Archivist Questions

[WarlockLord]

1. In the Forgotten Realms, does an archivist need a deity to cast spells, or can he just be a secular caster like a wizard?


2. How does the class compare to a wizard in terms of power level? More powerful? Less?


3. Is the 'learn every divine spell ever' made much use of by players, or is an archivist mostly stuck to his free clerical spells per level?


4. Are there any good prestige classes that don't require a good alignment and don't lose CLs?

 

[frankthedm]

1. In the Forgotten Realms, does an archivist need a deity to cast spells, or can he just be a secular caster like a wizard?

Depends on the wording of that FR rule.

2. How does the class compare to a wizard in terms of power level? More powerful? Less?

Spell power alone, i have a very hard time picturing them keeping up. Cleric spells have some decent tricks, but unless the character is combat built, half the oompth of the cleric spell list gets lost. Oh yeah, your party expects you to spend your actions buffing and healing. And at high levels, your blasting spells, which you waited longer to get, mostly fail due to fire resist.

3. Is the 'learn every divine spell ever' made much use of by players, or is an archivist mostly stuck to his free clerical spells per level?

If the DM rules divine spells that get independantly reserched have to be written down to share them with other casters in the first place, maybe he won't be soo boned. But otherwise the only two ways divine magic sees a written form is divine spell scolls and other archivists.

PRCs... http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/thaumaturgist.htm

 

[Cameron]

1. In the Forgotten Realms, does an archivist need a deity to cast spells, or can he just be a secular caster like a wizard?


2. How does the class compare to a wizard in terms of power level? More powerful? Less?


3. Is the 'learn every divine spell ever' made much use of by players, or is an archivist mostly stuck to his free clerical spells per level?


4. Are there any good prestige classes that don't require a good alignment and don't lose CLs?

1. You don't need to worship dieties in FR to gain spells. You can worship demons, devils or even an old beholder...

2. Depends on what you are aiming for. The best thing of Archivist is that you can make the most powerful melee combatant available with it (Divine Power + Righteous Might + Bite of the Werebear + Tenser's Transformation) and not lose any caster levels. Other people might be able to do the same, but they need to be dual casters or a particular breed of Rainbow Servant (and eat a hp hit).

3. Depends on the setting. Wizards get the same thing, but they are pretty much boned in the Age of Worms campaign (next to nil arcane scrolls found as treasure, and no Magimart available). Archivist would do OK, since there are a bunch of divine scrolls.

4. Contemplative, Divine Oracle, Church inquisitor (available after level 3) are those that come to mind off the top of my head. There are far more divine prcs that don't lose caster levels than arcane ones.

 

[Hypersmurf]

2. Depends on what you are aiming for. The best thing of Archivist is that you can make the most powerful melee combatant available with it (Divine Power + Righteous Might + Bite of the Werebear + Tenser's Transformation) and not lose any caster levels.

Where's the Divine Tenser's Transformation coming from? I'm guessing it's on a divine list or domain in a splatbook? (Away from my books, and in the PHB it's arcane only...) Or is it the cooperative scribing loophole?

-Hyp.

 

[Cameron]

Where's the Divine Tenser's Transformation coming from? I'm guessing it's on a divine list or domain in a splatbook? (Away from my books, and in the PHB it's arcane only...) Or is it the cooperative scribing loophole?

-Hyp.

I think it's in one of the Domains. I could be wrong, but I thought I have seen it once. Maybe in the Spell Compendium.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I think it's in one of the Domains. I could be wrong, but I thought I have seen it once. Maybe in the Spell Compendium.

Hmm - there's a Hero Domain in Oriental Adventures (3E) that has it. Maybe the domain got republished.

-Hyp.

 

[Cameron]

Hmm - there's a Hero Domain in Oriental Adventures (3E) that has it. Maybe the domain got republished.

-Hyp.

Doesn't matter if it hasn't been republished, since all 3.0 material are still legal so long as it hasn't been reprinted or otherwise stated that it was replaced by anything else.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Doesn't matter if it hasn't been republished, since all 3.0 material are still legal so long as it hasn't been reprinted or otherwise stated that it was replaced by anything else.

Well, there's a 3.5 Update for OA in Dragon 318, which I don't have... so I don't know how that affects things

Apart from that, what do you base that on? For example, the Fanfare spell (Brd6, Song and Silence) is 3E material - I'd take the fact that it hasn't been reprinted to suggest that it doesn't exist in 3.5, rather than that it exists in the exact same form.

-Hyp.

 

[questbreaker]

try multiclassing with wizard to later become a mystic theurge, or you could take alienist for a kick. if you take wizard you can go ahead and make really good use of alienist and maybe even take master specialist (conjuration, of course. summon monster spells for the win!)

 

[Pazu]

Can't speak for FR, but...

2. How does the class compare to a wizard in terms of power level? More powerful? Less?

I would say that it's about even, but its strengths lie in somewhat different areas. Casting buffing spells on top of using Dark Knowledge can make a very strong party buffer, but you probably won't ever be much of a blaster.

3. Is the 'learn every divine spell ever' made much use of by players, or is an archivist mostly stuck to his free clerical spells per level?

Really DM- and campaign-dependent. I was able to buy a few scrolls to round out my lower level spell selection, but I don't think the DM intended high-level spells to be as readily available (although since the campaign died, I guess we'll never know for sure).

4. Are there any good prestige classes that don't require a good alignment and don't lose CLs?

Some have already been mentioned; you could also consider Loremaster or Paraagnostic Disciple in order to take advantage of your mad knowledge skilz (TM).