Shattered Kingdoms

Not necessarily. That would be covered under cardio workouts. Dudes who lift weights tend to not do cardio, and just go for massive gains. Guys that get massive gains do not run marathons. Lifting weights would be STR training, and cardio workouts would be CON training.

It's like when Mike Tyson fought his bouts. He'd go in with a blitz of attacks, and try to finish it as quickly as possible with a KO. Boxers that could withstand the assault and press it into later rounds beat him because he'd used up all his energy.

Now just imagine you're Mike Tyson going to knock out some dude or chick and they use sorcery to rob you of the time you spent at the gym becoming absolute beefcake. That'd be a little irritating. There's really nothing in the hellion's repertoire that targets constitution, though.

I am literally waiting on a Hellion re-balance to roll the next high knight of Algorab.

The points raised highlight a number of items that, together, constitute a massive and long-standing issue with the class. I'll add my emphasis to a few of the points:

Hellions need to trade some of their absolutely useless spells for fourth attack, or they need their spells to be a lot more useful. That being said, seeing as how hellions seem to be more physically brutal (cleave) - I side with making them stronger fighters (fourth attack + some basic common fighting skills = dirt kicking/trip/etc.).

The paladin currently has more utility because they have a stronger spell set to compensate for their lack of raw fighting ability.

And I think that's right. Paladins fight evil but they are still holy (supposedly) and, despite the role-play practices of many paladins in this day and age of SK (looking at the paladins that play like hellions - you know who you are), they are not about beating evil to death in a rage. It shouldn't be about anger with a paladin (ideally).

My one counterpoint:

Hybrid classes are tough to play. I think the bigger issue is not the number of mods you need but that the Hellion class is, on the whole, painfully under-powered on all fronts.

Hellions don't need fourth attack.

They do need some fixes, most notably the need of the rescue skill and domination fixed.

Couldn't agree with you more Ardith.

Yeah, fourth attack and combat skills are unnecessary. Fourth attack is actually not that useful without a sister skill of specialize or fury, and hellions don't need combat skills to detract from their iconic spellblade combat style.

Giving them rescue and buffing a few spells would be healthy for the class and the game. Domination and plague are amongst their most useless spells.

Some Random idea.
Could halving the cast time of maledictions on weapons be a useful change. Would have a significant impact on the usability of plague. Would let you cast spells between combat rounds more effectively.

I always liked the classic vampire dominate. To make the change in game dominate would have a massively reduced consecration cost. A significant cast time so ineffective mid combat but not useless. Would also not start combat but would cause aggro to bounce of intimidate much like persuade does now. Once landed the hellion could persuade the subject as per the persuade skill (only 100% success rate) subject wouldnt join their group. Reasons I think this change could be interesting. You could bard up your own defensive spells from random places as per the persuade skill. You could install traitor guards for a return visit when you live to fight another day. You dont end up with a charm which is no worse than the current situation. It would be challenging to use but the pay off could be huge. You could also raise the level person it can effect. Would also make for an interesting spell cast on a player (the subject player would have to not get a message that it worked or not).

As far as rescue I think taunt would be more fitting for a hellion.

Dominate already has a 3 round cast time.

I meant that as an example, which was not clearly stated. I do think that hellions should be the more physical of the two hybrids, however.

I readily admit that I haven't put as much thought into it as you.

I could see lowering the casting time of plague by a bit, but it's designed to be cast more as a prep spell (or to screw up a fountain) than a combat spell. Perhaps the real change should be to make spells cast on your weapon last a bit longer. That way the first cleave could be an even bigger beat down...

How about a master level skill "enhanced combat casting" allowing the Hellion to maintain full attack pattern while casting spells.