My group should be starting Hell's Vengeance soon and I'm currently considering playing an Antipaladin. Normally I go for brute force 2h greatsword wielding builds, and while I likely still will be that, I like the idea of having this character being more CHA/Touch of Corruption focused while acting as a face and holding the party together.
Mixing the Dread Vanguard and Tyrant archetypes seems to be a solid choice with the Dread Vanguard providing some great buffing capabilities, with additional Touches, and Tyrant of course since it's just a LE archetype and fits the AP better.
Beyond this I'm unsure of where to go with this. I currently do like the idea of going with Dhampir as a race, likely Moroi-born, for Touch of Corruption swift healing, and I like the idea and visual of being a noble Dhampir.
Any additional advice? Also I really like the idea of a Fiendish servant for my boon but I'm extremely hesitant since the penalties for your servant dying are pretty awful to me, and the LE choices seem quite inferior to the CE ones.
I have a really old guide on the class on the guides list.
At least it used to be, idk if it's been removed.
Do you have stats? Character ideas?
I have an idea for a VMC fighter build that has access to a Conductive weapon through Advanced Weapon Training and can have any weapon he touches scale up to +5 at 9th level.
This let's you focus on Touch of Corruption and use a two handed weapon.
Find out if your DM rules Necromatic Affinity for Touch of Corruption, it matters a lot. If you can heal yourself, do it. If you can, make sure to take the diseased cruelty so you can buff yourself with diseases to spread. Or play a Dhampir.
Consider taking the feat Demonic Obedience and looking up the different demon lords. Its great story and fluff for your character, the feat opens up as you level from 3 and beyond to offer some pretty powerful boons from your Demon Lord. Whether or not you take the prestige class for it means nothing as the main focus is the boons
Consider taking the feat Demonic Obedience and looking up the different demon lords. Its great story and fluff for your character, the feat opens up as you level from 3 and beyond to offer some pretty powerful boons from your Demon Lord. Whether or not you take the prestige class for it means nothing as the main focus is the boons
Given the AP, Demon worship seems a poor idea sadly, and there doesn't appear to be one for archdevils.
I have a really old guide on the class on the guides list.
At least it used to be, idk if it's been removed.
Do you have stats? Character ideas?
I have an idea for a VMC fighter build that has access to a Conductive weapon through Advanced Weapon Training and can have any weapon he touches scale up to +5 at 9th level.
This let's you focus on Touch of Corruption and use a two handed weapon.
Find out if your DM rules Necromatic Affinity for Touch of Corruption, it matters a lot. If you can heal yourself, do it. If you can, make sure to take the diseased cruelty so you can buff yourself with diseases to spread. Or play a Dhampir.
I've looked through yours and Bodhi's guides, and I certainly found a lot of useful information, but I feel like this more Touch focused build is lacking in both guides. Perhaps it's just less effective, but it seems it may be fun.
No stats, but right now I'm just playing around with a 20pt buy and Moroi-born Dhampir. Maybe something like:
15 STR
12 DEX
12 CON
10 INT
10 WIS
18 CHA
Conductive weapon is definitely an important thing to pick up, and I have every intention of grabbing one when possible. VMC however is something I'm pretty hesitant about, I just rarely find it worth the loss.
Also I definitely like the idea of utilizing my ability to carry diseases. Though how to effectively make use of it I am still unsure.
Haha but no really, I would focus on Intimidate, and demand what you want, reminding them of what snitches get.
Plus..nauseated touch!
Also a cruel weapon pairs well with intimidation.
Using a Conductive, and Cruel weapon with Cornugon Smash to unload massive penalties is definitely part of the idea behind this build.
There's an archetype somewhere that focuses on unarmed strikes and damage. Might be worth looking into.
There's an archetype somewhere that focuses on unarmed strikes and damage. Might be worth looking into.
Not useful, the Iron Tyrant loses Touch of Corruption.
Where are you finding these archetypes? The only one I see that isn't 3rd party on d20pfsrd is Knight of the Sepulcher.
Where are you finding these archetypes? The only one I see that isn't 3rd party on d20pfsrd is Knight of the Sepulcher.
Scroll down lower. For some reason they aren't in the archetype chart, but there are separate pages for them.
You can be chaotic evil, one of the triats is made for it, normal Antipaladin isnt banned, and chaotic evil demon worshiper doesn't have to be stupid and burn the city to the ground. The can play the long con. The iconic Antipaladin for this character worships Mazmezz and is all about the long con.
Remember, you are a team of villians and while chaotic evil does betray its allies, it will always smash good first. I'm playing this game too as a Warpriest that worships Lamashtu. But again, the demon lords were only a suggestion, the only thing stopping you is whether or not YOU want to do it. The AP doesnt discourage it.
You can be chaotic evil, one of the triats is made for it, normal Antipaladin isnt banned, and chaotic evil demon worshiper doesn't have to be stupid and burn the city to the ground. The can play the long con. The iconic Antipaladin for this character worships Mazmezz and is all about the long con.
Remember, you are a team of villians and while chaotic evil does betray its allies, it will always smash good first. I'm playing this game too as a Warpriest that worships Lamashtu. But again, the demon lords were only a suggestion, the only thing stopping you is whether or not YOU want to do it. The AP doesnt discourage it.
It's worth considering but it's just not how I'm seeing this character. I'm thinking of something like a Dhampir from a smaller noble house looking to get into the good graces of House Thrune to bolster his House.
Beacon of Evil looks really great.
I guess that a problem with Touch of Corruption as your primary offense could be that the damage is pretty low. If you rely on Aura of Cowardice to give the enemy a -4 on saves vs fear I guess the frightened cruelty might be pretty easy to succeed with though.
I wonder if Crusader's Fist is supposed to apply the effects of your Cruelty to the target. If so it plus Enforcer might be a great alternative for spreading fear quickly without blowing all of your Touch of Corruption for the day. If not then it would be pretty bogus.
Beacon of Evil looks really great.
I guess that a problem with Touch of Corruption as your primary offense could be that the damage is pretty low. If you rely on Aura of Cowardice to give the enemy a -4 on saves vs fear I guess the frightened cruelty might be pretty easy to succeed with though.
Indeed, Beacon of Evil seems pretty great, and well worth the loss of spellcasting.
As for Touch of Corruption, I'd say it's not the primary form of offense, that will likely still be a greatsword to the face, but the additional damage and debuff cruelties should help significantly.
Aura of Cowardice is another tool of the Antipaladin which I'm finding difficulty in taking advantage of, since getting a readily available "fear effect" seems rather difficult besides the Frightened cruelty.
You can be chaotic evil, one of the triats is made for it, normal Antipaladin isnt banned, and chaotic evil demon worshiper doesn't have to be stupid and burn the city to the ground. The can play the long con. The iconic Antipaladin for this character worships Mazmezz and is all about the long con.
Remember, you are a team of villians and while chaotic evil does betray its allies, it will always smash good first. I'm playing this game too as a Warpriest that worships Lamashtu. But again, the demon lords were only a suggestion, the only thing stopping you is whether or not YOU want to do it. The AP doesnt discourage it.
You should probably read a little closer. The OP intends on taking the Tyrant archetype, which makes an antipaladin lawful evil, so that he'll fit in better during the Hell's Vengeance AP. An antipaladin who is found out to be worshipping a chaotic evil deity would likely be persecuted at best and executed at worst.
So it looks like you want an unarmed strike, or spiked gauntlet build. That is, until you can get a Conductive Weapon.
Do you have your starting wealth/level?
Don't forget Channel Smite, coupling with Touch of Corruption means you can deal double damage with a single touch (costs 3 touches though) but since it's negative energy you will do oodles of damage. If the enemy happens to be good, then you also have smite. Greater Mercy (Cruelty) helps get more dice as well. If you wanted to get cute, Order of the Stars cavalier VMC will double both those numbers for 4x the dice. Gives more uses too.
Dread Vanguard is great. Most of the good paladin spells aren't avaliable to the Antipaladin, nor does it usually end up with good DCs. For antipaladins, ditching the spells is a good choice, plus the abilities of the archetype have better combat utility.
I think Fey Foundling is worded in a way that works with the Dhampir, since it refers to magical healing, not specifically cure spells or positive energy.
So it looks like you want an unarmed strike, or spiked gauntlet build. That is, until you can get a Conductive Weapon.
Do you have your starting wealth/level?
Don't forget Channel Smite, coupling with Touch of Corruption means you can deal double damage with a single touch (costs 3 touches though) but since it's negative energy you will do oodles of damage. If the enemy happens to be good, then you also have smite. Greater Mercy (Cruelty) helps get more dice as well. If you wanted to get cute, Order of the Stars cavalier VMC will double both those numbers for 4x the dice. Gives more uses too.
Dread Vanguard is great. Most of the good paladin spells aren't avaliable to the Antipaladin, nor does it usually end up with good DCs. For antipaladins, ditching the spells is a good choice, plus the abilities of the archetype have better combat utility.
I think Fey Foundling is worded in a way that works with the Dhampir, since it refers to magical healing, not specifically cure spells or positive energy.
I'm aware at pre-Conductive levels the character will mainly have to suffice for just hitting things in the face with a greatsword. At level 4 I'll start each battle off with Beacon of Evil typically and take it from there, later using Conductive to apply Sicken with Cornugon Smashes for large -4 penalties.
Level is probably 1 with max starting gold per class I'd assume, usually how it goes.
Channel Smite is appetizing but it seems far too costly, especially if it's all wasted on a miss.
As for Fey Foundling, it's tempting, especially since I'm still pretty blank on a 1st level feat at the moment.
Main things so far I'm curious about are is there a way to get Aura of Cowardice to work for me, and how, and is there a way to get Plague Bringer as well. Being able to Disease myself through a cruelty sounds pretty fun, but how can I turn that against my enemies without harming my allies?
So it looks like you want an unarmed strike, or spiked gauntlet build. That is, until you can get a Conductive Weapon.
Do you have your starting wealth/level?
Don't forget Channel Smite, coupling with Touch of Corruption means you can deal double damage with a single touch (costs 3 touches though) but since it's negative energy you will do oodles of damage. If the enemy happens to be good, then you also have smite. Greater Mercy (Cruelty) helps get more dice as well. If you wanted to get cute, Order of the Stars cavalier VMC will double both those numbers for 4x the dice. Gives more uses too.
Dread Vanguard is great. Most of the good paladin spells aren't avaliable to the Antipaladin, nor does it usually end up with good DCs. For antipaladins, ditching the spells is a good choice, plus the abilities of the archetype have better combat utility.
I think Fey Foundling is worded in a way that works with the Dhampir, since it refers to magical healing, not specifically cure spells or positive energy.
I'm aware at pre-Conductive levels the character will mainly have to suffice for just hitting things in the face with a greatsword. At level 4 I'll start each battle off with Beacon of Evil typically and take it from there, later using Conductive to apply Sicken with Cornugon Smashes for large -4 penalties.
Level is probably 1 with max starting gold per class I'd assume, usually how it goes.
Channel Smite is appetizing but it seems far too costly, especially if it's all wasted on a miss.
As for Fey Foundling, it's tempting, especially since I'm still pretty blank on a 1st level feat at the moment.
Main things so far I'm curious about are is there a way to get Aura of Cowardice to work for me, and how, and is there a way to get Plague Bringer as well. Being able to Disease myself through a cruelty sounds pretty fun, but how can I turn that against my enemies without harming my allies?
Greater Cruelty can prevent you from spreading them through your touch, otherwise you just have to be careful with what diseases you carry so you knoow how they are delivered.
Aura of cowardice is excellent for intimidate builds, and a very good way to get your DM to hate you. You might not deal a whole lot of damage, but neither can the enemy when they are running away from you.
In what way? The issue I'm seeing here is that Aura of Cowardice only works on "fear effects", and demoralizing/shaken isn't a fear effect. So how can an intimidate build make use of it? I'm missing something here.
In what way? The issue I'm seeing here is that Aura of Cowardice only works on "fear effects", and demoralizing/shaken isn't a fear effect. So how can an intimidate build make use of it? I'm missing something here.
Aura of cowardice is excellent for intimidate builds, and a very good way to get your DM to hate you. You might not deal a whole lot of damage, but neither can the enemy when they are running away from you.
Intimidate builds don't really use it, antipaladins who focus on the fear inducing cruelties however love it.
I suggest you take a look at Insinuator. Sure, it loses spells but it has a versatile smite, bonus feats, some party buffs, and self healing w/o cheesing the positive/negative energy.
The invocations seem really unfinished, and just doesn't seem as useful as Dread Vanguard. The notion of cheesing positive/negative opens up the potential for some RP aspects, so I quite like the idea beyond merely the benefits.
It is the condition that it inflicts, someone that is immune to fear couldn't be shaken by the demoralize action. Also, another trick you can use is take Mask of Virtue and Soulless Gaze to increase the fear condition (Mask of Virute is for the second tier of the feat series, you could take another but that is my favorite to combo). Combo it with cornugon smash and when you hit BAB +11 you can make them panicked in a single turn. Use enforcer as well and make them panicked for some ridiculous number of rounds with no additional save.
Mask of Virtue and Soulless Gaze are definitely on my radar for feats to pick up. I'm just unsure really how to fit them in.
Perhaps...
1 Mask of Virtue
3 Power Attack
5 Soulless Gaze
7 Cornugon Smash
9 Extra Touch of Corruption? Hurtful?
You could also worship Urgathoa and use Channeling to stack fear conditions with the feat Shatter Resolve. I posted a build (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2sg3j?Antipaladin-Fear-and-AoO-build#1), but don't know if it would work. In any case you'd need also Selective Channeling and probably Quick Channel.
Aura of Cowardice is another tool of the Antipaladin which I'm finding difficulty in taking advantage of, since getting a readily available "fear effect" seems rather difficult besides the Frightened cruelty.
Upon first learning of an evil campaign I was highly considering doing a Cleric/Unholy Vindicator of Urgathoa with liberal use of Shatter Resolve etc. I even made a thread a while back looking for aid with it, however I've settled on the Antipaladin now that the campaign has been finalized.
Aura of cruelty is for imtimidating paladins, while you smite them.
Disease I reccomend for plague bearer is ghoul fever, make your own ghoul pack for your friendly necromancer to sick on enemies, or to disrupt a community.
Upon first learning of an evil campaign I was highly considering doing a Cleric/Unholy Vindicator of Urgathoa with liberal use of Shatter Resolve etc. I even made a thread a while back looking for aid with it, however I've settled on the Antipaladin now that the campaign has been finalized.I see, but Channeling with your Antipaladin could be even better. The Dread vanguard would allow you to extend Aura of Cowardice to 30 feet at 12th level.
I'll play around with it. Urgathoa could definitely still work as a deity but it all feels so costly. Yes conductive touch costs 2, but it's a nice damage boost with a cruelty on top. A channel costs 2 also, and a quickened channel costs 3. Being able to do a large shaken/sicken channel is definitely huge, but I feel I'm gonna be starved far more than if I was a Cleric and doing this.
Settling on the channeling build pretty much sits me squarely in the debuffer role, with not much damage potential. I'm not too sure I'm willing to do that.
Disease I reccomend for plague bearer is ghoul fever, make your own ghoul pack for your friendly necromancer to sick on enemies, or to disrupt a community.
I'm unaware of the current party layout but I don't think anyone is considering a necromancer of sorts at the moment. Also Ghoul Fever is not usable through a Cruelty/Contagion, so I'd need a large supply of it for such shenanigans.
Once you have one ghoul you just, um, comsort with it to keep yourself infected. But yes you need to get a starter sample, kinda like sourdough...
Once you have one ghoul you just, um, comsort with it to keep yourself infected. But yes you need to get a starter sample, kinda like sourdough...
It's certainly a humorous prospect.
Consider taking the feat Demonic Obedience and looking up the different demon lords. Its great story and fluff for your character, the feat opens up as you level from 3 and beyond to offer some pretty powerful boons from your Demon Lord. Whether or not you take the prestige class for it means nothing as the main focus is the boonsGiven the AP, Demon worship seems a poor idea sadly, and there doesn't appear to be one for archdevils.
There are deific obediences published in APs so far for Mahathallah, Mephistopheles, and Moloch. Geryon is in the next Hell's Vengeance volume, I think.
Did some heavy consideration of that channeling build but ultimately came up with it just being too expensive to me, so here is what I currently have so far:
Dread Vanguard Tyrant Antipaladin of Asmodeus (or Urgathoa), both have a lot of appeal
Dhampir, Moroi-born (Svetocher)
16 STR
12 DEX
12 CON
14 INT
7 WIS
17 CHA
I'm not crazy about dumping WIS, even with CHA to saves, and having negative perception is gonna be hell, even worse by not being a class skill. The INT is largely due to me just really hating dealing with characters with no skill points at all, and Antipaladins certainly don't have many.
Alternate Racial Trait:
Heir to Undying Nobility
Once a day charm person and command could be extremely useful in capturing and interrogating prisoners.
Traits:
Chelish Noble
Extremely Fashionable?
Open to suggestions here. With Chelish Noble I'll likely pick up a free breastplate for armor as it just qualifies but I'm also open to ideas here as well.
Feats:
Natural Charmer
Power Attack
Mask of Virtue
Cornugon Smash
Soulless Gaze
Going the intimidate route, and Natural Charmer fits for face and RP purposes. The issue I'm seeing with Damnation feats is of course the death penalty, but also even obtaining them. I need to make a deal first, yea? Not sure how readily available it'll be in early levels.
For background I'm thinking of maybe having my father being a vampire, and raising me up to take over the House, and eventually becoming a full vampire. As a test though I've been sent to Longacre to offer our support to House Thrune to gain our minor noble family greater prestige. Or something like that.
I just realized this sounds a lot like the dhampir iconic for HV but I swear I thought this before I read that article.
By the way, are you sure that Quick Channel costs 3 and not 4? If it were 4, it would be pointless, of course. Anyway, I like the Soulless Gaze route, seems more tailored to a martial role. Unfortunately I've never played a martial charachter, so I cannot give you much advice.
You are correct, Quick Channel is 4 uses. By the time I noticed my error I could not edit my post to fix it.
I've spoken with my DM now and it seems all is fine. He's fine with the Damnation feats also though I'll need to take them later when the potential arises, and he's fine with the Dhampir as well. He apparently now really wants me to become a Hellknight for AP reasons so I'm dabbling with the notion of a 2 level dip currently though the delay of Antipaladin levels hurts a lot, and I'm not so sure how my character would feel being thrust into such a lawful organization. I see him as being LE but still willing to deal with unsavory sorts if it means obtaining valuable information or benefits.
Another small update. I'm switching from greatsword to sword and board. I'm thinking quickdraw light steel shield so I can 2h a longsword if I want to. Also dropped the Hellknight dip idea.
I can't really remember doing a sword and board character, as 2h kind of just always seems better. So any advice on making the most of this shift? I know I could go towards shield bashing and stuff but it's just way too feat intensive.
Smite can be a nice damage booster for somebody using a one-handed weapon. My sword and board PC with Paladin levels also had a Deliquescent Glove and Bane Baldric to help keep his DPR up against Neutral enemies. The shield can make your AC pretty impressive, and that might pair nicely with debuffing enemy attacks (and Smite again)
Smite can be a nice damage booster for somebody using a one-handed weapon. My sword and board PC with Paladin levels also had a Deliquescent Glove and Bane Baldric to help keep his DPR up against Neutral enemies. The shield can make your AC pretty impressive, and that might pair nicely with debuffing enemy attacks (and Smite again)
The Deliquescent Glove definitely sounds like a worthwhile investment.
The Bane Baldric can be pretty useful too. Five rounds per day might not sound like much, but if you think about full attacks it could actually go a long way.
The Bane Baldric can be pretty useful too. Five rounds per day might not sound like much, but if you think about full attacks it could actually go a long way.
I'll certainly look into picking one up, money permitting.
So I've been thinking on how to make this work with a sword and board build and here is what I've come up with as of recent.
Fighter 2/Thug Rogue 1?/Antipaladin X
Feats:
Antipaladin 1 Noble Scion of War
Antipaladin 3 Power Attack
Antipaladin 5 Weapon Focus
Fighter 1 1B Cornugon Smash
Fighter 2 2B Dazzling Display
Fighter 2 Shatter Defenses
Since I'm one handing now, it's unlikely I'll be able to deal solid damage on par with a 2h build, so Dazzling Display should help keep me useful as a debuffer, while my Beacon of Evil will provide support. If I do decide on the Thug Rogue dip then I'll be able to get sneak attack on any enemy I hit with Dazzling, or my Cornugon Smash, in addition to triggering Frightened if I roll my intimidate well enough. The issue obviously though is a total loss of 2-3 Antipaladin levels, which hurts, a lot.
I was comfortable with Natural Charmer with the 2h build, but going 1h has me feeling a bit more worried, so I've presently opted for Noble Scion. Better yet, a purchase of a Circlet of Persuasion will also give me +3 initiative thanks to it.
Is the Thug Rogue dip worth it? Or am I gimping myself too much?
I'd try to fit the Hurtful feat in there if you could. It allows you to make an attack as a Swift action after you demoralize a foe with an intimidate check, something which should trigger pretty much every round with Cornugon Smash. The extra attack could help boost your damage a little as well as give you the chance to get in a hit at full BAB with a Cruel weapon (whether you can afford the extra +1 on your primary weapon or need to put Cruel on armor spikes, an amulet, etc). Hurtful can also give you kind of a mini-Pounce when you need to use a Move action to get into melee, and two attacks at full BAB in that situation is way better than one.
Honestly I'd probably skip Dazzling Display and possibly the Fighter dip to support it since you can already debuff multiple opponents with multiple attacks if needed and a round where you use Dazzling Display is a round where you don't attack. If you really like DD then the Order of the Cockatrice Cavalier gets it as a bonus feat, can use it as a standard action, and gets a +2 to hit demoralized foes. That wouldn't be a terrible 2 level multiclass, and if you stretch it to 4 you could take Horse Master and have a full power Mount (once again boosting your expected damage and giving you another potential place to host Cruel or other enchantments)
If you don't want a Mount there are some archetypes which ditch it for various other things.
I'd try to fit the Hurtful feat in there if you could. It allows you to make an attack as a Swift action after you demoralize a foe with an intimidate check, something which should trigger pretty much every round with Cornugon Smash. The extra attack could help boost your damage a little as well as give you the chance to get in a hit at full BAB with a Cruel weapon (whether you can afford the extra +1 on your primary weapon or need to put Cruel on armor spikes, an amulet, etc). Hurtful can also give you kind of a mini-Pounce when you need to use a Move action to get into melee, and two attacks at full BAB in that situation is way better than one.
Honestly I'd probably skip Dazzling Display and possibly the Fighter dip to support it since you can already debuff multiple opponents with multiple attacks if needed and a round where you use Dazzling Display is a round where you don't attack. If you really like DD then the Order of the Cockatrice Cavalier gets it as a bonus feat, can use it as a standard action, and gets a +2 to hit demoralized foes. That wouldn't be a terrible 2 level multiclass, and if you stretch it to 4 you could take Horse Master and have a full power Mount (once again boosting your expected damage and giving you another potential place to host Cruel or other enchantments)
If you don't want a Mount there are some archetypes which ditch it for various other things.
Definitely some solid advice. Shortly after I made that post I found Violent Display, which is pushing me even further into the Thug Rogue dip, but the Cavalier dip seems a definite improvement over the Fighter dip. With Knight of the Wall archetype I can even get a free Shield Focus, and standard action Dazzling Display, which seems absolutely worth it. I don't even need to take Weapon Focus. Ghost Rider for a ghostly phantom mount would be thematic as well and thankfully has no penalties, just resummon the mount the next day if it dies.
With the above that leaves us with:
Knight of the Wall Ghost Rider Cavalier 2, Thug Rogue 1, Dread Vanguard Tyrant Antipaladin X
Antipaladin 1 Noble Scion of War
Antipaladin 2
Antipaladin 3 Power Attack
Antipaladin 4
Cavalier 1 Hurtful, B1 Shield Focus
Cavalier 2 B2 Dazzling Display
Rogue 1 Cornugon Smash or Shatter Defenses
Antipaladin 5
Antipaladin 6 Cornugon Smash or Shatter Defenses
Antipaladin 7
Antipaladin 8 Violent Display
Sadly this would push Violent Display into level 11, while the previous build had it at 9, granted the other build also does not have Hurtful.
Way I see combat currently is:
R1: Buff with Beacon of Evil
R2: DD nearby enemies making them shaken and flat-footed
R3: Attack nearest enemy with Cornugon Smash, and spending a swift action to Hurtful, or immediate action to do another DD with Violent Display.
With the Thug dip any attempt at an intimidate through DD or Cornugon has the potential to trigger frightened which should make combat interesting.
I went with an (Un)Holy Tactician and Tyrant archetype for a home campaign with the intent of guiding the other characters to excel in melee. One of the other characters and I grew up together so we are taking a couple of teamwork feats.
Charisma heavy.
Traits: Ambitious, Tactician, Chelish Noble
Drawback: Power Hungry
Feats: Lookout, Noble Scion (of War) <-- this is a great feat for an antipaladin as it gives Cha to initiative
Zatar hopes to be Golarion's Baron Gavin Tael
If you have Hurtful, you can use Dazzling Display, and still attack one of the enemies that were Demoralized.
This is very true.
I went with an (Un)Holy Tactician and Tyrant archetype for a home campaign with the intent of guiding the other characters to excel in melee. One of the other characters and I grew up together so we are taking a couple of teamwork feats.
Charisma heavy.
Traits: Ambitious, Tactician, Chelish Noble
Drawback: Power Hungry
Feats: Lookout, Noble Scion (of War) <-- this is a great feat for an antipaladin as it gives Cha to initiativeZatar hopes to be Golarion's Baron Gavin Tael
Noble Scion really is quite good.
I am putting way too much effort and energy into this character now. Just when I think I'm satisfied with a build, doubt comes in and causes me to then switch it up. I found a massive error in my earlier build also since despite Cavalier getting free DD, I don't get Weapon Focus, so I still need to burn another feat on it to get Shatter Defenses, which is just a complete pain.
Maybe I should just drop the DD angle...
Your DM may or may not care that Violent Display is intended for weretigers, weretiger-kin, and "those who associate with these creatures" (which the DM could go either way on)
Dazzling Display isn't a bad feat to have, especially triggered as a standard action and backed up by Hurtful. I might not continue on to Shatter Defenses though. It seems cool since you'd get sneak attack, but that's mostly helpful since you're level dipping into Rogue, something which will lower your BAB and stop your Anti-Paladin powers from progressing (granted the Evasion could be nice)
The no save aspect of the Thug's fear power is powerful, but stuff with no save can seem unfair sometimes, and by the time your enemy is in your Aura of Cowardice and debuffed the frightened cruelty should be pretty likely to result in longer lasting fear anyhow.
Your DM may or may not care that Violent Display is intended for weretigers, weretiger-kin, and "those who associate with these creatures" (which the DM could go either way on)
Dazzling Display isn't a bad feat to have, especially triggered as a standard action and backed up by Hurtful. I might not continue on to Shatter Defenses though. It seems cool since you'd get sneak attack, but that's mostly helpful since you're level dipping into Rogue, something which will lower your BAB and stop your Anti-Paladin powers from progressing (granted the Evasion could be nice)
The no save aspect of the Thug's fear power is powerful, but stuff with no save can seem unfair sometimes, and by the time your enemy is in your Aura of Cowardice and debuffed the frightened cruelty should be pretty likely to result in longer lasting fear anyhow.
Solid point on Violent Display, most likely he'd approve it though. So I went back at the drawing board following that post, dropping the DD focus, and here we are now:
Lore Warden Fighter 2/Antipaladin X
Antipaladin 1 Noble Scion of War
Antipaladin 2
Antipaladin 3 Power Attack
Antipaladin 4
Fighter 1 Shield Focus, Quick Draw
Fighter 2 Cornugon Smash
Antipaladin 5 Hurtful
Quick Draw seems an odd choice, but if I use a quick draw light shield, then I can always be 2handing with my weapon, which will help my damage considerably, as I can free action unequip the shield, 2h my attacks, then free action reequip the shield at no penalty.
From there I may be able to pick up those Damnation feats, or maybe go towards Furious Focus/Dreadful Carnage for lvl 11. The Fighter dips hurt as I'd rather not stunt my Antipaladin growth, but this seems worth it.
The alternative is as you say, dropping Shatter Defenses, so something like:
Knight of the Wall Ghost Rider Cavalier 2/Antipaladin X
Antipaladin 1 Noble Scion of War
Antipaladin 2
Antipaladin 3 Power Attack
Antipaladin 4
Cavalier 1 Shield Focus, Hurtful
Cavalier 2 Dazzling Display
Antipaladin 5 Cornugon Smash