Exceptionally Powerful at 3rd Level (PF)

[Dread Angel]

Hi folks.

So my group has adopted a thing which our current GM has tastelessly and amusingly dubbed "2 Weeks, 1 Shot". We have our usual Shadowrun game on week 1, on week 2 we pick a system and create characters and learn the basics of it, week 3 shadowrun, week 4 we play a 1shot using our previously generated characters.

The guy who declared himself GM for the upcoming 1shot of Pathfinder (I would have sworn the point of this was to learn NEW systems but whatever...) bothers me. When I GM, he does his absolute best to create a character that will walk through everything without a scratch, and complains when I make things actually powerful enough to hurt him.

When HE GMs, I find myself being forbidden from all kinds of things purely because he doesn't want me making a character that's halfway decent. Recently, he wanted me to leave our gaming area for TWO HOURS while he did IC stuff with the other players before he bothered introducing my character. Why? Because apparently I always metagame and am unable to separate player knowledge and character knowledge. This outlook arose because when we began playing Shadowrun I created a Face, noticed that he was basically screwing the game up for everyone else, and so immediately retired him after two missions and built a new character so it would be more fun for the others.

My new character is a combat-specialist troll who happens to enjoy using a REALLY BIG bow. And wouldn't you know it, this other player's character uses a bow too, and he got massively butthurt because my troll hits harder than his elf...

SO.

He decided for us all that he's gonna run a Pathfinder oneshot (which means constantly running into extremely badass homebrewed versions of lycans that are super powerful and waaaaaaay smarter than us, because he's got a thing for furries).

I was gonna pull a Pun-Pun on him, but he vetoed anything with draconic heritage.

So what I'm looking for is something that looks nice and innocent and normal right up until third level or so, at which point it becomes Pun-Pun-esque.

Just to mess with this guy, because I'm sick of the way he treats me when one of us is GMing. Any suggestions, O Playgrounders?

[Psyren]

So what I'm looking for is something that looks nice and innocent and normal right up until third level or so, at which point it becomes Pun-Pun-esque.

Just to mess with this guy, because I'm sick of the way he treats me when one of us is GMing. Any suggestions, O Playgrounders?

I suggest you deal with this obviously out-of-game issue out-of-game, like adults. (No, really.)

[OzymandiasX]

So you don't like the fact that he cheeses against you, and you really think the best solution is to start a passive-aggressive cheesing contest? lol

As Psyren said, you should discuss these things like adults. Tell this person who will be DMing "I want to make a character that is useful to the party without unbalancing the session." Any halfway decent DM will take the opportunity to help here, but you'll have to work with him...

[Karoht]

I agree with the others, hash it out like adults please.


But, in the event you still want to have a fun and potent character at level 3...

Barbarian with Improved Overrun is utterly hilarious
Overbearing Advance and Overbearing Assault, and Charge Through are great.
He throws a cluster of baddies at you, you knock them all down and damage them, your allies behind you can then attack them while prone.

You won't be breaking his game per se, but you will be making many of the earlier encounters a heck of a lot easier.

He likes wear critters? Get Silvered shoulder spikes and a silvered weapon.

If you want something else to combo with that, Power Attack + Pushing Assault and a 2-handed weapon (preferably with Reach) will be very fun. Attack with your Reach Weapon, then 5ft step back. The enemy then has to waste a move action to get to you and hit you. Possibly incurring an AoO. In which you still have Power Attack active and hit first, knocking them back again, preventing their attack. At 3rd level, denying the enemy the chance to attack properly is a very big deal.

example, spoilered

Power Attack + Pushing Assault

X-Y
Attack
X--Y
With a 5-foot back (optional)
X---Y

Enemy now needs to use a move action to attack you. This will move through your threatened area and incure an AoO. In an AoO, your attack is resolved first.
So the enemy gets to this position
X-Y
You strike before they do.
X--Y
Enemy can no longer reach you, therefore can't attack you.
If your weapon has the Brace feature so you can Set VS Charge, you stand a good chance of surviving a charge without taking any damage, even from a mounted opponent.

Difficult to use against more than one enemy when you only have 1 attack per round, and likely only 1 AoO per round.

Now, I've listed off rather a lot of feats, which is hard to squeeze into a 3rd level build, so research them on www.pathfindersrd.com and mix and match as needed.
Are you willing to take flaws? Are you willing to be Human?

[Xerxus]

At level 3 a magus with the kensai archetype and at least a +1 scimitar, the feats weapon finesse and dervish dance, 16 int, 18 dex, decent con, the wand wielder arcana and a wand of shocking grasp could wreck some havoc.

[Karoht]

At level 3 a magus with the kensai archetype and at least a +1 scimitar, the feats weapon finesse and dervish dance, 16 int, 18 dex, decent con, the wand wielder arcana and a wand of shocking grasp could wreck some havoc.
Or Frigid Touch. Staggered, no save, is pretty awesome at 3rd level.
I totally recommend this archetype as well.

[Dread Angel]

We've had the discussion many times (we've been gaming together for 10 years) and we're actually very close friends, the only two of our high school group of friends who are still in Europe at all anymore. It's become something we're used to from each other - I expect him to try and pull game breakers on me when I GM, and he knows he needs to watch out when he GMs because I can get very creative with my solutions to problems... and character creation.

I like both those suggestions, the barbarian build idea is pretty amusing when I picture it.

He vetoed magus as well but he was thinking it was a 3.5 class I wanted to port in, I'll chat with him about it today. That's ultimately what I'm probably gonna go for, as I'm a big fan of the Magus class. Just a basic Magus build can do some serious single-target damage at 3rd level.

Hm. I'll give it some thought, today's game is Shadowrun anyway, in which I urgently need to get some better armor for my Troll. Also, the concept of using cover is slowly infiltrating his brain, since last time he very nearly died three times in quick succession because his "stand out in the open and just soak everything" tactic has become a lot less effective lately.

Edit: Having just dusted off my copy of Ultimate Magic and taken a gander at the Magus again, I honestly think taking a 1h weapon and going with the Spell Shield arcana would be a nice thing to play. At level 3, I get to make an attack with my 1h weapon, then make another attack with Shocking Grasp added onto my weapon. With a focus on Strength and Int, I can use the Spell Shield arcana to throw up a shield when I get attacked to compensate for the lower Dex modifier.

I forgot how awesome magus is.

[Keneth]

but he vetoed anything with draconic ?

What's wrong with draconic heritage?

[Dread Angel]

He likes placing craploads of restrictions on the players and taking huge liberties with the NPCs and monsters... so we'll be allowed base races with no alternate features, but the werewolves he throws at us get all their abilities with no LA and can control their shifting at will... as an example from another game he ran awhile back.

He's the type of GM who feels that his plot is much more important than anything the players can come up with. Hence why I never bother giving my characters in his games anything more than a 2d cookie-cutter backstory that justifies where and what they are. 'Cause I know that he won't use any of our backstories at all in any way except as a theoretical reason why we are where we should be at the beginning of the game.

Draconic blood allows for a lot of messing around with heritage abilities etc. and he doesn't want us being able to pull anything on him he hasn't foreseen.

Hence why I want to do exactly that - have a character that looks nice and innocent enough right up until I pull a really big wrench out of my bag and toss it into his plans. Because he needs to learn to be able to bend a little bit and not railroad so hard.

[Keneth]

There's no LA in Pathfinder, and natural lycanthropes can control their form at will, so there's nothing wrong with that.

And there's nothing particularly special about any draconic abilities. Unless you're playing 3.P, then everything changes.

I agree though, railroading is bad.

[BWR]

Candle of Invocation nonsense, maybe?

4200 gp for something that can cast Gate.
Play Lawful Evil, summon efreeti, get three wishes, one of which will be for a new CoI.
Rinse, repeat.

Not exactly Pun-pun but you can really mess up a game that way.

[Keneth]

You can't create magic items with wish in Pathfinder. You can call another efreeti, but the DM can screw you over and just summon the same guy. Not to mention you have to either convince the second efreeti to help you (if using planar binding) or pay for his services (if using planar ally). And efreeti are evil, so they'll pretty much do everything to twist your wishes.

[BWR]

Even so, play good, spend CoI to summon a solar. They have 1 Wish, 1 Miracle as statted.
that's a pretty cheap Gate spell.

[Keneth]

True, but you can't control a solar, so you'd have to convince them to help you, which would likely involve additional playment.

I'm not saying CoI isn't cheese, I'm just saying it's not that bad anymore, especially with a strict DM.

[BWR]

The problem here is that the DM is being something of a jerk, according to the OP.
Problem with jerk DM's: there is literally nothing you can do in game if they decide to screw you over.

[Chained Birds]

Out of curiosity, what level will this one-shot be? If Level 1, most classes will offer similar benefits so even a Fighter is amazing. If 2-3 or higher, things get a bit more interesting.