I've posted recently about a mounted Halfling TWF barbarian build before. Here's the game info and character build if you care.
Info About Our Game:
We will be playing the Rise of the Rune Lords (RotRL) mod all the way 'til level 17 with PFS rules. It's hosted by some of my college professors for a student get together on Friday nights. Everyone gets to same amount of gold and all level up together. I will be creating this character to join around level 10. We can bring in new characters as we wish and they set up the tables for balance. The table size is usually 5 people, sometimes 6.
Alternate Racial Traits:
Outrider: +2 to HA and Ride
Low Blow: +1 crit confirms vs. larger enemies
Adaptable Luck: 3/day a +2 luck bonus to a roll, +1 if after already rolled.
Traits:
The Lantern Bearer: Cast light 3/day at caster level = char. level
Fates Favored: +1 to luck bonuses (Adaptable Luck and Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier fun and a little flavor)
Class Abilities (archetype bonuses):
1) MF: Fast Rider: Mount gains 10 movement speed
3) EK: Elemental Fury: When taking energy damage >= char. level, +1/3 level to # of rage rounds
5) MF: Gain AnC at barb level -4
Feat Plan:
1) Raging Vitality: +2 Con when raging, can still rage when unconscious
3) TWF
5) Boon Companion: AnC is now same level as me
7) Risky Striker: Vs. 2+ size larger enemies, -1 AC for 2+2(1/4BaB) to damage
9) Lunge: So I can attack from my mount when tiny size
11) ITWF
13) Arcane Strike: Swift action to add 1+(caster level/5) to damage
15) GTWF: Will get a +2 Dex ioun stone to qualify. Can focus on just Str/Con belt
17) Improved Critical (Two-Bladed Sword): Will buy a Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid early on to use the weapon
Rage Powers:
2) L. Beast Totem: Claw action
4) Ferocious Beast: AnC can rage by spending an extra rage round
6) Beast Totem: Natural armor for me
8) G. Ferocious Beast: AnC can use continuous rage powers (claws and Witch Hunter)
10) G. Beast Totem: We both get pounce
12) Superstition: We both get save bonuses
14) Witch Hunter: Both get more damage on hit vs magic enemies
16) Eater of Magic: I deal enough damage so keep me alive longer
I need your help building Tumbaa, his boar animal companion. I've never played a druid or anyone mounted but I've got most of the rules down. Right now I'm leaning toward a Charger archetype to keep him alive by wearing better armor (it would be awful if Pimon's Tumbaa died on him).
Here's the feats I'm looking at for him right now (first stat boost into Int for the Common language, second into Dex to qualify for Nimble Moves at 10 instead of 13):
1) Iron Will?
2) Power Attack
5) Great Fortitude?
8) Improved Iron Will?
10) Nimble Moves
13) Acrobatic Steps: ignoring 20ft of difficult terrain is quite wonderful for charging
16) ?
The 1/5/8 feats are to make sure I remain in control of him and to improve the level 15 Charger archetype ability. Is this useful/necessary?
Would it just be better to give Tumbaa two sets of Featherstep Slippers to free up the level 10 and 13 feats? That would require the magic item slot feat, or is that even legal?
I don't want to spend a crazy amount of money on Tumbaa since I'll already be TWFing, so I was thinking of using MW Kikko Armor (what my character will be wearing except Mithral) Barding and only have a -1 ACP to worry about until level 15 when it goes away.
However, I've never built one of these guys before so I don't really know what's best. Any suggestions would be helpful!
Cheech, I explain it under the "Info About Our Game" spoiler. Going to level 17 using PFS rules in a "home game" is basically what's going on.
EDIT: I guess I should go ahead and add in that I was planning on putting Pimon's FCB into skill points since I'll be dumping the two I get into Ride and Handle Animal. Maybe 1 in general class skills then rest into Acrobatics?
Also, I forgot with MW reducing the ACP by 1 and level 9 Charger decreasing it 2 again, he'd have no penalty to hit or on skills.
Boars are listed as hooved quadrupeds and get these item slots: Armor, belt (saddle), chest, eyes, feet (horseshoes), head, headband, neck, shoulders, wrist. So Featherstep Slippers should be fine and if you get them made for him one set should be all that's necessary. By level 10/13 you really, really want to be able to fly anyway.
GTWF is a waste of a feat. Get Extra Rage Power or something.
Whether the mounts save boosters are necessary depends on your game.
If you're using PFS rules, pfs has some weird rules for critters. Please take a card
Since the point of the boar is mostly to get the halfling to combat, you want a build that helps him do that. Offense is a secondary concern.
I would go with
1) toughness
3) iron will
4) Bonus into int
5) Unarmed strike
7) Dragonstyle
9) Extra slot: back (give him your old cloaks of resistance)
11)
Dragonstyle lets you charge through allies who will ALWAYS be in your charge lane, and the ubiquitous difficult terrain.
Don't worry about armor proficiencies. You can throw mithral chain shirt or mithral kikko armor on him and suffer the -0 armor check penalty to his attack rolls.
Your barbarian has some way of pouncing to make that full attack right? Normally you can't full attack during a charge.
Porkchop Starts with Neck & Armor. Horses ONLY start with horse shoes. He can take extra slot Armor, belt(saddle), chest,eyes, head, headband,shoulders, wrist
I thought they would work the same way horseshoes would in that you need 4 of them in order to be effective, aka 2 pairs. Is that not the case for PFS?
I did the DPR calculations and at the level I would be selecting GTWF (I'll have a +3 Furious x2 Two-Bladed Sword), it would increase my DPR by more than Double Slice or Imp. Crit against a CR appropriate enemy and even enemies of higher CR. I originally was going to not even bother with it but after doing the math it works out in my favor since I'll be overcoming all DR except piercing, bludgeoning, and epic.
The DMs indicated that "this year there will be more possibilities of outright dying compared to last" (last year we went from level 1 to 10 and we're picking up again this year) so I assumed that meant don't have awful saves.
@Flutter:
I actually found and read quite a lot of your guide and it gave me some direction (originally had Power Attack at level 1!)
Really the boar was for flavor and to have fun with the build, but the increased movement speed doesn't hurt.
I am absolutely loving the suggestion of Dragon Style. I would have never thought of that. However, the feat progression looks different than what I'm seeing (Paizo link but direct link with same info here). I don't believe Animal Companions gain feats every odd level. To illustrate this, "BAB: This is the animal companion's base attack bonus. An animal companion's base attack bonus is the same as that of a druid of a level equal to the animal's HD. Animal companions do not gain additional attacks using their natural weapons for a high base attack bonus." They have non-standard progression from what I'm seeing. So they gain feats at levels 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 13, and 16. If it is different for PFS let me know because I'd love 9 AnC feats by 17 instead of 7.
Since I will already be TWF with my barbarian, I was trying to stay away from spending huge amounts of money on Tumbaa. Mithral Kikko armor would be (30 Kikko + 4000 Mithral)*2 usual creature = 8060 gold before enchantments. That's about 1/4 of my level 10 gold compared to (30*2) + 150 (masterwork is not counted twice as per this link "Armor for Unusual Creatures: The cost of armor for non-humanoid creatures, as well as for creatures who are neither Small nor Medium, varies. The cost of the masterwork quality and any magical enhancement remains the same.") = 210 gold, hence the charger archetype. However, if you think it's worth getting the normal abilities of an AnC or another archetype, I could always wait until level 11 to get the armor and just get the normal version of the armor and suffer the penalties to hit for a level.
Yes, with Greater Beast Totem he will have pounce on a charge and with Greater Ferocious Beast he can confer that ability to his AnC. Since Tumbaa will be getting at least 3 primary attacks (1 gore, second gore at -5 if I keep Multiattack, and 2 claw attacks gained when raging from Lesser/Greater Beast Totem) I thought Power Attack would be worthwhile, especially when trying to overcome DR since at max I would be getting him a +1 Furious AoMF. Will probably just stick with a Furious AoMF since it's 4k gold instead of 16k.
Do you have a link to the Animal Archive somewhere? I'd like to look at the tricks, feats, and have proof of valid item slots (we just have to have a valid link and printed text out on us on game day, not the actual book since the DMs aren't "true PFS" DMs and want the hobby to be as accessible to the students as possible).
The cost of an item is based on the power not on how many feet the wearer has; horseshoes aren't double cost. Nor would slippers be doubled in cost as far as I know.
If there's anyone in the group who could & would cast air walk on your boar the point is moot. Not being in the difficult terrain solves the problem.
The table for animal item slots from Animal Archive is here. I defer to Flutter's greater knowledge of how it works for PFS however.
About the save boosters, I was talking more about how often the GM targets AnCs and similar. Some hardly notice a target without a separate figure or a face at the table, some do.
One extra attack at -10 to hit may be worth more than Imp. crit, (or not; seems odd to me) but IC wasn't what I suggested. Extra Rage Power might give you Eater of Magic early then at level 16 you could pick up something else. Strength Surge to let you perform a combat maneuver 1/rage perhaps (also for the boar, it might be worth getting it Improved Overrun if you do). Or one of the bloodrage powers, or Reckless Abandon, ... Really, there has to be something you like better than GTWF.
I did the feats by the animals hit dice, not the druids level (just because its easier)
Druid Level Critter Hit die
1st_____________2(Toughness on first hit die)
2nd____________ 3Iron will (power attack works if you want more offense)
3rd____________ 3
4th____________ 4Int bonus
5th____________ 5Unarmed strike
6th____________ 6
7th____________ 6
8th____________ 7 Dragon style
9th____________ 8
10th____________9Extra slot
11th____________9
@avr, Huh, that's interesting. I thought I remember somewhere that quadrupeds had to wear two of a foot slot item for it to work, but maybe I'm just going slightly insane.
Well, there's not always a guarantee with PFS with the table rotations, but I think Dragon Style is worth it to be able to charge through allies and ignore difficult terrain which is worth the two feat investment. I might get Winged Boots for my boar then so I don't have to worry so much about flying enemy encounters.
Thank you for the link to the slots. I just need to print it out and all that. I still haven't been able to find a link to the tricks from the AA sadly.
Well last year ranger's AnC died because a rogue was confused, had to attack nearest creature, was a tie between the ranger and their unconscious bird AnC (fireball), rolled randomly and chose the bird (sneak attack on helpless enemies). So it'll definitely come up, and any AoE save effect will also target my AnC.
Ya, it was really odd to me too. Thanks for the Reckless Abandon suggestion. It actually is better than Imp. Crit for my damage, though the -5 to AC is pretty steep, so I don't know if I'll be using it or not.
Math Results:
At level 17 with a +4 Furious Courageous/x2 Two-Bladed Sword (+12 Str from belt and rage, +34 with first attack, +31 damage on main hand, +25 on offhand)
These are not including my AnC and assuming no DR. The only DR I wouldn't be overcoming is piercing and bludgeoning with a effectively +6 weapons. I ran the numbers for Double Slice instead of GTWF and came up with about 5-10 less DPR when combined with Reckless, GTWF, or Imp. Crit. compared to the numbers above. I think the main reason GTWF is useful is because I have several things that increase my damage without lowering my to hit so I actually have a decent shot at hitting with that extra attack (45% chance vs a level CR 20/36 AC enemy without Reckless Abandon, 70% with). If you'd like to look through my Excel sheet I'd be happy to email it to you or something.
END SPOILER
I haven't really looked at the bloodrage powers because my group is "PFSbutnot" in that since the RotRL was written after we started the adventure path (last year) and rebuilding is so easy, they locked the allowable books to the January version of the Additional Resources. We're not allowed to use the ACG otherwise players that are keeping their characters from last year wouldn't have the same options new players would have when building a character. I'm open to other rage powers though!
@Flutter, Oh, that makes sense. I was misunderstanding your intentions. I guess I should make my AnC as tough as possible since he'll pretty much always have less HP than even Wizards. Are you still suggesting going with a normal AnC instead of the Charger archetype? Devotion's nice, but having an extra 5-6 AC would be nice too without ACPs.
