Okay, boards, here's the dealio: I am starting in a friend's PF game this weekend. While I have played 3E D&D all the way back to playtesting it the Gen Con they announced it at, this is my first foray into PF. Now, anyone who has played with me knows I am notorious for being indecisive with my characters, switching back and forth with builds ad infinitum until time forces me to pick one. So I need help picking a class. Here are the givens:
DM has stated you can play anything in a PF book, including playtest classes like the Gunslinger and Ninja. Party currently consists of a bomb-focused Alchemist, Drunken monk, Summoner, and Rogue. One thing I can be sure of is that it will likely be human. I only ever play humans in fantasy games. Call it a quirk.
My one rule I am trying to stick to is "Powers, not spells". I have played a Wizard or Sorcerer in every 3E/3.5E game I have ever been in. Over 5 years of arcane magic. I have had my fill, and I'd like to branch out a bit. I love monks, but we already have one.
I don't need to make some overly kitted out monstrosity, but I'd like something with some overall effectiveness, especially in combat. A few things seem interesting (Shapeshifter Ranger, Barbarian with Spirit totem rage powers), but I'm lost. Anyone have any good ideas? Not full builds, but a general direction that would be fun to play for a few months would be much appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
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I would say that your group is short in a lot of things - primary arcane caster, healer, fighter-type. Most of the characters fill the secondary spots in those 3 categories.
The cleric got a lot of changes in the PF rules, and if you really want to see the changes in the system, that might be the way to go.
A straight up Fighter or barbarian can be a lot of fun, but you might also look at the cavalier if you want to play something new. I would ask the GM about the campaign style, as you may not want to invest too much in a mount if you are primarily dungeon delving.
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Okay, boards, here's the dealio: I am starting in a friend's PF game this weekend. While I have played 3E D&D all the way back to playtesting it the Gen Con they announced it at, this is my first foray into PF. Now, anyone who has played with me knows I am notorious for being indecisive with my characters, switching back and forth with builds ad infinitum until time forces me to pick one. So I need help picking a class. Here are the givens:
DM has stated you can play anything in a PF book, including playtest classes like the Gunslinger and Ninja. Party currently consists of a bomb-focused Alchemist, Drunken monk, Summoner, and Rogue. One thing I can be sure of is that it will likely be human. I only ever play humans in fantasy games. Call it a quirk.
My one rule I am trying to stick to is "Powers, not spells". I have played a Wizard or Sorcerer in every 3E/3.5E game I have ever been in. Over 5 years of arcane magic. I have had my fill, and I'd like to branch out a bit. I love monks, but we already have one.
I don't need to make some overly kitted out monstrosity, but I'd like something with some overall effectiveness, especially in combat. A few things seem interesting (Shapeshifter Ranger, Barbarian with Spirit totem rage powers), but I'm lost. Anyone have any good ideas? Not full builds, but a general direction that would be fun to play for a few months would be much appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
Your party does look like it's missing a primary melee type. The campaign style may also dictate what kinds of characters would be appropriate.
An easier character to start with (IMO) is a fighter. There are many archetypes you can get with a fighter as well. So you don't just have a sword and board guy. There's the free-hand fighter (but he's not a good one to be if you want to play with shields), savage warrior would be an option, and weapon master may be a good choice too.
And being human is a good thing actually. In PF humans get a bonus feat at first level, so essentially you start with 2 feats for first level instead of one. Humans also get an additional skill rank at first level and one for every level after first.
I think a party should have at least 1 primary melee guy. Someone needs to go defend the spellcasters and others from the baddies. Otherwise the baddies can just run up on the weaker (AC weaker anyway) guys and decimate the party.
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You lack both a dedicated healer and a front-line melee character, so I'd go Paladin (probably the Hospitaler variant) and have both in one package (well, by 4th-6th level anyway), all without ever having more than a very few spells.
Assuming party Alignment makeup doesn't make that implausible, and you'd enjoy RPing a Paladin, of course.