PFS: Duo Suggestions


Advice

Scarab Sages

My partner and I are both keen roleplayers, and whilst I've played Pathfinder before, she hasn't.

We're looking for ideas for a pair of characters to use in the Pathfinder Society that would compliment each other. In other systems, she's favoured rather direct characters who deal large amounts of damage, and my personal preference is for support / skills characters having tended to play bards, rangers and paladins previously.


Barbarian and bard heavy metal duo?


Maybe a two-handed weapon paladin or warpriest and an inquisitor of the same deity? You're the skills guy as the inquisitor, with decent skills across the board - they're close to the bard or ranger you're familiar with. Paladins can be powerful beatsticks if built properly.

Silver Crusade

Ranger (Damage, and Skills)
Bard (Support, and Skills)

Both have some healing. Both have skills however they are different type of skills. With the right build one of them could handle traps. For the ranger it's a archetype. For the bard it's an archetype, or a trait and a 2nd level spell. With you running them as a team. It opens up a lot of options that normally are not as good.


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Not an original idea but you could play a very effective pair of demon slayers with this setup:

Paladin with a scythe and Power Attack is the damage factory
Ranger with 2 kukris and Butterfly's Sting passes the criticals over

You need Faiths of Purity to play the Ranger in PFS but if you know they are going to be played together you can delay until the Paladin goes right after the Ranger to set up lots of x4 criticals.


You could play tedious tiefling twins using their racial feats to get the see in darkness ability. Early on you are using your darkness racial to hamper enemies. From level 5 onwards employ deeper darkness to effectively blind many enemies. One of you probably needs to be a cleric for this. Expect people at your table to throw dice at you.


2 barbarians. 2 fighters. 2 rouges or any combination of those 3 classes.

These classes complement each other in melee and Can keep the role playing ball aloft between them. Cavalier is also a good but Slightly more complex choice.

The rouge would of course 2 weapon fight, with a surefire flank buddy the rouge can do a lot of damage.
The rest can go 2 hand or sword & board. Up to your preferences really.

Silver Crusade

I can imagine lots of fun and effective combinations.

Any PFS table will be pleased to see a matched set of PCs show up. You just know they will have good synchronicity and will be more effective in combination than would be two separate PCs.

Perhaps choose a married couple that operates as a team? I've done that a few times and it's worked out well. Make sure you are nearly as loyal to your team as you are to each other.

The particulars are up to you both, but here are some teamwork schticks:

One is a front line combatant while the other hangs back doing something else. Could be Support, Archery, spell casting, whatever.

Both combatatants, but of different sorts. Fafrd and the Grey Mouser. Make good use of Flanking whenever possible.

You have the chance to use Teamwork Feats, which are rare in PFS. For example, you could both use a reach weapon and take the Paired Opportunists feat for defensive excellence. You would have to maintain initiative and movement discipline (e.g. the higher in initiative always delays initiative to just before the other acts) to avoid being separated. Any means you find to generate AoOs (e.g. Broken Wing Gambit) are effectively more-than-doubled. That combination might work well for a Two Handed Weapon Fighter (for big damage) teamed with a Reach Cleric (Evangelist) (fills support role of Bard and Cleric both, does good damage). By middle levels the tactical acumen for PFS groups is typically good enough for this tactic to thrive. Various other teamwork feat combinations are possible, depending on your concepts.

One option that would be very effective, but which I don't recommend at all, is to both have mounts/pets. I recently played a PFS scenario with 6 players that had 11 friendly tokens. Most PCs had a mount or pet, and the team's Enchanter made a few disposable 'friends'. Also, PFS combat often occurs in crowded places where large pets don't fit.


A summoner/Druid/something that gets a really cool beastie and a cavelier/fighter/something that can ride it and be awesome more effectively.

Imagine a summoner with a super high STR pouncing monster eidolon being ridden by a mounted fury barbarian!

Scarab Sages

Teamwork feats look promising, a Cavalier would make a solid choice for my partner, and suggesting the Honour Guard archetype would provide some bonuses to let a support character survive a little longer in melee and maybe the Strategist archetype as well, plus Order of the Dragon.

I'm still undecided on good pairing combinations though, Inquisitor with it's own bonus tactical feats offers one option, or the suggested Reach Cleric is another one.

Skald from the Advance Class Guide offers an intriguing possibility, but would depend on whether Teamwork feats count as an ability that requires concentration.

Summoner or some form of Summoning caster, combined with a Teamwork feat of Precise Strike, summoning a low-level horde might be a nasty combination.

Any other suggestions??


http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/sympathetic-rage-combat-orc-half -orc

I would make two Half-Orcs picking up Sympathetic Rage.

One obviously has to be a Barbarian, the other should be a melee Bard(maybe Savage Scald from APG). Both Rage and get the bonus from Inspire Courage.
Pick up Courageous Weapons for both to increase their double morale boni and go into melee maybe using more teamwork feats.

EDIT: Another possibility would be two mounted Combat characters with Coordinated Charge.

Order of the Staff Cavalier and save or suck caster. The challenge decreases enemy saves, could be enhanced further if the Cavalier takes an intimidate build amd really smashes enemies saves to the ground.

The same can be done with a debuffer witch and a second caster(or two witches).

If the Void School is PFS legal, a Void wizard and a another caster with lots of save or suck spells can get really nasty.

Dark Archive

Lucio wrote:
My partner and I are both keen roleplayers...
Gregory Connolly wrote:
... to set up lots of x4 criticals.

I see what you did there. Also, take teamwork feats. You crit with your rogue-y type. Pass it to her. She crits. You both have Outflank and you get another attack from her critting. You both have Paired Opportunists and she gets another attack from you getting an AoO. Rinse, repeat until whatever needs to be dead is dead.

Liberty's Edge

My partner and I always set up complementary duos to play together. One thing I recommend is that, between you, you have social skills and knowledges covered, as well as one character who is optimized for combat. That will make your groups very likely to succeed in their missions, no matter who shows up to play that night.

If you are considering teamwork feats, the Inquisitor or a Holy Tactician paladin might be good for one of the pair, since they get free teamwork feats.

Bards are fantastic skill/support character, as are inquisitors. A wizard or oracle (depending on the revelation) could also fit nicely into that niche. You might try one of those four!

A barbarian is the classic, easy to play, 'smashes things in the face for vast amounts of damage' class. A vanilla ranger who uses bows is easy to play, and will do excellent amounts of damage in combat, as well as bringing plenty of skills and knowledges to the table. Paladins do good damage and can easily keep themselves alive. They have no skills to speak of, but bring a bit of healing to the table and have a great, built-in roleplay 'hook'. I would recommend one of those three for your partner.

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