Valerie Tower Shield fighter build

[Sorceress]

Can you help me build Valerie as TSS, on hard
Valerie must be Tower Shield specialist, at least until Frederico Sinnet's fight
Keep in mind I wouldn't even dare to remove her armor, but shield can temporary go.

[Mork]

If you want her as a TSS at that point then a TSS 9, stalwart defender 7 is the 'safe' option.

The main problem with that build is that she going to tank and do pretty much nothing else....

[Aria Athena]

I would go only 4 Stalwart Defender and the rest TSS because I like the extra feats.

An idea so she does something more is: Dazzling Display + Shatter Defenses with Intimidating Prowess, Persuasive and Skill Focus. That way she will help the party with sneak attacks and other chars with Shatter Defenses.

[redwitch]

well, a tank is essential in the party and Valerie is ideal for the role.

you may check this build

https://www.neoseeker.com/pathfinder-kingmaker/builds/Valerie

[Eonwe]

Full TSS or TSS / Stalwart is perfectly viable on hard, and as stated in the post above, you could make Valerie into your dazzling display gal so she's useful besides tanking.

The advantage being it's a fairly easy build to make (no deep knowledge of pathfinder mechanics required) and suits her roleplay wise.

She will still be really weak against touch attacks but by the time they become a problem, you should have other means to deal with those types of enemies.

[2much]

How would you get Valerie a pet?

[Mork]

Originally posted by 2much:

How would you get Valerie a pet?

Feyspeaker is probably the best option because of her good charisma but she gonna lose access to the best heavy armor and get a low BAB progression. So 1 level of scaled fist could counteract the AC lost.

Mad dog could be a interesting way and Sylvan sorcerer also.

Ranger, cleric, wisdom druid and inquisitor a bad one..

Edit: Not mad dog.. she is lawful

[2much]

Originally posted by Mork:

Originally posted by 2much:

How would you get Valerie a pet?

Feyspeaker is probably the best option because of her good charisma but she gonna lose access to the best heavy armor and get a low BAB progression. So 1 level of scaled fist could counteract the AC lost.

Mad dog could be a interesting way and Sylvan sorcerer also.

Ranger, cleric, wisdom druid and inquisitor a bad one..

Edit: Not mad dog.. she is lawful

Thanks Mork! Was thinking of just a dip into one of those first level animal classes, but can't seem to get animal boon like my cleric and Octavia did.

And from what I've read the animal companion won't progress unless your character stays in that class?

[Ragnaman]

Originally posted by 2much:

And from what I've read the animal companion won't progress unless your character stays in that class?

I have similar assumption, I thought one must at least have 16lvls of a class that gives animal companion (can have mix of multiple classes) for him to be useful (as animal boon gives extra 4 lvls to bring him up to charlvl).

As for Valerie, I made her trip enemies and give free opportunity attacks for my cleaving Amiri who stands behind her being 4 meters tall and all that, works pretty good. Valerie is indirectly the root cause of a ton of dmg this way.

[Mork]

Originally posted by 2much:

Thanks Mork! Was thinking of just a dip into one of those first level animal classes, but can't seem to get animal boon like my cleric and Octavia did.

And from what I've read the animal companion won't progress unless your character stays in that class?

Yes and no, you have to stay in 'any' pet class for the animal to level up. Some classes have full pet progression other like ranger get -3 level. There is a way to counter a little bit of multiclassing or the -3 level some classes get. A feat call boon companion.

Boon companion: The abilities of your animal companion are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective level equal to your character level.

Like in this example it's a full pet progression with the +4 from the feat.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1953355313
Keep in mind that pet don't level 1/1 with owner, they lag a little bit behind. Even the feat cannot counter that part with a full pet class progression.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1953355535

[Doombringer]

A fully level pet has 16HD
(they start at 2HD, then gain 3HD every 4 levels)

You do need 16 levels of full pet class to max it (with Boon Companion feat), also you need to take a pet class level at 20 or it gets stuck at 15HD even with boon companion...

[Balekai]

I made my Hard Mode Valerie a fear tank that moves around the battlefield, frightening, criting and doing sneak attack damage to anything that moves (or doesn't and is stuck in CC).

My Valerie didn't go below 40% on the Lantern King fight and could fear his 1st and second fight tiers to the point I was able to rebuff before the last tier while some Lantern King dudes ran into the wall . She also did very well on Spawn of Rovagug, such as it was a 30 second fight but super cheesed. :

Classes: 1-2 Thug (for another feat or another level of monk for the same purpose), 1-2 Traditionalist Monk (for another feat), 17 TSS.

Stats: Everything into Strength. (Edit: Actually last point goes into WIS or CON)

Skills: Max Persuasion, Mobility and Athletics.

End Stats: 28 STR, 22 DEX, 19 CON, 10 INT, 18 WIS, 18 CHA 58-65 AC depending on buffs etc. (does not count fighting defensively/crane style feats) 30ish touch AC. 22 fort, 29 reflex and 17 will (doesn't matter really due to all the immunity to so many effects in the end).

Feats that are mostly in order:

- Bastard Sword Focus
- Accomplished Sneak attack (you will need the level of Thug for this around level 2-3, which as a class boosts your shaken by converting 4 rounds of shaken to frightened for 1 round. This is how Valerie gets some damage penetration early game. With all the shaken/frightened mobs your going to get a lot of flat footed mobs running away in agony.
- Power Attack
- Dazzling Display
- Shatter Defences
- Cornugon Smash
- Combat Reflexes
- Intimidating Prowess
- Dreadful Carnage
- Greater Weapon Focus
- Persuasion skill focus
- Shield Focus
- Greater Shield Focus
- Heavy Armor Focus
- Improved Critical Bastard Sword
- Blind fight (Anti Gaze).

Whenever you feel like making your monk dip (probably after the main fear feats, take these:
- Crane Style
- Crane Wing
- Crane Reposte
I added monk late around level 15 after I found out crane style feats worked with armour.

End Game Gear (Gear Location Spoilers):

Head: Helmet of the Dusk (Castle of Knives) or The Paragon Defenders Helmet (+ 2AC, +3 intimidate, interior of Verdant Ruins).

Cloak: Skin of the Rough Beast (From Spawn of Rovagug (Crit/Sneak attack negation chance, immunity to confuse, fear, paralysis and insanity. 100 foot DC 30 Will AoE Spawn super debuff ability usable 3 times a day. Under the Stolen Lands). Until then, use + all saves coaks

Amulet: Gyronna's Amulet (Auto creates mirror images during combat. +6 Insight AC that stacks with all other AC. Knurley Witch in House late game. Until then use best in slot Natural Armor Amulet).

Rings: Ring of Circumstances (Rushlight Tournament and Pitax proper, early-mid game use Artisan or found AC/attack bonus rings then Lesser Ring of Balance), Great Dreamer's Smile (Artisan).

Bracer: Forest Knight's Bracer's (Collector item early on in the game and they stay on forever).

Chest: Onslaught or whatever is best in slot armor at time or for you. I have STR overlap with +6 from belt wasted, but I want the Mithral Plate for 3 Max DEX initially before TSS bonuses and +20 to Movement speed for chasing feared enemies. Artisan).

Belt: Korgath's Shackled Fury (+6 STR wasted when you get Onslaught, +5 Intimidate. Armag's Tomb).

Gloves: Lightest Touch (+6 Dex, Infinite reduce person for extra AC when needed. Artisan.

Boots: Manticore Skin Boots (Chapter 4ish, but I use much later in the game on Valerie, when you have 2-3 pairs and I only equiped when I got Gyronna's Amulet. They replace the Natural Armor bonus from amulet slot. Until then use Opportunist Boots for more attacks of opportunity.

Weapon: Unstoppable Khanda (The perfect weapon for this build, end game fights and a great replacement for the Artisan's Oppressor CHA Bastard Sword. +4 Khanda gives DR 5/Piercing, +4 Persuasion, +8 bonus vs. Mind effecting spells, 17 DC fortitude poison which works a lot on debuffed enemies and is Cold Iron for all those Fey in the last two chapters. Found in Pitax Palace).

Shield: Walls of Sanctuary (just put your best Tower Shield in this slot. This shield is only available in the last two chapters of the game by Merchant).

Valerie tanked everything in the game on Hard with this. Combined with my Sylvan Sorcerer's pet and Stinking cloud abuse, fears + poisonous effects and other conditions debuffed things so bad that everything just becomes disabled. I was so impressed by Valerie with fear I worked the Dazzling/Cornugon Smash lines into Kanerah/Kalikke, Jaethal and Amiri builds. Having multiple characters doing AoE shaken frighten A) overloads the screen with special effects and B) makes you feel like a god. :p

The basic premise is that you can only buff your tanks so much. That's when debuffs come in. Valerie does very poor damage on conventional tank builds and has no other use but tanking and standing still. With this build she actively CCs, move around the battlefield as needed, hits pretty hard and very regularly, can easily tank due to better effective AC vs debuffed enemies and helps keep most of the enemies from fighting period. What's Better than a tank? Not really needing one in the first place.

[2much]

Thanks Mork and Doombringer! I think I get it now. Guess I was looking for a pet exploit, but there really isn't one :).

Interesting post Balekai!