We've only got access to Core rules so a lot of the other classes (slayer, bloodrager etc) aren't available. Nor are some of the feats you've mentioned. We may get to those later, but for now this group is PF 1 basic. :)
Take Combat Reflexes, Power Attack (consider it a "tax", as you'll use it seldomly), and Cleave at 1st-level with your human fighter. At 2nd, pick up Quick Draw, and at 4th, Shield Focus in the combat-feat slots. Carry a cold-iron bardiche (main weapon), a bow rated for whatever strength you'll be at 4th + belt, a '5 weapon for crowded/grappled backup, and a light quickdraw shield.
-- If you were to level to 6th without taking a single other feat, you'd still be better than the average, low-level martial I've anecdotally encountered.
We've only got access to Core rules so a lot of the other classes (slayer, bloodrager etc) aren't available. Nor are some of the feats you've mentioned. We may get to those later, but for now this group is PF 1 basic. :)Take Combat Reflexes, Power Attack (consider it a "tax", as you'll use it seldomly), and Cleave at 1st-level with your human fighter. At 2nd, pick up Quick Draw, and at 4th, Shield Focus in the combat-feat slots. Carry a cold-iron bardiche (main weapon), a bow rated for whatever strength you'll be at 4th + belt, a '5 weapon for crowded/grappled backup, and a light quickdraw shield.
-- If you were to level to 6th without taking a single other feat, you'd still be better than the average, low-level martial I've anecdotally encountered.
Small quibble: with core only you'll need a different reach weapon than a bardiche, I'd do glaive. And you won't have access to a quick draw shield.
Also, as a side note, Slim Jim's emphasis on character survivability is VERY well-founded! Neglect not thy Armor Class nor they Will Saves!
This is why dwarf is my go-to race for martials (halflings are in second; half-orcs are third), as they're built-in +3 to Fort and Will, and +2 to Reflex, versus poison, spells, and supernatural abilities (which is over 90% of all the saves you'll ever make) when racial bumps + Hardy racial trait are factored. +5 if the PC picks up Steel Soul. +7 to +9 to saves with a little judicious multiclassing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This is why dwarf is my go-to race for martials (halflings are in second; half-orcs are third), as they're built-in +3 to Fort and Will, and +2 to Reflex, versus poison, spells, and supernatural abilities (which is over 90% of all the saves you'll ever make) when racial bumps + Hardy racial trait are factored. +5 if the PC picks up Steel Soul. +7 to +9 to saves with a little judicious multiclassing.I was thinking Half Orc because Sacred Tattoos gives a +1 all Saves and....
A dwarf with Steel Soul and Glory of Old is going to have fort and will saves +4 higher than a half-orc with Sacred Tattoo and Fate's Favored. It's not even close. They're basically right up there with cha-maximizing paladins, and better than many of 'em.
|
You are going to compare things you can't do half the comparison so here is what I think the rest of the comparison is.
1) The benefits of dwarfs are real but are to spells and spell like ability not supernatural which means they don't apply to some really important stuff like energy drain.
2) Luck bonuses abound. Divine favor will apply to divine favor, prayer, AC bonus, all skills, COMMAND, supporting future growth.
3) You still have a free feat in the comparison. Which you can't discount.
4) You can multiclass in any build regardless of race so it is not a useful comparison between race choices.
5)Tenaciousness of half orcs. ReRolls are hard to comeby and pretty powerful.
5) If you use nethys to search (Su) vs (sp) Su are much more common than Sp. Now APs do use a lot of characters with class levels but bad stuff like every drain is a Su. Having now played through 20+ AP books and a hunderds of PFS scenario I find 90% spells and spell like to be overstated. The original 90% spell and supernatural seems about right but it is not relevant to dwarfs with steel soul.
As to sources: OP is playing CRB only, so sacred tattoo, steel soul, glory of old, fate's favored, any other alt race trait, all off the table and irrelevant to this.
1) The benefits of dwarfs are real but are to spells and spell like ability not supernatural(Grandlounge is correct.)
which means they don't apply to some really important stuff like energy drain.
Hardy applies to Energy Drain* (the spell), but not Energy Drain (the vampire's supernatural ability). The dwarf's +2 racial bonus to constitution does apply to the latter, however, and human or half-orc fighters tend not to choose Con with their starting bump. I.e., being a dwarf "automatically" builds the newb a durable character without the player needing hard-won experience to recognize the primacy of attrition over DPR.
(*Aside: the spell Enervation does not allow a save, so in it's case it doesn't matter what saving-throw-bolstering tweaks you have.)
2) Luck bonuses abound. Divine favor will apply to divine favor, prayer, AC bonus, all skills, COMMAND, supporting future growth.
Dwarves can takes Fate's Favored too; the trait is not restricted to any race. (In the context of applying to saves alone, dwarven fort and will saves are already +1 over the usual half-orc Sacred Tattoo martial build, and, should both characters take Fate's Favored, this leaves the dwarf at only -1 to reflex, relatively, versus the subset of reflex saves that Hardy will not apply to, typically balance-related problems that exist before you buy a Snapleaf or other Featherfall gadget.)
Divine Favor is quite the lovely thing to have, of course, but the thread concerns fighters, whom I shouldn't expect would see it that often prior to having 24,000gp in petty cash to blow, and a positive charisma score. (Dwarves make excellent warpriests, btw, especially in point-buy, where their racial attribute pump and dump is very synergistic to that class.)
3) You still have a free feat in the comparison. Which you can't discount.And, after examining all the feats a player chooses for his human character, eventually -- usually -- there's one or more on the player's list that duplicates what a dwarf is essentially enjoying for free. E.g., Iron Will and Toughness, both of which were proposed to the OP in the very first response to him in the thread on page 1.
5)Tenaciousness of half orcs. ReRolls are hard to comeby and pretty powerful.If you're a Tenacious (once-per-day save reroll) half-orc, then you're a half-orc denied Sacred Tattoo, since both of these alternative racial traits require forfeiting Orc Ferocity. Suffice also to say that if you're a half-orc, you won't be getting the moving-goalpost extra feat that humans receive.
Having now played through 20+ AP books and a hunderds of PFS scenario I find 90% spells and spell like to be overstated.
Fine. I'll stipulate it's a somewhat smaller number that still constitutes a huge majority.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dwarves are built like brick $#!thouses, and I love 'em.