Karvon wrote...
Priest - Cleric, has been one of the main classes from the beginning, and one of three essential ones IHMO, for any balanced party - others being warrior and rogue. I suppose druid might be an acceptable fill-in, but it would depend heavily on your setting, story, and the sorts of encounters you would expect your group to deal with. A druid simply doesn't have the same healing, buffing and combat skills that a cleric lends to a group, generally speaking.
Karvon
Maybe it would have been a good idea to explain why I cut certain classes.
In my attempt at a "realistic" setting, I did away with summoning and ressurection. I still need to find a way to rebalance mages without their "insta-tanks," but cutting Cleric was the easiest way to rid the world of insta-heals. Druids certainly don't have the healing potential of Clerics, but I've seen some overpowered druid builds in buffing, shapshifting, and combat. I think the lack of good armor is the biggest hit on druids.
Paladin and Ranger, while both good classes, sort of grated on my nerves while trying to figure out a place for them. Paladins were basically holy knights, even after I tried to remove the alignment restriction (which is hard-coded with the in-game character creator.) Rangers were actually going to replace barbarians, but a woodsman that automatically can cast spells doesn't work in my setting.
Monks are one of those esoteric clases... very good at what it does but very specific to a setting. This isn't a Jade Empire clone I'm making and I don't have those kind of martial artists. Sorry.
Wizards were easy after I cut Cleric. Wizards and Clerics seem to be core classes, and I didn't need the core magic classes to make me go generic. The whole wizard/sorcerer rivalry story has already been done, and much better than I can do it. Besides, sorcerers can cast spells without preperation, giving them an edge over the wizard class.
Bottom line: I'll eventually have to find a way to balance my modules in combat. Low-magic and low-healing are not as easy to balance as I expected, but I'm tired of having a world were everyone just goes to the local priest to have their arms grow back.
Thanks for the opinions, everyone. I'll try to keep these in mind while I create my setting and story. Maybe NWN players will actually get to see this module.
