Remus Lupin
Adventurer
When I rolled up my 1st Level Elven Wizard for a Forgotten Realms campaign two years ago, I didn't really think of him as epitomizing the Wizard/Warrior archetype. But when I realized that he was an Armor Class king, I decided to give him levels in fighter and work toward the Bladesinger PrC.
At the time, I was working from the Tome & Blood version of the Bladesinger, which was quite a nice PrC, once you located the corrected version on Wotc's website. I liked that PrC for two basic reasons: Applying your Int modifier to your AC (which helped my AC king become that much harder to hit), and Song of Celerity, which allows you to cast a bladesinger spell every round as a free action.
So, when Races of Ferune came out, I turned to the appendix to check out their new version of the Bladesinger. It was even better. Not only did it allow you to specialize in either longsword or rapier, it made song of celerity even more powerful, since it allowed you to cast any one-action spell as a free action per round, not just Bladesinger Spells.
Now, with Complete Warrior, they have a new version of the Bladesinger. At first, I thought it was a real improvment over the earlier versions, because instead of adding a seperate spell list, it added +1 caster level every other level. But upon further examination, I realized that this new version made the Bladesinger weaker in three important regards:
First, Bladesong Style no longer added your intelligence modifier to your AC, but instead, added +1 to your AC/level up to your Int. Modifier. Thus, my 20 Int elf doesn't get +5 to his AC until 5th level.
Second, Song of Celerity is radically altered, so that it is no longer one spell/round as a free action, but only one spell/day as a free action. It can either be up to a 2nd or up to a 4th level spell, depending on your level, but it's radically weaker than before.
Third, and finally, by making the spellcasting ability +1/caster level lever other level, it changes my Bladsinger, whose independent spell list was quite powerful, into, essentially, a 5th level wizard, with access to only 3rd level spells. Now, on the one hand, that gives him more diversity of spells to cast, but on the other hand, it detracts from his very specialized role as combat caster.
So, here's my question: What do people think about this? Was the Bladesinger, in either its T&B or its RoF incarnation, really too powerful? Does the new incarnation make it too weak? I'd love to get feedback. In addition, how do you handle it when you've got three versions of the same prestige class floating around in official Wotc books?
At the time, I was working from the Tome & Blood version of the Bladesinger, which was quite a nice PrC, once you located the corrected version on Wotc's website. I liked that PrC for two basic reasons: Applying your Int modifier to your AC (which helped my AC king become that much harder to hit), and Song of Celerity, which allows you to cast a bladesinger spell every round as a free action.
So, when Races of Ferune came out, I turned to the appendix to check out their new version of the Bladesinger. It was even better. Not only did it allow you to specialize in either longsword or rapier, it made song of celerity even more powerful, since it allowed you to cast any one-action spell as a free action per round, not just Bladesinger Spells.
Now, with Complete Warrior, they have a new version of the Bladesinger. At first, I thought it was a real improvment over the earlier versions, because instead of adding a seperate spell list, it added +1 caster level every other level. But upon further examination, I realized that this new version made the Bladesinger weaker in three important regards:
First, Bladesong Style no longer added your intelligence modifier to your AC, but instead, added +1 to your AC/level up to your Int. Modifier. Thus, my 20 Int elf doesn't get +5 to his AC until 5th level.
Second, Song of Celerity is radically altered, so that it is no longer one spell/round as a free action, but only one spell/day as a free action. It can either be up to a 2nd or up to a 4th level spell, depending on your level, but it's radically weaker than before.
Third, and finally, by making the spellcasting ability +1/caster level lever other level, it changes my Bladsinger, whose independent spell list was quite powerful, into, essentially, a 5th level wizard, with access to only 3rd level spells. Now, on the one hand, that gives him more diversity of spells to cast, but on the other hand, it detracts from his very specialized role as combat caster.
So, here's my question: What do people think about this? Was the Bladesinger, in either its T&B or its RoF incarnation, really too powerful? Does the new incarnation make it too weak? I'd love to get feedback. In addition, how do you handle it when you've got three versions of the same prestige class floating around in official Wotc books?