Prestige Class: Apothecary

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

The intended role of a cleric is to serve his or her deity with zeal. His classic role, however, is geared towards being the party medic. Seasoned clerics who are called to serve by keeping adventurers alive, and healing the sick and dying, train as apothecaries. These apothecaries are skilled in mundane healing as well as magical healing, so they are always ready to treat.

Prerequisites:

Wis 15+, Heal 12 ranks, able to cast 5th level divine spells, Cleric 9, Combat Casting, Self-Sufficient.

Alignment: Any good

Other:

Apothecary levels count as caster levels.

Skill points: 2+int mod

Skills: As cleric.

Hit Die: d10- The apothecary needs to be the last man to go down so that he may bring the rest back up. As such, he trains to be tougher.

Attack Bonus: 1/2
Good saves: Fort, Will
Proficiencies: All Armor, no weapons, no shields.
All healing spells are allowed at full capacity, yet there is a sharp limit to the capacity for other spells.


Acceptable non-healing apothecary spells:

0 Detect Poison, Purify food and drink, Virtue
1 Deathwatch (with the Evil descriptor removed), Remove Fear, Sanctuary
2 Aid, Calm Emotions, Gentle Repose, Status
3 Dispel Magic, Remove Curse,
4 Death Ward, Freedom of Movement(?)
5 Atonement(?, heal the soul), Break Enchantment, Hallow
6 Dispel Magic+, Heroes' Feast(?)
7 (Only healing spells at this level are usable)
8 Surelife
9 Miracle

A cleric spell not on the list is castable only at the character's cleric level. Healing spells and spells on the list are treated exactly as if you had a cleric level equal to your total other divine spellcaster levels (apothecary, cleric, druid, etc).

A Clr10/Apo 5 could cast Consecrate as if he were 10th level, and Resurrection as though he were 15th. In addition, his spell progression is equal to that of a cleric for any healing spell or spell on the list. He can't prepare other divine spells at a level higher than his highest other divine spellcaster class level.

Apothecaries can't turn undead.

1st level- You may replace any current domain with Healing. In addition, you cast Conjuration(Healing) spells at your cleric level + your apothecary level..

2nd level- Apothecaries get their class level as a bonus to all heal checks and attempts to beat poison and disease. In addition, they are instantly aware of any failures.

3rd level- You can treat as many people at a time as your Wisdom score. Long term care can be performed in 4 hours rather than 8, and treating a disease or a spike-borne injury takes 5 minutes.

4th level- Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison is a free action. Doing a combination of any of these is a standard action.

5th level- Can spontaneously cast any spell in the Conjuration (healing) subschool

6th level- Apothecaries auto-stabilize once they approach negative hp, as long as they are not already damaged to the point of death.

7th level- When you restore a creature to life, that creature chooses whether he loses 2 points from his constitution, or a level.

8th- HP gains from healing on your part are doubled.

9th- You gain Spell-like ability: Deathwatch and Status/at will. Deathwatch doesn't count as evil for an apothecary.*

10th- Successful stabilization can restore a dying creature to 1 hp.

*(Nor should it, period, IMO)

Advice?

 

[Sigurd]

I like the PRC.

I think you have to spell out the 7th level restore life ability more.

You need to list skills and skill points.

Do you mean the same attack table as the cleric?


The thing has a lot of potential. I can see myself taking this for a current character.

(so polish it fast )

Sigurd

The painful observation I can see is that you have improved on the standard cleric in every regard (BAB?) and haven't made it clear if they give up anything.

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

I like the PRC.

I think you have to spell out the 7th level restore life ability more.

You need to list skills and skill points.

Do you mean the same attack table as the cleric?


The thing has a lot of potential. I can see myself taking this for a current character.

(so polish it fast )

Sigurd

The painful observation I can see is that you have improved on the standard cleric in every regard (BAB?) and haven't made it clear if they give up anything.

The cleric has 3/4 attack, whereas the apothecary has 1/2. I also fixed it so he takes a serious hit in combat power if he becomes an apothecary. Also, he is somewhat penalized toward any other spell usage (-2 effective caster level applied to those.) He gives up any favorable attack capabilities and turning capability for the purpose of being an ideal healer.

Clerics could use full armor and most shields anyway. They're more melee capable than the average arcane caster.

 

[the Jester]

I think it's too good. Full spellcasting (even with a -2 caster level hit to many spells), a free domain, d10 HD, two good saves and a bunch of other abilities, plus no opportunity cost to get in to the class.

I would recommend adding Heal (12 ranks) as a prereq... this is another way to keep it at the same required entry level as the "5th level spells" entry requirement. I'd also do something to tone the class down a little.

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

I think it's too good. Full spellcasting (even with a -2 caster level hit to many spells), a free domain, d10 HD, two good saves and a bunch of other abilities, plus no opportunity cost to get in to the class.

I would recommend adding Heal (12 ranks) as a prereq... this is another way to keep it at the same required entry level as the "5th level spells" entry requirement. I'd also do something to tone the class down a little.

What would you consider an opportunity cost, assuming prerequisites don't count?

Also, I applied the heal limit and some more prereqs. I also made it so that apos can only cast the healing variety of spells (with a few highly appropriate exceptions), and that an existing domain can be replaced by healing, rather than it being a free domain.

Will this make it balanced, yet still good?