What can the Binder Not Do?

[silverwolfer]

I know it really is bad at trapfinding and such, unless you do a Rog dip, but what other things does it really struggle with?

[tuesdayscoming]

Let me first say that I love the Binder class, but have only ever had the opportunity to play it at low to low-mid levels. That having been said, it strikes me that the class is sorely lacking in meaningful non-melee dps. I could very well be wrong about that, though.

[Togath]

aye, it doesn't have much non-melee, other then a breath weapon(which only deals fire damage, though it can get a very high number of damage dice, as it's uncapped)

[silverwolfer]

True it does not have the make my fireball bigger effect, but it has some strong defensive abilties, ontop of letting your wizard be a true" generalist" letting you get knowledge, and interact in things. If your game is social or interactive at all, outside a dungon crawl.

[eggs]

I've only seen them at low levels (before the second bind), but they've all struggled with tactical versatility.

eg. One day, a Binder might be an awesome scout with the bird/invisibility spirit, but when the party is eventually caught, end up flailing around ineffectually. Or it might be a strong "sticky" tank with the Confusion/Armor spirit, but then end up hanging out with the Fighter when the fight's over.

I suspect that fades a bit once there are more binds at a time and more gp to cover things up, but it was a major weakness at low levels that was especially pronounced with characters ambiguously built toward role-shifting (those with spread-out stats, or unfocused feat combos).

[CalistonTB]

They don't make great blasters apart from Amon's breath weapon line until you get access to Orthos (exchanging a line of fire to a cone of untyped). Apart from that though, Binders are masters of doing lots of roles "ok" but not as good as the class that typically fills that role, which fits the design perfectly. I love Binders personally.

After taking another look I've changed my mind a bit. They can be decent blasters from 5'th till about 10'th or so if you bind Focalor and zap away with the lightning strike every round and breath fire when you can. The damage you can deal this way drops off pretty sharply though.

[Togath]

Binders are very good faces though, they get bonuses to most social skills, can use them in only one round, and can eventually use disguise self at will

[Endarire]

If your concept works with Naberius, you're golden.

[tuesdayscoming]

Yeah, Naberius is perhaps the most abusable of the bunch. Opens up a lot of room for nifty multi-classing tricks, and singlehandedly makes you a hell of a party face, all for a measly investment of 1 level (and a feat?).

[StreamOfTheSky]

I haven't played one, but I've seen my friend play them, and it seems to me their biggest weakness is the skill points. Tough to be the party skill monkey. You can be great a a few specific things, like diplomacy w/ Naberius. But you could never replace a rogue for that, nevermind the trapfinding.

Binders can be pretty good "fighters" (meat shields) and "sorcerors" (spamming the same magical effects all day), though. Possibly even good glass cannons with some work.