Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Viktyr Gehrig" data-source="post: 610329" data-attributes="member: 9249">Re: This & that They were gross in 1e because the designers tried to balance them by scarcity-- which didn't work, because if the DM wanted psionics in the campaign, he used it, and if he didn't, noone got it. They were gross in 2e because there was no effort to fit psionics in with the rest of the system. Powers were available in whatever order the Psionicist wanted and a couple high stats gave a huge boost to Psionic Strength Points. The Psion and Psychic Warrior in 3e are balanced classes-- if anything, the Psion is a little weak. He has tremendous flexibility, but his powers don't scale for level like a Sorceror's and he's more limited in his selection of powers. The Psion is still dependent on several stats-- but instead of getting a huge benefit from high stats, the Psion needs better than average stats in most of his abilities just to do his job. Adding them into the Core books allows them to be better integrated into existing campaigns. That's all. The Sorceror is a decent class. It has noticeable inconsistencies, such as a natural spellcaster needing weird components to cast their spells-- and a Charisma-based classes with no Charisma-based skills is poorly designed at best.  I support giving the Sorceror two more skill points per level. I also think the Fighter should get two more skill points per level, and the Cleric and Paladin as well. Two skill points per level is ridiculous for any class. I also think the Bard, Ranger, and Druid should have six. For Wizards, I'm torn between four and six-- though I'm leaning towards six, to make up for the "goodies" I want to give the Sorceror. Demihuman subraces are a long-standard part of D&D, and should be reflected in the Core rules. As for including the Orc, I include the Orc because there is a Half-Orc. It seems to me that if Half-Orcs are PCs, Orcs should be, as well. If Savage Species does a good job with Orcs in specific, I won't be too concerned about this. The Planetouched are pretty close to core, as well. They're listed as a PC race in the Forgotten Realms (which isn't a convincing argument for many people, I know), but would also be common on any fairly high-magic world, like Greyhawk. They also make sense as subraces of Human-- in fact the only possible subraces of human that aren't entirely campaign-dependent and loaded with potential pitfalls. As for looking at the D&D races as cliches, that sounds like a deliberate attempt to shoehorn each race into a specific role-- something which the new edition of D&D was supposed to be moving away from. Agreed. This one is particularly annoying-- almost as bad as some of the other skills the warrior-types are missing, and their complete and utter lack of skills. I think the Urban Ranger should be Core-- however, I agree that the Ranger and Barbarian are badly front-loaded and then deadly boring after 10th level-- and I would include the Paladin on this list. After second level Barbarian, first level Ranger, or third level Paladin (second if you're not interested in Divine feats), almost any character would be more powerful and more interesting to play if they switched to another class. All three classes actually make a very strong lead-in towards some kind of spellcaster, or switch to Fighter to take advantage of the bonus feats. Giving these classes an infrequent Bonus Feat related to their class-specific roles might work-- not enough feats, or enough variety of feats, to threaten the Fighter, but enough feats within their specific expertise to enhance their role in the party. The Ranger list could include Track, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Alertness, Endurance, Run, and similar feats. The Barbarian would get the Rage feats, Endurance, and the Power Attack chain, while the Paladin would get the Divine Feats, Extra Turning, Extra Smiting, and Leadership. Something like one Bonus Feat every four levels could work, or at 10th level and every three levels after that (as Rogue).</blockquote>

Verification