Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8604325" data-attributes="member: 6877472">1. Wizard is king.  While it's true the Cleric has a better chassis for defense, and their Domains let them grab some neat arcane spells, the breadth and depth of arcane shenanigans cannot be ignored.  Add to that bonus feats to do some of the most broken stuff in the game (like magic item creation to break WBL in half), and better skills (due to being Int-focused), there's not many limits for a Wizard once they figure out how not to get stabbbed to death by goblins.  Also, it's worth noting that it's hard to build a Cleric that can actually use all their advantages- melee and heavy armor require Strength, you'll want Con to be anywhere near combat, you really don't want to dump Charisma as there are neat uses for Turn attempts, and Wisdom governs your spells...unless you roll amazing stats, you'll likely have terrible Initiative and Skills.2. But the Cleric is still right here.  It's close between a Cleric and a kitted out Druid, but more spells thanks to having Domain slots and Divine Metamagic puts them solidly here.3. Druids are next.  It can be a little rough to figure out your AC woes with Wild Shape, but you can get a lot of mileage out of an animal companion, and the Druid spell list is surprisingly effective at most levels.4. Sorcerer should be higher, since they share the Wizard spell list.  But no real class features of note, and a super limited spell list really holds them back.  They can't afford to spend many spells known on magics that aren't going to be used on a day to day basis, and it's unlikely they'll have the silver bullet spells to deal with major problems.5. Bards don't have a lot going for them, but their bardic inspiration is a nice buff, and spells cover a lot of sins.  If you go splat book diving, you can find things like Dragonsong Inspiration and Snowflake Wardance to really make them shine.6. Barbarians are the melee class of choice.  Big hit points, big damage with rage, and a better skill package than the Fighter.  AC is weak, and if you're not careful, you'll die when your Rage ends, but fast movement and uncanny dodge are nice things to have.7. Ranger has some lackluster abilities, but they have a really good skills package, and bonus Feats they don't need to meet the prerequisites for.  Two-Weapon Fighting is a trap in 3.5 but there are some really good alternate class features and toys they can acquire, like Sword of the Arcane Order.  Splatbooks give them some really neat spells as well.8. I hate putting Paladin here, since their immunities and save bonuses are amazing, but they lack feats, they lack skills, Smite is a limited resource that doesn't even work on some enemies, and their healing is weak unless you have a really high Charisma.  But they do get some neat spells.9. It was a hard choice, but I'll put Rogue here.  Once Skill Tricks are on the table, their superior Skill package can be leveraged into usefulness.  The variant Rogue from Unearthed Arcana that trades Sneak Attack for Feats is worth a look.  Sneak Attack is a weird ability- it does a lot of damage when you meet it's requirements, but the Rogue has weak hit points, AC, and their attack bonus is lackluster, with no way to increase it with buffs like the Cleric has.  And let's not talk about the ability score requirements, as you can't even start with Weapon Finesse, and even if you do use Dexterity to hit, your damage is going to be terrible when Sneak Attack isn't online.  Plus there is a host of creatures Sneak Attack doesn't work on, forcing you to invest in magic or alternate class features to get it to even function more than half the time.  If you could Sneak Attack from range that would be fine, but oh no, sorry, 30' only.  Fortunately, investing in Use Magic Device can help a higher level Rogue out immensely, but really, you'd be better off as a Bard.10. The Fighter has the advantage of being customizable, but he has to meet the requirements for his Feats, which can be a real pain, since many that you'll want are locked behind Combat Expertise, requiring a 13 or better Int.  You'll find yourself wanting Dodge as well, so now you need a decent Dex.  Saves are bad, skills are bad, and their AC isn't better than a Cleric's.  Good for making a specific build, but easy to foil.  11. I feel bad for the Monk, but the ability score requirements are insane.  Just like the Rogue, they can't start with Weapon Finesse, and they will still want Strength to deal any kind of damage.  Dex, Con, and Wis need to be high.  A decent skills package is held back because you probably can't invest in much Intelligence.  There are some variant Monks out there like Kung Fu Genius or Carmendine Monks, but you still have to deal with Flurry of Misses, an odd requirement for magic items to fix the problems of your class (expensive ones at that) despite your host of supernatural abilities, and the fact that many creatures have a good Fortitude save means Stunning Fist won't work as often as you need it to.  You do have good saves though, but at higher levels, a Paladin might outpace you.  Avoid unless you're a super-optimizer or like a challenge.</blockquote>

Verification