Burrowowl

By incorporating a number of interesting and varied prestige classes from the 3.0 core rulebooks and supplemental literature, Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 DMG showcases how characters can be customized and made more compelling to play as and interact with. By more compelling to play as and interact with I mean min-max, twink, and munchkinize.

Nowhere is this more telling that with the spellcasting prestige classes. Long ago when only demihumans could multiclass, it was known that sharing two classes retards growth in either of them, and that this is especially true of the spellcasting classes. Look no further than the Fighter/Mage: At an impressive 20th level, a straight Fighter/mage has 10 levels of Fighter and 10 levels of Wizard. This character would have 10d10+10d4+20*(Con Bonus) hit points, a BAB of +15, access to level 5 arcane spells, six bonus fighter feats, and two bonus metamagic feats. His base saving throw bonuses are +10 Fort / +6 Ref / +10 Will.

Bear in mind that a 20th level Wizard would have a BAB of only +10, 20d4+20*(Con Bonus) hit points, and multiple 9th level spells, of course.

But let’s look at some of the alternate “spice up your spellcaster” options available in the core rules now. A good analogue to the straight Fighter/Mage is the Eldritch Knight, described by the DMG as “studying martial and arcane arts to equal degree.” Let’s see how that really adds up, shall we? To become an Eldritch Knight, the listed prerequisites are proficiency in all martial weapons, and the ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells. That’s a 1st level fighter/ 5th level Wizard, for those of you taking notes.

Upon taking the first level of Eldritch Knight, this 7th level character has 1d10+1d6+5d4+7*(Con Bonus) hit points, a BAB of +4, casts spells as a 5th level wizard, has two bonus fighter feats, and one bonus metamagic feat. Let’s catch this fellow up with his fighter/mage buddy by adding 10 levels of Eldritch Knight and four more Wizard levels.

A Fighter 1 / Wizard 9 / Eldritch Knight 10 has 1d10+9d4+10d6+20*(Con Bonus) hit points, a BAB of +15, +12 Fort / +6 Ref / +9 Will for saves, two bonus fighter feats, and one bonus metamagic feat. He also casts spells as an 18th level wizard, giving access to mighty 9th level arcane spells such as Wish.

The Base Attack Bonuses match perfectly. The hit points favor the Fighter/Mage five to three. The saving throws are ever-so-slightly better for the Eldritch knight. The Fighter/Mage has superior access to combat feats. The Eldritch Knight can can Meteor Swarm while the Fighter/Mage is still tinkering with Wall of Force.

In the case of the Eldritch Knight, Very little has been sacrificed in spellcasting ability for some substantial martial benefits above the straight Wizard route. 50% better base attack bonus, far better hit points, and superior fortitude saving throws at the cost of two spellcaster levels of arcane firepower and three bonus metamagic feats. The advantages over a straight Fighter would appear obvious: 18 levels of spellcaster firepower in exchange for 9 bonus fighter feats seems a fair trade (have you ever seen Great Cleave put to as much use as Fireball? Neither have I). In comparison to the Fighter/Mage it isn’t quite as clear, as both spellcasting potency and a great number of Fighter feats have been sacrificed along with the all-important hit point edge of Fighters.

Clearly each has its benefits, and depending upon your character and your campaign’s story arc, you could go either way. I dare say that the Eldritch Knight has a serious advantage, but this is a matter that reasonable people can reasonably disagree on.

My core rulebooks have shown up, and I’ve had a chance to take a peek inside. Changes to the Rogue class are few and far between. The D&D intelligencia at WoTC have clearly certified my three-year-old suspicion that this was the best class in 3rd Edition D&D. Fighters received Greater Weapon Specialization, Barbarians have improvements to their damage reduction class ability. Monks have had unarmed attack bonuses simplified (one BAB to rule them all and in the darkness bind them) and special attack properties for unarmed strikes as they progress. Every spellcasting class sees significant changes to spell lists and spell descriptions.

What did the Rogues get? Pick Pockets became “Sleight of Hand” (which it has been used for by many DMs for decades), and Read Lips was rolled into the Spot skill. Outstanding. Other classes picked up new, improved saving throws, additional skill points, conjured mounts, and several prestige classes (not to leak this into the DMG, but there are a lot of arcane spellcaster prestige classes around in the core rules).

The rogue now has a mere two-point skill edge against the Ranger and Bard classes, poor hit points (Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, and Ranger all fare better in that department), poor saving throws (Bards, Clerics, Rangers, Paladins, and Monks have multiple “good” saving throw progressions, Rogues get only Reflexes), average attack bonus progression (right there with Monks, Clerics, and such), and neither spellcasting abilities nor bonus feats (one optional bonus feat every third level from 10th on, as in 3rd Edition).

How could this be justified? It’s all about the skill selection options and that nifty little sneak attack ability. Rogues are all about skills, and frankly you could give any other class as many skill points without coming up with as versatile and effective a skill-based character as a Rogue. Let’s see a dusty old bookworm Wizard scale a sheer masonry wall, jimmy the latch on a window, snatch everything that isn’t nailed down in a nobleman’s bedroom without him waking up, then sneak up on the guard on his way out the front door and wax him with a single dagger-stroke. If the wizard’s smart, he’ll just hire a Rogue to do it for him.

It looks like Onegai Teacher has a sequel out. I saw it coming, care of anything-asian.net but wasn’t terribly excited about it. The original series was sweet but didn’t seem to lend itself well to a sequel (why make a sequel when the first series has a happy ending and no real loose ends to speak of?).

However the poorly-named “Onegai Twins” (they’re actually triplets, but let’s not get into that just now) is, like its parent series, quite well-done. Instead of continuing to follow the original plotline, we pick up at the same school, same time period, but with a new protagonist. He, contrary to recent anime convention, is actually a competent person with a strong personality and a modicum of composure. When faced with the unexpected appearance of his twin sister, he reacts as any reasonable person would: uncomfortably (but firmly). It is probably the firm personality of the main character that is setting this series aside for me so far.

In an age where the “harem anime” genre abounds (wherein the protagonist is invariably a lovable loser), it is nice to see somebody with a spine attached. Additionally, because we’re talking about siblings here, any fanservice is purely for the audience, and we need never ask questions like “Why doesn’t he just go for it, dammit?” Because that would be sick, that’s why. So far I highly recommend giving it a look.

A couple hours after publicly expressing my impatience about getting the new v3.5 D&D books, word came through that they have actually shipped. Apparently they’re sitting in a UPS distribution hub in San Fransisco at the moment, having arrived there from Sparks, Nevada at 4:13 this morning. Expect v3.5 Rogue updates as early as tomorrow afternoon.

Earlier I had reported ambivalence towards the new Dungeons & Dragons release, but waiting a month or two for a preorder to show up has a way of whetting the appetite. Somebody please remind me in the future not to preorder anything again.

I was hoping to have some some rather detailed looks at changes (especially to Fighter feats and Rogue skills) up by now, but it looks like Amazon.com, in their infinite wisdom, hasn’t deigned it necessary to ship my preorder of the v3.5 D&D core rulebooks. We are told to expect significant changes to Gnomes, Bards, Barbarians, Druids, Monks, and Rangers, and well as some resettlings of numerous skills, feats, and spell descriptions.

Though I’d hate to sound like an AO player crying “nerf!” at the slightest hint that some other character class has been improved, I have seen little from the WoTC folks to allay my concerns that Rogues are getting the proverbial shaft here. The only skill changes that I am presently aware of (in my pitiable, bookless, misery) are the elimination of Animal Empathy as a skill, and the merging of Intuit Direction and Wilderness Lore into a new, more semantically correct “survival” skill. Fighters will be getting a new set of feats with the intention of keeping the class indispensable as it progresses in levels, all the spellcasting classes have changes to their spells, and all the mongrel classes got a hefty rework.

Expect an update on Rogues within a few hours of my package showing up (whenever that is). I just hope they had enough stocked and I won’t be left waiting till December. Is it unreasonable to expect shipment withing 6 days of initial distribution? Ok, it is, but this is a longstanding hobby of mine and I get impatient.