Author Topic: [Pathfinder] building a Vitalist from level 1  (Read 4250 times)

Offline Harald

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[Pathfinder] building a Vitalist from level 1
« on: June 01, 2017, 05:32:50 PM »
hello fellow minmaxers !
A friend invited me in a Roll20 Pathfinder game. All characters must be evil or at least evil compatible, and will have to be from Cheliax.

It is a No third party book game, though I managed to get the Vitalist allowed after talking with the GM, hence it is now a Paizo + psionics only game.

We start at level 1 with 20 point buy.

I want to be efficient at buffing the party, combat healing, with a dash of information gathering ability thanks to telepathy and all that.

I'm going with a human Vitalist, choosing the following stat array :
STR 8
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 20
CHA 8

I dunno what the others players will do.

- I dunno yet if the Soul Leech archetype is really worth it, considering I will be a Sadist already. Yay or nay ?

-  what method should I go : Soulthief for a more offensive use of my powers, or the Intercessor, to be more a party buffer ?

- I did managed to roll the Rich parents traits. What items can you suggest at first level I can take with a 900 GP budget ?

- What feats do you advise ? shall I try to squeezze a VMC and in that case which one ?

thanks for your suggestions :)
"-Lady-Captain, we detect 20 hostile vessels against us,  and Erasmus Haarlock's Spear of Destiny ! What are your orders ?
-RAMMING SPEED !

final result : 6 slaughts vessels, 4 imperial frigates, 2 imperial cruisers destroyed. Haarlock sent into the warp. 0 losses. Flawless Victory.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: [Pathfinder] building a Vitalist from level 1
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2017, 11:54:24 PM »
I've been playing a neutral (basically evil...) samsaran vitalist in a PbP game on here for a while. My main problem with the class is the tiny number of powers known and list of available powers. Being able to swap them out for free each day is nice, but I still felt very limited. Expanded Knowledge and other means of adding powers outside your class list will be your best friends, so choose wisely! The DM let me use the samsaran's Mystic Past Lives alternate racial trait to add powers to his list, which helped quite a bit. He also let me mix and match things from the Life Leech and Sadist archetypes (much like how D&D alternate class levels can be taken individually). Here is a link to my character, if you want to look it over.

Unwilling Participant + Drain Health at least gave me a small offensive attack that I could use outside of my powers, and being able to use Unwilling Participant as a move action by expending my focus (allowing me to get the combo off in a single round) was invaluable.

Other than that, being able to use things like Vigor and Expansion on other people was probably the best thing about the class (other than the fact that it's a competent psionic healer, which used to be hard to do).
« Last Edit: June 02, 2017, 07:24:07 AM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline Harald

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Re: [Pathfinder] building a Vitalist from level 1
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2017, 02:55:27 PM »
Ok, good to know.
i do think the Human  favorite class bonus (one additional powerknow every third level) will help a bit.
Do you think the Soulthief method is better for a more offensive and polyvalent Vitalist, or the Intercessor as a better buffer ?

I will give a look indeed to your character.
"-Lady-Captain, we detect 20 hostile vessels against us,  and Erasmus Haarlock's Spear of Destiny ! What are your orders ?
-RAMMING SPEED !

final result : 6 slaughts vessels, 4 imperial frigates, 2 imperial cruisers destroyed. Haarlock sent into the warp. 0 losses. Flawless Victory.

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: [Pathfinder] building a Vitalist from level 1
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2017, 04:07:23 PM »
The 900 gp to start, is quite the dish. 
You may have to mc'splain to your DM, that this amount of money doesn't impact the game above level 6.

MacGyver and Bunko's and any sort of Magic Mart, are known tactics that work with all that moolah.
I suggest doing mostly party buffs, so they don't get too worked up.


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That much gold to start, doesn't matter after encounter #1, IFF you're an NPC.
During level 1 you have the same amount = you lost it all and gained the same back.

That much gold for a starting PC, is like being already done with 2nd level, all rested and ready to go.
It's potentially very strong, maybe even t.o.-ish without hefty controls.

And in any case, it'll compensate for early game swingyness.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: [Pathfinder] building a Vitalist from level 1
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2017, 08:44:22 PM »
Another thing I make liberal use of is alchemical items (the DM ruled that psionics count for crafting them). That 900 gp could buy some useful ones.
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.