I'm looking for some advice on creating a Strix Fighter. I'm trying to find the best way to leverage my character's 60' Fly Speed, while still dealing a hefty amount of damage. I have a 20 point buy, and the max level I might reach is 15. I'm open to any suggestions ya'll might have, but I'd also like some thoughts on the following:
I'm having difficulty picking out an archetype. I like idea of going Two Handed Fighter, wielding a polearm but losing out on Armor training is going to hurt my Fly Skill by a fair amount. Is there another archetype that can give me comparable damage bonuses though?
I know most people don't recommend Vital Strike, but what about using it as part of a Flyby Attack? Flyby Attack specifically states that you can make 1 Standard Action during a move action, so it seems to me that works around the issues of Charge and Spring Attack being full round actions. Working with a 60 foot fly speed and a reach weapon, what do ya'll think of strafing Flybys? Also, can Vital Strike be combined with Power Attack?
How does armor encumbrance interact with flight speed? Do I need to think about forgoing heavy armor if I'm want to make frequent use of my ability to fly?
Is it worth it spend a feat for Exotic Weapon Prof: Fauchard? It's a 1D10 reach weapon with an 18-20 crit range and Trip. I really like the idea of playing around with a polearm, and the Fauchard seems pretty powerful.
Well, the theoretical best way to do this is as an Archer. At low levels, flight is close to meaningless for a melee character (unless he's fighting something that happens to fly), but awesome for an archer.
On your specific points:
1. I wouldn't go Two-Handed Fighter for the very reason you state. Ordinary Fighters actually get pretty hefty damage bonuses, though.
2. That combo does indeed work. As do Vital Strike and Power Attack.
3. Not seeing any rules against it. It'll reduce your speed (well, until 7th level when your Armor Training compensates) but it's doable.
4. The Hooked Lance (from the Eastern Armor and Weapons section) is 1d8, x4 crit, reach and trip, and martial. Something like that might be better than burning the Feat.
If you want to stay melee and still pump out some decent damage, you could become a flying dervish. You'd be ignoring Str and put it all into Dex and go for Dervish Dance at level 2. Your damage would suck at level 1, but a small price to pay. You'd have to use a scimitar and it requires Weapon Finesse, but grants Dex to attack -and- damage. The thematic Blade of Mercy Sarenrae trait could give you a +1 damage with unpenalized nonlethal. Your second trait could be Armor Expert to reduce the ACP. You would start with light armor (studded leather until mithril shirts). Even with low Str, you could get Power Attack through Piranha Strike.
For the build I propose, the base fighter would be best to continue to benefit from the armor training so you could go for mithril breastplates. Mithril Platemail wouldn't really make sense with your high Dex, but you could swing it I suppose.
1st level stat recommendation after racial, all increases in Dex:
Str 10
Dex 20
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 5
You could dump Str, but I wouldn't recommend it.
You don't start with Common, so unless you put a point in Linguistics at level 1 I'd switch Wis for Int.
Skills and Feats:
Skills (favored class bonus at level 1, then HP for the rest)
1: Fly, Perform (Dance-prereq) and Linguistics (common)
2: Fly, and Perform (Dance)
3: Fly and X (etc)
Feats:
1: Weapon Finesse, Fly By Attack
2: Dervish Dance
3: Piranha Strike
4: Weapon Focus (scimitar)
5: Weapon Specialization (scimitar)
6: Vital Strike
7: Agile Maneuvers (iffy, as with Dervish Dance weapon based combat maneuvers already use Dex, but still useful)
8: Improved Critical (scimitar)
9: Devastating Strike
10: Critical Focus
11: Improved Vital Strike
12: Impaling Critical (Dervish Dance considers scimitars piercing for feats)
13: Staggering Critical
14: Critical Mastery
15: Improved Impaling Critical
I'd also recommend the Tough or Nimble traits from the ARG to drop the Suspicious racial trait for a flat +1 to Fort or Reflex respectively. Reflex if you want to really specialize (and invest in a Ring of Evasion for sure)!
There were some options presented with the Adv. Races Guide for the Strix. I don't own it myself, but I'm wondering if any of these would help you out?
If you go two handed fighter then your fly can turn into a nice +5 to attack via the feat Death from Above. the only issue is making fly checks for being hit in flight. This would be very difficult initially, but well worth considering by lvl 15
As mentioned before though, an archer doesn't have to worry about that so much. :)
So after discussing it with some of the people I'd be playing with, I've decided that an Archer type probably will be the way to go. The main question now is what class / build should I go for?
I'm debating going for a Ranger. I have a bit of knowledge of the campaign setting (it's homebrew) and I can expect to face of ton of Undead and Evil Outsiders. With that in mind, the Strix favored class bonus of +1/2 round duration on Hunter's Bond bonus to companions seems rather good. There's also some fun Archery spells for Rangers.
First off, the Dayguard alternate racial trait is awesome for fighters.
Second, Weapon Master fighter is a better bet, as you will up damage output, and the feats will fill out your potential fast.
