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Magness · 12-27-2005, 10:01 PM

ImperiumRomanum, here's my take.

Definitely go with a Sorc as your primary arcane spellcaster/nuker. Sorcerors are awesome nukers when you know what spells you like to use.

As far as tanks...

I love to have a paladin in my parties. Pallies are fairly magic resistant, due to their rather high Save rolls and their Divine Grace save bonuses. And they make very, very solid front line tanks. You can go for the Ftr 4 with a pally or not. A pure pally isn't really hurt all that much by going "pure class".

A barb X/ftr 4 is a great monsterkiller and tanking teammate for a pally. He'll probably end up with more kills than the pally. (This has always seemed to be the case for me, at least.)

Most any cleric type will work out. Tempus cleric are great for backup melee tanks. Loremasters of Oghma are very nice with their high level domain spells. And you can never go wrong with Lathander.

Don't feel that you cannot play a pureclass rogue. it may not be the powergamer's choice, but a pure rogue can be surprisingly potent in melee. Not as a meatwall tank, but as a sneak attacking specialist who runs around the battlefield looking for chances to jab enemies in their backs. That said, if you don't like to micromanage your battles, you may not want to deal with a pure rogue. Rogues need to stab and run, not hang in the melee wall with the tanks swinging at whatever's in front of them for the entire battle.

My favorite parties have always been a couple of pure melee tanks, a rogue of some flavor (pure class or multiclassed), a sorc, a cleric, and some sort of utility character.

The "utility" character tends to be one that best fits your own individual playing style. I tend to be very much into stealthy tactics and will often take a ranger that I've optimized for stealth and archery, with high DEX and medium STR and CON. I like to team up my rogue with my ranger for stealthy hit & run tactics.

OTOH, if you're not all that stealthy, maybe a druid or a wizard might make for a more magical backup for your sorc. A wizard would give you an arcane mage who could fill in the holes in your sorc's spellbook and cast the nice spells that aren't really suited to a "nuker" sorc. OTOH, a druid would provide a 2nd healer, another decent backup warrior, and additional spellcasting.

Or you could always go for a bard. I'm not a great fan of bards and don't realy know how to get the most out of them. But there are some people who love'em.

12-27-2005, 10:01 PM	#6
Magness Quintesson Join Date: January 7, 2001 Location: Manchester, NH, USA Posts: 1,025	ImperiumRomanum, here's my take. Definitely go with a Sorc as your primary arcane spellcaster/nuker. Sorcerors are awesome nukers when you know what spells you like to use. As far as tanks... I love to have a paladin in my parties. Pallies are fairly magic resistant, due to their rather high Save rolls and their Divine Grace save bonuses. And they make very, very solid front line tanks. You can go for the Ftr 4 with a pally or not. A pure pally isn't really hurt all that much by going "pure class". A barb X/ftr 4 is a great monsterkiller and tanking teammate for a pally. He'll probably end up with more kills than the pally. (This has always seemed to be the case for me, at least.) Most any cleric type will work out. Tempus cleric are great for backup melee tanks. Loremasters of Oghma are very nice with their high level domain spells. And you can never go wrong with Lathander. Don't feel that you cannot play a pureclass rogue. it may not be the powergamer's choice, but a pure rogue can be surprisingly potent in melee. Not as a meatwall tank, but as a sneak attacking specialist who runs around the battlefield looking for chances to jab enemies in their backs. That said, if you don't like to micromanage your battles, you may not want to deal with a pure rogue. Rogues need to stab and run, not hang in the melee wall with the tanks swinging at whatever's in front of them for the entire battle. My favorite parties have always been a couple of pure melee tanks, a rogue of some flavor (pure class or multiclassed), a sorc, a cleric, and some sort of utility character. The "utility" character tends to be one that best fits your own individual playing style. I tend to be very much into stealthy tactics and will often take a ranger that I've optimized for stealth and archery, with high DEX and medium STR and CON. I like to team up my rogue with my ranger for stealthy hit & run tactics. OTOH, if you're not all that stealthy, maybe a druid or a wizard might make for a more magical backup for your sorc. A wizard would give you an arcane mage who could fill in the holes in your sorc's spellbook and cast the nice spells that aren't really suited to a "nuker" sorc. OTOH, a druid would provide a 2nd healer, another decent backup warrior, and additional spellcasting. Or you could always go for a bard. I'm not a great fan of bards and don't realy know how to get the most out of them. But there are some people who love'em.