So favored class bonuses are usually both boring and bad; no one is getting excited about +1 to resist trip maneuvers and would much rather take the health or skill point. There are some that are pretty imaginative though, and help encourage concepts that would otherwise be non-viable; I started thinking about this when I specifically noticed the Catfolk FCB for monks, which gives you a scaling atk/dmg bonus to claw blades and lets you treat them as a monk weapon. Dwarf Swashbucklers have a similar thing where they can choose to improve their Precise Strike damage with picks.
Anyone aware of other FCB's like this, that make you think about an option that would otherwise be dismissed as totally non-viable? I love stuff like this and would be happy to explore more of it.
In terms of "makes the non-viable appealing" it's hard to beat the Gathlain Kineticist FCB " (reduce burn cost by another 1/6 when gathering power), and particularly since after Ultimate Wilderness you can trade away the CON penalty in exchange for moving slowly now you're not even limited to Overwhelming Souls- you can just be a vanilla kineticist that spams your composite blast as soon as it's available.
since after Ultimate Wilderness you can trade away the CON penalty in exchange for moving slowly
What option is this? I don't recall seeing anything like this.
EDIT: do you mean the FCB?
since after Ultimate Wilderness you can trade away the CON penalty in exchange for moving slowlyWhat option is this? I don't recall seeing anything like this.
EDIT: do you mean the FCB?
Legacy of the First world gave them that FCB (which is strong, and not reprinted in Ultimate Wilderness) but since Gathlains have a CON penalty, they don't make good Kineticists who aren't overwhelming souls (which is inconvenient even with the FCB for purposes of defense and utility talents).
But Ultimate Wilderness gave us "tree-born" as an alternative racial trait-
Some gathlains take after their tree ancestors, standing more firmly but moving more slowly. They have no Constitution penalty but have a base speed of 20 feet and a fly speed of 30 feet (clumsy maneuverability).
This replaces the penalty to Constitution and alters speed.
So you can now play an effective Gathlain vanilla kineticist (no con bonus, but no penalty either). Be an aerokineticist and at level 6 you'll be flying much better and faster 100% of the time. At level 7 then you can take mobile gathering and fly 30 feet while gathering power for 2 burn, so you can toss out thunderstorms or sandstorms or blizzards or whatever to your heart's content. At level 8 your infusion specialization becomes 2 and you can start spamming magnetic thunderstorms or entangling sandstorms. At level 13 you get the quicken metakinesis, and by then you can gather power for 4 burn (and your infusion specialization applies to each blast) and things get really silly.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In terms of build-defining, the Human Sorcerer FCB is kinda is a class of its own. The sheer number of extra spells known it affords makes it unrivaled. Strictly in terms of feat value, it comes in at half a feat per level; I don't believe any other FCB that is directly comparable to feats offers anything near this level of value.
PossibleCabbage: Ah, ok. I get what you're talking about now. I misread your post a bit.
Kitsune sorcerer's FCB.
(pre-nerf) The aasimar's FCB to treat their level as higher for a revelation.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dwarfs have a lot of unique FCBs that make them interesting choices for classes when their racial bonuses would otherwise make them suboptimal PCs.
- Alchemist - more AC when under a mutagen
- Bard and Skald - gain Medium Armor Proficiency (and reduce Arcane Spell Failure chance)
- Oracle - Can gain Martial or Exotic Weapon Proficiency with one or more weapons.
- Dwarven Wizards can craft magic items at a phenomenal rate if you keep choosing that FCB.
The Half-elf Summoner FCB is good enough that I banned it in my games.
An extra evolution every 4 levels is a pretty big power boost to an already powerful class.
Unless I'm reading it wrong?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In terms of build-defining, the Human Sorcerer FCB is kinda is a class of its own. The sheer number of extra spells known it affords makes it unrivaled. Strictly in terms of feat value, it comes in at half a feat per level; I don't believe any other FCB that is directly comparable to feats offers anything near this level of value.
Along these lines of just "pure efficiency" it's also hard to sleep on the elf occultist FCB and the human warpriest FCB, since "more mental focus" and "more feats" are literally the best things you could get for the class and passing them up is a huge opportunity cost.
Human Psychics and Oracles also have the same FCB as human sorcerers, which is build-defining for the same reasons.
But what the OP was asking is less "which are the most powerful" and which make things worth considering when they would not otherwise be. So along those lines the Halfling Medium FCB for a champion-focused Medium can make a Halfling into an honestly pretty terrifying frontliner.
I built an Aasimar Bard mainly to get the +1/6 to a performance. Inspire Courage is +2 for a level 5 Bard, then +3 for a level 6 Aasimar who took the racial FCB 6 times. Toss on Flagbearer for +4 [albeit morale]. And then get the Banner of the Ancient Kings so at level 7 you get the bonus as if you were level 11 = +5.
Of course, the Charisma bonus of +2, Wisdom +2, Diplomacy +2, and Perception +2 are enticing as well.
|
I made an elf oracle based around the fcb boost to a single revelation (many forms from the Dark Tapestry mystery). This was before the fcb got nerfed from 1/2 a level boost to 1/6. Several races get (got) a similar oracle fcb, and in the case of elves it made a suboptimal class choice more viable.
The nerf hit hard. It didn't make the character unplayable, but it substantially reduced what he's capable of, at least through the mid levels. Since this is a pfs character I could not retain the old bonus. I still think it was a mistake to nerf so hard. I don't see elf oracles these days.
Elf FCB for Occultist is build-defining; can't live without that Mental Focus!
I built an Aasimar Bard mainly to get the +1/6 to a performance. Inspire Courage is +2 for a level 5 Bard, then +3 for a level 6 Aasimar who took the racial FCB 6 times. Toss on Flagbearer for +4 [albeit morale]. And then get the Banner of the Ancient Kings so at level 7 you get the bonus as if you were level 11 = +5.
Of course, the Charisma bonus of +2, Wisdom +2, Diplomacy +2, and Perception +2 are enticing as well.
That's not how that FCB works. It lets you treat your level as 1/6th higher for a specific performance (inspire courage)
So at lv6 you inspire courage bonuses are that of a lv7bard. Meaning it's only useful at lv10 to get the +3 bonus of lv11 or at lv6 with the banner, but then you also never reach move action activation which makes that combo less attractive.Choose one bardic performance; treat the bard as +⅙ level higher when determining the effects of that performance.
Belafon and Cabbage have the right of it; I was mostly looking for things that encourage normally sub-optimal choices. I know I want to try building a Gathlain Kineticist, now!
Dwarf Sorcerer's ability to do more damage with acid and earth spells would make me consider it, even though I am stuck having to play an empyreal bloodline to make it work.
The Elf Barbarian speed boost FCB is another one where I would consider it for certain builds where normally I would never consider it what with the Con penalty.
The Gnome Hunter's FCB DR/Magic boost to his animal companion makes it pretty viable.
The Halfling Slayer's dodge boost from the FCB is great for a Halfling who wants to be a martial class.
The only reason I would pick a Half elf Investigator over a Human Investigator is their FCB.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Half-elf rogue can pull the following during the first 10 levels: Boost your feint by +1 (2 times the half-elf FCB), pick up +1 daily use each of minor magic and major magic early (2 times the elf FCB) and get a bonus rogue talent exactly at rogue level 10, to make it a second advanced one (6 times the human FCB).
Might've been said already, not sure, but the Tiefling Paladin FCB makes a pretty deadly combo alongside the feat "Fey Foundling".
|
|
Halflings have an interesting Wizard FCB
Add +1/2 to the wizard’s effective class level for the purposes of determining his familiar’s natural armor adjustment, Intelligence, and special abilities.
I keep trying to imagine a way to use the familiar in an unusual way. Maybe in conjunction with a familiar archetype.
+1/3 to superstition makes any Human or Half-elf/orc barbarian a straight up magical tank.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
A gnome magus isn't an amazingly strong choice, but that FCB...
Add one of the following weapon special abilities to the list of weapon special abilities the magus may add to his weapon using his arcane pool: defending, ghost touch, merciful, mighty cleaving, vicious; allying, conductive, corrosive, corrosive burst, menacing.
I normally wouldn't play a Gillman, especially one with the Throwback alternate racial trait -- but if I really wanted to play a Medium for some reason, that boost to Spirit Bonus would make it worthwhile.
The Half-elf Summoner FCB is good enough that I banned it in my games.
An extra evolution every 4 levels is a pretty big power boost to an already powerful class.
Unless I'm reading it wrong?
It is actually an extra evolution point every 4 levels.
But the combined bonuses can get really crazy with the Wild Caller archetype. The only factor holding that combination in check is that archetype's list of prohibited evolutions.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Orc (or Half-Orc) Druids have a pretty nifty option for boosting Animal Companions:
Orc (Advanced Race Guide pg. 1): Add +1/2 to the damage dealt by the druid's animal companion's natural attacks.
|
|
I don't think I'd ever pick a DR /magic options unless it's in a wilderness game of some kind. Magic weapons get too common.
This really depends on the campaign. At higher levels, yes humanoid enemies will very often have magic weapons. But non-humanoid monsters, summoned creatures, and so forth usually don't, even at high levels.
|
There are three FCB's I can recall that peaked my interest because they opened up peculiar builds:
Elf Summoner: The amount of time the summoner must spend to summon his Eidolon is reduced by 1 round, to a minimum of 1 round.
Usually a summoner must have his Eidolon out before any combat if he wishes to use it. So if you got ambushed/surprised while you were without it, it will not show that combat. This FCB allows an Elf to summon it within 1 round at lvl 9, so you can actually switch it up a bit. Is it stellar? No, not really, but it allows for more options during combat and out of combat ("I know haste is still running, but I need just 6 seconds!")
Wayang Druid: Select one domain power granted at 1st level that is normally usable a number of times per day equal to 3 + the druid’s Wisdom modifier. The druid adds +1/2 to the number of uses per day of that domain power. In addition, a druid that selects this bonus at 1st level can choose the Darkness domain with her natural bond ability.
So a Wayang Druid can get access to the Darkness domain without having to jump through the archetype-hoops. It might open up a few fun builds, but I haven't really looked into the combinations yet.
Tengu Spiritualist: The spiritualist’s phantom gains 1/6 of a bonus feat. The phantom must meet all prerequisites of the selected feat.
So a feat for your Phantom, that is pretty darn good. Phantoms are already pretty low on feats, especially early on. This allows for more customization of the Phantom, instead of always the same feats on all of them (Toughness, Power Attack, Weapon Finesse, etc).
Half-Orc Occultist: Deal an additional 1/2 point of damage with focus powers.
This goes quite well with the Resonant Power of Evocation.
Hmm... that could be a quite interesting silksworn. I'll have to work on that. Super fancy Half-Orc!
My favourite remains the Oracle. Some races (Halfling, Gnome, Tengu) get to add +1/2 to their curse's level. I've combined it with the Wrecker curse to get access to the level 15 ability at level 10. Any creature that strikes me with a manufactured weapon has the chance to make it go up in dust. Is it practical? Probably not. Is it fun? Definitely. By then you're probably fighting epic demons and such, but if you find a lone humanoid, chances are they have only one good weapon on them.
Dwarf Bards can get medium armour proficiency, which is nice. Race/class combo isn't ideal, and there are Bards archetypes that get medium armour, but if those aren't available, that could be fun.
Both of these don't really redefine their class, but they do open up new options.
Human shaman FCB lets the shaman take the best spells from the cleric.
|
|
I know this is an old thread but I just came across something pretty unique and wanted to add it here:
Vanara arcanist: Add 1/4 to the arcanist’s effective class level when determining the effects of any two arcanist exploits that the arcanist has.
Because of the charisma penalty (and lack of int bonus) vanaras aren't usually the greatest arcanists. But by using this FCB with the School Understanding exploit, you can manage to do things at 16th level a wizard would normally need to be 20th level to do. The particular item I was looking at was the Summoner's Charm ability of the Conjuration school, which lets you make a summon permanent.
|
Aphorite Inquisitor (Plane-Hopper's Handbook pg. 15): Add 1/4 to the number of times per day the inquisitor can change her most recent teamwork feat.
The ability to switch teamwork feats more often seems pretty cool. That is Wisdom + 5 times a day at level 20.
Tiefling (Advanced Race Guide pg. 170): Add a +1/2 bonus on Intimidate checks and Knowledge checks to identify creatures.
Be more scary and pretty ace all the Knowledge checks to know what you are fighting? Good times.