Non-spoiler Dragon Heist and Mad Mage questions:

[Misterwhisper]

Going to be playing a 1 - 20 dragon heist and mad mage game soon.

Intentionally going in blind.

Other members are:

Beat stick dwarven barbarian sword and board guy.
Blaster sorcerer.
Some guy who won’t make up his mind

Me.
I am thinking a circle of stars Druid and lots of radiant spells with mostly healing and party friendly utility.

I have some ideas but a few questions:

Is there any damage type I should not go with? I am thinking lots of radiant?

How vital is dark vision?

Any skills not to bother with?

Also, what skill would astronomy be under, nature, arcana or something else entirely?


Not really looking for what would be great in the game but more like don’t want to waste resources on something that won’t come up.

We get a free feat at level 1, so my race is giving me fits.
Do I go with a +2 wis race and observant to have an 18 wis, or a more versatile race and feat with a 16 wis?

[ProsecutorGodot]

1: Poison damage, in general, doesn't scale well. Depending on the choices your DM makes it could be an even worse choice than usual.
2: Darkvision = relatively important. Hard to elaborate on that without spoiling a bit.
3: Other than skills that are not typically associated with combat and exploration, you'll use a fair amount of skills. Nature is notably something that you may see less use of because of the setting being almost exclusively in city and dungeon.
4: It depends on what you're trying to accomplish with it, although Nature (or flat intelligence) is probably the closest fit. Arcana could also be valid, History is unlikely to be.

Observant is a very powerful feat for this set of campaigns.

[Misterwhisper]

1: Poison damage, in general, doesn't scale well. Depending on the choices your DM makes it could be an even worse choice than usual.
2: Darkvision = relatively important. Hard to elaborate on that without spoiling a bit.
3: Other than skills that are not typically associated with combat and exploration, you'll use a fair amount of skills. Nature is notably something that you may see less use of because of the setting being almost exclusively in city and dungeon.
4: It depends on what you're trying to accomplish with it, although Nature (or flat intelligence) is probably the closest fit. Arcana could also be valid, History is unlikely to be.

Observant is a very powerful feat for this set of campaigns.

Observant is great but really it is just because the feats that give wisdom are mighty slim.

I am thinking:

Circle of stars Mark of finding human with observant and just going all wis.

Arcana cleric Izzet engineer captain utility kind of guy.

While we have a sorcerer he is not a talker, so maybe a bard or rogue with good cha.

Damage is covered, front line is fine, not a lot of depth to skills though and nobody to be the talker.

[Misterwhisper]

Update:

Our other player is a gloomstalker archer.

So ranged is definitely all good.

I am thinking Druid, bard, warlock in melee, or cleric.

[Keravath]

It is hard to offer comments without implying some information ..
- darkvision/devils sight/goggles of night/darkvision spell - useful
- some ability with social skills - useful
- perception/investigation/insight - all potentially useful (as usual)
- high passive perception - useful but DM dependent
- only doing one type of damage primarily? Less useful perhaps

[Misterwhisper]

It is hard to offer comments without implying some information ..
- darkvision/devils sight/goggles of night/darkvision spell - useful
- some ability with social skills - useful
- perception/investigation/insight - all potentially useful (as usual)
- high passive perception - useful but DM dependent
- only doing one type of damage primarily? Less useful perhaps


The two main builds I am looking at are:

Circle of stars Druid with lots of radiant damage and healing/control.

Arcana cleric with just all around spread of spells.

Both using a shield and a casting foci/weapon.

But we are slim on social as the sorcerer is not social so I will put together a bard on the side and a celestial warlock as we have like no healing.