class idea: "Nature's Conduit," a Constitution-based divine magic user

[runtime]

Another way to do a con based spellcaster would be to inflict subdual damage on themselves when they cast a spell

clever! I like that idea a lot. You (or your character) would have to be a masochist to play a class like that. Spellcasting would literally drain your character's life force. That's an interesting idea for a new spell: imagine a Cure Wounds-like spell that just transferred some of the caster's HP to the healed character.

Thanks for all the feedback. I will definitely incorporate some of these ideas in my class soon.

btw, does anyone have any suggestions for a better name for the class? "Nature's Conduit" is a bit silly and I've only been using it as a placeholder name. I saw that someone else on EN World had created a class called "Channeler", which has similar ideas to my class.

 

[Lord Wyrm]

Try increasing the skill selection and skill points a bit. Might help flavoring wise and balance out a non-combat role.

How about something like the "Sanguine Catalyst" for a name.

 

[DamionW]

...or you could split up the spell casting between two abilities like the favored soul. Number of spells known based on con, DC's based on cha, or something.

I am working on an elemental cleric that channels divine energy from the Inner Planes. I was thinking of doing a split between Wis for bonus spells and Con for DCs. My concept is that he needs Wis to interpret how to form the magical effects, and Con to determine how much energy he can channel from the Elemental Lords through his mortal body.

I especially see Con as a DC stat for channeling type of magic. Cha for spontaneous casting makes sense when you have a magical force around you that you are trying to impress your will on. Con assumes the force is going through your body and you need to have stamina to endure the rigors of it. Anyone else see it that way?

 

[runtime]

I am working on an elemental cleric that channels divine energy from the Inner Planes. I was thinking of doing a split between Wis for bonus spells and Con for DCs. My concept is that he needs Wis to interpret how to form the magical effects, and Con to determine how much energy he can channel from the Elemental Lords through his mortal body.

I especially see Con as a DC stat for channeling type of magic. Cha for spontaneous casting makes sense when you have a magical force aro.nd you that you are trying to impress your will on. Con assumes the force is going through your body and you need to have stamina to endure the rigors of it. Anyone else see it that way?

I like your idea to use Wis for bonus spells and Con for DCs. Will your elemental cleric be able to cast spontaneously optionally? I could imagine preparing some spells, but being able to optionally cast spontaneously an unprepared spell using Con and/or taking some penalty?

 

[DamionW]

I like your idea to use Wis for bonus spells and Con for DCs. Will your elemental cleric be able to cast spontaneously optionally? I could imagine preparing some spells, but being able to optionally cast spontaneously an unprepared spell using Con and/or taking some penalty?

Not sure yet. The end goal I'm trying to aim for is closer to the elemental clerics from Dark Sun. Not sure how I want to set that up though.

 

[Arkhandus]

I see no problem with the Nature's Conduit as-is. If they don't have good or decent Str and Dex scores, they'll be almost worthless in combat for lack of being able to hit stuff, deal damage, and avoid attacks. With their spells, and their limited proficiency restrictions, they can't do too much in combat without good Str or Dex. They don't have the special abilities or animal companions of a druid, nor do they have the turning/rebuking ability of a cleric, or the domain granted powers of a cleric. They don't have the variety of spell utility and blasting that a druid or cleric would have, so they rely on melee attacks and simple ranged weapons (crossbows, darts, javelins, and slings, pretty much). They don't rely on Constitution much more than a cleric or druid relies on Wisdom, or than a wizard relies on Intelligence. A Wizard can use his or her variety of spells to circumvent a low Str, Dex, or Con (though not perfect, they can still make up for it moderately well). A cleric doesn't need turning/rebuking to be powerful, they're already the most potent class, so they don't really rely on Charisma.

From the description, I assume that the Nature's Conduit knows all spells on his or her spell list, just like a druid does. I just don't know if his spell list simply consists of all (touch and personal range) spells from the cleric and druid lists or whatever.

 

[scottin]

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Nature's Conduits are proficient with all simple weapons.

Nature's Conduits are proficient with light and medium armor but are prohibited from wearing metal armor; thus, they may wear only padded, leather, or hide armor. (A Nature's Conduit may also wear wooden armor that has been altered by the ironwood spell so that it functions as though it were steel. See the ironwood spell description). Nature's Conduits are proficient with shields (except tower shields) but must use only wooden ones.

A Nature's Conduit who wears prohibited armor or carries a prohibited shield is unable to cast spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so.

Maybe someone can answer these questions for me.
1) How come the char (or druid) is prohibitted from using metal armor is CAN use metal weapons?

2) Seems to me that a char that respects nature would rather NOT wear leather or hide armor (made from the hide of an animal) and would prefer metal.

 

[Thia Halmades]

Scottin: It's an inconsistency. My DMO says "No metal, period." Wooden shields, leather or hide armor, but they also get bows. My Druids aren't tree hugging hippies, they're pretty violent defenders. That's me, though, I never agreed with it either.

Second, on the surface, yes, that's what you argue. But to smelt metal you need to do all sorts of things that damage the environment. Trees fall naturally, and their wood can be shaped. Druids need to eat, and mine have no prohibition against hunting; they use everything from the animals they kill. The purpose of Druids is to defend the forest against dangerous intruders, people hunting purely for sport, and enemy spirits. So my Druids aren't canon under RAW.

To make metal you have to remove trees, dig tunnels, bring up ore, build a forge (more metal) and set that forge up to start polluting the air. Nice. So yeah, metal is a no-no.

On Nature's Conduits:

I like the name for the class, actually. Some questions that were raised I had thoughts on were:

- Are they overpowered/underpowered? Well, a lot of Divine magic is touch based, so they're getting quite a large stack of spells. They definately don't need a larger list, so restricting them by forcing them to choose Spells Known is actually really good, because without that they'd be kind of crazy.

- Agreed, the Con leans towards making that the primary stat, then getting phat HPz and a boost to their FORT save, in addition to casting anything; it's too easy, if you feel me. There's no question, it's win/win. Too tempting. I agree; Wis should determine Spells Known and maximum casting ability, CON should determine how hard those spells are to save against.

- I would make an argument for Fort & Will to both be good; yes, they are getting a massive bonus from their CON scores, but it makes sense for the class. Monks get all good saves and they need all sorts of stats. I'll likely get overruled on that one as being overpowered, but that's JMHO.

- Animal/Spirit companion?

I don't think they'd need a lot of extra abilities (as Druids & Monks get). They'll be buffing and casting Flame Blade all day long. You might consider granting them a domain at 8th & 16th (to continue progression in the class) and those domains must come from Earth/Water/etc. - Natural typed domains. DamionW's threads also deal with ideas similar to this, so check out his Water Paladin and Air Ranger builds, which are excellent.

All in all, good flavor, good core concept, needs a bit more polishing in terms of an exact spell list and to give them a reason to advance, but a good start.