D&D 5E Help Me Choose a Character

[Clint_L]

One of my players wants to run a campaign for just three of us, and possibly a fourth. The campaign will be Drakkenheim, and we are starting at level 3.

His wife will be playing a paladin, and my spouse is going for a barbarian. Thoughts on what I should play? A full caster? My initial thought is wizard or bard, but I'm not sure.

 

[Ancalagon]

Do you have access to the Sebastian's Guide to the world of Drakkenheim? Because it has a new class they created and I'm having a ton of fun with it (the apothecary - I'm playing a mutagenist, Mr Butters, a goblin nerd who transforms in a 9 foot tall hulk, but you already have 2 tanks in the party... it's an amazing "alt barbarian, but you might want another subclass, the playstyle is heavily affected by the subclass)

My back-up character in case Mr Butters kicks the bucket is a swords bard with one level of hexblade.

If not... I'll note that the structure of the campaign encourages short rests (because long rests require you to leave the city) so fighters, monks and warlocks can benefit from this.

It's a great campaign, and I hope it works out for you

 

[aco175]

Sounds like you need a caster or more cleric over mage. The paladin could default to the healer but then not use spells to boost damage. The barbarian rages and takes half damage so maybe a bard can fill both and be mostly healer with some utility mage thrown in.

Another opinion on the site tends to be: Pick what you want to have fun and the others worry about their fun. No healer, you need to spend gold or take a feat to heal yourself. No mage- you need to multiclass if you think you need it. I tend to like to build a party that works more together, even if just sorta.

For your OP, I would likely make a halfling bard and be more cheerleader for the others. I would move around and shoot spells or daggers and slide in to heal if needed or once in a while step in front and blast a group of things. I would take a background that allows me thieves' tools to support that way and have Perception as one of my skills.

 

[Clint_L]

Hmmm...what about a trickster cleric?

 

[FrogReaver]

You really want healing word for in combat healing. Potions can fulfill the out of combat healing role. However,

After that you really want 3 things or at least 2 of the 3. Something that can buff allies movement, a ranged damage specialist, and the ability to control enemy movement.

I see a few solid options here.

Cleric 1/Wizard X (checks all boxes) - fly haste for movement/healing word and web/hypnotic pattern for control)

Mark of healing halfling Wizard (checks all boxes)

Circle of Stars Druid - primarily moonbeam and bonus action for archery subclass feature damage. Covers ranged. Can entangle for movement denial. Plant growth also is a great non concentration movement debuff. Longstrider can help with melee ally movement.

Warlock as honorable mention. Hypnotic pattern and EB cover alot of bases.

Divine Soul sorcerer would also be an interesting prospect.

 

[TwoSix]

What options do you have available?

 

[FrogReaver]

On bards - I’m normally a big fan of bards mechanically (conceptually meh) but not for a 3 person party with 2 melee PCs. They are great out of combat specialists and have some support/control spells but very limited ranged damage capabilities and also limited ability to help allies close the gap against distant/flying enemies - which is your parties biggest combat weakness.

This is the same reason I’m not a big fan of a cleric for this party, they do even less to cover the parties biggest combat weaknesses.

 

[J-H]

Hmmm...what about a trickster cleric?

It usually doesn't match up to the fantasy players are looking for. I had a player who started as a trickster cleric and went tempest.

In my games, at least, regular healing is preferred over Healing Word, partly because going to 0 gets you a level of exhaustion. Cleric or druid would both be good choices. If you go druid, you could pick up Thorn Whip and pull enemies closer to your melee. With Spell Sniper, you can do it from 60' away. That could be fun, especially in a city where there are probably gaps between buildings, holes into the sewers, archers shooting you from 3rd-floor windows, and other 3D aspects.

If you expect conditions (curses, etc.), cleric is a bit better. Life Cleric comes with almost everything you need on its domain list, so you can pick whatever.

As an off-option, Celestial Warlock has a pool of healing and some push/pull with EB & invocations.

Or you could go the all-bruiser party and pick up a fighter (PDK does have a small AOE heal 1/SR), or maybe a Mercy monk. What sounds fun?

 

[aco175]

As a side note, I went to a convention a few weeks ago and in the 3 games I played and the 2 others that my son played, there was only one arcane caster, a bard. I had a cleric in one and in another there was a trickster (mostly to get an owl familiar to grant an ally for shooting a bow and backstab.) Everyone else was fighter, paladin, or barbarian. The paladin only cast one spell and just smited the rest.

I guess it all worked in a 1-shot, but maybe not in a longer campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

From a balanced party prospective, you would wants full caster with access to some healing. I would suggest a Druid or a bard. Since the paladin will probably handle social skills, I would say Druid. The circle of stars and circle of wildfire look interesting. The latest version of kobold could pick up green flame blade, which would go nicely with wildfire.