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Gimick Builds (Pathfinder)

Cognisant

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I'm just coming up with these for my own amusement, feel free to comment or come up with some of your own.

Flying Lancer
Thrill seekers, an adrenaline junkies, the fighter pilots of the airship industry these daredevils ride medium sized flying mounts like giant Eagles and Hawks, launching sorcerer/druid spells or arrows at one another and when that's not insane enough they charge each other with lances hoping for a critical hit.

The basis of this build is the animal companion, this can be acquired by either taking a level in Druid, Sorcerer (Fey, Wildblooded Sylvan) or just by being a Cavalier if the GM approves it. Each way has its benefits, most striking is the sorcerer way which grants a mount that can share spells (since it was gained by the sorcery) and a number of first level spells/slots depending upon one's charisma and race (humans know an extra spell).

Race: Ideally Human, Half-Orc and Half-Elf work too.
Traits: Anatomist, Signature Moves (Masterwork Lance)
Feats: There's a lot of these you are going to want hence why being Human is preferable, if you're going to use True Strike to go for critical hits then "Weapon Focus -> Weapon Specialization + Critical Focus -> Impaling Critical -> Improved Impaling Critical" is pretty cool, expensive though, Gendarme also offers nice feats like Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack (different to Fly-By Attack, don't bother with that) and Spirited Charge.

To put this all together a Lance deals double damage when used on a mount & in a charge, or triple damage with the Spirited Charge feat, now with True Strike you're practically guaranteed to roll to confirm a critical and with Critical Focus & Anatomist you have +5 to that roll which means your 1d8x2/3 could easily be multiplied by 3, the best possible result (disregarding the strength bonus) is 144 points of damage, ouch :D

Level 1 Class: Sorcerer, Fey Bloodline, Wildblooded Archetype: Sylvan
Choose between an Eagle and Hawk for the animal companion and 2-3 1st level spells which won't lose relevance in later levels like: Grease, Mage Armor, Ray of Enfeeblement (in case you ever have to fight another flying lancer), See Alignment (good for scouting/tracking from the air), True Strike (MUST HAVE).

Level 2 Class: Cavalier, Order of the Flame, Archetype: Gendarme
Look up "Glorious Challenge" under Order of the Flame, it's awesome.

From here on you can either level up as a sorcerer until you qualify for the Eldritch Knight prestige class which you can use to get your BAB up or continue leveling up as a Cavalier, sure you'll be one step behind your peers but for a flying mount with Mage Armor and the True Strike spell I think it's worth it.

Ability Scores Human
Strength 20+2 (+5)(Racial)
Dexterity: 14 (+2)
Constitution: 14 (+2)
Intelligence: 12 (+1)
Wisdom: 7 (-2)
Charisma: 10 (+0)

This wouldn't work well for a sorcerer but if you're only spending one level in that class this should work better, a flying lancer will need a dexterity bonus and some extra HP so he doesn't fall often and when he does he doesn't die, an extra skill point never hurt anyone either, although your perception skill is going to suck. But I suppose if you're really ambitious you could ask a dedicated (and ballsy) caster to ride with you, casting enlarge person on the mount should enable it to take the extra weight and if their perception is good you're going to make a great team.
 

Cognisant

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Go the Fuck to Sleep

Listen to "Enter Sandman" & "Count Bodies Like Sheep" the entire time, you're probably only going to get to play this build for a few sessions before the DM singles you out for death.

The basis of this build is a stupidly high enchantment DC achieved by being crossblooded in the Fey (+2) and Psionic (+2) sorcerer bloodlines, being a Kitsune means you gain another +1 to enchantment and with every four levels that increases by another +1, so yeah. Then there's the Mediator trait which can add +1 to compulsion spells and the Magical Lineage trait which in combination with the Extend Spell feat means you can double the duration of any one spell (like hypnotism) without a penalty, then there's Spell Focus if you want to ramp it up even further.

1st Level Spell DC on Daze 21 & Hypnotism 22 :D

Of course this is a really stupid build, enchantment doesn't work on everything and many creatures are immune to sleep effects, this setup leaves you cripplingly specialized which maybe you can get away with in a really big party or in a court intrigue style campaign but usually it'll screw you.
 

Jennywocky

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Can't do the builds right now, but I was thinking about being a crazy psycho psionic build that is the Shaperchanger From Hell ... so aside from CHA (which might fuel that niche class), you'd boost your physical stats as much as you could on the original build.

And then everything is built around grabbing as many abilities and stat boosts in your morph as you can.

Two possibilities

Battle wilder: The archetype mixes barb abilities and massive psionic power poured into combat, but you'd have to tap into out-of-class shapechange powers (which cost a higher slot), which means you can never get the level 9 power True Change. Have to crunch the numbers, though, to see how badass you could become. There are also some really nasty powers at higher levels (like Fused Flesh -- melt the person into a helpless lump -- or Decerebrate -- remove part of the target's brain stem rendering them a vegetable and they die in 1d4 days... arggg). So you use your morph abilities to boost your stats and devastating combat skills.

Egoist: Don't get the wilder benefits, but since you're the only psionic class that grabs higher-level metamorph abilities as normal, you have a huge benefit. Also the only class that can reach level 9 True Morph, which is pretty amazing just because of this:

While under the effects of this power, you can choose to become one of the following types, with the associated benefits: aberration, dragon, fey, humanoid, magical beast or monstrous humanoid. As a swift action, you can change what type you are while the duration of this power is in effect. As a swift action, you can also change your menu choices while the duration of this power is in effect.

IOW, the lesser morphs lock you into your initial selections until power expiration, but with True Morph, you can change from round to round as a swift action. All the other morphs are 1 minute/level (or 1 round/level), but True Morph is 10 min/level, so with one burst of power, a 15th level True Morpher can change at will for a space of 2.5 hours. And besides getting 2 powers off each Menu in C (for 17 pps), you can augment for additional powers for 2-6 extra pps.


Morph powers -- all of them -- are on this page. Every time you change, you can vary the assortment. It's mix and match.

--------------

Here you go, a second level character -- half-giant psion/barbarian, 20 point buy. This one's already monstrous with only two levels. I'll level her up and see how much worse she gets:

Level 2 (Barb 1 / Psion 1)
Morph
Half-Giant Barbarian 1/Psion 1
CG Medium humanoid (giant)
Init +0; Senses low-light vision; Perception +6
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Defense
--------------------
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 15 (1d12+1d6+2)
Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +3; +2 racial bonus vs fire spells and effects.
DR 5/—
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Offense
--------------------
Speed 40 ft.
Special Attacks powerful build, rage (5 rounds/day)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd; concentration +2)
. . 1/day—stomp (1/day) (DC 11)
Psion Powers Known (power points 5, ML 1st; concentration +4):
. . 1st—inertial armor, minor metamorphosis, vigor
. . 0 (at will)—create sound, detect psionics, lesser fortify, unearthly terror (DC 13)
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 14
Feats Improved Metamorphosis, Psion Weapon Proficiencies, Psionic Talent, Swift Shapeshifter
Skills Acrobatics +4, Autohypnosis +5, Climb +7, Heal +5, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (nature) +7, Knowledge (psionics) +7, Perception +6, Spellcraft +7, Survival +9, Swim +7; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival
Languages Common, Draconic, Giant, Gnoll
SQ disciplines (psychometabolism [egoist]), fast movement, talents
Other Gear 150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Damage Reduction (5/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Improved Metamorphosis You gain more versatility when changing your form.

Prerequisite: Ability to manifest minor metamorphosis, metamorphosis, greater metamorphosis, or true metamorphosis.

Benefit: Any time you manif
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Powerful Build Can function as one size larger where advantageous.
Psionic Talent Gain an additional 2 power points.
Psychometabolism (Egoist) A psion who specializes in psychometabolism is known as an egoist. This discipline consists of powers that alter the psion's psychobiology, or that of creatures near him. An egoist can both heal and transform himself into a fearsome fighter.

Cl
Rage (5 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Swift Shapeshifter You are naturally confident with different shapes and
forms, and years of training have allowed your body to
more easily flow into new shapes.
Talents You may learn 3 "talents" (level 0 powers) as well as detect psionics.

Level 8 (Barb 2 / Psion 6)
Morph
Half-Giant Barbarian 2/Psion 6
CG Medium humanoid (giant)
Init +0; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12
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Defense
--------------------
AC 22, touch 12, flat-footed 22 (+8 armor, +2 natural, +2 deflection)
hp 61 (2d12+6d6+8)
Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +9; +2 racial bonus vs fire spells and effects.
Defensive Abilities uncanny dodge; DR 5/—
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Offense
--------------------
Speed 50 ft.
Special Attacks powerful build, rage (7 rounds/day), rage powers (knockback)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +8)
. . 1/day—stomp (1/day) (DC 11)
Psion Powers Known (power points 54, ML 6th; concentration +10):
. . 3rd—energy retort (DC 17), heightened vision, metamorphosis, touchsight
. . 2nd—body equilibrium, empathic condition relief, minor metamorphosis, thought shield
. . 1st—catfall, inertial armor, minor metamorphosis, skate, vigor
. . 0 (at will)—create sound, detect psionics, lesser fortify, unearthly terror (DC 14)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 18, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +5; CMB +9; CMD 21
Feats Extend Power, Improved Metamorphosis, Intimidating Prowess, Master of All Forms, Psion Weapon Proficiencies, Psionic Body, Psionic Talent, Swift Shapeshifter
Traits adopted, impressive physique
Skills Acrobatics +6 (+11 to jump), Autohypnosis +12, Climb +9, Handle Animal +4, Heal +5, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (geography) +10, Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (psionics) +13, Perception +12, Ride +3, Spellcraft +13, Survival +9, Swim +7; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival
Languages Common, Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Ignan
SQ disciplines (psychometabolism [egoist]), fast movement, metabolic healing, talents
Other Gear +2 quickness mithral agile breastplate, amulet of natural armor +2, belt of thunderous charging, boots of striding and springing, cloak of resistance +3, ring of protection +2, ring of the sublime, 5,700 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Damage Reduction (5/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Extend Power You can manifest powers that last longer than normal.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Impressive Physique Your size and stature are imposing. Your natural physique gives you a +2 trait bonus to Intimidate checks due to your size.
Improved Metamorphosis You gain more versatility when changing your form.

Prerequisite: Ability to manifest minor metamorphosis, metamorphosis, greater metamorphosis, or true metamorphosis.

Benefit: Any time you manif
Knockback (1/round) (Ex) While raging, can bull rush in place of an att, dealing a little dam.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Master of All Forms No longer inhibited by a single form, you are able to
instantly change into the perfect shape for your current
dilemma.
Metabolic Healing (Su) While psionically focused, gain fast healing/2 when manifesting a psychometabolism power for a number of rounds equal to the power level.
Powerful Build Can function as one size larger where advantageous.
Psionic Body Bonus HP +10
Psionic Talent Gain an additional 2 power points.
Psychometabolism (Egoist) A psion who specializes in psychometabolism is known as an egoist. This discipline consists of powers that alter the psion's psychobiology, or that of creatures near him. An egoist can both heal and transform himself into a fearsome fighter.

Cl
Rage (7 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Ring of the sublime When worn, the ring of the sublime protects its wearer from fear effects as if constantly under the effects of remove fear.
Swift Shapeshifter You are naturally confident with different shapes and
forms, and years of training have allowed your body to
more easily flow into new shapes.
Talents You may learn 3 "talents" (level 0 powers) as well as detect psionics.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Retain Dex bonus to AC when flat-footed.

Still needs some tweaking and addition of relevant equipment due to the AC issue; once she enters rage, she can't use new powers, so she has to have a bunch of long-term buffs already in place. But basically she morphs as a swift action and all the morph stuff adds physical attributes, natural attacks, poison attacks, and whatever else can be maxed.
 

Hadoblado

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I've got a few ideas, but I want to save them for if ever I run a campaign or start a new character.
 

Cognisant

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We're not going to steal them :D
 

Hadoblado

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Yeah but they're a hell of a lot less fun when people know what you're doing. I like to be able to surprise people ;)
 

Cognisant

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Drax the Destroyer
Human Barbarian wielding two Kukri with Two-Weapon Fighting and Improved Critical.
Strength 18+2= +5
Dexterity 7= -2
Constitution 18 = +4
Intelligence 7= -2
Wisdom 13 = +1
Charisma 7= -2

So simple :D
 

redbaron

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How do you take TWF with 7 DEX though?

Prerequisite: Dex 15
I might put a gimmick build up but I share Hado's sentiment. Maybe one that I never intend to use.
 

redbaron

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Oh what the hell I couldn't resist.

Hurling Barbarian
Take the Hurling school of Rage Powers. You can now pick up gnomes and throw them at people like weapons. Oh and you can also use Power Attack when you throw them too.

Then at level 12 you get this: Greater Hurling. Congratulations, you can now pick up dragons, trolls and ogres...and then throw them at people...with a Power Attack.

Combine with Enlarge Person and go swing a few giants around. Or a Triceratops.
 

Jennywocky

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Oh what the hell I couldn't resist.

Hurling Barbarian
Take the Hurling school of Rage Powers. You can now pick up gnomes and throw them at people like weapons. Oh and you can also use Power Attack when you throw them too.

Then at level 12 you get this: Greater Hurling. Congratulations, you can now pick up dragons, trolls and ogres...and then throw them at people...with a Power Attack.

Combine with Enlarge Person and go swing a few giants around. Or a Triceratops.

For close range you can't help but add the rage power, "Body Bludgeon."

Body Bludgeon (Ex)
Prerequisite: Barbarian 10

Benefit: While raging, if the barbarian pins an opponent that is smaller than her, she can then use that opponent as a two-handed improvised weapon that deals 1d8 points of bludgeoning damage, assuming the opponent is sized Small. Larger or smaller creatures used as a bludgeon deal damage based on their size using this base damage. A size Tiny creature deals 1d6 points of damage, a size Medium creature deals 1d10 points of damage, and so on. The barbarian can make a single attack using the pinned opponent as part of the action she uses to maintain the grapple, using her highest attack bonus. Whenever the barbarian hits using the pinned opponent as a weapon, she deals damage to her target normally, and the grappled opponent used as a bludgeon also takes the same damage she dealt to the target. If the pinned opponent is unable to resist being pinned for any reason, the barbarian can use that opponent as an improvised weapon without grappling or pinning the opponent, until the creature is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, at which point the creature becomes useless as an improvised weapon.

He's obviously a teamwork barbarian.

TBH, damage is pretty sucky compared to using a 2H weapon as far as barbs go... but for storytelling purposes, the possibilities are immense.
 

Cognisant

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How do you take TWF with 7 DEX though?
I try to sneak it past the DM :D (I would never)

Drax Revised:
Strength 18+2= +5
Dexterity 16= +3
Constitution 16 = +3
Intelligence 7= -2
Wisdom 7 = -2
Charisma 7= -2
 

Cognisant

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Star Lord
Some sort of Human Rouge/Sorcerer multiclass I think, maybe 1st level Sorcerer, 2nd level Rouge to get a heap of class skill bonuses then all sorcerer from then on, wielding dual wands whenever possible and using all his known spells for trickery/evasion

Rocket
Gunslinger/Wizard without a doubt, lots of knowledge skills and maybe a level or two of alchemist for the bomb making, unfortunately Pathfinder isn't well set up for this.

Groot
Hell if I know, Psionic Druid maybe? Some kind of monster race?

Gamora
Rouge, half-orc, boring.
She's last on this list because I forgot her name, it was the only name I forgot.
 

Cognisant

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Naruto
At level two ninja's can get the Acrobatic Master trick which gives +20 Acrobatics and at level one arcane casters can learn the Jump spell which gives +10 Acrobatics and +20 at caster level five. So with a high dexterity modifier and Acrobatics as a class skill we're easily looking at +50 by the character's sixth level, using the Arcane Bloodline, Magical Lineage trait and the Extend Spell metamagic feat.

Takashi would be almost perfect for this but he dosen't have the strength to use melee attacks and I wasted Magical Lineage on Ray of Infeeblement, oh well live and learn.

Now the point of this is to make full use of feats like Death from Above and Spring Attack, with such a high Acrobatics modifier a character can make supernatural leaps/jumps and is damn near impossible to hit with attacks of opportunity. So with Death from Above the character can charge into and leap out of combat (not in the same turn) easily flanking opponents and likely landing critical hits (Death from Above + Strength + things like masterwork, Weapon Focus, Improved Critical).

Indeed because acrobatics isn't an action but rather something you apply to actions then in theory just as it could be used to leap over difficult terrain in a charge you could use it to leap over enemies (incurring attacks of opportunity, not that it matters) straight at which ever enemy you want to take out first, like a caster. Although this would probably be a combined long and high jump DC and if you screw it up you're going to land prone so it's not a game breaking trick, just the benefit of being incredibly specialised in a single skill.

To leap 30ft and 8ft high would be (30+8x4) a DC of 62, if the DM was really nice he could rule that being a charge the distance DC is halved since charging occurs at twice your base speed, and/or you only need to clear the height of your enemies not their unarmed reach so the high jump DC is only for 6ft. The jump spell only has a limited duration and the ninja trick costs 1 ki per roll so it's not like this is going to happen every round and for the cost of a spell, a ki point and having to construct the entire build around it I think it's reasonable to expect you're not going to end up flat on your face at you enemy's feet after one bad DC12 roll.
 

Jennywocky

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To be honest, my 8th level Sylph has never had a problem with an Acrobatics skill in 20's, a Stealth score in the high 20's, and a Dex of 20, and Combat Mobility and Spring Attack (since you generate no AOOs with Spring Attack) in getting in and out without being seen and doing incredibly crazy stuff during combat and almost never getting hit by an AOO when passing through threatened square. So unless you want to be level 2 and are trying to fight Epic Monsters (whereupon you probably can't even hit the damn thing except on a nat 20 anyway), it seems pointless even if cool.

Another issue is that using Acrobatics to get places loses its value to some degree as soon as Fly becomes relatively accessible in some form (some classes get a form of Fly via spell or ability, and they can sometimes grant it to others; and there are of course magic items that give the ability). And then there is Dimension Door and Teleport. Acrobatics just remains a godsend when you're trying to Tumble past unexpected attacks or are stuck in a no-magic zone at very high levels and have to rely on purely physical maneuvers, trying to win an Acrobatics tournament / impress the locals, etc.
 

Cognisant

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The more I go over it the less it works and you're right for a dedicated sorcerer like Takashi it would quickly become pointless, still I'm frustrated by how absolutely generic his build has become, now we're at third level and he has magic missile he's going to start providing fire support (with a spell that fires over 25ft thankfully) but I've just seen the Synthesist archetype and it's given me some loony ideas.

I wonder if I can convince Dom or Edam to take Death from Above and ride me :D
 

Jennywocky

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The more I go over it the less it works and you're right for a dedicated sorcerer like Takashi it would quickly become pointless, still I'm frustrated by how absolutely generic his build has become, now we're at third level and he has magic missile he's going to start providing fire support (with a spell that fires over 25ft thankfully) but I've just seen the Synthesist archetype and it's given me some loony ideas.

I wonder if I can convince Dom or Edam to take Death from Above and ride me :D

EVeryone's kind of generic at low levels, since the primary goal is simply to survive -- so character builds generally resemble the old "Wheel of Fortune" letter selection where everyone picked the same 5 + vowel and they finally changed up the game to accommodate that.

Once you level up a bit, you actually can start to add some skills, spells, abilities, etc., more for 'flavor' and/or specialization, since you've got a core group of abilities established that help you survive.
 

Hadoblado

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This guys reminds me of a dweebish Elliot Hulse.

I agree that characters should be more than their combat, but most people know this already. Starting with an idea for what a character does in combat is fine, you can flesh out all the other stuff between or even during the session.
 
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