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View Full Version : Pathfinder Building a Lizardfolk Venom/Travel Reach Cleric, Level 3 or 4 to start



Coidzor
2016-01-29, 08:15 PM
I believe I've going off of this race (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races/standard-races-1-10-rp/lizardfolk-8-rp), with some adjustments for a custom setting where they're not all xenophobic, but I'll be confirming that with the DM.

Right now I like Venom (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo---domains/scalykind-domain/venom)because it seems to have a more useful poison ability than the nonlethal damage gaze attack of Scalykind (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo---domains/scalykind-domain). I suppose being a standard action and potentially denying either one of the enemies their turn or using up the standard action of one of the other enemies would be good if the save could be kept up, since it would draw some aggro and be a standard action thing I could do that would encourage enemies to move closer and attack mine.

I'll admit, Travel was mostly because I wasn't sure what to pair it with, and it seemed thematically appropriate for a wandering corsair-type in addition to being on the stronger side spell wise to shore up the fact that the other domain is mostly for the snake.

Either way, I want it because I really like the idea of having a Snekk combat pet, and it would be helpful to have an additional body on the field since we're probably going to be a party of 3. Unless the Constrictor Snake is complete trash, but it seems like it'd at least be a decent chassis for grappling for some mild lockdown and then potentially continuing to attack other creatures while automatically dealing constrict damage to its grappled victim as part of maintaining the grapple each turn for lower but not irrelevant damage. But maybe I'm misremembering the grapple rules.

I've read the Reach Cleric guide (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5kvBvq2DEHjRWctNG05X0JINm8/edit), but I'm wondering, since I'm probably not going to have either a CG or CE deity, whether it's viable without Sacred Summons to give shorter casting times on summoning spells, since that's a big focus of the guide.

We've got 25 Point Buy, and I'm not quite sure how to allocate them, either. I could get a modest STR 16, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 13, WIS 14, CHA 12 with the racial modifiers I've been going off of, which would allow me, with the extra favored class skill point, to have a total of 4 skill points per level so I could have some of the Knowledges that would come in handy as well as Spellcraft, Heal, and maybe Perception or Acrobatics with points in them. Thankfully we have a confirmed face, so the only social skill I'd be considering would be Sense Motive. As well as letting me speak the Common equivalent in this setting as a bonus language known.

Featwise I'm looking at Combat Reflexes for 1st level and Power Attack for 3rd I'm considering dipping into Fighter at level 5 or 6 for proficiencies and the bonus feat(haven't decided what to spend it on, though) and taking Boon Companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/boon-companion) as my 5th level feat so that my animal companion is full strength.

Haven't really considered the Animal Companion's feats yet, beyond probably ones to either bolster its damage or make its grapple more fearsome. I was considering Totem Guide for an archetype for it, but I wasn't really sure on that front at all.

It's been a while since I've played, so I can't remember WBL for this level at all and haven't started looking at items yet, so suggestions on that front would be appreciated.

So, any thoughts? I've looked over the alternatives, and it seems like a Battle or Life Oracle would handle the martial fullcaster or keeping the other party members alive components a bit better, since as it stands, I'd do a little bit of buffing before or during combat and then mostly just patch us up afterward, at least for the next few levels.

Or a Shaman would have uses of its standard action through hexes to provoke enemies when not looking to burn a spell. Though the hexes available to it when I was looking it over didn't seem that great.

Deities/Patrons for a Snake Cleric?]I'm looking either for a deity to crib for use in a game where the setting is still in development so proposing a deity isn't too obscene or a set of deities and archfiends and powerful fey and celestial lords and the like that can be used as a point of reference for brokering with the DM or at least pointing them at.

Since it's (probably almost certainly) not Golarion, I'm looking further afield than just what's been made for PF for ideas, though it is for a Pathfinder game in a custom setting. The Venom sub-domain of the Scalykind Domain and (tentatively) the Travel Domain have been approved, but I'm kinda curious about what sort of favored weapons have been assigned to snake-themed Powers and the like. Or if there are any weapons that occur to others as being particularly fitting for a snake theme.

I'm pretty much drawing a blank, so the only things that I could think of offhand would be some kind of grappling, ensnaring weapon(like a pincer staff or that "dragon chain" you could grapple with from Red Hand of Doom), some form of piercing weapon(possibly one of the kinds that can inject poison as part of attacking, but I think all of those were obscure things from Dragon Magazine in 3.5), or some kind of chain-based weapon like a kusari-gama or a rope dart.

The character itself is a pirate or was one up until very recently, so it's probably going to be more grey when it comes to morality.

Traitoreous
2016-01-31, 06:02 AM
Weapons for snake gods? I'd say bolas, spiked chains, basically anything with trip attack. A naga wielding a glaive sounds fun too.
I think there is a home-brew god from Tirr campaign setting with the scalykind domain. Isis, Isus, or something.

NevinPL
2016-01-31, 11:33 AM
"Base" DnD has a whole book about "reptiles", it's called Serpent Kingdoms, I would start there.
Out of the top of my head:

god, something from the Egyptian mythology like Apep\Apophis,
weapon, IRC a Serpent Sword somewhere, a whip is fine too, bladed, coated with poison even better.

nedz
2016-01-31, 06:07 PM
There are not many snake themed gods

Egyptian
Set Spear
Apep Pick

Aztec
Cihuacoatl “Snake Woman” Pick
Quetzalcoatl Mace

Coidzor
2016-01-31, 11:46 PM
There are not many snake themed gods

Egyptian
Set Spear
Apep Pick

Aztec
Cihuacoatl “Snake Woman” Pick
Quetzalcoatl Mace

Ahh, I completely forgot about apophis's alternate name. Also Apophis. Thank you.

And I learned an entirely new Aztec deity. :smallbiggrin:


"Base" DnD has a whole book about "reptiles", it's called Serpent Kingdoms, I would start there.
Out of the top of my head:

god, something from the Egyptian mythology like Apep\Apophis,
weapon, IRC a Serpent Sword somewhere, a whip is fine too, bladed, coated with poison even better.


Yeah... I thought there was only Merrshaulk/Sseth in there, but was pleasantly surprised to find there were a few more. :smallredface:

And even this nifty little "Tail-scythe" weapon, for hands-free attacking. Which would pair nicely with Claw/Claw/Bite or using a Reach Weapon.

So thank you for the reminder. :smallbiggrin:

I should double check with my DM about that sort of thing since there are a few tail-attachment weapons listed right there on the pfsrd with the standard weapons.

I think you're thinking of Spinning Swords or Urumi. Those might be nice too, yeah.


Weapons for snake gods? I'd say bolas, spiked chains, basically anything with trip attack. A naga wielding a glaive sounds fun too.
I think there is a home-brew god from Tirr campaign setting with the scalykind domain. Isis, Isus, or something.

I was wondering if trip attack thinking was just my bias towards tripping characters from my 3.5 heyday, or if it actually fit thematically with snakishness.

Part of me almost wishes I had something like a dragonchain from RHoD as an option, since, IIRC, those were weapons that allowed you to grapple and then constrict a foe, which would be very cool and fitting to go with a character that venerates constrictor snakes.

What's this Tirr cmapaign setting?

Coidzor
2016-02-02, 01:56 AM
And since the DM is now working on making the deity from scratch, let's change the focus of this thread to the character as a whole to see how badly I'm messing up.

Florian
2016-02-02, 04:39 AM
And since the DM is now working on making the deity from scratch, let's change the focus of this thread to the character as a whole to see how badly I'm messing up.

I think you´re wasting potential here.
A base race with three primary natural attacks and high STR is pretty much geared towards full attacking due to the high to-hit rate, even on a 3/4 BAB.
If you plan on dipping some Fighter levels, you could as well go Warpriest from the beginning and gain a better net-result, especially if you do not plan to play higher than level 10. Consider that a "pure" Cleric would get some level 5 spells while a Warpriest has level 4 spells, but those two fighter levels push Cleric back to level 4 spells, too.

Coidzor
2016-02-03, 04:32 AM
I think you´re wasting potential here.
A base race with three primary natural attacks and high STR is pretty much geared towards full attacking due to the high to-hit rate, even on a 3/4 BAB.
If you plan on dipping some Fighter levels, you could as well go Warpriest from the beginning and gain a better net-result, especially if you do not plan to play higher than level 10. Consider that a "pure" Cleric would get some level 5 spells while a Warpriest has level 4 spells, but those two fighter levels push Cleric back to level 4 spells, too.

A little bit.

On the other hand, I was thinking that the natural attacks would come in handy once I had enemies in closer around me, since it seems like I can juggle the spear to Claw/Claw/Bite and still have it and my bite available to threaten with after my turn as long as I don't try to attack with the spear during my turn.

I've been looking at Warpriest and the main reason I haven't, honestly, is the urge to have at least one domain, though I'm coming to accept that I'm probably going to have to axe part of the concept in interest of efficacy.

Especially since it seems like going with a familiar granting class like a Shaman would handily give me a way to have a repository of knowledge skills that doesn't use my skill points while still being more than adept at healing, though it'd still be a bit awkward with the natural weapons to just stick more to casting and hexing.