Kind of a Strange Party. What would you play?


Advice

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So certainly the party in question has a lot of roles to be filled, more than a single character can hope to fill.

Here's how I see the party working although depending on builds this could sort out very differently.

What I'd expect of the builds so far:

Rogues (catfolk and kitsune) - Melee strikers and skill monkeys.

At first I was a bit dismissive but realized that if they cooperate in taking teamwork feats they can be a pretty scary duo (using acrobatics to get into position and sneak attacking the crap out of things). Against foes resistant to sneak attack they'll struggle to remain relevant in combat but fortunately these creatures are more the exception than the rule.

Barbarian (elf) - Melee battering ram, eater of damage, and master of outdoor skills.

The unconventional choice of race makes me wonder if the player has something interesting up his sleeve. Hopefully the OP will let us know if the barbarian is more than he seems.

Druid and boar companion - Another melee duo, as well as a potent caster.

The druid has access to cure light wounds and so can use the wand (arguably the best healer in the game). If I were that player I'd build primarily as a caster but the choice of Boar Shaman makes me think he's going primarily melee, so hopefully he'll place some emphasis on buffing spells.


What the party has:

A few characters that can tank part time.
A bunch of characters that can do melee damage.
Mad skills (diplomacy, knowledges, rogue skills, nature skills, etc)
A potent caster.

The party lacks:

A ranged damage specialist.
Arcane utility magic.
Much ability to deal with swarms.
Traditional clerical magic.

The original poster mentioned that he wanted to be a team player. I'd also suggest avoiding melee combat at all cost seeing as the other players will be fighting constantly for good squares to attack from. Also, I'd worry less about healing in combat as ending combat as quickly as possible - if you had a lot of high AC tank types I'd probably feel differently.

Here's a few options off the top of my head:

Witch - Arcane caster and debuffer extraordinaire. I would go with this first you are confident the other players have competent ranged options. Stay away from the slumber hex if you're concerned about outshining the other players. The elements patron will give you blasty spells for crowd/swarm control.

Luring Cavalier/Musketeer - A solid ranged option and for your party the tactician ability will be really very strong. Options that help the rogues get into place quickly like Pack Attack will be much appreciated.

Bard - You mentioned you didn't need another skill monkey type but an archer bard would fit in quite well as a buffer. I would consider taking an archetype that trades away some or all of the skill based class abilities (arcane duelist say).


Atarlost wrote:

There is no role for which the spell slinger is better than an unarchetyped wizard. They have no arcane school, but have twice as many opposition schools as a normal wizard. That means fully half of all arcane schools are opposed. They're an absolutely terrible archetype.

If your party picker is picking spell slinger for anything you're overvaluing them.

That's really shortsighted and narrow-minded. Spellslinger is a fantastic archetype if your character concept is ranged focused, or a sniper, or you are looking for something more unique in general. There are a million ways to trick it out - as a fighting type.

It was NEVER meant as a utility wizard type, so judging it by those standards is really inane.


This might be a good place for a zen archer/inquisitor(preacher) build. You'll have plenty to do in combat without really needing spells, so you can save those for healing once the fight is over. Zen archer/cleric will make you better at healing, but IMO not as good at killing things quickly, which might be more important. You'd still be lacking arcane power, but one can't expect you to cover everything the party is currently missing.

As always, decide how you want to play and consider synergy within that concept.


The big question is what you want to cover first and foremost.

Martyred sorcerer: Arcane magic and buffing.

Witch: Arcane magic, debuffing, extra healing, possibly buffing w/ right patron. Direct damage is available if desired, but limited.

Archer Builds: Obviously direct damage at range plus....

Paladin/Inquisitor: additional divine magic

Cavalier: minor buffing

Basically, pick a whole that is most important to cover and then decide what else you want to do besides that.


Bruunwald wrote:
Atarlost wrote:

There is no role for which the spell slinger is better than an unarchetyped wizard. They have no arcane school, but have twice as many opposition schools as a normal wizard. That means fully half of all arcane schools are opposed. They're an absolutely terrible archetype.

If your party picker is picking spell slinger for anything you're overvaluing them.

That's really shortsighted and narrow-minded. Spellslinger is a fantastic archetype if your character concept is ranged focused, or a sniper, or you are looking for something more unique in general. There are a million ways to trick it out - as a fighting type.

It was NEVER meant as a utility wizard type, so judging it by those standards is really inane.

If it were a Magus archetype that might fly, but even targeting touch AC doesn't compensate for being limited to half BAB for things that aren't dragons.

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