Party Composition Suggestions: Shackled City

[Element Zero]

So pretty soon I'll be playing with a group of friends in the Shackled City adventure path. I know next to nothing about the AP itself, and name dropped the title to help influence ideas from those that don't. That said...

The party consists of five players, four of which know exactly what we're going to play. Player 5 has asked for my assistance in selecting his class/race combo, and in turn I have decided to seek out the Playground once again for advice. We currently have:

1 Gray Elf Abjurer (Going for Sevenfold Veil)
1 Warforged Warblade (1-20, no prestige)
1 Hellbred Warlock (Hellfire, of course, wand-focused)
1 Human Battle Dancer (Finesse/Crit build of some sort...not too familiar with this guy)

A motley crew indeed! So, what do you all suggest for Player 5?

[Hamste]

So you have buffing (seems to be quite well optimized as well) and three damage dealers (most likely it depends on the warblade). Seems like you need a tank/healer. Paladin or druid would be good, possibly a crusader. Cleric would also be good for the party.

[Pathagaron]

I currently have a party running through Shackled City and two things the party will definitely need are trapfinding and some way of dealing with ability score damage. I'd also recommend skipping the first dungeon and starting at level 3 or so. The first dungeon is something like 80 rooms of gnomish torture which doesn't really add much to the plot.

[Element Zero]

I'd also recommend skipping the first dungeon and starting at level 3 or so. The first dungeon is something like 80 rooms of gnomish torture which doesn't really add much to the plot.

If I were DMing, I'd probably take that advice. As it stands, no dice. Dungeon Masta wants to run the whole thing.

So, maybe just talk the guy into playing a Cleric? We have a pretty esoteric party here, any suggestions on domains, feats, prestige, general build stuff?

[JeminiZero]

So, maybe just talk the guy into playing a Cleric? We have a pretty esoteric party here, any suggestions on domains, feats, prestige, general build stuff?
To help solve the Ability Damage mentioned above, take the Divine Restoration ACF from Dungeonscape. Lose 1 domain granted power, gain the ability to spontaneously cast the restoration series of spells.

It would probably also be a good idea to take a domain that grants good spells, but has a lousy granted power to fuel this. :smalltongue:

[Telonius]

Big question ... knowing what you know about the DM, is he or she likely to make any changes to the bad guys' stats (as presented in the adventure path)?

If not, then it really doesn't matter all that much. The enemies (particularly the named ones) were built to challenge a typical early-to-mid 3.0 adventuring party. Meaning they do things like take the Toughness feat and multiclass split-levels Cleric and Fighter. The Warblade alone will eviscerate most of what the campaign throws at you. Get a few potions of Lesser Restoration and you should be fine.

[Element Zero]

Big question ... knowing what you know about the DM, is he or she likely to make any changes to the bad guys' stats (as presented in the adventure path)?

Honestly, we're dealing with a rookie DM. This isn't his first rodeo ,as it were, but he's not very experienced. The party is built how it is primarily because he told us to, quote "go nuts...but not too nuts".

Four out of five of us are veterans, Player 5 is not. I'm not so much concerned with him keeping up with the campaign as I am with him keeping up with the rest of the party.