Hi everyone! I'm soon to start a campaing with 4 other players. Their characters will be: dwarf barbarian, elf ninja, human magus and human lore oracle. I think we lack mostly ranged attack and maybe some arcane support/utility.
What would you think the best 5th character would be for this party? I had initially thought about a halfling archaeologist bard (archer). But I don't know if trapfinding is that important, TBH (if the ninja invests in disable device I guess we could use dispel magic for the rare magical trap). Besides, between the Lore Oracle and the Magus we have most of the knowledge skills covered already, and I like avoiding redundancies.
Another option I fancied was human sylvan sorcerer. I love the idea of an animal companion, but it has been pointed out to me that maybe we don't need another melee character (I'm talking about the animal, of course) as it is.
What are your thoughts? Any class capable of creating a great synergy that I'm missing? We will play the Rise of the Runelords campaign, in case that helps (of course, please keep your answers free of spoilers).
Thanks a lot in advance!
Go transmutation wizard. They can be buffy if you want them to.
Ranged inquisitor. You get versatility, the ability to cast spells, the ability to use healing wands, notable ranged damage, and reasonable survivability.
I dig bards a lot so they get my vote by default! :D
I think you can be what ever you want with that group, and you will do fine. Avoid making someones too close to what the others have and i think you will be fine. A bard have been suggestet. I personally think that the bard should be the 1st party member. If you gat a bow and dont take one of the solo archtypes you should soon be the boss of that outfit.
I would also suggest making a bard. Probably one who is archery based (put your first feats at least into point blank shot and precise shot).
The bard will add a lot of skills (notably knowledge skills), can be the face if needed, be stealthy if needed (do really anything if needed!). Also, a bard gets pretty awesome spells at level one. Hideous Laughter is awesome, and Grease and Sleep are other classics. Another bonus, is you can always give your bard a wand of CLW.
The core bard is a real nice buffer, and I find myself rarely taking archetypes that replace inspire courage (and bardic knowledge does always seem to be handy). If you are going to look into archetypes, sandman and street performer are my favorites. Really though, there is pretty much a bard archetype for any situation (one that makes you better caster, better melee, more rogue-like, etc. etc.).
a base bard would offer a nice party buff to all your melee guys, along with some arcane support and (potentially) some ranged combat ability.
an archery ranger would bring good ranged combat along with some (divine) casting support and some more skills. inquisitor is similar but more spells and less combat.
a zen archer would be solid ranged combat but with no spell support.
another option (if you're giving up on the concept behind your sylvan sorc anyways) would be to take another look at the example build i posted in your other thread... 1 level of fighter or ranger, 1 level of wizard with the scryer subschool (even if you don't really like divinations, you only need 1/spell level and everything else can be stuff you like better), and then start leveling as an eldritch knight. at 7th level you'd have +6 BAB and cast as a 5th level wizard! from there you can switch to arcane archer if you're not worried about the extra lost caster levels (or dip 4 levels of AA if you think you can afford 1 more lost CL).
a similar, probably less optimal, but arguably cooler build would be an aasimar sohei monk 1/empyreal sorc 1/EK... that costs you 1 BAB and delays spell levels by 1 (compared to the above build), but it solves your AC/swift action use issues, and ensures that you're never unarmed (and always threaten your adjacent squares).
I think a witch would be wonderful for that party. Help with both arcane and divine, and debuff the heck out of the bad guys, so the barbarian and the magus could hit easier.
Thanks a lot for your advice! Lots of good options, although bard seems to get a lot of love.
I really like archaeologist, because it covers trapfinding and the bonus rogue talents (which can be used as feats with some restrictions) are a nice addition since archery is quite feat-intensive. But it loses performance (buffs everyone) in exchange for luck (self-buff only). I'll have to think on how selfish I want to be...
Thanks again for all the help!
We are having a halfling bard (vanilla) in our party as well, actually I like that little guy a lot.
-1st his RP is great and contributes a lot to our gaming sessions
-2nd who doesn't like the additional % to hit and other stuffs
-3rd our rogue (your ninja?) absolutely loves vanish/invisibility and so on
If you are fine rolling a d4 for damage definitely go for a halfling archer bard, give him a sweet name and personality and your party will have a huge profit