Dex based builds


Advice

Grand Lodge

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Hi fellow Pathfinder

Only for curiosity and if we don't take into consideration any throwing or archery build

What are the best class or builds for a dex based for a melee damage dealer that can also take a hit or two


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Swashigator (Inspired blade swashbuckler 1 / Investigator X) is popular. Easy dex to damage, studied combat later on, buffs from alchemical extracts. Reasonably effective when mobile since it potentially gets an extra attack from parry/riposte.

Unchained rogue with either an elven curveblade, or a couple of light weapons can deal out some decent damage. It's not always the best at taking hits but the debuffs from debilitating strike can help.

A daring champion cavalier, probably dipping a level into swashbuckler to get the parry/riposte, can get their level to damage twice over between the challenge and precise strike. They don't need dex to damage due to that...

There are more exotic types like a druid 4 w/shaping focus, multiclassed with whatever class you like best to take advantage of an air elemental's dex bonus. Then there's some weird monk stuff. What sort of character are you actually interested in?


avr wrote:

Swashigator (Inspired blade swashbuckler 1 / Investigator X) is popular. Easy dex to damage, studied combat later on, buffs from alchemical extracts. Reasonably effective when mobile since it potentially gets an extra attack from parry/riposte.

Unchained rogue with either an elven curveblade, or a couple of light weapons can deal out some decent damage. It's not always the best at taking hits but the debuffs from debilitating strike can help.

A daring champion cavalier, probably dipping a level into swashbuckler to get the parry/riposte, can get their level to damage twice over between the challenge and precise strike. They don't need dex to damage due to that...

There are more exotic types like a druid 4 w/shaping focus, multiclassed with whatever class you like best to take advantage of an air elemental's dex bonus. Then there's some weird monk stuff. What sort of character are you actually interested in?

Build #1, that dip abuse!

Build #2 Daring Champion is always a lot of damage
These builds are strong! I especially like Build #1

You can also have a multiclassed Dex to damage Monk with 3 levels of UC Rogue.

Shadow Lodge

STR:07, DEX+17, CON:14, INT:12, WIS:12, CHA:12

01: barbarian(urban), Extra Rage, Weapon Finesse. 02: samurai [challenge][mount][order][resolve]. 03 ninja1 [SA+1d6], Two Weapon Fighting, 04: ninja2 [Ki][TRICK:combat:Piranha Strike]. 05: samurai2 [order ability], Extra Ki

...Rage for STR 1st level. Rage for DEX second level and hanbo trip opponents under your horse (don't forget mounted elevation bonus). The wakizashis... (drool) ...it'll take awhile, but it'll be well worth it when you pick up Agile around 5th'ish.

-- Unless this is a home game, and you can convince the GM to "unchain" the ninja. (In which case just take a 3rd level of that.)


Virtuous Bravo Paladin is great, especially with a Scaled Fist Unchained Monk dip. The loss of Mercies and Spellcasting hurts, but I prefer to think of it as an upgraded Swashbuckler rather than a downgraded Paladin.

Grand Lodge

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Swashigator extra punch addition

I love the swashigator add one level of unchained barbarian if you want to hit harder and you really only lose 2 skill points. The loss of a few extracts can be felt but the attack, damage, will boost, temp HP and movement speed (as a free action) are more than most extracts provide.

UnMonk 1 Shaman (battle spirit/speaker for the past)

I love this build of the amazing flexibility. As a dual talented human you have access to divine favor/power and heroism, rime forstbite for a huge damage boost that deduff, you can hex strike for free evil eye and misfortune.

The icing on the cake is you get bane as a swift and a revelations that give you amazing AC, multiple init rolls, take people out of time, or even become FULL BAB.

Agile maneuvers monk

Not my build but one I have witness that seemed fun to play (not the most optimal monk to play). Very hart to hit. Big bellyed monk that just hugs people until they stop fighting. Damage can be decent with normal UnMonk optimization to get many attacks.


Inspired blade 1/x means a lot of classes can do Dex builds.

I'm a fan of the Inspired blade 1/Vexing Daredevil Mesmerist x

Eldritch knight with the same dip using beast shape to turn into increasingly smaller beasts and magical beasts, Coral Capuchin being the crowning glory.

I assume something fun could be done with the same dip on an Alchemist.


Bladebound Kensai

Go Dervish Dance, invest in spells like Shield and Mirror Image.


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hexcrafter Dervish dance magus is my favorite.
3/4 caster with 3/4 melee. super action economy options, great spells and hexes when they are out.
amazing play at all levels.

life shaman of , speaker of the past + 1 monk can flurry a weapon using wisdom (cruesder's flurry + guided hand) and dex for high spells and AC.
take time to build, but will be very strong at high levels.

U-rogue 4 (thug) \ daring champion cavalier will have good saves, good skills and dex to damage with tricks using elven curve blade . very effective fear inducing character.
BAB = full -1 , and add lvl -4 + 2d6 to each attack is very handy.
can take elven blade and 2 daggers when pressed, and be off archer when needed.

dervish dancer bard with dervish dance scimitar will have X2 bard boost to hit and damage, super skills and utility and spells. a bit soft when pressed, but fun to play.

Grand Lodge

Great builds over here, I really liked the idea of Swashbuckler 1 / Investigator seems very tempting for a very good replace of the traditional Rogue, my only concern is in the damage department

The Magus is always a very good options and there are a lot of ways to build properly

I always tends to favor dexterity over strength, but the only downsize is that is very hard to find a way to match the same dpr as a full bab who invest in strength like a Barbarian or a Bloodrage

What is the highest DPR that this builds can achieve ? And for how many fights in a day


At what level, with how much time to buff, against what sort of enemy? DPR is meaningless without those conditions defined.

Once it gets rolling a swashbuckler/investigator has a lot of ways of increasing damage - buffs, studied combat, inspiration, maybe a mutagen, an extra attack via opportune parry and riposte - but putting numbers on that needs ground rules.


I prefer investigator (Lamplighter, to be exact--free inspiration to Initiative with eventually adding both your Dex AND Int modifiers to Initiative as well is really cool.) with Wpn Finesse plus Agile enchantment on your chosen weapon. Of course, none of our GMs go for Sunder or Steal shenanigans.
Always use Shield extract and the base mutagen at the least. Considering the Fey mutagen line from Legacy of the Fey PC.

Grand Lodge

Prometeus wrote:

Great builds over here, I really liked the idea of Swashbuckler 1 / Investigator seems very tempting for a very good replace of the traditional Rogue, my only concern is in the damage department

The Magus is always a very good options and there are a lot of ways to build properly

I always tends to favor dexterity over strength, but the only downsize is that is very hard to find a way to match the same dpr as a full bab who invest in strength like a Barbarian or a Bloodrage

What is the highest DPR that this builds can achieve ? And for how many fights in a day

I run a version of this build that has a 1 level dip in unchained barbarian. At level 10 hasted my dpr is 80ish. That is including 1 parry every round which is basically guaranteed on this build. I also sicken, shaken and hand out a +2 morale to attack and damage to every one on a crit.

The damage is topping out until I can get power attack at level 12.

Ac, save, skills, utility are all great occasionally you miss the extract level. It will be hard to really keep the damage scaling though.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Fourshadow wrote:

I prefer investigator (Lamplighter, to be exact--free inspiration to Initiative with eventually adding both your Dex AND Int modifiers to Initiative as well is really cool.) with Wpn Finesse plus Agile enchantment on your chosen weapon. Of course, none of our GMs go for Sunder or Steal shenanigans.

Always use Shield extract and the base mutagen at the least. Considering the Fey mutagen line from Legacy of the Fey PC.

I'm an investigator fan myself (for DEX builds, at least). I hadn't ever considered the lamplighter, however. The build I currently run is an empiricist. I was always curious about the focus on light abilities with the lamplighter, and your comment makes me think I should look at it a bit more.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Oh, I forgot to add, with monstrous physique, the investigator has a lot of options for increasing his damage output. I recently tried III, with the gegennes, though I was less than impressed. My investigator 14 did 90+ hitting a fire giant all 6 times, but he lost his studied strike which made it barely more than he could do on his own anyway. Perhaps taking the DEX bonus from a small (or smaller) creature is the preferred option.


Sacred Fist of Sarenrae wielding a Devish Dance scimitar with Crusader's Flurry is pretty devastating, but it doesn't totally come together until 6 or 7. Once you have full-on Flurry of Blows with a Favor-buffed scimitar and can make up to 6 attacks per round with it... ouch.

An Urban Barbarian 1/ Strength Patron Witch 5-8/ Eldritch Knight wielding an Agile elven curved blade with Power Attack and Divine Favor or Power has very powerful two-handed attacks, plus all the advantages of Witch spellcasting -2 levels. Throwing out Quickened Ill Omen while wielding a blade is just plain awesome, and you can grab Dimensional Dervish sooner or later.

A Guide Ranger with one level of Swashbuckler can use Two-Weapon Grace to dual-wield Effortless Lace falcatas with Ranger's Focus, which is basically a giblet factory. At 12 they can use Inspired Moment once per day to pounce with even more combat buffing.

Really, between the elven curved blade and branched spear, the Agile property, and Two-Weapon Grace, there are an awful lot of builds that work very nicely with DEX.


Kensai Magus gets a free Weapon Focus at level 1, meaning that a Human character could spend their Bonus Feat and their Level 1 Feat on Weapon Finesse and Slashing/Fencing Grace, respectively.

Unfortunately, both got nerfed to no longer work with Spell Combat, so you'll have to settle for Dervish Dance, which has a 2 skill rank requirement (meaning you can't get it before Level 3).

Kensai in particular are great for DEX builds, since they lose out on Armor profiency and Armor casting, but gain INT to AC (up to their level). As such, focusing on DEX helps keep their AC fairly high. They can also wear a Haramaki/Silken Ceremonial Robes for more AC, since 0 ACP means there's no need for proficiency & 0% ASF mean that there's no negatives for casting.

If you add the Kensai (who doesn't really need to pay for Armor), with the Bladebound Magus (who doesn't really need to pay for a weapon), you get a fairly self-sufficient character who can spend gold on fun items, rather than the boring-but-necessary Big 6.


taks wrote:
Fourshadow wrote:

I prefer investigator (Lamplighter, to be exact--free inspiration to Initiative with eventually adding both your Dex AND Int modifiers to Initiative as well is really cool.) with Wpn Finesse plus Agile enchantment on your chosen weapon. Of course, none of our GMs go for Sunder or Steal shenanigans.

Always use Shield extract and the base mutagen at the least. Considering the Fey mutagen line from Legacy of the Fey PC.
I'm an investigator fan myself (for DEX builds, at least). I hadn't ever considered the lamplighter, however. The build I currently run is an empiricist. I was always curious about the focus on light abilities with the lamplighter, and your comment makes me think I should look at it a bit more.

Oh yes, Alchemical Allocation, IIRC. The impressive parts of that ability to me are: 8th level-Searing Light, 11th level-Judgement Light! So darn cool this archetype. One of my faves of all the classes.


Fourshadow wrote:
taks wrote:
Fourshadow wrote:

I prefer investigator (Lamplighter, to be exact--free inspiration to Initiative with eventually adding both your Dex AND Int modifiers to Initiative as well is really cool.) with Wpn Finesse plus Agile enchantment on your chosen weapon. Of course, none of our GMs go for Sunder or Steal shenanigans.

Always use Shield extract and the base mutagen at the least. Considering the Fey mutagen line from Legacy of the Fey PC.
I'm an investigator fan myself (for DEX builds, at least). I hadn't ever considered the lamplighter, however. The build I currently run is an empiricist. I was always curious about the focus on light abilities with the lamplighter, and your comment makes me think I should look at it a bit more.
Oh yes, Alchemical Allocation, IIRC. The impressive parts of that ability to me are: 8th level-Searing Light, 11th level-Judgement Light! So darn cool this archetype. One of my faves of all the classes.

Shadow Walk, Resist Energy 30, Flight, Haste, Rage, Cure Serious, Restoration

All as second level extracts.


For a dex based character there's 2 builds I'm a fan of:

Inquisitor(Ravener Hunter / Sanctified Slayer) of Besmara/Cayden Cailean: take the Battle mystery and grab Weapon Mastery as your 1st revelation and a human can have dex to damage @ 1st. Bane & SA make up for the lower of damage of fighting 1 handed.

UMonk1/Spiritualist(Phantom Blade): no dex to dmg until you grab an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists. On the plus side, you have level -2 unarmed progression and you'll never have to pay for enhancement bonuses thanks to Weapon of the Mind. You get Spell Combat/ Spellstrike and have a few debuff spells to use with it. Bonus combat feats are icing on the cake.

Grand Lodge

Maybe we can establish and build some samples at level 8 and compare each other, for rules we can count on 10 min buffs like barkskin, heroism and things like that and first round of buff


Solar Spirit-Warrior
Sohei Monk 1/ Hex Channeler Synergist Strength Patron Witch 8/ Eldritch Knight 2
Elven; Long Limbed. 13STR, 15/17DEX+1, 14\12CON, 15/17INT+1, 10WIS, 8CHA.
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Knack, Wayang Spellhunter: Ill Omen. Drawback: Sentimental.

1M. Weapon Finesse, +Dodge
2W. *Symbiosis*
3W. *Channel Energy* / Dervish Dance
4W.
5W. *Hex: Feral Speech* / Weapon Focus: Scimitar
6W.
7EK. Crusader's Flurry: Scimitar / Power Attack
8W. *Hex: Tongues*
9W. Improved Familiar: Sylvanshee
10W. *Symbiosis: Pounce, Fly 60 (good)*
11EK. Quicken Spell

At 8, they can apply Heroism and Divine Favor for a combined +5 to attack and +3 to damage. With decent equipment, they can strike for around ~18 damage, using Flurry to strike twice - though they get much better when they gain an iterative attack at 9, making it 3 strikes on a full attack. At 10 they gain Pounce, allowing for 3 strikes at the end of a flying charge. Despite their lower BAB, accuracy isn't much of an issue with their combat buffs and flurry BAB.

Defensively, they have Dodge, high DEX and Mage Armor; with a cheap lesser extend rod they can also use 16min Ironskin by level 8, which should cover a lot of situations.

They can also cast fairly strong Witch spells; by 8, they can toss Confusion or Wandering Star Motes, among other things. Long-term, they're full 9-level casters.


Basic Swashigator
Half-elf Inspired Blade Swashbuckler 1 / Empiricist Investigator X
Str 9, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 16+2 race=18, Wis 8, Cha 8. Increase Int w/4-level upgrades. At L8, assume +2 dex belt, +2 int headband:
Str 9, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 22, Wis 8, Cha 8

1: Swashbuckler 1. Inspired Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier), Fencing Grace, Skill Focus (stealth)
2: Investigator 1.
3: Investigator 2. Combat Reflexes
4: Investigator 3. Investigator talent (Mutagen)
5: Investigator 4. Extra Investigator Talent (Quick Study)
6: Investigator 5. Investigator talent (Enhance potion)
7: Investigator 6. Hellcat Stealth
8: Investigator 7. Investigator talent (Sapping Offensive or Sickening Offensive)
9: Investigator 8. Lunge
10: Investigator 9. Investigator talent (Combat Inspiration)
11: Investigator 10. Improved Critical

At level 8 for hour+ buffs you're looking at a +4 dex mutagen, barkskin, alchemical allocation (heroism), and if you can get it alchemical allocation (Seishinru, Spirit Elixir). In a buff round you'd probably want haste and to study your target as a move or swift action. You can expend inspiration (1 if your rapier has the inspired quality, 2 otherwise) to add 1d8+1 to your attack bonus on one attack. Opportune parry and riposte gives you another layer of defence and potentially another attack.

Assuming a +1 keen rapier that's +21/+21/+16, 1d6+10 damage, 15-20/x2 crit.; if you get the elixir you can roll 2d20 and take the best for each attack.

Those buffs are general ones, it's possible that in some particular battle resist energy or paragon surge or whatever would be more important. Edit: the elixir lasts 1 minute rather than 1 hour like most, so it can't be one of the long-term buffs.


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Goblin Feral Shifter Druid 4 / Unchained Scout Rogue 4
Str 12-2=10, Dex 16+4 race=20, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10-2 race=8
@L8: Str 10, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8, similar assumptions as above.

Traits: River Rat, Magical Knack (druid)
1: Rogue 1. Weapon Finesse, Roll With It.
2: Druid 1.
3: Druid 2. Piranha Strike.
4: Druid 3.
5. Druid 4. Shaping Focus.
6: Rogue 2. Weapon Training (WF dagger).
7: Rogue 3. TWF, dex to damage with daggers.
8: Rogue 4. Combat trick (Imp. TWF)

The difference between this character and a single-classed rogue centres on being able to turn into an air elemental. There's also druid spells and the animal focus ability that a feral shifter druid gets, but a +4 size bonus to dex, 60' perfect flight & +3 natural armor (all for as long as you want) are the big draw.

With +1 daggers & using piranha strike, with cat's grace & wild shape boosting their dex up to 30 the attack values are +15/+15/+10/+10 for 1d4+16, with 2d6 sneak attack. Defence is an AC of 25 before any items + Roll With It, and of course flight to get away when necessary.


How would you guys build a dex based Qadiran Horselord?

Shadow Lodge

Woodoodoo wrote:
How would you guys build a dex based Qadiran Horselord?

The archetype doesn't appear to provide anything to help along these lines, so it'd have to be either multiclassed withsomething that provides DEX to damage, or you'll have to pay for it with money (Agile).


Fourshadow wrote:
taks wrote:
Fourshadow wrote:

I prefer investigator (Lamplighter, to be exact--free inspiration to Initiative with eventually adding both your Dex AND Int modifiers to Initiative as well is really cool.) with Wpn Finesse plus Agile enchantment on your chosen weapon. Of course, none of our GMs go for Sunder or Steal shenanigans.

Always use Shield extract and the base mutagen at the least. Considering the Fey mutagen line from Legacy of the Fey PC.
I'm an investigator fan myself (for DEX builds, at least). I hadn't ever considered the lamplighter, however. The build I currently run is an empiricist. I was always curious about the focus on light abilities with the lamplighter, and your comment makes me think I should look at it a bit more.
Oh yes, Alchemical Allocation, IIRC. The impressive parts of that ability to me are: 8th level-Searing Light, 11th level-Judgement Light! So darn cool this archetype. One of my faves of all the classes.

Oops. The bolded should have been 'Illumination' (a class ability for this Investigator archeytype), not the 2nd level extract Alchemical Allocation.


Woodoodoo wrote:
How would you guys build a dex based Qadiran Horselord?

Dervish Dance would be the easy way, since the Archetype is based on one-handed slashing weapon use, at least when charging on a horse. Ride-by Attack to complete the picture.

On the more complicated side, I guess you could dip Swashbuckler and dual wield scimitars with Slashing Grace and Two-Weapon Grace. You can still use the scimitar charge feature that way, but you have a stronger combat option in a standing fight. Not sure how the feats would play out though, since Cavalier isn't really rolling in feats.

Edit: Effortless Lace avoids the extra TWF penalty.


I always imagined the archetype dex based since you are using a one handed slashing weapon to deal damage with spring attack. Although I guess it wouldn't have to be. Swash buckler dip would fix a lot of problems. Freeing up a feat or two and allowing me to parry/riposte if i was stuck in melee.


avr wrote:


Goblin Feral Shifter Druid 4 / Unchained Scout Rogue 4
Str 12-2=10, Dex 16+4 race=20, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10-2 race=8
@L8: Str 10, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8, similar assumptions as above.

Traits: River Rat, Magical Knack (druid)
1: Rogue 1. Weapon Finesse, Roll With It.
2: Druid 1.
3: Druid 2. Piranha Strike.
4: Druid 3.
5. Druid 4. Shaping Focus.
6: Rogue 2. Weapon Training (WF dagger).
7: Rogue 3. TWF, dex to damage with daggers.
8: Rogue 4. Combat trick (Imp. TWF)

The difference between this character and a single-classed rogue centres on being able to turn into an air elemental. There's also druid spells and the animal focus ability that a feral shifter druid gets, but a +4 size bonus to dex, 60' perfect flight & +3 natural armor (all for as long as you want) are the big draw.

With +1 daggers & using piranha strike, with cat's grace & wild shape boosting their dex up to 30 the attack values are +15/+15/+10/+10 for 1d4+16, with 2d6 sneak attack. Defence is an AC of 25 before any items + Roll With It, and of course flight to get away when necessary.

And how to pump such a character above the 8th level?


unchained rogue 3 with urban barb and mutagen warrior fighter gets 1.5x dex to dmg with some 2h weapons


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Woodoodoo wrote:
I always imagined the archetype dex based since you are using a one handed slashing weapon to deal damage with spring attack. Although I guess it wouldn't have to be. Swash buckler dip would fix a lot of problems. Freeing up a feat or two and allowing me to parry/riposte if i was stuck in melee.

If creating a mounted build, I would find it hard not to go for at least one level of Sohei to get bonus Mounted Skirmisher without prerequisites and armored flurry. For a desert horseman, maybe strength-based Daring Champion crossed with Sohei 1, wielding a temple sword and wearing mithral medium armor. Spring Attack and Ride-by Attack seem kind of obsolete by comparison.


PhD. Okkam wrote:
avr wrote:


Goblin Feral Shifter Druid 4 / Unchained Scout Rogue 4
Str 12-2=10, Dex 16+4 race=20, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10-2 race=8
@L8: Str 10, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8, similar assumptions as above.

Traits: River Rat, Magical Knack (druid)
1: Rogue 1. Weapon Finesse, Roll With It.
2: Druid 1.
3: Druid 2. Piranha Strike.
4: Druid 3.
5. Druid 4. Shaping Focus.
6: Rogue 2. Weapon Training (WF dagger).
7: Rogue 3. TWF, dex to damage with daggers.
8: Rogue 4. Combat trick (Imp. TWF)

The difference between this character and a single-classed rogue centres on being able to turn into an air elemental. There's also druid spells and the animal focus ability that a feral shifter druid gets, but a +4 size bonus to dex, 60' perfect flight & +3 natural armor (all for as long as you want) are the big draw.

With +1 daggers & using piranha strike, with cat's grace & wild shape boosting their dex up to 30 the attack values are +15/+15/+10/+10 for 1d4+16, with 2d6 sneak attack. Defence is an AC of 25 before any items + Roll With It, and of course flight to get away when necessary.

And how to pump such a character above the 8th level?

You could take more druid levels in order to get larger elemental forms. These come with higher dex bonuses. You could dip into urban barbarian/bloodrager for controlled bloodrage.

I probably wouldn't get more rogue levels, 4 levels for debilitating injury, 2d6 sneak attack and the 2 rogue talents is a good deal, but more levels means digging into less useful talents and putting more emphasis on sneak attack. Making full use of sneak attack in every combat means either putting yourself into more danger than I'd advise, or investing a lot of resources into it.


I have a hunter that does a ton of damage even though she's a halfling with no strength mod. You take Weapon Finesse at level 1 and Dervish Dance at level 3. You need 2 ranks of Perform skill for Dervish Dance, but it lets you use your Dex mod for both attack rolls and damage when using a scimitar. Plus being a hunter lets you take either Precise Shot or Outflank at level 2 for free and a bonus teamwork feat every 3 levels. And your animal companion gets all your teamwork feats, including Outflank, for free. At level 5, I had Precise Strike, Outflank, Dervish Dance, Pack Flanking, and Broken Wing Gambit. (Weapon Finesse was a given feat so I took Weapon Focus and then later retrained it to Precise Strike.) Between my hunter and her companion, I was doing a boatload of damage.


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Revenant Warrior-Shaman
Theme Music: Spirits and Veils
Speaker for the Past Shaman 8
Dual Talent Human or Garuda-Blooded Aasimar: 13STR, 15/17DEX+1, 13CON, 10INT, 15/17WIS+1, 10CHA
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Lineage: Aura of Doom, Wayang Spellhunter: Admonishing Ray
Spirit: Battle

1. 1. Weapon Finesse
2. *Hex: Battle Master*
3. Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Elven Curved Blade
4. [+1 DEX] / *Hex: Fetish* (+Craft Wondrous Item) / *Revelation: Spirit Shield*
5. Toughness
6. *Hex: Secret: Dazing Spell Metamagic* / *Revelation: Temporal Celerity*
7. Power Attack
8. [+1 WIS] / *Hex: Flight* / *Greater Spirit Ability: Enemies' Bane* / (+Weapon Specialization: Elven Curved Blade)
9. Persistant Spell

With a +1 Agile Elven curved blade, 22DEX (+4belt), Power Attack, Weapon Specialization, Divine Power and the Enemies' Bane power, damage from a single attack is ~32 at level 8. With Divine Power, a full attack strikes three times. Divine Power and Heroism means a +5 to attack. Temporal Celerity means rolling twice for Initiative. Aura of Doom is 10min/level, and is available as Persistent Aura of Doom at 9. Dazing Admonishing Ray can be poached from the Cleric list.

Defensively, the Spirit Shield Revelation is a free +6AC in place of armor, with no DEX cap. Barkskin adds +3 natural armor.

Shadow Lodge

Prometeus wrote:
What are the best class or builds for a dex based for a melee damage dealer that can also take a hit or two.

Couple builds, one fairly straight forward sneak-crit-fisher, the other more complex and interesting. (Tried for PFS legality in both; let me know if I overlooked something.)

STR:07
DEX+19 (human, not entirely minmaxed, 20pt array)
CON:14
INT:12
WIS:12
CHA:12

alignment: CN (secret worshiper of Rovagug, who bestows best boons to tackle hellknights, whom he despises)

traits: Berserker of the Society [(society), +3 rounds rage], Bestial Wrath [(religion), +2 confirm threats]

01 barbarian-1 [urban][rage:15r/day], Extra Rage, Two Weapon Fighting
02 rogue-1 [unchained][weapon finesse]
03 samurai-1 [challenge 1/day][mount][wakizashi proficiency)], Accomplished Sneak Attacker
04 rogue-2 [talent:weapon training:Weapon Focus:wakizashi], DEX>20
05 rogue-3 [weapon training:wakizashi], Extra Traits:[Bloodthirty(combat), Carefully Hidden(race:human)]
06 fighter-1 [weapon master:wakizashi][feat:Piranha Strike]
07 fighter-2 [weapon guard][feat:Improved Two Weapon Fighting], Double Slice
08 fighter-3 [weapon training:wakizashi] (buy Gloves of Dueling)
09 fighter-4 [feat:weapon specialization:wakizashi], Improved Critical
10 rogue-4 [Debilitating Injury][uncanny dodge][talent:combat trick:Critical Focus(wakizashi)]

...at 1st, we suck (i.e., shoot a crossbow). At 2nd, we're finessing two trip attempts full-attacking with a pair of sickles (letting our allies take care of 'em). And 3rd, we get our nice weapons, but they're not fully on-line until 5th and Agile becomes available. At 8th, power really begins ramping up.

Average PFS rewards at 8th are too low to accommodate both Gloves and a pair of +1/Agile/Furious wakizashis, so we'll compute att/dmg at 10th, where expectations include a 2nd belt upgrade and a pale-green-cracked, as well as realized combat feat amplifications at BAB8 and 9:

Attack (at 10th): BAB9 +9(DEX[Belt+4/controlled rage) +3(enh[+1/Furious) +4(WF+WT+gloves) +1(ioun) -5(TWF/Piranha) = +21/+21/+16/+16
...but the sick part is we're +6 (Critical Focus/Bestial Wrath) to confirm threats, and +2 (Bloodthirsty) damage on every one that does confirm. With a generous 15-20 range, we're 49% to score a threat each round we attack twice, and 76% to score in a complete ITWF full-attack.

Common at 10th but not always present buffs (Haste, Heroism, etc) not included.

Damage (at 10th): 9(DEX)+1d6+3(enh)+5(WS+WT+gloves)+6(Piranha) = ~26.5 (add 2pts if Challenged, +3d6 if sneaked)
Critical hit: ~55, (add 4 if Challenged, +3d6 if sneaked)

* Exploit: If we run out of rounds of rage per day, we can still activate our weaponry's Furious enhancement by making a Use Magic Device emulate class ability check (DC20) to fake the raging. Our UMD at 10th would +10(ranks)+3(class)+1(CHA)+2(familiarity w/item)+2(MW tool)= +18, which is perfect because a 1 fails anyway.

~ ~ ~ ~

Next up (...see next post)


A simple twf Fighter with Trained Grace does a lot of damage on a Full Attack and gets some of the best AC with pretty damn good saves. If you're willing to lose Armor Training, Dervish of Dawn Fighter gets mobility with it's twf at 11. Hell, go Gnome with a hooked hammer for style points.

Grand Lodge

Sir thugsalot why are you getting agile weapons, don't you have Dex to damage from the UnRogue? Sticking with kukri would get this building going a level sooner which would be nice with only a single point of lost damage.

Tripping with out feats is just give the enemy free attacks which seems like a poor option on a class with d8 hit dice.

I also think most rogue build should have martial flexibilty like features for 2 feats gang up, and ghostslayer. Barroom brawler, fighter dip or brawler dip all work.

Shadow Lodge

Grandlounge wrote:
Sir thugsalot why are you getting agile weapons, don't you have Dex to damage from the UnRogue? Sticking with kukri would get this building going a level sooner which would be nice with only a single point of lost damage.
Forgot about it (the second, more complex, forthcoming! build needs Agile because it doesn't want to frog around on three levels of rogue -- going to keep it full-BAB.
Quote:
Tripping with out feats is just give the enemy free attacks which seems like a poor option on a class with d8 hit dice.

It's a low-level trick only (give them an AoO to put them on their can, then you and allies take ops when they stand up). Besides, barbarian hit-dice at first means I have some cushion.

~ ~ ~

Frosty Ace wrote:
A simple twf Fighter with Trained Grace does a lot of damage on a Full Attack and gets some of the best AC with pretty damn good saves. If you're willing to lose Armor Training, Dervish of Dawn Fighter gets mobility with it's twf at 11. Hell, go Gnome with a hooked hammer for style points.

Yeah, but then you're a straight fighter who blows on skills and has little to no magical capacity/flexibility. As a higher-level generated character I'll do 'em, but I'll little interest in one played from 1st in, say, PFS, where 2pp will get you a free wand to UMD.

Trained Grace is a worthwhile feat after obtaining the gloves, but not before. (Weapon Training, to me, is a vehicle to accelerate attack-bonus in order to run Piranha full time.)

Grand Lodge

You have to take the damage you take as a penalty to the attack and your weapons are not trip weapons so if you mis by tem or more you fall down.

Do nothing but aid and flank +4 to attack.

Or

Attempt a manuever or 2 at -2, and give the enemy a free attack. Take a potential huge minus to your attack and potentially trip yourself.

It's higher risk and higher reward but I would just hope you can do a bit of damage with sneak attack personally. That minus the first few levels can be crippling.


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If you're going to trip without feats, the way to do it is with a reach weapon. It avoids AoO problems. Of course finessable reach weapons are in short supply - there's just the elven branched spear that I can think of.

Grandlounge, if he's using weapons with the trip property he can at least drop them rather than fall over. It's sometimes a better choice.

Shadow Lodge

Frosty Ace wrote:
...If you're willing to lose Armor Training, Dervish of Dawn Fighter gets mobility with it's twf at 11. Hell, go Gnome with a hooked hammer for style points.

With a raging DEX of 28 by 5th with a belt, there is little in the way of armor this guy would care to spend money on prior to Celestial. Hooked hammers are cool (with weapon feats applying to both ends of the weapon), but it's not a crit-fisher.

~ ~ ~

(Very minor revisions, mainly to "descriptive text".)

STR:07
DEX+19 (human, not entirely minmaxed, 20pt array)
CON:14
INT:12
WIS:12
CHA:12

alignment: CN (secret worshiper of Rovagug, who bestows best boons to tackle hellknights, whom he despises)

traits: Berserker of the Society [(society), +3 rounds rage], Bestial Wrath [(religion), +2 confirm threats]

01 barbarian-1 [urban][rage:15r/day], Extra Rage, Two Weapon Fighting
02 rogue-1 [unchained][weapon finesse]
03 samurai-1 [challenge 1/day][mount][wakizashi proficiency)], Accomplished Sneak Attacker
04 rogue-2 [talent:weapon training:Weapon Focus:wakizashi], DEX>20
05 rogue-3 [weapon training:wakizashi], Extra Traits:[Bloodthirty(combat), Carefully Hidden(race:human)]
06 fighter-1 [weapon master:wakizashi][feat:Piranha Strike]
07 fighter-2 [weapon guard][feat:Improved Two Weapon Fighting], Double Slice
08 fighter-3 [weapon training:wakizashi] (buy Gloves of Dueling)
09 fighter-4 [feat:weapon specialization:wakizashi], Improved Critical
10 rogue-4 [Debilitating Injury][uncanny dodge][talent:combat trick:Critical Focus(wakizashi)]

...at 1st, we're +7 shooting a crossbow. At 2nd, we're +5/+5 wielding a pair of sickles; damage is poop at d6-2(+SA1d6), but there are occasional chances to trip yet-to-act flatfooted adversaries. And 3rd, we get our nice weapons, SA+2d6, and a free horse (which will rather quickly be relegated to pack-animal status as we level). At 4th, +2 attack bonus. At 5th, DEX>damage comes on-line, and SA+3d6. Smooth acceleration in power every lever thereafter.

Attacks (at 10th): BAB9 +9(DEX[Belt+4/controlled rage) +3(enh[+1/Furious) +4(WF+WT+gloves) +1(ioun) -5(TWF/Piranha) = +21/+21/+16/+16
...but the sick part is we're +6 to confirm threats (Critical Focus & Bestial Wrath), and +2 (Bloodthirsty) damage on every one that does confirm. With a generous 15-20 range, we're 49% to score a threat each round we attack twice, and 76% to score one in a complete ITWF full-attack.

Common at 10th but not always present buffs (Haste, Heroism, etc) not included.

Damage (at 10th): 9(DEX)+1d6+3(enh)+5(WS+WT+gloves)+6(Piranha) = ~26.5 (add 2pts if Challenge, +3d6 if sneak)
Critical hit: ~55, (add 4 if Challenge, +3d6 if sneak)

* Exploit: If we run out of rounds of rage per day, we can still activate our weaponry's Furious enhancement by making a Use Magic Device emulate class ability check (DC20) to fake the raging. Our UMD at 10th would +10(ranks)+3(class)+1(CHA)+2(familiarity w/item)+2(MW tool)= +18, which is perfect because a 1 fails anyway.

Leveling after 10th:

11 samurai-2 [order of the warrior], FEAT(g)
12 samurai-3 [weapon expertise]
13 samurai-4 [challenge 2/day], Greater Weapon Focus:wakizashi

With Weapon Expertise, samurai and fighter levels stack, enabling GWF. (BAB:11 feats are also a possibility.)

Options: cavalier instead of samurai; would then require a feat to get the wakizashis. At 13th, Cav4th's expert trainer features opens up Horse Master, and a full-level mount *poofs* next to us.

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