xAverusx's page

A lot of good advice here already...

If you plan on taking the Minor Magic Rogue Talent, I suggest Acid Splash (no SR). Ranged touch attack that will deal Sneak Attack damage in the first round of combat (assuming you go first). Decent ranged option if your enemy is unaware. If you have a feat to burn at higher lever, you can even quicken it with Quicken Spell-like ability.

I'd say avoid Precise Strike, but Outflank is amazing if you have a team to support it. Use a keen rapier or burn a feat at 11th level and anyone who likes to hit in melee will be more than glad to flank with you. Take Opportunist Rogue Talent for insane chain hits.

You get that Use Magic Device high enough and you become the answer-man. I have a half-elf who used the bonus Skill Focus feat in UMD. Turned out pretty well when I could cast a Breath of Life on a dead ally with virtually no chance of failure. Potion of Greater Invisibility + Wand of any ray spell = Pathfinder version of a Spellwarp Sniper.

If your friend is used to playing melee-types, you can certainly work toward some overlap with a rogue. Toughness and favored class bonus to HP helps a lot here.

My time-tested advice:
-If you aren't Sneak Attacking, do something else with your action. UMD, Aid Another, tactical positioning, etc.
-Make use of Readied actions. Like when your barbarian gets into a flanking position.
-Be bold. Go big or go home. Get in there using your Acrobatics and/or feats. This will often put you in the center of danger. Be bold. Your team will get there soon. It's typically much easier for you to get into the super-important flanking position than them.
-Be good at what you do, but don't try to do everything. For this rogue, it may mean allowing the monk to be the super-stealthy one, while the rogue gets to be the "face."
-Don't discount UMD. Everybody needs some backup sometimes. Cleric can't get to your downed ally? No worries, rogue can do it. Wizard needs help containing mobs of baddies? Check. This goes in line with the previously stated advice of "Have a plan to kill everyone you meet." This is seriously good advice.

So Kolokotroni made a pretty cool Gunslinger base class (Found here) and that reminded me that I had this one lying around: Mord Sith base class

What do you think? Pretty hard to drop into a typical setting, but too cool not to try to make.

Edit: Maybe that's ok because all these classes are already hybridized casting classes already with martial and casting features built in.

That's exactly it. The further you get away from spellcasting, the better the classes synergize. A fighter10/rogue10 many not be as "good" as a rogue20 or fighter 20, but its got more options than either alone. And it works out way better than fighter10/wizard10.

So I would suggest it's a decent start to a generic house rule but should probably be tweaked on a case by case basis.

Also very true. Clerics are "full" casters that mix pretty well with other classes. Fighter/Cleric, Cleric/Rogue, etc. It's about how these classes' abilities work (or don't work) together. Arcane casters and armor-using class = sadness. Sure there are feats to help, but it sucks to spend a ton of feats just to function as a character (and not nearly as well as other multiclass character can).

When I discussed this house rule with my group, we came up with this (for spellcasting ONLY):
Full BaB classes only contribute +1 spellcasting per 4 HD up to 1.5x the spellcasting class's level.
Mid BaB classes contribute +1 spellcasting per 3 HD up to 1.5x the spellcasting class's level.
Low BaB classes contribute +1 spellcasting per 2 HD up to 1.5x the spellcasting class's level.

Examples:
Ranger4/Druid6 casts as Ranger6/Druid7
Rogue6/Cleric3 casts as Cleric4
Fighter19/Wizard1 casts as Wizard1
Fighter14/Wizard6 casts as Wizard9
Druid6/Wizard6/Cleric6 casts as Druid12/Wizard12/Cleric12
Fighter12/Cleric8 casts as Cleric11
Wizard2/Cleric2 casts as Wizard2/Cleric3
Wizard2/Cleric3 casts as Wizard3/Cleric4
... etc ...

So, here's a look at the rogue10/fighter10 combination that would work out to be an effective rogue15/fighter15:...

The whole point of the OP's argument is that martial classes mix well with other martial classes while spellcasting classes don't. The fix the OP suggests is for SPELL CASTING.

A Rogue/Fighter is a combo that synergizes well while a Fighter/Wizard does not.

I think people should get off that crazy bandwagon. If a character plays a wizard/cleric/druid he's already playing the most powerful set of classes in the game - now you want to get sweet candy from some other classes but not give up the hotness that is your basic casting class.

Let's say some crazy player tries this combo: wizard6/cleric6/druid6. Now, let's apply the suggested house rule: 18th level character casting at effective level 12 in three classes. Powerful? Depends on your definition. It's definitely versatile, but is missing out on 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells. Even with metamagic (quicken specifically) he still only gets 2 spells per round. And those spells are not nearly as powerful as a dedicated caster. Also, the guy only gets class abilities for the 6 levels in each class.

There are suitable prestige classes for pretty much every combination you'd want to do.

This is true. However, this house rule DOES NOT make these classes obsolete. It just makes them more desirable.

Ex: Wizard10/Cleric10 vs Wizard5/Cleric5/MysticTheruge10 both using this house rule. Caster level 15/15 vs 17/17. Mystic Theruge barely sneaks in 9th level spells. Now, that makes the class more desirable to play.

In summary, this house rule may need some tweeking, but I think it's a great idea. It provides a modest boost to help multiclass casters remain appealing. It does not make prestige classes obsolete.

I think this is a great idea. I'm not sure how that magic rating works, but you could easily adjust your suggestion.

Fighters, rogues (pure martial): +1 spellcasting per 4 lvls
Rangers, Paladins, (minor casters): +1 spellcasting per 3 lvls
Bards, Druids, (full casters): +1 spellcasting per 2 lvls