5e coming back to PF for friend's game, need warpriest help

[pebcak_error]

I've been playing 5e for a while now. I'm coming back to Pathfinder for a friends home game. I needs some help with a warpriest build. I don't need to be munchkin level optimized, but I'm lost in the feat trees and negative modifiers.

The campaign is a crusade. I'm joining in at level 3. I'll be playing an Aasimar Warpriest of Iomedae. Its a 15 point buy.
For the character concept I really, really don't want Cha to be a dump stat, it doesn't have to be super high, but I need to be a little bit talky.

I'm trying to decide on the fighting style.
Sword & Board fits the character's personality well, but I've found a few places that seem to suggest its weak in both damage and tankiness.
Reach+Trip fits the personality as well but I have no idea how to make that work.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[ComaVision]

You're gonna wanna remove your link to that site reaaaal quick.

(I don't play PF so I can't help you with your other questions but I'm sure someone else will.)

[Kurald Galain]

Sword & Board fits the character's personality well, but I've found a few places that seem to suggest its weak in both damage and tankiness.
It is; the easiest way to deal large amounts of damage is either with a single big weapon, or with two small ones and a damage bonus that applies to both. Now "weak" doesn't mean "worthless", and the warpriest does have some of the best AC in the game and a shield clearly helps with that. For instance, full plate (+9), sanctified shield (+2), swift action shield of faith / protection from evil (+2 more) means 23-24 AC before enchantments.


Reach+Trip fits the personality as well but I have no idea how to make that work.
That's actually pretty easy. Step one: wield a reach weapon. That's it; the fun thing about reach weapons is that you can trip without provoking, since you have reach. Spend your own turn casting buffs or healing, position yourself near enemies, and trip away as they try to walk or cast in your presence.

You can improve this further by taking the feat Combat Reflexes (more OAs!). Traits like Powerful Build Bred for War or Ancestral Weapon give a bonus to trips. With the warpriest's bonus feats, you can get Greater Trip by level six (meaning your trip provokes an OA from the entire party). Also, carry potions of Enlarge Person so you can get an even bigger reach.

HTH!

[Geddy2112]

If you want to be a charisma based knight, you can consider going paladin over warpriest. If you wanna talk, consider using another stat. Student of philosophy and clever wordplay are traits that will let you use intelligence vs charisma for diplomacy, intimidate, or bluff. Also, raw skill ranks will quickly beat out ability scores, particularly in a class skill. At level 1, a rank in a class skill with a 10 ability score will give the same bonus as somebody with an 18 in the ability and no training. More int means more ranks, facilitating this further.

One of the best reach+trip weapons around is the whip, due to absurd range. A favorite tactic of control bards, and you can still carry a shield for AC. I know you wanna go sword and board for the deity emulation, and getting whip proficiency would require a feat or switching to Calistria, a very different deity. She could still support a crusader theme, as she covers vengence and going on a crusade to settle scores is up her alley.

As said, two handing or using the same two weapons is generally best for damage output. You can still shield bash and two weapon fight, but it is not nearly as optimized as using dual shortswords, or even two light shields. In addition to TWF favoring light weapons, feats like weapon focus/specilization/, style feats etc normally only benefit one weapon, and training for weapon groups and the like benefit similar style weapons. Two weapon fighting is also dex based and has to be built that way from the get go. You can still do decent damage with sword and board, but it won't be as high as a two hander or dual wielder. The sanguine angel prestiege class works well for sword and board builds, but it is a different deity and philosophy as well.

As for ability scores, if you are going to be doing more fighting than casting you can get by on minimal wis. You don't get as many uses of fervor or channeling but you really only need enough to swift heal in combat, and burn your channels at the end of the day to party heal. You also will avoid spells that have DC's, using buffs and utility spells. A 16 in wisdom will be sufficient for your character to cast all spell levels, so you can start level 3 with 12 wis no problem. This will allow you to spend points elsewhere. If your going stock aasimar, you get a boost anyways so you can leave it at 10 in buy. Since aasimar boosts charisma too, you can dump it to 8 and still come off with a 10, which is fine. You primarily want to use strength unless you wanna TWF or finesse build, so a 14 minimum is needed, I would go 16. Unless you go dex based you can wear full plate, meaning 12 dex is fine, you might want a 14-16 if you plan to score mithral plate down the road. With high AC from shield and armor, swift action healing and good fort saves, you don't need crazy high con. You can dump int if you don't care about skills, or only care about 1-2, or pump it a bit to get more skills, or pump it to proxy it for your charisma, in which case I would dump charisma to 7. You can use those stats for a S&B build or any not finesse/twf build.

Of your feats, getting wis based attack rolls is pretty bonkers and effectively makes for a single ability dependent class and would pump wis much higher. On a reach trip build that does not care as much about damage(like a whip) this could get really zesty. If you end up with a different deity and you are using a favored weapon that is light/ one handed and don't go shield, you can get slashing/fencing grace to go dex to damage. Shelyn allows you to turn a glaive into a one handed finesse weapon, which is pretty cool. If your sold on iomidae disregard.