what is your favorite 5th party member class

[rorek55]

You have a martial, a skill, an arcane, and a divine.

If you wish to build your idea of a perfect party go ahead, but also in general, which class do you all feel is an excellent 5th member?

[Mythic Evil Lincoln]

I'll have to go bard, mainly because he benefits from a large party. If he can focus on being a buffer and the cleric sticks to anti-debuffing and the better aggressive cleric spells, everyone will be awesome.

Except, well. Maybe Bard's a skill class too, without even trying. But they are a great buffing class that gets more out of a larger party.

[Jericho Graves]

Well, that depends on the party and the players. That said, I find Melee Martial, Divine, Arcane, Skill, Ranged Martial works.

As well as Martial, Divine, Arcane, Skill, Hybrid (such as bard)

Right now in my homebrew group we have a pretty strong setup.

Gunslinger
Two-Weapon Fighter
Sorceror
Oracle
Bard

[SmiloDan]

Druid. Super versatile. Can tank, scout, blast/buff/battlefield control, and heal/scry. Plus an animal companion. Elven druids can make decent archers without investing too heavily in feats. And their spell list is usually really different from clerics & oracles AND sorcerers & witches & wizards. And their skill set is usually different from the other skill monkey (outdoorsy stuff) that can still be useful in lots of circumstances.

[Arachnofiend]

A divine martial, like an oracle or a druid. Primarily because I consider the bard a great piece for the 4-man group.

[Gerald]

Witch is always my favorite fifth. Love adding more arcane and divine casting. Debuffing so the other casters can be better is the greatest.

[N. Jolly]

I'd say either Witch or Bard, since my 4 man band is

Alchemist/Barbarian/Cleric/Wizard, and Witch or Bard compliment that group so well.

[Valantrix1]

It entirely depends on the make-up of the rest of the party. Its usually something that can have a dual role in the party, such as a bard/magus/inquisitor. Something with a bit of martial power mixed with a touch of magical mayhem. YMMV though.

[SmiloDan]

Witches and archer or switch-hitter rangers are nice too.

[rorek55]

OK. Say the party consists of-
A fighter
A cleric
A sorcerer
A rogue

[Atarlost]

Bards (or evangelist clerics) change everything. They essentially turn any divine or skill class not deliberately built soft into a martial.

If the existing skill class isn't a bard and the existing divine caster isn't an evangelist cleric player five will do the most good by bringing one or the other depending on whether the skill or divine casting role is better filled. This adds two or three heavy front liners to the party by promoting the existing skill guy and divine caster and if player five is bringing an evangelist she can also be a heavy combatant with a single martial dip or choosing a deity with a good favored weapon.

If there is a bard or evangelist (the best or second best skill class and the best archetype of the best divine casting class so not unlikely) then there are two ways to look at things. Either exploit the bard (or evangelist) or support the arcane.

To exploit the bard you want lots of attacks and needn't sweat accuracy the way you would in a vacuum. Pouncing druids are obviously great. They hit 5 attacks at level 8 with another 5 on the pet tiger. Archer sohei also benefit greatly. They can flurry and rapid/manyshot at the same time for 9 arrows at level 16 but they have a -4 to overcome from stacking the penalties. Finally there's the summoner. Eidolons can stack lots of attacks. So can standard action summons and they could really use the accuracy boost.

To support the arcane I'd figure on a magician bard. It's normally not a very good archetype, but it boosts caster level checks and spell penetration is a caster level check. I think that's probably more advantageous in the long run than the witch's saving throw reduction via evil eye because more things have SR than all good saves. Adding a witch also increases the squishy to crunchy ratio from 33% to 66% (assuming the existing skill and divine classes are crunchy, which most are) while a magician bard reduces it to 25%. A witch therefore reduces the protection the party can offer the arcane caster while the magician increases it.