Stealing this from a suggestion I gave in an earlier thread. Deal with it.
JibJib is a Barbarian with the Mounted Fury and Superstitious Archetypes. He wants nothing more than to emulate his hero AM BARBARIAN, but knows that his small stature will never let him accomplish this feat. So, he needs to even the odds with his trusty mount Mr. Chompy the Raging T-Rex.
(Note: I know the Archetype lists what mounts I can choose from, but my DM homeruled that I could use any Druid Companion I could ride.)
Character Breakdown
Level 8 Goblin Barbarian [Mounted Fury/Superstitious]
STR - 20
DEX - 14
CON - 18
INT - 8
WIS - 10
CHA - 6
Lvl 1 - Mounted Combat
Lvl 2 - Ferocious Mount
Lvl 3 - Power Attack
Lvl 4 - Beast Totem Lesser
Lvl 5 - Ride-by-Attack
Lvl 6 - Beast Totem
Lvl 7 - Spirited Charge
Lvl 8 - Ferocious Mount, Greater
To Level 10
Lvl 9 - Raging Vitality
Lvl 10 - Beast Totem, Greater
Eventually go into the Spell Sunder Rage power tree, grab Raging Brutality, Strength Surge, Animal Fury etc.
Mr. Chompy's Stats would be here with level 4 Druid Companion Stats. His feats would be Improved Natural Attack and Power Attack. Later feats would be Improved Bull Rush and eventually Awesome Blow at level 9 (13 for me.)
The attack would be (at lvl 13) Pounce+Rage Lance+Power Attack+Raging Brutality and Mr. Chompy would be Powerful Bite x2 (with a 32 STR!) Claw attacks x2.
I can see the obvious problems with it: no fitting into dungeons, half a regular barbarian's rage, far from the best base race etc. but I think that this would be a hilarious RP and play build. Lets look past the glaring weaknesses and try to optimize him anyway. Suggestions? Did I miss something silly? Is there any way I can increase his companion level?
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Did I miss something silly? Is there any way I can increase his companion level?
You left out Boon Companion.
Other problems:
* It's not possible for a pre-buff goblin to be STR:20 at 8th level because the highest it can be at 1st level is 16.)
* Ferocious Mount chews up rage rounds at double rate.
...not exactly certain why you want to pump STR in a goblin anyway, however, when they are frightening TWF machines when given the right equipment (these guys get a +4 DEX bonus, and you're not using it at all):
20pt goblin (STR-2/DEX+4/CHA-2)
STR-05
DEX+21
CON:14
INT:12
WIS:12
CHA-10
01 barb1 [urban] Agile Maneuvers (rage 6r/day)
02 fight1 [dragoon] Mounted Combat, Skill Focus:Ride
03 barb2 [uncanny dodge][Knockdown], Extra Rage (rage 14r/day)
04 monk [martial artist]
05 fight2 Indomitable Mount, Piranha Strike
06 cava1
07 cava2 Ride-by Attack
08 cava3
09 cava4 [expert trainer], Horse Master
10 monk2 [evasion], Combat Reflexes
11 figh3 Spirited Charge
12 figh4 Stand Still
Level play-by-play:
1st level: armor + heavy darkwood shield = AC 21 while controlled raging [DEX>25]; weapon: bare hand, which you use to perform CMB maneuvers, usually disarm (you eat the AoO, which will usually miss; if you fail a disarm, nothing happens because you're not carrying a weapon).
2nd: buy a heavy warhorse; your Ride bonus while DEX-raging is +17 when everything is added up (you buy a 50gp tack & harness "tool" for a +2 to the skill).
3rd: Knockdown works only once per combat, but it doesn't have a "build cost" as does Improved Trip, and it's good enough for tripping a "problem" monster next to our mount (which is then +4 to wail on with its three attacks, and you both get opps if it tries to stand up).
4th: it all comes together: you've been hoarding cash, and now spend it on an Amulet of Mighty Fists with the Agile weapon enhancement. Advance base DEX score to 22 (so 26 while controlled raging). You are flurrying for d4+8 with each of your puny goblin fists.
5th: BAB reaches 4; Piranha/Flurry damage d4+12; mount basically invulnerable on one attack and one save per round.
6th: you have enough for a Belt of Incredible Dexterity +4; DEX reaches 30; unarmed strike damage is d4+16; you acquire a real mounted side-kick (it's temporarily weaker than the warhorse, so you keep riding that).
7th: occasionally running into reach monster capable of killing your mount with their left-over full attack actions, so Ride by Attack is appropriate here.
...9th: your mount is now full druid level; two Challenges per day now, may have an Order ability as well.
...12th: nothing gets past you.
Aff, was dead tired last night when I posted this. Just copied his points out of excel without even reading them.
15 Point buy, putting a point in STR at 4 and a point in Con at 8. Racial modifiers added in as well.
STR - 16
DEX - 12
CON - 16
INT - 8
WIS - 10
CHA - 7
The character concept isn't so much of a mounted goblin, but that of a monstrous cretin that blows through enemy lines on the back of his pet T-Rex. In my current campaign the party has founded a mercenary group and we often take part in army warfare. Sometimes our characters are allowed to take side missions to effect the overall battle. Attack at this point, assassinate the enemy commander, etc. Imagine a T-Rex using things like Pounce and Awesome blow in such situations. Agreed, there are better ways to optimize the build but I'm going for the idea, RP aspect and hilarity more than the practice. I do this often, which is why I need back up characters when one goes down.
That being said, boon companion is awesome.
New Feat Progression:
Lvl 1 - Mounted Combat
Lvl 2 - Ferocious Mount
Lvl 3 - Power Attack
Lvl 4 - Beast Totem Lesser
Lvl 5 - Ride-by-Attack
Lvl 6 - Beast Totem
Lvl 7 - Boon Companion
Lvl 8 - Ferocious Mount, Greater
Lvl 9 - Spirited Charge
Lvl 10 - Beast Totem, Greater
Mr. Chompy Feats: Power Attack, Improved Natural Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Endurance.
Just imbibed an unhealthy amount of coffee and opened Excel again. Here we go.
Bite: 2(26+3d6)= Potential 70 average damage
Claws: 2(5+2+1d6)= Potential 26 average
Using the DPR Olympics target AC of 21:
+18 to hit for the first attack, +13 to hit for the next three. This is not counting any buffs that may be given. We have a bard buff/haste bot and she is awesome.
+20,+15,+10 without any outside buffs.
Not sure how to work in average damage against AC, but it still seems effective.
If you are small you could also ride a
Starting Statistics: Size Small; Speed 60 ft.; AC +1 natural armor; Attack 2 talons (1d6), bite (1d4); Ability Scores Str 11, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 14; Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.
7th-Level Advancement: Size Medium; AC +2 natural armor; Attack 2 talons (1d8), bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4) Ability Scores Str +4, Dex –2, Con +2; Special Attacks pounce.
Just pop boon companion when you pick up animal companion and you're good to go. Not quite as impressive strength and chompiness but it is fast, 5 attacks and gets pounce.
I'd also recommend a mount that lets you be medium size. As a small creature with a strength penalty (Like gnomes or other such creatures as well), the biggest advantage to your mounted combat is that you can mounted combat and still be treated like a medium-sized creature.
And, with the boost from Rage at 11th that your raptor is getting, the Velociraptor would be a pretty good choice.
Or you can continue being on a T-Rex and charging things. AM BARBARIAN is all about the style, after all, and he'd definitely ride a T-Rex if it could fly.
I'd also recommend a mount that lets you be medium size. As a small creature with a strength penalty (Like gnomes or other such creatures as well), the biggest advantage to your mounted combat is that you can mounted combat and still be treated like a medium-sized creature.
You mean a medium sized mount to fit into places? Velociraptor was a close second, but I imagined putting Horse shoes of Zephyr on the T-Rex and I was sold.
Our DM allows us two characters. A main and a "cohort" that's always 2 levels under our main. The idea is that you don't have to enter an environment or situation where you'll be useless. Take my Fighter/Shadow dancer. In a dungeon where there's plenty of shadows to hide and large to small creatures he can CMB, he's a god. But on a plain or brightly lit outside place where we find massive critters his play style becomes rather linear.
JibJib would fill the army battle/plains niche as well as allow RP opportunities. His intelligence is too low to pick up another language normally so I could RP him with a different language structure. (Taking a single point in linguistics to get common doesn't mean you speak it well). The city allows slavery (which I'm sure would count JibJib as a small non-human), and it would be interesting to see how the party interacts with it.
On a side note:
I was originally planning something similar to this but instead of the T-Rex I had a Dire Bat. Had a whole backstory laid out where they were from the same cave and grew up together. Imagine a little Goblin snuggled into a baby dire bat's fur. But it ended up a lil too much like AM BARBARIAN :p
Nothing beats charging down a dungeon corridor on the back of 'raptor whilst your t-rex sits upstairs crying.
P.s. Good luck hammering those horseshoes onto your t-rex!!
Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd
Slot feet; Price 6,000 gp; Weight 4 lbs. (for four).
Description
These four iron shoes are affixed like normal horseshoes. They allow a horse to travel without actually touching the ground. The horse must still run above (always around 4 inches above) a roughly horizontal surface. This means that non-solid or unstable surfaces can be crossed, and that movement is possible without leaving tracks on any sort of ground. The horse moves at its normal base land speed. All four shoes must be worn by the same animal for the magic to be effective.
I hear blacksmiths are tasty and come pre-cooked;)
AM NO SHAME IN COPYING SUCCESS.
But it has talons and my slippers suffer if i haven't cut my toenails for a week :(
Dangerously Curious + 4500gp wand of Spider Climbing also works nicely.
I just had a nightmare-like vision of a hoard of goblin-raptor cavalry charging down a passageway like Underworld Lichens.