>My sole saving grace is I get hit less often than he does even
>with a worse AC because I dodge more, even though our dodge skill
>is only 5 points different. Now if they gave wood elves a defense
>bonus to compensate for the low hit points maybe it would even out,
>but right now I can't do enough more damage, even with dual wield,
>to account for his greater hit points.

Ugh... is this conversation still going on? I tried to duel a few
druids and shamans last night, and I said, oh and you cannot use
any spells... pure melee. No one accepted. Thus showing how badly
they would get whupped.

At level 19, high dual wield, and mostly bronze armor, my AC was
over 500... There is nothing that cleric can wear that you cant.
This isn't an armor issue, you both can wear the same armor.
This isn't about dodge because as I recall clerics have close
to the same dodge as us. This isn't about defense because they
have about the same defense too. You hp is extremely similar,
you may have a little lower hp, but not more than 10% difference.

What this all boils down to is the Bard's ability to effectively
wield two fast medium power slashing/piercing weapons. Clerics
have no recourse in weapons, other than high dmg -or- high delay.
Maybe this isn't as clear in the first 20 levels, but as I get
close to level 40, my melee is counting more and more, as I almost
always dual wield, and average about 20 - 25 total dmg per round.
That's nothing compared to a paladin or ranger, our other 'hybrid'
brothers, who can do up around avg 40 - 60 total dmg per round.

With similar AC, hp, defense, dodge... and much much better melee
skills and dual wield, I don't understand why this conversation
continues =) In fact it's becoming pointless. We usually fight
monsters, not other druids/shaman/clerics. <g>

Harmonic Distortion, 37th unchained melody.
League of Antonican Bards, The Wind Spirit's Song
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