Weird Pathfinder Builds

[Benthesquid]

So, in my current Pathfinder game, the party is venturing into the unexplored reaches of the forest. I'm already putting them up against some weird creatures, but I'd also like to put them up against some humanoids with just weird builds.

The builds don't have to be super optimized- the party has at least one first time player, and nobody who really focuses overly on optimization- but I'd like them to behave unexpectedly and not be overly broken in either direction. The White Haired Witch/Monk that focuses on grappling with his hair and then delivering touch spells via it would be a good example.

The party is currently low level, so things where the weirdness comes online in the first fivish levels would be preferable, and I'd like to avoid third party!

Thanks muchly for any help you can offer!

[Snowbluff]

Gundolon!

Mysterous Stranger1/Synthesist4

Have a serpent base, add 6 arms and 6 pistols. Rapid reload with paper cartridges to be annoying. 6 shots/round before haste. :smalltongue:

[Callin]

Tone it down a hair Snowbluff hahaha. Im sure he dont want a TPK.

hmmm weird builds like how? Just something that is not the norm for a class?

[Snowbluff]

Use buckler guns instead, and don't bother being proficient. That nets a -8 penalty to hit, and each only does 1d6. :smalltongue:

[Benthesquid]

Tone it down a hair Snowbluff hahaha. Im sure he dont want a TPK.

hmmm weird builds like how? Just something that is not the norm for a class?

Basically builds that don't function as the iconic image of their class would suggest. White haired witches are a good example of this (So, I give up one of my main distinguishing class features, so I can grapple people. With my hair). But my players are fairly familiar with most of the archetypes, so I'm looking for something that maintains that flavor, but is a little less obvious.

Multiclassing that seems unlikely, but actually sort of works would be greatly appreciated as well.

[Callin]

Straight First Party stuff? Cus there is a 3rd party monk Archtype that allows them to wear light armor and still get their Wis to armor and speed increase haha. They lose Flurry of Blows though and afew other things, but can end up adding Wis (up to monk lvl) for wis number of rounds with weapons. Its called War Scholar.

So Imagine a Shield Bashing Monk in armor (though they are not proficient in shields normally) mixed with your Favorite melee class is pretty interesting. Or Drop Shield Bashing Monk and add in Holy Gun Paladin. That actual sounds pretty cool to me now that I type it out.

[squiggit]

It's not exactly out there but guntank is usually an ignored archetype and is pretty odd to run into. It's off-type compared to the traditional gunslinger but sadly not very good.

Huntmaster cavaliers (Or houndmaster (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2lqzy?Hound-Master) if you're willing to go for really awesome homebrew) are pretty odd too given the standard cavalier and is even off-type for minionmasters.

Those are admittedly just archetypes, but still a fun starting point.

[GreenZ]

Here are a few ideas.

The Watersinger (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-undine/watersinger) Undine Bard Archtype + Perform (Dance) is basically water bending.

Barbarian. Grab Lesser Spirit Totem (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/spirit-totem-lesser-su). Max Cha and Con. Max Intimidate. Yell at people while they get killed by your ghosts.

Sound Striker Bard (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/paizo---bard-archetypes/sound-striker) + Magician (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/paizo---bard-archetypes/magician) Bard Archetype + Spellsong (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/spellsong) = Blaster Bard. Here comes the face-melting solos. :smalltongue:

[tzar1990]

Play a Fighter with a bunch of Quickdraw Throwing Shields and the Quick Draw feat - you can draw a shield as a free action, then throw it as a free action. The end result of this is a truly ludicrous number of throwing shields flying through the air at your enemy's face.

For added humor, stick it on a good-aligned Human Warpriest, choose the Liberation and Protection blessings, then call yourself Captain AmericaAndora.

[Slipperychicken]

As for the witch, I'd consider making it a Scarred Witch Doctor (so it casts off Constitution), then take Improved Unarmed Strike->Feral Combat Training -> Hex Strike. That way you have a beefy witch, who can deliver the Slumber hex off its hair attack. If there are enough feats left, then maybe Accursed Hex too, so it could repeat that hex twice in the same fight,

You could have a natural attack focused Barbarian. Like a Half-Orc, with the "toothy" alternate racial feature, with the rage powers which give it extra natural attacks (the claws one, the gore attack one, and so on). Such a character may or may not still be able to use an unarmed strike in addition to his natural weapons. It works out to a very feral feel.

You could have a ranged combatant who uses Snake Style and Deflect Arrows to counter 2 ranged attacks per round while kiting the party.

You could have the Witch use cackling skull (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/cackling-skull) pre-cast a large number of skulls, then use free actions to trigger those while casting other fear effects. Then, the shaken conditions might stack to frightened, sending PCs running screaming from the forest like little girls.

[avr]

A cleric of Sivanah with the Madness and Trickery domains and the Domain Strike feat; sneak up on people and punch them with mighty debuffs. Add levels of Veiled Illusionist if you go above 5th level.

A rogue with the carnivalist archetype and the Improved Familiar feat (needs a racial SLA to qualify).

Synthesist summoner. You can look like anything.

[Talieth]

In the same flavor as the cleric of Sivanah, there is the Wildblooded (Empyreal) sensei. Sorcerer 1, Monk 2 is all it take at low level to have something weird that can work. For maximum synergies, make it a half-elf, so that he get both classes as prefered ... AC, casting and attacks rolls all use Wisdom, so get it as high as possible. Feats to get : arcane strike, sorcerous bloodstrike and scorpion style to improve your unarmed attacks.

[Kudaku]

High-strength 8 dex Half-orc warpriest dualwielding battle pois. I'm really not sure if you can apply strength modifier to them, but if you can that'd be hilarious.

[Ravens_cry]

TWF Paladin with Stealth and Acrobatics.:smallbiggrin:

[grarrrg]

You could have a natural attack focused Barbarian. Like a Half-Orc, with the "toothy" alternate racial feature, with the rage powers which give it extra natural attacks (the claws one, the gore attack one, and so on). Such a character may or may not still be able to use an unarmed strike in addition to his natural weapons. It works out to a very feral feel.

Unarmed Strikes count as Manufactured Weapons for attack purposes, so all of your Naturals would be downgraded to Secondaries. Not worth it.
Also, Gore and Claws are tied to different 'Totem' powers, so you cannot take both.
Bite is NOT tied to a Totem however, so grab a race that already has a Claw attack, then grab Gore and Bite. There's also a race or two that can start with Claws AND a Bite.
And don't forget the one level dip into White-Haired Witch archetype to get a Hair attack.

So as early as level 3 you are looking at:
Claw/Claw/Bite/Gore/Hair

[kestrel404]

The party is currently low level, so things where the weirdness comes online in the first fivish levels would be preferable, and I'd like to avoid third party!

Thanks muchly for any help you can offer!

Well, it's not fully functional until 7th level, but I think my Party of One build is pretty out there from standard practices.

Take a Half-Elf summoner. As his bonus skill focus, give him Skill Focus (Knowledge Nature). Then he takes Eldritch Heritage for the Sylvan bloodline (requires skill focus for knowledge nature) to gain an animal companion and Eldritch Heritage for the Arcane bloodline (requires skill focus in any knowledge skill) to get a Familiar. Add Boon Companion for the animal companion and Improved Familiar for the familiar and you've got the basis of the build.

You've now got a summoner with an Eidolon, an Animal Companion and a Familiar. The Summoner himself specializes in group buffs, and has high ranks in Use magic Device. The Familiar is one with a good charisma score and hands or spellcasting (monkey, or a fairy dragon for improved), and he uses wands (Cure Light Wounds, Grease, etc.). For the Eidolon, I generally use a Pouncer or if I'm feeling really mean, a Many-armed Kali type (the limit on attacks for the Eidolon is for Natural attacks - they can have any number of weapon attacks with enough hands and the Multiattack feat). The Animal Companion is always a Gorilla who takes his first attribute raise as Intelligence. Once an animal companion has 3 intelligence (so, 4HD) they can choose any feat they feel like that they qualify for, just like any NPC, and learn any skill. I generally give the Ape & Eidolon matching Teamwork feats, especially the flanking ones.

So you end up with a 4th-ed adventuring-party in miniature - the Striker (Eidolon), Defender (Animal Companion), Leader (Familiar), and Controller (Summoner).

[Slipperychicken]

Unarmed Strikes count as Manufactured Weapons for attack purposes, so all of your Naturals would be downgraded to Secondaries. Not worth it.
Also, Gore and Claws are tied to different 'Totem' powers, so you cannot take both.
Bite is NOT tied to a Totem however, so grab a race that already has a Claw attack, then grab Gore and Bite. There's also a race or two that can start with Claws AND a Bite.
And don't forget the one level dip into White-Haired Witch archetype to get a Hair attack.

So as early as level 3 you are looking at:
Claw/Claw/Bite/Gore/Hair

Never noticed that rule before. Thanks!

[Karoht]

Sage Arcane Sorcerer with False Priest Archetype + Arcane Savant PrC--AKA The Swiss Army Knife
Int based casting, mostly for skill points.
Cast any Sorcerer spell, OR any Divine Spell for which you have a scroll, you don't lose the scroll so you don't have to pay for the scroll or material components again. Scrolls (all, not just divine or arcane) scale with level due to Arcane Savant, and are cast at +1 caster level. Combo with Paragon Surge cheese. Not dependant on Paragon Surge, but extremely helpful. Build really begins to come online at 13.

Omni-Oracle--Easy Bake Swiss Army Knife, no PrC's
Make use of Paragon Surge cheese, but with a bit of a feat cost. No multiclassing or PrC's required though. Entirely reliant on Paragon Surge being permitted. Intended as a higher level build, you get Oracle and Sorcerer casting on the same Charisma casting chasis. Makes Mystic Theurge look like a bigger joke than it already is. Good tricks come online at about level 9-11 if I remember correctly, possibly a bit later like 13 or so.

Soundstriker Rogue Bard--6-10 bolts per round dealing 1D8 + CHA bonus + Sneak Attack Damage (variable to build and level) + Demoralize chance + 1 STR/DEX damage... per Bolt! Up and running with 6 bolts at level 9ish, by 13 you have 10 bolts and most of the toolkit.

Dinomancer
Druid with the Saurian Shaman archetype. Bonus points if you play any of the following cartoon theme songs while stomping your foes into the ground.
Dinosaucers, Dino-wars, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Captain Planet (you're a druid remember), Beast Wars.
Also, see me after class to ask about Druid Harassment. Available at level 5.

[StreamOfTheSky]

It requires assuming crystal chakrams belong on the thrown weapons Fighter list with chakrams (hardly a big logical leap...), but I liked the idea of a Sohei Monk using his level 6 ability to flurry and Rapid Shot with crystal chakrams and using Butterfly's Sting (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/butterfly-s-sting-critical) to provide auto-crits vs. all foes within range for his allies. Of course, the weapons break each time upon use, so you need the mending cantrip to repair between fights / over the campfire and a healthy supply of them to make it work.

Why crystal chakrams? Because they're just about the only ranged weapons with 18-20 threat range, 15-20 after Improved Critical. Ranged combat makes it easy to crit enemies all over the battlefield each round reliably.

Why Sohei Monk instead of some fighter just using the TWF tree and Rapid Shot? I...don't recall why. Might have been the ability to expend a ki point for an extra attack put Sohei ahead despite the lower BAB (delaying Imp. Crit acquisition). In any case, as with any Sohei build, I'd do Monk 6, then some levels in Fighter, then Sohei 7-8 once the next flurry attack would have a decent to-hit chance, then back to Fighter. I have yet to see a good reason to take Sohei beyond level 6-8.

EDIT: Actually, I think they are the *only* ranged 18-20 weapon.

[T.G. Oskar]

Tengu Inquisitor with the racial feats and the Black Powder Inquisition?

It's not really super-optimized, but you get an Inquisitor with the ability to use a firearm (seek if you can find an equivalent to the Tanegashima rifle), the ability to impose penalties to Concentration checks with each shot of the firearm, and the ability to 1/day turn into any humanoid (but with a large nose) or a Dire Raven. Oh, and the ability to fly 1/day, as well.

Between the Judgment and the Bane effect, the Inquisitor should do quite a bit of damage, but it'd require a few feats to make the firearm hit at full effectiveness. Amateur Gunslinger means you can get one free deed and allows Wisdom synergy. The rest is mostly working with viable spells for ranged attacks, though the Inquisitor's spell list is no slouch.

[Aergoth]

Since we're getting to weird builds, I present... THE JUNK FIGHTER

Half-Orc Fighter with the Chain Fighter trait so he's go proficiency with spiked chains.
He's also got at least equipment tricks for Rope (Knotted Weapon for certain, but Entangle is fun as well.)
I'd planned to run him as the mine foreman in a game, his equipment included the aforementioned Knotted Weapon/Spiked Chain, a set of wooden armor and a steel shield that he'd improvised from the lid of a metal barrel. His build mostly focused on being able to use the shield to cover against ranged attacks and throw it if need be. He carried a light pick and had a shotgun full of rock salt for variety (the setting had firearm proficiency as a must)

Also @T.G. Oskar: A tanegashima is really just a localized version of a matchlock, so the stats aren't going to change too much from the default musket in the firearms rules.

[Makiru]

Then he takes Eldritch Heritage for the Sylvan bloodline .

Doesn't work. Wildblooded is an archetype, which I believe cannot be gained via Eldritch Heritage, so you wouldn't be able to gain Sylvan.

Once made a merman Barb1/Alch4 (Viv/Rage), taking Vestigial Arms twice (one via Extra Discovery) so he could dual-wield bastard swords at no extra penalty while still having a 25 move speed and two stacking rage buffs. In theory, it was awesome, but the build is partially redundant with the inclusion of the Kasatha as a "normal" race.

Something I've yet to try but figured out recently is that the Impossible and Pestilence bloodlines sync together pretty well. You can charm anything that isn't undead (I think?) and make constructs freak out when that necromancy spell actually affects them (like eyebite, a pestilence bonus spell).

[kestrel404]

Doesn't work. Wildblooded is an archetype, which I believe cannot be gained via Eldritch Heritage, so you wouldn't be able to gain Sylvan.

Basically depends on GM permission, but there's nothing that says you can't take the Sylvan variant bloodline with Eldritch heritage.

[Spore]

Alchemist/Barbarian always makes for a crazy ride. They hide, spot the party ingest their mutagen and fly into rage. Bonus points for disguising themselves as frail women in captivity.

[grarrrg]

Then he takes Eldritch Heritage for the Sylvan bloodline (requires skill focus for knowledge nature) to gain an animal companion and Eldritch Heritage for the Arcane bloodline (requires skill focus in any knowledge skill) to get a Familiar. Add Boon Companion for the animal companion and Improved Familiar for the familiar and you've got the basis of the build.

You can't take Eldritch Heritage twice.

I've done some Google-diving and found this:
What you CAN do, and this also sidesteps the "Eldritch Heritage > Sylvan" issue, is to take the Animal Ally (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/animal-ally) feat.
The prereqs are slightly easier (No CHA!), there is only a -3 level penalty, and it comes online at about the same time.
Downside is that you have a restricted list to choose from.



Doesn't work. Wildblooded is an archetype, which I believe cannot be gained via Eldritch Heritage, so you wouldn't be able to gain Sylvan.

Basically depends on GM permission, but there's nothing that says you can't take the Sylvan variant bloodline with Eldritch heritage.

Paizo has been fairly quiet about this, despite it being a fairly common topic.
The argument against mainly consists of "Wildblood is an archetype that trades away your Arcana, Eldritch Heritage does not give you the Arcana, therefore you have nothing to trade to qualify for the archetype".
The argument for mainly consists of "Eldritch Heritage bypasses that, as it is still 'a 1st level Bloodline ability'".

[13ones]

Here is a few ideas.

- Bears (dire or not), or druids with a few levels of monk. Grapple Bear activate!

- 3 levels of Zen Archer Monk, any levels of inquisitor. Wis to Hit makes a ranged inquisitor really, really dumb! Great for a group hunting the party for whatever reason.

- I home brewed something that can make a pretty nice boss encounter. Two headed flesh golem, each head counts as a separate character and thus its basically two classes in one. "Hurt and Burnie" had your basic golem template but also 12 Levels of Elemental Bloodline Fire on one head, 12 levels of Fighter on the other head. They both had a sort of 'shared' pool of feats and were large sized by default. Combat for the party when they found him was "Dimension door as part of a charge, full-attack." then the party went, then the fighter side used cleave since he had basically appeared in the center of the party and the sorcerer half cast detonate and picked electricity damage, which gave them temp hit points.

The party got their asses handed to them so hard the god of Death who was controlling him had to res the entire party. It was pretty awesome. It was made of cheese and GM-cheating but it was a fun encounter.

- Chain fighter/monk/ninja zombies. I flavoured these as twisted, elder god infected zombies who attacked with a long, fleshy tendril from the maw in their stomachs.

- Drow assassin party. Drow Bard, Drow Ninja (Ranged with a short bow), Drow Sorcerer, Drow Oracle, Drow Summoner, Drow Noble Woman Fighter.

- Dryad Vivisectionist Alchemist.

I've got others but all of these are from a few games I ran.

[Snowbluff]

I had a friend make a Tiefling. Ninja3/Spellslinger1/Arcane Trickster1

[Kurald Galain]

I had a friend make a Tiefling. Ninja3/Spellslinger1/Arcane Trickster1

So how does this cast 2nd level spells, which is one of the prerequisites of Arcane Trickster?

[Snowbluff]

So how does this cast 2nd level spells, which is one of the prerequisites of Arcane Trickster?

Tiefling. Darkness is a second level arcane SLA, which explicitly qualifies for Arcane Trickster.

The real trick is getting Mage Hand. We used a trait that lets you cast it as an SLA 1/day.

[stack]

Wait, so with animal ally you could get a camel and have your eidolon ride it? That would be awesome. Play a small race, ride you eidon who rides the camel. Then have a familiar sit on your shoulder. Stackable party of one!

[Snowbluff]

Wait, so with animal ally you could get a camel and have your eidolon ride it? That would be awesome. Play a small race, ride you eidon who rides the camel. Then have a familiar sit on your shoulder. Stackable party of one!

I did this with a Mirror Mephit, a Nymph Simulacrum, and a Beguiler Beguiler.

[torrasque666]

Tiefling Synthesist who's made their Eidolon look like a demon. About to get into a fight? Time to look like Daddy!

[Snowbluff]

Tiefling Synthesist who's made their Eidolon look like a demon. About to get into a fight? Time to look like Daddy!

You also save on evolution points with Maw or Claw.

Also, insert obligatory Devil May Cry reference here. :smalltongue:

[Karoht]

Wait, so with animal ally you could get a camel and have your eidolon ride it? That would be awesome. Play a small race, ride you eidon who rides the camel. Then have a familiar sit on your shoulder. Stackable party of one!We were going to do this with a party of Paladins. We called it the Charging Ziggurat. Our church was the Holy Order of the Flying Mongoose. Sadly, we never got to actually play the campaign these guys were built for.

[Spore]

Ratfolk Rogues 1 (in pairs of two using the Swaming ability). Not only do they do great damage, they are also annoying and underestimated.

Sigh, ratfolk? I've killed larger rats than you on Lv 1.
http://vergeofcollapse.com/whthrunull/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/5MinutesLater.jpg
Take them away good lord, make them stop!


Throw as many at them as you can for the targetted CR. If a blaster is present, have a shaman/cleric counteract the inevitable fireball.

[Arbane]

Tiefling Synthesist who's made their Eidolon look like a demon. About to get into a fight? Time to look like Daddy!


http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11111/111114711/3248173-7177711388-etrig.jpg

[Snowbluff]

That beats my devil trigger comment, hands down.

[Starscream86]

One of my favorite weird builds is a sylph ninja using the sylph feats to see through fog/mist and taking the flurry of stars ninja talent and getting a wand of obscuring mist. For kicks couple it with 1 level of warpriest for shuriken weapon damage increase (favored weapon from warpriest)
Just cast obscuring mist and throw a crazy amount of shuriken at your flat footed opponent for tons of sneak attack damage.

[The Mystic]

Vermin Shape poison witch or druid.

[Psyren]

Necromancer.

Oh wait...

[Calthropstu]

The wizard who uses a large greatsword as his bonded item. He can use his throw ability to hit for a nice 3d6 damage. But he has to lug the damn thing around so has to keep casting ant haul.