What would you play in this group?

[Jdvn1]

Ooh, I'll second the Favored Soul idea. You can get plenty of cure spells and you're a moderate fighter (never a bad thing).

But, I wouldn't worry about stepping on toes. Think of it as reinforcing roles.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Pure Wizard - non-Blaster (i.e., a controller, saboteur support specialist).

As you have probably noticed by now - Warmages are great at dealing out conjuration spells o' death - and pretty much crap at everything else.

The higher level you get, the less the Warmage shines and the more the lack of real arcane misc magic comes through.

 

[blargney the second]

Well my main problem with the thrallherd isn't the overall power or usefulness [...] but it's more I'm worried that it'll feel too much like I'm not the one doing the work, but just sending a mook out to do it.

Here's a different perspective on it: the thrallherd is the hub of a hivemind. You aren't sending a mook out to do your dirty work - you're sending a fragment of your own consciousness to do it. I think it'd be a blast to roleplay.

-blarg

 

[Schmoe]

With this group I'd probably go straight fighter and use some of the options from the PHB II.

Ditto. A fighter who can actually fight and not just deal damage would be a great addition to the party. Whether you trip them, disarm them, dance around them, or just control an area with reach, get a real fighter with some tactical options and show them what combat is all about.

Also, don't worry about stepping on the toes of the other players. Even if you made an identical character, a good party should be able to take advantage of that. Get creative and find a way to work together that maximizes your party potential.

 

[Corsair]

Ditto. A fighter who can actually fight and not just deal damage would be a great addition to the party. Whether you trip them, disarm them, dance around them, or just control an area with reach, get a real fighter with some tactical options and show them what combat is all about.

It sounds nice in theory, but at this level, except against humanoid-ish opponents, reach just means you tie the monster. Disarming is useless against dragons, aberrations, and damn tough against giants and their kin. (Ditto tripping) On the other hand, everything has hit points.

Also, don't worry about stepping on the toes of the other players. Even if you made an identical character, a good party should be able to take advantage of that. Get creative and find a way to work together that maximizes your party potential.

In theory. But I'm trying to be a nice person too, and figured I don't want to outshine someone at their own niche. (I've had that happen to me in another game where I was playing sneaky human rogue... and someone joined the game with a pixie rogue... kinda made me useless)

 

[Nyaricus]

Actually, on second thought, I'd play a flumph commoner who specializes in Basketweaving

Say what?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Would it be worth posting the details of the 'other' party you play, since a few times that has been a reason for dismissing a suggestion that someone has made (meant only in the most literal sense - you've not been dismissive of any person at all, and I can't think of a better word to use at the moment).

Of the core classes I'd find a druid or ranger quite tempting, or a wizard or (gosh) a utility sorcerer.

You could even ham it up as a Barbarian!

 

[diaglo]

with the halfling paladin dead.

this almost screams half elf bard. the face for the party.

 

[brehobit]

OK,

Probably the _best_ thing to play would be a marshal 4/???? X (??? is probably a paladin, maybe a sorc or bard). Providing +6-8 to overcome SR will make you popular. Shifting that to +6-8 damage when flanking will also be nice...

But what I like best for this party is:

Human vow of poverty spirit shaman. Lots and lots of flexibility (esp with the bonus feats from VoP). Lots of roleplaying potential. Lots of spells. Your party has direct damage covered, so not having that is no great loss. And against spirits you will be very helpful indeed.

Because I've got time on my hands and this is fun:
One obvious change would be to go with a level of battle dancer rather than monk and boos CHR rather than Wis.

Monk 1/Spirit shaman 11
STR 10
INT 10
WIS 16 +3 (+4)
DEX 14
CON 14
CHR 14 (+2)

hitpoints: 81 (depending on method)
AC 29 (+2 dex, +6 wis, +8 armor, +2 deflect, +1 natural)
AL: LG

Feats:
Sacred Vow (Human)
Vow of Poverty (1st)
Improved Grapple (monk)
Nymph's kiss (VoP 2nd)
Spell focus: Conjuration (3rd)
Intuitive Attack (VoP 4rd)
Augment summoning (6th)
Nimbus of light (VoP 6th)
Holy Radiance (VoP 8th)
Spontanious healer (9th)
Touch of golden ice (VoP 10th)
Stigmata (VoP 12th)
???? (12th)

Skills:
Variable, but max out diplomacy. Between the CHR and misc bonuses from the VoP feats (+6 total?), you will be a good face.

In hand-to-hand you are pretty weak, but not horrible. Between the monk abilites, the intuitive strike, the VoP bonuses and the touch of golden ice you will be ok. Being grappled will suck (though improved grapple will help a bit) but spirit form is an SU ability so once a day you should generally be able to get out of it, but it will slow you a fair bit. Also, touch of golden ice will annoy most evil grapplers.

With Spon. healer you free up some very useful selections. And in combat you can more-or-less raise dead 1/week. Handy for your party.

With Guide magic a lot of fairly worthless spells become huge.

And most importantly, I think the character would be a joy to play. You don't need to worry about stuff, you will have a very different world-view than everyone else, and you can be all wacky mystical (while still LG).

 

[Corsair]

After some consideration, partially with the help of some posts here, I've made my decision. Going to be doing a straight druid, focusing on summoning. Though to be honest, finding the "Summon Greater Elemental" spell in Spell Compendium is probably what did it for me. I'll use wildshape as my emergency backup. If my party needs me to melee, I will, but I'll prefer to stay back and have my pet rocks do the work. Also it's cool to see a guy clad in red dragonscale full plate astride a dire lion mount! (Yes I know I'm not proficient with full plate. But it's +1 Wild Full Plate, so when I wild shape I lose the penalties but keep the AC)

Thanks to everyone for their input!