Forge of Combat - classification?

[Dunkelzahn]

I recently found this neat guide called The Forge of Combat.
I liked the author's thoughts and was wondering if a 3 player party based on this would be viable. Competent players and coordinated and well optimized builds assumed, could you make it from 1 to 20?
With that in mind I was hoping people here could share their thoughts on which classes would make good anvils/arms/hammers. Thanks!

[vorpaljesus]

If you only have 3 party members, you'll want to have two, or better Yet all three be able to fill two or more roles. One way to make it easier is to pick a class with a full animal companion. But I'm not a huge fan of pets in general.
To me, the inquisitor would be great for such a party. Capable of handling lots of skills, tracking, etc. they also excel at filling multiple forge roles. They can easily be your primary hammer (archer inquisitor would be great for this). They have plenty of good buffs, and some decent offensive spells. Comba intimidation for the melee inquisitor will also help them fill the anvil role some of the time.
A reach cleric can be a great arm and secondary hammer.
A wizard is always nice to have around for all kinda of things. They can lay down battlefield control and throw around a few blasts if need be (anvil/hammer).
Witch wouldn't be a bad third member, being great a debuffing, with access to healing spells and lots of SoS spells to take advantage of the various penalties laid down by the inquisitor, who, built correctly can be putting creatures at -4 to -6 on saves within a couple rounds.

[Orfamay Quest]

Dunkelzahn wrote:

I recently found this neat guide called The Forge of Combat.

I liked the author's thoughts and was wondering if a 3 player party based on this would be viable. Competent players and coordinated and well optimized builds assumed, could you make it from 1 to 20?

Probably not. No redundancy. A single failed save or high-multiplier critical and your hammer goes down, which is not a recipe for long life for your anvil and arm. Even a bad tactical position -- getting surprised with the arm in front and the hammer in back -- would be bad.

That said, you could probably make it a reasonable length of time before the law of the long tail caught up to you. As Joe said to Willie, "I feel like a fugitive from th'law of averages."

[Dunkelzahn]

Thanks!

@vorpaljesus, I'm no familiar with the inquisitor. Guess it's worth checking out.

@Orfamay Quest, I guess with just three players resiliency against bad luck streaks is a lot lower. I was hoping that the higher gp value might help out with this. If modules are written for 4-5 players we should end up with 33-66% higher equipment value.

[Magda Luckbender]

With only three players and three PCs, I'd go crazy with pets.

A sylvan sorcerer with basic martial competence and a full animal companion provides both arcane power and a defensive screen. Your anvil. Doubles as face.

Some sort of divine caster. Paladin-Oracle-Cleric-Inquisitor. Front line combatant with support magic. Any of these can easily have a full animal companion. Each can play either arm or hammer roles, with varying degrees of success. Evangelist cleric sneaks in Inspire Courage.

A dedicated combat specialist. This could be a full archer Fighter. A Zen Archer monk would work. A Ranger, Cavalier, or an an archer Paladin (not an exhaustive list) all come with an Animal Companion. Your dedicated hammer.

Some teamwork feats might help immensely, especially with the available menagerie. For example, perhaps the sylvan sorcerer rides an axe-beak, wields a longspear, and both learn the Paired Opportunists teamwork feat.

One of the animal companions might be a bodyguard specialist, able to use In Harms Way to save a wounded ally.