'Aye guys lookin to make a support class for an upcoming campaign and wondering what are some good ones. I was thinking maybe witch, bard, or oracle. So what do you guys and gals think?
It does very much depend on the rest of the team, as Targutai says. Skalds can be great in some martial-heavy parties, but awful in those with melee casters. Similarly a Bard or Evangelist Cleric might be less useful if your main damage dealers are blaster casters instead of physical melee/archers.
Also - define "support" and what sort of play style you want. Do you want to buff, heal, be a second-line melee/tank, be the skills guy etc?
In general, unarchetyped Bards or Evangelist Clerics (especially Heroism subdomain) make great support characters while still being able to do other useful and flexible things. Bards are more skills & face, Clerics more healing, condition removal and spell utility.
Witches have alternative approaches to support, as their spell lists lack some of the really good buffs but many Hexes are very useful. If you have a Cleric or Bard already then Witch could be a minimal-overlap option. Spirit Guide or Dual Cursed Life Oracle with Beacon of Hope is another interesting & different support character. The Witch and Dual Cursed Oracle can leverage rerolls to great effect both offensively and defensively.
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I think the best general support class is also your full spell casting healer(rogue and bard types maybe for skill and social encounters) Cleric, Oracle or Shaman(even some witches). There are so many builds and all three give 3/4 BAB its a real no brainer with archetypes, domains, god feats, spirit stuff, hexes and mysteries. These classes don't need to be main healer but its nice to be the backup if the poop hits the fan. I would list more details of builds but it'd take me forever to cover each... ahh to hell with it I may as well!
Healers get a bad wrap as some people get bored with them as they either focus only on healer and/or mess up the action economy and/or find themselves healing too much in combat. Buffs, battlefield control and actual offensive options can still come with some healing but a lot more fun.
To be clear the hybrid classes have some nice tricks and builds but honestly I like full caster and 3/4 BAB over most anything else for a good support build. Keep in mind the daily spells of all the builds its that power and up front buffing or damaging that is the power they hold, also all can channel so thats enough healing right?
Examples:
Aasimar Life Shaman(witch doctor/speaker for the past) of Pharasma.
I rip out some nice things from the shaman but in exchange great hex/revalation mix for meele or caster builds as well as fateful channel for all my channel energies. Thats two channel energy pools by the way and then you consider Quick channel, Channel Ray and all that as well as Fateful Channel its very efficient. Go Scion of humantiy for the favored class bonus btw.
Human Oracle(dule cursed) of life/Pharasma(again)& Hellknight Signifier.
Lots of nice reolls built into this one, solid healer and tanky little miss. Prestige scales with Revalations so you don't loose much and can do alot of things from here. Eldrich Heritage maybe and go focused study human racial trait to set it up for the Bonded item in arcane.
Half Orc Cleric(Eclesitheurge) of Rowdrosh & Inheritor's Crusade.
Travel and Animal(fur) domains and steal the protection domain spells and swap out the animal ones. So Animal companion(Beast rider & Boon companion feats) and naked but nice spell mix go Inheritor's Crusade for three levels maybe, you can cover the Animal companion with feats and go a bit more combat based with your war Elephant at your side. Dimension door feat chain is an option go reach/meele either way.
Samsaran Cleric of Feronia & Envoy of Balance.
Fire(Ash) and Liberation(Freedom) domains. Nice favored weapon, go channeling specialist and then go Envoy of Balance prestige(can go with Pharasma again but I actually don't love her domains and it get boring to over use any god, also dagger is not a cool weapon) and your a Samsaran(oh the lovely spells).
Aasimar(archon Blooded) Cleric(Ecclesitheurge) of Sarenrae & Exalted.
Glory (Heroism) and Healing(Restoration) swap healing spells for Fire and then get Sun(light) when you get to lvl5 Exalted. Might try Sacred summons as NG isn't that bad a mix and the Monster summoer's hand book(Sarenrae specific summons) and other feats add a few 'good' type creatures you can summon. Otherwise Heal and upset undead. Oh almost forgot that prestige stacks for Channels in this build.
Tiefling(Div-Spawn) Cleric(Ecclesitheurge) of Arshea & Mystery Cultist.
Charm(love) and Liberation(Freedom) with strength spells. Ok his/her Celestrial Obedience is epicly amusing so play with adults who can handle it but the no armor Archetype works with the Obedience. But it also makes up for your armor eventually. Spell mix and abilities like those from domains can make this intesting.
and one more my personal favorite for giggles.
Half-Orc Cleric (Ecclesitheurge) of Yog-Sothoth.
Yoggie is CN btw some sites list CE its a mistake. Travel and Darkness(night) swap in Void(stars) spells with Darkness. Dreamed Secerets feat, go Heirloom weapon for Orc Skull Ram, get the racial Sacred tattoos and Endurence racial swap(take this to Tenacious Survivor maybe) and play a half naked nutter with so many spell options and a dash of reach cleric.
Ok I could go on but damnit I've blathered on too much anyhow but you get the idea. I'm not saying other things don't work just pure casters on top of each of the loose builds above and you get some crazy options and fun. Also some of these builds work as not actually being the healer(as i said at the start, although the Life Shaman and Sarenrae Cleric do act as very strong healers) but offering some healing in all cases while doing other crazy things, its that flexibiliy(mainly in the spell casting) that I love.
P.S I've cut down these builds to keep it simple but they are all RP rich depending on you and your party and GM ofc. I personally like having something unique to role play with and I find gods and religions help flesh out back grounds nicely.
If more traditional roles of support are taken by the casters, I recommend a Maneuver Master Monk. Be human, take the Dirty Fighting feat, and focus on trips and dirty tricks (Particularly Vicious stomp and ki throw), if there is a rogue, you've made a new best friend. Hell most 3/4 BAB classes, and yourself, and full martials!
It's really meant for front line support though. But active melee debuffing is pretty fun, and if you invest a little in grappling, your damage will hardly suffer.