[3.5] What class should I use?

[Myou]

I'm running a solo game (still) and when the current DMPC leaves/dies the player asked if he could hire a character based on Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia to be his companion throughout the game. My first thought was that Lloyd might be a ranger, since he has an animal compaion and TWF, but the current DMPC is a ranger, and divine spells don't really seem appropriate for Lloyd anyway. After that I thought of the warblade, but I don't really know much about the ToB classes (although I have the materials on hand if needed).

So, what classes/class variants would you suggest for him?

Thanks in advance!

Relevant Houserules;

Spoiler

Show

1. Your Hit Dice always give maximum HP.

2. Healing spells that restore HP have their dice doubled.

4. You die at the half the additive inverse of your HP. If your HP is x you die at 0.5*-x.

17. Ability points that have been permanently drained or lost being raised from the dead can be restored by Wish or Miracle. In cases where the ability in question provides benefits at each level (such as bonus HP from Constitution) those benefits are recalculated with the new ability score.

18. Full spellcasters who can cast a limited number of 0th level spells per day now have an infinite number of 0th level slots and the ability to cast 0th level spells without preparation (and to freely apply metamagic enhancements they know at the time of casting as long as doing so does not raise the level of the spell slot required), even if they couldn't do so before. If they wish to enhance a 0th level spell with any metamagic that raises the slot level this houserule does not apply.

20. You cannot artificially increase your caster level beyond 1.5 times its natural level. (E.g. at level 10 a sorcerer cannot have a caster level beyond 15.)

21. When a character gains a permanent Intelligence increase he gains skill points retroactively. He gains appropriate skill points for all of his character levels rather than just for current and future levels. For example a wizard who begins play with 17 Intelligence and uses his 4th level ability boost to increase his score to 18 immediately gains seven skill points rather than just one. Remember that items which boost ability modifiers do not give extra skill points/hit points, etc.

Edit: I'll be bringing him in at about level 5, but he'll likely be in the game all he way to epic levels.

[dyslexicfaser]

If a Two Weapon Fighter ranger isn't what you're looking for (there are variants to remove spellcasting), fighter or warblade would probably fit best. If you want a stronger character, go warblade, definitely.

Though Lloyd isn't very clever; a warblade's high int might not fit him

[monty]

Though Lloyd isn't very clever; a warblade's high int might not fit him

Warblades don't need Int, though - they're certainly better with it, but they're perfectly viable with typical fighter stats.

[Dyllan]

Ranger does seem right for him, in my opinion. There are a couple alternate ranger options that remove spellcasting. The one I'm aware of just gives fighter feats at each level where the ranger would usually grant access to a new spell level. I don't remember which book that's from though.

[RTGoodman]

First, let me say that I don't know ANYTHING about Tales of Symphonia, but here's some ideas.

Ranger with the various companion-less features could work (Distracting Strike or whatever from PHB2, maybe?). Check UA, PHB2, CWar, and stuff like that. You might also go with a TWF Scout/Ranger or Scout/Rogue or something, using the appropriate multi-class feat, but I don't know if that fits the flavor or not.

If not, TWF Warblade is probably a good idea, and probably slightly better. And hey, if you want/need an animal companion, just pick up the Wild Cohort feat from the WotC website.

[Starbuck_II]

I'm running a solo game (still) and when the current DMPC leaves/dies the player asked if he could hire a character based on Lloyd from Tales of Symphonia to be his companion throughout the game. My first thought was that Lloyd might be a ranger, since he has an animal compaion and TWF, but the current DMPC is a ranger, and divine spells don't really seem appropriate for Lloyd anyway. After that I thought of the warblade, but I don't really know much about the ToB classes (although I have the materials on hand if needed).

So, what classes/class variants would you suggest for him?

Thanks in advance!

Relevant Houserules;

Spoiler

Show

1. Your Hit Dice always give maximum HP.

2. Healing spells that restore HP have their dice doubled.

4. You die at the half the additive inverse of your HP. If your HP is x you die at 0.5*-x.

17. Ability points that have been permanently drained or lost being raised from the dead can be restored by Wish or Miracle. In cases where the ability in question provides benefits at each level (such as bonus HP from Constitution) those benefits are recalculated with the new ability score.

18. Full spellcasters who can cast a limited number of 0th level spells per day now have an infinite number of 0th level slots and the ability to cast 0th level spells without preparation (and to freely apply metamagic enhancements they know at the time of casting as long as doing so does not raise the level of the spell slot required), even if they couldn't do so before. If they wish to enhance a 0th level spell with any metamagic that raises the slot level this houserule does not apply.

20. You cannot artificially increase your caster level beyond 1.5 times its natural level. (E.g. at level 10 a sorcerer cannot have a caster level beyond 15.)

21. When a character gains a permanent Intelligence increase he gains skill points retroactively. He gains appropriate skill points for all of his character levels rather than just for current and future levels. For example a wizard who begins play with 17 Intelligence and uses his 4th level ability boost to increase his score to 18 immediately gains seven skill points rather than just one. Remember that items which boost ability modifiers do not give extra skill points/hit points, etc.

Edit: I'll be bringing him in at about level 5, but he'll likely be in the game all he way to epic levels.

His desccription in gamefaqs leads me to think Warblade.

He can increase his speed/accuracy (there are maneuvers for that).

[Myou]

If a Two Weapon Fighter ranger isn't what you're looking for (there are variants to remove spellcasting), fighter or warblade would probably fit best. If you want a stronger character, go warblade, definitely.

Though Lloyd isn't very clever; a warblade's high int might not fit him

Yeah, the int does bother me a little, but as Monty says, it's not vital at least.

Fighter would be simpler, but fighters can't do anything like the manuvers that Lloyd performs in game, which was what initially got me thinking of warblades.

As people have suggested, a ranger without divine casting would be good, but it lacks the manuver-like abilities that Lloyd has in game, which is something I'd really like to try to retain, and we've already played levels 1-4 with a ranger so I don't want to just replace the old DMPC with a new one that has the exact same abilities. D:

First, let me say that I don't know ANYTHING about Tales of Symphonia, but here's some ideas.

Ranger with the various companion-less features could work (Distracting Strike or whatever from PHB2, maybe?). Check UA, PHB2, CWar, and stuff like that. You might also go with a TWF Scout/Ranger or Scout/Rogue or something, using the appropriate multi-class feat, but I don't know if that fits the flavor or not.

If not, TWF Warblade is probably a good idea, and probably slightly better. And hey, if you want/need an animal companion, just pick up the Wild Cohort feat from the WotC website.

Ah, wild cohort, thanks, that would be good of the flavour! :3

As a good few people have said, warblade may be the best choice.