Optimal PC Class?

[PhantomVector]

I guess this is a bit subjective, but what do you guys feel is the best class for the one character you can actually choose the stats for? A more competent frontliner fighter? Sorcerer/Wizard since the party lacks damage dealing arcane magic? Maybe another Cleric cause more healing is never a bad thing?

I've been having some fun with a Tower Shield Fighter/Kinetic Knight, though I'm not sure the multiclass will work out. Losing a lot of defensive bonuses if I don't level fighter too much, and losing damage from the kinetic blast, which is the primary damage dealer it seems. Or at least the one you use the most.

I'm tempted to fill in the arcane damage dealer, but it feels like even on normal my characters get merc'd way easy.

[Bottom of the Well]

Fighter,Rogue,Ranger are all stupidly op.

[KField]

I'd like to recommend Druid. You can get animal companion and barkskin spell which is pretty good buff at the early stage of the game(Druid LV 3), and most of his/her spells are not needed to be cast during combat. you can rather cast buff spells and summon spells before combat. In addition, Druid can be a hard tanker as well with its shapeshift ability and 1 level monk ability. Offense, Defense, Utility.. He's got almost everything in combat situation.

[wendigo211]

It depends on the difficulty level, personal playstyle, which companions you like to use and the size of the party. Personally, I've found an arcane tank to be the most useful character. Arcane damage dealers are good too, but the game gives you Octavia who isn't that far off how I'd build an arcane damage dealer.

[dwarfpcfan]

primary arcane spellcaster

[Wintermist]

Personal favourite is definately Druid. I can select my own alignment. I can summon things. I can turn into things. I can buff. I can do damage with both spells and melee, depending on what I fancy to focus on. Good all around with no heavy negatives.

[nym_moondown]

Full arcane (damage dealer oeconjurer...a pity there are schools not effectively supported as illusion or enchantment in this game), or Druid.
All the rest (or so) is covered by companions

[Game kNight Plays]

Whatever you feel like - I've got one where I play an Eldritch Archer and one where I'm a Vivisectionist. In the end, it's the party composition as a whole (unless you play solo) that matters...

[Bob of Mage]

I've found druid has worked as a fairly good claas for my PC. It has a useful mix of stuff, much of which isn't exactly the same as other classes so it can combo well. For example other classes don't get barkskin or stone spikes in their spell list.

Defender of the True World has a number of nice anti-fey buff, which really helps due to how many fey foes there are. Persuasion is also a class skill, which is useful due to there being a number of skill check that only the PC can make.

Feyspeaker uses CHA for spell casting and has Persuasion as a class skill so you can really double down on it for your PC. However it gets wild shape slower, and I think only has a BAB rate of 1/2 instead of 3/4. Great for a heavy caster style build, but not so much for a more middle ground one.

The animal companion is an insanely useful boon for your PC. During those few times when you lack a full party, having something else for foes to traget is very useful. You can even cheese the ambush by using your companion to trigger the cutscene while the PC is in a better spot for when the fighting starts.

[Beaghan]

Sorcerer, charisma based, animal companion if you do the Sylvan bloodline. You're a caster with your own tank. I rarely play casters but for this game and the gazillion persuasion checks I find this to be excellent.

[Faray]

I don't know what your goal is but Vivisectionist is pretty overpowered. Vivisectionist/Monk(2) is also an overpowered damage dealer that has more AC than most plate wearers if built right as well.

[Gravedancer]

Originally posted by PhantomVector:

I guess this is a bit subjective, but what do you guys feel is the best class for the one character you can actually choose the stats for? A more competent frontliner fighter? Sorcerer/Wizard since the party lacks damage dealing arcane magic? Maybe another Cleric cause more healing is never a bad thing?

I've been having some fun with a Tower Shield Fighter/Kinetic Knight, though I'm not sure the multiclass will work out. Losing a lot of defensive bonuses if I don't level fighter too much, and losing damage from the kinetic blast, which is the primary damage dealer it seems. Or at least the one you use the most.

I'm tempted to fill in the arcane damage dealer, but it feels like even on normal my characters get merc'd way easy.

My base party will usually look something like this, and I'll explain the reasons for the choices (and gaps) below:

Tank 1: Valerie (Fighter (TSS) 10/Stalwart Defender 10)
Tank 2:
DPS 1: Octavia (Rogue 1, Wizard 9, Arcane Trickster 10)
DPS 2: Ekundayo (or merc ranger) (Ranger 18/Rogue 2)
DPS 3:
Heals: Merc (or PC) Cleric of Erastil (Animal & Community domains)

It will really depend on what you want to do with the rest of the party (use companions, if so which, or use mercenaries you hire and create). For the record, the PC is not the "only character you can choose stats for". If you dont like a particular companions stats.. hire a merc. Its entirely possible to have multiple mercenaries hired even before fighting the stag lord.

I pretty much always use valerie as main tank on every playthrough, as shes just so good at it if you build her up well. I typically do Tower shield fighter 10/Stalwart Defender 10 on her. I will start her off with fighter levels until she meets the BAB prereq for Stalwart Defender, and then I will dump all 10 SD levels, and finally go back for the remaining few fighter levels at the end.

As I mentioned above, my primary heals is usually a mercenary cleric with animal and community domains. The animal domain gets a companion for added DPS (or possibly as offtank, allowing another companion for a 4th dps spot), and the community domain gives you the free heal that also removes fatigue,and scales somewhat as you level up. I will usually have this cleric equip a bow and put him in the middle of my formation, so that hes out of melee range (so as not to get beat on), but close enough that he can encompass everyone in a channel positive energy.

My main character I will usually go DPS, but I also did a paladin one time and used him as an offtank. You will also want at least one of your DPS characters to have some healing ability (Druid, Inquisitor, etc) so that you have some heals if your main healer happens to die. When looking at DPS, ranged DPS is almost always superior to Melee, so I generally use casters or ranged classes, and then let animal companions & valerie handle melee dps duties.

I always have at least one Ranger (usually just use Ekun, since of the stock companions he is the most useful without extensive tweaking). Whichever one you use, make sure you give them all of the "standard" ranged feats like Point blank shot, Deadly aim, Precise shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Clustered Shots (I dont usually take this one in tabletop, but I do here simply because of the number of enemies with damage reduction). If you have a spare feat slot, throw in boon companion so the Dog is more capable. I add in 2 levels of rogue for a couple reasons. The first one is that rogues in this adaptation are super powerful, mainly due to the interpretation of what constitutes a flanked opponent. In TT, positioning is important as an enemy is only flanked if there is someone directly opposite the attacker. Here, as long as there is someone else engaging the same target, they will get sneak attacked. The 2nd reason is that at rogue level 2 you get evasion, which helps offset most AOE attacks, and you also get a bonus feat (combat trick rogue talent).

I always use Octavia (1 Rogue, 9 Wizard, 10 arcane trixster) as Arcane trickster is OP as heck both in tabletop and here. When you get her, she will be Rogue 1/Wizard 1. I give her wizard levels with the next 2 levels, and make sure that you are upping her skills so that by the time you choose her 4th level skill ranks, she meets all the prereqs for Arcane Trickster. This also means that your 3rd level feat choice MUST be accomplished sneak attacker, as you need the 2nd die of sneak attack in order to start taking arcane trickster levels at 5. I take all 10 ArTrx levels, and then go back and take the remaining wizard levels afterward. ArTrx is awesome because unlike most prestige classes, you dont lose any spell progression from your caster class. And by taking accomplished sneak attacker, we only need a 1 level dip in Rogue, so she ends up as caster level 19 for her spells.

The remaining 2 spots are where my parties fluctuate from one playthrough to the next. What my main (PC) ends up being will largely dictate what the other spot is. The other factor is what pet I chose for the Cleric. Typically I will use a mastodon or other tanky pet, and let the pet off tank, meaning that my PC and the last party spot will both be DPS characters. As mentioned above, one of those 2 I will make something with some amount of healing capacity so that you have a backup heals. If you are playing with the difficulty set such that dead party members auto revive after combat, you may be able to get by without a backup healer, but some fights will be more difficult and you are more vulnerable to things like your one healer getting CC'd or just plain killed. Assuming you go with a DPS/Offheals, you would need something like a druid, inquisitor, alchemist, or bard (i wouldnt actually ever use a bard, but ymmv). The closest I ever came to using a bard was when I used Linzi with Bard 1/Sorcerer 19 and she was surprisingly good. Inquisitors are decent as ranged characters, as judgements, bane, and other class abilities work with ranged weapons as well as melee, although they are BAB challenged, and the items youd usually use to offset this (bracers of archery, for example) are bugged currently and dont apply their to-hit bonus properly. Other 2/3 BAB characters (druid, Eldritch archer, etc) will have the same issue, but it can for the most part be offset with buffs like heroism or by turning off Deadly aim and/or rapid shot (in that order) when shooting high AC enemies.

[Naked Granny]

Originally posted by Random Babum Katum:

Fighter,Rogue,Ranger are all stupidly op.

People have been saying this very often in these forums.

And it's true.

But I find it intensely amusing - because in the tabletop community the meme is that those three classes (and pre-Unchained Monk) are "literally useless"... Even though this game is an absolutely perfect mechanical implementation of the tabletop rules...

[Gravedancer]

Originally posted by Aunt Tony:

Originally posted by Random Babum Katum:

Fighter,Rogue,Ranger are all stupidly op.

People have been saying this very often in these forums.

And it's true.

But I find it intensely amusing - because in the tabletop community the meme is that those three classes (and pre-Unchained Monk) are "literally useless"... Even though this game is an absolutely perfect mechanical implementation of the tabletop rules...

People that say that in tabletop dont know how to play tabletop. Rogue I will say is more useful here than in tabletop simply because of the generous sneak attack/flank mechanics, but even in tabletop you can overcome the positioning issue with a level or 2 of arcanist (for dimension slide). Ranger is good, its just not as good as some of its offshoots (slayer for example) or a dual classed ranger/rogue. And fighter, its not so much that its not good its just.... bland if you are into min/maxing.

[belangf]

I've been having lot of fun with Eldritch Scoundrel (rogue archetypere). Slower sneak attack and spell progression than an Arcane Trickster, but I like being single class and getting the rogue talents.

[Gravedancer]

Originally posted by belangf:

I've been having lot of fun with Eldritch Scoundrel (rogue archetypere). Slower sneak attack and spell progression than an Arcane Trickster, but I like being single class and getting the rogue talents.

Ive considered one, but havent tried it yet. Im not convinved you wouldnt get better results with an Eldritch Archer with a level or 2 of rogue/vivisectionist.