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I've been invited to join a home game and looking for some suggestions on what I should play.
Starting at L1
15-point buy
(not sure on # of traits yet)
Banned:
Gunslinger
Chaotic Evil
Master Summoner or Synthesist Summoner
Party:
Rogue
Ranger (melee)
Warpriest
Arcanist
I believe most of the players are fairly new to PF and may not have much system mastery, so I'm looking to create a character that A) will not overshadow them and B) boost their abilities.
Current options I've been messing with:
- Oradin (halfling, archer) - can Lifelink, LoH, Shoot, Face
- Evangelist Cleric of Erastil (archer) - Inspire, Buff, Shoot
- Bard (archer) - Inspire, Shoot, Face
- Hedge Witch (no slumber as a personal preference)
personally, I'd probably go with the bard... that way you can back up pretty much everyone else in case they do something really bone-headed (or build terribly), and party buff which will make everyone else look better...
you'll have good skill support, some arcane support plus 2ndary heals, face skills (which may be neglected right now), and fair combat. should be a good fit.
I say Evangelist Cleric, It gives you the bonus of a bard while being a full caster. Also the cleric is better at summons to get flank buddy for the rogue.
Another really cool thing would be to go flame bard and have the arcanist get obscuring mist. At lv3 all your allies can see in the fog.
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I'd go with a full divine caster class. Most new guys tend to take great pleasure in doing a lot of damage or hitting bad guys with debilitating spells, but not from casting awesome utility spells that save the whole party. If you're the kind of guy who can have fun using inspire courage and casting protection from evil/energy/etc., then I'd recommend the Evangelist Cleric.
If your arcanist is a blaster rather than the black-tentacles or spiked-pit type, play a witch. Slumber's boring, but you can keep misfortune up indefinitely with cackle, and that works on just about everything. Plus you can pick up haste from a couple of patrons (time, agility), and that's a great way to keep your rogue stabbing people.
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Mind to hear my opinion?
I like the halfling archer and the bard ideas. Face characters have often been a challenge for me to RP, but I just submitted a bard of my own to a RoW campaign just to give myself experience in that regard.
Halfling characters fascinate me, and so I'm a little biased in that regard to vote for Oradin. However, I think the bard would be your best bet. The inspire and the ranged aspects would help round out the combat features and being a/the Face is good for the RP.
Hope that helps a little.
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personally, I'd probably go with the bard... that way you can back up pretty much everyone else in case they do something really bone-headed (or build terribly), and party buff which will make everyone else look better...
you'll have good skill support, some arcane support plus 2ndary heals, face skills (which may be neglected right now), and fair combat. should be a good fit.
Exactly, i agree with you.
Besides, if it is homebrew campaign im pretty sure your DM has created a lot of lore for his world and he will be eager to tell everyone any piece of lore you get from skills check, this also could possible be more exp.
I made a homebrew campaign with a lot of lore (was motivated) for a fighter and a monk who never put a single rank point on knowledge ... so you can imagine.
There are a few different ways to do characters that "won't overshadow" the other players.
Buffing always works. Especially not-so-experienced players may not realize how much of the damage done is attributable to the buffs given. Especially if you tend to stack lots of low level buffs. However, that can sometimes get confusing to keep track of all those low level buffs with differing durations and various amounts of stacking.
Debuffing usually works. Again especially if they are a semi-minor debuffs rather than the almost shut down buffs. If you give the bad guy a bane, prayer, fleshcurdle, and slow he will still seem just as dangerous. But he will be much easier to hit and be hitting less often.
The other is a trip/disarm but low damage build. if you are constantly tripping and disarming the bad guys, the rogue and ranger can wade through chopping them into pieces.
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One thing to consider with a new party, is that a buffer isnt always the best way to go. One of the quickest ways to turn off or confuse a new player is to explain to him that you have cast bless, aid, and are inspiring courage, which adds x to y, z to b and L to d1. The constant shifting of numbers will be problematic in the short term for new players to track. Looking at the party, aside from maybe the arcanist, you have a fairly simple set of characters there, a good starting group.
I would find out what kind of caster the arcanist is going to be. New players often just want to blow stuff up. If thats the case, I'd go control/debuff caster (via whatever route suits your fancy). Debilitating/limiting your enemies can often be the best way to make your players feel awesome. For instance in one group, our rogue (a new player) was struggling, so I tended to drop glitterdusts on the enemies (high initiative meant my witch almost always went first) giving the rogue at least a couple blinded enemies to sneak attack viciously.
I could also, when needed give the barbarian an enlarge person (he loved that). Full casters would give you the options that some of the other concepts wont. And I would stay away from anything that does direct damage (especially if the arcanist is blasty). Theres no need for more damage in that group, they have it pretty much covered. Do the other stuff.
One thing to consider with a new party, is that a buffer isnt always the best way to go. One of the quickest ways to turn off or confuse a new player is to explain to him that you have cast bless, aid, and are inspiring courage, which adds x to y, z to b and L to d1. The constant shifting of numbers will be problematic in the short term for new players to track. Looking at the party, aside from maybe the arcanist, you have a fairly simple set of characters there, a good starting group.
There is some truth to this. If you're going to play a buffer, I would strongly suggest something to make it easier for everyone to track what your spells are doing for the. I kept a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker, and wrote down exactly what +s every single character was getting from me, then left it out for everyone to see. That seemed to help a lot.
Evangelist cleric focused on summoning and buffing everything.
Sacred summons is super strong and so is inspire courage.
Three of his four party members contribute to combat specifically by doing damage. Summoning is going to be anti-fun for this party. I do think an Evangelist Cleric is a good idea, but Sacred Summons is just a good way to make the party hate you.
Other fun options
Monk (sensei)
Brawler (exemplar)
Cavalier, specifically halfling with Order of the Dragon and the helpful racial trait can do some nice aids/melee buffs.
If you summon stuff that isn't the spot light you'll be fine. Having warm bodies for flanking and soaking up damage is nice. Figure out some that keep your rogue safe