Hi there!
It looks like I landed in a group suddenly. Here's the deal(s): all characters have to be of the goodly persuasion, no humans in the party, and a few classes aren't allowed (barbarians and bloodragers, at least). But skalds are allowed. I thought I might give that a go.
I've volunteered to be the support sort of character, so I thought a skald might be an interesting way to do that.
Any suggestions on a half-orc skald build. Or a half-elf, maybe?
I'm not sure if the idea is a point buy or not. We're trying to a range a little "roll in" for character creation.
I'm leaning toward the idea of a half-orc skald. Replacing half-orc ferocity with sacred tattoos (better saves), bestial (better perception), toothy (good in a tussle), or beast master (whips and nets are cool).
The only alternate racial traits for half-elves that seem promising (to me) were ancestral arms, integrated, or wary.
Ifrit or Suli would make interesting skalds. Although an Ifrit in that role just seems so wrong somehow...
Anyway, any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks in advance!
Building your Skald really depends on what the rest of your party is doing, to determine who can make the most use of raging song. Once you have figured that out, you then pick rage powers that will help them best.
I like the Spirit Totem series of rage powers, personally. As an extra attack that scales off *YOUR* charisma for everyone who rages is pretty fun. Though I think it does negative energy damage so don't use it against undead.
Building your Skald really depends on what the rest of your party is doing, to determine who can make the most use of raging song. Once you have figured that out, you then pick rage powers that will help them best.
I like the Spirit Totem series of rage powers, personally. As an extra attack that scales off *YOUR* charisma for everyone who rages is pretty fun. Though I think it does negative energy damage so don't use it against undead.
I guess the exact build will take a while to sort out, since we're all starting out at level one. The spirit totem sounds interesting, just having quickly read up on it.
Just to clarify totems (not having played barbarians or skalds before). You can only pick the one totem and that's it, right? So, you can't pick several different totems and then pick the best totem for that situation sort of thing. There's lots and lots of rage powers to choose from, I see. But it looks like you're limited to just one totem, so you better choose that one wisely! At least it looks that way to me...
What would be good buffing totems (if any) for, say, healing, DR, or AC?
I was thinking of taking the Lingering Performance feat to start. To maximize the number of rounds these cool performances last. Lingering Performance and the other few bardic performance feats out there should work with raging song, shouldn't they?
Thanks!
It also depends on your companions. You are going to want a different build for a party of Fighter, Ranger, Monk, Skald than you are for Oracle, Investigator, Wizard, Skald. In the first group you need more skills and utility magic as you are the primary caster, in the second group you need more combat ability as you are the primary beatstick.
As far as totems go, I would talk that over with your friends. Beast Totem is the one most Barbarians choose because it gives you pounce at 10th level. If they don't want the claws and you think most of the game will happen before 10th level, there are other good options. Celestial totem is nice if you have someone who can channel. Dragon totem gives everyone wings at 10th level, and Hive totem lets you have fun summoning swarms of nasty and then raging out and ignoring them.
Building your Skald really depends on what the rest of your party is doing, to determine who can make the most use of raging song. Once you have figured that out, you then pick rage powers that will help them best.
I like the Spirit Totem series of rage powers, personally. As an extra attack that scales off *YOUR* charisma for everyone who rages is pretty fun. Though I think it does negative energy damage so don't use it against undead.
Spirit Totem, Lesser doesn't target undead. It's specifically an "adjacent, living foe." That also means you can't use Negative Energy Affinity to get free healing for you or your party.
Honestly, this Rage Power is one of the absolute best. Use it with friends who can summon monster or summon nature's ally.
It also depends on your companions. You are going to want a different build for a party of Fighter, Ranger, Monk, Skald than you are for Oracle, Investigator, Wizard, Skald. In the first group you need more skills and utility magic as you are the primary caster, in the second group you need more combat ability as you are the primary beatstick.
As far as totems go, I would talk that over with your friends. Beast Totem is the one most Barbarians choose because it gives you pounce at 10th level. If they don't want the claws and you think most of the game will happen before 10th level, there are other good options. Celestial totem is nice if you have someone who can channel. Dragon totem gives everyone wings at 10th level, and Hive totem lets you have fun summoning swarms of nasty and then raging out and ignoring them.
The Cunning Plan is to have a character creation party sort of thing before the tame actually starts out. So we've got time to hammer out some of these details first.
We're starting out with a list of anticipated character roles: Control, Full healer, Knowledge monkey, Magic damage, Melee damage, Ranged damage, Skill monkey, Sneaky type, Support, and Tank. And there's some overlap, so one character might fit 2-3 of those roles. I'm going for the support role, hence, looking at a Skald.
I'll definitely have to check out those totem powers. I'm sure some, like the Fiend Totem won't work for an all-good party.
The Spirit Totem that ShroudedInLight mentioned does sound cool...
Building your Skald really depends on what the rest of your party is doing, to determine who can make the most use of raging song. Once you have figured that out, you then pick rage powers that will help them best.
I like the Spirit Totem series of rage powers, personally. As an extra attack that scales off *YOUR* charisma for everyone who rages is pretty fun. Though I think it does negative energy damage so don't use it against undead.
Spirit Totem, Lesser doesn't target undead. It's specifically an "adjacent, living foe." That also means you can't use Negative Energy Affinity to get free healing for you or your party.
Honestly, this Rage Power is one of the absolute best. Use it with friends who can summon monster or summon nature's ally.
That does sound kind of cool. So, this one basically does nothing to undead one war or the other, right?
And does anyone have any comments about having either an Ifrit or Suli as a skald? That would seem weird. Especially an Ifrit!
I didn't notice the spirit totem couldn't backfire. Here are the links for that line of rage powers:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/spirit-totem-lesser-su
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/spirit-totem-su
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/spirit-totem-greater-su
Additionally, I belive Ifrit are a great class for Bards or Skalds. Namely thanks to the Wildfire Heart alternate racial choice which gives you +4 Initiative. With a high Dex build you can easily rock +8 to initiative from the get go.
Suli would make a great melee Skald.
Might I suggest the Wardrummer archetype, the best on in my opinion.
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The Superstition line is actually pretty good for Skalds. Big bonuses to everyopne's Saves are always nice, as is bonus damage vs. spell-casters via Witch Hunter, bonus Touch AC and Ghost Touch from Ghost Rager, and the ability to dispel magic with your weapons via Spell Sunder (though grabbing strength surge is a good call if going that route).
Because of the lack of Fatigue from Raging Song and the ability to Rage Cycle at least partially from 7th level on, some of those abilities are even better for a Skald than a Barbarian in some ways.
The Celestial Totem idea mentioned earlier is great if you've got a lot of healing in the party. Especially if you can convince everyone to grab Fey Foundling...
How is it hard to picture a race that personifies impetuous destructiveness born into polite society (Ifrit) in a role that combines a violent spirit with a veneer of civilization (Skald)? I'd say it sounds like a perfect fit to me. If there's some bit of fluff that's not sitting well, like the Arabic versus Nordic feel, just remember that it's Pathfinder and reflavor to taste. A dwarven descendent of the Azer whose mere presence on the battlefield enhances the weapons of his brethren (fire-forged racial variant, spell warrior archetype) SCREAMS classic D&D, and gets rid of the rage mechanic that your GM seems not to like.
Alternately, The 13th Warrior could be interesting inspiration.
I didn't notice the spirit totem couldn't backfire. Here are the links for that line of rage powers:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/spirit-totem-lesser-su
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/spirit-totem-su
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo--- rage-powers/spirit-totem-greater-su
Additionally, I belive Ifrit are a great class for Bards or Skalds. Namely thanks to the Wildfire Heart alternate racial choice which gives you +4 Initiative. With a high Dex build you can easily rock +8 to initiative from the get go.
Suli would make a great melee Skald.
Might I suggest the Wardrummer archetype, the best on in my opinion.
Yeah, when that description said "negative energy," I had visions of it patching up undead enemies. But if doesn't, that's cool too.
I'll have a closer look at the Wardrummer archetype to see what makes it all funky and cool.
I missed the Ifrit's alternate racial features. But +4 to initiative before DEX is substantial!
Thanks for that!
The Superstition line is actually pretty good for Skalds. Big bonuses to everyopne's Saves are always nice, as is bonus damage vs. spell-casters via Witch Hunter, bonus Touch AC and Ghost Touch from Ghost Rager, and the ability to dispel magic with your weapons via Spell Sunder (though grabbing strength surge is a good call if going that route).
Because of the lack of Fatigue from Raging Song and the ability to Rage Cycle at least partially from 7th level on, some of those abilities are even better for a Skald than a Barbarian in some ways.
The Celestial Totem idea mentioned earlier is great if you've got a lot of healing in the party. Especially if you can convince everyone to grab Fey Foundling...
I'll make a note of those, thanks! Yeah, the lack of fatigue is a cool feature. Don't get as much "oomph" hitting things, but at least you're not totally knackered as a result.
But I think that two feats that I really should get are Lingering Performance (I used that, a lot, playing a bard in the past) and Extra Performance. From the looks of things, I shouldn't be worrying too much about combat feats. And it's to be starting at first level, so there's going to be lots of time to figure things out along the way!
I'll have a closer look at Celestial Healing totem. I guess the way the game flows would decide if it's that or Spirit totem.
How is it hard to picture a race that personifies impetuous destructiveness born into polite society (Ifrit) in a role that combines a violent spirit with a veneer of civilization (Skald)? I'd say it sounds like a perfect fit to me. If there's some bit of fluff that's not sitting well, like the Arabic versus Nordic feel, just remember that it's Pathfinder and reflavor to taste. A dwarven descendent of the Azer whose mere presence on the battlefield enhances the weapons of his brethren (fire-forged racial variant, spell warrior archetype) SCREAMS classic D&D, and gets rid of the rage mechanic that your GM seems not to like.
Actually, you hit the nail on the head with the Arabic/Nordic thing. Nothing to to with game mechanics at all. History and mythology from the real world (which is just so boring, eh?) is one of my big passions. So some of the mixes just strike me as a bit odd, even though they may make perfect sense in game terms.
But, as ShroudedInLight pointed out, an Ifrit Skald with a high DEX could really be handy in the initiative department. Especially for using the rage song ASAP. And the Suli would be cool as a Skald who liked getting into the fighting end of things too. And they're both pretty cool for extra "party face" charisma skills and all that.
Myself, I'd lean more toward the Ifrit. If for no other reason than I'm partial to high dexterity over brute strength. Just my own personal playing style sort of thing.
Thanks for the comments, though. Sort of helps shake the cobwebs out over the Nordic vs. Arabic hang up and all that.
If you don't mind an off the wall build: dip 3 levels of Holy tactician and grab the Amplified Rage teamwork feat.
Your melee guys will love you for it. Also really great if you have a bunch of summons. Plus you get divine grace.
Those are interesting suggestions. Only snag is that I'll probably play Chaotic Good. So that leaves out Paladin and their archetypes; as good as they are (no pun intended).
That Ampliefied Rage teamwork feat looks way cool, though. If I had a half-orc skald doing a rage sing-song, he couldn't pass on the enhanced strength, could he? Since that's a feat, not a rage power and it would probably only work if everyone involved were orcs or half-orcs as well. If it was a rage power usable by half-orc skalds, though, I'd be all over that one! :D
Alternately, The 13th Warrior could be interesting inspiration.
I'm not a big movie goer, so I had to look that one up. Looks interesting, though. It was a financial flop, but that alone is no guarantee of how good or bad a movie is. I'll have to see if that's available on my PVR service thing. Thanks for mentioning that one.
If not the movie, read Eaters of the dead. It's overall a really interesting take on Beowulf with some novel genre-blending. I'd say that the protagonist is one of the better sources for a fantasy bard out there.
If not the movie, read Eaters of the dead. It's overall a really interesting take on Beowulf with some novel genre-blending. I'd say that the protagonist is one of the better sources for a fantasy bard out there.
Those do sound kind of interesting. I'll see if I can find the book, if I can't find the movie...
There are three good ways to get Amplified Rage going without Half Orc Allies:
Valet Familiar
Ring of Tactical Precision
Hunter/Huntsmaster Animal CompanionI'm working up a PFS Skald based on en earth elemental familiar with Amplified Rage, and Skald's Vigor.
The Skald's Vigor feat looks cool.
All those other options would involve mult-classing, wouldn't they?
Just adding my two cents, but an iffrit skald sparking the flame of passion in everyone's hearts seems very thematic for me.
Then again, I'd talk to your GM. As it has been mentioned, he banned the 2 main rage classes... making EVERYONE rage might not sit well with him.
Best of luck, and have lots of fun playing.
Just adding my two cents, but an iffrit skald sparking the flame of passion in everyone's hearts seems very thematic for me.
Then again, I'd talk to your GM. As it has been mentioned, he banned the 2 main rage classes... making EVERYONE rage might not sit well with him.
Best of luck, and have lots of fun playing.
Hadn't thought of a theme like that. Not a bad thought, that.
The GM is okay with the Skald class, I know that. It'll be that or a bard, depending on how things go for the PC creation get-together before play actually begins and all that.
All those other options would involve mult-classing, wouldn't they?Mostly, although you could do Eldritch Heritage, it gets feat intensive.
Bloodrager is the natural dip for a skald though (increases your raging str, gives a personal rage pool and 10' move or Improved Trip) and lets you grab a tumor familiar, but that's out.
Sorcerer isn't a horrible dip either for a familiar.
There are a lot of cool Eldritch Heritage things, but those do gobble up a few feats!