Help with a build idea

[5w337x7007h]

I recently had an idea about a character who is building an empire for a specific goal. This goal is peace throughout a region, maybe the world. The character would be going and building alliances with anyone and everyone that shares a similar dream. This character seeks to bring about peace through domination, striking down those who oppose him/her. They don't believe the path will be easy, but their end goal is clear either the region/world will bend it's knee, or unite to overthrow the tyrant.

My question is, what kind of build would embody such a character?

[Grod_The_Giant]

The concept doesn't seem to be attached to any particular class?

[5w337x7007h]

The concept doesn't seem to be attached to any particular class?

That's what I'm trying to figure out. What kind of class would fit a personality like this. A Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Sorcerer, etc...?

[Secret Wizard]

You have a character based on a philosophical ideal - harmony - which he attempts to reach for the ideal itself, not for personal gain or the greater good. I'd say this guy is Lawful Neutral then, as this ideal shapes his actions (and not the other way around, which would tilt him towards True Neutral).

This guy would need good mental stats... he doesn't seem like he needs to frontline a lot, but I'm assuming he wants some ability in battle, due to the amount of warring needed to perform his vision.

I think good choices are:

- Imperious Bloodline Human Sorcerer
- Destined Bloodline Sorcerer/Bloodrager
- Champion of the Faith Warpriest (vs Chaos)
- Divine Strategist Cleric with the Law/Tyranny or Nobility/Leadership domain/subdomains (any one of these four)

[MasterBruce1984]

This goal is peace throughout a region, maybe the world. The character would be going and building alliances with anyone and everyone that shares a similar dream. This character seeks to bring about peace through domination, striking down those who oppose him/her. They don't believe the path will be easy, but their end goal is clear either the region/world will bend it's knee, or unite to overthrow the tyrant.

My question is, what kind of build would embody such a character?

Depends on the 'region' they are defending.

If it is a wooden area, Ranger could be good. Kind of 'Robin Hood' in nature. If it is a mixed area, maybe Paladin or general Fighter.

A really awesome Scout kind of character that may fit your character:

Human Oracle (Waves Mystery)/Fighter.

DEX > CHA > CON > STR > INT/WIS

Take traits that add/focus skills into perception and stealth. Eyes and Ears of the City is a good one, and so is Black Sheep. Put what skill points you can into Knowledge Local, Stealth and Perception. After that, distribute where and how you can into what you think is necessary depending on the campaign. Climb, Acrobatics, etc.

Take your first level in fighter to gain the weapons proficiency, armor proficiency, and the bonus feats. I since you are going to be a scout, for weapons, take a decent bow (composite if you can), and whatever melee weapon you think would be best. Armor is up to you, and kind of depends on how much you put into your DEX. Stick with light as much as possible, maybe Studded Leather or Chain Shirt. Bare in mind that you won't need it for too long.

From there, go Oracle (Waves). Your curse is your choice, but I recommend Legalistic, Deaf (you take penalties on initiative for at least half the time, but the gains are pretty awesome), Tongues, or Wasting. The first revelation you want to take is Water Sight. The reason for this is because your first 1st Level Spell will be Obscuring Mist. You create a mist giving 20%-50% miss rate for everyone, but with your Water Sight, you are unaffected. After that, Ice Armor and Punitive Transformation.

The spells you get should focus on buffing and debuffing yourself and your party in regards to armor and keeping them in the fight. Liberating Command (1st level spell), for example, will help people get out of grapples. Weapon of Awe (2nd level spell) is another one. You are mainly going to be a Warrior-Oracle using your spells to that effect.

Feats to focus on are attack based as well. Point Blank, Deadly Aim, Power Attack, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot, etc.

[5w337x7007h]

The character plans on masterminding the entire idea, gathering those with like minds to aid in the grunt work. They want to be the leader that guides their flock to success. Encouraging cooperation among followers while segregating everyone who isn't, making anyone suffer/die for going against the grand plan.

First step in the plan, take over a city. Segregate all who don't respect the leader's will. Make it obvious that the group is sorting people into districts around the city, so that all like people live in the same district. Dwarves with Dwarves, Elves with Elves, Humans with Humans, etc.. Noone gets special treatment except for the followers, though they are requested to uphold the illusion of total segregation.

That said, I do like the Imperious Bloodline Sorcerer. I'm also thinking of Evangelist Cleric, or Mastermind Investigator.

[Xerlith]

If we're talking about a character whose whole fighting style is shaped by his ideals, that would also allow for, say, a Warder - a class focused on protecting the surrounding allies while completely crushing the enemies that may want to hurt them.
The character, as far as I see it, is lawful evil - mostly because of that "end justifies the means" part, otherwise a Paladin would actually be a decent choice. Or if you can actually talk it out with the DM, Paladin still may be open.

Hell, really - any class works here, seriously. Maybe Zealot from PoW2 fits thematically the best.

[arkangel111]

Sounds to me more of a barbarian tribal leader. Chooses to unite the tribes so they can better survive the coming chaos, willing to shed blood if necessary so long as the greater good is upheld. Taking over the city is just a step in civilizing the tribes.

I see others have posted other classes that would run completely opposite of this as well. I think your problem is that you can make ANY character follow those ideals, it just depends on the campaign partly. Its not a stretch to throw a rogue out there as well that is gathering the rival guilds so they can ultimately be a stronger force. A wizard could gather the people under his lead because he knows that knowledge is power and having everyone share their knowledge makes the nation stronger.

You have the ideal the character wishes to follow now you just need to find the character to follow it. I think the first thing you should do is talk to the DM and find out what kind of campaign it is. If its more social and intrigue based I would lean towards wizard/rogue type characters. High magic you could throw in the cleric and sorcerer, Nature the Druid or ranger, and in a low magic probably paladin and barbarian or fighter.

edited for spelling errors.

[Half-Wizard]

The best fit is probably Bard (negotiator) (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/paizo---bard-archetypes/negotiator).

[MasterBruce1984]

The character plans on masterminding the entire idea, gathering those with like minds to aid in the grunt work. They want to be the leader that guides their flock to success. Encouraging cooperation among followers while segregating everyone who isn't, making anyone suffer/die for going against the grand plan.

First step in the plan, take over a city. Segregate all who don't respect the leader's will. Make it obvious that the group is sorting people into districts around the city, so that all like people live in the same district. Dwarves with Dwarves, Elves with Elves, Humans with Humans, etc.. Noone gets special treatment except for the followers, though they are requested to uphold the illusion of total segregation.

That said, I do like the Imperious Bloodline Sorcerer. I'm also thinking of Evangelist Cleric, or Mastermind Investigator.

Yeah, honestly, with all of that in mind, any class will do. The Leadership Feat will be your friend. Battle Cleric could be fun.

[Grod_The_Giant]

That's what I'm trying to figure out. What kind of class would fit a personality like this. A Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Sorcerer, etc...?
You probably want something with high Cha and good social skill access, but beyond that? Umm... Mastermind Investigator*? A Bard with some combination of the Demogogue, Negotiator, Celebrity, and/or maybe Court Bard archetypes?

*You can use traits and feats to use Int instead of Cha for practically all your social skills.

[Red Fel]

The bottom line, to me, is that you've defined a goal, and you've defined a broad methodology - and that's great. The problem is that both of those are class non-specific. A Barbarian can have the same goals as a Sorcerer, for example. (Even "learn to cast that big spell," although one of them will likely have more success than the other.) A Fighter and a Druid can share the same broad methodologies, such as "Wake up, go to work, do your job and go home." What you need are the specific methodologies - the more detail-oriented aspects of how they get the job done.

Using the office example, both a Fighter and a Druid can have that methodology, but the Fighter will do his work at the office by picking up the phone, collating and delivering memos, and typing furiously, while the Druid will do the same work by communing with the office plant and sending out literal gophers to deliver memoranda. They both get the same job done, but they have different specific methodologies for doing so.

That's what you need to look at. You've mentioned his goal (unification through force), and his methods (have grunts do the work), but not the specific methods at his disposal. Step back and envision this character. As he spreads his iron fist over the region, how does he do it? He can't act solely through minions, at least not at first. Does he use force of arms, raw strength and charisma? You might consider a Fighter or Barbarian, or similar warrior-leader. Does he use conviction and zeal? Cleric or Inquisitor might be your angle. Raw magical power? That's an abraca-duh, isn't it? Honeyed words and rousing speeches? That's a Bard if ever I heard one. But you have to start with his specific methods.

[jjcrpntr]

I recently had an idea about a character who is building an empire for a specific goal. This goal is peace throughout a region, maybe the world. The character would be going and building alliances with anyone and everyone that shares a similar dream. This character seeks to bring about peace through domination, striking down those who oppose him/her. They don't believe the path will be easy, but their end goal is clear either the region/world will bend it's knee, or unite to overthrow the tyrant.

My question is, what kind of build would embody such a character?

If you're in pathfinder, an Inquisitor maybe kind of sounds like it fits this.

[Xsatra]

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/198/a/9/paul_atreides_by_shmyah-d57npf3.jpg

I think everyone is going to have a different idea about what class your character should be. Personally, I thought of Paul Atreides from Dune. He too set out to create an empire for a specific goal, guided by prescience, where the end justified the means. As such, I think a seer psion would fit.
Your character recieves a vision about peace in the region but sees that they must themselves guide the region towards this path. Some sort of lawful neutral or lawful evil seems appropriate. Nothing is more dangerous than a man that believes his actions serve the greater good.

[5w337x7007h]

Thinking on how I want to get the job done...

Something like how the Narrator and Tyler Durden did it in Fight Club. Influence the working class of society, those who have been pushed around and abused by the upper class, who feel that the world needs a literal push in the right direction.

[Psyren]

Chain Gate Solars and order them to keep the peace?

If you're willing to reach back to 3.5's version of Diplomacy this would be easy.

[Spore]

Something like how the Narrator and Tyler Durden did it in Fight Club. Influence the working class of society, those who have been pushed around and abused by the upper class, who feel that the world needs a literal push in the right direction.

Aside from skill checks and other rule implications, the most popular revolutionaries come from the working class themselves. So I would avoid a background in higher society. My own campaign had a similar notion like this. The players were to decide to either help the king against these rebels to maintain a stable yet unfair peace or to side with the rebels (lead by a guy very similar to your aimed at PC) to collapse the existing order in favor of a fairer but more unstable rule.

My rebel leader would have been a mundane cloak-and-swordish fleet admiral that would've worked his way up from a marine soldier only to feel the loathing the aristocracy had for the common folk. He would eventually push through as piracy would increase on the trade routes and noble admirals willingly stepping down from their position. Case in point is: Not having magical power or talent is going to make your concept all the more believable.

Why should thousands of hard working men believe a guy who can wag his finger and have an apple fly his way? So I would restrict myself from any (major) spellcasting. I guess bard is fine since their magic is a lot more subtle. I would generally run a Swashbuckler or Bard because I feel their backstory should have the most shared experience with common folk.

[Secret Wizard]

Aside from skill checks and other rule implications, the most popular and least effective revolutionaries come from the working class themselves.

Fixed that for you.

[MasterBruce1984]

Thinking on how I want to get the job done...

Something like how the Narrator and Tyler Durden did it in Fight Club. Influence the working class of society, those who have been pushed around and abused by the upper class, who feel that the world needs a literal push in the right direction.

If that is the case, do an Oracle with the Haunted mystery, and play the character like they are talking to themselves a lot. You will have the High CHA score for social aspects (Oracle Spells are based on CHA), the schizophrenia will be just flair you throw into the character, and the Haunted mystery will have it as though there really is somebody there messing with you and your party.

[Spore]

Fixed that for you.

Don't you go all sassy Mr "I know the tier system better than you" onto me. I VERY WELL know how poor PF rogues are yet I feel a skill monkey rogue is the most fitting for this concept. But why should a wizard even BOTHER to help mankind? By the time he could help those poor saps that call themselves mortals, he can rule the entire kingdom by himself only using spells.

Or in short: A wizard doesn't need a revolutionary army, so there's no reason for her to create one.

[Secret Wizard]

wat

i was talking about actual, real life revolutionaries

just saying that most of the really effective ones come from higher classes:
- Che Guevara was a posh rugby player
- The Founding Fathers were land-owners
- Napoleon was a noble


I'll give you Stalin and Mao though.

[5w337x7007h]

The end result should be a character that seeks to do evil for the sake of good, dominating the world in a hope that the world will unify and overthrow him, but if they don't at least he's alive and in control. He'll be a bit disappointed, but he'll work with the clay he has.

He doesn't have to convert the masses, he could make an army through magic, hiding it within a demiplane, biding his time for a grand invasion.