This weekend we decided to play a game, a one shot. For this game I found ti a perfect opportunity to playtest the new class. We ran Dawn of the Scarlet Sun, a one shot adventure.
Since the other players were playing a divine and an arcane caster, I decided to make an Avenger vigilante, knowing we would need some offensive presence.
The beginning of the game worked out fairly well. Role-playing was difficult but not impossible. I had to run my social identity as 'the guy who is in contact with' my vigilante half. It broke immersion for the other players tho and made it very difficult to not metagame.
Over the course of the game I found myself lacking in abilities that were very meaningful to the group. At times I had wished I was just playing a fighter or even a CORE rogue. Against the final boss I was totally ineffectual because I had no damage output, and I was our primary martial presence.
As for the build, we rolled stats, so I was rocking better than average stats for this adventure.
18 18 16 15 11 11
I went full Batman for this build.
Traits) Rich Parents, Paragon of Speed
1) Combat Reflexes; Two-Weapon Fighting
2) Fist of the Avenger
3) Double Slice
4) Armor Silence
5) Weapon Focus- Spiked Gauntlets
6) Armor Skin
I found my skills to be somewhat weak compared to what I wanted. Not having Acrobatics as a class skill made hiding on rooftops and jumping down not as easy a task as it should have been to ambush the cleric person. I absolutely hated having to spend two talents on Armor Silence and Armor skin just to feel like Batman. Fist of the avenger only gave me +1 on weapon damage, and I coudn't even qualify for weapon specialization even if I took Signature Weapon, meaning I had really crappy damage output.
The class really needs some kind of boost to attack and damage, because I felt like I had all the worst parts of being a rogue and all the worst parts about being a fighter at the same time. IMO it should have the Slayer's sneak attack progression, and something that functions like studied target.
Fist of the Avenger could be fixed up to work like a pseudo monk/brawler. And it's bonus on damage needs to scale better. It could probably be combined with Signature Weapon for a much better alternative to bonus hit and damage that the class desperately needs.
Didn't do too much with the social identity, but I actually got to use it a lot more and it worked a lot better than I originally thought I would, which was a nice surprise.
Also people got really sick of my Batman voice, but I'm not sure I can blame the class on that.
Final thoughts: The avenger easily performs under par compared to already existing classes, and very much needs a boost in it's mechanical performance for the class to become appealing and usable in actual games.