So I have a mutation fighter build that takes the various CC related feats. And after the fermenter archetype hit I remembered the brewmaster PrC and thought "Hey that fighter could have a drinking buddy". So this is a plan for a possible cohort/PC build. Role wise I was thinking of a mix of support and ranged debuff, since the alchemist does both of those easy and brewkeeper enhances both. Option or spaces marked with a ? are things I'm unsure of.
spoiler:
Halfling Alchemist(Fermenter)10, Brewkeeper 10
Could maybe stop at 6 levels of the PrC to nab a few more & better discoveries. But the later homebrew debuffs are pretty good.
Deity - Cayden Cailean
Drawback:
Mark of Slavery?
Traits:
Perfectionist’s Brew
Accelerated Drinker
Pragmatic Activator or other?
Basic fluff so far is a chelaxian halfling who avoided/was saved from slavery by CC's church, they're allowed a very small presence in that country if I recall right.
Str 10
Dex 17
Con 15
Int 15
Wis 10
Cha 12
Could dump Cha a bit but that seems wrong for a character who should be at least half decent at a pub sing-along and such.
Discoveries:
Tumor Familiar(Valet) - Monkey or Hare?
A valet without opposable thumbs feels a bit dumb but Hare's have a useful bonus and feel more halfling appropriate.
Both infusion and enhance potion are covered by the PrC.
Cytillesh Bomb - It's effects of sickening and memory loss seem appropriate.
Vestigial Arm - I feel an extra arm would be useful.
Breath Weapon Bomb - thinking of it like booze based fire breathing.
Holy Bomb? - thematically appropriate and likely to be relevant but still not a guarantee.
Lasting Tinctures?
Spontaneous Healing?
So there are two things that decide a number of possible racial trait and feat choices, whether a flask thrower can be treated as a sling-staff* or if sling ammo can be used for the explosive missile discovery. No where in the flask thrower description does it use the word sling, so as standard it doesn't count. But the way it's described and functions is like a specialized sling. Explosive missile does not mention sling bullets in it's description, but if you can somehow apply it to a firearm bullet I don't see how it couldn't apply to sling bullets. I know this would be up to the the GM but I'm curious of folks thoughts. If either of these were a yes, then grabbing warslinger alternate trait and going slipslinger style tree would be tempting.
Feats:
Deific Obedience(Cayden Cailean)
Diverse Obedience(Cayden Cailean)?
The default exalted boons are good for this build, but gaining them faster is also nice.
Lengthy Potion[CL10]
Vaporous Potion - potential but fuzzy possibilities with a sling.
So hopefully this should be a simple question. In the revelation description it states;
"Whenever you would gain one of your deity’s boons, you can instead gain the benefits of another Godclaw deity’s obedience"
Now does this mean you get the boon from the same level of a different deity of the Godclaw or does it mean you get the ability to perform the obedience and get the related bonus for that deity? The reason I wonder is also in the description it also states;
"You never need to spend more than 1 hour per day to perform your obedience"
This which seems like kind of pointless clarification, unless you have multiple obedience rituals you can do. Obviously getting the actual boons is way better than just the obedience so I thought this worth checking
So I know it's a little against the fluff to come up with portfolio stat block (or whatever it should be called) for Tabris, as it's specifically stated in chronicles of the righteous pdf that some do worship him but get nothing from it. But after looking at making a cleric+Envoy of Balance build, and happened to be looking in the CoR I thought how good a fit he would be. Below is my initial go at coming up with some ideas
Tabris, The Chronicler
Angel empyreal lord of Truth, Balance and Exploration
Alignment: N
Symbol: ?
Temples: libraries, secluded ruins, public forums
Worshippers: scholars, revolutionists,
Minions: Bythos aeon, counterpoised owls, Nosoi Psychopomp, theletos aeon
Domains: Knowledge, Luck, Madness, Rune, Travel
Subdomains: Aeon, Exploration, Loss, Toil, Revelation, Isolation, Truth
Favoured Weapon: ?
So first off, while a very small thing I'm unsure whether it's still right to refer to him as an empyreal lord or not. Maybe putting "(former)" after lord. Aside from maybe something involving a tattered grey angel wing I have no idea on a symbol. For temples I just translated his above themes into places which feels a little like cheating. Very few ideas for worshippers and again nothing for favoured weapon.
So my main question is: If you are choosing to deal non-lethal damage with a weapon (with or without penalty) and you are using smite (good/evil/etc) is the extra damage from smite still lethal damage?
I know of the Redeemer and it's merciful smite, but that also removes the fairly serious -4 attack penalty as well as everything else smite does.
As a follow up, apart from the merciful enchantment is there anyway to make bonus damage from class abilities & feats non-lethal?
So because I'm unoriginal this build is a modification of a build from Iconic Design, but because I've changed things and wonder about choices for the later levels I can't resist the urge to pester you fine folk for ideas.
The build:
Aasimar(Musetouched) - From Dragon Empire Tianjing for fluff
Scion of Humanity trait?
And from there it's a question of how many levels of Muse do I take. I think 5 is the minimum, 6 is very tempting for inspirational strike and the extra feat. After that there's nothing amazing till masterful strike at level 10. Obviously at some point picking up Mesmerizing Feint and maybe Greater MF to ensure getting the debuffs off. Obviously Slashing Grace is also an obvious choice. GM and I also talked about a homebrew variation of channel force that makes it actually useful for positive channelers, so thats also on the table.
So any thoughts on levels, feats and also what few spells I get.
So I rather like the battle herald as a PrC and preferred the Cavalier+Cleric way of getting into it both mechanical and thematically. But now with the oath mentioned in the title (from Divine Anthology), paladin can now gets bardic performance and can be used instead.
So while the small amount of casting you could get with 1-4 levels of Cleric may allow for better buffing over all, I think paladin makes the build into a solid tank without having to spend feats or self buff (or not as much at least). So you can buff mostly passively with class abilities, buff actively with aid another and when the enemy tries to put you down for it all you will be much harder to do so.
As a quick aside I have been looking at this guide for inspiration.
The main question for the build is the same as it normally is for this PrC, how many levels of each requirement class to take & what class options & archetypes could be useful for the build. I think even if your not getting casting, more levels of paladin are probably more useful unless you go 5 levels of cavalier to get both banner & mount and go into BH a level late.
Cavalier Order - Lion and Dragon are obviously solid. Order of the Star is perhaps a little better than it would be as your not loosing out on cleric spells if you put more levels in cavalier, but It's still probably inferior even though I prefer it fluff wise.
Cavalier Archetypes:
Standard Bearer - if taking only one or two levels this is almost a must
Esquire - good either way but I'd kind of like to keep getting banner early, so if I take it ill want to take the first 5 levels of cavalier. Also it's unclear if the aide holding your banner includes purchased magical banners and therefore if the flag bearer feat still applies.
Paladin Archetypes:
Oath of the People’s Council - Can't do this build without it
Divine Defender - trade a single mercy for a +1 sacred to AC, CMD & saves for you & allies. Does lock you into divine bond(armour) though.
Warrior of the Holy Light - trade a single 1st level spell for +1 morale to AC,attack, damage and saves vs fear(though the save bonus won't stack with inspire courage)
While it doesn't really fit with the build focus on buffing the idea of taking paladin5/cavalier1(no archetype) to combine mount powers and (with GM approval as it's a bit iffy)then use horse master to keep the paladin mount progression.
whether going Str or Dex, melee or range will be affected by the above choices though thematically I'd prefer melee and probably Str, also the banner of AK requires being attacked to a longspear so if i'm the on holding it I need to be good at using it.
So reading through the various feats in the new armour handbook and the mobile bulwark style & tower shield specialist feat got me thinking about the Tower Shield Specialist archetype from Ultimate Combat. So I was wondering whether throwing all these things together would make something fun and viable if maybe not super optimal.
Feat info:
Mobile Bulwark Style
Reqs:Str 13, Shield Focus, TS proficient, BAB +1
Add shield’s AC & enhancement bonuses to CMD vs bull rush & overrun.
When in the style, you can set the edge of total cover as a move action.
Mobile Fortress
Reqs:As above except Str 15, MB Style & BAB +4
Add shield’s AC & enhancement bonuses, halved, to touch AC, only –1 penalty on attack rolls. When in the style grant any adjacent ally total cover against attacks passing through the covered edge.
Mobile Stronghold
Reqs:As above except Str 17, Mobile Fortress & BAB +7
No penalty on attack rolls. When in the style, whenever you use a tower
shield to gain total cover, you (& adjacent allies) also gain partial cover vs spells passing through the set edge. Also when in the style, as an immediate or swift action, gain total cover against a single attack made against you.
Tower Shield Specialist[Feat]
Reqs:Shield Focus, TS proficient, BAB +11 or fighter lvl8
Reduce the armour check penalty for tower shields by 3, if you have armour training class feature, modify armour check penalty and max Dexterity of tower shields as if they were armour.
So there's a bit of redundancy between almost all of what Fortress (an a little of Stronghold) gives and what the archetype gives. Tho I think to get the thrid feat in the chain and get penalty reductions & extra AC a little sooner it's probably worth it. Willing to hear other thoughts on that.
Now the Specialist feat is interesting because it helps to considerably reduce the skill check & Dex penalty of a tower shield.
However I'm unclear if armour training is applied to the tower shield stats and then again to the armour's stats. It would seem useless for the Specialist feat to say it can get applied to the shield if it can only be applied to one of them at a time, but also it sounds just a little too good if it does apply to both for a total of +6 off check penalties.
Regardless of the above there are now two choices on how to remove the remove the remaining penalties:
Take armour training 2 to 4 OR Get a mithril tower shield (another +3, +2) & a trait. Allowing for advanced armour training options.
Which is better probably depends largely on what armour is being used on top of the shield, which in turn depends on what type of build I go for. Has to be Str based due to the feat requirements. Beyond that my first thought is perhaps predictably a tank.
Fairly simple concept. Combining the two styles to become a wrecking machine. While I'm sure it's not going to be out damaging a min/max'ed class with full sneak, I think its fun, comes together quite quickly and would like advice on any flaws.
Name: Takamora - if you get the reference 'high-five'
Race: Orc(Dayrunner trait)
Traits:
Adopted(Latent Psion) - To shore up will saves a bit
Vengeful - Because damage
Str>Dex>Con>Brain stuff - Depending on points and the likelyhood of it coming back to bite you, dump mental stats completely to get more points for the physical ones.
Classes: Monk(MoMS & Iron Mountain) 2/ Brawler(Snakebite Striker) 18
Level
1 - Power Attack
Bonus: Pummeling Style - Monk bonus feats bypassing the BAB requirment
Fixed: Stunning Fist
2 - Bonus: Pummeling Charge
- Fixed: Toughness
Brawler
3 - Dragon Style
4 - Bonus: Combat Expertise
- Attribute: Dex
5 - Dragon Ferocity
7 - Combat Style Master - Keeping your winning style combo on from round 1
- Bonus: Two-weapon Feint
8 - Attribute: Dex
9 - Acrobatic
10 - Bonus: Slayer's Feint
11 - Improved Two-Weapon Feint
12 - Attribute: Dex
13 - Weapon Focus(UaS)
- Bonus: Combat Reflexes - To make use of the next feat
15 - Counterpunch
16 - Bonus: Improved Feint
- Attribute: Con
17 - Elemental Fist(Fire) - This is where i just start filling gaps
19 - Ironhide
- Bonus: Grudge Fighter
20 - Attribute: Con
So the main focus is the damage output gained from dealing 1x1/2 Str + a little SA on all attacks which is then applied all at once by pummeling style, plus pounce.
A secondary focus on feinting to get more use out of the SA and other features the SS archetype gives, but maybe it's not worth it in the long run.
Ability points could be lumped into Str for more damage but there is some fluff inspiration for this and Counterpunch (requires dex 18) was mandatory for that, for more min/max'ing it could be stripped out for something else and more Str being piled on.
So ever since I read the Gray Gardener(link) PrC I've like the idea of an inquisitor as a sort of vigilantly crime fighter, like a divine medieval Punisher/Batman/etc. With ACG's Sanctified Slayer(link) I hoped it was more viable. However, tho I really like the flavor of the GG, mechanically I'm not sure what's gained is worth what's lost. Also the theme/build is a nonlethal+intimidate and the later abilities are about killing dudes and keeping them dead which makes them less useful/appealing.
To make the build really break faces requires a fair number of feats:
Bludgeoner
Hurtful
Sap Adept, Sap Master
Power Attack
Enforcer
AND/OR
Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses
Now you can get some of the above (and others possible useful ones) from the GG, meaning it reduces the feat load and helps bring the build together sooner.(Also a 2 level dip in Cavalier of the Cockatrice helps.)
So the first question is whether this PrC is worth those extra feats and the little extras it gives?
Second question) Gendarme OR Huntsmaster archetype for the Cavalier dip? One gets power attack, the other gives an animal companion(dog/bird). I think a bird would pretty cool thematically. Also useful for getting off team work feats (hopefully there'll be an archetype like the Valet familiar before long). But I'd need boon companion to keep it from getting out leveled too completely, which is another feat. Probably not worth it but I can't bring myself to fully dismiss it tho.
Third question) Again one I think I know the answer to but want confirmation. The consensus I've seen is that Str based Inquisitors are better than Dex based. But I recall that was partly due in part to the judgments. However as I'm trading that (at least partially depending on whether I use GG or not) for sneak and studied target I wonder if investing into Dex could work? It would help deal with MAD as I'd rather not use heavy armor.
Ok so there's a tone of other examples of ideas for this kind of class on here, often using the samurai as a base or a whole new class. But I finished this before I remembered there was a homebrew section on here, so I thought I might as well add my thoughts and preferences to the pile and hopefully get feedback to make sure it's not horrendously broken.
What I've done is mostly just take existing mechanics from elsewhere and swap them in, in a way I hope is balanced. Also I'm aware of Everyman Gaming's Ronin archetype, but it doesn't quite scratch the itch for me, tho I have swiped two things from it which I will point out below.
So for me the key aspects of the way these types of characters fight (tho there is variation and what I focus on may not be to your taste), translates mechanical to a focus on; bonuses for being lightly armored, bonuses to initiative, making multiple quick attacks and of course an iaijutsu style attack.
So what I have at the moment is below, assume anything I don't mention is the same as a standard swashbuckler.
Archetype - Sword Saint [name not final]
Panache(Ex)
A sword saint uses strength of will/spirit instead of her force of there personality to achieve her goals. Instead of using her Charisma to determine the amount of panache she gains at the start of each day, she uses Wisdom. This ability works in all other ways like the Swashbuckler’s Panache class feature.
This change isn't totally necessary but I like it. It's partly for fluff as these types of characters often are portrayed as having a very strong will and/or spirit (tho many do also have a strong personality) and partly it's a left over from when I considered trading nimble and light armour for the monks 'AC Bonus' ability.
Deeds(Ex)
Any deed that would use a sword saint's charisma instead uses her wisdom.
A sword saint gains the following deeds, each of which replaces an existing deed.
Spoiler:
Iaijutsu(Ex)
At 3rd level, while the sword saint has at least 1 panache point, she can draw a weapon as a free action and she is treated as having the Quick Draw feat for the purpose of determining if she can draw a weapon with the swashbuckler's initiative deed. Additionally, if the sword saint draws a weapon on the first turn of combat and attacks a foe within her reach, she can spend 1 panache point as a swift action to make a feint attempt against the target of her attack. This deed replaces kip-up. As the EmG Ronin deed named 'Derring-Do' on pfsrd, name changed for flavor.
Iaijutsu Strike(Ex)
At 3rd level, while she has at least 1 panache point, a sword saint gains the ability to add double her sword saint level to the damage on all attacks made against a single target till the end of her turn. To use this deed, at the start of the turn her weapon must be sheathed (or stowed in a similar fashion) and her off-hand must be empty (with the exception of a buckler). This can only be used on the same target once every 24 hours. Any creature that is immune to sneak attacks or has any item or ability that protects a creature from critical hits is immune to the extra damage from iaijutsu strike. This additional damage is precision damage, and isn't multiplied on a critical hit. This deed's cost cannot be reduced by any ability or effect that reduces the amount of panache points a deed costs (such as the Signature Deed feat). This deed replaces precise strike.
Basicaly the same as precise strike but gets more damage at no cost in return for greater restrictions. Not sure if it's too much or too little tho.
Iaijutsu Focus(Ex)
At 15th level, while the sword saint has at least 1 panache point, she may always act and may draw her weapon as a swift action during a surprise round, though she is considered flat-footed until he acts. During a surprise round or when attacking a flat-footed opponent, she adds his Wisdom modifier on damage rolls(minimum 0). This deed replaces swashbuckler's edge.
Essentially the Kensai Magus ability of the same name. I'm concerned if keeping the added damage in is too much but the rest is fair I think.
Iaijutsu Master(Ex)
At 19th level, when a sword saint rolls for initiative, she can spend 2 panache points to treat the roll as a natural 20. This deed replaces stunning stab.
Given the point cost and how late it's given I think it's ok.
Favored Weapon(Ex)
As the EmG Ronin class feature of the same name, have copy-pasted to the spoiler below for people's convenience.
Spoiler:
At 1st level, the ronin gains the benefits of the Weapon Finesse feat with a single one-handed melee weapon of her choice. Treat the chosen weapon as a one-handed piercing melee weapon for all feats and abilities that require such a weapon (such as a swashbuckler's or duelist's precise strike). This ability counts as having the Weapon Finesse feat for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites. If she has a feat or ability that allows her to use her Dexterity modifier instead of her Strength on damage rolls with her favored weapon, she doesn’t add 1-1/2 times her Dexterity modifier to her damage roll while wielding it in two hands.
At 5th level, the ronin gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using her chosen weapon. When a ronin wields her favored weapon, she gains the benefits of the Improved Critical feat with that weapon. Every 4 levels thereafter, the bonus on attack and damage rolls increases by 1.
This ability replaces swashbuckler's finesse and swashbuckler weapon training.
Now the change I'm most concerned about.
Blade Flurry(Ex)
A sword saint is so fast she can nearly double the number of attacks she can make. As brawler's flurry but can only be performed with the sword saint's favored weapon. So a sword saint who favors a longsword, need only hold one in order to perform a flurry attack.
This replaces charmed life 1 to 5.
My concern with this is I'm not sure how to value charmed life. Flurry gives you the base TWF feats perquisite free, plus a bit more versatility in how you use them, but only with use of a single weapon. Charmed life gives an immediate bonus on a single saving throw, with a limited number of uses per day. So flurry sounds way better, but saves can mean the difference between life and death were as the extra attacks are at a penalty (albeit a small one). A possible alternative option could be to have the flurry as a 1 point cost deed, that replaces two others (such as swashbuckler's grace and targeted strike?). And then probably borrow from Ronin again and swap charmed life for the Resolve feature.
Favored Weapon Mastery(Ex)
As the inspired blades rapier weapon mastery except it only applies to the sword saints favored weapon.
Apologizes in advance if I've missed something obvious.
Was looking at the Hell Knight Signifer as I may be building one soon and I realized that I didn't fully understand how the mask works as a bonded item.
So the Signifer PrC states "This ritual converts the enforcer's mask into his new bonded item, which takes up the head slot. In this case, Hell Knight enforcer levels stack with levels from the class that grants the bonded item for determining what additional magical abilities can be added to the bonded item."
My confusion comes from the fact there is no 'head' bonded item category. Now since which category it's in determines what properties you can give it, it's something I'd like to know before i start coming up with a build.
So as they have 4 arms and are a desert people I thought it could be fun to try and build a Kasatha multi-weapon dervish character. I'm not making this for a specific campaign, all 3.5 and PF books are allowed. Focus is on melee but I'm open to ideas that aren't melee only.
So the options that sprung instantly to mind were:
Dervish Dancer(Bard archetype) - can only buff self and is more melee focused.
The similar Dervish of dawn archetype, while probably better in general terms, focuses less on melee and the feat dervish dance does not allow for wielding off-hand weapons, so would not fit this.
Two-weapon Warrior(Fighter archetype) - pretty self explanatory.
Any debates on how MWF interacts with TWF feats, class features etc have been discussed in other threads and would be something I'd discuss and sort out with the GM. So assume most things are allowed for the purposes of the build.
Dervish Dancer PrC from 3.5 Complete Warrior - similar concept to the above bard archetype but no magic, full BAB & d10HD and wouldn't need much if any adjustment for PF. Would probably lead into it with fighter.
All input welcome, Thanks for all responses in advance.
Ok so a long boring story short I was making a character that used the PrC Iaijutsu Master for a 3.5 game, the game was moved to Pathfinder and I am now looking to convert IM to pathfinder and want some input to make sure I don’t make it over/under powered. As oriental adventures is old material I am happy to post up any info on it as required, this post is way too long as it is so I didn’t want to make it any longer.
1st Weapon finesse (katana), Iaijutsu strike
2nd Lightning blade, Canny defence
3rd
4th Combat expertise
5th Strike from the void
6th
7th
8th One strike two cuts
9th Deflect Arrows
10th Strike with no thought
So this is what I have so far. As the iaijutsu focus skill that this PrC is built around is kind of silly the easiest solution seemed to be was to give it the Iaijutsu strike ability the samurai archetype sword-saint gets. Obviously the levels from SS and IM would stack for the purposes of determining the extra dmg die you get when using the ability. And IM lvl 10 would give the smaller action requirement and AC penalty that SS lvl 10 gets but not any of the debuffs as they are separate abilities from the SS level table.
I've filled in some gaps by stealing stuff from Duellist as it’s very similar thematically to IM. I also moved canny defence from level 1 to 2 (a no-no in the conversion rules I know) because I had to have Iaijutsu strike at level 1 and I thought that on top of the two things you already get at lvl 1 was a bit much.
Class ability changes:
Canny defence is different in 3.0; presumably just swapping it for the PF version is fine.
Lightning blade adds cha as well as dex to your initiative, in PF bonuses from class abilities are often based of your level in that class as opposed to ability mods, so I guess +1 to imitative per lvl in IM or per every 2 lvls depending on how overpowered you guys think a plus 10 to it would be.
Strike from the void presents a problem; originally it adds your cha mod to each extra dmg die u get from the Iaijutsu focus skill. In PF not only are the number of extra dmg die you get set according to urn level (instead of being determined by a skill roll) meaning this would give a lot of extra dmg whenever you use iaijutsu, also it has the same issue mentioned above about. So I guess make the bonus reliant on your lvl in the class but not direct +1 per level as the amount of bonus dmg that would give at later lvls would be ridiculous.
Strike with no thought means that if when a combat starts and the IM is within melee range of an enemy they get a free surprise round, before initiative is rolled, (regardless of whether any enemies are aware of them) in which all they can do is make a single attack action.
Now there are a couple of questions I have regarding this. Firstly it seems a little underpowered in comparison to say the kensai magus's lvl19 ability and also the description uses the phrase 'attack action' which is defined as a type of standard action but more than once I have seen it cause confusion as to what can and cannot be done. So I think a solution to both these is to either just swap this for the kensai ability or make it so that the IM can make a full-attack action in the surprise round but cannot trade it for a single attack and a move action.
Also I’m fuzzy on what effect having the surprise round has on the IM initiative, because normally when u get a surprise round you’re also placed at the top of the initiative table (I think)?
