Zealot help - Pathfinder DSP Path of War

[Barstro]

I'm planning a Zealot for an upcoming campaign. Right now, I'm considering a Halfling.

As a non-psionic race, does he need Wild Talent (or anything else) as a first level feat in order to have the ability to even take the class?

Any other things I should know as a PoW/Psionics newbie?

[legomaster00156]

No, you do not need to be previously psionic to take levels in a psionic class.

[Barstro]

As a follow-up, does being a psionic class get rid of the "Wild Talent" prerequisite for "Unlocked Talent"?

[Domar]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/race-traits/helpful/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/regional-traits/community-minded/
The helpful trait will boost your aid another bonus to 4 + zeal and community minded will make your morale bonuses, including zeal last 2 extra rounds.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/divine-fighting-technique-combat/
Divine Fighting Technique (Way of the Shooting Star) will let you use your charisma in place of strength or dexterity in melee and range.

The Halfling favored class bonus lets you get 10 total convictions.

Zealots have the best maneuver recovery so you will want to expend maneuvers as fast as possible. Riven Hourglass and the Protection Mission offer action advantage.

[Barstro]

Not sure I have room for those traits due to making the character part fey to get Cha to AC.

Never saw that feat before. Looks awesome, but goes against my character idea. I'll keep it in mind for future characters.

Thanks for the great tips.

[Barstro]

Zealots have the best maneuver recovery so you will want to expend maneuvers as fast as possible. Riven Hourglass and the Protection Mission offer action advantage.

Is there a way to get Riven Hourglass without the DM deciding to allow it? As far as I can tell, the PC needs to find a group that teaches that discipline at some point in the game.

[Air0r]

Is there a way to get Riven Hourglass without the DM deciding to allow it? As far as I can tell, the PC needs to find a group that teaches that discipline at some point in the game.

Path of War Expanded introduces a trait that allows you to switch out a discipline you normally have access to for another you do not yet have access too.

[Barstro]

Path of War Expanded introduces a trait that allows you to switch out a discipline you normally have access to for another you do not yet have access too.

I'd that in the SRD?

EDIT: found it. Still not sure I have room. Thanks.

[Domar]

The Additional Traits feat gets you two more traits. You can get a combat feat from Combat Conviction to compensate.

[Castilonium]

Take a peek at the 200 page guide for Zealots in my signature :smallsmile:

[torrasque666]

You can also join the Lords of the Wheel martial tradition.

[thecrimsondawn]

The last Zealot I made I had the most fun playing out of all my builds. It used the archetype that gets Silver Crane and Black Seraph and I played the son of both a demon and an angel who was tired of the other planes meddling in the affairs of the world, so his journey was in part to stop both sides from being children and fighting.

Since spells, and moves only tell you what they do and not how they look, it offers a great deal of flexibility in how you want your attacks to look. This is important since this can greatly fluff a build out with no added expense. My Silver Crane AOE attacks where giant holy swords, while my Black Seraph attacks where spears that came up from under the ground.
The only reason I bring this up is to help broaden your mind as to what you can and cant do, and are not limited to just, 'I swing my sword at them' It helps a lot.

The next thing to note about Zealot is your Mission. Each one has very powerful options (some more powerful then others) and will define how you plan to play. Zealot is one of the best support classes in the game if you take a healing based martial art such as Silver Crane or Radiant Dawn (in playtest but considered done), you will find that it pairs almost too well with your Martyrdom feature.

Your primary actions will involve taking damage from party members that take a solid hit, so a high CON score with your CHA score will help a lot, and using aid another on your whole collective almost every round, so boosting that with feats and racial options is a must. The DM will need to play around with encounters to keep things balanced due to this, but its not too hard if he has some experience under his belt.

Lastly, your weapon will mesh well with your path options. Like said above, you can follow a martial tradition to swap 1 move out for a different one, but must follow their oath too. Every path has a martial tradition, and there are even some paths that allow a free swap out (Radiant Dawn, Fools Errand, Chimera Soul, and so forth). I bring this up since the paths reflect your playstyle. If you opt to stay in the back, use your move action to aid the group, and your attack action to use a ranged strike, a bow with Tempest Gale is a powerful option, allowing ranged combat moves to trip, disarm, grapple, and what not safely from range. If you focus on damage, a 2 handed weapon is a solid choice too - opting for perhaps Primal Fury or Scarlet Throne. Sleeping Goddess is one of your core disciplines, and its a really good one too. While many of the strikes are more debuff in nature (and perhaps even a little lack luster), the boosts and stances more then make up for it. Further more, every move you know of Sleeping Goddess grants 1 additional power point (other then the very first, this includes stances), and additional points equal to the highest level move you know (so if you are lv 7 and have a 4th lv sleeping goddess move, you get 4 additional points to your pool), meaning you have a very large power pool to play with to fuel your moves.

[Castilonium]

using aid another on your whole collective almost every round

use your move action to aid the group

How? Commitment simply lets you use Aid Another on collective members at any distance. It doesn't let you use Aid Another on your entire collective at once.

[thecrimsondawn]

How? Commitment simply lets you use Aid Another on collective members at any distance. It doesn't let you use Aid Another on your entire collective at once.

Sorry, my bad. You aid yourself or another, and everyone gets the zeal. However there are ways to aid everyone in your collective too. Im trying to recall them, but the only one off the top of my head is the Warlords 8th level ability. I think I recall something in the psychic content somewhere too, or perhaps it was a stance... Ill get back to ya on that one if I remember what it was/

[Barstro]

Thank you all for the tips.

I have started a new thread for my specific character, if anyone wants to chime in.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?546753-Please-help-with-Zealot-Build&p=22732280#post22732280

Pretty sure I'll be replying on this one too, for Zealot general questions.

Thanks again.