Connor posted his cynicism about the gargoyle only being useful as a crafter here -
http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?p=1435697 – and while I’d say it’s pretty clear that the race does indeed make a good crafter, it seems to me like Mythic is making an attempt to bring back the “tank” mage… of sorts... though I haven’t quite figure out just how yet.
The "tank mage" (from what I can tell) seem to have gone by the way side and it seems like there may be some potentials with the Gargoyle to bring that back. I’m not seeing a lot of positive energy towards them yet, but I suspect not all the combinations have yet been tried. Take the “Sampire” template as a prime example. It took some time before folks figure that one out.
The largest issue I’m seeing is certainly the lack of artifact usage. Most of the "big boys" abusing (or is that using) the game mechanics of UO now are doing so via an extravagant collection of artifacts. If you can't find them on your servers, you know what site(s) to use to get them there. That's the reality of being UBER and the Gargoyle does not have that level available to them just yet. Until then, it's regular game-play with less than peerless encounters I'd guess. Unless someone's seen/done otherwise?!?
Anyway… there’s some room for making a Throwing caster class or possibly a “tank/mystic” as both Parrying and Swords offset the penalties applied to Throwing while allowing for Melee combat to take place as well.
I’m wondering if something like this might work -
100 Throwing
120 Imbuing
100 Tactics
120 Mysticism
100 Parrying
80 Chivalry
100 Swords
Or some combination there-in. Obviously skills such as Focus and Anatomy have some appeal, and we can’t rely too heavily on radical jewelry or “suits” to buff an 8th skill up to where it would be useful. It’s certainly a tough challenge, but I’d be curious to hear more.
Eventually, I’ll post my own findings but I haven’t even GM’d Throwing yet so I can’t mix and match skills just yet. Personally, I’d love to see this template without Chivalry as I have too many damn toons with that already and I certainly don’t wanna make another accursed “mule!” … Gargoyle or no!