gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
If you think damage isn't something to base a melee character around, than your conception of the game is different enough from mine that your opinion not very useful to me, especially if it comes with condescension as above.
There is no condescension in my post (you're reading in something that is not there). I was answering as straight forward as I could - without any kind of intent nor emotion. I didn't suggest that you were a min/maxer or overly concerned with optimization, rather that I am not nor are my players (I was qualifying my answer only). I have no idea what the bulk of gamers think in regards to this or any issue. Not only have I been playing the game for over 30 years, but I am a freelance game designer for Pathfinder 3PP (mostly for Rite Publishing). When I mentioned if I buy the Advanced Class Guide means that we don't need every PF book to play our game and the likelihood that I'll be purchasing that book is pretty low in priorities. My players don't want it
We don't play Paizo Adventure Paths, so perhaps the level of need for consistent damage just to survive a dungeon doesn't happen in our homebrewed games. The power level of APs in general is probably above the power level we run in our games - that could be the difference between you and I. I don't know.
Damage is a big deal, certainly, but the Swashbuckler concept doesn't fit my players, they like big armored guys not pirates when playing melee classes. My players like paladin for instance, not because of smite evil, rather for access to divine spells to self buff in and for the concept of religious warrior. They enjoy hitting stuff with success, but don't build the characters specifically for that - at least not by itself.
Your thread implies that since basic classes don't deal as good of damage consistently as the ACG classes are that somehow they are obsolete. Without any condescension implied, I'm simply stating that good damage alone doesn't make for a melee class. If it did, perhaps only one class would be necessary. I've got guys who consistently play rogues - obviously damage alone isn't what drives them to play, if it were they probably wouldn't be playing rogues, but they are (and I did state that they never play barbarians - so playing rogues and not barbarians has to mean that causing damage isn't their first priority). Concepts are what drives my players to pick the classes that they do - not how much damage or how many spells they can cast.
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