Hi there. One of the new players joining our weekend sessions has been over-fascinated by one of the new villains from the first episode of the samurai jack series and wants to play an exact carbon copy of the character if possible. He is relatively new to pathfinder and we are already lvl 12, so he feels a bit overwhelmed with options at the moment. He is a old school DnD player so it's not so much problems with the mechanics (although CMB took some explaining), but with all the mechanics available.
Was wondering if someone can throw some ideas for recreating the character. Our game is at mid optimization level so being able to deal relatively successful with CR appropriate for their level is more than enough.
Anyway. For those of you unfamiliar with the character, here are the main points.
- He is a robot, so probably the android race will have to do.
- He calls himself an assassin, though besides demonstrating some mad acrobatics (mostly jumping) he doesn't seem to have any assassin traits.
- He sings all the time during combat, but it does not really induce any magical effect, so he is not necessarily a bard.
- He uses a magical flute to animate a bunch of stones into forming a stone golem or to just telekinetically pummel the main hero with them.
- He uses a dancing falchion (telekinetically wielded I guess) to attack with.
- He seems to be relatively competent in melee, but mostly in using his two-bladed kamertonish knife to sunder/shatter the daggers wielded by the main hero.
A simple Dervish of Dawn bard with dancing falchion, animate objects and the sunder feat chain should probably work decent enough, but bards can get their hands on Animate Objects at 16th level, which is a bit too far into the future having our leveling speed in mind also even with double inspire competence bonuses he might have problems sundering with the best of them due to his medium BAB.
Is there something better that can be done with the skald or occultist classes for example?
Dotting for great interest.
Bard is a fairly obvious choice. His singing certainly could be giving him a combat bonus without particularly being obvious.
The dancing falchion could be a dancing weapon, but personally I feel they are way to expensive for what they do. The easiest class based power I know of that can simulate this sort of thing is the Universalist Wizard hand of the apprentice. With some builds, a 1 level dip into wizard isn't a horrible choice, gives you access to a lot of wands etc. Unfortunately there isn't great synergy with Bards here.
I'd look into having the magical flute actually be a magic item. I'd have it be able to summon monster (II, IV, V, or VI) for an earth elemental (which one depends on the size desired) X times per day with a second function of something like pellet blast. I think you could come up with something pretty reasonable and within his budget.
I definitely wouldn't go with the sunder chain. It is pretty situational, expensive in terms of character resources and no one really wants to break all their loot anyway. I'd suggest some other flavor to represent defending from attacks using your weapon. The simplest is probably just having the defending property on you weapon, and using it to increase AC.
Another option for active defense, is the swashbuckler class with their parry abilities. An inspired blade archtype swashbuckler wouldn't be a bad parring with 1 level dip into universalist wizard. The only thing that doesn't work really well is that that archetype is focused on the Rapier. If you are willing to either re-flavor the archetype to use a different weapon or have his main weapon be a rapier (in stats at least, possibly allowing a unique look) then I think it would be a pretty viable option.
I dunno, the short explodey sword looked like a rhoka? Are there any spells or enhancements that cause explosions on hit or at least additional damage to structures? Also, it seemed like it was built to imitate a tuning fork, so there's also the possibility of sonic damage. That would make sense since it caused whatever it hit to violently shake until they exploded.
Also, how about unchained rogue? They also have Perform and Acrobatics as class skills, plus a dependency on dexterity, plus archetypes that grant them spellcasting from the wizard/sorcerer list.
I know there's a class out there that gives you the Throwing weapon enhancement- Warpriest? Magus?
remember, if you build this character- IF YOU DO NOT SPEAK LIKE SAMMY DAVIS, JR.- YOU TAKE A -5 PENALTY TO ALL YOUR STATS.
A bard can get raging rubble as a 3rd level spell, sonic thrust as a 4th - character levels 7 & 10 respectively. Also remember other spells which bards can use: Dance of a hundred cuts as a general buff, shatter if you really want some item broken, unseen servant for some other minor telekinesis.
Bards also get access to the Shatter Spell, which "can target shatter against a single solid non-magical object, regardless of composition, weighing up to 10 pounds per caster level." At level 12 that is WAY MORE than you would need to target and shatter a single weapon. So the Bard could either just cast shatter
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/shatter/
OR you could make a unique Magic Weapon/Wondrous Item that casts shatter. The Flame tongue is a good example of a Weapon that can cast a spell like ability.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/specific-magic-weapons/fl ame-tongue/
Combined with a Magic Flute that casts summon monster (for the Earth Elemental) with limitations of 'has to be used by bards' or something similar.
Finally, play as an Android.
The dancing weapon is a little harder since Bards do not get Telekinesis. Dancing weapon is the obvious solution but is very pricey as a +4 bonus.
First off remind your player that Jack is at least an epic level samurai and that Scaramouche was able to give him trouble. Next have him grab 3 levels of http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo-fight er-archetypes/archer/ . This will allow him to make sunder attempts with a bow. Next have him level up in http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/soulknife/archetypes/dre amscarred-press/soulbolt/ Have him take the Emulate ranged weapon blade skill to emulate a bow. Now he can Sunder with his mind bolt. The rest is all flavour just say that his bolts look like a dagger that he controls with a flute or his voice have him take the appropriate perform skills. Give him a ring that gives him a free http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/spells/sunderingShard s.html The spell does weak damage and sunder doesn't harm an opponent anyway. Finally let him know that destroying loot is a good way to piss off the party and that he might want to invest in UMD and get a wand of make whole.
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Patronicus Thrune wrote: First off remind your player that Jack is at least an epic level samurai and that Scaramouche was able to give him trouble. Next have him grab 3 levels of http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo-fight er-archetypes/archer/ . This will allow him to make sunder attempts with a bow. Next have him level up in http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/soulknife/archetypes/dre amscarred-press/soulbolt/ Have him take the Emulate ranged weapon blade skill to emulate a bow. Now he can Sunder with his mind bolt. The rest is all flavour just say that his bolts look like a dagger that he controls with a flute or his voice have him take the appropriate perform skills. Give him a ring that gives him a free http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/spells/sunderingShard s.html The spell does weak damage and sunder doesn't harm an opponent anyway. Finally let him know that destroying loot is a good way to piss off the party and that he might want to invest in UMD and get a wand of make whole. Frankly, if you're going to go with Third Party material I'd suggest using Spheres of Power.
Telekinesis sphere with the limited telekinesis drawback allows him to lift and manipulate stone objects (and only stone, but that appears to be how Scaramouche's powers work; given the weight of his scimitar it is likely a stone weapon) so he can bludgeon people with blocks of stone. You can even make a stone scimitar as your primary weapon and combine it with the telekinesis abilities that focus on dancing weaponry so you don't need to shell out the dough on a very pricy enchantment.
Grab the Creation sphere with limited creation to focus on Potent Alteration and the Greater Destroy ability, and you can make a sunder attempt that deals 1d6+Caster Level to objects, ignoring all hardness. The object's wielder can halve that damage with a fort save, but if the weapon is not heavily enchanted it will be broken or destroyed with one or two applications of Greater Destroy.
Class is probably sphere bard, with a casting tradition that makes use of Skilled Casting: Perform, as you do need to be playing a flute or singing to use your magic...
Admittedly, this concept does scream bard. Mechanically, though, the construct subdomain of artifice does give dancing weapon once a day starting at 8th level. An evangeslist cleric could have bard song and that domain but there are other ways.
Specifically, the reliquarian occultist gets a single domain and access to a lot of other powers. In particular, the trasnmutation implement would give swift action speed (to help jumping), flight, amnd telekinesis. Summoned creatures from conjuration implement. Instruments are usually enchantment implements but im sure your GM could adjust. And generally there are a host of spells that mimic abilities mentioned in only three schools which your player would have by level 12.
Transmutation spells of note: break, effortless armor, rusting grasp
Conjuration spells of note: unseen servant, returning weapon
Evocation spells of note: shatter, twilight knife, shout
About the only thing this wont have is mechanical singing. But that could be just something he does. He would also have a lot of other choices to make in remaining spell choice and focus powers. I think you may only need 8 levels of occultist to get the basics. You could probably take a few levels in a martial class as well to beef up his combat potential.
If he/she went with the bard route, he/she can stack Dervish of Dawn with Soundstriker, whom have the ability to destroy objects, and later on people, with sound attacks.
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