"Best" non-core 4 character party?

[Thurbane]

Hi all,

Just another of my hypothetical discussions.

If you had to have a party of 4 characters, all of non-core base classes, and all single classed, what would they be?

I don't have a ton of non-core material myself (PHBII, Bo9S, UA etc.), so here is my shortlist:

A.) Knight (PHB II)

B.) Beguiler (PHB II)

C.) Warmage (CA)

D.) Favored Soul (CD)

 

[Nifft]

"We can do this all day!"
- Binder
- Warblade
- Dragon Shaman
- Warlock


"We got skills, yo!"
- Scout
- Swordsage
- Cloistered Cleric (Travel & Trickery)
- Psion (Nomad)


"All magic, all the time!"
- Duskblade
- Warlock
- Spellthief
- Dragonfire Adept


Cheers, -- N

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't know about best, but some options I'd consider:

Skills guy: Ninja or Scout (Comp Adv), or Soulknife (XPH) (I know, not traditional, but a high-Int one works OK here)

Quasi-Divine: Incarnate (MoI) Ardent or Divine Mind (Comp Psi), Favored Soul (Comp Div), Shaman (Kalamar), or Shaman (OA)

Warrior: Psychic Warrior or Soulknife (XPH), Divine Mind (Comp Psi), Soulborn (MoI), Samurai (OA, not Comp War), or Battledancer (DCv1)

Arcane/Blaster: Warmage (Comp Arc), Shadowcaster (ToM), Artificer (Eb), Spellsinger (Kalamar), Psion (XPH)

 

[McDungeon]

A) Artificer- trap monkey + utility spells

B) Archivist- Your divine source of information. Also plays like a bard somewhat.

C) Psion- Replacing arcane

D) Knight- To hold agro (mwahaha)

 

[Nyaricus]

Hmm, good question. SO good, that I went through my list of all the WotC classes and came up with the following short list of classes (none-core) which I think would be good elements with which to compose a competant party:

Warrior Types
Duskblade (PHBII) (also Arcanist Type)
Knight (PHBII)
Samurai (OA)

Priest Types
Archivist (HoH)
Dragon Shaman (PHBII)
Favored Soul (ComDiv) [with a domain and domain power added in, of course ]

Arcanist Types:
Artificer (ECS)
Beguiler (PHBII) (also Rogue Type)
Warlock (ComArc)
Psion (XPH)
Warmage (ComArc)

Rogue Types
Beguiler (PHBII) (also Arcanist Type)
Scout (ComAdven)

Not sure how much more I'd "take off the top" but there's what I'd choose from

cheers,
--N

EDIT: added in the different groups.

After some consideration with this, my final say is:

Warrior - Knight
Priest - Archivist
Arcanist - Artificier or Psion (tie!)
Rogue - Scout

 

[Nyaricus]

Warrior - Knight
Priest - Archivist
Arcanist - Artificier or Psion (tie!)
Rogue - Scout

Also, a nice thing about this is two can be preveiwed on the Wizards site for free (Knight and Achivist), and the Psion and Scout are both in the SRD (Scout of course is the Wilderness Rogue, which is similar enough )

cheers,
--N

 

[dog45]

Warrior - Warblade (d12 HD, full BAB, 4 SP, tasty tricks 1-20)
Priest - Cloistered Cleric (cus nothing replaces the many uses for Turn Undead)
Mage - Artificer
Thief - Spellthief

I'd go Spellthief instead of Scout because with just 4 characters, each needs to be as self-reliant as possible. With their spells the spellthief can buff themselves. Plus, the Warblade and Cleric will be the tanks, while the Artificer wipes out everything else.

 

[javcs]

I'd go with a Scout, a Favored Soul, a Warlock, and ... a Samurai, probably. For a generic party, good for less experienced players, anyways.


For the people I play with, if we did something like that we'd end up with Scout, Favored Soul, Warlock, and a second Scout, Favored Soul, or Warlock. One/both of the Favored Souls would tank/take turns tanking, depending on the Scout's build, he might stand on the front lines too ... that happened to me with one party (Scout, Rogue, Bard, Favored Soul (Olidammara), Druid, and Monk) - it made for an interesting campaign.
'Course, the Favored Soul would be a Favored Soul of the trickster/thief deity, aiming for temple-raider, or sticking with Favored Soul.
If it's a second Warlock, one would probably be aiming for the Mindbender PrC and Leadershipness ... nothing like a couple thralls/cohorts to help fill gaps.
But, we'd also be a larger group.

No core? Sheesh ...


@dog45 - I'm saying Scout over Spellthief because having played Scouts at varying levels, a properly built and played Scout can whip a Spellthief at the end of the day - I've seen it and done it. Of course, the fact that the Scout can do more with his Skirmish in most cases than a Spellthief can do with his meagre sneak attack, even with steal spell, IMO. Scout's got better skills, general combat ability, and saves overall, too.
Never really like the way WotC did the Spellthief, either.

 

[Paradigm]

I'm going to get a lot of grief for this one, but I've seen it in action as six characters in an RPGA game:

Bard
Bard
Bard
Bard
Bard
Bard

It was amazing, and I could see the same being done as 4 characters. I s**t thee not.

I might go with:

Duskblade
Archivist
Marshal
Savant

 

[Nifft]

... bards ...

Yeah, behold the power of generalists!

I'll bet a Totemist, Binder, Erudite and Scout / Chameleon would be similarly adaptable.

Duskblade
Archivist
Marshal
Savant

I'd suggest a Dragon Shaman instead of a Marshal, because the latter is on the weak side and the former is similar in role, but cool.

Cheers, -- N