Ideas for a Build

[razorback]

So, our overpowered IRL Pathfinder Gestalt game has picked up another player who hasn't played tabletop in years and I've been tasked with creating a character for him. Originally it started as a two person party, hence the gestalt, but has grown since then.

Currently, we have are all level 8 with a 50 point PF buy.
Party consists of:
Cleric(of Saranrae)8//Zen-Qi Gong monk 8
Blade Bound Magus8//Monk1/Arcanist7
Ranger8/Sorcerer8
(Generalist)Wizard8/Warblade8 [the only survivor of the original party when converted from 3.5 to PF, so Warblade is grandfathered in).


Any first part PF is in, so DSP or 3.5 material is not allowed.

As he is trying to get back into the swing of things, he is looking for something not complicated that is a monster in melee and is not looking to have any magic abilities.

I'm thinking, maybe, Invulnerable Barbarian-Fighter but haven't delved too deeply into it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

As a side note, as my Cleric/Monk was almost 1 shot killed during a surprise round, I asked to make a back up character and figured I'd make extras for the rest of the party, so any other combo's that would be flavorful and fun to play would be appreciated. I would say only the Magus/Moncanist is really optimized and the rest of use are mid to low optimization, so don't feel you need to suggest world breakers.

Thanks in advance.

[Ssalarn]

Maybe an Aegis//Soulknife? He'd have customizable gear, be great in melee, but still be relatively simple to play. It has the advantage of being primarily a set-and-go build where the technical stuff happens away from the table. Biggest downside is that the two classes are fairly similar so they don't get as much out of the normal gestalt benefit of picking classes that shore up each other's weaknesses (but neither does the other build you were looking at, soooo....)
Anyways, that'd be a fun high-powered build that he can jump right in with.


Alternatively, you could do Slayer//Fighter for a non-magical character who has got tons of feats, can be mobile in heavy armor, two good saves (+ Bravery, for what it's worth), deals truckloads of damage, and has enough skill points to participate out of combat as well.

[razorback]

Ssalarn, sorry, I had a typo. I meant no on the DSP stuff.
Which is too bad, because I dig your guys stuff. I tried to convince the DM to use the Path of War stuff, since I have the book, but he was pretty adamant. Maybe I can make the build and convince him otherwise?

[avr]

I'd make a barbarian // rogue (scout archetype) and tell him it's Conan. The feat requirements for a guy with a big sword are not enough to justify taking levels in fighter; you can get one from a rogue talent anyway.

Offensive Defense (rogue), Superstition and Guarded Life (barbarian) will help keep him alive. Offensive ability is a given, considering.

[Ssalarn]

Ssalarn, sorry, I had a typo. I meant no on the DSP stuff.
Which is too bad, because I dig your guys stuff. I tried to convince the DM to use the Path of War stuff, since I have the book, but he was pretty adamant. Maybe I can make the build and convince him otherwise?

I could also point you to some of the reviews if that helps. And of course, psionics has its own section on d20pfsrd.com for easy reference. I can guarantee that an Aegis//Soulknife won't be as scary as a Wizard//Warblade or Cleric//Zen archer, but he is the GM so I won't undermine his decision any further :)

Happy to help with any information if he changes his mind though.

What about a Bloodrager//Ninja? You've got spells and a ki pool, but they're fairly easy to streamline. Plus, Abyssal Bloodrager with a kusari-gama makes me smile.

[grarrrg]

I'd make a barbarian // rogue

Agreed, on concept at least.
Fighter/Barbarian is too much of the same thing.
Swap around and combine Full Bab with 3/4 Bab classes, get better variety of abilities that way.

Keeping it simple for now (as there are SOOOOooOOOO many ways I could not keep it simple...):
Maybe a STR-Based TWF Ranger//Rogue?
Can get TWF for free from Ranger (don't have to worry about DEX), and still gets the lovely benefits of Sneak Attack damage from Rogue?


As for UN-simple, I'm currently a fan of Warpriest//Synthesist
Combine LOTS of attacks all with Sacred Weapon damage.
Either grow a LOT of arms and grab Weapon Focus: Kukri
OR grow as many Claws as you can and grab Weapon Focus: Claw
OR OR, Do the Kukri thing, but then throw on as many Tentacles as you can (same number of attacks Evo-wise, but you save money by not enchanting that many more weapons)

[Almarck]

My recommendation is Alchemist/Fighter
My reasoning is simple and I would never dream of recomending this strategy to anyone if you didn't say you were running a ludicriously powered gestalt game.

Alchemy is a really good buffing and support system and alchemist is obviously the king of that magic type. The guy will love being able to buff himself with his mutagen and run giant sized all over the place to power attack everything. Personally though, I think he's better of running dual weilding, because there's some really nice combos you can do with alchemist and dual wielding.

Fighter gives him alot of feats to work with, but you'll want to focus on getting the Dual Wielding chains, pirahana strike which means good dex and agile weapons if available. There's an archetype or two that is really conducive to that style. Deadly range too, but that's important for a little later.

But what's really important is that alchemist has two options.

Your friend can take vivisectionist, trading his bomb ability for a full leveled sneak attack. Pretty nasty in the right hands, especially if you take invisibility options

OR your friend can stay to normal bombing. In fact, I very much recomend it. Why you may ask?
Well, you're level 8. that means you can get Fast Bombs (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/alchemist/discoveries/paizo---alchemist-discoveries/fast-bombs). Which means at level 8 your friend can burn alot of bombs to strike down a single foe with lots of attacks, because Fast Bombs can technically be dual weilded (GM fiat issue, but considering your party, he might not mind.). As a result, he can burn 4 bombs to strike a single foe with 4d6 + Int Fire damage 4 times for a total of 16d6 + Intx4 fire damage on range touch attack with no saves to the primary target. He can do this, with decent intelligence 3 times per day if he decides to burn so many bombs all at once.

And with the right discoveries, you can change the damage type to something more useful to the situation. Fire is nice and all, but cold, acid, electric, and shock damage are all options if you want elemental coverage. Plus, since the damage and bomb throwing scales with his level and BAB, it gets exponentially more powerful. At max level with the right feats setup, 70d6 + 7xInt elemental damage would be what your guy would have by burning 7 bombs. (Dual weild only goes up to 3 offhand attacks)

Also, if he wants to share his buffs with his friends, he needs to get the "infusion" discovery. There's probably more powerful stuff that can done, but this is a very obvious and simple one to pull off.

[Madbranch]

Uuuuu, go for archer paladin (divine hunter archetype) and rogue! Imagine the joy of not only smiting but also adding sneak attack while being safely 80 ft away.

Or maybe alchemist/rogue and sneaking to opponents and slipping them alchemist fire in their pockets.

[Ssalarn]

Uuuuu, go for archer paladin (divine hunter archetype) and rogue! Imagine the joy of not only smiting but also adding sneak attack while being safely 80 ft away.

Or maybe alchemist/rogue and sneaking to opponents and slipping them alchemist fire in their pockets.

Divine Hunter is garbage for Archery, regardless of what the art would lead you to believe; the only worthwhile benefit for archers is the 1st level bonus feat. The archetype is really only any good for TWF thrown switch-hitters. Archery focused Paladin//Rogue isn't a bad idea though, just use the core Paladin and use Divine Bond for the mount so you can use mounted archery (pretty much the best combat style in the game). There's a feat the mount will probably want to grab (I think it's called Narrow Frame) that lets it act as medium. Alternatively, since your damage die is actually going to be the smallest portion of your damage, just play a halfling or gnome.

[razorback]

I'd make a barbarian // rogue (scout archetype) and tell him it's Conan.

That's awesome because that is pretty much what I said, even the Conan part.

Keep 'em coming.

[razorback]

Ok, going to work on these ideas this weekend and on the DM to see if he'll include the PoW/psionics.
Thanks.