2 player group setup

[Ethernil]

Since the extra long essay i had typed was lost when the browser crashed i m gona keep things quick:

Our group disbanded, for various reasons we can only gather 3 people, dm and 2 players.

The other player will be playing a cleric. What should i play to complement the team? It should be something that can also pull it's weight in combat as the other player didnt like my last skill monkey who sucked at the role.

I asked for gestalt and was denied. All first party books including dragon compedium are in, magazines and pathfinder are out.

[Pleh]

My gut says druid. If you were denied gestalt, druid is the next best thing because druid can be everything at once [/cueeggy]

Having two players is under powered. If you both play T1, it improves your chances. Not to mention your animal companion levels the playing field a bit more and both characters can readily summon more help as needed.

Edit: eggynack's handbook on making druids (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439991-Being-Everything-Eggynack-s-Comprehensive-Druid-Handbook)

[GilesTheCleric]

You might also consider something like Crusader or another Cleric. If you're in a two-person game, unless you're summoning, you're going to be tanking a lot of hits. Being able to heal yourself (and being sturdy) should become more important. And, with just two players, you could also pick a class that makes a neat RP companion to the Cleric, which I think both Crusader and Cleric are.

[DEMON]

You might also consider something like Crusader or another Cleric.

Why not both? (Cloistered) Cleric/Crusader/RKV should cover all the bases.

[Ethernil]

We ll be missing arcane magic. Locks i guess we can blast open and traps can be handled with healing afterwards. Would some kind of bard work?

[Twurps]

I won't pretend to be an expert on bards, but IMHO their most notable feature is 'inspire courage', enhanced with dragonfire inspiration to taste.
That feature works best with as many attacks as your team can muster. So it becomes better as the party becomes larger. Not so much on a 2 man show.

[Gildedragon]

Bard scales up with the number of allies.
Wizard into Jade Phoenix Mage or some other gish prc might be better

[AnachroNinja]

Bard does have access to the ACF that trades most of their bardic music abilities for an animal companion as a druid and a couple other little things. That gives you a strong secondary tank and you don't lose much because bardic music isn't great in a smaller party. Grab Hymn of Healing ACF and your cleric buddies heals get super efficient out of combat. Snowflake Wardance is powered by bardic music which you still have the base ability for. I also like to grab Obtain familiar and improved familiar for an extra combatant and wand monkey.

Your Familiar and companion can both share your spells, which can be very powerful with some of the defensive buffs like greater mirror image. It's not a super tier 1 uberwizard, but it has a lot of options and makes for a fun character.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Illumian (Krau/anything), Beguiler 1/ Wizard 4/ UM. With Practiced Spellcaster that allows you to put all ten UM levels into Wizard, so you only lose one level of Wizard spellcasting.

Illumians are Humanoid (Human) so with flaws you can even get Able Learner to keep the amazing Beguiler class skill list for your entire career. Also be sure to get the feat Versatile Spellcaster, which allows you to spend two Beguiler spell slots of the same level to spontaneously cast any spell you know of one level higher. That gives you early access to the next level of Beguiler spells and grants spontaneous access to every Wizard spell you've learned, though you'll probably need to have your spellbook open to that page when casting it so it's not very useful in combat.

I'd go with a specialist Conjurer (ban Enchantment and Evocation) with Abrupt Jaunt in PH2 and the Fighter feat variant from UA to get Improved Initiative instead of Scribe Scroll. Finish the build with Mindbender 1 and Incantatrix 4, be sure to pick up Mindsight from Lords of Madness p126, use the Otyugh Hole in CS to get Iron Will without spending a feat on it, and apply the extra prohibited school from Incantatrix to Beguiler and pick a school that the class doesn't even get any spells from.

This character can deal with traps, handle just about any social or other noncombat situation, and is still extremely viable in combat with crowd controls. Consider taking Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) and getting the Cleric to take it as well, so you've got a few more combatants (war-trainded riding dogs with trip).

[Rebel7284]

Well the most well rounded character I can think of is Trapfinding Wildshape Mystic Ranger with Sword of the Arcane Order and Wild Cohort.

You spell progression is akin to a sorcerer and allows you to prepare both Ranger and Sorcerer/Wizard spells. You have full BAB, good skills and Trapfinding. After level 10, your spell progression slows down drastically, and there are various ways to plan for that if you think the game will go on for a while (for example, have your skills ready to jump into Sublime Chord after one level dip in Bard).

Edit: and of course I missed the part that Dragon Magazine is out. Scratch the mystic ranger....

[Ruethgar]

Shame there's no drag mag, Dvati with Psionics is pretty awesome to improve your action economy in a smaller group, frail though. Had a Dvati melee healer build, but need Drag Mag for it to work well, still a Crusader dip works wonders in shoring up a Dvati's health if you go that route.

[Ethernil]

How would spellthief 1- wizard 4 - unseen seer 10 - insert prc 5 fair? Although during lvls 1-3 the cleric will have to "carry" me I suppose.

[Florian]

The other player will be playing a cleric. What should i play to complement the team?

The Problem always is the economy of actions when playing as a smaller group. You both should look to get classes/PrC that bring minions and companions to the table, or are specialists at summoning and calling.

[Ethernil]

The Problem always is the economy of actions when playing as a smaller group. You both should look to get classes/PrC that bring minions and companions to the table, or are specialists at summoning and calling.

With the unseen seer build i would probably specialize my wizard side in conjuration and use summoning spells. I know druid does it better and comes with a pocket fighter aka animal companion as a bonus but there is a lot of overlap of druid and cleric spells. Would an ubercharger work? I mean he buffs me, i charge and remove a threat fast so we re left fighting fewer opponents. Either a warblade or barbarian 2 fighter 6 warblade 1 at 9th lvl for iron heart surge. I would be strong in the early levels and the cleric will pick up later. Jade phoenix mage as most hybrids starts weak and we can't really do that with only 2 players.

I forgot to mention, no psionics.