PDA

View Full Version : Playing a Favored Soul?



Telvos
2007-09-29, 10:28 PM
I'm having a bit of difficulty playing this class. It seems to really fit with what I want my character to be; daughter of one of Red Knight's warrior clerics and chosen of the Lady of Strategy.

The problem is, how can I get this to work without cheating on the stats (we use point buy, not roll, so I can't really get this working xD)


Anyone have any good suggestions for me?

Quellian-dyrae
2007-09-30, 12:08 AM
Since you're playing a devotee of a tactician deity, you can probably realistically focus more on buffing and--well, no really good clerical battlefield control spells spring out, so mainly buffing, and of course healing. I'm not saying it won't hurt some to give up spells like Slay Living, Destruction, and Implosion, but you can do it. That obviates the need for Wisdom. Skills aren't your main deal, so there's little need for Int. Your deity is a goddess of tactics, so this entire theory makes absolutely no sense from a fluff standpoint, but what can you do?

Dex may be marginally important, since you use medium armor only and don't have access to Cat's Grace. Str, while valuable, can be very efficiently augmented by the cleric spell list; Bull's Strength is a good pre-encounter augment, Righteous Might for in-combat, and if you have Spell Compendium, the combo of Girallon's Blessing and Fuse Arms can be excellent. If you want a sprinkling of cheese to make up for your lack of Divine Metamagic, ask your DM if multiple castings of Girallon's Blessing and Fuse Arms stack.

Your favored weapon is, unfortunately, the longsword. A very viable tactic would be to get a reach weapon, focus on Dex and Cha backed by Str, and rely on a mix of party buffs (Bless and Prayer at lower levels, and if you have SpC, Recitation and Righteous Wrath of the Faithful at higher levels) and maybe self buffs (Divine Power, and the excellent combo of Righteous Might + Divine Agility). The idea is, you power up the party, naturally the enemies want to bring you down for doing so, you get AoOs when they try. You'll have a good AC and things like Entropic Shield to deal with ranged attacks, high saves (and, later on, the Spell Resistance spell) to handle magic. It may be worth doing even if you won't get full benefit of Weapon Focus and Specialization.

Draz74
2007-09-30, 01:18 AM
Bull's Strength is a good pre-encounter augment, Righteous Might for in-combat, and if you have Spell Compendium, the combo of Girallon's Blessing and Fuse Arms can be excellent.

Bull's Strength is obsolete anytime you can use Divine Power instead. Which is much more powerful.

Shas aia Toriia
2007-09-30, 08:15 AM
Obviously, go for high spellcasting stats, and since you are worship a tactician deity, head for a decent INT.

What point buy system are you using? We could probably give you the appropriate stats.

lord_khaine
2007-09-30, 09:29 AM
you doesnt have to be smart just because you worship a tactican deity, and a favored soul has enough to spend point on besides int.

Starsinger
2007-09-30, 10:04 AM
Status is a useful spell for such a favored soul. Also, once you get your wings, you may want to consider flying above the battle, issuing commands and casting spells, as a tactician, your job is to lead others. Consider either acting as the party leader when they become indecisive or at least doing so during combat.

The Warcraft d20 books have [Commander] feats, which give bonuses to people who see you as their leader/commanding officer/tactician.. if possible, you may want to look into those source books and either ninja the feats, or get the books... they're useful feats for a leader type who doesn't want to be a marshal or a bard.

Rad
2007-09-30, 10:09 AM
I read about feats that allowed to change the key ability of a caster for bonus spells and spells learnable, although leaving the DC to the original one. In this case you could use them to cast on only one stat.
Can't recall the names and books though.

CASTLEMIKE
2007-09-30, 12:15 PM
The Red Knight is LN. What is your PC's alignment LN, LG, LE or N? What amount for point buy?

My first impression is it doesn't sound like a low level campaign as 25 point buy works fine through level 6 -8. What levels are we talking about? Single adventure or a campaign? Leveling up campaign from first or a build?

Most importantly what source books are allowed so posters don't waste their time responding?

Wisdom and Charisma for your 2 highest abilities. Tweak the rest to taste.

With a little wealth you can purchase mithril heavy armor for the best protection to cost wearing it as medium armor.

Someone in the party should consider taking Craft Wonderous Items. Even with campaign magic stores it allows your PC to get Charisma and Wisdom ability enhancing items at half market cost increasing your PC and "Party" magical resources since you are a "Team". In most campaigns the experience point cost for crafting magical items is a non issue unless it is abused the DM generally makes sure your PC levels up with the other party members.

(You can always ask and maybe your DM will let your PC's cleric mother have it with the price break but expect a No).

With one of the standard point buys (25 - 32) I'd suggest a +0LA template like Plane Touched for the +2 bonus to Charisma and Wisdom in a FRCS campaign since it is available in the the Player's Guide to Faerun. Effectively that is worth 10 points in Point Buy with a 16 and a 14 assigned to Charisma and Wisdom.

The +1 LA Aisimar works with LA buy down and the +2 LA Phrenic also works well since they provide a bonus to Char and Wisdom (The +2 LA Half Fey (Generally Chaotic bent and Butterfly wings doesn't seem to fit your PC concept)). There are other templates and race options.

With a LG PC alignment I'd consider dipping into the PRC Paladin variant for 3 levels at the cost of 1 spell casting level for most of the Paladin class bennies. (With the +5 BAB and needing Turning you can get it from a PRC like Sacred Exorcist).

The Sacred Exorcist or Pious Templar could be another option.

Telvos
2007-09-30, 08:10 PM
Sorry for late reply; it's 26 points (by DM's specific direction).


I think I'm gonna have to roleplay her as a more of a general than a soldier. She'll be at the back of battle directing the fight as it plays out, tossing buffs, debuffs, etc. as necessary to move the fight in the party's favor. That should take a great deal of dependancy off of STR as she won't be directly fighting. I can probably get away with lower CON and DEX, leaving the other three stats free for pumping.

Any thoughts?

CASTLEMIKE
2007-09-30, 09:26 PM
Sorry for late reply; it's 26 points (by DM's specific direction).


I think I'm gonna have to roleplay her as a more of a general than a soldier. She'll be at the back of battle directing the fight as it plays out, tossing buffs, debuffs, etc. as necessary to move the fight in the party's favor. That should take a great deal of dependancy off of STR as she won't be directly fighting. I can probably get away with lower CON and DEX, leaving the other three stats free for pumping.

Any thoughts?

The standard array is supposed to be 25 point buy and based on that that 8, 10, 12, 14, 14, 15 or 10, 10, 12, 14, 14, 14 or 10, 10, 12, 14, 14, 14.

All 8s with 26 points 10, 10, 14, 14, 14, 14.

High scores to Charisma and Wisdom others to taste. Considering going Human with the +0 LA Planetouched template from Player's Guide to Faerun for that +2 bonus to Charisma and Wisdom since playing in FRCS.

Using the last set: St 10, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 16 (PT), Char 16(PT)

What alignment? What source books? How many levels? How high do you expect the campaign to go to?

Probably Divine Favor and Lesser Vigor in most parties for 2 of your 3 First level spells.

Cantrips Read Magic plus Detect Magic and 2 to taste.

BardicDuelist
2007-09-30, 09:29 PM
You may be set on playing a Favored Soul, but the marshal class may do what you like as well.

If you play a favored soul, pump your spell casting stats. Then spend the rest on Con and Int. Don't dump Dex and Str, but average will do.

If you know Cure Minor Wounds, RAW reading of Spontaneous Healer in CDivine can let you get away with not knowing any other cure spells as a Favored Soul.

You may be set on playing a Favored Soul, but the marshal class may do what you like as well.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030906b
Flavor and mechanics wise, it may be more what you are looking for.

i would use these stats if you go with Favored Soul:
Str:10
Dex:10
Con:12
Int:12
Wis:16
Cha:16

Toliudar
2007-10-01, 02:45 AM
I'd echo Quellian-dyrae's advice on sticking with buffing and healing spells - leave the offensive spells to the other casters. This would allow you to focus on being ready to be a great melee and healing combo. Given a 26 point buy, you might look at:

Str 14
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 14

This is enough to make you reasonable in combat (better than reasonable by the time you're getting second level buffs), and with enough hit points that you're not getting knocked down right away.

Lycurgus
2007-10-01, 05:15 AM
I like the favored soul, but if I was going for your concept I would probably multiclass cleric and marshal. I don't have the spell lists in front of me, but remember as a follower of the Lady of Strategy that battlefield control is just as important as troop control. Things that can adjust your environment to your advantage can be more effective for more troops on a per casting basis.

Person_Man
2007-10-01, 09:27 AM
The Favored Soul has a huge mechanical weakness in that their spells Save DC is based off of Wis, but their bonus spells per day are based off of Cha. Since most Favored Souls also want to be a front liner (in need of high Str, respectable Dex, and high Con) this gives you serious MAD.

So your first step is to dump Wis and never cast a spell that allows your enemy a Saving Throw. This will let you shift your stat points into Str and Con. It also means you need to focus on buffs and healing.

Next, you want to comb through every supplement. You're looking for useful buff spells. Your goal is to find as many spells as possible that have a duration of at least 10 min per level. This allows you to buff yourself a lot when you walk into the door of the dungeon/whatever, and essentially keep all of your buffs active until the area is completely cleared out and every battle has been fought. You might also be able to use 1 min per level spells with Extend Spell metamagic. And there are going to be one or two 1 round per level spells that you keep for those really hard spells. Off the top of my head, I'd say that you definitely need Divine Power and Spikes (Spell Compendium - make your favorite weapon out of iron wood).

Now you want feats. Of particular use to you will be reserve and domain feats. They give you certain abilities as long as you have at least 1 spell of a certain type available to you. Since you're a spontaneous caster, you will almost always have its power available to you. You also want to look at anything that was written to buff sorcerers, like Races of the Dragon and Dragon Magic. For example, Races of the Dragon has the Practical Metamagic feat, which allows spontaneous casters to use LA more easily, and Versatile Spellcaster, which allows you to burn 2 lower level spells to cast a higher level spell.