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I've always wanted to put together a character that approximated the look and feel of a wood elf wardancer from the Warhammer Fantasy Battle game: basically an unarmored two-weapon fighter with a feral feel. Usually I've tried to make it work with some combination of ranger or fighter or rogue, but I decided to take a crack at it going straight Barbarian all the way. I went for the "Savage Barbarian" archetype, because it seemed to tie more in with the feral aspect of the current iteration of the Warhammer Wood Elves and I didn't want him to wear armor. Here's what I came up with using a 15 point buy. You'll note that the ability scores are a bit odd. The idea is that he's uber fast and dextrous, and he uses his rage to make up for his deficiencies in Str and Con.
STR 14 (+2)
DEX 18 (+4)
CON 11 (+0)
INT 10 (+0)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 9 (-1)
1st level: Two Weapon FIghting. He uses paired short swords because he is going to be a finesse fighter and to help minimise the TWF penalties.
Rages for 4 rounds. When Raging, hits twice at +3 doing 1d6+4 with each blade. Armor class is an issue (14 normal, 12 when raging) but hit points aren't bad for 1st level (12 normal, 14 when raging)
Skills are Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception, Climb, Knowledge Nature. Total for Acrobatics is +8, giving him good mobility if he needs it.
As he goes up in level, the rest of his favored class bonuses go to Hit Points, and he takes the following rage powers / feats / class features:
2nd: Powerful Blow
3rd: Naked Courage, Weapon Finesse. By now he probably has Masterwork swords and some kind of AC buff item, like Bracers of Armor.
4th: +1 to CON, Surprise Accuracy, Powerful Blow bonus increases to +2
5th: Double Slice. Weapons are probably +1 at this point.
6th: Deadly Accuracy
7th: Natural Toughness, Damage Reduction 1/-, Power Attack, maybe has a Belt of Dexterity at this point to increase Dex/AC
8th: +1 DEX, Bleeding Blow, Bonus for Powerful Blow and Surprise Accuracy goes up to +3
9th: Improved Critical, Naked Courage goes up to +2, Upgrade weapons to +2
10th: DR increases to +2, Natural Toughness increases to +2, Auspicious Mark (not sure about that last one - the next rage power I want doesn't come until lvl 12.
That's as far as I got. Any suggestions for tuning this guy up? Anything obvious that I've missed? If I did this as a 20 point buy, should I boost Con or Str or both?
I think you're probably better off with a Monk as base. Dual Temple Swords should get the flavor you want without suffering the normal unarmored/dual wielding pitfalls.
Use the woodcraft or silent hunter alternate racial trait (from APG). Elven Magic won't help this guy at all.
Boosting CON makes the most sense. In fact with 15 point buy you'd probably want to reduce INT by one more and put the extra points into CON. You can make up for the loss of skill points by taking skill points when you take favored class levels. This guy is going to be relatively wimpy except in Rages so you'd want as many rounds of rage as you can get. Probably also want to invest a feat in Extra Rage, maybe at 5th level, maybe sooner. With 20 point buy, go for 14, 16, 16, 7, 10, 9 as your buy giving you 14 STR, 18 DEX, 14 CON, 9 INT, 10 WIS, 9 CHA. The extra round or two per day of Rage will make a big difference especially at low levels.
Why not a rapier and a short sword once you get weapon finesse? Only difference would be a slightly higher crit chance with the rapier but every bit helps.
If you take traits, you should take Warrior of Old (elf trait, +2 on initiative) and Highlander (regional trait, +1 on stealth, +2 in hilly or rocky areas, and stealth is a class skill).
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As an alternate suggestion that can even have the same flavour but may need a different build but give better feat benefits - try a ranger. Elven rangers are a little cliche but there is a reason for that.
I've tried to do this with a ranger in 3.5 and was unsatisfied with the results. You get the TWF fighting stuff, but then you get fewer hit points and you have to deal with favored enemies and nature's bond and whatnot, which are not really the direction I think is appropriate for this kind of character.
Also, I wouldn't say this fellow is wimpy outside of his rage. Yes, hit hit points and damage output are kind of anemic, but only if you compare him to a kitted out strength-focused barbarian with big weapon. Compared to other Finesse TWF builds - say, a ranger or a rogue - he's comparable in hit points and damage output at low levels, and he's got his rage to fall back on when he needs to kick it up a notch. (To be fair, the rogue gets sneak attack opportunities that he doesn't, but that is far more situational and requires a whole different style of play) Over time, the fact that he's rocking a D12 and that he eventually gets a positive Con bonus means that he'll have more hit points ultimately than a rogue or ranger, and at least be comparable to a similar level fighter before he rages.
I'm not too worried about the extra rounds of rage he loses at level 1, because as he gains levels they quickly become irrelevant, and I think he's got enough oomph to take on goblins and giant centipedes and dire rats and such without his rage for the first 2 or 3 levels anyway.
it says 1d6 +4 with each blade but the build does not have the feat that allows full str bonus on the offhand attack, that should be considered
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Armor is a no-go for this guy. He's got to fight basically naked to fit the character concept, so he only gets magical bonuses to armor plus whatever he can eke out from his dex. This is the problem: his dex has to be ridiculous for that to work. With a 15 point buy, something has to give, and it pretty much has to be CON, because he's an elf and it just costs too much and strength is too vital for him to output damage. Although with a 20 point buy I can definitely see the argument for boosting him to a 14 con.
But yeah, he's got a glass jaw. Gotta be careful with him at low levels until he gets a few more rounds of rage going on.
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In all seriousness, Monk solves the glass-jaw problems.
With a 20 point buy, you could do this (post racial):
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 7
Be a Weapon Adept and dual wield Temple Swords. Or a Sohei and dual wield and swords you want. (Yes, the dual wielding is to match your aeshtetics and is not actually necessary, but you can, while flurrying, freely hit with either weapon).
Take Qiggong Monk and get Barkskin at 4th level when you put your attribute point into Wisdom. Your AC, totally naked will be an 18 with the option to spend a Ki point for 4 more. Hopefully, someone will cast Mage Armor on you or you'll have Bracers of Armor. You can also get two-weapon defense if you need it.
Your damage will be decent, though not amazing, and your glass jaw will still be there, but slightly less of a problem than the barbarian. You will have far more maneuverability, your attacks will be extremely accurate, and you can keep using Qiggong to get weird and quirky abilities that you might want. Oh, and the 13 Int will allow you to get Greater Trip, which makes you quite scary indeed.
It just takes reskinning this to something feral rather than disciplined to make this workable.
However, if you are 100% sold on Barbarian, how confident are you that you can get a pair of Agile short swords? If you're sure of it, you could do this, instead (with 15 point buy? Damn, I missed that, but ok):
Str: 10
Con: 13
Dex: 20
Int: 9
Wis: 10
Cha: 7
Take the Urban Barbarian as well as the Savage Barbarian archetypes. They do stack, I doubled checked.
Now, your Rage adds to Dex, if you like.
Obviously, take Weapon Finesse, the TWF line, and Piranha Strike (it's power attack for light weapons).
Your AC will be fine--practically optimal, actually. And as long as you can get Agile weapons (a +1 enhancement that lets you use Dex for damage), you'll be set.
As for Rage Powers, you want the Beast Totem, unquestionably. The first one is useless to you, probably--claws do nothing. The second, however, gives a Natural armor bonus, which is sweet. The third gives Pounce. One of the biggest problems TWFers face is not being able to make enough Full Attacks, and Pounce solves that problem for you.
You'll actually be kind of a powerhouse with this build. But it is totally and utterly reliant on a pair of Agile swords, so coordinate with your GM.
I like the short swords, but just throwing this out there--you could do kukri instead, which have a nice forest/jungle blade feel, even if they're a little smaller, and bolster the build with some critical hit feats, since kukri have such a good crit range. You lose a little damage going from 1d6 to 1d4 but with a well made crit build this would more than even out, probably.
Another thought is to multi into Fighter to boost your weapon damage (whether kukri or short sword or whatever) with weapon training and weapon specialization feats--plus more feats in general, which you can never get enough of with any TWF build--but of course that cuts into the growth of rage powers.
Thought I am not fond of stat minmaxing, I'd also consider dumping more Cha to boost your physical stats (but don't dump Int or Wis any further, I think losing skill points ot Will save wouldn't be a good thing).
maybe something can be done with dervish dancer bard or dawnflower fighter archetypes ?
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Don't discount Ranger either - if you take the 'Guide' archetype you gain 'Ranger's Focus' instead of favoured enemy - which comes in real handy...
You could also build it out as a 'switch hitter' with a slight tweak... Use your combat style bonus feats for Archery (which synergizes with your high DEX build) and use your regular feats for TWF (instead of 2 handing a weapon like a 'typical' switch hitter does).
If you want to really benefit from the TWF you may want add in some levels of Rogue for Sneak Attack damage.
Power Attack or Piranha Strike may also help you increase your damage output.
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One way to do it:
15,14,14,12,10,07 15pt array pre-racial, or
STR:10, DEX+17, CON-12, INT+14, WIS:14, CHA:07 for an elf.
01 barb1 01 [Urban][crowd control][controlled rage], Weapon Finesse
02 monk1 01 [Martial-Artist][Dodge][Improved Unarmed Strike][Flurry of Blows]
03 monk1 02 [Evasion][Mobility], Extra Rage
04 barb2 03 [Uncanny Dodge][Reckless Abandon+1]
05 monk3 04 Spring Attack
06 monk4 05 ...rest monk.
Here's a Wood Elf Wardancer, just so everyone's on the same page.
Isnt it kind of weird though to be a wild woodland beast and yet be lawful? Or do monks no longer have to be lawful?
Not really. Think of it more as you seem chaotic, but your main goal is to uphold the law of the land.
The law is the law. Theres nothing inherently evil in supporting all the laws of chelliax as written, and being completely LN. You don't make moral judgements whatsoever, you just feel that order and obedience to the law is the most important thing. If you travel out of Chelliax, you make the same effort to follow the law of whatever land you are in
Right, I am just saying that upholding the law of the land and being a feral wardancer seem at odds. But I guess we can just agree to disagree, otherwise this will become another alignment thread. But I never play monks because I never want to (as a player) play a character who is lawful. So this probably isnt an issue for the OP.
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You should take another look at your rage power selection. You have already said that AC really isn't what you are focusing on. So I would take reckless abandon in place of the surprise accuracy chain in order to improve the chance to hit on all of your full attacks.
Weapon finesse feels like a poor choice for this build, I would imagine that a savage elf would use strong vicious strikes not wimpy cuts. Without the guarantee of having agile at high levels your damage would really suffer. I would only get the one point into dex to eventually get Greater TWF and then focus on STR in order to really up your damage. To get the most out of Double slice you need a monstrous STR.
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Isnt it kind of weird though to be a wild woodland beast and yet be lawful? Or do monks no longer have to be lawful?Martial-artists can be any alignment.
you just feel that order and obedience to the law is the most important thing.
You can follow a code-of-honor and be lawful while being opposed to the prevailing edicts of the realm.
Just a question as I'm not seeing it in the core rulebook with magic weapons, where is the agile weapon ability from? Could be something very useful for a character build or 2 I'm working on.
Pathfinder Society Field Guide
"Agile weapons are unusually well balanced and responsive. A wielder with the Weapon Finesse feat can choose to apply her Dexterity modifier to damage rolls with the weapon in place of her Strength modifier. This modifier to damage is not increased for two-handed weapons, but is still reduced for off-hand weapons. "
Have you thought about writing up a new prestige class, or an archetype instead of trying to stay confined by the base class and archetypes that exist already. It seems to me a new prestige class that meets your idea of a feral wood elf warrior would be fitting, that way you could make war dancers who were barbarian based, or ranger based, or monk based, or rouge based.
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Pathfinder Society Field Guide
"Agile weapons are unusually well balanced and responsive. A wielder with the Weapon Finesse feat can choose to apply her Dexterity modifier to damage rolls with the weapon in place of her Strength modifier. This modifier to damage is not increased for two-handed weapons, but is still reduced for off-hand weapons. The agile weapon enhancement can only be placed on melee weapons that are usable with the Weapon Finesse feat."