One of the players in of my weekly groups wants to play a 'smart, brash and someone reckless' monster hunter but doesn't like how magicky the inquisitor is or how nature and animal centric the ranger is. We are trying to get them a little away from playing paladins over and over. They are a decent player in a semi-optimized, roleplay heavy group. They are very focused on the idea of playing a reliant on his own wits, strength and guts monster hunter character but having a lot of trouble coming up with crunch for the idea. I'm trying to help but given the 'not really wanting to deal with innate magical ability thing" I'm a bit at a loss. (I usually play some sort of caster.)
How is the Ranger "animal centric"? Animal companion and wild empathy?
And the animal companion can be traded out for a bonus to his group instead.
If you don't want spellcasting at all, there's the Skirmisher and Trapper Ranger archetypes (replace the spellcasting ability). If you don't like Favored Enemy being locked into a choice, then the Guide is a nice option (which also takes out the hunter's bond/animal companion with a terrain bond).
You could even combine them... make a Skirmisher Guide Ranger.
Trophy Hunter archetype also replaces the hunter's bond, but it is definitely more animal centric in it's abilities (hunting animals, though it's tracking abilities is pretty cool).
I have had this same exact problem and have come up with no good answer. Dealing with the flavor of a class can be difficult when none of the classes fit the feel of the character you want to play.
Barbarian could be good. Assuming he wants to be 'smart' and quantify that in the actual build, Urban barbarian for controlled rage might do (though, he could just go standard barb and, say, not dump int or something like that. Being smart doesn't need the class to go with it).
Echoing Kaisoku here a bit, but Skirmisher archetype might do nicely for him. For starters, he can choose to bond with the party, not an animal (though again, all rangers can do that). The archetype drops spellcasting, but none of the other class features are changed.
What he gets are hunter's tricks, starting at 5th level. Some of them are geared towards animal companions, but others involve more general purpose things that can fit well.
Chameleon Step (Ex): The ranger can move up to twice his speed as a move action. The ranger does not take any penalty on Stealth checks for movement during this move. This move provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.
Defensive Bow Stance (Ex): The ranger can use this trick as a swift action. Until the start of his next turn, his ranged attacks do not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Distracting Attack (Ex): The ranger can use this trick as a free action before he makes an attack. If the attack hits, the target takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls for 1 round.
Surprise Shift (Ex): The ranger can move 5 feet as a swift action. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity and does not count as a 5-foot step.
Tangling Attack (Ex): The ranger can use this attack as a free action when he makes an attack. If the attack hits, the target is entangled for 1 round.
Trick Shot (Ex): As a standard action, the ranger can make a ranged attack that ignores concealment (but not total concealment), soft cover, and partial cover.
Vengeance Strike (Ex): The ranger can use this trick as an immediate action when an enemy adjacent to him hits an ally with a melee or ranged attack. The ranger can make a single melee attack at his highest base attack bonus against the creature who attacked his ally.
So... there's a thought.
Alternatively, he could go with a fighter and/or one of its archetypes.
One of the players in of my weekly groups wants to play a 'smart, brash and someone reckless' monster hunter but doesn't like how magicky the inquisitor is or how nature and animal centric the ranger is. We are trying to get them a little away from playing paladins over and over. They are a decent player in a semi-optimized, roleplay heavy group. They are very focused on the idea of playing a reliant on his own wits, strength and guts monster hunter character but having a lot of trouble coming up with crunch for the idea. I'm trying to help but given the 'not really wanting to deal with innate magical ability thing" I'm a bit at a loss. (I usually play some sort of caster.)
May or may not be what you're looking for, but I have a character concept that has been a blast:
Tiefling Paladin, Oath of Vengeance, Oath against Fiends
Pitspawn, Favored class option for Paladin
Attributes (20 point buy)
STR - 12 (+2 racial bonus)
DEX - 14
CON - 14
INT - 12
WIS - 7
CHA - 16 (+2 racial bonus, +1 at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th)
Traits:
Suicidal
Purity of Faith
Feats:
1st - Fey Foundling (reflavored as Fiendish Birth)
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
The idea is that the Tiefling has devoed himself to the eradication of fiends and thier minions, and in so doing hopes to somehow quell the chaotic fire of his blood. For him a Paladin's calling and code aren't a hindrance, they're an escape, a refuge that he can devote himself to in order to master the fiery temper and savage impulses that well up inside ofhim.
Between the benefits of Fey Foundling and the Tiefling's favored class option, his Lay on Hands are very, very potent and with so many he's pretty much unkillable. In addition, those extra LoH's can be used to fuel his Smites - given his high Charisma bonus, his Smites are devastating and more than offset the penalty of either bow or blade. His standard armament is full plate, falchion and composite bow.
If you like this concept I can make some excellent suggestions regarding spells... if you don't, well I just might have something even better.
The urban barbarian and skirmisher ranger both look like very good options that I hadn't really looked at. I'll definitely suggest a good hard look at both of to him tomorrow. DG, that is an interesting paladin build, I may steal it or something similar to it in the future but we are trying to get him away from playing yet another paladin, again.
The urban barbarian and skirmisher ranger both look like very good options that I hadn't really looked at. I'll definitely suggest a good hard look at both of to him tomorrow. DG, that is an interesting paladin build, I may steal it or something similar to it in the future but we are trying to get him away from playing yet another paladin, again.
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so... when you say monter hunter do you mean the video game?
or do you mean a character designed to kill super powerful natural and unnatural non sentient creatures?
if you want build off the video game a gunfighter would fit the crossbowman. a standard fighter would fit the great sword theme.
if you want a "hunter of the supernatural" a trapsmith ranger is a very good way to go. you lose out on spell casting, boo, but you gain the ability to craft any trap from the CRB or anything your gm allows, you have a ton of skill points to toss out and you gain the ability to focus on killing what ever type of npc you want.
I am playing a PC with a very similar concept right now. Ranger with Spirit Ranger and Infiltrator archetypes work well for dropping the tree huger feeling of ranger. Also infiltrator has a very nice "He who hunts monsters" flavor to it.
Oh.. that looks interesting in DG.
TheSideKick, hunter of the supernatural is what I'm getting.
I'll take a look at the infiltrator and forward that to him as well!
Thank y'all.
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I'm playing a character in Rob McCreary's Skull & Shackles campaign that's obsessed with hunting sea monsters. I wanted him to use a harpoon so I started him with two levels of fighter to take care of the feats, then took two levels of ranger. Three-Coppers Jules is only 4th level, but so far it's working out.
Ranger. Guide, Skirmisher, Infiltrator, etc. With a Little Refluffing the Ranger can fit anything.
I have a Ranger who is basically like a trained Soldier/Sniper/Hunter in Modern Times.
What does he really need to be a "monster hunter?" He needs ranks in the appropriate skills and possibly some feats to enhance those skills. Other than that, he just needs to know how to use that information. I honestly think that he can pull that off with just about any class. I would consider classes that let me share teamwork feats so that I can emulate sharing my knowledge with the party, and I would look for ways to improve Aid Another, again to emulate sharing knowledge.
He doesnt NEED anything to be a monster hunter. Beowulf was almost always stat'd as a fighter when anyone talked about him over the years.
Fighter needs sword, shield. Time to hunt monsters. Wait knowledge? Looks like a monster to me! all the knowledge i need (flavor can all be roleplayed with a vanilla fighter)
Beowulf though seems like a Gestalted Fighter/Ranger...
Mainly because at one point it basically states he was Two-Weapon Fighting...
& thinking of the description of his Attacking... Am I the only one that wants a 4th TWF Attack Feat?
can't he just have TWF? or odes he have to have the green leotards, leather tabard and long cone hood that goes with being a ranger too?
I was thinking of to get all his Abilities you would either need a High Point Buy or getting the feats without Pre-Requisites.
meh...Two weapon warrior maybe... i never got the sense he had any extra particular knowledge of monsters or could fight one specific type particularly well. Just blood slash hack slay!
Poor grendle, cant eat a few citizens without getting a bad rep!
I was thinking more of the Guide Archetype. Maybe with one of the Non-Spellcasting Variants.
Really the Problem is he would need around 6 Skill Points for the "Exploration" Skills. He needs STR for Damage. DEX For TWF & Archery. Moderate CON. Probably a 12-13 WIS. & unsure on CHA.
Arcane archer bard. Bardic knowledge gives you a great boost to monster lore, and all the AA abilities can be swapped to deal with different DRs and energy resists...
Arcane archer or arcane duelist? Why the emphasis on archer?
"Exploration skills?" My 1E fighters never had "exploration skills".... look! a locked door! I make my OWN door!
Arcane archer or arcane duelist? Why the emphasis on archer?
"Exploration skills?" My 1E fighters never had "exploration skills".... look! a locked door! I make my OWN door!
I think it just vibes well. When I think hunter I think bows... And spears... And rifles... But that's only because I'm not allowed to play with claymores anymore (the mines, that is).
Acrobatics, Climb, Perception, Stealth, Survival, & Swim.
All of which in the Full Epic he does in some form.
Tumbling to dodge an Attack, Climbing a Cliff, Noticing a sign that the attack he dodges was coming, Sneaking up on Grendel, Navigating the Woods, Swims in a Lake after getting knocked into it.