Party of four with limitations

[Balor01]

Ok, a quick question, playground. With these limitations, what sort of party (which classes) of four PCs would you assemble:

- no tier 1
- no spontaneous or divine spellcasters or psions
- spellcap lvl 5, but there is no spell slot limitations

My main question is how to get some battlefield control and healing? Or maybe a general approach of these limitations?

No rants regarding these limitations, please.

[Bladesinger]

First off, what level are we dealing with, here? That'll impact my suggestions quite a bit.

[Amphetryon]

Ok, a quick question, playground. With these limitations, what sort of party (which classes) of four PCs would you assemble:

- no tier 1
- no spontaneous or divine spellcasters or psions
- spellcap lvl 5, but there is no spell slot limitations

My main question is how to get some battlefield control and healing? Or maybe a general approach of these limitations?

No rants regarding these limitations, please.Dragonfire Adept with Entangling Exhalation deals well enough with the BFC issue. Couple it with a Warlock-into-Chameleon 2-into Hellfire Warlock for damage and utility. Standard Horizon Tripper might also be appropriate here. For the 4th person, Binder/KoSS can cover any gaps left by the other three. Wealth isn't listed as houseruled in any way, so wands, potions, and belts for healing should be perfectly viable.

[AmberVael]

Healing:
-An Incarnate can manage some healing, though it is generally out of combat use, and it only really takes off at higher levels. (Lifebond Vestments soulmeld in particular).
-Binder. There's a vestige (Buer) that has at will healing.
-Crusader. Devoted Spirit has a few healing maneuvers.
-Factotum. They're a little limited, but Opportunistic Piety can do some decent healing.
-Dragon Shaman. Normally I wouldn't point out this class, because it is kind of low power, but Touch of Vitality can not only heal, but cure ability damage and various harmful conditions, which is going to be harder to find with a lot of spellcasting removed.
-Warlock. If wands exist, Warlock can use them, and use them well. Otherwise, don't consider warlock.

[Balor01]

Allrighty. Thanks. Just a question ... does anyone fell like building these four characters at lvl 1 (standard WBL, all books)? Just asking ...

[Aegis013]

What exactly would you like built? I'm not familiar with incarnum stuff, but I'll do my best to learn if that's needed. I'll build you something (word of caution, I will build it at levels 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20). I can't garuntee it will be the best of optimization, there are people on this board much better than I.

[dspeyer]

Would a non-spellcasting paladin be allowed (with lay on hands for healing)? Or would that still be too divine?

[deuxhero]

Why the second restriction over "no tier twos"? Are tier 3 and under spontaneous casters allowed? If they are...

Beguiler
Dread Necromancer
PF Summoner
Factotum

Lots of casting, melee and skill monkey ability.


If not.

Factotum
Warblade
Binder
And uh... Runesmith or Battlesmith (forgot which of the two was which), as the requirements make magic items rather limited and they can make more than a limited range..

[Dimers]

I don't have access to many of the books that provide the good/popular tier 3 and 4 base classes ... no factotum, no initiators, no incarnum, no binder, no dragon-anything. So I'd go with psychic warrior, wilder, warlock, plus either one more wilder or one more warlock. (To make a more rounded party using only the books I have available, I'd say rogue for the last member, but not if you're just looking for healing and BC.)

Wilder can provide healing; both wilder and psywar can get lots of temp hp; warlock can use wands and get a little self-healing from class features. That's enough for that.

Wilder can augment level 1 through 5 powers plenty to provide battlefield control -- easily, against enemies not immune to mind-affecting, but there are certainly powers that work regardless. Astral constructs can help with both battlefield control and damage-soaking, come to think of it. A psywar with appropriate feats and powers can provide plentiful landbound weapon-based BC. Warlock could fly and learn debuffing eldritch blasts, along with direct BC invocations. Having two warlocks with complementary debuffs would be nice, if (obviously) not overwhelming.