PF - Class advice for a DM

[Silus]

New to DMing Pathfinder, and I've a few concerns about my player's character's classes. Mostly just a "what do I need to watch out for" type thing (I'm not too keen on what breaks a game and what does not).

1. Ranger, sniper style (Bumped Perception and ranged feats), vanilla archetype. Going for a one-shot-one-kill-and-not-being-seen thing I think. Race is Half-Elf, vanilla race, and took a pair of +Initiative traits.

2. Summoner. Race unknown currently (probably Elf), most likely going with a Serpentine eidolon.

3. Rogue, most likely Elf. Mentioned wanting to go with an Assassin style of play. Unsure of anything else.

4. Cavalier, Human. Not sure of any archetypes, but it taking Oath of the Sword. Taking the Human Favored Class ability (+1/4 Banner buff per level).

5. Bard, unknown race, unknown archetype.

I know this isn't a lot to go on, but any assistance would be appreciated.

[Talentless]

1) After 3rd level, he'll stop being able to 1 shot anything remotely near his CR, then, if he's lucky, a bit of mid game possibilities open up if he happens to get enough enchanted weapons and ammo... yet still very unlikely. 1 shot 1 kill just doesn't apply, 1 shot many kills does, but only if you're playing T1 casters.

2) Summoner... shouldn't be too problematic, as long as you make sure not to fudge ranges with the Eidolon he summons, as well as add a couple to a few more enemies due to his ability to rustle up some reinforcements at a moments necessity.

3) Rogue... pretty much hasn't changed since 3.5 asside from some minor sneak attack target increases, and as for going an Assassin... let them, it won't change anything, the abilities the Assassin gains are lacklustre at the time they receive them sadly.

4) Cavalier... Long as you don't give him a broken mount (Read, non-horse), he'll be an adequate party tank if he builds right, but will be useful for little else.

5) The bard, will either buff the rest, or be built full of fail and die soon.


Harsh, but none of your players are playing a T1 class, so there really shouldn't be any problems as long as you pay attention to what they select for feats/spells and stuff, and read up on them to double check before you sign off on them taking it.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Well, the bard can still pull off some shenanigans in PF, so you probably want to lock down his archetype, spells known, et cetera. Otherwise I think your main problem will be disappointment rather than game breakage. PF is still basically 3.5, meaning outside of first level or cheese no one gets to do "one shot, one kill." Too much HP. The cavalier is... a little disappointing, as well. My least favorite PF base class.

[Greenish]

So many elves, are they planning to kill their enemies by giving them cancer?

[Silus]

Since nobody is playing a healing class (Something that one of the players remarked about during the character making session earlier Sunday) would it be...."acceptable" to toss them a DMPC/NPC to round them out a bit, even if it's only tossing them a healing potion or three before they head out? They'll be in a Stargate Colony situation, cut off from cities and resupplies for 6/7 days of the week.

[Infernalbargain]

1) He didn't go for the full sniping cheese of halfling rogue (completely eliminates that -20 to sniping by level 10). Really not too much to worry about. Just remember that he if he's shooting from far away, he needs to make the perception to see his enemies as well.
2) Since he went for serpentine, that's one of the more timid bases. If he went biped or quadruped you'd have to worry about him overshadowing the cavalier. Also don't let the medium caster progression fool you, the summoner gets a number of spells on-time by full caster standards.
3) Expect them to effectively to have more skills since a lot of the roguish stuff was combined. Other than that, not too much has changed in how they play, their numbers are mostly better.
4) It's a melee guy.
5) This one you might actually have to watch for. As others have said, it'll be boom or bust.