Problem was most of those classes seemed to be 'filler' material or else deliberately gimped. I think the big advantage of the APG was that it took the best of these concepts and rolled them up into a simple and easy system of archetypes that demanded few new actual classes.My point exactly. Well, I really like the warlock and the Complete Adventurer classes. And I like the idea of the warmage: a spontaneous caster with a pre-selected list of tightly thematic spells. It's a nice pre-cursor to the beguiler and dread necromancer, and presumably would have eventually lead to some specialty casters based on abjuration (exorcist/de-buffer/counterspeller), conjuration (summoner/transporter/creator), divination (sage/savant/seer), and transmutation (buffer/shapeshifter/transmogrifer).
Yes, there were some good ideas in there, a few good executions of those ideas (Scout and Warlock stand out), but overall not much thought seemed to have been applied.
Yes, there were some good ideas in there, a few good executions of those ideas (Scout and Warlock stand out), but overall not much thought seemed to have been applied.Problem was most of those classes seemed to be 'filler' material or else deliberately gimped. I think the big advantage of the APG was that it took the best of these concepts and rolled them up into a simple and easy system of archetypes that demanded few new actual classes.My point exactly. Well, I really like the warlock and the Complete Adventurer classes. And I like the idea of the warmage: a spontaneous caster with a pre-selected list of tightly thematic spells. It's a nice pre-cursor to the beguiler and dread necromancer, and presumably would have eventually lead to some specialty casters based on abjuration (exorcist/de-buffer/counterspeller), conjuration (summoner/transporter/creator), divination (sage/savant/seer), and transmutation (buffer/shapeshifter/transmogrifer).
Yeah, I really like the scout and warlock. Scouts are very dynamic combatants, have lots of useful skills, and really fun class features. I like playing characters that run around and do interesting things, as opposed to standing still and just getting full attacks in. I played a scout that used a combination of archery, hand axe, and longspear & spiked gauntlets, so every fight was different.
I also like the warlock. They have great staying power, have fun magic powers, and they don't require a lot of book keeping and resource management decisions. They don't end battles quickly, but they can keep going and going and going.
The spellthief is interesting, but I never got to play one beyond 1st or 2nd level--the combo of Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, and reach from a longspear was very effective at those low levels.
I currently have a slightly pathfinderized 3.5 ninja PC, and it's very fun. The only thing I don't like about it is the late acquisition of evasion and its relative lack of customization. But I play a whisper gnome with the Dark Creature template from the Tome of Magic, which gives a racial Hide in Plain Sight ability, so that helps with the Sudden Strikes. But I like how the Sudden Strike ability gels well with the Law of Conservation of Ninjitsu.