I know Swordsmith is a third-party archetype and most GMs would never allow it in a game, but I enjoy making characters and it's just a cool archetype. I would like some advice for what traits and feats to give her. It's a fighter archetype and gets a bonus Combat feat every level. The bonus feat at level one is cancelled by the archetype, but she gets one for being human so it balances out.
Swordsmiths do not get Armor/Weapon Training/Mastery and are not proficient with Heavy Armor or Tower Shields. They do get an extra 2 skill points each level, plus another point specifically to be used for the Craft Weapons skill. At level 5, they gain the 'Master Craftsman' feat for free.
I was thinking taking 'Craft Magic Arms & Armor' as the level 5 regular feat and 'Craft Wondrous Items' at level 7. But otherwise I'm clueless. I would like her to be a melee fighter rather than ranged.
Her stats are 15 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 14 Int, 14 Wis, 9 Cha.
I want her to be able to dish out a bunch of damage while still being able to take a hit. Perhaps Toughness for the extra HP?
If you want to be able to take a hit you want either a large amount of HP and/or DR. If you want to dole out punishment (without mentioning magic items) you'll want high Strength, lots of feats or Weapon Training (or similar ability).
Fighter or Barbarian would be appropriate for what you want. For max Tank status you have Armor Master, Tower Shield Specialist, Armored Hulk and Invulnerable Rager. For punishment you have Weapon Master and Titan Mauler. Vanilla Fighter is well balanced since archetypes typically remove either Weapon or Armor Training. That being said, you wont need Armor Training as much with a 12 DEX. You COULD trade the higher level bonuses for some of the Advanced Armor Training options though!
You could go Power Attack and Vital Strike chain to deliver the big hits.
Unless you specifically want your character to be a master smith, I would avoid the Craft Magic feats. There is, most likely, always going to be an NPC that can make what you want. Yes, it's more expensive but those feats are vital to shaping how dangerous your character can be.
You could also multiclass Fighter and Barbarian and basically make Conan the Barbarian or Guts from "Berserk"! Maybe Titan Mauler with Armor Master or Two-Handed Fighter. A Large Greatsword deals 3d6 damage... put Greater Vital Strike on there and you got 20d6 base damage!
I guess I could skip Craft Wondrous Items. Though since the Swordsmith does get Master Craftsman for free, I would still like to take Craft Magic Arms & Armor.
A few friends have suggested Power Attack. 20d6 base damage is a lot!
Definitely get Power Attack if you're doing any kind of melee, and especially if you're going to wield a two-handed weapon.
What weapon DO you plan on using? It can really influence your combat style, and thus what feats you want to select. Remember, feats are THE major class ability of the fighter.
As a fighter, so you do have enough feats to diversify, so if no one else in your party is crafting magic items, if you're going to have plenty of down time, and if you're going to have ready access to wealth and raw materials, being the character that makes magic items for the rest of the party is a really great way to contribute.
I don't know anything about the Swordsmith PrC. Does it trade out heavy armor, tower shields, and armor training and weapon training for those extra skill points and Master Craftsman. Do they get anything else?
I guess there are a few basic melee styles.
1. 1 big weapon, like a greatsword or earthbreaker.
1A. 1 big reach weapon, like a glaive.
2. Sword and board, or any 1 handed weapon and a shield.
3. Two-Weapon fighting, like wielding a pair of hand axes.
4. Combo: Sword and board and Two-Weapon Fighting with shield bashes.
5. Finesse Build: Rapier or shortswords, often combined with Two-Weapon fighting, since Two-Weapon Fighting requires high Dexterity scores.
6. Combat Maneuver specialist, using specializing in Disarming, Tripping, Dirty Fighting, Bull Rushes, Sundering (you can break enemies' weapons and then use your crafting abilities to fix them later, for fun and profit!), Grappling, etc.
Am I forgetting any?
Well, it was suggested that I use a weapon with a 18-20 crit range and take Improved Critical to get more critical hits and do double damage. A Swordsmith is proficient with any weapon they've crafted, so I can make an exotic weapon like the falchion for that and not need the Exotic Proficiency feat.
Yes, they trade out those. The big thing they gain is the Blade of Legend at level 3. I can name any weapon I've crafted as my Blade, and when I (and no one else) am wielding it, it gains +1 enhancement. It gets another +1 every odd level. Basically, I'm getting a magic weapon for free. And when it's drawn, I get the enhancements added to my Will, Reflex, and Charisma.
Ooh! That's wicked cool!
You might want to check out the fauchard. It has an 18-20 crit range, and it's a big two-handed reach weapon. You probably want Combat Reflexes so you can get extra attacks with it, and thus extra chances to get a critical hit. You can also use the fauchard to trip and stuff, which can force your opponents to provoke more Attacks of Opportunity.
Good reach feats are Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, and Lunge. Since you're going to specialize in a single weapon, Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization might be something to consider. Dazzling Display and Cornugan Smash and other Intimidate-related feats might be worth considering since you will have an enhancement to your Charisma.
You might actually be able to fill out a lot of roles in combat. Obviously, you can deal a lot of damage. You can do battlefield control with reach and Combat Reflexes. You can de-buff by using Intimidate to demoralize. And if you choose to get crafting feats, you can give your allies permanent bonuses to their equipment (and stats, with Belts of Str/Dex/Con and Helms of Int/Wis/Cha).
A reach weapon means I can attack from 2 squares over, right?
Exactly.
The main benefit of reach weapons is that if an opponent has to take more than a 5 foot step to attack you, you get an attack of opportunity against them. A drawback of reach weapons is that you can't attack opponents that are adjacent to you (within 1 square), but you can take a 5 foot step back and then attack them, or use a spiked gauntlet to attack adjacent opponents if you cannot take a 5 foot step.
You can use a fauchard to make trip attempts from 2 squares away too, so the trip attempt will not provoke an attack of opportunity.
Fauchard 14 gp 1d10 18-20/x2 — 10 lbs. S reach, trip
Nice. And at that price, I can craft it at level one easy.
If you want to keep it close, the Falchion is a pretty brutal 2 hander with high Crit. 2d4, 18-20x2. Another option is the Nodachi. 1d10, 18-20x2, Brace.
With any of these 3, Improved Critical would make your crit zone 15-20!
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Swordsmith gives up Weapon Training and Armor Training to get what normal fighters can acquire with mere money (upgrades to their weapons and enhancement bonuses to saving-throws). They even forfeit their 1st-level fighter feat. Yes, this is actually presented as a worthy trade-off (make a will-save).
-- We're not even going to get into how hopelessly lame these guys are in comparison to vanilla warpriests (the most apt analogue as a class that applies bonuses to signature weapons on-the-fly), who were out in official Paizo products two years before Drop Dead Studios unleashed this moist fart of a fighter archetype. Drop dead, indeed.
If your GM doesn't let you play one for it being 3rd-party, I say they did you a huge favor.
I'm not really making this one to play. I'm making this one just to make it. I enjoy making characters and I like the archetype. I've already used a couple earlier characters I made as inspiration for some stories.
If you're absolutely set on taking advantage of Swordsmith, you're going to want to boost up your weapon's enhancement bonus as much as possible. This means at least 2 things.
First, you'll need to use Variant Multiclass (Barbarian) in order to gain the ability to Rage. With Rage, you can give your weapon the "Furious" enhancement, which increases your enhancement bonus by +2 when you rage.
Secondly, you'll need one or more Bane Baldrichs. Each Bane Baldrich can give you 5 uses of Bane (anything) for 1 round per use. Bane can also increase your weapon's enhancement bonus.
In order to take advantage of the increased enhancement bonuses, I'd suggest also adding the "Dueling" enhancement, specifically the version that gives you a luck bonus on combat maneuver checks performed with your weapon equal to twice that of your weapon's enhancement bonus.
All in all, you will have access to a +9 enhancement bonus, which gives you a +9 on Reflex and Will saves from your archetype, and a further +18 luck bonus to CMB checks made with the weapon.
Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. What do you think?
That does sound pretty cool.
If you're going to be using Luck bonuses a lot, Fate's Favored might be a good trait to get. And if you're going to get Fate's Favored, might as well be a half-orc with the Sacred Tattoo alternate racial trait (+1 Luck bonus to saving throws, +2 with Fate's Favored).
You lose the bonus feat at 1st level, but you get darkvision, +2 to all saving throws, and some other goodies.
EDIT:
The +2 racial bonus to Intimidate would help with de-buffing via demoralizing by Dazzling Display, etc.
Yeah, I have a half-orc inquisitor with the Fate's Favored and Sacred Tattoo combo. And being half-orc wouldn't change the point buy at all.
I actually need to redo that sheet. Just to make the info more compact and clear.
I had a half-orc inquisitor with the Fate's Favored and Sacred Tattoo combo! Too bad he's owlbear chow now.
Oh yeah, Furious Focus would be a good feat if you take Power Attack. It removes the penalty for using Power Attack on your first attack.
Vital Strike is a good feat to have when you can't take the Full Attack action. You can move and maybe almost do as much damage as a full attack. It's not a tactic you'll use every round, it's something you'll use when moving into position before getting to use a full attack. It's also useful when your iterative attacks are missing or likely to miss.
I haven't actually played my half-orc yet. In fact, the only ones I've played are a gnome archaeologist bard and a halfling hunter. My hunter build is really good, it's based on flanking bonuses with her boar companion. Whom she will ride at level 4.
What exactly is the difference between a Full Attack and a regular attack?
You need to take the Full Attack action when you make more than one attack on your turn, such as when you are two-weapon fighting or using the Rapid Shot archery feat, making iterative attack due to high BAB (6+), or if you get multiple natural attacks. When you take a Full Attack action (or any full round action), you can only take a 5 foot step.
(Making Attacks of Opportunity don't require the Full Attack action.)
I see. Thank you.
You're welcome. It's why pounce is such a great ability for martial characters and animal companions.