Help choosing character for new campaign

[Aett_Thorn]

Hey all! Reaching out to the hive mind here for a bit of assistance.

So for our new campaign, we rolled three random characters (including stats) and are able to choose which one we want to play, and I am in a bit of a quandary as to which of mine to play in our group. Now, one is right out, so I'll only be discussing the two that I'm trying to choose between. And I know that the prevailing wisdom is to "play what you think you'll enjoy", but the problem is that I could see enjoying both of these characters. So that is where I am hoping you all can help out.

Background info: we'll be starting at level 1, and the rest of the party is going to be a 1) Human Monk, 2) Human Paladin, and 3) a Forest Gnome Rogue with an insanely high Int and Cha to boot (likely going to be picking up some Sorc levels later on). The campaign is going to be using some optional rules that make it so that yo-yo healing is not a great option, and will likely be using the variant resting rules that cause long rests to need to be done in town over a week. XP is going to be a bit of a hybrid system focusing on exploration and treasure retrieval, so that might be something to keep in mind.

So here are my options, and a little bit about how I see them playing out:

1) Githzerai Folk Hero Wizard. Likely going Conjuration. Uses his ties to the chaotic plane of Limbo to create various effects and creatures out of the Weave with a secondary focus on teleportation spells and effects. He was left behind after an expedition to the prime material plane turned out to be a trap by some Githyanki, and in the chaos of battle his compatriots' escape spell killed many of the Githyanki but created a huge rain storm over the area. Considering the area was in the middle of a drought, the local villagers thought that he was a savior, and treated him well, despite not really knowing WHAT he was. His main goals are to become powerful enough to get home and to kill any Githyanki he comes across in revenge for getting him stranded here. He'll be slightly arrogant, but mainly because he comes from a plane of utter chaos, and can't understand how people can still struggle to exist on a plane this constant. May pick up a level of Cleric (Arcana domain) later to help out with the lack of healing.

2) Half-Orc Hermit Bard. Likely going Swords Bard. Was raised in an Orcish tribe, and was married off to the keeper of the tribe's sacred grove. While this was supposed to be a great honor, it was mainly just boring, because the keeper had no real interest in her. However, as time went on, he began teaching her a lot about the greater world, nature, and medicine. The keeper knew he was dying, and so was trying to impart his wisdom on to her so that she could be the new keeper (but didn't tell her this). When he did die, she didn't know what to do, so went out to explore and experience the world. Her primary goal is hedonism, so she enjoys alcohol and food a bit too much (her main diet in the grove was mainly plants and water), as well as other earthly delights. Her spell selection will lean into the more druidic/rangery spells from the Bard list. While she definitely enjoys partying it up in town, while on adventures with the group she'll be a bit more motherly and caring for them, since she's a bit older and never got to have kids. Probably staying pure Bard, but open to suggestions.


So which of these would YOU rather play in this group? Not saying I'll go with the herd mentality, but just mainly looking for some additional opinions because I'm torn. Thanks all!

[KorvinStarmast]

Go with the Gith wizard
or
Go with the bard but go lore (or maybe Glamour or Eloquence from Tasha's).
Your party has enough martial talent.

[RogueJK]

Go with the Gith wizard
or
Go with the bard but go lore (or maybe Glamour or Eloquence from Tasha's).
Your party has enough martial talent.

My thoughts exactly.

Your party needs a caster, not another melee character. Specifically your party is lacking spellcaster AoE damage, debuffs, control, and status mitigation/healing. The other three characters are pretty much focused on single target melee damage only, with the Paladin also having a little additional buff and healing ability, and the Monk eventually getting a little bit of single target control through Stunning Strike.


The Gith Wizard can handle the first three spellcaster needs well, and a (very) little bit of the last one with a level of Cleric. But even with dipping Cleric, you'd have to be leaning pretty heavily on the Paladin as the party healer/status mitigater, which may not work well.


So I'd lean towards going with Bard, but not necessarily focus on choosing Nature-y spells since those are only situationally useful and Bards only get a very limited number of spells known. Bard is better suited for the latter three party spell needs, but can also handle some of the first with stuff like Shatter and eventually Synaptic Static, and a Lore Bard could pick up Fireball using your 6th level Magical Secrets.

If going Bard, consider dipping a level of Cleric (Life or Nature) for some additional buffs and healing, which would also fit with your backstory about learning about life, nature, and medicine from the sacred grove keeper. Life would boost your healing on both your Cleric and Bard spells, while Nature would give you some of those Nature/Animal spells (and a Druid cantrip to boot) while freeing up your Bard spells for the needed AoE/debuff/control/status mitigation spells. I'd recommend taking the Cleric level right off the bat, at either Level 1 or 2.

[Aett_Thorn]

Thanks for the opinions, guys. Might just go with the Bard to give me more options as the game progresses. If we really do have enough front liners, then I can take a more supporting role in the group by going with one of the less-martial colleges. Though the Heroforge mini I ordered may not look quite right then. But oh well.

And Rogue, for the Bard, I'd love to take a level of Cleric, but with a Wis of only 7, that's out. Plenty of physical stats, but other than Cha that character isn't exactly going to compete in the brains department.

[Warder]

For a different perspective, I think the Githzerai sounds like a much more interesting character to have as a party member! Especially since you seem to have a solid grip of Gith lore. Githyanki tend to be the popular picks, but I think Githzerai can be amazing, if done right.