Halfling with the Warslinger alternate racial feature...
20pt buy (w/ racials):
12,17,14,10,14,10
Weapon Master Fighter 3
1. Weapon Focus Sling
1. Point Blank Shot
2. Arc Slinger
3. Slipslinger Style
You can swap Arc Slinger for Precise Shot if you want. Past 3, I'd probably go into Medium, take Spirit Focus at 5... get the Gloves of Dueling, and enchant your armor with Spirit Bonded.
Or, you could play with Starknives, use Charisma for attack and damage via Desna's Shooting Star... any class can pull that off, but a class with a use for Charisma would probably be best, maybe a Flying Blade Swashbuckler? Trade away your deeds to get Resolve via the Vengeful Heart deed of renown, of course.
1. Desna's Shooting Star
3. Quickdraw
5. Improved Critical
5. Point Blank Shot
7. Deific Obedience Desna
8. Startoss Style
9. Diverse Obedience
11. Iron Will
To be fair, I just grabbed a random "Starknife Swashbuckler" out of my notes... it has nothing to do with Halflings, specifically. You could easily skip Deific Obedience if you're not into that.
Disciple of the Pike Cavalier is a favorite of mine for Halflings, particularly with the Underfoot alternate racial feature. Great start for the Halfling Opportunist prestige class. As with most polearm builds, getting Weapon Focus and Weapon Trick are usually top priority after the obvious Combat Reflexes. But you said you wanted some sort of ranged build, right?
I will check out that Shadow alternative racial feature you mentioned, see what I can come up with...
Have you considered playing a paladin? Halflings actually make decent DEX based paladins. A virtuous bravo is surprisingly effective. Paladins can also make decent archers.
I'm currently playing a halfling oracle with the lore mystery and community guardian archetype. She has the Sidestep Secret revelation to add Cha to AC instead of Dex, which (with decent armor for her level) gives her the highest AC in the party. Rayyana's built for healing, diplomacy, knowledge, and a few other skills, so mostly only carries a weapon so she can occasionally give her allies flanking. ;) Not a build for someone who likes to dish out damage or super-optimize, but I'm enjoying playing her.
Max out DEX go for a 16 CHA (after racial bonus), probably want to put a few points into STR to avoid encumbrance (10 after racial adjustment is fine), the rest into CON. Take weapon focus at 1st level and pick up fencing grace (or slashing grace) at 3rd. Take improved critical with rapier (or scimitar) when you qualify. You don’t need to multiclass, just go for light armor. Beyond that you can do whatever you want. Your AC should be decent, and you will have very good saves. You have two ways to boost your damage. As long as you have at least one panache point you get your level to damage as precision damage, which will not multiply and a crit. You also have smite evil which again gives you your level to damage that will multiply on a crit.
If you have enough points to get a 13 INT you can take combat expertise to boost your AC even higher. This would allow you to get improved disarm and disarming strike. Combine that with improved critical on a high crit range weapon for a very good chance of disarming your opponent. Agile maneuvers is going to be required to pull this off.
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I'm playing a halfling Dawnflower Dervish Bard; she's the party striker in our Hell's Rebels game. The recent underwater section has cramped her style a bit though.
Any one got an idea for Grey maiden
Support type That's use either a banner of the ancient kings or the banner of the scarlet rose?I'd like to pay something wholly different from my main bag damage dealers
Having a little face skill power would be nice as well
Arcane Duelist Bard with a Longspear/Banner of Ancient Kings, and Flagbearer.
Wear a Dervish Sikke and the Gloves of Arcane Striking. Have a +1 Impervious Whipwood Longspear as your bonded weapon. I usually wait until I can afford the Banner of Ancient Kings before picking up Flagbearer, even though the feat has its own benefits. Combat Reflexes and Bodyguard at 1 and 3, respectively... usually grab the Helpful trait to increase my Aid Another bonus.
Master/Grand Master Performer requires Extra Performance, but increasing Inspire Courage is legit. Spellsong, Harmonic Spell, and/or Encouraging Spell are all worth considering, too. Endurance once you gain medium armor proficiency isn't a terrible idea, either.
I absolutely loved my Halfling Swashbuckler - Flying Blade. Hurling daggers everywhere was loads of fun, and then parry riposte when attacked (be sure to get a dagger with Sharding)
@ VoodistMonk
Ok So
Halfing
Any Racial trait you suggest I switch out or switch in?
So as you said for feats
1 CMB REF
3 Body Guard
5 ??? EXTRA performance
7 Master Performer
9???
11 ???? Gain most likely won't get paid here.Trait Helpful (Halfing)
Trait Reactionary or something boost a low save?Actually is there a trait that boost aid another for stuff like attack or ac?
I assume I'll have wealth by level
You might want to swap out Sure-Footed for Fleet of Foot... that way you have a normal 30 foot movement speed. You can grab Fey Quickened on top of that... start with the Run feat, and a +2 to Initiative.
Helpful is a racial trait available to Halflings... you take it as a Trait... it turns the bonus you give with Aid Another from a +2 to a +4. Full stop. This is huge! You can use Aid Another to improve their attack or AC or skill checks.. with Bodyguard you are adding +4 to your allies AC after they are attacked, potentially turning a hit into a miss.
As an Arcane Duelist Bard, you get Arcane Strike for "free". And the Gloves of Arcane Striking add your Arcane Strike damage bonus to the bonus you give with Aid Another!!! Now you have a scaling increase that adds to your already impressive +4 bonus. By the time you can afford the gloves, your Arcane Strike bonus will be +2, at least... now you are rocking a +6 Aid Another bonus. The gloves do other stuff, too, but that Aid Another increase is no joke... a +6 difference matters any time you use it.
If you are starting at level 5, and really want to go after the Master Performer and Grand Master Performer feats, then getting Extra Performance out of the way early might be best.
1. Combat Reflexes
3. Bodyguard
5. Extra Performance
7. Flagbearer
At your wealth, a Dervish Sikke is completely out of reach... WBL at 5 is 10,500gp... a Dervish Sikke costs 10,000gp to buy. Even taking Craft Wondrous Item as one of your feats before you start, it still takes a generous GM to allow you to craft a 5,000gp hat before you start. Regardless, taking Craft Wondrous Item may actually be a smarter choice than chasing Grand Master Performer...
It [Craft Wondrous Item] does give you much earlier access to the Gloves of Arcane Striking, the Banner of Ancient Kings, and the Dervish Sikke... as well as other things. You can reasonably craft the banner around level 8, and that's why I usually take Flagbearer at 7. So if you don't have someone willing to craft these things for you, either craft them yourself, or pay full price like a peasant. Lol.
Anyways, a Whipwood Longspear costs 505gp, so it's something you can easily start with at level 5. At level 5 your Whipwood Longspear becomes your bonded weapon, so upgrading it to a +1 Impervious Whipwood Longspear becomes less of a burden in both feats and finances. We don't really have to worry about that TOO much... although, any additional enhancement bonus will increases its hardness and hit points, which is great. It is quite important that we do everything we can to keep our Longspear/Banner combination from being Sundered or otherwise destroyed.
So, something like this certainly wouldn't be bad... especially if you cannot guarantee others in the party will be willing to craft for you. And this would allow you to probably start with the Gloves of Arcane Striking...
1. Combat Reflexes
3. Craft Wondrous Item
5. Bodyguard
7. Flagbearer
Remember, Arcane Duelist gets Arcane Strike and Combat Casting before 5th level, and they get Disruptive at 6... by the sounds of it you aren't interested in too much past 10, but they do get Spellbreaker at 10. You also get medium armor proficiency at 10, but this is probably too late to be useful for you. Level 11 is always spent on Discordant Voice, if you get that far. The extra feats kind of make you a menace to mages, for some fun offensive capability. But you're a Bard, so focus on doing Bard stuff more than menacing mages. Lol.
It's worth it, though... Flagbearer and the Banner of Ancient Kings, that is. It's literally like having Good Hope as a constant effect.
Allies within 30 feet gain:
+2 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws against fear and charm effects.
+2 resistance bonus on all saving throws against mind-affecting effects.
In addition, the carrier gains +4 circumstance bonus on Initiative checks.
20pt buy (with racials);
14,15,12,10,10,16
That gives you enough strength to actually do something with your spear... with your size bonus to attack, you might even hit something.
Going 12,15,12,10,10,18 still gets at least the +1/+1 from Stength, which is better than nothing... I suppose... but I wouldn't go lower in Strength. You can't just leave yourself completely incapable of using your own weapon.
1. Aid Another is a standard action, and maintaining a performance is a free action. So, any time before level 7, you won't be able to both start Inspire Courage and use Aid Another in the same round. But you can maintain Inspire Courage started in a previous round, and use Aid Another. After level 7, you can start Inspire Courage as a move action, then Aid Another as a standard action in the same round.
2. Arcane Duelist Bard gets Arcane Bond with their weapon at level 5. This allows you to do the sommantic components with your weapon, thus maintaining all the requirements for Flagbearer/Banner of Ancient Kings to work even when you are casting spells.
Heroism is the usual go-to, but at this stage your 2nd-level spell slots are quite precious. I like saving my spell slots for emergencies... Liberating Command, Saving Finale, Gallant/Timely Inspiration... sure, something like Glitterdust being required or the need of a well-placed Grease may demand I use a spell slot, but I really try rely on Inspire Courage the most. The first round I can act, I can position myself somewhere useful on the battlefield, and Inspire Courage. That shuts down enemy movement in one direction, and buffs my allies. That usually is good enough for round one.
I may not be the best Bard to hand out advice on spells, though... I play my Bards kind of different. I am always a backup healer, saves the day, sometimes battlefield control, never using charms or illusions, sort of Bard. I take all of the Finale spells and all of the Inspiration spells. I take all the Cure spells and things like Delay Poison. And I save my spell slots for when I need them most.
Inspire Courage is a good buff, by itself. Especially when someone is focused on its use, and making it better. More often than not, Inspire Courage is going to be good enough to swing the battle in our favor... without spending spells to further buff the party. Your mileage may vary.
With a reach weapon and Bodyguard you will want to waltz with your favorite martial... pick a square adjacent where you can threaten whom they threaten. You just tag along, right behind the front line... Inspire Courage as standard action round one, it's a free action to maintain every round afterwards... just move with the front line, using Aid Another to increase the martials' AC or attack, using Bodyguard to protect your favorite martial. The occasional AoO against a moving enemy, and the occasional spell exactly when it's needed.
I'm currently playing a halfling oracle with the lore mystery and community guardian archetype. She has the Sidestep Secret revelation to add Cha to AC instead of Dex, which (with decent armor for her level) gives her the highest AC in the party. Rayyana's built for healing, diplomacy, knowledge, and a few other skills, so mostly only carries a weapon so she can occasionally give her allies flanking. ;) Not a build for someone who likes to dish out damage or super-optimize, but I'm enjoying playing her.Oh she sounds fun.
What is her current level.
We don't usually play past character level 10.I am sadly am not good at diplomacy. Due to never knowing what to say.
She's currently 5th. Her feats include Extra Revelation twice, because her archetype dictates her 1st & 3rd level revelations, but I wanted a couple from her mystery (like Sidestep Secret) as early as possible.
I'm not the most outgoing person, either, so it sometimes takes me a while to figure out what to say, but she gets by OK.