hi, after an encounter with bandits, my character met a rather messy ending to his life.
As I rather enjoyed playing this class for the first time, and died in our first combat (fought 12 bandits who ambushed us - the dice gods were so against us that night), that I would prefer to try the class again. But with a party make up of:
Paladin with sword&shield
Ranger with Natural weapons
Flowing/crane monk
and I, a de-buffing cleric
I find we have a serious lack of any form of missile weapons which led to my demise (3 arrows doing critical damage in 1 round was a bit ugly).
My question is that for the remander of the AP,including #1, can the party flourish without any missile weapons, or should i seriously consider changing the class to either an archer or mage of some sort?
Play what you want. The first several books of the path are fairly easy for an AP (baring your DM throwing 12 bandit ambushes at you), and I don't remember any particularly demanding ranged encounters. If worst comes to worst, the Paladin and Ranger can grab bows and you can bust out the Summon Monster. With so many fighters and so little magic in your party to start, switching to a dedicated archer would probably hold your group back in the long run.
Ranged for the win in this AP
if your GM is using the written rules for how far away you first see something in the wilderness (forest, hill , swamp etc), you will start a lot of combats some distance away from the baddies, and battleifeld control + ranged has been really effective
My players have a ranged horse archer in the group and, while they have had only one combat encounter, she did pretty well being able to stay at the back of the party firing away then dashing forward for a quick heavy flail trip attack (LOVE that CMB/CMD thing!!! This is our first time with pathfinder and as soon as she announced she was going to trip someone the groaning started - followed by an "Oh! That was EASY!!" :-D ). I agree with novalord in that given the high number of outdoors encounters a ranged attacker of some kind is needed. Have you thought about a War domain cleric taking a long/cross bow? Probably not as effective but if you concentrated on defense lowering versions of debuffs if might work.
With so many fighters and so little magic in your party to start, switching to a dedicated archer would probably hold your group back in the long run.
Yeah, think so too. Me played a Archer-Ranger unto Lvl 5, after that i switched to Melee-chars, which was more satisfying.
Wouldn´t specialize on ranged combat just because of party-make-up-considerations.Take a look at the casters (druid/sorcerer/witch), you´re not in desperate need of healing, as you have the Paladin, but some spells would help.
As a compromise: be sure to look at the Inquisitor, he gets ALL crossbows as proficiencies and he´s enourmously helpfull in Kingdom building, governance and such, f.e. being the paladins brain/chancellor/ shieldwall-buddy! In our KM the Inquisitor came to investigate the death of his predecessor.
@ Balin: What faith is your groups pally and what was your cleric ?
With so many fighters and so little magic in your party to start, switching to a dedicated archer would probably hold your group back in the long run.Yeah, think so too. Me played a Archer-Ranger unto Lvl 5, after that i switched to Melee-chars, which was more satisfying.
Wouldn´t specialize on ranged combat just because of party-make-up-considerations.
Take a look at the casters (druid/sorcerer/witch), you´re not in desperate need of healing, as you have the Paladin, but some spells would help.
As a compromise: be sure to look at the Inquisitor, he gets ALL crossbows as proficiencies and he´s enourmously helpfull in Kingdom building, governance and such, f.e. being the paladins brain/chancellor/ shieldwall-buddy! In our KM the Inquisitor came to investigate the death of his predecessor.@ Balin: What faith is your groups pally and what was your cleric ?
The Paladin in Immodae and I was Calistrae
Me thought that the Iron Maiden, Mistress of the Swords, would be represented in your group, too. Our Paladin also serves her, as does the Inquisitor and of late even the Marshall-Ranger...
Not wanting to spoil the novelty for you, but if you like playing tac-team...it rocks. Or strike for diversity. Erastil, Abadar, there´s a Desna Temple in Mivon, i think, as well as one of Iomedea, Sarenrae in Restov, ask your DM there. Hmm, an Inquisitor of the Goddess of Vengeance. Memo to me.
On a different note, i have to point out that a druid is extremly helpfull too, exspecially because of building, i have to say. Wood-shaping, or stone shape from earth-domain for more massive buildings, is 2BP off the price. Great for new interiors in run down keeps.;)
Have fun, the best is yet to come.