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I would think inquisitor is the way to go. Stacking bane weapon with the destruction judgment and Destruction domain power, plus Precise Strike and maybe divine favor and wrath nets a pretty nice damage bonus on each strike - at 6th level, it's something like 3d6+12 before any ability modifier.
Maybe Weapon Finesse & Dervish Dance to cut down on MAD, although feats could get tight. Grab Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter (can you do both?) as traits so you can add Empowered or Dazing to your flameblade later on.
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Why wouldn't you get Dex to damage? Dervish Dance grants Dex to damage on melee attacks with a scimitar. Flame Blade is a melee touch attack that you "wield as if it was a scimitar."
I'd say "you wield as if it was a scimitar" makes the scimitar a weapon for the purposes of bane, but I can see why some would argue otherwise.
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Huh, I guess I was thinking of Dex to damage as precision damage. Shows what you get for applying common sense to RAW.
What about a paladin? You could do four levels of oracle first to get flame blade and a mystery or two, then paladin for smite evil. Going straight paladin you could still get flame blade by 7th, and the Unsanctioned Knowledge feat would get you some more fun spells like wrath, haste and divine power. Your caster level will suck, though.
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I think you'd be better going for a Wisdom-based caster due to your racial mods. Oracle puts off 2nd level spells for another level, and the Battle mystery doesn't offer anything very compelling. I think your earlier idea is your best bet:
Crusader Cleric of Sarenrae, with a dip into Divine Scion at 5th for earlier access to Weapon Specialization, maybe nabbing the Channel Smite and Guided Hand feats along the way to make it a more SAD PC.
I don't see any point in losing spells for Crusader Cleric if you go Divine Scion for access to Weapon Specialization, etc. Libicocco's access to Destruction is better than Sarenrae if you can get away with being LE and can access the Optimistic Gambler trait (campaign trait from a 3.5 AP, so maybe not). Otherwise Magical Lineage and Wayan Spellhunter for Dazing spell.
Mystic Past Life doesn't appear to limit you choosing spells from a single divine class, so you could still grab wrath off the inquisitor list (since it stacks with divine favor and eventually gives you Improved Critical, as well) and some other goodies like stoneskin as a 4th-level spell.
Cleric into Holy Vindicator also could be interesting if you went Libicocco (for negative channeling) and focused on Channel Smite for extra damage. At Cleric 7/HV 5, you could Channel Smite for +7d6 damage plus 1d6 bleed and sicken the target on a failed save, making it that much easier to daze.
Inquisitor looks better imo assuming you can add the judgment damage!
Judgement seems fine, but I am not sure about Bane.Flame Blade gives you a weapon (a scimitar). Why would Bane not work with it ?
Because it is not a scimitar, though you wield it like one.
A naga aspirant (druid)is pretty good if you can live without the spontaneous summoning and have a desire to play a nagaji race, it gives a druid some interesting spells to add to it's list.
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A PC who focuses on Flame Blade ?
What is Flame Blade ?
1) It is a scimitar for most purposes (but not all : it is still a spell and not an item thus it cannot be disarmed or sundered).
1-a) It can be used with Dervish Dance (to hit only)
1-b) It carries the same penalties as a scimitar as far as proficiency is concerned
1-c) It can be used as part of a FoB if Crusader's Flurry applies (for example, Cleric of Sarenrae)
1-d) It might be usable with weapon-dependent abilities such as spellstrike, bane, arcane strike (check with GM)
2) It deals fire damage.
3) It is a spell
3-a) It bypasses DR
3-b) It appears on the Druid list
3-b-1) A samsaran with a divine spellcasting class can select it
3-c) Metamagic feats can be applied to it
4) It is a touch attack.
4-a) Power attack does not work
4-b) It does not add STR (or DEX if using Dervish Dance) to damage
4-c) It targets Touch AC
So. You need
- to be proficient with the scimitar
- to take Metamagic feats
- to add non-physical (ie, no Power Attack, nor 2-handed style) extra damage to your attack, such as Sneak attack, Bane, Smite Evil, Favored Enemy, Weapon Specialization
BAB is not a high requirement
Dervish Dance is a 2-feat tax to hit with DEX instead of STR. Useful if you have a high DEX build already, but otherwise not useful.
That is my summary of it. Not sure it helps though :-/
A melee touch attack may work with finesse only... the only troubling part of the spells wording is that it is treated as a scimitar, which means what exactly? Does that mean it has the same crit range? does that mean it can't be finessed? Why is it considered a scimitar? mechanically? Is it just fluff?
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For some reason, Elemental Spell does not change the descriptor.
True, but it won't benefit from Burning Spell unless the damage type is Acid or Fire. Same for Flaring Spell (damage type must be Fire, Electricity or caused by a Light spell).
Most effects I know of check the damage type rather than the spell descriptor. However some esoteric abilities such as the Ice Magic of the Winter Witch Prestige Class do check the descriptor.
No Flame Blade for the Winter Witch.
Can you perform Combat Maneuvers with a Flame Blade?
No disarm or trip I would say, sunder is a possibility and other maneuvers do not really use the weapon, so you should be able to.
i don't see why you couldn't do cmb attacks with it, although realistically you shouldn't be able to do anything but burn people, i see no rule against it. i guess if you can do cmb attacks with a brilliant energy weapon, you should be able to do them with a flame blade.
bbt there is a class in kobold quarterly #21 that is called a shaman, which is basically a spontaneous druid caster using the druid spell list (just like oracle for cleric spells). would that help at all?
yea i guess it is 3rd party, i never noticed. i always thought KQ was just paizo version of dragon magazine.
blackbloodtroll - What did you decide?
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The PC is in the "ready position".
With one campaign nearly ending, and another being quite deadly, I know I will need a PC.
It is right next to John Smith in the ready position.
bbt there is a class in kobold quarterly #21 that is called a shaman, which is basically a spontaneous druid caster using the druid spell list (just like oracle for cleric spells). would that help at all?
I bought that issue so that I could have a spontaneous caster that focused on using flame blade. Strangely enough the shaman is not proficient with scimitars.
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Interesting to see this necro'd.
I think a follower of Sarenrae is the best way to go, with her custom spell rules:
Unique Spell Rules
Source Inner Sea Gods pg. 139
Cleric
Sunbeam can be prepared as a 7th-level spell
Sunburst can be prepared as a 8th-level spell
Flame Blade can be prepared as a 3rd-level spell
Inquisitor
Sunbeam can be prepared as a 5th-level spell
Sunburst can be prepared as a 6th-level spell
Sun Metal can be prepared as a 1st-level spell
Flame Blade can be prepared as a 3rd-level spell
Paladin
Sunbeam can be prepared as a 4th-level spell
Flame Blade can be prepared as a 2nd-level spell
Ranger
Sunbeam can be prepared as a 4th-level spell
Daylight can be prepared as a 3rd-level spell
Flame Blade can be prepared as a 2nd-level spell
was just going to add that when I saw it on Nethys
I love the idea of this, but I think this build needs the ability to cast Blame Blade spontaiously using a prepaired spell slot
Edit; Signature Spell
sorry thats a third part feat, Preferred spell is what you want
If it's just for thematic reason of using a flame blade, i think the Occult Adventure Pyrokineticist with kinetic blade is the way to go.
Been thinking about this build (I want to make one too) and a Cleric sounds best for me, but have you concidered Variant Multiclassing a Magus? (if availabe) that way you can use your Arcane pool to give you Flame Blade Enchantments.
Hm I had a similar idea a while back using the sacred fist (war priest) to flurry with the flame blade. It's been a while since I've tinkered with the idea but the image of a flurrying spell perfected (ascended spell) flame blade is quite fun.
Sorry to necro, but I realised that the Hunter might be the perfect class for this build, as they get the Druid spell list.
They get Flameblade as a second level Spell, and can cast it from level 4, they have access to Ranger Combat Styles increasing their repertoire without large feat investments, and has a 3/4 BAB.
Although a big flaw is the lack of access to Guided Hand, which would hurt a WIS baised character.
I still really want to see this build work. I don't think the current Cleric idea really does, as nearly all of the builds feats seem to on be making him a acceptable attacker, not a good one.
what are some spell and feat combos we could use to give the build a bit more crunch?
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Sorry to necro, but I realised that the Hunter might be the perfect class for this build, as they get the Druid spell list.
They get Flameblade as a second level Spell, and can cast it from level 4, they have access to Ranger Combat Styles increasing their repertoire without large feat investments, and has a 3/4 BAB.
Although a big flaw is the lack of access to Guided Hand, which would hurt a WIS baised character.
I still really want to see this build work. I don't think the current Cleric idea really does, as nearly all of the builds feats seem to on be making him a acceptable attacker, not a good one.
what are some spell and feat combos we could use to give the build a bit more crunch?
Hunters don't have access to Ranger Combat Styles.