What class(or build) do you find the most enjoyable in Society Play?


Pathfinder Society

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2/5

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I currently have 2 wizards, an alchemist, a gunslinger, and a witch in Society.

I tend to favor arcane casters, just because fantasy to me (especially high fantasy) means magic.

However I have had plenty of fun with the martial classes as well. Because sometimes hitting something with a big stick satisfies a visceral need to make baddies go splat.

The gunslinger was my newest character because I had to create a new one for a Tier 1 and I was watching Evil Dead at the time. So he's a musket master named Ash. "Give me some sugar baby!"

All of my characters are single-class. Personal preference.

So I was wondering, what is your favorite class (or classes) and why?

And let's keep this friendly folks! :)

1/5

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While I have enjoyed virtually all of my PFS characters, I tend to like the ones that are the most well-rounded and have the most out-of-combat utility (while at least being able to hold their own in combat, as well)

Part of this is that I enjoy being as useful as possible in as many phases of the game as possible, but also that I with such characters I'm also usually able to draw a bit more roleplaying and immersion out of players that I may not necessarily know that well, or who do not seem to initially feel very comfortable


My favourite is my Archer/Buffer, since I can hide in the back, toss out the spells to make other people shine, and when necessary (or just when I feel like cutting loose) lay the smack down at range. I can also help the party overcome anything short of DR 20/adamant, which means nobody stands around feeling useless.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

One who can contribute to almost anything but isn't dominant. It isn't fun for me to just sit around with a dumb-as-a-post fighter waiting for combat to happen, unable to help with a skill check or social interaction. But at the same time, I have played at tables where my ludicrously social character was with 5 fighter/wizard/antisocial players. When you can single-handedly "win" any conversation or skill check, the energy at the table is very low. (It's the reason why my skill-monkey has deliberately stunted social skills, so he WON'T dominate a scenario).

So to answer the question:
Probably the skill-monkey alchemist with a superiority complex.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I enjoy generalists, because then I have fewer situations where I can do nothing at all; I can always participate.

My favorite is easily my 9th-level cleric, Thomas the Tiefling Hero! He fights on the front lines (31 AC unbuffed, and with one round of buffing can attack at +16/+11 for 1d8+15), carries a wide variety of prepared spells to handle different obstacles/enemy tactics (invisibility purge, liberating command, stone shape, pilfering hand, dismissal, plane shift, etc), and IIRC can rock a +19 Diplomacy 7/day (+10 the rest of the time). He also has Knowledge (religion and planes) in the low or mid teens.

Basically, no matter what the situation, he can contribute in some fashion. That's a nice feeling.

---------------------------------

I'm also really enjoying my new(ish) human sorceress, Arlyn. She's not quite so versatile as Thomas, but she's also way less complicated to build/play. There's a certain joy in declaring "I cast a spell!" every round, too. :) And of course, her Diplomacy is obscene as well.

3/5 RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

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I agree with those praising the versatile characters; I really enjoy playing the swiss-army-knife, rather than the sledgehammer. So my Alchemist is tons of fun, because he has all kinds of bombs and extracts and skills for every situation. My cleric is also great, because the spell selection is so customizable.

And you know what's not fun? Being presented with some challenge, looking around the table, and realizing that no one has an answer for it. Since you can't coordinate with your teammates ahead of time in PFS, that means I like to cover as many bases possible myself.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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RainyDayNinja wrote:
And you know what's not fun? Being presented with some challenge, looking around the table, and realizing that no one has an answer for it.

+1

3/5

Rogues and bards. It's great to have a ton of different skills, and I enjoy working at making them sufficiently combat-effective. With a lot of the more combat-focused classes, I find that making them combat-effective enough for PFS just comes too easily, and it's also too easy to make those sorts of classes overly powerful.

If I were to optimize a Barbarian or a Fighter or an Alchemist or a Summoner, I'd be doing a disservice to my table. If I tinker with a Rogue or a Bard, I'm working at doing my table a favor.

I've had good results so far.

-Matt

4/5 *

I agree with Matt - a variety of skills and abilities lets you fill a variety of roles, depending on who else comes to the table. Rogues, bards, or versatile casters are my favorites. More important, though, is the voice for me - I try to make my characters speak distinctively, and so I tend to only play a new PC when I have a voice for him. My current favorite is Drel, halfling shadowcaster who has an accent midway between Alexi Leonov (Soviet-era cosmonaut) and Gru from the "Despicable Me" movies. That, plus a schtick to explain his various powers, translates to more fun for me than the details of mechanics.

Of course, you have to have a solid mechanical build at some point, or you're just taking up space... but I find that, as long as I have a lot of skills, especially Knowledge skills, and various combat and utility abilities, be they from skills, items, or spells, I can help the table have fun.

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/5 **

I'll join the "versatile character" bandwagon. I absolutely adore bards, to the point where I consciously have to stop myself building more.

My druid is also a lot of fun. Very versatile, lots of personality, and capable of pulling out some serious power when required while NOT dominating the table in general.

I also like the silliness of my dwarven cleric, especially when coupled with the looks of amazement on a GMs face as the dwarven cleric virtually teleports around the battlefield with his speed of 50

Sovereign Court 1/5

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My Battle Herald. +5 to hit and damage, bonuses on saves, the ability to give new saves, plus bodyguard and in harms' way.

You have something to do every round that isn't affected by a die roll, so you never have a bad turn. You let other people's characters shine. Since you're just there to help other characters, you never have to deal with kill envy. It's honestly just a relaxing experience.

Silver Crusade 2/5

My first character was a sorceress, probably much like Jiggy's Arlyn. She is quite the spellcaster (every favored class bonus is another spell), and she probably has too much Diplomacy. She has other skills though, and got us into the Waking Rune pretty well.

I find that my wizard with Breadth of Experience fits with more parties, and better. He is a knowledge monkey Diviner, so he can go first and put up the right buffs/battlefield control to get the fight started. I love making all the other characters shine.

My first fighter was a one-trick pony archer, who I have to work very hard to make him able to do anything but poke holes in everything. He's just fresh to sixth level, so I get to see now if he's too strong in a fight.

More recently, I have a Lore Warden reach weapon fighter. He's just third level, so I am eager to see what he can do. Between knowing a lot, and his own version of battlefield control, I expect he'll fit in well with others.

Probably my favorite is my paladin, though. She isn't an optimized build, but I love the class, and getting up close and personal with the evildoers, and putting them away is very fun. She also has some skills, mostly in the social area.

2/5

Favorite would have to be a wise ass rogue, in combat you can move virtually uninhibited to favorable positions, out of combat you can bluff, and knowledge, linguistics is great and espionage. Lastly no one will ever turn you down because, what if there is a trap.

Grand Lodge 2/5

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Hmm. Still working on it. Just got my 2nd GM star last night and I still haven't finished making a society character.

Grand Lodge 1/5

I have mainly been playing spellcasters, both arcane and divine. I have a cleric 4, sorcerer(Wildblooded & Seeker Arch.)4, Oracle 2, Witch 3 that have seen the most play. This is usually to fill a role slot in the group.(not complaining, I also really like the concepts for these characters) I have some non-casters, a Fighter 1, Dragoon 2(all GM credit), Rogue 1, and Gunslinger 1. I want to play them but have not had the chance to do so, other than one session with the Fighter 1. This is mostly because I am usually the GM. (I also have another cleric and one "adventurer"(themed to conceal class))
I want to give just about all the classes a try at some point.

Sovereign Court 5/5 RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

Bards, inquisitors and Lore Wardens, Oh my!

As much fun as I have with Ksenia, I hate looking and going "Drat, that's Dex that has that skill!" OR, "Damnit, I should have brought Mayim."

3/5

I think the versatility argument is why I like my Summoner. The way I've built him, he's got combat, magic, and skills. He's good in any situation. I figure as long as I actively make sure I'm not show boating, I'm happy to be effective in all situations.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Wow, I never realized how many other generalists were out there. :)

2/5 *

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I like characters based more on their personality than their class, so I like most classes and don't have a "favorite".

The only class I dislike is the Paladin, not because I don't like people playing Paladins, I just have trouble roleplaying them.

Sovereign Court

Currently, my favourite character has to be Nisha the Merchant, my Tiefling Urban Barbarian/Martial Artist Monk from Qadira. Good in combat abilities, and with 5 skill points per level, has quite a few skills (mainly because almost all of them were spent on a different skill!), including Diplomacy and Knowledge: Local. Sure, her Diplomacy is only +1, but sometimes, I've had to be party face, and it helps with aiding others when I'm not.

She's currently level 4, but so far I've found the Monk's abilities were pretty flexible. In one scenario, there was a bar fight, and I giggled with glee due to my Monk's unarmed strike. In another, I ran past a bunch of demons to get to the Dretch in the back who was Coup-de-gracing captured prisoners and grappled the sucker.

Out of combat, at least once per scenario, she tries to sell her "antique" coffee pot to a variety of NPCs, claiming it was a steal at [insert ridiculous price here]. It's been a hoot to the other players so far.

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

Interesting question... especially so since we were kind of discussing a similar topic last night (at a GM's happy hour).

I typically also prefer generalists, and even my paladin was built with a 13 INT. And a couple of traits to improve his skills.

That said, my Paladin (Magnus) is a blast to play, in that he is very single minded (something about an 8 WIS). He sees the world in a very black-and-white sort of way, though he is a bit confused about his patron deity (technically Abadar, though due to his sister, a "cleric" of Aroden, he often thinks it is The Last Azlant).

Munny, my gunslinger/inquisitor is the character I am most familiar with... in fact the reason he went to inquisitor after 5 levels of GS was that I didn't think he was versatile enough.

Angelo Gaius Cassius Fierro, my Tiefling Wizard (of Chellish decent), is also a lot of fun to play, as he is "The Master of All Things Arcane". He claims that "flashy" spells like Fireball and Lightning Bolt are useless, preferring to focus on Summoning (or Haste). He has almost every Knowledge skill on a 12+, so is always helpful in that way, even when his spells aren't always effective. He is just a general "know it all", for some reason, I don't have a hard time getting into his head, either.

Really, it is my first PFS character (a Rogue named Silbeg Cailean) that I most wanted to like... he is a true generalist... a face, trapsmith, and dual wields gladii. In fact, in combat he is a bit of a generalist, having a plethora of weapons (of different materials, etc), so that he can always at least try and be effective. For some reason, though, I at least temporarily lost interest in him (though, interest is coming back again... level 6 was really good to him!)

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/5 RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8

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Jason S wrote:
I like characters based more on their personality than their class, so I like most classes and don't have a "favorite".

This. My favorite characters are the ones I love to roleplay.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Walter Sheppard wrote:
Jason S wrote:
I like characters based more on their personality than their class, so I like most classes and don't have a "favorite".
This. My favorite characters are the ones I love to roleplay.

In my case, my favorite character (Thomas, the Tiefling Hero!) is both my favorite mechanically and my favorite flavor-wise. Of course, both were majorly helped by the unbelievable coincidence of Season 5's plot fitting perfectly into his concept/backstory. Feeling like the scenarios were made for you changes everything. :D

Silver Crusade 3/5

Count me in the generalist camp. All of my PFS characters have (or will soon have) at least 3 different classes. I prefer characters with a lot of personality, which usually manifests with either very low or very high Charisma. My favorite characters right now, in order:

Bard/Cleric/Fighter (Would YOU take levels in fighter only so you can be better with your whip that you almost never use? I would, apparently.)
Barbarian/Alchemist/Gunslinger
Gunslinger/Paladin/Fighter

Sovereign Court

The Fox wrote:

Count me in the generalist camp. All of my PFS characters have (or will soon have) at least 3 different classes. I prefer characters with a lot of personality, which usually manifests with either very low or very high Charisma. My favorite characters right now, in order:

Bard/Cleric/Fighter (Would YOU take levels in fighter only so you can be better with your whip that you almost never use? I would, apparently.)
Barbarian/Alchemist/Gunslinger
Gunslinger/Paladin/Fighter

I haven't gone to that extreme yet, but almost all of my characters have 2 classes:

Ranger/Monk (was going to be mostly Ranger, wearing light armour; kind of retired from play for now)
Barbarian/Monk (all but 1 level will be Monk; just love this character)
Cavalier/Ranger (Half-Elf Ranger with a level in Cavalier for party face skills; haven't played him yet)
Cavalier/Fighter (Dwarf Lore Warden Fighter with Cavalier for armour proficiencies)

So far, the only character that I have that is single class is my Cleric, and I may or may not play him; thinking about starting a Life Oracle instead.

Lantern Lodge 3/5

For role-play, I really like all of my characters, so choosing one there is just sort of a toss up.

For game mechanics, I definitely like my Void Elementalist 6/Magaambyan Arcanist 10/Loremaster 3 the most. Having some divine druid spells (such as antilife shell, deathward, freedom of movement, and heal) and the good domain spells on your wizard spell list is indescribably sweet. Getting to use some of the reality altering powerful higher level spells in PFS play (like create demiplate, simulacrum, and wish has also been amazingly fun as it is typically a lowerish level setting for the majority of PCs.

My general advice for any PFS player would be to not overlook the value of skills (specifically social skills and knowledges). They have done a great job of making them relevant.

I also personally prefer to play spell casters if I know a game is going to go past 9th level. Non-spellcasters are still incredibly useful, but it really is like comparing apples to hand grenades in the balance department.

Liberty's Edge 5/5

I tend to build versatile characters. The ones that are not, aren't very fun to me.

4/5 5/5 Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Tampere

I have a habit of doing two things with my characters: giving them class levels that allow them to cast stuff, and not dumping any of their stats. I've had 12 PFS characters to date, and have builds up for two more if I ever need them. I believe one of these had a dump stat, but he's been dead for a good year and a half now, and I've lost his stats. This means a lot of my characters are very mediocre, but most of them don't have any huge glaring weaknesses either.

I also have a bit of an obsession with multiclassing ever since I ran a single-class vanilla Druid to level 12. My Magus and one of my two Oracles will probably run single-class for their entire careers, but the others will end up multiclassed:

Oracle of Ancestor/Paladin of Shizuru
Inquisitor of Lao Shu Po/Rogue/Shadowdancer
Ranger/Rogue/Fighter
Wizard/Magaambyan Arcanist
Summoner/Riftwarden
Fighter/Cavalier (my only character who can't use magic in any form)
Paladin of Ragathiel/Gunslinger/Inquisitor of Ragathiel

Overall, I think Oracle might be my favorite class. Sure, they have a lot of weaknesses, but they're ridiculously versatile and you can build pretty much anything out of one. Magic in general just gives your character a lot of versatility and always-available solutions to certain problems, which is something I enjoy having.

1/5

I like to be really good at some things, but unlike some other here, I have no problem saying "Not my shtick." However, damage alone doesn't do it for me. I really like classes that can control and debuff more than anything else, most of the time I couldn't care less about putting damage on the board. If I was to prioritize jobs like doing I would say Control>Debuff>Skills>Damage>Buff. I have never really made a character to tank.

My enchanter sorcerer and witch are clearly my favorites, followed by the alchemist who can lay down some control but is more damage oriented, followed by my illusionist who just cross trained into it and hasn't been given a full chance, followed by my gunslinger/cleric, and finally my summoner and bard.

Dark Archive 4/5

Fighter/Rogues is pretty much my go to class when I am at a loss for what to play, been playing Fighter/Rogues since second edition (and also in other non d20 systems) and have enjoyed them at every step of the way.

The ability to always be able to do something, to be the guy that people look too when there is a mundane obstacle in the way its quite worth playing the class.


I really enjoy oddball characters, as the RP that fleshes them out makes up for perceived lack of numerical optimization for me. I almost always "carry on" characters from past games (even rpg video games such as WoW and Skyrim) that I've been playing for years adding to their stories.

I dig playing the necromancer who actually isn't hellbent on raising an army of darkness, rather is just consumed by morbid curiosity. RPing him with clerics/paladins is an inviting challenge!

I plan to make make a (cavalier or fighter?)/hellknight, maybe turn paladin later on, but so far I only have the above in PFS

1/5

I enjoy playing my grappling Eidolon, but I've got a summoner concept on the back burner that should be enjoyable to both roll and role play at the table without having the usual, "the summoner solo'd everything" complaint afterwards. I'm a big fan of the idea of the Summoner class and I'm learning to ease back from optimization to allow others to shine (although there are moments where everyone is thankful that I've optimized to the extend that I have).

Liberty's Edge 2/5

I have two favorite characters. Liran Ver'Ha, an elven Cavalier of the Dragon who focuses on Bodyguard and in Harms way. I love being able to deny enemy hits on my friends with Bodyguard and the Dragons bonus to aid actions. "You hit me by 1!" "Nope, +4 to AC."

My other character is a Musetouched Aasimar Lotus Geisha(Bard) who focuses on Enchantment and buffing. Great deal of fun when I make the enemies fight themselves, sitting back giving more strength to my party.

Scarab Sages 4/5 **

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path Subscriber

I too enjoy the versatile characters. Nearly all of my PCs have UMD for this reason. Many low level scrolls (and wands) can be very useful not just to your character, but to the party:

wand of feather step
scroll of detect secret doors
scroll of know the enemy

I also like traits and feats that augment a skill list, and I frequently play humans, or INT 12 characters just for the skill points.

I like Cosmopolitan feat, and any trait that adds Diplomacy, Bluff, or Sense Motive to my skill list. Throwing face skills on a fighter is easy, so why not do it?

Options are always good - you never know who you will be playing with in PFS, so having characters that have some things they're good at (or just above average) is nice when there isn't someone who is awesome at it. Sometimes the fighter with +8 diplomacy is the face. Other times he just assists the bard with the +20.

Shadow Lodge *

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Put me down as another generalist. I also tend to be very gear-averse -- too much experience with GMs who steal all my stuff. So I like skills, at-will powers, and the ability to use lots of little tricks. I almost never dump stats, especially Charisma.

I also like to try and tinker with combos that I haven't seen anyone else play.

From a character background perspective, one of the things I really like about Golarion are the deities, so picking a patron deity is usually one of the most important decisions I make, even for the non-divine classes. And again, I try to look for non-standard deities, starting with the question "What kind of person would worship *them*?"

My current PFS characters are:

Human Staff Magus/Flowing Monk (Andoletta)
Aasimar Celestial Sorcerer/Mystery Cultist (Soralyon)
Half-orc Cleric (Naderi)
Half-elf Rogue/Witch/Arcane Trickster (Calistria)

3/5

I love wonky builds. With lotsa different things working together to do one thing very well. My celestial talking axe beak that is as smart as my character is lotsa fun.

As for personalities I love contradictions and character flaws. I have a blaster wizard/oracle/sorcerer with the tongues curse. In combat I offer the enemy a chance to surrender in abysall and ready a spell to wipe them if they do not. His dumped wisdom does not realize the error. An Oni-spawn thug/hungry ghost/heretic inquisitor of Sarenrae. My goal is to never have him kill a living creature so they always have a chance for redemption. Using what might be considered "evil" means to best his foes, but always offering hope.

5/5 5/55/5

Usually what makes a character fun for me isn't the class or build. As far as those goes I usually just optimize the hell out of something since I find the ignominy of dying aversive and the least entertaining part of a game. What does make a character fun for me is the personality. I tend to prefer quirky and downright unhelpful characters. This is another reason I try to optimize the hell the hell out of things because I want to make sure that I can full my own weight and no one else dies because of something my character got them into.

As such, so far I have....

A stuttering paranoid summoner with about every phobia known to man. (Her Eidolon is batsh!t insane, like a cheshire cat with daggers for teeth but she's the only one who doesn't seem to realize it's a psycho)
A pyromaniac gnome wizard who helps the Sczarni sell 'insurance'. (His familiar is Mr Fluffy, a large white rabbit who he talks to and it tells him to burn things)
A completely lawful stupid tiefling paladin of Ragathiel who makes no distinction between jaywalking and mass murder as crimes.
A hippie stoner zen archer a la Keanu Reeves
A complete hick fast-talking gunslinger

5/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

So, I will have to name two favorites, because unlike Jiggy my favorite character to roleplay is not my favorite character mechanically. I did not happen on both of those things simultaneously, but latched on to one before learning enough to understand the other.

My favorite character to roleplay is my eldritch knight, Filraen Ghaun. He has a personality I can really immerse myself in and engage with. I don't find myself slipping out of character when I play him, which is a little scary sometimes. Also, when I play my other characters, I often catch myself making decisions based not on that character's personality or goals, but on Filraen's. However, Filraen is a mechanical mess; having played his first game in the fall of 2008, he's been through so many iterations and mid-career adjustments as new books came out that he was a muddled train wreck mechanically; jack-of-too-many-trades, none of which had any synergy with the others. Thanks to retraining during 12+ play he's tighter mechanically now but he's still burdened by several choices I made in his early years that were the best available at the time (Cruel weapon, I'm looking at you!) but are currently horrifically bad.

As a result my favorite PC to play mechanically is my alchemist, Iorden of Longacre. Crypt Breaker allows him to double as a rogue, Lore Warden's skills let him be a knowledge monkey, and tacking Magus on at the end gives him additional mobility and will offset some of his MAD by letting him apply all three of his primary attributes to his trip checks, attack rolls, and AC at 13th. There were a couple tough levels in there (10-11) where I doubted taking Magus over Barbarian, but it all came together really well and I'm satisfied with how he turned out. Between alchemically allocated potions, extracts, mutagens, skills, spells, and his black blade he's able to adapt to the adventurers around him, or (in one specific adventure when absolutely everything went south on him/me/the party) function solo effectively.

Derail on generalists:
Jiggy and others surprised at the generalist love: I too see a strong preference for generalists, but remember that the question is not, "What is your favorite type of character to play?" but "What class do you find the most enjoyable in Society play." Society rewards generalists, and Organized Play as a format is more conducive to generalists than hyper-specialized characters. As a result it doesn't surprise me to see generalists are generally (ha!) favored in PFS because the question was environment specific and to a point generalists tend to thrive in the specific environment.

While my favorite Society characters are both generalists, my favorite character in my roleplaying history was much more specialized, part of a team that was built to complement each other. While each individually was fairly pedestrian as adventurers go, tough and competent but not dual-double-pistolero awesome, when the team played together our synergy made the team better than the sum of its parts; everyone played a vital role that made all of the party members, him- or herself included, better. Being part of that team, where each party member sacrificed individual prowess to improve the team as a whole, was the most rewarding roleplaying experience I have ever enjoyed and one I have been trying to experience again since it ended in summer 2008.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Derail on generalists:
Yep, I get that PFS is more generalist-friendly than might be the norm. That's part of why I like playing generalists in PFS. :) The reason I was surprised at all the generalist love is that I've seen so many comments, even in the context of PFS, telling people (myself included) that trying to be so diverse will just leave you bad at everything - the "generalism" I usually see recommended doesn't go past "have more than one skill rank per level". Then this thread comes along and for the first time I see people with real generalists. :)

2/5

Oracles are my favorite. I have a battle, blaster, and a nature Oracle. They can do anything you want and have a decent skill list with the Charisma to be the face. Also having the skill points to actually have skills is nice while not lessening combat prowess. I have actually played in balanced parties full of just Oracles.

Overall a very versatile and powerful class but not game breaking. The downside is their saves suck so investing in that cloak is a must

5/5 5/55/55/5

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The problem with generalist builds is the same problem as bards: they're usually done with NO focus at all or a bad focus. They're hard to do well but worth it if you do. They take an amount of system mastery that tends towards the "Kill it with fire!" crowd.

3/5

BigNorseWolf wrote:
The problem with generalist builds is the same problem as bards: they're usually done with NO focus at all or a bad focus. They're hard to do well but worth it if you do. They take an amount of system mastery that tends towards the "Kill it with fire!" crowd.

I have seen generalist made worthless in adventures as the specialist could do everything better and they just sit there as the specialist complete things before the generalist gets a chance to help, or their help is not needed.

I tell people I find the game mor enejoyable to have a role and always be able to fill it.

4/5

....Oracles.

Although what I really should say is "My favorite characters are spontaneous divine casters with a large variety of builds and variations to allow them to fill any roll."

If I had to pick a character from PFS, I would probably pick my Oracle of Life (Who just hit 16). It's a combination of everything I like in a character: Support Specialist, Healing Extraordinaire, Full Spellcasting, and being an Oracle.

I can't jump on the generalist bandwagon. I really like my specialized characters much more than my generalists. I like dumping stats and min-maxing certain things too much. To me, there's something magical about a party of specialists that work together to make a great party. I am definitely for the team element of play.

Oh yeah, I really like Bards and Wizards, too.

3/5 RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

BigNorseWolf wrote:
The problem with generalist builds is the same problem as bards: they're usually done with NO focus at all or a bad focus. They're hard to do well but worth it if you do. They take an amount of system mastery that tends towards the "Kill it with fire!" crowd.

I think "generalist" might be the wrong word; the goal is to do a several things well, not all the things mediocre.

For example, my Alchemist can scout, find/disable traps, and dish out energy damage with bombs. But he sucks at social skills.

Meanwhile, my Cleric can buff, debuff, heal, and talk pretty, but he misses a lot of AoOs because he doesn't have a weapon out (although he has knocked out enemies with his shovel as late as level 8).

You're going to have to pick a couple of areas to suck in, otherwise you'll just suck at everything.

Sovereign Court 5/5 RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

And that's alright Finlanderboy.

I prefer the generalist, just to 'fill in.' Bards benefit because who doesn't want a +x/+x to hit/damage? As I level up Kodiak, he'll be throwing out communal buffs and tripping spiritual weapons. That kind of play suits me just fine. To each their own. :-)

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Finlanderboy wrote:

I have seen generalist made worthless in adventures as the specialist could do everything better and they just sit there as the specialist complete things before the generalist gets a chance to help, or their help is not needed.

I tell people I find the game mor enejoyable to have a role and always be able to fill it.

Or they just need more system mastery so that their generalist can always be relevant. ;)

Shadow Lodge 1/5

Any character with a good backstory, well thought out motives behind what they do, and who covers enough bases to be an effective character in many to most situations, and also deviates somewhat from what is expected.

For example, my current favorite is my pit born Tiefling fighter/rogue (thug). Her parents are clerics of Sheyln who are on good terms with Ollysta Zadrian and whose particular interest is preserving Sarkonian culture. They are the kind of people who worked hard with their daughter to help her see the beauty in all people and things, rather like the ideal parents for someone with aspergers or autism in RL.

She does, but she battles her urges to see the beauty in all forms of destruction and a desire to dominate as well. When I play her, I keep in mind that duality, a taught desire to respect and an instinctual opposite.

Mechanically, she's an intimidation based fighter, with enough skills to be effective, with some odd skills like diplomacy and knowledge (religion) from Child of the Temple trait. She can't do everything, but she can do many things.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Jiggy wrote:
Finlanderboy wrote:

I have seen generalist made worthless in adventures as the specialist could do everything better and they just sit there as the specialist complete things before the generalist gets a chance to help, or their help is not needed.

I tell people I find the game mor enejoyable to have a role and always be able to fill it.

Or they just need more system mastery so that their generalist can always be relevant. ;)

I don't know if that possible, since you need to compete with the specialist.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

BigNorseWolf wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
Finlanderboy wrote:

I have seen generalist made worthless in adventures as the specialist could do everything better and they just sit there as the specialist complete things before the generalist gets a chance to help, or their help is not needed.

I tell people I find the game mor enejoyable to have a role and always be able to fill it.

Or they just need more system mastery so that their generalist can always be relevant. ;)
I don't know if that possible, since you need to compete with the specialist.

I know it IS possible, as I've done it with my cleric.

3/5 RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

BigNorseWolf wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
Finlanderboy wrote:

I have seen generalist made worthless in adventures as the specialist could do everything better and they just sit there as the specialist complete things before the generalist gets a chance to help, or their help is not needed.

I tell people I find the game mor enejoyable to have a role and always be able to fill it.

Or they just need more system mastery so that their generalist can always be relevant. ;)
I don't know if that possible, since you need to compete with the specialist.

I think that's an issue sometimes, but not always. For example, if you have a monster DPR fighter in the group, you can still benefit from a second-tier damage-dealer. In that case, the generalist will still contribute next to the specialist.

On the other hand, with skills like Disable Device or Diplomacy, a generalist won't help much beside someone who specializes in those skills, because there's just no room for two people to try. For skills like that, it's all or nothing.

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