Zarnof's page

I have an upcoming game, and I wanted to play a stealthy, assassin-like character. The GM knows I wanted to do this, and apparently has some major plot points involving svifneblin for the game, and asked if I wouldn't mind playing one. I always kind of enjoyed the idea of playing the weird, underground gnomes, so I said I would... particularly as it seems to fit the basic archetype I originally wanted to play.

As I originally envisioned it, the type of "stealth, assassin-like" I had in mind was akin to a ninja, or a monk/ninja. However, I know Pathfinder very much encourages sticking to one class, so I'm pretty worried about multiclassing as a monk/ninja. I have to play this thing up from level 1, and on a slow progression exp scale to boot, and so designing him at 15th or 20th level is great in theory, but if the early levels it's a slog and I'm an anchor on the neck of the party, it's no fun for anyone. I would make a pretty bad just straight ninja, as my ki pool would be terrible with the -4 penalty to Cha svirfneblin take.

So my question to you guys is: can you take this and show me some cool, effective builds that might be a possibility? I'm pretty open... a rogue that does this effectively? Or a straight monk that's actually very effective? Or a monk/ninja that actually works very well, and it doesn't matter that I might have to wait until level 14 to take the invisible blade trick? Or maybe a cleric or wizard or magus or something else creative? Like I said, I'm open to any build that is effective... and ideally makes good use of the inherent strengths of the svirfneblin - ie, good dex and wis, hard to hit with magic, very good at being mundanely and magically hidden. All of that stuff says to me "stealthy assassin" character, but maybe there's a better road to take?

Thanks for the help!

This is my first post, as I have just started playing Pathfinder (though I am a 3.5 vet). So first of all, hi, Pathfinder community!

I have some questions for you all regarding a direction I would like to go with a character build. However, in order for you all to be armed with the necessary information to make informed decisions, I need to share some of my GM's house rules. I'll try to be brief and to the point, since people droning on about their personal characters and homebrew settings can be a little... uninteresting... for those not involved.

My GM went to a lot of trouble designing all sorts of non-standard races for the setting. This includes things as "vanilla" as goblinoids like goblins and bugbears, then moves to more exotic still like kalashatar, dhamphir, and tengu. There's an extensive selection, and while he was perfectly fine with us taking the standard Pathfinder races, he enjoyed the idea of us being a monster squad as well. Many of the more exotic races appealed to us, and so that's what we did. He also wanted to make 2 large races playable without ECLs - Minotaur and Ogre - and he tinkered with them, giving them toned down stats and abilities and taking away the feats they would normally get at 1st and 3rd level. He quite wanted someone to play one of the large races, so I took the hook, and am playing a Minotaur. (I'm sure it will raise quite a few eyebrows that a large race is being allowed at all, but whether or not it is a "good" decision on his part isn't entirely the thrust of my upcoming questions... just don't want this thread to turn into a hotbed of, "Seriously? A playable large PC from 1st level?!?!")

OK, so now the most unusual thing adjustment is out of the way, and the foundation of my character is laid... a large character who is particularly feat-starved. Another house rule he has is essentially death spiral... when you are at 75% hit points, you take a -1 to everything (to hit, saves, AC, skill checks, etc.). At 50%, you take a -2 to everything. At 75%, you take a -4. The only two classes that have ways around this are monk and barbarian. As monks level, they ignore increasing amounts of the wound penalties (presumably as a way to further entice people to want to play a monk). Barbarians ignore them totally while they rage.

In terms of other party members, we have a spellless ranger, an alchemist, and an inquistor, so we have a marked lack of magical artillery and in-combat healing.

I think those are the only house rules that bear particular relevance to my questions and the mechanics of my build. We have had a number of sessions so far, which have been fun, and we became 3rd level. 4th level is around the corner. Since my character is large and reasonably intelligent (13 int) and reasonably nimble (12 dex), I wanted to take advantage of that combination and make a proficient attack of opportunity attacker, and trip monkey. As such, I have taken 1 level of fighter (and chose Combat Reflexes as my bonus feat). I have chosen 2 levels of barbarian, and I chose the extra AoO while raging as my barb power. Beyond the stat increase, the rage is nice to ignore the inevitable wound penalties as the fight continues.

Looking ahead to the future, the way I envision my character can go one of two ways. The first and most simple is to mostly just pile on continued barbarian levels. The second option, and the one that is probably more appealing to both me and the GM, is to start taking Living Monolith levels at 6th level. (I should note it will be possible at this level because the GM is waiving the Endurance feat requirement, albeit at the cost of the "Summon Sphinx" ability at 7th level of the class). The reason it is appealing is more from roleplaying and background reasons than mechanical ones, as just concentrating on barbarian will probably yield a more effective character in both the short and long term (the GM envisions this campaign as going to 20th).

OK, now that that rather extensive but necessary background has been laid, I'll ask my questions:

1. Is Living Monolith indeed viable as a class? I haven't read much about it being actually played, and my take on it is it's certainly not overpowered, having only d8 HP a level and 2 skill points, and many of its abilities are pretty niche as opposed to constantly useful... BUT it gets enough cool, useful abilities that it will at least pull its weight all the way through. Agree, or am I missing some vital points?

2. What should I take as my 4th and 5th levels? I was thinking of 2 further levels of fighter, 2-handed weapon variant. That would make me 3rd level fighter, which would give me access to the ability that does double damage rather than 1.5 damage for single attacks, which is useful both for moving and attacking and my AoOs. I use a nodachi, and currently have a 19 natural strength... at 4th level that will go to 20. With the rage bonus, and the enlarge person/righteous might bonus, he will certainly be strong enough to make good use out of the extra damage.

Does 2 levels of fighter sound good, or should I perhaps go with further levels of barb, which will net me more time in rage, more HP, more skills, and a further rage power? Or something else still?

3. The feats I was thinking of for the nearish future are: 5th level Iron Will (because it's necessary for the class, and a pretty good feat anyway), and the Combat Expertise -> Improved Trip -> Greater Trip combo. That combo comes faster with the fighter levels, of course. Should I instead focus on other feats, in your collective experience?

4. Am I missing anything glaring, or misunderstanding anything?

Thanks very much for looking this over... I realize it's quite a lot of background and reading. While I have a pretty good grasp of 3.5, a lot of my knowledge is rusty, and Pathfinder certainly changes a few of the mechanics in ways I may not totally get yet. Appreciate the help, all!