The Slayer

The Slayer class was originally intended to be the Hybrid class between Ranger and Rogue and to fulfill all your Assassin’s Creed fantasies in Pathfinder. And while it is good at doing just that, it’s capable of so much more. Herein I will detail five Slayer builds to showcase the power of this fantastic class.

The Base Slayer

Our base Slayer build will be a terrifying opponent in battle, and not because of Intimidate, but because we will hard shut down our opponents before obliterating them.

Class

Slayer 20

Race

Half-Elf, this build is going to be somewhat feat intensive and we will need a certain exotic weapon proficiency as soon as we can, therefore taking the Ancestral Arm Alternate Racial Feature. Put that floating +2 in Dexterity.

Ability Scores

Round up Wisdom if odd, then everything else in Dexterity.

15Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 18/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 10

20Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 19/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 12/Cha 10

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 20/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 13/Cha 10

Traits

We will take Warrior of Old for a neat +2 to Initiative, Armor Expert lets us reduce our armor penalty to what amounts essentially to zero in the long term.

Favored Class Bonus

We already have a respectable amount of skills, and we always need more hp, so hp it is.

Skills

Acrobatics, Perception, Stealth are your big three, you need a few ranks in Perform for feat conditions, otherwise Sense Motive and Sleight of Hands are good ideas and so is Survival for good tracking, along with Knowledge(local) as it is pretty much your whole shtick anyway.

Feats by Level

1-Weapon Finesse

Half-Elf Bonus- Exotic Weapon Proficiency(Spiked Chain) Combat Trick

2-Chain Mastery

3-Dance of Chains

Ranger Combat Style

4-Improved Dirty Trick 5-Dirty Fighting

Ranger Combat Style

6-Greater Dirty Trick

7-Kitsune Style

9-Kitsune Tricks

Ranger Combat Style

10-Improved Steal

11-Improved Trip

13-Combat Reflexes

15-Piranha Strike

17-Improved Disarm

19-Kitsune Vengeance

Weapon Finesse and Dance of Chains lets us use only dexterity for combat with our Spiked Chain and makes our Spiked Chain reach when its our turn which is great, everything else goes in our combat maneuvers. Improved Dirty Trick, Improved Steal, Improved Trip and Improved Disarm allows us to slowly, methodically remove all fighting options from our target with each attack until they are prone, blinded, disarmed and ready to be coup de grace’d into the dirt. Kitsune Tricks lets us, while in Kitsune stance, apply two Dirty Tricks whenever we apply one which is downright stupid and with reach from our Spiked Chain, we are doing so from a relative safety too.

Slayer Talents by Level

2-Rogue Talent(Combat Trick)

4-Ranger Combat Style

6-Ranger Combat Style

8-Slowing Strike

10-Ranger Combat Style

12-Advanced Rogue Talent(Opportunist)

14-Woodland Stride

16-Armored Marauder

18-Armored Swiftness

20-Advanced Rogue Talent(Hunter’s Surprise)

We get more feats, slow down targets we hit with Sneak Attack, we can do Attack of Opportunities against targets hit by an attack(And we have Combat Reflexes and Kitsune Vengeance allowing us multiple AoO per turn and changing attacks of opportunities into Dirty Trick maneuvers)

We are not slowed down by terrain and can wear Heavy Armor while still using almost all of our Dex.

Equipment

A Spiked Chain and the best armor you can buy up to medium. Eventually, with a Mithral Full Plate we will be able to fully use our Dexterity from Armored Swiftness

Final Thoughts on the Build

Aaah the good old days of 3.5’s Spiked Chain shenanigans. This build is sort of an homage to it, although it is nowhere near as powerful in Pathfinder as it was in 3.5. Still extremely powerful with Reach and multiple methods of messing our opponents over.

You combats will look like the following:

Round 1-Activate Kitsune Style then get in a good position. If you start with no weapons in hand and adjacent to your target, insteal Improve Steal their weapon and throw it behind you.

Round 2-Pick a target and use your Studied Target on em. Then attack them with reach to trip them.

Round 3-You can now full attack them. If they got up, trip em again, then disarm em, then Dirty Trick them as many times as you can.

Round 4-Start caving their skulls in with your spiked chain for massive, massive amounts of damage. Keep them tripped prone turn after turn to completely shut them down. If your target is K.O, repeat rounds 2-4 on the next target until combat is over. Improvise as necessary.

The Arcane Archer

Slayers make fantastic combat characters of pretty much any sort. One combat style they excel at with almost no effort however is at Archery. So let’s see just how far we can push this. We are taking the Sniper Archetype, one level of Wizard and the Arcane Archer Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Slayer (Sniper) 6/Wizard 1/Arcane Archer 10/Slayer (Sniper) +3

Race

We are going for Elf. Now, yes, in Pathfinder you do not actually need to be an Elf to become an Arcane Archer, but Elf is so good for us that we’re still taking it. We are also taking the Fleet-Footed Alternate Racial Feature.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 18/Con 10/Int 17/Wis 10/Cha 7

Round up Intelligence then everything in Dexterity

20Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 19/Con 10/Int 17/Wis 10/Cha 8 Everything in Dexterity

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 20/Con 11/Int 17/Wis 10/Cha 8

Round up Intelligence then everything else in Dexterity

Traits

Warrior of Old neat us a +2 to Initiative, Magical Knack will let us consider our Caster level at

+2 when we get to Wizard.

Favored Class Bonus

As we have a poor HP, we are putting those in HP.

Skills

Acrobatics, Climb, Swim, Stealth, Perception, Survival, Spellcraft, Knowledge(Nature) and Knowledge(Local) are what we will focus on for this build.

Feats by Level

1-Point-Blank Shot

Elf Bonus-Run

Ranger Combat Style

2-Precise Shot

3-Rapid Shot

5-Weapon Focus(Longbow) Ranger Combat Style

6-(Manyshot)

7-Deadly Aim

9-Clustered Shots

11-Stabbing Shot

13-Overwatch Style

15-Overwatch Tactician

17-Overwatch Vortex

19-Vital Strike

We get to shoot so many arrows per turn via Rapid Shot and Manyshot(as you can use both together in Pathfinder unlike in 3.5). Deadly Aim further increases our damage, Clustered Shots lets us deal with DR more efficiently, Stabbing Shot lets us push back a target in melee with an arrow before firing at them, Overwatch Style+Vital Strike lets us Prepare Actions for sniping while hidden up to four prepared actions, all with Vital Strike for stupid, stupid damage.

Slayer Talents by Level

2-Ranger Combat Style

4-Graceful Athlete

6-Ranger Combat Style

19-Rogue Talent(Fast Stealth)

More feats and Dex to Climb and Swim which is nice Also, faster stealth at end game which will come in handy.

Wizard Spells Learned by Level

School: Divination, Familiar Compsognathus.
Opposition Schools: Enchantment, Evocation
7-All Cantrips, Mage Armor, Vanish, Shield, True Strike, Alarm, Gravity Bow
9-Expeditious Retreat, Disguise Self
10-Cat’s Grace, Invisibility
11-Mirror Images, Bull’s Strength
13-Fly, Web
14-Haste, Nondetection
15-Scrying, Greater Invisibility
17-See Invisibility, Dimension Door

Arcane Archer

Arcane Archer makes our arrows magical, We can use Web on our Arrows which completely and utterly shut down the battlefield, completely negate covers via Seeking Arrow and Phase Arrow, and even make Death Arrows.

Equipment

A Longbow and a Chain Shirt, but as soon as we hit Wizard we remove the armor because Mage Armor will be all we ever need.

Final Thoughts on the Build

No spending money on magical arrows is great, ignoring cover is even better, we can shoot 7 arrows per round with Haste, and between Deadly Aim, Clustered Shots, Enhance Arrows, Studied Target and Sneak Attack, our damage per round is very, very good:

7d8+21d6+105, one which DR is applied only once per round and that’s before the various enhancements we can get from Arcane Archer, buffs like Gravity Bow and the like. That is quite a lot of damage with minimal effort (casting Haste and using Studied Target).

The Cryptid

Yeah, I had to, what do you want from me?

There’s an entire Slayer Archetype running that idea called Bloody Jake and I was damn well gonna make a build about it. Multiclass in Druid with the Skinshaper Archetype to become a Skinwalker…ish.

Our Leveling should look like the Following:

Class

Slayer (Bloody Jake) 4/Druid (Skinshaper) 7/Slayer (Bloody Jake) +9

Race

We are going for Deep One Hybrid post Transformation because we want to be a monster that will be able to take human shape by lvl 8. Before that we are avoiding humanoid settlements. Post transformation Deep One Hybrids have stupid stats bonus as you will soon see.

Ability Scores

Put all your increases in Dexterity

15Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 10/Con 16/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 14

20Point-Buy

Str 20/Dex 10/Con 16/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 14

25Point-Buy

Str 22/Dex 10/Con 16/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 14

Traits

Adopted to get Tusked for a Bite Attack, Heavy Hitter for better natural attacks damage.

Favored Class Bonus

Straight into HP.

Skills

Acrobatics, Stealth, Intimidate, Perception, Survival and Knowledge(Local).

Feats by Level

1-Power Attack

Ranger Combat Style-Intimidating Prowess

3-Mask of Virtue

5-Soulless Gaze

7-Cornugon Smash

9-Weapon Focus(Claws)

11-Dazzling Display

Sadistic Snare

13-Learn Ranger Trap

13-Shatter Defenses

15-Furious Focus

17-Dreadful Carnage

19-Multiattack

Power Attack feeds our Cornugon Smash which itself feeds Soulless Gaze, making it so that whenever we do a full attack action on someone, we can make them Panicked and flatfooted via Shatter Defenses. Dreadful Carnage doubles down on this.

Slayer Talents by Level

2-Ranger Combat Style

4-Lose your Way

13-Sadistic Snare

15-Something’s Not Right

17-Aligned Sneak Attack

19-The Woods have Eyes

We replaced most of our Talents by Bloody Jake features, Lose your Way give extreme penalties to targets in our Favored Terrain to orient themselves, Something’s Not Right lets us make enemies in a 30ft radius shaken with no saving throw, and The Woods have Eyes give us Blindsense while in our Favored Terrains.

Bloody Jake

Beyond the abilities replacing our Slayer Talents earlier, we gain a delayed Studied Strike in exchange to be able to use Ventriloquism as per our Cruel Tricks plus the ability to Tree Stride while in our Favored Terrain. Just pick Forests and make sure your local haunt is within 10 miles of the sea for your Deep Sea Hybrid flaw, or have a friend with Restoration. Or cast it yourself, you have Druid Levels.

Skinshaper Druid

So we forfeit our Wild Shape to be able to take humanoid forms instead, letting us pass as human for a few hours each day, more than enough to deal with our businesses. Eventually with two uses, we can stay in our human form 14 hours each day which is plenty enough at this point. We also gain an animal companion of some sort to flank with. Just take a Wolf and give it Power Attack and Dirty Trick. It will become Large Sized too which is very nice!

Equipment

You more or less need nothing, so go ham I guess

Final Thoughts on the Build

If only we could have taken some levels in Antipaladin this build would have been a strong contender for the best Intimidancer build in Pathfinder. Even without it we can send enemies cowering very, very rapidly via a mix of Something’s Not Right, a Full Attack Action, Soulless Gaze and Cornugon Smash. Plus enemies shaken are flat footed via Shatter Defenses, allowing us Sneak Attack damage. Add some ridiculously good stats and Druid spells to booth for Camouflage and help our Stealth and we are a terror to behold.

The Hellknight

Okay, that Intimidate build we previously made was cool, and very thematic for stealth, but what if we wanted to be out there in public and slicing people in twain to scare them?

Well, I do in fact have a build for us here.

We will be taking the Executioner Archetype, multiclass into Antipaladin with the Tyrant Archetype and take levels of the Hellknight Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Slayer (Executioner) 2/Antipaladin (Tyrant) 3/Hellknight 10/Slayer (Executioner) +5

Race

We’re going Half-Orc, putting our floating +2 into Strength.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 19/Dex 10/Con 10/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 12 Put everything in Strength

20Point-Buy

Str 20/Dex 10/Con 10/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 13 Round up Charisma, then everything in Strength.

25Point-Buy

Str 20/Dex 10/Con 13/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 14

Round up Constitution then everything else in Strength.

Traits

Take Reactionary to help our poor Initiative and Unnatural Presence to Intimidate animals and Vermin.

Favored Class Bonus

Our Constitution is low, put em in HP.

Skills

Intimidate, Acrobatics, Perception, Sense Motive, we also need Knowledge(Planes).

Feats by Level

1-Exotic Weapon Proficiency(Butchering Axe) Ranger Combat Style

2-Intimidating Prowess

3-Power Attack

5-Soulless Gaze

7-Cornugon Smash

9-Mask of Virtue

11-Weapon Focus(Butchering Axe)

13-Dazzling Display

15-Shatter Defenses

17-Furious Focus

19-Dreadful Carnage

Power Attack+Cornugon Smash+Shatter Defenses is pretty self-explanatory at this point, Soulless Gaze lets us increase the fear status on Intimidate and with our massive Strength, Intimidating Prowess is just a no-brainer.

Slayer Talents by Level

2-Ranger Combat Style

17-Painful Strike

19-Poison Use

Hellknight

As a Hellknight we get to wear Hellknight Plate which is pretty much the best armor in the game before enchantments, plus we get some neat anti-chaos bonuses and three Disciplines at the following Levels:

8-Onslaught

11-Fearsomeness

14-Call Armor

We can summon our armor to us, gain a +4 bonus to Strength for a few times a day and we can, three times per day, when we make an Intimidate to Demoralize someone, make them Frightened instead of Shaken.

Equipment

A Butchering Axe and the best medium armor you can get. Eventually we’re getting Hellknight Plate.

Final Thoughts on the Build

We can send targets panicking in less than one round and no one, no one is immune to our fear effects. Plus with a Butchering Axe we are doing stupid damage (3d6 base). Even at lvl 1 without Power Attack we deal 3d6+6/7 damage which is enough to pretty much one shot anything at this level. And this will keep being the case for a few levels between Power Attack, Studied Target(which doubles for us as Executioner vs humanoids, but admittedly lowers to 0 against others). We are super resilient with Hellknight Armor and did I say we are sending everyone cowering as part of attacking? This build is one of the strongest I have made so far weirdly enough.

The Ankou

In Celtic Mythology, the Ankou is our idea of the Grim Reaper, anyone who sees him traveling with his cart, lightened only by a blue flame lantern is doomed to die soon. Topically, Slayers get an archetype based on that legend. Ankou’s Shadow which trades our Studied Target for Shadow Clones that at first act as Mirror Image, but eventually can spread on the battlefield and you can attack from any of them, making you t he single most mobile and battlefield present Archetype in the game without spells. And the best part?

Them clones are at will so you can just keep making them. We will also be taking a single level in both Cleric and Monk, our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Slayer (Ankou’s Shadow) 5/Monk 1/Cleric 1/Slayer (Ankou’s Shadow) +13

Deity

Urgathoa

Domains

Death, Trickery

Race

We are going for Human. Put that floating +2 in Strength.

Ability Scores

Round up Wisdom then everything in Strength.

15Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 10/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 15/Cha 7

20Point-Buy

Str 19/Dex 12/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 15/Cha 7

25Point-Buy

Str 20/Dex 13/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 15/Cha 7

Traits

Reactionary for more Initiative, Rich Parents to get a Masterwork Scythe from the get go.

Favored Class Bonus

Hit Points

Skills

Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival, everything else is up to you.

Feats

1-Power Attack

Human Bonus-Weapon Focus(Scythe)

3-Dirty Fighting

5-Improved Trip

Monk Bonus 6-Improved Unarmed Strike

Monk Bonus 6-Stunning Fist

Monk Bonus 6-Combat Reflexes

7-Crusader’s Flurry

9-Cornugon Stun

11-Ability Focus(Stunning Fist)

13-Greater Trip

15-Improved Initiative

17-Dastardly Finish

19-Toughness

Power Attack is a big duh for a two handed weapon, Improved Trip combines very well with a Scythe, Crusader’s Flurry+Cornugon Stun lets us use Stunning Fist with our Scythe, which is great because we can Coup de Grace Stunned Targets via Dastardly Finish.

Slayer Talents by Level

2-Aligned Sneak Attack

4-Sever Alignment

8-Slowing Strike

10-Poison Use

12-Reaping Stalker

14-Armored Marauder

16-Armored Swiftness

18-Woodland Stride

20-Advanced Rogue Talent(Opportunist)

You can deny a target of your Sneak Attack its DR and even Regeneration, you slow them down, are not slowed down by terrain, can wear Heavy Armor with reduced penalties and consider your Scythe one size larger for damage.

Equipment

A Masterwork Scythe and the best armor you can get. Eventually get yourself a set of Full Plate Armor and an Adamantine Magical Scythe.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Your Scythe deals stupid damage, bypass DR and kills targets Regenerations, you can Stunning Fist with your Scythe and then can Coup de Grace your targets and you can Trip them too for added effect, slowing them down, yet keeping a high mobility even in Full Plate Armor, where difficult terrain doesn’t slow you down and where each hit you land will slow down your target if not stop them dead in their tracks.

Nobody escapes the Reaper.

Nobody.