In two days time me and my friends are kicking of a new campaign starting at level 1. We're gonna play Dungeon Magazine's Age of Worms Adventure Path.
The problem I have however, is that I got no frigging idea of what to play.
The party will consist of 4 PC's and as off yet I don't know what the other players will be playing, except that the roll of trapfinder will probably be covered.
Most books should be allowed, stats are of yet unknown due to the DM suddenly deciding that he isn't going with the stats he decided on earlier after all.
This is why I come to my fellow CO board members to ask what you would play in a new 1st level campaign (if you have experience with this adventure path, please don't refrain from posting what kind of character worked for you and what didn't
).I'm not looking for a character that will fit in great with the group, I just want something that's fun to play and pretty decent at low level.
I've been thinking about some basic concepts already:
-GOD wizard
-Crusader
-Cleric (maybe an archery focused cleric? I already tried the one-man army beatstick a couple of times so this should be something new
)-Evoker wizard (blasphemy, I know, but it still seems like fun blasphemy and it might work at this low level with some CL boosting feats and whatnot :P)
-Totemist
-Shaper (the presence of undead could be a problem though ,with poison not affecting them and all
)-Kineticist (not as versatile as an Evoker wizard in case blasting doesn't workI'm afraid, and I'm far less experienced with psionics than with arcane magic)
Thanks for any replies,
~Bowen
Get him some way to block/hamper enemies and then fire away.
Greater invisibility, fly, black tentacles, grease, wall of stone, ...
Arcane thesis, sculpt spell, school fosus metamagic, energy sub, empower spell
I think you'll have fun.
Anyway, I throw in my 0.02$. Do archery Cleric, they can be great fun. If your party is going to get a Wizard with some battlefield control things like Web and Grease are going to give you plenty of stuff to shoot and you are unlikely to need/use as many buffs as a melee Cleric. Ranged support is always good too.
You need a Cleric. RSoP Cleric. And take the Sun affiliation stuff from CChampion. And everything to boost Effective Cleric Level you can. And everything to boost healing you can (consider the "pool of healing" from CChamp)
Don't play a Binder (I can't do jack against 80% of enemies, making me the party face, essentially, which sucks b/c everyone else wants to talk). Incarnate may be doable. I don't recomend playing the Totemist unless you figure out a way to deal w/ DR. Our Warblade absolutely ROCKS, but isn't perfectly optimized.
DR and SR is a HUGE freaking deal in the game. Also, many, many enemies have alternate modes of movement, so BC kind of sucks (it is fairly effective at low level).
This is the toughest adventure path I've done so far (though there is an arms race between the cleric, wizard, and DM, so not sure how much enhancing is going on...).
I've been playing Age of Worms, now, from L1 to L18.
You need a Cleric. RSoP Cleric. And take the Sun affiliation stuff from CChampion. And everything to boost Effective Cleric Level you can. And everything to boost healing you can (consider the "pool of healing" from CChamp)
Don't play a Binder (I can't do jack against 80% of enemies, making me the party face, essentially, which sucks b/c everyone else wants to talk). Incarnate may be doable. I don't recomend playing the Totemist unless you figure out a way to deal w/ DR. Our Warblade absolutely ROCKS, but isn't perfectly optimized.
DR and SR is a HUGE freaking deal in the game. Also, many, many enemies have alternate modes of movement, so BC kind of sucks (it is fairly effective at low level).
This is the toughest adventure path I've done so far (though there is an arms race between the cleric, wizard, and DM, so not sure how much enhancing is going on...).
DR/Magic, Cold Iron, or what? Because you can deal with every last bit of that. Magic: Essentia investment. Adamantine: Ring of Adamantine Touch.
Cold Iron? Variant of the RoAT.
Silver? CAdv has the stuff you are looking for.
Incorporeal? There are ways good sir. There are ways...
I've been playing Age of Worms, now, from L1 to L18.
You need a Cleric. RSoP Cleric. And take the Sun affiliation stuff from CChampion. And everything to boost Effective Cleric Level you can. And everything to boost healing you can (consider the "pool of healing" from CChamp)
Don't play a Binder (I can't do jack against 80% of enemies, making me the party face, essentially, which sucks b/c everyone else wants to talk). Incarnate may be doable. I don't recomend playing the Totemist unless you figure out a way to deal w/ DR. Our Warblade absolutely ROCKS, but isn't perfectly optimized.
DR and SR is a HUGE freaking deal in the game. Also, many, many enemies have alternate modes of movement, so BC kind of sucks (it is fairly effective at low level).
This is the toughest adventure path I've done so far (though there is an arms race between the cleric, wizard, and DM, so not sure how much enhancing is going on...).
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I've heard alot about Dragotha already...
I'm keeping a Cleric/RSoP as a back-up for when we reach higher levels just so I can destroy the SoB with a single Turn attempt.
I'm keeping a Cleric/RSoP as a back-up for when we reach higher levels just so I can destroy the SoB with a single Turn attempt.
DR/Magic, Cold Iron, or what? Because you can deal with every last bit of that. Magic: Essentia investment. Adamantine: Ring of Adamantine Touch.
Cold Iron? Variant of the RoAT.
Silver? CAdv has the stuff you are looking for.
Incorporeal? There are ways good sir. There are ways...
The single big hit will work more than the 10 or so moderate hits. Just from my experience. The TWF Swordsage wasn't doing anything (he had to move, anyways, so dropped out); I think this is a prime example.
The Monk w/ Greater Mighty Wollop, +4 GMW (and everything else to boost damage) is rocking... until he gets dispelled, which happens about once per session. He has been rolling really well, too, but w/ greater flurry and all I'd expect him to hit at least 1/round (nothing fishy about his rolls).
I've set up my Binder w/ Shocktrooper and KoSS 5, and at +20 to hit @ L17 I still needed to roll 17 or higher against the mooks. We also don't use the standard diplo rules, otherwise I'd be auto-friend'ing everything (at +32 w/o vestiges). The Binder tanks really well... I get hit on a roll of 5 or better, at AC 32, but w/ DR 10 and 165 hp its still hard to make me take a beating. On rare occasion, the fights do last more than 5 rounds, which lets me hit w/ a Binder ability more than once per combat, but even at a save DC of 30, the enemies either make their save or can't be affected ([mind] immune, or Fort save bonus of +20 or more). I have +20 to fort, and have roughly only about a 25% chance of failure (you get rerolls after about L12, non-renewable, which are VERY important to conserve).
Lots of outsiders and undead. Elementals in the mid levels. Anything that deals w/ them is glorious. Saves are high. SR is high. I haven't had issues with "non-associated class levels" yet, but thats probably b/c I haven't been on the DM side of the table, yet.
If you are looking for a blaster, I might recommend Warlock. Our Warlock was absolutely indespensible in the campaign.
If you are looking for melee, ToB is great, however you will very likely want to have a 2h focus and take on some PRC's that focus on Undead killing. I played a very unoptomized Dwarf barb/ranger/Deepwarden/Pious Templar/Deadgrim and had a blast. You could certainly tweak something like this with cleric, paladin and crusader levels and I have seen some very cool Undead slaying melee machine builds out there.
Our main melee was a shifter druid that focused on size and grappling. He seemed to have a blast with that.
The only other hints are +1 to the importance of DR
And, make sure to max out social interaction skills because they do play a fairly important role throughout the campaign. I had a crapppy Charisma and terrible social skills so I didnt really get to have alot of RP fun or help the party through some of the more fun non-combat encouters.
Now I don't know much about the Age of Worms adventure, but I like a class that gives me a decent AoE at will every second of the day (and i can light fires with it too!).
Your biggest issue will be the lack of armor proficiency, but if you take invocations that aren't offensive in nature you can afford to let that ASF affect you. I took Endure Elements (my allies aren't affected by my breath weapon) at 1st and the Detect Magic on at 3rd (or 4th) (which lets me identify items with no material component in 10 minutes).
My party loves me too. They make search checks while I hold off an entire hallway of undead. Of course, if you're going to be spending a lot of time in the open, its a little less ungodly, but still great.
Did I mention the breath weapon DC is based of Constitution?
Okay, so we've got a rogue, a gnome illusionist and a dragonborn water orc barbarian.
I'm sticking with my Evoker for now. Once he bites the dust I think I'll try my hand at a cleric archer.
I agreed with the barbarian's player that if he bites the dust befor me he'll try his hand at a cleric, opening up the possibility of playing a totemist for me *high fives Sinfire*
Thanks for all of your thoughts and ideas, please do continue posting.
Good night (well, it is over here :P),
Bowen
Update:
Okay, so we've got a rogue, a gnome illusionist and a dragonborn water orc barbarian.
I'm sticking with my Evoker for now. Once he bites the dust I think I'll try my hand at a cleric archer.
I agreed with the barbarian's player that if he bites the dust befor me he'll try his hand at a cleric, opening up the possibility of playing a totemist for me *high fives Sinfire*
Thanks for all of your thoughts and ideas, please do continue posting.
Good night (well, it is over here :P),
Bowen
Score one more for the death engine!
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Age of Worms is on big Undead love-fest. Seriously bad for the party without "Whack Undead" properties. Because of the varied DR and high SR, you will require the following:
1x Massive beatstick. I mean Half-Ogre with Expansion/Righteous Might style massive. You'll need the reach, the ability to put axe to face regardless of DR, AND something that can stand and take the damage without shattering.
2x Undead killer. The Cleric will do fine. It will also fulfill the healbot role, which you *will* need. Or the Druid to fill the "I will claw your face off" role + healbot role.
1x Arcane caster. To get rid of the little mooks and allow the beatstick to do his job unmolested. Do NOT be a Wizard, though. AoW is notorious for not giving Wizard scrolls since most of the bad guys are divine Undead lovers. Your spell selection would be severely limited unless you want to spend a large chunk of your change to buying and scribing scrolls. If you do insist on playing a Wizard, Collegiate Wizard is a must.
Hope this helps.
Age of Worms is on big Undead love-fest. Seriously bad for the party without "Whack Undead" properties. Because of the varied DR and high SR, you will require the following:
1x Massive beatstick. I mean Half-Ogre with Expansion/Righteous Might style massive. You'll need the reach, the ability to put axe to face regardless of DR, AND something that can stand and take the damage without shattering.
2x Undead killer. The Cleric will do fine. It will also fulfill the healbot role, which you *will* need. Or the Druid to fill the "I will claw your face off" role + healbot role.
1x Arcane caster. To get rid of the little mooks and allow the beatstick to do his job unmolested. Do NOT be a Wizard, though. AoW is notorious for not giving Wizard scrolls since most of the bad guys are divine Undead lovers. Your spell selection would be severely limited unless you want to spend a large chunk of your change to buying and scribing scrolls. If you do insist on playing a Wizard, Collegiate Wizard is a must.
Hope this helps.
Warning!!! Spoilers ahead.Show
Age of Worms is on big Undead love-fest. Seriously bad for the party without "Whack Undead" properties. Because of the varied DR and high SR, you will require the following:
1x Massive beatstick. I mean Half-Ogre with Expansion/Righteous Might style massive. You'll need the reach, the ability to put axe to face regardless of DR, AND something that can stand and take the damage without shattering.
2x Undead killer. The Cleric will do fine. It will also fulfill the healbot role, which you *will* need. Or the Druid to fill the "I will claw your face off" role + healbot role.
1x Arcane caster. To get rid of the little mooks and allow the beatstick to do his job unmolested. Do NOT be a Wizard, though. AoW is notorious for not giving Wizard scrolls since most of the bad guys are divine Undead lovers. Your spell selection would be severely limited unless you want to spend a large chunk of your change to buying and scribing scrolls. If you do insist on playing a Wizard, Collegiate Wizard is a must.
Hope this helps.
But AoW is very unforgiving of mistakes because most, if not all, of the monsters have been optimised to a fairly high level. Some are insanely difficult even for a fairly optimised party. Come to the table with the wrong party and expect to restart the campaign again with a better one...
+1 for having a cleric (or totemist) on stand-by.
But honestly, if you don't start out with someone who can heal the group out of combat, you will get overwhelmed at 4 encounters/day.
And the: "our optimized group won't be taking all that much damage" mindset is a load of bunk. If your DM is smart (and hopefully he is), he won't focus on a single combatant all the time.
Having no cleric (or spont-healing druid) is going to hurt the group. Plain and simple.
~P_X~