Marshal in play

[Notmousse]

Paladins have better PR than jonny come lately Marshal. Most likely from a Cha based Paladin.

 

[Dracandross]

It's fine as-is, IMO. Certainly limiting it to a mere +1 bonus at first level is overly heavy-handed.

Most D&D classes are front-loaded, so I don't know why folks try so hard to single out the marshal. I don't see folks clamouring for the paladin's divine grace to have a Cha cap. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

I'd agree with this at least half-way. With good but not by any means HIGH cha +5 is easy and it affects about everyone. But hey there isn't restriction on fighters STR bonus on attacks & damage. On low levels str 20 is +5/+7 which brings hit chances of ac 15 to 9+ and kills automatically or so (well 1 hd mobs) compared to hit chance of 14+ and kill chance of 20% if compared to restriciton +1. High stat shoulda count for something, if it's CHA why it shouldnt be good.
Even though I could see limiting +2/level just to make 1 level dip a bit less interesting

-Dracandross

 

[airwalkrr]

QFT.

It is a VERY powerful one-level dip. Esp. for a high CHR character.

A sorc in a game where there is lots of SR (underdark, outerplanes) does really well here. She can add her CHR bonus to her level check for overcoming SR, which is darn powerful. But she ALSO gets to add it to everyone else level check for SR. Very very very handy. Bards really do well here.

It is also a great great class for gestalt games. Very few of it's powers take an action, which is generally the limiting factor. So a Marshal/X (X=bard, sorc, paladin) is really quite powerful. Get a few of those in the party and it gets really crazy very quickly.

Mark

Also QFT.

The marshal class as written is really problematic for this reason. If your player intends to play a marshal and take no other class levels, it causes no problems, but that is the least attractive way to actually use the marshal class (dipping for a bard or sorcerer is the best). Attached is my variant marshal which I use in my campaigns. It is scaled by level and much more balanced. There is relatively little incentive to take just one level in this modified class.

*You can take or leave the bonus feats at 5th, 11th, and 17th. They are there to compensate for "dead levels" in which the marshal gains little or nothing besides hp and skill points.

A quick-fix if you don't like my house rule marshal is to just cap the bonus at the marshal's level. So even a 1st-level marshal with a Charisma of 18 can only get +1 with his minor aura.

Edit: Also, I should add that I did have one player play a marshal as written back a few years ago from 1st level all the way to 12th in a fairly traditional D&D campaign. He was the only character who never died in a group of six and he was clearly one of the most powerful characters, if not THE most powerful (and his ability scores were not that impressive; on the low end of most players in the group). With Art of War and a few related feats he became the ultimate tool of battlefield control. Force of Will kept the party virtually immune to enchantments and illusions. Determined Caster made spell resistance almost meaningless. Motivate Dexterity ensured that the party almost always got the drop on their enemies. I don't think he ever worried about the 3/4 BAB. I have also played a marshal in the Legacy of the Green Regent campaign. The class is hardly as underpowered as some people claim, even as an actual class and not a dip. I have lots of experience with the class to back that up.

 

[brehobit]

Also QFT.
He was the only character who never died in a group of six and he was clearly one of the most powerful characters, if not THE most powerful (and his ability scores were not that impressive; on the low end of most players in the group).

In larger groups (6+) I'd expect the marshal to be quite good. Toss in a bard or a marshal/bard and you've got a huge set of bonuses to the party.

Mark

 

[airwalkrr]

In larger groups (6+) I'd expect the marshal to be quite good. Toss in a bard or a marshal/bard and you've got a huge set of bonuses to the party.

Mark

True that. I have never seen a marshal in a three or four person party, but I would expect similar results. A bard is a great addition to a small party because he is a jack of all trades. A marshal can choose auras that make up for deficiencies in similar fashion.

 

[orcmonk220]

Which sourcebook is the Marshall from?

 

[Darklone]

Which sourcebook is the Marshall from?

MiniHB. I think there's an update somewhere in the Complete Series?

 

[shilsen]

MiniHB. I think there's an update somewhere in the Complete Series?

No, it was never updated anywhere else, AFAIK.

BTW, if one doesn't have the MiniHB, the Marshal is also up at the WotC site as part of the preview for it.

 

[Darklone]

No, it was never updated anywhere else, AFAIK.

BTW, if one doesn't have the MiniHB, the Marshal is also up at the WotC site as part of the preview for it.

I am not sure, but I think I remember to have read here in a post that some marshal ability was changed... or perhaps a variant was given.

IIRC it was about changing the grant move action ability into "something useful".

 

[RangerWickett]

You can view the Marshal here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b

As for the commander granting a bonus to caster level checks:

"All allies within 30 ft. gain a bonus to those rolls equal to the commander’s Charisma modifier, to a maximum of the commander’s class level."