Am I completely off base thinking something can come of this?
It would have to be an Orc due to the archetype but Con becomes your casting stat and the racial bonus to str would make up for the low BaB from witch. Moment of clarity would be a must. I don't know much about witches so I bow before the more "Witchy" pathfinders.
I'm not saying this would be an optimal build by any means but cmon...you can't tell me the idea of a creepy vodoo orc beating down someone with a greatsword while cackling is not worth diving into. What do you guys think?
Human with the Racial Heritage(Orc) feat does this best.
Start out with that +2 to con.
Why would human do it better? because of the extra feat?
Extra feat, bonus to con, human favored class bonus.
Gotcha, I didn't even realize a human could use an orc archetype but I guess one could argue they could through racial heritage. What feats would you use, naturally PA would be in the build, probably even weapon focus to mitigate the low BaB but what else would you throw in there?
Well, Urban Barbarian may be better for you. Prehensile Hair Hex will give you a strong attack prior to Barbarian levels, and can be a good primary attack.
Raging Vitality will be nice feat later on, as will Raging Brutality.
Note: You can use Hexes whilst raging, but you cannot cast spells.
By the way, Aasimar with the Scion of Humanity alternate racial trait can take the Racial Heritage feat and qualify for this class as well.
hmmm now you got me thinking. Prehensile hair is a natural attack right? hmmm I'm seeing a possible nat weapon build here as well. Get the bite from traits as an orc, claws from a 2 lvl dip from beast totem, and the hair attack...the image is creepy as hell...
No. If you have just the hair, it's a primary natural attack, and uses x1.5 strength(Con in your case).
You could use the Feral Combat Training feat to better utilize the hair, but adding more natural attacks, in this particular case, hurts you.
Mostly, you should debuff, and then attack with hair.
aww damn, that concept seemed awesome. So I should just beef up my con as much as possible and only use my hair as an attack?
Well, that, and it pumps rage, and spellcasting.
Savage Barbarian is good option, as armor is not an option.
this is kind hilarious to me, due to the fact that this concept I literally just started playing
yeah I was thinking savage as well, seems like NA could be pretty decent (would be represented by the scars he self inflicts) controlled rage from Urban barbarian is awesome too...
You can stack the Savage and Urban Barbarian archetypes.
yeah, although the fluff doesn't seem to fit but eh...so a SWD witch and a Savage/Urban Barb...how many levels of barb would you recommend? just a 2 lvl dip?
You make your own flavor. No one is defined by their class name.
No one.
I can make a "Ninja" PC, and never put a level into the Ninja class.
good point, i tend to let the class define my concepts...i'm sure you've noticed considering you always help me with my builds haha, i'll work on it
I usually go the opposite direction.
Create a concept, then the make the numbers fit.
This is known as Practical Optimization.
BBT is correct, but may I throw in a possible build suggestion.
If you are worried about level and how to spread your abilities, then might I suggest the Eldritch Knight prestige class? You'll be able to simultaneously take care of both your BAB and spell-progression problem. There are, however, a few issues you may run into:
-Your hexes are dependent upon Witch level. Therefore you will want to pick hexes that don't rely on DCs. The Flight, Tongues, and Healing hexes are a few examples of decent, non-post-level-5 dependent hexes.
-Since you have to have level 3 spells and be proficient with martial weapons for this PrC, you really only want to take one level of Barbarian to make sure you start hitting your PrC levels ASAP. That being said, you will only be getting a limited number of rage rounds per day (though you can supplement this with the Extra Rage feat) and will only gain the class abilities from the first level of Barb. This shouldn't be much of an issue, though, since you look like you are going Urban Barbarian anyhow (which is a great one-level dip alternative class).
-You won't be hitting hard and strong until after you start up your prestige class, so I would only suggest this route if you plan on either a) joining an already high level campaign or b) expect to play until at least 10 or 12 (where it really starts to shine).
Again, this is all just speculation and the class will still be good and fun to play...you just won't be soloing the BBEG anytime soon (but eventually might).
Also, if you go with BBT's suggestion of Human with the Racial Heritage (Orc), might I also throw in the suggestion of Heart of the Fields instead of Skilled for rage-cycling purposes?
I forgot about Heart of the Fields.
Good Catch.
It really depends if you want to go more melee, or spellcasting focused, to help determine how you will balance your Witch/Barbarian levels.
thanks for the advice disco, I'm thinking of focusing more on spell casting at this point but feel free to post any short of combination of these classes, it would be kewl to see all the possibilities.
My current vision for this character is a weak orc who was cast out from his tribe due to his lack of str. his clansmen tortured him and cut him repeatedly. It was from this torture that he learned his strength comes from his pain. He now self inflicts wounds and seeks pain in order to find pleasure. I plan on making him rather creepy (i.e whispering to his "master" his mask at late hours of the night, due to his prehensile hair hex, he will have long ratted hair (the ring syle) and perhaps some disfigurement from the torture he endured. Perhaps I'll even make him smile and seem pleasured when an enemy wounds him. what do ya think?
The Prehensile hair is something that meshes too well with the basis of this build not to take...basically an oh Sh*t button when enemies get too close, and it should make them reconsider attacking me, plus I should be able to take the hits anyways.
2 levels of barb is what I was thinking just to provide the option of rage powers. Although 1 lvl of rage would be fine as well considering I would just use my controlled rage at the beginning of combat to raise the save DC of my hexes then drop rage and start casting.
I'm considering this concept for a carrion crown game a friend will be running soon so the creep factor is a must for me and Orcs fit well into the region...any suggestions otherwise?
I'd consider going Eldritch Knight off of something like Fighter. The strength patron gets most of the divine self-buffs and there are now armors with no ASF so you can pretty much be an arcane battle cleric.
Controlled rage lets you use int skills, but it doesn't remove the restriction on spellcasting.
Yeah, but hexes are not spells they are supernatural abilities which can be used in rage. Im only using rage to increase their DCs then drop rage and start casting spells.
Well, fatigue hurts, so you should cast spells first, then finish with Rage/Hexes.
oh damn, totally forgot about fatigue hahaha...wow, that was dumb.
Later, there will be ways around that, but it will be an issue you will have to consider.
One should note that for the Human to use this, the extra feat is already burned into Racial Heritage, so if Orc is an option to play in the game, you should just use that.
The feat is not the only boon of Human.
The favored class bonuses granting additional spells, Heart of the Fields, and the ability to start with a 20 constitution are good benefits.
yeah if the plan is to get Con as high as possible then human is the way to go. Im still playing with the idea of creating a melee beatstick along with the SWD so Orc is pretty perfect considering the +4 str
Well, the con boost will pump spells, fort saves, increase rage time, hit points, Hexes, and attacks with the Prehensile Hair Hex.
The Retribution Hex is fantastic for this build once you've got enough levels under your belt to take it. It also pairs up nicely with the Reverse Feint feat. When I did the build I took levels of fighter instead of barbarian so that I could add the Crane Style feats and Imp. Unarmed Strike so I could use Hex Strike. It's a pretty fun class to combo up with.
If you can use hexes while raging, the save DC will increase while raging due to the increased Constitution score. :-)
SmiloDan wrote: If you can use hexes while raging, the save DC will increase while raging due to the increased Constitution score. :-) That's pretty much the plan :)
Dotting for future reference and use. I'm pretty sure my DM (the not tyrannical one) who I play with would remove the racial restriction from Scarred Witch Doctor so I could make some cool characters.
Seems to me that Half BAB sucks the fat one. And the low HP. Can you really compensate with your abilities well enough?
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Hobgoblin Shogun wrote: Seems to me that Half BAB sucks the fat one. And the low HP. Can you really compensate with your abilities well enough? Low HP? The primary casting stat for the scarred witch doctor is con, the character won't have low hp even if he tries.
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The Debuffs and Buff combos will up your chance to hit.
Also, this PC should be swimming in hit points, and have a gnarly fort save.
The highest mental score this PC should have, should be wisdom though.
The other two are, more or less, dump stats.
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