Stormlord overpowered?

[eric mcloins]

One of my players wants to play a Stormlord (from complete divine).

Looking at the PrC, it seems like it is extremely overpowered. A Cleric5/Stormlord6 has the amazing benefit that each javelin he's using gains a +2 enchantment, plus the shcok and thundering abilities. This means that a stormlord at level 11, will ALWAYS have a weapon that is equivalent to +4.

What do you think? Does anyone have any experience with a stormlord character?

 

[JoelF]

This hasn't been a big deal in my games when it came up. Basically, if the cleric is going to spend is action attacking, let him. At 11th level, it's a) less effective than spellcasting, and b) less effective than a pure fighter type. Because of this, as a DM, I'm fine with a cleric doing this.

 

[billd91]

It's also costly in prerequisite feats, particularly for a cleric.

 

[Darklone]

A few puny level 2 spells will render many opponents immune to most of it's bonuses.

 

[Runestar]

I suppose it may seem daunting that at lv14, your stormlord could wield a +1 flaming, frost and acidic weapon, and augment it to a +3 flaming, frost, shock, acidic and thundering weapon, for the equivalent of a +8 weapon.

Though thundering and shock are fairly weak weapon properties I would not consider acquiring under normal circumstances. But I guess that compared to a pure-classed cleric which essentially stops getting extra class features after 1st lv, anything must seem good by comparison...

 

[Jack Simth]

Is it stronger than the base cleric?

Yes, once you get past the feat requirements.

Is the Cleric strong to begin with?

Yes.

The abilities aren't actually all that much to write home about, though. Most can be duplicated with spells ... most of which are on the Cleric spell list. The rest are rather situational.

 

[Kat']

Is it stronger than the base cleric?

Yes, once you get past the feat requirements.

...which means, in the end, he isn't, 'cause the cleric is clearly feat-starved and 3 feats out of possible 7 (8 for humans) is a lot. I have the same problem with my tabletop Doomguide, the feat requirements do hurt.

Plus consider the following:
- this is a FR specific class. You could adapt it to other settings, but it's up to your DM. And the Realms are already deadly enough, thank you, so a bit of power isn't too much
- Talos is a Chaotic Evil deity. His worshippers are not welcome everywhere, and it poses roleplaying and potentially group interaction issues
- javelins suck
- immunity to electricity is pretty common

Powerful, yes, overpowered, not a tiny bit.

 

[ardentmoth]

This reminds me of a God (Epic to Deific) character for a campaign i want to start... at level 30: Cleric 5, Fighter 5, Kensai 10, Stormlord 10. Used a Large greatspear with monkey grip. Level max for the campaign is 50, all 20 of those last levels will be Paladin (with some epicly epic mount, like a Dire Storm Elemental Lion or something ridiculous and houseruled....).

Cleric 5 is a tough road at first for stormlord, but more focus on combat should make it very rewarding. Kensai seemed logical to me, perhaps you'll find something else.

Course, as has been pointed out, the best domains for it are taken by evil dudes... Even more house-ruling? Okay:

A Neutral Deity of Storms with Greatspear as his weapon. Domains: Protection, Strength, War, and of course Weather. A tweaked Thor? maybe the stormlord PrC could use a Maul... heh.