I usually try to make my PC’s fit the bill for well prepared. So I buy more consumables than many people. Decent UMD of not a caster and oil of Daylight, scroll of Raise Dead, scroll of Restoration, scroll of remove disease, etc… Especially for PFS play I think this is nearly mandatory. You simply don’t know what is going to be sitting at the table with you. I’ve several tables fail (or nearly fail) and several characters die (or at least come close) because no one was willing to spend any of their precious horde of wealth on something that wasn’t a permanent magic item (or wand of CLW).
So yeah, my cash PC’s is a bit lower than some other PC’s, but it is rare that my table suffers for not having something. (Though there are some players that I am becoming very reluctant to help.) I’ve been pretty successful with this strategy. However, thinking back to some of the characters I’ve played over the decades, I was remembering a couple of characters that were very nearly self-sufficient. They had no/little need of any of those sorts of consumables. One of the characters, (A) could cast virtually any of those emergency need spells himself. The other (B), was simply very rarely affected by any of those situation because of amazing saves, immunities, and mundane ways to deal.
So I’m looking for and thinking about ways to produce those concepts.
(A) Seems like it would almost have to be a cleric. I don't think any other class has as many of the 'what if' spells on it's list. I suppose you could do it with an oracle. But if you learn all those ‘what if’ spells, you probably won’t have many more spells known for general use.
(B) Seems like either a monk with high save and AC OR a paladin great saves and some immunities) with extra mercies.
Any other ideas for how to do this? How would you build it? Could it be successful? Would you want it at your table?
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I just finished the two-year career of Thomas the Tiefling Hero at GenCon a few days ago. He's a melee cleric of Iomedae, and I built him to be pretty much what you're describing.
I invested about 95% of his wealth (and a feat) into his AC, so he was sturdy on the front lines.
From the Glory (Heroism) subdomain, he got Touch of Glory to rock those social skills, heroism as a domain spell to help his to-hit and boost his already awesome saves, and at 8th got a (swift action!) aura of heroism for those times he's ambushed and doesn't have it pre-cast.
From the Sun domain, he got bonus damage on his channels against undead and took away their ability to use Channel Resistance on their save. At 8th level, this domain also gave him the strongest answer to magical darkness in the entire game.
The cleric spell list gives him all those situational spells you were talking about, and being a melee guy means he needs just one buff per combat (if that), and therefore isn't casting every round like a sorc/wiz might be, so he has room to actually prepare all those situational spells. And then he has a few scrolls on top of that.
I gave him 12 INT so he could have 3 skills/level, maxing Kn(planes) and nearly maxing Kn(religion) while also having solid Diplomacy and a smattering of other things.
His favored class bonus doubled his bonus against the SR of outsiders, so he could reliably stick a dismissal (or whatever) against demons if necessary.
His pre-racial stats were two 14s, two 13s, and two 12s.
He has offered his life in place of others' on two separate occasions, but has never died. He has also never failed a mission. He's saved lives, redeemed lost souls, invaded Hell, raised armies, won wars, and slain a demon lord.
Yes, a versatile PC can be successful.
only reading the title and following it: Master Summoner is the Lord of "i Do it Solo"
Ok, I probably didn't explain what I was looking for real well.
By 'Self-Sufficient' I did not mean can run the scenarios by myself. (That is boring and a bit to egotistical for me.)
I meant, does not need a whole lot of extraneous gear just in case X happens.
For examples:
All my PC's currently carry an Oil of Daylight to deal with Deeper Darkness.
So a character than can cast Daylight, can see in complete darkness (like tiefling fiend sight), or has the blind fight feat would be self-sufficient in that case.
Most of my PC's have a scroll of Remove Disease. So a character that can cast his own Remove Disease (without the scroll), is immune to disease (like a paladin), or has a fort save so high that he practically can't fail would be self-sufficient in that case.
Most of my PC's get a potion of Fly to deal with inaccessible locations. So a character that can cast Fly himself, has wings, or can dimension step would be self-sufficient in that case.
Etc...
Hopefully that will explain what I meant a bit better.
oh sorry...so that make me thinking of alchemist... i think that class could really be self sufficient
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That is easy enough.
You already said cleric and paladin. Those are easy enough.
I meant, does not need a whole lot of extraneous gear just in case X happens.
A good Magus needs very little. The spells are the big thing. You can boost your own weapon with greater magic weapon + arcane pool. Very similar to a paladin with his divine bond. If you build the famous Dex Magus you will have good saves across the board. They wont be as good as a paladins or monk but that is one of the selling points of those 2 classes. You honestly could get buy with a +1 weapon. Typically weapons are what eats up a lot of wealth.
Most of my PC's get a potion of Fly to deal with inaccessible locations. So a character that can cast Fly himself, has wings, or can dimension step would be self-sufficient in that case.
Magus Can
Most of my PC's have a scroll of Remove Disease. So a character that can cast his own Remove Disease (without the scroll), is immune to disease (like a paladin), or has a fort save so high that he practically can't fail would be self-sufficient in that case.
Magus has decent Fort saves and typically around a 14 con.
All my PC's currently carry an Oil of Daylight to deal with Deeper Darkness.
So a character than can cast Daylight, can see in complete darkness (like tiefling fiend sight), or has the blind fight feat would be self-sufficient in that case.
Tiefling Magus can see in that darkness and has perfect stats for a Dex based Magus. Grab the traits Unscathed and Pragmatic Activator and have resist 7 to 3 elements as well as INT to UMD checks. Grab prehensile tail and your freaking golden on increasing action economy and retrieving your library of scrolls.