Hello forum folks, looking for some advice, or maybe some help with a build. Making a character for an up coming game. The party consists of a Aasimar fighter, Tiefling swashbuckler, and two others. One is the face of the party, an elven Oracle providing buffs and heals. The player of the Oracle is treating the character like an Aes Sedai from wheel of time series. Ive decided to make a Warder/Guardian of said Oracle. Without any arcane casters I was thinking I would create a Kensai Magus. Is it possible to play a Magus and still be a body guard type build? Id be playing a Aasimar with the vampirism corruption.
Any help would be great. I realize magus isn't the best idea for body guarding, but for flavor it fits well in the dragon reborn type build.
Hey, Rylden:
Yes! It is very possible! I did it with my Android Kensai Magus in the Iron Gods Adventure Path.
Pick up the feat Arcane Strike. Then, combine it with the Gloves of Arcane Striking and the Helpful trait. These three synergize really well when you aid another PC to increase their AC. You get to add your Arcane Strike bonus when you aid another to increase their AC (due to the gloves); the Helpful trait bumps the aid another's base bonus from a +2 to a +3. The best part is that it scales with your Arcane Strike bonus so it gets better as you level.
Is that kinda what you were looking for? I hope that was of some help!
Cheers, Mate!
(EDIT: Some of the syntax was bothering me :3)
Pretty well on point, yes! I'll be spending the majority of my time next to his character so these are definitely great. Is straight Magus the answer for this, or is there a multiclass dip i should consider. I also thought about maybe using the vmc cavalier for an order to help in this but I'm unsure.
Benevolent armour enchant would help this too.
+1
Also, I went straight Kensai Magus for my bodyguard-esque build. The reason for sticking with just the Magus is for 1) the spell progression (you're already having to battle diminished spellcasting with the Kensai archetype and spells are vital to the Magus) and 2) staying on track to attain those really cool Kensai abilities (like Iaijutsu).
However, that's just my 2cp. :)
Sounds good to me, I play magus pretty regularly so I'm familiar with the play style, just never this type of build. The suggestions are great. Only problem I see is an armor enchant for a Kensai.
I was thinking of going with flamboyant arcana, Black Blade for the free enchanted weapon. Seems likely a dex to damage build is best for this.
IIRC the Black Blade archetype stacks with the Kensai archetype, so that would definitely be fun and interesting.
I put the Benevolent enchant on my Bracers of Armor I think (since, like you mentioned, Kensai can't wear armor)... Sheesh, it's been awhile since I've touched my character sheet. I've been stuck behind the screen D: I went the tired way of just upping Dex and Int as well. I know it's heavy on the cheese, but meh - I loved my android :)
If you're going Dex anyway, if you are a Halfling, you get access to a superior version of the Helpful trait, although on the downside, you don't get an Intelligence bonus.
Just coz no one's mentioned it specifically yet: BODYGUARD (couldn't tell if the OP was referring to this or just the idea of being a bodyguard. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious).
CWheezy is right, you don't specifically need these feats to play a bodyguard, but they help. Also having these kind of acts that your character can perform can help you get into character.
I have a character concept like this, I ended up going Str based Hex-crafter. Basically i figured between the feats that have been mentioned there was more than enough to be super helpful, so you can build your character in other ways to be more interesting and still manage this role.
WAND WIELDER lets me do some amazing combat-maneuvers (bull-rush/reposition etc) with just a wand of true-strike.
I'm interested to see what other fun things people come up with.
Never considered the wand wielder direction, but have done the true strike bull rush. Having a wand, rather then dumping my spells per day seems a better plan. My GM doesn't really hand out wands all to often so I'll have to figure that out myself. Maybe crafting wands will have to be an option
Never considered the wand wielder direction, but have done the true strike bull rush. Having a wand, rather then dumping my spells per day seems a better plan. My GM doesn't really hand out wands all to often so I'll have to figure that out myself. Maybe crafting wands will have to be an option
Yeah I'm a huge fan of wand wielder. The guides don't rate it super highly (coz your familiar should be using wands on you apparently) but there are some amazing combinations: True-strike & Vanish being probably the most obvious ...
Actually I just noticed that VANISH is a touch range spell. You can stand next to the person you're protecting and turn them invisible every round (a wand of vanish will only have a 1 round duration).Also to the whole BODYGUARD feat thing, THIS JUST HAPPENED (which makes me sad)
EDIT: One other advantage of wand wielder is that wands don't provoke AoO's, so no need to cast defensively. Just something to consider.
Does Wand Wielder mean I don't need a free hand to be doing spell combat, as long as the spell is coming from a wand? Im slightly confused on it, may be the early hour, or coming off night shifts.
Does Wand Wielder mean I don't need a free hand to be doing spell combat, as long as the spell is coming from a wand? Im slightly confused on it, may be the early hour, or coming off night shifts.
There's a large contingent of the forums who think Wand Wielder doesn't work, since using a wand takes up your off-hand & you need a free hand to use spell-combat.
Paizo has so far (to my knowledge) ignored their requests for an errata or a FAQ.What I take from this is that Paizo thinks their premise is so stupid it doesn't warrant a response (Paizo has never said that, that's just my opinion)
If you want a more detailed response just ask and I'll give you one.
IMO the free hand is necessary to cast the spell with for spell combat - with wand wielder that would mean that you need to have the wand in that hand.
BTW, outside the Pathfinder Society games wands can be made with more than the minimum caster level, which would make casting vanish on your oracle less costly in terms of actions.
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Does Wand Wielder mean I don't need a free hand to be doing spell combat, as long as the spell is coming from a wand? Im slightly confused on it, may be the early hour, or coming off night shifts.
Yes, you hold your weapon in one hand, the wand in the other.
The main issue with wand wielder is that you cannot cast other spells while holding the wand (because your hands are full), so it cuts down on your versatility. If you want to cast the same spell each round, it's great; if you don't, then it's not so much. Although having a tail (Vanara/Tiefling) alleviates this.
If you are going with wand wielder a Spring Loaded Wrist Sheath is a great item to have.
You can't sheath the wand as a free action, but if you really need to cast a different spell you can drop the wand as a free action & pick it up again after the fight.
Hmm don't forget combat reflexes. With bodyguard you could add ac to almost all the attacks. Low levels you can easily add 4 to ac for 4 or 5 attacks and that is no gear
So with the advice on Magus and not much else, looks like I'll be going straight Magus with either the Kensai or Hexcrafter archetypes and blade bound for sure. Would VMC cavalier be worth it, taking Order of the Staff, or Order of the Dragon? Are there any feats or says to get Will saves higher, no spells, other then improved iron will and auspicious tattoo? With a corruption I can't afford to not take them, and I had considered a dip into Mesmerist for the tower of ego skill, and the stare for the negative to so saves. I had considered paladin but one failure and thr class is worthless due to the alignment shift.
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Bladebound and hexcrafter no longer stack due to the FAQ update regarding what "modifying a class feature" means. This now includes something as benign as adding a feat, skill, or spell to a list of what is available.
Obviously it's up to the GM, but I just thought I'd point that out. It probably only matters for PFS anymore, or GMs that don't like magi.
For the record, I loved the bladebound hexcrafter concept and I certainly will allow it in my games. I really only cared about flight hex as a player, but there are plenty of options the hexcrafter brings to the table that I see as useful for bladebound.
But does divine defiance boost against corruptions?
As a hexcrafter you could pick up the Soothsayer and Fortune hexes - if corruptions are something that tend to affect you overnight this gives you a reroll on the save, effectively. I don't know the exact mechanics of corruption though.
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So with the advice on Magus and not much else, looks like I'll be going straight Magus with either the Kensai or Hexcrafter archetypes and blade bound for sure.
I love the hexcrafter, I think it's my favourite class/archetype in the entire game. Having said that I think Kensai fits your character concept better. Totally up to you.
A lot of the advice for boosting your aid another (gloves of arcane striking etc) could work equally well on a bard or similar class, and they do get more toys to play with that help their allies. It really depends HOW you want to help your allies. Hell just killing the enemies before they kill your friends is all you really need to do.
Would VMC cavalier be worth it
From what I remember the cavalier bonus to aid another doesn't stack with the HELPFUL trait (or the HALFLING VERSION).
Both the cavalier bonus & the trait bonus change the base number rather than adding to it, so you have to choose one or the other. The Cavalier doesn't catch up to the helpful halfling trait till level 8 & doesn't overtake it till level 14, so I'm more of a fan of spending a trait than VMC & losing feats (or changing your class). If you think being adopted is too cheezy (or doesn't fit your character concept) then the cavalier becomes a bit more appealing.THIS GUIDE might give you some fun ideas.
You can also have a tail that holds stuff. That's actually the greatest power of the prehensile tail of tieflings; it holds stuff so you can have a free hand.
Good advice.
This is another reason I love hexcrafter. Prehensile hair does the same thing.
Also after the RECENT RULING prehensile hair giving you reach makes this even better (and flight lets you sit above your allies so they don't grant cover & block your AoO's)