Risky Striker. It is a halfling racial feat that gives you -1 to AC in order to gain what is basically a second power attack. Yes, as in +2 to damage, with another +2/4 levels. And it stacks with power attack.
It does come with the slight restriction that it only works on things 2 sizes bigger than you (so large normally). But after a certain point? Just about everything that is a threat and not a squishy mage/rogue thing will likely be large+. So it is a rather safe bet once you start seeing these things commonly.
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Howdy, all. I've built a halfling fighter, weapons master archetype, who uses an improvised weapon (stats are for the light mace, small damage.) He currently has the Catch Off Guard and Power Attack feats to counter the improv weapon penalties and to allow him to do more damage relative to his weight class.
The main problem you're going to run into here is stacking Power Attack penalties with small-race strength penalties. You're also spending an unnecessary feat (CoG) in order to deliberately use weapon that remains suboptimal.
Basically, you're making a "gimp".
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The most effective small race fighter builds employ DEX as the highest stat in conjunction with either Agile weapons or Mythic Weapon Finesse, and Piranha Strike. (As a light weapon, the mace qualifies for Piranha Strike.) Alignment permitting, a couple paladin levels put the racial CHA bump to good use:
E.g., something like....
STR:10
DEX+17 (15,14,12,12,12,12 20pt array)
CON:14
INT:12
WIS:12
CHA+14
traits: Rice Runner (Acrobatics class), Dangerous Curious (UMD class)
00 saves (+1 racial)
01 05 04 02 fight1 Weapon Finesse, Piranha Strike
02 06 04 02 fight2 Weapon Focus: Shortsword
03 08 04 04 pala1 [smite] Iron Will
04 09 05 07 pala2 DEX>18 [divine grace][lay on hands]
05 09 06 08 fight3 Risky Striker
06 10 06 08 fight4 Weapon Specialization: Shortsword
07 10 06 08 fight5 [Weapon Training:Light Blades], Vital Strike
08 11 07 09 fight6 Greater Weapon Focus: Shortsword
* Alternate build dips barbarian [urban]; result is higher attack bonus and damage versus non-evil, but poorer saves and worse skill.)
Equipment at 8th: +1/Agile shortsword, STR belt, CHA headband, Cloak, shield, collection of cheap wands (including Mage Armor and Longstrider) and scrolls
Shopping list: Gloves of Dueling, Celestial Plate, cracked pale greens
Abilities:
* no-fail trigger basic divine items via paladin list
* trigger arcane items via UMD
* full-BAB "face"
* d6+22 "all in" damage versus large at 8th (if DEX:20 and Gloves)
* far better saves than the average d10 class
* casts Mage Armor until Celestial
* fighter armor training eliminates armor movement penalty
* 3/4th small encumbrance versus half-weight equipment = win
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But Sir Thugsalot's idea that you should emphasize Dex is interesting. Say focus on scimitar and take Weapon Finesse and Dervish Dancer. Now both your attack and damage rolls are dex based. If you're using a simitar, you've just got to have Improved Crit.
The problem with scimitars is that they aren't light weapons.
If I simply *had* to have a d4 small-race one-handed weapon, I'd rather have an ordinary shortsword (light) than a scimitar (not light). Otherwise the d3 kukri (forfeiting half a point average for extended-threat range) is superior.
Why the need for a light weapon?
-- Required for Piranha Strike.
If you are dipping into rogue to get that extra sneak attack damage, you can then look into the feint line of feats.
Improved Feint - Feint as a move action
Passing Trick - Successful Acrobatics lets you feint
Disorienting Maneuver - Successful Tumble gets +2 attack on that victim.
So, with these (and the prereqs), you can:
Tumble by an enemy. If successful, it lets you try your bluff check. Make the bluff check, and he's flat footed. Make your sneak attack, he has no dex modifier, AND you get a +2 for the disorienting maneuver. Easy to hit, and does excellent damage. It's a decent feat tree to get there, but very few in the tree don't provide good benefits (combat expertise is perhaps the least useful, depending on whether your in a situation where defense is more important than offense).
Underfoot is also VERY excellent in combination with these. +4 on your acrobatics check to move around the enemy, and a +2 extra AC against AoO when/if you fail.
........BUY RACE LVL
STR 13 = 15 - 2
DEX 18 = 15 + 2 + 1
CON 10 = 10
INT 13 = 13
WIS 8 = 8
CHA 14 = 14
Halfling
Fearless
Halfling Luck
Sure-Footed
Low Blow
Lvl 1 - Fighter
- Bonus Feat (Dodge)
- Feat (Mobility)
- Bravery +1
Lvl 2 - Fighter
- Bonus Feat (Combat Expertise)
Lvl 3 - Fighter
- Feat (Improved Feint)
- Armor Training 1
Lvl 4 - Fighter
- Bonus Feat (Underfoot)
- Dexteriity +1
Lvl 5 - Rogue
- Feat (Disorienting Maneuver)
- Sneak Attack +1d6
- Trapfinding
Acrobatics +14 = 5 (ranks) + 3 (class) + 4 (dex) + 2 (sure-footed)
............. + 4 to tumble past medium or larger
Bluff +12 = 5 (ranks) + 3 (class) + 3 (cha) +1 (trait)
..........+1 humanoids or halflings
Small Masterwork Longsword
. Attack +7 = +4 (BAB) +1 (str) +1 (size) +1 (masterwork)
............+2 if successfully tumbled by victim
............+1 to confirm critical against medium or larger (Low Blow)
............+1 vs humanoids or halflings during surprise round (Cold and Calculating)
. Damage 1d6+1
..........+1d6 if successfully feint opponent
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There's one more point nobody's mentioned yet-- thanks to CoG, as long as your opponent is unarmed, you'll be hitting flat-footed AC, effectively giving you an extra bonus on attack rolls (an unpredictable one, though). This would make Sneak Attack an extra-attractive choice.
I'm kind of surprised nobody who suggested Rogue mentioned that. Still, you don't qualify for Combat Expertise (and therefore Improved Disarm) so I'm not sure it's worth pursuing seriously.
Can you take Weapon Focus/Specialization with an improvised weapon?
I've been working on a halfling cavalier (emissary) for pfs play. A heads up, I've never actually played pathfinder (just 2nd edition back in the day) but on paper he looks all right.
Take power attack at first level, use a small or normal lance mounted and a small two-handed sword. at 14 strength you are still power attacking for 1d10+6. lance is 1d6+6x2. Take helpful (halfling) trait to boost aid another to +4, which is nice. risky striker at 3, more damage against people that matter. mobility at 4, ride-by attack at 5. take order of the paw, you can give your party save rerolls and later on continue your tendency to hate big things. a halfling knight with a size complex, sounds fun to play in any case.
oh, and with that racial trait for movement you can get 30ft a round in medium armor as an emissary, or if you really want to be glued to your mount take the +2 ride.
halfling charge monkey probably isn't ground breaking, but it's how I would go..
Silent Saturn, my GM said I could, but then pointed out the Weapons Master Archetype gets a free version at 3.
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Weapon Training (Ex)At 3rd level, a weapon master gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with his chosen weapon. The bonus improves by +1 for every four levels beyond 3rd.
This ability replaces Armor Training 1, 2, 3 and 4.
------I could probably take it anyway to make that bonus grow faster, though!
cc2600, Thanks for the ideas! I did consider doing a cavalier, but couldn't pick an order. Looking that over, kinda wish I had. But eh, he's playing fairly well.
SirThugsalot, 31pt character? How does that work out to 31pts? (No sarcasm, just new player lost here.)
Weapon Training is different from Weapon Focus/Specialization: Weapon focus is +1 to hit, and Weapon Specialization is +2 to damage. These both stack with Weapon Training.
The Weapon Master Archetype is ideal for a fighter that specializes in a specific weapon build, but none of its abilities work with anything other than that weapon. If your GM is allowing it with improvised weapons, that's cool.
Some other possibilities for an improvised weapon build:
Instead of taking Catch Off Guard, there are two traits that let you use tools from your "regular job" as improvised weapons (Rough and Ready is the one I usually use.)
The CAD fighter archetype has specific class features around improvised weapons and gets Catch Off Guard for free.
The Monk of the Empty Hand gets some nice abilities with improvised weapons.
As far as doing as much damage as a medium-sized character:
Just because you're a Halfling does not mean you have to do a dex-based character. It's a nice option because you have the racial dex bonus, but it's not a necessity. If you're concerned about your CMD, take the favored class bonus "+1 CMD vs Grapple and Trip". (Weapon Master already gives you bonuses against Disarm and Sunder.)
You won't be optimized because of the strength penalty, true, but the reduced die size for you weapon is negligible, really.
In general, if you're worried about maxing out your damage but don't want to build a character around only doing damage, here's the guidelines I use:
1) If you have a strength of 14 or higher, two-handed weapons with Power Attack are always going to do the most damage. If your strength is less than 14, two-weapon fighting is usually your best option. (Note: Combining TWF and Power Attack actually makes you do less damage, not more.)
2) If your Dex mod is more than 2 points higher than your Str mod, consider Weapon Finesse. If not, it's a waste of a feat in the long run.
3) Weapon Specialization and Weapon Training are the biggest boosts for your damage output. If you're a fighter, make sure you get these. After you get Weapon Training, get Gloves of Dueling.
In an optimized world, no one would ever play a Halfling. Ever. Weakest race in the world, in every possible way.
So why are 3/4s of my characters Halflings? No clue--I just love 'em!