We're playing Rise of the Runelords and lost some characters in the misgivings. The survivors are headed into Magnimar now, and it's a pretty good time to introduce new party members. As such, I'm looking for some advice on what kind of character to bring into the new mix. We now have a changeling stygian slayer, a tiefling mysterious stranger gunslinger, and a human rogue. I'm curious as to what would, in your opinion, be a good fourth man in terms of party balance?
Well there's no casters! Any full caster would work.
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I recommend A full caster Divine or Arcane.
With that said I would like to suggest a Witch, White Mage Arcanist (maxed UMD), Evangelist Cleric, or a Shaman.
They all can bring strong things to the group. The strongest would probably be the evangelist Cleric who can be a summoning master and CC the battlefield with his wall spells.
Or he can focus on Enchantment spells as his Spontaneous casting is mostly Enchantment spells. It would be a strong build for this certain AP.
Oracle of Flame.
Thanks everyone, for your great suggestions. I'm noticing a lot of divine casters in the list; are divine casters better than arcane for this ap, or is that simply a matter of having no primary healer?
One of my friends also suggested a Court Bard or Warpriest, as apparently the bard can do a bit of everything, and court bard debuffing would increase the chance of our straight damage dealers, and Warpriest can frontline and heal (though as I understand it, to a much lesser degree than the standard cleric).
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i like how different the rogue human is from the rest of the party. give that guy a medal.
i like how different the rogue human is from the rest of the party. give that guy a medal.
Hahaha, agreed. XD
Hard to fill all those gaps, but this seems like an ideal spot for a full wizard who has UMD and an improved familiar or a mystic theurge.
Running Rise of the Runelords without an arcane caster seems a shame, but your party could probably benefit from a divine caster as well. A Hedge Witch could handle both roles decently well, or perhaps a white mage arcanist?
Early entry Mystic Theurge.
Wizard 2/ Cleric 1/ Mystic Theurge X
Arcane SLA for a lvl2 spell from Race (Half Elf, Tlefling, Variant Aasimar, take your pick)
Divine SLA from Trickery Domain
Cast ALL THE SPELLS.
OK, I'm going to do my utmost not to spoiler anything, though I've run the entire AP and am avidly reading others' accounts.
BUT...
...the lack of any kind of caster will end badly for your party.
And I'm going to agree with what others have said: "If my party is going to have one and only one caster, what should it be?"
I would absolutely go 100% cleric, and convince the rogue to max out UMD and buy scrolls to fill in the arcane utility spells you KNOW you're going to want (Teleport, Mage's Magnificent Mansion, and other essentials...)
cavalier.
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Thanks everyone, for your great suggestions. I'm noticing a lot of divine casters in the list; are divine casters better than arcane for this ap, or is that simply a matter of having no primary healer?
Let's apply the Forge of Combat metaphor of the Arm, Hammer, and Anvil to answer your question.
Arm = Support
Hammer = Inflict HP damage
Anvil = Battlefield Control
The group currently has three hammers. The group has no Arm and no Anvil. Divine casters tend to make very good arms. Arcane casters tend to make the best anvils. Whichever you choose, the group will be without either a primary hammer or anvil. The 'forge' says this:
Groups without Anvils: Groups without anvils typically end up having an overabundance of hammers with one or two members playing the part of arms. These groups typically have fast, furious fights where the group takes a lot of damage. In these situations the arms often take on a reactive role providing healing and buffs as able while the hammers frantically try to end the encounter quickly. Depending on the nature of the hammers this often drains the arms very quickly of resources or forces the hammers into more and more defensive roles draining overall resources more as the group is not ending encounters efficiently enough.
Groups without Arms: Perhaps the most forgiving of the three major imbalances. These groups usually spend more resources than necessary to finish an encounter. When they don’t they exist on a razor’s edge where an enemies passed save or a characters failed save can mean the difference between failure and victory. This is much worse in groups that lack the means to magically heal themselves and are thus forced into shorter adventuring days or burning wealth on tons of cure light wound wands.
So, of the two options, it's easier to do without the anvil. Also, divine casters can make pretty darn good anvils, yet still fill the Arm role with aplomb. E.g. Summon Monster spells. For a group that has no caster at all, it's usually best to get a divine caster first. Because healing. Especially condition removal.
One of my friends also suggested a Court Bard or Warpriest, as apparently the bard can do a bit of everything, and court bard debuffing would increase the chance of our straight damage dealers, and Warpriest can frontline and heal (though as I understand it, to a much lesser degree than the standard cleric).
Those could both be a reasonable choice to fill the Arm role. A Bard acts as a force multiplier for your three allied hammers. Really, though, trying to do Rise of the Rune Lords without a full caster is just not on. The Rune Lords are all full casters, as are many of their minions. Those are both 2/3 caster classes. The plot rather expects the group to have both a divine and an arcane caster. It's not required, but it's a good idea. Perhaps agree within your group that the first to die returns as a caster of the sort you don't choose. Better yet if someone reads ancient Thassilonian.
The above suggestion for Evangelist Cleric was to provide the same force multiplier effect as the bard. An evangelist cleric is the lovechild of a bard and a cleric. They get the best buffs of a bard (e.g Inspire Courage as a bard of the same level), in exchange for less healing power. They fill the Arm role exceptionally well, and also can be quite effective at a secondary role. Magda is an Evangelist Cleric with a secondary role as hammer. In your case, you'd probably want your secondary role to be anvil. A divine caster can fill the anvil role through summoning spells, variant channeling, an animal companion, dazing fireballs, threatening with reach, and many other ways. The biggest weakness of the Evangelist Cleric is very few skill points, and the human rogue probably has that covered.
That would be a strong option, but not necessarily the best option. The best option is whatever you will enjoy the most. Another human rogue, anyone? :-)