I'm building a brownie hunter and I'm curious if there are any solid ways to make her just a little more threatening than just her T-Rex animal companion (Which is plenty threatening, honestly.) I know the game isn't really built for tiny or large races but every once in a while you want to do something different and your DM gives you the go-ahead. We're playing 8th level characters and we've got a pretty large stipend of gold to spend on equipment. Feel free to think outside the box, but i'm mainly thinking about weapons and equipment here.
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Tumble into people's square using weapon finesse and slashing grace/fencing grace, with a tiny weapon and proceed in making a pest of yourself...
Or any agile weapon for that matter.
You could use a combat maneuver - the size penalty may not matter if your dex is high enough. Tiny creatures use dex for their CMB. A +1 sticky rapier could be fun if you have no free feats.
Expendable magic items include caltrop beads, which are cheap and sometimes useful battlefield control. They're heavy enough you may want a handy haversack to carry them though. Wands can be useful for spells without saves; buffs, utility spells or touch attacks.
How large a stipend of gold are you looking at, anyway?
about 60k. We're playing an "epic fantasy" evil campaign so its almost too much to really know what to do with, except we've got a few stipulations like we can't spend more than half on any one item. Disposable items might be the way to go here though. I do think I want to grab me a dire collar for the dino though.
It's such a big part of the game but wands have been something that i've never really found myself digging too deep into. I think my last character in this campaign had a couple wands of cure wounds but that's it.
Edit: Would agile maneuvers, weapon expertise, and a garrote get enough use out of the really high sneak or would that be the absolute wrong way to go? it's a pretty niche investment for such a feat intensive route but it seems like it could be really fun. Being an evil campaign and all it seems like it would give me some versatility to be able to kill quietly. I may have an issue justifying the two foot tall brownie garroting someone's neck height even if it was mechanically reasonable.
Dervish Dance feat to add DEX to damage maybe?
One less feat is really nice compared to the fencing grace route, but I tanked INT to 5 so those two ranks in dance are really gonna hurt me.
I should suppose I should mention that I'm basically planning on having my brownie hang out inside the T-Rex's mouth (getting in a couple of good hits from cover with and using the shield ally teamwork feat) or hidden within its armor most of the time. It's super silly but that's what drew me to this build.
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Dervish Dance feat to add DEX to damage maybe?One less feat is really nice compared to the fencing grace route, but I tanked INT to 5 so those two ranks in dance are really gonna hurt me.
I have just started a Dawnflower Dervish ... and it kind of shocked me.
With battle dance, my little halfling was doing a d4 + 6 at 1st level, and critting on 18s...
It turned the party bard into the front liner...
the Bladed Brush can get you a finesse reach weapon, which you can then plop slashing grace on. That way you don't have to enter enemies squares to attack them
I had a bard Dawnflower Dervish I ran as a npc for a while so I know how much pain it can deal at low levels, but it's getting quite a bit of its bite from the bardic performance. Dunno if those same feats would hold up as a choice for a mid-level hunter.
the Bladed Brush can get you a finesse reach weapon, which you can then plop slashing grace on. That way you don't have to enter enemies squares to attack them
DAMN! ok, now that is cool. Might go that route. It's a shame that it's four feats to really get it up and running though (I understand the whole game balance thing though.)
I had a bard Dawnflower Dervish I ran as a npc for a while so I know how much pain it can deal at low levels, but it's getting quite a bit of it's bite from the bardic performance. Dunno if those same feats would hold up as a choice for a mid level hunter.
the Bladed Brush can get you a finesse reach weapon, which you can then plop slashing grace on. That way you don't have to enter enemies squares to attack themDAMN! ok now that is cool. Might go that route.
Note that Bladed Brush as written requires you to worship Shelyn, who is good, which is probably a problem for you. If you're in a homebrew setting it ought to require a deity of aesthetics/beauty, which may be available in a more palatable alignment. And of course some GMs just waive deity prereqs.
Feel free to think outside the box, but i'm mainly thinking about weapons and equipment here.
I'll point out the obvious by noting that flaming/frost/shock/corrosive weapons' extra damage is not size-dependent. Put on burst versions and be a crit-fisher and you'll be putting out pretty good average damage.
I'll point out the obvious by noting that flaming/frost/shock/corrosive weapons' extra damage is not size-dependent. Put on burst versions and be a crit-fisher and you'll be putting out pretty good average damage.
Any specific magic items you can think of which are worth taking a look?
You could look at adding Poisons to your attacks.
Any specific magic items you can think of which are worth taking a look?
I'll point out the obvious by noting that flaming/frost/shock/corrosive weapons' extra damage is not size-dependent. Put on burst versions and be a crit-fisher and you'll be putting out pretty good average damage.
I usually build things out of the generic properties and ignore the named/"unique" weapons. A +1 flaming frost shock weapon is 32k, which is about your limit for one item, right? Then you can work towards the +1 flaming burst icy burst shocking burst corrosive burst called weapon of a crit-fisher's dream. (I stuck called in because there was room for +1 more and I'd hate to lose such a weapon to a disarm or steal. You'd put keen there instead (from the start) if you don't take Improved Critical, but the latter is better since you'll want to TWF to maximize your #crits.)
Alternatively, go archery instead of TWF crit-fishing so you don't have to worry about going into enemy squares and can spend money on a +10-equivalent bow and +10-equivalent arrows instead of a pair of +10-equiv weapons. Archery builds are always powerful in PF.
Yeah the more I look at it the more it seems like ranged is probably the best option for me. Are there any benefits at all to other ranged weapons than bows or crossbows? I like the idea of a blowgun for my little brownie but I'm guessing it's laughably bad.
Try to get lots of natural attacks and an agile amulet of mighty firsts? It's nice because it applies to so many easy-to-add attacks. Oni Spirit Mask (Edit: I can't seem to find this one anymore? Maybe it has a different name?), Ring of Rat Fangs, Claws of Asmodeus (you're even evil!). Then find a way to get into their square (hopping off the T Rex?) and you're terrifying.
An agile weapon ifPaizo only or the deadly agility feat if third party is allowed.
At your size, I'm guessing your Str is going to be super low, so thrown weapons are not your friends. You definitely want to use a bow if you go ranged. Get blunt arrows in case you run into that type of DR.
Arcane Strike is an option for Brownies since they have SLAs.
Mouser swashbuckler. I did that with a kitsune with Fox Form, it got ugly.
This. Mouser is ridiculously effective with a tiny character.
Arcane Strike is an option for Brownies since they have SLAs.
Only if the GM allows that, since it's not the case in the standard pathfinder rules.
Not sure what route you go, if the plan is to hide in the T-Rex mouth for cover bonus and such then both you and the T-Rex will be doing no melee damage anyway. Just don't see it getting a bite attack with you in it or your getting any attack from inside it.