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KaeYoss wrote:

PetRock wrote:

Animal Affinity.

Do you have a reference for that rule? I know it from DDM, but not from D&D.

I've never heard of it either.

I remembered reading it months ago- I think in a Sage article- but couldn't find it again. Something about how a character can only benefit from one spell once. Sorry, I try to get good references, but this one eludes me.

If you look at the power, however, you can augment it in the way you can add another attribute to it, for 5 more points. Sense the power is a 3 point power, and a second casting would be cheaper...I can't thin of another reason why one +4 enhancement boost is usable by a 3rd level manifester, and two require a 8th level manifester. Actions are a powerful resource, but 5 levels?

All of the classes are more complicated than they used to be. Fighter used to be nice and simple, something you had new players play, but since the advent of 3.0, fighters have been regulated to knowledgible players, ones who know who the rules and can build one effectively, or they're just ineffective.

In 3.5, a sorcerer was the simplest to play, but required definite thought when building. Barbarians and rogue followed, and so on, with druids and wizards being the most complicated to play (picking spells daily, wildshape rules, etc). Magical powers, granted by domains or schools, or bloodlines, just makes things worse. Then you add in prestige classes...

Not that is really bad. If I wanted dirty simple, I'd go to 4e, where i don't have a choice. Which I abhor.

I hate the idea of "backstab".

But, on the other hand, rogues are weaklings in combat. Maybe they need some nerfing. Sneak attack, talents, incredible skills, decent hit point, decent BAB, uncanny dodge, evasion...these guys are cool. A friend once asked "Who would you rather fight: two fighters or two rogues?" Two fighters, designed for battle, worried me less than two rogues.

But...hey, I like the new rogues. I like sneak attack the way it is. I like talents. All in all, pretty cool. Its a lot, but not too overpowering, I think.

So, not really interested in Sudden Strike replacing sneak attack.

Psions get more powers known than sorcerers, and the powers are often more flexible - with energy powers, you get to choose what sort of energy you use, for example, and the animal affinity power is a six-pack of buff spells all rolled into one.

Quick note on this, dealing with Animal Affinity. You pay for that flexibility. Under the school of "you can't benefit from the same spell twice", one casting of Animal affinity boosts one trait at a time. If the fighter has animal affinity manifested on him once, boosting his strength, he cannot benefit from the second manifestation to boost his, say, dexterity.

A sorcerer, with cat's grace and bull's strength on his known list, can cast both on a warrior, and be in the clear.

You pay for the flexibility. Sure, energy spells are helpful, but if you do the math, it costs the psion and pyschic warrior more to do their powers than a sorcerer or a cleric. Bacris did the math on the wizards boards, doing a much better job than I ever could.

But...I want psioincs in the game. I like'em, so I am all for looking at this thread. I also don't think adding any more restrictions to psionics is a good idea. They are already on the weak side.

Yup, definitely.

I agree.

Also, the idea of playing a shapeshifting spell caster with a very cool pet is an attractive idea for brand new players. It's also complicated for new players, as I have discovered with my current game. So...well...anyhow.

In short, the class has a lot of potential that just isn't immediately obvious. If you're going to give wizards every option, give the fighter every option too. (Flying spell? Who needs it? I'll take that hippogriff... and a mounted combat feat or two. And a harpoon, just for grins. I'll be happy to fight you in an environment where I move faster and with more agility than you.) It's only as weak of a class are your own imagination.

Unfortunately, a mount is considered equipment, and everyone ,including the wizards and druids, get the same amount (in gp value) of equipment. And why, if I was a BBEG wizard, would I settle for a hippogriff or griffon mount when I can summon something akin to a dragon (or three), and still have the gold you spent on your mount? Those mounted feats you have will be useless class features when your mount dies.

As for grapples, a quickened (silent and still if necessary) dimensioned door ends those. If you actually get close enough to grapple a wizard. Sundering the component pouch might work, a little, if one of the value feats spent wasn't eshew material components, but range is an issue again, as is a second magic pouch (it's real cheap).

Now, I like the fighter. I liked them in D&D, when I got the little red and blue books, and I like them now, when I have the Pathfinder book. But I understand the spell casters are more potent than a fighter, much more useful to the party, and versatile than a fighter can be.

One trick is to look at the BBEG. In most games, it's a spellcaster, because they are powerful all by themselves, can summon help, and use a large number of area effect spells to hurt the whole, or large number of heroes. A BBEG fighter...what kind of tactics, feats, and magic items would you use to challenge a group of heroes?

This is ridiculous, and stupid. Further, while a 1st level spell-user may take any of these Feats, they couldn't actually use them, because they would have no higher spell slots to spend. AND some of these could only be used by very high level characters, but then only with low level spells. For example, Quicken Spell could only be used on a 5th lvl spell at most, and you'd have to be able to cast 9th lvl spells (e.g. a 17th Lvl Wizard).

The staple image of a wizard is one waving his arms around and chanting to summon the power of a spell. Using that as a base, I can easily imagine summoning that power with just a bit of thought (Silent, Still) would require more training (presence of the feats) and still be more difficult (expenditure of a higher spell slot).

Other than that, I really don't see the need to allow spellcaster to cast Time Stop, Gate, and Wail of the Banshee as a quickened spells. Nor do I think its overly wise to do so.

Characters have few enough Feats and spells as it is, and for wizards and sorcerers, spells are their life. Literally. Why should Metamagic Feats be so crippling in cost so as to be useless? They shouldn't, obviously. Luckily, there's a simple solution, one myself and my best friend *MarJak use in our own D&D campaign: eliminate the spell slot cost.

Simply put - you take the Feat, and you use it whenever you want, no cost. So, for example, if you have the Silent Spell Feat, any spells you cast no longer need a verbal component.

Some feats don't have a cost, like Dodge, or Whirlwind Attack. Some, like Power Attack, Combat Expertise, and Metamagic Feats, do have a cost. There is a reason for this. Just as a Barbarian does get the damage from Power Attack for free (though there are ways to almost effectively do this), a wizard does not get a free quickened maximized fireball every round, just for asking (though there are ways to almost effectively do this, as well).

Lastly, magic-users have, for the entire history of D&D, been given the short end of the stick. Sod-all hit points, no armour, laughable fighting skills, limitations on which races could be magic-users... and of course not many spells, and the spells themselves are often feeble.

D&D 3.5 did some to correct these problems (not the hit points though) but not enough, in my opinion. At least with the revised versions of Metamagic Feats I've discussed, wizards and sorcerers have a better chance to actually LIVE.

Magic Users, from what I remember of Ad&D and beyond, were just short of gods in the later half of the levels. An example of a wizard shifting an entire city into the astral plane of ice comes to mind, as well as catapults lobbing pebbles over a castle wall, amusing the defenders, until those pebbles were dispelled and the polymorh any object spell was removed/dismissed/dispelled, returning the pebbles to undead army form.

In 3rd edition, wizards and sorcerers are widely considered to be some of the more powerful classes available, especially once one gets beyond 10th level. Metamagic for free widens this gulf immensely.

The short end of the stick you are talking about is the handle to a staff of power, crafted by a host of gods, created to redefine reality. Tread carefully with these rules you suggest.

IMO, Druids need to lose their reputation for being awesome. They have a pretty dire spell-list, just using core, and Wild Shape has been tweaked into junk. The Animal Companion is decent, but loses value by the mid-levels.

They are one of my favorite classes, for their *versatility,* but they aren't big damage-dealers or game-changers and lack most of the best 'save or lose' spells (with Entangle being an exception, and a situational one at that, unlike Grease or Glitterdust).

Versatility, I think, is one of the Druids most powerful assets. A fighter is pretty much focused on a narrow set of weapons, generally melee. If he uses a ranged weapon as well, his is either okay at both, or pitiful with one while being great at the other. Barbarians aren't a great deal better. Paladins and Rangers, having spell casting, a few class abilities, and automatic cohorts, are better.

Rogues and bards are also a bit limited, but they are kinda useful all the time.

Full fledged casters are better, especially clerics, druids, and wizards. These can literally adjust one of their primary abilities to suit the need at hand (at least, with a day's warning). Plus, nearly every kind of magic item can be used by them, to include scrolls, wands, staves, and rods, creating a Swiss Army Knife kit.

Clerics and druids are the worse (best?). Yeah, wildshape ain't what is used to be, but with a standard action, you still can fly, burrow, gain blindsense, etc, without the aid of magic items or spells. Druids and clerics (& bards) can heal themselves. They have options other classes don't have.

More options mean great power, I think. A full caster can chase the BBEG on the griffon through the air and still be able to open the collapsed passage way, summon a squad of critters, and charm the local bar wench, all in the same day. Everyone else gets to stab the bad guy in the same old way they did last level (if a little harder, or with slightly more interesting results).

Now, I don't see this as a bad thing, mind you. I like characters with more than one use. I've played the character who counts his weapon proficiencies as his (only) assets (feral barbarian, just to put yawl in the know). It was boring. My time with a Master of Many Forms was outstandingly fun. My fighter/rogue was a blast, because of his skills. Even the war mage- with his blow'em up spell list- was a lot more fun. Sure, when it came time to brawl, my character would maul the opposition. But put an obstacle in his way he couldn't destroy or jump over, and the poor boy was so much an angry paperweight.

So, I support the versatility of druids, and all other classes. But I think druids might go a bit too far. The idea of choosing two of three options would work well with them, though I really don't see the overpowering effect of an animal companion. That may be just me.

An nearly auto-hit for sneak attack is kinda cool, actually. Kinda spoils the fun when you rogue, just about to stab some one (completely unaware of the rogue)in the back...misses. This is a partial fix for a lower level "assassin", and maybe be able to actual kill some one in one shot.

Battle Sorcerer looks like it's OGL.

Me, personally, I would add in the bloodline powers of pathfinder (perhaps in the same proportion as the spell classing), adjust the skills, and make sure the hit points match the the Pathfinder norm.

What questions do you have?

For psionics, adding concentration to autophpynosis sounds like a good idea, but...autohypnosis does a lot, already. Plus, Psi-craft exists. Just add concentration to that, so it will function exactly like spellcraft, only for psychics.