Pathfinder’s Android race has two features that are very interesting to Barbarians.
- Immune to morale bonuses. The stat buffs from rage are morale bonuses.
- Immune to fatigue. Ending Rage makes Barbarians fatigued, and they can’t enter rage again until the fatigue wears off.
Combining these two makes an interesting Barbarian who does not get stat bonuses, but can use powerful “once per rage” abilities every round, by beginning and ending rage every round.
At first I pursued the robot theme by selecting the Savage Technologist archetype, which has the appealing pistol + sword fighting style. Using a pistol in melee without provoking AOOs sounds great, but reloading still provokes, and reloading requires a free hand, which Crusher doesn’t have because he’s holding a sword. It was too much trouble.
Strength Surge adds barbarian level to one CMB check, so I looked for a combat maneuver to specialize in. The Brutal Pugilist archetype and Animal Fury rage power reward grappling, so I built a grappler. I chose level 7 because that’s when Greater Grapple becomes available, which lets me make two grapple checks per round. Since Androids get a bonus to Dexterity, Crusher uses Dexterity instead of Strength for all his rolls. (Maybe the three feats aren’t worth the slightly higher numbers, but I’m tired of doing math.)
The average CMD for a CR 7 enemy is 26, so Crusher succeeds on a 2. Each time he maintains a grapple, he bites, and he can choose to deal damage when he maintains a grapple, so he can bite up to four times in one round. He can also reliably tie up foes with an escape DC in the 40s.
His defenses are fine. 23 AC will stop 60% of attacks. Alas, the -2 AC penalty from rage is not a morale penalty, so it still applies. He’s immune to a number of status effects and has bonuses against others, including mind-effecting, the worst kind of save for a melee monster to fail.
Crusher
Male Android Barbarian (Brutal Pugilist) 7
N Medium humanoid, construct
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 18 (+7 Armor, +5 DEX, +2 shield, +1 deflect -2 rage)
hp 76 (7d12+28)
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +5 (+4 vs. Mind-effecting, paralysis, poison, stun)
Defensive Abilities DR 1/–, Immune disease, sleep, fear, emotion, fatigue, exhaustion
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +14/+9 1d4+6 (19-20/x2), bite +8 1d4+3
Ranged MW composite longbow +14/+9 1d8 (x3)
Special Attacks rage (19 rounds/day), rage powers (animal fury, strength surge +7, brawler)
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +7; CMB 13 (+5 grapple); CMD 24 (+3 vs. grapple)
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple, Weapon Finesse
Skills 11 skill points Perception +13, Acrobatics +12
Languages Common
SQ fast movement, Pit Fighter (+1 grapple CMB, +1 grapple CMD), Improved Savage Grapple
Gear: +1 Mithral Breastplate, +1 Buckler, Cloak of Resistance +2, Ring of Protection +1, Belt of DEX +2, Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, MW cold iron Cestus, MW alchemical silver Cestus, MW Composite Longbow, 4x50ft silk rope, 2x potion of Fly, 40x arrows, 20x blunt arrows, barbarian’s kit
- Immune to fatigue, so cycle Rage every round to use Strength Surge on grapple every round
- Greater Grapple allows maintaining a grapple as a move action, so 2 grapple checks per round.
- Animal Fury: free bite attack when maintaining a grapple
Initial grapple: +25 vs CMB (7BAB + 6DEX +7 Strength Surge +2 Imp. Grapple +2 Greater Grapple +1 Pit Fighter)
Animal Fury: bite +13 1d4+6
Maintain grapple: +25 or +23 vs CMB (7BAB + 6DEX +5 Maintain +2 Imp. Grapple +2 Greater Grapple +1 Pit Fighter) +2 Animal Fury?
Pin or damage (1d4+6)