Two Man Party - What to Play?

[Valluman]

I had already come up with a character for a party I had assumed was going to have 3-4 characters in, but as it turns out, it's just me and one other PC. He wants to play a Sorcerer, but he has no end game goals; he's just starting out as a sorcerer. That said, he's prone to building gishes, so I can assume that, at some point, he will either increase his casting and/or martial prowess. This leaves me in a predicament.

I could very easily pick Cleric and have the luxuries of armor, fair BAB, and some of the best spells in the game. Before I knew it was a two man party, I was thinking of going Arcane Hierophant (starting Wizard with precious apprentice). My usual field is that I build powerful casters; Arcane Hierophant builds, Mystic Theurge (Archivist/Wizard), Ultimate Magus, Eldritch Theurge; those are my usual preferences. I love Arcane casters, but I feel like if I play one here, I'll be doubling up on something we don't need. I was wondering if someone could offer suggestions?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Mmm. Druid? You get an animal companion and good summoning skills to help round out the ranks; full divine casting, and wild shape gives you even more toughness and versatility.

Also, have you asked your GM about gestalt? This is the sort of situation it's written for.

[Gildedragon]

cloistered cleric is a good choice; get the kobold domain (to be the party rogue)
or maybe dip 1 into rogue and go into shadowbane stalker?

[Kennisiou]

Artificer and Cleric are both capable of doing everything with the right build. If you have a glass cannon gish, artificer and cleric will both be capable of filling out the necessary utility spells they lack, can perform or summon/create things that perform important party roles like trapfinding, can use powerful buffs, debuffs, and battlefield control effects (in addition to being able to create/summon things that can do some/all of these things), and can be a frontline or summon/create a frontline for combat. Some of these may require finite resource investments in certain feats, prestige classes, or items but you should be able to do just about everything needed. A good hordificer can basically create his own party that does everything he needs done anyways.

Druid's also a good selection for filling out combat niches that your gish will lack, like buffing, debuffing, battlefield control and creating/being/companioning a tanky frontline, but I feel like it lacks in performing a lot of important out of combat roles you'll likely lack. Druids are not good skill monkeys, but clerics and artificers with the right spell selection can do anything you need done skill wise (or make someone else capable of that).

[Valluman]

Mmm. Druid? You get an animal companion and good summoning skills to help round out the ranks; full divine casting, and wild shape gives you even more toughness and versatility.

Also, have you asked your GM about gestalt? This is the sort of situation it's written for.

Druid was something I was thinking about, though when I go druid, I typically go AH, which means I start level 1 wizard and never go back to it (with precious apprentice). I am not sure how else one would build a druid properly, other than straight druid (which isn't bad in it's own right)... And no, Planar Shepherd was banned, I think.

As for gestalt, he decided we're both good players and we shouldn't need to gestalt; he wants to see how we react to being just two players.


cloistered cleric is a good choice; get the kobold domain (to be the party rogue)
or maybe dip 1 into rogue and go into shadowbane stalker?

I am not a fan of Shadowbane Stalker... It's a good class, but it's just not appealing for me to play, you know?

[eggynack]

I am not sure how else one would build a druid properly, other than straight druid (which isn't bad in it's own right)
That's certainly one of the best options out there, but you could also put one together shifter style, running beast spirit and four levels of moonspeaker, or you could do that neat thing where you take a dip into stuff like holt warden, contemplative, and if you're feeling cheesetastic, hathran, or you could even go hyper-good, running lion of talisid. Druid construction is really based more on spell, feat, form, summons, and maybe companion selection, however.

[Flickerdart]

Consider taking a SotAO Mystic Ranger, possibly with a Swift Hunter component thrown in once your spells stop improving. You'll be able to frontline for your buddy before his gishing comes online (and won't need protecting after it does), prepare a bunch of kooky corner case spells when his spells known don't come in handy, and generally be the versatile tricks guy.

[Valluman]

Consider taking a SotAO Mystic Ranger, possibly with a Swift Hunter component thrown in once your spells stop improving. You'll be able to frontline for your buddy before his gishing comes online (and won't need protecting after it does), prepare a bunch of kooky corner case spells when his spells known don't come in handy, and generally be the versatile tricks guy.

Would I be wrong in saying that 10 Mystic Ranger/10 Scout is a viable build in this situation? This would make it so that I get max spell levels from Mystic Ranger, and since Swift Hunter stacks only the Ranger and Scout class levels (and possible prestiges that grant skirmish if my DM allows it), it seems harmful to step out of the two base classes. This means, of course, I would need to pick a race whose favored class is Ranger or Any.

EDIT: It's then I realized that some PRCs could be useful here such as Abjurant Champion.

[Flickerdart]

I would go Ranger 17/Scout 3 - the extra BAB and Fort are nice, and you get a little bit more in the way of HP. A lot of the stuff from Scout levels 5-10 overlaps with what Ranger gives you in the first 10 levels (Evasion, Flawless/Woodland Stride) or that you could get from the 17/3 split (Camouflage) but you still get 30ft Blindsight and the 8th level bonus feat, as well as slightly more skill points.

Since Ranger is a PHB class, there are loads of ACFs other than Mystic Ranger you might want, some of which get rid of these duplicate features and make Ranger 10/Scout 10 more enticing. Sandskimmer or Crowd-walker replace Woodland Stride, and Feign Death or Spell Reflection replace Evasion.

Then again, Urban Ranger lets you Hide in Plain Sight in any area, so Ranger 17 is still enticing. Also, you can finagle more Skirmish damage at the cost of FE if your DM lets SotAO count for arcane spellcasting, since Ranger 9/Scout 10/Unseen Seer 1 ends up with 6d6 Skirmish and one fewer Favored Enemy.

[Valluman]

17 Mystic ranger and 3 Scout sounds good; I can't get Hide in Plain Sight with the 10/10 build, even if I swap out alternative class features. The bonus feat and blindesense are nice, true, but I could also get feats and/or start human to resolve those issues. I think I'll go with 17 M. Ranger/3 Scout, in this case. Thank you!