Why are Favoured Souls so Popular?

[Lancelot]

My group (6 players, plus myself as the DM) plays three sessions every two weeks, since the dawn of 3e (and a long time before). We have a reasonably high rate of PC attrition, averaging perhaps one 'permanent' PC or cohort death every week. Some weeks will go by with no deaths, then other weeks will be a bloodbath.

Given we've gone through a couple hundred characters since 3e came out, I've seen 'em all. Warlocks, scouts, erudites, lurks, divine minds, ardents, marshals, healers, knights, you name it... and in multiples.

I've yet to see a single favored soul, ever. The players don't even consider them. I've never DM'ed one. I can't recall seeing one in any Dungeon magazine adventure, nor in WotC modules like Red Hand of Doom. I can't recall any major NPC from any campaign setting who is a favored soul, although admittedly I'm not an Eberron expert.

Whether they're under- or over- powered, I don't know. From what I've read of them, I think they're quite nicely balanced.

But seeing them all the time...? I consider them one of the *least* used base classes.

 

[MerricB]

Favoured Souls require a different appreciation. They're not clerics, but they're effective in their own right.

PHB2 really makes a difference to the FS as well. Not just the alternate class ability, but their eligibility to get the feat "Melee Weapon Mastery".

I'd play a Favoured Soul as a combination buffer/healer.

Cheers!

 

[Jdvn1]

That's just a bit more raw healing power out of the box than a cleric, simply because they get more spells/day, and they keep that flexibility of being able to cast them at will.

That's right, and that also makes them better than Clerics at low levels, when Clerics can only prepare (and thustly use) two or three different spells anyway.

After those very low levels, the two classes start to look more different. As each class comes into their own, the Cleric is a better casting/healing class (variety, spell power), and the Favored Soul is a better fighting/support class (lots of buffs for the party).

 

[Greg K]

The spontaneous divine angle is a good one. Unfortunately, it is the other special features that, imo, ruin the class.

 

[Glyfair]

It makes sense conceptually, but it's broken mechanically. A favored soul is a sorcerer that gets d8 hit dice, all good saves, knows more spells, gets to wear and cast in armor, and has a number of other class features such as energy resistance and weapon feats. Start letting the FS tap into domain spell lists, many of which cross over into the area reserved for arcanists, and things start getting ugly.

Still nowhere near what a cleric has.

A favored soul has a hugely restricted choice of spells.
Slower spell progression.
Has worse armor options (not proficient with heavy armor)
No undead turning
No ability to take divine feats (since they have no undead turning).
No domain abilities.
No domain spells.

They gain:
Spontaneously cast all their spells instead of just healing (but a very restricted list).
More spells per day.
Weapon proficiency with their deities weapon (good if their deities weapon isn't a simple weapon)
All good saves.
Minor abilities every few levels (weapon focus with god's weapon, energy resistance, wings at 20th level).

IMO, adding the ability to cast spells from their deities domains is going to be so powerful that it won't make up for the distance they are down the power curve from the cleric. There might be a few oddities, but I doubt there is much power flow towards the Favored Soul.

I think the Favored Soul would be a good character class if it substituted for a wizard, for example. However, for the cleric's role, they are just far inferior (mostly because the cleric has so many abilities so player's will play them).

 

[Cadfan]

Spontaneous divine casting is nice. A lot of people don't particularly like memorizing spells in advance, and aren't that picky about class power. They're popular in my area because you can play them more casually. They're probably less powerful than a cleric, of course, but some of us aren't obnoxious munchkins and don't insist on power matching that of the best class in the game.

 

[Drowbane]

I don't have my books on me, but can't they spontaneously cast Cure X wounds something like 4 times per day (assuming they know it) when they get the spell, before bonus spells and scrolls and wands are added in? Vs. the cleric casting it once, twice if they have the healing domain, before they have to switch out prepared spells?

That's just a bit more raw healing power out of the box than a cleric, simply because they get more spells/day, and they keep that flexibility of being able to cast them at will.

I still think a Cleric can out due the Flavored Soul (mispelling on purpose ) in the healing department if they put their mind to it.

 

[Graf]

FSs aren’t particularly powerful compared to a cleric.
If you’re seeing them a lot then something odd is happening.

They give up most of the good utility spells that clerics need periodically but an FS doesn’t want to waste a slot on.
They don’t get domains or turning.
They can’t use heavy armor without wasting a feat so they have lower ACs…

The –one- thing they do really well is heal.
They’re capable of pumping out a truly massive amount of healing.
But the rest of their special abilities are fairly irrelevant for game purposes.

 

[Merkuri]

I asked to play a favored soul in our WLD campaign. I'd never played one before, but I thought they looked nifty. The DM approved the class, but thought I was screwing myself. He didn't think it was worth it to give up turning ability, domains, and a large section of the cleric list, just for weapons focus, energy resistance, and wings.

(As a side note, I notice most people don't like the wings on favored souls. I'd think it would be simple enough to house-rule that instead of wings the favored soul simply gains the ability to fly without the extra appendages, or that she gains another method of locomotion, like burrowing for an earth diety or swimming for a water god.)

What he didn't realize is that favored souls can cast more spells per day than clerics, and they have no need to prepare spells. If you pick the "cure" spell for each spell level you can become a heal machine. There aren't very many offensive cleric spells to begin with, and if you pick your spells carefully you can be an extremely effective character. I haven't even used my energy resistances yet (and am too low level for wings) but I'm the longest lived-character in the campaign, a couple sessions away from the "Iron Player" award the the DM announced he'd give out when somebody hit 50 sessions, but didn't really think it would happen and hasn't yet figured out what he's going to give as the reward.

Being able to wear armor, specializing in a ranged weapons (you don't have to go ranged, but that's what my favored soul did), and being a buff/heal machine gives you a high survivability rate, and makes you very useful to the party as well. Some characters are good at keeping themselves alive, but they don't play a big party in a party as a whole. Favored souls fill the vaulable niche of healer and can kick butt in combat as well.

Plus, I just love the flavor. I always viewed favored souls as people who were chosen by their dieties, rather than the other way around. I gave my favored soul the backstory that she escaped slavery by running away across a vast desert with no supplies, water, or training of any sort. She made it through only by the intervention of her goddess. She was not a very religious person before that point, but now she introduces herself as "Favored of Tanil" and tries to live up to her goddess' expectations.

I'm having a ton of fun with her, and plan to take her all the way to 20 with the favored soul class (assuming, of course, that she lives that long).

 

[ThirdWizard]

Favored souls are awesome if they have access to scrolls to even out their spells, maybe a wand of cure x wounds, and they're good to go. Most of the really important cleric spells, I've noticed, aren't used that often, so clerics tend to keep them on scrolls instead of prepare them anyway (or drop them for cures often). Clerics also don't use saving throw spells often, at least IMX. Searing light is great for favored souls.