Search function here is horribad, so new thread.

I'm playing as a Neutral Good Sorcerer. Was mighty tough to create the character given all the options, so I went with something I used with some success in BG2 many years ago. Prefer to have a set group of people and not swap them out constantly, so I wonder about the balance of the group. So far I have used:

-MC Sorcerer
-Valerie
-Amiri
-Harrim
-Linzi
-Tristian

This has felt fairly balanced, and we have have 3 people that can do a job in melee, with Harrim usually staying back a bit first and using some spells. Tristian doesn't do much outside of healing in between combat tbh, but he throws the odd fireball and spawns some skeletons.

I like this group, but I've also been thinking about including Octavia. I hear she's really good, and would probably fit with my good-ish group. However, if I swap out Harrim for Octavia, will we no longer be able to hold our own in melee?

Only just started chapter 2 after dealing with the trolls yesterday evening (that last fight was crazy), and at times it felt needed to have 3 melees. Even with that, some owlbears tore us to shreds, and I'd never have beaten that troll chap without a horde of skeletons.

What I therefore wonder is if a group with Sorcerer, Valerie, Amiri, Linzi, Tristian and Octavia will be strong enough, or if it will be too heavy towards the spells casting type. I've looked at Ekun too, but if that wolf-dog thing of his keeps barking, it's a total no-go. I can't stand those noises. Otherwise he seems like a good character and a good bow user might be nice.

So then... (sorry for the wall)... suggestions and advice?

Just naming the companion does little when it comes to composition. Valerie alone can be built in at least 5-6 tangibly different ways. Amiri too... Same goes for linzy. Harrim does little when it comes to melee. You'd need a lot of crutches to make him ok-ish there.

As to your question: you need 2 tanks 1-2 reach. 1 utility+control arcane caster, 1 cleric, 1 bard, 1-2 ranged, some off-tanks, at least 2 damage dealers. alchemist, 2 elemental burst sources... Having a booter on top of the above won't hurt either and you'd probably want 3-4 characters with high perception and 3 high trickery ones. if you don't like excessive save-scumming. mix an match the above however you want between your group.

That's the good scenario. The game is beatable with whatever you feel like playing, so do what you want.

For difficulty hard and lower

I will go for either Harrim or Tristian but definitely not both. Tristian if you want more healing and a secondary nuker or Harrim for a offtank or a melee enlarge greataxe(or reach) cleric.

As for Octavia, since your main his a sorcerer i will not bring her along as her basic full caster arcane trickster for sure.

Overall i think your group as it is need more physical damage and trading Ekun for one of the two cleric is probably a good idea, but if you like your current group then just keep it.

Thank you both for the replies. InEffect's requirements sound a bit impossible, but then I'm no expert. For context, I have leveled them up in whatever class they were. It seemed easiest, and I'm not a big fan of all these one-level dips here and there. Too gamey. Besides, I'm brand new to Pathfinder, and 3.5 for that matter, so I want things to be manageable. Too many factors to consider otherwise. Maybe in later playthroughs I can be more cheesy.

Sounds like swapping out Harrim for Octavia is a bad idea, though. The three of Valerie, Amiri and Harrim do a good job melee wise for now (but I don't know what comes up later in the game ofc). Amiri goes down a lot, but while up she chunks enemies right and left.

Ekun could have been a good replacement I suppose. I can try him out. But if that beast of his starts barking, he's out asap.

I'm playing on normal difficulty btw, which has for the most part been fine. Some party wipes here and there, but not terribly often. Given the options, and that I want to keep Linzi, maybe best to stick with what I have? I get the advice about not having both of Tristian and Harrim, but it feels wrong to drop Tristian, he's a good healer, and it also sounds like I need what melee capabilities Harrim brings to the group.

Oh well. Hopefully this is less of an issue in the next game. I saw one companion will be a Paladin, so that's a great tank right off the bat.

Even with default party it's very much possible. Val bard+Amiri Booter=2 tanks. Harrim with a polearm or a longspear for backline. MC covering CC and arcane needs. Jubi for alchemist, sacred abadar/nobility ekun for even more support and a doge to cover the off-tanking needs. Done. Every box checked.

Jubilost would annoy me way too much, and since I play on normal I should think it's not necessary with such high levels of perfectionism/min-maxing.

Looking at Jaethal, she looks pretty good actually. Shame about the awkwardness of healing, but maybe I can try her out, as a substitute for Harrim. Haven't leveled any of my other characters yet, so she's stuck on level 1 :D Looks like she might be a better fighter than Harrim, though I'm not sure how hitpoints will play out given she's undead and lacks CON.

By the way, is it possible to reset the characters in some way, and start from whatever they were in the game? I wouldn't want a total clean slate and turn Amiri into an Elf Wizard or something. But being able to redo some of the inevitable mistakes would be nice. Especially if I figure out down the road that we are too weak.

I believe, respec cost increases by 10k each time (after 3 free respecs are used), so 4-th costs 10k, 5-th costs 20k, and so on.

well... you've asked for an advice. On normal you can do whatever so long as it vaguely makes sense and would still be able to autoattack everything to death, if you just buff, so the whole thing is rather redundant. truth to be told.

Decided to try out Jaethal, and eventually swap her for Harrim. Since my non-used characters hadn't been leveled, and InEffect's build for Jaethal looked pretty clean, I decided to try it out. A pain to heal her, but she has definitely been more useful than Harrim was, and is chunking enemies right and left (probably helped by the free opportunities to attack and a dex belt (hopefully I find another CHA later). She's been specced into Fauchard, but I'm yet to find one, so she is using one of the oversized greataxes or earth hammers or some such thing, with additional damage. Works well. However, when will we come across some decent fauchards in the game?

So with that, I'm running (everybody pure class, apart from the dip into fighter in the Jaethal build guide):
-Sorcerer (mostly damage, crossbow in easy combat)
-Valerie (tank)
-Amiri (damage)
-Jaethal (damage, plus the odd skelly army)
-Linzi (buffs, crossbow)
-Tristian (healing, some buffs, crossbow)

A pain to heal Jaethal, but at least she doesn't take damage from Tristian's heals now, as we are level 8-9.

Shield spell on the sorcerer was a mistake and I later picked up Mage armor, but at least they stack, so that is an option for some tough battles. Won't re-spec, though, unless I run into huge problems down the road somewhere. Don't think I've messed up too badly, and a sorcerer does give some leeway.

Somewhat spoilery images since I'm about to start on the chapter after the Bloom, but wanted to post some as this is awesome. Despite some build mistakes, when things come together the characters can really pull their weight. Valerie is great as a tank, and allows Amiri and Jaethal to smash foes. Just pray they don't get targeted, because both will go down fast. Jaethal does a 97 crit here, which is insane.

Some of the combat is actually pretty easy now, because these three will destroy foes in a round or two. And then there is Linzi buffing with singing, and at times doing pretty good damage with a heavy crossbow, which I sometimes boost with vitals for sneak attack (good against foes with high DR). Tristian is really only good for healing, but that is needed too. My main character is a sorcerer who got a robe with what seems totally OP: maximise metamagic without raising the spell level of the spells. "Only" 6 a day, but one fireball will do 60 damage now, which is kinda nuts.

So yeah... loving the game so far. Can see myself replaying this a lot, and maybe up the difficulty from normal to hard next time.

I like this group, and it feels pretty balanced in terms of what they can do, and complement each other fairly well. When Valerie goes down we are in deep shit, but thankfully it doesn't happen too frequently. We are up to level 11 now, and I decided to start giving Valerie Stalwart defender levels. Didn't look like she would get all that much joy out of continuing up the Tower shield line, and Stalwart defender seems to fit her role and personality quite well.

Jaethal never took damage from Tristan's aoe heal. He comes with the "selective channel" feat baked in before you acquire him.