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Campaign: Wrath of the Righteous (with watered-down mythic rules)
Character: Aasimar Oracle
Build Focus: Using Desna's Divine Obedience to add my ridiculous Charisma mod to SR Penetration checks and boosting caster level on Holy Word (I think I was at +8 caster levels without using my Karma Prayer Bead).
Effect: Most foes couldn't avoid being paralyzed for at least a round, which was plenty of time for the party martials to spend an MP for a free move action up to the foe and Coup-de-grace them.
I didn't actually change my build at all, but I did put Holy Word in my 'for emergency use only' bucket because it was essentially an 'I win' button...
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So many! Tengu Swashbuckler that turned into a more deadly form as a tiny bird. Ki Mystic Sensei monk that would dimension door the entire party at the start of each fight who also had a killer kitty. Whirlwind trip Rogue/Cavalier that had a 50/50 chance of a free 60' move at the start of each combat. Cavalier/Skald that gave a +8 rage to the party with a familiar whose job it was to constantly put up moment of greatness. Ice Sorcerer who cast at about 6 CL above his level and had diplomacy in the 40's. Sound Striker bard with 60' range and a nearly limitless ki pool to recharge his inspire courage rounds. A Medium who was absolutely insane. Well the insane part was the notable feature, but a lot of fun! A Constructed Pugilist/uMonk with an oversized arm building up to Cerberus style chain to DDoor and vital strike any cluster of enemies. David Bowie in Chronicler of Worlds form with persistent save or suck spells and the ability to frighten all creatures at 30' to 60'.
People at my FLGS kind of knew what to expect, but I would start with the mooks in most battles and when I was the face of the party I tried to play as the party's ambassador in one way or another.
There were more than a few times when it was too much, like charging the glass golem and taking it out in one pounce or two mummies trying to get the drop on us and one hitting each with combat reflexes, but I also tried to come up with out of the box strategies with the group that didn't rely solely on these builds.
Halfling Hunter - Combat Reflexes at level 1, Outflank at level 2, and Pack Flanking and Paired Opportunists at level 3. Slapped Keen on a Scimitar and I was critting on a 15 and setting off chain after chain of AoOs. The other players started calling her Beyblade due to all the attacks she was generating. One time I kept critting while doing the AoOs and starting the chain off again. The poor GM eventually just went "It's dead! Stop rolling, it's dead!"
I didn't quite have to respec, but my Bloodrager in Iron Gods is pretty powerful and I decided not to take the options I'd been planning on. I'm playing a Primalist, and my AC is super low but I have substantial damage reduction, energy resistance, crit negation, the ability to force rerolls, oh and I have 7 AoOs and a 15 foot natural reach most combats. I WAS going to take Come and Get Me and Reckless Abandon to capitalise on my strengths, but I'm already breaking the game enough that my GM is having touble balancing the game. I thought this combo would be enough that he'd flip the table so I just didn't take them.
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Yep, seen that plenty of times. I love intentionally holding it back until a situation where the party is in trouble and then using the full effect.
I've seen a musket master only taking two shots a round until a serious threat appeared, the player looking to the table and asking 'do you need me to get serious?' and once the players said yes, blew away the BBEG with six shots a round.
It's a great feeling.
'do you need me to get serious?'
Ooof, felt that one right in my gut. I have a character in Giantslayer that embodies this concept.
Pale. Anemic. Bleached white hair. Angry cut marks on his arms that never quite seem to heal. A sinister looking (and detecting) king crab that scuttles around him a little too possessively. A secret pact with infernal forces that grant him certain powers. A knowledge that death is a one way trip to the Hells for him, yet a desire to do as much good as he can anyway. And worst of all, he doesn't even seem to know what he wants to be doing every round.
Should he lean into his Witch powers, and hex the enemies or protect his allies? Maybe draw on the growing 'coven' link he shares with two other allies to cast personal spells on them directly? Should he lean into that martial training and draw on half remembered feats he knows to enhance his martial prowess? Should he skulk in the shadows and drive his Hope Knife into the vulnerable flesh of his enemies? Perhaps draw on the arcane skills he's picked up from his Magus friend to enhance his weapons, allowing charged shots or channeling spells through them? ... Or, should he release the essence of the Kraken (Style) that lays dormant in his form, sending torrents of his platinum hair to envelope, grapple, and squeeze (constrict) the most dangerous enemies dry... all while his allies get to rain blows done on the creature at the same time?
... I try to avoid that last option, even though the character was designed to explicitly be able to do that, and do it well. That kind of power is not necessary except when the stakes are too high to ignore that option.
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To a total of 9d6+10...at level 3. What I'm trying to say it as long as you have the ammo for it, if you hit anything, its gonna die. In a very brutal and painful way i might add, and im not sure most DM's would be cool with you one shotting everything while being 4'8
You're looking at 2550 in equipment (out of an expected WBL of 3000 for a third level character). And 50 gp per attack. And 10 minutes prep per attack.
Which is to say this sounds more like a theorycrafted build than something that saw actual play and turned out to be too powerful.
I've had a couple of PFS builds that turned out to be so powerful I held way, way back. But I really enjoy roleplaying so it turned out great for me as I turned those characters into "teachers" who congratulated others on doing well or "entitled jerks" who (role-played that they) believed it was everyone else's responsibility to do the actual work.
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Hmmm. Here are different ways I've roleplayed my OP characters:
Tengu: deathly devoted to his family, who happened to be the entire PFS, so made clear that threatening them was NOT ok. Had high sense motive but low Cha, so offered party insight into social encounters while doing his best not to bungle them (got a good GM chuckle when he tried to gather information by sitting down in a barber's chair and chatting people up).
Sensei: strictly disabling enemies and walling off party squishies while playing the part of Kung Fu Panda's Sifu to PC's 'grasshoppers' for inspired courage, so snarky advice combined with highest praise for when the party supported each other.
Rogue/Cavalier: self-described mook-bane, would seek out the least powerful enemies to build up her glorious challenge bonuses first.
Cavalier/Skald: dayjob was a confidence instructor with a 60 second ad for his 'How To Orc' self-improvement series (including AC 20 Abs, and Barrgh! (now available in Common!)), so his shtick was teaching others how to rage like an Orc (twin character to my partner's barbarian Orcella, who he constantly infuriated).
Ice Sorcerer was the Dude from the Big Lebowski, so completely clueless and in need of the party's guidance (especially on what to say as the face of the party), but he did actually find his rug after winning the Ruby Phoenix Tournament (it really tied the planes together!)
Sound-Striker bard was just stupid strong on attack, but gave really good buffs to the party, and I did learn the basics of Thuvan throat singing for when he used his abilities
The Medium focused on the Marshal spirit, so her power was keeping the party out of trouble, but used her unique Gnome perspective to find interesting and unexpected solutions to most problems (even when that was just finding out to use the pointy end of the spear as the Champion)
The Constructed Puglist/ Monk was a doctor, so only non-lethal except against outsiders and undead, and constantly sought to understand why the Society kept calling on him, of all people, for these missions (was really great when a doctor/heal skill was actually needed!)
The David Bowie Chronicler of Worlds was debuff build, so gave the party it's share of combat once the odds were in our favor, and had all sorts of fun disguises based on Bowie's actual personas (and voices to go with them).
A human fighter focused on tripping and damage:
Fighter (Mutation Warrior) 20, VMC Barbarian
1st- Combat Expertise, Improved Trip*, Fast Learner**
2nd- Power Attack*
3rd- Mutagen (+4 Str); Rage (Con mod + level rounds per day)
4th- Combat Stamina* (for the tricks)
5th- Weapon Training (+1 Polearms); Furious Focus
6th- Greater Trip*
7th- Mutagen Discovery (Wings); Uncanny Dodge
8th- Cut from the Air*
9th- Advanced Weapon Training (Weapon Mastery [Smash From the Air]); Iron Will
10th- Felling Smash*
11th- Mutagen Discovery (Spontaneous Healing); Rage Power (Knockback)
12th- Critical Focus*
13th- Advanced Weapon Training (Weapon Specialist/Polearms [Improved Critical]); Combat Reflexes
14th- Bleeding Critical*
15th- Mutagen Discovery (Greater Mutagen [+6 Str, +4 Dex]; DR 3/-
16th- Stunning Assault*
17th- Weapon Training (+2 Polearms, +1 Bows); Cleave
18th- Cleaving Finish*
19th- Mutagen Discovery (Grand Mutagen [+8 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Con]); Greater Rage
20th- Weapon Mastery (Nodachi), bonus combat feat*
Primary Weapon: +1 adamantine nodachi -> +1 furious -> +1 furious transformative -> +2 furious transformative -> +2 furious impact transformative -> improve from there. Note that hooked lance and nodachi are both in the Polearms Fighter Weapon Group; hooked lance for reach tripping (with the Knockback rage power to push enemies that get inside reach back) and nodachi for effect crit-fishing (18-20/x2 and 20/x4 weapons are statistically about equal for DPR).
Invest in a Vest of Stable Mutation.
A starting 17 Str (the floor with a 15 point buy; 17 [15 + 2] Str, 14 Dex, 12 Con, 13 Int, 12 Wis, 6 Cha) ends up with an effective 42 Str (17 + 5 [advancement] + 6 [enhancement from a belt] + 8 [alchemical] + 6 [morale]) at 20th level. Plus 4 skill ranks per level (max out Perception with one, split between Craft [Alchemy] and Fly [after 6th/7th level] with another, 2 ranks per level left for whatever [probably not Cha-based skills]).
*- fighter bonus combat feats
**- human bonus feat