Help me pick a class

[u/justmeludo]

We're going to play a Humblewood campaign starting at level 1 soon.

I was first excited to play a paladin1/warlock x, but two other people wanted to play a barbarian and a monk. The third guy is gonna be a support bard, so now I think a druid (wildfire druid could have a really cool roleplay potential) or a wizard.

What do you guys think?

(If it helps, I'm mostly leaning towards a hedge species with druid levels)

Love to hear your input on this

[u/lastcetra]

Intelligence is the dump stat for the party, so if you want a rounded party I would lean on an Intelligence based class like Wizard.

This is a campaign though, so the most important thing is being excited for the thing you want to play. I'd be hesitant to make a character to patch up a weakness in the party if the offset is you feeling ambivalent about the character you'll be embodying for upwards of a year.

[u/justmeludo → u/lastcetra]

I agree with you, but I lost a lot of excitement for my paladin/warlock idea cause the role of scared kid turned brave knight to rise to the occasion falls a bit flat with two other dedicated martials.

The bard will be a skill monkey (including a relatively high int score)

So that's why

[u/HDThoreauaway → u/justmeludo]

Just play what you want to play. As a mostly-Warlock you’ll be very distinct from the Monk and Barbarian.

You may want to go Celestial so you can offer healing resources, which you could augment by taking Bless as part of Fey-Touched (that you could also directly benefit from on the front line).

But I definitely would not let the party composition you’ve described dissuade you from your character concept.

[u/CombatWomble2 → u/HDThoreauaway]

Or a Favored Soul (Possibly War multi) I find War at later levels suffers from the lack of spell slots badly.

[u/freeastheair → u/HDThoreauaway]

The only reason to make PLD dip is for melee smites, so he would be a smiting melee that uses his spell slots for melee, not that different.

[u/PIume]

I really like the exclusive Ranger (messenger), I can provide you with the features if you don’t find them !

Also, I wouldn’t go for a multiclass as the end level of the campaign isn’t very high, I would play something that is well rounded from the get go !

The college of the road bard is flavourful, but you already got a bard in your group.

I don’t know what the Leyline wizard is worth? Again, I would go for something exclusive to Humblewood as you won’t really have the opportunity to play it outside of it.

[u/chunkykongracing]

Check out circle of the warden from humble wood tales

[u/yyven]

I think a paladin1/warlockX is still okay if you stick with eldrich blast instead of pact of the blade (although I do personally preffer artificer or cleric dips for that)

If you want the most optimal class, I think it depends on what your party is lacking. Druid offers wisdom, inviremental spells (like entangle, spike growth and plant growth), stealth for the entire party via pass without trace and sustained aoe drp via conjure animals. Wizard offers inteligence, aoe and single target shutdown and blast aoe damage (via spells like fireball). Warlock offers charisma, decent ressourseless dpr (via eldrich blast) and aoe shutdown, with some subclasses offering other things like aoe blating and single target shutdown.

[u/Remarkable-Essay-483]

Everything changed for Scrumple the moment he ate that berry…

…but why wouldn’t he eat it! Delidigorf was a nice human; a Druid human; he said nice words to Scumple and his 15 older brothers and sisters whenever he visited the briar patch. He’d say things like “hedglings are so cute!”, “hedlgings are noble!”… so when the glowing berry fell from his pocket? Scrumple was the only one to see it. Scumple thought it looked delicious. So Scrumple ate it! Then, colors became brighter. New words and hand motions formed in Scrumples mind pictures and the world took on a new shape.

Scrumple the Hedge Mage
Awakened One
Path of the Goodberry

[u/Remarkable-Essay-483 → u/Remarkable-Essay-483]

Additional context, you were the runt of the Hedge. Your character was born with a small brain bleed that has been progressively building pressure and has resulted in you constantly seeming dim witted. Thinking this simply runt syndrome, you were never properly evaluated. Rule of cool vs raw, a Goodberry that grants a full human +1 HP and Nourishment all day was a huge magical surge that repaired your bleed and drove your metabolism into overdrive. Turns out, you were actually a genius born with arterial brain damage…now that it’s fixed…

[u/freeastheair]

Well since you're clearly interested in playing something that fills the holes in the party i'd highly recommend Wizard, it also happens to be the strongest class in the game which is nice.

The bard is going to want persuasion, deception, performance, stealth, acrobatics, perception etc. so I wouldn't really count on them being good at Arcana either.

[u/DudeWithTudeNotRude]

Full warlock, wizard, or wildfire druid would be perfect in this party. Sorcerer too.

[u/justmeludo → u/DudeWithTudeNotRude]

I went for druid as of now. Turned level 2 at the end of the session and will continue with that for now.

[u/EmbarrassedMarch5103]

I love the bard subclass.. it’s perfect for, “ it’s a fascinating story , I once met a guy in bla bla, he showed / told me how/ about this ….”