Picking semirandomly: Order of the Bow Initiate. (*looks at fluff, rolls eyes*) Let's see what this NPC, Garrick, does.
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- Fighter 5/Order of the Bow Initiate 8. And a half-elf; way to not leverage that "Favored Class: Any", guys.
- Stats are solid. Str 14 and positive Con mod. He even has a pair of +2 Gloves of Dexterity on top of an 18.
- The skills are kinda wrong. Int 10 and Craft (Bowmaking) +4. With the minimum requirement of 5 Ranks, he should have another point. Same deal with Knowledge (Religion) being one short. I think he was originally supposed to have Int 8 or 9. Ride +17 doesn't make sense if he can only have 16 ranks and is rocking Cha 10. He seems to have 32 ranks in total if we count the prereqs as filled, though, so that at least is good.
- In addition to prereq feats and feats from his PrC, he has Manyshot (yes!), Mounted Combat ('kay), Sharp-Shooting (umm), and Weapon Specialization (oh come on).
- Acceptable gear.
- - +3 composite longbow with proper strength bonus. Cool. Also arrows.
- - +2 leather armor. His Dex mod isn't high enough that a +1 studded leather armor wouldn't do the same, but whatever.
- - +1 greatsword. He's got a decent strength and full BAB...no melee feats, but this doesn't make me mad.
- - Lesser bracers of archery. Good pick.
- - Gloves of Dexterity +2. I mentioned it earlier, but, very good pick.
- - 2 lesser arrows of undead slaying. Not going to last very long, but when your class gives you precision damage, this is a good backup.
- - Heavy warhorse. No comment.
Gerrick isn't optimized, but fine for a beer-and-pretzels game. I mean, +23 to hit and 30+ damage even without full attacking; that will get some attention.
Picking semirandomly again: Holt Warden, form Complete Lack of Playtesting Champion. Let's look at Hasayla. (If anyone hasn't read the Holt Warden PrC yet, do it. It's hilarious; it's like they thought the druid wasn't even close to nature-iffic enough.)
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- Druid 5/Holt Warden 10. This is an excellent jumpoff point; yum yum Wildshape.
- I'm not an expert on the Druid spell list, but the typical prepared spells are intelligently selected. Entangle, Wall of Thorns, Greater Dispel Magic, Sleet Storm. A little too much healz (especially when she has a class feature that can do healz) but I'm impressed otherwise.
- Potions of barkskin and bear's endurance, when the former has been prepared. Srsly?
- Whoa. Those ability scores. Before racial mods and stat boosts, that's a 47 PB. Stat priority was Wisdom = Charisma > Dexterity = Constitution > Strength > Intelligence. This order makes sense; you'll see why in a moment. Positive Con mod gets a thumbs-up, too.
- Feats: Brew Potion (sigh), Craft Magic Arms and Armor (umm), Leadership (OMG. Reason for high Charisma found), Negotiator (nope sorry just take SF [Diplo]; you're not even maxing Sense Motive), Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot (elf; what did you expect?)
- Gosh look at that pile of skill points. Concentration +9...really, 8 Ranks at level 15? Diplomacy +23. I concur. Sense Motive has 4 Ranks, which is a letdown when you consider the synergy bonus missed for that ginormous Diplomacy score. Generally solid things to put points in outside of those.
- Her swag is pitiable. No stat-boosting equipment. +1 hide armor of silent moves (I understand it being Hide armor, but Silent Moves when you only have 1 rank and an ACP? Lol?) and a +1 longbow, and a random ring of fire resistance for no discernible reason.
- Fox companion. When your animal companion is 10 levels behind, you want a scouter. (Again, why does Hasayla need armor of Silent Moves?)
Dang. That was nice. Fix the gear and tweak the skill point pile a bit, and you have a competent character.
*flip flip flip* Legacy Champion. Let's check out Marrush.
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- And the class he's advancing class features in is...Fighter. AHAHAHA That's kind of awesome in its failure. Enjoy your reduced BAB, the thing that otherwise supposedly makes up for a lack of features! At least being a half-orc helps.
- His stats are good. Everything in the physical stats, mostly stength. His Dex mod of +1 works will with his full plate, and he has a Con mode of +2. And that big freaking Strength score is boosted by gauntlets of ogre power.
- Feats: Blind-Fight ('kay), Power attack and Cleave (nice!), Dodge (really?), the Weapon Focus line all the way to Greater Weapon Spec (I know you need more to-hit, but for the love of...), Improved Initative (good), Iron Will (facepalm), Least and Lesser Legacies (class features), and Skill Focus (Knowledge [History]) (WHY!?)
- Skill Points: A whole slew of cross-class points in K:History, and some in Intimidate. No comment.
- His gear is mostly bling for Armor Class, though he spend it in the most efficient way. Whatever. AC 27; 28 with Dodge. Maybe that will get him somewhere. Cloak of resistance and gauntlets of ogre power are good picks. He's also got his legacy weapon but that's pointing out the obvious.
Come to think of it, Marrush is stacking to-hit out the wazoo with his legacy weapon's Bloodlust ability and Weapon Focus lines, and he's got Power Attack. This isn't bad, but it's not good either.
I'm getting different readings from the rest of you. It's less "completely terrible" and more "big numbers are better, but we don't know the good ways to get them".