What PC types work this AP?

[Mr. Hunter]

Are physically focused (melee and/or martial) PCs screwed in this AP? The Guide hints that those unaware of the occult side of things would be fun but do the mechanics require Call of Cthulhu levels of research and lore knowledge to survive? Would someone like a street brawler with average mental stats work or are they going to be bored and all too often neutralized by fear and mental effects?

Just trying to get a grip on this AP. I’ve played a lot of CoC but you don’t usually have to fight the Eldritch horrors in that game.

[Path>Starfinder]

I am halfway through the AP as a player. Monster knowledge checks and research are important but even the fighter and brawler have access to Knowledge Dungeoneering (?third most important knowledge skill). They probably won’t max it out and will have crap Intelligence but they can contribute with it. Is there a brawler archetype with more skill points?

You could play the AP with no Knowledge skills but combat will be harder and getting through the story will take longer in-game because of your poor research abilities. You don’t need a dedicated Knowledge star but ideally two or three PCs would have two Knowledge skills each even if they are not high Int, maximum ranks. Everyone should take at least one Knowledge and the group should try to divide them up and possibly double up on a few.

As you said, Will saves are important. Our barbarian and fighter take turns failing them, hopefully a divine caster can boost saves preemptively or remove the condition in-combat so they don’t have to sit out. Our cleric and paladin use some combination of Protection from Evil, Bless, Prayer, Magic Circle against Evil, and Remove Fear in almost every combat. I haven’t though to use Dispel Magic but I should try that too.

Look at the Player’s guide for campaign traits to help with skills and research in addition to the traits that boost Will saves, there are some good ones. Talk to your group about a teamwork feat to help also.

[Mr. Hunter]

So then I’m assuming that we won’t just be fighting cultists by alien horrors as well. In which case fisticuffs won’t be of much use...

[Path>Starfinder]

Dealing damage is still necessary. We wouldn’t survive without the damage output from the barbarian and fighter. But knowing what kind of damage you need is helpful, as is knowing what they will be using against you.

[Sandal Fury]

In Pathfinder, you can't look at Lovecraftian horrors the same way you would in a Call of Cthulhu (or similar) game. In CoC, you're a mild-mannered desk clerk in over his head who needs to run from monstrosities that shouldn't exist. In Pathfinder, you're a badass, and they're just particularly nasty bad guys. All you need to keep from crumbling into a gibbering madman is a halfway decent will save.

[Haldrick]

All adventure paths need the ability to win combat. The point is that the party has skills+arcane/divine magic+combat ability. Not that every character can do all of them.

Will saves for martial characters are often an issue. This AP is no different in that respect.

[Tali Wah]

The Barbarian in the party I run has failed at least 5 saves vs confusion, and she is a human with Superstition. Three Party Members have been almost killed by her confusion.

So yeah, will saves will be an issue.

Contrast that with her doing about about half the party's damage, though. :)

[Daeryon]

All in all like any adventure you should have a well balanced party.
Here's how the classes I've run through the first two chapters did:

Cleric of Irori - This guy has performed the best, and helped his party the most.
Nature Oracle - Did well, not stellar but well.
Swashbuckler - Though not the AP I would have picked for one, this character made the most of it and was very successful (and had a mean dice hand).
Rogue - Was very handy in the asylum. Not so much once you leave.
Occultist - This class was born to play this AP.
Bard - Was not very handy, but to be fair was not played well.
Fighter - Was a very sucessful blender when needed.
Hunter - Possibly the most surprising, expected this character to be next to useless but has turned out to be very sucessful so far.

The only concerns I would have would be:
Paladin - There's some dicey stuff in the AP, you'd have to have a DM that wasn't all "You can't even look at the Necronomicon without falling".
Animal companions - You have to be careful about what is chosen, I had to talk the Hunter out of his first choice as it would have been useless for the first 4 levels.

[N'wah]

I've played through Straeons (the curious can check out the journal here- it's two entries from completion, so it's a nearly-complete record of a five-person team running through the whole AP), and I can definitely back the folks who point out that Will saves are CRUCIAL in this AP.

Our group consisted of:

* A LN dwarf cleric of Dranngvit with an archetype that replaced channeling with witch hexes, who prepped a ton of defensive/curative/restorative magic and later focused on dispelling
* A CG gnome arcane duelist bard with that Desnan feat that lets you use Cha for attack and damage with a starknife, who was one of our main frontliners (plus regular combat buffs and tactical positioners)
* A NG half-elf unchained rogue/unchained barbarian who did TWF rapier-and-dagger and used rogue talent debuffs to great effect
* A CG tiefling spiritualist- the character's build changed during play, but their primary role was secondary support and later part of the front-line team
* Me, a N human Elder Mythos scolar Void specialist wizard, using a lot of debuffs and regular AoE spells, plus some support

This was the first AP I'd played in or run with no full-BAB characters, which was unnecessary in this case since we had so much buff and debuff potential- so much so, in fact, that our bard's player coined a nickname for the team: Team Merciless Debuff.

Will saves were prominent, and as would be expected, our cleric shone as a bastion of successful saves there with no little investment. I came second, combining a decent Wisdom with a good base save and lots of in-campaign and spell-based boosts (by the end I could pull a +33 against spell or spell-like mind-affecting stuff from non-Mythos sources, which is basically an auto-success unless I rolled a 1- and had a couple re-rolls to help out if needed).

Another obvious thing is the need to make Research checks, and for that, Knowledge-focused PCs are invaluable. I quickly filled that role as the wizard, though I also had some of the others to help out with Aid Another (which is doubly useful to keep players from getting bored when things went into Research mode- get the group involved and no one has to twiddle their thumbs).

Oh, and access to lots of freedom of movement spells is a strong recommend. Tons of stuff in the AP get grabby, and many of them are going to be way better at CMB grappling than any PC could ever hope to be, particularly late-game.

[gustavo iglesias]

Path>Starfinder wrote:

Dealing damage is still necessary. We wouldn’t survive without the damage output from the barbarian and fighter. But knowing what kind of damage you need is helpful, as is knowing what they will be using against you.

Or maybe you could, if barbarian and fighter are replaced by, say inquisitor and magus.

Not all characters need to have investigating skills. But it never hurts, and if you like to be involved, having something to do outside of conbat important in this AP

[MerlinCross]

"Halfway decent Will Save"

>Be me.
>Pick Alchemist.

Well now this could be bad. But I've used traits pretty well so I have a +3 Will save at level 1.

[Haldrick]

gustavo iglesias

Quote:

Or maybe you could, if barbarian and fighter are replaced by, say inquisitor and magus.

Not all characters need to have investigating skills. But it never hurts, and if you like to be involved, having something to do outside of combat important in this AP

I have a serious love of the inquisitor, however you do need to understand their limitations:

Bane is only rounds per level (and does require you to identify what you are fighting
Judgement lasts until combat ends, so cannot be put up before.

Both are swift actions so often you cannot put up both at the same time

They have limitations as a parties only/main front liner

[Mystic_Snowfang]

As long as you shore up your will saves.

Well I kinda broke and de-fanged the horror with my Kinetisist.

Started when I

Spoiler:

One shotted a serial killer in book one

.
From there the horror has been pretty much for everything that's run into us.

Our party consists of
A grapple-monster Tank
A dragon riding Paladin
A wizard (who is supposed to be a support wizard, but doesn't do any supporting and does a lot of running away)
A slayer who kills undead (and can now off anything that our grappler has pinned)
And a telekinetic kitsune who as trivialized more than one encounter. Including several epic boss fights. Not to mention a few other tricks up her sleeve and a bluff that's higher than it really has any business being for a damage-monster and being able to take the form of any individual she's met.

More spoilers.

Spoiler:

We run into the boss at the end of, I think it was book 1. And she was fireballed and then crushed in two turns.