Checking : Favored soul's spell DC is based off wis?

[Tetujin]

Favored Souls also have three good saves and a much bigger hit die then Sorcs, better skills as well if I recall.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Nonetheless, it's very hard to balance a class using MAD.

Sure, it has more powerful features than the sorc, and it's easy to measure how much more powerful those features are, but it's not easy to measure how much power was lost by splitting the spells/DC stat. (Worst case example was 3.0 psionics. Generally MAD made things worse, but physical stat-based save DCs were busted when it came to polymorphing, Psychofeedback, and other terrible powers.)

 

[Sejs]

Sorcs have their DC based on cha as well. Why do favored souls/spirit shamans need split attribute dependancies?

*shrug* Because they were designed that way. You'd have to ask the devs themselves for the honest reason.


My best guess was they were trying something new, and it ultimatly didn't pan out so it wasn't largely continued in subsequent classes.

 

[Hussar]

Dunno about that. Shadowcasters are split as well and that's pretty recent.

I think there's a bit of a tendency to realize that splitting dependencies makes for less dump stats. Just an opinion of course.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

Nonetheless, it's very hard to balance a class using MAD.

You mean like clerics, who need a good Charisma to turn undead effectively?

There are six stats in this game, but you'd think sometimes that there was a god-given right to have five dump stats, to hear people tell it.

And if that sounds hostile, well, yeah, it's an attitute towards which I am hostile. I don't think it's a good thing.

 

[Joshua Randall]

But look at the poor favored soul: he's expected to fight, so he needs decent Str and Con. He has to have good Wis and Cha. And some non-negative Dex wouldn't hurt.

There are plenty of dwarven clerics running around with low Cha -- they couldn't care less about Turn Undead (except to fuel Divine Feats, which oh, by the way, the favored soul can't use).

The favored soul is a lot like the paladin in terms of ability dependency. (Pal needs Wis 14 to cast all his spells, but also needs high Cha.)

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

You mean like clerics, who need a good Charisma to turn undead effectively?

There are six stats in this game, but you'd think sometimes that there was a god-given right to have five dump stats, to hear people tell it.

And if that sounds hostile, well, yeah, it's an attitute towards which I am hostile. I don't think it's a good thing.

Turn undead is a lame ability no matter how good your Charisma score is.

Furthermore, since clerics only "need" one high score, you can decide what to do with the other stats. You can go heavy, archer, social, or whatever, and not gimp your primary class feature.

 

[frankthedm]

There are six stats in this game, but you'd think sometimes that there was a god-given right to have five dump stats, to hear people tell it.

And if that sounds hostile, well, yeah, it's an attitute towards which I am hostile. I don't think it's a good thing.

I agree.

Whywisdom for FS DCs?The FS need the force of personality to be liked and favored by his deity with his spell alotment [CHA], but like any other mortal, the use of the divine magic must come from wisdom. Makes sense to me.

I also feel that the Favored Soul is a class that should require solid stats across the board. By taking this class the player makes the presumption the character is special enough to be favored by a God and few gods would favor a flawed being[being with a nasty dump-stat]. Similar reason why I agreed with Knowledge: Religion not being on the FS skill list; You are your Deity’s Favored Soul. That Being does not desire you to know the other god that well.

 

[ForceUser]

Sorcs have their DC based on cha as well. Why do favored souls/spirit shamans need split attribute dependancies?

It seems pretty clear to me that in the case of favored souls, the idea was to create a character who's either good at offense, or good at defense, but not good at both. If you choose Cha as your higher stat, you get bonus spells, but your attack DCs are low, so you use your spells more for buffing and healing. If you choose Wis, your DCs are higher and you can nuke, but you get fewer spells per day.

For the most part, I see the favored soul, with his weapon focus and specialization, as an attempt to create a single-classed self-buffing warrior who can function as backup healer if need be.

 

[ForceUser]

Turn undead is a lame ability no matter how good your Charisma score is.

Oh, I don't agree. I've seen characters use it to great effect on a continual basis over the course of multiple campaigns. It's highly valued around here.