Hey guys,
I'll be playing in a Council of Thieves AP and I was wondering if you guys could help me.
I would like to play a mounted gnome lance charger, preferably a paladin, although I am open to other suggestions for both class and combat style. I can choose either a 20 point buy, however dumping a stat down to 7 yields only 3 points back instead of 4, or a best of 3 sets of 4d6, arranged as desired. Again, feel free to advise. 4d6 averages out to 12, but maths has never been my strong point. I have played about a year now, although I'm still not super familiar with the all the rules. All CRB allowed, and all other paizo stuff on a case by case basis. Starting gold of 3x average, so 525 if I'm playing a pally although I can double that again easily by writing up a half decent background story. It's looking to end at around level 13 or so. That should be everything important, although if you really wish you can view full character creation here.
Thank you in advance,
SepthSilver
EDIT: does lance charge multiplier stack with smite.
If you're after a lance-charger you really, really, want to check out the Cavalier class from the APG.
I have a halfling paladin shining knight archetype that rides a dog and dishes out some serious damage against undead and evil outsiders. I wanted to play a mounted character but I know a lot of adventures limit the size of your mount, or have places you can only get to by climbing. I gave him "dangerously curious" to get UMD as a class skill and he carries scrolls of spider climb to help his mount get just about anywhere. Caveliers are solid, but I wanted the mount to have good saves; I think the mount is at +15/+14/+11 at 8th level.
Combat-wise, I took the following feats: mounted combat, ride-by attack, spirited charge, power attack, wheeling charge. I generally charge a bad guy for triple damage (and remember that triples power attack, smite, and any static bonuses). If space allows you use ride-by attack to move past and do the same the next round.
I've watched others play quite a few small-sized mounted chargers. Every single one has been tremendously effective. Most were either paladins or cavaliers, with a few other classes also seizing the glory.
The biggest difference I noticed was whether or not they had something to contribute when they could not charge. Some did, some did not. Charges seemed to happen in about half the fights. A successful charge generally ended the fight.
Click my avatar for a ranger mounted type. I use a giant gecko for spider climb on the mount. It is sheer terror when your charging around on the ceiling.
Two things you need to remember:
You get a +1 high ground bonus to attack rolls. This makes up for having 4 strength less than a human or half-human from an accuracy standpoint.
Your racial SLA can qualify you for arcane strike. This eventually can compensate for your -4 strength from a damage standpoint.
Atarlost wrote: Two things you need to remember:
You get a +1 high ground bonus to attack rolls. This makes up for having 4 strength less than a human or half-human from an accuracy standpoint.
Your racial SLA can qualify you for arcane strike. This eventually can compensate for your -4 strength from a damage standpoint.
Isn't gnome a -2 to STR? And I'm trying to think of someway to get arcane strike into the lore. That and I don't really think a static +3 damage at level 10 is worth the investment.
Yes it is. 3x3=9 extra at 10. Remember mounted types like static pluses because they multiply it by 3.
Also, multiclassing is very effective with Cavalier. With the Horse Master feat your Mount scales with char level, so you can get 4 levels of Cavalier and then go for another good archetype to compliment it.
Also, if you plan to go full Cavalier, go Beast Rider for riding wolves and boars and eventually velociraptors. There are a few other good archetypes: Gendarme for pure mounted combat and Emissary for having a good unmounted fighting ability too.
SepthSilver wrote: Atarlost wrote: Two things you need to remember:
You get a +1 high ground bonus to attack rolls. This makes up for having 4 strength less than a human or half-human from an accuracy standpoint.
Your racial SLA can qualify you for arcane strike. This eventually can compensate for your -4 strength from a damage standpoint.
Isn't gnome a -2 to STR? And I'm trying to think of someway to get arcane strike into the lore. That and I don't really think a static +3 damage at level 10 is worth the investment. Any well built martial will have his racial +2 in strength. Or maybe be a dwarf, but they're getting a lot of saves for their weakness. Whatever you consider the point of diminishing returns in point buy will be the same whether you're struggling against a -2 racial or backed by a +2 racial so the gnome will have 4 less strength than an equivalent human, half-human, or oread (or certain aasimar or tiefling heritages). If you consider the point of diminishing returns 16 your human (or other floating bonus or +strength race) equivalent character would have 18 strength while your gnome would have 14. If you buy all the way to 18 your human has 20 while your gnome has 16. Either way that's -2 accuracy -3 damage (with two handed weapons including lances).
You get arcane strike because gnomes are magical and SLAs give you a caster level in PF: arcane for arcane SLAs like dancing lights, ghost sound, and prestidigitation.
Gnome Magic: Gnomes add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against illusion spells that they cast. Gnomes with Charisma scores of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation, and speak with animals. The caster level for these effects is equal to the gnome's level. The DC for these spells is equal to 10 + the spell's level + the gnome's Charisma modifier.
With your +2 racial in charisma it's not too much of a sacrifice to have 11 even as a cavalier and for a paladin it will be your secondary stat.
Being small and having the high ground bonus from being mounted gets you back the lost accuracy, but Arcane Strike is the only way to get that damage deficit back. You should no more run around with a gnome without arcane strike than you'd run around with a human with 14 in your primary attack stat.
Don't you only have high ground bonus vs. enemies of your own Size? That is, small creatures if on a medium mount.
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