Hello, Paizheads! I have no idea what this community calls itself. Long time 5E fan trying P2E for the first time for obvious reasons! Been talking with my GM about building my character, and I've come across a stumbling block or several in trying to make the idea a reality.
So, the base idea is a Dwarf who found ancient arcane magic whilst delving too greedily and too deep, leading to him learning Wizardy junk and also his whole clan dies. Typical tragic backstory stuff, point is a Dwarf Wizard what knows how to swing an axe/hammer and wear armor. Whaddya know, the Magus is a thing!
In discussing the concept with my GM, he pointed out that in his setting it wouldn't be a book but rather a bundle of scrolls or perhaps a stone tablet biblical stylez, and the tablet idea inspired me! There's a funny feat in the Magus list called Raise a Book which lets you use a book as a shield, and since muh dwarf boi's "book" could be a stone tablet, that could make for a pretty good shield! Thus did the Shield Build come to mind; wielding a massive stone tablet as both shield and weapon, whilst also bearing ancient arcane secrets! Think a cross between Braum and Ryze from League of Legends (hence the thread title). Really fun, thematic idea! Mechanically...
This just won't work. Raise a Book is terrible, especially if you're using your spellbook as said Book being Raised. Due to the whole shields breaking thing, t'would be not so good to have my spellbook break on the reg, even if I can repair it with high Craft skill. Also it wouldn't come online until level 2 at the earliest, and technically I couldn't be wielding it as a weapon until 6 when I could grab Shielded Tome, and since the aim was to use the shield as weapon also, when it breaks I'll be SoL on spellcasting and melee both.
Point is, this whole idea is pretty much FUBAR on arrival without some heavy homebrew. My GM is open to such, but so far I haven't come up with any clear ideas how to make it work. Baseline, the tablet is already a shield, meaning I don't need Raise a Book or Shielded Book, and I can slap a Shield Boss/Spike on it for attacking. To solve the whole shield breakage thing though... I got nothing. Short of making it invincible, which feels pretty broken and undermines a core balancing point of Shield Block and all its derivations. So... is there a way to salvage this? Session 0 is tomorrow night and I hope to have a suggestion ready by then. Otherwise I'll have to abandon it and go for a more bog standard Magus.
So, the base idea is a Dwarf who found ancient arcane magic whilst delving too greedily and too deep, leading to him learning Wizardy junk and also his whole clan dies. Typical tragic backstory stuff, point is a Dwarf Wizard what knows how to swing an axe/hammer and wear armor. Whaddya know, the Magus is a thing!
In discussing the concept with my GM, he pointed out that in his setting it wouldn't be a book but rather a bundle of scrolls or perhaps a stone tablet biblical stylez, and the tablet idea inspired me! There's a funny feat in the Magus list called Raise a Book which lets you use a book as a shield, and since muh dwarf boi's "book" could be a stone tablet, that could make for a pretty good shield! Thus did the Shield Build come to mind; wielding a massive stone tablet as both shield and weapon, whilst also bearing ancient arcane secrets! Think a cross between Braum and Ryze from League of Legends (hence the thread title). Really fun, thematic idea! Mechanically...
This just won't work. Raise a Book is terrible, especially if you're using your spellbook as said Book being Raised. Due to the whole shields breaking thing, t'would be not so good to have my spellbook break on the reg, even if I can repair it with high Craft skill. Also it wouldn't come online until level 2 at the earliest, and technically I couldn't be wielding it as a weapon until 6 when I could grab Shielded Tome, and since the aim was to use the shield as weapon also, when it breaks I'll be SoL on spellcasting and melee both.
Point is, this whole idea is pretty much FUBAR on arrival without some heavy homebrew. My GM is open to such, but so far I haven't come up with any clear ideas how to make it work. Baseline, the tablet is already a shield, meaning I don't need Raise a Book or Shielded Book, and I can slap a Shield Boss/Spike on it for attacking. To solve the whole shield breakage thing though... I got nothing. Short of making it invincible, which feels pretty broken and undermines a core balancing point of Shield Block and all its derivations. So... is there a way to salvage this? Session 0 is tomorrow night and I hope to have a suggestion ready by then. Otherwise I'll have to abandon it and go for a more bog standard Magus.
