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So, I am thinking of creating a Samsaran PC, focusing on fighting with a Flame Blade.
Not sure how to go about it.
Taking the Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait opens up just about any spellcasting class.
Which one, is still unclear.
Any ideas?
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Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait allows me to add Flame Blade to other spell lists.
Elemental Spell can allow me to change the damage, and the Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter traits will keep the adjusted spell level down.
urban druid with Dervish Dance...?
By night, you are a disguised Vigilante/Assassin, your calling card is your flaming blade.
By day, your regular adventurer, perhaps wielding a more mundane and less flashy weapon.
That method permits races other than Samsaran.
Otherwise... whatever spell list you get it off of (Druid, ergo Divine) you must stay in a class of the same magical source. So, in your case, Divine caster class to gain benefit. So. Cleric. Oracle. Paladin. Ranger.
Its a touch attack, so full BAB doesn't help much. On the other hand, going the dervish Dance scimitar method would benefit from a low STR Power Attacking Ranger. However, you wouldn't be casting that spell for a long time, and not often when you do.
Ranger 2/Cleric X might be sexy though.
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So, when do you visit the 300 year old goblin in the swamp to learn how to use it?
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I have been scouring, and have at least one possible path sort worked out.
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.
That is only start on any one right now.
Any other ideas?
Yeah, Dervish Dance would add to attack, but since it's targeting touch it's not needed.
I'm thinking making a oracle with the flaming mystery would be pretty neat and full of flavor. I haven't run a crunch and while it might not be the most optimal thing ever it should do all right for itself.
Take Touch of Flame for your low levels until you get Flame Blade. Also the revelation seems like it should make your flame blade 'flamier' and add more fire damage when you hit level 11 (an additional 1d6).
At later levels you could even fight as a fire elemental which is pretty cool. Dip into sorcerer (elemental) for eschew materials, and get a bloodline OTHER than fire to add some much needed spell damage versatility. Make sure to pick up mage armor as a spell if you want to be an elemental and it's actually a decent amount of AC. At level 7 between mage armor, dex, and natural armor it's +8 in addition to whatever else you may have and it only gets better.
You could use produce flame, and just say it was scimitar shaped...
I found this for you -
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mwkm?Cleric-of-Sarenrae-and-Flame-Blade
Both of these sources were from the 3.5 era of Pathfinder products, so a GM using them may wish to consider any implications, and possibly extend their benefits to the newer casting classes as well.
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Elemental Spell does not seem to change the energy descriptor, just the damage.
Libicocco seems to be another deity choice.
Elemental Spell metamagic may not but the elemental bloodline of the sorcerer certainly does.
I did this with a 3.5 Warlock and a wand of Flame Blade. Felt like a Jedi...pretty fun. You get the whole push button - get sword- Lightsaber coolness.
The build was based around the fact they got massive bumps to UMD though. So Maybe go Arcane Duelist Bard in Pathfinder. UMD your wand and go to town on the bad guy? The nice thing about it is that you dont bog down your spell list just to cast Flame Blade 8 times a day.
BBT - I too think it is cool. But, I think it is very ineffective. I get that as a touch attack your hit percentage is going to be very high. I assume you have the appropriate traits and feats to avoid energy resistance. What are you doing to boost damage? 1d8+ cl/2 is great for a typical full caster, but not for combat character.
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Damage is an issue.
That is why getting Weapon Specialization is crucial.
This is why Libicocco might be a better option.
The Destruction Domain adds to damage, and the Torture Subdomain does too.
To pump the damage from Destructive Smite, I would need to also have a Couragous weapon.
To pump Painful Smite, I would need only pump my wisdom.
Channel Smite can add damage as well.
if its a scimitar, and most viable builds are 3/4 bab, then I would guess that your damage output would not be considerably higher if you were using one hand on a scimitar. I certainly wouldn't be using power attack with 3/4 bab unless I had some pretty huge to hit bonuses from somewhere.
I think a dervish of dawn would be thematic. Does the competence bonus from battle dance apply to a magic fire scimitar?
Hmmm, that's too bad. I kind of like the imagery. I was referring more to the competence bonus to damage, but never missing is cool too.
You can ignore the requirement for Flame Blade if you build the spell into a weapon/item.
By the Magic Item Creation Rules, you can create an item that uses a spell you cannot cast if you add 5 to the DC. As odd as this may sound, the Magic Item Creation rules explicitly state that you can ignore ANY requirement (except the item creation feat) for +5 to the DC; this includes the spell itself.
Thus, you could create a sword hilt that casts Flame Blade on itself a certain number of times per day (Or infinite on command word, your choice) and be any class you would like.
I did this with a 3.5 Warlock and a wand of Flame Blade. Felt like a Jedi...pretty fun. You get the whole push button - get sword- Lightsaber coolness.
The build was based around the fact they got massive bumps to UMD though. So Maybe go Arcane Duelist Bard in Pathfinder. UMD your wand and go to town on the bad guy? The nice thing about it is that you dont bog down your spell list just to cast Flame Blade 8 times a day.
A Soulknife does it better, honestly.
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Custom Magic items are not really an option.
Page of Spell Knowledge is another way to get the spell, but that sort of makes the PC item dependent.
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What about an Eldritch Knight? That'll provide eventual access to Weapon Specialization, and you could get there by going Admixture Wizard, which would let you change the blade damage type and provide Intense Spells, which should give you a little extra damage bonus. Of course, you would have to also dip Magaambyan Arcanist to get it on your spell list, which means the build won't really start working till about level 6 instead of 3.
Custom Magic items are not really an option.
Page of Spell Knowledge is another way to get the spell, but that sort of makes the PC item dependent.
So page of spell knowledge allows a divine spell to be cast by an arcane caster? Or does it simply allow you to expand your spell list if your a spontaneous caster?
Technically you need to have 1 Wizard level to qualify for Spell Mastery, which is a Pre-Req to enter the MA PrC.
Although nothing in the class is Wizard specific in any way, and should apply to Magus or Witch just fine.
(and if you don't mind not getting any benefit from Spontaneous Substitution of Prepared Spells, Sorceror/Bard as well)
The fluff of the PrC does involve studying at a Wizard school though,
although IMHO certainly Maguses could plausibly study at a Wizard school as well.
Getting semi-consistent additional damage seems what you want to make this really viable.
Magus has alot going for it in that regard... Inquisitor seems an alternative to Cleric here.
Also consider Rogues/Ninja, even via UMD/scroll they can rip things up with a Flame Blade.
Ah, but Magaambyan Arcanists can add druid spells to an arcane spellcaster's spell list. In fact, it's one of their primary features. So for an extra one-level dip, you open up a whole new set of options.
unfortunately the character would have to be level 8 before he could even get the Flame blade through this method. Not really what He is going for I bet.
Is that better than the above?
I didn't really think about in terms of better/worse comparisons... In the OP you wrote any casting class is open without specifying that arcane was out.
I can understand why one might think otherwise from fluff/realism perspective, but I can't think of why Power Attack wouldn't apply to melee touch attacks per RAW, they are still melee attacks AFAIK... f.e. The Miss Chance from Spirit Totem should still apply vs. melee touch attacks. Ultimately I don't believe there is any concise term in the rules to exclusively refer to 'normal' melee attacks... Sometimes melee weapon attacks are referred to, but that would also apply to Flame Blade. Not that I am advocating enforcing that for Power Attack per se, but on a RAW basis that seems to be the case.
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So, I am thinking of creating a Samsaran PC, focusing on fighting with a Flame Blade.
Not sure how to go about it.
Taking the Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait opens up just about any spellcasting class.
Which one, is still unclear.
Any ideas?
In one of my druid guides I noted how incredibly hax dazing flame blade is. Especially if you decide you want to dual-wield them. Combined with an incense of meditation my high level druid dual-wields dazing maximized flame blade spells while buffed with dazing thorn body. If you hit her, you make a will save or suffer. If she hits your touch-AC you suffer wrath.
It's a very high level strategy. It's not really practical until at least around 9th level when you can craft yourself some dazing rods (and those are usually better used on call lightning).
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Is that better than the above?I didn't really think about in terms of better/worse comparisons... In the OP you wrote any casting class is open without specifying that arcane was out.
I can understand why one might think otherwise from fluff/realism perspective, but I can't think of why Power Attack wouldn't apply to melee touch attacks per RAW, they are still melee attacks AFAIK... f.e. The Miss Chance from Spirit Totem should still apply vs. melee touch attacks. Ultimately I don't believe there is any concise term in the rules to exclusively refer to 'normal' melee attacks... Sometimes melee weapon attacks are referred to, but that would also apply to Flame Blade. Not that I am advocating enforcing that for Power Attack per se, but on a RAW basis that seems to be the case.
Well, there seems no other way to get Flame Blade on an Arcane caster's spell list, without getting it really late.
Power Attack calls out that it cannot be used on touch attacks within the wording of the feat.
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Bards who worship Sarenrae cast Flame Blade as a 2nd level spell.
Since Bards cast only arcane spells, this means that Flame Blade is an arcane spell too.
Opens up all those nice Magus, Eldritch Knight and other arcane casters for use with the Mystic Past Life of the Samsaran.
Arcane spells on a domain list are divine. How is a 3.5 class worshiping a Golarion goddess?
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Artifice domain is from the 3.5 but it still seems valid: the 3.5 Pathfinder Core Campaign Setting book is the only source for it; the APG provides subdomains for it; the dwarven cleric Forgemaster archetype only gets Artifice as a domain.
Gods and Magic also introduced bunch of deity-specific spells such as Channel Vigor (Irori), Channel the Gift (Nethys), Deadeye's Arrow (Erastil), and Defending Bone (Pharasma). The PFRPG Adventure Paths would have Deity entries (typically the second book) and would have additional spells added to the clergy spell list. For example, Kingmaker Rivers Run Red: Erastil chapter reiterates that clergy gets Deadeye's Arrow and also new spell called Tracking Mark. Also clerics, paladins, and rangers of Erastil can prepare goodberry as 2nd level spell, clerics and paladins can cast animal messenger as a 2nd level spell, and Erastil priests summon monster/nature's ally II gets celestial elk, and summon monster/nature's ally III gets celestial dire boar.
And a James Jacob's quote:
We did a LOT of stuff using the 3.5 rules. And as a general rule, anything we invented in those 3.5 days is assumed to still exist in Pathfinder today.
So if you're playing in the Golarion setting and DM's cool with deity-specific spells, it ought to be fine.
EDITED for more examples.
That's a matter of timing. Sarenrae was written up earlier than PFRPG edition of rules. The new stuff still introduces new spells for priests in the new adventure paths.
Gods and Magic does indeed say Bards can cast Flame Blade... that was written in 2008.
Its kind of a toss up. I'd still let it fly at my table though.