Playing around with character builds (pathfinder)

[rat_bastard]

So in the new Scarred lands rules for Pathfinder there is a new race called Hollow Legioniarres who are souls of the honored dead reborn as living suits of armor. They have access to a few abilities related to being mobile and wearing armor really well. There is also a fighter archetype for Pathfinder called the armor master that allows you to rack up some pretty impressive damage reduction by 5th level and now all I can think of is "SPOOOOOOON!"

The best part is your character just emerges from a metal spire in the gleaming Valley a complete blank slate formed as an adult, no past, no memories. You float out of the spire, inhabit a suit of armor and then do justice, your character does not eat or sleep or have any traditional wants or needs beyond a suit of armor and possibly a weapon so you can pace around rooftops delivering soliloquy after soliloquy about righteousness.

what have you guys worked out?

[rat_bastard]

Mantacora are basically made for archery fighter/monk builds, a bonus to dex and wisdom and perception always as a class skill? Forget about it, intensely capable of ruling the party's damage capability and damn near impossible to supprise.

Orcs are terrifying combatants, +4 strength is mean. Going either two handed weapon fighter or archery ranger basically ends fights and with diehard means you are impossible to put down.

Slitheren win the prize for most survivable wizard/witch, the stats are ideal, and the option of being small creatures or gain a bonus to concentration and umd checks is delightful and the ability to use short bows is the cherry on top.

[rat_bastard]

Kavek Skytower

Human (country) 1st level conjurer (creation)
Lawful good
Init ; Senses ; Perception 3
DEFENSE

AC 10; Touch 11; Flat-Footed 10
HP 8; Wounds —; Non-Lethal —
Fort 2 (+1 racial); Ref 1 (+1 racial); Will 5 (+1 racial)
DR —; Immune —; Resist —; SR —
OFFENSE

Speed 30;
Melee -1 Fist (1d2 -1, 20); B; Non lethal
Ranged +0 Acid splash (1d3, -); Acid; Spell
Spell-Like Abilities
Create Gear 6/6

Spells Known/Prepared
1st—Mage Armor, Grease (1/1), Summon Monster I, Crafter's Fortune (1/1), Unseen Servant (1/1), Enlarge Person
0th—Resistance, Acid Splash (1/1), Drench, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Read Magic, Ghost Sound, Daze, Haunted Fey Aspect, Jolt, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Root, Arcane Mark (1/1), Prestidigitation (1/1)

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 13
Base Atk 0; CMB
Traits:Corean's Blessing, Hedge Wizard
Feats Skill Focus, Fast learner, Scribe Scroll, Weapon proficiency: hand ax, Weapons proficiency: throwing ax
Skills Craft: Armor 11 (+2 Masterwork), Knowledge Arcana 7, Knowledge Engineering 7, Perception 3, Profession: Architect 9, Spellcraft 10 (+3)
Languages Ledean, Veshian, Dwarvish, Orcish, Calistian.
SQ Heart of the Fields, Focused Study, Summoner's Charm (Su), Create Gear (Su), Arcane Bond (Ex or Sp), Adaptable
Gear Item (clothing): Artisan's outfit, Gear: Spellbook, Tools/skill kits: Spell component pouch, Tools/Skill kit: Armorers tools, Masterwork, Adventuring gear: Backpack, Adventuring gear: Waterproof bag, Adventuring gear: Bedroll, Adventuring gear: Waterskin, Food and drink: Trail rations (6), Gear: Signet ring; Money 2 gp, 4 sp
Kavek is my magical architect, a devout worshiper of Corean and patriot of Durrover who longs to build a new Skykeep and rain hell on Calistia. Orphaned by Calistian raids on his village Kavek was made a ward of an Order of Iron where he was educated and worked as an apprentice to fund his education in magic and the arts of building.

[rat_bastard]

Further exploration shows that Orcs are really the ideal melee combatant in any situation. Hollow Knights are a worthy second but very little beats +4 strength.

[rat_bastard]

Current build I'll show off soon is divine archer mantacora. Going with Tanil as your God and feather subdomain you get a massive perception bonus, you only need a 13 dex because the to hit for archery is wisdom based but you still need to qualify for deadly aim (all other ranged feats are granted by the class and are not attribute depndant). So you get a character who has a nice combat role, is a primary caster and who's combat stat is the same as their casting stat, with massive perception skill to boot.

[rat_bastard]

Ok, so Scarred lands pathfinder clerics are very very interesting. At least for good deities.

The Divine Archer melds a powerful combat role with great spellcasting. The fact that wisdom is their main combat stat along with their casting stat is amazing and their ability to deliver channeled energy via arrows is delightful. I recommend Mantacora for their perception as a class skill and feather subdomain for the massive perception bonus for a useful archer that spots everything.

The Gold Knight wins best healer hands down, being able to add paladin mercies to channel energy is extremely powerful. Extra channels is highly recomended as your ability to channel means more than your healing Spells.

If you want to make necromancer cry the Morning Knight is what you've been looking for. Totally built for the weaponized channel and equipped with many methods of enduring the undead.

if you want a party face but don't like bards the Companion of Idra is one of the most interesting takes on a social character I've seen. Charisma based casting means you'll likely have the most channels but they are somewhat less effective so don't be afraid to take feats that trade out channels for party buffs. Pro tip, don't dump intelligence as this build makes the most out of a lot of skills. I recommend human or halfling for their Charisma bonus and skill related racial abilities.

[Psyclus]

I was particularly happy with the job I did writing up the Companion of Idra, so glad you like it. =)

I was somewhat picturing Inara from Firefly as the type of Cleric that Idra would be most likely to have, but wanted to clarify that really any sort of social time (not just Idra's favorite form of worship) would be the kind of face-time that an Idraian cleric could both mine for secrets and be a great boon to his or her friends.

The Gold Knight was one I struggled with for a while. In 3.5, the Gold Knight was a healing Paladin, and I was trying to retain some of that paladin flavor (really, Coreanic flavor) when translating and reimagining it for Pathfinder. After staring at, "how do I make the Paladin a more effective healer?" for quite a while, it was the line developer, Scott, who whacked me upside the head (as it were) and got me to think of it as a Cleric who was more like the Paladin... then the idea of the Mercies popped out at me.

There were some ideas we floated around for other options for the evil deities, but I think the reasoning at the time was we could do that in a later book as most evil stuff gets relegated to GM material most of the time (or at least that's the perception).

[rat_bastard]

My one complaint is you basically only covered the holy men on one end of the alignment pool. I get that inquisitors go a bit more broadly but i would have like to see some more priesthoods as part of the fun of scarred lands is that you get to play in the deep end of the alignment pool.

[Psyclus]

I know nothing of the future state at the moment, but I am also hoping we get to dive into that more too. =)