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First off, this will probably get booted to the advice forums.
Second, and more to the point, I think you'll run into a lot of problems with this build. You will have a low armor class, not many hit points, but be a front line melee type. That gets you killed. Second, i'm not seeing any real damage here. Kirin strike helps, but they penalty to str is going to drop your damage badly. Speaking of str, you'll have no carrying capacity, and str damage attacks are fairly common in PFS.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm seeing a low damage, low health, low AC combo, without any huge upsides.
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My guess is that he/she has no real interest in doing any damage, it's going to be purely a grapple monkey.
If so, why Kirin Strike (+2xINT mod on a creature you've ID'd with a knowledge check once per round), and Pirhana strike (power attack for dex based)? If he wanted to be a grapple monkey, I'd expect, you know, Improved Grapple, etc.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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So I have been mulling one over and I think I have something decent. The problem is I mid max really hard.
I have several ability score race combos
note human has favorite class for monk and witch, elf has neither
I'm going to add 1 health every lvl for humanHuman (1)___Human (2)___elf (1)___elf(2)____elf(3)
str 7_______str 9_______str 09____str 07____str 10
dex 16______dex 16______dex 16____dex 18____dex 16
con 13______con 13______con 12____con 12____con 12
int 19______int 19______int 19____int 19____int 19
wis 12______wis 10______wis 12____wis 10____wis 11
cha 7_______cha 7_______cha 07____cha 09____cha 07
I'm mostly concerned with having 2 sevens.First I do a 2 lvl dip into Monk (many styles) Then I think the rest into white haired witch
monk 1
feats - (M)Kirin Style, weapon finesse, (H)Toughness
Stunning Fist
monk 2
feats - (M)kirin strike
evasion
WHW(1)3
feats - weapon prof hair
patron- not sure
WHW(2)4
constrict
WHW(3)5
feats - Piranha Strike
trip
WHW(4)6
+5 ft range (hair)two other feats I'm thinking about is combat reflexes and improved grapple.
So What do you all think. Am I heading the wrong direction here? Also what ability scores would you recommend?
Thanks for reading! =D
Why are you paying a feat for Weapon Proficiency (hair)? AFAIK, you're always considered proficient with any natural attack you possess, and that is a natural attack.
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Yeah, now that it has been moved I'll respond.
What this is is a build that lacks understand of how the white haired witch works and how it's going to interact with the Kirin Style.
First let's clarify a few things.
1. There is an errata on the WHW abilities, they are no longer free actions and have been switched to swift actions.
2. The WHW only uses their Int bonus for damage not for attack which still uses your strength (or dex with a feat) as your attack bonus. And since you are mostly playing a witch you have the lowest BaB and Str bonus you can find so you will VERY rarely hit in melee. (combat maneuvers are different but we'll discuss that later)
3. Kirin Style requires a swift action to use but so does ALL the WHW's abilities. You only get 1 swift action a round. Ick.
4. The grab ability this grants still goes off your CMB bonus and since you are a 1/2 BaB class that bonus is going to be LOWWWW.
5. The grab ability this archetype grants will constantly bring whatever you successfully attack into your adjacent square and allow them to full attack your D6 HD, no armor wearing squishy self for almost instant kills on you every time you (rarely) succeed in grappling them.
Actually we don't need to go any further. This combo will fail constantly at it's chosen trick and will spend the majority of it's time either dead, dying or frustrated.
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Sorry I had to run off for a sec.
I guess the idea is to hit with weapon finnese. So thats with my dex modifier.
As for dmg, Kirin strike allows me to hit with my hair for 1D6 + 10. If i wanted to grapple I would just do 1D4 + 5 and then grapple with a decent cmb.Ac is handled with mage armor
so
+3 dex
+4 mage armor
+1 If i get 12 wisAt lvl 4-5ish I should get a dex belt- so thats 19 ac
So my ac wont be that terrible
If im a human with toughness i start with 13 and then get 7 hp for second lvl and 6 thereafter.At six is when things would get a lot easier, where I would get reach.
This build isn't supposed to be optimized, I'm just hoping I wont die before lvl 4
Let's clarify that a bit more for you.
Kirin Strike allows you to add twice your int bonus to damage as a SWIFT action AFTER you hit and AFTER you have used Kirin Style to identify the target which requires ANOTHER swift action.So you have to spend the first round of combat burning your single swift action to identify the creature with a knowledge check then the next round you can attempt to hit but you'll have a VERY low hit chance (you have a terrible bab and only a +3 from stats).
Now if you do hit (and we'll assume you use your hair for this attack) you will then have to choose between using Kirin Strike or doing the grapple the hair allows, you can't do both.
If you kirin strike you do 1D4+10=avg 12 and you're done since you will only ever get 1 hair attack per round.
If you grapple you make a CMB check (bab +5 vs. opponents 10 +dex +str +bab) which you will probably fail but if you don't fail you grapple the opponent and pull him adjacent to you opening yourself up to a full attack from that opponent as soon as their turn comes.
Don't forget if you decide to make an attack with ANYTHING other then your hair that round you get a -5 to hit (and CMB checks) and your int bonus to damage is halved. so you're even less likely to succeed and if you do you don't hurt anyone.
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I'm aware of the one swift action problem.
also when I grapple with my hair, I exchange my str for int so its
int + dex + bab which should be reasonable.I guess I'm wondering if there's any way to make this class at least workable.
No your CMB is based on JUST your BaB + Str Bonus (unless you take the agile maneuvers feat in which case it's Bab + Dex instead).
your CMD score is Bab +str bonus + Dex Bonus +10, which makes it really hard for a non full bab class to succeed on combat maneuvers.Now with that said I'll give you some more advise, the WHW is a dip class for a full bab character (or monk with feral combat training) and you never go more than 2 levels into it, and even then ONLY if you intend to play a grappling natural weapon melee'er.
You give up WAY too much to go very far in the class and it is so poorly written if you don't build it exactly perfectly it blows up in your face.
Best build so far is Half-Orc WHW 2/Ranger (nat wep style) 2/Barbarian X.
This gives you a fist full of primary natural attacks that can all be used while your target is grappled and leaves your swift actions open for grapple/trip actions.
It comes together a bit slow (weakish until 4th but after that it's brutal) but is effective if you live that long.
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Never go more than 2 levels of WHW, any more and it kills your Bab. Take Lunge and get your reach that way plus it affects all your attacks not just one.
You actually play as Dex/Con and only put your int at 11, but pick up an Amulet of Mighty Fists (Agile) so you use your Dex for everything combat related and push that stat through the roof. Once you've gotten that then you take levels in urban barbarian (so you can apply your Rage bonus to Dex instead of strength, more natural attacks, awesome rage powers) or Alchemist (mutagen to Dex, better buff spells and even MORE primary natural attacks).
The main goal is to keep your attack bonus and Dexterity as high as possible so you ALWAYS hit and inflict massive damage with as many attacks as possible. If you do it correctly you can have (by 12th level) 7 or more attacks a round with ALL of them at +20 or more to hit. And since you are focused all around dex now (no MAD for you) you will have a super high AC, Attack Bonus, Reflex Save, and Damage bonus.
As for the natural weapon ranger I currently play one in PFS, mine is... Feared by everyone who sees him go. when built correctly they are awesome to see in action.
PS. Some will recommend taking the magical knack trait and applying it to your Witch levels so you count as a 4th level witch for spells and SU abilities. This varies depending on whether your GM allows it to work with the SU abilities.
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Thanks for the advice I'm really looking forward to piece this character together.
All though I have one question, why would int be at 1. Wouldn't I want it at least 12 for the bonus spell?
Entirely up to you, we only set at 11 so you have the ability to cast arcane spells from scrolls. You'll probably NEVER cast one from memory since you'll be in medium armor most of the time (that arcane spell failure is a monster).