Comp 229

[Diego Gonzalez]

Big weapon, big shield, rings of reckless attack, elemental rings for activation, dragon armor, wands. I used that for my blackguard. Lots of phase door scrolls, CCW, staves of teleportation, magic maping. These are all vital tools. I really like how the classes in 4.2 can be played in many ways. The shapeshifts by example...

[Pete Mack]

But the race is *Dunadan*. That is usually easy to play, except for the lack of infravision. If Dunadan Blackguard is difficult, then the whole class is a bit out of balance.

Originally Posted by Ingwe Ingweron

No more difficult than some of the class/race combos we've had in these recent comps.

[malcontent]

Originally Posted by wobbly

So starting to itch a little to give some ...ah constructive criticism. But maybe I'll just start with the core question. Are people finding the early game on a blackguard to be fun?

Fun is not the word I would use. I feel like I'm playing a handicapped warrior. I'm at level 30 or so and the only spells I can cast reliably are basically bless, berserk strength, and scare monsters. There are not potions/devices that I usually equip much as a warrior. I will admit that forcing myself to evaluate these spells led to a face palm realization that berserk strength is a great cure for fear.

[Sphara]

I specifically asked Gwarl in angband.live to make Blackguard's competition race Dunadan because it is the hardest class to start.

Just like malcontent said, a weaker version of a warrior, that also has miserable stealth. It is very close to an early game for a Paladin. Blackguard does a little better damage than Paladin but quickly falls behind on several cases.
1) Paladin gets pretty early healing spell, Blackguards spells become relevant much later. And none of it's spells can match Minor Healing
2) Blackguard has that goddamn impaired regeneration
3) Paladin gets to take advantage of light weapons several attacks where Blackguard does not.

It's not 'harder than hard' challenge race, as it does even out IF you make it to stat gains. But only thing that I felt being weaker than Blackguard start was a Ranger that starts without a launcher.

[wobbly]

My experience was similar to malcontent's. I deliberately asked about fun rather then hard because hard can still be fun (or not) & any class can shoot or device blast its way into statgain. Playing a handicapped warrior is not something I enjoy much, whether I can get through it with tricks or not.

Warrior's game goes: light weapon, statgain, heavier weapon. Blackguard's game had the 1st part of that lopped off & I'm not sure what it has in its place. I actually support the idea of a heavy weapon warrior class, but just making light weapons bad doesn't exactly achieve that, in my opinion.

[DavidMedley]

At the risk of repeating myself, I also find Blackguard very boring. There's not much to keep your interest for quite a while. The stated levels that spells become available are incredibly optimistic. Even when you can cast Dark Focus (bless) it's very underwhelming compared to the priest/paladin version because of the cost (5 vs 2). In the mid or late 20s I could cast Poison Brand and that's been kinda fun since my main two weapons don't have much slay/brand.

Class definitely needs something signature for the first 20-30 levels.

[Pete Mack]

Poison brand spell is very powerful--one of the most powerful in the game-- but it is a looong time in coming. There is a painful dry spell up to that point. The class is a lot like ranger in this regard.

[DavidMedley]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

The class is a lot like ranger in this regard

I don't see it. At least the Ranger is "the shooty guy" the whole way through. In fact, Rangers start with more (melee+shoot) skill than any class. What's the Blackguard's identity for 25 levels? "The no healy guy?"

[Diego Gonzalez]

I think blackguard is a little harder, but the bloodlust spell is kind of adictive

[wobbly]

Ok reached the fun part. So they have 2 massive power spikes, one where you get through stat-gain & get actual blows & another when book 2 comes on-line.