Manhunter party - limited classes

[Balor01]

Hi,

So, as a DM, I want to build a party, optimized for hunting down characters with PC classes. Targets usually consist of solely melee combatants, and on a very rare occasion, a low lvl caster.
This manhunting party needs not to be a standard 4-man team. As far as I am concerned, it may have a dozen members and a tamed monster from monster manual, but before I go for it, I'd appreciate playgrounds' ideas.

Generally, I saw this somewhere along these lines:
- intel gatherer (rogue?)
- wilderness expert (scout)
- killers (warblade? barbarian?)

These are allowed classes:

Fighter
Fighter (Dungeoncrasher Variant)
Crusader
Knight
Warblade
Barbarian
Soulknife
Samurai
Factotum
Swordsage
Rokugan Ninja
Monk
Swashbuckler
Rogue
Samurai
Ninja
Scout
Duskblade
Wildshape Varient Ranger
Hexblade
Ranger
Bard

Take into account that his must work at lvl 1 - 6. I am not aiming for high lvls.

thank you

[Fable Wright]

Factotum is pretty good in the group; Cunning Knowledge on Gather Information/Diplomancy/Track can help locate the target, and Imperious Command can lock down a character in combat for Coup de Grace, or just keeping him out of the fight for a few rounds. Duskblade can get some sick damage by channeling Shocking Grasp and with Arcane Strike, helping take down just about anyone at that level. Add in Crusader/Bard for healing and Hexblade for Dark Companion and other debuffs, and you have a very capable manhunter group.

[Midnight_v]

...you don't have them tracking down clerics, or CoDzilla's do you?
I mean the above list is "The world" yeah?
The "Low level caster" thing is hmmm sketchy cause low level casters are dangerous depending on what they can cast.

Assuming you're playing it straight though, its seems fairly decent grouping. The thing I want to know most about is the fairly terrible "IN-clusion" of the soulknife and the lack of psychic warrior. I mean on a list that has all his peers on it. Duskblade, Warblade etc. In general I see some odd choices overall, instead of just saying Tier X only. So I'd like to wrap my head around your choices there.

Nice inclusion of the Rokugani ninja, though. Oft forgotten and kinda cool.

As far as the paradigm, what are the obstacles of the manunt. Are the people pursude protected by the city watch (The mayors son for instance) or in hide outs, monastaries? All of the above...
From what I see the crux of all this is the 12 on 1 thing, but potentially from a story side, players figuring out what the common thread is about the people they're hunting.
The most cliche'd answer would be: Former Hunters
Though there's a whole list of reasons they could be chosen as "prey"
Skrulls... wait, LOL shapeshifting-Monsters Changelings.
Rival Monarchs
Prophesied Heroes/Villians
Mindwiped Victims of "X" being who or whatever/ Possessions.

Thats what I see at a quick glance. Thoughts?

[Balor01]

@Midnight_v
Psychic warrior has psionc powers and I just do not like that in this setting.
The list is not the world. There are a few wizards here and there, but this is sort of like nucklear technology. Hard to come by. As for clerics and druids, these also exist, but have A VERY NARROW agenda. They can not adventure, they must use their powers only for the gods.

People hunted are mostly criminals and many bounty hunters heed the call. But adventurers have answered stranger manhunts also. Its not really a 12-on-1 thing, i just said it is ... possible. If someone comes out with an idea "just use 12 warblades" ... I may rconsider it.

[Cespenar]

Okay, first, you have a bunch of Level 1 Rangers with Wolf companions. These are the harriers, who track down the targets and keep them on the move. Then there's your Rogue, who comes into play when the harriers make the mark careless and slip up. She strikes from the shadows and takes care of the job.

Usually they are enough for the easy prey. But when things get tough, the brute comes in. High-strength Warblade, focusing on Stone Dragon and Tiger Claw.

Then there are the higher ups. The Crusader, who is a the hunt coordinator and usually doesn't enter the fray unless somehow the mark proves especially dangerous. Most of the time he directs his underlings with White Raven Tactics. His right hand assistant is the Factotum, who is the planner. High knowledge ranks, he makes sure nothing gets the party by surprise. He has a bunch of items suited for most situations, and he assists the combat in range with a bow.

[Balor01]

Awesome responce Caspenar. Love it. :smallsmile:

[Hand_of_Vecna]

If you're not planning to take on casters then honestly any arrangement of those classes will be fine as long as they have a scout. I think the most important rule would be not to match up fairly. Assuming they have some decent backing they should out number their targets fighting fair is for suckers and even a 10% fatality rate would be unacceptable.

I'd say a good rule of thumb would be one leader/buffer type (Crusader, Bard, White Raven focused Warblade), one or more scouts based on the size of the potential area they need to search and one capable soldier for every member of the party their going after (two or more soldiers per target of significant repute). If more than one scout is used go ahead and take away a soldier for every two scouts assuming they have a plan to recall all the scouts to the main group before attacking.

[Cespenar]

Awesome responce Caspenar. Love it. :smallsmile:

Glad to be of help.

[Red_Dog]

I suppose this would be a moot point, but you could easy requirements for Justiciar[CWar] you would probably be able to make it into 6 lvls.

Class by itself is really good for manhunt.
==========================================>
<These comments disregard ToB as, I would assume a Warblade with Hunter's Stance would be able to full fill ALL roles needed and if he/she can't a swordsgae teammate will fill the rest. Ergo, its really isn't fun as after casters, ToB dominate the game>

*If you are hunting casters at all, make sure one PC packs Mage slayer chain. Its very easy to get and it does help*

Otherwise really anyone could do. I would however prefer a Human Thug Fighter Dungeon Crusher over a rouge any day. He/she will have the right skills, enough dmg[way more than enough at lvl 6 even with mild strength[18-20range]], can take enough punishment and enough feats to get shock trooper chain and maybe Skill Focus[Gather Info].

Basically, to me, a perfect E6 Urban Manhunter is Human Thug Fighter Dungeon Crusher.
*Alternative Urban manhunter that could be cool and would have "gimmicks" but far less raw numbers, would be Martial Crusher. Dungeon Crusher crossed with Ninja w/ Martial Stalker. You would need to mix them in 3/3 proportion as ninja needs ninja 2 for Martial Stalker to actually do something[ghost step is lvl 2] with his pool. I wouldn't recommend this as it might feel "patchy"[progress in bursts, not fun] and overall looses in all the numbers to Thug Crusher.*

On the wild route of things.... Its really anyone's game.
Scout can get his hands on Improved Skirmish at lvl6 and throw 4d6 on top of his attacks[barely ok at this level].
Ranger Wildhshaper[will get shifting at lvl6 only, but starting level one gets +10ft movement] can be a very decent melee combatant[fullBAB and THW] and has all the skills he could possibly need to track people in wild, just like the scout does.
A Human Barbarian could get track on lvl1 and be just as good as ranger while being a superior melee combatant [if you can use splat books]. He actually has enough skills to back this shendig up and be great at it.

So these are my advices I guess ^^ Good Luck! ^^