I'm sure you guys get this a lot, but I'm a new player (about 1 year's experience in DnD 5e), with overly specific ideas who finds himself overwhelmed by the class choices available in pathfinder. My DM is of course being a big help, but I'd love to have some third opinions.
So the plan is to join an ongoing campaign (about 2 years old; on and off) played by some good friends, who currently find themeselves in a desert at level 6.
To start off we thought I'd try a temporary, near-NPC level character unique to this arc. Most people are familiar with the poem 'Ozymandias'; so the central conceit of this character would be 'what if ozymandias had survived, tomb-king style, to watch as time crumbles his empire into dust?' So in this world there was once a great Tengu empire whose king found immortality-ish as a desert spirit, only to survive long after all his accomplishments are burried under the sand and forgotten. He now reappears as a strange and very lonely masked wanderer, ready to play with the fates of those who inhabit his former lands.
I'm trying to find a good class/archetype for this character. My primary aim is to find some abilities which give him a sense of being supernatural/mystical. Swarms of scarabs or sand manipulation or etherial or unnatural tracking abilities. Bonus points if it's connected with the terrain (desert) in some way. I'd be really enthusiastic for anything sand-themed. I've read up a bit on druids and rangers (which seem like the obvious choices), but it's hard to make decisions having never played pathfinder, and I'm not super enthusiastic thematically about animal companions (he's meant to be very lonely).
As for party balance there's a slight preference that I take a front line/DPM build. Being new, it would also be helpful if this isn't the most complicated build ever. That said, these are secondary issues.
Race-wise me and my DM thought I'd just use the standard rules for Tengu and then roleplay some abnormalities- he bleeds sand or something. If he gets killed he simply returns to sleep for 100 years. That said, if we can find some abilities to compliment this aspect I'd be more than happy.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I'll be pleased to take any advice you can give, even if it is simply that you think I'm being totally over-ambitious this'll never work.
The challenge here is that simple front-liner often equals a martial type who doesn't always have the mystical/magical connection you're looking for...but here are my two recommendations:
Reincarnated Druid could be a good one; you can take a domain instead of an animal companion, although a) the animal companion is much stronger than the domain until mid-levels, and b) you said front-liner...
But Oracles can be very decent front-line characters. The Battle Mystery has some interesting benefits but you can check out others to see which ones interest you. The main reason I recommend Oracle is the Scourge curse:
Wilderness Origins wrote: You are a blight on the natural world. Bizarre natural hazards develop within a 300-ft radius around you whenever you linger in a natural area for more than 10 minutes, as lesser curse terrain. You cannot choose the hazards or their locations. However, your movement is unimpeded by undergrowth, as a druid’s woodland stride ability, as plants wither away in your footsteps. Your DM can set the potential hazards that actually occur, perhaps, or modify it to suit.
Edit: Completely forgot about the Calamity Caller Warpriest archetype from Heroes from the Fringe. Yes, it's technically Elf-only, but ask your DM if you can't handwave that requirement. It's right up the alley of what you were looking for, although I wouldn't say the calamities are actually that strong.
First, I would definitely check with the other players before joining an existing game as an age old mystic king or something like that - this is so far removed from a normal backstory that it might clash with some player (it does sound a bit mary-sue-ish). Somewone who has supernatural abilities and merely believes himself the old king (or a reincarnation thereof) would be a different cup of tea, of course, and I would suggest going into that direction.
My suggestion would be an earth Kineticist. Not exactly the easiest class (I'd very much suggest reading a guide), although here is a pretty nice concise overview on how the class works. A Kineticist has power over an element (if you've watched the show(s), it like the benders from Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra; in this case you would mimic sandbenders), for you, mastery over sand. Not all of the stuff would fit the theme, i.e. the metal stuff, but you should have plenty of abilities that fit perfectly.
senseNOTmade wrote: Most people are familiar with the poem 'Ozymandias' I challenge that statement!
So an easy set up could be a ranger with the spirit ranger archetype (gives up the companion for a spirit bond with your favorite terrain). Or, if your GM is amenable, a hunter combining the scarab stalker and forester archetypes. This is not technically legal, but seems like it can be finagled with a small amount of GM hand waving.
Psammokinetic is a kineticist archetype that is based on the air element but gives a sand blast, heat wave and some desert themed things.
Swarm Shifter could work if you wanted to go more the bugs angle, but I'm not sure how effective it is overall.
Occult Historian Occultist could be good as a way of reinforcing the characters ancient knowledge. It gives them a mechanic for seeing ruins as they once were. You also get an attack that can turn things to dust which seems appropriate as well.
Sounds like you want a Tengu Druid with the Nature Fang archetype. You’ll probably have to go dexterity based, because of the Tengu stats. For the domain, Desert may fit your flavor pretty well, and is good for melee.
Ooh, I’m a fan of the Occultist idea ErichAD mentioned. If you’re going to be some mystical creature with knowledge of ages past there’s not really any better class to have as a coverup.
It’s a slightly more complicated class than others but they make for good frontline strikers. The Occult Historian is good for your character thematically and you don’t give up too much.
There are lots of guides and forums regarding the occultist for you to read up on; I definitely suggest looking into it.
Oh man, big, big, big thanks for all the suggestions guys. These all sound so cool I now wanna create characters for at least half of them. Right now I think I'm leaning towards either othe ocultist or oracle suggestions, but I also really like the concept of a swarm shifter so maybe I'll create a separate character for that one. You guys have certainly provided me with way more material than I expected to receive.
Derklord wrote: First, I would definitely check with the other players before joining an existing game as an age old mystic king or something like that - this is so far removed from a normal backstory that it might clash with some player (it does sound a bit mary-sue-ish). Yea, I'm a little worried about this too. My hope is that him being temporary means I can take more risks and then just have him disappear if they don't work out. Plus in campaign the backstory gets revealed in reverse order: he's a lonely wanderer first, and only revealed to be something more later on after he's been humanized. At least, that's how I'm hoping this goes down. *sweats*
I would actually suggest a Medium. It may seem a little difficult at first, but rather than BE the reincarnated pharoah, you're his priest, and can channel his spirit.
senseNOTmade wrote: I'm trying to find a good class/archetype for this character. senseNOTmade wrote: this character would be... Ozymandias had survived, tomb-king style, to watch as time crumbles his empire into dust?' So in this world there was once a great Tengu empire whose king found immortality-ish as a desert spirit, only to survive long after all his accomplishments are burried under the sand and forgotten. He now reappears as a strange and very lonely masked wanderer, ready to play with the fates of those who inhabit his former lands. Honestly, this sounds like a Lich.
senseNOTmade wrote: at level 6. But of course, this sure doesn't.
senseNOTmade wrote: My primary aim is to find some abilities which give him a sense of being supernatural/mystical. Swarms of scarabs or sand manipulation or etherial or unnatural tracking abilities. Bonus points if it's connected with the terrain (desert) in some way. I'd be really enthusiastic for anything sand-themed....
As for party balance there's a slight preference that I take a front line/DPM build....
Race-wise me and my DM thought I'd just use the standard rules for Tengu and then roleplay some abnormalities- he bleeds sand or something.
I'm thinking Warpriest. You want to be a Tengu. Take the Tengu Claws Alternative Racial Trait. Take Weapon Focus Claws. Warpriests have this thing called Sacred Weapon where the Weapon you take Weapon Focus in does Sacred Weapon Damage instead of the regular damage, which in the case of Natural Attacks is usually pretty small. Wapriest Sacred Weapon Damage is 1d6 at Level 1, and it goes up kind of like Monk Unarmed Strike Damage. At level 5, SW Damage is 1d8, so that's a good time to take Weapon Focus Bite. Supernatural and Front line.
To make your character a little more complex, but more powerful and keeping with your sand theme, dip into the Prestige Class Living Monolith. It's a kind of Ancient-Egypt themed, stone statue come to life kind of thing. With a 1 level dip in Living Monolith, you get Enlarge Person as a Spell Like Ability as a Swift Action, which will increase your Base Damage from your Unarmed Strikes From 1d8 to 2d6, for instance.
To make your character a little more complex, but more powerful, dip a level in Witch with the White Haired Witch Archetype. This will give you another Natural Attack (Hair), which you can then take Weapon Focus in and do more Sacred Weapon Damage. Plus, you get other things.
To make your character a little more complex, but more Powerful, dip into Barbarian. With 1 level, you get Rage, which increases your Strength by +4, giving you a +2 Attack and Damage for all of your Natural Attacks, which at this point is 4. If you take a 2nd level in Barbarian, you can take the Lesser Fiend Totem Rage Power, which gives you a Gore Attack, which, if you also take Weapon Focus Gore, will also give you Warpriest Sacred Weapon Damage. There are other ways to get Gore. There are 2 Wondrous Items that give it to you: the Animal Mask and the Helm of the Mammoth Lord. When Barbarians come out of Rage, they get Fatigued, and personally, I hate that. There is an Archetype, Dreadnaught, that does not get Fatigued when coming out of Rage, but they only get a +2 ST and Con instead of +4. It is surprisingly difficult to remove the Fatigued Condition.
I know a few more tricks, but my basic suggestion is Wapriest Tengu with Claws for a supernatural, front line character that can wear heavy armor and gets lots of Attacks/round that do good Damage.
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