First, I'm a Pathfinder noob/ D&D advanced...
I'm playing with some character build ideals. If I'm reading page 27 of Arms and armor correctly, a Dwarf can use a Dwarven War Axe with 1 hand. 1D8/ 1D10 *3 Crit. If I understand that correctly, I am guessing he can use a tower shield?
My first question is am I seeing that correctly? My second question is if you are using the tower shield for concealment, do you also get the armor bonus?
The next thing I am seeing is a Bard gets no penalty for casting spells in HEAVY armor provided there is NO somatic component, is that right?
If I get this right I am building a dwarven tank, that can wear full plate (+9 armor), Tower shield (+4 armor), Draconic armor (+3) and that is all without bonus. Like I said, I am new to Pathfinder sure I am missing a few things.
Then of course, it's a Strength bonus of +6, Con Bonus +4 for Dwarf/ Dragon Disciple.
I'm just getting started with this so, if anyone could point me in a direction, I'd apprecitate it!
First, I'm a Pathfinder noob/ D&D advanced...
I'm playing with some character build ideals. If I'm reading page 27 of Arms and armor correctly, a Dwarf can use a Dwarven War Axe with 1 hand. 1D8/ 1D10 *3 Crit. If I understand that correctly, I am guessing he can use a tower shield?
My first question is am I seeing that correctly? My second question is if you are using the tower shield for concealment, do you also get the armor bonus?
The next thing I am seeing is a Bard gets no penalty for casting spells in HEAVY armor provided there is NO somatic component, is that right?
If I get this right I am building a dwarven tank, that can wear full plate (+9 armor), Tower shield (+4 armor), Draconic armor (+3) and that is all without bonus. Like I said, I am new to Pathfinder sure I am missing a few things.
Then of course, it's a Strength bonus of +6, Con Bonus +4 for Dwarf/ Dragon Disciple.
I'm just getting started with this so, if anyone could point me in a direction, I'd apprecitate it!
Have a look at the guide to the guides thread stickied at the top of this forum.
Greetings, fellow traveller.
From the equipment section of the PRD:
Waraxe, Dwarven: A dwarven waraxe has a large, ornate head mounted to a thick handle, making it too large to use in one hand without special training; thus, it is an exotic weapon. A Medium character can use a dwarven waraxe two-handed as a martial weapon, or a Large creature can use it one-handed in the same way. A dwarf treats a dwarven waraxe as a martial weapon even when using it in one hand.
Emphasis mine.
Damage is 1d10; x3 on a confirmed critical hit.
You're correct on the tower shield, by spending a standard attack you can profit from the shield by it granting you +4 to AC and total cover (= 50% miss chance for attacks - exact mechanics mentioned in the text for tower shields).
You're right, too, about the bard (or any other arcane caster) in heavy armor using spells without somatic components - did you have a look at the spell list of the bard as to what spells this applies?
CHA penalty a dwarf incurs might hurt a bit for your casting as you'd need CHA 13 to benefit from your spell casting at lvl 20 (items help, of course).
Also, make sure to read Oterisk's Guide to the DD and the discussion accompanying it.
Ruyan.
You guys rock, thanks for the direction!
Some of the big hitter feats I was looking at are:
Greater Vital Strike
Shield Slam/ Shield Master
Deadly Strike
Stunning Crit
I'm about to dig deep on Skills....
And I will check those threads!
You can't lose Dwarf x/20= WIN.
Conundrum, no idea what that means?
Little confused on the Prereq Arcana (knowledge) 5 ranks does that count the base 3 + 2 additional skill points or do I need to spend 5 skill points to be an Dragon Disciple?
Also, the new skill system has me a little thrown in general. Basically, you can spend 1 skill point per level (right)?
In general is it possible to: 1.) take only 1 level in Bard? 2.) at what level can I buy 5 ranks in Arcana (knowledge) (is it level 2,4, or 5?)?
And thoughts on getting the most out of Use Magical Device? I mean scrolls of healing would be pretty awesome!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Dwarf anything = WIN. Not complicated.
|
You'll need to have 5 skill points dedicated to Dragon Disciple before you can take a level in that prestige class.
Your maximum skill ranks (the number of skill points in a particular skill) are capped at your total hit dice. (IE the number of total levels you have. A 5th level Fighter can have 5 skill points in any particular skill max, a 10th level Wizard can have 10 points in a skill max, etc)
You can put any of the skill points you earn leveling up into any skill you like so long as you are under the maximum. So you could take 1 level of bard and if you somehow had exactly 5 skill points earned at that level you certainly could put them all into Knowledge (Arcana) assuming you weren't already maxed out on that skill.
You can also put 1 skill point in per level starting from 1st level and stop after 5th level, or any other combination you might like.
Usually it is slightly more difficult to focus on Use Magic Device when your race has a charisma penalty. Not impossible, but more difficult. That skill should be read in full of course so you know what it all does.
you're mixing up the concepts/terms of concealment and cover, re: tower shield. they mean different things.
normal cover is just +4 to AC, concealment is miss chance separate from attack roll.
tower shield actually grants TOTAL cover (for attacks passing thru the chosen edge/side) which means that you simply can't be attacked. that covers normal attacks, touch and ranged touch spells and some area spells (if a wall on that edge would block their effect), but there is an exception that allows 'targetted' spells (not using attack roll) to still affect you (and uncorporeal attacks should still work unless the tower shield is ghost touch property).
the footnote for the table entry for tower shield says "A tower shield can instead grant you cover." which means you are losing the shield AC completely when you choose to do this (but you become immune to attack rolls in the chosen direction).
5 ranks = 5 skill points. bonuses on top, for stat, class skill, or because you're special, don't matter.
(rank is the actual term used in the game, not 'points', when they say rank they mean rank)
so 5 rank pre-req means you need 5 HD minimum BEFORE taking the class. (thus, you can take the PrC when entitled to have 6 levels)
you can spend 1 rank PER SKILL per level.
you are barred from taking 1 level in Bard. tends to put a crimp in progressing in Bard, since you need 1 level in it before taking the 2nd level. just kidding, of course you can. most bard/DD builds i see tend to see more than 1 bard level, since there is no BAB difference between full BAB and taking 3 more bard levels (total=4) and you progress performance and gain useful abilities and skill ranks. but if you have another build idea, then no problem, your bard casting and performance just lags behind but you obviously get other class abilities instead.
UMD is nice esp. if you have decent CHA, but enough skill ranks to make it work is equally/more important (and DD doesn't have many)
You don't need UMD for things like wands if the spells are on your own class spell list like cures are for bard.
IN COMBAT i don't find UMD useful until you can 'reliably' hit the somewhat high DCs, so find it better to grab a headband/pearl of +INT with UMD as chosen skill only at the point when you can reliably pass it (with +1 rank/HD as you gain from the +INT item). for out of combat situations with no pressure not to waste your turn, and multiple chances to re-try, the dynamic is somewhat different, but not being able to reliably do something in combat does change what you might want to invest in it (until you can reliably use it in combat).
Conundrum, no idea what that means?
Little confused on the Prereq Arcana (knowledge) 5 ranks does that count the base 3 + 2 additional skill points or do I need to spend 5 skill points to be an Dragon Disciple?
Also, the new skill system has me a little thrown in general. Basically, you can spend 1 skill point per level (right)?
Yes, you need to place 5 skill points into Knowledge (Arcana) before you can begin to take levels in Dragon Disciple. And you can only put one skill point in per level.
So put 4 levels in Fighter, and your 1 required arcane level in Bard. At every level put a skill point (rank) in K(A). Then you've met the prereqs for DD.
So, the build is
1-4 Fighter
5 Bard
6-14 DD (guessing Gold is better for Fire resist as opposed to red; red gets cold damage)
15-20 Back to figher =
That equals 19 Feats
As opposed to 21 for 1-20 Fighter
And, I am very grateful for the help!
Anyone have any strong critiques? Am I doing anything wrong?
P.s. it's mainly an armor build + tower shield then a two handed weapon being used in one hand weapon build with a few spells...