So a friend is running a campaign (Savage Tide for those interested) that we have managed to break over our knee with a shattering crunch. Our party consisted of a battlefield control conjuration specialist wizard (me), a debuffer cleric, a wild shape focused green faith acolyte druid, a paladin and a bard. At level 6 me and the druid cowboyed up and took on the sargasso mother of all. She died in two turns thanks to some lantern archons, a double charge from the druid and the companion and a massive boulder (love shrink item) dropped on the thing from 180ft. On top of that, the monster had a bit over 300hp and DR/10- to make it harder.
The problem we had is that there was no party cohesion mostly due to how optimised our characters were. As a result, we have agreed that we died in a shipwreck and can start with some more "character" characters....and everyone is either ranged or a spellcaster.
As a result of this, and the fact that there's apparently demons in the campaign, I'm going for a paladin so we can have someone in the front. In order for the math to check out and me to be able to survive under that much fire while still returning damage, I need more than the regulation number of attacks. Being aasimar with metallic wings is both flavourful and gives me two extra attacks, at the cost of three fairly useless feats. I have also toyed with the idea of dipping synthesist, calling the eidolon a celestial spirit and growing multiple wings.
Desperately need help here if I am to survive more than a couple of turns in combat while keeping ALL enemies at bay. And so I turn to you.
Current Stats:
Level 7, 23500gp
Angelblood Aasimar (+2 STR, +2 CHA) giving up alter self for +2 STR
STR 25 (18 + 4 racial + 1 level + 2 belt)
DEX 10
Con 16
WIS 8
CHA 22 (18 + 2 racial + 2 headband)
AC 21 with full plate
FORT 16(20 vs evil) (extra +4 against evil - Ragathiel celestial obedience)
REF 10 (14 vs evil)
WILL 12 (16 vs evil)
Melee attacks w/ haste and power attack
+13/+13/+8 1d6+19 (18-20/x2)
can go up to +30 with smite (+41 for 1st attack)
Feats
1 - Celestial obedience (Adopted by Humans - Bonus feat)
1 - Power Attack
3 - Blood of Angels (prerequisite)
5 - Angel Flesh (prerequisite)
7 - Critical Focus - Scimitar
9 - Staggering Critical
11 - Angel Wings (yet another prerequisite)
13 - Metallic wings (Finally...)
15 - Step up
17 - Lunge
19 - Extra LOH (maybe?)
As you can see, I am wasting 4 feats for two extra attacks and pushing feats needed for battlefield mobility to really late levels. I am almost entirely certain this will not be hold up at high levels and I'll either die or fail at keeping the enemies away from the party.
Any ideas, obscure magic items or interesting dips to improve damage output and survivability?
I should also say that I am not 100% gung ho about the class, so other class suggestions that would fulfil the same role are welcome. My only condition is that it has to have nice fluff to it.
Trip and attacks of opportunity. I actually like the idea, it's different than what I usually play.
Can give up the wings for demoralise abilities like cornugon smash thus reducing saves for the casters to go to town. Dip polearm fighter to be able to threaten adjacent squares, reduce strength and charisma to 16 and raise int and dex. Something like that?
Switch from an Aasimar to a Tiefling (Go a variant that doesn't penalize Cha if your GM lets you without having to take the feat that makes Tieflings even more underpowered than Aasimar). Take the paladin FCB bonus for Tiefling. Take Maw, Prehensile Tail, and Fiendish Sprinter. Take Fey Founding, Greater Mercy, and Extra Lay on Hands. Use a reach weapon and laugh in the face of death with your xd6+2x+y swift action heals every round.
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Brotato has it right if you want to live, if you want to take it further and don't feel it's too much optimisation go Oath of Vengeance and Sacred Servant. The extra CL from Sacred Servant is used at the start of the day to buff GMW at a higher bonus, then used for extra LoH (which can always be converted into extra Smites). Feats are essentially as he says with Combat Reflexes for extra AoO fun, then just more LoH since this a) keeps you alive and b) can always translate into more smites which far more than makes up for the slower rate you gain the base ones at. Extra spells and Domain (Rage is always a great one) from Sacred Servant are just icing on the cake.
For an example, at your level, a tiefling paladin with the options listed above would heal for 3d6+13, or 4d6+15 if you didn't require the mercy.
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Your last campaign broke because you were over optimizing so you solution is to do it again? If you want to play a non-campaign breaking tank, don't be a paladin and don't be an aasimar.
I'm currently playing the melee/frontline in my Savage Tide game as a ranger that dual wields daggers. You don't need to optimize to the Nth degree to play the game.
I fail to see how OP is "over-optimizing" with either his build or the one I suggested. Every other person is a ranged combatant or a spellcaster. If there isn't at least one person with the power to end a creature and the hp to take the hits, there's going to be nothing stopping the monsters from rolling right over the squishies.
Fyi, the metallic wings from the back of the Blood of Angels book are purely cosmetic and provide zero mechanical advantages. You can't make wing attacks with them.
He's referring to Metallic Wings, an Aasimar racial feat from the Advanced Races Guide.
How are you giving up alter self for an extra +2 to STR? Is that a houserule?
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its a GM approval thing from the assimar book "blood of angels" the GM has the right to ok it or veto it, but its there in the books.
Metallic wings give you 2 secondary nat. attacks.
also, I am sorry, but a reach based character is going to break things just as much as his original. Sense he will likely be getting MORE attacks at FULL BaB than before.
Look at the name of the thread. It gives away the fact that the OP has no problem repeating what happened last time. You don't have to bleeding edge optimize to play the game.
Thanks for the replies everyone, they have given me a lot more options to work with.
Staggering Critical at 9th lvl is illegal
Good catch, thanks.
Also the general consensus seems to be that for survivability I need to focus a bit more on lay on hands instead of maximising damage. Move staggering critical to level 13, metallic wings to level 15 and take greater mercy at level 9.
If I go for a polearm I won't take the wing feats as they have a range of 5ft, but then I can lower my strength and charisma a bit to boost dex and int with combat reflexes.
Alternatively attack with the polearm and actually move ft towards the enemy at the end of my turn with a 5ft step, finishing the full attack and threatening them with wings but that is even more feat intensive.
I'll make a couple of characters and see which sounds the coolest.
If you're interested, check out the work I'm doing on an ultimate charisma build. Great warrior, good caster, and near indestructible. But use if for inspiration only. Otherwise, your GM might try to murder you.
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qoad?The-high-Oradin-of-Arshea-or-the
williamoak, interesting build. Not quite what I'm going for fluff-wise but it definitely sounds awesome, a lot of interesting synergies. I will keep it in mind for any future high powered campaigns. Can't wait to see the finished version.
It is taking forever... muticlassed characters are LONG to build, even longer with spellcasting. Still, it's a cool thing.