Avatar class overpowered?

[JohnD]

So I have a player wanting to try one of these out. Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this class and if there are any practical anecdotes on actual play with a character that can "cast any spell"?

[Lord Dynel]

The classes in the Adventurer's Backpack are...interesting. The Avatar seems, on paper, a bit tough. Being able to easily lob 10 magic missile spells per day at 6th level is a bit nasty, and I'm not even being creative. At first glance, the check for casting a higher level spell is a decent restriction, but unless there's a spell that the PC absolutely needs (like a raise dead or the like), odds are they'll probably never put themselves at risk for failure. I'm not overly keen on the hourly recharge of mana, but that's my own personal opinion. They seem a bit powerful on paper, but I've never seen one in action.

[JohnD]

I suppose that if it seems OP, I can always cut it off at a certain level and mandate a different class going forward. The player seemed quite reasonable about not knowing himself whether the class power would be a concern.

[Lord Dynel]

I suppose that if it seems OP, I can always cut it off at a certain level and mandate a different class going forward. The player seemed quite reasonable about not knowing himself whether the class power would be a concern.

Indeed. Ultimately, John, you know your player better than anyone on these forums (unless, of course, one of these fourmites is the player ) so you probably already know whether or not they're interested in the Avatar because they have this really cool concept or because they trying to min/max. I have certain players in my group that I can usually tell that if they're bringing a new class/feat/option to the table, then it's probably because there's some statistical advantage in it for them.

[Captain_K]

we roll tested the avatar. Hard to play.. everything at your finger tips lead to indecision.. the thought that every round should be the perfect spell. Possibly we just sucked at it or the game was not right, but it did not become over powering. but an odd concept and may take much more time and more people to weigh in. I tried to get them to make the Archer more general "marksman" with any ranged weapon of choice. Did not care or even play the other two.. no takers of interest.. we have very few magic items in our game so that "use any magic item" class had no takers.

We played at 1st, 6th and I think 12th or 11th level... TPK at high level against a ghost dragon.

[Lord Dynel]

we roll tested the avatar. Hard to play.. everything at your finger tips lead to indecision.. the thought that every round should be the perfect spell. Possibly we just sucked at it or the game was not right, but it did not become over powering. but an odd concept and may take much more time and more people to weigh in. I tried to get them to make the Archer more general "marksman" with any ranged weapon of choice. Did not care or even play the other two.. no takers of interest.. we have very few magic items in our game so that "use any magic item" class had no takers.

We played at 1st, 6th and I think 12th or 11th level... TPK at high level against a ghost dragon.

I actually remember that being (kind of) an issue with the sorcerer when 3rd Edition came out. The difference is that the indecision came during leveling up when the sorcerer (my wife...so I guess sorcereress ) got a new spell. Having the indecision of picking just the right spell, in-game and nearly every combat round could probably get a little tiring after a while, I'm sure. A consequence I hadn't considered.

[Tadhg]

I used the archer class as an NPC to play-test in a couple of my games. She is a great class and I allow it in my game and/or play it if the CK would permit.

[JohnD]

The player is a new one, and has provided an interesting backstory, including a plot hook for exactly my setting. Plus, when we spoke on TeamSpeak, he was very open to possibly having to change the character if it wasn't working out in my opinion. We're all adult-ish so fingers crossed.