NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 970881" data-attributes="member: 3146">High offense/low defense nature of the game being toned down? Doubtful.First, none of the monster changes (except possibly the dragons' CR increases) we've seen so far have "toned down" their offense. Most of them have cranked it up. So any toning down is only on the PC/NPC side of the equation. (When CR 5 trolls no longer deal enough damage to kill any 5th level character other than a fighter in one round on average rolls, we can talk about "toned down" offense).Second, the majority of the changes actually are in the area of increased offense and decreased defense.Haste? No longer an effective defensive spell but still has offensive potential; slows the game down in general.Shield? No longer able to stack for effective defense. (Also significantly less  bonusses).Dodge? Still as useless as ever.Greater Weapon Focus: more offenseGreater Weapon Specialization: More offenseImproved Rage: more offenseCore manyshot: more offenseChanged TWF: better offense--especially for rogues.New Power Attack: better offenseTwo Weapon Defense: Dodge for TWF characters.Paladins get more smites: offenseRanger favored enemies: twice as many bonusses--all to offenseAnimal buff changes: probably similar effects on both offense Bull's Strength was more popular than Cat's Grace but buff spells were an important part of a lot of AC smackdowns. Also, IME, offensive stat items tend to be bought more quickly so the loss may have less effect on offense.Spell Focus/GSF nerfs: this is an offensive hit for wizards. And a very significant one. But without reducing the offense of the monsters, it doesn't shift the balance from offense to defense, it just makes wizards less effective across the board.Tower Shields: +4 AC for -2 to hit? Slightly better than the 3e tower shield but you'll still have to give me a 10 foot pole before I touch it.Lower crit range: only really effects crit-dependent offense builds. The falchion wielder is hurt. The greatsword guy keeps on trucking.When some real defensive boosts show up, I'll be intrigued to see them.</blockquote>

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