So, it turns out building a character is pretty overwhelming. I've never played any tabletop before, so I figured I'd try a game of Pathfinder. I figured, "Oh, I've played plenty of RPGs and MMOs before, I'll be fine." Nope. Not fine. At all. Sink or swim, and I sunk.
Being completely new to this, I obviously had to do a little research so I wasn't a TOTAL scrublord when I started, and I decided that I'd like to be a Brawler, specifically a Shield Warrior (cuz I mean, Captain America, amIrite). I'd also like to be a Tiefling (playing Chaotic-Good) for diversity's sake, as half of my party had already made human characters. Plus it would make for better roleplay. We're running Rise of the Runelords.
Unfortunately anything beyond that information that I researched pretty much went over my head. I found guides on how to fill out sheets, so I was able to fill in all the class-related stuff. Y'know, like saving throws, class skills, feats, etc. I just need help building the rest of him. I was going to have my DM help me, but the game size suddenly doubled (so he has to prepare two games now) and I don't want to burden him any more than I have to. I'll have him help guide me once we start playing the game, so I just need the help getting started from a kind stranger reading this. Wink wink nudge nudge.
These are my attribute rolls. I'm told that they're okay at best. (And I was allowed to bend the rules and reroll extra times. Apparently my first ones were horrendous.)
15
14
11
8
10
11
What are the important attributes for a Brawler / Shield Warrior? I thought I read somewhere that CHA did nothing for Brawlers, but it would be nice to be able to be the charmer of the party. Which Tiefling Heritage should I use taking all of that into account?
For Racials, I thought I would keep Skilled (+2 to Stealth and Bluffs), Spell-Like Ability (casting Darkness once a day), and Darkvision. I'd replace Fiendish Sorcery (not useful given he's a Brawler) with Prehensile Tail. I wasn't sure on whether or not to replace Fiendish Resistance (+5 cold, electricity, & fire resist) with Scaled Skin (+5 cold, electricity, OR fire resist and a +1 natural armor AC bonus), given that he's a melee fighter.
I'm also looking for a first Feat recommendation, and it would be super awesome if somebody could just kinda explain how skill points work in general in the simplest terms possible. I'm not sure exactly what's confusing me so much about them. It's just something.
I really appreciate anyone taking the time to read this and helping me. I know, I'm super scrubby at the moment here and I apologize for that, but I'm a little overwhelmed by everything. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.
You are correct that Charisma does not do a lot to help a Brawler(Shield champion)
You have only 2 decent stats (and the equivlant of a 12 point buy which is very low) so you cannot afford to really put anything decent into charisma.
Your important stats are Str , Dex and Con.
Standard Tiefling with a Cha penalty works for you mechanically as it is your least important stat,
I would probably go
Str 15
Dex 11 (13 after racial bonus)
Con 14
Int 10 (12 after racial)
Wis 11
Cha 8(6 after racial)
Hp you get d10 every level , normally this is set to maximum at 1st level so that is 10 + your con bonus which would be 2 for 12 hp
Skills, you get 4+ int bonus which amounts to 5 skill points
You can assign 1 pt to a skill per level , and if it is one of your class skills you will get a bonus of +3 otherwise your skills will be Number of skill ranks + stat bonus
I recommend Perception, Stealth, Acrobatics and then its up to you sadly with the above stats you get -2 on skills like bluff so you won't be very good at them.
Feats I would seriously consider Shield Focus (+1 to your AC), Power attack (optional -1 to hit for +2 damage ), or weapon focus (Shield) for +1 to hit
Thanks for responding, that was pretty insightful. :) I have a couple follow-up questions though.
So, that would mean my stunted skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Perform, and Use Magic Device.
The two that could maybe be fixed are Bluff and Intimidate. Intimidate is a class skill, so I should be able to overcome that gimp pretty quickly, right? And my racial gives me +2 to Bluff, which would neutralize the negative immediately, and +2 to Stealth (which wasn't hurt). Alternatively, I could use an alt racial to get +4 Bluff with no Stealth, which would start it at 2. I feel like keeping the standard is probably better though, since Bluff isn't really a whole lot of use if I'm gonna have low charisma anyway.
Any recommendation on Fiendish Resistance vs Scaled Skin?
I had another thought, too. Would Weapon Finesse do anything for me? I think shield throws are rolled with Dex, so would making my bashes and such roll with Dex help at all, assuming I used a light shield?
I thought I saw a feat or something that made it so heavy shields became light, although I could be imagining it since I can't seem to find it again.
Shield champion doesn't come into his own until level 11 basically, meanwhile you are better off using martial flexibility.
Exrave wrote: Thanks for responding, that was pretty insightful. :) I have a couple follow-up questions though.
So, that would mean my stunted skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Perform, and Use Magic Device.
The two that could maybe be fixed are Bluff and Intimidate. Intimidate is a class skill, so I should be able to overcome that gimp pretty quickly, right? And my racial gives me +2 to Bluff, which would neutralize the negative immediately, and +2 to Stealth (which wasn't hurt). Alternatively, I could use an alt racial to get +4 Bluff with no Stealth, which would start it at 2. I feel like keeping the standard is probably better though, since Bluff isn't really a whole lot of use if I'm gonna have low charisma anyway.
All of this is correct. However make sure that there is not another PC who is going to be doing all the social skills and has a good charisma, or make sure you don't mind being not as good as him. But you can get a passable bluff score. I think you will probably get more use out of stealth +2 than bluff +4
Exrave wrote:
Any recommendation on Fiendish Resistance vs Scaled Skin?
You are probably best off with the one which gives a natural armour bonus as your AC will need help and the elemental resistances are quite low
Exrave wrote:
I had another thought, too. Would Weapon Finesse do anything for me? I think shield throws are rolled with Dex, so would making my bashes and such roll with Dex help at all, assuming I used a light shield?
I thought I saw a feat or something that made it so heavy shields became light, although I could be imagining it since I can't seem to find it again.
There is a trait for worshippers of Gorum which makes heavy shields count as light.
You could go with weapon Finesse , it will mean moving your Higher score to Dex not strength the payoffs are
1) Better to hit and better AC
2) Less damage
3) Not qualifying for power attack which further reduces damage potential (unless you pick up a belt of giant strength)
You could then pick up combat expertise and agile maneuvers to be fairly good at things like grapple, trip or disarm but how useful that is depends on what you end up fighting.
A light shield (or one made light by the trait) may qualify for slashing grace but I cannot remember if it does piercing or slashing damage if it does if it does you can get Dex to damage instead of strength which would make a high dex a good choice
JohnHawkins wrote:
Exrave wrote:
Any recommendation on Fiendish Resistance vs Scaled Skin?
You are probably best off with the one which gives a natural armour bonus as your AC will need help and the elemental resistances are quite low
Actually - I'd highly recommend keeping Fiendish Resistance, and then taking Armor of the Pit as an early feat. (the feat gives +2 to nat armor - and the two don't stack)
Of note - if your game allows any of the alternate tiefling types - I'd go with Oni-Spawn, giving you +2 Str/Wis, and -2 Cha. Normally I'm iffy on power-gaming the tiefling types - but you rolled really bad stats, and you need to make up for it. :P
JohnHawkins wrote: However make sure that there is not another PC who is going to be doing all the social skills and has a good charisma, or make sure you don't mind being not as good as him.
Yeah, given my stats, I'll just let someone else do it, although my Intimidate may end up useful even with the Cha against me. I'll just play him as the kind of blunt and slightly abrasive tough guy with a good heart.
JohnHawkins wrote: There is a trait for worshippers of Gorum which makes heavy shields count as light.
You could go with weapon Finesse , it will mean moving your Higher score to Dex not strength the payoffs are
1) Better to hit and better AC
2) Less damage
3) Not qualifying for power attack which further reduces damage potential (unless you...
How would I get that trait?
And I'll ask my DM about shield spikes and sharpening the edges changing the damage type, since I'm pretty sure shields are normally bludgeoning.
Charon's Little Helper wrote: Actually - I'd highly recommend keeping Fiendish Resistance, and then taking Armor of the Pit as an early feat. (the feat gives +2 to nat armor - and the two don't stack)
Of note - if your game allows any of the alternate tiefling types - I'd go with Oni-Spawn, giving you +2 Str/Wis, and -2 Cha. Normally I'm iffy on power-gaming the tiefling types - but you rolled really bad stats, and you need to make up for it. :P
That's a good point on the resistances.
And yeah, I'm really not a fan of power-gaming. I'd much rather relax and actually enjoy the experience rather than worry about min-maxing my stats, but I don't have much choice thanks to my typical bad luck with dice. I'm not expecting much from him, I'll be working on a backup Paladin just incase this guy dies, lol.
Thanks for the replies, all.
To get the trait check with your GM that he is using them, then be a worshiper of Gorum, the trait is in Inner Sea gods and is called Shield-Trained
|
