I've had a character concept bouncing around in my head for a while since I first saw the stygian slayer archetype, and I was curious if anyone had any advice on fully realizing it. I have a majority of the framework in place, but there are still some pieces that need to be glued together.
Start by assuming a 15-point-buy. I'd be sticking with the base tiefling for the +2 Dex, +2 Int, and -2 Cha, and I'd love to grab Moonlight Stalker fairly early and Silent Kill later on to really deliver on the "killer in the night" vibe. With the focus on using wands for spells, I'd being using the Prehensile Tail trait to make grabbing them more efficient. However, that does leave the question of how to best utilize my hands during combat. I'm leaning towards either Two-Weapon Fighting or Natural Attacks (utilizing the Ranger Combat Style talents appropriately). I'm just having a lot of trouble choosing between the two.
TWF: Pros include lots of attacks later on and the chance to go into feats like two-weapon feint for sneak attack goodness. Cons are mainly related to action economy: if I need to use a wand in battle, I'd need to drop my weapon and pick it up later on, and while a weapon cord would help with that, it's not the most efficient thing. Magic items (like say, a glove of storing) could certainly help, but it might take a bit to build up the necessary funds.
Natural Attack: Pros include lots of attacks by 2nd level (grabbing the Maw or Claw racial trait for bite and the Natural style feat that gives claws by 2nd). Can also boost damage dice through feats in the style. Not as much of an issue if I need to use a wand, since I'll still have two attacks (bite and one claw). Cons would be less chance for feinting due to not being able to use two-weapon feint, but then again sneak attacks are more gravy for a slayer than necessary (like for a rogue). Also, I honestly have no idea what feats to focus on if I go this route.
Are you planning to go dex-based or strength-based? Is Agile Weapon an easy thing? Pretty much everything else is going to depend on those things. There's no easy dex-to-damage anymore when using TWF.
Are you planning to go dex-based or strength-based? Is Agile Weapon an easy thing? Pretty much everything else is going to depend on those things. There's no easy dex-to-damage anymore when using TWF.
I'd prefer to go Dex-based, if only because Stygian Slayers can only use up to light armor, and I'd like at least a respectable armor class to survive early on. Still, I'd plan on having at least 13 Strength (bumped to 14 at level 4) to help with damage. As for Agile, that would depend entirely on the campaign I would play in, no concrete answer right now.
15-point buy might be something like the following (elite array is used here)
STR: 13
DEX: 15+2 = 17
CON: 14
INT: 12+2 = 14
WIS: 10
CHA: 8-2 = 6
If I want dex to damage with two weapon, I'm thinking it might be wise to dip into unchained rogue if available.
Agile availability is usually a question of if you are going to have a magic weapon crafter available. Most DMs are fine with any official Paizo source.
The issue with a 3 level URogue dip is that it delays Slayer - including delaying swift-action Study until 10, and delaying TWF/ITWF until 5/9.
Dex TWF without Agile can be OK if you've got other sources of damage. There's also going strength-based weapon/shield TWF style, which actually means you could hold a wand in your shield hand. Starting with 16 STR instead of 18 isn't that big a deal, and you've got heightened DEX plus a shield plus a mithral breastplate for armor.