CotCT - Character Advice


Advice


My group is about to go into CotCT and I am a little divided about which class I am going to pick going in.

Party:

Half Elf Inquisitor (melee)
Fetchling Ninja
Half-Orc Hunter
Elf Wizard

Currently I am considering a decision between a (Trip focus) Brawler and a Bard. I've been told CotCT is great for Bards, which I'd normally pick but next campaign we're switching to 5th so I wouldn't be able to try out my Brawler build after this. I'm also a little concerned that I might not be nearly as relevant out of combat with a Brawler as I've heard the campaign is very RP heavy. Additionally the Brawler build I have is somewhat dependent on getting specific magic items and the DM has said CotCT is a campaign that will interfere with specific item builds (though he added he would work with us to get any items that we considered essential to our class).

So for me it looks so far like

Brawler:

Pros:
-Can teamwork feat with allies on the fly due to our comp
-Best battlefield control of the team with my trip build
-Team is lacking anyone who can pump their AC as high as mine
-Brawler is unique to PF

Cons:
-Limited out of combat options?
-Terrible charisma (reduced social options?)
-More magic item build dependent

Bard:

Pros:
-Better ally buffs
-Spells
-Much more roleplay opportunities
-Good campaign for Bards (can people elaborate why without too much spoilers?)
-Less item dependent

Cons:
-Weaker combat performance & battlefield control
-Party might be too squishy
-Early levels will be an especially weak dex build
-Won't be able to play Brawler next campaign


Well the party has no clear mouth, no clear buffs beyond spells, has a TON of skills, and weak healing. Ranged component is meh and you have legit concerns about your brawler. Honestly I wouldn't suggest either bard or brawler for this group and campaign unless it just makes you happy, then go with it.

I would advise you to look towards a lower skills, divine caster ,based on charisma like an oracle or evangelist cleric. Solves healing without equipment needs, you can be mouth, get access to more spells, and can be good in any style of battle, plus buffs. Are you interested in that at all or do you want the brawler or bard? Totally would go with a bard over brawler if it were me, but maybe not vanilla bard.


As a GM for this campaign running from the new hard cover book I would say the bard if those are your two options.

As your GM said magic item reliant builds will not do well in this campaign, although if your GM is willing to work with you that should be fine.

I do feel you'll get more out of the RP and overall campaign feel as a bard though. The campaign whilst containing a lot of combat does have a number of chances for non-combat based skills and abilities, be that though social or physical interactions. If you play a character which is purely built around combat you might find these sections a little dull or excluding.

Hope that helps, I don't really want to say too much because obviously spoilers could come into play.

As Renedadeshepherd said though you could always look to fill some of the groups weaker areas and I am sure you GM or group could always come back to a one-shot or dungeon crawl for you to play a Brawler in should you miss the chance (I would recommend Emerald Spire for this, a great dungeon crawl lighter on RP for a break from the new system you play).


Renegadeshepherd wrote:
I would advise you to look towards a lower skills, divine caster

Just came out of the last campaign playing a cleric. So that's a no from me. Also a firm believer in the "damage prevented is x2 more effective than damage healed" school of thought. I think between the wizard and hunter we can manage, especially considering how much extra health pots we had last campaign.

Turelus wrote:


I do feel you'll get more out of the RP and overall campaign feel as a bard though. The campaign whilst containing a lot of combat does have a number of chances for non-combat based skills and abilities, be that though social or physical interactions. If you play a character which is purely built around combat you might find these sections a little dull or excluding.

Well you certainly made me a lot more indecisive about it. At this point I'm feeling like I'll regret either choice though.

I wouldn't say the Brawler is only combat capable as I'll invest in stealth, perception, and acrobatics to be a sneak/scouty guy. But the lack of diplomacy will kind of suck.


I'm no expert but you have a ninja with you, is it really important to get one more sneak/scouty guy ?


Bard all the way.

CoCT is a heavy roleplaying campaign. I GMed it for two bards, a ninja and a fighter. The bards and the ninja had superb social skills and enjoyed the campaign a lot. The fighter... not so much. I often had to come with something new just for him because even though he tried (He even spent almost all of his skill points in social skills), the fighter is not a very social character and he suffered for it.


CommandoDude wrote:


Turelus wrote:


I do feel you'll get more out of the RP and overall campaign feel as a bard though. The campaign whilst containing a lot of combat does have a number of chances for non-combat based skills and abilities, be that though social or physical interactions. If you play a character which is purely built around combat you might find these sections a little dull or excluding.

Well you certainly made me a lot more indecisive about it. At this point I'm feeling like I'll regret either choice though.

I wouldn't say the Brawler is only combat capable as I'll invest in stealth, perception, and acrobatics to be a sneak/scouty guy. But the lack of diplomacy will kind of suck.

Sorry, intent was not to make it harder for you. I'll give you some directed feedback for the brawler as it seems that's the one you would over all be happier playing with.

From what you've said your brawler can do out of combat that should be pretty helpful. If at least one party member has some kind of social (diplomacy/intimidate) skill then I think it should be fine. However the campaign doesn't NEED this, any situation which has a diplomatic option also contains all the rules for the players to fight their way through it should they fail or not want to take the social route.

If you GM is willing to help with the magic items the build is heavy on then you shouldn't have an issue there. Additionally you have a Wizard so once they get greater teleport shopping trips to Absalom will be easy enough to achieve. Also depending how your GM runs the game there is a lot of downtime for crafting magic items between events or during travels.

Combat wise I think the Brawler should be fine and have plenty of time to shine and some slightly trickier situations later with enemies.

Hope this helps more than my previous post.


I think the group can definitely have some social coverage between the ninja (essentially a rogue who has an incentive to have decent charisma for the ki) and an inquisitor for ungodly sense motive and intimidate. If you can trust the ninja to be more of an undercover spy than a brain-dead assassin, you have plenty of skill coverage.

Other than that, well, if I remember correctly there weren't a ton of huge and bigger enemies, so a brawler focusing on maneuvers will work. The bard will also see plenty of action with 2 frontliners and a pet. As a proto-frontliner, you could consider picking up an arcane duelist or the Chelish diva archetypes for the extra armor proficiencies.

As for items, hmm, how likely is it that your wizard could pick up a feat and make you a nice birthday present or two now and then or just take you to a shopping trip? Plus, Korvosa has an established and very serious mage college, so commissioning magic items should not be impossible... although you may spend a significant part of the latter bits of the campaign away, so it might help to cultivate relations with the artificer so they would take the time to have the item delivered to you.

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