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I'm making a vishkanya non-archetype medium for Pathfinder Society (yes, I have a race boon). So Paizo only sources, PFS legal, yada, yada, yada.
From looking at the medium class and discussions here, it seems that most people focus on the champion spirit, as that's the only one really good enough to be an adventurer. To me, the entire point of the class is the flexibility of switching spirits daily, doing different things depending on who you're adventuring with each time. That makes it ideal for PFS, but not a class I'd consider using in a campaign with a stable cast of PCs. But the game rewards specialization, so trying to build for ALL the spirits just seems destined to fail. So I want to specialize a little, but I don't want to specialize too much.
So I'm picking a few spirits to focus on: Champion as my primary for front line combat, Trickster on days when I want to be a skill monkey, maybe pull out Marshall once in a while for variety, or Hierophant starting at level 6 (when it gets channeling) if I'm at a table that desperately needs a healer. I've decided not to even consider the Archmage or Guardian spirits.
Here's what I've got so far:
Str: 11 (1)
Dex: 18 (10, +2 racial)
Con: 14 (5)
Int: 12 (2)
Wis: 8 (-2 racial)
Cha: 14 (2, +2 racial)
Feats:
1: Weapon Finesse
3: Sleep Venom
Maybe TWF with kukris later
Weapons: Elven curve blade using Champion spirit to get proficiency, kukri with racial proficiency on days when I'm not channeling a Champion spirit
I know dumping wisdom is always risky, but Will is a good save for mediums, and I'll take a trait to boost it. Also, I get a +2 racial bonus to perception, which is a class skill for mediums. So I won't be anywhere near as vulnerable as most front liners who dump their wisdom, even if I'm not great.
The idea is that I'll never be the heaviest hitter, but +5 to hit for 1d10+3 with an 18-20 crit range right from level 1 should be good enough while channeling the Champion. I'm tempted to drop the dex, cha, or int in order to get the str up to 13, to qualify to take Power Attack, probably at level 5.
But the high dex, int, and cha are for the skill monkey side as a Trickster, as much as the dex is also to help with AC and Weapon Finesse, and the cha is for spellcasting. And when I'm not channeling the Champion, I'm more likely to help in combat in other ways than straight damage, such as using that Sleep Venom to stagger and maybe put enemies to sleep twice per day. Poison Tattoo should help with that. But again, that's only twice per day, and I'm only doing 1d4 damage with a kukri otherwise. The 18-20 crit range will help a little with that, but it's still pathetic damage, with no significant boost coming at higher levels.
So mechanically, my big question will be what does everyone recommend to make this PC more useful in combat when I'm not channeling a Champion, since that seems to be his big weakness.
I also have non-mechanical questions, looking for suggestions on back story and personality. I kinda picture this guy as getting possessed by a Trickster spirit and forced to become a thief, who learned to control the possession and channel other spirits. I'm still working on the details.
Actually, I noticed two traits that give +2 trait bonuses to mind affecting saving throws that might provide useful direction for a back story. One is specific to the nation of Zi Ha, home of the Samsaran, so I thought maybe my guy went to them for help in controlling the spirits possessing him. But what would a vishkanya be doing in Tian Xia? It's not a race that's normal there, though exceptions can always happen. Just need to come up with a good story for it.
Then I discovered the Fortified Drinker trait that gives the same bonus, as a religion trait tied to Cayden Cailean, but only for an hour after drinking alcohol. That one could be fun to role play, and easier to fit into vishkanya fluff. The city of Daggermark in the River Kingdoms has vishkanyas in their poisoner's guild, and Cayden is one of the main deities in that region, so a back story could be easier to come up with based on that. Also, the idea of a possessed person using alcohol to numb the spirit possessing him for greater control is amusing, so I'm leaning in that direction.
As for personality, I like the idea of changing it up based on that day's channeled spirit, but making almost all his personalities seem like jerks in various ways.
No spirit: Spineless wimp with very little willpower.
Champion: He channels a snobby elven warrior (thus the elven curve blade proficiency) who sees other races (including vishkanya) as inferior. The taboo of only using that one sword is tempting, but could screw me if I ever need to use a ranged weapon. So I think I'll stick with the taboo of having to accept any battle challenge. I also think he might be snobby enough to look down on poison use, so I may only use my vishkanya venom on days when I'm not channeling a Champion.
Trickster: Distrustful thief. This may even be the reason he left the Daggermark poisoner's guild (and/or got involved with them in the first place). Taboo: Never tells the truth. That should be fun to play. Should always choose bluff as one of his skills to boost with the spirit, while never training or using it on non-Trickster days. Other skills will probably be the dex based, rogue-ish skills (Disable Device, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, etc).
Hierophant: Holier than thou, though not sure which deity to worship. For the taboo, I love the idea of never being allowed to lie, on the same character who can't tell the truth on Trickster days.
Marshall: Arrogant field commander of some sort. Not sure of the details, or the taboo.
Now that I'm writing this out, I'm getting an odd idea based on spirits of different races. I already wanted an elven Champion spirit. Maybe the Hierophant spirit could be a dwarven priest of Torag. Then the Trickster and Marshall could be distinct races, too: Perhaps a stereotypical halfling rogue as the Trickster, and some sort of human nobility (Taldan? Chelish?) as the Marshall.
Sorry for the wall of text. Any thoughts or suggestions?
can you re-ask your mechanics questions? it's difficult to parse what you're asking. I do see the how to fight when not champion
The reason changing spirits is discouraged is your stats/feats have a hard time working between spirits.
When not in champion you're only proficient with simple weapons. So you either focus on simple weapon while in champion and miss out on using better weapons, or you don't use weapons in other forms.
trickster fights like the champion, just worse.
hieropant has some buffs spells to help it fight, but they wont be as good as the champion.
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Actually, I might not completely ignore the Guardian spirit after all. It's not one I could see using very often, but if I'm in a party with no other front liners, but plenty of damage potential (maybe lots of blasters and archers), then having a pure tank AC could be useful.
I could buy a tower shield that I'll only be proficient with as a Guardian, and use that and the spirit bonus to boost my AC, while fighting with the kukri.
As for Legendary Influence, can that be used to take different versions of the same feat for different spirits? For instance:
Champion: Spirit Focus (Champion)
Guardian: Spirit Focus (Guardian)
Trickster: Spirit Focus (Trickster)
And I'm really starting to lean towards boosting strength so I can get Power Attack. Otherwise, my damage potential is just awful. I don't mind being below average with the elven curve blade as a Champion, but 1d4 with no bonuses from a kukri is just pathetic, with no decent way to boost it when not channeling the Champion. So I'll start with 1d4+1 on the kukri and pick up Power Attack at level 5.
So feats could look like this:
1 - Weapon Finesse
3 - Sleep Venom
5 - Power Attack
7 - Legendary Influence
But that gives up on TWF with the kukris that I was considering.
power attack doesn't play nice with TWF, especially if you don't have lots of class based bonuses to attack.
And TWF doesn't play nice unless you have lots of static damage to hits, examples sneak attack, challenge, smite, FE.
Common belief on the boards is that +1 to attack rolls = 2 damage. Example deadly aim/power attack. So taking more penalties to your already penalized rolls to add damage and then same penalty for less damage on your off hand isn't seen as a good way to boost damage.
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Have you considered Str-based TWF? Where you take just enough Dex to quality for the TWF feats, but otherwise use Str as your attack and damage stat.
On my Rakshasa-spawn boon medium, I went with
Str 15, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 15 starting stats. With level boosts going to Str, then probably Dex (to get ITWF), then last Cha for heirophant casting.
Feats by level 5 are Two-Weapon Fighting, Spirit Focus Champion, and Double Slice. I fight with a quarterstaff or two daggers, depending on enemy DR.
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I already thought of multi-classing with unchained rogue. Pretty much any Weapon Finesse build should consider that. But I've already got an unchained rogue. I'm trying to do something different with this one.
I'm trying to take advantage of the versatility of the medium class, just because it's something different. I'm just having a hard time coming up with any way to be useful in combat outside of the Champion spirit and being a dedicated healer with the Hierophant (starting at level 6 when you get channeling).
I really want to try the vishkanya poison thing. I think that'll give me something unusual that can be useful to save for the boss fight in many adventures. But other than that, I'll be walking around with a kukri and not much else.
I think I like the idea of boosting my strength to 13 for a +1 damage bonus and the ability to take Power Attack. Forget the TWF. Or I could go Piranha Strike, which doesn't require the 13 strength, but that wouldn't help the elven curve blade. It's too bad that only works on light weapons, not any finessable weapon.
Other than boosting my Will saves, there's no crucial traits for this build, so I could just take the old Killer trait from APG for bonus damage on a crit, given that both of my primary weapons are 18-20 crit ranges.
Then the question becomes keen or agile when I reach the level where I can afford a +2 damage bonus on a weapon. Given that my dex will be +5 by then, heading to +6 and +7 eventually, I'm thinking keen is better than doubling the 1d4+2 damage. And do I upgrade both the elven curve blade and kukri as I level up? Or just focus on the kukri, since my non-Champion days will need the bonuses more?
I'm thinking I should probably start a different thread for the fluff/story discussion, since we're focused on mechanics here.
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I don't think that's how it works. The Sleep Venom feat is ambiguously worded, but it sounds like it's something you turn on as a swift action once, and there's no duration given, so it should pretty much stay that way forever. So it's just a single swift action in battle to lick your weapon.
The only other thread I saw here that asked that question seemed to agree with this interpretation.