A few silly questions about the Favored Soul.

[Terath Ninir]

And there I thought most people would rate the FS on the powerful side already.

Yes, but most people have been smoking too much crack. Vastly reduced spell list and no turn undead = weaker class.

 

[Greylock]

Yep.

I was considering playing a FS in a new campaign. Main reasons had to do with flavor, and the fact that in all my years playing DnD, I've never played a caster. Thought it would make things a bit easier, being a spontaneous caster with limited spells.

But, seeing what a FS misses out on kinda ruined some of the flavor ideas. NO domains? Kinda harsh. One would be nice. No swapping for Cures? So much for those extra spell slots. No turning? Forget about half the interesting Cleric options out there. I can live with the latter, but taking all three for spontaneous casting? Meh.

I was looking for simplicity, but the FS doesn't stand up. Makes me wonder how the Sorcerer would have fared if it weren't core.

 

[Victim]

Yep.

I was considering playing a FS in a new campaign. Main reasons had to do with flavor, and the fact that in all my years playing DnD, I've never played a caster. Thought it would make things a bit easier, being a spontaneous caster with limited spells.

But, seeing what a FS misses out on kinda ruined some of the flavor ideas. NO domains? Kinda harsh. One would be nice. No swapping for Cures? So much for those extra spell slots. No turning? Forget about half the interesting Cleric options out there. I can live with the latter, but taking all three for spontaneous casting? Meh.

I was looking for simplicity, but the FS doesn't stand up. Makes me wonder how the Sorcerer would have fared if it weren't core.

Probably about as well. One major factor is that both wizards and sorcerers can only cast spells from a limited subset of the wizard/sorcerer spell list, while the cleric has access to the entire spell list. If a wizard needs an obscure spell that he's never needed before, he probably doesn't have it. He has to go find a scroll of it, buy it, and then either use it or spend the time and money to scribe it so he can cast it. For a sorcerer, the process is the same up until the final step. In the short term, they aren't much different. In the long term, the wizard has the improved versatility, but less money.

On the other hand, when the cleric needs some crazy spell, he just preps it. Nothing really keeps a cleric from preparing radically different spell lists all the time. Also, there's no monetary handicap for his spell access, unlike the wizard. So the Favored Soul's limited spell knowledge is a much greater blow in comparison.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I think there's a feat somewhere (probably in that book) that allows a character who cannot normally spontaniously convert spells into cure to do so. Which would do one better than giving the FS the healing spells as spells known. But it IS a feat.

How would the feat be better? I'm proposing simply adding all Cure spells to the Favored Soul's Known Spells, on top of those she gets to pick as she levels up. As the Favored Soul is a spontaneous caster, that means access to any and all Cure spells, so long as there's an appropriate slot remaining for the day. Am I missing a nuance in the mechanics...?

The loss of Turning Undead is still a significant blow when objectively stacking the FS against the straight cleric, but my players are mostly Core anyway, so I doubt access to Channeling feats would have come up. And I don't particularly plan to emphasize the Undead as a campaign foe.

With that in mind, things seem workable...

 

[Endur]

The Favored Soul is primarily for players that don't like preparing spells. I'm one of those players. Although I agree, that losing the ability to turn undead and losing domain access is painful.

I thought I saw an extra domain feat in one of the splat books. If so, that feat would be very useful for a favored soul. Likewise, some of the spontaneous conversion feats if applicable might be useful.

 

[ARandomGod]

How would the feat be better? I'm proposing simply adding all Cure spells to the Favored Soul's Known Spells, on top of those she gets to pick as she levels up. As the Favored Soul is a spontaneous caster, that means access to any and all Cure spells, so long as there's an appropriate slot remaining for the day. Am I missing a nuance in the mechanics...?

The loss of Turning Undead is still a significant blow when objectively stacking the FS against the straight cleric, but my players are mostly Core anyway, so I doubt access to Channeling feats would have come up. And I don't particularly plan to emphasize the Undead as a campaign foe.

With that in mind, things seem workable...

Oh Yeaaaaaa.... (said in Gir's voice for those familiar with Invader Zim.

I not only agree that this makes a good move for your particular campaign with the FS being the only healer, but I think that it should have been written that way from the start. Hrmph.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Thanks for the verification and input, guys. I just got the character writeup for my Favored Soul, and she's chosen both Cure Light and Cure Moderate Wounds, so she'll have a couple more spells to select. That said, I think she'll do just fine. She's rolled some monster stats.

 

[Gnome]

Sure, the FS has a lot of disadvantages compared to the cleric, but they also gain weapon specialization, 3 types of energy resistance, all good saves, wings, and damage reduction. I think the two classes are balanced; it's just that the cleric is more front-loaded, and the FS gets his abilities scattered throughout his level progression.

 

[Mistwell]

It's the "all good saves" that has me most interested in this class. Combine them with a Paladin (for the divie Grace ability bonus to all saves), and get yourself the Evasion and/or Mettle abilities somehow (I believe there is a ring of evasion, and pious templar gets Mettle and also goes along well with a favored soul/paladin combo), and you are looking at a character that wears heavy armor, is almost immune to magical attacks because of their saves and abilities, gets damage reduction, martial weapon use, and divine spells.

Yes, it's a bit power-gamey. But it looks like fun to me...and more flavorful than a standard cleric.

 

[RuminDange]

I perfer to customize the clerics of my campaign to fit the deities, much like in 2E they were done, so..

I personally would let a player choose one domain of the diety they are favored soul of and gain the domain power and spells as spells known. That way they become the favored soul of healing or sun or evil etc....

As far as turn/rebuke undead, I'd probably add that in at level 3 much like the paladin but they choose whether it is turn or rebuke.

As far as costing 1 spell per level to give them that...not sure if I would go that route or not.



RD