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After GM'ing exclusively for the past four years and taking both Jade Regent and Carrion Crown to completion at the table I've earned a break and one of my buddies is going to run Giantslayer.
So as a four man team we have a Witch focused on control, a melee ranger and vivisectionist alchemist handling the up close work and some decent skills. And then there's me, really unsure what to play.
I like the idea of buffing the team but I'm not sure they really need it and we are kind of lacking in both healing and ranged support. I'm a little scared of getting squashed by a raging giant so I'm thinking an archery class might benefit us all the most.
So the advice I'm after is archer bard, archer inquisitor, archer cleric or anything else I haven't even considered? Which is best/going to bring most to the party?
Shaman don't have martial proficiency, they can't use a bow. You'd need to dip something first. Further archery is very feat intensive. You need at minimum Point Blank shot, and Precise Shot. Until you get Precise Shot, you are effectively useless with your bow.
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Archer Evangelist(cleric archtype) cleric (go worship Erastil/Ketephys). Feather domain for a Fluffy friend to help with the Ranger's melee. Be a half orc so you can do Fate's favored, sacred tattoo and divine favour. Before you get precise shot, run around with a longspear. Or if you're worried about low levels, go human, so you start with precise shot.
Human Cleric of Erastil sounds like the simplest and probably best way to add healing and ranged. Still, witch, alchemist, and ranger all get some healing and conditional removal, so if you would rather go blasty, the white mage Arcanist archetype might let you cover both roles a different way. The new Occultist class could be built to have half decent healing and ranged (grab conjuration and transmutation as your first implements), but it is a bit early to really say how well that class would work.
EDIT: second guesing myself here, but you already have a witch and alchemist who will want any int boost drops, so adding another int based caster may not be the best idea. Maybe an elven (free longbow prof) or half elven (can get a free weapon proficiency with an alternate race trait Ancestral Arms) oracle so someone casts from CHA if you think the ranger is going to compete over the WIS items.
Shaman don't have martial proficiency, they can't use a bow. You'd need to dip something first. Further archery is very feat intensive. You need at minimum Point Blank shot, and Precise Shot. Until you get Precise Shot, you are effectively useless with your bow.But what about elves and half-elves?
Still stuck burning lvl 1 and lvl 3 feats just to be useful with a bow. Sure, using a longspear until then is doable, but I'm just pointing out the difficulty of leveling an archer.
Further this is if you aren't taking something like Fey Foundling as your lvl 1 feat, in which case you wouldn't be able to get Precise Shot until lvl 5.
Warpriest gets a bunch of bonus feats that might make a Devine archer more do able.
After GM'ing exclusively for the past four years and taking both Jade Regent and Carrion Crown to completion at the table I've earned a break and one of my buddies is going to run Giantslayer.
So as a four man team we have a Witch focused on control, a melee ranger and vivisectionist alchemist handling the up close work and some decent skills. And then there's me, really unsure what to play.
I like the idea of buffing the team but I'm not sure they really need it and we are kind of lacking in both healing and ranged support. I'm a little scared of getting squashed by a raging giant so I'm thinking an archery class might benefit us all the most.
So the advice I'm after is archer bard, archer inquisitor, archer cleric or anything else I haven't even considered? Which is best/going to bring most to the party?
If the Witch and Alchemist take the proper spells and discoveries, they can handle any in-combat healing that might occur. Additionally, since you have both an Alchemist and a Witch, a Cure Light Wounds Wand would be a great party investment early on, and will make out-of-combat healing not an issue.
One of the biggest problems for your group currently is that you lack any sort of reliable Divine spellcasting. Witch is a full Arcane progression caster, whereas an Alchemist, while not technically a caster, has access to several Arcane-specific spells as Extracts. Other than Cure spells, you have zero Divine spells, and Divine Spells can carry a lot of powerful buffs and abilities. There's also a lack of a ranged threat.
You already have a Witch, and a Witch, if taking the proper hexes and spells, can debuff the living hell out of a given enemy. But the most important thing is if you want to play a filler, I suggest you establish what each player plans to fulfill with their character, as it can define what options and choices you wish to take.
As it stands, I'd suggest a Battle Oracle or a Warpriest who specializes in a Bow, as these can fulfill one or both niches that you need.
Battle Oracle can take the Skill at Arms Revelation by 1st level, granting proficiency in all Martial weapons and Heavy Armor. You have to deal with the drawbacks of your Curse, which can be brutal, but it's not gamebreaking, but it can give you decent benefits, depending upon what you select. Although it's not that helpful in the feats department, it grants you great versatility and you can still be competent.
Warpriests can get access to exclusive Bonus Feats, as well as start off in standard proficiency. Depending upon what Blessings you take, you can divide and conquer any enemies that decide to try and fight you, and still be able to contribute effectively. The big downside to the Warpriest is that they can only really buff themselves effectively, and they're still a 3/4 BAB and 6th level Spellcaster.
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We are an experienced group and have been playing together for a good while now and have come to the conclusion that in-combat healing tends to be something of a waste. That's why I disregarded just going pure Cleric, Oracle of Life and so on and of course everyone else in the party is capable of healing themselves to a greater or lesser degree and making use of a wand of CLW.
I considered the Evangelist Cleric but man you become so dependant on so many attributes that it's difficult to think of a more MAD character concept.
Darksol makes the point about a lack of Divine casting in the party, besides healing, which also occurred to me. I think my main role to round this out given the utility we already have should be Archer > Buff > Healing/Skills
I'm thinking Inquisitor could do these things quite well. Judgements should help me stay accurate and eventually Bane will keep me up there in the damage count. Skills are always nice and as a Divine caster I can make use of scrolls, wands and some buffs such as Magic Weapon/Greater, Protection from Evil and so on. Any tips on making this work effectively or will Warpriest be the better option?
A dwarf would get a bonus vs. giants, seems like that would be helpful, a LOT.
A mounted character might work, Giants are unlikely to have 5ft hallways.
Druid could be useful, and Druid archer would work. You'll be healer enough.
Alternately, inquisitor lends itself to archer cleric.
This group really wants another character doing control - two front liners have trouble protecting two purely ranged characters IME. It doesn't have to be their entire focus, but something like a cleric who has some summoning feats, or a bard/skald who has the odd disabling spell would add value. With enough control the melee guys can get close enough to do their thing and ranged damage becomes less important.
off the top of my head;
Inquisitor is very versatile and can be an effective archer plus skills, inquisitions that will allow you to be the parties face, and a bunch of archetypes for flavor. The downside is limited spells known and 6 levels of spell casting.
Warpreist gets bonus feats (allowing you to get online faster or be something more than an archer), Has the best action economy with fervor. The downside is the little amount of skills and 6 levels of spell progression.
Oracle is also versatile with its mysteries and gets a decent amount of skills plus 9 levels of spell progression. Downsides are limited spell selection and going archer limits you mystery selection.
So if archery is you primary focus 1. Warpriest 2. Inquisitor, 3. Oracle
If you want to be able to do things outside of combat and be an effective archer 1. Inquisitor, 2.Oracle 3. Warpiest
If Archery and spells are you thing 1. Oracle 2. Warpriest 3. Inquistor
If archery and melee are you thing 1. Warpriest 2. Oracle 3. Inquisotr.
If I were going to pick one to go through an AP (and wanted to focus on Archery) I would go Inquisitor I like the archetypes, Inquisitions/ Domains plus I like skills.
I once toyed with the idea of a Warsighted Oracle archer, with either elf, half-elf, or kitsune for the proficiency. That gets you full divine spellcasting, plus archery including bonus feats through Martial Flexibility. The Wood Bond revelation is a great accuracy boost if you pick the Wood mystery. It also stacks with the Psychic Searcher archetype for some skill support, but you get no revelations until 19 that way (but you can get a Ring of Revelation for that).
We are an experienced group and have been playing together for a good while now and have come to the conclusion that in-combat healing tends to be something of a waste. That's why I disregarded just going pure Cleric, Oracle of Life and so on and of course everyone else in the party is capable of healing themselves to a greater or lesser degree and making use of a wand of CLW.
I considered the Evangelist Cleric but man you become so dependant on so many attributes that it's difficult to think of a more MAD character concept.
Darksol makes the point about a lack of Divine casting in the party, besides healing, which also occurred to me. I think my main role to round this out given the utility we already have should be Archer > Buff > Healing/Skills
I'm thinking Inquisitor could do these things quite well. Judgements should help me stay accurate and eventually Bane will keep me up there in the damage count. Skills are always nice and as a Divine caster I can make use of scrolls, wands and some buffs such as Magic Weapon/Greater, Protection from Evil and so on. Any tips on making this work effectively or will Warpriest be the better option?
They both have their merits, and it ultimately depends on what sort of abilities you want for your character.
Warpriest has great self-reliability, with their Swift-Action self-buff casting, as well as the ability to enhance their weapons temporarily later down the road. They have good personal bonus feats, and some of them you can qualify as Fighter Levels = Warpriest Levels, and BAB = Warpriest Level, meaning things like Weapon Specialization, Penetrating Strike, and so on, are available, and you can qualify for some feats sooner than normal. Their Blessings offer unique powers, both offensively and defensively, depending on which deity and such you worship. Unfortunately, a lot of these are self-only benefits, though there are a few that can be used for allies. The problem then stems how often you can use them, since several require the ability to touch them, and if they're melee, and you're an archer, well...
Inquisitors are much better party-players (which is ironic, given their station). Being able to select both Domains or Inquisitions can offer some other unique powers, though their other benefits are limited (which is the tradeoff). Judgements are great versatility, and can shore up some of the Inquisitors own weaknessess, such negating being a 3/4 BAB, providing increased armor (due to lack of proficiencies and such), fast healing, etc. Having increased skills allows for more out-of-combat (or even monster identifying) utility. Tack on Teamwork feats, which can be used as a temporary bonus to give to everyone, Bane benefits, etc., and you're looking at a powerful, well-rounded character. This does, however, make you more feat-starved, since you will be spending feats on both Archery and Inquisitor benefits, and you will be lacking the amount of self-reliance the Warpriest possesses.
So, it essentially boils down to "Public Enemy #1" V.S. "Mary Sue-ish" in terms of character choice. Most fillers tend to be more of a party-player type, but having an extremely potent self-reliant character does allow the other players to focus more on themselves (and not worry so much about you). I'd just pick your poison, determine what preference you wish to follow, and go for it.
If you are looking for effective combat healing, look at archer oradin.
You will be able to heal your party with swift action and be almost full BAB archer (only one step behind).
Ranged oradin?
Ranged oradin?
Yes
In addition to not having a devoted Divine Caster/Medic, you don't have a Blaster Wizard. You could be a Mysitc Theurge and round out the party that way.
Up until a few months ago I would have also recommended Mystic Theurge, but then this happened. Even before the SLA FAQ Nerf, however, the loss in caster level (which can be alleviated by Magical Knack) and spell progression (which can't be) would keep you from being an optimal Blaster, so you would want to complement the Witch in other ways (although do keep around Burning Hands in case of Swarms).
Do you have somebody sneaky, maybe a skill monkey? To what extent do your vivisectionist and monk meet those ends? Maybe be an Arcane Trickster.
VMC may have made this viable again. See this thread and this thread.
If you are looking for effective combat healing, look at archer oradin.
You will be able to heal your party with swift action and be almost full BAB archer (only one step behind).
As an archer oradin in another campaign, it is EXTREMELY problematic getting up and running unless you go human.
Oradins very much desire Fey Foundling as their lvl 1 feat, which pushes back Precise Shot until lvl 5, unless you're human. Using a longspear, ranseur, or whatever reach weapon is certainly viable, and what I had to suck it up with using for an entire 5 levels. Needless to say, it wasn't really what I wanted to be doing. However, once it gets online, it's absolutely a good time. 5 levels isn't exactly a short period of time though.