[Character Build] Lord-Reaper of Dunnage, Principi Marauder (Berserker/Streetfighter)

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hey hey,

 

After getting a bunch of feedback on my Marauder build, I wanted to post a more complete version! This character can work with any faction, but is most thematically in line with the Principi. Pirate stuff! Yeah! Now, I know Barbarian/Rogue definitely isn't the class combo to pick if you want a heavy roleplay experience based on your class, but I'm hoping that the culture/background selection I decided to go with will be able to make up for that. 

 

Also, "Lord-Reaper" is a title that I stole borrowed from ASoIaF. It doesn't reflect on how the character plays, since aside from Xoti's Sickle, which we can't make terribly good use of, there aren't really scythes in the game. 

 

Blessings: Bonus attributes/skills, special item merchant, 5000 starting gold. 

 

Race: Human for character customization options and another Bloodied bonus. I've considered Fire Godlike for more special dialogue choices (It's got the most after some variant of Aumaua) but I don't like losing out on the helm slot, and the lack of available head types versus styles of portraits annoys me. Orlan could also work for extra hit to crit conversion, but I'm not a fan of them either. I seem to recall Hearth Orlan being a lot more gnome-like and less... furry. 

 

Class: Berserker/Streetfighter

 

Culture: Deadfire Archipelago. Has far and away the most dialogue choices, and fits for the Principi, since they're sort of the Huana's rowdy next-door neighbors, I suppose you could say. 

 

Background: Raider. We're here for the plunder and booty, boys! Athletics, Stealth, and Streetwise. 

 

Skill Focus: Alchemy (For poisons) and Mechanics as Active skills, with a splash in Athletics for skill checks and Second Wind (Set AI to use it on <25% health since the AI can still see your HP while Frenzied). For passives, Insight and then pick your poison of the conversational skills. For the type of character we're wanting to play, Intimidate makes the most sense, then Streetwise/Bluff. Also, consider putting a few points in Metaphysics for certain checks.*

 

*The skills are the part of this build where I'm still kind of indecisive, because I don't want to spread skills too thin on my MC, but I also don't want to miss certain crucial details that might affect my decision-making. I think the best thing I can do is focus on the skills that would best help this sort of character resolve the business he'd commonly find himself dealing with. Do the more esoteric skills like Metaphysics really give you much in terms of advancing the story, or is it just "You know a little more about this particular thing"? 

 

Attributes: 

 

Might: 15 (10 Base +1 Human +1 GotM +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost) 

Con: 17 (13 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +1 Chameleon's Touch +2 Berath's Blessing)

Dexterity: 13 (9 Base +1 Deadfire +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch) 

Perception: 20 (18 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

Intellect: 20 (18 Base +2 Berath's Blessing)

Resolve: 10 (7 Base +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing) 

 

Might is kept at 10 because a high Might really isn't needed for a Streetfighter, with all of the damage bonuses you're going to be getting, especially after Deathblows. Dexterity is kept low-ish because eventually, stacking Action Speed starts to result in diminishing returns. The difference between 13 and 18 Dexterity with this build is a matter of a few tenths of a second of action time. Intellect and Perception are both kept high because, hey, hitting things is good. Resolve is kept at 10 mostly because I don't like having it much lower, and I don't really feel like it needs to be.

 

With Tough, and the bonuses from both sacrificing Durance and GotM, 17 Constitution gives 460 HP at level 20. That means it takes longer to hit Bloodied, but that 

 

Abilities: 

 

Level 1 - Frenzy/Crippling Strike

Level 2 - Blooded
Level 3 - Escape
Level 4 - Barbaric Blow/Two Weapon Style
Level 5 - Dirty Fighting
Level 6 - Blinding Strike
Level 7 - Confounding Blind/One Stands Alone
Level 8 - Bloodlust
Level 9 - Thick Skinned
Level 10 - Spirit Frenzy/Persistent Distraction

Level 11 - Withering Strike

Level 12 - Wild Sprint

Level 13 - Barbaric Smash/Deep Wounds
Level 14 - Tough
Level 15 - Interrupting Blows
Level 16 - Perishing Strike/Brute Force
Level 17 - Lion's Sprint
Level 18 - Slippery Mind
Level 19 - Deathblows/Blood Thirst
Level 20 - Spirit Tornado

 

Wild Sprint > Lion's Sprint is taken for the engagement immunity (Always nice to have another ability that does that) and the Accuracy boost (Which will probably be adjusted to actually work like it's supposed to, but I still feel like it's a good pick). The abilities are more or less set in stone, but if there's anything that obviously seems like a bad choice, be sure to point it out. Some things that obviously come to mind... 

 

Spirit VS Blood. I know Staggered takes foes out of engagement, and thus Flanked, but it's also an Affliction that can proc Sneak Attack and Deathblows. Blood Storm's bleed on crit does sound appealing though. 

 

Gear: 

 

Pet - Abraham: He's a good boy! Recovery reduction for armor, plus a heal on kill. It's a good way to try to maintain a healthy Bloodied state and not get overwhelmed and murdered. 

 

Weapons: There's a lot of really good options. Some sets I've considered... 

 

Stalker's Patience and Rust's Poignard

 

Modwyr and Duskfall (Dual swords are always super badass)

 

Grave Calling 

 

Any cool new weapons from the DLC. Pun intended, probably. 

 

Armor: DoC Breastplate. Even though it requires making a slightly gamey decision, it still gives +4 class resource to dual martial classes, which is easily among the best buffs in the game. That's not even getting into the immunity to Intellect afflictions it grants, and the armor bonuses aren't half bad either. Kind of a tricky steal though, but manageable with Serafen, who I'll have by that point. 

 

Helm: Death's Maw for extra damage reduction each time I kill something. Things should be dying a lot. Ergo, it should be pretty useful. 

 

Belt: Upright Captain's Belt means your Explosives experts/casters can throw around Pull of Eora and drag all of the enemies in on you for extra smashy funtime. 

 

Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection (+10 all Defenses except Deflection) and then upgrade to Nemnok's Cloak (Which can apparently be stolen as early as level 7 or 8 with some practice. 

 

Gloves: Bracers of Greater Deflection: +7 Deflection more or less negates the -10 from Frenzy on its own. 

 

Rings: Chameleon's Touch (For +1 to two attributes and two skills) and Voidward (To reduce the Raw damage taken by Frenzy as it gains PL). 

 

Boots: Boots of the Stone, for resistance to Might afflictions as well as a little extra Dexterity and Resolve, upgrade to Rakhan Field Boots later on. 

 

Amulet: Amulet of Health most likely until I can get Precognition (Reduces crit damage taken, increases crit damage done). 

 

Interested to hear your thoughts on this! It's more or less complete, bar anything I've missed, and making a more final decision on skill focus. If Alchemy isn't a must-take for the Watcher anymore, I might just go Stealth/Mechanics and Insight/Intimidate with a dash of Streetwise. 

Edited August 1, 2018 by Cyrus_Blackfeather

[Tick]

You really thought this out! It's a cool build. It's interesting to see a set up for a character in this much detail. Especially as someone who usually just wings it.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

You really thought this out! It's a cool build. It's interesting to see a set up for a character in this much detail. Especially as someone who usually just wings it.

 

Haha. Thank you. There's a lot to say for just winging it though, too. 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Also, I realized that I posted this in the stories forum rather than the builds forum. I reposted it over there, so can I get this one deleted?