Worst class?

[Brick Thrower]

I had to leave off Fighter because the poll maxes out at ten options. Poll closes after 14 days. Thanks.

[Brick Thrower]

I picked Rogue because I end up killing the Commoners in town as soon as I am detected picking pockets, and I can't sell items that are stolen. It's easier to just kill all the commoners.

[The Flying Rodent]

The answer depends on whether or not you mean mixing the class with other stuff, or playing the class by itself. A lot of those base classes can be injected in small amounts into various builds and make a big difference, but kinda suck if you play them as a stand alone class. Fighter's a good example of this, as is Rogue.

[Brick Thrower]

Right, that's why I made it out to be a poll. There are way too many variables to claim completeness. However, that does not mean that a vote is not valid: A player might have issues with a particular class but not know why it's causing him problems.

[The Flying Rodent]

Right. In which case the poll would probably be more aptly named ‘the most annoying class to play in Blackstone Keep’.

And for me, so far that’s Bard. The high end offensive equipment here, combined with the toolset-infused AC and Concentration skill that a lot of opponents have that is virtually uneffected by Curse Song and Taunt, and the fact that Perform gear is hard to come by, makes this class feel very weak in comparison to both offensive classes like Fighter, and support classes like Cleric.

At present, this class exists on Blackstone Keep to combine with intelligence, RDD and fighter levels and become a Crafter. And that’s about it. If you’re after a support character or off tank, you’re better off going elsewhere.

That said, I do have a certain variety of Bard in planning. Depending on how it goes, perhaps this will change my mind about the class.

[Kane0]

Tough call, but Ranger. It's just maddening playing second fiddle so much.

[clanan]

The Ranger is considered to be the worst class in nwn. So for me it has no exception here.

[The Flying Rodent]

Ranger doesn’t scale well into epic levels no. And it doesn’t combine that well with other classes except for a few (unlike something like Fighter, which multiclasses well because of all the free feats).

If I wasn’t as disappointed at how high level bards are treated here (not low level bards, which still fill their role for skill dumps and being pre-req’s to Prestige classes), I would have put Ranger. And Druids as a close second.

[Cornflower]

About Ranger.

What I did on my old PW to get Ranger more useful, was basically two things:

Provided better Ranger-Only (and AA-only) bows and ammo, so you could use the ranged attacks more efficiently. I mean, a WM can hit for over 300 points of damage per hit, so if you want better balance, you need better archery gear.

Buffed up the familiars and summons in general, so they fulfilled some kind of purpose other than RP. I did it by creating new creatures in the toolset and redirected the summons-script so it picked the improved summons instead. Another way to do it is to provide a special buff-your-summon-rod, only useable by the summoner on his own familiar/summon, which gives level-appropriate buffs. This is somewhat easier, but doesn't give you the option to individually tweak each creature. Anyway, it's not technically hard to do, if you want to make summoners more viable.

[Kane0]

I would start by giving rangers two good saves instead of just fortitude, and appropriate free archery feats when they get their dual wielding ones. Maybe a bonus feat like toughness or strong soul at level 3 too, because of the endurance feat they get in tabletop.

Then after that look into their skills, spells, AC and gear options. Not many opportunities to make use of animal empathy for one, the relatively poor return for investment of Bane of Enemies for another.

Edit: tabletop rangers get HIPS at level 14 too, would make an excellent bonus between low level fighting style goodies and high level bane of enemies.
And yes, i’m aware that core NWN is 3.0 and i’m referring to 3.5

[Douglas Thurman]

I'm always in awe of how fast monks move...but really, can they hit ANYTHING as a pure monk? Also the highest I've ever gotten their AC is with a shifter and 80AC. Even then the underdark is a deathtrap. Sure, they can't hit you often, but it's just about the 20 rolls for your monk to hit something.

Then again I SUCK at making characters so I must be doing something wrong.

[The Flying Rodent]

I'm always in awe of how fast monks move...but really, can they hit ANYTHING as a pure monk? Also the highest I've ever gotten their AC is with a shifter and 80AC. Even then the underdark is a deathtrap. Sure, they can't hit you often, but it's just about the 20 rolls for your monk to hit something.

Then again I SUCK at making characters so I must be doing something wrong.

Shifters are kinda tricky to get in the right sweet spot. Too little magic gear and they’re overpowered as anything, and too much of it and most of the shapes are useless bar Undead Shape. BSK seems to fall into the latter category, especially given the lack of Heal potions for something like a Dragon Shifter to fall back on.

And yeah, high level monks can’t hit the side of a barn normally unless you mix them with something like Shadowdancer to make use of HIPS. I still might make one here, but I’ll probably just give it a Kama because high-end Monk Gloves don’t seem to be much of a thing...

[Kane0]

I can only vote for one, but to categorize the classes IMO:

Really need attention: Bards, Rangers
Could use a look at: Barbarians, Rogues
Maybe need a touch here and there: Monk, Druid, Sorcerer
Doing just fine: Fighter, Paladin, Wizard, Cleric

[Wing--Zero]

LOL yes beef up the Ranger Class : )

[Omegon]

Id have to vote bard on this one. They are a great support class, have spells and class splash to be with rdd. Though they are great for crafters they just seem squishy. (Unless your splashing with a d12 class)

Ranger misses the worst class in my opinion because 9 levels of it will give you all dual wielding feats which is fantastic for combining with other classes.

Though I can't vouch for ranger in epic levels.