A List of Ways To Become Immune to Fear in Pathfinder

There are few things as frustrating as fear effects in Pathfinder. While being shaken is irritating, if you get the frightened or panicked condition, all of a sudden your hulking brute or lifelong mercenary just tucks tail and runs from the fight. Most players I've shared a table with would rather have their characters bleeding out and dying than being forced to flee, because at least then getting sidelined would mean they went out fighting. And fear effects are just littered throughout the game, coming in the form of auras, monster powers, spells, and more, so this is something you're going to have to deal with a lot in basically every campaign you play.

And while there are plenty of ways you can get a boost to saves against fear effects, there's a 1 on every die. So if you're looking for some unique ways to get your next character completely immune to fear, I'd recommend trying out some of the following tricks.

Yes, yes, Aura of Dread, all that. We doing this or not?

For folks who are wondering, this may or may not have been part of the research for the guide that will be the follow up to my Imperial Commissar conversion that I posted a few weeks back. If you want to make sure you don't miss out on all that nonsense, the consider signing up for my weekly newsletter to ensure all my freshest releases go straight to your email!

Lastly, I'm sure this is far from a complete list given the amount of content out there. So if I missed something, make sure you toss it in the comments!

Class Features

The most common way for characters to gain immunity to fear is with 3 paladin levels. However, that class is by no means a universal fit for folks who don't want to deal with fear effects, but who may not necessarily want to maintain that LG alignment requirement. Or play a partial caster.

The land and title is nice, but I'm really here to face my fears.

For those who want to stay away from a lawful alignment, the barbarian has the rage power fearless rage, which does just what it says on the tin. Sadly it requires you to be level 12. However, for earlier levels you could take the feat Bear's Balance. This allows you to start raging whenever you'd fail a save against a fear effect, essentially allowing you to hold it at bay as long as you've still got Rage rounds left to burn, which is a pretty snazzy trick.

There are also a few options in the cavalier class. The ghost rider (an archetype that gets to summon its own phantom mount as well as a gaze attack, making it my basis for my Ghost Rider character conversion) gains immunity to fear at 3rd level, which is on par with the paladin. There's also the standard bearer archetype, whose banner grants everyone fear immunity... but at level 20. Sadly that's probably never going to really come up as most games don't even go that high.

And for those who want to try out an inquisitor, the Valor inquisition gives you fear immunity at 8th level. Still a bit of a wait, but definitely early enough to still have plenty of juice left in it.

If your GM allows you to bring 3rd party stuff to the table, you could try out the knight from Adventuring Classes: A Fistful of Denarii. It gets fear immunity at level one, which is all kinds of sexy. There's also the Order of The Flagon for cavaliers in Flaming Crab's Cavalier Orders, which gains immunity to fear whenever the cavalier issues a Challenge.

Alternatively, if you look at my own supplement Cities of Sundara: Moüd you'll find the Deathstalker archetype for slayers, which also grants immunity to fear at level one. Just something to think about if you're looking for another reason to check out my Sundara setting!

Magical Solutions

While I came across a lot of magical options that granted bonuses against fear, or which did things when you succeeded on a fear effect, there weren't that many that actually flat out gave you immunity. However, the ones I did manage to find are as follows.

I know, I figured there would have been more, too.

The grim helm, found in The Dead Roads, is one of the main ways I found to give one immunity to fear. It has the negative that you can't gain morale bonuses as long as you wear it, but it can also suck the morale bonuses out of people near you, so that's an added plus. It does cost a whopping 48k gold, though, so it may not be worth all that effort.

In addition, the spell Blessing of Luck and Resolve, taken out of the Advanced Race Guide, grants a +2 bonus on saves against fear, or makes you immune to fear if you already possess the fearless trait (read: you are a halfling). Another option, for those who didn't opt for the small sized race, is Litany of Defense out of Ultimate Combat. This spell doubles any enhancement bonus on your armor, and renders you immune to fear. If you're not a paladin, antipaladin, or inquisitor, though, you'll probably need to get it in a wand.

There's also, as one reader pointed out, greater heroism. Not sure how I missed that one, but it's one of the "easier" methods to get... it is a 5th or 6th-level spell slot, though, so keep that in mind when you prepare it. You could also grab the Padma Blossom (another suggestion by a reader), which costs 8k gold, but honestly is pretty great. Bonuses to concentration, twice per day cast calm emotions, and it suppresses a bunch of effects in addition to fear.

Miscellaneous Solutions

There are two other solutions I've come across for the problem of fear, and rendering it a moot point. The first, and arguably the one that will be the hardest to get most GMs to agree to, is to let you play an android. Fear is one of the many things they just don't have to deal with. At all.

What... is... fear?

The other useful option I found is the feat Stoic. While not a perfect solution, since it forces you to make the initial save against fear, it states that you are immune to any other fear effect from that source for 24 hours after making that initial save. So, while useful against things like auras that require you to make constant saves, this feat isn't a very useful solution when it comes to things like a one-time spell effect. Still, it's a +1 bonus in addition to the post-save immunity, so it's not going to be wasted if you think you're going to be in a lot of situations where you're going to have to cope with things that require you to keep your cool.

Another interesting combo a reader shared was by combining the feats Nameless One and Masked by Fear. It's a pricey combo, and doesn't technically make you immune to fear, but it means you can only be shaken rather than frightened or panicked, and that's good enough for my purposes! Especially since this is the trick I opted to use in my Death Korps of Krieg character conversion for Warhammer 40k!

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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The Defending Blade

Thunder rumbled through the room, the roar echoing from the eaves and growing to a fevered pitch. The black-robed cultists, interrupted in their prayers to the dark creature that granted them power, turned as one. They drew vicious blades, and rushed toward the interlopers who would threaten their unholy communion.

"How long is this going to take?" Shanna asked, sliding her supple sword from its sheath.

"No more than a minute," Hezekiah said, holding his holy tome aloft as he began to chant the Ritual of Locking.

"May as well ask me to hold the tide of an evening," Shanna grunted, setting her feet and raising her sword.

The first warrior came hard, charging recklessly. Shanna shifted her hips, and the weapon slid harmlessly past her. Another man tried to come in on her blind side, and she parried his thrust into an iron candle stand. It crashed to the ground, the sound barely heard in the tumult. A third warrior, seeing his opening, drove his sword toward Hezekiah's heart, but Shanna caught it on her quillions, yanking the thrust away from the old cleric. Hezekiah's voice grew, rivaling the howl of the demon lord as his spell pushed back the darkness. As the light grew, Shanna pushed back the tide of stabbing, cutting steel. Soon blood ran on the floor, and the dark servants were in retreat.

"I knew you could do it," Hezekiah said, clapping her on the shoulder.

Shanna smiled, and slid her blade back into its sheath. "It's all about choosing where to stand, really."

The only thing faster, is light.

What Is The Defending Blade?

When you picture a swordsman, chances are you're imagining the kind of warrior who takes the fight to the enemy. Whether they charge in with a battle cry, or trudge forward behind a tower shield, they are a weapon whose only defense is a straightforward offense. The defending blade, on the other hand, is a bodyguard first and foremost. While perfectly capable of leaving a trail of bloody bodies, their primary concern is keeping their allies safe. And they do that by using their own skills to make sure as many attacks are deflected as possible.

And how the hell does that work, precisely?

 

The key to making a defending blade work is to juice up your Aid Another bonus. Most folks never bother with Aid Another, because it only provides a +2 to an ally's attack or armor class, and that's not much of a big deal for a standard action. But what if you could provide your ally with a +10 or higher bonus as an attack of opportunity? Now you see where this is going.

I laid out a lot of build options for this in an older post, Aid Another in Pathfinder is More Useful Than You Think. However, the broad strokes of how to make this build work are to combine a cavalier with a bard, and then take levels of Battle Herald (As a side note, Daring Champion cavaliers and Arcane Duelist bards pair together beautifully for this combo). If you add in the trait Helpful (the good one that makes your base Aid Another +4, not the subpar one that makes it +3), take Arcane Strike, mix in some magical weapons like a Benevolent blade, what you have is an Aid Another bonus that's easily in the double digits by the time you're 12th or 13th level.

You don't have to wait that long to put your signature ability to good use, though. All you need are the feats Combat Reflexes, and Bodyguard. This allows you to use Aid Another on an adjacent ally as an attack of opportunity to buff their AC. And even if you're a level 1 character, you'll be giving them a +4 buff if you took the Helpful trait. And if you have Harrying Partners (and you give that feat to your ally with your cavalier class feature), then your bonus will last an entire round once it's been given.

And it only gets bigger from there.

The beauty of the defending blade is that everyone needs a bodyguard from time to time. No one wants the cleric to be gutted by a tentacled horror while he's trying to heal the rogue, and if the wizard is busy dispelling the villain's enchantments, you don't want a bunch of minions to run up and turn him into a pincushion. The defending blade can protect an ally using their attacks of opportunity (something most of us don't bother with anyway), and then during their turn they can still take other actions. Like re-positioning their charge out of harm's way, or putting an end to the threat so their protection is no longer necessary... for the moment, at least.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

5 Ways to Make Up For Small-Sized Damage in Pathfinder

Playing a small-sized race, like a gnome, halfling, or even a goblin, can be a lot of fun. These races are truly unusual, and they lend themselves to concepts and roleplay that simply don't work with more standard, human-sized races. However, one of the biggest issues that has dogged small-sized characters is that it's harder to dole out the harshness when you're barely over three feet tall.

Harder, but far from impossible.

All we grow here is pain.

If you're looking to start busting some kneecaps, here are some methods you should keep in mind.

Method #1: Magic

Magic has a lot of benefits in Pathfinder, but the primary benefit for a small-sized spellcaster is that your height has nothing to do with the size of your spells. So, whether you're a halfling evoker, a gnome sorcerer, or even a ratfolk bard, your magic is the same size it would be if it were cast by a medium, or larger, character.

Dynamite comes in small packages.

Additionally, if you're looking to get more bang for your buck, it's important to read through racial archetypes and bonuses. Gnomes have access to the pyromaniac trait, which increases their caster level for spells which deal fire damage. Kobold sorcerers can take a favored class bonus that increases damage done with elemental spells. And there are always options like Spell Focus, Varisian Tattoo, and other feats that will make your magic even more potent, despite your stature. If you want to make sure you have the best possible advantage, you might want to take a look at How To Increase Spells DCs in Pathfinder before you start making your spell list.

Alternatively, if you don't want to be a damage dealer, then you can use Some of The Best Debuff Spells in Pathfinder to take your enemies down a peg.

Method #2: Sneak Attack

There are several reasons people associate halflings with the rogue class. Part of it is the influence of Tolkien on fantasy, and part of it is that in older editions of Dungeons and Dragons halflings had rogue as a favored class. But one of the most practical reasons that halflings end up as rogues is that sneak attack is one of the best methods for overcoming short stature, and wielding small-sized weapons.

Oooh... that's gonna leave a mark.

Whether you choose to use a rogue, a ninja, a vivisectionist alchemist, an investigator, or any other class that deals precision damage, it's a great way to even the odds in your favor. Particularly given that in Pathfinder, unlike in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, creatures who are immune to precision damage tend to be fairly few and far between. Best of all, though, creatures who have damage reduction still take your precision damage; it goes off as part of the attack, as opposed to being something that only happens if you penetrate a foe's DR beforehand.

Precision damage isn't a solution that always works, though. You need a flank, or to catch your enemies flat-footed, in order to drive your damage home. Which is why you should make friends with the other melee heavies in the party, and possibly check out How To Top The Initiative Order (Almost) Every Time to make sure you get at least one good shot in on the opposition before they have a chance to react. If you can get control of a second character (animal companion, cohort, etc.) that makes it easier to get flanks, and if you can use magic items or cast a spell, and your target is flat-footed and within 30 feet, you can bring some serious pain. Even a low-level wand can have a devastating impact when there's 5d6 of precision damage backing the small ray it shoots.

Method #3: Mounted Combat

Mounted combat is devastating, under the right circumstances. A martial character with a lance and a clear route for a charge, deals double weapon damage on that charge, and a whole lot more on a critical hit. Most characters find their mounts are too big for a dungeon crawl, though... but small-sized characters ride medium creatures, so even narrow hallways and cramped caverns are ideal for pint-sized paladins and hip-high cavaliers.

Never underestimate the damage a determined halfling can do.

So what do these numbers look like? Well, as I pointed out in Calling in The Cavalry: Mounted Mayhem in Paizo's Pathfinder, you can do a lot of damage from the back of a mount. If you are wielding a small-sized lance, you're doing 1d8 points of damage, and 2d8 points of damage on a charge. That's out of the gate, right at level 1. If you take the Spirited Charge feat, then you're dealing 3d8 points of damage on a charge with your mount. Add Ride-By Attack to that, and you can stick and move all day long. Then you add in Power Attack (with your two-handed weapon), and Furious Focus (since you're making a single attack), and you have a small-sized character who's dropping some major damage on the enemy.

The key to making a mounted character work is getting your charge in, and making all the necessary Ride checks. Cavaliers, Shining Knight paladins, and the Roughrider fighter archetype never apply their armor check penalties to Ride checks, which makes them ideal candidates. You want a mount that increases in power along with you, though, and if your DM will allow you to take Leadership in order to get a special mount, then you might have creatures that can fly, teleport, or which have additional abilities you can add to your already damaging charge.

Method #4: Damage-Increasing Class Features

Certain classes are just better at doling out the harshness, especially when it comes to particular kinds of enemies. Rangers have their favored enemy, paladins can smite evil creatures (and deal stupid amounts of damage to undead, evil dragons, and evil outsiders), and certain cavalier orders (Order of the Cockatrice, for example) gain bonuses to damage against subjects of their Challenge ability. The key, when it comes to these class features, is to know what you're good against, and when to let the rest of the party take the lead.

Everybody chill out. I got this.

The more narrowly focused your damage-increasing class features are, the more of an advantage they'll give you in certain situations. A paladin's smite is the perfect example. If you're in a situation where you're facing down hordes of demons, or a red great wyrm is laying waste to the countryside, then a paladin is walking into this fight loaded for bear, even if he's barely four feet tall. If your enemies are just low-rent thugs, or if you're fighting elementals or other neutral creatures, then the paladin is going to have to rely on grit and martial skill, instead of the big bonuses provided by smite.

On the other hand, class features like a slayer's studied target, or an investigator's studied combat, may not be as large, but they can be used against any foe. That's the trade-off; greater power comes with a more specific purpose. Not unlike character building in general.

Method #5: Don't Rely on Your Strength

There's no rule that says a small-sized character can't have a colossal strength score. However, all small races take a -2 to their Strength score, and their small stature means it's more difficult for them to succeed on Intimidate checks, combat maneuvers, and other strategies that bigger, hulking warriors take for granted. Add that to the fact that small-sized weapons deal less damage than their medium equivalents, and you're facing an uphill battle.

What you do get, though, is a bonus to your Dexterity score. Use that to your advantage.

And cut your opponents down to size.

For example, a gnome gunslinger is using what most people would consider little more than pocket pistols. However, at 5th level, that gunslinger adds her Dexterity to the damage those shots deal. If you add the bonus damage from Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, and other feats that increase the damage you do with ranged weapons, then the 1d6 your pistol deals is just gravy. It's all the bonuses you add after the dice are rolled that let you do double-digit damage, even when you roll a 1.

Melee fighters can get in on this action, too. A kobold who favors the scimitar can wield it using Weapon Finesse, adding his Dexterity to his attacks instead of his Strength. If he takes Weapon Focus, then he can take Slashing Grace to add his Dexterity to the damage, as well. If said kobold is a swashbuckler, or a duelist, then he'll gain bonus damage to damage based on his level, and he can increase that damage even further with feats like Weapon Specialization, and even Power Attack. If you're using a rapier or a scimitar, then you could also take the Fencing Grace and Dervish Dance feats respectively in order to add your Dexterity modifier to your damage dealt. The end result is that, just like the ranged game, the damage die for your weapon is not the main focus; it's how many other bonuses you can stack onto the damage you're dealing. And, for small-sized characters, your Dexterity is often the linchpin that holds this strategy together.

Greater Than The Sum of Their Parts

Characters don't have to be just one thing, which is why it's important not to constrain your thinking when it comes to building a small-sized damage dealer. For example, you might choose to make a halfling with levels of rogue and sorcerer, both to get into the arcane trickster prestige class, and so you can use ray spells to get your ranged sneak attack off. You might decide to mix a few levels of swashbuckler with a few levels of paladin, using the Swashbuckler Finesse class feature, the Slashing Grace feat, and the paladin's smite to deliver some truly devastating hits.

How you go about it is up to you. But, if you're frustrated that the usual strategy of pumping up your strength and swinging a two-handed weapon isn't doing it for your tiny powerhouse, then the above alternatives might be what you've been looking for.

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The "Paladin In Name Only"

So, I caused a bit of a stir last Monday with my post Concept Policing is Something Gamers Should Stop Doing. This wasn't, of course, meant to say that a DM has to allow every concept to come to a table, or that players should feel free to throw all sense to the winds to make the most ridiculous characters that come to their minds. What I had in mind was more along the lines of gamers, as a community, stopping their knee-jerk reactions whenever someone chooses to play against type in a way that creates a unique character who makes sense, and who obeys the rules, the canon, and the setting of the game you're in.

Characters like the Paladin In Name Only.

A little spit and polish goes a long way.

Let's set the scene. A figure approaches the party, dressed in heavy armor. The armor is bedecked with holy symbols, and figures of religious lore. The person wearing the armor, whether it's a man or a woman, has a forceful personality. A born leader, whose commands are law in battle, and whose suggestions off the field are given weighty consideration. The character has a deep knowledge of a certain faith, and is also a part of that church's military arm. This character prays every day, and follows a strict, ethical code that determines their actions.

Is this character a paladin? Well, they appear to be... but no one says they have to be.

The Mechanics

Nothing in the above description is completely unique to paladins. The description could fit a cleric or an inquisitor, but it could also fit a fighter or cavalier dedicated to a religious cause. Knights in shining armor come in a big variety of mechanical flavors, and just because they look and act in ways we typically associate with paladins, that doesn't mean they aren't just a mere mortal who aspires to follow in the footsteps of the righteous.

Every aspirant has to start somewhere.

 

There are all kinds of ways to mechanically support a hero of the faith concept, without actually taking paladin levels. For example, Bravery is one of the most commonly exchanged fighter abilities, but combined with a background trait that provides a bonus against fear, and feats like Iron Will, it's possible to appear all but fearless in the face of true evil. With the right feats, fighters can be deadly weapons against the enemies of a faith.

That's far from the only option, though. Cavaliers of all varieties gain the ability to challenge their foes, and to steel their allies' morale in the face of danger. Those sensations might, to the uninitiated, bear similarities to declaring a smite on an evil enemy, or spreading the force of one's divine light out to protect his or her allies. Samurai's Resolve allows them to move forward through sheer force of determination, shrugging off punishment and terrors in a way that might make them seem superhuman.

The point is, before you decide to play a Paladin In Name Only, you need to know what abilities you're focusing on to create someone who has dedicated his or her life to being a paragon of goodness. The further you get from being a divine spellcaster, the bigger the surprise is going to be when the party realizes, in-character, that it's faith without magic backing your sword arm.

Story

There are a thousand reasons for someone to aspire to heroism... what's yours?

Heroism comes in many forms, and for many reasons.

 

For example, you could take some inspiration from history and say that your fighter was the most powerful warrior in the land, putting him in a select order of holy knights. In case you didn't know, that was pretty much what the word paladin originally meant, since it referred to the 12 Peers of Charlemagne. Alternatively, your Paladin In Name Only might be a wandering do-gooder, traveling from town to town with nothing more than his armor, weapons, and trusty steed in order to help the defenseless and downtrodden. He may have found his faith in a fox hole while fighting against a demonic incursion, or she may have been raised by a holy order. Even if this character wasn't chosen to be the embodiment of divine rightness, and to serve holy judgment, that is no reason not to use characters who have as models for what kind of adventurer you want to become.

There's also the personal motivation a character has to dedicate their life to a cause like this. There's the born-again hero, who lived an ignoble life, but who saw real greatness and courage on a battlefield like the World Wound. That changed this character, and made them want to be better, tempering their talents for violence and helping steer them toward a more just course. Being a hero might be a family calling, the way some families all do a stint of military service, and the character isn't going to let a little thing like not being divinely chosen stop him from following in his ancestors' footsteps. Maybe the character grew up hearing stories of great paladins and their deeds, and holds that up as his or her highest ideal.

Why Do This?

The point of the Paladin In Name Only is not to pull a "gotcha" moment on the rest of the party, who suddenly realize they don't have a secondary healer. The purpose is to play with the expectations of what drives certain types of characters, how they act, and what it's like to share in their endeavors. It's also to show that just because there's no mechanical negative to breaking your vows and sworn oaths, that doesn't mean those things don't still matter to a character who took them. After all, they inform the character's view of the world, and of who he or she is... they're kind of a big deal. They might even be big enough for the Paladin In Name Only to go on a quest of redemption, even if it's only to make peace with not measuring up to an ideal that's all but impossible with divine grace, and even more difficult without it.

For those who are interested in straight paladins, you might find 5 Tips For Playing Better Paladins more up your alley. If you want to use another class though, my 5 Tips For Playing Better Base Classes list is getting a little bigger all the time!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!