Ever play an Expert?

[Thistleknot]

I've played a couple, but the one that sticks in my mind was an Indiana Jones type scholar that searched for and catalogued ancient magical items for a 3.0 game.

I chose skills along the lines of Spot, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device, and of course, Knowledge.

I had a few little extras like the Traps ability (which the DM gave me because he felt I might be underpowered), but for the most part, I was just an ordinary Expert. My feats mostly augmented my skills in some way.

I did take levels in the Adventuring Scholar Prestige Class in the Asgard PDF, which fit exceptionally well with the concept. Another cool perk was that if I had known about the class earlier, I could have qualified for it at third level.

Another good concept that I have seen played is the detective. It was a lower magic campaign, so he didn't have to worry too much about everyone having magic and making him completely useless. But you might be able to get around that with Use Magic Device, since Experts can pick any skills, even ones that are restricted to certian classes.

In practice, I have found that a well chosen and tightly knit group of skills can make for a fun and useful character if you're looking to play something different from the standard character classes presented in the PHB.

But then again, that's just my experience and observations, and your mileage may vary.

 

[Stormborn]

In the last campaign i house ruled it a few extra feats, but no one took me up on it. I have considered it, for a wandering smith type character, with a few levels of wizard, but the Artificer in Eberron is a better choice.

 

[Samothdm]

Not yet, but a guy I know is working on the Quintessential Expert, and considering I really liked what he did with the Aristocrat I'm eagerly looking forward to it.

Hey, thanks!

I've been working on it feverishly for awhile now. There are just so many different directions you can take with the class, which obviously is its main strength. And, given the Mongoose mantra of "Enhance, But Don't Change" (at least as far as the Collector's Series line is concerned) makes writing the Expert book quite a challenge.

 

[Desdichado]

Not in a game where everyone else was a PC class I haven't, no. Although I ran a brief online game where someone did. I think he went MIA.

I have played games where everyone was either an expert or a warrior, though, and I've played d20 CoC games, wherein the class-less investigators are essentially the same thing as experts.

But that was a different paradigm. I still don't think playing an expert in regular D&D is a great idea. I'd find a better way to focus the class and make it more comparable. For example, if you want an "expert" who's really good at diplomacy and negotiations, I'd use the Courier class from Rokugan. Many other sets could just be Rogue's with a few unusual skill choices (although the whole sneak attack thing may make absolutely no sense for your character concept in that case.)

 

[IronWolf]

I've never played an expert. As someone else has said, my game time is limited as is, therefore I do not have much desire to play one.

 

[TroyXavier]

I played a Historian briefly in 2nd edition. It was quite fun.

 

[Sejs]

Tons!

But, then again, I also DM... so that's not saying too much.

 

[scourger]

If I ever start a campaign from scratch again, I will require players to take two levels or so in one of the NPC classes before they can qualify for a normal class. I like low-power games. This way, the normal classes become almost like prestige classes. Got the idea from Dragon magazine about two years ago, in an issue about George R. R. Martin.

This is a good idea that I have also considered for a lpwer-powered game.

The Omega World epxlorer is presented as a souped-up expert and is a great deal of fun to play.

 

[JPL]

A human paragon [from UA] might work for a more heroic expert [albeit only for three levels]. A few more skill points would really help for a sage-type character, though...

 

[Spatula]

I played an Expert/Wizard once, though I only had one level of Expert (his first, naturally). His 'specialty' was skills pertaining to mercantile activities (diplomacy, appraise, sense motive, etc.), along with necessary wizard skills (spellcraft, knowledge arcana).