Background: Ignore if you just want to get to the problem.
Okay, long story short party kind of fell apart, GM dropped out, player took over GMing, another player also dropped. Since we are down a man the GM basically just called for a quick re-do of our characters so we can fill in some gaps. Paladin, who basically finished his build at 7th level decided to change a feat and go Noble Scion. He had me build the cohort since I'm a power-gaming weasel and know how to make a good wizard. Basically we ended up with a crafter blaster that likes him some quickened Enervate to counter other casters.
Problem:
The Paladin feels he's under powered on his own with the Noble Scion class since the fights are only getting harder. We are playing Rise of the Runelords.
Here's what he's got to work with:
Fighter Tower Shield Specialist 3, Paladin 4, Noble Scion 2
Str 18
Dex 18
Con 12
Int 14
Wiz 11
Cha 16
Feats
Human Shield Focus
Level 1 Noble Scion of Lore
Level 2 Fighter 1 Combat Expertise
Level 3 Mobile Bulwark Style
Level 4 Fighter 2 Mobile Fortress
Level 5 OPEN FOR HELP BUILD
Level 7 Mobile Stronghold
Level 9 Noble Scion Leadership
Level 9 OPEN FOR HELP BUILD
And then he wants
Level 11 Tower Shield Specialist (for some armor check thing)
The rest is 100% Open.
Oh, and the only things that need to stay is the Style feats. Extra points if you can some how make it so he can ride a Lion or something like that. Dude wants a cool mount. But its a secondary thing.
It's 75gp for a combat trained Bison, which is a CR4 animal on its own. It's not overly fancy, but it will get the job done until you find something better. Decent meat-shield, if nothing else.
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First off: followers are intentionally not as strong as PCs because game balance, they're designed to be a class feature like an animal companion. Noble scion trades off giving you a weaker main character for a better follower. When you build a character with a follower you have to look at it as, are my two characters as good as any other player's one character. The answer almost invariably is no, two is better than one.
If you have a game issue of not having enough players, then maybe try fixing it by talking to the GM and working out an npc to travel with the party.
On to the build:
That is an extremely defensive focused character. He probably has very high AC and saves, and hits like a stiff noodle (not quite a wet noodle as he does at least have a decent attack stat). His contribution to combat is dealing minor damage, and not taking any party resources to keep him alive, that's about it. I guess he can stand in the way and block doorways and things when that is beneficial.
Part of his underpowered feeling is working as intended, he gave up some of his power to his cohort. Part of it is that he chose a sword and board build, and then doubled down on defenses with class and feat choices.
He's not going to do very much damage without major build reworks. So running with what he's got I'd say invest in some combat maneuvers. He already has combat expertise so trip would be a good one. Also consider taking stand still. His contribution then becomes locking down enemies and protecting his lower AC companions.
he could take literally 1 more level of paladin, get the mount bond, and then take the monstrous mount feats at 5 and 9 for a griffon or hippogriff
First off: followers are intentionally not as strong as PCs because game balance, they're designed to be a class feature like an animal companion. Noble scion trades off giving you a weaker main character for a better follower. When you build a character with a follower you have to look at it as, are my two characters as good as any other player's one character. The answer almost invariably is no, two is better than one.
If you have a game issue of not having enough players, then maybe try fixing it by talking to the GM and working out an npc to travel with the party.
On to the build:
That is an extremely defensive focused character. He probably has very high AC and saves, and hits like a stiff noodle (not quite a wet noodle as he does at least have a decent attack stat). His contribution to combat is dealing minor damage, and not taking any party resources to keep him alive, that's about it. I guess he can stand in the way and block doorways and things when that is beneficial.Part of his underpowered feeling is working as intended, he gave up some of his power to his cohort. Part of it is that he chose a sword and board build, and then doubled down on defenses with class and feat choices.
He's not going to do very much damage without major build reworks. So running with what he's got I'd say invest in some combat maneuvers. He already has combat expertise so trip would be a good one. Also consider taking stand still. His contribution then becomes locking down enemies and protecting his lower AC companions.
So something like felling smash? He's got +4 STR and almost full BAB given that Noble Scion gives +1 attack +1 damage at 5ht and 9th. We just need to work out something to make him a threat.
he could take literally 1 more level of paladin, get the mount bond, and then take the monstrous mount feats at 5 and 9 for a griffon or hippogriff
I already pointed that out. I think he did like the shield paladin or something. He does not get the mount option, he'd have to do his armor or a shield.
What happened to Power Attack? Even on a 1H build, it's +6 damage. Which he needs.
What happened to Power Attack? Even on a 1H build, it's +6 damage. Which he needs.
Could slot that in at lvl 5. He'd have to pick between attack and AC though with Combat Expertise
What happened to Power Attack? Even on a 1H build, it's +6 damage. Which he needs.Could slot that in at lvl 5. He'd have to pick between attack and AC though with Combat Expertise
From a power standpoint combat expertise is just bad. Its a prereq to other good feats but the action on it maths out terribly as far as being effective in combat.
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Since they already have Shield Focus, and a bunch of stuff to reduce the ACP to attack, Shield Brace with a polearm is an option, too. This would work well for mounted combat with a lance and the applicable feats.
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From a power standpoint combat expertise is just bad. Its a prereq to other good feats but the action on it maths out terribly as far as being effective in combat.
Combat Expertise can have some value for a character that can sometimes hit on a 2, even with the penalty. But that's not the case here.
Since they already have Shield Focus, and a bunch of stuff to reduce the ACP to attack, Shield Brace with a polearm is an option, too. This would work well for mounted combat with a lance and the applicable feats.
I think that's part of the reason he was looking for a cool mount tbh.
Okay, think we got this hammered out. Once we figured out he was getting like 40K from the Affluent power things fell into place. He's going to get a simulacrum from the cohort for a mount. We also figured with the raw crafting power on deck he can get a Holy weapon and +5 to both shield and armor basically for free.
Definitely going felling-smash, vital strike, and then cap-stoning it with bloody assault. Just slam them to the ground and then savage them with bleed damage all while not being hit.