Hello,
I'm about to start a SS campaign with some friends.
We'll be a 3 chars party, and the other players will play a sorcerer and a rogue.
I'm going play the melee(tankish)/healer, and I need some help in choosing wich class/build I can play and optimizing it.
I can use virtually everything from paizo.
Thanks in advance for you help!
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Hello,
I'm about to start a SS campaign with some friends.
We'll be a 3 chars party, and the other players will play a sorcerer and a rogue.I'm going play the melee(tankish)/healer, and I need some help in choosing wich class/build I can play and optimizing it.
I can use virtually everything from paizo.Thanks in advance for you help!
Best melee/tank/healer I have ever played - but then I never play clerics. He's a Tiefling Paladin who has dedicated his life to the eradication of the fiends that spawned him and blames them for the chaos and evil of the world. He's pretty much unkillable, can hit VERY hard with Smites at range or in melee, has some potent spells and while his Lay on Hands is really intended to power his tankishness and extra Smites, he is more than capabale of using Wands of Cure Wounds between combats.
Demon Spawn Tiefling Paladin (Oath of Vengeance & Oath Against Fiends)
Tiefling favored class option for Paladins
Attributes: (20 point buy)
STR - 14 (+2 racial bonus incl.)
DEX - 14
CON - 14
INT - 10 (-2 racial bonus incl.)
WIS - 7 (+1 at 20th)
CHA - 18 (+2 racial bonus incl., +1 at 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th)
Traits:
Suicidal (1/day make yourself target of an attack directed against an adjacent creature as an immediate action)
Purity of Faith (+1 Will saves, +1 saves vs. spells and effects from evil outsiders)
Feats:
1st - Fey Foundling
3rd - Power Attack
5th - Deadly Aim
7th - Extra Lay on Hands
9th - Extra Lay on Hands
11th - Extra Lay on Hands
13th - Extra Lay on Hands
15th - Extra Lay on Hands
17th - Extra Lay on Hands
19th - Greater Mercy
Basic Equipment:
Fullplate Armor, Falchion, Composite Bow
If you have any questions about how he plays or need suggestions about spell selection, just let me know. He seems kind of simplistic but he's not and he's incredibly effective at killing bad guys and keeping friendlies alive.
Well Paladin is good choice, but takes some levels before he can really keep up with healing the party....
It's also a bummer if you dont want to play LG or might clash with other party members.
I dont know how much you can optimize tank AND healer.
so you need to pick one as the MOST optimized with the other being his minor.
Paladin is a better tank, Cleric is a better healer.
Druid... he's can be about as good as a healer as a paladin, some might say better.
he doesn't tank as well as either, especially at lower levels.
But he is the MOST versatile of the three.
In a party with only three guys, the animal companion and summon natures ally will come in handy.
The majority of the campaign happens in the savage wilds, so good fun for a druid, specifically.
so because you said tank-ish. I would say the animal/summons make up for the lack of direct ooph a paly would give you. plus all the out of combat versatility. My vote is go druid.
Having doe that AP I'm going to drool over some books and come back with some suggestions that wont spoiler anything.
Be right back.
Ok in ten minutes, I came up with two concepts. Both pretty exotic.
1) Catfolk Pack lord druid, or should I say CAT lord. have two cats for Acs.
2) Dhampir Druid, shape shift into a wolf, summon bats, take the feat from blood of the night that lets you take 1/2 from your own heals spells instead of trying to kill yourself.
would be the Spookiest.Druid.Ever.
IF your DM was cool with an Evil druid, you could even take the blood drinker feat... just choose your target race wisely... never know what you are going to find out there.
Wow, that's a freaky druid....
I'm going to look at optimizing a 'normal' one now... if you dont like the idea of one of those exotic ones... lol
I think Menhir Druid would be a fun one to play in this campaign was well. However you lose a forest-y ability or two and there is no harm in going straight druid.
No builds/feats specifically stood out as extra healy or tanky.
The cat lord one would give you the most low level combat strength.
I'd pick up precise strike teamwork feat for me and my cats, and maybe some other teamwork feats as well.
And some of those claw and tooth fighting feats.
another Tank/Healer possibility is to go Inquisitor/Cleric as some kind of undead hunting priest.
Will give you some interesting synergy in a few feats and abilities and when you multiclass you'll get a bunch of low level heal slots available. Plus some channel.
Use one domain from cleric to be the same domain from inquisitor to pick up an animal companion, so your AC will always be full level.
Then you could use your second domain from cleric to pick up an inquisition.... could be interesting....
Here's another idea.
Level 1 Oracle
Level 2 Armored hulk barbarian
level 3 Oracle
Level 4 more armored hulk
Level 5 Oracle
Level 6 Oracle
Level 7 Rage Prophet
Assuming a 20 point buy because you only have 3 chars in the group:
S 17 (+2 from human)
Dex 12
Con 14 (+1 at level 4)
Int 8
Wis 13
Cha 17( +2 from human)
Take the dual talent human which gives you 2 , +2 to any stat.
You could min max this build with taking the battle oracle route and rage out with your cage out.... or Go oracle of life.
You can take revelations like channel and enhanced cures. so there a choice if you want to go more chop or more heal.
Rage prophet is good because you will still advance in channeling as you go up in level.
another variant would be to go nature oracle and mounted fury barbarian, and still go rage prophet, except here you get the animal companion. It would be similar to the druid build tho, just with rage.
My vote, if you dont want a pack lord cat folk, or a Paladin. The Armored hulk/Oracle of life/Rage prophet would get you where you want to go.
Invest in some plate and a heavy shield, and you'll have a good AC.
But it's a jungle out there, dont step in any quicksand!
Thanks a lot for the advices!
Inquisitor and Druid are my option right now.
Our GM told us to think about heavy armor in a jungle setting (heat and humidity), so I didn't took in consideration the Paladin (and Cleric too).
And sorry, no Dhampyr (GM hates vampires :P ).
We got the stat rolls and they are 18,15,15,13,9,7.
For druid I'll try the cat lord build you told me, it seems interesting and could be more flexible in case a new player will join us (and hopefuly takes one of the roles).
I'm also intrigued by the inquisitor, I never playerd it and never used teamwork feats a lot, but I'm not sure what build I should use, or at least how to boost healing (and what domains/inquisition to take).
Ps: sorry for the bad english
One of my favorite characters was an oracle / paladin. This one has great synergy with the campaign, and a paladin of Erastil combined with an oracle of nature is a solid roleplaying choice too. Also, never wear heavy armor thanks to solid oracle abilities.
Stats would be:
STR - 15
DEX - 13
CON - 15
INT - 9
WIS - 7
CHA - 18
Or use Dex as a dump stat, as you'll be using CHA for AC. You can rearrange as you see fit between Dex, Int, and Wis. Whatever works best with your character concept. Or play something that boosts Cha and either Dex, Int, or Wis, like an aasimar or a human with the alternate racial trait, or a catfolk (which again has good synergy, but takes a penalty to Wis).
Honestly, your saves should be fine pretty quick with multi-classing and the Paladin's Divine Grace ability coupled with your awesome CHA. Your smites won't be doing a lot of extra damage, but you'll be hitting consistently when you do smite, and your AC will be high when it matters. Also, DR, the real reason Smite is awesome.
Play something like a Nature oracle, and get awesome skills for the campaign, like Survival, and the use of Barkskin at 6th level. Pick up a mount and then the absolutely amazing Nature's Whispers for added synergy.
Now you can wear light armor (you should have a 22 Cha at level 8, for a +6 Cha bonus to AC), the ability to cast Barkskin for a +2 Nat Armor bonus, you'll be walking around with a shield and casting when you need to for buffing or healing, and wading in, using your mount for mobility or as a flanking buddy for your rogue, and with saves through the roof. When you do face the big bad of the day, use smite, and go in with a nice +6 to your attack rolls. If you want, you can pick up Power Attack so you can lay down extra hurt, but as long as you've got his attention, you should have a +12 to your AC at level 8 (or higher with CHA items), and incredibly hard to fail saves.
And, of course, you've got Cure spells and the ability to use Cure wands, plus the added bonus of Lay on Hands as a swift action on yourself.
Clerics dont wear heavy armor in pathfinder, medium only. they would need to get a feat for heavy armor.
If you were to play a druid the cat folk pack lord with those stats, I would:
S 15
D 18 (20 as a cat folk)
C 13
I 7
W 15 (13 as a cat folk)
Ch 9 (11 as a cat folk)
as a trait you can take cat claws to replace natural hunter, giving you an innate natural weapon.
Take dodge as a first level feat
Wearing leather armor that gives you
18 AC
a heavy wooden shield could bump that to
20 AC
you can easily fight with a scimitar and shield or natural attacks depending on the situation.
you won't get the second cat until higher level, but you get the idea.
High armor class, animal companion, teamwork feats, cast spells (healing) etc.
Option to The Inquisitor.
We got the stat rolls and they are 18,15,15,13,9,7
S 15
D 13
C 18
I 9
W 15
Ch 7
character should start out wearing breast plate, carrying a heavy shield.
His AC will be 19
If you are a half elf you can take the Ancestral Arms trait and get an extra weapon prof.
You may not need this, depending on what God you choose.
But Scimitar or Longsword would be a good choice. Bastard sword isn't a bad one either.
IF you want to go the lawful good route Erastil gives you the animal domain.
You pick up a second level in cleric and also choose animal domain for one of your domains.
for the second domain take: Zeal inquisition,
Alternate your levels in inquisitor and cleric, as you see fit, with channeling and healing spells all over the place.
Will make a fine combat healer.
Your animal companion would not need to take teamwork feats, as the inquisitor gets solo tactics. So your Animal companion would be built differently, allowing it offset slightly the lower level of it, compared to the druid, but still be able to allow the inquisitor to get the beenfits of the teamwork feats (as well as other party members)