feedback appreciated on a tank pfs character


Advice


I have spent a good while polishing this character and would love to hear some constructive criticism on how to improve my build. This character is PFS.

As people have pointed out in the past, "good" in pathfinder is subjective and depends on what you want to do. The theme of this character is to be as tanky as possible (AC>HP). Anywhere to fit in damage that doesn't hurt that theme is awesome, too.

The build: Human Master of Many Styles + qinggong monk 4/vanilla druid 4

str: 12
dex: 17+2
con: 12
int: 10
wis: 15
cha: 7

traits: harmonious fist of the society, magical knack (druid)
also taking vow of truth, but not vow of silence because I'm going to be casting druid spells

lvl 1: TWF/bonus monk crane style/bonus human weapon finesse
lvl 2: bonus monk crane wing/bonus monk evasion
lvl 3: two weapon defense
lvl 4: qing gong monk gives me barkskin
lvl 5: Boon companion
lvl 6: nothing
lvl 7: combat reflexes
lvl 8: wild shape kicks in for even more AC

that's as far as I've planned.

As I calculate it at 8th level, my AC if you include crane wing, a wand of mage armor, and magic items well within my budget (dex belt, wisdom headband, and bracers of armor +1) is 40.

touch is 29 and flat footed is 29

Now to the animal companion. I'm going to go into minimal detail here. It would be a large cat with the bodyguard archetype. Three key feats (can get these by character level 6 with boon companion) would be combat reflexes, bodyguard, and extra traits to pick up adopted by halflings and helpful halfling. (taking +1 int at 4th lvl to be able to take any feat I want)

There it all is. Like I said in the beginning, any advice is appreciated. Also, thanks for taking the time to read my lengthy post.


Doesn't seem terribly good. Most monsters will ignore you and since it seems like you are trying to become smaller, you'll threaten even less.

Plus, you lose caster levels for Barkskin and your CMD is probably a mess.


I like the idea of what you're doing, but it won't be quite as good as youay think. What I mean is that mobs will pass by after they miss once or twice. A better way to think of tanking in this game I'd controlling npcs, that's the best way to prevent damage in this game.

Feats like pin down, step up, and stand still will be a great way to tank beyond just high ac.


Secret Wizard wrote:
your CMD is probably a mess.

the only thing holding it back is BAB because I'm 3/4. Other than that, it should be very good because monk AC bonus adds to CMB. This would be +5 between wisdom and leveling. combine this with dex (22) and bab (+6) and it's not bad.

Also, the idea was that that cat would be hard to ignore. At lvl 7 it gets big, and even without combat feats should be a good source of damage.


I though of something else I could do. Tanking is good if you can protect your allies. My mindset was animal = more ac = good, but It could also defend an ally with it's body-guarding. 8th level feat on the animal could be in harm's way.


Why not go straight Druid though? You can help the party in more ways with your larger amount of spells. You don't need to have infinite AC to be good, and straight Druid allows for more damage.


Perhaps you could add the Nature's Fang archetype, go for Crane Style and use Style feats to pick up TWF without having to compromise your STR.

You could even have a Scimitar in your main hand for great damage, if you avoid TWF, and you could use Style feats for more fun stuff.

Silver Crusade

I can say they others are correct. This build will more then likely not preform as well as you want.

You could go with Cleric in place of druid. That will allow you to cast Compel Hostility. That forces any enemy that can attack you to do so if it falls a will save. Also with the Protection Defenses subdomain gives you 1st shield, 2nd Barkskin. With just a few pearls of power you could have shield for every encounter.

No matter how you look at it you can't two weapon fight and get dex to damage with out talking 3 levels of unchained rogue. The other option in to go with a single weapon and get dervish dance, slashing grace, or fencing grace. None of them will work great for the character you plan on playing.

I can make a recommendation. Talking 2 levels of monk(Sensei) and every thing else in a wis base casting class. Works very well the only down side is you lose evasion. However you gain Wis on to hit with unarmed strikes. Your damage for unarmed combat will be low however your saves for stunning fist, and spell will be high. I have a Cleric 6 Monk Sensei 2 currently in PFSP. His unbuffed AC 20, Self Buffed AC 29 potion of mage armor puts him up to a 33. That and a +11 initiative so I can run through the bad guys and draw most of the AoO.


calagnar wrote:


No matter how you look at it you can't two weapon fight and get dex to damage with out talking 3 levels of unchained rogue.

Thanks for the suggestions. I plan on fighting with kicks and holding weapons for TWD. That way an agile amulet of mighty fists was my solution to this problem and could be picked up fairly easily.

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