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So a picture has inspired me to use one of my Undine boons for PFS to create an Undine that fights using a rapier and wearing as little as possible, which means no armor.
There's a decent bit of support out there for light armor fighters, especially the swashbuckler playtest class, but no so much for unarmored fighters. With the Undine's Str penalty it seems a dervish dance build would be ideal, but that's limited to scimitars.
How can I make this work? BTW, shields are allowed. Also, I would prefer to be CN and worship Besmara, but that's not required.
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Chainmail bikini no armor or like... showing off more than people need to see no armor?
Cleric of Caiden Caylean 1 Martial Artist Monk 11
Crusader's Flurry is the key here.
Crusader's flurry gives the monk quality to your deity's favored weapon, allowing it to be used in flurries.
Besmara's favored weapon is the rapier, as is Cayden Caylean's.With monk levels. I might suggest using mantis style- a stunning fist followed by the rest of your flurry of rapier could be effective.
Another option would be go light armored and use the ever popular glamered armor, to have your light armor look like a loincloth.
Here's a weirder option: play a Barbarian with the Urban and Invulnerable archetypes. Stack up on as much DR (you'll really want Stalwart, so a 1 level dip in Unbreakable Fighter would be a good idea) and HP boosters as possible. Ideally, you'll get hit, but you won't care.
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Here's a weirder option: play a Barbarian with the Urban and Invulnerable archetypes. Stack up on as much DR (you'll really want Stalwart, so a 1 level dip in Unbreakable Fighter would be a good idea) and HP boosters as possible. Ideally, you'll get hit, but you won't care.
Interesting. Besides Stalwart, what are good DR boosters?
Well, DR that isn't a class feature doesn't stack with Stalwart so there isn't much else other than taking the improved DR rage power. It miiiight be worth investing in Crane Style to make fighting defensively better (it isn't super good like it once was but it should still help) but you can't go MoMS to pick it up so things are getting very feat intensive at this point.
Here's a weirder option: play a Barbarian with the Urban and Invulnerable archetypes. Stack up on as much DR (you'll really want Stalwart, so a 1 level dip in Unbreakable Fighter would be a good idea) and HP boosters as possible. Ideally, you'll get hit, but you won't care.Interesting. Besides Stalwart, what are good DR boosters?
DR doesn't stack unless stated otherwise, so stalwart + invulnerable rager is about as good as it gets. If I remember right there's a build to use guarded life to convert it to non lethal. Dragon totem can double it, but it locks you out of other totems(beast totem...), and improved damage reduction can increase it again.
Bard.
DR doesn't stack unless stated otherwise, so stalwart + invulnerable rager is about as good as it gets. If I remember right there's a build to use guarded life to convert it to non lethal. Dragon totem can double it, but it locks you out of other totems(beast totem...), and improved damage reduction can increase it again.Here's a weirder option: play a Barbarian with the Urban and Invulnerable archetypes. Stack up on as much DR (you'll really want Stalwart, so a 1 level dip in Unbreakable Fighter would be a good idea) and HP boosters as possible. Ideally, you'll get hit, but you won't care.Interesting. Besides Stalwart, what are good DR boosters?
Might be a good option for a Kitsune build. You've got Vulpine Pounce anyways so there's no reason not to take Dragon Totem.
Also, about my prior MoMS comment: If you take the Adopted trait you can get the Enlightened Warrior Aasimar racial trait and play a neutral monk, which is of course valid for a barbarian. Not sure if this is PFS legal though since I never see anyone talk about it.
If you do go Kensai, take Net as your Exotic Weapon. Get Net Adept and Combat Reflexes to throw a net on anything that charges you. Entangled makes you a little harder to hit, breaks up a charge, and your party doesn't mind that you just debuffed the baddie as they release their full attacks.
Not sure if this is PFS legal though since I never see anyone talk about it.
Definitely is. Both adopted and enlightened warrior are PFS legal.
Monk (maneuver master) 4 / Ninja X
The monk levels get you WIS to AC and a ki pool based on WIS. Maneuver master's flurry of maneuvers does not require monk weapons.
When you reach Ninja 2 get the Redirect Force trick and use the damage you take to be absolutely sure of succeeding at a combat maneuver. You also get a bunch of other uses for ki at this point.
Well, DR that isn't a class feature doesn't stack with Stalwart so there isn't much else other than taking the improved DR rage power. It miiiight be worth investing in Crane Style to make fighting defensively better (it isn't super good like it once was but it should still help) but you can't go MoMS to pick it up so things are getting very feat intensive at this point.
There's a trait for that. It requires you to be the Con/Cha Aasimar variant, though.
But I can't resist going on a rant about this:
The fluff for the trait simply says, "You have always found it easy to maintain inner peace and enlightenment that translate well to the battlefield." What part of that is only achievable by an Agathion-blooded Aasimar?
The trait is called "Enlightened Warrior", which is something I thought all Monks were. Why then are Monks restricted to Lawful only? Hell, why can't a Barbarian be lawful? Why is alignment still a thing? It sure breaks down fast once you start to think about it.
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Urban Savage Barbarian into Duelist.
With Controlled Rage and a Courageous Furious weapon, you'll soon enough have enough Dex bonus to make even Celestial Chainmail feel restrictive. So you may as well get a bit of extra bonus from Savage Barbarian for running around with no shirt on.
Keep pushing your Dex and Int up with gear. Get UMD from hour Int headband and buy a wand of Mage Armour; it'll be a long time before Bracers of Armour will be cheap enough to justify over just wanding yourself.
There's a trait for that. It requires you to be the Con/Cha Aasimar variant, though.
Or taking the Adopted trait. That means your Racial and Social categories are used up, but there are not a lot of good Social traits anyway.
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Race is set as undine due to that art which inspired this build.
I like the barbarian variants. There is one oddball build I also cooked up. It sacrifices worship of Besmara though.
1 level of sorcerer. (Ability to cast Mage Armor, required for DD.)
4 levels of Iroran paladin (Inner Sea Combat) (Up to +4 Cha modifier as dodge bonus to AC, plus Cha to saves and Lay on hands.)
7 levels of Dragon Disciple. (Inherent natural armor bonuses and inherent Str bonuses to make up for Undine's racial penalty.)
What do you think?
Seems like an interesting build.
You could also do...
Kensai Magus
Drunken Master Monk 1/Warpriest of Cayden X
Paladin2/SwashbucklerX
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Unless you intend on going totally shirtless, a Mithral Chain Shirt is light enough to be worn under clothing.
Also, have you considered a Summoner or Synthesist Summoner? It's the only non-full caster that gets Mage Armor.
A Barbarian works, but it's kind of awkward in that a Rapier limits you to 1x strength. Granted, this would let you use a shield at no penalty, but if you're not wearing armor that means you're going for a DR-based approach anyway...
Otherwise, I would say Crusader's Flurry and levels in Monk is your best bet. That synergizes nicely with the Undine wis bonus, anyway. Just see if your GM will let you pick up an Agile rapier.
I'm terrible at this stuff but what about a DEX based Eldritch Knight. (Extended)Mage Armor and (Quiken)Shield don't count as wearing armor. Go Transmutation to boost your DEX.
Just a different thought.
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Also, have you considered a Summoner or Synthesist Summoner? It's the only non-full caster that gets Mage Armor.Magus can get mage armor.
Well, if you want to spend a whole arcana on it...
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/mage-armor
Oh yeah, and there are a bunch of Oracle revelations that give scaling armor bonuses. That could be a potent choice.
In addition to the Magus and Barbarian and Monk builds you might want to consider another route. Watersinger is really really good and you can make the most of it.
Traits: Magical Lineage (Aqueous Orb), Wayang Spellhunter (Aqueous Orb)
1 Lingering Performance
3 Weapon Finesse
5 Arcane Strike
7 Dazing Spell
9 Spell Penetration
11 Quicken Spell
I'm curious as to what the pic was that inspired this thread.
I'm curious as to what the pic was that inspired this thread.
So am I. That might tell me whether synthesist summoner is a good idea, or whether the originator needs to stick to a more normal undine appearance.
Monk is the obvious starting point, given the undine's racial bonuses to dexterity and wisdom.
But another option to consider might be an oracle with the Life or Nature mystery who takes a revelation that lets you base AC on charisma rather than dexterity -- for which your ever increasing charisma bonus will drive you to strip down to ever lighter armor.
Does PFS allow the use of piecemeal armor? If so, you can start out with a haramaki, padded sleeves, and studded leather leggings. As your charisma goes up, you would replace the studded leather leggins with padded leggings, then drop the sleeves and leggings, and finally (if you can reach a high enough character leval and wealth in PFS) replace the haramaki with bracers of armor. The combination of these armor pieces would create a rather interesting visual appearance.
Does PFS allow the use of piecemeal armor?
Nope! No piecemeal or words of power in society. To be fair alternate systems like those haven't gotten much love since their introduction, imo.
Well, that kills the oracle idea. You could do the haramaki without the sleeves (assuming that standard Eastern armor is allowed) but it will take longer to get your charisma high enough that anything heavier has a max Dex bonus lower than your charisma bonus.
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So a picture has inspired me to use one of my Undine boons for PFS to create an Undine that fights using a rapier and wearing as little as possible, which means no armor.
Make a classic TWF rapier & main gauche rogue ...the Wisdom bump shores up the weak save and bolsters Perception, and Darkvision -- what's not to love?
stabstabstabstabstabstab
Take the Amphibious option to avoid all those nasty make-a-fort-save-while-drowning situations evil mods like to throw at you. (Very nice for pirate-themed stuff.)
UMD wands of Mage Armor until you just buy Celestial Armor.
A Dex-based Ancestor Oracle (or whatever other armor-revelation oracle) that uses favored class bonus on their armor revelation gets a supernatural mage armor that grows with the character and has absolutely no dex bonus or armor check restrictions. By level 10 its 10AC plus a bonus defensive effect that works 15 hours a day, and you're spending nothing on your 'armor'.