With all the time spent in urban environs a rogue would definetly get his fifteen minutes of fame. A paladin would probably have plenty to do durring this campaign, though it would be easy to go overboard and get oneself killed being too goody two shoed. The only thing I see has having a hard time would be a druid, and that's just due to the time spent in cities, as a druid would probably be very handy in plenty of scenes. Infact, in the game I'm running of this campaign we have a druid as our only healer and he's had more than his share of activity.
The Age of Worms is a varied AP and nearly every class could have a go at being the right tool for the right job. That said undead bustin class will fare well, as well as well built fighting types, and wizards(of course). That said, classes that won't do well depends on player skill; in AoW a well built/well run Rogue will outshine a poorly concieved poorly run cleric anyday. Give your noobs the clerics and fighters, leave rest of the classes to your veterans, so long as most charter concepts have some decent fighting skills. Surviving the AoW probably has more to do with party composition than with individual "Class" choice.
I've found that having a ranger in the party helps with tracking and following certain leads. Very helpful.
Each class has its obvious benefits. I've seen a need for certain classes in certain situations with AoW. Some of those "needs" include:
Wizard for knowledge (arcana) checks...
Cleric for turning and knowledge (religion) checks...
Rogue for disabling traps and gather information checks...
Bard for bardic knowledge...
Druid for animal handling, summon nature's ally, and speak with animals...
|
Useful for AoW: Cleric who spontaneously casts cure spells (especially Radiant Servant of Pelor), Paladin (except for 8th adventure), Rangers with Undead as favoured enemy, Wizard with good knowledge skills (Loremaster is useful).
A rogue is especially useful in the 1st and 6th adventures, where traps are abundant and lethal. However since 20% of encounters are against undead, have him take one level of cleric and take the feat that lets you use sneak attack against undead.
A bard is good if you have lots of players. Bardic knowledge is useful and the bard truly shines during the 8th adventure.
The party I'm taking through AoW is
Humand Paladin
Halfling Rogue
Human Fighter
Human Wizard
Dwarf Cleric
Human Monk
They all do pretty well except for the Monk. He has a hard time hitting for some reason (evil dice?). He did do well in Filge's Observatory. The Rogue set off the alarm so the battle was funnelled through the stairs leading up to the observatory. The owl familier helped filge cast spells while staying out of sight. The Monk jump/climbed up the side of the stairwell and got to Filge, cowering him. That's the only time the Monk did anything. I think this has something to do with the player's not knowing how/when to use the Monk. We're working on it <grin>.
Hope that helps.
Kind of like Shackled City, there's a lot to be said for different characters shining in different chapters:
1) The Whispering Cairn - Rogues (for finding all those traps)
2) The Three Faces of Evil - Wizards (they make out like a bandit in the Faceless One's lair, and simple spells can make treacherous routes become trivial)
3) Encounter at Blackwall Keep - Rangers (tracking the lizardmen & prisoners, ranged fighting abounds at the keep siege)
4) Hall of Harsh Reflections - Clerics (not only will the other PCs constantly be getting their asses kicked, but many buffs & divinations come in handy here to foil the dopplegangers)
5) The Champion's Belt - Fighters/Barbarains (you need asskicking, and lots of it)
6) A Gathering of Winds - Wizards (again, lots of vertical distance to traverse, and lots of arcane goodies/traps; Rogues will also find lots of traps to bypass)
7) The Spire of Long Shadows - Clerics (it's a bucket full of undead, and you'll be high enough level to raise your frequently-dying comrades)
8) Prince of Redhand - Paladins, Clerics (sure, they have to turn a blind eye to all the injustices of Zeech, but here Diplomacy skill = teh win)
9) Library of Last Resort - Druids (you can read all the druidic warnings/riddles, and natural surroundings abound)
10) Kings of the Rift - Barbarians/Fighters/Rangers (lots and lots of big meaty things that need killing)
11) Into the Wormcrawl Fissure - Rogues (everything explodes), Fighters (the monsters seem to have lots of magical defenses but not many physical ones)
12) Dawn of a New Age - Clerics/Paladins (gobs & gobs of undead, people to rally, and an endless need for healing), Wizards (did someone say sphere of annihilation?)
|
I agree with Office Ninja in all points except for 'Prince Of Redhand'. I guess this is one of the only adventures in the AP where a bard could really shine (and a rogue with social skills and performance too). But on the other hand i think that bards are maybe the worst character-choice for the AP, until you happen to have a really large group of characters (6+ i'd think). Sure the class is really flexible and can be quite useful in the urban adventures, but it will have a really hard time in all these dungeons. Maybe i'm wrong and there're groups out there that sucessfully include bards in the AP, but i doubt it.
I agree with Office Ninja in all points except for 'Prince Of Redhand'. I guess this is one of the only adventures in the AP where a bard could really shine (and a rogue with social skills and performance too). But on the other hand i think that bards are maybe the worst character-choice for the AP, until you happen to have a really large group of characters (6+ i'd think). Sure the class is really flexible and can be quite useful in the urban adventures, but it will have a really hard time in all these dungeons. Maybe i'm wrong and there're groups out there that sucessfully include bards in the AP, but i doubt it.
My party of 4 has a bard/swashbuckler. So far it has worked fine, but we're only up to EBK. Hard to say what will happen in the nastier dungeon crawls heavy on undead and traps, as the party lacks a rogue. I'm going to give the bard a special magic item when the party trades in the artifact to Tenser, that will give him some extra power vs. undead. I hope it will help. Anyhow, I think the bard will come in handy for all the Free City adventures, at least the way I plan to run them, and quite possibly in the Isle of Last Resort (?) and Kings of the Rift as well--and maybe even in certain encounters Into the Wormcrawl and Gathering of Winds. Diplomatic skills are mighty useful, if you use them the right way.
I agree with Office Ninja in all points except for 'Prince Of Redhand'. I guess this is one of the only adventures in the AP where a bard could really shine (and a rogue with social skills and performance too).
You're right, I completely forgot about bards for some reason. They'd be an even better fit.