Best Buffer Class?

[lbuttitta]

Exactly as it says in the title: which class can best buff the party?

Specifically, I'm looking for arcane spellcasters. Arcane spellcasters of any variety, prepared or spontaneous, are allowed. Also, I'm not looking for a specific build, unless the class works only with one specific build; I'm preferably looking for general classes.

Thanks in advance!

[Silva Stormrage]

Wizard obviously for Arcane spellcasters but thats because Wizard can do EVERYTHING.
Key buff spells, Haste, Heroics, Polymorph, Invisibility, etc etc. And those are just from core except for Heroics.

For non arcane spellcasters I would say artificers are the best, due to the ease of crafting super cheap items for your party and some of their more abusable infusions and ability to craft scrolls and the like of key divine/arcane spells they can pretty much do anything.

[NoAnonimo]

On the other hand, Archivists can learn some really good buffs.
Cleric spells, Druid spells, Ranger spells, Paladin spells, even some arcane spells via domain (Haste via Time domain, Invisibility via Trickery domain and so on). Even bard spells if divine bards and some prestige classes spells if they are on the table.

[BowStreetRunner]

Keep in mind that 'Best Arcane Caster for Buffing the Party' is a somewhat subjective concept.


If you are looking for access to the widest range of good buffing spells, Wizard is probably king of the mountain in this regard.
Sorcerers designed specifically for buffing don't suffer as much from the class limitation on spells known (as they don't need to know any non-buffing spells) and benefit from the greater number of spells per day.
The War Weaver prestige class sacrifices a single level of casting for abilities focused on being able to buff a larger number of party members more quickly at the outset of battle.
Bards gain the advantage of class abilities that allow them to buff others in addition to spells.
There are also the crafting casters who can make magic items to help buff the party as well.

[Grod_The_Giant]

War Weaver is the best arcane buffing PrC, hands down, no questions asked. No-one else can come close to matching that sort of speed and economy. It doesn't particularly matter what class you slap it on, though generally speaking Wizard will always trump Sorcerer. Throw on Spellguard of Silverymoon and you can even share Personal-range spells.

[Hiro Quester]

Grod is totally right. War weaver is the PrC to get the best buffing done, action economy wise. No question.

A DFI bard/sublime chord is a pretty good base and addition, since it has buffing class abilities, including adding sweet d6s of damage to every hit, and also access to healing spells that can be cast through the WW's weave.

So something like Bard9/War Weaver1/Sublime Chord 2/War Weaver+4/ ???4 would make a very good party buffer.

Pump UMD enough that you can use custom runestaves for access to good sorcerer/wizard buffing spells that you can cast into the weave when you ready it.

The ??? could possibly be Spellguard of the Siverymoon? (I don't know much about that one. Note to self to read the class again.)

At that stage you would have your buffing routine pretty well down, and will have other options after the first round or so, so that buffing isn't all your character does.

[Cosi]

So something like Bard9/War Weaver1/Sublime Chord 2/War Weaver+4/ ???4 would make a very good party buffer.

Don't do that. Do Bard 1/Wizard 5/War Weaver 4/Sublime Chord 1/War Weaver +1/Ultimate Magus 8. 99% of the time, the right number of Bard levels in a Sublime Chord build is 1.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The ??? could possibly be Spellguard of the Siverymoon? (I don't know much about that one. Note to self to read the class again.)
It's from Player's Guide to Faerun; 5/5 casting, 2 bonus metamagic feats, the ability to filter your spells' targets by type a few times/day, some setting-specific junk, and-- most relevantly-- the ability to cast "personal-range defensive arcane spells" via touch.

[bahamut920]

It's from Player's Guide to Faerun; 5/5 casting, 2 bonus metamagic feats, the ability to filter your spells' targets by type a few times/day, some setting-specific junk, and-- most relevantly-- the ability to cast "personal-range defensive arcane spells" via touch.
And note that the description of the ability defines "defensive spells" as including any spell that increases AC, saves, or HP, so spells like alter self, draconic polymorph, and shapechange theoretically all fall under that umbrella.

[Hiro Quester]

Don't do that. Do Bard 1/Wizard 5/War Weaver 4/Sublime Chord 1/War Weaver +1/Ultimate Magus 8. 99% of the time, the right number of Bard levels in a Sublime Chord build is 1.

Ultimate Magus is a good addition there.

But this build (or any without a solid bard base) would have to find a way to get listen and perform as class skills for Wizard and War Weaver. Need 13 ranks in listen and 10 in Perform for Sublime Chord.

This build is heavy in spellcasting which is good, generally. But it loses the buffing class abilities that more bard levels bring to the table, which is the reason more bard-levels are a good idea (as opposed to wizard/war weaver), for OP's buffing-focussed query.

[Psyren]

In Pathfinder, probably a Brown-Fur Arcanist - you get all the wizard list buffs and can also share the personal-only shapeshifting spells too. Allowing 3rd-party, a Vitalist or Tactician would have some nice abilities to share as well.

[Cosi]

This build is heavy in spellcasting which is good, generally. But it loses the buffing class abilities that more bard levels bring to the table, which is the reason more bard-levels are a good idea (as opposed to wizard/war weaver), for OP's buffing-focussed query.

Bardic music is not enough to overcome the ability to cast better (and also more) buff spells out of your Wizard slots.

[Hiro Quester]

Bardic music is not enough to overcome the ability to cast better (and also more) buff spells out of your Wizard slots.

Action economy wise, it can be.

Bard spell Harmonize enables you to start bardic music as a move action. This means (all other things being equal --e.g. both have belt of battle, quicken spell feat or rod, or have cast arcane spellsurge, or whatever) that in addition to a wizard's ability to cast a quickened spell as a swift action and another standard action spell in a round, the bard/SC can also start a bardic music buff as a move action.

So whatever a wizard can do in a round, the bard can do that plus also empower his allies to also be causing an extra 10d6 damage per hit. Or bonuses to attack rolls. or whatever other bardic music buff you know.

It's hard for any wizard's move action to cause as much damage as a DFI-empowered full attack by three melee/ranged allies, hasted, with bonuses to damage like that.

Wizard does have the flexibility to prepare a wider range of spells. Granted. But a bard gets the same number of spells per day (4 plus bonus from high casting stat) at each level.

And for a focussed team-buffer, a bard's use of UMD and custom rune staves can do a lot to also enable the bard to use those same good wizard buffing spells not on the bard's list.

Especially with War Weaver in the mix to enable the team-buffs to be cast into your quiescent weave at the start of the day, while attuned to a runestaff that grants knowledge of those spells.

Then attuning to a different runestaff for other generally useful wizard spells you might also cast through your weave to help your allies during an encounter.

And if you really want to push it, a bard can use take feats that use Bardic music to cast even more spells (or make metamagic enhancements) granting more spells per day.

And a bard/SC can learn very flexible spells like Shadow Evocation, Shadow Conjuration (and their greater versions), limited wish, etc. to vastly increase flexibility.

So this kind of build doesn't quite have the flexibility of wizard.

But as a focussed buffer, a bard/sc/war weaver can be close to equivalent in power to wizard/war weaver, by being slightly more effective at sitting the action economy down and showing it who's boss.