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So I am trying to maximize flavor for this build, power is not as important, I want to make it as true to the idea as possible.
I came up with this concept about 6 months ago but after reading the Gods and Faiths book, my desire to play this guy is renewed.
The Idea:
The general concept is that this guy it a hardcore follower of Eristal, not just his teachings but everything about him. He emulates him in everyway possible. Traveling to small communities to aid them, slaying monsters to keep the peace and even to have a Grim White stag of his own.
Here are the things this character needs to have:
Good bow stills
Healing Magics
A Stag animal companion (or similar creature if you have an idea)
Skills including Heal, survival, Knowledge nature, knowledge religion and diplomacy
I would also like to make the Stag as strong and awesome as possible. I am willing to spend most of my feats and abilities to accomplish it.
My initial thought was a Cleric of Erastil/X/Nature Warden but all ideas are welcome.
it sounds like you need to possibly make a druid. if this is not for pFs maybe the dm will let you spend a feat to give the animal companion a reach with it's antlers. It can be done with a familiar using eidolon stuff. After that I would take proficiency with a longbow if not playing elf or half elf. And other archery feats.
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I'd go Inquisitor. Bow prowess, and the skill list you want are available from level one, and if you take the Animal (Feather) Domain you also gain a scaling Perception bonus and, at 4th level, a stag companion, at 5th you can grab Boon Companion and it'll be fully leveled as well.
Honestly, Inquisitor is made for this. And just generally a good class to boot.
You could also manage it as a Paladin...but you'd need GM cooperation to make his bonded mount a stag, and the skills would be shaky at best and require Traits and such.
A Ranger or Druid is also possible, but IMO less on-theme than being a Divine class that literally draws power from the God in question. Ditto Oracle (of Nature, obviously).
EDIT:
Sample Human Inquisitor Build (assuming 20 point-buy):
Str 14 Dex 18 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 8
Domain: Animal (Feather),
Feats: Point Blank shot, Precise Shot,
Skills: Diplomacy +3, Heal +6, Knowledge (Nature) +4, Knowledge (Religion) +4, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Survival +6, (Then, as you level, don't take more Heal, spreading those skill points around...Intimidate is solid, as are more Knowledge skills and Stealth)
Spells: Grab Cure Light Wounds and probably a buff spell of some sort.
Feat Progression:
3: Rapid Shot
5: Boon Companion
7: Deadly Aim
9: Manyshot
11: From here on out it depends what you want...
You can use your Favored Class bonus for more skills or swap Con and Int (or both) if you want a more skilled character. You could drop Str to 13 for more Int or Cha, too, if you liked.
I'd go Inquisitor. Bow prowess, and the skill list you want are available from level one, and if you take the Animal (Feather) Domain you also gain a scaling Perception bonus and, at 4th level, a stag companion, at 5th you can grab Boon Companion and it'll be fully leveled as well.
Honestly, Inquisitor is made for this. And just generally a good class to boot.
You could also manage it as a Paladin...but you'd need GM cooperation to make his bonded mount a stag, and the skills would be shaky at best and require Traits and such.
A Ranger or Druid is also possible, but IMO less on-theme than being a Divine class that literally draws power from the God in question.
Makes some good points. I forgot about inquisitor due to my never playing one.
Unless you can talk your dm into creating a stag shaman archetype. That way you can wildshape into a huge sized stag.
And at second level have a gore attack with reach by growing immense antlers.
You could even look like ol one eye.
There is an animal companion you can use, it's called megaloceros (bestiary 2), it's not a good animal companion but it's not horse level animal companion either.
You could try with switch hitter ranger but i guess that's not enough divine magic, correct?
I have not looked into the class too much but at first glance the Hunter from the advanced class guide seems to have some decent stuff. Also Aasimars with the Celestial Servant feat to give your companion the celestial template.
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Thanks for the advice everyone. A few thoughts and replys:
@Deadman:
I love the inquisitor but I think it isn't the best idea for this build. The skills are right but the flavor is wrong. I am thinking more of a traveling preist that will fight when needed then a warrior with a few heal spells. The solo stuff just is so anti Erastil.
@Rogar:
The druid is solid. any thoughts on a archetype or build? Its not for PFS but my groups don't do homebrew... or third party.
@Leo:
Those are both great. I will add them to my list of possibilities (the Megaloceros is perfect!)
@ydobon: I checked out the hunter and it really is perfect but until the book comes out, none of my GMs will let me touch it... :-(
Cleric of Erastil would work fine. He grants animal(feather) domain, and you can take boon companion.
I recently played a battle cleric of erastil in jade regent, while it could work for your concept the 2 skill points per level really hurt, in addition it's really hard to make a half decent archer on a 3/4 BAB character with no bonus feats.
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ok, here is a thought that occurred to me.
Halfling Oracle of Nature with the Community Gaurdian Archetype.
I would have to talk my GM to letting a stag be a mount... but other than that what does everyone think?
Edit: maybe with the wolfscared face curse (skin it as the Stag Face)
Edit 2: could also be done with an Aasimar with the Scion of humanity trait and the Racial Heritage feat?
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Currently playing an Inquisitor of Erastil, albeit a half-orc with Plant (Growth) Domain.
Great class. LOVE the fast healing.
Could go Cavalier, and ask your GM to let you use stag animal companion instead of horse.
But I think Dave Justus is right: A cleric of Erastil with the Animal domain would work relatively well.
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Thanks for the advice everyone. A few thoughts and replys:
@Deadman:
I love the inquisitor but I think it isn't the best idea for this build. The skills are right but the flavor is wrong. I am thinking more of a traveling preist that will fight when needed then a warrior with a few heal spells. The solo stuff just is so anti Erastil.
Uh...Preacher archetype scraps Solo Tactics (which is actually a misnomer, you still need allies to use it). And Inquisitor can fit the 'traveling priest' motif perfectly. And they're no more 'a warrior with a few heal spells' than an Alchemist is...they can easily have plenty of healing available.
@Rogar:
The druid is solid. any thoughts on a archetype or build? Its not for PFS but my groups don't do homebrew... or third party.
Druid's solid if you want to go that route. An archer Druid should probably have a build not too dissimilar to the Inquisitor I list above, only replacing Boon Companion with Natural Spell. A spell-focused Druid who simply dabbles in archery will have a very different build indeed.
If you want Diplomacy on a Druid, I recommend the Affable Trait, which will net you that as a Class Skill along with Knowledge (Local) which is always good for a follower of Erastil.
@Leo:
Those are both great. I will add them to my list of possibilities (the Megaloceros is perfect!)
Megaloceros is very solid. Turning into a stag is generally a bad idea in-combat if doing an archery build...the stats will be off.
@ydobon: I checked out the hunter and it really is perfect but until the book comes out, none of my GMs will let me touch it... :-(
Hunter does look cool, but you can approximate with a few different things fairly readily.
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animal ally wont work. It doesn't allow for a stag like companion. Thanks though.
My biggest problem with druid is that I don't want to beast shape. so it seems like a lot of wasted power. but i can't find any archetype that gives it up.
So it looks like my best bet is Inquisitor and Cleric, either with the animal domain and boon companion as well as Celestion Companion. does anyone no of any prestige classes or feats that boost animal companions further?
Play a cleric or Survivor druid into the Exalted PrC from Inner Sea Gods. That or Paladin of Erastil (with his paladin code) into Sentinel.
Nature Warden, if you particularly want that PrC, is hard to get into from cleric or inquisitor. Druid (Feral Child archetype) 6 or Druid 6/Horizon Walker 1 or Ranger 7 is the easiest.
A human can trade their bonus feat for the Eye for Talent feature to boost their companion. An aasimar can get the Celestial Servant feat to give their companion the celestial template; I suppose a human with the racial heritage (aasimar) feat could get both, but you'd be sacrificing most of the feats you need to be good at archery.
seems silly Animal Domain(Feather) gets you a stag companion...
Oracle of nature is a good alternative. As an assimar you can go with the Agathian - blooded heritage. your character can have a primordial stag appearance. Also favored class bonus is to treat one revelation half level higher. Your animal companion would be on =hit dice as a everyone else. At level 12 it would be a level 18 companion. This is powerful.
Ask your dm if evolved familiar can be used with your mount to give it a gore attack if he won't let you just have a stag companion.
Use your feats only for archery feats. You should do really well.
I only recently discovered the assimar oracle animal companion cheese. My question is does it let your companion go over lvl 20 if so how does that work?
If you look at the progression chart you can easily determine the progress beyond 20.
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Ok, here are my builds representing as many aspects of Erastil and The Grim White Stag as possible. They each meet the ideas in their own way.
1.
Agathian Blooded Aasimar Scion of humanity
Community Guardian Oracle of Nature (Wolfscared Face Curse
Feats:
1. Point Blank Shot
3. Precise Shot
5. Rapid Shot
7. Deadly Aim
9. Many Shot
11. Improve Precise Shot
13. Clustered Shot
15. Snap Shot
17. Improved Snap Shot
19. Greater Snap Shot
Revelations:
1. Mount
3. Spirit of Nature
7. Transcendental Bond
11. Undo Artifice
15. Natrual Divinations
19. Life Leech
All favored class bonuses would go into mount revelation.
Pros: Very strong mount, full caster level, Great archery skills, lots of healing and other spells, good skills.
Cons: requires GM permission to get Stag (not PFS legal). Unknown limitations to mount beyond level 13.
2.
Human
Devout Pilgrim Cleric of Erastil (Fur and Family Subdomains)19 Mammoth Rider 1 (taken at level 10)
Feats:
1. Racial Heratige (Aasimar)
1. Point Blank Shot
3. Precise Shot
5. Boon Companion
7. Rapid Shot
9. Celestial Servant
11. Deadly Aim
13. Many shot
15. Improved Precise shot
17. Clustered Shot
19. Snap Shot
Pros: Huge Celestial Stag, as close a possible to Grim, Wide spell list, Channel Energy for Healing and Community focused powers.
Cons: less and poorer Skills, -1 caster level, slow archery build up.
I personally like number 2 more because I think it shows off more than just erastils combat prowess but what does everyone think?
Since you are trying to be as Erastilian as possible, I don't know that I would go Druid. Erastil is LG, and Druids must be partially Neutral so you would have to go LN or NG.
Nature Oracle, Cleric, Ranger, and Inquisitor all can be LG, have a Stag AC, cast healing/buffing spells to help the wee villagers, and use a bow.
If you can wait for the ACG, Warpriest of Erastil or Hunter could certainly serve your needs.
I think your first build does not qualify for Improve Precise Shot until level 15. You show taking it at 11th.
Edit: Also isnt "Community Guardian" a halfling archetype?
Edit2: Devout Pilgrim requires you to take Chaos, Community, Liberation, Luck, Travel, or Weather domain (or the Exploration, Fate, Freedom, Trade, or Seasons subdomains if available in the campaign) as one of your domains.
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Thanks Slacker. Yeah I need to move feats around.
I meant to take of the archetype. was going to take racial heritage but decided against it. Not being able to choose mount at first level was unattractive.
And I misread the ability, thought all subdomains were allowed. updated that to just be community and Animal (fur)
Yes, which is why I went away from the Druid. That leaves Cleric, Oracle and Inquisitor of currently published material.
Cavalier? It isn't a stretch to ask your GM to let you use a stag instead of a horse. Even in PFS, you can reskin a horse as a stag.
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The reason I don't believe that a ranger/paladin/caviler would be a good fit for a Scion of Erastil:
According to inner sea gods, "Erastil eschews crusades and brazen heroism. He has no plans to eradicate chaos and evil from the world, he simply whats people to be able to live their lives in peace...He enjoys hunting for sustenance but not for sport...he is not one to spout philosophy, and instead gives practical hands of teaching...Most of his priests are clerics, but a small minority are druids, rangers and (most rare) Paladins."
So I want to capture this spirit. Someone who does not strike out to slay evil but stands to protect his home and area. Paladin's (and to some extent inquisitors) hunt evil primarily while cavalirs are knights of a cause, and rangers are wondering hunters.
These are all just my opinions obviously.