Roronoa Zolo Pathfinder Build

[EmperorSkiratta]

Note: I will be using the American name, mostly because of the copyright issues that caused it to be changed. And to avoid confusion with the few who might not know about the two Zoros.

So, we're playing Skull & Shackles in my group, and I'm currently on my second character, and not caring for it. Recently, we were talking about the current pirate king's name, our current captain's name, and the fact that he wants to take over after shaking hands with the current king. Obvious One Piece joke came up about straw hats and the like, and then I struck upon the idea of playing somebody who fights like Zolo.

As far as my GM and I are aware, there is no way in base rules, first or third party, that allows you to wield a sword in your mouth. So, what I would like to ask is whether or not anybody has any good ideas? Homebrew generally isn't a problem, as the group is really open to it, and one person has made custom classes before.

Thanks in advance.

[Kid Jake]

His fighting style seems pretty easy to emulate as it is; just say you're holding a sword in your mouth and garble your words. From what I can remember of One Piece his third sword's never really came in handy, it's just there to showcase his insane mindset.

[goto124]

Hold an ice-cream stick in your mouth OoCly while playing him.

'What do we do know?'
'Werrl gogh to thrrl *drops ice-cream stick*'

[icefractal]

Not in Pathfinder directly, but it's easy if you allow 3.5 stuff.
1) Get bite attack (there's a trait that does this).
2) Mouthpick weapon (from Lords of Madness).

Or there's that "juggler" archetype (for I forget which class). Say the mouth-sword is the juggled one. That doesn't get you extra attacks, but you could combine it with Whirling Frenzy Barbarian and say the extra frenzy attack is made with the mouth-sword.

Beyond that ... lots of specifically named attacks? That get increasingly powerful and include AoE stuff? Sounds like Path of War / ToB (depending on edition) may be the way to go.

[EmperorSkiratta]

His fighting style seems pretty easy to emulate as it is; just say you're holding a sword in your mouth and garble your words. From what I can remember of One Piece his third sword's never really came in handy, it's just there to showcase his insane mindset.

Actually, his words aren't garbled. I don't recall which chapter it was after, but I recall seeing one SBS corner in which Oda-sensei actually answered how he can do it and said that he can speak around the sword due to the power of his heart or something like that. I was planning on dumping a point into Perform(Ventriloquism) so I've got a rules excuse for being able to talk around the sword. As for the use of the third sword, not often in regular combat, but it is used in several of his special moves, if memory serves. It's been a while since I've gotten very far in One Piece, and I recently restarted reading it.


Hold an ice-cream stick in your mouth OoCly while playing him.

'What do we do know?'
'Werrl gogh to thrrl *drops ice-cream stick*'

LOL not a bad idea.


Not in Pathfinder directly, but it's easy if you allow 3.5 stuff.
1) Get bite attack (there's a trait that does this).
2) Mouthpick weapon (from Lords of Madness).

Or there's that "juggler" archetype (for I forget which class). Say the mouth-sword is the juggled one. That doesn't get you extra attacks, but you could combine it with Whirling Frenzy Barbarian and say the extra frenzy attack is made with the mouth-sword.

Beyond that ... lots of specifically named attacks? That get increasingly powerful and include AoE stuff? Sounds like Path of War / ToB (depending on edition) may be the way to go.

3.5 is fine. The only problem is making sure that it works properly or gets converted in a way that's balanced. The juggler is a type of bard, which isn't really surprising, but not something I can see taking a level or two of just for that. Okay, after looking through Juggler, it actually does make some sense for Zolo. And some barbarian levels with Whirling Frenzy certainly does look like it would work. I'll have to dig through ToB after finding it on my computer again and see what's there.

[Psyren]

Pathfinder has the "juggler" bard that can wield three weapons. Simply fluff the third one as being in your mouth instead of in the air and you're there.

[Swaoeaeieu]

to stay as close to the show ass possible, i give a +1 to getting a bite attack and enchanting one weapon with mouthpick. Then you need to get multi-weapon fighting and you are good to go. Except i just realised mouthpick weapons don't, by raw, give you the prereqs for multi weapon fighting... so consult you DM

And you only need to get one special sword. In the show he mostly uses the same sword in his mouth too.

Zolo's special attacks sound a lot like manouvers. Isn't there one initiator class in path of war that get manouvers back by taking risks in battle? Sounds like a good way to emulate zolo's crazy confidence.

[Dusk Eclipse]

That would be the warlord, charisma-based and got access to Thrashing Dragon which is one of the two TWF focused disciplines. Not sure if the tertiary cha focus works for Zoro.

[Swaoeaeieu]

That would be the warlord, charisma-based and got access to Thrashing Dragon which is one of the two TWF focused disciplines. Not sure if the tertiary cha focus works for Zoro.

intimidate is charisma based... so i think it woud work out fine :D

[EmperorSkiratta]

I can see putting a decent score into Cha and a few points here and there in intimidate due to Zolo's reputation.

As for the mouthpick weapon, my GM has given me the go ahead to use it and waved the "evil" pre-requisite for getting the teeth. Though he does say that if it come out too broken, we'll switch it to a juggler build.

[EmperorSkiratta]

Okay, so now comes the point of rules questions about using the mouthpick weapon in combination with full attacks and the like. How in the heck does it even work? Because I know of nothing in the rules for this kind of situation.

[icefractal]

To use the third weapon, you'd need the feat Multiweapon Fighting. It normally requires 3+ arms, but since you're holding three weapons it seems reasonable to allow. That works just like TWF - you'd take -2 to attacks, and make two extra attacks for the two extra weapons (dealing 1/2 Strength on the those ones).

Unlike TWF, it doesn't have greater versions, so you'd eventually fall behind a TWF user (at BAB +11), but on the plus side it has a lower Dex requirement.

Alternately, just take TWF, then wield one sword with both hands (fluffed as two swords used together) and the second with your mouth. Less attacks, but you do get the two-handed benefits on your primary sword.

[EmperorSkiratta]

I actually did not know that particular feat existed. Thank you for pointing me to it. Though if you go to the 3.5 SRD, which my GM is already allowing, there is the improved and greater variants, though under epic for some reason. I'll talk with him about it.

EDIT: I am now noticing those have higher BAB requirements than regular two weapon fighting feats. Again, something to talk with my GM about.

[EmperorSkiratta]

Well, thank you everyone for your help. After looking over some of the stuff for the Thrashing Dragon discipline and the warlord class in general, and talking it over with my GM, I'll be using three katanas, however the third will simply be fluffed as being held in my mouth while I fight, rather than fighting with all three. The reason is to prevent having to nerf me two seconds into the character's first fight. That, and it's easier and save me a couple of feats which I'll be wanting since I've found a way to do this all as a Dex build.