Starting Carrion Crown...are we in trouble?

[Rerednaw]

We are starting with 75 gp.
Excessive "cheese" is discouraged. The GM has stated he will use steal summons liberally if we have a master summoner for example. In our last AP we fought the book 6 end boss, heavily boosted in book 5 for another.

Any for CC I hear there are lots of undead...well nobody is playing a class that can channel...are we in trouble?

So far we have kineticist, inspired blade, melee alchemist, zen archer...and me ( bard with 4 str, or 2 str if he goes small race.). Subject to change.

[fatbaldbloke]

I've been GMing a party through CC and so far they've reached almost the halfway point of Book 3 with no channelling class. So fat they've done pretty well, but I am a little worried about some encounters coming up that are nearly all undead.

I would imagine that 4 STR could be a real problem for your Bard though...can't remember off the top of my head right now but fairly sure there's a couple of encounters in Books 1 & 2 with creatures that can drain strength (or one that can do Strength poison damage)

[Imbicatus]

Depending on the Element (not cold/void), a kineticist can be as good or better vs undead offensively as a channeler. The Zen Archer may have trouble with DR unless they stock up on blunt arrows.

[Rerednaw]

My stats are locked, the GM had a custom dice rolling method and sure enough I rolled a craptastic stat. I don't believe in rerolling and in any case each reroll takes a cumulative penalty :)

But it is heartening to hear you can do well without a divine in the party. Or for that matter, no primary healing capability.

Thanks folks.

[T.A.U.]

I've GMed only the first module of the AP as a Spin-off for one of mine homebrew campaign.
Anyway a party of 3 PCs without any channeler (dwarf investigator, half-elf hunter and human magus) didn't have got any problem in finishing it.

OT: What's your GM rolling method? I'm looking for a more challenging one for mine next campaign to propose at mine players.

[The Shaman]

Eh, the group could have some issues. I think while it is not necessarily required, channeling helps a lot in this path. The whole party is quite low on magic, though - two level 6 casters, of which the alchemist has only single-target spells and needs a talent to share them, and your character is quite vulnerable. S/he pretty essentially cannot wear armor and any strength-damaging effect pretty much knocks him/her out

I probably would have tried to kill two birds with one stone and gone for an evangelist cleric or an oracle with some party buff options, but if you want to try the bardy stuff, go for it. By the way, it might be interesting for you to consider the dirge singer bard archetype - it loses a few goodies like versatile performance, but gets a few useful resistances and extra spells. Plus, for this campaign, it will be thematic as all heck.

Frankly, I think your DM may be a bit harsh (seriously, strength 4 characters without a free reroll being offered strike me as odd unless you rolled great in all other stats), but hopefully it will turn out well in the end.

[DocShock]

What is your bard's CHA stat? With a lousy strength but a high DEX and CHA you can always grab a crossbow and play a kind of off-wizard role where you use grease and stuff to mess up bad guys without getting in the fray.

[The Sword]

Such abnormally low strength will be very risky for shadows. Is it really a requirement to dump it to that extent?

Don't worry about channel long class, our only healing came from my witch character so you should be fine. You might lack for healing ability damage etc particularly if you GM is tight with potions and wands.

[Rerednaw]

Replying to questions: the GM has several methods, one was a 3x matrix of 3d6, but picking the high stat in a row meant you have to take a lower on for the next stat. Or 3d6/4d6/5d6 to 2 stats each. But no shuffling of stat points and any reroll means a cumulative -1 from the high stat and if your roll results in 30 point buy equivalent (like all 14's) mandatory reroll.

I would have been ok with elite array or a 15 point buy but no worries.

My bard ended up with int of 10 but decent dex and cha, so he's probably going xbow and support. Hopefully he can skill his way out of combat. :). Spell-wise trying for scholarly/divination stuff, mostly.

[DocShock]

The dazzling display route is also a good option for a bard, but not amazing when fighting midless undead. Consider exotic weapon proficiency (net). Those things are a ton of fun in the low levels and remain pretty effective against incorporeal guys for a while if you get one with ghost touch.

[Rerednaw]

FYI before racial modifiers:
Str 4
Dex 16
Con 15
Int 10
Wis 15
Cha 16
Overall a net +7 modifer which is very good. To reiterate I am happy with a 15 point buy or elite array...this one is closer to 34...less the 4 str.

He can carry a backpack, some food/wineskin, an instrument, paper, pen and a weapon. And a money pouch :) Hoping for repeating crossbow by 4th or so if he can save enough cash. No armor is sadface but them's the breaks.

I was also concerned over the lack of spellcasting...but maybe that will change or perhaps we've got enough to survive a high power game, should be interesting to find out.

[Helaman]

You should be fine - just play and have fun.

[Blave]

Consider being a Dirge Bard. A +4 save bonus against fear, energy drain death and necromancy effects sounds like it could be useful in an undead heavy campaign. Being able to affect undead with enchantment spells doesn't hurt either.

And if you want to deal some damage occasionaly, you can also add the sound striker archetype.

[cavernshark]

Blave wrote:

Consider being a Dirge Bard. A +4 save bonus against fear, energy drain death and necromancy effects sounds like it could be useful in an undead heavy campaign. Being able to affect undead with enchantment spells doesn't hurt either.

And if you want to deal some damage occasionaly, you can also add the sound striker archetype.

I second Blave's recommendation. You would not regret taking that archetype in Carrion Crown, especially as the group's only caster. It'll let your usually undead unfriendly spell list become quite versatile and you'll gain a little extra flexibility on spells known.

[Iammars]

Arcane Healer is a bard archetype that can help out against undead while also providing some off-healing to the party for little trade-out.

[Imbicatus]

Well, do you have to play a bard? You could cover a lot more weaknesses of the team with the same stats by changing to a life oracle with blackened curse. Plenty of healing and channeling from the life mystery, with blasting from the curse. It's not like you were going to hit anything with a weapon anyway.

Bonus points if you go Pyro gnome.

[Cavall]

Always play bard.

Always.

[DeathlessOne]

Cavall wrote:

Always play bard.

Always.

Indeed. Music is life.

[Rerednaw]

K thx all for the tips. Seeing how vanilla works to start. :)