If you use the traits systems then a lot of things can become class skills. Enchantment spells can also fill any voids there. I would back up the infernal bloodline as diplomacy is probably the most important for a party face. If there's another bloodline you like there is the cross-blooded archetype. It kind've sounds like you need a battlefield controller right now. The shaman can handle some of that stuff but other than that you really have three front-line fighters. Mesmerist may not be able to cover everything. Bard would be the best bet but there are many archetypes you could do. The archaeologist archetype completely dumps performance for rogue talents for example. I hope you figure it out. Also, I hope it isn't too late. I've been trying to look for posts no one has answered.
Normally your options other than Bard or Skald wouldn't be so good for this, but you have 25 points to play with, and spending them for a measly further increase in your primary spellcasting attribute isn't so great, so you can good use of pumping Intelligence after Charisma as a Sorcerer (even without using the Sage Wildblooded Bloodline), or you could actually go for an Intelligence-based caster (high skill ranks due to Intelligence modifier) and pump Charisma after Intelligence. Arcanist and some builds of sychic(*) classes (including some builds of Psychic itself) actually get some use out of this for class abilities.
(*)Technically, psychic is't arcane, but the spell lists have substantial overlap, so it might work anyway, especially since psychic spellcasting has no verbal or somatic components, so it is good for hard-to-detect spellcasting in social situations. Also keep in mind that your party already has arcane spellcasting partially covered by the Magus, and depending upon choice of Spirit, Shaman can even snag some arcane spells and potentially even make Scrolls out of them.
Witches gain intimidate. Traits can help snag another class skill but they are also intelligence based so it'd be pretty handy. I second the use of the sage bloodline.
There's a couple of ways to make a face which uses intelligence more than charisma, which in turn can make your wizard or witch a good face.
Student of Philosophy makes a couple of the common uses of diplomacy and bluff use Int rather than Cha.
Orator covers the other main uses by making them use linguistics instead. Linguistics is int-based.
Or you could play an arcanist which splits its stats between int and cha, or a human sorcerer who just doesn't have any skills other than talking.
|
I was going to say wizard or Sage sorcerer would be my suggestion, but I couldn't remember the name of the trait to use int for diplomacy and bluff. But avr's got it with student of philosophy. There's also the clever wordplay trait if you just want diplomacy, but diplomacy and bluff is a better trait. You can still be pretty good at intimidate even without the charisma bonus just by virtue of having so many skill points. And frankly, the intimidate DCs aren't usually too high anyways. With 25 point buy, it should be no problem to have 7 skill points a level, enough to be good at social skills and a bunch of other things too.
Also, enchanters get pretty decent bonuses to all the social skill.
You could play an Arcanist of the School Savant archetype to pick up the Enchantment school, and the skill bonuses that go with it. It would get other benefits from having a moderate-to-high Charisma that could work out nicely.
Why not just go with Bard?
|
|
Why not just go with Bard?
I know someone will recommend bard, but the campaign we just finished had a very well built bard played by the (now) DM of the new campaign, so I'd rather avoid it.
Bard is the natural choice, but if you want to do something other than bard, these are the some of the best alternatives.
A Charismatic character will also be good at Use Magic Device, so they can fill arcane holes that way too.
Why not just go with Bard?I know someone will recommend bard, but the campaign we just finished had a very well built bard played by the (now) DM of the new campaign, so I'd rather avoid it.Bard is the natural choice, but if you want to do something other than bard, these are the some of the best alternatives.
I have no idea how I totally failed to read that sentence....
|
|
You know, I didn't want to suggest psychic just because I'm not as familiar with the class and it's spell list. But looking through, I'm having a hard time thinking of key arcane spell that it doesn't get access to.
And a psychic with the rapport psychic discipline could be pretty useful in social situations at high level. By giving her bonus on an int or cha based skill to everyone in the team, you can make sure even the cha 5 dwarf can lie effectively if being questioned directly.
And don't forget that Ironclad Logic feat from Ultimate Intrigue. It is a must for Int based characters who specialize in Diplomacy.
^The Magus could cover some of that stuff -- of the list above, Magi have Glitterdust and Aqueous Orb, but not Create Pit (and you don't want to blow Magus Arcana on Spell Blending unless the spells you get are going to be real go-to spells). Would need to create a more comprehensive list to see if it the combination of Psychic and Magus can cover enough -- maybe not, because Magus is rather lacking in battlefield control spells (they have a few but quite noticeably less than Sorcerer/Wizard). On the other hand, later on Psychic gets some pretty brutal battle-altering stuff that Arcanist/Sorcerer/Witch/Wizard DON'T get, so if you can tough it out for the first few levels, it might pay off -- especially if you need a lot of surreptitious casting and don't want to invest in Silent Spell + Still Spell. A potential compromise, if you are willing to invst some of your 25 ability score points in Intelligence for skill points, is to go with Psychic Bloodline Sorcerer (which should really be an archetype instead of a normal Bloodline), which gets some normally Psychic-only spells as bonus spells (and eventually gets Undercasting), and also has the potential to get any spell on the Sorcerer/Wizard list (hello Create Pit!).
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
^The Magus could cover some of that stuff -- of the list above, Magi have Glitterdust and Aqueous Orb, but not Create Pit (and you don't want to blow Magus Arcana on Spell Blending unless the spells you get are going to be real go-to spells). Would need to create a more comprehensive list to see if it the combination of Psychic and Magus can cover enough -- maybe not, because Magus is rather lacking in battlefield control spells
Well, aside from a decent amount of no-SR spells, a Magus can deal with golems by slicing them up. The Bladebound archetype can bypass adamantine DR for free at level 5, alignment-based DR at level 9.
BFC is a matter of level. The Magus does get BFC spells like web, stinking cloud, wind wall, solid fog, black tentacles, and wall of ice / force / stone. Of course he doesn't get 7th level spells, but I'm not sure what BFC you're really missing there?
^I don't remember all of the misses in the Magus spell list off the top of my head (and I am limited to using only a phone for the next week, so a comprehensive search is a pain during that time), but for starters, the Create Pit series of spells is missing, as is Confusion and the Hold Person/Halt Undead/Hold Monster series.
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
Missing a handful of spells doesn't mean the class is "rather lacking". Rather, it makes the Magus "good, but not the best" at battlefield control.
Besides, you can use the Spell Blending arcana or the Puppetmaster or Mind Blade archetypes to pick up these spells, or use the Hexcrafter's Slumber hex instead of the Hold Person series.
^Not saying that the Magus is bad oveall, just that battlefield control isn't its strength, unless you go for something offbeat like a Hexcrafter Magus with Whip Mastery or a Puppetmaster, and I was assuming from the original post that the Magus was a vanilla Magus.
|
I think the bigger limitation for the Magus is its a 6th level caster so it makes it harder to keep the dcs high enough. This problem becomes worse when you also need to keep physical stats high to be melee competent. Hexes are the best bet as stated above because they don't cut in to your spells per day and have scaling dcs.
You could get some value out of frigid touch + archery to deny full round actions. I'm sure their are better combos but this one was the first that came to mind.
Of course, that all depends upon what the Magus player plans to do. If I understand correctly, the Magus player ISN'T the original poster who wants to make the Arcane Face, but an existing player that the original poster needs to build around..