But I prefer rather than having mostly offensive spells I only have about 5 of them with the rest being more tactical, Tasha's Hideous Laughter for instance was brilliant and has helped us defeat quite a few enemies who make bad will saves.

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Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

Tasha's Hideous Laughter is a great spell, particularly for bards as their spell list is a little light on offensive spells. Unfortunately, throwing little tarts at the enemy then waving a feather isn't very intimidating.

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Nihil est ab omni partum beatum.
(Nothing is an unmixed blessing)

All too true but then wizards don't need to intimidating to anyone, I mean look at how they dress in dress robes, a pointy hat with a wide brim, long beards and fat bellies. They couldn't intimidate a fieldmouse. But being a wizard isn't to be intimidating it's to let everyone know you are a wizard and let all the tales of what wizards are capable of  flow around that so people treat you with respect (despite your attire).

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Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

Wizard strategy is to dress so badly the thugs can hurt you because they're too busy laughing? I don't care how much Phenomenal Cosmic Power a spellcaster commands, if he/she looks like an also-ran from a Pride march, no one will respect them. Even if your foes know you as the Destroyer of Worlds (or whatever your stupendous title is) their initial reaction will be giggles.

I wonder why mages haven't figured this out. Wizards need to use their brains for more than spellcasting. For instance, in D&D arcane spellcasters can wear armour. The armour check penalty only applies to spells with somatic components (its difficult to wave your arms about properly when wearing 50lbs of steel). So if your armour has no check penalty, such as a mithral chain shirt with the twilight enchantment, you're laughing. Armour is cheaper than bracers and you look less like the stereotypical Gandalf.

 

 

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Nihil est ab omni partum beatum.
(Nothing is an unmixed blessing)

Wizard strategy is to dress so badly the thugs can hurt you because they're too busy laughing? I don't care how much Phenomenal Cosmic Power a spellcaster commands, if he/she looks like an also-ran from a Pride march, no one will respect them. Even if your foes know you as the Destroyer of Worlds (or whatever your stupendous title is) their initial reaction will be giggles.

Admittedly that is a side effect but at least people know you're a wizard, that's all that the wizards want. They certainly never would want to be mistaken for a mere sorcerer.

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Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

The spell casting classes really do give themselves away in combat. I'm not talking just about them flinging spells but how they do it. You can differentiate a cleric from a bard from a wizard quite easily and therefore its easier to knobble them. Take out the priest's holy symbol, sunder the bard's instrument or deafen her and whallop on the mage.

Can anyone think of a subtle casting class?

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Nihil est ab omni partum beatum.
(Nothing is an unmixed blessing)

Yes but what when you're not cast magic? If a wizard were to dress normally then everyone would think they're ordinary. If they dress abnormally then people will think they're extraordinary.

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Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

I once played a very effective and subtle gnomish illusionist, I don't recall him ever being actually seen by the party until his death; he always weaving potent illusions around himself and his environment. Of course he went mad and lost his touch with reality; he believed his own illusions where real... this made them more powerful yet it proved to be his undoing in the end.

I've always wanted to try an illusionist, sadly the only DnD I can play is NWN, and illusionists in NWN are terrible, aside from a couple good spells.

Personally though, I like to play a couple different classes:

Ranger, fighter, fighter/rogue, fighter/Weapon Master (i actually try to rp it right), wizard.

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Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I'm not surprised by the fate of that Gnome, just seems the sort of way he'd go.

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Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

Aye... covered in yogert and swollowed up by a whale...

this is a hard thing to decide, but I'd say my list goes a little like this (mostly based on BG / IWD series and 2nd edition):

1. Halfling - thief (subclass doesn't matter, they're all nice to be, just love it to be sneaky ninja-lika and to find/disarm/put traps, open locks/doors, etc... the lore bonus is also nice)

2. human / elf - Mage / Sorc (I used to be more of a fighter person before, but I learned to love the classes based on spellcasting/other ranged attacks / sneaking )

3.Human/elf / half-elf  - Cleric (sure, not as versatile as the druid, and with less offensive spells, but better defensive party players, still have some good offensive stuff, neat-o VS undead, I really find Turn Undead to be good)

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Human - Paladin (either Inquisitor or Cavalier)
A Cavalier gets are quite nice in the aspect that they get such things as immunity to fear, poison and charm effects, + fire / acid resistance set to 20%, not to mention their hit + attack bonuses vs demonic and draconic creatures, I found that great
An Inquisitor is as we all know, a very strong paladin, and I'd say the lack of casting priest spells is countered by their instant cast spells, among them dispel magic, which is quite nifty with no casting time on, more than usual that is.

4. Human - Monk
who can't love that class? bonuses and feats like no other class

5. half-orc - Barbarian
prefer this class before the fighter classes, with the exception of:
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Human/elf - Kensai
Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai

that's top 5. for me (though it's 8 classes, +/- subclasses ^^ )
they're all pretty close to eachother to me though, I'd gladly pick up any of these classes anyday
never learned to like the bard though, maybe I should try it out sometime

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BORK!

Yeah, Cavalier was what I always played as a Paladin in BG2. If I didn't name mine by my first name (Jason) and love it, I'd probably call him something like Tankimus Maximus.

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If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write. - Stephen King

DCI Character Stats Thread

a shame only the gith have anti-paladins, I allways wanted an evil paladin

or perhaps one that is a bit like the archdruid + Kore (from "Goblins")
some sort of fanatic anyway

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BORK!

In Unearthed Arcana (3E D&D) there are several variant paladin classes, including the Paladin of Slaughter (CE) and the Paladin of Tyranny (LE). Both are modelled on the traditional paladin and are available to anyone who can qualify for the alignment.

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Nihil est ab omni partum beatum.
(Nothing is an unmixed blessing)