Shattered Kingdoms

Let's put it this way: If Ardith played any class besides hellion, the death threats from his character would have worried me. That's an example of a player who is more experienced and better in pvp than I am, but is playing a useless class.

You play a sorc... and sorcs get etherealform. So a hellion should never be able to solo kill you, period.

A well enchanted well-played hellion, though, could at least get to a standstill with a sorc.

Who -should- a hellion be able to solo gank, since we've ruled out anyone with wands or scrolls? I feel like a hellion is supposed to be a scary, bad (removed). If I saw the potential in the class to back that rp up with some pk, I'd be playing a hellion right now. I'll admit that I'm a newb and might just be missing something, but hellions definitely seem weak to me.

Anyone with etherealform can escape most of the classes on the mud, just because hellions don't have a source of etherealform (barring leet hoarded scripted items) doesn't mean that they're underpowered.

Paladins, warlocks, rogues, mercs, barbs, priests, swashbucklers, shamans, scouts, bards. Hellions can face off against all of these and come out on top if played right, and intimidate is massively underrated. It's just harder than average.

You can even jump a warlock if he's not in the back row, if you have a magical reaching weapon.

I've never played one, even though I've always been tempted. I'm always deterred for two reasons though: With my luck I'd get stuck with a lousy mentor, and in addition I'd never be able to play one as well as Slayne. When it comes down to it, though, dominate, intimidate, all the maledictions, hellfire, etc. all make for a pretty sweet skillset, just very finesse in both build and play. Go look at some Slayne logs. He raped face.

You're the more experienced player, so I guess I'll take your word for it . . . but barbs, really? Even one with a little bit of fortitude?

Barbarian probably has the upper hand, but if the hellion can manage to stay in the second row long enough, he'll probably win (Not to mention you -can- cleave a barbarian if he's already in combat.) Thing is, maledictions on the hellion's weapon notwithstanding, hellfire actually starts to hurt after the barb berserks, and just a few casts can turn the tide once the pet/dominate dies.

Eh, a hellion can take a barb. Its takes prep. But have something else bash then cleave with maledictions on your weapon would be my strategy.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

I'm just going to shrug off this thread as typical noobery.

Hellions are a class that require a lot of support and planning. You have to understand how and when to use your maledictions. You have to plan your modifications carefully because they are insanely stat dependent. They are way more mod dependant than paladins are.

At first glance, a hellion does seem to have a lot of strikes, but I can assure you, that when used correctly, they are one of the best pk classes available. They can stand toe to toe with any other class in the game when fully prepared and if you train their stats correctly. They are also really useful in group combat.

They are not for noobs. If you are not already familiar with the mud, then you will not succeed with this class. They have a high learning curve and typically, people don't seem to get past that.

I admit that when I see other people's hellions, I don't tend to take them seriously either. People keep trying to build them like necromancers with a big stick and then they play them that way. That's why so many people fail with them.

in the opinion of a hellion player, hellions are sorta underpowered. there are two abilities i would like to see changed.

1) dominate needs a revamp. i like the idea, but the implementation is hella dumb: it's nothing more than a sh*t charm with giant mana/concentration costs. IMHO:

- dominate should be a skill, not a spell
- it should be releasable but not actually sap concentration/mana, ala intimidate
- orders should cost ME
- maximum duration of 20 minutes

in this way, domination becomes a sort of half-way step between persuade and charm.

2) cleave needs a revamp. it's a good hellion skill, but as is, it is just a cruddy opener. against a prepared target it gets negated half the time, and deals really weak damage beyond that.

- make cleave targetable. i want to <cleave ardith right arm> and see his arm get cut off. the save could look something like: hellion's str + damage of weapon type vs target con + AC. cleaving at the head should only be successful if the target is already hurt. saving against the sever shouldn't negate the entire cleave, but simply result in less damage.
- remove shield block from cleave's negation list. cleave is currently subject to AC deflection, dodge, shield block, and parry. parry, whatever, i can get that; a good parry means directing the force of a blow (however massive) somewhere else, and that can be done with cleave. AC and dodge, totally. shield block? yeah, so, i've got a full swing (to be differentiated from the normal swing of standard combat) of a sixty pound greataxe at your face and you just block it taking no damage? horsesh*t.

other than that, they definitely aren't bad. hellfire is kickin'.

You realize that DRAGONS can also be shield blocked, right? If you want to lower your chances of getting blocked, then cleave with a more accurate weapon.

Just sayin'. I agree with Cannibal on this one.