POLL: Worst classes

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I wavered between vanilla fighters and vanilla clerics, but chose fighters. They're horribly boring to roleplay IMO.

 

Beast Masters definitely shouldn't be on the list. I think they make very handy archers. Possibly moreso than the Archer kit.

 

I voted for the Bounty Hunter.
Trap laying is his special thing. I dont like/use traps much, simple as that. And by the time the bards and the other thief kits get their HLAs the Bounty Hunter as such becomes obsolete. Add to this his penalties...

But why is the Jester on that poll?
He is a powerful ally!
In SoA the Scald may be very useful, but in ToB most of your opponents as well as the fighters in your party have such a low THACO that the bonuses of his song are irrelevant. His -4 to AC wont safe you from getting hit by the really strong enemies and most in your party will make a successful saving throw against confusion, fear etc anyway.

The Jester on the other hand will prove to be quite handy in most figths, especially in ToB, if you dont replace his song with the HLA song that is. I learned this on the first level of Watchers Keep, in the fight with those statues. It always gave me a very hard time, but with my Jester singing, up to half of them were stunned and Korgan could hack at them like there was no tomorrow. There were other such instances, like the fights with the Fire Giants.
Yes, I am a die-hard Jester fan and always use him, true. But give credit where credit is due.

 

My favourite class is a vanilla fighter. It may seem boring, nut i always kick butt through TOB. I used to use the wizard slayer, but i just like all those pretty rings. Worst class has to be a bounty hunter. I'm not that impressed by sneaking about, and Jan fullfills all my thieving requirements.

 

I don't see why the vanilla cleric is getting so many votes. Sure, there are better options, but the class in itself isn't bad at all. In fact, it's pretty damned good. Just because there are slightly better version doesn't make this the worst class.

 

I vote for the vanilla fighter. Always thought the hack-n-slash approach was a bit boring.

Jesters are far from the worst. Like some have said, just don't switch over to the improved bard song (even though that HLA is pretty incredible, I think it was more aimed for the likes of Haer'Dalis).

Bounty Hunters are awesome. Their special snares can definitely turn the tables during tough battles, especially if they are high level. The ability to maze enemies at 19th level (or is it 16th -- I forget ) was good enough reason for me to try them out.

Vanilla clerics are all fine and good and hardly the worst. Viconia is a vanilla cleric and look at what she can do.

Shapeshifters and beast masters have their place. I like all the druid kits -- some more than others.

 

You get extra spells, and all schools aren't *that* good IMO. Especially not if you've got a mage/half-mage in your party to compensate. Necromancers and Conjurers make just fine for casting.

 

@Aldeth

I didn't say they were useless either! I said their limitations weren't strick enough, implying that they are overpowered. I just said they are overpowered hypocrites.

@Mystra

You can't inherit sorcerery from a mage; sorcerery is innate and wizardry is learned/studied. Having the blood of a god is a reasonable explanation for the protagonist, but not for the other sorcerers in the game. I'm not saying they don't kick butt -- they do. I'm just saying I don't like the myth. Since I'm more interested in the story than in power, I don't like them very much.

As far as Druids go, their magic is supposed to be geared toward trees and plants, etc. And lots of the spells Druids have are relatively unrelated to the natural realm. Druids should be specialized clerics, accepting certain limitations in exchange for certain benefits. But in BG2, their limitations are insignificant compared to their benefits (like the wizard slayers). They should be more powerful out in the open than most priests are, but weaker in other settings. This doesn't happen, so I think the class is not well-implemented.

 

Druids/shapeshifter etc, they blow. Can someone explain to me what this vanilla thing is? I have never heard of it before. Sorry I am from the UK.

 

Not sure if you're serious or not (my clues are on leave today), but...

Vanilla means the same as "plain". In this context, a fighter without any of the kits (wizard slayer, etc) would be "vanilla".

 

The Jester's Song has one very interesting property that makes it unique among the other Bards - it's offensive. And since all Bard songs pierce magic resistances and almost every immunity in the game...
While the +4 to save lowers its value, its nothing greater malison can't fix. When powergamed, imagine having to make a save five times every round (5 images via mislead or otherwise) while a fully buffed Jester starts twanging at you. Saving Throws may be lowered to negative infinity, but there'll always be a chance the song will succeed.

As for my vote, it sadly goes to the Beastmaster. I like the kit and I know it's considerably powerful, but it pales in comparison to the other classes.

[ March 18, 2004, 02:57: Message edited by: Scythesong Immortal ]

 

There are no other sorcerers in the game, barring mods. Mods often don't make much sense anyway.

Why are Invokers on the poll? I'd say that they're the most powerful specialists followed by the Conjurers. Diviners or Illusionists are the weakest specialist mages by far.

 

The reason I excepted out Conjurer and Illusionist is because:

Conjurers only lose divinations spells. Most of those spells can be duplicated by other classes (either as spells or abilities). The only two really useful spells they lose are True Sight and Identify - and there are other ways to get the equivalent of both.

Illusionists lose necromancy spells - and I admit that is a pretty good spell list you're giving up. However, there aren't that many necromancy spells (something like 12 in the whole game) plus if you're a gnome you can be an illusionist while multi-classing - a very useful ability, as multi-classes level slowly, so getting an extra spell per level helps.

Invokers, on the other hand, lose Enchantments and Conjurations. That's an absolutely huge list to give up. While Evocation is one of the most powerful schools of the game, I always choose my specialist based on what he's losing - not what he's specializing in. I would never want to be an Enchanter - because then I'd lose evocation - but I don't see a need to be an Invoker at the cost of those other spells.

 

Well, Aldeth, my experience is that Evokers in BGII, in contrast with BGI, only lose one opposing school. I can't remember which one but IIRC they only lose the enchantment school not the Conjuration school. On the contrary, in BGI, they indeed lose both school, but not in BGII. And yes, this is with the latest patch, but without the fixpack, so maybe this is something that is fixed by it.

 

OK, but enchantment is huge - you're missing out on tons of spells without enchantments.

Also, I never really saw the fascination with specialists, especially after the wild-mage kit came out. Take all of the spells, and still get an extra spell per level. The only thing that they lose out on is the ability to dual class, and I don't know anyone who dual classes FROM a mage to something else...

 

Invokers only lose Enchantment.

My own experience has been that spells in the Enchantment school are ineffective against anything that might actually make them worthwhile, so...

 

What do you mean - there's tons of spells. Like, oh no wait. Well I always memorize... no that's not enchantment either. And one that I know is always useful is...

Hmmm... I guess you're right...

I usually take my characters through BG1, and spells like sleep, charm person, dire charm, and chaos are extremely useful...

 

Personally I think vanilla thieves are the worst class.

But of these options I choose jester.

 

Yes, there are other sorcerers in the game. First, there is Irenicus. Second, in a multiplayer setting, there can be other PCs who are sorcerers but who are not children of Bhaal or of any other god.

 

Isn't the Wizard-Slayer someone who hates the incidence or the practitioners of arcane magic?
So why cant they be religious fanatics who carry magical weapons which they believe to be granted to them by their Gods. Fact is I played a Wizard-Slayer[9]/Cleric[x] based on that reasoning alone.

The jester is an excellent kit because of his offensive song though it really does not befit a god-child on his way to divinity to be standing in the middle of a battle strumming his guitar.

Id say the Druid Kits are basically useless.
And a plain fighter is only better than the kits if you intend to spend your time at the rear and ***** in bows is going to be of great use.