Help Building Tanky Stonelord

[Golgathar]

Hi everyone,

I'm making a new Stonelord and I am wondering about taking the feat Ironhide, because he is a dwarf, but I'm not sure if the Natural AC from the Stonelord Archetype will stack with Ironhide. I'm just trying to find a way to boost his Natural AC. I also read something about Improved Natural AC, but I couldn't figure out if that would apply to the Natural AC coming from the Stonelord achetype.

Can anyone help me with this?

[Shadowkire]

Ironhide won't stack, Improved Natural Armor would.

[Golgathar]

Thanks Shadowkire.

What book is Improved Natural Armor in? I couldn't find the feat for it

[Trevs]

In the bestiary, its a monster feat so check with your DM before grabbing it

[Golgathar]

I only play pathfinder society games. Is that feat ok for society play?

[Covert Operator]

I'm pretty sure it's not, although if it is also somewhere other than bestiary then it could be.

Additional Resources: Bestiary wrote:

Feats: none of the feats are legal for play for PCs, animal companions, or familiars unless specifically granted by another legal source.

[Covert Operator]

Just thinking about other ways that could increase your AC:
Dodge (duh), although you might have heavy armour have no wont for the Dex prerequisite.
Sanctified Shield (Adventurer's Armory): channel energy into the shield to gain +1 sacred bonus to AC
Driftwood Icon (Faiths of Balance, Gozreh only): channel energy in to this doll to gain a +1 luck bonus to AC against ranged attacks for 1 hour
Courageous weapon and a flawed Pale Green Prism ioun stone: at higher levels only, this will give you your enhancement bonus over again on attacks, saves, skill checks, and ability checks

I'll edit in more as I find/think of them
PS I'm marking my own post as a favourite because these are things I would like to use on my own characters.

[Golgathar]

Would sanctified shield work with a channel elemental energy? The description for it in the link posted above mentioned positive and negative channel energy, but not elemental. and the Stonelord gets channel elemental energy (earth).

Also, I plan to get Stoneplate armor which has a max dec bonus of 1, so if I did get dodge is the dodge bonus seperate from the dex?

[Codanous]

Yes, the dodge bonus is different from the max dex bonus on armor. I suggest dodge and having that 13 dex at least.

Are you going to be using a shield and sword/axe? I have an 11th level stonelord, he uses a longaxe/longhammer and a dwarven boulder helmet and took the Boulder helmet feats from the Advanced Race Guide. Otherwise, because he gives up Smite, Rings of Protection helped because he otherwise didn't have a deflection bonus.

[Covert Operator]

For the sanctified shield issue, yes it would work.
How elemental channel works is you're still channeling positive energy, but the positive energy only affects earth elementals. The feat only affects when you channel to heal/harm, not when you channel for other purposes (such as Channel Foci and Turn Undead)
also there's no link to stonelord, so here it is.

[Muser]

I'm playing a Stonelord myself, and in PFS too. I'll post my character info:

lengthy dump:

Captain Iroblood, Dwarf Stonelord 7

Init +2
Senses Perception +5; darkvision 60 ft.; stonecunning
AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 23; (+10 armor, +1 dex, +2 natural, +1 def), +4 vs. giants, +2 vs critical confirmations
hp 68 (7d10+Con)
Fort +10, Ref +5, Will +6; +2 vs. poisons, spells and SLAs
Immunities exhaustion, fatigue, fear, swarm distraction
Stats Str 19, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +11; CMD 23; +4 to CMD vs bull rush or trip while standing on the ground
Feats Power Attack, Cleave, Elemental Channel (earth), Goblin Cleaver, Endurance, Orc Hewer
Traits Mathematical Prodigy, Observant
SQ Aura of courage, Aura of good, Darkvision 60 ft., Defensive Training, Detect Evil, Giant Hunter, Hardy, Heartstone, Lay on Hands (4/day, 3d6), Lorekeeper, Slow and Steady, Stability, Stoneblood, Stonecunning, Stonestrike. Defensive Stance, Channel Earth (dc 14, 3d6) Stone Servant, Mercy(diseased)
fancy gear belt of str +2, cloak of resistance +2, mwk alchemical silver boulder helmet, +2 dwarven longhammer, mwk cold iron dwarven longaxe, pot. of enlarge (2), +1 stoneplate, swarmbane clasp, ring of prot. +1, wand of clw (47), wayfinder, flawed scarlet and green cabochon

Anyhow, you'll notice his AC is pretty low for a level 7, 26 in defensive stance. With just an amulet, an enchanted shield, an armor upgrade up to +3 and a fancy iron jingasa it could be 33 and that's just basic, affordable stuff at his level.

See, I figured my modus operandi in an earlier scenario when a big bad couldn't get past the then high AC and it instead went for the party behind me: present a juicy target. I'm keeping his AC at 19+lvl, just high enough that it's presentable, and riding out the pain, trusting my DR and lay-on-hands for survival. It's a bit risky, sure, but has served me well. Saving on AC helps me afford better offensive items to boot.

On that note, consider the last magic item I listed for your stonelord too. It's crazy useful, particularly if you pick the Internal Fortitude defensive power on level 8 and become immune to nausea in stance..

[Golgathar]

Thanks for all of the advice anyone! I have another question. Would the natural Adamantine DR of the class stack with DR from Adamantine armor?

[Covert Operator]

nay, it would not. It would stack with the stalwart feat (If you wanted to use a Madu instead of a Heavy Shield)

[Golgathar]

Would I need to take a special proficiency to use a madu? Or is it included in being proficient with shields?t

[Covert Operator]

Yeah, it is included in normal shield prof.
If you're willing to do a 2-level dip in to fighter, you could take the Lore Warden archetype and get Combat Expertise without meeting the Int prerequisite, then take the Threatening Defender trait to reduce the penalty for CE by 1 (I wouldn't really recommend going this route, but it is a pretty good combo with the attack intercepting Defensive Power)

Fighting Defensively, Madu, Stalwart feat, and 3 ranks in Acrobatics: -2 to attacks, 3 DR/-
the above, plus Combat Expertise, Threatening Defender, and BAB +4: -2 to attacks, 5 DR/-

[Seranov]

Muser wrote:

I'm playing a Stonelord myself, and in PFS too. I'll post my character info:

** spoiler omitted **

Anyhow, you'll notice his AC is pretty low for a level 7, 26 in defensive stance. With just an amulet, an enchanted shield, an armor upgrade up to +3 and a fancy iron jingasa it could be 33 and that's just basic, affordable stuff at his level.

See, I figured my modus operandi in an earlier scenario when a big...

Some good info here. My level 6 Antipaladin Stonelord in a WotW game does pretty much the same thing, but has to rely on the party to keep himself on his toes. He's a lot of fun with a Boulder Helmet + Dorn-Dergar.

[Golgathar]

I got the Boulder helmet too. Probably won't get dorn-dergae until I hit 4.