[1e] Optimizing a Strix "Human Hunter"

[Spore]

Greetings playground,

I will play in an upcoming Hell's Vengeance AP and since the angle of Chelish nobility is sufficiently taken care of, storywise I wanted to add an angle of slavery and also chaotic evil to the AP. After building an Asmodean Advocate, I decided against it, enjoying the direct damage of martials a bit better. The DM welcomed Tieflings and Strix especially and seeing as we start at 1st level with our best "caster" being an Alchemist, flying will be an asset.

The current sheet is here: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1898930

What is allowed:
- all Paizo first party stuff
- 20 pt. buy
- 200 gold of starting gear, excess money will be deleted

What my aim is:
- play a Strix
- round out the party: vivisectionist/beastmorph alchemist, cavalier, hamatulatsu UC monk and fated champion skald
- add ranged combat but not whole hog (switch hitting or magic or animal companion as a side theme) as well as a skilled flier
- preferrably no magic or nature magic (stuff like shaman, druid, hunter is okay)
- stay a (sensible) chaotic evil: the character wants to murder humans in particular

What I currently aimed for:
- heavy focus on exterminating humans (first FE, hatred racial trait), I will move on to good outsiders second (because they protect humans)
- switch hitter build but I can already see a focussed archer could be a better idea for a flier in a melee heavy party
- tribal/antisocial feel: low cha and int not necessarily for optimization but to display the characters focus and interests. He will at best speak broken common (int 8, did not start with the language) and will be heavily scarred (defiant slave with burn marks as well as the drawback of a huge Asmodeus symbol on his face to denote his status as slave)

Where do my "problems" lie:
- unsure if my build is decent enough to hold up in an adventure path.
- group is pretty combat focussed so I want to be too
- we need some source of healing when we solve most plot stuff with fighting
- mundane flying is pretty foreign a concept to me so is +11 starting off enough? With the skills necessary I assume +20 is necessary mid-level to be decently maneuverable. (as well as feats like hover and the one that allows 90° turns), so I assume my feat starved build is taxed even more.

[Geddy2112]

Since your party is bruiser heavy, switch hitting should just be a contingency when ranged combat does not make sense. Enemies with DR that negates piercing, close quarters, deflect arrows, etc. I would not take power attack and instead focus on the ranged tree. A two handed weapon and decent strength is more than enough juice for those times you need to go in close.

As for a responsible chaotic evil, you can just copypaste General Zaroff from "The Most Dangerous Game". You hunt humans because nothing else is challenging. They are the most dangerous and formidable game, and hunting them makes you the best. You probably don't want to be raging with hatred screaming "death to all humans" even if your character truly feels this way. At least feign respect for a worthy adversary or trophy to hunt. Avoid killing people for absolutely no reason or being a jerk just because your character is a stupid uncivilized brute. Also ensure the party has no other humans and run it by the group first. If you keep it to the confines of "hunting" and toying with your prey you won't be stabbing random humans in the street for the evilz

Have you considered Slayer as a class? The executioner (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/slayer/archetypes/paizo-slayer-archetypes/executioner-slayer-archetype) archetype is right up your character's alley.

I would not worry about healing with an alchemist and a skald in the group. If you are super concerned throw a rank in heal; without a healers kit treating deadly wounds is going to be a longshot out of combat for a while, but it can work in combat in a pinch and is good to try if you are bored while camping. Any reason for Lamathus besides fluff? You are already proficient with her favored weapons, but it certainly fits an apex predator/most dangerous game sthick. Even without divine tracker you can certainly get your lay worship on.

You want to get to a 20 fly ASAP; this allows you to fly straight up. 15 is another big number because that allows hovering, which is key in combat. You need a +14 modifier so you can stop taking checks on it. I would scrap the studded leather and avoid ACP like the plague to get there. Being airborne will protect you more than the additional AC, and gets you one level away from +9, allowing you to fly less than 15ft a turn in combat. Without feats or magical buffs, you will have a +14 in flight by level 7, or at level 4 if you take skill focus. Assuming you get a belt of dex around 4/5 you can get the +14 a little earlier. Just max it every level, keeping it mind it replaces acrobatics once you have 3 ranks in acrobatics to get the fight defensively bonus.

[Spore]

Very helpful. I considered the executioner and the slayer class but decided against it since I feel I kind of need the ranger combat style at 4th (due to not being human myself) but I have just seen you cdont get one on 4th (but again the +4 vs 1 FE and +2 against another FE on 5th kinda blows studied target out of the water imho).


If you keep it to the confines of "hunting" and toying with your prey you won't be stabbing random humans in the street for the evilz

Wasnt going to. Essentially what does not qualify as an (module) encounter is not worth my attention.

[Zerathize]

So, just to throw it out there for slayer vs ranger. Slayer gets at 20 a +5 to any 5 enemies for a swift action. With Seething Hatred https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/seething-hatred-combat/ it would be a +10 vs humans. Effectively what a Ranger at 20 with +10 to humans and +2 to 4 other types. Also the executioner would get a bonus +1 so +2 with seething hatred. Yeah it's a feat tax, but I thought it fit the theme.

[Spore]

That is actually pretty clever. A shame I don't run the build anymore due to stepping down from the game.