Which is more vital to the party?

[Li Shenron]

I'm playing a PC who is strongly considering picking up a cohort. Our party has both a cleric and a wizard, but while both are fun roleplaying-wise and played by great people, they are also both generally tactically weak.

How are they tactically weak? Does the Cleric player not heal enough? Or does it only heal? In my mind a Cleric is played tactically poorly if it only heals and not use the rest of his spellcasting abilities (buffing, protection). Do you find yourself short of healing because of how your Cleric is played?

Unless you're short of healing backup, I would suggest to add a second wizard: wizards have more tactical options than clerics, and if you want to expand the party tactics I'd recommend that the cohort simply learns & prepares different spells than the main wizard.

BTW, as a DM I always roleplay the cohorts myself, so there is less chance that a single player dominates the scene.

 

[Thanee]

How about a bard. Some healing ability and nice supportive abilities. And cool to have around.

Bye
Thanee

 

[PieAndDragon]

I voted neither fo them. An extra wizard or cleric is not vital, just nice to have.

As mentioned above, a bard may be more useful. Or a druid, slightly different focus, but can overlap on some of the stuff the cleric does.

 

[IronWolf]

I went with neither. I would have concerns that the cohort might actually outshine the PCs who are playing those character classes.

I would almost say bard might work well. You could then make IC suggestions to tactics through him. The bard is apt to have read stories, seen other battles and such. So if someone is missing what may seem like an obvious tactic he could say "Well, there was this time we were battling a <insert critter here> and the priest of the party did this, this and this. It was unbelievable to watch!" I would use this infrequently though as I would be trying to avoid stepping on the other PCs toes.

 

[collin]

If you already have 1 Wizard & 1 Cleric, an additional Cleric adds _far_ more in my experience. Freed of the need to use their slots on heal spells, Clerics are devastatingly powerful. A party with no wizard lacks flexibility at high levels, but there is not the same force multiplier effect from multiple Wizzes.

These are my sentiments exactly, although considering the cohort's position, it might not be a bad idea to have a bard or healer instead. My general rule of thumb is a bard is good as a 5th or 6th PC, because it's all about support. Jack-of-all-trades but master of none.

 

[tek2way]

How about a bard. Some healing ability and nice supportive abilities. And cool to have around.

I agree with Thanee. I have a party with a ranger, a monk/cleric (only two levels of cleric), and a bard, and between the bard and the cleric, they have healing handled easily, and the bard supplements the role of arcane caster quite nicely.

If ya need something to fill a gap in a group, you could do a lot worse than choosing a bard.

 

[Corsair]

I would avoid the bard simply because part of what bards are good for, dealing with people, is not something a cohort will spend much time doing, thus losing out on some of their usefulness. In any case, I voted cleric, just because I don't want a cohort with d4 HD. I'd be too worried about losing him.

 

[valberto]

Man, let me tell you a game when we came out the city WITHOUT both a cleric and a wizard. We were a male dawrf fighter, an female elven samurai, a "gay" half-elf bard, and a a dog (yes, one of than prefferd to try a dog, as chacarter).
No need to tell, we got hell on our backs.

 

[Jdvn1]

You can never have enough Fighters.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I would avoid the bard simply because part of what bards are good for, dealing with people, is not something a cohort will spend much time doing, thus losing out on some of their usefulness. In any case, I voted cleric, just because I don't want a cohort with d4 HD. I'd be too worried about losing him.

On the other hand, they have a good selection of magic (including healing), can buff the characters, and compose ballads and write epic tales about the characters' exploits.