Author Topic: The Most Adaptable Party  (Read 5943 times)

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JaronK

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #20 on: December 16, 2009, 12:53:10 AM »
Note that the OP asked that this be done without powerful spellcasting, so using Cleric here is basically cheating.

Of course, Factotums cast spells too, but that's not all they do.

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #21 on: December 16, 2009, 12:56:24 AM »
I've always been fond of:

Druid
Cleric or Archivist
Beguiler
Conjurer


None of these gets pinned down into any one role.  All are full casters.  The group can adapt pretty well in any given combat, and remarkably well given a day's notice.

Seconded. You don't need a meatshield because A.) you have a druid and B.) your conjurer can create his own meatshields. Trapfinding and face-duty is taken care of by the beguiler. You have enough skill points (and varying class skills) between the four of you to do pretty much whatever the hell you want. The Druid handles survival and nature-based skills. The Conjurer does all the knowledge-monkeying. The Cleric does whatever his domains encourage him to do, or becomes another knowledge-monkey if he's an Archivist (you can never have too many knowledge monkeys). The Beguiler does everything else.

SR should pose no problem, since the Conjurer's packing a metric crapton of SR: No spells. Three outta four are capable summoners - the cleric should concentrate on building up an army of walking dead, the druid brings in a pissed-off animal platoon, while the Conjurer bends planar denizens to his will.

Of course, if you want me to answer the ACTUAL question, it comes down to:

Factotum (most flexible base class in the game)
Binder (second-most flexible)
Bard (hey, jacks-of-all-trades are known for their adaptability)
Artificer (arguably not dependent on high-level spellcasting).

They all have tons of skills, at least two have permanent trapfinding (while another can get it). Each one has some spellcasting (nothing that really breaks the game, though, except for possibly the Artificer) and decent combat ability (all having at least medium progression). You could easily replace any of them with a Beguiler, since they're not exactly a tier 1 caster to begin with and are incredibly versatile as well, but they do rely on their spells and so I did not include them in the primary list.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2009, 12:59:18 AM by Gnorman »

dark_samuari

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #22 on: December 16, 2009, 01:23:23 AM »
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RobbyPants

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #23 on: December 16, 2009, 10:58:56 AM »
Note that the OP asked that this be done without powerful spellcasting, so using Cleric here is basically cheating.
I totally missed that line.  I guess that invalidates my party.
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Operation Shoestring

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #24 on: December 16, 2009, 04:57:30 PM »
no high power casters?

Hmn...

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Endarire

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #25 on: December 16, 2009, 07:12:48 PM »
Clerics are spiffy, but their spells are meant to heal/buff the party/rebuked undead, letting Clerics be single-classed gishes.

A Wizard with the proper spell preps can either end battles or trivialize them sooner than the Cleric, though he lacks DMM.
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KellKheraptis

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #26 on: December 16, 2009, 07:38:36 PM »
Hmm...how about :

Factotum : Absolutely anything with proper abuse of their capstone

Totemist : Melee, scout, ranged (since the Facty can reformat his feats at a moments notice if need be, he can swap between melee and ranged feats even), skillmonkey

Mystic Ranger : Same as the Facty, he's a one man army.

Binder : Capable of filling all kinds of roles, and the one hard one (trap finder) is easily done by the other three.  Hell, if binders can summon at all, they've got that covered too (gogo Dead Celestial Monkey!)
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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #27 on: December 16, 2009, 08:17:26 PM »
Yeah, I suppose
Factotum
Factotum/Chameleon
Sharn Mystic Theurge or Factotum
Spellthief (using bloodline + uncanny trickster + legacy champion to steal 9th level slas)

Is probably the most adaptable.

Spellthief + sharn = as many favored soul /sorcerer SLAs as you want. 
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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #28 on: December 16, 2009, 10:37:17 PM »
Hmm...how about :

Factotum : Absolutely anything with proper abuse of their capstone

Totemist : Melee, scout, ranged (since the Facty can reformat his feats at a moments notice if need be, he can swap between melee and ranged feats even), skillmonkey

Mystic Ranger : Same as the Facty, he's a one man army.

Binder : Capable of filling all kinds of roles, and the one hard one (trap finder) is easily done by the other three.  Hell, if binders can bind the proper vestige to summon at all, they've got that covered too (gogo Dead Celestial Psuedonatural Monkey!)
Fixed for ya.  Zercyll is wonderful like that.
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KellKheraptis

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #29 on: December 16, 2009, 11:30:52 PM »
Hmm...how about :

Factotum : Absolutely anything with proper abuse of their capstone

Totemist : Melee, scout, ranged (since the Facty can reformat his feats at a moments notice if need be, he can swap between melee and ranged feats even), skillmonkey

Mystic Ranger : Same as the Facty, he's a one man army.

Binder : Capable of filling all kinds of roles, and the one hard one (trap finder) is easily done by the other three.  Hell, if binders can bind the proper vestige to summon at all, they've got that covered too (gogo Dead Celestial Psuedonatural Monkey!)
Fixed for ya.  Zercyll is wonderful like that.

Cool, something to remember for my Erudite if he feels like being fancy about his spells for the day (i.e. Linked Power ~> Converted Miracle from a Mantle ~> Emulate binding with a free greater effect).  Pseudonatural works even better too, what with all the tentacles :P
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Havok4

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #30 on: December 16, 2009, 11:52:39 PM »
Hmm...how about :

Factotum : Absolutely anything with proper abuse of their capstone

Totemist : Melee, scout, ranged (since the Facty can reformat his feats at a moments notice if need be, he can swap between melee and ranged feats even), skillmonkey

Mystic Ranger : Same as the Facty, he's a one man army.

Binder : Capable of filling all kinds of roles, and the one hard one (trap finder) is easily done by the other three.  Hell, if binders can bind the proper vestige to summon at all, they've got that covered too (gogo Dead Celestial Psuedonatural Monkey!)
Fixed for ya.  Zercyll is wonderful like that.
Actually they end up being Celestial and Psuedonatural due to the way zercyll is written.

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #31 on: December 17, 2009, 12:10:05 AM »
I personally enjoy a swordsage/factotum (/chameleon)/shaper (/constructor)/druid group. Granted, it has a mix of tiers 1, 2, and 3, but it's capable of getting anywhere and doing anything, and only the druid is an actual spellcaster (psionics =/= spells). :P
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snakeman830

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Re: The Most Adaptable Party
« Reply #32 on: December 17, 2009, 12:34:31 AM »
Hmm...how about :

Factotum : Absolutely anything with proper abuse of their capstone

Totemist : Melee, scout, ranged (since the Facty can reformat his feats at a moments notice if need be, he can swap between melee and ranged feats even), skillmonkey

Mystic Ranger : Same as the Facty, he's a one man army.

Binder : Capable of filling all kinds of roles, and the one hard one (trap finder) is easily done by the other three.  Hell, if binders can bind the proper vestige to summon at all, they've got that covered too (gogo Dead Celestial Psuedonatural Monkey!)
Fixed for ya.  Zercyll is wonderful like that.

Cool, something to remember for my Erudite if he feels like being fancy about his spells for the day (i.e. Linked Power ~> Converted Miracle from a Mantle ~> Emulate binding with a free greater effect).  Pseudonatural works even better too, what with all the tentacles :P
Keep in mind it's the Psudonatural template in Complete Arcane, not ELH.

But yeah, Zercyll is absolutely amazing.
I am constantly amazed by how many DM's ban Tomb of Battle.  The book doesn't even exist!

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That explains so much about my life.
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If using Genesis to hide your phylactry, set it at -300 degrees farenheit.  See how do-gooders fare with a liquid atmosphere.