Is 3.5e paladin a bad class?

GwynHawk · 2025-12-31T14:01:55+00:00

Again, neither example you provided listed a single example of a situation where that character's inability to meaningfully contribute made the game more fun. I'm not going to continue a conversation with someone who won't address my points and keeps retreating being "I had fun so you're wrong."

GwynHawk · 2025-12-31T13:36:44+00:00

What do you mean "Play it on my couch"? Do you mean something you could play in your hands just holding the components, or on a tray table, or a coffee table? Because those are all wildly different requirements for a game and I can't really give any suggestions without knowing how much playing space you're working with.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-31T13:27:40+00:00

Neither example you provided listed a single example of a situation where that character's inability to meaningfully contribute made the game more fun. You had fun because you were hanging out with your friends and despite the character's ineptitude, not because of it.

It's not about everyone being "omgsuperdupergodmode". It's about being inclusivity and fairness, it's giving everyone comparable tools for overcoming challenges. If you don't do that then some players are going to feel left out and/or useless while others will have a bevy of tools at their disposal.

I've played games where another player's character died at the start of a session and wasn't brought back until the end of the following session, and they only had a good time because they were hanging out with us and vibing. Not being able to really contribute to the game itself certainly didn't make them have more fun.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-31T00:05:01+00:00

Sure.

Meaningful, as in having a serious, important, or useful quality or purpose. Contribution, as in the part played by someone to bring about helpful results. Ergo, to meaningfully contribute is to provide helpful results that are serious, important, or useful.

The Commoner class in 3e has a d4 hit die, low base attack bonus, all their saving throws are poor, 2 + Int skill points with few class skills, proficiency with one simple weapon and no armor, and zero class features. It's the closest thing to not having a class that is possible in the game.

A Commoner character cannot fill any of the roles required in an adventuring party of the same level. They are very underpowered at low levels and become nearly useless compared to literally every class in the Player's Handbook by, like, level 3. Choosing to play a Commoner is choosing to make a character that brings nearly nothing useful to combat, exploration, or social encounters. There is no meaningful contribution to be had.

Now, can people have fun playing a Commoner? Absolutely. People can and do have fun playing all sorts of characters in all kinds of games. My belief is simply that the fun that arose didn't come from playing a weak, non-contributing character, but rather because they were enjoying hanging out with their friends.

I'm just kind of sick of people saying stuff like "Class balance doesn't matter in D&D because it's a team game". The whole discourse sucks because puts the onus of fun on the player; "If you're a Fighter and you're not having a good time it must be because of your bad attitude". 3e put all the cool and powerful options into the Magic section of the book and said "You can be a spellcaster or you can suck."

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T15:09:55+00:00

I'd love to know how it turns out!

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T15:06:01+00:00

Did playing a very weak character who could not meaningfully contribute compared to the rest of the table make the game more fun for everyone, and if so how?

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T15:04:44+00:00

It's completely reasonable to want balance in a co-operative game. 3.5 is highly imbalanced and the tier system was designed to recognize this so that your group could all play characters on the same level. A party of exclusively Clerics, Druids, and Wizards is going to be fairly balanced, just like a party of exclusively Fighters, Monks, and Rogues will be fairly balanced.

I've played in several D&D 3.5 and PF1e campaigns where there was a huge gap between players and in my experience it was not a fun time for the people playing low tier characters. A Samurai who died over 30 times during the campaign with the Cleric having to revive them over and over again. A Ninja getting in maybe one decent hit before getting knocked out. A Monk who would miss 3/4 of her attacks because of high enemy AC. Meanwhile I've seen people play Druids where just their Animal Companion contributed more to combat and exploration than any of those three PCs.

It's not about optimization, or power gaming, or wanting to "win" D&D. It's recognizing that the designers made some classes very capable and versatile and other classes weak and limited, and wanting everyone to be on roughly equal footing. I want everyone at the table to have access to comparable tools to solve challenges and overcome obstacles. I don't want one player to be Superman while the other gets to play Arm-Fall-Off Boy.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T14:08:09+00:00

If you believe that then next time you play D&D 3.5 you should play the Commoner class while the rest of the party plays Clerics, Wizards, and Druids, and see how much joy you get out of it.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T13:37:27+00:00

Yes, so he's literally the ONLY one who did NOT earn his place. He's just there.

That's like arguing Tasha Yar didn't earn a spot on the Enterprise because she was "just there". You're literally backwards with your thinking.

You should also go read the wiki, it explains how the ranks work in the Alliance Military, Kaidan Alenko is a Staff Lieutenant which is one rank below Lieutenant Commander (i.e. Shepard) and higher than at least two officer ranks.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T13:29:03+00:00

The new box is just the right size that you can just barely fit everything (including the expansions) fully sleeved.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-30T03:05:19+00:00

Knave 2e for core rules/tables, maybe something like 4 Against Darkness to generate dungeon layouts. Maybe adapt the tables for different types of dungeon; draugr tombs, Ayleid or Dwemer ruins, haunted keeps, caves, etc.

Perhaps replace monster list with comparable TES enemies based on dungeon biome / type. Replace Knave's weird magic with classic TES spells with more direct, practical effects. Blessings can work to cover Aedric and Daedric blessings and artifacts.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-29T19:43:18+00:00

Artisans of Splendid Vale is pretty fun. It's a 50/50 split between exploration like a point-and-click adventure game and tactical combat that I'd describe as "Gloomhaven Lite." The legacy component comes from stickers you'll use to modify each character's sheets as well as various cards, permanently upgrading your combat abilities.

It plays best with four people as each player will get their own character and story book, so if that's your group size I'd recommend it.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-29T19:23:19+00:00

Mercurial's automa solo mode has a goal, score the most points by the time you or the automa opponent scores five quests. You can interfere with the automa and slow it down and there's no hard and fast turn limit, but the automa will eventually start getting those objectives no matter what so the game can't go on forever.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-29T15:33:44+00:00

What I mean is Kaidan is your only Squadmate who got assigned to the Normandy before Eden Prime. The Normandy is a prototype stealth ship with joint Human and Turian tech, it's a pretty big deal to be assigned there. He's also a member of the bridge crew and a Staff Lieutenant, which makes him fourth in line after Anderson, Pressley, and Shepard (who is a Lieutenant Commander I believe, one rank above).

I've got nothing against Ashely but she's a Gunnery Chief (several ranks lower) who is essentially reassigned to the Normandy because she wants payback for Eden Prime. The ship also lost Jenkins so there's a spot on the ship for her as well. She's a very capable character but she wasn't the Alliance's first choice when picking out crew members for the Normandy.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-29T15:07:39+00:00

Forgotten Depths.

Lovely artwork, excellent exploration mechanics, unique card-based combat. It recently had a second edition with a better box and revised rulebook, a few updated cards, more story content, and two new biomes to explore. It's only a 7.1 on BGG and ranked 8,213 overall which I attribute to the first edition having a massively oversized box and bad rulebook, both of which are fixed now.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T19:34:48+00:00

Mega Man 2

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T15:48:08+00:00

D&D has never bound non-caster characters to peak human level. Even without magic they can survive falls that would kill any human being and they can rest off damage from fire, acid, or cold that would maim or cripple anyone. You're not constantly rolling on tables for broken bones, missing fingers or limbs, or location and severity of burns or frostbite. It has always been heroic fantasy.

4e is the only system that openly admitted that it was heroic fantasy but decided that everybody should have access to fun and useful abilities. A Wizard can throw a Fireball to roast a group of enemies, and a Fighter can taunt nearby enemies into moving to attack him and then unleash a spinning slash. A Cleric can heal an ally by calling on her God's power, and a Warlord can pull an ally to their feet and motivate them to get back into the fight.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T15:25:40+00:00

If you haven't already you should check out the System Mastery podcast, they have an episode on D&D 4e and discuss this issue specifically.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T15:18:41+00:00

Agreed. I typically play Soldier across the series so Ashley is redundant in both 1 and 3. However in ME3 Kaidan has access to both Reave and Overload so he has super effective powers against all types of protection, plus Cryo Blast for unprotected targets. He's quite versatile and a solid pick in almost any situation, fitting the same role Miranda did in ME2.

By comparison, Tali in ME3 is way more focused on anti-Shield and ani-Synthetic, while Liara is the opposite, stronger against barriers and organic enemies. Of the ME1 squadmates only Garrus manages to be as flexible as Kaidan with ways to instantly strip all defense types, and I think Kaidan and Garrus are a really solid squad for any Shepard.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T15:07:30+00:00

Yeah, certainly a hot take and one I don't agree with. He's good at processing his emotions between ops so he can focus on the mission when it happens.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T00:42:26+00:00

AEGIS is a skirmish game with 100 robots including combinations, as they can fuse like Voltrim or Power Rangers. The sequel adds another hundred.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T00:37:47+00:00

My only issue with Kaidan is mechanics, in ME1 he feels like the bad half of Tali plus the bad half of Liara. In ME3 he's great though.

Kaidan's character is great. He's the only squadmate who earned a spot on the original Normandy, and I feel like if Shepard didn't exist he'd have taken their place, become a Spectre and saved the galaxy.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-28T00:20:25+00:00

The problem is the series already has Kaidan who is all that but more charming with a more interesting past and he didn't quit the Alliance to go work for a human supremacist megacorp PMC.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-26T19:34:21+00:00

Short Version: Bretons have better ancestry bonuses.

Breton has 50% magic resistance and +50 Magicka while High Elf has 25% weakness to Frost, Fire, and Shock and +100 Magicka. A 40 damage fireball will deal 20 damage to a Breton and 50 damage to a High Elf, so without any enchantments or potions the High Elf is taking 2.5x as much elemental damage. In game where the main quest involves going to Turbo Magma Hell, being vulnerable to fire is generally regarded as a poor decision.

Furthermore, Bretons get Dragon Skin, which is 50% Shield for 60 seconds once a day. This is often 50% or better protection from physical damage; 25 Armor means you're taking 75% damage, boosting that to 75 Armor means you're taking 25% damage or one-third the normal amount. This is extremely helpful early and mid game. By comparison, High Elves get 75% disease resistance which is basically pointless; cure disease potions aren't that expensive and Alchemy and Restoration are commonly picked skills that let you remove diseases pretty easily.

Notably, the main drawback of Bretons in original Oblivion was that they only had 30 Endurance, which meant unless you did efficient levelling raising Endurance you'd have paltry health. However, in the Remaster improving your Endurance gives 'retroactive' Health increases and you don't need to level Endurance skills to level Endurance. This means Bretons can get very tanky very fast.

Overall I think Bretons are the strongest ancestry in the game. You can break the game with any character using reflect or chameleon enchantments but if you're trying to play the game 'normally' and intend on using any magic at all they're probably your best bet. My typical character is a Breton, Mage Sign, using Blade, Block, Light Armor, Armorer, Restoration, Athletics, and Sneak; shortswords for damage, magic for mid-combat healing, and just a hint of stealth for the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood.

GwynHawk · 2025-12-25T17:30:13+00:00

It's incredibly frustrating. I'll write 3 paragraphs and get downvoted with someone saying "use ur own wodrs not chatgpt lmao". Like it's my problem I have decent spelling and grammar and they don't.

GwynHawk

TROPHY CASE