small party help

[cildan]

Ive got a game with tiefling mage leaning towards striker, a changling hexblade a controllerish striker and a drow archery ranger. What sort of defender or leader type would work best with this party, we are currently going through the forgotten temple of tharizdun and have just hit paragon tier.

[tcrudisi]

This is a bit difficult. Magic Weapon would be an absolutely fantastic at-will for this party, as giving everyone +1 to hit and +4 (or higher) to damage is just fantastic, especially since they are going a strikery bent. But - chances are you'd want to do it at range and that's a lot of range in this party already.

The melee leaders would work wonders, as they can function as a sort of off-tank. Bard, Warlord, and Cleric immediately spring to mind here. Warlord would help your allies win initiative (and this party desperately wants to win initiative and start taking monsters off the board before they act), but Cleric would help with the healing and this party will need it. Bard ... is interesting. It can move your allies around (agile opportunist with the Hexblade at 11+), which is awesome for getting them out of trouble. It's both melee and ranged, which is great for the flexibility. You can go Half-Elf, which means you can pick up Magic Weapon, and Valorous means lots of healing surges. Ritual Casting means the ability to share surges, which helps the party go longer.

Shaman or Ardent? Nah, not with this group.

I think I lean the Half-Elf Bard more than any other. Though Warlord is a fine choice and Cleric would do okay, too (especially with their defender level AC).

As for defenders? That's a bit tougher. If you are only going to add in one more character and you choose it to be a defender rather than a leader, you'll definitely want to be a Dwarf for the ability to self-heal. Battlemind might be a fun option here, as it encourages you to boost up that Constitution. Fighter would be okay, too.

If it's me, I say "screw it" and either go for a striker-bent Invoker and just run without a leader or defender, or I go with a leader that will improve the entire party (Bard, Warlord, or Artificer) and help them to kill stuff faster. It depends on how good at optimizing the rest of the party is, quite frankly.

If you force me to choose one class for someone else ... I can't do it. I keep looking at the leaders, though. I definitely think it comes down between Bard / Warlord / Cleric. I think Bard brings the least of those, but it allows you to pick up Magic Weapon from Artificer, and that's huge for this party. So it really balances out. They are all fairly equal in that regard.

[ScrivenerofDoom]

For a defender I would probably opt for a fighter, possibly a goliath with a polearm who also takes the paragon path that gives him extra reach, or a warden. Both are good at locking down the battlefield and thus giving your fragile strikers some support.

Another option is a paladin which can serve as a decent healer, especially at Paragon Tier, which may be important if you are only adding a single new PC rather than both a defender and a leader.

[Breccia]

Based purely on the module you're running, I would suggest a dwarf cleric or paladin. The temple is filled with goblinoids known as "norkers", which dwarves traditionally despise, and of course cleansing an evil temple sounds like something a divine power source would get involved with.

If memory serves, there is a cleric leaning towards defender (battle priest?) and a paladin leaning towards leader (hospitaler?) paragon path, which might help bridge the gap. There's probably a bunch more in other rulebooks too. But quite frankly, ANY defender or leader would be well-suited for a group made of only strikers and controllers. Beggars can't be choosers. Pick something that's fun to play, and the rest of the party will be grateful.