I am looking at putting together a Storm Kindler build to add to my folder of want-to-play characters.
I need guidance on how to optimize it. I really want to focus on that Storm Shape. I like the idea of effectively causing damage with your move action, and casting spells out from it.
At the moment my idea is to start out as a Spirit Guide Oracle for two reasons; the first being that the curse continues to level with you, and the second, spirit guide continues to give you access to spirit magic spells (from my reading anyway).
Then I need to get Improved Eldritch Heritage Orc or Abyssal for the inherent Strength bonus, increasing my storm DC.I was also looking at Blood Frenzy Style and Blood Frenzy Strike to increase the DC further and increase my damage output.
Obviously I will need Storm-Lashed, but other feats include; Power Attack, Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell, and Favored Prestige Class < Prestigious Spellcaster.
The build I am in no way tied to so far is a Seascarred Skinwalker that uses Waves Spirit to see through Obscuring Mist and attack with Natural Attacks (Abyssal Bloodline). Then use the Storm power from the mid-game onwards.
Check with your GM about the spirit magic spells. If they are treated the same way a cleric's domain spells or a sorcerers bloodline spells then you would not get them. Your reading is a valid one, just not the only valid reading.
Your feats are pretty well fixed
1) skill focus (know planes or survival)
3) eldritch heritage
5) storm lashed
7) ?
9) ?
11) improved eldritch heritage
Blood frenzy style is a no go as you do not have the aquatic subtype.
Blood frenzy style is a no go as you do not have the aquatic subtype.
I did ask this very question
as the blood frenzy style feat say you can only enter it when you take damage as immediate action (instead of the normal swift action of other styles) i was looking for interesting ways to do that (i mean you can just cut yourself but where is the fun in that?)
anyway, most self inflicting feats i found were swift or immediate action themselves, but since you plan on taking power attack maybe use this feat to not only hurt yourself and enter the style but get any enemy close to you as well (just carry a bag of glass beads).
another way that might not work with your build but was very interesting. we had in the party two characters using this style and they both took wild flanking, had a very high ac and let each hit the other once at the start of combat when they flanked (they didn't dodge the first flanked attack so their dex bonus was ruled to be 0 = -5 to ac), they saw it as manly wager. to see who fights best. (and the double power attack damage on enemies was sweet as well)
I actually think that Monk VMC may be the best option right now, the scaling unarmed damage being the biggest draw, and the ki pool to increase my speed being a welcome addition
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Hmm. I had a storm kindler many years ago, but it was a very different route.
1 Bloodrager (steelblood, celestial bloodline). Weapons are good aligned when raging.
2,3,4,5 Druid (storm domain). Wild Shape and buffs.
6 Monk (martial artist). Improved Unarmed Strike.
7+ Storm Kindler (flagging druid for progession)
Basic idea was to wild shape into something with +6 strength, then (blood)rage for more strength, then Storm Shape. Your DC is keyed off your strength, but your damage is keyed off your unarmed strike. I focused on DC.
Feats: Extra Rage & Raging Vitality, Mad Magic & Natural Spell, Shaping Focus, Storm Lashed, Power Attack, Dodge.
Ghost Touch Amulet of Mighty Fists so you can handle incorporeal.
Deliquescent Gloves to add acid damage to the unarmed strike.
Can already see in fog from Storm Kindler, but I also got some Goz Masks to give to the party for when I cast fog spells.
Bad but thematic choice: the character is a sylph. Was burly as I could get, but not the best starting point.
An easy way to damage yourself and start Blood Frenzy is to just toss a flask of acid in an adjacent square and take the 1 point of splash damage.
Hmm. I had a storm kindler many years ago, but it was a very different route.
Indeed very different
1 Bloodrager (steelblood, celestial bloodline). Weapons are good aligned when raging.
2,3,4,5 Druid (storm domain). Wild Shape and buffs.
6 Monk (martial artist). Improved Unarmed Strike.
7+ Storm Kindler (flagging druid for progession)
In my opinion, one of the best aspects of the Storm Kindler is that it moves in effect your "attack" action to a move action, allowing you to attack and cast in the same round. The Storm Kindler reduces your casting (Why I am considering the prestigious spellcaster feat), I do not think it is optimal to multiclass further away from that.
I focused on DC.
Damge vs DC, I too think focusing on DC is the way to go. In a comparison, your one move can have a higher DC than a standard level 9 spell.
Ghost Touch Amulet of Mighty Fists so you can handle incorporeal.
Deliquescent Gloves to add acid damage to the unarmed strike.
The Amulet was already on my list but, the Gloves is a great idea.
Can already see in fog from Storm Kindler, but I also got some Goz Masks to give to the party for when I cast fog spells.
I was going to use the Spirit Guide Waves Spirit Water Sight to get this at level 3 to run as a 'Mist Assassin' until Storm Kindler is online. Casting Obscuring Mist and using Natural Attacks.
Bad but thematic choice: the character is a sylph. Was burly as I could get, but not the best starting point.
I think Wereshark-Kin fall into this aswell, there are better options especially when it comes to stats, the bestial features can be beneficial, but really I am just making Sharknado
TRAITS
Reactionary (Combat)
TBD (_________)
FEATS
Level 1 - Oracle - Level - Skill Focus (KN: Planes)
Level 3 - Oracle - Level - Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal - Claws
Level 5 - Oracle - Level - Blood Frenzy Style
Level 7 - Oracle - Level - Storm-Lashed
Level 9 - Storm Kindler - Level - Favored Prestige Class
Level 11 - Storm Kindler - Level - Improved Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal Strength
Level 13 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 15 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 17 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 19 - Oracle - Level -
Curse: Clouded Vision
Mystery: Ascetic
Revelation
Level 1 - Martial Discipline
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Basic idea was to wild shape into something with +6 strength, then (blood)rage for more strength, then Storm Shape. Your DC is keyed off your strength, but your damage is keyed off your unarmed strike. I focused on DC.
Wait, that doesn't work, does it? That would be multiple effects that change your size. Beast shape III and Storm Shape. Storm shape is (Su), and isn't explicitly a polymorph effect, but it definitely changes your size (minimum 10' high).
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An Oracle Build
There's an interaction of Oracle and Storm Kindler I saw that was kinda interesting. Take Eschew Materials and the Deaf curse. The point, of course, is to be able to cast spells while Storm Shaped even if you don't have the druid levels required to take the Natural Spell feat. You can search out spells without somatic components, but you probably want Still Spell as well. You don't even have to be full oracle, you just need one level.
The particular player I saw was an arcanist with Still Spell and the Metamixing exploit. Cast and still be able to move around sucking up enemies!
An Oracle BuildThere's an interaction of Oracle and Storm Kindler I saw that was kinda interesting. Take Eschew Materials and the Deaf curse. The point, of course, is to be able to cast spells while Storm Shaped even if you don't have the druid levels required to take the Natural Spell feat. You can search out spells without somatic components, but you probably want Still Spell as well. You don't even have to be full oracle, you just need one level.
The particular player I saw was an arcanist with Still Spell and the Metamixing exploit. Cast and still be able to move around sucking up enemies!
Storm Shape is not a polymorph effect, does it even need still spell to cast?
adding 1d6 bleed is nice and all (but as i posted on the other thread probably won't work in the storm shape) how about a nasty debuff to everyone around you?
2 feats investment:
racial heritage (ogre) and Corrupted Flesh will give you the stench special ability (having it, you also become immune to another's such ability).
this can later be upgraded with some or all of these:
ability focus, improved stench, pungent stench (adds nausea beside sicken for as long as they fail!) and maybe even toxic stench.
you can become a storm cloud of miasma! (60 ft radios of sicken, nauseated, poisoned and confused, beside the whirlwind beatdown)
An Oracle BuildThere's an interaction of Oracle and Storm Kindler I saw that was kinda interesting. Take Eschew Materials and the Deaf curse. The point, of course, is to be able to cast spells while Storm Shaped even if you don't have the druid levels required to take the Natural Spell feat. You can search out spells without somatic components, but you probably want Still Spell as well. You don't even have to be full oracle, you just need one level.
The particular player I saw was an arcanist with Still Spell and the Metamixing exploit. Cast and still be able to move around sucking up enemies!
I was thinking about this, if this is right then Deaf for still spell is great.
Divine spells rarely have material needs to Eschew Materials isn't needed. Is there an equivalent for focus?
Edit: Would the Birthmark Trait work?
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Storm Shape is not a polymorph effect, does it even need still spell to cast?An Oracle BuildThere's an interaction of Oracle and Storm Kindler I saw that was kinda interesting. Take Eschew Materials and the Deaf curse. The point, of course, is to be able to cast spells while Storm Shaped even if you don't have the druid levels required to take the Natural Spell feat. You can search out spells without somatic components, but you probably want Still Spell as well. You don't even have to be full oracle, you just need one level.
The particular player I saw was an arcanist with Still Spell and the Metamixing exploit. Cast and still be able to move around sucking up enemies!
Somatic Components require precise movements of the hand and require at least one hand free. It's not only when under a polymorph effect. A whirlwind is a whirlwind, and as such doesn't have limbs capable of those movements.
I was thinking about this, if this is right then Deaf for still spell is great.
Divine spells rarely have material needs to Eschew Materials isn't needed. Is there an equivalent for focus?
If you are going pure oracle don't forget that oracles do not need to provide a divine focus to cast spells that list divine focus (DF) as part of the components. But since their spells are divine, they don't need to provide materials either if the component is M/DF. There are still divine spells (and especially mystery spells) that have material components but, yeah, as long as they take care when selecting their spells an oracle may not need Eschew Materials.
The Silent Spell ability from the deaf curse does not increase casting time, but using Still Spell on a spontaneous spell does make it a minimum of a full-round cast. That was the cleverness of the metamixing exploit on the arcanist.
Edit: Would the Birthmark Trait work?
This is debatable. I had a different player for several sessions who was a cleric-based Storm Kindler. She, of course, wanted to know about channeling. I ruled that a birthmark would be too discorporated to function as a holy symbol while in Storm Form. She was OK with it, because it was a logical follow-on from an earlier ruling I made that the bad guys couldn't grapple her in whirlwind form.
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Storm Form requires many judgment calls. There are too many edge cases that aren't directly covered by the whirlwind rules. Just try to go over as many as you can think of with your GM before it pops up in combat.
THIS^
is a golden advice I strongly support for ANY character built in pathfinder.
so allow me to rephrase it for future generations:
'X' (insert whatever the player is trying to make) requires many judgment calls. There are too many edge cases that aren't directly covered by the rules. Just try to go over as many as you can think of with your GM before it pops up in combat.
The plan is to be a 'Mist Assassin' with the Shaman Water Sight Hex and be a natural attacker until Storm Shape comes online, where you then move to attack, and cast freely with your standard action (Thanks to being Deaf and Still Spell, as well as not needing a DF from being an Oracle).
Both the curse (admittedly slower) and the spirit spells continue to scale as you take the levels in Storm Kindler which is nice. I took 7 levels of Oracle before entering, just to gain access to the Spirit Ability, and further increase the builds flexibility.I am however stuck for a 2nd Trait, and it is a little sad that I am only taking 1 Revelation
TRAITS
Reactionary (Combat)
TBD (_________)
FEATS
Level 1 - Oracle - Level - Skill Focus (KN: Planes)
Level 3 - Oracle - Level - Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal - Claws
Level 5 - Oracle - Level - Blood Frenzy Style
Level 7 - Oracle - Level - Storm-Lashed
Level 9 - Storm Kindler - Level - Improved Initiative
Level 11 - Storm Kindler - Level - Improved Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal Strength
Level 13 - Storm Kindler - Level - Favored Prestige Class
Level 15 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 17 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 19 - Oracle - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Curse: Deaf
Mystery: Ascetic
Revelation
Level 1 - Martial Discipline
So.....Wereshark-kin in an update lost the Amphibian beastial feature for an ability that is Amphibious in all but name only...meaning they don't qualify for Blood Frenzy Style
That means a small rework was in order. With DM fiat because of a monster feat. Martial Discipline and therefore Ascetic Mystery may not be needed now, so some reading of other mysteries is now in order
TRAITS
Reactionary (Combat)
Focused Mind (Magic)
FEATS
Level 1 - Oracle - Level - Skill Focus (KN: Planes)
Level 3 - Oracle - Level - Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal - Claws
Level 5 - Oracle - Level - Improved Initiative
Level 7 - Oracle - Level - Storm-Lashed
Level 9 - Storm Kindler - Level - Ability Focus (Storm Form)
Level 11 - Storm Kindler - Level - Improved Eldritch Heritage: Abyssal Strength
Level 13 - Storm Kindler - Level - Favored Prestige Class
Level 15 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 17 - Storm Kindler - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 19 - Oracle - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Curse: Deaf
Mystery: Ascetic
Revelation
Level 1 - Martial Discipline