What To Do With An Underwhelming Favoured Soul

[soir8]

Hey guys,

So I've recently started a D&D game with a few work colleagues. Only one of them was familiar with D&D, but so far it's been a huge success; they're using their character mechanics in effective and inventive ways, they're really getting into the roleplaying aspect (my boss is a sneaky, backstabbing bitch), and so far it's been a great excuse for everyone to get drunk and pretend to kill trolls.

We started play at level 1, and now they're level 3; but I'm concerned about 1 character. I made all the characters, and I've always wanted to make a Favoured Soul, since I like the flavour of Clerics but hate dealing with spellbooks (and dealing with spellbooks is not something I want to inflict on first-time players), so I gave this one guy a halfling favoured soul to play. The problem is that although his character has definitely been useful, it doesn't seem like it's been much fun to play compared to the others; in combat he's pretty useless, and while his healing spells have saved the lives of the other players a few times, it sucks that he only gets to shine once everyone else is finished doing the fun stuff. What's worse is that his character seems exactly as useful at level 3 as he was at level 1; the rogue is now doing sneak attack damage with two weapons, the dragonblooded sorcerer immolates whole packs of enemies, the barbarian and the duskblade keep hitting things harder and harder... and the Favoured Soul still casts Cure Light Wounds when he needs to, and not much else. Even the bard gets to make everyone awesome with Dragonfire Inspiration. I don't want the Halfling's player to wait until he gets his first decent spell and then feel like a one-trick pony.

I spoke to the player, and he's consented to his Halfling getting crushed by falling rocks at the start of the next session. However, I have yet to decide what kind of badass will step round the next corner and be unquestioningly accepted into the party. That's why I'm here, asking you guys for help.

All books are available; the only requirements are 1. that the new character can heal, and 2. that he totally kicks ass. Oh, and he's level 3.

[claypigeons]

Clerics don't require a book for spells.

My group has given Favoured Souls Turn Undead as a paladin. As well as getting the Healing Domain spells as beonus spells known at the appropriate levels.

Get wands of Lesser Vigor for healing. Save spell.slots for buffs (for self and party).

Favored Souls are a pretty lackluster class compared to cleric. They fall short in pretty much every measurable way.

[Juntao112]

Behold! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=752511)

[Gavinfoxx]

Switch them over to a Mystic, or a Spontaneous Cleric, which is a bit better? Or swap out the spells for better ones?

Why even give him healing spells? You give him a wand, and don't give favored souls healing spells; they are there to be combat monsters.

See this:

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=427641

As an example of a spontaneous cleric-list melee focused character

And only ARCHIVISTS require prayerbooks. Clerics and Cloistered Clerics don't...

Also read this:

http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2710

[Vrock_Summoner]

Do NOT teach your Favored Soul how to melee while you have a party with people trying to melee. You will trade one person feeling useless for other people feeling useless.

Instead, teach him to buff the entire party. Look up AfterCrescent's Cleric Handbook on Brilliant Gameologists and check out the party buffing spells that are recommended there.

[soir8]

Thanks for all the input; I was going to check for responses in the morning, not expecting so much help so quickly.

Making him the party buffer was the plan, but now they have a bard, and besides that I don't imagine buffing everyone and watching them kick ass is much more fun than watching everyone get their ass kicked and healing them.

When I say spellbooks, I mean as in having to manage spell lists, choosing which spells to prepare each day, etc. Too much work for newbies. And houseruling better abilities for the favoured soul seems... I dunno, cheap somehow. Too simple a solution, and possibly a slippery slope.

The party hasn't found any wands yet, or had a chance to buy any; the guy has Cure Light Wounds and that's it, he's the only source of healing for the party.

Right now, I'm leaning towards giving him a Spontaneous Druid. Just the animal companion and wildshape should make the game drastically more interesting for the guy. Ideally I'd like him to be primarily a divine caster, though. I'll look into Mystic, sounds interesting.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Cantor with some ACFs will give him a small list Cleric spells. You just need to let Cantor (one of the least defined classes ever) qualify for bardic ACFs and you can avoid toe stepping.

[Immabozo]

Yes, favored soul is pretty broken in the wrong way.

I would like to throw my vote in for a wildshaping Druid. you have healing spells, you have buffing, and then wildshaping is boatloads of fun. It was my second character and I LOVED it. you can also go very different levels of opt-fu depending on the group. Trolls are some of the the best forms, Giants are less powerful, animals are some of the bottom of the scale (although spell casting is more powerful than all of it),

[Gavinfoxx]

Drop a Wand of Lesser Vigor.

Seriously.

Next fight, they find a scroll of Identify and a Wand of Lesser Vigor, and the guy gets an opportunity to retrain CLW out in a magical ritual.

[Immabozo]

Next fight, they find a scroll of Identify and a Wand of Lesser Vigor, and the guy gets an opportunity to retrain CLW out in a magical ritual.

sounds like serious homebrew territory

[Gavinfoxx]

sounds like serious homebrew territory

Crack open PHB II and tell me it's homebrew... it's just retraining/rebuilding, and there are lots of suggested ways of doing it.

[Sir Chuckles]

Crack open PHB II and tell me it's homebrew... it's just retraining/rebuilding, and there are lots of suggested ways of doing it.

Retraining can be so fun. Especially for the DM.

Anyway, are you sure he should stay a Favoured Soul? I mean, you wrote the character. It may not be what he wanted to play in the slightest.

[Immabozo]

Crack open PHB II and tell me it's homebrew... it's just retraining/rebuilding, and there are lots of suggested ways of doing it.

Unfamiliar with the PHB II, what page is it?

[soir8]

Retraining can be so fun. Especially for the DM.

Anyway, are you sure he should stay a Favoured Soul? I mean, you wrote the character. It may not be what he wanted to play in the slightest.

The player was completely unfamiliar with D&D, so his only input as to what he wanted to play was "I'd like to be a healer". And me being unsure if he should stay a favoured soul is pretty much the point of this thread.

I'm definitely leaning heavily towards slyly changing his character to a Spontaneous Cleric right now. Having access to some higher level spells should help mitigate how useless he feels next to the sorcerer.

[Kioras]

Don't really have to change anything.

Just give him turn undead and 2 domains. One of them will be the heal domain, and let him trade his cure spell's for any cleric of his choice from the srd (give him some suggestions). The other will be one of his choice from the srd, the choice will go ahead and help him in whatever way he wants to build the character.

This will also let him PRC into more divine classes, if he wants to down the line.

[fishyfishyfishy]

I don't think the problem is the character. The favored soul, while outclassed by the cleric, is still potentially one of the most powerful base classes in the game. I think the problem is that he's been pigeonholed into playing a role that is largely unnecessary and boring for anyone that ends up doing it. You don't need a dedicated in combat healer. The suggestion to drop some wands of cure light and lesser vigor are solutions to this. He can use them and not waste his spells known on these. Additionally, coach him on using such spells after the fight. Maybe drop a healing belt or three on your party so that they are capable of being more self sufficient. This way the player can choose some more interesting spells.

[Eldan]

What's his spell list, other than cure? I mean, that's just one spell out of an entire list.

If he can't do much, change a few of his spells known to good all purpose buff and debuff spells.

[Grim Reader]

Well, at level 3, he is still stuck on first-level spells. He may feel more useful with good picks for 2nd level spells at level 4. It sounds like he is playing it as an inferior melee character with a few after-combat healing spells. Not sure how much synergy you got with Halfling there.

I believe there are substitution levels for Favoured Souls that lets them pick the occasional arcane spell known. With the right setup, you can also grab a level of Sand Shaper and get Desert Insight, but that is levels off. Spontaneous Healer feat would let you pick more useful spells.

[Psyren]

If you want a spontaneous cleric with a bit more oomph, give the Oracle (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle) from Pathfinder a try. A Heavens (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/heavens) Oracle can make for a powerful battlefield controller/debuffer all the way from 1st-level while still letting him perform his healing and buffing duties as needed, and he will be Cha-SAD to boot. He'll also get all the cure spells for free without having to waste spells known on them.

(Not to mention that the PF Halfling gets a Charisma bonus.)


sounds like serious homebrew territory

Even if it were homebrew, so freaking what? If the player is not having fun, you fix it; that's why we're all sitting at the table after all.

[Gavinfoxx]

Unfamiliar with the PHB II, what page is it?

Pages 191 through 206.

[soir8]

What's his spell list, other than cure? I mean, that's just one spell out of an entire list.

If he can't do much, change a few of his spells known to good all purpose buff and debuff spells.

lvl0: Purify food & drink, create water, read magic, light, guidance.

lvl1: Magic weapon, cure light wounds, cause fear, protection from evil.

I didn't set out to build optimized characters, but there doesn't seem to be much you can do with a favoured soul at low levels.

If I re-build his character as a Cleric, he gets a couple of lvl 2 spells, which should make him more competitive with the Sorcerer.

[Gavinfoxx]

No divine Favor? No Bless? No wonder...

[Bloodgruve]

I've seen Favored Soul being effective but he was built as a front line melee. I allowed him to go Favored of Bahamut and he got a pair of claws. I also allowed him to take Draconic Heritage and Draconic Claws feats as I figured FS is the divine Sorcerer. Cast a spell and make an attack with it seemed to work well. But he is a Halfling so I'm assuming Str is not one of his strong stats.

Also, another helpful boost is a deity with a good weapon. Maybe an exotic weapon.

In most games combat takes up a lot of play time so just give him a few fun ways to contribute.

I agree that Domains + Turning would be a great and simple fix. But spontaneous casting is a good way to go for a beginner.

GL
Blood~

[icefractal]

Second on the Oracle suggestion. They just work a lot better - the combination of automatically knowing the healing spells, being SAD, and the Mystery/Curse abilities push them into solidly useful territory.

Also, you may want to consider un-slowing their progression and giving them spells at the same rate as Clerics, Druid, etc. The spontaneous tax is (IMO) unnecessary, and makes level 3 especially painful.

[soir8]

No divine Favor? No Bless? No wonder...

Neither of those are particularly fun anyway, regardless of their effectiveness (which in the case of divine favour is fairly minimal at lvl 1), so I do not see your point.

[soir8]

Second on the Oracle suggestion. They just work a lot better - the combination of automatically knowing the healing spells, being SAD, and the Mystery/Curse abilities push them into solidly useful territory.

Also, you may want to consider un-slowing their progression and giving them spells at the same rate as Clerics, Druid, etc. The spontaneous tax is (IMO) unnecessary, and makes level 3 especially painful.

I believe Spontaneous Cleric gives spontaneous casting but keeps normal Cleric spell progression, along with, of course, turning and domain spells, so I think that's what I'll go for. There's an old hippy showing interest in the game who I will simply have to give a Druid character to.

Looking at the Mystic and the Spontaneous Divine Caster variant rules, it makes me wonder who the hell thought the Favoured Soul needed to exist in the first place. The spellcasting MAD seems particularly harsh and unnecessary, especially for a class that is clearly expected to operate on the front lines.

[toapat]

you could give him this paladin (http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3407376)

sure, he wont get true healing for a few levels but his EVERYTHING is awesome