Woo-hoo! Heroes of Horror preview!!

[ForceUser]

LOVE the Archivist.

Ditto. Wish I could dump the cleric from my homebrew altogether and use this.

 

[boolean]

The archivist? Best new class I've seen in a WotC book. It might just replace the cleric in any campaign I run, horror-themed or not. (Though perhaps I'd change the name, and base spellcasting on Wisdom instead of Intelligence.)

Though it is interesting to be able to make a Mystic Theurge who only needs a single stat for casting.

 

[DMH]

Okay, a several people have stated they like the archivist. My question is why? Isn't the point of divine spellcaster to gain their spells, domain powers and such from a divine source? Doesn't the archivist totally short circut the point of divine spellcasters?

Seriously, I am having trouble seeing the value of this class as written. If it were arcane or even psionic based, I can buy it. But a godless cleric?

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I am sooooooo buying this.

 

[Borlon]

Okay, a several people have stated they like the archivist. My question is why? Isn't the point of divine spellcaster to gain their spells, domain powers and such from a divine source? Doesn't the archivist totally short circut the point of divine spellcasters?

Seriously, I am having trouble seeing the value of this class as written. If it were arcane or even psionic based, I can buy it. But a godless cleric?

I don't think they are godless. The description says

Unlike a cleric, an archivist does not receive his daily spell complement from whatever deity or cosmic force he worships....

While most archivists are religious, it is fundamentally their way to put more stock in the power of the divine than in the divine itself. Archivists exist for virtually every known deity. Some hunt down the secrets of ages past to exalt the greater glory of their deity, while others seek only to safeguard sacred lore from falling into the wrong hands. Still others see very little connection between their personal devotion and the work they do, aside from perceiving their continued success as evidence of their god's favor.

And really, it makes sense that if a religion's clergy mostly consists of experts, that their spellcasting would be somewhat esoteric, requiring a lot of study to uncover. It also allows deities to be a little bit more off-stage, which I think you need to have in a kind of horror game. PCs have to feel that they are on their own, without celestial backup to fix things if they mess up.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Ditto. Wish I could dump the cleric from my homebrew altogether and use this.

Unless I missed it though, there's no spont casting, so you'd have to memorize curing spells.

For myself, this will supplement the cleric, and along with Marshal, decrease the Bard's importance as the Buffing Guy.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Okay, a several people have stated they like the archivist. My question is why? Isn't the point of divine spellcaster to gain their spells, domain powers and such from a divine source? Doesn't the archivist totally short circut the point of divine spellcasters?

Seriously, I am having trouble seeing the value of this class as written. If it were arcane or even psionic based, I can buy it. But a godless cleric?

When I read the class, I first thought of an archaelogical priest of Vecna, plumbing the depths for secrets long lost. Sure, you could use other deities, and most of the core deities (Boccob, Wee Jas) would just as likely have clerics or wizards, but I think it's a fun third option.
As I mentioned in my other post, I can't see it replacing the Cleric, but it'd make a nice extra character.

As far as gaining powers from a divine source, Druids, Paladins, Rangers, none are bound to a deity by default. Think of the Archivist as a messenger/ servant of the divine, but not a representative of the divine (such as a cleric).

 

[Vocenoctum]

I hope so as well. I'm one of those who actually likes Swashbuckling Adventures.....though I'd like to see what WotC would do with it. I am concerned that we'd get guys with a rapier in one hand, wand of lightning in the other, jumping around battling sorcerers and dragons.....what I prefer is something more like the Three Musketeers. So maybe I should stick to Swashbuckling Adventures. Of course, we don't know for sure how WotC would address it.

Banshee

Well, I'd like to see a Swashbuckling set of rules, but realistically Heroes of Swashbuckling would be introducing Swashbuckling to a D&D setting, not a complete setting of it's own. So you'd most likely get sorcerers and dragons, rather than guns and realism. D20 Past will be more of a representation than Swashbuckling Adventures I think.

 

[ForceUser]

Unless I missed it though, there's no spont casting, so you'd have to memorize curing spells.

That's fine with me.

 

[DMH]

As far as gaining powers from a divine source, Druids, Paladins, Rangers, none are bound to a deity by default.

No, they aren't but they do worship something divine, be it a force or a god.

I guess my problem is my definition of a divine spell or power- unlike arcane spells, which reside in the caster's head, divine power comes directly from a divinity, for lack of a better term. Requiem for a God covers the actual source (sort of a soul for the god), but one can not just read off a divine spell and expect it to work, unlike an arcane one.