Strongest Build for level 10

[Winterschmied]

Hello everyone!

First i wanted to thank the fast answers for my Question about readied Actions and Flatfoooted a few Month ago. I forgot to answer and didnt mean to Necro that Thread so, Thank you very much :D

And now my new Question: We are going to play a Campaign starting at level 10. We will be 3 Players and the GM Mentioned we should make 2 Characters in Advance because it will be hard and there could be some dying happening.

Since my Experience in this Level is non-existent, I would like to know which are the best build/classes at level 10 for the different Roles if all Pathfinder books are allowed.

[Alexvrahr]

There's kind of a lot of possible roles. Battlefield controller/debuffer, archer/blaster, melee goon, buffer, utility would be my list, but others have longer lists or shorter (TarkXT's Forge of Combat (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i5hWkHXHOetRlpLOmxbpoEWod77psN0JcwFvxClNrGc/mobilebasic?pli=1) defines the arm, the anvil and the hammer for example). What list of roles are you working from?

[Winterschmied]

With only 3 Players, the Arm Hammer Anvil Way sounds best. So probably two Caster types and a Full Bab melee perhaps.

[exelsisxax]

Painter wizard is the best build, period.

But you should figure out what you want to play first, then ask how to do that. The number of builds is infinite for any practical purpose, and there are many thousands of fully competent builds.

[Alexvrahr]

TarkXT's arm is support. The ability to enable other characters, whether by buffs, protection, providing necessary services such as flight, water breathing or teleportation, or by fixing others up after the fight. I'd suggest a cleric is going to be the best at this. For teleportation at level 10 they'll need the travel domain but everything else on that list comes to them naturally. Depending on the cleric's exact build you can do other things; debuffing if you lean into spellcasting, fighting in melee if you lean the other way, or summoning. In a 3 character party a summoner might be the most useful; look up the herald caller archetype and get a few relevant feats, and make sure you have the stats of your summons (modified by feats like augment summoning) written up before the game.

His anvil is battlefield control. The herald caller cleric can do a bit of that, but for a specialist you want someone with the sorc/wiz spell list. A void-touched wildblooded sorcerer might do it well. There are some relevant metamagic feats (rime spell and persistent spell I'd suggest, but you might make a case for certain others), and with bloodline mutations you can also do ranged damage when necessary.

The hammer is the one who takes advantage of the arm and anvil to finish the enemy; DPR basically but ideally with some mobility. There are so many variations on this it's impossible to pin down a 'best'. I like the magus, but others like the barbarian or the unchained monk or any of a hundred others.

The painter wizard excelsisxax mentions BTW is heavily dependent on the right sort of game, especially being able to buy or create a life-size hyperrealistic oil painting of an efreet, and sufficient downtime to make full use of it.

[Firebug]

May not fit directly into the Arm/Hammer/Anvil, but here are a few builds I enjoy... though they all get better at 11.
TL:DR Tanky Tiger with Pounce that buffs the party

Half-orc(w/skilled, shaman's apprentice, dusksight)
Traits: Community-Minded(+2 rounds on morale bonuses)
Lvl 1: Bloodrager(Bloodline Familiar(Valet), Celestial Bloodline), Amplified Rage (shared with Valet familiar, who is in a box on your saddle)
Lvl 2-10 Skald(Urban, Totemic(Tiger), Red Tongue); When you start raging song, start with +Dex morale bonus, even if your allies choose to decline it at the start of their turn (or you swap yourself to bloodrager bonuses) the +Dex sticks around another 2 rounds. Trade Scribe Scroll for Extra Performance if you can (PFS allows it).
Lvl 3: Skald's Vigor (heal 'bonus strength' on song, with amplified rage and choosing the bonuses from bloodrager instead, its +8 fast healing)
Lvl 5: Ferocious Action (take 1-2 damage, act normally while below 0)
Lvl 7: Natural Spell (so you can cast Haste as a tiger)
Lvl 8(Red Tongue): Combat Trick -> Outflank/Power Attack (or whatever other rogue talent you want, note that you share it with your party)
Lvl 9: Flagellant (Non-lethal damage doesn't knock you out)
Rage Powers: Guarded Life and Greater Guarded Life, when you would go below 0, convert 18 of it into Non-lethal damage, which you basically ignore and at the start of your turn you heal 8 lethal and non-lethal from Skald's Vigor. Consider some scrolls or wands of Ablative Barrier, higher level is preferred.
Ability scores (20PB): 15+2 Str; 14 Dex, 12 Con, 8 Int, 11 Wis, 15 Cha. Bump Str and Cha at 4 and 8. Take mostly buff spells/finales/masterpieces since your DC won't be high.

Most of the day you are a Large Tiger (+4 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Natural Armor), Raging Song (+4 Morale to Dex(for 2 rounds), +4 Enhancement to Dex, +8 Morale bonus to Str, +8 Morale bonus to Con, -2 AC), with Haste (cast first round), then Pounce/Rake.

Unfortunately, can't quite fit in Planar Wild Shape in before 10, because everything else is required. The Celestial/Fiendish template is basically DR 5/(10 at 11th), some energy resistance, darkvision, SR(low)... and a smite. I suppose you could trade out Amplified Rage, but that is a big draw for the build. DPS vs Tankiness I suppose.
TL:DR Can use Channel Energy to heal, deal damage, and regain spells until it runs out of gold.

Alternatively, you can go with Shigenjo Oracle, but I like the defensive option of Ninja's Vanish. Less cherry picking for spells though.
Basically, Ninja 2 for Ki Pool and Vanishing Trick.
Shaman 8 (Witch Doctor) for an extra channel pool, Life(restoration) spirit ... for channel, Wandering Spirit(Lore) for Arcane Enlightenment to add 3-4 Wizard spells to your list.
FCB Human to add Cleric spells to your list to cherry-pick some more.
I went with a Mauler Familiar, Mauler's Endurance and Undersized Mount to use it as a transport.
Purifying Channel to deal damage when you heal.
Ki Channel to regain Ki points instead of healing yourself... which you use with Tea of Transference to gain back your channels. Ie, you can keep channeling until the gold runs out.
You can even Minor Creation the Tea from one of your Arcane Enlightenment slots, and eventually recharge the spell with the Tea you just created.
Quick Channel, Ring of Protected Life, Phylactery of Positive Channeling, Amulet of Spirits(Life, basically +2 to shaman level for life spirit) and your main channel pool should be +7d6.
Select mostly buff spells. At level 10, you can recharge level 2 and lower spells for the cost of 1 Tea (40gp). Unfortunately, this build also gets stronger at 11, when you can start recharging Haste, and when you have access to 5th level spells, like Hunter's Blessing. Still, 2nd level spells like: Barkskin, Resist Energy for everybody. Defending Bone, Mirror Image, Burst of Radiance for yourself. 1st level spells like: Shield of Faith, Frostbite for your familiar, Liberating Command.
TL:DR near automatic Blind, Sicken, Shaken, Entangle, Debilitating Strike and chance of Nauseate, Immobilize, and Frightened.

Alchemist Grenadier 6. Unchained Rogue(Underground Chemist/Rake) 4.
Ranged Feint(Move Action) to set up Sneak Attack at ranged, Alchemical Weapon(Swift) to add a Ghast Retch Flask (auto Sicken, chance of Nauseate) to weapon, Explosive Missile(Standard) with a Tangleshot Arrow(Entangle on hit, chance to Immobilize, still resolved vs Touch AC) and Sand Bomb (auto-blind on hit). Since Sneak Attack is enabled by Ranged Feint, Debilitating Strike (-AC, -Attack, or -movement) goes on, sack some of the Sneak Attack dice to make an Intimidate Check (with +5 to the check per die past the 1st) to Demoralize. And again, gets better at 11, when Rogue's Edge comes online for chance to Frighten, though I suppose you could just take the Signature Skill feat to get it anyway (used to PFS where only Unchained Rogues can get skill unlocks).

[Winterschmied]

Thanks for the Advices so far :D

Got a bit more Information about the Adventure and its looks like it will be the Tomb of Horros. It already sounds deadly :O

[exelsisxax]

Thanks for the Advices so far :D

Got a bit more Information about the Adventure and its looks like it will be the Tomb of Horros. It already sounds deadly :O

You may want to ask a lot of questions with your GM, as tomb of horrors is not a PF module.

[Psyren]

The best build is the one you know how to play properly.

That said, it's hard to go wrong with Druid 10. Even if you mess up the spell preparation, summons are nearly always useful.

[Winterschmied]

You may want to ask a lot of questions with your GM, as tomb of horrors is not a PF module.

Yeah but he converted it to Pathfinder. Dont know how it will turn out but he did that alot with other Module from D&D and it turn out pretty well. :>

[Akal Saris]

I ran the 3.5 conversion for Tomb of Horrors. You'll want somebody with Trap Sense (rogue, etc.) and an incredibly high Perception check. As a DM, I felt like this was the one dungeon where the rogue was basically party MVP.

[Maat Mons]

In Pathfinder, the Trapfinding class feature adds half your class level to checks to notice or disable traps. As far as I know, the only full casters who get it are Sorcerer and Oracle. In both cases, they get it from an Archetype named Seeker.

Pathfinder lets literally everyone roll to notice traps, even if they're magical or have a really high DC. Pathfinder also lets anyone with at least 1 rank in Disable Device roll to disable non-magical traps. Magical traps still require Trapfinding, like in 3.5, but that's the only thing hard-locked to that class feature.

You can also get Trapfinding from a trait called Trap Finder. But in that case, you get a fixed +1 on checks to notice or disable traps, instead of the +1/2 class level that Trapfinding normally gives.



If you want to invest in being a trapper, I'd suggest single-classed Sorcerer. The Seeker archetype gives you Trapfinding, which is a +5 bonus at this point. It also gives you Disable Device as a class skill, which in Pathfinder means +3 to checks.

If you take the Arcane bloodline, you're eligible for the Sage archetype, which switches your casting stat to Intelligence. Between that and being human, you should be able to max Disable Device and Perception (the two trap-related skills) without eating up all your skill points.

And you're going to be human, because 7 extra spells known.



I think a Cleric or Shaman would probably be a very good thing to have in the party. But I'm just basing that assumption on what kind of mental images the name "Tomb of Horrors" conjures.

[Winterschmied]

So finally the Discussion with my fellow Players are over and im in the Role of the Melee Part be it Striker and/or Tank.

Atm I was thinking about a Paladin or the Melee/Buffer Build Firebug mentioned ( Looks pretty fun to play). Of course im open for Tips for Other things.