Three char level 8 group - How would you do it?

[interwyrm]

Cleric (for silence)
Wizard (for dimension door and invisibility)
Rogue (for even better coup de gras)

This party doesn't fight fair.

They run away until you sleep.

Then they slit your throats with pick axes (for the x4)!

 

[Arkhandus]

I hope the title says it all. Here we go:

- Warblade1/Bard7 archer: High charisma, haste spell and Song of the White Raven plus the bow of songs (swift action in the second round) for CHA mod to hit and damage plus Inspire Courage.
- Dragonshaman: full armored tank with polearm for ground control and basic healer. If he goes down, the bard can heal him up a bit.
- Psion: Firepower at it's best.

That's not the way to do it....
- Human Bard 2/Marshal 2/Warblade 4: Run basically the same as your idea, but better.

Awesome faceman for the group, high Charisma and Diplomacy, carrying a Wand of Cure Light/Moderate/Serious (whichever he can afford) for whenever he needs to help keep the group in good condition, Master of Tactics or Over the Top minor aura to add his Charisma bonus to everyone's damage with either flanking or charging attacks, any major aura that suits his fancy whether it's offensive or defensive, plus he'll have Tactics of the Wolf or Absolute Steel Stance along with a 1st-level stance of his choice, along with Douse the Flames, Steel Wind, Iron Heart Surge, White Raven Tactics, and Lion's Roar. His saves will be pretty good, his hit points will be decent or good, he'll have a +6/+1 Base Attack Bonus, he can start out with Point Blank Shot + Precise Shot + Rapid Shot + Song of the White Raven.

- Dwarf Crusader 1/Dragon Shaman 7: As per your idea, but again, better. Though not by much. Martial Spirit or Iron Guard's Glare for a stance, Crusader's Strike + Stone Bones + Vanguard Strike + Charging Minotaur + Douse the Flames. Still a +6/+1 Base Attack Bonus. Better survivability.

- Human Wilder 8 or Wilder 7/Thrallherd 1 (getting a 7th-level thrall would be handy): Has a +6/+1 BAB (or +5 if going Thrallherd), 4th-level powers (3rd if going Thrallherd), and the ability to Wild Surge for +3 manifester levels, a nice boost to the potency of his powers. If going Thrallherd, he can get the Diplomacy ranks cross-class and can take Inquisitor as one of his 1st-level feats and Expanded Knowledge (Mindlink) as his 3rd-level feat.

As a pure Wilder, though, he can allocate all four of his feats toward Psionic Endowment, Greater Psionic Endowment, Psionic Meditation, and Expanded Knowledge (Empathic Transfer). Either way, he can support the other two characters in melee combat once in a while, or at the very least be a secondary archer (they can spare 2 feats for PBS and Rapid Shot if needed). He can take Psionic Shot and Psionic Meditation if not going Thrallherd. Empathic Transfer + Body Adjustment (+ Body Purification later on) will allow the Wilder to serve as a healer in emergencies. He might want to pick up Quicken Power instead of one of his other feats, though, for Quickened Empathic Transfer accompanied by Body Adjustment in the same round. And he could even take Expanded Knowledge (Astral Construct) if he wanted to.

 

[blargney the second]

My current group is a crusader 8, druid 8 (plus fuzzy, natch), sorcerer 8. They do fine. Lots of healing, lots of blasting, lots of whacking things really hard.
-blarg

 

[Thurbane]

- Cleric (Knowledge & Trickery domains) or Druid
- Ranger or Barbarian
- Duskblade or Warmage or Beguiler

 

[s-dub]

The cleric, with the right domains and spells can emulate almost any skill a rouge can.

Thurbane hit it on the head with the domains needed.

 

[Elemmakil]

Is this only for battle strength? If so, Druid/Cleric/Wizard or Sorc all the way.

A well-locked door could stop them in their tracks.

Unless the wizard knocks.

For that matter, he could disintegrate it, which has the same general effect but takes a higher-level slot than he/she has available at eighth level, but looks cooler.

 

[Arkhandus]

Right. The Wizard could cast Knock or Disintegrate or Stone Shape or Shatter or similar if needed. Or the Druid could cast Wood Shape or similar. A martial adept could smash it with one or two uses of Mountain Hammer or Stone Dragon's Fury.

Traps? Summon something to scout ahead. Or just nuke everything and sort out the rubble afterward.

Or, y'know, Levitate or Fly through dungeons rather than walking.

 

[Perun]

I'd go with:

• Warblade 8 (or Fighter 8)
• Cleric 8
• Wizard 8

Alternative, if the campaign requires a rogue:

• Warblade 8 (or Fighter 8)
• Rogue 1/Cloistered Cleric 7 (with the Able Learner [RoD] feat)
• Wizard 8

 

[Shin Okada]

Assuming your party will play typical sold modules or similar adventures made by a DM, I recommend.

1. Cleric 8 with Magic Domain or Cleric 6/Radiant Servant of Pelor

You need a healer. You need someone with full-caster level. So many modules are assuming that condition removing spells or plane-travelling spells of appropriate level are accessible to the PC party. So you need one (almost) pure cleric. A cleric with magic domain is good as he can use all the spell trigger items for wizards. But Radiant Servant is better at healing and destroying undead monsters.

2. Dwarven Rogue 4/Fighter 4 or Rogue 4/Paladin 4 (with Devoted Inquisitor feat from Comp Ad)

Someone should deal with traps But pure Rogue/Scout/Beguiler may be too vulnerable as a member of 3-men party. Dwarven Rogue/Fighter can deal with traps perfectly and still a tough and versatile fighter. He may take UMD to fill the roll of second healer or nuker (via wands) .

Or, Dwarven Scout/Ranger may work, too.

3. Anything tough and fight well enough.

Well, as member 1 and 2 have providing the must-have abilities for typical adventuring, the 3rd member maybe anything. Maybe better decided depend on the environment or theme of the campaign. But should be tough enough to defend himself as you cannot expect a meat shield is in between you and foe. So I don't recommend pure Wizard or pure Sorcerer.

Edit: Basically, my recommendations are either Duskblade or some Wizard-based fighter mage types. Because other 2 will not provide much knowledge nore ranged combat power to the party.

 

[Shin Okada]

Someone who thinks traps and walls can be simply blasted or jumped over, should never have played truly nasty dungeons such as the Tomb or Horrors. You need BOTH cleric and Rogue.