Hey I have run Rappan Athuk, and I would recommend a wizard or a rogue to round out this party.
Arcane Trickster would be awesome.
We had a party that did well with a bard instead of a rogue, but he had the archaeologist archetypype. Without that archetype a bard is going to have a hard time with the traps in Rappan Athuk.
Isn't Rappan Athuk a multi-level experience? I mean, you may wind up leveling while you're doing it, so AT would still be viable. As it stands, the party does seem pretty short on Arcane magic, so a Wizard or Witch would help fill that gap. While the bard has some magic, he isn't going to be as good at it or have access to some of the same spells that the Wizard or Witch would have.
Oh it's multi-level alright.
Well there are plenty of recovered spell-books the witch won't be able to take advantage of, if I understand witches correctly.
an urban ranger is another alternative. Can play the trapfinder angle, melee to full strength, and has minor spell support.
You DO need an offensive caster in some ways, but as long as you've enough overlap, you can be okay.
==Aelryinth
Anytime Sunshine,
Might I suggest Adjuration or Transmutation as your specialty school? And with a necromancer type cleric in the party, you can probably afford to take Necromancy as your prohibited school.
All I can say is that a lot of the usual board advice might not hold up as much in Rappan Athuk. It's an old-school dungeon, it doesn't follow the format of modern published adventures. Things like blasting, trap-finding, and in-combat healing that everyone usually looks down on now can actually be very necessary.
I've never played Rattun Athuk, but from what I've heard it's a classic "Mega-Dungeon", so spell selection should be geared toward utility over damage (though a few damaging spells will help vs. resistent monsters). Spells like Fly, Levitate, etc. will probably be really helpful, and Polymorph might be nice if your allies die and you have to use Reincarnate to bring them back instead of Raise Dead. Buffing your frontline fighters will also probably get you further than direct damage.
|
The Party Picker Says: A little low on ranged, healing, blasting, and could use some trapfinding. Party Picker suggests Alchemist, Ranged Barbarian, Maybe even ranged fighter.
EDIT: If Rappan Athuk has traps, then I'd def go with Urban Barbarian. You get trapfinding and ranged, which are the two things you need most.
Alchemists have Disable Device as a class skill, so can disable traps. They're also ranged AOE style fighters with their bombs, so can throw out a lot of damage.
|
|
Alchemist is the ultimate blaster, and also does the ranged thing pretty well. Alchemists can also heal (although not as effectively as some other classes). ALSO although they don't have any special trapfinding abilities, they are the only class besides rogue that gets disable device so that will help on traps.
And they are fun and powerful! Pretty much good add around.
|
|
Yeah, AoE is basically all alchemists do, and they do it very well. They are also incredible debuffers. INCREDIBLE debuffers. They certainly don't have the utility of the wizard, but with 2/3ths casting they aren't really a slouch. To be fair though, their "spell" list is mostly buffs.
Early level's it's a bit boring, just throwing bombs over and over. At mid to high levels it gets more interesting with the variety of bombs, but it's still pretty much just throwing bombs.
Go wizard bro. You will have fun. Just make sure you are well rounded, that's my advice. There will be so many situational things where just the right spell is needed and you have a good chance it's in your spell book.
But that is my bias I just really like the classic type characters.
I had an alchemist; he ended up being one of my favorite characters.
He focused on debuffing bombs. He had high knowledge skills to help with monster ID, and then chose the correct bomb to implement. He had the force bomb, confusion bomb, and stink bomb discoveries. As soon as he knew his targets' weak saves, it was bombs away, bad guys shut down, and the rest of the party rolled in for gangbeats. He didn't do a ton of damage, but he made it so nobody else in the party broke a sweat.
He also had a good formula book full of buffs, but I was so effective with the debuff bombs, I don't even remember what buff formulae he had. I remember at the end he had twin form.
Ranger(Trapper) -2/Inquisitor - 6+, forget a squishy trap finding wizard
The mobs in rappan athuk can reaallly grind you down, sometimes a good ol fireball is just what you need in there. To clear mobs of really weak enemies, or to soften up fairly large mobs of slightly tougher mooks like ogres and minotaurs. Yes ogres and minotaurs come in mobs in that place lol.
The cleric and oracle can deal with mobs
I see what u did there ;)