Selfsufficient classes

[Drowbane]

I dig self-sufficient classes. I've been meaning to try out a gestalt Psion (Egoist?) | Monk (w/Kung Fu Genius feat) for sometime now. Heck, throw in the Vow of Poverty and I'm good!

With an oldskool DM, you're stuck with whatever items the party happens to find... and then you have to negotiate with your party to get that item you think would suit your character best!

In our AoW game the Sorc ended up getting nothing for the first 6 levels because all the magic items we found fit someone (namely that damn munchkiny Fi/Rog!!) else better... but boy was he thrilled when we found a Cloak of Cha!

 

[The_Gneech]

I'm also in favour of treating +1 to +3 enchanted weapons as simply superior equipment, and reducing the price accordingly. A +1 enchantment is nowhere near as good as the "flaming" quality, and shouldn't be an equal price.

Well, some of that is where the weirdness of math comes in. Mechanically a +2 (nonflaming) sword does about the same damage overall as a +1 flaming sword, because it does 2 points less damage on average but also hits 5% more often. Yes, the flaming sword is "more magical," but from a strictly number-crunching POV, I can see why the pricing is the way it is.

From a fluff standpoint tho, yeah, I'd like to see more varying levels of "poor weapon, average weapon, superior weapon, masterwork" corresponding to "-1, +0, +1, +2" or something similar.

-The Gneech

 

[Herobizkit]

I'm all about self-sufficent characters... but I am also a die-hard solo campaign player and DM. My friend and I are old and more or less set in our ways, and we feel it would talke too long to "break in" a new player to our group, even if they have the same play experience as we do.

That aside, I feel that clerics and wizards always win the high-level faceoffs when compared to fighters and rogues, while the latter pair dominate the low- to mid-level range. It kind of makes me ill... which is why I've opted for Gestalt play.

 

[Imp]

I'm not anti-magic item generally, but what I'd rather see is a smaller number of very cool items, rather than a boatload of items that give +1 here and +2 there.

Paladin with +2 elven chain and a +5 holy sword but no other magic items? Rockin'.

Paladin with +1 sword, +1 breastplate, +1 shield, ioun stone whizzing around his head giving him +2 Con, cloak of resistance +1, amulet of natural armor +1, boots of striding, gauntlets of ogre power, and ten +1 arrows? Bah.

It's purely a fluff-preference point, mind you, but for me it's a crucial one. To that end, the more self-sufficiency, the better! This is why I tend to have high-stats-but-few-magic-items type games. I also like the Conan game's setup of giving all stats a boost every few levels (I seem to recall it's 5, but I may be misremembering), to make up for all those potions and +1 whatevers that the characters aren't getting.

I'm like this too, but I also like temporary magic items, and items of varying or undependable power. The +2 sword forged in the goblin war that enhances itself to +4 when the power of the goblins threatens to take over the land once more? The +1 bow that becomes enhanced on the solstice, playing into an upcoming adventure? The dagger whose magic flees entirely in the presence of undead? Also rockin'. And much easier to deal with when there are fewer magic items total present.

 

[Hairfoot]

The dagger whose magic flees entirely in the presence of undead? Also rockin'.

Self-sufficiency means a dagger whose owner flees entirely in the presence of undead.