Class suggestion help (new player)

Theorac

First Post
Seeking some help on suitable classes for an upcoming game, been a few years since i've touched 3.5, never played Pathfinder before. Some things to take note:

-Character starts at lvl 8 (33,000 GP to use)
-Encounters are challenging or difficult
-Main healer is not a regular player, off healer is a Witch (i think)
-Only 1 regular tank, the rest are ranged or squishy

Some equipment advice for the suggested would be nice.

Made a Greatsword Inquisitor so far. Not too sure how it performs in battle.
 

log in or register to remove this ad


I'd actually ask your party and your GM what they'd like to see. If their suggestions sound fun, that's the gold--you can help fulfill a needed role and maybe get to try something that you haven't played before.

Inquisitor is actually a decent choice to split the healing/tank role. I have an inquisitor in my current game, and he often has to step in and serve as the tank. The teamwork feats can really help out the party and the judgment and bane class feature makes you awesome at taking out a particular foe.

If your party lacks a regular healer and/or tank, I'd give a serious look at the cleric class. Clerics can be awesome tanks and they are the best healers in the game. Clerics got a lot cooler in Pathfinder, cleric domains give you abilities as well as bonus spells (for example, you can get an animal companion with the Animal domain or toss bolts of fire with the Fire domain). It's far easier to make a cleric that dips into a few other class abilities with the right domains.

You might also consider a druid. Druids can also heal and sometimes serve as a decent tank, depending on your selection of class features and wild shape options.
 

I suggest Paladin. Pretty simple to play and can self-heal as a swift action (the channel energy and lay on hands on other people is usually a waste of combat actions), has great saves, especially the two most important for a melee character (fort to not die from poisons and the like; will to not turn on the party), and smite evil is POWERFUL.

Downside is a lack of good feat chains / combat tactics unique to your class. I'd grab a trait to make Intimidate a class skill and do an Intimidation build. At a minimum, Enforcer (APG) feat, and maybe Dazzling Display. If you can, get Cornugon Smash instead of Enforcer. Of course, an intimidate build is most useful with a Rogue (Shatter Defenses feat) or a Monk (Medusa's Wrath feat) in the party.
 

Greatsword Inquisitor is a good choice, I agree- clearly the party needs another tank, but one with powers as a backup healer. Inquisitor fits the bill there. Paladin is another great choice, even better than Inquisitor I'd agree, unless the alignment is a problem for the group as currently rostered- that's the one potentially problematic thing with Paladins, they rock otherwise (the class is much better in PF than it ever was in 3.X).

I would personally suggest looking at Oracle of Battle, if Paladin doesn't work. You get Cleric spells, and automatically get all the Cure X Wounds on your list if you want; you can even get the healing spells if you're Evil (and no other Divine class can do that). Go with Tongues or Haunted for your Curse, as those interfere least with combat, and be sure to take Skill At Arms as your first Revelation. This makes you automatically superior in combat to a Cleric, because you now have proficiency in all Martial weapons (most Clerics are stuck with Simple) and with Heavy Armor (most Clerics can do Medium at best). If you ever did a CodZilla character in 3.X, the Oracle of Battle is a close match to it under PF. They're scary. Really.
 

Sorry I took so long to reply. Steel_Wind, thanks for the link to Bigg Grimm , it sounds awesome and the free filled character sheet is a nice bonus. As a new player, apparently I qualify for the 'New guy remorse' and can reroll a new character anytime before the 3rd session. Im keeping this character as a backup if we end up needing to finish fights fast instead of heals.

Dykstrav, I did have the opportunity to discuss with a few of the members as I happened to meet them. They were not so sure with Inquisitor as the previous user (left the game) kept forgetting to apply the bonuses and well, there are a lot on this class. Lucky you reminded me to check with em as a tip I got from them was the GM tended to use aggro rules (DD's get the love). You mentioned the cleric could tank, im not sure how that works, could you enlighten me on that?

StreamOfTheSky, I was considering Paladin, but there are 2 players with less than suitable alignment and tinkering with necromancy. Anti-Paladins are not allowed in the campaign.

paradox42, thank you for the Oracle suggestion, I actually dismissed it at first, thinking it was too skinny on the AC to survive. You convinced me to take a second look, and it looks rather good in heavies. Do you have any suggestions in regard to feats for the oracle?
 

What books can you use? If you can use Ultimate Combat, I highly suggest a trip-based Inquisitor. Dip a level for proficiency if you need it, but you ideally want a tripping weapon with reach, like the guisarme (offhand, I know Half-Orcs, via an APG variant, can trade their weapon proficiencies for Heavy Flail and Spiked Chain, though the PF spiked chain sucks terribly and you'd be better off with a guisarme). Half-Elves can swap their Skill Focus for proficiency in any one weapon, also. I suppose you could do sword and board with a temple sword or the like if you want instead of the reach build, though.

Why a trip build? UC has a teamwork feat called Tandem Trip. Basically, as long as someone else with the feat is threatening the target you're trying to trip, you get to roll 2d20 and take the better one. Every attempt. With Solo Tactics, EVERY ally is considered to have your teamwork feats in determining if you can use them...

Why a trip weapon? Well, that way if it's also reach you can potentially stop people from closing to melee with you and ruin their turn. But also, it means you can add the guided property to the weapon and get to use your wisdom to modify your trip attempt (since you're attacking with the weapon to do the trip and a combat maneuver is an attack). Might be a useful way to play a melee character but not need a good strength score to do it.

Just some ideas.
 

Wow, that was a quick reply StreamOfTheSky. Thanks for the suggestion, it sounds like a fun combo. I remember playing a trip cleric in 3.5 (the only time i've played a cleric actually) and it was a riot.

Edit: Checked with a member, all books from Paizo are good, is UC one of em?
By the way, as a side topic, is the Gunslinger class still lousy. Quite a few people complain about lack of damage and expensive equipment. Are those issues fixed yet?
 
Last edited:

...
-Main healer is not a regular player, off healer is a Witch (i think)
...
Did the witch player took the healing hexes? If yes, you will have not much to worry much about a healer 'role'. And don't forget that wands of cure light wounds are cheap.

There are also some nice whip feats in UC as an alternate trip weapon suggestion.
 
Last edited:

UC is Ultimate Combat, a Paizo product. It is slowly being added to d20pfsrd.com right now, some is up, a lot still isn't.

I have no idea about the gunslinger class, I haven't been able to bring myself ot fully read it and the gun rules. Every time I try, I have to stop lest I give in to the urge to repeatedly face-desk. All I can tell is that the gun rules are ridiculously broken, they're just plain better than other weapons, get to hit touch AC at 1st range increment (or even the 2nd or 3rd with the right archetype or item!) and get to break the rules by benefiting from Deadly Aim even though it's a touch attack and being able to be used with sneak attack (why can't I sneak attack with EXPLOSIVES again, Paizo?), and other bull that spits in the face of game balance.

To make matters worse, to "balance" them, guns and ammo are expensive. But gunslingers and most gun archetypes give you one for free at level and the ability to FREELY make ammo (apparently the standard 1/3 cost for crafting wasn't good enough, or maybe they just felt like kicking more rules in the nuts). The "drawback" is your gun is slightly broken and only you can use it properly, so it can't just be sold. Oh noes, an uber weapon at level one that my enemies can never ever use against me! That's such a massive drawback! /sarcasm Amazingly worse still, the degree to which guns will completely rape your game depends on the "tech level" the DM decides to use. If he chooses primitive and low availability, guns will be overpowered but rare and...that's supposed to make it ok, I guess? If he chooses high tech and common, you're an idiot to not use a gun, all other weapons are completely pointless and obsolete. Instead of just mechanically balancing guns with the other weapons, the designers decided to leave it all up to DM Fiat / "Mother May I?"

That's as far as I've delved into gun rules so far, but it's enough for me to know I will simply refuse to play in any game that uses them.

EDIT: Oh, also, the misfire rules. Are dumb. Balancing overpowered weapons by a random chance of them breaking is terrible game design. And the scatter shot is the most overpowered thing I've ever seen. It makes Whirlwind Attack look like complete horse:):):):) and is available without a feat on guns, presumably from level 1. Weapon damage in a cone FTW! The most insane part of it is, the way scatter's written, it's actually BETTER for avoiding misfiring than normal shooting. Because...well...just read it!
[sblock]Scatter Weapon Quality: A weapon with the scatter weapon quality can shoot two different types of ammunition. It can fire normal bullets that target one creature, or it can make a scattering shot, attacking all creatures within a cone. Cannons with the scatter weapon quality only fire grapeshot, unless their descriptions state otherwise. When a scatter weapon attacks all creatures within a cone, it makes a separate attack roll against each creature within the cone. Each attack roll takes a –2 penalty, and its attack damage cannot be modified by precision damage or damage-increasing feats such as Vital Strike. Effects that grant concealment, such as fog or smoke, or the blur, invisibility, or mirror image spells, do not foil a scatter attack. If any of the attack rolls threaten a critical, confirm the critical for that attack roll alone. A firearm that makes a scatter shot misfires only if all of the attack rolls made misfire. If a scatter weapon explodes on a misfire, it deals triple its damage to all creatures within the misfire radius.[/sblock]

So, by sheer odds you'll basically never ever misfire. But that's ok, because if you do, the random effect will be slightly more severe in magnitude! Yay game balance! Side note: Pretty sweet getting to make attack rolls yet telling miss chances to go screw themselves if you're into broken rules, eh?
 
Last edited:

Remove ads

Top