jasin
Explorer
What do you think about the power level of the 3.5 sohei, updated in Dragon?
The most obvious comparisons is with the paladin:
Same HD, same Fort and Ref saves, both have crappy skills.
On the defense: paladin gets Cha modifier to saves and immunity to disease, the sohei gets a good Will save, Deflect Arrows and Diehard. Let's say about even? Maybe favoring the sohei a bit once the DR starts to kick in.
On the offense: a paladin gets smite evil and the mount. The sohei gets frenzy. About even?
Let's say the spells are about even.
The sohei doesn't need a high Cha, so he can afford slightly higher Str and/or Con and/or Dex.
But! The sohei has medium BAB! Are any of the sohei's abilities really that much better than I assume, good enough to offset medium BAB? I suppose at high levels; divine power works wonders. But it's a long wait until 4th-level spells with paladin/ranger-type spellcasting.
Also, while it's good that the flurry penalty while in frenzy decreases, I don't like the way it makes for somewhat erratic advancement of attack bonus; there are levels where your attack bonus (considered when frenzying) doesn't advance at all, and there are levels (11th and 20th) where it advances by +3(!): BAB +1, frenzy Str bonus increases, frenzy flurry penalty decreases.
Maybe it'd be better if the flurry penalty decreases came in at the levels where BAB doesn't increase, like with the 3.5 monk, making the whole progression smoother? So the flurry penalty would be -2 at 1st, -1 at 5th, and +0 at 13th? There's no BAB increase at 9th or 17th either, but they're followed (relatively...) quickly by 11th and 20th, where the frenzy bonuses increase.
But even so, I'm not sure the sohei can favorably compare to the paladin (or the barbarian). What if they got the UA whirling frenzy + speed increase instead of frenzy as it is now? So +4/+6/+8 instead of +2/+4/+6, but no decreasing penalty for flurrying? It'd help them out the most in the low levels, where help is most needed, IMO.
Any experiences, thoughts? Has anyone played a sohei, either the updated one or the original OA version?
The most obvious comparisons is with the paladin:
Same HD, same Fort and Ref saves, both have crappy skills.
On the defense: paladin gets Cha modifier to saves and immunity to disease, the sohei gets a good Will save, Deflect Arrows and Diehard. Let's say about even? Maybe favoring the sohei a bit once the DR starts to kick in.
On the offense: a paladin gets smite evil and the mount. The sohei gets frenzy. About even?
Let's say the spells are about even.
The sohei doesn't need a high Cha, so he can afford slightly higher Str and/or Con and/or Dex.
But! The sohei has medium BAB! Are any of the sohei's abilities really that much better than I assume, good enough to offset medium BAB? I suppose at high levels; divine power works wonders. But it's a long wait until 4th-level spells with paladin/ranger-type spellcasting.
Also, while it's good that the flurry penalty while in frenzy decreases, I don't like the way it makes for somewhat erratic advancement of attack bonus; there are levels where your attack bonus (considered when frenzying) doesn't advance at all, and there are levels (11th and 20th) where it advances by +3(!): BAB +1, frenzy Str bonus increases, frenzy flurry penalty decreases.
Maybe it'd be better if the flurry penalty decreases came in at the levels where BAB doesn't increase, like with the 3.5 monk, making the whole progression smoother? So the flurry penalty would be -2 at 1st, -1 at 5th, and +0 at 13th? There's no BAB increase at 9th or 17th either, but they're followed (relatively...) quickly by 11th and 20th, where the frenzy bonuses increase.
But even so, I'm not sure the sohei can favorably compare to the paladin (or the barbarian). What if they got the UA whirling frenzy + speed increase instead of frenzy as it is now? So +4/+6/+8 instead of +2/+4/+6, but no decreasing penalty for flurrying? It'd help them out the most in the low levels, where help is most needed, IMO.
Any experiences, thoughts? Has anyone played a sohei, either the updated one or the original OA version?