3.0 Strongest classes

[stenver1010]

Hey everybody

Can you please direct me to a source that compares 3.0 classes the same way 3.5 classes are compared. I have a DM that doesnt allow anything other than 3.0 and Faerun books.

I would like to know if Druid, Cleric, etc are still viable(Seeing as Druid doesnt have Natural spell, companion thats as good as it is in 3.5 and spells that are not as good. Cleric doesnt have divine metamagic and a lot of 3.5 spells and prestige classes)

Also, is there something i should watch out for in 3.0 - something OP that ruins the game or some broken class like monk in 3.5?

S

[ksbsnowowl]

Druids have Natural Spell in 3.0, just get a copy of the 3.0 book Masters of the Wild.

[Chambers]

Also, is there something i should watch out for in 3.0 - something OP that ruins the game or some broken class like monk in 3.5?

The Haste spell is better in 3.0. Extra actions, whee.

[ksbsnowowl]

Also, is there something i should watch out for in 3.0 - something OP that ruins the game or some broken class like monk in 3.5?


Nothing in 3.0 prevents you from applying the same metamagic feat more than once.

Remember that Bull's Strength, etc, lasts 1 hour/level, and gave you a randomized 1d4+1 enhancement bonus.
Empowered empowered empowered Owl's Wisdom for (1d4+1)(+150%), getting anywhere from +5 to +12 to your wisdom as an 8th level spell.

Get legendary animals for your animal companion. MotW and MM2.

Sadly, 3.0 Shapechange doesn't grant supernatural abilities...

Archers are a lot more effective in 3.0 - magic bows and magic arrows STACK for attack and damage. Two greater magic weapon spells, and a high level archer is getting +10 to hit and damage with each shot.

[Vedhin]

Seeing as Druid doesnt have Natural spell, companion thats as good as it is in 3.5 and spells that are not as good.

The animal companion is arguably better, as you can get multiple simultaneously. Now you can have a pack of bears, or if you can get Fleshrakers allowed you can have a swarm of them and really clean up.

Also, Defenders of the Faith has the Speed armor enhancement, which for a +3 bonus gives you +4 AC and an extra partial action each round. It also lacks official errata IIRC.

[Eyclonus]

Things to watch out for:

- Haste spell is godlike, never met a DM who didn't regard it as a degenerate game breaker.

- Metamagic is stackable, making it very ridiculous.

- Psionics is horribly broken and complex, if the DM allows it, its not a good sign.

[T.G. Oskar]

Also, Defenders of the Faith has the Speed armor enhancement, which for a +3 bonus gives you +4 AC and an extra partial action each round. It also lacks official errata IIRC.

It was updated for the Magic Item Compendium. Now it grants the benefit of the Haste spell for up to 4 rounds (IIRC), just like if you wore Boots of Speed. In exchange, the cost of the enhancement is reduced (+1 or +2, not sure about that).

The tier system applies roughly in the same way, with some particular changes. Most of the Core spells remain pretty much the same, except Haste was nerfed; Clerics lack Divine Metamagic but they still get the other spells; Rangers gain no archery combat style (all are forced to be TWFers), Monks get a different attack progression than others (their full attack rating was +15/+12/+9/+6/+3, and classes that advanced monk class features explicitly mentioned if they made this progression) and had Stunning Fist as a forced class feature (not sure if the bonus feats at 2nd and 6th were also forced), and Bards progressed their songs differently (plus, they lacked ways to boost Inspire Courage). So, that means Rangers and Bards dropped one tier, and Monks had the chance to raise one tier, but most likely they remained in the same tier.

To understand it better, think of 3.5 but only with the first 4 Completes (Warrior, Arcane, Divine, Adventurer) and drop the base classes, and you get a good snapshot of how the Tiers work. Note that Wizards as Tier 1 comes straight from 3.0, and the changes between editions did as much change to the Wizard as the shift from 3.5 to PF.

Oh yeah, and as mentioned above, there's...psionics. Attack and defense modes cost PP, and work on a weird "rock-paper-scissors" thing; wilders are non-existent and soulknives were a PrC (instead of their own class). So, you can expect Psions to drop to tier 2 or 3, and Psychic Warriors close to tier 4.

[stenver1010]

Thanks for the Masters of Wild - il see if the DM allows it. Probably not. But if he does, im gonna be a druid and holy moly - multiple animal companions!

I will make sure to buy the boots of haste, if im not a druid. We start with 28000 k gold, so 8K is no big deal.

Psionics wont be a problem thankfully.

I will see if i can really break the metamagic chain

Thanks for the tiers system - i was considdering bard, but now i know to avoid it

Thanks you all

[ksbsnowowl]

It was updated for the Magic Item Compendium. Now it grants the benefit of the Haste spell for up to 4 rounds (IIRC), just like if you wore Boots of Speed. In exchange, the cost of the enhancement is reduced (+1 or +2, not sure about that).



His whole point in this thread is that they aren't using 3.5 stuff at all. As far as his DM is concerted, it was never updated.

[Chronos]

Bards in 3.0 can be good, as long as you realize that it's a one-level class. 3.0 bardic music didn't actually depend on your level in the bard class, just on your perform skill ranks. So you could take one level of bard, and the rest in some combination of rogue and sorcerer, and be a better bard than the bard is.

[Spuddles]

I'm pretty sure Natural Spell first appeared in Masters of the Wild.

There's an armor Defenders of the Faith that lets you drain negative levels every time you make an attack with it (so gauntlet strikes). Absolutely ridiculous. And quite cheap.

[Tvtyrant]

Wizard, because they can super-extend buffs until they work for multiple days and then switch out their spells to combat spells. It is like the extended persist trick in 3.5, but earlier and possibly worse.