I want to make a new party but first I'd like some advice on what feats to pick at which level for each class that I plan on using. Barbarian Fighter Monk Cleric Wizard Sorcerer
Make everyone Human and give everyone Improved Initiative. Going first is just that good. On your Cleric and Wizard, have them take Craft Wondrous Item at level 3. Have the Wizard take Craft Magic Arms & Armor at L5 and the Cleric at 6. Forge Ring may also be worth it at level 12 for your Cleric to create Rings of Protection, Rings of Major Energy Resistance, and Rings of Freedom of Movement. Anyone going melee should use a Longspear (simple weapon) or a Glaive (martial weapon) due to having extra reach and take the feat Combat Reflexes. Have your arcane casters (Sor and Wiz) learn enlarge person to make every melee fighter bigger. This means more attacks of opportunity from your team to your foes. This means enemies throw themselves at you and die by stupidity. Your melees should also take Power attack and Cleave. Great Cleave may also be worth it. If you're OK with spoilers, check this post about a team I'm planning for a psuedo-ironman run. With limited lives, my team composition matters much more.
With all due respect I would avoid taking it that early only due to the fact that you won't have nearly the amount of gold to craft what you want. Later in the game your crafters should have more than enough gold (and spare XP's) to make multiple items at once. I do agree with Improved Initiative for everyone though. In order: Barbarian- Weapon Focus with emphasis on any of the holy/unholy weapons you can find in the game. Look to eventually get Great Cleave. Fighter- same as Barbarian but you'll also want to get Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical and Greater Weapon Focus with focus on longsword, greatsword or bastard sword Monk- haven't played a lot of monks but there is a great thread about them in the archives. Still, I'd say Unarmed Strike, Two Weapon Fighting & Defense, Dodge, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist and Whirlwind Attack among others feats Cleric- Improved Turning (depending on your alignment) Craft Wondrous Item at 5th level, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, metamagic feat of your choice Wizard- Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Craft Wondrous Item at 5th level, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, metamagic feat of choice Sorcerer- Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, metamagic feat of choice. I never use sorcerers as crafters. Because of their limited spell selection when they gain levels I don't want them to trail the rest of the pary as far as gaining XP's. I also tend to use them for mass damage and protection spells so getting to Fireball, Protection from Elements and above as fast as possible is what I aim for...
It doesn't stack with Greater Turning or something (ie your Greater Turning isn't a level higher with Improved Turning)? I always go Improved Turning first myself... For a Wizard I tend to go Point Blank Shot / Precise Shot first, because both come in handy for Ray of Enfeeblement and others, Metamagic and crafting don't really come into it til later, and a low level wizard spends far more time in melee support (ie with his crossbow or whatever) than he does casting spells. You'll notice Spuggy comes with them. Others vehemently disagree.
I say Craft Wondrous at 3 so you can spend your level 6+ feat slots on stuff you want, like Spell Focus or metamagic. You can at least make a little bit of money from crafting wondrous items to sell.
Why waste the limited XP you get so early in the game by selling crafted items? By the time you can get this feat again at a higher level you'll have more than enough gold by selling all the gear and enchanted items you never use. If you're running with less than 5 characters I can see why you might do that as you have the XP pool divided over fewer characters so everyone will gain levels faster. Other than that you really don't need to take it so early IMO. Another reason for waiting is that you'll be able to craft gear with higher enhancements- why craft an item at only +2 and then go back and do it again at +6 when you can just wait until you can craft it at +6?
