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So, my group will start a new game soon - this time I am going to be a player after GMing for many years.
We are going to play a Paizo adventure path - the GM will not tell us which, as he feels the title spoils the ending of the first book. Fair enough (and please do not spoil it for me if any of you can guess which one form that little information.)
But what to play? Sooo, many cool options, so I turn to you.
The party so far:
Healer/Blaster Cleric of Sarenrae with fireball as Preferred Spell and quick channel + heal domain for heals.
Vanilla Paladin
Barbarian/Vivisectionist grappler/sneak attacker/archer
Another Paladin with oracle dips - this guy will probably make an arcane caster instead if I do not.
All are good optimisers, so it is not very important what I make - even with an unbalanced party we should be fine. And, well, the cleric and the barb/vivisectionist have most roles covered between them anyway.
I have a number of ideas:
The Chosen One - sylvan sorceror with low wisdom and extreme levels of arrogance. Is convinced he is The Chosen One, and get absolutely baffled when things do not go exactly as he planned.
Urban Barbarian / Beastmorph Alchemist - a very versatile take on the switch hitter. Uses reach weapon, Combat Reflexes, Dispelling Bombs, Infusions and the healing discoveries to have a trick up his sleeve for practically any situation, while still having the ability to hit people very, very hard.
The Arcace Druid - Wizard, probably specialing in Conjuration. Using Nature Soul, Animal Ally and Boon Companion feats to gain a leopard companion, while still being a full-blown wizard. I'll probably make him a small, annoying elf.
The Old and Tired Dwarf - A dwarven veteran of many wars. Enjoys the feel of metal armour on his body, and bashing in an orc's skull. Unfortunately, he was to old to prevent the tragedy that befell his home town when the ogres came. He was one of the only survivors, and took to wandering the world as a mercenary, to old to fight properly, and too depressed to care. It was here that he found out that he was an Empyreal Sorcerer, and now has a chance of redemption.
Knife Master Rogue / Teleportation Wizard / Arcane Trickster - a distinguished nobleman, inspired by the Discworld Assassins. Well-educated, polite, handsome, and extremely adept at stalking you and cutting your throat.
All of them sound like great fun to me. Your opinions? Or perhaps suggestions?
From an RP standpoint, I love the dwarf. During each encounter, you say, "This reminds me of ... " or "Did I ever tell you about ... "
Have some old war stories ready to go.
He really should let you know what AP you're playing - someone's gonna be mad if they show up with a cavalier to a game full of ship combat.
Player's Guides exist specifically because Paizo assumes players get a little bit of heads-up from the GM about the direction the game they're gonna spend months of their life on is going to take.
shiiktan wrote: He really should let you know what AP you're playing - someone's gonna be mad if they show up with a cavalier to a game full of ship combat. Leading to the popular sea shanty about the brave knight and his seasick horse.
He gave us something to read up on: The River Kingdoms, Brevoy, The Worldwound, Realm of the Linnorm Kings, Numeria and Land of the Mammoth Lords.
Oh, dear. That sounds like it might be Wrath of the Linnorm Lawyer.
well, a full arcane caster seems like your best bet- and all of your ideas seem related to it. i can't help but notice you have 2 arcane druid ideas (the sylvan sorc and the elven conjuror)- that makes me think maybe you should look more at that? personally i like the sylvan sorc better (largely because you get the full animal companion list, and only need Boon Companion to have it at full strength- plus you get a couple druid spells as bloodline spells), but i like the RP idea for the wiz better.
in terms of optimization, the conjuror can pick up the magaambyan arcanist PrC (called collegiate arcanist on pfsrd) at 6th level- it requires good alignment (and several feats/skills), but has a couple solid and flavorful benefits: each level they get to add a druid spell to their spell list, they gain an aura of good (which qualifies you for Sacred Summons), and have abilities that increase CL and duration of spells with the Good descriptor (and summons gain the descriptors of the summoned creatures' subtypes). the downside is that meeting the requirements for the PrC will eat up valuable feats that you want to spend on an animal companion but should spend on summoning... if your GM is using (or would allow) PFS rules, you can replace scribe scroll with spell focus [conjuration], you can also take spell mastery with your Wiz 5 feat, that leaves 1,3, and 5 to take scholar, augment summoning, nature soul, and animal ally... you could do that if you decided on a human, but then you'd still have to choose between sacred summons and boon companion at 7th. an alternative would be to drop the animal companion and instead take a familiar- that would net you 3 extra feats, one of which you could spend on imporved familiar and take something with some druid companion flavor (a silvenshee, elemental, or celestial animal for example)?
all that said, i've also been on a big dwarf kick lately... with 1 level of fighter (or ranger) for backstory you'll be proficient with the longhammer, so you can build an empyreal sorc much like a reach cleric... the ASF% will be an issue but you can always take arcane armor training/mastery and just know that you'll never be able to cast quickened spells (you could still take arcane strike, you'll just only be able to use it in rounds that you don't cast). if you decide (at 7th) to take EK that would, obviously, up your melee ability and toughness but you won't be able to benefit from the capstone unless you take still spell and keep a couple stilled spells prepared just to use for spell crit, and you have to crit in a round you're attacking instead of casting (otherwise you already used a swift action for AAT/M)- IMHO EK is still worth taking.
Thanks for the cool suggestions. I hadn't considered Eldritch Knight for the dwarf. I thought him as too worn down for armour, and having to rely on spells. He mistrusts magic though, and miss the times when he could fight clad in steel. I would buy him chain mail amd shield, so he could sleep in his armour with his shield as his pillow.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
I've always been partial towards vanilla (no dips, splash, or salsa) wizards. Evoker or Illusion for fun, Conjurer to annoy.
Conjurer wizards follow the battlefield controller build.
Evokers follow Brewer's Blockbuster.
Illusionists...must be gnomes :)
Might want to consider Bard (with archetype that gives trapfinding) or Trapper Ranger, so you can handle traps, not do sneak attacks.
Bard would let you stand at the back, maybe with that Dwarf background, and use Perform (Oratory) to Inspire Courage by telling those old war stories. ;)
I'd go either with the old dwarf or the discworld assassin. If you choose the assassin, consider a bard, it would fit really nice, maybe with some archetype, remember that a discworld assassin is trained with the rule of coolness: no matter what you do, always do it with style, and make your clothes perfect and elegant. Bard sounds fit really well.
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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoA5AgofZk9qdGM3N1I0aC1KUVhhTk 0xM01MR0ExM1E#gid=0
What a cool spreadsheet :-)
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Hobgoblin Shogun wrote: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoA5AgofZk9qdGM3N1I0aC1KUVhhTk 0xM01MR0ExM1E#gid=0 I see multiple tabs (copies) how does that sheet work? I'm guessing it's some kind of survey?
Thanks for your replies everyone. I have finally decided: The Chosen One it is. The reason? I felt like having an animal companion, and waiting 5 levels for it (the Arcane Druid) was too long. On top of it, my brother made a joke about herding mammoths, and it came to me: Using Smilodons to herd wooly mammoths! Brilliant!
The Chosen One is from the Land of the Mammoth Lords, and comes from a tribe which have tamed smilidons and are using them to herd mammoths. For some yet-to-be-decided reason, he has decided he is The Chosen One. Possibly he went on a trip south, and saw everyone else herding sheep using dogs, and jumped to the logical conclusion. The smilodon will start off as a large kitten, and grow large and powerful.
So, I have decided on a concept. The next step is building the guy. I though I might as well use this thread, so here goes:
The Chosen One
Human Sylvan Sorcerer
15 points
STR: 8
DEX: 12
CON: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 10
CHA: 16+2
Considered Traits:
Magical Lineage, Focused Mind, Irrepressible (probably banned by the GM, though), the one that add perception to class skills, and the one that add stealth to class skills.
Considered feats:
Toughness
Boon Companion
Dazing Spell
Empower Spell
Intensify Spell
Maximize Spell
Piercing Spell
Spell Specialization
Augment Summoning
Superior Summoning
Spell Focus Conjuration
Spell Perfection
Spontaneous Metafocus
Craft Rod
Combat Casting
Spell Penetration
Iron Will
Great Fortitude
Improved counterspell
Yeah, that one needs narrowing down :-)
Feat choice list:
1 Toughness, Boon Companion
3
5
7 Dazzling Spell, Bonus Feat: Improved Initiative
9 Craft Rods
11
13 Bonus Feat: Quicken Spell
15 Spell Perfection (which spell?)
17
19 Bonus Feat: Dodge
I want him to mainly buff and summon. The Chosen One has others do the hard work. However, with the exception of superiour summons, most feats first and foremost help blasting, while buff and summons work fine regardless of your feat choice. So many of the feats on my wish list help blasting.
I know you guys love to get into the nuts and bolts, so I am looking forward to your input :-)
You may want to use point blank shot, precise shot, and rays if you need to cast damaging spells near your animal companion. by the time you get flaming sphere or fireball you need to be rather cautious around your animal companion.
Hey, I wanted to narrow down my feats, not add more ;-)
I did consider these three feats, but decided to mostly forgo rays with this character. Kitty is smart enough to avoid a flaming sphere. I might need to get Selective Spell to avoid toasting people with fireballs, but I am already running low on feats.
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