(PoW) Help building a Steelfist Commando

[GhorrinRedblade]

Hi there,

In my first attempt at making a Path of War character, I'm trying my hand at a Steelfist Commando. I was hoping I could get a little constructive feedback on what I've got so far.

A couple of notes:

1) DM is allowing a few things as bonus feats: Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse are all just things you can do instead of being feats.

2) Beyond that if something looks hinky, ask me to clarify. I had to stitch this together from a couple of different Hero Lab builds (HL is not currently doing the archetype properly, so I have to grab the Steel Serpent and Broken Blade bits from a different build), so it's entirely possible I've got some copy-paste errors in this. I'll clean it up from home tonight.

Anyway, here it is. Thanks for your time.

Serpent Commando
Male vishkanya warlord (steelfist commando) 3
NG Medium humanoid (vishkanya)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 28 (3d10+6)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +0; +3 bonus vs. poison

(At this time, HeroLab doesn't seem to be reflecting Force of Personality, so Will save should be a few points higher.)

Defensive Abilities dodge bonus; Resist poison resistance
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk kukri +5 (1d4+3/18-20) or
. . mwk starknife +5 (1d4+6/×3) or
. . unarmed strike +6 (1d4+6)
Maneuvers Level 1: Hunting Serpent Blow, Leaping Dragon, Offensive Roll, Pommel Bash, Shards of Iron Strike, Sting of the Rattler, Swift Claws.
Level 2: Sun Dips Low.
Stances : Body of the Night, Poisoner's Stance
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Statistics
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Str 13, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 19
Feats L1: Two-weapon Fighting, L3: Deadly Agility
Improved Unarmed Strike, Greater Unarmed Strike (bonus from class features)
Combat Expertise, Piranha Strike, Power Attack, Weapon Finesse (bonus feats as per GM)

Another omission of HL's seems to be the bonus feat granted at level 3 by the Warleader feature, so one more feat to use there. I was thinking Paired Opportunists to get a little teamwork action going.

Skills Acrobatics +9, Bluff +7, Climb +4, Diplomacy +7, Escape Artist +6, Heal +5, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (local) +2, Knowledge (martial) +5, Perception +5, Sense Motive +3, Stealth +9, Survival +3, Swim +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Escape Artist, +2 Perception, +2 Stealth
Languages Common, Draconic, Vishkanya
SQ force of personality, gambits (acrobatic gambit, victory gambit), indomitable presence, poison use, tactical presence, toxic, unarmed combat, warleader, warlord’s gambit
Other Gear mwk chain shirt, mwk kukri, mwk starknife, 2,118 gp
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Later on,
Ghorrin Redblade

[Greenish]

Why are you copy-pasting all that stuff anyway? Most of it isn't really pertinent to the thread, and makes sorting out your character from underneath a pile of unformatted text a chore.

You could swap strength with int scores to qualify for Imp. Trip (and a few other similar feats that require 13 int).

[Elricaltovilla]

Your build looks pretty good overall. I question what you need the kukri or starknife for, considering you have free IUS and GUS along with free piranha strike (I assume your DM is allowing this in place of free Power Attack?) and Deadly Agility, you already do better damage with your Unarmed Strike than you will with either the Kukri or the Star Knife.

My only other suggestion is to look at trading out a discipline (Solar Wind) for Primal Fury, as it pairs really well with broken blade and thrashing dragon for a very powerful unarmed strike build. Alternatively, you could get yourself an actual ranged weapon and precise shot, and use your Steel Serpent and/or solar wind maneuvers at range (most of the best Steel Serpent maneuvers work with ranged attacks).

But you should be good for the most part.

[Greenish]

Well, kukri has much better threat range than unarmed strike, and it's easier to boost attack with manufactored weapons. Starknife can be thrown if necessary (without taking action to draw a ranged weapon). Plus with both of them and IUS, you can deal slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning damage.

[GhorrinRedblade]

Yeah, as I said, I have every intention of cleaning up the post later, but right now I'm trying to make do with what I've got available to me when I'm away from my home PC. Bear with me, please.

Hmm, I will take a fresh look at those feats down the Expertise tree; maybe the opportunity cost is worth it now that C. Exp. is paid for. Thanks for the suggestion.

Ghorrin

Edit: Greenish pretty much nailed the reasoning behind my weapon choices.

[GhorrinRedblade]

Also, Elric, as far as discipline choices go, the two I really want this character to use are Steel Serpent and Thrashing Dragon (mainly SS). Broken Blade looked like a good third choice as reflected in overlap in discipline skill and weapon groups. That was at least my intent; does that make sense?

To be sure, Primal Fury looks quite tasty, but if I'm going to use that one, I want to use another character that can really go all-in on what it has to offer. :)

Ghorrin

[GhorrinRedblade]

I formatted the stuff in the spoiler, and trimmed out superfluous pieces. Should be more readable.

Ghorrin