I hope you good people can help me with some suggestions and advice for this character. I've just leveled him up to 2nd level, so for good or ill what's in the spoilered text below is set. My system mastery is very low compared to most here, but I want him to be a highly effective contributor to the Pathfinder Society groups he adventures with, thus this request for aid.
Generally speaking, I feel like I need to work on feat choices (both via Martial Flexibility and through advancement), tactics (which are mainly a matter of Martial Flexibility feat choices as far as I can tell) and equipment.
So far, his preferred tactics have been to lead with using Martial Flexibility to adopt the Belier's Bite feat, punching (and hopefully getting some bleed damage started), then grappling. If he maintains his grapple, he either does damage or pins, providing the other party members an easy target. (I should say also that I dream of the day where circumstances allow him to adopt the Equipment Trick Rope feat and hogtie a grappled opponent, but that's a long shot). Now that he's made second level, he'll probably do much the same except that he'll get to use Brawler's Flurry for two punches (and maybe adopt Jabbing Style for some extra damage? Can you actually use a move action to adopt a feat and also use Brawler's Flurry in the same turn?)
My play methodology has been to keep a printout of the sixty-odd combat feats he's eligible to adopt at hand (some number of which are teamwork feats and so unlikely to come into play in PFS) and try to be reactive and flexible. Hopefully with time I'll internalize a lot of that information.
Problem areas I see for him are his armor class and his Will save. I'm tempted to take Iron Will as his third level feat and to up his Dexterity from 15 to 16 when he makes fourth level, but hopefully y'all can tell me whether those are silly ideas or not.
Equipment, I don't know. He doesn't seem to use as much money as my other PFS characters what with his light armor and minimum weapon use. I dropped 50 gold on a grenade that I threw in the Emerald Spire today to little effect but to much hilarity. That was kind of fun, but I suspect I should be saving up for some kind of martial arts whiz bang magic item that I'm not familiar with.
So there's that. His vital stats are in the spoilered text below, and I thank any and all of you in advance for your advice.
Male tengu brawler 2
CN Medium humanoid (tengu)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 22 (2d10+6)
Fort +5, [b]Ref +5, Will +0
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee armor spikes +5 (1d6+3) or
armor spikes flurry of blows +3/+3 (1d6+3) or
handaxe +5 (1d6+3/×3) or
morningstar +5 (1d8+3) or
unarmed strike +6 (1d6+3) or
unarmed strike flurry of blows +4/+4 (1d6+3) or
bite +0 (1d3+1), 2 claws +0 (1d3+1)
Ranged sling +4 (1d4+3)
Special Attacks brawler's flurry, martial flexibility 4/day
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +2; CMB +5 (+7 grapple); CMD 17 (19 vs. grapple)
Feats Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike)
Traits bullied (+1 trait bonus to AoO w/unarmed strikes), observant (+1 to Perception & class skill)
Skills Acrobatics +6, Climb +6, Perception +8, Stealth +3, Survival +0 (+2 to avoid becoming lost), Swim +6; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Stealth
Languages Common, Tengu
SQ brawler's cunning, martial training
Combat Gear potion of enlarge person, wand of cure light wounds, alchemical grease, alchemist's fire, caltrops, cold iron; Other Gear armor spikes studded leather, handaxe, morningstar, sling, sling bullets (18), wayfinder, backpack, bandolier, belt pouch, chalk, earplugs, flint and steel, folding pole, hip flask, magnet, silk rope (50 ft.), smoked goggles, 1,578 gp, 5 sp, 6 cp
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Special Abilities
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Brawler's Flurry +0/+0 (Ex) Can make full attack & gain two-wep fighting, but only with unarmed strike, close, or monk wep.
Bullied +1 to hit with unarmed AoEs.
Improved Grapple You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when grappling a foe.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Martial Flexibility (move action, 4/day) (Ex) As a Move action, gain a combat feat for 1 min. More gained for greater actions.
Right now, between scenarios, Mister Rook has about 1500 gp to spend and I'm torn between getting the best light armor he can afford (which I guess would be Lamellar Darkleaf Leather) or buying a cloak of resistance +1 available from his first Chronicle sheet. The armor is cheaper and nets a +1 to AC, while the cloak at least gets him to +1 on his Will saves (and to +6 on Reflex and Fortitude), but of course pushes getting enchanted armor off that much further because of the expense.
AC and Will saves, AC and Will saves, what can I do about AC and Will saves?
dont forget you can spend 2pp on an armor for up to 750 gold. This might give you a better spread of wealth in the long run.
Good point! Thanks!
dont forget you can spend 2pp on an armor for up to 750 gold. This might give you a better spread of wealth in the long run.
Shoot, now that I'm home to look into this I see that darkleaf cloth is a 750 gp add-on to any given light armor cost, so that 2 pp won't cover that particular item on my wishlist.
So I've put together some more notes on Mister Rook. Below is a wish list of magic items and a very tentative feat progression (and ability score bonus choices). As mentioned upthread, his ability scores and so on are now set, as are his second level feat choices. Oh, and I went ahead and spent two Prestige to buy armbands of the brawler, so for right now his wrist slot is taken up. You'll see that some slots have multiple items listed because I'm unsure about them. The feats, wow, I don't know.
I'm completely open to any suggestions on how to make this character the most effective he can be going forward! Thanks in advance!
Ring of Protection +1 (ring 1) - 2000 gp
Ring of the Sublime (ring 2) - 2000 gp
Armbands of the Brawler (wrist slot) - 500 gp
Belt of Giant Strength +2 (belt slot) - 4000 gp
Boots of Elvenkind (feet slot) - 2500 gp
Claws of the Ice Bear (hands slot) - 1300 gp
Gauntlet of the Skilled Maneuver (hands slot) - 4000 gp
Headband of Unshakeable Resolve (headband slot) - 5600 gp
Aegis of Recovery (neck slot) - 1500 gp
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1 (neck slot) - 4000 gp
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (neck slot) - 2000 gp
Cloak of Resistance +2 (shoulders slot) - 4000 gp
Longarm Bracers (wrists slots) - 7200 gp
Ioun Stone (amber spindle, cracked, Will) - 3400 gp
Ioun Stone (deep red sphere) - 8000 gp
Ioun Stone (dusty rose prism) - 5000 gp
Ioun Stone (pale blue rhomboid) - 8000 gp
Ioun Stone (violet thorny) - 8000 gp
Naga-scale Bindi (water) - 6600 gp
(1st bonus) Improved Unarmed Strike (already set)
(2nd bonus) Weapon Focus Unarmed Strike (already set)
(2nd situational) Two-Weapon Fighting (when using Brawler's Flurry)
(3rd) Iron Will
(5th) Tengu Wings
(5th bonus) Combat Expertise
(7th) Dodge
(8th bonus) Power Attack
(9th) ?
(11th) ?
(11th bonus) ?
Ability Scores
(4th) Dexterity
(8th) Strength
(12th) Strength
If you're doing a lot of unarmed fighting, you really want to get Brawling enchant on your armor.
Wow, that's very nice. Thanks!