|
Okay, I am a player starting a Kingmaker game soon. There are only going to be three players. There is the chance that another player will join us at some undetermined point in the future, but I don't think we can count on it. Two of us are very experienced players, one is somewhat experienced.
I am looking for non-spoilery advice on what to play.
I always wait to pick last as I have the most experience and a willingness to play any type of character.
So far we have...
Halfling Monk (probably Qinggong) High Dex and Wis, weapon finesse, piranha strike, Amulet of might fist (agile) asap. That sort of thing.
Melee Druid. Strong druid with kicka$$ melee companion of some sort.
So, we have no arcane caster. We are weak on ranged. We don't have a traditional fighter type. No rogue (but that monk should be uber-sneaky)
I have a few idea, but I don't want to influence your thinking so I will stop.
Advice?
Ranger or wizard, I would say. Both can cover the ranged field, both give skills and so forth you'd probably need.
A bard would give you some arcane casting, the ability to buff your friends, and the face skills that are going to be VERY important....
|
|
I was considering an archer bard. I had been considering a Magus as well with sort of an Aldori swordlord thing, but then I realized that it being an primarily outdoor campaign, the lack of ranged power might hurt.
I am also considering an arcane archer now.
You are both right about the face skills though. I don't see the Halfling Monk or strength Druid leading a kingdom. They'll both have relatively low Charismas.
Archer Paladin could work but I am running a paladin in a different game, so I'd rather not go that direction.
A bard is useful in a big party. With only 2 other characters, the buff won't make much of a difference.
I also suggest sorcerer. You get range, charisma and spellcasting. The Destined bloodline would fit very well in the campaign, altough fey would be a second good choice.
For other choices of bloodline, in the APG, boreal and starsoul could be interesting.
|
If you're going to play in a small party I recommend a Summoner, between yourself, the druid and the Monk you'll have a decent 5 man party, and your Eidolon can totally take up a role on the Kingdom Council as well (which could be handy). There's a bunch of great Summoner concepts that fit really well. A summoner relies on decent Charisma, and between yourself and your Eidolon you'll have a great mix of skills.
Alternatively a necromancy focused Wizard or Undead lord cleric: Turn those monsters into minions! Zombie slaves to till your fields and build your roads! What could possibly go wrong?
Anyway hope these ideas help.
|
If you're going to play in a small party I recommend a Summoner, between yourself, the druid and the Monk you'll have a decent 5 man party, and your Eidolon can totally take up a role on the Kingdom Council as well (which could be handy). There's a bunch of great Summoner concepts that fit really well. A summoner relies on decent Charisma, and between yourself and your Eidolon you'll have a great mix of skills.
Alternatively a necromancy focused Wizard or Undead lord cleric: Turn those monsters into minions! Zombie slaves to till your fields and build your roads! What could possibly go wrong?
Anyway hope these ideas help.
What can go wrong? :)
|
|
I would be strongly against allowing a eidolon in the council:
1) it give 2 position in the council to the same player, and that can be disagreeable to other players;
2) it give 2 position in the council to the same character, and that can be disagreeable to the other characters;
3) the eidolon has that big, glowing rune that mark him as an extension of the PC. In my campaign some people has interpreted it as a sign of ownership, i.e. slavery, something that is against the River freedom of the river kingdoms. A lot of NPC will have problem with that.
Suggestions:
Sorcerer/wizard: I feel that a wizard will be better than a sorcerer. sure, charisma is important, but you need the skills too and the long timeframe of the adventure will greatly benefit a wizard. It is an AP where magic item crafting will shine.
The different volumes of the AP are different enough that the versatility of the wizard will give him an edge too.
Wtch: good with his hex, but he lack long range attacks, something that you will want for the wilderness encounters.
Ranger: you already have the druid as a wilderness expert (he should not dump intelligence; actually I think no class should dump intelligence in Kingmaker [ dislike dumping intelligence as a general rule, but in KM it is even worse]). A missile specialist with some switch hitting will be good.
Fighter: as an alternative you can make a ranged specialist fighter. The wilderness expert side is already covered so it is not a bad idea. Personally I like the tactician archetype for the extra skills, but it will not shine in a 3 man group (it will shine in my campaign, with 6 PC and 1 eidolon).
Barbarian: I would prefer the ranger or fighter.
Cavalier: it has chances to shine as there is plenty of outdoor combat, but like for the Tactician he work better in a large party.
Rogue: not my field of expertise. I think there are good archetypes for him.
Bard: again no one of the classes I like. The archaeologist archetype would double as a rogue and it is one of the version of the bard I like. He is weak on long range attacks.
Summoner. he is not strong on ranged attacks, but as said by other posters he give you a 5th character, something that can be very good.
He is a charisma based class, another good thing and can use UMD to get the extra ranged power. probably your best option
Cleric/Oracle: both useful. The oracle larger number of spells know when compared with a sorcerer make him a interesting class, you will have enough versatility to be an useful member of the group and he will have a few important spell that a druid will not have. As a added bonus he is a charisma based class. The oracle in my group has used spiritual weapon as a ranged attack with good success (they are only 5th level s far).
Magus: I would give it a try for the fun of it. Good intelligence and decent skills give him a niche even outside of combat.
I feel that the oriental themed classes are not appropriate to KM background, s I will not suggest them.
- * - * -
Ask your GM if he would allow crafting feats. KM is a game where they can shine and hey have a place RP wise too. The spellcaster in my campaign are building their "ye old magic shoppe".
Actually KM has a place for several skills or abilities that are overlooked in a more standard campaign. Profession: Soldier for the guy leading the army, a druid taming and training animals or giving farming and forestry advice are all good examples.
- * - * -
Character stas and ruling the kingdom.
The character stats are more important at the start of the campaign. Getting a +4 to your different trusteeships checks from the appropriate attribute when you have +0 from your kingdom infrastructures is more relevant than getting a +6 from a enhanced stat when you get a +30 from the infrastructures. so dumping a stat and saying "I will rise it later with magic items" don't work well.