We are about to start the Carrion Crown AP and I'm pretty open a bout what to play. We currently have a druid going with a familiar and ranged. Then we have an inquisitor who is leaning towards melee... I was thinking Magus, but don't know how 3 hybrids and no true heals would do. Also we running it 3 man not 4 as the AP is set for. Our DM isn't brutal on us so I don't think he would go for a TPK (his wife would kill him)
I was thinking maybe a cleric for the support and buffs might work also since its CC and lots of possible undead and the like it might help alot, but if I go with anything else the DM has already informed me that he will likely have a cleri NPC that shows up mostly as a combat medic. SO Im open for suggestions.
The alchemist seems interesting... i know Rogue is always good, but that is one of my normal choices so I wanted to try something new. Thanks for any tips and suggestions.
Not trying to Spoiler anything, but I think CC will be very hard without someone that can channel when needed.
But if you GM is willing to modify it to make it possible, that is not as big a deal.
I'm not sure about Carrion Crown, having never played it, but as for classes my favourite is bard. I just find them very fun in so many situations. Of course all classes can be fun, but of the ones I've tried (all but Gunslinger and several of the PrCs) it seems to me like bards get the most opportunity to do fun stuff.
Monks. Very fun.
The most 'fun' build I've ever had is maneuver heavy fighter or monk. Constantly disarming, tripping, grappling, and bull rushing the bad guys is a blast.
However, that won't be much good for CC. Many of the opponents you don't want to touch, don't have weapons, and float... =(
I'm DMing Carrion Crown (Haunting of Harrowstone) right now, and my party does not have anyone that can channel positive energy, and it is definitely a challenge at times. Not for healing, wands used by the Ranger and the Inquisitor cover healing adequately, but some offensive positive energy use would definitely help out (although they seem to be getting by with holy water so far).
Regardless of your character, at least one person in the party having Knowledge (Religion) to identify strengths and weaknesses of undead creatures is going to help out a lot! Local, history, and arcana are all good knowledge skills as well.
Having someone with diplomacy is also good.
If you want to play a melee character that casts spells (Magus) you might also consider an Oracle with the Battle or Metal mystery. You'll be a combat spell caster, but also be able to do a little healing and positive energy undead zapping when you have to. And you can take Knowledge (Religion) and Diplomacy!
Check out the Carrion Crown Players Guide if you haven't (it's a free download).
It has suggestions for different classes, reading through them gives a good idea of what sorts of abilities are useful for the adventure. Having useful abilities is fun!
More important than character class, IMO, is a cool character concept that you will find interesting for several months to a year. Alchemist and Magus both lend themselves to some neat concepts. You could be a mad bomber, a Doctor of Physick, an arrogant nobleman, a wealthy and charming merchant, a brilliant freedom fighter, etc. - just come up with an idea that sounds like a lot of fun.
From my understanding Ustalav is an area where magic is known about but kind of frowned upon and a little bit intimidating. I was going to play on that fear for my kick off into adventuring.
The initial character concept of my magus was that my family were servants in a noble house. My father was a sword master who trained the son of the headmaster. Since I was around the same age I was allowed to train with him. One day the professor stops in town for a visit and my father over hears him talking about magic and asking around to see if anyone else can help him improve his research. I'm not sure how the professor is, but this is what I assume he does. Anyways... my father pulls him to the side and asks a few questions and then my father shows the professor that he knows some magic. However, someone over sees this and reports this to the master of the home we live and work. Apparently the nobleman is very anit magic since some of his ancestors were killed by an evil sorcerer. My father is executed for his dable into this forbidden art. However, the professor saves my life by asking if instead of putting an innocent boy to death he can take me away and give me a chance at life. I then travel with the professor for a bit and he arranges for me to stay with a family in a farming village helping out the elder farmers. That is until the day that the professor passes and I get the note requesting me at his funeral.
I also tossed around an idea about being a bladebound Kensai with a Wakizashi that was left to me after my father used it to commit Seppuku. My father thought he was going mad and believed the sword was talking to him. He couldn't get the voices to stop and finally ended his own life. The concept is that the sword was/is evil, had grown tired of my father, and was looking for a new master. Now how will the sword accept me? Will it be evil like it was towards my father and try to drive me mad. Will the power it gives me make me crazy, but I use this to become a fierce force on the battle field? The possibilities it has... /shrug
I have read over the CC players guide, and while it does help I didn't know which were the more enjoyable classes. Im starting to think about possibly a necromancer either sorcerer or wizard focusing on those spell types. I like the evocation and necromancer spells so that would be where I focus. I just need to look over the mixes and see if it would play out as a good feel/vibe. Also brainstorm a story for it. If I go with a mostly necromancer spell list. I might try to go with a Ghost Hunter story...
Also a concept that made me laugh when my buddy brought it up, but after I started thinking about how I MIGHT be able to make it work I am almost tempted to try... Nicholas D. Wolfwood... Cleric/Gunslinger... Maybe use a tower shield, but istead of the norm its a giant cross. I have no clue if this would work, but the idea could be fun.
I always picture Anime characters and try to build them into Pathfinder characters. The bladebound Magus with the Urumi sorta like Renji from bleach... get some fly and teleport/flash step... the sword gets int and can talk to you just like the zanpakuto of all the characters...
Oh I also remember trying to make a monk macho man randy savage... with a bag of holding filled with folding chairs and ladders... and using slowfall to drop that super powered elbow from the heavens.
The concepts and stories are fun... the character itself is just how you play it. I had a Dwarf in a group I was in be stuck in the hall while the fight was in the room... he tried to bull rush the wall to get in on the action and knocked himself unconcious. Not the smart thing to do, but great role playing and thats what makes it enjoyable.
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As you are shy the usual 4 required members, I can't believe I'd say this, but I'd recommend Master Summoner. Alchemist can be fun, you'll get to see a lot of alchemist specific goodies in one of the books, but action economy is against you. Master Summoner, with your eidolon built for UMD and ranged attacks will be a lot of fun, and offer more targets that will ultimately require less healing.
I looked over the summoner alot at the begining of last week when I heard we were starting a new game... I am always drawn to Melee guys but wanted to break the norm and try a caster which is sumthing I have never played. I thought summoner would be a little caster like and then I started reading it and got the Synthesis build in my sights and I was tweaking this way and that way and eventually just said NO I dont want to melee. So I backed off and thought about other ways to play it and while reading this board is good it can be bad. I started hearing of the min maxing and someone was talkig about 30-40 riding dogs or some junk... I just thought it was all a little to ridiculous. I didn't want a cheap I win class. I wanted a fun help out the team and enjoy the game class. Maybe I should look over it again without the min maxing in mind, but Im starting to lean towards a sorcere or cleric (eventhough its not really a caster) since we playing CC with all the undead it could be helpful. If I am not enjoying the toon I will just take leadership at 6 or 7 and try sumthing different and see if my DM kills me off lol... He doesn't want us to not have fun, but he wouldn't mind us sticking with a character. I am usually the one who gets into his character so much more than the others and that is why this has been a hard choice for me. The idea of a Summoned creature taking damage and occupying an NPC for tactical advantage would be nice. I'm just still on the fence about it. Also so many people have been b~%~*ing about how OP summoners are and I want a lil challenge. I am thinking way to hard about all this, but I just dont want to be lvl 4-5 and know I have a few more months with a character i am not really enjoying. Also I just read Treants guide for the wizard and a control guy could be fun, but the party is small... I just dont know. They get summons and more spell options.
The summoner is one of the best classes within the game. Just by playing it you're ahead of most classes. I suggest if you're going to play a summoner just focus on things that would be good for roleplay. There are various limits to the summoner you must take into account when playing the character and there is also a lot of paper work. You need to be ready when playing a summoner or you're going to slow the game down drastically. Please read the summoner class through before you toss it aside like so many people have done.
augment summoning, improved initiative, superior summons. Assuming your current level.
If you had a bard at your level on your team it would be gross.
Dogs first with inspire courage. 1d4+2 so 5 dogs with +7 to hit and and d16+9 damage. Haste next round from summoner and Tactical Acumen from bard. So with tactical acumen and haste. 5 dogs +11 to hit, 1d6+9 damage, 2 attacks. That's assuming they didn't trip of course. However you might think trip won't hit the opponent. You're probably wrong considering the bard probably has gallant inspiration. It's good that there are a lot of flying opponents at low levels right? Well in that case you just need to summon falcons that have three attacks deal less damage and repeat the process. all attacks hit let's say which is a big what if. 10d6+90 damage. At level five.
The summoner class itself is very fun to play for it's skills, versatility, eidolon, and various summons it can play with. There is so much customization with the summoner class that you'll never get bored playing the class.
Also monks are very fun to play if you build them right. They can be built so they are weak but they can also be built so that they're competent fighters. The class gets some of the best overall defenses around and they have the highest mobility in the game. It feels cool when you can run faster then a warhorse.
I think we are missing a crucial piece of information to recommend to you what will be a fun character to play in Carrion Crown (and is why we're all recommending effective characters, which may or may not be fun for you.)
What makes a character fun for you to play?
or
What is the most fun character you have played in the past and why?
Evangelist bard with buffing is pretty darn good in carrion crown. Buffing, healing, and destroying undead is pretty darn good.