Working on a support bard

[williamoak]

So, I'm currently running a game with 2 people. I want to give them an GMPC that exists purely to support the players (a fighter & a samurai). So I'm looking for ideas. It's purpose is mainly to make up for skills lacked, some magical support, and combat support. There's going to be a lot of exploration soon, so knowledge skills will be important.

My current choice is an archivist bard. Give it decent int (for more skills) & cha (for spells & performance). Give it a bit in all skills, some complementary things, maybe give them a little backstory (through story feats).

ANy other ideas? Cleric would be tempting, but I'm afraid they might take too much space (although maybe an evangelist?) and have too few skills.

Note: THe players have actually invested decently in social skills, so I'd rather not make the support a social-type. It's why the archivist (more centered around knwoledge) stood out to me.

[Rerednaw]

Azata-blooded(musetouched) Aasimar Bard.

No need for archetypes.
Trait:
Trap Finder (from People of the Sands). Disable Device+1 as class skill and disable magical traps as a rogue.
Any other trait (probably one that adds to Perform).

Alternate Favored class bonus:
+1/2 level to one bardic performance.
So at 4th level he's giving +2 combat bonuses to the party.
At 8th +3.
At 12th +4.

Use Versatile Performance to fill in for skills and further stretch your his/her effectiveness. Some of the other performance skill are not social based as you mentioned that the other players invested in social skills.

Or you could go with the archivist...it's a solid support archetype. Both are decent at supporting martial-heavy groups, which you apparently have.

[williamoak]

Oh, a few details I forgot:

-It's an all-dwarf campaign. Not optimal for a bard, but still more workable than a dwarven sorcerer.

Here's a basic build for the archivist. I'll try evangelist after.

Archivist

[Pan]

Are you sure they need a GMPC? Not a fan in the slightest. If I had only two players I would be tempted to let them run 2 players each.

[Rerednaw]

Pan wrote:

Are you sure they need a GMPC? Not a fan in the slightest. If I had only two players I would be tempted to let them run 2 players each.

Leadership feat for free (and early) maybe?

[williamoak]

Rerednaw wrote:

Pan wrote:

Are you sure they need a GMPC? Not a fan in the slightest. If I had only two players I would be tempted to let them run 2 players each.

Leadership feat for free (and early) maybe?

I've been thinking about that as well. One of the players want to take Torchbearer, so that should help.