Zovc
2009-08-25, 11:59 PM
I was eating lunch with a friend last weekend, we were catching up. He was telling me about one of the campaigns he was running back home, and how he wants to start running one that is actually relatively local for me.
I'm quite excited to be able to play Dungeons and Dragons, as I'm not a capable DM myself, and there is not enough interest to get a game started where I live. I do read splatbooks for entertainment, and have read the core rulebooks (3rd Edition and 3.5) quite a few times (admittedly, I haven't read the Monster Manual cover to cover, but it's more of a catalog than the other books). Of the classes I've come across, I like the Factotum the most.
I remember seeing a thread about Factotums recently when I glanced over here maybe a week ago, but I didn't get a chance to read it through. Nevertheless, I brought up the Factotum to my friend (remembering how he said he hates the class), saying I had read it recently, and it definitely didn't seem broken (as he felt it was). I pointed out that the class mechanically fits its flavor of, "Oh, the wizard didn't to prepare spell X, I'll cast it," I think that's what he has a problem with. I personally like being versatile, the jack of all trades, master of none type. My friend says that's what the Bard is for; in other words, he thinks the Bard is what the Factotum should be (at least, that's what I took from it).
Personally, I think this is a failing of the Bard's design, the Bard doesn't have a particular role of his own (from my own understanding)--so he just does everything. This feels wrong to me, as I don't think the concept of a bard is "guy who does everything." I have no objections to Bardic Knowledge, but why does the bard cast spells? Why can't the bard do more cool stuff with music/performance, like he should be able to?
What do you think? Is the Bard a balanced Factotum? Should the Bard play like a factotum? Is the Factotum too good at everything for being able to do so much?
Also, consider that this DM has told me that the fighter is a strong class. (Not that I want to discuss this, it's just my lurking has led me to believe this is far from the popular opinion.) He thinks Core DnD is balanced without having to add splatbooks.
I'm quite excited to be able to play Dungeons and Dragons, as I'm not a capable DM myself, and there is not enough interest to get a game started where I live. I do read splatbooks for entertainment, and have read the core rulebooks (3rd Edition and 3.5) quite a few times (admittedly, I haven't read the Monster Manual cover to cover, but it's more of a catalog than the other books). Of the classes I've come across, I like the Factotum the most.
I remember seeing a thread about Factotums recently when I glanced over here maybe a week ago, but I didn't get a chance to read it through. Nevertheless, I brought up the Factotum to my friend (remembering how he said he hates the class), saying I had read it recently, and it definitely didn't seem broken (as he felt it was). I pointed out that the class mechanically fits its flavor of, "Oh, the wizard didn't to prepare spell X, I'll cast it," I think that's what he has a problem with. I personally like being versatile, the jack of all trades, master of none type. My friend says that's what the Bard is for; in other words, he thinks the Bard is what the Factotum should be (at least, that's what I took from it).
Personally, I think this is a failing of the Bard's design, the Bard doesn't have a particular role of his own (from my own understanding)--so he just does everything. This feels wrong to me, as I don't think the concept of a bard is "guy who does everything." I have no objections to Bardic Knowledge, but why does the bard cast spells? Why can't the bard do more cool stuff with music/performance, like he should be able to?
What do you think? Is the Bard a balanced Factotum? Should the Bard play like a factotum? Is the Factotum too good at everything for being able to do so much?
Also, consider that this DM has told me that the fighter is a strong class. (Not that I want to discuss this, it's just my lurking has led me to believe this is far from the popular opinion.) He thinks Core DnD is balanced without having to add splatbooks.