Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Vallum12100 Feb 25, 2013 16:32:50	Hello WotC Forums! I hate to be a bother, but I am unsure where, exactly, to post a question like this. So this Wednesday I will be playing in D&D Encounters with a bunch of my old friends, and this is our party set up thus far; Artificer (that's all I know) Dagger Rogue (I'm thinking Cha-secondary, DM described him as an 'oppertunist') TWF Ranger Orb Wizard, (doesn't know much about rituals) We 'might'* be having a cleric and fighter (or some defender), show up... Which throws off planning ahead of time for a character! >.< Now, if the two 'maybe'* members don't show, I will have my fiancée hop in with a sword-and-board fighter, but I have little idea as to what to run myself. My thoughts are, (in my opinion, feel free to opt for other and/or better options), Bard, very versatile and can cover the ritual casting that our Wizard has no idea about, (imo, very important with Encounters to make sure for good gear we need) Defender, (Swordmage or Warden), due to how squishy this party is, (unoptimized Ranger, so low AC) The part that sucks is about who will show up. If the Cleric AND fighter show up, I am unsure what to roll up and could use some advise... Thank you everyone!
#2 Onikani Feb 26, 2013 2:43:44	Hybrid Cleric|Fighter, go str/cha. Take Battleclerics Lore, grab scale armor, and since you don't need a shield, use a two hander. Maybe consider being a dwarf and spending your 1st level feat on a Dwarven Weapon Training (use a gouge). Take things like Threatening Rush, Recovery Strike, and Healing Strike You can mark so you can defend or "off tank". You have 2 heals. You do pretty damn close to striker damage.  You have a decent enough Cha to be useful in social skills. You'll be able to fill in for whomever doesn't show.
#3 Arcane_Guyver Feb 26, 2013 4:54:36	One leader, two melee strikers, and a controller... I'm voting for a defender of some type, whichever class sounds more fun to play. Even if the Fighter does show, two defenders are better than one. And if you really think rituals will be important...perhaps take the Ritual Caster feat & invest in a ritual book?
#4 Vallum12100 Feb 26, 2013 9:23:06	*UPDATE* My fiancee has agreed to joining D&D Encounters if we need people. So if both of the "maybe" players don't show, I can build a really focus build for each of us and be fine. But if 1 shows and not the other, I'm planing ahead to see what to do If both show up: Paladin (If Cleric is ranged) or Bard (If Cleric is melee) If Fighter shows up: Cleric|Fighter If Cleric shows up: Some sort of full-time defender (Paladin, Swordmage, Warden, or Fighter) If neither shows up: Fiancée plays Fighter, I play Cleric|Fighter Hybrid Cleric|Fighter, go str/cha. Take Battleclerics Lore, grab scale armor, and since you don't need a shield, use a two hander. Maybe consider being a dwarf and spending your 1st level feat on a Dwarven Weapon Training (use a gouge). Take things like Threatening Rush, Recovery Strike, and Healing Strike You can mark so you can defend or "off tank". You have 2 heals. You do pretty damn close to striker damage.  You have a decent enough Cha to be useful in social skills. You'll be able to fill in for whomever doesn't show. Thank you for the suggestion and quick build. The more I sit and think about it, the more this build makes sense in Encounters. Defiantly on my list. One leader, two melee strikers, and a controller... I'm voting for a defender of some type, whichever class sounds more fun to play. Even if the Fighter does show, two defenders are better than one. And if you really think rituals will be important...perhaps take the Ritual Caster feat & invest in a ritual book? I feel that it is important, only due to the randomization of magic items we receive in each encounter. But I guess, because of D&D Encounter's short life spend of only 3 levels, I could live without.
#5 Mr.Durriken Feb 26, 2013 11:57:59	How about this: don't worry about party composition and just play what you want, what sounds like fun to you! Encounters is pretty casual. Sure its great when the party has all the roles covered and when there is a good balance of skills, but it can be much more fun and interest when things go a bit different. I remember playing a season when we didn't have a single character trained in arcana, and the best religion skill was like 6.  We failed some many skill checks! But it was fun. Its also fun to figure out how to deal with having no defender, or when most of the party is built for ranged combat, or when you have almost now ranged abilities beyond RBA with thrown daggers.  I've been through all of those in Encounters and it just creates situations where you need to be creative to overcome the deficiencies.   It stinks to have to play a character that you are not really in to, so don't.  Go with what you want to try out, or some goofball built that you can't get out of your head, or just go back to your old standby favorite.   If the party wipes, no biggie, everyone shows up next week with Bob II or some completely new character and the story continues.  Heck, you can even just switch characters between weeks because you feel like it. TjD
#6 Tony_Vargas Feb 26, 2013 14:01:33	Yeah, I'd say "play what you want."  Encounters hasn't been overly deadly for a while now, and the current season doesn't look too bad.  It's casual, so you never know who's going to show up.  If you want to play a striker, but build a defender because you already have two strikers and no defender, the next week, both striker players could have to work late and a new guy may want to play a fighter. So build a character you'll enjoy.  If you want to hedge your bets, emphasize your class's secondary role, that gives you two chances of covering a missing role.   Too bad 4e didn't last long enough to give us more 'switch hitter' classes, like the Berserker (Defender that turns into a Striker when raging).
#7 Vallum12100 Feb 26, 2013 23:34:03	Hmmm... I remember three "adventures" ago, we had some tough encounters, but was fair. The adventure after that, though, had some hard times for us. especially with the ogres. I noticed combat was much harder with a group of members who didn't know what they were doing... or when I wasn't an optimized Leader. I'm Probably going with a Charisma-din, Bard, or the Cleric|Fighter, (still can't decide which one I want to play, all of them sound really fun), see how things will go.