Greetings, servitors of the great Asmodeus, I mean fine community members. A local gaming store had a PFS scenario open up, and I was curious about trying it out. Being scrap for time in building the character on top of my responsibilities as a Chemistry Grad Student, I was hoping for some help/advice on character creation for PFS. I heard the titan mauler finally got errata'd to the point where oversized weapons worked, but i did not hear if that affected society play. If the titan mauler does not hold water (or large sized weapons) for PFS, i figured a rageshaper bloodrager might do the trick.
The scenario is supposedly lvls 5-9 (Orders from the gates is what was listed, please no spoilers). I was thinking half-orc would fit either build well, but human is fine if the extra feat is desparately needed.
Thanks a ton, and happy gaming!
- Earl of the Malebolge
What, thematically, are you trying to accomplish with the character? Hitting things with big weapons, or with natural attacks?
I would prefer big weapons, but i wasn't sure if PFS rules covered large sized weapons and their larger equivalents in terms of buying items. The natural attacks build was more if Titan Mauler didn't work out.
The penalty for wielding an oversized two-handed weapon on a Titan Mauler is pretty brutal - it's a -5 to attack rolls when you get it at 3, and even by level 9 it's still a -3. So you can do it, but you're paying a major penalty to go from 2d6 to 3d6.
Any character can just wield an oversized bastard sword (or great terbutje if you're feeling primal), which is a -2 to have a 2d8 weapon.
If you want to exploit using an oversized weapon, then the obvious choice is using Vital Strike and Furious Finish while being immune to fatigue through Oracle or something else.
Okay, so the penalties are larger than i remember when I first read the titan mauler. Now if I was to go Rageshaper, and I go Toothy half-orc dragon bloodline, that would give me a bite and two claws, correct? Factor in Improved Natural Attack and this seem like a decent build?
If you wanted to work the oversized weapon angle, you could be an Oracle (or a multiclass Oracle/Barbarian) with the Wood Mystery, and wield an oversized great terbutje. Oracle can grab some militaristic archetype options like Warsighted or Spirit Guide with a Battle Spirit, and the Wood Mystery can grant a nice scaling competence bonus to attack rolls with wooden weapons, which combined with Divine Favor and Fate's Favored makes for a very strong offense with a giant 2d8 aztec-sword.
I really like the Oracle/Barbarian "raging battle-mystic with a giant obsidian-toothed sword-club" flavor, but maybe that's just me.
If you really want to wield oversized weapons, the Titan Fighter fighter archetype has an ability that's much more straightforward, though it's limited to two-handed weapons (so no one-handing Large bastard swords or whatever). The archetype could make for an interesting multiclass with Titan Mauler, since the fighter gives the better ability to wield larger weapons and the barbarian has abilities to reduce the penalties. Also, the Effortless Lace magic item reduces the penalties for outsized weapons by 2, which should stack with the class reductions. It's relatively cheap, too, albeit vulnerable to sunder.
If you wanted to work the oversized weapon angle, you could be an Oracle (or a multiclass Oracle/Barbarian) with the Wood Mystery, and wield an oversized great terbutje. Oracle can grab some militaristic archetype options like Warsighted or Spirit Guide with a Battle Spirit, and the Wood Mystery can grant a nice scaling competence bonus to attack rolls with wooden weapons, which combined with Divine Favor and Fate's Favored makes for a very strong offense with a giant 2d8 aztec-sword.
I really like the Oracle/Barbarian "raging battle-mystic with a giant obsidian-toothed sword-club" flavor, but maybe that's just me.
I will definitely look into this. Great idea BadBird!
SOooooo I'm surprised you haven't been told this already.
In PFS you don't make a new character at a level higher than 1.
So to play in the level 5-9 scenario for PFS you'll need to use a pregen, one of the premade characters for PFS.
Now the advice you're getting is fine for building up a plan for your new level 1 character, but you wont be using it for this game.