[PoW] Warpriest/Battle Templar Build Decisions

[Ninjaxenomorph]

I've come to realize that our group desperately needs a character that, while not exactly a healer, is nevertheless someone who CAN heal more serious stuff than HP damage. We're playing with the Sanity rules from Horror Adventures, which means we need Restoration. After my current character started suffering from night terrors, and with the realization that no, the horrors will not end, I should plan out a backup character to deal with this. Buuut I really enjoy playing Path of War, which led me to the idea of playing a Warpath Follower Warpriest, and followings that up with taking levels in Battle Templar, because I really like maneuvers.

I'm struggling with the character build even at its most basic, though, with the exception of a few things I want. The character would be a Warpriest of the Crone, a goddess of curses and revenge (among other things; her domains are Luck, Travel, Repose, Knowledge, and Rune. For my purposes, she also grants the Curse blessing to warpriests. The Crone's favored weapon is a dagger, so I'd be using a martial weapon as my Divine Focus Weapon. Battle Templar requires Discipline Focus in either Iron Tortoise or Golden Lion, meaning I have to have one of those two out of my three disciplines available. Now, the character is Viking-inspired, so if I could go sword-and-board with Iron Tortoise, that would be great. However, that prevents him from casting spells in combat, until I pick up something that allows me to do so (the Shielded Mage feat), plus there is nearly everything else the build would need.

A far simpler build would just be to use a greatsword and pick up Golden Lion and my choice of two other disciplines (Cursed Razor because I like the curse theme, and something else to round the build out, possibly either Scarlet Throne or Shattered Mirror). This is a much more feat-free build, at the cost of defense (and a little concept, but especially later on; I'm a fan of Nemean Lion Hide from the Medic PDF), but perhaps lets him bolster some weakness in the build by letting him actually get a combat style and regain his caster levels from Prestigious Spellcaster.

For blessings, I was thinking about going with Curse (fits the character, plus plays well with Cursed Razor if the GM rules it as a curse effect) and Knowledge (party is low on knowledge skills, and it's fits the character's hag hunter background). Any ideas or critiques, anything I've overlooked or not considered?

[digiman619]

Well, you could use a buckler. They don't interfere with hand movements and are still a shield.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Eh, I'd rather just take the feats; I'd need to pick up Buckler Bash anyway, so having to take Shield Focus and Shielded Mage doesn't sound so bad.

I figured out the feats that would be necessary for this build before going into Battle Templar:

Martial Power
Shield Focus
-Shielded Mage
Discipline Focus

Considering as a human Warpriest I have five feats at fifth level (2 at 1st from human, 2 at 3rd with one combat feat, and 1 at 5th), with Weapon Focus to boot.

[exelsisxax]

Significant problem: you don't have focus weapon or sacred weapon. Warpath followers lose those class features.

What is your character supposed to be doing other than being able to heal? Because there's a lot of ways to access battle templar and they span the whole range of murderfests, ubertanks, and megaheals.

[Castilonium]

Try to get a Clawhand Shield (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/gear/specificArmorsShields.html). It's a heavy shield you can cast spells with. Ask your GM if you can get it at a +1 enhancement bonus rather than +2 so that you can knock 3000 gp off the price.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Significant problem: you don't have focus weapon or sacred weapon. Warpath followers lose those class features.

What is your character supposed to be doing other than being able to heal? Because there's a lot of ways to access battle templar and they span the whole range of murderfests, ubertanks, and megaheals.

So what that they lose those features? They gain Divine Focus Weapon, which gives them weapon focus in their favored weapon (and warpath followers choose a martial weapon if they don't want their deity's favored weapon, so in this case I'd likely be choosing a longsword rather than a dagger, which is the Crone's favored weapon). I wanted to a combination of tanking, debuffing (from Curse blessing and Cursed Razor), general buffing, and of course putting some hurt out with maneuvers.


Try to get a Clawhand Shield (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/gear/specificArmorsShields.html). It's a heavy shield you can cast spells with. Ask your GM if you can get it at a +1 enhancement bonus rather than +2 so that you can knock 3000 gp off the price.

I'm not fond of builds that require a specific magical item; on top of that, I'm definitely not a fan of having to stretch the rules to make a build work. I'd rather take Shield Focus/Shielded Mage, that way I can get my build off at 3rd level, and hey, Shield Focus isn't a bad feat, considering the Iron Tortoise stuff that uses your shield bonus.

[angelpalm]

4 levels of warpriest[warpath follower] then 1 level of Warder[Ordained Defender/Zweihander?]

I think those two archetypes for warder are compatible so you could be wisdom based, ignore a shield, and still use the iron tortoise maneuvers and get an increasing shield bonus to ac. Now you are using a two handed weapon and can still take off a hand as free action to do touch spells/cast.

Edit: Also I am not sure what the official ruling is but I know that Ordained Knight (Ex) ability allows for classes like cleric and paladin to advance at the very least, two of their divine related class abilities(channel energy/lay on hands and domains respectively) so the way I have been handling it is allowing for warpriest to advance Fervor and Blessings. if your dm agrees with that I would see about trading out blessings for something like the diving fighting techniques. Especially if you do plan on using a longsword. Inspiring Sword plus the Martial Charge feat is pretty good imo and helps you continue to be the best at keeping your action economy smooth as silk.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

4 levels of warpriest[warpath follower] then 1 level of Warder[Ordained Defender/Zweihander?]

I think those two archetypes for warder are compatible so you could be wisdom based, ignore a shield, and still use the iron tortoise maneuvers and get an increasing shield bonus to ac. Now you are using a two handed weapon and can still take off a hand as free action to do touch spells/cast.

Edit: Also I am not sure what the official ruling is but I know that Ordained Knight (Ex) ability allows for classes like cleric and paladin to advance at the very least, two of their divine related class abilities(channel energy/lay on hands and domains respectively) so the way I have been handling it is allowing for warpriest to advance Fervor and Blessings. if your dm agrees with that I would see about trading out blessings for something like the diving fighting techniques. Especially if you do plan on using a longsword. Inspiring Sword plus the Martial Charge feat is pretty good imo and helps you continue to be the best at keeping your action economy smooth as silk.

The problem with that is that I'm jumping through hoops to get Iron Tortoise, without actually having a shield. That's like wanting a cool fast car, and getting a turbocharged engine in a volkswagon beetle. Also, we already have an Ordained Warder/Zweihander. He's... not great, but I still don't want to step on his toes, build-wise. Plus, there's the issue of losing caster levels. Divine Fighting Technique also won't work, since 1) Iomedae is not an available deity 2) My deity doesn't have the longsword as a favored weapon. On the other hand, we were assuming Ordained Knight worked with Blessings and Fervor.