Sacred Prostitute preview from BoEF

[Aaron2]

I like the "Kiss of Life" spell, though -- more Sorcerer spells are good things!

Has this spell been modified since it was previewed a few months ago? I remember it being horribly unbalanced; making sorcerers better than clerics at raising the dead.


Aaron

 

[hunter1828]

Has this spell been modified since it was previewed a few months ago? I remember it being horribly unbalanced; making sorcerers better than clerics at raising the dead.

Aaron

This is the Kiss of Life spell from the web site preview:

Kiss of Life
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Brd 5, Sor 6
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Touch
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

The touch of my lips would cause even the dead to rise up.
The caster can restore life to a very recently deceased creature by kissing it. The caster can bring back to life creatures that have been dead up to one round per caster level.
As raise dead, except as noted.
Bringing someone back from the dead in this manner is very draining to the caster. He must make a Fortitude save or gain one negative level. Below are modifiers to this save.
Relationship Save Modifier
Stranger -15
Acquaintance -10
Follower/Servant -5
Animal Companion +0
Party Member +0
Blood relative +5
Cohort +5
Sexual Partner +10
Committed Lover +15
If the target falls into multiple relationship categories, use the most favorable.
Material Component: Perfumes, herbs, and powdered gemstones worth 1,000 gp.

I don't think it makes a sorcerer better at raising dead than a cleric. For starters, the being that is the target of the spell can only have been dead for a number of rounds equal to the caster's level. So even an epic 30th level sorcerer can only bring back someone dead no longer than 30 rounds (3 minutes). Also, the caster has to make a Fort save or gain a negative level because of the arcane drain of the spell. I think both are good trade offs to allow an arcane caster a slight chance of returning someone to life quickly.

hunter1828

 

[Psion]

I'd really like to have a mature discussion about this but... I'm not sure it's possible on these boards.

I imagine that is not unique to these boards, which are not the most juvenile forums by a long shot. I'd wager that many groups that want to use this that try to take it seriously are going to having truoble doing so as well. It's very much the nature of the topic.

 

[Aaron2]

I don't think it makes a sorcerer better at raising dead than a cleric. For starters, the being that is the target of the spell can only have been dead for a number of rounds equal to the caster's level. So even an epic 30th level sorcerer can only bring back someone dead no longer than 30 rounds (3 minutes). Also, the caster has to make a Fort save or gain a negative level because of the arcane drain of the spell. I think both are good trade offs to allow an arcane caster a slight chance of returning someone to life quickly.

First of all, this spell is the only raise spell that can be used in combat. All cleric raise spells have at least a 1 minute casting time. Getting to a dead party member's body in 11+ rounds should rarely be a problem. Secondly, the negative energy level penalty is almost meaningless. 100 gps and a Restoration and its gone. Heck, the Restoration isn't even needed for 24 hours; you might as well just say it has a material component of 1,100 gp. The only real penalty is that you lose one of your highest spell slots.

The spell also has the silly feature that your own Charisma actually makes it harder for you to save against it. I can see a bard taking off his Cloak of Charisma before casting it.


Aaron

 

[Sirius_Black]

The process to change the d20 STL was begun long before the announcement of the BoEF by the Valar Project.....
hunter1828

Hunter:

I hope you have that text saved so you can cut and paste it in every time a thread like this comes up and someone blames BOEF for the D20 STL changes and of course the end of western civilization as we know it. Otherwise, your fingers will get mighty numb typing it out between now and the new year.

Hey wait a minute...didn't Ben and JLO break up after the BOEF's publication was announced? Valar! You insert bad word here!

 

[Sirius_Black]

From what I understand the (written) content is actually quite well written and non-juvenile. It's presented in a mature fashion.

From every preview I've read, the fluff portions or the actual writing, has been better than the majority of books I've seen in a long time.

 

[Trainz]

So there.

And you know what ?

When you take all the sex stuff out and just keep the mechanics, it actually looks quite cool. Well inspired. The fact that it's sexual will just add some non-combat flavour to those mechanics, and D&D has quite enough combat focus already. Not that there's too much combat focus (it is an adventure game after all), but a little side flavour can only improve the game.

The other product that I saw/own that has nice mechanics that I thought where also well inspired was Natural 20 Press's Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns. And is also a non-combat focused book ! ! !

Maybe we're on to something here...

 

[Wormwood]

I misread the title of this thread, thinking it was referring to a Sacred Prostitute in BOED (Exalted Deeds), not BOEF (Erotic Fantasy).

Imagine my surprise.

 

[Alzrius]

The Sacred Prostitute PrC does seem to be one of those characters thats meant only to be used as an NPC you visit for healing...just now it comes with an extra perk to boot. On that merit, this doesn't seem so bad, since WotC"s own Complete Warrior's Handbook (or was it the Miniatures Handbook?) has a "girlfriend class" thats meant to do nothing but healing...and that's a core class!

In regards to the larger issue of the BoEF as a whole...I like it. I bought the preview, and was impressed with the quality of it as a product. It had, for example, the 3.5E rules down pat, something other products (*cough*CreatureCollectionRevised*cough*) couldn't quite nail down completely. It even had things like the "Tanar'ri" subtypes, though necessarily changed to "Demon" since the former is closed content. Likewise, not everything in there is just gratuitous, since things like the Kiss of Life spell aren't just blatantly sexual. And the photos are basically eye-candy, which is always nice.

I'm definately buying the book when it comes out.

 

[BSF]

First of all, this spell is the only raise spell that can be used in combat. All cleric raise spells have at least a 1 minute casting time. Getting to a dead party member's body in 11+ rounds should rarely be a problem. Secondly, the negative energy level penalty is almost meaningless. 100 gps and a Restoration and its gone. Heck, the Restoration isn't even needed for 24 hours; you might as well just say it has a material component of 1,100 gp. The only real penalty is that you lose one of your highest spell slots.

The spell also has the silly feature that your own Charisma actually makes it harder for you to save against it. I can see a bard taking off his Cloak of Charisma before casting it.

Aaron

I do not think this makes anyone better at bringing back the dead than a cleric. And actually, I wouldn't mind if it did. The save mechanic is something that I think needs to be changed. I really like the flavor of this spell, but as it stands, I need to houserule it. Personally, I would probably set the save as either a DC 10 + target level, or a DC 15 + target level. I would also seriously consider changing that from gaining 1 negative level to outright level loss. In my opinion, if you are trying to, essentially, bluff/seduce a soul into returning to this world, you should be willing to suffer a _real_ consequence. But, that isn't because I think the spell needs to be "worse" for a Bard/Sorceror than it is for a Cleric, that just fits my campaign flavor better. Incidentally, I would also consider adding this spell to a "Love Domain", so in my games, it would be available to some clerics, and they would be more likely to make the fort save.

That being said, sure it shouldn't be a huge problem to get to a dead character within the allotted time frame. I suppose if it _did_ bother me, I would also add a +1 or +2 penalty to the DC/round. Keep in mind that this spell also takes up a "Spell Known" slot. That makes is a lot less appealing to take. You sure don't hope you have to use that all the time, but Chain Lightning, you do want to use that a lot.

The spell is definitely not perfect. But for me, it certainly is not a campaign breaker.