I am running Curse of the Crimson Throne for my step-daughter and her boyfriend. We haven't started yet. The party comp will be a Half Elf Ranger, Level 1 and a Human Enchanter, also level one.
I would like to drop a DM NPC in the party to round out some skills where they are lacking, but, I am not sure which class. I would like to avoid a Paladin, Druid or Cleric, because I don't want to trivialize the second book in this AP for them. On the other hand, I am hesitant to drop a Witch or a Bard in there, because I don't want to overlap spells with the Enchanter and steal her spotlight. I'm not super stoked about a Rogue DM NPC, but, I'll go with it if necessary.
To complicate matters, the Ranger is a DEX based Ranger.
So, I figure the group is light in the following areas:
- Tank
- Divine Magic and Healing
- Trap Finding/ Disable Device
I'm OK with giving any DM NPC, Rogue or not, the Disable Device skill. All characters can check for traps with Perception.
My goal is to support the players and not overshadow them. Which class will fill these gaps the best and not steal the spotlight? What is the biggest weakness of this party.
Thank you for your advice. I am new to Pathfinder, and I haven't played it in about a year, so I'm a little rusty. Any and all advice is much appreciated.
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I'd go with investigator
Enough skills to be a skill monkey, works good at range, and up close if need be, has enough oomph if leveled right to back up a wizard. Just make sure to give them better than average stats or equip.
If the ranger wants to go the archery route. I would say a tank pally or tank fighter.
I second inquisitor. While investigator is fun, the class is a little complex to be running as a DMPC in my opinion.
Inquisitors are good frontliners, can spontaneously cast cure spells, and have a lot of skill points. Plus they're not an overly flashy class so you probably won't steal any thunder.
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Dump them an oracle. Go quarterstaff and board (light shield). Be a human for FCB. Take condition removal spells. I.e remove fear, paralysis, blindness, liberating command. Pick spells that are defensive (shield of faith), and helpful (bless). Get a breastplate, and stopper up doorways. You won't be outshining anyone.
Do not take power attack feat, take stuff like great fortitude and improved initiative.
Be a lore oracle(all knowledges are class skills), dump dex, use wisdom in flesh to give disable device to wis, so you don't eat ACP, trapfinding trait from mummys's mask. Lame curse, human for more skill points. You can run the following stat line:
Str 14, dex 10, con 14, int 14, wis 10, cha 16.
Use a morningstar and a light shield.
An inquisitor going bane undead on a undead foe can be pretty darned overwhelming.
Is the enchanter sorcerer or wizard base?
I would second Shaman. While I'm not familiar with the AP itself (other than hearing it's good for beginners), a support focused shaman would work pretty well. If you're worried about overshadowing your players then it stands to reason that a character who helps other characters shine while also being able to fulfill their own role would work very well for your needs. Shamans are incredibly versatile in that they are not only prepared casters, they can also change the abilities at their disposal on a daily basis with Wandering Spirit and Wandering Hex. Thanks to a recent errata, they now also have the Summon Nature's Ally line of spells on their spell list to utilize to turn the tide if your party gets into trouble.
While I don't think they have anything to specifically disable traps, their high wisdom should make detecting them a trivial matter. Should a trap be impassable without the possibility of being hit, the shaman should at the very least be able to provide protection for his allies via the Warding hex plus whatever other spells he may have prepared.
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Actually you could even take blind curse, then have him follow the party like a myopic bookworm, who loves tinkering with gadgets and stuff. Ranger still needs to scout, and party needs to tell him where to go, because our myopic oracle buddy is NOT going to put any ranks into perception ^^
Start getting item creation feats at lv 5.
Make him a blind oracle and the trap finder.
"Oh yes, I am a very effective trap finder." He said as he stares off into space.
Just a Mort,
The Enchanter is Wizard based.
I love your myopic Oracle idea. I laughed my butt off.
I wasn't sure you would want an oracle since you didn't want a cleric and the two classes are somewhat similar. If you like oracle, it certainly makes a great support class if you build it that way.
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I think the issue with cleric is because of the channel energy. If you were making a support cleric, chances are you will have some positive channeling. I am delibrately nerfing, because this is a GMPC. The oracle was not meant to find traps - its the rangers job to do it. It is not to steal anyone's role.
The issue with paladin, I suspect is the immunity to fear, and the issue with druid is the power level. Melee druids tend to be quite strong at low levels.
Ah I thought the enchanter was sorcerer based so they might need a knowledge monkey. Wizard they'll need a face, though wizard enchanters usually make decent faces too. Well, just see what skills the player has and adjust accordingly.
If your player does not need knowledge skills, the oracle can go dual cursed - take 2nd curse as legalistic/lame. Misfortune revelation for rerolls on enemy crits snd saves!
Well, in addition to the issues you mentioned, Just a Mort, there are some reasons specific to Curse of the Crimson Throne that I am shying away from those classes.
CotCT Spoilers:
I suppose, if I must, I could always have the disease curing character unavailable/ incapacitated, but, even that feels kind of cheesy to me. I'll do it if I have to, though, in order to provide the players the opportunity to see as much content in this AP as possible.
A paladin DM PC is especially out because book 5 deals with retrieving a Super Sword that has paladin lore all over it. With light rewriting, the sword can easily go to the ranger, but, I don't even want the thought of "should we give the sword to the DMPC" to even cross their minds. I want them to think "Yeah! The ranger is totes going to shove this sword up the Big Bad's you know what!"
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Great. I misread Curse of Crimson Throne as Carrion Crown. Maybe I need new glasses lol.
Dayjob: Craft Clocks
"I craft clocks for a living so I can save up money to buy more books to read! I've already finished reading my entire collection, and the library as well! The books said if you adventure, you get to see all the things in person. And you get more money then making clocks to buy books. Which is waaay awesome. Can I join you?"
Besides remove paralysis, get Summon Monster 2 as one of the spells known. If there's something that really needs a smack down, unleash the earth elementals!