Adding more members to Stormblades

[trepelano]

I am running this campaign with the suggested 6 players (plus an occasional 7th) and the Stormblades seem a bit underwhelming when stacked against the PCs.

I am thinking this NPC party would do well to have additional members to match the player's party size.

The question is, what would be good additions to the Stormblades - not just from a party balance perspective, but also from a personality mix perspective.

I am sure everyone here has their own take on what other characters would be good additions, so I will start by posting my own ideas.

First off, I don't think adding another bard or ranger would be a good idea. Other classes that seem obviously ill-suited for the group (for personality reasons) are barbarian, druid, and paladin.

The party seems to be lacking in the arcane magic department, but I don't think a full-blown wizard would be a good fit with the current group dynamic. It's not easy to explain, but the Stormblades just don't seem to be the right group for a wizard, especially at higher levels.

A cleric (other than Zachary) might work. Maybe a Wizard/Cleric multiclassed (Wee Jas?). Could go the Mystic Theurge route, I suppose - but this might still be a bad fit for the party's personalities.

A second fighter - tank-style would be a great asset. I am concerned, however,that it would take something away from Cora.

I am keen on a sorcerer, perhaps slightly multiclassed. I kind of like a sorcerer/rogue combo which could be quite different than Todd's rogue character. Maybe a bit of arcane trickster or shadowdancer at higher levels?

At first I thought monk would be a bad fit, but the more I think about it, the more I like this option. Obviously, this character would need a personality that goes along with the rest of the group (LN), but I can see this happening. I imagine a rather narcissistic overachiever who strives for physical and mental "perfection".

Of course, I suppose I could get funky and use a psionic class - but I havne't really considered adding that set of rules to the game.

I would love to hear what others think about adding extra members to the Stormblades - and what they think would make for good members to the group.

[Frank Steven Gimenez]

I believe that a Marshal would be very appropriate.

[zoroaster100]

I like the idea of an aristrocrat 1/sorcerer X/rogue Y/arcane trickster Z multiclass character to add more arcane magic to the Stormblades. I would make this additional member be a younger sibling of one of the original four Stormblades, maybe Zachary's little sister? It should be someone who is also nobility or close to it, and it's probably too much to add yet another powerful family to the mix, so a brother or sister seems to work best.

[Chef's Slaad]

The easiest fix would be to add a few levels to the stormblades. The book even has progressions for each of tghe characters. The monk and arcane trikster work well too. just remember to add a few levels of aristocrat.

[trepelano]

I thought about bumping up the levels, but I didn't like the idea of the Stormblades being higher level than the party.

I think I will go with the monk and the arcane trickster.

The monk will be Annah's twin brother, Andre - a self-obsessed, overachieving perfectionist with a winning smile. He and Cora will have had a past relationship, though both eventually found the other failing to live up to their expectations. (LN)

The arcane trickster (sorcerer/rogue) will be Zachary's younger sister, Emerilyn. She is the only member who really likes Todd on a personal level, but she has a crush of Andre. Unfortunately, she is nowhere near the physical perfection that Andre expects of the women he sees. (CN)

[trepelano]

Heh,

Why do am starting to feel like the Stormblades should have their own WB show?