Pimp my party: a build challenge

[paperarmor]

So I'm trying to figure out some organizations for a homebrew campaign setting and being a fan of leverage I figured I'd do something similar. I thought I'd bring a party optimization challenge to the playground and see what you come up with. For those unfamiliar with the show the main cast is a team of five criminals using this format

Hacker: Information gathering
Hitter: Primary Melee
Thief: Skill Monkey/ Secondary Melee
Grifter: Party Face
Mastermind: secondary Skill Monkey forcused on Knowledge skills/Secondary Party Face

So let's see what you guys can do

Edit: Sources can be any 3.5 no 3rd party or Dragon

[Red Fel]

Well, hold on. It's one thing if you're just defining those roles as you've defined them. But let's consider.

Elliott isn't just a hitter; he's highly trained and surprisingly intelligent. ("You can tell by the boots.") Hardison has been studying the con, and as the series progressed he got a lot better at being a secondary grifter. ("They call me the Ice Man.") And so forth.

So are you asking to create a Leverage-style party, or simply to create a party consisting of these five roles?

In any event, let's get on with it. I assume you're asking for builds in 3.0/3.5/PF, or else you wouldn't be in this forum. For 3.5, here are my suggestions:

Hacker/Grifter: Combine these. Unless you have computers or some other form of data storage, gathering information and being the party face are the same thing. You have several options; Bard is a default. I might propose Beguiler, but that's child's play. Really, you want a Psion (Telepath), perhaps with Thrallherd, or a Mindbender. These are classes that let you control people, and really dig into their brains. If you want to play up the hacker angle, I remember some kind of PsiRogue type class that lets you read an enemy's surface thoughts, although the name escapes me. Finally, Chameleon is exceptional for a grifter.

Hitter: Warblade. Warblade over and over and over. Highly intelligent, versatile, deadly. If not Warblade, Crusader. A Crusader can take hits - a lot of hits - and doing so only makes him hurt you more.

Thief: I'd propose Swordsage with heavy Shadow Hand emphasis. Pretty solid in combat, but versatile enough to avoid it fairly well.

Mastermind: Factotum. Like it even needs to be said. Alternatively, a Tier 1 class with a less concrete focus, such as a Wizard with Divination focus or a Psion (Telepath) can also do quite well in this role.

Now, if you wanted the Leverage crew:

Elliott: Warblade.
Hardison: Artificer.
Parker: Swordsage.
Sophie: Chameleon.
Nate: Factotum.

[paperarmor]

I was looking to do a leverage style party and while I know I oversimplified the roles and characters that fill them that was mostly so that people would be able post little simple builds since five characters is a lot. And like you said red fel there are a lot of ways to build them depending on what you want to emphasize for example you could build Hardison as an Artificer for his tech savvy or my thought was to do an unseen seer build for his inforamtion gathering and the rare occsions when he fights

[Snowbluff]

I think a Beguiler should fit in here. Hacker?

[Red Fel]

I was looking to do a leverage style party and while I know I oversimplified the roles and characters that fill them that was mostly so that people would be able post little simple builds since five characters is a lot. And like you said red fel there are a lot of ways to build them depending on what you want to emphasize for example you could build Hardison as an Artificer for his tech savvy or my thought was to do an unseen seer build for his inforamtion gathering and the rare occsions when he fights

I see Hardison as an Artificer for several reasons, frankly. First off, it's still a 3/4 BAB class with moderate weapon and armor proficiencies. So he's not helpless in a fight. Second, he's not just "tech savvy" - he builds everything the team uses. Remember that season finale, with the "Get out of my house" scene? That was glorious. Remember Lucille? (Or her successors?) Hardison doesn't just do tech stuff, he provides all of the equipment for the team, and acts towards it as one would a living thing. (Not necessarily healthy.) That's why I see him as an Artificer - he equips the team, he's handy in a fight, and he has an unhealthy obsession with his devices.

But yes, you could make him an Unseen Seer. My only concern would be that, since D&D is so combat-focused, an Unseen Seer in a party couldn't simply be the spy-and-scry type; he would have to make use of his other spells as well. Just because Unseen Seer takes a penalty to CL for non-Divination spells doesn't mean he can't use them. In other words, you'd be departing somewhat from Hardison's archetype. By contrast, an Artificer can remain extremely useful doing precisely what Hardison does - building and obsessing over the team's gear.

EDIT: It occurs to me that my earlier proposal is somewhat lacking in magic. In that case, you're right, and I could see Hardison as an Unseen Seer. Leave Elliott and Parker as non-magicals, and give Hardison, Sophie and Nate more pewpew. That would make sense, actually.

[paperarmor]

Don't get me wrong I love your idea and if I was gonna do a PC based on Hardison it'd be artifcier all the way :smallcool: However, I was wanting these to be NPC enemies for my players. Ideas so far

Elliott: is definitly goning to be a warblade suits him too well.
Parker: I was thinking rogue or swordsage/exemplar
Sophie: Bard/virtuoso or Changling Rogue/Chameleon
Nate: Factotum
Hardison: Beguiler or spellthief/unseen seer

[Red Fel]

Don't get me wrong I love your idea and if I was gonna do a PC based on Hardison it'd be artifcier all the way :smallcool: However, I was wanting these to be NPC enemies for my players. Ideas so far

Elliott: is definitly goning to be a warblade suits him too well.
Parker: I was thinking rogue or swordsage/exemplar
Sophie: Bard/virtuoso or Changling Rogue/Chameleon
Nate: Factotum
Hardison: Beguiler or spellthief/unseen seer

As NPC enemies, then, I think you've got it nailed down. Elliott as Warblade is easy. And your choices for Parker are solid as well. I think you can get two very different feels for Sophie depending on whether you go the Bard or Chameleon routes. Specifically, I think a Bard/Virtuoso is great for a single-use NPC, whereas you can really get mileage with Chameleon if it's in a recurring character, since she can throw off a different skill set with every encounter. Nate as Factotum is a great big "duh." And since he's an adversary, I think you've made a good call with Hardison as Unseen Seer. Somehow, it works better as an adversary than a PC in my mind. (Maybe a Psion Uncarnate? I dunno.)

[paperarmor]

Thanks for the help! I really considered uncarnate but somehow it just seem right you know?