Specialty Priest: Bast Cleric

[Chacal]

I really miss the 2e specialty priests, but I don't want to fall again in the huge balance issues
that they had.
So I just tried to keep things simple:

Bast Priests

No medium and heavy armor,
no shields larger than small shield ( and arcane failure (should I call that divine displeasure ? ) on these armors)

D6 Hit Dice
Base skill points : 4
Added Class skills : Perform, bluff, disguise, animal empathy (felines)

Favored weapon : Claw Bracers (FRCS)
Domains : Charm (FR ?), Felines, Trickery

I'm not sure where Charm comes from. Let me know if you want me to post it.


Here is the Feline Domain:
You can cast Animal Friendship Once /day on felines. handle animals(Feline) is a class skill. Granted Low light vison
1- Calm Animals(Felines)
2- Cat's grace
3- DarkVision
4- Beast Claws (DotF)
5- Speak with felines (4h /level)
6- Divine Agility (DotF)
7- Animal Shapes (One ally/level polymorphs into a Feline)
8- Conjure nature ally ? (4 dire tigers)
9- ShapeChange


Balanced ? Playable ? Interesting ?

Chacal

 

[Chacal]

Is it that bad ?
Did someone tried to make some
specialty priest a la 2e?

Chacal, begging for comments...

 

[Ziggy]

I'm unsure why you want to have special classes for each religion. The domains are good for flavor at lower levels, and more specialized priests at higher levels can be modeled using prestige classes.

That disclaimer aside, the class is certainly not overpowered. None of the powers are very strong, and taking away the armor is going to hurt like hell.

I like the feline domain. The domain spells are logical, but I would try to use the base spells whenever possible (i.e. use the basic darkvision spell at 3rd level - not make a special variant for this class).

As a final comment, Bast (as in the Egyptian goddess) was heavily involved in the death-myth of ancient Egypt, and was the god responsible for embalming. The Charm stuff is recent fluff associated with Bast, it should definitely go if you want the real stuff. I would recommend using Death as a domain, or inventing a new Embalming domain (combining protection and death).

.Ziggy

 

[Chacal]

I'm unsure why you want to have special classes for each religion. The domains are good for flavor at lower levels, and more specialized priests at higher levels can be modeled using prestige classes.

This is true for most "militant" clerics, but it doesn't really fit some less combat-heavy priests. So i'm just doing some modification an a case-by case basis. (I'm also trying do make a brandobaris priest since a player wants to make one)
It's true that I'm aiming at low levels too here, otherwise a PrC would have been the right tool.

None of the powers are very strong, and taking away the armor is going to hurt like hell.

Yes, but would a bast or yondalla cleric use heavy armor ? I'm probably biased towards the "monster mythology" but I can't see them in full plate with a mace...

I like the feline domain. The domain spells are logical, but I would try to use the base spells whenever possible (i.e. use the basic darkvision spell at 3rd level - not make a special variant for this class).

You're right for the darkvision (BTW I don't know why I had specified the duration: it's the same as written )
For the other spells, I was toying with the idea of using domain bonus spells to make some kind of ability.

As a final comment, Bast (as in the Egyptian goddess) was heavily involved in the death-myth of ancient Egypt, and was the god responsible for embalming.

Thanks for the info. I didn't knew that.

But I'm afraid that the player likes the "fluffy" version better.

If I have to make a more egypt-like centered camapign, I would change that, though...



Chacal

 

[Fade]

They're losing quite a lot for that +2 skill points. I'd give them all Low-Light Vision as well.

 

[Chacal]

They're losing quite a lot for that +2 skill points. I'd give them all Low-Light Vision as well.

You're probably right about them being a little underpowered. Low Light vision would be interesting...

How about something like :"by sacrificing one of your turn undead attempt, you can swap one spell with a domain spell of equivalent or lower level"


?



Chacal

 

[Ziggy]

You're probably right about them being a little underpowered. Low Light vision would be interesting...

How about something like :"by sacrificing one of your turn undead attempt, you can swap one spell with a domain spell of equivalent or lower level"

Chacal

Low-light vision is good, it fits well with the feline domain (maybe add it to the domain, not the class ?)

The turn variant is very powerful, e.g. the feat "extra turning" will give you 4 additional domain spells. I don't recommend going this route.

Perhaps you could focus a bit more on the social skills of these clerics, what about the leadership feet for free ?

.Ziggy (still don't like speciality clerics.... )

 

[Chacal]

Low-light vision is good, it fits well with the feline domain (maybe add it to the domain, not the class ?)

Agreed (but it would not balance the class, just beef up the domain )

The turn variant is very powerful, e.g. the feat "extra turning" will give you 4 additional domain spells. I don't recommend going this route.

I didn't thought it was that powerful. It's not really giving spells, just allowing to swap.

Maybe I should restrict it to the feline domain to avoid potential abuse of the trickery and charm ...

Perhaps you could focus a bit more on the social skills of these clerics, what about the leadership feet for free ?

As a DM, I prefer my Players actually wanting their bunch of followers, it means that the work needed is useful. Automatic leadership is really scaring me. Maybe I'm just lazy

.Ziggy (still don't like speciality clerics.... )

Chacal

 

[Shifon]

Bast's role

As a final comment, Bast (as in the Egyptian goddess) was heavily involved in the death-myth of ancient Egypt, and was the god responsible for embalming. The Charm stuff is recent fluff associated with Bast, it should definitely go if you want the real stuff. I would recommend using Death as a domain, or inventing a new Embalming domain (combining protection and death).

.Ziggy

Just a quick note here..

Bast, as daughter of Re, was associated with the power of the sun -- the aggressive, vengeful power initially -- and later this developed into a more beneficial, protective form. Bast was originally lion-headed (as an aggressive god), and gained the more familiar cat head when she was "tamed" (so to speak). She was also considered a royal diety at various times in Egyptian history.

The deity of embalming you're looking for would be Anubis/Anpu, a jackal-headed male god. A priest wore an Anubis-mask when performing the rites of embalming over the deceased.

The 'Charm' aspect is unknown to me, but any protective or warlike domains would work nicely, as well as possibly Fire or Sun...


Shifon

 

[Chacal]

Cool ! I didn't knew that people were reading threads in the dreaded 2nd page

Thanks for the answers.

By the way, do you have any online pointers on egypian and persian mythos that are easily ( i.e with a minimal time investment) usable for campain building ?

Chacal