I have a player with a 5th-level catfolk archivist bard. She's very happy with the lore-based elements of the character, but would like to be able to make more of a direct contribution to combat (ie more than using bardic performance or spells to buff the rest of the party). She has the cat's claws racial trait, and Weapon Finesse, but is a little squishy (not great AC or hp), so is looking for ways to get in and out of melee occasionally and doing some damage without getting hurt too much. What's the best way of achieving this? She's considering taking some levels in rogue for sneak attack.
Her stats are as follows:
Str 10
Dex 17
Con 10
Int 16
Wis 6
Cha 14
Amulet of Mighty fists, eventually adding Agile.
+Arcane Strike
+Bard song
She can also use Bladed Dash to enter/exit/pass through melee.
To avoid damage: Mirror Image.
Take one level of Swashbuckler (Inspired Blade). Get the Arcane Strike and Fencing Grace feats ASAP--retrain Weapon Finesse into one, and take the other when you hit level 7.
I would have recommended archery, but the achivist bard traded away Inspire Courage, which boosts attack rolls and damage, for Naturalist, which boosts AC and saving throws. The two weaknesses to archery are the pair of feats required to shoot into melee and the lack of additional damage to arrows. Inspire Courage and Arcane Strike are two sources of additional damage available to bards. Besides, Naturalist requires being 30 feet from allies, so an archer would have to stand dangerously close.
Arcane Strike is still good, an extra 2 damage per hit. However, Combat Expertise would be a better feat. Combat Expertise opens up several combat maneuvers: Gang Up, Improved Disarm, Improved Reposition, Improved Steal, or Improved Trip. Trip and Disarm attempts can replace her natural claw attacks, giving her two chances a turn. Using Combat Expertise to aid AC is usually not worth the penalty to hit, but it might combine well with the Naturalist song.
The feat chain Dodge-Mobility-Spring Attack is the usual way to dart in and out of combat. Does she have Dodge already?
As Matthew Downie said, Mirror Image is great defense. Cat's Grace aids both offense and defense, given her Weapon Finesse.
I don't see any benefit to taking levels of rogue. Sneak attack is difficult to manage, except when flanking. The Dexterity bonus to damage with 3rd-level Unchained Rogue would be useful, but not as useful as more bard spells.
Agile mighty fists wouldn't hurt.
Inspired Blade Swashbuckler would make a fun dip.
Slightly more novel suggestion, grab Eldritch Heritage Arcane, take a familiar and have it take the Mauler archetype, retrain some s&#! if you want it quicker. Skill focus knowledge x sounds like something the character would enjoy anyway. Doing this you could arguably justify throwing weapon finesse away.
Ask your DM if its okay to rearrange your stats - those are just really hatd to work with no matter what you want to do - especially Con 10 is no good idea on any character. Why do you have so much int? Bards don't really need it and there are not that many necessary skills you need to take anyway. You won't be able to make a good melee because your damage will be low and your defenses even lower. Spring attack won't interact well with your claws and honestly grabbing a melee or ranged weapon will also barely help your party. In this configuration buffing should be way more efficient than anything else as offensive casting isn't that great with your low cha as well.
Maybe you should think about what the character should be able to do and then distribute your ability scores so that they support what you want to do.
They are the DM from the looks of things.
the achivist bard traded away Inspire Courage, which boosts attack rolls and damage, for Naturalist, which boosts AC and saving throws.
Naturalist also boosts attack rolls.
Why do you have so much int? Bards don't really need it and there are not that many necessary skills you need to take anyway.
An Archivist bard needs to make identify monster Knowledge checks to function; boosting intelligence is a good call, especially if you aren't human. It allows you to put points in the six relevant knowledges and still have a little left over to keep Perception maxed out and invest a little in face skills. The straight boost to Knowledge skills is useful too--you want to minimize the chance that you'll miss a 15 + CR DC check in a critical fight, and Bardic Knowledge isn't quite enough to get you there.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ah, the age old thread, Help, my character was built to suck at combat and it sucks at combat, how can I make it not suck at combat?
Ample use of heroism on self it quite helpful, +2 to attacks is always nice, and arcane strike for +2 to damage.
Getting dex to damage would obviously be the biggest boost. Rogue not so good for that I feel, it's really not offering much combat wise, especially on a lv1 dip. Like it adds 3.5 damage sometimes with 0 bab.
Using the conversion of 1 accuracy = 2 damage, taking a level of unchained barbarian adds 3 accuracy over the rogue and 2 damage, that's like 8 damage that is usually available with the extra rage feat.
the achivist bard traded away Inspire Courage, which boosts attack rolls and damage, for Naturalist, which boosts AC and saving throws.Naturalist also boosts attack rolls.
Thank you for the correction. I had not read the ability carefully enough.
That improves the achivist bard's efforts at combat. She can get a very good attack roll. Her weaknesses are defense and damage. With the right spells, she can have a good defense. Arcane Strike can provide more damage or combat maneuvers can give an alternative to damage.
A feat from Pathfinder Companion: Sargava, the Lost Colony could help with damage, because claws are light weapons and both claws are primary natural weapons.
Piranha Strike (Combat)
You make a combination of quick strikes, sacrificing accuracy for multiple, minor wounds that prove exceptionally deadly.
Prerequisites: Weapon Finesse, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: When wielding a light weapon, you can choose to take a -1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (-50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon. When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and for every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by -1 and the bonus on damage rolls increases by +2. You must choose to use this feat before the attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage. This feat cannot be used in conjunction with the Power Attack feat.