Seeing as this will be my fist Pathfinder Society char I thought I would try a play style I haven't tried out yet. Grappling!
I am at a impass on how I want to do this though. either way I dont think I will be multi-classing. My options I'm stuck on are fighter or a rouge.
I plan on taking the Heirloom Weapon trait for armor spikes and choosing the +2 trait bonus on one kind of combat maneuver when
using that specific weapon.
If I go fighter I have alot more feat options which I love.
If I go rouge I'll want to take the Swashbuckler archetype losing my trapfinding but being proficient with the spikes. Also My main draw to rouge is the Strangler feat.
Fighter will get to buisness right away, were as the fisrt couple lvls of being a rouge will be rough. your thoughts?
Yes this is true, But I think the -4 overall from haflings being small would hurt too much. ^.^ Also I would be down a feat. I did think about making a hafling becuase I love em. But I don't see being very effective at what I want to do as one. Also I think humans get that class altenitive as well for fighters.
Sorry, just read small for haflings, On'y get the -1 now.... Maybe.
Ehh? Why?
Armor Spikes: You can have spikes added to your armor which allow you to deal extra piercing damage on a successful grapple attack. The spikes count as a martial weapon. If you aren't proficient with them, you take a -4 penalty on grapple checks when you try to use them. You can aslo blah blah blah... Seems pretty cut and dry you can and should grapple with armor spikes....
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I would advise, strongly, against the Heirloom Weapon trait, since, if you took it for armor spikes, you would have to get those spikes on a crappy set of armor, and never be able to upgrade that armor without losing the Heirloom Weapon bonus.
And I don't think there is any feasible path to upgrade even that crappy armor to magical, since you would have to have two Masterwork transformations cast, along with at least one upgrade to +1 at the same time, in order to have a minimum capability to do the upgrade. Ugly.
I would advise either looking at a Human Lore Warden Fighter, since they get a level-based scaling bonus to both general CMB & CMD; or Human Tetori Monk, as they are grapple specialists, so get some bonuses to their CMB & CMD in regards to grappling, and only need a ranged weapon to be fairly viable overall.
The human fighter starts out already proficient with armor spikes, and can take the human CMD alterative favored class bonus. Grapple and trip, say, since you would be going with IUS anyhow. Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple and another feat of your choice, as well. Fleet, Improved Initiative, Toughness, Combat Reflexes, Step Up, Dodge, even a ranged weapon related feat could all be good or useful choices.
The monk has a slightly more tight feat choice range, but would also start out with IUS and Improved Grapple, along with the choice of two more feats as a human.
To be honest, rogue would not be anywhere near the top of my list as a grappler. Most of their damage ability disappears, since a grappled target is not flat-footed nor denied their Dex mod to AC, just taking a penalty to their Dex and AC. And it makes the rogue, already a squishy target, even squishier, since they also take the Dex & AC penalties.
Main reason for the Rouge dilema...
Strangler (Combat)
Throttling the life out of enemies is second nature to you.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, sneak attack +1d6, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike.
Benefit: Whenever you successfully maintain a grapple and choose to deal damage, you can spend a swift action to deal your sneak attack damage to the creature you are grappling.
Being human I would take it at lvl 3, lvl 2 I would rouge talent: combat trick for Agile manuvers.
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Rogues can make a decent grappler. Be careful though because you will not have the AC a fighter or monk has and anything that doesn't use a two handed weapon will still be doing decent damage against you vs your grappled AC! Basically you don't want to grapple everything just because you can, casters are a great target for grappling, Aboleths you should shy away from.
I would think grappling the guy with the two-handed weapon would be the smart move seeing as once grappled he can't hit me with it XD. As for the AC. People keep mentioning Lore Wardens, however
Scholastic (Ex): Lore wardens gain 2 additional skill ranks each level. These ranks must be spent on Intelligence-based skills. All Intelligence-based skills are class skills for lore wardens. This ability replaces the lore warden’s proficiency with medium armor, heavy armor, and shields.
So I would be stuck with light armor as it is. I almost want to take 3 levels of fighter lore warden, then go into rouge. Just build a dex heavy fighter as apposed to str. Would only be 2 sneak attacks behind.. well 3 since I would have to wait till lvl 6 to get strangler.
Is there anywhere that says I can't remove my spikes and have them put onto diffrent armor? Or that my armor and the spike HAVE to upgrated at the same time?
Thanks for all the input.
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Rogues can make a decent grappler. Be careful though because you will not have the AC a fighter or monk has and anything that doesn't use a two handed weapon will still be doing decent damage against you vs your grappled AC! Basically you don't want to grapple everything just because you can, casters are a great target for grappling, Aboleths you should shy away from.
Also be careful grappling with that rogue if there are multiple enemies, especially if they can come over to beat on you while you are grappling. That Dex penalty makes you a sweet target if that caster has a summoned aboleth around, too.
That would be something that could make even mooks become a serious threat.
Having additional combat maneuvers as options, along with straight damage options, might make that Lore Warden a more appealing option...
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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As I understand it, armor spikes are built into the armor and cannot be removed / transferred to another set -- although I've never seen this question before so who knows.
Grappling wise - check out the tetori monk archetype. You wouldn't be armor spiking, but you could still have fun with grappling, as they are probably the best grapplers out there.
A barbarian of some sort might be worth considering as well. The bonus to Strength and health would help supplement your grappling prowess, as well as your durability. A invulnerable barbarian would also fit well, thematically. Or even the armored hulk.
Finally, there's always the ragechemist option if you want to beef that strength and thus grapple -- although I find that this particular archetype reeks of cheese...
Yeah, trying to avoid to much cheese. I want to make a good first impression. XD. There are monks, but... I don't really feel monkey latley. Right now I'm thinking lore master 3 -> rouge. Just trying to figure out how to be less gimpy those first few levels. 1d6+2 for my dmg output makes the munckin in me cringe, but starting lvl 5 would be +6 CMB +11CMD w/out stats/BAB or gear calculated in. Prob +14 CMB +31CMD at lvl 5. (for grappling anyways) And I think I like those numbers.
As for the spikes, you can have them added to your armor at any time, why not remove them and ads them to a diffrent set of armor. Just pay the 50 GP agin for the service of removing and adding them. I donno, I don't think there is a rule addressing it.
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As for the spikes, you can have them added to your armor at any time, why not remove them and ads them to a diffrent set of armor. Just pay the 50 GP agin for the service of removing and adding them. I donno, I don't think there is a rule addressing it.
Where does it say armor spikes can be added at any time?
To be honest, like making the armor masterwork, I have always considered armor spikes to be something built into the armor at creation, not something added in later. For many armor types, I don't even see how you could add them later without virtually destroying the armor.
Armor Spikes: You can have spikes ADDED to your armor which allow you to deal extra piercing damage on a successful grapple attack...yadda yadda.
I would not assume that every armor shop carries both spiked and non-spiked versions of their armor. Even more so since we will be dealing with light armors. Could some plate mails be built with the spikes built in to make it look more awesome? Sure, but just the same they could simply change out the rounded shoulder/ elbows or w/e for more spiky versions.
(On a side note, how does one quote other posts on this forum? I'm actually new to the whole forum thing too. Thanks)
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Hmm... as a Rogue you could take Sap Adept, then when you deal SA damage in a grapple you would get to add +2 per dice. That would help a lot with only being able to make 1 attack per round until 9th level.
(On a side note, how does one quote other posts on this forum? I'm actually new to the whole forum thing too. Thanks)
Hit 'Reply' on the top-right of the post you want to quote.