noobie question

[Mek-Ra-Amon]

Hi guys. I'm a noobie on this site and fairly new to RPGs but have been a Conan fan for years. I have a question about starting out a scholar: Do they only get 1 spell at 1st level? If so, how do they make it to 2nd level without getting massacred?lol Any suggestions or answers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Trodax]

Welcome to be boards!

I have a question about starting out a scholar: Do they only get 1 spell at 1st level?

Yup, they can pick one sorcery style and get the basic spell from it, so one spell it is. They do have a couple of other magic tricks that all Scholars can use, though (Defensive Blast, War of Souls).

If so, how do they make it to 2nd level without getting massacred?

Avoid combat and always surround yourself with big, brawny friends. :wink:

At low levels, Scholar's are definitely the weakest class when it comes to surviving and killing stuff. They get tons of skills, though, to make up for it, and at higher levels I think they will start catching up (or even surpassing) the other classes when it comes to deadliness.

 

[Mek-Ra-Amon]

thanks alot! sounds a lot better now. just wanted to make sure I had it right.

 

[argo]

Hi guys. I'm a noobie on this site and fairly new to RPGs but have been a Conan fan for years. I have a question about starting out a scholar: Do they only get 1 spell at 1st level?

Yes, the basic spell from their first sorcery style.

If so, how do they make it to 2nd level without getting massacred?

Very carefully .

Here are some things scholars can do well besides cast spells:
-craft and use alchemical/herbal items. Lots of versatility to be found here, unlike dnd alchemy is a major focus for Conan scholars, many of the famous effects of scholars from the Conan stories is really just a matter of them having some wierd alchemical mixture rather than a spell. (note: poision making also falls under craft-herbalism)
-Rule of the Sorcer's Soul + War of the Souls = anti-sorcorer lockdown specalist. You are the guy in the party who can stop the enemy magic-user dead in his tracks while the warrior-types deal with the henchmen. Just be careful you don't pick on someone who is three times your power level.
-skill monkey. Scholars get some great skills and on top of what the class gives you remember that bonus skill points from a high Int can be spent on any skill at class-skill cost. You can easily be the party "faceman" with a good charisma or a thief-light able to defeat locks and traps.
-you will know stuff, a lot of stuff. You should be making knolwedge checks and Knolwedge is Power checks all the time (right up to the limit of your GM's patience). Then leverage that knolwedge to make yourself usefull in the party. Be the guy everyone else comes to for answers.
-medic. Between the heal skill and craft [herbalism] you will keep everybody else on their feet. Your party will be a lot more forgiving of your decision to run and hide when the fighting begins if it means you are around to stop their bleeding after the fighting is done
-and don't forget, you have a 3/4 BAB. If you really have nothing better to do you can always grab a bow and chuck a few arrows from the back ranks. And in the event that you actually kill something don't forget about the Rule of Success either.

As for Defensive Blast. That is your tactict of last resort. Treat it as such.


Of course a low-level scholar can't be good at all these things right away. Pick a few of them and focus on them as you grow.

Hope that helps.

 

[Bregales]

Hi welcome on the boards.

IMHO, Scholars start as the weakest character class, and by the time you hit 10th or 11th level they're the most powerful class. They take more thought and preparation than other classes I think.

I'll post some links to other threads/discussions with various info and/or experiences with Scholars. If you see something in the list below in red, move your mouse to it and click it, it will open up the discussion in a window to peruse.

• Thoughts On The Scholar Class - This may be a good place to start
• making a sorceror - Take a look here, someone else asked your question
• How Do You Play Your Sorcerors ...? - Kinda the question you asked, might be worth reading now
• Scholar Help Thread. - This one should be seen, or replied to, more often?
• Scholar sorcery styles and feats - Not a listing of them (see List of Official Spells, below) but may help any uncertainties about the characters.
• Big List of Official Spells - basically what it says, it lists the spells available in the different Conan game books Mongoose has released, pretty much listed under each school of sorccery.
• What are some inventive uses of spells? - This may be good to get the imagination going on that new Scholar character... how to use his spell ability....
• Questions for Mongoose: Spell Prerequisites - Scholars raise more questions than most classes because of spells, their availability, and questions about the rules with spells. Take the questions and responses in this thread, for example....
• Independant Scholars - may help (or may not:lol: ) figure out taking the Independ Scholar path as opposed to studying under a master or pact of sorcerers (odds of learning from a demon as a 1st level guy, well....)
• Post your Scholars, please. - see what sorcerers others have made up
• Scholar Combat Tactics... - since combat is a major factor to this game, this may be worth looking at.
• Sorcery in Combat; Your thoughts on effective methods - several good suggestions here
• Rule of Success (Scholar) - if you drop (kill) an opponent, you temporarily get a bonus to do something....
• DC's for Corruption saves? - Corruption is Fate tempting your scholar by twisting your soul and body for daring to work the evil, dark magics for your own purposes. Every Scholar who uses sorcery, any character in the game for that matter may have to make a saving throw vs. Corruption at some point or other. Which Scholars, its a matter of when & how often, not if....:twisted:
• Corruption DC's? - another thread on the same thing.
• Rule of Obsession ??? - another hazard of the Scholar class.
• Rule of Defense (Sorcery) - This thread talks about the Defensive Blast ability already mentioned to your intial query.
• Defensive Blast - another thread w/ Q&A regarding Defensive Blast ability
• Defensive Blast: Fix Consensus Discussion - This thread may be a little overwhelming, but you'll learn more about how the Defensive Blast ability works, and complaints and fixes, or praises for it's game-play.
• Encouraging a player NOT to play a sorceror... - read and see what you think.

Okay, all I did was click the Search button at top of screen in forum, type in scholar, and I got hundreds of hits. I tried entering ones I thought you'd want as a starter, but I'm going to bed now and am stopping here.

Hope this helps.

 

[geordiekimbo]

Cracking post there Bregales

 

[Voltumna]

-Rule of the Sorcer's Soul + War of the Souls = anti-sorcorer lockdown specalist. You are the guy in the party who can stop the enemy magic-user dead in his tracks while the warrior-types deal with the henchmen. Just be careful you don't pick on someone who is three times your power level.

for this one, if you have entrance (basic hypnotism) you get a bonus to your opposed check. and if you have any advanced hypnotism spell you get another bonus. this is pretty neat as you can neutralize things like other sorcerers, demons and magical creatures. of course as argo notes: be very careful. there is another feat from scrolls of skelos which will give you another advantange for an evil eye range supernatural ability, hence war-of-souls. i don't remember the name right now. that one has steely gaze as a prereq, which lets you make an intimidation check as a a free action, which if successful gives you still another advantage. i don't remember what the prerequisites for steely gaze are, might not be available until later, but that and menacing aura could be good feats for a sorcerer, as they could lower saves from opponents.

 

[Voltumna]

Bregales, that is a very good compilation of threads. Could add threads about Sorcerers of the Scarlet Circle, and also this thread as it compiles the others, I mean for reference in the list.

 

[René]

Which brings me to the idea that the admin of this forum could mark some threads as important. It would help not only newbies, but even the veterans to find specific threads again. I saw this on some computer game forum and it proved VERY helpful. So please give a thought, Mongoose!

 

[Bregales]

I did a search for scholars in the Conan forum and came up with almost 400 hits. I quickly scanned through them and posted those that seemed to have some relevance regarding the noobie questions that might come up, but quit around midnight. I can try to edit it to add more at some point (I was specifically looking for one from when our sorcerer started making the other guys nervous, but hadn't gotten to it).