Or current campaign is coming to a close at level 20. Sometime in the next month or month and a half we'll be ready to start a new campaign that, while it will be kind of short lived, I have a small problem.
Out of 6 players, 3 will be ranged (Flying Blade Swashbuckler, Inquisitor and Archery Ranger), 1 a cleric healer, 1 a Daring Champion Cavalier and that kinda leaves me to cover the hole in the line up. Which usually is kind of easy for me. But in this case... ugh. I had thought to do a Card Caster/Staff Magus and laugh up my horrible Gambit impersonations, but we need another melee.
So my question to the group is: What melee character is going to mesh with this group of misfits? My first thought was a Freebooter Ranger with Cavalier VMC to be a buff-magnet, but there's hardly anyone to use the flanking bonus so I ditched that. But I'll take any suggestions, and I appreciate in advance any advice you have.
P.S. If at all possible I'd rather be strength based. As it stands we're going to have a whole team of people who couldn't kick in a door with a horse and a running start. But I'm not heart-set on it.
Or current campaign is coming to a close at level 20. Sometime in the next month or month and a half we'll be ready to start a new campaign that, while it will be kind of short lived, I have a small problem.
Out of 6 players, 3 will be ranged (Flying Blade Swashbuckler, Inquisitor and Archery Ranger), 1 a cleric healer, 1 a Daring Champion Cavalier and that kinda leaves me to cover the hole in the line up. Which usually is kind of easy for me. But in this case... ugh. I had thought to do a Card Caster/Staff Magus and laugh up my horrible Gambit impersonations, but we need another melee.
So my question to the group is: What melee character is going to mesh with this group of misfits? My first thought was a Freebooter Ranger with Cavalier VMC to be a buff-magnet, but there's hardly anyone to use the flanking bonus so I ditched that. But I'll take any suggestions, and I appreciate in advance any advice you have.
P.S. If at all possible I'd rather be strength based. As it stands we're going to have a whole team of people who couldn't kick in a door with a horse and a running start. But I'm not heart-set on it.
Melee Druid? You and your Animal Companion and your Summoned critters could provide a good front line, and add some needed spell power as well...
Melee Druid? You and your Animal Companion and your Summoned critters could provide a good front line, and add some needed spell power as well...
Hrm. Nature Fang druid did pop up on my radar at least once.
I'm confused as to the cleric's role in all of this. Your cleric should either be handling buffing or be front-lining. You shouldn't need a character to do both. Even if you concentrate on healing abilities, there's a lot to do during the first couple rounds of combat that are really helpful.
As far as melee types go - you're really more concerned about battlefield control (keeping the baddies off your ranged specialists) so maybe a reach-weapon tripping expert or a master summoner or druid to get a lot of "mobile walls" into play.
If you just want a straight, bash-them-from-up-front then a magus does a fine job of that.
I'm confused as to the cleric's role in all of this. Your cleric should either be handling buffing or be front-lining. You shouldn't need a character to do both. Even if you concentrate on healing abilities, there's a lot to do during the first couple rounds of combat that are really helpful.
As far as melee types go - you're really more concerned about battlefield control (keeping the baddies off your ranged specialists) so maybe a reach-weapon tripping expert or a master summoner or druid to get a lot of "mobile walls" into play.
If you just want a straight, bash-them-from-up-front then a magus does a fine job of that.
I'm not entirely sure what she plans to do specifically with the Cleric yet except she said she wanted to heal. From how she talked I assumed she was leaning towards Eccesitheurge, but she may be playing a vanilla condition-remover cleric. She played one a while ago and would just remove debuffs and conditions from us all and basically make the rotten stuff monsters did not work
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I'd say you need a good arcane caster much more than you need a melee.
I'm not entirely sure what she plans to do specifically with the Cleric yet except she said she wanted to heal. From how she talked I assumed she was leaning towards Eccesitheurge, but she may be playing a vanilla condition-remover cleric. She played one a while ago and would just remove debuffs and conditions from us all and basically make the rotten stuff monsters did not workI'm confused as to the cleric's role in all of this. Your cleric should either be handling buffing or be front-lining. You shouldn't need a character to do both. Even if you concentrate on healing abilities, there's a lot to do during the first couple rounds of combat that are really helpful.
As far as melee types go - you're really more concerned about battlefield control (keeping the baddies off your ranged specialists) so maybe a reach-weapon tripping expert or a master summoner or druid to get a lot of "mobile walls" into play.
If you just want a straight, bash-them-from-up-front then a magus does a fine job of that.
If she's just going the reactive route - there's the first couple rounds of combat where she's not doing anything. May as well buff then.
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You want frontliners and you lack solid arcane casting. Sounds like a conjuring focused wizard would fit well.
Maybe a bard or skald or witch or other buffer? Maybe also get some battlefield control to protect the archers.
With a party of 6 PCs, summoning or having lots of pets could grind combat to a halt. Give the cleric a longspear and have him stand next to the cavalier.
To the GM: Un-nerf the Antagonize feat and use it on them.
Kidding...
How about a White-Haired Witch? They are awesome, and I don't care what any of the threads on these forums say against them. Made properly, they will destroy you.
If you can't beat them join them, create a wall of arrows that will black out the sun.
Or... my recommendation is a vengeance pally, you can boost them and get all the smites you want (assuming this an undead/evil campaign). You have a cleric so all your LoH can go to your smiting and shared smiting.
After all this I'm really liking this idea of a Conjurer Wizard or a Druid. Though even I admit it might bog down combat to spam the place with small armies or summons. But so far that seems to be the best set of options. But I love all the ideas tossed out here. If anyone else has any I'm open and don't have to set anything in stone for a few weeks.
If you go the summoning route, don't summon swarms of enemies. Summon one or two big guys.
Also, having the stats ready for your summoned creatures ahead of time is very time saving.
Obviously, play what you want to play.
But if you do play a druid, summoner wizard, or other summon-heavy character, it really does pay off to have a character sheet ready for every kind of summoned monster you will want to summon. That way, combat will be a lot less of a grind.
Remember, summoners and their ilk take up a lot more table time than other types of characters, so be courteous and respectful of the other players. Maybe try to focus on monsters with one big attack instead of 3 or 5 smaller attacks.
Druids are really fun. They're super versatile and have great class features.
You could always go for a hybrid control/melee character. Like a Guided Hand Unchained Monk 1/ Separatist Cleric of Hei-Feng with Chaos:Protean and Trickery:Deception. Flurry a wisdom-based bad-touch 9-ring broadsword with Aura of Doom and Mirror Image in melee, while having Confusion available. Or a Guided Hand or split ability Warpriest with either the Charm or Glory blessing for ridiculously powerful supernatural protection crossed with Warpriest combat ability.
Are all the characters focusing on ranged combat to the exclusion of all else? Normally this should not the case. Inquisitors usually don’t focus on a single combat style and most of their class abilities work equally well with either ranged or melee combat. Rangers are still a full BAB class with proficiency in martial weapons. Even an archery focused ranger will have a decent STR so he can easily handle melee combat. Once he gets point blank shot at 6th level it does not matter anymore. The flying blade still gets all the bonus when making a melee attack. The daring champion is probably going to have a decent DEX so will also be fairly decent with a bow.
Your party actually sounds like can covers both styles of combat very well. The problem is going to be getting the characters to realize this. Too often players get the idea that they are either melee or ranged and forget they can do both. Just make sure every character has both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon and use them when appropriate.
As several people have said your parties biggest lack is an arcane caster. Between the cleric, inquisitor and the ranger you have plenty of divine magic. Four of your six characters are competent combat classes. You have two skill based characters and two that have ok skills. What you really need is a full arcane caster.
What about a Teleportation Wizard/ Eldritch Knight with Knowledge is Power, a vicious reach weapon, and a fondness for combining applied physics with merciless violence?
Adolphus Crow
Urban Barbarian 1/ Teleportation Wizard 6/ Eldritch Knight 6
Dual Talent Human: 15/17+, 14, 14, 15/17+, 8, 8.
Traits & Drawback: Magical Knack, Bruising Intellect & Wayang Spell Hunter: Unadulterated Loathing. Hedonistic.
Arcane Bond: Hooked Lance.
1UB. *Controlled Rage* / Extra Rage (total: 12/day)
2TW.
3TW. Combat Reflexes
4TW.
5TW. Arcane Armor Training / +Arcane Discovery: Knowledge is Power (+INT to CMB/CMD)
6TW.
7TW. Combat Expertise
8EK. +Improved Trip
9EK. Greater Trip
10EK.
11EK. Persistent Spell
12EK. +Power Attack
13EK. Felling Smash
Weapons: Bonded Hooked Lance - Furious, Fortuitous, Spell Storing, Keen; and Cestus - Furious, Spell Storing. Furious crosses with Greater Magic Weapon for +2 stacked enhancement.
Favorite Spell: Persistent Unadulterated Loathing applied on self, delivered through Spell Storing. If the target fails to save (twice), they are nauseated, and must (futilely) attempt to flee from a teleporting scythe-spear master... for 1 day/level.