Looking for a class: Support(buff) focused, wisdom-based, but not tied to religion.

[Yanisa]

Heya Playgrounders,

So I am making a character but I have trouble finding a fitting class because I have a lot of odd restriction. The character is the twin-sister of my character, and a NPC cohort under leadership. So I wanted to go for a more supportive/defensive (buffing) role. It also fits because my main character the damage dealer of the party and we do lack support in the party (1 tank, 1 battleground controller and 1 dps). I also wanted to make her the sensible but a lot more shy , the exact opposite of the character, who is in your face, to avoid a clone character, but otherwise the character are in the same in stats, upbringing and believes. Added to my main character being a sorcerer pretending a wizard (a crime punishable by death) and heretic believer in something else then the accepted gods (a crime punishable by death) it really makes it hard to find a class that fits my cohort twin-sister.

So I got the following stats:

Str: 10
Dex: 14
Con: 11
Int: 14
Wis: 18
Cha: 8

To me, the most logical pick was cleric but those are heavily tied in with the gods, something my characters aren't firm followers of. Other divine caster have similar probables. Currently I am looking at a Divine Tracker Ranger, but ranger is a bit to combat focused and doesn't get enough spells to really support the party, but thematically it fits the best so far.

Yet there are a lot of classes and archetypes that modify classes, so I most likely have overlooked options. Do any of you know a better fit?

[Crake]

Clerics are not required to be tied to a specific religion or deity, they can simply follow an ideal, so cleric should be perfect for your needs.

[DMVerdandi]

Seconding cleric. They have some of the most mutable fluff out there. A cleric isn't someone who believes in the gods, but someone who has faith in a concept (Be it personified or not), and fights for it.

A cleric of community and good can just as easily be someone who is a humanitarian peace-keeper, but it is the domains themselves that they have a relationship with and that give them power.
Deities don't actually give the clerics power, it is their own belief and straying from those ideals that gives or takes it away.




All that being said, you could also be a druid. Your physical stats are kind of terrible, and wild shape would help tremendously. In some ways the druid spell list might be considered even better than than the clerics.

[Footman]

I think the "Shaman" Class got you covered, in Pathfinder. The Fluff would also fit, since your Characters Sister wouldn't commune with the Gods, but rather Spirits of Nature that are already everywhere. The only downside is that the Shaman is a very Complex Class.

[Serafina]

If you do not like playing a Cleric who follows a principle, or a Druid, consider the Spiritualist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/occult-adventures/occult-classes/spiritualist) (have a guide (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u4SF3ZU20zl2eyuXzJuhPgj7eXkVaM6rmqB63y6vKPM/edit?pref=2&pli=1#)).
You get plenty of good support-spells, you get healing, and you can also support your party with your Phantom. Both the Dedication and Zeal Phantom can provide an aura that gives an untyped +2 bonus to saving throws, for example.

And it doesn't have to be religious at all. The Phantom can be basically anything - it could be the ghost of a family member or of an old friend, but it could also just be a haunt you drove out with magical power, or even a manifestation of your own psyche. No faith at all is necessary, if you don't want it.

The Spiritualist is admittedly a bit of a complicated character, what with a companion that can switch between three states and all that, but it's a very solid class.

[DarthPeleus]

If you're okay with third party there's the Warder from Dreamscarred Press's Path of War. Just take the Ordained Defender Archetype to switch the mainstat from INT to WIS. It is more of a frontline tactical fighter, but if you focus on Golden Lion you will find a lot of team player type abilities.

If you're okay with 3.5 content then I can also recommend the Ardent. They're sort of like psionic clerics, but the fluff is that they study ideals and gain power from those rather than any kind of god.

I believe the sorcerer in Pathfinder has an archetype that will swap the casting stat from CHA to WIS as well.

[CharonsHelper]

If you don't want a divine caster I see two options.

1. Empyreal Sorcerer. They use Wisdom for casting - just pick all of the buffing spells for this character. It might fit the fluff of being twin sister - but on the other hand having them be the same class may be lame.

2 (my real recommendation). Sensei/Qinggong Monk. Sensei basically get Inspire Courage (with fewer rounds than a bard), attack using their Wisdom score, and they can eventually give their monk powers to their party. You might mix the above two archetypes with Drunken Master for infinite Ki out of combat. (though without a Con of 18 you can't REALLY take full advantage of Drunken Master through the Fast Drinker feat - but still solid)

Ex: Starting at level 6 everyone in the party gets Barkskin all of the time for free. Starting at level 10 this character can give everyone in the party True Strike every round for a standard action! While giving Inspire Courage!

And with them being a monk, their defenses will be high enough that they'll have solid survivability despite being lower level than the rest of the party. (just have your sorcerer cast Mage Armor, have them use their Barkskin Qinggong power, and at level 4 they're sitting at a 23 AC with no gear)

[Yanisa]

@Clerics
The problem with clerics, even one devoted to a principle, is the setting. Like I kinda said, not worshiping one of the main gods setting is heresy, and easily leads to witch-burning. Even when you can avoid death by peasants, you still are heavily mistrusted. Also we have a heavily devoted player character in the group. It kinda works for my main character because isn't really open about it. He has a different believes, but is smart enough not to shout it. Clerics, to me, seem to be far more open on their believes, and I kinda don't want to exclude us from every village.

Secondly, the campaign runs on divine power comes from powerful beings. The only time we had a cleric of a principle, his source of power turned out to be a demon lord. My characters worship the Dark Tapestry (in pf terms) and the last thing I want is to invite cthulhu into our campaign. Would be funny though if he turned out to be the source of power of two lawful good world changing characters.


Anyhow, I wanted to reply to everyone individually, but I see a lot of good replies and all I got are minor complains but no real substance. (Also I don't got a lot of time to go in to every detail.) I do am looking at some classes I passed over initially (and learned that monks can buff). Thanks for all the suggestion and keep them coming.

[CharonsHelper]

(and learned that monks can buff).

Yeah - Sensei is an interesting archetype. Besides using Qinggong powers on buddies, even doing things like giving an extra 20ft of movement (as a swift action) to a melee buddy so that they can charge this turn or get that +8 to jump can be pretty handy. Or give a +4 AC boost to someone about to be clobbered. You do need some way to recharge your Ki or you can run out fast. (hence my Drunken Master suggestion with all of its temp ki) There are even a few Qinngong powers which normally suck which the combo makes viable. (Wholeness of Body if your group is having healing issues. Restoration which normally only works on yourself. Giving extra saves with Heroic Recovery, or basically give the entire party Step Up and Strike as needed. Etc.)

Sensei and/or Drunken Master are two of the reasons someone may want to stick with the original monk chassis rather than going with the Unchained Monk as Umonk is better as a straight-up melee combatant. (other reasons may be Zen Archer, Master of Many Styles nat weapon build, and Tetori grappler builds - just make sure to mix them all with Qinggong)

[Florian]

I´d second Spiritualist. Good support spell list, the right Phantom selection makes it into a small buff-bot, the right build can make for an unobtrusive companion.

[EldritchWeaver]

If we go into 3PP, then for a caster you can use Spheres of Power (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com). It has the advantage that you can effectively choose your casting stat. Granted, completely freely choosing a casting stat for a class, which prescribes it, is an author-sanctioned house rule. But there is a trait, which allows the switch, as well the rule, that if you multiclass with a casting class the first time, you can switch your casting stat. Which is nice, as some classes like the incanter allow to use any mental ability in the first place (but fixed when choosing).

With this in mind, you can choose basically any class using SoP-casting and still have Wisdom as the casting stat. A nice supporting class would be the hedgewitch (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/hedgewitch), with the iron mage (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/iron-mage) and triple goddess (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/triple-goddess) archetypes. A hedgewitch has a chassis somewhere in between a bard and a cleric (d8, 6 SP, light armor and simple weapons) and is a Mid-Caster, which means your casting level scales like medium BAB. Usually you can choose two traditions, but those would be traded out for the archetypes. Iron mage reduces your skilll points to 4 and switches your good saves around, but provides various methods to buff your party members, by access to the War sphere with as a High-Caster (20 CL at 20th level) and various inbuilt options. Triple goddess provides High-Casting to Death, Fate and Life spheres. The latter in particular is important, as you can heal your party, too. The Life sphere provides several approaches, from giving temp hp, slow hp fast healing pool, healing pool which can be accessed by allies, ranged healing (some options currently in Life HB playtest only).

Overall, I can imagine such a character being very useful in the group. But you need to choose your approach carefully. Both War and Life provide passive and active abilities, so it is better to take one sphere for active abilities and the other for passive ones, as this allows you to spend your actions better.

[ElFi]

On the other hand, if you don't want to stray outside of Paizo-published material, the Shaman class is definitely for you.

Divine caster that doesn't rely on deities for power? Check, shamans gain magic through communing with witch patron-esque spirits (not necessarily nature-related, either, as there are spirits themed around knowledge, war, and other such things).

Wisdom-based? Check, though you might want to swap out that Cha stat with Int if going with this class, because a lot of the Shaman's secondary class features are Cha-based. They can also function as a decent face if your party lacks one.

Support-based? Check, their spell list is similar to a cleric's while also being more keyed towards general magic. Not quite as good at healing as a cleric, but they can definitely function in that department, and spirit magic is fun when you need an odd spell for a certain occasion. Hexes also allow them to function as support in combat without even casting spells- seriously, the utility of the Fortune hex by itself cannot be overstated.

Fluff-wise, the class definitely falls outside of traditional boundaries, which should fit well alongside your heretic sorcerer.

All that being said, be prepared for a lot of bookkeeping, even beyond what playing a full-caster usually entails. The shaman's complexity explodes once they hit level 6 and start getting wandering spirits, and managing a large and ever-fluctuating spell list can be a lot of work, especially while managing another character on top of that. But if you're willing to slog through that you'll have a very fun cohort on your hands.