What do you make of this PrC?

[Myrmex]

I found this in the 3.0 book, Kingdoms of Kalamar, Player's Guide.

Restorer
Prereqs:
Hobgoblin, any evil, spellcraft 8 ranks, BAB +6, maximize spell, ability to cast spells as a sorcerer

What he gets:
Locate object at will, -1 to all metamagic costs at level 2, when dropped to 0 to -9 HP, pretend to die, but really stabilize at 0 HP, gain a hobgoblin cohort at level 4, at level five gain a nightmare, displacer beast, griffon, or dire boar as a steed, at level 10 he can give up to one hobgoblin/cha mod a +2 morale bonus to attacks, saves, skill checks, damage, as a standard action, as often as he likes. Casting progresses at 3rd, 6th, and 9th level. Full BAB, good fort and good will saves. 2 skill points/level.


It seems a really solid class through level 6. Taking the last 4 levels seems useless, and a two level dip, despite the lost caster levels, is really great. The metamagic reducer has no stipulations about reducing something below +1, so that would make still & silent spell free, or apply to wizard spells. The cohort and nightmare mount would be awesome sauce for a gish, though you would lose some pretty serious caster levels. Of course, there's no reason your cohort couldn't be a full caster.

[edit]
I would actually consider letting it in a higher power game, so long as all 10 levels where taken, as this would force the character to be a gish and make him less pewpew.

[Glimbur]

With only 3/10 casting progression, I wouldn't take it for a caster type. Assuming you just take Sorcerer because that's easier to think about, you qualify at 12th level due to BAB concerns. That's 6th level spells. Then at 14th level you still have... 6th level spells. At 16th level you have 6th level spells. At 20th level you have 7th level spells. The rest of it just isn't worth losing so many caster levels.

I would consider it for a melee type. Still spell is a +0 now, so if you take Rapid Metamagic or some such you could cast spells normally in armour. A fighter could dip into sorc and take Maximize spell and qualify at about level 8. Carry a Lesser Rod of Quicken so you can cast Quickened True Strike and some other useful first level spells, and it's still not as good as focusing on being a fighter.

[Flickerdart]

Glimbur, you'd only do the 2 level dip as a full caster, losing a spell level, true, but maybe you can still catch up? Gain entry as Bard and go Sublime Chord afterwards. Bard 8/This thing 2/Sublime Chord 10 is perfectly legitimate, and you can't take Sublime Chord until 10th anyways.

[Chronos]

Suppose you take 6 levels of sorcerer, and then 2 levels of this class: You can now cast an extended 3rd level spell in your highest-level spell slots. Suppose you instead take 8 levels of sorcerer: You can now cast an extended 3rd level spell in your highest-level spell slots, or use them for actual 4th-level spells. The only way you'd get any use at all out of this class is to have multiple +1 metamagic feats, and if you want to apply more than one of them to almost every spell you cast, and even then, you still end up with fewer total spell slots.

[Draken]

Hmm... What to make of this prc.

I know! Make the spellcasting and the BAB progression switch places. That would work.

[Bluebeard]

Is there any way to get Able Learner onto a Hobgoblin?
Or to make a Human or Half-Elf count as a Hobgoblin for this thing's purposes?
Because Chameleon can make anything doable.

Otherwise, it's just for Sublime Chord shenanigans, the cap to an Assassin or Suel Arcanamach build or a level 19 and 20 for a Sorcerer.

[monty]

Is there any way to get Able Learner onto a Hobgoblin?
Or to make a Human or Half-Elf count as a Hobgoblin for this thing's purposes?
Because Chameleon can make anything doable.

Otherwise, it's just for Sublime Chord shenanigans, the cap to an Assassin or Suel Arcanamach build or a level 19 and 20 for a Sorcerer.

Changeling with that one feat that makes it count as whatever it's turned into?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I played Kalamar back in 3.0, just about every class was horribly front-loaded just like the 3.0 Ranger and Paladin. Just look at the Infiltrator base class from that same book, there is absolutely no reason to take it past 4th level, but the first 4 levels are just amazing for any nonspellcaster who can afford to lose a point of BAB.

The KoK Hobgoblins were +0 LA, they got Dex +2, Con +2, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha -2, with two different half-hobgoblin races depending on region, one had Dex +2, Wis -2, Cha -2, the other got Con +2, Int -2.

The -1 metamagic adjustment is pretty nice, but the loss of two levels of spellcasting is enough of a setback to make it useless for most nongestalt characters. If you want an obscure 3rd party low-investment prestige class that reduces metamagic, check out the Book of Erotic Fantasy, it has a 3-level prestige class that gives full spellcasting and reduces metamagic by -1 at the end. Kalamar may have had the official D&D logo, but it was 100% 3rd party, WotC just gave it licensing but had nothing to do with it beyond that.

[Another_Poet]

For a gish it sounds like a dream come true. The mount and reduced metamagic costs are what make it for me. Okay, really the mount is what makes it for me. Mmmmmm.

Sounds like in a Gestalt build it would be made of win, too, since you wouldn't need to give up full casting.

But for a regular sorcerer12, yes, it would be suboptimal.

Hmmmm.... if your DM would allow a divine version for the favoured soul (favoured soul is to cleric as sorcerer is to wizard) then it could have a lot of promise.

ap

[Myrmex]

It's obviously not meant to be a full caster, and for bringing a half caster up to par with full casters, I'd say it's pretty ok. You do get a free cohort (make it a wizard) and a nightmare (plane shift & astral projection, and it flies), as well as some metamagic cheapness. Going all 10 levels would be a mistake, but 6 would be ok, as long as you could tolerate playing a character that didn't get 9th level spells. I understand that, for many people, they won't play anything that doesn't theoretically get ninth level spells, so I could see that would be a deal breaker. Otherwise, I think it could make a fairly decent gish. Being ethereal with a ghost touch lance? Yes please! You can now charge for triple damage indoors!