Honestly, that party doesnt have a huge amount of actual holes. Of the 4 main roles all 4 are covered to at least some degree.
1. Divine Caster: Oracle is a full caster and can easily fill this role. The new player might need some help choosing spells, but with good choice and some scrolls/wands there is no reason they cant fill the role entirely. The bard can also assist with some healing and lots of buffing.
2. Combat - you have a fighter, a ranger as primary combatants and a bard who can offer support in this role.
3. Arcane casting - this one is the weakest, but the bard is an arcane caster, and can at least keep this role from being completely empty.
4. Skills - you have a ranger (outdoors skills), and a bard (almost everything else). The only thing you lack (depending on what everyone chooses) is someone who could disable magical traps which may or may not be needed in the game depending on the dm and the play style.
All 4 are covered, with arcane casting the least of them but still not vacant. Really you can be anything you want (though i would recommend against a dedicated combatant, and pick instead something with a touch more flexibility.
Here is the current makeup of the new party:
ME- ????
Player1 – Oracle
Player2 – Bard
Player3 – Ranger
Player4 – Fighter Type
Player1 is a newbie to all RPGs
Player2 is a vet
Player 3&4 have never to my knowledge played PFRPG but have played 1e/3/3.5I really don't want to play a mage since I have a 12th level mage in the other PF campaign that is on hold right now.
Thoughts?
There is besides wizard, you could easily add a witch, magus, alchemist or inquisitor into this party
This is a perfectly fine party.
The fact that the bard is a vet is a good thing. Bards can be steered to be wizard stand-ins, especially if he focuses on the enchantment-type spells. Bards also offer plenty of arcane utility.
The oracle is an acceptable cleric stand-in. Even better, the bard and ranger can support healing.
Ranger is a good sneaker and can be very good with perception. You don't need trapfinding to *find* magic traps any more, just disable them.
Fighters are front-line characters.
Sounds like you've got everything you need. . .
Edit: Ohhhh you're asking what should you play. . . reading comprehension fail (:
The only thing the party is lacking is a full arcane caster. . . for the purposes of teleport and such. With the flexibility of the bard, pretty much any non-bard arcane class that has access to teleport would be great.
Perspective 1: You have healing magic from the Oracle, Bard, and Ranger. You have a meleer (presumably). You have skills, utility and buffing galore. What you don't have is much offensive arcane magic (Bard's arcane magic is mostly buffs and enchantments) and trapfinding (unless the Bard is a detective archetype or the ranger an urban ranger).
My solution from this perspective would be to play a rogue-wizard or rogue-sorcerer (whichever arcane class you are not playing in your other game) that levels into Arcane Trickster. Focus on spells that the Bard doesn't have. If the Bard and Ranger are ranged characters I would play a melee character; if the Bard and Ranger are melee characters I would provide ranged support (which an Arcane Trickster can do either fine, though if it doesn't matter, I'd go ranged). Focus on the roguish aspects of the character (even if you take a lot of caster levels) so it won't feel like playing the same mage you're playing in the other campaign.
Perspective 2: You have a very versatile group capable of coming up with a lot of unorthodox solutions to common problems--likely all the moreso since your more experienced player is playing the Bard, the ultimate skillmonkey. And sometimes inexperienced players come up with the coolest solutions to issues because they look at their abilities with fresh eyes and don't just do "what the messageboard guys said I should do." :)
Whatever you play, you will likely be able to fill in some gaps regardless and everyone will find a way to help everyone shine. Anything, from a dedicated tank or holy warrior or trapspringer, could probably get on well with this party. Even if the "classic four" roles are not perfectly filled, you will probably find ways for your party to deal with things.
From this perspective, just play whatever you think is the most fun. As long as you don't completely step on the toes of an existing party members (don't play another Oracle or something) you will probably all be fine. You may have to work hard on establishing party tactics together, but that's by no means a bad thing.
I totally agree wiz/rog or sorc/rog.-
Or paladin or Sorc/Paladin/Dragon Disc.-
you never have nuff paladins.-
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Just a few suggestions.
1 : Melee using a reach weapon. Fighting from behind one of the other charters.
(Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, or Orical of Battle )
2 : Arcane Caster. With a bard in the group this is realy not needed.
(Wizard, Witch, or Sorcerer)
3 : Ranged attacker. Fighting from behind the party.
(Ranger, or Zen Archer Monk)
4 : Combat Rogue. Made for doing sneek attack damage.
(Rogue Swashbuckler, Rogue Thug, or any Rogue)
5 : Wizard/Rogue. Just splashing rogue for two levels. This is a wizard that can do traps.
(Wizard18/Rogue2, Witch18/Rogue2, or Sorerer18/rogue2)
My top pic for the group you have.
Somthing simler to this.
Orical of Battle
Human (15 Point buy)
Str 17
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 7
Cha 14
Feets : Improved Initive, Exta Revelation War Sight,
Revelation : Skill at Arms
Traits : recationary, Birthmark
Weapon : Guisarme (Reach,Trip)2d4 ×3 Or at level 3 pick up.
Exotic Weapon : Fauchard (Reach,Trip) 1D10 18-20/X2
Arcan caster are good. With one major draw back. You have a bard that can do the important parts. You have 2 melee or more types and a bard to back them up. Adding more melee with the bard is never bad. This alows the other Orical to use his spell for other thing then healing. So you have a divine caster that can comand, hold person, and curse. And one divine caster to heal the melee that is right in front of them. This is just my opion.
I ran an Age of Worms game where the party's primary arcane caster was a Bard. Glitterdust, hideous laughter, alter self...he had some good magic going on. Never even missed magic missile and fireball.
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I totally agree wiz/rog or sorc/rog.-
Or paladin or Sorc/Paladin/Dragon Disc.-
you never have nuff paladins.-
I agree 1- Sorc / 4-Paly / 10-Dragon Disc
You really do have the basics covered so you could go crazy and play something off the cuff...
- 1-Rogue / 4-Paly / 10-Shadow Dancer (call it a Shadow Knight)
- 1-Sorc / (?)Monk / 10-Dragon Disc
- Rogue archetype Scout
- Combat Cleric. Self buff domains / spells (cause wounds), you will not get the tag "healer" of the group for sure.
I think every major hole is at least partially filled by your party. Yes a God Wizard would be a significant help but it's not necessary especial if the Bard is being run by a skilled, experienced player.
The Oracle player might need some help to avoid falling into the healbot trap but for the most part the Oracle provides a lot of ease of play advantages.
I say go with one of the new oddball classes like the Alchemist or the Summoner. The Alchemist can be configured in a ton of different ways to fill in for a variety of party needs and the summoner provides arcane magic umpf and the ability to supplement the party with another front-line fighter.
Both are moderately complex but both provide significant advantages as 5th man characters in a balanced party.
Based on having the bard in the party, I think another somewhat combat based character could really mean a big bump from inspire courage. A class with a pet like druid, cavalier, or summoner could really augment what you have there.
Perspective 1: You have healing magic from the Oracle, Bard, and Ranger. You have a meleer (presumably). You have skills, utility and buffing galore. What you don't have is much offensive arcane magic (Bard's arcane magic is mostly buffs and enchantments) and trapfinding (unless the Bard is a detective archetype or the ranger an urban ranger). . .
Perspective 2: You have a very versatile group capable of coming up with a lot of unorthodox solutions to common problems--likely all the moreso since your more experienced player is playing the Bard, the ultimate skillmonkey. And sometimes inexperienced players come up with the coolest solutions to issues because they look at their abilities with fresh eyes and don't just do "what the messageboard guys said I should do.". . .
+1
This may be a good party to bring an arcane trickster, alchemist, or summoner too. All three get buffed by the bard, all offer a mix of close and ranged fighting options backed up with a decent selection of spells. Also, those can be quite frustrating classes to play in a group with multiple full casters, but wouldn't suffer by comparison in this group.
The four you have are already solid all you will be bringing is happy joy and good gravy :D
Seriously, options...
Melee oriented Druid with a bad-assed pet: Maximize El Bardo's Buffs
If your ranger is a melee, bring an archer; if he's an archer, bring a melee: Maximize El Bardo's Buffs :)
Battle Oracle could be pretty solid, too! More Divine, more melee ;)
Barbarian? Once again, maximize El Bardo's Buffs!
Cleric-a dedicated, flexible Divine caster (I like Oracles, but Clerics are mo betta)
Rogue/Rogue Splash (Wiz Works well here!) go Wiz18/Rog2, or into Arcane Trickster ;)
Light Fighter/Rogue/Duelist: not your run of the mill fighter ;) and cool too :) Also, once again, maximize El Bardo's Buffs :D
I have to laugh a bit about your conundrum: How nice it is to have so *many* options :D
GNOME
PS: Notice a theme?
