So, I was joking with a friend of mine that I've never been in a D&D/Pathfinder game passed 5th level. He's talking about running a Pathfinder game some time. It got me thinking about working through classes only to 5th level. Either combat or Magic. So, Fighter/Rogue/Ranger/Paladi or Wizard/Sorcerer/Cleric/Druid as just two examples.
Is there a way to make this work for you and what class order would you go with?
Thank you for any input.
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Combat oriented high BAB classes would be capable of such feat much easier than casters that would be deadly inefficient by such multiclassing.
One interesting combination would Barbarian/Alchemist/Fighter/Ranger - mutagen and rage stacks for a +8 bonus to Strength.
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I've never played into high level games, but I can tell you that at earlier levels it's certainly possible to mix melee classes almost interchangeably. Optimizers may balk (and they have a point; it's not optimal)... but it can work.
Things like a few levels of Fighter, a few levels of Barbarian, a few levels of Ranger give you a melee combatant who is unusually fast and hard hitting while also able to Track and do other 'skill monkey' tasks, for example. As a bonus, such a character could now start using Cure Light Wounds wands (I believe) since it's on their spell list even if they don't have caster levels yet. Someone double-check me on that; I've always seen groups play it that way, but for all I know it could be a widespread error.
I have no specific advice, but I can at least broadly tell you that what you want to do is both plausible and viable. Not optimal, but it should suffice in most groups.
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So, I was joking with a friend of mine that I've never been in a D&D/Pathfinder game passed 5th level. He's talking about running a Pathfinder game some time. It got me thinking about working through classes only to 5th level. Either combat or Magic. So, Fighter/Rogue/Ranger/Paladi or Wizard/Sorcerer/Cleric/Druid as just two examples.
Is there a way to make this work for you and what class order would you go with?
Thank you for any input.
To make this work, you'd want to focus yourself on classes that use the same ability scores. For example, you could put together a very useful build using Paladin/Sorcerer/Oracle/Bard, since they all rely on Charisma as a main focus. Another good one would be Druid/Monk/Cleric/Inquisitor. Let's see what we can come up with here:
Human Paladin 1: Smite evil 1/day, choose Power Attack and Toughness as feats
Paladin 2: Gain Cha mod to saves, Lay on Hands
Sorcerer (Crossblooded [Brutal/Karmic]) 1: Gives you claws, a cool debuff called Fate's Retribution, and two bloodline arcana that can be very useful, the Brutal one giving you an extra 2 hit point of damage on a damaging spell, and the Karmic one letting you gain an attack of opportunity on an opponent when you fail a concentration check to cast a spell. For your feat, choose Sorcerous Bloodstrike to make the most of those bloodline powers.
Oracle (Battle) 1: Choose Iron Skin as your revelation to get DR 10/adamantine for 10 minutes per day. Your oracle's curse should be Lame, since you'll want to wear heavy armor anyway.
Bard (Arcane Duelist) 1: You get Arcane Strike as a bonus feat, giving you an extra +1 to damage, and you can use Inspire Courage to give you and your allies an additional +1 to attack and damage. Your feat at this level should be Lingering Performance.
So, at 5th level, you've still only got a BAB of +2, which is painful, but you have a ton of nifty abilities to make your attacks stronger and to make them hit (such as True Strike from your sorcerer level) and you can use Iron Skin for 10 minutes per day!
Obviously not optimized, but it would work!
I call this build "The Beast in the Mist"
Cavalier (Gendarme) 1/Fighter (Lore Warden) 1/Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1/Barbarian (Raging Drunk) 1/Ranger (Trapper, Guide) 1/Oracle (Waves) 1/Bard (Dawnflower Dervish) 1/Dragon Disciple 1/Gunslinger 1
That'll get you to 9th level. You'll have 5 BAB, but a whole MESS of tricks up your sleeve.
With a whole mess of tricks up, you can do:
3d6+25 (enlarge person, mutagen, rage, dawnflower dervish dance, power attack, +2 lucerne hammer, 18 starting Str and +2 from levels)
On top of that, you can drop Obscuring Mist and use the revelation from Oracle of Waves that lets you see in Mist. With your reach, you'll have full concealment and thus sneak attack, adding another 1d6 damage, as well as making it easier to hit and yourself harder to hit.
Feats: Power Attack (from gendarme), weapon focus (from fighter), Extra Rage, Combat Reflexes, Furious Focus, Extra Performance....and whatever else works (I'm too lazy to figure out the rest of the optimization here)
You have perception as a class skill as well as trapfinding.
Once per day, you get +2 to hit and +2 damage vs. a target.
Drink potions as a move action, and you can brew your own Enlarge Person potions from your alchemist level. Nice.
Cavalier's challenge? Sure, why not.
Natural Armor bonus from Dragon Disciple, access to Shield, and some other nice little spells can help out, too. Plus you don't lose much by going with heavy armor.
It's actually not too bad as a fairly heavy damage battlefield controlly kind of build. You can really clog things up with Obscuring Mist, Enlarge Person, and your Lucerne Hammer. Your attack bonus ends up being nice when buffed up, probably about +20 or so fairly easily.
Certainly workable. If your group is able/willing to take an hour or so after certain fights, you can also use your Mutagen fairly liberally. And since you get most of your attacks on AoOs, it's not a huge issue to use your turn for buffing while standing there waiting to beat things down.
Edit: For a 5th level build, I'd go with Cavalier (Gendarme)/Fighter (Lore Warden)/Alchemist (Vivisectionist)/Barbarian (Raging Drunk)/Ranger (Trapper, Guide). You'll get +4 BAB (second tick on Power Attack is big) and be able to do your Hulk out style thing perfectly well.
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A while ago I tried to write out a character that would have the most feats possible. Low levels in many classes were required and the build, while not optimized, was a workable melee trip specialist. At level 20 he would have +14 BAB (+16 with FoB), Fort +19, Ref +17, Will +14 (not counting Divine Grace). All together he has 29 feats (or 30 if human or half-elf), though many of them are determined by the class and archetype. I'm sure others could tweak the feat selection a bit and come up with better feats or other workable builds. I won't bother to list all of the class features he'd have, that would take up a crazy amount of space, and the reasons for each archetype is to give more feats that might actually be useful in such an outlandish build.
Level 1: Monk 1 (Weapon Adept); Imp. Unarmed Strike, Perfect Strike, Dodge, Combat Expertise; add another feat if he's human
Level 2: Ranger 1
Level 3: Fighter 1 (Unarmed Fighter); Endurence, Die Hard, Crane Style, Improved Trip; monk exotic weapons
Level 4: Paladin 1
Level 5: Paladin 2; Combat Reflexes
Level 6: Fighter 2; Ki Throw
Level 7: Rogue 1 (Swashbuckler); Skill Focus: Survival (this would come at level 1 if a half-elf, you could replace it with whatever you like)
Level 8: Monk 2; Weapon Focus: 9 section whip
Level 9: Monk 3; Greater Trip
Level 10: Rogue 2; Lunge
Level 11: Ranger 2; Power Attack (2-hander style)
Level 12: Cleric 1 (Crusader); Imp. Critical
Level 13: Monk 4; Eldritch Heritage (orc)
Level 14: Bard 1 (Arcane Duelist); Arcane Strike
Level 15: Rogue 3; Imp. Eldritch Heritage (orc)
Level 16: Rogue 4; Stand Still
Level 17: Monk 5; Greater Eldritch Heritage (orc)
Level 18: Monk 6; Weapon Specialization, Mobility
Level 19: Bard 2; Combat Casting, Vicious Stomp
Level 20: Alchemist 1; Brew Potion, Throw Anything
So in the end he's Monk 7/Fighter 2/Ranger 2/Cleric 1/Bard 2/Paladin 2/Rogue 4/Alchemist 1. Although this isn't exactly what the OP was looking for, at low levels the build remains true to the many, many classes theme, not exceeding level 3 in any class until 13th level. If you moved the Alchemist level sooner than 20th, you can enjoy the Mutagen for a while, but I'll leave that to anyone crazy enough to actually play this build. I should also add that if a couple of the feats are out of place, I apologize -- my notes are all over the place with this craziness.
Here's my Attempt:
7 classes
Human
Ranger (Guide) 1: +1d6 once/day
Ranger 2: Combat Style Feat
Fighter 1: Bonus Combat Feat
Fighter 2: Bonus Combat Feat
Paladin 1: Smite Evil, Detect Evil
Paladin 2: Divine Grace, Lay On Hands
Paladin 3: Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Mercy
Paladin 4: Channel Energy, Smite evil 2/day
Sorcerer (Draconic) 1: Eschew Materials, spells, claws, arcana
Dragon Disciple 1: Blood of Dragons, Nat Armor +1
Dragon Disciple 2: +2 Str, bloodline Feat, Bite
Dragon Disciple 3: Breath Weapon
Dragon Disciple 4: Str+2, Nat Armor +1
Holy Vindicator 1: Channel Energy, Vindicator's shield
Holy Vindicator 2: Stigmata
Holy vindicator 3: Faith Healing
Holy Vindicator 4: Divine Wrath
Mystic Theurge 1: Combined Spells (1st)
Mystic Theurge 2:
Paladin 5
BAB: 2+2+4+1+3+4+1 = +17
Saves: 15 Fort, 6 Reflex, 11 Will (someone check my math please) + Divine Grace
Sorcerer Caster Level: 6 (Cast Haste!), Sorcerer Bloodline power level: 5 (use a robe of eldritch heritage to gain access to the lv9 stuff)
Paladin Caster Level: 10 (effective CL 7, Lv3 Spells)
did i munchkin this topic to death?
I hope not ;). I just don't really know enough to chime in, hence why I asked in the first place. Looking at some of the Druid/Cavalier/Summoner stuff today also made the think you could get a silly number of companions as well. It's all a bit crazy but entertaining none the less.
So, dose wild shape negate other class abilities?
So say with a Druid/Barbarian/Ranger, wild shape into medium animal (+2 str/+2 AC), Rage (+4 str/con), Form of Bear (+4 str), and still move at +10?
To my knowledge that build isn't rules-legal. I believe you can't pick up a second prestige class until you've finished the one you're in.
that restriction does not exist in PF