I figured I'd write a CO diary from my holiday campaign. You'll be able to follow along while our group makes one of its brief forrays past level 4. We're playing the Shackled City adventure path, there will be spoilers, bear that in mind. We are using the Pathfinder Beta rules but we substitute any feats for their 3.5 that we feel like.
Our group is a mixed bag of optimizers, some do it well, others don't. I've included a little blurb about the player to help explain how the character is being used.
The Party so far:
Red Mage [spoiler=My build]
An armour wearing, trapfinding, cure spell casting, arcane caster. Built to do a little bit of everything, uses the spell
heroics to try and find a way for Sword and Board to not suck.
Generic Caster Armoured Mage*, Shield Specialization, Shield Ward
Generic Warrior Trapfinding
Generic Caster Knowledge Devotion
Generic Caster
Generic Caster Practiced Caster
Generic Caster Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanny Dodge
Generic Caster Craft Weapons and Armour
Unseen Seer
Unseer Seer Silent Spell, Quick Recovery
Unseer Seer
Eldritch Knight Arcane Strike, Energy Substitution
Eldritch Knight
Eldritch Knight Born of Three Thunders
Eldritch Knight
Eldritch Knight Combat Expertise, Fast Metamagic
Eldritch Knight
Eldritch Knight Quicken Spell
Eldritch Knight
Eldritch Knight Power Attack?, Heighten Spell OR Twin Spell
Eldritch Knight
Armoured Mage is a custom feat to give me the same ability to cast in armour and shields as a duskblade. I'm using the Pathfinder Eldritch Knight which gives d10 as well as three fighter feats at 1st,5th and 9th levels. Quick Recovery lets me attempt to recover from daze as a move action, which work well with both Celerity and Born of Three Tunders spells. Fast Metamagic is there so that in a round I recover from daze I can metamagic a spell and so that I can put Bot3t spells in a spell storing weapon.
Why I think this is a good idea:Usually the players show up with premade characters, I don't know before hand how many are showing up and what they are bringing. Players also don't like to take on jobs that aren't fun, like trapfinding and healing.
[/spoiler]
Bard: [spoiler]Not really a Bard, a Glamour Mage from the 3rd party book, Swashbuckling Arcana. Gets a number of wonky powers, including:At will temp hitpoints, 1d10+CL, unlimited times per day. He gives +4-6 on all allied rolls, not just d20s, lasts all day, Bard doesn't get the bonus himself though. Bard can give himself an extra d6 to any one type of roll, choosen at the start of the day.
His build:High strength and con, uses a greatsword with power attack for damage, due to good rolls, the high con, and the equivalent of the improved toughnes feat Bard averages about 11 hitpoints a level. Despite the 3/4 BAB is the Party tank during the lower levels (1-6).
The Player:Bard's player is also the DM, he's the most experienced with D&D, he optimizes well and plays his characters cannily.[/spoiler]
Monk Dead,
[spoiler]
His build:Planning to be a Sacred Fist (with full caster progression), Which is a good PrC. Unfortunately he plans to get there by going Monk 6/Cleric 4/Sacred Fist 10.
The Player:He takes the power attack, leap attack and flying kick feats, but this campaign limits his charging. This character is aggressive to the point of recklessness and as of session 6 the character had died 3 times, and is unable to be rez'ed back. Not good tactically or as an optimizer.[/spoiler]
Druid Dead,
[spoiler]
His Build:Melee Tank, uses a variant of wildshape that lets him shapechange at lower levels. Also takes levels in Barbarian, heading for warshaper or Bear warrior.
The Player:This character calls for an aggressive (although not reckless) player. Unfortunately Druid is played rather timidly. Killed in session 3 by a Vampire's energy drain.
[/spoiler]
Archer[spoiler]His Build: Exactly what the name entails, a fighter dedicated to Archery, he can really clear the room of mooks.
The Player:Uses his character exactly as he should, he really contributes to combat and he RPs well. Is a fairly decent optimizer, at level 7 was getting somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1d8+10 on three attacks around. He is tough to reach and so has missed some sessions.[/spoiler]
Beguiler[spoiler]
His Build:Our first pure caster, his colourspray can really knock out the mooks as well. Will eventually go into Shadowcraft mage at level 12 (after he can get his first shadow spell)
The Player:He's the least experienced, but he uses the Beguiler perfectly, he contributes well to the group except in situations where his magic is ineffective (like versus undead).
[/spoiler]
Sorcerer[spoiler]
His Build:Basically an evoker, using sudden maximize at opportune times. Currently on average he doesn't throw around as much damage per turn as Archer but his output spikes against tougher bosses.
The Player:This is Druid's player with a new character, surving as support suits his temperment well. Not the most optimized build, as it focuses on dealing damage and really then only electricity damage. May take Born of the Three Thunders at later levels.
[/spoiler]
We have currently completed 4 adventures in this campaign over six sessions, we are now level 10. I'll try and fill Min/Max in on our changing tactics as they evolve.