Post by grumblyarcher on Oct 30, 2015 10:46:16 GMT
Listened to and enjoyed the first Metacast. Party cohesion is exceedingly important. That said, it is totally reasonable to retire a character if you feel their goals and the party goals have diverged too much. Just be ready with a back-up. In fact have a back-up character regardless. It is no fun to get eaten by an ettin and then have to sit there twiddling your thumbs until the session is over.
Feel free to ignore the next part if you already know/have other plans, I like spelling this stuff out so that any hypothetical newbies can benefit from my experiences and horrible, horrible character deaths.
As for the development of Bertie, the great thing about Power Attack is that it is pretty much the only feat you need to really continue to compete in the hurting things game as the levels go up. It does have some fun feats attached to it though. The Cleave feat tree is always a classic choice and good for crowd control. Sticking with a Bastard Sword means he has a decent crit range, so some critical feats would not be a bad idea.
If he wants to play up the terror factor of a rampaging Bertie, he could take Intimidating Prowess (Adds strength mod to intimidate checks), Dazzling Display (Can take a full round action to inflict the shaken condition on enemies within 30ft with intimidate check), and then Shatter Defenses (Shaken foes you hit are counted as flat-footed on your next attacks until the end of your next turn). The foes would literally end up cowering in terror. He can even take Deadly Stroke way down the line for true viciousness. I've played a lot of fighters and have turned their planning into something akin to a zen art form.
I have some suggestions for Lydia/Sasha as well if she starts feeling like she is lacking in combat ability. It takes some investment in feats and a few of her Rogue Talents but will be worth it.
The chain of feats needed is as follows: Acrobatic > Combat Expertise > Two-Weapon Feint > Slayer's Feint
Making it to Two-Weapon Feint lets her give up her first attack when performing a full attack to perform the feint action which renders her target flat-footed to her next attack and then she can get her sneak attack damage in. The problem is that it uses Bluff, a Charisma-based skill and poor Sasha is about as charismatic as a slightly discolored patch on the wall. Still, feinting against mooks should be pretty easy. How many flunkies have skill ranks in Sense Motive?
The lynchpin is the final feat, Slayer's Feint, which will let her use Acrobatics to feint instead of Bluff. Acrobatics is, of course, something she is very keen on already. If I am guessing her build right, she'll be able to get this together by about level 7 using her next three character advancement feats and one Rogue Talent. The Rogue Talent could be either at fourth or sixth level without an appreciable difference. Improved Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Two Weapon Feint are icing on the cake later down the line.
My most beloved Rogue, Maak, was a two-weapon fighter much like Sasha. I played him before Slayer's Feint was an option and I can tell you, several fights would have gone very differently if it had been.
Feel free to ignore the next part if you already know/have other plans, I like spelling this stuff out so that any hypothetical newbies can benefit from my experiences and horrible, horrible character deaths.
As for the development of Bertie, the great thing about Power Attack is that it is pretty much the only feat you need to really continue to compete in the hurting things game as the levels go up. It does have some fun feats attached to it though. The Cleave feat tree is always a classic choice and good for crowd control. Sticking with a Bastard Sword means he has a decent crit range, so some critical feats would not be a bad idea.
If he wants to play up the terror factor of a rampaging Bertie, he could take Intimidating Prowess (Adds strength mod to intimidate checks), Dazzling Display (Can take a full round action to inflict the shaken condition on enemies within 30ft with intimidate check), and then Shatter Defenses (Shaken foes you hit are counted as flat-footed on your next attacks until the end of your next turn). The foes would literally end up cowering in terror. He can even take Deadly Stroke way down the line for true viciousness. I've played a lot of fighters and have turned their planning into something akin to a zen art form.
I have some suggestions for Lydia/Sasha as well if she starts feeling like she is lacking in combat ability. It takes some investment in feats and a few of her Rogue Talents but will be worth it.
The chain of feats needed is as follows: Acrobatic > Combat Expertise > Two-Weapon Feint > Slayer's Feint
Making it to Two-Weapon Feint lets her give up her first attack when performing a full attack to perform the feint action which renders her target flat-footed to her next attack and then she can get her sneak attack damage in. The problem is that it uses Bluff, a Charisma-based skill and poor Sasha is about as charismatic as a slightly discolored patch on the wall. Still, feinting against mooks should be pretty easy. How many flunkies have skill ranks in Sense Motive?
The lynchpin is the final feat, Slayer's Feint, which will let her use Acrobatics to feint instead of Bluff. Acrobatics is, of course, something she is very keen on already. If I am guessing her build right, she'll be able to get this together by about level 7 using her next three character advancement feats and one Rogue Talent. The Rogue Talent could be either at fourth or sixth level without an appreciable difference. Improved Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Two Weapon Feint are icing on the cake later down the line.
My most beloved Rogue, Maak, was a two-weapon fighter much like Sasha. I played him before Slayer's Feint was an option and I can tell you, several fights would have gone very differently if it had been.
