Can’t decide on a class

[Mikaleus]

Hello everyone.

Currently in a campaign that has

2 bards
1 Dragonborn Wizard
1 Elven Bladesinger wizard
1 Princess of Sorcerer/ Bard/ Barbarian multiclass
1 Fighter
1 Totem Barbarian

I had been playing a Coastal land Druid however, have missed a lot of sessions due to life commitments and the campaign has evolved quite a bit and is much more exploratory of the world. My character was connected more to a place and last session I made felt a little off me showing up somewhere I normally wouldn’t.
Speaking to my DM, I’m able to retire said Druid and create a new character to somewhat reflect my availability in the game.
Themes like the wanderer or questing knight or lore researcher comes to mind, which would explain why my character isn’t always with the group and might show up randomly in the adventure.

I like playing classes with magic abilities, and my 5e experiences have been mostly with druids, paladin, clerics, low level bards and wizards.

UA is allowed
Point Buy
1 common 1 uncommon magic item

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Aett_Thorn]

That’s a big party to try to fit into in the first place. Being an only sometimes character makes it a bit harder as well.

So you’ve got a lot of Charisma and Intelligence in that party, so they don’t really need more of that. The role I do see that the party doesn’t have is a true sneaky type, unless one of the Bards fills this role. But you said that you like to cast spells, which means that most rogues are out except for AT, but your party has plenty of Int already.

So, to fill the role of a wanderer, I’m going to suggest either a pure Ranger, or a multiclass Ranger/Rogue depending on your level. Ranger would let you have some spellcasting, and would make sense to be able to show up where ever the party is at the time.

[moonfly7]

That’s a big party to try to fit into in the first place. Being an only sometimes character makes it a bit harder as well.

So you’ve got a lot of Charisma and Intelligence in that party, so they don’t really need more of that. The role I do see that the party doesn’t have is a true sneaky type, unless one of the Bards fills this role. But you said that you like to cast spells, which means that most rogues are out except for AT, but your party has plenty of Int already.

So, to fill the role of a wanderer, I’m going to suggest either a pure Ranger, or a multiclass Ranger/Rogue depending on your level. Ranger would let you have some spellcasting, and would make sense to be able to show up where ever the party is at the time.

I was going to suggest artificer, but I actually have to second this, ranger is perfect for your needs. If he's not with the party, he's dealing with the problems of other people who are threatened by wild forces beyond their expertise.
See if your DM will allow revised ranger or a ranger with the alternate features from last months UAC, if not go ranger and either scout rogue or arcane trickster rogue depending on how much magic you want. Or inquisitive or swashbuckler. Swashbuckler would make a devastating ranger combo.

[jaappleton]

I'd go with some sort of Archer.

If you're allowed to use the recent Variant Class Options UA, then Ranger is especially good. Or you can go with Rogue, their new ability to use Cunning Action to Aim in order to generate Advantage would be pretty darn good to help ensure Sneak Attack gets off.

Beyond that, you can easily go with Fighter. Samurai in particular is quite deadly. But I get if you'd rather be a class that isn't yet represented.

Aside from Ranger or Rogue, I'd go with.... Cleric. Nobody ever complained about having a Cleric in the group. You've played them before, so you know you don't have to be the healbot; you can dish out some solid damage if you want. And you can RP it so that during sessions when you're not available your Cleric is staying behind in the village healing people, or is spreading the word of your Deity, etc. I'd personally go with Grave, because its ability to negate Crits is universally great regardless of party makeup.

[Ganryu]

Man, they should really just split that party in half and run two campaigns. Dm'ing generally only sucks the first time you do it.

I second the Ranger choice, but a cleric would also be immensely helpful to this party line up. There's not a lot of healing. Not that a cleric has to be a healbot, just its a nice backup solution to someone going down to throw a healing word at them.

Paladins are also immensely helpful because of the aura affect, and so many... so many people...

[Mikaleus]

Updated original post with additional info : UA allowed, point buy and magic items.

Our DM is experienced, and it’s not often we will get the full group playing at any given time.
So despite there being 8 or so players, it’s usually 3-6 that might show up per session.

Liking the Ranger and Cleric advice so far. Suits the world in which the DM has created too.

[sleepyhead]

I would recommend going gloom stalker ranger 5 then switch over to cleric for the rest of your levels. Keeps MADness low and could would have solids healing if you go with life domain or be extra sneaky with trickery domain.

[Sparky McDibben]

ECON 102 is a good pick.

[stoutstien]

Well the artificer is nice because you can support your party with infusions without being near them. Also fits the wandering researcher feel.

[Daphne]

I think a Horizon Walker would fit pretty well, you could join the party even if they went to the Nine Hells and it would make sense.

[Mikaleus]

ECON 102 is a good pick.

Haha brilliant. +1

[da newt]

Ranger MC w/ Cleric, Druid or Rogue - pick whichever one tickles your fancy. I wouldn't worry much as much about what the party needs, but more what excites you.

[Anderlith]

I would suggest Artificer just because it’s new, but others in the thread are right. Be a ranger & have him come “recommended by the Druid” that way there is a link of trust & familiarity. Go a step farther & have the ranger tell stories of things the party doesn’t know about the Druid.

[Ganryu]

I would suggest Artificer just because it’s new, but others in the thread are right. Be a ranger & have him come “recommended by the Druid” that way there is a link of trust & familiarity. Go a step farther & have the ranger tell stories of things the party doesn’t know about the Druid.

Eh, first part good, send part I dunno.

Remember, 90% of the time, each player only cares about one person, the player's character. Bragging about your own character, especially your old character seems off.

That, and they already have a large table, even if not everyone makes it every time

[Man_Over_Game]

I'd recommend a party ratio of 40% squishies to 60% tankies, where things like Monks sit in the middle.

If we were to rank all of the characters on a scale of how-much-can-I-ignore-being-hit, from 1-10, :

• Bard: 3
• Bard: 3
• Dragonborn Wizard: 1
• Elven Bladesinger: 4
• Charisma hybrid: 5
• Fighter: 10
• Barbarian 10

The goal is 6, and the party's current average is 5.14. So it'd probably best you play something tanky.

I'd actually recommend a Moon Druid or melee Cleric (which I'd estimate as an 8-9 on the previous scale).

It fits into a slot that the party's missing (Wisdom-user), you already have a pre-defined reason to do missions from your divinity (meaning you could be helping the party out of mutual benefit, and leave when it's no longer benefiting your mission-You aren't even a jerk since it's not your choice), it's something you're already familiar with, and its high complexity means that you'll be getting the most amount of "game" in the shortest amount of time (which is important, due to your limited availability).

[Keravath]

If you don't mind a reduced emphasis on magic then a ranger/rogue multiclass can be very good at exploration and combat.

You could take 5 levels in ranger - either revised ranger or gloomstalker - and then switch to scout rogue which would add expertise in survival, nature on top of the rogues usual expertise ... which could be stealth and perception to start.

Depending on what level your group is at now, you can start a fair way along the way.

Focus on using a bow, archery fighting style, possibly take sharpshooter if only for the style points - shooting at long range and ignoring 1/2 and 3/4 cover. The -5/+10 benefit can also be good.

Gloomstalker picks up darkvision at 3rd level so you could start variant human with a feat (like resilient con or possibly observant depending on how your group handles perception/investigation checks and passive perception.

------------

Other options could be ...
- melee hexblade blade pact warlock with GWM/PAM - this has some spellcasting and is very good in melee (variant human, PAM to start, pick up resilient con and GWM later, use darkness and later shadow of moil to get advantage on your attacks)
- arcane trickster rogue/warlock multiclass
- some sort of paladin or paladin multiclass
- arcana cleric could be fun - spirit guardians + booming blade in melee

[Anderlith]

snip

I’m sorry, I don’t want to be misunderstood. It’s not “look how cool I am stories”, but more like, “I learned how to track because once when we were younger Druid went looking for a mountain cat he was friends with & got lost. I followed his trail & found him hunkered down in a tree playing fetch in the morning.” Doesn’t even need to mention skill or ability. Just human interaction that builds a connection

[Pufferwockey]

Hello everyone.

Currently in a campaign that has

2 bards
1 Dragonborn Wizard
1 Elven Bladesinger wizard
1 Princess of Sorcerer/ Bard/ Barbarian multiclass
1 Fighter
1 Totem Barbarian

I had been playing a Coastal land Druid however, have missed a lot of sessions due to life commitments and the campaign has evolved quite a bit and is much more exploratory of the world. My character was connected more to a place and last session I made felt a little off me showing up somewhere I normally wouldn’t.
Speaking to my DM, I’m able to retire said Druid and create a new character to somewhat reflect my availability in the game.
Themes like the wanderer or questing knight or lore researcher comes to mind, which would explain why my character isn’t always with the group and might show up randomly in the adventure.

I like playing classes with magic abilities, and my 5e experiences have been mostly with druids, paladin, clerics, low level bards and wizards.

UA is allowed
Point Buy
1 common 1 uncommon magic item

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Party that size play whatever you think will be fun(if that means filling an empty role for you go nuts, but don't feel like it's your responsibility to do that, depending on you table's attitude) and handle the unreliable availability with backstory. Maybe the character is a loving but flaky/bad parent who indulges their wanderlust when things are rough at home but keeps going back when they have twinges of conscience. If you like using the personality trait, bond, flaw dealio just have your trait or bond pulling you to adventuring and the other one pulling you back home or to your day job or studies or whatever.

If I joined that table and I was worried about gelling with the party I'd be more worried bogging down the game/ slowing down combat than filling an empty role, so I'd think about picking something that just did one cool thing on it's turn in combat rather than making a ton of attacks . I might lean away from fighter or monk. Unless I had a cool idea for one.

[Mikaleus]

A massive thank you to everyone who replied in this thread.
I’m going with the Ranger. In this world, they’re always on the look out for any resurgence of demons or wicked fey in the world, and can also be found utilising their hunting techniques as mercenaries in the cities.
I’ll also be able to use the UA class features too so that’s quite exciting.

Gloomstalker and monster slayer are very thematically appropriate, but horizon walker and the beastmaster UA is tempting too.

Thanks again everyone

[HiveStriker]

Hello everyone.

Currently in a campaign that has

2 bards
1 Dragonborn Wizard
1 Elven Bladesinger wizard
1 Princess of Sorcerer/ Bard/ Barbarian multiclass
1 Fighter
1 Totem Barbarian

I had been playing a Coastal land Druid however, have missed a lot of sessions due to life commitments and the campaign has evolved quite a bit and is much more exploratory of the world. My character was connected more to a place and last session I made felt a little off me showing up somewhere I normally wouldn’t.
Speaking to my DM, I’m able to retire said Druid and create a new character to somewhat reflect my availability in the game.
Themes like the wanderer or questing knight or lore researcher comes to mind, which would explain why my character isn’t always with the group and might show up randomly in the adventure.

I like playing classes with magic abilities, and my 5e experiences have been mostly with druids, paladin, clerics, low level bards and wizards.

UA is allowed
Point Buy
1 common 1 uncommon magic item

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Considering all bolded parts, I strongly suggest to go Ranger, with possibly a dash of Cleric, Monk or Druid.

Explanation.
1. Pure Ranger is a solid mix of martial and magic: you get some great spells to use, you are as effective in martial melee and range.
2. Since you played a Druid, you know how to use half of the spells a Ranger can learn, yet you also have some exclusives. So you can easily grow into character and learn how to play it.
More importantlly, you can still take care of healing without going full Cleric.
3. If UA is allowed, variant rules may allow you to change Fighting Style as you progress.

4. Dash of multiclass: not necessary, but may make you feel more comfortable.
- Cleric: Life Cleric will make you best healer, Tempest Cleric would go well with Lightning Arrow, Arcane Cleric would give you Booming Blade.
- Monk: extra mobility, extra tankiness (Dodge as bonus action), go Shadow for extra spells.
- Druid (Land): extra comfort for you.

So, targeting a level 11 character, I'd suggest: Life Cleric 1 or Tempest Cleric 2 / Gloomstalker Ranger 9.
Pick Ring of Spell Storing as your uncommon item: you'll store some Bless or Healing Words and give it to Fighter, or keep it for you so you can make emergency heals even more often.
Go Wood Elf with Elven Accuracy, play ranged, as the most classic way to go.
Or go race with STR boost, pick Dual Wielder feat, and play close range / melee range, tag-teaming with Barbarian and Fighter when safe, retreating a bit to throw javelins or use lance when needed.