openhood
2012-06-28, 12:40 PM
I've been playing a lot of dwarves recently, the last one was smashed by an Ogre Mage when I was level 6.
I've decided I want to build a new character based on the Sandman (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/elemental/sandman) monster. My DM is ok with this and we've computed that it takes 4 Sandman levels + 1 adjustment level to gain the full benefit of the monster special abilities. Luckily we're starting of next campaign with level 6 character. So I only have to add him one class level and I'm ok.
Based on how I imagined the race, I thought it would be cooler to not wear any armor, so I try to add him a Monk level. However, after careful consideration and reading this forum, it seems that the Monk class has the following issues:
- Unarmed Strike cannot be combined with the Slam natural weapon, so instead of slaming harder the character would just punch without the sleep effect
- the AC bonus doesn't scale, it will be very hard to melee at higher level while not wearing any armor
- I've read something about the Flury of Fail, didn't know it was a thing!
Now, knowing the Monk class probably won't cut it I tried looking at the other classes can offer. I saw that the Ranger has now more combat styles available, and one is Natural Weapon. After reading what it has to offer, I felt like it could be better than the Monk but not by much. I fear that my character will struggle to find its place in the party, a bit of a fighter but not so powerful, a few interesting spells but not a wizard. Also I didn't envision my character as a spellcaster - with +8 in STR and sleep touch it would be a waste to stand in the distance.
Then I look at the Barbarian, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this class can offer much to a Natural Weapon warrior, with the possibility of gaining pounce at level 10. The only real drawback is that it'll be a slow path. Pounce will only kick in when I'll have 10 level in Barbarian, and because of my monster classes, everybody around me will be level 15 at that time. Also some forum posts seem to point out that Natural Weapon become weaker than plain weapons after some time, because it's harder to enchant and doesn't get iterative attacks.
So I also had a look at the Two-Handed Fighter, which can sure deal some serious damage around him. Because my strength is already 22 (18 from roll +4 from race) I could soon be this guy (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/738/optimal-focused-fighter-builds-in-pathfinder). However, the monster in me will hide inside an armor and smite with a greatsword. What will then be the benefit of being a sandman ? Sure I can add conductive to my weapon, but at a huge cost which could as well be spent in fire or another damage dealing magic property so it's probably not even useful.
It there anyway to advance your monster-base character so that it doesn't fall into the party Flanker role but at the same time keep all that makes him special (sleep touch, shapechanging body, very fast, etc.)? What would you recommend?
I've decided I want to build a new character based on the Sandman (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/elemental/sandman) monster. My DM is ok with this and we've computed that it takes 4 Sandman levels + 1 adjustment level to gain the full benefit of the monster special abilities. Luckily we're starting of next campaign with level 6 character. So I only have to add him one class level and I'm ok.
Based on how I imagined the race, I thought it would be cooler to not wear any armor, so I try to add him a Monk level. However, after careful consideration and reading this forum, it seems that the Monk class has the following issues:
- Unarmed Strike cannot be combined with the Slam natural weapon, so instead of slaming harder the character would just punch without the sleep effect
- the AC bonus doesn't scale, it will be very hard to melee at higher level while not wearing any armor
- I've read something about the Flury of Fail, didn't know it was a thing!
Now, knowing the Monk class probably won't cut it I tried looking at the other classes can offer. I saw that the Ranger has now more combat styles available, and one is Natural Weapon. After reading what it has to offer, I felt like it could be better than the Monk but not by much. I fear that my character will struggle to find its place in the party, a bit of a fighter but not so powerful, a few interesting spells but not a wizard. Also I didn't envision my character as a spellcaster - with +8 in STR and sleep touch it would be a waste to stand in the distance.
Then I look at the Barbarian, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this class can offer much to a Natural Weapon warrior, with the possibility of gaining pounce at level 10. The only real drawback is that it'll be a slow path. Pounce will only kick in when I'll have 10 level in Barbarian, and because of my monster classes, everybody around me will be level 15 at that time. Also some forum posts seem to point out that Natural Weapon become weaker than plain weapons after some time, because it's harder to enchant and doesn't get iterative attacks.
So I also had a look at the Two-Handed Fighter, which can sure deal some serious damage around him. Because my strength is already 22 (18 from roll +4 from race) I could soon be this guy (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/738/optimal-focused-fighter-builds-in-pathfinder). However, the monster in me will hide inside an armor and smite with a greatsword. What will then be the benefit of being a sandman ? Sure I can add conductive to my weapon, but at a huge cost which could as well be spent in fire or another damage dealing magic property so it's probably not even useful.
It there anyway to advance your monster-base character so that it doesn't fall into the party Flanker role but at the same time keep all that makes him special (sleep touch, shapechanging body, very fast, etc.)? What would you recommend?