Jannex
2007-10-03, 01:00 AM
...That is my question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to deal the slings and arrows of outrageous Sneak Attack, or to take charms against a sea of NPCs, and by persuading, own them.
*ahem*
Okay, now that I've gotten the gratuitous Shakespeare out of my system, I come to the question. I currently have a level 4 human Rogue, and am trying to decide whether or not I want to multiclass into Beguiler. I designed this character from the beginning to leave open the option of multiclassing (there's justification for it in her backstory), and the DM is okay with it. I am, however, indecisive. Here are the pros and cons, as I see them:
Pros:
a decent selection of 0th and 1st level spells, including Disguise Self, which saves on buying a Hat of Disguise, and Comprehend Languages, which is useful given how much play different regional languages see in this campaign setting (DM's homebrew setting)
a boost to her Will save, which she could definitely use
even if she continued with Rogue, her BAB wouldn't advance at this level
her spells would fill an as-yet-unoccupied niche in the party (and she's pretty much already the party face)
Cons:
her Sneak Attack won't advance this level
1st-level spells at 5th character level, and I'd still be going primarily with Rogue, meaning save DCs will be kind of sad and spells will be kind of underpowered
it pushes her eventual BAB back some
2 fewer skill points/level, plus the need to invest in additional, magic-related skills
no 2nd level spells until Beguiler 4, which, since I'm not going exclusively Beguiler from here on out, will be a while
Part of it is an optimization concern, since I know that a couple of levels of full-caster aren't terribly useful as you get to higher levels, though in general I don't think optimization is going to be a massive concern in this game. Bizarrely enough, I think I might actually be one of the most experienced D&D players in the group I'm in--and if you know anything about me, you know that should never happen. D&D is not my main game, so it's kind of a bizarre feeling to realize that I'm the "experienced D&Der" in the group.
Anyway, as far as optimization and context goes, it might help if I described the rest of the group, and showed my stats. The PC party is as follows:
Tank 1: female human Fighter
Tank 2: male human/silver-dragon-blooded(?) Dragon Shaman
Blaster: male human(???) Psion, of the "I deal damage to your brain!" variety
Healer: male human Wizard, necromancer (with houserules regarding necromancy, putting cure/inflict spells into it... Necromancy in this setting is essentially like medicine in the 19th century: poorly-understood, kind of creepy, but not necessarily evil)
Skillmonkey/Face: me; female human Rogue
So it's not like I'm in a party full of Uberchargers, CoDzillas, and Batmen. We're a solid, functional party, but nothing super-ridiculous.
As of level 4, my stats are as follows:
Str: 10
Dex: 18
Con: 16
Int: 18
Wis: 11
Cha: 16
HP: 29
AC: 18 (10 +4 Dex +4 mithral chain shirt)
Fort: +4 (+1 base, +3 Con)
Ref: +8 (+4 base, +4 Dex)
Will: +4 (+1 base, +3 Cha [Force of Personality])
BAB: +3
Feats:
Dodge
Force of Personality (not optimal, but I look at it this way: If I fail a Fort or Reflex save, my character takes some damage. If I fail a Will save, I stop having fun.)
Weapon Finesse
Skills:
maxed Bluff, Diplomacy, Hide, Move Silently, Search, Tumble
various ranks in any number of other skills
Am currently halfway toward saving for Gloves of Dexterity +2
So, what are people's thoughts? There are some utility spells which will be nice to have regardless (Disguise Self, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Expeditious Retreat), but is it worth giving up a level of Rogue? And I might continue pursue Beguiler a bit in future levels, but not to the exclusion of Rogue. So right now, I'm stuck on "maybe."
What do you all think?
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to deal the slings and arrows of outrageous Sneak Attack, or to take charms against a sea of NPCs, and by persuading, own them.
*ahem*
Okay, now that I've gotten the gratuitous Shakespeare out of my system, I come to the question. I currently have a level 4 human Rogue, and am trying to decide whether or not I want to multiclass into Beguiler. I designed this character from the beginning to leave open the option of multiclassing (there's justification for it in her backstory), and the DM is okay with it. I am, however, indecisive. Here are the pros and cons, as I see them:
Pros:
a decent selection of 0th and 1st level spells, including Disguise Self, which saves on buying a Hat of Disguise, and Comprehend Languages, which is useful given how much play different regional languages see in this campaign setting (DM's homebrew setting)
a boost to her Will save, which she could definitely use
even if she continued with Rogue, her BAB wouldn't advance at this level
her spells would fill an as-yet-unoccupied niche in the party (and she's pretty much already the party face)
Cons:
her Sneak Attack won't advance this level
1st-level spells at 5th character level, and I'd still be going primarily with Rogue, meaning save DCs will be kind of sad and spells will be kind of underpowered
it pushes her eventual BAB back some
2 fewer skill points/level, plus the need to invest in additional, magic-related skills
no 2nd level spells until Beguiler 4, which, since I'm not going exclusively Beguiler from here on out, will be a while
Part of it is an optimization concern, since I know that a couple of levels of full-caster aren't terribly useful as you get to higher levels, though in general I don't think optimization is going to be a massive concern in this game. Bizarrely enough, I think I might actually be one of the most experienced D&D players in the group I'm in--and if you know anything about me, you know that should never happen. D&D is not my main game, so it's kind of a bizarre feeling to realize that I'm the "experienced D&Der" in the group.
Anyway, as far as optimization and context goes, it might help if I described the rest of the group, and showed my stats. The PC party is as follows:
Tank 1: female human Fighter
Tank 2: male human/silver-dragon-blooded(?) Dragon Shaman
Blaster: male human(???) Psion, of the "I deal damage to your brain!" variety
Healer: male human Wizard, necromancer (with houserules regarding necromancy, putting cure/inflict spells into it... Necromancy in this setting is essentially like medicine in the 19th century: poorly-understood, kind of creepy, but not necessarily evil)
Skillmonkey/Face: me; female human Rogue
So it's not like I'm in a party full of Uberchargers, CoDzillas, and Batmen. We're a solid, functional party, but nothing super-ridiculous.
As of level 4, my stats are as follows:
Str: 10
Dex: 18
Con: 16
Int: 18
Wis: 11
Cha: 16
HP: 29
AC: 18 (10 +4 Dex +4 mithral chain shirt)
Fort: +4 (+1 base, +3 Con)
Ref: +8 (+4 base, +4 Dex)
Will: +4 (+1 base, +3 Cha [Force of Personality])
BAB: +3
Feats:
Dodge
Force of Personality (not optimal, but I look at it this way: If I fail a Fort or Reflex save, my character takes some damage. If I fail a Will save, I stop having fun.)
Weapon Finesse
Skills:
maxed Bluff, Diplomacy, Hide, Move Silently, Search, Tumble
various ranks in any number of other skills
Am currently halfway toward saving for Gloves of Dexterity +2
So, what are people's thoughts? There are some utility spells which will be nice to have regardless (Disguise Self, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Expeditious Retreat), but is it worth giving up a level of Rogue? And I might continue pursue Beguiler a bit in future levels, but not to the exclusion of Rogue. So right now, I'm stuck on "maybe."
What do you all think?