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I've got a game that should be starting in September. I've got four players.
Three players have told me what they're playing. The fourth gets to fill in the gap. A lot of advice I've seen is RotR really expects a balanced party. The fourth player also has very little system mastery doesn't quite get what all of his options are. I'll probably end up building his character for him and keeping it up to date. If not that, I'll do enough of the work that the end result will probably be pretty much the same.
So far my players have
Magus (Eldritch Archer)
Cleric (heals/support)
Druid (don't know his focus)
So that leaves me needing someone for melee (and ideally can deal with traps). I don't want him to have to deal with magic.
I'm leaning towards Urban Ranger (also with the Skirmisher archetype to take away magic)
or a Slayer that takes the Trapfinding talent
Thoughts?
I'd go with something pretty simple, but effective here. I think a barbarian (unchained version most likely) would be a great fit. The player will probably enjoy being able to hit hard, while being durable. It is a class that can also be a bit forgiving of tactical 'mistakes', which can also fit the character, too.
As well, From an RP standpoint, a barbarian can be an easy character type to start with. Even if he or she starts off simply, it would allow the player to build nuance within that as the campaign goes on.
EDIT: It occurs to me that I did not address trap finding. I meant to say I don't think it is supremely important to build directly into the class. There are other ways for a group to deal with this (including, but certainly not limited to sending the barbarian in first :p ).
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Traps for the first 3 books of the Campaign a big HP pool can just "Deal with it" or a good perception can "Avoid" it. I would not force trapfinding on anyone.
This is a HEAVY combat AP and Survival should be key.
I recommend a Barbarian or a Bloodrager.
I will have to say a Arcane Bloodrager can do great things in this AP. Not only having Layered defenses like 50% miss chance. But with natural affinity with killing Casters. Good majority of book 4+ deals with things that can cast either via SLA or Spells.
I lean more towards the ways of a Bloodrager and will pick one Every time over the Barbarian as a player. Even minor spellcasting is a major Boon to a character.
I have some crazy AP breaking builds for bloodrager but a simple built Bloodrager is still just a force to be reckoned with. Also I feel a newer interested player gets more out of a class like Bloodrager/Ranger/Paladin Because it mixes easy martial and lets them dabble ever so slightly in spells and other mechanics of the game instead of being as mind numbing as Swing a weapon 24/7. But that is just my opinion and like a b+%&$*&* everyone has them.
EDIT:
I feel the AP at end of Book 4-6 favor Spellcasters and lots of pretty loot drops. This is an AP it is almost a shame someone does not roll a Wizard...I think a wizard/arcanist would be better than a druid in a majority of this campaign but having 2 full casters will be a blessing either way. Just lots of Dungeon diving and knowledge in this AP.
A suggestion for any character who attacks...From levels 7+ they should invest in the feat Big Game Hunter as 85% of your enemies from that point forth will activate the feat. And the feat is the equivlent of weapon focus and specialization for ALL weapons held.
I will note that an archaeologist bard would fit well into this situation- decent enough melee, 6+ skill points, it is the 'trap based rogue' archetype for bards that gets trap finding and great perception/disable device bonuses, and (while you aren't looking much into spells) it has a spell list that is rather the opposite focus of the magus (more illusion, enchantment, and general buffing, which helps fill out the arcane role).
But generally, slayers are cool too. Plenty of bonuses to social skills, highly flexible bonuses to attack/damage compared to range, and overall it is fairly easy to make an effective one. Overall, not bad, always has something it could probably do, and the studied target feels flavorful (since you can use it to eye up every NPC like you would eye up the bandit you were about to cut down; you are encouraged to do so, since you get bonuses to various social skills from this ability; overall, it feels like you trust no one, and you are the 'jaded bounty hunter' type).
And I wouldn't worry about keeping someone from playing a 4 level caster. Their spell selection is so small and late that your new player won't be that new by the time their spells come around.
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He just played a sorcerer for a year. We didn't find out until last time we asked him if he brought his leveled up character sheet that he hadn't leveled up his character in months. He never knows what his spells are. Every time he casts something I have to explain to him how many spells/day he gets or what his DCs are, or point him to where it's still written on his sheet. In my campaign he will have no spells. Period.
And given his real-life character, I don't want to give him an in-game raging character to RP.
And I wouldn't worry about keeping someone from playing a 4 level caster. Their spell selection is so small and late that your new player won't be that new by the time their spells come around.
You're assuming he's new ;).
A Ranger using Urban/Guide/Skirmisher can be a pretty awesome non-magical skills-and-kills machine with two weapons.
As strange as it may be thematically, Wild Stalker and Urban Ranger are compatible archetypes that can basically build a pseudo-barbarian with Ranger/Skirmisher skill abilities.
Honestly, for someone who has little system mastery, can't handle spells and shouldn't (by your assassment) rage, I'd just have him play a fighter. If it's you who will build and update his character, just go with passive effects that require no thought on his part. Weapon Focus/Specialization (and Greater), Dodge, Toughness, Iron Will and so on. Have him always use Power Attack and add the correct numbers to his character sheet.
If you are concerned with traps, just do some house ruling. Give him 4+INT skill ranks per level and maybe Perception and Disable Device as class skills so he can cover the basics. I don't think there are any magical traps in the first three books, so he shouldn't need trapfinding. By level 4+, the casters of the group should be able to handle magical traps. Just remember that you don't need trapfinding to spot magical traps, and the druid should have a pretty high perception score anyway.
Honestly, for someone who has little system mastery, can't handle spells and shouldn't (by your assassment) rage, I'd just have him play a fighter. If it's you who will build and update his character, just go with passive effects that require no thought on his part. Weapon Focus/Specialization (and Greater), Dodge, Toughness, Iron Will and so on. Have him always use Power Attack and add the correct numbers to his character sheet.
If you are concerned with traps, just do some house ruling. Give him 4+INT skill ranks per level and maybe Perception and Disable Device as class skills so he can cover the basics. I don't think there are any magical traps in the first three books, so he shouldn't need trapfinding. By level 4+, the casters of the group should be able to handle magical traps. Just remember that you don't need trapfinding to spot magical traps, and the druid should have a pretty high perception score anyway.
Solid advice, given the context. Another option might be a rogue and fighter multi class. Give him 3 levels of unchained rogue for Dex to damage and finesse, along with the trap stuff, then stack fighter from there on out.
If trapfinding is something you really want for the character, and you want something simple and spell-less, I'd go Fighter with VMC rogue. Even *fewer* "confusing" feats, and picks up trapfinding and some nice passive defenses that are actually quite useful for a fighter. I second just picking up a lot of passive feats and turning Power Attack "always on.'
If you are worried about traps, just give the party a wand of Aram Zey's Focus.
I would suggest some type of melee (full BAB). Paladin, Fighter, Slayer, Barbarian or Ranger would all fit the bill.
Since traps are not that much of a problem (we found them all by stepping on them), and what you wrote above, Fighter, Ranger or Paladin would probably be best. The 4 level casters don't require the player to pay much attention to their spells. They can provide some variety with their specials, though, which appeals to many players.
My choice would be fighter or paladin, depending on how good the cleric is at healing (and how much LoH would be needed).
I would avoid the rogue types since they all depend a lot on flanking in combat and I am not sure that group will provide it. We had a rogue who switched characters at some point since he was unsatisfied with the combat prowess of the class and found his skills unneeded next to two full casters.
A Scout Rogue 4/ Fighter X can be pretty awesome as a fairly straightforward 'Shadow Warrior' type; you can pick up Ninja Vanishing Trick through Rogue Talents, and pump the uses/day through WIS (which is really good to have anyhow for Will) and stacking Extra Ki (since Fighter easily handles the feats). Rogue grants the trap stuff and a bunch of skill points to cover the bases, and between Scout and Vanishing Trick you can get a lot of use out of the bonus 2d6 Sneak Attack (or 3d6 with Accomplished Sneak Attacker).
While the actual internals of the build take some fine tuning, the result is pretty simple: toss him a handful of tokens for his uses of ki per day, and let him go to town. With Fighter, some Gloves of Dueling, and Fighter feats, it's plenty deadly even before throwing in bonus sneak attacks. Offensive Defense can also help pad AC, on top of the usual mobile heavy armor that Fighter gets. I've got a build somewhere here in a notebook...
So that leaves me needing someone for melee (and ideally can deal with traps). I don't want him to have to deal with magic.
I'm leaning towards Urban Ranger (also with the Skirmisher archetype to take away magic)
or a Slayer that takes the Trapfinding talentThoughts?
I think what you suggested for Urban Ranger sounds fine. You get the rogue that fits seemlessly into the character and the group gets some bonuses from time to time.
You might want to consider a non-standard character sheet that has everything layed out in almost big bold letters for your player to see. The normal sheet is meant to fit on one page.
If sticking to fairly simple operations... But a bit more interesting:
Shadow Warrior
Dual Talent Human: 16/18, 12, 14, 10, 14/16, 8.
Scout Rogue 4, Fighter 5
1F. Weapon Focus: Nodachi / +Power Attack
2R. 1d6 Sneak
3R. Talent: Ki Pool / Extra Ki
4R. 2d6 Sneak
5R. Talent: Offensive Defense / Extra Ki / Scout Charge Sneak Attack
6F. +Toughness
7F. Accomplished Sneak Attacker
8F. +Improved Critical
9F. Extra Ki
And so on. By 9 there's at least 9 Ki/day (or more with a headband of WIS), so it can be used pretty freely. The tactic of going charging sneak attack -> vanish / enemy turns / full attack starting with sneak attack -> vanish is easy and pretty effective. It's also easy to "assassinate" high-value targets behind lines.