Effectively using Valerie

[Z3R0]

So Val's schtick is an insanely high AC. It's genuinely funny to see enemies with 8 or 10 attacks go miss, miss, miss over and over again. Of course, the problem is her damage output is pretty feeble, though not completely ineffective.

So that leaves two questions. How do I get enemies to attack Valerie instead of Amiri, or squishier characters? And is there any way to boost Val's damage output with feats or spells? Bull's Strength and Enlarge are the first thing that pop into mind, but they are generally more effective when used on Amiri.

Right now I'm using autoleveling on Valerie, which may be a mistake, but that has gifted her with a really high AC at level 5 (like AC 30 or something with Full Plate +1 and tower shield.)

[Orange]

Yeah... never auto-level, it seems to favor flavor over optimization

As for Val:

1- Send her first for the engage ahead of the party, and i mean way ahead, otherwise they'll target the adjacent targets

2- Feats: Weapon Focus/Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization/Greater Weapon Specialization and Power Attack. That's all she needs for damage. (Argument can be made for TWF but she requires heavy dex belts to acess those feats)

3- Items that boost strenght and dex. You also get an Ability Score point every 4 levels so you can add to her strenght to if you wish

Btw she'll never hit as hard as Amiri or Jaethal because 1h weapon mechanics vs 2h. But unlike those 2 she'll avoid more hits.


If you want a more crazy build, you can just give her kinetic knight levels instead of fighter (not exactly lore friendly but highly efficient )

[Cutlass Jack]

Val is great with the Cornugon Smash, Dazzling Display and Dreadful Carnage feats. Makes great use of her higher charisma to demoralize opponents.

[Arden]

If you want to use her as TSS pick 1 lvl in vivisectionist for the mutagen. It gives +4 to str or dex and +2 armor. Buff her with bull's strength and she gets to 22 which is not the best but also not terrible. She should do ok job on the difficulty your playing. For feats at your level grab outflank, dazzling display and later vital strike.

And ofc make sure you have all the buffs available in your party to achieve maximum efficiency of your party.

[Mork]

She can become a great front line bard 11lvl max

1lvl of thug + dazzling display is OP and some other persuasion feat

Overall i think you can go wrong with 9 fighter/1 thug/ 10 stalwart defender all feat focus on AC, persuasion and will save

[Z3R0]

Just remembered I picked up an electrical short sword a while back. Right now Valerie has a +1 longsword. d8+1 vs 2d6+1. Kinda silly for a tanky character to be wielding a toy sword, but the elemental damage might be the boost she needs.

Honestly, dazzling display seemed like a 'flavor' feat. Is it effective against higher level enemies, or will they just point and laugh when Val threatens them with her toy sword, lol.

[aramintai]

Dip one level into thug for sneak attack (and accomplished sneak attacker) and 1 level into traditional monk for crane style (lessens penalty of fighting defensively). Then continue with her fighter class focusing on her bastard sword, all the prerequisite feats that culminate in dreadful carnage, outflank, skill focus - persuasion, shatter defenses. Then go ahead and watch her smack and scare enemies all around her. Especially great in the end game against those annoying wild hunt enemies.

[Cutlass Jack]

Dazzling display is great the whole game. And the area it affects is surprisingly large.
And Val is scary no matter what she's wielding. :P

[Schanez]

There are tons of builds for Valerie, as already stated above. My favourite are:
1. Tower Shield Specialist 1/Thug 4/Tower Shield Specialist 3/Stalwart Defender 10/Tower Shield Specialist 2:
It is based on her high Charisma and Constitution, building her into a big mean boulder, that really does not like to move from her place. You can Dazzling Display to make a 30ft radius of Frightened enemies. She will have decent AC, although will lag in terms of Touch AC.

2. Tower Shield Specialist 5/Archaeologist 2/Kinetic Knight 13:
It is based on the Kinetic Powers of the Knight as well as Tower Shield of the Fighter and Uncanny Dodge of the Bard. She will have very good damage, superior DR and decent CC with Earth Element.

She would be great to dip into Scaled Fist, but she is not Good. Alas... We cannot have everything.

EDIT:
Dazzling Display is a very good feat. VERY GOOD! Especially on Valerie who has high Charisma and you will be buffing her Strength, so she can also use Intimidating Prowess.

[Cutlass Jack]

Originally posted by Schanez:

She would be great to dip into Scaled Fist, but she is not Good. Alas... We cannot have everything.

Monk only requires Lawful, not Good. She's Lawful Neutral. She can dip.

[Mork]

Originally posted by Bananaman:

Just remembered I picked up an electrical short sword a while back. Right now Valerie has a +1 longsword. d8+1 vs 2d6+1. Kinda silly for a tanky character to be wielding a toy sword, but the elemental damage might be the boost she needs.

Honestly, dazzling display seemed like a 'flavor' feat. Is it effective against higher level enemies, or will they just point and laugh when Val threatens them with her toy sword, lol.

"Dazzling display"I sometime never use it to be honest but when you need, its realy strong if you have a few other persuasion boost feats. Its just a way to use her stupidly high CHA

And Val is never gonna become a damage dealer ... however she become a good tank after she start getting her AC up with gears/feats ... she can take hits

[Schanez]

Originally posted by Cutlass Jack:

Originally posted by Schanez:

She would be great to dip into Scaled Fist, but she is not Good. Alas... We cannot have everything.

Monk only requires Lawful, not Good. She's Lawful Neutral. She can dip.

Lol, brain fart... Somehow I was certain Scaled Fist requires a LG not just LX... Time for a coffee.

[Z3R0]

@Schanez Generally speaking, I don't mind optimizing characters for certain roles. But from a roleplaying perspective I just can't see Val becoming a thug or monk (atheist, remember?) But taking an interest in archaeology doesn't seem like a crazy stretch. And she's conveniently at 5th level right now, so I wouldn't have to waste a respec on her. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start researching it.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Bananaman:

@Schanez Generally speaking, I don't mind optimizing characters for certain roles. But from a roleplaying perspective I just can't see Val becoming a thug or monk (atheist, remember?) But taking an interest in archaeology doesn't seem like a crazy stretch. And she's conveniently at 5th level right now, so I wouldn't have to waste a respec on her. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start researching it.

She can very well get into those roles. Thug is famous for brutal beating, which she apparently is very capable of, she got rid of one annoying suitor that way (she tells about it if you romance her). Also she's a bit of a rogue, fallen paladin type of character who left a lofty role in pursuit of another one, which many see as inferior to what was destined to her. As for monk, she said in one of her camp banters with companions that in the Order she was trained in all martial arts, unarmed included, the Order no doubt had some monks among clergymen as well, could have learned from them. Monks are also all about discipline, she's as well.

[Schanez]

Originally posted by Bananaman:

@Schanez Generally speaking, I don't mind optimizing characters for certain roles. But from a roleplaying perspective I just can't see Val becoming a thug or monk (atheist, remember?) But taking an interest in archaeology doesn't seem like a crazy stretch. And she's conveniently at 5th level right now, so I wouldn't have to waste a respec on her. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start researching it.

You don't "have to" to be honest. The way Valerie is built when she joins you is just yelling Stalwart Defender. If you play on Normal or lower, it is enough to just keep her TSS 7 / SD 10 / TSS 3.

Thug dip gives you 2d6 Sneak Dice + Uncanny Dodge + Debilitating Injury + Brutal Beating.

If you want to approach her from RP perspective, her anger issues can be the excuse of being bit more thugish, hence the Rogue dip.

[aramintai]

Originally posted by Schanez:

If you want to approach her from RP perspective, her anger issues can be the excuse of being bit more thugish, hence the Rogue dip.

Ha, yeah, that too.