Suggestions for support?

[Drascin]

After three straight years of only DMing, it seems I might be able to actually play in a campaign. This has me pumped, of course. Thing is, I'm the only non-newbie there apart from the DM, and he has asked me to go easy on them, not optimize much, and not get much spotlight, because we both know anyone who reads boards such as these regularly has a definite advantage.

So I thought of making a bit of a support character - instead of smashing things myself, help others smash things! That way, no one feels useless, and it's a role I enjoy quite a bit anyway, as my tendency to go with priests and other such healers/buffers in every MMORPG I play shows.

And thinking about this, in my perpetual indecision, I was wondering what people's suggestions on support characters were. What's the best way to make others feel awesome? Bard? Society Mind? Marshal? It's Eberron, so no non-Eberron, setting-specific things, but apart from that, I am pretty certain I can get away with anything from pretty much any book - if I don't have it, someone I know will .

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Bards, Artificers, and Buff-Others type casters are the best for support roles. As the Artificer, give overpowered gear to everyone else, as the buffing Cleric/Wizard make the meleers look like Kratos, and as the Bard boost your Inspire Courage to ungodly levels. There's a few ways to do that, and if you ask, someone here can give you a better build than I could.

[Kol Korran]

you have the unique opportunity to make the new players game experiencebetter, through actual roleplaying! i suggest to take the mantle of the healer (most new rolepalyers hate that. it frustratesthem to no end), but also a sort of advisor/ teacher, though not an overbearing one. this being Eberron, i suggest the:

cleric of the soverign host: many thinks it's to owide spread, too simplistic, but it realy isn't (read faiths of Eberron for soem added fluff, and perhp a nice prestige class). you can pepper your advice to aach of the classes on the guise of lessons or examples of the various deities (dol dorn, dol arrah for the fighters, onatar and aureon for wizards, olladra for bards and rogues, and so on..) this doesn't go just for classes, but for many situations as well (promote working together and party unity by lessons of Boldrei, caution by balinor, fair loot splitting by kol korran and so on).

consider the party as your congregation, that needs to be guided (but not forced) into a more harmonious way of life, befitting the all inclusive host. as to the exact build by the numbers- i leave that to you, i'm sure you could find a way to make it effective, but not utterly optimized. ask your DM to perhaps help the other players with creating their characters, so you could allready start and help them, and also get to know their characters better- beginning your advisory role right from the start...

oh, and please, as Olladra often reminds- don't forget to have fun!