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I want to make a dapper, but tattered, ratfolk from Ustalav. I saw the Tatterdemalion archetype, and I love the flavor of it. So he has collected discarded items of fancy clothing (usually made for children) and dressed himself up to feel important.
This is an attempt to essentially make a 3/4 BAB, 6th-level caster Witch. Because I'm building it around the Tatterdemalion archetype, I can't just go Hexcrafter Magus, even though I know I could just take prehensile hair hex and have basically the same mechanics a lot easier.
I need a backup melee option for when I either don't have enough uses of prehensile hair, or don't have the round to spend activating it.
I'm trying to avoid the "standard" hexes, with the exception of Flight (Evil Eye, Misfortune, Fortune, Slumber, and Cackle), because I want to try new stuff, and I ran a witch through Reign of Winter.
CN Ratfolk Tatterdemalion Witch 8/Inspired Blade Swashbuckler 1/Slayer 2
STR 6 (-2 race) DEX 20 (+2 race, +4 belt) CON 16 (+2 ioun) INT 24 (+2 race, +1 4th, +1 8th, +4 headband) WIS 12 CHA 10
HP: 95
Fort: +13 Ref: +15 Will: +10
AC: 21 (+4 mage armor, +5 dex, +2 deflection, +blood armor? eventually blink, Would be great to find a way to get +int here, other good options on the Witch list?)
1 SB1) Inspired Finesse (Rapier), Weapon Focus (Rapier), Fencing Grace, Inspired Panache, Opportune Parry-Riposte, Derring-do, Dodging Panache
2 W1) Familiar (Rat), Spells, Dancing Strings, Space Patron
3 W2) Combat Reflexes, Hex: Swamp's Grasp
4 S1) Studied Target
5 W3) Extra Hex: Gift of Consumption*
6 W4) Moth Eaten
7 S2) Phalanx Formation, Combat Style: Two-Handed Weapon: Power Attack
8 W5)
9 W6) Lunge, Hex: Flight
10 W7)
11 W8) Weapon Focus (hair/threads), Lace-Weaver
*If it becomes legal when Potions & Poisons is added to AR.
traits: Magical Knack, Fencer*
* For Opportune Parry/Riposte. But if there's a trait that gives a bonus to hit on all AoOs, that would work with the Dancing Strings as well, I'll take that.
BAB: +7
4th-level spells
Panache: 5/day (7/day with +4 Headband)
Equipment: +2 Bodywraps of Mighty Strikes, Holy Amulet of Mighty Fists, +2 mithral rapier, +4 Headband of INT, +4 Belt of DEX, +2 CON Ioun Stone, +3 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Ring of Protection
hair/threads: +18 (1d2+13+2d6)
w/PA +16 (1d2+17+2d6)
1st AoO same, rest -2 to-hit
rapier: +15/+10 (1d4+8 18-20/x2)
AoOs +16 (1d4+8 18-20/x2)
full-attack: rapier +15/+10 (1d4+7 18-20/x2), threads +13 (1d2+6+2d6)
w/PA rapier +13/+8 (1d4+11 18-20/x2), threads +11 (1d2+8+2d6)
I have never made a character with a 6 STR. I would feel better about it if Witch had ant haul on its list.
A more optimal patron (Strength, Devotion) could help boost attack, but actions are already going to be limited with having to activate the threads each fight, so buffing divine favor on top of that might not happen.
I just want to have fun with my raggedy rat-man. He doesn't have to be the most optimal. He just needs to stay relevant. And he'll still have spells and a decent DC from Int.
Witches don't get a great selection of defensive spells. There are a few things - spite + vampiric touch is worth remembering when you get to 7th level witch, miserable pity is basically sanctuary, strand of the tangled knot can protect you from one attack, false life gives you extra HP & can be cast well in advance.
If you go with ranger rather than slayer you can easily use scrolls or even a wand of barkskin though. The guide archetype gives you a swift action 1/day favored enemy on whoever you like (effectively) if you don't like the usual favored enemy mechanic. I think this is more likely to be useful than the at-will but move action (& only +1 bonus) of studied target.
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Freebooter Ranger would actually work. Their ability is essentially the same as Studied Target on a dip, except it helps everyone in the group. The reason I don’t mind it being a move action is that I have to spend a standard activating the hair/threads. At will move I definitely think is better than 1/day swift. It’s true that the favored enemy bonus is higher and would work against more than one creature (potentially), but I need bonuses to hit in as many fights as I can get. And if I need to swap mid combat, I can always standard action cast something or use a hex if a single big attack isn’t enough/possible.
But I think I like the Freebooter idea. It gives me access to magic fang as well, for instances where I can prebuff and don’t have the bodywraps yet.
EFIT: I forgot my size bonus in my numbers. So that’s an extra +1 to-hit. Witch’s also get alter self, which is a stealth DEX buff, since you get the size bonus to DEX regardless of whether or not you actually change size. I’d just need to be careful not to turn into something with natural attacks. So like a halfling or something. It’s a small benefit for a 2nd level slot, but it’s an option.
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Ok, I've made some revisions to the build using Freebooter Ranger and Evangelist (of Groetus). I really wanted to have him worship Hastur, because one of Hastur's names is The Tatterdemalion King, but with the switch to Evangelist, I needed to pick a PFS legal deity. Groetus works for the general concept of him being somewhat caught up in a cult, and the Deific Obedience is less evil than the ones from actual evil gods. Plus, I can educate people about "The Grey Sign" instead of "The Yellow Sign." +1 Will save is underwhelming, since Iron Will gives a +2, but it gives me access to Evangelist, which is a 3/4 BAB class. I only lose 1 level of Witch progression (4 total with the other classes). On top of that I pick up a small dodge bonus, some spell-like abilities (almost certainly, I'll use bestow curse instead of the others), some extra class skills (to get me all knowledge skills in-class after all the dips), and a +4 bonus on untrained skills.
I switched to the Devotion Patron, which fits with a Devotion to the End of the World. Plus it gives me access to divine favor for particularly tough fights, martyr's bargain, which is a decent spell, and greater magic weapon, should I decide to save some cash and skip enhancing the rapier. Which I might need to do, since the listed equipment puts me right at expected wealth for 11th level in PFS. Magic Vestment is a fantastic spell. It just doesn't do anything for me, since I'm using mage armor.
The concept is starting to come together in my head, and the stat side of things is looking better with the bump in BAB, access to barkskin, and adding in the size bonus for being small.
Plus, I found this really cool miniature. I've been torn about what to do with my Ratfolk boon, but I'm feeling good about this.
CN Ratfolk Tatterdemalion Witch 2/Inspired Blade Swashbuckler 1/Freebooter Ranger 2/Evangelist 6
STR 6 (-2 race) DEX 20 (+2 race, +4 belt) CON 16 (+2 ioun) INT 24 (+2 race, +1 4th, +1 8th, +4 headband) WIS 12 CHA 10
HP: 95
Fort: +13 Ref: +17 Will: +10
AC: 24 (+4 mage armor, +5 dex, +2 deflection, +1 dodge, +2 barkskin, +blood armor? Would be great to find a way to get +int here)
1 SB1) Inspired Finesse (Rapier), Weapon Focus (Rapier), Fencing Grace, Inspired Panache, Opportune Parry-Riposte, Derring-do, Dodging Panache
2 W1) Familiar (Rat), Spells, Dancing Strings, Devotion Patron
3 W2) Combat Reflexes, Hex: Swamp's Grasp
4 R1) Freebooter's Bane, Track, Wild Empathy
5 R2) Deific Obedience, Combat Style: Two-Handed Weapon: Power Attack
6 Ev1) Skilled (Engineering, Religion)
7 Ev2W3) Extra Hex: Gift of Consumption*, Aligned Class (Witch), protective grace
8 Ev3W4) Moth Eaten, Divine Boon 1 (doom 3/day, augury 2/day, or bestow curse 1/day)
9 Ev4W5) Lunge, Gift of Tongues
10 Ev5W6) Hex: Flight, Multitude of Talents
11 Ev6W7) Weapon Focus (hair/threads), Divine Boon 2 (Consume Essence)
*If it becomes legal when Potions & Poisons is added to AR.
traits: Magical Knack, Fencer*
* For Opportune Parry/Riposte. But if there's a trait that gives a bonus to hit on all AoOs, that would work with the Dancing Strings as well, I'll take that.
BAB: +8
4th-level spells
Panache: 5/day (7/day with +4 Headband)
Equipment: +2 Bodywraps of Mighty Strikes, Holy Amulet of Mighty Fists, +2 mithral rapier, +4 Headband of INT, +4 Belt of DEX, +2 CON Ioun Stone, +3 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Ring of Protection, Wand of Barkskin
hair/threads: +19 (1d2+12+2d6)
w/PA +16 (1d2+21+2d6)
1st AoO same, rest -2 to-hit
w/DFPA +19 (1d2+24+2d6)
rapier: +17/+12 (1d4+7 18-20/x2)
AoOs +18 (1d4+7 18-20/x2)
w/DF +20/+15 (1d4+10 18-20/x2)
AoOs +21 (1d4+10 18-20/x2)
full-attack: rapier +17/+12 (1d4+7 18-20/x2), threads +14 (1d2+6+2d6)
w/DF rapier +20/+15 (1d4+10 18-20/x2), threads +17 (1d2+9+2d6)
w/PA rapier +14/+9 (1d4+13 18-20/x2), threads +11 (1d2+8+2d6)
w/DFPA rapier +17/+12 (1d4+16 18-20/x2), threads +14 (1d2+11+2d6)