
Merellin |
So, I'm trying to think of a backup character for the Pathfinder campaign I'm in and I have so many things I'm thinking of trying that I cant decide... So, What would be a useful class to add to this party?
We have a Gunslinger - Ranged Combat
Paladin - Melee Combat
Shifter/Oozemorph - Melee Combat and Grappling
Sorcerer - Caster, Mostly fire
Hunter - Ranged Combat with melee pet
Investigator - Skills, Smarts, Buffs, And some mix of ranged and melee
And some psionic class, Dont know what one.. But he is a melee combatant and uses his psionic powers to grow huge and hit things harder
And I'm currently playing a Constructed Pugilist Brawler but am looking for a backup character that will be useful to the party.
Any sugestions on things that would be useful in place of my brawler will be apreciated! Thanks in advance!

Thunderlord |
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With seven other characters the best thing you can do for the party is play whatever you like best. That being said, an Evangelist Cleric could probably be pretty good to cover combat healing and buffing. This Cleric can also pick up a two-hander and get some damage in. A Cavalier with Order of the Lion may also do well and you could even work towards Battle Herald. These are just force multiplier ideas so that you make even greater use of a large party.
Edit: I didn't see that you were a brawler.

Merellin |
Well, With me we are 8 players, But the Hunter and Sorcerer cant make it very often. And I know a lot of people will be very upset about our party size and tell us to kick some people out, But we are all friends and the campaign runs quite well with this party size and we are all have fun...
I dont quite know what to go for as there are so many things I wanna play... I kind of wanna make a alchemist, But thats just cus I always wanna make a alchemist, They are my most played class..
I do wanna try another Cavalier, Only played one and it was quite fun. And a Cleric is always useful.
I also kind of wanna try an Occultist, Warpriest, Kineticist or Spiritualist.. Bloodragers seem fun too..
Ack, I'm blabbering again, Sorry! I have too many things I want to try so I struggle with picking what to actualy play.. xD
Thank you for the post! =)
Edit: The Battle Herald looks intresting!

Merellin |
Currently our healing comes from the Investigators potions and infusions, And two wands. I have toyed with the idea of a Life Oracle before, As I do kind of like healing.. But I worry I wont be useful for much else then healing if I go Life Oracle.. But.. Maybe I could go Spirit Guide and have either the Life Mystery or Life Spirit, And then something else on the other one... Hmm....

born_of_fire |
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What level?
Since you mentioned an Occultist, a geomancer has an Inspire Courage-like ability called Dominion that buffs your party based on investing mental focus points in your surrounding terrain each day. With that and the Trappings of the Warrior panoply you can be a great melee contributor and team player. It should play like an int-based druid with decent utility and skills but no pet or wild shape of course.
Occultist is such a cool class BTW. I’m currently playing a silksworn that plays nothing like that geomancer would despite sharing the base class.

MrCharisma |
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You have a huge number of damage dealers, so anything with Inspire Courage (or other buffs that effect everyone) will be incredibly powerful - the more people around the more powerful Inspire Courage is.
Also you are notably missing divine power and debuffs, two things the Cleric excells at. With that in mind an Evangelist Cleric who focuses spells on debuffs/battlefield controll would probably be the best ...
However
With that many damage dealers Inspire couragr (or similar) is probably just adding to something that's already overkill. So while Inspire Courage would be hugely powerful, it may not really be necessary.
My recommendation would be something that controlls the battlefield and debuffs enemies. Casters do this well if you pick the right spells, but are by no means the only way to go. As a martial character you can controll the battlefield simply by picking up a reach weapon and standing between the enemies and your ranged-combat buddies. You can debuff with Dazzling Display (and maybe Shatter defences), or Cornugon Smash (and maybe a Cruel Weapon). Really any class works.
Personally I'm playing an Occultist in Carrion Crown and I loooove her. The Occultist is my new favourite class. It's probably one of the hardest classes to learn (because it works differently to every other class), but it's so incredibly versatile that you can really do anything you want with it.

born_of_fire |
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You do have a lot of people your group that hit things. If you enjoy healing and are ok with mostly that and buffing with maybe a smidgen of offensive casting in combat, you might consider a silksworn occultist.
Just to give an idea of what they can do: my SSO usually starts combat with a haste spell, then legacy weapon to give +1 and bane to the main tank's weapon, then mirror image on himself just in case (I may cast mirror image sooner if things are scary AF but this usually works out). At that point, there are more buffs available if needed--enlarge, versatile weapon, aegis, resist energy etc.--or healing since it is possible to take a good beating over three rounds. SSO's can get access to most of the healing and condition removal spells and, for those that they don't, his stellar UMD with class bonus more than suffices. Since, generally speaking, SSO's get lots of spells, both known and per day, he's also got a handful of debuffs and SoS spells--murderous command, glitterdust, suggestion, dispel magic, aversion etc.--for those occasions when no one needs a buff or heal. The DC's are not the greatest as a 6/9 caster but that's not a big problem, just gotta be judicious about who he points at with what spell.
On top of no shortage of useful but not necessarily aggressive things to do IC, he has tons of OOC utility spells and abilities--fly, mind's eye, object reading, rope weave, invisibility sphere etc.--and oodles of skills, 9/level as a human (nice but I might have been better with elf in hindsight--can never have enough mental focus). He is the party diplomancer and trap-finder and basically does everything except actually hit things. He's surprisingly resilient for an arcane caster (best saves in the group which includes a pally and among the highest HP's) and is probably the most roundly capable character I have ever played...again, aside from the fact that he literally does not physically attack.
That said, I specifically chose to limit him in combat this way; I, too, play in a larger group so can afford to let others do the hitting. You can likely find a way to make even an SSO physically menacing enough in combat if you really wanted to. I have stayed away from evocation and necromancy so you could also make different implement choices to get a different sort of caster-y SSO than I have. It's such an incredibly versatile chassis! The only negative thing I could say is that, like with most arcane casters, efficacy does depend on level. The first 6 levels were very painful but we are level 9 now; things have become comfortable and will only improve in the future.

Merellin |
Ah! Thanks for the replies! The Occultist seems realy fun and the more I read about it the more I think I'd love it!
As for level, The group is currently level 8 so the backup character would join at level 8 or later depending on when it is needed.
Edit: My very first Pathfinder character ever was a Cleric and I havent played a Cleric since and kind of wanna try one again... But I am having trouble thinking of ideas for what kind of cleric.. People recomend Evangelist a lot and while the Bardic stuff is useful, I dont like how it trades away Spontaneous Cure spells since then if you wanna be able to throw out a cure, You need to prepare it...

Neriathale |

If there are seven other characters then there isn’t likely to be a role that the party is absolutely missing, so rather than looking at what’s in the party I would think about what sort of campaign you are in and what would be a good fit to that. If it’s an intrigue campaign, the barbarian is probably a bad fit. If it’s mostly wilderness, a druid/ranger/some outdoor archetype would do well... and so on.
It does look like your party is pretty combat heavy, and divine caster light, but without knowing what sort of challenges you are facing it’s hard to say what would fit best.

Merellin |
The campaign is a adventure across a unknown world. We all woke up, Finding ourselves in a mysterious stone circle, Al having come from diferent worlds. And we discoverd that this ancient magical stone circle draws in people from other world when there is something the world needs, And we are staying in an ancient library while the owner of the library tries to help us find out why we are here and how we can get back home.
So sometimes we spend time just investigating, Sometimes we go out hunting corrupted monsters or evil cults, And sometimes we search old ruins for treasure to help the library owner. And also we investigate the lost gods of the world. So it is a bit of everything.

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A Shaman would add quite a bit to that party, especially if the sorcerer can't play very often. You would bring healing, party buffs, battlefield control and utility spells. You would have to be OK with not doing very much damage yourself, however.
There's many different ways to build a Shaman, but an example is my Strange Aeons half-orc heavens spirit Speaker for the Past (note: background skills and automatic bonus progression).