So many strikers, what do I do

[smishfam]

I am currently in a party full of people who don't understand tactics or party optimization. Here is the current party:
Human Rogue
Changeling Assassin
Githzerai Monk
Elf Ranger
Warforged Paladin( Who doesn't mark, and is going damage build)
Human Warlord

I really don't know what to do for this party. I am the resident power gamer in our group, but I cannot think of anything that fits this group well. Nobody has ritual caster and our DM loves throwing arcane traps at us, yet nobody knows Arcana. We don't have enough healing and pretty much no AOE. Despite all of these problems, nobody is bothering to change their characters or play styles. So my goal is to create a character who solves all of these problems while still is somewhat fun to play.

If you guys can come up with something, that would be great.

EDIT: I recently discovered there may be a bard in the group, so I guess healing is not as important.

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the input, I finally made a Shadar-kai Orbizard, with so many debuffs my DM is gonna cry.

[Kurald Galain]

Well, if you want a ritual caster with good arcana who throws AOEs, then the obvious choice is Wizard. It has the biggest AOEs in the book (do take Enlarge Spell) and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with a better Arcana skill (take High Imaskar background and it becomes even better). You can't technically heal, of course, but wizards are very good in "proactive healing" by which I mean disabling enemies so they don't get to harm you in the first place. And fun to play? You bet they are!

Wizard!

[GPuzzle]

Meh, with that many Strikers, I'd go Shielding Swordmage|Defenderlock. A mix of reactive healing, proactive healing at Paragon (Hell'lock Boon from Twofold Pact+Shared Pact gives THP to allies for free), arcane usage and defense seems to be what's fir for you.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Also keep in mind that with a high striker contingent, the schtick of the party is "kill things fast". They're essentially minmaxed to kill stuff before it kills them. So mass AoE debuffs would help, sure, but so would a Defender or another Leader.

The arcane trap thing is something you probably want to focus on, though, if the GM is throwing a lot your way.

[UndertakerSheep]

I'm going to second Kurald's suggestion, and add one additional argument: you are (probably) fighting monsters in groups equal to a party of 6 or 7 players, without a controller.

From my experience, this can be close to madness. You said your group isn't very tactical and that probably has its own reasons, but not having a controller with so many enemies around is going to limit your tactics to just a bit more than "I'm going to stand where the enemy wants me to stand". Which is a terrible tactic.

Adding a controller, and especially a wizard, to the party can turn this almost completely around.

So:
Wizard!

[Inevitability]

Your party doesn't seem that bad to me.
At least three, and maybe even more of them have a good MBA. Additionally, you have the best enabling class with you. On top of that, lots of your party members are dexterity-based.
So while battles may be brutal, as long as you focus-fire, things'll work out fine.

I'd go with a bard. (implement) You have a strong enough frontline to not need an defender, bards do have great debuffs, enabling powers and heals, and if you debuff one enemy, chances are even untactical players will attack it.

[Dimers]

If you want to encourage your party-full-o'-strikers to focus fire, you could use the Templar theme powers to hand out rewards for hitting targets you specify. First one to hit that goblin auto-succeeds a save! First one to hit the lieutenant can recharge a power! You'd use mostly templar powers but gain the benefits of your base class, so either go defender class for personal toughness or leader class for more party heals. Be sure to take an implement-using class, because the templar attacks are implement. Bard gets Ritual Casting ...

EDIT: Or, yeah, wizard. :smalltongue:

[GPuzzle]

Or, you know, if you want to mix both healing and control, Conlock|Wizard, Templar, get Hybrid Talent for the Eldritch Pact, get the Sorcerer-King Pact, Shared Pact, Infernal Pact, and go to town as you combine healing equal to your level, strong enabling and really strong controlling (seriously, Sleep in this party is going to be awesome as your Strikers auto-crit like there's no tommorow).

[tcrudisi]

Wizard is an excellent choice, but it would be my second choice.

Artificer. And the Wizard isn't even a close second.

1. The Wizard brings order to the chaos, as others have said. The Artificer embraces the chaos by making this an insane dps race. Who can do all the damage first? You can, you sly artificer, you.
2. This party is all about killing stuff before it can kill you. The Artificer heavily stacks the odds in your favor. Partly by bringing more healing, mostly by buffing the crap outta your allies so they hit more often and much harder.
3. Did I mention that the combat will still be chaotic, just more in your favor?
4. Healing surges are going to be a major problem with this group. Artificer fixes that.
5. You have a Warlord. You know - that class that gives out lots of free attacks? You have one. Artificers are buffers. You buff your allies, your Warlord makes sure they get more attacks while buffed. Win/win!
6. Chaos!
7. It's still arcane and ritually and blah blah blah boring stuff, just like a Wizard.
8. It's pretty clear that your friends all want to be the ones with the glory this game. That's fine - let them have it. A Wizard will often steal the spotlight by flat-out winning encounters on its own. Don't be that guy. Be the team player; the one who /really/ won the combat, but no one else noticed.

In short - Artificer > Wizard for this party. Embrace the chaos. Embrace it! While also making your party more powerful than if they just added a Wizard. Yeah, I said it. It's one of the few times that adding something other than a Wizard makes the party better.

[GPuzzle]

No, wait.

Why not an Artificer|Wizard?

[Dimers]

No, wait.

Why not an Artificer|Wizard?

Because (briefly speaking) you lose more than you get with hybrids and neither of these classes is an exception to that rule.

/grumpyoldman

[Icewraith]

Most of those guys could be melee?

Go Bard Taxi? If your party won't think about tactics, think about tactics for them. Slide or teleport them where you want them and give them free attacks. Then, once they appreciate you, they'll think more about tactics.

You also have arcana trained, rituals, healing, and nasty debuffs to give all your strikers bonuses to hit or get free attacks. At later levels, the DM can basically use your turn to go to the bathroom or grab a snack while you rearrange the board to your liking.

Cunning Bard
Warlock Multiclass
Paragon- Evermeet Warlock
Feats:
Multiclass Utility (Ethereal Sidestep)
Bardic Wayfarer

This is the only thing I've played in 4e, but I've played quite a lot of 4e with it, our party is striker heavy, and it does everything you're talking about sans aoe.

[Kane0]

Has anyone died yet?
If no, keep calm and game on
If yes, give them a gentle nudge away from another striker, to help party balance.

It doesn't matter what people play as long as everyone is having fun.

[Kimera757]

I had the opposite last session. The PCs faced a party of strikers. It was murderous, literally -- one PC died outright from getting shot with four arrows... while suffering a vulnerable 5 debuff.

[Inevitability]

I had the opposite last session. The PCs faced a party of strikers. It was murderous, literally -- one PC died outright from getting shot with four arrows... while suffering a vulnerable 5 debuff.

Aren't strikers a role, restricted for PC's? How could your PC party face another party of PC's? Or was this PVP?

[Kimera757]

Aren't strikers a role, restricted for PC's? How could your PC party face another party of PC's? Or was this PVP?

Artillery, skirmishers, brutes and some lurkers are basically strikers, just like soldiers are basically defenders, controllers are ... controllers and leaders are ... weaker leaders.

In that example, eladrin arcane archers really slaughtered the PCs. Well, for two or three rounds.

[The_Ditto]

I second the Controller option .. however, I've got a weak spot for Invokers :) With so many allies, I find Invokers have more options for powers that target enemies only, than Wizards. *shrug* So similar effects, a little more focus :)