I got a dilemma Pathfinder fam. In my current group my charcater just died and i'm creating a new character. Im looking to use between two concepts, both are half-elf and that's not up for discussion. Original rolls are 17,16,15,13,13,11 (we use/used 4D6 top two rolls must equal 32 or above, one chance to re-roll any score less than 10)
1) Fighter-2/Rogue-2 Think Dante from Devil May Cry
or
2) Trapfinding Bard - 4 (DM allowed me to sacrifice a trait to be able to find magical traps)
The other three characters are Monk-1/cleric-4 (human); Wizard (elf)-4; Paladin (human)-3.
Please feel free to posts your thoughts on which I should be and how best to build. Pathfinder Core Rule book only!!!
Please feel free to posts your thoughts on which I should be
To me this boils down to preference. Do you want to cast spells or not ? If you want spells beyond the very minor bit you can get with Rogue talents, then go with the Bard. If you weren't already fixed on being a half-elf, I'd say straight Bard also had the advantage of being all in your favored class.
If not, stick with the fighter/rogue. Since you're a half-elf, both fighter and rogue can be favored class. If you were to advance beyond lvl4, would you add more fighter or more rogue ?
Bard. You've got two other melee, Inspire Courage is too good to pass up. Unless one of the other characters has piled on the social skills, you can also fill that niche.
Beatdown build (never bump Cha):
Str 15
Dex 17 (19)
Con 13
Int 13
Wis 11
Cha 16
Support build (only bump Cha):
Str 11
Dex 15
Con 13
Int 16
Wis 13
Cha 17 (19)
I got a dilemma Pathfinder fam. In my current group my charcater just died and i'm creating a new character. Im looking to use between two concepts, both are half-elf and that's not up for discussion. Original rolls are 17,16,15,13,13,11 (we use/used 4D6 top two rolls must equal 32 or above, one chance to re-roll any score less than 10)
1) Fighter-2/Rogue-2 Think Dante from Devil May Cry
or
2) Trapfinding Bard - 4 (DM allowed me to sacrifice a trait to be able to find magical traps)
The other three characters are Monk-1/cleric-4 (human); Wizard (elf)-4; Paladin (human)-3.
Please feel free to posts your thoughts on which I should be and how best to build. Pathfinder Core Rule book only!!!
Bardcher for the win! You can be a snooty elf with the wizard and look down on the humans. Bards run perfectly into arcane archer if you wanna shoot confusion arrows and all that jazz, or just straight bard archer. you will probably outdamage the paladin and monk most of the time, as well as buffing them up. If you're going pure bard archer, arcane strike is going to be your friend, doesn't stack with enhancement bonuses to damage, but it does stack with flaming/shocking/freezing/holy/speed bows and your inspire courage.
1 Arcane strike (swap for weapon focus if you like arcane archer)
3 PBS
5 Precise shot/rapid shot
7 whichever you didn't get at 5, your preference
9 Manyshot
11 start making awesome half-price gear :)
To me this boils down to preference. Do you want to cast spells or not ? If you want spells beyond the very minor bit you can get with Rogue talents, then go with the Bard. If you weren't already fixed on being a half-elf, I'd say straight Bard also had the advantage of being all in your favored class.
If not, stick with the fighter/rogue. Since you're a half-elf, both fighter and rogue can be favored class. If you were to advance beyond lvl4, would you add more fighter or more rogue ?
I really have no preference other than the things I've in my first post. If I went fighter/rogue I'd probably start alternating between levels.
It looks like the bard is winning by a wide margin. Well of the few that posted.
Bardcher for the win! You can be a snooty elf with the wizard and look down on the humans. Bards run perfectly into arcane archer if you wanna shoot confusion arrows and all that jazz, or just straight bard archer. you will probably outdamage the paladin and monk most of the time, as well as buffing them up. If you're going pure bard archer, arcane strike is going to be your friend, doesn't stack with enhancement bonuses to damage, but it does stack with flaming/shocking/freezing/holy/speed bows and your inspire courage.
1 Arcane strike (swap for weapon focus if you like arcane archer)
3 PBS
5 Precise shot/rapid shot
7 whichever you didn't get at 5, your preference
9 Manyshot
11 start making awesome half-price gear :)
Well the elf wizard is an archer too, so I'd hate to over-do the elven archery cliche. I was thinking of a elven curved blade wielding bard. I may get my ass handed to me in melee though :(
Dex: 19
Str: 13
Con: 15
Int: 13
Cha: 16
Wis: 11
1) Finesse
3) Toughness
Elven curve blade proficiency and magic trapfinding were gained by sacrificing my two traits
Well the elf wizard is an archer too, so I'd hate to over-do the elven archery cliche. I was thinking of a elven curved blade wielding bard. I may get my ass handed to me in melee though :(
Unlikely you have all the right spells to make it work. Get some decent armor, make sure to cast mirror image, and have fun.
Power attack and Arcane strike are nice choices for the bard... Power attack works alright due to the fact you don't lose that much on attack, and spells like Good Hope and Haste, not to mention your music give you plenty of extra power to hit with.
I would probably do something:
1 Weapon Finesse (maybe... might just keep strength up since that helps damage)
3 Arcane Strike
5 Power Attack
7 Toughness
Pick bard!! Pick bard milord!
I would go for bard :) The bard archer is really neat, we have one in my group, and even though we would all like to strangle him for all the trouble he's causing, his worth in battle cannot be denied^^
I was thinking of a elven curved blade wielding bard. I may get my ass handed to me in melee though :(
Dex: 19
Str: 13
Con: 15
Int: 13
Cha: 16
Wis: 111) Finesse
3) ToughnessElven curve blade proficiency and magic trapfinding were gained by sacrificing my two traits
If you are going in expecting to be a solid melee guy you will probably be disappointed. Bards do a great job as supplemental melee or ranged but their main strength is as support. Light healing, buffing (including song), support spells (glitterdust, grease, charm), skills...
If you are going in expecting to be a solid melee guy you will probably be disappointed. Bards do a great job as supplemental melee or ranged but their main strength is as support. Light healing, buffing (including song), support spells (glitterdust, grease, charm), skills...
I wont be doing major damage, but I can stand in melee and inspire courage from the front rather than standing there singing and firing off arrows with the elven mage.
The "beatdown build" I posted was a recommendation for either melee or range, actually... feats and weapon selection decide the rest. :) That curveblade can be finessed, and you want the extra AC. People recommend Arcane Strike and it's nice and all, but to be honest I'd start with Weapon Finesse and Dodge. Bump Dex at 4th level and put on a +1 chain shirt, you've got AC 21. Oh, and +5 Initiative.
IMO there's no need to stack on piles of Con, that's why I favored Strength; since you're going for the two-handed curveblade, the bump from 13 to 15 is +2 damage. As Abraham comments, you've got spells: mirror image with a high AC is amazing, while blur can also be cast on your allies (...and they stack). One casting of Cure Light Wounds beats a +1 Constitution modifier even if you roll low. (Upgrade to Cure Moderate at 6th.)
The "beatdown build" I posted was a recommendation for either melee or range, actually... feats and weapon selection decide the rest. :) That curveblade can be finessed, and you want the extra AC. People recommend Arcane Strike and it's nice and all, but to be honest I'd start with Weapon Finesse and Dodge. Bump Dex at 4th level and put on a +1 chain shirt, you've got AC 21. Oh, and +5 Initiative.
IMO there's no need to stack on piles of Con, that's why I favored Strength; since you're going for the two-handed curveblade, the bump from 13 to 15 is +2 damage. As Abraham comments, you've got spells: mirror image with a high AC is amazing, while blur can also be cast on your allies (...and they stack). One casting of Cure Light Wounds beats a +1 Constitution modifier even if you roll low. (Upgrade to Cure Moderate at 6th.)
I like the way you think tejon!!! Plus I get 6k to spend on what I want. He's letting me craft a Mithril Breastplate, throw in dodge and I'm rocking 22 AC and adding +9 to hit with my magic Curved Blade :)
I wont be doing major damage, but I can stand in melee and inspire courage from the front rather than standing there singing and firing off arrows with the elven mage.
In that case keep pouring on the DEX and maybe hit up the mobility feat tree. I had a hoot doing a melee bard with the dodge/mobility/spring attack feat tree. He didn't damage much but he was great for flanking and could go anywhere in combat without getting hit. Mirror image and blur are great.
He's letting me craft a Mithril Breastplate, throw in dodge and I'm rocking 22 AC and adding +9 to hit with my magic Curved Blade :)
With PFRPG the mithril breastplate is no longer light armor for proficiency purposes. RAW I think you can still cast in it as a bard without a failure chance (though personally I'd rule otherwise!) but you'll be suffering a -1 armor check penalty to attack in any case.
However, if you check the specific magic armors you'll find elven chain, which has mithral chainmail stats but costs an extra 1000gp and is explicitly light armor for proficiency. Since it's not actually magical, you could still craft it.
If you're happy to play "back-up" then the rest of the party will want you to play a Bard.
If you want to be more "foreground" then go Fighter/Rogue
Whoops... Elven Chain has a max dex of +4! Well, that's an interesting quandary. Mithral breastplate is your best overall AC option, allowing +11 total from armor+dex. Since armors below chain shirt can't be made of mithral, you'll actually lose AC if you switch to anything else even if your dex hits 24... all the way up until 32, in fact. (Well, not anything else. Bracers of armor could work. But IMO there are better ways to spend that cash!)
However, as mentioned, the mithral breastplate will give you a -1 penalty to attacks unless you gain proficiency somehow. And I'm really on the edge regarding whether RAW allows you to cast freely in it, because the ability to cast in light armor is not listed under the bard's spellcasting feature... it's under weapon and armor proficiencies, where mithral explicitly doesn't apply.
So: consult your GM, show him the mithral description (in the Equipment chapter now) and the bard's proficiency description, get a ruling about spell failure from the breastplate. Based on that, choose between a mithral breastplate and a mithral chain shirt.
Whoops... Elven Chain has a max dex of +4! Well, that's an interesting quandary. Mithral breastplate is your best overall AC option, allowing +11 total from armor+dex. Since armors below chain shirt can't be made of mithral, you'll actually lose AC if you switch to anything else even if your dex hits 24... all the way up until 32, in fact. (Well, not anything else. Bracers of armor could work. But IMO there are better ways to spend that cash!)
However, as mentioned, the mithral breastplate will give you a -1 penalty to attacks unless you gain proficiency somehow. And I'm really on the edge regarding whether RAW allows you to cast freely in it, because the ability to cast in light armor is not listed under the bard's spellcasting feature... it's under weapon and armor proficiencies, where mithral explicitly doesn't apply.
So: consult your GM, show him the mithral description (in the Equipment chapter now) and the bard's proficiency description, get a ruling about spell failure from the breastplate. Based on that, choose between a mithral breastplate and a mithral chain shirt.
yeah mithril counts as light for spell-casting purposes but I will suffer the proficiency penalty.