Favored soul

[Cranthis]

So are there any good builds using Favored Soul? So far it seems all negative, but the idea of the class seems good.

[Golden Ladybug]

Well, the problem with Favoured Souls from an optimisation standpoint is that they're "Cleric-"

Everything they can do, the Cleric can do better. They're cool, with very neat fluff, but they have not got anything unique to them. Anything they can do, a Cleric can do, and better. They're Sorcerers without the Sorcerer-only tricks.

This doesn't mean they're bad. They can do many of the things Clerics are so good at doing, although they are not as versatile and need to jump through hoops to get at some things (no native Turn Undead is a fairly large detriment).

[eggs]

Favored Soul is awesome. The only problem is that it gives a really easy comparison to the Cleric, which is even more awesome.

The best builds I've seen using FS-specific abilities are War Weaver/Spellguard of the Silverymoon builds, which use the FS's PHB2 ACF to add temporary HP as an extra effect on all Favored Soul spells, Alternative Spell Source to cast divine spells as arcane spells for War Weaver/Spellguard, Spellguard to cast personal-range spells that grant temporary HP as touch-range spells (this now includes self-only Cleric buffs like Righteous Might and Divine Power, as well as any other Personal-range buffs picked up from other levels or shenanigans), and War Weaver to cast big packages of touch-range spells on the whole party as a move action.

With fewer tricks, the Dragon Magic FS ACF is pretty useful - Natural Weapons work nicely with damage-boosts like Divine Power or Holy Warrior, and Sorcerer spells are always useful, even if it's just one or two.

One kind of neat trick is grabbing a prestige class with a domain and shuffling that domain around among the FS's deity's menu with the Substitute Domain spell in order to learn spells from a new domain each level.

[Blue Lantern]

I m no optimization expers but Favored Souls are usually seen more of a divine gish of sort, I once seen them referred to as an improved Paladin.
The problem with this classification is that, unlike wizard, cleric don't need much help in the phisically beating things departement, so those build are hardly ideal.

If you want a spontaneus divine caster the best solutions are either the mystic from dragonlance and, even better, the UA spontaneus cleric variant.

[Amphetryon]

Two builds, both from Doc Roc's old War Weaver Handbook (Black Tactica edition):


The Joker
"Let me show you how I got these spells..."

This build is pretty cheesy, and is the work of a collaborative effort between Malkavon and myself. We use Magical Training to sneakily access Precocious Apprentice. This lets us grab an arcane spell to get us into Exalted Arcanist via Sanctum Spell tricks, which gives us a pair of arcane spells permanently added to our list. At this point we retrain Precocious Apprentice out for Combat Casting and proceed to climb up through War Weaver and Spellguard of Silverymoon, advancing our Favored Soul spellcasting because we are now an arcane spellcaster thanks to Exalted Arcanist.

The build hinges on the fact that Favored Soul has an ACF that allows them to add temp. HP to any spell they cast. This lets all of their buffs be turned into touch spells via Spellguard of Silverymoon 4, and from there we spread them via War Weaver to all of our allies at once. The build squeaks in at 18th level Favored Soul spellcasting, getting 9th level spells and is able to share 6th level spells through the tapestry thanks to Sanctum Spell.

Human Favored Soul 4/Church Inquisitor 1/Exalted Arcanist 1/War Weaver 5
Spellguard of Silverymoon 4/Sacred Exorcist 1/Incantatrix 4

1) Sanctum Spell, Magical Training, Precocious Apprentice (retrained to Combat Casting after 6th), Consecrate Spell
3) Purify Spell
6) Enlarge Spell
9) Extend Spell
12) Persistent Spell
15) Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
17) Repeat Spell
18) Practiced Spellcaster (Favored Soul)
20) Bonus Metamagic Feat



Algernon Of The White Lillies
"Everything slips away..."

Much like the joker except that it uses a dragon's blood pool to count himself as an arcane caster. Has to come back every twelve months for another drink or his powers fade. Uses favored soul ACF to add a buff to his spells that adds temporary HP. We can now cast any personal spell on an ally with a touch. Okay, fair enough, so now allies are legal targets. That's terribly important. Most GMs will now let you cast into the tapestry, though they should not. Share spell with your familiar, however, and it becomes a ranged touch, split ray it, and target the tapestry with it to store it as a quiescent weaving. It now satisfies all the requirements for using the tapestry.

Human Favored Soul 4/War Weaver 5/Spellguard of Silverymoon 4/XXXXXXX 6

1) Sanctum Spell, split ray, improved initiative, enlarge spell
3) extend spell
6) Obtain familiar, since we are an arcane caster
9) Persistent Spell
12) DMM: Persist

[Grim Reader]

Cleric minus is right.

There is a trick you can do that the Cleric can't though. You got to jump through some hoops to qualify, but a dip into Sand Shaper gets you Desert Insight. Loses you a caster level, though.