Not really specific to any role or class or style... just want to know what people's favorite low level builds are. They don't have to be, but certainly can be, the start of anything greater, just a max of 5 levels for this particular discussion, please.
I am a big fan of starting with a level of Medium, grabbing Spirit Focus, then 3 levels of Weapon Master Fighter for Weapon Training... regardless of race, and even taking Spirit Focus at 1, you still have 3 feats to round out your build. You can grab Rapid Shot or TWF, and your Spirit bonus/Weapon Training will eat the penalties... and that's pretty much done unless you wanted to extend the theorcraft to the point they could afford Spirit Bonded armor and the Gloves of Dueling, but that would take us beyond level 5.
Another good one is a Nagaji Mesmermist... conveniently five levels gives you both Mental Potency and your first Favored Class Bonus benefit. Your go-to is Color Spray, and it affects +2HD in every catagory... so 4HD and less can be written off as dead. Lol. 5-6HD are still Blinded and Stunned. And 7HD+ are Stunned for "only" one round. You, yourself, are only 5HD... stunning every 7HD creature in a 15' cone that fails their DC ~17 Will save. That's a DC worthy of CR7, that you can spam ~5/day. Absolutely all the wrong kinds of murderhobo BS, but completely legit.
I also have a bunch of really silly Thunder and Fang builds that are all "online" by level 5... well, the Weaponplay Ganzi Wizard doesn't actually get Thunder and Fang until their first level of Eldritch Knight at level 6, but it has all the prerequisites by 5... the Ranger, Fighter, and Warpriest are all sporting Thunder and Fang at level 3.
Anyways, what are some of your favorite, super low level builds?
Everyone's absolute favorite feat, that we all definitely agree on, Bladed Brush...
Human
... Heart of the Fey for low-light vision and +1 Reflex/Will saves
Warrior Poet Samurai
1. Petals to the Wind Flourish
1. Resolve
1(class): Weapon Finesse (w/ glaives)
1(human): Weapon Focus Glaive
1(level): Bladed Brush
Arrow Champion Swashbuckler
2. Panache
2. Retaliation Deed
2. Vengeful Heart Deed-O-Renown
... more Resolve
BAB +2
Base Saves +2/+3/+1 (w/ Heart of the Fey)
Three levels of Phalanx Soldier Fighter can get you one-handing a spear or polearm without Bladed Brush, but what's the fun it that? This build is going to want Combat Reflexes at level 3, regardless of which class level 3 is in. If level 3 is in Fighter, Combat Reflexes and Weapon Trick can be had at the same time.
I don't have any specific builds, but ...
Prepared 9th level casters get that sweet 3rd level of spells, but Spontaneous 9th level casters get boned with a level cap of 5.
Some classes get a pretty nice buff at level 5, so they probably don't want to multiclass . Some classes get something noticable at level 4, so they're prime targets for adding a little dip here.
Swash-tigators come online at level 5. You get all your Dex-stuff and Combat Inspiration, and you still have 2 feats and 1 talent to spare (3 feats if Human).
Oh here's an idea: The Holy Guardian (It's an Oradin, but you know, with a theme)
Human Hospitaler-Paladin-4 / Life-Oracle-1
20 point buy: S-18, D-12, C-14, I-7, W-10, C-16
Traits: Unscathed and probably Adopted (Helpful Halfling).
Feats: 1. Fey Foundling Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, Extra Revelation
Revelations: Life-Link, Channel.
Items: MW Plate, MW weapon of choice (maybe a shield) and 1 Meditarion Crystal
You end up with 15 uses of Lay On Hands per day by spending all your channels, and you Lay On Hands yourself for 2d6+4hp , which is pretty good at this level. You also have 1 spell per day, which should probably be Heroes Defiance just in case.
If you want to be more offensive just swap Bodyguard for Power Attack, and maybe Combat Reflexes for Furious Focus.
Magus is fun from level 3, a wizard from level 1, an alchemist from level 2. Spontaneous casters really need level 4 to have enough variety in what they can do to be fun IMO. By level 5 anything which doesn't require a prestige class should be working, and even among them an arcane trickster (roguish class 1 / wizard 3 / arcane trickster 1 w/accomplished sneak attacker) is fully online.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Character traits:
Smoke Resistant (see through mundane smoke)
Student of Philosophy
Feats and level progression:
1 Combat Reflexes, Weapon Finesse (B)
2 Combat Trick: Tail Terror
3 Equipment Trick (Smokestick)
4 Minor Magic, Debilitating Injury
5 Extra Rogue Talent: Major Magic (Enlarge Tail)
Gear:
Smokesticks
Long Lash Tail Attachment (Reach weapon)
***
Online at level 3, but steadily gets better and better.
At level 3 you have your dex-to-dmg, a reach weapon, and can as a swift action create 1-round duration smoke clouds that you see through while benefiting from total concealment. At level 4 you get Debilitating Injury (Hampered specifically), and at level 5 your Reach increases to 15 ft.
So from a low level you threaten a large area in which you'll get sneak attack AoO's on approaching enemies, and can drop their movement with Debilitating Injury to prevent them from even reaching you and your allies. And even in close quarters it is extremely annoying to fight a reach user when you can't make 5-ft steps.
Wonderstell, I really needed that today, thank you. Fat Tail Kobold... nice.
I already have a Kobold Eldritch Scoundrel UnRogue for Merciless Magic and Merciless Precision, so this will be an easy rewrite/addition. How fun.
Eldritch Scoundrel ends up with 2nd level spells if you go that route... still has Tail Terror at 1, Equipment Trick at 3, Combat Reflexes shows up at 4, and I have room for either Merciless Magic or Merciless Precision at 5.
|
Halfling Dawnflower Dervish Bard.
Partially equipped (8,350 gp not spent):
Halfling bard (dawnflower dervish) 5 (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Magic 34)
NG Small humanoid (halfling)
Init +10; Senses Perception +11
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +6 Dex, +1 size)
hp 48 (5d8+20)
Fort +7, Ref +13, Will +6 (+4 vs. charm and compulsion); +4 morale bonus vs. charm and fear effects, +4 vs. bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic, +2 vs. fear
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mithral scimitar +17 (1d4+12/18-20)
Ranged light crossbow +16 (1d6+6/19-20)
Special Attacks bardic performance 15 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate [DC 15], inspire competence +2, inspire courage +2), battle dance: inspire courage
Bard (Dawnflower Dervish) Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +8)
. . 2nd (3/day)—cat's grace, heroism, mirror image
. . 1st (5/day)—cure light wounds, expeditious retreat, grease, liberating command[UC]
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mending, message, prestidigitation, read magic
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 8, Dex 23, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +7; CMD 17
Feats Arcane Strike, Dervish Dance[ISWG], Improved Initiative, Toughness
Traits irrepressible, resilient
Skills Acrobatics +8, Appraise +3, Bluff +13, Climb +1, Diplomacy +13, Disguise +5, Escape Artist +16, Fly +10, Heal +1, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +7, Knowledge (local) +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Knowledge (planes) +7, Knowledge (religion) +7, Perception +11, Perform (dance) +11, Perform (sing) +13, Ride +8, Sense Motive +13, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +20, Survival +1, Swim +1; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Halfling, Kelish
SQ battle dance, spinning spellcaster, versatile performance (sing)
Other Gear mithral chain shirt, light crossbow, mithral scimitar, 8,350 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Bardic Performance (standard action, 15 rounds/day) Your performances can create magical effects.
Battle Dance (move action) A Dawnflower dervish is trained in the use of the Perform skill, especially dance, to create magical effects on himself. This works like bardic performance, except that the Dawnflower dervish’s performances grant double their normal bonuses, but th
Battle Dance: Inspire Courage +4 (Su) Morale bonus on some saving throws, attack and damage rolls.
Dervish Dance Use Dex modifier instead of Str modifier with scimitar
Fearless +2 bonus to save vs. fear (stacks with halfling luck).
Spinning Spellcaster (Ex) +4 bonus on concentration checks to cast spells defensively.
Versatile Performance (Singing) +13 (Ex) You may substitute the final value of your Perform: Sing skill for Bluff or Sense Motive checks
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com
Pathfinder® and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc.®, and are used under license.
MrCharisma mentioned Gunslingers...
Bolt Ace 5 with a Pelletbow, my favorite crit-fisher. Sure, at level 5, you are only 19-20/×4... but it's a freaking crossbow that does bludgeoning damage. Lol.
You can always take Improved Critical at level 8 with the 3rd level Bonus Feat from Arsenal Chaplain Warpriest.. now it's a 17-20/×4 bludgeoning crossbow. But that is all well beyond the scope of this discussion.
Glad you liked it!
I've been enamored with the Slow Burn Equipment Trick ever since I first saw it, and found the kobold race trait soon after. AFAIK no other race can benefit from Tail Terror, since anyone that can take Racial Heritage won't have a tail, so using a Tail Attachment is peak kobold.
Nothing Fancy, but at low level i like Oracles with reach weapon, they get access to some nice buff and support spell and can still quite pack the punch. In a viking-style game i played a while ago i made a battle Oracle with a longspear, i roleplayed him as a chosen of Odin and he was pretty powerful. IIRC i reached something like 4th level.
As for feats i went with something like:
1st: Combat Reflexes
1st, Bonus Human: Power attack
1st, Weapon mastery revelation: Weapon Focus(Long Spear)
3rd: Dazzling Display
As you can see, it's pretty simple stuff, but the reach, coupled with access two enlarge person makes for a pretty powerful character at low level that can dish out damage while still casting on its turn if necessary.
Oh, the SLUGTERRRA Gunslinger comes online by level 5.
Alchemist-4 (Grenadier) / Gunslinger-1
It's basically just an Alchemist with the EXPLOSIVE MISSILE discovery, and 1 level of Gunslinger primarily for the Quick Clear deed (although the Dead Eye deed is probably good as well). You take as many bomb discoveries as possible and then shoot bombs out of your gun.
Honestly you're probably better off going straight Alchemist, a 1-handed firearm really doesn't add much to this build, but it is super stylish.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hrm, level 5 would be when reincarnated druid's main ability kicks in: Come back from death once a week. Since this encourages melee, I'd probably swing a flame blade or a shillelagh club.
Another character i really liked playing at lower level a foresight Wizard. Again,it's not really a build, but Prescience make for such a fun ability at low level, probably even more so than higher level.
Why? Because Skill DC and CMB are pretty low at lower level. Prescience basically allowing you to know with certainty how good you're gonna roll in a turn meant that i attempted some really weird stuff for a wizard. I remember using it to grapple a stirge off her skin; acrobatics checks to avoid attacks of opportunity; fire a critical hit with her crossbow instead of using precious spell slot.
It's a powerful mechanic that makes you feel like you're actually peering into the future, which is a pretty cool diviner's shtick. Definitely would recommend trying it out.