Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 omnijake Mar 26, 2011 2:08:27	I am soon going to begin a Dark Sun campaign, and want some opinions on character options. What I know: 1. I want the challenge of being an arcane power source. 2. I wish to go through the preserver path evetually ending at Avangion, but if my DM homerules Defiling to have addictive qualities, my character will struggle with overcoming it. 3. Im flexible on race, as long as it is by the book for Dark Sun, i.e., no Deva, Gnomes or any other explicitly banned race. My DM has already said some races, such as Shadar-Kai and Drow are allowed. 4. My DM has said this will be the most challenging campaign my group has had yet. It is this last fact that has gotten me in a bit of a fit,  I originally wanted to play a Half-Elf Bard with Athasian Minstrel Theme--but I have never played a Leader class before, and am afraid my lack of experience will be costly to my group. Also, from what I've read Bards aren't the best healers, If I were a leader, I'd expect I'd be the only one and have to focus on healing--so what, besides Cleric (though my DM and I could probably work out a reflavoring of it) is above all a healer?  On another note, one group member has already decided to play a Shadar-Kai, which will elicit negative response from most Athasians, and the other group member is a wild card.  There is a good chance, I'll have to be the party-face. I am most experienced in the role of Defender, which would lead me to the Sword-Mage class. That I feel comfortable in playing, but have yet to find a suitable theme.  I would most likely be backed up, at some point, by an NPC Defender--so I'd have flexibility in my aegis choice.  A last note, I've been getting tired of low damage output classes--but because my group is, generally speaking, striker oriented, I have usually avoided Strikers. Though I've always wanted to try one in a long campaign, and had an unusual craving to have a character that runs around with a full-blade. What are some reccomendations?  What best fits Dark-Sun and the above criteria? Thank you in advance.
#2 windlane Mar 26, 2011 18:29:26	The bard may not be the best healer, but that's not the real issue. The better question is if the bard is a good enough healer. I think they are. You can build your bard in such a way that you not only can do the fairly normal two heals per encounter, but you can also have a bonus added to anyone who heals up during a short rest and lots of temp hit points being passed out. There's a dragonborn bard in the Dark Sun campaign I'm running right now, and she's been doing just fine because all the little things she does adds up. An enemy is bloodied or killed? The player who did it gets temp hit points. Hit the guy the bard just hit? The player gets temp hit points. Hit the guy she did her daily on? The player gets real hit points. There's lots of healing/shielding potential in the bard that make it plenty good enough. That said, there's also the Warlord class. It's an excellent leader in how you can attack well, heal almost as well as a cleric (the best healer), and can help your defender get extra attacks that make them a complete beast in battle. The Character Op section of the forums can give a better breakdown of things, but the warlord is a great healer, though it is not an arcane class. I think you'd be just fine with the bard. You can build it to either wade into battle, like the dragonborn in my game did, or you can build it to be more cautious and careful. The number of people in your party definitely effect which choice is better to go with. If you're a small group, say three or four, the wade into battle type of bard would be better, because then you're not just the healer, you're also an off striker or defender. Bard powers are also easier to role play as not really being magic (to fool the locals) because bards are a charisma class; that bluff bonus should be pretty good. Let us know what you end up going with, and good luck.