Hey everyone,
So Skull& Shackles has concluded and my group is chomping at the bit for the next campaign, now it was going to be Wrath of the Righteous, but we have a new GM coming in and Gothic Horror is his thing and via votes from the group we will be playing Carrion Crown.... now what do I play?
I have played a monk (CoT), a spellcastery druid (JR), and a tanky invulnerable rager (S&S)
the group will be 5-6 players
Currently it looks like:
Undead Scourge Paladin (tanky)
Dhamphir Inquisitor (damagey)
gnome spiritualist investigator (no idea)
and maybe a summoner. (tank or damage is guess)
the remaining player was thinking sorcerer but is now not sure.
I originally was thinking the Occultist but my new GM would rather not deal with playtest stuff, understandable consideration.
so I am clueless, I was thinking ranged, support, skilled something like that. Which lead me to the alchemist (although for carrion crown it feels like I should be wielding a crossbow instead of a bow... even though they are terrible)
obviously we are light on healers so I figured alchemist would work... I had been thinking about bards or oracles but if the sorcerer is in play I feel there is a lot charisma in the group and int and wis based characters might be needed.
Thoughts? no spoilers? I am willing to entertain most ideas.
When inplayed in Wrath of the Righteous, I played a twist on a cleric archetype: Fiendish Vessel. Instead of fiendish, it was celestial (required GM permission). I was NG with a pseudo-dragon familiar. T didn't work as wel as I'd like in WotR because everything was immune to poison for my pseudodragon sting ability, but I could see it working really well in Carrion Crown.
Especially since the channel ability changes; instead of 1d6, its 1d4, but it heals all good AND harms all evil (no effect on neutral). Makes for a great test of which potential bad guys are evil.
I was thinking ranged, support, skilled something like that. Which lead me to the alchemist ...
An alchemist is an excellent choice for Carrion Crown. Having one in the party will help everyone connect to the AP’s themes and settings.
The Chirurgeon archetype and Infusion discovery will give you access to Breath of Life and allow you to use Lesser Restoration and other key spells on other party members. That minimal investment will still let you blow things up real good. Healing after combat can be handled by the paladin or inquisitor with a wand.
Alternately, you could be a positive-channeling Cleric of Pharasma with the Repose domain. Any of her domains would be fine for your second (Healing, Knowledge, a undead-unfriendly version of Death and, surprisingly useful, Water), or you could lose your second domain and take the Evangelist archetype, which would let you hand out bard bonuses to your group.
Ustalav has a strictly Pharasman state religion; having a Pharasman cleric in the party will give you a lot of roleplaying advantages as well as mechanical ones.
Have fun!
A bard can cover knowledges well enough to fake being int-based. Inspire Courage is certainly useful to a group which will be quite large once the summoner gets going.
Alternately a witch is intelligence-based and can do support with both buffs and debuffs. A large group should be able to keep a witch away from the front lines, which covers their weakness on defence.
I love Carrion Crown...my favorite AP I have played so far, currently 7th level just starting 3rd book. I am also playing an Alchemist (Ratfolk) and love it.
Pharasma plays heavily into the story, especially initially, so a Pharasma aligned Cleric or Inquisitor would be thematically sweet.
I also would consider a Bard or Undead Hunter Ranger.
One of my characters was a Sandman Bard ad he did well for quite a while. No spoilers, but I recommend someone with lots of Diplomacy.
Some great info here thanks everyone
Clerics have an unusually shiny place in the first adventure, and will be good throughout the campaign.
Alchemists have wonderful flavor.
bard would make a great addition considering how melee heavy you are. inspire courage, heroism/hastes work wonders for buffs. and dont forget that only about 40% of enemies in CC will be undead, there are a tonne of aberations and humanoids as well. so bards illusion/enchantment spells will be more effective than I think most people give them credit for.
*EDIT*
a dirge bard archtype can effect undead creatures with their enchantment spells, and gains +4 to save vs energy drain effects which is kind of a staple of the undead campaigns.
As a person that was preparing to run his share of CC I'd say - try to talk the pally person out of it. Or to take some archetype that will take out the fear immunity. I felt like having someone that's not subject to fear effects breaks the mood.
Both a bard and an alchemist (one relying more on his creation and not common weaponry) would fit well with the theme. Some standard fighty person would be nice as well, but rather swashbuckler or even standard fighter than paladin. A channeling/healing oriented cleric will shine like a bright star of hope throughout and Id recommend a milanite than pharazmin one for the feel of it. Meanwhile a warpriest might fill in onstead of a paladin for the tanky/holy bit without breaking the scare.
Just my thoughts.
You have the investigator for skills and alchemy, a Paladin, an inquisitor to deal damage and a summoner for a lot of fun things.
You will face quite a few undead in the beginning, and some will be hard to counter as a paladin etc.
But a channel focused cleric can. Dreamteam wise an aasimar Evangelist cleric with the glory domain. You can later the force channel feats.
And our team
2 clerics, Paladin, investigator, and magus has no alchemist and is quite happy. Apart from the fact we have THIS magus in our team!