Thats quite weird, I was just feeling underwhelmed today with my Wizard Universalist, feels weird only 3 spell slots. You cant just be the that universal with only 3 spell slots per level, right? Cause if you're wrong on some of your choices, specially in higher-level spell slots, you have only one or two options remaining to save you. Also, Bond Conservation was hardly working because it seems, but it is not versatile at all.
Then that guide showed up! Turns out that your rage against the wizard nerfs and universalist as the "only-way-out-theory" came in a pretty good time for me, as I also felt much like that, haha.
I pretty much agree with you in most of your talking! And also I am waiting for more content! Spell or archetype analysis? I'm tuned!
I also thought in this build and it is utterly versatile and strong. But you have to know your role. Melee rogues are just not safe in my opinion. You're a glass cannon. You'll hit hard from behind, when someone get to you, just run or fight running. With this build, nobody will even bother to chase you.
CLASS FEATS
L1- Nimble Dodge/You're Next
L2- Mobility (this will save you over and over).
L4- Basic Wizard Spellcasting
L6- Magical Trickster.
L8- Arcane Breadth.
L10- Precise Debilitation
L12- Expert Wizard Spellcasting
BEST BUFF SPELLS TO THIS BUILD
LVL1) Fleet Step (stacks with Mobility, run fast w/ no AOOs).
LVL2) Invisibility (they have to search for you, find you, then hit you with 50% miss chance).
LVL2) Mirror Image (you'll have 3 images for them to waste attacks).
LVL3) Haste (you can strike 3 times then sneak in your last action).
SPECIAL SECRET COMBO, YOU'LL NEED:
Shocking Grasp (lvl 1 spell hits 2d12+1d12 per heighten).
Magical Trickster (lvl 4 rogue feat: adds sneak attack into your Shocking Grasp).
Spectral hand (lvl 2 spell, can deliver touch spells, like shocking grasp at the confort of 120ft range).
-You hit up to 3d8+5d6 with a Longbow.
-You hit up to 4d12+5d6 with a Shocking Grasp lvl3.
Thats too much damage for your distance, believe me.
ANCESTRIES (MIX UP IDEAS BELLOW)
1)ELVEN WEAPON ANCESTRY: you can use a Shortbow or use your Elven Weapon Ancestry to get Longbow proficiency (you can get more use of distance and also gives more damage, I would recommend it).
2)ADOPTED ANCESTRY: in Halfling to take Halfling Luck and Guiding Luck, reasons:
-You are the party crafter (lots of skills and high INT), and this will help you never failing on your duty.
-Also, will save you from the worst saves or making an important shot hit.
3)RUNNING: otherwise, boost yourself with Nimble Elf (Ancestry) + Fleet (General Feat). With 10 extra movement speed, you're faster than most (40ft). With fleet-step, you can keep big distances while sniping people, or just choose to run from any fight. You'll run 70 per action (with Swift Sneak you'll be sneaking all this movement).
SKILL FEATS
-I recommend: Swift Sneak, Foil Senses, Kip Up, Magical Crafting, Cat Fall, Inventor, Battle Medic and whatever you show up.
I believe that Sap Master has a high potential. And the rogue debuffer role is really better in Unchained mode. But after searching a lot, I've came with two possible pathways:
A) Rake / Scout / Sap Master / Short Bow Merciless Blunt arrows user / Shatter Defenses
Rake and Scout archetypes can make a viable archer rogue. With Sap Master and the use of Merciless Blunt Arrows, you can nearly do high damage while in distance of 30ft. At level 8th we can Skirmish to start rake's Bravado Blades to get a not free but certain intimidate. We would get +5 circunstance bonus for each SA 1D6 you give up. This would have some synergy with Rogue Edge (Intimidate), giving the opportunity to insta frighten, panick or cower a enemy. And after the first SA with skirmisher, Shatter Defenses gets online. And you can just sit down anywhere and Rapid Shot that enemy while you never got close. If someone gets too close, start moving and use debilitation to hamper its movement, even if it would get you an AoO. But here, we can't count with the Sickened condition from Thug. It gets good in level 8th but, before that, we can still charge for SA with the sap and still use Blades Bravado and etc. This opens a good ton of combos with other Archer Feats.
B) Thug / Scout / Sap Master / Enforcer / Sap user / Shatter Defenses.
I have to stick in melee and use Enforcer in order to trigger intimidate. And I'll be getting the Brutal Beating effects, that means sickened, and a whole life shaken with a flexible frightening option. On top of that we have debilitation injury. With Offensive Defense you can actually have good survival chances in melee. At level 4th you can actually charge for 4d6 SA, and be able to inflict -6 penalty on attack rolls and still get 4+ on AC. Of course, it gets harder when we have more enemies around. At lvl 8th then, we can Skirmish with the bow. We can move up to 30ft then make a sap mastering attack with a bow. But, it will not be using any of the Enforcer feat. In other hand, it would be a good retreating way: hampering in debilitation injury while moving and hittin' tons with the bow with 0 archer feat costs.
OBS: I would be using both weapons in any of those paths. So, both ways of fighting. Both weapons would benefit from Dex because of finesse weapon. And forget Undeads, Constructs and others.
Which one of those would be the best? A or B? Rake ranged or Melee Thug?
As mentioned in another thread, it's not completely clear that the "character level 3rd" prereq of Eldritch Heritage is satisfied by a creature having 3 HD. PFS might care.
What kind of light armor do you plan to give him? It may be easier to stick to 0-ACP stuff, like leather, mwk studded leather, or mithral kikko, and save yourself the proficiency feat.
Thanks for the advice about PFS not being completely clear. I think this is gray area, which makes the last decision to DM hands.
You got a big point, I wasn't thinking about 0-ACP stuff. I could use his first feat with something else and use quite well Mithral Kikko. But now it makes me wonder, is it worth to consider: Medium Armour Proficiency and Heavy Armour Proficiency?
The only thing I would caution is to bear in mind he can only use the claws for 3+cha mod rounds per day, so 5 rounds with that build. Useful, but not necessarily worth the 2-3 feats it's going to take to get it all possibly.
That's not all. With those 3 feats I dont only get 2 claws with paralysis chance. Those 2 features come in the way, making it all worth:
Leathery Skin (Ex):
At 3rd level, you gain cold resistance 5 and a +1 natural armor bonus to AC. At 9th level, your cold resistance increases to 10 and natural armor bonus increases to +2. At 15th level, your natural armor bonus increases to +4.
Ravenous Frenzy (Ex):
At 9th level, you gain the benefits of haste for a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level. These rounds don't need to be consecutive. Each time you hit a creature with two or more claw attacks during a full attack while affected by this ability, that creature takes 1d4 points of bleed damage.
WITH 3 FEATS
1. I get 2 times in each of 5 rounds to paralyze an enemy per day. This is a high chance to make someone helpless, which means vulnerable to Coup de grace (instakill), or any other attack.
2. Scaling bonus natural armor to AC with scaling bonus cold resistance (which is superior to spending one entire feat in Improve Natural Armor).
3. Benefitting from haste would make my Deynonichus hit a 6th attack a number of times equal to his level -2, which is a high power boost.
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong. Supposing that Deinonychus would have effective character level.
He will need an Intelligence of 3 before he can pick the feats up.
He will gain 2 claw attacks. However, that will not give him 2 more claw attacks as he does not have the required 2 extra limbs.
He will in fact get 3 int at level 4, before taking the feat.
I was thinking about it, a lvl 7 Deinonychus has 2 talons (1d8), 1 bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4). It wouldnt make more sense if Ghoulish Claws substitute those dinosaur 2 claws (1d4) to ghoul 2 claws (1d4) + bonus effect? So the final result would be:
Hello there, I'm playing as a Druid Saurian Shaman with monk dip, I want to optimize my Deinonychus (Animal Companion). As so, I want to remember he has 14 CHA, and I'm willing to do this build based on Eldritch Heritage in Ghoul bloodline to him:
QUESTIONS
1. Is it possible and alright?
2. How does Ghoulish Claws would work with Deinonychus natural attacks?
3. Opinions? Another optimal options?
DEINONYCHUS BUILD:
Starting Statistics
Ability Scores Str 11, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 14
Ghoulish Claws (Su) Starting at 1st level, you can grow claws as a free action. These claws are treated as natural weapons, allowing you to make two claw attacks as a full attack using your full base attack bonus. Each of these attacks deals 1d4 points of damage + your Strength modifier (1d3 if you are Small). At 5th level, creatures damaged with your claw attack are paralyzed for 1 round, as the ghoul ability (Fort negates). At 7th level, the duration of the paralysis increases to 1d4+1 rounds, and the claws are considered magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming DR. You can use your claws for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive. If you're a ghoul with this bloodline, instead of gaining this ability, your levels in sorcerer stack with your racial Hit Dice when determining the DC of your paralysis and disease special abilities.
If you wanna go deeper, he has 14 CHA, what makes him able to Eldritch Heritage (feat) or intimidating feats.
Does PFS consider "3 HD" to count as "character level 3rd," at least for feat prerequisites? AFAIK the equivalency isn't stated in the rules although most people play that way.
If there isnt a rule, maybe it is because we can do that way. Animal Companions goes from 1 to 20 too, so I think we can call it level too.
I don't think Ape is that king. Deinonychus (velociraptor) is much superior in my opinion. Roc and Cat can be good options too, depending on what your character and your DM wants. In my case, it synergizes well with the Saurian Shaman Druid I'm building off.
That's because he has 3 attacks at level 1, and at 7th level he has 5. Besides that, he is kinda tanky because of a high 17 CON and 17 DEX. His strength is kinda low at level 1 (11), but he gets a boost at level 7 making that level gold to him. You can count with an uncommon speed of 60ft, comboing with Pounce at lvl 7.
If you wanna go deeper, he has 14 CHA, what makes him able to Eldritch Heritage (feat) or intimidating feats. That opens a lot of options you can use. I'm thinking for example about making a Deinonychus with a Ghoul bloodline. So he could have paralysing attacks, bonus natural armour, and free haste!
By the way, I'm reading and studying ways to improve Deinonychus. But for now, I can say there are a lot of options to this little guy. Give him a chance!
