I am joining a Ruins of Azlant game at the start of Book 3. I will be level 7 with appropriate WBL. I have been out of the game for a few years and my idea pool seems to be all but dried up.
I will be replacing a Lizardfolk Druid (Saurian Shaman) with an Allosaurus companion.
So the question is, what would you bring to this group? Ideas that would help fill out the compo or compliment it? My first thoughts were a Warpriest - either Arsenal Chap or Forgepriest. Or a Nature Fang druid - I was steering clear of an Animal comp because I don't want to feel like a cut and paste of the character I am replacing, and also feeling a bit lazy with this my first game in some time. Not wanting the book keeping of Wild Shape, or Animal companion. Having a spell list is enough!
Not sold on either of the above ideas, so any forthcoming ideas are very welcome. Your time is very much appreciated!
Tbh, I think you should play whatever you want to play and don't worry about the group composition (or the person you're replacing). You're probably going to be playing this character for a good 6 months to a year (or perhaps longer depending on your DM/group), and you should be excited about your character and looking forward to your sessions.
That being said, your group already has a really strong melee presence, so adding another martial or a gish is a bit overkill. You might consider a ranged damage class/build like a Zen Archer Monk, Archery-focused Slayer, Eldritch Archer Magus, or a Gunslinger. Or perhaps a 6th/9th level caster that can do some crowd control and buffing/debuffing? Honestly, a Bard, Oracle, Cleric, Witch, or Shaman would round this group out well.
If it was me... I'd opt for a Shaman of some sort.
Based on the locations often visited in that adventure path, perhaps a Shaman with the Waves Spirit.
If we wanted to get crazy, a Deep ShamanWitch Doctor with the Waves Spirit (primary) and the Life Spirit (wandering). I'd focus on Fluid Magic and Crashing Waves as my Waves hexes, Channel Energy with my Life wandering spirit, and pick up Benthic Spell to turn most of my spells into water spells (that deal bludgeoning damage to ignore energy resistance), knock them down prone if they fail a saving throw, and tack of Magical Lineage trait with the Pale Flame spell so that you can throw ranged touch attacks without increasing the spell level.
Cherry pick the Cleric spells you want with favored class bonuses if that is an option. I'd probably pick half-elf so that you can take spells and increase the range of some of your hexes. Maybe pick up Protective Luck and Chant as hexes so you have something to do to protect your allies from attacks when you want to save spells.
It depends on what you know or want to know.
for spellcasting it depends on how well you know the arcane spell lists and their foibles. Divine spells don't suffer from all those variables. Psychic is a new thing and interesting stylistically but not quite as powerful as a school specialist wizard.
For spellcasting; Aasimar, Samsaran(Mythic Past Lives), Human(extra feat) are hard to beat. More generally for this setting Half-orc, Aquatic Elf, Ghoran, Gillman, Grippli, Nagaji, Ratfolk, Suli, Tiefling, Wyrwood could be options.
It also depends on what you want to play thematically and stylistically.
Ruins of Azlant Player's Guide advice:
If you want to give your character a leg up on aquatic adventuring, the following archetypes, listed by source, all have ways to assist a character in that endeavor.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Advanced Class Origins: Pureblade (slayer).
Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide: Aquatic druid (druid), shapeshifter (ranger; particularly the form of the otter choice).
Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide: Undine adept(druid), wave warden (ranger), watersinger (bard). These archetypes are for undine characters.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Aquatic Adventures: Aquachymist (alchemist), aquakineticist (kineticist), aquanaut (fighter), deep shaman (shaman), drowned channeler (spiritualist), oceanrider (cavalier), pearl seeker (paladin), pelagic hunter (hunter), tidal trickster (rogue).
Pathfinder Player Companion: Dirty Tactics Toolbox: Kraken caller (druid).
Pathfinder Player Companion: Elemental Master’s Handbook: Abendego diver (ranger).
Pathfinder Player Companion: Legacy of the First World: deepwater rager (barbarian).
Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Combat: Sea reaver (barbarian).
Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic: Oath against corruption (paladin), sea witch (witch), shark shaman (druid).
Domains - Travel, Exploration, Liberation, Community, Water/Waves, and of course Knowledge.
personally I like Diviner Wizards specialized on something else. If your game won't hit high level it removes the major negative to multiclassing.
An undine Druid or Paladin/Oracle or Witch, Brine draconic sorcerer, or mwangi pirate{swashbuckler} would seem thematic. A straight up Cleric of Erastil with some bow usage or Besmara and water skills would be very centric.
That was a shockingly well balanced combat party. They are now missing their divine caster, but that’s a wide target. Cleric, oracle, druid and shaman should all be good choices. You shouldn’t need to focus on healing with any of them but you will want to be able to bring the condition removal spells the divine lists often have.
If being a primary caster doesn’t suit your tastes, I’d consider a skald with that party. They almost all could benefit from a raging song. Dragon skald might help with the sailing stuff, but regular skald should be as much fun.
That was a shockingly well balanced combat party. They are now missing their divine caster, but that’s a wide target. Cleric, oracle, druid and shaman should all be good choices. You shouldn’t need to focus on healing with any of them but you will want to be able to bring the condition removal spells the divine lists often have.
If being a primary caster doesn’t suit your tastes, I’d consider a skald with that party. They almost all could benefit from a raging song. Dragon skald might help with the sailing stuff, but regular skald should be as much fun.
A spell warrior for this party, given that there are multiple natural attackers (roc) and 2 weapon users, would be massive, spell warriors dont get condition removal via spell kenning though.
