Joining a new (experienced) group after years of not playing

[SaltyEmperorX]

I know this is a bit of a read, but I appreciate anyone who is willing to help. I do not have nearly as much time as I would like to prepare for this (and I barely have enough time to actually play), so I will take all the help I can get.

I am about to start a 3.5e campaign with a group of fairly new friends that are quite experienced. I have not played for about three years, I think, and I did not have such a great group to start with. They never really got into it, so it did not last long. I am looking to get some suggestions on classes for this campaign to hopefully keep up with the others.

The DM has been playing constantly for over 10 years, and he seems to have a fairly good idea of what he is doing. He says that most of our encounters will involve magic of some kind, and as an example, he said that one of his favorite tricks was to teleport rogues for a quick backstab. He mentions that diplomacy will be quite important, especially for avoiding battles (or escaping from unavoidable ones) that would, without a doubt, result in our deaths and it will be important to have some other method of escaping. There will only be 3 or 4 of us, so he also suggests that we not be too squishy. Also, he mentioned that we should have an int score no lower than 12, but he did not say why. He will have us allocate our ability scores from a pool of points and told me to expect a negative modifier, which I never had to worry about because my old DM was EXTREMELY lenient with most things. We will also be starting at lvl 5 with the set gold, but if the class relies on equipment, we will get a little leeway. The only book he recommenced was the tob: book of nine swords.

With all that in mind, I will talk about what I like to do... I appreciate both ranged and melee attacks equally, but I do not really care to rely on magic that has uses per day. I would prefer to be able to hit things for moderate damage constantly rather than destroy everything in 1 hit but rarely land a hit. I also like something with a lot of hit points, but one of my favorite classes that I found to be very fun was warlock. Outside of battle, I am all for sneaking around and pick-pocketing or intimidating and bluffing my way to places. I also very much like to draw from multiple books and not rely on a single class.

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this and give any advice they could.

[BIGMamaSloth]

yah, The book of nine swords is pretty great for melee if you don't want to e a charger (I.e. hit really really hard by running at things) and it sounds great for this, as it requires little to no work to be good, and is also pretty hard to screw up. There abilities aren't once per day like a spellcaster, but they do have some use limits depending on the class. Warblade is a basically like your standard Front line fighter, d12 hit dice full bab all that good stuff, swordsage is better if you prefer more rouge like play style, and crusader is your divinely inspired paladin sorta deal. The book can explain it a lot better than I can though, so if you want a melee character, I thoroughly sugest it.

[erikun]

Warlock is a good all-day spellcasting character. Binder is also good, and can bind some magical effects (including fast healing) for lasting durability.

Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, and Warmage are know-full-spell-list casters, making them work like Sorcerers but knowing all spells of their spell level rather than choosing a few each time they level up. Wizard have a few options to memorize a large number of spells without a spellbook, but still prepare them from memory. Spirit Shaman basically has Druid spellcasting, but after preparing spells for the day, casts them as a Sorcerer (meaning using spell slots to cast from any prepared spells).

Psionics are more versatile than spellcasting, although powers tend to be less overtly powerful than spells. You could choose either Psion, Educated Wilder (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a), or Erudite (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060406b).

Tome of Battle has some nice options, although I'm not familiar enough to voice many good suggestions.

[Edit] A well-build Bard can be quite nice as well, handing out a lot of buffs on their song or getting several combat bonuses for expending one use of bardic music. There's always the option of spellcasting on top of that, including higher level spellcasting with a specific prestige class.

Edit v2 You might want to consider that "experienced" means different things for different groups. Not every experienced/optimized group will be running around with Shadowcrafters or DMM Persist Clericzillas.

[Kol Korran]

I'd suggest to go either with warlock (since you like it and it seems to fill most of your criteria) or the swordsage from ToB (which is usually hard to hit, highly versatile with partly "pure combat" and partly "magical" abilities, and has plenty of skills for sneaking and more). i only saw the swordsage played for a short time, but it seemed like a blast to play.

depending on much much your DM is going to use spell casters (and it seemed like he's going to) you might consider the Spell thief (Complete adventurer) but only with some of the fixes on the web, as it's quite weak as written. talk to your DM. it can be quite potent against magic users, but weaker against most other things.

[nyjastul69]

...Outside of battle, I am all for sneaking around and pick-pocketing or intimidating and bluffing my way to places. ...
Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this and give any advice they could.

Warlock does seem like the 'go to' option for you. A Factotum might be something to look at as well. While the class is not great at anything, it's good at most things, for a bit.

[Garwain]

With all that in mind, I will talk about what I like to do... I appreciate both ranged and melee attacks equally, but I do not really care to rely on magic that has uses per day. I would prefer to be able to hit things for moderate damage constantly rather than destroy everything in 1 hit but rarely land a hit. I also like something with a lot of hit points, but one of my favorite classes that I found to be very fun was warlock. Outside of battle, I am all for sneaking around and pick-pocketing or intimidating and bluffing my way to places. I also very much like to draw from multiple books and not rely on a single class.
Sounds like Warblade 5/Bloodstorm Blade to me.
You'll be fully capable of hitting things in melee as ranged. Intimidate is class skill for both classes and you have big hit dice.
As Warlock, you'll be less of a combatant and can be more the sneaky type.

[Aeryr]

Warlock is good, it can fit into many roles, even if it's not going to overshadow anyone.

The bard, with a little inspire courage optimization and diplomancy optimization could be useful as a party leader. Also a level in a ToB class for warblade maneuvers would be a nice complement, and then take song of the white raven.

Swordsage, of ToB is really fun. And ToB is hard to screw up. One of the best things of the combat maneuvers is that they refresh for every encounter so you don't run out of them.

If your DM were to allow the adaptations (and be a nice person) you can grab the "spellcasting variant swordsage" and go for a gish PRC (swaping caster levels for initiator levels) if that's so swiftblade is great, so is abjurant champion.

[JadePhoenix]

I suggest you play a melee warlock (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159708).

[SaltyEmperorX]

Wow, thank you so much for everyone that replied. I never expected to get so many.

I think I might stick with warlock, to preserve time choosing another, because my last campaign with it was... just everything about the experience was awful and I did not really get to do much. I am VERY bad at making decisions, and in the process of trying to make one, I usually end up further from a choice and actually having more. However, I am definitely going to use something from ToB or dread nerco for my next character. Hey, he told us we might need to roll two characters, sos I might get a chance here.

I have begun perusing THESE (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871406/Warlock_Information_Compilation) TWO (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159708) HUGE compilations for... potential goodies, but they quite vast. I came across a very interesting, and well done, homebrew (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211104) that I might present to my DM for consideration.

I do have some concerns... In this (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Glaive_of_the_Hellfire_Warlock_(3.5e_Optimized_Cha racter_Build)) lovely, little build, he takes lvls in chameleon in order to get the soulmeld, yes? Could someone explain to me why this is done (I have no idea what chameleon does) and if there is a way to get the soulmeld without a dip? Also, how does he get the shield block without being a crusader (along with thicket of blades)? Why would he even want it if he does not use a shield? I would very much like to go into hellfire and have a way to heal the con damage easily without having to worry about using an item. The DM basically told me to just not take binder lvls for Naberius as it is a waste, but if I have to dip into 2 chameleon lvls, that seems like an equal waste. We are limited to 2 classes (3 with a favored class) in order to avoid an exp penalty for multiclassing. There is also the whole thing about using glaive with PA and using str to hit. He strongly discourages optimizing and such, but a demon bloodline seems to work so well with that.

I would also like to try to get more lvls of hellfire when I do get into it. He does not like Uncanny Trickster because he has seen it abused too much and he is iffy on Legacy Champion (though, I do not believe these are out completely if I can make a good argument). That leaves bloodlines which I also have to argue that I can use it to extend the hellfire damage. If any, which do you think would be best to extend the lvls?

My only other main concern would have to be squishiness. He mentioned dex tanking, but I do not know what that is (I am sure Google can tell me). And if I were to try that, then I should not do the str bonus+PA dealio so I do not have to spread my ability points too thin. So then it comes to should I go str or dex and after that, should I worry about cha at all? It seems to only really matter with essences and certain invocations.

It is a tad late and I am sleepy, so I most certainly forgot something. If anyone has anything else they would like to add/mention/advise/scream/what-have-you (such as fun invocations, I have an incomplete list of around 90... so yeah... choosing is not a thing I like), please go right ahead. And thank you to everyone for taking the time to help; Every little bit is greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I was also planning on playing CG so I am able to perform some less than moral actions. DM told us anything but evil.

[Dimers]

If it's not too late to join this party, I gotta say, the combination of Not Squishy plus Diplomacy plus Solid Effectiveness For Long Periods sounds like a cleric to me.

Also, ask your fellow players about their characters, and see if they have any recommendations for you. The DM's told you something about the campaign ... well, they might tell you something about the DM. Like "he's not as tricksy as he thinks he is" or "OMG you need skills more than anything else", that kind of thing. Or maybe they'll just be able to say what they've got covered and what holes need plugging, to help direct your build of whatever class you choose.

[Aeryr]

Chameleon is from races of destiny is a nice class that let's you imitate base classes (most uses are arcane/divine spellcasting) being able to change it every day, it also offers a bonus floating feat.

I do SERIOUSLY encourage Naberius, think about it. You heal ability damage super fast, and you heal ability drain. Poison, no problem, stupidity ray, no problem, you can deal with many save or suck, even failing them. And for a Hellfire warlock it's just even more tasty, because you are dealing yourself regular con damage. Not taking into acount the other nice stuff that naberius offers, disguise self at will, untrained trained skills (maybe Iajitsu Focus from OA?), take 10 in diplomacy/bluff (you did want bluff didn't you?), command spell once every 5 rounds, insight bonus to something (I'll pick +2 insight to initiative). If you are going the incarnum way, talk to your DM, it makes you stop taking damage so it makes you inmune to the damage of hellfire, wich might make it stop working. The incarnum way requires two feats. If you are still not convinced, grab a raven familiar (with obtain familiar) max UMD and give him a rod of bodily restoration. Personally I would go with naverius and the familiar, just in case.

For advancing hellfire warlock even more, the lest cheesy way is uncanny trickster, because it only advance hellfire warlock, and only for two levels. Legacy champion imo needs DM intervention, he could throw a legacy item at you, but bloodlines... that is... strong, really strong. It would advance warlock/binder/hellfire warlock at once. I don't approve of bloodlines.