DF: The Best Races/Classes

[Handsome Paul]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

Coleopterans

2 Shields and a Two handed weapon, add multi strike to extra attack. You get something like a 270 degree arc for the DB. Buy your shield up really high and block away. Arguably, you should at least get a parry, a block, and as many dodges as you need, and if they aren't immediately behind you, you stand a pretty good chance of not needing DR above 5.

Edit: I'm actually playing this character now.

[sjmdw45]

There is one really annoying thing about pixies... they require orichalcum weapons. With their 1/25 weight factor, normal weapons will snap the first time they try to parry anything at all. Combine that with the -6 damage bonus and their basic ST 5 (1d-4/1d-2 damage), and you might as well forget about ever buying "Faerie" weapons and resign yourself to a (0.1) armor divisor since it's not worth paying e.g. $12,000 for a tiny orichalcum smallsword that does th-5 i.e. 1d-9 damage. Take the $480 one that does 1d-9 (0.1), use it to parry, and attack only with spells and powers.

-Max

Edit: fixed cost and weight

[vitruvian]

Take the $120 one that does 1d-9 (0.1), use it to parry, and attack only with spells and powers.

Well, no, since as you pointed out they'll pretty much always shatter on a parry, even if you take pixie barbarian and boost your ST to 12.

Probably better to use Dodge as your main defense (after all, since they have at least a -6 to hit you due to SM, possibly more due to flight movement, you stand a good chance of not getting hit), and attack either with spells or with impaling attacks to the eyes (going melee with a spear or something is preferable for this, due to the +4 you get for relative SM). Of course, for the latter option, you need a barbarian or at least a knight for the boosted ST, to offset the -6 to damage. Of course, I'd probably limit those reductions to sw-2 or thr, since it doesn't make sense to me for pixies to do less damage (especially crushing) with weapons than with their fists. Unless Kromm chimes in to mention that the -6 is supposed to apply to unarmed damage as well...

[Pip Boy]

Ogres and warhammers are great!

I´ve played once with one deaf-mute half-ogre... He had IQ 7, but, man, how can you trick a deaf-mute pike monstruosity? It´s like telling a joke to The Hulk, as he screams "Puny Human!"

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by vitruvian

Well, no, since as you pointed out they'll pretty much always shatter on a parry, even if you take pixie barbarian and boost your ST to 12.

The $480 version is "mundane" (non-Faerie) but orichalcum, so it won't shatter. ($120 was an incorrect figure when I was using armor cost reductions in the place of weapon cost reduction.)

Probably better to use Dodge as your main defense (after all, since they have at least a -6 to hit you due to SM, possibly more due to flight movement, you stand a good chance of not getting hit), and attack either with spells or with impaling attacks to the eyes (going melee with a spear or something is preferable for this, due to the +4 you get for relative SM). Of course, for the latter option, you need a barbarian or at least a knight for the boosted ST, to offset the -6 to damage. Of course, I'd probably limit those reductions to sw-2 or thr, since it doesn't make sense to me for pixies to do less damage (especially crushing) with weapons than with their fists. Unless Kromm chimes in to mention that the -6 is supposed to apply to unarmed damage as well...

I agree that Dodge is usually going to be the defense to go for, unless you're playing a Pixie swashbuckler or something. It just... seems like a waste to have to buy these weapon skills and then have absolutely no use for them whatsoever.

DO you get a bonus for relative SZ in vanilla? I remembered something about that but couldn't find it in Basic's weapon to-hit modifier charts, so I decided it must be something from GULLIVER.

-Max

P.S. I agree that weapons that do less damage than fists are rubbish.

[PK]

More details on SM in combat are in the FAQ, I believe.

[vitruvian]

DO you get a bonus for relative SZ in vanilla? I remembered something about that but couldn't find it in Basic's weapon to-hit modifier charts, so I decided it must be something from GULLIVER.

Yeah - the FAQ provides, as an addendum rather than an erratum, that in melee you use relative SM, with a cap of +4 for attacking larger characters since you can't *reach* any further out than that. Of course, if you're going up against a hit location mod due to a smaller body part, such as the eye, I might be inclined to waive that cap entirely for such attacks.

Is the minimum 1 pt of impaling damage, doubled to 2, enough to blind the target in that eye?

[Captain-Captain]

Has anyone written up TFT's Cidrian Octopi as a DF race? I'm thinking Wizard Scout, though Holy Warrior Swashbukcler has it's merits.

[WingedKagouti]

Hmm,

Pixie Martial Artist/Barbarian - ST 8 DX 19 (+Power Blow)

Or

Pixie Barbarian/Martial Artist - ST 12 DX 16 (+Power Blow)

Some damage might actually be dealt here, and it won't suffer from the -6 weapon modifier.

"I's gonna punch yer eye out!"

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

I don't know how Kromm and the rest of you guys feel about aspected magic in general, but one of the things I like to do is to vary up and down the magical aspect of certain areas.

I love aspecting. In many games, I simply assume that most areas have positive and negative aspects.