Thoughts on making a character.

[DraconicBlessing]

I just got invited to a group that needs a new player and they told me the party make-up:

A fighter that dual-wields warmaces, a cleric of Sarenrae (I assume is focused on healing), and an evoker wizard. All of them are human. The fighter has a halfling bard cohort and the evoker has a human armor master fighter bodyguard.

I narrowed my choices down to playing a switch hitter Ranger, melee oriented Cleric/Oracle/Inquisitor or strength build Magus. They roll for stats.

[MacFetus]

So, you have a fighter, a cleric and a wizard...and you need to ask what class to play?!!!

:)

[DraconicBlessing]

Lol, well I really don't want to play a Rogue or Ninja. I didn't really notice that no one in the party has trapfinding, but if not having it is going to be an issue I might play an Archaeologist Bard.

[boring7]

I always find that taking a "job" someone else has tends to reduce the amount of fun I have because I'm competing for the spotlight, but what is most important is that you play something you enjoy.

So...two-weapon fighter plus Evoker means you have a lot of targets getting hit every round, but not necessarily hitting that hard with each strike. This may or may not matter, but one thing about Magus is that they fight with one hand and cast with the other, while the best damage output for a strongman-type comes from two-handing your Big-Arsed Sword.

One thing I've been interested in trying is the Shield-focused magus, who uses a bashing shield (with appropriate feats) to fight while keeping his AC up and still having a hand free to cast. It also works quite well with Oracle, though they have less direct-damage-through-weapon abilities and could just two-hand it, casting buffs and bashing heads.

Actually, given that you don't know the cleric and probably need trapfinding and aren't getting that big rogue bonus your best bet is probably Inquisitor, you can back-up heal, with max ranks, your wisdom, and an item you can probably FIND most traps, and when it comes to disarming you just use the Brute Force method. Your weapon should PROBABLY be deity-based, but if you don't have a particular I find Scythes can be gratifying, and the dual-wielder already has Bludgeoning focus covered so P/S is good.

Just be sure to ration your dead people, there is nothing quite like finding another spikey doom trap and realizing you used your last enemy corpse (to throw on the trap) 3 rooms back.

[DraconicBlessing]

I don't like the concept of having to fill a role either really. Rogues/Ninjas pretty much do fill that role I've noticed without being to do way too much else. That's what I liked the idea of going Archaeologist Bard because not only can I find trap like a Rogue, but I can disarm them faster and easier. I also have Bard spells and some cool stuff like Uncanny Dodge and Evasion. I also don't lose Bardic Knowledge, and I like playing scholarly characters a lot. With me and the fighter's Bard cohort we definitely wouldn't be lacking on any information.

[boring7]

Ah, actually what I meant was I *like* having a job, and not sharing the role with someone else.

But that's neither here nor there, it's YOUR character we're talking about.

Also I feel the need to say rogues CAN be more than the trap/scout/assassin, it's just whatever they do is based on skill. A rogue can accrue a LOT of specific knowledge skills, they can schmooze with charisma, and they can brew up alchemy better than a wizard. Mind you I'm not trying to sell the class, I'm just saying there's more options to a rogue than [u]just[/u] "the party ninja."

Moving on, What's your archaeologist's story? What does he do in his spare time and how does he fight? Does he spend much time crewing around in the lab and has a chemistry set that helps him unlock the secrets of the things he studies?

[Black_Lantern]

Actually trap finding isn't that necessary to be quite honest. Detect Magic finds most magically traps and a good perception will do the party well. I would suggest playing an oracle of battle considering what you want to play.

Also, it kind of made me giggle looking at the party composition and that they roll.

[DraconicBlessing]

Ok so I ended up going with a Half-Orc Archaeologist Bard as my character. Turns out we weren't rolling, everyone gets 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10 as stats. My Bard has a melee focus so I statted her out as follows:

Str 18, Cha 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12 (+2 from Half-Orc), Wis 10
For my feats I took Arcane Strike, Power Attack, Cleave, and for the rogue talent at 4th level I got the talent that grants Weapon Focus (I took it for falchion).

I wonder what equipment I should look into, I was thinking +2 Chain Shirt and a +1 Falchion to start... but where from there?

[DraconicBlessing]

Forgot to mention, we are sixth level and have a house rule where we get the extra hit point and skill point each level no matter what. When we gain stat boosts we gain one point in two different stats. I put mine in Dexterity and Consitution to raise them to 15 and 13 respectively.

[DraconicBlessing]

Bump.

[boring7]

Ring of sustenance. Possibly the best GP-to-benefit "utility" item around. 2 hours of sleep and no food or water beyond what you WANT to eat or drink are pretty nice. Your AC is poor so keep that in mind when fighting. Ring of Protection and Amulet of Natural armor stack with each other and your current armor.

After that? Time to start developing some Character to that character. You use a Falchion, why? Its average damage output is lower than a greataxe (and I am not judging that in the slightest) so I have to assume there is another reason, would it impact his intended upgrades? He has decent fighting gear, is there an interesting story where it came from?

[DraconicBlessing]

Got a name for her now too, it is Mezelle. Anyways, Mezelle is absolutely fasinated with history, and in her pursuit of knowledge in that subject she seeks out ancient ruins and such. Mezelle realizes that many others will be searching for such ruins, which may hold powerful artifacts that malicious people may kill others over. Thus, Mezelle made sure to have the appropriate gear to protect herself in such a situation. It could be said that she went with a Falchion as opposed to a different weapon because she doesn't hit as well as a dedicated fighter, thus she would rather have a weapon that can has a strong bite now and again (18-20 threat range).
Where the gear comes from I am not sure of yet, perhaps she found some interesting novelties that she sold to museums to make a lot of her cash, and on top of that was paid for her expedition itself perhaps. Her keen eye for detail makes her a perfect employee for finding things (she has a +14 Perception [+3 Archaeologist, +3 class skill, 6 ranks, +2 alternate half-orc racial trait that replaces ferocity].

[BltzKrg242]

My advice is always to build a character that YOU want to play. Party balance be damned. You shouldn't sacrifice a playable fun character to fill a slot.

The game is for fun. If you LIKE playing to the niche, that's different but anything the team needs can be overcome together AS A TEAM once you all have characters.

[DraconicBlessing]

I agree BltzKrg242, and this character I made definitely wasn't made to fill in the role really. I actually wanted to play a Bard since I haven't gotten the chance to yet and I was supposed to play a Detective in a Carrion Crown game which ended up going nowhere to my disappointment. That Detective was the coolest character I had ever made IMO. So instead I'll play a slightly different but even stronger Bard in this game. :D

[Black_Lantern]

BltzKrg242 wrote:

My advice is always to build a character that YOU want to play. Party balance be damned. You shouldn't sacrifice a playable fun character to fill a slot.

The game is for fun. If you LIKE playing to the niche, that's different but anything the team needs can be overcome together AS A TEAM once you all have characters.

I agree with this statement somewhat. I feel that you shouldn't force yourself into a role you don't want to play but you also have to realize that you may have to bend a little in your build to cover a couple of things.

[DraconicBlessing]

I pretty much feel that statement as well, which is good because my character gives us something we kind of needed (and very good for it as well). On top of that the character itself is pretty much something I desired, I can't pass up an opportunity to play a scholarly attractive half-orc. :D