Archivist opinions?

[Aleolus]

Hey, I've been looking at the Archivist listed in the Heros of Horror book, and I quite like it. Basically, it's a combination of the Cleric and the Wizard, casting Divine spells from a Prayerbook that they study every day. They also have almost no dead levels, though most of what they get are new uses of or new ways to use their Dark Knowledge ability.

 

[Stalker0]

I have played an archivist from level 3 through 7, so I have a decent opinion of them.

First of all, the are THE class to play if you want to play Mr. Knowitall. The also make a decent support class, similar to a bard but because it requires move actions you still get to do stuff. However, they are better support for melee types, they are weaker if you have a lot of casters in the group.

As far as spells go, they look better on paper than they are. You have access to a huge spell list, cleric, druid, any cleric domains, etc. You can pull in some very unique spells. However, a large amount of cleric and druid spells are designed for the fact that you have good hp and armor, and are fighting in melee. Archivists with their armor proficiencies and low hitpoints don't fit this as well, as many of the common cleric and druid spells just don't work well for you. And of course, it gets very expensive to pick up those unique spells, as you have to get a scroll to use it.

Overall, I think its a good class, but its a very niche one. If you want to play that niche, then definately give it a try. But I don't think its a powerhouse, having seen an 8th level dread necromancer in action, THAT is the powerhouse of the heroes of horror book.

 

[Aleolus]

Only thing I find somewhat irritating about them is the limitations on their Dark Knowledge. You have to take at least two feats if you want to get rid of those. Even with those feats, you still can't use it on Humanoids or Monstrous Humanoids.

 

[Archimedes314]

Well, with so many wizard spells in various domains (not to mention anyspell if you are in FR) you can become a swiss-army knife caster. This isn't really super-powerful so much as it is supremely useful. IMHO, the Archivist is one of the better clinch hitter classes. When the chips are down and everything is going against you you can usually find some neat trick to turn the tides in your favor. Though the split casting stats do kind of suck.

 

[frankthedm]

And of course, it gets very expensive to pick up those unique spells, as you have to get a scroll to use it.

Umh, Is not that every spell other than then ones the archivist gets at level up? Cleric, Druid or Paladin, the only time divine spells see paper normally is a scroll.

 

[Zurai]

Umh, Is not that every spell other than then ones the archivist gets at level up? Cleric, Druid or Paladin, the only time divine spells see paper normally is a scroll.

His point, I believe, is that only very rarely do Rangers or Paladins take Scribe Scroll, and scribing Druids aren't exactly a dime a dozen either, not to mention the divine casting PrCs with unique spell lists (for example, there's one PrC in Frostburn that gets summon giants as a 4th level divine spell; summon giants is normally an 8th level spell, and it can summon enough giants to utterly obliterate any CR7 encounter). If a DM is a "magic Walmart" DM, it's not going to matter, but in most campaigns it's going to be extremely hard to come by non-Clerical spells.

(not to mention anyspell if you are in FR)

Anyspell will not work for Archivists, as they do not have domain slots to prepare the anyspell'd spell in.





In general, the power of Archivists depends on the DM. If the DM is lax and lets the Archivist pick up any divine spell they want, they can be more powerful than a cleric. On the other hand, if they play in a campaign where they only have heavily restricted access (or no access) to non-Clerical spells, they're one of the weaker full casting classes, about on par with sorcerers. They have a lot more flavor than sorcs, though.