What are the best Support character builds?


Advice


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I have tons of fun playing almost pure support characters, and I'm always looking for more wrinkles on the concept.

Now when I say "Support" I mean primarily buffing and healing first and foremost, but that can also definitely incorporate Utility and Battlefield Control (as a sort of indirect buff), or even just protecting other characters. The point is that these characters should make everyone else at the table better, and, just as importantly, take a meaningful action every turn.

I often like to take this a step further and usually avoid all serious attempts to deal physical damage, but that's not required for the purposes of this thread.

I've made two characters like this so far and loved them, one, a Sound Striker Dirge Bard (it was carrion crown or I'd have ditched Dirge), and the other an Oracle of Life.

Now I'm curious about what else is out there? Is there some quirky Sensei build that's awesome? Is some obscure archetype of--I don't know--Inquisitor perfect for this role? Show me what you've got.

Silver Crusade

I have a sorcerer who doesn't do any damage, along with a cleric who's a leprechaun wannabe. Both are interesting support builds.


I'm fleshing out a Crusader Cleric that is high armor and uses a tower shield to cover allies. The idea is to wade into battle aong with 1 or 2 other heavies and provide localized support. Taking some of the focus away from the heavy hitters. Crusader helps with the shield and Metal Oracle helps with the armor (Heavy Shield instead of Tower Shield)for pretty much the same armor class in the end.

Once you can use Channel only on friends then that is a real boost. Just fight defensively and try to get attacked but not hit and/or spread the enemy's afforts around. Get in the way a lot!! Give soft cover to allies. Be ready with Restoration, etc.


I've got a Arcane Duelist who is actually quite good in combat but never gets into combat. Started a level 1 and I'm level 9. I think it attacked with my sword 3 times. I'm constantly supporting the party and do quite a good job at it. The funny thing is I took the Arcane Duelist to not be a support character.


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I'm not really recommending this, but you can turn yourself into quite the bodyguard tank, producing a huge bonus to AC both for yourself and for adjacent allies.

Start out as a halfling and choose the Helpful racial trait (additional +2 when using Aid Another). Be a Cavalier with the Honor Guard archetype, which gives you the Bodyguard feat for free at 3rd level, along with a +1 bonus to Aid Another benefits when using it. Choose the Order of the Dragon, whose 2nd level order ability is another +1 to Aid Another.

Now when you use the Bodyguard feat, you grant a +6 bonus to AC. But we aren't done yet.

At 1st level take the Cautious Fighter feat, followed by Blundering Defense at 3rd, and invest 3 ranks into Acrobatics; you now gain a +5 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively, and can share half of this (+2) with adjacent allies.

If you like, you can now switch to Fighter, and choose the Shielded Fighter archetype; at 3rd level, instead of Armor Training, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively; this bumps you up to +6 for yourself, and +3 for adjacent allies.

With your fighter bonus feats, pick up Combat Reflexes for more bodyguarding goodness, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the Madu shield. Your Madu reduces the penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively to only a -2; it also reduces your Combat Expertise penalty to hit by 1, and so does the Threatening Defender trait, if you want to grab that, too, so you might as well spend a feat on Combat Expertise when you get the chance, too.

With your 7th level feat, you may as well finish off with Uncanny Defense, to turn your +6 fighting defensively bonus into a +3 to reflex saves and another +3 to your CMD (the +6 dodge bonus already benefits your CMD, so you're looking at +9 now!).

Thus, by 7th level, when fighting defensively and using Combat Expertise, you'll have a total of +8 to your AC before dexterity, armor, and your shield, a total of +9 to your CMD, and +3 to reflex saves. Adjacent allies gain a +3 bonus to AC, and with Bodyguard you can add another +6 via Aid Another for a total of +9! You're a walking suit of plate mail! This is only at the expense of a -2 penalty to hit, and the use of a lot of attacks of opportunity.

The downside is that your damage is going to suck, and you have to fuss with your positioning all the time. However, you can mitigate this somewhat by choosing the Gendarme and/or Beast Rider archetypes; Gendarme allows you to trade in your Tactician ability for a feat like Power Attack, and Beast Rider nets you a better mount that can do more damage on your behalf, help set up flanking, etc. Boon Companion will help make up for those levels of Fighter, if you took them, and if you really love your mount you can go back to leveling Cavalier.


My friend made a paladin/fighter using the shield fighter archetype and the sacred shield paladin archetype. He gives his shield bonus to anyone around him, which is quite high using his tower shield, and can take damage in place of one of us. More than once a battle turning into everyone crowding around him so he keep us all safe while I healed everyone who was getting spells cast at them, and they killed the mobs. It is a great tank concept as long as people stick near him.


The controlling spells are huge. If you command,suggest,create pit,color spray, or etc to a monster your action removes thier action and usually damages on them on the way. My gnome dual cursed oracle/sorc has made fatal fights laughable.


Evangelist cleric with Luck domain. Nuff said.


I once build a holy tactician with channeled shield wall, saving shield and the ulfen trait that works similar to saving shield.

One of his spells he kept memorized was the one that protects you from provoking with movement and he had the escape route and outflank teamwork traits one of which he could share with everyone, depending on what was needed.

On top of all that he had leadership and his cohort was a bard with the flagbearer feat.

I think that was a really helpful build.

But I never played him because I realized that what we needed more, with my former magus dead, was an arcane caster.

Lantern Lodge

I made a monk once that played like a bard. Sensei, Ki Mystic, Monk of the Lotus, with Vows of Poverty, Peace, Fasting, and Truth. His dump stat was str and I made him super old so he had a fatty wisdom and a good charisma. The party loved him because he let them re-roll saves and had a variety of great buffs


Taking Chris's idea even further:

The Honor Guard Archetype not only gives you the improved Bodyguard feat, it also let's you declare an ally as your "ward" when you make a challenge (you lose -1 AC, they get +1 Dodge AC when adjacent).

And if you hit 8th level as an Order of the Dragon Cavalier, that aid another bonus increases by another +1 (and +1 more at 14 and 20).

Also, in the Ultimate Equipment guide, a new armor enchantment called "Benevolent" was added. For a mere 2,000gp, you now add your armor's enhancement bonus to all aid another actions to increase AC (and it doesn't decrease your AC or anything else harmful).

And for giggles, you could always take something like Saving Shield (immediate action +2 shield bonus) or In Harm's Way (immediate action to take a hit for someone).

So if you ended up with 14 levels of Cavalier (plus X Fighter levels), and +5 Benevolent armor, you'd be looking at AC bonus of +3 (luck) to all adjacent allies, the ability to make AoOs to add an addtional +13 (untyped), the option to grant your ward +1 (dodge) during a challenge, and using saving shield as an immediate action 1/round for another +2 (shield).

Adjacent allies are getting:
+3 always
+16 against many attacks
+17 if they are your ward
+19 if they are your ward and you are using Saving Shield on them.


lol Merkatz, that's awesome. It's kinda hilarious to imagine a little halfling as a bodyguard. I can just picture being like "Seriously? That's your bodyguard? Were they all out of medium and large sizes?" until they see him in action.

If you're taking In Harm's Way, ask your GM about how it interacts with Deflect Arrows: In Harm's Way says you "intercept" the attack and take "full damage from that attack and any associated effects (bleed, poison, etc.)." However, Deflect Arrows says "Once per round when you would normally be hit with an attack from a ranged weapon, you may deflect it so that you take no damage from it." Depending on which feat supersedes the other, you might be able to deflect a ranged attack that somehow got past your ally's AC, without harm. You call that a "True Strike"? Pfft.

Lantern Lodge

Merkatz wrote:
Taking Chris's idea even further: The Honor Guard Archetype not only gives you the improved Bodyguard feat, it also let's you declare an ally as your "ward" when you make a challenge (you lose -1 AC, they get +1 Dodge AC when adjacent).

My next build for PFS is exactly this. Though I would suggest forgoing saving shield and wielding a reach weapon. You Cavalier can now stand behind the ally he's turning into a tank and have extended reach. You'll be dealing excellent damage with powerattack and 18 str while also protecting your body ;)


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Had a lot of fun testing this guy out. Built a half-elven cavalier with that archetype, and he focused on tripping and buffing allies. Worked out pretty well, and never stole the spotlight. The archetype came from a book I wrote about archetypes that focus on working as a team, supporting each other, so the concept is very dear to me :) All of the archetypes from that book are up on d20pfsrd, and the sequel to that book is going up sometime soon. The goal was to get archetypes for every class that focused on helping allies or working in a team. Forum-poster Maxximilius also helped a ton with the sequel.

In the same vein, I had a crunch article in this issue of Pathways with new feats that boost aid another. That article, and the magazine is free, was born from the idea of a support caster bard who didn't want to fight with weapons. It gives them ways to help people out with just Aid Another, and I think they're pretty balanced (until Merkatz uses his monster with them :P).

Did I mention I loved the idea of helping your allies out?

The halfling cavalier is a good one. When I was working on something similar, I remember using the halfling opportunist class too. I think it gives some new uses for aid another, as well as more bonuses.

There are some fun things you can do with cold based sorcerers and oracles. With a dip into oracles for the freezing spell revelation of the waves mystery, enemies who fail saves against your cold spells are staggered and take penalty to some stats (as if they were slowed). Combine this with a few other "cold damage rider effects" available through some sorcerer bloodlines, and also Rime Spell, and you can deal some damage, entangle, and slow those hit by your spells. This is a much more active method of support.

Right now I'm playing a Savant from Kobold Quarterly 18. The basic gist of the class is that you jot down abilities you've seen in play and can then emulate a number of them at a time with a full-round action. They recommend getting a few "packages", known as trades, together to not slow down gameplay, and right now I have a few trades that let me give various abilities to my allies too. So I have one that gives me and my buddy full BAB, him rage, and myself power attack. It can get a bit ridiculous if I wanted (giving the kukri TWF fighter sneak attack, rage, and smite evil as an obvious overpowered combination), but I restrict myself a fair bit. Eventually I'll be able to conjure up some weapons for allies if needed, like crossbows or other ranged weapons if we need them in a pinch. It's been a lot of fun so far, although I do believe you have to limit yourself.


kaisc006 wrote:
My next build for PFS is exactly this. Though I would suggest forgoing saving shield and wielding a reach weapon. You Cavalier can now stand behind the ally he's turning into a tank and have extended reach. You'll be dealing excellent damage with powerattack and 18 str while also protecting your body ;)

Nope, not so easy. Sorry:

Cover wrote:
When making a melee attack against a target that isn't adjacent to you (such as with a reach weapon), use the rules for determining cover from ranged attacks.
AoO wrote:
You can't execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with cover relative to you.
Aid another wrote:
If you're in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action.


Chris P. Bacon wrote:

I'm not really recommending this, but you can turn yourself into quite the bodyguard tank, producing a huge bonus to AC both for yourself and for adjacent allies.

Start out as a halfling and choose the Helpful racial trait (additional +2 when using Aid Another). Be a Cavalier with the Honor Guard archetype, which gives you the Bodyguard feat for free at 3rd level, along with a +1 bonus to Aid Another benefits when using it. Choose the Order of the Dragon, whose 2nd level order ability is another +1 to Aid Another.

Now when you use the Bodyguard feat, you grant a +6 bonus to AC. But we aren't done yet.

At 1st level take the Cautious Fighter feat, followed by Blundering Defense at 3rd, and invest 3 ranks into Acrobatics; you now gain a +5 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively, and can share half of this (+2) with adjacent allies.

If you like, you can now switch to Fighter, and choose the Shielded Fighter archetype; at 3rd level, instead of Armor Training, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively; this bumps you up to +6 for yourself, and +3 for adjacent allies.

With your fighter bonus feats, pick up Combat Reflexes for more bodyguarding goodness, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the Madu shield. Your Madu reduces the penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively to only a -2; it also reduces your Combat Expertise penalty to hit by 1, and so does the Threatening Defender trait, if you want to grab that, too, so you might as well spend a feat on Combat Expertise when you get the chance, too.

With your 7th level feat, you may as well finish off with Uncanny Defense, to turn your +6 fighting defensively bonus into a +3 to reflex saves and another +3 to your CMD (the +6 dodge bonus already benefits your CMD, so you're looking at +9 now!).

Thus, by 7th level, when fighting defensively and using Combat Expertise, you'll have a total of +8 to your AC before dexterity, armor, and your shield, a total of +9 to your CMD, and +3 to reflex saves. Adjacent...

Throw in Crane Style and 3 ranks in Acrobatics for an additional +2 dodge bonus and to reduce your fighting defensively penalty by 2. (I'm working on a Helpful Halfling Crane Style Dervish Dancer...)


It's really very situational.

For example: from the perspective of my fey-bloodline sorcerer (specializing in necromancy and enchantment), she LOVES having a witch along to evil eye & misfortune enemies - a witch GREATLY improves her efficacy.

That said, I'll never say no to an Oracle of Life :)


If you're limited to certain books, a good old fashion cleric with the Luck Domain is very nice. My top 3 favorite things about this -

Prayer (3 Cleric) +1 bonus to allies, -1 penalty to enemies on most rolls.

Shield Other (2 Cleric) helps the channel heal go a long way. Plus it has a very long duration. So don't need to cast in combat.

Touch of Luck from Luck Domain is super good with a party member that rolls lots of D20 (Ranger).

Lantern Lodge

Ploppy wrote:
Aid another wrote:
If you're in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action.

I'm not seeing how this prevents you using aid another actions since you are still in position to make a melee attack on your opponent.


Gwen Smith wrote:
Throw in Crane Style and 3 ranks in Acrobatics for an additional +2 dodge bonus and to reduce your fighting defensively penalty by 2. (I'm working on a Helpful Halfling Crane Style Dervish Dancer...)

Yes, Crane Style works well, too. With it, you can forgo using the Madu, and you can again check with your GM about using the Crane Wing parry ability in conjunction with In Harm's Way to completely deflect the odd attack that somehow gets through your loaned defenses. I want to see the look on the GM's face when he finally rolls well enough to land what is probably a crit hit on your charge, and then you calmly deflect it without so much as a roll - and then use Crane Riposte to hit back with an AoO for his troubles. :P

Also, if you can get yourself proficient with a weapon with the "blocking" trait, such as a tonfa, then that's a +1 shield bonus when fighting defensively. I'm not clear on whether you need to actually be proficient with it to gain this benefit, but if you aren't using a madu, it may work out. (However, this doesn't apply in the case of a dervish dancer, as you need that off-hand free, sorry.)


Luck Domain. Don't even worry about casting spells with an Attack Bonus when you have this.

I am behind the archer using the Touch o' Luck until the Melee begins; then I support the Dwarven Goon with the Two-Handed Something or Other. Also, I am close enough to give this to another party member nearby.

Tack onto that Channel Energy with Selective Healing and perhaps a Shield of Faith.....life is good.


kaisc006 wrote:
I'm not seeing how this prevents you using aid another actions since you are still in position to make a melee attack on your opponent.

Well, but not with a reach weapons in an AoO. The three squares behind an ally are in the covered area, not allowing AoOs against the enemy. No AoO, no aid another.

If you move out of cover, you are not adjected to your ally anymore, not allowing the use of the bodyguard feat.

Example:

E=enemy, A=ally, C=cover
xxExx
xxAxx
xCCCx


Ploppy wrote:
Well, but not with a reach weapons in an AoO. The three squares behind

You need to be able to attack the opponent to aid another vs him. You need not be able to AoO.

Or are you talking about aiding as an AoO?


Umbranus wrote:
Ploppy wrote:
Well, but not with a reach weapons in an AoO. The three squares behind

You need to be able to attack the opponent to aid another vs him. You need not be able to AoO.

Or are you talking about aiding as an AoO?

Yeah, he's talking specifically about the Bodyguard feat, which uses an AoO. However, the wording is a bit tricky:

Bodyguard wrote:
Benefit: When an adjacent ally is attacked, you may use an attack of opportunity to attempt the aid another action to improve your ally’s AC. You may not use the aid another action to improve your ally’s attack roll with this attack.

It's a bit unclear what it means to "use an attack of opportunity". I read it such that you merely toss away one of your AoO attempts for that round in exchange for the ability to use a aid another.

However, I guess I can see the interpretation that the attack is triggering an AoO that can only be used to perform an aid another. In this case it must fulfill the qualifications for both an AoO and the aid another action.

The reason I lean towards the first interpretation is that the feat makes no mention of "triggering" or "provoking" an AoO, nor does it say that you "make" an AoO, only that you "use" one.

Logically I imagine how cover would interfere with your ability to parry an attack in this way. However you do suffer a penalty on your aid another roll from the cover, and in terms of balance I feel this is sufficient.


Let me see if I can summarize what we have so far:

Bard (pretty much every type but the Dervishes)

Oracle of Life (Life Link + Channel + Energy Body)

Evangelist Cleric + Luck Domain

Sensei Monk (probably with Monk of the Lotus as well)

Cavalier (Order of the Dragon) + Helper trait (Halfling*) + Bodyguard

Blundering Defense + Oodles of stuff to help you fight defensively (Halfling*)

Flagbearer and the Banner of Ancient Kings

If 3rd party is allowed, Cheapy's stuff (which is cool, but I've not met a GM yet willing to use 3rd party).

Anyone got anything else?

*Ok, so what is up with Halflings being the best support? I hate halflings! How can I use this stuff without being one? I know adopted can work to get Helpful (though I don't even really want them in my backstory), but how can I get a gem like Blundering Defense?


mplindustries wrote:

Let me see if I can summarize what we have so far:

Bard (pretty much every type but the Dervishes)

Oracle of Life (Life Link + Channel + Energy Body)

Evangelist Cleric + Luck Domain

Sensei Monk (probably with Monk of the Lotus as well)

Cavalier (Order of the Dragon) + Helper trait (Halfling*) + Bodyguard

Blundering Defense + Oodles of stuff to help you fight defensively (Halfling*)

Flagbearer and the Banner of Ancient Kings

If 3rd party is allowed, Cheapy's stuff (which is cool, but I've not met a GM yet willing to use 3rd party).

Anyone got anything else?

*Ok, so what is up with Halflings being the best support? I hate halflings! How can I use this stuff without being one? I know adopted can work to get Helpful (though I don't even really want them in my backstory), but how can I get a gem like Blundering Defense?

Even the Dervish archetypes aren't bad support. They're just not as good as the other types of bard. Just dropping good hope and haste, and as a dervish you'll be providing more support than the majority of classes already.


Wizard with the Void school. They get a good 1st level power that lowers AC and saves by half your level for a round. No save or SR. It's great for setting other casters up, or ensuring that your non-full BAB classes can get some hits in on the big bad evil guy.


Iomedaen evangelist cleric. They get Good Hope as a spell known for worshiping Iomedae, so they can get inspire courage and good hope off in one round. They can't quite do the "inspire courage / good hope / haste" combo that the bard can more easily do, since they only have blessing of fervor, which is a 4th level spell so doesn't work with metamagic rods of quicken, lesser.

With a looser reading of Sacred Summons (aka: one that goes against the RAW, but is possibly the RAI), evangelist clerics can be really good by just summoning stuff and inspiring courage then. You get meatbags that can actually do some damage and block spaces.


mplindustries wrote:
*Ok, so what is up with Halflings being the best support? I hate halflings! How can I use this stuff without being one? I know adopted can work to get Helpful (though I don't even really want them in my backstory), but how can I get a gem like Blundering Defense?

As a human you could take the Racial Heritage feat, then go right into the Cautious Fighter > Blundering Defense chain. Costs a feat, but you get one for being human anyway, so it evens out.


Stand strong in your dislike of the little folk, brother. It's just that their fluff makes them all helpful. I've found them bearable if you play them as a gnome though.


The Imperious Bloodline for sorcerers focuses on support/buffing, but one of it's bonus spells is still MIA.

Lantern Lodge

Chris P. Bacon wrote:
Bodyguard wrote:
Benefit: When an adjacent ally is attacked, you may use an attack of opportunity to attempt the aid another action to improve your ally’s AC. You may not use the aid another action to improve your ally’s attack roll with this attack.

Exactly. It does not say the enemy is provoking an attack of opportunity. You are not making an attack of opportunity and then being forced to aid another, you are aiding another but spending an attack of opportunity to do so limiting the power.


Where is this "Helpful raicial trait" you speak of? I cannot find...

Evidently my searchfu skills need updating.

Silver Crusade

Magnus Dreadsky wrote:

Where is this "Helpful raicial trait" you speak of? I cannot find...

Evidently my searchfu skills need updating.

It's a trait from Halflings of Golarion.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Chris P. Bacon wrote:

I'm not really recommending this, but you can turn yourself into quite the bodyguard tank, producing a huge bonus to AC both for yourself and for adjacent allies.

Start out as a halfling and choose the Helpful racial trait (additional +2 when using Aid Another). Be a Cavalier with the Honor Guard archetype, which gives you the Bodyguard feat for free at 3rd level, along with a +1 bonus to Aid Another benefits when using it. Choose the Order of the Dragon, whose 2nd level order ability is another +1 to Aid Another.

Now when you use the Bodyguard feat, you grant a +6 bonus to AC. But we aren't done yet.

At 1st level take the Cautious Fighter feat, followed by Blundering Defense at 3rd, and invest 3 ranks into Acrobatics; you now gain a +5 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively, and can share half of this (+2) with adjacent allies.

I've had a similar halfling build using the Aldori Swordlord Fighter Archetype (and a Monk dip to more easily pick up Crane Style/Wing), because Steel Net is amazing. I've remade my character a bit since, as he ended up being the only meleer in the group.

It's also worth looking into the Golden Legionnaire PrC for a bodyguard type character:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/golden-leg ionnaire


Chris P. Bacon wrote:

I'm not really recommending this, but you can turn yourself into quite the bodyguard tank, producing a huge bonus to AC both for yourself and for adjacent allies.

Start out as a halfling and choose the Helpful racial trait (additional +2 when using Aid Another). Be a Cavalier with the Honor Guard archetype, which gives you the Bodyguard feat for free at 3rd level, along with a +1 bonus to Aid Another benefits when using it. Choose the Order of the Dragon, whose 2nd level order ability is another +1 to Aid Another.

Now when you use the Bodyguard feat, you grant a +6 bonus to AC. But we aren't done yet.

At 1st level take the Cautious Fighter feat, followed by Blundering Defense at 3rd, and invest 3 ranks into Acrobatics; you now gain a +5 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively, and can share half of this (+2) with adjacent allies.

If you like, you can now switch to Fighter, and choose the Shielded Fighter archetype; at 3rd level, instead of Armor Training, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively; this bumps you up to +6 for yourself, and +3 for adjacent allies.

With your fighter bonus feats, pick up Combat Reflexes for more bodyguarding goodness, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the Madu shield. Your Madu reduces the penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively to only a -2; it also reduces your Combat Expertise penalty to hit by 1, and so does the Threatening Defender trait, if you want to grab that, too, so you might as well spend a feat on Combat Expertise when you get the chance, too.

With your 7th level feat, you may as well finish off with Uncanny Defense, to turn your +6 fighting defensively bonus into a +3 to reflex saves and another +3 to your CMD (the +6 dodge bonus already benefits your CMD, so you're looking at +9 now!).

Thus, by 7th level, when fighting defensively and using Combat Expertise, you'll have a total of +8 to your AC before dexterity, armor, and your shield, a total of +9 to your CMD, and +3 to reflex saves. Adjacent...

Old - but great advice !

A few updated stuff : benevelent armor and weapons .
Both you and the mount take broken wing gambit - so non of you can really be attacked .
And more

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