Help deciding on a new character

[Katz]

I'm working on rolling a new character, but I'm having trouble narrowing down my character selection.

My rolls are:
9
17
13
17
15
13

The two ideas I'm looking at most are alchemist--either a kobold vivisectionist/preservationist, focusing on the sneak attack damage to make up for low strength, or an undecided race beastmorph, going into master chymist as early as possible.

I'm not trying for a perfectly-optimized character, but I want the character to be at least decent in combat.

[Pan]

Finesse Magus?

[Saganen Hellheart]

Get levels in rogue and divination wizard -> arcane trickster

Be elf.

[Bearded Ben]

Here's what I would suggest for the alchemist builds

Kobold:
Str 11 (15-4)
Dex 19 (17+2)
Con 15 (17-2)
Int 13
Wis 13
Cha 9
Take weapon finesse

Other (assuming human):
Str 19 (17+2)
Dex 13
Con 15
Int 17
Wis 13
Cha 9
Switch Int, Dex, and Con to fit your play-style

[Katz]

Thanks, Ben! That helps a lot, though I'm still working on deciding which of the two alchemist builds to go with.

[Greg Wasson]

Are the rolls fixed? or can you move them about?

Greg

[Katz]

Greg Wasson wrote:

Are the rolls fixed? or can you move them about?

Greg

We do the 4d6 remove the lowest roll method, so I can place the rolls anywhere, but those are the numbers I've got.

[Mergy]

That is a sick set of paladin stats IMO.

As a human:

Str 19
Dex 13
Con 15
Int 13
Wis 9
Cha 17

Of course, going alchemist I would follow Ben's stat spread. :)

[Saganen Hellheart]

I would go totally go arcane trickster with those stats.

Stats like this;
17
15
13
17
13
9
Then go elf so you get 17 dex and 19 int.

Take divination school. Pick up an elven curve blade. And you can make ... wonders. But you would first begin to shine around lvl 7-8-9.

[Mergy]

But oof, that Con score. Switch around that Strength and Constitution and I would agree with you.

[Katz]

For the strength-based alchemist build Ben mentioned, what would be good feats to pick for first level?

[Redchigh]

Finesse bard?

[J-Wolf]

Paladin maybe? With the increased strength?

[Rynjin]

Barbarian maybe?

19 Str
13 Dex
17 Con
13 Int
15 Wis
9 Cha

I put the 15 in Wis to shore up the Will save. Maybe swap the 13 to Cha if you wanna Intimidate some mofos.

[Devilkiller]

I advise that you keep your bombs and even focus on them. Sneak attack is nice, but bombs are fantastic, and Kobolds can increase their number of bombs per day via a favored class option. Below is a build which I think could be effective and fun.

Kobold Preservationist:
Cha9 Con15 Wis13 Int17 Dex17 Str9

Feats: 1-Spell Focus (Conjuration), 3-Augment Summoning, 5-Planar Preservationist, 7-TWF, 9-ITWF, 11-Extra Discovery (Sticky Bomb), 13-Die For Your Master, 15-GTWF

Discoveries: 2-Precise Bombs, 4-Tumor Familiar, 6-Infusion, 8-Fast Bombs, 10-Force Bombs, 12-Greater Mutagen, 14-Infuse Mutagen

Key Features:
- Bombs are great at low levels since they hit consistently and can damage multiple foes
- At higher levels you can combine Fast Bombs and Force Bombs to destroy almost any foe in a round or two
- If you run out of bombs you can get through a few fights using summons
- Using the Infusion discovery, your tumor familiar can use the Summon Monster powers for you, allowing you to spend your turn bombing, hiding, or even summoning more monsters