Hello all! I need some help picking some future feats for my PFS character. First I'll summarize his stats, then explain the dilemma.
Human (ulfen) male Fighter 1/Bard 2 (no archetypes)
S:17
D:10
C:16
I:8
W:10
Chr:14
Feats: Weapon Focus: Battleaxe, Power Attack, Cleave, Arcane Strike
Spells:
1st: Expeditious Retreat, Cause Fear, Comprehend Languages
As you can probably tell, he was meant to be a skirmisher/skald northman. His 4th level ability bump will be in Str, and his 2nd level spells will include Heroism (perpetual self-buff, along with Expeditious Retreat and Feather Step) and eventually Versatile Weapon, Gallant Inspiration and Alter Self.
I had originally designed him to be an Intimidation machine, stacking the Shaken effect with Cause Fear/Scare/Fear/Dirge of Doom (yes, I know DoD isn't supposed to stack, it was worded oddly). Now that Intimidate/Demoralize doesn't stack with anything, not just itself, my plan is derailed somewhat. I was going to pick up Dazzling Display at 5th level, but now I'm not sure it's worth it. He does have the Taldan trait that lets him instill a non-Intimidate Shaken effect for 1 round, but that takes a full round action, lasts only 1 round, and is usable only 1/day.
Right now, the short list of feats include Hamatula Strike (free Intimidate/Demoralize when Power Attacking), Vital Strike, Bloody Assault, and ?? I don't qualify for those until 7th/9th level, and those with a BAB requirement of +6 will have to be my last two options, so what do I take at 5th level? Should I just wait on Ultimate Magic/Ultimate Combat and then reevaluate my options? He's going to hit 4th level next month, but I won't play him again until GenCon in August, so waiting is a viable option.
What say you all?
It's Pathfinder Society, so rebuild isn't an option.
And he has no levels in barbarian (nor will he). He'll end up Ftr1/Bard 11 (or Ftr2/Bard 10) eventually.
In order to get those 4 rounds of shaken, you have to beat the DC by 15 points! While not impossible..... nah.
And the whole point of this guy is being a melee/skirmisher self-buffing bard. I'm not keen on filling out the remaining 9 levels of his career with fighter and rogue levels.
I'm not so much trying to save the Intimidate/Demoralize aspect, but trying to pick feats that will mesh well with what I already have. I appreciate the feedback however.
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Or you could go anti-paladinNot in PFS he can't.Wow, I knew there was a reason I avoided PFS. Too many restrictions.
Is it that you can't play evil characters? What is the reason?
PFS also allows players to play in all sorts of places, 4 hours at a time. I also don't have to worry about bad DMs setting up ridiculous house rules or not knowing the rules at all, and using the DM shield as an excuse.
The pros and cons of organized play notwithstanding, I play because A) it gives me something to play at conventions and B) since I DM our group's home game, it's the only time I get to play and not DM.
So, about those feats...
The pros and cons of organized play notwithstanding, I play because A) it gives me something to play at conventions and B) since I DM our group's home game, it's the only time I get to play and not DM.
So, about those feats...
I do want to say that I very much enjoyed your build at Gen Con. Scaring the crap out of the heavy armor wearing, tower shield wielding half-orc NPC was priceless.
In a case like this, I would look at using an eraser and changing your bard (no archtype) to bard (arcane duelist). Final build would be fighter 2/bard 10. You're essentially an eldritch knight, but a bard instead of a sor/wiz. BAB 9, decent hp, able to wear mithral full plate with no arcane spell failure...
I do want to say that I very much enjoyed your build at Gen Con. Scaring the crap out of the heavy armor wearing, tower shield wielding half-orc NPC was priceless.
Scaring the crap out of her TWICE. =)
Thank you very much! High praise indeed. I likewise very much enjoyed your DMing skills. My only regret is getting my buddy killed with piss-poor advice. But hey, my character has an 8 Int, he should have known better than to listen to me.
In a case like this, I would look at using an eraser and changing your bard (no archtype) to bard (arcane duelist). Final build would be fighter 2/bard 10. You're essentially an eldritch knight, but a bard instead of a sor/wiz. BAB 9, decent hp, able to wear mithral full plate with no arcane spell failure...
Even if I did pick up the archtype, I'd still be stuck pondering what feats to take LoL! Eventually he'll have Herosim, Haste, Gallant Inspiration, Freedom of Movement, Good Hope, Fear, and maybe Shout (I know, it sucks, but it's thematic) or those two spells from the APG whose names I can't recall just now (Thundering Drums? and Discordant Blast?). The vast majority of his spells will be self/party buffs, with very little requiring saves from opponents (so no Spell Focus) or would be cast in combat (so no Combat Casting).
Toughness? Hamatula Smash? Vital Strike? Dazzling Display?
*shrug*
Toughness? Hamatula Smash? Vital Strike? Dazzling Display?
*shrug*
Think Eldritch Knight for feats. Combat Casting, Disruptive, and Spellbreaker come for free from from Arcane Duelist. Step Up would work well here, since it'll keep you in a caster's face.
Intimidating Prowess would work well for mostly outside of combat when you need to extract information or complete some faction missions (and fits well with an Ulfen character)
2 cents from one of those old dudes who thinks more about character concepts than numbers:
I would assign a high ability score to INT, if you can. The real-world analog I am thinking of is the Beowulf poet, or someone like him. He is a bad dude who has been around violence and battle, but at the same time he is a savvy scop, a compiler but also a creator (scop means maker or creator). He not only has a great memory, which he uses to absorb songs and tales for his audience in the mead-hall, but he can fashion his own great poetry (much of which goes over the heads of his listeners, but he is clever enough to create great art which is also great entertainment).
+1 for Intimidating Prowess.
I'd also be rethinking the notion of no Barbarian levels...
Intimidating Glare & Boasting Taunt are both decent Rage Powers and fit nicely with the Ulfen Skald (why not go Savage Skald archtype?)
My 2 runes worth
No archtype because the character predates the APG by about 6 months.
The most I am willing to take in a non-bard class is 2, and one of those already is Fighter 1, so I doubt a 1 level dip in barbarian is worth much.
The DC to Intimidate someone is pretty easy (10 + HD + Wis mod), so even without Intimidating Prowess/Skill Focus he'll have Lvl + 7 (+3 Class Skill + Chr mod (currently 2) +2 (Masterwork Intimidate mask from one scenario). Using a feat to add 3-6 more might be useful, but with Gallant Inspiration/Heroism, he shouldn't need it much. Maybe if Demoralize didn't stack and I just had to ensure a long duration for the Shaken condition.
So Kyle, you suggest more of an anti-caster role than a high mobility skirmisher role? I had thought about that, especially with Expeditious Retreat/self-targeted Silence. Thought about Lunge for the Lunge + (Great)Cleave schtick. What about Hamatula Smash/Dazzling Display? Obviously better than, say Toughness or Extra/Lingering performance?
So Kyle...
I've seen several good players try to make builds that rely "setting up" an opponent to make something work. The problem is most opponents don't last long enough to make it worth the investment.