I personally like having gear (Someone with 7-8 Str is living on the edge. I would never try to claim stats are more important than class. Pair this with Enlarge spell to increase your reach and damage and you are pretty potent. So you think they should have equal damage but better defenses? Rogue is very misleading about vital stats IME -- monk is also reasonably bad. "Over-done"? You mention barbs in particular scare you and they should because they are the best martial class in the game barring none. 5E does allow dex to damage and it is slightly OP except the strength based feats are a bit better to balance it out. I agree that it isn't balanced, but I don't see any reason it should be balanced (other than "I want it!"). A subreddit for all things involving Pathfinder Kingmaker made by Owlcat Games. Note ACKs is a clone of BECMI so +3 damage actually matters a lot especially with cleave rules in the game. But he doesn't pale any other class outside of combat and he needs the bonus feats class feature for improved init (to go first and one-hit without chance to fight back). Another interesting thug dip (I know, but it's really good for two-hander builds) build is Thug 4/Hospitaler 13. 170. As far as history goes, you're totally right that generally two-handed was the superior and 'elite' style, though it has to do with a lot more than raw strength. Power attack slanted heavily towards two handed weapons. With this in mind, I like to do 2 levels of barbarian for extra movement speed and uncanny dodge. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. No army fielded frontline troops wielding an epee, whip, or twin daggers. The game is similar to classic RPG games such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. So while classes depending on other stats gains some additional bonus, a STR-build only benefits from his/her highest stat while in combat. To the tanky part. A Fighter, regardless of his stat focus, is going to suck at everything but "I hit it with a stick", "I hit it with multiple sticks", and "I hit it with sticks from range". Builds that meet almost all of the criteria get 1 or two stars. Sword and board in front with pole arms for formation fighting. Which is again, the class not the stats. Fighting for honor, greed, loyalty, or simply the thrill of battle, you are an undisputed master of … TWFing and dueling are just as based on the "Stand still and full attack" paradigm as anyone else. I'm not sure you realize just how much damage a straight 2HF build does... Those Power Attack and Strength bonus add-ons add up, and the pile up of Weapon Training bonuses make later iterative attacks a serious, serious threat. Or often don't want to believe it. Most particularly I see a lot of STR dumped DEX rogue builds that absolutely suck in combat from 1-3 due to very poor stat allocation (DEX>CHA>INT>CON>WIS>STR). There are some builds that leverage tons of attacks, but they generally do it by finding a way to get natural attacks or tentacles or something (amazing how many ways there are to do it). Mutagen buffs stack with everything so you can get super high strength. 1. Strength builds still get to triple dip so even if you had an improved weapon finesse feat a two handed sword user gets a larger damage dice, +50 or +100% str bonus to damage and benefits from power attack. It is the most efficient use of their limited training time. Later on is a different beast of course, but if you count correct item purchases as 'allocation', the problem becomes even more pronounced. Your stat allocation is one of the least important aspects of a character in the long run. Strength builds still get to triple dip so even if you had an improved weapon finesse feat a two handed sword user gets … Shocking Grasp Magus is terrifying against monsters that aren't resistant/immune to Electricity. Flying and swimming foes are impossible for these builds, and monsters with reach and combat reflexes are pretty are fairly effective, too. I'm playing on challenging difficulty and I don't like to dump stats, and I'll not dip one level in another class. THF is the king of the builds as long as every encounter is melee only, there are no enemy spell casters, and no creature has DR. The problem in 5E is everyone get dex to damage for free and some classes may need it such as the Rogue. Big axes, big maces, claymores, long heavy spears, etc... EDIT: oh yeah and keep her buffed with Enlarge Person or other spells which increase her size. If you want anything else, you'll dump STR and don't care. Totally agree with you given your caveat. But considering it's the way I found the song in the first place years ago, it's fitting. It doesn't matter how many sit ups you can do, sharp pointy steel still goes right through you without stopping. Heck, fly & wind wall/fickle winds completely neuters any martial. Pathfinder Lost Omens, Pawns, Rulebook, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber, Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion, 1 If they didn’t write it into the rules the gamers would write it in themselves or switch systems. You might want a level in fighter for martial weapons and medium/heavy armour, although exotic weapons are probably more interesting than martial ones anyway and heavy armour hampers dex related skills even more than the mediocre dex score already will. Thoughts? Pure barb until 16 for Deadly Accuracy (+1 crit multiplier); although with the Respec mod you could multiclass until you got to 16 then reset into pure barb. A rogue or a thug that relies on sneak attacks for damage. Amiri using great cleave, enlarge person and a fauchard has wiped out whole groups of mobs for me (without cleaving finish). You don't need sneak attacks if you crit for 150+ with fauchard. But even these things aren't that big of a deal because if I'm serious about getting initiative I'm going cleric, kensai, or something that can say "my die roll is 20". If you weaken Strength melee builds, there could be some serious ramifications. I support a limited subset of Pathfinder's rules content. If these kinds of builds are completely killing the game, you just need to change up the foes and challenges. Then switch to Fauchard later in the game when some good ones turn up. If you think STR builds are too good when it comes to damage, wait until you see a mid-level archer fighter, monk, or ranger. Afaik the highest damage melee build in the game is the trip vivi. Two handed weapon should deal more damage but maybe not double or triple damage which is what they do in 3.5/PF. If however, your goal is to come out of the cage match with most of your bodily fluids inside of you… Well, you will be doing a lot of raw muscle training. Climb and Swim. Well, dueling swords worked great because. Dueling swords were basically a way to say “I’m so well trained that I can win using this elegant blade rather than to simply hack you into pieces with those ugly commoner type weapons.” (That would be the analog of in-game needing a higher level character using a dueling sword to beat a brute with a greatsword.) Until now I have planned: Race: Human. A very straightforward build would be to go fighter all the way. If you would like help with Pathfinder player options not covered here, please email meand I am happy to provide additional assistance. In a general range, losing 2 strength or intelligence or whatever is not the end of the world, as long as it isn't hitting against some hard limit (STR 13 -> STR 12 and losing power attack, for example). This style of build would also often turn power attack off and focus on supplementary sources of damage like sneak attack. Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Likewise a Str based Inquisitor and a Dex based Inquisitor are equally likely to be awesome at a bajillion things apiece, in combat and out. The successful competitors spend most of their time strength training. Use Medium armour to keep the fast move speed and pump points into the skill that lets you avoid AOOs. Optimal Focused Fighter Builds in Pathfinder. Finally don't discount rangers. Only a very few concepts can take dex ad nauseum and not suffer for it. CR 4+ monsters have enough hitpoints to reasonably last a round. If you go pure rogue/thug, you'll be stuck with long spears. But it is not pickable for players at the moment. Options I see so far: Seems like Invulnerable Rager would be the way to do (let’s leave out Mad Dog here - pets are awesome but this post is not about that topic). Would be unrealistic to expect them to be much different between dex and is... Way to demonstrate their superb training or the reflex save is worth more normal boundaries on realism do n't is! 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