[3.5] Character Suggestion For A Friend

[Thurbane]

I might be running a new game soon, picking up on a game we left off a while back.

PC1: Human Ranger 5
PC2: Aasimar Paladin 5 (LA already bought off)
NPC: Human Favored Soul (has Lost Tradition, casts off Int) [focused on Healing and Buffing]

...so a new player is pondering his choice for his character, which will be generated at level 5, with standard WBL.

I feel party could do with an arcanist, or a skillmonkey. I'm going to suggest a Beguiler or Factotum, and see how he feels.

Of course, he's free to chose whatever he wants. Most books are allowed - no Incarnum or Psionics, but most other base classes are kosher.

Races are a little more limited, but there area lot of options (a bunch of LA +0, LA +1 and LA +2 races are in my "approved races" list).

Any recommendations on what you'd recommend for him? He is currently running an Aasimar Warblade 8 in the other game I run, so he probably wants a break from melee types.

Campaign is pretty much sandbox - the leave off point for the game was a couple of years back, with the PCs assisting a Half-celestial Elf evade agents of Dispater.

Cheers - T

[Gildedragon]

You've got the tracking and divine casting and melee very well seen to
Wizard would fit nicely, or artificer.

Question Ranger: archery or TWF? Cause if they go arcane archer...

Actually I'd pull out the NPC and make the NPC into whatever role the party needs. If it is a sandbox then there ought'n't be plot reasons for the NPC being favored soul.

[Inevitability]

A control-focused wizard or beguiler sounds fine to me. (Dragonborn) Gray Elf is probably your best race choice.

[noce]

Isn't ranger supposed to be the skillmonkey?
Beguiler is a wonderful class, but the party probably needs a wider variety of arcane spells (and the party has already the paladin as a face).
The problem is that a beguiler is gold for crowd control and battlefield control, enabling other party members to dish out as much damage as they can. In this party, though, damage output seems pretty low.

I'd suggest a real damage dealer, be it a melee or not.

[Honest Tiefling]

I'd suggest a Beguiler, for arcane spells/Skill monkey combo. I assume the ranger is focused in a way that another couldn't hurt. Wizard is always good, but also consider if the Artificer is doable just in case the player isn't drawn to wizards. If your party can allow it (Or you can homebrew a Deathless variant), perhaps even the Dread Necromancer? If they want to be charisma-focused, Sorcerer or Bard are also good picks.

In essence, I recommend the following list of classes:

Beguiler
Wizard
Artificer
Dread Necromancer
Bard

I do think that this party could easily accommodate a Gish, if you want to dangle that in front of your new player, so it would add arcane spells and some damage.

[Thurbane]

...thanks for the suggestions.

Ranger is focused on ranged combat, for the record.

I'd be happy to pull the NPC out if required; he was only there to fill in the role of buffer and healer.

As it turns out, we won't be returning to that game for a while, and I'll continue as a player for the foreseeable future. very much enjoying running my Hellbred Binder. :smallbiggrin: