Creating a fire-themed character that doesn't rely on spells or mental stats

Question

For a campaign with friends, I an trying to create an NPC with PC class levels to assist the party in some adventures. I impose myself several constraints in creating him :

• a really dumb, reckless and boorish character (all mental ability scores are in the low) ;
• pyromaniac, with extensive use of fire damage in combat ;
• a fairly standard race (nothing advanced, powerful or exotic), preferably one that doesn't get along well with humans in general, such as a half-orc.

The difficult part is actually finding a class that has class features that deal fire damage without relying on mental ability scores, or at least improve fire damage from other sources.

Is there any class or archetype (preferably from Paizo) that doesn't rely on mental ability scores and can improve fire damage dealt by a character or even give fire-based abilities ?

Answer 1

The class you're looking for is called the Kineticist. They're not casters, but they use blasts of their element and themed abilities (though some of these abilities replicate spells). Their main stats are Constitution followed by Dexterity, and they have no large need for mental stats. They go well with almost any race that doesn't have a Constitution penalty, so half-orc is a good choice (great, in fact, since half-orcs have a favored class bonus that lets their fire blasts deal a little extra damage). Fire is one of the options for their primary element, alongside water, air, earth, aether, wood, and void. For more information, see their class listing; I think the listing on the Archives of Nethys is laid out in the most sensical way.

Answer 2

I see that there's already an accepted answer with a Pathfinder class with spell-like abilities. But I wanted to point out that there are system-agnostic alternatives to what you're looking for:

• Alchemy-user, any race/class: Any fighter or rogue can be a pyro/arson specialist, with a pack full of fire-themed potions, and a quiver full of flame-arrows. Fire doesn't actually require magic to start (maybe to control), and since this is for an NPC, you don't have to worry about economic/loot-inflation.
• Elemental race, any class: One of the earlier PF Adventure Paths set in Qadira featured djinn, and there is a full-fledged genie-kin character race (Genasi) in the Forgotten Realms, derived from earlier D&D 2E Al'Qadim creatures. In my homebrew version of the race, I gave them bloodline abilities tied to a specific dominant element, depending on personal ancestry/genetics. Any setting inspired by Arabian Nights and/or Persian mythology is bound to have something similar.
• Crazy, Wisdom-based spellcaster: Just because a character is not bright/studious (read: low-Intelligence), doesn't mean that they can't do magic - that's what Wisdom is for! I can easily imagine a really broken druid or fae illusionist, who starts fires accidentally, but can't seem to put two-and-two together to work out that they are the cause. Or, for a more grim, less fun, approach, a nature-lover who has decided that human settlements must burn to make way for the return of nature.

In short, there are a lot of ways to play this concept - don't feel limited to what the system explicitly sets out for you.

Answer 3

You can make him a Bloodrager with an Elemental bloodline.

Technically a Bloodrager can get spells (as a Paladin or a Ranger) but doesn't rely on them. If he gets a poor charisma he won't even get them.

Compared to a Kineticist the character will look less like the master of the flames and more like a brute with flaming fists.