Best "jack of all trades" class or combo?

[Thurbane]

Hi all,

Just curious for your thoughts on something - What would you describe as the best "jack of all trades" class, PrC or combo.

By JoaT, I mean someone who can fill or cover the most other roles in a party (i.e. fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric, or alternatively - melee, stealth, arcane caster, divine caster).

Bard springs immediately to mind...

All thoughts anmd discussion appreciated. Note: I'm not looking to fill a specific niche in an existing game, I just thought this would make an interesting topic for dicussion.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, bards are pretty close, especially with wands of healing and maybe the feat that lets them wear a heavier sort of armor.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Recent experience suggests to me that the binder (Matt Sernett's contribution to Tome of Magic) is a fantastic JoaT character.

 

[Nightfall]

Binder is a good choice Ari but I'm more in favor of the Dragon Compendium's attempt with Savant base class. You get arcane and divine spellcasting along with the skills of rogues and some of it's special effects too.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Races of Destiny: Chameleon

It, literally, can be a Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue ... Barbarian, Fighter/Wizard, Mystic Theurge ...

Basically in the morning you get to choose 1-2 ability sets for the day, choosing from a pretty wide range, and get abilities similar to (but not as good as) the various core classes ... then you can mix and match them later, and switch them out during the course of the day once or twice. You also get a feat that you can change out every morning and a +2 ability score bonus you can change out every morning.

Sounds like a blast to play. I doubt it would be overpowered, since it doesn't "max out" anything, but it would be interesting to be able to do just about ANYTHING when the need arose.

--fje

 

[Aus_Snow]

Bard.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Bards ... or rogues with high Cha and maxed ranks in Use Magic Device.

 

[stonegod]

An archivist from Heroes of Horror with the right choice of spells (Anyspell, Divine Might) gives you super knowledge skills, okay armor class, almost every spell in the game (go Mystic Theurge with a few levels of Wizard to get the rest, though you'll lose the armor). Can even pick up loremaster if you want lore/bardic knowledge. Does have the worst BAB in the game, however.

 

[Victim]

Druids. Their spell list packs some nasty offense (especially with supplements), they can use Wildshape to disguise themselves or turn into a combat ready form, and they can heal pretty well. They also get 4 skill points a level. They also have an animal companion to provide some support.

I don't really think that bards are really jack of all trades characters. While bards can buff well and have some utility and enchantment stuff, their own combat prowess is a bit lacking. I tend to think of them more as force multipliers in a given area than able to stand up on their own in a niche.

Artificer is another joat class. They can use self buffs and armor to step up in combat or make constructs to fight for them. UMD plus their item creation stuff allow them to fill in for other casters - and their crafting means they won't be paying as much for the privilege. And they can easily slap skill enhancering items on themselves (using some infusions to do it temporarily probably).

A high level paladin can cross class enough UMD to emulate spellcasting effectively, which gives them a lot of versatility plus their combat power and resistances.

Any character with leadership can cover at least two roles.

 

[takyris]

Just going by the core rules, I've found that the three classes that cover almost everything decently are:

Bard: By far the most versatile. Fights, tricks, buffs, even heals a bit. Everything except (really) direct damage spells.

Monk: Not exactly taking over the Tank role, but surviving without the Tank role. The Monk isn't necessarily the best fifth PC, but he's the one who needs the others the least. He fights, he hides, he talks, and he heals (himself, at least).

Ranger: If you remember to get that ranger divine wands (that he can use starting at 4th level), you've got a decent fighter, sneak, and healer.

For a two-player campaign, a bard and either other class covers most of the game-play bases.

Other options: Cleric, if you choose your Domains carefully (Trickery and War let you sneak and fight fairly decently, for example), and Wizard/Sorcerer, if you use some of the Unearthed Arcana variants (the combat Sorcerer, or the Wizard variants for specialist schools -- an Enchanter or Illusionist can become almost bardlike in some areas, although the lack of skill points will always hurt).