Reign of Winter Character Advice

So I've got a chance at another game, since several I've had seen to be falling apart. This game is, of course, Reign of Winter, but there are a few odd things about it. One is that there will be 6 character, 4 that fit the usual setup of 1 melee, 1 skill monkey, 1 arcane, 1 "healer", and then 2 that he just thinks are cool.

I'm thinking that I either want to play a hexcrafter magus, a witch, or an alchemist. So far, the points are 10, 12, 12, 7, 15, 15. I have an additional 16 points to take this point buy to a total of a 30 point buy.

3 total trait with one being campaign. I also get a bonus story feat, that I must weave into my character concept. Any race allowed. So...that being said, what're peoples thoughts?

The PbP I'm running now has a Half-Orc alchemist in the party which is great. Mainly because there is an Elf Alchemist resident to the beginning town. Had LOTS of RP goodness out of that.

I'm thinking that the alchemist could be a great deal of fun, then. Just thinking, though, and wondering if it might be worth it, instead, to do a bard, since there isn't one at all in the group, and I think it could very nicely fill an empty role. My question for you would be, which of the two would you suggest? Also, any particular archetype? Or race?

Personally? I like the straight up Alchemist. Alchemist can buff people up pretty well already by making potions/extracts and using a couple discoveries.

Bard could be fun with the Daredevil archetype!

But Alchemist is more fun to me. A half elf or elf one would be very apropos storywise as an apprentice to the town's resident alchemist.

Yeah...it looks like someone already beat me to it, and with a dang strong showing. I'm thinking bard will be my best bet here. I'll have to look at the daredevil archetype.

Having looked, I don't think the daredevil archetype would work too well. I am thinking, now, either a vanilla bard (of some race), a savage skald, or maybe an undine watersinger. Thoughts?

I'll have to look over those...not too familiar with the Bard archetypes.

Reign of winter ends up dropping some pretty nice gish and full caster gear along the way. Also assuming that your DM uses traits I suggest picking u the cold resistance one. I am running that campaign and cold resistance is amazing in it. I would honestly probably go with either the magus or the witch. However, if you went the witch then you would want to avoid the winter witch archetype and prestige class no matter how fitting it seems.

@Pendin: Skald gives you what amounts to a Aid when you score a critical. Of course, you have to end other performances if you want to start it, but you lose fascinate. You can also force a character into a rage, at 6th level, like the spell, and you lose suggestion. At 10th level, you replace jack of all trades with an effect that mimics the Horn of Valhalla magical item. At 12th you can grant one character DR5/-, which replaces soothing performance. And at 18th level, it allows his allies within 30 feet to get the advantage of the rage ability.

Watersinger is a lot more expansive, and I'll link to it. watersinger

@Panda: I'm thinking now that I may do a bard, since there are a good deal of magus and witch suggestions, and not a single bard.

I would recomend staying away from the watersinger as it takes away some good stuff for being able to burn your bardic performance to control water, of which you will not be near any. Also it is only available to undine which your dm may not allow due to it being a more powerful race than normal.

Yeah, I'm thinking savage skald would be very fitting at this point. Now I just have to create the fluff. I'm also trying to decide on a story feat & a campaign that would fit for a character like this. Thoughts?

Also, what would the build be like?

Depends...do you want to be 'the guy' or "THE GUY". Bard is very good at the former, but not the latter. You will be making the other guy "THE GUY." :)

Also how does the GM plan to run the wealth level? What about item crafting? If you are going to be poor with low wealth and minimal crafting then I'd give the Bladebound Hexcrafter a look.

I notice no one has mentioned the witch. Half Orc witch doctor has the goodness of full caster progression, Su witch treats and Con as a primary stat to offset squishyness. Plus you get Falchion/Greataxe proficiency so you can coup de grace the mob you slumber hex. Yes you can use them without the proficiency but thematically it is a better fit.

@ Rerednaw: Honestly, I know I won't be "THE GUY" but when the group runs into a diplomatic situation or something with knowledge, I feel like it'll be good to be that person. So I think that bard is the one I'm going with. I think, though, it may be skald or the watersinger.

@Panda: I just realized the 0 level spell the watersinger gets is Create Water. Not hard to get a heck of a lot of water.

For the campaign trait I would recommend Northern ancestry for the cold resistance, as not only do a lot of thing in this throw cold at you, but it makes you immune to the checks against cold weather.

That round that you use for create water is a round you spend not being useful just so that you can set up a mediocre ability.

@Panda: Ok, so Northern Ancestry then. Do you think the savage skald is a good investment without losing too much?

So I think the race choice is going to be kitsune, just because it's so ironic. :)

The savage skald seems to be worth it to me. Pick up a weapon that has a high crit range and you will be having a good time. I would probably suggest a scimitar with weapon finesse and then piranha strike, followed by some crit feats and whatever else seems cool.

Sounds good to me. Now, since I am starting with 1 feat and a story feat, which would you say? Also, what would two other traits would you suggest?

Lastly, what should the stats be sitting at?

I misspoke when i said piranha strike it is actually dervish dance that you want, with your other option being picking up the agile enchantment instead of dervish dance. Either way you would want your first feat to be weapon finesse For a 20 point buy an array of 12,16,13,10,10,14 would be a good starting point. As for traits that is much more up to your backstory and what type of person you want your character to be but for a little help deciding this https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dVQA-uI740Hh8vq-zsnbHV6UwJg-4QKlpmkxBEm CdhA/edit?pli=1 might be useful.

So I have an update. Apparently because of high rolls, I have those rolls I posted up top plus however much it takes to get me to a 30 point buy. I think I definitely want to take the Northern Ancestry campaign trait. The others I'm not sure about.

But because of permission from the DM, I'm allowed to play a kitsune. I'm also allowed to take the True Love story feat, which is great.

To reflect he's been hiding as Ulfen his whole life, I'm taking the Adopted (Human) trait and thinking of an Ulfen specific trait. The last one is definitely up in the air.

So, either an agile enchantment or dervish dance. We wanna start with Weapon Finesse. :) This is proving to be a really solid character.

I'll be honest, though, the Realistic Likeness and Magical Tail feats are very hard to pass up.

I can see this character having some tough choices to make.

However, if you went the witch then you would want to avoid the winter witch archetype and prestige class no matter how fitting it seems.

How come?