The idea:
An archer who can hit a lot for decent damage, who carries different arrows for all occasions and makes his Bow Holy to ward against all evil with every attack.
He possibly won't bother with a mount, but if he does, it'll only be to get around as he'll be attacking on foot all of the time!
Human
Str: 14
Dex: 18 (+4 by level 16)
Con: 12
Wis: 16
Int: 9
Cha: 7
Skills per level: 4 (3 + 1 Skilled)
HP per level: 1d8+2 (Favoured Class)
Trait: Rich Parents
Combat at level 1:
+5, 1d8+2 (x3)
Flurry of Blows (only get to use this at level 6): +9, +9, +4
BAB: 0
CMB: 2
CMD: 16
Fort: 3
Ref: 6
Will: 5
Skills:
Acrobatics: 8
Climb: 6
Perception: 7
Stealth: 8
Feats:
1. Point-Blank Shot, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike
2. Deflect Arrows
3. Precise Shot
5. Rapid Shot
6. Improved Disarm
7. Deadly Aim
9. Clustered Shots
10. Improved Critical
11. Manyshot (Dex 17, point blank shot, rapid shot - 1st attack fires 2 arrows)
13. Critical Focus
14. Snatch Arrows
15. Improved Precise Shot
17. Agile Meneouvres
18. Improved Trip (LOL, I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an Arrow in the knee)
By level 17 - 9 attacks, 10 arrows fired (flurry of blows, manyshot rapid shot, 1 ki point)
To disarm:
CMB + Weapon Enhancement Bonus, so at level 17 it should be BAB 12, +6 Dex, +1 Masterwork, +2 Improved Disarm = 21 for Disarm.
Weapon: Masterwork Composite Longbow, 1d8 +2 x3, 110ft, piercing, 3lb's.
- Cost: 100gp, + 200gp for +2 Str
As I'm unsure of the way Monks work (having not ever played one), do you add your Dex + Weapon Enhancement to Flurry of Blows with a Bow?
Rich Parents is a waste of a trait. Get something that gives you an advantage that lasts longer than 1 level.
You'd think that, but we don't usually end up finding much wealth at all, oddly (usually a single character will reach about 2k by level 3 or 4), but the first thing I'll be doing is paying for a +1 bonus to add the Holy property to my bow...so the Masterwork +1 to hit should still apply like normal.
After that, I'll save for a +5 weapon and possibly add other abilities afterwards. :)
You can't add properties like Holy to a weapon without a baseline +1 first. You're probably better off getting arrows with special properties, especially if your GM allows you to buy them in smaller quantities than the baseline "50 ammo = 1 weapon" cost. As for rich parents, the typical WBL guidelines suggest 1k at 2nd level, so what one would normally do as a GM if a player takes a Rich Parents trait, is give out 100gp or less per PC of strait treasure, and give the rest as useful items for everyone except that particular PC. I.e. if you use Rich Parents to get a masterwork bow, a masterwork rapier and a masterwork chain suit, then your party druid will find a masterwork hide armor, a masterwork staff, and barding for his pet, your party wizard will find a 1st-level pearl of power, and so forth, but you'll find nothing of use for you specifically.
2k by level 3 is a little below normal, but that means he's probably going for a low-fantasy campaign. Typically a GM also takes into account that your APL will be reduced by not having optimized gear, and adjust encounters accordingly. If not, then he's a hardass and taking rich parents will just make him give you less gear later.
If you can't rely on getting things like, say, a cloak of resistance or skill-boosting items at the usual level, then traits that increase your saves or boost your skills are much more valuable.
Is he actually only allowing 1 trait? 2 traits + 15 PB is standard, 20 PB for high fantasy, 25 PB for Epic.
Yea, you get that at level 6, so I'll be flurrying from level 6 onwards. :)
As for the standard we play by. It's 1 trait of your choice, 1 campaign trait (eurgh) and a 20 point buy. It's high fantasy but wealth usually sucks for us for some reason. The GM doesn't give other players more wealth for someone having the Rich Parents trait either. That'd be unfair as they're spending a trait on it.
I could be wrong about the bow, but surely adding Holy to the bow would effect all arrows, because if you make the bow a +5 weapon, that effects all of the arrows.
To me, all you need to worry about with arrows is getting lots of different types, such as Elf Bane, Dwarf Bane, Human Bane, Orc Bane, Gnoll Bane, Cold Iron, Mithral, Adamantine etc.
That way you're getting the properties from your bow like any other weapon, but you customise what you load into it. :)
Yea, you get that at level 6, so I'll be flurrying from level 6 onwards. :)
I could be wrong about the bow, but surely adding Holy to the bow would effect all arrows, because if you make the bow a +5 weapon, that effects all of the arrows.
What he is saying is you have to give your weapon a +1 enhancement before you can enchant it with Holy (or any other weapon property).
As stated before. Sohei can flurry and Rapid/Manyshot, but you loose all the other nice bonuses from Zen Archer. Bonus Archer Feats, Perfect Strike, Weapon Focus/Weapon Spec, Wisdom to attack, Point Blank Master, Reflexive Shot, Trick Shot, Ki Focus Bow.
Check out my Trait guide. It gives a short description and rank for every trait and organizes it by race/region/campaign ect. Even in a low wealth campaign there are usually much better traits then Rich Parents.
I will post up the link to my Trait guide when I get home. Or you can search for Tricks and Traits: A Guide to Pathfinder Traits.
Ah ok, thanks very much! :)
Yea, I know about that, but I figured if you paid for a +1 bonus and used Holy, that would count as a magic bonus not a strength enhancement bonus, because of the fact +1 bonuses like that are usually used with +6 up to 10. I might be wrong, but as you can enhance a weapon from +1 to +5, then for things like Holy, Shock etc it goes up to +10 for magic effects, I was thinking Holy plus a masterwork weapon would surely count as just a Masterwork weapon still (after you've paid the price for a +1 weapon to add the Holy property to it)?
Meaning the weapon would still only be a Masterwork weapon, just with Holy damage as it'd have a magical property not a normal enhancement bonus (as that is replaced by the magic property), so it should still have a +1 to hit, just without the +1 damage from a +1 weapon. That's how I think it works at least.
As for the extra attacks, I just think it'd be cooler to have a Sohei than a Zen Archer. It's breaking from the norm, I feel I have decent feats for him and it sounds like the build should be pretty cool. I just haven't ever used an Archer or Monk before, but I feel he'll play ok. :D
Zen Archer sounds cool, but from looking at it, it seems that it'll have a similar damage output to this build. I mean overall it may do more, but I just like the idea of having around 10 attacks per round, with a chance to crit on each (even if it'd only be a 19-20 x3 with Improved Critical).
I'd love to see what you have though! :D
I mean fro a first and unique build, is this not too bad? I'm thinking the base stats should suffice. :)
Ah ok, thanks very much! :)
Yea, I know about that, but I figured if you paid for a +1 bonus and used Holy, that would count as a magic bonus not a strength enhancement bonus, because of the fact +1 bonuses like that are usually used with +6 up to 10. I might be wrong, but as you can enhance a weapon from +1 to +5, then for things like Holy, Shock etc it goes up to +10 for magic effects, I was thinking Holy plus a masterwork weapon would surely count as just a Masterwork weapon still (after you've paid the price for a +1 weapon to add the Holy property to it)?
Alright so here is how it works. You cannot have a Masterwork Holy weapon. From the SRD: A magic weapon must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus to have any melee or ranged special weapon abilities.
So you will need to make it a +1 Bow first. Then later you can add holy making it a +1 holy bow.
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Wanted to point something fun out, that's a little cheese but still RAW written with the Sohei:
"A monk applies his full Strength bonus to his damage rolls for all successful attacks made with flurry of blows, whether the attacks are made with an off-hand or with a weapon wielded in both hands."
I haven't allowed our Sohei to use this rules loophole, which is specifically closed off for the Zen Archer, but RAW a Sohei with Weapon Training for their bow applies their full Strength bonus to every attack made while flurrying. Since they intentionally closed this off for the Zen Archer but left it open for the Sohei, I don't know if this was intentional or not.
Also, I love the Sohei's mount abilities. The ability to share your ki powers with your mount is pretty nice, and while your mount isn't gaining bonus hit die and such, you can pump any mount you're on. It gives me some fun mental images of your badazz nomad warrior getting his mount shot out from under him, kiling an enemy and taking their mount, and then ki pumping the new mount to surge back into combat.
Thanks a lot Dragon! :)
Ssalarn - Ah, yea. Well, your player went with what the Sohei was intended to, where as I guess I've gone for as much damage as I can possibly get.
Still, a Pegasus mount would be awesome. :p