[PF] Finishing touches on my Helpful Halfling Oradin

[Julix]

Masterhelper Oradin

Who cares who gets the credit, as long as it gets done!

-Nigel Inork, Helpful Halfling, First Paladin of Desna

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Hello everyone!

I'm just starting the Jade Regent campaign and despite having started already I'm not quite clear on some aspects of the Character build. General stuff that is clear about him I put in the Context spoiler, the other info is in the Problem spoiler with the problem it relates to. This was a lot of effort to format like this, so I hope it actually helps with the reading instead of just being confusing.

Mission

I need help with five aspects, if you're interested in helping with any aspect that would be dearly appreciated.

• - Stats: Where do I put the rest of the point buy?
• - Feats: What do I do at lvl 7 and beyond?
• - Skills: Can I afford being that wide spread? How do I make this work?
• - Spells: Which 1st level spells should I chose?
• - Archetype choices:

• Psychic Searcher: which Psychic Talent (Su) should I take?
• Holy Guide: which favored Terrain and which Teamwork feat should I take?

Problems

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1. Stats
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 17 - includes Racials (-2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha)
25 Point buy, so some left to distribute. Need help deciding between Cha, Dex or Str.


2. Feats and Major Drawbacks *needs help!*
The decided part of this section is GM approved, but many decisions have yet to be made.

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1st level (Oracle)
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/fey-foundling

Major Drawback+Extra Feat
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/3rd-party-drawbacks/super-genius-games/major-drawbacks/slow-runner
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/extra-revelation-1 (Life Link)

3rd level (Paladin) -- Undecided

5th level (Oracle) -- Extra Revelation (for Community Guardian's 3rd level pre-decided revelation) -- This was necessary to be allowed to combine the two archetypes.

7th level and beyond (Paladin) -- Undecided

Considering these:

+4 to adjecent ally AC as AoO
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/combat-reflexes-combat
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/bodyguard-combat

Early Leadership?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/squire

Mounted stuff
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/mounted-combat-combat---final
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/ride-by-attack-combat---final
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/spirited-charge-combat---final

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/trick-riding-combat

Or maybe the mounted archery route? - and other archery stuff if that's what I was gonna do...

3. Skills *needs help!*

Between the classes and archetypes he has a lot of skills covered as class skills.

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DEX Ride
INT Craft, Linguistics, Spellcraft and these Knowledges: history, local, nobility, planes, religion, geography).
WIS Heal, Profession, Sense Motive, Perception, and Survival
CHA Diplomacy,  Handle Animal

But that also raises the problem of how to train them all with so few skill ranks:

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The psychic searcher gives him an Investigator's inspiration ability which he'll make use of, but due to taking only few levels of Oracle the pool will stay quite small, so I'll want to benefit from the free uses on Diplomacy, Knowledge (arcana, history, local, nobility, planes, religion), and Sense Motive - but that only works if it's trained (i.e. one rank).

Overall there will be a lack of skill ranks to go around (as paladin gets few) but the inspiration should help and for many other things the goal is just to beat the DC 10 to aid another. - We do have a rogue but he dumped Int a bit and so it's not clear if he'll have much skills which I could help him with, given his focus on athletic ones (acrobatics, climb, swim, ride, ...) and thieving ones (slight of hand, stealth, disable device). --- The other two don't have many Skills either.

My skill points by level 5: 3*4+2*2=16 - that's one for Knowledge history, local, nobility, planes, and religion (total 5), Sense Motive and Diplomacy (at least 2), but I also want Perception, Ride, Handle Animal, and maybe even Linguistics and spell craft -- even if I get those later, Paladin only gets 2 ranks a level! I think I'd want to keep Perception at character level, keep Diplomacy up and boost Ride a fair bit. :-S

Am I stretching too thinly? How do I get those extra skill points without losing the extra HP that I'll want for being a good Bloodbank, I mean Oradin?

4. Spell choices
This will be a long game, so I want to get good milage out of the spells.

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Mending and Prestigitation are a given (unless I get "make whole" at some point). Guidance I'll keep for now but would be fine to switch out for Detect or Read Magic. Create Water and Light are great too... hm...

My real issue is with 1st level spells. What should I take here?

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/k/karmic-blessing - This one would be a +3 Bonus on some skills that stacks with other stuff I can do... or wait, it only works if you already have a rank in it, but it's not a class skill, right? Otherwise it's a class skill but due to not being trained you don't benefit from it? Otherwise this would be sweet for turning any knowledge into one that I could roll for - and even use the Inspire ability from the Psychic Searcher on for free when I get that... :-S  -- Would it be overpowered if it worked as a +2 and 1 temporary rank?

Comprehend languages could be good because of the texts and things we'll surely stumble into. - Tongues would be nice to stack with the trait that gives +2 bonus to diplomacy when I speak their language, but it's a much higher level spell.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/i/ironbeard is a +1 to AC and a cold iron spike - which could be good if using a long spear or something with reach in order to threaten nearby as well...  - And the spell failure doesn't affect lay on hands cause it's an Su. This seems quite cool...

The more I look at the list the more I wish I wasn't a spontaneous caster... http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/d/dream-feast is situationally great. As would be Endure Elements... we'll be travelling lots. This Campaign is basically one epic journey. Diagnosing Disease is way to situational for just a +4 to a heal check that's then a +4 to the suffere's chance of getting better -- but i might still try and get scrolls for those things once we're rich.

That would mean I want read magic though. So Guidance (- will retrain later), Mending, Read Magic, Detect Magic? I was thinking create water would be great, especially since I get bless water as well from Community Guardian, so maybe I'll take that instead of Read or Detect Magic for now until I retrain Guidance?


   - Spell choice: What

• 0th level:  Mending(and Prestigitiation as bonus spell from a trait) due to personality. Guidance to be replaced later. Considering: Detect Magic, Read Magic, Create Water, Light... but spark would be good, Enhanced Diplomacy is cool... hmpf. Assume Mending is a given, which 4 other 0th-level spells (and in what order?)
• 1st level: Here I'm really unsure. Only get 3 total! - Can't be something that depends on high CL to be useful. Shouldn't be evil or immoral... ideally not even dishonorable.

5. Archetype sub-choices

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a. The Holy Guide
He gets a favored Terrain - If you're familiar with Jade Regent a hint for this would be appreciated. - I want what ever is useful most of the time.
He also gets a teamwork feat that he can activate sometimes for all allies within 30 ft I love the idea, but am not sure which one to pick.

b. Psychic Searcher
He gets an investigator talent from the following list:

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• Amazing Inspiration (Ex): When using inspiration, the investigator rolls a d8 instead of a d6. At 20th level, the investigator rolls 2d8 and adds both dice to the result. An investigator must be at least 7th level to select this talent.
• Edetic Recollection (Su): An investigator can always choose to take 10 on any of his Knowledge checks, even if he's in immediate danger or distracted. An investigator may expend one use of inspiration to take 20 on a Knowledge skill check even if he's in immediate danger or distracted. An investigator must be at least 11th level to select this talent.
• Empathy (Ex, Su): When attempting a Sense Motive check, the investigator makes two d20 rolls and takes the higher result. If an investigator uses inspiration on a Sense Motive check, he rolls the inspiration dice twice and takes the higher result. Once per day, the investigator can expend one use of inspiration to target a single creature that he can see and hear within 30 feet. Upon doing so, the investigator detects the surface thoughts of the target's mind, as if he concentrated for 3 rounds while using the detect thoughts spell, unless the creature succeeds a Will saving throw. The DC of this save is 10 + 1/2 the investigator's level + his Intelligence modifier. If the target fails, the investigator can continue to detect the surface thoughts of the target creature for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 his investigator level. An investigator must be at least 5th level to select this talent.
• Inspired Alertness (Ex): Whenever the investigator becomes flat-footed, he can expend one use of inspiration to ignore that condition. He must be conscious to do so, and must decide to do so when he becomes flat-footed. Using this ability doesn't require an action.
• Item Lore (Ex): An investigator can use Spellcraft to identify the properties and command words of magic items without the use of detect magic or similar spells. An investigator must be at least 7th level to take this talent.
• perceptive tracking (except using Sense Motive instead of Perception or Survival)
• the rogue talent "hard to fool" Benefit: Once per day, a rogue with this talent can roll two dice while making a Sense Motive check, and take the better result. She must choose to use this talent before making the Sense Motive check.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/investigator#TOC-Investigator-Talent-Ex-or-Su-

And whenever a psychic searcher can select a new revelation, she can instead select an investigator or rogue talent from the above list. - Not too relevant since I won't be gaining more revelations unless by the extra revelations feat -- which I'd consider for Effortless Aid, but it's not on this list he gets to chose from.

Context

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Contents:

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• The rest of the Party
• Classes and Archetypes
• Traits and Drawbacks
• Other stuff - not finished editing, can skip for now

1. The rest of the party

A half-orc Battle Oracle (who's been healing me when I go down - great failsafe)
A dwarven teen-aged Sourceress (seriously. Her Dex is like 18! Her Cha is 16. - we made her a nice spell failure system in which weeeird things can happen)
A Halfling Rogue (with a Dex of 20 and 14 Str at lvl 1).


2. Classes and Archetypes

Progression is 1 Oracle-2 Paladin – 2 Oracle – X Paladin with the following Archetypes:

Oracle: Psychic Searcher - Community Guardian Oracle with Life mystery and Lame curse.
Paladin: Holy Guide - Shining Knight - Warrior of the Holy Light

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Oracle
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/oracle-curses
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/life - Life Link
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/halfling/community-guardian-oracle-halfling
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/archetypes/paizo---oracle-archetypes/psychic-searcher
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/investigator#TOC-Inspiration-Ex-

Paladin
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin/archetypes/paizo---paladin-archetypes/warrior-of-the-holy-light
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin/archetypes/paizo---paladin-archetypes/holy-guide
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin/archetypes/paizo---paladin-archetypes/shining-knight

3. Traits and Drawbacks
This section is pretty solid and GM-Approved.

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Alternate Racials: Adaptable Luck and Outrider

Two starting Traits
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/campaign-traits/jade-regent-traits/rescued
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/race-traits/helpful

Trait+Drawback
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/drawbacks/fey-taken
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/magic-traits/two-world-magic

Trait+Drawback
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/drawbacks/naive
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/regional-traits/open-minded-explorer-regional

Other stuff

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This Oradin tries to keep everyone healed using life links (no actions once established) and lay on hands (swift actions) to still have his standard and move available. -- But I'm not exactly sure how I want him to spend those. He could chose between aid another, buffs (such as those gained from one of the many archetypes) or engaging in battle himself.

His speed on foot will be abysmal (lame curse, slow-runner draw back) but eventually he will be quite good at riding and won't even take penalties to ride check from armor class (Shining Knight) He will also grant his divine grace save bonus to his mount as well.

Game is Jade Regent with the kind of RP focus that requires fluffing mechanical aspects of the character.

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In turn it allows to bend the mechanics a bit if and only if it works well with the character --- but even legal choices need fluff to back it up. -- Also consistency is important so what has been established in the game is harder to change than what I had planned but haven't used yet. --- For all the justifications see very end

So at lvl 1 he has one Life link up and heals other for 1d8+1 (level)+2 (Rescued) = 4-11 hp, additional +2 (Fey Foundling) if healing self.

He uses Aid Another when appropriate (for +4 to any skill, attack roll or AC when he can beat the DC 10 to aid)
He uses Guidance so much that he's made casting it part of a song that he likes to sing that involves touching his allies once a minute each when convenient / not annoying / not dangerous.
He uses Spirit of the Community (from the Community Guardian archetype) to grant up to +4 (cause we're only 4 allies at this point, max is +5) to a single skill check with some cooperation, or +1 to all allies within 30 feet.
His base speed is abismal. Wearing Four-Mirror Armor it's 10 ft - with Running only allowing him to run 3x his speed, and that at crazy ac penalties). - The party Halforc carries him around a fair bit, since his riding cow died before the game even started to get an excuse for the Halforc to carry him. Hope to use a lance while riding him some day at least once...

In two more levels he'll have Devine Grace (Cha to saves) and Lay on Hands (with +4 from trait&feat mentioned earlier but now as swift action). I traded away the paladin's spells for an archetype, making the few oracle spell choices perhaps even more important.



Fluff-Justifications

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Dad made deal with Firstworlders for love potion, but relationship was infertile. Traded his future first born son for fertility.
Halfling baby born and taken away (leaving no memory of pregnancy behind) - a year later his little brother is born and dad and mom are happy.
Meanwhile Halfling is in Firstworld... who knows what went on there or why he was dropped off a few years later in the wild. (Justifying Feat: Fey Foundling
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/fey-foundling and Drawback: Fey-Taken http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/drawbacks/fey-taken.

Found by other Halflings and raised in a diverse community (Firstworlders with outcast Halflings, Elves, even a handful Dwarves - all of which maintain some of their own cultural rituals as well) justifying http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/regional-traits/open-minded-explorer-regional but treated as different and made to do assisting work rather than specialize. (Justifying Helpful Halfling http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/race-traits/helpful). - Because the things he does are often so minor but the effects are so large they think he might just be bringing luck rather than actually helping. He's okay with them thinking that as long as things get done.

Eventually he was sent on a quest to find someone, but when he did she was sick. He tried helping her but didn't have enough powers of his own. From somewhere the power came. (Justifying Oracle: Life --> Life link) http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/life - Short before he passed out he broke off the life link and so she died. When he wakes his legs won't move as easily as they used to (Curse: Lame http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/oracle-curses and Major Drawback: Slow Runner http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/3rd-party-drawbacks/super-genius-games/major-drawbacks/slow-runner - Drawback to pay for Extra Revelation to take Community Guardian Archetype and have Life Link at 1st level).

He blames himself for this. Can't find the way home. - Decides he couldn't have helped her without being stronger and it's his duty to become stronger. -- Finds a varisian Desna cleric in a nearby town to help him with a burial ritual. He then joins their caravan and learns to ride their domestic animals. (Justifies Outrider). He eventually reaches Sandpoint and during a religious event there the city is attacked. He joins the defenses and is almost killed - but saved by Koya. (Justifies Trait: Rescued http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/campaign-traits/jade-regent-traits/rescued)

He also has adaptable luck. He is naive (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/drawbacks/naive) and has two-world magic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/magic-traits/two-world-magic) for this spell: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prestidigitation - sofar mainly for cleaning up, which he combines with mending to keep everything well maintained while he's around.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

- Julix

[Julix]

The Warrior of the Holy Light works differently than I had expected (i.e. it's not that you trade being able to cast and wand for being able to glow all day with side effects and more lay on hand -- shining actually costs lay on hand which is the opposite of what I want.)

The Community Guardian is sort of fun, I appreciate the perception skill a lot - but that up to +5 to a skill check for an ally is sort of limited by the "within the round"... though with aid another +4 due to helpful halfling that's +9 (plus 8 really since we're a small party), and for some things that can make quite a difference. Though I'm sill gathering ideas for creative uses. I'm thinking I could get the GM to agree to have this effect last for as long as the spirit of the community focuses on that. Such that for example a diplomacy effect where the entire group sends vibes of "We're behind you, Partyface!" works.

Paying those feats for extra revelations to buy this archetype really hurts now that I realize I would love to spellcast heals without provoking and to channel positive energy... -- but then again I got those feats in trade for Drawbacks, so it was only really permitted because of how good it fits. Still the drawbacks are quite severe sofar. Not being able to run very fast sucks (since I don't have a mount yet). But it's also interesting to play.

Stacking heal bonuses is amazing. The life link was the single reason we didn't just have a total party kill last time we played.
Real mild Jade Regent spoiler this time

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A samurai skelleton challenged our Battle Oracle and knocking him into the minus, then the life link would get him just into the positives and so he was able to do some damage between laying around on the ground. A lucky heal to the skelleton's back (11 hp!) ended the fight, after we had been slashing at it for a while now.

My HP being 10 meant I was able to heal two rounds and then self heal once (cause I rolled really good, and have +5 to self heal, so usually result was full health).

First level play is exciting! We're so squishy!

I loved the dream feast spell, since we're going to be travelling a lot and no one has good survival skills -- but I haven't used it yet in case I want to change it for some other spell. What is your favorite non-evil oracle lvl 1 spell?

I got the GM to agree to leave me some space for developing the characters stats as part of the story. I'm still super undecided for stats... Stats currently are 12, 12, 14, 12, 7, 17 -- by level 3 (when the Oradin starts being a true Oradin) I have to have all the stats finalized. All the stat development that is very notaceble in Game needs to come with some fluff for what's happening.

He's currently under nourished from traveling, so if he's much stronger or dextrous normally that might come back a bit, and he can train a bit to grow to the new challenges he's facing. - He might get some common sense with the kind of things they're doing right now, though it's my only true dump stat. He will definitively gain more charisma, as he has the potential for it but is still insecure from his inexperience. Being involved in the killing of "powerful" enemies and in the company of a hot teenage dwarf sorcerer who has a crush on him and seems to actually care about him is definitively bolstering that a bit.

He's a halfling, he's not going to be very strong without heavy investment. I wanted him riding in heavy armor (thus shining knight to not have armor penalty towards riding) thus dex isn't all that important... with his high aid another I want him helping out a lot, which just requires beating DC 10, so he should be fine most of the time just from high BAB (and small size). With Smite he should be able to fight well when it truely matters. -- I could give up shining knight for higher dex/light armor/actual riding skill and an oath of vengence... hm.

I guess this is in the wrong forum since it's really rather characterbuilding in general than min/maxing...

Does anyone know a better place to post it? Or is it my confusing spoilerforest that keeps this from getting answers?

[Julix]

We've just reached level 3. What a blast it's been...


Attributes
Stats are finalized at 13/14/14/12/7/19 - increases will be cha, str, wis probably.

Archetypes:
Oracle: Psychic Searcher & Community guardian (the latter was mechanically mistake, but I'm stuck with it).
Paladin: Shining Knight or Oath of Vengance (Input wanted)

Spells
oo/day Spells 0th: Guidance, Prestidigitation, Mending, Create Water
 3/day Spells 1st: CLW, Dream Feast, Divine Favor (extra +1 from Trait)

Traits
Minor Drawbacks: Fey Taken, Naive
Traits: Helpful (Halfling), Fate's Favored, Two-World Magic (Prestidigitation), Rescued (Koya)

Feats
Major Drawback: Slow Runner
Feats: Fey Foundling (1st), Extra Revelation:Life Link, 1 undecided slot (Considering Squire, else Extra Revelation Channel, or Combat Reflexes -&later->Bodyguard. Flag bearer is also interesting, but I don't have a hand free...)

Gear
Weapon: Comp Long bow +1, Battle Aspergillum, Lucerne Hammer (shit to hit unless smiting)
Armor: Four-Mirror Armor + Kilt + Buckler (AC 21)
Riding dog: carrying random stuff, like writing utensils, Any-tool, 'cause it's cool, etc.

Skills
Continue to be rather boring until the next few levels of Oracle kick in with Psychic Searcher's Inspiration kicks in, at which point one rank in various things combined with the re-usable inspiration makes for a wide range of skills. Due to wisdom dump the inspiration pool remains low and use will be limited to the free ones: Diplomacy, Knowledge (arcana, history, local, nobility, planes, religion), and Sense Motive. - Also filled with ranks because useful: Ride, Handle Animal, Perception, maybe others.


Sofar I went Oracle 1 / Paladin 2 - next will be 2 levels of Oracle for more life links, inspiration and a psychic talent (most likely Empathy -roll twice for Sense Motive, or eidetic recollection - take 10 on knowledge).

I'd like some advice on the feat choice for level 3 and level 7. - Also I'm considering un-training the Community guardian archetype before I gain another class feature from it, increasing the cost and time it would take. I can think of enough uses for the +1 to +5 on any skill for 1 round to easily be worth a revelation, but the one gained at level 3? 1/day for a really weak buff? Seems weak to me anyway, am I missing something there?