So I've been working on a Bloodrager* (*with a lot of multiclassing) build for a while for PFS, and thought I should show it around for impressions/opinions/advice before finally making him. In the feat section * means the feat can easily and willingly be changed.
So here is Mel :
Level 10 Human
Bloodrager [Abyssal,Spelleater] 2\ Monk [MoMS] 1\Bloodrager 2\Fighter [Mutation Warrior] 5
Traits: Magical Knack, Indomitable Faith
STR 26 (20 buy, 2 lvl, 4 item)
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 10
CHA 12
Feats:
1. Power Attack
1H. Weapon Focus (claws)
3M. IUS, SF, Dragon Style
3. Feral Combat Training
5. Dragon Ferocity
6F. Arcane Strike*
7F. Riving Strike*
7. Iron Will*
9F. Martial Versatility (feral combat training)
9. Toughness *
Items 68,000 gp, 4 pp
+1 Full Plate
+1 Furious Amulet of Mighty Fists
Belt of Giant Strength +4
Ring of Rat Fangs
Helm of the Mammoth Lord
Cloak of Resistance +1
Blood Reservoir of Physical Prowess
Gloves of Dueling
MW Shurikens galor
Wand of CLW
Wand of Shield
Rundown:
[] in rage, {} rage and mutagen
Init 0
Speed 40
HP 97 [117]
AC: 20 [17]{19}, touch 10 [7], +4 from Wand of Shield
Fort 13 [15], Ref 5 [4], Will 7 [9]
[Fast Healing 1]
Reach 5 [10]
Attacks in a full attack with PA, Arcane Strike and rage, which enlarges Mel
(note that martial versatility applies Dragon Style tree to all attacks)
Us +22 (1d8+36(2*STR+3AoMF+6PA+2AS+3WT-GoD)) avg 40.5
Us +17 (1d8+30(1.5*STR+3AoMF+6PA+2AS++3WT-GoD)) avg 34.5
Claws +18\+18 (1d8+25) avg 29.5
Bite +17 (1d6+25) avg 28.5
Gore +17 (1d8+25) avg 29.5
Total 191
Against AC 27 - 125 DPR
With Mutagen:
US +24 (1d8+40)\ +19 (1d8+33)
Claws +20\+20 (1d8+27)
Bite +19 (1d6+27)
Gore +19 (1d8+27)
Total 206
Against AC 27 - 155 DPR
A casting of Chill Touch ups this base to 171 for one turn
A use of Blood Reservoir of Physical Prowess ups this base to 239 for one turn
Ranged: Flurry with Shurikens in rage with mutagen
Shuriken 7\7\2 (1d2+15)
So the build is simple in essence- lots of attacks, lots of strength to those attacks. The AC could be better, but money is tight and if I have extra I'd probably get longarm bracers for super reach.
The main problem with the build (except for being pretty cheesy, I admit) is the very low AC. This is partly mitigated by the wand of shield, but if caught off-guard without it and the mutagen, the situation is bad. I can up it by 2 if I buy Elven Chain (an extra 5K), and another +2 from a ring of protection (2K) and upping the enhancement bonus (5K), but that is spending money I don't have, and removing any of the gp bought items in the list lowers my DPR by 30, and since I kill most things in round, I'm not sure it's worth it.
I can just give up on the brawling and get heavy armor, in which case I can also give up Ascetic Style and retraining, which opens some feats, a style, prestige and means I don't need to buy weapons masters and ultimate campaign, but lowers by my DPR by 30, removes the shuriken fun and means I get no big damage boost for lvl 9.
Another option is to still ignore AC, but go Unbreakable Fighter as well, and get fast healer to tack on my fast healing 1, which raises it to fast healing 3 and opens options like stalwart and another 13K, but lowers my DPR by 40.
I am mostly looking for ideas for the * feat slots. I was thinking maybe boar style tree, since it adds some damage, bleed and shaken (which can make stunning fist not useless) but I'm not sure.
So advice, criticism and opinions welcome. Oh, and I don't really know what is high DPR at what level, so some commentary on where I stand will be welcome.
first thing I notice is that Ascetic style isn't PFS legal.
Huh, was sure I checked that a while back. Either I read it wrong or they changed it, which doesn't surprise me since it has the same problems as the original feral combat training. Heavy armor it is then, and I'll edit my original post. Thanks.
Why go Draconic? Abyssal gives enlarge that ups my damage dice, adds strength and gives me reach. Draconic gives me energy resistance 5 to one element and +1 AC.
Actually, if I go Crossblooded with Draconic, take a level of Mutagenic Mauler Brawler to get mutagen, and then take Dragon Disciple, I only lose 15 DPR, with more spells and natural bonuses to AC, but without heavy armor proficiency and less feats. What do you guys think?
Kind of Draconic bloodrager + lunar oracle...
Cross-blooded bloodrager is bad. An effective -4 will penalty is really crippling.
I don't think I like the DD option either, but since I'm leveling up to level 2 I thought I'd ask for opinions instead of contemplating it for a week.
Also, don't plan on using heavy armor with the build you have posted, bloodragers have normal ASF in heavy armor without the steelblood archetype.
While technically true, I only have two spells per day, and the standard action will almost never be worth it in combat, so I'm not really worried about it. I'll just find nice vocal spells.
Your raging AC should be 16, not 17 (20 - 2 for rage -1 for size -1 for dex. Well, it should be 12, with 16 base with a breastplate. Which means you are getting hit on a 2 by any appropriate enemy, which will kill you in an average of 3 rounds. An actual difficult encounter, with CR 12 enemies, one enemy will kill you in two rounds, even with shield up. Not raging probably raises your life expectancy by one round.
And lord help you if you run into anything with ranged attacks.
I should have known enlarge would get the best of me. Well, with mutagen and shield it's still 22, which isn't too bad, would probably prevent an iterative quite often.
As for killing me in three rounds, from looking around at some monsters, I kill most things in one, and there's the rest of the party too.
You know, another potential route to go with this would be to take 4 levels of Strength Patron Witch instead of Bloodrager. The Nails Hex gets you permanent claws, and the Prehensile Hair Hex even weaponizes your hair as a secondary reach weapon. With the Fate's Favored and Magical Knack traits you get a +3/+3 Divine Favor combat buff as well as Enlarge Person and Frostbite, and you can take the Arcane Armor Training feat to wear a Brawling light armor that gives you a +2/+2. Instead of utterly maxing-out strength, you go Dual Talent and grab 15+2 DEX, which means that you can take Two-Weapon Fighting with your unarmed strikes and you've got a better AC bonus. This way, your attacks can go unarmed-2/unarmed-2/unarmed-7/unarmed-7/claw-5/claw-5/hair-5 and whatever else you have going on, and instead of rage strength, you've got +5 to attack and damage from Brawling Armor and Divine Favor.
I actually have a 'battle witch' Synergist Strength Witch/ Eldritch Knight build that fights with a TWF combination of longsword, unarmed, claw and gore, though now that Ironskin is banned in PFS it wouldn't be quite the tank it was.
Thanks, this is really useful to know. And is there a level at which you'd say this kinda caps-out, as in AC starts to just be irrelevant because most things that want to, will hit? And it becomes more important to focus on other things?Is there a guide for suggested AC for melee characters in PFS for various levels?Generally, I've seen folks proffer the following wisdom:
Want to be an AC tank?
20 + Character LevelAre you a melee combatant?
15 + Character Level
If you can keep those levels then no, AC is still really good. 15+level I imagine is for having a decent chance that iterative attacks miss. Adding 5 to that makes it so primary has a decent chance to miss.
It's if you can't keep up with it, or if you have easy access to a replacement so you don't need to keep up with it. When it's less important to raise.