In this Pathfinder Kingmaker Guidewe are going to take a look at Octavia. She is a Wizard that we are going to turn into an Arcane Trickster, which is a very powerful Prestige Class. Octavia’s Arcane Trickster is a multiclass build that can seem complicated on first look, but is easy to use and naturally progress due to dealing massive damage.
Pathfinder Kingmaker Builds – Octavia
This build focuses on using Ray Spells together with theSneak attack bonus to do massive single target damage, with added AoE damage for good measure. Arcane Tricksters automatically receive the following Feats and abilities:
- Ranged Legerdemain: Trickery is available for use at a range of 30 feet or less. Helpful when dealing with traps and trapped chests.
- Sneak Attack: Add 1-6 damage per Sneak Attack rank when attacking enemies that are flanked and have been denied their Dexterity bonus to their AC (Stunned, Paralyzed, Flat-Footed, Blinded, Pinned…).
- Impromptu Sneak Attack: Lets you Sneak Attack even if target does not meet Sneak Attack conditions (Flanked, Stunned, Paralyzed, Flat Footed…).
- Invisible Thief: Gives you Greater Invisibility, meaning you can cast Spells from invisibility continuously until it wears off with your Sneak Attack bonus applied to every attack.
- Surprise Spells: Add Sneak Attack damage to ANY Spell if the target meets Sneak Attack conditions. Before this feat Sneak Attack bonus could be only applied to Ray Spells but with this it applies to any Spell that does damage (Fireball, Chain Lightning…)
Octavia also has the Physical Enhancement ability where she can turn on bonuses to either DEX, CON or STR. Before you get Cat’s Grace I would suggest using DEX enchantment and afterwards switching to CON. That way you get bonuses to 2 different Attributes.
Attributes
Dexterity and Intelligence are the most important attributes for an Arcane Trickster. A Dexterity modifier is added to every Ray Spell attack roll due to them falling into the Ranged Touch Spells category. Since Intelligence increases the number of spells you can use per day, starting off adding 2 points to DEX and INT is recommended, so that you have the base modifier for both at +5. The last point you get at the game start can be put wherever you want.
Skills
There are some skills that are more important then others and you will have enough points to level most of them to high ranks thanks to high INT. Stealth is a good choice to start the battle without enemies spotting you, and it adds the Sneak Attack bonus to your first attack. Knowledge (Arcana) enables you to copy Spells from Scrolls to the Spellbook and can be used to identify magic items and monsters. Use Magic Devicelets you use Scrolls and Wands, making it a very good choice.
Due to the Ranged Legerdemain feat, Trickery is fantastic in dealing with traps and trapped chests. Investing 4 points into Mobility is a must because it is a requirement to unlock the Arcane Trickster Class. Perception lets you spot traps among other things, making it an ideal combo with your Trickery setup.
Classes & Feats
Octavia starts with 1 level in Rogue and 1 level in Wizard. The Arcane Trickster class can be unlocked when all requirements are met. Follow these tips to maximize build efficiency.
- Take the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat as soon as possible.
- Level up Knowledge (Arcana), Trickery and Mobility to 4.
- Level up Wizard until Arcane Trickster becomes available.
- When Arcane Trickster becomes available focus on leveling it up to 10, which is the maximum level for Prestige Classes.
- The rest of your levels go into the Wizard Class to increase Caster Level.
Besides Accomplished Sneak Attacker, these are the most important feats to get:
- Point Blank Shot: +1 to damage and attack rolls with spells.
- Precise Shot: Removes the -4 penalty when casting spells at an enemy engaged in melee.
- Weapon Focus (Ray): Ray Spells count as Weapons for the purpose of feats that affect Ranged Weapons. This feat adds +1 to attack rolls with any Ray Spell.
- Spell Penetration&Greater Spell Penetration: Makes it easier to overcome creatures’ spell resistance
- Metamagic Empower: Increases power of chosen spell by 2 levels.
- Metamagic Maximize: Increases power of chosen spell by 3 levels.
Spells
Damage Spells
There are many amazing spells to chose from but we will focus on Ray Spells. Ray Spells are Ranged Touch Spells that can strike an opponent once or multiple times. Octavia starts off with 3 Ray Spells: Acid Splash, Ray of Frost and Jolt. These are great starting spells because they have infinite uses. However, the 3 most powerful spells for this build are Scorching Ray, Hellfire Ray and Disintegrate.
Hellfire Ray is just an upgraded Scorching Ray, and they both strike your opponent multiple times while adding your Sneak Attack bonus to damage for every ray. Disintegrate hits once but it hits very hard, usually killing an enemy instantly.
An important thing to know is that only Ray Spells can benefit from Sneak Attack until Arcane Trickster level 10 is reached, and the Surprise Spells feat is acquired. With Surprise Spells any spell can add your Sneak attack bonus to its damage. I have also added these damaging spells to the build but feel free to switch for anything you like.
- Controlled Fireball (non-ray)
- Molten Orb (non-ray)
- Ice Storm (non-ray)
- Obisidan Flow (non-ray)
- Stone Call (non-ray)
- Chain Lightning (non-ray)
- Elemental Assessor
- Storm Bolts (non ray)
- Polar Ray
- Cold Ice Strike (non-ray)
Non Damaging Spells
Octavia comes with Transmutation School Specialization. That means you have 1 free slot in the spellbook every spell level (1 to 9) and you can select any option from the Transmutation School. However, there is a crucial spell that is not from the Transmutation School that you should look out for: it is called Sense Vitals. This spell allows you to perform Sneak Attacks automatically and it also stacks with other Sneak Attack bonuses.
As an example, if you attack a flanked opponent while Sense Vitals is active, you will deal normal Sneak Attack damage, just from flanking. Further Sneak Attack damage is added on top of that because of Sense Vitals.
There are many amazing buffing spells for this build and some of them apply to allies as well. Before reaching level 9, you can opt for spells like Mirrored Image, Cat’s Grace (Mass), Bear Endurance (Mass), Haste, Heroism (if there is no one else who can use this spell) and Reduce Person. These will help you out tremendously.
Upon reaching level 9 you get to use Fiery Body, an amazing buffing spell. After that you should get Heroic Invocation and Haste on top of Sense Vitals and you are ready to roll. Here is a list of all non-damaging spells you should take but feel free to add anything you like:
- Vanish
- Bull’s Strength (Mass as well)
- Cat’s Grace (Mass as well)
- Sense Vitals
- Mirrored Image
- Slow
- Haste
- Greater Invisibility
- Baleful Polymorph
- Fiery Body
How to Metamagic
To “metamagic” any spell, open your Spellbook and click on the bottom right where it says Metamagic. From here you can choose any spell and increase its levels by Empowering and/or Maximizing it.
Adding levels to spells means you need to slot them into a higher level slot. For example, Hellfire Ray is a level 6 spell and if Maximize is used, it will become a lvl 9 spell. It will then need to be slotted under lvl 9 spells in your spellbook.
Use Empower and Metamagic on Scorching Ray, Hellfire Ray and/or Disintegrate. Your spellbook should have 3 versions of Scorching Ray, Hellfire Ray, Disintegrate and anything else you want to have besides those 3. Do not forget that you can slot one spell multiple times. For example, you can have on your level 3 spells page Scorching Ray slotted 5 times if you want.
Summary
Arcane Trickster Octavia is a powerful DPS build that can kill enemies instantly due to the stacking Sneak Attack bonuses and increased level of damaging spells amongst other things. Having someone in your party that can cast Heroism and Heroic Invocation is recommended, so that you save that lvl 9 slot for any of above mentioned spells.
Remember that Sense Vitals always stacks with the normal Sneak attack bonus, so make sure you are always doing normal Sneak Attack damage by focusing flanked enemies, using Impromptu Sneak Attack or attacking after going into stealth by using the spells Vanish, Great Invisibility and the Invisibility Thief ability.
Wizards have wide variety of spells to use so add whatever you feel like would be a good choice. Nothing here is set in stone besides Ray Spells.
Thank you for reading and enjoy the build!
MorePathfinder Kingmakercontent is coming soon, includingClass and Build Guides, so stay tune! You may be interested to read ourTower Shield Tank Valerie Build Guide,Jaethal Grim Reaper Build Guide and ourBeginner’s Guide. In the meantime you can check out thewikifor all your Pathfinder needs.
