Experiences playing "oddball" (base) classes

[blargney the second]

I always saw Divine Minds as a nicely done, psionic take on the Paladin.

Yeah, that's about right. The main advantage is the complete lack of alignment screaming matches.

 

[Kat']

Comments on oddball things I played, classes whose party role isn't clearly defined, that sort of things....

- Duskblade: A good secondary fighter, able to deal tremendous amount of damage, but with less options and less survivability than a raw fighter. Can act as a secondary blaster, eventually, if you're short on sorcerers or warmages, though I mostly see duskblades as melee types.

- Hexblade: Good choice for the party's "face", though the roleplyaing issues are challenging. Capable secondary fighter, good at debuffing BBEGs, less effective against many opponents.

- Warlock: Nice for sneaking, awesome as "face", terrible damage dealer but can contribute to a fight differently, for example with battlefield control or scrolls.

- Dragon shaman: Awesome healer and buffer, acceptable second-rank fighter though it's better to let him protect the casters than acting directly.

 

[Set]

I've done the Duskblade and the Warlock, and both were awesome.

A 10th level Warlock, hovering over the battlefield with Fell Flight, taking advantage of his Battle Caster feat to wear Mithril Full Plate, raining death and destruction down upon the fray? Glorious.

Soulknives look cool, but I've only played a variant one that was magically-sourced in a game with no Psi. The mechanics were the same, but the 'blades' were magical energy and not psionic energy.

 

[Darklone]

I played a Swift Hunter Scout/Ranger and a Ninja, enjoyed them both. The games ended fairly low-level, unfortunately.

How was the ninja, we never tried that one yet... the Swift Hunter builds are pretty common though.

As for oddball races, we like to play hobgoblins (with the Klingon style) in Kalamar. And dragonfire adepts rock. Much more than warlocks.

 

[Rvdvelden]

I'm currently involved in two campaigns, both with oddball characters:

- A pixie warlock; lots of fun playing and excellent synergies (especially greater invisibility).
- A dragonborn of bahamut (from races of the dragon) dragonfire adept (from dragon magic); really a niche character, but with con as prime stat and a d8 remarkably survivable. And loads of fun to, trying to get the best cone/line to hit as much enemies as you can. Also pretty handy out of combat.

 

[MongooseFamiliar]

How was the ninja, we never tried that one yet... the Swift Hunter builds are pretty common though.

I really liked the ninja. Most people compare it to the rogue, since they fill a similar party role, but I think that's the wrong comparison. Rogues are more front-line: They flank with the fighters and are actually in the combat. Ninjas are the sneaky ones: They don't bother to get in the combat. Acrobatics and skills to scale the wall (or ethereal ghost step to go through it) and swift invisiblity if you get spotted. Also, ninjas are close to impossible to cage without some high-level magic.

The tough part about the ninja is 1) Ghost Step use management, and 2) setting up Sudden Strike. Potions of Owl's Wisdom help with the first, and careful equipment choice and alchemical toys help with the second. Flash pellets and bags of marbles, for instance, and Improved Feint is your friend.

I've toyed with the idea of a Whisperknife Gnome Ninja with the Silencing Strike racial feat. It would be an awesome sneaky assassin. If the Intelligence is high enough to make it worthwhile, perhaps add in a level of wizard for the familiar and utility spells. Benign Transposition + Small Familiar gets you into all sorts of interesting places when your little hummingbird zips where you can't go. Or add in Immediate Magic from the PHB2. Either the Transformation or Conjuration versions would be useful for a little sneaky person.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Have mostly DM'd odd balls
Beguiler - fun character, did well up till 7th, less effective after taking Master of Masks PrC (1/2 caster)
Duskblade - first 2 rounds could put down most threats. Less effective in long fights.
- PA full, true strike, shocking grasp, blade of blood. +24 (1d10+14+8d6) at 5th level.
Scout - not bad, but dumb player
Monk - I know its core, I still think its odd. Good at surviving bad at winning.
psion - Nova like damage potential, limited to 1 Astral Construct which was handy in most battles.
Warlock/wizard - blasting all day with a 20dex was nearly automatic damage, but multiclassing started to fall behind - only reached level 1 theurge PrC.

Friendly NPCs
Scout - lots of fun, carried a spear that shifted length
Dragon Shaman - as cohort. Very useless, party still depended on CLW wands, ignored minor bonuses.
Psion - good even at -2 levels, although extra resource management was hard.

 

[AuraSeer]

I played a human warlock from 1st to 15th level. It was a blast.

My favorite aspect was that I always had something to do. Since the invocations never run out, I didn't have to worry about conserving them for later, so I could take a productive action practically every round. If the enemy is buffed, voracious dispelling. If they're dumb bruisers, charm. If they outnumber the PCs, control the battlefield with chilling tentacles. If all else fails, ranged touch attack for direct damage.

Defensive strength is good too, especially with the Battle Caster feat. I got through RttTOEE with only one death, and that one from friendly fire. (I had lied about my alignment, telling the party I was Lawful instead of Chaotic, so the party cleric didn't bother to be careful with order's wrath.)

For noncombat Swiss Army magic, the warlock has two best friends. The first one is a collection of scrolls and wands. The second is the dead walk, because disposable zombies are great for trap-finding, chest-opening, and so much more.

Long story short, it's the perfect class for people like me who get bored when they have nothing useful to do, but not for people who want to use a different set of actions in every combat.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Oddballs I've played:

Warmage: Great. The planning and bookkeeping is minimal, it's just a matter of selecting which whammy you want to use. Not so great OOC, but that's what the others are for. I vastly enjoyed playing my paladin/warmage in al Qadim.

Warlock: Okay. It's nice not having a limit, but the rest of the party does, and you only have so many powers, so it's easy to pick the wrong one.

Brad

 

[AuraSeer]

Oh, and my current campaign features a Divine Mind as the primary front-line fighter. It seems like an interesting class, but this particular guy is so specialized, I don't know that it says much about the class as a whole.

The player decided to devote himself to defense. At level 7, his armor class is by far the highest in the party-- 26, 28, something like that. And he has a decent Will save, which means he's not as susceptible to such standard anti-tank weapons as hold person. He doesn't hit very hard, but he's been great at soaking up attention and keeping the rest of the party alive.

The class "auras" are an interesting mechanic. They were not very useful at very low level, where they affect only adjacent squares, but by now he gets a 20' radius. That can encompass a whole combat. Granting +2 AC to all allies in melee is a pretty big deal, and it has saved the party's collective ass at least once.

The other nonstandard base class we're currently using is the Knight, but I don't really have much to say about that. The player very seldom remembers to use her special abilities, so she's effectively a fighter who doesn't get to flank.