Hello again, folks. This topic is a second topic about the my duel(Muscle Arcanist), but there I want to speak a half casters, that can make strong buff, make attack and cast smthg
Rules the same: 20th level character, any Paizo content(except mysthic),10k gold on items, 2 traits and we have suprize round
There are some homerules: character dont need Double Slice, Weapon Proficiency Matrial give proficiancy with all martial weapons and components for spells are free
I thought about 3 classes, that can be a good:Magus, Occultist, and Alchemist.
With Magus I have a 4 builds: Gun Eldritch Archer, Kensai, Esoteric and Artificer
With Occultist i thinking about Panoply Savant with focus on Transmutation, Abjuration (Trappings of the Warrior) and necromansy
For alchemist I want try a melee Grenadier
Idea of Gun Eldritch Archer is be a character like Jhin from LOL: shoot with enchanted bullets and shoot spells for most damage. This a 1 Spellslinger wizard/19 Eldritch Archer magus. I know how to construct it general, but I dont know what arcanas I need to choose.
Kensai is new for archetype for me. Think focusing on Int and Str;crit and damage with for rapier
Esoteric magus is realy intresting for me. Its a like a arcane monk. Like a Kensai, his spells redused, but Esoteric still can have some good profit with them. Esoteric dont change original capstone, so it can be changed. He gain acces to Legendary Blade(because he is a magus) and Ki sage(ki arcana treats arcane pool as ki pool). Legendary Blade gives extra +2 attack and damage or 2d6 of damage which is good with 2d10 unarmed damage. Ki sages increase arcane pool by 4, and gives a 2 UnMonk Ki powers, that I think a realy powerfull: Qinggong Powers gives a opportunity to cast some spells with arcana, dont using their slots, One touch with prepared spell gives a good damage vs touch AC, Diamond Resilience gives a DR6.
Artificer is similar to esotec, but instead of ki arcana pool and full unarmed damage, he have 1 step lower damage, enchanted hand(extra +5 to attack and damage) and cool arcanas(breaking spell, shielded arm and flurry arm). Also he still proficient with Medium and heavy armor
Occultist build Is pretty simple: Maxing Str and Int, buffing Dex or Str with transmutation enchantment. Trappings of the Warrior and extra Mental focus make a Occultist a full matrial like character with Magus like abilities and sometimes with a dead army(necromancy implement).
Grenadier Alchemist is atypical here: his Spellcasting is different how and his other abilities. Alchemist have a good spellist, but use extracts in combat can be difficult because its need a standart action.(if I not used it before combat). Alchemist Mutagen and bombs give a huge damage, but optimize it for melee is some difficult: for melee I need Strengh, for bombs I need Dexterity, for casting need intelligence, for Hp Constitution. Thats become not problem with True mutagen, but most of discoveries enchant bombs, so I dont know what discovery I need to choose before true mutagen(not feral combat)
So, what are think, what build should be strong, intresting and funny to play. Also I forgot to say, that opponent go in melee too, and thinks about ninja
I've recommended Alchemists to you in the past, so seeing you consider one, of course I approve.
I'm not sure what you'll like, but I see you are also looking at Guns, so you should take a look at Gunchemist. Gun chemists have a class ability that lets you apply your Bombs to your bullets, and there is a Discovery called Explosive Missile that also lets you apply your Bombs to your Bullets. So that means each bullet is a ranged Touch Attack, and you can deliver 2 Bombs at a time. Find the most Damaging gun you can, pop an Extract of Enlarge Person to shoot bigger bullets. Take Vital Strike Feats, and pepper and shred your opponent into confetti, burning confetti.
Gunchemist have good potential in damage, due to extra bombds damage and a lot of using it
Spellslinger/Eldritch Archer have ability to enchant bullets by using arcane points and spells. Also due to Arcane gun, spell crit modifier is x3. And some arcana can be more usefull, for example bonus to AC, attack, bonus buffs duration and such things19-20 x3 spell I realy strong I think
Relying on crits, especially a 19-20 range with no further crit range bonuses possible is pretty dangerous. Your entire fight could pass without one showing up.
OTOH with just one fight ever to be concerned with throwing lots of bombs around could indeed be pretty good. Or the ability of a magus to enhance their weapon, if this is the same game where you were talking about a 10K equipment budget at L20. A high level occultist though is heavily reliant on time to buff up or prepare (a couple of standard actions, minimum) and unless you're likely to get that, forget it. Similarly for a melee alchemist - do you get any time for long-lasting buffs like the mutagen before the fight?
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Eldritch Archer is powerful because it is pretty much guaranteed a full attack in all circumstances.
Kensai is highly damaging at mid or high level.
Esoteric magus sucks and you should avoid it; a regular Magus does unarmed fighting better. At level 20 (or level 7, really) you have enough slots that qinggong casting doesn't add anything. And getting a small amount of DR is really not a good use of your swift action. Yes, it sounds cool on paper, but in practice it's an awful archetype.
The (Jistkan) Artificer however is pretty good at high level.
Relying on crits, especially a 19-20 range with no further crit range bonuses possible is pretty dangerous. Your entire fight could pass without one showing up.
OTOH with just one fight ever to be concerned with throwing lots of bombs around could indeed be pretty good. Or the ability of a magus to enhance their weapon, if this is the same game where you were talking about a 10K equipment budget at L20. A high level occultist though is heavily reliant on time to buff up or prepare (a couple of standard actions, minimum) and unless you're likely to get that, forget it. Similarly for a melee alchemist - do you get any time for long-lasting buffs like the mutagen before the fight?
Im not replying on this crits, meaned that Spellslinger/Eldritch Archer gave more situational buffs with not standart action
We have 1 round before combat for buffs
Eldritch Archer is powerful because it is pretty much guaranteed a full attack in all circumstances.
Kensai is highly damaging at mid or high level.
Esoteric magus sucks and you should avoid it; a regular Magus does unarmed fighting better. At level 20 (or level 7, really) you have enough slots that qinggong casting doesn't add anything. And getting a small amount of DR is really not a good use of your swift action. Yes, it sounds cool on paper, but in practice it's an awful archetype.
The (Jistkan) Artificer however is pretty good at high level.
Kensai looks very good with damage and battle control, due to counting as Fighter, crit feats and initiative changes. But his defence looks realy slow. With high Intelligent and Dexterity his AC always about 17(without buffing AC gear). 2 levels of Student of war can help, but that will hurt to spells, feats and capstone
Both of you will hit each other all the time. That's one of the consequences of L20 with no gear. AC won't matter; if you play a magus get flamboyant arcana to maybe stop one attack/round.
Dipping is not a good idea for a L20 oneshot, don't do it. Capstones are better - especially those in Chronicle of Legends.
1 round of buffing is not enough to make an occultist doable at L20, their thing is lots of stuff they can do with a standard action. If the ninja wants to spend lots of time stalking you then you can be ready for them fully buffed though.
A Kensai's defense is...slow? I mean, it takes time to get a high AC, but once you have that time, a Kensai can easily have incredible AC. Especially if you're DEX based.
My level 20 Kensai Bladebound Magus Lucien Reich has an AC of 45. And it's not like he was built to focus on that, either. On the contrary, his offenses actually exceed his defenses.
Lucien does have 880K in items though, including a ring of protection +5 and massive stat boosts. Int and Dex add to AC for a kensai.
Tho' bladebound in particular is a good call for a L20 character with 10K in items as Pro100andr is looking at.
Bladebounds redused pool dont makes bladebound useless?
In a oneshot with just one combat, at L20 - not hardly.
Kensai bladebound looks strong, but about Grenadier Alchemist? With True Mutagen and bombs his damage looks very strong
Bladebounds redused pool dont makes bladebound useless?
No. You have about 4 less Arcane Pool points, but your Black Blade has it's own pool of 5 Arcane Pool points. You can transfer points from it to you, and at level 19 you get one of the only ways to regain arcane pool points with it's Life Drinker ability.
Plus, Kensai means you get more out of boosting INT, so literally every downside of Kensai and Bladebound is negated by just boosting your INT to the stratosphere. More INT = more spells, more arcane pool points, higher DCs, higher AC, higher initiative, etc.
Lucien Reich has 20 Arcane Pool points before his Ring of Arcane Mastery. Had he been built as a human (which was his original build), he'd have 25 Arcane Pool points thanks to the Human Favored Class Bonus.
Speaking of which, I think that there are still some elements of his old human build left to purge. Namely Imperious Bloodline, which requires human lineage.
Lucien does have 880K in items though, including a ring of protection +5 and massive stat boosts. Int and Dex add to AC for a kensai.
Tho' bladebound in particular is a good call for a L20 character with 10K in items as Pro100andr is looking at.
The stat boosts are the real things of note. In the early levels, all you need is DEX and INT and you're set.
Majority of the gold in his current build is actually wasted gold, since he no longer qualifies for Imperious Bloodline, meaning he doesn't need CHA, and he never needed STR, plus thanks to planar binding he can get access to free wishes from Efreeti, Noble Djinn or whatever else have you.
That's what happens when you take an almost completed build and then decide to radically change things, I guess. lol.