Utility / Support classes that can do damage?


Advice


Hello again! Sorry for all these questions I keep asking, I'm just realy curious about everything.. I am finding Pathfinder to be realy fun, And I'm liking my Cleric so far as he can fight, And support the party with buffs and heals!

And so I started thinking, What other classes can both do damage, And have utility or support to help out the party in diferent ways in and out of combat?


bard is a big one.
Medium can with it's shared seance but less spells.
various archetypes can get bardic performance.

basically most 3/4 bab 6th level casters, for those you basically just decide if you're going sharing route and buffing others but being less good yourself, or the selfish route where you worry about yourself but become really good.


As CP said, most 3/4 BAB 6th lvl caster classes can be effective in combat and provide the utility/support to which your post alludes.

Inquisitors are one of my favorites, though their support role is more in debuffing the enemy rather than buffing their allies. I currently have a lvl 10 Inquisitor that can throw out a -8 to hit debuff combination in one round against a single opponent, which is kinda fun...

The Exchange

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I would mention the Shaman here.

His Spirits and Hexes make him very versatile and compared to a Witch he can survive an Inn-Fight.

He can be a healer with Life Spirit or a decent blaster with Flame Spirit.
Even better with Fluid Magic ore the Arcane spells from Lore...

Buff or debuff with Hexes.
And so on....

But a lot of Divine Spellcasters are very good in this stuff.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Bearserk wrote:

I would mention the Shaman here.

His Spirits and Hexes make him very versatile and compared to a Witch he can survive an Inn-Fight.

He can be a healer with Life Spirit or a decent blaster with Flame Spirit.
Even better with Fluid Magic ore the Arcane spells from Lore...

Buff or debuff with Hexes.
And so on....

But a lot of Divine Spellcasters are very good in this stuff.

To expand on this:

Shaman have 3/4 BAB, medium armor, are 9th level divine casters, can get channeling, can poach important spells off the cleric spell list, and have access to wizard spells for blasting and control that they can cast while in armor.

EDIT: Also, they get a familiar that, depending on their spirit, can get a nice buff, like fast healing, which can make Mauler familiars more attractive. As well as hexes which offer powerful and versatile buffs/debuffs.

Grand Lodge

Skald is great support and is more oriented towards dealing damage yourself.


It's going to be a matter of tradeoffs. And remember if your teammates do more damage because of your buffs, that extra damage is YOUR damage.


Just about any full caster can do utility and support; not all can usefully fight personally, though aside from some witches all should be able to do damage via spells. Most 6-level casters can do utility and support, and all can usefully fight (though not all can be the best) if built and played competently.

The Exchange

Alchemist.... esp. with Infusion Discovery.

able to hand out shield potions.... wow... and so much more.

And Bombs! too!

The Exchange

Every class that can support can also do damage.

Sovereign Court

Totemic (tiger) skald. By level 7 you can cast haste, activate raging song(choosing lesser fiend totem to give everyone a gore natural attack), and second round use pounce on someone to attack them with bitex2, gore, claw, claw, rake, rake.

Or just to be a large tiger all the time (6 hours, but take the druid vestment for another wild shape per day).


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The Shaman is particularly notable for the Battle Spirit's Enemies' Bane ability, which is similar to the Inquisitor's Bane.

While it's more complicated to do well, builds based on Eldritch Knight or possibly Dragon Disciple can be quite strong at combat while also using strong spells like Confusion fairly well. They work similarly to something like a Cleric or Bard, but picking the right base classes, abilities and spells is important to make it work well, instead of be a mediocre jumble of stuff.


My GM recomended the Skald, But there dont seem to be many guides on the Skald, Unlike most other classes I'v looked at.. Just looking at guides to see what is good and important for the class.

Grand Lodge

Yeah, there's not a good updated guide. Maybe one day.

To give a quick rundown:
Skalds builds are more dependent on group composition than Bards. So figure out what builds everyone else is playing and adjust. Urban Skald and Spell Warrior Skald are both good options if you've got an archery/Dex heavy group or lots of casters.

If you don't need Urban or Spell Warrior, then consider Battle Scion, Red Tongue, Fated Champion, or Totem Warrior.

Many people go Half Orc and try to use Amplified Rage in some form or another. Taking a level of Bloodrager with a bloodline familiar is pretty common.

You're better off going for two handed weapons +Power Attack than trying Two Weapon Fighting or some sort of Archery (presumably with Spell Warrior.)

Definitely plan for Skald's Vigor and Greater Skald's Vigor. Greater Skald's Vigor is a powerful tool for keeping a party up.

Make sure you plan out your Rage Powers, that's what's going to give your Skald the most flavor. I've gone Strength Surge, Savage Dirty Trick, Unexpected Strike, and Flesh Wound. Lesser Celestial Totem, Guarded Life, Greater Guarded Life, Flesh Wound could make for a very different build that (along with Greater Skald's Vigor) will make your party crazy resilient. Lesser Spirit Totem is a lot of fun at early levels, but tapers off later. Beast Totem to give everyone pounce is a classic.


The default skald isn't really bad at archery. They just have to get an adaptive longbow asap.


I've always favored the Alchemist.

Brew your friends all the potions and infusions they require.

Mutagen if you're feeling up for a brawl, or Toss bombs at the problems you'd rather not get up close to.

After taking 2-3 different elemental bombs, bypassing ER and DR should be a piece of cake, since you've got a bomb for everything. Even a bomb for healing if you want.

And for out of combat, Alchemists get tons of sweet, sweet skill ranks.


My Half-Orc Skald started with a single level of Hunter, took Boon Companion and Beast Rider. After getting to level 9 Skald I will go back to Hunter for the rest of my build. That will only put his Animal Companion 3 levels behind but it becomes Large at the right time. He rides a Triceratops going with a Power Attack, Toughness, Vital Strike Combo.

His Rage Powers focus on Superstition, Witch Hunter and Eater of Magic. He compliments Eater of Magic with a Banner of Ancient Kings (which stacks very nicely with his Raging Song) and spells like Saving Finale to allow for extra saving throws for the party.

At 9th level he gets Amplified Rage and shares it with his Animal Companion via a Horsemaster's Saddle. With Combat Expertise he attacks anyone that comes near with his Transformative Longspear (/Lance that the Banner is attached to) and while mounted he also benefits from his Mithril Arrow Catching and Deflecting Buckler. It couples well with his Arrowmaster's Bracers to keep himself and his mount safe.

He plays a lot like a Reach Cleric who hands out in combat buffs and a fair amount of precombat buffs. Its a bit better with the Animal Companion.


Hello! just poking in to post again, Been reading all the posts and many nice ideas and I started reading a bunch more on a bunch of classes and.. Dang, Oracle just seems fun. The "Curse" part of the Oracle just seems like a great way to add more flavor to the character ^_^


There are a huge number of things you can do with Clerics and Oracles to make them pretty dangerous with combat, casting or both. Besides the usual Cleric buffing, there are lots of ways to gain access to a wide range of arcane spells on both classes. One of the most interesting Oracle options is the Ancient Elven Lorekeeper Archetype, which can be taken with Elves, Half-Elves or Humans with Racial Heritage; it lets you pick your Oracle bonus spells straight from the Wizard list, which is absurdly good. You can also use the Kindred Raised Half Elf alternate racial thing to gain +2STR and +2CHA on a Half-Elf, which is damn nice for an Oracle as well.

One Oracle I've been thinking of trying is a Half-Elven Warsighted Ancient Lorekeeper of the Shadow Mystery, since Shadow Mystery also grants a bunch of shadow-themed arcane spells that you can cross with being a master of Illusion magic:

Zodiac Warrior
Warsighted Ancient Lorekeeper of Shadow
Kindred Raised Half Elf: 15/17STR, 12DEX, 14CON, 10INT, 9WIS, 15/17CHA
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Lineage: Divine Favor

1. *Warsighted* [Power Attack] / Martial Weapon Proficiency: Nodachi
2.
3. *Revelation: Pierce the Shadows* / Spell Focus: Illusion
4. {+1CHA}
5. Extra Revelation: *Dark Secrets*
6.
7. Quicken Spell / [Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Nodachi]
8. {+1STR}
9. Greater Spell Focus: Illusion
10.
11. Extra Revelation: Wings of Darkness / [Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Nodachi, Improved Critical: Nodachi]

Lorekeeper Bonus Spells: Prestidigitation, Dazzling Blade, Vanish, Heroism, Wandering Star Motes

Dark Secrets Bonus Spells: Shadow Evocation, Shadow Conjuration, Shadow Enchantment, Shadowform, Dancing Darkness

With Quickened Divine Favor, by level 8 you can take one round to cast both Divine Favor and Shadowform and activate Warsighted, becoming a very dangerous and tough-to-harm combatant. Heroism can be kept on all the time, and Shadow Enchantment can be used to cast Blade Tutor's Spirit for a considerable duration with a rod.

For attack spells, Dazzling Blade is a swift-action/free-action blind, which is just ruthless. Shadow Conjuration can cast Glitterdust as a level 4 spell to blind whole packs of enemies. Wandering Star Motes moves from target to target with daze. You can even throw shadowy Fireballs or Battering Blasts with Shadow Evocation.

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