Warchanter rundown?

[Vanye]

Apparently it's a prestige class for bards in the Complete Warrior. One of my players has to bring in a new character after his sorcerer got killed by a dire boar last week, and he's been looking through my copy of CW which he borrowed, and he wants to know if he can create a character with this P.C. in mind. Unfortunately, he forgot to bring the book in with him to work today, so I can't review it. Can someone give me a rundown on the class, so I can try and get him a decision before tonights session? Thanks!



p.s. - I also posted this on seankreynolds.com, so it's possible you may have seen it there as well.

 

[satori01]

Basicaly it is a 10 level prestige class. The class has d8 hit dice, +1 bab per level and no spell casting. There are a couple of new bardic abilities the class adds, none of which is overwhelming, the most powerful being able to use two bardic abilities at the same time.

 

[Vanye]

Basicaly it is a 10 level prestige class. The class has d8 hit dice, +1 bab per level and no spell casting. There are a couple of new bardic abilities the class adds, none of which is overwhelming, the most powerful being able to use two bardic abilities at the same time.

I'm presuming that there is nothing overtly broken in the class, then? That's good.

 

[Bill Muench]

I'm presuming that there is nothing overtly broken in the class, then? That's good.

I haven't decided if it is broken or not, since I haven't seen it in play, but their 10th-level ability ("Inspire Legion", IIRC) is really beefy.

Basically, you determine the best BAB among all your allies w/in 60 ft. and everyone is treated as having it as their BAB for as long as you sing. They also get a +2 competence bonus to damage. So let's say you're a Brd1/Ftr4/Warchanter10. Your BAB is +14. You're leading a unit of 60 infantry (War2, we'll say). They get +12 to hit, 2 extra interative attacks, and +2 damage. That's really beefy. Broken? I'm not sure, since I don't know how often it will come up. But definitely beefy.

Bill

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Two questions need to be answered before you decide whether the Warchanter is broken or not.

Number one, how powerful is your campaign overall? Do most PCs have a (decent) PrC? More than one PrC? Are any of them druids? Clerics or (at higher levels) wizards? The warchanter should never be as dangerous as a druid or cleric with a minute of game-time to prepare.

Number two, how likely is it that this PC will be able to bring a significant number of weaker troops to bear on a given encounter? This is especially important with ranged attackers. A few squads of CR 1 archers firing at BAB 14 can devastate anything that doesn't have damage reduction. Of course, by ECL 14, most opponents DO have damage reduction or are smart enough not to engage the party in wide open spaces with a sizable force of archers behind them.

Overall, I consider the warchanter fun, flavorful and well balanced.