I'm building a character for Wrath of the Righteous and I know exactly how I want him to work and what I want him to do.
I'm a little more than disappointed though, I came across this feat that sounded like it'd be awesome! Stand Still. After a little bit of reading though, I realized this feat is terrible. I planned on having my character getting reach, and it doesn't support that. It also doesn't even use my weapon, so I'd have to use my flat CMB, no bonuses.
The other feat I came across was Pin Down. Awesome feat! Problem is, I'm not going to be a fighter.
So, my fellow Pathfinders, I was hoping you could help me find other feats like this one, any help would be appreciated!
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Since you are going with a battlefield control reach weapon combatant you want to maximize your AoOs, and you want to maximize the value you get from them. Your first two feats are presumably Combat Reflexes and Power Attack.
The Pushing Assault feats works well for this purpose. Say a foe gets inside your defenses & adjacent. On your turn you 5' step away and attack. You use Pushing Assault and sacrifice some damage to move the foe 15' away. The foe loses the ability to Full Attack you, and you will get another AoO if it approaches you again. You can also sometimes use this feat to peel a foe away from a threatened ally.
Another way to accomplish pretty much the same thing is to dip one level of Cleric and take the Plant (Growth) domain. Swift-action Enlarge Person lets you interdict movement in a 50 diameter doughnut-shaped zone. If a foe gets inside your defenses and adjacent you escape at the start of your turn. Your first action of the round MUST be to shrink to normal size. Choose to shrink into a square not threatened by the foe, full attack, then 5' step away. The foe can not full attack you,and must give up an AoO to approach.
The above dynamics change a bit if the foe also has reach, but are still helpful.
The Two Handed Fighter archetype does what you propose. This archetype nicely maximizes your martial damage output.
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Trip is an incredible way to Tank and Battlefield Control. Get a Reach Weapon, The tripping feats, and a way to enlarge [The Growth Cleric and Living Monolith won't interfere with action economy while getting this] and then go with High-Strength and Dex+Agile Maneuvers and eventually throw a Dragoncatcher Guisarme[or something, I can't recall it but it keeps trip relevant] as a weapon at some point. Prone=-4 AC and free attacks for everyone.
I apologize, I wasn't able to give everyone the full details of the character. It's going to be a dwarven druid who specializes in Earth Elemental form. I'll have a 10 foot reach from that, and we will be doing a mythic campaign, I'll be taking the guardian path. Retributive Reach will be the first thing I get.
Retributive Reach increases your reach for the purpose of AoO's by 5 feet.
At 10th level I'll be able to become a Large Earth Elemental which has a natural 10 foot reach. Giving me a 15 foot reach for the purpose of AoO's.
I had thought about trip, but how often am I going to get to trip things? I had considered going Stalwart Defender to get the Halting Blow stance power, but I don't like the idea of being stuck in one spot.
I have a monk set aside in case this character dies that will be doing the whole "trip, stomp, stomp" thing, and he looks fun. But again, I don't want to build a character around trips because when we go up against things immune to trips I'll be just standing there.
Pathfinder isn't a particularly rich system for battlefield control via melee. I'd suggest going with trips even for your druid, it's definitely your best path especially since you'll get to scale in size as your opponents do. If the opponent is flying, well, you're probably not going to reach them anyway. If your opponent is a centipede, well, it happens once out of a hundred times. Just hit 'em then.
Sigh, that Combat Expertise is such an annoying Feat Tax though =/
Hm, well, I'd originally planned for this character to go Stalwart Defender. If I decide not to go Stalwart Defender, that'd save me from having to pick up the pre-req feats, although 2/3 of them I was probably going to get anyway.
Lore. warden-Nuff Said
Lore. warden-Nuff Said
I was kind of looking forward to getting Heavy Armor Proficiency and the ability to use Tower Shields >.< otherwise that'd be perfect.
Get the above to level 8. Make sure the mount has the Charger archetype as OVerrun via charge through is another form of battlfield control.
Congratulations, from atop your mighty steed you can charge a group of enemies, splatter one as an example to the rest and force them to stay in for a savage beating.
Look, with your shocked panther avatar. In awe.
Get the above to level 8. Make sure the mount has the Charger archetype as OVerrun via charge through is another form of battlfield control.
Congratulations, from atop your mighty steed you can charge a group of enemies, splatter one as an example to the rest and force them to stay in for a savage beating.
Look, with your shocked panther avatar. In awe.
I'd love to play a Cavalier! Was actually the first thing I picked. GM said I will rarely get to use my mount in the campaign and highly discouraged it though =(
EDIT: That Golden Legionnaire sounds really cool! I don't know my odds of getting accepted by one of their ranks though. And it seems that it revolves around a feat that ultimately left me a little disappointed.
I'd love to play a Cavalier! Was actually the first thing I picked. GM said I will rarely get to use my mount in the campaign and highly discouraged it though =(Get the above to level 8. Make sure the mount has the Charger archetype as OVerrun via charge through is another form of battlfield control.
Congratulations, from atop your mighty steed you can charge a group of enemies, splatter one as an example to the rest and force them to stay in for a savage beating.
Look, with your shocked panther avatar. In awe.
Given the focus of the character is more on straight damage and control rather than charges you should be fine. Stem the Tide is the real prize here.
Given the focus of the character is more on straight damage and control rather than charges you should be fine. Stem the Tide is the real prize here.I'd love to play a Cavalier! Was actually the first thing I picked. GM said I will rarely get to use my mount in the campaign and highly discouraged it though =(Get the above to level 8. Make sure the mount has the Charger archetype as OVerrun via charge through is another form of battlfield control.
Congratulations, from atop your mighty steed you can charge a group of enemies, splatter one as an example to the rest and force them to stay in for a savage beating.
Look, with your shocked panther avatar. In awe.
Indeed, it is very cool. But then it is no longer the character concept I was going to play. As stated above, I was wanting to play a Dwarven Druid who focused Earth Elemental wildshape.
Indeed, it is very cool. But then it is no longer the character concept I was going to play. As stated above, I was wanting to play a Dwarven Druid who focused Earth Elemental wildshape.Given the focus of the character is more on straight damage and control rather than charges you should be fine. Stem the Tide is the real prize here.I'd love to play a Cavalier! Was actually the first thing I picked. GM said I will rarely get to use my mount in the campaign and highly discouraged it though =(Get the above to level 8. Make sure the mount has the Charger archetype as OVerrun via charge through is another form of battlfield control.
Congratulations, from atop your mighty steed you can charge a group of enemies, splatter one as an example to the rest and force them to stay in for a savage beating.
Look, with your shocked panther avatar. In awe.
Ah missed that.
Well an alternative there is to focus on bullrushes with the bonuses earth elementals get on such things and shove people into your aoe spells. Stone Shape a big ole pit and keep people shoved in it. That kind of thing.
Indeed, it is very cool. But then it is no longer the character concept I was going to play. As stated above, I was wanting to play a Dwarven Druid who focused Earth Elemental wildshape.Given the focus of the character is more on straight damage and control rather than charges you should be fine. Stem the Tide is the real prize here.I'd love to play a Cavalier! Was actually the first thing I picked. GM said I will rarely get to use my mount in the campaign and highly discouraged it though =(Get the above to level 8. Make sure the mount has the Charger archetype as OVerrun via charge through is another form of battlfield control.
Congratulations, from atop your mighty steed you can charge a group of enemies, splatter one as an example to the rest and force them to stay in for a savage beating.
Look, with your shocked panther avatar. In awe.
Ah missed that.
Well an alternative there is to focus on bullrushes with the bonuses earth elementals get on such things and shove people into your aoe spells. Stone Shape a big ole pit and keep people shoved in it. That kind of thing.
Hmmm.... Now that could be fun. I'll do a little more research on that. There's also Pushing Assault that could benefit that as well. Much appreciated. I'm about to head to bed, will be back tomorrow afternoon to read any other posts. G'night everyone!
Stand Still does have one advantage: it works on untrippable foes. Still, I'd rather it were just another combat maneuver like the others rather than something that required a feat to use at all.
A Wolf Shaman can get improved trip and greater trip without int 13, and Vicious Stomp doesn't require 13 INT. Granted, a Wolf shaman can only get Improved trip at 9th level, and greater trip at 13th, by which point they're far less useful, but still.
Otherwise, 13 Int isn't terribly hard to get. It's harder for a 15 point buy, but with 20, you could easily have it, though you might have to have a lower Wis, focusing on save-less spells (which I've found is pretty standard for a Battle Druid), and take a minor hit on CON, which is rougher, but having the animal companion can help with survivability.
If you don't mind multiclassing, a few levels of a Monk archetype like Tetori or Maneuver Master combined with a focus on grappling or something like reposition or dirty trick could help with making the character good at non-magic battlefield control while lining up with a strength, dexterity and wisdom build that you were already going to need to make an AOO based melee Druid.