Feint's End
2013-10-14, 09:13 AM
So here is the thing. Yesterday we started our new campaign and it was kind of a meh session since 2 of the players didn't turn up and we just played for 3 hours since our Dm expected us to be more and decided we couldn't handle the following encounters on ourself.
That however is not my mainproblem. You see ... he (the dm) likes it when players don't know what each other is playing and usually just pushes them into directions where they don't overlap each other. The only one who knew what the others would play was me due to seeing him more and because I know most about the game and generally avoid metagaming (so he knows he can trust me) .... he also asked me to avoid talking to the other players and helping them with their characters what I can totally understand as long as everybody is having fun.
So what I knew before the last session is that:
-Warblade // strong, tanky, Warblade! (didn't turn up due to being sick what is excuseable)
-Cleric // support, heal (didn't turn up because he was out the night before and slept the whole day ... we all are pretty **** on him)
-Bard // support, music, bard stuff (gnome and plays his character pretty good, not a player I have problems with since he is very pleasant to be around)
-Swordsage // Swordmaster kinda guy (me, can use intuitive strike with any weapon so that was my first feat, heavy homebrew when it comes to disciplines -> I could swap some of them (took 2 homebrew disciplines instead of shadow hand and tiger claw) and I can learn new maneuver and even schools later in the game (Without level ups))
-5th guy // something skillmonkeyish, didn't know before the game
Well that sounds good to me ... nobody steps on each others toes right? Well there came the 5th player. And he decided to play swordsage too. The problem I have with him is that he is in the dangerous part of a gaming "career" .. when you start optimizing and reduce thinking about what is best for the group or how others feel compared to you (Everybody else including myself optimized less tbh). Also he rolled pretty awesome stats (how fair he was here I'm not sure about since our dm trusts us with our rolls but I don't want to seem overly paranoid) -> something like 12 18 17 16 17 9.
My problem now is: Even though we both focus on different schools and I have the ability to learn more schools and maneuvers he still optimized more and will eventually deal more damage (he uses TWF and Shadowblade). Also he has a similar role so I might feel kinda useless after some levels.
What would you guys recommend? I thought about asking for unique sticks ie I might convince my dm to learn some spells in maneuverslots like the arcane swordsage and since I'm wis based the dc against my maneuvers will be way higher ... would turn me into a decent blaster. Any good PRC ideas? I want to stick to the swordmaster theme as close as possible so classes like Jade Phoenix Mage/Manifester (even though the latter is insanely powerful) are out due to the slowed maneuver progression. Anyways I'd need something I'm better than him. The problem is just that that is supposed to be supernatural attacks and swordfighting and that's very similar to what he is doing (luckily he is focusing on Shadow Hand and Tiger Claw so those are a bit different from me).
Or should I play another class at all (I think I can change one time now ... since the first was more of a intro session and there are good opportunities to play another char now)? And if .... what are good character concepts / classes you guys had in the past? I'm looking for unique and fun as always.
To be honest I'm kinda in a clinch now and I hope I can turn to the wisdom and experience of the forum and find some solution(s). Thanks everybody in advance.
edit: oh and for new characters. We play 3.5 but I can basically play everything from 3.0 3.5 PF or even homebrew if my dm approves (trusts me when it comes to powerlevel) so pretty much everything goes. We als ported some of the skillchanges from PF to 3.5 (ie Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception)
That however is not my mainproblem. You see ... he (the dm) likes it when players don't know what each other is playing and usually just pushes them into directions where they don't overlap each other. The only one who knew what the others would play was me due to seeing him more and because I know most about the game and generally avoid metagaming (so he knows he can trust me) .... he also asked me to avoid talking to the other players and helping them with their characters what I can totally understand as long as everybody is having fun.
So what I knew before the last session is that:
-Warblade // strong, tanky, Warblade! (didn't turn up due to being sick what is excuseable)
-Cleric // support, heal (didn't turn up because he was out the night before and slept the whole day ... we all are pretty **** on him)
-Bard // support, music, bard stuff (gnome and plays his character pretty good, not a player I have problems with since he is very pleasant to be around)
-Swordsage // Swordmaster kinda guy (me, can use intuitive strike with any weapon so that was my first feat, heavy homebrew when it comes to disciplines -> I could swap some of them (took 2 homebrew disciplines instead of shadow hand and tiger claw) and I can learn new maneuver and even schools later in the game (Without level ups))
-5th guy // something skillmonkeyish, didn't know before the game
Well that sounds good to me ... nobody steps on each others toes right? Well there came the 5th player. And he decided to play swordsage too. The problem I have with him is that he is in the dangerous part of a gaming "career" .. when you start optimizing and reduce thinking about what is best for the group or how others feel compared to you (Everybody else including myself optimized less tbh). Also he rolled pretty awesome stats (how fair he was here I'm not sure about since our dm trusts us with our rolls but I don't want to seem overly paranoid) -> something like 12 18 17 16 17 9.
My problem now is: Even though we both focus on different schools and I have the ability to learn more schools and maneuvers he still optimized more and will eventually deal more damage (he uses TWF and Shadowblade). Also he has a similar role so I might feel kinda useless after some levels.
What would you guys recommend? I thought about asking for unique sticks ie I might convince my dm to learn some spells in maneuverslots like the arcane swordsage and since I'm wis based the dc against my maneuvers will be way higher ... would turn me into a decent blaster. Any good PRC ideas? I want to stick to the swordmaster theme as close as possible so classes like Jade Phoenix Mage/Manifester (even though the latter is insanely powerful) are out due to the slowed maneuver progression. Anyways I'd need something I'm better than him. The problem is just that that is supposed to be supernatural attacks and swordfighting and that's very similar to what he is doing (luckily he is focusing on Shadow Hand and Tiger Claw so those are a bit different from me).
Or should I play another class at all (I think I can change one time now ... since the first was more of a intro session and there are good opportunities to play another char now)? And if .... what are good character concepts / classes you guys had in the past? I'm looking for unique and fun as always.
To be honest I'm kinda in a clinch now and I hope I can turn to the wisdom and experience of the forum and find some solution(s). Thanks everybody in advance.
edit: oh and for new characters. We play 3.5 but I can basically play everything from 3.0 3.5 PF or even homebrew if my dm approves (trusts me when it comes to powerlevel) so pretty much everything goes. We als ported some of the skillchanges from PF to 3.5 (ie Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception)