NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeapThaumaturgist" data-source="post: 3183741" data-attributes="member: 12332">Just for the sake of adding to the Medium Armor + Fast Movement or Tumble situation, allow me to give my take on it from the perspective of somebody playing with all of the involved character options.My current character is a Barbarian1/Cleric13.  I took the Barbarian for Rage and Increased Movement (I wanted to build a non-traditional paladin-type, so he's got Destruction Domain Smite and Extra Smite).  This is the first game I'm playing with my current group, and after playing with D20Modern they liked 1) more skills and 2) Starting Occupations, so all of the characters got an additional 2sp/lvl. With my extra skill points I decided to go cross-class into Tumble ... another House Rule, they let PCs/NPCs with ranks in Tumble attempt to "set" the DC of the Tumble Through Threatened Squares check, so I figured it would be worth it if nothing else to help protect the back ranks by trying to ruin a few Tumble checks.My character has never worn Medium armor.  Using the Tumble skill as written in RAW (especially with some additional movement from Bbn and Divine Vigor) is just too good.  It's more useful, tactically, to be able to roll into flanking position with the Rogue and avoid AoOs entirely than the few points of AC a heavier armor can net ... why?  Because if I can avoid the first AoO and put myself and the rogue in a position to do maximum damage, we can quite possibly DROP the badguy before he gets a chance to make me pay for my lower AC.Additionally, D&D is weighted heavily against AC, especially at mid to high levels.  It takes FAR more character resources to get an effective AC score than it does to just beat things to death.  Our Fighter-type is bemoaning that now, as he wears a Heavy Shield +3 and Full Plate +2 and a Ring of Protection +4 while I have no RoP, Mithril Breastplate +1, and use a two-handed weapon.  Things don't have a real big problem hitting either of us.So, for my money, Tumble is one of the few skills worth taking cross-class.  Being able to maneuver in combat effectively really increases tactical superiority.  With "melee" monsters at mid-to-high levels having buckets of HD and Strength scores in the 30s, AC in D&D is hard to get anyway ... personally, every Barbarian should be putting ranks in Tumble cross-class and get at least five ranks in Jump and wear the Mithril Breastplate.  Every Warblade should be getting movement-rate-increasing items, putting ranks in Tumble, and wearing the Mithril Breastplate.  --fje</blockquote>

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