AU - What's good to play?

[Stalker0]

My problem is how most of the rituals seem to ALMOST compensate for their 3/4 BAB, a few times per day. So a few times per day they get to be a weak warmain. Id considered bumping their BAB to full and fiddling from there, but on one cared enough about them to warrant me fixing them. I ran a few low level ones as adversaries, and they got smeared.

Rites are not just about compensating for their attacks, its about true flexibility.

Ritual warriors can sneak attack, they can jack up their ACs when they need to, they can heal themselves as free actions, they can boost their speed in a tight spot, they can get an extra AOO without combat reflexes, they can boost their saves, they can get DR, etc.

Plus they get free stat bumps and concentration save is quite nice.

As an npc the class isn't going to shine as much because its more of a generalist fighter. In a one shot fight you want something to take damage and deal damage, which is what warmains are good at. But for a pc, ritual warriors are very nice.

 

[Baron Opal]

It's a good sign when several people mention many classes as the "best" to play.

For me, mojh mage-blade. The best gish class out there with an inscrutable lizard who traded his humanity for draconic powers. Nothing like being a decent fighter with a cool weapon and magic back-up. And if things go south, fire-breathing goodness, baby!

 

[Robert Ranting]

The only race in AE that I dislike are the Dracha, who strike me as 6HD dragons masquerading as an ECL 0 race with 6 racial/evolved levels, but that's more of an issue of personal taste than mechanics. The Loresong Faen, Giant, Mojh, Sibeccai and Verrik are all very attractive choices for me as both a player and a DM, but there's certainly nothing wrong with Quicklings, Sprytes, and Litorians and their bonus to Dexterity (I just tend to favor mental stats and strength in most of my character concepts).

Class-wise, AE offers a whole slew of options that really draw me in. In particular, the Akashic, Witch, Totem Warrior, Champion, Mageblade, and Unfettered present options that are more flavorful or flexible than D&D classes that fill equivalent niches. Ritual Warriors and Warmains make excellent replacements for the D&D fighter, IMHO, and AE's spellcasting system makes the Magister and Greenbond seem far and away more open and flexible than D&D's Wizards and Clerics. The only one I dislike is the Oathsworn, for both flavor and mechanical reasons. Generally, in my games we've either had to make modifications to the class to suit us, or replaced it wholesale with 3.5 Monk, or hybridized the two into a homebrew unarmed fighter. I also have issues with the Runethane, as it seems to have the steepest learning curve of any class in the system, but an experienced player can certainly get a lot of mileage out of Spell-like abilities that refresh every hour.

My reccommendation is to look for a niche first. Either go for a party role that you're comfortable with and see what AE's options are, or better yet, pick a role that has been in some way disatisfying for you in other systems, and see how AE's classes and races might change that for the better. I never did like D&D's Wizard, but the Magister was a lot of fun, and Unfettered and Mageblade are a lot more fun and less aggravating than finding the right multiclass/PrC to pull off the same concept in D&D. Look at your options, and see what jumps out at you as fun.

..and if a Dracha Oathsworn seems to be the ticket, then go for it. Your mileage may vary.

Robert "A World of New Options Awaits" Ranting

 

[Wavestone]

Bingo. i'm also playing a verrik magister, and it rocks. The spell system is similar enough to fire and forget core D&D that it is instantly understandable, but it has enough variations so that it still feels very new. Add in the Spell Treasury, and you have so so many spells to choose from; possibly too many, as it can be overwhelming.

Actually, i like every class in AE better than most of the core classes.

I agree. I play in two campaigns which are a hybrid of 3.5/AE.. (same DM, same campaign world, several play groups fighting against the forces of chaos in different parts of the world.. there are connections, but not overt. Might mention that this is a Fantasy Grounds campaign as well.. its been going for over a year now)

In one, I have a human Rgr2/Winter Witch8 with the Able Learner feat.. I can keep up on the ranger skills decently, and have better magic and spelllike abilities than a core ranger.

In the other, I have a magister.. just lvl 3, but with Spell Treasury in the mix, I am a bit overwhelmed already - its really hard to choose spells!! You don't have quite the same bang in your spells, but your flexibility is unmatched.. One pretty big downside of magister at low levels, is that the only weapon proficiency you have is Quarterstaff.

In general, the AE classes are flexible, and several are very modular - its not too hard to design variant witches, totem warriors or champions. I also like Akashic and Unfettered.. One of the biggest problems is to decide between several neat character ideas.

One note though - in hybrid 3.5 and AE campaigns, a lot of wonkiness can crop up!! Particularly regarding the arcane/divine magic division, prestige classing and such. AE is really designed to be the whole campaign, the spells in AE are internally balanced.

Hope you find this interesting!

 

[Varianor Abroad]

What sort of character do you want to play? Let's start there. Give us a description please and there will be a match. Or three.

Rites are not just about compensating for their attacks, its about true flexibility.
...
As an npc the class isn't going to shine as much because its more of a generalist fighter. In a one shot fight you want something to take damage and deal damage, which is what warmains are good at. But for a pc, ritual warriors are very nice.

Holed it in one. Although I will observe that I had a party of four 8th level PCs running ragged due to a bunch of 3rd level ritual warrior sea goblins. They had a big wall for cover, and they did get some good rolls in, but those combat rites made them fearsome.

 

[Nightfall]

Best thing about Warmains, all the HD you'll need plus all the feats and war hulking you'll ever need.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

For serious fun with a warmain, take 3 giant levels and Combat Reflexes. You are now size Large with Reach 10 taking AoOs. (Tunnels are a bit of a problem, but that's what the magister is for after all.)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Best thing about Warmains, all the HD you'll need plus all the feats and war hulking you'll ever need.

QFT!

 

[Nightfall]

For serious fun with a warmain, take 3 giant levels and Combat Reflexes. You are now size Large with Reach 10 taking AoOs. (Tunnels are a bit of a problem, but that's what the magister is for after all.)

This is very true Var. But I'm glad to see I was also QTF.

 

[Imagicka]

Greetings...

Thanks for the posts guys. I'm seriously leaning towards a Mohr Magister, in case you were wondering...

Now to pick an interesting name...