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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeff Wilder" data-source="post: 4596980" data-attributes="member: 5122">I'm approaching the end of Age of Worms now, as a player.  (We're at 15th level.)  We've had only two character deaths, but both time it was our spellthief.  The player finally created a straight rogue, because it was stuff like no Uncanny Dodge that kept getting him killed.On the other hand, through most of the AP we've had a heal-bot (cleric/radiant servant), first as a PC, then as a cohort.  (We just dropped the cohort in favor of another player, whose character, while having healing abilities, isn't a heal-bot.  May get ugly.)I can think of one or two encounters since, say, 8th level in which my DM has played the opponents very suboptimally to avoid a TPK.  On the other hand, he has a tendency to be too liberal is giving enemies surprise rounds against us, so that's probably a wash.The fights are tough, regardless, and the classic "healer, beater, skill-monkey, spell-generalist" party core will help a lot, PITA though that stricture can be.  Your fighter should concentrate on damage, not AC.  Especially later, DR is everywhere, and you need to be able to lay the hurt.  Rely on the cleric to keep the fighter standing.AoW is notorious for screwing rogue sneak attack, and the notoriety is deserved.  If you're careful defensively, I think something like a beguiler would be ideal in AoW.  In any event, just keep in mind that sneak attack will end up being worth about one-third what it normally would be.  (Oh, and BTW ... we switched to Pathfinder a few levels back, so rogues can sneak attack most stuff.  And before that, we had a house rule that gave rogues with Knowledge ranks the ability to sneak attack associated creatures.)Having a war mage instead of a wizard has hurt us, no doubt about it.  As much as our war mage adds to combat damage -- especially with the cheeseball orb spells -- I'd recommend a full-utility arcanist.As for a fifth member ... well, the bard is the classic, but probably unneeded if someone runs a beguiler.  One later adventure in the AP is practically written for bards, and the ability to face would have come in handy for us at least once or twice in most adventures.  I'm pretty sure my DM fudged some Diplomacy DCs for us some, too.Otherwise, I'd recommend a hybrid damage-dealer/skulker, like an archery-based ranger or scout.Oh, and a piece of general advice (ignore if unneeded): Write down names and events after every session, while they're still fresh in your mind.  This will make the AP so much more fun, when you can say, "Waitasec ... I know that name!  It all makes sense now!"Hope this helps.  We've enjoyed the AoW quite a bit.  I've liked it better than Shackled City, although I think part of that is that my DM has improved quite a bit.</blockquote>

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