paddywagon man's page

Shivering Touch may be gone, but Calcific Touch is pretty excellent as a spiritual successor. Clerics can't get it unfortunately, but the Dex damage part of it is no-save, so a staff or even just some scrolls of it might be a worthwhile investment.

Paladin 2/Sorcerer 6/Eldritch Knight 4/Arcane Archer 4

Your party doesn't really seem to cover ranged combat at all outside of blasts, which are generally sub-par. This build has excellent BAB for doing archery, some very nice class abilities, and can imbue 6th level spells in arrows.

Wizard 12/Arcane Archer 4 is an alternative and gets you 8th level spells but rather poor BAB.

Fighter 2/Wizard 10/Arcane Archer 4 gets 7th level spells, 3 iterative attacks and bonus feats to help with qualifying.

They're all good builds and would complement your party well, take your pick. Or you could just do a straight Cleric archer if you feel Arcane Casting's been suitably covered. The main draw is putting antimagic fields on enemy casters from across the battlefield but there are plenty of other things you can do as well.

Whenever the PCs level up and get access to higher-level followers, level up existing soldier to fill the new slots, and backfill with lower-level new recruits to fill the vacancies.

It won't change the balance of Leadership at all, but gives a more realistic feel and gives the appearance of rewarding the training they went through.

I like this as well. Only people with a suitably epic background become PC classes. If you're a farm boy with a stick, you can train all you want, you'll eventually turn from a Commoner into a Warrior. If you're really into magic, mastering how to use Grease will be the talk of the town and turn you into an Adept. But as soon as a Goblin sets your cat on fire, you can turn into a Sorcerer. Much like in Magic the Gathering, only a select few have the potential to become something great (Planeswalkers), and only through traumatic events will you push your limits to become an Adventurer.

I've always wondered how many Adventurers existed in the world. They only appear when the situation's extremely dire, so calamities would have to be happening pretty much 24/7 if you want a reasonable stream of heroes to pop up.
Man, now I want to write/be part of an adventure where a villainous king is randomly setting villages on fire and kidnapping townsfolk, only for the PCs to come kick his butt, only to be conscripted into his Hero Army (tm) against a much more important cause.

I was going to bring up the web serial Worm, where superpowers are something latent some people are born with that only become active after some incredibly traumatic "trigger event." I certainly like the idea, and it fits with your average PC backstory. It also has interesting consequences in Worm in that something like 70% of the super-powered people are supervillains because of the trauma getting powers requires.

Then I noticed that minus the Worm specifics, it had already basically been brought up.

Love the Hero Army (tm) idea though. One Worm character actually stuffs a bunch of terrified people in an inescapable room and makes them fight to the death in order to force trigger events in any of them who might have been latent.

Or for an idea that isn't a Dwarf Fortress reference, how about a deck of many things?

Visiting traveler pulls into town, sits down at the dwarven bar for an ale and a game of cards with the deck he found on the dead adventurer.

He deals the first card, and poof! A dread wraith appears and attacks him. The off-duty dwarven soldiers at the bar freak out and, not understanding the magic at work, attack the wraith. More wraiths appear for them and the battle spills out into the street.

Pretty soon the battle has claimed every able-bodied dwarf, with the non-combatants fleeing the carnage and dispersing, to be preyed upon by orcs and bandits.

(one of the cards in the DOMT summons a dread wraith to kill the drawer, with more appearing to attack any who attempt to help him. In a militarized settlement that didn't understand where all these wraiths were coming from, it could spread pretty quick)

Elephants, then mandrills, then demons, then everybody went crazy and killed each other in the middle of a giant fire.

Only the half-finished iguana statue outside the smoking ruin, and the mad dwarven child playing in the bone heap, remain of the proud dwarves that lived there.

On the simulacrum character topic, you really have two options. The first is alchemist, the second is Samsaran wizard.

If you go the alchemist route, it's as simple as taking the alchemical simulacrum discovery at level 8 and then the greater version at level 13. Besides that, you can pretty much be whatever sort of alchemist you want to be. Avoid the clone master archetype - it's supposed to specialize in simulacra but really doesn't give you anything the discoveries don't.

The advantage to alchemist is that alchemical simulacra only cost 20% as much to create, and count as creatures rather than spell effects.

If you go the wizard route, use your Samsaran racial ability to take from the summoner spell list. This gives you the simulacrum spell as a 5th level spell, allowing you to make full simulacra as early as level 9. These are the more expensive spell effect simulacra though.

Either way, making a simulacrum character requires very little investment and can generally be done alongside other character builds. I certainly recommend making a succubus simulacrum as your first priority, the utility provided by one is incredible.

If you want hordes, I'm partial to simulacra. Get a couple of simulacum succubi - they can shapeshift, buff, be the party face, do long-range telepathy, and cast high-DC enchantment - and then use those fully loyal enchanter minions to keep a handle on your super cheap lesser simulacrum mooks. Plus - fully loyal succubi minions, I shouldn't need to say anything more.

Or buy a clonepod for 60k! Granted, your DM will almost certainly not be ok with it. But it would let you churn out really beefy corpses to animate as often as you wanted.

On the henchmen front you definitely want Mysterious Stranger gunslingers. It's a super front-loaded archetype and they target touch, so they'll be able to consistently damage way higher-CR enemies. Makes no sense thematically though.

The last option is leshies I guess - which basically means being a ghoran. A bunch of flytrap leshies in their super-Voltron form can be terrifying, and if you make a lotus leshy with high HD and give it a Con boosting item it'll be throwing around high-DC sleep attacks all day long. WotW is pretty jam-packed with sleep-immune stuff though.

You can control up to 80 HD worth of creatures, with one creature having no more than 40 HD.

No more than 40 HD isn't really much of a limitation. As long as you have Desecrate up (and a 2nd level Cleric spell shouldn't be too much of a problem at level 20) you can make Bloody Skeleton Cthulhus if you really want.

I'm starting to really like the sniper golem, and I think I'll use a scaled-down version for bot wars.

The full deal can be built at level 17 and is capable of easily one-shotting many CR 17 opponents and will on average take an ancient gold dragon down to 20 HP on its opening shot. He's super fragile though.

Alright, sure. I think it should have its own thread though.

The rules I'm thinking of so far are 150k gp crafting budget, no using a homunculus. Also, I think no completely new constructs, because the pricing guidelines are really weird. Contestants need to be built using the modification rules for existing constructs.

Anything goes after that. Do you think the rules are ok or should they be changed?

Okay, I guess Homunculus probably wouldn't be a bad idea. 100 BAB is pretty hard to top, I'll admit. And my sniper golem is pretty darn costly.

Still, this gives me an idea. There should be some sort of pathfinder bot wars on the forums, with custom constructs duking it out for bragging rights. I've got builds.

If this ever becomes a thing I'm pre-emptively banning the homunculus.

And yeah, Kabiri's obedience does look pretty good. I only chose Haagenti for the sniper golem because Haagenti's grants critical hit immunity and otherwise a single crit renders my golem totally useless without its brain.

Can a golem with a brain take Demonic Obedience? I can't find any "worship" rules.

Hello folks! I've decided to try my hand at building the ultimate assassin. And when I say 'build' I mean it literally - I want the most effective construct assassin the pathfinder community can dream up.

I've already made one rough idea - a modified cannon golem with huge stealth and perception who snipes people for colossal cannon damage.

My questions:

1) How can my Sniper Golem be made better without the cost becoming ridiculous?

2)Is there a better way of making a construct assassin? Homunculus or Ooze Golem, maybe?

3)Am I going about this "Loyal Assassin Minion" thing the wrong way? Would undead or simulacra or summons or something do it better?

juju zombies?

I love the idea, but I'm not entirely sure what it is you want made better.

broken wing gambit requires 5 ranks in bluff, but I like the look of escape route...

actually, turns out I have to use 15 point buy. that leaves me with 16 dex and int, 12 wisdom, and 8 strength.

charisma is still 22 though.

Well, I think I've finalized my build. I looked at the cost of spellcasting services and had a brilliant idea.

Mule Hopkins the Drow Noble is no longer a synthesist, just a regular summoner, although Legless Bugger the eidolon's stats will be almost unchanged. The main thing is that I noticed it would only cost 1150 gp to hire a spellcaster to turn me into a skeletal champion or juju zombie, thus eliminating the only poor stat drow nobles had in the first place and allowing me to use my casting stat for hp. in addition, since our GM lets us dump 2 points in one stat to increase another by one, I can just throw Con out the window and then have it not matter at all.

Mule Hopkins the Old Drow Noble Skeletal Champion Summoner has 59 HP at level 3, 22 charisma, 18 dexterity, 14 intelligence, wisdom, and strength, and would have -1 constitution - but he kept himself alive with a scroll of bear's endurance for the first few minutes of his old age, and paid out 1150 gold immediately to a conveniently placed level 11 wizard to get skeletal championized.

He then strolled down to the drider caves where his friend rayquar was doing normal drider-y stuff like living in a damp cave, cathing and eating raw rats, and polishing his masterwork chainsaw. And then they went adventuring before logic could catch up to them.

I'm pretty sure it works, although if not, lances have reach so you can just air walk your mount. that way it can still charge but you can stay out of reach.

Are you planning on doing this sort of build or is this theorycraft? I've always been a huge fan of mounted combat, and I've got a couple builds you might try.

I'm playing in the same group actually. I built my character with his in mind. Can eidolons retrain the evolutions they get from their base forms to get extra evolution points?

Venerable Drow Noble Synthesist Summoner 3:

quadruped base form

evolutions (assuming I can retrain base form evolutions):
arms x2
bite
slam x2
skilled (ride)
pounce
improved damage (slam)

feats: mounted combat, spirited charge

pouncing from driderback with spirited charge, the bite does 2d6+4 and the slams do 4d6+4 each. with skilled and the beast bond trait I hit a ride skill of +17. pretty useful when you use mounted combat to protect the party warpriest (or whatever rayquar ends up being)

that said, I'm open to suggestions, especially if retraining base stuff proves illegal - and we'll have two other members that might appreciate good builds. would a wordcasting cleric be viable for the immediate access to animate dead?

if you're confused about the rules I would recommend reading through the original beastmass, by One. The link on the first post is broken, but you can find One's statblock (and with it, the beastmass) on the zenith games guide to the builds. I agree that the rules are a little unclear here, but a readthrough of One's attempt clears things up a lot.

also, by characters do you mean theorycraft-type builds or characters you've actually played? because the beastmass is sort of designed for superpowered level 20 builds, not well-rounded playable characters. it'll probably be pretty difficult with your average PC. virtual high-five from me if you manage it, though.

OK, I realized I had missed a couple of very big screw-ups in my build. the most obvious one was that I still listed myself as having a claw attack, even though I had removed Eldritch Heritage (Abyssal) from the build. (4 feats didn't seem worth it). I just got over a bout of heatstroke, so my mind is still a little clouded. Anyways, I fixed that, switched the Amulet of Mighty Fists for a +5 strength tome, and switched multiattack for quickdraw so I could fight with a falchion and a quickdraw shield.

OK, I have the build ready, although I haven't done the battles yet. Tell me if you see anything illegal - it will save me some time. thanks!

This gave me a build idea... what about a dual-cursed oracle of life 8/antipaladin 4/holy vindicator 8?

the basic idea being that by having both positive and negative channeling, you can stack profane and divine ac bonuses with vindicators shield. dual cursed to get rid of natural 20's against you. if you think it might work I'll flesh out an actual build for the concept. with the good charisma saves and channel AC, the defenses should be good enough.

or, here's another idea - a destruction domain cleric who uses mythic past lives (samasaran) to get summon nature's ally 7? with the destructive aura, the 1d4+2 cyclopes you summon will auto-confirm their crits, and they can give themselves an automatic 20 for their first attack rolls.

there are plenty of 'animal pc classes' like ratfolk and kitsune to pick from. surely there is a dog-man in there somewhere. if you really, really want to play an actual dog, expect trouble ahead.

here are a couple ways.

1. ride somebody else's animal companion. the Cavalier is probably going to be mounted, but the Druid probably wouldn't mind if you took fluffy for a spin.

2. ride the druid. I'm sure he would appreciate you taking all the attacks for him and protecting him with mounted combat.

3. take a versatile performance that gives you handle animal - training an animal cub you find is not quite having a companion, but close enough.

all in all I like the mounted bard idea! it reminds me of a mounted cleric theorycraft build I did with the destruction/animal domains. the lance multiplied channel smite and destructive smite, and destructive aura beefed up all 5 of his mounts attacks, so the damage was pretty ridiculous at level 20. here is the build:

I don't know why people keep saying that spontaneous casters are more fun to play. doesn't casting haste (or whatever) get boring after the 500th time you cast it? in my opinion prepared casters are both better AND more fun to play than spontaneous casters. and before anyone talks about the prepared caster preparing the wrong spell and being screwed, what about the spontaneous caster picking wrong spell as his only high level spell and being screwed all day, every day, with no way of adapting?

another option is forgoing the crazily feat-intensive TWF line entirely. either be a half-orc (getting greataxe and falchion) or take the adoptive parentage (tengu) human trait (thus getting every weapon even remotely sword-like) and enjoy the look on your GM's face when you sneak attack with a 2-handed weapon. this lets you make much better use out of improved feint and also lets you get away with having a way lower dexterity stat (I know the core rulebook says dexterity is a rogue's most important stat, but it also says wisdom is important for paladins!)

doorknob head wrote:

I honestly don't think TWF should be your first feat. take it as your bonus feat at 2nd level. the reason behind this is that if you take TWF at level 1 you are basically stuck with double slice as your bonus feat, and double slice is a not a very good feat.

What's so bad about Double Slice? It's +2 damage at 2nd, and eventually becomes +3 and even +4 damage. How is that a bad feat?

Quote:

also, this way you don't need such high dexterity (because you get TWF, improved TWF, etc. through bonus feats) and can make the rest of your stats much higher. at first level just you use a 2-handed weapon and put your feat into something else.

Which stats exactly are you suggesting need to be "much higher"? (Assume for now that I'm starting with the human array I listed, rather than the half-elf.)

I think double slice is overrated because the +2 only applies to off-hand attacks, which require full attacks, which you don't always get. compare to power attack. power attack is a +2 to damage even if you don't full attack - +3 damage if you do. and because dual talent humans get no bonus feat, you can't take them both at level one.

and in response to your second question, higher wisdom would certainly be nice. int or con wouldn't hurt either.

one thing to bear in mind is that some builds can do vast amounts of damage in a round, but can only do it in certain situations. the best example of this is sneak attack. a flanking rogue has a huge DPR, but a rogue without flanking, or a rogue fighting something with immunity to critical hits, or a rogue fighting something with blur active (the list goes on)hits like a bard without arcane strike.

I honestly don't think TWF should be your first feat. take it as your bonus feat at 2nd level. the reason behind this is that if you take TWF at level 1 you are basically stuck with double slice as your bonus feat, and double slice is a not a very good feat. also, this way you don't need such high dexterity (because you get TWF, improved TWF, etc. through bonus feats) and can make the rest of your stats much higher. at first level just you use a 2-handed weapon and put your feat into something else.

it seems weird, I know, but if you take the celestial bloodline you are much better off summoning evil outsiders and fiendish creatures. this is because the DR/evil granted by your bloodline will not stack with the DR/evil the good outsiders and celestial creatures already have, but it will stack with the DR/good evil summons have. and I can't think of much that would bypass DR/good and evil, unless somebody's DM let them make a +1 holy unholy weapon.

unfortunately, I think the fact that you are good means you have to summon celestial creatures.