Play Testers/Substance Abuse

[Chu Li]

When looking at recent D&D products I can't help seeing an overall increase in power.
That might be necessary in order to keep the game interesting, so I'm ok with that.
What really bugs me though is the (sometimes radical) difference between classes.
I'm specifically referring to the Hexblade and the Duskblade.

I really like the Hexblade, allthough it appears quite low-powered to me.

But in direct comparison the Duskblade is a 1-A Skyrocket. IMHO the Duskblade dwarves almost ANY other class. (2 strong saves, d8 HD, strong BA, INT for (spont.) spell-casting, spell prog from 1st lvl, lots of directly useful spells, ability to quicken spells, martial weapon prof, shield prof, all armors, potential to cast spells while fully armored and lots of other goodies).

Thematically both classes are similar, i.e. they're both arcane fighters, but power-wise there are worlds between them. Why is that?

Thpfft!

Chu Li


P.S. plz send remedy

 

[Henry]

Answer: The spells aren't fantastic, and he's pretty much a one-trick combat-pony. In play, he doesn't dwarf the other characters from what I've seen, including some plain-jane base classes like barbarian and druid. In fact, Druids and Clerics will still "rock the house" compared to a Duckblade.

 

[brehobit]

Answer: The spells aren't fantastic, and he's pretty much a one-trick combat-pony. In play, he doesn't dwarf the other characters from what I've seen, including some plain-jane base classes like barbarian and druid. In fact, Druids and Clerics will still "rock the house" compared to a Duckblade.

Duskblade's aren't all _that_ powerful. But much much more powerful than the hexblade I'd say. A duskblade is a great class for a warrior "mutt" build. My Barb 1/Ranger 1/ Fighter 1/ Duskblade 1 found the duskblade to be quite nice (huge number of cantrips and blade of blood and stand were very very handy)

 

[Roger]

I'm specifically referring to the Hexblade and the Duskblade.

How much time have you spent playtesting both the Hexblade and the Duskblade?



Cheers,
Roger

 

[joela]

Hex & Dusk in Play

How much time have you spent playtesting both the Hexblade and the Duskblade?

Cheers,
Roger

I've seen both in play and in two different campaigns and didn't think the latter's abilities was that especially powerful. The PC, on the other hand, was, but that was due more to feats combo than anything else.

The hexblade, on the other hand, struck me as just a more interesting rogue-type than warmachine.

 

[Shazman]

How is the hexblade a rogue type? They get practically no skills, no trapfinding. A ranger is way more roguish than a hexblade.

 

[SadisticFishing]

For the same reason that Swashbuckler and Samurai are also weak-ish classes - not everything can be super strong. PHB1 is still where the strongest... everything is. Druid, cleric, wizard, the spells...

For early supplements, things like Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil and Frenzied Berserker and both extremely strong.

Edit: Forgot my point, heh - no, things aren't getting stronger, just the very idea of D&D means it can never be absolutely balanced. Has anything ever been?

 

[werk]

How is the hexblade a rogue type? They get practically no skills, no trapfinding. A ranger is way more roguish than a hexblade.

Yeah, hexblade struck me more as a cranky paladin than any type of rogue.

 

[Nail]

No one's mentioned Warblades yet. Funny!

 

[Piratecat]

In fact, Druids and Clerics will still "rock the house" compared to a Duckblade.

Quack.