Topic: What IYO is better? Pure Arm, Semi, Pure Spell, Hybrid

[markc]

 I was wondering if you had 20 PC's of levels 1-10 to play in your game; what would you take? 20 Pure Arms, 20 Semi-Spell Users, 20 Pure Spell Users or 20 Hybrid Spell Casters?

MDC

[thrud]

I think I'd go with the semis.

[Fornitus]

pure or hybrid. casters have to think not just squish till they get squished.

[RandalThor]

Generally for the lower levels* the pure-arms users come out a bit ahead, the others take more time to "mature" so to speak. So, if you are talking about pure ability, then the non-spell users would be the way to go.

But, as you said "if you had" then I would go with the character I "liked" - be he arms, semi, or pure. (Really, I would go with a mix as that covers more of bases of capability.)

*Yes, I consider levels 1-10 the "lower" levels.

[markc]

Generally for the lower levels* the pure-arms users come out a bit ahead, the others take more time to "mature" so to speak. So, if you are talking about pure ability, then the non-spell users would be the way to go.

But, as you said "if you had" then I would go with the character I "liked" - be he arms, semi, or pure. (Really, I would go with a mix as that covers more of bases of capability.)

*Yes, I consider levels 1-10 the "lower" levels.

 The point is you do not have a mix or you are not able to chose to mix profession types in a game such as War Law. The only variable is level.
MDC

[kevinmccollum]

20 pure spell users. specifically, 20 dwarven evil clerics. yeesh. nasty. almost spell proof (except for elemental spells) and with a lot of instantaneous attack spells

[Nders]

Well semi... it would be pretty much the only way to get a remotely even skill coverage. Make them all warrior mages if you want both diversity and power plus they can go in most directions so they are unlikely to feel the same to the pc's playing them

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

If I had 20 PCs in my game, I'd go with pure arms. GMing 20 PCs is close to impossible but 20 PCs being able to cast spells? No way!

...though if I had 20 PCs in my game, I'd probably kill most of them until there are only 5-6 alive! ^_-

[RandalThor]

I ran 20 jarheads (Marines for you civilians  ) in an Oriental Adventures game, at Mt. Fuji Base Camp, around half of which were totally new players. It was a lot of fun putting together those martial-arts fight scenes!

But, today, I prefer a smaller group with around 8 being the upper limit.

As for which I would run in my game: whichever the players wanted to play.

[Vince]

It depends on level, and the type of games you play.

But if we talk in general, semis are the best option IMHO.

[yammahoper]

Pure Arm.

Never gonna happen.  Players LIKE 'dem spells.

[Fidoric]

Pure arms, what else ?
I tend to prefer them maybe because without supernatural powers, heroïsm shines brighter.

[Hurin]

Semis, hands-down.

Almost as good as a pure-arms user at one weapon, and with spells to boot. And while their spells aren't as powerful as those of pure spell users, they are nowhere near as squishy. That is hard to beat.

[dutch206]

I'd have to say Semi's.  You don't have to be good at all weapons, just really good with one.

[Dark Schneider]

Pure arm or semi, having no arms skill in the entire group is equal to suicide. With semi you have the advantage of spells, so you have access to some healing, hiding, movement and many other effects that you can't match with skills.

For those who decided pure or hybrid spell, I don't know how much permissive you are in your game, but in our one that group would not survive much time if have combats, in a game with mainly talking or interacting then not.