Caster vs Melee

[Doubtful]

I'd wager that Maevan would suffer some kind of stroke/ coronary at the prospect of going through every single map and placing triggers around items that could theoretically provide cover.

Sunder weapon - See Disarm/Improve Disarm. (Not to mention the normal reaction people have to their equipment being irrevocably destroyed - Ask IG if you want a quick Rust Monster / Black Pudding based example)
Tripping - See Knockdown.

I do like the weapon reach suggestion.

I'm as much a fan of over-blown generalisations as the next man, but

but having a +2 weapon is almost out of the question

is taking it a bit far. +4 weapons are available from some faction stores and +3s and below are available from player crafters.

Course, trouble is D&D is inherently unbalanced - Fixing that means not playing D&D anymore.

[MadSeer]

is taking it a bit far. +4 weapons are available from some faction stores and +3s and below are available from player crafters.

Course, trouble is D&D is inherently unbalanced - Fixing that means not playing D&D anymore.

Why just some Factions ?
Unique equipment pretty much being the biggest advantage to joining a Faction, they all should have access to similarly powered items. I can say there's no such thing as +4 in the Wardens of the Vale stores. The only item that could maybe be considered +4 is only available to rangers, which leaves the druids, spirit shamans, barbarians and nature clerics with little to no more powerful items.

As for crafting, I'm not sure how you actually go around to getting a +3 item. The belt of dragon strength, for example, requires a belt made of dragon hide. As far as I'm aware, you'd need DM intervention to get your hands on dragon hide. The other condition requires you to be in range of two workbenches. From what I was told, the place where you can find two of those crafting stations close enough to each other is either nonexistent or the Thayan enclave.

Having crafting stations positioned for that sort of crafting in every Faction HQ would help, me thinks. Or simply crafting stations in every Faction HQ would be good for starters.

I know a new crafting system is in the works, but from what I heard no one knows when it's coming about. So doing small changes (like adding those crafting stations) to the current system would be a good thing.

[Root]

Agreed... Whilst the unique equipment is a cool feature of the server, it's simply not fairly balanced in terms of it's users. Along with factions, it makes it unfair for, say, an Arcane Archer to join blackwood when the Wardens are the ones getting the best bows, even if it makes IC sense.

Whilst this isn't a deal for the classes who buff their own gear anyway, it's a big one for the non-buffers.

Also, if it goes that elemental bonuses are only present on weaker stuff, that's again an advantage for the casters.

[Sir Kharn]

And that's the problem, fighters and other pure melee'rs are baggage rather than a boon in higher levels.

I have to disagree on that one, i've been doing lots of experimentation lately with my monk and various potions,when my UMD is high enough i'm going to combo potions and scrolls, combine that with a monk's ability's i believe he will be rather lethal at higher lvls..

[roguethree]

I suppose a character with access to magical spells ceases to be a pure melee'er, doesn't it?

[Intrepid42]

The heart-felt pleas of the players of item-dependent classes in a world with item restrictions touches my heart. Fortunately, an in-game solution is readily available.

Yes, the Dwarven Defender prestige class is for you.

With 4 extra AC over a mere 10 levels, plus an undispellable DR 6 (10 if combined with custom feats), a situational further boost to AC, and the ever-popular high Will Save progression, this is truly the melee class you are looking for.

Not only that, but combined with the dwarven spell save bonus, bonus CON, and bonus AB vs the end-game humanoid, you'll almost forget you're not playing a divine caster!

Roll one today!

[Torgar]

Here here! I've got a Fighter 7/ Defender 2 and I can fight with things my level and win, as long as I remember to bandage after. I full heartedly support the creation of more Defenders, I say we all play them!

[Sir Kharn]

I suppose a character with access to magical spells ceases to be a pure melee'er, doesn't it?

Using potions and scrolls doesnt make you a caster, just means you like to read and drink...alot

[Root]

And for people who don't want to play a Lawful Dwarf? Don't get me wrong, I like 'em, but there should be more alternatives available.

[Sir Kharn]

And for people who don't want to play a Lawful Dwarf? Don't get me wrong, I like 'em, but there should be more alternatives available.

I just see it as an alternative to having uber weapons and items, enhancing ability's that are already there in addition to other affects. My monk Talen is highly effective when under the influence both in a party and when solo (tho solo sucks without purpose and grinding sucks well, just because it does) and he frequently refuses to be buffed by any kind of caster, just going with his monk ability's and a few potions. And he does it in style...
I can imagine what it would be like if you could somehow build a DD or a barbarian of some kind (tho the thought of a barbarian who puts on his glasses and reads a few scrolls is wrong but its just an example).

The reason i'm a fan of potions, scrolls and for that matter wands is i remember way back when i first started playing DnD (it was first edition) that if you weren't a mage/cleric or whatever that's what you did, after all the mage/cleric/random buffer or whatever wasnt always around to lend a helping hand and sometimes you needed a boost to get you out of a tight situation or something that would boost your combat ability or other potion/scroll/wand or whatever you had on you to help at that moment.
Improvise. adapt. overcome. primary rules for any adventurer, at least that's how it was back then and i don't see how it should be any different now.

[Quoth The Raven]

I stopped at page 3 - I'm sorry, but I am in Japan and have limited network time.

My points;

1. casters = melee at high levels. At my table, I've seen a frenzied berserker one shot an ancient dragon. 1 round. The wizard didn't act at all.

2. high levels are not imbalanced as some would say. I've been playing the last PnP campaign since June. Started level 16, now we're 22. Basics still hold true: fighters will die if the cleric doesn't heal them, wizards are still extremely squishy, despite all the protections. High levels however revolve around character wealth.

3. primary casters are less dependant on wealth than front liners. That's cause they can dedicate spells to the replacement of items.

4. meleers have far more HPs than casters at high levels. This is not obvious in NWN2, but in PnP you can see it immediately. If NWN2 rolled HPs or went with the expected values, it would help out those classes that can deal reliable continuos damage.

5. high levels call for high magic items. Talkin DMG guidelines here - +10 max bonus to weapons and armors, wondrous items from the handbook. Mooks that you throw at PCs will go down fast (as they should), whereas the big bad guys will be highly resistant to whatever the PCs can bring to the table.

To elaborate a little more on the last point (which is the most important in my opinion, and the core of the problem) you can check out this thread on the old NWN2 forums. Thinking about my PnP sessions, I personally tend to agree with the high magic liberation movement: armor of Heavy Fortification, +6 to Str, +5 sword? Not a big deal - it simply makes up for the innate bonuses of that Balor's stats.

Oh, and personally I am a fan of retardedly simple crafting systems, as in, "Insert Gold Here" and "Item Comes Out". I think it's fair to say not everyone likes to play little miner? At least I don't - I'll go without crafted items in the worst case.

To sum it up, in my opinion there are 2 ways.

1. Give PCs the normal PC wealth and items. Pimp the bad orcs and whatever so that they are as good as the stuff that goes against PCs at high levels (mainly outsiders, aberrations and undeads). However, mooks should be mooks. There are high level campaigns where the local smith is level 10, but in general vanilla Faerun NPCs are not that strong if they don't command at least a city or something equivalent. Hand out less exp and reduce character life expectation to counteract the high level PCs syndrome (a server full of level 20s, basically): I'm personally a fan of permadeath but I realize it's not for everyone, expecially while in real time on a network.

2. Give PCs little wealth. Make em tougher handing out bonus feats and special abilities to compensate. Make spellcasting progression slower and weaker. Bump up the NPCs CR (but don't make em stronger).

That's all it comes to me right now

[BedlamX]

Yeah...DD is not exactly my style. Anything that only encompasses one race and requires you to be Lawful to boot is not really all that much help. It would get boring as hell if every fighter was a dwarven defender...just to be survivable.

Potions are great. They can be a big boon to a fighter without a buffer. They do get way expensive after a while, though. Scrolls are not so helpful to the majority of fighter-type builds. Most can't use them without at least 1 level of a caster class and most don't have access to UMD (or the skill points to go cross-class). As it stands now, even if a fighter used up his precious skill points going cross-class to get UMD, he'd never be able to use many of them due to being stuck with half the max points.

Though I'm still intrigued by the notion of making more powerful weapons that are tagged "not useable by (insert all caster classes here)", the idea Kharn put forth about lowering cost of basic buffing potions and lowering the UMD requirement on scrolls a bit seems more easily doable. I haven't played with the toolset to check out the "not usable by" tag yet. Not even sure if it is in there. But, it would help out those that go pure non-caster without giving multi-class fighter/casters an extra bonus. I'll have to check that out tonight.

[Machiavelli]

RP trumps combat potential any day of the week in terms of satisfaction gained. Nuff said.

[Fezzik]

There is a reason that I like of all my toons the best, is Osclow's little protege Perry. I don't play her all that much, she's level 9, but she's the most useless level 9 in the world. She could probably get her butt kicked by a 5th level mage, a 3rd level cleric, and a 2nd level fighter.

I imagine that's what Juney the Gnome feels like too .

[Machiavelli]

I imagine that's what Juney the Gnome feels like too .

Juniper is an excellent example of what I was talking about. An awesome PC who can influence people to do all sorts of things, but is weak as piss in any sort of fight.