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Golden-Esque
2009-08-20, 01:51 AM
Hey again, thanks for all of the helpful critics on my last variant class, the Sorcerer. I've still got work to do on it, but it's nice to see that people enjoy my ideas :).

That, of course, brings us to my next "Variant", if you want to call it that. Truth be told, this version of the favored soul class is night and day from the one detailed in Complete Divine. But first, some forenotes.

#1 - I'm trying out an idea where there's no dead levels for Special Abilities. Brace yourself, and keep that in mind when you read this. If it works well here, it'd be something I'd like to apply to all classes.

#2 - This variant of the favored soul uses the Recharge Magic system. A quick summary of the Recharge Magic system is given under Spells on this page, and you can read Unearthed Arcana for more information. The favored soul's spell selection is balanced knowing that the favored soul never runs out of spells, compared to the other spellcasters in the campaign.

#3 - The favored soul is heavily focused on melee combat when compared to the cleric. One of my goals is trying to keep the paladin, cleric, and favored soul unique, but with hints of each between the three classes. I think you'll see that here.

#4 - The favored soul is intended to be a decent main healer, when he has the Healing Domain (more on that). They trade the rather quick healing of the cleric for an infinite amount of healing; a favored soul's party will rarely go into a battle with a single hit point out of place, but the favored soul does not function well as an in-combat healer.

#5 - THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT. In the campaign I've made, it's important to note that each deity has exactly SEVEN DOMAINS. It would be silly to list them all here, but the deities were custom-tailored to all have SEVEN DOMAINS. This way, no one deity is more beneficial to be a favored soul by sheer amount of Domains alone.

#6 - I think it's worth noting that as the levels go up, for the most part the overall power of the Special Features goes down. This is intended. Although it is a weak spellcasting class, the Favored Soul is a spellcasting class that has access to a wide and powerful array of Cleric spells. It felt unnecessary to give the class amazing abilities at high levels.

And without further ado . . .

The Favored Soul
{table=head] Level | BAB | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special
01 | +0 | +2 | +2 | +2 | Divine Strike, Faith Healing, Turn / Rebuke Undead
02 | +1 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Favored Weapon Focus
03 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Domain Power 1/Day, 1st Domain Power
04 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Favored Weapon Specialization
05 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Aligned Weapon
06 | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | Domain Power 2/Day
07 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | 2nd Domain Power
08 | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Aura of Faith +1
09 | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Domain Power 3/Day
10 | +7/+2 | +7 | +7 | +7 | Aura of Faith +2
11 | +8/+3 | +7 | +7 | +7 | Mark of the Gods, 3rd Domain Power
12 | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +8 | Aura of Faith +3, Domain Power 4/Day
13 | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +8 | Divine Resolve
14 | +10/+5 | +9 | +9 | +9 | Aura of Faith +4
15 | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +9 | +9 | Domain Power 5/Day, 4th Domain Power
16 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +10 | Aura of Faith +5
17 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +10 | Inspiring Presence
18 | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +11 | +11 | Aura of Faith +6, Domain Power 6/Day
19 | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +11 | +11 | 5th Domain Power
20 | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +12 | +12 | Aura of Faith +7, Timelessness[/table]

Favored Soul Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Favored Souls are proficient with all simple weapons, all armor, and shields (except tower shields). In addition, a Favored Soul is also proficient with all of their deity's favored weapons. A Favored Soul does not gain Proficiency with Natural Attacks or Rays, if they are the Deity's Favored Weapons.

Aura (Su)
Like a Cleric, a Favored Soul of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity's alignment (see detect evil or similar spells for details).

Turn / Rebuke Undead (Su)
A favored soul can Turn or Rebuke undead creatures, depending on the favored soul’s alignment. This ability is identical to the cleric class feature.

Spells
A favored soul casts divine spells which are drawn from the Domain Spell Lists available to the favored soul's deity. A favored soul can cast any spell he or she knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below). To learn or cast a spell, a favored soul must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a favored soul’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the favored soul’s Charisma modifier. Unlike other spellcasters, such as the wizard or cleric, there is no limit to how many spells a favored soul can cast in a day. The favored soul is a beacon of faith for mortals and a living, breathing example of a deity's dogma; thus deities allot more divine energies to their favored souls.

Each time a favored soul casts a spell, he or she must make a Recharge check (see Table: Favored Soul Spell Recharge Rate below). The favored soul roles the appropriate die based on the spell's spell level and the favored soul's class level, as soon on the table. A favored soul must make this check each time he or she casts a spell, regardless of the outcome. A countered spell, a suppressed spell, or a spell that fails to activate all still cause a Recharge check to be made, and making a recharge check is not an action; it is a side effect to casting that no ability, spell-effect, or class feature can nullify or suppress. After making a recharge check, a favored soul cannot cast any spells with the same base spell level as the previously cast spell for a number of turns equal to the result of the Recharge check (this includes spells whose spell level is increased by metamagic feats).

A favored soul’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A favored soul begins play knowing two 1st level spells from any of the favored soul's deity's domains. At each new favored soul level, he or she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known (see below). Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered favored soul level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a favored soul can choose to learn a new spell in place of one they already know. In effect, the favored soul "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, it must be drawn from one of the favored soul's deity's Domains, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level favored soul spell the favored soul can cast. A favored soul may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he or she gains new spells known for the level. Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a favored soul need not prepare their spells in advance. A favored soul can cast any spell they know at any time, assuming the appropriate spell level is not recharging. A favored soul does not have to decide ahead of time which spells to cast.

Table: Favored Soul Spells Known
{table=head] Level | 1st Level | 2nd Level | 3rd Level | 4th Level | 5th Level | 6th Level | 7th Level | 8th Level | 9th Level
01 | 2 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
02 | 3 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
03 | 3 | 2 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
04 | 4 | 3 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
05 | 4 | 3 | 2 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
06 | 4 | 4 | 3 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
07 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
08 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | _ | _ | _ | _ | _
09 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | _ | _ | _ | _
10 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | _ | _ | _ | _
11 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | _ | _ | _
12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | _ | _ | _
13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | _ | _
14 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | _ | _
15 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | _
16 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | _
17 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2
18 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3
19 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3
20 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4[/table]

Table: Favored Soul Spell Recharge Rate
Note: The Top Bar Levels are the Spell Levels Known while the Vertical Bar Levels are the number of Favored Soul Levels.

{table=head]Level| 1st Level|2nd Level|3rd Level|4th Level|5th Level|6th Level|7th Level|8th level|9th Level
1|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-
6|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-
7|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-
8|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-
9|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-
10|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-
11|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-
12|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-
13|3|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-
14|2|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-
15|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5|-
16|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5|-
17|2|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5
18|1|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5
19|1|1|2|2|3|3|4|4|5
20|1|1|2|2|3|3|4|4|5
[/table][/QUOTE]

Divine Strike (Su)
At 2nd level, a favored soul can use the divine energy granted to them by their deity to preform a divine strike with a normal weapon attack made with their deity's favored weapon. In order to use this ability, a favored soul must select and expend a charged spell level, making the appropriate recharge check as if the favored soul had cast a spell. The favored soul adds the expended spell's spell level and half of their favored soul level (rounded down) to their weapon attack roll and weapon damage roll made this round. For example, a 3rd level favored soul whose favored weapon is a longsword and expends a 2nd level spell would gain a +2 bonus on weapon attack rolls with the longsword, and a successful hit would deal 1d8+3 damage.

Faith Healing (Su)
A favored soul, even an evil one, has a natural talent for healing others. A favored soul can make Heal checks even while threatened or prone, and a favored soul can always take 10 on a heal check. In addition, whenever a favored soul succeeds on a Heal check, their patient regains a number of hit points equal to the favored soul’s Wisdom modifier + the total number of ranks the favored soul has in the Heal skill.

Favored Weapon Focus
Beginning at 2nd Level, a favored soul gains Weapon Focus as a bonus feat with his or her favored weapon, even if he or she doesn't meet all of the prerequisites for the feat. If the favored soul's deity grants more than one favored weapon, he or she must select which favored weapon to select with this feat. If the favored soul already has the Weapon Focus feat with that weapon, he or she may choose either another feat or another favored weapon (if the deity has multiple favored weapons).

Domain Powers (Su)
Like a cleric, a favored soul has the ability to use the Domain Powers of their deity. Beginning at 3rd level, the favored soul can select any one Domain Power from among the list of Domains granted to his or her deity. The favored soul can call upon that Domain Power once per day.

For every 3 levels past 3rd that the favored soul attains (6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th), he or she may use their Domain Power one additional time per day, to a maximum of six times per day. For every 4 levels past 3rd that the favored soul attains (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th), he or she may select an additional Domain Power from the list of Domains allotted to the favored soul’s deity. A favored soul can only use any one power once per round and only one Domain Power can be active at a time.

Favored Weapon Specialization
Beginning at 4th Level, a favored soul gains Weapon Specialization as a bonus feat with his or her favored weapon, even if he or she doesn't meet all of the prerequisites for the feat. If the favored soul's deity grants more than one favored weapon, the favored soul must select a favored weapon that he or she has the Weapon Focus feat with. If the favored soul already has Weapon Specialization with that weapon, he or she may choose either another feat or another favored weapon (if the deity has multiple favored weapons).

Aspects of the Deity
Beginning at 5th Level and every 3rd level thereafter (8th, 1th, 14th, 17th, and 20th), a favored soul begins to undergo a transformation that makes him or her more like their deity.

Aligned Weapon (Sp)
At 5th level, a favored soul shines brilliantly with the alignment of their deity. As long as the favored soul holds it, a favored weapon is automatically under the effects of bless weapon or corrupt weapon.

Aura of Faith (Su)
At 8th level, the favored soul's connection to their deity becomes particularly noticeable by fellow worshipers; in every religion, a favored soul commands a healthy respect. The favored soul gains a +1 competence bonus to all Charisma checks made on fellow worshipers of their deity. This bonus increases by +1 every two levels thereafter, to a maximum of +7 at 20th level.

Mark of the Gods (Su)
At 11th level, a favored soul's deity grants him or her protection against magic. A favored soul gains spell resistance equal to 10 + half of his or her favored soul level. This protection increases to 10 + their full favored soul level against spells and spell-like effects that are aligned with an alignment opposed to the favored soul's alignment.

For example, a lawful good favored soul's Mark of the Gods increases to 10 + favored soul level against both chaos and evil spells, while a neutral good favored soul's protection only increases to 10 + favored soul level against evil spells. A true neutral favored soul’s spell resistance remains at 10 + half their favored soul level, regardless of the spell’s allegiance.

Divine Health (Su)
At 14th level, the sheer amount of divine energy the favored soul channels wards them from all mortal diseases. The favored soul becomes immune to all diseases, including magical and supernatural ones.

Inspiring Presence (Ex)
At 17th level the favored soul’s presence inspires his or her allies, emblazing their hearts and minds. All allies within 10 feet of the favored soul receive a +1 bonus to weapon attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. The favored soul gains no benefit from their presence.

Timelessness (Su)
At 20th level, the favored soul's body is perfected by their deity, to the point where the aging process all but halts entirely. The favored soul does not suffer any penalties due to aging, although penalties already taken are not removed. In addition, the favored soul cannot be magically aged by any means, and he or she continues to gain bonuses due to age. In addition, the favored soul’s body is kept alive by the will of their deity, meaning the favored soul will not die from natural causes.

Divine Resolve (Su)
At 13th level, the favored soul develops a divine power of their own, which enables them to fuel their magic on their own. Once per day the favored soul can use this ability to recharge charging spell levels instantly, ending the spell recharge for the appropriate spells. The favored soul can use this power to recharge a spell level equal to or lower than their Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).

Person_Man
2009-08-20, 10:00 AM
Well, I can't comment on a Favored Soul thread without pimping my own Domain Favored Soul (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57097). Feel free to steal from it, though please give me credit if you do.

Quibbles:

Still very MAD.

The Recharge mechanic is confusing to me. Perhaps you can just provide a fixed recharge mechanic (1d6 rounds, or per encounter, etc) that is more easy to understand and track.

Faith Healing seems very potent for a first level ability, especially since you can make infinite Heal checks per day. Also, it makes no sense for gods that have nothing to do with Healing or Good.

Godskook
2009-08-20, 11:08 AM
Faith Healing is indeed, OP at 1st level, possibly even later on, too, but definitely at 1st.

I mean, it makes beating team cleric look easy by comparison. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0077.html)

Ichor
2009-08-20, 12:09 PM
The first thing I noticed was the recharge time chart, and I'm seeing a lot of what I hope are typos. Most notably, a recharge time of 1d3+1 rounds is actually worse than 1d4 (the average result is 3 rather than 2.5, and has a higher minimum result without lowering the maximum), and unless you were intending a 13th-level Favored Soul to recharge his 1st-level spells more slowly than at 12th level, you probably should address that. The same thing is less true--but still a problem--when comparing 1d4+1 to 1d6 and 1d6+1 to 1d8; the "+1" ranges have a lower maximum, but the minimum is 2 instead of 1. I don't know if I can call those worse, per se, but it's not really an improvement (for what it's worth, the average result is the same). If I may ask, what was your qualm with the general recharge time table given in Unearthed Arcana? (find at d20srd.org here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/rechargeMagic.htm))

I'm afraid I also have to chime in about Faith Healing. Without some sort of limit on its use and with spellcasting based on Wisdom, you're going to have this guy stabilizing his allies automatically and restoring about a Cure Light Wounds' worth of hit points in the process whenever he wants--and while this is pretty much the expected result if you're using Recharge Magic, he won't have to use up a spell slot to do it, and he won't have to wait any length of time between healings. I guess compared to Recharge Magic it's not that big of a deal, but it seems like you're stepping on your own toes here.

The other class features seem fine, if a bit boring. I'm not familiar enough with the domain spell lists to comment on spell selection; have you changed the lists at all?

Golden-Esque
2009-08-20, 06:08 PM
Faith Healing is Over Powered.

I'm guessing most people don't know how Heal Checks work or skimmed over the ability itself. You don't just roll a die and say "Bam, I get free HP", you only restore HP when you successfully make a Heal check, and you can only make Heal checks when:

#1 - Your ally is dying. Normally a Heal check only stabalizes the character, but leaves them at their current HP Total. A favored soul's Faith Healing restores a relatively small portion of HP to the creature he or she stabalizes.

#2 - You prodive long-term care. Providing long term care, is, well, a time-consuming endevor. A character using the Heal check this way heals the target over the course of eight hours for 2 HP. A favored soul heals Wis + Heal ranks instead, but this is after EIGHT HOURS of mending a target. Again it's NOT instant.

#3 - You cure a disease, poison, or movement-reducing effect. I can see these as possibly being a little OP for Faith Healing, as you restore health when you're poisoned / diseased / foot-impaired and it's as a standard action, so I might have to change this one.


Faith Healing does not work like this: "Okay, I make a heal check. Okay, I pass. Okay, you get a free Cure Serious Wounds!" The Faith Healing ability exists because the Favored Soul does not reliably have healing spells they can cast; intervals of rounds exist between each usage of their healing spells, if they even get healing spells in the first place (only several domains against grant any healing spells; off the top of my head Healing, Communuity, and Renewal are the only domains I can think of that grant Healing magic).

Plus, most of the time a Favored Soul can't use a healing check on themselves because of the nature of the Heal check. It's really not that OP when you dissect it, though I think I am going to remove the healing benefit to poisons, diseases, and treating foot injuries.


The first thing I noticed was the recharge time chart, and I'm seeing a lot of what I hope are typos. Most notably, a recharge time of 1d3+1 rounds is actually worse than 1d4 (the average result is 3 rather than 2.5, and has a higher minimum result without lowering the maximum), and unless you were intending a 13th-level Favored Soul to recharge his 1st-level spells more slowly than at 12th level, you probably should address that. The same thing is less true--but still a problem--when comparing 1d4+1 to 1d6 and 1d6+1 to 1d8; the "+1" ranges have a lower maximum, but the minimum is 2 instead of 1. I don't know if I can call those worse, per se, but it's not really an improvement (for what it's worth, the average result is the same). If I may ask, what was your qualm with the general recharge time table given in Unearthed Arcana? (find at d20srd.org here)

Not gonna lie to you, I put this up quick last night before I went to sleep, so not only are there some typoes, but in the case of the Recharge Magic chart, there are definetely a lot of typoes :). Now, in the case of the stastics, I'm not really all that great with them, so I'll take your word that some of my later leveled dice rolls don't make sense stastically. I used this model instead because I liked the feeling that the Recharge magic was improving every level, but if it's worse this way, I'll change it to the Unearthed Arcana's way.


The other class features seem fine, if a bit boring. I'm not familiar enough with the domain spell lists to comment on spell selection; have you changed the lists at all?

Nope, I didn't change any of the Domain Spell Lists, and adding this version of the Favored Soul into one's campaign does take a bit of work. In my campaign, every deity has Seven Domains given to them based on their Dogmas, and all deities have some combination of Good, Evil, Law, Chaos, or Balance (the Neutral Domain) on their list. Most deities have Two Alignment Domains and Five Dogma Domains. True Neutral Deities have only one Alignment and Six Dogma Domains.

Also, the Favored Soul's made niche is in the fact that it uses Recharge Magic in a campaign where all other classes use the Standard Spell Slot system or the Power Points system (only one other class has Recharge Magic).


The Recharge mechanic is confusing to me. Perhaps you can just provide a fixed recharge mechanic (1d6 rounds, or per encounter, etc) that is more easy to understand and track.

Faith Healing seems very potent for a first level ability, especially since you can make infinite Heal checks per day. Also, it makes no sense for gods that have nothing to do with Healing or Good.

Fixed recharge rates wouldn't work well, as a first level spell would take as long to recharge as a ninth. The table for determining the recharge rates isn't that difficult :).

You can make infinite heal checks a day, yes, but you can't make them for no reason. When you use them, you have to be suffering from some aliment, and the Heal check has to be successful to gain HP from it; if there's nothing a Heal check can fix, then nothing happens. Again, if you just want to mop up a target to help them lick their wounds, they gain the Faith Healing healing over eight hours. It's really not that practical of an ability.

All gods want their heralds, soldiers, and pawns to be in tip-top shape. Favored Souls are usually hand-picked by Gods as their pride vassels. Also, all divine magic can potentially heal.

Draken
2009-08-20, 06:37 PM
I recommend exchanging the aleatory recharge rates for fixed values based on the intended average recharge time. Something like this:

{table=head]Level| 1st Level|2nd Level|3rd Level|4th Level|5th Level|6th Level|7th Level|8th level|9th Level
1|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-
6|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-|-
7|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-
8|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-|-
9|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-
10|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-|-
11|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-
12|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-|-
13|3|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-
14|2|3|3|4|4|5|5|-|-
15|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5|-
16|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5|-
17|2|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5
18|1|2|2|3|3|4|4|5|5
19|1|1|2|2|3|3|4|4|5
20|1|1|2|2|3|3|4|4|5
[/table]

Golden-Esque
2009-08-20, 07:42 PM
I recommend exchanging the aleatory recharge rates for fixed values based on the intended average recharge time. Something like this:

I really like this chat. Thanks for the recommendation :).