I'm posting this in hopes of seeing other people's groups. I realize it's a LOT of typing to go showing so much information, so not for the feint of heart this... but I've always been curious how the game looks for other people around the world... how much of char-gen is homebrew, what the common characters are, etc...
Looks like I'll actually have 7 players (but as we all know, likely a couple will drop out early, so I like starting with a larger than desired group). My wife, a teacher friend of mine, another parent, and 4 teenagers, 2 have never played Pathfinder, but have some experience with D&D 5e. I just want to express what I deal with here... :P (May sound like a complaint, but I love every minute of my issues, as it lets me get creative with the homebrew).
PS. We use the World is Square rules (so everyone starts with Power Attack, Deadly Aim, and things like Dodge/Mobility are a single feat), as well as Auto Bonus Progression (only for weapons and armours, magic items are still prevalent).
The game is a long-term campaign but will be starting at 8th level (with plans to go Mythic at some point).
Lady Fee (Wife): Investigator - Cipher (Unchained) Kitsune.
Refuses to use a melee weapon, insists on only using a shortbow (which the Cipher's Tenuous Threat won't work with...). We already had to (Unchained) the Archetype so it actually did what you'd think it'd do... but she found Pragmatic Activator and Student of Philosophy and not only took those, but wanted the same for Perception... in the end, we did a custom feat to use Intelligence in place of Wisdom for Perception checks. Her other feats are Additional Traits (Ease of Faith and Fast Talker), Skill Focus (Perception), and Needle in a Haystack. Starts the game with 22 Int, 20 Dex, and mediocre stats. Note: she's using only a bow, so no "Agile" to damage and no Studied Combat (Though I may homebrew that as well, but only let it apply to Ranged combat). She tends to go do things during combat, and just plays for the between-combat parts of the story. :/
Dylan Lleu (Friend): Summoner - Storm Caller (Unchained) Human.
He's a vet player and sometimes GM, and just has always wanted to play a Storm Caller for the theme of it, but it was too broken. Took all the basics, Augmented and Superior Summoning, Spell Focus, in addition to Leadership and Mounted Combat. His Eidolon looks like a Gryphon, has Large Size, Mount, Claws and Bite, Improved. And of course, the Extend Metamagic Rod. He's my 'opti-build' player, and even then, not so much... (No sheet for the Cohort yet) 22 Cha, 16 Int, 14 Dex, 12 Con.
Sir Galahad (Son): Magus - Eldritch Bladebound Scion Suli.
First time playing more than 1-shots. We raised him on Warhammer Quest, and moved to Pathfinder recently but still rolling for tiles, then to storytelling. It's his first campaign. He loves the idea of a Magus, the blade of Guts, and is hooked on Bladebound. My every push into another direction led back to this... but he wanted fewer rules since he already has to be learning magic/spells. So, his combat is just combat, but he can prep with spells. His feats are all about Cleaving with the exception of Skill Focus (Acrobatics) to try and provide flanking to allies. Str 19, Cha 18, 14 Dex and Con, 12 Int. Crowd Dodger trait and a Nodachi as his weapon of choice for the Black Blade. I'm thinking of merging his Suli ability (Elemental Assault) with his Magus/Sorcerer ability (Elemental Strike) for the best of both worlds... Use Eldritch pool to gain +2d6 fire and lasts for a number of rounds equal to his level (so extending longer than his Mystical Focus).
<no name yet> (Teacher): Bard - Archaeologist Half-Elf.
We both agree that Archaeologist is a bit on the weak side, ESPECIALLY with how he plays... he is the skill monkey, Dex 18 (per my insistence), Int 16, Cha 21. Spell Focus (Illusions), Lingering Performance, Enforcer, Leadership and Spell Focus (Illusions). I decided to gift him that, at level 7, his Luck applies to all allies within 30' if he applies his luck to a Perform skill, and they can either see or hear his performance (So, a limited version of Bardic Performance). Other than that though, my least amount of homebrew...
<no name yet>: Wyvaran Bloodrager (Gold Dragon [Fire], Primalist, Spelleater).
He wants to be a Dragon, and this was as close as I could get him (at this level). We have a Custom feat to turn his "Slapping Tail" racial trait, into an actual tail Slam attack. Took Fiend Totem to get a Gore, so has a Bite (Dragon Disciple), Gore (Bloodrager Power), Tail (Racial Feat), and 2 Claw attacks (Bloodrager & Dragon Disciple). He built up to Fast Healer and has a 20 Con, 23 Str, and 16 Cha. (He's my most experienced player amongst the kids). Also having his Dragon Disciple stuff work when he rages (instead of rounds per day) so he can use a single system to track everything.
<no name yet>: Human Ranger - Feral Ranger, Packmaster (Unchained)
The Feral Ranger archetype was made specifically for him in an earlier game that didn't pan out fully. Exchanged all 'favored' Ranger abilities for Wild Shape. He'll also do the Packmaster archetype this time, which uses the XP table rather than levels to calculate the overall levels of his mob. He learned last game that Cats are just a better choice, so instead of doing Wolf again, he'll do Cats. Build a 'Pride' of Tigers I think. So a larger number of natural attacks in this campaign than usual... (what with the bloodrager being all natural as well).
<no name yet>: <unknown race> Paladin - Warrior of the Holy Light (Unchained)
Just got to notified that another kid will be joining, and after an initial talk of what he wants, he decided that a Paladin without spells was what fit his concept best. He sacrifices all of his spellcasting to better act as team support. I've suggested a 2-handed Falchion to him because he was originally wanting sword-n-board, but that could make him a bit too weak... told him it's his god's job to be his shield. ;)
Game starts first weekend of 2025, and next week we have our first sit-down to figure out how the characters all know each other, to decide if anything on the sheets need finishing or changing to make it a more cohesive group, etc... If anyone has suggestions, I'm happy to throw them at the players (Such as the hundred cuts spell for the bard, to get him more into melee instead of his XBow without a Precise Shot feat...), but mostly I'm posting this in hopes of seeing what YOUR group looks like in return.
so, it looks like maybe you rolled stats, considering how high those are. We prefer point buy and stick to 25 points. I'm also counting at least 3 non-core races, we limit those to 1 or none. As for the rest of what I see, it's seems a pretty typical party, although you'll be short on healing. We also discovered early on to severely limit how many side characters (pets, summons, etc) that are in the party, as it really bogs down combat, and can really make some characters a bit OP.
Side character limit should based on party size. But 7 is a very large party. With that many party members, in combat healing is rarely a good use of actions. Most enemies will die in a round or two, because of the weight of 7 different characters trying to kill them. And there isn't really a good way to account for this other than inflating enemy numbers, which leads to very long rounds of combat. You may consider using a turn timer, to keep combat hopping along and prevent the players from getting too disconnected while waiting on their turn.
so, it looks like maybe you rolled stats, considering how high those are. We prefer point buy and stick to 25 points. I'm also counting at least 3 non-core races, we limit those to 1 or none.
Actually, those are all 25pt builds. ABP however, gives +2 to a Phys and Ment by level 8, so 25pt, +2/+2.
You may consider using a turn timer, to keep combat hopping along and prevent the players from getting too disconnected while waiting on their turn.
I've been GMing for 30 years, and most of those have been Pathfinder (Since 2008), I can handle 7 pretty easily (as long as they aren't joking around too much). I'm also a full-stack-developer, so I found it easy to do things via web-design. Everyone logs onto their character page, and in combat, just clicks what is 'active' on their sheet (on the combat tab), and rolls whatever the site says. No in-game calculations to slow things down (and most have become so dependent on the sheets that they wouldn't know how to calculate most of it anyhows). So, my combat, whilst taking up to an hour for a large encounter, is pretty fast. ;)
Female elf paladin 18/Ranger 2, pretending to be a male human Cleric of roughly 7th level
I don't even know what to say about that... Bluff is obviously not a class skill for that Paladin, but must be a lot of Bluff checks going on, eh? :P And an Int 14 Alchemist... what an interesting combination of characters! When/If you get a chance, would love to see more of the Cat-n-Puss build... and why it isn't a Swashbuckler... o.O
If the archaeologist bard wants to be a real skill monkey, he will take fates favored and make sure that Heroism is one of his spells known. He also needs lingering performance, which he has. AT 7th level this combination will give him +5 to all skills, saves, and attacks rolls when Heroism and Archaeologist luck are active. It also gives him +3 to damage. Put at least one point into all class skills and he is set.
If he takes weapon finesse, weapon focus (Rapier) and Fencing Grace he is pretty well set up for combat. At 7th level he should have a +16 to attack and be doing 1d6+8 damage with a +1 Rapier.
Another alternative would be to go for a questioner investigator. They are an INT focused class that gets to add an extra die to some skills. The questioner archetype trades away alchemy for the bard's spell list so it would have the same spell casting as a bard.
Good points all. :) He has Fates Favored and Reactionary (and even Heroism, though for a different reason), but it's about play-style. He isn't the front-line type of player, he's the type that will be casting Heroism from the back to boost the weakest combat player, and shooting at things with a plain ole 1d6 XBow if he's not casting or in a performance (he has a Reflex, Fort and Will save spell, to debuff with, and the rest of his spells are Illusionary spells and Heroism). But he's happy like that, he seems to have no desire to be a damage-maker. Hence the home-brew to let the Archaeologist have his own bardic performance...(share his Luck, and since he's a musician, he'll likely be busting out his guitar and playing music during combat).
My gamers pick things for theme only... probably partly because they know I'll adjust mechanics to ensure their theme doesn't weaken them... He read the Arcaeologist archetype and came with a miniature dressed like Indiana Jones, and his sheet has a XBow, and an Anchoring Whip.
Same with my wife, she wanted a Sherlock Holmes type, so I show her the Investigator, and when picking Archetypes, didn't matter how much weaker the Cipher was, she knew THAT's what she wanted.
So the party is led (due to adult status) by 2 non-combat types... and the other adult, the Storm Caller, surely won't be front-line himself... that lets the kids have the combat fun.
And it's kinda cool... a party led by Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones. :P They get to enjoy more of the storytelling, the kids enjoy the combat, and the Storm Caller is kinda inbetween.
Introducing Banderios Antonias
Rakasta Gunslinger 3/Rogue 4.
After a brief discussion last night the player decided to give up the Bard levels in favor of more Rogue. The original idea, so he said, was that he wanted to use a gun, but wanted to do extra damage with Sneak Attack and ranged feinting, wanted Evasion, and wanted to be able to buff himself with Inspire Courage, and have a variety of skills with Bardic Knowledge.
The player likes jacks of all trade characters but tends to forget the 'master of none' bit.So now he plays a Gunslinger/Rogue that fired one shot yesterday and spent the rest of the fight TWFing with daggers. Don't ask me why.
my wife is playing a gunslinger rogue right now and let me tell ya, TWF with 2 pistols and sneak can put out a lot of hurt.