Need Character idea for solo game.

[Nosta1300]

My room mate covered to do a solo game with me no idea about the game world but I agreed cause being stuck in side is driving me nuts

It's level 5 with 25 Point buy

Must be human as I am playing myself who is transported to a fantasy world in a new body but gum says it must be human

I like a character who is decent at swordsman ship has a good amount of skills including social skills and is more than just hit till it dies in combat

[Scott Wilhelm]

Well, I like the Split Blade Sword. It's an exotic weapon, but it does 2d6, and is both a Tripping and disarming Weapon.

I like Style Feats, especially Panther and Snake Style, because I love getting extra attacks. Ascetic Style lets you put Unarmed Strike Feats on your chosen Weapon. That chosen weapon has to be in the Monk Fighter Weapon Group, but you could either take the Martial Versatility Human Feat that lets you apply a Weapon-Specific Feat, such as Ascetic Style 9 Ring Broadsword--in the Monk Group--to any weapon in the same weapon group as that weapon, and Split Blade Sword and 9 Ring Broadsword are both in the Heavy Blades Group. Another way you could do this is get a Split Blade Sword Modified to that it is also in the Monk Group. You will need to take another Feat: Weapon Proficiency, Modified Split Blade Sword.

Anyway, you'll have a 1 handed weapon that does 2d6 Damage, and you can use it with Snake Fang, giving yourself an Attack of Opportunity whenever you are Attacked and Missed. You can develop Tripping, Improved Trip, Fury's Fall, Greater Trip, and Vicious Stomp.

I like taking a level or 2 in Ranger. I like Freebooter's Bane which gives you +1 Attack and Damage, and even level 1 Rangers can use Ranger Wands, such as Lead Blades that will make your SBS inflict Damage as if it were 1 size bigger, so 2d6 becomes 3d6.

I like taking at least 5 levels in Inquisitor. I like Broken Wing Gambit, which gives you more Attacks of Opportunity. I like Bane which gives you an extra 2d6 Damage on your sword. Plus, you can take other Teamwork Feats like Coordinated Maneuvers--+2 on Combat Maneuvers, Harder they Fall which gets around the Size Restriction on Tripping, and Paired Opportunist which makes it so when ever any of your allies get an Attack of Opportunity, all of you do.

Of course, a lot of these ideas might not work if you are solo playing, but you might have NPC allies.

Anyway, just some of my favorite ideas for sword-and-board. I hope youu find some of them useful.

[avr]

As a solo character an investigator is pretty solid. Skills, magic for self-healing and buffs, decent in a fight from L3-4, or from L1 if you go swashigator. Your sword will be a rapier, short sword or sword cane.

[baggageboy]

Personal favorites for solo play:

Phantom Blade Spiritualist
Puppetmaster Magus
Archeologist Bard
Psychic Detective Investigator
Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor
Living Grimoire Inquisitor

All of these have decent skills, and some spellcasting. Some are very well augmented by a dip in a martial class for skills/abilities.

Also all of these have at least 2 good saves. Saves are the most dangerous thing for a solo character. A good GM will account for this, but a single blown save or suck spell is realistically the end of a campaign. Look for ways to make saves super solid if possible and discuss this with your gm.

[Meirril]

You need a great will and fortitude save for a solo character. The sword thing is... a real stumbling block. Monk is tempting because a core monk has no bad save. While they aren't as good as a UC monk at offense, for soloing the core monk is better.

Paladin is a very solid solo character. But...are you a paladin? The code doesn't work well with a real person's personality.

I'd recommend magus, but a magus is just a swing till the problem goes away type.

I think the best bet might be a swashtigator. 1 level swashbuckler, then Empericist Investigator. Throw in a talent that switches a social skill to int. Build for 16 int, 16 dex, 14 con, 10 everything else. Throw the human +2 into dex.

Of course, you could build a traditional bard, and then refuse to actually 'solo'. Cruise around town, visit bars, pick up adventurers and others that seem strong. Become the charismatic leader of a band of mercenaries.

[Mysterious Stranger]

If you are playing yourself being transported into a different world the first thing to do is start with yourself. You don’t need to be realistic about your actual abilities, but look at your likes and dislikes. Try to imagine yourself as you want to be and work from there. Since you are going to be getting a new body you can ignore the physical aspect and focus on the mental stats. Figure out what you best mental stat is and look for a class that utilizes that. Also keep in mind your own personalities and beliefs. If you are the type that really dislikes authority then playing a paladin may be the wrong choice. If on the other hand you are basically lawful good it may be a perfect fit. Once your figure this out you will have narrowed down some of your choices. Again don’t focus on what you actually are, but rather what you want to be.

Since you are the only major character you want a class that can cover most of the basis. At minimum you want a class with two good save, preferably fortitude and will. You will also want to have at least medium BAB. 6th level casting would be preferable, but you could probably get by with 4th level. For skills you want something that is going to have at least 6 points per level after adjusting for race and INT. Also look at if the class gives bonuses to certain skills. You will also want a class with a decent amount of class skills especially social skills. The last thing to look for is a class that gives you a large number of class abilities.

That eliminates all the 9th level casters, those without magic. Most of the full BAB classes are also off the list. A ranger is a possibility, but will need to have a way to get some social skills as class skills. It also eliminates the alchemist, hunter, magus and warpriest. That leave bard, inquisitor, investigator, skald as your prime choices.

Bard look like a good choice but a lot of their abilities are about buffing the rest of the party. With no party those abilities become less valuable. The archaeologist bard would be your best choice for a bard. Trading out all performance for a luck bonus that can be used on just about anything works well for this situation. Make DEX your highest stat and focus on spells that buff yourself instead of those that affect the enemy. Use a feat to get DEX to damage on a high crit range weapon and you are pretty well set. Make sure to pick up heroism as one of your 2nd level spells as soon as you can. Combining Heroism and Archaeologist Luck gives you a huge bonus on pretty much and d20 roll. Make sure to pick up Fates Favored trait to boost your luck bonus ever further.

Inquisitor is probably your strongest option. They hit every single criteria and then some. They get scaling bonuses on two skill, plus the tracking ability of a ranger. They also add WIS to knowledge skill to identify monster and can take a feat to get a scaling bonus on top of that. With the right inquisition they can dump CHA and still have good social skills, reformation works best for this. They get both DEX and WIS to initiative. Judgements and bane allows them to adjust to adjust to any combat situation they are in. This includes a number of defensive option that most other classes don’t have. They have good fortitude and will saves, and at higher level ignore any effects on those save if they make the save. Their spell list is actually incredibly versatile. Not only do they get a lot of the buff spells of a cleric, they also get a lot of utility spells. Having access to both divine favor and invisibility is actually pretty good. The FCB for human inquisitors is additional spells know which is one of the strongest things for a spontaneous caster. I would also go for a DEX to damage build for this. If you can get scimitar as your deities favored weapon and take the reformation inquisition that would be the perfect choice.

Others have recommended a swashtigator and that is a strong build, but has some draw backs. First is going to be the low fortitude saves. The archaeologist bard has the same weakness, but they can use their luck to compensate for it. Second is that other than inspirations you don’t have many class abilities. Sure you skills will be incredible but not many other options. Overall it is a good option, but personally I prefer the inquisitor for the sheer versatility of the class.

Skald at first glance looks fairly decent, but they have the same problem as the bard but even worse. Being able to allow your other party members to enter rage is incredible, but without a party it is not as effective. Rage also tends to leave you somewhat vulnerable after the fight which could be a problem in a solo campaign. In all honesty I would probably avoid this option.

[baggageboy]

Skald isn't a bad choice. The main reasons are the knowledge skills alleviate the skill load and spell kenning is an awesome ability, even more when you don't have anyone else to cast some of those situational spells. If you are looking at skald consider the dates champion archetype. It keeps the most important aspects of spell kenning intact, and the initiative boost can make a big difference. Urban skald with a way to get dex to damage can also be a really solid route.

If you can get past bashing people with a book honestly the living Grimoire is the strongest option I've found. The saves are the important ones, you get prepared casting which allows for more situational spells, and you have a ridiculous number of skill points. Take the conversion domain and you can basically dump charisma to the floor which helps with other things. But the flavor can be hard to swallow.

Edit: Puppetmaster magus is one I've always wanted to try in a solo campaign. The skill list of the magus is a bit lack luster, but you get 4+int skills with an int casting stat which is pretty good. You also get both the magus and the bard spell lists. This may not sound all that great, but that is pretty freaking awesome, plus with spell blending you can steal some wizard spells if you need to. Also in a solo campaign you should be higher in cr than most of your enemies. That make illusions a much better option that they usually would be.