I have been trying to theorycraft a character that has been on my mind awhile and I've hit several roadblocks, so I thought that posting a thread here might help shake loose some good ideas.
Basically, Quincy is an Orc (or a Half-Orc) who thinks of himself as an exceptionally fancy person, obsessed with his own personal prestige and social standing and, in his mind, perfectly espouses the ideal of a noble gentleman. He is also dumb as rocks and doesn't quite understand the subtleties of high society, often relying on 'common sense' to come to conclusions such as; if wearing a monocle makes you fancy, wearing two of them at the same time must make you really fancy.
Originally the idea I had was to make a Dual-Rapier Duelist as the Duelist (and thusly the rapier) seem to me the most iconic of combat styles for a nobleman. I ran into all kinds of issues trying to make a viable character and ended up having to compromise a lot of what I wanted to accomplish in the process, which is rather annoying.
Here are some basic things that I am looking for in a build;
Uses Rapiers - I realize they are sub-optimal weapons, but the thematic elements to this character are really important to me and I can't think of another weapon that is as 'fancy'. One thing I was briefly considering was making him wield an oversized rapier, possibly as a themed Titan Mauler, but it seems like Titan Mauler is kind of broken/useless? He also does not necessarily need to rely on Duelist-style Dex-based combat, but it is preferred.
Does not rely on Int for viability - I fully intend to dump the crap out of Int.
Makes use of Intimidate - Quincy doesn't understand what it means to be aloof and thoroughly enjoys making people pee their pants.
Able to put points into Cha - not an absolute necessity but it would be nice to make him rather charismatic, a lovable oaf of sorts.
Viability - I don't expect this character to top DPR charts or anything but he would eventually used in a game, so he needs to have some semblance of viability as a melee combatant.
PRD only - I can only reference the Paizo PRD for materials. If it's not on there, I can't use it. (but if it fits the characters theme particularly well, feel free to suggest it anyway as I might be able to negotiate).
So if anyone can think of any suggestions as far as class choices and/or feat/trait choices, I would be much obliged.
Is there any reason why a core book bard is not considered?
ok, he doesn't have full bab and he has a smattering of spells but 'lovable oaf' is highly doable with a bard, his antics even improves morale (bonuses) for his teammates!
LuxuriantOak wrote: Is there any reason why a core book bard is not considered?
ok, he doesn't have full bab and he has a smattering of spells but 'lovable oaf' is highly doable with a bard, his antics even improves morale (bonuses) for his teammates!
The only real reason it hasn't been considered is because I was fairly set on being a melee, non-caster. The 'lovable oaf' quality is definitely not on the top of my priorities, just would be a fun addition I think. That said, I may look at some bard builds now, I haven't really done that yet.
Dual Rapiers is actually workable now if you grab a an Effortless lace (when it becomes available). You can make him an urban barbarian (or possibly savage technologist) with 1 level dip into inspired blade swashbuckler.
A swashbuckler seems ideal. They are dex based by default, use CHA instead of INT for feats, and can get dex to damage with rapiers via fencing grace (In ACG Orgins, not on the PRD but it's needed for any dex based rapier user).
And for that matter, daring champion with order of the cockatrice may be exactly the type of guy you are looking for.
I think low wisdom ("wisdom describes a character's willpower, common sense, awareness, and intuition") might work better than low intelligence ("intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons") - a high intelligence&low wisdom character would be very good at reasoning to wrong conclusions. If that works then a swashbuckler (maybe inspired blade archetype) going into duelist is far from suboptimal.
Second for Inspired Blade. Rapiers are actually a very effective weapon, in the right hands.
Swashbucklers have swift action Intimidate, plenty of Cha, great damage... and they're just REALLY fun to play.
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Honestly, my first thought was a Brawler that was very stuffy about 'formal boxing' a la the Queensberry rules. The image of a half-orc in a fancy vest and dress pants preparing for fisticuffs with a dragon amuses me. The fact that they don't actually need 13 Int to qualify for combat feats is icing on the cake.
I'd second that swashbuckler or daring champion cavalier seem like excellent choices here.
However, this:
Cuuniyevo wrote: Honestly, my first thought was a Brawler that was very stuffy about 'formal boxing' a la the Queensberry rules. The image of a half-orc in a fancy vest and dress pants preparing for fisticuffs with a dragon amuses me. The fact that they don't actually need 13 Int to qualify for combat feats is icing on the cake. This is amazing and I kind of love it.
Alternatively, the Exemplar archetype of Brawler is more charisma reliant, gaining some bardic performances and the ability to share teamwork feats. It loses its focus on combat maneuvers as well as its automatic Improved Unarmed Strike, so it's forced to use a weapon if you don't want to spend a feat on IUS--and rapiers are certainly not a bad weapon, and work perfectly well (if not super optimally) with a strength-focused build.
if you think you are noble, then why aren't you a paladin, maybe with an archetype
Another vote for Daring Champion Cavalier.
Quincy's weapon is a logical choice, he wields a lance. A rapier is a long, thin blade used for piercing and thrusting attacks and considered more modern and higher class than shorter, common blades. Therefore an even longer thing thrusting weapon is even better. Moreover since knights and established gentlemen once (and perhaps still) wield lances on horseback during the high-society jousts, clearly that makes it that much more high-society. As he doesn't get along with horses, his trusty steed is a high-society creature of legend, a dragon! Well, he thinks it is a young Linnorm dragon, in actuality it is a Cavern Lizard, but because he fights mounted on it he can use weapon finesse with a reach weapon.
Alternatively he can be a full-on paladin or cavalier, the whole knightly-order/high-society thing was (historically) a question of whether or not the nobility in question was currently engaged in warfare. There was a thread a while back about nobles and how badass they could be (spoiler alert; it boiled down to having the money for warrior training and good kit) and how the foppish, useless noble was not universal.
Another option is to go two-sided. Quincy APPEARS to be a foppish, confused, and foolish wannabe-noble who prances around. In actuality he is an extremely skilled spymaster and Slayer (as per class), who can switch from his cover identity of the outstanding and attention-grabbing goof to the competent, silent, and unseen assassin in moments.
The brawler sounds pretty funny too.
Cuuniyevo wrote: Honestly, my first thought was a Brawler that was very stuffy about 'formal boxing' a la the Queensberry rules. The image of a half-orc in a fancy vest and dress pants preparing for fisticuffs with a dragon amuses me. The fact that they don't actually need 13 Int to qualify for combat feats is icing on the cake. OK, but if you do this you have to name him Dudley.
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Arachnofiend wrote: Cuuniyevo wrote: Honestly, my first thought was a Brawler that was very stuffy about 'formal boxing' a la the Queensberry rules. The image of a half-orc in a fancy vest and dress pants preparing for fisticuffs with a dragon amuses me. The fact that they don't actually need 13 Int to qualify for combat feats is icing on the cake. OK, but if you do this you have to name him Dudley. Or be a Wild Child brawler with an ape butler companion.
Wow, lots to respond to.
I haven't looked much at Swashbuckler archetypes, so I may have to do that. I HAVE however looked pretty closely at Daring Champion ( of the Cockatrice, even) before, it was actually one of the options I was pretty happy with but I remember finding myself at an impasse trying to build him that way although looking through my notes, I can't remember what that was now.
The Idea about the fisticuffs brawler is actually pretty awesome, I may explore that option also as I think it would suit him fairly well.
As for a mounted cav, it would be representative of high-society (I especially like the suggestion about the young dragonling mount that is really just a cave lizard, very funny), but I'm not sure I like that flavor as much as a duelist sort of character. I could roll a Daring Champion and still take a 'dragon' mount, I just wouldn't be very good at fighting on it.
I really don't want him to be a Paladin, I don't know that I can elaborate on that much, I just don't think a Paladin would suit his character the way I envision it.
As for Wisdom vs. Int; you make a valid point, but I'm not sure that I really expect him to be able to do much reasoning either. Neither wisdom or intelligence are going to be strong stats for him (if I can find a good way to avoid Int requirements on feats especially), which one is lower may very well be a moot point. His deeply-seeded desire to emulate what he perceives as the upper crust, the truly important and significant people of the world is intended to be impeded by his inability to decipher complex social and political structures, his inability to separate his brutish Orc instincts from his ability to reason and his complete inability to understand nuance and subtlety especially as they concern the tropes and stereotypes of nobility.
One of the other things that I should've put in the OP that I forgot about was that I'd like to fit Leadership in there somewhere, the idea being that I would have some kind of perpetual cheer section following me around and maybe eventually a squire, of sorts (yes I know that squires are usually only for knights, but seeing a squire as something prestigious even if it doesn't make sense for him to have one seems like something he would do).
Take a look at the Low Templar prestige class.
Effortless Lace and Fencing Grace are both exactly the kinds of things I was hoping I would discover here, I don't know if they are going to be viable options though. My DM tends to be pretty strict on the core books thing.
I guess if I took Daring Champion or Swashbuckler of some variety, I could pick up Slashing Grace and use longswords instead? I'd rather not though.
The Low Templar is interesting, some useful stuff in there but there also seems to be quite a few things that would either be useless or anti-thematic for my character. He doesn't really concern himself with morality, all he really cares about is his reputation (or what he thinks it is). Dirty Fighting is pretty cool, Flag of Convenience would be useful if I can fit Leadership in here somewhere. The three alignment abilities don't fit my theme very well though and the prerequisites are ones that I'm not sure I can reasonably afford (either because I expect to be feat-hungry already and am not sold on mounted combat or because my skill points are going to be tight as-is and I don't know if I will be able to spare 12 points to qualify). This is also out of a splash book, so it may not really be a viability anyway.
As a last note, does anyone have any experience or opinions on Two-Weapon Warrior? It looks pretty good to me; leveling untyped bonuses to attack, two-weapon fighting penalty reductions and doublestrike.
Would some hybrid of Two-Weapon Warrior and either Daring Champion or some kind of Swashbuckler be viable?
Most likely.
I'm not much of a melee-munchkin, the characters never really interest me so I never built enough to get good at building 'em. I know that as a general rule multiclassing is problematic since Paizo does its best to make sure classes aren't very front-loaded. I know that on the list, Swashbuckler is the only class that gets real use out of charisma. Finally, I know that a lot of your character type screams "rogue" but Slayer is a rogue that just took all the "suck" away.
Honestly, the most important parts of your character (being goofy, having a manservant who seems to be smarter or more sane than him, being a martial badass) don't require a specific class. Charisma is useful to leadership, but you don't need *that* much. Everything else is simply a matter of acting that way out of combat.
boring7 wrote: Most likely.
I'm not much of a melee-munchkin, the characters never really interest me so I never built enough to get good at building 'em. I know that as a general rule multiclassing is problematic since Paizo does its best to make sure classes aren't very front-loaded. I know that on the list, Swashbuckler is the only class that gets real use out of charisma. Finally, I know that a lot of your character type screams "rogue" but Slayer is a rogue that just took all the "suck" away.
Honestly, the most important parts of your character (being goofy, having a manservant who seems to be smarter or more sane than him, being a martial badass) don't require a specific class. Charisma is useful to leadership, but you don't need *that* much. Everything else is simply a matter of acting that way out of combat.
I haven't actually looked at Slayer yet, I think I'll do that.
The most important part of my character, hands down, is all of the stuff I can roleplay. The particular style of combat is somewhat important to me though; the reason I like Daring Champion in particular is because of the flavor of the combat style, challenging one particularly strong foe and focusing him down with superior swordsmanship, topped with lots of bragging and gloating. The fight itself is honorable and prestigious, both parties put their honor on the line for this one fight and whomever emerges depletes the other of their honor.
That is not to say that I couldn't roleplay a lot of that with a different class, it's just nice that, for that particular class/archetype, it's built into the mechanics.
You are right about Charisma though, I don't really need it to be too high. I'd say a 14 or so would probably be as high as I'd really care for it to be and I could settle for less. Problem is I don't yet know whether or not we will be rolling for stats or doing a point buy, so it's hard to plan around that quite yet.
I actually had an idea for something similar to this.
In my version, he was a Half Orc Paladin of Shelyn (Using the Redeemer Archetype from Advanced Race Guide). He would be an exceedingly fancy fellow, dressed to the nines with a long curly wig, spending his days writing poetry and painting pictures, and in between he would travel the land, defeating monsters and converting them to the worship of Shelyn.
Among the 'guests' In his temple in Taldor would be a tribe of Mongrelmen, several Cloakers and Mimics, a family of Harpies, and most recently a Lamia.
One of my PCs is an Orc who carries a book about how to be a “perfect orc”. Unfortunately that book was written by a Diabolist who had the idea of making orcs into unquestioning soldiers for Hell. Maybe Quincy could have a book of etiquette which he frequently consults but almost as frequently misunderstands. Accidentally turning formal greetings and address into insults might be fun.
Order of the Cockatrice would give you a pretty good way to intimidate foes along with a bonus to hit them once they're intimidated. If the duration of that demoralize is a problem you could consider the Enforcer feat. While it would be strictly suboptimal I think you could make a nonlethal rapier attack at -4 to trigger Enforcer. This could represent slashing the opponent's cheek as folks would sometimes do in sword duels. The Marquis of Queensberry stuff Cuuniyevo was suggesting could work there too. Like if a gentleman of the leisure class should be skilled at boxing and fencing why not practice both at the same time? I'd think that hauling off and punching (or even headbutting) somebody in the nose while your swords were locked up also might be an amusing fencing faux pas for a genteel orc to commit.
If you wanted to look at Slashing Grace I'd say that Aldori Dueling Swords are pretty fancy too (think fencing sabers)
Devilkiller wrote: One of my PCs is an Orc who carries a book about how to be a “perfect orc”. Unfortunately that book was written by a Diabolist who had the idea of making orcs into unquestioning soldiers for Hell. Maybe Quincy could have a book of etiquette which he frequently consults but almost as frequently misunderstands. Accidentally turning formal greetings and address into insults might be fun.
Order of the Cockatrice would give you a pretty good way to intimidate foes along with a bonus to hit them once they're intimidated. If the duration of that demoralize is a problem you could consider the Enforcer feat. While it would be strictly suboptimal I think you could make a nonlethal rapier attack at -4 to trigger Enforcer. This could represent slashing the opponent's cheek as folks would sometimes do in sword duels. The Marquis of Queensberry stuff Cuuniyevo was suggesting could work there too. Like if a gentleman of the leisure class should be skilled at boxing and fencing why not practice both at the same time? I'd think that hauling off and punching (or even headbutting) somebody in the nose while your swords were locked up also might be an amusing fencing faux pas for a genteel orc to commit.
If you wanted to look at Slashing Grace I'd say that Aldori Dueling Swords are pretty fancy too (think fencing sabers)
I actually really like the idea of him carrying around a series of small books in the vein of 'High Society for Dummies'. He would spend his free time 'studying' these books only to shortly realize how boring it is to interpret the stupid little squiggles on the paper and only take away small bits and pieces. His 'studies' could be the primary factor in his decision to wear dual monocles or carry around a single gauntlet to throw at his opponents' feet (because he once read that knights did that, but he doesn't wear gauntlets so he just carries one around on his belt) or wear a very nice vest but not be able to button it properly.
Getting carried away and punching his opponent with swords locked is exactly the kind of thing Quincy would do and Enforcer could be pretty useful as well. How/When would that take place mechanically-speaking?
Also, are the Aldori Dueling Swords the same as the Dueling Swords from the Inner Sea World Guide? (PFSRD has them listed as such)
If so, then I likely wouldn't be able to use it and if I could, I would just as easily be able to take Fencing Grace and keep the rapiers. (I really would prefer to keep the rapiers if I can, especially if I can find a way to dual-wield them effectively).
I love outside-the-box half-orcs! I once played a half-orc Cleric of Abadar named Porq Tendercoin (yes, everyone groaned.) Great fun. I wish you the best of luck, and let me know how this actually plays out!
Mister Fluffykins wrote: I love outside-the-box half-orcs! I once played a half-orc Cleric of Abadar named Porq Tendercoin (yes, everyone groaned.) Great fun. I wish you the best of luck, and let me know how this actually plays out! Lol
This character will be used in a campaign that isn't going to start for awhile, but I may update this thread with a basic build when I figure it out a little more. I suppose I could make another thread of his exploits once I've played him a bit, if that would be sufficient.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
If you are looking for a miniature for Quincy, you might look at Stonehaven Half-Orc Adventurers. They have a gentleman half-orc.
-Gentleman with a top hat and cane come to mind, along with the cane sword (probably useless mechanically) and/or walking with two canes for the same reason he has two monocles.
-A pocketwatch. He can't tell time with it because he doesn't actually know how to set it, but it is also a magic item of some specific use, like a wayfinder or something.
-Keeps a snuffbox, but doesn't care for snuff, so he keeps candies in it instead. This segues nicely into getting along well with children.
-A hat of disguise can change itself to be any hat he needs. Whether he picks the RIGHT hat for an occasion or not depends on your sense of humor at the moment.
-the Magical Talent trait allows him to use Prestidigitation once per day to comb, coiffe, and clean his whole look, including the braid in his "dragon's" tail* every morning.
*it's a wig, the lizard also had a fake mane until the incident with the fire spell.
BretI wrote: If you are looking for a miniature for Quincy, you might look at Stonehaven Half-Orc Adventurers. They have a gentleman half-orc. That has got to be my favorite minifigure of all time.
The Geisha Bard can boost a party by forcing them to stop and drink tea, which opens up some fun possibilities for gentlemanly types.
I believe that the Aldori Dueling Sword is in fact the same as the Dueling Sword. I was just suggesting it as a way to get Dex to damage. I was previously unaware of the Fencing Grace feat, which seems to serve a similar purpose and be great news for Swashbucklers everywhere.
Anyhow, I'm glad that my other ideas might be of some use. As far as the Enforcer feat goes, you could simply use one of your iterative attacks to make an unarmed strike (best if you have Improved Unarmed Strike). If you're willing to spend feats you might look at the Hurtful feat too. Another option which might be a little further than you'd want to go would be taking a couple of levels as a Master of Many Styles and picking up Snake Fang so you can demoralize your enemy with an unarmed strike AoO when he misses you. I've got a concept PC called "El Flamingo" who wears a pink Zorro outfit and will probably use this if he ever gets played (with the AoO from Snake Fang being a "flamingo kick")
Dual wielding rapiers could be a little tough due to the -4 penalty for doing TWF with a one-handed weapon in your off hand. Considering the bonuses to hit you can get from other sources it might not be that bad though. If you do pick up Improved Unarmed Strike you could also just use that as your second weapon until you have the foe demoralized and therefore get a +2 to hit from Order of the Cockatrice. After that you could start stabbing with both hands and maybe go for Two Weapon Rend. I'd seriously consider getting the Cruel enchantment on at least one of your weapons to sicken any foes you've made shaken.
More good suggestions from people. :)
@BretI - This will most likely be a roll20 game, but those are some awesome minis, the noble half-orc in particular. thanks. :)
@boring7 - Top Hat and a Cane are likely. I actually did consider a Sword Cane for quite awhile but, mechanically, it would probably require a STR build (which I am fine with, just prefer a full DEX one if I can). A pocketwatch is also quite likely, as for a second function, idk. The Magic Talent trait could be pretty fun, there are LOTS of really good traits to choose from though, I'd have to really think about that.
@Matthew Downie - Excellent idea, that! Geisha are possibly a little out of theme for my character, but the idea of periodically sipping tea in the middle of a dungeon to buff up is amazing. This makes me really want to work leadership in here. As a side note, I suppose that I could approximate this build with a more Samurai-based flavor and it still mostly make sense.
@Devilkiller - Thing with the Dueling Swords is that I feel like I'd be wastng part of their appeal if I took them as a Daring Champion (Double finesse). If I end up outside of Daring Champion or Swashbuckler, that might be something to consider but two feats, idk. One of the other things I was considering was just finessing a Falcata though (They qualify for Slashing Grace and thus Champion's Finesse). They aren't exactly 'dueling weapons', but probably good options mechanically, especially if I don't get to use Fencing Grace.
Dual wielding rapiers will be tough, especially at first. I was considering going off-hand dagger or something for awhile, but eventually I would like to be able to pick up the Effortless Lace mentioned earlier for 2500gp for my off-hand rapier (if I am allowed to do so). If Effortless Lace is out of the question, 11 levels of Two-Weapon Warrior will let me treat one-handed weapons as light for TWF penalty purposes, it will also give me some bonus feats which I think I'll need and TWF penalty reductions. 11 is a lot of levels out of Daring Champion though and level order might be tricky.
I'm wary about TWF with more than one weapon type and I definitely don't want to cheese two kukris (not to mention there's no way to get DEX to dmg with light weapons without Agile enchantment, that I know of anyway).
The MoMS dip idea is pretty interesting, might be worth looking into if my original idea is too feat hungry, sounds pretty fun to me.
Ichthyodactyl wrote: Geisha are possibly a little out of theme for my character, but the idea of periodically sipping tea in the middle of a dungeon to buff up is amazing. This makes me really want to work leadership in here. As a side note, I suppose that I could approximate this build with a more Samurai-based flavor and it still mostly make sense. If you're in a game where you can take the pure mechanics of the geisha class and ignore the traditional concept of what a geisha is, it could work quite well. The weapon proficiencies might be a problem though - no rapiers, just simple weapons plus the monk weapon of your choice.
Matthew Downie wrote: Ichthyodactyl wrote: Geisha are possibly a little out of theme for my character, but the idea of periodically sipping tea in the middle of a dungeon to buff up is amazing. This makes me really want to work leadership in here. As a side note, I suppose that I could approximate this build with a more Samurai-based flavor and it still mostly make sense. If you're in a game where you can take the pure mechanics of the geisha class and ignore the traditional concept of what a geisha is, it could work quite well. The weapon proficiencies might be a problem though - no rapiers, just simple weapons plus the monk weapon of your choice. Do you mean for the Geisha? If I had a Geisha cohort, I'd probably make her stay out of combat entirely if I can help it, Just follow me around with her tea set and play music occasionally maybe. :P
Ichthyodactyl wrote: I actually did consider a Sword Cane for quite awhile but, mechanically, it would probably require a STR build (which I am fine with, just prefer a full DEX one if I can). Why would a Sword Cane require a Str build? It's a finessable one-handed slashing weapon, so it's a perfect candidate for Slashing Grace.
RumpinRufus wrote: Ichthyodactyl wrote: I actually did consider a Sword Cane for quite awhile but, mechanically, it would probably require a STR build (which I am fine with, just prefer a full DEX one if I can). Why would a Sword Cane require a Str build? It's a finessable one-handed slashing weapon, so it's a perfect candidate for Slashing Grace. The Sword Cane is actually a piercing weapon. Feel free to scratch your head as much as you wish.
Arachnofiend wrote: RumpinRufus wrote: Ichthyodactyl wrote: I actually did consider a Sword Cane for quite awhile but, mechanically, it would probably require a STR build (which I am fine with, just prefer a full DEX one if I can). Why would a Sword Cane require a Str build? It's a finessable one-handed slashing weapon, so it's a perfect candidate for Slashing Grace. The Sword Cane is actually a piercing weapon. Feel free to scratch your head as much as you wish. I was unaware that it was actually finesseable (I thought it was and I did look,guess I must have just missed that it was and assumed it wasn't), but yeah it is a piercing weapon. I kind of expect to be MAD already, so if I can't get Dex to dmg, I would probably favor a STR build.
This is just screaming to me of a 1/2 Orc Investigator who uses a folding table/chair to set up a Tea Service to use his Alchemy for Mutagen/Extract buffs for Tea.
Maybe have a few hired Porters carrying your table/chair set like in days of old, Porters carrying Victorian Era gentleman's steamer trunks/tents while on safari.
I have a follow-up question here and I didn't feel like making a second thread;
What are the ways that someone can be caught flat-footed and/or lose their Dex to AC?
Being unable to act in a surprise round
Being attacked from invisibility
Being the subject of a successful feint
Being immobilized...
What else?
First round of combat, hasn't got to their initiative yet.
Being unable to see opponent for reasons other than invisibility (blindness, smoke, fog, darkness...)
Being disarmed and fighting an improvised weapon user with catch off guard.
Being shaken and then affected by the shatter defenses feat.
Well, they're not quite what you've described, but they're along the same lines of interesting social-dynamic concerning those of orcish heritage so maybe it'll give you a couple of inspirations.
1) A Human w/ Racial Heritage(Orc) as a Scarred Witch Doctor. He's a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill Human normally, but when he wears his mask, he shifts to an altered persona very much like an Orc, very brutish and crude. He speaks Orcish, but if he isn't wearing his mask, he will claim that he doesn't understand as he doesn't speak Orcish. He responds to a different name while wearing the mask and also refers to the mask itself by this name, often carrying on a conversation with the mask as if it were actually a person.
2) A Half-Orc (or full-Orc) who actually, legitimately is classy and gentlemanly... but also happens to be a Wild Rager Barbarian. When he Rages, he totally abandons the gentlemanly persona. Reminiscent of Berserker from 8-Bit Theater.
If you want to make folks flat footed there's a pretty good tie in with Order of the Cocktrice (via Dazzling Display) and Enforcer. Check out the Shatter Defenses feat, which should be pretty easy for you to acquire. Since the effect lasts until the end of your NEXT turn this could help set up a devastating double rapier flurry with an improved chance to hit (+2 from Order of the Cockatrice and the enemy is flat footed)
It may or may not be amusing to take some levels in a class which grants sneak attack at higher levels. I probably wouldn't bother unless you want to enhance your intimidation with Thug (Rogue) or really like the idea of getting "magic tea" with Alchemist (Vivisectionist). I guess the Vivisectionist could view himself as a "man of Science". I'd probably stick with Cavalier, but there are a lot of options out there.
Actually the reason I was asking was because I was looking at Urban Barbarian, which gets Uncanny Dodge and it occured to me that I was only aware of a couple of reasons someone would be flat-footed and only a couple more that they would be denied Dex to AC.
I will check out these options though, they do sound interesting.
Anyway, thanks for the heads-up there.
@Kazaan - the Scarred Witch Doctor idea is pretty cool, definitely not for this character though. The second suggestion is very similar to how I plan on already roleplaying Quincy. He may not be the classiest person ever, but he thinks he is. However when he finds himself in a rough spot, he is more likely to revert to his baser instincts as long as he wins, because then he gets to gloat afterwards and extol is honor, even if the way he won was less than honorable.
"Victory is always honorable."
Ichthyodactyl wrote: @Kazaan - the Scarred Witch Doctor idea is pretty cool, definitely not for this character though. The second suggestion is very similar to how I plan on already roleplaying Quincy. He may not be the classiest person ever, but he thinks he is. However when he finds himself in a rough spot, he is more likely to revert to his baser instincts as long as he wins, because then he gets to gloat afterwards and extol is honor, even if the way he won was less than honorable. Sounds a bit like Mr. Satan from Dragonball; he's played up as the "strongest man in the world" and, to his credit, he's probably the strongest person that doesn't use ki. But he's deluded in that, even confronted with energy-blast throwing supercharged martial artists, he still keeps trying to rationalize their skills as "tricks". Just replace "power" and "tricks" with "class" and "honor" and you've got a good archetype for your character.
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