Fifth party member

[Emperor Demonking]

What are the best and second best 5th party member.

Bard: This is classics, boosts everyone else plus has knowledge.

An extr fighting class: From what I've read an extra fighting class is useful to cover for the flaws or the other fighter.

[Solo]

Another primary caster. Sorcerer, wizard, or CoDzilla

[SoD]

A commoner. Why not? Or a chef, yeah, a chef! A goblin chef with a white hat!

[SilverClawShift]

Binder. Give it a day (or less) and it can be whatever you need it to be.
Factotum. It can be whatever you need it to be, RIGHT NOW, but it has to wait a day to do it again (with a few exceptions).

Those are the ultimate fifth wheels.

*edit*

or as someone at my table said, the Factotum is what the bard wanted to be when it grew up.

[Inyssius Tor]

Batman.

Druid: aside from opening doors without destroying them, they can do almost anything. Also, they are both overpowered and hard to play sub-optimally.


And--why are you doing this? I'm not complaining anymore, because your actions have caused some interesting discussions, but I'm still kind of curious.

[SoD]

Oh, don't worry. He's done it before. Even blamed one of them on me

Wasn't fully certain what smiley to use, so I thought MITD is the ultimate 'other' smiley.

[cupkeyk]

The fifth party member is usually an archer (Ranger/scout) or a commander (bard/marshal)

[Mr.Bookworm]

Generally, I find a jack-of-all-trades to work very well for a fifth wheel, so they can help with and do pretty much anything.

Bards are good for the role, as are Rogues. And Chameleon and Master of Masks are jack-of-all-trades nirvana.

As is the aforesaid Factotum.

[SilverClawShift]

Binders are essentially a jack-of-all-trades too. There are enough vestiges to select from that your binder can PROBABLY do whatever you need them to do, if you give them 60 seconds to draw a seal and contact the right vestige...

[RoboticSheeple]

The fifth party member is usually an archer (Ranger/scout) or a commander (bard/marshal)

QFT

Either do something better than what anyone else can do (near unlimited ranged attacking) or buff up everyone so they can do what they do better (Songs or Auras).

[Twingunn]

With the fifth party member I usually like a second cleric. Not only can they heal if necessary, a cleric armed with the proper spells is a buffing/damage dealing platform. If it's not to your taste, the other arcane spell caster is good (sorcerer if you have a wizard, wizard if you have a sorcerer). It really opens up your utility potential or sheer destructive potential without sacrificing one for the other.

[Frosty]

It depends on the rest of the party, to be honest. What roles need to be filled or cna be filled better?

[Darth Mario]

Binders are essentially a jack-of-all-trades too. There are enough vestiges to select from that your binder can PROBABLY do whatever you need them to do, if you give them 60 seconds to draw a seal and contact the right vestige...

All that with the added advantage of having religious zealots after you all the time! /sarcasm

Just kidding. I love binders for their fluff and crunch. Also love SCS's vestiges from her campaign, take a look if anyone wants to play a binder.

[hewhosaysfish]

All that with the added advantage of having religious zealots after you all the time! /sarcasm

Just kidding. I love binders for their fluff and crunch.

Really? I glance over the fluff for binders and wasn't too impressed by the whole "persecuted" angle.

Pelor: "Ho hum, what fine day I'm having! At noon, I cured children of terrible afflictions; at noon*, I protected some innocent villagers from some terrible ghouls. Later, maybe sometime around noon, I think I'll bring light into the dark corners of the world. Hm...? What's this thing....? I don't understand this! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

*He's the sun god: it's always noon.

It's like trying to imagine Mother Teresa bugging out and attacking someone with a hammer.

[Deepblue706]

The fifth party member is usually an archer (Ranger/scout) or a commander (bard/marshal)

Yes, Barshals are pretty sweet. Though, it upsets me how Marshal's abilities don't get too great at higher levels. Of course, it's nice to have Motivate Dexterity and grant your entire party whopping bonus to initiative, or simply have amazing Will saves, or something...

But I've always wished that it'd get better stuff as you progressed. I'm curious to see if 4.0's Warlord (or whatever its called) will be an improved version of the Marshal.

[Yami]

Hmm, that's a though one. Usually you want your fifth driud to be the Healer druid as by then Summon druid, Awesome Animal Campanion druid, Bat**** Crazy Combat druid, and Full Caster druid are all taken. Of course, I still suggest the occasional shuffling of roles every now and then, just to mix things up.

[de-trick]

lets see
arcane check(wizard)
divine check(cleric or druid)
sneak yep(rogue)
melee check(fighter, barbarian)

core we have left bard, paladin, monk or ranger

order id say

ranger
paladin
monk
bard

[daggaz]

OT, but what is the deal with the OP starting all these threads all the time? Not that I could care, I cant see much difference from all the other half-pointless threads on this board anyways (monk vs squirrel, anyone?), but I know its got people worked up and there are even rumors of some devious alterior motive. WHat other motive could their possibly be? Feh.

That said, I prefer a melee cleric or a bard as the fifth wheel.

[AslanCross]

Bard, Marshal, or Dragon Shaman if you want a more melee-oriented fifth wheel.

[nerulean]

I'll back up what most everyone else has said and go with either someone with ranged capabilities who can wade into melée if necessary, or a buffer. Bard and a bonus cleric could do both, with ranger being a marginally better combatant at the expense of not being able to buff everyone else. Bard can also fill in the skills the rogue didn't take, which can often prove vital.

[Overlard]

Duskblades make good 5th characters. By helping your main melee-er, or picking off the odd enemy that the wizard misses, they more than pull their own weight.

[The Great Skenardo]

I recommend a good anti-bard for the 5th character.
The anti-bard is Hexblade/Warlock. With a bit of careful invocation and feat selection, you can be giving choice enemies a -8 to all saves, -4 to AC, and -4 to attack. You can't do too much on your own (although you can make a decent flanking-buddy), but you can see to it that save or suck or save or die just becomes Die and Suck, respectively.

[ocato]

lets see
arcane? check (wizard/sorcerer)
divine? check (cleric or druid)
sneak? check (rogue)
melee? check (fighter, barbarian, paladin)

In core, all that's left are bard, monk, or ranger

order I'd say

bard
ranger
...
...
monk

Fixed that for you.

[Accersitus]

Or you could use the space to play a character concept you always wanted to
play, but was so sub optimal that the party would suffer greatly from having
you as one of the members(since you take 1/5 of the gold and XP).
In other words, you could play a monk )

[Temp]

Fifth party member? I'd go Artificer.

They do... they do everything as long as the funds are provided and if you get your party members cheap loot, the funds will be provided.

[herrhauptmann]

OT, but what is the deal with the OP starting all these threads all the time? Not that I could care, I cant see much difference from all the other half-pointless threads on this board anyways (monk vs squirrel, anyone?), but I know its got people worked up and there are even rumors of some devious alterior motive. WHat other motive could their possibly be? Feh.

That said, I prefer a melee cleric or a bard as the fifth wheel.

The motive is that he's trying to see if he can make people's heads explode. I can understand, I asked a question about spacing other allies around a spiked chain fighter, and got 4 pages of rants about whether it is overpowered or not, realistic or not.

Or maybe that's not it

[OneWinged4ngel]

OT, but what is the deal with the OP starting all these threads all the time? Not that I could care, I cant see much difference from all the other half-pointless threads on this board anyways (monk vs squirrel, anyone?)

Good question. What is the deal?

[Idea Man]

If you're going to be fifth wheel, have fun. Play something you wouldn't normally. Be a monk, for example.

[RoboticSheeple]

If you're going to be, have fun.

Fixed that for you.

On a slightly unrelated note, the monk class is the bane of my existence. Powerful enough to live through almost anything, effective enough to do nothing.

As a 5th character in a party you are still a character in a party, be anything that can contribute.