Sometimes someone says something and it makes you want to create a new thread for it.
I thought that Champion of Mazludeh idea was pretty spot on, Thanks Possiblecabbage
The main limitation I ran into was with shield attachments. A shield cannot both have a throwing attachment and a shield boss. So at level 1 you need a shield with a boss and somehow have a few throwing shields. IF there is a way to get two attachments on a shield that would help otherwise magic features would be needed to get the job done. Either way returning is needed.
I went with liberator for Cap. It seemed the closest fit.
Starting stats of +4 +3 +1 +0 +0 +1 Cap probably has more Wisdom than this but a pathfinder character cant have it all.
Skills are in Athletics Acrobatics and diplomacy. trained in stealth if theres extra skills to choose. Picked the warrior background to rep time as a soldier.
At level 1 Versatile human with natural ambition Gets you
Toughness Agile Shield Grib and Everstand Stance and this is not a bad start for the concept.
Level 2 and 3 I picked up Monk Dedication to get unarmed strikes at a d6 and open up monk options later but there are few problems with it. Biggest is shields cant FoB so that incentive is out, second is as I was picking class feats aside from level 2 I found it really difficult to give up champ feats that fit into the concept.
Picked up Quick Jump Fleet and Divine Shield as the champ Ally.
level 4 and 5 Boost to str dex con and cha. Everstand Strike and cooperative nature. The ancestry feat here felt like it brings into the build Caps tactical abilities through cooperative nature a little.
Levels 6 and 7 shield warden rapid mantel and skitter. Shes a WW2 soldier so crawling fast is something hes probably trained at.
Levels 8 and 9 Quick shield block Wall jump and Group aid. Group aid furthering the tactical abilities and leadership of Cap.
Level 10 More str dex con and cha/wis. Shield reckoning and Kick up.
by this point the build is already happening and magic gear is available to get the shield working right. Picking the right metal for the shield isnt easy, the shield is light like mithril would be and its durable like adamantine would be, it has shock absorption qualities. Returning is needed and Thundering and hopeful seem kinda fitting possible runes
i saw a site did make an attempt at it here https://pathfinderbuilds.com/builds/how-to-build-captain-america-in-pathfin der-2e
They went Fighter which also really fits.
I think the martial dedication is spot on there but i dont see Cap as heavy armor wearing, and I dont see intimidation as something he is going to prioritize.
I think Cap is a monk with champion paladin archetype myself.
You could do a fighter/monk dual class if your DM allows. He is definitely some kind of monk with incredible hand to hand fighting and movement abilities.
There are a lot of good shield Feats in Bastion.
Maybe a Meteor shield with the reinforcing rune is best. Can you add an attachment to that?.
Fleshwarp might be the best Ancestry. As befits his origin story.
You don't have to have any free hand to Flurry of Blows, so that is still an option.
Oh right! he can flurry with unarmed attacks he doesnt have to always used the shield to attack.
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I think Cap is a monk with champion paladin archetype myself.
You could do a fighter/monk dual class if your DM allows. He is definitely some kind of monk with incredible hand to hand fighting and movement abilities.
Human Fighter + Monk/Martial Artist Archetype.
The reason to not get Monk as class is because the Shield Throw is explicit about "When thrown, the shield is a martial thrown ranged weapon" so you need a class with martial proficiency in order to able to use it efficiently. Also I don't like to get Champion because it is too divine for a Cap concept.
Also if I remember rightly Cap also get weapons training from us army so makes sense to it be a fighter.
About the shield it would be a skinned Meteor Shield with a Shield Boss to get access to both Weapons and Shield runes.
At level 8 change it to an adamantine version (because we don't have vibranium here) and transfer the Boss and Lesser Reinforcing rune to this new shield (this wont improve its hardness now because the Study Shield hardness cap but will improve the shield HP a lot) making it so good as a lvl 7 Sturdy Shield while keep the Shield Throw trait). Same logic is used to change it to a level 16 High-grade Adamantine Meteor Shield.
The only problem of this build is the Returning rune that can only be applied to a thrown weapon but the throwable shield are only considered a weapon "when thrown" so you need to talk with your GM to take easy here and allows you to attach a Returning rune to it.
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As for background, I would call him a Magical Experiment. He wasn't really a soldier until he became Captain America. Prior to that he was a sickly New Yorker. Also, if you could find a way to get the crafting skill, he's actually an artist (in the comics he for a while drew his own comic)
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I would not even try to build Captain America in anything other than a dual class and ancestral paragon game. Captain America is a superhero and one of the most amazing examples of a human in existence. You are not doing him justice as a single class, regular human.
Yes PF2 is a heroic game not a super heroic game. Doesn't really matter, you can have fun anyway.
Ehhh...? Captain America is pretty street-tier as far as superheroes go, just in terms of what his actual powers are. I think that PF2 could represent him pretty handily.
That said, I suppose I'd agree with going at least as far as Free Archetype, because he pretty obviously needs Marshal, and that starts making things pretty tight.
Though... depending on how exactly you want to run him, it might make even more sense to wait until SF2 comes out and then build him as an Envoy. There's that "actually pretty darned good with an assault rifle" thing, after all.
By contrast, you can certainly pretend to be the Hulk with an athletics-focused Giant instinct barbarian, but you can't really pull it off. Hulk's abilities are a bit too far outside of the realm of the human.
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If you allow to throw shields, someone with dwarf Returning Throw feat, Shield Block, Reflexive Shield and Adamantine Sturdy shield. Can also get other shield feats if wanted.
Notice that you can get the shield stuff with Bastion archetype, so you could use Monk as class, and Adopted Ancestry if don't want to use a dwarf.
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I like Monk as base class because the lack of armor for better mobility and unarmed attacks.
But noticed that for attacking with shield needs martial weapons, so it should get first the Fighter archetype, that can benefit for taking also AoO and Reactive Shield from it (shield block as general feat), then Bastion mixing with Monk feats starting at level 8 (also the 1st level feat would be Monk) depending if want more shield or unarmed combat based.
I like Monk as base class because the lack of armor for better mobility and unarmed attacks.
But noticed that for attacking with shield needs martial weapons, so it should get first the Fighter archetype, that can benefit for taking also AoO and Reactive Shield from it (shield block as general feat), then Bastion mixing with Monk feats starting at level 8 (also the 1st level feat would be Monk) depending if want more shield or unarmed combat based.
Fighter archetype weapon proficiency isn't going to scale, though. It'll work at lower levels, but really not great as you get higher.
I guess it just comes down to what aspects of Cap you want to build for since you really cant have them all and they be as good as he is at them.
Unless you Dual Class as Deriven Firelion suggested.
I guess it just comes down to what aspects of Cap you want to build for since you really cant have them all and they be as good as he is at them.
Unless you Dual Class as Deriven Firelion suggested.
I think you can still manage it with just Free Archetype. To my understanding, there's a number of versions of the Captain where he's basically just wearing chainmail. That makes the Fighter chassis a pretty solid base, and then it's just a matter of actually getting all of the feats that you'd need to cover his abilities in general. Like, you'd probably want to archetype into either Monk or Martial Artist, but that kind of thing is what FA is *for*.
Yes it really depends on what aspects of Captain America are key to the concept for you, and what version of Captain America you want to emulate.
To me the base is a martial without any weapons apart from a shield. Armor and maybe a gauntlet is OK. No significant external magic, though self buffing and morale style effects are probably close enough to the concept. It has to be able to protect others and be physically tough.
The build seems to be restricted to low damage attacks. The character is not going to a striker. It is going to be a steady and tough martial controller. So lean into the role.
The options in descending order are:
Champion of Lady Liberty probably archetyping into Bastion/Wrestler and maybe eventually Monk for flurry of blows, or Marshal to emphasize a leadership role.
Monk with a Shield again probably archetyping into Bastion/Wrestler
Then there is Fighter. Not really as tough as the other 2 options. Note that it plays differently. A Fighter you should be using things like Combat Grab and Knockdown or it seems like you are ignoring your best martial ability of +2 to hit. Whereas other classes are probably OK with just grappling straight up.
Everstand Stance seems to an option. It is one way to get a d8 attack going. If you add in Knockdown and Reactive Strike it looks OK.
The feats you want to get from Fighter are low level so its not a bad option to archetype into either.
Cap would work better as an NPC because they aren't limited by a point buy and can cherry pick abilities from multiple classes. The super soldier serum made Cap the peak, and Steve Rogers is the pinnacle of leadership and will power as well. He'd have maxed ability mods in everything but maybe intelligence, and extreme scores in acrobatics, athletics, and diplomacy, with high or extreme intimidation as well.
I'd place him around level 8, because wall run and sudden leap seem roughly in line with his comic book power levels. Then I'd give him all the special abilities to represent his fighting and acrobatics style.