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Campaign starting at 6th level, I plan on making a level 5 <insert class name(s) here>, level 1 Living Monolith (LM), then continuing to level up LM until it's maxed.
Now i know that full prestige is rarely good for optimisation, and with that in mind i'd like to compensate for that with OP 5 levels in either one class, or a combination of classes that give either amazing bonuses or really make the most out of the LM skillset.
(An example of where to start being LM's swift action enlarge person, maybe for reach or combat maneuver shenanigans)
Here's what I have so far:
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Half-Orc
Sacred Tattoo: +1 Luck bonus to all saves. -replaces orc ferocity.
Shadowhunter: misc bonuses and Iron Will: +2 Will saves. -replaces weapon familiarity.
Shaman’s Apprentice: Endurance
Fate's Favored: +1 to all luck bonuses
(this immediately meets the feat preqs for LM, without feat investment)
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I'm looking for advice on how to proceed, concept builds etc
So, what do you think?
Note: Full BAB classes only to meet prestige preqs
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Living Monolith is actually one of the more solid prestige classes; much better than most of them. Swift action enlarge person is simply a very good ability. The question is: who can take advantage of it?
- Most full BAB classes do well with this and a reach/Combat Reflexes AoO build. Special notice to the Savage Technologist barbarian who gets a dex boost when he rages, because that can offset your dex penalty from going big. Ideally you'll have a Dex of 14 or more while enlarged to take advantage of Combat Reflexes.
This gets even funnier if you can keep your Initiative and Speed high. Once combat starts, you can dash around enemy formations taking advantage of medium size, then enlarge and start dominating a big area behind their primary defenses.
- (Unchained) Monks can do funny things when they get big. Such as using Ki Throw on even bigger enemies (great if you have multiple melee PCs in the party) or just taking advantage of increased damage dice for size - Flying Kick and Monastic Legacy will be your friends.
- Rangers can take advantage of combat styles to gain feats while ignoring Dexterity prerequisites; that way you don't get into trouble from size penalties to dex. Also, you don't have to be half-orc anymore if you don't want to, because you can gain Endurance as a bonus feat from your class instead. More options.
In most cases, Quickdraw is your friend. If when you grow bigger you expand your mini forward, that's 5ft free movement; your reach increases, so that's another 5ft (or 10ft, if using a reach weapon). Finally, you can take a 5ft step. So with a regular weapon, you can expand the area into which you can attack by 15ft and you can still make a full attack. At least, if you have a weapon in hand or can draw it as a free action; hence the Quickdraw.
Vital Strike is also a more attractive feat for LMs than for most people, because you tend to have big damage dice to start with.
If you want to play with reach weapons, it can be annoying if enemies get too close. There are several counters to that;
- Make Trip AoOs on people trying to get closer. It'll slow down their attempts to close in.
- Have armor spikes, or learn Improved Unarmed Strike. That way you can attack nearby targets as well without having to let go of your polearm.
- Have another melee PC/animal companion stand between you and enemies. In that case, you'll want the Phalanx Formation feat so your ally won't provide cover to enemies.
Holy crap that's a lot of options, i'm liking the reach weapon idea a lot now.
1) Any archetypes in particular i should look into? (maybe ones with a solid lvl 4/5 bonus or ones that just make certain manuever builds possible?)
2) What feats (other than quick draw) are required to make the most of this stuff?
Roughing out examples/builds would help me a great deal, i'm returning to pathfinder after a fairly long absence so i'm still shaking the rust off.
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For the reach build, I'd recommend going with either barbarian, bloodrager or ranger. There's many other options, but they all bring something nice to the table:
- Savage Technologist barbarians get Dexterity and Strength while raging. Perfect for keeping Combat Reflexes going even though Enlarge has a Dex penalty. And the strength bonus works well with 2H weapons.
- Rangers get more skill points, and Endurance, which help meeting prerequisites. Favored Enemy "graduates" at level 5, so that fits nicely as well, and it never runs out, unlike Rage. If you have any idea what the campaign is going to be about, it should be doable to choose enemies that'll apply often. Without any foreknowledge, favourites are humans, evil outsiders, constructs and undead. With a little Wisdom you get to cast spells, and combined with Iron Will your will save will be at least decent.
- Bloodragers get some nice stuff around level 4; Aberrant for reach, Arcane for automatically casting spells when you rage. The saving throws are also a little better than those of barbarians. Barbarian may be a stronger choice though.
I'm not wild about whip builds; I'd focus on taking a solid polearm like the Lucerne Hammer instead. You'll be doing massive damage and enemies will have a hard time staying out of your reach anyway. It takes rather a lot of feats to really make whips good, and you also have PrC requirements to meet.
Pathfinder is max of 4 classes? or is there no cap to how many classes i can take? (except the level cap)
(I rarely think about having more than 1 class with a single multiclass dip)
Lol what is that trait, shadowhunter?
That is amazing
It is indeed, its from Blood of Shadows, which incidentally will be the first pathfinder player companion I've actually bought, when it arrives tomorrow from amazon! ...though blood of fiends looks pretty snazzy too.
Most of BoS isnt on the srd yet, but shadowhunter is, and as i gather it represents a sliver of the shadow plane in your blood, such as that from a fetchling or other such shadowy humanoid. Of course it might not, i dont have the book yet so I dont know!
It's also worded weirdly on the pfsrd20. Half-Orc's don't have a bonus feat.
It's also worded weirdly on the pfsrd20. Half-Orc's don't have a bonus feat.
Yeah thats a typo only on the srd, apparently it means it replaces the orc weapon familiarity.
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What can work with the Ib Stone version? It gets 9/10 spellcasting, but loads of abilities which are otherwise very odd for a full caster. It might be good for an Oread (Wis bonus, made of stone) or Dwarf (Wis bonus, likes stone things) Cleric as it keeps you essentially a full Cleric, but with the power of Rock.
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What can work with the Ib Stone version? It gets 9/10 spellcasting, but loads of abilities which are otherwise very odd for a full caster. It might be good for an Oread (Wis bonus, made of stone) or Dwarf (Wis bonus, likes stone things) Cleric as it keeps you essentially a full Cleric, but with the power of Rock.
hmm hadnt considered going ib, bonuses for ka just seemed better...
Looking at Blood of Shadows, only Humans get Iron Will as a bonus Feat when taking Shadowhunter. Everyone else gives up less for it and thus doesn't receive that bonus.
Really? hmmm... i'll check it out when my copy arrives, I suppose the srd was inaccurate in regard to the wording so that could be wrong too. thanks for the heads up!
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Human or Dwarf Invulnerable Rager Barbarian will also give a very powerful base to work from, the DR stacks with that gained from Living Monolith and they can both massively buff their saves via the Superstition rage power (with favoured class bonus added to it for human and the Glory of Old trait/Steel Soul feat for Dwarf). Adding a level of Unbreakable Fighter is probably the easiest way to meet the prestige class requirements in this case.
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Really? hmmm... i'll check it out when my copy arrives, I suppose the srd was inaccurate in regard to the wording so that could be wrong too. thanks for the heads up!
Yeah, they accidentally copied in the last line, which is specific to Humans.
It still does all the rest for a Half-Orc, but no Iron Will. It's pretty awesome for a Human who was gonna take Iron will anyway since it's basically free.
Have you considered Warlord from POW and Primal Fury Stance? Impact Weapon and Lucerne Hammer? Ups the damage dice to 6d6...
hmm hadnt considered going ib, bonuses for ka just seemed better...
Nothing is better than casting. Even losing one level. Nothing.
As for an Ib Stone Monolith, I think Oracle may be a better option than Cleric since the Curse does continue to advance (albeit at a snail's pace) with non-Oracle levels.
Stone Mystery is obvious, Ancestors or Battle would also be good, Lore makes sense since Sphinxes are collectors and protectors of knowledge. Heck, Bones for the classic tomb guardian.