Ballista User? - Could use some help

[Kyros731]

I've got it in my head to want to play a character that focuses on using a Ballista or other siege equipment. Joining in an ongoing - Evil aligned campaign at level 12. Know the other players and gm fairly well and theyre fine with an optimized character. All books are allowed, 3rd party not so much. Any ideas for where to start?

[Necroticplague]

I remember reading somewhere that a Ballista is a Huge heavy crossbow, so you could just apply normal crossbow optimization to a Huge PC (Half-Goristro works for this), or a Large one with Powerful Build (Goliath with Expansion, Stoneboned Template applied to a Large creature).

[FocusWolf413]

Get hand crossbow focus and put aptitude on it.

[Kyros731]

Shoudlve said this in the beginning, This is for pathfinder.

[FocusWolf413]

Can you pick up rapid reload? Does pf have that?

[frost890]

Since a ballista is a siege weapon you would either need to be large/huge size or have it mounted on an animal to move it around.
You could also look in to having it enchanted so that it floats for you. I do not know how well that would work since you would still have to carry the ammo. Unless the ammo was mounted to the floating ballista.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I'm pretty sure there's a gunslinger archetype that focuses on hunting dragons with siege weapons, and I know there's a wizard archetype that focuses on siege weapons. The latter might be more feasible, since there's thing you can do without your ballista.

[Serafina]

Specifically, the Wyrm Sniper (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/gunslinger/archetypes/paizo---gunslinger-archetypes/wyrm-sniper-gunslinger-archetype) (Gunslinger) and Siege Mage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/archetypes/paizo---wizard-archetypes/siege-mage).

First obstacle: Siege Engines (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/siege-engines) need a crew to operate. Fortunately, a Light Ballista only needs a crew of one. However, larger Siege Engines need more.
The only way to remove that need is to be a Level 10 Siege Mage, then you can do it all by yourself.

Second Obstacle: Only a few Siege Engines can be moved, and those come with pretty low speed. All others need to be assembled first, which is utterly impractical in combat.
However, you can mount all siege engines on vehicles, allowing them to be moved at the speed of the vehicle. Floating Disk (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/floating-disk) would also work

Third Obstacle: Siege Engines take long to load. Rapid Reload does not help RAW. Fortunately, the Crew can assist with that - however, you're limited to the amount of crew you have.
The Master Siege Engineer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/master-siege-engineer-combat) feat reduces it from full-round actions to move actions. But you'll still need help.
For example, assume you are manning a Fiends Mouth Cannon. It needs three actions to be loaded and has a Crew of 3. Since you can take two move actions per round, the two assistants can reload the cannon on their own.
The only way to reduce the amount of actions required is being a Wyrm Sniper 7 - and ideally, take Signature Deed (Munitions Master) at 11th level. That way you reduce it by one action - however, no Siege Engine is thus reduced to reloading as a free action. At best you get down to 1 action on a Light Ballista.

Fourth Obstacle: A lot of siege engines need to be aimed before firing. However, basically the same solution as for reloading applies here.

Fifth obstacle: You take a penalty on firing direct-fire siege engines. However, that is negated by having ranks in Knowledge (Engineering) so it should never apply to you anyway.

Sixth Obstacle: No matter what you do, you'll need quite a bit of space. Even a Light Ballista is huge, so forget dungeon crawling. However, it might be possible to maneuver siege engines effectively with Shrink Item (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/shrink-item) (reduce it's size whenever you want to squeeze through anything, expand it when you don't).



The earliest level at which you could effectively play a "Ballista User" is 12th level. 11 of those levels would be in Gunslinger with the Wyrm Sniper Archetype.
At that point, you can effectively load your Light Ballista with move action each turn. You can then fire a single shot with it. Hence, you should have Vital Strike. The Vital Shot Deed does not RAW work work with non-siege engines, and you can not take Signature Deed for both it and Munitions Master.

For your trouble, you effectively make a single 6D8 damage attack - however, once you have Improved Vital Strike that improves to 9D8, and with Greater Vital Strike it goes to 12D8. And you can take advantage of feats that branch off Vital Strike.


A slightly more optimal way to do it would be to run with a Fiends Mouth Cannon.
You could not really use floating disk - but by shrinking down the item and expanding it again, you can transport it effectively too.
For reloading, get Unseen Servants - wands would at that level be cheap enough to work. Two can provide the four move action needed to aim and reload it. However, the GM could easily rule that they are too weak to reload the cannon - each ball weighing 30 pounds, and Unseen Servants only being able to lift 20 pounds (of course, they could lift it together). In that case, you'll require some other method of acquiring a crew - hiring people, Leadership or summoned monsters would work.
Those shenanigans would effectively give you 16D6 damage (24D6 with Improved, 32D6 with Greater Vital Strike), plus your Dexterity plus magic modifiers. Per round, which is actually pretty good.

Notably, you could also use Blast Shot (=Cannister), which would turn the attack into a 30-foot cone with that damage.

For that to work, ask your GM about:
- Using Unseen Servants to reload. Alternatively, use Skeletons or such.
- Check what magic is available to you. You'll want permanent Shrink Item at any rate. You may want Floating Disk up all the time if you're using a Ballista.



Siege Mage is sadly utter crap for this concept. While you could provide all your spell needs, you'll be stuck trying to fit into a feat-intensive, attack-focused build - and your major improvement on siege engines (removing the crew) actually impedes that function!

[Selion]

Warning: too much awesomeness in this post

You can use the beast rider archetipe for the cavalier and use a triceratop as mount, and you can mount a ballista on yout mount(yo dawg)
Take the infamous leadership feat or hire a pair of squires to help you reload the ballista, and roam through the world on your stunning triceratop/ballista tank

[atemu1234]

Since a ballista is a siege weapon you would either need to be large/huge size or have it mounted on an animal to move it around.
You could also look in to having it enchanted so that it floats for you. I do not know how well that would work since you would still have to carry the ammo. Unless the ammo was mounted to the floating ballista.

Mount it on an elephant. Don't ask why.

Or on Dragons.

Edit: Half-Dragon elephants!