Picking a character for ROTRL

[Secret Wizard]

Help me choose a dude for an upcoming RotR campaign. Never played it. Rest of the party is varied, with a Barb, a Sorc, a Kineticist, another martial and a ranged combatant.

Take your pick:

Escapologist Unchained Rogue: Using the new Occult Adventures archetype (it allows you to use Escape Artist to avoid attacks or escape mind-affecting effects, but at a -10 and -20 penalty respectively, retains ability to disable magic traps, gets a +1/2 level bonus to Escape Artist.) The idea here is probably TWFing with daggers, and stacking a massive Escape Artist skill (with a Vest of Escape, Skill Focus, and the Stealthy feat, it should be around +42 at level 12, I could escape mind-affecting effects up to DC 22 with a natural 1.) Provides utility and overall fun.

Winding Path Renegade Brawler (Untwisting Iron): Part crafter, part bruiser. Crafts his own Allying Cestus to pass off its enhancement to his unarmed strikes to Pummeling Charge to victory, while wielding a heavy shield on the off-hand. Much more straight forward of a build.

Which one would you go with? Any other recommendations? Are there too little traps/mind-affecting effects to make Escapologist worth it? Should I just go with Brawler? Thankz.

[CGNefarious]

You have a six man party, so I would probably go with the Rogue. Especially if the other martial is fairly tanky. You'll likely always be flanking, and since you're using the UnRogue you will be less of a one-trick pony in combat. Having someone who can disable traps well is never a bad idea in an Adventure Path. I'm also the kind of player who is constantly wishing he had just a few more skill points, so that's a plus for the UnRogue in my book. I'm not familiar with that particular archetype, but if it sounds cool to you then I'd say go with it.

If the other martial character is squishy and you feel you need a tankier character, then going with the Brawler might not be a bad idea. Or if you feel you need a more combat focused character for your party. Or if you just really want to play a Brawler, as the game is supposed to be fun more than anything.


But you have a six man party, and with decent variety. That gives you plenty of leeway to play pretty much whatever you want. If you're leaning more to one class because it seems more fun, then go with that one. Neither option will hurt your party comp at all. And remember that you don't have to be a Rogue to disable mundane traps, and if you want to take care of magical traps there is always the Trap Finder trait.

[Kudaku]

Your party could do with someone who's good on skills, but it really relies on the party composition. If the last two members are both rangers and the sorcerer has the sage bloodline then skills are obviously a nonissue. RotRL is not a trap-heavy AP. From what I can recall there are ~3 in the first book with 1-2 tops in the other ones. There are a fair amount of enemy spellcasters in RotRL, especially in the later books. Mind-affecting will likely come into play. On the subject of crafting (admittedly, this might just be the GMs I've played RotRL with) I found that we had very little downtime available to make items. I wouldn't play a character with a heavy focus on downtime and crafting without talking it over with the GM first.

The one drawback I see for your party is that no one has access to prepared spellcasting, and no one has access to divine spells. The sorcerer is shouldering a rather big burden in providing spellcasting support for a party of six by himself. Again, that could be a nonissue based on what "ranged combatant" means. An archer cleric, inquisitor or even warpriest would round the party out nicely.

[Secret Wizard]

Yep, the last two members are rangers (actually, Hunter + melee Ranger), the Sorcerer is not Sage though.

[mostholycerebus]

Skald would be a great fit. Or some sort of Cleric.

Regardless, its a great AP that is better the stronger you tie your character in to the setting.