Reach Cleric would be a good choice. Powerful and versatile. Reach is always handy to have.
I think the witch is very interesting as well. Full of flavor. I'm waiting for the Scarred Witch Doctor to be added to PFS before I play one.
Witch's won't let you explore many tactics and tend to be repetitive because of the lack of good hexes/spells.
Clerics can require a bit of system mastery. They're a bit MAD and their playstyle changes as they level.
Prepared casters are definitely a way to explore all your options with spells. Lots and lots of choices to make with a wizard or a cleric. Can be more of a pain than its worth at times.
I think the witch is very interesting as well. Full of flavor. I'm waiting for the Scarred Witch Doctor to be added to PFS before I play one.
Could be a long wait!
I like the reach cleric idea. I'm currently getting ready to play a new PFS character who will be a reach Cleric, eventually. Most will say to not delay progression and don't MC but i decided to start out as a Lore Warden Fighter for at the very least for one level. This allowed me to grab some nice extra goodies up front.
Human LW Fighter of Desna with Combat Reflexes, Body Guard the Adopted trait and Helpful in order to grant 4ac as an opportunity attack.
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Instead of a reach cleric. I suggest Oracle of Battle with a reach weapon. As they fill the same role. Over all the oracle is a better divine caster then the cleric. You don't need the channel as you wont have the points for it. And the domains don't help you in your combat role as much as revelations.
Halfling Barbarian is not a bad way to go. I'm just not a fan of the class.
Witch, and Wizard require a lot of prep time. Learning what spells do and how they work. If your willing to put in the time learning the spells you will do well. If not you wont do well. Playing arcane caster is more about flow of battle then it is dealing damage.
Also in my limited time with PFS the Cleric or Oracle and Barb will fit at almost any table. Whereas with the Wizard and Witch if you sit at a Table with no real frontline types you may not make it through to see another day, unless you build your caster to be pretty durable.
Cleric, barbarian, and wizard can all bring very different things to a table, and 2 of the same class can be entirely different people.
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The best way to describe it.
Clerics are versatile and can fill any divine role.
Oracles are focused on one thing and do it better.
I like Oracles over clerics due to there focus. With the divine caster there spell list is not that diverse so you only need a few spells depending on what your focus is. I have both in PFS over all there both good. I just like the oracle better for filling a specialized role. I like the cleric for role playing as a worshiper of a particular god.
Okay to all who recommend an Oracle over a Cleric I literally don't know Oracles at all. Other than they are they are the Spontaneous Divines with I believe 3/4 BAB d8HD
They share the basic differences of prep vs. spontaneous, but also they get 2 more skill points per level(clerics are screwed out of any skill points really), and instead of domains and channeling they have a curse and a mystery. Every so many levels they get a revelation, an ability based on the revelation they chose. Oracles tend to be more interesting than clerics.
Keep in mind spontaneous don't have to have a focus. They actually do well by having a versatile selection. The downside is you don't have the potential to change each day based on challenges.
Biggest advantage is probably that you don't have to pick a particular god and put thought into what domains you want, making them much easier to make if your newer. In PFS it also means you don't have that jerk GM who shows up now and then and holds your divine powers over your head asking 'would your god really want that?' even when its unnecessary.
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Oracles are divine sorcerers. They have more options after they choose a mystery (they choose revelations, while sorcerers just get powers), but they have a lesser spell list (they get cleric spells. Yeah, some are awesome, but not as good as arcane IMO). And they have 2 more skill ranks/level. And a curse to balance things a bit.
The curse can actually be very beneficial. They aren't really balanced to be malefic as a trade off for ultimate power. The curse is what you make of it, and some curses aren't really all that bad(legalistic is my go to curse if I don't want to deal with a curse).
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The curse can actually be very beneficial. They aren't really balanced to be malefic as a trade off for ultimate power. The curse is what you make of it, and some curses aren't really all that bad(legalistic is my go to curse if I don't want to deal with a curse).
Totally agree with this. Some of the curses wind up being pretty awesome (personal favorites are blackened, tongues, and haunted). My point is that it does impose a limit, which helps with a small amount of balance that off-sets some of the awesome you get. Still, I agree that some of the curses aren't really curses.
My thoughts are...
Halfling Barbarian: should be fun. damage output won't be quite what you'd get from a human or half-breed (medium size, 4 point swing in Str...), but dervish dancing with an urban barbarian will definitely help. make sure you have enough Str to take Power Attack, and if you can afford it spend a trait for Alluring or Wendifa Apprentice- either will let you take the Arcane Strike feat (for some extra bonus damage).
Witch: should be effective. will be a bit fragile- not a ton of hit points and not as much defensive magic as a wiz/sorc. max out your Int and look at feats that will raise the DCs for hexes and important spells. witches have a couple of really effective hexes, the issue you'll have (i think) is that it may get boring to just keep using the same hex or two over and over.
A Reach Cleric: I'm a huge supporter of people learning (and using) strategy and tactics. that alone is a good reason to try this. they can also be interesting and effective. there's two different ways to approach this- either keep your Wis just high enough to be able to cast the highest spell level you have access to and raise your Str and Dex as much as possible (Str based 2handed combatant, and Dex for Combat Reflexes), pick a god that favors a martial reach weapon, for domains you can pick whatever (i like fire as one, just for the extra offensive option but the DC will be kinda low); or, focus on Wis then spread out your other points in Cha (for channeling), Dex (for Combat Reflexes), and enough Str for Power Attack- channel negative energy and take channel smite and guided hand right away, take domains that up damage (like strength[ferocity] and/or destruction), and feel free to pick up some Save or Suck spells cause you'll have the DCs for it.
Or a Wizard: will be a slow starter, but if you can survive (physically in game, and mentally/emotionally in RL) up to higher levels you'll have the power of the cosmos at your finger tips... when you're playing in random groups with no guarantee of solid melee support you should aim for some durability (invest a few points in Con, consider taking Favored Class in HP), and be willing to prepare a handful of defensive spells every day. the biggest issue you'll have is just learning to predict what spells you'll need in the morning when you have to memorize them.
What do you think the best option of those would be for a newcomer with only a small amount of experience on their belt?
the easiest would be the barbarian- the only resource management you'd have to do is watching how fast you burn through rounds of rage... the best option (IMO) is the cleric- you would have a bunch of things to keep track of (spells, channels, domain powers, etc) but its important for you to learn to do that, you'll grow in your understanding of the tactics and the flow of combat, and you should have enough combat ability that even if you screw up your resource management you won't be completely screwed.
edit:
- you'll probably get frustrated if you try to build a Str based halfling barbarian... getting a 16 Str for 17/20 points is not going to work out well. if you're going to try a Str build, think about getting up to a 14 for 10/20 and rely on rage to get an 18... (the extra 7 points for +1 hit/damage is not gonna be worth it)
- i like oracles. if you're going to build for melee/reach, metal is a nice option for mystery. i like tongues for a curse (especially on an aasimar or tiefling- speak their 'native' tongue in combat), or haunted (though i prefer that for a mystery like dark tapestry or bones); i'd avoid blackened in a melee build (though its great with Flame for a blaster). an Angelkin or Musetouched aasimar would be a good fit for a reach oracle...