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I'm looking into building a character with as many different classes as is reasonable. When I say reasonable, I mean I expect the character to still perform well in a group without being obviously weaker. So far this is what I have worked out (classes in no particular order):
Barbarian (core) 2: haven't picked a rage power
Fighter (weapon master) 3: weapon of choice is a falchion, haven't picked bonus feats
Monk (martial artist) 2: haven't picked bonus feats
Ranger (core) 2: the eventual gain of smite evil makes favored enemy either undead or evil outsider (can be something else depending on campaign), haven't picked combat style
Samurai (sword saint) 1: order of the dragon
Inquisitor (spellbreaker) 2: travel domain, haven't picked spells known
Chevalier (PRC) 3: skills used to qualify can be taken during either ranger or inquisitor levels
Alignment must be either NG or CG, thinking NG (to cast lawful inquisitor spells). Race will likely be human, without any alternate racial traits.
(20 pt buy)
Str 20
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 12
Cha 7
I'm not really sure about skills, but I want perception at max ranks. I need diplomacy and knowledge (local) with one rank each for the prestige class. Feats are up in the air, as they depend largely on what order the classes are taken in and what bonus feats are chosen. I'll probably want power attack, raging vitality, extra rage, and extra rage power.
As for the remaining class levels (5), I'm thinking some Dragon Disciple, but that requires either a race change (for a SLA), or a level of bard or sorcerer. I'm trying to keep BAB close to full progression as much as possible.
So, thoughts?
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He'd be a roaming warrior looking to gather as many different combat techniques as possible. Sword saint is largely because I don't want a mount. At all. Ever. Iaijutsu strike might get used at some point. And it seems like something a warrior looking to master many combat techniques would want to know.
Honestly though, this all started mostly as just a hypothetical concept. For this build, mechanics are first. Flavor and theme can be added second.
Ok, I am going to suggest that we clean this up a bit.
1) Samurai and Inquisitor don't seem to be doing much for you. Iaijutsu strike isn't actually worth a dip especially if you don't want much else from the samurai alt class. Also, Inquisitor isn't doing you much good either as you are not actually gaining enough spells to make a difference. Personally, I would drop them for another level of fighter (so as to gain the weapon specialization feat) and then grab the other two levels in Ranger for more skills and the animal companion or 2 levels in barbarian to grab a second rage power (I would take Superstition and Witch Hunter to help some of your poor saves and get back some of the spell caster killing lost when you dropped Inquisitor).
2) I would change the Monk archetype to master of many styles so as to pick up the crane style feats more quickly. If you are set on neutral good then their is an Aasimar trait that will allow you to play as a monk that is neutral good. If you want to play a race other than Aasimar then you can take the adopted trait instead to grab it. (Assuming the DM is allowing traits that is.)
3) If you are going all 3 levels in Chevalier then you need to change your stats. The main point of taking that many levels in that PrC is to gain Smite evil without having to go Paladin and the way your stats are now you wont be gaining anything from using it. Personally, I would change your strength to a 17 (15 point buy with +2 racial) and boost your charisma to at least a 12. That way you actually get some use out of chevalier's smite evil ability.
Master of many styles monk + Fighter might be better for you.
The archetype for the monk gives you the flavor of different styles, and the fighter levels allow you to hit things hard. That way you wont have to deal with all the multiclassing.
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The point is all the multiclassing: to have a level in as many different classes as possible without seriously harming the character's effectiveness. This is a more practical version of the "I have one level of every class" concept, not "how can I make another awesome melee character". The goal is to stick to no more than 3 levels in any class.
Samurai is there because it is a full BAB class, and challenge isn't bad. Inquisitor might not be worth it, but I feel the judgement, domain (+10 speed), and the "roll twice for mind-affecting" is probably good enough. Chevalier is mostly in for being a full BAB prestige that is easily qualified for. The smite still adds + character level damage and gets around all DR, even without a cha bonus to attacks.
I've either played or seen played nearly every base class and common multiclass. I'm looking for something more... uncommon. Uncommon enough that I will probably never see it in a game unless I play it.
I do thank you for your feedback. I was working on this and just thought, "hey, I'll let the folks on the paizo boards swing away at it."
I thought the goal was to fulfill the fluff.
In that case know that any BAB class with a weak will save could have you at level 10 with a will save modifier of +0. That is not good, and I dont know if any full BAB classes has a good will save. You might want to go dwarf and take steel soul. Also take iron will to make that will save not have you stabbing your buddies in the face.
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I definitely like the idea of having it be MoMS as well as Martial Artist (I believe they stack). Rather than Crane Style, which requires an open hand, snag Snake Style and maybe a second utility style. If you pump sense motive it should have the same relative effect of negating one attack a round. It definitely fits the fighting styles thing, and you'll be able to take an AOO (granted its only a 1d6 unarmed strike) with it.
Now that you told me your fluff I totally understand the samurai thing. My one suggestion is make it two levels and do order of the cockatrice to pick up dazzling display.
My final suggestion follows a bit of the others. Inquisitor isn't a fighting style. It's a religiously motivated warrior who uses divinity, not martial prowess in my mind, to enhance their combat. Instead take a level or two of thug rogue. Take the Blade of Mercy Sarenrae trait and the enforcer feat and you have a very scary fighting style to add on, which synergises thematically with your order of the cockatrice dip. Your mastery of the various martial styles, and the ability to non lethally subdue at ease, is quite intimidating.
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@Riuken: Take it from an avid fan of multiclassing, there are tricks to making it work effectively. Here is a quick checklist.
1) Don't focus on spellcasting. Spellcasters do not multiclass well, even when you go for Prestige Classes that specialize into it. The reason is that spells per day are the spellcaster's strength, and by multiclassing you are weakening that strength. That isn't to say that you should never multiclass as a spellcaster, but for the purpose of gaining as many class levels as possible and staying effective, spellcasters will not work well.
2) Believe it or not, but multiclassing works best when you focus on specializing your character. You basically want to cherry pick the best options for your specialization from as many classes as possible. Focus on one specific idea, like tripping or feinting or demoralizing.
3) Focus on class abilities that do not scale with class level or that are fairly good where they are at. For example, Challenge and Smite Evil do not scale well because their damage bonus relies on your class level.
Let me walk you through my current Multiclass Character; my Kitsune Samurai, as an example.
01 Grabbed my first level of Samurai (Sword Saint). I prefer Resolve to Tactician because 1/Day reroll scales better than 1/Day Teamwork Feats to allies for 4 rounds per day. I took Sword Saint because Samurai can't qualify for the Cavalier Feat that allows you to use your Hit Dice as your Cavalier level when determining the mount's abilities; therefore, my mount would have been a liability. I almost never challenge and over 8 levels I've used Iaijutsu Strike once (full round actions suck like that), but I also liked the emphasis on sword attacks over a generalist weapon specialist.
02 The Order of the Cockatrice was my real reason for going into the Samurai class; free Dazzling Display as a move action, with a +2 bonus to hit enemies suffering from fear effects is awesome for my Charisma-based warrior.
03 This was my first level of Lore Warden. I took the archetype for several reasons; I liked that it traded away the Fighter's armor proficiencies. I use Medium Armor, but I got the proficiencies from my Samurai levels so there was nothing lost for that trade, and I earned a bunch of useful class skills and some bonus skill points.
04 Lore Warden trades bravery for Combat Expertise at this level, which I needed to grab my second tool for my Charisma-based warrior; Improved Feint. I have a good Intelligence, but even if I didn't Lore Warden would have given it to me, meaning I could feint even if I was intellectually dull.
05 I took another level of Lore Warden, this time so I could pick up Maneuver Mastery. Although it isn't Charisma-based, I wanted a combat maneuver in my arsenal. Luckily I got Combat Expertise for free, so most of them were open to me. I ended up picking Improved Trip; knocking a foe prone makes it even easier for me to hit them, plus I get a free attack when they decide to try and stand up.
06 A Fourth Level of Lore Warden gave me an extra feat at a level I wouldn't have normally qualified for one. This feat was Greater Trip, so now I'm shakening my enemies with Dazzling Display, which makes them easier for me to trip. As a move action, I feint my enemies, making it even easier for my standard action trip attempt to go off. When I trip my foes, I immediately get to attack the enemy I tripped. I took Combat Reflexes prior to this level with one of my standard feats, so I'm averaging four attacks of opportunity per round at this point. In Medium Armor.
07 Time to break the mold and pick up my third class; Rogue. I took the Thug archetype because it makes all enemies that I demoralize shaken for one additional round. If I really want to, I can even trade those rounds for the frightened condition. Sneak attack damage and a boost to one of my saves was icing on the cake.
Future I'm 7th level now, and I will be obtaining my 8th level in the Future. Here are some multiclass options I have been considering.
1) More Rogue. If I take another two level of Rogue, I get Brutal Beatdown, which allows me to forgo sneak attack damage to sicken my opponents. Adds another debuff to my arsenal, and a prone, sickened, and shaken foe effectively suffers a –8 penalty against my attacks. Will all of those happen to the same foe all the time? Nope. But I have a toolbox of debuffs that I can call upon, and woe to the opponent who can be affected easily by all three of them. I like wearing Medium Armor, so I'll probably have to invest in a Mithril Breastplate so I can use Evasion in my signature look. I'm planning on picking up Rogue 2 at 9th level because I get a regular feat at that level too and my BAB will be high enough to qualify for Shatter Defenses. I don't have Weapon Focus, so if my 9th level is Rogue I can grab the Weapon Training rogue talent and pick up Shatter Defenses all at the same time.
2) More Fighter. I'm one Fighter level away from picking up Weapon Mastery, which will be +1 hit and damage to my Katana. This is okay on its own, but if I invest in a pair of Duelist's Gloves I can get +3/+3 without taking any more levels in Fighter.
3) More Samurai. At 3rd level, I get Weapon Expertise, which would allow me to Quick Draw my Katana and allows my three Samurai levels to stack with my Fighter levels when determining my effective Fighter level for feats. I would be a 7th level Fighter if I took this at 8th level, which is more than enough for Weapon Specialization.
4) Martial Artist Monk. There is a feat that allows me to make an attack of opportunity against my foes when they fall prone while adjacent to me. This attack stacks with my Greater Trip attack, but the feat requires Improved Unarmed Strike. If I take a level of Martial Artist, I would pick up Improved Unarmed Strike for free as well as Stunning Fist, and an additional feat. If I wear a Monk's Robe, my Unarmed Attacks would deal damage as if I were a 6th level Monk and I would get a free use of Stunning Fist. The disadvantage is that I wouldn't gain any benefit from most of my 1st level monk powers and since my Wisdom isn't very good, it might be better off for me to grab the Improved Unarmed Strike rogue talent instead if I really don't want to select the feat with one of my usual feats, assuming I still think Vicious Stomp (the aforementioned feat) is worth it.
5) Paladin. My Charisma score is through the roof, so if I invest into two levels of Paladin, I could add my Charisma score on all saving throws. It would lend itself to a strange situations where I would have two once per day smite-like abilities to draw upon, however. I would also have lay on hands to heal myself, and paladins have a large number of magic items that buff lay on hands.
6) Oracle. Oracle is an awesome dip class if you know which Mysteries to take. Since my Dexterity is very good, this isn't really an option for me, but if I had terrible Dexterity I could take the Mystery of Nature and use my Charisma instead of my Dexterity on saving throws and my AC.
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Just some thoughts on the will save conundrum. If you're paying a good campaign, for 4,500gp a clear spindle ioun stone socketed into a way finder spares you from most enchantment spells from evil enemies. This is broken, period.
Second, I suggest redoing your stats somewhat, having a lower Str and a higher wisdom. Of course, you can follow other suggestions and go dwarf and grab the steel soul feat which will really boost your saves.
Don't grab superstition for your rage power. It's starting boost is only +2 (the same as the normal rage boost to will! Morale bonuses don't stack,and not grabbing superstition lets you accept buffs and heals too). Also, you may or may not want to invest in raging vitality (furthering the stat redesign idea, since you'll need a higher con) just so you don't die if you drop, but since you won't rage all the time it's not a necessity.
Iron will in your case is pretty much a must have. My idea is make yourself a half-elf and trade skill focus for EWP Falcata. That weapon wielded two handed is the highest DPR weapon in the game, and also gives you the taldan fighting style (sorta, technically they fight with a buckler too). This also gives you the +2 on saves vs. enchantment, let's you effectively keep your feat and stat placement, and gives you a plus 2 to perception as well as another few favored class points.
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For a good feat around 5th level try Multitalented Master on this page.
I hate to say it. But while the fluff of this feat is nice, it doesn't pan out and I feel this will be a feat starved build. The way I read the feat, it restricted you to the core +1 hp/sp. since he's a heavy melee with only a 14 con, I expect he will want to invest in HP, making this inherently worse than toughness, since he'll already get hp from two favored classes. If he wants this feat for SPs, then going human becomes a lot better.
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I hate to say it. But while the fluff of this feat is nice, it doesn't pan out and I feel this will be a feat starved build. The way I read the feat, it restricted you to the core +1 hp/sp. since he's a heavy melee with only a 14 con, I expect he will want to invest in HP, making this inherently worse than toughness, since he'll already get hp from two favored classes. If he wants this feat for SPs, then going human becomes a lot better.
Could you run that by me again, I'm having trouble tracking. This feat lets him have +1 HP at EVERY LEVEL. That doesn't seem to take away from anything. He won't have as many skill ranks, but he will have bonus HP equal to his level, as you can apply these RETROACTIVELY. He could use this for skills instead, How is this worse then toughness? Plus you get the stuff available for being a half-elf like immunities? If I'm not tracking then please clarify.
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I hate to say it. But while the fluff of this feat is nice, it doesn't pan out and I feel this will be a feat starved build. The way I read the feat, it restricted you to the core +1 hp/sp. since he's a heavy melee with only a 14 con, I expect he will want to invest in HP, making this inherently worse than toughness, since he'll already get hp from two favored classes. If he wants this feat for SPs, then going human becomes a lot better.
Could you run that by me again, I'm having trouble tracking. This feat lets him have +1 HP at EVERY LEVEL. That doesn't seem to take away from anything. He won't have as many skill ranks, but he could have bonus HP equal to his level, as you can apply these RETROACTIVELY. He could use this for skills instead. How is this worse then toughness? Plus you get the stuff available for being a half-elf like immunities? If I'm not tracking then please clarify. I don't think skills will be a problem.
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I hate to say it. But while the fluff of this feat is nice, it doesn't pan out and I feel this will be a feat starved build. The way I read the feat, it restricted you to the core +1 hp/sp. since he's a heavy melee with only a 14 con, I expect he will want to invest in HP, making this inherently worse than toughness, since he'll already get hp from two favored classes. If he wants this feat for SPs, then going human becomes a lot better.Could you run that by me again, I'm having trouble tracking. This feat lets him have +1 HP at EVERY LEVEL. That doesn't seem to take away from anything. He won't have as many skill ranks, but he could have bonus HP equal to his level, as you can apply these RETROACTIVELY. He could use this for skills instead. How is this worse then toughness? Plus you get the stuff available for being a half-elf like immunities? If I'm not tracking then please clarify. I don't think skills will be a problem.
So toughness effectively gives you 1 hp every level. You're saying that this feat will do the same. The way this feat does that is by making all of your classes favored classes. The problem is you already took two favored classes, making this feat null for levels in those classes.
Basically you take toughness and get +20 hp. If you take 5 levels in classes that were already your favored class, ts feat only gives you +15 hp. I could be reading the feat wrong though, it is late.
Quoting the feat for posterity
I guess my thoughts boil down to is the additional +1hp/sp in addition to the normal favored class bonus, or is it an explanation of what bonus they will be gaining?
The only benefit of Multitalented Master over toughness is a) skill bonuses if preferred and b) they stack.
Consider Gunslinger - another full BAB class, lots of boosts from just a few levels and definitely a unique style to add to your others ( and even if you don't use guns often they are pretty nifty since at close range they attack touch)
Side question, would the sword saint's Iajutsu Strike work with a holstered pistol?
Makes for a thematically interesting 'quick draw' gunfighter...
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Consider Gunslinger - another full BAB class, lots of boosts from just a few levels and definitely a unique style to add to your others ( and even if you don't use guns often they are pretty nifty since at close range they attack touch)
Side question, would the sword saint's Iajutsu Strike work with a holstered pistol?
Makes for a thematically interesting 'quick draw' gunfighter...
I could see it working. The ability only specifies a sheathed weapon, not specifically a sword. Fun idea for a different character: do only sword saint and gunslinger and ask your GM to let you combine dead shot and iajitsu style for the ultimate single shot style western showdown gunslinger.