My next character for society play. Half Orc Paladin (mostly)


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


Just thought I'd do a quick write up for the next character I'm running in PFS to see if there's anything I've overlooked. I'm not going for pure optimization in favor of adhering to a specific theme. It's a variation of the Redeemer archetype available to half orc paladins with a bit of Unarmed Fighter to give it a more eastern feel and to qualify for Living Monolith at sixth level.

Lvl 1

Str:18, Dex:12, Con:13, Wis:10, Char:14.
(Trying to go for balance here. I've made other character's who take huge dump stats in order to minmax, but that feels wrong with the theme and not overly neccessary to do my job)

Race: Half Orc
-Shamman's Apprentice (gets me Endurance as a bonus for sacrificing points in a skill he'd prefer to never use)

Class: Unarmed Fighter
(taking Snake Style along with the built in Imp. Unarmed Atk. Unfortunetly it also means I can't wear heavy armor until second level, which is part of the reason I've chosen the defensive Snake over something like Dragon or Boar.)

Traits: Survivor (+1 init and sense motive, stacks I believe with bonus from snake style.)
Blade of Mercy (Fits my theme and comes in handy during society modules. Bit redundant with Redeemer features but worth it I think.)

Skills: Diplomacy and Sense Motive.

Feats: Starting out with Endurance, Improved Unarmed, and Snake Style, I'm leaning towards Weapon Focus for my Naginata for 1st lvl bonus feat. I'll need to grab Iron Will at some point before sixth to qualify for Living Monolith. Other than that, I'm undecided.

He's wearing Lamillar Armor at first level which leaves him with a 15 AC. Not ideal, but the Snake style should help and he's using a reach weapon so I'm not overly worried about surviving to second level where he can begin his paladin carreer and get some decent defenses.

Essentially, the plan is to take Paladin up until 6 when I qualify for the Living Monolith prestige class. Initially, it'll give me a swift action Enlarge Person 3 times a day which I think will be fun with a reach weapon. Depending on how things are going, I may take more levels in LM or stick with Paladin through 12.

Basically he forgoes a tradition view of good and evil for a more bhudist approach (appropriate since he venerates Irori) While not a pacifist, he prefers diplomacy to violence. He'd just as soon live out his days sipping tea and meditating under a cherry tree somewhere. At the moment however, he's walking the earth, bringing aid to those who need it and redemption to those who many would consider too far gone. As a half orc, he's seen his share of prejudice and tries to look beyond a creature's race, believing only undead and possibly some outsiders to be truly evil.

Think somewhere between Kambei Shimada (the leader from 7 Samurai) and Uncle Iroh from Avatar:The Last Airbender.

Here's a link to the miniature I plan to use.
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/ogre%20mage/latest/65140

Anything I've missed or am unaware of?


you'll need to get Snake Style as your Fighter Bonus Feat and take Weapon Focus later because:

Unarmed Style
At 1st level, a unarmed fighter gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat and any single style feat as a bonus feat. The unarmed fighter need not meet all the prerequisites of the style feat he chooses, but style feats that grant additional uses of the Elemental Fist feat cannot be taken until the unarmed fighter has that feat.

This ability replaces the bonus feat at 1st level.


I liked your idea of fiddled around with it a bit. Here's a 6th level version I did.

Spoiler:

Monolith Dude (PFS)
Male Half-Orc Fighter (Unarmed Fighter) 1 Living Monolith 1 Paladin (Redeemer) 4
LG Medium Humanoid (human, orc)
Init +1; Senses darkvision; Perception +0
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 23, touch 12, flat-footed 22 (+10 armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 55 (5d10+1d8+12)
Fort +12 (+4 vs. hot or cold environments and to resist damage from suffocation), Ref +5, Will +9; +2 vs negative levels, death effects, and mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities orc ferocity (1/day); Immune fear, disease
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 Naginata +12/+7 (1d8+8/x4) and
. . Gauntlet (from Armor) +11/+6 (1d3+5/x2) and
. . Unarmed strike +11/+6 (1d3+5/x2)
Ranged Masterwork Composite longbow (Str +5) +8/+3 (1d8+5/x3)
Special Attacks merciful smite, smite evil (2/day)
Paladin (Redeemer) Spells Prepared (CL 1):
1 (1/day) Hero's Defiance
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 20, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +6; CMB +11; CMD 23
Feats Endurance, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Power Attack -2/+4, Snake Style
Traits Blade of Mercy
Skills Acrobatics -4 (-8 jump), Climb +4, Diplomacy +6 (+8 to influence creatures normally considered monstrous), Escape Artist -4, Fly -4, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (engineering) +4, Knowledge (history) +4, Knowledge (religion) +4, Linguistics +4, Ride -4, Sense Motive +11, Stealth -4, Swim +0 (+4 to resist nonlethal damage from exhaustion) Modifiers monstrous rapport
Languages Common, Orc, Sphinx
SQ aura of courage, aura of good, ka stone (3/day), lay on hands (2d6) (4/day), mercies (mercy [sickened]), paladin channel positive energy 2d6 (2/day) (dc 14
Other Gear +1 Full plate, +1 Naginata, Arrow, durable (10), Masterwork Composite longbow (Str +5), Amulet of natural armor +1, Belt of giant strength +2, Cloak of resistance +1, Ioun torch, Ring of protection +1, Dungeoneering kit, deluxe, 909 GP
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Aura of Courage +4 (10' radius) (Su) You are immune to Fear. Allies within aura gain a morale bonus to saves vs Fear.
Aura of Good (Ex) The paladin has an Aura of Good with power equal to her class level.
Blade of Mercy No penalty when inflicting nonlethal damage with a slashing weapon, +1 to nonlethal damage inflicted with a slashing weapon.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Endurance +4 to a variety of skill checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Immune to Fear (Ex) You are immune to all fear effects.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Ka Stone (3/day) (Su) +2 to save vs neg level, death & mind affects. Swift, enlarge person self.
Lay on Hands (2d6) (4/day) (Su) You can heal 2d6 damage, 4/day
Merciful Smite (Su) You can do nonlethal damage with your smite evil without a penalty.
Mercy (Sickened) (Su) When you use your lay on hands ability, it also removes the sickened condition.
Monstrous Rapport (Ex) +2 Diplomacy with monstrous creatures.
Orc Ferocity (1/day) If brought below 0 Hp, can act as though disabled for 1 rd.
Paladin Channel Positive Energy 2d6 (2/day) (DC 14) (Su) Positive energy heals the living and harms the undead; negative has the reverse effect.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Smite Evil (2/day) (Su) +2 to hit, +4 to damage, +2 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Snake Style Gain +2 on Sense Motive checks, and deal piercing damage with unarmed attacks


Thanks for the in depth reply dude. It's frankly more specific than I'd come up with so far.

Regarding the Weapon Focus, I think I was unclear. I realize the archetype replaces my bonus feat, and I was intending to use my normal level one feat for Weapon Focus. Unless I'm misreading it, the archetype only replaces the bonus fighter feat, and doesn't effect the regular feat all first level characters start with.

Since I'm gaining Endurance as an alternate racial ability, I don't need my first level feat to purchase it.

Or am I mistaken? For the record, I'd considered power attack as an alternative to weapon focus and, depending on how I'm feeling after my third module, I may well choose it instead when I lock my character in at second level.

EDIT: Composite Longbow was a nice touch.


Mcduff wrote:

Thanks for the in depth reply dude. It's frankly more specific than I'd come up with so far.

Regarding the Weapon Focus, I think I was unclear. I realize the archetype replaces my bonus feat, and I was intending to use my normal level one feat for Weapon Focus. Unless I'm misreading it, the archetype only replaces the bonus fighter feat, and doesn't effect the regular feat all first level characters start with.

Since I'm gaining Endurance as an alternate racial ability, I don't need my first level feat to purchase it.

Or am I mistaken? For the record, I'd considered power attack as an alternative to weapon focus and, depending on how I'm feeling after my third module, I may well choose it instead when I lock my character in at second level.

EDIT: Composite Longbow was a nice touch.

Thanks:) I read "bonus feat" as "fighter bonus feat" and apparently you already knew about that.

Since you're going to have lots of Enlarge Person, I'd probably use a Lucerne Hammer over a naginata. It does 1d12, or 3d6 when enlarged. I understand you might want to keep the theme oriental, but the Chinese were using a weapon called the "ji" as far back as the bronze age, and it's very similar to the lucerne hammer.


Yeah, I'm starting out with the naginata, in part because the miniature I chose is weilding one. By the time I hit sixth level though, I'll have had a chance to play around with other options and the hammer definitely sounds promising. I might also look into the Katana or Nodachi at some point.

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