Pathfinder 1E I'm having character ADHD... Help me choose!

[koesherbacon]

We're going to be starting a new campaign next Wednesday. One of my players wanted to take his turn DMing and wanted us to make new characters for his game. We're going to be level 3 and playing in a homebrew game taking place in Golarion where we're either from or traveled to a small town looking to join the Pathfinder Society and act as explorers to the undiscovered areas of the world while at the same time undertaking personal quests on behalf of our own characters' backstories together as a group.

The problem I'm having is character ADHD. Anybody who has ever had too many fun characters ideas knows what I'm talking about. I just don't know who I want to play!

I do know one thing. I want to be a Strix.

The character's I've already enjoyed making in Hero Lab are:

• Strix Cleric of Desna with the Revelry (Chaos subdomain) & Imagination (Luck subdomain) domains [no archetype].
  • Focusing on the randomness of the universe, giving both buffs to the party and debuffs to the enemies.
    • I also took the Luck variant channeling option.
      • I'm going to ask my DM if I can roll 1d2 each morning while praying to see if I channel Positive or Negative energy that particular day since I'm a cleric of a luck domain, in order to see if I'll give my party a channel bonus or give enemies a channel penalty through Healing Channels or Harmful Channels.
    • ​Will act as the magic item identifier of the party.
      • (I don't know where there's that extra space above that bullet, I can't seem to get rid of it...)
• Strix Fighter [Airborne Ambusher archetype]
  • Focusing on individual combat control, especially disarming enemies.
• Strix Monk [Tetori archetype]
  • Focusing on grapples, and flying upward with those he's grappled in order to either intimidate them into surrendering or dropping them for massive damage.
• Strix Wizard (Teleportation specialty school (Conjuration subschool) with Evocation and Transmutation as opposition schools).
  • Focusing on entire battlefield control by summoning monsters to provide flanking bonuses to the party.
  • Will act as the magic item identifier of the party.

The players who have figured out their characters have chosen:

• Samsaran Oracle with the Battle mystery and Haunted curse (no archetype)
  • Focusing on ending battles quickly and efficiently.
  • This is my wife, who is pretty new to the game, so although she's an Oracle who channels positive energy, I'm leaning toward the Cleric because I do not want her to feel pidgeonholed as the party's healer so she'll have a better time playing.
    • I also know that the Oracle can be a slightly complicated class, but she really wanted to play one, and the best way for her (and any new player) to have a good time is to let them play who they want while learning more and more about the game in the process.
  • She is definitely not a min-maxer or munchkin and favors role-playing much more over roll-playing.
• Goblin Barbarian [Feral Gnasher archetype] who will have a few levels of Rogue for some sneak attack bonuses
  • Focusing on biting enemies and stabbing them repeatably.
  • This is our good friend who can make fairly min-maxed characters, but usually opts to make characters who are not mechanically optimized and instead make characters who are fun to play and very fun to interact with. Although he can be a min-maxer, he also prefers role-playing much more than roll-playing.
• Another player has not chosen a character yet.
  • ...But this good friend of ours is a player who generally makes min-maxed characters and is more of a roll-player than a role-player.
  • He prefers hack'n'slash much more than out of combat encounters.
  • If his previous characters are anything to go on, he'll probably be a Ranger (with the Archery combat path), dealing massive damage and using Stealth to gain bonuses against enemies.
• There might be another player joining as a first time DND player, but he's not gotten back to us yet.

Now, I'd like to know your thoughts on my current choices as well as any thoughts of someone else to make who will be enjoyable for me to play and enjoyable for the party to interact with.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Cleric much more than the others. That said, I would be extremely happy to play as my other choices... and potentially other ideas people have for me.

Although I can min-max if I wanted to, I want to play a fun character who isn't necessarily mechanically optimized. I'm much more of a role-player than a roll-player.

Help me cut my way through my character ADHD jungle and figure out who I should play in this campaign! Thanks a ton, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing other's opinions!

 

[paradox42]

Role-playing over roll-playing, there's no reason to favor any of those characters over the others, so I'll focus on roll-playing reasoning.

It looks to me like your party is currently screaming for an Arcanist, so I'd actually put the Wizard as my number one choice right now. But if anybody does play an Arcanist (even a Magus), then switch to Cleric. Battlefield control is the best reason to have an Arcanist, and parties without one definitely feel the lack over the long term. It looks like your Cleric idea has the possibility to help with battlefield control, so that can help a second-tier Arcanist like Magus or Bard in that vein while still doing your own thing (and letting the other character do his or hers). The Cleric can't do the control on its own though.

 

[Cadence]

I like paradox42's logic.

I generally think you can never have too many clerics, but I wonder if luck is an easier concept to be annoying with than to role play with (I'm having trouble picturing how I would get into the character).

Do you have a story hook for any of them that's stronger than the others?

 

[7heprofessor]

Play the one with the strongest image in your head for personality, goals, and quirks.

That aside, I like the Wizard the best. That Teleportation subschool is awesome!

 

[koesherbacon]

I'm working on each of their backstories.

Would you like me to post them here, so you can give opinions based on those rather than on mechanical and/or party roles?

 

[Cadence]

Happy to read them... but if there's one you feel a connection too (is the background writing for one flowing easier than others? is one conjuring up some emotions and stories?) I'd just go with that so that you don't get stuck with the character we think would be most fun for ourselves.

 

[foscadh]

IMO a group lacking a cleric is handicapped to some extent unless they have a ready supply of healing potions.

Will your DM let you play 2 characters? Do you feel up to it if he will?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I have to second the idea that paradox42 gave pretty solid advice. If you aren't particularly attached to any of the various backstories you've written up, I'd take paradox42's advice. Though if you are partial to one of the concepts over the others, go with that one. The game is always better when the players are fully engaged with their characters.