So I am working on a character concept and am hitting a block. My idea is to make an Ulfen warrior that is very bestial.
My fluff behind him is that his parents are/were slaves in the Irrisen lands. His father was a ranger whom instructed his animal companion (a wolf) to take his child away so that he may grow up free from the oppression of Baba Yaga. My character possibly never made it back to civilization , but rather grew up amongst a pack of wolves in the icy wilderness. He was too young at the time to really remember his parents but does have visions from the spirits (dreams)of a woman and man from his past which might lead to him returning to Irrisen to free his parents (up to GM).
My issues are few but I really can't decide how to build this guy to my fluff. I'm really liking Ranger for his abilities of survival, natural weapon style (maybe) etc. Also I really like barbarian (of course). I looked into the Ranger Archetype Wild Stalker and I find it kind of meh.
The best compromise so far is to cross class the two but that will really delay my progression so I need some help.
The main things I want are:
Ranger:
Skills, Tracking/Survival, Animal Companion (wolf obviously), and combat Style (natural or Sword and Shield)-do not care for spell casting at all.
Barbarian:
Rage, Rage powers:Beast totems , Scent, Primal Scent (maybe), and Animal fury (for a bite).
If I do go sword and shield it will make barbarian unnecessary but I feel it really causes me to lose a lot of the concept for this character.
Should I pull back on the concept? Or can I make this work? Sorry for the long post I am just really excited to make this character. Thanks for any advice given.
Shapeshifter Ranger, then go into Savage Barbarian.
For flavor, you can worship one of the Barghest gods Zarongel, and later pick up a Great Barghest Hero Cloak.
Barbarian/Shaman. And see the next Wayfinder issue for (I hope) more... ^^
Wolf Shaman Druid? Gain a bite attack (plus trip) for 1 minute/level starting at level 2 with totem transformation. Once you get wild shape, you'll be quite bestial.
If you're willing to change your race (and sex), a Changeling (Ulfen father, of course) might fit, too. Claws all the time, and if you pick an Annis hag mother (which I recommend), get +1 to damage on melee attacks (and that's with a weapon, too, not just your natural claws). The Con penalty would make it difficult to pull off if you decided to go Barbarian, but a Ranger or Druid Changeling would work, and especially Druid.
Actually, a Ranger can have "always on" claws at second level.
Thanks for the advice so far everyone, I would prefer to avoid any druid levels just because it doesn't add anything to my concept that ranger couldn't do without causing me to lose my combat ability. I would take a hit to my BaB and I don't want to be a spell caster at all.
As far as shape shifting goes, I'm not completely against it at this point but not really what I had in mind. I want him to be, for lack of a better term, a Tarzan character, in the North. By that I mean a human whom has adapted naturally (for the most part) to his environment. Claws and Teeth could be explained by micro evolution/hormonal imbalances that came as a bi-product of living in such harsh conditions.
Thanks again guys, if anyone has any other advice that would be great. I am planning way ahead with this character as he will probably be used in the new AP coming out in February or so.
Ah.
Perhaps a Spear and Shield build would be more fitting.
If you weren't opposed to spellcaster I'd suggest the Feral Child archetype. It fits the fluff perfectly.
Otherwise, I'd suggest doing a Savage Barbarian.
Note that the Ulfen people don't see lycanthropy as a curse necessarily.
Feral wrote: Note that the Ulfen people don't see lycanthropy as a curse necessarily.
Feral Child? Where is that located? Never heard of that before...you might make me consider spell casting if it's reason enough. Also, about the Lycanthropy, that is part of the reason I wanna make this guy a natural weapon user. I don't want to actually be a lycanthrope (gm wouldn't allow it anyways) but it would be kewl to be close to one (maybe an ancestor was one??)
It's from the Advanced Race Guide.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/human/feral-child-druid-human
Mechanically it's not that powerful but from a fluff perspective it's great.
You could take a wolf animal companion that's his 'brother'.
Okay, if you are going natural weapons, you can flavor it up as channeling your "Wolf Spirit".
Like I said, Shapeshifter Ranger, into Savage Barbarian.
If you choose to have a companion, then Savage Barbarian/Mounted Fury, will work better, and with the Boon Companion feat, you will have a stronger ally.
You don't have to have your class define your character.
What I mean by that is don't think you need to make a Ranger or Barbarian to build this concept.
Find which class (or classes) gives you most (if not all) of what you need and run with it.
From a 'mechanical' perspective, a Monk may actually work for a Trazan type character - especially one that eschews weapons.
That's just an example (and not necessarily a good one), but it illustrates my point.
I totally agree Krodjin.
An Inquisitor of Jezelda, with the Animal domain will work for this as well.
Also, there is the Demonic Obedience feat that can allow you to become a full fledged Werewolf later on.
Hmmm I agree Feral, that fluff fits my concept perfectly but mechanics-wise it just isn't hitting the spot.
Blackblood, it didn't even consider the mounted fury archetype so good call. I'm considering it heavily.
Finally Krodjin, I agree with you completely and that was more or less what I was asking for was suggestions for classes or a combination of that is going to fit my concept best. I don't expect to fill my wants completely but I know there are people much better at character creation than I, and I wanted to see if they could help me make this character so I don't make a sub-par toon. At this point I'm thinking a 2 lvl dip Barb then ranger might be the way to go but again, not so sure.
blackbloodtroll wrote: Shapeshifter Ranger, then go into Savage Barbarian.
For flavor, you can worship one of the Barghest gods Zarongel, and later pick up a Great Barghest Hero Cloak.
Damn...that sounds awesome from a flavor perspective!
The item is a nice cincher, and I love the history behind the Barghest Hero gods.
haha sorry, I meant character... ;P
Actually, start out with Beastmaster/Shapeshifter Ranger, then go Mounted Fury/Savage Barbarian.
You will have a stronger ally, and the abilities sync well.
Sounds good Blackblood, I'll try and stat this out and see how it looks. If anyone has more advice feel free to post it still.
I keep seeing him as a burly male viking version of Princess Mononoke.
Hahaha that's exactly what I was thinking too...great minds think alike I guess
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