Get Lucky – Luckbringer and Party Roles

Looking over posts at paizo.com we saw a request for assistance regarding the awsome Rite Publishing class luckbringer. We decided to give our answers:

We answer the final question first: What role does a luckbringer best fill in a party and what is his Tier?

• Tandem Front-liner: This is a melee fighter who is going to fight alongside another melee character. It still does OK without an friend but hopefully someone else in the party has a companion animal or summons if no other melee fighter is available. Without a partner the opportunist ability doesn’t trigger and that cuts your attacks in half at low levels. Find a friend.
• Blindshot: This character is going to be a ranged attacker who fires into and under any condition and usually does fine. They exploit terrain, dodge enemy fire and deliver relatively nasty critical hits.
• Hazard Boomer: This is going to play a lot like a bomber alchemist. Defensive luck powers mitigate harm keep us free to “hex” the heck out of our foes. Feat selections will really help this one out. As advantage over many “boomers” the Hazard Boomer ignores SR and with feats and skills can be “always right” damage.
• Jinx: Classic debuffer, you run around the battlefield (hopefully our of harm’s way) making things crappy for your enemies and helping out the home team.

As for “Tier” that term is hard to apply to a luckbringer as that its chief mechanic (re-rolls) is something normally restricted to very high level magic (foresight etc) or mythic powers. In this regard the class is a very powerful class. But in terms of damage output or variability, it is middle of the road in some ways (Hazard Boomer as damage dealer) or highly specialized (Tandem Front-Liner)

-Whats the best race?

This class is feat intensive, so Human is hard to argue with. That said otherwise consider statistics that support the shape of the character and pick a race that works with those stats.

Thoughts:
-Str or Dex?

• Strength Front-Line Tandem fighter.
• Dexterity for Blindshot.
• Dexterity for Hazard Boomer.
• Dexterity for Jinx.

Thoughts:
-How much Charisma?

You can skimp on Charisma with a weapon focused character but so many abilities come back to it, so be careful. You WILL need it more for a hazard boomer and jinx (DCs are Charima-based).

Thoughts:

-What exotic weapon would you choose?

• Front-Line: Falcata seems a good way to go with the Front-Line Tandem fighter.
• Front-Line: Elven curved blade isn’t bad if you have a great Strength or Flambard for similar reasons.
• Most other builds: Polearms like fauchard serve both with critical builds and to discourage people for closing on you. Bolas might be good for hazard boomers or jinx types.

Thoughts:
-What are the top 3 abilities you would recommend from Improbable, Nothing Is Written, Long Shot, and Highly Improbable?

• Front Line:
  • Improbable: Critically Lucky, Opportunity Knocks, Fateful Footing
  • Nothing is Written: Opportunist (Must have), Evasion, Stalwart
  • Longshot: Lucky Strike, Betting Pool, One More Chance (if you have decent Charisma)
  • Highly Improbable: Sudden Opportunity, Master Luckbringer, Improved Evasion
• Blindshot:
  • Improbable: Critically Lucky, Opportunity Knocks, Jinx
  • Nothing is Written: Fortune’s Favor, Fool’s Luck, Evasion
  • Longshot: Betting Pool, One More Chance (if you have decent Charisma)
  • Highly Improbable: All-In, Master Luckbringer, Magical Mishap
• Hazard Boomer:
  • Improbable: Hazard (Needs it first), Entropy Shield, Fateful Footing
  • Nothing is Written: Fool’s Luck, Evasion, More Luck than Skill (to identify things for Vulnerable Hazard)
  • Longshot: Fate’s Saving Grace, One More Chance, Fortunate Strike
  • Highly Improbable: Master Luckbringer, Improved Hazard, Improved Just a Scratch (with Extra Improbable feat to grab the first one)
• Jinx (maybe even go Black Cat burglar):
  • Improbable: Ill-Fortune, Improved Weal or Woe, Entropy Shield, Fateful Footing or Jinx
  • Nothing is Written: Fool’s Luck, Evasion, More Luck than Skill
  • Longshot: Fortune’s Filch, One More Chance, Fate’s Saving Grace
  • Highly Improbable: Improved Jinx, Master Luckbringer, Magical Mishap

Any feats you can recommend?.

• All: Auspicious Escape!! Fortunate Fate.
• Tandem Front-Line: Extra Improbable (Just a Scratch), Opportunity Knocks Twice, Movement of the Moirai, Martial Kismet
• Blindshot: Weal or Woe Focus, Woe Unto Him
• Hazard Boomer: Vulnerable Hazard, Last Minute Gamble, Movement of the Moirai
• Jinx: Extra Improbable (Fateful Footing) and Movement of the Moirai

Final Reminders:

• Tandem Front-Line: Ask friends about teamwork feats. You can sink extra feats in to Extra Improbable and Extra Nothing Is Written forever to increase over all variability BUT some teamwork feats like Outflank should not be ignored.
• Blindshot: Remember your combat feats with this one, you are going to need a good chunk of them to deal with ranged into melee situations. BUT you can use Opportunity Knocks fire ranged attacks even when threatened.
• Hazard Boomer: Stay away and stay skilled. Recognizing creatures and their vulnerabilities is key to making your hazards worth it. Be aware of other party members and choose conditions wisely when you unlock Improved Hazards.
• Jinx: You are going to be everyone’s best friend. Be generous to allies with bonuses and hammer foes as hard as you can with curses and penalties. Don’t forget that Ability Focus can work on favorite powers. Stay mobile and aware of the whole battle in combat situations.

We hope this brief look at luckbringer helps anyone who wants to tempt fate in the PathfinderRPG. If your game goes mythic don’t forget that the Will-of-All and Super Genius paths play nicely with this class.

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