Is this a gamebreaker?

[FreeTheSlaves]

I would be looking more at this character in terms of his contribution to the party. An overpowered character steals significantly more thunder from his companions and by definition should be hanging out with higher level peers.

Is this character overpowered? I would think not but especially not so if the spells he fires off assist the frontliners to boot. I'd play such a character along the lines of biffing a haste for immediate contribtution to all and then either wade into weaker opponants (spellcasters who would be foolish to melee you) or one buff and then go.

Trying to compete, point for point with other core classes seems foolish. You should not be able to succeed in this matter but if you do then you'd better not; if you do encroach you'll only get whacked with the nerf stick when players complain of feeling unnecessary. I would prefer the nerf stick to the alternative - players walking.

 

[Shin Okada]

Yikes! Sounds like the most-heard quote in your game must be "Elf is about to die!" (
"Gauntlet" reference, for you younguns...)

Elves are always about to die. Aren't they? I mean, in D&D

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I had a fighter/mage who did that in one combat. It was a TPK--not because it was inherently too challenging though it was challenging. It was a TPK because the fighter/mage spent the first three rounds of combat not contributing.

IME, most combats are over by after the first three rounds and about 50% are decided by something that happens in round 1. If a party member does nothing but buff for the first three rounds, he might as well not be there. One round is barely acceptable.

My own take on the fighter/mage thing (though I've only done it at low levels in 3e and things were significantly different with a real shield spell and the extra haste action) is that he can be useful either by having long and mid duration buffs up ahead of time and/or by casting spells that buff the party as well as himself. So, for instance, a fighter/mage might have greater magic weapon, see invis, alter self, and heroism up when he enters a dangerous area and cast shield, polymorph, etc. before opening the door. In combat, he just casts blink or displacement and is ready to rumble.

Alternatively, the fighter/mage can keep a number of swift or quickened spells prepped and just cast blink and be ready to rumble or make estensive use of still spell, and wear heavy armor so that he casts a stilled, extended wraithstrike and is ready to power attack on round 1.

If he spends more than one round to prep, he's pretty much written himself out of the fight or at least its most crucial rounds.

Casting a haste spell in round 1 probably doesn't count as a wasted round though since it also affects the rest of his party.

Going invisible to start buffing, however, is a guaranteed loser. It's only worth casting invis if you're going to cast more than one buff spell (if you were only casting one buff spell, you'd cast it instead of invis), so in order to get two buff spells up, it guarantees no offensive action until round 4 at the earliest. If you're wading into combat only in round 4 with two buffs up, you might as well not be there.

While buff time is important for all spellcasters, it is probably least important for the Fighter-mage. Why? Invisibility. The good old 2nd level standby. When the enemy has the drop on the party so badly that the fighter-mage is utterly useless, he can simply go Invisible, walk 60 ft. away from combat, and start buffing.

Of course, the fighter-mage can't buff too long, or the battle will be over by the time he is ready. But 3 rounds is all a Fighter-Mage would need to get back into the fray. Walk away from combat, polymorph into a Treant, cast stoneskin, then re-enter the battle with Glitterdust or Slow.

 

[Scratched_back]

It is interesting to see this build though. Previously I hadn't really considered fighter-mages all that viable, instead I always viewed them as rather fragile and not very useful to the party, individual Fighter and Wizard characters pulling their weight signifcantly better.

Hahah, I'm glad something good came of all this then! I was originally going to play a Spellsword PrC but I don't care if he IS allowed to wear armour, it's not worth ditching spell progression for.

In this build I have improved hit dice over a wizard, massively improved base attack (as in, +1 per level) and I've only lost one spell level for the changes. I'm loving it!

 

[Scratched_back]

It's not other PC's roles to stick it out one man short while the fighter-mage spends 3 rounds buffing, any more than it's the party's role to stick it out one man short while the cleric spends 3 rounds buffing, or the druid, etc. The fighter-mage could spend those 3 rounds actually helping keep his party alive...

...I disagree. A fighter-mage isn't at his peak without buffing, but he's certainly not useless. If the fighter-mage needs 3 rounds to be willing to fight in any combat, it's time to pick up a real party member...

...a fighter-mage who plans to try and outfight the fighter by spending three rounds every combat getting ready isn't anything but a liability.

To be honest, I spend very little time 'buffing' in the actual game. The only time it ever comes up is if we KNOW things are waiting in positions for us AND we have the spare time. Honestly, very rare.

Actually during combat, as one poster mentioned earlier, I use myself very much to fill the gaps in a battle. I stabilise the front line - should one of the fighters be struggling, I generally target other casters and get my ass over to them as soon as I can, I can use my bow well, should the occasion ever arise, I can fly to assist anywhere on the battle field. It's rare to buff at all in combat, I couldn't do that to my party. There'd be hell on!

 

[Shin Okada]

Compare your build against a pure cleric. Cleric is a core class, right (though the strongest one).

BAB : Same
Base Saves : fort +6, ref +2, will +5 against fort +6, ref +3, will +6. Cleric wins.
HP : 1d10(max)+5d4+3d6=33 in average, 9d8(1st-level max)=44. Cleric wins.
AC : Cleric can wear heavy armor. And now he can cast magic vestment. Cleric wins.
Spell casting: Your build is a 7th-level wizard with CL 9. A cleric is true 9th-level caster. Cleric wins.

And Cleric can use some wizard spells via items if he takes magic domain.

If your build is a gamebreaker, a cleric should be a uber gamebreaker.

By the way, a fighter-mage type is versatile but never be a gamebreaker. He can never be truly good at something. A pure wizard is a strong caster. And a pure warrior types (Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger or multiclass of them) are much better weapon user (remember party clerics and wizards can buff them). A fighter-mage type may have some edge in one on one duel. But when adventuring and a party is cooperating, specialists tend to shine.

 

[Nail]

Anti-psionic feats exist to counter that. If your DM doesn't bother occasionally tossing someone in with them, then he or she deserves to have the NPCs and monsters overrun by the Psion.

Cute. Oblivious to previous posts, perhaps, but cute.

Why don't you list the anti-psionic feats.....and then list the monsters in MM, MM II, MM II, and FF that have those feats. I'll use 'em, I promise.

After all, the DM, when making a villan, can always give him more stats.

....And the DM can always throw a troupe of Balors at the party.

One of the primary reasons for balance is to promote fun. If one PC dominates the group because his class, spells, or items are broken in some way, that may affect the fun had by the rest. I say "may", because there are some who have fun regardless.

If, in order to appropriately challenge a super-PC, the DM has to uber-buff his monsters, there will be two predictable results:

• The CR of the uber-buffed monster will go up, and
• the other PCs will be slaughtered or shut-out of the encounter.

Neither, IMHO, is very fun. But hey: YMMV, and that's fine.

In my experience, actual stats have little to do with the in-combat effectiveness of a character - rather, the amount of time that the player has prepared for the game makes the biggest difference (yes, despite metagaming restrictions.)

....and you've never noticed the interesting corellation between high stats and player prep time? Huh. Re-roll your Spot check.

 

[Nail]

OK, here's a very simple example: ....

So, the real question here is: does this "simple example" actually play to any of the psion's strengths? Methinks you need a better example.

 

[Nail]

Plus, Psions can't unlearn powers like a Sorc.

Try again.

Psychic Reformation
.......The subject can also choose to forget powers it acquired when advancing to its current level, replacing them with new ones.

Name the Wiz, Sor, Clr, or Drd spell that does the same.

 

[Nail]

Psions are amazingly good in their specialty. Go outside it and the options vanish.

As opposed to some other class? All PCs have this limitation.