Tarrasque Wrangler
First Post
As many have noticed, there is a hole in the archetypes of base classes in the PHB in the lack of a divine caster who casts spontaneously, a la the sorcerer. While many dislike the sorcerer and their casting method, as a DM I have found the sorcerer's ease of use for newbie players to be an invaluable entree to convince swordslingers to try out a spellcasting class. So I'd like to try this with the divine classes, which are even harder to get newbies to play.
Here goes:
SPIRITCALLER (Spc.)
A spiritcaller is touched by the gods and spirits. Unlike clerics, who seek communion with the gods through a personal faith and discipline, a spiritcaller seeks a personal relationship with the deities, nature spirits, and ancestors whose voices she hears all around her.
Spiritcallers, like sorcerers, are often born under strange circumstances. Children born during a storm, infants with a lock of white hair, babies born under auspicious astrological events such as eclipses or conjunctions, all are said to have the vital connection to the spirit world that might make them a spiritcaller. They most often come from rural or barbaric backgrounds, whose people have a simpler relationship with their gods and spirits than city dwellers. They are often tribal speakers or shamans.
Spiritcallers cast spells per day and have spells known as a sorcerer, although they choose these spells from the cleric's spell list rather than the sorcerer/wizard's. They use Charisma as their spellcasting stat.
Alignment: Any, but favor neutral or chaotic alignments.
Hit Die: D8.
Class skills: Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), Perform, Profession, Spellcraft, and Survival.
Skill points per level: 4 plus Int modifier.
BAB: Average.
F/R/W Saves: Good/Poor/Good
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Spiritcallers are proficient with simple weapons, as well as light and medium armor and all shields except tower shields.
Unlike clerics, spiritcallers do not choose domains or receive the ability to turn or rebuke undead. I am tinkering with instead, giving them a special ability called Spirit Ways. These would be similar to the 3.5 Rangers combat styles, and received every 4-5 levels. These would follow a theme (i.e. healing, divining, blessing) and would grant the spiritcaller use of a spell as a spell-like ability a given number of times per day. For example (purely off the top of my head, not final in any way), a good-aligned spiritcaller who chose Way of Divining would receive Detect Evil 1/day at first level. At 5th level, he would get Augury 1/day, and Detect Evil would go up to 2/day. At 10th, he would get Divination 1/day, and previous ones would go up by 1/day. At 15th, he would get True Seeing, and at 20th he would receive Greater Scrying. (If anyone likes these, and can come up with more, let me know)
The purpose of these Spirit Ways is three-fold. Firstly, it fills the need for a class perk since spiritcallers do not turn undead, get domains, or the ability to convert prepared spells. Secondly, it provides a nice role-playing hook for the character, i.e. healer, invesitgator, war shaman, etc. Thirdly, it provides a way to use those "un-sexy" healing/divination/buffing spells without having to use precious "spells known" slots to acquire them.
So tell me what you think, or how I can polish this class. Thanks a bunch.
Here goes:
SPIRITCALLER (Spc.)
A spiritcaller is touched by the gods and spirits. Unlike clerics, who seek communion with the gods through a personal faith and discipline, a spiritcaller seeks a personal relationship with the deities, nature spirits, and ancestors whose voices she hears all around her.
Spiritcallers, like sorcerers, are often born under strange circumstances. Children born during a storm, infants with a lock of white hair, babies born under auspicious astrological events such as eclipses or conjunctions, all are said to have the vital connection to the spirit world that might make them a spiritcaller. They most often come from rural or barbaric backgrounds, whose people have a simpler relationship with their gods and spirits than city dwellers. They are often tribal speakers or shamans.
Spiritcallers cast spells per day and have spells known as a sorcerer, although they choose these spells from the cleric's spell list rather than the sorcerer/wizard's. They use Charisma as their spellcasting stat.
Alignment: Any, but favor neutral or chaotic alignments.
Hit Die: D8.
Class skills: Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), Perform, Profession, Spellcraft, and Survival.
Skill points per level: 4 plus Int modifier.
BAB: Average.
F/R/W Saves: Good/Poor/Good
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Spiritcallers are proficient with simple weapons, as well as light and medium armor and all shields except tower shields.
Unlike clerics, spiritcallers do not choose domains or receive the ability to turn or rebuke undead. I am tinkering with instead, giving them a special ability called Spirit Ways. These would be similar to the 3.5 Rangers combat styles, and received every 4-5 levels. These would follow a theme (i.e. healing, divining, blessing) and would grant the spiritcaller use of a spell as a spell-like ability a given number of times per day. For example (purely off the top of my head, not final in any way), a good-aligned spiritcaller who chose Way of Divining would receive Detect Evil 1/day at first level. At 5th level, he would get Augury 1/day, and Detect Evil would go up to 2/day. At 10th, he would get Divination 1/day, and previous ones would go up by 1/day. At 15th, he would get True Seeing, and at 20th he would receive Greater Scrying. (If anyone likes these, and can come up with more, let me know)
The purpose of these Spirit Ways is three-fold. Firstly, it fills the need for a class perk since spiritcallers do not turn undead, get domains, or the ability to convert prepared spells. Secondly, it provides a nice role-playing hook for the character, i.e. healer, invesitgator, war shaman, etc. Thirdly, it provides a way to use those "un-sexy" healing/divination/buffing spells without having to use precious "spells known" slots to acquire them.
So tell me what you think, or how I can polish this class. Thanks a bunch.
