StreetPizza
2011-03-27, 10:59 PM
Hello once again, playgrounders!
I am playing as DM in a no/low optimization Heroes of Battle-inspired campaign with much heroics and battle and I'd like to ask everyone's advice on making all of the players useful. Generally, I equate usefulness to fun and having fun is always the first order of business for me. Right now, there are three people playing and as of yet, nobody is past first level, so class changes and class variations are still open.
To start, here's a list of all the player characters:
-a Dwarven Cleric; since the game is no/low optimization, I don't expect him to go CoD-zilla on me. As of now, he's shaping up to be the team healbot/off-tank.
-a Human Crusader; I'm also not expecting him to go overboard with optimization either. He's the team main tank/leader with a bastard sword and heavy shield.
-a Human Fighter; the player behind this one is new to the game, which is why I recommended the relatively simple fighter. His character has a greatsword.
The problem here is, of course, the fighter. Eventually, with the Cleric's higher level spells and the Crusader's White Raven maneuvers, I'm afraid he's going to end up in a position of uselessness with nothing to contribute combat or skill-wise, and that wouldn't be very fun for him.
As a general fix, I think it might be a good idea to give the fighter a type of class variant, preferably with Search/Spot/Listen as class skills--that makes him more useful without complicating the game too much for him. In fact, just today, in his first play session, his character had some pretty good luck with a few untrained Search/Spot checks, so there's definitely in-character reason for him to gain those skills. I'm open to homebrew if anyone has a recommendation in this vein.
Other suggestions of any kind are welcome too, but I must remind everyone that the player is fairly new to the game, so I'm averse to the more complex solutions.
Also, it should be noted that since the game revolves around Heroes of Battle, it's perfectly possible for the players to recruit elite mooks with class levels without using Leadership to cover up all of their blind spots. As a matter of fact, they've already recruited a few named NPCs and they could always recruit more if need be.
I am playing as DM in a no/low optimization Heroes of Battle-inspired campaign with much heroics and battle and I'd like to ask everyone's advice on making all of the players useful. Generally, I equate usefulness to fun and having fun is always the first order of business for me. Right now, there are three people playing and as of yet, nobody is past first level, so class changes and class variations are still open.
To start, here's a list of all the player characters:
-a Dwarven Cleric; since the game is no/low optimization, I don't expect him to go CoD-zilla on me. As of now, he's shaping up to be the team healbot/off-tank.
-a Human Crusader; I'm also not expecting him to go overboard with optimization either. He's the team main tank/leader with a bastard sword and heavy shield.
-a Human Fighter; the player behind this one is new to the game, which is why I recommended the relatively simple fighter. His character has a greatsword.
The problem here is, of course, the fighter. Eventually, with the Cleric's higher level spells and the Crusader's White Raven maneuvers, I'm afraid he's going to end up in a position of uselessness with nothing to contribute combat or skill-wise, and that wouldn't be very fun for him.
As a general fix, I think it might be a good idea to give the fighter a type of class variant, preferably with Search/Spot/Listen as class skills--that makes him more useful without complicating the game too much for him. In fact, just today, in his first play session, his character had some pretty good luck with a few untrained Search/Spot checks, so there's definitely in-character reason for him to gain those skills. I'm open to homebrew if anyone has a recommendation in this vein.
Other suggestions of any kind are welcome too, but I must remind everyone that the player is fairly new to the game, so I'm averse to the more complex solutions.
Also, it should be noted that since the game revolves around Heroes of Battle, it's perfectly possible for the players to recruit elite mooks with class levels without using Leadership to cover up all of their blind spots. As a matter of fact, they've already recruited a few named NPCs and they could always recruit more if need be.