Quote:
Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern:
Actually, for a HoF game, the Paladin is easily the best tank to have. There has been several threads that explains this in great detail if you search back in this forum. This is due to their innate abilities and some special items.
In terms of offence, the vast majority of your damage will come from your ranged attacks and spells. Tanks in HoF mode have one role, and one role only. To SURVIVE. Their Defence should never be compromised for marginal gains in Offence.
That additional +5dmg is meaningless when you are dealing with HP in the hundreds and thousands.
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I agree about the survival being the most important thing, and that the extra damage is really meaningless, which is why I don't agree that Paladin's are a great class. I'll take a multiclassed Fighter/Mage (or better yet, a Fighter/Illusionist) as a tank any day of the week over a Paladin. The F/M gets stoneskin, mirror image, blur, and a few different armor spells. The Paladin gets Protection from Evil.
EDIT: if you could point me to where posters list their reasons for the Paladin being a superior tank, I'd love to read the reasoning behind that thinking.
Quote:
Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern:
Basically speaking, the Paladin and the Bard are the two singleclasses that make sense in a HoF game. For almost everything else, there is the multiclass, of which the Cleric/Ranger is easily one of the best.
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Fighter/Mages are very different than Cleric/Rangers, but they're both awesome options. Fighter/Thieves are great too, when you view them as tanks with slightly less HP than a pure Fighter, but enable the 3rd edition pseudo-rules (which include Evasion and Sneak attacks). They do more damage, and take less damage than a pure fighter this way.
Quote:
Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern:
If you wish to Dualclass, there is one very sensible option. Dualclassing a Fighter to a Specialist Mage. Those extra spell slots are going to be a Godsend in prolonged fights, especially when you obtain items that MULTIPLY your spell slots.
For example, if you were a multiclassed Mage, you might have four spell slots for Magic Missile. When you gain an item that doubles your spell slots, you now have eight.
If you are a Specialist Mage however, you will now have ten, and the effect gets bigger as you obtain more and more items that add to your Mage's spell slots since all these items are cumulative.
An ideal level to dualclass a Fighter to a Specialist Mage is at Lvl-13. If you don't mind biting the bullet, you can delay it to Lvl-17, and if you are really hardcore, delay it to Lvl-21.
Cheers.
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If you can wait until level 17 or 21, I'll tip my hat to you. Otherwise, I still think you're better off with a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist over a dual classed character. Since we both agree that a great party needs a Bard, any spells an illuisionist can not cast can be cast by this character. There are only a few (2, IIRC) 9th level spells in this game, and an Illusionist isn't barred from either one of them.
I always build my Gnome F/Ill to ** in Dagger, since it'll be the wapon you want him equipped with due to the bonus spells available. They can still get to a very respectable AC with a shield and spells, and since we both agree that damage output isn't the most important thing, I enjoy having him equipped this way.
The multiclassed character will have better saving throws (racial), better THAC0 (Fighter level is capped at 30), better item options (nice helmet for a gnome in this game, although I presonally give it to my uber-tank), and will never have a "down time" where he's treated as a single-classed character.
JMO, there really isn't a wrong answer here, as both characters will be very powerful.
[ 05-29-2007, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: Klorox ]