Building Blanks pt. 3: Conversion

Ability Scores and Design Intent

So we've got our concept and we've got a template to work from, so lets construct. To start, lets work on the stats. As I talked about before in the ability scores post, ability scores are the core from which all characters concepts spring from on a mechanical level. Build these stats in the proper priority and the character will sing on the field, build it without thinking about what stats you need and you'll be struggling the whole game trying to make it work. From our base, we have a stat line that looks something like this,

Str 13, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8

Good Dex & Con, okay Str and bad Cha. This is the basic prebuilt, "elite" array for ranged NPCs from the core rulebook. Now, for a ranged based character like the bow wielding hussar we started with it's great, but for this cow riding lancer whose meant to charge into melee these stats aren't really that helpful. The high Dex is fine for good AC and Ref saves and solid ranged attacks, but the Str is too low to really lay in that hard, melee punch we want, and can't carry as much as we might need. So, lets change this to the melee array.

Str 15, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8

There, this array gives us a stronger hit in melee still has a bit of Dex that you'll need for a lightly armored cavalry character like a Hussar. The Cha is still a little low, since you'll be using it for Handle Animal skills he'll need to direct his Battle Cattle mount, but with his bonus to Handle Animal with his Animal Companion Mount and the Class Skill bonus we should walk out okay. Now, I haven't slapped the +2 human bonus on this build yet, but I figured I'd apply the Ogrekin mods first and see what the stat array (I'll refer to it as just array a few times in the coming text so bear with me) looks like before I place the only changeable stat at the start.

Str 21, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6

Alright, so here are the stats once I applied the template. I've thrown the +2 in Dex, giving our rider a nice bump to his Initiative and AC to help give our rider some more surviveability in a fight and a higher chance of going first, alongside a better bonus on his Ride skill, an important stat that will come up later.

Okay, so we have our Ability Scores, so lets start applying some of this to the other stats in the array, specifically those that are level dependent and Ability Score dependent exclusively.

Defense
Hp 14 (1d10+4)
Fort +4 Ref +4 Will +1

Statistics
Str 21, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +6; CMD 18


And while we're at it, we might as well convert the Mustang to the Battle Cattle as well. So, we'll take these stats here...

Statistics

Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6

Bast Atk +1; CMB +5; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)

And convert them to these ones...

Statistics

Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4

Bast Atk +1; CMB +5; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)

Animal companion stats are a little easier to write out here since Pathfinder has them prebuilt for you. This makes it easier to construct since all you have to do is slot in the new numbers rather than try and conceptualize what statistics a combat trained steer might have, but can run into their own, "interesting" problems. This will be discussed later, as we deal with equipping and feating our pudgy cattle rider.

Skills

With base stats out of the way, let's return to our rider and Skills. The most important part of any character, Skills give us the list of what the character studies and trains in in order to do their job with deft proficiency, along with what they are skillful at when not trying to kill people. With the Hussar, we get 4 points plus his Int mod, and another point afterward for being of human descent. Now, the Ogrekin is not the smartest guy in the room, but with 4 points and a free one after his Int penalty is applied we are still looking at a solid 4 points, more than enough to get his skills started. First we get the basics done, Ride and Handle Animal. Ride is obvious, it lets our little giant stay in the saddle and do other cool tricks as the need arises and with the Hussar not getting an Armor Check penalty to Ride when on his mount, he can really take advantage of the skill. Handle Animal gives him the ability to not only train his mount for whatever task he wants, but lets our rider push the beast to do unknown tricks should the need arise, and without attack 2 (which lets it fight any type of monster without pause) you'll want the extra boost in case he has to force the cow mount to do something it is not trained to do. Next we should probably drop a point in Perception. One of the most useful stats in the game (more to its detriment than many might want to admit), Perception is good for a hard riding bandit to have, it helps him setup ambushes by spotting potential targets, and helps them avoid being ambushed by angry victims of their attacks or other bandit rivals. Now with a point left I think we'll throw it into Intimidate. The Blank is supposed to be a hillbilly half giant on a cow (well calf, but more on that later) who raids settlements and charges at people with a sharpened tree, Intimidate feels right. On top of that, lets throw our favored class point for Hussar into Acrobatics, to give him a bit of escape power and maybe set up some space for building his Acrobatics up to rank 3 at 3rd, and giving our blank some stronger defensive fighting if he needs it.

With that out of the way, our Skills line should now look something like this.

Skills Acrobatics +6, Handle Animal +2, Intimidate +2, Perception +5, Ride +6 (+1 w/o saddle)

and our sheet should look more like this.

Defense
Hp 14 (1d10+4)
Fort +4 Ref +4 Will +1

Statistics
Str 21, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +6; CMD 18

Skills Acrobatics +6, Handle Animal +2, Intimidate +2, Perception +5, Ride +6 (+1 w/o saddle)

Feats

Now we move on to Feats. The special something that every character has, feats help personalize each individual character from the other. Feats are how you can have 4 fighters that all play fundamentally different ways and help you generalize characters to handle multiple different problems that could come up, specialize to be really good in a specific scenario, or anything in between. For this Blank we're looking to make the classic cavalry lancer, who's good on the charge and a terror in melee, but with a Ogrekin/Super Mutant twist, wrapping that hillybilly Hills Have Eyes concept of the base Ogrekin into our mounted charger. Since our Blank is a human base she gets 2 feats at start, and thanks to being a Hussar of the Line of the Spear, we get another 2 specific feats for free. The 2 bonus feats from her class abilities are Power Attack and Mounted Combat, both solid feats, Mounted Combat lets her defend her mount and builds into a lot of other strong feats we'll need later like Spirited Charge and Ride-By Attack while Power Attack is just a solid source of damage output and lets us build later, stronger versions of this blank with a host of other good feat. So with those 2 feats out of the way we have a lot of the core feats we need out of the way, so what's next? Well, Ride-By Attack is really good, allowing our Hussar to keep moving after the charge, so lets do that. Now she can not only charge into the fray, but bound out right after and avoid the risk of getting stuck into melee and losing both her high damage from charging and her mobility that allows her to control the field. For our last feat though, I've gotta grab Undersized Mount. A newer feat out of Advanced Class Guide (ACG), Undersized Mount allows characters to ride mounts of their size or larger. Normally I wouldn't grab this, but since the Cattle Mount starts at Medium size for some unknown reason, it's a feat we have to take to even make the build work. So, Undersized Mount has to be our final feat. That makes our Feat stat line look something like this now.

Feats Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Undersized Mount, Power Attack

And our stat lines are looking like this...

Defense
Hp 14 (1d10+4)
Fort +4 Ref +4 Will +1

Statistics
Str 21, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +6; CMD 18

Feats Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Undersized Mount, Power Attack

Skills Acrobatics +6, Handle Animal +2, Intimidate +2, Perception +5, Ride +6 (+1 w/o saddle)

Now, I'm not happy that I HAVE to take Undersized to make this work, a cow animal companion or mount is one of those creatures that I believe SHOULD start out at Large size. They are big animals that grow quickly and are common enough that any character in a medieval fantasy setting should have EASY access to a full grown cow at first level at least and if there is some grand worry about damage output or some other problem it could easily be solved by putting their stronger stat changes and damage die increases later in the build. But, that's not what we are given, so I worked with it. Now, we have an Ogrekin who starts off not even riding a fully grown cow, but a tiny calf. I can already see it, this giant mutant dude who's squeezed himself onto a calf like half his size and is trying to charge at someone full force. They'd look like Porky Pig on his Donkey in the old Looney Tunes shorts and ya know what?

I kind of dig it.

It subverts expectations for the players and is not only funny, but can lull them into a false sense of safety. Now, you've got a monster your players might think isn't all that bad, so they give it a turn to fiddle around, they ignore it and dismiss it as a real threat. That makes the actual first hit from this creature all the more terrifying, as a 21 Str and Power Attack with a Lance is going to hurt even the most well ensconced PC. When the Barbarian suddenly has 1/2 his hp gone in a single hit or the Wizard goes down, they won't make that mistake twice.

Okay, so this has gone on long enough for this post. Tune in next time as we build out the rest (and arguably most difficult part for me) equipment and finishing touches.