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Some friends of mine have recently started Rise of the Runelords anniversary edition. I'm not sure how far they are, but I will be starting at 2nd level. So far they have a paladin, barbarian, gunslinger. cleric,and sorcerer. Seems they have a lot of melee and blasting, so I'm thinking something for trapfinding and/or support. I am toying with a lot of things but can't decide? What would the paizo community suggest?
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Halfling 13th level Archeologist / 2nd levl Lore Warden / 2nd level Halfling Opportunist. (Pretty sure Runelords only goes up to 17th level)
He's the ultimate 6th man. If he so much as walks within 20' of a trap he auto-detects it. Great for Knowledges, a solid ranged threat in combat, capable of scouting, freelancing and pulling off some truly amazing stunts with Exploitative Maneuver.
You're not lacking for combat, you're not lacking for casting, so make a character you can just relax and have fun with. Let me know if you're interested in a build.
Otherwise I'd reccomend just a straight archer Bard, again with a couple of levels of Lore Warden to quick start your ranged attacks. Inspire Courage alone would be a great force-multiplier on that team.
Yeah, I've thought about bard. I kind of really wanted to do the dervish of dawn archetype coupled with magus, but no trapfinding or inspire courage there. Shoot my a build, but I will say I'm not big on halflings.
Human Bards, with their favored class option, are truly excellent characters, but don't build something the group 'needs' because they don't need anything. Build something you will love to play...
I tend to shy away from the Magus class, but I'm something of an expert on Dervishes of Dawn... feel free to drop me a line if I can do anything to help.
I've also got a wicked-crazy Dwarf if you want to try something a little different.
I should have asked - what kind of Sorcerer? There are so many different variations that no two are similar. I am curious because we actually began a ROTRL run a while back with an all-Sorcerer party and there was one build used which can positively wreck Runelords... in a good way!
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Yeah, I've thought about bard. I kind of really wanted to do the dervish of dawn archetype coupled with magus, but no trapfinding or inspire courage there. Shoot my a build, but I will say I'm not big on halflings.Human Bards, with their favored class option, are truly excellent characters, but don't build something the group 'needs' because they don't need anything. Build something you will love to play...
I tend to shy away from the Magus class, but I'm something of an expert on Dervishes of Dawn... feel free to drop me a line if I can do anything to help.
I've also got a wicked-crazy Dwarf if you want to try something a little different.
It's a 15 point buy. I'm leaning towards human (almost always do. The feat and skills are too good to pass up, but could work with tiefling or elf. I've also toyed with ninja or an alchemist archetype that finds traps. Speaking of traps. Does anyone know if a trapfinder in this particular adventure path is necessary, or really useful?
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I should have asked - what kind of Sorcerer? There are so many different variations that no two are similar. I am curious because we actually began a ROTRL run a while back with an all-Sorcerer party and there was one build used which can positively wreck Runelords... in a good way!
I don't know. I just know the DM said those were the classes we got. I don't even know races. Going by what I know of them, I bet most are human. The gunslinger may be a dwarf. The guy playing the socerer doesn't a have really good grasp of the rules, and I think it's his first time playing a caster, so probably something simple like a human or half-elf with draconic bloodline.
With that party I'd play a wizard:
- Trapfinding is nice but not essential in RotRL.
- As a prepared caster you'll be a nice complement to the sorcerer in terms of spells covered.
- INT based class means you'll be very good at knowledge/linguistics checks, which IMO are far more important than trapfinding.
Trap-finding is nice but never essential in pathfinder. I mean anybody can disarm normal traps if they trained at it, anybody can find traps with a good perception score and/or detect magic. And a party with casters and/or the right gear can bypass traps (or summon a monster to set off other traps).
A normal bard is good for this party, or an evangelist cleric. A witch would also be a great choice, as it brings a unique mix of arcane and divine spells mixed with powerful and useful hexes that can buff the party and debuff the enemy.
in a larger party with multiple combatants party buffs are awesome, and when you have a cleric and a sorcerer its nice to have some kind of back-up caster who can heal the cleric if he drops or toss some control or utility spells if the sorc drops (or doesn't know them)- both of those make Bard an awesome option. a bard would also bring knowledges and other skills that the party is lacking (and with a solid UMD can really bring a lot of utility casting and other tricks). so, if you're looking for the 'best' option bard is probably the way to go (and one that hasn't given up bardic knowledge or inspire courage).
that said, one of the funnest things about coming into a party that has all its bases covered is the freedom to play something you wouldn't normally feel free to try... make a shifter ranger or someone headed to dragon disciple, or a guy based on a favorite literary/movie/anime character, or just something that seems fun but you know is a sub-optimal.
I'd suggest a druid honestly. You're more than able to provide support with spontaneous summons and your animal companion, both of which provide indirect healing (every hit they take are hits that the party doesn't need healed) as well as flanking support.
Plus you're entangling the field and holding mobs in place for the sorcerer to blast as well as other crowd control.
Also wildshaping into some rat or small animal can provide some much needed scouting.
Another fun druid strategy for later levels is to wildshape into an air elemental, then Whirlwind and move your full 100ft in the same round, making the whole area do one or two reflex saves or be effectively useless if they can't fly. Then the next round cast a standard action spell and still move through everyone again. While still rolling for summons and animal companion.