My son, who has been watching horror movies since he was able to crawl, has taken a shine to the Predator series as of late. After seeing several action figures at our LGS on Free RPG Day, he has decided to model his next character after one. Since he knows there are different styles, he has taken to more of the original movie, but he said he is okay being more spear focused.
Looking at classes, I think Ranger (Sword Devil) may be the best bet. I am completely stymied on race, though. I'm figuring it'll have to be something I build.
Thoughts or advice on the matter? If this should be in Conversions instead, feel free to flag.
If you want to play up the invisibility angle, a good option could be the Unchained Rogue with the Eldritch Scoundrel archetype. This archetype gives the rogue access to spellcasting, as well as the ability to convert spell slots into ki in order to use ninja talents. This means you can use a 1st level spell slot to activate vanishing trick and become invisible at will. This works better than the Ninja since you also get access to all kinds of other spells that can really round out your character. It does trade off a lot of sneak attack progression, so you may want to look at the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat to improve it. If you want to focus more on the martial aspect rather than invisibility, a Ranger or Slayer would work very well.
As for race, there's nothing exactly like a predator. There are a few races in Pathfinder (Lashunta and Kasatha come to mind) that are supposed to come from other planets, but they don't have the look or feel of predators.
Predator is a big tough race not given to much in the way of social graces when interacting with prey. Orcs or hobgoblins from space with a different cosmetic appearance.
Would he be happy if his mini was a predator and you just renamed the race on his character sheet?
For race, Tiefling probably comes closest to the flavor you want. Especially if it's something really weird like Qlippoth-Spawn, although Kyton-Spawn could be a fine runner-up in that department. Ganzi (effectively Protean-Spawn) might be another possibility, but I don't know enough about them. For class, what everybody else said above, or consider an Occult class or Occult archetype of some other class, so that you can do wierd stuff without people being able to see or hear your spellcasting, so that even if they know you did it because the spell effects lead back to you, it really weirds them out.
You might want to look at the Stygian Slayer archetype. The Slayer really seems like it'd make a great "predator", and the archetype grants it an invisibility SLA.
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You need a shoulder-mounted wand of magic missiles.
Is there a trident and whip combat style feat?
Maybe a kenku using mimicry?
Is there a way for slayers to get ki and ninja secrets?
dndwiki.com has a 3.5 version of the predator race (Yautja)
I can't get the link to work, but you can go there and check it out for yourself if you like. I did a quick yahoo search for dnd 3.5 predator race and it took me straight to the link. It's a little overpowered compared to standard pathfinder races, but can easily be adjusted to fit.
I hadn't even considered the ES Rogue. I know he has been a bit iffy about the idea of spellcasters in general (this will only be his second character, after playing a Feral Gnasher in WBG!) Stygian Slayer could work pretty well too, so I'll bounce those ideas off of him.
For the most part, I was going to build the shoulder cannon and invisibility more into his armor than his race or class. Almost make it like a 3.5 Legacy Item that evolves with him, that sort of thing. When I get home from work today, I'll bounce the ideas around for him and see what he wants to do, since him being happy is the main goal.
Is there a half-illithid race or template that gives "mouth tentacles?"
^I don't know of one right now, but I'd be surprised if Starfinder doesn't eventually come out with one, as long as they can figure out how to make it different enough that the Wizards of the Coast lawyers don't come after them . . . .
Thanks again for all the ideas. HE has decided Slayer is his best option. Being more dependant on actual spells doesn't appeal to him, and I think trying to monitor Burn would be a little out of his league right now (he is only 9, and the aforementioned "second character" paradigm.)
He is also OK with the shoulder turret and more invisibility than the Stygian Slayer bonus being tied to his armor. So everyone wins there. Now we still need to decide if he wants to go more spear or claw.
Spear AND claw! Longspear for reach, claw for when closing into non-reach melee. Claw, or gauntlet, or spiked gauntlet, whatever he likes best. :-D
Is there a half-illithid race or template that gives "mouth tentacles?"
The Corrupted version of Merisiel seems to fit that description.
The Corrupted version of Merisiel seems to fit that description.
Woah! Where did that come from?
The Corrupted version of Merisiel seems to fit that description.Woah! Where did that come from?
Horror Adventures, I think.
^Oh, yeah, I forgot about that image . . . just realized that those daggers seem kind of useless on her . . . .
The Corrupted version of Merisiel seems to fit that description.Woah! Where did that come from?Horror Adventures, I think.
Yes, the corruptions are from Horror Adventures. The image is from this blog entry. A Corrupted character becoming Predator-like in both appearance and behavior might fit this concept.