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Hey folks!
So I've been playing in a game with a lot of homebrewing. The DM doesn't believe in magic marts, but he loves throwing artifact level gear at us despite the party only being level 8. He also gave us a ridiculous stat array so MAD classes are viable.
The problem is Pathfinder often rewards specialized and planned equipment, and I'm not sure what kind of character to use as a back up in case my Oradin dies. A monk would take advantage of the stat array but not all the sweet weapons and armor. Fighters need to use weapon training, Paladins miss out on Bracers of the Merciful Knight, Barbarians lose Furious weapons, and so on.
A straight Caster Springs to mind of course. But I'd like to also come up with a martial option. Said martial needs to be able to wield a variety of weapons to great effect though and not rely on specific items to shore up weaknesses.
What say you all?
Anyone have any particular ideas? It's also a martial heavy party, so stuff with buff access is dandy.
I'm sort of vaguely considering something in a Exemplar Brawler > Battle Herald, but I'm not entirely sure what advantages that gives.
A skald is moderately martial (proficient in all martial weapons), gets a couple of good saves (a point to note if cloaks of resistance aren't happening) and can buff with the best of them.
A guide ranger isn't gear-dependent, can choose some reasonable bonus feats for one general style like bow, two-handed or TWF then use whatever weapon of that type shows up, and gets a couple of good saves. They can buff themselves if not others.
A ninja doesn't depend on specific gear and turning invisible can save their ass from being targeted by stuff with nasty saves. Better in 2 levels when they get improved invis. Not a buffer. Edit: good with UMD if the weird items require such.
Yeah, I was considering the Skald as well. It's a large melee heavy party, so that would be dandy. 3 levels of Holy Tactician would also net him a massive save boost and the ability to pass on amplified rage.
Magus or inquisitor lets you use a variety of toys. Razmirian Sorcerers also are a good bet.
Magus or inquisitor lets you use a variety of toys. Razmirian Sorcerers also are a good bet.
Doesn't the Magus benefit a lot from using Scimitars of other high crit range weapons, especially with keen? Also, medium BAB makes landing hits with super weapons harder.
Inquisitors are generally awesome. Bane and Judgement are sweet damage boosters. But they do have medium BAB and a slew of features which work out of combat. This game is really combat heavy and has a Rogue and a Ranger that can skill monkey already.
The DM isn't actually allowing Sorcerers for some odd reason, even though wizards are on the table. I'm also not sure what Razmarian specifically brings to the table. High UMD ability?
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Hunters don't need physical enchantment items. Their base class feature grants them a enchantment bonus to any physical stat, along with their animal companion. They have all martial weapons, medium armor, and divine spells. Coupled with a animal companion that can be very strong by it's self. That leaves options open for items that are normal not used due to belt required for physical enchantment. With a setting as your playing in. It will be of great benefit to you and the animal companion to have a set bonus to your physical stat's.
The other classes to look at.
Summoner, Druid, Inquisitor, Bard, Skald, Ranger, Oracle, Cleric,
I have played both a Druid, and Hunter. Who's main focus was their animal companion. In play they are close to the same for the animal companion. What I have found is the Hunter is stronger then the druid in combat. The biggest change between the two is the teamwork feat's. The teamwork feat's shared with the animal companion. Grants you access to many tactics that are not possible on other classes.
Hunters don't need physical enchantment items. Their base class feature grants them a enchantment bonus to any physical stat, along with their animal companion. They have all martial weapons, medium armor, and divine spells. Coupled with a animal companion that can be very strong by it's self. That leaves options open for items that are normal not used due to belt required for physical enchantment. With a setting as your playing in. It will be of great benefit to you and the animal companion to have a set bonus to your physical stat's.
The other classes to look at.
Summoner, Druid, Inquisitor, Bard, Skald, Ranger, Oracle, Cleric,I have played both a Druid, and Hunter. Who's main focus was their animal companion. In play they are close to the same for the animal companion. What I have found is the Hunter is stronger then the druid in combat. The biggest change between the two is the teamwork feat's. The teamwork feat's shared with the animal companion. Grants you access to many tactics that are not possible on other classes.
My biggest problem with the Hunter is I don't know that a pet could keep up. To put this in perspectiveMy Oradin was given a +5 Holy Avenger at level 8, along with some homebrewed gear that puts him at about 33 AC, DR 3/-, and his saves averaging about +18.
Another character has a +4 Bow which can fire nukes arrows that do 7d10. Another has a spear and gauntlet combo that jacks his strength up into the 30s. It is really quite insane. To a certain extent it makes a lot of build decisions irrelevant because the gear does so much.
I don't think I could count on something equivalent being dropped for a pet. :(
Skald and Barbarian are currently leading in my mind. There isn't a ton of support casting going down beyond the Cleric dropping Blessing of Fervor at the beginning of some fights. An invulnerable rager superstitious Barbarian would get great saves against magical effects being tossed around. Spell Sunder might be more trouble than it's worth because the DM likes to try and use 3.5 monsters. That means CMD isn't always readily apparent.
Skald can't get as big a superstitous bonus but can buff the entire party with both songs and spells. I'm also super tempted to dip into Holy Tactician or something that grants shared teamwork feats for Amplified Rage, but I'm not sure that is worth delaying class features for.
For either option, I'm not entirely sure what rage powers to snag. Spirit Totem would be dandy, for example, but the damage won't keep up well with weapons.
I think things which generate extra AoOs are a good call though, which is part of my obsession with teamwork feats. Brawlers are good at these, though lack of CMD may be an issue.
Magus or inquisitor lets you use a variety of toys. Razmirian Sorcerers also are a good bet.Doesn't the Magus benefit a lot from using Scimitars of other high crit range weapons, especially with keen? Also, medium BAB makes landing hits with super weapons harder.
Inquisitors are generally awesome. Bane and Judgement are sweet damage boosters. But they do have medium BAB and a slew of features which work out of combat. This game is really combat heavy and has a Rogue and a Ranger that can skill monkey already.
The DM isn't actually allowing Sorcerers for some odd reason, even though wizards are on the table. I'm also not sure what Razmarian specifically brings to the table. High UMD ability?
Razmiran sorcerors fake adding clerical spells to the wizard spell list. Which, needless to say, adds a LOT of versatility.
==Aelryinth
Hey folks!
So I've been playing in a game with a lot of homebrewing. The DM doesn't believe in magic marts, but he loves throwing artifact level gear at us despite the party only being level 8. He also gave us a ridiculous stat array so MAD classes are viable.
The problem is Pathfinder often rewards specialized and planned equipment, and I'm not sure what kind of character to use as a back up in case my Oradin dies. A monk would take advantage of the stat array but not all the sweet weapons and armor. Fighters need to use weapon training, Paladins miss out on Bracers of the Merciful Knight, Barbarians lose Furious weapons, and so on.
A straight Caster Springs to mind of course. But I'd like to also come up with a martial option. Said martial needs to be able to wield a variety of weapons to great effect though and not rely on specific items to shore up weaknesses.
What say you all?
Your game is by all accounts totally off the standard assumptions. There is no basis for a qualified answer.
Your guess of "straight caster" betrays a bit of a bias, it's also wrong. Most straight casters are pretty terrible at using things such as armor, martial weapons, toolpicks, divine foci, or any item that doesn't play to their strengths and comfort zones.
Well, a well built caster doesn't necessarily NEED the gear, but for what it's worth, the one wizard in the party is insanely loaded up with scrolls and staffs, including something that's effectively free quicken spell every round.
But yeah, it's a funky game, hence most conventional stuff not really applying.
Magus or inquisitor lets you use a variety of toys. Razmirian Sorcerers also are a good bet.Doesn't the Magus benefit a lot from using Scimitars of other high crit range weapons, especially with keen? Also, medium BAB makes landing hits with super weapons harder.
Inquisitors are generally awesome. Bane and Judgement are sweet damage boosters. But they do have medium BAB and a slew of features which work out of combat. This game is really combat heavy and has a Rogue and a Ranger that can skill monkey already.
The DM isn't actually allowing Sorcerers for some odd reason, even though wizards are on the table. I'm also not sure what Razmarian specifically brings to the table. High UMD ability?
Magus can be very good with any weapon thanks to the pool. High crits are better but they can use longswords or the likes very effectively. Assuming you go str instead of dex. Also they use both martial and casting gear to great effect.
Razmirian mostly brings the ability to use charged items more than once if you happen to find some powerfull scrolls of some howbrew spells. Very specific but interesting non the less at least to me. And yes, UMD through the roof.
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I'm just going to use my bear at level 8. This is with out magic gear. If your DM is adding gear of that power level for the other players. Just point out to him that the animal companion is part of the class. Just think the bear is not the best animal companion. Their are better choices. I chose it for theme more then power level. If you went with a big cat, or dinosaur velociraptor they are more powerful.
Str 21 +4 enchantment bonus from animal focus total = 25
Dex 15
Con 20 +4 enchantment bonus from animal focus total = 20
Int 2
Wis 12
Cha 6
Special: low-light vision, scent, Link, share spells, Evasion, Devotion
Feat's: Light, & Medium Armor Proficiency, Toughness, Power Attack
Natural Armor +6, Natural Armor Enchantment (Barkskin last for 4HR) +3, Armor Bonus (Mithral Breast Plate) 6, Dex Mod +2
AC 27
HD 7 (3.5 HP per HD) Total HP 66
Base Con 13 +2 Size +1 level 4 +4 enchantment animal focus = 20
+ Toughness
(Greater Magic Fang +1 to all attacks for 8HR)
Melee attacks: Bite +11(1D6+12) Claws(2) +11 (1D4+12)
Fort 10
Ref 7
Will 3 (Devotion +4 morale bonus on Will saves against enchantment spells and effects.)