Tiltowait wrote:Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advice. Especially hotrod for the extensive details.
Part of my decision will be up to the dice gods
a triple 1 in the wrong stat may preclude one occ over another.
I am strongly leaning towards mind mage (if I get the stats).
Not looking for dominating combat (that’s Mr. Barbarian or Warlock’s forte.). I figure a mind mage can help debuff (evil eye), find clues for our missing folks (object read), get by guards (invis or suggestion), or over walls (levitation/tk). But MMages are pretty much bingo on skills so he will leave lores to the wizard and outdoors to the barbarian. I’ll assign some kind of domestic skill (cook!) so at least he can contribute something to the survival side of things...and if there is room, grab a healing power or two.
Ranger is also a good candidate...though not sure how that will mesh with a barb in the group.
Mind mage is a great choice. A few thoughts for you regarding skills and race:
1. Be careful what you choose as O.C.C. Related skills vs Secondary skills. You get 5 O.C.C. Related and 4 secondary skills starting out. As a general rule for any character, I recommend you take % skills as your O.C.C. Related skills. Use secondary skills for your stat-boosting physical skills, W.P.'s, and hand-to-hand upgrades. In your case, Mind Mages get so few skill bonuses in their O.C.C. skills that this doesn't matter as much.
2. Think about how you want to contribute to a fight. Sure, you will have your psionics, but you will also have to worry about your I.S.P. pool. When you need to conserve I.S.P., or when you run out, you'll have to rely on your regular combat abilities. Mind Mages get two weapon proficiencies in their O.C.C. skills.
2a. One good approach is to
focus on doing as much damage as possible while the dedicated fighters keep the foe's attention. This will help your party win fights quickly and efficiently. If you want to be able to do a lot of damage fast, take W.P. Battle Axe and W.P. Paired Weapons. At level one, a dual strike will do 6D6 base damage, and at level 2, a dual strike will do 8D6 damage! Wham! The downside is that your character won't be very good on defense; parry bonuses from battle axes aren't good, and dual strikes mean you give up your automatic parry. Still, against a single foe, you can simultaneously parry/attack, and your ability to speed up combat without stealing the thunder and important role of the dedicated melee fighters is something most of the party should appreciate.
2b. Another good approach is to stay back a bit and
focus on disabling attacks that give your party a major advantage in combat. For this approach, I suggest you take W.P. net and Targeting. Nets thrown one over a foe's head gives your party complete freedom to beat them down for several melees. Since that's a one-shot approach, I'd also take Use Poison and carry lots of thrown weapons (darts, for instance) smeared with one of the many disabling toxins (see the Alchemy section for details). The idea here is to stand back and make things easier for your melee fighters. W.P. Whip can also be useful for entangling your enemy's weapon arm while the fighters attack.
2c. If you want to
optimize your character for melee combat, you can take 4: Athletics, Body Building, Boxing, and Running. Together these skills will up your S.D.C. enough that you shouldn't have to worry about dying quickly, and the other bonuses will help you hit more often and harder. Good races to consider for optimizing your melee fighting abilities: Wolfen (giant size, claw attacks), Dwarves (extra strength=more damage), Centaurs (giant size & combat bonuses), Rahu-Men (giant + 4 arms), and Werebeasts (immune to normal weapons, extra tough, and lots of useful natural abilities). I'd check with your GM before picking any of those last three; they're quite powerful and may create problems by having you be more effective at fighting than the dedicated fighters.
3. Some skills can be useful both inside and outside of combat. Breed Dogs can be a great way to justify having a canine companion who's useful for tracking, guarding (they're great at detecting supernatural threats), and helping in combat (pounce attacks and chomping). Horsemanship is useful for travel, early warning systems (horses are sensitive to supernatural threats), and for combat bonuses while mounted. Use Poison is handy in combat (see above) and for detecting/using poison in a non-combat scenario (drinks, food, et cetera).
4. You should also
do some thinking about more mundane skills that hare handy in the party's adventuring environments, especially if others in the party don't have them.
4a.
In the countryside, Cooking, botany, Land Navigation, and Wilderness Survival can help sustain your party and get them where they need to go. Kankoran and Werebeasts are good choices if you want to optimize your character for the wild.
4b. In villages, towns, and cities, you want skills that open doors and get tongues wagging. Streetwise can help you find people, and languages are obviously useful (though you already start with three). The best races for urban environments tend to be the most common ones. Humans are probably the most common overall, but having a changeling could help you fit in just about anywhere.
4c. You could also
make your mind mage to be useful on sea voyages. Sailing, Astronomy & Navigation, Rope Works, Swimming, Fishing, and General Repair are all handy for sea voyages. You won't be as good as a proper sailor, pirate, or mariner, but you'll be useful. Lizard Men are a good choice for water-based adventures.
5. Finally, you might want to
consider having some kind of trade, business, or specialization of other non-combat skills for your character.
5a.
Consider giving your character a legitimate trade. All you need to do is take one or two skills (or take the same skill twice) to give your character the ability to make money, socialize, and give you a cover story as a useful person and not a suspicious adventurer. For example, select Art twice and be a painter, or select sewing twice and be a tailor.
5b. You could also
optimize your character's trade to make him/her a into a performer/bard. The only complete category of skill you get bonuses in for your O.C.C. Related skills is Communication, so this is a fairly natural fit. Play Musical Instrument, singing, writing, public speaking). If you plan to do adventuring in or around settlements/towns, this can be useful (free room/board at inns, people like talking with you, et cetera). A high M.A. and PB are useful for this approach.
5c. You also might consider taking some skills to
be a good spy/thief. Prowl, Concealment, Locate Secret Compartments/doors, Palming, Pick Locks, Pick Pockets, and Literacy are all useful for a sneaky thief or spy, and with psionics, you could be a proper terror. With the exception of the Intelligence and Literacy skills, none of these will have bonuses, but if your party lacks these abilities, they can be useful. Races that can shapeshift make excellent spies and thieves: Changelings, Goblin Cobblers, and Dwarvlings would be optimal choices.
Whatever you decide, you should probably discuss it with your GM and the other players. Have fun creating your character!
my favorite race-class idea for Jeridu is to pair them up with the "Juggler/Knife Thrower" OCC. Just think of it with the Jeridu's natural ability to use each of their arms at the same time. Six knives throw at targets with just one APM use. Some people might dispute this statement, but reading the text "as is" saying something different is just saying a house rule.
This is fine I was finding the races in there to be a bit over the top...
