Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Dragon Disciple

Just because.  I'm rather underwhelmed with the Magus class, so I thought I'd test out a spellcasting fighter from another angle.  I guess the term they use is "Gish".

Sorc 3 / Fighter 2 / Dragon Disciple 4 (Heading towards S3/F2/DD8 then filling with EK)

Str: 24 (14 +2 level +2 human +4 dragon +2 item) (5)
Dex: 16 (14 +2 item) (5)
Con:  16 (14 +2 item) (5)
Int: 10 (0)
Wis: 10 (0)
Cha: 18 (16 +2 item) (10)

Feats: 13 (5 level + 1 human + 3 E6 + 2 fighter + 1 Dragon + eschew materials)
H1: Dodge
L1: Arcane Strike (+2)
S1: Eschew Materials
F1: Cleave
F2: Weapon Focus: Falchion
L3: Cornugon Smash
L5: Arcane Armor Training
E6: Dazzling Display
E6: Furious Focus (delayed 1 level)
E6: Intimidating Prowess
D2: Power Attack
L7: Great Cleave
L9: Pushing Assault

Spells known:
0: 7
1: 4+1 (Mage Armor, Shield, Ray of Enfeeblement, Magic Missile)
2: 2+1 (Resist Energy, Scorching Ray, Mirror Image)
3: 1+1 (Fly, Heroism)

Spells per day:
1: 7
2: 6
3: 4

Gear (46000):
Mithril Breastplate +2 (8000)
Falchion +2 (8000)
Belt of Physical Perfection +2 (16000)
Headband of Alluring Charisma +2 (4000)
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (2000)
Ring of Protection +2 (8000)

HP: 3d6 + 2d10 +4d12 + 27
SP:  30
Intimidate check: +23

AC: 33 = 10 base + 6 armor + 2 armor enhancement + 3 dex + 1 dodge + 3 natural armor (2 DD, 1 sorc bloodline) + 1 natural armor enhancement + 2 deflection + 1 dodge + 4 shield (buff)

Hit:
6 BAB
7 str
1 WF
2 enhancement
2 morale (heroism)
(occasionally -2 power attack)
= +18/+13 (+16/+11)

Damage:
10 str
6 power attack
2 arcane strike
2 enhancement
= 2d4 + 20

Other abilities:
-Grow claws + bite for 7 rounds a day, natural attacks
-Resist energy (fire): 5
-Breath weapon 1/day , 7d6 fire in 30' cone, reflex DC 17
-+1 damage per die on fire spells

This build took a few days to chew through.  Unlike, say, the gimmicky monk build, I didn't have a particular feat chain in mind when I started walking down this road.  It took some time to consider the DD's role on the battlefield, and his strengths and weaknesses, and some amount of agonizing over individual feat choices.  But I think I've arrived at a good place.

Offensively, he has a decent attack line (maybe slightly lacking on the +hit side compared to his barbarian or fighter brethren, but his damage is still good, and I think he'd scale up rather well in more levels once he has more buff spells and improved crit) with a sprinkling of ranged attack spells.  He can spellcast in melee with only a 5% failure rate, and that disappears with one more feat.  His AC is great for an arcane caster, and with mirror image and a decent pool of HP he's not at terrible risk on the front lines.

He's also got some debuff utility.  Whenever he hits somebody with power attack (which will be perma-active) he gets an intimidate check as a free action.  As a high-strength high-charisma class combination, this means his check will be extremely high, generally guaranteeing success.  It imbues the shaken condition (-2 attacks, saves, checks) for one or more rounds.  A free -2 isn't bad!  When he's not attacking an enemy, he can use a full round action to do it to everything within 30 feet.

I'd originally wanted to go down the whirlwind attack chain, but there were too many feats to invest in.  I think cleave makes up for most of it.  In combination with that I'd wanted to go with a reach weapon, but I think the defensive abilities of Pushing Assault against adjacent foes (then moving away) may be necessary with this kind of caster build, and it required a normal weapon that didn't require a 5-foot step against adjacent enemies.

This build opens up fairly well in coming levels.  He gets most of his spellcaster progression through DD and then eventually Eldritch Knight, goes a fair way along his bloodline power progression (he'll get multiple breaths at 11d6).  Plus this combination of classes has a lot of flavor that I just don't get from Magus.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Playing with grapple rules

An interesting character build quirk popped up while I was making this monk.  What are the ethics of delaying a feat choice for one or multiple levels to satisfy prerequisites?  In the middle of a campaign, the rewards are somewhat mitigated by the costs of having to play down an effective feat for X levels, but during character creation you can handwaive away that inconvenience.  4th edition allowed feat retraining to avoid this complication entirely, but Pathfinder still plays by the 3.5 rules.

As a DM I'm not sure I'd allow, say, a new 12th level character to come in with all his feats selected AT 12th level.  As a player it remains an alluring option, especially here with a wealth of good feats being available at BAB +6, which only occurs for monks at level 8.  For the sake of testing out maneuver builds I'll go with a limited feat-delay strategy, but only two of twelve.

Str: 23 (17 +2 human +2 levels +2 item) (13)
Dex: 16 (14 +2 item) (5)
Con: 12 (2)
Int: 10
Wis: 16 (14 +2 item) (5)
Cha: 10

Class: Monk 9 (Maneuver Master)
HP: 9d8 + 9
SP: 36

 
Feats: 14 (5 level + 1 human + 3 E6 + 3 monk + improved unarmed strike + stunning fist)
H1: Combat Reflexes (up to 4 opportunity attacks per round)
L1: Stunning Pin (Stunning Fist as swift action after pinning foe)
M1: Improved Unarmed Strike
M1: Stunning Fist (DC 17 fort on melee hit, make enemy stunned, fatigued, or sickened)
M1: Improved Grapple (+2 grapple CM, no AoO)
M2: Improved Trip (+2 trip CM, no AoO)
L3: Dodge (+1 dodge AC)
L5: Snake Style (+2 SM, use SM check as immediate action to replace AC for one attack)
M6: Greater Trip (+2 trip CMB, tripped enemy provokes AoOs)
E6: Mobility (+4 dodge AC against AoO from movement)
E6: Snake Sidewind (+4 CMD trip, use SM check to confirm criticals, 5 foot step as immediate action after crit)
E6: Snake Fang (delayed to 9) (AoO against enemy that misses attack against you, if AoO hits spend immediate action to make another attack)
L7: Greater Grapple (delayed to 8) (+2 grapple CMB, maintaining grapple is move-action)
L9: Rapid Grappler (after maintaining grapple, may take swift action to make another grapple maneuver check)

Class features:
-Bonus monk/wisdom AC
-Flurry of Maneuvers: Make 2 extra combat maneuver actions of any type during full round attack action, at -2 and -5.
-Maneuver defense: Make AoO against foe making trip/grapple actions regardless of improved feats
-Reliable maneuver: Spend swift action, spend 1 ki point, roll twice for next maneuver
-Meditative maneuver: Spend swift action, add +3 to next maneuver roll
-Movement: 60'
-Improved Evasion
-Ki pool: 7 (swift action to use)
-High jump (+9 jump checks, swift action to spend ki point for +20 on acrobatics)


Gear: (46000)
Amulet of Mighty Fists (fire) [5000]
Bracers of Armor +3 [9000]
Belt of Physical Might +2 [10000]
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 [2000]
Ring of Protection +1 [2000]
Headband of Inspired Wisdom +2 [4000]
Monk's Robe [13000]
Cloak of Resistance +1 [1000]

CMB:  9 base + 6 str = 15 (+4 on grapple and trip)
CMD: 19 base + 6 str + 3 dex +1 deflection +1 dodge +3 monk +3 monk-wis = 36 (38 vs grapple, 42 vs trip)
AC: 10 + 3 dex + 1 deflection + 1 dodge + 3 monk + 3 wisdom + 3 armor +1 nat = 25
Sense motive check: +17 = 9 ranks + 3 class + 3 wis +2 snake

Hit: +12/+7 = 6 BAB + 6 str
Dam: 2d6 base + 6 str +1d6 fire

Example combat round, assuming Snake Style has already been activated:

Round 1:
  1. 5 foot step to nearest enemy, full attack flurry:
  2. Trip attack at +17 (+19 - 2) or more (assume hits)
  3. Trip provokes AoO at +12 (defender has -4 AC from prone)
  4. Melee attack +12
  5. Melee attack +7
  6. Grapple check at +14 (+19 - 5) (defender has -4 CMD from prone) (assume success)
  7. Opponent attempts to and fails to break grapple on his turn.  +5 circumstance bonus on future grapple maneuver checks. 

Round 2:
  1. Move action: Maintain grapple at +24 (defender has -4 AC/CMD from prone and  -4 dex from grappled condition).  Force enemy into pinned status.  (no dex bonus and -4 AC/CMD) [assume pinned replaces prone]
  2. Swift action trigger: Damage maneuver +24, 3d6+6 damage
  3. Standard action: Damage maneuver +24, 3d6+6 damage

OR
  1. Move action: Maintain grapple at +24 (defender has -4 AC/CMD from prone and  -4 dex from grappled condition).  Force enemy into pinned status.  (no dex bonus and -4 AC/CMD)
  2. Swift action trigger: Tie up maneuver check at +24 (helpless: dex set to 0 [-5], all attacks at +4 [functionally the same as the -4 AC/CMD, surprised Pathfinder hasn't fixed this quirk])
  3. Standard: Enjoy a refreshing beverage as you wait for next round to coup de grace, or Damage check (auto-success) 3d6+6, or retry the tie-up.
OR

  1. Move action: Maintain grapple at +24 (defender has -4 AC/CMD from prone and  -4 dex from grappled condition).  Force enemy into pinned status.  (no dex bonus and -4 AC/CMD)
  2. Swift action trigger: Stunning Fist +12, 3d6+6 and DC 17 fort save
  3. Standard: Damage or tie-up.
This build relies on getting AoO and swift action triggers for bonus actions, which can then be used on maneuvers (instead of normal attacks) for a better bonus and the opportunity to trigger even more actions.  It can actually get somewhat complex.  For example:

-Walk past enemy
-Enemy attacks vs 29 AC.  If miss:
-Miss triggers AoO (Snake Fang).  Use trip.
-Trip triggers AoO (Greater Trip).  Attack at +4.
-Trip attack triggers another AoO as immediate action from Snake Fang resolution.  Attack at +4.

That's basically three actions (two normal attacks and a maneuver) on someone else's turn.  And then you get to your own flurry of grapples and punches on your own turn, including at least one more AoO opportunity and perhaps four, depending on whether a new round comes along.  There's also some nice emergency defense by using a sense motive check as your AC once a round, which offers a range (with traits) somewhere between 19-38, which can apply to touch AC.  Other fun combos:

-Enemy tries to trip you
-Trip maneuver Provokes AoO (Maneuver defense)
-Use trip back at enemy
-Your trip provokes AoO (Greater Trip)
-Make attack +4
-Enemy's trip resolves (at 3d6+6 penalty if your second AoO hit)
-It probably misses, triggering AoO attack +4 (Snake Fang)
-Snake Fang hit triggers another AoO attack +4 as immediate action

That's four opportunity attacks (3 melee attacks and 1 trip) on an enemy's turn, and I'm pretty sure this is legit since each trigger is different.
1) Incoming trip maneuver
2) Enemy falling prone
3) Missed incoming attack
4) Snake Fang initial hit

You run into trouble when you start blowing immediate actions off-turn, since that means you don't get your swift action again until effectively two turns later, but you still have enough bonus actions on-turn to get your grapple on.  Or you can just opt to not make the second Snake Fang attack, leaving you the immediate/swift for Rapid Grappler or a Snake Style defense.

This monk's defensive qualities are still very wanting, however.  That AC is awful, and there's not quite enough money to blow it on more deflection/armor/natural.  Your AC also goes down when you're grappling (maybe Body Shield makes sense later, but that's another immediate action sink) so you'll probably get torn apart by other melee enemies.  You also probably cannot reliably grapple large supernatural creatures who probably have CMDs in the high 30s, meaning you'd need a 18-20 to initiate anything.  And forget effectiveness against huge creatures.

Would benefit greatly from Enlarge Person buffs.  Stunning Pin might not make sense since it eats a swift action, and that might be better served just doing damage within a grapple.  Not sure what that could best be replaced with.  There's no weapon focus for unarmed attacks, and no other ways to boost CMB.

It would, however, ve a very tactically interesting character to play.  At least until we start fighting dragons.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Gunslinger experiment

It's time to revise my ridiculous list of emergency backup Pathfinder characters, given how we've temporarily lifted the level cap.  This is also a good opportunity to play around with something I haven't investigated too deeply:  Gunslingers and firearm mechanics.  Not that gunslingers necessarily fit into Chris's game world, but I'd like to see what I can do with nine levels.

Str: 10 [0]
Dex: 25 (17+2 human +2 levels +4 item) [13]
Con: 14 [5]
Int: 12 [2]
Wis: 14 [5]
Cha: 10 [0]

Levels: Gunslinger 6 / Rogue 3
Skill points: 10*3 + 7*6
HP: 3d6 + 6d10 + 18
Feats:  (5 level + 3 E6 bonus + 1 human + 1 gunslinger bonus + 1 rogue talent)

H1: Point Blank Shot
L1: Rapid Shot
R2: Dodge
L3: Weapon Focus: Rifle
L5: Gang Up
G4: Rapid Reload
E6: Precise Shot
E6: Clustered Shots
E6: Deadly Aim
L7: Mobility
L9: Improved Critical: Rifle

Class features:
Sneak attack +2d6
Trapfinding and Trapsense +1
Grit powers (2 starting grit)
+2 dodge bonus to AC
+dex on damage rolls with rifle

Equipment: (46000)
Buckler +2 (4000)
Rifle +1 fiery (13000)
Mithral Chain shirt +3 (13000)
Belt of Incredible Dexterity +4 (16000)

Hit:
8 BAB
7 dex
1 weapon focus
1 rifle enhancement
(1 point blank, 2 flank)
-3 deadly aim
-2 rapid shot =
+12/+12/+7 (+1-3)

Damage:
1d10 base
1d6 fire
(2d6 sneak)
+1 enhancement
+7 dex
+6 deadly aim
(+1 point blank) =
1d10 + 1d6 + 14 (+2d6 +1)

AC:
10 base
6 dex
4 armor
3 armor enhancement
1 shield
2 shield enhancement
1 dodge
2 nimble (dodge)
= 29

I added some rogue levels since I'm operating under the nominal requirements of the party (even though this character wouldn't be allowed into the game) which lacks trapfinding and other rogue skills.  It also provides some offensive oompm when you start getting into ranged sneak attack territory (though Gang Up).  What's also interesting about firearms is that they target touch ACs, which means you can generally sacrifice to-hit bonuses for bonus damage without worrying.  Even an unbuffed +12 on main attacks is still very accurate when common touch ACs at that level range are, what, 15?

He also comes out with a surprisingly decent AC, though I did focus more on defensive than offensive capacity in his item build.  He runs into problems when his massive dex bonus outpaces most common light armors.  Mathematically the mithral chain shirt works out better for overall AC than even padded armor at +8 dex.

In terms of expected DPR, I'm not sure where exactly to pin touch ACs for CR9 creatures since they can vary wildly between armor-based and dex-based enemies.  23 is the stated average overall AC, which would include a mix of armor, natural armor, a bit of dex, maybe some deflection for supernatural foes.  +4 dex and +1 deflection feels about right for factoring in an average, at least for medium creatures (tiny/small balances against larger ones).  Here are full round DPR calculations for sneak and no-sneak, and I'll assume point blank.

+13 [1d10+1d6+15]:  .85*(24) + .10*(.95*(85.5) + .05*(24)) = 28.6425
+13 [1d10+1d6+15]:  .85*(24) + .10*(.95*(85.5) + .05*(24)) = 28.6425
+8 [1d10+1d6+15]:  .60*(24) + .10*(.70*(85.5) + .30*(24)) = 21.105 == 78.39 DPR

+15 [1d10+3d6+15]: .85*(31) + .10(.95*(92.5) + .05*(31)) = 35.2925
+15 [1d10+3d6+15]: .85*(31) + .10(.95*(92.5) + .05*(31)) = 35.2925
+10 [1d10+3d6+15]: .70*(31) + .10(.80*(92.5) + .20(31)) = 29.72 == 100.305 DPR

I don't know if this would beat Rob's archer, unsure how his eventual build with manyshot would stack up against touch attacks.  I do know that has enough skill utility and defensive powers to justify the loss of DPR, though.