Choosing your class based on lore/class fantasy.

Hysorn · February 2019

Hello everyone!
So... I am struggling a fair bit to choose my class in this game, well, I usually do in every RPG I play, but with Elder Scrolls is different... So, I have a undying love for the Ranger and Mage archetype, however, I just can't for the life of me decide on which I want to go. In the singleplayer TES games you can choose to ignore faction questlines that you don't belong, such as a Mage ignoring the fighters guild or a Warrior ignoring the mages guild, but in ESO, this isn't exactly the case, I hope I am not the only one that feels weird doing the mages guild with a guy in full leather armor and dual wielding and everyone around him says that he is a promising mage... I know this sound stupid, but its just so though to me, I always have to choose based on lore and aesthetics rather than gameplay, I love RP and this ends up being both my blessing and curse if that makes any sense, so, for those of you that chose based on lore rather than gameplay, would you mind telling me what made you choose your class? Thanks!
EDIT: Forgot to add, but my reasoning for liking both archetypes.
-Mages: I absolutely love how magic works, in almost any RPG universe, if I were a character in one of those universes, studying the lore, cosmos, etc would be so intriguing, I would love it! Besides, only mages can unlock the secret for immortality without undeath.

-Ranger: Aragorn was my hero when I was younger, I absolutely loved him, every time I would play outside, I would pick a piece of would and a bow my father had made for me and just pretend to be Aragorn all day long, I love bows, I love swords, it fits perfectly, besides, a quiet cabin in the woods would be a dream coming true.

TL;DR: Unsure what to pick due to aesthetics and lore, I would love to hear your reasoning to pick your class and how you molded your character.

bluebird · February 2019

Hysorn wrote: »

So, I have a undying love for the Ranger and Mage archetype, however, I just can't for the life of me decide on which I want to go. In the singleplayer TES games you can choose to ignore faction questlines that you don't belong, such as a Mage ignoring the fighters guild or a Warrior ignoring the mages guild, but in ESO, this isn't exactly the case, I hope I am not the only one that feels weird doing the mages guild with a guy in full leather armor and dual wielding and everyone around him says that he is a promising mage...

Hi there

You can ignore the faction and guild storylines in ESO too, you don't have to do any of them if you don't want to. You can RP a raw recruit who hunted the beasts around his home a bit, then join cyrodill and never do any guild or alliance questlines.

The only thing the Mages Guild gives you is a skill line which is useless for Stamina characters anyway (you can read the questline or watch a playthrough of it online, and the potential skillpoints can be gotten from other sources), on most of my Stamina characters I don't bother with the Mages Guild at all (I do usually join both guilds just for the Intimidate/Persuade option for quests). Same with the Fighters Guild, your mage-type character won't really get any benefit by joining and doing the quests. So don't feel like you have to do it

If you're interested in aesthetics and lore, I'd make a Mage character, there is a lot more variety and lore-related spells. You can also join the Mages Guild and the Psijic Order which makes it more varied than just a fighter type. If you want a mage character, Sorcerers embody Conjuration and Destruction, Dragonknights Destruction and Alteration, Wardens Conjuration and Restoration, Templars Restoration and Destruction, and Nightblades Illusion and Shadow Magic. You'll have to decide which one fits your personal RP needs most.

That said, why not both

There are only 50 levels in the game, Stamina and Magicka morphs and weapons provide a different experience, you can do different guilds without feeling like you're acting against your characters specialization (Fighters, Thieves, Dark Brotherhood on one, Mages and Psijic on the other). For an Aragorn-type ranger I'd suggest a Nightblade (sneaky and blade-based) or a Warden (nature and animal companion based), or possibly a Dragonknight (poison-based). You can customize your characters in a lot of ways, especially if you're interested in RP instead of min-maxing.

There's also the Undaunted (a group of dungeon-delving adventurers), Alliance War skills, and Vampire or Werewolf to consider, or see if you'd like them or would like to RP as them. That said, only you know what you'll enjoy most, but if I had t pick one I'd say Mage characters have the most lore, and Sorc is pretty standard on that front. But I could never play just one character myself, and one of the reasons I have several alts is that it is indeed hard to choose from all these options in Tamriel

In any case, I hope you'll enjoy your adventures in Tamriel and find your path!

Hysorn · February 2019

Thank you very much for taking your time to answer this!

My first character is indeed a breton magicka based sorcerer, it seemed fitting at the time, he is at level 30, that's when I stopped playing, my warden is currently at level 17, I am liking the aesthetics of the warden, however, I've noticed that I barely use any skills from my skilllines, I of course let them on my bars so they level up, but still, I mostly use the bow skill line or dual wield.

As for RP, I've noticed the schools of magic being divided between classes, in previous Elder Scrolls games I would usually use a combination of Alteration for protection, Destruction for damage and Conjuration for a bit of both, with that said, I dunno really where my preference lies in, like I said, the capabilities of a mage in the lore are breath-taking, I mean, Shalidor even manage to fight off hordes of dwemer or even Mannimarco's lich powers. But on the other side, a warrior or a rogue killing these legendary enemies is way cooler than a mage, at least for me so I get stuck in this thing where one factor weights the other...

bluebird · February 2019

Sounds awesome, hope you're going to enjoy your sorc and your warden!

And yes, stamina specs use weapon abilities a lot more than their class skills. Warden though does have a few useful ones, but I'm not sure how much a summoned netch that buffs you would fit into your ranger fantasy

Ajaxandriel · February 2019

Remember, one should not oppose "gameplay" and "roleplay" the way the mainsteam do.

The gameplay is possibilty.

The roleplay is choice within.

So, for those who want to discovery every single part of the game while keeping the roleplay path: rerolling is the only way.

Robo_Hobo · February 2019

It does feel a little weird, yeah, but in ESO the guilds are a little more open-ended. The Fighter's Guild isn't restricted to warriors and is more about mercenaries, and in this time period, of course, daedra-slayers. The Mage's Guild is still pretty mage-centric, but you can kind of stretch it to be that your character is only interested in the lorekeeping aspect of it; being that you go out collecting lorebooks, and you're just helping them get back the island, something even a warrior could agree to do, as long as they're a helpful person who isn't anti-magic-users.

Or you could just not do the mage's guild questline on warriors too without missing out on much, except for the persuasive passive - but you could just quickly join it but not do any quests, in which case you could say your character is associated with the mage's guild but not an active member.

Thieves guild and Dark Brotherhood, well, there's no real way around doing them without messing up RP badly if your character isn't a thief/assassin in those cases lol, I always avoid doing them on my non-thief/assassin characters, any time I've tried to do them on some that aren't, it usually ends up in me deleting the character sometime after cause it breaks them too much for me.

Cundu_Ertur · February 2019

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

wedgebert · February 2019

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

To go one further, unless your idea of lore based cat fantasy is "I want to play a cat person, dark skinned elf, pale human, etc", your race doesn't matter at all. Since lore means nothing, we could have spelling slinging nords and orcs fighting alongside their sword wielding Breton friends, all being healed by redguards while the atlmer use their impressive health reserves to tank all in the near future.

You know, for diversity.

ebls_BR · March 2019

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

I don't know who did spread this misinformation (certainly did not play all TES games...), but Bosmer are always characterized by being agile, nimble, and described as the best archers in Tamriel. That is their main attribute and not being a furtive and stealth race, though in some games (not always), they had bonus in stealth. Also, having a better stealth detection radius (what they have now) favor steal and thievery, if you want to justify the right of the theft.
In TES games the most proeminent race in the art of the thief was and is always the Khajiit and they always were described as such in other games.

Lol, people really need to stop complaining and play other TES games.

wedgebert · March 2019

ebls_BR wrote: »

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

I don't know who did spread this misinformation (certainly did not play all TES games...), but Bosmer are always characterized by being agile, nimble, and described as the best archers in Tamriel. That is their main attribute and not being a furtive and stealth race, though in some games (not always), they had bonus in stealth. Also, having a better stealth detection radius (what they have now) favor steal and thievery, if you want to justify the right of the theft.
In TES games the most proeminent race in the art of the thief was and is always the Khajiit and they always were described as such in other games.

Lol, people really need to stop complaining and play other TES games.

Bomser have always been described as archers and thieves. Not just archers, but thieves as well. They always had some sort of stealth bonus, usually the best until Skyrim where Khajiit skills were trimmed down and since each race only had one major bonus, Bosmer got bows and Khajiit had stealth.

A better stealth detection radius does not favor being a thief in any way. In game, no NPC is ever stealthed (especially not guards) so it doesn't help there at all. And in lore it makes no sense either. A race with no natural predilection for stealth but keen eyesight isn't going to develop much of a Right of the Theft because everyone would always be caught. Unless they broke into unoccupied houses (which ESO doesn't have) and then it doesn't matter how good your stealth detect is because there's no one to detect.

As to the best thief race, Khajiit make good thieves on account of their agility and acrobatics (which was what they had the highest bonuses in until Skyrim removed those stat/skills). Bosmer, while still agile (but less than Khajiit), were always better at being stealthy.

What's worse, is that in previous , it's always been the Khajiit who got bonuses to vision related things.

For whatever reason, between Bosmer and Khajiit, it's the elf race that can see better, is more agile, and always lands on its feet, not the cat race.

Xvorg · March 2019

wedgebert wrote: »

ebls_BR wrote: »

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

I don't know who did spread this misinformation (certainly did not play all TES games...), but Bosmer are always characterized by being agile, nimble, and described as the best archers in Tamriel. That is their main attribute and not being a furtive and stealth race, though in some games (not always), they had bonus in stealth. Also, having a better stealth detection radius (what they have now) favor steal and thievery, if you want to justify the right of the theft.
In TES games the most proeminent race in the art of the thief was and is always the Khajiit and they always were described as such in other games.

Lol, people really need to stop complaining and play other TES games.

Bomser have always been described as archers and thieves. Not just archers, but thieves as well. They always had some sort of stealth bonus, usually the best until Skyrim where Khajiit skills were trimmed down and since each race only had one major bonus, Bosmer got bows and Khajiit had stealth.

A better stealth detection radius does not favor being a thief in any way. In game, no NPC is ever stealthed (especially not guards) so it doesn't help there at all. And in lore it makes no sense either. A race with no natural predilection for stealth but keen eyesight isn't going to develop much of a Right of the Theft because everyone would always be caught. Unless they broke into unoccupied houses (which ESO doesn't have) and then it doesn't matter how good your stealth detect is because there's no one to detect.

As to the best thief race, Khajiit make good thieves on account of their agility and acrobatics (which was what they had the highest bonuses in until Skyrim removed those stat/skills). Bosmer, while still agile (but less than Khajiit), were always better at being stealthy.

What's worse, is that in previous , it's always been the Khajiit who got bonuses to vision related things.

For whatever reason, between Bosmer and Khajiit, it's the elf race that can see better, is more agile, and always lands on its feet, not the cat race.

Argonians have always been much better thieves than Bosmers, who in turn are much better assassins in every single TES game. It's not a big deal imho.

On the other hand Khajiits are the best thieves in all TES history

wedgebert · March 2019

Xvorg wrote: »

Argonians have always been much better thieves than Bosmers, who in turn are much better assassins in every single TES game. It's not a big deal imho.

On the other hand Khajiits are the best thieves in all TES history

Argonians? Really? They've only had any remotely thiefy stuff in Skyrim and then equal to Bosmer except for better lockpicking. That makes the case for them being better burglars (in Skyrim) but not thieves. Oblivion they only had a lockpick bonus and no stealth/pickpocket. Morrowind and before they had nothing except a snippet saying their agility could help them be good thieves. And in ESO they have nothing remotely roguish.

The only two real consistent theiving races are Bosmer and Khajiit. Khajiit have the natural cat-like stealth thing going, but nothing in their lore (that I can find) explicitly says they're masters of stealth. Just that their natural agility and talents lends them to being good thieves.

However, Bomser have multiple explicit references to their ability to hide

For example

Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st Edition/Aldmeri Dominion wrote:

For a brief time the Colovian armies used Wood Elf archers, as in the War of Rihad two years past. The Bosmer proved to be too undisciplined and prone to desertion for further use. They would sometimes walk into the shade of a single tree and vanish. Their forest-coupling skills are remarkable. The title of their most famous poem, the Meh Ayleidion, means "The One Thousand Benefits of Hiding."

That's pretty specific if you ask me. Not to mention a large part of their culture deals with thievery. Bosmer don't just fall into thievery because they're good at it, they're raised with the idea, even if they don't pursue it farther.

ebls_BR · March 2019

wedgebert wrote: »

ebls_BR wrote: »

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

I don't know who did spread this misinformation (certainly did not play all TES games...), but Bosmer are always characterized by being agile, nimble, and described as the best archers in Tamriel. That is their main attribute and not being a furtive and stealth race, though in some games (not always), they had bonus in stealth. Also, having a better stealth detection radius (what they have now) favor steal and thievery, if you want to justify the right of the theft.
In TES games the most proeminent race in the art of the thief was and is always the Khajiit and they always were described as such in other games.

Lol, people really need to stop complaining and play other TES games.

Bomser have always been described as archers and thieves. Not just archers, but thieves as well. They always had some sort of stealth bonus, usually the best until Skyrim where Khajiit skills were trimmed down and since each race only had one major bonus, Bosmer got bows and Khajiit had stealth.

A better stealth detection radius does not favor being a thief in any way. In game, no NPC is ever stealthed (especially not guards) so it doesn't help there at all. And in lore it makes no sense either. A race with no natural predilection for stealth but keen eyesight isn't going to develop much of a Right of the Theft because everyone would always be caught. Unless they broke into unoccupied houses (which ESO doesn't have) and then it doesn't matter how good your stealth detect is because there's no one to detect.

As to the best thief race, Khajiit make good thieves on account of their agility and acrobatics (which was what they had the highest bonuses in until Skyrim removed those stat/skills). Bosmer, while still agile (but less than Khajiit), were always better at being stealthy.

What's worse, is that in previous , it's always been the Khajiit who got bonuses to vision related things.

For whatever reason, between Bosmer and Khajiit, it's the elf race that can see better, is more agile, and always lands on its feet, not the cat race.

Sorry, but I strongly disagree with everything you said. Name the 3 best attributes and characteristic of every race in TES and you won't mention stealth and thievery for Bosmer (they are agile, they are the best archer in Tamriel and their connection with the nature/Valenwood Forest). Yep, thievery is an aspect of their culture, but a lot of Bosmer don't follow and they even are against it. While on Khajiit this is mandatory, a virtue, and even an aspect of their origin and mythology.

Bosmer are much more better hunters than thieves. Vision and perception is fundamental for that, and seeing more (even things hidden) is a lot more important than being undetectable. See more things, may be not favor steal in this game, but it's a good skill for a thief in a lore perspective.

Finally, did you play other TES? I've played all and I can assure, Bosmer attributes in other games didn't always maximize their skills for thievery, but were always great for hunters and archers. That is the reason I always choose class like archers, rangers, agents and witchhunters for Bosmers, instead of thiefs (for that, I use Khajiit and even Argonians). There are always simple facts that just playing the other TES you can see for your own eyes. For instance, if you want the race with highest health and encumbrance in Oblivion, you should choose Orc. The same way, if you want the best thief in TES, you must choose Khajiit; but if you want the best archer and hunter, you must choose Bosmers.

wedgebert · March 2019

I didn't play Arena or Daggerfall, but I played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skryim and in all three games Bosmer had either the highest (Morrowind and Oblivion) or Skyrim (where Khajiit lost their other skills namely acrobatics and so gained a stealth buff) where they were second for the first time. Khajiit were more known for their acrobatics than their stealth.

Until Skryim if you wanted stealth, you were never at a disadvantage going Bosmer. The Khajiit could only hope to equal them. Had the acrobatics skill not gone away, Khajiit would likely still be more known for that then stealth.

jpo · March 2019

Just check out the TES uesp website.

In Arena and Daggerfall both were known for their thieving skills and both get +10 to Agility in Daggerfall.

In Morrowind, the Bosmer get a +10 to sneak and Khajiit get +5 and both have 50 in agility.

In Oblivion both again have 50 in agility and Bosmer +10 in sneak and Khajiit +5.

Skyrim gives the Bosmer +5 to sneak and Khajiit +10 with both being described as good thieves.

Take from a that what you want...but Bosmer should be at least comparable to the Khajiit in stealth.

wedgebert · March 2019

jpo wrote: »

Just check out the TES uesp website.

In Arena and Daggerfall both were known for their thieving skills and both get +10 to Agility in Daggerfall.

In Morrowind, the Bosmer get a +10 to sneak and Khajiit get +5 and both have 50 in agility.

In Oblivion both again have 50 in agility and Bosmer +10 in sneak and Khajiit +5.

Skyrim gives the Bosmer +5 to sneak and Khajiit +10 with both being described as good thieves.

Take from a that what you want...but Bosmer should be at least comparable to the Khajiit in stealth.

What you're leaving out is that until Skyrim, Khajiit had larger bonuses to Acrobatic. I'm sure the removal of that skill and each race getting one +10 is why Bosmer were downgraded in stealth to let them still be archers while Khajiit got upped in stealth to make up for no acrobatics. (It's also why all the current Bosmer passives feel like the should belong to the Khajiit and vice versa)

What that (and other lore) tells me though, is that Bosmer are good thieves because of their natural stealthiness coupled with some agility, while Khajiit are good thieves because of their natural agility with some stealth to back it up.

Sekt_Tiberlus · March 2019

Xvorg wrote: »

wedgebert wrote: »

ebls_BR wrote: »

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

TIP: do NOT choose Bosmer if you want stealth. Despite all of the lore and Bosmer having a stealth bonus in every previous game since Morrowind, only Khajiit get that now. It may change, maybe, and probably not anytime soon; but for now the only stealthy race is Khajiit.

This improves diversity. Somehow.

I don't know who did spread this misinformation (certainly did not play all TES games...), but Bosmer are always characterized by being agile, nimble, and described as the best archers in Tamriel. That is their main attribute and not being a furtive and stealth race, though in some games (not always), they had bonus in stealth. Also, having a better stealth detection radius (what they have now) favor steal and thievery, if you want to justify the right of the theft.
In TES games the most proeminent race in the art of the thief was and is always the Khajiit and they always were described as such in other games.

Lol, people really need to stop complaining and play other TES games.

Bomser have always been described as archers and thieves. Not just archers, but thieves as well. They always had some sort of stealth bonus, usually the best until Skyrim where Khajiit skills were trimmed down and since each race only had one major bonus, Bosmer got bows and Khajiit had stealth.

A better stealth detection radius does not favor being a thief in any way. In game, no NPC is ever stealthed (especially not guards) so it doesn't help there at all. And in lore it makes no sense either. A race with no natural predilection for stealth but keen eyesight isn't going to develop much of a Right of the Theft because everyone would always be caught. Unless they broke into unoccupied houses (which ESO doesn't have) and then it doesn't matter how good your stealth detect is because there's no one to detect.

As to the best thief race, Khajiit make good thieves on account of their agility and acrobatics (which was what they had the highest bonuses in until Skyrim removed those stat/skills). Bosmer, while still agile (but less than Khajiit), were always better at being stealthy.

What's worse, is that in previous , it's always been the Khajiit who got bonuses to vision related things.

For whatever reason, between Bosmer and Khajiit, it's the elf race that can see better, is more agile, and always lands on its feet, not the cat race.

Argonians have always been much better thieves than Bosmers, who in turn are much better assassins in every single TES game. It's not a big deal imho.

On the other hand Khajiits are the best thieves in all TES history

Argonians actually well-rounded, jack-of-all-trades race. Mighty jungle warriors, rogues, nightblades, pwerfull sorcerers, battlemages - its all about them and all suits them well. But their true supremacy in their chaotic and unstructured magic. According to deep lore argonians are most gifted in magic. They are best assassins as you said, becuase you referred to shadowscales. Shadowscales are more spellcasting nightblades than regular assassins. They are chosen by Sithits and use shadow magic. They are not some cowardly thieves, they are elite, the national heroes of Black Marsh and true warriors of the Great Serpent(one of the names of Sithis).

This argue about khajiit and bosmer superioirity in sneak just silly. They are both sneaky races and both good in that. Khajiit just more advanced in acrobatics and have other feline racial gifts, including some moon magic that helps them not only in sneaky roles, but also makes them a good fighters and warriors. Also, there is no monopoly in bow using, every race have bows.

wedgebert · March 2019

Sekt_Tiberlus wrote: »

This argue about khajiit and bosmer superioirity in sneak just silly. They are both sneaky races and both good in that. Khajiit just more advanced in acrobatics and have other feline racial gifts, including some moon magic that helps them not only in sneaky roles, but also makes them a good fighters and warriors. Also, there is no monopoly in bow using, every race have bows.

They both were good at it, but now only the Khajiit have any talents that directly affect stealth.

Bosmer are known for a few things in games and lore. Their archery, their stealth, and the Green Pact (which results in them only eating meat and often times being cannibals).

In ESO they have none of that now. They have no special ability with bows (bonus XP doesn't count). Nor do they have their legendary stealth abilities (oft quoted as "disappearing in the shade of a single leaf"). The Green Pact part is really only an RP thing since there's no enforcement (and that's fine).

Most of us aren't arguing that Bosmer need to be the best stealth race, just that we be given our natural stealth back. It's been an established part of our racial identity for 25 years. Even Oblivion, the first game to have actual skill bonuses, is 13 years old.

Right now Bosmer just have a bunch of "wanna be a cat" bonuses like reduced fall damage and stealth detection (better senses, like the old Khajiit Night Eye).

You can't go into the lore about how Argonians make great assassins and then say "who cares" when it comes to Bosmer stealth. That is our lore. As the joke goes "What do you call a Bosmer that doesn't lie, cheat, and steal?" "A dead Bosmer".

Tabris93 · March 2019

I'm consccious of RP and lore while I play. My main is an Altmer Mage, and even though I have joined Fighters Guild and Undaunted (simply because it was my very first character and I was curious about all of it), I haven't progressed much in them. I have, however, played a lot of Mages Guild.

Same with my current Khajiit Thief. She was put in Summerset and set to do some job for the Queen, but she ditched that the moment she heard of the Thieves Guild. She will have no interest in the Mages Guild. She might, however, consider joining the Fighters Guild. Being a solo dual-wield in a dangerous world, she needs to improve her skills with a (two) blade(s).

worrallj · March 2019

I feel you OP. I'd recommend against the warden, even if it seems at first like what your after.

I was pretty happy with an argonian warden I made at first, he was supposed to be a nature based tree mender type, using insects & plants. A kind of "garden warden" I guess you could say. I finally got too frustrated with the fact that A) the warden is just too dependent on a few of the frost skills to be particularly good without them (which doesnt fit the "green" theme at all), and

the animal companion animations in general and netch animation in particular just didn't feel right. Neon blue ropes and so forth- it felt more like las Vegas themed spells than nature themed spells.

So I switched to a Templar, who's joined up with the stargazers in craglorn. He's very interested in cosmology/the aedra & daedra. I'm finding it more of a coherant set of spells that actually feel like the holy warrior the Templar is supposed to be. Most of the original 4 classes are a little better that way. Makes me worried about the necromancer if it's gonna be similarly flashy & schitzophrenic.