Trying to Recreate Vlad von Carstein (Vampire Lord) in Pathfinder

[Hyen《A》 ♧]

For anyone unfamiliar with his character, he's a very old vampire lord in the Warhammer fantasy setting. Proficient with both swordsmanship (longsword) and magic (both necromancy and vampiric magic which also heals him in battle), he's a very poweful duellist capable of taking on almost anyone and even if he goes down, he just comes back again later thanks to his enchanted ring. Handsome, charismatic and deadly.

Of course I know this OP character is simply impossible to create in this game, but I would like to try anyway. As a RPG noob I have not much clue on how should I proceed with his build, though I have a few ideas on what I plan to do with his playthrough. I do have planned is to go with a Lawful Evil/Neutral aligned dhampir (sacred ancestry), starting with maybe Armored Battlemage or Sword Saint focused on necromancy powers. Obviously taking the Lich path, and going to romance Camellia who will be going the bard support build.

If anyone has any tips or pointers on where I should put his points or how I should build him up, please do not hesitate to tell me. I plan to play on normal difficulty (will switch to Core if you think his build is still viable).

[Last Seraph]

Old Mad Vlad, eh?

I don't think becoming a vampire is possible in this game, and even if it was, you wouldn't want to. Vampires are *terrible* in 3x derivatives, and Pathfinder is no exception.

You'll need some way to get fast healing/regeneration as a staple of your build. Necromancy and Transmutation magic would fit in nicely with the Wind of Death from Warhammer Fantasy.

Personally, if this were tabletop, I would go for an Eldritch Knight spec path to best express this. Undead Bloodline Sorc / Fighter into EK 10. The accessibility of Lich makes this even more attractive since it completely smooths out the small CL loss from the investment to get EK.

The early levels will be rough, though. Might be a situation where a respec once you get further into the game is appropriate.

Arcane Armor Training / Mastery lets you get up to 20% arcane spell failure from armor. That makes the armor of choice for this character the mithril breastplate. Shields aren't really a concern because shield spell invalidates a physical shield until fairly high levels are reached, but if you do decide to plan for that option due to wanting to optimize your options - a +5 buckler only contributes 5% ASF. I don't know off the top of my head if Owlcat has Arcane Armor Training/Mastery contribute toward all sources of ASF or just armor though, so someone else will have to chime in about that. It *should* work for all sources combined, that's how I've always seen it done in tabletop, but 3rd party game companies do weird things sometimes.

The trickiest part is getting the fast healing if you really want to sell the Vlad cosplay, since vampiric regeneration is such a big part of the schtick of WHF vampires. That one I'm not really sure how to get in WotR as an arcane caster. Someone else will have to contribute there, since I've only ever done a divine caster playthrough.

[Chronocide]

Escrito originalmente por Hyen《A》 ♧:

For anyone unfamiliar with his character, he's a very old vampire lord in the Warhammer fantasy setting. Proficient with both swordsmanship (longsword) and magic (both necromancy and vampiric magic which also heals him in battle), he's a very poweful duellist capable of taking on almost anyone and even if he goes down, he just comes back again later thanks to his enchanted ring. Handsome, charismatic and deadly.

Of course I know this OP character is simply impossible to create in this game, but I would like to try anyway. As a RPG noob I have not much clue on how should I proceed with his build, though I have a few ideas on what I plan to do with his playthrough. I do have planned is to go with a Lawful Evil/Neutral aligned dhampir (sacred ancestry), starting with maybe Armored Battlemage or Sword Saint focused on necromancy powers. Obviously taking the Lich path, and going to romance Camellia who will be going the bard support build.

If anyone has any tips or pointers on where I should put his points or how I should build him up, please do not hesitate to tell me. I plan to play on normal difficulty (will switch to Core if you think his build is still viable).

Biggest thing is to just add a custom character portrait so you can use the proper GW model for your image. Does wonders to help you get into character.

I got a few GW minis in my custom portraits folder for this game. Definitely helps.

[Dothal]

The new Bloodseeker subclass is basically designed for playing as a vampire lord, but you need the dance of masks DLC (included in season pass 2) to get it.

[reidj062]

Escrito originalmente por Hyen《A》 ♧:

For anyone unfamiliar with his character, he's a very old vampire lord in the Warhammer fantasy setting. Proficient with both swordsmanship (longsword) and magic (both necromancy and vampiric magic which also heals him in battle), he's a very poweful duellist capable of taking on almost anyone and even if he goes down, he just comes back again later thanks to his enchanted ring. Handsome, charismatic and deadly.

Of course I know this OP character is simply impossible to create in this game, but I would like to try anyway. As a RPG noob I have not much clue on how should I proceed with his build, though I have a few ideas on what I plan to do with his playthrough. I do have planned is to go with a Lawful Evil/Neutral aligned dhampir (sacred ancestry), starting with maybe Armored Battlemage or Sword Saint focused on necromancy powers. Obviously taking the Lich path, and going to romance Camellia who will be going the bard support build.

If anyone has any tips or pointers on where I should put his points or how I should build him up, please do not hesitate to tell me. I plan to play on normal difficulty (will switch to Core if you think his build is still viable).

Dhampir bloodseeker slayer following the lich path. Doing it right now. Or dhampir lich magus if you want to emphasize the magic more.

[Razer]

Yep, Bloodseeker sounds like a good fit.

It's a slayer archetype with it's own magic feats. Self buffs, summons, magic attacks. Can turn into a flock of ravens (swarm). Get's a bite attack that level drains enemies, but also heals him and refills his bloodpool (magic source). It's a bit featstarved, but it's really strong. You also count as undead for the purposes of healing and such. Even if you pick human. So you can pick a specific race to match, or just go with Dhampir. The Bloodseeker undead status isn't recognized in the game RP wise, so if that's important you may want to go with Dhampir all the way.

[Hyen《A》 ♧]

Thanks for the help bros. Both of the options sounds great and I think I'm going to have to go with Bloodseeker because of the undeath and bite attack. I do have some extra questions.

How do I build him up? Like do I go full Bloodseeker or do I multiclass him? I do want the spellcasting as well so should I also multiclass several levels into Eldridge Knight? What mythic feats and regular perks/feats should I take to get started?

And If I plan to take Camellia as the bard, how do I build her up as well? I have never played bard so I am unsure of how to best utilize her to complement this build.

[Schlumpsha]

Bloodseeker has a limited amount of spell-like abilities tied to its blood pool resource. Meaning it doesn't qualify for prestige classes that require arcane/divine spellbooks of certain levels. Eldritch Knight wouldn't do a Bloodseeker much good.

I'd stick to a pure Bloodseeker. That way you get more vampiric powers. As well as automatically applied empowered and bolstered metamagic feats on your spell-like abilities at 20th level.

Of note is that Bloodseeker, despite its vampire theme, doesn't actually make one undead. You will just be healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy. No handy immunities.

[Razer]

Escrito originalmente por Schlumpsha:

Bloodseeker has a limited amount of spell-like abilities tied to its blood pool resource. Meaning it doesn't qualify for prestige classes that require arcane/divine spellbooks of certain levels. Eldritch Knight wouldn't do a Bloodseeker much good.

I'd stick to a pure Bloodseeker. That way you get more vampiric powers. As well as automatically applied empowered and bolstered metamagic feats on your spell-like abilities at 20th level.

Of note is that Bloodseeker, despite its vampire theme, doesn't actually make one undead. You will just be healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy. No handy immunities.

Yea I feel that's a missed opportunity. There's also no roleplaying involved as undead. Since it's a featstarved class you'd want to pick human for the extra feat, but at least Damphir has some RP interactions that this class does not. Shame.

[reidj062]

So I've done bloodseeker pure with the lich mythic path. The biggest advantages you get from bloodseeker full are more sneak attack die and more nocturnal powers. The nocturnal abilities do get cooler as you go deeper into them, but you don't need all of them. The capstone is pretty cool, too.

A word of warning: the blood pool is listed as being based of intelligence. It is not. This is a a lie. Your blood pool size is based purely on character level. Some abilities might get a saving throw based on int, but not many.

If you're going magus or eldritch knight, though you might want to put a few points into intelligence anyway. You might want to do a finesse build like I am doing so you don't have to spend points on dex, con, strength and int all at once. In addition, if you go lich mythic, your HP will eventually be based on cha, so you don't want to short-change that stat, either.

As far as nocturnal powers, summon direwolves is pretty powerful early on. Predatory prowess and the strength power are very good, as they give profane bonuses, meaning they give bonuses that stack with almost every other item or spell in game. Vampire shadow shield and haste are also good buffs. Wracking ray, enervation, and blood jet are good for when you don't want to get close to that nasty bad guy or one that has an insane AC.

As for building a bard? Pump Cameilla's CHA to at least 16. Cameilla won't be able to heal you- bards can only cast cure spells, not inflict ones. A bard's real use is being a half-decent fighter with tons of skills and powerful songs, so focus on that. You may also want to boost Cameilla's Dex and Con a bit as well. There's a hat in Act 2 that adds to bardic rounds (Seelah's quest) as well as the amulet that drops from Nurah.

The trick for managing Cameilla will be simple- click your song on, then have her run up and stab people. Lingering performance might be worth looking into as well.

[Hyen《A》 ♧]

Alright sounds like a plan. Thanks everyone for the insight. Imma try this one out after I finish my ongoing playthrough.

[Regnier]

I would almost say you should keep Camellia as a tank. Throw Archmage Armor on her, give her a level in Witch (use it to take Iceplant, a lizard pet, and take the mage armor spell). Give her Bones as a second spirit. She can cast Inflict on you, tank, debuff/buff, and summon Undead minions as chaff. Which, like in Warhammer, is great for slowing enemies. In fact, although perhaps a little less useful than it seems, at level 20 she will be able to cast Animate Dead at will. Which is very nice if you want to hard stall a creature. Cackle will give you extra time on any of the useful hexes (Protective Luck, Fortune) as a move action and Animate Dead as a Standard Action. So every turn would be one enemy being surrounded by chaff, it more likely than not would attack and kill all of them, and Camellia would Cackle. She also gets Power Word kill at will. Again though, level 20, so looking at the earlier skills is more important.

However, if you intend to stray away from Mercs, I completely understand your choice.

Either way enjoy your run man!

[Hyen《A》 ♧]

Oh you think Camellia should be kept as a tank, fighting back to back with Vlad? If thats the case, how would you invest in her class? 2 in shaman, then some points in witch, slayer and bard? Or is it shaman and witch only? I’m still a newb sadly. A guide i can follow 100% all the way would be really helpful to me.

Should she dual wield kukris or go the standard rapier and shield? Anyways thanks for the wishes and i really hope to get this playthrough up and running soon heh.

[pckirk]

Escrito originalmente por Hyen《A》 ♧:

Oh you think Camellia should be kept as a tank, fighting back to back with Vlad? If thats the case, how would you invest in her class? 2 in shaman, then some points in witch, slayer and bard? Or is it shaman and witch only? I’m still a newb sadly. A guide i can follow 100% all the way would be really helpful to me.

Should she dual wield kukris or go the standard rapier and shield? Anyways thanks for the wishes and i really hope to get this playthrough up and running soon heh.

Cam does great with Duel Rapiers. keep her in the rear.
go Shaman till lvl 17 then Loremaster for lvl 18, 19, then 1 level dip vivisectionist, 2wf, first Rapier / Dagger, then lvl 9+ duel rapiers. 8 - 11+ attacks per round.