Tokee
2020-01-10, 10:07 AM
Background
I have been away from PF for roughly 3-4 years. I was in a long running campaign and had only played a Babarian/Bloodrager so my build complexity was fairly minimal. Since then I've been playing 5e mostly, but the friends who moved away are in a campaign that links to ours and asked if I would have a character to play starting at level 9. They're still playing PF1e and are using those rules. I wanted to dip my toes into something more sneaky rather than bashy, and went about searching for builds since the PF universe is so large. I found a build on reddit that I'll summarize and copy from here, but I'm struggling to build it in PCGen, and am having some trouble understanding the stat/feat priorities.
Build Explanation
Reddit Thread: /r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/5sjj3j/build_the_ultimate_shadowdancer_or_how_i_learned
To summarize the thread, you're using Implement Mastery, Racial Item Mastery, Shadow Walker, and Dimensional Dervish to bounce around the combat field like nightcrawler and sneak attack opponents.
From the author:
Here's how it works. At 9th level Fetchlings get Shadow Walk 1/day as a spell-like ability. The "Shadow Walker" feat, which you'll take at 9th level, let's you use that spell like ability to cast Dimension Door instead. That opens you up for dimensional dervish shenanigans, but 1/day is pretty ****ty. However, the Racial Item Mastery feat lets you use a magic item crafted with the appropriate spell (in this case, any illusion spell of 6th or maybe 5th level or higher) to use your racial SLA without expending it one extra time per day, plus a couple more uses at high levels. Still not great utility. However, the Implement Mastery feat allows occultists or their emulators to use Item Mastery feats by expending a certain number of focus points. In the case of Racial Item Mastery it only costs 1. That means that you just unlocked the ability to use your dimension door SLA up to character level + Int mod times per day. It's no longer a limited use gimmick. It's now something you can do nearly as often as you'd like.
Psychometrist Vigilante, and this one is way cooler. You too require feat retraining to get the full build by level 11 (or 9 with shenanigans). You get a reduced focus pool, so you only get to do your disappearing trick 10ish times per day at this level. Oh well. What you get in exchange is much cooler. You'll want to be a stalker vigilante to get their weird sneak attack ability. Now when you pop up from stealth you get to do your 1d8/2 levels sneak damage, plus the effects of your startling appearance. Even better, at 8th level, stalkers can get Hide in Plain Sight whenever they're near an area of shadow. You'll need plenty of shadow anyway (I recommend magic items or a friendly caster) so this should be 95% of the time for you. That now means you hide after every teleportation step. You can do a full attack with powered-up sneak attack on all attacks, appearing and disappearing in a puff of shadow between each, and being in stealth at all times you aren't actively swinging your sword. That's pretty damn rad.
TL;DR: Coming back to game, found build I like, not 100% sure how to build it, character starts at Level 9, DM has approved the "shenanigans" as author calls them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have been away from PF for roughly 3-4 years. I was in a long running campaign and had only played a Babarian/Bloodrager so my build complexity was fairly minimal. Since then I've been playing 5e mostly, but the friends who moved away are in a campaign that links to ours and asked if I would have a character to play starting at level 9. They're still playing PF1e and are using those rules. I wanted to dip my toes into something more sneaky rather than bashy, and went about searching for builds since the PF universe is so large. I found a build on reddit that I'll summarize and copy from here, but I'm struggling to build it in PCGen, and am having some trouble understanding the stat/feat priorities.
Build Explanation
Reddit Thread: /r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/5sjj3j/build_the_ultimate_shadowdancer_or_how_i_learned
To summarize the thread, you're using Implement Mastery, Racial Item Mastery, Shadow Walker, and Dimensional Dervish to bounce around the combat field like nightcrawler and sneak attack opponents.
From the author:
Here's how it works. At 9th level Fetchlings get Shadow Walk 1/day as a spell-like ability. The "Shadow Walker" feat, which you'll take at 9th level, let's you use that spell like ability to cast Dimension Door instead. That opens you up for dimensional dervish shenanigans, but 1/day is pretty ****ty. However, the Racial Item Mastery feat lets you use a magic item crafted with the appropriate spell (in this case, any illusion spell of 6th or maybe 5th level or higher) to use your racial SLA without expending it one extra time per day, plus a couple more uses at high levels. Still not great utility. However, the Implement Mastery feat allows occultists or their emulators to use Item Mastery feats by expending a certain number of focus points. In the case of Racial Item Mastery it only costs 1. That means that you just unlocked the ability to use your dimension door SLA up to character level + Int mod times per day. It's no longer a limited use gimmick. It's now something you can do nearly as often as you'd like.
Psychometrist Vigilante, and this one is way cooler. You too require feat retraining to get the full build by level 11 (or 9 with shenanigans). You get a reduced focus pool, so you only get to do your disappearing trick 10ish times per day at this level. Oh well. What you get in exchange is much cooler. You'll want to be a stalker vigilante to get their weird sneak attack ability. Now when you pop up from stealth you get to do your 1d8/2 levels sneak damage, plus the effects of your startling appearance. Even better, at 8th level, stalkers can get Hide in Plain Sight whenever they're near an area of shadow. You'll need plenty of shadow anyway (I recommend magic items or a friendly caster) so this should be 95% of the time for you. That now means you hide after every teleportation step. You can do a full attack with powered-up sneak attack on all attacks, appearing and disappearing in a puff of shadow between each, and being in stealth at all times you aren't actively swinging your sword. That's pretty damn rad.
TL;DR: Coming back to game, found build I like, not 100% sure how to build it, character starts at Level 9, DM has approved the "shenanigans" as author calls them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.