I'm starting a new campaign with a new DM (Lv 1, 32 point buy) and he told us that there will be "lots of combat."
This kind of threw me. I usually come up with cool class ideas or character concepts and then try and go from there. Does anyone have a cool/crazy/interesting combat-based concept or build they've always wanted to do or have done and saw someone do? Thanks!
With 32 pb some of the more MAD builds become viable. Any concepts you ever wanted to try but figured you'd need a high score in at least 3to or more stats to make it work? Here's your chance!
You could make one hefty Monk with 32pt buy!
Personally, I would confirm whether the point buy method is of the 3.5 or Pathfinder variety before I got all excited.
While you might get some good advice here, OP, I would just search the Advice threads for "X build," with "X" being a class you were interested in. There are a ton of inspirational builds in the archives. Not to give you homework - you're just more likely to get a larger pool of information that way.
I tend to be leery of new campaigns with that disclaimer.. Sounds like you are going into a low RP high hackmaster game.
Pick your gaming style and try to find a GM to go with it.
If you like concept over hack and slash you might be misplacing yourself in this game.
Want an idea? one fun one is to build a mobile fighter goblin. get roll with it and monkey style (you only need the first one) and just roll all over the place! makes you largely immune to melee damage, prone for ranged defense, and just really fun with all the mobility.
just a fun idea ive had in the past.
Kensai becomes very effective at 32 point buy. With an elf if ypu don't mind dumping Cha to 7 you can have an Int of 20, a dex of 18, a Con of 12 and a Str of 13. This allows 2 level 1 spells right off the bat and an AC of 16 at level 1 (+4 from Dex, +1 from Int and +1 from a Haramaki) which will increase by 1 every level up to 5. The Str of 13 will allow power attack, but going for dervish dance with a scimitar would be the way to go. You can go for a human instead to get another feat, by rearranging the points to have a 17 Dex, that will let you take weapon finesse and power attack first level, at the expense of 1 AC.
Recently made this Lore Warden and am having an absolute blast with him... all kinds of really interesting things you can do in the battlefield, lots of tricks you can pull if you're smart about it.
Human Fighter (Lore Warden)
Attributes: (32 point buy)
STR - 16 (+2 racial bonus, +1 at 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th level)
DEX - 16
CON - 14
INT - 14
WIS - 12
CHA - 10
Traits:
Heirloom Weapon
Freed Slave
Feats:
Human - Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Fauchard
1st - Power Attack
1st - Dodge
2nd - Cleave
2nd - Combat Expertise
3rd - Mobility
4th - Spring Attack
[Retrain Cleave to Whirlwind Attack]
5th - Combat Reflexes
6th - Lunge
7th - Improved Trip
8th - Improved Critical: Fauchard
9th - Tripping Strike
10th - Weapon Focus: Fauchard
11th - Greater Weapon Focus: Fauchard
12th - Critical Focus
13th - Staggering Critical
14th - Greater Trip
15th - Furious Focus
16th - Sickening Critical
17th - Stunning Critical
18th - Critical Mastery
19th - Weapon Specialization: Fauchard
20th - Greater Weapon Specialization: Fauchard
At 6th level, around the time some melee types are getting their first iterative attack, you can attack 42 of 64 squares in an 8x8 block all in a single round at your full BAB. That's a LOT of critical chances going off there... and once you're done, you still have 4 attacks of opportunity for anyone who thinks to close with you. In the middle to high levels you're popping off crits on a roll of 15+ and whenever you do, your target 1) takes double damage, 2) is Sickened, 3) has to save (at -2 due to being Sickened) or either be Staggered or Stunned, 4) is subject to an automatic Trip attack with a VERY high modifier which, if successful, then exposes him to an extra attack when he goes down and another one when he tries to get up.
Like I said, the character is a blast to play. Spring Attack with a lunging reach weapon alone is good for tons of fun.
While you might get some good advice here, OP, I would just search the Advice threads for "X build," with "X" being a class you were interested in. There are a ton of inspirational builds in the archives. Not to give you homework - you're just more likely to get a larger pool of information that way.
I, uh, love homework, haha. At least when it's PF homework. But I was wondering what ideas people had.
And I love lots of classes. Too many, really. It becomes kind of overwhelming. I was just wondering what people had kicking around in their heads.
I tend to be leery of new campaigns with that disclaimer.. Sounds like you are going into a low RP high hackmaster game.Pick your gaming style and try to find a GM to go with it.
If you like concept over hack and slash you might be misplacing yourself in this game.
No choice. The current work schedule of myself and my friends prevents much of the normal group from playing. A friend of a friend invited me to the game and I've been jonesing super had for rp. And I always like seeing other DMs, since I normally run the games. But, man, is it fun to PC too.
Want an idea? one fun one is to build a mobile fighter goblin. get roll with it and monkey style (you only need the first one) and just roll all over the place! makes you largely immune to melee damage, prone for ranged defense, and just really fun with all the mobility.
just a fun idea ive had in the past.
I actually really really like playing gobinoids. Goblin alchemist, goblin ninja, goblin gunslinger. I've played a few. (As well as my namesake) Unfortunately, this DM is only allowing core races, which I'm totally okay with.
If you think it will be lots of humanoid type combat, I'd go with a lore warden or monk tripping and disarming build.
If you think it will be more monsters that tend to not be vulnerable to that, then I would probably consider a dragon disciple build.
btw: take half-orc put the +2 in dex, as short and thin as the race chart allows, and set your other abilities up and down to look like the stats a goblin could have. Say you are pretty sure your father was a goblin not an orc, no matter what everyone else says. Then play him like a goblin.
If you think it will be lots of humanoid type combat, I'd go with a lore warden or monk tripping and disarming build.
If you think it will be more monsters that tend to not be vulnerable to that, then I would probably consider a dragon disciple build.
btw: take half-orc put the +2 in dex, as short and thin as the race chart allows, and set your other abilities up and down to look like the stats a goblin could have. Say you are pretty sure your father was a goblin not an orc, no matter what everyone else says. Then play him like a goblin.
Heck yeah, tripping fighters are awesome.
I've never played a dragon disciple! I always wanted to as a kid. I might try to flavor swap it now, say I'm a lovecraftian cosmic horror or something. Why are they better/best for monsters? I was actually just glancing at a guide for them... I'd be interested in what else you'd have to say about them
Haha short orc, that's brilliant! :D
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i say pick your role in the group first. what do you want to do? large ammounts of combat means the party would love extra healing. if you are worried about back to back combats maybe an arcane caster may not be a good choice.
self sufficent characters like paladins and druids are great to have in high combat campaigns, but i would shy away from things with low AC and HP like rogues and monks, even though i love monks.
if i were playing in a game with a disclamer like that, i would choose to play a cleric/oricle (healing or damage), a paladin, a high ac fighter ( phalanx soldier is a sweet archetype for that), super high HP barbarian, ranger, druid, or inquisitor. now inquisitors seem more like RP classes so this would be my weakest choice.
i would stay away from wizards, sorcerers, cavaliers, ninjas, rogues (bards do trap finding so much better now) alchemists, witches, and magus. but this is my personal opinion.
If you think it will be lots of humanoid type combat, I'd go with a lore warden or monk tripping and disarming build.
If you think it will be more monsters that tend to not be vulnerable to that, then I would probably consider a dragon disciple build.
btw: take half-orc put the +2 in dex, as short and thin as the race chart allows, and set your other abilities up and down to look like the stats a goblin could have. Say you are pretty sure your father was a goblin not an orc, no matter what everyone else says. Then play him like a goblin.
Heck yeah, tripping fighters are awesome.
I've never played a dragon disciple! I always wanted to as a kid. I might try to flavor swap it now, say I'm a lovecraftian cosmic horror or something. Why are they better/best for monsters? I was actually just glancing at a guide for them... I'd be interested in what else you'd have to say about them
I have an absolutely killer Dragon Disciple build - actually a Half-Orc 2nd level Paladin / 10th level Sorcerer (Draconic-Linorm) / 8th level Dragon Disciple. He's the ultimate mage-tank, but you have to keep in mind that DD's blossom a bit later than most.
I also updated the Lore Warden above, and he's now simply the most dominating Fighter I've ever played - let me knwo if you're interested in the new build.
Of course, the most dominating character I've ever played was my Master Summoner, but that's a whole other ball of wax.
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The "lots of combat" disclaimer, and the whopping 32 pt buy, makes me think that this campaign is going to be a lot of the GM just throwing anything and everything in the Bestiary at you and letting you all fight your way out. It also makes me think that this group is very much into playing Who Can Crit The Hardest, not so much into roleplaying.
My advice would be to roleplay your character as a guy like that. Make a monk who goes on and on about his incredible martial arts style, or a gunslinger who solves all his problems with bullets, or a barbarian who talks to his greataxe like others would their lover and has no aspirations beyond dying atop of a pile of his victims' corpses.
Then go through and pick a feat, or a weapon, or a combat maneuver, or some battle tactic that you think looks like fun. Build your character to be awesome at it, and run it til the wheels fall off.
... Why are they better/best for monsters? I was actually just glancing at a guide for them... I'd be interested in what else you'd have to say about them ...
The guide is great.
I think they are good for non-specific monsters because they are so versatile. An attack by flying creatures? Well you can also fly. It has a huge AC/DR? Spell fry it's ash. It has amazing saves/SR? Melee crunch it. Too dangerous or too fast to close with it? Fly and spells again.
Depending upon the DD build you can have really amazing saves (pal 2), self healing (pal 4), buffs (bard), really amazing melee damage (barb 4), decent spell offense (sorc 4), etc...
Without knowing much about what you will be facing, I would recommend the pal 2 / sorc 3 / DD X. That will give you great saves. Decent spell casting so you can switch between melee and caster. Ability to buff yourself and use lots of magic items like staves, wands, and scrolls with UMD.
You do have to be careful. You do not have the durability in melee of a pure melee build, so you have to be ready to pull back. Also, as Mercurial said they have a hard time 'hangin with the big boys' until at least the mid levels. I think about levels 4-6 are especially tough.
I actually really really like playing gobinoids. Goblin alchemist, goblin ninja, goblin gunslinger. I've played a few. (As well as my namesake) Unfortunately, this DM is only allowing core races, which I'm totally okay with.
Yes! another player who loves goblins! on a side note, you can effectively build a goblin out of a human with a bit of effort.
As a human, select racial heritage as your bonus feat and select goblin, put the +2 into dex, Get yourself a permanent reduce person, and ether have a int of 12 to select goblin as a bonus language or get one skill point of linguistics. Get colour thief as a trait to round out your sneakiness. The only thing that is really missing is a lower dex and higher str/char (witch is easily buffed out during point allocation) and darkvision. Darkvision might be hard to come across depending on your class.Just because your part human does not mean you have to act like it, after all your part goblin to! just role-play it as if you were mostly goblin and had no idea of your human heritage (balloon head trait works well for this as it emphasizes your goblinness) Its all legal and now you have a goblin where you normally couldn't!
Alchemist have to write down and then read their recipes, so Goblins really shouldn't be Alchemists (their love of setting things on fire regardless!)
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At 6th level, around the time some melee types are getting their first iterative attack, you can attack 42 of 64 squares in an 8x8 block all in a single round at your full BAB. That's a LOT of critical chances going off there... and once you're done, you still have 4 attacks of opportunity for anyone who thinks to close with you. In the middle to high levels you're popping off crits on a roll of 15+ and whenever you do, your target 1) takes double damage, 2) is Sickened, 3) has to save (at -2 due to being Sickened) or either be Staggered or Stunned, 4) is subject to an automatic Trip attack with a VERY high modifier which, if successful, then exposes him to an extra attack when he goes down and another one when he tries to get up.
Like I said, the character is a blast to play. Spring Attack with a lunging reach weapon alone is good for tons of fun.
Can't you 5' step during your whirlwind and hit 58 out of 64 squares?