Tactical Teams build off anyone?

[Red_Dog]

Hello All^^ Stop me if this have been done before [and than link me it has been done] but I had an interesting idea/challange

Build a Tactical 3-5 man NPC team at lvl6 that have the same build[minor variations allowed] & operates as a unit.

Major Bonus Points for
=>Style. Of course ^^.

=>T4 or less classes. We all know that 1 6lvl wizard would probably beat anything we come up with. Try keeping those out heh ^^.

=>Team mates giving bonuses to each other mechanically. Not always possible, so not really required.

Things to keep in mind =>
No need to make an "unbeatable team". A team of lockpickers does the jobs it comes to do. As long as the team does the job, than why not? ^^

So I'll start=====================>

Name: Medieval Riot Squad
Race: Human [not necessary, ending up not really needing bonus feat, needs fighter as favorite though. Perhaps Dwarfs?]
Class breakdown: Scout +1/Fighter +1/Scout +5
Feats breakdown: Brutal Throw[1st], Combat Expertise or w/e[1stB], Shield Mate[2ndF], Phalanx Fighting[3rd], Improved Initiative or Far shot[5thS], Improved Skirmish[6th].
*No need for quick draw, drawing as part of a move and throwing at the end**

Skills: Fairly Irrelevant. Spot/Listen, Move/Hide, than w/e tickles fancy. Perhaps disable device? This build has a LOT of skill points.

Equipment: Javelins[count as light weapons right?], Armor in a Jar!(Psicoative Skin)[6k], +1 Ring[2k], +1Shield[2k]. Returning crystals also a plus in javelins. +1 Heavy Shield, Short sword as back up. ~10k, before magic javelin. Under 13k.

The Gimmick: A small 3+ man unit moves at pace of 20ft+ per round and throws Javelins at a target. While in this unit, they can still maintain shield wall... It might look quite comical that a 3+man team with shields hastily pacing thru the country side... But in say battlefield, it should work ^^

The calcs:
The armor=> 8Skin+3[+1Shield]+1Ring+3Phalanx+2Shieldmate+2Scout=29
**Combat Expertise can boost when in a pickle, Alternatively, get Parrying Shield for higher touch AC**
Damage=>with around 18 str=> +9 hit, d6+4d6+4
=====================>


So? ^^ Inspired all the talks about Phalanx fighting, and by me messing with elusive target scouts recently for my campaign ^^

Anyone got kewl ideas? ^^ Would make nice E6 encounters if nothing else!

Its just a fun exercise, hope people partake! ^^

[TroubleBrewing]

Four Dvati Rogues would make a sick little flanking party.

[Azoth]

If they could survive more than 1-2 rounds of combat then yes they would. The issue is being so squishy. Hell one whirlwind attack and a fighter could easily kill them all in mele...either outright or from slaying one of the pair.

[TroubleBrewing]

How does the fighter plan on detecting them? I don't disagree with the comment that they're too squishy, but unless the four stealthy characters are caught with their pants down, there's no way your bog-standard Fighter is going to see them.

[grarrrg]

I recently did something similar with Pathfinder. linky (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12928028&postcount=8)

The linked build works best at level 8 and over, but the OP said level 6.
It can still work, it's just much more fun at level 8.

Basically: Each character takes at least 3 levels of the Holy Tactician (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin/archetypes/paizo---paladin-archetypes/holy-tactician) Paladin archetype.
This gives each character a Bonus Teamwork Feat, and the ability to share that Feat with all nearby allies (no duration)

Quick aside: Teamwork feats are feats that only function if a friendly ally has the same feat and, depending on the feat, if certain other conditions are met.

Assuming there are 4 characters in the group, then at 3rd level, each of the characters essentially gains FOUR bonus feats.

[CTrees]

I actually really like the ratfolk holy tactician idea... To be honest, ratfolk were the first thing I thought of when reading the challenge.
My immediate thought was cavalier, but that's largely because I didn't realize the abiilities weren't the same between classes, and the holy tactician lacked a duration. If only Holy Tactician and Sacred Servant weren't mutually exclusive...

[Particle_Man]

Small characters with swarmfighting could be amusing.

Pathfinder has a ton of teamwork feats that might be helpful here.

OH! Crusaders or Warblades that take nothing but White Raven maneuvers (although I guess that is T3).

Azurin Cleric/Incarnate/Sapphire Hierarchs could work, their 9th cleric substitution level allows one to sacrifice a spell so that all of them get some lovely essentia to play with. But I guess that is higher than T4 as well, and fairly high level.

A team of grappling Monks might be hilarious.

And of course, for T6, you need 7 Samurai. :smallbiggrin:

[Suddo]

I've thought about doing something similar to this. Basically a team iron chef. Though finding a "key ingredient" that is both constricting and allowing for ideas is probably the most challenging part. If you say team of Rogues its easier to think of a bunch of Rogue like character but there is little to no synergy suggested, so you end up with a slew of Zinc Saucier entries. If you say something like Tactical then you end up making the subject too broad: Do you want a Tactical fighting squad with a all different types of things (Tripper, Grapper, Sneak Attacker & Sniper); Do you want a bunch of rogue like characters, stealthy, explosive damage, spec-op type characters; Neither team provides much synergy (unless you add a bard in) though each character will be good on its own.

I mean if you were to say level 6 Tactical squad of NPCs, I'd ask NPC as in character will want to see them as a threat? or characters will just bump into them and you want the illusion of a threat (so only experts). I'd also think personally that tactical means more the spec-op people so I'd mostly go 3-5 Rogues, if you want Tier 4 or lower, if you want Tier 3ish or lower I'd probably go Psychic Rogue, Factotum and Beguiler. Each would now be interesting but you still lack overall synergy.

I'd more suggest a scenario and world (or flavor) and let them loose, though even that could be faulty as too little info is a bad thing.

[nedz]

I thought that the Miniatures Handbook ought to have something, and it has.

Staggering Legion
Guisarme weilding Fighter 5/Tactical Soldier 1
The fighters are sneak attack varient with 3d6 sneak, TS1 gives the Flanker class ability to allow flanking from adjacent squares.
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Combat Reflexes (all required for the PrC) so they have to be human or take a flaw, because they get no fighter feats. Oh and they all need 2 ranks in Sense Motive.

For the 6th level feat: Staggering Strike CAdv p112 This will cause opponents to make a fort save or be staggered every time they are hit, DC is damage dealt.
Tactics: Make Trip attacks, and then try to stagger them when they are down/standup. Hopefully the opponents will only have a single action each round. Improved Trip would be nice, but you are feat starved.

If you are OK with Dragon Magazine material then Backstab (DR340 p86) would make an amusing variant. Here someone attacking another member of the unit would provoke sneak attacks from unlikely directions.

You could pull off the same trick with Combat Reflexes, Vexing Flanker and Adaptable Flanker without the PrC, but you don't get to use TS on many builds.

[Particle_Man]

Wait, Xeph Soulknives! That is perfect! They have darkvision, spot/listen/hide/move silently/tumble as class skills, they can move fast (to run away or spring attack) and if the party kills one, they can't loot their throwable glowing magic swords! They are like the perfect mook sith/ninja! Plus, it is not that hard to keep track of them.

Have them attack in groups (some attacking, some recharging the power on their soulknives, etc.) and the players might not realize their true numbers.

Great for ambushes in forests or warehouses with things to hide behind (since I imagine the pcs will have darkvision too, and besides . . . glowing swords don't help one hide in darkness alone.

Maybe give them spring attack (come to that you might not even need tumble since they will have mobility)? Or the feat that lets them refocus their psionic focus quickly if you want them to stick around in combat a bit. If you want both, you need to change their race to human for 6th level.

I mean, when else are soulknives going to be used for anything?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Incarnates seem like an ideal thing here. Each one can bind different things which give benefits to one another

For example, Lucky Dice, when bound to Hand chakra, give a luck bonus to the whole party. Since Luck bonuses are hard to come by, it'll stack with nearly anything. Bluesteel Bracers also gives a bonus to initiative to the whole party. If they are of different alignments, then they can share their auras as well.

[DemonRoach]

Team Name: Lordi

Preparing for: THE AROCKALYPSE

Build: 5 Bards, Level X, Savage Progression Half Fiend One.

Doesn't need to be good in combat, for you will be rocked :smalltongue:

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Team Name: Lordi

Preparing for: THE AROCKALYPSE

Build: 5 Bards, Level X, Savage Progression Half Fiend One.

Doesn't need to be good in combat, for you will be rocked :smalltongue:

Each one doing DFI in a different elemental flavor? Someone doing regular IC for the bonuses?