imbalanced classes: the special preserve of the NPC?

[foolish_mortals]

flumphs,

When classes get devloped that are way beyond the norm in terms of power than an ordinary class is, should it not be allowed only for NPCs? I was musing about this over an old NPC class I saw in dragon where they said it really was only for NPCs.

what do yer think,
foolish_mortals

 

[Ahnehnois]

Absolutely not. NPCs are just PCs played by the DM. They should follow the same fundamental rules.

However, it is justifiable to have functionally based inequities. For example, many of the BoVD prestige classes were ridiculously powerful, an implicit reward for a fiendish pact. A PC or NPC would gain the same benefits, but the classes are implicitly for NPCs because they're evil. While the PC vs NPC distinction shouldn't be the relevant factor, there should certainly be all kinds of unbalanced characers in the campaign world; after all, would you expect everyone to be balanced?

 

[howandwhy99]

Why not? There were plenty of old, lesser powered NPC classes in AD&D, both common and expert.

I think the key word here is power. More powerful how? IME Bards are way overpowered when it comes to singing and dancing compared to the other classes.

 

[trancejeremy]

Most of the ones in Dragon were only for NPCs. In practice though lot of them could be used for players, but some, like the infamous Anti-Paladin were too much. Heck, for that, you didn't even roll 3d6 (or 4d6) you had a high base stat and rolled a d8 or d6.

So I dunno. It can be good for making an interesting antagonist, but at the same time, players will want to use it, too.