Author Topic: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.  (Read 17548 times)

Offline MortalSword

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[PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« on: October 02, 2014, 05:14:02 PM »
Ive scoured these boards for a PFS tanking build with no luck. The only builds I've found in my searches have been 3.5 Builds or regular Pathfinder builds with either too many books or not legal for PFS play features.

For those that dont know about PFS they restrict certain aspects of the game to provide an overall balance. Some of the things they restrict are certain spells (Permanency, Awaken, Reincarnate) and no Evil Alignments. For feats, classes, prestige classes, magical or mundane items, Archetypes or ACF's you must have the sourcebook it comes from. Either a PDF watermarked form or a hard copy. That being said, even if you do have the book some features are not legal for play.

These restrictions can be found here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/about/additionalResources

So what if anyone could help with a Tanking build (I can buy PDF's as needed, I will get them all eventually but I have a priority list as I am fairly new to pathfinder specifically)

I dont have a particular style of tanking build in mind, be it via High AC, Attack avoidance, attack negation, damage reduction, summoned critters aka damage sponges etc etc etc. I do however like succeeding my saving throws so features like the Paladin's Divine Grace to add to saving throws are real eye catchers. So any and all assistance is welcome. If you are a PFS tank I wanna know what you use and how you use it.

Or post a link that I havent found to some PFS tanking builds and/or strategies

Ninja Edit: Also the main focus isnt damage output (but Im open to ideas here, more damage doesnt hurt). I think a debuffer tank (aka dirty fighter) would be handy and very helpful as well.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2014, 05:17:32 PM by MortalSword »

Offline Keldar

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2014, 05:58:29 PM »
Cleric 20.  Who cares about details.  Cleric makes you both scary and survivable, no further additions required.

If no one knows a PFS build to link you to, you'll need to narrow down your options much more before you get any real help around here.  Its hard to build something when you don't know what you are supposed to build.  Otherwise Cleric is always the answer.

Offline MortalSword

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2014, 01:27:31 AM »
That's part of the intentionally open ended question. To not limit myself to Sword and Board Paladin with Toughness, Dodge, Iron Will, Great Fortitude, and Lightning Reflexes. I'm very open to all types of builds and not just an AC whore (which wont really matter in the long run as enemy attack bonuses rise faster than your AC can and you'll end up taking a lot of hits at later levels anyways).

Now you say 20 Cleric but you don't give any examples of how. Ive played a grand total of 3 clerics in my life when 3.0 came out. Two of them died at level 1 when they ran out of healing in the first encounter (CR 1/2 Orcs my ass!), and the third was an evil necromancer throwing undead at everything. Not exactly optimized but it was fun while it lasted. So in summary I remember jack shit about Clerics. The second thing to note is that PFS only plays to level 12 where your character gets one last crusade called a Retirement Arc which may bring you to level 13/14ish, after which your Char is retired and you start a new character or resume another character you have levelled up.

So again, it doesnt matter the method of tanking, but rather the effectiveness of surviving attacks and spells thrown my way. Focusing attacks on me is impossible as there are no reliable means to do so to the best of my (limited) Pathfinder knowledge (Other than being a complete threat or annoyance that they "feel" they have to deal with you)

Ninja edit again: Oooh! Forgot about Immunities! Like poison, sleep, mind affecting, fear immunities. Evasion and Imp. Evasion will do a lot for survivability too. Another random thought, I recall reading a Fear inducing build that reduced all your enemies to gibbering cowering coup de grace targets by staggering fear effects without saves and a lot of them were AoE or on a hit. Too bad its only in 3.5 but iirc they did a spell caster version and a melee version. If there is anything like it for Pathfinder I'm all over that.

Aha! My google fu found it on the first try! http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809
« Last Edit: October 03, 2014, 01:40:17 AM by MortalSword »

Offline CaptRory

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2014, 03:09:41 AM »
Paladins work well when you take on significant Use Magic Device, but the paucity of loot in those organized games limits the availability of wands.

Offline MortalSword

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2014, 12:14:23 PM »
Yes loot is heavily restricted at early levels but as your fame within your faction rises you can access more expensive items purchased from your faction. Its one of the limiting factors of character builds, not only is gold doled out at a pretty standard rate across all levels (so your level x will have roughly the same overall wealth total as the other guys level x) but also to ensure nobody saves up their pennies for an item deemed "too strong" for that level".

Anyways after some consideration I've came up with a very rough build outline. I still need to flesh it out and refine it but here is the rough concept
LG Rogue 2 Paladin 2 or 3 (for starters)
Two levels in Rogue for Evasion for reflex saves. Add in the Paladins Good Fort/Will saves and Divine Grace with 18 Cha for +4 to all saves. I'm undecided if getting a third level in Paladin is worth the Disease immunity with the boost to saves from Divine Grace.
Mix it in with a Mount and Mounted Combat Feat and the Ride Skill to negate hits that land. The only downside to ride checks is the armor check penalty so I'm thinking some fighter levels and mithral armor is going to be pretty much mandatory. I believe the mobile fighter archetype is the one that reduces armor check penalties. I'll have to look into that one more.

As for races I like the Dwarf for the save bonuses but I really dont like the Cha hit. In addition to that I think its pretty tough to fit a mount that can seat a medium sized character in underground locations (Verification needed).

Gnomes are small and can ride around in medium sized mounts with no problem, bonus to AC and the bonus to saves for Illusions.

Halflings seem like the best bet with a +2 Dex (for ride and reflex saves) +2 Cha and -2 Str, AC bonus, Halfling luck (+1 to saves) and +2 Vs fear (stacks with Halfling Luck). This seems like the most obvious choice here.

Now with the defensive aspects taken care of, it becomes a choice of keep going with Paladin and their auras, fighters and their feats/traits, or focusing on pissing enemies off via whatever method. Spirited Charge with Lances? Mounted trip mobility char? I dont know yet, but I think I have the core of the build.

Ninja Edit (Again *sigh*): I'll have to take a peek at races in the advanced races guide. I'm not sure if there are alternate dwarf types in there like the ones they had in 3.5 and races of faerun
« Last Edit: October 03, 2014, 12:19:43 PM by MortalSword »

Offline Power

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2014, 09:53:12 PM »
Playing a tank cleric is a simple matter.

Equip full plate armor. Equip tower shield. Disregard all nonproficiency penalties, just play caster style. You have no spell failure and you're not rolling any attacks. Get 12 Dex and you will have amazing 25 AC.

Actually, make it an Oracle instead, get Heaven mystery. Take Awesome Display revelation. Maximize your charisma (20 minimum). Cast Color Spray at everything. Win.

Offline MortalSword

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2014, 04:15:59 PM »
Interesting strategy. I can see how pumping up your charisma with the above mentioned Rogue/Paladin would be beneficial for that Divine Grace/Oracle Heaven Mystery ability. Very interesting both defensively and offensively as long as I had spell slots available to cast it. The only downside I could think of is casting in armor. I'm not sure if the Spell Failure chance applies to oracle spells. Another downside is I like the wind/lightning stances feats for Concealment so BAB is gonna be a factor.

I'm thinking the optimal path would be a Rogue 2 / Paladin 2 / Fighter 8. That should give me enough BAB to get lightning stance for the start of the retirement arc. It will be feat intensive with Mounted Combat, spirited charge, ride by attack Dodge (prerequisite) Wind Stance and Lightning Stance. I don't remember offhand and I don't have my laptop with me ATM. But at what fighter levels do the bonus feats in pathfinder kick in at. Or when you regularly get feats but I'm pretty sure I'll have enough. I'll look it up later. But that will be a nasty combination with Ride checks, evasion, High AC and Wind/lightning stance to avoid hits. Super high saves. For damage use Lances and just charge everything to activate the wind/lightning concealment.

I'll have to double check and see how many feats I can sacrifice from Fighter if need be and swap out those levels for the Sacred Shield Paladin archetype and see if I can hit the right levels for some interesting abilities and to share my AC bonus with the squishies I'm trying to keep alive.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2014, 04:19:00 PM by MortalSword »

Offline MortalSword

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2014, 02:35:42 PM »
Cancel that Wind/Lightning stance feat options. I actually read the descriptions and the Wind only applies to Ranged Attacks and the Lightning requires a double move or Withdraw action. Busted out some Google-Fu and took a look at what others thought of the Charge qualifying for the double move and the result was a majority no. While it does seem very defensive oriented which would fit right in with the overall "Built to survive" theme I'm aiming for with this character, it eliminates my intended damage route by requiring a double move vs a charges full round action that doesn't exactly count as a double move (even if you do move the same distance). So with that option eliminated I'm slowly reading through the magic items section.

I'm specifically looking at things that add a miss chance. Things that create a fog effect combined with Fogcutting Lenses (meh) or a Goz Mask (better I suppose) but it takes up the same slot as a Headband of Charisma which would add a 1-3 Bonus to all saves and UMD checks. Causing blindness would work good too, but its ineffective vs creatures that don't rely on sight. I think its gonna boil down to a Cloak of Resistance +x or a Cloak of Minor/Major Displacment from the looks of things. I shall continue the hunt i suppose. UMD wont be a big problem I think so that opens up a lot of wand options. Scrolls on the other hand I want to avoid like a plague. 20 + Caster level will be a bit tough to overcome even at later levels.

Sidenote: Far too often I see people improperly using this for scrolls. Instead of the Caster level they use the Spell Level.  IE: A scroll with a 4th level spell on it can only be casted by a level 7 or higher spellcaster, giving that scroll a minimum DC 27 UMD check, 5th level DC 29 minimum. Hell even that Scroll of Magic Missile with 5 missiles would be a DC 29 Scroll.

Anyways, I have a question for the wonderful readers of Min/Max. Do you know of any class features or magical items that add a miss chance? Be it via concealment, cover, blindness etc. My fall back option is going to be the Dirty Fighting route with a whip most likely to blind what I can, sicken what I cant and trip what the others don't affect. Combat Reflexes, 16 Dex (to start), huge range (6 squares across control zone).

 I would need to expend a few feats to make this work but I'm thinking a mount of some sort, quick draw to switch from lances to whips at the end of the round and vice versa at the start of the next. Both would need the Calling enhancement to make this work but yeah.... charge (with spirited charge)/overrun/ride by attack with the lance, and then drop the lance and call the whip and Blind/trip whatever moves in my threatened zone for some crowd control with the Whip while waiting for my turn. Next round drop the whip, call the lance, charge.... lol Rinse and repeat. Now my logic for making the ride checks is because logically speaking the best way to limit somebody charging around the battlefield is to kill the mount, now any attacks made at the mount and hit have a ride check associated with them which may avoid a hit, and any attacks against me would have a miss chance from the cloak (if I decide to go that route, making saving throws is very important to me and I don't want to miss out on a potential 1-5 resistance bonus vs a 20% miss chance on landed hits). Lay on hands myself or the mount as needed and resume the charging and crowd control carnage.

I've also seen a few magical armor enhancements that have caught my eye. Rhino Hide armor for an additional 2d6 on charges. Thinking about it, the returning charge that would put me back in with the party may have a flanking bonus if the enemy is engaged with my party for some Sneak attack damage too. The other armor that caught my eye was Mistmail. Although it doesn't say whether the armor and enhancement bonuses work while in mist form. I shall resume my research. I'd say I'm doing not bad for having virtually zero pathfinder knowledge on magical items and classes so far.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2014, 02:41:36 PM »
I'm not sure if the Spell Failure chance applies to oracle spells.
Of course it doesn't. They're divine spellcasters. It's called ARCANE spell failure for a reason.
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Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2014, 12:54:03 AM »
Tanking is promarily two things, and sometimes a 3rd is lumped in, though I think it only counts by technicality.

1. Using "aggro" to force enemies to stick to you
2. Using "lockdown" to force enemies to stick to you
or (debateably)
3. Doing so much stupidly high mondo uber damage that enemies have no choice but to nuke the s*&^ out of you lest you kill them first.

There's plenty of guides for #3, as in its case any sort of tanking you do is incidental to the primary goal of killing everything, which is an ends to itself.  if you do go w/ Paladin, this is the way to do it.  2H power attack and be the biggest threat, while using swift action lay on hands to negate damage.
For 1...D&D and PF have never been kind to this sort of thing.  PF did have Antagonize, but people complained about Barbarians forcing peasants to charge headlong to their deaths one by one or something, so now we have "Gimpenize"...it's Antagonize but useless because you get to waste your standard action to maybe make them waste an attack throwing a rock at you or something.  There is one spell that is sorta aggro-y, I'll get to it in a moment.
2 has always been the only real method of tanking available in D&D, sadly PF nerfed lockdown into the ground with nerfs to trip and stand still (especially the latter), and the broken combat maneuver system in general (CMD vastly outpaces CMB).

Since no class is particularly good at lockdown and all the feats are either worthless or mid/high level anyway now, your best option is to play something with inherent lockdown capabilities.  That is why I suggest a Summoner.  PFS bans Synthesist, which is weaker than vanilla summoner but actually better for playing the party fighter, sadly.  But you can still make it work.  Be a Half-Elf Wildcaller for the most evo points, choose bipedal form to set you up for maximum reach, and cast enlarge person and Compel Hostility on it.  Yup, that's the one aggro spell, and summoners are unique in that they can have it work on the eidolon instead of risking themselves.  Evolutions are important, too.  You obviously want Large size at level 8, reach with one of your attacks (to threaten further) and +2 Str any level you can afford it.  Beyond that...depends how you wish to tank.  If using a reach weapon, you may want a proficiency feat (DO NOT waste the points on the evolution).  I'd suggest sticking to natural attacks though, since you can chain sexy specials to them such as Trip (bite only, sadly), Push/Pull, and Grab, getting to attack normally for damage and still get the maneuver(s).   Grab you can actually focus around and do well... replace your claws with Pincers and use nothing but Pincers.  If it's your only attack type, it becomes primary.  Pincers not only let you Grab, but give a nice bonus to the check.  Since grapple is super nerfed in PF, it's not worth it to actually wrestle with foes for prolonged periods, I'd do a "catch and release" method where you hit and grapple them on your turn, messing up their turns, then opting to not maintain the grapple on your turn, full attacking, and re-grappling, rinse, repeat.

Just my suggestion.  But a biped eidolon with enlarge person and reach evo is hitting at 15 ft away at level 1 without even a reach weapon, and possibly is applying a maneuver to each hit, too.  It's probably the best tank option, and with the shared hp deal (life link w/ summoner), it's probably the most survivable tank, too.

Offline MortalSword

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2014, 12:40:07 PM »
I'm not sure if the Spell Failure chance applies to oracle spells.
Of course it doesn't. They're divine spellcasters. It's called ARCANE spell failure for a reason.

I don't have the book the Oracle is listed in. I took a fast peak at their Class Features and the Mystery the dude said to look at and that's it. Like I said in my OP I'm very new to PF. So forgive me for not knowing a class casting my favourite low level ARCANE spell wasn't an arcane caster. Color spray isn't on the Divine Spell list. Toss in the somatic component to casting it and you get the question: Does ASF apply.

Offline Fredgerd

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2014, 02:27:21 PM »
I don't know PFS rules but this is what I do in 3.5 (I'm a big fan of being a tank)

The Goad feat is a pretty great way to force aggro from melee enemies. Add in Improved Combat Expertise, Robilar's Gambit and Defensive Throw and you can shut down a single foe almost indefinitely.

Mage Slayer lets you shut down enemy casters provided you can stay in their face.

If you take some levels in Martial and or Divine Mind you can get some awesome auras (I like auras when tanking better than casting, since its passive support that doesn't require an action).

Comboing Monk 2 and Martial Rogue 2 and subbing Spell Reflection and Spell Sense on the Rogue gives you good saves early, free AC (I usually use a feat to use Int or Cha instead of Wis, but if you want cleric levels, wis is good), a bunch of bonus feats and the ability to laugh in the face of most damaging spells (evasion from monk, spell reflection from rogue, if it requires an attack check or offers a reflex save your probably all good. Add 3rd level hexblade for mettle to further humiliate spellcasters).

If your gonna be a caster, focus on stuff with a solid duration that requires little or no effort to maintain, so you can spend your actions on shutting down enemies with high damage potential.

Those are my advices.

Offline Magrus

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2014, 06:30:12 PM »
Dislike PFS due to the restrictions so avoiding the restrictions, we need to narrow down what you want to do beyond "tanking". As mentioned above you need to do one, or more of several things:

1. Provoke the enemy to strike you and ignore other targets in your party.
2. Peel for other members in the party in the event the enemy bypasses you.
3. CC (Crowd control) the enemy so that it cannot damage the rest of your party.

These are the three key jobs of a tank. Whether you can avoid taking damage, have massive saves, do damage, can hit at all are all on the "Cake" list after those three. Ideally, you want to be able to do all three of those, mitigate damage and status affects, strike things, and do damage while doing so in order to bring them down so it's not on the rest of the party to kill everything. However, getting *all* of that in one package is silly hard to do without say, a battle cleric build fully buffed and geared up mid-high level style, or convincing your DM to run a Gestalt game, which is an entirely different ballgame.

Getting down to the core 3.

1: How do you provoke the enemy to strike you? Standing in its way and blocking ALA Offensive Lineman style is the simplest, but not always effective unless you shape terrain to provide hallways (Think tunnels). Often this leads to #3 directly, combining #3 helps assist in this role, creating a loop of CC and low damage striking which removes one or two enemies from the fight while the rest of your party deals with the others.
However, you can't always rely on being in favorable defensive terrain which restricts enemy movement. Spells, such as Slow, Charms, Hold/Paralysis, Walls accomplish this. You can charm an enemy into doing what it wants to do easily, if you can beat it's save, however, that is generally going to be out of your skillset as the tank. A Cleric can throw Hold Person and Stone shape terrain around himself, so that's a win there.

What else though? Taunts, chasing things down, feats which effectively taunt the enemy into striking you are all good options for straight non-casting melee. Outside of this, you really hit a wall requiring other things. (IE getting to #3).

2: You are fighting ogres and they charge, and you step in their way, see #1. However, you only manage to grab the attention of 2, and 3 more run past you to start bashing the cleric and the wizard. The rogue steps up to assist you in bringing down the ogres, flanking them, but is badly hurt and must back away after you pull these two down. Your wizard is in desperate straights as the cleric is swinging his mace and holding up his shield. Safe from being squished immediately, but will need help. What to do?

This is where your job of Peeling comes in. Prioritizing targets on either side of the field, and keeping them off the rest of your party in some semblance of efficient order of who needs help the most. The rogue helped to free you up to do this in this example as the Striker of the team. Assisting you in damaging the two in front of you to the point they are no longer a threat. Now what? Run to the wizard, the cleric is armored and at least knows how to swing a weapon. Trip, grapple, bull rush, taunt, whatever you have to in order to disengage the enemy from your squishiest member of the party. Allowing him to retreat to safety, and then bash it's skull in. This again, leads to #3.

3: Providing CC. How to do this? Trip, Grapple, and Bull Rush are the simplest methods for a heavy armor wielding fighter, barbarian, paladin, or lightly armored say Monk.

Monk's make *great* tanks IMO, and for a number of reason if you don't want to play one of the other classes. Mobile and dangerous even when naked, they are able to have defenses that protect them from spells and touch attacks by dodging instead of wearing armor, making them superior tanks when being engaged by threats including spell casters and incorporeal foes. They also have bonuses that allow them to use their level when handling their CMB, and their Monk AC bonus to their CMD, with bonus feats which can grab the Grappling or Tripping line. They have Stunning Fist, which, with a good Wisdom score, which boosts your Ki, Will Save, and AC, not to mention Sense Motive and Perception checks (woohoo for efficiency on one stat) will allow you to Stun and Disable (IE CC) your targets. Not only that, but they get a skill set that will let you leap, climb, tumble, and swim as needed to get around the battlefield in order to get to your team, and a high speed bonus that improves as you gain levels to go from target to target as needed. Oh, and Flurry of Blows and scaling damage in order to beat on grunts in your face. Not so good at striking the BBEG without the Weapon Training and Full BAB of the Fighter say. Yet, if you need to blow through a horde of Orcs, monks are your thing with the extra attacks you rack up.

Maneuver Master is great for this role if you go Monk. Paladin 2/Monk X is incredibly MAD, but you get Divine Grace and a couple Lay on Hands and a few extra HP, with an extra BAB point to tie into things. You then grab your choice of lockdown feats, Grapple, Trip, hopefully a combo of both and make yourself a Dex and Wisdom focused Monk. Why? Weapon Finesse, and the combo will jump your AC, Ref and Will Saves. There is almost nothing worse than a party relying on their tank, and having it turned on them and simply being overrun by big beefy maulers. That, or playing a tank in full armor, who gets decimated by touch attacks because his Touch AC is a 13 while his armor is a 34. Empowered Scorching Rays and a wave of Shadows that drain your Strength to a 3? Monks solve this.

The others mentioned ways to build the guy in full plate so left that alone. If you can settle on *a* concept you wish to play, a fine tuning of your build is more possible. Rather than speculative suggestions for concepts you might play. Dirty Tricks as a fighter can be fun, but there's some interesting archetypes for Monks you can utilize to make a controller tank. If your DM will let you play a Kenku Monk I have a build *somewhere* I might be able to dig up.


Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2014, 06:51:02 PM »
I'm not sure if the Spell Failure chance applies to oracle spells.
Of course it doesn't. They're divine spellcasters. It's called ARCANE spell failure for a reason.

I don't have the book the Oracle is listed in. I took a fast peak at their Class Features and the Mystery the dude said to look at and that's it. Like I said in my OP I'm very new to PF. So forgive me for not knowing a class casting my favourite low level ARCANE spell wasn't an arcane caster. Color spray isn't on the Divine Spell list. Toss in the somatic component to casting it and you get the question: Does ASF apply.
It is on the Oracle list (for those with the right Mystery, anyway). You don't need the books (I don't own them either). Basically everything is in the pfsrd. Sorry if I came across a bit harsh earlier.
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Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #14 on: October 15, 2014, 02:25:58 AM »
Tanks tend to want the Mettle ability, which is basically Evasion but for Fort and Will saves.  Alas, the effect is very limited in PF.  While it does have three classes that have them, two of them are far too high level (15 for Gunslinger Gun Tank and 11 for Inquisitor respectively).  The third...  Well, take a look at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/aegis/astral-suits and http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/aegis/ to see if the Aegis class is usable to you.  If it is then the Stalwart armor ability is effectively Mettle.  I'm not sure how it'd mesh with paladin, rogue, or fighter.

Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #15 on: October 15, 2014, 06:26:49 PM »
Magus also gets Stalwart at a low level as a 3rd party arcana.  Neither it nor psionics will be allowed in PFS, though.  And PFS caps at 12, so the level 11 stalwart pickups are also worthless.

Offline Frogman55

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #16 on: October 15, 2014, 09:10:00 PM »

I don't have the book the Oracle is listed in. I took a fast peak at their Class Features and the Mystery the dude said to look at and that's it. Like I said in my OP I'm very new to PF. So forgive me for not knowing a class casting my favourite low level ARCANE spell wasn't an arcane caster. Color spray isn't on the Divine Spell list. Toss in the somatic component to casting it and you get the question: Does ASF apply.
@Mortal: Instead of giving us the blanket PFS restrictions, tell us what books you do have. You can't use something in PFS if you don't own the books anyways, so it'll be much easier to give you suggestions based on what you have.

Also, I think a bunch of us have missed that you did narrow down your tanking definition: Avoiding hits. You're concerned primarily with survivability, rather than drawing fire. (This isn't actually a bad tactic in PFS, as the scenarios aren't particularly hard, and you can't depend on various support roles being available in a transient party).

I'm going to suggest a dex-focused Magus, as well as a dip into Sohei (the monk archetype). The core of the build comes out of Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, and the Inner Sea World Guide (You mentioned Goz Masks, so I'm assuming you have ISWG).

You should be able to find scimitar dervish Magus builds all over. Magus gives you access to mirror image, blur, vanish, invisibility, greater invisibility, obscuring mist, fog cloud, solid fog, shield, stoneskin and others. It also lets you cast each spells while full attacking. 

Even without a shield, your high dex makes it fairly easy to boost your AC into the stratosphere - in PFS plan on having your endgame armor be Celestial Armor, even at 20k gp you aught to be able to afford it by level 7-8; +1 Studded Leather will probably do a decent job on AC until then.

Get your initiative as high as possible. Take an initiative boosting trait (+2), improved initiative (+4), and that cracked ioun stone that gives you +1. Assuming you don't take blackblade (which I usually recommend, as it gives you a level appropriate magic weapon for free, which opens up a lot of cash for other equipment), you can also pick up a familiar for another +4. You should have +12-16 initiative by level 6.

Dip one level of sohei - this gives you +2 to all your saves (which is nice), a bonus feat (I typically take combat reflexes, though deflect arrows can feel tempting) and some other irrelevant monk stuff. The key here, though, is that you will now always act in any surprise round. With that initiative bonus, you should be going first a large percentage of the time. (Note that even if you are not 'aware' of a particular enemy because you went first in the surprise round, you do know that hostility is about to break out and get one of your short-duration buff spells off). One level of this dip is worth the lost caster level, it really is. A second level may be worthwhile - you get another bonus feat, another +1 to saves, and evasion; it's that immunity to surprise rounds that makes it worthwhile in my opinion, though.

Max out dex (Seriously, this should be at 20 after your racial bonus), dump cha, and put str & wis as low as you dare (they matter primarily for your carry capacity and will save, respectively). You can get by with 12 in Int (a +2 headband will allow you to cast all the spells available to you), but 14-16 is worthwhile for bonus spells, arcane pool, and skill points.

Sample Array (before racial modifiers): str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 7
Swap Con and Int for a bit better survivability, though it does affect your flexibility.

Sample Progression:
Traits: Reactionary, Magical Lineage
Magus 1: Weapon Finesse
Magus 2:
Magus 3: Dervish Dance
Sohei 1: Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Reflexes
Magus 4: Improved Initiative
Magus 5: Bonus Feat: Intensify Spell
Magus 6: Extra Arcane Pool
Magus 7:
Magus 8: Extra Arcana
Magus 9:
Magus 10: Extra Arcana
Magus 11:

Humans take Improve Initiative at level 1, move Extra Arcane pool to level 4 and pick up another extra arcana. Consider grabbing Arcane Strike instead of one of the Extra Arcanas.

Walter's Magus guide gives a good overview of spells & arcana. However, I'm going to add Flamboyant Arcana and Arcane Deed (from Advanced Class Guide) to the list of worthwhile arcana - getting your level in damage and the opportunity to parry/riposte (though expensive in arcane points) is worth two feats. Also, I disagree with his evaluation of the lingering pain arcana, at least for PFS. PFS loves their NPC spellcasters for BBEGs, and if you can land an intensified shocking grasp and activate Lingering Pain, he will not be casting any spells for a round, or at all, because you went first. And in PFS you usually can't trust your party to throw down enough damage to reliably kill a caster in a single round.

Also, again, I'm going to recommend going with a Bladebound magus. Sure, he loses some of his arcane pool to it, and it costs an arcana and prevents you from picking up a familiar; it comes with a level appropriate weapon that can do a number of cool things. At level nine it frees up 18k gp from your cash, that's almost a quarter of your WBL, which doesn't account for the advantages that come with its other abilities (Energy Attunement makes DR, Hardness, and even incorporeality much easier to deal with).

Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #17 on: October 15, 2014, 10:03:30 PM »
Hexcrafter is the best Magus archetype.  Just don't make the mistake of picking cackle-based hexes.  You actually have other actions to do and want your move action to get to melee, and you don't get nearly as many hex slots as a witch (and they compete with regular arcana, too!), so all the cackle ones are just not worth the cost.  Stick to Slumber, Flight, and Prehensile Hair.  One is an overpowered ranged save or die, one gives a ton of tactical flexibility, and the last lets you spell combat from reach and threaten at reach (once you have BAB +6 for Lunge it becomes a bit less impressive, but still nice).

Bladebound is weaker in the long run, since familiars with wands are brutal.  But for lower levels, BB is a great archetype.  At level 3, you have a +2 sword and at level 5 you have a +3 keen sword (using arcane pool with it, in both cases), which is a huge boost.  Slowly peters out from there compared to a normal weapon, but through about level 8 or so it's still superior.

One of the newer arcanas I really like is Divinatory Strike.  Once you do have keen (level 5), it can trigger with some reliability.  On a crit, you get a new knowledge check to ID the creature struck, with a +20 bonus!  Even if you kill it, there might be more to fight where any info gained would be useful, and in some cases it might still be helpful to know things post-battle (like knowing you can cure basilisk's petrification by smearing its blood on victims).  Plus, it's just cool as hell.

Offline MortalSword

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #18 on: November 08, 2014, 06:52:37 PM »
Something like this is what I had in mind although I'm a little unsure of how the Ioun Stone fits in. Just wanted to run this by you to see what you folks thought. Perhaps Invulnerable Rager with DR related rage powers? Pretty sure ghost Rager would be the first rage power to be dropped if need be. Unless of course it's a prerequisite for some other listed rage power here. Pretty sure it's not though. Beast totem powers could be swapped out as well.


Quote
2) similar to my barbarian - I used a level 12 scarred rager template with superstition and class bonus. It had eater of magic, ghost rager, superstition, auspicious mark, the human luck tree line, and room for the lesser/normal/greater beast rage powers for pounce.
+9 bonus to almost all saves you will ever make, +9 bonus to touch ac, a second save on most debilitation effects (sick/scared/ fatigues/frightened/ exhausted/nauseated /dazed/stunned) and you ignore most bleeding, and then ANOTHER save once per rage on almost any magical effect from eater of magic that gets you temp HP. And once per rage auspicious mark +1d6, once per day +8 from human luck feats, and a http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/...green-cabochon to let it continue raging.

I play with alot of optimizers/min-maxers. This barbarian ignored/dodged/saved/survived/ate something like 8+ rounds of spells from a high DC evocer wizard 12 , a high DC focused save or die cleric 12, and a STUPIDLY high DC Binder12 (we ported it in from 3.5) and only died to a scout/ranger who finally killed it with arrows after full round attacking it with haste for 8+ rounds and because the binder/cleric swapped over to using vital strikes as well near the end.

I was very impressed with how hard a challenge this was for a CR11 against a very strong level 12 party.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2014, 06:57:40 PM by MortalSword »

Offline zook1shoe

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Re: [PATHFINDER SOCIETY] Tanking build.
« Reply #19 on: November 11, 2014, 12:06:51 AM »
I use the PF handbooks to help give me general ideas, but using the PF SRD helps a bunch.
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