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I've gotten this into my head and it seems ridiculous but I'm going to try it out next chance I get, especially if we start higher than 1st level.
Statting out for 20 points and 2 traits because that's a common baseline.
Half-elf Ranger (Guide)/Alchemist (Vivisectionist)
Str 16+2, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 8
Traits: ___ & ___
Level :: Class :: Feats, abilities, etc
01 :: Ranger 1 ::
02 :: Ranger 2 :: Weapon and Shield combat style; Improved Shield Bash
03 :: Ranger 3 :: Quick Draw
04 :: Ranger 4 ::
05 :: Ranger 5 :: Bludgeoner
06 :: Ranger 6 :: Shield Master
07 :: Alchemist 1 :: Sap Adept
08 :: Ranger 7 ::
09 :: Alchemist 2 :: Vestigal Arm; Extra Discovery: Vestigal Arm
10 :: Alchemist 3 ::
11 :: Alchemist 4 ::
12 :: Alchemist 5 :: Sap Master
13+ :: Alchemist 6+
Basically, start off sword and board, end up full attacking for 4 quickdraw shield bashes (5 with haste) at minimal attack penalty.
Thought?
Advice?
Anything I'm missing that makes this build not work the way I think it would?
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First, you only get the AC bonus from one shield, so there is no need to have 3. Second, the Vestigial Arm Discovery does not grant additional attacks. That means despite having extra arms you cannot utilize them to take more attacks then you normally would be able to.
Edit:
Benefit: The alchemist gains a new arm (left or right) on his torso. The arm is fully under his control and cannot be concealed except with magic or bulky clothing. The arm does not give the alchemist any extra attacks or actions per round, though the arm can wield a weapon and make attacks as part of the alchemist’s attack routine (using two-weapon fighting). The arm can manipulate or hold items as well as the alchemist’s original arms (for example, allowing the alchemist to use one hand to wield a weapon, another hand to hold a potion, and the third hand to throw a bomb). The arm has its own “hand” and “ring” magic item slots (though the alchemist can still only wear two rings and two hand magic items at a time).Special: An alchemist may take this discovery up to two times.
Emphasis mine.
You are limited to what your BAB allows, so if you don't have TWF you just get +6/+1 for example. If you have the TWF tree you gain a single extra attack each step, using the previous example with TWF and ITWF you would have +4/+4/-1/-1. The additional arms do not grant you attacks above and beyond that limit. You could however, dual wield two great swords if you so desired.
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I think u should scratch the str and go dex for the two-weapon fighting feat chain. Use to high crit weapons with agile on them and weapon finesse. With the extra arm carry a spiked heavy shield with bashing on it to do 1d10 damage. Pick up the shield feat that makes it were u crit u get a free shield bash. At end game with speed enchanted weapons u will get 5 main hand and 4 off hand attacks. All the attacks having a high chance to crit will give u, if ur lucky, an extra 9 free shield bashes for a total of 18 attacks in a round.
How do you plan on flat-footing enemies to trigger Sap Master?
The dual wielding great swords sounds like good advice... Or a great sword and a ranseur... You don't even need TWF, just stock up on 2HF feats and use two arms for reach, and two arms for close combat... Build into some feats that let you attack everything in range and you will be slicing and dicing and effing "s" up.
Darn it, there's always one caveat.
Look at it as an advantage. You keep the build, just tweak the premise... Take intimidate. If I saw a dude coming after me with a greatsword in to hands and pole arm ( in his other two!) I'd freak out and soil my undies... And I was an infantry medic... It's a sick visual dude!
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The dual wielding great swords sounds like good advice... Or a great sword and a ranseur... You don't even need TWF, just stock up on 2HF feats and use two arms for reach, and two arms for close combat... Build into some feats that let you attack everything in range and you will be slicing and dicing and effing "s" up.
The pole arm/great sword comb would be fun, never thought of that. You could also wield a great sword as your primary, a light weapon in your off hand, and a shield in your fourth hand. You don't get an attack from your shield but you do get its AC bonus while TWF with the great sword and light weapon.
What I like about the TWF with two handed weapons (Sabertooth Saw would be perfect) idea is with Double Slice you deal 1.5 Str damage with both attacks, you get 1.5 Power Attack on your primary, and .75 Power Attack on your off hand.
The reason I wanted to use shields was because Shield Master eliminates the two-weapon penalties for shield bashes. I tacked on the sap adept/bludgeoner stuff because it's also something I've been wanting to do and shields happen to be bludgeoning. The 4 arms thing was yet another thing I've been wanting to do but it looks like it doesn't combo with the rest.
The dual wielding great swords sounds like good advice... Or a great sword and a ranseur... You don't even need TWF, just stock up on 2HF feats and use two arms for reach, and two arms for close combat... Build into some feats that let you attack everything in range and you will be slicing and dicing and effing "s" up.The pole arm/great sword comb would be fun, never thought of that. You could also wield a great sword as your primary, a light weapon in your off hand, and a shield in your fourth hand. You don't get an attack from your shield but you do get its AC bonus while TWF with the great sword and light weapon.
What I like about the TWF with two handed weapons (Sabertooth Saw would be perfect) idea is with Double Slice you deal 1.5 Str damage with both attacks, you get 1.5 Power Attack on your primary, and .75 Power Attack on your off hand.
Great idea! Could it be a tower shield or would that screw up spell casting? Not that spells would be a primary feature here.
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Great idea! Could it be a tower shield or would that screw up spell casting? Not that spells would be a primary feature here.The dual wielding great swords sounds like good advice... Or a great sword and a ranseur... You don't even need TWF, just stock up on 2HF feats and use two arms for reach, and two arms for close combat... Build into some feats that let you attack everything in range and you will be slicing and dicing and effing "s" up.The pole arm/great sword comb would be fun, never thought of that. You could also wield a great sword as your primary, a light weapon in your off hand, and a shield in your fourth hand. You don't get an attack from your shield but you do get its AC bonus while TWF with the great sword and light weapon.
What I like about the TWF with two handed weapons (Sabertooth Saw would be perfect) idea is with Double Slice you deal 1.5 Str damage with both attacks, you get 1.5 Power Attack on your primary, and .75 Power Attack on your off hand.
As long as they are divine spells there is no arcane spell failure chance and Ranger casts divine spells so there is no problem. The only issue that I can see is that you would need to take a feat to gain proficiency with tower shields otherwise you will have a massive penalty to hit. You may be better off with just a heavy steel shield, but I say that because I'm not a fan of tower shields to begin with.
So basically, an alchemist with a vestigial limb and a fighter lvl could wear full plate, weild a greatsword, and carry a tower shield. A phalanx fighter could wield a polearm in one hand, a tower shield in the other, and throw bombs for ranged? And all this without spell failure... Broken much?