Ways to Intimidate Easy Way to Pathfinder

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The Bruiser: Weaponizing Your Intimidate Check

Intimidate is one of the most ordinarily used social skills in Pathfinder. If there's a guard getting in your way, or a merchant who's trying to screw yous on a deal, yous brand a veiled (or not then veiled) threat to get them to reconsider their actions. During combat you can make an intimidate bank check to demoralize an enemy, leaving them shaken if you lot can beat a DC equal to 10 + the enemy's hit dice + the enemy's wisdom modifier. Not only that, just the duration of the shaken status goes up past ane round for every 5 by which you vanquish the enemy'due south DC.

Bullets are expensive. Tell me, what's your life worth?

I've talked nearly using intimidate in combat before with what I titled The Bullyboy build. That build was fairly rogue-centric, as information technology used your intimidate check to render enemies flat-footed in gild to let you get your sneak attack more readily. While in that location are some very good suggestions and feats in there, The Bruiser does something a little different; it allows yous to create fear on a level we typically reserve only for characters like Batman.

So What's The Play a trick on?

Information technology all starts with the humble feat Enforcer. Found on folio 159 of the Avant-garde Player's Guide, this feat simply says that whenever you hit someone and deal non-lethal impairment, you can make an intimidate check equally a gratis activeness. If your cheque is successful, the enemy is shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt. On a disquisitional hit they're frightened for ane round, and so shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt.

That's not a bad outset, eh? Say you have a Strength modifier of +3, you're swinging two handed, and you gyre minimum damage. That's yet a minimum of 5 rounds the enemy's shaken.

Run faster than my horse, and you may yet see another day.

Here'southward where the numbers go crunchy. You need to have a class that receives sneak assail as a feature. You lot then have the feats Sap Adept and Sap Master from page 116 of Ultimate Combat. The outset feat states that when yous deal non-lethal sneak set on damage with a bludgeoning weapon that you add a bonus to the dice equal to twice the number of sneak assail dice you rolled. The 2nd states that when you bargain non-lethal sneak attack damage to a flat-footed opponent that you roll the sneak attack impairment twice, and full information technology. Add in the Bludgeoner feat, institute on page 90 of Ultimate Combat, which allows you to deal not-lethal damage with a bludgeoning weapon at no punishment, and you've got a nasty trick upwardly your sleeve.

But there's a cherry to keep top of this sundae!

The Thug archetype for the rogue automatically adds on one more than circular of shaken to anyone demoralized by your intimidate checks. Non only that, just anyone who is shaken for five rounds or more yous can simply decide to make frightened for 1 round instead.

Given the sheer number of rounds you can tack on, information technology's a safe bet your enemies are going to spend more time running out of the fight than they'll spend getting in your style.

EDIT: The feat Cornugon Smash (From Cheliax: Empire of Devils), allows you lot to make an intimidate check as a free action whenever you strike an enemy with an attack modified by the Power Attack feat. And then if you really desire to live up to the bruiser archetype, all you need is Ability Attack, and 6 ranks of intimidate to snatch this feat.

You could also combine this with the monster feat Hurtful (Monster Codex). Hurtful says that when you intimidate a beast within your melee reach in gainsay that you may brand a gratuitous attack on them as a swift action. If the assail misses, though, then the shaken status is removed from the creature. Useful, only just if yous don't need your swift or immediate deportment for other class abilities.

Tweaking The Engine

You're going to have a lot of feats leftover, particularly if you make up one's mind to play a rogue/fighter combination who uses an unpleasant disposition to browbeat enemies. That's why information technology might be a skilful thought to also use the Shatter Defenses feat, institute on page 133 of the Core Rulebook, to render enemies flat-footed confronting your incoming attacks. Likewise, given the sheer number of rounds you lot could exit enemies shaken for, Shatter Defenses is going to be sure y'all get your sneak attack in for pretty much the remainder of the fight (it is a one-two punch, though. You hit a shaken enemy in one case, and it's flat-footed against yous till the terminate of your next plow. All the more reason for those fighter levels to requite you a higher bab, and more attacks).

Just call up, some enemies are likewise dumb to intimidate.

The Bruiser, combined with The Bullyboy, will give you lot a lot of options in average combat for using your intimidate skill to its best, possible effect. Notwithstanding, it'southward important to remember that in that location are a lot of enemies in the game that yous just cannot intimidate. Mindless undead, plants, constructs, creatures immune to mind effects, paladins, all of these and more than will simply not be affected by your intimidate checks. Additionally, because of extremely loftier hitting die, many large bosses will simply be too high for you to outcome unless you have geared your intimidate score to a ridiculous level. That's why it's important to have a backup program in place and so that when y'all can't brutalize your foes, you tin still contribute to the fight.

That's all for this week! I promise you found this piddling guide to be of use, and that you hand it off to all your friends around the table. If you'd like to become more updates from Improved Initiative, just plug your email into the box on the right, or follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.

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Source: http://taking10.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-to-weaponize-your-intimidate-check.html

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