i do like all the niffty feats they have but what about some of the regular old figther feats like cleave, and greater cleave, power attack, whirlwind attack spring attack, mobility, improved initive, combat reflexes, lighting relexes,.... the list goes on and on and on and on being that you conly get character feats every what 4 levels i think. Since a gladiator is suppossed to be the ultamate armed combat fighter which a nice sytle flare and all that, i would like to ask where is the logic in giving them feats that play more to the creative figthing styles and situational feats and forcing them to use their character feats to get a few of the valuable fighter feats?
another question. forgive my if i have missed something here. On Armor Optimization why it is changed to take a point off the penalty's and add a point to the dex, insead of just adding a strait point to ac? the original in 2ED was that you knew how to use armor to increase the chance of not having to take dmage. Again just curious about the change.
and yet another question......
I have not yet been able to read through the expanded psionics hand book, that being said you will under stand this question. I ran DS from the month it came out to about a year after it was discontinued (it was a sad day when i heard it was discontinued). I would like to know if every thinks the new version od psionic they came up with is better than the old 2ED PP system and power progression system, was the pool of powers better than the current system for powers being level based. does the new system make stronger Psionist?
.The gladiator was designed to be an arena and exotic combat specialist. If you want a character who has fighter bonus feats as well, just take a few levels in fighter - you'd get more of them that way anyhow.
Regarding armor optimization, earlier versions of the gladiator class didn't feature it at all, iirc. The current version strikes me as a more balanced approach to the ability than rapidly scaling AC bonuses, although you can probably get a more detailed and accurate answer from one of the core rules designers. Jon ? ;)
I'm a big fan of the current psionics system as presented in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I feel that it is balanced with the other core classes and allows for diverse, customisable and pretty potent psionicists. For those reasons, I do consider it to be "better" than the 2e version. However, I'm not sure that a 3e psion is "stronger" than a 2e psionicist (in as far as such comparisons are even valid). 2e psionicists could get some pretty outrageous powers (as could 2e wild talents) and could easily unbalance a party. There is plenty of anecdotal and playtest evidence to suggest that 2e psionicists were more than a little broken. The 2e psionics system was also quite unwieldy, which made many DMs and players unhappy with them as a whole. Overall, the 3.5 version meshes better with the rest of the game, imho.
I'm a big fan of the current psionics system as presented in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I feel that it is balanced with the other core classes and allows for diverse, customisable and pretty potent psionicists. For those reasons, I do consider it to be "better" than the 2e version. However, I'm not sure that a 3e psion is "stronger" than a 2e psionicist (in as far as such comparisons are even valid). 2e psionicists could get some pretty outrageous powers (as could 2e wild talents) and could easily unbalance a party. There is plenty of anecdotal and playtest evidence to suggest that 2e psionicists were more than a little broken. The 2e psionics system was also quite unwieldy, which made many DMs and players unhappy with them as a whole. Overall, the 3.5 version meshes better with the rest of the game, imho.
I have yet to read the 3.5 psionics book, but I wholeheartily agree with your assessment of 2e psionics. I've told this anecdotal story many times in my various incarnations on the DS mailing list, website, and wizard boards. But it boils down to a thri-kreen psionisist/gladiator (2e), with split mind and ambidexterity....
Since it was all skill based the 2e psionisist was just able to do many things based solely on luck. The 3e psion is much more balanced, although I really appriciate all the changes made to the psion in 3e DS. If there have been even more revisions to the psion in 3.5e, I'm excited to read about them.
i do like all the niffty feats they have but what about some of the regular old figther feats like cleave, and greater cleave, power attack, whirlwind attack spring attack, mobility, improved initive, combat reflexes, lighting relexes,.... the list goes on and on and on and on being that you conly get character feats every what 4 levels i think. Since a gladiator is suppossed to be the ultamate armed combat fighter which a nice sytle flare and all that, i would like to ask where is the logic in giving them feats that play more to the creative figthing styles and situational feats and forcing them to use their character feats to get a few of the valuable fighter feats?
I'm a big fan of the Complete Warrior's weapon style feats. I changed the prerequisite weapons, so that the feats could be used with athasian weapons. In addition I allow gladiators to pick a weapon style feat or the feat weapon focus instead of the exotic weapon feat. I don't think this has much effect on the game balance, but unfortunately I havn't been able to test it so far.
snip But it boils down to a thri-kreen psionisist/gladiator (2e), with split mind and ambidexterity.... snip
Don't have my books with me (somewhere in the post right now!) but wasn't the gladiator class one that you couldn't multiclass with only humans could duel class in 2e rules?
Don't have my books with me (somewhere in the post right now!) but wasn't the gladiator class one that you couldn't multiclass with only humans could duel class in 2e rules?
Honestly i can't remember but i think you may be been right..... i ignore all the not able to muti class rules it was a bit silly in the first place.
i will be ignoring the ECL for all core races on athas just because i don't think athas is all that balanced... it is a world out of blance and thats why i like it so much
Don't have my books with me (somewhere in the post right now!) but wasn't the gladiator class one that you couldn't multiclass with only humans could duel class in 2e rules?
I think you're right. I have all the DS books here in the office..... Yes indeed you are correct. It has been a while, it must have been a fighter. Still... The horror..... the horror....
Note: Name that quote and get a cookie.... or chicken wings if you prefer ;)