Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Kavrek Sep 09, 2014 15:45:48	Thus far the party consists of a paladin that will be taking the vengance oath, a barbarian berserker, an evocation wizard, a life/healing cleric, and a battle master fighter.   I think the obivious choice would be a rogue or scout of some sort, but im not really that thrilled by the rogue class. Assassin looks the most interesting, and i feel like i would slow the games pace down with alot of social checks and subterfuge, while they would want to get straight to the battle.   I suppose that leaves a ranger, or a very customized fighter. Any advice would be great, especially from people that have played through the adventure.
#2 Nachturnus Sep 09, 2014 16:27:48	It really depends on how far you get. You can easily build all kinds of dex-based scouty-type classes in 7 levels.  Suggestions:   A ranger. Any ranger. A dexadin. A Crossbow gunner battlemaster fighter. A Pact of the Blade Fey-King warlock. A dex-based dragon-sorc. A Shadow monk.   There are lots of really good sneaky/scouty melee types out there. You just need to think in terms of finesse weapons.
#3 Whir Sep 09, 2014 16:42:00	You can make anything work in HotDQ. The big thing is to play a guy that doesn't mind working with other people.   How about an elven valor bard? Ranged buffer with healing that can still do decent damage and helps the party out in different ways than the cleric.
#4 DooHickey Sep 09, 2014 21:22:34	rofl -- I read that as Hot DQ, as in Dairy Queen.
#5 Ashrym Sep 09, 2014 21:52:54	Kavrek wrote:
#6 GuruMaux Sep 10, 2014 3:51:57	Scouting is needed. Try ninja. Monk, shadow subclass, street urchin background for thieve's tools proficiency. Your party needs some stealth. There is a monastery very close to a large city in the campaign zone, so street urchin monks are fine rp-wise.   More into ranged heroes? Forest gnome ranger, archer style, use illusion cantrip and speak with animals both to help your scouting. Go beastmaster, you have some fine mount companions there!
#7 Drizzt_hunter Sep 10, 2014 8:04:37	Question are you going to be playing HoTDQ as D&D encounters or as part of a home group?   If you are going to play it as part of encounters might want to play a class that refreshes abilities at the end of a short rest or you are looking at only have the same 2 rages/bard songs/spells for about 5 weeks.    If you are playing with a home group any class at all will work. Personally I have had a BLAST with a Dwarf Pirate Tempest Cleric of Umberlee, and a Teen Human Mentally Challenged Bard.
#8 Yunru Sep 10, 2014 9:01:58	Be a Dex Prime Battle Master Fighter. Provided the other Battle Master isn't a ranged user you should play differently enough and you can pick up thieve's tools and stealth with a background (Criminal iirc). If you're going all the way to twenty, Fighter 11, Rogue 9, with Crossbow Expert gets you 5d6 sneak attack damage and 4 attacks per turn (provided you don't Action Surge) to apply said damage. It also allows you to nab the lvl 9 feature of the rogue path of choice and further differentiate you from the other Battle Master.   Precision Attack, Manuevering Attack, Goading Attack and Distracting Strike are all good choices, Precision especially if you dip Rogue. Oh and of course Archery Style   EDIT: Alternatively, ignore Crossbow Expert and use the Bonus Action to hide. Deals less damage that way, but it saves you a feat and makes you more Rogue-y (good with Wood Elf or Halfling).   EDIT 2: In fact I liked the idea enough I made a note. Very rough, but it might help you get what I mean: Show Wood Elf Fighter/Rogue [11/9]: 15 Dex, 15 Con, 15 Wis, 10 Str, 8 Int, 8 Cha Criminal Background Archery Style Defense Style Battle Master Precision Attack, Manuevering Attack, Goading Attack, Distracting Strike Fighter 11 Rogue 9 5d6 Sneak Attack Assassin Lvl 4: Sharpshooter Lvl 6: +1 Dex, +1 Con Lvl 8: +2 Dex Lvl 15: +2 Con Lvl 19: +2 Con
#9 Kavrek Sep 10, 2014 14:59:11	Thank you all for your input that really helped and there are alot of really creative class ideas here.   The need for a stealth scout and party support definitely has me leaning towards bard, im thinking lore bard focusing on enemy debuffs, just a cursory glance at spells like 'slow' and 'haste' seem to indicate that what i can take away from the enemy is considerably more than what I can give the party, again, that was a brief look into the spells section of the phb.   *Bards getting 'bane' on their class spell list is so awesome, and as far as I can tell, it is one of the few spells that can really limit what the cultists can do in a group attack.   *on a side note the more I look into the bard the more impressed I am. What a great update to the bard class, the only issue I can see is defenses, but that isn't exactly a new bard problem and considering what the class gained defense seems like a minor concern. I really feel like Wizards has made the most interesting and fun looking bard that I have seen in any table-top rpg to date.
#10 dwgautier Sep 10, 2014 17:00:28	Sleep and heat metal have no saves and are very good bard spells. If you go valor bard at lvl 10 you can have 4 bow shots a round with the fifth lvl ranger sspell (quick quiver?) That you can take with your spell secret. Bards are amazing for how Customable they are.
#11 Kavrek Sep 10, 2014 17:36:31	dwgautier wrote:
#12 dwgautier Sep 10, 2014 18:03:42	Myself, I'm going College of Lore.  I'm going hex and scorching ray at lv 6 for some serious single target dps.  Valor is really good too though.  I'm with ya, too many choices is a great problem
#13 Seraphex Sep 11, 2014 9:32:32	If you play with the Adventurer League rules, you can completely overhaul your character (sans name, that one's set) at any time during level 1-4. Only at level 5 should your character be "set". So it might be an idea to experiment and tinker a bit between sessions, to adapt to your local DM prefers playing.