So my group is about to start RotRL. I'm thoroughly torn on what to roll up at this point, so I figure I should run it by the experts.

So far the group is:

Cleric: Melee-focused, Half-Orc (Shoanti)
Wizard: Evocation Specialist, Gnome
Summoner: Half-Elf with a Damage/Tank-based Eidolon

Then there's me.

I've been waffling with a few options since before I knew what people were creating:

1. Sorcerer - with a Wizard popping up, this is redundant.
2. Druid (wild-shape focus) - now with a melee cleric and a tank eidolon, there's hardly room on the front line for me and my animal companion, despite still not having a "tank".
3. Paladin - the same issues with space on the front line, and looks like the Summoner will be a pretty decent "face".
4. Ranger (switch hitter) - I think this is a good fit, but I just came off a three year CnC campaign as a ranger (ha!).
5. Other...

Without finding any spoilers, I've been looking for some insight on what might be most beneficial in this setting. My DM pointed out that we have no lockpicking/de-trapping, but I'm not too keen on playing a rogue at this point unless it's definitely what the party needs.

Would love any tips.

I would say a Paladin with the Fey Foundling feat and lots of Extra Lay on Hands feats. He would quite literally be unkillable which is saying a lot for this very dangerous campaign, and you could snag Ultimate Mercy at a decent level when you'd probably need it most.

Another strong option would be a Dwarven Ranger with an appropriate focus on Giants. We had one in our campaign who played the Infiltrator archetype, double weilder and had a wolf companion and it always seemed like he was exactly what we needed.

Finally a Kitsune Sorcerer with the Fey Bloodline would be a completely different kind of caster than your Evocation Wizard and provide a completely different sort of advantage. A very, very powerful advantage.

From the looks of things, archery could be a big boon to your team, which appears to be currently lacking in non-magical ranged ability. Also, archers can be very good once they've got a few feats.

Fighter is the classic archer, I believe, since they offer the most bonus feats. D10 hit dice is also nice, considering the apparent squishyness of your party members.

Ranger could work well too, though if you've been playing one for several years already you may be sick of rangers.

Paladins can make pretty cool archers too (check out the Divine Hunter archetype from Ultimate Combat).

Zen Archer archetype, for the monk fans.

And of course there's the classic sniper type of Rogue.

There's also prestige classes to consider, like Arcane Archer and Arcane Trickster.

As for lockpicking and trapping, APs never go extremely overboard with traps because they can't afford to assume every party is going to have someone to handle them, and I always find a nice greataxe or knock spell works better than a lockpick in most situations (that being the case in any adventure).

From the looks of things, archery could be a big boon to your team, which appears to be currently lacking in non-magical ranged ability. Also, archers can be very good once they've got a few feats.

Fighter is the classic archer, I believe, since they offer the most bonus feats. D10 hit dice is also nice, considering the apparent squishyness of your party members.

I actually completely agree with this and I have a tremendous Archer build I've been sitting on for a while that I'd love to see tried out... if you're interested at all feel free to drop me a line.

Switch hitter inquisitor would fill that ranger niche without being a ranger.

OOoooh! what about a Titan Mauler??

I think I'd be best to avoid any other casters, but I will look into the Kitsune Sorcerer, now that I know it exists ;). Our DM has warned that 4 1st-level casters could easily TPK on module 1--which I tend to agree with.

Something else I was thinking was about utility outside of combat. I know that Titan Mauler might be great at smashing, but may not be great at much else, and same thing with a fighter.

So it seems to be narrowed to:

Ranger - a good tracker, trapper, "radar". I would definitely go switch hitter so I can still mix it up in melee.

Paladin - Could fill a "face" role, as well as an interface with the church (not sure how prevalent religion is in this campaign).

No matter how hard I try not to, I'm leaning more and more toward ranger. The fact that I'm hearing so many hints at giants just means that the Dwarf/ Big Game Hunter/ Favored Enemy/ Favored Terrain: Mountain is getting more and more enticing.

Wiggz - I would gladly take a look at your archer build. Send it on over.

Divine Hunter Paladin would be perfect for this group, IMHO.

For some of the trap stuff, and a bit of arcane stuff, and a useful ability to brew potions outside of combat, an Alchemist might make a good character choice.

There are also some interesting archetypes to make you more a ranged class, or a healer class, or a rogue class.

With a summoner it appears that APG is allowed resource.

The RotR I start running tomorrow is going to have an alchemist, I'm looking forward to how that's going to play out.

Although an elven archery ranger would also kick serious ass too. Seriously, it's not giving away too much to tell you that your party needs more combatants and ranged ones a that.

I haven't played the campaign but just from what I've heard I'd go with the dwarf ranger:

swapping the hatred racial trait for Giant hunter and use mountaineer instead of stability, as found in the advanced race guide, if you don't have it let me know and i'll post them hear

Wiggz - I would gladly take a look at your archer build. Send it on over.

I figure I'll go ahead and post it here. The concept is fairly simple:

Two levels of Urban Barbarian to start - think of Focused Rage less as a 'Rage' and more as a sort of mind-over-matter mental focus or even a combat trance. You're taking it specifically for the Dexterity boost and the nice kick from Reckless Abandon, but in a pinch it'll make you more capable with a melee weapon or even give you bonuses when making various skill checks.

Then we go 12 levels of Fighter to accrue all of those feats needed to make an Archer truly viable... but by Fighter level 12 you've pretty much locked all of those down, so why continue on that track and get diminishing returns? Level 15 is a single level of Wizard followed by five levels of Arcane Archer to give you that flexibility you might need at the higher levels - though to be honest I doubt you'll get past 17 in this particular AP. Nonetheless, being able to use wands and scrolls for spells such as Overland Flight or Greater Invisibility and having Gravity Bow and Arrow Eruption in your arsenal is more than worth the investment.

So here's the build...

Human 2nd level Barbarian (Urban Barbarian) / 12th level Fighter (Weapon Master - Bow) /
1st level Wizard (Transmuter) / 5th level Arcane Archer
Heart of the Fields, Human favored class option for Fighter (Disarm & Sunder)

Attributes (20 point buy)
STR - 14
DEX - 16 (+2 racial modifier, +1 at 4th, 8th, 12th, 15th, 16th and 20th level)
CON - 14
INT - 12
WIS - 12
CHA - 7

Traits:
Adopted (Elven - Warrior of Old)
Berserker of the Society

Feats:
1st - Extra Rage
1st - Extra Rage
2nd - Reckless Abandon (Rage Power)
3rd - Point Blank Shot
3rd - Rapid shot
4th - Deadly Aim
5th - Precise Shot
6th - Manyshot
7th - Weapon Focus: Bow
8th - Weapon Specialization: Bow
9th - Clustered Shots
10th - Improved Critical: Bow
11th - Critical Focus
12th - Improved Precise Shot
13th - Greater Weapon Focus: Bow
14th - Greater Weapon Specialization: Bow
15th - Iron Will
15th - Scribe Scroll
17th - Blinding Critical
19th - Extra Rage or Extra Rage Power: Auspicious Mark

The character has all kinds of role-playing potential (being adopted by elves explains both the flair with archery and the eventual interest in magic) and I put together a detailed background for her, though no doubt you'll want to make the build your own if you decide to run it... At 1st level you'll have 20 rounds of Rage which goes up to 22 at 2nd level. I've found that, playing smart, that's usually more than enough for 3-5 encounters a day which would be a reasonable expectation for most groups. To give an idea of the character's potency at range, at 13th level (for instance), the standard attack bonus would be +21(x2)/+21/+16/+11 resulting in 1d8+16 damage per attack. Now keep in mind that that's without a single magic item. Throw in a +2 Flaming Composite Bow, Gloves of Dueling, a Belt of Dexterity, maybe a nice Haste spell from your Summoner, etc. - all of that would dramatically rachet up both attack bonus and damage.

If you have any questions at all about the build, just let me know in mail or in this thread. Whatever you end up playing I'll be interested in hearing how it goes - its a hell of a campaign.

Loving all of this feedback. It's pretty clear: I need to make a character with some ranged damage potential, and I'm always one for versatility so I'm thinking ranger: switch hitter. I would love any more advice you guys have to offer in the new thread I just posted.

Sidenote: Wiggz, thanks for that build. Seems very strong, and I actually bookmarked it for future use. Thank you!