I’ve been a GM only for a LONG time and I may have the opportunity soon to finally play a PC. I’m drawn to kind of unorthodox, unique character concepts and I’ve come up with one I really like, but I’m not used to rolling a char so I’d like advice on whether or not this build could be effective. Here goes:
Human
Ranger 1 (Possibly Falconer archetype?)
Monk / Zen Archer 3
Oracle / Ancestor Mystery 16
Stats (20pt buy)
STR 10
DEX 16
CON 10
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 18 (16+2 racial)
Concept is like a barbarian shrine maiden from the arctic whose village was wiped out by undead. She’ll start by taking levels in Ranger and Zen Archer, then progressing to my favored class of Oracle. I’d like to take the Ancestor Mystery from UM because it’s thematically great for my character, and it has really appealing revelations (ancestral weapon spirit bow!).
As far as my role in the party, I would be artillery/support, raining arrows from afar while buffing and healing my teammates. 1st level in ranger would give me armor / weap proficiencies, plus I was interested in taking the falconer archetype to get a companion even if he remains wimpy, just for utility / RP purposes. Three next levels in zen archer would load me down with archery feats: Perfect Strike, Weapon Focus, Point Blank Master, 2 bonus feats, plus fast movement (useful if I don’t want heavy armor; may take this with the fleet feat to get speed up to 45) and some nice starting saves. Then I would proceed to my favored class of Oracle, and take the ancestor mystery to get useful revelations like ancestral weapon, blood of heroes, storm of souls, et al.
I think this looks really fun to play, but I’m not used to being in a PC’s shoes and want to make sure there are no gaping flaws in my idea. I don’t expect to be maxed out the wazoo, but I would like to be useful. Does it make sense for me to take a level in ranger? How is the falconer archetype (I don’t have ultimate combat yet so I don’t know the specifics other than that it gives a companion at level 1)? What would be a good backup melee weapon to carry?
I guess any feedback advice would be greatly appreciated… thanks in advance!
What's the point in taking 3 levels of Zen Archer for the ability to use Wisdom for attack rolls, if you're just going to have a 10 Wisdom and use Dex anyways? And why the level of ranger? Zen Archer would get you the required bow proficiency. The Falconer archetype would be pretty much useless, as you'd be stuck with a falcon companion with like 5 HP and no real special abilities.
Overall, it's an extremely odd build with not a lot of synergy.
What's the point in taking 3 levels of Zen Archer for the ability to use Wisdom for attack rolls, if you're just going to have a 10 Wisdom and use Dex anyways? And why the level of ranger? Zen Archer would get you the required bow proficiency. The Falconer archetype would be pretty much useless, as you'd be stuck with a falcon companion with like 5 HP and no real special abilities.
Overall, it's an extremely odd build with not a lot of synergy.
You're right, I wouldn't want to use Wis bonus instead of Dex, but the 3 levels in zen archer are mostly for the bonus feats, of which are all extremely helpful (noted in my original post). As for the Falconer, you got me there, as I mentioned I don't really know much about the archetype. The Weap / Armor proficiencies appealed to me and the favored enemy was appealing as well.
What would you recommend as an alternative to suit this concept? If it won't work at all, then I'll definitely abandon, but I'd like to hear if you have any other recommendations for how I could go with this.
You could go with an Oracle of Battle instead, or the Barbarian/Oracle/Rage Prophet route. Barbarians can make passable archers with the right power choices, and given the general concept as a barbarian priestess of sorts it shouldn't be too hard to fit thematically.
I'd go Inquisitor or Cleric instead of Oracle due the stat synergy. I'd lean more to Inquisitor for the combat ability.
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You could go with an Oracle of Battle instead, or the Barbarian/Oracle/Rage Prophet route. Barbarians can make passable archers with the right power choices, and given the general concept as a barbarian priestess of sorts it shouldn't be too hard to fit thematically.
If you go this route, do the Urban Barbarian archetype from UC as it removes the -2AC, the action restrictions and the Will bonus, but changes the stats from rage to "+4 to any one physical stat". This means you could 'Rage' for dexterity.