We are playing a high level adventure starting at lvl 16 and going intil mid to high 20s. I have never played higher than 16, so I was wondering about the strength of my usual classes when compared to the usual heavy hitters (e.g Wizards and Cleric)
How are:
Barbarians, Bards, Paladins, Alchemists, and Inquisitors at high levels?
Knowing my DM, this will be a magic heavy adventure, as he is in love with 9th level casters, so I suspect there will be plenty of wizards, clerics and oracles. I rather not have a character class that has to hid at the meer mention of a wizard's name, nor do I want to be the weakest link (we are all unabashed power gamers :))
Also how are druids at high levels. Their shapechanging doesn't seem too scary at that level, and their spells seems underwhelming. Am I wrong?
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Druids are a strong class.
One of the reasons their spell list looks weak is because there ARE a lot of spells that are only useful annually, but the strong spells are quite strong. Take a look at fire seeds and animal growth.
Barbarians are starting to fade at 16; while they will generally kill anything they full attack, they need help from the casters to fly, see invisible creatures, etc. So the question is, how good is the cooperation between the players in your group?
Paladins are still powerhouses; immune to most everything. See above for relative weakness of melee, though.
Bards are...interesting. Bards, when played well, don't do much themselves. They help other people be great. If you're okay with not being in the spotlight, they can be very powerful, but it's a different kind of power.
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At level 20:
Melee classes should destroy anything they can full attack.
Full casters can reshape the world to suit their whim.
Support classes should auto-succeed on any skills they have focused upon. While seriously enhancing the rest of the group.
Hybrid characters are typically either fully proficient in at least two aspects of the game or an order of magnitude beyond everybody else in one narrow aspect.
At level 20, even the rogue can be made to look overpowered.
Well, I ended up looking at dawnflower dervish a lot today, so I am inclined to suggest that.
This archetype for bards takes three of best buff performances (inspire courage, inspire greatness, inspire heroics) and makes it so that they only apply to you. This might seem like a downgrade, but the trade off is that the bonuses double for you. From level 1, this makes your performances comparable to a barbarian's rage in terms of attack(although barbarian will get more due to the ability to multiple the damage by 2handing). At level 16, you will get +6 to hit and damage from inspire courage, and you are one level away from getting a +8 (compared to the +4 STR mod a barbarian would get at level 20). Even though this archetype is geared towards the use of dervish dance, those numbers are enough to encourage a TWF or archery build. More attacks means more static bonuses, and the bonuses to hit are enough to compensate the penalties.
After that, they can still serve to help buff the party with the usual spells.
Well, my 2 cents is try a wiz3/cleric3/Mystic theurge 10. thats CL 13 in both or 7th level spells.
Not going to be a save or suck build, but utility and I have a spell for that in aces. For me starting at 16 screams something painful to level but something different to try.
What are some of the more recommended options for flight, if a barbarian? I have been using the Aerial Headband for my barbarian.
As to power levels for barbarians they are powerful in combat all the time. If they can pounce, or get lots of attacks off, or even shoulder off attacks and damage, they are doing their job. Naturally they will hit better and for loads of damage, woot really trying. Just naturally being strong, getting rage, and the typical gear and they get impressive numbers.
As for out of combat they are effective as well. Using the occasional save from a spell, trap, or or anything else, with their rediculously hogh svaes. If you go human, or dwarf as 7heprofessor mentioned, their saves are right up there with the paladins. Certain rage powers make them effective out of combat, like spell sunder, smasher, sunder enchantment, ghost rager, and strength surge.
Spell sunder however is by one of the 3 main saving graces for abilities for a barbarian, in high or low level games. With spell sunder, beast totem greater is amazing for pounce, and come and get me for getting practically double the amount of attacks for you then normal.