Is it just me, or are most of the new AP skills to weak to bother switching from the old stand by Ax for?

>Is it just me, or are most of the new AP skills to weak to
>bother switching from the old stand by Ax for?

Oh ye of telling me to stop:

Play an AP. Judge for yourself. Some of them are kinda interesting, some aren't. The class isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun.

With my last AP, I played with a lot of them, used crippling strike and vault in a couple PKs. I don't know about enervating spirits, seems way too limited, and lashes of the slave looks like a lot of fun too. Morosa's charge, eh... I could do without it and something cooler. I don't know too many times an anti-paladin would want a polearm in combat or why and haven't heard of a successful AP as a polearm unholy weapon wielder.

Nepenthe, show us how it's done. Be deathful with a polearm AP ;)

I think a couple of the skills are underused, but not becasue they're not good enough. Others definitely are in need of a small uptweak.

Any possibility of making it slightly easier to get charges? And by slightly easier, I mean if a person dies because of something an AP does the AP gets charges. So...bleeding from faceslash/plague/poison or whatever and the person words/teleports away and dies the AP would get a charge. This might go a long way towards reducing the tendency for APs to be bash spammers.

Additionally, you might consider tweaking iron grip in such a way that allows wielders of spears and polearms to use wands. Just give them evoke :)

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Nothing to see here.

If a victim falls to say a poison or plague by the AP, the AP gets the charge. That was my understanding 6 months ago while playing an AP. And if you think APs are just bash spammers, think again. Unless you are a fire-giant, don't.

Oh yes, I believe spears and polearms in the hands of a felar should be tweaked. I mean it's hard to see a mean looking felar AP wielding an axe.

Also was thinking of letting an AP decide which weapon to be his uber leeching weapon.

Some suggestions:
1. Polearms. Should be able to store the temporary charges from the spirits. So you can unleash them in combat. Power depends on the level of AP. Somewhat like the charge weapon. The drawback is the paladin will be more exposed to attacks, lowering AC, to hit, but high in damage.

2. Vault is good. Don't change it. Though felars and nimble races should use it more effectively than giants.

3. Faceslash needs to be tweaked. AP at higher levels can apply poison/disease on the dagger. Bleed to last longer.

4. Lashes of the Slave is very good. I've used it and very much like the strikes when successful. However I suggest lowering the mvs cost to not even losing them at all. I see it more like a bending of will of the victim than the AP being tired. Maybe the successful lashes will draw out the mana. In fact, I see the victim becoming tired more than the AP which can be part of the successful strike. Give dark-elves benefits in using them, for the weapon is so very suitable for them and role.

5. Enervating Spirits is so high up there (35 level) and the uses I find for it are so limited (unless I have been using them wrongly). I suggest since it's so high up there, make it not limited to shield holders. Also, the flail should get a small chance to 'swing' a ball beyond parry and strike the victim, maybe slowing them down a bit. Okie, maybe the slowing part is too powerful. It's way up there at 35, so there must be something more to it. Maybe if the AP is more proficient with them, give him some benefits.

Cheers.

I've got an idea mostly together to address the second. It's on The List, though in that case I don't think it's *my* list.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I blame Valg for this one!

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

No rest for the wicked!

Evoke, is in my opinion, one of the most abusable abilities ever to exist in cf.

As such, I am all for bringing it back! woot!

Faceslash is one of those skills that is underused but not underpowered. Great skill. A number of uses. Probably one for use with the offhand weapon though.

Vault is a great skill - it just has big drawbacks if you like wands (and irongrip). My ap was, I'd say, very successful with this skill.

Aura of despair is a pain in the ass. It effectively means, to me, that morosa-charge and enervating spirits are not practical (since Aura of despair has a long duration). I never really saw the benefit of ES but then, I gave up trying pretty fast because Aura of Despair caused me so many problems.

Crippling strike, in my experience, could use a higher success-rate, or at least a lower incidence of getting smacked whenever you fail.

Lashes was nice, but erratic. Thought the cost of the skill was reasonable.