Replaying RotR - What's a decently balance party?

[Master_Grabnar]

Hey folks,

I'm looking to replay RotR solo with three characters. I'm having issues deciding my third character though. Currently, I'd like to run Lini and Ezren. I am open to other part compositions so long as they include Lini; bonus points if Harsk is involved.

Best regards,
Grabnar

[jorveg]

I personally find that in Rise of the Runelords it is very usefull to have at least one person with divine skill, one with Arcane and one with meele or ranged based skills to sort of have all types of support and combat options. Assuming you want to use the characters from the set, suplementing Ezren and Lini I would personally go with Harsk as you yourself suggests. With a maxed out survival skill he is very usefull, since there are a lot of survival and wisdom checks in RotR.

[Jenceslav]

I often say that there are no bad choices of party composition (or boon selection for character decks) - more easy or more difficult, yes. Bad choices, not so much. So you should play any characters that you like in any combination you want. The heroes don't start their adventures by thinking "Hey, I am a wizard, you are a rogue, so we need some fighter, maybe barbarian or paladin, and a cleric or druid. Let's ask around" :-D

With that in mind, I would suggest some fighter-type character as the third one to Lini and Ezren. Merisiel, Valeros, Amiri, Harsk or Seelah are almost equally good for that. Good wisdom is VERY useful in RotR, so Harsk, Merisiel and Seelah are slightly better. But - choose based on your personal preferences, not numbers or "well-balancedness". I would choose Merisiel, and Harsk at a second place.
I usually choose characters that I haven't played before (not applicable for RotR due to numerous replays of the Pathfinder Adventures app) to try new characters.

[skizzerz]

Bonus points for Harsk? Seems like you got a team then! Lini, Ezren, Harsk will work well enough and is quite a balanced comp.

[redeux]

I have a tendency to over analyze things, but after a year of debating the ideal party composition I think it's better to start playing once you're able and not worry about a min-max'ed team, or the team that "won't miss out on anything."

Agreed on Lini, Ezren, and Harsk would make a great team. Best of luck in your adventures!

[Frencois]

The ideal party composition, if you are playing with different real players is... everyone takes the character they prefer without even asking the others, play full ropleplay on it (*), and we try to survive with that. That's where the fun is. Like in any RPG.

The ideal party composition, if at least one real player is in fact playing multiple characters (so forget about roleplay) is... just pick them at random and try to survive with that. That's where the fun is. Like in any (less fun) videogame-prentending-to-be-a-RPG.

Now it's just my very humble opinion. You are more than welcome to see it differently. It is your game...

(*) Yep, try to play an half-orc character in PACG and get any kind of help from my daughter playing Lem. Yep you COULD argue that Lem is a full support character that is "normaly" "supposed" to help. But Lem is a hafling... Good luck.