Post/Author/DateTime	Post
FeceMan 09-13-06, 05:54 PM	I'm just wondering, does Skip actually believe what he's writing, or does he just put words on the page to fill space? Fairly Low Attack Bonus: A dragon shaman's base attack bonus is three points every four levels (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). That's a decent base attack bonus but not so great that the dragon shaman can easily hit every foe she faces in battle. Fairly Weak Armor Class: Duskblades are proficient with all types of armor and all shields except tower shields. They can build up formidable Armor Classes just by wearing armor. Unfortunately, most armor interferes with the duskblade's arcane spells, which limits the character's Armor Class. To reduce this, the armored mage class feature allows a duskblade to avoid some arcane spell failure chances. Starting at 1st level, a duskblade can ignore the arcane spell failure chance from light armor or a light shield when casting a duskblade spell. Starting at 4th level, this power extends to medium armor. At 7th level this power extends to heavy shields. *Sighs.* Easy Qualification: It is easy to qualify to become a mystic theurge: you only require six ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (religion), and the ability to cast 2nd-level arcane and divine spells. Therefore, a cleric 3/wizard 3 or a cleric 3/sorcerer 4 could easily qualify for this prestige class. It's harder for a bard to qualify for this class (he needs to reach 4th level to do so, to meet the arcane requirement) but bard/mystic theurges make great support characters fully able to use their bardic music and spells to boost their companions. First of all, last time I check, mystic theurge levels didn't stack with bard levels to determine bardic music abilities. (Which is why the fochlucan lyrist is leagues ahead of it.) Secondly, a sorcerer has to wait the same amount of time as a bard to get into the mystic theurge PrC. High Skill Points: Psions receive a mere two skill points per level, but don't let that fool you. Psions have high Intelligence scores (because Intelligence governs their psychic abilities), and a high Intelligence score boosts the number of skill points they have available. "A character that has 1/2 BAB might look bad, but he's okay because he has high STR." Next up, we'll have a quick comparison: Fair Hit Points: A beguiler has 6-sided hit dice, which generate a decent hit point total for an arcane spellcaster. Fair Armor Class: Beguilers are proficient with light armor but not with shields. Light armor does not impose an arcane spell failure chance on beguiler spells (arcane spells you have from another class don't get this benefit from the beguiler class). Light armor isn't great protection, but it gives you a decent Armor Class for an arcane spellcaster. vs. Fairly Low Hit Points: The psychic warrior has eight-sided hit dice, which give him a respectable hit point total but not so many hit points that he can outlast a formidable opponent. A psychic warrior can make up for his lack of hit points by bolstering his personal defenses or even healing himself with psionic powers, but doing so takes time and drains the psychic warrior's psionic resources. Fairly Low Armor Class: A dragon shaman is proficient only with light and medium armor and with shields (but not tower shields). This gives a dragon shaman a decent Armor Class (especially once the class's natural armor feature kicks in), but not a great one for a character who likes to get into the thick of things. Illustrating my point more completely, however, is this gem: Fairly Low Hit Points: The dread necromancer gains only 6-sided hit dice. That gives you a few more hit points that most arcane spellcasters have but still leaves you vulnerable during a battle. But, wait! There's more! Mediocre Hit Points: The warmage's 6-sided Hit Dice give him more hit points than most arcane spellcasters have, but not enough to withstand really heavy punishment. Fair, fairly low, mediocre? All for the exact same thing? Low Mobility: A knight's reliance on heavy armor makes her a slow mover on the battlefield, though the armor mastery power makes this disadvantage disappear eventually. :rolleyes: But, the best of the best: Good Spell Selection: The wu jen spell list is a little different from the wizard's, but it has the same power and depth. Also like a wizard, a wu jen can learn any spell from the list (subject to the limits imposed by the wu jen's class level) and record it in a spell book. That's probably the best joke I've heard in awhile. Skip: stop trying to make crap classes sound good and making good classes sound weak. Worry less about putting words on the page and more about whether or not you're accurately representing the class.
thasis 09-13-06, 07:18 PM	*Shrugs* I guess it's all up to the individual reader to decide whether his words are useful to his campaign (and agree with your playing style). Personally I think all of his advice might be useful to n00bs, but to people who play the game as veterns it's a joke. I consider myself a vetern of the 3e (as I've been playing since just before 3e came out) and I dunno, it's kinnda boring to me and generally unuseful.