I'm going to start in a new party with the same group, and I want to be a team player by creating a character that complements the rest of the party. I do not know what kind of characters the other players will make, but I want a couple possible characters to round out different party compositions. What classes should I build with considering different class combinations in the existing party?
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My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Clerics are the easiest to balance out an unknown party. Key is to take a Cleric with Heavy Armor (Forge, Life, Nature, Twiliglht, or War)
If your party does not have a tank, play one. Get up close in battle, using spells to protect and damage.
If your party does not have a Utility guy, take a lot of utility spells - healing, buffs, etc.
This leaves the higher Damage Per Round character, but most of the time someone will take that. But as you want to build more than one character, consider a Sorcerer or Warlock, or a combo Sorlock. That lets you pick which one to start with, and you only really have to make up your mind at 2nd level. A Sorcerer converting spell slots into Points into Quicken, allowing you to cast two Eldritch Blasts, adding your Charisma to each damage every attack via the Agonizing blast makes for a lot of fun. And in unsual situations you can always cast a real spell instead of blasting everything.
Clerics are the easiest to balance out an unknown party. Key is to take a Cleric with Heavy Armor (Forge, Life, Nature, Twiliglht, or War)
If your party does not have a tank, play one. Get up close in battle, using spells to protect and damage.
If your party does not have a Utility guy, take a lot of utility spells - healing, buffs, etc.
Very rarely will no one take a high DPR character (Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer or even some Warlocks).
So build a healer, a tank, a skill monkey, and a damage dealer?
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Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
I second mog dracov on cleric being a very good choice for an all purpose that can bend in any direction. For other options, usually a bard can help in any party. And wizards can also be pretty diverse in the roles they fill.
How many character do you want to make? How many others are in the party?
If you are only making one I agree a cleric is probably a good option, though you choose you subclass at level 1 and while 2 clerics in the party is fine you you are a twilight cleric and someone else is as well it wont go well.
Another wisdom based option is druid, if you fine you need a tank go moon at level 2, otherwise go something else you can either wildshape or find familiar for stealth missions if need be and druids are great at battlefield control in various ways.
Another option is artificer, you can open locks and disarm traps ,be the intelligence guy, a reasonable healer, you can go melee or ranged and choose a subclass at level 3 that fits best with the party needs.
I think the main party needs are (in no particular order):
Character with high intelligence
Character with high charisma
Character with high wisdom
At least 1 preferably 2 that can get into melee and protect the squishies
At least one preferably 2 with healing abilities
Character able to pick locks / disarm traps
Some method of infiltration, (either a stealhy character or by some other means such as a familiar or a druid in wild shape)
Clearly a party can get by without all of these and any one PC can cover more than 1, also a lot can depend on the DM/campaign. To a certain a "skill monkey" can reduce the need for the high Int/cha/wis but a skill monkey can't cover everything.
A heavy armor cleric would cover 3, 4, and 5 An artificer could cover 1, 4, 5, and 6 (though healing would be less than a cleric)
To cover most possible needs I would create 3 or characters and then choose the best one for the group:
An Artificer (you could possible go wizard instead but they are less flexible at low levels)
A heavy armor cleric or Druid
A bard
A paladin this could be as well as of instead of the bard, paladins pretty much have to be melee but all three of the above while they can be melee they are more an off-tank than a full on tank and that is something I find parties are often missing. A paladin can also help out in healing another area often missing in parties or be the face (though that is less often a problem).
A character that can fill most roles a party might need:
Race: Owlin
Background: Quandrix Student (taking Guidance as one of the cantrips and Mage Armor as the L1 spell)
L1 Class: Rogue
L2-5 Class: Bard: Lore.
L6+ Class: If the party needs damage, go with the Swashbuckler Rogue. If it needs more healing/support, continue with Bard.
This character can Guidance itself, is proficient in nearly half of the skills, with Expertise in four of them, and half-proficiency in the rest by L4.
At L1 you should have a minimum of 16 in Dex, which with Mage Armor gives you 16AC, that works with your flight. And you have reliable Sneak Attack (either hiding in the dark sky while shooting, or benefiting from the extra ways to get Sneak Attack from the Swashbuckler or from Steady Aim.
Wizards can be a lot of things mostly depending mostly on spells taken. Utility, damage, battlefield control. Plus INT is a common dump stat, so fills in those skills.
Trickery Cleric is awesome. Besides all the amazing classic Cleric toolkit (Guidance, Bless, Healing Word, Spirits Guardian, etc), you have access to top-notch party supporting spells like Pass Without a Trace, Dimension Door and Polymorph.
Also some nice to have defensive spells like Mirror Image and Blink. And an always-ready Dispel Magic.
Artificer, Bard, and Cleric are the “safe” choices for characters that can serve different roles. The challenge for cleric in particular is that you’ll lock into a domain at 1st level, and that may not be what best fits the party if you develop your character in isolation. But you should play what you want to, because even unbalanced parties missing crucial elements can lead to fun challenges.
Shooting in the dark as you are, I think Bard could work. If you need to pick a school, you do run risk somewhat of not being the ideal filler, but Lore would allow, IMO the most versatility. You naturally get access to a lot of support for your party and annoyance for your foes, Magical Secrets opens the entire spell list to X level when it rolls around, so you can easily fill slots with that.
Druid could also be quite helpful I'd suggest Moon to again, best cover as many bases as you can. The enhanced Wild Shapes are great for utility as well as combat, and the Druid spell list gets pretty good as you level, with a wide range of things to do both in and out of combat.
Cleric, to me, while certainly viable, kind of suffers in a blind choice due to the many Domains and how different each plays and where it's strengths and such are. The general spell list of a Cleric is great to be sure, but each domain brings SO much boost to any particular aspect, it's rough having to blind shoot. Might pick a Grave Cleric. to find out a frontline would have been more helpful kind of thing. That said, I feel a Cleric is NEVER a bad choice in a party.
Most other classes tend, in my eyes, to really focus on specific aspects and don't, as well, cover off or offer a broad range. Shooting blind, I would lean towards a more versatile choice, knowing a more specialized choice, in whatever role I fill MIGHT have been able to do it a bit better.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Don’t focus on party balance, there is no such thing. Play a character that you will enjoy playing. Everything else will work out just fine.
Not that I particularly disagree with you, but I know that I'm the kind of person who finds it easier to create characters if I'm given a little bit of restriction at the start. There are just so many options with races, classes, subclasses, backgrounds, feats, etc. ... it can be a bit overwhelming. Getting some direction can help guide someone on what they'll prepare or what direction they'll lean when it comes to choosing spells or abilities.
That said... I feel like "a character to balance out the party" is really hard to say much about when we don't know what the rest of the team is playing as.
I'm going to start in a new party with the same group, and I want to be a team player by creating a character that complements the rest of the party. I do not know what kind of characters the other players will make, but I want a couple possible characters to round out different party compositions. What classes should I build with considering different class combinations in the existing party?
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Clerics are the easiest to balance out an unknown party. Key is to take a Cleric with Heavy Armor (Forge, Life, Nature, Twiliglht, or War)
If your party does not have a tank, play one. Get up close in battle, using spells to protect and damage.
If your party does not have a Utility guy, take a lot of utility spells - healing, buffs, etc.
This leaves the higher Damage Per Round character, but most of the time someone will take that. But as you want to build more than one character, consider a Sorcerer or Warlock, or a combo Sorlock. That lets you pick which one to start with, and you only really have to make up your mind at 2nd level. A Sorcerer converting spell slots into Points into Quicken, allowing you to cast two Eldritch Blasts, adding your Charisma to each damage every attack via the Agonizing blast makes for a lot of fun. And in unsual situations you can always cast a real spell instead of blasting everything.
So build a healer, a tank, a skill monkey, and a damage dealer?
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
I second mog dracov on cleric being a very good choice for an all purpose that can bend in any direction.
For other options, usually a bard can help in any party. And wizards can also be pretty diverse in the roles they fill.
How many character do you want to make? How many others are in the party?
If you are only making one I agree a cleric is probably a good option, though you choose you subclass at level 1 and while 2 clerics in the party is fine you you are a twilight cleric and someone else is as well it wont go well.
Another wisdom based option is druid, if you fine you need a tank go moon at level 2, otherwise go something else you can either wildshape or find familiar for stealth missions if need be and druids are great at battlefield control in various ways.
Another option is artificer, you can open locks and disarm traps ,be the intelligence guy, a reasonable healer, you can go melee or ranged and choose a subclass at level 3 that fits best with the party needs.
I think the main party needs are (in no particular order):
Clearly a party can get by without all of these and any one PC can cover more than 1, also a lot can depend on the DM/campaign. To a certain a "skill monkey" can reduce the need for the high Int/cha/wis but a skill monkey can't cover everything.
A heavy armor cleric would cover 3, 4, and 5
An artificer could cover 1, 4, 5, and 6 (though healing would be less than a cleric)
To cover most possible needs I would create 3 or characters and then choose the best one for the group:
A character that can fill most roles a party might need:
Race: Owlin
Background: Quandrix Student (taking Guidance as one of the cantrips and Mage Armor as the L1 spell)
L1 Class: Rogue
L2-5 Class: Bard: Lore.
L6+ Class: If the party needs damage, go with the Swashbuckler Rogue. If it needs more healing/support, continue with Bard.
This character can Guidance itself, is proficient in nearly half of the skills, with Expertise in four of them, and half-proficiency in the rest by L4.
At L1 you should have a minimum of 16 in Dex, which with Mage Armor gives you 16AC, that works with your flight. And you have reliable Sneak Attack (either hiding in the dark sky while shooting, or benefiting from the extra ways to get Sneak Attack from the Swashbuckler or from Steady Aim.
Wizards can be a lot of things mostly depending mostly on spells taken. Utility, damage, battlefield control. Plus INT is a common dump stat, so fills in those skills.
Trickery Cleric is awesome. Besides all the amazing classic Cleric toolkit (Guidance, Bless, Healing Word, Spirits Guardian, etc), you have access to top-notch party supporting spells like Pass Without a Trace, Dimension Door and Polymorph.
Also some nice to have defensive spells like Mirror Image and Blink. And an always-ready Dispel Magic.
It’s an incredible Domain.
Don’t focus on party balance, there is no such thing. Play a character that you will enjoy playing. Everything else will work out just fine.
IMHO, the best way to decide on a party balancing PC is to know what the party is going to be playing. Other wise you are often shooting in the dark.
Good Luck
Artificer, Bard, and Cleric are the “safe” choices for characters that can serve different roles. The challenge for cleric in particular is that you’ll lock into a domain at 1st level, and that may not be what best fits the party if you develop your character in isolation. But you should play what you want to, because even unbalanced parties missing crucial elements can lead to fun challenges.
Shooting in the dark as you are, I think Bard could work. If you need to pick a school, you do run risk somewhat of not being the ideal filler, but Lore would allow, IMO the most versatility. You naturally get access to a lot of support for your party and annoyance for your foes, Magical Secrets opens the entire spell list to X level when it rolls around, so you can easily fill slots with that.
Druid could also be quite helpful I'd suggest Moon to again, best cover as many bases as you can. The enhanced Wild Shapes are great for utility as well as combat, and the Druid spell list gets pretty good as you level, with a wide range of things to do both in and out of combat.
Cleric, to me, while certainly viable, kind of suffers in a blind choice due to the many Domains and how different each plays and where it's strengths and such are. The general spell list of a Cleric is great to be sure, but each domain brings SO much boost to any particular aspect, it's rough having to blind shoot. Might pick a Grave Cleric. to find out a frontline would have been more helpful kind of thing. That said, I feel a Cleric is NEVER a bad choice in a party.
Most other classes tend, in my eyes, to really focus on specific aspects and don't, as well, cover off or offer a broad range. Shooting blind, I would lean towards a more versatile choice, knowing a more specialized choice, in whatever role I fill MIGHT have been able to do it a bit better.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Not that I particularly disagree with you, but I know that I'm the kind of person who finds it easier to create characters if I'm given a little bit of restriction at the start. There are just so many options with races, classes, subclasses, backgrounds, feats, etc. ... it can be a bit overwhelming. Getting some direction can help guide someone on what they'll prepare or what direction they'll lean when it comes to choosing spells or abilities.
That said... I feel like "a character to balance out the party" is really hard to say much about when we don't know what the rest of the team is playing as.
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