Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Parabalus]

- Aldori Defender 1/Vivisectionist - did 40% of damage of all party per run.

How does this compare to a (non-LG [no robe]) sword saint with a dueling sword?

I know Vivis are great, but already play through with one, and the Aldori classes seem worse than a saint for dueling swords.

 

[Ramnozack]

Only towards to end of chapter 2, about a month before whatever the next event is starts, and would like some input on my Eldritch Knight build, playing with Eldritch Arcana and Crafting mod.

My plan so far is to go with Human Transmuter wizard 5/ Traditional Monk 2/ EK 10/ Wizard 3. In my mind, going with Traditional Monk and burning the extra human feat on martial prof is far better than going fighter because of all the benefits that come with it. You get Wisdom to AC, so if you pick up some +8 wisdom item thats a free +4 to AC not to mention will saves, you get a free Crane Style, you get another free monk feat, you get evasion, you get the better save progression, you get access to monk robes.

At level 9, here is the build so far.

16/12/12/19/12/7 all ability points go into Int
Traits are Magical Knack and Reactionary
Hare Familiar

1: Power Attack, Martial Weapon Prof, Combat Casting
2:
3: Favoured Prestige Class EK
4:
5: Weapon Focus Bastard Sword (gave myself prof Bastard Sword for free cuz they count as martial when 2h'd in PnP like I'm using them in this game and they look cooler fuck you) Spell Penetration
6: Crane Style
7: Point Blank Shot (want to be able to hit stuff with ranged touch attacks, don't know if this is worth the 2 feats though), Improved Init
8: Arcane Strike
9: Prestigious Spellcaster EK

 

[Yosharian]

Why would you not go Dex on this character?

 

[Efe]

since you're cheating already, just cheat away whenever you find an encounter difficult. no need to ask anyone here

 

[Ramnozack]

Why would you not go Dex on this character?

I wanted to focus more on damage and using enlarge person and similar spells to hit from the backline while Valerie tanks. What advantage does a dex based build have over a Strength build for a Eldritch Knight?

 

[Yosharian]

Why would you not go Dex on this character?

I wanted to focus more on damage and using enlarge person and similar spells to hit from the backline while Valerie tanks. What advantage does a dex based build have over a Strength build for a Eldritch Knight?

If you're not aiming to tank, then I'm baffled as to why you'd take 2 levels of Monk.

 

[Ramnozack]

Why would you not go Dex on this character?

I wanted to focus more on damage and using enlarge person and similar spells to hit from the backline while Valerie tanks. What advantage does a dex based build have over a Strength build for a Eldritch Knight?

If you're not aiming to tank, then I'm baffled as to why you'd take 2 levels of Monk.

As opposed to what? Fighter? Fighter offers nothing Traditional Monk doesn't. Traditional Monk has full BAB, better saves, access to monk robes, Wisdom to AC, free crane style, another monk feat, evasion compared to fighter which only offers full bab, 2 free combat feats, and martial weap prof. And at the end of the day I'm still melee, more AC is always nice, even if I'm not trying to be the tank. And you want two levels of non-EK full BAB progression otherwise you won't hit 16 BAB and get your full 4 attacks. And I lose no caster levels for doing so since I have magical knack to cover both caster levels lost by the monk dip and prestigious spellcaster for the 1st level of EK.

 

[Cael]

If martial weapons is not desirable compared with simple weapons, then there is something fucking wrong with the system.

 

[Yosharian]

Why would you not go Dex on this character?

I wanted to focus more on damage and using enlarge person and similar spells to hit from the backline while Valerie tanks. What advantage does a dex based build have over a Strength build for a Eldritch Knight?

If you're not aiming to tank, then I'm baffled as to why you'd take 2 levels of Monk.

As opposed to what? Fighter? Fighter offers nothing Traditional Monk doesn't. Traditional Monk has full BAB, better saves, access to monk robes, Wisdom to AC, free crane style, another monk feat, evasion compared to fighter which only offers full bab, 2 free combat feats, and martial weap prof. And at the end of the day I'm still melee, more AC is always nice, even if I'm not trying to be the tank. And you want two levels of non-EK full BAB progression otherwise you won't hit 16 BAB and get your full 4 attacks. And I lose no caster levels for doing so since I have magical knack to cover both caster levels lost by the monk dip and prestigious spellcaster for the 1st level of EK.

Who gives a shit what your AC is if you're playing a reach fighter

Get more spells

 

[Ramnozack]

Why would you not go Dex on this character?

I wanted to focus more on damage and using enlarge person and similar spells to hit from the backline while Valerie tanks. What advantage does a dex based build have over a Strength build for a Eldritch Knight?

If you're not aiming to tank, then I'm baffled as to why you'd take 2 levels of Monk.

As opposed to what? Fighter? Fighter offers nothing Traditional Monk doesn't. Traditional Monk has full BAB, better saves, access to monk robes, Wisdom to AC, free crane style, another monk feat, evasion compared to fighter which only offers full bab, 2 free combat feats, and martial weap prof. And at the end of the day I'm still melee, more AC is always nice, even if I'm not trying to be the tank. And you want two levels of non-EK full BAB progression otherwise you won't hit 16 BAB and get your full 4 attacks. And I lose no caster levels for doing so since I have magical knack to cover both caster levels lost by the monk dip and prestigious spellcaster for the 1st level of EK.

Who gives a shit what your AC is if you're playing a reach fighter

Get more spells

Literally how? I already have full caster level, I can't get more spells. Besides cutting the monk dip would mean not reaching 16 BAB.

Correction, magical knack doesnt give more spell slots, but prestigious caster does, so I would have a couple less spell slots, but I still think its worth it.

 

[Haplo]

I think Ramnozack's line of thought makes a lot of sense.
Reach or no, he's still a frontliner. Having more AC is preferable. And a monk helps tremendously more with that. Even for a Str build. Main char gets enough stat points and booster items to be a solid hybrid with moderate Dex & Wis and high Str.

Better saves are always nice, Evasion a cherry on top.

 

[Seari]

1 monk/sorc/4 DD/EK has better AC and AB.

 

[Yosharian]

I think Ramnozack's line of thought makes a lot of sense.
Reach or no, he's still a frontliner. Having more AC is preferable. And a monk helps tremendously more with that. Even for a Str build. Main char gets enough stat points and booster items to be a solid hybrid with moderate Dex & Wis and high Str.

Better saves are always nice, Evasion a cherry on top.

It's preferable, but it's not worth delaying your spellcasting by two levels, in my opinion.

Now if you went Scaled Fist/Sorcerer...

 

[Haplo]

Well, that's a Sorc vs Wizzard debate. Wizzard will know more spells and be better at metamagic, Sorc will cast them spontenously, get Bloodline bonuses and DD access.
Sure, that would work well here.

 

[Haplo]

I think Ramnozack's line of thought makes a lot of sense.
Reach or no, he's still a frontliner. Having more AC is preferable. And a monk helps tremendously more with that. Even for a Str build. Main char gets enough stat points and booster items to be a solid hybrid with moderate Dex & Wis and high Str.

Better saves are always nice, Evasion a cherry on top.

It's preferable, but it's not worth delaying your spellcasting by two levels, in my opinion.

Well, personally I certainly wouldn't rush the 2nd monk level.

 

[Yosharian]

1 monk/sorc/4 DD/EK has better AC and AB.

Right. If you're going to go Str EK, this is a much better build.

 

[Yosharian]

I think Ramnozack's line of thought makes a lot of sense.
Reach or no, he's still a frontliner. Having more AC is preferable. And a monk helps tremendously more with that. Even for a Str build. Main char gets enough stat points and booster items to be a solid hybrid with moderate Dex & Wis and high Str.

Better saves are always nice, Evasion a cherry on top.

It's preferable, but it's not worth delaying your spellcasting by two levels, in my opinion.

Well, personally I certainly wouldn't rush the 2nd monk level.

So you'd get it at level 18? What's the fucking point, then?

 

[Haplo]

Well, it looks better then 1 Vivi to round the build

 

[Ramnozack]

1 monk/sorc/4 DD/EK has better AC and AB.

Right. If you're going to go Str EK, this is a much better build.

It would only be a bit more strength and a bite attack and a little natural ac boost. A bit better maybe but not by that much. And you would lose evasion, which I find to be quite nice. And you would still be delaying your spells by 2 levels no? And I myself prefer wizards.

 

[Yosharian]

1 monk/sorc/4 DD/EK has better AC and AB.

Right. If you're going to go Str EK, this is a much better build.

It would only be a bit more strength and a bite attack and a little natural ac boost. A bit better maybe but not by that much. And you would lose evasion, which I find to be quite nice. And you would still be delaying your spells by 2 levels no? And I myself prefer wizards.

The bite attack actually causes problems because it makes your character close to melee distance.

But anyway, if you're getting the monk levels at 18, then who cares what you pick.

 

[Seari]

1 monk/sorc/4 DD/EK has better AC and AB.

Right. If you're going to go Str EK, this is a much better build.

It would only be a bit more strength and a bite attack and a little natural ac boost. A bit better maybe but not by that much. And you would lose evasion, which I find to be quite nice. And you would still be delaying your spells by 2 levels no? And I myself prefer wizards.

4 STR, 4 AC, less attribute dependent due to CHA being used for AC and spellcasting(+ persuasion). Seems more than a bit better to me. If you're worried about saves you can have a cleric cast the spell that gives saves from charisma on you.

 

[Ramnozack]

1 monk/sorc/4 DD/EK has better AC and AB.

Right. If you're going to go Str EK, this is a much better build.

It would only be a bit more strength and a bite attack and a little natural ac boost. A bit better maybe but not by that much. And you would lose evasion, which I find to be quite nice. And you would still be delaying your spells by 2 levels no? And I myself prefer wizards.

4 STR, 4 AC, less attribute dependent due to CHA being used for AC and spellcasting(+ persuasion). Seems more than a bit better to me. If you're worried about saves you can have a cleric cast the spell that gives saves from charisma on you.

Where is the 4 ac coming from? Thought 4 DD only gave 2 ac. Persuasion is a none issue, can get some charisma raising item somewhere to help out with it or get the Clever wordplay trait. Switching to cha for casting would mean having a lot less skill points and losing int bonuses to arcana, which is kinda a big deal with the crafting mod. 4 str is nice but it doesn’t make or break the build. The cha for both casting and Ac is real nice I admit.

 

[Seari]

2 AC from draconic bloodline, 2 from dragon disciple.

 

[Ramnozack]

2 AC from draconic bloodline, 2 from dragon disciple.

Wouldn’t it only be 3 ac then since you only get +2 ac from sorc on level 9

 

[Seari]

2 AC from draconic bloodline, 2 from dragon disciple.

Wouldn’t it only be 3 ac then since you only get +2 ac from sorc on level 9

Dragon disciple progresses draconic bloodline.