A mounted Paladin can deal some serious damage, still have reach, and is better as a small race (you have a medium mount) instead of a medium race (large mount that gets hard to push some places).
You'll have the best movement to intercept foes and be across the battlefield in an instant.
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I'm playing a Halfling Dawnflower Dervish Bard in Hell's Rebels, that might fit the bill. Tough in melee combat, OK damage (she'd the party striker), and good face skills. Note that there is a temple of Sarenrae in Korvosa.
I think a Kineticist is a cool idea.
But my suggestion would be a scaled fist unchained monk halfling :)
Both the main stats compliment the build, you can do fun social face stuff. monks movement speed buffs help with being small and therefore slow.
They’re naturally inclined to high AC without armour, which being small helps.
Damage would be harder but with jabbing style you can rely on dice more than strength. I’m sure there is more you could do too :).
A blood rage halfing raised by shoanti tribe
My suggestion would be Summoner. Both Halfling and Gnome are pretty good races for Summoner, and the Eidolon is a strong melee presense with lots of damage, something that I suspect the party is lacking. The downsides of the small races are irrelevant since it's the Eidolon and not the PC that's doing the physical fighting.
There ain't no better tanking than ensuring an enemy can't attack; you can lean into this pretty well with a gnome using Bewildering Koan. An Iroran Paladin or Scaled Fist Monk (Unchained variety, most likely) are good options for a charisma-based ki pool to exploit this feat. No save daze as a swift action (it's gonna be pretty rare that an enemy creature has the sense motive to compete with someone invested in bluff) is a pretty excellent use of a ki point, I would say.
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Hello everyone,
I'm joining a party (Curse of the Crimson Throne) and I wanted an advice on what would be useful for the group.
They already have a caster druid, a ranged rogue and a not so melee inquisitor.
I was planning a melee character, to protect these ranged fools, but I don't know what to build.
I have only a few requests, I want to play a small race (gnome or halfing but open to others), ideally not a fighter (not a fan of the class fantasy) and I don't like multi classing. They are level 2 and, if I'm not wrong, the AP goes to 13-15.
If you want other informations to help me I'll try to answer as fast as I can.
Thanks a lot for your help!
Your party is also missing an arcane caster. It looks like you have skills and divine casting handled fairly well. My first thought would be a magus. That will get you a decent tank that can also handle a little bit of spell casting.
Personally, I would go with a summoner, as your party is small and it can simultaneously cover the tank, arcane and charisma roles. But the summoner can be a lot to take in if you aren't familiar with it, and some tables ban it for being overpowered.
Problem with Bewildering Koan is that it might be the worst written feat in all of Pathfinder. The check is unclear (a bluff check should be opposed by sense motive), and the effect is even more so. "next action" could be a free action to speak, for instance, or an archer might need two (free action) attempts to draw an arrow.
Considering how much weaker the Breaking-Down Koan ki power from Martial Arts Handbook that was undoubtedly based on Bewildering Koan is, I wouldn't expect many GMs to allow you to just block the entire opponent's turn with a swift action without a save.
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I'd want more information on the 'no so melee' inquisitor. Is it a ranged inquisitor? Is it a melee inquisitor that isn't really good at his job? The two are quite different. If it is the first you need something that can take all the melee hits for the party, if it is the second, you can share out taking the hits, but you need to provide support to help out.
Paladin would be pretty good if you are going to be the sole melee guy. Bloodrager with a mauler familiar as a mount could work out pretty well too.
If you are going to be working with the inquisitor in melee, I'd be looking at Bard. Arcane Duelist perhaps.
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Inquisitors don’t need high strength to work in melee (or Dex to work at range)
They have quite possibly the most accuracy and damage boosts of any class
Bane + divine Favour + judgement + heroism.
I wouldn’t say having medium strength (I’m assuming 14-16) equates to not doing melee.
Especially if he has a nice hammer.
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Regardless of which approach you take, you'll be more effective at protecting your squishy allies if you threaten at reach with a reach weapon. Note also, it seems that none of your allies have any tactical need to get close to enemies.
This means your team would greatly benefit if you choose a defensive style of melee fighting that prevents foes from getting close. As things stand, when your party faces a multi-attack foe such as a troll, it's viable for ALL OF YOU to keep out of it's full attack range (i.e. at least 20' away from where it ends its turn). When you deny full attacks to this sort of foe it drastically reduces incoming damage. This is NOT a viable team tactic if your party includes a raging barbarian who always charges the enemy, but yours does not. It's also not a viable tactic if one of your allies is a clumsy buffoon who doesn't know to stay back from fearsome foes, unless they are able to learn.
Suggest you check out small-sized mounted builds, such as a halfling riding a dog or a gnome riding a giant lizard. Wield a small-size lance, which still has reach. This will give you AoOs, which may be trip attempts, versus foes who try to close with your squishies. This passive effect is a great way to keep allies safer, and is the biggest benefit of wielding a reach weapon.
It can be hard to line up a charge lane in a confined space, like a dungeon. I've seen mounted halflings have problems with this. Gnomes riding a [wall-walking spider-climbing] giant lizard have the option of charging on walls and ceilings, so they can almost always charge. The lizard-rider is also able to get to weird places that the GM probably didn't anticipate, which can be extremely helpful.
The combined reach and speed of a mounted lancer has the wonderful tactical flexibility of adopting several different fighting styles:
* OFFENSIVE OPTION If the tactical situation warrants a charge you can do so. This hits hard but leaves your terribly exposed at the end of the charge.
* DEFENSIVE OPTION if the tactical situation warrants hanging back, avoiding foes' full attacks, and protecting allies, you can do so. This inflicts less damage but also keeps you and your team much safer.
E.g. Say your 3rd level party encounters a single troll in relatively open terrain. If you immediately charge you might wound it, but you won't kill it. You'll probably get a single attack for double or triple damage. On it's turn it will Full Attack you with a Claw/Claw/Bite sequence. You'll take a lot of damage.
If, instead, you hang back 20+ feet, between it and your squishy allies, and ready an action to attack the troll when it comes within reach, then you will get two attacks (your readied action and your AoO), then it gets one attack. On your turn you attack it again then move away, possibly taking it's AoO. With this approach you take three attacks versus its two attack, and you end the turn 20+ feet away from it. I.e. You inflict about the same damage as you would on a charge, but you TAKE far less damage. Meantime your allies are pouring ranged damage into it. The longer you can play tag with the troll, and not die, the better. Your own damage output in this situation is not as important as how long you survive.
Sometimes an aggressive charge to swiftly slay the foe is your best tactical option. Sometimes your best option is to kite the foe in order to buy your allies space and time to slay it. Mounted PCs with reach are good at both tactics.
P.s. Your dwarven inquisitor ally would almost certainly be more melee effective if he picked up a reach weapon. This may not be in the player's vision of the character, and/or the player may not understand this option, but it would almost certainly be more effective.
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Well, I think your first step is to talk to the Inquisitors player and see what he is planning on.
If he is planning on melee, one thing to remember is that he will have teamwork feats (unless he took an archetype that takes them out.) With solo tactics, he doesn't need you to have them, but since he will have them anyway, you taking them might make a lot of sense.
One pretty good option if you are going to be the only melee guy is to have NO melee guys. If the inquisitor goes for sacred huntsmaster and you also take an animal companion class then every one of your party could be mounted (on an animal companion by 4th level), gaining quite a bit of mobility. That combined with some summon monsters can be a very powerful option.
Personally, with that option I'd be looking at Evangelist cleric with animal domain (for the mount) and sacred summons feat. That would also give the party some condition removal that the druid won't have. As other's have noted, that doesn't give you any arcane casting, but I don't really believe that the 'flavor' of casting is a big deal and between them a druid and a cleric have plenty of magic.
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A dwarf with a hammer and medium strength could well already be going for a reach build for the purposes of protecting the back line.
That is the build I would do with a dwarf Inquisitor.
Problem with Bewildering Koan is that it might be the worst written feat in all of Pathfinder. The check is unclear (a bluff check should be opposed by sense motive), and the effect is even more so. "next action" could be a free action to speak, for instance, or an archer might need two (free action) attempts to draw an arrow.
Considering how much weaker the Breaking-Down Koan ki power from Martial Arts Handbook that was undoubtedly based on Bewildering Koan is, I wouldn't expect many GMs to allow you to just block the entire opponent's turn with a swift action without a save.
These are all fair points (especially the comparison with Breaking-Down Koan, which I had forgotten about). I felt it was worth mentioning regardless since the OP doesn't have many ideas other than "melee gnome/halfling" and Bewildering Koan is one of the few things you can do with that that isn't just the same thing the humans are doing but worse.
I felt it was worth mentioning regardless since the OP doesn't have many ideas other than "melee gnome/halfling" and Bewildering Koan is one of the few things you can do with that that isn't just the same thing the humans are doing but worse.
It's all good, I just felt it should come with a warning, lest the OP end up disappointed when the GM says "no".
I theorycrafted a Swashbuckler with a one level dip in Lore Oracle for Sidestep Secret so everything can be keyed off CHA. (...) With Desna's Shooting Star and Noble Scion of War, only thing that'll hurt is your CMB.
Problem with that is that Swashbuckler desperately needs crits to function, and starknife is a 20-20 weapon.
Inquisitors have less need to coordinate feats thanks to Solo Tactics. That said, you can’t go wrong with Butterfly Sting and a high crit weapon like a kukri or rapier paired with a friend and their high crit multiplier weapon like say that Dwarf’s x4 heavy pick *wink wink*
So, how can I make a nice mounted halfling teaming with his dwarf buddy? Thanks a lot!
If you are going to be small in melee you really need some damage that isn't based on your size.
One option is to go with a Magus. Familiar arcana + mauler familiar gives you a pretty good mount at level 3. Spell strike damage isn't based on size, so you are good there, and high crit weapons are nice for a magus, so the above mentioned butterfly sting option exists.
Bard remains a strong option too, duettist gets a familiar for the mauler mount, inspire courage and arcane strike don't depend on size, and you have other fun bard magic.
Eldritch Guardian mentioned above would be pretty strong with tons of possible teamwork feats, although the downside of that is that you wouldn't need your inquisitor partner (since your familiar would suffice) and that might leave him feeling underappreciated.
Another option is two inquisitors. While in some ways they would cover the same bases, you could work together on teamwork feats and still have plenty of options to be unique. If you want a mount, probably you would be going sacred huntsmaster. Bane and judgments work just as well for a small character as a medium one.
If it was me, I'd probably be leaning toward the bard option as the strongest for the party overall. Magus if you want to be more of a glory hound.
Eldritch Guardian mentioned above would be pretty strong with tons of possible teamwork feats, although the downside of that is that you wouldn't need your inquisitor partner (since your familiar would suffice) and that might leave him feeling underappreciated.Oh, I don't know. Just because more guests are coming to the party doesn't mean there is no place for the host!
I am not saying it couldn't work, but if you agree to make a 'duo' with someone, it isn't cool to leave them as a 3rd wheel. This is really probably more a matter of how you play the character, then how you build it, but something to consider.
In this case, the 3rd wheel is more of a unicycle though, because of solo tactics.
With solo tactics you don't need another person with teamwork feats, but you still need the other person in the right position to utilize them. If the inquisitor goes to engage monster 1, and you go to engage monster 2 since you and your mount can do all the tricks you need, you have left half of your 'duo' high and dry. That is all I am pointing out.
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Some excellent Teamwork feats to consider:
Paired Opportunists - If you both use reach weapons then you make a devastating combinations. Requires coordination and discipline, but highly effective.
Tandem Trip - Only as good as tripping in general. Your trips are far more likely to land.
Stealth Synergy
Many others
Problem with that is that Swashbuckler desperately needs crits to function, and starknife is a 20-20 weapon.
Swashbucklers don’t need crits at all considering a large chunk of their damage is precision and doesn’t multiply anyway.
If you want a serious tank check out Kinetic Knight Kinetisist. Heavy armor, shield, go earth and get DR. If you’re really stuck an small go gnome for the CON bonus (Dwarf would be better).
Problem with that is that Swashbuckler desperately needs crits to function, and starknife is a 20-20 weapon.Swashbucklers don’t need crits at all considering a large chunk of their damage is precision and doesn’t multiply anyway.
Swashbucklers don't need crits because a large chunk of their damage doesn't multiply on a crit, but they also desperately need crits because if they aren't critting the only way you regain panache is by being lucky enough to last-hit enemies.
Swashbucklers are basically counter-synergy: the class...