Bloodhound/Vigilante

[XionUnborn01]

I have an upcoming campaign and a player mentioned that he would like to try playing the vigilante class or maybe the bloodhound class. After reading them more thoroughly, I noticed that while they're not completely terrible...they're not exactly good.

Does anyone have any experience with the classes as to how they fared?

I told them that because I thought them to be so weak that I'd consider making a sort of mashup of the two classes for him. I think it would be fairly easy, but does anyone have any input?

[Darrin]

Vigilante was tackled in Iron Chef XIII (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172233). That's probably worth a look.

[XionUnborn01]

Thanks, I'm checking that out right now.

[Person_Man]

I'm of the opinion that they're both garbage. What specifically do you want to be able to accomplish, because you might be better off with another build. For example, a Totemist is actually quite good at Tracking/Survival/Scent, fast movement, Grapple takedowns, etc. A Spirit Shaman or Druid or Wildshape Ranger would also probably cover all of your bases.

[XionUnborn01]

Just to clarify for future posters, my players are usually low to moderate op. For example, one actually commented that he wouldn't play a VoP Monk because it seemed almost unfair. That was a while ago but it gives you an idea of the low op-ness. Now;


I'm of the opinion that they're both garbage. What specifically do you want to be able to accomplish, because you might be better off with another build. For example, a Totemist is actually quite good at Tracking/Survival/Scent, fast movement, Grapple takedowns, etc. A Spirit Shaman or Druid or Wildshape Ranger would also probably cover all of your bases.

The player wants to play someone batman-eqsue, which is what vigilante is supposed to be, at least I think that was the initial intent. Also, no offence but I'm not really looking for build advice so much as opinions of the classes.
Thanks for the "both garbage" part though, because the more I read them, the more accurate that seems to be.

Does anyone know if by RAW vigilantes can cast in light armor?

[gibbo88]

I played a Bloodhound for a while in a campaign and didn't really use any of the class powers. The Mark thing is good in theory but you pretty much waste if it you use it on a big bag you see every once in bugger all and you don't always see the sub-bosses with enough time to make use of it.

[Psyren]

Does anyone know if by RAW vigilantes can cast in light armor?

There's some debate about it in the Iron Chef thread. I'm of the opinion that yes they can, because they cast spells just as Bards do. This is a double-edged sword for you though, because it means their spells can't be silenced - Batman doesn't really go around humming to himself.

*waits for the Batman singing video link to be posted*

My advice, if you really want this concept to shine, is to simply port the Inquisitor from Pathfinder back to 3.5.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Just to clarify for future posters, my players are usually low to moderate op. For example, one actually commented that he wouldn't play a VoP Monk because it seemed almost unfair. That was a while ago but it gives you an idea of the low op-ness.

...Is this supposed to make us think that you're playing low-op? VoP is almost a rather low-op option, considering how important gear is.

Again, considering the class. Monk, as specified, is still bad with VoP (probably worse starting at mid levels).

[Stegyre]

...Is this supposed to make us think that you're playing low-op? VoP is almost a rather low-op option, considering how important gear is.

Again, considering the class. Monk, as specified, is still bad with VoP (probably worse starting at mid levels).
I suspect his point is that his players are so low OP (not merely as a conscious choice but due to a misperception of game mechanics) that they actually think a VoP monk would be overpowered. These are people who build blaster wizards and healer clerics.

[Ranting Fool]

I suspect his point is that his players are so low OP (not merely as a conscious choice but due to a misperception of game mechanics) that they actually think a VoP monk would be overpowered. These are people who build blaster wizards and healer clerics.

Hey most the wizards I know liketo blast things and clerics heal things, though the more I hang around the playground the more I see that as a pure casters weaker options :smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

I did once have a Rogue/Fighter/Bloodhound in a group, really wasn't very effective as the class is build on the idea that you'd be able to get a bounty on someone and then go off and find them and unless that is common in your campaign then you don't get to use the skills a lot of the time.

[RighteousPauper]

I like how this thread went from “optimize this build” to “hey, let’s bag on this build”

I had a Vigilante/Avenging Executioner build that was cool (pretty lax rules on multiclassing, mind) one could have easily replaced some of the avenging executioner levels, or the early levels of fighter, with several bloodhound levels, to shift preference from scaring the hell out of your targets to tirelessly tracking them down and gaining bonuses against them. It’s by no means optimized, but it’s an idea worth looking into, in my opinion.