Why are Favoured Souls so Popular?

[Greylock]

My one and only gripe about the Favored Souls is the loss of Domains.

Other than that, I think they rock. And if they had Domains, I'd play them all day every day.

Instead, I play my Clerics as if they are Favored Souls. I restrict them, and power them down.

 

[Jdvn1]

I'd play them all day every day.

If that were true, then it'd be a good arguement for their being overpowered.

 

[MerricB]

It's interesting to compare the Favoured Soul to the Mystic from DL. The Mystic doesn't have the bonus features of the FS, but does have domains.

I prefer the Favoured Soul. IMO, the way the Mystic deals with domains actually *restricts* the character more than it empowers it.

Not being able to wear heavy armour is not a problem at mid to high levels when Mithral armour becomes available.

Cheers!

 

[Felon]

Still nowhere near what a cleric has one them.

A cleric gets a domain, but can only cast each of his domain spells once per day. Allowing a favored soul to use any of his slots to cast domain pretty handily breaks any balance it had with its sorcerer counterpart.

As to declaring the cleric superior to the favored soul--sure, comes out looking inferior if you just say "the cleric has this, the favored soul doesn't" and don't do the reverse. The favored soul gets far more spell slots, can cast his spells spontaneously, has a good Reflesx save, and gains other class features in place of turning undead (which, without the existence of divine feats, is a real dud except at the lowest of levels).

 

[Felon]

Not being able to wear heavy armour is not a problem at mid to high levels when Mithral armour becomes available.Cheers!

Sure, or the halfweight magic property. A good Reflex save is a much better asset.

 

[Shroomy]

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.

Favored Souls have recently appeared in the Dungeon adventures "The Coming Storm" and "The Weavers." Also, one of the Wyrmlord's in RHoD is a favored soul of Tiamat.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

As to declaring the cleric superior to the favored soul--sure, comes out looking inferior if you just say "the cleric has this, the favored soul doesn't" and don't do the reverse.

But he did do "the reverse". He even listed on you missed.

 

[Herobizkit]

As for why people like favored souls, I think the mixture of having a clerical flavor but being much easier to run spell-wise (fixed spell list, no preparation every day) is also a major selling-point. I prefer playing spellcasters who prepare spells, but I know players for whom that's a downside to a class, not a positive quality.

DING DING DING! QFT.

I despise the Vancian "learn/pray" mechanic of core d20. I'd much rather have a small set of decent spells that I can use a lot instead of trying to decide what may or may not be useful that day. I can't fathom someone asking his friends to wait around for half an hour (or whatever) while he memorized a spell that he would use once and then have to wait the rest of the day to do it again.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I haven't seen one in action, but I've looked them over a few times. They're decent.

I considered playing one recently, but didn't like that they HAD to be attached to a deity- yes, I know that it links to their weapon skills. That feature just didn't fit my last PC's concept.

Someday, maybe.

Definitely before any of the CW classes, or the Warlock.

 

[Herobizkit]

Of course, that's just curing hit point damage. The FS can't cover all the heal machine bases. Can't be the cure-all kitchen sink packing lesser restoration, remove blindness/disease/curse/fear/paralysis, etc. much less switch over to being the self-buffing battle beast after the sun goes down. Even if they're underrated by some folks, they're certainly overrated by others.

You speak the truth. You definitely need to specialize in a certain field of spells (healing, restoration, buffs, de-buffs) because the Favoured Soul can't do everything. OTOH, buffing = math, and math is b0rken.