Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Slider33 02-27-07, 11:24 PM	I can't help but to be this way due to some past experiences, but I'm always suspicious of incorporating material from supplemental sources unless I have the book myself and can read it for myself. As a DM, I don't allow material in which I don't have access to the book, but since I'm a player in this campaign I don't make the rules. One guy in our group has the Tome of Magic, and is playing a Binder (Pact magic stuff). Honestly I don't know all that much about it, but no one else has the book, and most everyone else is playing a core class with the exception of the Dragon Shaman from the PB 2. The part that bugs me is that I can't shake the feeling that his character is, frankly, unbalanced. Since I know nothing about pact magic or the rules that apply to him, I don't know whether this is true. Another thing that bugs me is that he's the only one that does know the rules (don't think the DM does) or has the book for that matter. This scenario is familar with me, same said guy was allowed to play with the psionics rules once but ended up every single rule on psionics was butchered and thus completely broken, ruining the adventure. The only thing I have to go on is when he makes comments like "I'm a level 3 but I'm summoning level 5 vestiges, etc. etc.". That kind of comment makes me very skeptical. Am I just being paranoid, or do you sense some rules violations here? Is this class fair and balanced?
Tempest Stormwind 02-27-07, 11:31 PM	I get the feeling he's doing to pact magic what he did to psionics. A 3rd level binder has access to 2nd level vestiges, and can only bind one at a time (I can assume that he's trying to bind more than one at a time anyway). If he has the Improved Binding feat (which several binders take) he can get up to 3rd level vestiges, but still only one at a time. Generally, Tome of Magic material is either perfectly fine (Pact magic in particular), horribly weak (Shadow), or freaking broken (Truenaming -- if you have no Truespeech-boosting items, you're next to worthless, but if you do, the primary counter to your powers is trivial). Pact shines in that it's both well-done mechanically and dripping with its own unique flavor while filling a unique niche (flavor-wise, they're the best representation of historical Goetia ever published, and mechanically they fill an expert role that can specialize from day to day (or sooner, with a feat) to fill more needs for the party).
Slider33 02-27-07, 11:39 PM	Yes Improved Binding feat, that sounds familiar. Maybe that's what he meant by the "level 5" thing. I'm assuming this is like spell progression when a wizard gets level 3 spells at level 5. Well that does make me feel better, although I do wish more of us knew the rules to provide a little bit of "oversight" ya know.
Tempest Stormwind 02-27-07, 11:43 PM	Yes Improved Binding feat, that sounds familiar. Maybe that's what he meant by the "level 5" thing. I'm assuming this is like spell progression when a wizard gets level 3 spells at level 5. Well that does make me feel better, although I do wish more of us knew the rules to provide a little bit of "oversight" ya know. It is effectively similar to spell progression, except it eventually slows down -- the highest level vestiges are 8th level, and they show up at 17th level. I'd highly recommend asking him to bring his book to the next session and look through it. Do note that essentially all of the binder's best abilities are available only once every 5 rounds. For more information, head over to the CO boards and look in the stickies for the handbooks -- the Pact Magic handbook is quite helpful.
Slider33 02-27-07, 11:58 PM	Hey thanks for pointing me in the direction of that information! Definitely going to give it a read, I appreciate the help!