Just a strange observation...nothing to see here.
I've been playing a rogue in my weekly Pathfinder game, and its a lot of fun, but I'm noticing a trend: I'm not really that useful. When I say useful, I mean in the way that I originally envisioned myself being useful...you know...as a thief.
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| Yes, this kind of sneak attack |
We've been playing on of their adventure paths, Carrion Crown, and we're about to start the 5th book so we're just getting to 11th level and throughout the entire last module I noticed that the only function I really serve it to get behind the enemy and dish out sneak attack damage like its free pancake day at IHOP. Which is fine, I like to help out however I can, but it really makes me feel like more of a fighter than a rogue.
When I started the character I was looked at as the guy that was responsible for climbing walls, sneaking up and getting info, picking locks, finding traps and removing them etc. But as we leveled and other players developed their characters, they started to gain powers that made my basic functionality (as dictated by the Rogue class) became sort of obsolete. There are spells that can make anyone more stealthy than I am, can cause people to fly up walls faster than I can climb them, reveal and bypass traps more efficiently than I ever could. The more of these powers they gained, the more I turned away from them and towards something that I COULD still do...stab people.
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| I get +2 to hit if the enemy is wearing this |
So as it stands now, my 'thief' is now a combat monster! In fact, I do damage so efficiently, I'm now better at the fighter's job than the fighter! She may have a little better chance to hit, but I get a hefty little bonus for flanking people and that eliminates that advantage. She can wear heavier armor, but with my dexterity, its all good in the neighborhood (yes, that's as close to street slang as I get...fo'shizzle).
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| This guy is now more powerful than me |
So in summary, at higher levels, spell casters are better rogues than the rogue and rogues are better fighters than the fighters. Now we all still have a distinct advantage over the squishy spell casters in terms or armor class, but its odd how roles change as character classes level. Classes that are based on 'skills' rather than 'powers' seems to get left behind and those with 'powers' rather than 'skills' come into their own and begin to really take over the usefulness.
Welcome to the World of Warcraft, tabletop style!
ReplyDelete; )
At least I'm not paying a monthly fee :)
ReplyDelete...and no kung fu pandas
Ha! Yeah, I forgot all about that!
ReplyDeleteYou're righ... It's still better.
Your troubles with being outmatched by the rest of the party, is really more their wanting to play a multi-class character without devoting the actual experience levels to do it. Sure the Cleric can cast a spell to find traps better than you, but why should they be doing it when they should be saving those spells for more important things; like saving your hides when some undead nasty tries to rip you apart. The Wizard/Sorcerer might be able to fly, and sure it comes in handy, but if your the party Scout, then they shouldn't be risking their fragile necks doing your job. Your PC and the Fighter should be tag-teaming everything given the chance; the Fighter's suppose to draw the poor suckers in, so you can easily dispatch them while the rest of the party provides support.
ReplyDeletePathfinder has it's perks, and now has a ton of stuff to pick & choose from, but it still falls into the same trap as 3.5, too many options, and it doesn't put the fear into the game. I loved having the cloud of PC death hanging over us, it made the game more fun, and the success over the Big Boss that much more awesome. What's the point of a combat if you all walk away with minor scratches? It's much more satisfying to know you all got roughed up to within an inch of your lives, but still kick some ass! Put your foot down next time, and do that sneaky thing you do best; and if the point needs to be made, back stab the Wizard to prove how fleshy they really are! ;-)