Pimp my dipper! (Magus + awesome display color splayer)

[ciopo]

Greetings fellow playgorunder.

I've had a idea of doing a heaven mistery 1/mesmerist 19 build, built around awesome display color spray for a while, it's been percolating in my mind.

as ever when I think of a build that has CHA as it's primary ability score, I inevitably start thinking about all the "CHA to X" I could tag in, be it 2 level of paladin, or 1 level of scaled fist, or whatnot.

Today I took the plunge, and went full bore on it, thinking "what somewhat funcitonal character can I make that take as many dips as possible, but still be playable/effective", I ended up with this frankestoinen of a theoretical build, which I think would still be playable at low levels and up.

I'd like to tap into the hive midn to refine it some, and perhabs decide what the last 10 levels could be? I stopped at 10 levels because leaving 10 levels out felt "just right" for maybe putting a PRC there.

Without further ado

Race: middle age aasimar, SLA substituted for another +2CHA, 25 point buy
point buy : 13 7 15 13 13 17
after racial and age : 12 6 14 14 16 22
all level up to CHA

traits: fate's favored, magical lineage (color spray)

levels:
1 scaled fist unchained monk 1, feat divine fightning tecnique (desna shooting star) (CHA to AC) p.s. alignment will change from LG to CG
2 (no archetype?) warpriest 1, liberation and travel blessings, free weapon focus with starknives
3 (no archetype?) cleric 1, exploration domain, liberation domain, feat crusader's flurry
4 warpriest 2, yummy swift action divine favor
5 ravener hunter (+sanctified slayer?) inquisitor 1, lunar mistery, prophetic armor revelation ( CHA instead of DEX for AC and reflex); feat somethign metamagic
6 (no archetype?) oracle 1, heavens mystery, awesome display revelation, deaf or powerless prophecy curse
7 (eldritch scion?) magus 1 feat spell focus illusion ( or maybe spontaneous metafocus if eldritch scion)
8 spirit walker mesmerist 1
9 mesmerist 2 feat greater spell focus (or normal spell focus), yummy CHA to will
10 mesmerist 3, psychic infusion bold stare (can affect mindless/mind-immune)
11+ classes ??, feat progression two more metamagic, then spell perfection(color spray) at 15, and placeholder nothingness at 17 and 19

So, that's it folk, a starknife flurrier, with tacked on awesome display color spray. Combat should be not too awkward from level 2 onward

what kind of refinement the hive mind says? what other dips could I dip to stay on course? perhabs fighter in place of warpriest? I can't see a way to fit paladin but that's the way it is if we want to use shooting star

lay it on me, and many thanks!

[Kurald Galain]

Well, what I did for my cha-to-everything build was sorcerer with lore oracle dip (cha to AC, reflex, knowledge skills) and Scion of War feat (cha to initiative) and Steadfast Personality (cha to most will saves); as well as Blood Piercing (cha to SR rolls).

Desna's Shooting Star would work for a more melee-oriented build, but I'd say you either need better BAB on your dipper, or higher-level spells. Obviously cha-based casting is a good combo here; Eldritch Scion magus negates the need for Crusader's Flurry (because spell combat already does that) and has swift-action abilities that negate the need for warpriest's divine favor. Frankly I'd stick with oracle 1 / paladin 2 / magus 17.

Bear in mind that having two abilities that give you cha to AC do not allow you to add cha twice.

[ciopo]

crusader flurry allows us to flurry with the starknife, that's different from spell combat, no? crusader flurry is one extra attack on the full attack, spell combat is spell plus the full attack, so having both is spell plus full attack (including flurry extra attack), should be?

note that prophetic armor is not a bonus to armor class, is a substitution of DEX

the density of swift action is what's most unconvincing me at the moment. You'd take mesmerist "penetration of mind-affect immunity" out, I suppose you'd just not do the color spray trick on those targets? mesmerist also has native CHA-to-will at 2nd level

I never manage to justify a shooting star paladin to myself

thanks fo rthe feedback

[Kurald Galain]

crusader flurry allows us to flurry with the starknife, that's different from spell combat, no? crusader flurry is one extra attack on the full attack, spell combat is spell plus the full attack, so having both is spell plus full attack (including flurry extra attack), should be?
You can't combine spell combat with flurry. Spell combat with any attack spell (like the Arcane Mark cantrip) is one extra attack on a full attack.


note that prophetic armor is not a bonus to armor class, is a substitution of DEX
Yes, but there's a rule that you can't add the same ability score twice.


You'd take mesmerist "penetration of mind-affect immunity" out
Yes; when dealing with immune to mind affecting, just use your starknife plus the numerous other spells at your disposal.

[ciopo]

You can't combine spell combat with flurry. Spell combat with any attack spell (like the Arcane Mark cantrip) is one extra attack on a full attack.

Yes, but there's a rule that you can't add the same ability score twice.

Yes; when dealing with immune to mind affecting, just use your starknife plus the numerous other spells at your disposal.
re spell combat : ? but we're color spray + full attack, not doing shocking grasp or other such, same way it allows for haste it should allow for the monk flurry, no? am I confusign things with spellstrike? my intent is to do color spray + full attack

immunity: that's fair, but I'm trying to "dip more", not be straightforward in this case :)

[Kurald Galain]

same way it allows for haste it should allow for the monk flurry, no?
No, it does not (because flurry is a full round action, and spell combat is a different full round action). But you won't be casting color spray every round, anyway; you can do the extra attack from Arcane Mark every round you're not color spraying.


I never manage to justify a shooting star paladin to myself
It's actually a fair point that Desna, being chaotic good, doesn't have paladins. Then I would just go oracle 1 (cha to AC, ref, knowledge) / inquisitor 1 (boost to color spray) / magus 18. Assuming your GM doesn't object to two distinct mysteries (via oracle/inquisitor) because that's slightly iffy.


immunity: that's fair, but I'm trying to "dip more", not be straightforward in this case :)
If you want to dip more, I'd suggest to pick any number of classes with cha-based casting, but to skip the cleric and warpriest and monk. Other possible additions are bard with Pageant of the Peacock (cha to all int skills), Sworn of the Eldest inquisitor (cha to sense motive and init), nature oracle (cha to all saves, IF you can somehow count yourself as an animal) and ninja (cha-based ki pool that lets you turn invisible). HTH!

[ciopo]

Oh, thank you kindly, serves me right for not reading things throroughly.
Nixing the whole rigamarole about monk+crusader flurry then, indirect sadness

[TiaC]

Yes, but there's a rule that you can't add the same ability score twice.
Technically, it's that ability bonuses are treated as typed bonuses, and don't stack with themselves. However, if you found an ability that said "Add a dodge bonus equal to your Charisma modifier to your AC" that would stack because it's a different bonus type.