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So, I had this idea a few years back and after a few rounds of Shovel Knight it's but picking at my brain to finally get this on the table.
The idea was that a simple gravedigger that turned adventurer after his business went under because the clients couldn't stay under. After clubbing more than a few fresh unfriendly undead back into friend dead he decided it was time to move on. Not having a whole lot of money to spend on gear, he traveled about defending himself with what he had handy.
I've been trying to think of a good class to go with this but one that doesn't really scream "super trained professional" (i.e. no casters). Hunter stuck out for me to get an Earthworm companion for flavor, but I'm already playing a Verminous Hunter in another game and then there's the whole not wanting to be a caster thing. Fighter and Brawler sound fitting but I feel some Brawler features would be going to waste and, even though the game sparked my intrest anew, I don't know for a fact if I want to go around in heavy armor. Ranger with Favored Enemy: Undead seems fitting maybe.
Really just looking to toss the ball around and see where things go.
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Watch mystery men get a trowel as well and shovel for justice
Does a Pickaxe, or Mattock work for you?
It's not beyond consideration. What did you have in mind?
And he could pick up superstition because now he REALLY doesn't trust casters...
Hmm, on a 20-pt:
Str 14
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 10 +2 Racial.
Wis 14
Cha 10This is, for all intents and purposes, your slightly better than average Joe.
Human or Half-Elf with the ability to grab a weapon proficiency.
1: Invulnerable Rager, Power Attack, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Monk's Spade) (Bonus) He's gotten really good with that shovel, and very mad at the undead things ruining his business, and he knows how to pound them, hard.
2: Sohei, Improved Grapple (Bonus) or Combat Reflexes (Bonus), Monk Basics. He learned a little bit of defense from one of the temple guards before he left, and is starting to understand how to make use of it when he doesn't have a shovel handy.
3: Invulnerable Rager, Supersition (power), Toughness. Because of all the physical training benefits of taking lots of hard lumps finally starting to harden him up.
4: Sohei, Throw Anything (bonus). Tombstones, rocks, tree branches (clubs), anything to keep a hold of your shovel and hit them before they get to you.
5: Invulnerable Rager, Improved Bull Rush. Keep those undead away from your friends.
6: Sohei
7: Invulnerable Rager, Knockback (power), Greater Bull Rush You know how to make the undead go away from you faster, and your allies can hit them as you knock them off balance!
8: Sohei, gets Ki Strike. Now you can throw magic tree branches at the undead and penetrate their magical damage resistance with the power of your anger? focus? are you even sure how you're doing it?
9: Invulnerable Rager, Cleave (it was about time)
10: Sohei.
11: Invulnerable Rager, Ghost Rager (power), Improved Grapple or Combat Reflexes, whichever you didn't take earlier. You're not sure how, but now you can even smack the undead which aren't there. Curious.
12: Sohei, Weapon Training (monk), Flurry of Shovels!Build complete.
Holy crap man... you know how to take something and RUN with it... I'm going to need to look up more than 1/2 of this XD
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Instead of barbarian, how about Undead Bloodline bloodrager? I know you said no spells, but it would make a great flavor addition. You spent so much time in a haunted graveyard that you absorbed the necromantic energy directly into your blood. It allows you to not need to take the adopted trait, and the undead bloodline gives you bonuses to fighting undead.
Hmmm... Let's see...
Shovel Knight should...:
- Be Lawful Good (This invalidates Barbarian levels, though. Alignment is b+&*~*#*!)
- Have high Str, Dex and Con. Probably a decent Wis too.
- Have a good Will save.
- Have low Cha (Most NPCs completely ignore or misunderstand him when he talks, and he fails every Diplomacy check he makes.)
- Have max ranks in Acrobatics, Climb and Swim. (He jumps really high, climbs all sorts of platforms and ladder, and can move unimpeded underwater).
- Wield an adamantine shovel and heavy armor. (Personally, I think his shovel should be a 2d6/19-20 weapon that deals B/P/S damage. Sadly, there is no weapon with those stats in PF.)
- Be perfectly comfortable walking around in full plate.
- Have Improved/Great Sunder (he breaks lots of stuff!)
- Have access to a plethora of magic items (and be really good at using them).
- Have all sorts of weapon-specific feats/abilities devoted to his shovel.
Honestly... He is close to what an optimized mid/high level human Fighter should be. Although I could see a Fighter/Barbarian multi-class as well, mostly because of Superstition and Spell-Sunder. I think (Invulnerable Rager) Barbarian 6/Fighter 7 works.
- Wield an adamantine shovel and heavy armor. (Personally, I think his shovel should be a 2d6/19-20 weapon that deals B/P/S damage. Sadly, there is no weapon with those stats in PF.
Actually... a shovel wielded as an improvised weapon would be exactly that with Improvised Weapon Mastery.
- Wield an adamantine shovel and heavy armor. (Personally, I think his shovel should be a 2d6/19-20 weapon that deals B/P/S damage. Sadly, there is no weapon with those stats in PF.Actually... a shovel wielded as an improvised weapon would be exactly that with Improvised Weapon Mastery.
Huh... Apparently my brilliance is greater than I knew... ;)
I've done a similar joke in a Mummy's Mask game. I made an Oracle of the Ancestor mystery, and the first weapon I had the Ancestral Weapon feature give me was a Monk's Spade. Character commented that his ancestors had to be kidding when they expected him to fight the undead with a shovel. One book later, and that shovel was greatly appropriate for him to fight with against an army of the undead.
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*sighs* Why is it that every time someone asks about making a shovel wielding character, people suggest they take a monk's spade? They're nothing alike. A monk's spade is a glorified polearm/axe with a big honkin' crescent moon thing on the end and can't be used to dig a flower bed let alone a grave. Sure, there's a weapon block for the thing whereas shovels, painfully, are stuck in the limbo of improvised weapons (to my unending annoyance) but outside of PFS, the problem is easily fixed with a simple houserule.
....Still, I wish you could enchant a shovel for PFS. I would kill for a Disrupting or Vorpal shovel.
Might want to consider the Bloodrager.
Doesn't start out with any magic, just gets really really angry about these bodies getting back up.
Eventually he spends so much time fighting these awful things he starts to develop some intrinsic magic.
How about a skald? Your shovel-wielding hero can rally the team before he goes into battle.
You might be onto something there. I considered the idea of a Magic Warrior Skald, but on reviewing the archetype determined that it didn't have enough shovel. Baseline Skald is fine, but that clip got me to thinking of the Fated Champion Skald. Cause he clearly gave the party a massive bonus against fear with that speech.
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God gave me a gift. I shovel real good. Real good.