Emergent's page

At first I hated it, but now I'm not so sure. I've noticed some people here like it. If anyone of them read this, help me understand.

See, for me the wizard is good at spells. A level 13 wizard has tremendous magic powers, but they don't beat a beefy level 3 barbarian in an arm wrestling match. Classes get better at what their class does, but not at what they don't.

What's the advantage of breaking that mold? My guess is that it opens up interesting class combinations. I also think someone pointed out that it allows the group combined to do things like sneak that they couldn't before. But that just seems to make all the classes run together.

It also bothers me because it means that the encounters must be tuned very carefully not to make everyone equally likely to succeed - those couple of points you get from Legendary better pay off. But a single d20 has a high variance that the sum of multiple die rolls doesn't have. This seems like it would result in a lot of misses, even for those who are most likely to hit.

Is there anyone here who didn't like this, but has come around? How did you do it?

For those of you who do like it, why is it?

I'm about to start a Reign of Winter campaign, and I find myself having difficulty getting my character built - I'm essentially a newbie. I played a little 3.5, but really the last time I gamed regularly 2nd ed was in its prime.

I'm not that interested in super optimization, but I'm in danger of gimping myself without some help (you should see the magus build I tried first. . .). Party has a druid (whom I hope will be healing some) and a couple of rangers.

I've decided on Fighter with the Viking archetype.

Here's what I've got (20pt buy, Human(Ulfen)):

STR 18
DEX 12
CON 15
INT 10
WIS 8
CHA 13

Skills: Animal Handling, Intimidate, Swim

Feats: Power Attack, Toughness(?), (?)

Traits: Shield Bearer, Ice Walker

I can't decide between Battleaxe, Longsword or Scimitar (the last leading to critical feats).

I'm short on a philosophy behind him, but I think it comes down to using a shield, but still seeking as much damage as I can. I went with low dex because I don't see much value in it besides AC. A bit higher CHA in hopes of taking a level or two of Savage Skald.

I see online guides suggesting getting two handed fighting (edit: I meant two weapon fighting sword/board), but that seems like a lot of investment to get one extra attack with a shield. If you think it's a good idea, can you explain why? I don't get it.

I have some backstory for him and he's a reasonably bright guy who (gleefully) makes poor choices, so I'd rather have lower WIS than INT, though I know that has some drawbacks.

Thanks for reading, I look forward to your constructive and destructive criticism.