Forsooth wrote:
I appreciate the thoughtful comments, Sklz711, and you're absolutely right that if I were looking to balance griffons, aerial combat bonuses are the wrong path. But that's not my objective now.
Dulrik hasn't had much interest in balancing griffons, and it rather makes sense. Take a fun RP race that requires little prep time, make it competitive in power, and you'll start seeing a griffon on every hill. It's not good for the gameworld. I'm looking instead at making griffons a more fun and distinct experience. This goal might actually make The List.
You see, I had a revelation while playing my last griffon, a warlock. He was still on the weak side; one sleep staff pretty much turned him into a big, ready-to-carve turkey. But unlike my other griffons, he could really do things besides open his beak. He may have died more often than a human, but I had the feeling his efforts had a chance. That's key to making griffons a good experience mechanically. And unfortunately, it's not an experience I've had with any other griffon class.
There's something deeply wrong that griffons are so inept physically. Part of the fun of a griffon ought to be playing the monster a little bit. Instead, their only decent classes tap away with polemaces and similar junk. Bleah. So this idea was focused on making griffons more physical, with a skill that suits their nature well. And it also gives them a tactical choice in their speed, to help compensate for limited weapon selection.
Sure, willpower and fortitude bonuses would help more than reflex. But reflex will help griffons deal with those darn element-spitting NPCs in high-level zones, letting them do more. And it's also modest enough a PK help that it might actually happen.
I agree that griffons are never going to get heavy armor; that'd be insane on a griffon warlock. But that means griffon barbarians really need some help, if they're not going to approach the futility of giant warlocks. My chief concern about my proposal is not helping them enough. Perhaps the spear/polearm damage bonus should be bigger than the claw bonus....
They have a very high statline across the board, if you 2x-3x'ed the Fort/Ref/Will save they got from their stats that'd give you the reflex you were looking for and some. Add Magic resistance to that and they'd no longer be taking absolutely rediculous amounts of damage from Ref based spells. Also, even with their limited EQ slots they could make a decent attempt at resistance on either Fort or Will and still be better than your average bear at the other.
Also, the only damage bonus they should get is to hand to hand. I don't like seeing griffons with weapons. I really don't. Not in any way. They should be there pretty much for reach and nothing more.
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