|
Hello,
I just a few months ago started playing pathfinder and found it to be great fun. In this short time, I have gotten into home brewed campaigns and organized play. It's the newest home brew campaign that i'm having trouble creating a character for. What I know about the campaign this far is that the party is lacking a trap finder / close up melee bruiser and so I thought I would build one to join them. That's were I need help. We have access to only the stuff found in the prd. So I was thinking of making a Ninja, a Rogue or (ninja or rogue)/shadowdancer hybrid.
may be helpful info:
level 9
32 point buy
(No gold or gear as that will be worked out with GM before first game.
However, Ideas on what gear would be best is greatly appreciated.)
Thank you in advance for any and all help.
|
If you want a trap finder, you'll probably want to stick with Rogues - ninjas get some cool ki abilities and such, but trade out most of their bonuses against traps. Then again, if you have a high dex and keep perception and disable device maxed out, you'll probably be fine.
Take a look at Rogue Eidolon's "bruiser" profile - seems like the type of thing you're looking for. http://bit.ly/ACuOTJ
I'll second what RtF suggested in that if traps are of primary concern, it may be best to stick to rogue. I also agree that in most cases, maxing perception and disable device goes a long way so the trapfinding feature isn't absolutely mandatory unless you'll be facing very deadly and frequent traps.
One thing I will add though is that Shadowdancer has some nice synergy with the pressure points ninja trick and with the crippling strike advanced rogue talent. Either is available to a rogue or a ninja. Stacking your own strength damage onto your sneak attacks in combination with your flank buddy shadow's strength drain can add up quite rapidly and can be quite debilitating to your foes.
One thing to note though is that Shadowdancer is quite front loaded with the benefits it gives you. I'd suggest going 3 levels in to get the shadow companion, then going back to rogue or ninja to keep your sneak attack climbing. Sticking with the prestige class is fine too though.
Also, the Scout rogue archetype dovetails well with Shadowdancer, since you'll give up uncanny dodge for scout's charge (which is a nice ability in its own right), but you can get UD back through Shadowdancer. It might even work better with ninja simply because the ninja ordinarily also loses the evasion feature that rogues get, which is also recouped via Shadowdancer.
If you want trapfinding you could take a level in Ranger Trapper alternate class feature or two levels of the Bard Detective alternate class would also give you trapfinding.
If you go ninja I recommend taking a level in Ranger Trapper to be able to disable magical traps, then stick with it till level 10 to get Invisible Blade ninja talent.
You could also mix it up with Hungry Ghost Monk alternate class features if you plan on getting to higher levels (16ish) so you can get back Ki when you critical or kill a opponent, this is in addition to getting evasion and other fun things or being able to use your WIS for your Ki instead of CHA. You could also trade out other monk features on top of hungry Ghost Monk with Alternate Class features such as the Master of Many Styles or Qinggong.
If you want to be both a front liner and a trapsmith, ninja is definately not the way to go, and rogue probably isnt. Rogues make pretty attrocious front liners, they are better in a skirmisher role. Ofcourse you can just take a single level in rogue for trap finding and then take 8 levels in a good front liner class mixing with fighter, or barbarian, which should hold up pretty well.
|
|
These are some great points and some of the stuff mentioned is why I didn't just build pure ninja or rogue (yet).
As MTCityHunter mentioned, "The Shadowdancer has some nice synergy with the pressure points ninja trick and with the crippling strike advanced rogue talent. Either is available to a rogue or a ninja. Stacking your own strength damage onto your sneak attacks in combination with your flank buddy shadow's strength drain can add up quite rapidly and can be quite debilitating to your foes."
the shadowdancer just seems to fit with these two classes.
Would the Summon Shadow (Su) ability mean I have the Bestiary 1 shadow?
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/shadow.html#_shadow
or at lest a version of it?
|
|
If you want to be both a front liner and a trapsmith, ninja is definately not the way to go, and rogue probably isnt. Rogues make pretty attrocious front liners, they are better in a skirmisher role. Ofcourse you can just take a single level in rogue for trap finding and then take 8 levels in a good front liner class mixing with fighter, or barbarian, which should hold up pretty well.
I probably wouldn't be the first line but, I would plan to be close. That is however, something I should think about too.
Would the Summon Shadow (Su) ability mean I have the Bestiary 1 shadow?
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/shadow.html#_shadow
or at lest a version of it?
You have a version of it, the differences being what is mention in the ability
Summon Shadow
At 3rd level, a shadowdancer can summon a shadow, an undead shade. Unlike a normal shadow, this shadow's alignment matches that of the shadowdancer, and the creature cannot create spawn. The summoned shadow receives a +4 bonus on Will saves made to halve the damage from positive channeled energy and the shadow cannot be turned or commanded. This shadow serves as a companion to the shadowdancer and can communicate intelligibly with the shadowdancer. This shadow has a number of hit points equal to half the shadowdancer's total. The shadow uses the shadowdancer's base attack bonus and base save bonuses.
If a shadow companion is destroyed, or the shadowdancer chooses to dismiss it, the shadowdancer must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude save. If the saving throw fails, the shadowdancer gains one permanent negative level. A successful saving throw avoids this negative level. A destroyed or dismissed shadow companion cannot be replaced for 30 days.