So, i like archaeologist Bard as an archer or with a gunslinger dip.
However, I can't quite see how to make it work in melee.
Any advice?
Think swashbuckling adventure. Weapon Finesse, maybe have a 12-13 strength. Consider other feats to ramp damage and accuracy. Spell wise, bards have blade rush. That gives you a great mobility attack spell that lends itself to the swashbuckler approach.
The only time I tried it, I went with a Halfling, took a couple of levels of Halfling Opportunist and Lore warden and made heavy use of Opportunistic Maneuver and Dirty Trick. It was a fun character to play and he had a number of really great moments - more 'role-playing' in combat than any character I've ever made - but he wasn't anywhere near as optimal as an archer version would have been.
Think swashbuckling adventure. Weapon Finesse, maybe have a 12-13 strength. Consider other feats to ramp damage and accuracy. Spell wise, bards have blade rush. That gives you a great mobility attack spell that lends itself to the swashbuckler approach.
Yeah... dunno how you manage to deal any damage with that low of STR. Arcane Strike only goes so far, and VERY limited rounds of Luck doesn't help much either.
The only Archaeologist I've built focused on tripping. That game didn't go far unfortunately but the plan was to go up the Whip Mastery feat chain, and to TWF with a whip in one hand and a sickle in the other.
I'm playing an archeologist bard, and I'm aiming for dragon disciple. You have no bardic performance to lose and keep almost all your spellcasting, so that's a win. The loss of skill points is annoying, but there's a lot you gain, too. Among other things, +4 inherent strength and a lot of natural armour!
As far as tactics goes, It's still very low levels for me, but I'm carrying long spear, longsword and light shield, just to be flexible. (The light shield is necessary to be able to cast spells, hold lanterns, etc. You could use a buckler instead, of course).
Human starting stat array:
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 7, Cha 15.
Obviously, with Cha 15 as a starting score I am not aiming to dominate with Hideous Laughter, but there's still *some* resisted spells worth taking, such as a Grease and Glitterdust. Pick your spells, in general, for support, though.
As far as traits goes, Fate's Favoured is pure gold, and Maestro of the Society is as well. There's enough good traits in general that I would suggest actually getting the Extra Traits feat at level 1. Somewhere later down the line you can pick up Lingering Performance and Power Attack, and Combat Reflexes will be a good idea as well if you decide to go the longspear route.
Lingering performance, fate's favored, and a race that gives you more bardic performance rounds per day (since the archeologist doesn't get any from levels otherwise) would be my biggest bet. I'd go with half elf so I can use the free skill focus for eldritch heritage - there are some pretty good ones.
Speaking of which, I just noticed that the explorer's "trapfinding" gives a perception bonus not limited to traps only. This can be pretty nice.
Edit: and if dips are involved, a 1-2 level dip in a martial class covers your proficiencies well enough
If you are worried about dealing with too many ability scores, take a single level dip in lore oracle to get the sidestep secret revelation or a dip in lore warden fighter and pick up weapon finesse, scimitar proficiency, dervish dance. I would go with the fighter level to keep a good initiative and avoid oracle's curse. If you like combat maneuvers, look into using your free whip proficiency or taking more than one lore warden level, as they get some great combat maneuver stuff.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fig hter-archetypes/lore-warden
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dervish-dance-combat
Also, for maneuvers, see sidebar on this feat
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/agile-maneuvers-combat
Dot
Yeah, wow, Fate's Favored is really excellent for an Archaeologist.
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Archaeologist goes really well into Dragon Disciple as mentioned above, I'm currently playing one in a Skull & Shackles campaign and he's rocking it. Bard 1, Ranger 4, DD onwards. I went with a tiefling and Natural Combat Style, so by level 3 have 3 natural attacks and the Archaeologists Luck buffs all of them and if you pick well, Favoured Enemy will often be up buffing them all as well. You get a companion to help flank/act as a bodyguard at Ranger 4 and then more casting with DD. I focus on Saving Finale, Timely Inspiration, etc which are all V only and so wearing medium armour isn't an issue. He hits hard and often in melee, has a smattering of magic and will only get better as it goes on (Plus he will take Eldritch Heritage Orc & Imp. EH + a Robe of Arcane Heritage for even more Strength by 11th).
I'm playing a 14 STR, 14 DEX dwarven Archaeologist at the moment. I took a level of Ranger to gain Martial Weapon proficiency (and Tracking), and wield a Dwarven War Axe. I have a Large Shield and wear Medium Armour and only use spells that are not cast in combat to avoid the problems of casting in armour. That works because I'm the party's second melee fighter (behind the Paladin) and so not looking to cast when in combat anyway. Eventually, using the Dwarven Bard favoured class bonus and Feats, I'll have the casting penalty down to levels where I can happily take spells I need to cast in combat.
I deal some horrible damage and I'm very effective in melee. It can work as long as you are prepared to shunt the spellcasting somewhat.
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I tried a tripping archaeologist and it turned out to be a disaster that I had to spend 27 prestige on to retrain (in PFS - if you don't play PFS, trust me, it hurts). The main problem is that your BAB doesn't scale with levels fast enough for it to be viable vs CMDs in the mid to high levels.
He also had a level of gunslinger, and that broke as well since 1d8+1 is generally useless at mid to high levels, again. It doesn't matter that it hits touch AC; you really need 5 levels of gunslinger to be effective.
I eventually retrained into a melee bard with advice from this very helpful thread.
as was mentioned- lingering performance and fate's favored are clutch for a build like this (extra +1 luck bonus, lasts 3 rounds/use). instead of using favored class bonus for extra rounds, make a musetouched aasimar (+2 Dex/Cha, since you want archery focus) and take the +1/2 level to effects of 1 performance to quickly up the luck bonus- you can always take extra performance with your other trait or as a feat. i'm not entirely sure how those faction feats work (master performer and grand master performer) but definitely take them if you can.
Here's a question, regular inspire courage has "a maximum of +4 at 17th level", Luck doesn't have that language, stating "This bonus increases to +2 at 5th level, +3 at 11th level, and +4 at 17th level."
Does that imply you can get more than +4 bonus if you where to go Musetouched Aasimar like Nate suggests?
Their progression would be +2 at 4th level, +3 at 8th level, +4 at 12th level, +5 at 16th level, +6 at 20th level (+1 for Fate's Favored).
Go half elf and trade skill focus for Ancestral Arms to get proficiency with scimitar. Max out dexterity and pick up Dervish dance at 3rd level. Take the trait Fate’s Favored and pick up Lingering performance at 5th. Have at least a 13 STR and take power attack at 7th level.
Avoid the spells that allow saving throws and concentrate on spells that affect you. Heroism is your first 2nd level spell. Since none of your spells will be affecting opponents directly the saving throw DC is not important.
At 7th level with both Archeologist Luck, and Heroism going you can get a +13 chance to hit with damage of 1d6+12 and a critical on a roll of 18-20. If you get a keen scimitar that drops to 15-20.
One of the reasons for half elf is to get the favored class bonus of +1 round of performance per day. Unlike a normal bard this does not increase as you level up for an Archeologist. The extra rounds of archeologist luck combined with lingering performance are what make the half elf work so well. Dipping in another class is just going to delay your abilities and is generally not worth it.
With a half elf by 7th level you will have effectively 39 rounds of Archeologist Luck after factoring in lingering performance. With an Aasimir you will have 18 rounds after factoring in lingering performance. That is 21 rounds of +3 to basically everything you do.
Archeologist luck stacks with Heroism so you will be +5 on almost all your rolls. Heroism last for 10 minutes per level so can be kept up through almost any battle.
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Agreed -
Half-elf for a scimitar proficiency and +1 performance rounds for favored class bonus. I used 10 str, 18 dex, 13 con 14 int, 10 wis, 14 cha to start. It meant no PA, but I'm going for a skill monkey build who is competent in melee. Weapon Finesse, Dervish Dancer, Lingering Performance, Arcane Strike and a keen weapon works. Fate's Favored and Maestro of the Society for traits. You'll have enough +hit to easily confirm, even on iterative attacks. Allegro or haste, keep up a mirror image for survivability, and I like an extended heroism.
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I've been working on an archaeologist for a society character as well, here is what i have so far:
Half-Elf, middle aged
Str:13
Dex:16
Con:10
Int:14
Wis:8 (yeah i know that 8 hurts, but not too bad)
Cha:16
Traits: Fate's Favored, Vagabond Child
Alternate Racial Traits: Ancestral Arms, Arcane Training
Feats: ... This is where i run into problems. I think the Dervish Dance suggestions above are excellent, but i don't like not having power attack until lvl 7 ( i also don't like wasting 2 skill ranks on dance, 8 per lvl is just not enough, even 9 would have been massively better). I realized I can use my rogue talent to pick up a combat feat and thus have Weapon Finesse, Dervish Dance, Lingering Dance, & Power Attack by 5, but then i otherwise lose out on a talent...
I'm not sure the dance is the best way to go. Ancestral arms is kind of a must, because it grants you proficiency with whatever you decide to do. What are the options for ranged? Composite longbow (which would allow me to realocate str as i don't need PA), but then you're still doing strength to dmg...
Combat wise, what is going to be the best option overall?
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The problem with Piranha strike is it is only for light weapons, which means i couldn't use Dervish Dance with a scimitar. How else can I get dex to damage without an (agile) amulet of mighty fists? (5000 is kind of a heavy investment at those lower levels). plus i was hoping to spend that money to get a keen weapon.
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The problem with Piranha strike is it is only for light weapons, which means i couldn't use Dervish Dance with a scimitar. How else can I get dex to damage without an (agile) amulet of mighty fists? (5000 is kind of a heavy investment at those lower levels). plus i was hoping to spend that money to get a keen weapon.
You could take a two level dip in Trapper/Freebooter Ranger and get power attack without meeting the STR prerequisite with the two hander combat style. You would get a bab boost, not loose out on trapfinding or skills, and get another +1 boost for you and your allies. It would slow your spells though.