What are some of the class weaknesses?
Like, I know monks and dragons because most dragons have a resistance to elemental and that's pretty much the monks power.
Any others?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Barbarian rage backfires when you're dying.
Shadows on wizards. (low strength and fortitude)
Every class has something. Nothing that can't be overcome by teamwork and group dynamics though.
You've worded it weirdly, but I assume you're asking about what each class is weak against?
Never really heard anything about monks having strong elemental damage, but I'll take your word for it.
Generally, most melee builds are hampered by specific DR. In later levels that's easily fixed, but can still be tricky. Lots of ranged enemies as well, as a lot of fighters don't really account for ranged combats.
Rogues are generally vexed by concealment and/or sneak attack immunity. I've seen so many Rogues go "whelp, I'm totally useless" once they encounter an ooze, as their damage output without sneak attacks are pitiful.
Heavy magic users are usually thwarted by Spell Resistance and/or elemental resistances/other resistances. So frustrating when your spell absolutely whiffs.
All classes hate stat damage. Physical stat damage (usually Strength) to d6 casters usually leads to them being incapacitated. I once ambushed an Arcanist with a Shadow and he nearly turned into a Shadow himself.
Saving throws. Usually Will saves for frontliners, Reflex/Fortitude for casters.
I think I've covered everything here. There's too many classes to go into specifics, but these are broad enough to extrapolate to specific classes.
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Barbarian rage backfires when you're dying.
AM DIRTY LIE. ANY BARBARIAN NOT HAVING RAGING VITALITY AM BARBARIAN WHO AM ASKING FOR DEATH.
BARBARIAN NOT HAVE WEAKNESS. PERSON ONCE THOUGHT BARBARIAN HAVE WEAKNESS, BUT AM TURNING OUT THAT ACTUALLY AM CLEVER PLOY AND BENEATH WEAKNESS WAS MORE SMASH.
Combat maneuver specialists get shut down by a lot of monsters.
Barbarian rage backfires when you're dying.AM DIRTY LIE. ANY BARBARIAN NOT HAVING RAGING VITALITY AM BARBARIAN WHO AM ASKING FOR DEATH.
BARBARIAN NOT HAVE WEAKNESS. PERSON ONCE THOUGHT BARBARIAN HAVE WEAKNESS, BUT AM TURNING OUT THAT ACTUALLY AM CLEVER PLOY AND BENEATH WEAKNESS WAS MORE SMASH.
Yeah but that 15 con requirement can be brutal in a low stats game.
Monks are more usually good defences, moderate amounts of physical (not usually elemental) damage, but are vulnerable to being strafed by dragons IME. Ranged combat is their weakness if they're not zen archers or similar.
Other melee types are often weak at ranged combat but usually not as much so as a monk.
Ranged types hate fog, wind and weather in general.
Mounted combatants have problems with awkward terrain. Not just difficult terrain, it's a pain to get wolves (or worse, horses) up and down cliffs, ladders etc.
Spellcasters are often (not always) vulnerable to being swarmed by mooks before they can get defensive spells up.
Noble types are vulnerable to overinflated senses of honour.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Spellcasters are weak to GM fiat.
Yeah but that 15 con requirement can be brutal in a low stats game.Barbarian rage backfires when you're dying.AM DIRTY LIE. ANY BARBARIAN NOT HAVING RAGING VITALITY AM BARBARIAN WHO AM ASKING FOR DEATH.
BARBARIAN NOT HAVE WEAKNESS. PERSON ONCE THOUGHT BARBARIAN HAVE WEAKNESS, BUT AM TURNING OUT THAT ACTUALLY AM CLEVER PLOY AND BENEATH WEAKNESS WAS MORE SMASH.
And if the barbarian takes superstition, it can get hard to pull him out, even with raging vitality. You may need rather specific healing sources (such as a cleric's channel energy... assuming your cleric even does positive energy) since the barbarian would save against the healing spells.
It also doesn't help that superstition doesn't stop extraordinary effects. If you get a crippling condition, you might have to do some readied action shenanigans since you have to wait for the barbarian to turn off rage himself before you can apply condition removal spells.
Barbarians are highly powerful, but there are some downsides to the standard barbarian build.
I mean, you are a barbarian. Where else are you going to put the points than 15 con? Those last 3 points from a 10 point buy can go right into Strength 13 for power attack.
Regardless, lets talk weaknesses. I think we should clear up the idea that a class is "resource limited" should not be a weakness unless the resource is truly, stringently limited. Additionally, lacking a strength is not the same as having a weakness. Just because the Fighter cannot fly naturally fly does not make the fighter weak, it makes those classes strong. This is an important distinction.
Anyway, to get the low-balls taken care of first:
Monk - The Core monk's real weakness is that they have no bonuses to hit built into their kit but do have innate penalties to hit. Combined with 3/4ths BAB progression, is it any wonder the Monk got rewritten?
Rogue - Sneak attack is a terrible mechanic, getting it to activate for your attacks is a pain in the neck. Even when it is active, you suffer from having no bonuses to hit your foes and 3/4ths BAB. Just like with the Monk, this is a bad thing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Paladins are weak against alignment debates.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Paladins are weak against alignment debates.
Paladins are weak against really determined 'dramatic' GMs.
Yeah but that 15 con requirement can be brutal in a low stats game.Barbarian rage backfires when you're dying.AM DIRTY LIE. ANY BARBARIAN NOT HAVING RAGING VITALITY AM BARBARIAN WHO AM ASKING FOR DEATH.
BARBARIAN NOT HAVE WEAKNESS. PERSON ONCE THOUGHT BARBARIAN HAVE WEAKNESS, BUT AM TURNING OUT THAT ACTUALLY AM CLEVER PLOY AND BENEATH WEAKNESS WAS MORE SMASH.
A Barbarian that's front lining should have a 16 con. Then again, I'm not fond of 15 point buy.
Raging Vitality doesn't help if you get dropped while on your last rage point.
I think its more of build dependent than class. Just compare a few different builds using the same class
IE
Wildblood max damage blast sorcerer VS polymorphing melee oriented sorcerer
Wildblood you give things energy res and target fort saves/hp
Polymorphing you give dr and target ref saves/int+wis damage
Forget point buys. If you roll 4d6 drop the lowest, the odds of your second highest score being 15 or above aren't that great.
Gunslingers are weak to ordinary rain until they can afford alchemical cartridges.
Thematically, most expected up-front classes are weak to Will effects. You'll see this mentioned in any build-a-barbarian or other class guide: do NOT dump Wisdom, as the bard does not appreciate a dominated axe to the face very much.
And the backline caster types are thematically weak to Fort effects, as well as the more physical parts of battle. Especially the dominated barbarian I just mentioned.
This is why the barbarian will have the caster put defensive buffs on her and mitigate the enemy casting, while the wizard will hide behind the barbarian so he doesn't get squished.
Another consideration- arcane and divine casters are weak to effects that cut off their movement or voice due to somatic and verbal components.
In comparison, psychic casters lack that problem, but get new problems since they use emotional components (can be shut off due to fear stuff) and thought components (if I remember right, this makes combat casting much harder, since there is a +10 to the difficulty of concentration checks when someone is on you).
Of course, psychic casters can also benefit since they can dance around restrictions designed for more traditional casters. The cunning caster feat, for example, lets you use a bluff check to hide your spell casting, and there are penalties when there are verbal or somatic components. Since psychic casters lack either of those, they are great with that feat- mesmerists in particular love it.