What do you choose to play in a party that has all the basics covered?

[mooby]

I just got invited into a game where I'll be starting 2-3 levels lower than the party, and the party already has a wizard (Illusionist), a Fighter, a Rogue, and a Cleric.

What class can I choose, that will enable me to contribute something to a party that is ahead of me in experience, and has all the basics covered?

 

[Mr Fidgit]

you could be a wizard, or specialist wizard in whatever school the illusionist had to give up...

 

[I'm A Banana]

1) Bard. You can help the cleric, help the wizard, and not need to be protected by the fighter. Your spells may come in handy in social situations, or with humanoid enemies -- or even your typical musclebound thug.

2) Monk. You can provide sneak-support to the rogue, and can dish out a fair amount in melee, and the cleric will almost never have to worry about needing to bring you back from the brink of death if you get smacked around a bit.

3) Sorcerer/Wizard of a specialization to which the Illusionist doesn't have access. Whatever the illusionist gave up? Specialize in that.

4) Ranger. Great melee power, right up there with the fighters', and you won't inhibit the rogue's skills much at all...

All these classes make *great* classes for you to take in this party. You've got the Four Classics. Now you just need support, or flavor, and you can provide both.

 

[I'm A Banana]

1) Bard. You can help the cleric, help the wizard, and not need to be protected by the fighter. Your spells may come in handy in social situations, or with humanoid enemies -- or even your typical musclebound thug.

2) Monk. You can provide sneak-support to the rogue, and can dish out a fair amount in melee, and the cleric will almost never have to worry about needing to bring you back from the brink of death if you get smacked around a bit.

3) Sorcerer/Wizard of a specialization to which the Illusionist doesn't have access. Whatever the illusionist gave up? Specialize in that.

4) Ranger. Great melee power, right up there with the fighters', and you won't inhibit the rogue's skills much at all...

All these classes make *great* classes for you to take in this party. You've got the Four Classics. Now you just need support, or flavor, and you can provide both.

 

[Suldulin]

In addition to the ones above

Druid: take tracking and with your abilities and spells you will cover a niche the others likely do not come close to treading on, also you can help blast and lift some healing burden from the cleric.

(Depending on the Rogue and game) a Rogue diplomat: you can talk the talk and walk the walk, gathering whatever infomation is needed and being able to lie through your teeth, when melee comes you can double team with the other rogue for a nice flanking punch

 

[Fevil]

Anything you wanted/the Dm allowed. Nows the time to play that character you always wanted to play without having to worry about every aspect being covered.
Have fun with the opportunity you have

 

[KnowTheToe]

Anything you wanted/the Dm allowed. Nows the time to play that character you always wanted to play without having to worry about every aspect being covered.
Have fun with the opportunity you have

Yep. This Fevil guy knows what he is talking about.

I think a druid or ranger would work best for group dynamics, but again you should not really worry about it. The druid can help out with healing allowing the cleric to help out in other ways, has an animal companion, and can shape change.

Personally, I don't worry about party dynamics when I create a character.

 

[Desdichado]

A psion.

 

[Crothian]

Have fun and pick whatever you want. It's great when you don't need to fill a role. Personally, I'd go cleric with the slime domain and aim towards Oozemaster, but I may be considered biased on that.

 

[Zappo]

Are we sure that Crothian's obsession with oozes is sane? I mean... yik...

More on the topic, I'd suggest you to play whatever you feel like. The party is robust, so go for your favorite, or try something unusual, but don't bother too much about maximum contribution to the party. In these conditions, there is no choice which will be substantially "better for the party" than any other. All choices will be equally useful in different ways.

Slight tangent: in my campaigns, I encourage the players to play whatever they'd enjoy the most, not caring about party balance. I think that it is my duty to provide adventures that are appropriate to the party that will come up. Currently the party lacks a cleric, but is doing finely and noone died - I just had to make healing potions fairly available, hand them enough gold to buy a few, and engineer stories so that there are at least a few days between each major battle. If they lacked a wizard, or a tank, I would have reacted accordingly. Besides, having a party with a glaring weakness is a good source of ideas.

IMXP nothing sucks more than being forced to play a class you don't like because "we need a cleric/tank/blaster/whatever".