Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
[Complete Divine] Radiant Servant of Pelor is too powerful.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1546191" data-attributes="member: 3146"><p>You're over-reacting. The Radiant Servant of Pelor is nifty but it's not so good as to justify this level of panicked flailing with the nerf bat. I'm much more concerned over the fact that <em>Spikes</em> remains unchanged in CD (it was better than GMW in 3.0 and GMW is a 4th level cleric spell that got nerfed in 3.5) and that <em>Miasma</em> is back (even at 6th level, having no save death at high caster levels is not a good idea).</p><p></p><p>You're missing a few things in your analysis too:</p><p>1. Prerequisites: 5 ranks of Heal, 8 ranks of Knowledge: religion, the Sun domain, and Extra Turning.</p><p></p><p>The ranks aren't that big a deal--although they will force most clerics to either skimp on concentration or skimp on spellcraft and Diplomacy. Non-human clerics will be harder pressed to meet them.</p><p></p><p>The Sun Domain isn't a balancing factor either. The Sun Domain has consistently good spells at nearly all levels and has a useful granted power too. It's one of the better domains in the PH--and, more significantly, one of Pelor's better domains.</p><p></p><p>However, full use of its abilities requires the Healing Domain--which is generally thought to be a weak domain for good clerics. (One of the most powerful domains in the PHB?!? Are you nuts? It doesn't let a cleric do anything he couldn't do before and its domain power doesn't make much of a difference either--1 point isn't much). It's also significant to note that a cleric of Pelor qualifying for this class and making use of its abilities will have the Sun and Healing domains. Any other combo and he either doesn't qualify or can't make full use of the powers. That's not a lot of flexibility.</p><p></p><p>Extra Turning, OTOH, is not usually considered a power feat for a cleric. It doesn't hurt, of course, especially if you have some of the divine feats from CW or CD. However, clerics--especially non-human clerics--don't have a lot of feats and it can hurt.</p><p></p><p>As for the gains,</p><p>Martial Weapon Proficiency: It doesn't belong in the class but it's not a big deal. Either the cleric will lose out on some of the other class abilities or he probably won't be too efficient with weapon combat. (Melee clerics of Pelor will often want the Strength Domain but that makes a lot of the healing domain powers useless to them--they also won't be happy with d6 hit points). Archer clerics of Pelor are few and far between and spending a feat on Extra Turning will hurt them. (As will going for at least five levels using a crossbow in order to not duplicate this ability).</p><p></p><p>Greater Turning 3/day+cha mod: This is definitely a good power. However, it's not incredibly likely to be significant unless you're leading your PCs against the White Kingdom. In Living Greyhawk, my cleric of Pelor has only had use for extra greater turnings a couple times in 60+ mods. (Not that he has them; most other times, however, there was either A. only one undead encounter that day, B. Undead weak enough he dusts them anyway, or C. Undead too strong to make turning practical).</p><p></p><p>Radiance: The ability has a lot of flavor but it's not too significant in terms of balance. I've only played in one two sessions where a Daylight going 120 feet instead of 60 feet and counting as 4th level rather than 3rd level would have been helpful.</p><p></p><p>Immunity to Disease: Again, this is mostly flavor text. Especially for a cleric who can cast Remove Disease, Disease is rarely a significant challenge in D&D. In a plague-themed mod it'll be useful. Otherwise it'll be useful approximately as often as the cleric goes into melee with a mummy.</p><p></p><p>Empowered and Maximized Healing Domain spells: Only works if you actually have the Healing Domain which is weak relative to other domains. This might be nifty for some kind of fighting healer Cleric 4/Fighter 4/Divine Crusader (healing domain) 2/Radiant Servant of Pelor 10 (adding spells to Divine Crusader levels). Otherwise, however, it doesn't seem like that big a deal. (Heck, I think they could have made that the granted power of the Healing Domain without breaking anything).</p><p></p><p>The Third Domain: Glory or Purification. Nifty. This gives the obvious Radiant Servant builds a little domain flexibility. Note, however, that this has negative synergy with the bonusses to Healing Domain casting. The more you get out of your healing domain bonusses, the less you get out of having an extra domain.</p><p></p><p>Positive Energy Burst: A very solid ability (and better here than in the Hunter of the Dead class which, since it doesn't progress in Undead Turning, has little other use for turning).</p><p></p><p>Full Spellcasting: That's what makes the class worth taking. Consider some of the other classes in the book that don't have full spellcasting--Shining Blade of Heironeous, for instance. As a cleric, I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole (and I'm not sure I'd take it as a Paladin either--despite its obviously being aimed at paladins. The Holy Sword spell is better than the sword abilities of the Shining Blade and the paladin gets Lay on Hands, smite, turning, and mount progression too).</p><p></p><p>On the whole, Radiant Servant may get a few too many abilities (martial weapons, for instance), but I don't consider it a no-brainer to aim my 9th level Living Greyhawk cleric of Pelor towards the class. (Even though he could easily meet the skill prereqs). It would be a lot more attractive a choice if he had the healing domain but I'm not sure I'd trade the strength domain for the Healing Domain, even with the knowledge of the healing domain abilities of the Radiant Servant. Reduce the Spellcasting to 9/10 and (depending upon where the hit happens) I wouldn't be thinking about it for my cleric anymore. Reduce it to 7/10 and I wouldn't as much as consider it for ANY cleric. If you feel the need to nerf it (and there are many other things in the CD that could use changes far more dramatically), I would start by eliminating the martial weapon proficiency (doesn't fit in the class), and positive energy burst (the class has plenty to do with their turning already and we don't need to step on the already weak Hunter of the Dead any more than necessary). I'd probably change the Greater Turning to +1/2 class levels as well and leave it at that. (Well, I might prohibit them from casting Inflict x Wounds spells or Harm as well). Then it would be what a prestige class is supposed to be: more focussed than the normal cleric of Pelor (in this case, focussed on healing people and fighting undead) but less flexible and less powerful outside of that specialty. (Truth to be told, it's not really far from that at the moment).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Elder-Basilisk, post: 1546191, member: 3146"] You're over-reacting. The Radiant Servant of Pelor is nifty but it's not so good as to justify this level of panicked flailing with the nerf bat. I'm much more concerned over the fact that [i]Spikes[/i] remains unchanged in CD (it was better than GMW in 3.0 and GMW is a 4th level cleric spell that got nerfed in 3.5) and that [i]Miasma[/i] is back (even at 6th level, having no save death at high caster levels is not a good idea). You're missing a few things in your analysis too: 1. Prerequisites: 5 ranks of Heal, 8 ranks of Knowledge: religion, the Sun domain, and Extra Turning. The ranks aren't that big a deal--although they will force most clerics to either skimp on concentration or skimp on spellcraft and Diplomacy. Non-human clerics will be harder pressed to meet them. The Sun Domain isn't a balancing factor either. The Sun Domain has consistently good spells at nearly all levels and has a useful granted power too. It's one of the better domains in the PH--and, more significantly, one of Pelor's better domains. However, full use of its abilities requires the Healing Domain--which is generally thought to be a weak domain for good clerics. (One of the most powerful domains in the PHB?!? Are you nuts? It doesn't let a cleric do anything he couldn't do before and its domain power doesn't make much of a difference either--1 point isn't much). It's also significant to note that a cleric of Pelor qualifying for this class and making use of its abilities will have the Sun and Healing domains. Any other combo and he either doesn't qualify or can't make full use of the powers. That's not a lot of flexibility. Extra Turning, OTOH, is not usually considered a power feat for a cleric. It doesn't hurt, of course, especially if you have some of the divine feats from CW or CD. However, clerics--especially non-human clerics--don't have a lot of feats and it can hurt. As for the gains, Martial Weapon Proficiency: It doesn't belong in the class but it's not a big deal. Either the cleric will lose out on some of the other class abilities or he probably won't be too efficient with weapon combat. (Melee clerics of Pelor will often want the Strength Domain but that makes a lot of the healing domain powers useless to them--they also won't be happy with d6 hit points). Archer clerics of Pelor are few and far between and spending a feat on Extra Turning will hurt them. (As will going for at least five levels using a crossbow in order to not duplicate this ability). Greater Turning 3/day+cha mod: This is definitely a good power. However, it's not incredibly likely to be significant unless you're leading your PCs against the White Kingdom. In Living Greyhawk, my cleric of Pelor has only had use for extra greater turnings a couple times in 60+ mods. (Not that he has them; most other times, however, there was either A. only one undead encounter that day, B. Undead weak enough he dusts them anyway, or C. Undead too strong to make turning practical). Radiance: The ability has a lot of flavor but it's not too significant in terms of balance. I've only played in one two sessions where a Daylight going 120 feet instead of 60 feet and counting as 4th level rather than 3rd level would have been helpful. Immunity to Disease: Again, this is mostly flavor text. Especially for a cleric who can cast Remove Disease, Disease is rarely a significant challenge in D&D. In a plague-themed mod it'll be useful. Otherwise it'll be useful approximately as often as the cleric goes into melee with a mummy. Empowered and Maximized Healing Domain spells: Only works if you actually have the Healing Domain which is weak relative to other domains. This might be nifty for some kind of fighting healer Cleric 4/Fighter 4/Divine Crusader (healing domain) 2/Radiant Servant of Pelor 10 (adding spells to Divine Crusader levels). Otherwise, however, it doesn't seem like that big a deal. (Heck, I think they could have made that the granted power of the Healing Domain without breaking anything). The Third Domain: Glory or Purification. Nifty. This gives the obvious Radiant Servant builds a little domain flexibility. Note, however, that this has negative synergy with the bonusses to Healing Domain casting. The more you get out of your healing domain bonusses, the less you get out of having an extra domain. Positive Energy Burst: A very solid ability (and better here than in the Hunter of the Dead class which, since it doesn't progress in Undead Turning, has little other use for turning). Full Spellcasting: That's what makes the class worth taking. Consider some of the other classes in the book that don't have full spellcasting--Shining Blade of Heironeous, for instance. As a cleric, I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole (and I'm not sure I'd take it as a Paladin either--despite its obviously being aimed at paladins. The Holy Sword spell is better than the sword abilities of the Shining Blade and the paladin gets Lay on Hands, smite, turning, and mount progression too). On the whole, Radiant Servant may get a few too many abilities (martial weapons, for instance), but I don't consider it a no-brainer to aim my 9th level Living Greyhawk cleric of Pelor towards the class. (Even though he could easily meet the skill prereqs). It would be a lot more attractive a choice if he had the healing domain but I'm not sure I'd trade the strength domain for the Healing Domain, even with the knowledge of the healing domain abilities of the Radiant Servant. Reduce the Spellcasting to 9/10 and (depending upon where the hit happens) I wouldn't be thinking about it for my cleric anymore. Reduce it to 7/10 and I wouldn't as much as consider it for ANY cleric. If you feel the need to nerf it (and there are many other things in the CD that could use changes far more dramatically), I would start by eliminating the martial weapon proficiency (doesn't fit in the class), and positive energy burst (the class has plenty to do with their turning already and we don't need to step on the already weak Hunter of the Dead any more than necessary). I'd probably change the Greater Turning to +1/2 class levels as well and leave it at that. (Well, I might prohibit them from casting Inflict x Wounds spells or Harm as well). Then it would be what a prestige class is supposed to be: more focussed than the normal cleric of Pelor (in this case, focussed on healing people and fighting undead) but less flexible and less powerful outside of that specialty. (Truth to be told, it's not really far from that at the moment). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
[Complete Divine] Radiant Servant of Pelor is too powerful.
Top