question about void disciple

[psisai]

This question pertains to the prestige class void disciple on page 72 of complete divine.
Concerning their ability 'moment of clarity', it states that a VD can touch an ally and grant them the ability to perform any skill or feat (not anscestor feats) for a duration equal to their VD levels in rounds. The skill bump granted by this ability is well explained and comes with an example. However, when they say 'any feat', does that literaly mean any feat? Obviously giving a barbarian a metamagic feat would be useless since they have no spells, or giving a wizard a divine feat equally so because they have no turn attemps, but this still leaves tons of room for powergaming. And does one need to worry about prerequisites? For example, can I give a mage the 'persistent spell' feat even if he doesn't have its prerequisit 'extend spell'? Can I give epic feats even if the character isn't over level 20? I have searched long and hard and I can't find anyone tlaking about this PC much at all, yet alone concerning this one ability. Any ideas? I have heard that a dm might change the official answer reguardless, but I would still like to know for my own peace of mind.

Oh, and yes, I realize many of the above examples are useless to non sorceror casters, since other casters can't use sudden metamagic abilities since they have to prepare their slots

 

[s-dub]

I would allow any feat excepting epic feats.

Remember that giving the maximize feat to a sorceror is usless unless they have the requisite spell slots ready.

Regarding epic feats, I doubt it would be too unbalancing to grant epic feats. I could see the VD granting perhaps fast healing out of combat in a desperate situation.

 

[psisai]

Awsome! That is what I was hopeing to hear. I myself also don't think that it would be 'too' unbalancing, considering you can only do it up to 4X a day and the effects only last a few rounds, but its always good to get other's opinions as well before presenting to your dm.

 

[the_omonk]

Sense void

Hi,

the void disciple also learns to sense void. he/she departs from her body and extends into the world allowing her to use normal sense (hear, smell, see, touch,..)to perceive whatever area, person based on the result of the spellcraft check.
My master tells me, that the depart is limited to the environment due to the normal senses. So I can not open doors to go out of the room or pass through walls although I would pass the spell check for the range. DO you think this is right?
Also, can I add my spellcheck bonus on the check?

Thanks for your opinion and have a nice evening/day
omonk

 

[Dandu]

From a BG thread on the subject:

3) Void Suppression. No-save-just-lose for 95% of the monsters out there. Requires a melee touch attack. Spectral Hand is (arguably, depending on your reading) your friend.

2) Moment of Clarity. Grant an ally any feat for a few rounds. Worth noting is that you specifically can't grant Ancestor feats, but Epic feats are, apparently, good to go.

1) Sense Void. Okay, so you can sense stuff anywhere except across planar boundaries, at the cost of a piddly Spellcraft check. This raises a whole series of questions: can others sense you when you're like that? Since you're leaving your body, can you use purely mental actions in that state? Can you move around? How long does it last? Does it count as a divination effect? What can block it? RAW's lack of statement implies very dire answers...

- There's no listed method of detecting if someone else is using this.
- There's nothing preventing the use of mental actions in this state, and there's not even a mention of it requiring concentration.
- There's no method of moving (but see the previous)
- There's no limit on duration given.
- It's never referred to as a divination, nor as scrying, despite the obvious similarities.
- Given that, there's no RAW method I've heard of to block it, short of planar boundaries. Illusions work, though.

In other words, it's potentially "Scry and Die" on steroids.


Conclusion: Void Disciple loses enough spell levels that it could be underpowered, depending on how Sense Void is ruled to work. RAW is vague enough that most of the overpowered potential is based purely on the lack of defined limits. I've personally seen this thing break campaigns though, and I wouldn't recommend it for general PC use. Game-breaking Up Two to a barely passable Down One, depending on how Sense Void is used.