Post/Author/DateTime	Post
April Ethereal 12-15-05, 04:11 PM	I would like to see what my fellow forum-goers consider the coolest and most balanced non-core classes are. I always loved the Sohei from Oriental Adventures though they never got much love. They are a really neat combination of Barbarian, Monk, and Paladin that just made me want to flip all over the place and kill things. I also thought the Warlock from the complete Arcane and the Artificer from Ebberon were pretty neat, as they are completely different and unique from the standard classes and are both way fun to play as well.
Milo HoBo 12-15-05, 04:43 PM	The psion, phycic warrior, and wilder are all balanced and neato. Soulknife got hit with the nerf stick hard IMHO. Warlock, warmage, and artificer seem really neat and balanced. Ninja, hexblade, and spirit shaman as well. I think they could have toned down on the warlocks flavor to make him more vanilla, or even made it into a cleric type class (except that you choose heritage instead of domains). This would have taken a little bit more time, but would be best for the class. Incarnum classes were hit fairly hard with the nerf stick as well IMHO. The flavor and beautiful mechanics were nice, however. The simple act of adding better scaling soulmelds is all it takes to fix Incarnum. Spell theif is nice, but relies on being in an extremely high magic campaign to get the most out of the class. He is a great mage-slayer type character, but that is the only specialization he truely possesses. This is much better as a prestige class. Good gaming.
TrajanCavalous 12-15-05, 04:46 PM	The Artificer is cool but defnitely not balanced, imho. I've played a campaign with a fellow player who played an Artificer and played him very well. Was great adventuring alongside him but after a while using just the given rules the guys powers were way outta hand and the DM had to nerf things a bit. An Artificer who puts the spell research in and builds right is absurdly powerful. The Scout and Hexblade are I think two of the most balanced, well done classes in the non-core books. I like the Favored Soul a lot but consider it a little, only a little overpowered.
a_psh 12-15-05, 07:19 PM	I like the Artificer and Archivist. Both have had heaps of hatred tossed on them by folks who insist that they're ridiculously unbalanced, but I don't use any metamagic feats from crazy splatbooks, and only a handful of non-core spells at best, so I can't complain.
Tempest Stormwind 12-15-05, 07:43 PM	I like the Artificer and Archivist. Both have had heaps of hatred tossed on them by folks who insist that they're ridiculously unbalanced, but I don't use any metamagic feats from crazy splatbooks, and only a handful of non-core spells at best, so I can't complain. And this solves much of the artificer problem. (I always ban Persistent Spell, and I'm working on an effective Metamagic Item / Spell Trigger nerf. Beyond that, they're not as bad as you'd think.) My vote goes to the XPH classes -- Psion, Wilder, and Psychic Warrior. If you're using the soulknife, fix it first (see the two links in my sig for my favorite options -- note that I don't subscribe to Sztany's fixes in general. The BlaineTog fix is the one that the Psi boards generally considers standard, while the Sleek fix is a newer one that hasn't caught on as much.). They're fun in every regard. My favorites from the Completes are the Hexblade, the Warlock, and the Scout. Note that if you use Hexblades, or Warlocks, it really shows everyone just how underpowered the base fighter is. Scouts are a ranger/rogue mix. The Spirit Shaman I like, but haven't run or played as yet. If it turns out as good as it looks, congratulations, the Druid is being replaced in my games (since, to me, there's NO way a class could be THAT powerful. Seriously. Druid 20 and Artificer 20 are considered among the strongest characters on the CO boards. Even a CORE ONLY druid 20 can defeat nearly anything made with splatbooks.) The only base class I'd use from other printed sources would potentially be the Marshall from the MiniHB. If you include nonprinted sources, I'd throw in the Society Mind, which is undergoing transition from v0.99 to v1.0 at the moment. Yes, it's another psionic class. And we put as much care and concern into its balance as the authors of the XPH did -- which is to say, a LOT. (See the link in my sig.)
necrosnoop110 12-15-05, 07:47 PM	Warlock is my favorite class period.
a_psh 12-15-05, 08:16 PM	Oh, how could I forget the first time around? I really love the psion, wilder, and psychic warrior. Particularly the wilder, both because it's a nice generalist class with some nifty skills, some decent combat abilities, and some flavorful extra abilities, and because it forces you to work with such a small set of psychic powers: I think this is both flavorful and offers an interesting challenge from a strategic perspective.
Vaalingrade Ashland 12-15-05, 08:33 PM	I'm not personally a fan of the core classes introduced in the Complete Series, mostly for how thier concepts were implemeted than thier actual concepts. That says, Warlock, Scout and Hexblade are excellent classes (though Warlocks and Hexblades need thier alignment restrictions removed) From the XPH, I'm in love with the Soulknife even if I'm not a psi-fan. Its weaker than it could be, but it has potantial. Ghostwalk and Incarnum's core classes were't really enough to inspire me. The OA Samurai (not the crappy Complete Series version) is another excellent class.