Hello everyone. I'm nervous to post here. But I wanted to get outside advice and keep this a secret from my teammates.
Also- I LIKE to role play but I'm not very good at actually building and making characters. So if you think I've made strange/bad decisions with my character creation - I probably have.
BACKGROUND:
I am playing a home game. Everyone else follows the Pathfinder CRB, but I got permission to play a half-giant based on an advanced creature. It is a barbarian.
She died and was resurrected by our cleric. I've decided (with our DM approval) that my snarky barbarian had such a life altering experience she will never kill again. NO ONE IN OUR CAMPAIGN KNOWS THIS. Now that I have a new direction to take my character, it FEELS like I'm making a new character. I don't know what to do. I'd love some help.
My team might not LIKE losing their meat shield/killing machine but that's part of the fun of doing RPG's. PC's do things that aren't always what we expect.
She is now focused more on following the path of her deity (but not being a cleric). I've decided she is going to be a pacifist but NOT a coward. Her alignment shifted upon resurrection from chaotic neutral to chaotic good. I have 3 levels to work with because I wasn't able to make up my mind on where to put my XP.
HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS:
Do I take sunder feats, combat maneuvers, and do disarm things. And throw my shield using non-lethal?
Do I get rid of my rage ability and go lawful and take 3 levels of monk? (I'd rather not).
Do I take a different type of divine prestige class or something more defensive? If so- which one? I'd prefer NOT to be a cleric, but Oracle maybe? Is there something else that might fit?
MY CHARACTER SO FAR:
Half Giant Barbarian
Alignment CG (before dying was CN)
Diety Cayden Calean
Level Fighter 2 Barbarian 7 Size L Age 20
Feats: (Sometimes I forget to ad them and use them. Again, I like to PLAY but I probably drive my rulsey team mates insane when I forget to ad my XP or "break the rules").
Power Attack
Cleave
Greater Cleave
Intimidating Prowess
Weapon Focus
Vital Strike
Dodge
I would recomend using a sap, or for more money, a merciful weapon. Both do nonlethal damage, so your character wouldn't have to worry about killing anything or anyone.
As a note "merciful" is a melee weapon special ability. It is one of the cheaper ones, the cheapest merciful weapon will cost you about 8,000 gold, depending on how available magical weapons are in your campaign.
How would your PC feel about enabling others to kill in her stead?
Oh- thank you for the ideas so far!
I have PLENTY of gold because until now I've only used weapons I've taken from those I have killed. I like the idea of using a merciful weapon.
My character believes in freedom and cannot control others. So if they wanted to kill someone, she would be happy to let others kill in her stead IF they wished to do so.
I had a half fiend elf bounty hunter in a 3.0 Realms game. Though the reasons were different, she didn't kill either. Instead she had a merciful (eventually vicious and holy) greatsword, and got really good at tripping and grappling. Reading this makes me want to rebuild her with PF rules and see how much more fun she'd be. :3
yeah, non-lethal damage, possibly with merciful enchanted weapons, is the way to go.
most of the things that would be immune (undead, constructs) would probably fall outside your new aversion to killing, since they aren't really living to begin with.
really, you can basically continue doing exactly what you have been, just doing non-lethal damage, except now any healing that the enemy receives will effectively be doubled vs. your non-lethal damage. getting into grapple could make sense for you now. also, consider things like the stunning assault/stunning critical (or staggering/etc).
it sounds like you have a misunderstanding of how rage works: you can't lose rage from going lawful (if you were to do so to become a monk), you just can't take MORE LEVELS of barbarian. you have full access to everything you gained. btw, there's also a monk archetype called the martial artist that allows any alignment (although the pain point thing doesn't sound like your cup of tea).
it sounds like you have a misunderstanding of how rage works: you can't lose rage from going lawful
Ex-Barbarians
A barbarian who becomes lawful loses the ability to rage and cannot gain more levels as a barbarian. She retains all other benefits of the class.
wow, somehow i only read the last part, and thought paizo had removed the other section.
anyways, i don't think the issue is as dire as the OP thinks... at least if the issue is KILLING per se.
if 'violence' in any form is disallowed, that is a substantial change, but then monks would equally be bad.
if you are now disavowing ANY violence, including non-lethal, then you might as well become a bard or enchanter or illusionist.
i don't think that's what is really being aimed for, if monk was a viable path, then non-lethal attacks should be fine,
and any way to add on additional effects like stunning should be great too.
Improved Unarmed Attack and Improved Grapple would also be a good way to disable opponents without killing them. The martial artist monk archetype (Ultimate Combat) can be any alignment and would let you pick up Improved Grapple with a single level. Alternately or in addition, there are Brawler and Greater Brawler rage powers in the Advanced Player's Guide.
If you don't want to give up armor for unarmed combat ability, you could just take extra levels in fighter and use the bonus feat(s) to pick up Improved Unarmed Attack and/or Improved Grapple. Catch Off Guard may also be useful to use improvised weapons (like a tankard) without penalty.
Also pattern his behavior after BA in the A-Team movie when he turned pacifist.
I have a friend that rolled up a pacifist barbarian to take advantage of intimidating enemies when he bludgeoned something unconscious. I can't remember the exact build or feats, but it sounded viable.
If you are able to use things from the Ultimate Combat book you could take levels in Martial Artist. It is an archetype of monk that can be any alignment. They lose the monk's Ki abilities but get more mundane abilities. They can also use their monk levels to qualify for fighter only feats as long as they apply to unarmed strikes or monk weapons. If you have the Wisdom for a monk this may be a good way to go. Your unarmed strike damage will go up and also allow you to do non lethal damage. Another advantage is going to be to ignore the prerequisite for your monk bonus feats. The nice thing is you can still rage if you want to.
wow! I am so excited to think all these things through!
Thank you so so much for all the wonderful ideas!!
I feel like a kid at Christmas and cannot wait to decide (and then DO it). You have all made this so much more fun. I have lurked here for ideas before- but am so glad I came here and asked for suggestions. Yay!
Get a giant bludgeoning weapon, like an over-sized Earth Mauler (3d6 damage) assuming you can weild it ortherwise a plain Earth Mauler will do. Then go three levels of Rogue with the Thug archetype taking Sap Adept and Sap Master as your next two feats. Keeping in mind your Voila, you become the non-lethal damage king!
Er... Queen!
Ask your DM if you can take sunder and use it in conjunction with the cleave feats (Break their sword, break their shield, break their armor). A Merciful weapon would be a good pick, though bringing someone down with non-lethal damage (especially the big ones) can take a LONG time, and it is rather inefficient if your party members are just going to bring them down with lethal damage half way through the fight anyway.
If you keep taking levels in Fighter, you could swap out some of the more weapon oriented feats you have (like vital strike) for combat maneuver feats or defensive feats to boost your AC. This would allow you to be a more efficient tank by sacrificing damage (not that you would care). Or, you could go the demoralize route, and start by crushing your enemies with massive lethal damage (if you think they can take it), and intimidating them into surrendering before they drop dead. In every case, getting someone to large size you will help with all of these.