We're out of the playtest and into Paizo's latest book, Howl of the Wild! I'm gonna focus a bit more on ancestries to start with as I need time to figure out how to implement the other options. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
If you prefer watching over reading, check out the YouTube video on the character.
Let's get into the build for Chiron, the Great Teacher from Smite!
CHIRON, THE GREAT TEACHER
SOURCE Smite
BUILD GOALS
o Chiron is a legendary centaur from Gecian mythology who was a scholar, poet, astrologer, and teacher
o He trained the likes of Perseus, Ajax, and Achilles but has set aside his beloved books to fight against annihilation
o Within the game of Smite, Chiron is a hunter – a ranged physical damage dealer – who fights with a bow and arrow
o His passive is Herbal Medicine, which causes him to create a poultice. When he uses an ability, he applies a poultice to himself or another ally that heals and empowers the target
o Training Exercise briefly grants CC immunity to his allies in the area before he causes the area to explode with damage
o With Masterful Shot, his attacks reduce the protections of enemies and mark them. He can activate this ability to fire seeking arrows at marked targets
o He charges forth with Giddyup!, knocking back and damaging enemies
o His ultimate is Centaurus, which transforms him into a constellation during which time he can fire three shorts that pierce through everything
o If he’s slain in the state of Centaurus, he remains alive but immobilized until he fires his remaining shots. If these shots kill an enemy, he is revived
Summation of Goals: Chiron is a highly capable ranged combatant who supports and guides his teammates to victory through his role as a mentor. He is able to channel magic through his bow as seen with his seeking arrows and shots that pierce through walls, and has the ability to both heal allies and protect them from crowd control.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Ironhoof Centaur
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Wisdom, +Dexterity, -Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Centaur Lore
o Skill Increase: Centaur Lore (trained), Medicine (trained), Nature (trained)
Background: Teacher
o Ability Boosts: +Wisdom, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Society (trained), Academia Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Experienced Professional
Class & Subclass: Precision Edge Ranger
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Crafting (trained), Occultism (trained), Religion (trained) Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Monster Hunter
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +0)
This build is being done to celebrate the release of the Howl of the Wild book, so naturally, we’re going to use the centaur ancestry from it to represent, well, this centaur. He’ll use the ironhoof heritage, granting him a better unarmed attack than his fist that will serve greater purpose deeper in the build. Centaur Lore helps him delve more into skills and fits with his teacher background to represent his role as a mentor and teacher. With some of his instructive capabilities in game, Chiron will be a ranger who uses the precision edge. While not exact, precision edge gives him extra damage to punch through the defenses of his enemies and is meant to resemble the protection shredding aspects of his Masterful Shot. His class feat is based more on his lore where he is a mentor, with Monster Hunter allowing him to recall the stories and legends of monsters he’s faced to aid those that he’s training in bringing them down.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Monster Warden
o Skill Feat: Natural Medicine
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Skilled Herbalist
o Skill Increase: Centaur Lore (expert), Nature (expert)
o Gear: +1 composite longbow, psychopomp mask, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: United Assault
o Skill Feat: Root Magic
o Gear: golden legion epaulet, +1 composite longbow, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +2, Wis +3, Cha +0)
o Ancestry Feat: Proud Mentor
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (trained), Society (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking composite longbow, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask, cloak of feline rest
Through the use of Training Exercise, Chiron briefly grants CC immunity to his allies and while the effects are different, the spirit of Monster Warden to protect his allies feels right. United Assault varies from his usual toolset but it fits with the way that Chiron is all about working in conjunction with his pupils – his first round may be spent triggering Monster Hunter to aid his allies in targeting a creature and then following it up with United Assault on his next turn for some nice extra pop of damage. Natural Medicine is representative of his Herbal Medicine as is the somewhat more obviously named Skilled Herbalist, an ancestry feat that he is able to reclaim through Ancestral Paragon. Root Magic plays into some of the protective aspects of his Training Exercise though this should probably be flavored as more of a natural or divine thing rather than occult. He dips into his lore once more through Proud Mentor, demonstrating his teaching of heroes and the pride that he feels when they succeed. I do think it would be fun to explore this concept in particular deeper and somehow pick up a human Adopted Ancestry to take the Aid-based feats they have to maximize the use of this, but this isn’t the build for it.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Eldritch Archer Dedication
o Skill Feat: Cognitive Crossover – Nature and Society
o Spells: Cantrips – gouging claw
o Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking composite longbow, hunter’s arrowhead, golden legion epaulet, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Centaur Lore (master), Nature (master)
o Gear: stag’s helm, +1 leather, warrior’s training ring, +1 striking composite longbow, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Basic Eldritch Archer Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Consult the Spirits
o Spells: 1st – force barrage; 2nd – horizon thunder sphere; 3rd – magnetic acceleration
o Gear: boots of bounding, stag’s helm, primeval mistletoe, +1 leather, +1 striking composite longbow, hunter’s arrowhead
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Mentor of Legends
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, fearless sash, stag’s helm, warrior’s training ring, +1 striking composite longbow
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +4, Cha +0)
o Class Feat: Master Monster Hunter
o Skill Feat: Influence Nature
o Skill Increase: Stealth (trained)
o Gear: bravery baldric (haste), +1 resilient leather, flaming weapon rune, boots of bounding, stag’s helm, +1 striking composite longbow
While most of Chiron’s attacks are normal, the seeking arrows of his Masterful Shots and the wall-piercing arrow of his Centaurus ends up necessitating the inclusion of the Eldritch Archer Dedication. He unfortunately kind of has to go for the arcane tradition just to have some attack spells, but I just really hope that Player Core 2 adds some more spell attacks because they are massively lacking. He still uses Basic Eldritch Archer Spellcasting to add more spells to his repertoire but more importantly, increase the level of spells he can fire off. He returns to his ranger class to take Master Monster Hunter, which is huge. This allows Chiron to use Nature for all his Recall Knowledge checks to identify creatures and allows him to share bonuses with his allies on just a success. Just in case he fails that Nature check though, he has been increasing his Society skill to use Cognitive Crossover, letting him corroborate the facts with what he’s heard from the tales and legends of his world. His other skill feats focus more on Nature while also drawing upon his relations to the gods – both rising their children to be heroes and the fact that he was eventually raised to be a constellation. Centaur is one of the fast ancestries, but more Speed is always good, which leads to the inclusion of the Fleet feat. Surprisingly, the two centaur mentor feats aren’t related, but Mentor of Legends is exactly what Chiron is and fits with his whole concept.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Medicine (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking composite longbow, bravery baldric (haste), greater healer’s gloves, +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Expert Eldritch Archer Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Continual Recovery
o Spells: 4th – chromatic ray
o Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking composite longbow, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), bravery baldric (haste), corrosive weapon rune, flaming weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Trample
o Skill Increase: Medicine (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking composite longbow, +2 resilient leather, hopeful weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), bravery baldric (haste), greater healer’s gloves
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Seeker Arrow
o Skill Feat: Advanced First Aid
o Spells: 5th – briny bolt
o Gear: moderate clarity goggles, +2 greater striking composite longbow, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient leather, impactful weapon rune, winged sandals
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +5.5, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +4.5, Cha +0)
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Centaur Lore (legendary), Intimidation (trained), Nature (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, moderate clarity goggles, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking composite longbow, hopeful weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking)
Chiron takes Expert Eldritch Spellcasting to increase the levels of spells he wields, but more importantly gains Seeker Arrow through his archetype. This isn’t a guaranteed hit and I suppose if you really want that, he could take force barrage from among his spells, but Seeker Arrow is a single action that will go around corners, meaning that he can potentially use this multiple times in a round as though he’s marked multiple creatures with his Masterful Shots. While Natural Medicine allows Chiron to use Nature to Treat Wounds, it doesn’t let him use it to qualify for other Medicine feats, which leads to him delving into the skill himself and gaining some extra capability with Continual Recovery while Advanced First Aid can be used to help remove conditions – akin to the cleansing effect of Field Exercise. Incredible Initiative is pretty standard but he does finally gain Trample. This is why he’s took the ironhoof heritage and has been using handwraps of mighty blows, but this fits with his Giddyup ability and is really the only way that he can manage to.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Phase Arrow
o Skill Feat: Biographical Eye
o Spells: 6th – disintegrate
o Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater primeval mistletoe, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking composite longbow, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Starshot Arrow
o Skill Increase: Medicine (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking composite longbow, greater flaming weapon rune, greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking)
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Master Eldritch Archer Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Legendary Medic
o Spells: 7th – hydraulic push
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking composite longbow, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater primeval mistletoe
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Society (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, anklets of alacrity, 17, +3 greater striking composite longbow, greater thunderblast slippers, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking)
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +6, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +5, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Impossible Volley
o Skill Feat: Unusual Treatment
o Gear: +3 major striking composite longbow, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, greater impactful weapon rune, quickstrike weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking)
Phase Arrow captures the fact that Chiron’s arrows pierce through the environment when he uses Centaurus while Starshot Arrow from his ancestry feats represents the starry aspect of it. Master Eldritch Archer Spellcasting rounds out his spellcasting feats, but it you want another option Legendary Monster Hunter enhances the other options that he’s been taking. His final feat is Impossible Volley, representing the area damage that he can deal with Field Exercise, something that I was struggling to create though I now realize, could’ve likely been accomplished with a spell from his archetype. Speaking of this ability, he has both Unusual Treatment and Legendary Medic to cleanse his allies of debilitating effects. He also has Feather Step to slip out of the way of enemies that close in on him.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: In a free archetype game, Chiron can easily double down on his Eldritch Archer Dedication, but this does leave a few empty levels to start with. He can either hold out for it, or pick up Archer Dedication, and use Assisting Shot and Point-Blank Shot to fill in those early levels. Once he starts picking up his Eldritch Archer Dedication, he will likely start looking at other ranger feats such as Hunter’s Aim, Deadly Aim, Penetrating Shot, Legendary Monster Hunter, and likely Legendary Shot for his capstone feat.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Chiron is an ironhoof centaur ranger with the precision edge and the teacher background, befitting his role as a mentor and trainer of numerous legendary heroes. He explores that aspect of his character, which is a little under pronounced within the game itself through several options, such as Proud Mentor, Mentor of Legends, and the Monster Hunter feat line. He fights afar with a longbow, but I could see going for a shortbow instead to keep him in range of his allies to aid them in their efforts and he expands on his options with it through the Eldritch Archer Dedication. He can focus on the Nature skill and cover his Herbal Medicine passive through both his Natural Medicine and his Skilled Herbalist feats. Training Exercise is a little difficult to create since Chiron is a martial class, but the cleansing and CC immunity can come a bit from Monster Warden or Advanced First Aid and he eventually works up to an area attack through Impossible Volley – though he could also pick up a spell from his archetype to create this effect as well. Inflicting lowered protections at range as a martial can be a little hard, but to cover that aspect of his Masterful Shots, Chiron may have to rely on his precision edge to instead punch through his enemy’s defenses. When it comes to the activated effect, he can fire multiple Seeker Arrows or pick up a force barrage from his archetype. Giddyup is his easiest ability to replicate through the centaur’s Trample feat, which is also why he went for the ironhoof heritage – granting him a slightly heftier unarmed option for this feat. For his final ability, Centaurus, Phase Arrow can pierce through obstacles whereas Starshot Arrow better fits the theme of it. This makes for a highly capable archer who can support his teammates in a multitude of ways while launching powerful shots at foes who think themselves safely positioned.
Our animalistic and arcane archer ably aims at adversaries even in adverse arenas, all while advising allies to annihilate aggravating abominations.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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