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Kerneth · 07-30-2002, 04:19 PM

The main difference is in what each class is or is not good at.

Fighters have an enormous number of feats available, which is great in the early game but after a while becomes redundant. They can wear heavy armor, and heavy weapons, but have no magical talents unless you multiclass them. For a non-dual-wielding Fighter, all you really need to worry about are str and con, though you may want to get a bare minimum of 12dex so you get +1 to your armor class when wearing Half and Full Plate (I get half-plate before even leaving the Prelude, if only it were that easy in pen and paper...). Personally, I get 10 in wisdom, int, and cha even with a fighter so I don't have penalties.

Rangers, if you plan on using their dual-wield skill, are limited to light armor. The main benefits to a ranger are minimal spellcasting at higher levels, free dual-wielding, and the animal companion. Keep in mind with a ranger that, since you are wearing light armor, your dexterity bonus to your armor class becomes much more important. Rangers are going to want good scores in strength, dexterity, constitution, and wisdom in order to function. That means you're going to be spread a little thinner than a fighter would be, especially if you also want a minimum of 10 in cha and int so you don't have penalties. The 9-int talking-like-a-moron thing is very annoying to me.

The first class I played through the game with was a Paladin (actually, he was a level 4 Fighter/level 16 Paladin, I wanted weapon specialization). Same weapon and armor availability as a fighter, and the same lack of need for high dexterity scores. On the other hand, Paladins also need decent Wisdom and Charisma in order to spellcast and use their special abilities. I didn't find that too big an issue, my half-elven Paladin had 14str 12dex 14con 10int 12wis 14cha when starting. Just added more Wisdom as he gained levels so I could get more spells.

It's primarily personal preference which class you want to play. I wouldn't go with Ranger unless I planned on dual-wielding, and I'd go with a Paladin over a Fighter (even if it meant sacrificing weapon specialization) for access to clerical spells and abilities.

The Monk and Barbarian classes also make phenomenal melee characters, I'm currently playing a Monk and he's downright frighteningly effective at times.

[ 07-30-2002, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: Kerneth ]

07-30-2002, 04:19 PM	#3
Kerneth The Magister Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: Plano, Texas Posts: 103	The main difference is in what each class is or is not good at. Fighters have an enormous number of feats available, which is great in the early game but after a while becomes redundant. They can wear heavy armor, and heavy weapons, but have no magical talents unless you multiclass them. For a non-dual-wielding Fighter, all you really need to worry about are str and con, though you may want to get a bare minimum of 12dex so you get +1 to your armor class when wearing Half and Full Plate (I get half-plate before even leaving the Prelude, if only it were that easy in pen and paper...). Personally, I get 10 in wisdom, int, and cha even with a fighter so I don't have penalties. Rangers, if you plan on using their dual-wield skill, are limited to light armor. The main benefits to a ranger are minimal spellcasting at higher levels, free dual-wielding, and the animal companion. Keep in mind with a ranger that, since you are wearing light armor, your dexterity bonus to your armor class becomes much more important. Rangers are going to want good scores in strength, dexterity, constitution, and wisdom in order to function. That means you're going to be spread a little thinner than a fighter would be, especially if you also want a minimum of 10 in cha and int so you don't have penalties. The 9-int talking-like-a-moron thing is very annoying to me. The first class I played through the game with was a Paladin (actually, he was a level 4 Fighter/level 16 Paladin, I wanted weapon specialization). Same weapon and armor availability as a fighter, and the same lack of need for high dexterity scores. On the other hand, Paladins also need decent Wisdom and Charisma in order to spellcast and use their special abilities. I didn't find that too big an issue, my half-elven Paladin had 14str 12dex 14con 10int 12wis 14cha when starting. Just added more Wisdom as he gained levels so I could get more spells. It's primarily personal preference which class you want to play. I wouldn't go with Ranger unless I planned on dual-wielding, and I'd go with a Paladin over a Fighter (even if it meant sacrificing weapon specialization) for access to clerical spells and abilities. The Monk and Barbarian classes also make phenomenal melee characters, I'm currently playing a Monk and he's downright frighteningly effective at times. [ 07-30-2002, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: Kerneth ]