People who try to max PF builds by stat dumping end up unwittingly minning their performance.
You seem to know the game pretty well so I have to defer to experience here. But serious question, what is my minmaxing costing me with this build (that I care about)? 15 con for +2 raising to +3 at level 8 is totally fine by me. STR gives more damage output than DEX but I don't
want STR. It wouldn't feel right on this character now. I've built him a lot of times and he's a lunatic DEX fighter with the voice of an anime antagonist. To play him any other way would be as incongruous to me as playing Amiri as an alchemist or something. He's as much a character to me now as any of the NPCs. Just as I wouldn't level DEX on Harrim or make Valerie a bard (I just use her CHA for Dazzling display, planning to go into curnodan smash + shatter defenses with her), I wouldn't play Lematte as a STR monster. Or smart.
But what do I lose?
- Well if he were STR based I'd get a couple extra feats. Losing feats really, really sucks. This is the only drawback I actually care about with minmaxed DEX builds. Because feats can be used to make your character do something else interesting. To flesh them out as a character.
- He'd do more damage too because power attack is just better than piranha strike. 4 more damage by level 16 if I'm right about that. I can live with it.
- He'd need to rely on buffs for AC or eat a movement penalty and armor check penalty to his skills if I didn't have super high DEX too, and his mind affecting wouldn't hit near enough.
- Having 3 dumps lets me get high in the 2 stats that are most important to me for attack bonus (He is .75 progression BAB after all, it's nice to be able to mitigate that a bit).
- With this class I can dump int and still get the skills I want to play my build. Other skills are covered by party members. Because he's WIS based with an 18 I get good will saves.
- I'm much more vulnerable to death by ability damage with this build. I'm aware of that and it sucks but everything has its drawbacks. Choices and consequences.
I love and hate the progression of DEX. You feel like you
earn being strong by the time you are. Early levels are rough but that's part of the fun. I just wish the late game payoff was more. Mages are trash at low level (cue someone disagreeing I'm sure) but they get to be amazing in the mid game. Dex clerics only end up adequate, at least when I make them. It doesn't seem fair.
There should be a midgame payoff to combat efficacy for the pain of early game DEX that is something beyond your build just working as starting STR build would. There isn't. There's a penalty. And everything you add to DEX takes a feat, even combat maneuvers which sound like they should be DEX to begin with. You have to view DEX builds differently though. You don't get as good damage as STR so if you go DEX for that damage you're an idiot. You need a good reason to go dex and that is movement speed and no armor check penalty. If you need those things to do non combat stuff or cast better (or at all) DEX is worth it. It's for builds that do more than just damage shit with weapons. Too bad it's so feat hungry so it limits how much other shit they can do.
But more to the point, at last for me, is having strong strengths and weak weaknesses makes Lematte play and feel like he has
personality. He's not close to the strongest character I have made. But he's a character, not just a build. I'm honestly not trying to diss unfair players who need to optimize above all else but that's not how I do things. I don't have a problem with people enjoying the game different ways but it's about achieving a character concept for me and having that concept be as effective as it can be at doing what I want it to do, not just maximizing overall efficacy. I'd be bored shitless playing a straightforward character as anything other than a follower.
The concept starts with a portrait, gets a voice and then I ask myself "Who is this guy? What do I want him to do? Is that an interesting character I will enjoy? Would this make me laugh or feel like a badass when I play it? Ok then, how to I optimize him within that context without compromising his character and making him something else?" I understand that isn't a viable method on unfair (I've never played it actually) but I play on custom diff, not unfair. Challenging but doesn't require absolute optimization for success. Different strokes for different folks. The challenge for me is creating interesting characters and that's how I enjoy the game.
Some other ideas I'll be trying sometime:
- STR monster Gorum sacred huntsmaster with a greatsword and a wolf or smilodon just to see the class played in a stronger version. Probably a motherless teifling if I don't need the feats from human (with STR I probably wouldn't). Probably too straightforward for me so maybe a follower TBH.
- Buffo the halfling cleric ecclesitheirge. Tristian, basically. But a halfling called Buffo. Even more minmaxed than Tristian if I can pull it off. I'm sure I could. Thematically fits with Erastil, animal + community build so I'd get to try that and see if it's as uber as people say. Baron Buffo would be a bit of a buffoon due to his dumped INT. I don't know if a dumped INT cleric gets 1 skill point per level or 2. If 1 lore nature. If 2, lore nature + lore religion.
- Grumpy Scottish tower shield specialist. Chaotic evil. Duncan. Have a portrait and a voice for this one. Would be nice to not have Valerie in for a change. My playstyle needs a tank but I'd like to try having a different party composition.
- Much stronger rapier fighter/roguelite dex fighter build by just going fighter and taking rogue skills and use magic device. Use a cheat to put him in a rogue costume probably. Could actually get active skills like dirty trick and critical status effects going thanks to BAB progression and double the feats. This one's a Lematte. There are only a so many voices so I have to reuse characters in different roles that suit them. Like a director casting actors.
- Drogo the halfling barbarian. Already made him as a follower in my current campaign and he kind of rocks but he's just running my Amiri cleave build. His damage is lacking thus far but he tends to hit things. Interested to try an invulnerable rager to see how it stack up to standard barb. Seems worse but I'd need to try it. Has a great portrait and voice that make him seem like a character worthy of maining. He runs a falchion bites people. I want him to end up tripping people and attacks of opportunity as they fall and stand back up. Also go all in on biting with gear that supports it. Ideally have improved critical too. Haven't planned the build to see if that would work. May need to lose the crits and just use a different weapon. The idea of a vicious halfling who trips and bites is just too funny to me. He'd need to be effective for me to like him though.
- Another attempt at a DEX cleric. A crusader this time, using the bonus feats for martial weapons proficiency and weapon focus/specialization. May work better than previous attempts due to the extra feat this gives + a bit better AB and damage but I don't know. Could also take heavy armor proficiency so he could end up in mithril with an estoc but I'm not sure if I like that.
- Figuring out WTF an Elven Curve Blade is for. Why is it finessable?
But for now I'll stick with Lematte and his pet leopard.
The game isn’t in fact that hard, you’re just not very good at it yet.
You're right about this. I'm not. Honestly I'm used to most RPGs being pretty darn easy, even on max diff. But playing this character is levelling up my tactics game in a big way. Not being able to just stack buffs and bash everything to death forces me to think outside the box and use all the mechanics in a way I've never needed to before.
Edit: Man I was talking some shit here about this build being weak but interesting. I just hit level 5 and got fencing grace, bane weapon and favored enemy. Turns out this build is pretty awesome at damaging things and doesn't really miss much ever, even unbuffed. I didn't take favoured enemy gnomes, I took fey. As funny as that would have been I didn't want to gimp my character for a joke. His backstory is mysterious enough that there could easily be a reason for him hating fey. I'm fine with it. Man that was a satisfying level up!