So I really like the shielded gauntlet style feats for a character I'm developing and I would like some help getting it online in fairly short order.
I don't need high end DPR but the character needs to offer competent damage.
So far what I have is defense with the occasional slap from shielded gauntlet and the actual primary weapon being either a starknife or a rapier (I'm flexible as to which), dexterity should be the offensive driving force.
Mixing styles is not required, but I would like to.
Two weapon fighting is also acceptable but not required or even sought.
The paths I'm thinking are:
Offense:
Use swashbuckler. Either Inspiring Blade or Flying Blade archetypes would fit the flavor. Problems are getting enough feats.
Use Magus for offense (going black blade and kensai). The black blade would be a rapier in all likelihood and the kensai focus would be for the gauntlet. Problems include getting shield proficiency.
Some flavor of bard. Feats are the primary issue here as well.
Other styles I'm looking at:
Outslug -- Gives 10 foot steps, improves defenses even more and offers a bit of bonus damage.
Startoss Style -- offers good bonus damage and extra hits when I make ranged attacks, however gets very feat expensive.
Upsetting Shield style -- Using the gauntlet as a buckler, and using the gauntlet(buckler) as a light shield in order to get missile and ray shield. Very feat expensive, and likely to be discarded.
I really like the idea of going startoss using a starknife.
So some character history ():
Benito Leoni's parents are Jalmeray Factors. Of course they had a title and small amounts of land in several places but due to the low rank tended to be more comfortable with those without rank than those of higher rank than themselves. While well to do they were very careful to not allow themselves to develop far enough to be influential in political circles, instead being content enough to be reliable.
Benito's childhood was happy, lots of travel. He takes it as a matter of faith that this was a quiet blessing from Desna. As he got older he realized his family was more than simply traders; in addition to legitimate trade they also participated in what his father called "legitimate smuggling". This included helping get freed slaves away and transferring properties (not people) into and out of areas were such movement was frown upon. Some of this supported other parts of this, for example moving illicit artifacts into Chelaxia or out of the same helped pay for some officials to look the other way when instead it was freed slaves being moved instead. While Benito made many short term friends his longest relationship outside of his family has been with his combat instructor, Mason Viles. Mason ensured he understood how to defend himself with more common weapons in addition to swords, as there are times when a martial weapon like a sword invites more trouble than carrying it prevents. Ranged combat was a particular point of interest for Mason and he passed this passion on to Benito as well.
Benito has 6 siblings two older, his twin and three younger. When his father passed away he helped his older brother keep the family business established and moving forward. During this time he had help from a small mercenary unit the family had hired. While always loyal the mercenary leader was always quick to point out additional and unexpected costs actions by the family or his unit could cause. This troubleshooting helped save the Leoni's from a few costly mistakes and instilled a sense of caution and attention to detail that has served Benito well.
Realized that if he is from Ilsurian there is a trait (regional Recluse) for light shield proficiency which would help with taking swashbuckler.
Yeah I thought really hard on doing something similar but I was really intrigued by the fact that shielded gauntlet leaves your off hand free which means (in theory) it should work really well with any class features (or feats) that require that (such as fencing or slashing grace).
I am considering varisian free-style fighter to allow me to switch up my feats to meet the situation at hand, which might be the best way to cover all the things I want at any given time.
Inspired blade means I can hit everything quickly, and am less MAD but removes my ranged abilities.
Alternatively for the character background the Far Strike Monk makes a lot of sense too. I could hit star toss style much faster, however shielded gauntlet style is worthless to him.
So I'm looking at the following:
Varisian Free Style Fighter
Inspired Blade Swashbuckler
Feats are:
Weapon Finesse(rapier)-bonus
Weapon Focus(rapier)-bonus
Fencing Grace -human bonus
Weapon Focus(spiked gauntlet)- first
Shielded Gauntlet style - third
Shielded gauntlet style - bonus 4th level
Shielded gauntlet style - Shielded gauntlet master
Background has to change to account for taking regional recluse as a trait to get light shield proficiency, but that is fairly minor.
Far Strike Monk 2/ Fighter 5+/ Sentinel
Point Blank Shot -Human
Snatch Arrow -First level
Quick Draw -bonus
Unarmed strike -bonus
Deflect Arrows -bonus
Precise Shot - bonus(2nd level)
3rd level -weapon Focus(starknife)
Star Toss Style -bonus fighter
Star toss comet -bonus fighter
Bump for the weekend crew. Maybe I missed something or someone has something else to offer.
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WSM is a Weapon Mastery Feat, so note that you will need levels of fighter (Weapon Master does it in three) or the Martial Focus feat to qualify for it.Was not aware of Weapon Style Mastery, thanks!Did I miss when styles can be combined? I thought that you could only have one active.The Master of Many Styles archetype was always able to have multiple styles active and now the Weapon Style Mastery feat allows two at once.
Weapon Mastery requires weapon training, not fighter levels. You can get that with fighter levels, but you can also use sohei monk, arsenal chaplain warpriest, or the magus archetpye that grants it as well.
One of the things I like most about Shielded Gauntlet Style is the extra AoO that can also be a disarm or steal that doesn't provoke. It seems like it would work well with classes that have a lot of convenient ways to get AoOs. To that end, something like a CAGM Barbarian (Urban Barbarian is legit for Dex builds, or just run Unchained) could work (I like the visual of taunting someone to hit you, then punching them in the face for it.) Or perhaps a Hunter taking advantage of stuff like Paired Opportunists and Broken Wing Gambit. The teamwork thing could also work with an Eldritch Guardian fighter teamed up with a Mauler familiar.
Also, because the Gauntlet enhancement bonus would also get added to AC, consider classes with the ability to temporarily enhance their weapons. A Paladin or Warpriest could make it work.
You can get really cheesy and just dual wield spiked gauntlets, loading up one with straight enhancements and the other with stuff like Defending to stack up your AC even higher. Punching everything to death with metal fists is pretty badass, and let's you get some fun monklike flavor on something like a barbarian (Furious fist adding to AC would be great). Not quite what you were looking for, but a fun usage of the feat line nonetheless.
