Feats for a Gloomblade / Warrior Poet Samurai?

[Palanan]

So, I’m sure this isn’t remotely optimized, but I’d like to see what I can do with it. This is for a ninth-level fetchling, and I had the idea of a dex-based gloomblade who switches between katana and naginata.

Race and character level are set, and for now I’m thinking Gloomblade 3 / Warrior Poet 6, since those seem to be natural break points in each archetype. Warrior Poet is essentially Rurouni Kenshin: The Archetype, and that’s very much the feel I’m going for, but with a shadow katana.

So, what feats would be good for this build? I’m open to all material from official Paizo sources. Extra points if there’s a way to get Blindsight for that blindfolded-swordsman look.

.

[Albanymusicfund]

I'm going to try my best to list ways to go for the blind fighter build. Just know that the single best way is to talk to your DM to work out a balanced way to accomplish this.

Feats:
- Scorpion Sense (Sandstorm page 53). Sadly this only lets you know what square the target is in and they still have total concealment. The range of this feat only applies out 10 feet to locate the square or 20 feet if you're on dirt or something similar.
- Blindfight lets you reroll for concealment (Player's Handbook page 89). Only works as a feat tax
- Blindsight, 5-foot Radius (Sword and Fist page 5) is what you want but only works for five feet (as in the attacker has walked right up to fight you). Ranged attackers and wizards running away get off scot-free. This also requires a really high wisdom
- Pierce Magical Concealment (Complete Arcane page 81). Only lets you see invisible attackers after taking two feats (yay.....)
- Hear the Unseen (Complete Adventurer page 110). So you can hear where people are that's a cool idea! Sadly your opponents still get concealment so you still have a miss chance.

Spells:
- Tremorsense (Spell Compendium page 224). So what would take the fighter three feats the ranger gets as a level two spell and the wizard gets as a level three spell (totally fair......)

Items:
- Blindfold of True Darkness (MIC). 9000GP, face slot. Grants Blindsight 30' - but you can't see while wearing it. You decide if it's worth it. (well you already can't see so it's only an upside haha).
-Blindsighted weapon enhancement (Und). +30,000GP weapon enhancement cost. Grants 30' blindsight while wielded. (very expensive and too much unless your DM is incredibly nice)

Here's my two cents: talk to your DM about letting you be blind. Talk to him about using the concept from Hearing the Air (you can make this a feat if necessary). You can only "hear out" to 30 feet (it can increase with a significant increase to your listen skill or if your wisdom goes up). So right now there's an obvious downside and upside to being blind now. A sniper (magical or using a bow/crossbow) will catch you flat-footed almost all the time (enemies are alerted to rogues' sneak attacks by the noise their weapon makes). you can only "see" to a very little and will have to depend on allies to let you know where your enemies are beyond your knowledge. However, you can now see invisible/concealed enemies that get up close to you and you can be a blind-fighting badass.

Let me know if this helps!

[Kitsuneymg]

As long as you realize your character is under optimized, you can accomplish the blind warrior trope by using Variant Multiclass Oracle to get the Clouded Vision curse.

You’re better off going full Oracle with the battle mystery IMO, but this wasn’t about “better off”, was it?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Albanymusicfund
I'm going to try my best to list ways to go for the blind fighter build.

I appreciate all your effort on this, but for my purposes I’d like to stick to first-party Pathfinder material.

Originally Posted by Kitsuneymg
You’re better off going full Oracle with the battle mystery IMO, but this wasn’t about “better off”, was it?

The blindfold isn’t central to the build, just a whim.

As for the rest of the character, I’d like her to be reasonably effective within the framework above. So far all I’ve got are a couple crit-focused feats, so I’m still open to ideas for other feats.

Gloomstorm seems at least moderately useful, but opinions on it vary a lot. Not sure what else to include here, since there don’t seem to be a lot of builds for either gloomblade or warrior poet.

[Starbuck_II]

So, I’m sure this isn’t remotely optimized, but I’d like to see what I can do with it. This is for a ninth-level fetchling, and I had the idea of a dex-based gloomblade who switches between katana and naginata.

Race and character level are set, and for now I’m thinking Gloomblade 3 / Warrior Poet 6, since those seem to be natural break points in each archetype. Warrior Poet is essentially Rurouni Kenshin: The Archetype, and that’s very much the feel I’m going for, but with a shadow katana.

So, what feats would be good for this build? I’m open to all material from official Paizo sources. Extra points if there’s a way to get Blindsight for that blindfolded-swordsman look.

.

If going with Feint, you can make it Dex based with a feat from Ultimate Intrigue.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/gener...ative-agility/

Technically, it is Dex based skill (Sleight of Hand).
Since, Skills are easier to boost than Cha (usually), this works great and would synergy with Kitsune’s Mystique Flourish from Warrior Poet. Yes Warrior Poet adds Cha to AC but that will still be lower than Sleight of Hand Check will unless you dump Dex since you can put 1 rank in SoH/level + Dex Mod + 3 is training.
While Cha for Feint will always just be Cha.

Order of the Blossom grants Sneak Attack as more synergy at 2nd level.

Seems like Warrior Poet like Spring Attack.

At 7th, you may want Chain Challenge feat.


Instead if you were a Bard, Diva Style lets you use Perform skill for Feint. And You can attempt a Perform check to feint as a move action when you begin a bardic performance.
The Next feat: Diva Strike: the first time you hit with a melee weapon in a round, you deal an additional amount of damage equal to your Charisma modifier to a target that is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC.

This is their build:
http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2018...om-the-fringe/
This one uses Order of the Songbird.

https://kitsunemori.com/build-of-the-week-devoted-poet/

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Starbuck_II
*snip*

This is helpful, thanks. I’d seen those two posts about the Warrior Poet, but wanted some other input, since I’m not planning to focus on feinting.

So far this is what I’ve knocked together, starting with one level of Warrior Poet, then Gloomblade Fighter 3, then going through Warrior Poet 6:

1st - Weapon Focus (katana), Weapon Finesse
2nd - Slashing Grace
3rd - Gloomstorm, Combat Reflexes
4th -
5th - Improved Initiative
6th - Improved Feint
7th - Deific Obedience (Shizuru)
8th -
9th - Improved Critical, Spring Attack

I’m not sure if Gloomstorm is essential, especially since this isn’t a throwing build, but I’ll keep it unless there’s something better to put there. Improved Initiative is also filler, but functional.

All suggestions to improve this are welcome, as well as any ideas about gear.