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I have a lvl 5 bodyguard that will soon be lvl 6. He was going to be a Phalanx Soldier all the way, but recent feats are now better or equal to many of the later class features. So I'm looking for advice for what classes to take from 6 to 11.
Mason, the Wall of Kortos
Lvl 5 Phalanx Soldier.
Str 18,
Dex 12
Con 19
Int 7
Wis 12
Cha 5
Gear: Fullplate, Tower Shield, Glaive-guisarme.
Feats:
Combat Reflexes
Bodyguard
In Harms Way
Wpn Focus: Glaive-guisarme
Shield Focus
Dodge
Now I was thinking about turning him into a Stalwart Defender, but that is a lot of pre-req feats for an immobile class feature (PFS fights in my experience tend to be mobile things).
What do you think I should do: stay in fighter for the feats? Use the slayer to grab a few fun gimmicks? Find a barbarian archetype that compliments heavy armor?
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You could move into a dodge, mobility, combat patrol build then go barbarian (armoured hulk) and get Quick Reflexes (rage power).
Steelblood bloodrager. Wands, eventually spells, rage, movement.
-blackblooded is cool with your build. You get a small buff when you jump in the way of an attack. Then an extra 5ft reach.
I played a multi class paladin phalanx soldier for wrath of the righteous he was a he was mostly abtwo weapon / shield bash build but I did have combat reflexes and the feat bodyguard and got good use out of it also had antagonize but not sure if that is PFS legal
So, still trying to figure out what to do with this character. Lucky (?) I'm running a lot of games so I haven't had to decided what to do with him, just been adding credit to him.
Two new front line options are on the table right now: Tortured Crusader which is a wisdom based paladin that is bad at group buffs, or straight warpriest.
The Tortured Crusader give him a modified smite and eventual paladin spells at full BAB. He will not get good use out of lay on hands, he has a tower shield in one hand and a glaive in the other (weapon cord?), but this archetype can trade lay on hands uses for extra smites.
Warpriest with extra traits (fates favored, magical knack) gives him a +3 divine favor right out the gates. Here again, he is not well suited for casting other than with fervor. The reduced hit dice hurts the character image of the unkillable bodyguard a little.
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Tortured crusader seems good I wonder if second change requires a free hand?
Living monolith? Full BAB, bigger size and longer reach, good action economy and a bit more damage
Ulfen Guard would be perfect be he is a Dwarf. I don't know a way around this.
Have you considered the new darling war priest the Arsenal Chaplain eventually weapon training + gloves of duelling.
Have you considered something with a familiar (protector archetype) boon companion. Increase your HP by 50%
Or
Wild Child Brawler + Boon Companion. Martial flexibility will make you more adaptable. You can have a bodyguard archetype animal companion to cover more allies.
Living Monolith was my first choice, but decided there was no way to retrain enough skill points to qualify this late in the game...
The first time I read the Arsenal Chaplain I miss read the abilities and discounted it. It is a solid pick.
I really like the thematics of the wild child mix, heavily armored warrior and his loyal auroch / mega fauna.
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I have a bodyguard using fighter as well, but he's only 4th level. My main issue has been dealing enough damage, so I'm planning a retrain out of Armor Master and back to vanilla fighter to get Weapon Training next level.
I have Saving Shield instead of In Harm's Way for now, which lets me throw a shield bonus out for an ally that doesn't have one. I got hit with the Benevolent armor errata, though, which lowered the AC bonus I can grant a little bit.
Is the 12 Dex working out? It would seem like you'd burn through your 2 AoOs pretty quickly using Bodyguard. Either from multiple natural attack enemies, multiple enemies, or iteratives.
As far as levels to take go, Bloodrager or Barbarian make sense. Untouchable Rager would give you spell resistance instead of spells, though you can't turn it off while raging, which could be an issue. But Fast Movement would give you a 30 speed in full plate, rage is obviously a boost to damage, DR to help soak up some extra damage, Uncanny Dodge to avoid taking sneak attack damage if you're surprised, and if you take Abyssal, you'll be large when you rage starting at 9th level (Bloodrager 4th). You'd want to make sure to boost dex by then so you still have some use from Combat Reflexes. Or go Abberant for reach instead of enlarge person. If you own Familiar Folio, you can swap the claws at Bloodrager 1 for a Bloodline Familiar and either take Protector or Mauler, then the Boon Companion feat at 7th level. Black Blooded unfortunately doesn't work for that, I don't think. I don't believe it's on the list for Bloodline Familiars.
If you want to keep wand access, then I'd suggest vanilla Bloodrager instead of Steelblood. With your Charisma, you can't cast any spells anyway, so being able to cast in Heavy Armor doesn't help. And Steelblood trades away too many things that are useful to you.
Wild Child Brawler was a good suggestion. A more powerful companion and Martial Flexibility go a long way.
Is the 12 Dex working out? It would seem like you'd burn through your 2 AoOs pretty quickly using Bodyguard. Either from multiple natural attack enemies, multiple enemies, or iteratives.
12 Dex has worked fine for the low levels. Some hits make it through, but the point is not to stop everything, just to enable glass cannons. Might have to boost it with gear at the higher levels.