Some doubts about the Chameleon PrC

[Egres]

Hi!

I was taking a look at the Chameleon PrC and I have found some unclear points.

1)

Divine Focus: You gain the ability to prepare and cast divine spells, which may be chosen from the spell list of any divine spellcasting class. You prepare and cast these spells just as a cleric does, except that you cannot spontaneously cast spells. You can only prepare new divine spells at sunrise. Your spells per day are noted on Table 5-2: The Chameleon. You gain bonus spells for a high Wisdom score, just as a cleric does. When Table 5-2 indicates that you get 0 spells per day of a given spell level, you gain only the bonus spells you would be entitled to based on your Wisdom score for that spell level. Your caster level is equal to twice your class level.

By the RAW this PrC would allow a cha to obtain 4th level Paladin and Ranger spells at 10th level, with a caster level of 10.

Considering spells like Holy Sword it seems to me quite unbalanced.

What do you think about it?

2)

Ability Boon (Ex): At 4th level, when choosing an aptitude focus, you also gain a +2 competence bonus to an ability score of your choice. This bonus lasts until you change your aptitude focus. At 7th level this bonus improves to +4, and at 10th level to +6.

Double Aptitude (Ex): At 7th level, you can adopt two aptitude focuses in the same amount of time it previously took for you to adopt one. For example, you could adopt both the combat focus and the wild focus to mimic a ranger, or the divine focus and arcane focus to mimic a mystic theurge. You can't adopt the same aptitude focus twice simultaneously. You can still only adopt as many focuses per day as indicated by your aptitude focus ability.

What do you think would happen if you choose two aptitudes?

Would you obtain two ability boons?

IMHO by the RAW the answer is clearly "yes", but I would be glad to obtain some feedback.

3)

Arcane Focus: You gain the ability to prepare and cast arcane spells, which may be chosen from the spell list of any arcane spellcasting class. You prepare and cast these spells just as a wizard does, including the use of a spellbook (chameleons often use stolen or borrowed spellbooks; see page 178 of the Player's Handbook for details). Your spells per day are noted on Table 5-2: The Chameleon. You gain bonus spells for a high Intelligence score, just as a wizard does. When Table 5-2 indicates that you get 0 spells per day of a given spell level, you gain only the bonus spells you would be entitled to based on your Intelligence score for that spell level. Your caster level is equal to twice your class level.

Divine Focus: You gain the ability to prepare and cast divine spells, which may be chosen from the spell list of any divine spellcasting class. You prepare and cast these spells just as a cleric does, except that you cannot spontaneously cast spells. You can only prepare new divine spells at sunrise. Your spells per day are noted on Table 5-2: The Chameleon. You gain bonus spells for a high Wisdom score, just as a cleric does. When Table 5-2 indicates that you get 0 spells per day of a given spell level, you gain only the bonus spells you would be entitled to based on your Wisdom score for that spell level. Your caster level is equal to twice your class level.

What do you think would happen if you choose the Arcane and the Divine focus?

Would you obtain two separate spell lists?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Diirk]

1) By the RAW this PrC would allow a cha to obtain 4th level Paladin and Ranger spells at 10th level, with a caster level of 10.

You're quite right, however holy sword is one of the few spells of that power level.. most paladin/ranger lvl 4 spells are also cleric/druid level 3-5 spells so it doesn't really make a big difference either way. Altho getting Heal as a 5th level adept spell at lvl 12 with a caster level of 14 is kinda handy (Note: Need 20 wisdom to get but a single cast, and cleric gets heal at 11 anyway)

2) What do you think would happen if you choose two aptitudes?

Yes, I think you'd get 2 boosts.

3) What do you think would happen if you choose the Arcane and the Divine focus? Would you obtain two separate spell lists?

I think you'd get the 2 seperate spell lists (ie. be able to cast every spell possible) but you'd still be limited to just the 1 set of spells per day.

 

[Egres]

I think you'd get the 2 seperate spell lists (ie. be able to cast every spell possible) but you'd still be limited to just the 1 set of spells per day.

Ops..

I wrote a wrong question.

My question was meant to be:would you think you would obtain two separate sets of spells?

I think you should get two separate sets of spells basing my reasoning on this paragraph:

Double Aptitude (Ex): At 7th level, you can adopt two aptitude focuses in the same amount of time it previously took for you to adopt one. For example, you could adopt both the combat focus and the wild focus to mimic a ranger, or the divine focus and arcane focus to mimic a mystic theurge.

How could you mimic a mystic theurge without two separate sets of spells?

Only one set of spells would be too much limiting.

 

[Diirk]

Well granted you'd have quite a limited number of spells, but you'd be mimicing the mystic theurge in the sense that you could cast both arcane and divine. Think of the fun you could have with wands/scrolls/staves !

Given that your caster level at 15 is 20, a staff of holy word could be particularly nasty ...

 

[Egres]

Given that your caster level at 15 is 20, a staff of holy word could be particularly nasty ...

Thats' an interesting idea! , but perhaps it doesn't work.

You can't use any abilities gained from your aptitude focus, ability boon, or mimic class feature abilities to qualify for a feat, prestige class, or other option. You can use your bonus feat to qualify for such options, but if you change the feat, you suffer the normal drawbacks for no longer meeting a prerequisite or requirement.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Thats' an interesting idea! , but perhaps it doesn't work.

I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant by "Other Option". All of their examples are somewhat permanent things- Feats and Prestige Classes always stay with you, and therefore it's an important factor to "qualify" for one. You don't really "qualify" for using magic items- if you have a spell list (which this class can), then you can use magic items depending on that spell list. There's nothing permanent about it, and therefore you're not "qualifying" for anything- simply using your existing knowledge to do something right now, as opposed to using your existing knowledge to gain a permanent ability (such as through getting a feat).