So, it's my first time playing a Pathfinder game, and I'm also GMing it. I have played 3.5 for lots of years, since like 2001, but it has been a long time since I last played any TTRPG.
My players are all newbies, they have only played the D&D 5th Edition Starter Set adventure, with premade characters, but now we want to do serious business and go through Rise of the Runelords with a party of 5 freshly new characters.
My question for you is: what would be a good balanced party, rule-wise speaking? I've always thought that 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 DPS would be a well-rounded team composition, but what kind of classes are good to fulfill those roles?
Is it possible to divide the PFRPG Core Classes into the three roles of tank, healer, and damage dealer?
Thank you for your help.
|
Are you familiar with the Forge of Combat breakdown of party roles? I found it an eye-opening way of looking at party composition, and the roles that people play in them.
For example, some classes can fill many different roles. A cleric could be a hammer, an anvil or an arm depending on how it is built and played. The same is true of a sorcerer... Other classes (say barbarian) may be locked into one specific role (hammer) no matter how you build them. Are you only looking at core rule book classes?
I currently play in a party where my sorcerer is the battle field control (anvil) for a bunch of hammers (damage dealing people -- whether magic or melee) and where the group as a whole shares the (arm) healing & support role via cure light wound wands and the occasional buff spell. Since my battlefield control is pretty good, I can usually reduce the damage enough where we've been surviving fine without having a single dedicated healer.
One thing though is looking at your players. Yes, they are all new -- but you've played some games with them. What are they good at? What do they like to do? If you give us a sense of some of the things they want to do, we can help you figure out recommendations.
Hmm
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've always thought that 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 DPS would be a well-rounded team composition, but what kind of classes are good to fulfill those roles?
You're using MMORPG terminology, and it's affecting your strategy. As an unimportant example, it's DPR, not DPS.
More seriously, Pathfinder has no "tank" mechanism; you have no method to gain or hold a monster's attention or to keep him from walking right past you and eating the soft, squishy, and very delicious wizard. Or, more accurately, the only way you can do that is by physically putting a barrier in his way.
I like to think in terms of front-line fighters, who act as a physical barrier while doing enough damage that people won't simply walk past them and eat attacks of opportunity, and I generally find you need at least two of them.
I then recommend at least one skirmisher, one support caster, and one long-range damage specialist (which is often a wizard). But I also like to make sure that everyone can take at least two roles and that every role has a backup, so if the paladin goes down, the druid can either step into the front lines or summon a beast to act as a wall of meat.
|
|
Okay so let's look at how the core classes break down into Forge of Combat Roles:
- Barbarian -- Hammer
- Bard -- Arm; secondary hammer or anvil depending on build
- Cleric -- Any depending on build
- Druid -- Any depending on build
- Fighter -- Hammer
- Monk -- Usually a hammer -- archetypes and builds vary
- Paladin -- Hammer and Arm
- Ranger -- Hammer (though can serve as backup arm with healing wands
- Rogue -- Arm, secondary hammer in the hands of a skilled player.
- Sorcerer / Wizard -- Any depending on build
You'll note that the full spell casters are listed as any, depending on build. The arcane can be pure hammers if they take up blasting, and the divine can with the right build mix it up on the battlefield in melee. However, I think that this is a missed opportunity. It is really important to have someone in the group who can tilt the battlefield in the party's favor.
Similarly, the role of the "arm" can be so much more than just healing. Bards are often noted as being damage force multipliers because they help everyone else hit harder and more often. They also provide needed knowledge that will help party members determine monster weaknesses so they can defeat otherwise hard to kill creatures.
Does this help?
Hmm
I'd also note that it's fairly easy for someone to make an effective build with an unusual focus. For example, a trip-specialized Fighter armed with a reach weapon can be an extremely good "anvil" at low-to-moderate levels.
This may, however, take more system mastery than your players have.
Thank you @Hmm and @Orfamay Quest, your help is greatly appreciated. I have spent way too much time on MMOs and far from "ye ol' tabletop", thus my ideas of roles has been heavily confused.