Gauntlet-style melee axe chucker cleric build

[Gorgoroth]

Hey guys, anyone try playing around with the new feats in Ultimate Combat for clerics?

My dwarf character took Channel Smite, Guided Hand (wis mod for attack rolls with my deity's favored weapon, battleaxe), weapon focus, point blank shot, rapid shot, Close-quarters thrower (no OAs for throwing in melee).

I'm wondering if close-quarter's feat is even worth taking, since you can 5-foot step during a full-found action to avoid OAs anyway, right? But I love the flavor of throwing a returning thrown battleaxe 3-5x per round, every round. Even better, a dwarven war axe, though you'll need a dwarf god who favors Waraxe for that.

The fact that you can throw in melee means you rarely have to move and so can get off a lot more full-round actions than you normally would. As a cleric with Returning Weapon spell, until you get a proper returning battleaxe, maybe use some throwing axes and grab weapon focus later on.

Any thoughts? I've love to find some more swift action spells such as Grace, to allow more movement to get off more full-round attacks with rapid shot. Too bad many shot doesn't work with throwing axes...

The main benefit of throwing a single dwarven axe should be apparent : cheaper, d10 dmg on both hands, full str mod dmg bonus on all attacks, get to use my heavy shield and combine it with Holy Vindicator and so on, for some insane AC. The rounds where I need to move I would use to cast spells with my standard action anyway, although TWF feat is strictly better than Rapid Shot in that sense, since you'd always get your second attack even on other rounds.

I'm trying to figure out what else I should grab...like Channeling boosting feats. Might as well take advantage of channeling. Holy Vindicator needs Elemental channel feat...is it useful to channel elemental damage through your axe? I love the idea of pumping three attacks into my foe, with channeled energy. Very Golden Axe / Gauntlet feel to it.

 

[Friend of the Dork]

Wait... what allows you to use a battle axe as a throwing weapon in the first place? What range does it posess?

 

[TarionzCousin]

I'm making a ranged elven archer with targeting bonuses vs. food.

 

[Gorgoroth]

axes

hah nice link. apparently the Gauntlet remake sucked, otherwise I'd play it. I probably still will.

for my dwarf : I plan on using throwing axes with the returning property via a spell, until next level when I will enchant my battleaxe with the thrown magic item property. (+1 magic item level, for Thrown and Returning, each)

is it not possible to add Thrown enchantment to a battleaxe? If so, how is it possible to have a Dwarven Thrower warhammer? Or an Axe of the Dwarvish lords? Granted, that last one is an artefact, but in theory you should be able to add up all the different enchants to get to the same thing. (shouldn't I? this is my first PF character, and I only have 4 months of experience... just turned level 8).

 

[Gorgoroth]

..

From the SRD:


Throwing

Aura Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, magic stone; Price +1 bonus.
Description
This ability can only be placed on a melee weapon.
A melee weapon crafted with this ability gains a range increment of 10 feet and can be thrown by a wielder proficient in its normal use.


Returning

Aura Moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, telekinesis; Price +1 bonus.
Description
This ability can only be placed on a weapon that can be thrown.
A returning weapon flies through the air back to the creature that threw it. It returns to the thrower just before the creature's next turn (and is therefore ready to use again in that turn). Catching a returning weapon when it comes back is a free action. If the character can't catch it, or if the character has moved since throwing it, the weapon drops to the ground in the square from which it was thrown.



Note : This brings up an interesting rules question. If I can cast as a 2nd level spell, Returning Weapon, can I enchant the item using that instead of Telekinesis? (which, as a cleric, I will not have access to). I'm not too clear on magic weapon creation rules, whether the list or recipes is exhaustive and complete, or whether it can be extended towards the inclusion of new spells. Clearly, using a 2nd level cleric spell instead of a 5th level wizard one is better, especially since dwarves are much more likely to be clerics than wizards, and the returning property seems to be heavily used by dwarves.

 

[Friend of the Dork]

Oh, didn't remember the Thrown quality. That's still a +3 weapon only working as +1 for you, and you need dex to be able to hit anything. Very suboptimal, but might be an amusing character.

As for Telekinesis - don't. Put ranks in spellcraft instead, and you can craft the weapon instead by increasing DC by 5.

Wait.. Guided hand seem to work to replace dex too, which means clerics only need Wis now, except for damage of course. Man, these feats scream broken to me, or so good every cleric will want it. Most clerics will have 2-4 better Wis than str or dex mod anyway, and it's either a Weapon Focus that "scales" with level (stat gain), or simply superior from the bat.

 

[paradox42]

Easy answer to the throwing problem:

Throw Anything.

People tend to overlook that feat, but I built a character like this not long ago myself, and used that to do it. My playtest Pathfinder Incarnate used that feat to throw his Incarnate Weapon, and since that automatically comes back on his next turn it's pretty much like having the Returning property built in for free. Didn't work hugely well due to his low BAB, but it was fun to do (and he did kill a flying fire-snake thingy with it- buried the axe right in its noggin with a crit).

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Note : This brings up an interesting rules question. If I can cast as a 2nd level spell, Returning Weapon, can I enchant the item using that instead of Telekinesis?

Yes. It actually says that in the spell's description in Ultimate Combat.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

But I love the flavor of throwing a returning thrown battleaxe 3-5x per round, every round.

Then you'll need 3-5 returning thrown battleaxes since they don't return until the beginning of the next round. This is gonna be expensive!

 

[Solarious]

Well, there is always porting over the Book of Nine Swords to PF and using the Bloodstorm Blade PrC, which specifically supports repeatedly hurling your melee weapons at enemies until they are reduced to ribbons. I believe the second level grants you the ability to full attack with a singular thrown weapon - currently away from books.

I am obligated to warn you that this can be cheesed, but what out there is effective and can't be cheesed? But the book itself can be used in Pathfinder with minimal adjustments.