31 réponses à ce sujet

[henesua]

I posted a poll requesting information on your favorite prestige class.

The reason I am posting this poll is to understand more about what prestige classes people prefer to play and why. I am currently working on the prestige classes for Arnheim and am modifying them. Before I finish this stage of the work, I'd like to understand which classes are the favorites for players.

[EDIT]
I think I figured out the problem regarding being unable to post comments. I had linked to the poll incorrectly. Link fixed.

Modifié par henesua, 27 janvier 2012 - 05:46 .

[wyldhunt1]

The poll won't let me comment for some reason...

[henesua]

Were you logged in? The only restriction the poll has for comments is "registered users".

[WebShaman]

Looks like my fav, Assassin is winning! W00t!

Go MMs!!!!

[HipMaestro]

Wish I could have voted twice.  Why?

Well, for pure fun and challenge it must be shifter, an oft-nerfed prestige and one that pales on high-magic servers. It is actually many build in a single class.  The dragon form is not necessarily the power form on high magic servers with the limited merge but the diverity of abilities in the forms can oppose most all enemies and situations. 

But for sheer power...  Arcane Archer.... probably the easiest class to dominate against just about any other class (yes, Web... including your Assassin MM which would easily die off the screen from a Stealthy Divine AA... wanna PvP? *lol* j/k... me <--> no PvP anymore).  An un-nerfed AA is completely equipment independent, a rare trait, and can pierce just about all DR levels naturally except Warding.

I voted for the shifter since sheer power gets boring real fast for me.  Fun never does.

[henesua]

I like the exploring the possibilities of different forms too. Shifter is the only prestige class I have played, but mostly for the RP aspect. Pretending to be different creatures and interacting with PCs on a PW that are not sure who you are is fun.

I need to script a name change with polymorph so that the polymorph can truly work as a disguise.

You mentioned nerfing of Shifter and Arcane Archer. What do some worlds do to cut back on their power?

[WhiZard]

I cast the first vote for HS. When building a character, HS is often the best way of getting the full SCV feats.

[henesua]

SCV feats?

[HipMaestro]

henesua wrote...
You mentioned nerfing of Shifter and Arcane Archer. What do some worlds do to cut back on their power?

Shifter... limited durations & uses per day.  Any server that makes it easy to reach the ability/AB caps effectively nerfs all shifter forms since they overwrite and thereby nerf their innate power, comparatively speaking.

henesua wrote...
Pretending to be different creatures and interacting with PCs on a PW that are not sure who you are is fun.

It is.  One server I played provided a utility where any toon could morph into ANY form, not just the polymorph ones.  So you could hide out in a herd of NPC deer pretty well until moused over or unless you used a name like Stag or something could hide even better.  Fun stuff.

AA... increase the required number of arcane levels needed & make magical arrow stacks unusable by AAs (done by making them usuable only by rogue, ranger, fighter, for example).

SC(V) = Self-concealment (Fifth level, or 50% SC)

Picking HS blows my mind, WhiZard, and a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Modifié par HipMaestro, 27 janvier 2012 - 10:14 .

[Shadooow]

shifter for his variability

[WhiZard]

henesua wrote...

SCV feats?

5 HS epic gives two Great Dexterity feats which helps reach the 30 Dex required for all of the 5 SCV feats.  For rogue, this allows the flexibility of devoting a good portion of the remaining levels to another prestige class without having to go elf or halfling (e.g. Rogue 21, DwD 14, HS 5 is a viable SCV epic dodge build).

[wyldhunt1]

I've always prefered assassin. Their Death Attack/Backstab combo is great fun. Their tactics are a lot more involved than a lot of other classes. In a 1 on 1 fight that the assassin starts from stealth, it's usually all over fast... But, they fall quick if they're fighting a group. Their spells tend to be all kinds of helpful in a lot of situations, but it's all about tactics.
My main character used to be a ranger/rogue/assassin on a rp server. When dual weilding, he got an opening backstab with both weapons... And if the DA worked, every attack after that was a backstab (He got a lot of attacks (Ranger)). The lack of armor and low hp always meant that he had to avoid large scale melee's though. Luckily, he usually had a camoflauge spell working and almost nothing on the server could see him, so I could pick my battles a bit better than most classes could.

[henesua]

I've noticed much less interest in the Shadow Dancer in this thread than I expected. I remember this class being a favorite of many players for the hide in plain sight ability. Is this just not the right crowd?

[WebShaman]

Assassin MM which would easily die off the screen from a Stealthy Divine AA... wanna PvP?

Seeing as I have never lost to an AA, I highly doubt this!

I suppose it is very situation dependent, but seeing as the MM has access to spells that basically make the AA useless, all I can really say is that it sounds like you have not really fought against any really good Mages...

[wyldhunt1]

henesua wrote...

I've noticed much less interest in the Shadow Dancer in this thread than I expected. I remember this class being a favorite of many players for the hide in plain sight ability. Is this just not the right crowd?

In most of the PW's that I've played on, HIPS was very taboo. Shadow Dancer isn't even allowed in a lot of places. Many of the others had strict rules about how it can be used to prevent spamming it.
Given, I haven't played on a PW in 3 years now, so things may have changed...
My guess is that it's just been a long time since many people considered them a viable option.

Modifié par wyldhunt1, 28 janvier 2012 - 08:19 .

[Vibrant Penumbra]

Shadow Dancer is the closest prestige class to the Cape-dancer I play in PnP.

Failing that, I drop back to Assassin.

But I prefer the Shadow Dancer. 
A lot! 
Can't you tell by my name?

Modifié par Vibrant Penumbra, 28 janvier 2012 - 05:55 .

[HipMaestro]

WebShaman wrote...
I suppose it is very situation dependent, but seeing as the MM has access to spells that basically make the AA useless, all I can really say is that it sounds like you have not really fought against any really good Mages...

True, Web.  But that would assume any mage could win the initial Concentration check against a high-damage attack or remain in sanctuary forever.  Spells can be exhausted, arrows can't.  Though I did have a problem once with one of those Expeditious retreat/Mass Haste fellows once but the tangle traps worked (Find Traps nerfed there).  Dead = Really Bad, I guess, so then , no.... never faced any really good mages.   *plunks his line back into his favorite fishing hole*

@henesua: I'll second that notion about playing SD and relying on HiPS.  The better balanced servers that I've played have all nerfed/banned it.  Hence, it quickly loses most of  it's appeal except for those rare non-evil, no XP-penalty dump applications (Evasion & UD in 2 levels is handy at times).

Modifié par HipMaestro, 28 janvier 2012 - 06:24 .

[Balduvard]

My favorites are biased by the modifications we've made. Shadowdancers are probably my second favorite prestige class now since we implemented Shadow Step as an innate swift action for legendary shadowdancers...it provides endless amounts of amusement to be able to jump around a battle striking at enemies and leaping back into the shadows of your allies when needed.

Arcane Archer takes the top spot for me though, again in part to some of our modifications--namely the set of bows that allow for damage type swaps on the fly, enabling a skilled AA to deftly target a specific enemy's weaknesses and put out massive amounts of damage in a party. That on top of the innate power of the class itself makes it an offensive powerhouse (and splashing in some monk levels can make it just as defensive).

[Elhanan]

I chose the CoT simply because of ease of use; dislike PrC's generally, and prefer to utilize the base classes.

[Rolo Kipp]

<popping out...>

Although I've built just about every PrC (but not close to every combo!), I still prefer the roguish wizard I've always been ;-)

But I think we old-schoolers are pretty much the exception.

<...of the woodwork>

[MrZork]

I like AAs for party play and I have had great fun with a soloing PMs tank mages lately.

HipMaestro, I love my AA character, but PvP against an epic mage she would be toast. At least I know that any page with Epic Warding would basically start by casting EW (uninterruptable) and then basically turn the AA into a grease spot with Isaac's, perhaps using True seeing if the AA is too stealthy to see and/or Bigby's if the AA is trying to run off. I would love to be better at playing the AA, so I wonder if I am missing something with that?

[WebShaman]

No, Mr.Zork, you are quite correct here - though the Divine part of his build is a problem (only item-specific immunities here).

And of course, there are other strategies that work wonders as well. It really depends on how the MM and AA meet up, really. He assumes he will be stealthed - so I assume that my MM will be under a Sanctuary. So it all comes down to "noticing" the AA - assuming that (using the Assassin PrC here, and Ranger assuming that the PRC is not involved) Spot&Listen are high enough, I think that will be easy enough (combined with some TSing, and perhaps a bit of Amplify scroll from a helpful Bard...)

Then a nice Bigby should put the bugger down. Or perhaps some nice BBoD with buffs (using the buff "cheat" to get it hasted, etc), remaining under the Sanctuary, etc.

He will roll a 1 eventually.

However, a lot really depends on the environment here - just what sort of items are allowed and present, blah blah blah.

As I said, I never lost once to an AA build. Most trouble is with those blasted Liches...immunities up the yin-yang! Only with the PRC present, however. Then I usually go with some Arch-Mage, of course. Arcane Fire FTW!!!!!

Modifié par WebShaman, 29 janvier 2012 - 09:36 .

[henesua]

Re: MM
I'm unclear on what this means. What does MM stand for? (I think I am starting to reveal my play style- I'm powergamer challenged)

Re: Bigby's Hands:
In my module I am reintroducing the Escape Artist skill which should enable some characters to have enough skill points to use the skill as a counter to Bigby's Grasping Hand. Maybe there is another spell you are thinking of... I never mastered all the ins and outs of Bigby's hands.

So while AA might not have a maxed out escape artist. Assassins, rogues, bards, shadowdancers, and monks have it as a class skill.

Have any of you seen this done before? And does it change the balance of power in an interesting way? Or does this end up creating a similar power dynamic, but for different classes.

Modifié par henesua, 29 janvier 2012 - 05:00 .

[Shadooow]

henesua wrote...

I've noticed much less interest in the Shadow Dancer in this thread than I expected. I remember this class being a favorite of many players for the hide in plain sight ability. Is this just not the right crowd?

In many action modules HIPS is available as bonus feats on many items, so there is really not much reasons to go SD.

henesua wrote...

Re: MM
I'm unclear on what this means.
What does MM stand for? (I think I am starting to reveal my play style-
I'm powergamer challenged)

Re: Bigby's Hands:
In my module I
am reintroducing the Escape Artist skill which should enable some
characters to have enough skill points to use the skill as a counter to
Bigby's Grasping Hand. Maybe there is another spell you are thinking
of... I never mastered all the ins and outs of Bigby's hands.

So
while AA might not have a maxed out escape artist. Assassins, rogues,
bards, shadowdancers, and monks have it as a class skill.

Have
any of you seen this done before? And does it change the balance of
power in an interesting way? Or does this end up creating a similar
power dynamic, but for different classes.

MM is Webshaman's word for spellsword IIRC.

very neat idea on escape artist, it would definitely balances things out as its dexers who are by default bigby overwhelmed

[henesua]

Is spellsword a style of play (what us old times played elves for?) or a PRC prestige class?