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He was left, a child, on the outskirts of a village threatened by orcs in the hills, and goblins in the woods. If it wasn't either of them, there were bandits; runaways from a recent war that left the land too ravaged to make a living from. The citizens of the town saw the brand on his palm, knew it to be an omen of darkness, yet took him in nonetheless. Assigned to an herbalist and her husband, the boy was raised with an emphasis on good merits, and that a hard living makes a man; that was until the oustiders came.
Witch-hunters of a sort caught rumors that a cursed one lived in the village, caught wind that the cursed one was taken in by an apothecary, and the cursed one needed to be ended. Everyone saw it coming when the hunters marched into the shop, rose crossbows at the shopkeepers, and ended them.
The boy watched as his parents' bodies hit the floor with a thud, watched blood pool out of their throats, and looked down at his palm. A simple prayer was all it took, and a demon rose out of the floorboards, and killed the hunters, too.
It was done in a flash. There were no cries, no tears. The boy rose, called for the village militia, and things took a left turn. The village no longer wanted him. His association with them had caused harm to what little peace remained, and they would not grant him protection, anymore.
Speaking out for himself, the boy had enough mind to persuade the people to let him keep his home. He was taught the basics of herbalism, and knew how to heal people to a certain extent. This was enough to sway them, and as such, they granted him asylum, but nothing more. If he was to live alone, he would survive alone.
With no one to turn to, and obviously he had to find a means of fending for himself, the boy took it upon himself to call to his mark, once more. The darkness that be granted him a companion, and that companion has assisted him in survival. The creature has even told him about his origin, that he, a half-elf, was the result of a "farm" of sorts, and that a force in the mountains were responsible.
Since the village's decree, Greston, the cursed son of a dead apothecary, has used unholy arts and skills from his upbringing to sustain himself. He plans, one day, to go into those mountains, and end the ones responsible for his curse.
I was thinking this would be a Half-drow demonic apostle, but after doing some looking around, I found that the archetype might not be that great. May I have some assistance in creating a character that fits the above?
20 pt. buy
Core races
3 Traits
The only requirement is the demonic-mark-on-the-hand drawback.
Battle Theme: I'm thinking somewhere in between an alchemist and a cleric. If you guys can think of something that fits better, by all means, I'm open to it.
Character backstory is that he summons outsiders. therefore suitable classes are:
Bard
Cleric
Oracle
Sorcerer
Summoner
Witch
Wizard
An interesting option would be a Pact Wizard, which gains a familiar that is attempting to tempt your soul over to their cause. Of course, this assumes you want to play an arcane spellcaster, but mechanically they're a strong contender for a summoning build that isn't a straight Summoner.
Shamans summon animals from the Summon Nature's Ally list, not outsiders from the Summon Monster list. Their shtick is more the barbarian witch doctor than the dilettante diabolist.
One more possibility is an occultist with a conjuration implement. Maybe a bowl fell to the ground before the 'demon' (which might have been a fiendish dog) came out of the floor, or perhaps a fiendish eagle flew out of the lantern.
Summoning starts off well if you have Augment Summoning from the start (which is easiest for a human), and if you have more than a 1 round/level duration at first level. Also nice would be a standard action rather than 1 full round required to summon something. An occultist, an arcanist with the occultist archetype and a summoner fit all three of those criteria. The other classes JDLPF named can get some of those but not all, at least at first level. If you're not starting at first level that will be less of a problem of course.
If you go with the human occultist then you might start with Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14+2=16, Wis 12, Cha 7. He's tough from his upbringing and smart, but not good at dealing with people at all. The first feats are Spell Focus (conjuration) & Augment Summoning. He has to have a conjuration implement and could also have a transmutation implement - besides the resonant powers (Casting Focus & Physical Enhancement) & the base powers (Servitor & Legacy Weapon) he gets one more focus power. Sudden Speed or Size Alteration would be useful. Appropriate starting spells for Greston might be Barbed Chains and Lead Blades.
Actually, how about a cleric with the eldritch heritage feat?
Eldritch Heritage is 3rd level min'm - is that the level you're starting at? A herald caller cleric gets augment summoning for free at 4th level which makes summoning a lot easier.
There aren't a lot of 1st level sorcerer bloodline powers which are especially useful and appropriate to Greston IMO. The Ghoul bloodline claws if that is the specific nature of his curse could be useful occasionally. Remember you don't get the bloodline arcana via Eldritch Heritage.
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I'll be starting at 1st level, but my goal is to have a familiar somewhere in there.
Herald caller is awesome! In this case, a reach cleric might be best. The only problem is finding a way to gain sacred summoning while having a neutral alignment. Or, if you guys can think of a pathfinder deity with malignant intent which I could choose CG or LG with, we could still factor in the SS feat.
A CN or LN deity with malignant intent. Any great old one with a CN alignment fits (Azathoth or Bokrug, and I think there's more in some recent book), or Calistria, Besmara or maybe Erecura. If you go with a dwarf rather than a human that description fits Dranngvit perfectly.
Besmara gets the water domain which is handy for a herald caller but her concerns are quite specific and would be hard to make part of your background. Calistria is probably the easiest to fit in, it's easy to imagine her or one of her servants cursing someone for something their ancestor did.
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A CN or LN deity with malignant intent. Any great old one with a CN alignment fits (Azathoth or Bokrug, and I think there's more in some recent book), or Calistria, Besmara or maybe Erecura. If you go with a dwarf rather than a human that description fits Dranngvit perfectly.
Besmara gets the water domain which is handy for a herald caller but her concerns are quite specific and would be hard to make part of your background. Calistria is probably the easiest to fit in, it's easy to imagine her or one of her servants cursing someone for something their ancestor did.
Wait, Calistra is a god who would curse her own follower for something the follower's ancestor did?
Calistria is a CN god with antipaladins:
My life is my path and none shall sway me from it.
I devote myself to the pursuit of my passions.
I take what I desire, by trick or force. If others resent my actions they may attempt to take vengeance against me.
All slights against me will be repaid tenfold.
I am the instrument of my own justice. If I am wronged, I will take vengeance with my own hands.
"Calistria is not only vengeful, but vindictive when she has been wronged by another; she will take her time returning such disfavor, maneuvering in order to attain the best position from which to enact her retribution."
What about Summon Guardian Spirit to represent his first demon
A cleric's means of summoning as a standard action is Sacred Summons and it requires that the summoned creature's alignment subtypes exactly match your aura. A cleric of Calistria (or any other CN deity) can use SS on any summons with the Chaotic subtype but not the Good or Evil subtypes. To summon demons as a standard action requires that you radiate an aura of evil.
(Greater) Infernal Healing might do it for a few rounds. I can't think of any other means.
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We could simply say my character's deity responded with a miracle. In essence, they'd make my character think they're more benevolent than they are, and there was an intervention of sorts.
Are there other forms of standard action battlefield control for a reach cleric? Also, I'll be running with a balanced team of arcane, skill monkey, and front line. I'm aiming for a divine pc.
Burst of Radiance is a 2nd level spell which blinds the enemy (10' burst) for 1d4 rounds. Command and its variants delay an enemy for a round or two, as can Barbed Chains. You can use fear - Vision of Hell followed by any other fear effect (Doom, Aura of Doom, maybe Barbed Chains) works pretty well when you have the time to cast 2 spells. Hallucinogenic Smoke can cause nausea, toppling spell + spiritual weapon/ally can knock enemies prone, wall spells start at level 4 too.
& yes, backstories are better if not limited to the abilities of a first level PC in many cases.
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Burst of Radiance is a 2nd level spell which blinds the enemy (10' burst) for 1d4 rounds. Command and its variants delay an enemy for a round or two, as can Barbed Chains. You can use fear - Vision of Hell followed by any other fear effect (Doom, Aura of Doom, maybe Barbed Chains) works pretty well when you have the time to cast 2 spells. Hallucinogenic Smoke can cause nausea, toppling spell + spiritual weapon/ally can knock enemies prone, wall spells start at level 4 too.
& yes, backstories are better if not limited to the abilities of a first level PC in many cases.
Haha, I figured as much. That's why I was thinking a cursed half-elf with roots in alchemy might be a better theme. He might study his demonic mark as a means of furthering himself, so...I'll talk with the group, but it seems this might be an arcane character, which is fine by me.
Hmmm...what about a transmutation wizard focused on demonic enhancements?
Is that possible?
Note: pact wizard is not allowed, sadly.
Note-note: Blood Specialist Arcanist! <<<<< what about that?
That oracle's got all the demon theme you could want, sure. It's never going to be great at summoning but calling/binding on the other hand...
Wrecker is the curse most connected with the Abyss, but there's plenty of others which might feel right, starting with haunted.
There's not much needed. You get the planar binding spells from your mystery, you need to pick up magic circle vs evil and dimensional anchor as well, as an oracle you'll already have the charisma needed to have a good shot at cutting a good deal with the creatures called (but get the Tap Inner Beauty spell anyway.) It's something you can't do until 10th level - after that you might get the Augment Calling feat.
The build for a reach cleric/oracle goes Combat Reflexes at level 1, maybe a couple more combat feats, then a switch over to the feats which help a caster. If you'll go for Augment Calling you'll need spell focus (conjuration) so you might as well pick up augment summoning too, even if you can't summon as a standard action.
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Shamans summon animals from the Summon Nature's Ally list, not outsiders from the Summon Monster list. Their shtick is more the barbarian witch doctor than the dilettante diabolist.
The shtick is whatever you can do within the mechanics, period.
Shaman is viable. You just have "little demons" you summoned behind the hexes and revelations, and talk about them as such. You act like a dilettante. You summon nature's ally, but you figure out a RP reason behind the mechanics.
Fluff it any dang way you please.
Is reach Oracle good for it, or should I stick with a melee Oracle, and pump my charisma to 18 from 16?
An Outer Rifts oracle isn't made to be a melee type. Their mystery spells aside from vermin shape 1 are aimed at being a caster, and their revelations include none specifically for melee and only a couple which a melee type would even want (dread resilience and wings of terror).
IMO that means a reach oracle. The definition of this I understand is a character who starts off doing melee, likely with a longspear, then switches over to casting spells primarily at the mid-levels - just so we're on the same page here.
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Yep yep.
I'm thinking
Str 14+2
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 14
My dm wants us to use background skills, so I'd imagine my starting skills would be something like
craft (alchemy)
Survival
perception
knowledge (planes)
Spellcraft
Not sure on the last one.
Ideally, I'd like to keep my stats 10 or above, but I can understand if I need to sacrifice somewhere.
Also, traits should be able to make up for the lack of intelligence. I'll be taking the demon marked hand drawback for a third trait.
This character is reminding me a little of the Dresden Files, haha.
Edit: If there was an intelligence full caster that I could use a reach build on, this would be so much easier.
A twilight sage arcanist wouldn't be impossible as a reach build. The arcane barrier makes up for the lack of armor for the first few levels, and a few other exploits could improve your melee ability.
Various kinds of psychic could do such a build too. They have no special ability with summoning, but nor does an outer rifts oracle.
Assuming you still want the oracle - the other background skill might be handle animal if Greston did a lot of farm work. Starting with a trained dog or something might be useful. If you're going to be more of a caster later on 14 cha is probably too low. Even 15 would at least ensure that by the time you get 3rd level spells you have a bonus spell of that level.
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All 3 physical stats plus int and cha is too much to have high on 20-point buy. Dropping str from consideration makes sense. A good finessable reach weapon for taking attacks of opportunity is an elven branched spear - let's make this a half-elf with proficiency via ancestral arms.
Str 10, Dex 14+2=16, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 14
Feats and exploits might look like this:
Half-elf: EWP (elven branched spear)
1: Weapon finesse
1E: Arcane barrier - w/twilight sage bonus
3: Dirty fighting
3E: Dimensional slide
5: Improved trip
5E: Potent magic
7: Improved familiar
7E: Familiar
9: Extra exploit (metamagic knowledge (persistent spell))
9E: Consume magic items - you should be able to afford this now
11: Quicken spell
(Twilight transfer in place of the L11 exploit)
13: Spell penetration
13E: Greater metamagic knowledge
15: Spell perfection
15E: Redirect spell
Dirty fighting/improved trip could be switched for combat reflexes/bodyguard easily enough if tripping doesn't appeal. Dimensional slide could be switched for school development (conjuration (teleportation): dimensional step) if a tiny range swift action teleport seems better than a short range move action teleport. Bigger changes would require thinking about what else they might affect.
Making this as a character who can do serious damage at low levels would require a few more changes. Not that it's impossible.
I do enjoy making characters, but it's great to know my suggestions have been useful as well. Have fun!
At high levels, yes. CMD scales fast and immunities from flying etc. become common. At low levels, especially when your attack bonus is a lot better than your damage they're just fine.
In the event you've got a lot more reach - say from casting long arm and using an elven branched spear vs. someone with the standard medium 5' reach - you may be able to avoid damage entirely. Trip them as they approach/charge, then next round if they take a move action to stand they can't reach you and attack in the same round, and if they don't stand up the only movement they can take is a crawl which can't reach you from 15' away. Standing provokes an AoO which you can use to damage them, and you can try to trip them again when your action comes around.
Obviously the above doesn't work if you miss the first trip check. It's not perfect immunity. It is useful however IMO.
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What is your personal opinion of the above character? If you could exnay on something while still retaining the character's identity, what would you choose?
My dm gave me the thought that maybe I'm trying too much with this character, and that I should tone down or remove one of the elements. The story is still adjustable, by the way.
If I was going to cut something it'd be the familiar. Useful as they are, Greston could be better at one of his specialties with another feat and exploit devoted to it.
It's not necessary though. He's going to be competent at magic, and good enough at fighting at first to be useful. A few characters back I played a gnome sorcerer who had absolutely no ability in melee (and wasn't amazing at blasting) and while she was a useful and valued member of the party it was frustrating to play her sometimes. You won't have the same problem.
If you take a look at my aliases here you'll see Torsten, a wood elementalist wizard, and while he's taken a slightly different path to Greston's (an arcanist has more stats required but also effectively has more feats, and Torsten's got a 25-point buy) I've avoided being without melee ability here too.
Fluff and crunch sounds painful!