[3.5] Good class to round out the group?

[overduegalaxy]

As friends trickle back home from college for Winter break, we've got various new players joining in various ongoing games. One in particular is an Eberron game, with the following players:

LN Whisper Gnome Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 2 (Me, taking advantage of Daring Outlaw)
TN Halfling Bard 5 (Focuses entirely on buffing, character has never actually killed besides a few rats)
NG Human Wizard 5 (Player is irregular in attendance)
CN Grey Elf Urban Druid 5 (The druid variant from Dragon Mag)

Allowed books are Core, Complete..., Races of..., all Eberron books, and all of the environment series.

So, what would be a good suggestion for our newest member? Obviously, we could use a tank or defender of some sort, but I'm worried that he might be getting tired of just hitting stuff until it dies (he's played a fighter and paladin in 4e, and a TWF ranger and a barbarian in 3.5). I was thinking Duskblade might be a good option to give us some more melee power, plus a bit of spellcasting, but I'm curious as to what the rest of you think.

[Innis Cabal]

Archivest. Always.

[Darkshade]

hexblade can be fun to play, and the curse can be quite useful in some circumstances to make enemies more susceptible to the mage
plus the variant in unearthed arcana for the hexblade instead of a familiar the um shadow hound i think is quite cool

[SurlySeraph]

You've got very powerful support characters, but no frontliner. Get a Cleric, Paladin or Barbarian.

[AslanCross]

You've got very powerful support characters, but no frontliner. Get a Cleric, Paladin or Barbarian.

Seconded. Warblade or Crusader if you're willing to use Tome of Battle. Those are frontliners who can do more than just hitting stuff.

Duskblade is good, but the most it can do is do a lot of damage via nova strikes. They aren't really good tanks.

[Eldariel]

Uh, they have a DRUID. Sure, it's an Urban Druid, but Riding Dog is still on the companion list, and he just got Urban Shape, for great justice. Sure, he lacks some of the better high-level forms, but he still kicks ass.

My choice? Artificer. Every party likes cheaper equipment, and Artificers kick a ton of butt on their own right (I'd go with a Wandificer or a Warforged Polymorphing Melee Artificer). You can also pick Craft Construct and get some frontliners for the party a bit up the levels.


Failing that, a Cleric would be the next-best thing. A true Clericzilla would be very helpful, really. But really, an Artificer is what you want.

[Thurbane]

Knight is a good tank/controller. Human or dwarf (although dwarf loses CHA).

[Curmudgeon]

For a fun and unexpected combat powerhouse, go for a Cloistered Cleric with the Knowledge Devotion feat (Complete Champion). You won't have much for base AC and hit points, but you're easily buffed -- starting by casting Divine Power on yourself. And having all 6 Knowledge skills related to creature types will give you bonuses to attack and damage versus everything.

As a Cleric you can also go for Persistent Spell and Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell); that will let you keep one buff going 24 hours a day.

[Keld Denar]

hexblade can be fun to play, and the curse can be quite useful in some circumstances to make enemies more susceptible to the mage
plus the variant in unearthed arcana for the hexblade instead of a familiar the um shadow hound i think is quite cool

Its actually in the PHBII, and its called Dark Companion. Its really good, especially if you aren't taking more than 4ish Hexblade levels. You could make a really powerful debuffer using Hexblade, Blackguard, and just a splash of Marshall (Mini Handbook). Take Dreadful Wrath or Fightful Presence so you can cause fear when you charge, then use a combination of your Hex, Dark Companion, the fear from your charge, and your Blackguard's Aura of Dispair to give your foe a huge penalty to AC an Saves. This penalty, combined with the bonus to hit from charging should let you Power Attack for a decently large number. If you don't kill your foe, they are so penalized by your attack that they'll have a tough time making any saves against anything your allies put out behind you. Blackguard gives you Rebuke Undead, which can be used to power Divine Might (CWar) to add your cha to damage. 2 levels of Marshall gives you +cha to dex (Motivate Dex aura) for your whole party, which adds to initiative checks, which you can change to +cha to some save after combat starts, and either +1 hit or +1 all saves from your major aura.

Sure, you are kind of evil, but hey, you are a Cha based fighter, which is freakin awesome. Plus, the bard and wizard will probably buff you enough to make you really good in melee.

The other option is to buy/beg/borrow/steal a copy of Tome of Battle, Book of 9 Swords. Its melee done right. You have more option in combat than "I hit it with my longsword", which is fun for the weakest profession in the game.

[Mushroom Ninja]

I second the artificer suggestion.

[mabriss lethe]

if you're using psionics, go with a Psychic Warrior.

[Triaxx]

Anything that can take advantage of a mount, such as a Halfling heading for Outrider. The druid might want to snag a riding dog and have the Outrider on that, or get it it's own. Either way he's going to be able to react quickly where ever he's headed. A single level of sorceror gives him Mage Armor on top of whatever else he's got.

[TheCountAlucard]

Dread Necromancer. One, it's a fun class. Two, why bother tanking when you can make skeletons do it for you? Three, you already said the Wizard doesn't always make it to your games. Four, this means you've got someone who can rebuke undead, which is always helpful.

[Xilano]

If you want a frontliner that does ridiculous damage, go Barbarian, then Frenzied Berserker or Bear Warrior (or both!). Also, you'll be nigh-impossible to kill once you reach either of those prestige classes. You could also become a Dervish (full attacks while moving!), and the paths to that prestige class are manifold: straight Fighter, a little bit of Fighter/Ranger, etc.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

And AGAIN... Frenzied Berzerker IS A TRAP. Sooner or later, it will be a TPK. It doesn't help it's tanking ability in the slightest, in fact, it's about the WORST tank to have, because it won't have any interest in tanking, just killing stuf. People compare it to asking the Incredible Hulk to tank, but it's really more like asking Abomination to tank.

If you're wanting a 'tank' you've got some solid options:

Barbarian/Bear Warrior/Warshaper. Good, solid tank. Even keeps in to the naturistic setting, and the Druid can cast Greater Magic Fang on him so he can bypass magic DR in bear shape.

Crusader. Seriously, you're also slighted on the healing, unless the Druid picks up Spontanious Healer (even then, it's still kind of sub-par without the Heal spell), so you might as well get a tank that can heal. I refuse to suggest DMM Persist ClericZilla, because your other party members really aren't that optimized either.

If you're wanting more arcane/healing backup, may I suggest Beguiler?

But wait, Beguiler doesn't have healing!

Arcane Disciple (Healing domain). You now have healing on your spell list.

But wait! You can only cast them once a day!

Spontanious Healer. As long as you are not evil, you can cast cure spells on your spell list spontaniously. And all the cure spells that matter are on your spell list via Arcane Disciple.

So you've got some arcane might, and you've got some healing. Definately not a tank, though. On the upside, it makes it really difficult to take him down

The cheezier way is Beguiler/Rainbow Servant, but there is a debate as to wether or not text trumps table, or if table is RAI and Text was a typo.

[Xilano]

Hey, there's a Wizard in the group to cast Hold Person (or would it be Hold Monster? Heh) if SHTF with the Frenzied Berserker. Heck, Calm Emotions could be enough. The Frenzied Berserker'll have a horrible Will save. Frenzied Berserkers can work pretty well with the party as long as they have contingencies for when the frenzy lasts longer than the battle.

[Sinfire Titan]

You know, God is never a wrong answer. Unless your DM is a jerk.