Originally Posted by
Talanic
I don't disagree that its prerequisites are odd and/or mediocre. Shooting for Risen Martyr is a weird idea, but in a campaign that was already running BoED, it could well happen without the player planning. Or perhaps a player might hedge his bets and confer with the DM about having a backup plan in case of TPK.
You don't get BA (first BA gain is at level 2, following .5 BA progression from there) and the book doesn't even say that you gain level 0, only that the abilities of level 0 are added to you. I still maintain that it is not a level, they just didn't write clearly when writing the book. You and I might never agree on that. I was hoping they had an example Martyr to look at, but no such luck...
And again, given that its primary function is "dead guy not dead for a bit", there's very little else to compare it TO. It's for when all other resurrection is off the table but you still have things this character was striving to accomplish. When the party cleric dies and the party's in the home stretch against the BBEG, with no chance to backtrack and pick someone else up, nobody else who can resurrect, and no hope of victory without him. The quest is failed, the world is doomed, but the gods sent him back specifically for this task. It's not a normal class, for you to consider getting deliberately; it even has a "You messed about too long when trying to accomplish your goal, now get back to the afterlife" failsafe built in. It's a weird class, for weird circumstances, but not entirely without conceivable use.