Hey all.
So in our upcoming group we are all doing morally grey characters.
A lot of us decided to do characters that grew up on the street having to steal for a living.
The campaign is about 75/25 RP/Combat
And currently we have
Kitsune Mesmerist (Vizier)
Human Sorcerer (Verdant) that will be making liberal use of the vine power to steal/disarm
Dwarf Kineticist (Aether)
Alchemist (Vivisectionist/Churgeon)
half orc Skald.
Anyway when talking about the character my friend would do (He normally plays BSF types) the following was said.
"I just picture the dude that stands in the corner cleaning his nails with a straight razor, he has a bowler on and has a name like "Snitty Two-Toes""
And with that he loved the concept. however needs a bit of help building it.
So are we looking Fighter, maybe Cad?
Brawler?
Rogue? Thug maybe?
Anyone?
Thanks in advance
I would go with knifemaster unchained rogue. That would be the best use of razor. Specifically what will their job be in combat? And it of it. There's a cool feat called betrayer which lets you befriend someone, and then immediately attack flat footed. That could be handy for rp to combat
A lot of characters can be intimidating, and they don't even need to have Charisma to do it—STR and INT based can each work well. There are a lot of ways to go about it, and it will depend on his image of the character. More details there will help us go into more detail here. For example - Does he actually favor a straight razor in combat, or is he just known for brandishing one and using it in (say) interrogations? Or is it simply a quirk to add to the image of his character?
The Intimidating Prowess feat adds Strength to Charisma (it does not replace it) while the trait Bruising Intellect actually replaces CHA with INT. Again, it depends on his image of the character.
To get a good use of Intimidate in combat, there needs to be some way to improve the action economy. Some examples are:
- Rake archetype for Rogue. Forego 1 sneak attack die to get free action Intimidate. Unchained Rogue is quite good, but if that's off the table I would avoid CRB Rogue.
- Power Attack + Cornugon Smash feat combo. Free action Intimidate on all Power Attacks. It requires level 6 (or 7 for most classes), and characters with a lower to-hit bonus will not want to Power Attack all the time.
- Enforcer feat + Some way to make nonlethal attacks without penalty (such as the Bludgeoner feat, Blade of Mercy trait, Merciful weapon, Spellstrike Frostbite, or Monk class). Free action Intimidate on nonlethal melee hits, and for a much longer duration to boot. Pairs up especially well with Thug Rogue. The nonlethal damage part will be a hindrance in some campaigns, but probably not in one primarily involving intrigue and humanoids.
- Menacing Swordplay deed with Swashbuckler, though it's a Swift Action on a class chock-full of 'em.
- Omen trait allows a Swift Action Intimidate check once per day, and also grants the usual class skill status and +1 trait bonus.
Most of these can be added to just about any class. Even the scrawny Wizard can potentially be the scariest guy in the room, and without using magic.
Normally he plays the dashing hero style fighter. Sword/board.
This is a departure from the norm.
Now mind you the group is really more Narrative driven then optimised. (And yes, you CAN do both, I am sure there are highly optimised parties of all tier 1 classes, AM Barbarians, and other crazy s@+@ that also are highly immersive roleplayers, telling an amazing story with each action. However, that is not us)
We generally have things like Vanilla Rangers, Straight Fighters, and even when people do go for say a full progression caster there is no need to pull out all the stops.
Anyway, the straight razor was just a visual cue to get the flavor of the character. Now mind you, there is nothing wrong with useing one.
The character can be thought of as the archetypical enforcer, kneebreaker, collector, you know, the dude named "Lefty" that nobody wants a visit from.
Brawler sounds about right, maybe with a couple of levels of Slayer (Bounty Hunter) if you want to throw in Dirty Tricks, pick up a few more class skills, and a Slayer Talent (e.g. Trapfinding).
Real Quick Example:
Human Brawler 2 / Slayer (Bounty Hunter) 2 / Brawler +
Feats:
Human: Intimidating Prowess
L1: Enforcer
Brawler 1: Improved Unarmed Strike
Brawler 2: Dirty Fighting
L3: Improved Dirty Trick
w/ Greater Dirty Trick and Dirty Trick Master as they become available.
Since you have Intimidate as a class skill already, the Memorable trait is useful for Intimidate checks in and out of combat. Bruising Intellect might still be worthwhile depending on how that character's INT and CHA turn out, and if it can help flesh out the character a bit. e.g. "Sal might look like a bulldog, but there's more going on behind that mug than meets the eye. He can size anyone up and figure out exactly how to scare the sense right out of 'em."