I am joining a friends gaming group, and I am trying to make my character a boost to the party both RP wise and tactical wargame (TWG) wise. They are all rather good character optimizers, a discipline in which have close to no expirience in, so Im going to need some help on whatever I decide to play in order to make an impressive character for these first sessions. Also, any ideas as to how to make my character awesome RP wise would be great.
Where I come from, we have not yet used any prestige classes exept from the occatonal blackguard for when a paladin falls and stays down, and my past parties have more or less always been composed of a d10/12 for damage, a d8 for healing, a d6 for trapfinding and a d4 for blasting, but the new group Im joining is.. diffrent. Ive known them in RL for a few weeks now, and thus I know what everyone is playing. Here goes:
Human Cleric 9/fighter 1. Party leader.
RP: This guy is so lawful it hurts. The player is a retired soldier, and has decided to make a classical sergent like character with no sense of humor, who still manages to be ironic and morbidly funny anyway, though most of the time not on purpose. Worships the god of trading and businesses, but is fairly millitant for such a peaceful god.
TWG: The guy uses his turn undead ability to boost himself whit buff spells, that lasts more or less infinately. To the players annoyance, he is the least lethal character in the party apart from the wizard. Plays more or less like a classic power attacking, greatsword wielding fighter, but with spells.
Human ninja 1/druid 9
RP: CN, and very good at it. She is by no means evil, but not all that good either, and her acts of utter randomness frequently makes everyone at the table roll of the chairs laughing. I dont remember her in-game reason for being a ninja AND a druid though. She uses a large part of her RP time trying to make her pet tiger NOT eat random people and livestock, and most of the time with great succes.
TWG: This character is the parties primary trap finder, and our second most succesful damage dealer. Possibly the parties most solid tank, thanks to her many hitpoints and impressive AC in animal form. Rediciolously weak in human form.
human fighter 1/wizard x/a ton of other prestige classes x
RP: This player made this character primarily as a CO project, but manages to be funny anyway. I guess he is TN, and most of the time he is a bit paranoid about an organization of wizards who is aparently trying to break him for not wanting to join their ranks.
TWP: Party president of damage. Uses his scyte optimized for power attacking and frequent crifticals to oblitterate all resistance. Also uses a wide range of spells and magical buffs to boost himself in order to make him an even deadlier combatant. Cant take much damage though, thanks to all the d4 levels in his past, so he avoids most direct confrontations as if he were a rogue.
Elven wizard 3/master specialist 7
RP: A former noble, who fled his lands when an army of invading minotaurs attacked. He has lost everything, including his family, property and even his wife. He is clearly the most serious character in the group, and his sad backstory is an excellent counterweight to the druids shenanigans.
TWG: Battlefield control per excellence. He has possibly never done as much as one point of damage, but he have definately won many battles with his creative use of his spells. Good at disabling enemies casters with fogs, smoke and clouds, and excellent at buffing/debuffing. Belongs to an elven race thay can become exceptionally good wizards.
...this party seems to have it all, both melee power, magical backup, trapfinding and what not. What can I play that can be useful to these guys? I considered a rogue for some sneak attacking goodness, or a sorceror to cas more direct spells than those the wizard has, but I really dont know what would be better. Can you think of something?
How about that? The bard makes a fine 5th member of the party. With the serious and leader you could use you somewhat unlawfulness to the group's advantage. While the cleric talks to officials, you stay in the back and smile politely, backing him up when needed. In the tavern at night you chat up to shady types and ask them what's the local news and what the local crimeboss is up to.
With so many fighters in the party, and lots of magic, your morale bonusses on attacks and damage will be very welcome. Also, you can go in virually any direction with the class. Chosing back-up healer, supporting spell damage dealer and buffer-support. Also, beign able to play songs at the campfire or marching songs might lighten the mood (while the soldier will appreciate the marching songs and probably your specialisation as well).
Conclusion: Playing a specialised bard will help this party a lot.
Personally I would look into the Complete arcane book for a prestige class that you like, since the book has a few very nice ones.
"And there I was - with a huge dragon in front of me. But I stood my ground, drawing my blade. And... ________(the fighter) was there too."
"There were dozens of orcs charging over the hilltop, and I knew what I had to do to stop them. I began to cast powerful arcane incantation... and _______(the wizard) was there too.
if not this, then I would suggest an apostle of peace. human, sacred vow, vow of poverty.
2 levels marshal
1 cleric with 2 +diplomacy domains
2 monk for the wisdom to AC, and other niffty things
2 fighter for the 2 feats. you want combat expertise, and imp disarm.
and then 2 levels of apostle of peace. as you level, you get insanely stronger, plus you have heal spells, and you don't suck at combat, cause there is a monk variant instead of taking flurry of blows, your subdual damage is doubled.
so against constructs and undead you can do crazy damage, and against anything living you can knock it the F out.
just a few suggestions =)
So what do you want to play?
I don’t see anyone devoted to ranged combat, though perhaps the gish and the wizard could do that pretty well. They won’t have to if you specialize in it. You could go fighter or ranger and rely on bows, maybe going into something like Order of the Bow Initiate (Not the strongest but I like it for using my bow in melee.) But if you are inclined toward spellcasting, you could go with a ray-focused type.
You have a number of spellcasters, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for another. The cleric and the gish seem to buff themselves mostly, and the wizard does area control, so I could se someone devoted to buffing others or the area of enchantment seems open.
As far as skill monkey, the druid is doing some of that, and you don’t want to step on her toes, but a rogue or bard could easily do far better. What do you feel like playing?
A monk might actually work well with this party too, for their mobility, but be prepared to be outshone in the damage dealing stakes.
Bard, Marshal, Warlock, Archivist, Ranger, Scout, etc
Factotum. Skill monkey supreme, only the rogue is better and that's debatable.I have no idea how a ninja1/druid 9 has kept all the relevant trapfinder skills maxed.
Warmage. Blaster supreme. Sure, they do not have utility or much in the way of those cool "battle-field control" spells, but the party Wiz has those handled.
Swordsage. Scout, cool skills, elemental damage.
These guys will show you how to optimize. You show them what teamwork means and how to roleplay. Focus on support-support-support, and a charm or two.
Plus, what's more fun to roleplay than bardic music?
The super lawful soldier cleric is clearly
The druid is obviously
The battlefield control wizard is
And the glass jawed heavy hitting fighter/wizard is
I dont know if any of you are into MTG, but if you are it could be totally awesome if you made a
-themed character to complete the party. A dread necromancer, regular necromancer, a death themed divine spellcaster, or some sort of manipulating and debuffing bard could be engeneered to fit the role.And when judging from the current party composition, I actually think that a bard optimized for casting is an excellent choice. Think about it, you have 4 nasty melee characters (including the animal companion) in the party, and only one character that needs to stand back and be protected.. there is a huge unused potential for protecting support characters in this party, so why not take advantage of it? A bard with the Sublime Chord PrC from Complete Arcane, and a the Dragontouched and Dragonfire Inspiration feats from Dragon Magic would be a huge bonus for this party on so many levels. Some advantages:
1) There is no back-up battlefield controller. The wizard can easily be taken out if the enemy gets a lucky shot at him, and then its bye bye battlefield control! A bard with Sublime Cord levels would make a decent back-up arcane caster, and thanks to the Melodic Casting feat (Complete Arcane) you can do it while...
2) ... you are damaging the enemy through your allies! With the before mentioned Dragontouched and Dragonfire Inspiration feats, you can easily have your allies deal +4d6 extra elemental damage per attack! If the party is hasted**, thats up to 72d6* extra elemental damage on a single round, of if we assume a hit ratio of 60% 43.2d6 or 151.2 damage with no save... and thats before you cast spells with your bard of sublime cord levels. How would that rank you in the damage dealing contest?
*In a charge round the druid and the Tiger pounces, and where the wizards familiar and your own also attacks.
**If the party isnt hasted, then for the love of the gods, do it yourself.
3) This party needs diplomancy. The cleric and the druid might have maxed out their diplomacy skills, but they need a specialist. A bard would also be of great use with Gather Information and Bluff.
I would also think that this party has enough humans. You need to play an odd ball race in order to balance things out, and in this case I recommend a half-elf.
Now that I think about it, has anyone ever seen a party of any kind that had enough cha 18 half-elf bard chicks in cocktail dresses? No? Thought so.
A Dragon Shaman is good for buffing, healing, and blasting, and makes a decent tank in a pinch.
A Beguiler might be a good face for this party if you're not into buffing. I DM for one, and she's good at throwing monkey wrenches in my NPCs tactics. I'm a big fan of the big known spell-list spontaneous casters. Easier to play, but still fun and versatile.
You might want to try a full BAB type, though. Maybe a crazy 2-weapon fighting barbarian with the frenzy version of rage from the Unearthed Arcana. Maybe a duskblade if you want to play a warrior with lots of trump cards.
But the party you're joining seems to have all the bases covered, so you can actually play whatever you want! Maybe try out that weird concept you never got a chance to try before?
1) There is no back-up battlefield controller. The wizard can easily be taken out if the enemy gets a lucky shot at him, and then its bye bye battlefield control! A bard with Sublime Cord levels would make a decent back-up arcane caster, and thanks to the Melodic Casting feat (Complete Arcane) you can do it while...
Battlefield control is over-rated. Sure, the folks over the CO boards show it is the most powerful way to do spells, and I concede it's likely the best. But direct damage spells and "save or die" spells actualy kill the foe. If I had a choice of ONE arcanist I'd choose a battlefield control specialist over a warmage sure- but hardly to the point where I'd want multiples of the same specialist tripping over each other.
Magmin rogue. small+fire damage+sneak attack+immunity to fire.
can any body say potion of fireball?
"we got attacked by a walking lava lamp!"
"what?"
"we almost got him, but then he exploded!"
"huh?"
Ive decided to go for a bard, but a caster blaster variant with optimized inspire courage.
I posted a thread in the character optimization boards, please let me know what you think of my baby..
Bard is a good choice though.