The positions that we think are pretty much 100%:
Halfling Archeologist
This is really the 'extra' character, a fifth character who will be played sometimes by a player who can't always make it and the rest of the time NPC'd by the GM. He'll serve a little bit as a skill monkey and as the GM's mouthpiece from time to time. He's not expected to be a major contributor in combat. He will be a Sandpoint local who maintains a casual frienship with Ameiko.
Kitsune Sorcerer (Fey Bloodline)
Destined to be the group's 'face', she'll focus on very potent enchantments along with a smattering of buffs and illusions. She'll begin with Sczarni ties and closely guards the secret of her Kitsune heiritage.
Half-Elven Master Summoner
This player has been playing an MS since they came out and is incredibly good at it. He's taking the Merchant Family feat and will begin as a bit of a bon vivant type.
We're left with two more slots, comprised of one of these pairs or the other:
Elven Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
A female Paladin equally adept with bow or curve blade who takes tremendous advantage of Lay on Hands (favored class option, extra LoH feats, Fey Foundling, Ultimate Mercy, etc.). She will be from a village destroyed by maurading giants and has sworn vengeance against those responsible.
Human Invulnerable Rager
Actually a Bardiche-wielding Urban Barbarian/Invulnerable Rager with a 1 level dip of Unbreakable Fighter. Designed to keep a solid AC and to build up a very high DR to layer defenses.
OR:
Human Archer
A female archer who takes a couple of early levels of Urban Barbarian first and then goes Fighter the rest of the way. Just pure damaging ranged support.
Human Lore Warden
Originally designed as the archer's twin brother, this is a Fauchard-wielding Lore Warden who takes Whirlwind Attack early and then focuses on Critical feats over combat manuevers.
The characters are well-designed and will be well played regardless... the ones not chosen could obviously be kept in reserve for eventual player deaths, but the plan is to never need them. We're leaning towards the first group but there are some lingering doubts that we might really miss the ranged attacks and that we might, at some point, find the Paladin's limitations a bit too limiting for the rest of the group, as we did in Second Darkness.
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This is my personal opinion only regarding summoners so if you disagree then just disregard it.
Summoners if built with eidolon which focuses on combat purely can be such annoiance it's impossible to believe. Their AC skyrockets, they gain way too much evolution points and quickly gain 4 attacks per round (5 with haste from lv5). They can become beasts and your creeps might be forced to only hit on natural 20.
Now, I am not saying you can't counter them, it's fairly possible to do so, but you will constantly have to worry about them.
Barbarians and Paladins will at least receive some damage, eidolon won't.
Again, this is my personal opinion on them which I have seen from PFS games. Player which I saw was cool and fine person and did everything according to the book.
This is my personal opinion only regarding summoners so if you disagree then just disregard it.
Summoners if built with eidolon which focuses on combat purely can be such annoiance it's impossible to believe. Their AC skyrockets, they gain way too much evolution points and quickly gain 4 attacks per round (5 with haste from lv5). They can become beasts and your creeps might be forced to only hit on natural 20.
Now, I am not saying you can't counter them, it's fairly possible to do so, but you will constantly have to worry about them.
Barbarians and Paladins will at least receive some damage, eidolon won't.
Again, this is my personal opinion on them which I have seen from PFS games. Player which I saw was cool and fine person and did everything according to the book.
Thanks... but the character in question is a Master Summoner, and as such will have a small, weak scout-type eidolon only. And he's one of the ones that's already in for certain - its just the last two pairs mentioned that we're trying to decide between...
EDIT: Although the player has run a standard summoner in the past - a mounted Wild Caller actually - and yeah, he was ridiculous when it came to what he could do in combat sometimes. He worked very hard on his build and made certain everything was completely legal of course, so there was no need to punish him, counter him or sanction him... but our GM made it clear though that if we opened the Summoner Pandora's box, then he'd be free to do the same and we've already fought more than one ourselves as villains.
In my opinion, its not the eidolons which make Summoners seem over-powered, its the eidolons plus their spell lists (2nd level Haste, 4th level Teleport, 6th level Dominate Monster) plus their ability to wear and cast with light armor plus their BAB progression. All of that adds up quick.
I think you have to have the Paladin, just for healing purposes. Without it, you have no healing, unless I am missing something. A ranged character would be awesome, but the Pally seems to be a necessity.
I think you have to have the Paladin, just for healing purposes. Without it, you have no healing, unless I am missing something. A ranged character would be awesome, but the Pally seems to be a necessity.
There will be some healing - some - from the Archaeologist which is another reason he's being included, but yeah that's not a whole lot. She (the Paladin) is something else too, not a huge striker unless Smiting, but versatile with sword and bow and with LoH, she's a hell of a tank. At 12th level (for instance), she'll be self-healing 6d6+18 hit points as a swift action 14 times a day.
We were talking about going with the Paladin and the Archer but that would leave us with only a single front line tank (not counting summoned monsters). In a couple of minor combat scenarios we ran, the Barbarian with a reach weapon fighting basically behind the Paladin made for a pretty awesome duo.
We ran one mock combat against a handful of flyers without the archer though - the Sorcerer was able to Hold two of them and bring them to the ground so the melee types could tear it apart, and the Master Summoner harried the others with flying creatures, so there are options there.