Starting new Iron Gods campaign - 3 people - build advice please


Advice


Hi folks,

So as the title says, I will be joining a new Iron Gods campaign as 1 of 3 players after the GM bought the recent Humble Bundle. I have read through the Players Guide and have never been a part of a campaign like it so am after some advice to reduce the turbulence of starting up. Spoiler free wherever possible.

So quick bit of info on our GMs houserules (mostly because we are 3 people):
We get 30 point buy
Max HP at each level.
2 traits allowed - 1 has to be from the Players Guide.
Average Wealth for a level 1 character.

So, heres the build so far. Please feel free to critique.

Race: Half-Orc
Alt-Racials: Sacred Tattoo, Skilled, City Raised and Shaman's Apprentice
Traits: Fate's Favoured and Local Ties (Kn:Eng)
Class: Druid (Goliath Druid Archetype)
Nature Bond: Companion (Velociraptor)
Feat: Not sure - either Improved Initiative or Toughness (Got Endurance too from Alt-Racial)
Str: 18 (+2 went here)
Dex: 14
Con: 16
Int: 12
Wis: 14
Cha: 8
Use Shillelagh to smash stuff until I no longer need it.

So, given we are only 3 people I wanted to both add bodies, and fulfil more than one role.
I have put together a Goliath Druid that I think could work. Not only can I get a cool pet (Velociraptor I'm thinking), but when I Shapeshift later, I should still be able to use anything funky that I pick up (being that I will still be in humanoid form)
The second player is either going to be an Inquisitor of Brigh with Artifice/Knowledge, or a Mysterious Stranger (Gunslinger)/Oath of Vengeance Paladin.
The third player is undecided.

Reasons for some of my choices:
I wanted to add a pet to the battle field - a Velociraptor. And one that can come anywhere with me, as his max size will be medium (I can always use Enlarge Person on it if I need to) plus -- get a motorcycle and be awesome!
Half-Orc for the +2 and the survivability that comes with the saves.
Lots of Alt-Racials - my shapeshifts will have Darkvision. I wont need an Orc Weapon when I use Sillelagh. I can sleep in Medium (or Heavy if I get HAP) without incident. Also get more skill ranks to help with the reduced party size. And Kn:Local is always handy.

Things I'm unsure about:
Should I change my stats to be 20,14,14,10,14,8. Do I need the added skill rank and added survivability? is 20 str necessary?
Should I VMC Barbarian or Cleric (Rage or Domain for extra smashy?) or will I be too feat starved?
Will this build actually be any good in the Iron Gods setting given I can't really work with 'iron'?
Are my feat choices alright?

Things I probably wont do:
Go the whole Intimidate/Cornugon Smash route. Not sure I have enough in the build to make that happen and still have enough to make the rest of the build work.

Any direction you guy can point me in will be very helpful. Even if that means entirely different build/class suggestions ;-)


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Iron Gods sounds very tech-heavy...a.k.a. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Are you sure you want to work with Druid? Still solid class and build...Between and the gunslinger that's heavy DPS and you have some healing/support. It kind of rides on the third player. You will probably want some kind of skill monkey/arcane. I'd almost say Bard...you probably should look into who's going to cover the rogue role. APs are usually designed for the core 4 with 15 point buys...unless the GM tweaks you will be well above the bar with 3, 30 point buys, and max hp.

Sovereign Court

I looked through the maps of the books to confirm my suspicions, and although you won't be constantly squeezing, consider that this AP spends a loooot of time in structures sized for medium humanoids. Goliath Druid is so-so in it. You'll want to think carefully about how you work indoors, and how not to block the rest of the party's lines of sight/fire.

On the other hand, you really need some heavy DPS to crack some enemies, and goliath druids with 2H weapons do that pretty well. But do yourself a favor and don't make a druid that refuses to use tech, because you'll be screwing yourself out of a lot of the loot. Also, take a look at the front cover of book 2.

I'll say this AP is actually pretty fine for paladins. Not everyone will be evil, but those bosses weren't born with a heart full of neutrality. Just make sure that he buys an adamantine weapon to handle non-evil things. (Oh, and a paladin could also do fine at heavy DPS. In any case, emphasize big hits over a death of a thousand cuts.)

Having someone in the party that can smooth-talk is good in this AP. Goliath Druids do get Bluff and Diplomacy as class skills (although weirdly not Intimidate, and annoyingly not Sense Motive). Especially Diplomacy can be handy to make friends and allies.

---

By the way, this AP absolutely doesn't feel like it was written for 15 pt buy. But 30pts is a LOT. Expect some shakeups as the GM eventually figures out the right difficulty to pitch to you guys :)


In my opinion you could probably afford to be slightly less smash focused given there is only three of you and the paladin/gunslinger is a thing, a full Goliath Druid smash focused put your team at a lot of DPS but not much else.


I have a druid in Iron Gods, being large sized has not been a problem at all. There have been instances that huge size has been a problem, but not that often surprisingly. My druid has spurned all tech loot and aside from implants I have not missed them. Useful tech loot has been the veemods, hypoguns, grenades, grenade launchers, missile launchers, chainsaw and implants. Almost all other stuff we have sold. Even the guns, as we don't have a gunslinger which is a bit shame. Honestly, I think the tech items are overpriced, you often get the same effect with magic items for cheaper.

I can recommend the chainsaw most heartily to your druid. Be sure to take improved critical and critical focus and enjoy lots and lots of damage.

I hope your third player brings some arcane magic to the table.


Chromantic Durgon <3 wrote:
In my opinion you could probably afford to be slightly less smash focused given there is only three of you and the paladin/gunslinger is a thing, a full Goliath Druid smash focused put your team at a lot of DPS but not much else.

I generally agree. I think you might want to consider making more of an investment in WIS to ensure your casting is on point (probably swapping CON and WIS), as you may end up being the primary divine caster and responsible for the majority of condition removal, in addition to any other casting that could be required for combat or utility (inquisitors don't fill this role quite as well, nor would a multi-classed paladin, given the delayed access to mercies and spells).

With regards to your questions about ability score spread and VMC, I think I'd stick with a more balanced spread over starting with STR 20, especially in a smaller party where balance is more important. I'd also skip VMC Barbarian (for much the same reasons as above, essentially), but VMC Cleric could be interesting both for the extra versatility for healing (via spontaneous casting and some channelling, albeit limited), as well as the potential for a cool domain ability.

Any thoughts on what domain you'd choose if you did that? I'm guessing maybe Growth for the swift-action Enlarge, and thematic resonance? If you go in that direction, you may want to consider the merits of a reach-oriented build with a longspear, and picking up Combat Reflexes for extra AOOs (a trick which also works well when you shapeshift, and can be another way to try to offset the action economy challenges of a smaller party).


So I've just stumbled across this post in looking for some advice - I'm the player who was undecided on inquisitor or gunslinger/paladin.

I've actually decided to pick a dwarf inquisitor of brigh with the artifice domain and will dip a level or two in gunslinger (I'm hoping magical lineage and the dwarf's fcb will compensate).

We've managed to recruit another player so we're dropping down to a 25 point buy, Craglansun is sticking with his character and we're going to be joined with a nanite sorcerer and a grenadier alchemist.


Android nanite sorcerer would so cool for this campaigng, too bad the androids -2 to charisma kills it :(
Tattooed nanite sorcerer whose familiar is a Figment familiar that he calls forth from his Cyberart tattoo...

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