner at level 5 (or Master Siege Engineer at level 10), you will also need ranks in K. Engineering or Profession: Siege Engineer.

Traits
Surprise Weapon (+2 to hit with improvised weapons)
(Any other trait that you would like)

Level 1 (Gunslinger: Musket Master)
Class Features: Deeds, Grit, Gunsmith
Feats: Rapid Reload (Musket) and Goblin Gunslinger

Goblin gunslinger is the only part of this build I would consent to being a bit suspect for two reasons. RAW it allows goblin characters to wield firearms as though they were medium size, but I don't think that it's a stretch to rule that it would allow us to do the same with large weapons, given that we're medium sized already. Otherwise, a standard sized goblin would lose this ability if Enlarge Person were cast on him. If your DM is already bucking at this idea, read no further. My condolences. If everything checks out as I've said, then congratulations! Grab your 3d6 musket and load it with paper cartridges. You're already gunslinging like a pro.

Level 2 (Gunslinger: Musket Master)
Class Features: Nimble +1
Feats: None

Not much has changed yet. A +1 AC will help to keep Blammo alive for now, though. Keep shooting your musket.

Level 3 (Gunslinger: Musket Master)
Class Features: Deeds
Feats: Rapid Reload: Cannon

Now for the second shaky part of Goblin Gunslinger. Maybe buy your DM another drink before telling him about this part. According to the section on inappropriately sized weapons here "In most cases, a Large or larger creature can use a siege firearm as a two-handed firearm, but the creature takes a –4 penalty for using it this way because of its awkwardness." This leads me to make two assumptions. First, and most importantly, that since we are able to wield firearms as though we were a size larger, that we too are capable of hoisting a fracking cannon onto one shoulder and using it as a two handed firearm, and two, that the "-4 penalty" imposed is the standard nonproficiency penalty one takes for wielding an improvised weapon (an item not designed to be wielded as a weapon) in combat. Thanks to the Fast Musket deed, we can reload this improvised two handed weapon as though it were a pistol, meaning Rapid Reload: Cannon allows us to reload paper cannonball cartridges as a free action. If you made it this far, you're in the clear! Maybe buy the DM another drink to celebrate.

You're now toting a 6d6 siege weapon as a main weapon, with a musket for a sidearm. Don't forget that you can also load Blast Shot for the same price as a normal cannonball (10gp if you make it yourself) to do the same damage to everyone in a 30 foot cone with a much lower chance of misfire. The only trade off? Your shots no longer ignore hardness. Too bad. Did you know our standard ammunition ignores all hardness? It does.

Your main problem now is how expensive (and heavy) your ammo is. Best solution I can think of is to grab up a custom magic item of abundant ammunition as soon as possible. Mine is a chest slot item I call the Cannoneer's Bandolier. As a 1st level spell cast at 1st level, with a minute duration, it should cost 4,000gp to have it always on. Odds are, you'll be able to grab it sometime between now and 4th level. If not, maybe a wand?

Lvl 4 (Gunslinger: Musket Master)
Class Features: Bonus Feat
Feats: Throw Anything

Assuming everything I said about improvised weapons checked out, this should remove the penalty for attacking with the cannon (doesn't say you actually have to throw it) and put you at Full BAB plus Dex plus 2 trait bonus to hit with the thing. Considering it resolves on touch AC for the first 100 feet range increment, you won't be missing much.

Lvl 5 (Gunslinger: Musket Master)
Class Features: Musket Training
Feats: (Seige Engineer)

If your DM didn't buy that shtick about improvised weapons, then forget Throw anything and the Surprise weapon trait. Take EWP: Cannon at third level and just grab this feat at fifth. Even if he does let the improvised weapon thing go, you might pick this anyway, depending on how afraid you are of misfires.

Also, we get Dex to damage with all two handed firearms this level, which rocks.

Lvl 6-8 (Monk: Zen Archer)
Class Features: Flury of Blows, Unarmed Strike, Way of the Bow, Zen Archery, Fast Movement
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Perfect Strike, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus: Longbow, Precise Shot, Point Blank Master

I like to consider this the "Holy frack, I forgot I was a ranged character" period. This dip helps us pick up a bunch of the feats we otherwise might have been taking, had we not been focusing on getting a cannon. Also, nets us +10 movement, and +3 to all our saves. Losing one point of BAB isn't great, but it doesn't suck either, considering we're attacking Touch AC. If your DM allows the non-paizo archetype Zen Marksman though, take that instead. It's just as good as Zen archer, and all of it works for your cannon.

Lvl 9+

Lots of good options here; feats are as good for ranged characters as they always are, so grabbing levels in fighter wouldn't go amiss. Fighter also comes with Weapon Training, and the "Warrior Spirit" option, to allow for on-the-fly enchanting. Depending on whether or not your DM ruled that your cannon is an improvised weapon, you might pick up the (non Paizo) improved catch off-guard feat to get sneak attack on your cannon attacks, if for some reason your cannon isn't doing enough damage for you. You could also make a strong case for the Shikigami Style chain of feats to drive your damage total into the stratosphere (your DM would be well within his rights to lob something heavy at your head at this point). Eldritch Archer Magus might also be an interesting choice, allowing for cannonballs that deliver spell attacks. Basically any full base attack class with a couple extra feats will be good as gold from here on in.

By the way, if your character happens to be level 10 or more at creation, I'd also like to point out that you can skip being a musket master by taking the Master Siege Engineer feat. This will lower your reload time to a move action with a siege weapon to a move action. Rapid Reload: Cannon would then reduce your reload time to free action without even requiring paper cartridges.

When it comes to later game items, just focus on the big 6:

Magic Weapon
Enchant the heck out of your cannon, if you're able. If not, grab all the magic ammo you can lay your grubby goblin mitts on

Magic Armor
A monk's robe isn't a terrible choice here, but don't be afraid to put on some light armor if you need to. We aren't using any monk abilities that we'd lose by donning it.

Cloak of Resistance
To keep our saves high

Stat-boosting item (headbands for mental stats, belts for physical)
Wisdom for Headbands, Dex for Belts

Ring of Protection/Amulet of Natural Armor
Realy helps our survivability, especially if we're using our Monk unarmored AC

Feats I recommend from this point onward:
Shikigami Style
Shikigami Mimicry
Shikigami Manipulation
Improved Precise Shot
Clustered Shots
Deadly Aim
Any other ranged feats


Pretty much what it says on the tin, I'm afraid. Are there any rules regarding non-humans taking variant multiclass? Obviously the animal would need a passably human intelligence score, but are there any other requirements one would have to meet? What might be the possible implications?

I am also curious about the same issue in regard to familiars, although I recognize the issue of whether familiars gain feats appropriate to their hit die is a matter for some debate. I will say only that I have always allowed familiars to benefit from feats in my own campaigns.


Hello, all. I was hoping I could get one or two opinions on this Warpriest build I've been tinkering with. I've just begun playing in a game beginning at 16th level, with a single mythic rank. This will be the highest level character I've ever gotten to play, as well as the first mythic character, and so I set out to put together a Mythic Vital Strike build, for the novelty of it being useful. Along the way, however, I've stumbled into something of an interesting concept that works fairly well as a playable-from-level-one build, with no mythic requirements. The build requires you to be a Human with a deity that favors the whip, so Calistria is a good option. If your DM isn't fussy about which favored weapon you get, like mine, then I recommend Kurgess for flavor. Without further ado, here are the feats.

Human: Racial Heritage (Dwarf)
1st: Whip Mastery
Focus Weapon: Whip

We're a Warpriest with a 1d6 whip! Good for us. In our hands, it's a one handed weapon with 15 ft reach. We'll be wielding it in two hands, though.

3rd: Power Attack and Cleave

While wielding our whip in two hands doesn't give 1.5 times our Strength to damage, wielding it in two hands should still confer +3 per iteration of Power Attack.

5th: Goblin Cleaver

This is a fun feat that lets us use our Cleave attack on any creature that is a size smaller than us regardless of their position. Considering the reach of our whip, we should always have a target for our cleave attack. If you happen to be an evil Warpriest, you might consider throwing Mighty Cleaving on your whip to get a second cleave attack. If not, just wait until next level.

6th: Great Cleave and Orc Hewer

Now we can cleave as many targets as we want in our 15ft reach, so long as they're our size or smaller, or adjacent to someone who is. It's not exactly whirlwind attack, but it's pretty close.

7th: Equipment Trick (Rope)

We can use a length of rope as a whip, in addition to some other fun options. I like to imagine that the end of the rope is tied into a monkey's fist, which will function as our tetherball. If you have a good magic whip at this point, it'll probably be better to use that. If you don't, however, our ball makes a fine target for Sacred Weapon.

9th: Throw Anything and Shikigami Style

Our (now effectively large size) ball now does as much damage as a great sword. This probably means that you're using the ball over whatever magic weapon you had before. Throw Anything is really just there as a prerequisite, however it's worth noting that we can disregard how the whip is MEANT to be used, and just chuck it at a faraway enemy. I'm gonna say we can yank it back as a move action. A rope is just a really long weapon cord, right? If your DM doesn't buy that, maybe put "returning" on a pair of +1 Gloves of Improvised Might.

11th: Vital Strike

This isn't doing much for us right now. Although it bears mentioning that since our ball now does 2d8 (as much as a large bastard sword) we can chuck it at someone for 4d8+Str damage. That's not nothing.

12th: Improved Vital Strike and Weapon Trick: Two Handed

Our initial and secondary cleave attacks now do vital strike damage, meaning that everyone within 15 feet of us is taking 4d8+Str damage, so long as they're the same size as us or smaller, or standing next to someone who is. It's worth noting that if your DM is nuts and allows 3rd party material, then Vicious Cleave from Flaming Crab Games works better and comes online much earlier. That being the case, I would also recommend Vicious Opportunity, but remember that you will need Improved Whip Mastery to make it work.

13th: Shikigami Mimicry

Our ball has gained another effective size category, and now does 3d8+Str on a normal hit, 6d8+Str on cleave, and 9d8 on a vital strike. We can also take -2 to add an assortment of abilities to our weapon temporarily.

15th: Shikigami Manipulation and Devastating Strike

A big damage boost here. Our ball now does 6d6+Str normally, meaning 12d6+Str+6 on a cleave, or 18d6+Str+6 on a Vital strike. See if your DM will allow you to coat the business end of your rope with Sovereign Glue to make it into a +5 weapon. If not, maybe wrap the knot around a Stone of Good Luck.

17th: Greater Vital Strike

Our Cleave now does 18d6+Str+6, pushing us past the damage of an empowered Fireball. Our range is 5ft shorter, but we get to fire one off every turn, it's party friendly, and there's no reflex save for half.

18th: Strike Back and Giant Killer

Add another size category to the list of people we can cleave into if they're within 15 ft of us.

19th: Quicken Blessing

I really wish I could have slotted this in earlier, but I honestly don't know where I ought to have put it. Any thoughts are appreciated.

And that's more or less it. Mythic ranks change matters, naturally, as Mythic Cleave handily replaces the entire Goblin Hewer feat chain, and makes the effect more or less foolproof. Mythic Vital strike, meanwhile, adds a frankly unconscionable amount of damage, putting us well in range of one-shotting any monster you might care to name.

My Build:
Patches O'Houlihan
CG Human Warpriest (deity:Kurgess)

25 Point Buy

Str 16 (26) (+4 Level, +6 Item)
Dex 12 (18) (+6 Item)
Con 16 (24) (+2 Racial, +6 Item)
Int 12
Wis 14 (22) (+2 Racial, +6 Item)
Cha 7 (5) (-2 Racial)

Trait - Surprise Weapon
Trait - Fate's Favored

1st - Whip Mastery and Racial Heritage (dwarf)
Focus Weapon - Whip
3rd - Power Attack and Cleave
5th - Improved Whip Mastery
6th - Vital Strike and Vicious Cleave
7th - Great Cleave
9th - Vicious Opportunity and Equipment Trick (Rope)
11th - Improved Vital Strike
12th - Throw Anything and Shikigami Style
13th - Shikigami Mimicry
15th - Shikigami Manipulation and Devastating Strike

Mythic Path: Heirophant
Mythic Feat 1st - Vital Strike (Mythic)
Divine Surge - Inspired Spell
Path Ability - Extra Mythic Feat: Cleave (Mythic)

Equipment
2.4K - Sovereign Glue
144K - Belt of Physical Perfection (+6)
36K - Headband of Inspired Wisdom (+6)
100K - Gloves of Improvised Might (+1)
Training: Greater Vital Strike (+1)
Training: Combat Reflexes (+1)
Training: Greater Weapon Focus: Whip
Returning (+1)
22.4K - Celestial Armor
9K - Cloak of Resistance (+3)
1,200 GP unspent

HP 199
AC 10 (base)+6 (chainmail)+3 (enhancement)+4 (Dexterity)= 23
Initiative +4
Skills 4/lvl

  • Fort - 20
  • Ref - 12
  • Will - 19

Patches attacks at +29 (25 on power attack) for 24d6+456 (+744 on power attack) then proceeds to make identical attacks on all targets within 15 feet. He threatens out to 10 feet during others' turns, and may make 5 opportunity attacks at equal damage. He has 14 uses of Fervor per day, and may enhance his weapons with brilliant energy, defending, disruption, flaming, frost, keen, shock, anarchic, vicious, ghost touch and holy. His blessings are Good and Travel.

This is my first posted build (actually, my first post), so I hope I have formatted it clearly. I'll be adding links to the feats within the text later on. I can't wait to hear feedback, and look forward to being part of the community here.