Best solo class

[Sydonai]

I would like to know which class is most capable of taking on a dungeon solo.
As an example Adventurer#1 gets cut off from his/her party and needs to get back alive.

I would go with Factotum, but I can't in this situation.
These are the available classes:
Ardent
Artificer
Barbarian
Bard
Beguiler
Cleric
Crusader
Druid
Duskblade
Fighter
Lurk
Monk
Paladin
Psion
Psychic Rogue
Psychic Warrior
Ranger
Rogue
Scout
Swordsage
Warblade
Warlock
Wizard

If you are wondering, this is for a play-by-post game with a new DM.

[FlamingKobold]

Depends on level and situation. Most cases, it's a wizard. Teleport, rope trick, etc. If it's level one though, survivability might be more important.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Artificer, if you have enough wands and scrolls on hand. The good armor and magical versatility will keep you alive.

Then Druid. Period.

Psychic warrior is third in my book, for about the same reason. Unfortunately, the psychic warrior will burn through power points too quickly.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

In that situation I'd have a hell of a time picking between Artificer, Cleric and Wizard.

[AdInfinitum]

Anything that can teleport back to the party is of course the best choice, but Bard has its advantages too. Invisibility, silence, and actual stealth for if the magic runs out; movement spells; a vast bevy of disabling abilities (especially if it's 3.5); healing; summons for scouting, (flying) mounts and abilities... The bard could do it.

Heck, they could even use Prestidigitation to summon a crude volleyball to talk to, so that they don't go insane.

[Sydonai]

It starts at Level one and can only have four classes before 20, the list of Prestige Classess available is:
Archmage
Assassin
Avalonian Griffonrider
Bloodclaw Master
Champion Of Gwynharwyf
Child of Night
Cragtop Archer
Crystal Master
Deepwarden
Divine Oracle
Dragonheart
Drunken Master
Dweomerkeeper
Frenzied Berserker
Geomancer
Gray Guard
Hellfire Warlock
Holt Warden
Illithid Slayer
Incantatrix
Lyric Thaumaturge
Master Specialist
Pyrokineticist
Radiant Servant
Runescarred Berserker
Shadowdancer
Shadowlord
Shou Disciple
Sublime Chord
Swiftblade
Vassal Of Bahamut
Virtuoso
Wild Plains Outrider

And it is 3.5 Pathfinder, with some tweaks.
[edit]It is a play-by-post where the PCs don't start in the same place, and there is more than one party, at least a dozen PCs and four DMs.

[edit]Oh yeah, and everyone gets Eschew Materials up to 125gp for free, and up to 250gp if you actually take the feat.

[~Corvus~]

As already stated, anything that can Scry for the party and then cast Greater Teleport or an accurate Teleport (WIZARD (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=3f8bd81d6f8a39066849e11b9c149c f3&topic=394.msg8042#msg8042)) is already nice because its time being lost can be minimized. A Cleric (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=420.0) is an amazing choice... Druids (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=0c97404ba9627f31b795e2a0fdc5f9 c5&topic=1354.0) with their freaking amazing Wildshape can do ridiculous things...ESPECIALLY if you take Vow of Poverty, because all of the bonuses still apply during Wildshape...if you want a powerful tank that can survive for a long time, perhaps a Crusader/Warblade (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=357.msg6904#msg6904) would be preferable..

Okay, you're starting alone... A Wizard or Artificer would probably be extra squishy at lower levels. If you're facing who-knows-how many monsters, you may want a Cleric (with amazing domains) or a Crusader or possibly an Ardent (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5871.0). Crusaders can take an INSANE amount of raw damage punishment early on, and if you mix in a few levels of Warblade they can be absolutely incredible at tanking. However, at later levels, their inability to cast spells makes them less optimal than an Artificer, a Cleric, Druid, or Wizard.

If you're looking for superior adaptability and versatility, your best bet is either a VoP Druid with a Fleshraker animal companion or an artificer (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5929.0). Artificers difficult to play well, and without a good knowledge of them and lots of planning, things can go awry pretty quickly.

[Zeta Kai]

1) The answer is obvious: a Tier 1 class would be best in just about all situations. That is why they are Tier 1 classes: they are more powerful & more versatile than anything else.

2) This isn't homebrew in the slightest. :smallannoyed: As penance, go create two good things, & bring them here for our consumption.

[katarl]

Dread Necromancer. It's an odd choice i know, but hear me out.

Dread Necros are full spellcasters, but they are also decent tanks, they have a d6 hd, a martial weapon, light armour and get DR quite early on. That's the fighter's job done.

Next, if they take Tomb Tainted Soul as a feat, they also have unlimited healing as well as a bunch of abilities that protect against all the nasty things that can happen in a dungeon, such as hide from undead, death ward, dispel magic and false life. That's the cleric's job done.

If they come across traps, they have a versatile array of abilities to get through. They can either jump in and hope to survive (and fully heal once through), they can dispel a magical trap to suppress it (keeping a few prisoners handy to bulk up the caster level) or they could just throw undead minions at it until the reset wears out, or the player thinks of a better idea. Locked doors don't stand much chance against a summoned or animated ogre zombie. That's the rogue's job done.

And of course, they're already a full arcane caster.

With a few binding and summoning spells thrown in to cover the character's weaknesses, such as summoning shadows to ruin dragons, the dread necromancer can pretty much do anything a full party could. Admittedly, not quite as well as they could, but that's why character's don't usually go into dungeons alone!

Failing that, go Druid, similar effect but without the unlimited healing.

[Eldan]

I'd suggest Druid, actually. He's probably one of the most viable classes at all levels: not only isn't he as squishy as some of the others, the animal companion means that he also has his personal meatshield with him at all times. If you take the shapeshift variant, you can also lay down the smack pretty much at will, instead of having only a few uses of wildshape at higher levels.

[Tinydwarfman]

I'd suggest Druid, actually. He's probably one of the most viable classes at all levels: not only isn't he as squishy as some of the others, the animal companion means that he also has his personal meatshield with him at all times. If you take the shapeshift variant, you can also lay down the smack pretty much at will, instead of having only a few uses of wildshape at higher levels.

:smallconfused: Why would you ever take the shapeshift variant at high levels? by that time wildshape will last all day and you should have enough extra uses to change into whatever is needed for the situation.

[Eldan]

It's suboptimal at higher levels, sure. However, it gives him a nice little boost at levels 1-5 if he has decent physical stats. And the way I understood it, he's playing it 1-20, so that is taken into the equation.

[~Corvus~]

It's suboptimal at higher levels, sure. However, it gives him a nice little boost at levels 1-5 if he has decent physical stats. And the way I understood it, he's playing it 1-20, so that is taken into the equation.
Sure.. but.. at lower levels, a wolf companion will have plenty of HD, and with a few buffing spells it's pretty badass.

At higher levels, you lose out on things like Dragon Shape (which includes supernatural and spell-like abilities of dragons) and Frost Shape (OMG awesome Cryohydra)

...not worth it. Furthermore, the Shifter variant is going to require higher Con and Str, so that demands Wis, Con, Str.... whereas a normal druid requires... high Wisdom. Maybe some good Charisma. Cause who the hell cares if you have a crap strength score when a) you got a wolf b) you can use a x-bow c) at higher levels you just shift into a bear and maul everything?

...sub-optimal supreme, I think...

[Zunami]

A small solo adventure would be survivable as a rogue, but a monk with focus on stealth would most likely do better because he can fight back more than a level one rogue can.

A wizard would have to few spells at this point, and the same goes for a sorc., they simply depend too much on meatshields, however! Shoul they be able to enlist some NPC help during the adventure, this would be very possible.

A barbarian would most likely run out of health and options along with the fighter shortly after the solo adventure begins, and as their HP will range from 6-19, a single unlucky diceroll would be enough to kill them, even if the opponant wasn't a real challenge...

Druids and clerics would definately do better than the warrior classes above, but at this point they both have so few spells, but it's better than nothing.
Druids are better off than clerics with their animal companion to back them up.

Rangers with focus focus on stealth and two weapon fighting would do better than fighters also, at this point however, they are without their animal companion, wearing light armor and using a HD8. Thats not fantastic odds either.

Normally I'd say that the paladin was a nice choice to go for regarding solo adventures, but they get lay on hands at level two, which means basically that they are worse off than the fighter, except for getting the smite evil which is neat.

Bards are very overall, and can get a few healing spells, not at level one though! They are worse off than the rogue and the monk, seeing as they can't even back anyone up with their music... That's half their abilities down the drain.

Warlocks would be better off than wizards and sorc., a lot actually, as they rely on con a lot, and can wear some armor if I remember right.

I regret to say that I don't know any of the other classes at all :P


of those that I've looked at, the druid is your best shot because the druid has an animal companion to eat it's foes and both weapon and armor and spells to heal with.

[DaTedinator]

As long as you know how to play it, Artificer, all the way. Your weapon is always Bane towards whatever the most pressing threat is at the moment (making you vicious in melee, particularly at low levels), you can wear decent armor, you can disarm traps, you can scribe and read scrolls, and that's just first level.

At 5th level, as long as you have the time, you don't even need to disarm magic traps, you can just eat them and use them to make more magic items. Also around that point the wonderful world of persist opens to you. You can have a persisted Fist of Stone to go along with your bane weaponry, keeping your melee capabilities alive if that's what you want.

If you're willing to get cheesy, check out the trapsmith's spell list; he's got oodles of fun spells at lower level than normal. That's right, get an eternal wand of Wall of Stone. Get several. You know you want to.

I could go on, level epoch by level epoch, but we'll skip to the fun one, yes?

By 20th, you can always have every spell that's 6th level or below (and is capable of being persisted) active (so you can fight in melee or ranged, or just be a psion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/spells/mentalPinnacle.htm), whatever), you can have a gigantic robot that is capable of taking many challenges appropriate to your level solo, AND (Or OR if you really want, I suppose) you can have enough wands and staves and scrolls to out-cast at least a sorcerer, if not a wizard.

[Sydonai]

I consider this "homebrew" becuase I have to deal with alot of house-rules, for example; "Denied classes"
Any Magic of Incarnum Class
Archivist
Dread Necromancer
Erudite
Healer
Mystic
Psionic Artificer
Shadowcaster
Shaman
Shu Jen Ga
Sohei
Sorcerer
Truenamer
Warmage
Wu Jen

And "Unapproved Classes"
Binder
Divine Mind
Dragon Shaman
Dragonfire Adept
Factotum
Favored Soul
Hexblade
Knight
Marshal
Ninja
Samurai
Soulknife
Spelltheif
Spirit Shaman
Swashbuckler
Wilder

And "Restricted Races"
Drow
Warforged
Anything with LA or racial HD greater than +1

[Sydonai]

So far Druid sound nice, but I'll have to Use Animal Friendship to get a companion.

Here is a full list of the House-rules;

8 points in all stats, 36 point 1:1 buy, 18 max in any stat. Then add/subtract racials

250 starting gold

HP generation is max +/- Con at each level

All casting (Arcane and Divine) is considered spontaneous. However this does mean all casting is treated as such, meaning metamagics require a full round to apply without appropriate training such as the Rapid Metamagic feat

Eschewing Materials, all spellcasters can ignore material costs up to 125gp Taking the feat Eschew Materials doubles this to 250gp

Languages reworked, with most people being illiterate by default

Magic Item Limitation by level; 01=0gp, 02=500gp, 03=1500gp, ect

Magic/Psionic Full Transparency, SR = PR and so forth

Multiclassing limited to four classes by 20th

Restricted Evil Alignments

Swordsage / Monk AC Bonus and other similar bonuses do not stack with each other

Unlimited cantrips/orisons at 7th level and onwards

Criticals: When rolling a skill check, a natural one subtracts ten from the roll and a natural twenty adds ten to the roll

Ranks in Knowledge/Perform, taking one point in any of these skills gives you one Knowledge/Perform as usual. However for every four ranks your character has, you gain a bonus additional Knowledge/Perform type

Ranks raising Craft confers a new bonus Craft skill every six ranks

Ranks raising Profession confers a new bonus Profession every ten ranks

Skill Tricks Approved