Mythic Exemplar clarification(is it a useless class)

[AngelOfFaith]

So here's a funky class: Mythic Exemplar(CC 86) is perfect for our 6 in 1 prestige class needs. You cover one of the many different entry requirements and once you take your first level you choose to fanboy over one of these six dudes(or gals) that sound like they had the most epic game session possible and go on to try to be as awesome as him/her. That gives you different benefits depending on who you choose. What I don't get is the wording on these class features because they are either moderately helpful or completely useless depending on what the text means to say.

During the 10 levels you get 4 gifts - least, lesser, greater and supreme. The description of the least one is that it can be used once per day for a number of rounds equal to your class level(unless otherwise noted) and the description of the other ones say that they work like the least one. So lets say I'm a bard and lets say that I think that Lord Marshal Sir Reikhardt of Geoff is a pretty cool guy. That sounds great - according to the least gift I get to stack my bard and exemplar levels for my inspire courage ability! For 10 rounds, once per day...

Is this right? Or does the wording of the gift somehow fall into the "unless otherwise noted" category and is not a 1/d thing? I don't know, maybe I'm just spoiled and expect a lot from my prestige classes but it sounds like if it is to be useful it has to just stack these things all the time. Otherwise the lesser gift would also be "you get +4 to Cha for 10 rounds"... Can you guys help me try to discern which of these are used like spells once a day and which are just passives, please. The Complete Champion errata doesn't help neither...

[Pluto!]

The daily limit is part of the ability and the abilities that mimic it.

Nobody ever accused the class of being good.

[Talionis]

I think the only one even really normally looked at is Reikhardt.

You can enter at a fairly low level, which is good. You get or advance a Marshal aura, you can do others but minor auras are really the best auras in the game.

It stacks with Bard levels, which is good. I often find that I don't need more than six to eight songs a day, it depends of course on your build, feats ect.

If you don't have enough music you can take Extra Bardic Music feat.

It has two Charisma Boosts.

You advance casting 4/10, that sounds terrible and is but it's better than Warchanter.

It's one of the most aura focused prestige classes in the game, it has synergy as many of the Auras work well off a very high Charisma score.

My advice is to take a level of Cloistered Cleric and trade Trickery Devotion for one of your Domains, then go into a couple levels of Seeker of the Song or five levels of Warchanter so you can play two songs at once, double that to four songs at once with your Trickery Devotion Similacrum singing two other songs and have it run a different Marshal aura because they don't stack, but you can do some pretty impressive whole team buffing in that way.

[Troacctid]

Isn't the Mythic Exemplar inspire courage used as a swift action, or am I remembering wrong?

[AngelOfFaith]

I think the only one even really normally looked at is Reikhardt.

You can enter at a fairly low level, which is good. You get or advance a Marshal aura, you can do others but minor auras are really the best auras in the game.

It stacks with Bard levels, which is good. I often find that I don't need more than six to eight songs a day, it depends of course on your build, feats ect.

If you don't have enough music you can take Extra Bardic Music feat.

It has two Charisma Boosts.

You advance casting 4/10, that sounds terrible and is but it's better than Warchanter.

It's one of the most aura focused prestige classes in the game, it has synergy as many of the Auras work well off a very high Charisma score.

My advice is to take a level of Cloistered Cleric and trade Trickery Devotion for one of your Domains, then go into a couple levels of Seeker of the Song or five levels of Warchanter so you can play two songs at once, double that to four songs at once with your Trickery Devotion Similacrum singing two other songs and have it run a different Marshal aura because they don't stack, but you can do some pretty impressive whole team buffing in that way.

When you say "It stacks with Bard levels" and "It has two Charisma Boosts." you mean to say that this class gets these things once a day, right? Because the only three class features that I can assuredly claim are permanent aside from 4 levels of spellcasting are the Save Bonus(Ex), the Ability Boost(Ex) and Embody Paragon(Su) - thats one charisma boost as far as I can tell. Nothing in the Lesser Gift, the one that gives +4 insight to Charisma, says that it lasts more than 10 rounds each day...


Isn't the Mythic Exemplar inspire courage used as a swift action, or am I remembering wrong?

Yes, activating any of the gifts is a swift action. So I guess we've got that going for us - once a day we can save our selves a standard action and start singing as a swift...

[Talionis]

When you say "It stacks with Bard levels" and "It has two Charisma Boosts." you mean to say that this class gets these things once a day, right? Because the only three class features that I can assuredly claim are permanent aside from 4 levels of spellcasting are the Save Bonus(Ex), the Ability Boost(Ex) and Embody Paragon(Su) - thats one charisma boost as far as I can tell. Nothing in the Lesser Gift, the one that gives +4 insight to Charisma, says that it lasts more than 10 rounds each day...



Yes, activating any of the gifts is a swift action. So I guess we've got that going for us - once a day we can save our selves a standard action and start singing as a swift...
Yes one boost is all day the other is for a few rounds.

[nedz]

ME is basically 6 PrCs with the same structure conflated into one class.


Isn't the Mythic Exemplar inspire courage used as a swift action, or am I remembering wrong?

It can be read that way, or it can be read that it works as a Bard and is thus a standard action.

[AngelOfFaith]

So I should only consider this class if my DM banned all other supplementals in existance is what I'm getting out of this.

[nedz]

It, may, have problems — depending upon which flavour of the PrC you are considering — which you would then need to talk to your DM about to resolve.

What are you trying to do with your character ?
We can probably suggest other options.