What's a really *fun* build?

[danzibr]

So I'm currently playing D&D and, well, my character is kind of bland. Let's not get into the details too much.

What's a really fun build? I'm looking for not necessarily a pure caster, but someone that can do a little something in almost every situation (in a combat-centric campaign, by the way, so I mean almost every situation, I mean most situations you'd find in combat), and can also help out his buddies. Not necessarily buffing like a Bard or something, but battlefield control would also be cool.

All sources are available (well, not 3rd party stuff), but no cheese please.

[JeminiZero]

Factotum comes to mind as having quite a few tricks while being melee competent.

[AWiz_Abroad]

Well. . . I've always been a Wizard fan myself. . . but abiding by your not a full caster rule. . . We had a binder in our campaign who was an interesting character. Not much in the way of battlefield control

What about a druid? A melee beast with wildshape, an animal providing some BC without casting a spell, and some decent battlefield control spells like Entangle.

[VGLordR2]

This is very cheesy, but I like to take the Divine Minion of Mulhorandi template to qualify early for Master of Many Forms. If you talk to your DM ahead of time, you can go through and eliminate the terribly overpowered forms. This trick is actually very balanced, playable, and versatile if you are careful with the forms you choose.

[danzibr]

Factotum comes to mind as having quite a few tricks while being melee competent.

Well. . . I've always been a Wizard fan myself. . . but abiding by your not a full caster rule. . . We had a binder in our campaign who was an interesting character. Not much in the way of battlefield control

What about a druid? A melee beast with wildshape, an animal providing some BC without casting a spell, and some decent battlefield control spells like Entangle.

This is very cheesy, but I like to take the Divine Minion of Mulhorandi template to qualify early for Master of Many Forms. If you talk to your DM ahead of time, you can go through and eliminate the terribly overpowered forms. This trick is actually very balanced, playable, and versatile if you are careful with the forms you choose.
All these suggestions sound great. I've always been interested in Master of Many Forms, but I'll have to look into the Divine Minion of Mulhorandi (I remember reading it, but that was some time ago).

And VGLordR2, I totally saw your post with the Eidolon questions, and I have many of the same questions. I was, in fact, thinking of going Eidolon, but there seems to be a major problem with them acquiring gear.

EDIT: With that Divine Minion business, can you get into MoMF at level 3? (+1 LA, 1 for whatever class, 1 for MoMF)

[VGLordR2]

And VGLordR2, I totally saw your post with the Eidolon questions, and I have many of the same questions. I was, in fact, thinking of going Eidolon, but there seems to be a major problem with them acquiring gear.

The best solution that I've found is the feat that allows you to become corporeal (I think it's called Full Manifestation). Manifest yourself, grab a bunch of stuff, then go incorporeal again.

[danzibr]

The best solution that I've found is the feat that allows you to become corporeal (I think it's called Full Manifestation). Manifest yourself, grab a bunch of stuff, then go incorporeal again.
Whoooaaaaa I didn't consider that. That's a way better solution than what I was thinking *cough* VoP *cough*

[Metahuman1]

I personally like Bardic Knack + Jack of All trades bards with solid Inspire Courage and a way of getting Cha to Attack and maybe damage and AC. (Ritual of Blood with a refluff if you want to be a bit silly about it. )


Then just pick some better spells and some of the better skills on your list and have fun being able to actually do something almost all the time and running on nothing but personality and good looks.

[limejuicepowder]

warlock or dragonfire adept fit the bill, I think. Out of the box they have some nifty tricks, and both can be optimized pretty well to do specific things. They also have great fluff, and the all day, every day abilities are fun. Two of my favorite classes, actually.

[Lateral]

EDIT: With that Divine Minion business, can you get into MoMF at level 3? (+1 LA, 1 for whatever class, 1 for MoMF)

Yes. That's how the ECL 5 Pun-Pun worked.

[Empedocles]

The best solution that I've found is the feat that allows you to become corporeal (I think it's called Full Manifestation). Manifest yourself, grab a bunch of stuff, then go incorporeal again.

EH!!!!! WRONG!!!!! Sorry, but as the writer of the in-progress Eidolon handbook I need to point out a much better resource: the ghostly grasp (http://dndtools.eu/feats/libris-mortis-the-book-of-the-dead--71/ghostly-grasp--1214/) feat, which (as well as being online) is in the Libris Mortis. You can now wield and fight with items as if you were corporeal. Congrats :smallwink:

[VGLordR2]

EH!!!!! WRONG!!!!! Sorry, but as the writer of the in-progress Eidolon handbook I need to point out a much better resource: the ghostly grasp (http://dndtools.eu/feats/libris-mortis-the-book-of-the-dead--71/ghostly-grasp--1214/) feat, which (as well as being online) is in the Libris Mortis. You can now wield and fight with items as if you were corporeal. Congrats :smallwink:

The issue with Ghostly Grasp is that you cannot make your new gear incorporeal. This makes wall-traveling much harder.

[Necroticplague]

In a similar vein to the MoMf suggestion, you can go Divine Minion->Warshaper (questionable RAW, consult DM), for a fun and flavorful build (especially with a minion of set). After all, how often do you have a good chance to play the Terminator (as a giant scorpion!).

[danzibr]

EH!!!!! WRONG!!!!! Sorry, but as the writer of the in-progress Eidolon handbook I need to point out a much better resource: the ghostly grasp (http://dndtools.eu/feats/libris-mortis-the-book-of-the-dead--71/ghostly-grasp--1214/) feat, which (as well as being online) is in the Libris Mortis. You can now wield and fight with items as if you were corporeal. Congrats :smallwink:
There's still the concern of our gear not actually being incorporeal, though. Namely, if you want to take your longsword through a wall, not happening if the sword's still corporeal.

[navar100]

A game is described as a series of interesting decisions. What makes a character "fun" is subjective to the individual. You need to decide for yourself what game mechanics you would enjoy doing. It is important your character be functional but it need not be the most optimized short of game breaking it can be, though there is nothing wrong with such a character for people who like them and campaigns where they're accepted.

To be fun your character is to be able to do interesting things.

[Eldariel]

Ranger/Warblade/Eternal Blade is a personal favorite for a martial do-it-all. Factotum/Warblade is up there too. Any full caster build is tons of fun too since you always have something to do.

[Psyren]

Binders are a ton of fun, because the pacts and influences become an ever-changing mini-game between you and your DM.

Most classes in Pathfinder are fun, because you generally have something to do. I really enjoy Witches for instance. Gravewalker Witches are really cool for campaigns featuring undead.

[killianh]

Out of the box without PrC The most fun I find are something with their own niche yet enough different things to do to make them interesting. I would suggest any of the following:

Druid with natural spell (its a hippy that turns into a bear and rains fire from the sky)
Warlock (flying, invisible dude shooting lasers)
Dragon Fire adept with Power surge (power surge makes the DFA breath weapon qualify for meta breath feats, plus has build in breath augmentation. You cough, things go insane)
Factotum (the "I'm not a mage, but I can still do anything better than you" even better with chameleon PrC)
Binder (got a problem? there's a vestige for that)
Any martial adept (melee with more options than "Charge, full attack")
Dread Necromancer (fight bad guys, kill bad guys, raise bad guys, watch the play from your seat as puppet master)
Beguiler ("Do it because I said so/I'm cute" "Yes...Master")
Totemist (pull out your soul and slap people with it)

Any of those are fun, both from the RP side and the straight mechanics, and all combat useful as well

[Tvtyrant]

For general awesomeness I like Psywarrior or Totemist. They are both beasts in melee combat, but have movement powers so they can always use it and enough other tricks to do things out of combat.

[Gandariel]

Just go factotum!

able to do melee? Check
Arcane spells? Double Check
trapfinding and sneak attack? Megacheck
turn undead? Supercheck
Skills? Triple-uber check!

you can be whatever class you want each encounter, given a few Font of Inspirations.

[Cespenar]

For a fun but somewhat low-powered build, consider Marshal X/Crusader 1. You can boost allies, be a charger, tripper, party face, etc.

Alternatively, a straight Swordsage is always fun and versatile.

[candycorn]

One of my favorites, for flexibility?

Factotum 4 / Warblade 1 / Chameleon 10

At low levels, you get Factotum goodies, moving into Warblade in time to get level 2 maneuvers. From there, you get spell options (up to level 6), combat boosts, some other abilities, a floating feat, and stat boosts.

It's simple and flexible, and not broken. However, you get tons of options.

[Acanous]

Crusader is a really fun base class. The way it works is interesting and you get to surprise yourself sometimes.
Also, you never run out of maneuvers.
Paladin 4 Crusader 1 Ruby Knight Vindicator 10 Crusader +5 I've always found to be the "Real" paladin. You only get level 2 spells, sure, but you get lv 9 Maneuvers. You come off as a holy warrior seriously blessed by God. All the Roleplay options of a Paladin, with none of the suck!

[gooddragon1]

Monk with Overwhelming Attack variant [Unearthed Arcana] and Decisive Strike variant [PHBII] for the first level and then Favored Soul thereafter.

You pick what spells you want spontaneously (I advise picking up divine power). You can hit hard and participate in combat, you can heal, you can buff (yourself or others), with your charisma you can participate in social situations, and you can be deadly with just your hands.

Also you can be whatever alignment you want. Just have it in your background that you were a lawful alignment.

[Togo]

My favourite characters in terms of versatility have been Master of Many Forms and high charisma fighter/marshals.

Try something like Barbarian1/marshal3/fighter1/occultslayer2/divine crusader1/divine oracle2/contemplative 2/Sacred exorcistX

(you many not want all those dips in there, as the feat tax gets extreme.)

Focus on charisma as your highest stat, and use marshal arts of war minor aura to concentrate on trip and bull rush,. Get shock trooper, choose a religeon that gives you the competition domain, and you end up with a combat-versatile character that can do lots of moves, deals damage, and gets some interesting high level spells.

Master of Many Forms is a lot of work to play, but is well worth it. Just be sure you understand what you're getting into. At higher levels your character will be insanely tough, a poor damage dealer, but excellent at grapple and with a vast range of special abilities.

[candycorn]

My favourite characters in terms of versatility have been Master of Many Forms and high charisma fighter/marshals.

Try something like Barbarian1/marshal3/fighter1/occultslayer2/divine crusader1/divine oracle2/contemplative 2/Sacred exorcistX

(you many not want all those dips in there, as the feat tax gets extreme.)

Focus on charisma as your highest stat, and use marshal arts of war minor aura to concentrate on trip and bull rush,. Get shock trooper, choose a religeon that gives you the competition domain, and you end up with a combat-versatile character that can do lots of moves, deals damage, and gets some interesting high level spells.

Master of Many Forms is a lot of work to play, but is well worth it. Just be sure you understand what you're getting into. At higher levels your character will be insanely tough, a poor damage dealer, but excellent at grapple and with a vast range of special abilities.

You can beef up the MoMF damage, with about 8 levels of black blood cultist. That will let you do rather crazy grapple damage.

[Cespenar]

With a level of Rogue, Craven and Savage Grapple, a MoMF can actually dish out pretty good damage in a grapple.

[Togo]

All good variations.

I went for the most varied of the lot, which is keeping your MoMFs level as high as possible and getting as many hit dice as you can into chaging forms.

A focused grapple-monster works well, of course, but the OP asked for variety rather than effectiveness.

[candycorn]

All good variations.

I went for the most varied of the lot, which is keeping your MoMFs level as high as possible and getting as many hit dice as you can into chaging forms.

A focused grapple-monster works well, of course, but the OP asked for variety rather than effectiveness.

Hence, why the suggestion I chose was Factotum 4/ Warblade 1/ Chameleon 10 / Warblade +5.

Arcane casting up to level 6, divine casting up to level 6, maneuvers up to level 7, inspiration to modify skills, boosts to attack, saves, etc, a feat that you can change every day...

You can practically play a new character every day.

[Togo]

Hence, why the suggestion I chose was Factotum 4/ Warblade 1/ Chameleon 10 / Warblade +5.

Arcane casting up to level 6, divine casting up to level 6, maneuvers up to level 7, inspiration to modify skills, boosts to attack, saves, etc, a feat that you can change every day...

You can practically play a new character every day.

I';ve been experimenting with chameleon a lot recently. I really like it.

My favourite way of using it has actually been to combine spells and powers with some templates in a such a way as to create a character that doesn't really fit into an existing archtype.

[Axier]

Factotum is great, and It has been said a hundered times, but it can never be said enough.

Artificer isn't a full caster, but can make any magical item in the game. IT is really fun, but takes A LOT of bookwork.

Changling Factotum 6 / Warshaper 5 / Factotum X is what I like for my "highly skilled assassin". Plenty of tricks, +4 STR and CON, the ability to call fourth natural attacks when unarmed, hidden reach, immunity to stun and criticals, fast healing 2 for independant recovery, and the ability to use your alter-self as a move action (really helps for getting away). This gives you plenty of options.

I also like my soldier build, a combat Artificier with a fantasy M14. I really like to have a +1 Shocking and Screaming Heavy Repeating Crossbow with a +1 Ghost Touch Sword Bayonette, fancy Gnome sights for more range, and a wand slot for my Fireball grenade launcher. Combine that with some various splash weapon gadgets and things like a screaming flask and smokesticks.