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I'm not talking about Gasault or however you spell it, I'm talking some good combos that you wouldn't necessarily consider making.
I've seen a Wizard/Bard combo do pretty good and it got me thinking of other combos to consider.
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Fighter dipping 1 level of monk?
Wizard dipping 1 level of sorcerer?
Monk/sorc, with the wis casting for sorc via blood line. Plus, you can be cross blooded with little penalty, since monk is all good saves.
Half orc Barb x/inquisitor3 for amplied rage (solo tactics, so rage is 8/8 when next to an ally).
Titan mauler barb3/gunslinger for oversized dual wielded two-handed gun touch attackes. or barb 4, so you shorten reach. Grippli make sick titan killing gunslingers (2 dex/wis, small, climb speed)
Barb/martial artist. No fatigue at monk 5.
Divine hunter pally/gunslinger or ranger.Free precise shot a 1, free team presise shot at like 3?
barb/magus 3 with familar. By 20, would have a familair with half his Hp, +19 bab? That's one mean piggy, haha.
Fighter or barb/ scroll wizard, to get dodge mobility wand spring attack, and spring attack. Use a paper sword and sheild, cast while moving off scrolls, fun times. The prestige to that fighty casty prc.
Cleric/Sorc/Mystic thuerge? Wis casting, lots o' spells.
Sythesist/oracle. Like the guyver but a better actor.
I like fun combos, esp since realistically most games won't get to 20, and there are some good synergies for entry lvls/cross classing.
good combinations are abound when you refer to making a character. this all is dependent on stats as well. you don't want to make a monk/paladin if you only have one stat above a 14, for example. a few that i have seen go far are as follows
Monk10/paladin 10
fighter 5/gunslinger 15
Monk/rogue/shadow dancer(especially zen archer with hips)
Rogue/red mantis assassin
sorcerer/oracle/mystic theurge
Paladin/cavalier
I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my Vivisectionist Alchemist/Raging Drunk Barbarian/Master Chemyst. Another surprising combo for me was a Rogue/Cavalier. Finally Antipladin/Oracle of Battle/Witch works pretty well.
For a villain go for an Antipaladin /Armored Hulk Barbarian. Combine Rage with Smite Good and then throw in Power attack. Take Reckless Abandon and Furious Focus and that first hit with the two handed weapon is going to hurt a lot.
All you need for Stats are STR, CON, and CHA. DEX can be left at 10 Dump INT and maybe even Wisdom and you will be doing a world of hurt.
I haven't seen it in play, but on paper a level 1 Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger / All the rest of the 19 levels in Paladin looks very good.
I'm not talking about Gasault or however you spell it
I spell it Gestalt. So do most other people, if they do spell it. Some don't. Spell it, that is.
Fighter (Archer)3, Barbarian 6, Oracle 1, rest in Fighter (Archer)
Spell Sunder from 'As far as your bow can shoot.'
Mobile Fighter/Shadowdancer - Pop out out of shadows with a hooked lance and start tripping people. Let your Shadow strength drain and flank with you. No Dex because you were stealthed, lower strength to add to their CMD and the +2 from flanking make him a disturbingly good tripper.
Empty Handed Monk/Rogue: Disarm, sneak attack with their own weapon.
Martial Artist Monk/Brutal Pugilist: Grapple like a boss. No fatigue, Strength Surge, Animal Fury etc. and can grapple things two size categories larger. If you go deeper Barbarian you can get Body Bludgeon, which is hilarious.
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Wizard dipping 1 level of sorcerer?
Why would a wizard deign to sully himself with polluted blood like that? Perhaps a sorcerer with a 19 level dip into wizard as a attempt to overcome the handicaps of his birth.
Wizard dipping 1 level of sorcerer?Why would a wizard deign to sully himself with polluted blood like that? Perhaps a sorcerer with a 19 level dip into wizard as a attempt to overcome the handicaps of his birth.
You arcanists, and spellcasters in general, amuse me. Squabbling over what external source their power comes from when it doesn't matter. True power comes from within! Ψ on!
currently I'm playing a 2:1 fighter/alchemist and in another I'm playing 2:1 alchemist/fighter
I have found that both these combinations have been fun but in hindsight I think I would have rather had a 2:1 Barbarian/alchemist but alas I didn't think of it.
I don't think it would be all that great but I was considering going alchemist/hurler barbarian. Get an extra arm so you can wield a 2 hander and still use the hurling charge ability. In fact, my group has two races that have powerful build (one small sized, one medium sized) so your hurling could be even better.
A Barbarian with low Wisdom dipping Monk (Master of Many Styles) and Fighter (weapon Master) is a a great combo. The monk part is the only odd part.
I very much enjoyed tagging a few levels of Bard onto a Barbarian build. In the end, I brought the Bard up to level 4, but I think I might go 5 if I had to do it all again. The rest of it was Barbarian, and I always made Barbarian higher. Thematically, he was a middle aged dwarven mercenary with a long history of being 'in the business'. His last contract went rather poorly and he ended up getting captured. Previous levels atrophied and he forgot more than you'll ever know about fighting, all the stories of his previous accomplishments forming the cornerstone of his Inspire Courage abilities. Mechanically, I liked being able to spend a round or two before the fight when I got a chance to cast a buff spell and cue up Inspire Courage prior to wading into combat. Defensive spells really helped with making my Barbarian live a little longer than he should have otherwise.
I'm currently enjoying a Gunslinger/Magus.
The Magus part plays quite well with the Gunslinger, for magical buffing of my guns, various useful spells for stealthing and defense and of course the armor proficiencies.
At the higher levels (we are now level 11), I get to use spellstoring bullets for utility things, such as Hold Person bullets, or Schorching Ray Bullets for the added damage on my sniping.
I burned feats to be able to use my gun in melee, since I couldn't hit a lake with a sword even if I was standing at the buttom of it. But give me my gun and I'll make the party's Barbarian mope about my damage output ;)
Besides that, he's a blast to play, since he has quite a lot of different skills, and a lot of options on the side.
2 levels of vivisection alchemist onto a gunslinger
Your vestigal arm can hold the gun/help reload
1d6 sneak attack
+4 dex mutagen
brew potion
get your own truestrike spell
you can throw your gun as a weapon if you're out of ammo (do not attempt on reporters from metropolis)
A couple levels of monk added to pretty much any martial class is good. At the cost of 1 BAB and some hit points, you get +3 to all saves, a couple bonus combat feats, and evasion. EVASION! Also why a couple levels in rogue is good. A very nice defense to have once the area effects become a problem. In 3.0, evasion was a 1st level ability for monks, and I pretty much all the arcanists I played with dipped into it for the unarmored AC and Evasion benefits.
But monk evasion only works if unarmored, right? Grrrr....
Oh, well. Rogues' evasion works with light armor. Skills are good, and the various talents can be used for combat feats, so they make some decent dipping sauce.
Druid/rogues are fun. Access to pretty much all skills, and a lot of low level druid spells can be used to make ranged touch or melee touch sneak attacks, mitigating the low BAB of a the 3/4 BAB or multi-classed medium BAB classes.
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As was pointed out above, Empyreal Sorcerer/Zen Archer Monk is good. Take 2 levels of Empyreal sorcerer, pick up Mage Armor, Gravity Bow for your spells. Take the trait that gives +2 caster level. You can Armor yourself for 4 hours at a time, and still have enough spells left over to gravity bow yourself 2-3 times a day when you really need it. At higher levels, pick up a Monk's Robe, and if you want, you're perfectly positioned at a late entry into arcane archer if you're elf/half-elf (which by the way, half-elf makes an excellent zen archer/Empyreal sorcerer). At 5th level, I had my 20 WIS Empyreal Zen Archer with a +18 perception (+5 Ranks + 5 Stat + 3 Trained + 3 Skill Focus + 2 trait), which makes for a VERY useful character. :)
I was following the rogue around the dungeon, tapping him on the shoulder every 3rd door. "Excuse me Mr. Rogue, but would it not be better to disable that poison spine trap prior to opening the door? Just a thought..."
I love being able to have a 20 Perception check on my lowest non-failure roll. :) DM hates it of course. :)
At 5th level, I had my 20 WIS Empyreal Zen Archer with a +18 perception (+5 Ranks + 5 Stat + 3 Trained + 3 Skill Focus + 2 trait), which makes for a VERY useful character. :)What trait gives +2 perception?
If the above was a half elf it would be even sicker on the perception rolls.
It was a half-elf. My bad, the +2 was racial trait, not background trait (*sigh*, people using the same term for multiple things in the system strikes again). Sorry, should have put 'Racial' instead of 'Trait' to clarify.
I haven't seen it in play, but on paper a level 1 Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger / All the rest of the 19 levels in Paladin looks very good.
Actually, not going paladin, but I'm about to try Gunslinger / Bard. Gunslinger / Oracle woulda worked nicely, too.
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I want to re-recommend Urban Barbarian/Martial Artist.
Okay, the immediate benefits are significant, everyone can see that immunity to fatigue and a rage bonus on fists can be an awesome boon for the monk. However, think about Dragon Style. Especially this feat. Now look back to me. Now look at your monk. Your monk is now diamonds.
I tried combining it with the Master of Many Styles to add Tiger Style, but losing flurry of blows sets it back significantly. It's not the lost attacks, but the fact that unarmed strike resets back to being a light weapon and you lose the full str bonus of the flurry.
Let's see, Sorcerer 1/Whichever Spellcaster is a pretty nice combination in my mind. Yes, you are correct that the possible conflicting casting stats lessen the character's edge a bit, but think about the benefits of the sorcerer arcanas. Combining those via Crossblooded can be pretty significant. Undead+Serpentine(wouldn't want to meet your ancestors, neither would Lovecraft) is awesome for an enchanter. Next to nothing is immune to your charms. Primal Elemental+Dragon adds +2 dámage per die. Evocation spells can suddenly be atrociously powerful and I'd like to try a sorcerer(blue dragon/primal air) 1/magus x one day. I'm sure you can think of others as well.
A couple levels of monk added to pretty much any martial class is good. At the cost of 1 BAB and some hit points, you get +3 to all saves, a couple bonus combat feats, and evasion. EVASION! Also why a couple levels in rogue is good. A very nice defense to have once the area effects become a problem. In 3.0, evasion was a 1st level ability for monks, and I pretty much all the arcanists I played with dipped into it for the unarmored AC and Evasion benefits.
But monk evasion only works if unarmored, right? Grrrr....
Monk evasion is like rogue evasion: it works with light armor and no armor. Ranger evasion is different, because it also allows medium armor, but that does not show up until 9th level.
I am experimenting with an archer ranger/monk of the four winds (and not zen archer). It is handy to not have to put his longbow down to strike unarmed in a flurry of blows. I don't yet know whether this is a good combination.
In 3.5, I saw a pretty effective bard/paladin. Used some weird feat combo to wield a Huge greatsword, though. Even the goliath ranger thought THAT was cheesy. But the goliath ranger was also pretty frustrated because she was so good at EVERYTHING: the PCs made her hunt, cook, scout, tank, heal, archery, AND CARRY THE WOUNDED HORSES--PLURAL--!!!!!
And had to burn a feat to multi-class as a bard/paladin in 3.5 since their alignments usually didn't mesh well.
In PF, I bet a bard/paladin would be fun and effective. Especially at the sweet-spot of 5th to 8th level that most campaigns seem to focus in. A good mix of buffing and healing and tanking and facing.
Someone mentioned cavalier/rogue, and I'd second that. Specifically I'm having fun with a halfing Cavalier 4 / Rogue (Scout, Rake) XX. The horsemaster feat keeps the mount viable and you add sneak attack on a charge with the scout archetype, and are much more mobile and viable when not full attacking than your typical rogue. One of the most tactically interesting and fun martial characters I have played.
Roleplaying wise you can borrow the fluff from the Low Templar prestige class or something like that (don't actually take the class though, it sucks)
Rogue/summoner, with the Butterfly Sting feat and the eidolon with a Large greataxe acting as a built-in flank-buddy?
currently I'm playing a 2:1 fighter/alchemist and in another I'm playing 2:1 alchemist/fighter
I have found that both these combinations have been fun but in hindsight I think I would have rather had a 2:1 Barbarian/alchemist but alas I didn't think of it.
Actually, Ranger/Alchmist(Vivisectionist) at a 1:4 ratio is pretty sweet. High int gives you tons of skills, and between ranger and alchmist, most skills are class skills. Ranger gives you martial profiency with favored enemy: human. Vivisectionist gives you sneak attack and lots of self buffs. Go scimitar + Weapon Finesse + Dervish Dance so you only need dex and int. Use your ranger bonus feat to pick up power attack without needing to meet the prerequisites.
Separitist Cleric 1/Rogue X
1 level of seperatist cleric offers a lot to a rogue at the cost of 1 potential rogue talent, 1 bab, and maybe thier crappy capstone.
you get +2 to both fortitude and will saves, which helps to shore up weaknesses
you no longer need ranks in use magic device to use wands and scrolls from the cleric list.
you get 2 domains, and as a Seperatist, you could pick up Darkness and Travel. travel gives you a 10 foot bonus to your base speed and access to longstrider. Darkness gives blind fight, a feat that not many would invest a feat on, but is pretty nice when you get it for free. the darkness debuff may not be amazing, but you chose it for the free blind fight feat. the travel domain lets you move faster and gives you so many rounds per day of ignoring difficult terrain.
you get a crappy channel ability. but 1d6 positive isn't too bad out of battle and limited choice of first level spells.
but you get a few orisons which can be very useful. a good set of 3 would be light, create water, and purify food and drink.
Magus Kensai 2 (or 3 to get Wand mastery), Alchemist (Vivisectionist, Internal Alchemist) the rest. Scimitar Dance build.
I've got a Bard/Ranger in one campaign--very useful! Whip+Throwing Axe, know EVERYTHING about nature, boosts... nice.
I've got the "Mist Assassin" build on here somewhere. It's a Waves Oracle/Rogue. Someone else turned it into a Waves Oracle/Vivisectionist.
Totally stealing the mist assassin thing, though i may make it a ninja/waves oracle.
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Totally stealing the mist assassin thing, though i may make it a ninja/waves oracle.I've got a Bard/Ranger in one campaign--very useful! Whip+Throwing Axe, know EVERYTHING about nature, boosts... nice.
I've got the "Mist Assassin" build on here somewhere. It's a Waves Oracle/Rogue. Someone else turned it into a Waves Oracle/Vivisectionist.
Be my guest. When I first developed the mist assassin, it was before UM/UC. Now I'd probably use ninja as well instead of rogue.
I think one of the big things is recognizing that the Waves Oracle isn't the blaster-oracle, but with water, but is a sneak-caster instead.
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I want to re-recommend Urban Barbarian/Martial Artist.
Okay, the immediate benefits are significant, everyone can see that immunity to fatigue and a rage bonus on fists can be an awesome boon for the monk. However, think about Dragon Style. Especially this feat. Now look back to me. Now look at your monk. Your monk is now diamonds.
I tried combining it with the Master of Many Styles to add Tiger Style, but losing flurry of blows sets it back significantly. It's not the lost attacks, but the fact that unarmed strike resets back to being a light weapon and you lose the full str bonus of the flurry.
I am not sure what you mean about "unarmed strike resets back to being a light weapon", as I thought that it is always a light weapon, even for Monks.
Note however that having the full STR bonus on your unarmed strike is granted by both the FoB and the Unarmed Strike class features of the Monk. Thus a Master of Many Styles, who loses FoB but keeps Unarmed Strike, will still be using his full STR bonus on his unarmed strikes.
Alas, Master of Many Styles cannot be combined with Martial Artist, as both replace Perfect Self.
Monk (Master Many Styles/Sacred Mountain)/Fighter (weapon Master)/Barbarian (Totem Warrior/armored Hulk). You have to change alignment for Lawful to Neutral while a Fighter so you qualify for Barb though.
You move 35 feet in Medium armor (from armored Hulk). 45 ft in boots of spring/striding or 65 ft in Boots of Haste.
Because you are in armor: Scared Mountain trades Evasion for Toughness.
You deal +3 hit/damage with Weapon Master (if have Gloves of Duelist) to chosen weapon.
Furious Weapon boosts a +3 weapon to +5.
I'd take tiger Style/Tiger pounce for Power Attack penalty to AC.
And take Dragon Style as a normal feat.
Take Beasts and Dragon Totems.
Cavalier/Sorcerer for a face with a lot of options.
May breakdown later, but I'm currently playing a Paladin 2 / Sorcerer 4 headed to Eldritch Knight I'm enjoying. Touch attacks are fun! So are awesome saves!
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Make a Summoner (Archetype Master Summoner from UM for lots of friends to bring to the party and the free Augment Summoning at level 2).
A 1-level dip in Bard (Archetype Animal Speaker from UM for even more Summons) to boost them (and your other allies) with your performances. Note that if you meet its TPA prerequisites (and have the Extra Performance feat), the Master Performer feat from the Faction Guide will increase this boost without the need for further levels in Bard.
A 1-level dip in Cavalier (Order of the Dragon for added boost to your nearby allies) to get a faithful Mount who will also share in all these nice bonuses and use Tactician to give them all a good Teamwork feat such as Shake It Off (from UC). Alternately, the Standard Bearer Archetype from UC will boost your allies even more, though at the cost of your Mount.
With such a horde of boosted minions, who even needs other party members ?
I haven't played this yet, but I am making it for my next PFS character. I call it the Martial Alchemist build.
Human Alchemist (Internal Alchemist/Mindchemist)/Monk (Master of Many Styles) - This build is a bomber/cognatogen build with what I hope will have more consistant damage and better defensive abilities. Feat and other variable class feature abilities to choose are as follows:
Level 1 (Alchemist 1): Splash Weapon Mastery (1st level feat) & Throw Anything (human feat - this was lost due to the Internal Alchemist archetype, but it is still nice enough for this build that I want it back)
Level 2 (Alchemist 2): Infuse Mutagen discovery for the extra use of the Cognatogen it will give, though a way to heal the Intelligence damage is needed, but even with that the ability is still a plus for the build.
Level 3 (Monk 1): Kirin Style (monk bonus feat) & Snake Style (3rd level feat - by now, the character should meet the prerequisites for this)
Level 4 (Monk 2): Kirin Strike (monk bonus feat)
Level 5 (Alchemist 3): Weapon Focus - Bomb (5th level feat)
Level 6 (Alchemist 4): Tanglefoot Bombs discovery
Level 7 (Alchemist 5): Extra Discovery - Smoke Bombs (7th level feat)
Level 8 (Alchemist 6): Stink Bombs discovery
Level 9 (Alchemist 7): Two-Weapon Fighting (9th level feat)
Level 10 (Alchemist 8): Fast Bombs discovery
Level 11 (Alchemist 9): Extra Discovery - Acid Bombs (11th level feat)
Level 12 (Alchemist 10): Force Bombs discovery
Multiclassing into monk really helps with the pesky Will save issue that any alchemist has trouble with as well as emphasizing Wisdom and Sense Motive in this build when combined with the Snake & Kirin Styles defensive abilities, evasion, and the Wisdom bonus to AC. Obviously, Knoweldge skills will need to be emphasized in order to benefit most from the Kirin Style and Kirin Strike feats. Making skill checks to increase damage with Kirin Strike won't be difficult at all when combined with the Perfect Recall ability of the Mindchemist archetype. Master of Many Styles lets you use both Snake Style and Kirin Style simultaneously.
The cognatogen will ensure that your double Intelligence bonus to damage as swift action on top of your bomb attacks will deliver a more consistant high damage output for those bombs as well as a higher save DC and splash damage. The ability to gain certain feats (like Skill Focus: Sense Motive) and languages in place of a discovery if you want is also nice if the need arises as you level up. If I were to keep going beyond 12th level, I would probably get Kirin Path and Greater Cognatogen as soon as possible (13th and 14th levels respectively, I believe).
I am also looking into a build that combines the Zen Archer Monk with the Mindchemist Alchemist. It relies heavily on the Explosive Arrow discovery, but it may more difficult to make effective than at first glance when you consider things like using the bombs with rapid shot and flurry of blows. Making it an elf or half-elf to get the Elven Accuracy feat might be nice.
EDIT: Here is my 20 point ability score array for the Mindchemist/Master of Many Styles before racial bonuses:
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 17
WIS: 12
CHA: 8
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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My local PFS Venture Captain has a gunslinger 1/monk 1/ranger 2 that was pretty interesting (I played alongside it recently). Carried a loaded rifle, and if the enemy was too close for reloading to be wise after the first shot, he'd use Catch Off-Guard to bludgeon them with the gun. Or, if he had time to full-attack, he'd use Flurry of Blows. Similarly, the monk contributed some AC in the form of his WIS bonus.
Also, his saves were fantastic.
One of my far-too-large stable of PFS character ideas:
Bladechild of Szuriel, primarily a N fighter with a clr 1 dip and a martial artist mon 1-3 dip. Ferocity and Tactics domains for initiative plus easy enlarge access, large-sized flurries with greatsword.
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Cleric of Gorum with a 2 level dip in Barbarian (Armored Hulk). You become a Cleric who wears heavy armor, can rage (with 1 rage power), and if you select the Strength (Ferocity) domain you gain Ferocious strike (+ 1/2 your cleric level to damage on one hit (3+wis a day)).
Max your Strength and pick up Power attack.
Smash.