So, I'm going to be playing into a very high-level, high-powered game with a gestalt character and possibly including Mythic stuff, with the end goal of the campaign being that our heroes are actively working to ascend to godhood.
The character I've decided to play is a half-orc gestalt Bloodrager (Celestial)/Paladin (Chosen One), whose all about the glory of battle and stuff.
Things that are set in stone about the character: Race, classes, Paladin archetype, Bloodrager bloodline. Everything else is fair game.
It's a 30 point buy. Starting level is 18. 685,000 gp starting gold. Two traits. All current Pathfinder material is allowed, including the DSP psionics and most other third-party stuff (pending DM approval, but since the scope of this game is sort of intended to be OP, there's a fair bit of leniency).
Current design thoughts; I was thinking of using Primalist to ditch the 8th and 16th level bloodline powers to pick up the Celestial Totem rage powers and Come And Get Me. I know Celestial Totem isn't mechanically all that great, but combined with the abilities of the bloodline, I'm really a fan of the thematic idea of going from half-orc warrior to blazing angel of vengeance, complete with wings and a halo, whenever I rage. The increased healing aspect of the first Celestial Totem power also plays well with Lay On Hands.
I'm not sure whether I should be using the standard big heavy 2-handed weapon, or whether to take advantage of stacking Rage+Smite and go with TWF, either with weapons or sword and board. Either way, my goal is as much about durability (through DR, AC, saves, resistances, self-healing, etc.) as it is about damage output. I want to be a badass tank.
Any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Go big weapon and take cornugon smash, hurtful, intimidating prowess instead of the TWF feats.
Take either the anternate racial trait or the race trait for the bite attack.
And think about the spirit totem line instead of celestial. Your dead ancestors coming to aid you is pretty awsome. Unless you are fighting lots of undead.
I've played natural-weapon oriented characters in a lot of other games, so I'm leaning towards weapon based combat. I'm just not sure whether I should go with sword and board to blenderize things, or a big two-handed Courageous Fortuitous Furious Holy weapon and take advantage of CAGM to smack people down.
Bloodrider is an interesting suggestion. As a half-orc, I could qualify for Beast Rider, or pick up Monstrous Mount and end up with something more interesting than a horse. Totem Beast might also be a good choice.
I also have the familiar from Chosen One, and I'm not sure how to best utilize it. It's locked into the Emissary archetype, so no Mauler. It also gets bumped up to an outsider (probably cassissian) and can change back into its original form. I'm curious if I could make it do something with Emissary's Smite, which gives it my Smite bonuses.
Also, the campaign is set to send us into the Abyss, so there are a fair number of evil outsider bad guys in my future, which makes the Celestial line more useful.
If you're allowed 3rd party stuff and you're playing a character who runs up and hits people, consider feats from DSP's Path of War. Specifically Martial Training I-VI. Yes, it's a lot of feats, but it's worth it. Look up Silver Crane or Primal Fury.
To boost your self healing, check out the Mystical Healer feat, and of course, Fey Foundling feat.
Mystical Healer would give all your healing (lay on hands, channel energy, cure spells) +4d6. +4d6+8 to yourself with Fey Foundling.
I'm tempted to take the Monstrous Mount and Monstrous Mount Mastery feats to get a Griffon mount. It's a flying mount with 5 natural attacks and Pounce, which can get even more terrifying when you add in stuff like the Ferocious Beast rage power and stuff like Heroism shared via Blood Bond.
The nice thing about going mounted is that the bloodline feats for Celestial include Mounted Combat and Ride-By attack, which helps offset the need for things like Boon Companion.
Lance is the usual go-to for mounted combat, but I'm not sure how good it is if I ever want to fight while not mounted. Would sword and board still work with mounted combat? It seems like it would combo well with a pouncing mount and Mounted Skirmisher.
Even a cheap CL1 wand of ill omen can be VERY handy in the hands of a familiar.
Yeah, Combat Reflexes and Power Attack really work well with two-handed reach weapons, and at 18th level, aren't big investments and have some pretty good benefits even if you're not using a reach weapon. If you're mounted, you pretty much control a 20 by 20 block of the battlefield; 30 by 30 with a reach weapon.
After chatting with my GM about the campaign, I've decided against mounted combat, because the kinds of places we're going to be going aren't going to be very mount friendly, and mounted combat is a massive feat investment that I might only get to use some of the time.
Now I'm not sure where to go. I've got myself a bit more wiggle room in my build, and I was considering changing up the Bloodrager side of things for Crossblooded Celestial/Draconic. Divine Grace and the fact I'll end up taking Iron Will as a bloodline feat (for lack of better options) offset the Will penalty and I get some more flexibility for interesting powers.
I was thinking of grabbing the Celestial Angelic Attacks, Celestial Resistance, trading out the 8th level power for Lesser Beast Totem and Beast Totem, trading out the 12th level Wings for Greater Beast Totem and Come And Get Me, picking up Dragon Form at 16, and using a Robe of Arcane Heritage (GM says it works with Bloodrager) to get Ascension.
The idea is to combine Pounce with Form Of The Dragon (which has 5 natural attacks) to obliterate things, while also having a respectable AC from the combination of the Form Of The Dragon natural armor bonus plus the bonus from Beast Totem (and whatever defensive spells I wanted to cast).
I'm just not quite sure how to build right for it. I want to use a manufactured weapon while not polymorphed, which probably just means a big two-hander and Power Attack. I'm not sure if it's worth investing all the feats in Dragon Style + Feral Combat Training just to be able to add some more damage to my two claw attacks when polymorphed. Ascetic Style + Dragon Style + Weapon Style Mastery could be good, but it's an obscene number of feats, even with some of the bloodline feats being relevant.
Horn of the Criosphinx is probably a good idea. Maybe I should build for Intimidate, too?
The Rageshaper archetype might be worth it, especially if I can combine it with Improved Natural Attack to get 3d6 claws.
If you are going mythic you may want to look at mythic vital strike. Normally vital strike is not that good, but mythic vital strike is beyond good. It multiplies any damage that would be multiplied by a critical hit by the multiple of the vital strike. At 18th level you qualify for greater vital strike so you can multiple your damage (including smite evil and power attack) by three. Take furious focus to ignore the penalty on your first (only attack) of the round and you will end up one taking down most things in a single hit.