level 5 bloodrager, maining strength

[Cuman]

Making a level 5 half-orc primalist bloodrager. I've got the basics down for ability score with:
str: 20 mod +5
dex: 12 mod +1
con: 16 mod +3
int: 10 mod +0
wis: 8 mod -1
cha: 12 mod +1

I already sorted health (57 total), AC(15), CMD(21) and CMB(10).

weapon wise, I've got a masterwork greataxe(AD +11), composite bow(AD +15) and Switchblade(AD +10)

I need help with choosing bloodline and feats mainly.

Aiming to do as much damage as possible (either ranged or melee damage)

power attack to cleave to greater cleave or point-blank shot to precise shot to bull's eyeshot.

some other ideas for feats would benefit skills or crafting.

any ideas are appreciated. thanks

[Smallfoot]

Cuman wrote:

Making a level 5 half-orc primalist bloodrager. I've got the basics down for ability score with:

str: 20 mod +5
dex: 12 mod +1
con: 16 mod +3
int: 10 mod +0
wis: 8 mod -1
cha: 12 mod +1

I already sorted health (57 total), AC(15), CMD(21) and CMB(10).

weapon wise, I've got a masterwork greataxe(AD +11), composite bow(AD +15) and Switchblade(AD +10)

I need help with choosing bloodline and feats mainly.

Aiming to do as much damage as possible (either ranged or melee damage)

power attack to cleave to greater cleave or point-blank shot to precise shot to bull's eyeshot.

some other ideas for feats would benefit skills or crafting.

any ideas are appreciated. thanks

Whether you're going for ranged or melee depends on what role you want to play in the party. That being said, your problem for ranged attacks is getting a good to-hit bonus. Your to-hit for a bow will be 4 less than with a melee or thrown weapon. A good ranged build will look rather different from the usual melee build.

For melee, Cleave and Great Cleave really aren't that good. First, they don't apply at all when you're facing a single opponent. On the rare occasions you have more than two opponents, Great Cleave stops as soon as you miss one. If someone in your party can cast Haste, you'll be better off using a full attack than either Cleave feat. Consider Furious Focus to skip the Power Attack to-hit penalty for your first attack each round.

As far as bloodlines are concerned, Abyssal lets you enlarge when you rage, raising your greataxe damage to 3d6 and adding to your to-hit and damage bonuses as well. You also get claws, which help in case you get grappled or swallowed and can't use a two-handed weapon. Hard to beat if your focus is doing damage.

[rorek55]

swap the greataxe out for a Orc Butchering Axe

You have the strength needed to wield it before raging. You could Take the crossblooded archetype and go for arcane bloodline in addition to abyssal bloodline

Abyssal- as mentioned, take the enlarge person power, and later on the +str power.

Arcane- take the haste or displacement power. (permanent haste while raging is lovely)

While raging, you have 4d6+damage mod for damage. Eventually, you can add impact, upping that to 6d6 damage while raging.

This is nice, because you can pick up the vital strike feats without much worry (until you get pounce, if that is your intention with primalist)

so, at level 6, if you somehow managed to swing a Impact butchering axe your standard attack looks like- 12d6+str+other mods.

Slow on furious focus, and you don't need to worry much about moving/not getting full attacks.

[Claxon]

Yeah, I love arcane bloodline for the options of blur/resist energy and later displacement or haste.

The other bloodline powers aren't great. And while I don't normally like crossblooded, it works well enough for a bloodrager. And the bonuses available from Abyssal make great complement.

However, do remember that in order to fuel primalist you have to sacrifice bloodline powers, and if you mix arcane and abyssal there's not much to sacrifice.

[MrCharisma]

I really don't rate cross-blooded, it's effectively -4 to your will saves on a class with a low progression (and you have 8 WIS, so ...).

I'm really enjoying my Aberrant Bloodrager, but I've spent a LOT of money on defences just to stay upright, and if I'd gone Arcane I'd have Displacement active every combat by now. By saving all that money on defensive items I could have spent them on offensive stuff and I'd be better at offence AND defence.

Re:Cleave, I think Cleave/Great-Cleave are pretty useless, but Cleaving Finish would probably see enough use to be worth it (I wouldn't bother with Improved Cleaving Finish though).

Also, RAGING VITALITY - take it

[Cuman]

Claxon wrote:

However, do remember that in order to fuel primalist you have to sacrifice bloodline powers, and if you mix arcane and abyssal there's not much to sacrifice.

Well, which Archetype should I choose?

I've looked through all of them and I, personally, cannot see anything that would be beneficial.

and if I'm taking raging vitality, since I'm level 5, should I vital strike now or wait till i'm a higher level and instead take feats that would benefit the story (because I'm half-orc, I will be heavily discriminated against in towns) or benefit teammates.

And finally, there is a feat called 'Extra rage power'. would I even need to trade bloodline powers to get rage powers because it seems I could trade, instead, my feats? I don't know if this trade would even be good.

I may cross-blood as well (probably arcane/abyssal for demonic bulk(basically enlarge person) and permanent haste while raging)

thanks

[MrCharisma]

I think primalist is good.

If you go Arcane Bloodrager then just take CAGM and maybe Strength Surge at level 12, your bloodline powers will be better before then.

You can't take Vital Strike till BAB +6

Primalists don't qualify for Extra Rage Power, so you can only get Rage Powers by sacrificing Bloodline Powers.

If you do go Crossblooded you'll really need to pump your will save.

Also regarding the 8th level Arcane Bloodline power, Haste is good, but don't forget Displacement. Displacement is goid enough that it covers all your armour needs for most fights.

[Nyerkh]

Primalist specifically disallows Extra Rage Power (you don't have the prereqs).

Bloodrager is also not one of the classes that need archetyping. If you're not going for something specific, baseline is fine.
Crossblooded certainly has its uses, although you might want to shore up that Will.
You could look at Steelblood with your Dex. Armor Training comes with some interesting options.
But the BR's archetypes are all about changing your style, sometimes fairly radically. For a more classic build, you can stay basic.

Vital Strike is somewhat divisive for full-BAB classes, and I'm not in the pro camp, so meh. But that's a matter of taste.

[Cuman]

MrCharisma wrote:

I think primalist is good.

If you go Arcane Bloodrager then just take CAGM and maybe Strength Surge at level 12, your bloodline powers will be better before then.

You can't take Vital Strike till BAB +6

Primalists don't qualify for Extra Rage Power, so you can only get Rage Powers by sacrificing Bloodline Powers.

If you do go Crossblooded you'll really need to pump your will save.

Also regarding the 8th level Arcane Bloodline power, Haste is good, but don't forget Displacement. Displacement is goid enough that it covers all your armour needs for most fights.

Well, in that case, I might just go abyssal because of the increased damage. I mainly want a simple build (or relatively simple) that does damage. I don't mind taking damage because I have a feeling I'll be able to tank a lot.

If I use abyssal as well, the claw attack eventually does fire damage and with the feat "Fire God's Blessing", I would heal every time I use them individually.

And I know that I have to wait till level 12 for the fire damage bonus but I can ask my team's alchemist to heal me when I need it.

I will also keep primalist so I can retrain my level 8 ability to get CAGM and potentially strength surge. but I might get elemental resistance so that I only gain with that trade-off.

[MrCharisma]

Cuman wrote:

I will also keep primalist so I can retrain my level 8 ability to get CAGM and potentially strength surge. but I might get elemental resistance so that I only gain with that trade-off.

I should say, CAGM is incredibly powerful, but Strength surge is more of a fun ability. It's certainly powerful as well, but not game-breaking in the same way. The best one to pair with CAGM is probably Reckless abandon (and take the Dazing Assault feat, it's a pretty broken combo).

[Claxon]

Cuman wrote:

Claxon wrote:

However, do remember that in order to fuel primalist you have to sacrifice bloodline powers, and if you mix arcane and abyssal there's not much to sacrifice.

Well, which Archetype should I choose?

I've looked through all of them and I, personally, cannot see anything that would be beneficial.

and if I'm taking raging vitality, since I'm level 5, should I vital strike now or wait till i'm a higher level and instead take feats that would benefit the story (because I'm half-orc, I will be heavily discriminated against in towns) or benefit teammates.

And finally, there is a feat called 'Extra rage power'. would I even need to trade bloodline powers to get rage powers because it seems I could trade, instead, my feats? I don't know if this trade would even be good.

I may cross-blood as well (probably arcane/abyssal for demonic bulk(basically enlarge person) and permanent haste while raging)

thanks

You don't qualify for Extra Rage Power because you don't have the Rage Power class feature. Otherwise that would work well.

Honestly, you don't need an archetype. You could ignore primalist (although it costs you nothing, so maybe keep it) and you can decide if there is a bloodline power at a level you don't want, but it's unlikely since between arcane and abyssal there's a lot of good ones.

Or you could not go crossblooded and only choose one bloodline which will leave you with at least a few levels to select rage powers.

Honestly there's nothing wrong with being crossblooded arcane/abyssal and picking up the two good powers from arcane and taking the rest from abyssal. You'll have a plenty strong character and will feel different from a barbarian, which it wont do as much if you start picking up rage powers.