Alternative Defense Options

[Yamiten]

I am looking for ways to buff up my bulk that AREN'T just ac, health, or save boosts. So far these are the ways I know of and their sources:
Snake style (feat) - Sense motive to ac or touch ac
Opportune parry & riposte (swashbuckler/archetypes/feat) - Attack the attack to parry it
Mounted Combat (feat) - Ride check to negate the attack
Damage Reduction (everywhere) - Take less damage
Blur/displacement (spell) - % chance to miss
Extra input is welcome. Please list source details and what is does.

[Abdénago]

Well, Mirror Image is missing from your list. AFAIK it should stack with concealment, though I invite second opinions.

[Charon's Little Helper]

The ninja's Vanishing Trick should be on there. I know that many people only use if offensively - at the beginning of their turn to make their first attack more accurate & sneak attack. That's giving up half the benefit! The key is to use it at the end of your turn so that you're invisible during your opponent's turn, and you still get the single sneak attack on your following turn.

Sure - the offense is a bit delayed - but it's totally worth the 50% concealment! (Perhaps better if you still have a 5ft step to burn after your swift action.)

[Scott Wilhelm]

I really like gaining the Scent or Tremorsense ability, the Blind Fighting Feat, and an Eversmoking Bottle. In practice at PFS tables, it made me a very unpopular player. Very few players prepare for the contingency of being Blinded, and they resent you whenever you open the bottle. It really works best as a team tactic.

Darkness and Darkvision.

Everyone wears cleats, and the Wizard (or Bard) casts lots of Grease Spells. I have found PFS referees interpret Grease with a lot of table variation, so it won't work everywhere. But a Wand of Grease is a small investment.

Use the Dirty Trick Maneuver to make your opponents Blind. It requires Combat Expertise, which also buffs your AC. Combat Expertise is usually considered a lackluster feat, but if you have a Snake Fang build, it's really worth considering.

Alchemist Tumor Familiar + a potion of Shield Other. The Familiar drinks the potion, so it takes half the damage you take, then melds back into your body and gets Fast Healing 5 to offset its own injuries.

You mentioned Snake Style, but you forgot about the Crane Style Tree. Have a look.

I had a character with a wicked high Fort Save and Grapple Mod, so I always let the Wizards in the party know that they could cast Stinking Cloud, Pyrotechnics, and Web without worrying about catching me in the AoE.

[Rodinia]

You get a substantial defensive benefit from wielding a reach weapon. Arguably bigger than from a shield. Your reach determines the size of your combat footprint, with bigger generally being better. Reach lets you sometimes avoid the full attack while still getting in your licks. Foes will sometimes keep away, to avoid your AoOs. You can trip things that try to approach, reducing their damage output.

Nowhere in the Pathfinder rules are reach weapons defined as a defensive benefit, because its a tactical thing not a rules thing, but they give a rather large one.

[Oncoming_Storm]

PSA:

Snake Style only works once per round against one attack.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Rodinia wrote:

You get a substantial defensive benefit from wielding a reach weapon. Arguably bigger than from a shield. Your reach determines the size of your combat footprint, with bigger generally being better. Reach lets you sometimes avoid the full attack while still getting in your licks. Foes will sometimes keep away, to avoid your AoOs. You can trip things that try to approach, reducing their damage output.

Nowhere in the Pathfinder rules are reach weapons defined as a defensive benefit, because its a tactical thing not a rules thing, but they give a rather large one.

Good point, Rodinia. Another contributor, George Connelly favors combining reach weapons with a Bull Rush Build to keep your opponents at arm's length.

I usually only carry a reach weapon for adversity, like when I can't get into the front rank but still want to attack. But you're giving me food for thought.

For a Bull Rush Build, I like Shield Slam. A large, spiked shield or Klar with the Bashing Enchantment does 2d6, and then you can Bull Rush as a Free Action. If you have Great Bull Rush and Paired Opportunist, you can get an Attack of Opportunity when you Bull Rush someone out of threatened squares. Now, what if we combine that with a 1 handed Reach Weapon: a Whip? a Lance? Or maybe that is what the Short Spear is for: you throw things at your enemies and kill them that way, shield slamming them away from you when they get too close.

THIS IS SPARTA!!!!

[RumpinRufus]

To avoid taking full attacks, two good options are (Greater) Stunning Barrier, and a spell-storing armor with Frigid Touch in it.

Both courtesy of this thread on whether having AC 11 at 11th level is a viable option for a life oracle.

[PapaZorro]

Deflect arrows / the gloves that give you Deflect arrows.
Ray shield.

[avr]

Debuffing the enemy in its myriad forms can help. Intimidate, spells, combat maneuvers, whatever.

Flying out of reach turns off many enemy attacks.

There's a bunch of reactive forms of healing which may kick in when you hit 0 hp.

What sort of character are we looking at here?

[Yamiten]

avr wrote:

Debuffing the enemy in its myriad forms can help. Intimidate, spells, combat maneuvers, whatever.

Flying out of reach turns off many enemy attacks.

There's a bunch of reactive forms of healing which may kick in when you hit 0 hp.

What sort of character are we looking at here?

I was looking to make a bum rush charging rager type build that cares not that his ac is negative. An unarmed fughter/swashbuckler/duelist with snake fang is what I have come up with so far. Just forgo all attacks, parry EVERYTHING, and riposte when possible. Another thought was amateur swashbuckler on a 2wf kukri bloodrager.

[RumpinRufus]

Just remember, if you are planning to riposte you cannot use the Snake Style sense motive -> AC. And regardless, you can only use sense motive -> AC on one attack per round, because it uses your immediate action.

[pipedreamsam]

I've always liked blink more than displacement. Only works on the caster but its the same duration and if they do manage to hit you you count as incorporeal.

Stone shield from the advanced race guide is technically an Oread racial spell and you wouldn't be able to use it in PFS but it is amazing. Get free cover against a single enemy as an immediate action for one round. My most favoritest wand.

[RumpinRufus]

Unfortunately, wands of immediate action spells still take a standard action to use.

Quote:

Wands use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a wand is usually a standard action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity. (If the spell being cast has a longer casting time than 1 action, however, it takes that long to cast the spell from a wand.)

[lemeres]

Even though this is not a traditional defense option, I like reach weapons due to how they let you control tactics and positioning, particularly if you also use lunge and grab a fortuitous weapon.

Normally, when you attack with a polearm (and the like), you end your turn with the enemy 10' away. That means they only need a 5' step to reach you, which means they avoid an AoO and they get their full attack.

With lunge, enemies end up 15' away. That means that many opponents have to move 10' to reach you, which means they draw an AoO and they probably lose their full attack. That means you get damage in, and the enemy has less chance to deal damage to you; offense and defense. And you will get an AoO against most enemies that engage you.

And with a fortuitous weapon, you make the very idea of getting near you frightening. Once per round, this +1 weapon property lets you get in another attack when you get an AoO, and the second attack hits at BAB -5. That makes you AoO into a full attack (or at least the better part of one).

Overall, combining these options together makes it very hard for enemies to get close to you without severely for it. And unlike many defense options, it doesn't simply cause enemies to ignore you and target squishier character. You are a 25' circle of pain that is a living obstacle enemies have to either go around (and waste their turn/movement) or eat a lot of damage. If the casters just use their standard action to cast, and their move to play keep away, then that gives you time to full attack and finish off the enemies (and since lunge lets reach weapons attack anything in a 45' circle...you can get your full attacks out fairly easily in that case).