Standard Bearer Halfling

[ZanThrax]

So, I've been thinking about trying to make an aid-another focused character for a while now, and given the Helpful Halfling trait, it seems sensible to make such a character be a Halfling.

Since I may also have a need for a new society cleric character, I'm considering building Evangalist 4 / Standard Bearer 1 / Battle Herald 7. I want to have an Osirion-centric character when I'm done, and that will affect deity choice if nothing else. (What I'm hoping is that the ancient osiriani gods that are supposed to be detailed in the first book of Mummy's Mask will be Society-legal)

A reach weapon is going to be pretty much required as he's going to need somewhere to put his banner/flag. A deity that has longspear as favoured seems like it would be best, but as far as I know, there aren't any western deities that fit the bill.

Other than the Helpful Halfling trait & the Bodyguard feat, are there any other traits and feats I should be looking at to make this work well?

[Amir Hiram]

One note: You can actually use a Human feat, Racial Heritage, to play the character as a halfling instead with access to all the same feats and traits.

That said, Halflings are really amazing at this job. I'm posting as such a character right now. There's a lot of ways to go about playing a helpful character based around Aid Another. I use a Halfling Fighter (Tactician) who will eventually take a single level splash into Monk (Maneuver Master); Cavaliers are a much more popular option, partly because your mount can ALSO use Aid Another, meaning even more attack or AC for your allies. Let me give you a few feat links. Feats are VERY important here.

Bodyguard - This feat, once you've got it and its prerequisites, will allow you to defend your allies easily. I think you can get this on your mount if you're a Cavalier, since it only requires Combat Reflexes, meaning your mount can ALSO be using Bodyguard on your allies... and on you. (I know you were already looking at this, but consider the ramifications of having it on your mount or animal companion if you get one.)

Swift Aid - This lets you use Aid Another once per round as a Swift Action as well.

Cautious Fighter, Blundering Defense, Crane Style - Get these feats if you can. You'll be boosting your allies' defense around you just by standing there looking pretty. Also grab 3 ranks in Acrobatics; it'll net you +1 AC when fighting defensively. Total this up: 6 AC when fighting defensively, 3 of it being given to your allies, and all this at only a -2 attack penalty.

If you want to get an animal companion to provide Aid Another bonuses as well, consider the next two feats: Nature Soul and Animal Ally. Two feats for an animal companion of your choice? Sure, why the Hell not? You can be any class you like to get this benefit.

Since you're not going to be optimizing for damage, you should probably pick up something to do when you're not throwing Aid Another around. I decided to specialize in Dirty Trick, but there are other maneuvers you could consider; and if you're a caster you could always cast spells or use a wand.

As far as traits go, Helpful is definitely nice, but I think that there's another trait (a campaign trait) that gives +1 Aid Another. Wait, here it is: Fools for Friends. That would give you +3 Aid Another, bringing you to +5 total.

This should be enough to get you started. As I said, there are LOTS of ways to do this.

EDIT: If you DO get a mount or animal companion... I strongly suggest the Wolf or Giant Chameleon. The Wolf gets Trip; need I say more? The Chameleon gets a climb speed. Climb speed. Small creatures can ride either of these into battle, too.

[Inlaa]

Oh, one last thing, before I forget: FLANK. One of the best ways to be supportive of your team at the low levels with this build is to set up flanking attempts for your allies. Assuming you have the Helpful trait (and not the Fools for Friends trait), you can provide an ally +6 to a single attack by using Aid Another and flanking at the same time. At level 1. The barbarian at my table wanted to marry me after the first session, even though it's not possible to do so in the state I live in.

[WRoy]

Battlefield Disciple combat trait will jack up the attack roll bonus provided by aid another an additional +1, plus give you a bonus on Heal checks to stabilize allies.

I'd recommend picking up Cautious Fighter and Blundering Defense to give your allies AC boosts, but it requires you to actually be attacking so could limit using aid another consistently as a standard action.

Ring of Tactical Precision (11,000gp) will boost any bonus you provide with aid another by an additional +1. The benevolent weapon enchantment will similarly boost aid another by an amount equal to the weapons enhancement bonus.

Worshiping Shelyn would give you a glaive as favored weapon.

[Inlaa]

WRoy wrote:

The benevolent weapon enchantment will similarly boost aid another by an amount equal to the weapons enhancement bonus.

Notably, this only works when you're boosting an ally's AC, not his attack. I think it's for armor. (Benevolent) But yes, it's a wonderful enchantment.

[ZanThrax]

Thanks for reminding me of Blundering Defense. I knew there was a reason I wanted to do this as a Halfling beyond just the race trait. Which is rather OP. It works on all types of Aid Another - AC, attacks, or skill checks and changes them to +4 instead of +2. It actually makes many other aid another rule elements irrelevant; including other traits, the Order of the Dragon ability, and a few feats that change the bonus instead of just increasing it.

So here's what I've got in mind so far:

Evangalist of Abadar (Travel Domain) 4 / Standard Bearer 1 (order undecided, most of them will do nothing at all for me) 1 / Battle Herald 7
Fleet of Foot Halfling

Combat Reflexes
Bodyguard
Gang Up
Outflank (Tactician)
Precise Strike (Battle Herald 6)
Cautious Fighter
Blundering Defense

Lingering Performance? Uncanny Defense? Improved Initiative?
Dunno which would be the most valuable, but in any case, it'd be the level 11 feat that's not already taken, so it's not like there's any huge rush to decide.

I'll probably just take an initiative boost as his second trait since it's important to be activating performances / commands as early in the fight as possible.

The other thing that I'm wondering about now is if Evangalist Cleric is actually better for me than Bard (of one sort or another) The bard would give me one less spell per day at each level, but I'd be able to reduce MAD substantially. With the bard, I'd have to spend a spell known on CLW, but with the Cleric, I'd have to prepare it anyhow since the Evangalist can't spontaneously cast it. Cleric gets good Fort instead of the Bard's good Reflex, which is nice, but the Bard's skill points would be beneficial given that I have to spend 17 points to get into Battle Herald. I could even give up the casting entirely and go Sensei. Either the bard or the Sensei are pretty far off my original intention of making a new Cleric character though.

[XMorsX]

The Honor guard arcehtype stacks with the standard bearer.

Also, you may want to check the golden legionare PrC.

[Inlaa]

I hate it when I look back and see horrible typos I made. Anyway, with the Racial Heritage trait, you can get all the Halfling-specific stuff as a Human, Half-Elf or Half-Orc. Just reminding you that it's an option, since there are benefits to being medium sized.

Here's something I've personally never been sure on: If you have the Helpful trait (changes the bonus from +2 to +4) and you have an ability that just increases the bonus rather than replaces it as well (such as the Fools for Friends trait), does that mean it becomes a +4 and then gets additional bonuses? If I were the DM, I would rule 'yes,' but then again I love builds like these.

Improved Initiative is definitely nice, but I'd probably go for Lingering Performance simply so you could grab Swift Aid later; thus, you could stop performing if you had to and use Swift Aid to help out an ally. That, and there are other things you could use a Swift Action on later that you might want to be able to do.