0 Wealth Gestalt game (P6)

[Winter S Jackson]

So, the group has been warned of a one-off session coming up as follows. A Dark Sun survival session where at least at first, the players start with nothing.

Now, I know there are plenty of ways of producing equipment and armor out of nowhere, but I want to embrace the full ascetic aesthetic. I'm planning Unmonk->Bloodforge's Mongrel, crossed with Steelfist commando so I can actually fight back. Are there any obvious goldmines I'm not considering, or would this be one of the best ways of kicking ass in your "outfit worth no more than 10gp" and nothing else?

-Character level 6
-All Paizo books, including both recent and players companions
-All Dreamscarred press products, with other 3pp allowed on a case by case basis

[avr]

I don't know anything about Bloodforge's Mongrel; is Unmonk necessary for it? The Steelfist Commando seems to have your fighting unarmed needs covered, and you don't need wis dependence in addition to cha and the physical abilities. A dip of swashbuckler for the parry (there are ways of making unarmed strikes piercing), maybe other dips for saves and other front-loaded abilities would seem more useful, especially if you're using strikes rather than full attacks.

[Winter S Jackson]

The mongrel is mainly for the AC bonus-beyond +3 to nat armor it doesn't really get me anything. As of latest form, its unmonk4->Lore Oracle 1->Mongrel 1//Steelfist 6 for an AC of 19+wis+cha.

I guess you're right that the unmonk isn't getting me a ton-and being fully CHA dependent would be fun. At the moment the monk levels are getting me 3+wis to AC, thanks to the qingong's barkskin ki power, and two size increases on unarmed damage dice. Think that's enough to justify it? Having to get strength and charisma as high as possible and a 14 or so in wisdom might be a tight fit...

20 point buy, the level 4 stat boost, and human gets me:
Str 18, Dex 7, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 16
(With dex only affecting my cmd it seemed pretty safe to dump)

[Just a Mort]

Eh if you really want invulnerability(or something close), I'd try synthesist/pally if you can tolerate the LG alignment. Best AC, saves and hp you can hope to achieve, really, not to mention non magical flight.

If you're just in for the unarmed flavor, I'd go for monk/empyreal sorcerer. Mage armor is in fashion.

[Dekalinder]

UnMonk/Warpriest or UnMonk/Magus would be my choice.

Some other powerfull combinations can be UnMonk/Kineticist. Hydrokin gives you free armor that does not interfere with Wis, and Kinetic Fist is free damage that sinergyze with the monk multiple attacks. The only "problem" is balancing the triple "dex/wis/cos" attributes. But the nice thing is, since they are all the three saves keys, your saves will be excellents. Also, this gives you lots of powerfull ranged backup.

[Atarlost]

I'd go Unmonk//Cleric. You can magic vestment your outfit worth not more than 10gp. Shield of Faith is an all day shield bonus. Divine Favor/Power compensates for not having weapon enhancement, or you can find a domain with Greater Magic Fang. Cleric gets the spells faster than warpriest and that's what's important here.

Use a trait to get a holy symbol scar or tattoo. This covers your divine focus for free.

[Shiroi]

I second the kineticist for mobility, ranged/martial mix, good synergy with the un monk, great utility...

But disagree with the first choice of water. Here's why.

Pyro kineticist gets a defense that deals damage when people hit you, if they use unarmed or natural attacks. If you're in a no/low equipment game this means most enemies must use natural attacks or unarmed strikes. Otherwise, you will be collecting weapons from them and have a supply of equipment and gold. If your enemies aren't fire resistant/immune (a common problem by level 6 but you're only adding to your base damage anyways so you aren't entirely fire damage dependant) then most of them should be prime candidates for the Pyro defense. You will rarely get the chance to use it so effectively, since more often than not most campaigns use swords and such that wouldn't really be affected.

You also get a somewhat better maneuverability from flame jets than from the whole ice walking thing, I feel. There's no room for interpretation on where it works, and enemies can't follow you up the ice trail.

Any element you pick will be awesome however, since kineticists are by default a nearly gold free, very feat low class. You can easily gestalt them with an un monk (who needs feats that you now have available, and also doesn't need the gold you don't have) to great effect.

The high con makes you an ideal front line fighter and the wide range of debilitating effects you can achieve with styles, style strikes, and substance infusions can leave your foe blinded, unable to step away from you, and bleeding all in one smooth roll of the d20. On top of several d6 of damage.

Very cool.

Hope you find an ideal combo, it sounds like a fun campaign!

[Texas Snyper]

If we're talking UnMonk//Kineticist then I think water or earth are the way to go. Either free +armor AC that isn't 'wearing armor' or free DR/adamantine which will be huge in melee.

[avr]

For a 'something' 4 / lore oracle 1 / mongrel 1 // steelfist commando 6, with the given stats & using Dreamscarred Press & Paizo material I'd do this for the 'something':

Swashbuckler 3 - for the parry, precise strike & charmed life abilities,
Aegis 1 - astral armor & customisations: hardened strikes, psionic attacks, energy resistance

Precise strike adds 3 damage, you have chainmail (w/+2 Str & another +1 damage) or half-plate (w/+2 Con & 25% Fortification) as required, and energy resistance should make surviving Dark Sun's deserts easier. All of this is at will rather than for 40 minutes after you activate barkskin.

Personally I'd sell down wis a bit and raise int, but then I like having a few skills.

[Winter S Jackson]

Actually the DM asked we not take Aegis-they're trying to get us to be inventive for these builds and they feel psionic armour is just doing all the work for us (and too much against the theme of darksun)

You make a good argument for the Swashbuckler though- Are there any other one-level dips that works well with Cha-focused Melee? I mean I could just get the pact magic occultist with Marat for a full set of +1 full plate with no ACP or dex limit, but that seems a bit much...

[Shiroi]

There's a kineticist archetype keyed cha. Instead of con. It's not very good for most people and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't really recommend it on principle, which is sad, bit it's mostly because I actually like burn and being keyed off con.

You might try paladin for an immediate saves boost, full bab... that argument is always made, but needs to be balanced against your code. Then again, a level 1 paladin who falls is still full bab with good saves and hit dice. It's hard to ignore that completely.

Wasn't there something martial from paths of war with charisma, some kind of battlefield tactician type class? I may be wrong about the book but I know I've seen that class somewhere.

[avr]

A one level dip in sorcerer can get you an hours' mage armor per spell for +4 AC easily enough. The eldritch scrapper archetype would add a floating feat too, and the karmic bloodline would give you a useful arcana. Since you're full BAB on the other side of the gestalt it doesn't cost you to drop BAB on that side.

@Shiroi: that's the warlord class which his steelfist commando is an archetype of.