Return to the gaming table

[Paganboy28]

After many years away from roleplaying I am returning to that genre again.

The system we will most likely be playing is Pathfinder which as I understand it is a pimped up 3.5 DnD.

As far as I recall it removes dead levels, pimps out the classes and simplifies some of the 3.5 DnD rules. Is that correct?

As for class I am unsure - looking on the Pathfinder SRD there are some weird stuff out there.

I have this archetype in my head of what I would like to play but not really sure what would best fit and what I would have fun with.

Archetype:


back of party role - not the tank or melee beatstick
non-melee
versatile - like to be able to do various things - bit of support, healing and damage
reasonably survivable - no squishy wizard on 6hp at Lvl 6.... that falls flat on his face when a stiff wind blows
preparing spells is a pain - and it worries me when in a dungeon or such it seems that you could burn through all your spells per day in one combat session....
I guess being the main party healer is not really me either - I'd forget or be selfish healing myself up
on that don't want a sacrificial suicidal monkey who will throw him/her/itself in to a fight for the greater glory.... I'd like to be able to progress my character
do something that is awesome - something even one thing that makes others go "oooo ahhhh"
not reliant on equipment - yes equipment is good but not the be all and end all - with out if I am dead sort of thing
summoning stuff sounds good but has to be worthwhile - summoning a rat... ooo wow with lots of sarcasm



Not sure what race either - nothing too out there


So any ideas?

[Trasilor]

After many years away from roleplaying I am returning to that genre again.

The system we will most likely be playing is Pathfinder which as I understand it is a pimped up 3.5 DnD.

As far as I recall it removes dead levels, pimps out the classes and simplifies some of the 3.5 DnD rules. Is that correct?

As for class I am unsure - looking on the Pathfinder SRD there are some weird stuff out there.

I have this archetype in my head of what I would like to play but not really sure what would best fit and what I would have fun with.

Archetype:


back of party role - not the tank or melee beatstick
non-melee
versatile - like to be able to do various things - bit of support, healing and damage
reasonably survivable - no squishy wizard on 6hp at Lvl 6.... that falls flat on his face when a stiff wind blows
preparing spells is a pain - and it worries me when in a dungeon or such it seems that you could burn through all your spells per day in one combat session....
I guess being the main party healer is not really me either - I'd forget or be selfish healing myself up
on that don't want a sacrificial suicidal monkey who will throw him/her/itself in to a fight for the greater glory.... I'd like to be able to progress my character
do something that is awesome - something even one thing that makes others go "oooo ahhhh"
not reliant on equipment - yes equipment is good but not the be all and end all - with out if I am dead sort of thing
summoning stuff sounds good but has to be worthwhile - summoning a rat... ooo wow with lots of sarcasm



Not sure what race either - nothing too out there


So any ideas?

No certain about pathfinder...but in 3.5 you are looking at a Warlock (focus on damage) or Marsha/Dragon Shaman (focus on Buffs).

Otherwise, this sounds like a bard:

Ranged Combatant? check
Skills? Check
Versatile Spell Selection? Check
Reasonably survivable? Check
Cast spells without Preparation? Check
Not reliant upon gear? Well...you are in the wrong system - everybody relies upon gear. Unless you play a wizard/artificer who crafts their own gear :smallamused:

[BWR]

An archetype is a specific variant of a base class, exchanging some class features for others.
If you want to play support the same basic classes do that in PF as 3.5
Bards are good, as are sorcerers and oracle (spontaneous clerics with some nifty abilities). The sorcerer (and wizard) now have d6 HD and you can easily get more hp thanks to Toughness and favored class options (though you'd be better off playing human and learning new spells with the FCOs).

Take a look at the summoner (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/baseClasses/summoner.html). It's a very solid spontaneous casting class that spams summons and has the eidolon, a customizable entity that fights for you. The eidolon can be pretty awesome, and best of all you can fluff it to look like almost anything.

[Alent]

If I ever play another Pathfinder game, I was looking to play a Day Raider Beastbond Kobold Wildblooded Sylvan Sorcerer aka Ghetto Druid.

- The Primary benefit is that you gain an animal companion using your sorcerer level - 3 as druid level. (Offset this with the boon companion feat.)
- You can cast Alter-Self, Beast Shape, Elemental Body, form of the dragon, etc. on your Animal Companion.
- You gain some of the druid spell list as bloodline spells
- From Day Raider Beastbond Kobold you gain Handle Animal and Ride as class skills with a +2 bonus, and low-light vision. It's not a +2 cha bonus, but you can do quite a bit through handle animal abuse. (A good DM will also make animals very interesting as early warnings. Riding dogs are cheap and abundant, housecats even more so, etc.) You don't have to go this route, but I quite enjoy the roleplay of training animals during down time and the hooks it opens up.
- You have access to the entire Sorc/Wizard spellbook spontaneously via feat and item abuse. (I don't have all the particulars immediately handy, but there's items that let you maintain a spell/scrollbook in addition to your spontaneously known abilities. Mnemonic Vestments is the first that comes to mind, but that has a 1/day limit I think. There's also Paragon surge abuse, but I don't think many DMs will allow that.)

Effectively, you'd be a druid that wildshapes the animal companion while having all the reality warping power of a god wizard, and all the flexibility of a Sorcerer. The other "Like druid but better" build is Synthesist Summoner.