Specialized Pathfinder Parties


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Here are a couple of parties I'd like to try out someday. Each one is based around 4 members with a supplementary 5th added :

1. The Mosh Pit
The concept here is to take advantage of Tactical Acumen and to-hit bonuses wherever you can get them. Everyone in the group needs the Outflank feat, and of course everyone will want power attack.

Fighter - Dual Wielding. I originally had the Barbarian here (You know, because this is a Mosh Pit), but with all the potential to-hit bonuses going on with this party, dual wielding is just too good. At higher levels you can also pick up crit feats to really mess things up.

Bard - Backbone of the party. Give him Arcane Duelist or Diva and put him on the front lines so he can give flanks to his other buddies. First three rounds: Haste, Good Hope, and Tactical Acumen. +8 to hit when you're flanking at level 8 (with Inspire Courage of course.) 13th level gets you Bard's Escape to get everyone into those flanking positions.

Cleric - Provides Divine to-hit bonuses to supplement the bard's buffs. Obligatory healing support too (Since you're all in Melee, you'll need it.) Besides that he's a heavily armored Melee support who will provide a flank to the second star of the team.

Rogue (Or Ninja) - The Fighter is the loudmouth, and the Rogue is the one elbowing you in the kidneys. When you're basing a party around Tactical Acumen and Flanking Bonuses, you NEED a rogue.

Obviously the Mosh Pit is missing some of the utility that a full Arcane Caster can provide (like Fly and stuff) but with the right domains the Cleric can kind of fill that role.

And for the 5th:
Alchemist - Vivisectionist obviously. The vivisectionist would be drooling to be part of this party and would provide a little more arcane caster support. You could also replace the Rogue with the Vivisectionist but the Rogue gets all the talents that improve sneak attacks.

2. Save or Die. Or just die.
Concept here is to lower the enemy's saving throws as much as possible to apply save-or-die tactics on the enemy. There are three casters in this group and all of them should be memorizing save or lose spells so all of them can take advantage of the lowered saves. The three casters should get the Allied Spellcaster feat at some point in addition to the Spell Penetration feats - both - because I can't think of a save-or-die spell that doesn't allow for spell resistance.

Barbarian - You really need a meat shield, and this particular meat shield should definitely be maxing Intimidate (Shaken condition gives -2 to saving throw rolls). Grab Intimidating Prowess for best results.

Wizard - For Void Specialist. Reveal weakness one of the best ways to lower an enemy's saving throws. You can't resist it and it has an extremely high number (-5 to saving throws at level 10. ) The standard action and 1 round duration makes it so the Wizard needs a rod or a feat to enjoy it himself, but this party is all about teamwork.

Cleric - The Curse Domain gives a penalty, but only the Cleric can enjoy it. It's not bad, but the real fun one is the Madness Domain's Vision of Madness. Give them a bonus to skill checks and a penalty to attack rolls and saving throws. The penalty is as good as the Reveal Weakness power the Void Specialist gets, but it has the restriction of being a Melee Touch Attack. Good thing the Cleric can wear plate armor. I'd take both Luck (Curse) and Madness.

Witch - Because of Evil Eye. With Cackle this basically allows for no saving throw either. It's not as potent as Vision of Madness or Reveal Weakness past level 6, but it also has no major restrictions either. Besides Evil Eye, the Witch gets the Slumber Hex - a very usable save or lose spell with no limit on castings per day - and of course the Witch gets a good number of Save-or-Lose spells on her spell list as well.

And the 5th:

Sorcerer - I don't know all the bloodlines, but I do know the Arcane Bloodline gives you a +2 to your saving throw DCs and I know a lot of other bloodlines do similar things. I would build the Sorcerer to be the clean up after the Cleric, Witch, and Wizard all lower the saving throw DCs. His list would include numerous save or die options with all the appropriate spell specializations. Technically you could be replacing the Barbarian with this guy, and it might work out a little better especially if you're all winning initiative, but like I said - it's really good to have some kind of Meat Shield.

What are some other ideas for groups that synergize well with each other?


Switch Hitter Ranger. kills with both melee and ranged, has lots of skills

Switch Hitter Battle Oracle, kills with melee and ranged to a lesser extent, provides divine casting

Archery Bard, ranged death machine, inspires party.

Buffing Sorcerer, buff you party to fight better, throw AoEs against swarms, paragon surge helps

Ideal 5th member

Myrmidarch Magus; more arcane support, and more switch hitter damage

benefit of the party

when buffed by the bard and the sorcerer, the bard begins shooting, and the switch hitters kill as needed depending on circumstances. 3 of the archers can double as meat shields in case of emergency. nothing will survive the ranged onslaught though.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / Specialized Pathfinder Parties All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.