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Primal Fury
2009-09-22, 06:26 PM
I just found this very awesome class called The Deviant (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Deviant_%283.5e_Class%29), and I'd like to try it out. Trouble is, it has very few combat applications, other than turning elementals and outsiders, and planar ally spells at later levels.

I want to play the class, but I also don't want the character to die through lack of the ability to defend himself. What do I do?

SilveryCord
2009-09-22, 06:31 PM
Play a Cleric with Planar Turning as an alternate class feature?

Edit: Honestly, Deviant's spell list is lacking even good defensive power and it's class features seem way too focused on dealing with extraplanar creatures. Like a ranger who chooses the same favored enemy four times.

AmberVael
2009-09-22, 06:32 PM
Play a Cleric instead.

The idea is not to abandon the concept, but instead to embrace it while utilizing better mechanics. At a glance, it looks like a cleric with the right domains could probably replicate most- if not all- the spells listed there. If you don't want to have the cleric's huge spell list, go with a spontaneous divine caster (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/spontaneousDivineCasters.htm) instead.

With the right domain, spell, and feat selections, you can get almost all the abilities of the deviant, certainly all the flavor of the deviant, and yet still have a variety of combat options that would be unavailable to that class.

Edit: also, yeah, some variants can help get the flavor too. Look at the Divine Magician variant from Complete Mage if you need to get some spells not on the cleric list.

PinkysBrain
2009-09-22, 06:44 PM
A warweaver is a support class, this is a bad class. The only way to solve it is cheese. Any class can be brought up to snuff with cheese ... personally I think any class which needs it is a bad class but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Lets use the cheese which plays to your one optimizeable ability ... rebuking. First and foremost, be neutral (forcing creatures to fight for you isn't good anyway). Unfortunately it's not undead so all the items which boost your effective turning level and lowers theirs are right out, there is only the improved turning feat. Finding the best outsider to command will depend on the books allowed. Enervation cheese can also allow you to command higher HD outsiders.

Apart from that you have nothing optimizeable (you'd think it would at least have UMD). So you're stuck with broken magic items ... ring of telekinesis?

What an incredibly bad class.

taltamir
2009-09-22, 07:37 PM
never confuse fluff for mechanics... you can play a "cleric" that CALLS himself a druid and plays like one. Or CALLS himself a deviant and plays like one... I honestly don't see the point of all those "fluff" classes which can already be done with existing classes...

Now certainly some things CANNOT be done with existing classes and require special made ones. But that is a different boat all together.

Now, if you say you like the mechanics of the class, or feel they are necessary to play the fluff you want, that is a different matter.