We will be playing rise of the runelords with only 3 pcs with me being the lone experienced player. The other two are a Natural Weapons AM barb-ish kinda build. (Superstition beast totem so on and so forth) The other is samurai. So that leaves us missing an arcane caster and skill monkey and a divin. I have a 6th level wizard and incantatrix in my other game. So i wanna do something different. Maybe blaster?
Im thinking of samsaran witch if I dont want to blast. Ill pull some utility spells to help buff our overall tiny number of skill points.
at the same time there is a school of thought that says a the best crowd control is a dead crowd. So sorcerer or evoker wizard. I wont mix the two like the one popular build going around because that seems wrong. (Im unbridled arcane might! Oh while in between killing kobolds in dungeon 1 and dungeon 2 i found a way to learn wizard stuff... seems to ridiculous in a game full of kobolds and pugwampis)
Also thinking of doing some elritch heritage since i will probably have to have a decent amount of CHA for party face reasons.
with all that said HELP.
Thanks.
Bard, definately bard. Have access to cure spells, good skills (which your party mates dont have, and you would have some arcane magic as well as solid buffs for your two martial party members.
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Right now I am running a RotRL game with a Paladin, Cleric, Ranger, and Bard. The Bard has, hands down, been the biggest asset to the party. Between some control spells, Bardic music buffs, a solid grouping of well placed skills, and the traits to let him know Thassilonian, he has helped the party more than any other character. Leadership later on and a high UMD will, without a doubt, make him a power house in the campaign.
I didnt even really think of bard. Ive never built one before even messing around so i dunno what works. I know i wont be damage king or anything but Is arcane strike worth it? Vanilla Bard? Or do any specific archtype combos work well? Should I samsaran some wiz spells?
Basically i know nothing about bards. Ill look into the guide once my job slows down a bit.
I mentioned this in another thread and I'll repeat it here:
Some of the key things skills/roles your party may want for RotR:
1) Ability to deal with Giants
2) Scholar of ancient Thassilon, skilled in history and magic
3) Adept at exploring ancient runes as well as dark, dangerous dungeons
4) Ability to travel through wild frontiersThese are simply the tips from the Player's Guide and as a player in RotR now, I'd say they are all important.
I'd suggest an archeologist bard if you don't want a wizard. You could make a decent contribution to several of the qualities suggested in the player's guide.
Why archeologist? They lose the main class feature for some rogue stuff. Arcane Duelist seems better.
Why did I offer up a suggestion of archeologist bard?
Because... "You could make a decent contribution to several of the qualities suggested in the player's guide." I will elaborate, though I'm not trying to convince you to play one class/archetype over another, but merely suggesting one possibility that would work well.
The player's guide has 4 main tips that I mentioned above.
#1) Hopefully your other party members take some interest in specializing against these foes, specifically pointed out by the player's guide.
#2) Your character as a bard could cover this easily, with knowledge of ancient Thassilon and it's magic
#3) Adventurers with racial darkvision, characters adept at exploring ancient ruins, and knowledge: dungeoneering work well here. An archeologist fits well for this thematically and mechanically.
#4) I'm sure you'll manage here with your party setup.
I'm sure any kind of bard, or even non-bards, will work for this setup. My intent here was to suggest a viable option, and help point out further guiding material (the player's guide) to help inform your character creation decisions.
Arcane Duelist seems better.
What do you mean by "better"? Characters should not be made in a vacuum, and you seem to understand one aspect of that because you are attempting to round out your party's abilities to deal with different situations. However, your request was for suggestions about creating a character to round out your party for RotR specifically. So, I would advise that you take the campaign setting and the player's guide suggestions into account. Instead of trying to create a party that theoretically beats "general" bad guys best, try to make a character that fits well into the story and your party, will be engaged heavily in the setting, and is well-suited to deal with the threats of the adventure. For example, if you wanted to play a Dex-based martial character, it may be "better" to choose the Goblin race. However, in Sandpoint, that would likely end in disaster.
The player's guide is there to guide players. Don't just ignore it.
I'd probably run a witch to splash arcane and divine roles.
Ill elaborate a bit. Archaeologist loses its synthesis with buffing the Melee Characters outside of spells of course. I havent looked at a bunch of spells simply because im still on the what class and what race i should roll.
Arch gains a self buff that stacks with a lot of other bonuses since its type is Luck. I lose the group buffs.
I get the rogue trapfinding and disabling which is real awesome. I lose a bit of skill synergy but this is probably worth it.
Rogue talents and evasion? Very mixed bag. Rogue talents range from atrocious to meh.
Arcane duelist after looking at it closer is almost TOO melee for this party but they get party buffs. They get a boost in damage. They lose bardic knowledge.
And as an aside. All races are available. I dunno if this effects anything. And ive always been intrigued about the Eldritch heritage line but i never seem to have the cha or extra feat to do so.
Bump. Im torn.