Suggestions for my cohort

[LaughingRogue]

So we have a

Favored Soul(bard cohort), Codzilla (cleric), Beguiler (my character), Bard (melee bard), Monk, What should my cohort be?

Please note the Tier Level of the party --- 3 and Below

What should my enchanting obsessed beguiler's cohort be that would help the group.

[Silva Stormrage]

A debuffing class that reduces opponents saves. A Paladin of Tyranny or slaughter + hexblade (Dark companion variant) + obtain familiar + improved familiar with psychic reformation (So it can take the feats bind vestige and improved binding for another -2 to saves aura). Now it inflicts everything within it's aura with a decent penalty to saves so you can land your spells more effectively.


Or if you don't want to just debuff him he could be a dragonfire inspiration bard to give your allies and dominated minions massive bonuses to attack and damage.

[nyarlathotep]

Favoured Soul is tier 2 and Cleric is tier 1, but I digress. I'd suggest a bard going into warchanter that way you get two buffs at once, including the BAB increasing warchanter only buff for a melee heavy party.

[Vandicus]

Its dependent on the party. Regulating a Favored Soul to healbotting(while inefficient) and perhaps some minor buffing would keep him from overshadowing the party. Bard is also pretty good if your party has a decent amount of melee. Monk simply isn't worth the effort of trying to optimize. Cleric is powerful enough that it'll be easily apparent that he's holding back. Overall, I recommend the Favored Soul. Just don't super optimize it, pick up some healing spells and "nifty" spells for his spell list.

[Zaq]

If you're into that sort of thing, having a dedicated crafter (Warlock works swimmingly) is fun for the whole party. Not everyone's cup of tea, though.

Hmmm. You might bring in some muscle to back you up when enchanting fails. Normally I'd suggest a buffer, but it looks like your party will have that in spades.

If your group is cool with it, having another stealth-focused character (so the two of you can go scouting together while only KINDA splitting the party) might be fun, but then, that could lead to the rest of the party being bored.

[Ardantis]

Your party seems good-aligned. While I agree with the fact that you could probably benefit from a debuffer, a Paladin of Tyranny or Slaughter with some Hexblade and a debuffing familiar sounds ominous, if not downright sinister. Plus the paladin levels require evil alignment.

Have you considered a Jester? They're a weird, Dragon Magazine debuffing class that is thematically similar to a sort of inverse bard, plus I find them to be hilarious, in theory anyways. Check them out:

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Jester_%283.5e_Class%29

[Hiro Protagonest]

Favoured Soul is tier 2 and Cleric is tier 1, but I digress.

It's also a CoDzilla cleric.

[LaughingRogue]

It's also a CoDzilla cleric.

that was my point, playing a cleric like a codzilla i don't believe makes it tier 1 anymore but i'll leave that up to someone else to decide that's not really what this thread is about --- and the favored soul is a cohrt so his usefulness in this game and the way we run cohorts makes it go down I think but that's not what this is about

thanks for the suggestions guys.

[LaughingRogue]

Your party seems good-aligned. While I agree with the fact that you could probably benefit from a debuffer, a Paladin of Tyranny or Slaughter with some Hexblade and a debuffing familiar sounds ominous, if not downright sinister. Plus the paladin levels require evil alignment.

Have you considered a Jester? They're a weird, Dragon Magazine debuffing class that is thematically similar to a sort of inverse bard, plus I find them to be hilarious, in theory anyways. Check them out:

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Jester_%283.5e_Class%29

lol I agree , this class makes me smile



and yeah evil isn't really going to work here

[Human Paragon 3]

Option 1) Factotum. Always useful.

Option 2) Soul Knife. Promise it won't outshine your party! Focus on ranged attacks with throw mind blade and use her to deliver extra damage where needed. The ability to just put some untyped damage where needed should compliment your character pretty well. The psychokentic mindblade enhancement turns her mindblade into a light saber that can cut through anything given enough time, and if you give her ranks in Stealth, Spot, and Autohypnosis she will be a nice little swiss army knife for you. If you have stealth too, you and she can go on little scouting missions together.

Option 3) Ranger. Again, filling some holes. A reliable damage dealer with the skills you lack as a beguiler.

Option 4) Druid. Like above, but with an animal companion! Throw in combat reflexes, vexing flanker and adaptable flanker on the druid and her companion and your party will ALWAYS have a flanker in place. Not sure what to do with the animal companion? Put it in flanking position and aid another, essentially gaining your druid +6 to hit.

[Bloodymango]

Black guard

[Randomguy]

Can't you just cast dominate person/charm monster on almost anyone with a will save and make them your "cohort"?

Hexblades can be true neutral, so you can use one with the dark companion variant as a debuffer//bodyguard.

The party seems to lack an archer. How about an archer ranger? (Actually, archers tend to be easy to dominate, as proved by V in comic #800)

A warmage (or warlock) might be useful: their blasting skills would nicely complement your blasting deficiencies.

[Elboxo]

I'd say an archivist, or if that's too much work maybe a dragon-shaman for buffs/heals for everyone all day

[Gwendol]

Agree regarding archer. A ranger with spells from the spell compendium (arrowmind, etc) is very useful without having to dominate. The ranger can also double as scout, if that is necessary.

Another, very different option, would be to have a lock-down fighter, or rather, a chain wielding knight (bodyguard). Typically tripped up with feats like combat reflexes, stand still, etc and equipped with bracers of opportunity and anklets of translocation, he should be able to help out when facing multiple threats as well as break the stride of chargers.
Make him take mage slayer and you'll force enemy spellcasters to waste actions avoiding him (or risk the AoO).

[Hiro Protagonest]

that was my point, playing a cleric like a codzilla i don't believe makes it tier 1 anymore but i'll leave that up to someone else to decide that's not really what this thread is about --- and the favored soul is a cohrt so his usefulness in this game and the way we run cohorts makes it go down I think but that's not what this is about

thanks for the suggestions guys.

CoDzilla was made to prove core-only clerics and druids are broken. It's tier 1. If you use CoDzilla to mean melee-focused cleric, it's not accurate.

[Retech]

Take another Beguiler.