What Class fits this party?

[TheNameless14590]

AS some of you may know form my ealier thread, I am a new Dm who is starting a new party in the Sunless Citadel, moving on to RttToEE, then CotSQ. The party has 2 members, with myself aa a NPC who will act as a PC, just with no real voice to allow the other palyers to do their thing.
My problem is this, I dont know which character class to chose for the party NPC. So far there is a fighter who will use a guisarme to trip, following up with a good headaxe/battleaxe to the head. The other PC is a wizard who, though not an evoker, will use mainly evocation and illusion spells.
The most obvious choice is a thief cleric of some thief god, taking evenlevels in both. Sounded ok, until i relized i dont want to be a support charecter. I want to be a wizard, or a fighter who acts as an archer. I want to know if this is possible, to survive these modules, with out any healing ortrap disarming ability. Is it? Could one of the charects just take ranks in Search, and the party just aviod traps? Could we just buy lots of healing potions?
Thxs in advance for the help.

 

[A'koss]

My advice would be to run two NPC characters. I've done this in the past myself (years ago I'd run as many as 3 or 4 "NPC-PCs") and it worked out just fine. Plus, the more the merrier, you'll live longer.

You're absolutely going to want to have a cleric in the party, so that should be the highest on your list of priorities. He can fight pretty well to support the fighter and protect the wizard, wear the heavy armor and so on.

 

[Gumby]

Sunless isn't too bad. Everybody will die in RttToEE, however. Multiple times. A multiclass rogue/cleric will be utterly useless in RT as well, due to the nature of 3.x multiclassing rules. Playing multiple NPCs will be a pain in your ass, as well. The only thing I can suggest is asking your players to play two PCs each, as nothing less than 4 PCs, distributed among the four major food groups of PC classes (whack, sneak, heal, boom) will even have a chance in RT.

Avoid making NPCs that you like. That's been a thorn in my group's paw for a long time, and it's hard for us to wean ourselves away from that particular mistake. You'll find yourself sucking screen time away from your friends.

 

[Nightfall]

Two NPCs would be better. It's a little hard to keep everything intact, BUT you'll save yourself alot of headaches if you do. Just run a fighter/rogue and a straight cleric.

 

[wocky]

Being that you are a NEW DM, you'll probably find out that running an NPC while running the module isn't a bit as easy as it may sound. Anyhow, my two cents:

- Do it for the party. Your best choice would be a cleric, since you can easily play him mostly as a healer and backup muscle.

- Don't play Rogues or Wizards. The problem with the rogue: Takes the fun out of scouting and infiltrating. You'll end up solving many of the fun parts of the adventure for the party... it's easier to play a background-cleric than a background-rogue. The problem with a wizard: Wizard PCs can solve many dillemas through intelligent use of their spells. If you play your wizard smart, you'll be solving many puzzles for the party... if you don't, you can't expect the party to tell your wizard what spells to use.

- Don't make the mistake of attempting to participate as a player. You're the DM. Your energies would be better spent making sure everyone is having a good time.

- NPCs have lots of uses rather than bringing balance to the party. They're great for bringing conflict and making everyone role-play their characters.

 

[Buttercup]

As others have said, a cleric is not optional. Nor is a rogue, really. In this case I would have each player run two characters. And I'd be looking for a another player or two to join the party between Sunless Citadel and RttToEE.

IMHO the idea party for Sunless Citadel is the basic four. For RttToEE, I would add another fighter type and a second caster.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I've found (many!) published modules need tweaking the further you get from an archetypical Fighter/Cleric/Rogue/Wizard combination, becoming 'worse' the higher level it gets/the more 'dungeon crawly' they are. Just the way they are written. So my 2 cents would be a rogue and a cleric.

Have you considered each player running 2 PC's?

 

[Shazman]

Obviously, two NPC's (a cleric, and a character with rogue levels) would be ideal. If you're still going to stick with one NPC, a human druid/rogue with a high intelligence might do the trick. Take one level of rogue at first level, and go druid the rest of the way. Keep disable device, open lock, and search maxed out as cross-class skills with your druid levels. Now you've got an NPC that can take care of your healing and trap-finding with an animal companion that can back you up in a fight as well.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Since your group is so small, I think allowing them each to play two PCs wouldn't be too bad. It will allow you to concentrate on running the game, let the players experiment with different kinds of classes, and allow the game to have a full four party members.

I've never done the Temple or Return to the Temple, so I couldn't really tell you how nasty they are. But a full, balanced party will help, I'm sure.

 

[Nifft]

Clerics get this nifty 2nd level spell called Find Traps, so you won't need a Rogue after 3rd level or so.

Alternately, play a Ranger with the Archery combat path. As DM, give yourself a Wand of Cure Light Wounds. Now you can sneak, Search, snipe, track and heal. You'll be the party's food-provider in the wilderness, and their trap-detector underground. (Be sure to take one Rogue level!)

Now, unlike an actual Rogue, a Ranger or Cleric won't be able to disarm the trap... so the party will have to figure out a creative way around each one. This is more fun than the usual "Rogue-only-talks" trap syndrome.

Finally, what class is Meepo? Could he be an NPC who sticks with the party?

-- N