Need Help with Shabti Bloodrager Build

[Rhal, the Styx Boatman]

Hello Everyone!

I maybe able to get into an upcoming game of Mummy's Mask and need some help with a character. Most of my experience is with casters. I am wanting to try and play a Shabti Bloodrager with the Sphinx bloodline - mostly fitting a theme. I have read about possibly doing crossblood with arcane. However, to be honest I have no experience with a bloodrager, it seems interesting and has the sphinx bloodline. Any help with suggestions, build advice, builds, and maybe hoe some things work would be appreciated.

[DeathlessOne]

If you are going to go Crossblooded, take some very LARGE steps to make up for that Will Save hit. Iron Will as a feat is almost a must.

Aside from that, I'd recommend the Vestige Bloodline to pair with the Sphinx. Take the powers in this order:

1) Sphinx (for your claws)
4) Vestige (increase bonuses from tactical positioning)
8) Vestige (Free style feat)
12) Sphinx (for Rend)
16) Sphinx (Spell Resistance and Maze has no saving throw)
20) Sphinx (immunity to fire and electricity)

Crossblooding with Arcane is good too, so long as you take the right powers for free spell buffing at the start of your rage. But, everyone is doing that. I like to do things a bit differently.

[Rhal, the Styx Boatman]

DeathlessOne wrote:

If you are going to go Crossblooded, take some very LARGE steps to make up for that Will Save hit. Iron Will as a feat is almost a must.

Aside from that, I'd recommend the Vestige Bloodline to pair with the Sphinx. Take the powers in this order:

1) Sphinx (for your claws)
4) Vestige (increase bonuses from tactical positioning)
8) Vestige (Free style feat)
12) Sphinx (for Rend)
16) Sphinx (Spell Resistance and Maze has no saving throw)
20) Sphinx (immunity to fire and electricity)

Crossblooding with Arcane is good too, so long as you take the right powers for free spell buffing at the start of your rage. But, everyone is doing that. I like to do things a bit differently.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look over the vestige bloodline. Not definite with going Crossblood, but say a suggestion elsewhere about it.

[Mightypion]

I would stay away from crossblooded. The will save is too punishing, and the benefits are kind of limited. Primalist gets to hybridize with Barb rage powers, which are far more varied and flexible then bloodline powers are and doesnt pay the massive crushing will save bonus.

While you can kind of fix the charm and compulsion aspects via irrepressible, fear effects will hard troll you unless you have a pally in the party, or seriously dip into Pally.

Concerning Sphinx abilities:
Sphinx in general has excellent bonus feats (top tier, seriously) and a very good bonus spell (divine favor) while having quite average bloodline abilities with no real standouts.

--Check with your GM pre game how and which of your abilities, such as rend, you keep while monstrous physiquing. RAW, very little, but your GM may be genorous. This mostly concerns claws and rend abilities.
--Sphinx doesnt pair too well with primalist, because all of your abilities are decent rather then some being great and some being hot garbage (like Abyssal).
--While the roar isnt exactly great, you should probably go down the shatter defenses feat tree, backed up with cornugnon smash. You have dazzling display as a Bloodline Bonus feat.
--Possible feat tree for you (assuming no feat tax patches):
Level 1: Power attack
Level 3: Combat reflexes, Iron Will, improved init, flex feat basically.
Level 5: Weapon focus
Bloodline Bonus Feat level 6: Intimidating display
Level 7: Cornugnon smash or shatter defenses
Level 9: Cornugnon Smash or shatter defenses (whichever of these you did not take at 7)
Bloodline feat level 9:
Improved critical, Iron Will.
I personally think hat you should not focus too much on the claws, but use them as a nice addon. The rend damage just isnt that notable, and Bloodragers have AC issues so you probably want your neck slot to be natural armor.

Traits: You will probably want irrepressible anyway, because its typically a +2 to +3 to possibly TPK will saves at cost of a trait.
Definitly grab the alternative racial trait pharaonic will to improve on that. A reroll wih a +2 equals a +6 basically.

[Taja the Barbarian]

The first issue you'll probably notice with a Bloodrager is the initial stats: You typically want 4 decent or better stats (Str, Dex, Con, and Char) which will probably leave you with poor Wisdom and Intelligence scores. Honestly, the need to put a bit into Charisma rather than Wisdom is the biggest actual 'weakness' this class has when compared to a Barbarian. For example, my 15pt buy half-elf started with a 16 Str, 14 Dex, 14 Con, 12 Chr, 10 Int, and 8 Wis.

Next, you need to realize how few spell slots you actually get: My bloodrager is 11th with a 14 Charisma and still only gets 1 3rd, 2 2nds, and 3 1sts, which means actually casting will be a fairly rare occurrence.

Between your limited slots, sub-par Charisma (for casting at least), and low level spells, you probably want to focus on longer duration buffs with a few 'emergency' options (perhaps Magic Missile and/or Force Sword for incorporeal foes): Most offensive spells just won't work very well for you, and short-term buffs often aren't worth the round of casting (the 'free spell effect' from Greater Bloodrage helps here, but you still have a very limited number of slots to use).

One trick I found for Will Saves is to take a one level dip into Fractured Mind Spiritualist with a Dedication Phantom:

• Base +2 Will save
• +2 to all Will Saves from the Phantom's Iron Will bonus,
• +4 to Will Saves against Mind-Affecting, and
• The ability to shunt the effects of a failed 'Mind-Affecting' save onto your Phantom once per day

Throw in the ability to use wands of Spiritualist spells and the Skill Focus feats from the phantom, and I think it is a pretty nice combination (You can even add the Exciter archetype if you want a backup rage option) assuming it fits with your character concept...

[DeathlessOne]

Consider Steadfast Personality as a feat to offset that low Will save. You'll still want at least a 10 Wisdom, but you can use your Charisma modifier instead.

[Rhal, the Styx Boatman]

DeathlessOne wrote:

If you are going to go Crossblooded, take some very LARGE steps to make up for that Will Save hit. Iron Will as a feat is almost a must.

Aside from that, I'd recommend the Vestige Bloodline to pair with the Sphinx. Take the powers in this order:

1) Sphinx (for your claws)
4) Vestige (increase bonuses from tactical positioning)
8) Vestige (Free style feat)
12) Sphinx (for Rend)
16) Sphinx (Spell Resistance and Maze has no saving throw)
20) Sphinx (immunity to fire and electricity)

Crossblooding with Arcane is good too, so long as you take the right powers for free spell buffing at the start of your rage. But, everyone is doing that. I like to do things a bit differently.

What would you do for the style feat?

[DeathlessOne]

Well, considering you don't have to meet the requirements of said style feat to take it (which means you have to spend spell slots to USE it), I can name a few that are ... interesting:

Charging Stag Style - Gets you into the fray real quick
Monkey Style - Being prone is no longer a problem for you, and getting up is easy.
Skyseeker Style - Lets you close in on enemies with reach weapons.

If it was me, I'd go for the Charging Stag Style. Ignoring difficult terrain, charging through allies, and being able to cut a 90 degree turn in the charge is worth a LOT.