Dieing hard


Advice


I am the guy in the group that always dies. I don't mind, I like building characters. Some of the deaths are my fault. The last one was not, the guy on watch missed the gouls sneaking up on us till they were in charging range. I got paralized, then cou de graced. We only have one session left until we switch DMs and thus campainges. Rather than try to fill the ranged roll that I have been taking, I am maximizing my raw offence within the stats I rolled. I am ignoring defense almost entirely. The character need not survive, only destroy as much as possbile in his way while he lives.

Stats rolled are:14 14 13 12 12 12

bloodrager:

Ditholithis Odre Andris
Human bloodrager (primalist) 9 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 15, 84)
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +13
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 119 (9d10+45)
Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +4; +2 bonus vs. spells cast by self or an ally
Defensive Abilities blood sanctuary, improved uncanny dodge; DR 1/—
--------------------
Offense
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Speed 40 ft.
Melee +1 furious impact greatsword +15/+10 (3d6+8/19-20)
Special Attacks blood casting, bloodrage (23 rounds/day), claws
Bloodrager (Primalist) Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +11)
2nd (2/day)—ablative barrier[UC], glitterdust (DC 14), mirror image, resist energy
1st (3/day)—blade lash[ACG], long arm[ACG], mage armor, ray of enfeeblement (DC 13), shield, wave shield[ACG]
Bloodline Abyssal
--------------------
Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 15
Base Atk +9; CMB +14 (+15 bull rush); CMD 25
Feats Arcane Strike, Blooded Arcane Strike[ACG], Combat Reflexes, Eschew Materials, Power Attack, Reckless Rage[ACG], Toughness, Vital Strike
Traits bloodthirsty, dangerously curious
Skills Acrobatics +13 (+17 to jump), Climb +11, Intimidate +14, Perception +13, Spellcraft +7, Swim +11, Use Magic Device +15
Languages Common, Giant
SQ demonic bulk, fast movement, rage powers (powerful blow +3, reckless abandon[APG])
Combat Gear potion of fly, runestone of power (1st)[ACG], runestone of power (1st)[ACG], wand of cure light wounds; Other Gear +1 furious impact greatsword, belt of giant strength +2, headband of alluring charisma +2, ioun torch ioun stone[APG], talisman of beneficial winds, lesser[OA], 25 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
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Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Blood Casting (Su) Cast bloodrager spells while in bloodrage.
Blood Sanctuary +2 (Su) +2 bonus to save vs. spells cast by self or an ally.
Blooded Arcane Strike While bloodraging, Arcane Strike is always in effect and multiplies with Vital Strike.
Bloodrage (23 rounds/day) (Su) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Combat Reflexes (2 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Damage Reduction (1/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Demonic Bulk (Su) When entering bloodrage, can choose to increase size by one category (as enlarge person).
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >=13) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 13+.
Magic Claws (Su) 2 Magic Claw attacks deal 1d8 damage.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Powerful Blow +3 (1/rage) (Ex) One attack per rage deals extra damage.
Reckless Abandon (+/-3) (Ex) Trade AC penalty for to hit bonus while raging.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.

Buffed Bloodrager:

Ditholithis Odre Andris
Human bloodrager (primalist) 9 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 15, 84)
CN Large humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +13
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 8, touch 4, flat-footed 8 (+4 armor, -1 size, -5 untyped penalty)
hp 137 (9d10+63)
Fort +11, Ref +3, Will +6; +2 bonus vs. spells cast by self or an ally
Defensive Abilities blood sanctuary, improved uncanny dodge; DR 1/—
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40 ft.
Melee +3 furious impact greatsword +18 (8d6+29/19-20) or
2 claws +10 (4d6+10)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks blood casting, bloodrage (23 rounds/day), claws
Bloodrager (Primalist) Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +11)
2nd (2/day)—ablative barrier[UC], glitterdust (DC 14), mirror image, resist energy
1st (3/day)—blade lash[ACG], long arm[ACG], mage armor, ray of enfeeblement (DC 13), shield, wave shield[ACG]
Bloodline Abyssal
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 26, Dex 10, Con 20, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 15
Base Atk +9; CMB +17 (+18 bull rush); CMD 23
Feats Arcane Strike, Blooded Arcane Strike[ACG], Combat Reflexes, Eschew Materials, Power Attack, Reckless Rage[ACG], Toughness, Vital Strike
Traits bloodthirsty, dangerously curious
Skills Acrobatics +12 (+16 to jump), Climb +14, Intimidate +14, Perception +13, Spellcraft +7, Swim +14, Use Magic Device +15
Languages Common, Giant
SQ demonic bulk, fast movement, rage powers (powerful blow +3, reckless abandon[APG])
Combat Gear potion of fly, runestone of power (1st)[ACG], runestone of power (1st)[ACG], wand of cure light wounds; Other Gear +3 furious impact greatsword, belt of giant strength +2, headband of alluring charisma +2, ioun torch ioun stone[APG], talisman of beneficial winds, lesser[OA], 25 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Blood Casting (Su) Cast bloodrager spells while in bloodrage.
Blood Sanctuary +2 (Su) +2 bonus to save vs. spells cast by self or an ally.
Blooded Arcane Strike While bloodraging, Arcane Strike is always in effect and multiplies with Vital Strike.
Bloodrage (23 rounds/day) (Su) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Combat Reflexes (1 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Damage Reduction (1/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Demonic Bulk (Su) When entering bloodrage, can choose to increase size by one category (as enlarge person).
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >=13) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 13+.
Magic Claws (Su) 2 Magic Claw attacks deal 1d8 damage.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Powerful Blow +3 (1/rage) (Ex) One attack per rage deals extra damage.
Reckless Abandon (+/-3) (Ex) Trade AC penalty for to hit bonus while raging.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.

Can I change anything to get more bang out of him.

Grand Lodge

If you truly don't care, Vicious over Impact?


I'd do Arcane bloodline if you were after more survivability as instant haste, displacement, blur, etc is really powerful, but Abyssal is pretty much your best option for pure damage.

For rage powers, I'd recommend fitting in the beast totem line for pounce, but if you're at the end of the campaign then you won't be reaching that, so it's not as important. I'd recommend picking up Riving Strike since you're going down the Arcane Strike line as well. It's less important for you, but it'll help your caster allies.

Impact and Furious are the big enchants you needed on your weapon, so you got that settled.

Overall, seems pretty solid to me. Greatswords 2d6 + Demonic Bulk 3d6 + Impact 4d6 and vital strike you'll be hitting stuff for 4d6, which should feel pretty good.

EDIT: Miscalculated numbers


I have great sword 2d6, impact 3d6, elarged 4d6, 8d6 when vital striking with all of that.


SuperUberGeek wrote:
I have great sword 2d6, impact 3d6, elarged 4d6, 8d6 when vital striking with all of that.

I edited it but apparently I'm dumb and forgot to actually edit the total, anyway yea you are correct, 8d6 which should be quite devastating. Honestly, I kinda wanna make this character now.


I hope you took note of the buffed AC. Or even the unbuffed AC. But yeah, even with mediocre stats, a lot of raw offence by sacrificing everything else. Even ok mobility.


And I was just looking at it, apparently herolab does not add the extra damage for blooded arcane strike. So using vital strike during a rage takes it up to 8d6+31 or 8d6+34 once a rage with powerful blow.


Feh, AC isn't worth all that much anyways.

Have you considered a Magus VMC? Flamboyant Arcana for Opportune Parry can help you with defense and Spellstrike + Vital Strike is a hilarious opener to a combat.

I had a build for this somewhere...

Liberty's Edge

Johnnycat93 wrote:
...and Spellstrike + Vital Strike is a hilarious opener to a combat.

I'm going to have to assume you mean Spellstrike or Vital strike are hilarious openers to combat, because you definitely can't combine the two. Unless you mean using spells with multiple touch attacks like chill touch or frostbite, which is specifically allowed by FAQ. Otherwise the attack action (a specific standard action) required for vital strike isn't compatible with the standard action casting a spell, or the full-round action of spell combat.


Deighton Thrane wrote:
Johnnycat93 wrote:
...and Spellstrike + Vital Strike is a hilarious opener to a combat.
I'm going to have to assume you mean Spellstrike or Vital strike are hilarious openers to combat, because you definitely can't combine the two. Unless you mean using spells with multiple touch attacks like chill touch or frostbite, which is specifically allowed by FAQ. Otherwise the attack action (a specific standard action) required for vital strike isn't compatible with the standard action casting a spell, or the full-round action of spell combat.

You can hold the charge on a touch spell, silly-billy.

Cast Shocking Grasp before combat, hold the charge, deliver with Vital Strike + Spellstrike. Brownie points for a spell-storing weapon too.


Preemptive FAQ:

Quote:

Can a magus use spellstrike to cast a touch spell, move, and make a melee attack with a weapon to deliver the touch spell, all in the same round?

Yes. Other than deploying the spell with a melee weapon attack instead of a melee touch attack, the magus spellstrike ability doesn’t change the normal rules for using touch spells in combat. So, just like casting a touch spell, a magus could use spellstrike to cast a touch spell, take a move toward an enemy, then (as a free action) make a melee attack with his weapon to deliver the spell.

On a related topic, the magus touching his held weapon doesn’t count as “touching anything or anyone” when determining if he discharges the spell. A magus could even use the spellstrike ability, miss with his melee attack to deliver the spell, be disarmed by an opponent (or drop the weapon voluntarily, for whatever reason), and still be holding the charge in his hand, just like a normal spellcaster. Furthermore, the weaponless magus could pick up a weapon (even that same weapon) with that hand without automatically discharging the spell, and then attempt to use the weapon to deliver the spell. However, if the magus touches anything other than a weapon with that hand (such as retrieving a potion), that discharges the spell as normal.

Basically, the spellstrike gives the magus more options when it comes to delivering touch spells; it’s not supposed to make it more difficult for the magus to use touch spells.

Emphasis mine. You can deliver touch spells through Spellstrike outside of the "free touch".


Might be worth it long term, but short term varient magus hurts my damage.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Is there a reason you're not investing in armor at all? A chain shirt instead of casting mage armor frees up a spell slot you can use to cast a damaging or buffing spell.

Blur or displacement can be good defenses, too.

I know you're going for all out offense, but if you die in round 1, you're not doing any damage in rounds 2, 3, or 4.

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