TwoSix
Bad DM
I know you're speaking of Planar Shepard, but there's also Moonspeaker.
Fair point. Moonspeaker is very solid. Planar Shepherd takes Druid up a tier, though, which is saying something when the class is already Tier 1.

I know you're speaking of Planar Shepard, but there's also Moonspeaker.
We are going to have to agree to disagree on the core 3E being broken. I don't believe it is every edition has things that can be abused in a powergamer hands and every edition has flaws. As you play it you learn what works and what does not and then you if chose use rule 0.
Then you have never had a true optimizer who knows the system combine classes with prestige classes and make a character that is so over powered that to properly challenge him you end up wiping the floor with the rest of the party.
I have seen plenty of clerics and druid multiclassing as well as wizard doing though not as much. Not everyone believes that every PC needs to have the best optimized build around.
I am also strict on multiclassing which is again no without my approval. I am not against multiclassing as a way to build your concept but I have found that this stops a lot of the power gaming.
Are you saying that it's good to restrict multi-classing because it's overpowered, or that it's good to encourage multi-classing because multi-class casters are less mechanically optimised?I have seen plenty of clerics and druid multiclassing as well as wizard doing though not as much. Not everyone believes that every PC needs to have the best optimized build around.
Except that a TRUE optimizer knows that you can do that with a Wizard, Cleric, or Druid, no splats or PrCs needed. Hell, there's only PrC that's actually a power-up for druids at ALL.
Nothing wrong with that, embedding narrative hooks to the chosen mechanics makes for a stronger game.
Fochlucan Lyrist. Oozes flavor, but yea, the entry mechanics are so harsh as to weaken the character severely.
But the argument about your players not being powergamers isn't really relevant. The argument from our side (at least, my personal framing of the pro-4e camp) is that the game should support your powergaming, and not break. Period. The theory that you should weaken your character deliberately to really "roleplay" is an artifact of an earlier time that should have died with 2nd edition. (Sorry, Rath!)
For the record, oD&D was tested to death with powergamers before it was first released and doesn't break. 1e doesn't break in core. And 4e has been errata'd so it doesn't break. The only thing to truly abuse in 4e is consumables, and even they aren't utterly broken. 3e stands pretty much alone in being as easy to break as it is in the D&D family.
A true optimiser who knows the system knows that the most powerful two classes in core are the wizard and the druid (the cleric needs a bit of splat support). And as a druid the joke is you only take prestige classes beginning with "P". And ending in "-lanar Shepherd". You do not need prestige classes to break wizards or druids - they are just icing on the cake.
Of course not. The issue is that the game should be able to take such PCs. Not that everyone is going to use them.
Are you saying that it's good to restrict multi-classing because it's overpowered, or that it's good to encourage multi-classing because multi-class casters are less mechanically optimised?
My understanding is that overpoweredness of casters and multi-classing are mostly orthogonal, because most of the potentially game-breaking stuff - summoning, polymorph, teleport, scrying, etc - is in the core PHB and is avaible to a druid or wizard without any multi-classing.
The 10 best ideas I have seen on this and boards to remedy most of the abuse come down to these:
1.) Get rid of the Spell Component pouch, make Eschew Materials and Natural Spell into Metamagic feats that works like Still and Silent Spell, and make components count.
2.) Polymorph-like spells requires an appropriate Knowledge check upon witnessing an example of the creature to cast equal to an appropriate DC (that number I would have to look into of course, but somewhere between 10-15 + (1/2HD/1*HD) sounds about right). This check may be made once/level if the creature is encountered again.
3.) Eliminate Celerity and similar spells, and close Conjuration (creation) money loopholes through adding a subclause that makes the products of such spells worthless in the open market.
4.) Make Knock function like Find Traps.
5.) Double the costs to create wands, and do not sell dozens of wands in your local Magimart.
6.) Drop all Flight spells by 2 steps, minimum 1 rd/level. Fly? 1 rd/lvl. Overland Flight? 1 minute/lvl. This one is probably the one I have the biggest problem with, but ehh.
7.) Enforce all rules for spells to the letter.
8.) Use Pathfinder's version of Forcecage.
9.) Enforce localized rarity of spells. I shouldn't be able to get a 'desert' spell from Sandstorm while in the middle of the frozen tundra. Subset: Allow only 1 spell/level to be from a regional book. Same rules for Sorcerers and all other casters (see below).
10.) Priests, Druids, and lower tier groups that gain 'all' spells on their home list get Prayer books/Training Books/etc that function as spellbooks. I worked on this at my blog before I got injured, and plan to return to the idea with vigor once I can crunch better as this post has taken me almost 45 minutes to generate and I'm worn out.
Yeah, not the most popular routes, and it doesn't solve all of the problems of every possible issue... But for less than a page of text it fixes a heck of a lot of issues and/or forces the Wizard player to specialize for certain powerful spells.
So? How does this sound?
Slainte,
-Loonook.
Not sure about this one to be honest. For one, most of the spell components (unless you also want to go through every spell and change those) are hardly rare or difficult to get. Pinch of sand for a sleep spell? Not exactly hard. Some might be a bit tricky, but, for the most part, it's not a huge deal. And the casters are already getting reamed with book keeping. I'd also point out that this only really affects wizards as the cleric and druid are mostly using their focus.
I'd go with a different fix. Limit size. If you can only polymorph into a large or smaller creature, that gets around a LOT of the issues. No more Behir polymorph cheese. You could also possibly cut it down to certain monster types as well - Animals and magical beasts, for example - would bring the spell way back in line.
Good... good...
That's a bit stickier. For one, a lot of the spells are pretty darn vague. I mean, what does that mean when I'm casting Spectral Force? There's a spell with a LOT of leeway. Look at all the disagreement on what Charm actually means. I like the intent, but, I'm thinking that you'd have to do a massive rewrite on the spell section in the PHB in order to achieve this.
Works.
Yeah, I 'd be behind this.
I think this goes a long way towards fixing the issue.