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So, I was looking at Halflings of Golarion, and I thought the info they included on halflings and slings was pretty awesome. So my question is, what is the best way to make a halfling who is dedicated to the sling mechanically. It could be just a non-caster build, but I thought a few of the sacred keepsakes were pretty neat too.
So, I know the first step is to take the Warslinger trait from the Advanced Player's Guide. Where do I go from there?
On a side note, do Sling Staffs count as slings for feats that modify slings? I don't think they do, but I just wanna be sure.
it's probably not what you're looking for but:
ninja/scout, sap master
you get 1 good shot per round and do a lot of nonlethal damage.
Sling from far, sap from melee. It's a very easy build and you can focus on non-combat stuff for roleplaying while still being viable.
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There is a pretty sweet feat called sling flail that you could take. To see it in action, watch an awesome movie called 13 Assassins.
Ogre's Alchemist guide mentions a Halfling Alchemist using a sling (with Warslinger for the free action reloading) to fire bombs much farther than they could normally go. But I can't find any rules actually saying you can launch splash weapons from a sling...
I've thought the same thing about a Halfling sling master, wanting to make a cool build out of it. The problem is that the sling starts below a bow as an optimal ranged weapon, the only benefit being +str to damage, which you can get with a comp bow anyway. And then you're taking a -2 to str in the first place for being a halfling.
It can be cool, but you've got some hurdles to get over, and the requisite feats for making a sling equal to a bow means it's tough to do it without fighter.
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One option is that you could basically do any archer build, but with a sling. Less optimized, but probably still playable. Here are a few builds. Note I haven't thought super hard about these, just off the top of my head:
Halfling "archer" bard
1: (Warslinger), point blank shot
3: Precise shot
5: Rapid shot
Takes you a little while to get all the ranged feats, but you've got lots of other tricks. Less good than the archer bard, but still plenty effective, and fun!
Halfling switch-hitter ranger (or whatever archetype suits your fancy)
1: Power attack
2: Rapid shot (ranger)
3: Deadly aim
In business at level 3, use the sling staff to switch hit, wield it 2-handed w/ power attack in melee, rapid shot + deadly aim at range.
Rogue Scout Archetype
1: Bludgeoner
2: Weapon Finesse (from Rogue talent)
3: Sap Adept
4: Scout's Charge ability, Point Blank Shot (from Rogue Talent)
5: Sap Master
6: Surprise Attack (Rogue Talent)
7: Precise Shot
8: Skirmisher ability
If you're not familiar with sap adept and sap master, read up! Crazy damage, but require a flat-footed opponent. Not denied dex, not flanked, flat-footed. In comes the Scout archetype with it's ability to make people flat-footed!
At low levels, you try and flank, get some sneak attack, and mainly stay out of harms way. Sap adept works on all non-lethal sneak attacks, so at level 3, that helps a little Once you hit level 5, you can use the scout's charge to make enemies flat-footed and hit them with huge amounts of non-lethal sneak attack damage with sap master (this is why you took weapon finesse). At level 6, you can sap master from range every time you get a surprise round, even if you lose initiative thanks to surprise attack, then follow up with a Scout's Charge. At level 8 you get skirmisher, which turns you into a killing machine. Move 10', shoot a sling bullet, deal 8d6+16 sneak attack, rinse, repeat. Not bad at level 8 using a sub-optimal weapon with a (in many people's opinion, let's not get into that here) a sub-optimal class!
If you're starting at higher level, you could of course skip weapon finesse, but if you're starting from level 1, it seems like it would make the first 7 levels much less painful.
(Note, you can of course make a melee version of this build as well, which let's you use the Enforcer feat, and eventually skirmisher + spring attack is totally rad. Maybe be a half-elf to get weapon proficiency in the earth breaker or lucerne hammer or some other ridiculous bludgeoning weaponm or just use a regular old club, and be human for the extra feat... but then you're not using a sling)
On a side note, do Sling Staffs count as slings for feats that modify slings? I don't think they do, but I just wanna be sure.
As a child of third edition D&D, Pathfinder is distinctly uncareful with its terminology on things like this. The closest thing it has to weapon classifications is the fighter weapon groups, which lump slings in with thrown weapons, so that's not helpful here. There are clearly some feats (Sliding Axe, for example), where it HAS to be referring to a group of weapons, because there's no weapon just called "axe", and I guess it's up the DM to decide what to count as an axe. (Although that is a fighter weapon group.) Whip-Slinger lists out several slings it works with. Sling Flail does not. Arc Slinger lists two of the slings as working. Ammo Drop and Juggle Load also list two, and they're a different two from Arc Slinger, and if you read them literally, there's no way to reduce the load time of a sling staff. Large Target says "all kinds of slings". The warslinger racial ability says "a sling".
So in short, by RAW, sling staffs probably only work with feats that say so, or that say "all kinds of slings", but it's very easy to believe that it's just sloppy writing. Even the rules themselves just say "a sling" in terms of what you're allowed to add your strength bonus to, and it's probably not intended for a sling staff to be different.
As a DM, I'd make every kind of sling count as every kind of sling for everything, and just chalk it up to RAI, but you probably do want to check.
I like this build because the double sling can do rapid shot and Two Weapon at the same time.
Halfling Divine Hunter Paladin 4/ Weapon master fighter 4 (in that order)
10
18+2level
12
10
7
18
1 War slinger, precise shot, pointblank Shot
3 Rapid shot
4 Oath of Vengeance for more smites, +1 to Dex bonus to dex
5 Two Weapon Fighting Weapon Focus: Double Sling
6 Improved Two Weapon Fighting
7 Weapon Training +1, Deadly Aim
8 Weapon Specialization, Sling Flail
At this point, you are looking at +10/+10/+10/+5/+5 for d3+8 without any magic or smiting. Smiting gives all attacks +4 to hit and damage.
The main thing is that the Double Sling is fantastic and can get even more shots off than a bow can, excepting the monk archers...
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I've thought the same thing about a Halfling sling master, wanting to make a cool build out of it. The problem is that the sling starts below a bow as an optimal ranged weapon, the only benefit being +str to damage, which you can get with a comp bow anyway. And then you're taking a -2 to str in the first place for being a halfling.
It can be cool, but you've got some hurdles to get over, and the requisite feats for making a sling equal to a bow means it's tough to do it without fighter.
There are hidden benefits your potentially missing here. Firstly, -2 strength is -1 damage, lower weapon damage dice is another -1.
Taking the feat Large Target means your only 1 point below the archer on damage VS medium archers. Fighting large creatures your tied and anything bigger your actually getting more damage. This is on top of already being at +1 to all attacks over an archer, assuming equal dexterity, and 2 points of AC, assuming you take Underfoot.
The other benefit i've already mentioned- you already threaten adjacent squares with your sling staff in hand, acting as a club. Its a bad base weapon damage (1d4) but you get to use it two handed and your enchants on it work for both melee and ranged combat.
One final benefit; you can happily drink a bulls strength, have it cast on you etc. and your higher strength bonus works right off the bat, without fussing over having seperate bows for different situations. the same is true for if you have your strength drained; your not suddenly too weak to use your ranged weapon properly...
I have a level 4 PbP ranger (Guide) here, Halfling Sling Staffer, thats doing very well, although I won't showcase him because hes undergeared (4th level and doesn't have a masterwork sling staff lol).
Currently playing a Halfling Urban Ranger/Guide and I've settled on using the Staff Sling as my go to weapon.
I'm currently level 1, but once my group can ever meet up again and I get a good night's sleep, I'll be level 2.
Biggest advantages to Ranger are you get the Ranged Weapon bonus feat progression, a full BAB progression, and you can use all martial weapons. Since the exotic weapon "Halfling Staff Sling" is a martial weapon for a halfling, you can use it without burning any additional feats.
At level two I can take precise shot and avoid the -4 penalty of firing at range into melee.
Full BAB will help, not only with hitting BBEG, but also with CMB and CMD and offsets the size penalty halflings get.
I chose the staff sling, because it can be made to look like a walking stick, i.e. not a weapon. Keep a small ammo pouch with you and you're fully armed at all times, without looking like you're fully armed.
Staff sling also does 1d6 ranged damage, which is about as good as you can get for a small sized character. It doubles as a melee weapon that does 1d4, which also isn't bad for a small sized character.
I went with Guide because of Ranger's Focus. Instead of having favored enemies, you get a +2 to hit and damage, when you use this ability. It does up to +4 at level 5 and ends up at +10 by level 20. You get an additional use per day at 4th level and it goes up to 7x per day at 20th level, so you I figured it'd be a nice boost to damage eventually.
I think a character that does ranged sneak attack damage would be able to do more damage at some point, but you can't always get sneak attack damage consistently.
A staff sling has a range of 80 feet. That's the same as a light crossbow. I don't think it's a big enough drop off in range, versus a long bow to really make much of a difference in how you play the character.
Probably one of the most effective builds is going to be a halfling ranger with a sling staff following Lastoth's Archer Ranger Guide
The maneuverability of a mounted archer (slinger) is just so good! Full attack while moving!? Sign me up!
A somewhat silly and abusive method- Take at least 2 levels of juggler bard so that you can TWF your sling based archery build.
Juggler switches out the versatile performance ability in order to allow you to wield three items at a time and still have a free hand (the number increases later, but that is enough for our purposes)
So that means 2 slings, 1 piece of ammo, and you can still cast spells. And you look ultra flashy while doing it.
There- now you are getting a ton of attacks as you take TWF and archery feats. While you can switch out after level 2, bard is not exactly a bad chassis for this- inspire courage, arcane strike, and buff spells give you more than enough static bonuses on each hit to justify it.
Anyway, here are some example stats for 20 point buy (post racials):
STR: 14 DEX: 16 CON: 14 INT: 10 WIS: 8 CHA: 14
twf????
The common abbreviation of two weapon fighting
I like the Warpriest for slings. Damage will be good due to sacred Weapon. And you can get Air and Destruction Blessings for no range penealties and super damage.
So, I was looking at Halflings of Golarion, and I thought the info they included on halflings and slings was pretty awesome. So my question is, what is the best way to make a halfling who is dedicated to the sling mechanically. It could be just a non-caster build, but I thought a few of the sacred keepsakes were pretty neat too.
So, I know the first step is to take the Warslinger trait from the Advanced Player's Guide. Where do I go from there?
On a side note, do Sling Staffs count as slings for feats that modify slings? I don't think they do, but I just wanna be sure.
Warslinger works only with THE sling not other slings.
Most feats likewise will only work with the sling. Silly but true.If you want to use the warslinger trait ask your GM whether he is willing to make a sensible house-rule. Else you have to stick with the sling.
Warpriest is good for increasing the damage.
Instead of taking the sling flail feat you can use armor spikes or imp. unarmed strikes.
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Oterisk I think you need to go back and look at that build you posted because you said a divine hunter paladin level 4/ weapon master level 4 but you have at level 4 your character getting oath of vengeance? Does oath of vengeance mean if you hit level 4 as a paladin no matter what arch type you have or as a level 4 oath of vengeance paladin whose been one since level 1?
The sling is technically a viable choice for the Startoss Style feat. There may be some room for DM interpretation on Startoss Comet/Startoss Shower, though, as while sling is in the thrown weapons group, it's usually considered a ranged weapon rather than a thrown weapon. If the DM decides it's legit, you can get a fun pseudo-cleave.
There's also Slipslinger Style if you're interested in flinging alchemical items. It doesn't work with alchemist bombs, though it might apply the +Int to damage from the alchemist Throw Anything class feature if you go that route. The Grenadier archetypes Alchemical Weapon might also apply, letting you double-dip.
If you go fighter, you could take advantage of Focused Weapon to boost your sling damage die without needing to actually be a warpriest, and possibly Trained Throw to boost your static weapon training damage (making Gloves of Dueling even more fun).
You could also go with the Myrmidarch or Eldritch Archer magus archetypes and have fun flinging magical rocks at people.