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Hello everyone!
So, back in Pathfinder one, if you don't know the story of The Land of the Linnorm Kings and Irrisen and Baba Yaga (it's awesome), let me give you a tl;dr: huge area where the humans of ulfen ethinicity (basically scandinavians) got attacked by a minor deity called Baba Yaga and lost half their lands in one month. This land is now Irrisen and is ruled by Baba Yaga daughters. The lands to the west are the lands of the Linnorm Kings, viking-ish people where to be king, you have to solo a Linnorm. It's hard, but awesome. There's also the "minor-deity-fairy-dragon" know as Fafnheir and he is THE FIRST Linnorm. He lives in a huge forest and prophecy says whoever fell this foul beast becomes the king of all ulfen and will lead the ulfen in war against Baba Yaga offspring and return summer to that land cursed by eternal winters... AWESOME, ISN'T IT?
Anyway, years ago, my friends and I tried it, and my char was called Magnus, he was a Human Skald (from the manual of advanced classes). And it was GREAT. He wasn't by any means super OP, but he was SO NICE TO PLAY AS. To inspire my fellow men and charge into certain death and yet win somehow. I want that again in PF2.
Sadly, the "bardbarian" class would be the Warrior Muse Bard from Advanced Player Guide and it's... it's... not Magnus. You see, the Skald didn't overfocus on spellcasting and now the bard is a fullcaster which is good!, don't get me wrong, but that is not, well, a skald. I even tried playing as a warrior muse bard, but it was so... so... subpar. Maxed out as expert proficiency for melee attacks, no medium armor, relying so heavily on spells.
I come then to you, my brethren, who probably read much more than me. Can you help me make an ulfen human that uses shield and axe and inspires his comrades? Someone that fights melee, has more guts than sense, but it's still a joy to have around? All ideas are very welcome, I have almost all books in PDF format, so I can mix and match classes and archetypes, but I'd very much want him to be an ulfen human chaotic good with shield and axe. Despite that, all is fair game.
I'm eager to hear your ideas and suggestions and thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!
Marshal is absolutely the way to go, the question becomes "which flavor of martial is Magnus?" My first thought was barbarian (keeping that bardbarian spirit alive), but not sure if the Instincts appeal to you. Draconic, Giant, and Animal all are quite a bit different from your original character. Spirit and Superstition feel a bit niche, but might work out for you. Fury - the oft-overlooked Instinct - could net you some survivability along with early feats like Raging Intimidation and Sudden Charge. Since the Marshal Dedication is going to want both some Charisma and feat usage, this may be the way to go. Don't forget you can get the very thematic Viking Shieldbearer feat to snatch up Shield Block (or to toss on weapon proficiency to a non-martial Magnus).
Fighter, of course, is there if you want to get the most out of Magnus's melee nature. Double Slice with axe and shield boss while being also to build up your shield tricks. This could work as an interesting character in the center of the fray, fighting, blocking, and inspiring.
Ranger could also work if you want to maybe lean into the outdoorsman angle. A flurry ranger could make the most of the two-weapon style, but it could be rough on the action economy if you're also doing Marshal shenanigans. Magnus could, if you wanted, snatch up some Focus Spells here to replicate some of the casting the skald had, but the thematics might be way off.
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The Marshal does sound like a good fit, but there are even more base classes to put it on top of;
- Champion (maybe Liberator) can be a good burly combat dude who can take some hits.
- Swashbuckler. We tend to think of them as rapier twits but you can also use hatches, boarding axes, light hammers and picks, short swords, and my favorite, the combat grapnel. The line between viking and pirate is a bit blurry anyway.
An easy option would be a human swashbuckler leveraging One For All, Cooperative Nature and Marshal.
Viking?
Here's a second levek build. From there it mostly comes down to personal choice. Marshal is a big archetype and you could potentially spend all your class feats on it. The Viking archetype is also an option (though it might call for tweaking your 1st level feats to avoid redundancy.) You can do a cool shield build there that focuses on using damage proc shields until they break and then instantly switching to another.
Free archetype would obviously help as well.
Magnus Barbarian 2
CG Medium Human Wintertouched Human Humanoid
Perception +6;
Languages None selected
Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +8, Diplomacy +8, Intimidation +6, Lore: Sailing +4, Performance +6
Str +4, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +2
Items Breastplate, Adventurer's Pack, Steel Shield (Hardness 5, HP 20, BT 10)
AC 19 (+21 with shield raised), Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +6
HP 36; Resistances cold 1
Shield Block
Speed 25 feet
Melee Battle Axe +8 (Sweep), Damage 1d8+4 (S)
Melee Hatchet +8 (Agile, Sweep, Thrown 10 ft.), Damage 1d6+4 (S)
No Cause for Alarm
Rage
Additional Feats Cat Fall, Marshal Dedication, Raging Intimidation, Raging Thrower, Viking Shieldbearer,
Wintertouched Human
Additional Specials Instinct (Fury Instinct), Marshal Dedication Skill (Diplomacy), Viking Shieldbearer (Battle Axe)
I like the concept.
