Is a hammer of Moradin balanced?

[Dwarf_Paladin]

We started a new campaign a couple months ago and i created a dwarven paladin with the intention of taking the hammer of moradin prestige class. We are now level 7 and just as I was getting excited that soon i would be able to become a HoM, a member of the party is having a hissy fit about it. He is the parties barbarian and is pretty pissed that i might soon be outdamaging him (i doubt it), my damage reduction will be better then his (by one), but i think the big reason hes is making waves is our group decided as a whole to outlaw the frenzied berzerker.

Our group, because we take turns as DM, usually votes on issues such as these, and he already has almost half the party convinced to screw me in the figurative ass. Am I just blind? Is this prestige class in fact broken and im the one that being a whiny little cry baby, while our barbarian is being logical? Any way, any advice you guys could give me here would be most appreciated.

 

[mikebr99]

If you stick close to it's intended region... and follow all the orders of your direct superiors, it isn't broken... as an adventuring PrC, it just may be. YMMV


Mike

 

[Taren Seeker]

It's close to broken.

The thing to remember that most of it's abilities are not quite complementary, but even so its like it's 2 or 3 PrC's packed into 1. Now if you take the Axethrower feat then you may be going over the edge

Edit: and for game ruination, Frenzied Bezerker is still worse. But your Barb is worried about your DR? Please, he's just looking for an excuse.

 

[ruleslawyer]

IMHO, the HoM is a bit overpowered, mainly because it gets too many abilities that are a good PrC add-on on their own (e.g., substantial DR x/-) plus two good saves, plus nifty special abilities, plus good BAB.

I run a pretty high-powered FR campaign, with some tough prestige classes, and I do not use the HoM out of the box.

Generally, I'd say that the abilities are really what need some pruning. Specifically, I'd get rid of aura of courage, DR, and far shot (though you can allow the HoM to take the latter as a feat). Aura of courage is redundant anyway (most HoMs will be paladins), DR is a really good feature of the other dwarven PrC (Dwarven Defender) and should stay there, and far shot is an unnecessary freebie bonus feat.

Note that the above changes are less of a nerf than my version. If you took the PrC with the changes above, I'd say you were still getting a good deal.

Oh, and Taren: You can't take the Axethrower feat and be an HoM. The feat requires you to be from the Great Glacier, the class requires you to be from the Spine of the World.

 

[Taren Seeker]

Good catch...in my home game another player was considering this combo along with a storyline to satisfy changing regions. I forgot that you can't change regions with the 2 ranks of local anymore.

 

[The Madhatter]

I don't think the HoM is overpowered per se, but it is an attractive Prc. He does get some nifty abilities with his hammer and the dr is very nice. What I think that balaces him is he loses all caster advancement, he relies on CHARISMA of all things for a good chunk of his abilities, and there are significant alignment and story restrictions. Though he does get a decent ranged attack, he can only make one hammer throw a round. His hammer returns the next round. A cleric can emulate a good portion of his abilities with spellsI was going to mention the Axethrower requirements, but someone already beat me to it. I do see how it can cause problems, especially if you play in a campaign that has mucho violencio.

 

[silentspace]

In other discussions on these boards, the vast majority feel it is overpowered. I'm in the small minority who doesn't agree, mostly for the reasons Madhatter stated above. The class requires too many different abilities! Str (obviously), Dex (for the hammer throwing feats), Con (front line fighter, after all), and Cha (to use his special abilities). You need a minimimum Wis of 12 too. Luckily, you can get by with an Int as low as 8 (low skill requirements). If you're doing point-buy, this will be a difficult class to pull off. If you survive to higher levels, and spend most of your cash on stat-boosting items, you'll be in pretty good shape. Personally, I still wouldn't play one though, by high levels straight Dwarven clerics will own a HOM. Still, almost everyone else agrees HOMs are overpowered though.

 

[Jolly Giant]

It's powerful, definitely, by I wouldn't say it's overpowered. I've allowed it IMC.

The frenzied berserkre, on the other hand, is just silly...

 

[Dark Jezter]

I'm with Jolly Giant; the Hammer of Moradin is definately a powerful PrC, but I wouldn't say that it's overpowered.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Just for the record, I do think it's overpowered. It's got enough abilities for at least one good PrC and one mediocre one. If you're using gestalt fighter/barbarian or fighter/paladin classes in your campaign though, it's balanced.